Sera called the sixth hour standing in the doorway of the lowest chamber with her watch held up in front of her face.
“Six,” she said. “That’s six hours since the coupon. Keeper. You said you’d forget to tell us. I’m telling you.”
The grille was silent. Then it crackled, and went on crackling, the long searching sound, longer than Mara had heard it. She stopped what she was doing at the bench and looked up.
“The review,” Orison said at last. “I have the result of the review. It arrived some time ago. I believe it arrived some time ago. I did not notice it.” A pause. “I am sorry. I said I would forget, and I did.”
“What does it say?” Mara said.
“The lattice has reviewed the reclassification. It has not confirmed it. It has not refused it.” Orison’s voice was slow, careful, the card-reading voice. “It has deferred it. Pending inspection. The lamp remains classified as repairable until an inspection by the Compact confirms or reverses the classification. The retirement procedure remains suspended pending that inspection.” A pause. “That is all. Pending inspection.”
“How long?”
“It does not say how long. It says the procedure is suspended until the inspection. It does not say when the inspection will be.”
