Merging Lines and Morning Recheck

When the sky began to lighten, both night patrols returned to Embankment Head. Morel checked the water temperature first, then raised the bottom of the curtain by one notch to ventilate the shed. No one dispersed. Each person wrapped up what they had on hand: the medics sealed the bandages replaced during the night and placed them in the shaded corner; the outside support staff dried the used ladders and leaned them back by the ditch entrance; the examiners rearranged the bags of powder recovered last night by their numbers. Palm turned to yesterday's page and left an entire column blank beneath "four night patrol rounds," ready to record the early morning recheck.

After Knov confirmed that neither brief report had missed anything, he pushed the map half an inch toward the center of the table and arranged the morning recheck order. He took one outside support worker on a short loop, going back and forth from the city gate to the outer corner to check each alignment mark pressed down during the night; Knuckle stayed at the outer edge to test the load-bearing surface; Shoot went to inspect the narrow ridge on the right side of the gate; Linas restocked the first-aid kit with the medics; the examiners remained in the shed to check the bag openings and numbers; Ryan still stood to one side of the shed entrance, as usual watching the straight line between the approach road and the parking spaces. Whenever anyone passed, he stepped aside by half a pace, keeping the path clear at all times.

The short loop went quickly. The hard ridge by the gate had not peeled, and stepping on it still produced a crisp, short sound. The buffer zone at the outer corner bore weight normally. The joint between the Salt