Chapter 69 - CH 68 - New Horizon

The Gullwing, now fully exposed in the center of the shop under the unforgiving glare of the LED work lights, had shed its mythical status and become something both more mundane and infinitely more complex: a patient on an operating table, a historical document awaiting translation, a symphony of mechanical parts waiting for its next conductor. The initial, breathless awe that had accompanied its uncrating had given way to a methodical, almost clinical process of assessment. For three full days, Adrian and Leo did nothing but document. They became archivists of decay and engineers of resurrection, their movements slow and deliberate, their voices hushed in the cathedral-like space.