At the center, the relay waited thin discs spinning in arguments with themselves, shaving the room into slices of decision.
Kael passed Arden a pouch of clamps still warm from someone's pockets. "Two at the base. One at the crown. Three minutes total."
"Without the book," Arden said. The words steadied her hand better than breath would.
Olli took a knee, pressed the first clamp to the lowest bracket. The metal twitched like a horse deciding whether it trusted the rider. The lamp winked green.
Air pressure shifted. Arden felt it in her teeth. The tower's hum slid down a note, then up, searching for a body to live in.
"Wait for the sag," Kael said. "On my count."
They counted silence the way other people count blessings.
Amara climbed the side ladder. Each rung gave under her weight, then remembered its job. She hooked the second clamp and locked it with a twist. "Two."
