Kest's signature came down the spine while Nox still weighed the switch, and the far anchor stayed live under Kendra's crews. He had a narrow run to test the trap before the Yard reached the line and forced the question for him.
The near anchor still held clean under his claim, and the burned channel from the last overreach ached with every pulse he pushed through it. He had one working question left before Kest arrived, and it was whether the Directorate's switch could be read without dropping a city.
Five cities sat stranded on the auction Vasa had exposed, five platforms keyed to bids they could not pay, and Haron was only the poorest. Nox knew Haron's switch was not the only one seated, and he read the decoy with the other four in the back of his count.
