Vasa spread the Kald request across a fresh column and would not let the council read the total until she had split it. She ran every mark against the toll ledger's resident roll and set the doubtful ones in a pile of their own.
"Two hundred and forty names came up the service crawl, and forty of them are one frightened ward signing under borrowed hands," Vasa said, dragging the doubled marks off the live column. "I certify the two hundred that check against the resident roll, and the panic signatures do not touch this contract."
Diana held the crawl channel steady while the count settled, and she kept the strike team's position marked above it. The residents were still climbing, and the spur crew had not yet turned to look down the shaft.
