Three years was a pattern, not a duration.
Neth Myrvalis sat at the low desk in the Ministry's second-floor archive room, the one with the northern window that let in the grey Ironrise light without the street noise, and turned the signal transcript over again. The paper was standard Ministry stock, blue-ruled, courier-stamped. The message itself was short. Four lines. A commercial complaint from a Korthane textile factor about inconsistent telegraph transmissions along the southern relay chain. Specifically: the factor reported that his price confirmations were arriving at the receiving station with a variance of four tenths of a per cent from the values he'd sent. He attributed it to operator error. He wanted compensation.
The complaint was filed under Trade Disputes — Korthane Internal, Minor.
Neth did not file things under minor.
