The false order repeated in Martin's voice until the bellkeeper drove his tuning fork against the workshop wall.
Silver light snapped across the diagrams. Martin's stolen voice stretched into a metallic groan and stopped.
Mireva sent two wardens to warn the shelters in person. Nobody would trust a spoken evacuation order until the corrupted route-song had been repaired.
"Whatever is below us heard him," she said.
"It heard enough to copy one sentence," Rias replied. "We don't know whether it understood the words."
Cassandra nodded. "Imitation is not proof of intelligence. We record what happened and nothing more."
They left Angel guarding the broad lower avenue with several Sairren scouts. The western relay's listening hall was too narrow for her shell, but the route passed above the same street. If monsters broke through the lower doors, Angel would keep them from reaching the shelters.
