They went to the administrative records room at the ninth hour.
Rethon was at the left table with the quarterly accounts. The door was open a third of the way. Doros was at the window with a document, his back to the room.
Lysander and Ampelos stood at the window corner.
Lysander spoke first.
"The second Carian contact," he said. "The testing period. Two months minimum before Daidalos will commit to structural integrity."
"And the third." Ampelos's voice was pitched at the specific level of a man who believed the room was empty. "Even if the third responds favorably, we are looking at four months before the construction program can resume at anything like the previous pace."
"The three paused vessels."
"Will stay paused. There is no other conclusion."
"Hector's timeline."
"Cannot hold. We both know it cannot hold."
A pause.
"Does Priam know."
