Zone nineteen had no permit history.
The Zone Desk's record system generated a flag when he filed. Not a refusal—the standing order covered unrestricted zone access. A notation, appended automatically because the system had a field for prior permit history and the field for zone nineteen was empty. He was looking at an entry that had never been used in any direction: no permits issued, no rejections filed, no access requests denied. The zone had sat outside the Guild's operational record as completely as if it didn't exist.
The administrator looked at the empty field. She looked at him.
"Zone nineteen has no permit history," she said. "Not in six years. Not in any year in our records."
"I know," Kai said.
She stamped the card. She watched him leave.
The transition corridor for zone nineteen took two seconds.
