Soren did the geometry.
He had been listening while Neral explained the lateral stage concept and he had his notebook out before Neral finished the second sentence. He ran calculations for twelve minutes while Kai and Neral went through the ancient grammar in detail, then interrupted with the precision of someone who had been waiting for a pause.
"The ancient network's nearest active stage is the one we camped above, approximately two hundred kilometres east. That's the connection point." He turned the notebook. "The lateral stage needs to bridge from there to the drain's pressure field boundary, which is approximately forty kilometres west of that stage. Total build: forty kilometres of lateral substrate routing."
He looked at Kai.
