Soren had been working since midnight.
Kai found him at the camp's instrument station at dawn, three notebooks open, the pressure differential data from both failed attempts mapped across the pages in the dense notation he used when he was working through something he hadn't solved yet.
"The entity's load distribution is directional," Soren said without looking up. "Not radial. The five-point anchor expects load to distribute evenly in all directions from the connection point. What's here distributes along a primary axis—approximately northeast to southwest, consistent with the workaround pressure routing the source used before the lateral stages cleared it."
He showed Kai the data.
"The entity developed in a pressure current. Its architecture follows the current's direction. The five-point anchor is trying to distribute load against that axis. Hence the mismatch."
Kai looked at the data. Then at the Rift.
