The crew took their break on the next building while the bellows still operated mechanically. The workers had left them running before they clocked out, and now the furnace followed that rhythm on its own.
Each compression pushed the flame higher. Each gap let it dip again. The pattern repeated exactly as it always had.
Mod walked to the furnace intake without asking for instructions.
She stopped at the mouth of the air channel near the furnace base and studied it from up close for a moment. She approached problems that way, with no visible emotion and quietly evaluating while she checked possibilities before committing to one.
Then she acted.
Silver started to glow from the furnace.
It formed at the intake as a narrow rim of pale light, sharp and cold against the orange furnace glow. The light carried no heat at all.
