The far-side strip entered the origin field without crossing Soma's copper stake.
It grew its own edge through current stone.
Thirty-one cut marks opened along its length. Each mark matched one local bearing in the weak defense.
Kestrel stopped the sample tray before it touched metal.
"No shared intake," she said.
Soma placed thirty-one loose paper tabs beside the strip. He aligned none of them.
The first cut mark moved toward Ridge's tab.
Ridge keeper Osa Pell closed her copper pair.
The mark stopped.
It pressed against the relation without entering.
"Ridge has current contact," Osa reported. "We have accepted no incoming load."
The second mark moved toward Tera.
Tera had left her pair open while the school group carried stone.
The mark crossed the paper tab.
At Tera, red soil appeared inside the dead cistern.
A pale metal hook rose from it and caught the cut treatment pipe leading to the grandmother's house.
Rilo reached the local valve.
