Mara called Nessa before she touched a control.
The bearing mark had moved three times in a minute. Small steps, then a pause, as if the station were trying to find a more comfortable place to sit. Outside, the living brace held the cracked foundation shoe in its new shape. Below it the rock did not hold.
Nessa brought up the earlier reading. The shoe's downslope edge had sunk; the newly braced side remained high. The hull was turning around the repair.
"It's making a hinge," she said.
Mara watched a fine crack open in the silt beneath the far foundation pad. "The seabed's making the hinge. It's keeping one side stiff."
Nessa nodded. She did not waste time on the distinction once they could both see the consequence.
The service support was taking more of the station's movement. So long as the cradle stayed beside the bore, the load had somewhere to go. Once they moved it along the rail, that same support would remain tied between the sinking station and the new lifeline. A piece that had helped them begin would drag the refuge-side rig out of alignment at the end.
Mara called the others to watch the frame turning against the rail.
Hester came down with Imani, both on the fixed work feeds. Kit stood behind Nessa, avoiding her shoulder. Leonie and Jonah stayed by the exchanger where they could see the view and keep their hands useful. Benji arrived carrying the green pillow. He set it on a shelf and did not apologize for bringing it.
"We change the pickup," Mara said. "Refuge-side support takes the cradle load before we release the station side. Then the cradle and its flowing bundle are no longer tied to this."
She indicated the dark arm beneath the bearing. The ruined remote-release box hung beside it, its cover torn away. Nessa stared at it without speaking.
Hester said, "Remote's dead."
"Local hydraulics are live. Mechanical shear has its own stored actuation. We don't need the broken command box if we're in the pod."
"We," Hester repeated.
"Me."
The pilot looked at the load model. Mara could see the objection arriving: another small room, another head injury, an ascent vehicle waiting while she worked close to a failing structure. Hester did not say it yet. She looked until she understood the particular job.
"How long?"
"Ten minutes if the bearing unloads cleanly. Align, transfer to far support, sever station-side arm after the new support takes. Back through the crawl tube."
"If it doesn't unload cleanly?"
"We catch it earlier. I get the near jaw square now, before the tram leaves. The final move's smaller."
Nessa leaned over the model. "I can adjust the refuge-side line from the tram. Keep the sling angle in place while you unload."
"And who works flow?" Jonah asked.
"You. Benji calls the changes. Leonie takes the patient branches. Kit backs Nessa on the guide bundle."
Kit looked at Nessa, then at Mara. He said nothing.
"I can take the pod," Nessa said.
Mara shook her head. "You know the geometry. I've recovered the loaded bearing. You're on continuous flow and we need you on the far side."
"The pod has a branch."
"That keeps you alive in the seat. It doesn't give you another pair of hands in the tram."
Nessa looked at the damaged remote box again. "I can fix what I—"
"You can hold the refuge-side rig straight. That's work I need done."
The woman flushed, then nodded once. Mara turned to Hester.
"You get the capsule ready. I don't go into local control without you saying the return's ready."
"I can have it ready," Hester said. "I can't make the station keep the door open."
"That's why we do this before it closes."
Hester went to finish the capsule. Nessa opened the local-control drawing.
Mara went into the pod with Nessa directing from the Bore Room. The fixed station feed reached the crawl entrance. Inside she used her short bottle only long enough to connect to a temporary work extension Nessa passed through, preserving the independent reserve for the final sealed move. The pod's carrier branch stayed capped, its primed loop visible at her shoulder. She did not touch it.
Through the window she saw the bearing jaw. A bright wear mark shone across the edge where the load had caught during Leonie's move. The local cylinder would still work, but the bearing had begun to sit unevenly in its seat. Mara checked the stroke and chose the first adjustment.
The cylinder groaned and stopped short. A flake of steel fell past the window. Mara eased off, brought the pin sideways into line and tried the lift again. This time the bearing freed. She set the near jaw square, but the bright scar beneath it remained: the place the earlier load had gouged its seat.
"Not much travel left," Nessa said.
Mara marked the limit on the local drawing.
She tested the protected arming handle without firing the shear, then the independent pod release. Both moved freely. She left the guards in place.
At the crawl entrance Hester waited with a fresh pad for Mara's forehead.
"I'm not bleeding again," Mara said.
"You bled through the first one."
Mara sat on the floor and let her change it. The fixed feed hissed steadily in the mask. Beyond them Nessa revised the final sequence. She wrote it as actions, then deleted half the words and put numbers beside the controls.
"Did Sal get the new load?" Mara asked.
"Sent," Imani said. "He's holding package deployment until we clear. He wants the collar condition every hour."
"Give him this one."
Imani took the camera through the dock. The return path remained open, but a thin gap had appeared between two cosmetic cover plates. It was another harmless thing until it meant a movement that was not harmless. Hester watched her go, then looked back at Mara.
"I don't like it."
"The job?"
"The way you're saying ten minutes. You say it like it comes with a guarantee."
Mara shook her head. "It comes with twenty in the bottle if I don't waste it. Expected ten."
"And then?"
She looked at the capped branch in the pod.
Hester saw the glance. Her face went flat.
"No."
"I'm not planning to use it."
"Then stop putting it in the plan."
"It's there. I know it's there. Pretending otherwise doesn't make me safer."
Hester turned away. She gathered the old dressing, folded it inward and put it in a waste pouch. Her hands were precise, too precise for how small the task was.
"I want my crew back," she said.
Mara could not tell her she would have that. One member of the crew was already standing beside the tram with a carrier line in his side. She put a hand on Hester's shoulder. The pilot did not move away. After a moment she said, "Finish the drawing," and went back to the capsule.
In the Bore Room, Nessa added the wear mark to the model. The far support would have to take the cradle's full load before Mara severed the station-side arm.
Jonah listened from the exchanger. "And we stay flowing through that?"
"Yes," Mara said.
"Good. I wasn't asking if it was safe. I was asking what job I'm doing."
"Keep the manual balance within the marks. If the rail jerks, Benji calls flow, Nessa holds alignment, Kit handles the bundle. Leonie keeps the branches clear."
He nodded, satisfied with an answer he could use.
Kit looked at the tram. "Do we get to take anything that isn't a hose?"
Benji rescued the green pillow from the shelf. "Yes."
For the first time in several hours, everybody looked at something small and ordinary. The pillow had a pale stain near one corner and a cover washed almost thin. Benji held it under his good arm as if daring them to comment.
"You'll need a bigger cabin for his emotional support upholstery," Kit said.
Benji grinned. "You've got a whole sofa."
Kit's face closed, then opened again by effort.
"Not with me," he said.
Mara looked at the bearing feed. The mark held where she had set it. For now, the two sides were square. She locked the view on one corner of the work screen and went to help them pack.