The heavy volume stayed balanced because broken things sometimes held out of spite.
Ty trusted that about as much as he trusted his foot.
The case rested across the fractured brake arm with one end over the pit and the other jammed against a stone rib. Water ran beneath it and vanished into the drop. Frost spread from the glass in thin branches, then stopped where the old metal bands held the body down.
JJ crouched at the ledge and studied the angle.
"It is not stable enough for breathing people," she said. "It is waiting for someone to make the wrong part heavier."
"That sounds like stability with a threat attached."
"That sounds like every machine built by people who died before maintenance."
Blue walked along the ledge on all fours, keeping her center low. The chamber gave her plenty of places to fall and almost nowhere kind to land. She reached a carved panel near a broken brake arm and rubbed grime from it with her sleeve.
