Caleb felt Heat Room Six move through the freight mat under his chest. Pela had finished his ninth hip stitch less than an hour earlier. The skin across his back still stuck to the treatment cloth. He pushed onto both hands and found no left foot waiting beneath him.
Recovery Walker Nine drew the grounded tooth toward its chest. Hara Vek lay on one knee beside the moving plate. Suli Dask rode the room floor at five centimeters below its earlier level. Fei Moss held a five-mark red pipe behind the second heat gate.
"Put me on the arm," Caleb said.
Pela pressed one hand beside the fresh hip closure. "You have no brace and no closed wound."
"I know what I don't have. Put the mat where I can reach."
He did not ask the walker to stop. Four people were inside its chest, and the loaded arm had already passed their controls. His target was the red stock pawl under the plate.
