Zero on Pori Halm's gauge left Caleb six meters above the ground.
Steam still left the open dome in weak bursts. Each one heated the iron guard under his left arm. His right forearm had blistered from wrist to elbow, and the burn across his chest pulled when he breathed.
Pela stood on the freight mat below him.
"Stay six until we own your weight," she called. "Shrink while falling and I get whatever lands."
Tesk Arin opened the front station's maintenance locker. The return cable inside had been cut short for the cradle, but its eye remained sound. He passed the walker's unused welded link through the vent guard with his uninjured hand.
His other palm bled through a folded rag.
Boro Tann's working crane still held the central corpse slab away from storage. The crane with the missing front tire could carry no moving lift. Boro released its hand winch, cable, and floor anchor as stationary tools.
