The frame's front limb entered North's oldest scar and turned toward Basalt.
Brown vessels inside Recovery Walker Nine's cradle pulled tight. The wrist-wide opening spread until both withdrawn gauge-rail sockets became visible again.
The frame had found the living line.
Its other five legs crossed the far crop rows without stepping on a house. Each foot struck an irrigation support instead. Water stopped in three upper channels and surged through one lower spine.
Olan Dren's vent wheel took the first reversal.
The copper shaft kicked out of its wall and hit him below the ribs. Ura Vem caught the roof rope before Olan fell into the pump water. Havi Dren reached the old man's shoulders from the lower stair.
Olan's eyes remained open. No breath or pulse answered Ura's count.
Olan Dren was dead at Lower Gate.
The frame lifted one rear foot and placed it where the upper irrigation line had emptied.
