Chapter 34 | Part 3 | The Timeline

Szoravel cleared a space on the workbench for the map.

“Three stages. Calibration, approach, execution. Your affinity match is confirmed. Sustained control is not.”

“How long for calibration?”

“Ten days minimum. Passive measurements with the Null present. No activation.”

Drusniel studied the instruments. He wanted to know which readings mattered.

“Five days for the approach. Crystal density increases near the barrier. Record every physical response. Stop at the marked stations for assessment.”

“And execution?”

“Conditional on the readings and the missing components. No activation on timing alone. Failure of any requirement suspends execution.”

Ten days here, five on the road, with time left to check the readings. Three weeks, if nothing delayed them.

Three weeks. Drusniel could live with three weeks.

He would have time to test what Szoravel told him. Time to learn enough to refuse a step that didn’t match the readings.

He let himself breathe more easily.

“Three weeks,” Szoravel said to Nyxara. “No interference with calibration.”

Nyxara remained at the widest point of the chamber, watching him.

She said nothing.

“No acceleration without verified readings,” Szoravel added.

Nyxara nodded once.

She said nothing.

Drusniel kept watching her. On the road she’d challenged almost everything he said. She hadn’t challenged a single part of this plan.

She wasn’t arguing.

Srietz stood just inside the secondary corridor. His ears tipped forward.

“She’s not arguing,” he said. Low. To himself. But the outpost’s acoustics were built for Drow hearing, and Drusniel caught every word. “She argues about everything.”

Szoravel continued arranging the instruments.

“Calibration begins tomorrow morning. Hold the Null on the measuring disc. Do not activate it.”

“And Nyxara?”

“Observer only. No changes to the procedure.”

Nyxara stood.

“Three weeks,” she said. “Your recommendation.”

“It is,” Szoravel said. He looked at her directly for the first time since the session began. “The winds will not shift before then. You know this.”

“I know the winds.”

She moved toward the door. Paused in the narrow doorframe, her shoulders almost touching the ancient stone on either side. “Three weeks. I’ll be nearby.”

She left through the narrow doorway without looking back.

Srietz’s ears were flat.

“She didn’t argue,” he said. To no one. To everyone. “She never doesn’t argue.”

Szoravel adjusted an instrument and did not answer.

Drusniel looked at the empty chair. Nyxara hadn’t agreed to wait. She’d only repeated the number.

He wished he’d asked before she left.

End of Chapter 34.3 —> 34.4: The Price of Answers: The Night