Doreen looked up sharply. “Can you promise that?”

“No. I can promise I’ll look for a safe way to reopen it after the move. The route needs a proper barrier while the press is moving.”

Doreen nodded. This time she did not demand certainty where none existed.

The glazier’s van pulled up. A young man climbed out, looked at the plywood, and whistled.

“Rough morning?” he asked.

Doreen stood. “I made it rough.”

She handed him her payment card.

11. THE SECOND MACHINE

The independent safety reviewer arrived Friday morning, one day before Founders’ Day. His name was Victor Han, and he had the patient manner of a man who had spent decades explaining inconvenient facts to people who wanted quick answers.

He walked the lane with Mara, Priya, Jamal, and Owen. Doreen was permitted to observe from behind a temporary barrier because she knew the neighborhood gates better than anyone on the project.

Victor measured the clearance at each bend, checked the platform’s steering response, and asked the crew to demonstrate the emergency stop. The first test passed. The second did not.

When the operator pressed the stop button, the hydraulic steering system continued to move for a fraction of a second. It was enough to shift the rear corner several inches. On a wide industrial road, the movement would have been unremarkable. In the narrow lane, inches mattered.

Owen insisted the system was within tolerance.

Victor shook his head. “Tolerance is not a substitute for separation.”

He asked for the spare steering unit to be brought from the loading bay. Owen hesitated.

“What?” Priya asked.

“The spare isn’t on site.”

“Where is it?”

“At the north warehouse.”

“How long to bring it?”

“Two hours, maybe three.”

Victor looked at his watch. “Then the move stays stopped.”

Doreen watched Owen’s face. He had been cornered by facts he couldn’t talk away. But when Victor stepped aside to take a call, Owen leaned toward Priya and spoke urgently.

“We have a delivery commitment. If we miss it, the client loses its installation slot. You need to consider the financial consequences.”

Priya replied, “I’m considering the human ones.”

The argument ended when Jamal returned from the loading bay with a new problem. A second machine, a compact self-propelled transporter, had been parked behind the press. Its battery pack was failing, and the crew needed to move it before they could access the steering unit.

“Why wasn’t that in the equipment plan?” Mara asked.

Owen looked away.

Jamal answered. “It arrived yesterday. They were going to use it to speed up the final transfer.”

Mara stared at the transporter. It was shorter than the main platform but nearly as wide as the lane. Its steering wheels could rotate independently, allowing it to move sideways. In the wrong hands, that made it dangerously unpredictable near the fences.