Chapter 80: The Rule Applied to His Side

Evan stood behind the starting rail with his wrist supported and another student holding the grip he should have used. Dante noticed him before the bell, the gates, or the team in matching jackets. He had spent the walk to the court thinking about the course. Seeing the replacement gave last night’s argument a place inside it. Nell was absent from the event staff table. The university had removed her from those duties while the restraint was considered, and the supervisor had taken Dante’s account before letting his team continue.

Neither he nor Jett had lifted the bar. That was true, useful, and less comforting than he had expected. Jett checked the carrier’s front rope. "They accepted the replacement. Evan’s coaching them."

"Good," Dante said, meaning it even while hoping they would lose fairly.

Lucan tested the rope hinge holding their light screen. He had heard what happened and asked the necessary questions without offering Dante an easy version in which a difficult student deserved a difficult night. The carrier waited on the assembly marks, its bell hanging freely inside the joined frame. Dante’s grip stood at the rear, linked to the ordinary bank. Jett would guide from the front-right rope while Lucan managed the screen on the left.

They could change positions between runs. They could not touch the clapper, replace supplied parts, or decide halfway through that the examiner’s controls belonged to them. Dante found the final rule unnecessarily specific. At the signal, he raised the carrier to knee height. The charge indicator shifted, and the bell swung once without ringing. Jett walked ahead, keeping the rope angled away from the front corner. The first gate lifted. Dante guided the carrier beneath it, watching the rear board as it cleared.

"Left now," he called at the next turn.

"Not yet," Jett answered. The correction struck his pride before the gate struck anything else. Dante looked again. Their front had reached the corner, but the rear still sat beneath the previous bar.

He stopped the forward movement. Jett waited, shifted the rope, and guided them through after the bar rose. They lost several seconds and kept the bell quiet. Lucan adjusted the screen when its weight pulled toward his side. Dante moved the lift’s meeting point as Honey had shown him, keeping the rack level instead of wasting charge by raising everything higher. The carrier crossed the final mark. He lowered its feet onto the stand, ended the lift, and let himself breathe without pretending that had been necessary for dramatic effect.

Dante checked the carrier before looking at the board. The screen hinge had stretched a little, and one rope had slipped toward the end of its peg. Lucan marked the position while Jett steadied the frame. A staff examiner watched them tighten the existing attachment, confirming that they were adjusting their own supplied pieces rather than replacing the build between rounds.

The three of them worked without needing to agree who had noticed the problem first. Dante held the weight while Lucan reset the rope, then waited until Jett’s fingers were clear before lowering it. He liked the small confidence in their movements, the way each expected the others to do the necessary part. That was worth more than a team that only waited for him to speak, even if it would never sound as impressive in a declaration.

Their time appeared above the lane. It was respectable, which would have been more satisfying if the next team had not immediately improved it. Evan called the turn from behind the rail. His replacement waited for the rear corner to clear and guided the carrier through without the pause Dante had caused. Their bell remained silent. The scoreboard placed them ahead. Dante watched Evan clap his teammate’s shoulder with his good hand. He had lost the chance to make the run himself and still found a way to matter to it. That was annoyingly difficult to resent properly.

Jett passed Dante a cloth for the grip. "Both teams qualified. We have the final to fix our time."

"You were right about the turn," Dante said.

"I know, because I was standing beside it," Jett said, passing over the cloth.

Dante looked at Lucan. "Your screen didn’t pull the joint loose."

"Were you hoping it would?" Lucan asked, checking the hinge for their next run.

"I was prepared to be disappointed in you." Lucan grinned, taking the compliment without asking Dante to make it easier. The exchange settled something between the three of them before the next demonstration began.

Posey met Dante beside the water table. She had tied her hair back, and a pale mark from her wrist ribbon remained above one hand.

"Did you want me beside you," she asked quietly, "or did you want me to say this morning was unfair?"

He looked toward Evan and the replacement. His mind offered a speech about how many things were not his fault. "Beside me," he said. "The rest would take too long."

Posey smiled and leaned against his arm. He wanted to ask for both things anyway, but the weight of her beside him was enough to keep the second request inside. Honey marked the angle of their delayed turn on the sketch. Rhae made Dante carry his own equipment case when he reached toward hers, then opened a bottle for him with the efficient tenderness of somebody unwilling to perform every available service. He drank, thanked her, and studied the final layout.

A low rack stood behind each outer net. Examiners loaded padded balls into the launch arms, aiming through narrow openings toward the carriers’ marked route. The balls would strike equipment, fall into the catch gutter, and be collected before the next run. Nobody was meant to be a target. That did not make the bell easier to protect. The demonstration carrier moved into the first lane. A ball came from the left, struck its exposed side, and set the clapper ringing. Five seconds appeared on the board.

Lucan held their screen against the sketch. "We can cover that side and still fit under the low gate."

The next ball came from the opposite net. It struck the unprotected bell before the operator had even turned. Another penalty appeared, followed by a third when the first launch arm sent its next shot. Dante watched the alternating paddles. One screen could not stay on both sides, and making it wider would only trap them under a gate. Jett followed his gaze toward the launch arms. His expression changed into the one Dante had seen through the stadium glass, patient until the pass finally had somewhere to go.

"I could call them," he said. Lucan looked at the rope hinge. Dante looked at the narrow opening ahead.

Across the court, the team in matching jackets was already moving its shield before the next ball left the rack.