The safety officer glanced at Sarah.
“I am shutting it down because an active fault was reported, I observed irregular motion, and the maintenance boundary was removed before clearance.”
Sarah added nothing.
She did not need to.
Blake took one step toward the control cabinet.
“Fine. Run a diagnostic and prove it.”
Sarah looked at him.
“That is what I was doing when you entered the lane.”
A few trainees lowered their eyes.
The red safety flag still lay in the sand near Blake’s boot.
Daniel walked over and picked it up.
He brushed the grit from the fabric and handed it to Sarah.
“Here.”
She took it.
Blake watched the exchange.
“Everybody done making a point?”
Sarah folded the flag once.
“I would like to fix the machine.”
The control cabinet was reopened. Sarah isolated the target system and connected the diagnostic equipment she had been using before Blake interrupted her. The trainees were moved behind the safe observation line.
No live firing occurred.
The test was mechanical.
The first ring cycled normally.
The third did too.
The center ring completed six rotations.
On the seventh, it slowed.
On the eighth, it shifted laterally enough for the safety officer to see the movement without instruments.
Daniel swore under his breath.
Sarah stopped the system.
“Bent axle,” she said. “And the position sensor is compensating for it until the drift exceeds its tolerance.”
Blake stared at the ring.
