"Ghk—!"
The strangled noise escaped from more than one person in the crowd.
Because frankly, they didn't know how to react.
Who do you call in a situation like this? Who's in charge? The examiners? The Emperor? A priest?
Was it even legal to witness this? Were they supposed to look away? Clap? Cry?
No one knew. But what Master Mechanic Allan knew—deep in his bones—was that he'd nearly choked on his own saliva after he accidentally looked up.
He hadn't meant to.
He had sat down determined not to watch this farce. Not a single second of it. He wouldn't give this circus the honor of his attention. He had better things to do. Like pretending to read mecha calibration charts while ignoring the ridiculous cheers echoing around him.
His plan was simple: tune everything out, zone back in at the end, and report back to House Zorath with a single line summary like: "Yes, it happened."
But then…
Silence.
At first, he didn't notice.
