The lab kept its own weather - warm at the benches, bright at the edges, quiet in the middle. The prototype lay open like a ribcage across two tables, cables draped in patient curves. A fan clicked and pushed the smell of metal and citrus through the room. Raizen tightened a clamp until the reading reached the number he wanted, then let it go by a hair because numbers liked to lie when you stared.
Seven days behind the glass of the Spire schedule, and the first three had already tried to grow teeth.
