Alex read the timestamps beside the surviving confirmations. Andrew's route had received acknowledgments while ordinary emergency channels recorded unanswered calls. Alex checked one time against a recovery report from the same street. People had been trying to reach the city's guards while its private equipment was still sending observations upward.
Above him, another set of footsteps crossed the hall toward the recovered bodies. Alex looked from the unanswered emergency calls to the private channel's last acknowledgment. Andrew's people were still watching.
"Can they erase this archive through the relay?" Alex asked.
The attendant looked at the active address, then at the damaged status of the central network.
"I don't know what access they still have."
Alex drew a short line of runes across the room's outgoing connection and separated it from the active network.
The local archive stayed lit. The relay status stopped refreshing.
