Logan repaired her lamp.
Loose contact near the base.
Something ordinary.
Something solvable.
He preferred ordinary problems.
At 11:03, Ella appeared in the kitchen doorway.
Hair messy.
Warren dragging from one hand.
“Are you sad?”
Logan looked up.
“A little.”
“Because of work?”
“Yes.”
“Can you fix it?”
He thought.
“I don’t know.”
Ella climbed onto a chair.
“Is it like a puzzle?”
“Maybe.”
“Puzzles have answers.”
“Sometimes.”
She drank water.
Then looked at him.
“Your doors are okay, right?”
Logan froze.
“What?”
“The ones at work.”
“Why?”
“You said they were wrong.”
He had not realized how much she heard.
“Most of them are okay.”
“Most?”
“Go back to bed.”
Ella frowned.
“That was not an answer.”
Logan laughed quietly.
“You sound like your mother.”
“I know.”
She did not.
But he liked hearing it.
At 11:52, his phone rang.
Jason.
Logan stared.
Three breaths.
Answered.
Jason did not say hello.
“Mercy triggered.”
Logan stood immediately.
“Who was inside?”
“Three maintenance on B7.”
“Hurt?”
“No.”
“Confirmed?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Jason explained.
Pressure fault.
Lockdown.
Egress sequence.
Audit restoration.
Connor’s failed override.
Logan walked toward Ella’s room.
Stopped in the doorway.
She slept under warm lamplight.
Jason continued.
“We have two on B5 behind a mechanical failure.”
Logan’s eyes closed.
“Door thirty-two?”
Silence.
“How did you know?”
“It was overdue six weeks ago.”
Jason swore softly.
Then Charlotte came onto the line.
“Logan.”
He said nothing.
“I was wrong.”
Two words.
No executive phrasing.
No caveat.
Logan looked at Ella.
Charlotte continued.
“I need you here.”
Logan’s first instinct was anger.
Not at being fired.
At being right.
He hated being right when right meant somebody could die.
He whispered:
“Current B5 air status?”
Jason answered.
“Degrading slowly.”
“Any immediate toxicity?”
“No.”
“Fire?”
“No.”
“Pressure?”
“Stable.”
“Good.”
Logan grabbed his jacket.
Ella stirred.
“Daddy?”
He walked over.
“Yes?”
Half asleep, she asked:
“Someone stuck behind a door?”
Logan stopped.
“Yes.”
“Are you helping?”
“Yes.”
Ella nodded.
“Okay.”
Then went back to sleep.
Mrs. Hadley lived across the hall.
Seventy-two.
Retired nurse.
She opened the door wearing a blue robe.