Torghul sat across the table. Siban took the position to his right. The lamp was burning between them, and the winter air pressed in from outside, the kind of cold that had been sitting on the camp long enough that no one noticed it anymore.
Batu looked at Torghul.
"The junction gap at the lower river," he said. "What produced it."
Torghul answered without pause. "The relay timing ran the plan. The arc came wider and faster than the plan assumed. The cycle kept running what it had been given."
"Those on the right flank."
"They held their section. Did exactly what they'd been told."
"Yes," Batu said. "They did."
He let it sit for a moment.
"The gap came from the space between the relay and the field. Between the plan running correctly and the ground moving differently. Those on that flank held their position and couldn't read what was forming around it."
He kept his voice flat. "That's the problem."
Torghul held his gaze and said nothing.
