The word return remained on the sheet. Now it was the number in the separate reserve column that would have to become smaller.
Darae looked at Narae's fuel sheet. Mujin pointed to the dividing line. While the first tug held its connection, the habitat's attitude was slowly changing. They had not finished with connection; they were choosing again what state could safely follow it.
The same local operation continued, twenty-five days after the day on which all twenty-three residents had completed their temporary handover at Raon. Only the first tug was attached to the five-module habitat. The second held separately. Darae, Mujin and Seo were aboard Narae; the residents and their personal pouches remained at Raon.
Field measurements showed permitted loads at the first connection. But the habitat's slow turning was hiding the rear reference surface from Narae's observation position. They could no longer make the checks required before the next joint stage from here.
“Could I take a closer picture?” Darae asked.
Seo explained that enlarging an image could not reveal something outside its view. Mujin did not push Narae alongside the habitat. Another position required renewed review of relative motion, communications and withdrawal routes. Changing a camera angle and moving a vessel were different-sized decisions.
The first tug did not increase load; the second did not approach an apparently empty space. Safety's specialist read current holding conditions and the next check time. Holding had thermal and fuel limits too. Waiting could not serve as an endless answer.
Mujin reported Narae's available adjustment range. Approach-and-retry allocation, separate reserve and Raon return fuel occupied different lines. Time already spent waiting was reflected in current quantities. The reserve on their departure sheet could not simply be assumed unchanged.
Safety explained two options: end work through prescribed release and withdrawal, or move Narae along another permitted observation route to regain essential coverage. The latter required actual use of separate planned reserve. Success would not give that fuel back.
Darae wanted to ask whether releasing the first connection would make today a failure. Instead, she asked what the new position would still not show. Seo said it would allow exterior observation and relative-motion comparison, without proving internal soundness. They must decide with that limitation too.
The first candidate route was rejected. Its required clearance overlapped the second tug's abort-withdrawal area. Two thin lines on screen stood for real room in which vessels must retreat. Mujin did not choose Darae's best view at the cost of another vessel's way home.
The second candidate went farther around and used more reserve. Specialists calculated from actual thermal state, control capability, communications windows and return margin after interruption. The habitat and S-6 retained separate predicted paths. The detached service module did not become a convenient intermediate target.
Mujin read back the reserve-use ceiling, interruption criteria, surface to observe and approaches forbidden from the new position. Return fuel was not allocated to this adjustment. After checking each vessel's current state and receipt, Safety approved the limited route change.
“Can we use it because it's reserve?” Darae asked.
Mujin shook his head. “We kept it so we could meet the conditions for using it. Having some left doesn't mean we can use all of it.”
He offered no longer explanation. Pre-maneuver checks began. Darae rechecked her bag and seat restraints and paused report entry. Turning her body toward the window would not improve observation. Seo handled designated measurements, without trying to perform another ship's maintenance by hand.
Narae began the approved adjustment. Outside, the habitat seemed to slide sideways. Darae did not record that the home had moved; Narae's relative motion was changing. After Mujin's brief report, actual consumption entered the reserve column.
They did not immediately continue after the first adjustment. Position, relative motion, temperature and remaining fuel were compared. Darae noticed a slight change in the return line on the first new image. The specialist separated a prediction update from actually secured return conditions. An unchanged line color guaranteed nothing.
The new data retained required return margin. Some planned reserve was already spent; what remained was smaller. Darae discovered the old, pre-use number in her own queued summary. She entered actual consumption history and updated balance before sending it.
The first tug held connection during Narae's move. Each operator monitored that vessel's loads and attitude; the second tug reported its holding plan. Narae's adjustment did not become a merged fuel expenditure for three ships. Their states stayed on separate lines in Darae's summary.
The rear reference surface emerged. Light touched an edge, then the joint behind it. Seo sent imagery and measurements to the designated maintenance specialist. The shape did not become a claim that the habitat had torn. It was material for comparing unexpected relative deformation between two modules.
A new observation appeared beside video from the earlier position. Similar orientations briefly confused Darae about which was newer. She identified the material by time, vessel and observation position, rather than saying the one on the right. Seo checked that the specialist had received the same material.
A small black spot followed an old repair mark, not new damage. Darae had recorded that identifying feature. Beside it, however, a reference plate showed slight orientation differences across other data too. The specialist would separate the mark from movement behind it. Recognizing one familiar feature could not make its neighbor safe.
Waiting for another observation, Darae began reducing reserve consumption to a whole-number summary, then stopped. Her explanation did not require detailed navigation figures, but it must preserve the basis of actual use and remaining margin. The specialist's assessment stayed linked to original data; residents needed to know that reduced reserve constrained their next choices. She needed a short explanation that did not conceal what had become smaller.
The first reading suggested a lighting boundary resembling a structural gap. Some dark lines vanished in other angles and times, but the small change between reference surfaces remained. The specialist separated lighting effects from possible actual movement. Clearer video still required more than one impression.
The second tug's observations confirmed a related change. These were different views and measurements, not two vessels rereading one screen. Exact damage location and cause remained unsettled. The assessment nevertheless changed: further joint-load application must wait for additional connection checks.
Mujin rejected a proposal to move farther and see farther inward in one sweep. They had achieved the authorized observation task; additional movement required renewed role and reserve calculations. Seo received confirmation that the necessary material was secured. Photographing every surface was Darae's anxiety, not a condition of refusing to abandon the home.
Giwan sent a schedule inquiry. Delayed towing would affect his company's cargo commitments too. Darae did not dismiss unwelcome words. She had operations send the actual delay range and next notice time. Necessary risk checks did not remove another person's right to ask how long they must wait.
Raon's support staff received the designated summary: first connection maintained; some Narae planned reserve used; return conditions retained; next stage held for further structural checks. Residents had not moved; pouches remained at Raon. They did not select only good news and promise the home back soon.
Haeseong's reply asked one question: could they return without using more? Through the professional route, Mujin confirmed current return margin and the actual abort plan remained. It was not an unconditional promise of return under every circumstance. It clearly was not a story of sacrificing return fuel for the home.
Maru was not part of that live exchange. A later summary could be heard during the scheduled daytime explanation. Raon's adult support duty received material and handled living arrangements. Darae did not try to calm herself with Maru's quick calculations.
After the long observation, Seo checked the water pouch. This time Darae touched the closed mouth first, then secured it. Even one floating droplet needed someone to collect it. On a day of large decisions, eating and resting in permitted places still belonged within the work.
During a brief rest, the habitat's window edge reappeared. Darae remembered the folded table photograph. The actual table remained inside. Personal pouches, property agreements and Raon support were not attached to the structure outside. Their promise to distinguish a future home from present life mattered here too.
The specialist opened a module-by-module status sheet. The possible problem centered near one connection, not all five modules. Which module might require separation was still undecided. Darae read a new photograph's label and linked its identity to the current drawing: a small check her own profession allowed.
Preserved original-design material was requested to compare the relevant separation function with current configuration. Nobody proposed using the test model as actual separation equipment. Certified vessel equipment, original module functions and field conditions required distinct review. Detaching one box on paper was easy.
Mujin closed further fuel use and reported the currently permitted observation state. Planned reserve had actually been spent to investigate risk; return fuel was preserved. Reduced reserve carried into the next plan. Successful adjustment did not restore the pre-operation number on the sheet.
The second tug transmitted independent measurements of the joint and requested review before joint loading. The first read back its holding limits. The question was no longer how hard they could pull. First they must discover whether a connection existed that must not be pulled together.
Darae opened her cargo sheet, where five boxes formed one row. The home was still the same home, but its parts were not in the same condition. Before one actual joint, even the words the whole home must now divide: which connection must they release to protect what could remain?