The high-frequency whine of the pneumatic calibration tools rattled the metal workbenches inside the assembly workshop, adding to the thick, tense atmosphere of the base's domestic sector. Delon leaned heavily over a scattering of loose integrated circuit boards, his fingers tightly gripping a copper soldering iron as he stared at the exposed wiring of the Frequency Shifter. The air in the workshop smelled heavily of molten lead, sulfur, and the cold grease of heavy machinery.
"The copper threading on these standard underground relays cannot sustain a continuous inverse waveform, Victor," Delon said, adjusting his magnifying visor as he pointed toward a slightly blackened capacitor. "If we do not optimize the efficiency of these frequency-catching circuits right now, the entire unit wil
