Perimeter Beacon

Night settled along the railyard corridor. I unclipped the spare heavy canvas roll from my load rig and spread it across the damp flagstone sill of the concrete drainage recess. Base insulation secured. To verify line-of-sight clearance, I retrieved a salvaged red reflective button and set it upright against a rusted rail spike in the ballast ten paces out. I activated my chest torch on low beam. The focused white light hit the red prism, bouncing a sharp ruby return directly back onto my respirator lenses. Optical perimeter verified. I leaned back into the dry recess, burner resting across my heavy boots.