Tension Calibration

Heat baked the gravel path. Needed functional counterweight, not another static hide. Beside a dry dandelion stalk lay a discarded wooden ice-cream stick and an intact, blue elastic rubber band. High elasticity. I stepped onto the flat wood splint, boot ridges gripping dry grain. Clamped the rubber loop around one tapered end, then hauled with both gauntlets, walking backward across the rough pebbles. The band stretched taut, trembling under five pounds of pull. I levered the free loop over an embedded quartz rock. A trip-mechanism primed. Mechanical spring-trap operational. Sector defense upgraded.