Perimeter Marker

Step one: perimeter recon. I pushed up from the carpet pile and brought both boots underneath me. Traction on synthetic fiber: solid. Five paces ahead, a sheer wooden pillar rose from the floor—the leg of a low coffee table. Between here and there, an asset lay half-buried in the pile: a discarded yellow hexagonal pencil. Heavy timber casing, intact graphite core. I knelt down, braced my shoulder against the shaft, and rolled it into alignment against the table base. Perimeter mark established. Sector one mapped.