The Night Circuit is the maintenance register of the city. Each of the sixteen districts on the loop line has one service outstanding, and each must be acknowledged within the same maintenance cycle: a relay to hold, a beam to cross, a runaway delivery cart to stop, a set of steam valves to shut, or one of four Service supervisors to answer in its yard.
District acknowledgements are accepted only within the current cycle. A completed register opens a final occupancy check at the original intake beacon in district 01, and it has to be finished before first light.
The final return
Spoiler What the completed register records
The last clipboard comes back with every address accounted for, and a small one written beneath the total in the space reserved for corrections. The message reads: One resident awaiting return. We have left a light on.
It records one return for this maintenance cycle. It does not wake the city or open the facility below, and the next night begins another cycle.
See also
Records cited
- The Night Circuit register and One Resident Awaiting Return (Beyond Dawn)