THE HOLLOW IN THE SOLE

Ilva was listening for the fourth time to the reply she had not yet sent when Antônio called from the porch. Her voice came out of the panel too low, then gained volume on the last word, where the predictive machine had cleaned away a hesitation. The man from the other town had asked whether he could come. She had answered that Buritaçu was hot, that the hostel did not serve food, that it might be better to wait. The channel kept both breaths and discarded the interval between them as noise. Nael waited behind Antônio, the split sandal hanging from two fingers. Fifty-nine hours remained for the visit to the route. The consortium had authorised the approach to the licensed polygon, but required a companion with a recognised field history. Ilva erased the reply. The panel kept an auditable copy for thirty days. Come in, she said. The luminous band on the threshold lit up under Antônio's feet. The house had been under occupancy review since Tiago's visit, and every body had to declare a reason before crossing. Antônio brought his face close to the reader. He reported route preparation. The light travelled over his eyelids, found the guarantee already given and released his entry for forty minutes. Nael stepped forward. The reader asked for a link. Guest, said Ilva. Guest not enabled for territorial activity, answered the house. He held the sandal against his chest. The clip taken out of it had left a dark hollow in the sole, as wide as a fingertip. On the other side of the threshold there was shade, a jug with less than a glass of water and the bench where he used to sort the bad grains from the corn. The distance to that bench was less than a step. Ilva opened the domestic permissions. The old companion profile appeared suspended since the forbidden road had been incorporated into the operational area. There was an alternative. A temporary dependant could enter under the resident's responsibility and use her territorial history during an assisted trip. How long, asked Antônio. Ninety days of link, answered the panel. And to leave? The resident ends it. Nael looked at Ilva. She had already selected the option. The visit authorisation would lose validity before the review of his profile reached the first attendant, and Antônio's guarantee would be converted into administrative cost. Three weeks of ice sold at the bar, the projected charge calculated. It's only to get across today, she said. The reader demanded Nael's iris. He tilted his face, missed the height, tried again. The yellow frame narrowed until it fit his left eye. Ilva authenticated with her fingerprint. The threshold changed to blue. Nael came in. The house announced active domestic link. At the same instant, the route declaration lost one of its two independent validators. The panel marked Nael as a person protected by Ilva, and therefore tied to the technical source that would sustain the challenge. The visit was still permitted, but the consortium added the requirement of a third witness with no residential relation. Ilva read the change. She did not go back to the termination screen. Take off the sandal, she said. That sole will split before the climb. They sat at the table. She heated a repair blade on the stove and cut a strip of material from her own support band, from the part that no longer touched the wound. Nael watched the scissors advance through the stiff fabric. He did not ask her to stop. Antônio opened on the panel the list of accepted witnesses. Divina appeared barred by shared responsibility in the sampling. Edna was listed as an interested technical agent. Osmar could validate, provided the territorial harmonisation authorised his absence. The authorisation cost more than remained in Antônio's balance. Ilva fitted the strip into the hollow of the sandal. She pressed the heated edges until the sole closed over the reinforcement. At the third pressing, the fabric absorbed a dark stain and hardened. Nael put it on. He walked from the table to the door, came back, dragged his foot to test it. The patch held. Beside the stove, the audited channel opened by itself the message from the man in the other town. The question was still there. If I come, will you let me in. Ilva pushed the projection away with her forearm. The panel moved his voice up above the list of witnesses, where the two waits came to occupy the same light. Antônio found a possibility. The consortium accepted a resident without contractual link, provided entry to the area was authorised by someone included in the original declaration. Ilva chose Nael's name before he read the conditions. By authorising another person, he would lose the right to speak during the visit. His memory would serve only as a route. Hollow stone and spring could be pointed at, never spoken by him. Look at me, she said. Nael stayed on his feet. The deadline fell to fifty-eight hours. Outside, the heat had bent the new leaves of the buriti towards the house. A tracking camera turned on the eaves and found the door open. Ilva waited for his iris to confirm the transfer. Nael passed over the blue threshold, now authorised to guide and forbidden to testify. Antônio went out after him. Neither of them said goodbye. The man's question sounded again in the empty kitchen. If I come, will you let me in. From the porch, Nael spoke without looking back. The hollow stone comes before the spring.