THE RED MARK

You can come, said Ilva, and cut off the recording before her own voice could find an excuse. The channel kept nine seconds. The reply stayed suspended over the table, still without a recipient, while Antônio gathered the plates and Nael crushed between his fingers a grain that had hardened. Twelve hours remained until the administrative dawn, two fewer than until the dawn of the sky. The consortium counted the day by the authentication window. She brought her face close to the panel and chose to send. The predictive machine completed it, I can host you. Ilva removed the last sentence. She tried again. The machine offered, my house is available. She erased that too. The man needed to arrive as an independent witness. One night under her domestic responsibility would create link enough for the consortium to reject him before the climb. Antônio stacked the bowls. There's a room at the hostel, he said. It's locked. For lack of occupancy. Nael raised his head. Antônio managed three rooms above the bar, all closed for months because the regional platform had removed Buritaçu from the recommended routes. Keeping one of them available consumed credit for ventilation, automated cleaning and surveillance. After the kitchen went into environmental isolation, the hostel had also lost the right to serve breakfast. A guest bought a bed and received thirst. How much, asked Ilva. Antônio opened the establishment's balance. The projection rose over the table and lit up the flour stains. To reactivate a room for one night, the platform charged the inspection fee, in advance, plus a bodily guarantee from the person responsible. If the visitor did not turn up, the sum would be withheld for thirty days. The price was equal to seven portions of corn and to the rest of the credit Antônio was setting aside to speak with his son by extended presence. She saw the son's name lit on a smaller band. Antônio closed that part with his hand. I'll pay the inspection, she said. With what? Ilva opened the domestic credits. Nine units of thermal preparation remained until the end of the cycle. The house used one per pot, two when the hotplate went beyond twenty minutes. She transferred four to the hostel. The panel warned that the transfer would reduce the cooking time available. She authenticated with her fingerprint. Antônio stayed motionless. The guarantee is still missing. Nael pointed at her bowl. Eat it cold. She transferred two more units. The hostel accepted the provisional reactivation. On the floor above the bar, the room began to be inspected by the internal cameras. One sensor counted particles in the synthetic mattress, another measured fungus in the old plaster, another found in the floor the moisture that no longer existed in the air. The platform classified the space as habitable for twenty-four hours. Afterwards, when no one remembered any more the room opened of one's own free will, the expression went on charging. Antônio linked the reservation to the man's channel. The witness's independence still had to be preserved. If Ilva authorised the trip, the consortium could treat him as her guest. Nael would have to make the territorial invitation, although he was forbidden to speak during the visit. Do it by voice, said Antônio. He doesn't use these things properly. Nael wiped his fingers on the table cloth and came close to the panel. The first reading refused his face because he was looking at Antônio. The second accepted his iris and opened the route memory. Hollow stone appeared converted once again into low-density formation. Nael touched the expression until it disappeared. The authorisation field asked him to declare that he knew the invited person. I don't know him, he said. The declaration turned red. Antônio looked for another option. Below the main field there was a permission for civil presence indicated by the guide. It required responsibility for the route, without asserting a prior relationship. If the visitor left the permitted strip, Nael would lose for one cycle the accompanied access he had just received. He read the conditions slowly. His knee trembled under the table, out of reach of the projection. And if he gets the path wrong, he asked. You pay, said Antônio. Nael selected the permission. The authorisation demanded the visitor's civil name. Ilva opened his channel and showed the full identifier. Nael repeated the syllables once, without curiosity, then dictated them to the panel. The prediction corrected the pronunciation to another name. He said it again, slower. On the third attempt, the record matched. Outside, Eliane, the teacher who taught on the school terminals donated by the operation, passed carrying two screens under her arm. The mining logo lit up on their covers when she crossed the street camera. She stopped for a moment in front of the house, saw the three of them gathered and went on to the school before anyone could call her. The permission went into analysis. Eleven hours and forty minutes remained. Ilva sent the reply to the man. You can come. There is a room reserved at the hostel. Do not enter my house before the visit. The message left with the dryness of a sanitary notice. She listened to it once. On the second playback, she noticed that her breathing had disappeared between the first and the second sentence. Antônio went to prepare the room. Nael stayed on the porch, counting from memory the bends between the hostel and the licensed polygon. She took the still full bowl from the table and covered the corn. The next morning, she would have less heat to soften it. The man arrived while the sky was still dark, in a shared ride that left him in front of the bar. He carried a small bag strapped to his body and a red mark on his face, made by three hours of leaning against the glass. Antônio confirmed the reservation, Nael authorised the civil presence and the consortium accepted the third witness on a provisional basis. He crossed the street before going up to the room. The threshold of the house recognised his face and asked for a link. Ilva stayed on the inside. Between the two of them there was less than a step, the luminous band and the sentence she herself had sent. The man set the bag on the ground. You still cover the corn the same way, Ilva.