SIX THREADS THROUGH THE PLATES

Charge increased for thermal obstruction. Holder absent. Reduction available upon full recovery of the cargo. The notification took over the panel turned to the wall and stained the uneven plaster blue. Ilva read it in the reflection on the metal of the six plates. The utility company had added to Antônio's debt the cost of decontaminating the channels, though the ants had got into them before the threshold was cleared. The charge was equal to twelve days of household cooking. In twenty minutes, it would pass to the guesthouse contract. Breno arrived with the terminal strapped to his forearm and a maintenance case hanging from his right hand. He had come to collect the plates for the consortium, and the skin by his nails was open in three places, eaten by the fluid used to clean thermal parts. He crouched in front of the bench and lit the first channel with an optical rod. There are larvae in there, he said. Célia moved the buriti bark aside to keep the colony's trail intact. The ants were already going down into the crack beside the duct, carrying the brood they had managed to get out. Two were circling a larva stuck at the mouth of the plate. Breno opened the case. He took out long tweezers, a braided cleaning wire and a narrow collector that sucked particles into a transparent reservoir. No piece could receive water. Moisture would react with the inner coating and condemn the whole batch. If it's condemned, the charge stays with him, said Ilva. It stays with the address. The bar, closed for food, still served as a legal body. Antônio could reach his son or die on the road, the debt would find the counter first. Breno rested the plate on two wedges. He fed the wire into the upper channel until it met resistance. He turned it once, drew back two centimetres and tried another angle. The braid came back covered in a pale mass of broken eggs and mineral dust. He wiped the wire on an absorbent membrane and repeated. On the third pass, the channel spat out a live ant, which ran over his wrist. Célia caught it with the spoon and carried it to the bark. The suction has to start from the other side, said Ilva. You know how to clean this. I know how to read flow. She held the collector at the outlet while Breno pushed the braid. The reservoir received dust first, then fragments of fibre, then three intact larvae. The instrument's motor heated Ilva's marked palm. She shifted her hand. The short cable forced the two of them to stay bent over the metal. Nael separated the clean plates from the ones still blocked, dragging the wedges with his foot. When he was young, the ground behind the bar had grass up to the shin and a strip of hard earth where he and Antônio played football. Now the dust of the pit filled the cooling channels meant for the datacenter, and the insects sought in the equipment the heat the soil had lost after the sparse vegetation dried up. The first plate took nine minutes. The second, twelve. On the third, the braid jammed halfway. Breno pulled. The wire did not give. He pulled again and opened another split by his nail. A dark drop fell on the metal. Biological contamination, warned the terminal. He held his breath, wiped the drop with the membrane and brought his finger to the reader. The utility company offered automatic leave and transfer of the task to remote maintenance. Accepting would preserve his access and close the batch as damaged at the address. Breno refused with his wounded fingerprint. Ilva held the plate on its side. He loosened the outer fitting with a torque wrench, a quarter turn at a time. The coating resisted until it gave a dry crack. Célia stood up. Nael stopped moving the wedges. It didn't break, said Breno. He took out an inner sheet thin as skin. The braid showed, wound around a lump of earth, eggs and root fibres. He undid the knot with the tweezers. The metal tip slipped and cut the base of his thumb. Blood ran to his wrist before he pressed the membrane over the wound. Ilva refused the renewal of custody with her iris, and the panel transferred the six plates to the consortium as soon as they were clean. Ilva took the tweezers. Breno guided the pressure, two millimetres to the left, release, turn, pull. She took out the whole blockage. Inside were seven live larvae. Célia carried the seven to the crack. The three remaining plates were opened and suctioned. At the end, the collector's reservoir was full to the red mark, and the short band on Ilva's leg had dug a deep line into the skin. Breno tested each channel with dry air. Six threads passed through the plates and moved the dust on the other side. The terminal recalculated the charge. One unit remained against Antônio, for unauthorised movement. The other eleven disappeared. Breno authenticated the recovery with his cut finger. His profile received a restriction for performing work after a bodily alert. Even so, he classified the entry of the ants as contamination prior to domestic custody. The cargo went up into the vehicle. On the bench remained the bark, two ants and a rectangle of less hot earth. Before leaving, Breno left the next order on the projection. The remaining unit would be settled if the holder returned within six hours. After that, the utility company would take one night from the guesthouse. Ilva looked at the road. Antônio was still heading in the opposite direction.