The board at hour twenty-eight showed Jax at fifth.
Vane read it from the twenty-second marker's dwell position at the central terrain's western edge, the late morning light coming through the canopy at a flatter angle than it had yesterday. Twenty-eight hours into the evaluation. The second day of the seventy-two hour format, the sun climbing toward midday.
Fifth place. The Blue Tower pair had been in the top five since deployment, running direct elimination from the first hour. Hunting high-value pairs rather than accumulating through objectives, the strategy that generated spectacular point spikes in the short term and asked a specific price in the medium term.
The price was showing now.
