"We should change that," she said. Marcus shrugged. "Only when it's practical and safe. There are cases where the reading itself is dangerous enough to act first."
Leila grinned. "You really don't like absolute rules, do you?" He considered the question. "I like rules that tell you why they exist. Then you know when to stop and call somebody who understands more than you."
During his second week, Peter handed him an audio-system complaint from conference room seven. The wall-mounted speakers worked for several minutes and then cut out, leaving the room's video system functioning but silent. Two service vendors had recommended replacing the central amplifier, and someone in purchasing had already requested a quote. Marcus read the incident notes, checked the approved test procedure, and asked Leila to watch the connection status while he inspected the accessible wiring with the system safely powered down.
One connector was loose enough to interrupt the low-voltage supply when the cabinet door vibrated. They confirmed the failure using the proper test equipment, replaced the damaged terminal, and repeated the test while gently closing and opening the cabinet. The audio remained stable. Peter read the final work order, stared at the price of the amplifier they had almost purchased, and shook his head.
"You have a strange way of approaching things," Peter said. "You start by assuming the expensive part might be innocent." Marcus smiled. "I start by assuming we don't know yet. The expensive part gets the same chance to prove itself as the cheap one." Peter laughed, then asked him to help review two earlier cases with similar symptoms.
By the end of the third week, Marcus had filled half his notebook with unfamiliar terms and learned to navigate the work-order system well enough that Leila no longer had to remind him where to save attachments. His hands had recovered some of their old confidence, though there were still moments when he read a modern controller diagram and felt briefly out of his depth. He came home tired in a different way, his mind full of questions instead of his arms heavy from cleaning. Emma noticed he began talking about work at dinner again.
"You sound happier," she said one night while they washed dishes together. Marcus considered the word. "I think I am," he admitted. "But it's not because cleaning was bad. It's because there's a part of me I stopped using for a while, and I get to use it again."
Emma handed him a plate. "Like when we put my bike away all winter and then you took it out and fixed the chain?" Marcus smiled. "Pretty much exactly like that."