The city dimmed in stages. Each night at ten the blackout order advanced one column eastward — first the government quarter on the left, then the markets, then the residential blocks. By the fourth night the entire grid was dark. But the eastern docks defied the order. The longshoremen kept their floodlights burning, loading ships by their own schedule. The rightmost column blazed while the rest of the city slept. The authorities restored full power the following week, and the whole grid lit up as if the curfew had never happened.