The local file jumped from one timestamp to another without recording the readings between them.
Cho copied the original output to two storage devices before opening it in the analysis program. She labeled each copy with the file identifier and the time of transfer. Sera retained her handwritten notes; the site officer kept the separate paper log. None of them attempted to fill the missing interval by interpolation.
“What did the display show while it was missing?” Kellan asked.
“I saw the pulse and wrote the time,” Sera said. “I didn’t watch every update. The display may have continued showing a value while the file failed to record it.”
Cho checked the instrument’s local diagnostic log. It showed the device had remained powered, but the log itself used the same internal clock as the measurement file. It could not independently establish what had happened during the gap.
The site officer brought the report confirming the distant gate’s opening time. The report came from a separate response channel, but its timestamp had been entered after the opening by a person at the site. Cho asked whether the person had recorded the time on a synchronized clock or estimated it afterward.
The officer called the distant team. The answer was mixed: one responder had noted the time on a watch; the dispatch system had recorded the call several minutes later. The watch had been compared with the dispatch clock at the start of the shift, not immediately before the gate opened.
