The organizers’ statement reached the contestants before Tessa could confirm that Dain Kester’s family had been contacted.
It described him as a messenger who had brought an unstable item into the trial and caused the disturbance. The notice referred to a destroyed bag and an ongoing security review. It did not identify the item, explain how the conclusion had been reached, or address Sera’s warning about the gate reading.
Eli read the notice once, then again. “They killed him and now they’re blaming him.”
Tessa put the statement beside her medical notes. “They are blaming him. We don’t know that they deliberately killed him.”
“He brought a warning.”
“Yes. That matters. So do the details we can establish.”
Sera placed her note beside the statement: the time she had reported the unusual reading, the acknowledgment at the desk, and the later order to close internal barriers. The voice had not identified an authorized emergency. She had not identified the speaker.
Juno added the limited analysis of Tali’s recording. The copied file had a signature consistent with an internal recording event; it did not identify an operator or prove why the safety net deployed when it did. Tali had approved a limited release to the inquiry only of the result with Juno’s attribution and face protection.
