The second body lay beyond the gate’s visible edge when the recovery team reached it.
Tessa saw it only through the team’s transmitted image at first. A human figure on the pale ground, one leg bent beneath the other, clothing torn near the shoulder. No movement. The local officer kept visiting staff behind the line while the approved recovery procedure began.
She gave her name at the medical position and waited to be called. Wanting to help did not make another person near the carrier useful. The recovery staff had a route, equipment and assigned roles. She would not force them to invent one for her while they worked.
The passive recorder continued under its observer. Juno requested the relevant interval marked and the handling log retained. It could later show the pressure behavior around emergence, within its limits. It could not identify the dead or tell whether anyone had tried to follow.
The carrier came through the cordon under local custody. A recovery worker stopped at the medical desk to report a dressing and a small folded paper found in a secured inner pocket. Neither had been removed for public display. The pocket’s condition and contents had been photographed before separation.
