The harbor office had two clocks, and the custodian began by asking which one everyone had used.
Eli sat near the open doorway with Tessa beside him. He had been brought in for the portion concerning the expedition’s sequence, not to occupy the witness chair. The engineer stood at that chair with his original sheet and a cup he had not touched. Outside the window, a local technician watched the isolated core bay through the corner of the warehouse. Juno had left the live observation with her and an Aegis observer before bringing the calibration record inside.
The wall clock ran ahead of the desk clock. The custodian noted the difference without correcting either entry already made. He asked for the extraction recorder’s time source and the harbor receiving time, then drew a line between the separate records. Eli watched the line being drawn. A disagreement small enough to dismiss here could become a false sequence later if someone needed the warning to arrive after the lift.
The engineer set his sheet on the clear part of the desk.
“The warning preceded the lift,” he said.
The guild supervisor entered before the custodian could ask his next question. He carried a prepared page in a clean folder and greeted the engineer by role rather than name. The courtesy of his voice made the interruption sound arranged.
