The first discrepancy was small enough that Eli wanted to ignore it.
Juno’s sequence placed the local-path restoration just before the end of the engineer’s independently recorded interval. The engineer remembered beginning the movement earlier. If they used the instrument’s return mark as the moment the lever moved, the isolation appeared shorter than the engineer believed it had been. If they used her note without checking what its mark described, they gave the circuit more time than they could demonstrate.
“It doesn’t change the departure,” Eli said.
“No,” Juno answered. “It changes what we say someone else can fit inside the window.”
He sat back. The family representative watched from the opposite side of the table, beside the older woman who had opposed the attempt. She had come for the review after receiving the full initial account. Her clasp remained at home. She listened to the timing dispute without asking them to hurry.
The local engineer brought the lever assembly’s spare indicator, unconnected to the live path. She demonstrated how the physical movement preceded the settled indicator by a small lag. Her own mark had recorded the start of the lever movement. Juno’s trace marked the return response after the circuit had settled. Neither was the instant the other observer had thought it was.
