The chair opposite Tessa remained empty when the public contact opened.
She had asked for someone to sit there who could stop her if she made the explanation too large. The neighborhood organizer chosen for the role had gone to help a man whose cart had overturned outside. Tessa could see the wheels through the doorway, one spinning above the pavement while three people lifted the load away.
“Wait?” the technician asked.
People were already listening at other contacts. Every minute of silence gave someone else time to attach an answer to the leaked map.
“No,” she said. “Start.”
She put both feet on the floor. Eli stood beside the far wall, where his face would not become the first thing an audience associated with the announcement. On the table lay the actual findings, the transport contacts, and the questions that still had no answer. Tessa moved the unanswered sheet closest to her.
“The demonstration strengthened the public barrier,” she began.
She heard her own voice return through a distant open receiver in the hall. Someone closed the door. The echo disappeared.
