Bram remembered the woman’s handwriting better than he wanted to.
It had appeared on gate tallies, amended duty rosters, requests for equipment that arrived too late or went to the wrong unit. There had been years when he could recognize it without looking at the name beneath. Familiarity made his first reaction to her message immediate, intimate, and unsuitable for deciding whether the time in it was true.
Sera asked for the older document.
He brought the retained copy she had supplied after the hunters’ rescue. The two messages shared a contact route and a signature mark. Their phrasing differed where the purpose differed. Sera checked the marks against the retained record and asked Bram to describe what he had actually received, rather than what he believed his former colleague intended.
“An internal startup order,” he said. “A time earlier than the public announcement. She says it’s current.”
“Did you see it inside the chamber?”
“No.”
“Did she say she could give access?”
