Mira knew the assignment before she finished reading it.
The service note described an evacuation from a flooded lower passage, a damaged guide line, and a replacement made with a particular knot because the supplied clamp would not hold. She had heard the teammate complain about that clamp. In the earlier future, the story had been told over a shared meal while somebody tried to mend the same person’s sleeve.
A name could repeat. The combination was harder to mistake.
She asked Sera to read the original entry independently before telling her what she expected. Sera checked the characters against the photographed page, then read the assignment reference aloud. Mira described the details she remembered. The service note included the same work, the same limitation, and the distinctive replacement.
“It is the person I knew,” Mira said.
Sera wrote the basis beneath the identification. “Connected through the service record. The discrepancy about this repair remains.”
“Yes.”
The answer cost Mira more than Eli could see from her face. He knew only the way she held the copy, careful to keep her fingers from the text as though touching the name would change what it said.
