Page 119 of Pocket Wife

Prepared.

I feel the word move through the room.

Not offered.

Not arranged if needed.

Prepared.

Reviewer Noll lifts one hand. “I will have order.”

Salo’s gaze goes to me. “Specialist Veyr, you may answer tribunal questions within your assigned role. Provide historical and structural assessment of the registry’s relation to the cistern.”

I bow my head once. “The registry was not discovered in the water column. It was found offset below the old overflow channel. The chamber design appears intended to separate the record from the reserve while tying its access protocol to civic water duty.”

Corvek says, “Appears.”

“Yes,” I say. “Because Helix interrupted neutral examination.”

Sen enters beside Corvek on the executive feed. “Specialist Veyr is not an environmental engineer.”

“No,” I say. “But the design is historical infrastructure, and that is within my discipline.”

Noll turns toward the cistern feed. “Preservation Officer Kell, do you confirm offset location?”

Kell’s voice is formal. “Confirmed. Registry chamber is outside the primary water shaft, below an overflow stone. No visible breach into potable reserve. Neutral shield remains intact.”

“Any contamination detected?”

“None on passive scan.”

Corvek answers quickly. “Passive scan cannot exclude internal release.”

Torren snaps, “There was no release.”

Noll’s expression hardens.

Torren stops himself. Barely. “Request permission to submit maintenance scan.”

“Granted,” Noll says.

The main display fills with a rough map of the cistern: water column, overflow channel, hidden chamber, neutral shield, surrounding stone. Torren has marked Helix’s temporary resonance reader in angry red.

I study the time stamps.

There.

I enlarge one sequence without speaking.

Salo notices. “Specialist?”

“The only active energy pulse recorded at the cistern prior to neutral shield placement came from Helix equipment.”

Corvek’s face does not move. “A diagnostic pulse.”

“Unauthorized.”

“A safety scan.”