Page 64 of Pocket Wife

Because the technician’s case is still open, and inside it lies a portable scanner with one completed transfer mark.

Helix has seen the label.

Maybe not the contents.

But enough to prepare its next attack.

I face the archive, then the people gathered above, their shadows falling through the hatch.

“Director Kaun,” I say, “I request immediate seal of First Hall as neutral evidence ground, with resident witnesses retained as custodial parties.”

Kaun answers after a pause. “Granted pending tribunal confirmation. No extraction, no removal, no private handling. Visual record only until neutral officers arrive.”

Lucy lets out one slow breath.

The officer steps back at last.

I look at Lucy. In the archive light, dust on her face and fury in her eyes, Lucy looks like the answer First Hall has been waiting to hear.

She reaches toward the open archive, then stops before touching anything.

“What now?” she asks.

My eyes settle on the original covenant resting in the dark.

“Now,” I say, “we prove the valley was never silent.”

CHAPTER 25

LUCY

By morning, victory has begun to frighten people.

First Hall is sealed under neutral protocol. The original covenant sits behind an open archive door no one can touch until tribunal officers arrive. Every witness feed from the night before has been copied, verified, and sent through Director Kaun’s office.

For one brief hour before dawn, I think that might be enough to steady the valley.

Then Helix sends the witness challenges.

They arrive in batches, each notice addressed to a person who spoke a name into the record beneath the threshing yard.

Statement credibility review.

Potential misrepresentation of kinship.

Unauthorized participation in contested archive access.

Possible civil penalty for obstruction.

By breakfast, the meeting hall has filled with people who did not come to organize.

They have come to argue.

“I only said my aunt traded seed here,” one man snaps, waving his notice. “Now Helix says I may have interfered with an extraction review.”

“You did interfere,” Torren says. “That was the point.”

“Easy for you. You don’t have freight contracts off-world.”