Nikayo leads Liyanu through a narrow service access beneath the science lab, carrying the recorder’s isolated read-only copy. Conduits crowd the low ceiling, ticking softly with shipboard heat.
Nikayo
The junction is still powered, but only at maintenance levels. I found contact timestamps here that never entered the surviving mission record.
A recessed maintenance panel displays a narrow sequence of equipment contacts. The gap is small, yet it overlaps the first false correction in Iven Rusk’s route and ends at an unindexed diagnostic trace.
Nahuli
The timestamps belong to equipment contact, not a confirmed operator.
Nikayo
I can copy the trace into quarantine, but that will consume the recorder’s remaining access window. Or we can inspect the junction physically and risk disturbing the contact evidence.
Nikayo holds the optical copy above the open panel without connecting it. Behind them, the science lab remains unattended, while Iven Rusk stays in monitored stasis inside the Medical Isolation Unit.
Nikayo
Your call, Liyanu. The trace may explain how the false correction reached the equipment, but we get one careful opportunity before the junction’s buffer clears.