Page 293 of Commander’s Mate

He sat.

Hours later, she asked for a message.

Not a visit.

A message.

Oren wrote six words.

I AM HERE IF YOU WANT ME.

She kept it.

That was all.

The registry changed again.

FAMILY MATCH no longer triggered reunion routing.

It triggered:

CONTACT REQUESTED?

YES / NO / LATER / MESSAGE ONLY.

That field came from pain.

Most useful fields did.

Another family got worse news.

A Breskaa worker identified a dead man from a partial registry match.

Tovid Har.

Missing since Farseek.

Dead for eleven months.

His wife sat across from me while Tivid verified the witness statement.

“Certain?”

“High confidence,” he said.

She looked at me.

“Not confirmed?”

“No physical remains.”

“Then not dead.”

I could not take that from her.

Also could not lie.

“We have a witness, work assignment, injury record and death notation.”