“But same geometry.”
Charlotte frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Evan opened another notebook.
Daniel had documented an intermittent signal drift caused by thermal expansion.
The exact problem Aster experienced.
Marcus’s expression changed.
“Someone didn’t just select an old design.”
“They copied a documented failure.”
Evan nodded.
“They knew what would happen.”
Charlotte felt the meaning settle.
The current sabotage was not an accidental reuse of obsolete engineering.
Someone had accessed Daniel’s archived research.
Or a copy of it.
And intentionally recreated a known defect.
Marcus looked around the sealed workshop.
“How many people knew this room existed?”
Charlotte thought.
“My father.”
“Daniel.”
“Thomas.”
“Maybe two facilities employees.”
“Twenty years ago.”
Evan said:
“And whoever copied the archive before it was sealed.”
Charlotte’s phone rang.
CFO.
She answered.
“Charlotte.”
“We have another problem.”
“What?”
“Our cybersecurity team found a large encrypted transfer from the prototype network last night.”
Charlotte looked at Marcus.
“How large?”
“About eighty gigabytes.”
“What data?”
“Aster thermal maps.”
“Motor-control calibration.”
“Supplier lists.”
“CAD exports.”
“Everything that matters.”
Charlotte’s voice went cold.
“Lock external transfer privileges.”
“Already done.”
“Preserve logs.”
“Yes.”
“Do not start deleting accounts.”
“Legal needs to see this first.”
“What triggered detection?”
“The destination tried reconnecting this morning.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Charlotte ended the call.
Evan looked at her.
“Current sabotage.”
“Yes.”
“And data theft.”
“Yes.”
Marcus whispered:
“The old crime never ended.”
Charlotte shook her head.
“No.”
“Someone learned from it.”
They left the plant without taking original documents.
Corporate counsel and an independent forensic team secured the room.
That afternoon Charlotte convened a limited emergency meeting.
Not the entire board.
Only general counsel Natalie Shaw, CFO Rebecca Lin, Marcus Hail, cybersecurity director Anton Meyers, and an outside investigator retained by the board’s audit committee.
Evan was not initially included.
Charlotte insisted.
Natalie objected.
“He has been employed less than forty-eight hours.”
“He found the defect.”
“That doesn’t give him clearance.”
“He is Daniel Carter’s legal heir.”
“That doesn’t give him company clearance either.”
Evan said:
“She’s right.”
Everyone looked at him.
Evan continued.
“You don’t need me in the confidential part.”
Charlotte looked frustrated.
He said:
“I fixed a connector.”
“I found my father’s papers.”
“That doesn’t make me corporate security.”
The outside investigator nodded.
“Smartest thing anyone has said in ten minutes.”
Charlotte glared.
Evan almost smiled.
He gave a formal statement.
Provided access to the materials he legally possessed.
Then went back downstairs and repaired a suspension pump on a test mule.
That choice impressed Charlotte more than anything else he had done.
Meanwhile, the investigation deepened.
Cybersecurity traced the unauthorized data transfer to an executive credential.
Not Charlotte.
Not Marcus.
Board chairman Charles Wexler.
Seventy-one.