Neither spoke for a moment.
"I heard," Lyle said.
"People hear too much."
"Not enough, back then."
Isaac sat on the edge of the workbench.
Lyle continued before he could answer.
"I should have done more."
"You warned me."
"That's not what I mean."
Isaac knew.
Lyle had been a mid-level test engineer with a mortgage, two children, and no executive authority. He had not caused Isaac's termination. He had not signed the paperwork.
But he had watched.
"After you left," Lyle said, "they told us the security issue was separate from the report. Everybody knew that sounded convenient. We talked about it privately. Nobody put anything in writing. Nobody asked why the test plan never added the coupled condition. We just kept working."
Isaac looked at the van in front of him.
"You had a family."
"So did you."
"No, I didn't."
"You had a life."
That landed harder.
Lyle's voice tightened.
"I'm not asking you to tell me it's okay. I just wanted you to know I know what I did. Or didn't do."
Isaac rubbed one hand over his face.
For six years, anger had simplified Lyle into one category: someone who stayed.
Real people resisted categories.
"You still at Nexora?" Isaac asked.
"Not after the audit."
"They fired you?"
"No. I left."
"Where?"
"Small launch company in Colorado. Less money. Better sleep."
Isaac smiled despite himself.
"Good."
"Isaac."
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry."
Isaac stared at the cracked skin across his knuckles.
"I know."
It was not forgiveness exactly.
It was something more useful: accurate placement of responsibility.
They spoke for twenty minutes.
At the end, Lyle asked whether Isaac planned to return to aerospace.
"I never left engineering," Isaac said.
"You know what I mean."
"I'm deciding whether engineering left me."
Lyle laughed softly.
"Still you."
After the call, Isaac worked until dark.
The next challenge came from the place he least expected: Harlow Premier Auto.
Dale Hutchins crossed the road one morning without an audience.
He carried a cylinder head wrapped in a shop towel.
Isaac looked at it, then at him.
"Fence broken?"
"No."
"Lose your voice?"