Harrington's attorney suggested Nolan was motivated by resentment after his data access had been limited. Nolan acknowledged the access restriction and said it had happened after his reports, not before them. He identified the original electronic audit trail and explained why its timestamps and linked records could be independently examined. He did not speculate about Genevieve's motives, even when the attorney tried to make his caution seem like ignorance.
The presiding officer asked whether the original disposal instruction was part of the authenticated record. Nolan said it was. The email chain showed management discussing V-17's removal before the scheduled university audit, with an executive-office acknowledgment attached. An independent technology specialist confirmed the records had been produced through the approved preservation process rather than altered by Nolan or Kora.
Janet then presented a message sent after the first calibration warning. It read, in part, that the nonviability classification should remain in the quarterly report and that the V-17 inventory should be cleared before outside review. The email was routed to Genevieve's office and received an acknowledgment from her assistant. Janet asked Genevieve whether she had been informed of the problem before ordering disposal.
Genevieve answered that she did not personally supervise technical maintenance and relied on managers to give her accurate reports. The panel officer asked a narrower question: whether she had authorized the inventory clearance and subsequent legal response after receiving the warnings. Genevieve looked briefly at her lawyer. "I approved the operational recommendation," she said. "I did not believe the batch remained viable."
"Then why did your company offer twenty thousand dollars to retrieve it?" Janet asked.
Genevieve said the offer was meant to resolve uncertainty and prevent additional risk. Janet displayed the draft confidentiality agreement, including its requirement that Kora surrender the birds and refrain from discussing their origins. She then asked why a company seeking only to evaluate animal health would insist on suppressing public discussion of its scanner's performance. Genevieve's answer was a long explanation of reputation, proprietary research, and possible misunderstanding. The panel let her finish, then asked her attorney for the specific contractual section granting exclusive rights to the living flock. He could not produce one.
The room did not erupt. Most of the people in it were too aware of the stakes to mistake a weak answer for a final ruling. But Kora could feel something changing in the careful questions the panel asked next. Instead of asking why she had saved the eggs, they were asking why Harrington had insisted it alone could decide what happened to them. Instead of treating the flock as an inexplicable accident, they were examining the process that produced the false classification.
During a recess, Genevieve approached Kora near the water fountain. Her lawyer hovered several feet behind her. The company president's voice was low enough that nobody beyond them could hear.
"You may win this hearing and still lose your farm," she said. "My offer would end the uncertainty. I could raise it. You don't have to prove a point at the expense of your family."