Four record packets surrounded an empty square on the floor.
Hessa had placed them low enough for Jiang to inspect without Human Form. He waddled around the square, pressed each packet seal with his beak, and found the fifth position marked ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT.
The position contained nothing.
"Best-behaved source in the room," Jiang said. "It has made no claims at all."
Conti crouched beside the board. "Keep admiring it. The other four have dates, copyists, editors, and opinions."
Packet A represented JS246 4to, the sole surviving witness for Version A. Its manuscript date was1792. The copyist, Reverend Snorri Bjornsson at Husafell, had described his source as a manuscript written by Jon Gudmundsson.
That description remained a copyist claim. It did not place Jon's hand on the1792 pages.
