Rynn's recorder started when the dead-drop compartment reached its full extension. His face appeared above the core plate, thinner than Vell remembered from the week before his murder.
Luna checked the recording seal while Jia kept watch on Maintenance Door Four. Wren remained beside the open sluice, close to the key but beyond anyone's reach.
"If an Ivory key opened this, their people reached Sump Gate before you," Rynn said through the recorder, "that means my first route failed."
The message carried a date five days before Rynn died inside the transit foundry. His left sleeve showed a burned edge Vell had noticed that week, making the timing harder to fake.
Luna matched the internal seal against the first cull fragment stored in her portable reader. Both carried the same recording faults, so any forgery would require access to Rynn's private equipment before his death.
