He didn't turn around. He recognized the voice—the Lead Director, a man who hadn't left his office in three years. Elias realized then that the typo wasn't a mistake. It was a digital tripwire, a "honey pot" for the curious.
On the screen, the PDF began to rewrite itself, Elias's own name appearing at the top of the next day's manifest.
The document was a series of coordinates, timestamped to the exact second the Saffron Queen went dark. But as Elias scrolled, the dates began to move forward . The PDF listed arrivals for ships that hadn't even been built yet, carrying cargo labeled with chemical symbols he’d never seen in any periodic table. A shadow fell over his desk. "Finding what you're looking for, Elias?"
"I was just... downloading the report," Elias whispered, his finger hovering over the delete key.