Chapter 15 - The Hearing
Three weeks later, Hannah entered a congressional hearing room carrying Michael’s report.
Marisol Vega sat behind her.
Clara sat farther back.
Nathan and Sophie sat together but not close.
Victor Kane waited under guard to testify.
The committee chair asked:
“Commander Cole, where should we begin?”
Hannah looked at the cameras.
“At Deck Four.”
She described the false wall.
The five people.
The records.
The threats.
Then she described Michael Mercer’s role in creating the original emergency program.
Reporters shifted.
Some expected her to protect him.
She did not.
“My father helped build the framework later abused by Malcolm Rusk.”
The room sharpened.
“He also discovered what it had become, revoked his authorization, and tried to expose it.”
The chair asked, “Do you consider him a hero?”
Hannah paused.
“I consider him responsible for his choices.”
Clara lowered her head.
“And I consider the people who killed him responsible for theirs.”
Victor testified next.
He admitted fear.
Careerism.
The false certification.
Then he said:
“Commander Mercer offered me a chance to correct what I had done. I refused because I was afraid. Twelve years later, his daughter gave me the same chance.”
Hannah did not look at him.
Marisol testified after lunch.
Her voice shook only once.
When asked why she knocked on the wall, she said:
“Because we heard people outside. We thought maybe one person would refuse to pretend.”
Hannah closed her eyes.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
That sound had started everything.
Then the committee lawyer placed a final exhibit on the screen.
A message from Rusk to Thomas Kane.
IF MERCER’S DAUGHTER FINDS THE WALL, REMOVE HER FROM THE SHIP.
Hannah read it.
Kane had thrown her overboard before the written order reached him.
His guilt was still his own.
But now the conspiracy’s fear was visible.
They had been afraid not of Hannah’s rank.
Not of her authority.
May you like
Of someone looking behind the wall.
And refusing to stop.
