The Court Closed the Case and the Dome Opened Again

I wrote my court statement at home without the television on.

Nora had told me to describe the harm in my own words. I did not need to argue the charges again.

I began with the girl in the yellow coat.

Then I crossed that sentence out. I had no right to speak for what she had felt.

I wrote what I knew instead.

"I was removed from my workplace in front of a visiting class. I lost three weeks of pay. After my pay was restored, I still worried that every parent who saw me would remember the accusation and miss the correction."

I described the loans, the canceled trips, and the work required to prove things that should have been checked before I was blamed.

My last sentence was simple.

"I want the record to stay complete."

At sentencing, Delphine stood beside her lawyer with her hands joined at her waist. I remembered those hands holding the folder beneath the paper stars.

The prosecutor described the plea she had entered weeks earlier. Delphine had admitted stealing the specimens and diverting the grant with Voss's help. She had also admitted using the limited access report to direct suspicion toward me.

There was no trial left to wait for.

The judge imposed a five-year sentence, with eighteen months to serve and the balance suspended under supervision. The orders barred her from managing charitable money during that supervision.

She and Voss were responsible for restoring the $42,000 grant. Money recovered from the accounts covered it. Voss's separate $6,200 refund reached the iron buyer.

Voss received six months to serve, followed by probation, after his cooperation. His auction business closed. The owners' signed receipts confirmed that every stolen specimen had been returned.

When my name was called, I read my page.

My voice stayed low. The microphone carried it.

Delphine did not look at me. I stopped waiting for her to do that before I reached the second paragraph.

Outside, Nora tucked the final orders into her bag.

"Anything else you need from the case?"

"A copy of the record when it's ready."

"You'll have it."

The school had already paid my $3,420 in back wages, restored the missed retirement contribution, and reimbursed the $2,400 legal bill. A later agreement covered $386 in copying and travel costs. My personnel file held the finding clearing me, with the false charges marked withdrawn.

The owners' final inspection and shipping bill came to $3,180. The school paid it and settled the loan claims. Miles sent me the closing sheet, with no open balance beside any specimen.

The correction had gone to staff and the visiting class's school. Their teacher had sent it to the same families who received the original notice.

One parent wrote that her daughter remembered me helping her find the moon.

I kept that letter apart from the evidence.

Open Sky's remaining trustees placed the restored grant with an independent local education program. The restricted money paid for the six hundred student seats, transport, and kits. The fund then completed its closure filings under outside oversight.

June's class came on a bright Tuesday. I saw the paid bus receipt before I set the show clock.

Their $310 lunch fund bought sandwiches, just as the children had planned.

By June, all six hundred children had made their visits. June sent me a photograph of her class holding their kits beside the bus.

Bellwether changed its loan rules. Two people checked every arrival and return against photographs and case numbers. The shipping receipt had to match the loan ledger. No single administrator held all the keys or approved all the bills.

I signed a new service agreement too. The school bought a recorder, and its board approved separate backups held by both the school and me. My old unit went home. Its role in the case was finished, but I kept the preserved files with the court record.

Yasmin visited before the last show of the term.

She brought a small display on loan, with every line of the paperwork filled in. Inside was the recovered meteorite.

"The institute approved a return visit," she said. "I wanted you here for the inspection."

We checked B-12 together. I signed for the lights and temperature. She signed for the specimen. Another staff member checked us both.

Then we had tea in the booth, well away from the controls.

"The children will ask why it's back," I said.

"Tell them it belongs to the institute, and we have permission to share it."

That was enough.

Before the next show, I dimmed the room and brought the horizon down to the seam. My red pencil made one small tick beside the settings. I turned its point toward the binding.

Everything met where it should.

Then the next class arrived, their coats bright with rain, and I opened the door beneath the steady stars.