Neri Sen
A retired hydraulic engineer keeping a kitchen open to every side of the argument.
Neri helped build Meridian’s first closed water loop and still checks public fountains by listening to them. She regards maintenance as a promise between generations. Her kitchen table is wide enough for a dismantled pump, but is now usually covered in petitions from neighbors who disagree with one another.
Her daughters believe their father Olan died knowing nothing about the relay’s altered ceramic. Neri has his workshop notebook. It records a failed experiment, not a conspiracy, and she fears that releasing it without explanation will turn uncertainty into accusation.
A transit mediator who trusts public records more than confident forecasts.
A neighborhood surveyor protecting the right to build an uncertain future.
A navigation teacher remembered for asking students how they would prove themselves wrong.
An astronomer discovering that a hypothesis can become a family argument.
A rescue captain willing to face a prediction without pretending it is an order.
An evidence custodian who will not let urgency erase provenance.