Page 222 of The Examiner

That’s why you can’t access the files. He’s already downloaded them all.

Philippa F. Moreton, BA, MA, PhD

I’ve double-checked and I am definitely your external examiner. No one here has heard of a Ben Sketcher. Who’s in charge of admin? Please unlock the system and allow me access to the documents. Thank you.

Tilda Ricci

Karen and I discussed this course with Ben all day yesterday.

Karen Carpenter

He had a lot of queries. He also asked Hannah O’Donnell for information about the students.

Tilda Ricci

He was concerned for the safety of one in particular, and last night went so far as to attend an event, to check she was there.

Philippa F. Moreton, BA, MA, PhD

My goodness. And was she?

Tilda Ricci

Yes, apparently. I assumed that was why Ben stopped messaging so abruptly. Karen, have you heard from him?

Karen Carpenter

No. And he’s not listed as a participant in this group any more.

Philippa F. Moreton, BA, MA, PhD

Can you unlock the system for me? Thank you, Karen.

Karen Carpenter

Tilda, can you ask Gela what happened?

WhatsApp chat between Tilda Ricci and Gela Nathaniel, 31 May 2024:

Tilda

How did it go last night? I understand Ben Sketcher attended, but now there’s a Philippa Moreton claiming she’s the examiner.

Tilda

The last we heard was when Patrick gave Ben a severed finger suspended in transparent resin. He then accessed the RD8 building using the fingerprint … Karen and I are wondering if your MA group has been playing a practical joke on us all along.

Gela

I wish that was the case. Three of the MA group are members of AetherGen, a climate-change organisation. RD8 has defence technology that would have a devastating impact on humanity and the environment, if it were ever deployed. The three of them planned to gather evidence of the tech and expose it. Only things didn’t go to plan.

Tilda

They failed?

Gela

Yes. The company was following them all along.