Page 132 of Pocket Wife

“What happens at the lockout point?” Noll asks.

“If the wheel is forced past third stage before pressure equalizes, the spillway opens instead of the lower channel.”

Torren swears.

Jessa mutes him too late.

I continue. “That would send water away from the clinic route.”

Sen folds her hands. “Or it would activate flood protection, which may be precisely why Helix marked the area for shelter readiness.”

Lucy stands slowly. “You knew.”

Sen’s eyes move to her. “Helix knows how to read infrastructure.”

“No,” Lucy says. “Helix knows how to stand on the part we need.”

Corvek finally speaks. “Miss Hartwell, if you lack confidence in safe operation, Helix shelter remains available.”

The hall responds with a low, angry sound.

Salo strikes the chime once.

Lucy wipes one dusty hand on her trousers and takes hold of the wheel.

My entire attention narrows to her fingers.

“First third,” Torren says. “Slow. If it fights you, stop.”

Lucy nods to the field workers. “Record the notch.”

The wheel resists.

Of course it does. Old iron, old pressure, recent sabotage, and a valley’s worth of need behind it.

Lucy pulls.

Nothing.

The field worker nearest her steps forward. “Let me.”

“No. Together.” Lucy moves aside enough to make room. “On three.”

They pull.

The wheel shifts with a groan that carries through the feed and into the meeting hall. The first notch aligns.

Everyone listens.

For several seconds, there is only static.

Then the pipe sings.

Not loudly. A thin, rising vibration from beneath the channel stones, almost too delicate for the fear surrounding it.

Samuel closes his eyes. “There.”

I see Lucy hear him through the comm. Her shoulders lower by the smallest measure.