Page 136 of Pocket Wife

Noll speaks next. “Answer.”

“No,” Sen says.

The meeting hall does not erupt. It empties of sound.

I prefer anger. Anger moves. This is the stillness before people understand just how carefully they have been cornered.

Lucy stands between the old gate and the new coupling, dust on her boots, one hand hovering near the wheel she still needs to turn.

“What happens if we open third stage?” she asks Torren.

Torren checks the numbers. “Some water goes to the lower tower. Some gets pulled through the feeder toward the shelter tanks.”

“How much?”

“Enough to short the clinic.”

Nara makes a thin sound, not quite a word.

Corvek speaks again, voice softer now. “The shelter can provide clinic-grade water immediately.”

Lucy studies the coupling.

Then the gate.

Then directly into the live slate.

“No,” she says.

Sen’s eyes narrow. “Miss Hartwell, do not interfere with installed humanitarian infrastructure.”

Lucy almost laughs. “You keep naming traps after kindness.”

My hands curl at my sides.

I cannot advise.

But the map can.

I highlight the old spillway note and send it to Salo without commentary.

Salo reads it.

His eyes move to Noll.

Noll says, “Specialist Veyr, explain the spillway note.”

I answer with care. “The old east gate includes a manual bypass stone before the feeder split. If opened, water can be directed to the lower tower while isolating the ridge feeder. It appears intended for flood years when the plateau channel needed closure.”

“Location?” Noll asks.

I study Lucy’s feed, the moss-covered stones near her left boot.

“Beside the third notch,” I say. “Flat stone. Crescent mark.”

Lucy looks down.

The schoolteacher moves the slate.