Page 138 of Pocket Wife

Then the clinic slate chimes.

Nara stares at it.

“Clinic flow restored,” she whispers.

The hall breaks then.

Not into disorder.

Into tears, prayers, hands over faces, heads lowered against tabletops. Samuel sits down hard beside Eleanor. Celia mutters something about old water being smarter than new men. Torren makes a sound that might have been triumph or a cough.

I watch Lucy on the feed.

Mud-streaked. Exhausted. Still standing.

The bond between us warms with fierce, quiet relief.

Noll speaks over the rising emotion. “Central Review records undisclosed Helix coupling to contested east feeder. Mandatory evacuation remains stayed. Safety hold on north reserve continues pending trace verification, but east channel reroute is approved for clinic and essential supply under monitoring.”

A real win.

Limited.

Fragile.

Enough.

Salo turns toward Sen and Corvek. “Helix will submit all shelter infrastructure plans within one hour.”

Corvek’s expression becomes unreadable.

“As required,” he says.

Lucy steps away from the gate and lifts the live slate herself. “The clinic has water.”

Nara begins crying.

This time, no one asks her to stop.

Then Torren’s voice cuts through from the cistern.

“Rethan.”

I look to the smaller display.

Torren’s face has lost every trace of victory.

“The Helix coupling sent data when the bypass opened.”

Lucy turns slowly toward the modern alloy buried in the grass.

I already know the answer will be bad.

Torren swallows.

“It transmitted a pressure-response profile to orbit. Not a full map yet, but enough to reconstruct the active hidden channels if they combine it with old survey data.”

Corvek’s panel goes dark.