Chapter Five - The List Behind the Backup Door

When the level-two door opened, nobody looked at the water first. Every eye went to the row of white tanks against the wall, like the whole room had briefly become an ocean to people who were dying of thirst. But the first thing Elliot saw was not volume. It was the pipe manifold. This was not just storage. It was a distribution node with a cooling loop and a purification bypass. The water could save people, or decide which people got saved first. "Don't touch the valves," he said. It was already too late. Two of the contract crew rushed in. The first thing they went for was not the drinking line but the control console. One man smashed the faceplate with a pry bar.