Water in Shaft 37

At the far end, a pump room door stood half open. Inside, a low machine hum made the air vibrate like an old man’s breath. “Still powered?” Erin asked quietly. “Emergency battery,” Daniel said, bracing himself against the wall. His face was white as paper. “Not for long.” The pump room held several thick water lines wrapped in insulation that had split under heat expansion. Boxes of ice packs sat on the floor, their meltwater forming a thin silver sheet over the steel plates. It was cold, technically, but nowhere near enough. Lin crouched beside a control box and found that the display was not showing pressure at all. It was locked behind a remote maintenance code. “Someone took over this system,” he said.