Page 85 of Pocket Wife

“What?”

Torren looks from the comm to the darkened Helix screen. “All Helix ships just changed heading.”

“Toward orbit?” Lucy asks.

Torren shakes his head.

“Toward the north ridge.”

I understand before the map appears.

The old north cistern.

Water.

The first clause.

The source.

The north cistern is not only evidence. It is still tied to the valley’s emergency water reserve.

Salo’s voice sharpens. “All Helix craft are ordered to hold position pending tribunal review.”

Torren looks down at his comm.

“They are not slowing.”

Lucy is already moving.

Salo’s voice follows from the tribunal display. “Miss Hartwell, remain in chamber. This hearing is not adjourned.”

Lucy stops at the door and looks back.

Her voice is steady enough to cut.

“Then record why I left.”

CHAPTER 31

LUCY

The road to the north cistern has never felt so short.

I ride standing in the back of Torren’s utility crawler, one hand locked around the rail, the other gripping Jessa’s live tribunal slate. Behind us, half the valley follows on foot, in carts, on old field bikes, carrying recorders instead of tools because I shouted the order before anyone could grab something heavier.

No weapons.

No heroics.

Witness.

Rethan stands beside me, braced against the crawler’s turn as the ridge fields flash past. His face holds the kind of calm that means every part of him has narrowed to purpose.

“Do not let them make this a riot,” he says.

“I know.”

“They will try.”