Inflow ✔️

4 - Exposure

Author's Note:

In the interest of completing this in time for the Watty's I am posting Chapter 4 early. Inflow will conclude in Chapter 5, next week. I hope you're enjoying the story.

And, if you like what you read, please feel free to share, vote, and/or comment. Feedback is also welcome. If you see mistakes, inaccuracies, etc., please let me know. A writer is only as good as their editor, so I encourage constructive criticism. Thank you!

Happy Reading and Writing, All!

****

The remainder of his drive to marker 37 went without incident. When at last Wyatt arrived, he shifted the rover-hab-dolly caravan to a halt, clicked off the radio, and crawled back through the adapter dock to the portable habitat. Once there, he stood, stretched his arms, grabbed a quick protein bar from his ration pack, and plopped down onto his cot.

He knew that he couldn't sleep, not yet, but hell if he hadn't had his fill of this day. He lay there, nibbling at the drab bar, and pondered his next move. The Coopers would have men on site by morning, so if he did anything he had to do it tonight. He could always take Ell's money and run, but that meant trusting that brat and Wyatt trusted no one. Alternatively, he could disappear, just turn around and leave the line be – he had essentially been fired, so it wasn't exactly his responsibility anymore – but that course presented its own challenges.

Wyatt sat up, thumbed his eyes, and pressed back against his throbbing forehead. He knew he wasn't leaving. He had to fix the line. Someone either wanted it ruptured, or wanted to cover up the cause of the rupture. Like most things in life, that just pissed Wyatt off, which meant there was zero chance that he could drop it.

Decided he rose, took one last bite of the protein bar, then made towards the suit port. He needed to see the line close up.

***

Wyatt had just finished the exit procedure from the hab, and begun unstrapping the excavator, when a static communication line burst to life in his suit, breaking the deep quiet, and nearly causing him to fall off the dolly out of surprise. Gripping the ratchet strap Wyatt yanked himself upright, regained his footing, and waited. He didn't know how, but Ellison had tapped into the local suit communications. He shouldn't have been able to do that at this distance.

"Wyatt, are you there?" Wyatt relaxed ever so slightly. It was Kelly, not Ellison.

"Yeah, and glad it's you. If I had to put up with Ellison one more time –"

Kelly interrupted.

"–No time for small talk. I've managed to break through whatever lock they put on my feed, and reroute through your rover to your suit – which all of this would have been a lot easier if you hadn't blocked your rover lines by the way –"

"–I needed to block out Ell–"

"–Great. Still no time. Look, before they booted me and locked me to my quarters –"

Something snapped in Wyatt. "– Wait, Ellison did what to you –"

"– Stop interrupting, jackass. Look, before they locked me away, I had a final report from Hwan. There is no flow out of Two. Nada. Rien. The water has been diverted, but I never reached Hoover. When I broke back into my feed, first thing I did was try to reach the onsite station, but communication lines are down. So I routed to news out of New Charlotte. They're reporting rumors that Hoover city officials have been locked out of their own overflow tank. Kembhavi-Cooper denies all rumors, but I guarantee you someone on site has diverted the water and is trying to make sure no one finds out."