She radioed down to Elias, her only crew. “No flow. It’s a bubble. A big one.”
“Or,” she said, “we let the bubble sit there for a week, and they lose it anyway, slower and more painfully. Pipes will start collapsing from vacuum. Pumps will burn out. A bubble of air is patient. We can’t be.” airlock in water tank
And deep inside the tank, the ghost was gone. For now. She radioed down to Elias, her only crew
Elias’s eyes went wide. “You open that, the tank empties. The whole valley loses pressure for six hours.” She radioed down to Elias
She radioed the valley. “Water’s back. Go boil your pasta.”
She closed the hatch. The pump house below changed pitch—from a scream to a steady, contented roar. Water was moving.