The water didn't just smell bad. It stung.
Brown sludge sputtered from the rusted shower nozzle. It hit my skin with the consistency of warm mucus. It smelled of sulfur and something copper-sharp like old pennies left in a corpse's mouth.
Next to me a rail-thin Static was clawing at his own neck. His skin was a map of grey weeping sores. He wasn't washing. He was trying to scrape the itch off leaving bloody streaks in the suds. He coughed a wet rattling sound that ended with him spitting pink phlegm into the drain.
Jaren stood under his nozzle. His eyes were closed letting the brown water run over his face. He looked defeated.
"It's sticking," Jaren whispered rubbing his arm. The grime just smeared. "Vix says the Sector 7 filter blew. Merrick pushed the repair ticket to next quarter."
"Three weeks," I said wiping the slime from my eyes. It burned. "By then that cough won't just be a cough. It'll be the bloody flux."
I turned the handle. It shrieked metal grinding on mineral buildup cutting off the flow.
"Get dressed," I ordered. "We aren't dying of thirst today."
Twenty minutes later we were belly-crawling through a service tunnel three levels up. The heat here was oppressive a physical weight pressing on my lungs. Steam pipes hissed like angry snakes leaking vapor that tasted of coolant.
"Elara," I tapped the comms bead. "Distance?"
"Fifty meters," her voice crackled cutting through the mechanical roar. "Pressure door on your left. Don't trip the seismic alarm."
"I am the seismic alarm," I muttered.
We reached the door. It was a slab of reinforced steel sealed by a layer of rust so thick it looked like moss. The keypad was dead smashed by a frustrated worker years ago.
"Locked," Jaren noted wiping sweat from his eyes.
I stepped up. I didn't scan it. I didn't analyze it. I placed the flat of my gauntlet against the deadbolt housing.
I closed my eyes. The vibrations of the mine hummed through my boots drills miles away and the thrum of the ventilation fans. I pushed that noise aside and focused on the door.
I felt the tumblers inside. Fused. Frozen. A solid block of oxidized iron.
I triggered the capacitor.
VMMMM.
The whine was high-pitched drilling into my teeth. The gyro on my wrist spun up fighting the torque.
I didn't punch. I leaned into it.
THUD.
I sent a kinetic pulse straight into the mechanism.
Rust exploded outward like shrapnel. The metal groaned a screech of tearing steel that echoed down the tunnel. The door didn't open. It buckled. The lock shattered internally spilling gears and springs onto the floor.
I kicked it. The door swung inward scraping a gouge in the concrete floor.
"Subtle," Jaren whispered.
"Effective," I corrected.
We stepped inside. The valve room was a sauna. Condensation dripped from the ceiling pooling on the floor. In the center the Filtration Unit rumbled ominously. It was a cylinder the size of a drop-ship.
A single red light bathed the room in the color of an emergency.
BYPASS ACTIVE.
I walked to the intake pipe. I put my hand on the metal. It was vibrating violently rattling in its housing.
"It's choking... something big is in the intake."
I grabbed the manual release wheel. It was hot to the touch.
"Help me."
Jaren grabbed the other side. We heaved. My boots slid on the wet floor. My shoulder still tender from the dislocation sent a warning twinge up my neck. The wheel didn't budge.
"It's pressurized," Elara warned. "If you blow that hatch the pressure will decapitate you."
"Not if I rattle the seal loose first," I gritted out.
System Notification:
[Environmental Hazard: High Pressure Water. Kinetic Output Required: Surgical. Failure Consequence: Instant liquid decapitation.]
[Have fun.]
I dialed the gauntlet to 'Oscillate'.
I placed my palm on the center hub.
SCREEEEEE.
I sent a high-frequency vibration into the threads of the bolt. The sound was agonizing. Jaren covered his ears. Steam hissed from the seams of the hatch as the grime holding it together liquefied.
"Now!"
I yanked. Jaren pulled.
The wheel spun.
CLUNK.
I jammed a crowbar into the gap and pried. The hatch flew open slamming against the stop.
Black water sprayed us smelling of rot.
I reached into the gears. The metal teeth were grinding against something soft. Something organic.
I grabbed a handful of slime and pulled.
It was heavy. I braced my foot against the housing and heaved.
With a wet sucking sound the obstruction slid free.
It flopped onto the grate. A dead Drain-Maw hatchling chewed in half by the impeller. Its pale scales were mashed into a paste that clogged the filter mesh.
Jaren gagged turning away.
I kicked the carcass into the corner and slammed the hatch. I spun the wheel back locking it tight.
The rumble changed. The violent shaking stopped replaced by a smooth deep hum.
The red light flickered.
GREEN.
"Filtration active," Elara confirmed. "Purity levels rising. 40%. 70%. 95%."
I wiped the slime on my pants. I looked at the wheel.
I pulled a small scrap of metal from my pocket. I placed it over the locking mechanism.
VMMMM-ZZZT.
I used the gauntlet's heat sink to spot-weld the scrap in place. The metal glowed cherry-red then cooled to a dull grey. The heat burned my hand through the gauntlet glove but I ignored it.
"You welded it shut?" Jaren asked.
"I welded it open," I said. "Now the only way to turn the filter off is to cut this wheel off with a plasma torch."
We left the room the hum of clean water vibrating through the soles of our boots.
Back in the barracks the change was instant.
A shout echoed from the showers. Not a complaint. A cheer.
I walked in. The brown sludge was gone. Crystal clear water poured from the nozzles steam rising in the cool air.
Men were pushing each other to get to the sinks. They weren't just drinking. They were splashing it on their faces washing the grey sores laughing as the grime washed away. The metallic smell of the room was already fading replaced by the scent of clean vapor.
Bront stood near the entrance. He was holding a cup of water. He stared at it watching the light refraction through the clear liquid.
He looked up. He saw me standing there covered in grease and sweat nursing my arm.
He didn't sneer. He didn't threaten. He raised the cup slightly in a salute and drank.
I didn't say a word. I didn't need to.
System Notification:
[Objective Complete: Secure Water Supply.]
[Reputation with 'Sector 4': REVERED.]
[Note: Power grid fluctuation detected. Merrick is currently screaming at a technician.]
I smiled the skin of my face tight with dried sweat.
"Drink up boys," I whispered. "We have a lot of work to do."