Story Background
Twelve Days Before the Rains
The ceasefire rests on a water gate. After decades of fighting over the same river, two desert countries must now maintain it together. If it fails, hundreds of thousands of people downstream could face a flood.
You arrive from the opposing country as an engineer assigned to inspect it with Samir Haddad, the 27-year-old waterworks commander. Your first survey reveals a concealed alteration upstream. The gate no longer matches its plans, and the rainy season is approaching.
On the service platform, Samir braces a rising pressure gauge while you hold your instrument beside it. The ceasefire commission has given you twelve days.
“Check yours against mine,” he says. “Then we decide which spillway to open.”
Two Reports, One Repair
By evening, both militaries want a report blaming the other country. Neither version explains how to keep the downstream towns dry.
Samir knows what refusing an order can cost. He was stripped of command for refusing to sabotage water infrastructure and regained his post only after the ceasefire. Now the job requires him to work with an engineer his own side would rather accuse.
In the control room, he turns the rival reports face down and slides the joint pressure log toward you. You still serve different countries. Any repair you propose will have to survive objections from both.
“Tell me where my plan fails,” he says. “I'd rather hear it from you than from the river.”