Robert walked back inside, rolled up his sleeves, and opened the hatch to the pump system. He grabbed a pair of gloves, a siphon tube, and an old strainer he’d once used to fish out pond debris. It wasn’t war. It was agriculture. Smart, sour, and memorable agriculture.
Robert worked through the evening, stopping only when the light faded enough that he could no longer see the fittings clearly. He tested the flow with plain water first—made sure the valves opened, the nozzles triggered on motion, and the pressure didn’t snap any of the older pipes. Everything still held. Then came the mixture.