On day 1199, the safest path through the toxic district changed when the wind changed.
Eda demonstrated this with a strip of cloth tied to a pole. At the edge of the old kiln works, the cloth streamed toward the river. An hour later it hung limp. A faint yellow haze settled in the lower courtyard between two abandoned furnaces.
“We don’t go down there while the air is still,” she said.
The local workers who had agreed to guide them carried long poles, covered lamps and small cages containing pieces of treated paper that changed color when exposed to certain gases. The paper was not a perfect detector. It could warn of some hazards and miss others, so the workers used it alongside wind direction, smell, known vent locations and strict time limits.
Iven had filter breath seated, but Sera had made him repeat its limits before he left the station. It could help him manage particular contaminants for a limited period; it did not make every gas harmless or supply unlimited air. He carried a covered mask and a retreat rope like everyone else. Orla had also brought the kiln rescue crew’s ordinary supplied-air hood, hose and hand bellows. A second worker checked the bellows on the high upwind staging point; their plan did not make an unknown atmosphere safe merely because Iven could seat a filter.
