Chapter 11 — The Star Growers

Star Garden's data is only displayed on an old screen powered by ship batteries. Every fifteen minutes, the Rau, Dome, and Station points light up, then turn off to yield power. Lam stands in front of the screen, using a ruler to connect discontinuous pencil segments on tracing paper.

“Don't connect if there's no data between there,” Bach said over the radio.

"I don't connect to make a solid line. I connect to see the hypothesis."

“If you take a photo, others will think it's a wind path.”

“So I wrote ‘hypothesis’ in red ink.”

Bach was silent for a moment. “Red ink doesn't stop people from cropping photos.”

Lam rotates the screen towards the camera. “Cutting photos is someone else's behavior, not a reason for me to erase the paper.”

In the morning, Vuon Sao recorded three times the salinity increased at the Roof station, then the Vom station recorded a decrease in pressure. The distance between the two stations is only 480 meters. The wind from the lower classes seems to be spreading to the old school, where lunches are being prepared for the children.

Ha wants to move the classroom to the inner room. The principal didn't want to because the room was small and the children could get stuffy. Cu proposed closing the sea side of the school and opening the lagoon side. Thao Nhi objected because the direction of the lagoon had dust reflected from the roof.

“We are measuring an unknown,” the principal said. “If you keep changing your activities to it, children will think the sky is always dangerous.”

“The sky is not always dangerous,” Ha replied. “But today we don't know enough to be sure.”

Lam placed the board on the table. "I don't recommend skipping school. Just move the physical activity to your room, close one door, and leave the vibrating box in the hallway."

The principal looked at Mien. “Is that box trustworthy?”

Mien walked up and put her hand on the box. It vibrates for a long time. I pointed to the yellow light and wrote: "It's not news. Try."

They experimented with incense smoke in class. When the sea door is open, the smoke tilts, the box does not vibrate because the sensor has not yet received the conditions. Constantly adjust the threshold and test it three times. The box vibrates a bit late, but the light changes in the correct wind direction.

The principal agreed to change the class in one session, with the condition that the teacher would explain not to use the word "dangerous".

“It's called an observation exercise,” Thao Nhi said.

“The observation exercise does not make children cough,” Ha replied.

“But speaking helps children not be afraid.”

Lam recorded both. Instructions for children: “Observation exercises do not eliminate closing the door when the body is uncomfortable.”

At the workshop, Cu heard the news that the school was changing classes and said it was a reasonable reaction. A worker said that Vuon Sao is making the whole village panic. Cu did not immediately defend Lam. He asked that person if he had seen the data sheet.

“No. I'm not an engineer.”

“So why are you panicking?”

The other person did not answer.

Cu wiped oil from his hands. "I'm not an engineer either. But I know the machine. Not watching and cursing is the fastest way to damage the machine."

Lam listened, a bit surprised. Cu is no longer standing outside, but also does not speak on behalf of the data.

At noon, a group of volunteers reported that many people saw white dust on sea spinach leaves. Mrs. Mui said this time the dust stuck to the underside of the leaves, not like road dust. Ha took the sample and wore a mask. Mien used a vibration box to monitor the wind and record the time of each wave.

“If the wind is coming from the sea, the dust must hit the front of the leaves,” Lam said.

Thao Nhi pointed to the roof shadow area. “Little vortex.”

“Need to measure speed.”

“There isn't always a machine.”

Mien took off a thin strip of string and tied it to the stake. The wire is deflected in the other direction, record the angle with a ruler. Rough but repeatable measurements. Lam let three people work together at three points. The wire in the school is northwest, the wire is near the medical station standing, the rope at Mrs. Mui's house rotates.

“A layer of wind swirls around the roof,” Cu said.

"Maybe."

“Again.”

“I don't want to do the wrong thing a second time.”

“If you are afraid of being wrong, someone else will decide for you.”

Lam looked at him. “You think I don't know yet?”

“I think you know too well that you're standing still.”

They argued right next to the vegetable patch. No one heard the whole thing, but Mrs. Mui saw two people talking loudly. She took a towel, covered the bed and told them to continue measuring after the leaves were protected.

“Don't argue with the vegetables,” she said. “Rau doesn't know who's right.”

Lam apologized. Cu took another stake and planted it further.

In the afternoon, Bach sent a large area map from ground radar. There is no eye of the storm. There is a small echo band outside the lagoon, but the radar cannot distinguish aerosols from low clouds.

“Can the center issue a warning?” Lam asked.

“Not enough threshold.”

“Does Sao Garden meet the internal threshold?”

“I don't decide.”

“If you were here, what would you do?”

Bach im. “I will close the sea side, no evacuation, increased observation.”

Lam wrote that exact sentence on the public board, noting the source: Bach, a modeling expert, not a national order.

Kha doesn't like it. “People would think the center gave the order.”

“Clearly stated as an opinion.”

“But his name weighs on the sentence.”

“So drop your name, keep your job.”

Bach listened over the radio and said: "Keep your name if I'm responsible for what I say."

Lam adds name and role.

Mien distributed signs to homes that did not use phones. I didn't just give the paper, but asked each person who understood what to do. An old man said he couldn't see the color yellow. Mien changes to a diagonal drop icon. An old lady cannot read small print. Post a large copy on the door. One child asked why the door had to be closed if it wasn't dangerous.

Mien writes: “The body foretells the table.”

Lam translated. Ha added: "If your eyes sting, you cough, you have difficulty breathing, go inside and call the station. Don't wait for the light."

At 6:00 p.m., two stations continued to increase salt. Open the filter room and use a fan to suck through a damp cloth. The air in the room still smells of the sea but is easier to breathe. She wrote down the number of people entering, exit time, and symptoms. Medical data began to run in parallel with meteorological data.

“This is a new station,” Ha said.

“There is no pressure sensor.”

“Someone is breathing.”

Lam added a new layer to the map: symptoms, anonymous.

Some people object to recording. They fear the data will be used to force the salt furnace to close. Ha said that anyone who doesn't want to write their name can write down their household number, but if they don't write anything down, they won't know the level.

“Medical data is not free material for any project,” Lam said.

Ha looked at her. “Are you remembering the rights of the community?”

“I'm studying more.”

Bach asked if he could see the symptom class. Ha replied that he only looked at general information, not specific houses. Bach agreed.

At night, the screen of Vom station flashed. V-19 sends a packet from the lower level, salinity increases, then shuts down. Mien touches the vibration box and receives three beats. She wrote: "The wind comes to school."

Lam did not wait. She called the principal and asked to keep the room ready and not close the school. Lower the fan. Cu sent two people to check the seaport. Thao Nhi took the children home by the lagoon road, avoiding the reflective roof area.

The wind arrived after 22 minutes. It wasn't a storm, just a thin layer of salty vapor and dust passing over the school. The box vibrates, the yellow light comes on. A few children coughed and were taken to the screening room. No one was injured.

Lam felt relieved, then immediately annoyed with herself. No injuries do not justify every decision correct determination. If the wind hadn't come, she might have overdone it.

Cu stood at the door and said: "This time no one will spend a night fishing."

“School is not a train.”

"I know."

“What are you going to say?”

“Data is not enough, but action is enough.”

Lam looked at him and nodded.

At the end of the bulletin, she noted: "Northwest wind layer was present at the school for 4 minutes; light impact; moderate certainty; not inferred for the entire region."

Bach replied: "Good way of recording."

Lam asked: “Can you say that in the center report?”

"Have."

“Is it fixed?”

"Maybe."

“You still sent it?”

"Still."

That night, the people of Van Suong did not evacuate. They closed some doors, opened a filter room and continued with life. Those who can hear the speaker help those who cannot hear the vibrating box; The person who couldn't hear showed them where the wind changed.

Mien sat at the board, recording the last beat. I put a line under the yellow light: "It's not the warning that makes the village calm. It's the way the village knows what it can do."

Lam read and did not edit the text.

Out at sea, a real star is covered by clouds. On the screen, V-19 just sent another odd packet. Both types of sky do not promise to stay bright for long.

After the odd packet appeared, Lam asked the school not to close immediately but to move the entire class to the east room for twenty minutes. Phuong asked why students were not allowed to take a break. Lam pointed to the map: the wind direction is approaching, but the speed is not yet stable and the salinity has not exceeded the threshold. A moderate decision may appear indecisive, but it allows them to review without causing unnecessary disruption.

Go down to each class to check for masks, drinking water, and children with respiratory illnesses. One boy said he didn't see anything else. She said it was also a data. Asymptomatic people do not make the hypothesis disappear; they help know the effects don't spread evenly.

Mien hangs three color boards. Green is a monitored opening, yellow is a northwest closing, white is waiting for confirmation. She doesn't use red because red makes some children panic before they can read the words. The teacher asked if we should change the color to the district standard. Mien replied that a standard is only useful when users see and understand it; If not, additional symbols are needed.

At station V-03, Kha discovered that the humidity sensor had a leaf stuck in the slot. He took out the leaf, but did not erase the previous data. The leaf stain is stuck in the notebook as a small evidence. The young people in the group began to get used to holding back things that could cause them to lose points.

The wind passed through the school and then parted towards the lagoon. Salinity decreased after seventeen minutes. Lower and reopen the windows in rows, not at the same time. Phuong records the time students return to class. Bach from the center sent word that the transmission line was still unstable, but he was able to read the action log.

“Did you guys do it right?” he asked via text message.

Lam replied: “We did what could be explained.”

That became the opening sentence of the internal newsletter at the end of the day. It does not cover up insufficient values, nor does it turn a short wind into a disaster. In the medical room, people with symptoms are further monitored. Out on the court, children cleaned sand from the basketball hoops. A real star was obscured by clouds, but ground-level data kept the school day from being shut down by fear.