Chapter 9 — The Star Growers

Bach wants to remove the stars at the salt hut, where the salinity data is highest. He brought with him a standard box, two bags of gloves and a handover record. Lam led him through the tidal flats, without bringing the group with him. Cu Tu followed behind, saying he just wanted to see how the city people untied what the village people had tied.

“I'm not here to deny,” Bach said.

“But your paper has the word ‘revocation’ written on it.”

“This particle needs to be put into the calibration chamber.”

“If we remove it, we lose the chain at the problem point.”

“If we don't remove it, we don't know if it's measuring correctly or measuring the salt layer.”

Lam looked at the hut. The filter membrane is white, the anchor rope vibrates with the wind. Stars don't fly here; The receiving station hangs low, and the data comes from a passive sample. Bach wants to remove the filter, not the whole system.

“You remove the filter,” Lam said. “Keep the case, cord, memory. Make a copy first.”

Bach nodded. "Okay."

Cu interjected: "What part is the record of the filter?"

“Sample collection section.”

“Who keeps the rough copy?”

“The Center and the Community.”

Lam looked at Bach. “Both versions, same hash code?”

“If you have a tester.”

Mien from behind handed over the small device. I added a vibrating light. Bach admitted, looking at the homemade circuit.

“What did the girl do?”

Mien nodded.

“Is the signal wrong?”

Mien wrote: "Yes. But it can be recorded."

Bach read it, then put the phone away.

They removed. Bach did each step, reading out loud the time and witnesses. Mien writes in symbols, Cu keeps the box, Lam compares the serial number. When the filter layer leaves the shell, a grain of salt falls into Bach's glove.

“Where does this model go?” Cu asked.

"Laboratory."

“When will the results come?”

“Two days.”

“Will the wind wait two days?”

Bach looked at him. “I know it doesn't wait.”

“How do you know?”

“By the fact that I was waiting for a report to issue a warning, and the report came after people had to vacate the house.”

Cu stopped laughing. Bach did not say more.

When the filter is removed, the hut station does not lose its ability to measure wind and heat. Salinity changes to “no sample” state. Lam edited the public board. She didn't leave a single red line to make people think there was no salt.

“Many people will see the empty box as if the sky is clean,” Ha said.

“Specify no samples.”

"Minuscule."

Mien took a red pen and drew a crossed out water drop symbol. Ha put it on the big board.

Look, this symbol is not within the national standards.

“It is within user standards,” Ha replied.

Bach did not object.

In the afternoon, the central team placed the reference machine on the dome. The device is more precise, but requires a stable power source. The station's old generator uses oil, and every time it is turned on, it creates vibrations. Mien pointed at the background, signaling that he should not place it next to the machine.

Bach asked why. Lam translated. He agreed to move the phone to a farther angle, even though the cable was long and the signal was weak.

“You believe her?” Kha asked.

“I believe her test has a reason,” Bach replied. “That doesn't mean believing every conclusion.”

Mien read the sentence on the board and nodded.

They ran three calibration series. Chain one, heat deflection. Sequence two, differential pressure. String three, moisture coincides. Salinity has no reference set because the filter has been removed.

Lam said the hut data will be vacant for two days. Bach said he could use dust samples and lab results later. Cu is not satisfied.

“Those two days may be when the wind changes.”

"I get it."

“Just say you understand.”

“Because I understand but there is no faster way.”

Cu pointed to the sea. “Ask the Thin Cloud operator.”

“They have water surface data.”

"They have the data. Show us."

Bach did not answer. Lam knows his boundaries: he can Share meteorological data, do not have the right to open other program data.

“You can submit a petition,” Lam said.

“I sent it.”

“Since when?”

“Before coming.”

Cu looked at him longer, then turned away.

Mien pulled Lam behind the hut. I pointed to the line going to the ground, where there was a fiber that did not belong to the substation. The wire connects to a low metal box, the outside is painted blue.

Lam opened the lid and saw an unlabeled vibration recorder. Its signal coincides with the strange rhythm that Mien discovered on the V-20.

“Whose box is this?”

Bach came, looked inside. “Not part of the star seed.”

“Relevant data?”

“Could be a reflective roof tracker.”

“So Thin Cloud has a station here without recording it?” Cu asked.

Bach looked at the stamp at the bottom of the box. “The equipment code of the operator, but the location is managed by them.”

“Do people know?”

"I do not know."

Lam does not touch the box. She took a photo of the label, recorded the location, and asked Bach to make a record together. He did, but said the data hadn't been retrieved yet.

“If this device measures the same class, why isn't the data shared?” Cu asked.

“Possibly different ownership.”

“Does the sky have ownership?”

“Data has regulations.”

“Who wrote the regulations?”

Bach did not reply. Mien pointed to the box and then pointed to the sky. I draw two lines, one with a name, one without a name.

Lam understands: the same sky, two lives are measuring but not talking.

In the evening, Bach stayed at the dome. He did not return to the district hotel, because he wanted to watch the overnight wind chain. Lam made tea and placed it next to him. They sat in front of the screen without anyone speaking for a while.

“Do you know why the model flattens the local data?” Bach asked.

“Because of lack of points.”

“And because each point can increase the total error.”

“A village becomes a false number?”

"One measurement point is not representative of the whole region. If put in the wrong place, the model is worse."

“If we don't give it, the model will still be bad for the village.”

"Correct."

Lam looked at him. “Did you ever say that in the report?”

“Yes. Changed to ‘need more data’.”

“Do you keep the original?”

Bach smiled faintly. “No. I learned from people like you.”

“I'm not sure it's a good lesson.”

“Definitely not a solo lesson.”

On the screen, Vom station and Rau station both increased salinity at 23:18. Factory station did not increase. Thin Cloud's blue box sent a series of vibrations at the same time but could not be opened.

Mindlessly sitting at the next table, recording the rhythm on the board. I pointed to the two strings, saying they matched the time but had different labels.

Bach said: "If you open the box, it's a violation."

Lam replied: "Not open. But you can request to share the data."

“Requests will take time.”

“The wind does not wait.”

Bach looked at her. "I know."

The next day, the lab sent preliminary results: the dust sample had sodium chloride and a small amount of organic particles, not enough to distinguish a natural marine source from a reflective roof effect. Levels do not cause acute toxicity, but may irritate the respiratory tract when repeated for many days.

Ha read and immediately added instructions to wash your face, do not dust dry, use a damp cloth. She did not close the village, did not issue a loud warning.

Lam updates table: “real salt sample; source unknown; preventive action.”

Bach signed to confirm the sample, then said he had to remove another station because the V-19 bulb had a tear. Lam objected. The V-19 still sends data, the tear may cause a lower altitude.

“So the data no longer represents the high level,” Bach said.

“Record tear status.”

“Cannot be used.”

“Can't be used as a high floor. Can be used as a falling device.”

Bach looked at her, then at the screen. “She wants to keep everything.”

“I want to not delete things I don't understand.”

“If you keep too much, others won't know what to look at.”

Mien gave the sign: "Label clearly."

Bach burst out laughing. “She always solves it with two words.”

Lam said: “Those two words are often more difficult than erasing.”

In the end they did not remove the V-19. They lowered the reliability, changed the light to yellow, and posted the sign "unconfirmed altitude". Bach sent an update to the center, which recorded local data that was valuable for monitoring fluctuations, not enough to issue a national warning.

Bach left Van Suong in the afternoon. Before leaving, he gave Lam a piece of paper with the coordinates of the blue box.

“I can't open the data yet,” he said. “But I have submitted an official request.”

"Thank."

“Don't say thank you too early. Maybe they will refuse.”

“So we include the rejection.”

Bach nodded.

As the car drove away, Mien pointed to the sky. A V-19 light turned off and on three times.

Lam opened the book. Before recording, she checked the source, time, tear status, and witnesses.

At the end of the line, she wrote: “Star seeds are not clean. The reader must know where it gets dirty.”

Bach did not ask Lam to remove that sentence. He suggests dividing dirt into three categories: dust, equipment errors, and environmental conditions. If a sensor is covered with salt, the value is not automatically useless; it simply needs to be flagged and placed next to the control sample. The way he spoke made the room less tense, but also made the work harder. Every number from now on may have to come with the question of what it has gone through.

Mien took a magnifying glass and examined the edge of the tear in the seed shell. There was blue fiber stuck between the two layers, resembling material from the operations area's protective net. She didn't call it proof. You put the yarn in a sealed bag, write down who took it, time, location, and witnesses. Cu Bao added, "I don't know where it came from." Mien wrote exactly like that.

The debate over data ownership lasted well into the evening. The Thin Cloud representative wanted to see the rough version before making it public, for fear of a wrong value being shared as a rumor. Lam agreed to give them the right to technical feedback within a fixed period of time, but did not agree to the right to keep the record silent indefinitely. Bach proposed that if any side objects, it must clearly state which line, the reason, and with what data.

Ha placed a bottle of water in the middle of the table. “Every regulation needs an expiration date. Otherwise, the exception will turn into the normal practice.”

No one applauded, but Phuong wrote that sentence on the process board.

Two counties are authorized next week. One seed can fly over the lagoon, one seed can only fly near the school. No particle solves the entire question. But Van Suong had a list of criteria before launching: what altitude needed to be measured, how long it needed to take, who needed to stand where, and what conditions required recording. For the first time, people prepare for the failure of a star seed without considering it a failure of the entire village.