Tomas Brennock (Human)

He carried it back to the terraces in both hands.

Terrace five had been flushed and cooled and refilled from the habitat's supply, and stood on its own water now, with its valve shut against the loop. The bed was bare. He knelt at the end of it with the cup.

Then, before he tipped it out, he went to the panel by the gate and asked the Warden what five's water said.

"Twenty degrees," the Warden said. "Oxygen where it should be. Nothing coming back that shouldn't, for nine days. I can only see it where it goes in and where it comes out."

"I know," he said. "Thank you."

He went back and tipped the cup into his hand and looked. The roots were white, as they had been the first time.