Emilia's food board covered half the Citadel route room by the time the freight notice finished cycling across the city screens. She had counted sealed grain, root-cellar stores, cultivation output, water treatment supplies, and the ration packs recovered from the bounty companies.
None of the columns offered a comfortable answer.
"Registered territory has nineteen days at the current ration, assuming no new arrivals, spoilage beyond the predicted loss, or emergency draw from the hospital," Emilia said.
"The unregistered districts outside the Citadel boundary have fewer than six days because the west convoys Holt stopped supplied their stores," Vasa said, standing beside the board with a second set of figures.
Nox read both estimates without touching the screen. The city had survived a siege, a false district, and a national seizure notice. People could still be beaten by a freight schedule if the food stopped moving.
"Can we stretch nineteen?" he asked.
