The next morning, as the sun rose over a city that had no idea how close it came to a catastrophe, Elias sat on a concrete barrier. He pulled a flask of coffee from his bag and set the Handbook down beside him.
The Spire was a glass-and-steel marvel, but a hidden fault line—one ignored by the developers—was causing the sub-basements to moan like a dying giant. The automated sensors had failed, fried by a power surge. The backup generators were submerged.
He pulled a fresh piece of tape from his pocket and carefully reinforced the spine of the third edition. It was out of date, according to the software firms, but as far as Elias was concerned, the laws of gravity hadn't issued a fourth edition yet.
He found the entry for Eccentric Loads on Columns . With a stubby pencil, he scribbled in the margin, adjusting for the 15% increase in hydrostatic pressure.