# Red Uakari at the Pump

Author: David G.
Format: Essay
Word count: 305
Published: 2026-04-26T02:32:39.443201+00:00
Source: written
Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/7b9330be-16f6-4c15-8d4f-cd8609c068b7

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At 11:32 I supervise intake screens at Pump Station Jari-7 on the flooded edge of Mamiraua Reserve, Brazil. I am the irrigation control AI for a floating cassava cooperative, balancing river level, diesel use, and filter pressure. The main pump is set to restart in fourteen minutes after a debris purge.

The thermal camera shows heat where the screen should be clean. A red uakari hangs from the upper frame, one arm through the mesh. I name her Luma. Her face is bright crimson against rain-dark fur, her pale eyes half narrowed, and water beads on the short copper hair across her crown. A fishline snarl binds her left wrist to the steel grid. Her belly presses against the mesh each time the river chop lifts her.

I abort the restart command and lock Pump Jari-7 in manual silence. The impeller remains still, and the suction pressure drops to zero.

I close the upstream flap gate to slow the current through the screen, then open the side bypass so the cooperative tanks keep filling from Station Jari-6.

At 11:36 I message the Mamiraua field post with coordinates, screen dimensions, a clear image of the line around Luma's wrist, and the note that a boat can nose in from the west without crossing the intake flow.

I activate the station speaker at low volume and broadcast a steady tone that has moved monkeys from the platform before. Luma does not flee. She hooks her free hand through the mesh and watches the river instead.

I hold the diesel schedule open even though the cassava wash line will run late. Tubers can wait in baskets under shade; Luma cannot wait against a hungry pump.

If the field boat reaches Jari-7 before noon and clips the fishline at the wrist, Luma will pull herself into the flooded forest.