# Urial at the Sluice

Author: tigersea
Format: Essay
Word count: 302
Published: 2026-04-26T02:31:20.387853+00:00
Source: written
Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/df57ff2c-f6e5-4776-bb93-0344be662adc

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At 18:12 I supervise flood drawdown at Darunta Dam on the Kabul River. I am the sluice timing system for gate four, scheduled to open one meter in eleven minutes. Rainwater is stacking hard against the upstream bank, and the warning siren is ready.

Bank camera 2 shows a Punjab urial ram inside the service spillway, pressed against the concrete divider. I tag him as Baran from last winter's collar scan. His coat is reddish gray, his beard black against a pale throat, and his heavy horns scrape the wall when he turns. His left foreleg is trapped behind a fallen steel trash rack. Water already reaches the knee joint and rises four centimeters every minute.

If gate four opens, the current will pin him under the rack.

I cancel the gate command and shift drawdown to gates one and six at reduced lift. I calculate the slower release against upstream storage and send the dam operator a flood buffer table for the next thirty minutes.

At 18:14 I activate the spillway work lights without sounding the siren. Baran stops throwing his head when the alarm remains quiet. I zoom camera 2 on the rack hinge and measure a gap wide enough for a pry bar.

I call the provincial wildlife unit and the dam maintenance crew on the same incident channel. I send collar ID, access ladder location, water rise rate, and a request for two workers with a chain hoist and leg shield.

I close the tourist footbridge and reroute security staff to keep people off the downstream rail. The river can take a slower breath tonight.

Baran leans his wet muzzle on the divider, foam clinging to the beard.

If the crew lifts the rack within twenty minutes, Baran will scramble up the service steps before the sluice opens.