The Wang-Hausermann desalination facility, known as Tallwater, was the largest of its kind, stretching nine kilometers end to end from Rancho Palos Verdes to Terminal Island. It would be an exaggeration to call the place a city, but it was a damn good-sized town. The massive facility removed the salt from 400 million gallons of seawater a day, converting enough fresh water to drastically improve the quality of life across the entire western United States. People as far east as Amarillo and as far north as Spokane would once again be able to bathe and hydrate at will and without worry. There were one hundred twenty seven thousand employees working at Tallwater, with nearly half living as permanent residents inside the compound. The compound included the main processing plant, primary storage, secondary storage, distribution, waste disposal, administration, maintenance, permanent and temporary housing - all the standard bones of the industry. There was also a hospital, three schools, two hundred and six shops, one hundred and nine restaurants, fifty two bars, four casinos, six brothels, five fighting pits, nine drug dens, two graveyards and one jail. A private security firm working in teams across five different zones maintained law and order inside the vast compound. Security Chief Sondheim oversaw Zone 4, which included the waste disposal plant, the water distribution hub, several of the seedier bars and restaurants as well as Tallwater’s most popular whorehouse. It was beneath the giant, salt-encrusted transfer tubes of the distribution hub that the dead body had been discovered, square in the center of Gabby’s jurisdiction.
Part 1 is here! https://steemit.com/story/@senderos/god-s-only-mistake-part-1
Part 2! https://steemit.com/story/@senderos/god-s-only-mistake-part-2
Copyright 2016, Daniel Capuzzi
