Jahns

Jahns is the mayor of the silo, an office she has held for decades through steady hands and small kindnesses. She governs from the top levels, balancing the birth lottery, the budget, and the rivalries of departments, and she is old enough to feel the weight of every one of those years in her knees. The sheriff's post sits empty, and Jahns decides to do something mayors of her age rarely do: walk the great spiral staircase down through the entire silo to meet her preferred candidate face to face, a mechanic named Juliette who works in the down deep. Deputy Marnes, an old colleague she trusts completely, walks with her. The journey doubles as an inspection of the community she has spent her life serving, and as a quiet reckoning with the influence of Bernard, the head of IT, whose reach she has watched grow with unease.