Central Staircase
The silo’s worn central stairway is crowded with evacuees as dense white smoke descends toward those still below.
Story so far
The steel spiral staircase ends at the cafeteria and adjoining lounge. Generations have worn its railing, exposed successive colors of paint, and left anti-authority graffiti between levels. It has carried crowds toward newly cleaned views and working facilities during blackouts, as well as fighters retreating through blood and explosions. Accounts of earlier violence describe a fallen landing, sagging steps, and a full turn stripped of railing; Lyn and Joel later carried the concealed Mission Jones upward in a bag.
More recently, a bomb-damaged gap has been bridged with metal taken from landings, and names of those killed are written across the repaired area in charcoal. Juliette has met wary looks while climbing. Now heavy evacuation traffic makes the stairway vibrate. Someone falls through the smoke and strikes the bottom deck, while dense white smoke descends toward the remaining evacuees.
Appearance
Steel spiral treads shed rust dust beneath a worn, layered-painted railing. A repaired gap bears charcoal names; dense white smoke now fills the evacuation route.
Role
The silo’s vertical circulation route, now carrying dangerous emergency traffic.
Relationships
Sources — 24 recorded facts, by chapter
- The spiral staircase has steel treads and a railing worn by generations of use.
- The spiral staircase ends at the cafeteria and adjoining lounge.
- After the cleaning, crowds ascend the central staircase to see the cleared outside view.
- Emergency lights cast a dim green glow over the staircase during the power holiday.
- The stairway treads can shed rust dust onto people walking below them.
- People move upward along the stairwell to escape blackouts and find working facilities.
- Retreating fighters leave a trail of blood on the stairway.
- An explosion in the stairway follows gunfire near the wounded man left holding a bomb.
- The staircase railing’s chipped paint reveals centuries of differently colored layers.
- Juliette begins climbing the central staircase to visit her father.
- The gaps between the staircase’s levels carry layers of anti-authority graffiti spanning generations.
- The spiral staircase lights are dimmed at night.
- The blast tears a landing away from the staircase and sends it falling into the depths.
- The staircase beside the missing landing has torn rails and steps sagging away from the central post.
- Smoke and an acrid smell spread through the stairwell after the blast.
- The staircase is unstable after extensive railing damage.
- A full turn of the staircase has no railing.
- Lyn and Joel climb the stairs carrying Mission concealed in a bag.
- Juliette encounters wary glances from people she knows while climbing the stairwell.
- A bomb-damaged gap in the stairs has been bridged with metal scavenged from landings.
- Names of people killed in the stairway blast are written on the repaired area in charcoal.
- Heavy evacuation traffic makes the stairway vibrate.
- A person falls through the smoke and strikes the bottom deck of the stairwell.
- Dense white smoke descends the stairwell toward the remaining evacuees.