Generator Maint. with Blaze & Ghost

[notalldead]

A meeting of the gang was called the second Jesse was back underground. He then filled them all in on what was up there; some weird new place full of grass, electricity and running businesses. They nearly had a harder time believing that than Jesse's next story about how he met a robot and she was going to come down with another robot to take a look at their generators.

But other scouts soon went topside to confirm the same and came back, mute with disbelief. Granted, few of them wandered far from the subway, just like back home; habits die hard, especially ones that keep you from dying hard. But they all the saw the same thing; a place with no zed, bright and clean and like some kind of park or mall from the times before things fell apart.

When the day finally arrives for Blaze to visit, Jesse's waiting for her topside, using his tongue to wet down a fresh cigar. Well, fresh at least that it hasn't been lit yet. It looks a little crumpled, but these things are hard to get, darn it.

Comments

[notalldead]

Jesse huffs a smoke-exhaling chuckle and waves for Blaze & Ghost to keep following him deeper into the subway tunnels. There's a room at the end marked MAINT. that has machinery chugging behind it. Must be the generators.

"Yeah, we still eat. Not the usual stuff like we used to. We kinda grew a taste for meat what's still raw. Not people or nothing!" Not if they can help it, anyways. "We know a gang of pig farmers who keep us in supply if we don't find stuff that ain't spoiled in stores, or huntin' in the hills ain't goin' well."

He steps over a fallen air duct, muttering how they gotta clean that up. "What about you? You eat? Sleep? Drink? And do they gotta order custom parts when somethin' on you gets busted?" Might as well have the questions going both ways since they've gotten comfortable enough to get them out there.

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze follows him with a will, her Ghost stopping now and then to inspect details like the fallen duct.

"Nah, no eating. No drinking either, unless you want to replenish coolant in a hurry. We've got other ways to get a buzz if we're in the mood. Sleep's just a sort of maintenance cycle - don't need it all that often. As for repairs, well, no-one remembers how we were built, so the only ones who can figure out our internals well enough to fix us are Ghosts."

All the more reason to recommend her little companion. The Ghost gets a proud look as it rejoins them. It seems eager to see what's past the door.

[notalldead]

"Aw wow, so he's your doctor, kinda!" Ghost gets a fresh look of appreciation by the time they've reached the doors. Jesse pauses to stub out his cigar and stuff it back into his pocket; no good to have it going in a place full of gas fumes.

When the door is opened, there's three generators lined up, but only two are running at the moment. They're LOUD, chugging away at creating electricity. There's messes of wires and jacks running from them, leading to provide power to certain lights, their tech labs, places to charge electronics that are scavenged.

"If I recall correctly," Jesse hollers over the din the machines make, "our engineers say these babies can put out up to 5000 watts. 7 gallon tanks, but we feed 'em light, sometimes only got one or two runnin'. Never three at once, ain't got the fuel. If we manage a full tank, each one's got about 12 hours, I think. Fulla copper wiring, I do believe, and got intelligent auto voltage regulation so it don't blow anything with too much juice." He gives one a gentle kick, like you would to a car's tires to test its sturdiness.

[rekindledtitan]

"Best there is," Blaze agrees, and it's no exaggeration in her mind.

"I do my best." The Ghost spins, fluttering a little at the praise.

Blaze is a little taken aback by the noise inside, optics flickering as she looks around. Her Ghost doesn't seem deterred. For once, at least, the ruckus isn't explosive. It flies from point to point, examining the generators and the wiring, mapping the connections. It's listening to Jesse, too, and after a minute it darts back to him, the better to be heard over the noise. It can raises its voice, but yelling just isn't the little AI's style.

"Is there any fuel in the last one? The one that's not running?"

[notalldead]

"Think it's only got a little in the reserve tank. Emergency stuff, if we had to run it quick-like if we got a big problem or another one fails. You need me to siphon it or fill it?" He's ready to do either! There's tin cans lined up outside with clear markings of dangerous flammables; the gathered gasoline dedicated to running these machines.

[rekindledtitan]

"If the main tank is clear, that's fine. I might have an idea to increase its efficiency. I'll need to take a closer look." The Ghost flies over to the inactive generator, then disappears in a blue flash. This is followed by some rattling and whirring from inside the machine, although it's lost in the general din.

"Tell me if you need anything," Blaze yells after it, much more comfortable raising her volume. On second thought, she pauses and repeats it over internal comms before turning back to Jesse. "Will it be all right if we have to switch over generators? I don't want to interrupt your supply while Ghost's working."

[notalldead]

"If we gotta kill 'em for a bit, that's no problem. We've had black-outs before and we're all kitted up with candles and flashlights." He jerks his chin back towards the settlement camp they'd passed through. "And if, uh, Ghost wants to be left to do his work, that's fine too. Whatever works best for y'all!"

[rekindledtitan]

"It'll need some help with switching over and stuff." Plus she just can't be convinced to go very far from her other half. "We can fall back a bit, though. Make it easier to talk. There a bench where I can set out some materials first?"

[notalldead]

"Yeah, kinda rough on the ears over here, ain't it?" The fact he still has to raise his voice so loud is testament. He gestures towards a bench just over yonder, in fact! It's a subway, so it's full of them.

He waits until Blaze is sitting before he takes a seat as well, politely leaving a seat between them. He seems to continue having that aversion of getting too close to others, living or robot. Anyone not undead, considering he picked up and hugged little Julie earlier just fine.

"Thanks again for doin' this. Real kind of ya both. My people owe you a big one."

[rekindledtitan]

Settling back with a creak from the bench, Blaze takes the empty seat as a good spot to put out the upgrade materials her Ghost might need. She pulls them from various pouches and compartments about her person, unsealing a small stack of glossy plasteel plates from their pack, running a thumb over a couple of silver boxes and a cylindrical canister to check their integrity.

"Field repairs are part of the creed," she says, optics brightening in a smile as she looks up at him. "And helping people is what we're here for. Just don't usually get to do it up close like this."

[notalldead]

"Yeah? That's a nice thing. This creed part of what the Traveller left you?" He still thinks about what she said about this entity; that it showed up and helped out to the point it had to go dormant or something. That it'll wake up again someday and help out once more. It's downright biblical and he likes it.

"You got any favours that might be done in return? We like to repay in kind 'round here, best we can anyhow. We like bein' good neighbours to those who treat us right."

[rekindledtitan]

"Not exactly. There're different kinds of Guardians, and we've all got our own traditions. Ways of following the Traveler's will. The creed I'm talking about is a Titan thing, passed down from the very first orders. Discipline and diligent maintenance." She works as she talks, opening one of the small boxes to reveal a few rough lumps of metal, rust-red and still glistening. Blaze finds a small plasma cutter to carve off some shavings of the stuff. Beneath the outer layer it's a very dark grey.

She pauses at Jesse's offer, though. "I don't really know. Maybe if you run across any technology or information that might be useful, you might pass it along. But I'm not gonna hold you to any debt just for doing what we ought to."

[notalldead]

Jesse watches her work, intrigued by whatever that metal is, and the tool she has to carve it. Blaze's decline and his initial offer makes him suddenly feel very foolish and he laughs sheepishly.

"Dunno if we'll ever find any tech that's worth your time, aheh. Just busted up stuff from when the world went downhill a few years ago. Those generators are the best thing we got goin' in this base so far, so we must look like dang cavemen to you two." He nods back towards where they left Ghost to do his work.

"Guess I'll just have to keep that promise of a zombie movie night with ya. A life without Romero is a life deprived, friend."

[rekindledtitan]

"Any deal you get a friend out of is a good one." Her satisfaction is deep and genuine. "And I'd like that. Ghost says there's only a couple of his movies in the files back home." She sets the tool aside and pulls back for a second: the Ghost's just flown over again. It latches on to the metal flakes in what looks like a miniature tractor beam, and darts off again, intent on its work.

Blaze picks up as it departs. "See, most of the time we're just reclaiming things from the wilderness, same as you are. We've had a few extra centuries to search, but you're closer to your collapse. I'll bet you know things our cryptarchs would spend years figuring out."

[notalldead]

"Yeah? Huh. I mean...we sure can make some mean bombs outta some gasoline, tin cans and wires. And sturdy walls. I guess, I dunno, if anything like our old tech is somethin' you'd want, things we don't need like old television sets or computers, we'd be happy to bring 'em up to y'all? And you don't gotta be scared none of telling me, 'Naw, Jesse, this is all junk, get outta here with that.' "

He laughs, feeling better after that brief spell of embarrassment. She thinks of him as a friend! He's friends with a robot! Two robots! This is the best.

[rekindledtitan]

"Got it." Blaze perks up, glad to hear him relax. She hadn't thought of embarrassing him, and doesn't like the way things felt awkward for a moment there.

"Well, what we'd really want are the computer parts - any hard drives, data storage. Books if you can spare them. We could trade, if you're interested in any of ours." The cryptarchs would love that stuff. So would some of her fellow Guardians. The old ways tend to get a healthy respect among them.

[notalldead]

"Heck, we got a little makeshift library right now. Most of it is romance novels, but yer welcome to 'em if there's anything that interests you. Our engineer took off with most of the science and schoolin' books, but I could always bother him and see if there's some he's done with.

"And hard drives shouldn't be so hard; most scavengers pass 'em over, since none of us have much use for 'em. Only gang around that sees any good with 'em is 1337cREw. Maybe I'll ask 'em for any tips on what's good if our respective trails cross."

[rekindledtitan]

"Thanks. Might want to run him through whatever upgrades Ghost winds up putting in there, anyway."

Nodding at the latter part, she opens one of the boxes as the Ghost comes back muttering about spinmetal; inside are delicate-looking flakes of silvery metal, promptly scooped up. "Guess it's hard to keep any computers running, anyhow. Is this other gang the, uh, living kind?"

[notalldead]

"Yeah. All of the other gangs that sprung up when things fell are all livin' folk. They're not super keen on associatin' with us, unless they're Government. They're a little too interested in us." He turns his head and spits, like the mention of that group left a bad taste in his mouth. "Same goes for the Church of the Chosen Ones."

"Otherwise, there's, uh. Hang on." He starts counting off gangs on his fingers. "1337cREw, run by Dara, who're a buncha computer nuts. Government, run by Senator Davis, who's what's left o' the American govt. and trying to get everything back under control. The Granville Riffs and their rivals, the Last Judgement Gang; bunch o' guys in karate pajamas and rowdy priests on motorbikes, respectively. The Luddies are under King Ludd, an' they're a buncha hippies who just kinda grow crops and talk about how good it is to not have tech no more. Uhh, who else.

"Oh! There's the St. Michael's School; buncha little hellions in a high security school run by a little squirt named Rufus. The Pig Farmers, who we get along with okay. Farmer Bucket keeps us full up on pig meat if we're runnin' low for a few easy favours. The Pharmacists, under Tiff an' her husband Therion; they peddle some kinda drug called bath salts to folks who're too overwhelmed with how the world turned out after the zed. The Dahlias, who's boss is Ms. Nellie McClung; they're big on keepin' ladies safe and rebuildin' society where gender don't matter. Uhh, and finally, yeah, Church of the Chosen Ones. Cassandra Starr's got 'em around her little finger and got her bunch worshippin' the zed. They're sickos.

"An' I guess Gustav counts too; hairy lil' merchant who runs around the map, peddlin' stuff for survival, tryna make a buck. He's got a whole mess of burly mercs to keep him safe too. So that's 12 of us in all, vyin' for territory. 13 if you count the nice folks from Seattle. But yeah, we Rotten are the only undead gang out of all us. We tend to attract our own."

[rekindledtitan]

"Sounds chaotic," she comments, thinking over all those names. "Heh, I always thought having three factions was messy. I understand why you don't want to get too close to that Church - worshiping the zed? Sounds like they're walking straight into the dark. And you don't trust the Government either, huh?"

[notalldead]

"I don't trust Senator Davis any further than I could throw her. Which is about...three feet. Maybe five with good footin'." He flexes one skinny arm with a crooked grin. "Anyway, they've got a bad habit of kidnappin' my kin. One fella we got back and said they're runnin' tests to see what makes us still able to think, unlike the usual zed. All fascinated with the whole 'getting stronger and not feelin' pain and hard to kill' part of things, from the sounds of it.

"And yeah. The Church's whole deal is just that; they think zed are...shoot, I dunno. Perfect, blameless creatures now. Ascended folk. They worship 'em and aspire to be 'em. I've seen people from the Church strip naked and jump into big hordes o' zed while the rest of them sing and dance and chant. It's sick. They're sick. We avoid 'em like they're poison."

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze's fists close for a moment, fingers curling. "And if you tell me how they're testing that, I'll take a wild guess I won't like it."

His description of the cult really catches her attention, though. "Good plan. It's funny they've even survived this long, though. You think they're just insane? I mean, you've never seen any sign the zed react differently to them?"

It's a weird, grim notion, but...