Probly going to update a bit slower from now on; hospital gave me different painkillers but make me feel really sick. Still, I think it doesn't hurt as bad, so maybe I'm getting better!
There was a long drawn out silence after she said this. All eyes were on me, and I knew I was expected to say something. But I couldn't. My inner thoughts were a battleground, going round and round trying to figure out what I should say. I was angry, and scared, and also horribly aware of how much my continued existence depended on giving the right answer.
Finally I asked slowly, knowing that it was probably the wrong thing entirely, but unable to keep quiet, "Suppose I can do this, isn't it a bit shitty to heal someone just so they can go and die for you in a fight?"
Furiosa leaned on the table, looking at me sidelong, her head inclining in the barest of nods. "That is a thought I've had myself. But I think Nux will agree that dying historic's better than dying soft and sick, and this way they've a chance for full life after."
I looked at Nux, who nodded solemnly, fingering the spot between his neck and his collarbone where the mysterious Larry and Barry had once lived.
"And why should I? It hurt just to heal you, I don't even know what trying to do it for a hundred will do to me!" I argued belligerently, tired of feeling like I was only here because I was useful.
"Because if we lose, you'd better wish you were dead." Snapped Toast, shaking with suppressed emotion. I stared at her curiously; her reaction seemed overkill, but it called up the sudden memory of Nux making us hide from Gastown. His words 'pike you in the spine, use you til you die' floated back to me once more, and I shivered.
"Ok, I see your point." I conceded, "But I want something for doing this – trying to, anyway." I corrected.
The tall warrior woman snorted and looked at me disdainfully. Furiosa smiled a small and bitter smile. "What?" She asked flatly.
I took a deep breath. "I want to go home. I don't belong here, wherever here is. I want to go home, and that means going back to that canyon. I can't go alone."
Furiosa glanced questioningly at Nux and then back at me. "You're a rock rider – scav?" she asked.
"No," I shook my head, "I'm from somewhere else. I don't know how I got here, but the wreckage was the first thing I saw, so maybe there's some way back from there. That's all I want, just to go home."
Furiosa frowned and nodded thoughtfully, rubbing her scalp with her hand, a habit I was already beginning to recognise. "That's fair. Won't happen til after we win – if we do – but we'll give you an escort back there, keep the scavs off you long enough for you to recon the area."
She looked up at me and smiled, stretching out her one hand. "Deal?"
Tentatively I reached out and clasped it. "Deal." I confirmed cautiously. I still wasn't entirely convinced her plan was going to work. "How do you know these War Boys will be grateful enough?" I questioned doubtfully, biting my tongue on the additional 'you weren't' that sprang to my mind.
Nux made a strange sign with his hands, almost like he was praying, but with his arms above his bowed head. "I live, I die, I live again." He stated enigmatically. Then he dropped his hands to his sides and grinned at me. "War Boys're trained from pups to believe Joe'd give them that. Won't be a stretch for 'em to believe in Imperator Furiosa once you show 'em it's for real."
I shook my head with a sigh, not feeling very good about the idea of playing god. "This still doesn't seem very ethical." I pointed out unhappily.
The tall woman dressed in brown shrugged. "More so than letting them die." Her voice was soft and even.
Furiosa nodded in agreement. "It'll give them a chance at life, and us too."
I sighed and hugged myself. I felt trapped by the situation; even though nominally I could say no, it was obvious to me that my survival was now tied up with these people.
Furiosa took this as compliance, for she touched my shoulder reassuringly. "Let's get started." She said, and then turned to Nux and Toast. "Not you two; Nux, it's too soon, you'll get them angry."
Nux nodded glumly. "Nux the Traitor." He sighed.
"Go to the mech shop; see if you can't get my new arm finished quicker." Furiosa ordered. Nux nodded happily and trotted off. I felt my heart sink seeing him go.
"And me?" asked Toast.
"Help Capable with the inventory; we need to know how long we can hold off a siege. I need it finished by tonight." Furiosa narrowed her eyes. "And get Cheedo to help you too; she's been lounging around since we got back. I know she's just a kid, but she needs to pull her weight."
Toast nodded seriously and walked out of the room, her diaphanous white garments contrasting strangely with the long rifle banging against the back of her slim legs.
"Me and Valkyrie will take you to the organic repair shop; Able and Rhea are already there." Furiosa stated matter of factly.
Now it was my turn to nod at her orders. I fervently wished Nux was still with us; he was still the only one I really trusted out of all of them. Feeling very apprehensive, I followed Furiosa out of a door on the other side of the room, with Valkyrie bringing up the rear. We walked down a twisting network of dark stone corridors, which opened out into the cable car room where I'd waited with Nux for Toast and Capable, so long ago it seemed now.
"I need a drink." I said, when I heard the tinkle of the water echoing around the walls. Furiosa indicated an alcove, and I darted in there. It was very small, no more than a circle carved out of rock, just big enough for the bubbling bowl fountain which occupied its centre. I leaned over the fountain and drank deep, wishing I still had my bag of macadamia nuts.
"I haven't had breakfast." I pointed out to Furiosa and Valkyrie when I got back.
Valkyrie's lips curved in a small smile, and her dark eyes danced. "Haven't heard that word in a long time." She said, digging into the wrapped cloth of her shirt. She handed me a canvas packet which turned out to hold strips of sun-dried tomatoes. Not the ideal breakfast, but I chewed them with determination. Starving in the desert had taught me not to be too fussy about my food, although I admit that visions of cool yoghurt and ripe fruit did fill my mind while I ate.
I was still eating while the three of us climbed into the rickety old cable car. A warrior woman who I hadn't noticed came out of the shadows and pushed a lever, starting the whirring and creaking of the cable car's machinery. I clung to the sides while it swung out over the void, although it wasn't nearly as bad as when Nux had been leaping all over the place the last time. Still, I was relieved when we reached the other side, and I could step out onto solid rock.
"Imperator." Another man with the white skin, shaved head and black cargo trousers that Nux wore made the same strange over-the-head praying motion that Nux had shown me.
Furiosa nodded in his direction regally and strode past. All around me in that huge cavern I could hear the sound of unseen machinery, the patterns of light and dark changeable as huge chains swung past and massive wheels turned. Looking around I could see tiny, child versions of the white painted man darting around, pushing levers or oiling massive cogs. Some of them stopped their work to stare at us curiously.
"War pups." Explained Furiosa, seeing my puzzled looks. I sighed inwardly. Everyone seemed to have this habit of assuming that giving me the most minimal information would allow me to understand what they were talking about.
She stopped by a large metal gate, pulling down on a long lever. The gate slid open, revealing some kind of freight elevator. We stepped in, and she pushed a button on a peeling and scratched control panel. The lift shuddered, and started to descend jerkily. I got the feeling that a lot of the machinery here was either very old, or patched together by people who only sort of knew what they were doing, or didn't have all the right parts.
We hadn't gone down very far when the lift stopped, and another metal gate creaked open. We walked along a short dark corridor and into a large long room with a very high ceiling, bluish sunlight streaming down from shafts cut into the rock overhead. Stone benches were on either side of the room, with sinister man-sized metal cages hanging from above at intervals. Thankfully these cages were all empty, but the benches were not.