A/N
Hey everyone! It's been a long time since I've left an author's note. I've never been too active on this site to begin with; these days I basically just upload chapters and then leave until next Sunday rolls around...
Good news though! After April all of my exams will be done! Which means that I will no longer have to devote my time to the piles of schoolwork I'm stuck with! It's always exciting to be in the home stretch!
Admittedly, this story has reached a bit of a slow point - but this is on purpose and by design. In some ways this arc is the story's true halfway point and the next few chapters will be important for setting up the rest of the plot. There is a LOT of plot information and foreshadowing I had to cut from this chapter, purely because it felt way too bloated.
Anyways, enough of my rambling...
Chapter 39…
"Now the most important thing to remember when using the saw is to keep your fingers away from the blades…"
"Yeah…" Ashley frowned and cocked her head. "I think that goes without saying…"
"Hmpth, you would be surprised..." Anatoly sounded unimpressed. He gave Ashley a long look before turning his attention back down at the saw. "Now this switch here is the safety. The saw blades will not spin unless it is being held, understood?"
"Got it…"
"The blade guard sticks sometimes as well," Anatoly hefted the tungsten-carbide saw in his hands. "If that happens just pull it out, good?"
"Uh-huh."
"Alright, here I go!"
Anatoly moved his fingers so that he was squeezing the safety trigger before thumbing the "ON" button. With a mechanical hiss the large power saw he was holding rattled to life. Carefully moving the spinning device down towards a prepared log, the man pushed the blade downwards, kicking up wood dust as he sliced the log in two. The newly cut segment fell from the table.
"And done!" Anatoly yelled as he released the trigger and the blade slowed to a stop. He lowered the heavy machine so that it was dangling from his fingertips. "Everything is clear for you?"
"Crystal."
"Good, because now it is your turn," Anatoly groused. Ashley yelped in surprise as the still-warm saw was dropped into her outstretched arms. "Cut me a piece, would you?"
"How big?" Ashley blew a loose strand of hair out of her eyes.
"I don't care, it is scrap wood anyways," Anatoly shrugged. "If you do not lose fingers then I am satisfied."
"That's your criteria?"
"Once again… you would be surprised…"
"Whatever," Ashley huffed. She placed her fingers and thumb on the right switches and hovered the teeth of the blade over the waiting bark. With a mechanical rattle and an electric whine the saw roared to life in her hands. Neither the vibrations or the loud noise frightened Ashley - years of handling firearms had left her with calm nerves.
The dark haired woman pressed the blade downwards so that it began chewing into the wood. In an instant the air was filled with wood dust; it smelled foul and the small particles stung at the insides of Ashley's nostrils. Despite this, the women pushed forwards until the blade sliced off a segment of wood.
Ashley removed her fingers from the trigger and safety and waited for a moment as the blades came to a stop. Then, she handed the tool back to her instructor.
"Not bad," Anatoly complimented. He turned his head down and squinted his eyes to observe the log Ashley had cut. "Good blade work… although the wood got a little chewed up at the end…"
Anatoly pointed out teeth indents in the otherwise smooth wood.
"... and you have your fingers still," Anatoly shrugged. The older man stood up and raised a hand to smooth back his thinning hairline. "Welcome aboard!"
"Great," Ashley offered a polite smile. "When do I start?"
"Right now," Anatoly raised his hand to point outside of the sawmill. Right next to the river that powered the water wheel was an old truck. "Go load up the truck with wood, there should be a scrap pile next to it…"
"I'm loading the truck with scrap?"
"Wood chips, good for making mulch," Anatoly planted his hands on his hips and sighed. "It is the only thing wood is good for these days…"
"Sure," Ashley frowned. "I'll get right on it…"
The dark haired woman walked away from her superior and towards the truck. Her boot-clad feet sank into the soft grass as she walked and she was careful to give the glittering river a wide berth. Right next to the truck, just like Anatoly said, was a large pile of wood shavings and a shovel.
Grabbing the shovel, Ashley dug the sharp tip into the shavings and swung a shovelful into the bed of the truck.
And she did it again…
And again…
And again…
And she kept doing just that…
After the first two minutes her body went into auto-pilot. Ashley could feel her muscles working but paid her task little attention. It was a nice day, and the occasional chirp of birds or the rushing of the nearby river occupied her mind. There wasn't a single cloud in the sharp blue sky and the light from Antheia's single sun warmed Ashley's joints.
'Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale…'
Ashley quickly fell into the regular rhythm of her breathing exercises. Everytime she inhaled, the action coincided with her lifting up a new shovelful of material. Everytime she exhaled, the shovelful of material was already in the bed of the truck. The fresh air felt cool in her lungs.
'Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale…'
Five more shovelfuls found their way into the truck.
'Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale…'
Another five…
'Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale…'
And another…
"I think that's enough, Ashley…"
"Huh?" Ashley blinked. Her arms froze and her grip on her shovel slackened. The dark haired woman spun around to find her superior observing her with a bemused expression.
"I think that the truck is full…" Anatoly jerked his head in the direction of the pickup. Ashley followed this motion with her eyes and saw that Anatoly was right. The bed of the truck had been filled almost to capacity.
"Oh… sorry…"
"Why apologize? You did as I instructed… and in good time, too," Anatoly pushed his nose to the side in thought. "Not bad at all…"
"I try," Ashley tossed the shovel onto the ground. "What's next?"
"What is next? Hop in the truck, we have a delivery to make…" Anatoly walked around the vehicle towards the driver's seat. "Oh… and toss the shovel in the back…"
Ashley did as instructed before entering the truck's passenger side door. She settled into the worn out leather seat and propped her forearm up on the open window. There was a shuddering noise as the key was turned and the diesel engine weakly sputtered to life. Anatoly shifted the vehicle into gear and the entire truck lurched when he applied gas.
"Fuck, how old is this thing?" Ashley asked as the truck trundled on down the path - away from the sawmill and right next to the glittering river.
"Who knows? Most of the trucks out here are ancient…" Anatoly muttered. His brown eyes were locked on the trail ahead and he was gripping the wheel with white knuckles. "This one is put together from several trucks…"
"Why bother?" Ashley frowned. "Wouldn't hydrogen engines be more efficient?"
"Yes, but harder to maintain!" Anatoly argued back. He lifted one hand off of the wheel and wagged it in the air.
There was a loud, grinding "clunk" from the truck's suspension.
"Sure…" Ashley frowned and looked back out the window. "Sure…"
They were still driving besides the glittering river. The body of water seemed to stretch out for miles, curling around between the nearby hills and fields like a long snake. From the distance Ashley was at, the angle of the sun's rays made the water a nice, shiny blue.
"It's ironic, isn't it?" Ashley muttered.
"Hm?"
"A beautiful, calm river…" Ashley elaborated. "And if you drink from it you'll spend the next few days on a bad trip…"
Anatoly smirked in amusement. "A bad trip? That is an interesting expression…"
"I was shocked when I learned how much a single cup of water costs here. What do you guys do? Do you purify the water?"
"No, we here in Okraina do not have the technology for that," Anatoly shook his head. "It is one thing to remove the dirt, it is another to filter the chemicals from the water. In the larger cities they do not have such an issue - better purifiers."
"So where do you get water from?"
"The wells," Anatoly jerked his head in the direction of Okraina's main hub. The small collection of buildings that made up the main street could be seen in the distance. "Okraina is built atop an underground spring. The water down there is not contaminated, but it is still in demand."
"I suppose that makes sense," Ashley pressed the back of her head against her seat's headrest. A small jolt of pain shot up her spine when the truck hit a particularly large bump. "And if you guys didn't have a well?"
"There would simply be no Okraina," Anatoly shrugged. "Who would live in a town that needs its water imported? The costs would be tremendous…"
"Yeah?"
"Antheia is a very mountainous planet. The oceans that do exist are mostly salt…" Anatoly took a moment to shift the truck into lower gear. "No town, village, or city can exist without the purifiers… or an underground well. Still… things are not as bad as they used to be…"
Ashley felt herself perk up in interest. She propped up her hand on her elbow to support her head and turned her gaze towards the man in the driver's seat. "As bad as they used to be? How so? Fedorov told me a bit about what the IMC did to this planet..."
"Oh, this was a long time ago, mind you," Anatoly wagged his finger in the air again. "This was back when the IMC first abandoned the Frontier and returned to the core systems…"
"A long time ago…"
"Indeed," Anatoly settled his hands on the wheel and sighed. "Water was always in demand on Antheia, and now that there was no IMC control… well, those with the means took power…"
"You mean… warlords?" Ashley blinked. "Over water?"
"You said it yourself, 'a nice glittering river that no one can drink from'…" Anatoly chided. "For a long time every field on Antheia was soaked in blood… all thanks to the evils of human ambition."
"How did it end?"
"In a surprisingly peaceful way," Anatoly drew his whiskery mouth into a tight line. "Many of these warlords built towns… most just ended up becoming leaders, of sorts. After some time things just... fizzled out."
"Is that how Okraina came to be?"
"Yes. It's founder was responsible for the old sawmill as well…" Anatoly sniffed. "Not the worst outcome for the reign of a warlord, yes…?"
"I guess…" Ashley tapped her fingers on the open window. "And... Gregori? What was his deal?"
"He is the founder's descendant..." Anatoly scowled. "But the less said about that drunken idiot, the better!
The truck began to lurch back and forth as Anatoly began feathering the brake pedal. They came to a stop at a dirt crossroads in the middle of a clearing.
"This is the place…" Anatoly groaned as he exited the truck. "Come on, help me with the shovel…"
Ashley did as instructed and exited the vehicle. "What are we doing here?"
"Unloading," Anatoly yawned and snatched the shovel from the bed. "We will leave the chips by the road. The farmers will handle the rest…"
Ashley opened the tailgate of the vehicle and Anatoly shoved the tip of the shovel into the pile. The older man worked in near silence, removing the cargo from the vehicle and leaving it in a neat pile next to the road.
"Recall…" Anatoly huffed for a moment as he removed a heavy shovelful of chips. "Your statement on the river…"
"What of it?"
"How long were you like that?" Anatoly rested the shovel on the ground and wiped his brow. "Under the river's effects?"
"About a week or so?" Ashley frowned. She moved her hands up to rub her scar riddled forearms. "Why?"
"Can I ask you what you saw?" Anatoly rested on foot on the head of the shovel and rested his forearms on the handle.
"What I saw?"
"Yes…"
Ashley felt her breath catch in her throat for a moment. The images she had been trying to suppress for the past month flashed across her vision momentarily. Burned flesh, hateful eyes… a torn up metal chassis…
"I'd prefer not to say," Ashley gulped. "If you don't mind…"
"Then don't…" Anatoly shrugged and got back to work. "You know… for a long time around here drinking from the rivers was a rite of passage… a coming of age ritual…"
"Seriously?" Ashley snorted. "You would do it knowingly?"
"Oh, we would only take small sips, mind you," Anatoly elaborated. "Just enough to be under the river's effects for an hour or so. I have only ever done it once."
"How bad was it?"
"Oh it was wonderful!" Anatoly smiled, which surprised Ashley. "I felt as light as air for that hour!"
"Yeah?" Ashley crossed her arms.
"Then… I saw this beautiful woman beckoning me from the woods. Being the young man that I was it seemed perfectly reasonable to follow her," Anatoly smirked. "Of course… she wasn't real, just my luck…"
The man used the head of the shovel to scrape the last of the wood chips from the truck bed.
"Are you sure that this is a happy story?" Ashley winced.
"It was fun while it lasted," Anatoly shrugged and tossed the shovel into the bed; he lifted the tailgate into place moments after. "I have never done it again though… too many bad stories come from drinking the river waters…"
"Right," Ashley rubbed her arms again as she re-entered the truck. The dark haired woman took a moment to settle herself into the seat. "Back to the sawmill?"
"That is the plan…"
With another lurch, the truck was shifted into gear and turned around. Ashley once again found herself staring outside the window - this time at the rolling green hills and farm fields.
"I have a question for you…" Anatoly muttered as he drove.
"Shoot."
"You came from New Vladivostok, yes?"
"Y- yeah," Ashley swallowed to hide her surprise.
"And you somehow stumbled all the way out here?" Anatoly huffed. "That is far…"
"I wasn't aware of most of it…"
"I'm sure," Anatoly chewed his lower lip in thought. His brown eyes were once again locked on the dirt trail ahead. "How did you not know about Antheia's rule? It is common knowledge…"
"I'm new to the planet and was never warned," Ashley tapped her fingers on the exterior of the car door. "It was only my first day when New Vladivostok was attacked. I ran off and I must have drunk from the rivers at some point-"
"You remember the attack… but not drinking from the rivers?" Anatoly questioned. The man physically turned his head to give Ashley a curious look.
"It's fuzzy…" Ashley frowned and looked away. "To be honest… I'm still piecing it together myself…"
For a few moments, the only sound was the thrumming from the truck's diesel engine.
"What were you doing in New Vladivostok?" Anatoly suddenly questioned. "For work, I mean…"
"I was a laborer…" Ashley lied, simultaneously turning her head to swallow the lump in her throat.
"What kind?" Anatoly pressed further.
"Uhm…" Ashley's mind drew a momentary blank. "Heavy machinery-"
The truck lurched again and Ashley's head nearly smacked into the dashboard. Ashley realized in an instant that the truck had been brought to a complete stop.
"What the hell?" Ashley hissed and rubbed her neck. She turned to view Anatoly, who was frozen at the wheel and giving Ashley an unreadable expression.
"Why'd you stop?" Ashley demanded.
"I'm sorry," Anatoly swallowed and placed his hands on the wheel again. The truck gently lurched forwards as he shifted gears and applied gas. "When we get back to the mill… I want to show you something…"
"What… is this place?" Ashley asked, craning her neck so that she could look up.
In front of the dark haired woman was an absolutely massive wooden shack; the structure had been nestled in-between two large trees. The wooden planks that the building was constructed from were riddled with rot and overgrown with vines.
Leading away from the two tall doors was the rough path that led back towards the saw mill. The industrial center could be spotted in the distance - easily picked out from its position next to the river.
"This…" Anatoly muttered as he brushed past Ashley and approached the shack's wooden doors. "Is the home of Bol'shoy Ivan…"
"That phrase…" Ashley blinked. "There was a man with a broken leg in the infirmary - and that's what the men who brought him in kept screaming…"
"Yes…" Anatoly drawled. The older man pressed his hand against the wooden door and sighed.
"I asked Doctor Fedorov about it, but he never gave me a straight answer," Ashley frowned.
"I am not surprised… he has seen too many fall victim to Bol'shoy Ivan…" Anatoly looked over his shoulder. "He would not want you to be the next…"
"Speaking of which… Bol'shoy Ivan?"
"Hm? Ah yes! Big Ivan in your tongue," Anatoly clarified. "I will show you him…"
Anatoly slipped his hands between the wooden doors and swiftly pulled them open to reveal the shack's interior. Inside of the structure and surrounded by workbenches and cobweb-covered diagnostic equipment…
… was a titan.