Vital Signs

by Keersten

Probably the only fan-fiction I will ever write. I don't even consider myself a writer; I just had to get this out of my system. This game's fascinating unfinished story has often occupied my daydreams ever since playing it. My addition is a shamelessly sentimental piece of crap, but I loved writing every word of it, and hopefully it will entertain a few people.

2. Chapter 2

By afternoon, rainclouds were threatening, so Monkey and Trip were endeavoring to work at a brisk pace. They stood on a scaffold, shoring up a weak spot on one of the higher bridge sections. Hammering reverberated in the distance as former slaves worked to rebuild other sections of town. Trip paused to wipe the sweat out of her eyes. It had been a muggy day but she could already feel a faint cooling breeze from the approaching cold front. It brought something gently floral to her nose, but she couldn't quite place it. She turned around. From up here she could see villagers planting vegetable and berry seedlings. Old friends from town worked alongside the few newcomers from Pyramid who'd had no families or villages to return to. She shielded her eyes against the brilliant glare of white cloud cover, squinting to make out colors and shapes, and realized they were planting not just crops, but wildflowers dug up from the surrounding mountainsides. Lupine (she recognized the scent now), fireweed and even harebell, her favorite. Beauty and peace were finally, slowly returning to her home. She turned to point out the flowers to Monkey but her face fell when she noticed the dark circles under his eyes and haggard look about his face.

"Monkey, are you ok? You look really tired today."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just havin' a little trouble sleepin' lately."

Monkey changed the subject before she could ask why or offer advice.

"Hey, can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure!"

"Is there any way you could re-tool that headband so I could keep usin' it? Y'know, for mine-detection and stuff."

"Absolutely! I can easily disable the systemic pain response and termination trigger. I bet I could install a piezoelectric-nanogenerator and get the wireless link to the dragonfly back up and running…" The smile had returned to her face. She continued to ramble on about strain fields and charge separation and other things he knew nothing about. Monkey smiled wryly. He would never let on, but secretly he didn't mind when she went into techno-babble mode. Just hearing her voice was worth the confusion.