Crossroad II
As it turned out, Crossroad truly did have plenty of work for a drifter to do. The biggest problem for Amber was deciding on what she wanted to do as she was overwhelmed with options. Guard duty, mercenary contracts, weapons development, training city guard recruits, electrical wiring, fixing a clogged sewer line… Where did she start with so many options? Edward had chosen a job as an assistant mechanic for the vehicles that honked in the streets while Sil ran errands with the city courier service. All she had done so far was take a bath, clean her laundry, and explore the city for the past three days.
"You've been staring at that board the entire night. Just pick something and be done with it," the tavern owner said as they floated by with a tankard of ale, "As much as I don't want to throw a patron out you're going to need some source of income eventually."
"How much do I owe for the night this time Hammond?" Amber sighed as she tore her gaze away from the board.
"The same as yesterday," the Haunt said without so much as looking at her.
Amber collapsed into her usual seat with a groan, dropping her pack to the floor. Taking her hat off, she rubbed her head to ease the stress induced headache that had formed. Hammond came over with a meal which she acknowledged with a grunt. Before she started eating, an odd bulge in her pack caught her attention. Curious, she reached inside and dug out the tablet she had carried all the way from Central Town.
"I've completely forgotten about this thing," her eyes widened in surprise as she set it down next to her plate.
"Looks like a PDA that got fished out of a submarine wreck to me," Edward walked in and sat down next to her.
"What's a PDA?" Amber grabbed her utensils and started eating her dinner.
"Personal digital assistant, common for electrical engineers back home."
Amber shrugged and continued eating. Despite still being somewhat at arms length, she could safely say Edward had warmed up to her. He still was skeptical and eyed her with suspicion, but she just accepted it as a part of his character.
"Well this thing was probably one of the contributors to getting my fuzzy tail out of Central Town," Amber pointed at the tablet with a fork, "It better be worth something."
"You'd be surprised what people are willing to pay for some items. A diamond in the Coalition can make fifty Marks if the shop is feeling particularly interested while an oxygen tank can be double that at a regular price. On the surface it's the complete opposite… I'll never understand the surface and its penchant for gaudy items," he shrugged.
"A good diamond can be used as a focusing lens array for a laser cutter back in Central Town."
"Hmm… Well diamond tipped drills and saw blades do allow more precise work than a plasma cutter. Still, a pile of compressed carbon won't save you from drowning."
"And he's back to being a nihilistic cynic."
Edward again shrugged and accepted his own plate that Hammond brought over. Shortly enough, Sil came in and planted his head into his arms with a tired groan.
"Long day?" Amber asked.
"Too long," Sil groaned.
"Well I can easily see where the three of us will be going if we keep meeting like this," Edward said, "You plan on attracting more new friends Amber? Because I'm starting to think you are somewhat magical."
Sil casted glances between Amber and Edward. To his mild surprise, he had seen plenty of both during his stay at the Wanderer's Inn. While Edward casted suspicious glances at him and seemed on edge, Amber seemed to have an aloof and explorative nature to her. It seemed strange that the two of them appeared to be friends and that he was slowly becoming theirs as well. The idea of having friends seemed...strange.
I can't hide it forever, he thought, Maybe this is a mistake.
"-can't make up my mind. There's simply too much to see and do," Amber said, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"I'm starting to wonder how you even left Central Town in the first place if this is how amazed you are by a simple city," Edward said.
"Simple? When you live your entire life in Central Town then we'll talk."
"Try living two kilometers underwater first."
Sil got up with a sudden huff and started to leave. He could feel the two of them watch with surprise and possibly concern, but he knew he was making the right decision. They would be better off not being associated with him.
"Everything all right?" the tavern owner asked.
"Just going up to my room," Sil answered as he hurried along, not bothering to spare a glance as the voices started to whisper in his head.
Edward watched as Sil went upstairs and promptly disappeared. Glancing at Amber, she gave him a shrug and before returning her focus to her food.
Strange… He's hiding something, he thought as his eyes narrowed at the stairway.
He held his gaze for a few seconds before it slowly shifted towards the PDA tablet Amber had sitting on the table. The cynic inside of him argued to ignore the device but the more curious side demanded he figure out what it had on it. Such devices back home often told stories, more often than not the last moments of a submarine. It was morbid but the devices often provided invaluable insights on what to be on the lookout for, held data regarding the ancient Founders who left ancient relics and ruins behind, pirate gang activity, resource locations…
"You keep staring at it and you'll wear a hole through it, the table, and the floor," Amber said as she swallowed the last of her food.
"Sorry. Devices like that often hold information. Guess the submariner blood in my veins got too excited," he leaned back into his chair with a slight chuckle.
"It holds information all right," she tapped the device and what appeared to be screen monitors materialized in the air above it, "The problem is a lot this crap is corrupted."
"Well… That looks pretty complete to me," he pointed at a pink diamond shape.
Her expression soured at the symbol and she immediately shut the image down. Edward was mildly surprised at this since Amber has rarely shown such fierce anger before. Sure, when they had met her temperament was the equivalent of an agitated charybdis but this was different.
Guess she's hiding something also. Not like I have any room to complain but just how many secrets are going to be noticed tonight?, he thought.
"Trust me, the less said about that damn thing the better. If there is one secret of the past that should remain dead it's that one," she said with a venomous voice.
"If you say so," Edward said as he raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Though if you want to sell that thing you may want to scrub the data off of it first."
The next morning saw Amber heading for the marketplace. After some thinking and another long look at the board after dinner, Amber found a job she could feel comfortable with. While her two companions had headed off for their own work, Amber headed towards her potential new job.
"Excuse me," she said as she walked into a store.
"Be there in a moment! Just need to get this junk sorted," a voice responded.
Amber nodded her head and looked around the shop she was in. A few computers here, a portable there, maybe an advertisement monitor, and...what was that thing sitting in the back? Amber walked over and gave the bulky device an unimpressed glare.
"Pet project of mine. Trying to combine Coalition computers with what us 'surfacers' have here to find a stop gap," a man walked up, "What can I get you?"
"I saw you need an assistant to help assemble computers," Amber pulled out a folded piece of paper and showed its contents.
"Hmm, kind of surprised someone actually considered the job. Not a lot of people have the talent or patience for this kind of work. I'm going to be honest, a lot of the stuff in here is homemade and I'm going to expect you to keep up," the man said as he glanced at her, "You have any hard experience with computers?"
"Eh, yes and no. I'm more familiar with hard light technology but I've hotwired a number of circuit boards in the past."
"Hard light… Hard to come by and expensive as hell to pay for. Central Town or Auriga?"
"Central Town. Here, I've got a tablet to prove it," Amber reached into her pocket and pulled out the tablet.
The man eyed the tablet with interest and was quite impressed with what he saw when Amber turned it on. After a few questions and having Amber finish up the assembly of a computer he had in the backroom workshop, Amber walked out with a new job.
"Okay… First thing in the morning, shouldn't be too hard," she said as she strolled into the Wanderer's Inn.
"Okay, when is this damn music going to change?! I've been listening to this damn theme for a week straight now!" a woman yelled nearby.
Amber turned her head and looked at the person in question. The woman wore what appeared to be a hybrid of traditional plate and advanced power armor. She also had a short crossbow strapped on her back and a battle ax on her side. Amber could not recall having seen her before but shrugged as several patrons have come and gone over the days.
"Something different, please! I'm getting sick of this damn song," the woman growled.
"I'm going to have to ask you to either cease your complaints or leave," Hammond floated over to warn the woman, "You are disturbing my patrons and I would personally appreciate it if you did not do that."
"Fine… Just get me a drink, maybe the liquor will do something."
Amber just stared in mild confusion before she sat down. Hammond floated over after giving the woman a tankard.
"You're back early," he said.
"Got lucky with getting a job," Amber shrugged before she nodded towards the woman, "What's she talking about? I've heard plenty of music here and out in the market and it doesn't go on for a week straight."
Hammond gave her a brief look of incredulity before letting out a sigh, "Some people have the misfortune of having...a higher state of awareness. They can experience things that normally higher beings are aware of in a limited fashion."
"That doesn't make sense. I can understand advanced sciences and magics but rivaling higher beings? They're called 'higher beings' for a reason."
Hammond shrugged, "It's best not to think about it. It's easy to see them bordering the realm of madness but they are quite sane...most of the time."
"Most of the time," Amber repeated.
"Not every person in the world is sane, even those with normal perceptions. But life would be quite boring without a little madness," Hammand shrugged, "Enough of that. I've got eggs and I've got sausages. What do you want for lunch?"
"I'll take the eggs," Amber shook her head and took her hat off in an effort to ease the growing headache.
Hammond nodded and floated off towards the kitchen. Alone at her table, Amber glanced at the woman and saw that she had drained the tankard but looked dissatisfied. Not wanting to get involved, Amber reached into her pocket and put the tablet onto the table.
"Computer technician huh? Somehow I get the feeling you're responsible for this entire journey," she talked to the tablet before biting her lip in thought, "Ah what the hell? Let's get some practice done to make a good impression. Probably have something hidden in there that will be worthwhile."
Later that evening Amber had remained at the table working to clear the corrupted files. It was a slow, tedious task but she made some progress and was rather pleased with what she had managed to accomplish. Some of the files simply were too far gone with only snippets being salvageable but she had managed to restore medical and weapons fabrication. By the time she had noticed Edward sitting down, she was nearly three quarters of the way to restoring a file regarding construction materials.
"How long have you been sitting here?" he asked.
"All afternoon," Amber blinked and suddenly was hit by the fatigue and cramped muscles, "And there it is catching up to me."
"I'm going to assume you're trying to make it more valuable to sell if you spent all day working on it."
"More like practice. Got a job this morning and I wanted to keep my computer skills sharp," Amber said proudly.
"Computers huh? Don't really know much about them other than the basics."
"Knowing how to operate a computer is a necessity in Central Town. A lot of ruins still have power in them and that includes defenses. Knowing how to turn off turrets and downloading data can save your life. I know it's saved mine a number of times."
Edward nodded his head in agreement and stretched his arms out with a yawn. Both turned their heads towards the door as it opened, showing Sil walking in with another tired expression. At first he had started to walk to them but suddenly changed his mind and took a different table.
"Did we do anything to him?" Amber asked in confusion.
"None of our business," Edward shrugged.
Amber glared at him and opened her mouth as if to retort but his blank expression made her think twice. She still glanced at Sil with mild concern.
This changed when the woman from earlier came down and passed him. At first her expression was that of frustration but it momentarily changed to shock. She then took a few steps back and hovered near him and appeared to be listening to something before looking at Sil and then Amber and Edward.
"New friend of yours?" Edward asked, looking at the woman out of the corner of his eye.
"No," Amber replied.
The woman took a look around the room before sitting down at a table between them and Sil, seemingly intrigued.
"So who is she?" Edward asked.
"Someone with a higher state of awareness...at least that's how Hammond explained it," Amber shrugged as Sil.
Edward raised an eyebrow and looked at the woman and then at Sil who seemingly was just as perplexed as to what was going on.
"Well, this should be interesting at the very least," he said after a few moments.
Sil glanced at the woman and then at Amber and Edward. He was rather confused about what was going on. He vaguely recalled seeing the woman before in the tavern but never interacted with her. The fact she took a sudden interest in him and then his (former) companions made it even stranger. As far as he knew, she was a total stranger.
He then realized that Amber was staring at him and a pang of guilt plucked at his heartstrings. Focusing more on the food he had been served, he tried to ignore the concerned look and the confused feelings that roiled inside him.
You don't want to be near me Amber, he thought, I'm nothing but trouble.