Chapter 32 The Prognosis

She followed the team of four, nearly stepping on their heels as they descended the stairs. They surveyed the carnage below deck with a raised eyebrow, but moved on to the bedroom. With practiced precision, the team dropped their tool boxes, grabbing their own set of tools. One tore away the remains of the drywall while another put a heater in front of the crack, drying away the moisture. The last two opened a much larger box with a tank and welding torch. The older of the two flipped down a welding shield over his face as he lit the torch and waited for the crack to dry.

While the duo waited for it to dry, the other two got to work, hammering the dent outward until it popped back into its original shape. After it popped back into place, they used a grinder to rough up the area around the crack before stepping aside for the welding team. While his partner held a plate to the crack with beefy heat-resistant gloves, he got to work welding the place along the edges.

Elysia watched the man move the torch along the edge, fusing the hull and plate together with a masterful smooth line of molten metal. While the welding team sealed off the crack from the inside, the hammering team took their hammers and popped out the many dents along the rest of the hull.

Leaving the welders to finish the patch, she approached the hammering team as they popped out the last dent in the hull. “Could you guys clear out the storage room? I was hoping to save it but after the latest flood they are probably beyond saving.”

The older of the two, a man in his mid-twenties with brown hair, turned to Elysia, speaking in a polite tone. “Certainly miss. If you don’t mind me asking, was there a flood previously? I see signs of old water damage on the floor and burn marks in the wiring.”

Elysia nodded her head as she replied. “Yeah, a tsunami hit my hometown. The tsunami washed away half of it, including my boat. I managed to save the boat but most of the area below deck was ruined.” At the mention of it, she asked. “Is it too much to ask for you guys to replace the subfloor and tear out the wiring?”

They surveyed the damage for a few moments before the same guy responded. “We can miss. Major Evans ordered us to help as much as we can.”

A smile bloomed as many ideas formed, but at the thought of impending Changed teams converging, she shook her head before speaking. “Thank you very much! I would love if you would leave the wires. Also, could you clear off the rear deck of the trash and strip the bedroom? I could use a bed and a dresser moved down there too. A target upstairs would be awesome too, but I’m sure I can throw something together myself. If I can think of anything else, I’ll let you know.”

The men nodded their heads before getting to work. Elysia poked her head in the bedroom to find the welding team finishing the plate and moving on to reinforcing the surrounding frame. With a bounce in her step as loads of weight lifted off her shoulders, she trotted upstairs, peeking over the railing to find another welding team sealing up the crack from the outside. After sealing the crack, they ground it down smooth with the rest of the hull.

A scan down the length of the boat showed several other teams filling in gouges as yet another team worked to spray a fresh layer of salt water resistant black paint over the repaired sections, covering up the many scratches.

Curious, she approached a painter from above as she sprayed a section near the rear of the boat. “Isn’t it bad to paint it so soon?”

The painter paused and looked up at Elysia before responding. “No, miss, my ship painter skill allows me to paint any ship without needing it to dry. I’m sure my colleagues have similar skills helping them too.”

Elysia tilted her head in confusion, asking, “Skills? I have skill slots but no actual skills.”

“Maybe it’s different for Changed. For us, we gain a class based on our abilities, along with a set number of skills. Like for me, I gained the painter class and five skills related to painting. I have to level each skill to improve their effects,” explained the painter, earning a thankful smile from Elysia before she moved on, allowing the painter to return to her work.

As she wandered back to the control room, she watched dozens of people working on her ship. As much as I love their help, shouldn’t they be working on ships in Port Alberni? From what I could see, there were more ships in the broken down section than in active service. Maybe those ships are too far gone to save, but somehow, I doubt they are in worse shape than Umbra.

When she reached the control room, she found a short woman with blond hair at the console poking at the control with a confused expression. She looked under the console at the connections before checking the circuit breaker box.

Elysia shoved down irrational anger at someone entering her home, instead asking in a worried tone, “What’s wrong?”

The woman jumped before turning to Elysia, rambling. “Everything. The starting circuit is gone, along with every gauge and control switch. Nothing works. How did you drive this thing?”

With widened eyes, Elysia dashed to the console, poking the ignition several times before a rumbling vibrated the floor. She released a sigh of relief as she cycled through the switches, lowering and raising the anchor and flipping on lights. Once she tested the essentials, she turned to the slack jawed woman. “What? Everything works, at least, I think. I don’t want to start the engine out of the water.”

Instead of answering, the woman scrutinized her, then flicked her gaze to the console before returning her gaze to Elysia, having come to a conclusion. “Did you receive a system prompt asking to claim ownership?”

“Yeah, why is that important?” Elysia replied before several things clicked in her mind like how she could start the ship without a key.

The woman popped off the cover of console showing charred wires before speaking, “Several reasons. First, the console wouldn’t respond to any of my inputs. Second, I checked the electrical on the console. This ship has no business running at all. The electrical system is fried, and I doubt the engines are in any better shape. The only plausible conclusion is the ship bound itself to you via the system. I’ve heard of a few captains receiving a similar system prompt and their ship would keep pushing on way past its limits. But even system assistance has its limits, hence the current state of your ship.”

Elysia stared at the charred wires in shock as the woman’s explanation sunk in. I drove her like this? If I didn’t claim her, would I have escaped the flooded mayor’s mansion? Or what about the coast guard at Neah Bay? She pulled away from their boat like it was nothing, yet the console looked like this. I should have sunk outside Port Alberni too. Her hand pet the steering wheel as she stared vacantly out the window.

After several minutes of silence with the woman poking through the wiring running under the console, Elysia finally snapped back to the present, turning a serious gaze on the woman. “Can you fix her?”

While continuing to prod the charred wires, she responded. “Yes, but it will take a complete rewire. I can have the basic controls fixed by tomorrow if I put my entire team on it, but the rest could take weeks, if not longer. That’s not even considering the engines. I’m no mechanic, but if the electrical is this bad, the engines must be on their last legs.”

Elysia winced at the prognosis, wanting to have everything up and running, but with the threat of capture looming over her head, she asked, “What would be the basic controls? I can’t wait that long. Anything non-essential I can fix myself.”

With clear frustration, the woman spoke, “Pretty much everything that works now. You should have ignition, steering, anchor, pumps, and lights. Even that funky sail extension should work, however, something fried the computer system. I could wire up a new nav, but it wouldn’t interface with the proprietary systems. Also, the solar panels should work. From what I can tell, the solar system seems mostly unharmed other than a scorched disconnect. It would take several days just to puzzle out the computers and sail control system just to know where to start to fix it. As you probably figured out, the entertainment system is gone, but that would be fixable within a day if need be. You have a marvelously advanced ship, but anything that makes it advanced is fried.”

Elysia nodded her head in understanding. “While I would love to have everything, focus on getting the essentials running. If you have time, I would love to have some notes to give me an idea of where to start for the rest, along with any supplies you think I’ll need. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time floating on the sea to do some tinkering after I get out of here. By the way, I never caught your name.”

“Eva Thompson,” replied the woman as she poked on her phone, contacting her team.

With a smile, Elysia greeted with a hand out to shake. “Thank you, Eva. My name is Elysia.”

Eva ignored the offered hand as she continued to poke at her phone. “I know. We all know the name of the first conquer of our dungeon.”

Taken aback by the almost venomous reply, Elysia froze with her hand extended for a second before the name clicked. “I’m sorry if I’m being insensitive, but are you related to Laura Thompson?”

Eva’s head shot up, fiery green eyes glaring daggers into Elysia. With her hands raised, Elysia continued. “Sorry, I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

Eva returned her attention to her phone, signaling the conversion was over, prompting Elysia to leave the control room, hoping Eva didn’t sabotage her boat out of spite for some unknown reason. As she left the cabin toward the rear deck, two men and one woman entered, heading toward the control room, presumably Eva’s team.

After wandering below deck, she found most of the moldy subfloor torn out, already forcing her to step on framing as she made her way to the back of the boat through the now empty storage room into the engine room.

Like Eva, someone was scrutinizing the engines at a loss. Elysia approached before asking, “Guessing they are in terrible shape? Apparently, the system bound the ship to me according to the electrician upstairs if that explains anything.”

An aha look formed as the middle-aged man with an oil-stained dark blue shirt inspected the engines in a new light. “So, how bad are they? The electrical is ruined. I’m hoping the engines aren’t too.”

The man turned toward Elysia, raising an oil stained hand, which she shook after a moment of hesitation. “Honor to meet you, Elysia Arashi. I’m Henry.”

After stealthily wiping her hand on her shorts, she asked. “So how bad is it?”

Henry glanced at the dual diesel engines with four electric motors used as supplementary power before responding. “Not good. The blocks are solid, but I found water in all cylinders and corrosion everywhere. Even with the system link, I don’t see how these engines run at all. I’ll leave the electric motors to the electrical team, but they don’t look pretty either. While I think the engines are salvageable, they need a full engine out rebuild.”

A wince formed as she eyed the massive engines, trying to puzzle out how it would be possible to remove them. “How long will it take?”

“Two days minimum and that’s if I have every part I need on hand or in Port Alberni, but from the look of the engines I should.” Henry replied.

Elysia bowed her head. “Thank you. I’m sure this is a big undertaking for little reward.”

Henry turned serious, making eye contact as he spoke with clear gratefulness. “No. Thank you. If it weren’t for you, the dungeon would’ve overrun us within the week. Major Evans did what he could, but losing eight of his best soldiers put us in a pickle.”

Uncomfortable, Elysia questioned while fidgeting under his gaze, “Why would clearing the dungeon help? From what I could tell, most of the monsters were in the overgrown city outside the dungeon.”

To her relief, he returned his attention to the engine as he replied, “I’m not sure the specifics myself, but every time a dungeon gets cleared, the creatures surrounding it retreat, giving the city a reprieve. At least that’s what we heard from Nanaimo and Campbell River after they cleared theirs.”

I’m not sure I like the idea of being a celebrity here, but now I see why they would drop everything to fix my ship and throw off the Changed team. I really hope Alex doesn’t decide to loop back around. It sounds like I’ll be stranded for at least the next two days.

Left with nothing else to do, she climbed down the ladder off Umbra and wandered out the open warehouse doors, facing the water. Elysia sat on the pier, dangling her legs over the edge as she stared up at the twin moons surrounded by countless stars.

After gazing up at the night sky for several minutes, she gave a mental prompt to the system to display the notification from the bonus dungeon.

Congratulations! The Flooded Depths conquered! As the first participant to complete this dungeon, your name and date will be displayed to all who come after.

Reward:???.

Elysia stared at the question marks for a second before shrugging her shoulders, accepting the reward. A moment later, a warm weight appeared on her lap, prompting her to look down.