Chapter Eighteen - Rising with the Sun

It was a little strange, sleeping while moving, the constant sway had woken me up a few times, and the unfamiliar rumble of the walker’s engines made it so that any sleep I did get was light, they sounded too much like the growl of a predator for my unconscious mind to relax.

The hammock was nice though, and Clin, for all his faults, didn’t snore or make much noise from the hammock below mine.

I’d woken up a little while ago, but I was still tired, and there wasn’t much for me to be doing. I allowed myself to luxuriate in laziness and the gentle sway of my resting place.

I’d washed out some nomad punks the night before. Oh, sure, I’d lost some coin, but I made a lot back, and one of the kids couldn’t accept losing and kept piling on the bets. In the end I called it off, said that I’ll let him keep his water and clothes and gun if he just let me and Clin use a cabin for the night.

That earned, I think, some respect from the older nomads. They didn’t have a strong gambling tradition--it was a vice like any other to them--but seeing some kid losing it all was still distasteful to everyone involved.

I was pretty damned pleased with myself.

Sighing, I stretched while slipping one leg off the side. Laziness was nice, but I had a whole day ahead of me.

I landed with a thump on the deck, and started to look for my boots. I’d slipped them off to sleep, of course. Felt nice to let my feet breathe a bit. Still kept the rest of my things on. Didn’t need no punk slipping into my room at night with fancy ideas. Besides, keeping a gun at my hip at all times of the day was just common sense.

I yawned, jaw cracking, then rubbed at my face.

“You’re awake then?” Clin asked.

I turned and found the elf resting on his hammock, my duster pulled up over him like a blanket. “Yeah,” I said. “I think we’re still too far from Mortarview to head off so soon. Maybe after mid-day, when the sun’s not as hard.”

“Alright,” he said as he sat up. “What will you do now?”

“Check on Rusty, make sure everything’s where it ought to be.”

“You don’t trust the nomads?” her asked.

“I trust them more than nearly anyone, but I don’t trust anyone much at all to begin with,” I said. “You staying here?”

“I suppose there’s no place to wash up or anything.”

“Not here, no,” I said. “There are baths over in Mortarview. Cost an arm and a leg, but they’re worth it.”

Clin hummed, leaning back in contentment as he did so. “I think I’d give half my fortune for a bath, and the other half if the people around me took one too.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “You saying something about me?”

“I think splashing water on your visage would change your colour,” he replied.

I huffed, but he was probably not too far from the truth. I’d come back from some hunts that had lasted weeks, and ruined more than a tub of bathwater just scrubbing sand off my skin. I wasn’t too bad this time. Least I couldn’t smell myself.

“Whatever, princess,” I said. “I’m heading out to the top. You can relax here and daydream about your servants washing you all you want.”

Clin chuckled and pulled himself up. He couldn’t stand entirely straight in the little cabin, not without bending his neck. “I’ll come with you, if you don’t mind. I mentioned that I’m a decent engineer already, haven't I?

“Yeah. Don’t know if your fancy elf engineering will do much good on a mech like Rusty.”

Clin waved to the door. “We’ll have to see then.”

I stepped out into one of the cramped little side-corridors, then turned and aimed for the main passage. The nomads seemed out in full force. Some were slouching around, shoulders slumped and yawns obvious as they headed off to sleep, others had obviously just woken up and were still in the midst of preparing themselves for a long day’s work.

Clin and I made it to the rear deck where some mechanics were talking to others. I noticed Akx the kobold was this them, and I waved at him. “Hey there, human,” he said as we came closer. “This is Uon, our night-shift leader.” He waved to the mechanic he was speaking to. A human man, with a mask over a bandana and sandy-coloured clothes covered in grease stains.

“Hey there,” I said.

“You got a good mech there,” Uon said. “Was telling the old dog that we did a bit of work on him overnight, but not as much as we’d hoped. Moonless light, and we don’t use the spots unless we need to, got?”

“I got,” I said. “Don’t mind much. When do you think Rusty will be ready to head out?”

Akx pulled his mask back and forth to rub at his snout. “Depends. Needed to replace a length of hose. Tested the line for pressure last night and it ran well, but we noticed a lot of fraying in your right-side wire harness. Got cables that were eaten away at. Poorly covered.”

I nodded. “Rusty’s model is meant to have a plate over the hips, but it rubs against the joint when you raise his legs up too high, and they limit your range of motion.”

Akx shrugged. “Was there for a reason, I figure. Can’t make you anything new for it, but we replaced the wires and shoved them back in as far from the spot where they rub as we could. Gonna need to test the whole thing though.”

I nodded. “Doing fine work,” I said.

“We do,” he agreed. “Uon did your periscopes.”

“Gantries were bent,” the mechanic said. “Took a tumble?”

“Rolled down a hill,” I said.

“Clumsy?”

I shook my head. “Jerk blew the top of the hill apart. I was standing on it. Jerk’s dead though.”

Clin stood awkwardly by my side, then pointed to Rusty. “Do you mind if I give it a look?”

“Go ahead. Don’t break anything.”

I watched the elf go. He hesitated a bit next to the gantries around Rusty, but he pushed on and was soon climbing up the mecha with surprising dexterity. Probably an elf thing.

“He’s a weird one,” Akx said.

“Hmm, yeah, found him stuck out in the wastes. Needed help, and he had a bit of coin. Figured I’d drag him to Mortarview,” I said. Nearly the truth, from a certain angle. “I think maybe he knocked his head around, or spent too much time in the sun. Whatever the case, he’s not a bad sort, just a bit... not suited to life out here.”

“Not everyone is,” Akx said. “I’ve been to the Drywall, met plenty of elves. They’re a strange sort, those that don’t want to leave their home. Those that do are stranger still, but the sort of strange we like, got?”

I laughed. “Got,” I said. “So, the periscopes are fixed, the wiring’s redone, and that line’s replaced?” I asked.

Akx nodded. “Yeah. We need to put him back together now. Test things. That should be it.”

“Brilliant,” I said. “How close are we to that wedding spot of yours?”

“We’ll be arriving tomorrow morning,” he said. “If you plan on leaving us en route to Mortarview, wait until just past noontime, that’s when you’ll be closest.”

I nodded. “‘Preciated.”

“Nothing to it. You brought good trade and kept my workers busy.”

“It was my pleasure,” I said.

I nodded to Akx who seemed to have a lot of work ahead of him, and stepped over towards Rusty. Clin was just coming down, looking a bit warm from the climb. “I miss the engineering bays back home,” he said. “Much safer.”

“I’m sure.”

“Rusty, he’s a human-made mech, right?” he asked.

“That he is,” I replied. “Heavy utility model.”

“It shows,” Clin said. “Under all the added armour, and the replaced utilities. The frame’s barely original anymore, but what’s there was designed for endurance and ease of maintenance. As trite as it might sound, they don’t make them like that anymore.”

“I wouldn’t know,” I said. “Never considered buying something new.”

Clin’s ears twitched. “That’s a sentiment you hear often enough from pilots. He could use some more fixing, even after this round of repairs.”

“Once I have the coin, I’ll see about getting him sorted out properly.”

The elf nodded. “Now, I suspect that these nomads enjoy breakfast. Should we maybe find some for ourselves?”

***