Halfway to the row of still tallish, if ruined skyscrapers the weather cleared up, some blue sky poking through the grey clouds. After a few kilometers, Kel turned a bit more relaxed; even up to joking with him about some broken naked statuary they’d passed.

Still, Abek Goa was a realist. Sometimes hard choices needed to be made. He wouldn’t be as old as he was, wouldn’t have outlived all those others he’d had either the misfortune or fortune to travel with by being sentimental. Sure he liked the kid, but…

After all, survival often meant not necessarily being faster than the machines, but being faster than your companions. Sure, that was a bastard of a way to live, but the most important thing to him was he would survive.

And he could easily keep ahead of a shorter and stockier man. Easily.

Of course, that wasn’t the motivation one wanted from a partner. Goa sought to ensure his partners had less practical motivations, whether it was for trillium, for tech or for company.

Kel was a bit on the needy side, so that’s what the veteran gregga fed. Now, Abek wasn’t necessarily against that sort of relationship, there were perks to that after all, but one did need to have priorities in the south. If he wanted to keep on surviving he needed to stick to them.

And even if he’d brushed Kel’s asking about Devlin in the morning, the kid being the way he was, wouldn’t’ let it go.

“What was he like?” he asked Goa after taking about what they’d likely find in the broken towers.

Halfway to the row of still tallish, if ruined skyscrapers the weather cleared up, some blue sky poking through the grey clouds. After a few kilometers, Kel turned a bit more relaxed; even up to joking with him about some broken naked statuary they’d passed.

Still, Abek Goa was a realist. Sometimes hard choices needed to be made. He wouldn’t be as old as he was, wouldn’t have outlived all those others he’d had either the misfortune or fortune to travel with by being sentimental. Sure he liked the kid, but…

After all, survival often meant not necessarily being faster than the machines, but being faster than your companions. Sure, that was a bastard of a way to live, but the most important thing to Goa was, it it came down to it, he would be the one who’d survive.

And he could easily keep ahead of a shorter and stockier man. Easily.

Of course, that wasn’t the motivation one wanted from a partner. Goa sought to ensure his partners had less practical motivations, whether it was for trillium, for tech or for company.

Kel was a bit on the needy side, so that’s what Goa fed. Now, Abek wasn’t necessarily against that sort of relationship, there were perks to that after all, but one did need to have priorities in the south. If he wanted to keep on surviving he needed to stick to them.

And even if he’d brushed Kel’s asking about Devlin in the morning, the kid being the way he was, wouldn’t let it go.

“What was he like?” he asked Goa after taking about what they’d likely find in the broken towers.

“I can’t remember,”Goa offered. “It’s been a long time.”

“Do I look like him?” Kel continued prying. “Do I remind you of him?”

There was no way to win that kind of discussion.

“Yeah, he was a little like you,” Abek admitted, although he wasn’t at all. Devlin had been old, weathered like he was now. Hard too, unforgiving. There were times he wan’ted to be the one who would kill the man. “You’re kind of like the way I’d wished he would be, buddy. And that makes all the difference.”

Things were better after that.

The wiser choice then was to concentrate on the search, plan out the search areas, keep the kid’s mind off jealousy, and on the risks around them and the benefits.

Over a rise, they finally earned a glimpse of the extent of the city centre they’d been moving towards. Amongst the leaning and ruined spires, there was a collection of smaller domes, mostly intact.

“That’s what we want to check out,” he told Kel, smiling. “That’s probably the control and admin center for the local area. Likely had production facilities, high tech micronics, even a security center. Might still have usable weapons if we’re lucky.”

The boy nodded, looked back to the line of buildings still a couple hours hike away.

That was the trick, keep moving, keep an eye out, keep the prize in mind, and the personal neediness would go back in the pocket.

And so they traveled well, along the former boulevards of the stretched out empty metropolis. With spread out ruins, there were plenty of good sightlines and the time of year meant a minimum of snow cover. If a flyer or bot was going to show up, they’d see it coming from tens of kilometers.

As the bright, if not particularly warming sun rose to its zenith Kel was back in fine spirits, chatting with anticipation, as the domes grew closer and larger. He’d even elicited a series of chuckles and shoulder slapping from the kid by the time they’d reached the base of the closest dome.

Now the scavenging would begin.