We followed Jonathan all the way to the other side of the platform, where Virgil was already waiting for us while he was also seemed to be fiddling and concentrating with two circuit boards. Della was also sitting on the ground on his left side, eating a couple of vending snacks as her breakfast.
I immediately noticed that there were also another rolls of aluminum foils and few pieces of cut-off PVC pipes right beside him. I suppose that Virgil could have already been doing it for no less than half an hour, since the circuit board seemed like it was already half-done by the time the rest of us reached the platform.
"How is it? Is there any difficulties so far?" Ryan asked Virgil.
"Um… not for now… but actually yes, for later…" Virgil responded with a bit of confusion in his answer.
Virgil stated that in order for the upgraded power source to be actually working, the circuit board might most likely need a new form of electrostatic powering method, as he believed that the usual rubbing method would no longer be sufficient to light the lamps on the new circuit board.
However, should the necessary parts for the new powering method were satisfied, he was very sure that the amount of the power output would be enough to light twice the amount of lamps, and might probably even still be enough to power the Morse code machine. He also added that all of the electronics equipment would only then need one central circuit board, as opposed to the current one circuit board for a maximum of two electronics equipment.
In short, he was trying to say to us that he needed new parts that could not be found around the station, so that powering the vital electronics equipment would be more efficient, and therefore he needed our assistance to find them. I had more or less grasped about what his intentions, however he had yet to mention the necessary parts, so I asked him about them.
"Okay, and what are the parts that you need to find?" I asked him.
Virgil answered me by saying that he needed some sort of a pulley device, and not just one, but two at the very least, or perhaps three to four. Everyone there except for Jonathan and Captain Quentin seemed to be frowning towards his answer, to which he realized it and stated that they would not be necessarily to be the real pulley. He then mentioned that something like a bicycle chain with its sprocket would already suffice.
"In simple, you needed some of us to break into a bike shop, and bring back some bikes with us?" Captain Quentin responded to him.
"Uh… I do not think that would be the precise term for it, but if you want to put it bluntly then, yes." Virgil replied.
"In that case, we will need to take four bikes all the way instead…" Jonathan added.
"It is not like anyone here would like to go back to the shop or to another if it turns out that the parts are not enough…" he continued.
Virgil responded by nodding, and thus we discussed who should go to the nearest bike shop to get four bicycles. Ryan started by saying that since we needed four bicycles, it would be better if the four of us were to go to the shop, instead of the usual amount of three. He also continued by saying that just in case the bicycles were locked in place inside the shop, we should also brought the fire ax with us to break the lock.
The next person to speak was Kyle. However, instead of giving us any advices or suggestions she was more insisting to be the one who should go to the bike shop with the others. Her insistence was with a good reason though, as she explained that she was the only one proficient enough to use a silent weapon, which was none other than her bow and arrows. Should we have to take down another alien silently along the way, she would be able to do it with ease.
Della was the one to speak after Kyle. She pleaded that those who were to stay at the station should be at least two people who were skilled enough to use a firearm other than just the handgun. Her reason was none other than to protect the rest of the others should the aliens stormed the station again when the others were absent, hinting that she wanted at least Jonathan or Captain Quentin to stay at the station.
Fiora was also there, but she did not speak any words. She might still be attempting to adjust her condition towards her new surroundings at the station, as she seemed to be just focused on the two circuit boards sitting right in front of Virgil. As for him, he did not argue about anything that was said by the rest of the others.
It was then when Jonathan decided to stay and guard at the station. He did not request any other thing, except for advising Fiora, if not strongly, to not going with the others to the bike shop. Fiora nodded in response, and the others also seemed to be agreeing with him. It felt and looked like as if Captain Quentin had also automatically decided to go to the bike shop along with Kyle as soon as Jonathan decided to stay.
Della finally decided to also stay at the station, saying that it might be best for her to help Virgil in assembling the new circuit board as well as giving her other aluminum foils to him. After she spoke her words, I realized that Virgil had intended to stay at the station from the start. Thus, I decided to go with Captain Quentin and Kyle to the bike shop.
"So, it turned out that I am also going, huh…" Ryan said, as he smiled and started to walk towards the rest of the going group.
With each of the group finally divided, we began to focus on our own tasks. As the going group was heading towards the train car to get briefed about the possible methods to go to the nearest bike shop, I could see that Jonathan was heading to one of the platform corner, while the rest of the staying group seemed to be focused on the circuit boards.
Once we were inside the train car, we looked at the map of the whole town's elevated train route map to pinpoint the nearest bike shop. Just then, Kyle mentioned that she had a friend back in her high school who used to be a regular customer at a bike shop not far from the old market district. Upon hearing it, I almost instantly asked her if it was located near some sort of an older part of the town, to which she confirmed it.
I had a bit of a relieve in me once she confirmed that the bike shop was indeed located at what seemed to be an old town neighborhood, since it would mean that there was still a good chance that bike shop would still be standing then. She also pinpointed three possible places where the bike shop could be, with the three of them being quite near to one of the station that I had passed on back when I went to the museum with Jonathan and Ryan.
Once we had mapped out the route that we had to take in our mind, we prepared ourselves to go to the bike shop. As usual before leaving out to another place, I always checked my watch to know the current time. It showed us the time 08.50 a.m., and we hoped ourselves to be able to get back to the station before 10.00 a.m.