The Mother.
Sand dunes for miles and miles, this is where humanity now lives.
For many, life out here consists of living day to day in tiny isolated villages. They survive by trading with each other, such as life for the average desert child.
And for the few and privileged, they live in the Gardens — Megacities that horde the last few natural resources left in the world.
The rich stay rich, and the poor remain poor; humanity has not changed.
"Hey Gramps, who're you talking to?"
A young man with stark red hair spoke up as he walked into the room, he wore goggles right above his eyes with a green tint.
"Huh? Ah, Free, nobody in particular. I've just been practicing my speech for the next batch of corp trainees coming in next week." Head engineer Gristle erased the words off of his chalkboard.
"New blood? I'll bet more than 2/3rds of them will call it quits." Free yawned as he leaned over the table.
"Don't be so negative, my boy. The pursuit of our trade is arduous, please be respectful to those who may fail; they had made it this far didn't they?" Gristle scolded him.
"Yeah yeah. Hey, by the way, have you checked out my schematics on the upgrades for the Dunewalkers yet?" Free excitedly asked.
"Why yes, I did," Gristle said.
"And?"
"I think that they'd be wonderful additions, within the next few years of course."
"Ah come on!" Free protested as he got into a swivel chair and spun himself around.
"I'm your best engineer, Gramps, why aren't you taking what I do seriously!?"
Gristle walked over and stopped Free's chair.
"Because progress takes time. Think, Free, how would we even implement your changes to the current DWs without sacrificing productivity?" He placed a hand over his shoulder, they were strong even in his old age.
"But, my changes would improve the current pneumatic release mechanism! Our Pilots would quite literally glide over the dunes!"
"Yes, I know; in theory, it sounds wonderful."
"Theory? It's true, you know my math isn't wrong!"
"Theory, Free. A theory that our current Pilots would be able to support those G-Forces as the machines propel themselves to these unknown speeds. Mind I also remind you that you've yet to fully experience the full force of the DW's current capabilities."
"Just because I haven't experienced it myself doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talking about!"
"You're missing my point, boy!"
A knock was heard at the doorway, a tall, muscular, one-armed woman was there; she wore large desert cargo pants and a black bikini top. There was a wildness about her, that if you got too comfortable around her she'd bite your head off.
"Scuse' me for interrupting the family squabble, but we're here." Maria smirked as she told them the news.
"Agh, I'm late! I have to begin the debrief with the other captains, excuse me Free, we can finish this talk later." Gristle hurriedly put on his vest, it was his sign of authority as an emblem indicated his post on the Crawler.
Gristle excused himself past Maria and left, leaving them both together.
"Hey hotshot, aren't you my EOD for this op?" Maria leaned against the doorway, crossing her arms.
"Yeah, I am. What, you got a problem with that?" Free scoffed as he tried pushing past her.
But as he did, she slapped his ass.
"Hey, what the hell!" Free yelped, he tried his best to hide his embarrassment; the slap also really stung.
"You ain't got the grit like your old man did, you ain't fooling no one greenhorn. And this won't be like last time, we won't be taking it slow." Maria cackled.
"Now, will you stop being such a brat and follow me to the dock? I'll even let you feel me up in the cockpit if you're a good boy." Maria suggestly began to slip off her bikini top.
"No thanks lady, you're too old." Free rebutted.
"You're so boring, I promise I was serious this time. And hey, I'm only 29!" Maria spat on the floor as she began walking towards where Free was.
"Hey, it was just a joke!" Free reflexively braced himself.
"Keep your panties on, walk with me- we've got places to be y'know." She tousled his hair.
Free only sighed as he followed her lead.
"So, I didn't catch much with what you were saying there with Gristle. Did you finally sell him on the schemas you've been raving about?" Maria asked as she weaved through crowds on the catwalk. The sound of the Crawler's treads on the desert below was loud, but everyone spoke louder; a result of being long-time denizens on its deck.
"No, he told me that it'll happen in a couple of years."
"Years? Ah, so you mean never."
"Pretty much."
Suddenly, the sound of a loud foghorn rang out.
"Shit, we're now officially late." Free groaned.
"Relax, we're the top dogs- everyone else is early, that's all."
"I don't think that's how it works."
"I don't care, not like they'll leave without one of their Pilots and EODs."
They finally arrived at the end of the catwalk and entered a large space, it was crowded with people; all of them were dressed for the salvage operation that was going to happen.
As Maria and Free got through the crowd, a microphone's hiss fizzled over the air; it was the Crawler's captains and Gristle atop a stage.
"Hello everyone, thank you for being here." One of the captains, Ozlo, spoke. He was in charge of the Southern legs of the Crawler.
"It's my pleasure to announce the beginning of this current Tombstone operation. Pilots please report to the eastern dock, make sure to locate your Engineer on Deck for the operation beforehand if you will before you deploy ahead of us." Ozlo scanned the crowd and smiled once he saw Maria and Free.
"And for the Divers, follow Captain Niri to the western dock for debriefing and equipment triple-checking." Ozlo watched as Captain Niri, she being the one in charge of the Northern legs, stepped off the stage and led more than half of the crowd away.
"With that, allow me to let our Head Engineer and Captain Bayonsik direct the Engineering Corp. I'll be taking my leave now, good luck to you all; The Mother Wills It!"
The rest of the crowd clapped as Ozlo left the stage, repeating after him "The Mother Wills It".
"He's such a suckup," Maria muttered under her breath to Free.
"And he's a Captain, while you're not." He scoffed.
"I would rather dry up and die in the desert than be a Crawler Captain, it's just suffering through people's brown-nosing and red tape for the rest of your life." Maria hissed.
"If you say so." Free sighed.
Gristle began to speak on stage, he noticed Free in the crowd but said nothing as he continued talking about the developments of the Dunewalkers and some details on the operation. Bayonsik said nothing as she silently watched, her face was hidden by a veil.
Bayonsik was the captain of the thorax, the Crawler's internals. It's also where the main cockpit of the machine was, so, she had the highest authority out of the three captains.
"That is all, please follow me and Bayonsik to the lower dock!" Gristle concluded, and so the crowd followed him.
"Guess that's our queue, let's haul some ass over to the others." Maria yawned.
"Yeah- H-Hey, what're you doing!!" Free shouted as Maria picked him up and put him over her shoulder.
"You'll be slowing us down if we don't book it over there, just pretend I'm a DW!" Maria laughed as she began to sprint to where the eastern dock was with Free holding onto her shoulder in tow.