Sy held a two-handed hammer, striking a dozen of steel bars into the ground with all his might. They should serve as railings for the metal rods in case they slipped to the side as it contracted beneath the weight of the hover truck.
Unable to carry a huge chunk of metal, the two men revised their plan. They created a mound of sand close to the steel door, covering its surface with hard objects so that the metal rods wouldn't sink as the hover truck pressed upon them.
As Sy nailed the final steel bar, his leg suddenly buckled. He soon found himself kneeling on the ground. Pushing himself up, he pondered - chuckling on the process.
"What?" Niel asked. A look of concern on his face. He suspected that his companion started to lose his mind.
"I'm suppose to be resting today." Sy answered.
"No rest for the wicked." Niel joked, patting the younger man on the shoulder. He added, "We're all set up. Let's do this!"
"The weight should be evenly distributed among the rods." Sy warned as he watched his landlord enter the vehicle.
Powering the engine up, Niel drove the vehicle only to find it swaying randomly in the air. The wind was too strong for the vehicle to properly function. After a couple of minutes trying, he gave up and landed the hover truck with a thud.
"The wind is too strong!" Niel shouted, exiting the vehicle, "It's impossible to perfectly land on the rods!"
"Let me try!" Sy handed the two-handed hammer to the older man and entered the hover truck. He had an experience in high altitude docking of transport crafts - a part-time job during his studies.
To Niel's surprise, Sy maneuvered the vehicle as if undeterred by the wind. The hover truck inched closer and closer toward the rods.
With bated breath, the landlord watched with eyes widened as the steel door slowly rose up.
The two men flinched as a metallic snap came from the steel door. Nonetheless, Sy perfectly landed the hover truck on the rods and erected it as high as their leverage can manage. The steel door vertically gaped a meter wide.
"It worked!" Niel exclaimed, celebrating with a series of whoop.
However, their joy was short lived when one of the metal rods on the far end - sunk into the mound - causing its erected part to collapse as well. The two turned their gaze at each other as the storm was getting stronger every minute. The places they dug were filled up with more sands in no time, and digging was no small feat. It would be a miracle if they repeated the process and succeed.
"No!" Sy shouted when he saw his landlord turning around and diving into the widest gape of the steel door. It was as if watching a horror movie where the metal rods would break under the stress and the steel door would come crushing down - turning Niel into meat paste.
But this did not materialize.
Instead, Niel managed to get inside! But a shoulder of his, slammed onto one of the metal rod - almost dislocating it - and his face nailed into the stairwell, unhinging a few teeth.
"I made it! Haha - Ow! I think I lost a tooth.." The landlord's agonizing voice echoed inside.
Sy could only shake his head, muttering in disappointment.
"Lower the steel door. It's a sliding one. I think we might have had unhinged a few screws, but it will be working just fine." Niel commanded, though his voice could barely be heard as he travelled deeper into the facility.
Sy slowly levitated the hover truck, relieving the pressure on the metal rods, and closed the steel door.
It was taking a bit longer than Sy anticipated and he began to worry. Eventually, lights escaped through the gaps, as a buzzing sound echoed from inside. The steel door hissed and slid half open, revealing a grinning Niel - holding a remote - and a big lump on the side of his face.
"I'll go and get the other tenants. You go and get your things. We'll rendezvous on the first floor." The landlord instructed, closing the steel door once more.
The two men separated when Sy climbed to the second floor, while Niel roused the people on the first floor.
A meter of sand had already consumed the lowest part of the building. Niel struggled to navigate the hallway, as an urgency on his face surfaced. When he reached a certain room, he took out some keys from his pocket, but hesitated when the angry sound of a person came from inside.
Steeling his nerves, he unlocked the door.
Bam!
The door violently swung open, and a beautiful woman in her early twenties walked outside with stomping strides - a bit startled by the flood of sand coming inside the room. She was wearing a dark-green tank top, revealing the feminine muscles of her arms while military pants adorned her long legs.
"Are you kidding me?" She started, her brows tightly knitted on top of her green eyes, "You locked me in here?! I would have broke the door if Pops didn't hate vandalism!"
"Calm down, Mina.." Niel nervously raised both hands in a defensive posture, "I promised Pops that I'd protect you. Besides, I couldn't unleash you outside in this kind of storm."
"Ugh!" Mina snorted in disgust, "You're a mech specialist! I'm the soldier, you're the nerd! What the f*ck happened to your face?"
Her attitude was getting feistier with every passing moment. Niel caressed his swelling face and couldn't lie, "I did a heroic action and paid the price."
Mina rolled her eyes in disbelief, "Well, let's get moving then. I suppose you weren't able to open the steel door!"
"Ha!" Niel stood in defiance, "That you are wrong!"
The older sibling showed a certain remote with great pride, causing his younger sister to roll her eyes once more.
"Look.. The storm will swallow us all if we don't hasten to grandfather's mech facility." Niel became serious, and instructed, "You go gather our tenants here on the first floor. I'll go to the other buildings and convince other people to join us."
"No." Mina firmly objected. "I'll go to the other buildings. You stay here."
After gathering her gears, and holstering a hand gun on her leg, she quickly sprinted outside. Niel couldn't do anything but watch her go.
Meanwhile, Sy entered his room and collected his belongings. He noticed that a window panel broke, and sand had already flooded his room. He looked for something - the multicoloured cube which was his only missing property.
He dug through the sands but couldn't find it. When he was about to give up, he saw something buried - producing an exquisite form of light. He quickly grabbed it and notifications appeared in his vision.
[Mission Successful!
Be a Pioneer!
Innovation Cube Unlocked!]
[Mission Successful!
Find a new function from existing technologies.
Claim +1 Wisdom]
[Mission Successful!
Pioneer a mech!
+50 Pioneering Score]
Sy stared at the Innovation Cube for a second. "Bah! I don't have time for this.." He pocketed the multicoloured object, shouldered his luggage and ran outside. When he reached the bottom stairs, some people were already gathered. They had brought with them food and water, accompanied by some necessary tools like flashlights and ropes.
One young woman, almost in her twenty, was encumbered - carrying her portable computer and a backpack full of clothes. Cameras and other gadgets clinged to her small frame.
Another, a mother of two, consoled her children. She carried food and water - neatly packed in her shoulder bag. A set of candles, matches, flashlight, and a few meters of rope - visible inside the plastic bag she held. Above all, in her other hand, was an iron.
Sy couldn't comprehend why she bothered with the last item. But only a fool would underestimate the significance of this legendary tool. However, this tool dropped in quality. Some modifications were implemented on it; a highly dispersible laser. It might come in handy later.
"Alright! We're all here!" Niel clapped his hands to grab their attention after seeing Sy coming down from the stares. He gestured for the younger man to get closer to his position. When he did, the landlord whispered an instruction, "I go first, you come last. You watch for stragglers."
The group marched out into the storm. Upon contact with the strong winds which carried dusts and struck with pain, some of the ladies squealed but carried on.
Fortunately, no one strayed and made Sy's life easier. The problem was that some of the ladies' were getting stuck in the sand. The young pioneer had to collect some of their heavy items and carried them himself.
Finally, Niel opened the steel door, and everyone entered in an orderly manner.
Inside, Sy saw the long way down through a series of stairs. This was a huge underground facility.
"Don't you have an elevator? A hover platform? Anything that doesn't require us to manually trudge through this?" The teenager protested, her eyes showed the suffering she had to endure that her brain simulated.
"Ha! We are people of culture. We do it manually." Niel proudly declared. Skipping across the stairs like a child, he was the first to start the laborious way down.