'Damn this storm! Why does it have to occur when I'm here?!' Sy mentally complained. He found a spot where he could directly observe the assembly line and settled his items, fixing his luggages as pillow.
Satisfied with his piling skill, he grabbed the other tenants' baggages - which he carried through the storm and down under - and fixed them before the stairwell where they could see it in plain sight.
It appeared that the tour was over as the group was dancing around a sound system. They cheered and laughed and gossiped. Jokes aside, they were safely tucked in a fortified facility with a capable life support.
Sy watched them carefully, taking out his cheap nutrient pills. When he saw that some of the tenants carried luxurious foods - real food like baked bread, he tossed some of his own sustenance into his mouth in secrecy.
As he chewed the tasteless pills, he intently watched the tenants who were eating. Meat and vegetables - if not imported - from well cultivated enclosures. Sy did not have the luxury for such foods. He only treated himself once when he had a good side job. The exhilarating experience had motivated him to work harder.
Envy glinted in his eyes. The food, the comfort of home, and a caring family and friends, were things he never had - yet people take it for granted. They wanted an exciting experience. They wanted adventures. They wanted violence. Sy can tell, these people were fools. Just as the saying go; 'War is sweet to those who never experience it.'
With dark thoughts filling his mind, Sy finished his food and sought something else to occupy his attention.
"No reception?" The teenager of the group loudly complained, raising her phone above her head.
Sy briefly glanced at her direction. He was about to activate his gauntlet but abandoned the thought and instead took out the Innovation Cube out from his pocket. The lights coming out from the object was now faint. It only took a moment when he was mesmerized by it.
The cube seemed to be alive - breathing. Tiny holes would emerge and then bind together as if permanently. The process repeated itself in a fixed interval. Sy never encountered nor heard about such material bonding. He was too fascinated that he didn't noticed he was holding it for about five minutes.
[DNA Confirmed]
Sy jerked as the cube sent electric waves across his body. A familiar sensation when he first held it - wrapped in a parcel. However, the aftermath was not as damaging as his former experience. He felt good. As if even more alive - energetic.
'Whoo!' The young pioneer whooped mentally, minding the group in the distance. They might wrongly assume that he lost his mind.
To his dismay, the cube went motionless. Its lights went out.
[New Function Added!
Molecular Data Imaging Simulator
]
[New Function Added!
Shop
]
[New Function Added!
Human Generator
]
Sy read the notification, a bit confused about the last function. But he was very ecstatic about the first function: The Molecular Data Imaging Simulator.
Molecular Data Imaging was 3 levels above the basic Computer-tech - his current level. He doesn't know how advance the simulator engine was, but such a combination would come very handy.
The young pioneer was about to explore the function, but noticed someone coming toward him. He looked up and saw Niel abruptly stopping a meter away from him.
"So, you found your spot." The older man said, adding, "My sister is still out there. I'm gonna take a moment alone."
Sy watched as his landlord stroll into a dark corner and pulling out something from his pocket. With his enhanced eyes, he was able to read the label on the package; Dirt Ball. There was a crunching sound after the man in the dark tossed something in his mouth.
"Huh?" After realising something, the young Pioneer pulled out his nutrient package and saw the label, Dirt Ball. He quickly hid it and rolled his eyes in caution. There was another criminal in the vicinity hiding an illicit good.
A few minutes later, Niel returned and sat beside Sy. He cheerfully asked, "How's my fellow saviour?"
"Are you bankrupt?" The younger man asked, not wanting to keep his thought subtle.
Niel pressed a finger against his lips, feigning ignorance. But when he saw Sy revealing a nutrient package inside a luggage, the landlord immediately covered it and laughed awkwardly. He whispered, "I underestimated the cost of upgrading this facility. I ordered hundreds of tons of resources for a single mass production before I paid for the mech facility. Now I'm only left with a few thousands of credits."
"Come to think of it.. are you bankrupt too?"
"I'm looking for work." The younger man counteracted.
"What do you do exactly?" Niel scratched his chin in thought, "Lemme guess.."
He judged the younger man for some time and didn't came up with anything solid. His first guess was an engineer in Construction-tech. The way he laid down a plan with accurate calculations - especially with the length of the metal rods which he wouldn't even be able to consider. But these engineers were highly sought in the Union. Perhaps he made an enemy? Or was he a construction worker with his skills driving the hover truck under heavy pressure? No - that does not make any sense.
"I'm a good mechanic." Sy broke the uncomfortable silence.
Niel smiled upon hearing his occupation, and joked, "In what art?"
Sy remembered the man he briefly chatted on the audition of the Tyrese brothers. He was not confident to say anything in particular, so he answered, "Any stuff."
"You should work for me. Here. You'd learn a lot about mechs." Niel grinned, his eyes sparky.
"Are you gonna pay me with Dirt Balls?"
"Hahahaha!"
The two men chatted for some time. Sy concluded that Niel was not a prickly man, and would make a lot of friends in a short period because of his willingness to talk.
Time slowly passed. The buoyant atmosphere in the mech facility was replaced by caution as dozens of footsteps came from the stairs above.
"Don't push! Stay in line!" The voice of a woman authoritatively shouted.
"That's Mina! My sister." Niel got up and rushed to the stairs. The younger man followed, not wanting to be a freeloader in the corner.
The two saw an orderly line of people coming down. Niel saw his sibling and hurriedly went to her.
"What took you so long?" He asked in great concern.
Mina snorted, carefully watching the line of people. She answered with a voice filled with regret, "I had to gather them all in a single building before assigning some able men in charge of the line. I think some went missing during the walk here."
"Is it getting worse out there?"
"The soft sands are getting deeper. Your boots will literally sink almost a meter into the ground. What's worst is that you can't see where you're going. The combination of wind and dusts - I never thought it would be that deadly." Mina explained in deep thought. Something came to her and she scolded her older brother, "Why did you left the entrance open. We struggled to get inside."
"You wouldn't even find it if we sealed it!" Niel responded defensively.
Mina instantly understood what his brother meant. She started going up the stairs meeting some grateful glances from the people coming down. She instructed, "You stay here and provide what's necessary. I'm going up. Those men I left in charge are not used to this critical conditions."
Niel couldn't disagree. Her sister was used to being in charge. A high ranking naval officer and an elite mech pilot, she was.
Sy had to relocate his luggages as the people poured down in numbers while Niel designated some places for specific purposes. He first asked for people with medical backgrounds so they could set up a med area for the sick and wounded.
After a while, the steel doors were finally closed with a few men left to stand sentry. The entrance to the mech facility would be impossible to find in the raging storm but who knows. By some miracle some stragglers managed to dig it - a few lives would be saved.
To preserve the order, Niel asked for the landlords of every group to act as their representative. They knew all the people in their group and could vouch for their needs.
Sy volunteered in the med area.
On the other hand, being the soldier, Mina quickly recognized a big problem. Their logistics. She immediately approached Niel.
"Our food and water will only last for two days. Four if we economize. Some forgot to bring their own." She started, her face frowning, "Grandfather talked about storms like this lasting a month or even half a year. I don't know what's worse. Buried in the sands or starving to death."
Niel swallowed hard. He carefully contemplated for a moment before some light returned to his darkened face, "Me and my friend will think of something."
He turned to search for Sy and was shocked to find the younger man treating an elderly man in the med area.