[DH] Motherboard - Part1, Scenes 5 and 6

 

THE NIGHT LAND

Part One: Salvation

Scenes Five and Six

The three commissions remained on the terminal behind them.

Nobody had moved for several minutes.

Outside the communications office, Salvation continued its morning work. Metal rang against metal. A cart complained beneath a load of stripped machinery. Somewhere in the market, a compressor coughed itself into operation.

Inside, the four of them were doing something less mechanical.

They were deciding whether the money was worth the risk.

Theris stood with her arms folded.

She was broad through the shoulders and heavy with the practical strength that came from years of lifting, carrying, fighting and surviving. The old chain beneath her outer gear shifted when she breathed. One shoulder plate bore a deep crescent-shaped dent. She had never replaced it.

Elorin stood opposite her, one hand resting on the edge of the terminal.

His blond hair had come loose again.

He had grease beneath his fingernails despite having washed his hands that morning. His coat was still marked from the generator repair. The garment hung from him in a way that suggested it had once belonged to a more orderly life.

Yosef remained beside the terminal.

His dark hair was neat.

His glasses were not.

One arm of the frame sat slightly higher than the other. He had repaired it himself.

Shinjo leaned against the wall.

His red hair caught the amber light from the screen.

He had not said much.

He rarely did when the others were already working through a problem.

The missing scout commission remained on the display.

A salvage operative had failed to return from an Ancient transit zone.

The client wanted the scout found.

If possible, brought home.

Theris looked at the other two notices.

The stolen relic.

The anonymous cash job.

Then back to the first.

"We take this one."

Elorin looked at her.

"Why?"

"Because somebody is missing."

"That's not a business reason."

"No."

Theris turned toward him.

"It's a crew reason."

Elorin held her gaze.

The difference mattered.

He knew it.

Yosef scrolled back through the commission.

"Distance is reasonable."

"How reasonable?"

"Two hours if the old route is still passable."

Theris nodded.

"Payment?"

"Standard recovery fee. Additional compensation for a live return."

Elorin looked at the figure.

"Not bad."

Shinjo spoke from the wall.

"Better than it looks."

Theris looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because the transit route is still active."

Elorin turned.

"How do you know that?"

Shinjo shrugged.

"I don't."

Elorin stared at him.

"You just said—"

"I said it's better than it looks."

"That's not an answer."

"No."

Elorin rubbed his forehead.

Theris hid a smile.

Yosef did not.

He was reading the location data.

"The last known position is close to an old transit corridor."

"Ancient system?" Elorin asked.

"Yes."

"Any indication of what kind?"

"No."

Elorin considered that.

"Could be power infrastructure."

"Could be."

"Could be a transport system."

"Could be."

"Could be a buried control station."

"Could be."

Elorin looked at Yosef.

"You enjoy doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Giving me three possible answers and no useful one."

Yosef adjusted his glasses.

"They're all useful."

Theris stepped between them.

"We're taking the scout."

Neither objected.

That was the decision.

There was no ceremony.

No hand placed over another.

No oath.

Theris simply selected the first commission.

The crew would go into the Wastes, locate the missing salvage worker, and bring them back.

If the worker was alive, they would bring them home.

If not, they would bring back what they could.

That was how salvage worked.

People learned to accept the distinction.

Theris reached for the terminal.

The display flickered beneath her hand.

She opened the commission.

A second layer of information appeared.

The client's contact information.

Last known position.

A rough route.

The name of the missing scout.

Yosef leaned closer.

"That's all?"

Theris nodded.

"That's all."

Elorin looked at the map.

The route passed beyond the settled perimeter and into the old industrial territories north of Salvation.

There were no roads marked.

Only old infrastructure.

A broken transit line.

Collapsed maintenance structures.

Several dead communications towers.

The map had been assembled from fragments.

"That's not much of a route," Elorin said.

"It's enough."

"Enough for what?"

"To find the route."

Elorin looked at her.

"You're enjoying this."

"No."

"You are."

"I'm not."

Shinjo pushed away from the wall.

"She's right."

Elorin looked at him.

"You too?"

Shinjo pointed at the map.

"That line."

"What about it?"

"It shouldn't be there."

Yosef studied the display.

"What do you mean?"

Shinjo touched the screen.

"The old transit route."

His finger rested against a thin grey line.

"This was decommissioned."

Elorin looked at him.

"How do you know?"

Shinjo shrugged.

"Old machines."

Elorin stared.

Theris stepped closer.

"Can you tell if it's still usable?"

Shinjo's expression changed slightly.

"Usable?"

"By us."

"No."

"Can you tell if it's still running?"

Shinjo was silent.

Then:

"Maybe."

Theris nodded.

"Good enough."

Elorin looked at the map again.

The three of them had different reactions to the same information.

Elorin saw machinery.

Yosef saw terrain and routes.

Shinjo saw something underneath both.

Theris saw a job.

That was why they worked.

None of them needed to see the whole thing.

They only needed enough of the same picture to move in the same direction.

---

They went back to the workshop.

Preparation was not dramatic.

That was one of the things Elorin preferred about it.

Equipment had to be checked.

Food had to be packed.

Water had to be counted.

Tools had to be selected.

Anything that could be repaired before departure was repaired.

Anything that could not be repaired was either replaced or left behind.

Elorin opened the equipment cases.

He worked quickly.

A replacement coil went into one compartment.

A soldering tool into another.

Two small chemical vials were wrapped individually and secured.

He checked each piece twice.

Theris watched him.

"You don't need all of that."

"I do."

"You said the route was probably two hours."

"Probably."

"We're not moving house."

"No."

Elorin held up a small diagnostic tool.

"We're going somewhere full of Ancient machinery."

Theris considered it.

"Take two."

Elorin nodded.

That was the closest she came to admitting he was right.

Shinjo inspected his battlestaff.

The weapon was old enough that its original purpose had become uncertain. Salvaged components had been fitted into the shaft over time. Some were decorative.

Some were not.

He checked each coupling.

Then the small metal assembly near the grip.

Yosef watched him.

"Any problem?"

"No."

"You've checked it three times."

"Four."

Yosef looked at him.

Shinjo shrugged.

Yosef returned to his tablet.

Theris packed food.

The work was familiar.

The silence was not uncomfortable.

They had spent enough time together that silence had become another form of conversation.

Elorin passed a coil to Theris.

She secured it in the pack.

Yosef checked the weight.

"Too much."

Theris looked at him.

"By how much?"

"Three kilos."

Elorin looked offended.

"That's necessary."

Yosef pointed at the coil.

"That isn't."

"It's a spare."

"It's heavy."

"That's how coils work."

Theris took it from the pack.

"Leave it."

Elorin looked at her.

"What if we need it?"

"We won't."

"You don't know that."

"No."

She put it on the bench.

"But I know we're not carrying three kilos of unnecessary metal because you're afraid of being wrong."

Elorin stared at her.

Then smiled.

"Fair."

Yosef looked away.

Shinjo did not bother hiding his amusement.

Theris noticed.

"You too."

He straightened.

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to."

---

By the time the equipment was ready, the light outside had changed.

The weak morning brightness had settled into the grey-white daylight that Salvation received through layers of industrial ruin.

Theris checked the commission one last time.

The local network had supplied one final piece of information.

The missing scout's last confirmed transmission.

It had been brief.

The transmission had come from the old transit corridor.

Nothing more had been received.

No distress call.

No second message.

No confirmation of injury.

Just the last known position.

Yosef read the coordinates.

"Northwest gate."

Theris nodded.

"That's our departure point."

Elorin closed his case.

"What about the route?"

"The marker posts should still be there."

"Should?"

Theris looked at him.

"They were there six months ago."

"That's not reassuring."

"It's enough."

Shinjo stepped outside.

The others followed.

The settlement's outer perimeter stood ahead.

Beyond it, the Wastes began.

Not with a wall.

Not with a gate.

With absence.

The workshops became fewer.

The salvage piles thinned.

The repaired structures gave way to the old ones.

Ancient concrete.

Rusting frameworks.

Buried conduits.

Collapsed towers.

Roads that disappeared beneath soil and returned somewhere else.

The world beyond Salvation had not been rebuilt.

It had been abandoned.

The four of them stood at the edge of the settlement.

Theris adjusted the straps of her pack.

Elorin checked the tools.

Yosef studied the route.

Shinjo looked toward the old transit corridor.

Nobody spoke for several seconds.

Then Theris said:

"Two hours."

Yosef nodded.

"Maybe."

"Don't start."

He adjusted his glasses.

"Two hours."

Elorin shouldered his pack.

Shinjo lifted his staff.

Theris stepped beyond the perimeter.

The others followed.

There was no sign waiting for them.

No stranger watching from the ruins.

No hidden message.

No symbol carved into the concrete.

Only the old route disappearing into the Wastes.

They had a missing scout to find.

That was all.

For now, that was enough.