Hey all! One quick note: I changed the very ending of my original draft of chapter 3.54. It had Andy "starting down the path" to go see Lucy, but I forgot he had just woken up and he didn't even have a shirt on, let alone pants. So, it ends with him heading back into his little house to get dressed.

Hah, I wouldn't mention such a minor thing, but it's important for the first scene of today's chapter!

Enjoy!

-Plum

55 – Something to Build

When Andy stepped back into his little home and he scanned the space for some relatively clean clothes, he grinned when he noticed a black-lacquered box, about ten inches square, sitting innocently under the corner of his bed. The System had apparently made good on its promise to deliver his reward for dealing with Seraphine while he’d been asleep.

“Just a minute, Scirocco,” he said, leaning the spear against the wall beside his door. He walked over to the box and lifted it, grunting at the weight. “What is this? A rock?” He set the box on his bed, then took a minute to pull on the jeans he’d left draped over the footboard the night before. No longer in just his boxers, he sat down beside the box and lifted off the polished black top.

Andy laughed when he saw the contents; it really was a brick—mostly gray, speckled with bits of red and coppery flakes. Chuckling, he ran his fingers along the sides of the heavy stone until he found what he was looking for: a stiff card printed with elegant calligraphy. Holding it up, he squinted in the pale morning light, reading the note:

A brick from the Waterhouse of Genchay City –

During the Black Moon Cataclysm, this brick and a hundred others were taken from the famous Waterhouse of Genchay City and enchanted by the Nine Wizards of Lorm Tower. Their goal was to ensure the legacy of the Waterhouse outlived the destruction of the famed city. When planted near a suitable water source and activated with a touch of mana, this brick will multiply, joining with its sibling stones to form a faithful replica of the Waterhouse. Stand well back, for even if the structure seems complete, the intricately artificed machinery of the Waterhouse will take time to grow from the metal seeds contained in the stone. Enjoy and make fruitful use of the famous baths, steam rooms, reservoir, and pump-works!

“Oh, nice!” Andy looked at the brick with renewed respect. He’d never heard of a waterhouse before, but it sounded like it was a multi-purpose building that might make life a lot easier for Bea when it came to supplying running water to the settlement. He wondered if the spring was compatible with the waterhouse, but he figured he’d run it by Eduardo and the others before making an attempt.

With that decided, Andy closed up the box and sent it into his storage ring. The System had promised him an upgraded reward, and though his initial, gut reaction had been one of disappointment when he saw the brick—he’d been hoping for a Codex entry or some kind of limit breaker—he supposed a famous infrastructure building for the settlement was probably more valuable in the long run; if they were going to succeed and thrive, they’d need to attract more citizens or, at the very least, keep their current citizens happy.

As he tugged on a clean T-shirt and some socks, he glanced at the doorway—no door yet—to his future bathroom; it was a long way from functional, let alone luxurious. How many others were tired of the communal showers? He had no idea how the magical waterhouse building was going to plumb itself, but he figured it’d be fun to see what happened.

He picked up his spear and once again headed out onto the mesa, inhaling deeply of the fresh, cool air. As he meandered down the path, working his way toward the central lane, he heard the sounds of people getting the day started—pots clattering, food sizzling, voices murmuring, and even some kids laughing.

It was funny how the loss of electricity had changed the schedules of people, kids in particular. Sunlight basically meant it was time to do things, and when people had to live by lamplight at night without much to do other than read or draw or work on puzzles, kids tended to go to sleep a lot earlier. Not that Andy had anything to do with all that; he’d just heard the other adults talking.

On the central lane, he ran into Tucker, and the man, wearing his usual overalls and a baseball cap, waved and jogged over to him. “Yo, Andy! Surprised you’re up, man!”

Andy waved back, slowing his steps as the other man approached. “Funny, I was just thinking about how the sun seems to have more of an effect on me these days.”

Tucker laughed. “Oh yeah, brother. We’re back to the farming times. I mean, well, except we’re not really farming. I guess we’re more like hunter-gatherers.” He shrugged. “What’s the plan today?”

“Um,” Andy rubbed a hand through his hair, looking up through the mesquite boughs to the sky, “I’m hoping Lyta will check in. You know, with some information about the invaders—as Bella puts it.”

“Lyta! Right, man, right! The harpy queen!”

Andy chuckled. “Oh! I got something pretty cool from the System. I think you’ll be happy.”

Tucker turned his cap backward, so the brim wasn’t shading his eyes. He looked up at Andy expectantly. “Yeah? Like what kind of thing?”

“Just a sec.” Andy set Scirocco on the ground, leaning the spear against his shoulder, then he held out his hands and mentally reached into his ring, retrieving the black-lacquered box. Grunting, he held it against his stomach so he could take the lid off. “See that card in there?”

“Ah…yep!” Tucker reached in and took the card out.

“Read it.” Andy watched as Tucker’s eyes slowly widened, roving back and forth over the words on the card.

“Holy shit, man!” He held the card up. “This is insane! Think about it, man! If these powerful wizards made like a hundred copies of the Waterhouse, then it must have been something special! Like, it can’t just be baths and stuff, right? Don’t you think maybe there’s something magical about it?”

Andy chuckled at his enthusiasm. “Well, I mean, it’s all packed into one brick, so I would say that’s pretty magical.”

“But, dude! I mean, if you were saving one building from New York, it wouldn’t be a water station, would it?”

Andy slowly nodded, considering. “I guess you’ve got a point. Maybe it was just really beautiful. Maybe it was the place where the community gathered. Heck, man, maybe it was vital to their survival; they might have lived in a desert or something.” He put the lid back on the box and sent it into his ring. “Anyway, there’s one way to find out. Want to gather some of the others and meet me over by the spring in a few?”

Tucker slapped his shoulder. “Hell yes, man!”

“Right, well, I’m going to go see what Lucy’s up to.”

“If she’s awake, you mean.” Tucker laughed, waved, and then turned down a side lane. Judging by the direction, Andy guessed he was heading to Violet and Eduardo’s place.

He started walking again and drummed his fingers on Scirocco’s haft. “I think she’s awake. Don’t you?”

The spear pulsed twice.

Grinning, Andy waved at some people walking the other way. He recognized them vaguely as having come from Tanque Verde. The sky was past gray by then, tinting toward a pale blue, and every so often, he caught glimpses of the orange and yellow streaks of the sunrise between the trees. By the time he stepped out of the treeline and Lucy’s tower came into view, the sun was already climbing up into the pale eastern sky.

“Hey!” a high-pitched shout drifted down to him, and he squinted up to the top of the tower. Sure enough, Lucy was there, waving, her bow clutched in one hand.

“Knew it,” Andy muttered, jogging over the grassy meadow between the tower and the road. He supposed they ought to gravel the path, or it’d get muddy when it rained.

“I’ll come down!” she called as he approached, so Andy waited outside, sitting on the steps and watching as early risers and morning patrols walked to and from the gate. When the door opened, Lucy shouldered her way through, holding two steaming mugs in her hands. “I just brewed this.”

Andy smiled; he didn’t have the heart to tell her he’d just chugged an energy drink, so he took one of the cups. “Thanks, Luce! Just what I needed.”

“You’re up early.”

Andy sipped. The coffee was good. “You too.”

“Watched the sunrise and was looking around. You can see everything up there.”

“Like your new home, huh?”

She blushed a little, hiding her face behind her mug as she pressed it to her cheek. “I was thinking about that; it wasn’t right for me to put you on the spot like that. I bet you wanted to move in…”

Andy chuckled, shaking his head. “Nah. I really didn’t even think about it. I like my little place under the trees. Besides, you’ve got a responsibility with the watchtower.”

She nodded. “That’s true. And I have to let people go through my home so they can keep watch when I’m not around.”

Andy looked up at the tower, rubbing his chin. “Too bad there’s no stairway on the outside.”

Lucy followed his gaze. “Hmm. I wonder…Do you think something like that would be possible?”

“Probably.” Andy shrugged. “I mean, wait until you see what I’m about to build.”

She turned to him. “Huh?”

“You’ll see. Take a walk with me?”

Lucy looked back at the tower door. “Do I need my bow?”

“Nah, we’re just walking over to the spring.”

Switching her coffee mug to her other hand, she took hold of his elbow and nodded. “In that case, it would be my pleasure, sir.”

“Oh, wait!” Andy took Scirocco off his shoulder and, resting the butt on the ground, leaned him toward Lucy. “Grab my spear for a minute.”

Lucy arched an eyebrow at him. “If I were good at dirty jokes…” She squinted happily at him as she grabbed Scirocco.

“Heh, nice one. Okay, now ask the spear something. I mean, ask it a question that has a yes-or-no answer.”

Lucy cocked her head at him, narrowing one eye, but she did as he asked, looking at Scirocco. “Hmm, you put me on the spot. What to ask… Oh! Okay, Scirocco, do you like Andy?”

“Boring!” Andy cried, but when Scirocco pulsed twice, he’d have been lying if he said he didn’t feel some relief.

Lucy’s eyes widened. “Did you do that?”

“Nope.”

“Hang on! Scirocco, is it nighttime?”

The spear pulsed once.

“Andy!” Lucy said, letting go of the spear and grabbing his shirt, tugging. “It can talk!”

“He can talk.”

She let go of his shirt and shoved him. “No way! It—he said so?”

Andy nodded, laughing.

Suddenly Lucy slapped a hand over her mouth and then reached behind her back, yanking out her knife. “What if…” She held the knife—a really beautiful weapon with a bowie-style blade and a carved-horn hilt—gingerly in front of her, and said, “Um, can you hear me, Fang?” When nothing happened, her disappointment was palpable.

“Don’t get discouraged, Luce. Scirocco’s tier-three and level ten. I don’t know what you need to do to get your knife to start talking, but I bet when you get it some levels, you’ll get the chance to improve its, um, mentality.”

“Really?” Lucy’s eyes darted from her knife to Andy and then back again.

“Yep.”

“Okay, then. Time for me to start knife-hunting!” She stuffed the blade back into its sheath, took hold of Andy’s arm and nodded toward the central lane. “Now, what were you going to show me?”

Andy started walking, sipped his coffee again, then said, “Luce, I don’t know if hunting with a knife is such a great idea.”

“Um, excuse me, but are you a level thirty-three Monster Hunter?”

“Well, no…”

“All right, then.” She squeezed his arm and leaned her cheek against his shoulder. They walked in silence for a minute or two, and then she perked up and pointed ahead. “There’s Omar and Bella. Oh, hey—I see Violet and Bernice and—”

“And Madi,” Andy finished for her. “Tucker should be there, too. He was going to gather some people.”

Lucy tugged on his arm, stopping him. “What’s going on?”

Andy smiled, brushing some soft brown curls away from her eyes. “I told you, Luce: I’ve got something to build.”