Gyaros Book One: The Mice Eat Iron (YA 17+ Sci Fi Adventure) (37 page)

“That's what I'm ho
ping to find out in New Fortune,” Miles quietly replied.

“W
hat about that token of yours?”

“I still have it
,” said Miles, patting his top left pocket.

“Alright, and that guy you're supposed to find,
uh, what was his name again?” asked Maxen.

“Mesa,” replied Miles
. “I have no idea how or where to find him though, Ryker just told me to ‘Get to New Fortune and find Mesa.’ I don't know any more than that.”

“Hmm, well it's still our best lead I guess. I say we keep headin' to New Fortune and check it out. That token should get you in good with The Machine, Mesa's probably
an agent for them or somethin'.”

“Yeah,
that sounds like our best shot,” Miles replied as Maxen looked over to the kitchen where Lucy and Miriam could be heard talking.

“What about the girl?”
he asked, turning back to Miles.

“She can't c
ome with us, it's too dangerous,” said Miles, lowering his voice even more so Lucy wouldn't hear them from the kitchen.

“You sure? After she gets that new arm and I've taught her how to shoot she might be a helpful addition to the team
,” Maxen suggested.

“No,” replied Miles, sternly
, “she...look, I can't tell you everything right now but Lucy can't get involved with The Machine in any way, it's...complicated. But more than that she’s just a kid, she’s already seen more than any child her age should and I can’t put her through any more. I was going to ask Adam if she could stay here, where she’ll be safe.”

“Huh, fair enough I guess
,” said Maxen, respecting Miles’ decision not to elaborate further regarding Lucy and The Machine, “now, we're gonna need some money too, New Fortune ain't the kinda place you wanna be broke.”

“Good point,” Miles said
, “any idea how we can make some cash?”

“Yeah,
back in The Dustbowl I heard about this arena around seventy kilometres south of New Fortune, they say there's a lotta money in it if you make it out alive, figured I'd stand a pretty good chance.”

“If you say so I guess, but you know I’m no fighter.”

“That’s cool, you let me handle the fighting and in return you help me get back to Carthage with you,” said Maxen standing up, “so that’s the plan, we'll spend another week here, I'll train Lucy and then we're on our way.”

“Right.
And please, don’t mention any of this to Lucy,” implored Miles, also rising to his feet. The two men nodded and shook hands. Miles then went to check on Lucy and Miriam in the kitchen as Maxen returned to his room upstairs. Miriam was in the process of descaling the fish with a sharp kitchen knife, resting the now gutted fish in the kitchen sink under a running tap as she held the tail and slid the knife down its body, removing the scales with ease while Lucy watched closely. Both turned to greet Miles at he entered the room.

“How's it going?”
asked Miles as he approached the kitchen sink.

“Good,” replied Lucy
. “Cooking is hard work...” she added, Miles and Miriam both giggled.

“Well it looks like it's co
ming along nicely,” Miles complimented.

“It won't be done for another couple of hours
,” Miriam replied, rinsing the knife under the sink before turning the fish over to descale the other side.

“That's alright,” replied Miles
, “I've gone longer without eating on Gyaros. Is there anything I can do to help?” he added, hoping for something to keep him occupied.

“Hmm, oh, I
forgot to pick a few lemons earlier, could you go get some for me?” asked Miriam.

“Yeah sure
,” Miles agreed.

“Thanks,” Miriam
chirped with a smile, “the trees are just out the back there,” she added, pointing out of the kitchen window at a collection of yellow fruit bearing trees beyond the pond where Maxen had been fishing.

“Alright, I'll go get 'em
,” said Miles, heading out of the kitchen and towards the back door. He walked at a slow and steady pace, enjoying every moment in the gentle, warm breeze and shining sun of this green, life filled oasis in the otherwise harsh and formidable wastelands of Gyaros as he retrieved three abnormally large lemons from one of the trees and brought them back to Miriam. She needed no further assistance in the kitchen and told Miles and Lucy that they were welcome to have a look in Adam's old shed for anything fun to pass the time while they wait for supper. Leaving Miriam to finish the dinner alone, Miles and Lucy made their way to the side of the house where the small steel shed was located, inside was a random assortment of items ranging from rusty machine parts to worn out toys from Adam's childhood, among them was an old skateboard with large brown wheels which Lucy took and examined inquisitively. The black grip tape on the top, designed to keep the rider's feet securely on the board was peeling back around the edges and there were several chips and scratches in the wood, the graphic on the underside of the board, though hard to make out due to severe wear was a black panther bearing it's fearsome teeth and reaching out with its sharp claws, the letters “N” and “A” could also be vaguely seen through the scratches.

“Wow, this looks like fun!”
said Lucy excitedly, taking the old board to a small patch of concrete beside the house and laying its wheels down on the ground.

“Hehe, be careful with that
,” Miles warned as he walked over to join her, he knew what a skateboard was but had very rarely seen them used in Elissa as there was a law against skateboarding in public areas and like all laws on Carthage it was strictly enforced. Lucy sat on the board with her feet in front of her and began to roll slowly across the pavement.

'She'd like it here
,' Miles thought as he watched Lucy play on the skateboard with a large grin across her face, 'she'd have food, protection, toys. I just hope that Adam will let her stay.'

Lucy eventually became more confident and began to stand up on the board, she had surprisingly good balance considering she only had one arm.
Then again, she was an android so Miles had little understanding of how her sense of gravity differed from his own.

The
evening hours passed by quickly as Miles watched Lucy play with the various toys and contraptions in Adam's shed. The sun was setting behind a row of ragged mountains to the west, casting beautiful oranges and purples across the fluffy clouds. Eventually they heard Miriam call out.

“Come on inside, dinner's almost ready.” Miles helped Lucy return the toys to the shed and they made their way back inside the house as night approach
ed. After washing his hands in the bathroom upstairs, Miles joined the rest in the living room for dinner. Miriam handed him a steaming hot bowl which contained large chunks of fish and various peppers in a rich chilli sauce with a wedge of lemon on the side. The meal reminded Miles of his good friend Clark back on Carthage; a big fan of chilli who would often cook a similar dish, only with a little more spice. Politely thanking Miriam, Miles took a seat beside Lucy on one of the sofas and began to eat. He took his first taste of the mouth-watering food and was taken aback by the divine flavour of the chilli sauce and the perfect flaky texture of the fish,

“This is amazing!”
said Miles through a mouth full of food, unable to hold back a smile.

“Thank you Miles
,” Miriam replied, bowing her head in gratitude.

“What did I tell ya?” Maxen said upon finishing a
portion of the fish “Miriam's as much of a genius at cookin' as Adam is at buildin' those crazy machines!”

“Ah, speakin' of that,” Adam began
, “the arm's comin' along nicely, you can have a look after dinner if you like, I should have it done by around midday tomorrow.”

“Cool, I can't wait to see it!” Lucy said in her usual cheerful tone. Looking at Lucy w
ith a furrowed brow, Adam added, “now, the actual procedure may take some time, I've never operated on someone like Lucy before, I'm sure I'll be able to get it workin' in the end though.”

Miles swallowed and
spoke again, “thank you again Adam, for all of this.”

“Hehe, you can quit thankin' me, Miles!” Adam replied, a smile stretching across his face
, “you got that tower up and runnin' again, I wouldn't care if you stayed here the rest of your days.” Miles never thought that he would experience a meal like this on Gyaros, surrounded by kind, friendly people all with carefree smiles on their faces as they dined on a delicious, home cooked meal. Maxen, Adam, Miriam, Lucy, as ridiculous as it seemed, they felt almost like a family to Miles at that moment.

“So, did you two find anything fun it tha
t dirty old shed?” Miriam asked.

“Yeah, there was a bunch of coo
l stuff in there,” replied Lucy.

“Sounded like you found that old skateboard, huh?”
said Adam after swallowing a mouthful of supper.

“Mmm hmm
,” Lucy nodded her head.

“Brings back memories, an old friend of mine from New Fortune gave it to me when he came to visit one time,” Adam explained
, “he just got a new board so he let me have his old one. I was never that good at it but it was a lot of fun.” Adam had an almost childlike expression on his face as he recalled the past. “I don't have much use for those kinda things now though so if you find anything you like in that shed, it's yours.”

“Wow, thanks Mr. P
owell,” Lucy said with a big grin before taking another mouthful of chilli.

Upon finishing dinner, Maxen joined Miriam in the kitchen to help clean up while Miles and Lucy followed Adam back into his workshop to have another look at the arm. There were still several exposed wires and only three of the fingers had been attached so far but for the most part it looked a lot like
Maxen's arm, only much smaller.

“I've designed the cannon to slide out from below the wrist rather than needin' to shift the entire arm into a separate form just to fire it,” Adam explained, demonstrating this function by poking around in the arm with a screwdriver, causing the wrist to open
and a metallic barrel to quickly slide out, “this means you can be ready to shoot while still havin' control of the fingers.”

“Cooool
,” Lucy said quietly, leaning in and examining the arm closely.

“It'll look good on you
,” Miles said, looking down at her with a smile.

“Well, I'd better get back to it then
,” said Adam as he took a seat at his desk to continue his work on the arm.

“Alright, we'll let you get to work, c'mon Lucy.”

Miles and Lucy left Adam alone in his workshop and returned to the living area to think of another way to pass the time. In the end they settled on a game of I spy which seemed like a perfect fit for a house like the Powells' with such a large variety of objects lying around the place. About ten minutes into the game, Maxen and Miriam joined in, having finished cleaning the dishes. They played for another hour, snacking on more homemade chips and beer before finishing up for the night and getting some sleep. Adam continued to work into the early hours of the morning as the others slept soundly until the artificial sun rose once again.

Miles awoke at around 9:30 to find Adam already awake and in his workshop, continuing construction of the robotic a
rm. ‘Does he ever sleep?’ He then made his way into the kitchen where Lucy was enjoying a bowl of cereal at the table. Like most food at the Powells' house it looked homemade and appeared to contain oats, berries and some kind of crunchy flakes. Greeting Lucy with a smile as he entered, Miles proceeded to make himself the same meal, pouring the cereal out of a clear plastic container that sat on the countertop into a large porcelain bowl before adding milk - or at least what appeared to be milk - from a half empty glass bottle in the refrigerator. He took a spoon from the cutlery tray by the sink and sat at the kitchen table across from Lucy, his bare feet tapping against the cool linoleum.

“I bet you're pretty excited about today, huh?” asked Miles before tak
ing his first bite of breakfast.

“Mmm hmm
,” Lucy hummed with a full mouth as she nodded her head. She swallowed and added, “that arm looks amazing, I can't wait to try it out, I'm gonna look just like Uncle Max!”

“I can't wait to see it on you
,” replied Miles happily.

“Do you think it's gonna hurt, you know, the operation?” Lucy asked, squinting her eyes
anxiously.

“I'm sure Adam will use some sort of sedative, it'll be just like going to sleep except when you wake up you'll h
ave a brand new arm.”

“So c
ool!” said Lucy, the cheerful smile returning to her face as she took another mouthful of cereal, her feet swinging below the tall wooden dining chair.

Upon finishing the meal, Miles took his and Lucy's bowls to the sink and rinsed them out thoroughly before placing them on the kitchen countertop. Miles looked out of the window above the sink to see Maxen once
again fishing down at the pond.