Origin ARS 6 (25 page)

Earlier that day, Amaryllis returned to the sexiness from whence she came. Rhea was brought back into play. The group set out to find a true machinist, and in the end hired someone to put together something remarkable.

Scott, Rhea, and Herbert had just come back from a long day of hunting to discover that the shop owner was almost finished with his work. It was still difficult to believe that he completed such a massive undertaking in a single work day.

Crankshaft Onetooth, the middle-aged orc mechanist who ran the shop, continued his efforts with the precision of a laser beam. Scott and Herbert were completely enraptured by the deftness of the orc's hands. The master machinist effortlessly machined parts to precise specifications, often without the need of measuring tools.

Rhea was simply happy that the job would be done before she had to go back to work. She'd seen such things often before. While his skills were indeed impressive she was not awestruck like her other party members.

It was nearly dark before Crankshaft finished his work. The result was a thing of beauty. The balding orc lifted his goggles then grinned at them. "Hey brother, your ride's ready."

"Sweet. You even put the camo paint on already," said Scott.

Crankshaft laughed in a good natured manner. "Hey, it's a rush job for a friend of a friend, but it's still about quality."

Scott grinned at him then looked over the new party ride. "Man. I want to go blow some stuff up."

The orc mechanist laughed again then slapped Scott on the back. "Hah, that's the spirit."

"Let me show you how it all works first, though," said the shop owner. He gestured for the others to follow as well, while he drove the newly crafted ride out the shop door and then down the street.

Once they left the depot gates he continued out into the wasteland for a short distance and then pointed to a few twisted trees in the distance. "Your targeting grid should be accurate, but let's zero your new weapons to be sure."

Zeroing the weapons consisted of lining up the crosshairs that appeared over the target when looking through the windshield. Crankshaft wiggled the steering wheel a bit until the crosshairs seemed to be perfectly aligned with the target, a tree in the distance, and then fired three quick bursts from the forward guns. The double guns fired six rounds in total. After they impacted the target, Crankshaft frowned slightly.

"Needs adjustment. One moment." He took out a wrench and hammer from a tool bag at his hip then started banging on the left gun. After he finished his adjustments, he made another attempt to zero the weapons then smiled as he managed two sets of tight shot groups.

"Right, now for the charge..." He pressed down on the top of the batwing shaped steering wheel using his thumbs. The front of the gun barrels began to glow gently as power built up. Three seconds later, he pulled the triggers with his index fingers. Two grapefruit sized energy shots blasted outward. Roughly halfway to their intend target they broke apart, and the target was blasted with multiple energy rounds.

"Twin shotgun pattern is good. Time for the big shot," said Crankshaft, a grin split his face revealing why he was called Onetooth. He was missing half of one of his canine teeth.

Crankshaft charged the guns for a full eight seconds before squeezing the triggers once more. The energy blasts shot out once more, each the size of a bowling ball. A short distance away there was a sudden crackling of elemental power between them that caused them to merge together into a singular ball of energy the size of a beach ball.

The energy blast hit the tree with tremendous force that exploded with a thunderous sound. The ancient twisted thing was blown apart with little effort. For several seconds afterward splinters and chunks of wood rained down onto the wasteland all around it.

"Now that's what I like to see!" called out Crankshaft.

Scott glanced at Rhea and then down at Herbert. All three of them began to grin like idiots. It had literally emptied their bank account, and they would need to make a few more similar payments, but their new ride was exactly what they needed to make things happen.

"Alright, gather round, and I'll show you how everything works," said Crankshaft. "Too bad you made a down payment on this thing. I almost want to keep it myself."

Scott chuckled lightly. "Well, if we bring you the same parts, you can make your own."

"Sounds good!" Crankshaft laughed heartily then waggled his finger. "You bring me quality parts like the ones you brought me for this beauty, and I'll consider that one of your payments made."

The three glanced at each other, and then Scott nodded. "Sounds like a plan." They marked it down on their Crysta-coms as an official quest. The system would catalog it that way anyway. All agreements were held in that way. Though, Crankshaft did pull out a piece of paper and a pen to write it down officially. That way they would get experience as well as have proof that he made the offer.

Crankshaft showed them how to fire the weapons and how to line up shots. The guns only pointed directly ahead and followed the movement of the front end of the vehicle. After that he showed them the trunk storage system, and the movement conversion system. As he did so, the wheels were rapidly replaced by tracks. The system converted freely back and forth using the storage system as a basis.

It worked on similar technology to the bags that held a great deal more than they should. The difference was that there was a computer control scheme that allowed for specific deployment and storage at will with the flip of a switch.

"Out in the wasteland, the tracks are your best bet for crossing. If you go on the road, though, you use the wheels. Sharp turns are a lot harder with the tracks, and you have to be going at least ten miles per hour just to turn decently." He gestured with his hand then said, "Besides, the wheel system lets you drive faster."

"It'd be a lot easier to get stuck or run over scrap metal out here and blow a tire," said Scott with a nod of the head.

"Exactly. Hell, you're better off with one of those elephants, or whatever, than trying to actually drive a wheeled vehicle through that tire death trap. It's like you want your tires to blow if you go out there with wheels," said Crankshaft.

"Sweet deal," said Scott. He then asked another question. "And the repair system?"

"Ah, yeah. That." Crankshaft pointed out a button on the console that was near the movement conversion system. "You press that when the vehicle takes damage. It will take the proper materials from storage and use
recombinant repair synergy
to auto-repair simple parts."

Crankshaft clarified what he meant by simple parts after he saw Scott nod his head. "It won't repair computer systems or wiring. Nothing intricate. It only repairs things like the body, frame, wheels, and paint job." He thought better of it after he spoke, however. "It'll repair the guns, too. But won't realign them properly. Need a specialist to do that."

"That sounds like a lifesaver," said Scott.

"It can be, but you have to have enough materials for it to work." Crankshaft pointed to a section of the console. "You could only afford that much storage." The symbol showed that he had one hundred sixty out of two hundred forty pounds of storage remaining.

"I put some basic scrap in there, left-overs from what you brought me and a few other things like paint. A few wrecked tires, and an extra energy core as well." Crankshaft pointed to the button that worked the storage containment system. "You'll want a few more properly fitted cores, and probably want a little more scrap. I'd keep about a hundred pounds of random crap in your storage that can be used to repair your vehicle on the road."

"The cores power everything right? Using any of the systems drains it?" asked Scott.

"Right. So, you use the guns a lot and you could go dry out in the wastes and have to push it back. The more you have in storage, the more it takes to maintain that storage. That draws a constant percentage," said the orc. "You can get them refilled easy enough, doesn't cost a terrible lot. Still, the less you waste, the less you pay."

"They recharge on their own too, right?" asked Rhea.

"Right. Takes time though. If you turn off everything but the storage system, a medium core like this one uses will recharge over night as long as you're not in a null-mana zone," said Crankshaft.

He patted the front of the vehicle. "The small core that runs the storage system will start pulling from the main core once it gets down to thirty percent, so keep that in mind and recharge often. You want to go on a long trip with it, you need extra cores. It's that simple."

Crankshaft flipped open a side panel and pointed at an empty slot. "Takes longer than a recharge station, or the auto-charge that happens when you turn this baby off, but you can put a medium core in there and charge it up in about two days."

"We appreciate it. Thank you for helping us with this," said Rhea, a smile on her lips.

"Nah. It's fine. I don't usually extend credit, but Greelak sent you out this way. I trust his judgment," said Crankshaft.

It was a stroke of good fortune to discover that Greelak and Crankshaft were old friends. They used to run in the same circles and had gone out to explore ruins together in their younger days. Greelak had been the heavy gunner. Crankshaft had been the mechanic. He was that one guy who turned common vehicles into the instruments of death and dismemberment that made any true orc consider shedding a manly tear.

They chatted for a little while then parted ways after Crankshaft showed them a few more interesting features, one of which was merely for fun. He had installed an extra insulated compartment for holding sandwiches. Greelak would be thrilled to hear that.

After they finally got sole access to their new ride, Scott spent a moment looking his sweet baby over. She was a beauty that combined the utility of a dune buggy with the concept of the three wheeled motorcycle. It looked a little like a forest camo version of a vehicle he heard about on one of his trips to Earth, the
Polaris Slingshot
. Two wheels in the front, and a wide backend seated over one wheel, there were two seats sitting side-by-side.

The targeting mechanism was centrally located and would take getting used to as the steering wheel was on the left side of the vehicle. Still, it only fired in one direction. Lining up the crosshairs was simple enough.

Between the seats was a fold-out section that could be lowered to reveal two smaller seats for a certain Grassrat and a delightful fairy. Scott grinned like an idiot. "I can't believe we have this thing..."

Rhea laughed at his joy. "Well, thank Amaryllis for her efforts. Even with her help, and bringing in most of the materials for parts, it still cost a good bit more than all our money combined."

"I know. I'll thank her properly," said Scott with a grin, before leaning over and kissing Rhea softly on the lips.

She murmured sweetly then kissed him in kind. "You
better
thank her properly..."

Herbert pulled down the central seat and hopped onto it. He was ready to see what this thing could do.

After Scott and Rhea stopped their
proper thank yous
for a moment, Herbert chittered at them to get their attention. They looked down and then blinked as he pointed his right forepaw forward. They followed his gesture with their eyes and saw the wasteland ahead.

"Forward to adventure, huh?" asked Scott with a smile.

Herbert nodded then flashed a smile of his own. It was time to hit the road.

***

The wasteland was a glorious place to drive a well-crafted death machine. Scott was used to the roads of Earth where traffic was a constant issue. In the wasteland, however, he could freely go anywhere he wanted to go as long as the happy little transport was powered and ready.

"Yeah buddy!" cried Scott as he swerved around a hill at a moderate rate of speed. Rhea and Herbert held on for dear life as one side of the vehicle went up the side of the hill, while the other track remained on the flatter surface of the hard-packed ground.

"You're having way too much fun with this," said Rhea with a laugh as the vehicle shifted sideways then righted itself.

Scott laughed then sighted a machine monster. "Ptew! Ptew!" he cried as he aimed the crosshair on screen and opened fire. Triple bursts of energy shot out from each of the gun barrels with deadly intent. The machine monster in the distance flailed around as tiny dents appeared along the surface of its body.

He practiced the shot gun blast effect after that. The hapless golf cart looking thing that Scott had been firing at sudden burst into flames as the energy struck a vital component. A pitiful beeping honk warbled outward from the dying machine before it rolled to a start.

A big grin on his face, Scott turned to Rhea and said, "I like family outings."

"Goof!" she said with a slight groan. The smile on her lips spoke her true feelings, however. It really was fun to go out into the wasteland as a family and shoot things.

The gun happy trio drove over to the downed machine then began to loot it. Their current excursion was just to have fun and test the vehicle. Tomorrow they would get a cart to pull behind their lovely little murder machine.