Bolt Logs

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1 - Adventure Time - We are going to find awesome stuff!

Voices. None that mattered though. I'm busy on this shovel, it broke this morning trying while Sabine was trying to dig our cropland.

More voices.. No one important, but I know them. If Sabine has a working shovel it means she can stay near the Ark to work. Instead of going outside to do what she at least she says she's best in, which is getting in danger all the time. She goes outside and brings me tidbits of things I need to make more important equipment.

Louder voices.. Can't people just be quiet and let me work? Was that my name? She's probably break the shovel again soon, she uses it outside as well. Her gun is still holding, but I saw some breakage near the base that will need repair within a week or two. She needs to be safe, I promised I would help with that. Not that I can do much when she is stalking around, but at least I can make sure her equipment is not too broken.

Yes, that's my name again, but this time it's in Rianna's voice. Sounds like she still has her voice under control, can't be that important then. I already spent my morning working on the Ark's defenses, maybe a little more on thinking about those defenses than actually doing much. I think I now where the best spots are to improve our Ark from outside, but good work needs good preparation as well. And I want to go outside, I want to spend time on unraveling the mystery of that armored monstrosity.

"Bolt!", definitely something happened or still happening, guess I should look up and hear what's going on.

Well that was definitely interesting! I know, I know, not very friendly of me, people disappearing is not a good thing. But they left to find the Pure Plant! Lincoln actually thinks it exists, a place with good water. We are in dire need of proper water since our own reserves were turning bad. Algae, or whatever those things in the water are, we are definitely in trouble if we can't use that water anymore.

Lincoln sent part of his crew to investigate, he must really be sure to risk his people like that. His people? Yes I guess. But those are our people as well! We are slowly creeping to dangerous levels of people in this place. Less to feed, but also less to help.

Bad news! Well actually, have to keep the smile of my face, good news as well! Tesla is taking is out there as well! Lincoln is a good guy and so those people need to be retrieved, if at all possible. But the chance of going outside that far from the Ark! The possibility of actually seeing all the interesting things from outside. Deciding myself if the stuff that is lying around there is useful instead of getting what the stalkers think is useful. Oh, Elder! The excitement will probably keep me up this night, working on last minute preparations. I need to finish things so I can leave safely and I need to check all my tools. And, oh yeah, need to grab food and water as well, I Think I have some extra in my stash.

We're going to the Pure Plant, somewhere along the river to the north east they say, though the river sure does not look pure. It should be a little more than week there and back again, though the others have been away for almost two weeks. It's dangerous out there, shouldn't I be more afraid? The excitement is totally overruling the fear. I am ready!

Away we go!
Tesla leads us north east, making our way to a stone spire attached to a big building, the main building used to have a roof I guess, but most of it has fallen down and lies in wreckage inside the building. Tesla says the tower can help us have a look around to see what's around us. That actually makes sense I guess, the more you see, the better preparation. Though I'm sure if I had to make my way through the world alone I'm not sure I would know which way I was looking when I got down again. Yup, definitely going to let Tesla lead the way.

We made our way into the building, which appeared to be a big open room. Rotting wooden benches were either strewn around or set up in rows pointing towards a higher part of the room. Looks like a spot on the raised floor to speak to all the people sitting in the benches. And behind that spot there was a big cross with a person attached to it. Why would anyone do something like that? No mutations on the guy though, too old for mutations? Lived before the trouble started maybe? No clue and actually not really important.

Luckily Rianna thought to bring a rope, the inside of the tower was in a bad state and climbing up there was going to be hard. After a clumsy attempt on climbing up I decided Tesla, Rianna and Finn would be find going up with just the three of them. I stayed in the main room together with Octavia, Lincoln and Flux. Flux.. Finn's little friend, well maybe not that little. That dog was always chewing on my things, couldn't leave anything lying around or the beast was slobbering all over it. Some things he took away and ate whole. What a waste! Though the monster sometimes just lies next to me when I am tinkering with stuff and allows me to pet it. I'm sure it's just doing that to make me like him so he can slobber on my things without me getting angry, or so that I allow him to take what he wants!

Flux followed me around as I made my way to the raised part. Some kind of cubby was made inside the small closed like thing. It held a box with a lock on it. An actual lock! My first prise, it also had the key still inside it and it was in working order. I was so breaking that thing out and taking it with me! Some kind of bowl with dirty stuff was inside, I knocked it out of the box to make sure I didn't get anything on me. The bowl was of a kind of material I didn't actually know, it was yellow and some kind of metal I think and if I cleaned it I think it would shine like metal. Let's just take it with me and find out later if it's of any use.

Octavia found a big book of somekind, she said she couldn't read it, but hey I couldn't read much anyway so that would not make a difference for me. If she's happy with things like that she's not going to be wanting any of the real interesting things.

After a while the others got down from the tower with stories of the view from above. We would be making our way to another big building in the north, another building with a cross. No idea! But I know where to look for possible interesting things in a building like this now. To the north west there was mostly wild growth and mists above murky water. Harder to cross and probably dirtier as well. To the north east there was an interesting big open space between broken buildings, with fences, chains and some kind of scaffolding. A good place to find a wealth of new broken things. But it did not seem to have a good place to sleep the night as we would probably reach the place nearing the evening.

Another building with a cross
This definitely was not the same kind of cross as the building we left behind earlier, it didn't have a person attached to it either. It was also a lot bigger and had no tower like the previous one. A broken down car was standing before it, it also had the same cross on the side. Lot's of interesting cabinets inside, but those were already empty. We made our way inside to search for interesting things and to make sure we had a defendable place to sleep, somewhere on the 5th floor sounds pretty nice!

This place is the absolute worst, it was filled with dead people. Not the ones we normally see, but these were ancient. All but the bones were left of all these people and none of them were taken care of and burned. These must be of before the disaster that struck the world. Octavia verified that the bones were of non mutant and were looking a lot better than ours would look when we died.

We made our way up, I was able to grab small things now and then. They would help me build things, though I didn't have much time available than to make a single extra arrow for Tesla's bow. After a few stairs and hallways we came to a big door, it was far thicker than the others and had a weird big symbol on it. A small circle with three petals around it, some kind of flower maybe? The door was slightly ajar and we could look inside. It smelled awful, but as we looked inside we saw some kind of thick full body orange suit hanging inside.

I looked at Rianna, we shared a quick wordless communication and did one of those exciting, but perchance stupid, things. We rushed inside together, the stench was awful and probably not going to be good for us, we made our quick way to the suit, grabbed it and ran full speed outside again. We slammed the door closed after us and dropped on the ground laughing.

This is awesome! Our adventure has started!

9 - Bringing water home - We need a proper place for our raft

Well I guess we didn't really think of bringing the proper trade items. So I spent my day still feeling crap and jury-rigging weapons. It's always fun to build things, but these were simple things, not really worthy of the materials that went into them. I made sure to explain the situation, these things looked worthy of a fight, but most would fall apart again after a good fight or two. But apparently it made the locals feel better and that they would stand a better chance next time.

In exchange for these weapons and our promise to help them find back their friends we got six barrels. Four of them filled with good clean water and two I could use to improve our raft. I would use the two empty ones as flotation devices below the filled one, yes, that would keep our raft on top of the water instead of under it.

I took my time to study the construction our raft was attached to as well. We needed something like this at home as well. A sturdy place to put our boat, attach it to something and to be able to easily bring our stuff onto land. Maybe this thing should have a name of some kind as well, I would have to think on that.

Home
It is good to go home again, a safe place to tinker and build. We need a wooden landing place, a waterlanding? A river stop? Hmm. Ah well, we would need one. I would teach what I learned to others so when we leave home again they can finish building it. Hopefully when we get back again we have a good place for our raft.

Also knowing that there actually are other people out there they should finish upgrading our defenses. They completed the croplands, which is a good thing, but what if those others find our home and come upon us unprepared. Specially if we go out there and piss of those people in trying to retrieve the people from the Pure Plant as we promised.

I have a feeling life isn't going to get any easier the coming years.

10 - A Big Tower - ..and more people..

We left our home behind again. Another attempt to find things in the world that could help us survive. Though things we needed to survive were not only out there, but we needed things here as well. If there are more people out there we would need to make sure our people are defended as well. Our defenses needed to be finished, and I wouldn't be able to help when we were out there. And we still needed a better place to put our raft, we leave people behind which I have taught new things, but that place was not of as much importance as other things. Though I am not really convinced yet a museum would help us, where did that idea come from anyway?

Well on the bright side, we would be going out to investigate the people that were riding around in some kind of vehicle. One of those big things we saw on our last trip perhaps? With the knowledge about that It would be able to realise my dream! I had the two big wheels, those might help to get it moving. The fuel would help as well if I learned how to make it run. My hands itched to work on my vehicle, maybe with those wheels I could get it closer to our home and I would be able to work on it more safely. But today we had to leave first and help with the promise we made to the people from the Pure Plant.

On our way

This time our crew was a little bigger, Lincoln brought more of his people. Luckily some of them stayed on land to pull the raft, otherwise I'm not sure it would stay afloat with that many on it. We made our way to the island in the river we slept on earlier. It was not deep there and we could safely cross the river there. According to Tesla we would evade the place with the small buildings which didn't look quite right, the Rot would probably be worse there.

Though the route we took through bare country with burned down buildings wasn't much better. I made sure to wear my rot protection suit and was glad I did. I would have to make more for the others as well when we have time. This place was bad due to the Rot and we decided to make our way through as fast as possible without too much looking around.

After a long walk we came across a large area of dead trees, but those trees were enveloped by some kind of plant with colorful flowers. In a dreary landscape of broken down buildings and dead trees this was remarkable indeed. How can something so colorful and beautiful live in a world like this? Not something to be afraid of but it felt totally wrong! The wrongness didn't stop Finn from taking a closer look. But the moment he came close a puff of something dusty spread over him and he almost instantly dropped to the ground and did not move and he was grabbed by the plant with some kind of needled vine. It took all our combined effort to hack him loose from the plant and drag him to safety. We really didn't need to know this world was even worse than we already thought it was.

We made our way around the forest and past it by from the north, safely away from those plants.

A Tower
As we left the trees behind we made our way southeast and found twin tracks of some kind. Tracks of something big, something rolled by here. It must be the vehicle from those people!

After following the tracks for a while we saw something in the distance. A big tower of some kind. Was this the place we were going to? More buildings started to appear again and they were in a better state than what we've seen on this side of the river. It helped for cover and we moved safely towards the tower.

That thing is amazing! A huge tower with defenses around it. Tesla and Ava moved forwards to gather intelligence and quickly came back. They had multiple people walking on the gate and a big lamp used to shine from the gate to make sure no one walked up unnoticed. We can learn from this for our own home. But it would make things difficult getting inside and recover the people from the Pure Plant.

11 - It Moves - ..they've got one running..

Lincoln has a plan it seems, multiple it seems. Though none appear to involve walking up to the tower and talking to them. Teaches me not to involve myself with any of that planning stuff. I'll just help with setting up our camp up in one of the buildings near to the tower. Pretty smart to keep our camp in a room on the inside of the tower and with the open side away from where the tower people can see us. We might actually be able to make a fire without being seen.

From up here we can look inside their camp and see movement of people. Both women and men and smaller ones as well, playing it seems? They have children over there, that's the second group of people that have children. We don't have those, what's the difference? Though that might be the technical side of this world I do not understand. They seem to be constantly catching some kind of fluid from a pipe and bringing it inside. Is that water? Can't they make a better system to let the water flow directly inside? Though are we anyone to question this? We did a bad thing with out water own water supply, it got all green and we have no idea how to fix it, I have no idea.. At all! I have no idea how that works!

Ava, Lincoln and their little club decide to go out hunting to get us provisioning and the rest of us will watch the tower if someone comes out, hopefully one of those moving vehicles will appear as well!

They have a moving vehicle?
It took a while, but suddenly a loud throaty uneven rumbling noise came from the gates of the compound, a huge dark puff of smoke appeared at one and and the uneven sound changed into a more steady rumble and the smoke changed to a more gentle grey steady cloud rising above. A sudden clunk can be heard and a roaring sound comes from the thing behind the gate. It starts to move! Is this it? It moves a few meters and makes an opening in the gate, wow the thing actually is the gate? It stops and three people come through and then it rumbles anew and it moves back. Well, that's a bit disappointing.. This thing is just part of the gate, pretty awesome, but not really something that moves around the world. There must be more!

Tesla and Finn decide to follow the three people as they walk around and head to the north. That would leave is back to waiting. Boring! We've quickly checked this building and it seemed empty, but going back to take a better look was more interesting than waiting! And the other buildings needed checking as well, right?

Nothing! Nothing at all, these buildings have been cleaned out. That probably means that these people have been here for a while. After our fights and having a look at my rot suit I've been thinking about creating some sturdier clothing, ones that can actually protect someone from harm. Maybe some different kinds of materials inside the normal clothing, metal perhaps? But these buildings weren't going to help with that.

They actually have a moving vehicle!
Another rumbling sound came from the south. Distant still but a lot like the sound I heard from the gate. I made my way back to a window looking out towards the tower just before one of those big vehicles came rolling into view. It was a true amazing sight! I want one of those! I want to build, nah, take one of those apart! So much to learn, I could use that to make my dream build!

When the thing got near the gate they signaled the people on the walls and the gate opened again. It got wider than last time and the vehicle entered inside and moved towards one of the buildings inside the compound. It actually moved inside one of those buildings, going downwards! What kind of place was this! I want inside!

Not long after that two of the group of three that left earlier got back with what looked liked someone or something inside a bag on her shoulder. The gate opened again and the bag was unceremoniously dropped on the ground inside the walls. Hopefully that wasn't Tesla or Finn, though it looked to be to small to be one of them.

I was already back to tinkering when Rianna came by to tell us Tesla and Finn had captured someone. I didn't even notice Rianna left actually, oh and Lincoln and his crew were back as well. Should I try to be a little bit more attentive in dangerous areas like this perhaps?

To the Tower
They captured a woman called Carla, she had a double barreled rifle which was now hanging over Finn's shoulder. Interesting! Would Finn allow me to have a look? I would have to ask him that later. They also told us that apparently the women were in charge here and that men were only important to do work. Why would they be lesser than others? There were about 150 of them, they had mutations as did we and they had someone in charge called The Chairman. Something to do with a chair I guess, did they have an Elder as well? This person was able to make children somehow? Rianna was able to explain most of that, but it got a bit confusing and I had to hear it a few times more.

And what was the conclusion of all that? Thie Carla woman was going to introduce us to the people inside the compound and we would talk to them. Well that sounds like a plan no-one thought about..

13 - This thing is better than I hoped for - ..and it has a gun

They told me the Chairman was full of himself, wanted control of everything and something about creating children with our females as well. The power thing was bad I guess, but there would always be people wanting power. The children part was interesting, would that be possible somehow? Or would that mean we were stuck with him?

Lost in thought, my brain partly on tweaking the things in my hands and partly on unfamiliar ground of our people and the future. I didn't really notice the rest making plans what to do next. Something about trying to cause a riot, could that work in a night? Killing the Chairman, that might work in a night, but what would happen after?

Tesla, Finn and Ava went to try and have a look in the basement. I wanted to see what was there! But I would probably not be the best in being quiet enough to go unnoticed. Though I wonder what happened when we heard a gunshot and they came back. Apparently they used Flux to trick the guard downstairs and letting it think it was just a dog running around free when the others took a good look around. Nice one!

The basement held a big wooden wheel with beat down men pushing it it around. Apparently that's where the power came from to show turn on the lights. Interesting! Though using people for power should not be a preferred method. Zone Ghouls perhaps, but not people! The same room held the cages of the prisoners and the workers. It also had two more doors, but they weren't able to check those as a second guard was in the room as well.

Time for action
Time to split up and time for action! I'm not totally sure about the details of the plan and I didn't like Rianna going up while I went down. Were they going to talk again or something bolder? More important, was I going to see the vehicle now? I guess I'm a bit excited!

There was some sneaking and a struggle with two guards, but we made our way down into the basement. Most men were in panic after we entered and it turned dark quickly. A quick command from Tesla made some of them start pushing the wheel again. The light in the room returned, though not as strong as before.

After spitting some acid on the locks of the cages, the others freed the men. We were told the missing Pure Ones were behind door number one, though if that was the place they died I wasn't planning on going there. Octavia made her way to that door, she is a lot better with hurt and dead people than I am. I quickly made my way to the second door, that's where the interesting stuff should be!

I entered the room that connected to the ramp leading outside. This room was incredible. It held not one, but two of those vehicles! One was plated with steel on the outside, small windows and some kind of big gun on the back. And more equipment was stored in this place as well. This was a playground for my kind!

20 - People from the Tower are here - so much destruction

The Elder is no more! An inevitable fact I guess. Does that mean I am fine with it? Ready for it? I need to think about this for a bit, wrap my head around it. He was different than us, for many years he seemed immortal and all knowing. More than us in many ways. But apparently he was the same as well. Death was not different for him, just history. He was here before us and lead us. Almost lead us into doom. His downward path actually freed us. We have become more than a group grasping for survival. We have been growing beyond what he envisioned. I guess that does mean I am relatively fine with it and made ready as well. Our recent adventures made me ready, though that will not be the same for everyone. They will have to cope, but that they will have to do by themselves. Our leaders will lead and I still have many things to do.

I've been stripping the bus for parts that are not required for it to drive. Mostly. I think I know where all parts go and how I can use them for my dream. I am not totally convinced if I continue stripping it I will be able to make it work again. I need help, not technically, but as an extra memory. Max can help, but I need to start noting things down. I can make drawings I guess, but I need more. I need help from Octavia. Yes, I need to ask her to help me to learn to read and write. I've made up my mind, I'm going to ask her and I'm convinced she will help me.

The Ceremony
Rianna thinks I need to be at the burning of the Elders body. I know it's important for people, but I have already dealt with it in my way. A dead body needs to be burned obviously, but that is for health reasons. I don't care for a big ceremony, I don't want to be in a crowd of sad people. But I will be there because Rianna wants me to. We make our way there and Rianna leads me to a spot right next to Jo-Ann. Did she do that on purpose? Jo-Ann greets me with a smile and I return the favor. I guess I like her smile, it's.. comforting?

As I watch Octavia hold an uplifting speech for the Elder I also see Harper standing there, next to Lincoln and Elona. This ceremony might hold an interesting opportunity. I've got this new connection with other people's mind that might prove useful. Can I somehow leave a message inside someone's mind? A trickle of influence perhaps? I'm not quite sure if I can actually influence others? How about I create something inside the Harper's mind that shows something in the fire. A word of influence after death? A small thing to improve collaboration between him and Lincoln.

I make my way nearer to Harper and concentrate and try to find a connection to his mind. I quickly stop myself from showing the concentration on my face, don't want to be caught looking at him when he by accident looks my way. Just a small change in what he sees in the fire, a word, maybe a few more when that happens.

Octavia finishes her speech and holds the torch towards the pyre that holds our Elder. Not a small fire, but a huge fire suddenly erupts around the body. I feel strengthened by this unexpected effect and drive my mental tentacle towards Harpers brain and force him to see the Elder in his prime inside the flames. I make words appear inside his head as if the Elder spoke to him directly. The Elder tells him to work together with Lincoln and treat him as his equal and not to take steps against Lincoln authority. I feel truly empowered, this is far more than I ever expected to happen. I can see by the change on Harper's face that it actually happened and was not a figment of my imagination. I quickly make my way back towards Rianna and Jo-Ann. I have no idea how much impact this will have, but it sure feels great!

Into the fray
It was the next day and we were in the middle of what Octavia called a class, her teaching us to read and write. This is a skill I am going to like for sure and will be extremely useful! Suddenly shouting could be heard. The people from the Tower were coming. Two busses filled with armed people. We had been preparing for this, with limited time, but with healthy fervor. This was it!

No simple fight between two small groups, but this was a lot more. There will be death and chaos and I am not sure how I will even react to something big like this. Fighting is not really my thing, the chances of me actually fighting or cowering in a corner are about the same.

As always after a fight I can only remember a little of what happened, as if something protects me from harm. I know I moved my APC towards the gate, to make sure our temporary gate has a second line of defense. I hid in my APC at first, watching what happened outside. I was afraid, that's for sure. But then the drive of one of the enemy busses decided to use their bus to breach our compound through our badly constructed gate. The bus was in flames before it hit our gate, but that didn't slow it down and it rammed through it far too easily. Somehow that action pushed me into unexpected action and I apparently decided to use my APC to retaliate and slow down their progress.

When I returned to consciousness I saw the damage I had done to the bus, the people I killed. I know probably most of those actually died fighting when others joined in after my crash. But this was the first time my actions were either directly or maybe indirectly involved in killing someone. I was feeling horrible, both physically and mentally. Is there any way we could have prevented this? Could we have resolved this differently? We will probably never know.

Apparently it was clear to Rianna that I was disturbed by the whole situation, she was good with people like that. She also somehow felt she was not the one to help me through this specific situation and led me to Jo-Ann. I cannot exactly remember what we spoke about, it didn't matter, but we felt a need to share. It made me feel better, specially the hug we shared at the end. I was going to make it through the day.

21 - Putting people in cages to fight - I'm not sure this is a good change

I'm feeling better after I spent time with Jo-Ann. Is better enough though? I think I will be spending the coming days on my APC or any other task my head comes up with. I need to focus on real work, time to work on my list again. I've started trying to note the list down, it probably doesn't make sense to Octavia as being actual readable words. I guess it's more drawings than words still. But it's a start, right?

Fights?
I know they were working on some kind of new entertainment. But the need to celebrate our victory over the Tower has taken a turn I did not expect. Some kine of cage fight show thing? People taking on others in a one on one fight. And you can then wager bullets on the outcome. I surely wasn't interested at first. But Rianna was going to fight as well. She challenged Voron and he accepted. I guess this guy earned a beat down after his actions, at least that's what Rianna tells me. I will have a look and make sure Rianna wins. Erh. That is make sure that I see that she wins, not me making sure by actually doing something to intervene, right? Is that something I could.. Would do? Back to work, I will check in tonight at the fight.

More than fights?
I push my way through the people around the cage to make sure I am up front and able to see Rianna fight. I'm here to see, and not do. I notice a fixer standing next to me and pass him two bullets in Rianna's name. I'm actually feeling a little bit excited. Is that my excitement or of the people around me. Are they affecting me, or is this all my own? I don't like being in crowds like this, but this is the second time shortly after each other. Previously the crowd of the burning of the Elder and now this. It makes mee feel the same a bit. I'm affected in a way, I get the feeling, no, the desire to do something.

The fight begins, but I am still partly stuck in the elation of the people around me. I look back at the fighters and notice this Voron has a lot more arms than Rianna has. And he knows how to use them. Is that fair? I heard someone say at the beginning all mutations are allowed, so I guess it is.

The fight doesn't go as easily for Rianna as I thought, those four arms are dangerous. I cannot stop myself and feel myself reaching out to Voron's mind. I trip something inside his brain, I can feel his confusion as at that same time Rianna seems to down Voron. I don't know how she did it, I did not see, I was too much in his mind instead of my own.

This is wrong. I cannot be here! But somehow I find another fixer and put my new two bullets I just earned on the next fight of Garrett versus Tyrell. Garrett will win, I will not influence this match. Bad enough I did it to help Rianna, but no more!

Garrett wins, but the end result is a lot different. He finishes with a weird look in his face while grabbing Tyrell's neck. I just said no more! I cannot enter that mind to stop this! Can I? Should I? Before I make up my mind Garrett snaps Tyrell's neck with a loud snap.

And then things get even weirder. Someone starts a panic. Tesla? People mill around. I make sure I get my bullets from the fight and follow Rianna through the chaos. She says Tesla saw something and we needed to catch Conner?

It was all so confusing! We ended up on the upper floor of The Ark. I cannot remember exactly what happened, but I remember fire and Conner jumping off the side of The Ark. Rianna's fire? I do not know..

23 - A pretty unbelievable story - ..right?

I still think what they are telling us cannot be true! And sure they can build an extra boat as well? That quickly turned into them asking for things we don't have. As if we would have a motor to drive a boat just lying around doing nothing, not being turned into something useful. Hah! That's an insult against us gearheads!

Let's have a look around our Ark to see if anything useful is in there to build a boat? Though the Elder not being around anymore might give me the option to use some of the walls for other purposes. I loved the old guy, but he wouldn't let me change much to the Ark. I actually don't think he would have liked my pipe job below the water supply if we were able to tell him about it.

Timing is everything they say. Harper has left the Ark and this is the first time we ever get to look at his quarters. And sure these people are around and then we find something in his quarters that's going to help. He had been using one of the rescue sloops of the Ark as a roof above his bed or something? Not that I know what a sloop is or that our Ark needed them. Them silly people keep telling us our Ark was a big boat as well? As if this big thing could float, and it's on land for the Elder's sake!

So we have a boat now, it's full of holes and does not have one of those motors they speak about. And what's the worst thing? Now we need to fix it ourselves as well. Useless! Though I'm not sure we would have recognized the thing in Harper's room as being a boat. Not going to tell them that!

Away we go!
I still do not understand the reason why we need to help these people. They understand a boat, sure! Still a bad story if you ask me! Moving machine that looks like a person and orders people around that all look the same? Hah!

But I'm not going to let the others go without me, what if they need my help on something technical? It's like not helping Sabine with her stuff, I had to repair most of her equipment yesterday again. A good one, I have some time left to fix up a rot suit for Rianna. I'll spend some quality time effort on it and make it good.

Leaving was a little less glorious than I hoped for, having no motor for our boat, we had to use a rope attached to theirs to pull us forward in the water. They promised us a real boat when we got at their place though! And what if part of their story is actually true, what will we find? Am I a little excited now? Bah!

We followed the river south, not quite going as fast as they said we could go, but they were blaming that on us needing to be pulled of course. Water travel wasn't really bad, it was steady and we were passing land pretty quickly. We still couldn't swim, though after some quick foolery by Rianna in the water she was convinced she could swim. We didn't see anything living on land, but it sure felt like we saw shadows moving there. We passed a big upright wheel of some kind, there were big cups on the wheel and things moving on it. Tesla used her binoculars to have a look and though they were Zone Ghouls, not going there then. After that we passed an island made of floating boats with people on it. I would have guessed our group wanted to stop there as they always want to stop everywhere when we get outside the Ark. Ah well not this time, we just passed on by.

The big water
After that the river turned wide. Extremely wide! They called it something else, but I forgot the name. And soon after we saw smoke on the horizon. Not just some simple smoke, but a hell of a lot of smoke. And when we got close it appeared that one of their water tower things was up in flames. Guess their story about the towers in the water were not so much crap I guess.

Things suddenly got even worse as the flaming tower got even worse and exploded in a huge ball of flame. Boats started to move from one of the other towers toward it and we were spotted as well.

A small one man boat thingie and a little bit bigger boat with two people on it moved our way pretty quickly. Not that we really had a plan, but this wasn't really how it was meant to go, right?