The Coming Storm

The next day started off quiet enough for Zephr. Audra woke up early and volunteered to help him troubleshoot the pod by plugging in. She wasn't the most knowledgeable with its software, but she definitely knew her way around tech in general. It was honestly pretty admirable, especially with how most youngsters didn't appreciate the 'how' of how something worked much anymore.

Zephyr sighed as he cut into his omelet. Steam curled from its interior, escaping into the room. It was oddly comforting just having someone to eat with now.

Well, so long as he didn't let his thoughts wander to hypotheticals, like whether or not this could've been the norm had he not—

An alert blared from Zephyr's phone, nearly fumbling their utensils from their hands.

He scrambled to check the screen. His brow furrowed, shifting from concern to worry as he read the message.

Well, that wasn't hyper at all.

Audra peaked over from her seat curiously.

"What's wrong?"

"There's uh, going to be a storm system coming this week. A bad one. Gonna cause a lot of flooding and wind damage."

He shook his head the implications that would have. Probably more business, but it wasn't the kind that he wanted—especially since a lot of his regulars weren't exactly rich.

Audra must've felt his worry.

"It's just a storm. How come you're so freaked out?"

"'Just a storm.'" Zephyr snorted despite himself, his thoughts shifting to more immediate concerns. "Well, I'm freaked out for a few reasons. For starters, this roof isn't exactly in hyper condition. Second, I still need to get the capsule to my friend's house. Third, if the storm's big enough to warrant a weather warning, it's going to be potentially deadly."

"You love listing things out like that, don't you? Well, I can understand your concern about the delivery and deadly stuff. As for the roof though, uh, isn't there anything we can do to reinforce it?"

Zephyr's ear perked at the word 'we' before he rebutted. Perhaps it was an unconscious choice, but it stirred a yearning melancholy— something he'd been feeling more often recently. 

"Not really. I can only do some patchwork stuff."

"You can't just fix it?"

"On short notice? Nope. Not properly anyway. Was delaying it since I got the solar panels up there. There's no way to fix up the roof while the panel array's installed. I'd also need to buy the materials for it, and I don't exactly have the funds to splurge right now."

"Really? You seem to be doing well enough."

He sighed at the mistaken perception. Right, he hadn't exactly spelled anything out.

"About that, there's a reason why I run this thing solo. Things are… a little rough." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess that's sort of my own problem though. It's hard for me to find more regular customers that aren't local, and the ones I do have don't commission me too often."

"Why don't you move to the States or somewhere else then? Could pack up and move this to somewhere better."

"Not possible. I only survive due to the cheap stuff sent here. 70% of all the world's junk is processed through this island in some way, so even with my lackluster customers, I still have access to a lot of raw materials."

He gestured on over toward the workshop.

"Plus, a bunch of stuff here is subsidized in some way, so the cost of living is low enough to keep afloat. Anywhere else, I'd be competing against the bigger businesses who have far better resources at their disposal with nothing to even the odds."

Her lips flattened.

"Damn. So you're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place?"

"Yeah. Pretty much, but I sort of deserve it."

She chewed her omelet slowly as she mulled the issue over.

"What if you had a way to sell more? Like, if more people here were willing to buy your stuff?"

"Perhaps, although I already process a lot of small jobs as it is. No dice."

Audra looked like she was about to say something else but rain pelting the roof drowned her words. Zephyr glanced out the window, witnessing a torrent cascade from the sky.

"Well, that's stuff we can worry about later. For now, we got a storm to prep for. Best to do things before the earlier bands finish hitting us."

***

The rest of the morning was spent securing the premises as best they could. They made sure all of the doors and windows were firmly shut and nothing could be blown away by the storm, and checked the batteries for the solar panels, making sure they were properly charged and ready to go in case of a power outage.

Zephyr cursed his past self as a gust whistled around them.

He shouldn't have procrastinated getting the roof fixed this long. But if worse came to worst, he had the emergency bunker out back that would be able to shelter both of them.

Audra shimmied past Zeph to help hammer a sheet down. Her bionic made short work of it with a thud before she took a quick breather and look around.

"Hey Zeph, I gotta question." Her voice strained to be heard over the howling wind. "Did you set everything up here by yourself? Like, all of this?"

"Hm? Um, most of it. Had help from some friends, but I did all the wiring and stuff myself." He ran a finger along a few conduits, checking if they were still waterproof.

"Who are these 'friends' of yours by the way? You keep mentioning them, but outside of Minerva—who I'm guessing was the scrapyard manager or something—I don't think you've ever named any of them."

"Oh, that's right. I did mention her to you back then, didn't I? Well, there were a few others that I met when I first came here, and I'm still in touch with them. Like Sheryl and Felix, they work in the city."

"Sheryl and Felix who?"

"Sheryl is the friend I'm delivering the VR pod to. She runs an arcade that specializes in vintage games. As for Felix? He runs a cybernetics clinic and sends people my way if they need something small—anything that isn't covered by their insurance."

She looked down at her own arm for a second.

"Cybernetics, huh? Wait, don't tell me you're a doctor too on top of a master mechanic."

"No, and for the record, I only have a master's degree in bioengineering. It's technically distinct from bionics and cybernetics, even if the field overlaps quite a lot."

He wiped some rain from his vision as some splattered across his cheek.

"On a side note, interchangeably referring to every neural-interfacing prosthetic as 'bionic' or 'cybernetic' lacks a lot of nuances, even if it's commonplace. There's quite a few terms that would fit far better in my opinion, such as 'biomechatronics' or—"

"As interesting as that is, I didn't ask for a lecture," she teased. "Maybe later though when we're not yelling over the rain."

"Sorry. Habit from my university days. I go on tangents easily. Professors absolutely loved me."

He chuckled as a memory resurfaced—him getting beamed in the head with an e-pen. Just as quickly though, somberness took over.

"…" He and her had shared a lot of classes together. They'd always had.

"A-anyways, point is that I only do small things. Like universal adapters and other equipment that interfaces with their stuff. I'm not versed enough to deal with the prosthetics themselves."

"So there is something you can't do."

"Very funny."

"I know I am. Have any other friends aside from those three?"

He turned back to his work, ready to keep his thoughts on the present.

"A handful of community members that I'll introduce you to them eventually if you're that interested, although I didn't take you for a people person…"

Zephyr trailed off as lightning flashed, bringing back yet another memory.

"Actually, that reminds me. I need to pay Minerva a visit. Promised some time ago to help her wire her storm shutters a while ago. Want to come along before the rain gets too bad?"

"How long will it take?"

"Maybe an hour or two."

"Hmm…"

She glanced over towards the soaked road as he secured the last of the metal sheeting with his power drill.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt. Besides, she already knows about me, doesn't she?"

"Yep, the girl in the container, aka squatter."

Her shoulders flinched. "No hard feelings if she sees me?"

"She's not that kind of person—probably more concerned than anything."

"You sure?"

"Definitely. She's a big softie."

"…Then I'll go, just uh, let me get changed into something drier."

Audra started going down the ladder carefully, rung by rung.

Zephyr waited to descend, instead readying to grab her rope if she were to slip.

He wondered how she and Minerva would get along.