“Well, let’s move away from the building more and set up a camp again,” said Janet. “Then we can set our watch schedule, get a fire going and those of us not on watch can practice magic, or martial arts, or sleep. Although with my new constitution and vitality, I thinking that sleep may be almost optional. I don’t feel tired and, I’m pretty sure, that I’m not going to be tired. Maybe a nap later, but I don’t feel the need for sleep. Which is really odd because I likes my sleep!”
“Really?” said Tanya. “You think sleep might be optional? Oh for God’s sake, say it isn’t so! I loved sleeping.”
I checked my inner-self out and like Janet, I didn’t feel tired at all. ‘Don’t worry, be happy!’ I thought. “That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” I said. “Gives us more time to practice. And with two classes, I’m going to need the extra time.” I still wasn’t sure about this, I mean I liked to sleep, a lot! but maybe given the new-Earth, ah screw it. Screw the new earth. I’m tired of thinking through everything, tired of worrying about how the changes will interact, tired of thinking how it’s conspiring to screw us all. I’m just going to live. I’m here, my mom’s still alive, so I still have family, I have two beautiful girls, friends, and a destination. I’m golden. ‘Stay gold, ponyboy. Stay gold.’
“OK,” I said. “Let’s get camp set up, get a fire going, set a watch schedule and then we can work on whatever it is that we want to. Sound good?”
“Sounds good,” they both said, so we moved about another fifty feet from the building and set up camp. Janet pulled out the teepee, Tanya pulled out the hides and blankets, the rocks from the fire circle, the wood they’d collected, all of the elements of the diorama, and we pitched to and got it set up and ready to go.
“Who wants what watches?” I asked.
“I’ll take first,” Janet said.
“I’ll take last,” Tanya said.
“OK, I see how this is. You two against the man! Well, this man ain’t gonna fold, see. This man is gonna stand firm,” I said doing my best Jimmy Cagney imitation”
“Well, you can stand until it’s time for your watch and then you can stand your watch!” Janet said, and both girls laughed and high fived each other.
“OK,” I said. “You’re on, Janet. What time did the sun rise this morning?”
“About 5 o’clock, it started getting lighter. Maybe 5:20?”
“I got up at about 5:30, so yeah,” said Janet.
“Ok, that means we’ve got about 12 hours. Janet your on ‘til 9, I’ll take over then ‘till 1, then Tanya can take the last shift. Remember, pay attention to your surroundings, don’t stare at the campfire and, well, don’t do other stuff. Watching is your job, not practicing.”
“Got it!” said Tanya.
“You da boss,” said Janet.
I wandered over to the rickshaw where we’d pulled it up next to our campsite. It looked the same as it had the night when I received it. Two poles, a cab-type area that was relatively enclosed or could be. It had a collapsible, black roof that appeared to be made out of black canvas. It had been treated with something that made it appear waxy, waterproof. The poles didn’t actually connect to the cab. They seemed to connect to another gearing mechanism that allowed the poles to be raised or lowered without affecting the tilt of the cab. The cab was anchored to the same mechanism which somehow kept it upright over the wheels. If the wheels tilted, the cab would too, but as I played with the rickshaw, I could see that the cab stayed relatively level. There was a little incline in the parking lot that I was using to test it out. I wondered how it would do on the hills, but I suspected that it would do alright. There were some springs or shocks on the cab’s base too, they looked like leaf springs and seemed as if they would dampen the travel bumps for the passengers. The wheels were big, wooden-spoked things made up of three layers: a wooden wheel, a metal rim surrounding the wheel with a little rim on it, and a solid, rubbery, ridged tire that fit into the metal rim. All of the wood seemed like it was made of the same type of tree. Whatever type of wood it was, was glossy and black. I had thought it looked like rattan when I’d first looked at it, rattan painted or dyed black, but on looking at it closer, it looked nothing like it. It had a black sheen that came from the material of the wood itself coupled with an extremely tight grain pattern. The wood in the handles was probably several hundred years old judging by the life rings I could view at the end, well, would have been if it hadn’t been created last night. It also seemed extremely dense and hard, but at the same time lightweight, almost as if it was grown from metal instead of wood. I bent down and sniffed it and it smelled like a cross between sandalwood and cinnamon.
‘Hmm! This thing is like the Cadillac of rickshaws,’ I thought, maybe even the BMW of rickshaws. I picked up the harness and looked it over. It was a lot smaller than my first impression of it was and was clearly designed for a man, not a horse or other quadruped. It seemed to be built like a backpack, two padded straps that went over the shoulders, that merged in a metal clasp about what would be mid-chest, then there was another strap, padded as well, that ran around the hips and clasped just below the belly button. Both of these straps met in the back at another rectangular piece that was padded and evidently had something metal in it. Coming out from it was another strap that had a rotating clasp where it met up with the harness and what appeared to be a metal ball composed of some shiny silver metal at the end. The ball was held in place by a clasp that could also rotate.
I started to put it on when I looked up and realized that I had an audience. Both of the two girls were watching me.
“Go on Mr. Ed!” Tanya said.
I made a horsey noise at them, but otherwise pretty much ignored them.
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When I put on the harness, it seemed to automatically snug up a little, the straps tightened. The material it was made of seemed like it was made of a black waxy canvas too but probably wasn’t. It looked like the material that the roof of the rickshaw was made from, but was darker appeared to be made from a stronger fabric. I hoped so anyway because I wanted it to last. I backed into the poles while holding the strap with the silver ball at the end in my hands. The strap was about a meter in length. I picked them up, but the crosspiece joint in the poles, which was usually (from what I could remember) at the end of the poles, was in the back-center. It made my butt almost hit the footrest of the cab when I picked up the poles and left maybe a meter to a meter and a half of pole sticking out in front of me. That joint was what the rickshaw drivers usually clutched onto. I felt a depression on the joint and bent over and looked at it more closely. It was a little metal fixture. A depression in the center, with two dragons coiled around it and their heads pointing away from the depression, almost as if they were guarding it.
“Step out, Mr. Ed” I heard Janet say. “You're backward.”
“Huh?” I said.
“Oh, I get it,” said Tanya. “The ball at the end of the strap goes into the depression in the center of the dragons.”
“Huh,” I said, and then set the poles down, stepped over the crosspiece and then picking up the poles again. This time I supported the right pole with my leg and turned, placing the orb in the depression. It stuck, but when I pulled on it, it broke free easily.
“What now?” I asked, looking at the girls.
“Maybe you have to charge it?” said Tanya. “Try putting your thumbs on the dragon’s heads.”
I did and nothing happened. Janet said, “Do it after you put the ball in place.”
I did and this time I felt five mana vanish into the clasp and the ball stuck when it tugged at it.
“Wow,” I said. “Cost five mana and it is latched on tight. Um, how do I get out of this thing?” I asked and just like that the ball released from its fitting. “OK, can I do it again?” I asked. So I grabbed the strap, stuck the ball in place and then put my fingers on the dragons again and, “Five mana again. I guess it doesn’t remember you doing it before. Five mana each time.”
Each pole had a bracket on its underside. I wondered what they were, but then I had a brainstorm. I pulled out my sword, scabbard and all and put it into the bracket. It stuck there tightly. Again, five mana. I was able to pull the sword and the scabbard remained in place; I put the sword back in the scabbard and it stayed. I was able to get the scabbard to release just by thinking release at it, but, once again, when I put it back in the bracket, five mana. I pulled out a spear from my inventory and stuck it in the other bracket. I wondered if I should have my bow in there, but decided that I was probably not a ranged damage dealer in my role as a rickshaw driver. I was probably more likely a close-combat, run-away type role. I wondered if I could cast spells while pulling.
I started to pull the rickshaw around. At first, it was awkward. I kept trying to pull using the poles, but eventually, I started to get the hang of it, pulling from my legs, leaning into the harness, steering with the poles. After about the second time I made it around the campsite, the girls flagged me down and hoped in.
“Hey,” Janet said. “It’s a lot more comfortable than I thought it would be, you know.”
“Shh!” said Tanya. “Don’t tell Mr. Ed that. He might get sulky!”
I started to pick up the pace. I was doing the equivalent of my old sprint, not even breathing hard. It felt good to be moving again. Sitting, talking and meditating was great, but moving was better. The girls were getting into it and I heard both of them yelling behind me. “Faster! Faster!”
All of the sudden, the clearing lit up. A thirty-foot circle of light just illuminated the gathering darkness. It wasn’t directional like headlights, the light was just there, a big pool of not darkness. I brought the rickshaw to a halt and turned, ‘What did you do?” I said.
Janet just shook her head and said, “Not me. It was her!” and then pointed at Tanya.
“Well, I was sitting here, enjoying the ride when I noticed this glass orb down in front of us,” Tanya said, pointing towards what looked like a column inset at the top with a glass orb.
I disconnected from the harness and came and looked at it. “I wondered what it was, so I reached down and touched it,” Tanya said. I heard a voice say, ‘Light or Protection from the Elements?’ I chose light and this is what happened. Oh, and it also cost five mana.”
“Five mana! Five mana!” said Janet. “Does the whole world cost five mana?” We all laughed.
Looking at the orb, it was relatively lit up, glowing with white light. “Well,” I said, “just makes it easier to practice” and hopped back into my place in between the two poles, and started doing laps around the empty space, looping in and around the trees and bushes that used to be gas pumps.
After I’d done about three circuits around the space, I got a notification I was waiting for:
Go Mr. Ed!
You’ve gained the skill, Rickshaw Driver.
This skill allows you to pull a fully loaded Rickshaw. It lowers the stamina cost and increases the speed with every level achieved. A rickshaw may be pulled at a maximum speed of (Rank)(Strength + Agility)*(.1 + .01*level) km per hour. It’s stamina cost is: ((Constitution + Vitality) *(1 .01* Level))/Rank stamina points per 10 minutes).
At higher ranks, it allows additional actions:
* Rank 2 - Ignore weather - Passengers are not impacted by the weather. They stay cool and dry as long as they remain in a rickshaw controlled by the driver. In addition, as long as the driver is pulling a rickshaw, they are also capable of ignoring the weather.
* Rank 3 - Cross water - Enables the crossing of small streams and rivers without getting wet.
* Rank 4 - Heavy loads - Enables the pulling of heavy loads without encumbrance if it is liftable into the rickshaw (and doesn’t break it!).
“You know it’s interesting that the light and the protection from the elements are made so that the passengers pay,” I said. “The System is sticking it to the man! Power to the little man! Power to the working man! Power to the People!”.
“Neigh, Mr. Ed! I don’t think so,” Janet said. “I think They just ran out of space on the poles!”
“OK,” I said. “I got the skill. I think I’m done here for tonight.”
“Ah!” said both Janet and Tanya. “It was kind of fun. How about another two laps?”
“Nope,” I said, putting down the poles. The light that was created by the rickshaw blinked once and then ended. 'Too much stuff to do,' I thought.