Joel
22nd of April, 649
Joel pulled the truck into the workshop's driveway. He was glad to see that Shandi or Billy had had the forethought to put tarps out over the piles of materials in the shop's front yard, and even more glad that Lucas had stopped prodding him about the Drone he'd seen. The boy was tremendously curious, and Joel knew that sooner or later he would have to own up to having lied about it. However, that time wasn't now.
"Hey! I brought Lucas over. Come out and say hello!" Joel called as they walked towards the bay door of the garage, where Shandi was using a large push broom to push water out of the shop's floor. There was a large air blower set up, and Billy walked into the garage carrying another.
"What happened here?" Joel asked, and Shandi forced a smile.
"Ain't rain, aya," Shandi sighed. "One of the pipes for the sprinklers burst. We've got most of it cleaned up, but someone'll have to come out and fix it tomorrow. The valve to the sprinkler's shut off at least."
"I can see that. Guess the grass out front'll have to be dry for another day or two, eh? I'll give Tony a call when we get settled in," Joel looked at Lucas, who stood there silently - it was clear to Joel that he didn't know what to say. He turned back to Shandi. "We've got extra hands for the Terradrill prep now that Lucas is here to help - just tell him what to do and it should go pretty smoothly."
"It's good to be here," Lucas said, and Joel was surprised at how shy the boy sounded.
"What's he know?" Shandi asked, leaning on the mop. He'd asked the same question yesterday.
"Not a whole lot," Joel admitted. "But we can teach him. Besides, Shandi, you're good at that kind of thing."
Shandi leaned forward on his broom. "Yeah? Do I get paid extra for it, aya?" Joel noticed Billy stifle a laugh.
"If you call the Emperor, maybe," Joel and Shandi laughed as Lucas looked on awkwardly. "But enough joking, we gotta get this all staged for the truck this afternoon. Big part's coming in as you well know. Billy, can you toss Lucas a mop or something? Let him help get this cleaned up, and Shandi, I'll need you to focus on getting the inventory list double-checked. Are we good?"
"Sure, boss," Billy said, gesturing for Lucas to follow him into the workshop. The boy followed quietly, almost meekly, and Joel exhaled an exasperated sigh.
"Aya," Shandi sighed, "this is gonna be an interesting summer, isn't it?"
"You can say that again," Joel laughed.
Joel'd been preparing for the first delivery from the Empire all week - their newest task for him had been to get things ready for the impending annexation, and that included prep work on some of the digging machinery that they'd need at the mining site. Why exactly they needed him to do it, Joel was unsure - he just knew that Victor had a hand in the decision-making, and as with all things bureaucratic there was a whole lot of handshaking and winking going on. He didn't waste thoughts on whether or not that was a good thing - it kept a roof over his family's head.
Joel set down his bag on a chair near the door of his office and closed the blinds so that the others on the shop floor couldn't see him, then shut the door and threw the bolt. He'd been craving some alone time, and he knew that unless he locked himself in, someone would come knocking or barge in. He sat down at the desk and turned on the computer - its screen hummed to life as Joel accessed the SGNL messaging system.
Victor had sent over the schematics for today's upcoming build, and with a wave of his hand, Joel turned on a much larger Technica screen that hung on the wall of the office. He studied it at a distance, using his hands to change the scale - the motion controls were a newer Technica that he had been prototyping, and it was nice to actually use them. It wasn't often that Joel got to design things of his own accord - he'd spent a disproportionate amount of time over the years doing what Victor asked him to do. That'll change soon, I hope, he thought, zooming in on the details of what they'd be working on this week.
A pair of drills, one large and one small, mounted to a vehicle the size of a large bus - the Terradrill. It had several large cylindrical pipes mounted on the side of it - once the small bore had done its job, explosives would be sent into the deepest part of the borehole, and the large drill would finish off the excavations. It was a neat design, Joel thought, but rather tactless. Anything delicate would be obliterated by the explosions, and the drills themselves were either too small or too large to handle anything difficult without great struggle.
Joel sent the schematics to the main screen of the garage - he'd be needing them when the truck came with the first crates later. As he began to close out of the SGNL system, he felt the device in his pocket buzz.
Strange. Espee's getting her hair done. Who is this?
Joel turned off the computer and leaned back in the chair to get the SGNL phone from his pocket.
No.
"Hey Joel. Hope you're well. Thinking about you. -S"
It was the first time in years she'd tried to reach out. Joel felt frozen to his office chair, riveted by the wash of emotions that were dredged up by those eight words. He tried to recompose himself, but nothing seemed to be working - he felt at once quite exhausted.
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"There ya go, Mr. Leonart," the truck driver said, handing Joel a clipboard. "Just sign 'ere and we'll be on our way. Quite a delivery if I might say so myself, eh?"
"You can say that again," Joel said, quickly scrawling a signature onto the paper. "Gotta pay the bills somehow."
"Ain't we all knowin' it?" The driver and his helper both laughed. "Long ass drive back to Valdena, but they're payin' us good, too. Hey, Erik! Get it goin'!"
The driver slowly backed the truck out of the garage and maneuvered through the yard, and Joel looked over the prodigious pile of crates and pallets before them. Lucas fidgeted nervously. Joel was surprised - it wasn't supposed to be this much, not yet anyway.
"There's gotta be at least five tons of shit here," Shandi said, walking around one of the wrapped pallets. "I'll fire up the forklift, you just tell me where you want all of this."
"I'll go with him," Lucas said, and Joel nodded.
"Just don't let the boy drive the forklift yet," Joel smiled, and Lucas rolled his eyes. Shandi nodded.
"Yeah, aya. Probably too soon, mm."
Joel noticed that Billy was looking at the pile just as awestruck as Lucas was.
"Hey, boss? How are we supposed to get all this done in three weeks?" He said, turning to Joel.
"Not sure. Still trying to figure that part out, too."
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As Lucas and Shandi disappeared into the other room to get the forklift, Billy paced around the pile.
"My goodness, man. There's so much. Is that Empire guy gonna let you hire anyone else? I know you just brought Lucas on, but my kid brother Bobby knows a thing or two about Technica, maybe you can get him up and rollin' too?"
"I'll talk to him," Joel said, and Billy nodded.
"Right on, right on. Alright, I'll go an' help them get set up. Did ya want me to call Bobby up when he's out of work tonight? He's over at CJ's Groceries but this kinda work would probably do him some good."
"Yeah, that would be fine. Let me talk to my contact and we'll go from there, how about that? Maybe he can come in tomorrow and talk with me."
"You won't regret it," Billy smiles. Billy had always been a hard worker, but from what Joel knew of Bobby via Lucas and Ceres, the younger of the two Rodriguez brothers was prone to distraction and, even though Joel hated to judge without knowing the boy, may have been the textbook definition of "lazy".
"There's something else I wanted to talk about," Billy continued. "Can we talk in your office?" Joel nodded, and the two went into the office, closing the door behind them. Billy sat on the couch along the wall and folded his hands. It wasn't like him to pull Joel aside - he was usually pretty forthright with what he wanted or needed, and it caught Joel off guard.
"So, I know it's gonna be hard to hear, so let me preface this by saying that I really like working here and working for you, Joel. But I'm thinking that y'know, when this is all said and done, this new project - I'm gonna get things in order and move back home."
"What? Really? Back out to Rhodaile?"
"Yeah. It might be just a little place, but... well, my pa, he talks about it all the time. Y'know, since my ma died, he's been talking about 'needing to see the sea again', and I wanna make sure he can do that every day. He's been, uh, on the bottle a lot lately."
Joel nodded solemnly, slowly. He made sure the drawer where he kept his whisky was closed discreetly as Billy continued.
"So, uh, maybe it'd be good to have Bobby workin' for ya. He's got all these big dreams about moving to Elegir and making it big as a rapper but, well, y'know how dreams go. It's important to me that if he's gonna do something with his life that he learns some skills, and I think you'd be the best to help him learn."
"I'm flattered," Joel started. "If I can be candid, it's going to suck pretty bad to lose you, Billy. You've been a good employee and a good friend, and I've appreciated everything you've done for me so far. I'll talk to my contact about Bobby, for sure."
He rubbed his beard. "So, your dad isn't doing too well?"
Billy set his jaw and shook his head. It was obvious to Joel that it was worse than Billy let on, but he didn't push it.
"Maybe we can have dinner at the Copper Stallion one night, all of us? Bring him along. Seeing people might be good for him."
At this, Billy smiled. "Yeah. I like that. Gotta keep him from the bar, though. Ain't your birthday coming up?"
"Surprised you remembered," Joel laughed. "But yes, maybe we can do it then. Have a party or something. Keep it light?"
Wanda had died abruptly about six months ago, and Joel knew that her loss had torn the entire Rodriguez family apart. Billy liked to pretend to play strong - he had to, as Stingray had virtually collapsed - but Joel knew that Billy was hurting, too. Prior to Wanda's death, Stingray had been boisterous and confrontational - but was also one of Joel's closer friends. How he'd become so timid and hermit-like rattled Joel, and Joel lamented that he hadn't done more to go take care of his friends.
Work, Joel thought. Work, always the poison.
Joel's SGNL device buzzed once more in his pocket - then another, followed by a longer, more sustained buzz.
"You need to get that?" Billy asked, and Joel nodded. "Alright, well, thanks for listening. I'm gonna go see what Shandi needs. Let me know when you wanna talk to Bobby, okay?"
"Of course," Joel said. Billy left Joel alone in the quiet of his office, and as the SGNL buzzed a fourth time, Joel felt the swell of anxiety roiling in his chest. Her again? Please let this be Espee or Ceres.
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Joel looked over the neatly organized piles that his team had put out - it was 1700 now, and with a wave of his hand, Joel activated the display unit that projected the full Terradrill schematic on the back wall of the shop.
"That's real neat," Shandi laughed. "You do that?"
With another wave of his hand, the schematic turned into three dimensions, seemingly hovering over the floor.
"This thing's a damn beast. Nice of them to send us something we can actually use instead of how they treat us all the other times," Billy said, squinting at the projection.
"Must be important," Lucas said, and the others murmured in agreement.
"Where to begin?" Shandi turned and asked Joel.
"Well, we've got to do some Shadesteel welding, so if you could take Lucas into the booth and go over what you're doing, that would be great."
"If you say so," Shandi said, and Lucas pushed a cart with plastic wrapped Shadesteel plating around the corner into the welding area. It was a simple task as most of the plating had already been put together, but it would be crucial for Lucas to know how to work the torch for the later portions of the project.
Billy and Joel spent most of the late afternoon sorting through the various tubing that the Terradrill was to use to propel its explosives into boreholes. The buzzing in Joel's pocket was intermittent - the volley earlier had been messages from Ceres asking what he wanted for dinner, and other messages throughout the afternoon had been from Espee saying hello or making other small talk. He hadn't had any from her, but the portent of it made Joel feel uneasy every time the device went off.
As 1930 rolled around, Joel noticed the exhausted look in Billy's eyes.
"We've been doing a while, huh?" Billy said.
"Yeah, I'd say. You about ready to go home?"
Billy didn't need to answer. As Billy, Shandi, and Lucas cleaned up the shop, Joel pulled Shandi aside.
"Hey, Shandi? Would you mind dropping Lucas back off at my place? You go by there, right?"
"Yeah, sure. Why can't you?"
"I've got to stick around later to check in with our friend from the Empire. Empire business, as you know."
The phrase had ruffled Ceres to a point where she used it mockingly towards him, but it had its place.
"Of course, aya. I'll bring him over."
Lucas waved as the three men left the garage, their cars puttering off down the road away from the shop. Joel took in the silence, punctuated only by the cricking of night bugs. The sun was almost all the way down now, and Deneb's milky orange light gave the gloaming a peaceful feeling.
You need to stop thinking and feeling like this, Joel.
Joel retreated into his office, slumping down in the chair, door left ajar. He'd need to submit status reports to Victor, but it was by far his least favorite part of the job. He hadn't known what to say to Persephone - what could he even say? It had been a while, and with everything going on, just the thought of mustering a reply made him feel heavily stressed out. He pressed a button on a panel near the desk and the warehouse's bay door slowly slid closed, then tilted his head back and exhaled deeply.
Joel took the SGNL from the drawer on his desk where he'd put it earlier after growing tired of messages from Ceres and sent Espee a message about not being home on time - as was normal these days. She didn't usually reply - it was an unsaid disappointment, and Joel hated it.
He sat there in the quiet for several moments, drowned in thought. Hunger wasn't an issue - they'd had sandwiches delivered before Joel had gone to pick up Lucas - but Persephone hung heavily on his mind.
The SGNL buzzed rhythmically, snapping Joel from the waves. It wasn't like Espee to call him...
It's not from Espee.
Reluctantly, he picked up the phone and spoke.
"Hello?" His throat felt like a desert near immediately and tightened up.
"Joel? Wow, uh... I didn't think you'd pick up."
"Persephone."
"So proper, huh? Are you alright? You sound sick."
"Sephie. What are you doing? What's going on?"
"I wanted to hear your voice again."
Her voice was like music.
"What? I don't understand. I know you messaged me this morning, I've just been busy with work."
"I know. That's why I called."
"Why, Seph?"
A long pause.
"Look, Joel, I'm sorry. Maybe I shouldn't've called, alright? I just had been thinking about you and I..."
"Seph."
"This is silly, isn't it? I should go."
"If that's what you want to do, okay. I mean, it's not so bad hearing you, either."
Another pause.
"Joel, I... look. I'm going to be near Cygnus soon, okay? I wanted to know if you wanted to maybe meet up and get some lunch and catch up?"
"Is that what this is about?"
"Kinda sorta?"
"What is it then?"
"My father's bringing me as a third wheel on their trip to Costa Sintra. I know Cygnus isn't too far away, so..."
"That's an eight hour drive, Seph."
"I suppose our definition of far differs a little bit, then!"
"Isn't that a little excessive?"
Silence.
"Joel Leonart, you know how I feel about you. These kinds of things, they don't change too much over time. Just hearing you again feels so good."
Joel hesitated.
"I'll see what I can do, alright? I mean..."
"What?"
He held his breath. Cybele, he'd missed her. He'd missed his lips against hers, their talks of the future, their talks of their dreams - so why was it so hard now to open that door again?
"It wouldn't be so bad to see you."
"Joel. You have no idea how nice that is to hear."
"Hope not to uh, disappoint."
"How could you ever? Look. I gotta go for now, my break's over. I'll let you know what's going on soon. Don't be a stranger, alright?"
The line went silent, and Joel placed the phone back in his pocket, sinking into the strange turn of events.