Trash skittered down the hillside as Kaleb’s feet shuffled upward. The ground was uneven, and he had to continually push and pull bits of junk out of his way. Warm air from above blew the sent of decaying electronics to his nostrils and he winced at its sharp sting. Finally, he crested the top of the mountain of garbage and placed his foot atop the apex. In the distance, he could see loader-bots disgorging their trash as far as the eye could see. He exhaled as his lab coat billowed behind him.
“What in the hell are you doing?” Roy shouted from his spot below.
Kaleb put his hands on his waist as he turned to reply. “I’m surveying the area!”
“I think your foot’s in a portable toilet!”
Kaleb started as he looked at his leading foot and winced in disgust. The square pan was clean, and it looked unused. But he quickly removed his foot, causing the mountain of junk to shift beneath him. Getting his feet under him, Kaleb reached down and grabbed the small electronic-looking toilet. It was little more than a bedpan, but he could see a type of emitter inside it. He tossed it down to Roy.
“Why do we want that?!” the teen shouted in alarm.
“I think it has a matter disintegrator on it! Or at least a broken one.”
“Who the hell would sit on that?”
“I don’t know. What did you find?”
Roy shrugged as he brushed off his hands. “A bunch of metals, some small electronic PDAs, a couple data slates, and some chip readers.”
Kaleb nodded and started his way back down. “So, should we move on?”
“Doc! It’s been two hours. Don’t you think we should leave?”
“Come on, Roy. We still got time. Besides, we haven’t found the good stuff yet.”
Roy rolled his eyes as Kaleb took the last bit of the junk mountain at a slide. He stopped himself before running into his young sidekick. He patted the kid on the arm and looked around again. A short distance away, their dump truck stood ready for their newest payload of junk. They weren’t moving quiet as fast as before and the thing wasn’t anywhere near full. But Kaleb was elated at some of the stuff they had found. Each new broken item was a new challenge to be unraveled and conquered.
Kaleb nearly skipped to the truck as Roy waddled behind him. They were both ladened with items from the surrounding piles. It seemed this area of the junkyard had been home supply stuff and outdoor equipment. As he and Roy tossed the stuff into the back of the truck, Kaleb studied each item closely. They’d take inventory back at the Hangar, but he wanted an idea at the very least. That’s when he spotted an oddity in Roy’s hands.
“What the hell is that?”
Kaleb pointed at a large round chair that Roy was heaving into the truck. It had a floppy back and foldable leg bit, but the place where you sat was big and round. It also had melted metal fused to the seat bit. Like someone had tried to make a heated seat and failed spectacularly. Roy answered by tilting the big chair up even more, so Kaleb could see the bottom of the seat.
“Why would they strap a giant repulsor to a lawn chair?!” Kaleb asked in surprise.
“Don’t know, Doc. Maybe someone wanted a floating chair. It’s clearly a prototype, though.”
“No kidding. It looks like they overclocked the cycles and cooked the fucking thing.”
“Yep. But I figure if we can chip the metal off the repulsor we could find a use for a two-foot wide source of propulsion.”
Kaleb rubbed his hands together as ideas already cascaded through his brain. They could make an area-denial weapon that shoved people away from the hangar. Or maybe an automated heavy turret that floated above the hangar. His mind was racing as they finished up and moved to the truck’s cab. Roy had driven to this pile, so Kaleb was going to choose the next.
“I think I saw a pile of medical supplies a little to the east.”
“Doc, you said that two piles ago. I don’t think K-Tech dumps experimental medical supplies or weapons.”
“We found armor last time, as well as some auto-injectors. I refuse to believe they don’t just use this place as one big dumping ground. Big corporation like that, they are bound to be lazy.”
Roy sighed and rolled his eyes, but buckled his seat-belt. Taking that as agreement, Kaleb started the truck up and drove off. Careful to keep the truck at a slow and steady pace. Junk avalanches were common and twice now they had to find alternate paths to their destinations. And it got worse the larger the junk mountains were. Kaleb’s winding path took him to a T-junction bracketed by enormous piles of trash. He was about to turn right when Roy tapped his shoulder and pointed down the left turn, further to the west.
“The piles that way are shorter.”
Kaleb looked around and saw that Roy was right. Off to the west, hidden by the larger mountains of junk, was a field of relatively flat ground. It was still littered with junk and other bits of metal. But it was clearly a newer portion of the junkyard.
“Maybe they are expanding westward to make the junkyard bigger?” Kaleb supposed.
“Doc, that means the stuff over there is the latest and greatest junk.”
Sharing a grin, Kaleb turned the truck toward the west and stepped on the gas. As they entered the new area, Kaleb immediately kept his eyes peeled for anything of note. Big bits of junk weren’t common, but they made for good points of interest. The relative newness of the area made navigating it a whole lot easier. Which meant they found something of note, fairly quickly. It was a long cylindrical tube, about the size of a human. Roy chuckled as Kaleb pulled the truck close and quickly got out of the car.
“Hol~y shit, Doc! Is that a medical tank?”
Kaleb was too busy crunching his way through the field of junk to answer, but he was sure Roy was right. K-Tech had thrown out a seemingly new diagnostic tank. It was banged up from the fall, though. Its protective glass was cracked, the interface panel was broken, and its interior padding was everywhere. But it was a complete pod.
“WHOOOO!” Kaleb shouted into the air as he gripped the thing by its back handle. “Roy, hurry! Let’s get this into the truck!”
Roy laughed as he quickly joined Kaleb. “Doc, I don’t think the tank is going anywhere.”
“I know that! I just don’t want anyone else to see this. It’s a hell of a find.”
Kaleb chuckled to himself as they both pulled the thing from its nest of garbage. It was hard work that only got harder once they left the field of trash and hit solid ground. The dirt didn’t make for an easy trip, especially when they hit the odd pothole. But eventually they heaved the person-sized pod into the back of the dump truck and sighed in relief. It would take some reworking to fit people like Claire or Mass, but just having the thing would be a boon for the Super-Group.
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“That’s an awesome find, Doc. If we can get it working again and maybe find an Auto-Doc, we’d could create a medical area for the home base.”
Kaleb nodded happily as he panted, leaning against the dump truck. “I know. I mean, an Auto-Doc is a long shot but it could be out here somewhere, right? All we have to do is look.”
Roy nodded as he waved his hand to the south. “I’ll check this way and you go that way?”
“Sounds great.” Kaleb caught his breath and excitedly raced off to the north.
The fields of trash were easier to move in than the mountains, and soon Kaleb found himself a good distance away from the truck. He could still see it in the distance. But he was so busy digging through the trash that he didn’t realize how far he’d gone. His pockets were full to bursting with test tubes, auto-injectors, and even a broken electric Bunsen burner. He was halfway back to the truck when he saw Roy off in the distance, waving a hand.
Picking up the pace, it took Kaleb a bit until he could make out what the boy was saying. But once he did, he kicked up the speed again. Nearly tripping himself. Running full tilt through the fields of trash, Kaleb almost laughed as a feeling of elation filling him. Once he almost crashed into Roy, the boy shared his look of happiness and gestured for Kaleb to follow.
“You sure it’s a weapons pile?” Kaleb asked as they ran.
“Either that or a robotics one.”
“Wait! Let’s get the truck then!”
“Right.”
They both slid to a stop and turned around before leaping into the truck. Roy was already moving as Kaleb wrenched himself inside and slammed the door. He had a thousand questions for Roy, but he saved them as they whizzed through the fields of trash to the south. As they moved closer, Kaleb could see that the fields were getting a little more full. The fields were starting to turn into rollings hills until Roy stopped the truck and waved off at a short stack of junk.
Already, Kaleb could see bits of robots and other stacks of weapons just laying against the hill. They both disembarked from the truck and rushed over to the pile. Kaleb’s pockets were still full, but he wanted an idea of what the hill was made of.
“See, Doc. It’s all weapons, robots, and broken bits of armor.”
“Yes!” Kaleb clenched a fist and immediately grabbed the leg of the nearest robot.
The robotic leg came loose from the pile and Kaleb quickly ran to the truck, shouting over his shoulder.
“Grab everything you can. We’ll go over it later.”
Roy laughed from behind him. “Doc! The shit ain’t going to run away. You need to calm down.”
“Boy, the sooner we get this home, the sooner we can start working on it!”
Kaleb’s words seemed to spur something in the teen, and soon they were racing each other. They completed several trips back and forth to the back of the truck at a full run. But when Kaleb started to flag and get tired, Roy got an even better idea. They both hopped into the cab and backed the truck right into the hill of junk. It just meets the top of the hill, making it the perfect height for them. They were gleefully loading the back of the truck with melted armor and broken weapons when a klaxon echoed through the dumpsite.
“Shit! It can’t be shift change already!”
“No, that’s not a shift change horn, is it?” Kaleb asked.
Roy only shrugged as they pulled themselves from the junk pile. An automated hiss drew their eyes upward and Kaleb swore. A gigantic flying drone was hovering above them. But unlike the bucket drones carrying huge piles of junk, this one was carrying a flat, round disc.
“Get in the truck!” Kaleb shouted.
Roy didn’t ask questions and ignited his repulsor boots. He practically flew to the driver's side as Kaleb ran around the side and pulled himself into the passenger seat. Roy was turning the key when a loud, ominous hum filled the air. An eye-twisting since of vertigo hit Kaleb, and he suddenly found himself floating in the cab. Roy slammed on the gas but nothing happened as their truck, along with the pile of garbage, was picked up by the giant magnet-wielding drone.
Kaleb’s arm slammed into the roof of the cab as Roy kept trying to move them. But it was useless. Already their tires had left the ground, and they were flying. Kaleb tried to wrestle his arm off the ceiling, but it wasn’t happening.
“Doc!”
“I see the problem, Roy. But I’m a little tied up here!”
“Where is it taking us?”
Kaleb was saved from answering as their front windshield was pointed down a different tunnel to the west of the junkyard. An ominous red glow filled the tunnel and suddenly Kaleb figured out why the fields of garbage weren’t mountains.
“That was the incineration section of the fucking junkyard!”
“Really? Thanks, Doc. I feel so secure in knowing that now! What the fuck do we do?”
Kaleb’s mind raced as he tried to find a way out. But he was pinned to the ceiling, and the access to detach his cybernetic joint was facing the roof. That meant it was up to Roy. He quickly cataloged the teen’s weapons and equipment, but nothing came to mind. The boy’s repulsor boots could probably save the kid, but Kaleb and the truck would be lost. Which, for Kaleb, wasn’t an enormous loss, but the truck was the important thing.
“We got to decouple that magnet or destroy the drone!”
Roy stuck his head out of the window and looked up. “I can’t see it. The trash is in the way.”
Kaleb bit his lip worriedly. “Can you use your boots to climb up the pile?”
Roy’s eyes grew huge, and he looked out the window again. Kaleb could see the gears in the teen’s head whirling until Roy finally pulled his head back in and nodded.
“I can do it. But how do I decouple the magnet without killing us? Or should I try to override the drone?”
“Can you override it?”
Roy’s response was a shrug that made Kaleb want to scream. Down the tunnel a large, red-glowing maw swallowed trash from another floating magnet-drone. They were getting closer to the giant trash burner. Which sparked a thought in Kaleb’s head. Reaching down to his Quad-gun, he pulled it out and flipped it to fire.
Tossing it to Roy, he said. “Heat the magnet.”
Roy’s eyes widened, and then he nodded excitedly. Quickly, the boy kicked his door open and leapt out. The blue glow from his repulsor boots left traces in the air as the boy jumped. Kaleb listened for the sounds of Roy falling to his death, but all he could hear was the ominous hum of the damn magnet. Hopefully, if Roy heated the magnet slow enough, they wouldn’t drop straight out of the sky. But the magnet was huge, Kaleb doubted they could get it that hot that quick.
His first signs that Roy had made it were that bits of trash started falling past his window. Rifles, guns, and armor all went tumbling down into the tunnel below. Kaleb was sure that his eye-line was also getting lower. But he couldn’t confirm it until he used the giant metal furnace maw as a reference point. They were getting lower, just slowly. Way too slowly. Already Kaleb could see a conveyor belt of trash heading into the giant maw. It was getting closer.
Then the whole truck lurched dangerously and Kaleb’s arm fell into his body. But he didn’t have time to celebrate, as he was now falling in a damn dump truck. He braced himself for impact as the sound of falling junk echoed off the truck. But no impact came. Instead, the hum picked up in sound and Kaleb was forced back up to the roof again. But this time, the drone and magnet were turning around.
Kaleb punched the roof in triumph as he figured Roy got control of the drone. “YES! Attaboy, Roy!”
The ride was much more choppy, but soon Kaleb and the dump truck were lowered to the ground amid a veritable rainfall of falling junk. The landing was rough and Kaleb’s arm was still attached to the roof, but at least they were down. Kaleb regained control of his arm as the magnet hum vanished. He was climbing out of the passenger side door as Roy double jumped his way down.
The repulsors wouldn’t sustain his weight through the air for long. So the boy had taken to igniting them forcefully in one-second intervals. It made for a jerky, rough flight. But the boy made it to the ground. Kaleb was about to congratulate the kid on a job well down when the drone came back to life and hurried off, thankfully without their truck.
“Hey! We could have used that, Roy!”
Roy gave Kaleb an incredulous look before he shook his head and laughed. “Doc, I could barely get the damn thing to land. I don’t want to even try to make it stay.”
Kaleb grumbled, but nodded in understanding as he turned around. Already the magnet was returning to the junkyard to pick up more trash. Roy tossed him his quad-gun back as Kaleb asked.
“So did the heating work.”
“For a bit, but it was too slow. That magnet was massive. So instead, I hacked the drone and made it think it had reached its destination.”
Kaleb smiled as he turned to look back at the dump truck. They still had their haul, and they were both alive. Which made it a good day. He turned to tell as much to Roy when the red glow of the tunnel furnace gave him another idea. His face must have looked off, because Roy groaned knowingly.
“Doc, whatever it is, please no. We just survived by the skin of our teeth. Let’s take the win and go home.”
“I hear you. I know that was traumatic. But do you know what a junk furnace this size needs in order to exist down here?”
Roy looked both confused and annoyed as he shrugged his shoulders.
“Emission scrubbers. Otherwise, this whole damn tunnel network would be full of fumes. Brand new, hardly been used, industrial-sized emission scrubber, Roy. How can we pass that up?”
“You have a problem, Doc.”
“I freely and happily admit that. So are we robbing K-Tech or not?”
Roy’s answer was to simply smile in the red glow of the tunnel. Kaleb returned the smile as they both turned down the tunnel and hurried off toward the furnace.