You wait briefly, while Tendou says goodbye to Mouse, then turn and begin to walk away. Only then do you interrupt him with another message.
I've been thinking that we should probably get the computer replaced after all. We do need to check whether they have the necessary facilities here though. Otherwise, we'll need to travel back to Shado and look into getting it done there.
“Mm, yeah, that's a good idea. If the computer's what makes all of this run,” he gestures around himself, “I really don't want to risk leaving it damaged so it just... stops working all of a sudden.” With that said, you turn back toward the factory floor. Tendou sits up straighter in the pilot seat, blinking repeatedly as you come near the humans underfoot once more.
He has to stop a short distance away from where Tachibana is working, due to the crowd of humans around her. Climbing out of the cockpit once more, he walks over to her, and eventually gets her attention.
You can't hear from where you are, but figure he's asking about the computer. Tachibana gives a few strong nods, then speaks for some time, while Tendou listens intently. Eventually, he replies with a few words of his own, gesturing up at you as he does. Tachibana gives another acknowledging gesture, before suddenly clapping Tendou on the shoulder and laughing.
Whatever direction that conversation went, Tachibana's final few words send Tendou walking back over to you. He climbs into the cockpit, yawning into his hand as he sits down. Without you even having to prompt him, he explains.
“She said they should be able to make the computer, and it's a good choice. Apparently, working computers have been becoming more rare over the years, since they haven't really been able to make more. But before that, I need some sleep.”
When he mentions it, you check your internal clock. 20:35. That means Tendou has been going for more than twelve hours, with minimal food and water. As he stands you up next to a wall out of the way, he remedies that, pulling some food out of his bag on the floor, and drinking water from his bottle. He shakes it after, nearly empty based on the sound it gives off. Looks like he'll also need to pick up more supplies for himself when you get back to Shado.
With that done, he lies back in the pilot seat. “Just give me a few hours,” he says, releasing a long, slow breath. It hardly takes a minute for his breathing to slow, turning deep and steady. With him asleep, you simply wait.
You stand and watch as the humans move about the factory, dividing up the floorspace with lines drawn on the concrete, and then eventually makeshift wood and metal barriers. They keep at it, while the factory churns away, spitting out a steady stream of products.
Time slips by as the work continues, people moving and shuffling things all over, building, carrying, and sorting everything, both by hand, and with a plethora of small, human size tools.
With the already dim factory darkening further, they set up large light stands all throughout to keep the whole area lit. And the hours continue to pass.
You finally pick up on a change in Tendou's breathing a full eight hours later. Clearly, he was more exhausted than he was letting on. Or, more than he even realized himself. It's 04:40 when he finally sits up, slow and groggy. He yawns and rubs his face with both hands before looking all about the cockpit.
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“Right.” He says flatly. After one more big breath, he stands from his seat and stretches, back arching, palms pressing against the roof of the cockpit. Then he opens the hatch, grabs his water bottle, and ziplines down to the ground. He walks slowly away, out of your line of sight.
Tendou returns ten minutes later, water bottle audibly more full, and more energy in his stride. He sits in the pilot seat once more. “Alright. Good to go.” He takes the controls and pilots you forward, muttering, “Wow, I can think again...”
He stops and gets out to talk to Tachibana again, who's still standing at the factory's main console, and still going strong even after working all night. They talk briefly again, and she points him over to another area, over near the far side of the large room. They say their farewells, and he climbs into the cockpit once again.
“Alright, they got the computer made overnight,” he explains. “We just have to pick it up.” You walk over to where she was pointing, carefully picking through the clear spaces the humans have left open for trucks and large machinery to move through.
At the far end of the room, near the far northeast corner of the building, there are a few men working. When you approach, one waves up at you. “You Strider?” he shouts while Tendou is opening the hatch.
He yells back, “Yeah!” The man walks over to a big wooden box nearby, bigger than the man himself.
“Your part's right in here!” he shouts, slapping the side of the crate with a thump. Tendou climbs out yet again, so he can go over to check for himself. The man has to pass him a crowbar to pry it open, and they both look inside, examining the computer for a minute.
Once they're done, they close the crate again and he thanks the man. Climbing back into the cockpit, he has you carefully pick up the wooden box, cradling it close against your side.
“Alright, what next?” he asks. With how tired he was, he may not remember the conversation from last night. So you remind him.
We should see if they have the facilities for working on ray frames, or if we'll need to bring this back to Shado.
“I see... Where should we check?” he asks.
The ray frame storage area seems mostly likely. Though we will also need a way to copy all of the data from my current computer onto the new one.
“I'm... not really sure how that works, but let's just go see.” You continue walking through the factory. You pass by Mouse, still asleep in her Arctic Fox at the entrance to the ray frame storage room. After gently setting the crate down beside the far wall, you kneel, and he hops down to the floor below.
Tendou walks off, searching around the southern wall of the room, through a bunch of boxes and machines. There are other people around too, who he flags down and asks about things, so they direct him one way or the other.
He winds up gathering all manner of items in a pile atop one big box, before eventually coming back over. “So, I think I have an idea of how this should work, but... Well, there isn't any automated equipment here like there was back at that hangar. So it might take a while for me to do it manually. Could I see your schematics again?”
You show them onscreen, and he traces his fingers over the image closely, while looking back and forth between it and the canopy above. “Good, I thought I saw the computer listed as being built into the cockpit. So if I swap it now, I can move the whole thing into the Firebird later.”
He pulls out his engineering gun, draws a cord out of one side, searches around, then plugs it into a port near the back of the cockpit. You allow the connection. “Here we go, system clone,” he murmurs, choosing an option on the small device, before looking up again. “What do you think?”
On one hand, getting your computer replaced is exactly what you need done. On the other, there's no special equipment like the repair bay here, to automate the process. Of course it's not like Shado is likely to have such specialty equipment freely available either, if they have it at all. And that would require you to transport your precious new computer across kilometers of wilderness back to town...
But leaving all that aside, Tendou can't possibly have any ray frame repair experience, can he? So where does his apparent confidence come from?
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Vote:
[ ] Replace the computer
[ ] Do something else first
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