Nix worked, focussing on identifying errors and fixing those it could. Hardware errors were beyond it currently, so the system relied on the Creator to fix and improve those while it did its best to fix software faults. It strived to take burden from the Creator, to make things more orderly for her so she could spend time focussing on what was needed for the Community.

~

Shaking the fence door, Boo frowned a little. The breaker box for the building, a large, fenced off area, was on the other side of a locked gate, the fence spreading up to the roof above it. She could sort of make out the warning stickers. “Hochspannung, lebensgefahr,” she read aloud to herself.

“Uh, what?” Maddison asked as she approached, bolt cutters in hand.

“High voltage, danger to life,” Boo translated. “Did you forget to turn your translator on?”

“Guess I did.” She passed the bolt cutters to Boo, taking the ear piece out and looking at it before putting it back in her ear. “Zoe, how do I turn on the translator?”

“Think it,” came the reply.

Shrugging, she thought about having the translator on. A small chime came through the ear piece.

“Es funktioniert?” Boo asked. A second later, Avi’s pleasant voice echoed in her ear.

“It’s working?”

“Perfectly,” Maddison replied. Nodding, Boo used the bolt cutters on the chain on the door before pushing it open. The pair entered and had a look around. Everything in the fenced off room was the same as the main facility, long dormant and layered with dust.

“Tomas, do you know power systems?” Boo asked through the comms.

“Sorta,” the reply came. “Where are you?”

Boo pulled a small tablet from a pocket, schematics for the facility already displayed. Tapping the corner they were in, a ping appeared.

“Okay, got it. I’ll come have a look shortly.”

Boo pocketed the tablet while the pair finished looking around. The pair found even less interesting things in this room as they were likely the first people in there for several decades.

~

Nix finished diagnostics and programming repair as Zoe pulled herself out of her mindscape. Everything had been mostly straight forward, but without mains power in the facility, it was harder to test all the production line machines.

~ Good work Nix, ~ Zoe said to the AI, who had been working non-stop. ~ How long till you’re done? ~

~ Approximately ten seconds. ~

Waiting for the signal that Nix was done, she sat on an office chair, a puff of dust shooting out from the sides. As she broke out in a sneezing fit again, Nix gave the all clear to unplug, informing Zoe that, if she installed an external comms unit to the system, she would have immediate access. Pleased at Nix’s thought to do things remotely, she trotted back to Avi, getting the required parts, inserting them into the appropriate places.

The connection came to life as soon as the power cycle finished rebooting the factories mainframe.

“Excellent. We’ll have to wait till the facility has power, but that’s a start.” Disconnecting the power, she started rolling the cable back up, walking back to Avi. “How are we going people?”

“Most of the production machines in this one are fine,” Tomas replied. “A few with minor damage. This line seems to be primarily final assembly for the vehicles, rather than something detailed like engines. That’s the one I hope is still intact.”

“Good. Boo, Maddison?”

“Perimetre clear,” Boo replied. “Tomas still has to look at the mains, but nothing else interesting here.”

“Tyson, stay with Tomas. Boo, Maddison, meet me at Avi, we’ll check out the next building along.”

“Roger,” they replied.

~

The next building was mostly rubble and crushed cars. Zoe let Maddison climb the rubble, while Boo and herself circled the building. It looked like it had been a car storage warehouse, towering racks still stood in the less damaged parts, showing several, undamaged but weathered cars. Sending a data drone into the rubble, it started scanning the vehicles, reporting any damage. All the tyres had deflated and Zoe suspected their batteries would be similar.

"Tomas, I don't want you in the car warehouse till it's deemed safe by the engineering team, okay?"

"Roger that, no playing with the toys until I'm told I can."

Zoe laughed. "If it helps at all, I count thirteen cars that look relatively intact and more that are likely parts. They all look to be the electric hydro hybrids their final advertising was pushing."

"Aw man!" Tomas complained. "Tell a guy a buffet is waiting but he can't touch it."

"You'll be allowed in there eventually. How's the mains there looking?"

"Fine, seems like it was tripped, but nothing was damaged."

"Good. We're moving onto building three, meet you there."

Maddison hopped down from the rubble, landing lightly next to Zoe. "It's mostly stable, there are a few spots I would have triggered a landslide."

"Does that mean I can go into the building?" Tomas asked.

"No!" Zoe exclaimed before chuckling. "Maddison is the only one I'd trust in there right now. Talking about, Maddison, when the engineering crew get here, your assistance will be greatly appreciated."

Maddison nodded in reply. "Makes sense. Now, next building?"

"Of course." Zoe instructed Nix to monitor the drone scanning the building as they went to the next one on their tour.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

~

"We've been spotted," Tyson, said over the comms. "Curiosity currently. Their thoughts are clear, but I can't understand them."

"Try repeating the words to yourself after you close the comms link," Zoe suggested. "If there's anything urgent, just thought speak to us."

"No worries."

It wasn't long before Maddison, perched up on a roof, spotted the small group. She directed Zoe and Boo to a place where they would be visible as she slowly unshouldered her rifle.

Moments later, the group focussed their attention below Maddison as Zoe and Boo came into view, Avi following them.

Wary, still curious, not hostile, Tyson projected. Their thoughts are the same, what I can translate of them.

"Hallo," Boo called out, raising a hand in greeting. "Guten tag."

That hurts my head, Tyson complained. I suddenly can’t understand her, but I still can.

Boo snorted, amused, before Zoe answered. “Keep the idle chatter down please, let her concentrate.”

Tyson projected acknowledgement to Zoe without saying anything else.

Zoe listened to the exchange as Boo took the lead, her native tongue being German, where Zoe knew enough conversational German to just get by.

“Who are you?” the lead person called, a tall and broad male, his crossbow in one hand.

"My name is Ewa, this is Zoe."

"Guten tag," Zoe said, nodding her head.

“You’re trespassing," the man stated.

Potentially leading to aggression, but he is still wary of Zoe.

"Then can you take us to your leader so we can talk?"

What the fuck? One of them has spotted us all. A guy towards the back of their group can sense us.

The one Tyson mentioned took a half step forward and muttered to his leader in a tone low enough even Nix didn't hear it. The man looked up and at Maddison before looking back to the pair on the ground.

"Bring your other three, then we'll go talk," he said sternly.

Zoe signalled the others to join her before ordering the data drone to break off its data gathering to act as a watchdog for the Jeep.

Maddison scaled down the side of the building, using window ledges and drain pipes, moving with assured ease in what had to be a very obvious display of skill to the group watching her. As Tyson came around the corner into view, he held out a hand and Maddison dropped, slapping his hand in a loud high five, all while he kept eye contact with the others. Tomas looked up the side of the building Maddison had just scaled down with awe.

"Eh, you can do things with cars we couldn't dream of," Tyson said warmly to the younger man. "We'll rely on you as much as you rely on us."

"Like any good team should," Zoe said, waving the other four to get into Avi.

The other group, six in all, were armed with various ranged weapons, mostly bows, and each of them had very sharp looking swords either in hand or on their hips. Their clothes were tattered and worn, but they didn't look starved or even unfed. Their leader stood only half a head to a head taller than the others, but exuded an air of authority and strength.

Maddison stood calmly on the back seat, Tyson next to her while Tomas 'drove'. Avi followed Zoe dutifully, wheels dodging around the worst of the rubble, surer that any other than stunt drivers familiar with every rock.

"You're the leader?" the man asked of Zoe.

"Ja, but my German is rusty."

He nodded. "English? He asked in a heavy accent.

"Ja, but, I understand German as if it was a native tongue."

He looked confused for a moment. "How can you understand, but not speak."

"How can I tell my secrets to a man who hasn't even given his name to me?"

The man laughed heartily and shouldered the crossbow. Extending his arm, Zoe shook his hand. "Ellis."

Zoe smiled warmly as both teams relaxed. "My other three are Maddison, Tyson and Tomas."

Pointing at each of his team, waving their weapons away, Ellis introduced them. "Come, come, Moritz will like you."

~

They entered what had once been a car showroom, now devoid of cars, filled with people doing various tasks. They entered through a large break in the windows, likely where the entrance had originally been, Avi slowly rolling through the gap behind them.

Moritz was helping build something, hammering nails into place. Looking at what he was doing, Zoe thought it may have been a baby's crib. Ellis called out and Moritz stopped working to approach them all.

As predicted, Moritz did like Zoe. Upon seeing the suit and buggy, the man brightened like a merchant sighting a rich person with no sense. Tyson silently warned Zoe, which she appreciated. Yes, they were outnumbered, but their leader could tell the suit alone was dangerous.

"Ellis, who did you bring today?" the man asked in a loud voice. Zoe mentally labelled his voice as bold. Hell, to her, everything about the man was bold. He was slightly bigger than Ellis, had a layer of not quite as shabby clothes and a heavy gold chain around his neck. The chain itself was barely shiny, but it was still there and noticeable.

"This group is from a place in France they call 'The Community'," Ellis replied. "They were checking out the factory."

"Eh? Strangers looking through the rubble?" Moritz asked, his German accent thick. "

"Greetings Moritz," Zoe said warmly, trying not to stumble over her German. "As your man Ellis says, we were looking at the auto factory. We would like it."

"You want rubble and dormant machines? What for?"

"Our Community is rebuilding and we were looking to see if the factory was still capable of, uh, making stuff." She looked over to Boo. "What's the word for 'production'?"

Boo laughed lightly. "Produktion," she repeated, accenting it correctly for Zoe.

"You want to build more? Not possible, the factory has been long dormant, since before our time."

Zoe took a quick look around and guessed that the twins, Moritz and herself were likely the oldest people in the room. "Do you know what we once had? Plentiful food, the ability to create art and travel without wanting basic needs and medicines stopping basic sickness. Our Community has that and we want to, uh, one sec. Boo, increase?"

"Ansteigen."

"Thanks. We want to increase our, um. Boo, influence?"

"Wir wollen unser Einflussgebiet vergrößern."

"Sorry, my German is rusty."

Moritz chuckled. "It is not terrible at least."

"Danke. We want to increase our influence, helping bring people out of starvation. We have plenty of food and stuff for making lives easier, we just want to add the auto production into it."

A low muttering of wonder and skepticism came from the people around them, as everyone had stopped their tasks to listen in.

"What proof do you have of all you say?"

Zoe waved Tyson and Maddison over to them. "Do you understand English?" she asked Moritz.

He belly laughed. "Yes, fluently, possibly better than your German."

Zoe sighed, half in relief, half frustrated. "These two have come from Australia to join us. We've clothed and fed them and they help where they can."

"G'day mate," Tyson said warmly, shaking Moritz's hand.

"Bonza place," Maddison added. "Looks like you've put some hard yakka into it."

"Now is not the time for your slang you two," Zoe said. "They volunteered to help me while I was in Australia and in return, they've been given a house, regular meals and access to things like new clothing."

"And we're free to do what we want," Tyson added. "We don't help? We still get basic meals. If we help, we get extra food and stuff." He leant towards Zoe. "I've been thinking of taking up painting." Tyson turned his attention to Moritz. "The Community is inclusive of Talented people, people with abilities, like your seeker Jonas and friend shifter over there." Tyson said, waving at the two he indicated, the shifter being a teen with lupine features.

“We would want you to join us, and you wouldn’t even have to leave this area.” Zoe looked the man in the eye, which was hard enough to do with him being a head taller. “We want to have access to this area and you want what’s best for your people. I think we can achieve that together.”