post_apocalypse_story/ja-erosion-michelle_wakeup....

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<h1>Erosion</h1>
<p>
<span class="quote speech">Morning Michelle!</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Ugh.</span><br />
She feels dizzy and her body is filled with a burning sensation.
She takes a step out of her preservation chamber and sits down on the
floor in front of it, putting her arms over her knees to rest her head.
<br />
<span class="quote speech">I&apos;m gonna ... need a moment.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Water?</span><br />
She raises her head and Jack hands her a glass. After taking a couple
sips, she sets it down, unsure whether it helps or makes it worse, and
rests her head again.<br />
<span class="quote speech">Just let me sit here for a moment.</span>
</p>
<p>
After a while, she lifts up her head again:<br />
<span class="quote speech">What year is it? ... and what&apos;s our
mission?</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Twenty-one-oh-six. We don&apos;t have an
explicit mission, uplink&apos;s dead.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">You&apos;re kidding.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Nope.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">How&apos;d you get woken up then?</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Technical failure.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">You survived that?</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">That was the least of my challenges.</span>
<br />
Jack briefly recounts his side of the events of the past
<span class="comment">amount of time</span> as well as some of the things
he had read in the logs or talked about with Annie.
</p>
<p>
Michelle&apos;s dizziness goes away and the burning sensation in her body
begins to fade. She slowly gets up, takes a few cautious steps forward to
the table, and leans on it.<br />
<span class="quote speech">So?</span> She looks at Jack.
<span class="quote speech">What now? Any plans?</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">I guess, for now, exploring the area and
taking a look at the uplink. I wanna see if we can fix it.</span><br />
Michelle thinks for a moment.<br />
<span class="quote speech">Sorry but I don&apos;t quite feel ready for
a hike like that. I&apos;m gonna need a little bit longer.</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Take your time.</span>
</p>
<p>
After a short pause, Jack walks over to the kitchen area, saying:
<span class="quote speech">If you want, I got some leftover baked potato
wedges...</span><br />
<span class="quote speech">Ooh yeah, something to eat would be really
nice right now. Did you make your usual spicy dip to go with them?</span>
<br />
<span class="quote speech">Yup.</span><br />
He places a small bowl filled with a dark red paste on the table.
Then, he takes the <span class="comment">Backblech?</span> with the
wedges and puts it in the oven to reheat them.
</p>
<p>
Michelle turns around and picks up the glass off the floor before sitting
down at the table.
<span class="comment">Idk they eat, guess I&apos;ll need to describe that
in a bit more detail... Then they get ready to leave.</span>
</p>
<p>
They step outside and, following what remains of the old path, start
walking. It is narrow and winded, overgrown, and has partially
disappeared. Jack walks ahead, only half following the path, half making
it up as he goes. Michelle struggles to follow, slowly falling behind.
</p>
<p>
After a while, Jack stops abruptly, looking down at something, then up,
then down again. Then, he turns to Michelle who is catching up to him
and says: <span class="quote speech">Well, that could be a reason why
the uplink is down &ndash; it literally <i>is down</i>...</span>.
Michelle reaches the edge and and sees what Jack had stopped for:
A large <span class="comment">ravine? wash?</span> extends towards the
top of the mountain where a landslide had left nothing but a cliff and
a huge pile of rubble. At the top of the mountain, teetering on the
edge, are two buildings &ndash; all that&apos;s left of the ground
station. The rest of the buildings and the dish lay strewn around
in pieces down below.
</p>
<p class="copyright">Copyright &#169; 2023 Jan Danielzick (aka. BodgeMaster) &ndash; All rights reserved.</p><script>let spans = ["<span class=\"paper green\">", "<span>"]; let pre_texts = document.getElementsByTagName("pre"); for (let i = 0; i < pre_texts.length; i++) {if (pre_texts[i].className != "paper") continue; let lines = pre_texts[i].innerHTML.split("\n"); let result = ""; for (let j = 0; j < lines.length; j++) {result = result + spans[j%2] + lines[j] + " ".repeat(80-lines[j].length) + "</span>\n";} pre_texts[i].innerHTML = result;}</script></body></html>