107 lines
6.2 KiB
HTML
107 lines
6.2 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title> Basic Needs </title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="html_resources/style.css"></head><body><a href="index.html"><button class="back"><</button></a>
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<h1> Basic Needs</h1>
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<p>
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Jack drives into a dried-out river. In the distance on the other side is
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a group of houses that, while they have certainly seen better days,
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don't look abandoned. The truck struggles to get traction in the
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sand on the other side of the river and eventually gets stuck.
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<span class="quote speech">Well fuck.</span> Jack backs up and turns
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into the river. He accelerates, then steers back onto the river bank
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– to no avail, the truck gets stuck again. He turns back into the
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river. The engine roars. First gear, second gear, third gear...
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</p>
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<p>
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The suspension bottoms out as the truck plows uphill through the sand,
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barely making it out of the river. Annie holds her shoulder, it hurts
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from getting pushed into the seat belt.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Can we not do that again, please?</span><br />
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<span class="comment">response?</span><br />
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Jack turns around and drives onto the overgrown remains of a road leading
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to the settlement.
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</p>
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<p>
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He parks in front of an old store.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">This is it, I guess.</span><br />
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They get out and start walking towards the door. A small dog runs up to
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them, barking, jumping around, running in circles, and wagging its tail.
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It picks up a stick and drops it in front of Annie. She crouches down,
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pets the dog, and picks up the stick.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">I'll be right there</span>, Annie says
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to Jack before throwing it.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Okay.</span> Jack goes into the store.
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</p>
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<p>
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After playing fetch for a bit, Annie follows. Behind the counter is a man
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who appears to be in his 60s. He is talking to Jack:<br />
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<span class="quote speech">I mean in the long run. We have plenty of food
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right now but, since the <river name> has changed course, we
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don't even have enough water to grow crops for ourselves. The
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cisterns and wells simply don't cut it.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">So, basically, you're saying you need
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water.</span><br />
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The man interrupts the conversation and looks at Annie:<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Good afternoon, what can I do for you?</span>
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">I'm with him.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">I see.</span><br />
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He turns back to Jack:<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Listen, we don't just need a little bit of
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water. The amount of water we need can't simply be carried here or
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we'd do it ourselves. And we need it regularly and consistently.
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When the <river> still flowed here, water used to flow into our
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irrigation system upstream and got distributed to all the fields and
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greenhouses from there.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">I know you need an industrial quantity of
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water. We can get you an industrial quantity of water. Will you give us
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food if we supply you?</span><br />
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<span class="comment">"Who is *we*?"</span><br />
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He musters Jack for a moment.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">And how do you wanna get it here?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">By train - assuming the railroad south of here
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is in a serviceable state.</span> Seeing the man's confusion, Jack
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adds: <span class="quote speech">Let that be my problem to solve. Will
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you trade water for food?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">I'm gonna have to discuss that with the
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others. Wait outside.</span>
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</p>
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<p>
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After playing with the dog some more, they get approached by a group of
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people, amongst them the man from the store. They shake hands. Jack
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repeats his idea to supply water by train in exchange for crops.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">What's this train you're talking
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of?</span>, one of them asks.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">A large vehicle from the old world. It drives
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on tracks like the ones that should be south of here.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">So that's what these rails were used
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for... But that's still pretty far from here, how do you wanna
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transport the water here?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">That irrigation system of yours... Can we take
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a look at it?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">I see where you're trying to go with
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this. It's still not particularly close to the rails.</span>
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</p>
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<p>
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After a bit of additional back and forth, they agree on a plan. The man
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who did most of the talking asks a girl:<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Mary, can you go, show them around?</span>
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Sure, follow me.</span>
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<span class="comment">It's a bit of a walk...</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Wait</span>, Jack stops her,
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<span class="quote speech">We're here with a truck.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">So that's <i>your</i> car? Cool!
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I've only ever seen one working car in the city. So we're
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gonna drive there?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">If you show us the way.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Let's go!</span>
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</p>
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<p class="comment">
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Not sure of this should be the end of a chapter or if I should continue
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here. The way this has turned out, it would also be nice if they ended up
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delivering construction machines (excavators, etc.) to the village so
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they don't need to rely on water shipments past the day when the
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protagonists leave for Nova Metropolis.
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</p>
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<p class="copyright">Copyright © 2023 Jan Danielzick (aka. BodgeMaster) – 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>
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