101 lines
5.8 KiB
HTML
101 lines
5.8 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>
|
|
|
|
<h1> Basic Needs</h1>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Jack drives into a dried-out river. A bit away from the other side is a
|
|
group of houses that – while they have certainly seen better days
|
|
– aren't ruins. The truck struggles to get traction in the
|
|
sand on the other side of the river bed. After getting stuck, he backs up
|
|
and turns into the river. He accelerates, the engine roars, then he
|
|
steers it back onto the side of the river. The truck gets stuck again.
|
|
This process repeats twice more before they finally make it out and back
|
|
onto the tall grass that covers the area. Jack drives over to the remains
|
|
of a road that lead to the settlement.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
He parks in front of an old store.<br />
|
|
<span class="speech">This is it, I guess.</span><br />
|
|
They get out and start walking towards the door. A small dog runs up to
|
|
greet them, jumping around, running in circles, and wagging its tail.
|
|
It picks up a stick and drops it in front of Annie. She crouches down,
|
|
pets the dog, and picks up the stick. The dog bites into the other end
|
|
and pulls on it.<br />
|
|
<span class="comment">note: need reason for Jack to go ahead, also better
|
|
wording</span><br />
|
|
<span class="speech">I'll be inside.</span><br />
|
|
Jack goes into the store.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
<span class="comment">note: need to state that the man appears to be in
|
|
his 60s</span><br />
|
|
After playing with the dog for a bit, Annie follows. The man behind the
|
|
counter is talking to Jack:<br />
|
|
<span class="speech">I mean in the long run. We have plenty of food right
|
|
now but, since the <river name> has changed course, we don't
|
|
even have enough water to grow crops for ourselves. The cisterns and
|
|
wells simply don't cut it.</span><br />
|
|
<span class="speech">So, basically, you're saying you need
|
|
water.</span><br />
|
|
The man interrupts the conversation and looks at Annie:<br />
|
|
<span class="speech">Good afternoon, what can I do for you?</span><br />
|
|
<span class="speech">I'm with him.</span><br />
|
|
<span class="speech">I see.</span><br />
|
|
He turns back to Jack:<br />
|
|
<span class="speech">Listen, we don't just need a little bit of
|
|
water. The amount of water we need can't simply be carried here or
|
|
we'd do it ourselves. And we need it regularly and consistently.
|
|
When the <river> still flowed here, water userd to flow into our
|
|
irrigation system upstream and got distributed to all the fields and
|
|
greenhouses from there.</span><br />
|
|
<span class="speech">I know you need an industrial quantity of water.
|
|
We can get you an industrial quantity of water. Will you give us food if
|
|
we supply you?</span><br />
|
|
<span class="comment">"Who is *we*?"</span><br />
|
|
He musters Jack for a moment.<br />
|
|
<span class="speech">And how do you wanna get it here?</span><br />
|
|
<span class="speech">By train - assuming the railroad south of here is
|
|
in a serviceable state.</span> Seeing the man's confusion, Jack
|
|
adds: <span class="speech">Let that be my problem to solve. Will you
|
|
trade water for food?</span><br />
|
|
<span class="speech">I'm gonna have to discuss that with the others.
|
|
Wait outside.</span>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
After playing with the dog some more, they get approached by a group of
|
|
people, amongst them the man from the store. They shake hands. Jack
|
|
repeats his idea to supply water by train in exchange for crops.<br />
|
|
<span class="speech">What's this train you're talking
|
|
of?</span>, one of them asks.<br />
|
|
<span class="speech">A large vehicle from the old world. It drives on
|
|
tracks like the ones that should be south of here.</span><br />
|
|
<span class="speech">So that's what these rails were used for...
|
|
But that's still pretty far from here, how do you wanna transport
|
|
the water here?</span><br />
|
|
<span class="speech">That irrigation system of yours... Can we take a
|
|
look at it?</span><br />
|
|
<span class="speech">I see where you're trying to go with this.
|
|
It's still not particularly close to the rails.</span>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
After a bit of additional back and forth, they agree on a plan. The man
|
|
who did most of the talking asks a girl:<br />
|
|
<span class="speech">Mary, can you go, show them around?</span><br />
|
|
<span class="speech">Sure, follow me.</span>
|
|
<span class="comment">It's a bit of a walk...</span><br />
|
|
<span class="speech">Wait</span>, Jack stops her,
|
|
<span class="speech">We're here with a truck.</span><br />
|
|
<span class="speech">So that's <i>your</i> car? Cool! I've only
|
|
ever seen one working car in the city. So we're gonna drive
|
|
there?</span><br />
|
|
<span class="speech">If you show us the way.</span><br />
|
|
<span class="speech">Let's go!</span>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="comment">
|
|
Not sure of this should be the end of a chapter or if I should continue
|
|
here. The way this has turned out, it would also be nice if they ended up
|
|
delivering construction machines (excavators, etc.) to the village so they
|
|
don't need to rely on water shipments past the day when the
|
|
protagonists leave for Nova Metropolis.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="copyright">Copyright © 2023 Jan Danielzick (aka. BodgeMaster) – All rights reserved.</p><script>let spans = ["<span class=\"paper_green\">", "<span>"];let paper_sections = document.getElementsByClassName("paper");for (let i = 0; i < paper_sections.length; i++) {let lines = paper_sections[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";}paper_sections[i].innerHTML = result;}</script></body></html>
|