by David Gunter
As David paused to allow Francis to form another question, he saw the man’s eyes shift about as if he was considering a number of possibilities and angles. Then Francis spoke, “So you know something of science as well and even chemistry? You believe you can not only set up plumbing for the entire city but also provide drinking water to the entire city? Sorry, but I’ve not seen this kind of ambition in a person in… well, perhaps since the city walls were built.”
Once more, Francis just looked at David and studied him for a bit. Then he spoke once more, and this time he shifted to another one of David’s claims.
“So you mentioned welding as well as metalworking earlier? I suppose you can not only design a plumbing system for the city capable of providing water to all its residents but also create the pipes required to do so?”. Francis paused, and this time he had a bit of smirk on his face.
“Well,” David started. “That’s probably the easiest of all the skills I mentioned if done correctly. I just need to set up my molds and discover what kinds of materials will be available. If there’s plenty of copper, silver, or other safe metals, then this can be set up in just a few months, and we can begin mass-producing the pipes and supporting structures to begin the installation. The entire project could take six to nine months with some people I can train and direct.”
“Six to nine months!” Francis interjected. “People you can train?! Sir, you make some pretty big claims! I can’t even get the majority of people to think about the next month, let alone plan something that could take a year. Sir, I think you overestimate the people of the city and what you would have to work with. But I can’t hold that against you, honestly. You have only just arrived after all. Sir, I can only think of one thing that could prove that you are what you say you are, and that is if I put you to the task of creating the very things you say you are capable of creating. Would you be willing to prove yourself, Sir!”
David didn’t hesitate, “Of course, and I would be happy to get started today if possible.” David couldn’t hide the enthusiasm and excitement from his voice. It had been too many years since he’d had a chance to set his mind to a task, and since Hellen’s passing, he hadn’t been in the mental state to even dream of the good ol days. In truth, he wondered if he still had it in him to do the things he had just said he could do, but there was one thing he was sure of. He was stubborn enough to try.
Francis couldn’t hide his amusement at David’s enthusiasm. Much of his job was tedious and underwhelming but once in a while, a chance to see a project started and it seen to completion arose to save him from it all. He looked at the upper right-hand side of his desk and at a stack of empty forms, which he actually enjoyed, and smiled. He ceremoniously reached with both hands and carefully took one of the forms and read the heading which read ‘Project Proposal’ and laid it down in front of him. In truth, it was his hope that this man before him was all that he claimed to be. He hadn’t seen any deception in the man, and he knew few people that would claim to have the skills that this man claimed to have and be willing to do the work they had discussed. He looked up at the man before him, and with a new pen and ink at the ready, he began the process of starting the document.
“What is your name, first and last?” Francis asked.
“David Gosling, at your service,” David replied. “Forgive me, sir, but I didn’t hear your name or what it is that you do?”
“Oh no! Forgive me”, Francis replied. “I rarely meet a person like yourself, who desires to work for the betterment of others, so I’ve lost the normal order of things. My name is Francis Lima, and I’m the city planner. I am a member of the court, I suppose, though as you’ll soon find out, I’m not one of its more glamorous members. Oh, and before you start calling me by some title, like some of those court fools, don’t. It’s just Francis.”
Francis looked down at the form and wrote down the name David Gosling. He wanted to continue filling out the form, but something about the name before him looked familiar, and he paused. As he did so, a couple of soldiers were approaching, and one of them spoke.
“Francis, sir? The Magi are complaining about their busted pipes again. The water has started collecting outside their buildings.”
Francis visibly frowned, and any joy he’d had a moment before was absent when he spoke next.
“Thank you, Captain; I’ll take a look and see what can be done.” But then he added, “I may have found someone that can fix it once and for all.” Francis said this, motioning towards David, who was looking between the captain and the city planner.
“Well, that will be good news indeed. If I have to hear about their human rights and their wet socks and their standards of living one more day, I may just have to move the lot of them into tents for a few days to teach them a lesson”. After saying this, the captain and the city planner shared a good laugh. The guards and soldiers in the vicinity attempted to share in the mirth but were soon given a stern look from the captain. That ended the laughter, but the smirks that remained and the looks that David got afterward told of a problem beyond the plumbing. David felt he’d know the truth of it soon enough.
Francis stood and waved for David to follow. The soldier that had accompanied the captain led the way, and David and Francis followed. After several streets had been crossed, they turned northwest until they arrived at a series of beautifully crafted buildings. As they walked closer, a severe smell of sewage hit all of them, and it was hard to think of anything else.
An agitated and high-pitched voice broke the focus on the smell and drew the men back to their purpose.
“It’s about time you showed up. We’ve been asking for days that you deign to examine our… eh… situation. How about it. Do you think you could get around to fixing our problem?”
The three men looked at each other and then at the very upset and immature-looking man who thought himself capable of demanding their respect. The three did all that they could not to laugh as the man’s choice of clothing made him look somewhere between a flamingo and a peafowl. Their attempts to hide the mirth did not go unnoticed, however.
“So this all seems humorous to you?” The man ignored David and the soldier and focused his ire on Francis.
Francis waved his hand dismissively and tried to steer the conversation towards some positive end. “How long has it been leaking for, this time?”
“We don’t know, but the floors beneath have all been flooded, and that is three floors completely ruined. Those floors had ancient writings and rugs, which were hundreds of years old and things of a magical nature which you wouldn’t even comprehend! This time (stuttered), the Emperor will hear of this. Why, we’re even missing one of our acolytes, who has disappeared in one of those floors.”
The man visibly shut down after this proclamation and threat. They took turns trying to get any more information from the man, but he had simply looked away tearfully and refused to look at them.
“Well, sir, if you would allow us entry into the building, we can begin investigating the cause of the problem,” Francis finally said, after it was clear the man wouldn’t help them anymore, and it appeared that he had gone somewhere deep into the recesses of his own mind.
The three men were led by the fourth to one of the closest buildings and then led through a side door and into a lower room, and then the man simply turned around and left them there. David watched the man leave and looked back and forth between the departing man and Francis, waiting to see if there was anything to indicate that this was abnormal behavior, but Francis simply shook his head and said nothing more while the man was still within earshot.
Once the man was gone, Francis spoke. “Well, David, here lies the root of the problem, we have a nation divided between fellows like Rudolfus, the man you’ve just met, who believe they are entitled to all the wealth of the empire but who can do nothing for themselves. They refuse, under some misguided notion of their abilities, to r
ecognize others as their equal but yet depend entirely on the Emperor’s generosity. If I had any say in it, I’d kick the lot of them out into the desert and let them acquire a bit of perspective.” Francis said this and gave David a wave indicating that he should follow.
As the three men walked through the floor looking for pipes, they came to a lower part that had damp floors and whose floorboards seemed to be almost floating on water. As the men stepped on the boards, the water flowed over each board they were stepping on, and the neighboring boards seemed to shift a bit as well. There really was a lot of water beneath them, David reflected. David also saw as they had walked from one passage to the next that the rooms appeared devoid of any furniture or decoration.
Once they had arrived at a part of the floor much deeper within, they passed by a room that smelled worse than the others. David noticed that the water beneath the boards at their feet seemed to move away from this room, and so he waved to Francis and pointed at it, raising attention at the difference. Francis looked in the direction David had motioned and noticed the difference as well. Then they all turned and walked towards the room. As they entered, they all saw how much more the floorboards were being impacted by the water and how in one area of the room, it looked as if water was almost bubbling up over the floorboards.
“Francis, I think the problem is beneath us in the room below,” David said.
“I believe you’re right, and from the looks of it, the room below might be a bathroom.” As Francis said this, they noticed that there was fecal waste accumulating in the edges and corners of the room. At this, all three men went to cover their faces and ceased any further conversation within this room.
Francis waved the other two to follow once more, and they headed eagerly out of the room with only a little more caution as the floor boards bobbled much more in this room. They stepped out of the room, and all three took a breath of air as they exited, showing that they had all been holding their breath instinctually.
Frances spoke after they had breathed a bit. “I believe most of these buildings have some stairs which either spiral straight down to the lower floors or are single flights located at either end of each floor and which alternate as the floors go deeper underground. These make for a long journey downward in the later design, but I don’t think we’re going to be able to go further down as these are likely completely flooded.”
“Ya, you’re undoubtedly right.” Added David. “It may be better to excavate on the outside of the building and drill a hole into one of the exterior walls and then pump the water out of the floor beneath us if the walls aren’t too thick, of course. If they are, we may have to remove the floorboards in one of the rooms closest to the edge of the building and perhaps pump from there through a window to the outside.”
Francis nodded his head, seeing the logic in that plan. Then he turned to the soldier and said, “WhoDadi5O, would you follow David’s instructions and let the captain know that we will need his assistance and manpower to get this project underway?”
The way that Francis said this caught David off guard, and the shrug and eye roll the soldier portrayed wasn’t hard to spot as well. The man’s name was in fact ‘WhoDadi5O’ as David could see the name above the man, in white characters, as soon as he thought of confirming the name Francis had spoken. The name wasn’t the only thing that was out of place, David also noted. WhoDadi5O had gear that seemed a lot shinier than he had seen from other guards and soldiers. Not a moment after the soldier had rolled his eyes, he seemed to go into some kind of strange stare, and then the soldier and Francis entered into some kind of scripted conversation where David could only hear one side of the conversation. To David, it seemed that he was watching someone speak on a phone even though he could clearly see both parties.
“For accepting this quest, you will receive one hundred reputation with Opal City and ten reputation points with the Opal Empire.”
The soldier looked at Francis and then back at some point in space that David couldn’t see.
“Yes, this quest will be repeatable. Just find David and offer your assistance.” Said, Francis.
David looked between Francis and WhoDadi5O and was completely confused, and then finally the soldier nodded, and Francis turned and looking at David, said, “Well, after the pipes have been fixed come find me and bring me an example of the pipes you would want to use throughout the city. You may find me where we first met on most any day. Oh!, and find the blacksmithing shop and tell the shopkeeper there that I sent you and that I’ve given you a temporary assignment.”
David expected something to happen, as he had seen the exchange between the soldier and Francis and suspected that it could be the norm for interactions between travelers such as himself and the people of the VR world, but nothing happened. Francis stared at him and furrowed his eyebrows and was clearly wondering why David was simply standing there and giving him a blank and confused look.
Suspecting that David needed some additional instruction, Francis added, “Well, if you would find me afterward, we can see about giving you a more permanent position. Of course, you aren’t the first traveler who has desired a post and who might also work with metals in our blacksmith shop. In order to do that, however, you must pass my careful scrutiny and also that of the courts. Well, run along and let WhoDadi5O know what you will need.”
Francis turned and walked away, and David remained with the soldier, and both men simply looked at each other. One man pondering how things in the VR world worked and the other patiently awaiting some kind of instruction.
CHAPTER XI
Goddess on Fire
David and the soldier made quick progress afterward. The soldier told the captain about his assignment, and the captain rounded up ten other soldiers and told them all to follow David’s orders. David had stood a bit awkwardly in front of the men as they all assembled before him and were told to follow his orders, but he also noted that others in the group also had odd names and behaved as awkward as he felt. RamenBaby, TwerkinJerkin, and WhoDadi5O all looked directly at him and seemed to orient themselves in his direction. At the same time, everybody else in the group had ‘thousand eye stares’ and faced in a uniform direction. David understood that these three must have been travelers like him, and he had noticed several times during his briefing that they seemed to stare into space and sometimes even waved their hands as if reading and working some invisible screen.
“Men,” he began, “we are tasked with a simple but messy task. We’re headed over to the mage sleeping quarters, where a plumbing problem has inundated their lower floors with water. There will be a little excavation and drilling, and then we will use buckets to drain the first of the flooded floors. Are there any questions?” He paused, giving everyone time to think but hoped the information so far had been sufficient. However, he suspected that if any of the men had questions, it would be the three travelers, so he looked at them and waited. Sure enough, he spotted the tale-tell signs of questions forming, and RamenBaby was the first to break the silence.
“Excuse me, sir, I mean David, sir. I have a question?”
“Oh, just ask the bloody question already, sweet and sour,” interrupted TwerkinJerkin. “We don’t have all day for this quest!”.
“OK, OK, fine! Twerk face. I’m just trying to get into the role play, OK?”, Responded RamenBaby.
The two soldiers got stuck in a staring contest, and finally, WhoDadi5O asked, “Look, man! How long is this quest supposed to take? We know we have to do this low-level stuff, but c’mon, somebody’s pipes are busted, and we’re hauling out turd water for an afternoon? At least tell how long this is going to take!”
David looked at the three men and wondered why they had joined the soldiers in this city and, more to the point, how they had managed to do that since all three of them seemed to lack all the traits he associated with military men. He made a note to ask the captain about it some time but decided
some kind of answer would be better than none, and perhaps having the travelers in the group would be advantageous somehow.
“Well, clearing out the single floor might take four or five hours, and there are several floors below ground. You’ve been told that you can come back to me for further instructions, so let’s assume that this will take several days to start. That sound good to you?”
David looked between the three and saw their open dissatisfaction, and before they could make up their mind, he quickly decided to offer them something more. He knew that this whole thing was more valuable to him as it would probably result in a much-needed job, and he knew that if he followed these events to a conclusion, he would be in a position to offer more, so he decided to sweeten the pot.
“OK, OK, tell you what if you three stick it out to the finish, I’ll offer you a little bit of credit with me. I intend to become a smith in this city, and I’ll give any traveler that works with me reputation points with yours truly. From what I can guess, it looks like the city is in dire need of plumbing and decent weaponry. I will give you”, he quickly thought of a number, “100 reputation points per day, with me, if you will simply do what I ask, with no questions asked”. He quickly added that last part as he realized what a serious waste of time answering questions had been so far.
He looked at the three men and saw their expressions go from deep consideration, then to surprise, and finally to mouth-dropping shock. The three went into the expected behavior moments later as they worked through invisible screens and notifications, but David couldn’t help but feel that something was out of place with the reactions the three had had. He wondered if it had been something he’d said and perhaps the amount of reputation he’d offered. He had remembered that Francis had offered reputation as a reward when he had first asked WhoDadi5O to help out, so he was certain this hadn’t been the reason. So he concluded that he had probably offered them too many daily reputation points. The truth was that he didn’t care if that was the case. It wasn’t like he’d be building the cities sewage system repeatedly, and it could be some time before he had more reputation points to offer after the work was concluded, so perhaps this would be some kind of temporary quest opportunity. He decided to think about this method of requesting help from fellow travelers some more and thought it seemed to be the best way. Something about their reactions, though, was still nagging at him, and he would have to get more comfortable around the three men to ask them why.
