POWERLESS.

[Chandra Panesar]

”Wow, that’s… that’s a lot more than I thought about. I guess we can’t just leave right off, then.” David came to the same conclusion aloud that Alex had already mentally reached. But he wasn’t discouraged; it was still good to feel like he actually had a plan and would be working toward something. He would still be moving forward instead of waiting in a dead city for his turn to die. Tomorrow would be a big day; they should definitely get some rest. David snickered a little as Alex declared that their hotel room awaited. The blond held up one finger, indicating that he needed a moment, then pulled off his skates to change into sneakers. Then he rose to his feet to follow. ”Alright; lead the way.” Alex led him toward the gangplank of a cargo ship and David followed.

High_Assassin

 

[High_Assassin]

Alex waited just long enough for David to change his skates for sneakers, then led him up the gangplank and towards the Cabin part of the ship, which held the crew area's and even the bridge. The superstructure towered up over the back end of the ship, meaning they had to find their way through all the empty cargo containers that had never been offloaded, but had still been raided once the power had gone out. Once the ship had been picked clean, it had been abandoned.

Reaching the hatchway, Alex stopped and took out a flashlight. "We'll need this to navigate inside. For some reason, the internal lights ain't working." It was a joke, of course, since it only made sense that there would be no internal lights on board. After the power outage, there had been battery backups, but the batteries had eventually run down, and without interior lights, the ship was dark inside. The rooms that had windows, portholes, he thought they were called, let in some outside light, and he had opened the doors to all of them, but the hallways were still usually pitch black.

Fortunately, he had used this light sparingly, so the batteries were still good. But he would wait until they were inside, and shut the hatch behind them, before he turned it on. After all, in a city that had gone dark, any source of light would be noticed, and bring unwanted attention to them. The last thing they needed was for some marauders to see a point of light on an otherwise dark ship, and knew there were people on board who could be robbed. for supplies.Once they were inside, he would keep the light pointed at the floor, so nobody could see it through any of the open doorways they would pass as they made their way to the captains cabin, where he had been staying.

Chandra Panesar

 

[Chandra Panesar]

David followed Alex, carefully maneuvering around the empty cargo containers. He wondered if the ship had other empty and thus ignored containers, specifically something smaller that could hold water. Knowing that they had a list of things to acquire before beginning their trip, David was trying to think ahead and be resourceful. Anything close at hand that they could repurpose would be a godsend. Of course he did not expect to find too much that would be of any use; it was clear that the ship had already been raked over with a fine tooth comb for anything of value. Likely not much, if anything, had been missed.

Something about Alex’s humor often seemed to catch David off guard and he had to smother a laugh behind one hand when the man feigned bewilderment at the internal lights not functioning. The man seemed so serious and mature compared to David, so David just never expected the jokes when they came and that made them hit all the harder. It should have been cheesy and the blond even felt a little sheepish for laughing, but a grin still lingered on his lips. “Better call the electrician in the morning.”

Despite the moment of humor, David felt a small amount of tension as he followed Alex into the dark. What if the batteries in the flashlight were already dead? What if someone else had decided this was his ship now and they were hiding in the dark, lying in wait? What if there were ship rats? Any, horrible thing seemed possible until he heard a faint click and a stream of light cut through the darkness and shone to the floor. David rolled his shoulders a couple of times to ease his unfounded tension, glad that the light wasn’t shined on him for Alex to see how easily his nerves had gotten to him in the dark. David followed the light as closely as he could without stepping on the man who carried it and was even more relieved when they reached the captain’s cabin at last. ”How long have you been staying in this place?” David found himself asking quietly, as though raising his voice might disturb the still and quiet air around them.

High_Assassin

 

[High_Assassin]

Alex smiled, the little bit of light coming in not really enough to see by. "Well, I been here fer a week or so. Before that, I was stay'n in the Hotel Room I ad rented for my business trip up here. What a time for the power to go out." He found the heavy blanket that he used to cover the window with, and then lit a candle. Where he had gotten a candle wasn't entirely clear, but it was clearly almost used up, and probably wouldn't last another day. "Well, it aint much, but we got some light now, at least. Ya wanna check out some of the other rooms, maybe see if we can find a spare blanket or someting?"

The bunk didn't even look like it had been slept in, apparently Alex found the couch more comfortable. He probably used that blanket that was now covering the window to sleep under, once he blew out the candle. There were some thin blankets on the bunk, but the steel hull didn't do much to keep out the night chill, and Alex suspected they wouldn't be enough.

Chandra Panesar

 

[Chandra Panesar]

When Alex mentioned a business trip, it suddenly made sense to David why the man had a briefcase. He had previously thought that the man must have scavenged it, but much like David’s backpack and skates, the briefcase had followed the businessman from another life. David idly wondered what kind of business the man used to do. It didn’t matter anymore, not with the world the way it was, but it still made him curious. And it was something to talk about with the person he would be travelling with. But just then wasn’t really the time for talking; he didn’t want to waste the light. “Yeah, I’ll do that.” David left the cabin carefully; he didn’t want to waste time, but hurrying would only get him hurt in the dim candlelight.

It took a bit of rummaging, and David spent more time than he would have liked sticking his hands into openings he could not actually see inside of, but he found a blanket. And he immediately sneezed from the dust that was thrown into the air as he pulled the blanket from a wall mounted storage compartment. He shook out the blanket a bit, hoping there were not too many pests clinging to it. Deciding that was good enough, he threw the blanket over his shoulder and made his way back to the captain’s cabin. “Hey, found one.”

High_Assassin