Innerworks

66. By the scrambling sounds

"Nate!"

----

"Ah, Nathaniel, right? Glad to see you!"

The Aspect of Procrastination blinked, he had only just appeared in the Alpha pen having dropped off the other Ancillaries to their respective ones.

He gives a lazy salute, before slowly making his way to Geoffrey.

"Hey old man! I keep telling you its just Nate. How goes it?"

The Figment simply shook his head, part exasperated and part fond amusement.

"It goes well enough lad, but now that you're here, I believe I can put you to some good use"

"Ha!" Snorts Nate, ready to retaliate in jest. "Shows what you know, Old timer, I'm already of use! I'm on strict orders from the little lady, that I'm to be playing comm until all the Pens can get an actual comm system up and running"

Geoffrey laughs, "glad to hear it! Fiona's got her head set quite proper on her shoulders, I was about to ask you to do the same. I assume that since she requested you here, your team has been commandeered by the rest of Ancillaries?"

The Aspect shakes his head, "actually, my team's being borrowed by a certain Personality-"

"Is it-"

"Nope, not Roman nor Remus. Sorry. It's 'our last man standing' so to speak, all the others had ran off with Thomas, or so I've been told."

"Ah, understood", sighs the Vassal, dejectedly. He then shakes his head, "let's hope that they're all safe." His worry for them is all clearly visible within the lines of his face.

Nate places a hand on his shoulder, "don't worry too much. I'm sure that they're all right...or y'know", he shrugs, "we wouldn't be here". Patting Geoffrey's shoulder once, Nate steps back with a determined face, "for now, we need to make sure that everyone else is alright, it's the least we can do. Communication with each other is going to be essential."

"Precisely", nods the Vassal. He then pauses and gives Nate a certain look, "I know you're the Aspect or Procrastination, but I'd like to get a transmission out to the other Pens as soon as possible"

Nate chuckles, "no sweat Oldman, I already stopped for food from the Delta Pen on the way here! I'm good to go when you are!"

The wink the Aspect gives at the end makes Geoffrey gasp affronted.

He counts that as a win, even as the Oldman pushes him rudely in jest towards a Figment that is clearly some sort of technician.

---

There was thirteen of them, thirteen technicians he had to 'port around each Pen.

It started out fine, with the first meeting.

"We need to seize the airwaves! An FM transmitter like this one can broadcast a weak radio signal. This signal can be picked up by receivers in the immediate vicinity, but with a few tweaks we can strengthen it and reach up to 100 feet. Although it may not be much, it can work for us as a mini radio station."

Then technicians were fairly decent folks and got along well, even if the lot of them were somehow both loud and jumpy at the same time.

The real problem came with the fact that he had to gather the materials in areas that were decimated by those creatures.

"You'll need: FM radio transmitter, Putty knife, Telescoping antenna (no more than 35 inches long), Soldering iron, Copper wire..."

Being that he didn't know what, nor where he'd find half those things, Nate decided that he would bring the technicians himself to the areas, so they could find what they needed.