The Ruins of Alpha Centauri (The Tes Simms Anthology, Book 2)

The Generator

"I've been giving it some thought about what to do in this situation," Sola says. They're pacing the floor, clearly racking their brain. "I think we should get Aurora up and running so that the two of you can get out of here."

I nod, but Holly crinkles her nose. She was unconscious the moment she hit one of the hospital beds Sola cleared. I, on the other hand, didn't sleep for more than an hour last night. How could I? There were only four more hours of nighttime, anyway.

"And you?" Holly asks. "What will you do?"

"I'm not sure. I have no home here, but I don't belong anywhere else."

"You could come with us. I wouldn't mind, and I'm sure Tes wouldn't, either."

"We ought to get Aurora working before we go down that path. Any idea what to do?"

I make a motion with my arm to signal a steam-powered generator. They both stare at me blankly.

I hate charades.

After another couple moments of motioning, Holly has an epiphany.

"A train! We need a generator from a train!"

Close enough.

"But it has to be steam powered. Do you have any steam powered generators?"

"I sincerely doubt it. If we do, it would be in the museum."

"Then I guess that's the place to go."

"Of course, even the museum is high tech," Holly says, staring up at the tall, domed ceiling. There are electronic displays, long since turned off, for different sections of the museum. To our left, an anthropology section highlights the history of life on Earth. The rest must have something to do with non-human stuff, like dinosaurs.

"Still fascinated by the concept that you guys weren't surrounded by technology like this. Even though I never got the chance to see or use most of this, it still feels like ancient technology."

"Well, ancient technology is exactly what we're after, apparently. Feels weird to say about the time you grew up in."

We go to the start of the anthropology tour, reading some of the information as we do. It opens with early humanity dwelling in caves and slowly progresses through the timeline. When it hits the 1900s, it brings up World War I, then skips to the Cold War and the power of nuclear weapons.

"So there really was no Steam War, huh?"

"Not as far as I know. Really strange that you guys didn't have nuclear energy. That's sort of the basis for a lot of technology nowadays."

"If this tour is going in chronological order, we should have seen a generator by now. Or even a mention of steam."

"Maybe it's further ahead in a different subsection."

We continue down the path, stopping for more history along the way. It gets into the early and mid-2000s, discussing things that happened here, but haven't in our own future. How many of these things will happen? Is there going to be a global food shortage, or climate change? How many of these enormous events will we share?

Beside us, Aurora begins to glow slightly. At first, I'm the only one who notices, with Holly and Sola leaving us behind.

"Glowing," I say, causing them both to jump. When they turn, neither can decide who to look at.

"Glowing? Why is Aurora glowing?" Sola asks. "Also, this is the second time you've spoken now. That's good!"

I try again, but nothing escapes my lips. My only response is a shrug.

"Too bad you don't have control over it," Holly says. "You have a pretty voice. I mean, it's a normal voice, but it's nice to hear. Because you don't talk."

She ducks her head to the floor, and I do the same. Why am I blushing? That was such a silly, half-hearted attempt at being nice. She walked it back as soon as she said it. Still, I can feel a little burning in my cheeks.

Aurora moves to hop in a different direction from the path, glowing a little more with each movement. If she's going towards whatever's making her glow, that means it's good, right?

The three of us follow, silent and on edge. Sola couldn't know, but the only other time Aurora was glowing like this was on the Hindenburg, and that was not an experience any of us want to relive.

Eventually, Aurora stops in front of a closet and points her nose at the handle. Stolen gun raised, Sola steps to the side of the door and slowly turns the knob.

"Oh, thank God," Holly says, her shoulders slumping. "It's a generator!"

"A generator in a storage closet? What's it doing here? And, more importantly, is it a steam generator?"

"I don't know. I've never seen one before."

Sola's jaw drops. "You mean to tell me we came all this way to find a very specific generator, and you don't even know what it looks like?"

"Maybe Tes knows," Holly suggests, smiling weakly.

I kneel in front of the machine. A thick layer of dust cakes its machinations, but there are prominent gears and pipes jutting from the body. It's a steam generator, for sure. I give the two of them a thumbs-up.

"Alright, great!" Holly says, a weight lifted off her shoulders. "All we need now is water and a power source."

"A power source? We still need a way to power this generator?"

"Yeah, something to get it started, like coal. Not that we have easy access to that."

"Actually, I know where we can find both water and a power source," Sola says. "And a safe place to get Aurora started up: Nautilus Tower."