Oxygen 2043

Chapter 5: Contact

We came back into the truck, slowly took our hazmat suits and gas masks off, because the oxygen and life support systems are working no matter what, they are secluded from the truck itself and have separate large batteries and machinery.

"Liam? What are you doing?" I asked Liam as he grabbed a screwdriver from the glovebox and began to unscrew a panel on the floor of the truck.

"Stop that. We're not supposed to do that, it's dangerous."

"I'm a security guard, yes, but I studied electrical engineering too." he said. Not that surprising, people are forced to wear a lot of hats when your civilization is so small.

"There's almost definitely a problem with the wiring in the battery array." he said while taking off the panel, whose screws he kept in the glovebox. 

Even though I was unsure a screwdriver and some fiddling would get us out, I trusted Liam when he said he knew what he was doing with overwhelming confidence. Except when he touched the wiring first, it first started to melt, and later blew up in his face. Turns out he didn't have a degree. It was an amateur hobby of his when he was in his teens. The new circuit/wiring system with so many components blew up in his face (luckily causing no injuries) with the slightest disturbance. I clicked the "Call For Help (Emergencies Only)" button on the truck screen. I was curious for a while about what exactly it would do.

The screen soon changed to a calling animation and we were apparently reaching out to "Joy Domecity Emergency Services". We were connected with a rough voice on the other line.

He said: "Joy Domecity Emergency Services. I see Adam Aquitis and Liam Henderson stranded on the MV highway. You have enough oxygen for another 29 hours right? Just to confirm." 
I responded "Affirmative. We have 29 hours worth of oxygen, and both of us are stranded on MVH near the 74th exit on the main road".

The man, after introducing himself as David, said: "I'm tracking your  exact location. Stay put... I see one of the internal circuits are fried. Are you both okay?"

Liam responded "Yeah. Liam Henderson speaking. My fault, sorry. We're both okay.".

David: "No problem. We've found your location. We're sending help right now, just stay there for a few hours.".

The line disconnected almost instantly and there was nothing to do except wait...

The lights inside the truck won't turn on so we're using phone flashlights to see when we need to.

We're going to sleep. Help should arrive in another 6 hours after we wake up tomorrow morning.
After a rather uncomfortable night, thanks to the state of dysfunction of the AC system. I was sweating just laying in bed.

08/02/43 (8th February 2043):

After finally falling asleep, I was woken up in an hour by the alarm.
Never in my life have I wanted to smash a phone against a truck wall before.

Anyway, with my grand 1 whole hour of sleep, I started functioning again. Albeit, I was super tired and dozed off most of the time. I've pulled all-nighters before and functioned normally the other day, but being in a confined space for so long, the temperature as well as the stress of the Joy team still taking so much time to arrive eventually got to me.

Stressed and sleep-deprived is one of the worst starts to your day. I speak from experience.

When I was half-asleep at 11 pm or so, Liam screamed "Oh man. My phone crinkled!"

For explanation: Technology evolved at different rates in the various domecities, which is why there are so many different types of cellphones. At Peace, we mostly use titanium foldables. But Liam hasn't upgraded his phone in literal years.