Voyage Of The Independence: New Life

ACT III: Pt.1: Hole in the Ground

⚠Make sure to vote and comment⚠

"This is home for you?" Adrien walked the room of the nuclear bunker. The 'hole' Fix had mentioned was a dated bomb shelter. Some how it didn't click in his head that the 'hole' filled with supplies, mentioned in the audio logs, was a pre-end war shelter.

"Yeah!, Pretty cool right?" She was like a little kid showing off their secret hide out. Unable to stay in one spot, Fix was back and fourth through the abundance of tinkering projects she had assembled over her time on the planet. To Adrien it all looked like junk; assorted strange works of metal art which seemed to serve no real purpose.

The entire bunker was riddled with it. Paths were dug out of the mess so she could get around easily but all Adrien could compare it to was like a tornado through a thriftstore. There was almost a moment of reconsidering the problems he was about to invite back onto the Independence. Was filthy habits enough of a reason to abandon someone though?

It might have looked unplesant however, in the girls eyes, each was a milestone in her years alone. Crafting and learning new things about herself and what she was capable of.

"Check this out!" The child like behavior only increased, now Fix was snatching up her projects from piles of tech she collected and pushing them into the mercenaries' hands.

Adrien turned the strange device over without a clue of its functionality or what it even was. The big green eyed stare and smile from his new companion was to much to ignore. He had a past history dealing with children so he knew from experience the giddiness wouldn't stop unless he humored her.

"Is it... Some kind of time bomb?" A wild guess at best. It had no exact definition other than some dials and buttons. Fix laughed then snatched the piece from him.

"No dumb ass it's a radiation meter." Her swearing was rather jarring to the man but not impossible to look past. Fix flipped a switch inside the contraption Immediately the familiar ticking of a Rad Counter echoed from the piece. "One of the first things I ever made." The look Fix was giving the device only amplified how special the outdated invention was to her. "For a long time, My skin would burn while I traveled. If I stayed in somewhere too long I would get sick. Then I had this strange vision, and built this the same cycle. Somehow I just knew what it was, I learned everything about it in one of my visions. I starting avoid areas with a lot of radiation, started feeling better too."

"You built this from nothing but a dream?" He asked, finally realizing it was an arm mounted device.

"No, it was while I was one of those sleep sees." Fix was familiar with the word but associated it with the definition of life long goals not subconscious visions.

"It's the sameth-" Adrien cut himself off. Knowing it was best to just go with it and not cause any issues in their first hours of meeting. "It's the same with the Solar Panels right?"

"Yeah! How did ya know that?"

"You're transmission..." Adrien had listened to the audio files several times while in search of Fix. It made sense the one telegraphing the signal would be familiar with the content of the files as well.

"Oh yeah..." Her face seemed to cringe. " I was craaaayzeeee." As if implying she wasn't as mentally unstable now. Her skills were enough to balance out the bit of insanity she had, and Adrien was more than willing to work past it.

"You were alone for along time. Anyone would go crazy."

She giggled, "No you're crazy!" Like it was some name calling game.

"Fix, you went through alot. Being unstable is just a result of that pain." An attempt to sympathize with her. Given the females situation and placing himself in her shoes; Adrien was sure he would have lost his mind all the same. Possibly even resorted to taking his own life. The mercenary also had been traveling the blank of space for years since his waking, so loneness was just a part of his job description at this point.