Lost in Transit

11

^^ Auto-Fed Crossbow ^^

Helen's embarrassment aside, it was very useful to use the roots of her statue, -which extended a good fifty feet in every direction,- as little induction-grills attached to her system. It would have been perfect, if not for the fact that she'd used every scrap of metal that she had left for her art-project, and now we were stumped as to where to get more, other than the Mining project.

Still, we made plans to use her old gazebo to set up a sort of cover for the Trains, tacking one side to the cliff face and the other to the ground to create a triangular 'tent' over the train-cars, hiding them from sight and keeping the metal from baking in the sun. While I was hunting, and James and Johann were designing a more-accurate radar system, (with the intent of range-finding the surrounding area for metal and crystal deposits,) Sam and Rhea began the process of re-stitching the material to manage the new use. Helen had Nicholas, and Medea was still muttering about physics, her entire room covered in notes and papers and open physics books, (of which she had about twelve, apparently, along with a series of six more detailing all known elements and their properties and known isotopes,) leaving Clark and Cassidy to their pursuit of herbs under the watchful gaze of a Golem.

I nodded, having checked up on everyone and informed them I was leaving for a bit, and left, wearing only the leather jumpsuit/armor that went under my chain mail, as the full set would make too much noise if anything hit it. I made sure to have all three of the drums of ammunition that Johann had cooked up, hanging from the same strap it was connected to, on my back for now. I took a hunting knife and all of my rope, along with a satchel full of climbing gear, just in case, and the Bottomless Bag, (the gold was hidden in the vents,) for carrying my catch home. Usually I'd carry it myself, but usually I'd be hunting for just me, not nine other people.

—

The herd of Caribou had wandered away from the portion of the mountain where I'd seen them last, moving in the general direction of a grove on the other side of the mountain, according to the trampled earth. It also showed sign of something chasing them, though I wasn't sure what. I kicked myself for getting rusty at reading Trail Sign after living in the city for only a few years, and followed quietly, around the mountain.

Being back in the woods was a relaxing feeling; there were no people, no cars, no trains, and no worries besides not disturbing the peace around you. Some might scoff at calling it peaceful, the vibrant, loud forest full of chirping snowbirds and the occasional cracking tree from the microburst-level cold that had begun to show its affects on the mountain as I ascended its slope into the noticeably thinner air, but it reminded me greatly of home.

I slipped my masked collar up over my mouth and nose to warm my breath so my lungs didn't freeze, and pulled my hood and knit-cap down until only my eyes were barely visible in the quickly-disappearing pale moonlight of perhaps 1:30 in the morning. Next I placed a small handwarming pouch into a pocket of my collar, warming my throat so my vocal cords weren't damaged or frozen. Speaking while your vocal cords were cold could easily cause them to rip apart, which I wanted to avoid.

The ground began to get oddly marshy, despite the snow that covered everything as I moved around the mountain, so I curled to my right, further up the slope towards the summit, in case that area turned out to be a mud-slide zone. As soon as I reached the top of that portion of ridge and looked down, I knew I'd made the right choice, as I saw a large swathe of downed trees and mud that was slowly freezing over, spanning almost six, maybe seven acres of heavy wood, Old-Growth trees.

"Such a waste... I'll have to come back for you... we could use that amount of wood to build a wall around the plateau, but we'd never cut down that many trees... or I'll just have a Hugo grab you all up now." I looked for one of the Giant Golems, which I jokingly called 'Hugo's', and found the one on the southern road, right nearby, then called for him mentally.