Going Home, Part 04, Greak Oaks

“So?” a woman said. “You’re the guy who stole my job?”

Eric looked up from the radio he was fixing. She was a couple of years younger than he was, twenty-two, mfaybe twenty-three, had long brown hair with shimmering red highlights. She had on blue jeans and a white t-shirt with ‘Strongburgh has Strong Vibes’ written over her moderate breasts.

It took him a moment to see the resemblance. “You must be Natalie.” He offered his hand. “I’m Eric.”

She shook it. She had a firm handshake. “You know, I was hoping to get in some repairs while I was back for the weekend.”

“You’re welcome to grab something and fix it,” he replied, ignoring the annoyance in her tone. After having Master Sergeants scream at him, or Generals order him to build impossible things, even by Builder standards, he’d gotten used to other’s displeasures.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Dad said you’ve only been working for three days. Is there going to be anything left for me next weekend?”

Eric looked at the half-empty shelves. “I didn’t know you’d be coming over. I’ll make sure not to fix everything. What do you want me to leave for you to work on?”

She glared at him. “You’re not going to let me unnerve you, are you?”

He smiled. “Sorry. After the army, not much gets to me anymore.”

She sighed, then returned his smile. “Oh well, I tried.” She grabbed the closest item to her, a plasma screen, then searched through the pile for the corresponding sheet. “Actually, I’m happy Dad hired you. He doesn’t have the steadiest hands anymore, so he hasn’t been able to stay on top of the repairs. I was worried he’d lose too many customers to keep the shop going.”

Eric attached the circuit board back in the radio. “I’m more than happy for the work and the pay. Hopefully, he’ll have enough of a reserve to last him until he finds someone to replace me when I move on.”

“You’re not staying?” She finished reading the sheet, then looked for a screwdriver among those on the table.

“I’m not leaving tomorrow, or next week, but yeah, eventually I’ll move on. I don’t see myself spending the rest of my life in Great Oaks.”

She studied him as she unscrewed the cover. “Why not? This is a great town.”

He shrugged. “I’m from the Swamp, so I’m not quite up to this standard of living.”

“Too dry?”

Eric laughed. “Well, it is odd not having to check for the water height every morning, and I’m sorry if I sounded judgmental. To be honest, I don’t know if I’ll settle there either.” He looked at her. “I’m not sure I’ll settle down anywhere. Since leaving the army I’ve been feeling this need to move about, like I’ve been stuck in the same place too long, which is stupid, since I spent the last year walking through two dozen countries to get back but it’s how it feels. How’s the university?”

She looked at her shirt. “Oh, it’s great, if you don’t mind the twice-daily explosions, the weekly release of mind-numbing vapors or the occasional robot attack.”

He stared at her. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Not really. A few of the buildings are dedicated to Teckers, so until they get a handle on how their minds work, things get out of control, but we also have a Powered campus, so they usually use that as practice for their powers. Dad said you’re a Tecker, did you go?”

“No, I went to Waterhigh Elementary, then Strongburgh high, but I didn’t stay. I left in the middle of the first year, did odd jobs for a while and joined the army the moment they let me. Fortunately, they really needed people, so I was able to get in early.”

She shuddered. “I couldn’t see myself in the army; all the weapons, the orders. Not for me.”

“Things are quiet now, so you don’t have to be worried about a draft. Your dad said you’re going to be an engineer, in what?”

“Civil engineering. I want to help plan the further expansion of the city.”

Eric chuckled. “Don’t you think Tiranis is large enough already?”

“Are you kidding? Tiranis is too amazing to ever stop growing.”

Maybe she was right, he thought, everything kept on growing. That seemed to be the way of the world.

Milton peered in. “Ah, good, you’re both still alive. I was worried the quiet meant Natalie had killed you for taking her place.”

She looked at her father, then Eric and back to him. “Dad, there’s no way he can take my place. He doesn’t have the chest to wear my bras.”

“Natalie!” Milton said, offended. “I raised you better than that.”

She rolled her eyes. “Relax dad, it isn’t like guys mind that kind of talk these days, right?”

She covered her mouth at what had to be a spectacular sight. Eric could feel his face burning with embarrassment. Absolutely nothing in the conversations he’d had with women during his trip back had prepared him for that kind of innuendo.

“I—err.” He closed his mouth and tried to come up with something more intelligent. “I didn’t expect that.”

“You have to excuse my daughter, Eric. Sometimes I don’t think she had any sense, for as smart as she is.”

“It’s okay.” He focused on a computer on the shelf to chase the image of himself with breasts. “It’s just that…well, none of my sisters would ever dare say that, especially in front of our dad.”

“Really?” Natalie asked.

He nodded. “Our dad didn’t react well to being offended.”

She studied him again, then nodded as if she’d worked out something.

Milton cleared his voice. “Maybe you can introduce them to her, and they can teach my daughter some restraint. But I didn’t come here to scowl you. Eric, with all the work you’ve done, feel free to leave after you’re done with that repair.”

“Are you sure?” he checked the old analog clock over the door. “It isn’t even three.”

“I am, you need to leave some things for you to work on next week. The shop is closed on the weekend, so just relax until Monday.”

“If you want, we can go grab a coffee once we’re done. I know a great place not far from here.”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” Eric answered her, already thinking of the car. “There’s something I need to check on today, and it’s best if I do that early.” He noticed her disappointed expression. “But you said you’re here for the weekend. If you’re not busy, we can go tomorrow. Turns out I’m not doing anything.”

“You don’t have to,” she said, voice uncertain.

“It’d be nice. You can show me around if you want. I haven’t been here long, and I barely know any of the good places.”

The smile she gave him was more confident.

He finished the repair first, and they agreed to meet at the coffee shop across the road for breakfast. He grabbed his bag, slung it over his shoulder and left the room. Milton was seated behind the counter, reading on his phone.

“Mister Finley, I know—”

“I told you to call me Milton, Eric,” the man said, putting the phone down.

Eric smiled. “Sorry, force of habit. Milton, I know we didn’t discuss when and how much I’d get paid, but can I get a few hundred as an advance? I’ve been running dry for a few days now.”

“I was going to pay you on Monday, and it should be fifteen an hour, but considering how fast you’re going through the backlog, I think I should pay you a percentage of what I get for the repairs.” He pulled a pad of paper and a pencil. He licked the tip and began writing numbers down.

Eric smiled, the gesture reminding him of his mother, when she did the monthly budgeting.

“You only worked three days, but in that time you probably did two weeks’ worth of work. Do you think a thousand is fair?”

“That’s…way more than fair.” He knew that wasn’t as much as when he left the city, but it was still a lot of money. Before he could add anything, Milton handed him a few hundreds, fifties and twenties.

“I get a sense you’re not keen on leaving an electronic trace, so I’m not going to ask for your bank account number to deposit your pay there. I’m okay sticking with cash if that works for you.”

“That’s best for me.”

Milton nodded. “I’ll see you on Monday then, oh, and Eric?”

“Yes?” he replied as he turned to the door.

“Natalie is a good woman.”

Eric paused and looked at him over his shoulder. “I have no doubt of that.”

He left the repair shop trying to think of a place to hide his money. After a few minutes he was reminded of the prickling by the absence of pressure. Even when he called up a diagram, there was no accompanying prickling. Eric had always thought the more he’d use his ability, the more difficult it would be to control, the more he’d fall toward insanity. That had been the reason he’d fought so hard all his life not to use it.

When he’d woken up by the lake, he’d taken his plunge into insanity that preceded that as proof his fear was valid. The army had forced him to Build things, and he’d lost his mind. But maybe there had been another reason for it? Maybe the type of things they’d forced him to build was the reason he’d gone crazy?

He slowed by the car as he walked and called up the diagram of it. No one had replaced the explosive he’d taken off it this morning. It seemed the morning was the only time they placed them. He didn’t know why, but he was happy about it since it meant he got to it early.

Four of the seven cars parked along the curb were the same as before, and Eric considered finding an out of the way spot to watch the car, find out who the owner was and warn them of the danger they were in. He could spend some of the time in the hardware store. He had money, so he could buy a few more tools.

Except, what if the car owner already knew of the trouble they were in and thought Eric was part of it? What if this was a rivalry between two of the city’s normal criminals? Eric wouldn’t stop taking the bombs, but it might be best he continued to do that in secret. Clearly he’d been fortunate he hadn’t been noticed yet.

He considered it as he looked around, Great Oaks didn’t seem like the place where criminals would hang out, but this was Tiranis. There were more corrupt cities, but with the many corporations, old families, Teckers and Powered, it did have a fair number of them, At least it did before he left for the army, but he didn’t think that had changed, except for them now having more advanced ways of committing their crimes. Stopping them wasn’t his job, it was the police, and if he took either side on directly, he would be in trouble.

So he kept on walking. He’d be coming by tomorrow, and he should be able to narrow the potential owners then. It was the weekend, and many of the stores were closed.