By David C. Daoust
Ratchet was at a loss. The problem with convincing people you’re not the right man for the job, is that they tend to think you’re not the right man for any job. This was another one of those lessons Ratchet did not quite have a grasp on yet. Thus the frustration built as he went from crewmember to crewmember all to try and gain access to their ‘rig’. Fact was, his account was taken by Harper. Mad at her or not, he could not really complain because she actually was the right man for the job. For that job anyway.
For a full Rig, Ratchet needed some sort of gaming gear, a visor (or a screen) with controls, he also needed an active account, and then he needed a repaired Spider-mecha. According to Grace, they had collected a mound of mechas, won in the previous battles, up on the roof. Unfortunately, these salvaged machines took time to repair; about as much time as it took for the Drones to prepare another wave.
Even if they had enough machines, they only had the seven accounts leveled out of the starting campaign, thus only seven available for Ferguson to rig up to the real-world machines. He tallied the accounts all up– Harper was on his, Dicey and Grace were on theirs. Thanks to Ratchet the Laurens were quickly able to reinforce the two girls out in the sands. Hugo had joined them soon after, again thanks to Ratchet. The old Jinn acted the exact same way as Mr. and Mrs. Lauren had– quick to volunteer to pilot their own, leaving Ratchet with nothing to work with.
This left Hamlin as the seventh account that was not in use.
Ratchet did not know where the unusual Aspirant may be. One thing Ratchet knew, was that Hamlin had an interest in maps! In fact, the Wayward Aspirant had declared himself an experienced cartographer a number of times– Usually when Ratchet had taken over the display screen, all in the hopes of showing the little guy a thing or two. Ratchet decided to start his search on the bridge where such things could be readily accessed.
The First Wave boy took the stair, up into the bridge, two at a time. All he found within was a dormant Ferguson, hovering in the corner. What exactly it was doing, was beyond Ratchet. Ratchet really did not understand it at all. This was the device used by the ‘state’ to steal a copy of his mind. All so that they could circumvent his unwillingness to play along with their ‘courts’. Ratchet had watched a holographic representation of himself plead guilty, on his behalf. Later, this same representation had introduced himself as Ferguson. Ferguson, was not him. Did not act like him. Knew things Ratchet didn’t… if he wasn’t him how could he know? How could any of it, even be fair? The ark-device was clearly no longer within the control of the state, and it had been instrumental in allowing them to ‘rig’, not only the Spider-mechas, but the Rover itself. Ratchet was weary of it all the same.
He dropped back down the stairs as quickly as he had jetted up, continued his hunt for Hamlin elsewhere. His stomach rumbled as he approached the kitchen. As far as he knew Hamlin did not eat, yet felt like it probably would not hurt to check the room— just to be certain. Wound up with a big old chunk of granola bar in his mouth as he made his way back out. ‘Wasn’t in the kitchen, not in the dining room. Did Hamlin sleep?’, he wondered to himself as he chowed down. ‘Could he have ducked within one of the many vacant apartments to nap?’ Once upon a time the Blue Family Rover had held a small community within its massive frame, that was before they had moved into the Grady Settlement, left the nomadic lifestyle of the First Wave behind.
This all led to Ratchet wondering what his own family and crew were doing. Wondering if they had any idea what had happened to him, or why. Communications were down, that was clear, however the drone had taken control of the Rover, it cut off all communication with the outside world, killed any and all of the tracking devices… it had effectively made them untrackable.
Ratchet pondered again the possibility that Hamlin was within one of the vacant apartments. He did not intend to start knocking on random doors, at least not yet. He was running out of places to check however. He supposed there was a chance Hamlin had joined the girls in the family room while Ratchet was wandering around trying to borrow a usable rig…
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