Chapter Text
We finally arrived at the generator site. After weeks of traveling through the snow and cold, we had made it to salvation. I watched as the exhausted men and women that had bravely faced the snow with me collapse.
I looked down into the deep, wide, and rather circular pit. The snowstorm was showing no sign of letting up and as I brushed the snow off my googles, I could not help but grin. “Alright lads,” I commanded. “Set up the system we devised. Let’s get down there and activate that generator.” The men and women let out a half-hearted cheer before moving to it.
I watched the majority of my group descend into the pit. The snowbanks were piled high. Perhaps even higher than an average man, but that fact did not deter men and women from making a small area to stand in before pushing through the banks, fueled by the desperate desire to survive. As the platform lowered me down, I could see the men and women rummaging through wreckage that was half-covered by the still swiftly falling snow.
“Alright lads, let’s get that generator up and running!” I shouted. “You lot! Get to work on building us some shelter. Everyone else, if you aren’t building or starting up the generator then find something to do. Those boxes of supplies aren’t going to empty themselves!” A rather disunified cry of “yessir” went up.
With that handled, I turned my attention to the generator. The mechanical behemoth towered dozens of feet above me. Its titanic form consisted of a solid base, a round circular looking engine, what was most definitely a room or two inside, most likely for onsite engineers, and a crown of iron that should be emitting fire and smoke. A couple of engineers that had survived the Freeze entered the machine at my nod. “Captain Oliver! The machine works.” One of the engineers cried. I grinned like a loon and replied, “That’s just grand then. What seems to be the holdup then? You got the coal.”
The engineer was silent for a bit before shouting down, “You see sir, the Generator needs constant coal intake and at the rate it consumes, what we scavenge won’t be enough to last the week.”
My face twisted into a grimace. That would prove to be a major challenge.
“Get back down here!” I shouted up at them.
When they appeared in front of me, I was ready to make a decision.
“Gentlemen,” I began, “I have a plan. We are going to have to set up a coal thumper.” The engineers and scientists alike looked at each other before back at me. One particularly courageous one spoke up. “Sir? The Coal Thumper was a onetime project. The amount of pressurized water needed was astounding.” My eyes narrow at the defeatist. “Yes, well unless you plan on dying in the snow, cold and alone like the weak-willed soft debutante that you so seem to be then go for it. The rest of you, organize some workers and build me my damn thumper.”
The hesitation lingered.
“Get to work. You have snow to melt into water and coal to retrieve from the ground!” My shout jolted them into moving and I watched them rush off.
I turned my attention to the generator. Entering, I found a small handful of rooms. Presumably this was where the overseers of the Generator Construction Site lived. They would serve as my own private room and office.