“Oh, I do.” She sighed and gazed at her body. “Thank you for this by the way. I don’t know how I’m going to pay you back. Looks expensive. Guess I’m going to have to spend the next year salvaging.”
Will smiled patiently. “Forget about that… there’s no need. The citizens of Rust Town banded together to get you the spare parts you needed. They paid for this body. And you’re right, it’s definitely expensive.”
Rhea started blubbering. “I can’t believe they’d do something so nice for me.”
“You deserved it,” Will said. “They believed you were instrumental to the victory. You brought them all together. Showed them they could win. You could have run away like Horatio and I, but you didn’t. You’re a hero.”
The tears came even stronger.
Will held a pair of small collection tubes beneath her eyes, and she felt the suction as Will vacuumed up her tears. “Careful, conserve as much water as you can.”
“Why?” She shoved aside the tubes and wiped at her cheeks, willing herself to stop crying.
“The city has cut off Rust Town’s water supply,” Will explained.
“What?” Rhea sat up. “We can’t allow that!”
Will shrugged. “Probably won’t last for long. The people of Rust Town are in full revolt.”
“Has Aradne admitted to sending the bioweapons?” she asked.
“Not yet,” he told her. “Though it seems obvious to most of the locals that it was them, considering what they did to the water. Everyone who climbed the wall and claimed asylum? The city sent them right back into the slums when the bioweapons were gone.”
“But there’s nothing here,” she said. “This place is in ruins.”
“Some neighborhoods actually made it through the battle unscathed,” he said. “And of course, the rebuilding has already begun in those places that were hit hardest. That’s the nice thing about having cargo containers and lean-tos for homes: it doesn’t take long to put up new ones. Especially when you have a whole settlement full of raw material for your 3D printers.”
She gazed at him uncertainly. “We have to help them get their water supply restored.”
Will sighed. “Though I’m not sure there’s much we can do, I was afraid you were going to say that. So, I take it you don’t want me to hook you up with my pro gamer friends? So you can live the life of a streamer?”
She shook her head. “No. I suspect drone racing isn’t in my future anymore. Wait.” She looked searchingly into his face. “You’re talking like my salvaging days are over. What about my debt? I’m not even close to paying it off.”
Will shrugged. “You’re not in debt anymore. Like I said, the residents pitched in and donated quite a bit. You’re a free woman, now.” He glanced over his shoulder. “You should get up. You have a few fans who want to see you.”
Will deactivated the overhead light; now that she didn’t have it shining blindingly into her eyes, she took a moment to survey her surroundings. She appeared to be in a cramped bedroom of some kind.
“We’re in Bardain’s place,” Will said.
Rhea nodded sadly, and reluctantly arose.
Will led her out of the room and into a cramped hallway. They passed different doors before entering the spartan foyer of the lean-to. She gazed at the familiar guest chair and table, remembering a time when Bardain had given her leave to sit there so she could wait for Horatio after her lessons.
The pair crossed to the door, and Will beckoned her forward.
Rhea opened it.
A throng had gathered outside, stretching across the street and filling the road in both directions. People even crowded the rooftops of the lean-tos and cargo containers across the way.
Confused, she glanced at Will. “They’re all here for me?”
Will nodded.
It was so very overwhelming. Once again, she felt her eyes watering.
Will wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder.
“It’s the Warden!” someone called from the back. “The Protector of Rust Town!”
A cheer arose. “Warden! Warden! Warden!”
It was quickly taken up by the crowd.
“Warden!”
“Warden!”
“Warden!”
Rhea quickly shut the door and backed away into the foyer.
“I can’t do this,” she said. “I can’t face them. I’m no hero. Good men and women died to protect this settlement. I’m one of the lucky ones who lived. I can’t dishonor their memory by trying to take credit for something I didn’t do. I didn’t even see the task through—I fell to the bioweapons before the city was liberated.”
“Don’t be like that,” Will said. “Get out there. You have to. You are a hero.”
“I’m not,” she insisted.
“Look dude, you’ve faced bioweapons the size of houses, creatures with multiple heads,” Will said. “This is nothing in comparison.”
She could still hear the cries of “warden” coming from outside.
“Why are they doing this?” she said. “What do they want? How do they even know me?”
“Videos of what you did have gone viral on all the streaming sites,” Will explained. “You’re famous now. It’s one of the drawbacks of living in the modern age, where anyone can become a citizen journalist courtesy of the cameras we all wear. It’s very easy to stream someone doing something heroic.” He smiled. “They call you the Warden of Rust Town. You say you have no followers? Well you have a few now.” When she didn’t answer, he pressed on. “Come on, dude. Go talk to your fans. Take some selfies. You know, do what famous people do. They’re not leaving until you do…”
Rhea sighed. “I never wanted this.”
Will shrugged. “I’m sure it won’t last for long.”
“Of course it won’t,” she said. “When they find out what a fraud I am. I didn’t save their city. Instead I got my body torn to pieces.”
“It’s not a matter of whether your body survived to the end,” he told her. “It’s the sheer bravery you showed. The heart. What you did, the actions of one brave cyborg, drove an entire settlement to fight, uniting people and robots of all makes, models and
