"I think we might be able to get bits and pieces from the train you and Chime brought back," he replied.
She looked at him and tilted her head. "I have been meaning to ask, why do you call him Chime? I don't think I've ever heard anyone else call him that."
"Oh." Tinker grunted and looked around cautiously before he replied. "It's because he asked me not to call him that while we waited for you. Honestly, it’s hard to resist that kind of request, you know?"
"You're incorrigible." She laughed.
He nodded. "That is not inaccurate. But don't tell him."
"Not a word," she agreed.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The election took most of the afternoon and they only managed to decide on an actual mayor for their town by the time the sun had begun to set again. Jessica13 almost couldn't believe that she had been awake since the day before, but she could feel the effects.
At the same time, it was odd that while she was tired, she also felt she could go on for a few more hours at least. She worked with Tinker to collect the items he didn't want for the people of Auburn to look at in case they wanted to trade or barter anything. The town didn't have any canteen or currency system in place that would allow them to trade in that, but it didn't really matter.
As the day went on, she resumed the job she’d done while posing as a peddler the day before. It meant she could at least get some of the bits and pieces working around town again while Tinker was busy bargaining and trading. The townsfolk had been told not to trade too much since they didn't want to commit to a reward they were suddenly unable to pay, but there was more than enough that they no longer used that the knights were able to make use of.
There was, of course, something else Tinker was out there in search of. She wasn't sure why he thought these people would know anything about Citta del Mar. Maybe they simply thought they needed to ask as many people as possible and through sheer numbers, they were bound to find someone who had heard of or seen it in the past.
Jessica13’s eyes began to drift shut as she continued to work on cleaning the pieces for their water purifiers. Tinker talked to a couple of the locals and a few of them offered a couple of data sticks that might contain something about Citta del Mar that they wanted to trade for some of the oiling mechanisms he was selling.
He knew better than to take their devices at their word, of course, and while data sticks were generally worth acquiring anyway, he wouldn’t part with anything cheaply. She wondered if the man had been a peddler in his past as well or if haggling was merely a skill he had picked up during his years with the Knights.
"I won’t simply hand over perfectly functional oil dumpers for a data stick I haven't checked," he said. "For all I know, you could have handed me a sick stick or maybe there's some kind of defect in it that'll make me a sucker. I need to check it."
"If you plug it into anything you own, you'll copy anything on there and hand it back," the citizen replied. Jessica13 wasn't sure where this sudden mistrust of the Knights had come from but then decided they were merely haggling as well. There were no hard feelings in stating the obvious.
"Why don't you bring me something you own to show me that the stick won’t wreck my software first and then we can talk," Tinker said. The man agreed, took a screening device from his pocket, and plugged it in.
"See, there's mention about a city by the sea in that story there," the man said and pointed it out.
"The story is about a fisherman and the sea and I've read it before," her teammate replied and shook his head. "It's all right but not really for me. I think it moves too slowly. To the point, though, I'd still like to take the data stick if you're willing to part with it. I’ll trade one of the oil dumps and even throw in a can of grease from a couple of beasties we managed to bring down."
Jessica13 narrowed her eyes. How did he get a can of grease from animals? Maybe he traded someone for it? Then she recalled that Tinker always put a pan under the animals he cooked to collect the fat when they were lucky enough to kill or trap one.
The explanation seemed logical so she turned her mind to her work, leaned in closer, and tried not to nod off. If she did fall asleep, she would lose a couple of fingers.
That thought alone helped her to stay awake. While she did want to head to the Beast for a few hours of shuteye, there was still work to do. None of the other knights had taken any time off, even though Tinker and Windchime had been at it even longer than she had.
Or had they? Her mind seemed unable to process things sufficiently to deliver an answer.
Tinker moved to where she worked and noticed that she struggled to keep her head up and eyes open.
"Why don't you stroll over to the Beast and get a few hours of shuteye, lass?" he asked.
"Is it that obvious?" Jessica13 asked and looked at him quickly.
"Well, you keep nodding your head forward like you're listening to loud music," he pointed out.
"But you and Windchime don't need any rest," she said and shook her head. "No, I only need to push past it. Maybe some of that energy juice."
"I'll be honest with you, lass, I'm knackered as well, no doubt about it," he said. "But Chime and I had a little sleep while you were infiltrating this
