"But if they've all been here, why would they know any different than their neighbors?" His logic seemed to make her more confused for some reason.
Windchime chuckled. "You ask that like there wasn't shit the admins in your bunker knew that the others didn't. And there are different kinds of knowledge. Some people pay attention and pick up on things that others don't. So if you keep asking, you're bound to find something out eventually."
Jessica13 nodded, focused on her work, and began to clean the purifiers again. Many of them were positioned around the town and plugged into the wells. Water continued to flow from underground, albeit far less than there should be thanks to Athena. With a little work, Tinker appeared to be able to control the balloons over the bunker so they worked to regulate the weather in the area.
She still wasn't sure how a balloon could make it rain, but that was science beyond her realm of knowledge. Maybe when she had a few quiet moments, she would be able to read books and manus about how that worked. Tinker had a whole stack of books he had admitted he'd never taken the time to read, and most towns and population centers tended to have at least one person who collected books and those kinds of resources.
The children came and went. Some were called to do their own work while others seemed to have to attend some form of learning. A few remained but even they grew bored and played their games on the sidelines. Jessica13 found herself caught in the drudgery of repetitive work that machines required if they were to continue to function effectively.
An hour before the sun reached its peak, however, the clattering of metal on metal heralded the arrival of something that moved noisily over the uneven streets of Auburn. A quick look determined that it was a cart but it took her a moment to recognize it. She realized that the man who pushed it was the one who had given her work when she had posed as a peddler.
"Hello there!" he called, raised a hand, and waved at the two of them. "I’m not sure if you remember me, Jessie, but I was one of the folks you helped when you first came along."
She nodded and Windchime merely watched the man curiously.
"Caysom," she said when his name slid easily into her mind. It was odd that she hadn’t been able to recall it the last time she’d seen him, but maybe that had simply been lack of sleep and too much adrenaline. "I remember you needed a solar charger repaired."
"Damn right I did, and I'm still using it too," he replied with a laugh and patted the device on the roof of his stall. "It works like a dream, for the most part."
"Well, I'm glad I could help," she replied.
"I wish you could have told me you weren't really a peddler," he said. "I have folk saying I'm blind as a damn cave bat now since I didn't see you weren’t the kind to peddle. Although in fairness, you did have the skill set to match what you claimed to be."
"I didn't mean to ruin your rep with the folk of Auburn," Jessica13 said. "But like you said, I wasn't actually a peddler and didn’t know the folks to trust when I came in. As far as I knew, you were all happy to be under Lady Hoot's boot and would have turned me in if you found out I wasn't who I said I was."
"Oh, I understand your predicament, and I certainly don't hold that kind of thing against you," Caysom replied and watched her hands as she continued to work while she spoke. "And I don't mean to say I blame you for fooling me. Hell, you and the Knights pulled us out from the clutches of Lady Hoot and for that, I am willing to open my special stores to you and your friend here."
"What kind of special stores?" Windchime asked. "You sell parts, usually ones that need some kind of repair before they're useful. We have piles of those on the Beast."
"Well, see, I'm not only a seller of bits and pieces, mind," the man snapped. "It turns out that's what folks want the most, so I always have those on hand, but the real treasure I carry is from my time as a trapper and a hunter in the woods around here. I’m a great provider of nice fresh meat if you like the taste and haven't the time to raise chickens or pigs."
"Why would they eat the chickens?" Jessica13 asked as her personal dilemma once more raised its head, albeit with a slightly different perspective this time. "A chicken will provide more eggs in its lifetime than the little meat you get if you kill it."
"A chicken doesn’t lay eggs forever," Caysom replied. "Anyway, meat isn't the only thing I get to pull off the beasties that I trap and hunt."
"We have animal grease too," her teammate said. "Tinker was actually hoping to trade some of it for what you folks have in terms of food and the like."
"Well, there's more to be taken from the fallen beasties," the other man explained, pulled what looked like a handful of furs from under his cart, and spread them on top for them to look at.
She recalled that a couple of the townsfolk liked to wear them over more tattered clothes, probably to make them a little warmer when the cold months rolled around. They were less thermally efficient than something made from nylon, though, and certainly bulkier. She couldn't wear something like that in the Minato either for fear
