20_Giant's hope

"Knock Knock." Jimbo said as he poked his head through the doorway of the mud hut serving as Herman’s workshop.

"Hah?" The owner of the hut jumped, startled by the sudden interruption from his tinker trance. Once he got in the zone, he completely forgot about the outside world and its problems. All that mattered was the challenge of the craft.

The device he was tinkering with flew in the air. Herman grabbed for it, fumbled, caught it, lost it again. It bobbed back into the air, and in his frantic attempt to rescue it, he only swatted it farther away. He didn't have to worry though, as just before the precious trinket could collide with the wall, it got deftly caught by the gigantic but gentle hand of his visitor.

"Bozhe moi… You almost gave me a heart attack." Herman said, a hand pressed hard to his chest.

"Haha I knew your accent sounded familiar. I suspected you might be Russian, but I didn't want to pry." The giant smiled, outwardly as cheerful as always, but his eyes told another story as he carefully placed the device back in Herman’s hands.

Yes Jimbo was their camp’s leader and he couldn't show weakness, but still it was obvious to anyone who knew him that he missed his fiance very much, and the constant worrying wasn’t doing him any favors.

"Pfew." Herman exhaled, unstrapping the techno goggles from his face and collapsing onto his worn lab stool.

"I haven’t been called that in a long time. Actually I am surprised anyone still remembers the old world countries, it has been more than a century since they went the way of the dodo."

"Haha" The giant laughed, this time with much more life in his voice.

"My grandma lived in the old Russian Empire. She used to be a hardcore patriot and refused to speak anything else but Russian, despite understanding English perfectly well. Believe me, being raised by her, I know more about old world history than I do about current events. Though she never managed to make me memorize all those traditional poems and such. Oh she tried, but it seems she met her match with my thick head.”

“Ah, she would have been so happy to meet you. A real life comrade to exchange stories from the Motherland." The giant said, mimicking her stern no nonsense voice.

"She sounds like quite the character, I wouldn't mind meeting her one day.” Herman lied. He hated interacting with these so called patriots. There was a dedicated group of them in the Happy Unicorn Retirement Home. Those fanatics kept pestering him to join them in their cult meetings, but he always refused.

Even if Herman wasn't a hardcore introvert, he still wouldn't have went there. Bunch of living fossil parroting State propaganda of how great the old countries were, wasn't his definition of a good time. Plus those people were way too intense for him…

"Ahh, I am not very sure about that…" The mood of the giant crashed down again. "You see, she died just when the integration system was being implemented. The retirement people did strap all those techno devices on her, but it wasn't a sure thing. The technology was new and she was very sick in the end…"

“I never could save enough money for VR visitations, and the government didn't want to share any info if she was alive or dead. I was actually hoping I could go and search for her… Once I got past the gates I mean… I wanted to introduce A.. Alice to her…" At the end the voice of the giant cracked and he averted his gaze.

Herman gave the man a few moments to recover. He could clearly feel the pain in the man’s heart and didn't want to interrupt or make things awkward with unnecessary words.

Eventually Jimbo spoke once again. "Kakhem, khem, something got in my eye for a second, all this desert dust isn’t good for the health… Anyway, you wanted to talk with me about something?"

"Oh yes!" Herman said, only now recalling that he was the one to call the man here in the first place. "I wanted you to see this." The old tinkerer lifted up the device which almost got destroyed earlier.

The giant inspected the amalgamation of wires, random parts and tape, with a dubious expression. After carefully poking it with a finger and it not exploding, his curiosity increased.

"So what is it this time? A food synthesizer? A flying machine? …A doomsday device?” At that last guess, Jimbo drew back a little, unconsciously wiping the hand that had held the contraption against his blue jumpsuit, unsure what to think of Herman’s latest creation.

"Something even better!" Herman declared, fire in his eyes.

___

“So, let me get this straight.” Beth said, her tone skeptical.

“You want us to give you a thousand credits, so you can potentially maybe hook your device into the respawn booth and maybe possibly have a chance of messing with the respawn list?”

“Am I understanding things correctly?“

"Well… When you said it like that, it sounds quite bad… You see, if you only let me explain all the calculations and prognostications of the…"

"A a a! No more technical mumbo jumbo. You think us mortal folk too stupid to understand and try to hide your ineptitude among the jargon, but I did get the gist of it. Basically you want us to sacrifice a thousand credits for a slim to no chance of success."

Beth glanced at Jimbo, her frown softening to a compassionate smile. "I am sorry Jimbo, I know how much you miss her, but we do have to think of the bigger picture here. The camp could use those money for food and shelter. We are still not settled enough to be able to afford to waste such a huge amount of money. Despite what, SOME people think, a thousand credits isn't a trivial amount." Beth said, regaining her usual grouchy demeanor and glaring daggers at Herman.

"I… sigh… You are right Beth… I can’t in any good conscious sacrifice the good of the camp for my personal problems. And I’d rather die than fall to the level of our old leaders."

Beth nodded as she rested a reassuring hand on his remaining one, relieved her friend had made the right decision. "We will make it work somehow. Maybe in the future, when we are more established, we could revisit this again." The woman said, lightly squeezing the camp leader’s hand.

"No. I will not wait." Jimbo declared, brushing off Beth’s hand and standing up to his full height. "I will do my regular shifts as usual, but in my personal time I will work for Alice, she would have done the same for me."

And with that, the giant left the workshop hut, determination flaring in his eyes.

Beth frowned at the dramatic declaration, then suddenly span on her heels towards Herman.

"YOU!"

She unsheathed her rapier and pointed it accusingly at her nemesis’s chest, making the said nemesis flinch with the suddenness of the action.

"If your schemes end up crushing his big sentimental heart, you will be answering to me! Is that clear?"

"Sigh, you know… You have been threatening me so often and for literally everything I say or do, that by now it has lost its effect. You are getting obsessed over me woman! Can’t you understand that I am JUST trying to help out. I have no ulterior motives, I don’t scheme or twirl my mustache like a cartoon villain, I am just an ordinary person who wants to do good. Is that so hard to believe?"

"A a! Before you start accusing me of yet another evil scheme, let me do an accusation of my own this time. You treat me the same way as the people in power treated you."

"Oooh yes I did say that! Just think about it, I have done NOTHING to deserve this blind hatred, and yet you continue to spite me just for the sake if it. What is the logic in that? I just can’t understand? Just because I resemble someone bad, it doesn't mean I am that person!"

Herman shouted back at the woman. Yes it wouldn't make things better, in fact he was sure it would make her hate him even more, but to be honest he was done with caring about it any longer. He was sick and tired of being on the receiving end of her spite, just because she felt like hating someone. And now, on top of everything, she had a sword pointed at his chest.

"Just stay the fuck away from me from now on, or I might get the idea of doing a few threats of my own." And with that, the old man picked up a makeshift device from the nearby table, it resembling a sci-fi grenade covered with rusty wires and far too many spikes for comfort. He pressed the big red button at its end, and the contraption lit up with tiny blinking purple lights, a menacing whir coming from deep inside it.

Beth in turn looked furious. How dare he judge her! He had no doubt poisoned the lives of everyone below him on the pecking order. It was because of people like him that her family struggled to survive. That is what schemers and manipulators like him did. She was sure of it, just looking at the elitist man made her sick to her stomach.

In a blink of an eye she lunged her blade forward, fully intending to pierce the heart of this snake and make him pay for everything he has done. The blade pierced Herman’s shirt, but the woman stopped herself from drawing blood.

Herman in turn just waited, meeting Beth’s gaze with one of his own. Daring her to do the finishing move.

Her hands trembled, her sword still in contact with his skin, just a slight push, a flicker of her wrist and she could pierce his virtual heart.

For a moment Herman thought she might really do it, and damn the consequences. The woman's wiry muscles bulged with strain, her eyes wide as saucers, no doubt with the struggle of the moral choice.

Finally, after a tense few seconds that seemed like hours, the woman pulled her blade away an stormed away from the hut.

…

"Wow, that was intense." Slippy said from within Herman's pants pocket. For good or bad The slip had learned that the cloth wasn't impacting his speakers in the slightest, so now he took full advantage of that fact. "You think she will be back for revenge?"

"Siiiighhh….." Herman sighed with deep exhaustion, slumping down on his chair.

"Ohh I don’t know… maybe, probably, definitely, who knows what is going on in that mind of hers anymore… I know one thing though, we need a door. And a better weapon than a nail clipper…" The man absentmindedly threw the fancy overly complicated hand-grenade shaped nail clipper away, and began gathering materials for a proper weapon.

…

Meanwhile Beth strode through the camp, her maddened expression making the passersby stray away from her furious gaze as tiny fishes around a shark.

Finally she found a secluded corner and her mask of fury collapsed. She slumped down and breathed heavily, her eyes wide and full with fear.

She wasn't holding back anything back there, she was ready to kill him once and for all, letting her emotions control her actions yet again… That by itself was nothing that concerning, the bastard deserved to die. The real problem though, was something completely different…

Her sword, the same one that had cut down dozens of enemies.

This time, it couldn't even pierce the old man’s skin…

___

"How long has he been at it?” A member of the worker gang asked with dismay.

“At least 6 hours, and that is after his normal shift at the quarry.” Her companion answered.

"But that’s insane, how is he even standing? Even with the System, he is still lv 2 like the rest of us. He has to sleep sometime, he is killing himself!"

The two women continued to watch Jimbo with worry. There, the massive camp leader ran inside his customized hamster wheel. It was hooked up to a bulky mana battery with a radio dish jutting from the top. A rectangular box on the side spat out paper credit tokens at regular intervals, the stream of tickets piling up on the ground below.

It was one of the few methods that generated a steady amount of income. The more you ran, the more mana the device generated, and the more credit tickets it spewed out of its maw.

Jimbo had to keep going, he had to run, everything depended on him. He wouldn't betray her trust. He had to do his very best! His sweat stricken body kept pushing forward, despite the absolute exhaustion it was under. The deep tired breaths of the giant could be heard all across the courtyard.

The STUMP STUMP STUMP of his feet and the rattle of the spinning wheel echoed across the camp’s courtyard.

After a while, a small crowd started to form around the wheel, everyone looking with a mix of amazement and concern. By now the rumor had spread like wildfire. He was doing all this for his love.

Not everyone knew Alice, the camp had grown a lot since then, but the original worker-gang members still talked about her with genuine fondness. Their memories of her stirred the crowd, and the stubborn determination of their leader brought many of the onlookers to tears.

However determination and resolve could only go so far till the laws of reality asserted themselves. The stride of Jimbo began to gradually slow, from a run, to a jog , to a walk, until the man could go no more, collapsing and heaving for breath.

The crowd of onlookers rushed for their leaders aid. Collectively they managed to drag him off the wheel and let him rest.

"It's ok Jimbo, you have done enough already, more than anyone expected. You can rest now."

"N..no!" The giant tried pushing the people away with his remaining hand, but his strength betrayed him. Still he persisted. He shakily tried to rise, his numb feet doing their best to comply but failing miserably, leaving the giant of a man to lie down on the ground, his expression that of anger and self loathing.

"Please, stay down, rest, a random woman from the group insisted."

"We will take your place. What we earn will go for the revival of your Alice." Said another.

And with that the woman and a few of her friends entered the oversized hamster wheel. At first they were a bit clumsy, after all it was meant for a single person and not 4 of them. But soon enough they figured out a rhythm and began running smoothly.

This in turn inspired others, then more followed their example until the whole camp was working overtime in order to give this gift for their beloved leader.

The work crews at the quarries worked overtime, and whenever the people in the big hamster wheel grew tired, they were replaced by others. When all the wheels were full, Herman volunteered to construct more of them so even more people could join in generating credits.

Even the sentient magical plants in the camp’s garden contributed to the effort, offering extra vegetables that revitalized the exhausted workers.

Eventually, a task which seemed impossible for a single person, was achieved in less than a day. The thousand credits were earned and saved. More hamster wheels were build and the stone quarry expanded.

But perhaps most important of all, the ragtag groups of survivors and refugees had finally pulled together under a common cause. Not one of convenience or personal gain, but of generosity and companionship.

They were truly a community now.

___

And so the time came where Herman's expertise was put to the test. It was the day when they would attempt Alice’s revival.

To be perfectly honest, Herman felt quite anxious, he did warn everyone in advance that he wasn't very sure if his idea would work. But it seemed that nobody was listening. All they heard was that he would do “The thing”.

And now Herman had to do “The thing” or risk getting lynched by an angry mob.

Gulping with apprehension, he looked down at the random assortments of half disassembled parts of the respawn booth.

He was pretty sure he knew what he was doing, since the technology behind the idea wasn't that complex.

On theory anyway…

After all respawn booths weren't a real life thing, but still they operated on a mix of mostly science and smidgen of magic…

Still, he wasn't a wizard so maybe he needed more time to… Herman shook his head, realizing he was stalling for time and everyone was expectantly waiting for him to do “The thing”…

So with a held breath and a whispered prayer to Cthulhu, he flipped the switch.