Reforging Everrun

[danzilla3 5018]

"Oxidus! I didn't even know you where here. Come see me sooner next time!"

Oxidus was one of the founders of The Wild Hearts, who had joined with the other senior members after John and Thurgood had partnered up. He had proven himself to be a valuable asset when he helped John track down and recruit a rival drug maker. With the chemist onboard they had been able to make some truly wonderful compounds. No longer did they have to rely on the initial supply they had stolen from another would-be cartel they had wiped out in the jungles of Taen. It was good to have another member of the Inner Circle here to help.

Jack glanced over at Thurgood, "You're character judgement is impeccable as always. Oxidus is quite brilliant! The two of you should have a conversation, see how best you can make use of his talents."

The sound of incoming heavy machinery told Jack that today was going to be a day for surprises. He walked off towards the source of the noise and was greeted by the man named Albatross. He shook the clones hand with a wide grin.

"Glad to have you with us. Talk to my friend Thurgood over there, he knows what needs to be done."

[notmuch_23 2300]

Well, before Thurgood could get to the larger steam shovel, there's new people here; likely sent by Patricia. Thurgood goes to the edge of the blast site and shouts down "Get'chyer ass up here Oxidous!"

Thurgood wanted to wait until later to talk to the troll, but if there's new people here, might as well gather all the engineers and other smart people and get them to working pn problems now, especially bypassing the part of the current dirt track that goes around the large hills and gets very narrow. this road canNOT take that route, at least as narrow as it currently is, and if he can get some actual engineers working on the project, that would be nice.

@Dredge @Laughingmad

[Reflectsor 279]

"Oh, my bad. I just assumed you did know. I'll make sure I come see you first thing from now on." It seemed a reasonable assumption to make, all things considered. But the last thing Oxidus wanted to was displease the man who had given him the key to making a new permanent home for himself. It would take some doing, but this new city would provide the perfect place for him to finally settle down again. Though couldn't help wondering on occasion what had become of his old home back on Alternia. Was the security system still working? Were the maintenance robots still functioning? Were they keeping the lab clean? Did he leave the water running? No, he definitely turned that faucet off before he left.

"It was for the best.", he would remind himself. Before deciding to leave home, he looked for any possible way to get things back to the way they were before the Empress had announced the new social hierarchy, ranting and raving about a need to eliminate the "lowbloods" to weed out the weaklings and preserve the sanctity of the blood. It all came from out of nowhere, as if something in her mind had snapped. Perhaps it was the stress of dealing with affairs on Alternia, on top of those associated with the ongoing war against a myriad of attackers, who sought to wipe out all trollkind. That, compounded with the fact she had already been through the loss of one world-the Troll race's original home world, Beforus, destroyed at the hands of the very same armies who continue to menace them.

The part about eliminating lowbloods didn't quite seem to stick at first, but the blood sanctity part sure did. The sea-dwelling, amphibious violetbloods became the most well-treated beings on the planet, and were free to treat the "lesser" land-dwelling castes as poorly as they pleased. Not wanting to be the only ones being looked down on and mistreated by others, trolls of purple, indigo, and cerulean blood followed suit with the sea-dwellers, taking their frustrations out on the castes set lower than their own on the spectrum. Conflicts between castes arose, and resulted in many fights and killings, which have since spiraled further and further out of control, to such a point that it has become a fact of life for the troll race that highbloods will kill lowbloods, whatever their motivation may ultimately be.

Protests, rallies, and rebellions abounded, but to no avail. Every idea Oxidus had come up with was already tried by someone else, and had already failed numerous times. When the well of ideas ran dry, that was when he finally decided it was time to go. He does sometimes wish he could've done more, but he doesn't regret his decision, nor does he regret up on Valucre. It's turned out to be a much nicer planet than his intended destination anyway. And in spite of his circumstances, he's the happiest he's been since before everything went bad for his people. Oxidus continued bashing rocks until his presence was rather loudly requested by Thurgood. He dropped the rock he was holding and leaped up to the top of the cliff. "You don't have to shout ya know. What's up?"

[notmuch_23 2300]

9 hours ago, Laughingmad said:

"You don't have to shout ya know. What's up?

"I can't help but think your talents are being wasted just bustin' rock," Thurgood says, "I'da waited 'till tonight but Patricia got a couple more people here, so...

...there's a spot in the old dirt track that winds around a steep dropoff that gets quite narrow; had to pay triple to get my shit 'round there. Obviously, this new road ain't takin' the same way in the current state. I'd like ya to take them over to check the site out, and see whether i'd be better to cut into the hill to widen that area, or bore a tunnel and bypass it altogether."

[danzilla3 5018]

Months passed, and under the guidance of Thurgood, the city began to take shape. 

Ground was leveled, rock was smashed, and roads were lain; all with the kind of military precision one would expect from professional soldiers. John busied himself doing whatever task was put in front of him; often working longer and harder than the other men. His persistence inspired many to go the extra mile; to work just a bit longer, just a bit harder. Throughout it all, they were kept fed by a seemingly never ending stream of meat provided by Singlance. 

Now John sat in the command tent, waiting to be appraised of their progress by Thurgood.

[notmuch_23 2300]

John would hear a familiar noise just over the horizon; a diesel engine that belongs to a red Ford F-350 dualie pickup as it rolls over one of the new paved roads to the command tent.

Thurgood had spent the last few months in Jiyu, very close to the Zuhl Plateau, taking another job to do basically what he's done here. The reasons he did so were first, to raise more money for this project, especially since building the Mil Dot Port Kyros cost so much that he couldn't take more from the business, and second, to learn to pave with asphalt, a lesson he could possibly carry to some of the main roads here.

The pickup stops in front of the tent, with splatters of asphalt on the body around the tires, and the driver-side door opens.

Of course, this isn't the first place he drove to after getting to the area.

"'sup Mr. Wilder," Thurgood says, "place is building up nicely..."

Edited April 27, 2020 by notmuch_23

[danzilla3 5018]

"Indeed it has!" John agreed, "And now that we've laid a foundation, we can move on to the next phase."

He pressed a button and a holographic image of the town in its current state was projected onto the table in front of them. They had finished leveling the ground, and most of the roads inside the city proper were now paved. Now the beginnings of buildings were starting to crop up all over.

"So it would seem that we are mostly ready to move into the construction phase, at least somewhat. But I want to hear from you, what else needs to be done as we move onto this next phase."

[notmuch_23 2300]

"Supply water," Thurgood says, "and carry away the shit. I actually found a small pond right at the bottom of where a few ravines collect that's pretty much already full of animal shit. I'm sure we could use it for natural water treatment and help that ecosystem. As for supplying water, I have no easy answers. The closest source is pretty far away, and low enough that we will need to pump it, which requires electricity, and damming that river to generate it will cut Casper off from its fresh water source. Importing fuel will cost way too much to make a coal or oil fired plant feasible. Unless there's a local coal seam, petroleum deposit, or if any of the engineers can pull something outta their ass, we'll either need a solar farm or a nuke plant."

No settlement can survive without water, and supplying and treating enough for Everrun will be a huge challenge. Perhaps Oxidous or the engineers Patricia sent here can think of something.

[danzilla3 5018]

"Ah yes, about that."

John produced a set of blueprints, and unfurled them across the table. The images and writing on the documents were complex, and the gangster only knew what they were because it had been explained to him earlier. He pointed to a particular drawing on the paper.

"Do you remember those massive star ships that we saw when we went to rescue Patricia's children from that alien planet?" John inquired, "Well some time ago Alby and his boys managed to get hold of an old wrecked one. Sadly, most of its weapons systems were damaged beyond repair, but they were still able to salvage a great deal. He tells me that they were able to get one of the reactors working. How the thing works is beyond me, but it is supposed to be more than sufficient for our needs now and as we expand."

Next he pointed to another figure, "But they also had your idea of creating a solar farm. Apparently they salvaged quite a few solar panels that can be retrofitted for our purposes."

Now he looked back up at Thurgood, "So with power not being a concern, what else needs be done?"

[notmuch_23 2300]

Guess the engineers pulled something out of their asses...

"Get pumps, build a treatment plant, lay pipe," Thurgood says, "build towers, place hydrants, place a substation, lay wires, plan zoning, codify some system of law and enforcement, I mean, we're just barely scratching the surface of what makes a modern city function. It's a lotta work, but I got somethin' I think may help.*

Thurgood goes back to the cab of his pickup, opens up the passenger side, opens the steel cooler there, and pulls out two glass bottles of Acid Bomb Energy! Yep, it finally got released  Thurgood goes back and hands a bottle to John.

[danzilla3 5018]

"Ooh, what's this?" John unscrewed the cap and took a good slug, eyes widening as he did so, "Oh my... that's got some KICK!"

Truth be told, he probably didn't need the energy drink to get him the energy to work, but it sure as hell added a nice boost! He idly wondered if he would sleep tonight before dismissing the thought. Sleep would come whenever it did. Right now there were things to be done, a city to build! The urge to be moving was to great to resist now, and he tore off to start the days work.

---

Six months later, and the progress they had made was simply astounding.

Maybe it was the innate work ethic of the clones, or the possibly dangerous levels of energy that Thurgoods drink provided them with, but they had managed to build most of the city in six months. Granted there was still work to be done, but all the essentials were there. Water, power, food, and electricity were all provided for. A budding skyline was a testament to the work that they had done. 

Now standing on the roof of what would be city hall, John prepared to enjoy a bit of champagne with his lover and his second in command. He stood waiting, knowing that they would be there soon.

@notmuch_23 @Dredge

[notmuch_23 2300]

Not only does the Acid Bomb Energy drink not taste like an energy drink, it also has a surprisingly high amount of nutrition.

---

Over the past half year, Thurgood had indeed been busy here, but could not stay for the entirety of the time; he does have two more Mil Dot stores, and logistics to manage for the Damn Good Craft Soda Company. Still, he was heavily involved in the installation of every single electrical substation, a new production facility for the Damn Good Craft Soda Company that badly needed it by the time it was done, and even brought Aveline in to design another Mil Dot store in the first floor and basement of his own skyscraper.

But now he finally steps next to John Wilder on the City Hall roof. The whole new city lay out before them, and Thurgood can only think one thing: "Did those workers install the drainage grates in the right orientation?"

[danzilla3 5018]

"Yes they did," John assured Thurgood, "They were quite eager to live up to your standards. It would seem that plying them with barbeque and soft drinks had gained you no small amount of loyalty."

Blonde had called ahead that she wasn't feeling too well, so she would be up a bit later. She had encouraged him to celebrate with his friend however, pointing out how vital Thurgood had been to the cities creation. Handing a glass to his second, he gestured out at the budding skyline. 

"Can you believe that all of this was nothing but ashes and dust naught but six months ago? And I couldn't have done it without you.

Jack raised his glass.

"To New Everrun!"

[danzilla3 5018]

SUMMARY: Returning to the Village of Everrun to repay a debt, John Wilder finds nothing left of the town but ashes. But there is little time to mourn, as he decides to build a new city on the site of the old one, naming it New Everrun to honor the fallen townspeople. Summoning his second-in-command to the site, construction gets underway. In the following weeks, a military engineering corps formerly belonging to John's lover Patricia turns up to help. Six months later, the city is mostly complete, and Jack and Thurgood celebrate the achievement.

SHORT SUMMARY: John Wilder and the Wild Hearts gang build the City of New Everrun.

@Csl