Black Market Merchant

Lisa had decided to spend the rest of the afternoon showing the three girls around her new home and dam. They didn't spend much time indoors, as Lisa didn't own much, and every room was nothing but rust and trash. Lisa just showed them where they slept then headed out towards the dam itself.

The three young girls immediately dashed over to peer over the edge of the dam’s wall. They were so excited, until they looked over.

"Wow! This is too high!" Clair said squeamishly pushing herself away from the edge.

Hanna nearly did the same, but still tentatively peeked over slightly. While Rachel had the most rambunctious attitude of the three towards the view. She could hardly contain herself.

"This is awesome!" Rachel shouted and she leaned out over the edge. So far in fact, that even Lisa felt nervous.

"Easy there, Rachel." Lisa said putting a hand on the girl’s slender back. "You should know better than to hang off something like that."

Rachel receded slightly, but she could still hardly contain herself and propped a hand on her forehead to block the sunlight. "You can see so far away! The water looks like shinny glass! Is this what birds feel like when they fly?"

"Calm down Rachel. You’re going to slip." Clair said to Rachel, but she didn't dare come back towards the edge.

"No, I won't." Rachel replied. "Isn't the view awesome Hanna?"

Hanna nodded slowly, eyeing the silent swirling waters below before replying, "The towns a lot bigger than I thought it would be."

"It really is big. I think I can see our houses from here." Rachel said pointing out towards the west side of town.

"The sky too." Hanna spoke softly looking out at the distant horizon. "It's like an endless puddle. I feel like if I threw a rock in it, it would sink forever."

"Rather poetic, Hanna." Lisa said tugging on Rachel’s shoulder to back her up from the edge some more. "How about we look at the lake next. It's very pretty and not as high."

The four turned and went to the other side, though Rachel did grumble the entire way. At this time of day, the sun was at their backs and was reflecting brilliantly off the lake’s surface like specks of glitter. The tall tan and gray cliff sides stood regal and charming on either side of the ripping lake. The evergreens wavered gently in the cool but stiff breeze. The wild landscape was a stark and peaceful contrast to the ruined post-apocalyptic town.

"Now this is much better." Clair said with relief. "I could look at this scene for hours."

"Eh, it's pretty, but I have seen water and trees before. The view from the dam is better." Rachel replied brushing her brown hair out of her face.

"No, this is much better. Looking down from that high made my head spin." Clair retorted.

"Hanna which of these views looked better to you? The dam’s view, right?" Rachel said looking to Hanna and Clair followed Rachel's lead.

Hanna looked back and forth between her two friends. They were clearly arguing, and she couldn't hurt ones feeling to satisfy the other. "Both are great. I liked both of them." She finally said giving a shrug.

"I knew you'd say that." Rachel said giving an audible sigh.

"We wouldn't expect anything less." Clair said throwing an arm around Hanna's shoulders.

"Well, we are almost done. If you two thought that these views were cool, wait until I show you electricity!" Lisa said excitedly.

"Oh, I heard of that." Clair said perking up. "There's some books from the old library that talk about it. It's like fire only it doesn't burn and it's the same thing as lightning, right?"

"Very good Clair. That's a pretty good understanding of electricity. Especially considering Mary told me that you all unfortunately haven't gone to school. I guess that is to be expected in this degraded time." Lisa said while enjoying the young girl's explanation. "You see this dam doesn't just hold the water back, it also can create electricity."

"How's that possible?" Hanna chimed in, while both Clair and Rachel nodded in agreement.

"Well let's see. A door deep under the water, on the dam’s inner wall, opens up and water goes inside the walls. Then it hits a big metal fan and makes it spin. The fan spins a shaft that spins a device called a Rotor. That Rotor is made of copper and that copper rubs on another part call a Stator. That's where the electricity is made, from those two parts rubbing together. The Stator is inside the part that collects the electricity, the generator. The generator sends the electricity through wires to a transformer. Those big, green metal things inside the building we saw earlier, they send the electricity to houses and buildings by power lines." Lisa paused and looked at the blank stares coming from the three girls. "I know that was completely new to you three, but did you understand any of it?”

"Nope!" Rachel answered quickly.

"A little bit… maybe? No." Hanna replied sheepishly.

"I sort of get it. Maybe if I could see it that might help." Clair said after some thought. “Lots of new words for me.”

"Well in that case. Let's go see the electricity working in lightbulbs!" Lisa said turning towards the Powerhouse building. Her enthusiasm hadn’t been lost yet and was feeling rather eager to show off.

The three girls looked at each other, shrugged and hurried after Lisa who was already several step ahead of them. When they arrived at the big metal doors, leading to the tunnel, the girls felt nervous. It seemed kind of creepy to them. Then when Lisa pushed open the doors and the wind burst out, and they all held hands nervously.

Stepping inside they expected a dark cave like room with creepy cobwebs and spiders, but what they found was that it was bright and empty. It was Clair that noticed where the light was coming from.

"Look up there! There are bright tinny suns on the ceiling!" Clair shouted and her voice echoed down the long corridor.

"Wow! They are so bright, they hurt to look at too." Rachel said lookin away from them and blinking rapidly.

"Then don't silly." Hanna said giggling as she too looked away from the tinny lights burning in her vision.

"Right up ahead is where you can see those parts I told you about. One is working right now, and another is apart." Lisa said watching the three girls first exposure to electricity. Back in her time every child knew of electricity and had taken it for granted. Showing off electricity for first timers must have been how Michal Faraday or Benjamin Franklin felt showing it off for the first time.

After showing them the machines parts and explaining it once more the girl’s kind of understood, but only Clair seemed to grasp anything Lisa explained. Though without schooling it would take a while for any of them to utterly understand the exciting nature of electricity. While she was explaining this, Rachel’s wandering attention discovered the echoes in the tunnel. Once that happened, all the interest in electricity was gone from the young girls and they played around making funny noises for some time. Reluctantly, Lisa gave up teaching them and let them play.

…

In the meantime, Benny, Sadie, and Zane had been left alone together after Lisa and the girls left them for the dam. There was an awkward silence for a few moments as no one knew what to say. After all they were all strangers and only just met days ago. The stiff breeze blew a scrap of paper across the parking lot, adding to the awkwardness even more.

"So, ahem, Mrs. Sadie." Benny finally said breaking the silence. "I hope everything is going better than that fight earlier."

"For the most part it has been." Sadie replied giving a nervous grin. "We need to figure out our food situation and the living area we are in needs desperately to be cleaned."

"Well, maybe you can get a refrigerator since you got electricity." Benny said with an exasperated shrug.

"Wait, there's electricity here!" Zane interrupted with an urgent look.

"Well kind of." Sadie replied. "Lisa's working on getting this dam to make some. It's only working in the tunnel right now, but for how long, I'm not sure. She said the parts need repairs badly."

Zane still seemed surprised. "I haven't seen electricity since I was eight. I can't remember what it looked like."

"So, who exactly is this guy?" Benny whispered to Sadie.

"Oh, where are my manners. This guy is Zane. Lisa said that he's going to be working for her once his wounds have healed." Sadie replied.

"Zane, huh." Benny said looking him over. "You must be the guy Joan told me about. My name is Benjamin, but just call me Benny." Benny said holding out his hand.

"Like she said, I'm Zane." Zane replied shaking Benny's hand. "I just got roped into working for her just this morning. I still don't even know what Lisa wants me to do. Especially after seeing her fight! Has she always been that good?"

"To be honest, we only have known her for a few weeks." Benny replied. The trio then headed for the Powerhouse, as the wind was kind of chilly out in the open parking lot. "Apparently she's just as skilled in all of her other fights as well. Oddly enough she doesn’t really act like your typical fighter. It seems she would rather try to make money by getting the electricity running again. At first, we thought it was just a whim of hers, but it's starting to seem like a real possibility."

Just then they saw Lisa and the girls returning from the dam’s wall. The trio followed behind them into the powerhouse building and when they got inside, they found that girls had already gone into the tunnel with Lisa.

"Oh look, the doors are open. Let's peek inside." Sadie said and the two men followed her.

When they looked inside the two men both were quite enthralled by the artificial lighting. Though there were several burnt out bulbs and many others that were dimly lit, it was a welcoming sight.

"That's a sight for sore eyes! Never thought I'd see electricity in this town ever again." Benny said feeling somewhat teary eyed.

Zane's eyes lit up in excitement as he spoke in a hushed tone. "It is actually electricity!"

Then without warning, the pain started to rack Zane's side again as he started to get overly excited. His knees started shaking as the pain throbbed badly.

Seeing him struggle, Benny held him up by lifting on Zane’s arm. "Let's get you laying back down. It looks like that side of yours hurts."

"His bed is upstairs. Just follow me." Sadie said quickly heading for the stairs. While the two men moved slowly behind.

Once up the stairs and in the office, now turned bedroom, Benny carefully laid Zane down on his mattress. Zane sighed heavily and closed his eyes. One hand tenderly laid on his wound the other clinched in pain at his side.

"Hang in there. You'll come out just fine." Benny said looking down at Zane. “Its to bad we don’t have any pain killers.”

Zane merely nodded in agreement and kept his eyes closed. It was just then he realized he hadn't gone to the bathroom yet; the fight had just been too exciting. After Benny and Sadie left room and closed the door behind them did Zane mumble a curse under his breath. "I guess I am going to have to hold it until this pain goes away."

Then he started to think about what he had just seen. The jaw dropping fight with the giant, Lisa's fighting capability and the electricity in the tunnel. It was one exciting day.

Then he started to think aloud. "I don't know what we were doing in the Black Rats. What exactly was Garrets goal? Trying to gain control, power, or just killing time? Turns out that there are so many more powerful people out in the world with actual ambitions. We know nothing. Especially since she is making electricity here! We didn't do a thing for the town to make it better for us. I think I should consider really joining up as Boss Lisa's employee, as she put it. If Garret did lose in the battle, I am done with the Black Rats, they have no future."

After making his decision, Zane tried to rest the best he could. Thoughts of what the future might bring, bounced endlessly in his excited mind.