1:4:4 Cyenzeit (Part 1)

Spinning. Char was still in awe. Apart from the sign with the settlement’s name, English had become a secondary language, with every other sign taking on the concentric and overlapping circular font present on Char’s teleporter. The settlement appeared to be split into two areas; there was an almost military style camp and then a conventional small, Western Quatarrian town. Char skipped over to the sign outside of the base and chuckled.
“That’s kind of funny.” She smiled. She swiped the sign as if scrolling on a tablet to translate what it said. “Lores and Chars only beyond this point. It loses something in the translation.”
They moved closer to the main village and, as they did, the sand finally got the hint and conceded to concrete roads, retreating to the sides and forming sand banks. Lore moved over to the side of the road and emptied their shoes out and dusted off their socks, returning the sand to its people. They smiled as they replaced their shoes, bouncing on the balls of their feet, enjoying the lack of grit between their toes. While most of the town seemed to be housing, there were several spaces for people to gather; the town had several parks, a church and a community centre. As they walked past the park, the true purpose of The Occam’s Razor became clear. In addition to being a mobile staging ground, it was also the last refuge of the Quatarrian species. Parents sat watching their children playing in the park. Easterners and Westerners sat, laughing together and watching as their children ran amok, chasing after each other, pistols in hand. Children born without sharing their parent’s first hand experiences of war saw the weapons they carried not as a reminder of pain and tragedy but as dangerously fun toys to be played with but also cared for. For a people who were very nearly extinct, there was an air of true happiness. Seeing them, Char brought Lore closer; she tightened her grip on them as the children started staring. Eventually, they went back to their games.
“Have you ever thought about having kids?” Lore leant their head on Char’s shoulder.
She seemed stunned by the question, unsure whether to take it at face value or to read deeper. “I am now…” She sighed.
“How early do children usually get the implant then? They look no more than five.” Lore gestured to the park.
Char just shrugged. “My memories don’t go back that far. Sorry.”
“Depends on where the family’s from.” One of the parents turned to better address them. “Most of the Western families say that once a child can run and talk, they’re ready but the Eastern parents say that a child shouldn’t have an implant until they’re at least five.”
“Makes sense, Eastern implants draw more energy over a shorter amount of time.” Char added.
“Are you two lost? It’s not every day you see a Lore and a Char off base.” The parent nodded back up the main road.
“We’re new here. We were just having a look around.” Lore smiled. “Is there a reason why?”
“Hel if I know. They go to all this effort to make us comfortable but then never visit.” They turned and handed their child a drink. “It’s just a bit strange is all.”
In the distance, by one of the slides, one child found themselves cornered by the rest of their friends. Out of breath and in an impossible situation, they just closed their eyes and smiled. The children around them said something none of the adults present could hear before the squad fired on their target. Lore was astonished when out of the pistol came not water but a bolt of golden light. The children hit their mark who was now on the floor laughing, clutching at their burnt shoulder. Lore jumped the park fence and went to run to them but Char stopped them. The child’s arm erupted with golden light; the flames rapidly engulfed their shoulder but soon died down and the child was back to playing. Lore stood shocked at what they had seen.
“Even if you can’t die, that’s got to hurt.” They shook their head.
“Oh it does but that’s part of what makes it fun. Plus it’s great for training.” Char smiled. Lore didn’t look too pleased. “It’s a cultural thing.”
“I get that guns have a certain… appeal… to them but to give them to your children at such a young age?” Lore watched as the children continued firing at one another.
“It’s not always about weapons.” The parent turned back around. “In both Eastern and Western culture, the child must first learn not only to respect their implant but also understand its power. While we Westerners only really use it to power weapons, Eastern implants were and are more commonly used to charge precision mining equipment; in fact, the first weapons the Eastern forces were given were modified mining lasers. May I?” They pointed at Char’s holster. “I handled a fair few while on rotation in engineering.”
“Of course.” Char handed them her pistol, carefully draining the power cell and disconnecting it from her implant before she did.
They checked the pistol over, going so far as to begin to field strip it to inspect the interior. “Now that’s peculiar. This is an Eastern mining hand drill but it has been modified and manipulated. See this here, the casing has been cut away to make room for this new focussing bank. There are double the number of lens options. I really don’t know what whoever made this was smoking but it must have been wild. I’m not sure if it’s a work of exemplary engineering or the ravings of a madman in handheld form. I’ve never seen anything quite like this.” They shook their head. “If you wanted to know more, I’d go down the road a bit, building on the right. The smiths will be able to help…” They handed Char back her pistol in pieces. “Sorry… Oh, hold on, you’ll want this bit too.” They handed Char back a couple screws and a polymer washer.
“Thanks…” Char made sure that she had all of the parts before she started looking for the smith’s building. “This way.” Char wandered vaguely in the suggested direction, shaking her head the entire way at how naive she had been to allow a stranger to inspect her weapon.
Lore had no clue where she was going to end up; the Quatarrian signage was thoroughly unhelpful. Lore meandered behind her at first but then sped up to walk with her. It didn’t take her long to scan through the entire settlement and find the weapon smith. Lore overtook her to open the door, making sure not to jostle her or knock any of the parts from her hands. Char set the parts down on the counter and rang the bell to attract the smith’s attention.
“Told you they’d come here first.” A white haired woman pushed past them, shouting out of the door, at the saloon opposite. A second, taller, defeated woman approached.
“Shut up! You said they would go straight to their quarters then hit the bar.” They grumbled as they started walking over to the smith’s shop.
The first woman shook their head. “Conveniently forgetting last night then… I changed my bet last night. I said they would go to the park then come straight to me.” They held out their hand. “Bad luck Lusci now cough it up.”
Their partner reached into their pocket and withdrew a fistful of Rel. They checked the cogs, deposited a couple back in their pocket, then slammed them down on the counter. “Fine.”
“Lusci…” Lore squinted then it hit them. “You’re Luscillus.” They span on their heels. “So that must mean you’re Allana.”
“Well, at least they remember us.” More Rel changed hands. “Good to see you again.”
“Feels like we only saw you yesterday.” Luscillus added jokingly. “Come in.” They gently nudged past Lore to stand with Allana behind the counter.
“Now then, let’s see what the nasty lady’s done to you.” Allana tapped the floor twice, summoning a chair, then sat down.
“How did you know it was a lady who did it?” Char shot her a suspicious glare.
“Your weapon, your mistake. You are a lady aren’t you? So hard to keep these things straight these days.” Allana laughed. They immediately began examining the weapon and the parts they had been given.
Luscillus started poking Allana. “You paid off the people in the park didn’t you? That’s how you made sure they came here first.” Luscillus shook their head. “You’ve put the compensator in backwards.” They continued to poke Allana as they worked.
Allana stopped what they were doing for a moment, checked their work then continued. “I’ll put you in backwards.” They brandished their screwdriver at Luscillus.
“That doesn’t mean anything.” They chuckled. Lore and Char joined in.
Allana closed up the pistol. “Got a laugh though didn’t it and it got you to stop so I could finish working.” They picked up the complete pistol, sweeping away the pieces they couldn’t fit back in. “Masterpiece of engineering if you ask me. A mining drill with range.” They seemed so proud.
“You designed this?” Char checked her pistol over before reinserting the tubing to both the magazine and her implant. It charged slightly quicker than she was expecting.
“Oh, I’ve removed one of the limiters. You shouldn’t have any issues with the rate of fire.” Allana smiled.
Char shrugged. “Thank you…” She paused. “It wasn’t an issue but thanks.”
“Right then, shall we get you started?” Luscillus held the door open.