The tall
woman picked him up and carried him into the garage. She had to use
both hands that time since she was not in a power armor - she wore
regular personal armor instead.
George
was brought straight into the room at the back, where he knew
personal weapons and armor were stored. The Vixens were going to
provide him with armor. Hopefully, with proper armor that time
around. Not female armor like in his previous adventure.
There
was another armored woman waiting in the armory at the back. She was
of average height, which made her taller than George. Without her
helmet, the boy could see that she had her brown hair tied into a
bun. It was Mabel.
And
George was in luck. There was a new set of regular armor for him, one
that was the proper shape for a man. It came complete with helmet and
mask, breastplate and backplate, pieces of armor for limbs and
joints, gauntlets and armored boots too. And it fit his small frame.
Mabel
had a jolly happy time slapping the armor onto George. Once she was
done, Tricia carried him out to the main work area.
Being
handled and moved around, George felt like he was a piece of cargo.
Or a mannequin.
Sitting
at the front of the work area was an armored pickup, which George
assumed was their ride for the day. The pickup was different from
those that George was familiar with. The general shape was the same.
However, it had an open cab with four seats for passengers, and it
had two pairs of large wheels. Under the hood in front, it had an
oversized combustion engine, unlike those in the city that ran on
electric motors.
There
were several lockers in the cargo space in the back. Installed
between the two back seats and dividing the cargo area was a tall
narrow box with a lid on top. It appeared that there was machinery to
open the lid on its own.
George
could not guess at the function of that box. Perhaps it was a more
secure storage for cargo.
There
were roll bars around the passenger area. Plates of armor had been
attached all over the vehicle though the top was noticeably bare.
Nicks and dents on the armor showed that the pickup had seen some
rough use. In fact, one of the lights on the roll bar above the
passenger seats looked like it was slightly out of alignment.
George
was dropped into the front passenger seat. Tricia took the driver's
seat while Mabel sat at the back. Shortly after, they were off to
face the fearsome creation of man that guarded the land exit out of
Covenant: paperwork.
"This
would go quicker if you did this," Mabel grumbled in the back
seat as she filled out a form on a datapad. It appeared that they
would be stuck at the city gates for a while.
"It's
your turn," Tricia said, "Hey, that form doesn't mention
anything about declaring vegetables, does it?"
"Don't
be silly, I wouldn't... Argh, I've been filling the wrong form!"
Mabel stabbed a finger at the back of Tricia's head. "This is
why you should be filling the forms!"
Tricia
chuckled. She turned to George. "Hey, Squirt, take one of
these." She pulled a narrow length of hose out from between the
front seats.
George
pulled out another tube. He noted that the other end was attached to
a device of some kind. With his view of the device blocked by the
seats, he could not guess at its function. "What's this for?"
Tricia
plugged the hose into a socket at her side, beneath her armor. "To
keep you cool out there. Remember to disconnect it before jumping
out."
Earlier,
George had been puzzled when Mabel put a strange vest on him, one
that had many tubes. It was worn underneath his breastplate and
backplate. The temperatures in the wasteland were known to be
unbearably high and their vehicle did not have an enclosed cockpit.
When exposed to the elements, the vest would help keep him cool.
Tricia
slid aside the armor under her left arm to reveal her wristcom. "Now
we need to hooked you up to the vehicle's computer."
George
also uncovered his wristcom. Following Tricia's instructions, he
downloaded applications to connect to the vehicle's onboard computer
and to his mask. When he activated the applications, data appeared on
the Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) within his mask. He recognized a
compass heading, a speedometer and an altimeter.
There
was a pause as Mabel continued filling forms. "Don't you need a
power armor out there?" George asked the tall Vixen.
"I
don't think I'll need one today," Tricia replied, "We're
not expecting serious combat. Besides, a power armor is hardly useful
in a moving vehicle. And it's bulky and heavy and synthetic fuel
isn't cheap."
George
considered her explanation. The extra weight of a power armor would
mean that the pickup would require more fuel to move. There was
already the weight of the armor plates attached to the vehicle. That
also explained why the top had no armor.
He
looked about the vehicle. Since he had realized the significance of
weight, he saw that the pickup had been modified to be as light as
possible. Their seats were mere skeletal frames with the thinnest of
padding. There were actually gaps at his feet where George could see
the roadway beneath.
Eventually,
Mabel was done with the forms. Once the paperwork had been processed,
they were cleared for departure. Tricia took them out the city gates
onto the ramp beyond. She accelerated down the ramp and onto the
sandy ground.
George
had heard from Mabel that the sandy ground had once been a highway of
the old city on which Covenant had been built. All around him, he
could see the base supports and foundations of buildings that had
once been part of that old city.
There
were other vehicles on the broad sandy thoroughfare. There were
transport trucks, dune buggies, other pickups and the occasional
tank. Most of them were in orderly groups. More than half of them
were heading away from Covenant.
Tricia
sped the Vixen pickup past convoys of other vehicles. Their speed
eventually took them past the old city limits and out into the open
wasteland where the sand stretched as far as George could see.
He
checked that his breathing mask and his cooling vest were working
fine.
***
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