Corpo Age

Chapter 32: The Wastelanders

“...Sarah?” I muttered.

The man and woman in front of me instantly snapped toward me. I noticed how agitated the man beside her was, with sweat dripping from his brows and his finger on the trigger. Meanwhile, Sarah had a bewildered look. “Tell your friend to relax Sarah, it’s me, Rollo.”

She turned and gave the man a look. After a brief stare-down between the two, the man yielded, and pointed his gun down, but still at the ready.

“Rollo? Where are you?”

“Right here,” I said, as I deactivated the active camouflage in front of her.

“Woah, is that how you used to sneak around? You scared the shit out of me.”

“Ha, sorry about that, but you guys were following my group.” I stole a glance at the inconspicuous turrets mounted on their oversized dune buggy.

“...Things have been hectic since I got back. My dad ordered the clan to retaliate against the corpos who kidnapped us. Are you on a job… protecting convoys?” Her face dimmed as she asked, while the man beside her visibly tensed.

“Nah, this is for my business. Needed some raw materials the corporations wouldn’t sell.”

“Really?” She exclaimed. “That’s cool—wait a second…take these and put them on your rides. That way, our clansman will know you’re friendly and won’t attack you guys.” She handed me several devices with a button on them. They looked like car keys from my world.

“Princess, NO! You can’t give outsiders those!”

“Okay…” I alternated looks between the two.

“Shut up! Rollo is me and my brother’s benefactor,” She gave the man a cold shoulder and turned to me. “Don’t mind him. Anyway, you should come to visit us. Caleb would be happy to see you again and my dad would like to thank you as well.”

Before I could respond, the sounds of footsteps rapidly grew louder. Both Sarah and her friend instantly reverted to combat mode, with a serious look on their face.

That’s right, that’s probably my backup.

“Hold on, they’re probably my people,” I said as I held a hand out to them.

I moved around the corner and stole glances at the newcomers and watched Vin jogging at the forefront of the team. I stepped out into the open where they could easily see me.

“Sir, are you fine? Did you finish them off?”

“I’m fine. I found some acquaintances, they’re friendly. Everyone hold your fire,” Thankfully, they followed my order without complaint despite the skeptical looks they had.

At my words, Sarah closed the distance with her friend, desperately chasing after her. She stopped beside me and gave Vin a look over.

“Hmm… Are you the one directing the team? Not bad for a city person.”

It’s quite enjoyable seeing Vin at a loss for words for once.

Sarah continued, “So Rollo, want to come visit?”

“Sure, I’m a little busy for the next while, but I will when I have time. How do I contact you out here anyway?”

“You won’t be able to while we’re in the wasteland, some of us sometimes come out to buy some stuff if you need to reach out, but for you, take this,” She pulled a small chip out from a port found on her wrist. “It’ll have live updates on the locations of our camp, so you’ll be able to find us even if we relocate.”

I awkwardly received it as I watched the man beside him grimace and hold his head with his hands, having given up.

“Thanks…Are you sure you should give this to me?”

“Yep, we still have Andrew’s to guide us home. Just be sure to take care of it and don’t let anyone else get a hold of it.”

…Not exactly what I meant. I tried, Andrew, forgive me.

“I’ll take good care of it, anyway it’s going to get dark soon. I think we’re going to head out now if we are to make it out of the wasteland while we still have sunlight. Follow us, we’ll give you a lift back to your people,” I offered as I awkwardly looked over at their ride.

It was only fair seeing how I totaled their car.

“Sure, you can drop us off by the border too. We’ve got people there on the lookout for any corporate convoys right now.”

“...I’m sorry about your car, by the way…”

“Don’t worry about it. We really were aggressively approaching you guys. It wasn’t entirely your fault. We’ve got some really great mechanics so we can fix it up!”

Seeing how Andrew didn’t react, I guessed that was true.

We then returned to our vehicles and headed back to where we encountered Sarah and her people at the border of the wasteland.

“So you guys were in the middle of a fight? Why did you decide to chase after us, then?”

Andrew answered in Sarah’s stead, “To chase you guys off. We can’t be having any spectators who may potentially join the fray or relay information to set ambushes.”

“I see…”

Sarah and I then updated each other on what we’d been up to while we made our way across the wasteland. This time, when our sensors detected vehicles nearby, they were able to establish a private line of communication with her people.

After their conversation, a large car cautiously approached. It had guns messily strewn onto it, but Sarah happily waved towards it. The people from her clan weren’t interested in chatting, so they departed soon after we said our goodbyes.

With their fleet of cars headed back toward the depths of the wasteland, we safely managed to exit it.

I found the optimal way to go over the electronic paperwork. I could directly display my files on my optics instead of my terminal, so I could go over them while being in any position I wanted. That was why every time someone came into my office, they would find me sprawled on the couch in my office.

The expenses had been racking up from equipment, hiring enough personnel for the wasteland base, and the production facility we have in the suburbs of NLA that I’m currently at. At least the outpost had been shaping up with the residential unit up. No longer would the teams staying there have to camp out in a cave with no water or power.

The production facilities here were also making progress with material extraction from the salvage we brought in. We brought back any random metallic salvage and turned them into precious and rare metals that we needed to create our cybernetics. We were doing so well that the common metals that were extracted were starting to overflow, so we transported them back into our wasteland outpost to be used as construction material.

The only annoying thing I had to deal with was the business taxes. Unlike in Elevate City, NLA wasn’t run by corporations and had an actual government. A corrupt government, but still a government that set taxes much higher than what the Elevate City conglomerate did.

While I reviewed our finances, the door to my office opened after a quick knock.

“Rollo, we’re ready to head out…Are you sure we shouldn’t bring more people?” Vin gave me a look that screamed, ‘Can we really trust those wastelanders?’

“We’ll be fine. Bringing more people will only agitate them. I’m ready, let’s go.” I stood up and grabbed my stuff.

Following the navigation data I received from Sarah, we headed out early, because the location marked was quite deep into the wasteland.

The entire trip was mostly just staring at the sand and wind, but when we almost arrived at the coordinates, we detected half a dozen vehicles approaching us. We quickly pressed the button on the device Sarah gave me.

The device rang like it was connecting to a call before it suddenly projected a hologram screen right above itself. The figure of a rugged man appeared.

“Identify yourselves,” He succinctly commanded.

“I am Rollo. Sarah invited me over to visit.”

“Wait.” The projection of him disappeared for a few minutes before reappearing, “Follow us. Do not stray.”

The other cars came to a stop and only one began to move. Taking the hint, Vin drove the Vanguard after it.

As we headed further in, we passed through a short ravine where the storm abruptly abated, restoring visibility. We could see a flat clearing of undisturbed sand with a settlement off in the distance. Glancing back, the sandstorm behind us continued to rage on, making a stark contrast.

The settlement was filled with short structures that had the same color as the sand. It would’ve been hard to spot from the distance if it wasn’t for all the little dots that were likely people moving about around it.

We were led to a clearing on the outskirts, where we dismounted from our rides. I didn’t even have a chance to find my footing when a loud voice called out to me.

“Rollo! You’re here!” The familiar figure of Sarah approached with a shorter boy slightly behind her.

“Hey, Sarah, Caleb, how’s it going?”

“It really is Rollo! Welcome!” The little boy greeted.

“I can’t wait to show you around!” Sarah said, but then Andrew, who was shadowing behind, cleared his throat. “...but first, let’s go see our dad. He’s expecting you. Follow me.” Sarah started walking off with Caleb in hand, without delay.

“Sounds good. You guys can wait by the car,” I said to the three others who came with me.

“I’m coming along too. Come on, I want to get a closer look at this place. It’s not every day you get to tour a wastelander tribe,” Vin said, as he began to follow after Sarah without waiting for my reply.

As we passed by the people of their tribe, they gave us looks, but they continued to go about their day like anyone else in the city would. The difference was that the place was much smaller, and people walked around with a herd of cow…mutant cows. They were bulkier than the cows I knew and looked a little menacing.

Having a closer look at the structures, I noticed they were all made of thin alloys.

I heard wastelanders were nomadic. I had thought they would be in tents or something similar, but it made sense to use alloys if they can be lighter and stronger than most materials.

All the buildings were quite short, but we soon stopped in front of one that was much wider than the rest. At the entrance stood two guards, who looked like they meant business. They sized us up and then gestured for us to head in with their heads.

Inside was a simple, spacious room, with carpets of various patterns overlaid on top of each other. At the center was a fit middle-aged man with a full beard who sat atop a stack of carpets with his legs crossed. He was smoking a wooden pipe that seemed antique even to me.

Sarah and Caleb rushed to his side and took a seat on the carpeted floor next to him.

He wore loose robes and sat casually with his eyes closed while he lit the pipe. He deeply inhaled the pipe and held it in his lungs for a moment before blowing ring-shaped smoke back out.

“So you are Rollo?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I’m Eugene though folk ‘round here call me Gene, I welcome my children’s savior to the Wells Clan,” He said as he spread his arms out.

“Pleasure meeting you.” I stepped forward and offered a handshake.

He wiped his hand on his clothes and took my hand, “Please enjoy your stay with us…is what I’d like to say, but there’s something I wanted your assistance with, pertaining to the city.”

The city? I’m going to have to decline if it has anything to do with getting involved in his fight against the corporations.

“Do not worry,” He smiled as if he could read my mind. “We simply want you to help us look for one of us who has been missing for the past week. Several people from our clan have tried searching for them, but to no avail.”

“So you want someone from the city to give it a try instead?”

“It’s good that you are fast on the uptake. Jane, enter,” At his words, a familiar-looking woman stepped in from where I had entered. She froze for a second as we locked eyes.

“You will accompany Rollo here and provide information so you may find Perry.”

“Understood.” The woman replied with her eyes glued to me, “So we meet again…Maxwell...”