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 Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 9:03 pm
Tech reflected. "No, I suppose I do not."
She eyed the cord, and reached out to grab it, clomping her boots together tightly to take some weight off her arms and back. She hit the floor with a sharp stab of pain and a hiss of indrawn breath, but it passed quickly. Now to business. "I believe that the rolls of wire are over there." She pointed. "This sharp piece of my armour should serve as a wire cutter."
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 9:12 pm
"Alright."
He heard her wince and wasn't sure what that was all about; she was armored, and all. But since she was up and walking he found that he didn't really care, either.
He made his way to the aisle she indicated and saw that she was right. Then he saw nails and saws and all kinds of sharp objects....ooh.
But no. Right now he was after wire. Yes. Wire.
Glancing around, he showed Tech the broken end of his string. "It's really thin," he said. "Know what it'd be? I sure as ******** don't."
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 9:20 pm
Tech looked closely at the unravelling metal threads in the string, and back up at the rolls. She made her way over to the end of the shelf. It was the industrial kind, with evenly and closely spaced holes so that the bars holding the rolls could be adjusted.
But her back was twitching dangerously. She look at Lithium. "I injured my back muscles earlier today. The thinnest wire rolls are up there," pointing to three rolls, "but I do not believe I can manage the climb. You will have to do it, and turn the rolls so that the wire comes down to the floor."
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 9:24 pm
"Ah ******** were the times when it was kind of nice to have a careta--NO! However bad things sucked now, they were infinitely worse with a damned human.
"All right." Sighing, he climbed arduously up to the metal shelf and surveyed the racks. It seemed, at least in theory, that if he climbed on top of the baling wire spool...and then up to the next shelf...then a little jump to the right. Okay. Then onto the rack that held the wire rolls, and using the screw holes as footholds...all right! He was at the top, and oh god it was high.
"This one?" he shouted, pointing at a roll, and kicked it so that a length of wire spun to the floor.
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 9:29 pm
Tech grabbed the end of the wire and compared it to the broken string.
"One roll to the right!" she shouted back.
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 9:38 pm
"Alright!"
He moved precariously across the roll, legs bent and arms out to keep his balance. But just as he stepped across to the next one, the roll pitched violently. For one terrifying moment he was suspended in ******** then his fingers had caught the tangled wires on the roll, and although they bit into his fingers, he didn't fall to his death, which was a definite plus.
Shaking a little, he pulled himself up to the other roll and kicked it. It spun quickly, and a length of wire soon pooled at Technetium's ******** round objects.
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 9:57 pm
Tech held up the new wire end to the string. A match. She motioned at Lithium to come down, and set to bending a guitar string length of wire over her sharp armour spike.
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 10:00 pm
Lithium didn't have to be asked twice. He had had enough experiences with ******** HIGH PLACES tonight.
He slid down the wire as she sawed at it and jumped to the floor.
"You got that?" he asked, inclining his head. It looked hard to saw something on your own armor. Though he didn't really want to help. What he DID want to do was fix his ******** guitar and go home.
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 10:04 pm
"Got what?" She didn't wait for an answer, again. Something else she wouldn't understand. "Here," she said, holding it up.
"This is the same length as your old guitar string. It's the same gauge, so you should be able to restring your guitar and tune it to the same note. "
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 10:07 pm
"Cool." Within moments Lithium had the guitar restrung. It was funny; he'd practiced dozens of times. But just now he'd discovered that--hey, guess what!--they didn't MAKE strings for his guitar, so it was fairly useless in most cases to learn how to re-string it...But now he was glad he knew.
He tweaked a string. It was tinnier than the others, but it was definitely workable. He gave Technetium a nod, but he didn't really see a reason to thank her. Wasn't like she would care one way or the other.
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 10:09 pm
Tech nodded back and turned on her heel, heading back to the window and starting a slow and very painful climb up the electrical cord. She whistled for Pica, who was hunting mice outside, and waited for Lith.
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 10:15 pm
Lithium shimmied up the cord a great deal easier than Tech. He wondered idly what she had done to her back, but he didn't really give enough of a s**t to ask.
"Aw, goddammit," he muttered as they climbed back onto the rodent, but at least this time he could put his guitar on his back instead of holding it, so both of his hands would be free. Grimly, he dug his fingers into the animal's fur and braced himself.
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 10:19 pm
Pica took off, heading back to the Mendel labs to drop off Lithium.
--------
The next morning, two very dumbfounded store owners sat watching the extremely peculiar security video from the night before, holding a $20 bill folded into a tiny square.
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