Jack couldn’t help teasing Megan when he saw how excited she was.
“What did you find that made you this happy?”
Megan ignored the teasing and got straight to the point.
“Energy cells. The electronics mall is full of them!”
Jack didn’t see what the big deal was.
“Don’t we already have two? Is that really worth getting so excited about?”
Megan immediately realized that he still hadn’t grasped their importance.
“How can you be so slow? We can use them to charge the CUEVs!”
“The two we have can already do that.”
Megan patiently explained.
“When we go to the CUEV factory, we’ll only have two energy cells. That means we can only charge two CUEVs at a time, right?”
“Right.”
“But if we have more energy cells, we can charge more CUEVs at the same time.”
It finally clicked for Jack.
“That’s right!”
The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. He began counting on his fingers.
“Including you and me, six of us can drive a CUEV now. But you’ll have to drive the Tesla, which means we can take four other drivers to the factory each time.”
He quickly worked out the rest of the plan.
“If we bring four energy cells, we can start by charging four CUEVs. Once those are ready, we’ll connect the energy cells to another four before driving the first batch back. Then everyone can ride back to the factory in your Tesla and drive the next batch home.”
Megan snapped her fingers.
“Exactly. Assuming the CUEVs at the factory still work, of course.”
She continued, “The energy cells can charge the Tesla too. If we ever need to travel farther away, we won’t have to worry about running out of power halfway there. That’s the real reason I’m so excited.”
“Right. I hadn’t even thought of that.”
Then the full implication hit Jack.
“Doesn’t that mean we’ll be able to go almost anywhere we want?”
“In theory, yes,” Megan said excitedly. “As long as we bring enough energy cells, we won’t have to worry about the Tesla losing power completely. At worst, we might not make it back the same day. We’d just have to find somewhere safe to spend the night and continue once the car had enough charge.”
“How many did you bring back this time?”
“None.”
Jack’s excitement faltered.
“Not even one?”
“We went there for electrical components,” Megan explained. “We didn’t discover the energy cells until after we arrived.”
Jack quickly accepted that.
“That’s fine. It’s still early, and Cass and the others already know the basics of driving the CUEV. We can unload the electrical components, then make another trip.”
He glanced toward Gordon and Reed, who were still practicing.
“Have those two go with you. Bring back as much as you can.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Megan said. “But Warren doesn’t need to go this time. We already know where the electronics mall is, and he has told Grant which electrical components we need. Grant can guide us and choose the supplies.”
She glanced back at the Tesla.
“That frees up another seat and gives us more room for cargo.”
“Good. Then that’s the plan,” Jack said. “Get some rest and eat something before you leave again.”
“Got it.”
Megan headed to the trading post to get some beef burgers and water.
Jack went over to Gordon and Reed. Gordon had just stopped the CUEV and was about to give Reed another turn when Jack arrived.
“Megan and the others found a lot of energy cells at the electronics mall, so they need to make another trip,” Jack said. “You two will be going with them. Think you can handle it?”
Gordon wasn’t entirely confident yet, but after a moment, he answered, “I should be fine.”
Reed also said he could manage.
“Good. Go get something to eat, then leave with Megan. Be careful on the road.”
The two headed toward the trading post together.
Jack returned to the convenience store and plugged in the two energy cells they already had. He planned to use both of them to charge the Tesla that night. That would tell him how much power two fully charged energy cells could add to the car and how long the process would take.
After a quick meal, Megan and the others set out for the electronics mall again.
By the time Jack came back outside, both the Tesla and the CUEV were gone. He found Cass and Harvey, told them about the energy cells at the electronics mall, and had them continue practicing.
Once Dale and the others returned to the convenience store, they would head to the CUEV factory and start bringing back any vehicles that still worked.
Cass and Harvey readily agreed.
With that taken care of, Jack headed to the trading post.
Warren and Oscar were already examining the electrical components they had brought back. They picked up one item after another and discussed them quietly, apparently checking whether the parts were still usable.
Jack left them to it and went over to Ruth, Edith, and Helen.
“How was your first night here?”
“It was great,” Ruth said. “Elias gave us three tents. They’re much better than our old place. The wind used to blow in from every direction.”
“Did Nolan and the others cause any trouble last night?”
“Not at all,” Edith said. “They even helped us set up the tents. Our tents are close to theirs, and maybe that’s why we slept more soundly than we have in a long time.”
Helen agreed.
That put Jack at ease.
“Good. So much happened yesterday that I never got the chance to check on you. I feel a little bad about that.”
Ruth quickly waved away his apology.
“Please don’t. You let us stay and gave us tents and food. We’re already more than grateful.”
“Don’t put it that way,” Jack said. “We’re all helping one another. No one here is taking anyone in.”
As they talked, Jack noticed that Edith seemed to have something on her mind.
“What is it? Go ahead and tell me. If I can help, I will.”
Edith hesitated before finally speaking.
“I saw the small stall you set up beside the trading post.”
“That’s right.”
“I don’t have any special skills. All I really know how to do is cook,” Edith said. “So I was wondering if I could help you run the stall. That would give you more time to deal with everything else.”
Jack hadn’t expected her to approach him about the stall. He was about to agree when a new idea occurred to him.
His silence made Edith think he wasn’t interested. She was about to say something when Jack spoke first.
“Forget about helping with my stall for a moment. I just thought of something. Want to hear it?”
Edith hadn’t expected that response, but she agreed.
“All right. What is it?”
“Since you know how to cook, have you ever thought about opening your own stall?” Jack asked. “You could make food and sell it to Nolan’s group and the traders who come here.”
“My own stall?”
The idea had clearly never occurred to Edith.
“Could I really do that?”
“Of course. Nolan and the others would already give you a steady group of customers,” Jack said. “When I cooked their potatoes before, I charged each of them one potato. They agreed without any complaints, didn’t they?”
He continued, “But I’ve stopped giving them a fixed number of potatoes each day. Starting today, they can exchange the qualified brick blanks they make directly for food and other supplies.”
“But we don’t have any ingredients,” Helen pointed out. “All we have left is some Gray-Eared Jump Hare jerky and a little of the dry food we found before.”
“You can get the ingredients from me,” Jack said. “Nolan and the others can use qualified brick blanks to buy the food you make, and then you can use those brick blanks to get more ingredients from me. As long as we set the exchange rates properly, there should be enough left over for you to make a profit.”
The three women exchanged glances, but none of them answered right away.
“Can we think about it first?” Edith eventually asked.
“Of course. You can ask Nolan and the others whether they’d be interested too,” Jack said. “Once you’ve thought it over, come and let me know.”
Jack left the trading post to discuss the idea with Elias, giving Edith and the others some time to consider the proposal.
As soon as he was gone, Edith called Warren and Oscar over from the pile of electrical components and explained Jack’s suggestion.
“Our own food stall?” Warren gave it some thought. “That’s a good idea. The three of you could run it together.”
Oscar agreed.
“Word has already spread that people can trade here. More traders are bound to come in the future, so a stall selling hot food should be able to attract plenty of customers.”
Their support made Edith feel a little more confident.
“But Jack was right,” Warren continued. “We should ask Nolan and the others first. They would be your most reliable customers for now. If they aren’t interested, there’s no point opening the stall yet.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Edith said. “We’ll ask them first. If they’re willing to buy from us, then we can decide what to make.”
Ruth suddenly raised another question.
“Nolan and the others can pay with brick blanks, but what about the traders who come from outside?”
The others turned to her.
“We can’t expect them to come all this way, make brick blanks with Nolan’s group, and then use those bricks to buy our food.”
Edith hadn’t considered that. She had been so focused on whether Nolan and the others would be interested that she hadn’t thought about how outside traders would pay.
Accepting whatever supplies they happened to bring wouldn’t work either. The value of each item could vary widely, and the three women had neither the experience nor the knowledge to decide what everything was worth.
“We don’t need to solve that problem yet,” Oscar said after thinking it over. “It isn’t something we can decide on our own.”
“Let’s ask Nolan and the others first. Once we’ve settled everything on our end, we can talk to Jack. He should be the one to decide how outside traders will pay.”
The others considered his suggestion and agreed that it was the safest approach.
Warren and Oscar returned to the electrical components and continued inspecting the cables, distribution boxes, and other equipment. Edith, Ruth, and Helen left the trading post and headed toward Nolan’s group.
Following Jack’s instructions, Nolan and the others had already begun moving the sun-dried bricks to the trading post under construction. They stopped working when the three women approached.
Nolan spoke first.
“Is something wrong?”
Edith got straight to the point and explained Jack’s suggestion that the three women open a food stall.
“What do you think? Would you be willing to buy food from us?”
The idea took Nolan and the others by surprise. After discussing it among themselves for a while, they gradually began to show interest.
Over the past two days, they had realized that making brick blanks was hard work, but it provided a much steadier way to obtain food than searching the wasteland. If they could exchange their brick blanks for hot meals, they certainly wouldn’t turn down the opportunity.
Besides, they might know how to boil potatoes, but none of them could make much of a proper meal. Rather than eating the same plain potatoes every day, they would gladly make a few extra brick blanks and occasionally trade them for something better.
Nolan answered for the group.
“As long as the prices aren’t completely beyond what we can afford, of course we’d buy from you.”
The answer put Edith at ease.
Before long, however, someone raised the same question Ruth had brought up earlier.
“We can pay with brick blanks, but what about the traders who come from outside? What will they use to buy your food?”
“We’ve thought about that too,” Edith said. “But it isn’t something we can decide on our own. We’ll ask Jack later and see what he has in mind.”
“That would be best,” Nolan said. “Outside traders bring all kinds of different things, and we wouldn’t know how much any of them are worth. If everyone pays with something different, sooner or later there’ll be an argument over the price.”
The others clearly felt the same way.
With Nolan’s group interested in the idea, Edith prepared to find Jack and tell him the result of their discussion.
Ruth stayed behind for a moment and smiled at the group.
“We’ll make a price list based on the ingredients we can get and what they cost us. Once the stall opens, we’ll be counting on all of you for business.”
Nolan and the others laughed.
One of them joked, “We’ll gladly support your business, but don’t make the prices too high. Otherwise, we might want to buy something and still not be able to afford it.”
“No promises,” Ruth replied with a smile. “You did bully us before, after all.”
The men paused for a moment, then burst out laughing.
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