Magic Space: Struggling to Survive in the Apocalypse

The two of them spent the day exploring the mining area and found several other piles of salt ore. Evelyn Ford marked the spots so that everyone could come work together later, gather all the salt ore, and then refine it all at once.

The next day, Ronan Kendrick went to the office building and got two hundred utility poles, ten rolls of electrical wire, and eight hundred streetlights from Rhys Chase.

Before the utility poles could be erected, they needed to dig one-meter-deep holes. So, Ronan Kendrick went back to Rhys Chase and got an earth auger.

At dinner that evening, Evelyn Ford told everyone about the plan to put up utility poles.

"Won’t that use a ton of electricity? If we have to rely on the generator and gasoline to power all the streetlights in the mining area, we’ll burn through a lot of gas in just an hour." Even though they had a lot of gasoline stored in the space, everyone was still reluctant to waste it.

Evelyn Ford smiled. "We can install a main switch. We’ll turn the lights on when we need them and off when we don’t. The streetlights themselves don’t use much power. Besides, we can build a hydroelectric water wheel downstream on the river in the planting zone. We can connect it directly to the mining area then. I know how to do the wiring. It won’t be much trouble."

’The space has day and night cycles, but there’s no wind. Otherwise, we could have used wind power.’

"Tomorrow, the first thing we’ll do is measure the spacing. We’ll put up one pole every hundred meters. Each pole can hold four streetlights, and the bulbs are high-wattage, so it’ll be plenty bright even from a hundred meters away."

Evelyn Ford took out a piece of paper and sketched out the arrangement of the poles. "Ronan Kendrick will use the earth auger to dig the holes. Miles Vaughn, Quincy, and Peter Owens will be in charge of setting the poles. Ethan Dawson and Mr. Graham will install the streetlights. The rest of you will help me connect the wiring."

"It’ll probably take two or three months to set all two hundred of these poles. By the time we’re done, the cotton will be ready to harvest."

"The experts at the base said the sun was going to come out. Half a month has already passed, which means there’s only a month and a half left. Let’s make a bet. I bet the sun *won’t* come out," Quincy said, holding his teacup with an expression of absolute confidence.

"You lost the last bet, didn’t you?" Evelyn Ford shot him down without mercy.

Quincy looked a little awkward. "Did I? I don’t remember."

"You don’t remember cleaning the toilets for a month?"

"Ahem, right, I remember now. But I definitely won’t lose this time. I just figure if the sun were going to come out, it would’ve done so already. I refuse to believe those so-called experts who just spew nonsense can actually predict when the sun will appear. You’d have better luck trusting a back-alley fortune teller."

Quincy looked around at the others. "So, anyone want to place a wager?"

"What are the stakes?" The thought of getting one over on Quincy made Miles Vaughn’s eyes gleam with unconcealed glee. "Cleaning toilets again?"

Quincy rolled his eyes. "Could you be any more disgusting? My wager is a set of out-of-print banknotes. If I lose, they’re all yours."

Quincy slowly pulled a thick stack of banknotes from his jacket pocket. It contained bills of all denominations, and every single one was crisp and new.

"Want them? These are discontinued, you know. Highly collectible."

Quincy was incredibly smug. He’d gotten the banknotes from Liam Sterling, who had explained that after the apocalypse began, all the paper money from Frelia’s banks had been moved here for safekeeping. Back then, everyone assumed the disaster wouldn’t last long, and since the currency was state property, it had to be protected. No one expected that "safekeeping" would last for ten years.

"Zoe, Annie, you two have never seen paper money before, have you? Wendy probably hasn’t either; she was only two and a half when the apocalypse started. Don’t you three want some?"

Wendy remained deadpan. "Uncle Quincy, I’ll take it if you just give it to me, but I won’t bet. Gambling is bad for you, and we shouldn’t let ourselves be corrupted by trivial pursuits."

Quincy was at a loss for words. He pulled out a red banknote and held it out to Wendy.

"It’s a hundred. You don’t want it?"

’Who wouldn’t want a real banknote as a keepsake?’ A flash of longing appeared in Wendy’s eyes. But Quincy was just too obnoxious, so she refused to give him the satisfaction.

"Uncle Quincy, I’ll only take it if you give it to me sincerely. If you’re trying to make me bet, then I don’t want it."

"Oh, Wendy, making a friendly bet isn’t the same as gambling."

Wendy stared at the bill in his hand. "If there are stakes, it’s gambling. And gambling is addictive."

Quincy surrendered. "Fine, no bet. You’ve convinced me. To be honest, I was going to share them anyway, bet or no bet. One hundred, fifty, twenty, ten, five, one, a fifty-cent note, and a ten-cent note—one of each." Quincy sorted the bills and stuffed them into the hands of the three youngest kids.

"No one over eighteen gets one." Quincy stuffed the rest of the money back into his pocket.

"Alright then, let’s make a bet." Ethan Dawson pulled a pistol from his pocket.

"I bet the sun will be out in six months."

"Didn’t you all just say you weren’t going to bet?" Quincy’s voice cracked with indignation.

"Did we explicitly say we weren’t going to bet?" Ethan Dawson shrugged.

"I’ll bet five months." Miles Vaughn also pulled an exquisite dagger from the small of his back.

"I’ll bet one year." Officer Graham produced a pink pearl.

"Mr. Graham, where did you get a pearl?"

"Back when we were at sea, we had to cast nets every day to catch fish. One day, I found two pearl oysters. I opened them up and found two pink pearls inside. I gave one to Wendy and kept the other as a souvenir from our voyage."

With even Mr. Graham participating, Taylor Vance and Zion Lowell couldn’t help but join in on the fun.

Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick bet on five months. Of everyone there, only Zoe believed the sun would definitely rise within two months, making her the only one to bet against Quincy.

"You’re pretty confident, aren’t you, Zoe?"

Zoe puffed out her chubby little belly. "The birdies said the sun is coming back very soon. You’re all going to lose."

Hearing this, Evelyn Ford couldn’t help but laugh. "It looks like we’re all going to lose, then."

"Evelyn, why are you giving up so easily?"

Looking at Zoe’s little topknot bobbing back and forth, Evelyn Ford was in a great mood. "Sometimes, we should pay more attention to what children say. Let’s put all the winnings in this box. When the time comes, it’ll all go to whoever made the right bet."

Evelyn Ford sealed the box with tape. "Here’s hoping we get to open it soon."

"I’m going to win for sure," Zoe said with a serious expression. "The birdies said the sun will be back with us soon. They wouldn’t lie to me."

"Zoe, Auntie believes you."

Zoe got very excited. "Auntie, you really believe me?"

"Of course I do."

Zoe glanced at the box. "When I get the winnings, I’ll give half to you, Auntie. I won’t give any to the others. They didn’t believe me."

"Alright. Thank you, Zoe."

"You’re welcome!"

With the betting concluded for the time being, everyone got busy again the next day.

After they measured the spacing, Ronan Kendrick started drilling with the earth auger at the spots they had marked with circles. Once a hole was dug, the others would set a pole in it. Evelyn Ford would position the ladder, put on her hard hat and gloves, and climb up. Then, the people below would hand her the crossarm and pole clamp. Once the crossarm and clamp were installed, they would pull the electrical wire up, and another utility pole was complete.

"Evelyn, let’s switch out. This work is exhausting." Wyatt Vaughn picked up the scattered screws and the tool bag from the ground, placing them in a three-wheeled cart. Seeing Evelyn drenched in sweat, she quickly handed her a pack of tissues.

"Sure, but I’m not tired yet. We can switch when I start to run out of steam."

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