Once we’d eaten a simple meal warmed up on the Svea, we sat down on the stairs to wait. I looked at my watch and checked how long it had been. The red smoke had long since faded, and there was no sign of anyone coming. Neither Nito nor I said anything; this was what we had expected. We’d never thought anyone would come to begin with.
“Maybe we should give it another shot,” I said and stood, earning a frown from Nito as she looked up at me.
“Right now? I think leaving it a little longer would be better.”
“Waiting won’t help. It’s not like we know when the best time to fire it is,” I replied, rolling up my pants.
“B-But we only have one left. We should act carefully.”
“And carefully do what? Wait?”
“Ugh,” she grumbled, chewing her lip. Eventually, puffing her cheeks up, she said, “If you want to shoot it off that badly, go ahead. I don’t care.”
“Think of it like this. If we fire it now, we won’t need to worry about when to fire it anymore. If it doesn’t work, we can think of something else.”
“You’re too optimistic... Your skull must be nothing but an empty hollow...”
“And you’re pretty harsh,” I said, wishing she’d use that loquacity for something other than insulting me.
I stepped into the now warmer water and headed for the Kettle. The case was still on the hood. I’d always intended on firing both. I had no clue about Reboil this or Traction that, but I knew no one was ever going to turn up. The population as a whole had dropped, and systems of law and order would have vanished along with the collapse of schools and workplaces, so no one would still be devoting themselves to a job like that.
I unlocked the case, took out the signal gun, and gripped it tightly, pointing it to the sky and pulling the trigger. On the first pull, the safety stopped it halfway, so I tightened my finger. That second pull sent the recoil up my arm as the loud retort of the firing resounded in my ears.
I looked up to see the red smoke climbing without any issues. Firing had gone more smoothly the second time. The practice from the first time had definitely stood me in good stead.
I pushed on the lever and opened up the gun to see the empty shell casings. I took them out and pushed them into the slots in the case’s lid, then reloaded it with the two bullets that had been inside it earlier, before putting everything back away and setting the case on the passenger seat.
When I got back to the stairs, Nito was crouched near the entrance holding her knees, her cheeks still puffed out.
“Cheer up.”
“I’m not in poor cheer,” she said after a while. “The gun is yours, and you can fire it whenever you like.”
“You might not realize it, so I’ll let you know, but the way you’re acting right now really makes it seem like you are.”
“Oh? I’d never heard that before. I’ll keep it in mind.”
Her pointed tone had me smiling despite myself.
“It’ll be fine, they’ll be here soon,” I offered.
Of course, I didn’t believe it myself, so it just came out sounding blatantly false. Well, whatever, I decided, planning to go get my things from the Kettle and laze around thinking about what to do. But then...
“That’s...”
Nito’s head shot up and her eyes opened wide before she rushed forward to the stairs. I didn’t even need to ask why: I could hear the metallic noise she’d moved in response to as well as she could. It was the sound of pistons being pushed by steam, of a huge engine venting. The distance muffled it somewhat, but it reached us clearly enough.
Nito whirled around in surprise, pointing over the plains as she shouted brightly.
“Yellow smoke! It’s Reboil Traction!”
There was indeed a bright line of smoke climbing into the sky. Then, almost as if rising from the shifting sands, a black spot appeared on the horizon, unmistakably coming this way. It took a moment for my mind to catch up.
“Seriously?” I let out.
I couldn’t conceive of anyone still setting about their work like usual despite the decrepit state of this world, but my eyes told me otherwise. The vehicle let off another plume of yellow smoke and kept approaching us.