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“Damn it to hell!” Harmony stared at the tool box that had been right next to her just a few moments earlier. Now, though, it was with everything else she had set on the deck – port side. Knowing it was useless to rage against gravity, she walked down the slope and rummaged through the tools until she found the hammer she needed. Instead of carrying the box back with her, she would leave it there.
When she had more time, she’d find a place for everything. Right now she needed to fix the ring that kept the balloon mouth open and upright. Then, when she had the friction engine running again, she could fastened the mouth of the balloon to it, so the hot air would rise into the balloon as it was supposed to. Of course, there was no way for her to do that without another pair of hands, but she would worry about that later.
Turning to make her way back up the slope, Harmony accidentally kicked the tool box and sent it skidding across the deck. Tools went flying in every direction. She dropped the hammer, sat, propped her elbows on her knees, balled her hands into fists and balanced her cheeks on them. It would be easy enough to start crying again, and this time never stop. It was just too much to keep believing everything was going to work out. There was no way she could do it all by herself. Right now Boy was in a million separate pieces, and as smart as Molly was, she was too clumsy to be of much use in practical matters. Hell, without Boy there to pick up her constant loss of screws and bolts, the robot was probably at this very moment ready to fall apart.
Too frustrated to curse or scream, Harmony stood. “Not giving up. Not giving up.” She looked up at the late afternoon sun and then back at the broken ring. “Granny used to say, ‘one problem at a time’. So, I guess that’s what I’ll focus on – just one problem at a time.” Harmony picked the hammer up again and went back to work.
All afternoon the air had been stagnant, keeping the heat locked in. Harmony had spent the better part of the day wiping sweat out of her eyes, so at first the breeze that came out of nowhere was a welcome relief. It wasn’t until it became gusty that she glanced up at the sky.
“Not now.” Harmony scowled at the gathering storm clouds.
The last thing she needed was another storm coming in and undoing everything she had accomplished. She almost had the ring fixed, and planned on spending the rest of the afternoon trying to pull up the balloon so she could refit its mouth back onto the ring. Then all she had to do was figure out what was wrong with the friction engine. She rested her head on its steam pipe and sighed. It was easier to concentrate on what was going right than on what wasn’t.
Harmony slipped the wrench out of her shift pocket and finished adjusting the last bolt on the steam vent. She pumped her hand and the wrench into the air. A gurgle of a laugh marked the end to the long struggle of putting the ring back into place. The mini celebration might have gone on longer but for a strong gust of wind that almost knocked her off the vent. She wrapped her arms around it, to keep from falling the twenty or so feet onto the deck. Once secure, she slipped the wrench back into her pocket and carefully slithered down.
A most welcome sight meet her once her feet were firmly planted back on deck. “Boy!” She took turns hugging both robots, planting kisses on each of their heads.
“You fixed him.” She didn’t say what had really worried her, that Molly might not have been capable of putting him back together again.
“Fixed?” Boy said and stared at Harmony without blinking.
Harmony glanced over at Molly.
Molly placed a hand on Boy’s shoulder but looked at Harmony, as if trying to convey a message.
“Boy just woke up. I’ve been trying to tell him of our predicament, so he wanted to come out and see for himself.” The tiny robot hesitated before continuing. “He’s worried about you, so I thought he should see for himself you’re okay.”
What was Molly trying to tell her? Sensing she didn’t want Boy to know the extent of his injuries, Harmony knelt eye to eye with Boy. “No need to worry.” She waved at the now clean deck. “See? Everything is coming along nicely. I just have a few more things to fix and we can be on own way home.”
She patted the top of Boy’s glass head. It was such a huge relief to see him running again. There was no point in telling him she had no idea if she could get the friction engine running again, given she’d not yet taken it apart to see what was wrong with it. Harmony, though, refused to believe she couldn’t. After all, hadn’t Molly fixed Boy? That in itself was a miracle. There had to be a few more left.
“I have something to show you.” Boy said and slid open a plate on his chest, revealing scenes flashing by that Harmony had never seen before.
Harmony reached out and touched his chest. “When I was a little girl, Grandmother told me about seeing these pictures, but I thought she had just been making it up, you know, like a fairytale.” She shook her head. “Grandmother said they were lost forever.” She sat at his feet to get a better view of all the glorious photos flashing by.
It was all too much to take in. Harmony didn’t like admitting that she had secretly thought she would never again talk with her friend, and never in her wildest dreams had she ever considered the possibility that the photos of the earth’s past would be recovered.
Boy tapped his chest. “I’m The Keeper again.” Somehow, the little robot had added a hint of pride to his metallic voice. “I thought everything had been lost years ago when I fell into the ocean and your grandmother had to save me. I never thought I would see these again.”
She couldn’t take her eyes off the sequence of photos. “Why are those children all standing in line?” The pictures from the past were so fascinating.
“They’re standing in line for lunch.”
“Really? Why?” Harmony touched each little face waiting so patiently – one behind the other. The only children she knew couldn’t sit still for a few moments at a time much less stand in such a straight line.
The next scene was even more puzzling. “What are they doing?”
“Water skiing.” Boy touched her forehead with a finger.
She giggled. “How are they doing that ... and why?”
“For fun.”
Harmony gazed up at him. “Fun?”
“Humans used to like to play games in their free time.” He placed his hand on her head, as if he needed the contact.
That statement puzzled her. Who had free time? There was always so much to do; working on the airship, planting, harvesting, repairs and cleaning their homes, caring for the children at the homestead. Even the older children had chores to do. Everyone knew how easy it would be to starve if they had one bad harvest or if they couldn’t find enough to trade to others for the things they needed.
“It must have been a wonderful place to live in back then.” She sat back on her heels. “Do you know why The Great War started? From looking at these photos, it looks like they had everything they could ever have wanted. How could they kill each other when life looked so perfect?”
Boy patted her head. “Things always look perfect from afar. It’s only close up you can see the cracks.”
Harmony stood. “We can’t fix what was, but we can celebrate you being The Keeper once again.” Once more, she looked up at the gathering storm clouds. “Besides, it looks like rain. I think we should get you back inside. We shouldn’t take any chance you might get wet, especially with that large crack in your head.”
“Crack in my head?” Boy reached up and felt it.
“Come on.” Harmony pointed toward the galley. “We have a lot to talk about.”