Molly's - Chapter 19 [Tankiverse Fanfic]

[Hippin_in_Hawaii 639]

Molly’s - Chapter 19

Fanfic in the Tankiverse

 

 
The other story I need to tell about my year on the road is much darker, but it taught me a hard lesson. Unscrupulous people do exist, and they look just like the nice ones.
 
This was about six months into my apprenticeship. Olaf’s caravan had pulled up outside a salvage yard; I won’t tell you the name. We’ll call the owner “Des.” Des had a reputation for being a harsh taskmaster. He worked his people hard, but paid them well. His salvage yard was huge. Huge. Molly’s would have fit in his parking lot. Des had set up shop in a spot close to several large Tanki arenas, and had contracted with them directly, so he had a constant supply of the freshest scrap. Fittingly, “Des can get it” was his motto.
 
I didn’t find out until later that he had another reputation; his yard had one of the highest rates of worker injuries on the continent.
 
On the first day, Olaf introduced me to Des. He seemed like a nice guy who took an interest in me, and over the next couple of days, he always made time to acknowledge me when our paths crossed, which seemed to happen a lot.
 
On the fourth day, I was helping disassemble a drive train. As the new kid on the caravan, I was in charge of disassembling the treads into components. Always with the treads! I didn’t really mind, as I was close to the rest of the team and could watch what they were doing, but this was grunt work. Des came over. “Hey, Tadpole, I hear you’re a forklift operator. Can I borrow you?”
 
I looked hopefully at Lisbon, who was heading this team. He looked at Des. “Tad isn’t authorized to run the lift unsupervised.”
 
Des nodded. “No problem. I’ll supervise myself.”
 
Lisbon frowned. “Seriously? You won’t have your nose buried in a clipboard, or run off to oversee something else?”
 
Des raised his right hand. “I solemnly swear to give my full concentration to the supervision of the forklift operations.”
 
“Liiiiiizzzzzzz,” I whined. “Puh-LEASE!”
 
“Fine, off you go.” Lisbon grinned and jerked his thumb over his shoulder.
 
I was really excited. Driving a forklift really felt like a grown-up and important thing to do, and I always looked forward to any opportunity. Even just moving the lift from one spot to another was fun!
 
Des’ forklift was a different model from anything I’d driven before. He watched as I did the walkaround inspection, nodding approvingly as I checked the hydraulic fluid reservoirs. Once I mounted the machine, he called out “Clear to come alongside?”
 
“Clear to come alongside,” I responded.
 
Des walked up beside me. “Ok, take a look at the controls. The layout is standard, but let me know if you have any questions.”
 
While there were dozens of subtle differences, nothing was confusing. The only real difference about this machine was that the forks were curved, which I hadn’t seen before.
 
“I think I’ve got this,” I answered after taking a minute to survey everything.
 
Des pointed. “Ok, meet me behind that warehouse. We’ll be moving cargo onto a flatbed.” He walked off towards the building. I checked to make sure all was clear around me. It always made me feel silly, calling out “Clear ahead!” and “Clear to the left!” and whatnot when there was no one within 50 meters of me, but that was what I had been taught, so that was what I did.
 
As I arrived behind the warehouse, Des was opening a loading door. Inside were dozens of barrels, each covered with hazardous material warnings. I could see now why the forks had that curve; they were designed to grab a barrel from the sides.
 
“Um, I’ve never done this before,” I said.
 
“Nothing to it,” Des replied. “Just be gentle so that you don’t buckle the sides. Grab the barrel about a third of the way below the top and close the forks gently. When you think it’s tight, lift just a little bit. If the barrel comes up, you’re good. If the forks slip, just close them a tad more and try again.”
 
I looked at the warning labels. “Should I be wearing protective gear?”
 
Des snorted. “This stuff is just old lubricant and such. The Damaged Environment Reclamation Treaty requires absurd labelling for things that aren’t really hazardous. Honestly, these are about as dangerous as bath water.”
 
I looked over the layout one more time. There was a ramp which lead up to the loading dock. The barrels were stacked in columns three layers high, each layer made of four barrels, with pieces of lumber acting as a platform between levels. Nothing looked particularly difficult, other than the new challenge of grabbing the barrels. Confidently, I drove up the ramp to the first tower of barrels.
 
Working with items stacked high was nothing new. Since they were all “edge pieces,” so to speak, I could see enough to gently maneuver into place. I slowly closed the forks until the barrel was securely nested in the opening, then lifted a few centimeters. The barrel rose with no problems.
 
“Excellent!” called Des. He was standing outside, near the flatbed truck. “Load from the front to the back, bottom layer first. I’ll take care of laying the boards so that you can stack the second layer.”
 
I had moved a dozen barrels, and was just pulling the first one down from a new tower, when I heard “FORKLIFT STOP!” I took my hands immediately off the controls and scanned the area. What was the problem?
 
I saw Olaf standing there in the loading door, fists clenched. Des was walking up to him, hands raised in a placating gesture.
 
“MAKE SAFE!” roared Olaf. The quickest way for me to do that was to lower the barrel to the ground, so I did.
 
“Tadpole, get out of there. Go back to the caravan.” I’d never heard Olaf’s voice like this. He was furious. I had no idea what I’d done wrong, but I was genuinely terrified. “NOW!” he bellowed, when I hadn’t moved immediately. I leapt from the chair and ran back to the bus.
 
There was no one standing around for me to talk to. I didn’t know what to do. Should I wake someone up? I was on the verge of tears. Why was Olaf so mad at me? What had I done wrong? Was he going to send me home?
 
It was only a couple of minutes later that I saw Olaf striding back towards the caravan. He had his tablet out and was tapping away. I heard an unfamiliar chime from my own pocket. Pulling out my device, I saw something totally unexpected, a single word that had only been mentioned once during my orientation.
 
“RECALL”
 
Recall. One word, large font, red letters, no punctuation. Code for “Stop what you’re doing, grab your things, and get back to the caravan.”
 
There was frantic activity as everyone broke camp and repacked. All of the sleepers were awakened to help out. Des tried to approach three or four times, but someone always intercepted him and turned him away. No one would answer my questions, they just pointed at another thing to get packed. Most of them had no idea what was going on either, but no one was wasting time talking about it.
 
Less than an hour later, we were on the road. Olaf had invited me to ride with him in the command vehicle, our name for the van which served as Olaf’s office. Well, I say invited. What he actually did was point at the passenger door and say “Get in.” Usually only senior staff rode with Olaf; that was where planning for the next stop was finalized.
 
Olaf was still furious. It showed in the set of his eyes, in the way his giant hands gripped the steering wheel, in the terse way he barked orders into the radio. Once we reached the highway, he said nothing, and I was too terrified to break the silence. We rode that way for a couple of hours before he pulled over into a rest area.
 
“Huddle up,” he barked over the radio.
 
I reached for the door. “Just a minute, Cal,” he said.
 
I froze. No one in this crew had ever used my given name before. Until this moment, I hadn’t even been sure they knew what it was.
 
“I want you to understand something. I am not mad at you.”
 
Ohmygods! The sheer relief exploding inside my chest did what the terror before hadn’t done, and the tears started to fall. Olaf reached over and hugged me (an awkward feat for two people in captain’s chairs).
 
“What Des had you doing was illegal, dangerous, and unconscionable. The waste in those barrels is highly toxic. Only someone with level three Hazmat training should be allowed to touch them. And then, only when wearing full protective gear, including oxygen supply, and working with a spotter. That stuff is DEADLY. If one of those barrels had leaked, or gods forbid, you had damaged or dropped one….” He paused, his voice trembling.
 
“Des is licensed to handle such things. He knows what the law is, and what protocol is. I can’t believe he would take advantage of your naivety to save on hiring the proper personnel.”
 
Olaf clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles popped. I was suddenly glad that the crew had kept Des away from Olaf before we left; Olaf clearly wanted to hurt the man.
 
“I need to explain to everyone why we just broke contract with that rat. He may sue us. If he does, I’ll damn sure turn him in to the feds for what he pulled. But regardless, we’ve dealt with him for the last time.”
 
He hugged me again. No one ever explained it to me, but I understood that Olaf wouldn’t be filing a complaint against Des. He couldn’t, lest Des sue him for breach of contract. I didn’t know much about contract law, but I did know something about trials. Even winning costs time and money, and Olaf couldn’t spare much of either. So, my ignorance and my eagerness had not only put me personally in danger, it had compromised Olaf’s ethics as well.
 
I wasn’t sure how, but I resolved that I wouldn’t let myself be a liability to the people I loved ever again.
 

Mahalo (thank you) for reading; I hope you enjoyed! This story is part of a series. Information on the series, and links to the other stories, can be found here.

 

[kaisdf 3,320]

Article approved.

 

“Ohmygods” I love it. Fantastic piece. First-person narrative can be a minefield of clichés and poor writing, but you have absolutely mastered it. I completely identified with the character, so much so that I actually had tingles at the “Forklift stop/make safe” point.

 

Not quite as accurate as your previous pieces, but that’s more my nit-picky perfectionism when it comes to grammar than anything else.

 

Edits:

• “’Des can get it’ was his motto” sounded slightly off to me, perhaps it’s the use of the passive, but adding “Fittingly” beforehand seems to have improved it.
• "noone” -> “no one”
• “Labeling” -> “Labelling”
• A comma or two added/removed

Perhaps it could do with one final reading through to catch any possible mistakes, but it doesn’t really need it

[tweezers 1,034]

Loved the conversations! 

 

 

gods? Plural? Percy Jackson reference? Overthinking tweezers?

 

 

[P.4.R.K.O.U.R 329]

Honestly, these are about as dangerous as bath water.

That stuff is DEADLY.

Bath water is DEADLY.

Hence Proved.

JK

 

Nice piece of a beautiful series.

Ohmygods needs some explanation.

Edited December 28, 2018 by P.4.R.K.O.U.R

[Hippin_in_Hawaii 639]

Ohmygods...
This isn't the first indication that polytheism is commonplace in the Tankiverse. All through Molly's and General Fred, any reference to divinity has been plural. "Gods above" was used a few times, and also just "Gods..." as an expression of dismay. It's not overt, except in the Halloween story "Crossing Over." It's just one of the differences between the Tankiverse and our very similar universe. 

[Lose 881]

how do you write so well i try to write a story and i feel good but then you come along and ur like "axaxaxaxa hy6"

 

in completely honesty though, great story, cant wait for part 20

 

also how on earth do you manage to write 19 parts of a story, I cant think past part 4 or 5 for my stories XD

 

also i was kidding about what i said above

sorta

 

you are a great story maker of you havent figured it out already

[Hippin_in_Hawaii 639]

how do you write so well i try to write a story and i feel good but then you come along and ur like "axaxaxaxa hy6"

 

in completely honesty though, great story, cant wait for part 20

 

also how on earth do you manage to write 19 parts of a story, I cant think past part 4 or 5 for my stories XD

 

also i was kidding about what i said above

sorta

 

you are a great story maker of you havent figured it out already

Thanks for the kind words! And I'll be sure to find a place for "axaxaxaxa hy6" somewhere down the road!  ;)

 

As far as "how do you..." I honestly have no idea. In part, I've been an avid reader since I was tiny. Having all of that in my head helps. But often, when I sit down to write, I just feel as if I've been possessed. Something takes control of my fingers, and these words just flow out. I'm sitting here at the keyboard, typing, and waiting to see what happens next! 

[Lose 881]

Thanks for the kind words! And I'll be sure to find a place for "axaxaxaxa hy6" somewhere down the road!  ;)

 

As far as "how do you..." I honestly have no idea. In part, I've been an avid reader since I was tiny. Having all of that in my head helps. But often, when I sit down to write, I just feel as if I've been possessed. Something takes control of my fingers, and these words just flow out. I'm sitting here at the keyboard, typing, and waiting to see what happens next! 

jesus what did you have for breakfast

[P.4.R.K.O.U.R 329]

Ohmygods...

This isn't the first indication that polytheism is commonplace in the Tankiverse. All through Molly's and General Fred, any reference to divinity has been plural. "Gods above" was used a few times, and also just "Gods..." as an expression of dismay. It's not overt, except in the Halloween story "Crossing Over." It's just one of the differences between the Tankiverse and our very similar universe.

 

But I think I saw Jeez somewhere in the series... not plural.

Wait, you can't write Jeezes. .

Edited December 29, 2018 by P.4.R.K.O.U.R

[Hippin_in_Hawaii 639]

But I think I saw Jeez somewhere... not plural.

I'm not saying that today's popular gods aren't included. Just saying that that no one really ever claimed a monopoly the way a couple of attention-hogging deities did in our universe. YHWH and family are still known and worshipped, but so are Horus, Shiva, Apollo, Balor, Ny-Rakath... you get the idea. Rather than 1/3 of the planet being Christian, it's somewhere around 0.25%. 

 

I don't think I used "jeez" anywhere, but there are a couple of "Jesus" and "Jesus Christ" back in the Tanker Fred series. That's set roughly in contemporary times; Molly's is set over a hundred years later. Theism in general wanes quite a bit in the intervening years. But even in the One-Eyed Man saga so far, which is set only shortly after Tanker Fred, the references are plural. 

[GrandExecutioner 1,403]

Molly's is set over a hundred years later.

 

Ahh. Assumed the character was young Fred.

[Hippin_in_Hawaii 639]

Ahh. Assumed the character was young Fred.

That's a completely reasonable leap, and one I toyed with when I was formulating the idea for the series. 

[GrandExecutioner 1,403]

That's a completely reasonable leap, and one I toyed with when I was formulating the idea for the series.

 

Out of interest, how come you didn’t go through with it?

[Hippin_in_Hawaii 639]

Out of interest, how come you didn’t go through with it?

Two reasons, I think.

 

First, if Tadpole became Fred, then the storyline is self-terminating. Tad enrolls in the service; cue the Tanker Fred series. This way, if I decide to return to Tadpole's life farther down the timeline, it's an option.

 

Second, I wanted to begin exploring a world where competitive tanking was a thing.

 

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the world where tanks are engines of war, and that theme is continuing in the One-Eyed Man series. But I also wanted to play in a world where tanks are entertainment. I'm pretty sure I'll return to that at some point, maybe from the perspective of the participants, maybe from the view of the sportscasters or even a die-hard fan (still working the details.) By using Molly's to establish what the future of the Tankiverse looks like, circa 2158 - 2165, I effectively give myself a second world to play in! 

 

This is the penultimate Molly's story, although I may do a couple of one-offs. 

[TankiNoob2000 231]

Well written my friend;)

[iMoneyMaker 4,500]

Thanks for using my Signed Avatar :) 

[Hippin_in_Hawaii 639]

Thanks for using my Signed Avatar :)

Thanks for making it!  I enjoy the little bit of flash it brings to the page!