"Tim, why don't you go with him? I want to make sure this old girl is running at top form."
Tim nodded.
Sawyer noticed the young man didn't say a lot, and he worried that he'd scared Tim. He didn't really know how to fix that except with time. Hopefully, once Tim got to know him, he'd realize Sawyer wasn't a guy to be afraid of.
Sawyer walked with Tim, going from room to room, making sure that nothing was plugged in that didn't have to be plugged in. It was a lot easier with light to show them the way. They could actually see what was plugged in.
When they got to the kitchen, Sawyer noticed the interest in Tim's eyes when the man looked around. "You like cooking?"
Tim flushed before nodding. "I love cooking. I just don't have a lot of time to do it. Although, I guess I'll have a bit more time now. There doesn't seem to be a lot of need for electricians."
"There's a big need, especially if you can actually get the lights turned back on, but there is also a need for cooks. I get by simply because I can read a recipe and I like eating. It's not gourmet by any stretch of the imagination, so the job is yours if you want it."
"Oh, I couldn't. My dad…he…uh…he needs me to help him with the electrical stuff."
"Well, if you ever want to cook anything, you know where the kitchen is now." Sawyer was thrilled that they might actually be able to use the real kitchen and not the one he'd assembled in the other room. "Do you know how to cook with freeze-dried foods?"
Tim shot him the first smile he'd ever given. "I can follow a recipe, too."
Sawyer chuckled. "Fair enough."
"If we're going to be here for a while, and we have electricity, we should think about building an indoor garden. They're not real hard to set up. We just need planters, dirt, water, seeds, and lights. There are a few other things that'd help make things grow, but fresh fruits and vegetables are always better and it'll help stretch the food."
"You know about indoor gardening?"
"Oh yeah, I had one back when…back before."
Sawyer grinned. "Follow me."
He led Tim down the corridor again, taking him to one of the rooms he hadn't quite figured out what to do with. He didn't know crap about growing things. He opened the door then stepped inside. "Did you have something like this in mind?"
Tim's eyes rounded when he got a good look at the room. "Wow."
Sawyer was a little astonished, too, now that the lights were on and he was able to see the entire room. It was a big room, with row after row of elevated planter beds. Sprinklers hung down from the ceiling. Sacks of soil were stacked on pallets along the wall.
"Well, the sprinklers won't help unless we figure out how to get the plumbing fixed."
"Yeah," Tim said, "not my department."
"I suppose we could always carry water in from the reservoirs."
"That's a lot of water to carry."
"Not if we fill some of the large tanks in the reservoir room and use a hand dolly to bring it in here. We could stack them against the wall and maybe figure out some way to hook the sprinklers up to them."
"That might actually work."
"Great." Sawyer patted Tim on the shoulder. He quickly removed his hand when the man shuddered. He didn't know what the man was afraid of, but it was obvious he had issues. "You're in charge of it."
"Me?" Tim squeaked.
"I can kill a cactus, and I'm pretty sure the guys are in the same boat. We're good at killing mechs, not growing things."
"Yeah, but—"
"I have every confidence you can handle it, Tim. If you need help, let me know and we'll see what we can do."
Tim's "Okay" was a little shaky, but Sawyer could see the interest in the man's eyes as he gazed out over the room.
