“You wanted to see me?” Loch asked.

  “Yeah,” Jeff said, pushing the half dismantled heater to the side. “Patrick,” he called out, raising his voice to be heard over the background noise in the basement.

  Loch realized they’d have to find somewhere else for the Crafters. The basement was jam packed, and the concrete walls and solid floor kept the sounds bouncing around. It was amazing that any of them were able to get work done with the pounding of hammers, even the sound of the spinning wheels was amplified.

  “Coming,” the other man said.

  Patrick came to stand next to Jeff, who reached behind him and pulled forward a metal box. It was made of different colors that looked like they had been taken from a variety of different pieces of equipment. Which they probably had been. There were small clips on the two longer sides and ends with knobs on the top and bottom pieces which held the whole thing together. Slots had been cut into the sides and ends with legs attached to the bottom. The top had a hole cut into it.

  “Jeff and I managed to make this,” Patrick said, pointing at the contraption.

  The thing looked familiar to Loch. He’d seen something similar but couldn’t place it.

  “And it is?” Loch asked.

  “A space heater,” Jeff said, smiling. “But portable.”

  It clicked in Loch’s mind. He’d seen the idea before in bushcraft videos he’d seen on the internet. It was collapsible to make carrying when hiking easier, but could then turn into a stove to keep the hiker warm in a winter’s night out in the wild.

  “How does it work?” he asked, intrigued.

  Jeff set the stove on the table, opening a hatch in the front.

  “Pretty simple, just place some small pieces of wood and light it up,” he answered with a shrug.

  “Lewis is trying to come up with a chemical compound that’ll give off heat,” Patrick said, pointing over to the other man who was hunched over his desk, not paying attention or hadn’t heard over the background noise of the room. “It’ll be kind of like sterno or the stuff used in the heating pads we used to put into our gloves.”

  Loch nodded. The handwarmers had been pretty common and they’d gone around to all the stores and homes, grabbing what they could. Most were given to the guards to use when out on patrol.

  “Because of the size, it’ll take less wood but the heat output won’t be high. But it’ll help,” Patrick said.

  “What about smoke?” Loch asked.

  Jeff grabbed some pieces of round metal tubes. They were of various lengths. Most were straight and others had a curve in them.

  “We got these from the hardware store and are working on fabricating them. Getting the metal is the hardest part. Because these are pretty standard diameter, we made the hole on top of the stove the same diameter. They’ll fit fairly tightly together.” He pushed the flue tubes to the side, pulling out a long piece of wood with a hole in it, about the same diameter as the tubes. He held the wood, showing that it was actually two pieces with some insulation in between. “Had the carpenters make this. We’ll put it in the windows and direct the smoke outside.”

  “We’re also going to look to see if we can tie it already into the schools HVAC ducts and use those to funnel the smoke out of the school. But mostly, these will be made for the barracks and bunkhouses. We’ve been hearing that the stoves in the front room aren’t really doing a great job spreading the heat throughout.”

  “That’s a good plan,” Loch said. “How many of these do you have?”

  Patrick and Jeff looked at each other, looking a little crestfallen.

  “The problem is finding the metal to make the stoves and forming the flues. We’re pretty short but have enough material to make five. That’s just for now, if we get more then..,” Jeff said, spreading his arms.

  “Good job,” Loch said. “Make as many as you can.”

  “Will do,” Jeff said as Loch started to walk away. “I think some of the others might have stuff to show you.”

  “I’ll make the rounds.”

  ***

  It was a couple hours later when Loch finally made it back upstairs. Almost everyone down in the basement had wanted to show him the things they were working on. The tailors were making blankets and carpets, using recycled materials, also making mattresses. The carpenters had started on bed frames to hold the mattresses since so many in the Clan were still using sleeping bags. No air mattresses since batteries no longer worked.

  The carpenters had spent a lot of their time complaining. They were limited on wood, since the majority went to being used as fuel for heat. They were lagging behind in Levels compared to the others. Loch had assured them that come the spring, there would be plenty of work and wood available. With the housing planned, there would need to be furniture as well.

  Leatherworkers had nothing special. They were working on Leveling up as quick as they could, so they could finally start using the hides brought from the Iceclaw Raptors. Nate Andrews, the highest Leveled Leatherworker in the Clan, thought they’d need to be at least Level 10 to use the hide. He was almost there. Loch had met with Nate and some of the other representatives to the Committee Jeff Johnson and Thomas Mooney had set up to meet with the Crafters and learn of their various issues. Nate didn’t have many issues. There were plenty of hides coming in from the Coyotes, Chipmunks and Lynxia the Hunters were always killing in the nearby woods. They were producing a lot of basic leather armor sets. Almost every guard had a full set. They were even working with the tailors and adding fur to the inside of the leather, giving the armor some insulation. The Blacksmiths were making weapons, mostly axes and swords. They were running low on ore as the flow from the mine had slowed down with the snow.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  All the Crafters had enough to keep them busy, and even keep their helpers somewhat busy. The Leveling had slowed down some since they were rationing materials and were limited in what they could make. Loch hadn’t seen Henry Bolton down in the basement, so went looking for the man when he walked upstairs into the lobby. He headed to the office to ask Kristin if she knew where Henry’s room was. Opening the door, he saw Ed walking out of his office.

  “Ah, Loch,” Ed said. “I was hoping to run into you.”

  “What’s up?”

  “Did you see the heater and other stuff going on in the basement?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good, I authorized some more Resources to be sent down to make more of the heaters,” Ed said, as the two stood in the lobby. “They want to test the first one out soon.”

  “Sounds good,” Loch said. “If the heaters work, that’ll really help out.”

  “What I wanted to ask was if you were planning on heading out again,” Ed asked.

  “Not sure. You have everything here under control, so I figure I can do more good out there,” Loch said, pointing out the doors.

  Ed sighed.

  “Thanks but as good as I think I’m doing, the mood around here just seems to pick up when you’re around. I think most of the folks just like having your strength around.”

  “There’s plenty of strong people in the Clan now.”

  “True, but they aren’t you.”

  Loch started to protest but stopped. Did Ed have a point? Loch tried not to stand out, to just be one of the Clan, no one special, but he knew it wasn’t true and no matter how hard he tried to get the others to just accept them as one of them, it never happened. The lower Leveled members of the Clan, the guards and others, they all looked up to Loch. He could tell when he talked with them. They looked up to his strength. Loch hoped he was showing them that it wasn’t just about strength, but about being a good person too.

  The Connected System pushed strength, but they didn’t have to live like that.

  “Do you want me sticking around more?”

  Ed shrugged.

  “It wouldn’t hurt. I know you need to Level and such, and there’s threats out there that only you can handle, but if you were here more…”

  “I can do that,” Loch said, even though he really didn’t want to. He wanted to be out there in the wilds and fighting the monsters to protect his Clan. “Has there been anything that has really stood out that could be a problem?”

  “I don’t know,” Ed said, signaling for Loch to follow him.

  They walked into the office, which was empty, no Kristin or Darren. Ed led Loch into his office, closing the door behind them. Loch took one of the two chairs facing the desk as Ed took the one behind. He glanced at the door before speaking.

  “There’s been some discontent,” Ed started. “Nothing major and really the same people but it is spreading. People are growing bored. Even though it’s been snowing A LOT,” Ed grumbled. “And they’re out shoveling all the time, there’s only so much that people can do before it just gets tedious and mind numbing. We’re running into the same problem we had. The people that are just general laborers are getting depressed.”

  Loch sat back in the chair, one leg over his knee. He’d noticed the same thing. The games, dancing and singing had helped but with winter, people just weren’t getting out. They were getting cabin fever. Even before the Connected System, winter led to a lot of depression. Seasonal depression was a real thing and looked like it still was. But there was only so much they could do. The amount of snow and the cold was limiting.

  “What are you thinking?” Loch asked.

  “Something to lift everyone’s spirits in a way,” Ed answered. “We’ve lost so much with the Connection. We don’t even know what day of the year it is. Some people have been measuring the days and tell me the solstice is coming. Even with the growth of the world, the day/night cycle and all that have stayed the same. They’ve managed to use some calendars and star charts they found and calculated the solstice in a week and they’re reasonably sure they have it nailed down.”

  “Doesn’t the solstice take place on a different day each year?”

  “Yeah, so we can’t really use that to calculate anything. Someone found a copy of the Farmer’s Almanac and it said the Solstice was on December 21st.”

  Loch leaned forward, getting an idea of where Ed was going.

  “So we can figure out when Christmas is?”

  “Yeah, but that only works for this year, or the year’s listed in the Almanac and I think we’d have a hard time keeping track of it for next year.”

  “You want to use the start of the Winter Solstice don’t you?”

  “Yeah,” Ed said. “That way we can track it every year and have a celebration. I’m not quite sure how it’ll work but…”

  “I love the idea. Work up a volunteer committee. See if the scavengers can find any decorations in the nearby houses,” Loch said, excited. “But, gifts… Not sure how we’ll make that work.”

  Ed shrugged and chuckled.

  “Let someone else figure that part out.”