Utterly Mad

It turned out that "front and center" meant "up here on the stage" and Catnip wasn't sure she liked that. Meeting with people one on one, or in small groups, was fine enough. Heck, large groups she could do. This was an auditorium though, filled with many people. Fortunately, she didn't have to worry much about doing any talking herself.

"Ok everyone. As we all know, Pricetown has come under... Attack... Once again by the, ur, Mycus..." Said the head foreman, stumbling over the words a bit. The room filled with a low murmur and the fear in the room spiked. Catnip was surprised to find that she could smell it. An aroma of sweats sour tang mixing with the sharp sheared copper of adrenaline. It wasn't a pleasant smell. In the short silence that followed, the sound of the electric generator running the lights was very loud in the distance.

"This place is a defense measure we could have used during the great burning, had it not been dynamited before the... Slaughter... Began." The murmur hushed a little, and someone in the crowd asked, "Hey, woah, the place is still standing Cranston. Hell, the tower itself looks alright. What's with this dynamite crap?"

Cranston, the head foreman, nodded. "Sure it's still standing. The asshole responsible didn't take out this part of it. The damage is underground. There's a whole facility under our feet. Completely separate from the lab in town. That's what you lot are here for. There's a lot of rubble to clear out, and a lot of reinforcing to do. To that end, we've brought on two architectural engineers, Mr. Danville and Mr. Brookside, to oversee the construction work and to make sure everything stays architecturally sound. After that, Mrs. Parsons will run wiring and get everything hooked back up. Catnip and Tobin will be examining the dishes and the machinery respectively. The lot of you are to assist in any way you can. Any questions?"

There were a few, of course. We're there any Mycus down there, how would they be paid, how did they know the tower would work, and how did the foreman know what the tower did anyway. All these questions and more we're answered carefully, leaving very little out. No, there was no Mycus down stairs, but their we're screamers. The shattered helm would take care of it. They would be paid in watermarks like everyone else working in Pricetown. The tower would work only if they got it working. Once that was done, the foreman knew it would work because it had worked before. Cranston was a survivor of the great burning after all.