Utterly Mad

It was, but once Catnip discovered that, there was no chance she was going to let on that it was intact. She was sitting somewhat away from the rest, working and listening to the chatter around the barrel fires. The cell was whole, but that was all it was  the one that had stayed on it's spindle had stayed clean and functional. The other one was gummed up with corrosion and so it's sleeves couldn't be adjusted. She labeled them "Cell one" and "Cell two" with the first being the better of the two. Cell one was given a fresh application of lubricant, sprayed through a straw from a can, and put away in Catnip's work bag. Cell two though was worked on diligently. From another can Catnip brought out another solution she had learned about since coming to Pricetown. "Rust cutter." It smelled like gasoline but could dissolve rust like no one's business while doubling as a lubricant. It wasn't much good for tools or knives, Catnip could polish those things by hand, but it was fantastic for small moving parts and it too had a small narrow straw for application in tight spaces. She squirted a little of the rust cutter onto the rim of the cells cap and jiggled the handle a little. There was a bit of give in it, and that was good. A little give meant the fluid was working. The more it worked, the deeper it could permeate into every crack of the corroded metal.

"How's it going over there Ma'am?" One of the workers asked. The conversation went quiet at the question, everyone listening.

"It's fine. Just a bit stiff." Catnip said. They waited for a bit, perhaps waiting for Catnip to elucidate on what exactly she was up to, but she didn't. She just continued tooling away, so one of the workers brought out a guitar and gave it a tentative strum. The mechanic shivered at the sound. Kathrine played the guitar, on occasion she'd even do it while Catnip was working. There was a soothing nostalgia about the sound. Something warm and lonely at the same time. The guitarist plunked at the strings and tuned up, then went into something low and slow. Catnip knew the song too. "The streets of Le Cordon Rouge." A downbeat meandering song that Kathrine played often but never sang. Catnip was suddenly sad. The song always made her feel a bit sad and her work slowed. Sadness turned to determination, she would escape. After all this business with the tower, Catnip would just leave. Just walk out at night and leave Pricetown. Leave the sand and the people, the Mycus and the screamers. Pricetown stupid money and... Catnip's hand touched the collar around her neck as she moved to scratch. She was so used to it now that Catnip often forgot she was wearing it, and the fact that she was used to it turned her determination back into dispair. It could let Pricetown's authority track her down. Make it easy to catch her too.

"Bah..." She spat. A little more rust cutter, and a bit more half hearted jiggling. There was definitely something in there. The cannisters just didn't want to give it up, so Catnip set it aside and let the rust cutter work. The guitar changed hands and the song changed while Catnip looked up into the night sky. There wasn't a single cloud up there but not a star could be seen. Catnip realized she'd never seen it so dark before. How long had it been since she'd seen the stars? Her arrival, she decided. Waking up in the back of a white truck, staring up at the wonder of the desert sky. Since then life had become complicated. Unbearably so. She slid the cannisters back into her lap and went back to work. The handle on the end slid stiffly this time, but at least it turned. A half turn to the right, then a tug, and another quarter turn. The sound the cannister made when it finally opened was a far cry from the grinding of rust on rust, a little "foomp" sound. She reached in and took out the source of the cells power.

"Oh." She said, almost whispered. Catnip had expected something interesting, but not quiet as interesting as the truth of the cells "core." A spiraling pink stone in the shape of the a tear drop and covered here and there in little spiraling divots. Catnip had seen one before, but only in a dream. As inexplicable and sudden as coming into ones own home and finding friends and family leaping out of the closet to surprise, Catnip found herself in possession of the stone she'd been seeking for most of her life outside the lab.