Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 463: One sun down.

The joy in witnessing Nine faint was killed by the instructions to wait by his sick bedside until he opened his eyes.

Sunshine had never wished to smash someone or something awake so much with her hammer. But medics and security robots were watching her. So, she repaired a palm sized signal resonator box as she waited.

It could store transmissions. The one she repaired had fried and lose wires. A simple fix that she accomplished in ten minutes and then she spent twenty two minutes fiddling with different wires to find memories of forgotten transmissions.

As soon as Nine opened his eyes, she jumped up. "He is awake. I am out of here."

She vanished into the space and not a second sooner because the sly insectoid was about to sting her secretly.

When Sunshine returned to the normal world, she served herself a tiny lunch of beef noodles with an ice cold lemonade. She chewed her food slowly while perusing through her tablet that had updates from the telecommunications team and every other team on the base doing different work.

It also had snippets of the latest gossip, categorized by comms officer Tina. In the gossip file was a picture of Phillip handing Lisha a fur and Zulu chasing Phillip away from her best friend who the parrot apparently declared could do so much better.

She was still giggling over that when the system chimed in her mind. Instead of the regular ’ding’ sound, it chimed like a bell.

Not just any chiming but that of a church bell at noon.

"Yeah....let’s not make that a regular thing." She said, grimacing.

[Congratulations host, artificial sun 100% repaired. You have earned many points that I am still calculating.]

She shot upright. "Whoa! How many points is that?"

Laziness evaporated instantly as she bolted for the workshop. The door slid slightly open to reveal Tank_humming and dancing, if his stiff, clunky movements could be called dancing.

One of Sunshine’s favorite pop songs was playing from a speaker. The robot’s dancing was not new to her. It was his victory ritual, his very sincere attempt at being human or more like her.

Sunshine couldn’t help the smile tugging at her lips as she pushed the door further wide open and then wincing.

A large part of the room was so brightly lit that it almost blinded her with golden yellow rays. Tank hadn’t waited for permission to initiate the test. The artificial sun sat proudly on a small metal pedestal, blazing at almost full strength.

Sunshine slipped on a pair of sunglasses she picked up in Boulder Creek.

Tank switched off all the lights in the workshop and closed the window too. Even the blinds were sealed tight. The artificial sun brightened even more, glowing so intensely that Sunshine covered the sunglasses over her eyes with her hands.

"Tank! dim the glow_ do you want me blind or extra blind?"

Tank spun around, a massive smiling emoji lighting up his visor as the brightness dimmed to a tolerable glow.

"My apologies. Good day, foreman Sunshine, I hope it is bright for you like it is in here. My emotional state is joyful. The artificial sun is complete." Pride hummed in his voice.

Sunshine stepped closer, awe softening her teasing as she inspected the flawless surface, tapping the remote to raise and lower the light. "You did incredible," she said quietly, pride sneaking into her chest. "Before you sail off to joy land, you do know that we will be making more of these... and the moon too."

Tank nodded, chest plates lifting slightly as if he were breathing. "Estimated completion time will be shorter now that I know what to do and what not to do," he added, then paused. "I am ready for the next challenge. Artificial stars, clouds...name it."

Sunshine laughed, warm and tired and proud all at once. "Slow down Tank, one at a time. Let us celebrate this one first," she said, lowering the brightness of the sun again. "Then we’ll talk about your next impossible miracle."

They admired the artificial sun for a long moment. Then, took measurements and discussed necessary changes in the next one.

When the conversation was concluded, Sunshine stored the artificial sun back into the space. For, her another mountain was waiting to be conquered. She casually told the system to bring out everything needed to make the Reddix pills.

One by one the items appeared on the table, vials of levias marrow, delicate phimma bloom petals, damp heaven moss pulsing softly, and star-borne dust shimmering as if it resented being contained_ and Sunshine gathered them carefully, muttering, "Everything looks so fragile,"

[That is why you have to handle with care.] The system sounded a warning that it had given many times before.

"Yeah..yeah." Sunshine muttered. She put a handful of the phimma petals in her shop for sale and then set off for the labs.

Along the way, Day shared with her more gossip on the things happening on the base.

"Dr. Gordon apparently adopted a mutated pet goat and he has taught it to sniff out hidden food."

"Word is that someone from Hunkerville sneaked rat jerky into the first wall when they were delivering copper that was dug out of the mines. I will not be buying any jerky from the market anytime soon."

"Owen swears that last night, he saw one of the mutated chicken wearing a necklace out by the pool. I think he had a nightmare."

"Some doctors have started proposing experimenting with mutant beast organs. They think it could revolutionize the organ industry. I think this is because Mrs. Peltz had a heart attack when the rats attacked. She needs a heart transplant but there are no hearts for donation."

Sunshine sighed. It never crossed their minds that they would need organs in the apocalypse. But what the doctors were proposing was dangerous.

She would need Hades to go and stop them before they started a different kind of apocalypse.

"There is chatter that one of the patrols found a charred cable in Busker. Someone either had the intention to sabotage it or steal it. But as nothing happened, they did not report it in."

Sunshine frowned. They would need to add more cameras and patrols in the town. Nothing was allowed to go wrong in the farming town.

"A couple of families are talking about leaving the fortress and settling elsewhere. They don’t like all the foreign technology which could be used to spy on them. As if that matters more than surviving the apocalypse!"

Sunshine chuckled. "Fools will be fools."

"Some people want Father Nicodemus replaced as the base priest. They think he is too.....worldly....or ...." Day winced. "I don’t know how else to say it other than they think he is some sort of killer. He has blood on his hands...or wings. They are worried that he will lead the flock astray. Craydon’s mother is one of the people passing that around."

Sunshine rolled her eyes. "They can find a new church beyond the walls. Nobody is stopping them."

Day chuckled and parked the car. He was not nearly done but they had reached the lab parking grounds.