Eureka Seven: Fusion
                                                      Chapter 9. Exodus continued


  Renton was brimming with excitement; soon they would be on their way! If he couldn’t make that old green sedan run; there would be SOMETHING he could make work.
  He looked up at Eureka. She was riding the waves with some enthusiasm, more than she had in a very long time. The refboard was rough and crudely made, but it sufficed. Renton wasn’t sure where the driftwood had washed up from, but there had been many rides taken on the board it now was.
  The wagon rattled along as the wheels crunched the sand of the rough road. Renton inhaled the air tasting the sweet pea blooms on the dry air; it was gonna be hot today!
  It took them 20 minutes to get to the junkyard and after some struggle, another 10 to get the garage door open. Renton cleared a workbench inside the destroyed garage and laid out his tools. He then set about inspecting the car.
  The battery was dead; of course, the tires were a little low, but there weren’t any fluid leaks from sitting, and the fuel didn’t smell soured from age. Plus being a standard shift car, they could probably push it to start it.
  But not now; they would need a good charge to get it to at least start.
  Renton searched the garage and remains of the house.
  “What are you looking for, Renton?” Asked Eureka.
  “Acid; we need to make that battery work, if even only once.” He said. Eureka began looking around the yard. There were other batteries, but they were probably in the same condition.
  She found some large drums containing unknown fluids. Opening one; she smelled sour gasoline. Another smelled of good fuel and another still. One smelled of used motor oil. No acid, though.
  She found Renton carefully adding liquid from a small bottle to the battery.
  “Acid?” She asked. Renton nodded.
  “It’s for cleaning; but it should work. It will destroy the battery, but it should get us started” He said.
  “I found some gasoline and some old oil; can we use it?” She said. Renton’s head flew up.
  “Really? Where? Show me.” He cried. Dutifully, Eureka showed Renton to the drums. A wide grin formed on Renton’s face.
  “Okay; find as many good, clean containers as you can. Then come get me.” He said. Eureka nodded.
  Renton finished up with the battery and let it simmer. He located a hand pump well spigot and two old jugs. He decided to fill these with water, and keep them for emergency.
  He cleaned and adjusted the car’s engine components, filled the radiator with water, and checked the brakes. Eureka then came around the corner.
   “Okay; I found 7 containers.” She said. Renton followed her to the drums. Eureka had four old anti-freeze containers, two soda bottles, and an old thermos cooler.
  “Okay; we’ll fill the soda bottles with oil, and the anti-freeze jugs with gasoline.” He said.
  “What about this?” She asked, holding up the thermos.
  “That’ll be water for us.” He said. Renton was happy, but he knew they would need many more gas containers. He figured to keep filling all but the thermos with gas and fill the tank on the car and save as many as possible. He knew he could get gas from old abandoned gas stations, but preferred to carry as much as possible.
  “Let’s see if we can find more containers.” He said.
  Eureka was annoyed; she’d spent the better part of an hour locating these ones! After about 10 minutes and searching every little nook and cranny, she could only find two more useable jugs.
  Renton met her at the fuel drums with a length of hose and a gasoline can.
  “This will hold fifteen liters of gas, so that’s about thirty-three liters, really not much. It’ll have to do.” He said, wincing.
  Eureka watched in awe as Renton siphoned the gasoline from the drum into the containers. She held the hose as Renton ran to the car to empty them one at a time into the car’s tank. He got about ten of the three liter jugs into the tank before it filled; then it was just a matter of filling the rest of them and the gas can. He used the siphon effect on the oil jugs as well.
  Eureka cleaned the interior of the car as well as she could as Renton cleaned and filled the thermos. He placed all the water jugs as well as their belongings into the rear seat area and placed a spare battery at Eureka’s feet.
  “Oh no; I’m going to have to hot-wire it. We don’t have the key.” He said, pulling wires from the dashboard.
  “Wait, Renton!” Cried Eureka, reaching to the visor above his head. A set of keys fell down in a shower of dust onto Renton’s lap.
  He smiled as he pulled his old compact drive from the wrappings and plugged it into the socket located in the dashboard. It immediately glowed a healthy green as Renton placed the key in the ignition. With Eureka’s hand over his, he turned the key as the lights in the cluster glowed.
  Taking a breath, he turned the key to ‘start’.
  The engine cranked very slowly at first, but began to speed up. Renton gritted his teeth; if it didn’t catch soon, the battery would die and they would be sunk. Just as he feared, the cranking began to slow.
  Renton’s heart sank; what now?
  Suddenly, the engine sputtered! Renton manipulated the throttle as the engine backfired, the caught.
  The old dusty green sedan roared to life!
  Renton and Eureka cheered loudly as Renton revved the engine, making sure it was running good. He let it return to an idle and got out to check for leaks. There were none to speak of.
  Renton switched the battery for the other he hoped would be good, and climbed back into the car.
  “Ready?” He asked, turning to Eureka.
  “Yes!” She laughed.
  He pulled the gear shift into first and slowly released the clutch. The sedan slowly crept out of the garage. Renton steered around debris until he found the gate.
  Now they were met with a new problem; there was a chain and a lock across the gateposts of the entrance to the yard. They had no cutting tools, all Renton could do was push at the chain with the car until it broke.
  The couple turned onto the road somewhat jerkily and accelerated towards Faylace City. As they drove into the setting sun; they could only feel excitement. For soon, they would be home.