Outside seemed much less active than Zachary had assumed. From the initial hype he had pictured parades of people storming the streets and the military forces being... actually, he couldn't imagine the military would be so easily toppled, now that he thought about it. It would seem more likely that such an uprising would be bloody and terrible. He needed to find out what was going on before he jumped into any battles. Driving slowly down the street, the kinetic cores humming as they levitated the carriage off the ground, Zachary glanced around and noticed a glimmer of blue in the sky. Then he remembered the skyways. Once they had been passages of traffic throughout Sovereign, but since the cataclysm only the military had the technology to drive on them, at least the only ones until now. Zachary turned down another street and headed up one of the on-ramps to the major skyway bridging across the entire city.

Beneath him, the solid concrete ground dropped away and was replaced by a shimmering blue magnetic kinetic shield. The height of the carriage shifted slightly with the change in terrain, but otherwise the carriage seemed to not notice that nothing but magic was holding it in the air. Zachary knew how skyways worked better than most people, having worked on them before. While it is almost impossible for a carriage to fall off a functioning skyway, it is very easy for a person to fall off, since although the kinetic shield provides a solid surface, that surface also lacks any friction and repels things that get too close. If a person were to set foot on an ordinary skyway they would just slide off and fall (although skyways for foot traffic do exist, those for carriages generally do not incorporate such technology). The reason carriages can't fall off is because they are made of metal, and the polarity cores attract the metal to the skyway. Someone in metal boots would similarly be capable of traversing a skyway, but that is not common knowledge. It is for those reasons that the skyways had been mostly ignored by the people of Sovereign in the past year.

Zachary, in his small one-man carriage, was now perched high above the city's main road, cruising along slowly and watching the city below. While he was in no way hidden, it was extremely unlikely that anyone would look skywards and notice him, and even if they did there was not much they could do about it without first getting up to the skyway too. Zachary was now in a perfect position to observe the activities of the city, and the rebellion did not seem to be going well. In one place, he saw a band of civilians which had gathered together as rebels and were now marching down the streets. But in another place he saw another such band gunned down by rapid-fire plasma rounds from a small group of soldiers which they had attempted to charge. There were not many bands gathered, at least not many which he could see, but there was an even lower amount of soldiers around the city. It seemed that they were not doing much to quell rebellion throughout the city. But as he traversed further north he saw that the military were concentrated around their base. From up here he could see the soldiers scurrying around their base like ants in the distance. And in front of the base he saw a concentration of civilians as well, which looked like a crowd of rioters. Blocking their way were soldiers arranged like riot police. And they looked like that because that was exactly what was happening. Vanguards, in their metal armour, blocked the street with an impenetrable line of their kinetic shields while the crowds were doused with water cannons. Occasionally there was a flash, presumably weapon fire, although from where Zachary was looking from it could be from either side.

Zachary shook his head. Even if they could break past the line of soldiers acting as riot control, he could see tanks and mores soldiers beyond them, which would swiftly cut down any true threats in a maelstrom of plasma, explosions and lightning. Clearly whatever support the Golden Mercenaries had promised was yet to arrive, and even then it had better be good support or else it will be a tough, bloody and probably battle indeed. He turned the carriage around and drove off, heading back the way he came so he could return to his workshop and figure out what to do.

As he was descending from the onramp a man in a black uniform and blue beret stepped out and blocked his way. Zachary put his foot on the brake and stopped about a meter in front of the man. Four more men then appeared and formed a semicircle in front of Zachary's carriage. These men seemed tough and disciplined, and they were also armed, although at the moment their weapons were not drawn. Their sudden appearance intimidated him, and through his mind raced contingency plans. Back up and escape along the skyway; charge forwards and knock them down; disarm them with telekinesis; draw his wind cannon and knock them aside. One of them stepped forwards and addressed him.

"Zachary Mason?"

Zachary was caught off guard. No one had used his full name for a year. He hadn't shared his name with many people in this apocalyptic wasteland either, so how these people knew him was beyond him. Given a few moments to regain himself, he answered, "I am. And who are you?"

"We are representatives of Mathias Winters," the man replied, in a surprisingly formal manner, "Mr Winters has heard of your engineering prowess, and wishes to employ you for a short project."

Zachary paused to digest this. Even after being in hiding for a year, trying to keep his engineering projects secret for their safety from thieves, there was someone who was going to hire him to be an engineer. For a moment he recalled memories of times passed, where he aspired to become a professional engineer, and now even in this god-forsaken place that goal was still somehow possible. It seemed almost too good to be true, so he was cautious.

"Who is Mathias Winters?" Zachary asked cautiously.

"Mr Winters is a powerful man, owner of a large estate and protector and provider over a large extended family. Mr Winters is always looking for new people and skills to add to his family, and at the moment he wants you and your skills as an engineer, Zachary Mason. If you decide to join Mr Winters you shall benefit from his supplies and protection."

[b][i]My my, they have skills in persuasion now, don't they,[/i][/b] Kaa'is commented to Zachary.

[i]What do you think, Kaa'is,[/i] Zachary asked him, with-in his own head.

[b][i]Powerful men are dangerous men, especially in a place like this. We must exercise caution with him. But at the same time, we don't have much reason not to go,[/i][/b] Kaa'is said.

It did seem like a good opportunity. But, just to make sure, Zachary had one more question to ask. "And if I don't decide to join?"

"Then it shall be a sad loss for Mr Winters and a missed opportunity for all of us," the foot-soldier replied, formal as ever.

"So he wants to hire me for this project even in the middle of a city-wide uprising?" Zachary queried. The foot-soldier simply nodded. "So where do I go?" he added.

"Mr Winter's estate is towards the north. It should not be hard to find, because it is perpetually covered by a light snowstorm. If you come with us we shall lead you there," the foot-soldier answered.

"I'll make my own way there. First I need to make a stop and pick up my tools, otherwise engineering's going to be tricky," Zachary said. He let the carriage slowly crawl forwards and the men parted to let him past. "I'll probably beat you there if I'm not held up," he called behind him to the men as he left. Then he pushed forwards the throttle and drove off at speed.