Bioshock: The Story of Henry Walker

Chapter 2: Pick-Up

For seven days Henry barely ate or slept, he kept pondering on the thoughts of what was to come.

"I wonder if their all looneys on that boat." Maybe I'll go crazy as well." The though made him chuckle. He had started walking to Pier 42 at five a.m. and had just reached the outskirts of town. Henry looked down at his makeshift watch that not only told time but also had a built in thermometer and compass. It was about 90 degrees fahrenheit, he was walking in a north-west direction and it was almost twelve noon. Most people would have stopped walking at the 15 mile mark, but not Henry Walker, he was determined to reach the pier and get on that plane. "I wonder what this so-called project is gonna turn out to be, maybe this is all a hoax, maybe it's just some joke to lure helpless down-trodden people onto a boat, then they get robbed and dumped over the side of the ship, yeah that sounds about right." Yet, for all the jests that he made about the great chain of industry and the world changing project, Henry knew, he had to believe that this would all be better for him, that this wasn't some sick joke, that it was real. Henry had been thinking so much that he lost track of where he was going, walked right onto the pier and into the back of a plane. Lights exploded in Henry's head. "Damn! First my toe and now my head, whats next?" Henry decided to just lay on the dock for a second and regain consciousness. The plane towered over him, even though his head was still spinning he could make out the interior of the plane, not too big, maybe enough to sit four, at the most. Vision still blurred he could make out another shape, this shape was smaller, slimmer, curvy, and then he heard a voice.

"Hey! You alright mate!?" A face appeared right above Henry's head, it was a woman. She smiled. "Well look at that, your still alive after all!" she chuckled.

Henry was still dazed and confused, he tried standing up and nearly fell off the pier. 

"Wow, now hold on mate, lets get you sittin first eh?" She had an unusual accent.

"Asturviln?" mumbled Henry.

She looked confused, then laughed "Speak up mate I can barely hear ya, must of hit your head pretty hard eh? "

Henry nodded, sat up and took in a few deep breaths. He looked up at her. She wasn't too tall, about his height, she had tanned skin, long brown hair and brown eyes. She wore a green jump suit with all sorts of buckles and harnesses, she also wore a pilots cap.

Henry smiled "Australian?" he said clearly.

She smiled back at him " Aye, that I am, a true aussie and proud of it!" You all right now? Hit your head pretty hard on my plane, hmph, men, always with their heads in the clouds and their hands down their pants!" she chuckled again. "Sorry I'm being rude, the names Naledi Atkins, might I ask who you are?"

Henry stood in silence for a second, he had never met an Australian before, so energetic, full of life.  "My names Henry, Henry Walker." he said finally.

She grinned widely "Finally you've arrived! I was just about to take off when you banged your head into my plane!"

They both laughed. "Well then it's a good thing I wasn't watching where I was going, else I would have missed my great opportunity to be part of this great chain, as the letter mentioned." said Henry

Naledi nodded, "So you got a letter too, must have some pretty important skills, what is it that you do Hank?" '

"Hank?" Henry had never been called that before. " Well I'm an engineer, I used to create and manufacture weaponry, machines and vehicles, but lately I've been inventing things."

Naledi grinned again "Well hows about you tell me about some of these so called inventions on our way to the ocean liner? "

Henry nodded "So your the pilot?"