“Six pieces of metal stacked in a corner, like somebody left them there to come back for.”
Metal isn't everywhere. It gathers in scrap piles, a small heap of loose pieces lying on the floor of service and warehouse zones, which anyone can lift and use to build. It is the only source of the metal wanderers use to raise their structures.
What a pile looks like
Each piece is picked up by hand and carried at arm's length. A pile is six pieces grouped within a radius of about 3 m: close enough together to look like a heap somebody left behind, loose enough that you have to bend down six times. All of it is metal. No wood or stone comes from here.
Veterans say a well-placed pile has something of abandoned luggage about it, because nobody remembers who gathered it or why they never came back.
Where it appears
Piles hide in service and warehouse rooms, mostly in Level 1 and in the service stretches of other levels. Not in all of them. A pile shows up in one zone out of three, a little more at most. The other kinds of room drop nothing. Anyone who counts whole offices without seeing a single pile hasn't taken a wrong turn.
Since Displacement moves chunks around, memorizing a route of piles is useless. What you found yesterday is no longer where you left it. It is one of the reasons nobody hoards metal for long.
What it’s for
With five metal you make a full entry:
| Piece | Cost |
|---|---|
| Wall frame | 1 metal |
| Door frame | 2 metal |
| Door leaf | 2 metal |
A pile of six covers one entry and leaves one piece over. The metal shelving unit (4) is also paid for in metal, and so is the claim marker (6), further up. It is the economy of The Fastenings: Screws, Nails and Cable Ties in its rawest form: gather, carry, build. To close an opening with something more than metal, see Frame and Panels.
How to pick it up
You have to get close, because at more than 8 m from a piece your hand can't reach and nothing moves it. Carry the metal with both hands and think about the weight before you load up: see Backpacks and Weight. The farther the pile is from your shelter, the longer you spend with your hands full and unable to defend yourself.
What people report
- Somebody swears they saw a piece of scrap unlike the others, a different color and shape. Every piece found so far is the same gray metal.
- Nobody has managed to say how many piles it takes to hold up a medium-sized shelter. Every group gives a different figure.