When Walta sees Nick's state, she asks, "Nick, did you eat lunch? Or breakfast that wasn't coffee?"

He shakes his head. "Got this worked out though."

"Alright, Grace, get our beloved engineer a piece of fruit and some toast and a cup of water please." Off she goes.

Zahn smiles at that. "So, what needs to be carried upstairs?"

"Hm... This, this, this, that, those, this..." It's a fair bit, including three temporal relays and their power relays. Several trips will be required.

"You guys mind starting on that while he and I have a chat about the value of nutrition?" Nick rolls his eyes, but the random helpers shrug and say 'sure'.

Zahn picks up some of the parts and helps carry everything up to the bathroom. Before anyone goes in he knocks on the door and confirms that no one is currently using it.

"...Nick, words- can't do this. Link with me, please?"

"S-screw that."

Walta... Hugs him. "You're allowed to feel hurt. I know you - weren't, back home, but you are allowed near me." He shakes and cries.

And then he's willing to link. Anger, anger, depair, feeling trapped, all the buried tension coiling up as he forces himself to look calm and sarcastic and productive. Walta tears up, feeling it all, feeling a deep sadness coupled with an odd sense of- this is how it is. Bad things happen and you move on. She's dealt with this before. Here's when her father was arrested for drugs in the middle of the night. Here's when angry breeder bulls escaped their corral and rampaged and killed her brother, here's when her favorite horse was killed by a neighbor for eating his turnips, here's the moment when she realized the Earth's probable doom, still sitting like a ball of iron in her belly... Shit happens. It's okay to feel bad about it. Cry, and be okay later.

Nick cries. He replies with his immensely conflicting feelings about his family. They were - not physically abusive, but very demanding, restrictive. He kind of hates his father in particular, with his 'a man does a man's work' mantra. But they're still his parents and they're going to die and so are half of his only friends in college and why is he so happy that two particular people are okay this makes him a terrible person and and- He cries.

Walta hugs him again. She cares about him, and she likes that he cares about her, and how he's dealing with all this so relatively well already and trying to make the best of it makes him a good person. A hint of attraction links through - she's not sure if he notices, she just holds the reassurance steady.

After a couple minutes they both head upstairs, Nick looking just as sad but much less tense, nibbling on a little bit of food.

"Hi there, I think we have everything up here. What's the next step?"

"We've got to prop the walls up so they're next to the ceiling and hold it just right when I turn on the alien tech. I'll show you all, shouldn't take too long."

And indeed he directs people around reasonably adroitly. The walls of the privacy dividers that are going up are slightly textured white plastic, like a shower's wall. There's no doors in his design, just a few walls that try to sufficiently separate the weirdly laid out bathroom while still leaving the washing machines co-ed accessible.

Zahn, and the various random people he gathered together will do their best to follow his instructions.

And then he uses his newfound Engineering Technician privileges and that temporal relay to lock the walls into place relative to the floor and ceiling at a few crucial points.

And just like that they have a bathroom with privacy dividers. "Nice work, Nick." Zahn congratulates. Various others chime in with their own compliments.

"I'm not sure how well the Temporal Relays will hold up to exposure to damp over time, but it certainly was quicker and easier. Alien tech - pretty handy."

A few of the other people want to learn more about the alien tech. "I barely understand it myself yet, but I can point you to some of the encyclopedia articles..."

"If that's everything you need Nick, I think I'm going to try to get further on my janitor training. I'm hoping that the other parties are coping as well as we are but I want to know for sure and the teleporters are the best way to go meet them."

"What about the hub? We could make a list of everyone we know is here, and put it in the hub. Reassure folks whose parties got separated."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. I still think the teleporters are important. Maybe you can find Alice and mount that expedition, also I'm not sure who everyone here is, we'd need to make the list first."

"I think I remember most of them, and I'll ask folks for the rest. I'm good at faces. If you want project ideas, Zahn, we could use phones for everyone."

"If someone else can pick them up I think all that's required is to plug them into Nick's config thing with a cable and assign them a phone number. People could probably even go with the phone numbers they had back on Earth." He starts walking towards the Library. They follow after. As they're exiting the bathroom, Alice walks up the ramp in a fresh dress.

"Did you get the privacy dividers set up then?"

"Yep." Zahn cheerfully answers.

"Thanks for figuring that out Nick. Walta your idea with asking the system to keep doors unlocked was a good one. I went outside and tried a few things, it looks like I can't tell a one way door to remain permanently unlocked and open. I can command a door to open from a distance if I've assigned a label to them though. If we can distribute phones more widely I can open the doors in the wall for people who call me."

"Did you try telling them to open for other people?"

"We need another supply run. Phones this time. And I want to take a list of everyone here to the hub and scout and trade info, once Walta writes that list. Even if teleporters are faster, we can bike now."

"I asked the system if I could. It said no. I'd be happy to help, both with the list and with going to the hub, I'm wondering if there's anything important there or if it's just an empty room."

"I'll go with. I don't like the idea of staying up here all day."

Zahn makes his goodbyes and walks off to the library.

"What was the name of the person who made all the nice name placards and such? We should see if we can get them to make the sign, if it won't take them too long. It would be reassuring to other people who find it if it looks well made. We should also have some extra copies of the list so that would-be-explorers can bring one home with them."

"Walta probably knows. I think she did some of them, too. I'm gonna clean up my miniature workshop real quick, find me in ten minutes?"

"Yep, I met this graphic artist. Let's go find him."