Eight men, chosen for their strength and health. Eight women, chosen for similar criteria. Thirteen Children between the ages of sixteen to six, and one old man who demonstrated his skills at writing, reading, and doing sums. 4450 Bottlecaps, almost one whole crate. Par and presumably Greg led the slaves - not that they would be slaves any longer if Par had his way - to the Army Truck that had been comandeered from Robo-Co.

After that, Par then went to his own Solar - Electric Truck, before beginning his drive to the New York Public Library's main branch...

[b][i]Timeskip[/i][/b]

"We're here," Par said, gesturing to his mercs as they got to the dilapidated building. "Bring out the slaves." 

With a nod, the mercenaries did as the man wished, bringing out the slaves - who had been somewhat cramped in the army truck - delicately, which was what Par wanted it to be. The young man would notice that while all were shackled, only a few had bona-fide slave collars; apparently, Old Man's Corner's supply had ran out. Either way, Par took out a remote, pressed it...and the slave collars fell off. He then personally took a key and unshackled the rest of the slaves, starting with the children.

"All right," he spoke, "you're free to go; all of you. If you want, I'll take you in my other truck to Liberty Island myself, where you can live as free people."

The slaves were shocked, uncertain if this was real. Once they saw that Par was serious, one of them, a black man from The Pitt, spoke:

"What's the catch?" 

"Well, just hear me out," he spoke. "You see, I'm conducting a salvage operation in this place in order to look for old books and tech, as well as preserve them. I'm willing to pay in food and purified water," he can see the slaves' eyes light up, "if you will help me. The job's going to be fairly easy, although you'll have to follow the old man," he gestured to the learned man, "and his lead here."

"Also, I will be taking the kids under 12 to Liberty Island; they're not old enough for such dangerous work." 

"So," the man said, "which of you will accept my offer? Again, those who don't can come with the kids to Liberty Island."

In the end, only one adult man and one woman chose not to take the job, opting to accompany the kids under 12 to Liberty Island. That left 12 adults and 5 children over 12, which was cool.

Either way, Par would drive back to Liberty Island, leaving Greg, the Mercs, and the Robots to start the set-up for the salvage operations...

(([@TheUnknowable], your turn))