Nano-Fic: "What's in a Name?"

“You see this? Burned up a good bit of my mass allowance – anyway, it's an old-fashioned straight razor. Hand forged by my great-great-grandfather. He made it out of the spring steel of a motorcar. Know what one of those is? They burned hydrocarbons for power, and not very well. Used to be, just about every private citizen had one. That's where the oil went, mostly.

“My twice great-granddad was American – United States, that's how long ago – and he owned a car called a 'Ford'. When the Chinese War got bad enough that they cut out civilian hydrocarbon rations, 'Ole Grandaddy built a forge out of junk and started making hand tools and stuff out of the car. Without methane to make it go, or what ever it was, all that Ford was good for was scrap.

“Got to give it to him...people thought he was crazy for learning how to forge metal in the first place. Granddad was so proud of him that he changed the family name to 'Ford'. That's how we got the name – after a car.

“That's why I'm out here, half way to Saturn. If we don't keep the oil flowing, if we don't protect the supply, then my kids and grand kids are gonna have to learn how to forge hand tools out of cars.

“And there ain't no more cars.”