We slowly walked out of the hovercraft and after a breath of desert air, my head started feeling much better. It really must have been my nerves or something. Estéril started to guide me back toward the RV trailer, and I balked.“No, no Estéril. It’s only noon, there is so much daylight left.”

  She stopped and looked at me expectantly, “Ok, I tell you what, if you promise to sleep down here, and have dinner with me. You can go back to work, but no heavy lifting or moving, please!”

  I quickly promised to comply and rushed, or in this case, shambled back to my Squad-Leader.

  “Fe, initiate data transfer.” Big Fe was my most audacious project, ever. I was attempting to create a full on transhuman Artificial General Intelligence, a being smarter than any human, a true post-singularity learning and thinking machine. Of course I was years from completing it, but these logs, and most of my conversations really, were directed toward the AGI, I affectionately called him Big Fe. A classic name for a unique thinking machine.

  I had big plans for my Big Fe, it just might take a lot of time, effort, and money, but it will be worth it. He was currently housed in a massive computing core inside the engineering trailer. Nothing like the systems in my Squad Leader and not even related to the relics inside the vanilla synths. But I was due to give him an upgrade soon. Second hand computers weren’t exactly common, but you cobble enough of them together and you start to get something.

  Gingerly sitting down into my hover chair I reviewed the damage and status reports from the 11 synths that went on patrol. Several of the machines had new scratches on the armor, and 3 had strained servo motors, not to mention the mess that was my test subject, Squad Leader. I decided that I would inventory this synth first, repair the others and come back to the Squad Leader tomorrow. A quick telemechanic operation and some judicious applications of my auto-hammer and I had the cyborg armor off the core chassis.

  >>See no lifting required eh Fe?>>

  The remaining machine was clearly a cybernetic construct but it was far from factory fresh. I had doubled the computational core capacity, reinforced the skeletal-musculature, and rerouted several of the sensors. It all added up to a wiring mess, but a very functional, wiring mess. It turns out the dinosaur horn had destroyed the left shoulder-joint and upper arm. Both legs were cracked and bent, and the right arm was out of socket. A quick diagnostic reported that the primary and secondary controllers had no detectable faults. Well, this would be easy enough to fix, tomorrow. I turned my attention to the rest of the squad and I ordered the other damaged bots to the 3rd bay. After a physical, and mental inspection, I quickly got into a groove of fixing and filling armor and recalibrating the servos.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  A polite throat clearing coincided with my last repair, “Oh hey Estéril, perfect timing. I just finished repairs on the last bot.”

  She smiled politely and pointed at the wreckage of my disassembled Squad Leader.

  I laughed, “Oh yeah I haven't even started on that, it will take a bit more work, but I have time as a campbound invalid right?”

  It was her turn to laugh as she asked, “Your place or mine, for dinner.”

  I glanced at the campfire, it looked like Sunny & Alex, Molly, and Miles were all around the fire getting ready for dinner.

  “Actually, I should set up my RV for habitation, would you mind eating there?” I responded.

  She barely even paused, “Sure Gabby, that makes sense.”

  We headed over to the RV trailer. I hadn't even deployed the slideouts yet. With a mental command the 2 full length slides began to spread out from the 10m trailer. I turned the AC and lights on for good measure.

  “Huh I should have turned the AC on a while ago, but at least it's cooler out here than our previous campsite.” I remarked as we climbed up the steps into the RV trailer. The higher elevation of this site made for all around cooler weather, for a desert.

  “So, Gabby, why don't you hang out with us at the campfire, I don't get it.” Estéril wondered out loud as we explored all the rooms.

  The RV was a typical setup, 4 double bedrooms, 2 full baths, a living room, dining room, and kitchen.

  I walked into the kitchen and toward the fridge, “I dunno, everyone is fine, I guess. I just don't see the point. I mean it's like hanging out with my parents but you know, they aren’t my parents. After we lost mom, I clung pretty close to dad, but now, I rather just work, sleep, repair and focus on the job. I mean I know Sunny means well, and Miles cares but, I guess, I feel like a kid still around them.”

  Estéril was quiet as I grabbed the top two Monsantech? branded readi-meals ? and threw them in the microwave. “First, readi-meals ?, really? Second, you know you are supposed to microwave them separately? And third, that's on you honey. They don't treat you like a child, they give you full autonomy, respect the heck out of your work and synths, and damn you are still in your teens.”

  It was my turn to be quiet. As the quiet whir of the microwave and the louder fans of the AC trying to pull out a day’s worth of heat provided a background humm, I shrugged my shoulders. “Yeah I guess, I mean sure that sounds right but I don't know, ok. I gotta do what works for me. Ya know? And hey I am eating with you so that is something right?”

  The microwave chimed and Estéril replied under her breath, “If you can call this eating.”

  I threw the silverware and plate at Estéril as I grabbed the two ready meals. “See nice and hot, and half the time, ish.” We sat down at the dining room table, after moving a few chairs for Estéril.

  Dinner was a nice respite and I enjoyed talking about nothing with Estéril, but more than half my mind was still thinking about the Squad Leader and its weird behavior. I might have remotely issued a few debug scripts. After dinner, Estéril stood up on her massive legs and said “Thanks for the meal Gabby, and thanks more for the chat. Try not to be a stranger ok. Oh and take a shower, you really stink.”

  Giving her a rude gesture with my fist, as she left, I did manage to take a whiff. I was a bit ripe. I guess deploying the RV with its full size bathroom did have its perks. The shower was a bit painful, lifting my arms was going to hurt for days, but the big bed was admittedly quite nice as I drifted off to sleep.