I woke up with a languid stretch. My body was still sore but my mind was clear as a bell. I must be on the mend, the panic and pain has subsided! My nightmare was gone. I was excited for my good health, and for the mystery of what could be in our bunker in the ‘basement.’ I grabbed my breakfast bar, donned my gear and slid down as fast I could to the ground. I was working on my telekinesis to make the ascent and descent easier, but I had never gotten quite the hang of it.

  >>I guess I should throw that on the list too, eh Big Fe?>>

  I had never met someone quite like me before. Magic and esoteric powers weren’t uncommon these days, in the bunker where I grew up or in a city like Neu Ca?on. But my specific skills seemed unique, just like me, my dad used to say.

  My Squad and Leader had returned overnight, and I was eager to review their status, but first I needed to check in on the dig site. I headed to the central campsite and saw Alexandria and Molly puttering in the kitchen. And by puttering, I mean Molly was preparing breakfast and synkaf and Alexandria was watching and ordering Molly around. Shaking my head I sat down in a camp chair. I will never understand adults like that. The smell from the stuffed battered toast and sausage was heavenly.

  “So has anyone heard from Sunny? Are we ready?” I asked excitedly.

  Alexandria tore her eyes from Molly and favored me with a smile. “Yeah, he actually came back 2 hours ago. He was taking a nap but told us to wake him when you got up. Miles said we could go ahead and investigate without him. He was working on something important in his lab. Grab some food and I will wake Sunny.”

  I looked at the warm plates of food, looked at Molly and grabbed a serving of food and a mug of kaf. I just had a breakfast bar but the food looked amazing. Molly was a shockingly good cook, not that I cared about that. But man, if she was doing the cooking more often, I might be missing out.

  >> Oh come on, You don't know what a good meal is like, Big Fe.>>

  I smiled at Molly as I cleaned my plate. “That was great Molly. Thank you!”

  She gave me a small smile and what almost looked like a curtsy.

  As I was loading my plate and mug into the cleaner, Sunny rolled toward us.

  “Alright gang, gather up. Gabby, grab one of the trucks, we can all head out together. I will ride in the back and you 3 can sit in the cab. That way we all get out there together. Molly, thanks for the grub as usual, but save some in the warmer for me when I get back.” Sunny was clearly excited to get on the road.

  I ran over to our vehicle line-up and grabbed one of our electric trucks. We had a few dirt cheap Roundabouts for towing and moving equipment around. I went with electric because I knew I could alway charge ‘em, but flex fuel was an option as well for those who liked messy internal combustion. They obviously didn't have the range of the nuclear vehicles like the wheeled RV that Alexandria had or the hover setup that Miles owned. Or my mech, at that, but the Kombi-buses were electric too so we didn't lose any range in our convoy. And I alway kept everything fully charged in camp. After jumping into the cab of one, I returned to the group. Sunny dropped the tailgate and drove up into the bed of the Roundabout. The others loaded up and we set off for the mining site. It only seats 2 comfortably but Molly crammed on Alexandria’s lap and they seemed to do just fine. The drive took 20 minutes as we followed the switchbacks a bit up the dry creek bed and over the ridgelines and gullies. We didn't see any wildlife or flying critters the entire time. The Sonoran Desert really can be a vaste and desolate space. The sparse trees (both alien and native) provided minimal protection or shade for any prey animals that might be out and about in daylight.

  The 2 miner-synths stood at attention outside the camp. And the 2 larger Heavy Labor Drones continued to push dirt away from the entrance and tamp down the path. Before I rolled to a stop Sunny was out of the truck bed and treading toward the entrance.

  “Hold on there lover boy,” Alexandria said as she got out of the cab. She handed a burly rifle to Molly, that I hadn’t seen her grab, as she sauntered after Sunny. Molly quickly followed the pair, any meekness seemingly fled as she held the rifle like she knew how to use it. Well, better than I could, in any event.

  >>Huh, as I said Big Fe, some adults are weird.>>

  We joined together and headed down into the mine shaft. Portable lights were embedded every 20 ft and Sunny’s shoulder lamps lit up like a small star. We went down 2 switchbacks before we came to the treasure box. It, however, could not have looked less like a treasure if it tried. The same dull black metal had been excavated on all 3 sides. The left, right, and top all went back the full 3m. I guess my estimates were not that far off. I summoned the miner-synths with a thought.

  “So Sunny, how do we want to crack into this,” I asked.

  “Well, do you think you could do your magic and open the door?” He replied.

  Sighing, “You know it's not magic, and I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.” I reached out and placed my hand against the wall facing us. There was one seam running down the middle, but we had no idea if that was a door, or a weld. I tried to reach any electro-mechanical door lock, computer, sensor, or even switch. But I felt nothing. I could still tell something was inside, but I couldn't get a read on what. And at this close a range, I should have easily been able to if there was any tech at all.

  “I got nothing. It might be a bunch of food, or books, or dust, for all we know.” I said.

  Nodding as if he expected that. “Right well, nothing to do but try.”

  The 4 miner-synths walked into the small passerway but Sunny waved ‘em back. “I will give it a try to start.”

  Sunny proceeded to spin around, grab a large arm attachment, use his 2 lower arms to swap his upper right arm and replace it with a massive circular saw. I gotta say having the right tool for the job made any craft go that much more smoothly. I am sure chefs or musicians felt the same way.

  Or not, I had no idea how they even did their jobs.

  The grinding sound soon filled the mine shaft. Sparks began to fly into the ground and bounce around. Alexandria stepped back but Molly and I stayed where we were. While it was slow going the blade was obviously having an effect.

  It took Sunny four separate sessions of grinding, cooling the blade, and grinding again before he had a line cut through the wall. After that two more cuts and he had the outline of three-fourths of a door. At that point he stepped back and ordered two of the miner-synths to grab the leading edges and peel the door open. The synths muscled into place and began to pull the door. Their drone musculature was impressively strong for the size, I would know, having rebuilt dozens and dozens of them. I still was surprised when the synths began to fold the door open. The metal gave a tortured screech and opened enough for Sunny, let alone the rest of us to get inside.

  I gave Sunny a questioning glance.

  He shrugged and said, “And that is the difference between stiffness versus hardness” referring to the material properties of the treasure box.

  Alexandria stifled a giggle and Sunny rolled his eyes. He continued, “Right. So I am going to go in there first, we could send a synth but I don't want them to break anything fragile.”

  I was a bit worried, but Sunny was experienced. And he was a full conversion borg, if anyone could survive he could.

  I peeked around Sunny as he rolled into the unearthed room. His light shone across a tall figure and a coffin shape both covered in tarps. Sunny slowly panned his lights around the room. There was nothing else in the space. The covered figure and the covered… coffee table? The figure was 4m tall and the object on the ground was nearly that long but much narrower. Sunny began to approach the figure and reached out to the tarp.

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  I gasped!

  The tarp had fluttered from Sunny’s movement or a breeze from our tunnel, but I had seen what lies beneath.

  Sunny froze instantly, “Gabby” he hissed. “What did you see!”

  “Oh sweet Light, Sunny, it’s a Mach 1!” I all but screamed.

  “What!” He, Alexandria, and Molly responded in unison.

  “Open it, it’s a lost generation suit. You know a real life Mach 1!”

  Sunny grabbed the tarp and threw it behind him. His shoulder lights blazed off the revealed figure. The humanoid shape was nearly as tall as the room, A matte black non reflective surface covered every inch of the legendary suit of power armor. The legs, arms, chest and even head seemed to absorb the very light that shone on it by its default configuration. It had adaptive camouflage as the least of its capabilities. But the vantablack color was as famous as the suit was rare. Sunny stared at the machine for a moment and pivoted to the tarp covered object on the side. He pulled that away to reveal a companion drone. One of the most sophisticated camouflage systems this planet had ever seen, before or after the coming of the aliens and the doorways to hell.

  Legends say Mach 1 suits were created before the war and the coming of the doorways in a secret multi-corp collaboration. It was more similar to a full mech with neuro pilot controls, than a generic suit of power armor that followed a user's movements. The suits were never put into production, they were too expensive, and corpo backstabbing scuttled the deal. Figure corpos couldn't be helpful to save their own lives.

  Not only was the Mach 1 a combination of the best technology and innovation the corps (and their, at the time, government sponsors) could come up with. But it was also the one example of wide scale corporate collaboration. The best system and technology, from each company deftly integrated into a whole. The best Earth could offer. Until it utterly failed and the program died an ignoble death. Secrecy surrounded the entire program, but it was rumored less than 200 were made globally.

  But they were, and are the most advanced manned stealth combat system ever created. Most of the few Mach 1s you might ever come across were stolen and well worn or damaged. Often with broken camouflage systems. But this one seemed brand spanking new! We were speechless for several moments before Sunny snapped us out of it.

  “Gabby, full systems check, is this the real deal? Molly, head to the tunnel entrance and keep a watch. I don't want to lose this to anyone or anything.”

  As Molly left, I snapped out of my stupor and approached the suit, twice the size of me. I placed my hand on the hip and sank my conscience into the suit of power armor.

  Dang, this was pristine. The micro-fusion powerplant was on cold standby, so would need an external source to jump, but it appeared fresh as the day it was manufactured. The motive control, sensor telemetry, and environmentals seemed ready for a user. I performed a deep dive and got a sense of disuse and purpose unfulfilled. A few emotions of fright, inevitable resignation, and purpose lingered after all this time. This was a new in box RGE-UA-BADS-PCC Mach 1 Adaptive Camouflage Clandestine System!’

  I quickly checked out the areal companion drone next to it. And it appeared to be in order as well. Unfortunately this drone was the dumb kind, and was completely slaved, and inseparable from the main power armor. There was no intelligence or automation that I could ‘leverage’ for my own designs. The camouflage system, however, was causing me to drool and get turned on as the same time.

  >>Eww Big Fe, never you mind that.>>

  Sunny and even Alexandria stared at me with bated breath.

  “Well?!” Sunny all but screamed.

  “Amazing! Yeah, umm, this is the real deal as far as I can tell. Hot damn. See, now you can’t knock my clairvoyant premonitions for another year now at least, after this find. I am now batting 43% baby! I mean most people haven't even seen a picture of a Mach 1 and we have one in our hands!” I gloated.

  After a few more minutes in awe, we snapped into the professional salvage crew that we played on the vids.

  Wait! >> How cool would it be if they made a vid series about us eh? Fe, make a note.>>

  Anyway, I had the miner-synths carry the drone companion up to Molly but kept it inside the tunnel entrance for now. I also summoned one of the larger heavy labor-drones so I could attach the suit to charge and fire it up. I had to run up to the Roundabouts and grab its charging cable, but I was able to cross connect the two machines in no time. As the drone was charging the suit I checked in with Sunny.

  “So how do you want to transport this back to camp? I could possibly remote pilot it or we could load it onto the Wagon?” I asked Sunny.

  He paused for a moment and said, “I would prefer to strap it down to the bed of the Roundabouts and then take it back down. But I am not sure we can get it to fit as is. Perhaps, we could have you walk it into the bed and sit it down?”

  “Do we want to wait until dark to load it up? We are in the middle of nowhere, but this is an invaluable prize. I think I can get it into the bed on my own.” I responded. “Also do we want to salvage any of the sensor proof material?”

  Sunny was shaking his head, “I want to get it loaded up and out of here as soon as we can, we can cover it with a tarp. I think we need to get it, and us, back to camp, ASAP. As for the transparent material, I grabbed a small sample of the material. It's impossible to read, but not that strong so it might have limited applications. Still, I will share it with a few of my friends and we can come back if they think it’s worth their time.”

  It took over an hour of trickle charge from the Heavy Drone to the nuclear reactor before it could fire up, but it started flawlessly. It really was the pinnacle of what corpo engineering could accomplish.

  >>Someday, Big Fe, you and I, will make it happen.>>

  I informed the crew we were ready to go as I shimmed out of my armor. No way was I going to pass up the opportunity to pilot a Mach 1! I didn't have the advanced training for all the combat features, but I definitely could pilot and operate it. Especially with my Telemechanic connection, it was as intuitive and easy as walking. I sealed up the power armor hatch and turned on the lights and sensors. I had to stoop a bit to get through the cut door in the wall, but I managed to get out without scraping any edges or the pristine armor. I walked, very, slowly up the reinforced dirt tunnel through the switch backs. I came to a stop at the mouth of the tunnel. Molly had backed the truck back up to the entrance and 2 of the Heavy Drones were draping the tarp over the bed of the Roundabout. I turned around slowly, confirmed with Sunny that I would clear the sides and slowly sat down in the bed of the truck. The drones, under Sunny’s direction, draped the tarp over me and began to strap me down. It felt weird to be stuck in an ancient suit of armor, covered in a tarp, strapped to the bed of a truck, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

  We had a hurried radio conversation. Sunny couldn't drive the trucks because we hadn’t yet adapted the cab for a full cyborg body, like we did their Gecko RV and the Dozer. Molly could drive it, but needed to stay here at the site with the companion drone. Alexandria could drive, but well, we decided, I would shut down the Mach 1 and then remote Telemechanic Operate the truck, from inside the Mach 1, in the bed.

  >>Being a master of machines did have its advantages, I gotta say Big Fe.>>

  I relinquished control of the power armor and took control of the Roundabout. Driving a truck was nothing compared to the power armor but I took it slow, Sunny carefully followed me back to the campsite. It took us nearly twice as long to return, but we didn't want to risk our precious cargo. I slowly rolled into camp and parked the truck near our main cargo trailer, with the Pre-war artifacts, and seemingly inconsequential dinosaur parts. I shutdown and double checked the brakes on the truck before I then resumed my control of the Mach 1. Sunny had a few of the borg-synths I had summoned remove the tarp and unstrap the suit. As soon as Sunny gave me the all clear, I stood up. All in all, this salvage operation was flawless. I froze for a moment, worried I had jinxed it. After looking around camp and at Sunny, I walked up the open ramp into the Toyota-Daimler-Bilaindand Kombi-max. The massive truck swallowed the armor and most of our precious cargo. I did not have to bend over, in here, at least. The trailer was 5m x 5m x 15m. In the end, it took Sunny and I an hour to figure out how to safely and securely store the suit. We ended up placing a tarp on the ground and lying down face first so I could exit the suit. We strapped it down and double checked everything. I had sent one of the synths to drive the truck back to the dig site. By the time we were done Molly and Alexandria had returned with the truck and the covered areal drone companion. We had the borg-synths carry the flyer into the trailer and we secured that load as well. When we were all finished and swung the doors closed, we still had more room in the cargo area if we needed it even with the waste of space around the Mach 1.

  I sent the extra synths back to the kombi-bus and we all gathered around the campfire. Miles and Estéril joined us as the sun set and we regaled them with our incredible find. Miles seemed happy for us but not very impressed, Estéril at least was excited. I imagine Miles has similar marvels back home.

  We eventually got around to eating. Molly had managed to take leftovers and turn it into another fantastic dish. We were all quiet through dinner and in our own thoughts. After dinner we sat around staring into the fire. It has been an exciting and exhausting day for most of us. Finally as the stars shown brilliantly in the cooling desert sky, we could see a shimmer of hawking radiation coming off of the various temporary doorways spanning the horizon. It was a rare sight and hopefully a good omen. I bid everyone good night and returned to Gretta to sleep. As I was drifting off to sleep I instructed Big Fe to double check the synth guards all night long.