My nocturnal headaches had returned and morphed into a nightmare where I was running, constantly being chased by shiny faceless metal monsters, and I could never seem to get away. I woke up grumpy until I checked in with Big Fe. Our camp guards had detected no intruders, the Kombi-Max showed that its status was unmolested. It seems like our precious cargo was safe!

  I hurriedly got dressed, forgoed my usual breakfast bar and hurried down Gretta. I ran to the camp site to find Alexandria and Molly savering a cup of kaf. They both smiled at me: Alexandria, with a big and appraising grin, Molly with a small smile. “So, where is Sunny, what is the plan, are we going to head back to sell everything and become filthy rich? Or at least less in debt?” I asked the pair.

  Alexandria put down her mug and responded, “Sunny wanted to close up the dig site. He said he was going to fill in the tunnels and rough up the ground in a larger area. Because the bunker was undetectable by you guys, hopefully no one else can find it either. It is empty but he didn't want to leave that to chance, either.”

  I was chomping at the bit to leave, but that sounded like a reasonable precaution. I nodded my head.

  Alexandria continued, “He thinks it will take at least all morning, but we can begin to break up camp and be ready to go this afternoon or first thing tomorrow?”

  I winced and said, “yeah I guess that makes sense, I wish we could leave sooner. I will pack up the RV trailer, double check the charges on all the vehicles, and disconnect the power-interconnect for camp. I assume you guys will break down this campfire and get your RV ready.”

  Alexandria looked at Molly and gave a sharp nod.

  I quickly interjected, “But I suppose we don't need to tear down the kitchen and campfire right away.”

  Alexandria smiled knowingly and nodded her head. “Molly, please feed Gabby and then join me in the RV, we have packing to do!”

  I will never understand the desire to shop and pack, at least for typical things most women find interesting. But I wasn't going to pass up on Molly’s food either.

  This morning Molly had a chile verde egg dish that was better than anything my parents or I ever made. Or even mis abuelos.

  >>But don't think of telling them that Fe>>

  “Thanks Molly,” I said with my mouth full.

  She nodded, quickly cleaned up the kitchen, and headed to their RV.

  I slowly finished breakfast, had a second cup of kaf, and placed my dishes in the cleaner.

  I had of course considered reverse engineering the stealth armor. It was an incredibly complex combination of materials sciences, active optical projections, sonic and RF cancellation, and a host of other capabilities I couldn't list, let alone understand. While I know it would be amazing to have a full squad of stealth synths at my beck and call, the reality is that if the best corpos couldn't create it in a cost effective manner. Than I had little chance of that in my makeshift camp. Plus a squad with a brain dead Squad Leader was a worthless one. I was mature enough to realize it was far better to sell this treasure than keep it to collect dust, or worse.

  I eventually decided to get back to work. I began issuing orders to the available synths to begin camp breakdown. I remotely instructed the RV trailer to begin closing up. I hoped I didn't leave anything lying around, but I am sure it will be fine. I returned to my comfortable station and reached out to Big Fe.

  >>Double check the charging status of all electric vehicles, please. Also run a query on the synths’ readiness.>>

  Issuing commands with a thought really saved time. I summoned my Squad Leader and reviewed the logs from all 11 of the synths that left yesterday.

  Seems like fauna was identified in several instances, but nothing appeared hostile. One other Nodosaurus was identified.

  >>gosh Big Fe, I hope it wasn't a mate to the first one>>

  But the Squad maintained distance and did not engage. At the magical witching hour of 12, the Squad Leader suffered no faults or freezes. “Yes,” I screamed out loud. That issue had been bugging me for 3 months! I would want to run several more tests and finish my second Squad Leader but it looks like we were finally on the path to a stable, and more sophisticated synthetic creation. The American Empire and even the preeminent Power Construction Corp? (PCC) could kiss my butt. Gabby was a force to be reckoned with! I wanted to get started on my second Leader synth right away, but I knew I should wait.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Instead I turned to the broken Prospector mining rig in bay #1. It stood 3m tall, and was a top of the line power armor suit like the Grasshopper or Chaparralito. The key difference is that a robot vehicle like my Gretta and the amazing Mach 1 are piloted and controlled via a variety of vehicle controls or more often direct neural jack. Power Armor on the other hand is worn and augments and magnifies the user’s own motions. So when a person, or in the case of my synths, and their cybernetic harvested -parts-, moved their left and then right legs, the larger more powerful power armor suit would do the same. Today the Prospector mining suit looked even more damaged and broken. I am not sure the suit was a good deal even at 75% off.

  I was about to start removing the damaged armor when Miles came over to my engineering trailer.

  “Morning Miss Gama. How does life treat you this day?” He greeted me.

  “Good Miles, how about you?”

  “I have no complaints. I heard that we will be leaving camp soon? I just wanted to double check our plans and paths.”

  I responded, “Yeah Sunny is cleaning up the dig site and then we can hit the road this afternoon or tomorrow. It should be about a 2 day drive to Neu Ca?on in the northwest.”

  He nodded his head, “Ah, that is as it should be then. I have need of your assistance with one of my experiments, but we will have to wait until we leave Neu Ca?on for another campsite. There are a few items I can acquire in Neu Ca?on so I would like to accompany you there as well.”

  “Of course Miles, I am not sure how long it will take for us to sell the loot and resupply but I am eager to get back on the road again as soon as we can. Do you have a preference for our next camp site?” I asked.Miles never seemed to care where we went, or what we did really, but it didn't hurt to ask. I suppose.

  He shook his head. “Not at the present time. My current efforts do not require much local flora or fauna. That might change but for now any remote site is as good as any other. Thanks for your consideration.” He turned as if to leave and continued “And how are you doing Gabrialla? Any pain or mysterious headaches?”

  I quickly nodded no. “My chest is still sore but I think it’s normal for the damage I suffered. My head is just fine, thanks for asking.”

  He paused to look at me. “Good, indeed. And how is your mental health as well?”

  Shifting awkwardly, I stammered, “Uh, I guess as good as it’s ever been?”

  “Of course. Keep in mind it is not healthy for you to numb your body’s signaling of pain. The mental trick you used to avoid pain is useful short term in an emergency, but it can be a very dangerous crutch if you over use it. Pain is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong and needs attention. Do you understand?” He explained.

  Rolling my eyes, I replied “Yeah that makes sense, I don't want to ignore a bleeding wound or broken limb.”

  “Yes, something like that.” He replied, bowed briefly and returned to his hovercraft.

  I was no longer interested in fixing the Prospector power armor and wished I had not yet closed up the RV trailer. I could use a shower before we hit the road. I thought about asking Alexandria to use theirs, but I didn't want to intrude. Instead I had a few of the synths run a hose to our reserve water tanks. I quickly stripped out of my armor and bodysuit and took a lukewarm shower behind the engineering trailer. I hosed out my suit and had the synths place it on the roof of the engineering trailer. I climbed up to the roof as well, burned my feet on the hot metal and quickly dispatched a synth to find a semi clean tarp or cloth for me to lay on. A few minutes later a Hopper-synth jumped up and I laid down on the roof to dry off.

  I woke up disoriented to the sound of the Large Labour Drone clomping into camp. Two Hopper-synths were standing next to me. I peeked over the edge of the roof. It sounded like Sunny and the team was back. I cannot believe I fell asleep, at least It didn't look like I got a nasty sunburn. My light hair color belied my latina tanned skin complexion and I don't sunburn easily. Not that I had much cause to lie around sunbathing. I quickly slipped on my suit liner and armor before heading down to the ground.

  I ran to join Sunny, acting nonchalant as I could. “Sunny, you all finished at the dig site?” I asked.

  He replied, “Yup we tried to restore the tunnels and grade the surface to distract from any potential visitors after we leave. Not sure if there is anything else down there or not, but don't want to make it too easy for others.”

  I asked him, already fearing the answer, “You think we can get out tonight or should we wait until tomorrow? We could make it? Six hours to the outskirts of Phoenix. If we left now we could get in before midnight?” While that was less than half way to our ultimate destination, it was better than nothing.

  He shook his cyborg head, “I don't want to travel in the dark if we can help it Gabby. Better to go slow and get there safe.”

  I cast my eyes down and nodded my head. “Ok we can leave first thing in the morning. I am going to go double-check the synths and engineering trailer.”

  I turned and walked back toward the deployed Engineering trailer. I sat down on my hoverchair and stared at my Squad Leader. I get what Sunny was saying. It made more sense to stay another night, I was just antsy to leave. If we had a place to go, we should get moving and not wait. Oh well, nothing to be gained.

  I went about stowing the Squad Leader and Prospector suit on the flatbed trailer that one of the trucks would pull. I then instructed the Heavy Labor drones to get on as well. The miner-synths strapped everything down before joining the other synths in kombi-bus #1. Looking around camp it seemed like everything was buttoned up and ready to go. With a sigh I instructed the Engineering Trailer to close up shop. The scaffold, workstation, various tools and cables for each of the 8 bays began to retract and fold in. After they had been stowed the entire ground floor on both sides began to rise and come together over the centerline. The entire trailer closed up like a clamshell and was ready for transport. That mechanic shop and robotics upgrades had been worth every cent. The camp guard of 10 borg-synths continued to make their around-the-clock patrols. But other than them, all of our stuff was good to go. I retired to my giant mech for one more night in camp before we hit the road.