THE FOLLOWING DAY was spent in a blur of nonstop activity.

  At first, they busied themselves with taking care of themselves. They slept on rotation, cleaned up the destroyed camp, fixing their tents and taking the time to construct what would be the beginning of a defensive zone. Plus, they eat whatever they had on hand, so hungry they were, they did not care about fancy cooking.

  Their domestics continued along with conversation regarding their next move until, finally, they reached a decision on how to rebuild while taking special care of their crops. He relented and said, "We are pushing our sleeping inside. We can't risk sleeping outside anymore. It's too dangerous." So, they then busied themselves with hauling their gear inside the bunker, to one of the rooms they secured when cleansing the fae-constructs. Inside was rough. Dusty. But secure.

  Next, the group helped the village in their repair work. Although by the brave merit of their warrior-recruits, Guygale suffered not as extensively as otherwise might have been the case had they not been nearby, the damage remained extensive. Peoples' homes were devastated, public use buildings flattened, such as the public cooling and storage hut where he had conducted his first interview, along with the trainees' athletic fields. It was an immense amount of damage. He knew if they did not help it would take them forever to recover. 'It will take them how long to rebuild with our help,' he thought with great bitterness as he helped shovel up the destruction.

  Another day passed in much the same way, the three of them hardly having a moment to discuss anything beyond the basics until the following afternoon. Everyone took advantage of their new security by sleeping in; with the bunker protecting them from unruly animals and potential ill-will bearing automotrons, everyone could rest at once. Restored once more, they gathered around their firepit outside and got down to business.

  "I don't think Jie, or I have any problem with what Sigma-Prime is doing," Whiskey said. Turning to Zan, she continued. "But what do you think of the matter?"

  He shrugged. "I only think it was long overdue. Honestly. Maybe if we prepared better earlier, we wouldn't be facing the trouble we're not facing."

  Jiehong said something, now. "I agree. Moving into the future, we should be focused on building up our defenses through the cooperation of our fellow countrymen. We can't idealistically defend while asking them for hardly anything in return. IF that's the arrangement they want, we can escort them to the nearest city."

  "Agreed," he told his brother. "What now? We only own this parcel of land. Guygale, meanwhile, is not under our protection, strictly speaking, though we might owe them some protection if we continue to face attacks."

  "What are you saying, then?" Whiskey asked.

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  "I'm saying this..." Zan began and then paused, thinking on how to best phrase himself. "Guygale is different from the situation at the command center. We can't simply demand these folk join us. We need to give them reason to join us."

  The group put their heads together to think. Finally, Jiehong said, "We should simply make a pitch."

  "I agree!" Whiskey said right after. "Once the village is in better repair, we will go to them and ask for recruits. Offer them an opportunity after they finish their training in the village."

  "What will we pay them with?" he asked.

  Jiehong answered. "We have plenty of local currency. From our reward. We cannot offer them any more than a basic sum for their services. Yet I must ask, 'why pay them at all?'"

  "What do you mean?" he asked his brother. "You want slaves?"

  "No, Zan, come on! I don't want slaves. Chill out. I'm just saying, when you joined the Blanks, did you do so with the expectation of receiving payment? No. I bet you didn't. Likewise, when I joined Praline, I did so knowing I would not make money from doing so -- it's a civil group, after all. Same with Whiskey and her performers. Quite frankly, if anything, we really should be expecting payment from them, for allowing them to join. We can consider it dues. Our organization cannot exist without support, remember."

  "I think asking dues from them isn't going to fly. Not given the situation," Whiskey added.

  "I agree. How about we split the difference, then?" he posited.

  "What do you mean?" Jiehong asked.

  "We pay them but only a one-time payment. This will make us attractive to prospective members, give the trainees their 'first job' mentality, while also setting the precedent. Now, the question is, 'how much' do we payout?" he asked.

  The group discussed the rate of pay in relation to their current funds. Of which, many reams of which survived the attack in their lock boxes. Buried though the currency and jewels were under mounds of earth and slain automotrons. 'We really need to build that storehouse,' he thought, though looking to the bunker, and remembering how they now slept inside, he thought now the better decision was to use the bunker complex as a storeroom.

  Having figured their rate of pay and their pitch to the villagers, the day passed as the days before -- with them helping the villagers fix up their village.

  "We're making good progress on repairs," he said to his friends.

  "We really are," Jiehong replied. "With everyone pitching in and helping all day and all night, how could we not make progress, though?"

  Jiehong was right. They had made such great progress in repairing Guygale and their bunker because they knew where to focus and act as one.

  When they returned to camp that night, however, and he saw their fields still destroyed, water overflowing from the nearby ponds, rows of plantings uprooted, it was hard for him to not think on how the next enemy assault would be repelled. Did they have the capability? His heart told him 'Yes,' but did their body, their bunker, think the same?

  "Guys. I know we're super-tired, but... how about we do something for our crops? We should at least clean up and replant those which were uprooted," he said.

  With a yawn in every step, the team helped to beautify the land around the bunker. It all seemed to be a perfectly glorious bout of labor when, unexpectedly, a rumbling came from beneath the ground. The sound turned ferocious. Then, a deluge of earth spat up from the ground, something from within, a large, bulky form, revealing itself.

  He stopped whatever he was doing and rushed to where the entity emerged. Once the dust cleared and could see the thing which emerged, he wondered, 'What is that?'

  In front of them, just like back at the command center, was a turret emplacement.