Life is Strange - Stranger Storms Part 3

by Mahros

Max, Chloe, their adopted daughter Emma, together with a local software specialist with her mechanized human explore more of the world they find themselves in. Minor swearing, drug references and moderate violence.

PART THREE - JINYO FORT

ONE

Food had reinvigorated Max but she had not recovered from rewinding time. It again left her observing rather than helping, which was immensely frustrating. The annoyance at the weakness that she felt was partly alleviated by the score of mechs Obix had brought. They did most of the labour, carrying jugs of water and carefully helping the injured to vehicles, so there was little Max could have done physically even at her fittest.

The mechs also reinforced the sense of being somewhere alien in a way that even the landscape had not. While Obix appeared human, even in his new form, the others were of a variety of colours. One was gold-hued, two had rainbow stripes for skin colour, while another was a deep pink with jet black hair. Perhaps the strangest was a mech that had green lizard skin and reptilian eyes, for all the world like a human-shaped gecko, even down to a flickering forked tongue.

They were male and female - or at least visibly - with the pink mech having the body of a curvaceous woman, the rainbow pair slim males, while the gold one was built like a body-building man so it appeared like a walking statue.

The mech that asked Max if she had anything to bring along had the shell of an anime woman, with oversized eyes and tiny nose, impossible for a real person. The mech also had breasts almost as large as its head and Max felt irritation that someone had gone to the trouble of giving it such a 'feature'.

She also noted that the further away from human they looked, the easier it was to think of them as machines and better understood Osira's attitude. Obix, for all that he now appeared as a man of Chinese ancestry, could easily have turned up wearing the shell of the anime female or the lizard. Was this what the clunky, plastic robots of her time would become?

Max was in her and Chloe's small room downstairs, largely trying to stay out of the way until it was time to go. The reception area remained open to the elements, upper floor three was slowly filling with sand and the stairwell at sub-basement two had the smell of burnt meat from Emma's grenade hitting a mercenary.

"It's time," Chloe announced, coming into the room.

"Is there anything I can do?" Max queried, standing.

"There's barely anything I can do," Chloe smiled. "I could get to like having a mech wait on my every need."

"I can just see you lying on a couch all day being fed grapes by a mech, Chloe Price," Max laughed as they went up the stairwell.

"Perhaps not," Chloe considered. "After all, that's what I've got you for."

"I would be OK with that," Max smiled but then they reached the door to the first upper floor and the amusement went from her. She took Chloe's hand as they walked among the desks. They were not the last to arrive and waited solemnly as several employees entered after them.

Emma was present with Ismail but arguing in hushed tones, the latter appearing to be apologizing while her daughter stood with arms crossed. Luna was there with the four surviving Wardens in a group separate from the gathering Bright Horizons employees, a bandage around his midriff. Few others had been injured as the rail guns caused such devastating damage.

Richard Calderwell walked in. He appeared as disheveled as everyone, although slightly less dirty. Chloe had a bruise on her left arm as colourful as the tattoos on her right and rips in her clothing. Max's T-shirt still had blood stains but the mechs had only brought what was vital to survival so she had no option but to keep wearing it.

"We are gathered to mourn the passing of our companions," Calderwell stated as soon as he came to a halt at the window. It was scratched but retained enough opacity to see the line of crosses, the grave markers less for religion as for being easy to make from metal chair legs.

Osira entered, causing Calderwell to scowl. While everyone else had little to do but attempt to come to terms with what had happened, the int-soft specialist was busier than Max had ever seen her. In addition to getting the mercenary vehicles ready, Osira was tinkering with the silver circlets that had been gathered and checking the int-soft of as many mechs as she could.

Calderwell watched Osira for a moment to emphasise his disapproval of her tardiness then resumed.

"Chief among those lost was Director Norman Bortz and the title was apt for he gave us all direction. I just hope I am worthy of filling his shoes.

"Also gone is Jackie Fitzpatrick. We did not always see eye-to-eye but she was a very good researcher. Many others gave their lives for our opportunity to discover the wonders of this world so let us spend a moment in silence or quiet prayer should that suit your beliefs."

He lowered his head and Max did the same. The guilt of bringing those people to Telkia weighed on her conscience. Thirteen black-coated metal crosses were at the edge of the car park, the graves dug and the bodies buried by mechs in rad suits.

"There is no time for a wake," Calderwell declared. "We must go."

The new head of the Bright Horizons staff was right but there was an edge of eagerness to his tone that Max found distasteful. Some of the employees were crying or consoling others yet several turned to look at Chloe, either wanting or expecting her to say something.

Although, Calderwell was correct in their needing to depart, Chloe released Max's hand and strode forward, with the lead scientist bracing himself for any confrontation but instead she went to Luna. Her diversion caught out Max as well, who was following Chloe round the desks.

"John," Chloe said, "five of those people are yours. Do you want to say a few words?"

Max had not interacted with Luna much and, like Emma, could not shake off the image of the Wardens holding the woman she loved under water but he had evidently won Chloe round.

"I'm not one for speeches," he shrugged.

"Then don't," Chloe commented. "Just say farewell."

Luna glanced at the few remaining Wardens and nodded before staring out the window at the crosses, with nothing to distinguish his people who had died from those marking the Bright Horizons ones. The mercenaries, once stripped of anything usable, had been buried on the other side of the building.

He turned and began by listing five names Max had not known.

"They were private security, hired to protect these premises," Luna declared, "but they died as true wardens, protecting people. Maybe no-one else will miss him but I'm including Tyler Scarrow," Luna added, glancing at Max and Chloe before continuing: "who lost his way, long before this."

He turned back to the window and the crosses beyond then saluted sharply. The other Wardens lowered their heads for a moment then shook Luna's hand once he faced back into the room. Although Luna had spoken quietly, several of the Bright Horizons employees came up as well to offer their appreciation. From the stories, the wardens who had been upstairs had assaulted the mercenaries but been easily defeated, lacking Scarrow's pistol, Emma's improvised grenades or Max's ability to rewind time.

With the funeral service - such as it was - over, everything was geared towards leaving. Still largely in shock and with few belongings, the embarkation initially went quickly.

Two of the large, eight-wheel mercenary vehicles were available - a third had been driven off by escaping mercenaries - one to be driven by Obix and the other by another mech. There were also seven vehicles brought by the mechs, distinctly smaller but equally designed for the desert, including two half-tracks. All were heavily lined with lead and radiation sinks, materials that absorbed radiation and were then automatically ejected and replaced. Like with the eight-wheelers, the vision slits were small with replaceable blocks of transparent polymers rather than glass.

There was no organization for getting into the vehicles, although Osira had reserved one of the armoured ones for the Pirates while Luna and the Wardens took the other. Having expected more people, there was plenty of space, even allowing for one vehicle already taken by mechs returning to Jinyo Fort. Despite there being enough rad-suits for everyone, the vehicles were reversed into the shattered lobby for people to climb in.

With Chloe ensuring no-one delayed, Max was one of the last out. It proved necessary as Calderwell was loading the Bright Horizons people up with instruments from the laboratories. Max heard from grumbling employees that he had failed to persuade any of the mechs to carry the equipment. Instead, Calderwell had ended up arguing with Chloe about the need to take it until Emma had asked Osira to use the vehicle's loudspeaker to announce they were leaving and the others would have to catch up.

Max had thought it was an empty threat but Obix pulled the vehicle into the building and Emma climbed in, followed by Chloe so Max joined them. Obix drove the vehicle out as Osira moved into the main compartment from the driver's section.

"Won't the mechs stay for them?" Max queried, stowing a few belongings such as a data pad and jars of water but the mechs had already moved most things.

"Yes," Osira answered, "but I doubt the employees will want to travel by themselves. Here." Without Osira making any evident movements, a hologram of the surrounding area appeared in the center of the compartment. It appeared so solid that Max reached out to touch it where the building was shown. An orange dot formed where her finger went through the projection.

A disembodied voice declared: "an unknown building of concrete, steel and glass. Ground floor and third floor have sustained moderate damage. No defences apparent. Minor radiation on all above-ground levels. Top level medium radiation. Three subterranean levels. Four humans and two mechanoids detected."

The analysis had apparently decided the fourth floor was so damaged as to be unworthy of reporting or not even understood that it was the remains of one.

"With the bands, this is all done in your mind," Osira explained, looking pleased and indicating the silver circlet, half hidden by her hair. "For example, I have told the vehicle to inform us when everyone has departed the building. Once they have joined the convoy we will…" She frowned.

"It only told me through the circlet. I will check why," Osira said.

"Later, please," Chloe told her and Osira inclined her head. From Chloe's expression, she did not entirely trust that Osira was not still mentally checking settings.

"Oz, you know this world far better than I do," Chloe said, "but these vehicles, they're good."

"Yes, that troubles me as well," Osira admitted. "I have worked for the Grand Fault Order and their equipment is less formidable than this. Had the mercenaries not chronically underestimated us, which was understandable, then they should have easily overwhelmed us. The smart move was to stand off and demonstrate the firepower of these vehicles."

"So, what were they doing with them?" Chloe asked.

"That I shall also attempt to find out," Osira replied.

"Does it matter?" Max queried.

"It's like finding them in Arcadia Bay," Chloe answered. "Even if defeated, you want to know what brought them there, if only to prepare for more.

"Still, getting this is nice," Chloe added, patting a seat. "Where are we anyway? I've never heard of Dead Star Station or Yoyo Fort."

"Jinyo," Osira corrected, although apparently suspecting Chloe had deliberately mispronounced it. "In addition to teleporting an entire building here…" the soft-int specialist looked at Max as though hoping to reveal how that was possible, "…Maxine has moved us five hundred miles east and 365 days later than where and when we last were." Chloe and Emma joined Osira in looking at her as though she had an answer.

"I have no idea," Max told them. "I thought of where we left and your tales. I don't understand why it works at all, let alone what would throw it off. If there is some anomaly in space-time making it easier to travel between the points then perhaps it is something to do with the planet's solar cycle but you may as well put guesses on a wall and throw darts at them for all the data supporting any of it."

"The solar system is moving round the galaxy anyway," Chloe commented. "The planet is not in the same place it was a year ago."

"Unless the anomaly - hypothetical anomaly – moves with it," Max suggested. "Bottom line: I don't know."

"Ismail mentioned Calderwell and Fitzpatrick increased the power while you were asleep," Emma added. "They were trying to get it to work so kept upping the levels but, like Max-mom says, it doesn't really tell us anything."

"Except they were even more to blame," Chloe stated and Max appreciated the sentiment, even if inaccurate.

"Essentially, we are further from help than I realized," Osira said. "I know very little of this region."

At some silent command of Osira's, the image in the compartment's center pulled out to reveal the full convoy, now with their vehicle at the front and Luna's at the rear, shepherding the ones brought by the mechs. It then pulled out further to what appeared to be a flat map until small representations of towns appeared.

"Dead Star Station," Osira pointed to one.

"Callic District, Naddora County, dependent nation to the Grand Fault Order," the vehicle informed them. "Population last recorded as 80. Defences last recorded…"

Osira waved a hand in annoyance and the information ceased.

"It would be sensible to retrace Obix's route," Osira declared. "Although the mechs have to save life, this inevitably creates tension with their owners and we should return as much as possible as quickly as possible."

"Or else?" Chloe checked.

"Or else those owners are likely to track us down. Their actions will vary according to who they are, from simply requesting we return their belongings to enlisting law enforcement to attacking us, should they themselves be outlaws."

"Mistress, I have detected a human life form," Obix informed them. "I am detouring to investigate as anyone on foot will be in danger."

Osira looked to the others and raised her eyebrows by way of indicating it was an apt demonstration of the mechs' desire to save life then closed her eyes.

"Could it be a trap?" Max asked.

"The sensors pick up no other life signs," Osira replied. "No technological weapons either. The person is now moving away from us."

"Unlikely to be a merc, then," Chloe mused but picked up a rail gun. Osira had been too busy with the vehicles and mechs to get any other weapons working without the suits, leaving them only the two from the fight.

Obix brought the vehicle round so it acted as a wind break against sand particles then opened a door.

As it swung up, Max saw the person kneeling on the sand with his head bowed belonged to the Bright Horizons staff. He was one of those sent with the mercenaries yesterday.

"Please allow me," Obix said quickly as Max, Chloe and Emma began moving to help the man.

The mech hopped out, easily picked up the unresisting man, and returned to the vehicle.

A strong wind blew across Max's feet, catching her by surprise but she realized it was ventilation blowing out sand that had fallen to the ground, including off the man where he lay on the floor.

"Is he… radioactive?" Max asked, hating having to check but frightened of any of them being affected as Bortz had been. Obix was gently giving the man water. Physically, he appeared relatively healthy, although he grasped the flask of water as if to drink the whole of its contents in one gulp. The mech carefully restricted how much he drank.

"Colin Munro," Emma supplied and Max nodded uncomfortably. Another employee she had not known the name of, sent off in the hope of rescuing those who had not volunteered.

The mech put him onto the seats and he sagged there, barely awake.

"Obix, get the convoy moving again," Osira said. "We will help him." Obix looked at Osira, who nodded and it took Max a moment to understand. While Munro was not radioactive himself, the gamma rays emitted from particles in the sand had done their damage. Munro was dying and it was now a case of making that inevitability as painless as possible.

Emma took a needle from a first aid kit.

"Morphine," she told Munro and injected him.

Within a few minutes, he was distressingly cheerful.

"Oh, wow, this is fantastic," he said. "Am I dead? This feels like heaven." Munro smiled at them each in turn. "You have got to try some." Then he winced and frowned at his stomach before shaking his head, returning his attention to them.

"What happened, Colin?" Chloe asked, sadly, kneeling beside him.

"I'm just going to have a little sleep," Munro said. "Then I'll get on with the Azov account."

"Soon," Chloe said. "We sent you for help. Vadden and the…" She halted as Munro stared at her in alarm, then frowned as though struggling with the memories.

"They asked us questions, a few about the defences, even though they seemed to already know most answers but checked we had no guns. They were conversational and even stowed their weapons so it seemed harmless to answer. We were scared as well. Like, they were being nice and… and we wanted them to keep being nice.

"They were more insistent on how we got here. Asked again and got mad. Then… then they started hurting Andy. Andrew Rex from accounting, we had been working together on the Azov account…"

"Colin, I know it's hard but what did the mercenaries want?" Chloe prompted.

"They kept asking how we got here. I begged at them to stop. Wanted them to leave Andy alone yet so scared… so scared they would start on me. I told them everything I knew. Even started making stuff up. Somehow, they knew. That point when I started lying. So they kicked us out of the vehicle."

Colin hung his head and Max thought he had passed out but Chloe quietly persisted.

"What did you tell them? How did they respond?"

"I was so relieved. We were alive. They didn't kill us. Andy bled out though. I tried to bandage him up and I was trying to but he smiled and went. Gone. I'll have to tell Mary. God, how will I tell her?"

Chloe shifted across and sat heavily next to Max. She put her arm around Chloe's shoulders and her love leaned against her, head down.

"Did you know about the machine?" Emma asked softly.

"Of course!" Colin answered. "It's going to take us home. We just need to power it. Then home. I so want to go home." Munro then did fall asleep.

"Calderwell and Bright Horizons were able to monitor the portal," Osira commented quietly, "it is reasonable to presume someone here did the same and sent the mercenaries to investigate."

Not random chance, then, Max considered and understood the others, more familiar with Telkia, had never thought otherwise. They lapsed into silence. Osira, returning to accessing the vehicle and any files in it or the circlets, Obix driving, Emma monitoring Colin and Chloe leaning against Max. She wondered at the powers she had, to alter time, to create a portal to a future world. Was it all chance? People were still dying because of her decisions. She had to do better yet could never sacrifice those she cared for.

Caused the death of fifteen people. Must try harder. C-.

Colin Munro's presence turned what should have been fascinating views on the hologram and out the vision ports into diversions from his dying. There were rock formations that the wind had shaped into strange pillars or with gaps where softer stone had been funneled out. Max saw packs of cat-sized lizards digging up plants to get at the roots and a lonely bison-like creature standing still on a flat rock.

"How does anything live out here?" she asked. "There seems to be one type of plant and everything is irradiated."

"There's more variety than there seems," Emma replied, sat next to Munro, although there was nothing more to do for him. "There is a lot of life in caves, sometimes whole eco-systems. We landed at a hot spot, at least it seems to have been."

"There were higher than normal levels," Osira confirmed from the passenger seat of the driver's cabin. "That could be due to chance, the building stirring Strontium 90 as it 'landed' or part of what caused it to appear there. I can almost understand Richard Calderwell's frustrated desire to know more.

"Don't give me that look, Chloe," Osira sighed. "We are our actions, not our desires."

"You are right, Oz," Chloe said. "I'm sorry."

"Think nothing of it," Osira acknowledged. "You should all try to get some rest. Four hours of driving remain, if conditions continue as they are and there is nothing for you to do. I will wake you if anything changes."

Max looked at Colin Munro for a while, feeling like she ought to remain awake as a vigil, then glanced at Chloe, who shrugged.

"I know, Max," she said, "but we need to be as refreshed as possible. It should just be a short stop but we should be alert."

Max nodded. Her powers had brought them to Telkia and its myriad dangers but they could make the difference in saving those who still lived and resting would help. Leaning against Chloe, she smiled to see Emma affectionately looking at the pair of them and drifted to sleep to the dull rumble of the vehicle's engine.

It was hardly deep and refreshing but Max did feel better as she woke, aside from twinges in her muscles from the strange position. Although it was crossing uneven terrain, the vehicle had suspension designed to cope with it, while the seats were remarkably comfortable with surprising ergonomics for a military machine. Of course, it could not match a real bed. Munro was already awake and staring about him, looking at her and Chloe as though trying to remember who they were. The hologram was not on but, otherwise, the vehicle was the same as when she had dozed off, lit in a red glow with Obix driving and the rest asleep, including Osira at the front.

"How are you?" Max asked quietly. How close to death do you feel?

"Tired," Colin replied hoarsely. "Like… it wouldn't matter how long I slept, I'd never feel alert." He grimaced and Max wondered if she should give him more morphine. Max felt desperate to do something for the man who had volunteered knowing the chance of success was slim.

"I dreamed of home, for a while," Colin whispered. "I never liked going to work; perhaps it was some sense that it would lead here." He snorted amusement but then winced again. "Do you think if I said 'there's no place like home' and clicked my heels three times, I'd wake up in bed?"

"Unfortunately, that now needs electricity," Max told him. Another snort of amusement, another grimace of pain.

"That's progress for you," he responded. "I'm parched. Is there anything to drink?"

Obix moved from the driver's cabin before Max could ask, revealing the vehicle had a form of auto-pilot or at least auto-cruise. The mech opened a compartment and took out a small flask attached to a pipe, replacing it with an empty one. Max still struggled with him looking different, despite his mannerisms being unaltered. He also handed her a sachet, cup and demonstrated the small food heater at the rear.

With the conversations and movement, Emma, Chloe and Osira woke and there was a communal meal of nutrition bars and soup. Despite claiming he was not hungry, Colin drank half a mug of the soup, which seemed to revitalize him.

"The scum who killed Andy?" he asked cradling the mug.

"Most are dead, including their leader," Emma told him. "We have three as prisoners though."

"Leave them here," Colin stated firmly.

"Even if we were prepared to do that, the mechs would not allow it," Osira responded.

"That is not who we are," Obix declared, now back in the driver's seat. They all looked at him, although it was hard to know if Obix meant the Pirates, mechs or both.

"We should hand them to the authorities at Jinyo Fort," Osira said. "It will be some justice, at least."

A caravan came close enough for the lidar to detect it and show on the holographic map, causing concern at they watched the image. Approaching Dead Star Station from a different vector, the other convoy came to a halt.

Max looked to Chloe, who shook her head and it was Osira who answered.

"While the rest of the vehicles are normal, we are in an armoured personnel carrier," she observed. "They do not want to risk encountering us."

"I think that's the first time we've been in that situation," Chloe grinned.

"Will we be alright just driving up to the walls in these?" Emma asked. "I've known guards laugh at seeing our trailer. I doubt this will provoke the same reaction."

"Or if someone is watching out for the mercenary company," Osira mused. "They could even have received their orders from Naddora County."

"We'll brazen it out," Chloe shrugged. "If there's 80 or so people at the station, they won't want to tangle with us."

"We are five minutes from our destination," Obix alerted them and Osira moved back to the front passenger seat.

"Do we need to put on the rad-suits?" Max queried.

"Most settlements have radiation shielding," Chloe explained.

"Also, this one is underground," Osira added. Max felt utterly lost for what was normal in Telkia, like a dream where anything could happen.

Max watched the distance between their convoy and the settlement shrink on the map until combining. Staring out of the vision slits, she saw them enter a long tunnel heading down, traveling for at least another two minutes in a 30 degree or so decline underground. For the first time since Munro entered, five hours ago, the vehicle's door swung up.

Even with after the red lighting within the compartment, it seemed dull outside and Max hesitantly stepped out. The vehicle's computer had given statistics but Dead Star Station was nothing like she had expected. The first thing to strike her was that it was an actual station. Easily larger than Grand Station in New York but completely subterranean, Obix had halted their vehicle in a car park. Half a dozen machines were already parked, all cross-country ones, with caterpillar tracks or at least six wheels. Two trucks were there, compared to which their armoured personnel carrier looked the size of her little blue car. The rest of the convoy was pulling in with people spilling out to gape just as Max was.

They were in an oblong dome, the ceiling above slowly arcing across but in unadorned concrete. The walls had been painted pastel green and paintings added by various hands but too artistic to be labeled as graffiti. The wall to her left was about three-quarters covered and had been worked as a continuous mural, starting with a green forest containing bright sprites, continuing onto rolling hills with herds of the bison-like creature she had seen earlier and onto a more fantastical segment of pyramid-like mountains topped with gold snow before coming down to a shore painted in soft, dream-like shades with leaping dolphins in the sea beyond.

Max climbed into their vehicle, pulled out a data pad and used it to take a picture of Chloe looking at the wall. It was not like having a proper camera but she was still glad to capture the image.

The rest of the station lacked the decoration of the mural. Ahead of the car park what would have been a ticket office had been turned into a residence with partitions acting as rooms with more shelters constructed from old vehicles or corrugated metal surrounding it. People stared at them hesitantly, parents hugging children to them. Beyond, near to the far side, the flat concrete had a wide gap of perhaps ten yards then a platform with a couple of doors in the wall. It was where the tracks would run and to the left and right were unlit circular tunnels some twenty feet in diameter.

A man approached them, flanked by a woman on his right and a male mech on his left. The former looked older than Max, had fairly dark skin and brown eyes with black hair tied in a ponytail and a salt and pepper beard, wearing clothing apparently made from animal skins, the heavy stitching clearly evident at the joins. The woman was paler, with lighter brown skin, hair and eyes, and probably closer to Luna's age than Max's, but dressed similarly, aside from carrying a sheathed sword. The mech was bronze skinned with white eyes – making him appear blind – and hair, including eyebrows. A long-handled axe was on his back but the mech twitched uncontrollably.

"Assistance… assistance," the mech declared just as the man was opening his mouth, causing him to pause before speaking.

"Welcome to Dead Star Station, my name is Legend Thomas, my head of defence, Laura Galling and our mech, Hammer," he said, addressing Luna, who came up behind Max wearing the rad-suit, albeit with the hood down, and carrying a pistol. Both humans had the air of people fearing the worst and putting on a brave face in the hope of dying on their feet.

"John Luna, Warden," he said, stopping before saying 'security services'. "Chloe?" he called.

"My name is Richard Calderwell," the scientist declared striding up to join them, before Max could introduce herself, "head of Bright Horizons' enterprise on this planet…"

He halted as Luna placed a hand on his chest, pushing him firmly back.

"No," Luna said and kept moving forward so Calderwell had to stumble backwards until he reached the other Bright Horizons employees. Whatever his reaction to being forced out of the meeting was lost to Max as her attention turned to Chloe sauntering across from the wall.

"That is beautiful," she said smiling warmly and pointing at the painted wall, "Chloe Price. I know the APCs look intimidating but we're just passing through and won't cause problems." She held out her hand and Thomas shook it as though not trusting to a reprieve. Max gave her name, more handshakes, and Luna returned, still holding the pistol.

"We have a soft-int specialist," Chloe said. "Do you want me to see if she will take a look at him?"

"How much?" Thomas asked.

"A gesture of our goodwill," Chloe replied. "We are travelers from far away and wish only to avoid making enemies on our way through. How do you survive here?"

"There are farms above," Thomas said hesitantly. "We scavenge, trade and there is a small fee for staying overnight."

"We only want an hour to stretch our legs but I can tell you how to make a paste for better rad-protection and give a gallon of uncontaminated water. In return, we'll keep out of your way, unless you want to chat, and be gone in sixty or so."

"Thank you," Thomas said as though still expecting the Wardens to start shooting. Chloe called Osira across while Max took Laura Galling aside. The woman looked at her suspiciously.

"Do you have any paint spare? Chloe would love the chance to add to the mural, if that would be alright? If its personal to your settlement then don't worry about it," Max said. Galling barked a deep laugh that seemed to surprise even her, certainly more from relief than humour.

"It has been too long since more was added," Galling responded. "We will find the paints."

"I'm just going to tell our people to behave themselves," Chloe told Max.

"I can't add to that!" Chloe objected when Galling and several of the Station's people returned with brushes and paints and Max explained why.

"Please," Galling said. "We would like you to. The shore was added when I was a girl and it feels like nothing has changed in that time."

"I would be honored to," Chloe accepted but still uncomfortable, glancing at Max as though she was not worthy.

Leaving her to paint and with Osira working on Hammer the mech, Max spent much of the following hour talking to Galling. Laura was as curious about where Max had come from as she was in turn about Dead Star Station. Uncertain how much she should say, Max stuck with coming from far away and being inadvertently transported to the desert. Galling, in return, told of a life struggling to grow and trade for enough food then defend what they had against raiders. When Max pointed out that it was a difficult life, Galling looked surprised.

"I did not wish to sound as though complaining," Laura responded as they stood at the edge of the platform. Curiously, there were no tracks and a ramp had been built to allow vehicles to drive down into the tunnel. "We are thriving. Relatively, perhaps, but I can remember there only being sixty people here. With the thick walls, we are safe," she pointed to a group of children who Emma was playing with, showing them pictures and playing music on a data pad.

"All are healthy and over half have no mutations," Galling said proudly.

The time to go came quickly and their departure was significantly warmer than their arrival. Chloe had only been able to add a patch of blue sky, puffs of white cloud and a flock of three ravens flying over the already painted sea but taken care for it to blend with the rest. Osira had Hammer the mech working properly within half an hour and spent the rest of the time improving its soft-int with better anticipation protocols, according to her explanation to Legend Thomas. The settlement's leader seemed as bemused at the explanation as Max but was clearly pleased the mech was operating normally.

"You will always be welcome here," Thomas told them, shook hands with Chloe, Max and Luna. Others were getting back into the assortment of vehicles. Osira was back studying the APC's computer system and Emma helping Colin Munro onto his seat then Obix was steering the vehicle down the ramp and into the tunnel.

"They were pleasant," Max said as the convoy continued its journey.

"They were," Emma agreed but then added: "but we came with enough strength to level the place. Those shelters were not built from nothing and I wonder where they were scavenged from. Still, I hope they are like Cowl's group and would help anyone."

"There was nothing that could assist us," Chloe sighed. "Anything they could trade, we had more of. The core problem remains: getting power to the machine. We are going to have to decide how we pay for it, if we can get anything compatible. Or steal and hope to portal through before we are tracked down."

Chloe paused, looking at the occupants in turn, smiling at Max and Emma before announcing:

"Next stop: Jinyo Fort."

TWO

The distractions kept Osira occupied while traveling, checking on Obix's soft-int pathways and trying to get through the encryption on the stored files, which was significantly far from her expertise but balanced by the mercenaries using simple password programs. She had learned little from the mechs Obix had recruited: the need to help people in danger was almost like a geas, when they wanted to remain serving their masters and mistresses. Just as distressing for the mechs was stealing and their soft-int was driving them towards returning everything they could. Even at Dead Star Station, the mechs wanted to be on the move again. Obix's soft-int had become far more ambiguous in that he considered returning mechs, suits and vehicles to their owners secondary to helping Obix and the Arcadia Bay Pirates.

All the vehicles had short-range radios for communication but Osira decided that only Luna's APC and the mechs needed contact as she was hesitant to allow the Bright Horizons staff access to any systems. From her knowledge of the mechs, they would patiently follow as long as they were heading towards their owners. The only time during the journey that it was used was when one of the mech-driven vehicles broke down and the entire convoy halted. Everyone got out, the tunnel lit only by the lights from the vehicles, where they were so far from the surface that even infra-red vision would not show the surroundings without them.

She had been as glad of the chance to get out of the armoured personnel carrier as anyone. The tunnel was relatively warm but the air was stale, while the echoes and sense that the darkness stretched forever was disconcerting. Colin Munro had left the vehicle and, as at Dead Star Station, been talking with the other Bright Horizons employees, who repeated their pleasure at his survival in hushed conversations that echoed off the walls

Emma had come to stand beside her and they had spoken for a while of the other world, comparing their experiences of it while the mechs efficiently worked on the broken vehicle. The other woman had finished with saying it was like discovering paradise only to find she did not belong in it. Osira had then watched the mechs repairing the vehicle, noting Chloe was doing the same, although with more interest in what they were doing than her own attention which was focused on how the machines were working together. The need to return to their owners was overcoming the core soft-int programming on distrusting other mechs.

Osira ended up watching Chloe Price as much as the mechs as the woman was approached by several of the Bright Horizons people wanting to know what was happening. Initially patient, Chloe eventually walked over to Calderwell and spoke to him with increasingly wild gesticulating before stalking back to watch the repairs. They were completed within half an hour and Chloe stood in the hatch of the lead APC to shout "Mount up!"

The onboard Lidar system was almost useless in the tunnel as the walls reflected the light waves back on themselves. It was certainly too confined for seeing if anyone was left behind and the mechs might consider their primary duty done in getting people out of immediate danger.

Osira had settled back into the passenger seat, half-listening to Chloe complaining about Calderwell. Munro added a little, having barely interacted with the head of development but the blue-haired woman was content with her own invective-filled tirade. Osira returned to studying the onboard systems, plugging directly into them with an optical cable. From what she could tell, the mercenaries had preferred manual and audio operation, with most of the settings unchanged from its construction.

"Five minutes to Fort Jinyo," Obix announced, surprising her. Veddan had encrypted the files from whoever had ordered them to the Bright Horizons building and not used an obvious password. Trying to crack it had been frustrating as she was certain it was possible with the right programs and knowledge but soft-int programing was too dissimilar to actual hacking.

With the silver circlet, she was able to monitor the machine code conversation between Obix and a mech at Fort Jinyo, gaining permission to enter, detailing the convoy's make-up. A limitation of the mechs, or at least how they were programmed, was a tendency to assume humans were non-hostile. A person would be more alarmed by the two APCs. She detected condescension in the response from the mech, essentially telling Obix to ensure the people in the convoy obeyed a stream of rules.

Osira stretched awkwardly in the seat, removed the silver circlet to rub where it had pressed against her before returning it and peering through the vision slit as the headlights showed a ramp up to the right. The incline was steep enough that she could feel gravity pushing her against the back of the seat.

The Lidar briefly flicked back on before the arrivals controller mech told Obix to deactivate it. Osira sent a command through the cable for Obix to pause for one second. The controller immediately repeated the order and Obix turned the Lidar off but it had given Osira time to get an idea of the place. She flipped the hologram in the carrying compartment on, frustrated that the others would not wear the circlets.

She moved to join them as Obix drove the vehicle into a parking area.

The image displayed ten foot high walls, made from compacted sand then overlaid with a façade of ceramics. From this a rad-shield projected over the entire circular fort, which had gun emplacement turrets but few weapons. Dozens of sprawling buildings had been constructed from sandstone within the wall's protective embrace as well as an area given to farming with what appeared to be more agri-domes outside. According to the readings, even beyond the rad-shield, the area had low radiation contamination, which possibly explained its location as there was little else in the region, other than a lake two kilometers distant.

The Lidar had also caught about two hundred humans and forty mechs, although how many police or military was impossible to determine from the single pulse.

"Chloe, what is your plan?" Osira queried as the door opened while the others were studying the hologram. A dry wind circulated heat into the compartment.

"Plan? To wing it," Chloe responded predictably and Osira waited for a more reasoned response.

"We need to buy some sort of generator to power the machine and some means of converting the photon-based power to electron-based. Should be easy," Chloe eventually said.

"This would easily cover all our needs," Osira said, tapping the vehicle.

"I've thought about it and they are our one ace card," Chloe told her. "They are also our only transportation. With both we can all just about cram into the two of them. It will be very uncomfortable and we'll have to throw some stuff out but should get us back to the BH building in one trip."

Osira had not wanted to be rid of the vehicles either because of how useful they were. The idea of being packed into them with twenty people when they were designed for ten was not appealing but Chloe was correct. If they sold them, other transportation was needed and none would be as effective as the armoured personnel carriers. Still, for just one they could probably have enough money to buy two or three other transports, a power source and supplies.

"We ask around, find out everything we can and how many people Obix pissed off then make a decision. In other words: wing it," Chloe said. The mech had been waiting in the driver's seat for instructions and turned round at being mentioned but did not comment.

"Rule one?" Chloe checked.

"We stay together," the others chorused, including Osira, who considered how much she would miss the Price-Caulfield family.

The ground was sandstone of a normal, beige colour, even with the rad-shield overhead tinging everything a redder shade. It was comforting to see as the metal-specked russet sand tended to have higher concentrations of radiation.

In the immediate area were several vehicles, ranging from small ones able to hold only half a dozen people to giant transporters twice the height and many times as long as even the APCs. The mechs were moving away, most carrying the rad-suits they had brought to return to where they had taken them. Two of them had been old Clipper models, no longer manufactured and had left their rad-suits with the Horizons people while none had been the 6th gen variants. She wondered if it was random chance or if the hard-int of newer mechs had less compulsion to save humans. Something to investigate later.

Many of the Bright Horizons employees were surrounding Richard Calderwell, apparently confused by the mechs rapid departure. Despite being told this would happen, they had assumed the friendly, helpful machines would continue to assist them.

"What will happen to them?" Max asked, also watching the mechs disappear.

"That will depend on their owners. Everyone… everyone from Telkia knows this is a necessity in their manufacture ensure compliance and all agree that it is good for them to act this way. That tends to change when it directly inconveniences the owners. If one of your computers does something you did not want it to, do you chastise it or even hit it? Some will. Others will accept. Many people forget they are dealing with mechs rather than humans," Chloe answered. They were machines and Max's question was an appropriate reminder that not everyone saw them as she did.

Osira acknowledged even she had needed to see Obix's soft-int to be assured that it was still him beneath the new appearance.

They saw a couple of people give up on speaking to Calderwell and turn towards them for answers. Chloe waved them back before addressing them all, with Emma, Max and Osira moving closer to listen.

"As you will have guessed, the orange shield above protects against radiation. Beyond the walls, this area is fairly clear: you would get the equivalent of an X-ray's worth every week or so. In other words: we stay within the walls.

"This is Jinyo Fort and I have little idea what that means. We are a group of refugees turning up at an island with people who barely have enough for themselves. Don't start trouble, don't get separated. We have supplies in the APCs for two days, which we will stretch to four. The APCs are our only transport: everything the mech squad brought is being returned to the proper owners, including the other vehicles. Until we can find anywhere else, the car park is our meeting point."

Chloe turned to join Osira, Emma and Max but was bombarded with questions from the Horizons employees.

"I don't have answers for you," Chloe told the staff. "I need to go and find some."

Osira watched Chloe return, picking up on the woman's concern.

"Let's hope they don't get us kicked out," Chloe said. "How did I end up as the one they're all turning to? Where's Obix?"

"It may be best for him to stay out of sight in case anyone here recognizes him as the one who took the other mechs and rad-suits," Osira explained. "Also, I can contact him to bring the APC, should that prove necessary."

"Good idea, Oz," Chloe nodded. "I'll just have a word to Luna about shepherding the Horizons staff and how best to let people explore without getting us all lynched. Were you able to hack more rail guns?"

"Two pistols," Osira replied uncomfortably. Once she understood how to get round the link to the mercenaries' rad suits, her focus was on the vehicle's computer and Obix's soft-int. Getting more of the weapons working had been a low priority and of even lower interest and then she had simply forgotten.

"Emma and I will take one apiece," Chloe said but looked at Osira to check whether she wanted to keep one. Osira firmly shook her head. She had basic training in using weapons but thought they brought more violence than they prevented. Then again, she normally had Obix at her side.

"We have no money and the only real thing to trade is the spare APC," Chloe mused, holding the pistol Osira had handed to her from out of the APC and wondering how best to carry it. "Try to come up with a brilliant plan to solve our problems."

Chloe strolled off to speak with the Wardens.

"I have nothing," Max admitted.

"Chloe-mom and I would sometimes get small jobs transporting," Emma said. "Just loading up an RV and taking goods from one place to another to supplement what was available at Cowl's. Depending on how far, more of us would go as guards. Perhaps we can do the same here for payment."

"It's having forty extra people to supply with food, water and, ideally, clothes," Osira countered. "We would never make enough."

"So put them to work too," Emma suggested. "They are intelligent and healthy. It would also keep them occupied."

Ismail Abbas joined them. From the way he had looked back at the Horizons people, it had not been his idea.

"Hey, Em," he greeted Max and Chloe's daughter. "I was wondering if you wanted to explore the town with me." Ismail put his arm on Emma's arm to lead her away but she did not move. He stared in surprise at the rail pistol in her hand.

"I am staying with my moms and Osira," Emma stated, then partly relented. "You can come with us, if you want. Just… remember we are all strangers here."

Osira thought little of having him along but there should be no harm from his presence. Ismail had almost certainly been prompted to join them, possibly by Calderwell. The Bright Horizons employees were in a situation beyond their imagining and some had fought against the mercenaries but Osira wanted them to go home scarcely less than they did.

Chloe returned and together the group explored the fort. There were several other people in the town of Jinyo Fort, going about their day to day business. She recognized one of the mechs who had rescued them being berated by their owner. The car park was close to the main market, although there was little on offer, with stalls selling water, fruit, vegetables and various meats as well as others offering clothing. Only a couple had technology on offer, various virtual reality programs, mech parts and soft-int upgrades. Beyond were shops, slightly more upmarket with a bank, insurance service and hotel among them. A couple of vendors were selling food ready to eat and Osira's mouth watered at the thought of something other than overly rich confectionary bars or almost tasteless ration packs.

Emma was showing Max the implanted chip that both she and Chloe had installed as necessity for trading. Nearly all exchanges in the Wastes were barter based but going into towns and cities meant digital transactions. Neither of them were in credit and Osira had only a little.

Chloe took them through the market, studying the technology for sale – parts for vehicles, batteries, solar panels, cabling, briefly at a portable water purifier. The vendors came up and offered help but left them be when told they were just browsing. Even by the standards of a settlement only nominally outside the Wastes, the Pirates and Ismail must have looked underfed, dirty and battered. At a distance, it was difficult to say which of Chloe's arms was tattooed and which was bruised while Max's T-shirt was caked with her blood.

Ismail at least directed his questions on how things worked to Emma rather than the shopkeepers. The inhabitants knowing the others were from a different planet, reality or timeline was less important than avoiding the notion that they were exploitable.

Osira asked to check on the shop selling mechs and mech parts after seeing the outside stall had only junk. The shop lacked windows and within was hardly better than the version in the market: obsolete 5th gen Clippers and even a 4th gen Mistico, making it older than Obix. Only a few spares were new with some so worn that they looked like they would disintegrate when picked up. Other bits were so obscure as to be fascinating in their provenance.

The owner was overly keen for a sale but, fortunately, he chose Ismail to interact with, perhaps because he was by far the cleanest of the group. That or due to them both being male.

"What interests you, sir? Something to keep your house clean while you both work or an assistant for vehicle maintenance? We have more stock out the back," the man greeted him. He had his hair gelled up in a checkerboard of blue and yellow spikes. Ismail looked completely lost and turned to Emma.

"Oh, yes, Ismail, can we? With us both working, we need a mech at home," she said. It was acerbic, perhaps, but Osira had to smile. Ismail frowned, unamused.

"I'm sorry, it is not me who makes the decisions," he told the shopkeeper with just as much sarcasm. The sales person understood he would not be getting a sale, frowned at them for wasting his time and returned to the counter.

"This place doesn't have what we need," Osira told Chloe, who nodded, knowing she meant the entire Fort rather than the store.

"Ismail, keep an eye out for anything that might work as a converter," Chloe told Ismail as they left.

"To convert an energy type I don't understand into electricity?" he checked, voice up an octave at the impossibility of the idea. "I'm a chemist not an electrician."

"So?" Chloe responded, peering at shops and beyond. "Emma, any indication of where the five-oh are?"

"Further back, I think," Emma answered and Osira looked towards the other side of the fort, where the residential area was. "There's that building with antennae."

Despite its location far from anywhere, Fort Jinyo appeared to be expanding. With limited land, the residents were building upwards and a building that was six floors high had human-supervised mechs working on it. The skeletal frame of girders and pillars jutted towards the orange filter of the overhead rad-shield.

"It seems like the world is recovering," Max observed. "Or at least the human parts." Osira looked at her, considered and realized that most places she had been to were expanding rather than contracting.

"Slowly and unevenly but yes," Osira nodded.

"Hopefully without making the same mistake as last time," Ismail commented and it was hard to disagree, although she had the impression he thought the ones his world were making were not the same. He could be correct but it was not a wise assumption.

The residential houses were haphazard with the streets zig-zagging around buildings that had been thrown up without any central planning but the antennae gave them a point to head towards. The streets also varied in width so a couple of times they could only pass two abreast and stood aside as a couple with a pushchair passed them. Once past those behind the shops, many were only two floors high with flat, solar paneled roofs. Their appearance attracted little interest, perhaps as the fort was a transit point along the tunnel, making visitors relatively common.

The antennae stuck up from what was essentially a keep within the fort. Some five storeys high and circular, it had vision slits around it, including what appeared to be firing slots with clear plastic replacing where weapons would have stuck out. The dome that topped the construction glistened with solar panels, with the very peak flattened for the antennae protruding upwards.

The entrance was a single door with a green plaque over it with yellow lettering declaring 'Fort Jinyo' but no indication of whether the building was for law enforcement.

Chloe led them in to a reception area with a young man at a front desk, dressed in a blue shirt and bald aside from a pair of dark eyebrows. A silver metal bar showed on his forehead, almost like a vertical, third eye, and probably a sensor suite but more rudimentary than the detachable one Osira wore.

A pair of women in sand-coloured uniforms walked past wearing peaked caps, side arms and utility belts. They glanced at the rail pistols but did not comment, nodding by way of greeting before leaving the building.

"Nice place," Chloe said. "I should have brought Luna."

There were half a dozen work stations, reclining seats attached to the floor with virtual reality helmets and controller sticks, although only two were occupied and neither of those by uniformed personnel. In the center was a metal, spiral staircase and an open-sided lift, leading below ground as well as up.

"Good day, my name is Chiro Araki," the man at the desk announced. "Please store your weapons in your vehicles or we can keep them for safe-keeping if you prefer."

"I'll take them back," Emma said.

"I'll go with you," Ismail offered quickly and Chloe nodded, evidently keen not to have any of them alone, although Osira noted she handed the pistol to her daughter who was already armed rather than Ismail.

"We have come from afar, traveling over great distances," Chloe declared melodramatically. "Once we entered your lands, we were attacked by mercenaries, who we defeated and captured three of them."

Araki raised his eyebrows and looked at Osira then Max for confirmation before returning his attention to Chloe.

"I… just let me get my supervisor," he said.

His supervisor was a diminutive woman, over 10 centimeters shorter than Osira, with long, braided black hair and the same silver bar as Araki in her forehead. She wore a loose lime green blouse and equally baggy grey slacks with a black belt.

"Kitsuna Kitaka. You have prisoners?" she queried in a voice that seemed deep for someone of probably thirty but Osira noticed her fingers had yellow stains from heavy smoking.

"Mercenaries who attacked us and murdered our companions," Chloe explained.

"Where?" Kitaka queried.

"I can show," Osira told her and was about to tap the silver circlet on her head before deciding revealing she had technology which could wirelessly read all communications in the building might not be received well. "On a map, if you have one," she continued.

Chloe turned and looked at her. Osira gave the thumbs-up gesture the people from Earth used by way of indicating she would not be precise enough that the Fort Jinyo staff could locate the building. Kitaka stood in front of a blank wall and, after a moment, a two-dimensional map of the area appeared. Osira pointed to a position near the bottom.

"That far into the Wastes? What were they doing there? What were you doing there?" Kitaka asked.

"Travelling," Chloe answered. "I think the mercs were pursuing us to take our people but I'm sure they will open up to you more than they did us."

Kitaka glanced at Max's bloodied shirt.

"That's outside our jurisdiction," Kitaka commented. A mournful-looking mech came in from outside, walking around them, and prompting the woman to take them further into the room.

"What do we do with them?" Chloe asked. "Whose jurisdiction is it? I thought Naddora County claimed all of that."

Kitaka rubbed her head around the embedded silver bar.

"Yes," she admitted. "We will take them but don't expect much in the way of justice unless you intend to stay here for a trial, which may involve you answering questions you seem intent on avoiding."

"They were armed with advanced rail guns," Osira stated. "Approximately twenty mercenaries instigating a military incursion into your territory. If we were just in the way, Jinyo Fort may need to become a bastion again."

Kitaka clearly did not like being told that and stared at Osira for some time before repeating: "we will take them."

"Cool," Chloe stated. "We'll drop them off in a bit. We can give you images of what they were carrying but we need their stuff in order to get out of here.

"Which nicely brings us to us getting out of here," she continued. "We're broke and don't want to trade arms to get money. Do you have any get-rich-quick schemes?"

"This isn't a job market," Kitaka responded. "You've given me enough of a headache for one day."

"If anything crops up, think of us," Chloe persisted. "We're not overly cheap but very reliable."

"Go," Kitaka ordered and they trailed out.

"The next stop east is Hooker," Chloe declared once they were outside. "It looks hardly bigger than here though. Perhaps four hours. After that Shimada Settlement, which looks promising."

"If there's nothing here, then I guess we have to continue," Max said. "It feels like we're getting further from the way home."

"If there's nothing at Shimada, we'll have to sell one of the APCs," Chloe declared. "What are your thoughts?" She included Osira in the query, while heading off round the keep towards the other side of the fort.

"We may need to split up," Max considered. "Leave the Bright Horizons people here and shuttle goods until we can buy a generator."

"They will love that," Chloe responded. "The trouble is having to keep everyone fed and the batteries on the APCs fully charged.

"Would the vehicle batteries be sufficient for the device? If we could convert the power they generate and either carry one down to the machine or run a cable?"

"The machine was using significant power," Osira pointed out.

"Which moved the entire building," Max said. "We don't need to do that. Just enough to send a line of people through."

Osira nodded. It was something she should have considered but the whole enterprise defied her understanding of physics. Poking a hole between universes or worlds or whatever it was doing should have required vast power and expanding that passage in width almost irrelevant in comparison. Maxine had created that portal with minimal energy and it did seem that greater power equated to moving larger objects.

"Are you certain it will work that way?" Osira checked.

"Absolutely not," Max stated. "If it doesn't, then at least we will know and can tell the others they will need to find jobs."

"If it comes to that, it may be easier to create our own settlement," Osira suggested. "At least that way we could grow food for everyone and have them work. Elsewhere, they would be competing against mechs and other people."

"Let's not worry about that, yet," Chloe said. "The Horizons people are starting to get over their shock. Telling them we're going to be living here for a year or more as hunter-gatherers might not go down too well. Besides, that will be as difficult and costly as getting the equipment to power the device.

"Oz, you are home," Chloe continued, "your help is invaluable but none of this is your responsibility. If you want to go, then, we cannot keep you."

Osira looked at her with surprise. It was not something she had considered. Even without her insistence on returning to Telkia actually making her responsible, she could not abandon them. Osira was surprised at how distasteful she found even the notion of taking off with Obix and heading east while Chloe, Maxine and Emma remained in peril.

"Of course I will see it through, Chloe," Osira stated, then thinking for a moment before adding: "I do hope the first plan works, however."

THREE

Chloe watched Emma return with Ismail in tow. He was pretty enough and they made an attractive couple but that counted for little on Telkia and even less out in the Wastes. Her own experiences and trust in Emma's judgement prevented her interfering but she hoped the boy started adjusting soon.

"Thinking about grandkids?" Max teased, taking her hand and also watching Emma laughing at something Ismail had said.

"In between how to get enough money to get food and how best to transport people and converting photon power to electric power and whether the machine will work and avoiding what kind of mess we left in the other world and…

"I'm sorry," Chloe apologized. "I know you were only joking."

"It will be alright," Max said and hugged her. "We're all together."

Chloe nodded but that seemed to be when things went truly bad. The storm in Arcadia Bay, the one that threw her and Emma into Telkia, then the portal that brought them all here.

It was not that fear of fate which made her decide to leave Emma at Fort Jinyo, however.

"I have stashed the guns in our vehicle and told Luna to keep theirs hidden too," Emma reported.

"Emma, if we can find something to transport east, I need you to stay here," Chloe told her.

"Sure," Emma responded.

"We're not going with you?" Ismail queried.

"We need to buy parts," Chloe explained. "That's going to require us taking as much as possible to the next settlement east. Trying to cram forty people into the two vehicles isn't going to work. So, you get to remain here and it won't be easy as you will all be sleeping rough but I also need you to start considering how to convert Telkia's power system to Earth's."

"How long will you be gone? Do you have to take both vehicles?" Ismail asked.

"Probably a day and yes," Chloe replied. "Emma is staying because Max, Oz and Obe are coming with me."

"So, she's like a hostage for you to return?" Ismail checked.

"If you like, yes," Chloe answered. "I was thinking more on you having someone who knows Telkia but, yes, Emma will also be here for reassurance."

"I have been monitoring communications," Osira declared while Ismail was reflecting on the situation. "There are a few opportunities, mostly for people requiring secure transportation. There is also a tavern that serves as a meeting place."

"To the bar!" Chloe announced.

The Red Road tavern was similar to those Chloe had seen in Troy City, with the outside decorated with light-emitting diodes, illuminated even in the day and powered by sunlight. An image looped of a red truck driving left to right while lettering promised beer and food. A billboard outside showed the day's special: roasted hare and potatoes, guaranteed uncontaminated.

Within there was some lunch trade of half a dozen diners, a bartender and a mech waitress with burgundy skin and black clothing.

"What would you like today?" the mech asked, tilting her head and smiling.

"We need to earn some cash transporting goods or people," Chloe stated. "Do you know of anyone who needs to head east?"

"You may wish to try that couple over there and the notice board has comments left by people," the mech said with the same cheerful expression as if they had ordered the most expensive meals available.

The couple were young and had come west to make their fortune on the frontier only to not find treasure in the ruins of Dicer City nor gold in pan-handling the waters of Shimmer Lake nor in trying to market an improved water purifier. The good news was they were eager to return east. The bad was they would only be able to pay once at Shimada Settlement and Chloe suspected that would be far from prompt.

"Only cash or trade up front," Chloe stated but nearly relented at their evident despair. Perhaps if there was space to spare later but, even if they did eventually drive them, she did not want the knowledge that they would transport for nothing spreading.

Osira had more success on the digital notice board. People wanted goods or themselves transporting and they arranged to meet some of them.

The first person, a woman of about fifty, took one look at them and shook her head.

"I require proper guards," she declared.

Thereafter, Osira arranged for people to meet them at the car park near the APCs with a pair of Wardens in their uniforms. The necessity rankled despite Chloe understanding their desire to see what protection they were buying. Most also took the fact that Emma and the Horizons employees were staying as a form of surety, which was understandable given she and the others were strangers and had the appearance of vagabonds. Even Kitaka contacted them asking them to take a data disc to the administration at Shimada for a small fee that Chloe haggled over. It all took time, however, and it was early evening before they were ready to go.

Chloe considered waiting until morning when there could be more but time was a harsh taskmaster. The Pirates, Wardens and Horizons had all sat down to a meagre meal of rations from the APCs. If more filling than having half a candy bar, it remained far from satisfying or meeting their daily requirements.

With the sky only light in the west, Chloe addressed the Horizons employees. They looked at her as though waiting judgement.

"Warden John Luna is in charge while I'm gone," Chloe stated. She had wanted Emma, who was more knowledgeable and adapted to Telkia but her age would be a hindrance when it came to the older staff, like Calderwell. Those wanting passage east had demonstrated how much Luna's appearance counted. "Hopefully, we'll be back by this time tomorrow but it does mean sleeping rough for tonight, unless you can find someone to take you in and only do that if others know where you are staying. The people are decent enough but you'll get bad ones here like anywhere else. By the same standard, don't exploit anyone who is generous: food, water, everything is in short supply for everyone."

Grief, she felt like it was a lecture to tenth-graders on their first trip abroad. I'll expect a 500-word essay on your experience.

"If in doubt, ask Emma," Chloe added and her daughter waved to those assembled, although they would all know who she was. "Don't go anywhere by yourselves but if you can find someone who needs a job doing then every bit of coin we can get helps. As I've mentioned to Ismail, work on ideas for converting power. All this tech works on photons and the machine home doesn't. Some of you are familiar with it."

Behind her, the last of the cargo was being loaded into the APCs. Price-Caulfield Trading Company.

She beckoned Luna and Emma over. He was imposing enough even without the rail guns to dissuade most people from starting anything.

"Emma, I've transferred half of what we received pre-transport to you," Chloe told her. She thought to say not to blow it all on luxuries, knowing Emma would not, but Chloe had so infrequently been able to treat her daughter that it went unspoken.

"Luna, don't underestimate Calderwell," she added.

"He's too book smart to understand he's not street smart," Luna said. "At the moment, everyone is trusting to the plan. If that doesn't go well, some might lose hope but you have the Wardens regardless."

"I appreciate it," Chloe smiled and clasped his wrist, which prompted his own wry amusement with his eyes still looking like he needed a dose of strong coffee.

"I feel like I'm telling someone far more capable to be careful," Max was telling Emma, "but: be careful."

"I will, Max-mom," Emma smiled. Chloe embraced her.

"Back in a bit," she said.

"It's only a day," Emma responded.

"I know but I don't trust the Horizons not to blow the fort up, somehow," Chloe explained and stood on tiptoe to kiss her forehead before climbing into an APC with Osira. Already they had spent some money on topping up the batteries and coolant but the vehicles were new, efficient and rugged with redundant systems. They had no character but Chloe was more than happy to forego that.

Max and Obix were in the other APC, so the mech could teach her to drive it in an emergency, just as Osira was to do with her. In the passenger compartment was one Warden - a man in his mid-twenties going by Jared Senchykov - plus two paying passengers and an assortment of cargo from a box of unprocessed ore to canisters of liquid, a box of personal belongings and data files. It was cramped but Chloe had found space for the couple from the Red Road tavern, putting one in each vehicle.

"Try this," Osira said and handed her one of the silver circlets as they drove back down into the tunnel. It was smooth, lacking any indentations or markings, externally just a piece of jewelry. Feeling like she was crowning herself yet half-expecting spikes to stab into her skull, Chloe placed it on her head.

Nothing happened.

"Think 'activate data display'," Osira said and a bewildering series of images appeared.

Chloe had put Max with Obix figuring the mech would be a better instructor and that assumption was certainly true as Osira kept explaining advanced functions without going through the basics.

"Oz, I don't understand," Chloe objected for the fifth time. Osira stopped mid-flow on how the circlet was interacting with the vehicle and other circlets, with settings under some squiggly icon, and looked at her with surprise.

"I'm sorry," Osira said for the fifth time. Her genuine apologies barely helped as they made Chloe feel even more slow at picking up how they worked, like her tutor kept forgetting how stupid she was.

Yet Chloe had gained the rudimentary working of the device. She still had to think carefully about what she wanted it to do and sometimes accidentally sent it off into streams of unwanted data but could now bring up a mind's eye display of the tunnel and the two APCs. Chloe could now cautiously send messages to Osira and even Max in the vehicle behind.

"I'm going to have a couple of hours," Chloe said. "Wake me if you want me to have a spell."

Chloe was tired and the monotonous drone of the engine was soporific but mostly she wanted a break from learning what the circlet would do. It was interesting, at least when Osira was not going into the details of programming, but Chloe had reached the point where it felt like any more instructions would just go straight in one ear and out the other.

"Wait," Osira stated, briefly making Chloe think she wanted to teach her something else before realizing there was a road block ahead. The soft-int specialist had the APC's Lidar pinging forwards only in the tunnel and it had detected a blockage.

"Strap in," Chloe called to those at the rear.

Osira transmitted the details of what she could tell from the Lidar to Chloe's circlet. An improvised barricade but metallic with spikes. An image appeared in Chloe's mind of what Osira intended and was aware that it was being transmitted to Obix and Max as well. The soft-int specialist would not do the actual driving, just plotted the course, confirmed it with the onboard computer and sat back.

Chloe could not share her confidence and picked up her rail pistol. Even that triggered something in the circlet where Osira and the spare circlets were showing with a green outline and those in the back with blue silhouettes. The APC picked up speed and there was a soft hum as the gun turret just behind them extended up from the roof. A muted thud announced the twin rail cannons firing then the right half of the barricade ahead disappeared from the display she was seeing internally. Encased in the vehicle, only a muffled boom and brief orange flash against the vision ports indicated the explosion.

The pitch of the vehicle's engines increased and Chloe felt the acceleration press her against the back of the seat followed by gravity pulling her sideways as the APC drove up the curving side wall at 100 kilometers per hour. There was an alcove which caused a bump as the vehicle went over and figures with red outlines briefly appeared but were then behind them. A few seconds later they were past with the vehicle slowing to its cruising speed of 60 kph, although the other APC had its guns facing to the rear.

Max sent her a thumbs-up image.

"Now can I have a sleep?" Chloe asked, although her heart was racing enough that she doubted that would be possible for a while.

"Of course," Osira replied with equanimity. Given the lack of return fire, Chloe suspected whoever set up the barricade were the local variation of waste-runners but she still envied Osira's calm.

"Just a roadblock we had to avoid," Chloe told those in the rear compartment and settled down to at least try to sleep.

"The circlet can help you sleep," Osira commented. "Compresses eight hours of sleep into two."

"Maybe next time," Chloe responded. "It's not like I'm missing a great view."

It was tempting, especially if it stopped her dreaming of drowning, although she had not last night as they drove to Dead Star Station, and did not feel ready for the technology messing with her further. Chloe carefully placed the circlet aside then closed her eyes.

Osira pulled the vehicles into a lot and Chloe stirred at the cessation of movement and noise to get out and stretch. Hooker Station turned out to be similar to Dead Star Station, although better prepared for travelers. It lacked a mural but had amenities, despite being another apparently unfinished underground station. Whereas Dead Star had welded together discarded vehicles and sheets of metal as habitation, here there were sandstone blocks making square apartments almost to the domed ceiling.

Although day and night would be the same so far below ground, hardly anyone was about. The equivalent of a night watchman checked on them and stayed in the area as the occupants took a break from being cooped up in the vehicles.

"Come to Telkia and see our dark tunnels," Chloe commented as Max joined her.

"I'll take pictures on the way back," Max laughed. Chloe watched her lean backward to ease out a crick.

"If you have your data pad, I'll take a shot of you here," Chloe offered. "It won't be much of a memento but at least it's something to remember the trip by."

Max reached into the vehicle and handed the data pad to Obix.

"Say omelet," Obix said and took a picture of them with the barely illuminated block buildings of Hooker Station as a backdrop. For a while, they chatted, musing over the barricade, life in the settlements, whether Emma was alright and comparing teachers for the circlets. However, time was an ever-present consideration and within twenty minutes they were back in the tunnels heading east.

Chloe took a stint at driving, although that was largely keeping a watch for obstacles as the vehicle stuck to its programmed route and rumbled towards Shimada Settlement. She took the time to learn what there was about the place while Osira dozed in what was nominally the driver's seat. Her mind drifted, thinking of Max and Emma and how Telkia was no place for either of them yet also of the potential of the APCs. If they were stuck longer in this world, the vehicles were frightening in their capabilities, a generation ahead of anything else she had come across.

The vehicle turning and taking itself up a spiraling ramp caught her by surprise. A check of the circlet showed they were at their destination.

Outside was dark, Shimada's rad-shield almost invisible against the clouded night sky. The city beyond had LED street lights and advertisements giving bright colours in the darkness, having charged during the daylight hours. The vehicle's computer had noted a population of 30,000, making it second only to Troy City in terms of size of places she had been and dwarfing the settlements on the way there.

"Well, I hope we can get what we want here," Chloe commented as she met Max and Osira between the two vehicles. The young couple from Jinyo Fort were already sprinting away into the darkness but the others came up to pay what was due.

They were also joined by a mech with the appearance of a pretty young woman.

"Welcome to Shimada Settlement," it said with a soft, lilting voice. "Please keep all weapons in your vehicles during your stay. May I direct you anywhere specifically?"

"We have three deliveries to complete and then we will need a mid-range technology store selling turbines and generators," Osira told the mech.

"I will transfer the relevant data to your mech," it announced, turning briefly to Obix before returning to Osira. "May I assist you with anything else?"

"That will be all for now," Osira dismissed it and Chloe was slightly uncomfortable with how the mechs were slaves. Programmed not just to serve but to enjoy being compliant. Even if they were just machines - clever, walking toasters - Chloe felt it did people no good to have something that looked human obeying their every whim. Then again, having one would have helped Cowl's encampment greatly and the loss of the ancient mech had made life noticeably harder.

While waiting for the city to wake, Chloe stood with an arm around Max in comfortable silence watching dawn lighten the eastern sky. Shimada was built on a rise with a clear barrier surrounding it to a height of thirty feet with the rad-shield projected above. Buildings had spread around the ramp's exit blocking much of the view but light refracted into rainbows of colour as the sun's rays went through the lower level. In the peace of dawn, it reminded Chloe that sometimes there was beauty in Telkia. Not to the point of staying for a year or more trying to scrape enough money for a larger generator or build a new machine from scratch, though. She needed to get Max and Emma home.

The respite did not last much longer as much of the population woke with the light, including people coming to collect the goods. One tried saying they would pay later but Chloe simply countered that they would keep the cargo until paid. It galled her that the person looked hard at Jared Senchykov and the other warden before reluctantly transferring the funds.

Once they had dropped off data discs, including to the administration center, Chloe had more money than she had ever had before. At Cowl's, almost every bit they got was spent on some necessity or other. Attempts to sell her formula for the anti-radiation paste did not get anywhere as the area's lower contamination level meant there was less need for it. The people of Shimada appeared more technology reliant, preferring improved suits to slathering a paste over what they had.

The APCs onboard computer had shown large agri-domes outside the walls, the shields over them not just protecting against radiation but concentrating the lower sunlight levels that filtered through the near-constant cloud. There was an aquifer beneath the surface which was used to water the crops and people but one section of the city to the south had collapsed a few years back when draining the subterranean liquid had undermined it. Supposedly, the company responsible for bringing water up was now filling the underground spaces it was creating with compacted sand. The presence of uncontaminated water had fed Shimada's growth.

The city was large enough that Chloe would have become lost without Obix guiding them. Osira was with her and Max as well, with the two Wardens following them, more from wanting to see the sites rather than any need to guard them. The size of the settlement was not the only difference from those to the west, with people wearing synthetic clothing and even more extreme modifications so Chloe was uncertain if a woman with silver lines on her skin was human or mech. There were factories as well, beyond the residential areas, producing clothing, furniture and packaging, although larger items such as vehicles and mechs were made elsewhere.

In the middle of the city streets with LEDs promising quality goods and services at reasonable prices, Chloe considered how easy it was to forget the desert outside. Here was closer to the future that seemed to be promised in her time. An elderly woman nodded to them in passing, trailed by a mech in a young male's shell carrying packages for her. They stood aside for a group of a dozen humans and mechs going to work on the agri-domes. Even law enforcement seemed better: Chloe almost gaped at seeing two officers in sandy-yellow uniforms laughing with a group of four teenagers.

Obix halted at a store-front to a small manufactory, reminiscent of Jarrow's where work and sales were done within one building. They were greeted by a man perhaps a little older than she and Max were, the arrival of five people and a mech causing him to raise thick brown eyebrows. He was otherwise completely bald with fairly small features, appearing as though the upper half of his head was an unmarked dome. The backs of both hands had tattoos of ankhs.

"Good morning," he said breezily. "Is there anything specific you need or are you just browsing? There's a catalogue and we can make most things."

The room had several display cases with parts such as turbine blades, cables and generator coils as well as a counter with a pair of virtual reality headsets.

"We have a machine that runs on electricity and a generator that runs on photons," Chloe explained, having become used to parring the issue down to the basics.

"Electricity? Well, we could probably have something knocked up in a week," the man declared.

"We don't have that long or that much cash," Chloe responded. "With a long cable and something to create a force, we can jerry-rig something ourselves. Have you got pen and paper?"

He looked at her for a moment as though she had come from the Neolithic period, although both were still sometimes used. Wood was normally too precious for mashing into paper but not unheard of.

"There's a chalk board out in the workshop," the man said. "I can also project diagrams with the computers." He led her past the counter and Chloe realized the others were not following, turned and held out her hands by way of querying why.

"I barely understand the machine let alone getting light to power it," Max said.

"I am soft-int," Osira told her. "You are talking of hardware I don't understand and probably all mechanical."

"We are guards!" Senchykov objected when she looked at them. Chloe shook her head and headed into the workshop.

"We'll help as we can though," Max called and hurried after her, followed more hesitantly by the others.

Chloe drew a box with an 'e' in its center on the chalkboard and a shaft upwards to the where the APCs would be, culminating in a rectangle with a 'p'. The engineer ran his hand over his smooth head.

"Tricky. Even without converting, you'll lose some power but you need to create heat. How about a simple steam turbine? You run the cable down, have some heating elements, warm water in a closed loop that spins blades and generates electricity?"

"Good but how much will that make?" Chloe asked.

"It depends on your generator and the size of the water system," he responded.

"I won't know until we try," Max commented. "We're completely blind on this but, even if it doesn't work, it might give me some idea how far off we are. What about a wind turbine? If the second floor is still holed, it would be ideal."

"I'll give you some ideas from what you've described," the engineer told them, putting on a VR headset. "These are the parts we have available." The diagrams for several components appeared on a blank wall and he moved them together. Even with the enclosed system, the power loss would be significant. Nor could they run the APCs indefinitely without draining their batteries so Max's wind turbine would be needed as well to supplement them.

"We're heading back to Jinyo Fort," Chloe stated. "If you need anything transporting in return for selling at trade, we have secure vehicles."

"I'll see what I can do," the engineer nodded.

"I'm sorry, Chloe," Max said as they walked out loaded down with parts. They were now broke again and, between what they were taking for the engineer and their own pieces, the APCs would be close to full, without room for paying passengers. "I'm starting to think you can solve anything, unless my strange powers are needed."

"Of course I can!" she grinned. "That's not to say I don't like to give others a chance. This isn't me, Max," she sighed. "If I wanted to be a leader, I would have studied and spent a career battering my head against the glass ceiling."

Max looked at her skeptically.

"I'd hate to see you doing something you do want to do," she commented.

"Oh, if we ever get some time to ourselves, I hope you won't hate it," Chloe responded.

"Chloe!" Max laughed.

FOUR

Emma watched the two APCs drive away and turned to help the Horizons and Warden staff set up along the wall past the car park. It was far from the worst place Emma had slept, which was probably up a tree to escape a tiger-lizard, but still not ideal. The others mostly accepted they would have to sleep rough, although some complained as the temperature dropped but it was with resignation rather than urging for something to be done. They still only had the clothes they had gone to work in, a week ago, which were not suitable for outdoors even before being caught up in a battle.

That fight still played in her mind. The smell, sounds and fear. Taking a life.

If Calderwell felt any trauma from the battle and near capture, he had not shown it. Whether that was because he had hidden on the damaged second floor or was indifferent was difficult to discern. As soon as the two APCs had left, he came to stand in front of her, slightly too close for ease and requiring her to physically look up at him. Luna was speaking with the remaining Wardens leaving her to deal with Calderwell and she suspected the Horizons' leader had waited for that to be the case.

"As the leader of the Horizons staff, I need to be rested to best guide them. I cannot guide their research efforts to get them all home if I have a broken night's sleep. Also, it would not be appropriate for me to sleep on the ground," Calderwell declared. Emma looked at him, not understanding and said as much. For all that she disliked him, even hated him for his part in Chloe-mom being 'water-boarded', his age, experience and gravitas gave his opinion weight.

"I need proper lodgings for this evening," Calderwell explained, as though spelling out something obvious.

Emma stared up at his confident expectation that she would arrange it.

"You want me to use funds that can buy food and water to give you a bed for the night?" Emma checked.

"Of course," he replied, apparently not understanding why she was having difficulty with something so obvious. "I told you, we need to figure a way of powering the machine using the technology here and that requires me not to spend a night in the cold lying on sand."

"No," Emma said. "That money is required for other things, not least having Colin Munro treated."

"It is truly terrible what happened to Mr. Munro but he is beyond any treatment," Calderwell said.

"Nonetheless, we are going to make sure he is comfortable," Emma responded.

"Now, look here, your mother isn't here now. I am the most senior person present and you have the funds to spend both on Munro's health care and enough over to find a room for me. What on earth are you saving it for anyway? We will be home tomorrow," he snapped, standing up even straighter.

For a moment, she felt herself waver. What difference did a few bits make? Either they would go home or be stuck indefinitely. Besides, it would get him out of the way for the night not just for her but for the Horizons employees who mostly seemed to also find Calderwell less than inspirational.

"No," Emma refused. "Go back to your people and help them instead."

Emma, Ken and Larry, Calderwell and Darla Mitchell had taken Munro - pale, tired and in pain - to the medical center. The damage to his internal organs was too great for treatment but the medics were able to give the barely conscious Munro a comfortable bed and painkillers. It was expensive, taking a significant portion of their funds, but the man had volunteered to try to save them. Paying for palliative care was the least they could do.

"I shall stay here and ensure he receives proper treatment," declared Calderwell. Emma stared at him, said nothing and left with the others, although Mitchell delayed to check there was anything he required.

"No, thank you, Darla," Calderwell responded and returned to Munro's room.

Calderwell staying there suited her but Emma could not help feel she had been outmaneuvered. He was almost certainly staying to have a roof over his head yet she could hardly complain about him ostensibly staying to look after a dying man. Calderwell was already asking one of the staff how some of the equipment worked.

"I hope he will be alright," Mitchell commented as they walked back, sticking to LED-lit passages. Emma did not ask which of them she meant.

"I'm going to study when we're back," Ken announced.

As the night deepened, Emma slept with Ismail, albeit only for warmth. He did suggest they move to somewhere more private but it was half-hearted and seemed as ready for sleep as she was. With a small hollow in the sandstone and two of the Wardens on watch, they settled down.

"Back home, we will have a king-sized bed," Ismail declared as he lay back looking at the sky past the rad-shield. "Lots of pillows and soft blankets. I miss having a shower every day. I don't think I will ever get all the dirt off me.

"I used to complain about so many stupid things, someone doing better at a test, a game being too tough or too easy, how the Red Sox were playing. Never again. We'll have the best food, the best wines, the best of everything and appreciate it every day knowing we won't be irradiated when stepping outside or shot by roving bands of mercenaries."

He sighed, evidently picturing that other world, then kissed her goodnight. Emma stayed awake for a while longer wondering about the dream he presented, considering not whether she could fit into it but if she wanted to.

Uncomfortable, cold and worried about what might come, Emma woke with the pre-dawn light. Standing, she tried to work the kinks out of her muscles. In truth, there was little to do beyond wait and wished she could have gone with the others to Shimada Settlement but understood the necessity of staying. The morale of the people from Earth was brittle after having hopes repeatedly dashed. Emma nodded to Ken and Larry, who had evidently taken over the watch at some point during the night. Like Ismail, their talk of returning home had a desperate edge and they were currently quietly arguing.

"We have to warn people that this is what the world will become," Ken stated with wild gesticulation. "They have to know and prepare."

"You do that, I'm just going to enjoy a peaceful life. This has woken me to the fact that I'm no hero. Heck, we both got half beaten to death and I'm still not sure I haven't got a hairline fracture," Larry the Guard responded. He scratched at the week's worth of stubble on his chin.

With light increasing as the sun rose behind the layer of clouds, Emma watched a pair of police personnel approach with some trepidation. Officially, they were Fort Jinyo Civil Defence but Chloe-mom's terminology and prejudices had worn off on her, something she was aware of but Troy City's Peacemakers had hardly caused her to see them as anything other than trouble. One of the few times she had truly got under her mother's skin was as a sixteen-year-old announcing she intended to join the Troy City Peacemakers. Chloe-mom's initial reaction had been anger, then almost petulant disappointment:

"I guess you'd better arrest me," she had said when Emma caught her smoking a joint.

"You know it's not illegal," Emma had countered with po-faced disapproval. "Still, once I am running the Peacemakers, perhaps I will clamp down on unauthorized growing of marijuana."

"Only if you can catch me, Emma," Chloe had responded then exaggerated drawing on the joint and corresponding enjoyment, only to cough heavily, which had led to them both laughing. There was too much underlying affection for antagonism to last long and thereafter Emma the cop had been become a running joke.

Both were women in peaked caps and sand-coloured uniforms and Emma walked up to them as they got closer, soon joined by Luna.

"Good morning," the slightly older one declared. "We're just doing our rounds. How are things?"

"We'll be gone as soon as my mothers return with the vehicles and parts we need," Emma told them.

"We heard," the officer nodded. "This really is just a check to see how you are coping. It's never easy sleeping rough even knowing it's only or a short time."

Emma waited for the catch but the woman appeared genuine.

"It's not bad," Luna responded while Emma was throwing out the defensive responses she had been preparing. "Don't get me wrong, I'd do a lot for a hot shower and clean bed but I've slept in worse places."

"There are a couple of gangs who may try to shake you down," the officer explained. "I get the impression you can take care of yourselves but I'd like to avoid any blood being spilled."

"We don't have anything worth taking," Luna responded, which was far from true and betrayed even his underestimation of what was valuable.

"We'll make sure the water cannisters and rad suits are better hidden," Emma interjected. "It won't be us starting anything."

"We can't take many in but if any of your people are looking to stay, let me know and I'll keep an ear out for anyone looking for workers. I admit, you're some of the strangest people to pass through Fort Jinyo in a while and if you're back this way some time, I'd like to hear the story," the officer said. "In the meantime, we'll be back in a few hours to make sure you're okay."

"What's your take on them?" Emma asked Luna as soon as they were out of earshot. He snorted, amusement in his sleepy-appearing mahogany brown eyes.

"Decent police," Luna told her. "I don't think your mom believes there's such a thing. One conversation isn't much to know if they would rough up suspects, plant evidence or take bribes but they would have come at us differently if they were planning to hassle us.

"I'll get people to bury the water canisters, although there's precious little to dig with. Microscopes, distillation tubes and crap that I can't tell what it's supposed to do but no shovels. We'll head into the town proper and see if there are simple jobs that need doing for someone who hasn't got a mech."

For the last, he paused for her nod, despite being in charge. Emma waited for a while after the Defence Officers had gone before heading into the town, returning to the Red Road Tavern accompanied by Luna and Ismail. The mech again asked if they required anything and Emma dismissed it before heading to the digital noticeboard, filtering and scrolling through various messages.

"I know we must seem nothing but a burden," Ismail commented as she pointed to a job tilling the soil in an agri-dome, "but this isn't what we're good at. Some will have gardens but that's eight hours of manual labor for… I don't know how much that is but I'd be surprised if it's much."

Emma nodded, aware that none of the Bright Horizons staff had signed up for coming to Telkia and several of them were now dead. They were clever and innovative but all their knowledge belonged to a different world.

"If we make a note," Luna suggested, "we can give people the choice and let them buy what they want with the proceeds."

A waiter position was available with 'mech preferred' but, for a day of work, it was not worth someone applying and being taught.

"Good idea," she agreed, "and let's leave the choice entirely with them and see what the Pirates return with. If they can get something sorted, we have enough rations. If they can't, then we will need to rethink everything anyway."

With time to spare, they strolled back, looking at displays that were as strange to Emma as to the two men. Succulent vat grown burgers had her mouth watering, regardless of what they consisted of. There was a stall selling herbal medicines next to one with virtual reality games, then one selling knives and hunting weapons, several together selling various clothes from rad-suits to laboring attire and as close to formal wear as she had seen outside of Troy City. There were services available, whether creating signs and pictures, intranet web help or mech repair. They passed a hairdresser selling hair dyes that made her think of Chloe-mom.

Ismail was bright and cheerful, sometimes joking about what a peculiar item could be used for, seeing a dress he thought she would look especially pretty in or laughing at the notion of him in some of the more outlandish clothing. As at ease as Emma had seen him, Ismail had a clever wit, making her laugh and his dark eyes crease in pleasure at her amusement.

Luna, in contrast, seemed frustrated, tailing them like a chaperone. Even without his normal sleepy appearance, he seemed bored and impatient to return to doing something productive. Almost the only time he spoke was to suggest taking a guard job advertised on the Red Road tavern's noticeboard. There had been one to cover someone off ill but even that wanted someone for five days.

Emma was still thinking of Chloe-mom and Max-mom and how happy they were together as she, Ismail and Luna returned to the car park. As though her thoughts had summoned them, a red APC pulled rapidly up the ramp, heading for an open area and she changed her course to meet them. The second one came up, halting some distance from the first.

Then a third one rumbled up and came to a stop.

"Join the Horizons employees and keep their heads down," Luna ordered. "I'll get the Wardens and the guns together."

"Shit, no," Ismail cried. "Why won't they leave us alone?"

Luna sprinted off and Emma hurried over to the Horizons people, only three-quarters of whom were still at the wall. They all looked to her.

"Lie down and stay down," Emma ordered.

"Is there anything we can do?" Larry the Guard asked.

"No," Emma replied. "We have nothing to deal with armoured vehicles."

"Do you have any sugar?" a man in his mid-thirties asked and Emma stared at him, the question so inane that she barely understood what he had said. "Those things have exhaust ports, or at least heat vents. Pouring sugar in would likely mess them up."

"Alex? Let's go. Larry, you're with us. Ken, stay here and protect the rest if you can but we all know how these mercs are armed. If it comes to it, surrender for now."

"I'll come with you," Ismail said querulously and Emma nodded.

She led them in a wide circle, sticking close to the wall.

"This settlement is now under the control of the Black Dawn mercenary company. Lay down your weapons immediately. Failure to do so will result in your death," the first vehicle's speaker system.

Jinyo Fort went quiet. Barely noticed as dawn became morning, the background susurration of the town had grown. It stilled as though the buildings themselves were holding their breath.

Emma kept working around the perimeter until line of sight to the three APCs was lost then headed in to the commercial district. Above, a host of drones flew out of the central administration building. A few seconds later, there was the double thud of the APCs weapons firing.

"Here," Alex said, halting at a stall selling engine lubricants. "Not quite what I had in mind but it won't do them any good if we pour this oil in." The firing had nearly everyone fleeing away from it and towards the residential areas. People ran and some screamed as burning drones spiraled out of the sky.

"Won't the defence forces handle them?" Larry asked, gripping the baton in his hands tightly enough that his knuckles showed white.

"They wouldn't have attacked if not confident of taking them on," Alex stated as he took a couple of clay pots of oil. "That grease too… epoxy resin: that will gunk things up nicely."

"Alcohol," Ismail noted and grabbed a jar.

Above them, the battle had increased in intensity with drones firing missiles and being blasted out of the sky. The fire from the APCs did not seem to have diminished.

"We beat two squads of them and we had nothing like that," Larry commented, clutching armfuls of combustible containers.

"Only because they did not see us as a threat and wanted us alive," Emma responded. "We also had an ace with Max-mom."

"Looting is a crime. Cease immediately and report to Civil Defence," a deep voice intoned and Emma turned to see a war mech. Humanoid, over three meters high and one wide at the shoulders, it had a large cannon for one arm and a Gatling run for the other with a blank, grey faceplate.

"We are going to assault the attackers with these," Emma explained.

"That will not be necessary. You must take shelter while this difficulty is dealt with," it declared, stomping forward.

"If you fail, we will be defenceless," Emma said. "If you succeed, we swear to put everything back."

It moved past them.

"Your images have been recorded. Seek shelter immediately," it said while continuing on.

A squad of four normal sized mechs armed with normal assault rifles caught up to it. All were identical in design with 'Fort Jinyo Civil Defence' on their armoured gear. Above, a pair of drones returned to the central facility for rearming but were all that remained of a flight of over two dozen.

Emma led the others back to the edge of the car park by a more circuitous route than the mechs were taking. She saw human law enforcement as well, moving through the buildings.

The gunfire increased with the whine of rail guns and rattle of automatic chemical-fired weapons. They reached the car park in time to see the war mech go down in a hail of rail cannon rounds despite being in cover. One of the APCs was damaged, however, with its side armour cracked and smoke curling up from it. Mercenaries clad in red rad suits spilled out, firing at the smaller mechs that were using only hardened rubber rounds.

With perfect accuracy, the mechs hit their targets, staggering several and putting a couple down. They hit weak points on the suits' armour with shots that even a highly trained human could rarely hope to make. Even with the mercenaries moving, they never missed their targets completely. In response, the rail gun fire was almost random, usually hitting the vehicles the mechs were using as cover.

Then one of the remaining APCs turned its computer-guided turret and fired a series of eight shots. All the mechs were blasted to pieces.

Their human counterparts waited further back but had to retreat as the APCs systematically destroyed the buildings they sheltered in.

The remaining two drones flew out of the administration building and were immediately destroyed, falling from the domed sky in a shower of debris. More mercenaries climbed out of the APCs, dashing forward despite the bulky rad suits.

Emma reached the Horizons employees.

"How can we deal with them?" Ismail gaped. Both APCs had edged forward and the damaged one still had its gun operational. Emma was beginning to think the same.

"Luna has gone to help at the central tower," Ken reported. "He said something about leaving would draw the targeting away from here."

"There are a couple of unconscious mercs," she observed. "With their suits we can use the weapons."

"If we can get close to the APCs, their turrets won't be able to depress enough to target us," Larry stated.

"Osira explained something of how the onboard computers work," Emma added. "Don't pick up anything that is a gun until you have the suit and one of those silver circlets on. Larry, Ismail and you two are on suits and guns. Alex, Ken and you three are with me to sabotage the vehicles. We'll start with the closest."

The mercenaries appeared to all be male and, while there were bound to be shorter ones that might fit her, Emma had guessed on choosing men of about average size. Going into another battle was terrifying but even that paled to sending others to potentially die.

The eight massive wheels the APCs were equipped with were ideal for cross-country, including firmer parts of the desert, but restricted them in built-up areas. All three were now acting as support while the mercenaries on the ground moved forward towards the central zone. Emma watched the last of the ones on foot move out of sight. There would be no better time. Chloe-mom would have some speech with humour that would rouse people to risk their lives.

"If we are taken, we will never get home," Emma declared. "Go!"

Hardly one for the records, she considered, but then her mind was on dashing up to the damaged APC. Its twin rail cannon gave a howling whine than thundered in her ears as the weapons fired but towards the central area. Armed with only solvents, oil and grease the computer appeared not to have registered them as threats. Emma halted at a wheel that came up to her shoulder in height but its ridges made for an impromptu ladder.

Then they were pouring everything they could into the ventilation ports with Ken armed with the impromptu spear from the Horizons building, ready for the occupant to appear.

"That's enough!" Emma cried when the jar of oil she was pouring into the engine's exhaust vent ran empty. Heart racing and half expecting one of the other APCs to target them or the hatches on the damaged one to open, she understood that they had achieved little. The APC was unlikely to ever move again but was still firing, the twin retorts almost deafening at such short range.

"We will have to get more," she said. "Ken and you two remain here in case the driver comes out. Alex, come with me: we'll need to persuade more to help." It was only then that she noticed one of those staying with Ken was the woman she had slapped in the Horizons building during the first battle. Even had there been the chance, Emma did not know what she could say to her. Instead, Emma sprinted back with Alex to the remaining Bright Horizons employees at the wall.

Darla Mitchell was there comforting someone with the assurance that professor Calderwell would get them out. Given Emma had not seen him since the hospital, she thought that unlikely.

"I need you to come with me to collect more things to attack the vehicles with," Emma announced, crouching in front of the staff.

"Why don't you stop this? They're not here for us," Mitchell responded.

"Of course they are," Emma said, looking at her in surprise. "If they take us then getting home is going to be nearly impossible."

"Then your mothers should not have taken our only defence!" Mitchell responded. Before Emma could counter the fear-induced statement a one woman, the other receptionist to the dead Ella Fitzpatrick, shuffled forward.

"Leslie Peters," she introduced herself, although Emma had picked up her name from being in the Horizons building. "I will do anything not to stay here. What do you need?" she asked. Her volunteering was enough to prompt others until over half of the Horizons were with her. Some were researchers, others office staff, of varying ages and backgrounds, ragged and unkempt but prepared to fight.

"What about the hospital?" the receptionist asked. "It could have combustibles."

"Good, take two others from the research staff and go," Emma instructed. It was splitting her force up into tiny groups but without a means of striking the APCs they were close to impotent anyway. The receptionist nodded and Emma felt the crushing responsibility of wondering whether that decision would kill the woman and pair of researchers running the other way around the perimeter.

Almost gratefully, Emma ran back towards the market with Alex, Leslie and nine other Horizons people following her. Passing near the damaged APC, she sketched a wave to Ken and the others standing sentinel over it. The turreted guns on it roof continued to fire. Black smoke was now trailing up from sections of Fort Jinyo near the center. The top floor of the keep was now ablaze as well, more smoke rising to the rad-shield where it was spreading out as the orange dome was blocking particles from escaping. The gunfire from small arms was distant enough now to only sound as pops as it reached them.

The market was far worse than when she had left it a few minutes ago. Nearly everything combustible appeared to be on fire. She threaded her way through, avoiding the worst of the flames to reach the buildings beyond, coming across the body of a Fort Jinyo Civil Defence officer. His body had been torn apart by a rail gun slug and one of the Horizons staff vomited at seeing the bloody remains.

Searching took more time. Checking canisters often labelled in ways the Horizons employees did not understand and she could only make an educated guess at, rummaging through stock in the back rooms, improvising spears with knives and poles and generally gathering a small stock pile of makeshift weapons proved chronically time-consuming. She split the group further into two groups of five to speed things as with a dozen people in a location they got in each other's way too much. The dull thud of the APCs' twin rail cannon continued to reach them.

They came across one store owner who had not fled and was defending her shop with a shotgun. Emma tried to reason with her about why they were there and to help them attack the mercenaries but could not convince her. Eventually, Emma gave up and moved on, frustrated by the loss of more time.

Another delay as the two groups got separated, calling out and hoping only friendly people investigated. Relief as they reunited. At that point, Emma decided it was time to stop. The day was notably darker but looking up revealed that was due to the smoke now covering half the rad shield.

In the market an APC appeared through the smoke, its angular red coloured shape coming through like a wedge. The turret was up and swung to point at her. Emma threw herself to one side, losing a jar of a sticky gel she had been carrying. The twin rails cannon fired with a rising whine and double retort. Emma heard the shells howl over her followed a moment later by their detonation.

Then the APC stopped and its turret turned towards the keep. Emma looked back and saw the building with the shotgun armed storekeeper was now a blasted, smoking hole. If I had stayed arguing longer or I had succeeded and the woman came with us that would have caught me, she managed to think before focusing on surviving the next moments while attacking something that could demolish a building.

"Attack it!" she ordered as soon as the APC fired at the central keep again. She ran with them, although now without anything to help. "Once done, fall back to the wall."

Again, the vehicle did not recognize them as a threat and within seconds they were beneath the firing arc of the cannons. She clambered up and then nearly fell off as the vehicle moved. It accelerated backwards then forward, trying to shake them off. One man hammered a wedge into the turret ring as it turned, a woman poured oil into an exhaust vent that ignited almost immediately, another poured glue into a ventilation slot, two canisters were crushed under the vehicles wheels without effect but a third exploded, shredding one tire.

"The second one is coming!" Leslie Peters yelled.

"That's enough! Go!" Emma ordered. "Back to the wall."

She half jumped, half fell off as the APC she crouched on sped at a building. Winded, she ran awkwardly, the APC she had left slewing to a stop without reaching its destination. The second one entered the market as the Horizons people scattered in all directions.

Again, the limitation of the APC was apparent as the guns did not fire and the driver resorted to attempting to run them over. Emma saw Leslie Peters roll out of the way of the APC as it swerved around like an enraged razorback. The receptionist dashed across the marketplace. Even with one APC damaged back in the car park and another immobilized in the marketplace, the remaining one was almost impossible to assault while moving. Still evidently unable to force the targeting computer to recognize them as threats, the twin rail cannons remained silent.

"Retreat!" Emma yelled. "Back to the wall!"

Just saying the words made her want to flee but she waited crouched behind an overturned stall and packing crate, neither of which would trouble even the suspension of the APC. She risked standing up, feeling exposed without the nominal protection of the stall. Emma saw the vehicle try to drive at someone and she tried to see who through the smoke, wreckage and dust. A mech, the gold one who had come to rescue them from the Horizons building, tried to protect the person by charging the APC and slamming into it, altering the trajectory just enough for the human to escape. The mech went down and Emma did not see it rise.

Emma gave one last look to see if anyone was still in the area but she could not make out any movement other than the APC. There was no sign of the person who the APC had last tried to run down nor any of the others but fire and smoke obscured much of the marketplace. The one mobile APC reversed to a central point away from the built up areas where it could be ambushed and halted. Emma noticed a man wearing a red rad suit sprint towards it from the direction of the immobilized one at the far side of the marketplace. Carrying a rail gun, he reached the APC as it opened a door and leapt in. With the door up, it was an opportunity to get inside it or at least throw something combustible but she was unarmed and alone.

The door quickly closed and Emma knew it was past time to leave, running back to the vehicle park. Four men in red rad suits were also crossing it and she slid into cover behind a car, watching them head deeper into the marketplace.

The noise quieted. There was still the popping of rail guns, faint cries and the crackling of flames but all were distant and compared to the assault on the APCs it was near silent. Emma made her way around the vehicles in the lot, most of which were intact but two were crushed and another on fire. She joined Ken and the other two at the APC damaged by the defence drones.

"He's not come out," Ken stated.

"There are mercenaries on the ground in the area," she told him. "We had best leave him."

Together, they walked back to the wall where the Horizons people waited, such as Mitchell who had not joined the attack on the APCs. Emma did not blame them in the least: a week ago they had been sat at a desk typing or mixing chemicals in the laboratories. She was impressed so many had risked their lives.

Half her force of attackers had returned but there was no sign of Ismail, Larry and the others who had gone to strip the unconscious mercenaries of their gear. The Horizons people looked up at her as she approached and Emma wished both her mothers were there. Yet Chloe-mom had entrusted her. She wondered how many were dead within Fort Jinyo.

"We have done all we can for now," she announced. "One APC was taken out of action by the drones and we stopped another. All we can do is hope the Civil Defence Force and the Wardens can hold out at the keep. If any mercenaries ask, we are just travelers caught up in all this."

In truth, the mercenaries had to be here for them, either to find out more about Max's machine or revenge for their comrades. The Horizons people would never pass as locals while the mercenaries had already proved their ruthlessness.

For all that trying to destroy armoured personnel carriers with flasks of oil had been terrifying, waiting was hardly better. The fighting was still going on in the distance and people she knew and liked were in the middle of it.

"I'm scared," one of the Bright Horizons people admitted. Emma nodded. Perhaps there was some speech she should give to comfort them but the situation was too evident for platitudes and she stayed silent.

The four men in red rad suits from earlier crossed the car park towards them, halting some twenty paces away in a line facing them and lowered their rail rifles. For one horrifying moment Emma thought they were going to start shooting.

"Stay where you are," one ordered. "Make any movement and we will fire."

Several of the Horizons people such as Ken looked to her and Emma was again struck by their acceptance of her as their leader. Yet she had no doubt the mercenaries would kill them at any provocation. Emma shook her head. Their fate was now in the hands of others. She just hoped it would ultimately be Chloe and Max making the decisions.

FIVE

Max sat in the passenger seat while Obix drove back through the pitch-black tunnels. In the rear was a Warden, Savi Wallace, but conversation was stilted and Max stayed at the front being taught by Obix. His being a machine was particularly evident as he explained the workings of the silver bands and how they linked between themselves and the vehicles. His patience was unending, explaining the nuances of the tactical programming without becoming tired of her questions.

Certainly, the system took getting used to but it was comforting to see the green bands on a mind's eye display of Chloe and Osira in the lead vehicle. The targeting computer could highlight every person in a kilometer radius and detect any armed person in line of sight by using the Lidar and infra-red sensors to determine what was a weapon. A very long time ago, Max had sworn never to hold a gun again but now found herself controlling something not far off being a tank.

Osira had broken into some of the files and shared the link with her and Chloe. There was little surprising and the names of corporations, counties and factions meant nothing to Max. It was largely as they surmised: the anomaly outside Troy had attracted a great deal of attention from without the Grand Fault Order as well as within. Just as Osira had tracked Chloe and Emma, others had set up larger monitors to find out what was happening, certain the Order were developing a weapon. The reasoning seemed sound: the Grand Fault Order had tested the weapon near Troy, had it go wrong, and then moved deep into the Wastes to try again.

Not willing to go to war, one of the Order's rivals had kitted out a mercenary company, who had dispatched half their force to investigate the Horizons' building and left the other half to guard their escape route and cause a diversion by attacking an Order outpost. This would draw off the Order's military and give the first group the chance to strike against weakened defences at the main site. Of course, all this was based on false assumptions but Max understood they could have been facing six of the APCs had the mercenaries not overcomplicated their plan.

"I don't understand, Obix," she admitted as he explained the tracking system. "If there is a mercenary shooting a human and you are too far to reach them, what would you do?"

"There are many variables, Mistress Max," Obix responded. "For a situation to arise where I would be forced to take a life to save a life is actually extremely unlikely. Given almost any item, I could disarm the attacker or, at worst, injure them. During my time with Osira, such a situation has yet to arise despite being in some very violent situations."

Max studied the mech for a moment with Obix indifferent to her attention. It was a question he did not want to answer, she decided. There was something in his programming – his hard-int – that not only made taking life anathema but even to avoid considering such an act.

Remembering the line of little crosses outside the Horizon's building and even the fate of Rachel Amber over twenty years ago, Max wished the same was true of humans.

Hours passed, some in flicking through emails in the files, mostly personal, including crass jokes, expletives and enough spelling mistakes to make them verging on illegible when talking about certain aspects of Telkia life. The latter ones were about how great the weapons were and a series of ever more outlandish plans for the future.

"Oz… Osira," she called over the circlet. It was a process she still had to carefully think about or the device would bring up data she had not intended.

"Yes, Maxine? You are on wide-band and Chloe can hear…"

"Yo, Max," Chloe chirped up and Max could imagine her grinning. "Once we're out of the tunnels, I'll race your APC back to the Horizon building."

"…as can Senchykov, Wallace and Obix," Osira explained.

"The emails hint at plans for an attack on the Grand Fault Order?" Max prompted.

"Yes," Osira confirmed and Max waited for more.

"Go on," she eventually said.

"You can read everything I can," Osira responded. "This is correspondence within a mercenary company so easy to dismiss. It is troubling, however, and I shall report it to command: I have contact with a Grand Vizier. My analysis is there would not be a mercenary company armed with the most advanced technology available raiding the Order's territory unless our enemies were prepared for the possibility of war.

"It is possible the portals you created have thrown out their plans. This is speculation. I shall report what has happened once you have departed and then it is for the Order's leaders to decide."

"You don't appear unduly concerned," Max noted.

"I am," Osira stated and Max thought she would leave it there but the soft-int specialist continued after a while: "I believe this is the mercenaries noticing the Order's enemies preparing for war. How can I not be concerned?

"However, it does not affect our current course. You return to your world, if possible. Should the machine not work, then we probably should move east rather than staying here."

Max noted Osira said 'we' and wondered whether Osira intended to remain with them if she and the other people from Earth had to stay.

She dozed for a while after Hooker Station, despite worries about Emma and getting the machine working in addition to attempting to get her mind around the thought-activated technology of the APC. If they could get home, then it was useless information. Otherwise, the APCs were the only useful things they had towards housing and feeding forty people. As Fort Jinyo got closer, Max chatted with Chloe. Mostly going over her concerns that neither could do anything about but just talking helped. They spoke of Emma and who she had become, including Chloe's confidence in her abilities yet uncertainty that either Calderwell or Luna would avoid attempting to take over running the efforts to return to Earth.

"I hope the machine will work and we can get home," Max commented.

"There are twenty or so scientists, plus some office people, the Wardens, Obix, Oz and us, all bringing different perspectives and ideas," Chloe told her. "If we can't get a machine going that has worked once already then we deserve to be left here."

"I've started a war, now," Max sighed. "These powers I have… I feel like they are a curse from a devil."

"They are the only thing keeping us alive and you have not started a war," Chloe said, her assurance firm even with the method of communication taking inflection from the words. "You heard Oz: you threw off their plans. I worry about what will happen to the Grand Fault Order, for all its many flaws, but Oz is right: we go home."

"Fort Jinyo five minutes out," Obix announced. "I do not have contact with Fort Jinyo's control."

"We go up anyway," Chloe announced over the circlet. "Max, be ready on the guns."

"Mistress Chloe, I am better able to utilize the weapons," Obix declared.

"Obe, if there are hostiles, you won't kill them," Chloe said.

"I will not need to," Obix responded.

"Let Obix have control of the guns," Max decided. She had enough training to easily use them but Obix would be able to react instantly. Max was also uncertain whether the mech would prevent her killing with them and he might be able to prevent anyone else dying.

Max soon felt the APC drive up the incline back to the surface.

As the vehicle left the ramp and entered the car park, her mind was almost overwhelmed with a host of targeting icons. The image was sanitized: outlines in bright colours to distinguish armed enemies, civilians and friendlies. A paler, translucent map of the town updated to show buildings damaged.

Emma.

The thought of her daughter being caught up in the battle was almost unbearable. She was 20, a grown woman, but Max could not shake off seeing her as a three-year-old and accidently sending her and Chloe away. It was all she could do not to open the APC doors and run out.

"Lay down your arms," Osira's voice came over the speakers with the calmness of asking if they would clean dishes. "I have complete control over this vehicle's rail guns."

The display within Max's head showed a line of four red humanoid outlines. Hearing the muffled report of the lead APC's twin weapons, Max thought Osira had fired at them but the shots landed just behind them. The icons turned yellow.

"Remove your rad suits," Osira instructed and fired again without waiting for them to obey. The icons turned orange, possibly at the direction of Osira or Obix. Max struggled with the circlet but eventually got it to link into the vehicle's external camera.

It was disorientating, seeing from a different perspective, not helped by it being dark outside the APC. Physically, she could feel the passenger seat and the inside of the APC but her view was from the front of the vehicle. Max felt her breath catch with relief as she saw Emma leave the group in front of the mercenaries with a few others and collect the weapons. Her daughter sketched a half-wave, half-salute to the APCs.

"Hostile APC approaching," Obix stated and Max heard a slight whine then double thud, accompanied by a tremor as the twin rail guns on the roof fired. Ahead, she saw the vehicle with Chloe and Osira do the same, the turret turning and firing.

The mercenary APC was some distance away, coming through the market. Four rail cannon slugs punched into it. The two fired by Obix blasted the unmanned turret while those launched by Osira hit the frontal plate and cracked it. More shots as the mech destroyed the wheels and the soft-int specialist sent another pair of rounds into the front. The vehicle slewed to a halt.

"I have sent an instruction through the circlets for all the mercenaries to surrender," Osira informed Max and Chloe. "They are complying."

"So easily?" Max asked.

"They have no operational vehicles and are down to twelve uninjured men at the central command keep, which is still holding out. Even if they took it, they are in hostile territory with no means of escape," Osira explained. "Besides, they are mercenaries, not zealots."

Max climbed into the back and opened the door, accompanied by Savi Wallace. Even having the camera show what was happening did not prepare her for the carnage. Smoke was caught on the rad-shield, turning late afternoon into almost night with the marketplace ablaze and the top of the central tower burning like a torch. She saw Emma take a circlet from a mercenary, place it on her own head and give a thumbs-up to the lead vehicle.

"Em, are you alright?" Max checked. Given how assured Emma appeared she felt as though the question was directed to someone just winning homecoming queen not surviving a battle with soot on her face, singed hair and torn clothing. Emma came across and hugged her.

"Better now," Emma answered. "They were mad at having to guard us but I think they had orders to only fire if there was no choice."

Emma held up a suit and shook her head. Taller and slightly broader than Max, she was clearly still too slight for the clothing and passed it to Ken to try.

Chloe joined them, holding a rail pistol, hugging Emma before looking about.

"Well, I don't think even I've trashed a place so completely," Chloe commented. "No more parties for you for at least a week."

"This is all it took to be grounded?" Emma responded and, while their humour was strained by the devastation, Max smiled at their easy repartee.

"Is this all that's left?" Chloe asked heavily.

"I don't know," Emma replied. "Ismail went to take a rad-suit and weapon but I've not seen his group since then. Nor Luna who headed for the central tower to fight with the rail guns so we would not be targeted."

"Stay here and guard our prisoners," Chloe instructed but paused to give Emma the option. Their daughter nodded.

"Having listened to them threaten and bully us for an hour, I'll be glad to," Emma smiled wryly. "I think some of the Horizons may want to get their own back but I'll keep everything civilized. There's another damaged APC in the marketplace and that one over there had a driver but, if he's alive, we've not seen him."

"You attacked them?" Chloe exclaimed. "With what? And why?"

"Of course. With anything we could get and because if we had not the keep may well have fallen," Emma answered evenly.

Chloe looked at her for several seconds without speaking then again hugged Emma tightly. She looked at Max and, together with Senchykov, headed through the marketplace.

"Grief, it's enough to make me want to stop smoking my weed," Chloe coughed, waving her hand.

"We've only been gone a day," Max commented. The market they had walked through with its vendors and merchandise was now unrecognizable as smoke trailed upward to join that already clouding the rad-shield above. They made their way past burning stalls and crushed crates until reaching the stores at the far side, only to see a pair of red rad suits coming through the smoke, the wearers armed with rail guns.

Chloe brought up the pistol.

"Wait!" Max exclaimed, seeing the first waving. The man removed the headpiece to reveal Ismail.

"Shit, did you rewind?" Chloe asked and Max shook her head. "They're not showing hostile on the circlet's display." She tapped the silver ring around her head. Chloe swore.

"Emma, is she…?" Ismail questioned as he approached.

"She's fine, back at the wall," Chloe told him. "Where were you?"

The other man in a suit took his helmet off as well and two more Horizons staff, including Larry the Guard appeared behind them without the rad suits.

"We headed for the keep," Ismail explained, "hoping to meet up with Luna but there were mercenaries. We thought about attacking but had only two working rifles so headed back to the wall, got turned around, shot at and then saw Emma and the others were under guard. We couldn't attack without risking our friends so headed back towards the keep in case an opportunity arose there."

"You did nothing?" Max checked but her thoughts overwhelmed hearing his answer. Emma had been at risk, throwing jars of oil at the APCs while he had a rail rifle but he was also right. No-one else had her ability to rewind time and all it would have taken was a stray round to kill one of their people while rescuing them with the mercenary APC still functioning would have achieved little. It was the safer and also smarter option. How many had already died because she had chosen to be reckless?

"Return to the wall," Chloe directed. "We will gather everyone there and head back to the building."

"Should we not wait?" Ismail asked. "People are exhausted."

"No, they will want to go home," Chloe replied.

"Check with them," Max told Ismail. "We'll need to make two or even three trips so get with Emma and organize. Those who can help rig up the generator go first."

"You have everything you need?" Ismail queried. "We can really go home?"

"We have enough to try," Max answered. "You know what's involved: converting the light-based energy of the APCs' batteries to electrical while retaining enough power so I can use my ability that I don't understand."

"In other words, don't get people's hopes too high," Chloe clarified and led Max off towards the central keep while Ismail and those with him headed in the opposite direction.

Among the residential areas, with their sandstone walls, the damage was less severe as the vehicles had not penetrated into the town proper. Instead, there were areas of destruction side-by-side with undamaged zones. One building was rubble next to an unmarred home. Another had a blackened drone perched on its roof like a gargoyle.

"I have the power to rewind time," Max said as they walked. "I can change what goes wrong. Just once, I wish I could make everything better instead of worse."

"You can't make a paradise, Max," Chloe responded. "If Osira understood those files correctly, perhaps this was the least-bad option. I don't like the Grand Fault Order but nor do I want them conquered. The destruction here might be enough to convince them to prepare and be the lesser of two evils.

"Whatever happens, we need to get us and the Horizons people home," Chloe stated and Max clung to that idea of getting the survivors away.

The central keep was evidently made of reinforced materials but the APCs' rail cannons had demolished the top two layers while the others were scorched and scarred. Luna walked out to meet them or, rather, staggered. Soot-darkened and bandaged with the rail rifle over one shoulder, he nodded to Chloe and Max.

"Have you been taking it easy, Luna?" Chloe greeted him and he snorted.

"I just wanted a roof over my head," he responded and glanced behind him. "Although, I'm not sure how long this one will last."

"Did you lose anyone?"

"Andrew Bell," he answered and seemed to slump. "A couple have injuries but Kitaka says the medics will patch them up. Are Senchykov and Wallace alright? It's exciting here and everything but tell me you have a way back."

"They are fine. There's a chance," Chloe told him and explained the plan as Max watched a couple more Wardens stagger out. Medics were rushing up to help, while exhausted Civil Defence officers came out for relatively clean air. Max recognized Kitaka, the officer they had spoken with earlier, but the diminutive woman was distracted giving orders, despite looking as dead on her feet as Luna.

"I'll come with you," Luna offered.

"Stay here and rest," Chloe ordered. "We'll take Senchykov and Wallace and as many as we can to start organizing unpacking. The round trip will be over half a day."

Max hoped she could get the survivors home without them having to spend longer in Telkia. How many would be left if they had to spend a year here? As so often, she looked at Chloe and took comfort and strength from her as they headed back towards Emma and the Horizons people at the perimeter wall.

48