Early morning saw the entire camp of nine packed rapidly, Tyson and Maddison's wounds practically faded, the pink of fresh skin all that remained of their quite serious wounds.

Zoe had explained to the twins that the solution that was used on them was from one of the healers back at the Community. Mary, who was a fast healer, had found that mixing her blood with various healing balms from pre war era created a salve that when applied to wounds, helped speed the muscle recovery speed. It did not help with bone regrowth, so the twins were thankful for the small mercy of no bone damage. They still winced occasionally, but their bodies were almost back to peak fitness.

Delta team had three tandem ATV's and trailers for each, which their entire camp folded down neatly into. The small contingent went back down the highway, out of the mountains and back in towards the city centre. Following the updated satellite maps that Avi had auto-uploaded to the bikes, Delta team broke off after less than half an hour later, heading north while Zoe and the twins headed back into the city.

Mini had given Zoe a good idea as to where the trio of Talents were in relation to where they were and had been. In fact, according to their previous travel path, they had been within a few kilometres, but still not close enough to have been noticed.

Taking a turn off to the north of the highway, Zoe glanced at Tyson, silently asking if he sensed anything. He shook his head at her. His "mind ears" couldn't hear anything other than distant whispering chatter of noise from far off minds that seemed to always been there.

Maddison stood alert, perched on the back seat, braced against the roll bars, scanning ahead and behind. Shadows flickered and changed as Zoe moved to avoid potholes, bushes moving in response to changing air pressure.

Zoe, who had been in the busy, vibrant Community her entire life, felt alone and isolated, even though she had the twins with her. She'd always had family and friends, couldn't imagine what it was like to be without any support, yet she had basically volunteered to go alone, one of the strongest Talents in the Community. And now she was traveling with two more Talents, both stronger than her and easily as strong as their strongest.

Cross-referencing with satellite imaging received from Avi and the network that Zoe had been slowly building in orbit. As the vast majority of satellites were now defunct, barely running after not receiving any instructions for years. Zoe had been using her innate abilities to slowly take over satellites in her down time, making her network stronger each day. With barely a thought through her link in Avi, she was able to access all the information she had accumulated over the years. Ignoring all the useless or irrelevant knowledge, she pulled up information on the city, climates, even what the population was previously.

Filtering what she now knew and what Avi was feeding her, she found a likely place, close to where Mini had pin-pointed the trio.

A small community of walled up houses greeted them as they moved off main roads and into an outer city suburb. The walls were roughly made, barely more than sheet metal nailed to posts in places. Zoe pulled up to the main gate, guarded by a pare of barely teenage kids who looked startled that anyone would approach and in such a silent vehicle. Avi, built by Zoe and several mechanics back home, ran entirely on electric motors, barely audible from more than a few meters away, and only if you knew to listen for it.

"Who goes there?" a warbling young male voice came out of the slightly taller of the two teens.

"Travellers, looking for lost friends," Zoe replied, loudly and clearly, glancing back at Maddison. To her credit, Maddison was relaxed, gun in hand, but barrel pointed down between Tyson and Zoe.

Startled, confused, about to go get a boss, Tyson relayed as the shorter guard dropped down behind the gate and ran off.

Zoe sat patiently waiting in the buggy as Maddison continued her relaxed vigil. After a minute or so, Tyson gently nudged Zoe's thigh and nodded towards the gate where the one remaining guard turned to look behind them. A grunt of exertion reached Zoe's ears as an older man, face lined with years of hard work and exposure to sun came into view, climbing up the ladder hidden from view.

The man scanned the trio as an equally worn looking woman, similar in age, came into view, followed by the young guard.

"What brings you to Llandilo stranger?" the man asked in a deep, commanding, yet not hostile voice.

"I am travelling through, looking for friends to join me," Zoe said loudly enough for anyone behind the wall to hear her. "We are building a Community of mutual support and acceptance of all. We wish to also open trade with those who don't want to join us directly, or even leave their homes."

"Fancy words stranger," he replied. "We like it here and no one bothers us. What kind of trade do you offer?"

Reaching behind her seat, Zoe pulled out a small bag of fresh fruit before hopping out of the buggy and walking up to the wall. Taking an orange out, she tossed it up to the man, who caught it. "Picked fresh from our farms about four days ago. We have many farms and the tech to protect them against anything nature can throw against them. We also offer regular meals, even for those who can't assist in day to day activities. Anyone who pulls their weight gets more than basic meals and accommodation." Zoe threw another three oranges up to the woman and the guards. The older two looked at the oranges with something akin to wonder as they peeled them open and dug out the flesh. Juices ran over their hands. The oranges had taken a bit of a beating, but were still fresh, and if the look of enjoyment on the older pair's faces said anything, still very enjoyable.

The woman signalled down to someone behind the gate and the metal started sliding across noisily. Zoe smiled brightly and waved at Avi to follow. As she entered, she gave the bag of fruit to the woman as she stepped away from the ladder. "My gift to you and your town. My name is Zoe. My friends here are Maddison and Tyson."

"We're acquainted," Tyson said to Zoe. "Hi Marnie, hi Pat," he said, still lounging in the passenger seat. "How's the family?"

"Tyson, you brat," Marnie said warmly to him. "My family are good, just don't go messing with them again, ok?"

Tyson grinned, quickly stood up, hopped out of the car and hugged the taller woman. "Good to see you too mum." He stepped aside as Maddison silently stepped in and hugged Marnie too.

"Good to see you both. You know you're always welcome to stay," she said, giving Maddison a kiss on her head before releasing her.

"We know, but we think we've found a place to call home," Tyson said, fist bumping Pat before looking at Zoe. "You might want to listen to what Zoe has to say."

Marnie and Pat exchanged glances and a nod. Pat turned and quickly gave orders to the guards before leading the small group into the town.

Tyson perched himself back on his seat as Avi rolled slowly after Zoe, who walked with Pat, Marnie and Maddison. Maddison was catching up with Marnie, letting her know about their exploration in the last couple of years and their more recent attack on the Bloodless Pact base. It didn't take the group long to reach the couple's house, Marnie stepping ahead to open the door for everyone.

Zoe stared in wonder at the warm house. Unlike vast swaths of land around the city which was mostly ruins, this house felt old and lived in, warm and friendly. Her own 'house' in her community was actually part of an underground military base. She had her own room now that she was an adult and had taken on responsibilities, but it was nothing like this house.

They sat in the living room, an assortment of well worn couches and chairs surrounded a low table.

Zoe sat on an offered dining table chair with its worn cushion, while Tyson threw himself onto a plush armchair, draping himself over the arms. After Marnie sat on one lounge, Maddison sat next to her and lent into her. Marnie produced a comb from a pocket and started undoing the corn rows on Maddison's head. Pat took another dining chair across the table from Zoe while swatting one of Tyson's feet, making the younger man sit up properly.

"Thank you for letting me into your home," Zoe said to the couple.

"Normally we wouldn't let anyone traveling alone in, but you were with these two, and their presence basically vouches for you." Pat tapped the arm of the chair Tyson inhabited. "This one is a remarkably good judge of character."

Yes, they know I'm a psych, Tyson confirmed to her silently.

Zoe sighed with relief, sure that Tyson would stop her if she was going to say anything damaging to potential ongoing relationships with this town. "Good, that will make things easier." Pulling her tablet out of a pocket, she activated it, making it display a hologram of her home area. She noticed the couples eyes widen for a moment before relaxing again. They were obviously familiar with the tech, but hadn't expected to see it again.

"This is a map of my home in eastern France, with the surrounding towns that are under our protection. There is a lot of land free in this area that we aren't using for lack of man power, but we are looking to fill that void." She cleared her throat. "We are pro-Talented, and I hope your casual acceptance of these two also indicates the same." She received a nod from Pat. "Good. What I wish to ask is, would you and your town want a place here? If you don't, and I would understand why you wouldn't, would you want an open trade agreement? You've already seen some of what we can supply. We would only want things like plant and animal specimens, old pieces of technology and information, with the occasional use of a bed or a shed."

The couple exchanged glances before looking at Tyson. The young man grinned at them. "You're already going," Marnie said, her tone slightly shocked as Tyson's grin grew wider. "She's genuine?"

"Yes, about everything," Tyson replied. "They wont be able to do trading runs more than a couple of times a year though."

Pat snorted. "Coming from the other side of the world by boat would take that long, so not surprised."

"I flew here in a cargo plane," Zoe interjected.

The couple started at her, dumbfounded. The comb in Marnie's hand stopped mid stroke. "Flew?!" Pat asked, incredulously. "I haven't seen a working plane in at least twenty years. Even the Bloodless only had drones, nothing like a fixed wing aircraft."

"The centre of our Community is an old military base, which has a sheltered air field. We're currently working on fuel refining for our larger vehicles, but there is a Talented in our group that can, for lack of a better word, synthesize the fuel we need."

"Sounds like a heckin paradise," Pat said in wonder as Marnie went back to working on Maddison's hair. "I would need to talk to the others in charge, but at the very least we will take you up on your offer of trade. Would you share tech too?"

"I personally would do that. I am a Technomancer and that is the area I oversee. I'm the one who wants old tech, 'cause I can use it." Digging into a pants pocket, she pulled out a mobile phone, putting it on the table. "Consider this another present. I'm actively working on rebuilding the satellite connections. There are two numbers in the phone already. One is my direct link, the other to the Community comms hub. It's battery life is about a year without use and in idle. If there is ever an emergency, we can scramble a team to get here in about a day." She sat back. "Knowing how big a task moving an entire town is, the time frame I offer is six months. Clear a large enough landing strip and we can take everyone and anything you need from here."

Letting the words sink in, Zoe sat back, hoping that she had been passionate enough in her offer and that Tyson's presence was enough to confirm her honesty.