ncies, so you need a system," she said. "I had an idea, but it's gonna require some risk. There's no way to do this other than with risk, you know."

"Okay, let's hear it," he said as they walked towards his truck.

"What you need to do is buy yourself some warehouse space in a town close to the border of the preserve," she started. "I can find an old hovertruck and buy it for you, and you can use it to move your buys. Set up a dummy company and buy what you need through it, have it delivered to that warehouse, and then it'll be a matter of finding a way to get across the border to come pick it up. It ain't something you should do every day, but if you ever have a _real_ emergency, it'll be there for you."

"I can't set up a company," he said as they came around a sharp bend in the road, where the Deuce was parked just beyond it. "Remember, I'm a _fugitive_."

"No, but _I can_," she said.

He stopped and looked at her, the huge crate balanced on his shoulder creaking ominously.

"Think about it, babe. I'll set up the dummy front for you and find you a truck, and there's a Faey farming town not far from here that has some warehouses in it. I'll buy one of the smaller warehouses in the company's name, and if you ever have an emergency and need something, you can buy it on CivNet and have it sent to that warehouse."

"Someone would have to be there to accept it," he said as they reached the truck. He set the crate in the bed, pushed it back to make room for the next one, and they started back for her dropship.

"Yeah, the people who are gonna bring it to you," she told him. "They cross the border and meet the cargo dropship, then they just put it on the truck and sneak it back across the border. The warehouse won't be nothing but an address and a valid reason to be accepting large cargo containers. It's a _warehouse_, after all."

Jason turned it over in his mind several times, as they reached the dropship and he picked up the other crate, which wasn't as heavy. The first had to have the Neutronium blocks in it. He wondered why there were two crates when he'd ordered only one, but then he realized that the first had been the military equipment he'd ordered, and the second was the other things. He'd ordered the warehouse to stick both in a shipping container... they must have bundled up all the civilian equipment and boxed it together, then put both boxes in a container. Kumi must have taken them out of the container, because a container would have looked mighty suspicious considering that she was coming out here to play on waterskimmers.

He thought about her idea as he picked up the second container and started back for his Deuce. It had merit. Done right, the company couldn't be traced back to him or his people, and as long as he paid the rent on the warehouse, he could use it to receive shipments of critical equipment and supplies. She was right in that it couldn't be something that they could use all the time, because it would require people to cross the border in a _truck_. That would be rather dangerous. But, on the other hand, they had someone in the community who had extensive experience in the art of crossing the border... and now that he thought of it, he never _had_ collected his payment for that airbike. Temika still had not shown him how to cross the border. But, with her there, this idea was certainly something that would be worth the heavy investment in money... and it _would be_ a heavy investment. He had no idea how much it would cost, but he had no doubt that it wasn't going to be cheap. Business licenses, charters for companies, renting commercial warehouse space... not cheap at all. "You know, Kumi, that's not a bad idea."

"No shit, babe," she taunted with a grin. "After all, I thought it up, didn't I?"

"Let's not get _too_ arrogant before conscription," he teased, starting out again.

"Bite my ass, babe," she retorted. "So, that sound like a plan to you?"

"How much is it going to cost?" he asked.

"Well, it ain't gonna be cheap, that's for sure," she answered. "Well, the company side of it actually won't be that expensive. I can't set up the company as a noble company, so there's gonna be some taxes and license fees. There's also the cost of the warehouses, and the yearly property and business taxes. You can cover those yearly expenditures with your royalties, but the initial payments are gonna be kinda steep, at least from a noble's point of view. It's gonna twenty thousand at the minimum, where a noble could get a company set up for around five thousand. But the warehouse is where it's gonna get expensive. You'd be looking at ten thousand a month _minimum_ if you rent, and around two hundred grand if you _buy_ the warehouse. That's more expensive right up front, but it'll be cheaper in the long run, and maybe a little safer. If you _own_ the warehouse, you never have to worry about others hanging around it when you're receiving a shipment and make people get curious."

"Yeah, well, I'm broke now," he told her.

"So am I," she admitted. "But you'll have the cash to set up the company with your next payment, and you'll have enough to cover the warehouse before I start conscription. Even if you don't, that's something I can set up any time, even in basic training. And you can always rent for now, then come back and buy the warehouse later. We can set up the company on paper, then wait to do the warehouse part later."

"Sounds like a plan," he told her. The truck came into view around the curve, and now Meya and Myra were there, one of them standing by the driver's side door and the other, MPAC in her hands, standing by the back, where the first crate he'd placed was sitting.

"See, there they are," Kumi said, then she giggled. "You'd better be glad you had your armor on," she told him.

"Why?"

"Cause I was gonna get you back for what you did to me," she told him.

"That's why I'm wearing the armor," he said dryly, which made her laugh.

"You ass. I was so horny I banged Fure all the way back home."

"I did not need to know that," he told her blandly.

"It's your fault," she accused.

"At least now you know better than to do things like show a naked picture of me to your friends, don't you?"

She laughed. "You're an evil son of a bitch."

"Thank you. I try," he agreed evenly.

Myra helped him load the crate into the truck, and they both helped him tie it down. "Where's your gun?" She asked expectantly.

"Home," he answered, which made her take on a crestfallen look.

"You have _got_ to make me one of those," she said.

"Why do you keep asking when you know I'm not going to do it?" he asked, a bit testily.

"Because that's how a woman gets something from a man," she winked. "Keep asking 'til he caves in. We have a saying, you know: only the persistent woman finds a husband."

"Well, I'm not a Faey," he told her. "When I say no, I _mean_ no. I know that's a hard concept for you to understand, but you'll save yourself a hell of a lot of grief if you do."

"Well, there's no, and then there's _no_," Myra said with a wink.

"They've been getting entirely too annoying lately," Kumi grunted, looking at Myra. "They get to sit around and do nothing while I'm in basic training, and they can't wait for it."

"She can't take her personal guards to induction," Meya said as she came around the truck. "But we'll be back on duty when she takes up her post."

"Two months of vacation," Myra all but purred.

"Shut _up_," Kumi hissed.

"Two months of lounging around, reading magazines, watching the vidscreen-"

Kumi came around and smacked her on the back of the head. "Someone wants to have her paycheck get lost, doesn't she?" Kumi threatened, which made Myra laugh.

"Your mother pays me, not you," Myra retorted.

"I can fix that," she said in an ugly tone.

"Children," Jason said, squatting down on the edge of the truck bed. "I have a ways to go, and I don't want to leave knowing I might have to pull you two apart."

"They always fight, Jason," Meya said with a smile. "Pay them no mind."

"I'll take your advice, Meya."

"I don't see how you tell them apart," Kumi said. "Sometimes even _I_ can't."

"Then you're blind," he told her, pointing. "This is Meya. She wears her hair just a bit longer, and she has a faint scar on the right side of her chin." He pointed to Myra. " Myra uses just a bit of mascara to make her lashes thicker, but it's the only makeup she wears. She also uses some kind of soap that leaves a flowery smell behind."

"Very good, Jason," Myra laughed. "You're much more observant than I thought."

"It's become a learned skill," he grunted.

"Well, it's been fun, but I have to go," Jason prompted.

"Not as much fun as it _could_ have been," Kumi grated.

"Look at it as more time to plot the ultimate revenge," Jason said mildly, nodding to the twin sisters. "Ladies."

He climbed down and got into the truck, and started it. He waved out the window and drove away, opening up his mind just enough to pick up the sending he knew was flying between them.

_--with that,_ Meya's mental voice drifted to him.

_I'm not sure, but it sure makes you wonder,_ Kumi answered. _That shield shit he bought is a century obsolete. Odds are he really is going to do with it what he said. After all, what other use could it possibly have?_

If she only knew.

_I hope he's careful. Playing with shield tech's gonna draw lots of power. I hope he knows what he's doing._

_He seemed pretty confident,_ Meya answered. _I wonder._

_Wonder what?_

_I wonder if he _really_ has talent. I kept close watch over his thoughts the whole time he was up on that ridge, and they seemed... normal._

_He knew we were here, he'd be on guard,_ Kumi noted.

_Sister, didn't you notice? They were _too_ normal,_ Myra answered. _He wasn't surprised at all when Miss Kumi told him what she thought. It was like he was expecting it._

_Of course he was expecting it,_ Fure injected. _I still have my bet on the table. Either of you care to pick it up?_

_We know better than to bet against _you_, Fure,_ Meya said, her sending saturated with amusement.

_Too bad he wore his armor,_ Myra sent coyly.

_We'll get him, trust me,_ Kumi promised in an adamant manner. _He wants to play with me, well, he'll learn that I bite harder than he does. Fure!_

_Yes, Lady Eleri?_

_Get us ready to take off._

_At once, my Lady. Should I put the video equipment away?_ he added with dry amusement.

_Bite my ass, Fure,_ she growled.

_As soon as you return to the dropship, I can carry out your orders, my Lady,_ he sent with that same tone.

Jason had never really thought Fure had a sense of humor.

One thing though... if Kumi's revenge involved video equipment... he didn't _want_ to know what she had in mind.

                                        * * *

_Chiira, 24 Miraa, 4393, Orthodox Calendar_
_Saturday, 24 October 2007, Native Regional Reckoning_
_Chesapeake, Ohio (Native designation), Orala Nature Preserve, American Sector_

It was _done_.

What was more, it was _perfect_.

The box had been constructed, which hadn't been as easy as any of them thought it would be. The thicknesses of the metals of the walls had to be rather precise, and since they had to apply those coats by hand, it caused quite a bit of extra work. It took almost three days to manufacture the walls in strips, then anneal them into plates, then anneal the plates together to form the box. They got it all together when they realized they were going to need a floor of Neutronium to help diffuse the signature as it bled into the ground beneath them, which would make it almost impossible for a passive sensor to detect the signature from a perpendicular position. That was very much a possibility given that most passive arrays were space-based, and the curvature of the earth would give them that sideways view. The floor wasn't going to have the matrix running through it, which was good, because he didn't have the parts to do it. Luke had held up his part by digging a trench of sorts in the floor of the garage and then using concrete to wall it, even putting in steps. To get into the box, one had to go under it, then come back up through a trapdoor set into the floor. Because of the enclosed nature of the box, they'd been forced to run power conduit into it to power any equipment, as well as ventilation and climate control. The exomech would generate a great deal of heat if it was turned on and left running in that closed space.

It had been decided _before_ they built it that building it was wasn't going to be good enough, that having a big metal box in the garage was going to look a bit odd. So what they had done was built the box in a corner of the garage, beside where the office took up a part of the garage bay, in the nook beside it. The box wasn't a perfect fit, but fortunately, that was exactly what they wanted. The box was built in the nook, the ventilator pump and external PPG were placed in an office on the other side of the wall, and a shielding box that wasn't powered was built over them, just nice thick plates of Neutronium to shield the PPG. Then a false wall was built to enclose the nook and hide the box, and the room that held the PPG and ventilator was modified. The door was removed and a wall was built in the void, and a door was made on the other side, opening into the space holding the box. Reaching that room required one to go down into the trench, then climbing up and out using a ladder.

The hole in the floor of the garage was the last problem, but Luke and Zach had come through. The problem was, they had to cover it in a way that would make it accessible, but yet the cover of which would not around any suspicion... whatever covered the hole would have to look like it _belonged_ there, so a big metal plate just randomly sitting on the floor would not be a good choice. Luke had devised a cover, a steel base that was covered with about an inch of cement, that seated into the hole. Though it did have seams, they also pushed most of the garage's diagnostic equipment and the tire balancer up against that wall, a row of clutter that helped hide those seams. The cover plate had no handle, no visible means of getting it off, but that was handled by a remote-controlled piston that would push the plate up just enough for someone to grab it and pull it up, using the hinges that attached it to the wall of the trench. The edges of the plug and the surrounding cement were coated with a clear polymer that made them as strong as steel, that would prevent the concrete from being chipped and scratched... and just for insurance's sake, they coated the entire floor with it, so nobody would notice the polymer just covering what looked like an unused part of the garage and get suspicious. Luke _did_ do quite a bit of work in that garage with the vehicles, and that coating would help keep him from tearing the floor up.

Clem and Paul had been against it from the onset, but after touring the box, they grudgingly had to sign off on the idea. Juli and Leamon liked what they saw, but they about had a meltdown when they heard Jason's plan for the exomech. They wanted to keep it as a viable machine, but Jason, Tim, and Steve weren't doing that. They were going to take it apart, piece by piece, system by system, to see how it was built, see in a way that couldn't be experienced with technical schematics and drawings. And when they were done, they were going to keep whatever they wanted and destroy the rest. After hours and hours of debate, after Juli and Leamon were flatly informed that Jason would _never _vote to keep the exomech in any kind of operational capacity, the council voted to allow them to give it the ultimate test. They would bring the exomech up. If the external sensors that were part of the sensor system that protected the town could not detect the exomech's plasma signature, then the space-based arrays most definitely would not.

All precautions were taken. Virtually everyone in the community was sent out onto one of the farms, ostensibly to help Ruthie finish up the last of the seeding of one of the newer fields with hay grass, but it was more to give them a head start if this failed and the exomech was detected, so they could get out of the area if the Faey sent a dropship to investigate. Once everyone was herded out, the tech team got ready. Steve and Jason were in the box, Luke was in the room holding the external PPG and ventilator, and Tim was in Jason's house, riding the sensors. "Alright, gentlemen, let's get this going," Jason said professionally into his radio microphone, clipping his handheld to his belt, then fidgeting with the earset and telescoping microphone connected to it. "And remember what I told you. Is everyone ready?"

_"I'm ready,"_ Tim called, being careful not to say anything too specific. They were using a CB channel to do this, so that meant that others might hear what they were saying.

_"I'm ready,"_ Luke responded.

"I'm ready over here," Steve called, sitting in front of the desk holding the panel that controlled the cloaking matrix system. Steve wasn't using a radio, so Jason relayed that he was ready to the others.

Jason looked up at the exomech. It stood there, sleek and black, with its torso cockpit open and waiting for someone to climb into it. He'd spent all last night reading over the technical specs of this machine, so he had a general idea of what to expect and what to do to power it up. The maintenance manuals contained within them exhaustive, step-by-step instructions for power up, power down, and maintenance modes. Jason climbed up the ladder beside the unit, then climbed down into the cockpit. The inside of the exomech was very tightly cramped, and he had to wiggle a bit to get his legs down into the space reserved for them. He had to reach down with one hand for each leg to push the rubbery braces around to get them around his calves, then settled his sneakers down into the pedals. He threaded his hands through the cradle braces that would control the arms to get a feel for them, then pulled them back out. He set his radio on a flat space before him, but he'd have to move it before closing the cockpit, for the heads-up display and the external view monitor was connected to the section of cockpit that had lifted to give him access, and would lower and occupy that space if the cockpit were closed. He paused a moment, trying to get comfortable on the rather narrow bicycle seat, but that wouldn't be easy. The exomech was meant for the pilot to be wearing armor, so its seat had no padding. In fact, the exomech had a dataline that would connect to the helmet of the armor and feed heads-up data to the visor, so it would always be in view no matter where the pilot was looking.

Well, it was time to see if a month's worth of effort had been wasted or not.

"I'm ready. Alright, Luke. You first."

_"Gotcha,"_ he called, and there was a pause as he turned on the external PPG and the ventilator. _"I'm done."_

_"Nothing,"_ Tim informed them. That meant that the sensors didn't see them.

"Steve."

"Okay, Jayce. Booting up matrix control system." He reached over to the PPG that was going to power the matrix. "PPG is on. Oh, Tim, you might see a spike on your sensors as the matrix builds."

"Tim, you might see a flicker," Jason said, but he sent as well, being much more elaborate. _Steve said that you might see a spike on your sensors when he brings up the matrix field._

_"Gotcha,"_ Tim called over the radio. _Okay, I'll be looking for it,_ he sent back. 
"Starting the matrix protocol. Okay, cross your fingers boys, here we go. Initializing matrix field."

Jason all but held his breath and watched Steve's fingers dance over the holographic keyboard from his position higher up. "Matrix field is _hot_. Tim see anything?"

"Tim?" Jason called over the radio.

_I had a brief little blurb on the sensors, but I wouldn't have seen it if Steve hadn't told me to look for it,_ Tim sent. _But outside of that, the sensors don't see any plasma signatures. So, we know the matrix can hide _itself_ so far._ Then he called over the radio. _"Nothing," _he chuckled.

"Alright, now it's my turn. This should take me about a minute or so, I'll call back when I'm done." Jason called as he unkeyed his radio, then he fished the datareader out of his pocket that had the checklist for exomech starting. He turned it on and set it on a little holder by the a display, obviously meant to hold one, and started by cracking his knuckles. He looked around at all the buttons and dark backglass displays, familiarizing himself with the layout and matching it up with the holograms and pictures that had been in the schematics and drawings. The one thing he knew was different with this than with other vehicles was that an exomech didn't require a key. It, like almost all military machines, was keyless, meaning that just about anyone could start one and fly one... if one could get past security, and if one knew how. One way to tell a military version of a vehicle from a civilian version was if it was keyed. There were some exceptions, however. Military airbikes were keyed, as were some smaller dropships, because those vehicles could reasonably be seen to be left alone and untended in potentially hostile territory, as a scout landed an airbike or a dropship to inspect something in person, for example, leaving the vehicle behind. Military hovercars were also keyed, because they often doubled as police vehicles, and having a car that anyone could drive wasn't a good idea when one was putting criminals into it. Just about everything else was unkeyed, allowing whoever got behind the controls to try to operate it. Well, he had the tech specs, manuals, and checklists for an exomech, so he could operate this exomech. Not well, but technically, he _could_ operate it. Flying it... well, he doubted this machine would ever leave this box, at least in one piece.

He knew where everything was, it just took him a minute to merge that knowledge with what he was seeing in front of him. "Okay," he grunted aloud, "let's get down to business." He keyed up the microphone. "Alright, bringing up the power plant," he called to Steve, pressing the five buttons on his right, flipping up a switchguard, and then pressing the button underneath it. That was the master power switch.

The reactor engine in the exomech gave off a sudden thrumming sound, then pitched up into a sound that he could feel through the exomech under him, and then lowered back down to that familiar hum of a PPG, just much deeper in tone.

"Power plant is up," he called, then he keyed the radio. "Tim?"

_"Still waiting,"_ he called.

_The main reactor engine is running, you see it on your sensors?_ Jason sent.

_Not a thing,_ he answered. _I thought you were just seeing if I was ready. So, I guess that means this works,_ he sent with a mental chuckle.

_We're about to find out,_ he answered. "Okay," he called to Steve, scrolling down the text on his checklist. "Starting main computer and then bringing all systems up."

He pressed three buttons on his left, then again lifted a switchguard and pressed a button beneath, that was to turn on the main computer.

Nothing happened.

He tried again, making sure the three enable switches were on, then pressing the main switch once more.

Nothing happened.

He doublechecked his checklist, and found that he was most certainly doing what the tech specs said he should do. He did it one more time, pressing the three switches, then lifting the guard and hitting the master switch.

Again, nothing happened.

Confused, he looked at the data reader, and then he put his hands on the top of the armbraces and _laughed_.

"Jayce? Jayce, what's wrong?" Steve called. "Are you starting the computer?"

He laughed again. "No, I'm not," he answered. "Because I _can't_."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it doesn't work," he said. "I bet _nothing_ in this exomech works, Steve!"

"Huh?"

"Don't you see? It's not a gift, it's a _test_!" he said with one more laugh. "She didn't give it to me to use it, she gave it to me to see if I could make it run! She's testing me!"

"She? She who?" Steve asked.

"I-nevermind," he said, smacking his hands on the top of the metal, to either side of the handheld radio he set there. "Use it wisely, they said. They don't want us to _use_ it, Steve, they want us to _learn_ from it. And what better way to learn than to give us something that's broken, hand us a manual, and then let us try to _fix_ it?"

"Well, isn't that what we were going to do with it in the first place?" Steve asked, which made Jason laugh anew.

"Well, not quite, but yeah, that's generally what we were going to do," he agreed. "But now we have to put it back together before we can take it all apart. Or take it all apart, put it back together, then take it all apart again," he said.

Steve laughed. "Don't confuse me," he said. "But that does beg the question, Jayce: who wants us to learn?"

"Someone who offered me a job," he answered immediately. "That's the _she_ I was talking about. Somehow she found out where I am when nobody else can-she probably bought my location from Kumi, who _does _know where I live-and then she dropped this with the food as a test to see if we could fix it. It's a challenge, Steve. They're challenging us by sending us an exomech that doesn't work, and now we have to decide whether or not we accept that challenge by trying to repair it. And if we decide not to take up the challenge, we just get rid of the exomech and go on about our business."

"And what if do we get if we manage to fix it?" Steve asked.

"I have no idea," he answered.

"Well, why don't we find out?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Well, this isn't a decision just you and me can make. We have to talk to the council. Clem and Paul are nervous enough about this thing, and now we have to tell them that it doesn't work." He chuckled. "They'll have a cow."

"I certainly don't want your job right now, Mayor," Steve laughed.

"Shut up," Jason retorted playfully. "First things first, let's go over things with Tim and Luke. They need to know what's going on."

"Yeah."

_"Jayce, are you done?"_ Tim called. _Did you bring the computer up? I don't see anything on sensors,_ he sent.

"We're done, Tim. You and Luke come back to my shop and we'll go over what happened," he called over the radio. _Just do what I said, I'll explain when you get there, and I want your reactions to be genuine, so no early warning._

_Okay,_ he sent. _"On my way,"_ his voice called over the radio.

"I'll be right there!" Luke shouted from outside the box, his voice threading up through the trench.

_You two want something to eat?_ Symone asked.

_No thanks, Symone,_ Jason answered.

_I'm good, hon, thanks anyway,_ Tim replied.

_Well, Ah'm hungry,_ Temika's mental voice called. _Bring me somethin'._

_Get it yourself, Mika,_ Symone sent lightly.

Back in the shop in Jason's basement, he explained what happened, and also voiced his suspicions. "The woman who came with Kumi and offered me a job is the one who sent the exomech. So, it's no stretch that I think that the exomech is a _test_. She never intended for us to use it as a war machine, or even as a last-ditch defender of the community. She sent it here broken, and what she wants is to see if we can repair it. They want to see if we can make it work. It wasn't a gift, gentlemen, it's a _test_."

"Well, what happens after we fix it?" Tim asked. "If we do," he added quickly.

"I have no idea," Jason admitted.

"Me either, but I was never one to refuse a game," Steve said, his eyes bright. "I say we take up this woman's challenge. I say we fix it, and see what we get for winning this game."

"This is getting into uncertain territory," Jason grunted. "We don't know what'll happen if we fix it, but we also don't know what'll happen if we _don't_. This woman with her job offer might decide that she doesn't appreciate sending that thing here and then we just chuck it in the river or some such. And that thing is _expensive_, so she may send someone back for it. And there's one thing that bothers me more than anything else, now that my mind's not filled with the exomech, now that I can sit down and think about it."

"She knows where we are," Luke said.

"She knows where we are," Jason agreed with a nod. "So, I think I might suggest to the council that we move."

"Move? We just got the electric going, and-" Steve protested, but Jason held up his hand.

"I didn't mean _now_," he said. "But I think finding a better place to live in the spring might be a good idea. And there _are_ some issues with this location, given the number of people we have," he said. "We're starting to run out of room, because we can't defend more area without some major construction projects that'll either take more time than we have or more men than we can spare. We can't get the water going. The power grid's having issues with all the freezers we're running. We can start looking now, find a suitable place, then spend the winter preparing it for our arrival. This new matrix system _does work_, and I already bought what I need to put it in my skimmer. If I can get my skimmer in the air, that's going to make this _much_ easier. My skimmer isn't that big, but we can use it to scout out possible sites, and I can use it to move some equipment."

"I think you have an idea there, Mister Jason," Luke said. "All that food they dropped here added to what we already have will tide us over if we miss the spring planting."

"But we've done so much around here," Steve protested.

"Well, Steve, do you want to build a _fifth_ wall?" Tim pointed out.

"Good point," Steve chuckled.

                                        * * *

The council session was, predictably, quite heated once again. After Jason told them about the exomech, they were literally flabbergasted. After he explained his suspicions about it, how it was sent here as something of a test to gauge the technical ability of the people in the community, and Jason in particular, they started to slowly understand.

It was Jason's proposal to move the community that started the argument. Clem, Juli, and Paul, who understood the danger that Jason was trying to convey, agreed with his idea, at least in theory. Leamon, who had been living in this area sinc