The sun was blazing in the west, most of the bustle of the settlement calming down as Scott stood outside of the bar. Several moments passed until Ferra emerged from the entrance, towing along three dufflebags. He crossed his arms.

“You know, what possessions does a droid even need?”

She shrugged. “No clue, but this is mostly just ammo and scrap. That’s all I really need out here.”

He lowered his head into his hand. “Sheesh, you wanna make going through customs a pain in the ass or something?”

She gave an inquisitive look. “Customs? What’s that?”

“Dammit… Look, whatever you can’t keep in your pockets… or wherever you stow your personal items, don’t bring it along. I only really have authorization to bring in robots from outside the city.”

“You still haven’t said what customs-”

“You’ll learn soon enough. Now unless you want us both to be arrested, just stow away those bags here. We can pick them up if we ever return here.”

“Wait, if we return here?”

He began walking away, motioning his hand. “I’ll get my transport over to the north end of town.”

Now with a few boxes of ammo, a sizeable stack of cash, and only a few grenades into her frame, she waved to the bartender.

“I’ve left about a year’s worth of cash for rent. Just keep an eye on my stuff, all right?”

He silently nodded, waving back. She smiled and hurried out the door. As she walked through the thinning crowds of her settlement, she took her time to wave to each one, as everyone returned the action to her. She stared back at the line of archaic homes for a few moments, watching all the people return home from a long day of work. She turned facing the northern exit of it, seeing Scott leaning against a small armored vehicle. It looked something like an armored truck, but more angular and stubby, along with treads instead of wheels.

“I’ll make the most of this opportunity, and then I’ll be back soon, I swear to you all.”

She ran towards him, waving her arms. “Hey, let’s get a move on!”

He glanced towards her. “Took you long enough. Now get in the back.”

She skidded to a stop. “Hey, why can’t I sit in the front?”

“I ain’t a taxi, nor would it be a good idea to have what many could see as dangerous cargo riding up front. Speaking of which, that revolver of yours.” He pointed at her gun still displayed on her hip. She frowned, pulling it from her holster and handing it to him. He took a look at it.

“Interesting… You made this yourself?”

Her face somewhat brightened. “Yeah, actually. From whatever parts I could cobble together. Something special to me and cand take out the biggest of mutants that crawl around here, you know?”

He chuckled as he slipped the pistol into his jacket pocket. He walked behind the transport flinging open the doors. The rear of the vehicle was nothing but smooth metal. No seats, no seatbelts, only some railing at the front, a small grate connecting to the front seat, and a few bulky metal cabinets with a large padlock on front.

“Ehm… Isn’t this going to be unsafe?”

“You don’t get how I usually work yet, do you?”

She climbed into the back, grabbing hold of the railing. A door slammed from the front, and he peeked through the small grate. A small hatch opened up and he slid restraints through the hole.

“Oh yeah, just put these on over the railing. You are supposed to be my prisoner.”

“Who’s going to be checking anyways?”

“Like I said before, customs. Plus, it’ll be a decent seatbelt. Now power down or something, it’s gonna be a while till we reach the borders.”

The engine of the vehicle rumbled to life as she clipped the restraints around the bar. Her body then fell limp, the lights dimming out from her eyes.

The transport moved slowly through the desert, sticking close to the few rivers that still ran through it. He passed by settlements, often getting a few looks from passerbys traveling between them. Every single one of them wore patchy sweat-stained clothes and was armed in some form or another, be it a spear made of scrap or a large machine gun. Often times he’d drive through herds of Radi Beasts simply drinking from the river, witnessing the movement of the buglike Desert Stalkers in the distance as well.

The sands and rivers came to an end at the sight of stone. The next stretch of land all looked as if all organic material had been peeled off, leaving only a rocky service. He took care to drive far from the many ravines and boreholes that gashed the landscape. Not a single creature was in sight, only the sound of wind dominating the area.

Hours more of driving through, and Scott arrived at the end of a rough dirt path. Following it for a few hours more lead to the first sightings of vegetation. The path moved over and through numerous grassy hills, the sights of small forests off in the distance. Birds were now flying overhead, some of regular sizes, and scattering when much larger ones flew by. The path winded between and around each forest, and Scott knew well of what manner of demi-breeds and beasts populated them. He sighed when the dirt path finally hit asphalt. A long, multi-laned road stretched and winded far away in opposite directions. To the side of it were railroad tracks. Scott pressed the gas pedal further as his transport sped up, and he heard a clank from behind. He nearly jumped out of his seat until he remembered Ferra was back there.

“Hey, what happened? Ugh, that hurt, and I’m all sore you know!”

He glanced back at the grate, turning his sight back to the road.

“Well blame that on the person who programmed you, not my driving.”

She huffed. “Well, are we almost there? How long has it been?”

“Two or three hours, I dunno. We’re finally on some proper roads, so we’ll be there soon.”

“Proper roads?”

He laughed to himself. “Sorry, I forgot you all don’t have asphalt out there. How the hell can anybody stand all that desert walking anyways?”

“What makes a proper road better for walking anyways, this thing seemed to get you to me fine enough!”

He sighed. “I’m hoping your model supports direct information uploading or something, else you’ve got a lot of learning to get done.”

“I don’t think so. How different is everything from where I was?”

The van screeched to a halt, and she jolted forward with it. She tumbled across the floor.

“HEY, what’s the big deal?”

“Remember when I said we had customs to go through? Well, we’re there, but we still gotta wait.”

“You have to what.”