Dustin was astride his Heidel Jesse when he first saw the naked Celestine women.

It had been a long day for him and his small caravan, monsters called Prairie feasters had appeared along one of his favorite short cuts through the desert scrubland of Salt Sands desert, so they had been forced to take a long detour. Which would eat into their supplies.

Four barrels of hard tack had been full of weevils and worms under the first hand’s span of food. His Nephew Dallas had been in charge of buying supplies for this run and the discovery that he had been swindled was a blow to his burgeoning confidence.

It was a good lesson to learn that not all merchants were forthright about their product, and Dustin knew his nephew would never put off examining their supplies again. But it meant they had less room for delays. He had already made the hard choice to begin rationing their meals.

For their noonday break they would only feed and water their Heidels instead of having lunch. For Dustin and the other fully essenced caravan guards it was an inconvenience. But to the normal rankers with only one or two essences it was a hard burden. They had to spend all day under the hot sun in the saddle with nothing to distract them from their hunger. And Dustin knew the accusatory glares Dallas was getting were only making the guilt worse.

They were just coming to a little riverbank Dustin had marked on his map when the women stepped out of the shadows of a rocky overhang.

Since Dustin was riding at the head of the wagon train he saw her first and felt his breath hitch. The women had light toned skin, unblemished, and impossibly moisturized looking for the desert environment. Her hair was a sleek metallic grey, with one side shaved close to the scalp with the rest folded over to the side in a sort of asymmetrical bob.

Her face was almost painfully gorgeous, reminding Dustin of the supernatural perfection of silver and gold rankers. And those curves…

“Well, if your done staring could you get me some fucken clothes.” The women growled, startling everyone out of their stupor.

Dustin shook his head and dismounted, pulled off his dust cloak, and tossed it to the women. He was a little miffed about her rude greeting, but he had been in the wrong for staring.

“Thanks, wasn’t sure about trekking through the desert naked.” She said as she threw the cloak over her shoulders allowing her some modesty Dustin had a head of extra height on her so the cloak went down to her knees. Though she was the kind of women who could have worn a burlap sack and make it look elegant and enticing. Her voice was husky and was curiously accent-less. “Glad I decided to wait by the river instead of chancing it.” she said as she fastened the last button.

Dustin tilted his head, “You’re a long way from civilization miss. Nearest rock is about a week’s travel.”

She looked curious instead of dismayed. Like an extra week would have been an inconvenience instead of certain death. “Is that so? Danm good thing I waited then.”

“How did you get here, and what happened to your clothes?” he asked, dreading the answer. She wasn’t the first person he found abandoned in the desert, though she might just be the strangest.

“Not sure, I woke up as I was with no idea how I got there.” She said bruskly.

He winced; he’d heard that one before too many times. Though usually those ladies were more shaken up by the experience. “Well, we’re bound for Karstess. If you want, I could have Petra search our luggage and find you some more comfortable clothing.” He gestured to Petra as he said so, who dismounted and stepped towards the Celestine.

He saw her eyes widen at Petra and step back.

Ah, there it was. So, everything before was an act, a show of bravado.

Petra saw it too. “Don’t worry miss, your safe with us, and if any one of the scoundrels try something I’ll knock their heads in myself.” The Leonid women boasted while raising a clenched fist.

“Uh, right, yeah.” The women said uncertainly.

“What’s your name miss?” Dustin asked as she walked over the Petra.

“Seras, Seras Cross.”

~~~*~~~

The fall into the water hadn’t killed Seras, neither did the rocks she was battered up against, nor the cold suffocating water itself. But after Seras had pulled herself out of the water at a calm spot in the river, she feared exposure and energy deprivation would.

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Seras had been in the water for who knew how long, she only knew that when she went in it was dark and that when she got out the sun was just rising. Much of her body had been bent and beaten out of shape and she had to endure another lengthy repair time before she could walk without stumbling. By the time the repairs were finished her battery had drained to 5% and she entered power saver mode.

No more incredible feats of strength and two-story jumps.

She had seen the grooves old tire marks had dug through the dirt and mud next to the riverbank, and the plethora of footprints in the mud. So, she assumed that sooner or later people might show up.

Seras had made the ‘tough’ decision to stay and wait to see if any people came. If no one came in one day’s time she would have to set out for the desert to try and forage for food.

Despite her extensive power hungry augs Seras still had a meat and blood brain and she needed to fuel it the old fashion way. Much of her digestive track had been left mostly untouched to process food. Artificial replacements were just way too expensive and by far less effective. Unlike most people Seras had also opted to get a system that could convert the excess chemical energy from food into electrical energy for her systems.

Thankfully, for the first time since she woke up naked in an underground temple, Seras had a bit of good luck. By the time the sun was high in the sky Seras heard the jostling of metal and the noise of people approaching.

Seras had stepped out of her shady spot, only to be stunned by the sight that greeted her. Instead of rough welded trucks and desert rovers she saw old-fashioned wooden wagons being pulled by giant four legged two headed lizards.

And if that wasn’t strange enough, the people were even stranger.

At the head of their little wagon train was a man in a broad rimmed tan hat wearing a large brown cloak with little tribal looking patterns at the fray. The clothes were something she had seen plenty of Badlanders wear before as they were ideal for the dusty deserts. What was unusual was that the man had skin like coal with jagged lines of red fire crisscrossing his skin and burning red eyes.

Then there was the woman who the man had called Petra, a tall broad-shouldered lion/ women hybrid with a sleek body and a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. Seras now had her answer to what the beastly skull had looked like in life.

Seras felt like she did her best to hide her shock and awe at the sight of these caravanners. And did her best not to stare too hard at them. However, Petra was obviously equipped with preternatural senses, because she had caught Seras staring three separate times as they went through her stuff while the others watered the lizard things called Heidels.

“What, never seen a Leonid before?” The lioness said in a sultry teasing tone.

“No, in fact I have not.” Seras said honestly.

The lioness looked concerned “How’s that possible, it's not like we’re as rare as you Celestine’s?”

Seras blinked “Celestine?” she said dumbly while pointing at herself.

“Yes you” Petra said with a point. “What did you do hit your head.”

“Well yes, several times when I took a tumble into that river.” Seras said plainly.

The lioness looked sheepish (if such a word could be applied to her) “Ah, sorry. Didn’t mean to-“ she shook her head “Forget I said anything.”

Seras frowned “Its not the first time I’ve hit my head. Though with any luck it’ll be the last time I jump into a raging river. Too many rocks for my liking.” She said with a wry grin, hoping to lighten the suddenly dower mood.

“Why’d you jump into a river?”

Now it was Seras’ turn to look sheepish. Just the thought of those creepy bugs crawling over her skin, and the big ones jabbing her with stingers potent enough to affect her cyborg anatomy, sent waves of fear down her spine. “I, uh, had to get away from some pests on my tail, the river was the only option.”

Petra’s ears flattened against her head, “Right, well, anything you need to get of your chest… ah, well I’m here for you.” she said awkwardly and clapped Seras on the shoulder.

“Right, I will” Seras lied with a nod of her head.

The clothes available weren’t like anything Seras had ever worn before. The fabric rough in a way that told her they were made of natural material instead of polyester and nylon. They also lacked elastic waist bands and were instead held together by draw strings.

They were an assortment and clean and tan colored fabrics of simple but loose cuts. Likely designed to let in the air flow to help cool off. Unfortunately Seras didn’t sweat anymore, and the simple cooling features were wasted on her.

And since they were Petra’s they about five sizes too large.

Still, they were a step up from what she had before, which had been nothing.

Seras wasn’t a stranger to open cuts and exposed skin, but there was just something wrong about running around completely naked. She shook her head and finished dressing in the blue cotton pants and the cream-colored shirt. Petra lent her a dust cloak to keep her clothes clean, one of the men offered her one of their broad brimmed hats that went over her ears.

Soon the beasts had their fill of water and Seras joined the others who were in a circle animatedly discussing something.

She had been changing behind some rocks, so she hadn’t been able to hear what they were arguing about. “What’s the issue?” she asked.

They turned her way, there was another man with the same burning skin as the leader, a man with dusky skin and malnourished delicate looking features, and to her relief a few other humans. Seras and Petra were the only females of the group.

The leader spoke up “Just trying to figure out whose Heidel you’ll be riding.”

“This is ridiculous,” Petra spat. “She’s riding with me.”

The leader sighed “Petra, Warrick is already straining under your weight, we can’t add another person to that.”

The malnourished man looked at her “Can you ride a Heidel, if you can then one of us men can double up and give you some space.”

“Nope, just bikes and hoverboards.” Seras answered.

The malnourished man blinked “Bikes?”

“Uh yeah, you know, vroom vroom.” She said while making the hand motions for driving a bike engine.

The leader cleared his throat. “That’s a no then. We can’t leave a novice rider with one of our Heidels, they’d sense her inexperience and take her for a ride. She’ll need to ride with one of the men.”

“So what’s the issue?” Seras asked.

“We, uh, don’t, we weren’t sure if you’d be comfortable with that.”

Seras laughed, these men looked like a rough sort, and yet they were being so bashful around her. She liked it, honest men were rare back home. “As long as no gets handsy I’m fine wherever. I am a bit heavier than I look though so maybe you should put me with your strongest… uh Heidel.” Seras said, nearly forgetting what to call the two headed lizard things.

“That be Jesse, my Heidel.” The black skinned leader said. “Will that be alright with you?”

She tilted her head to the side. “Depends, does that skin of yours’s burn?”

“Not unless I want it too.” He answered easily.

Her eyebrows rose at that. Was that an inuendo or a blunt statement? Another question for later. “Then I only see one issue.” Seras said.

“And that is?” the leader asked.

“I never got your name, can’t ride with if I don’t know your name.” Seras said with a hand on her hip.

He chuckled, and the flames burning within his skin brightened a bit. He held out his hand “Dustin, Dustin Westbrooke.” He answered.

She took his hand, and to her surprise didn’t feel any burn. They were just warm with rough calluses “Nice to meetchya, shall we go?”