I awoke alone.

I didn't feel anything like a sense of abandonment, just a relaxed contentment. No promises had been made, so no expectations had gotten in the way. There was something refreshing in that. Much better than the frantic search for a partner that had been riding the back of my brain back home. This was simple, and simple was good.

I shaped a quick Cleanse on myself, and then the blanket, which I folded and carried with me back towards the camp. Magic was so useful. I needed to remind myself to use it more.

It was early, the sun not quite over the horizon. The sky still had that grayed out predawn tone. The Probes were still hovering about nearby. They gave me a greeting, 'New friends, now?'

I sure hoped so. I needed some friends, and everyone here sure seemed friendly. I got quite a few cheerful morning greetings on the way to the Galena. I had the Probes dock up with the car until I could properly introduce them. Their stealth would be wearing off at any time, and I didn't want the Folks up early to freak out.

I grabbed another backpack out of the car and devoured a kiwi like copper fruit. It tasted of strawberries and cream.

Then I slowly wandered over to the campfire area, hoping they had some coffee, or something similar. Turned out they did, and I happily received a carafe of coffee and a plate of scrambled eggs, with cheese and bacon, for the pack of fruit. Everything in the food was off, not so much that I was going to complain, but enough that I noticed. The coffee was decent though, gotta take those small victories.

While I ate, I continued planning out how I wanted to spend my day. When a pair of hands blocked out my sight, also a vast lush softness enveloped my the back of my head.

"Guess, who?" A soft silky voice entered my ear from about an inch away. Every little hair on my body stood to attention. This was a saucy minx, and I vaguely recognized the voice from last night.

"It had better be Sally." I whispered back. "Or we're going to have words." Of course, I knew it wasn't Sally. I'd felt enough of her body last night to know those weren't her breasts on my skull.

That is of course when Sally walked into view laughing. She set down two plates in front of me. While the lady I'd assumed was Megan let go of me. Let the games begin I guess? I turned around, yeah. Those were... I mean her presence was hard to miss.

Physically they were a study in contrasts. Sally was tanned and Megan was pale. Sally was whipcord lean and lithe and Megan was lushly curvy and pleasingly plump. Sally was sunny and blonde and Megan had hair that was almost pitch black. Sally's eye were the most glorious blue, and Megan's were a deep rich green.

"He does have a way about him." Megan sat next to Sally.

"Just wait. He's got all kinds of uses." Sally was nodding while digging into her food.

"'He' is right here." I gave them a mock glare, which soon turned into a grin, as I shaped two quick Cleanses and released them on them. Who doesn't like to be clean? They apparently loved to be cleaned. Their shudders and shivers were all manner of entertaining. Their voices rose in happy little gasps. Many of the men in the area gave me nods of approval, while the women folk looked nonplussed. None of them knew what I had done, but all of them were keeping an eye on me. I shrugged.

I had discussed this effect with Meadran. Mana infusion was highly stimulating. Especially to folks who had lived in low mana zones. Sadly mana carrying your own signature would never affect you the same way, it was already your mana after all.

"See, incredibly useful." Sally tried and failed to seem nonchalant.

"Honey, if you don't snatch him up, I'm going to tie him up and keep him in my trailer." Megan seemed deadly serious.

Getting a little annoyed at their game, I gave them both a flat stare. "You don't learn, huh? No healing for you." They both turned to me with a horrified look. I let them stew on that for a minute while I tried to suss out their dynamic. "This offense requires restitution. Perhaps you can buy your way out. I'm partial to back rubs." I smirked. I was testing boundaries here, just as they had been earlier.

"Well, we could work something out I'm sure." Sally her natural grin returning. She gave Megan one of those looks that carries a whole world of meaning between women, but us men are sadly incapable of understanding.

"Yes, I'm a fair hand with massage. I've had to get relax Sally after a mission a time or three." Megan nodding sagaciously.

My brain halted for a fraction of a second, processing that outrageous statement. "Then maybe forgiveness can be yours." I nervously laughed. It was fun, to play around like this. Though now I had a lot unseemly images running around my head.

I never would've thought that all I needed to do to be almost comfortable with women, was to get snatched to another world. Full of death and terrible food, but also ample opportunities. I forced myself not to look at Megan's chest, I sort of succeeded. Ample, indeed.

The next couple of days that I spent with them in that camp settled into a rhythm. I made myself useful, healing and cleansing folk. Working on cars, and getting the Probes to patrol and repair some of the tougher problems. The Probes were easily adopted as erstwhile mascots by the Tribe, when I introduced them. Hell, I thought that they liked them more than me. Eh, understandable. The Robo-Buddies were awesome.

I hadn't realized it at the time, but Megan and Sally were kind of a package deal. No, I didn't have the first clue about how that worked. But I also wasn't going to question my good fortune. If I spent time with one, I had to spend time with the other. This was no great chore, as both were excellent company . Most of it was simply getting to know each other, with chatting and just spending time together. Everyday we at the very least shared a meal, and everynight there was a dance or three.

More contrasts between them became obvious, where Sally was rough and tumble, Megan was smooth and considered. Where Sally was straight forward, Megan always found the most roundabout way to reach the same point. Sally was quick to anger and quick to forgive, Megan rarely got angry, but never forgave once she had.

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It was hard to find enough time for getting to know them better, as they both had plenty of responsibilities to manage. They did most work in camp together. Logistics and Organization, mostly. Outside of camp it was different. Megan ran the net. Sally buried the targets. They were trouble either way. The good kind I hoped. My head was spinning from trying to figure out what was going on. Was I after one or both?

Guzman had said that to court one was to court both, on the first day. We had been tinkering with vehicles, and I had asked if they were together, together. He said no, they just couldn't stand to be apart for long.

Both it was then. Because I wasn't about to give up this growing connection I felt with them. Even if it derailed later, I was going to ride this crazy train as far as I could.

The morning of the sixth day, after I got to the Aldecaldos camp, Amanda came over to breakfast with the three of us. This was the first time I had seen her since we had danced that first night. I hit her with a Cleanse, it had become an automatic reflex at this point. She barely twitched, unflapped that woman was. She didn't even blink. She did at least give me a thankful nod, "I've scouted out a good place for a more long term setup. The complication being some Wraiths sulking about."

She gave us a quick run down on number and positions. A lot and everywhere, was my takeaway. This was sounding like a night job with the Probes. I suggested as much. She nodded, "They are hard to spot in the dark." She nodded her acceptance. The Nomads had decided that the Probes being impossible to spot at night was the neatest thing ever. "They can sweep around the far side and drive the Wraiths into a firing line."

We went over every little detail three times. She pulled up charts and maps, from satellite feeds on her tablet. Then she drew out the plans, and sent them to her teams. I really didn't have much to add, but I did take notes. Amanda's knowledge and experience was valuable, and I likely wouldn't have access to it indefinitely. They were Nomads, and would eventually move on. It was their way of life. I, on the other hand, had to establish bases and outposts. I couldn't stay with them forever, no matter how much I enjoyed my time with them.

This was the moment that I began to worry about a future with Sally and Megan. Whether there was going to be a future with them at all. And they knew it. Women had their ways. I'll never understand it.

"Don't overthink it. We'll figure something out." Sally gently chided.

"You won't be getting rid of us that easily." Megan concurred.

"You both aren't ever getting away from me, I'm owed backrubs. I always collect what I'm owed." I gave a mockingly stern face. We all broke out into uncontrollable uproarious laughter.

That night we had moved into our first position. I had given the Probes their instructions. I had gotten a series of beeps back, "We've got this." They took off like little bats out of hell. Had they somehow gotten faster? Huh.

Sally had brought a Techtronika SPT 32 Grad and set it up. She was quickly ready to fire, down on the whole region. Megan was nestled in right next to her to act as a spotter. I could hear them softly working out a series of initial targets. I was there to make sure no one got the drop on them. Then I was supposed to drive them to Sally's next firing position, if needed.

That meant I'd be driving Sally's Mackinaw. Truly, I was touched she'd even let me drive her beast out here to begin with. I knew how attached people could get to their rides.

We were on an eroded outcropping, overlooking an old manufacturing plant. This place was pre fourth corporate war, whatever that was, and had produced middle grade cyberware parts. The plant itself was mostly hidden away from the rest of the badlands, by a series of hills and outcrops like ours. There was only one good drivable path up to it and that's where Amanda had positioned her people in an L formation. They had explained why that was a good ambush formation. So that you could overlap fields of fire with little risk of hitting your own people. I probably wouldn't have thought of that myself.

This was a good place for an outpost, but only if you had a way to keep from getting bottled in. Well, I'd figure out how to take care of that later.

From all of the readings we had pulled up, the Wraiths weren't nested in the plant itself, though Barry was going to do a quick sweep through it to make sure. They were camped around it, in a disorganized mess. From this distance, I could barely make out any details, even with my eyes zoom function. I glanced over at Sally's iron. That must be some optics on her rifle. I wondered what I would see when she fired it prone. Never thought I'd cheer for recoil. Then I shook my head, my job was to watch the open desert behind us. No entertainment for me.

Amanda messaged us it was go time, I relayed the signal to the Probes. Soon we heard distant screams and yells, but I couldn't make out the sound of the Probes zapping the gonks.

Then the Grad bellowed and I couldn't hear much at all for a while. Every time Sally took a shot, my ears suffered. Though a quick cast of Regrowth fixed them, I decided to wait until we were done, to save on my mana. I might need it for any wounded soon enough.

All in all a very boring half hour for me. Even Sally only ended up taking seven shots the whole time. The last two had been to core engine blocks, when the Wraiths finally broke and started to run. We found out her third shot had dropped Sourtooth their local Wraith warlord. Big points there. He had a major bounty on his head, and been a thorn in the side of a few of the Corps as well.

The Probes had gone beast mode on the Wraiths, barely any of the scum made it to the ambush point and they were shredded in a few seconds when they had. People, vehicles or equipment they savaged everything, laying waste to the desert rats.

When Amanda had given the all clear, the ladies packed up and I drove us down to the ambush site. Hell, even the clean up was done by the time we got there. I was feeling just a bit useless. Sure, watching people's backs is important, of course it is. That didn't take that empty sucking feeling in your gut away. Eh, I tried to shake it off. My real work was about to begin, if the Probes even let me get over to the plant before they started. Little showoffs. Gotta love the Robo-Buddies. Haha.

Everything at the ambush position taken care of, so half of the group scattered to patrol around. Their job was to see if anyone was snooping about. The rest of us headed to the plant. While the rest of them couldn't see them, the Probes were doing some kind of victory dance about fifty feet up in the air. Weaving back and forth making patterns only they understood. Silly little guys.

When we had stopped, I excused myself to hunt up a good place for a Moon Well. As I headed off I called back, "I'm going to trust you folks not to talk about what you are going to see next." I called the Probes over to me, and gave them their orders. I had them dig out a moat area then an overflow channel for a stream then a pond about fifty yards away.

It took them only a few minutes to get the moat and stream dug out. While Chuck and Barry kept excavating the pond, Fix started A Pylon above where the Moon Well was going to go. Meadran had ten silver Wisps loaded up into my Supron, which I called out here. I let Amanda know it was coming, since I didn't want any accidents. Things were going to get crazy as it was. While waiting for the Wisps, I had Scuff start a Forge building to one side.

We mirrored the moat stream and pond arrangement on the other side of the cyberware plant. Another Pylon above the second Moon Well position, and a Robotics Facility over there on that side of the area.

Everyone had stayed well out of the way, setting up their own camp, but I soon heard their startled exclamations. Yeah, buildings coming out of the void was pretty shocking. But then everything changed again when the Wisps finally arrived and I had them merge into the Moon Wells.

Fresh Mana infused water began to flow and you'd think the Nomads had lost their minds. Haha, maybe we all had.