Book 1.

The landing could have gone better. The airdrop had been relatively accurate, it was just sheer bad luck that the buggy and trailer landed where they did.

Zoe walked up to underneath her buggy, the vehicle hanging by parachute straps, the parachutes tangled in tree branches. The apple green vehicle swayed slowly, bumping against the solid tree, its nose out of her reach by half a metre.

"Damnit Avi," she said, looking at the buggy. "How do I get you down?"

A pleasant female voice replied from the car speakers. "I would advise using my winch." The winch started unwinding from the front of the buggy, behind the bull bar.

"Damage report please," Zoe sighed as she took hold of the winch and tucked its hook into her belt before it started retracting.

"Minor body and frame damage on drivers side, no loss of function."

"Well, that's something," Zoe said, grabbing hold of the bull bar and scrambling into the front seats of her car. The vehicle swayed a little and she stumbled, grabbing tight to the frame. "Ok, up and over a strong branch, hook it to your roll bar at the back and cut the chutes?"

"Calculating." Zoe waited barely a second. "Yes, that is the best chance of success with minimal extra damage."

Reaching over a branch at the back of the buggy, she attached the winch hook where Avi instructed and carefully started cutting parachute straps. The last strap on the first parachute snapped with the pressure before she could cut it and the buggy slammed into the tree again, this time staying against the tree and not swinging back out. Zoe of course, dropped the knife while surprised, barely missing her leg before sliding under the drivers seat. Cursing her ongoing luck, she fumbled around for it trying to be careful not to cut herself in the process. Her eyes widened as a creaking noise escalated to a snapping noise, culminating with the buggy dropping half way to the ground. A large branch rattled off the side of the car followed by one of the remaining parachutes fluttering over the car. "Damnit Avi, warn me when you expect a drop."

"I did not expect that branch to fail. There was only a 31% chance of branch failure, so I did not calculate you should be warned."

Zoe thumped the steering wheel in frustration at her buggy before gathering up the parachute and attempting to shove it under the car seat.

"Branch failure imminent. I will drop momentarily."

Swearing at the unnecessary complications and drama, Zoe gripped the centre console in her buggy and the seat of the chair as tightly as possible as the branches above broke. The buggy jolted as the tow cable became taunt before ripping through the branch, sending the buggy the last metre to the ground. The front of the buggy moved out from the tree, guided by the cable before it broke the branch. The branches slammed into the roll bars above Zoe, showering her with leaves and the remaining chutes as the back of the vehicle scraped down the trunk, settling on all four tyres.

"Well, at least we're on the ground," the young woman said to herself as she brushed herself off and made her way out from under the parachutes and branches. She pulled at the branches and parachutes, clearing the buggy of debris. "Have you even got your radar on Avi?" Zoe said as she started folding down the parachutes. "I've been so busy with you that I haven't had even half a chance to check the surroundings."

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"My radar is only picking up small animals, nothing large enough to be a threat."

"Tell that to the snakes back home," Zoe muttered as she started storing the chutes in between containers in the back of the buggy. "Just keep scanning. You know you're my eyes while my suit is down."

"Affirmative."

"Lets go get the trailer," Zoe said, sitting down in the driver's seat. Placing a hand on the dash, she mentally instructed the on board computers to start up the electric engines and boot the comms system. Avi took control from Zoe as the vehicle started rolling forward by itself, making its way through the trees and to the small lake.

Zoe looked at the top of the trailer in dismay, the metre high trailer barely poking out of the mostly clear water. Mud stirred in the water around the trailer, but the rest of the small lake remained clear, the only thing of note being a pair of ducks just coming back into the water on the far side of the lake.

~ Onboard connection to Atlas comms established ~ appeared along the bottom of Zoe's visor. She quickly checked in with the aircraft, which was now making its way back north along the Australian coast to their established rendezvous point, north of Brisbane.

"Okay Avi, what do we do about the trailer?"

"If you walk out and hook my tow cable to it, I should be able to drag it out. I cannot see any obstructions to the trailer. I calculate success at 89%."

"But I have to get wet."

"Correct. Success without your assistance is under 10%. I calculate 98% chance of engine failure when immersed in water that deep."

"Damnit Avi," Zoe muttered to herself again as she climbed out of the buggy and took off her top. The warmth of the area hit her skin, the average temperature of the southern continent being much warmer than her usual home in France. Taking off her cargo pants filled with small pieces of electronics, she dumped them on the passenger seat.

"You're sure there's no one nearby?" Zoe said to the car.

"Affirmative. Radar clear."

Glaring at the vehicle before scooping up the tow cable, she waded out to the trailer. Thankful that the water was at least warm and not icy, like she was expecting. Moving quickly, she ducked under the water, attaching the tow cable to the frame of the trailer and swimming back. Shaking herself off as much as possible, she dressed as the buggy started hauling the trailer out of the water.

A pair of messages appeared and faded on her visor, one after the other. ~ Connection to Aircraft comms lost ~ ~ Connection to satellite uplink established. Connecting to Community comms ~

"Avi, get me a satellite map please. I should be through to Mini soon and will have to pick my travel path based on what she picks up."

"Affirmative," Avi replied as the winch stopped, the trailer dripping lake water.

~ Connection to Community comms established ~

Gently touching the side of her visor, she instructed the computer to open a voice connection. "Greetings Zoe, you've got Hayden. How goes?"

Zoe smiled faintly at the friendly voice. "Hi Hayden. Can you get Mini for me please?"

"No worries. She's just walking back in now." Muted voices reached her ears before a young girl's voice replaced Hayden's.

"Hi Zoe! What's Australia like? Are there any kangaroos there? What about koalas? Drop bears?"

Zoe laughed out loud at the girl's enthusiasm. "I've only been on the ground thirty minutes kiddo, give me a break. Otherwise, it's hot here. Now, can you please give me directions."

"Okay!" Mini's voice remained silent as Zoe busied herself hooking up the trailer, knowing full well that Mini would be in deep concentration and wouldn't respond to her. Almost two minutes passed as Zoe checked over the trailer and drained as much water as possible before Mini spoke up again, her voice subdued, tired. "Three points, differing strengths. North, a community, all low, but many. West, halfway to Delta, three almost as strong as you individually. South west, closer than the others, two points, both stronger than you." Her voice flagged as if she were starting to fall asleep.

"Thanks Mini, now go rest sweetie. I'll take pictures of animals for you, promise." Zoe disconnected the call, knowing the support team would care for Mini while she tried to make up her mind where to go in her search for other Talented people.