Studying the 'leaking' Talent of Ryan, she became convinced that it was basically the same as an EMP effect, but constant. The device she had used was an older device similar to a power surge protector and, as the headache started to come back, she was sure it wouldn't last long.

Rummaging through the parts she had found so far, she found a pair of similar devices, one from a car, one from a primitive exoskeleton made for medical purposes. Using her knowledge and data from the cloud, she quickly rigged up the two devices to work in tandem with the one she had used earlier, lowering their power requirement. Then, once they had been plugged into the one Ryan was wearing already, she set up a battery recharge station for it.

"You don't need to wear it all the time," she told him. "Just like you, most of the people here know how to operate without tech, so it only needs to be worn when the tech is needed. You don't seem to be affecting purely mechanical devices, just chip based tech that's not shielded. You will need to wear it when we bring the plane, but by then I'll have a better version of that for you."

Relief that he wasn't going to be pushed away again was evident on Ryan's face. Zoe judged him to be barely a teenager, likely barely fourteen, so being wanted and looked after must be a nice change.

"We have specialists in the Community who study Talents, what you call Taints, and work to improve our knowledge and the individuals controls over them. Who knows, you may be able to turn it off at will eventually."

~

Zoe spent the rest of the afternoon communing with Delta team and planning her trip through Newcastle. Delta were sheltering in the small town, but had been unable to convince them to join or even set up a trade agreement, so were moving on in the morning. Meanwhile, Zoe had made up her mind that she needed to gather information in Newcastle and the best way to do that was to act as a trader. Gathering up as many of the spider parts she could find, a few slaughtered sheep and a roo, she figured she could offload them for tech not being used while Tyson got as much info as possible.

The Asquith group also brought Zoe a couple of crates of fresh vegetables, a couple of bolts of cloth and some collapsible chairs and tables to help her trader masquerade. Looking through her own supplies, she figured that a couple of the weapons and a small amount of the long life food could also be offered up and, at this rate, she could actually turn a decent profit if Tyson was able to haggle well enough.

As the storm lashed the small airport and the coast, Zoe reflected on everything she had already accomplished and everything she still needed to do. The reports from the other teams were also encouraging, pushing Zoe to be the best she could. She had initially regretted having only Avi with her, but now, not at all.

Sitting with everyone at the evening meal as the storm continued, the trio formed a plan. Tyson would lead with Maddison obviously being security and Zoe being their transport. She would hide most of her more impressive tech in the locked storages and Avi would only communicate directly with Zoe. As for the few Talented in Newcastle, they had no way of identifying them if even they didn't know their own Talents, so, while it irked Zoe, they wouldn't seek them out. The point to their passing through was to gather information about the city and the surrounding area, and of course to get through to the cargo plane waiting in Brisbane.

~

Morning broke clear and fresh, the rain soaked plants glistening in the first light of dawn. Checking the weather, Zoe was happy to see the hurricane losing strength and its influence diminishing. It still ravaged the northern coast, but had left their area.

Bidding everyone farewell, the small group rolled out, ready to tackle the hurdles ahead of them.

~

Driving up to the bored guards at the highway checkpoint, Tyson waved and beamed at them. "Ah, good, we're here to do some trade, can you please point us to the markets?"

One of them stood and looked over the buggy and trailer. "Fancy shit ya got there. How'd ya get that car working?"

"Elbow grease and luck mate. Traded my way up. Fancy a leg of lamb for dinner?" Tyson plucked the nearest leg up and handed it over. "I trust that's the entry fee paid?"

The now visibly excited guards nodded, waving the vehicle past.

Barely a minute later they came to the outskirts, a few small farms, people repairing fences and moving trees damaged in the storm. Plants lay flat and uprooted where the storm had hit hardest and debris cluttered the road. Zoe and Avi had no problem driving through the branches as the buggy had been designed for all terrains, not just smooth road surfaces.

The farms eventually gave way to the city, a sprawling mass that was clearly barely habitated and not looked after. Blocks of land had been turned into farms, cramming every imaginable food source into the area. The group could see boat sails between the houses and could hear the occasional farm animal sound.

What saddened Zoe immediately was the worn out expressions that most people they past had. They looked like they were just going about the motions of life, taking no enjoyment in living. If it weren't for their openly hostile stance on Talented, she would have wanted to try and help. As it was, she had no idea yet if they would accept help or a trading agreement, let alone leave them alone enough to get through the city.

Tyson rubbed his temples, grumbling to himself. Newcastle was worse than Llandilo and Asquith. The city just had too many people for his liking. Tying to put their thoughts aside, he focussed on finding the marketplace. Nudging Zoe, he waved her towards where they needed to be.

It didn’t take the group long to come across the marketplace and found a spot to park quickly. Using the tables supplied by Asquith, they set up the wares they had while onlookers watched, curiously. A few children were sent to alert others of the new arrivals, who soon returned with other adults, a few of whom looked like they held some seniority.

Waving to everyone happily, Tyson stood up on the trailer. “Hello all! My name is Tyson, I’m here to do some trade! I’m looking for cured and dehydrated foods, and failing that, I want old tech that you can’t make work any more. I have fresh lamb and roo, I’ve even managed to pick up a couple of bolts of cloth. Even these tables and chairs are up for trade, and, for the right person, I may even have a couple of really great quality swords. That is, for the right price, of course.”

Several of the adults went away with children to get things to trade for, while a couple of better presented adults came forward. “Greetings Tyson. My name is Daniel, I represent the council of Newcastle as head of commerce.” A tall man of average build introduced himself. “We will trade you a fair price, I will make sure of that.”

Grinning in reply, Tyson dropped down to the ground and shook the taller man’s hand. “Glad to hear it. People have tried to swindle me a few times and then they’ve had to deal with my sister.” He pointed his thumb over to his sister, who gave Daniel a blank stare. “Vague threats aside, let us do business.”

He’s being honest at least. The others will try to swindle us and he’ll ignore anything we fall for. Aren’t you glad you have a psychic on your side. Zoe could feel Tyson mentally winking at her, to which she rolled her eyes at him.

The trading went about as well as Tyson expected, while Zoe made idle chatter. Tyson, while conducting business, helped guide Zoe with her information gathering. She asked leading questions with his guidance, rapidly gathering all the intel she thought they might need. When asked why they hadn’t been in Newcastle before, they replied that they were a long way from home, somewhere south of Sydney, even hinting as far as Melbourne. Hinting that they were from far away seemed to add to their mystery and helped them to get better prices for their meat and fabric.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

They rapidly got pieces of technology brought to them, the majority of which was absolutely useless to Zoe and she was rapidly becoming annoyed at the junk she was being brought. Avoiding using her Talent was a little problematic, but she compensated for it by just ripping things apart to inspect them.

It was after a full, power suit was brought to them that Zoe cheered up. She had a couple of mostly whole, but barely functioning suits at home, but this was a complete suit. Quickly hooking it up to a tablet, she got immediate interest from those nearby.

Zoe, be careful how much you reveal, questions are popping up. "Nah mate, she's just real good with tech. Built the buggy herself, learnt everything from her parents."

~ Avi, am I seeing this correctly? ~

~ The tablet has interfaced correctly. Without powering the suit up from my battery storage, a full systems check cannot be run, however, the fact that the tablet has interfaced and the relatively undamaged shell tends towards a positive outcome. ~

Zoe tried very hard to not look excited about the war relic, but it was a little hard for her.

"Well well," Tyson said, looking over the suit. "A Firebird Kinetic suit, night camo paint. I haven't seen one so completely intact. How do we know there isn't some issue with it?"

"Its batteries are just flat," Daniel replied as Zoe continued to look over it, pulling open panels and checking connections. "She seems enthralled by it."

"She hasn't seen a complete one either," Tyson said, gently pulling Zoe away from the suit. "One moment please," he said over his shoulder to Daniel as he lead Zoe far enough from the group that he could talk without them hearing.

"I know, I need to be calm, not tip them off on how bad I want it," she said in hushed tones.

Tyson said something meaningless while projecting to Zoe. They apparently can't use it or power it, regardless of the power they have, so there's something they're not telling us, and i can't read it. Look around. They have power.

Zoe looked around, noticing that the city did indeed have electricity. So why aren't they using the suit? Why can't they power it? Surely it would assist in farming and harvesting. "I wonder if they have seed stock we could trade for," she said out loud, after letting her thoughts go first. She couldn't talk and think like Tyson could.

He smirked a little, feeling her struggle. Keep doing what you can with the suit, I'll probe more.

"Sorry, had to strike my own deals before moving onto the big fish," Tyson said as he returned to the group. "Zoe is going to keep looking over the suit while we trade, then she's going to tell me just how much it's worth. We have a couple of weapons, swords, guns and ammo we can trade if she thinks it's worth while."

Using one of the seats and tables, Zoe went to work, pulling the suit apart, assessing each part as she went. It wasn't long before she heard Tyson's laugh in her head. The interface is in another language.

Zoe internally gloated at their lack of wanting to learn. Language is easy to dodge around, it's all code to me. My current concern is its lack of power in the pieces.

Would Ryan have drained it?

One sec. ~ Avi, did power supplies drop due to Ryan's presence? ~

~ Data would indicate that would be accurate. ~ Raw data flowed through Zoe's mind about the down time and time in the edge of Ryan's field.

~ Crap, we overlooked that. ~ Good chance he did, which doesn't bode well for the tech I left with him. He must have overridden the defences through constant exposure. The suit must be in a battery lock down. I'd need time to recharge it and bypass the lock. I still want the suit.

Got it. Relay out loud, make a big fuss about it.

Zoe swore loudly, punching the suits backplate. "How could you have let it drain completely? There's a fucking battery lock on the suit because it was run flat. What are you, stupid monkeys? You don't let tech you want to use run flat. It's a simple rule." She mustered all her frustration about the lack of care taken with the suit, trying her hardest to not laugh or smile.

Daniel cleared his throat, the first to recover. "It is unfortunate. There was a Tained one here who affected technology, making it not work and draining the batteries rapidly. We have been unable to make it work since, which makes sense if it has a battery lock, as you say."

Grabbing a cable and hooking it up to the buggy's battery supply, she hooked it into the suit and turned the arm display to the traders. A battery with an 'x' through it showed up. "Battery lock," she stated. "It's useless for anything except parts, and I'm not even sure I could manage parts from this. There might be a bloody system lock or it might be in another language!" Zoe ripped the cable from the suit and threw it dramatically back into the trailer.

Coughing and looking embarrassed, Daniel rubbed the back of his neck.

Zoe gave him the deadliest death stare she could manage. "What language is it in?"

"We think Chinese."

Closing her eyes, she drew a deep breath. "Chinese I can work with," she stated. "Doesn't explain the lack of any language on the outside."

“That would be because it’s a stealth suit Zoe,” Tyson said bluntly to her.

“Oh, of course.” Zoe winced at the most obvious reasoning. It was painted in dark camo after all.

Tyson looked over the suit. “Your trade, what would you give for it, considering the work you need to put into it?”

Sighing, she ran over her inventory with Avi. An idea popped into her head. “Are you lacking in fishing line, hooks or seed stock?”

“We could always do with more fishing gear,” Daniel replied. “How much do you have?”

Zoe showed the trader a few fishing reels, rods and a lot of fishing line. “I’ll trade two rods, a dozen hooks and four full reels of line for the suit.”

“Tyson said you had weapons as well. We would be interested in any crossbows or other simple ranged weapons. Guns we are not interested in.”

Nodding, she moved to the lock box containing her weapons. “I don’t have any crossbows, but that is a good idea for future acquisition. What I do have, is a decent sword I’d be willing to part with for the suit.” Making sure she couldn’t be seen, she made to punch the code in, but all she really did was tell the lock to open. Quickly pulling the sheathed sword out, she closed the box again, listening for the lock click before turning back. “I traded for this one a while back and haven’t had a use for it. Seems to me that it’s looking for to be used, just like the suit. Sword for suit?” She pulled the sword out, showing it’s slightly curved blade and flawless edge off.

“Sword, one rod, two reels and a dozen hooks.”

Zoe tutted. “Getting too greedy. Sword, one rod, one reel, six hooks.”

You sure you haven’t done this before? You don’t even need me to get a good deal.

Daniel nodded and shook Zoe’s hand. “You got a deal.”

I thank my father and my training. “Good. Now, the final thing I would like, have you got a detailed map of the areas north of here?”

“Indeed we do,” Daniel replied. “I’ll talk to the minister of defence, he’s in charge of that, but I’ll put in a good word for you. We have a relatively open trade agreement along the coast with Salamander Bay, Forster, Port Macquarie and even as far as Coffs Harbour,” he said, acting like this was incredibly important information and a very far distance.

Coffs Harbour is much further than Asquith to here, easily a week’s walk. Likely only a few hours drive for you.

“How do you trade so far away?” Zoe asked as innocently as possible.

“We have built several wagons and have horses to pull them. We have no petrol and the electric cars broke down with that Taint that was here, so we have adapted. We get fresh fruit from Coffs Harbour and we ship them meats.”

“In that case, Tyson, I think we should look at getting stock for Coffs Harbour.”

“Agreed,” he replied. “After we’ve seen the maps and what the terrain looks like.”

~

Between the three of them, they memorized the map easily enough, Zoe transferring the information to Avi, who overlaid the satellite maps and updated what was needed. She was happy to have the local knowledge, but annoyed that the coastal towns were similar to Newcastle in their hostility towards Talented people. Travelling openly about her community and recruiting people would be difficult for a while.

The rest of the morning passed with the temperature climbing rapidly again, making Zoe very uncomfortable, very quickly. The air was rather still considering the storm that had only recently blown through the area, which made the air muggy and humid even this close to the ocean. She threw glares at the twins who had retrieved their sunglasses from their pockets. Tyson only grinned back.

Leaving the small city just after midday, they continued north and inland, agreeing with Zoe’s plan to avoid the towns that were aligned with Newcastle.