I had decided not to shoot because these rust-buckets were acting off already, and are too small and light to have any weaponry worth worrying about. I would've still shot if the kid hadn't decided to stop me, it was a good call this time- but next time? It's a bad habit.

  "I don't know what an artificer is." Kip obliviously stated,

  We were cautiously following along the side of the highway. Skirting through the fronts of buildings and around any sort of obscuring structure for us to use.

  "Remember the blue light kid?" I ask,

  "Yeah?" Kip replied,

  "It's sort of like that, but instead of being controlled by another rust-bucket, the blue-light in question is controlled by a person." I explain,

  I had originally expected this to be a multi-day journey of searching for some sort of caravan, but we seem to have found someone earlier than anticipated.

  "So you think they're taking us to a person? What if it's a trap?" Kip nervously questioned,

  "Don't worry. I'll kill it." I confidently assure,

  "Okay." Kip anxiously replied,

  After multiple hours walking down the desolate highway, and making sparse conversations which I was not fully tuned in for, I eventually begin seeing an unappealing box appearing in the distance.

  There was a red hue cutting through the clouds in the sky now from the nearby Ajax, a large red planet which periodically gets bigger or smaller throughout the year, sometimes enough to cover the occasional sunlight. Regardless it creates an extremely ominous environment.

  The large unappealing box soon shaped out to be a caravan, with a large cannon instrument on the top which appeared to be heavily damaged. The overall caravan was a massive mess of parts, armour and smouldering brilliance. I'm always surprised they work when I get in one.

  Then the drone flipped upward and launched itself over the nearby structure to our left, which proves that we've reached our location. As we approached the red hue which reflected off the nearby metallic environment grew purple due to Ester, a blue smaller planet alongside Ajax.

  It's not too often that you see Ajax alongside Ester, thanks to Ajax taking up a larger portion of the sky and covering Ester, but it creates an interesting purple hue to gawk at for a couple hours.

  "Seen this event before kid?" I reluctantly ask,

  Kip was busy looking at amazement at the sky for an extended period of walking, as if he hadn't even heard me ask the question- I'll let him soak it up I guess.

  "Be ready, you never know who you meet when it comes to a caravan, but they're usually more cordial than others. I wouldn't bet on it though." I briefly explain,

  He was clearly not paying attention still, so I slapped him on the back of his helmet. The kid almost fell over despite the impact being light.

  "Oh- yeah, ok." Kip quickly responded,

  "Watch out for any more drones as well, they're last thing I want to deal with." I order,

  "You got it." Kip confidently replied,

  We both prepared our weapons as we walked past the monstrously sized vehicle, it's wheels were as tall as a kid, and it had a large misshapen box attached to the back of it.

  We moved around to an alley which was extremely thin and long, and I pointed my gun forward down it as the caravan appeared empty, this led us to an opening in between four decrepit structures that was shaped like a hexagon.

  Here there was a man who looked like a scrapper, with not too dissimilar gear to ourselves, though he clearly heard us walking down he made no effort to turn to us nor acknowledge us with taking out his firearm. This didn't seem right at all, or maybe their retarded.

  When we finally made our way through the tunnel I noticed a collection of four or five drones attached to adjacent walls around us and the man seemed to sigh for some reason. He was facing a strange looking molten structure of rebar and misshapen metal.

  Eventually he looked back to us before deciding not to turn around to actually face us, I noticed someone at the corner of my eye in the corner to our left.

  "You're armed aren't you? Face us and talk. Who are you?" I gruffly question,

  "Aren't you going to pull out your weapon?" Kip also asks,

  Someone leans forward to our left and direct the kid to actually point his weapon at them with my stump for a hand, which he clumsily complies with.

  "Take your expectations and shove them little scrapper. They're all garbage anyway." The man lightly stated,

  His voice was sly and light on the ears, even through his filtration mask, not squeaky- but still unexpected for the foreboding atmosphere of this weird place.

  "Answer me asshole, who are you?" I rudely ask,

  "Irrelevant. I'm looking for someone, or maybe something." The man slyly replied,

  He turned around to us, and that's when I noticed he was certainly much lighter on armour than you'd ever expect, though it's all about preference when it comes to that sorta stuff.

  "But, I think it's better if I ask the-" The man began,

  "Why how do you do there sweetheart, aren't you adorable?" The figure to the left interrupted,

  That's a woman, but I can't get a good look at her without taking my eyes off the more obvious threat in front of me, besides if he's not armed he's most likely the artificer.

  "Wha- Are you talking to me?" Kip replied,

  "Of course, I ain't ever seen a little scrapper before." The woman joyfully admitted,

  "Shut the fuck up!" The man shouted at the woman,

  Stolen novel; please report.

  There was an awkward silence for a couple of seconds, which the man took to adjust his filtration mask, and which I took to look over at each drone to see if they had weaponry.

  "As I was saying, we're looking for someone in particular, and I'll take any lead I can get. Do you know anything about an inventor around here?" The man asked,

  The kid seemed to tense up at his question, and if I had to guess he's referring to the strange lab in the den, but I don't know anything about that.

  "I don't know about any of that." I bluntly respond,

  "Then why are you here scrapper? To train that useless runt of yours? What a waste of fuckin' time." The man mocked,

  "Now Ire, don't be so rude, I spot a potential customer. You need a hand there scrapper?" The woman humorously interjected,

  I look to the woman for a second, and it seems like I was wrong, just judging by the equipment attached to her back- she's the artificer.

  "Interrupt me again Estry, and I'll shoot you." Ire brutally stated,

  "What is it to you?." I respond,

  "Oh scrapper, don't act like if it came down to it you wouldn't trade his life for yours." Ire slyly countered,

  Is he wrong? Maybe not, but that's life. I look to the kid and then back to the man with little hesitation, and I pushed down the hammer on my revolver finally.

  "Let your woman talk." I bluntly state,

  The man lazily waved both his hands up as if he were conceding, but he seemed little concerned about my weapon and more about the request itself. The woman leaned forward.

  "How can I help you my lovely scrapper?" Estry strangely asked,

  "If you're the type to fix hands, I would like your services." I simply state,

  "That depends on what you're offering sweetheart." She eerily replied,

  "I got nothing in the way of anything physical, but an exchange of services." I offer,

  She leaned back in thought for a second, and the kid began fumbling around through his pack for some odd reason, luckily these people aren't ones to point weapons. Just traders perhaps?

  "I don't know about that scrapper, I love the physical." Estry cheekily responded,

  "I can give you the blueprint for your cannon." Kip then interjected,

  Everyone collectively looked at the kid for a couple of seconds, I personally was annoyed, but the other two here seemed confused and amazed.

  "Now ain't that just perfect. I would adore that little scrapper." Estry quickly agreed,

  "Where the hell did you get that." Ire then asked,

  "We got it from an abandoned den we passed through, nothing worth much to us to pick up besides a few curious pieces the kid wanted." I quickly answer,

  It was a lie obviously, but I don't need the kid revealing an irritating amount of information without understanding its value. Information is just as much currency as scrap or slips.

  "Convenient." Ire slyly commented,

  "Oh shut it, you're such a mood killer, it makes deals so hard to get through." Estry scolded,

  "I'd like to sweeten the deal; we both need to get somewhere, you have a caravan, I'm guessing you can provide transport to another den." I confidently offer,

  "I mean, for something like a blueprint I don't see why not-" Estry began,

  "It's my car bitch, I ain't letting you ride in my vehicle, for any price." Ire interrupted,

  My guess is that these people got upgrades from the inventor that was previously in Lila's den, but I'm surprised the kid noticed all the details on the caravan. The kid fumbles around his pack again.

  "I have a blueprint for better suspension for your caravan." Kip then offered,

  "You have yourself a deal." Ire lazily responded,

  "Good, when are we moving?" I ask,

  "When I'm finished up here, you can wait by the caravan if you want." Ire replied,

  "Don't worry, I can get started on your arm, I'll be right behind you." Estry happily answered,

  Me and the kid moved back through the alleyway, I kept my weapon somewhat pointed at Ire the whole time, but he did nothing but stare at the strange metal monolith in front of him.

  "I'm impressed you realised they needed repairs kid, how'd you figure that out?" I ask,

  "Lila always said to use someone else's damage to your advantage, if their equipment is damaged offer to replace or repair it." Kip joyfully explained,

  "I suppose that takes a certain type of skill. I'd use it to make it easier to kill them." I state,

  "Yeah- I don't think that would've ended well." Kip anxiously replied,

  The woman eventually emerges from the alleyway and several drones fly out from behind her, each one makes it's way onto the roof of the caravan and attach to it without issue.

  I hadn't realised it before but she had two mechanical hands from the wrist, which usually is uncommon among artificers, most have kept their original hands- but it's understandable that the hands of an artificer can become a target.

  She had two large mechanical arms attached to her back which most likely have a combination of functions. Obviously they need a powerful signal to connect with rust-buckets from long distances, while also functioning as tools for repair or defence.

  She climbs up the two step ladder onto the platform which allows her to open the door to the caravan and makes her way inside, she waves at us to come in. We comply and I help the kid properly get up to the platform as he was sorta struggling with the pack.

  I notice before we enter that the man seemed to be kneeling in front of the monolith in the opening for some reason, it's not particularly strange, but not what I expected from him.

  "Welcome to our humble abode, my little shop is in the back, you might have noticed it's the really ugly looking attachment to this- vehicle." Estry then announced,

  "I'm guessing you've replaced limbs before." I comment,

  "Of course, and for you little scrapper; make yourself comfortable, and make sure you don't tick off Ire, or he'll throw you out the window." Estry humorously commented,

  "Kid if either of them do something you don't like, feel free to shoot to kill." I bluntly state,

  "I think we can trust them just fine." Kip stupidly replied,

  "I don't." I say,

  "Either way I'm the one giving you a brand new hand, so be happy sweetheart!" Estry then interjected.

  I take a good look around the caravan, it was quite spacious, with a fair bit of seating, though the entire place was fairly worn and had strewn about equipment across many surfaces.

  One side of the caravan was fully dedicated to seating facing toward the windows, in front of which was a long table attached to the wall which contained many items of various importance.

  There was a clear place for both of them to sleep together, but nowhere for anyone else to really fit, so I suppose we'd have to make our own temporary space in the same area.

  Honestly, I've slept with worse people in far worse places, still I'd prefer separation.

  I make my way to the back of the caravan, where there was a strange sliding door you had to move aside, she was in there preparing pieces of mechanical hardware.

  The room was heavily shelved with many pieces and parts thrown about the place with multiple tools hanging from various areas, there was a large amount of compartments and drawers which could be holding literally anything.

  In the centre there was a table above which there was a hanging light which seemed extremely close to falling in on itself, but somehow managed to remain hanging. The entire place was heavily scrubbed but had a strange blackish grime which permeated any metal surface.

  I give most of these places a pass, as usually they aren't dangerous for replacing anything mechanical, but I wouldn't bet a surgery with open wounds or blood in a place like this. Even so she finally put forward a new mechanical arm to attach on.

  She looked at my stump and then back to the arm, and tweaked it slightly with some strange tool which I didn't know the name of.

  "This one should be good, I even gave you a bonus, it has a cable attachment you can use. I don't know if it works though, but you can test it." Estry jovially commented,

  "Just get it over and done with and we can both get what we want." I brutally state,

  "Of course sweetheart, but where you do you plan on going?" Estry curiously asked,

  "Do you guys have any reservations on where you're heading, might be hard to make this work if you do." I ask,

  "Oh- well, we don't really plan to go anywhere, we go around and just do our good business where ever we can and want. Best part is I don't need to drive this shit can." Estry happily explained,

  "That's fair, you've got quite the combination of insufferable and welcoming between the two of you." I comment,

  "Ire just doesn't trust people, and he doesn't really like people." Estry calmly said,

  She was still working on attaching the arm to my stump, but I'm surprised on how open she was in particular. It's not something I'd complain about, but it's not something you really see either.

  "Any reason why you seem to trust people?" I question,

  "After a while you just get tired of secrecy, it's exhausting, when in the end it ain't mean anything." Estry solemnly replied,

  "That's fair." I bluntly comment,

  "Sounds like you love secrets." Estry cheekily said,

  Finally she took her tools away from the arm, per usual the attachment is fairly painful as the body gets used to a new limb being attached, but a few finger wiggles proved it worked.

  "Wait, so where are we headin' sweetheart?" Estry asks again,

  "Pipetown." I reply.