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unmistakable. She
nearly fired out of simply being startled when an upside down
crescent, not unlike an overturned wok, peeked around the edge of
the boulder, inspecting her with glowing green eyes.
     
    “What the hell is that?” Fiona muttered to
herself.
     
    “Ramen,” the little mechanical chirped. He
emerged entirely from behind the boulder, walking his mostly spring
and solar panel body on two little Slark crawler legs, very similar
to a crab’s, flitting twin helicopter props on his back to keep
himself upright.
     
    “Like the noodles?”
     
    “More like Range Activated
Mechanical…um…something…fuck it, yes, like the noodles.”
     
    Gieo, overhearing the conversation, came
running from her duties of securing the main gun pod of the airship
to the back of Mitch’s truck. “Ramen, why aren’t you at the
lab?”
     
    “I lost primary coordinates and tried to
recalibrate from the…”
     
    “…bullshit?” Gieo finished for him.
     
    “I was worried about you,” he admitted.
     
    “Wait, he lies?” Fiona asked. “Why would you
teach a robot how to lie?”
     
    “The challenge, of course,” Gieo said. “Do
you have any idea how difficult and complex it was to create
subterfuge and nuance in an artificial intelligence program? Some
of my earliest attempts lied all the time or lied indiscriminately,
but Ramen knows exactly how and when a lie should be used. He’s
better than many people in that regard.”
     
    “I can also fly,” Ramen added with a little
buzz of his propellers.
     
    Mitch came thundering over, shotgun in hand,
stopping short when he saw Gieo hugging what looked like a
mechanical dragonfly. “What the hell is that thing?”
     
    “Ramen,” Fiona explained.
     
    “Like the soup?” Mitch asked.
     
    “Can we not go over this again?” Ramen asked.
“My batteries are low and I’d just like a quiet place to rest and
recharge.”
     
    “We’ve got what we came for,” Gieo said,
hugging her arms around herself to fight the encroaching cold of
the desert twilight.
     
    Fiona fought the urge to put her arm around
the pilot. Instead, she agreed they were done, and guided the lot
back to the vehicles.

     
    Back in Tombstone, with Mitch’s truck hidden
away again along with the incredible haul of tech, they placed
Ramen on the roof of the saloon to await the morning sun, before
retiring to their respective rooms. Fiona pulled the paper-thin
curtains closed over the windows while Gieo set about lighting the
candles and lamps. The domesticity of the shared chores carried a
familiarity, warm and comfortable, that Fiona found strange, but
inviting, considering she’d only met Gieo earlier that morning.
     
    Fiona slung her lengthy form down the middle
of the bed, letting the metal, rail headboard push her hat down
over her eyes. She wasn’t particularly tired, but always took rest
when and where she could get it, much like any other predatory
cat.
     
    “Have you thought any about what I said
earlier?” Gieo asked.
     
    “Nope,” Fiona lied.
     
    “Maybe I can convince Zeke to change
course.”
     
    “He doesn’t like risk, doesn’t care for tech,
and he’s more interested in making the Slark suffer than actually
getting rid of them,” Fiona said.
     
    “Maybe Tombstone needs a new potentate.” Gieo
slid across Fiona’s lap, straddling her waist. “This is our world.
It’s time we took it back and became what we were before.”
     
    “What if I don’t like what we were before?”
Fiona tossed aside her hat, grasped Gieo by the shoulders and threw
her onto the bed beside her. Before Gieo could react, Fiona was on
top of her, straddling her waist. She grabbed Gieo’s hands and
pinned them above her head. “I like this world, like my place in
it. I don’t want to go back to being a pampered coke-fiend
flouncing around in my underwear.”
     
    “Then at least rule your world.” Gieo was
smiling, clearly enjoying the rough treatment, which irritated
Fiona more