While Jeremiah was building a new family unit, Rachel had Sam staying in a room she had set up for him in the bunker that was embedded in one of the hillsides near the Mod settlement. Every evening, Rachel had dinner with Sam. In the weeks he stayed there, he got to know and admire her. She shared details of her daily life. The little problems and joys of day-to-day life with people who were unique. Some of her people had special needs and requirements to live.

Several of the Mods needed to have their food liquified because their mutations had made drastic changes to their digestive systems. Others did not need to have a liquid diet; often, the opposite. There were those who had to eat toxins of varying degrees. There was even a special group known as Rad Eaters.

Rad Eaters required radioactive materials to survive. The sad part of this was that they sometimes were not immune to the negative aspects of radiation exposure. They often have abilities that seem to be powered by consuming radioactive materials, but Sam visited many of them in the medical building who were suffering from various types of cancer and radiation burns. Three of them passed away during the first month of his stay.

Ghost would relay requests from Thornsburry. After verifying the nature of the targets in question with Jeremiah, Sam eliminated two unsavory men and one woman who were part of a human trafficking ring. They had been working through a body bank that supplied a variety of unpleasant businesses.

Jeremiah requested that Sam stay with the Mods for a bit longer, but told him that there might be some work for him in cleaning up the businesses that fed off of the abductions.

Lately, Rachel began to spar with Sam every evening before dinner. She had an alarming speed that caught him off guard more than he could explain. It wasn’t reflexes. She almost seemed to vanish one moment and appear in perfect position to strike. Mele weapons of every type were used by both in their contests. Hand-to-hand fights were the only ones that he won reliably.

About three months into his stay with the Mods, she managed one of the rare instances where Rachel pinned Sam to the ground. Before he knew what was happening, she tried to kiss him on the lips with an intense look in her eye. His quick move to the side made it miss. She stared directly into his eyes and dared him to respond. Sam was frozen by her sudden action. Before he could recover his senses and react, she was gone from on top of his chest and dropping her sparring gear in the bin outside the dojo changing rooms. Her smirk as she went into the room to change into her regular clothes left Sam with more questions than answers.

Sam stayed confused through his post-workout shower and into the evening. Rachel just smiled gently at him across the dinner table. The conversation over the meal had nothing to do with the events in the dojo. They talk about the issues Rachel faces, making sure the community has all of the supplies they need. She talks at length with him about the challenges in raising produce. Even the major medical issues faced by the Mods are brought up and talked about.

Rachel walked him back to the bunker and his small, but cozy room after they finished eating. She turned to him at the door and looked deeply into his eyes. “Aren’t you going to ask me about the kiss? I can see you thinking about it.”

“I don’t know what to do or say,” he said.

“Have no women ever hit on you before?”

“No. I’m not experienced like that. You do know that this body is fake, right? The real me is miles away, in a tank. It is being regrown. I’m also only twelve years old,” he told her as he looked down in shame.

“What?!? How the hell are you twelve?”

“Sorry. I expected Jeremiah to tell you. Come in and sit while I explain,” he said as he turned the doorknob and led them both into the room that seemed a bit close now.

He spent the next two hours telling Rachel the whole story. She asked questions about his family and Thornsburry. She shared her take on the obscure and rich patron and shared his sorrow about lost family. She backed up what he had already seen and heard about Jeremiah. She assured him of the honesty the man had always shown her. She also told him about how honest and helpful she found Alan to be as well. Grey had been a good friend as well, and she missed their conversations.

After this long talk, they were much closer, emotionally. She understood his reaction so clearly now. They parted with a hug, and each spent a restful night in their own beds.

---===+++===---

The next morning, the entire place was riled up. A large tractor-trailer rig with a flatbed rolled up and entered the compound. The flatbed sported a huge spherical object strapped down and covered in camo tarps. Rachel was having a heated conversation with someone in a wheelchair. At one point, the chair turned to give the person in it a view of the crew that was working to loosen the straps and uncover the sphere. Sam caught sight of a delicate-faced blond woman. Her body seemed to be smaller than normal, but not out of proportion with her head. Her legs were proportional, but were lying limp in her chair.

As he was thinking about what was going on, Rachel looked up and called to him, “Sam! Come meet our chief engineer!” He walked up and looked the woman in the eyes. “Michal Lewis, meet Sam Orroboros. Sam, meet Michal Lewis. Sam is working on a personal project and cooperating with Jeremiah. He has some unique challenges. You two may like to share stories.”

The woman extended a hand to shake as she locked gazes with him. She smiled as he shook her hand, “Nice to meet you, Sam. Anyone Jeremiah trusts is a good man in my book.” Her sweet contralto voice honeyed the air as Sam returned her smile.

“Yes, he makes wonderful tea ceremonies,” he said with a smile.

“Especially the confections, right? Is he still using the tea house in the warehouse? I had quite a nice time there. He asked me to make it handicap accessible.”

“I had no idea that was part of the design. What kind of crew did you use on the project?” he asked.

“Oh, I did the work myself,” her huge grin blew his mind as she waited for Sam to become confused by her claim.

“Huh? How did you do that?” he asked in puzzlement.

With a smirk, she raised a delicate hand dramatically. As her hand rose, Sam found himself being raised, gently, into the air. She rose at the same time and turned to face him with no visible support before slowly returning them both to their places. “A lady has ways of making things happen,” she added simply.

All three of them had a laugh. “So, what kind of tech fun do you have to share?” asked the small woman. Sam estimated her height at about four feet if she were to be able to stand up.

Sam smiled at her for a moment before speaking. “I’m not really here.”

“Excuse me?” the small woman asked while Rachel smirked out of her vision.

“This artificial body is controlled remotely by my mind while my body is being regrown in a lab. The shell of this body is an artificial cancer that can absorb DNA samples and replicate that DNA to make all of the external tissue match the sample. It makes it impossible to trace me by DNA,” he explained proudly.

“How do you deal with transmission lags? There has to be a delay in the communication with the lab where your body is,” asked Michal. Her mind was obviously captured by this exchange.

“My owl, Ghost works as a buffer and comms uplink from what I understand. The details are not clear to me, though.”

Michal looked excited. “Once I get my latest find settled in my lab, we can start doing a preliminary examination. Not too invasive, but I want an MRI and a CT scan. Any problems with that?”

“As long as dissection and vivisection are not involved, I’m sure it will be good,” he replied cautiously.

“What did you find?” he asked to change the subject.

Her eyes lit up with excitement. “I found something incredible in an underground military bunker. SO far, I have found out that it has a life support system and a large tank of liquid in it. Beyond that, I can only tell that there is something alive in there. The markings on the outside say ‘Project David’. . The only documentation I could find indicates that it was a precursor to a ‘Project Solomon’. David was abandoned a few years ago in the bunker I dug up.

“Rachel, I need a team of medical folks and at least one telepath. I may also need Haans in case we have to make another tank or repair this one,” she said as she turned back to Rachel. It was amazing to see the unpowered wheelchair moving around so naturally, with no visible evidence of it being pushed.

Turning back to Sam, she added, “The really interesting thing I found was that there are external ports for network connectivity and an outdated VR interface. There is even a fairly powerful computer on board. We need to get the power hooked up to it before the batteries run low. Weird, right?”

Sam and Rachel had to nod in agreement with the statement. “I’ll see who is available and send them over in about 30 minutes. That should give you time to get ‘David’ settled in your lab,” replied Rachel.  

As the tarps and straps were finally released from the sphere, A set of metal doors opened up in the ground to reveal a heavy-duty elevator platform that was thirty feet square in the courtyard. The sphere floated gently as a feather over to the platform. The wheelchair rolled smoothly over onto the platform. At this point, the whole platform began to lower into the ground with its massive cargo. 

Michal waved to the two as the doors closed back over the lowering platform. They both waved back.

“I need coffee,” said Rachel as she began to walk to the dining hall. “Have you checked in with Jeremiah recently? After the scans, you might want to check in. He has been having a bit of an adventure lately.”

Sam followed her to the building. They both greeted people who passed close to them as they crossed the compound. “I have not talked to him in a while. I’ll see if he needs a hand when I’m done with Michal. She’s pretty amazing, right?” he commented.

“She is amazing. She’s an orphan, too. Like you, but it’s been longer. I worry that she is too isolated sometimes. I hope that you guys can become good friends. You both need those,” the enigmatic leader replied.