[He hangs up with a wordless grunt of acknowledgement and puts the communicator in his pocket, freeing his hands to trudge up top with a six pack and his favorite gun. He's back maybe ten minutes later, camera turned outward to give Stephen a view of the CES's current output: a broad swathe of desert, wrinkled with dunes, spotted with stunted trees and patchy grass.]
[Private, at the end of the day]