Iron Fist, Crystal Dagger

Edwin Page Glass is a prospector. He travels into the jungles to hunt for mature Yuma trees and harvest the crystal daggers used in complex calculation machines. Edwin has been doing this for more than a decade. Each season he finds enough crystals to keep him coming back, but something keeps getting in the way of great success. The treachery of a partner or their death has made it difficult for Edwin to get ahead and so he came up with a risky and daring plan.

Instead of a human partner, this time he is bringing an automation companion. A companion that won't get sick and die to leave a family to claim a portion. Nor one that will even want to be paid at all. And if this works out, he may have taken a great step forward in building a working partnership that will last the rest of his life.

Assuming he lives through it.