Overclocked -CH 28- (Patreon)

“There we are,” Goodie murmured, her tentacle having split into six now. She was carefully adjusting the odd device she’d had him put on.

It fit around his torso and abdomen, and felt a lot more like a tight-fitting undershirt rather than a tech device. He could tell just from looking at it though that it wasn’t exactly clothes, but rather that it had been manufactured on top of the fabric.

Circuits, traces, and what looked a lot like pumps or chambers were spread throughout it. They were all quite flat and didn’t stick out much more than a few millimeters.

None of it seemed like it’d get in his way, nor even be inconvenient.

“Right. Uh… what now then? Is this everything? I really don’t want to go into Tongsta spaces, Goodie. They’re not very healthy for Hume, you know,” complained Wrench, looking up at Goodie.

“I know, I know. It’s probably not very comfortable, but it’ll be okay. This’ll make it so you can go everywhere with me! I even got a little tether, just in case you lose gravitational control. I know Hume aren’t comfortable in zero-g movement. With such a solid body, you don’t have a way to generate any force on yourself,” Goodie murmured in an almost offhand way. Her tentacles adjusted the device one more time, then reached into herself.

She pulled something out from inside of her body and then unspooled what looked like a long thin wire.

“It just goes in the back. It’ll make sure you don’t float off. Is that okay Wrenchie?” asked Goodie, holding the end of the line up.

“I mean, I’d rather not float off,” answered Wrench with a laugh. He turned around and put his back to the Tongsta.

With a click, the line was fastened into something on the device he was wearing.

“There we go. Okay! We’re ready to go. Did you want to say goodbye to anyone?” Goodie asked, causing Wrench to look to the Hab only a few feet away.

She’d been getting him ready for this outing right in front of the airlock.

Stripe was there, of course.

Smiling.

Watching.

Wherever he went, Stripe would be there if she could. The only exception was at night, when he went back to his own pen. She always saw him up to the door, then turned, and fled rather quickly.

It left him wishing that she was in his pen, not Dusky.

The School-Hume was always very attentive to his needs and wants, but never went beyond that. There was still no affection or care in what she did. Dusky was just upholding her end of the deal, and doing it with gratitude, but that was all.

Wrench just wanted more.

“I’ll be back, Stripe,” Wrench said with a wave of his hand. He didn’t think she’d hear him, but he felt like he had to say it.

Grinning, Stripe bounced in place and waved her hand back at him. He saw her mouth move rapidly as she said something. Not a single sound made it through the Hab-glass, but it felt nice to see her respond anyways.

“You two are so cute together,” Goodie said. “Do you think you’ll have her as a partner, too? You could make cute Hume with her.

“I’ll have to look into her a bit more. I wasn’t really interested in her when I first saw her, but if you’re that keen on her, my Wrench, then I’ll have to be interested. Your mommy’s special boy after all.”

Goodie picked Wrench up, and then began to float off and away.

Rather than falling straight to the end of the tether, Wrench floated along with her. Feeling weightless, he fluttered through the air in an awkward way.

It didn’t take more than a few seconds to realize the device was responding intrinsically to what was happening, but it was following what he wanted.

He had no idea how, but it was responding to his thoughts.

Maybe the implant? It’s all connected together?

Kind of neat.

I never knew something like this existed.

Maybe it’s some ultra-rare product that Goodie got just for me? That’s possible.

“Wow! You’ve got the hang of it so fast Wrench! The seller said for most Hume it takes a few days and the tether was an important requirement and— you know what, I know better. You’re my super special Wrench,” Goode trilled with a triumphant laugh. They’d left the enclosed room the Hab was in, and exited into a hall. “My Wrenchie boy. My baby! So amazing. Let’s just take the tether off. I’m sure you’ll do fine and keep up with mommy.”

There was a pop behind Wrench. Glancing behind himself, he saw the tether retract into Goodie and vanish inside her. He was, for all intents and purposes, free to do as he pleased.

A brief thought of fleeing crossed his mind.

Then he realized that was just stupid.

While Hume were pets to the Tongsta, trying to fight against them at the moment wasn’t going to work out. His previous attempts to be part of the resistance had led to an ending that didn’t serve anyone at all.

Realistically, he’d have better luck working as Goodie’s games winner to get recognition. She was already clearly suspecting that he was above the intelligence that most Tongsta expected of them.

Almost like I’m a dog. I remember seeing dogs and cats in a few of the resistance settlements. Supposedly they came from Earth.

They treat us as we did them.

Pets.

Not to mention, there were those who weren’t very kind to them either.

Just… like Tongsta.

Maybe we’re not so different after all.

“— so smart. My baby. I’m so proud of you. I know you’re smarter than anyone thinks. You clearly understand me,” Goodie continued as they passed from the hall, to another. Then another.

And another.

Wrench had noticed that they were currently following a green line on the wall that’d been visible since exiting what he assumed was where Goodie lived.

“Wrench, you understand me, don’t you?” Goodie asked.

“I mean, yeah. You rarely have any static at all anymore,” Wrench confirmed with a nod of his head. Flying beside the Tongsta as they moved through the hall. “Pretty sure my implant is learning to interpret what you’re saying though.

“To be fair, you’ve said more to me than any Tongsta ever did previously over my entire life. Your race doesn’t normally talk much to Hume.”

“I knew you did. I knew it. You always bob your skull like that when you’re telling me yes. You move it back and forth when you mean no, right?” Goodie prompted.

Wrench nodded his head at that.

“Can you show me a no?” asked Goodie.

Wrench nodded his head, then shook it in a no.

“I knew it. You understand me perfectly. You heard my request, acknowledged it, then did it. I knew it,” hissed Goodie. “They’ve lied to us all along. Hume are intelligent creatures. Not just… just pets.

“Well… don’t’ you worry, Wrench. You’re my baby and no one will ever harm you again. Ever.”

A tentacle came down and looped around Wrench, then pulled him up and into Goodie’s side, protectively.

“I’m going to save all the Hume I can. All of them,” promised Goodie. “It’s not right to do what we’ve done to you. Now… now I have to wonder about the Grae though. Do you think they’re like you?”

Wrench nodded his head dramatically at that. He firmly believed the Grae were just like Hume.

“Damn. Okay. I’ll start with Hume, then go from there,” whispered Goodie. “Okay. Here we go. Green line to station forty-two. That’s where I work.”

Wrench looked up at the side wall while Goodie hugged him. He spotted something that he couldn’t decipher, but that likely meant the number forty-two.

Or so he reasoned, since Goodie led him in there.

They’d entered a large and darkened sphere.

There was a floating circular harness-like device that hovered in the dead center of the room.

There were no places for it to be hooked into at the edges, nor could he see any attachment points for it.

The walls were bare except for what might have been a vent or two, as well as several panels that looked like they could be some type of monitoring system.

Next to the harness was a small Hab, about the size of two pens side by side. One clearly had a bed, bathroom and a chair. The other had a number of Hume technology devices in it, as well as a food production unit.

At the dead center of the room was a workbench with a large set of tools on it.

“There’s your play-Hab Wrench. I put in some Hume tech, or at least that’s what the listing said it was, for you to toy with. I know as a Fixer, you enjoy taking that kind of stuff apart,” Goodie murmured and moved over there.

She opened the lock on it, then gently inserted Wrench into it.

Her tentacle hovered near the lock, then moved away.

Goodie had left it open and unlocked.

“Try to stay inside, okay Wrench? It’s a little dangerous if you come outside,” Goodie asked. “I trust you and know that you’ll do what you need to. Please try not to get hurt though. I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt.”

“Okay, Goodie. I’ll do that,” Wrench promised and nodded his head. He couldn’t deny he was actually moved by her care for, and trust in him.

Looking to the devices, he realized quickly that they were indeed some Hume devices, as well as a few things that looked like non-Hume devices. Truly things he’d never seen before.

“This’ll be fun,” murmured Wrench, walking over to the bench. Opening the box of tools, he paused.

They were all extremely high-grade, nearly indestructible Hume tools. A tool for any and every situation.

“A lot of fun,” Wrench said, and then looked to Goodie.

The Tongsta had gotten into the harness and had sent out ten tentacles. Stretching out in every direction.

There was an odd whine before the room, except for Wrench’s Hab, darkened to absolute pitch black. Faint pinpricks of light began to appear all around.

Not far from Goodie, there was a small blob-like smear in the dark.

“See, this us,” Goodie stated with a tentacle pointing to the blob. “We’re on this spssss. Right now, we’re on a patrol along the border. There’s been reports of the spssss coming through and devouring planets.

“I’m a nav, and I’m the one responsible for moving the ship. Your mommy… is super special, just like you Wrench. We’re super special together.

“Because without you, I never would have left. I never would have even tested or tried to be a nav. All because I took you away and wanted to get out. That cube-for-brains is kicking himself for giving you to me now, by the way.

“I sent him the contract he tentacled back to him, along with my very expensive legal representative. They got real quiet after that. I made sure to re-register all of that with the spssss.

“You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, Wrench.”

As she spoke, Goodie had been pulling at odd points through the room. Grasping what looked to be chunks of blackness, and then moving them around through the room.

One of her other tentacles had stitched a long yellow line from the blob that was apparently them, along through all the spaces she’d pulled over to her.

“Likewise, Goodie,” Wrench admitted honestly. She’d given him the world in their short relationship. All she’d asked of him so far was to deal with some idiots and help Dickhead.

Everything else had been at his own insistence.

“Alright! Here we go!” declared Goodie a moment before she literally folded all the spaces together on top of the blob.

The world screamed as reality shattered apart.

***

“Is that… is that a Hume?” asked a voice.

Wrench looked up from the machine he’d been dismantling. From what he could tell, it was some type of device that was used to bend and shape metal with a hydraulic type of piston.

“It is,” Goodie answered. She was currently whipping through multiple-colored lines of passage through the space around her. Charting, plotting, and planning voyages.

Wrench now understood that they were on some type of spaceship. Traveling through the darkness of the galaxy on some type of military patrol.

“Why? Aren’t they rather dirty and combative?” asked the voice.

Wrench was fairly certain they weren’t actually here, but instead, talking through some type of inter-ship communication device.

“No. Not really. You just have to make sure you have the right facilities for them. It’s no different than raising a ball. It takes time and effort,” Goodie countered, working even as she responded. “They’re intelligent creatures. They think, feel, and respond. Treat them as such, make sure they have what they need, and you’ll find them to be perfect companions.

“Wrench here was the turning point in my life. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Uh, even more than being listed as a Nav-cerer?” asked the voice.

“Wouldn’t be one without Wrench,” argued Goodie.

“He’s the games champion, too. Wrench. I saw that name in the xxhht a lot. My partner watched it live. Said it was one of the most amazing games they’d ever seen.”

“Yes, it’s Wrench. The champion. He set more galaxy-records than anyone else before. He’s my special boy. My Wrenchie. Why, do you want to start a Hume-Hab? I know a number of dealers now. I could get you started,” offered Goodie.

“Nah. My xxhht tried it once. Put a bunch of Hume in a Hab that cost them way too much. Died in two days. Apparently, they didn’t add in stress for a Hume to put in or something,” grumbled the voice.

“Yes, you have to make sure you put in stress for the Fixer to add to the Hab. It all starts with a good Fixer,” Goodie murmured, then chuckled. “Everything started with a Hume Fixer.”

Almost without realizing it, Goodie had reached out a tentacle and stuck it over the top of the Hab. As if comforting herself that Wrench was there.

“Anyways. Boss wants to see you. There’s a ship on the scope and they want to plot a new course, but they want your feedback. You’re the only nav-cerer on the boat right now till we pick up our second,” stated the voice. “You know the way?”

“Green-line to red-parallel junction. Take it to the purple-perpendicular and travel to the end at red-burst,” answered Goodie in an offhand way.

“You nav-cerers are always too good with directions. Anyways. Head over. Though… uh… stop off and put your Hume away. Boss doesn’t really like Hume at all. Thinks they’re just xxhht,” said the voice.

“A spssss? No. Hume are not small-pests,” Goodie argued with some heat. The first two static bursts clearly had been interpreted into ‘small-pests’ later. It confirmed his thoughts about his implant and that it was learning as he went. “I’ll go put Wrench away. My shift was almost over anyways.”

Goodie made a dismissive gesture and the black world around her vanished with a fluttering noise. Then she turned to Wrench and his Hab.

“Wrench, do you think you can make it back to your Hab on your own, or do you want me to take you there?” asked Goodie. “Actually, never mind. I don’t want you going on your own. Just in case there’s another fool like the Boss.

“Don’t worry about taking any of that back to the Hab, either. I already had a new set of tools ordered for you. They’ll be here shortly, and some other machines and things for you to tinker with. Lots of things to keep you busy as long as you want to be.”

Wrench chuckled at that. He’d contemplated taking the device back with him.

If he was being sincere, he’d rather enjoyed breaking it down and figuring out how it worked. It’d provided him with insight into a type of technology that he didn’t actually understand.

Though some of the devices weren’t Hume tech at first glance to him, after taking them apart he managed to find some common ground principles to what he knew. As if they were similar to Hume tech but not quite.

Moving to the exit, Wrench flung himself out of the airlock and straight to Goodie.

With a soft pat, he landed against her soft body as she pulled herself out of her harness.

“Oh Wrench, you silly goof,” Goodie murmured with a chuckle. “Yes, come to mommy. Let’s get you home. Everyone will probably be asleep, so you can just go straight to bed.

“I think I’ll go get some food myself and then just watch your Hab for a bit after that. Your School-Hume really are lovely to watch when they’re feeling fun. Especially with all those flying toys we got.”

Errr, it’s nighttime.

Does she mean in the morning tomorrow?

Sheesh.

Tongsta time is so very different to our own. It’s not just a different perception, but a different attitude to it entirely.

Goodie wrapped a tentacle around him, and zipped off out of her workstation. Leaving everything behind as it was and heading back down the green line. This time, Wrench paid attention to the symbols that went along with them.

If Goodie was willing to let him wander the ship at some point, he wanted to be able to know where he was going. That meant learning all he could about the wall-signs of the ship’s interiors.

Given how they lay out ducts for Hume, I bet I can figure this out fairly quickly. It’ll just take a few trips, a little intuition, and some thinking.