System Overclocked 2 -ch4- (Patreon)

Fastening the camera firmly into place he inspected his work. It was well outside of reach of someone casually walking up. He’d also taken the time to put it in as part of a light fixture.

Unless someone knew what to look for, they wouldn’t even realize what it was.

Running a finger around the base-plate he felt the sealant. It felt perfectly fine and was already dry.

“Was that all?” asked Joy beneath him. She was currently working at detatching the door. Seventh was standing guard.

Looking down, he saw that not only had she finished up detatching it, but had already gotten the new one into place on the hinges.

She’d dove into the work and done her best already. It’d been a bit of a show at first. She managed to get the sleeve of her dress caught up in the power-tool while removing the screws from the hinge.

There was a small scratch on her forearm that she’d bandaged up and then tied her sleeves off. Her face had several streaks of grease or lubricant he wasn’t sure. The hinges had needed some finessing to get them to move fluidly.

“Yeah. Now put a pin in the top hinge and see how it closes. If the latch lines up perfectly with the hole, then we’re good,” Wrench instructed. “If it’s aimed low, then we can put in a few washers on the bottom hinge to raise it up. If it’s high, we’ll swap the pin and do the opposite.”

“Oh. Oh! That makes perfect sense,” Joy said with a bubbly and warm laugh. She hit him with a luxurious smile that made even the most attractive Hume back in his Hab only equal to Joy. “This is much more fun than being in a School. It’s like… like being in a School but with a task.”

“You know, you’re not wrong,” Seventh muttered. She’d mostly been on guard duty for this, but she’d also been helping out with tasks as they went. “Brawler stuff was similar but there was always a lot of friction. I mean, you fight each other all the time. This is a lot more… fun.”

“Yes, fun!” Joy agreed and went over to the door. She had a hinge pin in her hand and started clambering up the shorter ladder she was using.

Leaning down, Wrench shouted into the open Duct door.

“Stripe! Good?” he didn’t want others to guess what was going on just in case people were listening.

“Good!” she shouted back. “Just-just a smidge down!”

Oh? Alright.

Standing back up he tapped at the camera twice with his index finger, then waited.

“Good!” called Stripe.

Smirking, Wrench got down from the ladder and went to stand next to Seventh. Unfortunately he couldn’t resist staring at her rear end and waist in the dress she was wearing.

“You stare a lot. Like the dress that much?” she asked having apparently caught him.

“I… yeah. Yeah. All three of you look great. This Shelter might be absolute shit, but I’m a fan of their clothes,” admitted Wrench.

“They gave me seven or eight dresses,” Joy reported while using a hammer to tap the pin in through the hinges. “I have no idea why. They barely gave me one at the start. Though I’m rather appreciative of it. I do love the colors it’s all in and it does wonderfully for my body-type.”

Watching a beautiful woman in an attractive dress doing Fixer things had certain pushed a button Wrench didn’t know he had. He’d never been attracted to Fixers in the past. This was certainly a new feeling.

Tearing his gaze away from Joy he looked back to Seventh.

“I’ll try to wear more… School… things. I don’t mind being a bit more womanly. Besides, I get to embrace that side now as much as I want,” Seventh offered with a shrug of her broad shoulders. “Meeting is soon, yeah?”

Wrench had no idea what time it was. He was supposed to meet with the Admini just before the evening meal. They stuck to a normal Hume day here though the Tongsta sometimes forgot to turn the lights off at the right time.

Or turn them back on when they should, either.

“I think so. Not sure,” Wrench muttered. There was a small School nearby. They looked to be all Demes and keeping themselves far away from the more open areas.

Putting down his tool belt he put his hands behind himself and slowly approached the School. They’d spotted him long before he actually got anywhere near close enough to do something. There was at least twenty of them.

Compared to the big School he’d seen in the Upper Field they were barely a sixth the size.

“Hello,” Wrench greeted them politely. “I’m sorry to trouble such a diverse and interesting School, but I was wondering if you could help a Fixer out? I don’t know the time. My implant isn’t working. I’m new here.”

A young Deme that looked more like a Dog with Hume traits was the one that was holding his gaze. She turned to look at a place on the horizon.

She pointed at it.

“That’s the bell-tower. It doesn’t chime anymore, but you can still read the time,” she offered with a small smile.

Wrench followed the direction of her arm and eventually was able to pick out what she was talking about. If the time was accurate, he still had thirty minutes to kill.

“Thank you so much,” he said and dipped his head to the School then began walking back to Seventh and Joy.

“Like the damn School whisperer,” Seventh growled at, watching him come back.

“I was in an agreement with one for a time,” Wrench admitted. “I learned a lot from her. She got rid of me to join a Brawler.”

“Stupid,” laughed Seventh loudly. “Incredibly stupid!”

Joy nodded her head from where she was working but didn’t add anything.

“Well… let’s get this door put up, secured, and then I’ll go take that meeting. You two can work on putting up the internal sensors and reinforcing the bars,” Wrench laid out with a warm smile. “I’m thinking… maybe we should make a trip to our Pens and bring our things back here. Ducts seem a bit more safe to me.”

“Yes,” Seventh stated with complete agreement in her voice. “Absolutely.”

Joy was nodding her head along once again, though as before, said nothing.

Well, I can’t really get rid of Pain, now can I. I already invited her in.

Err, Joy.

Joy!

Not Pain, Joy.

I… apparently killed Pain.

Sorry, not sorry, Pain.

***

Walking up to the Supply Depot window, Wrench didn’t miss the fact that all eyes were on him. Every eye, every person, all were watching him.

Not a single person that didn’t have line of sight with him, wasn’t watching him.

Spotting the overly-large School, Wrench realized that this was a perfect point in time to reassure them. As well as to give them some respect.

Schools could wield a power all their own.

Not to mention this might tie them up a bit with him.

It wouldn’t hurt to have such a big School associated with him on some level.

Walking up to them slowly, he put his hands behind his back and paused at the same distance he had previously. Then he inclined his head to the school.

“I wanted to once again say thank you to your School. I appreciate the help you provided me,” he said loudly. It was more than loud enough to be heard by the School as well as others. “As the Fixer Head, I’ll be sure to return the favor to you at some point. Please just come to the Duct door and as for Wrench if you ever have a need.”

There was no response from the School. He didn’t expect one either. Realistically a School didn’t typically have someone leading them. More often than not they tended to have a small group leading them at the center.

Dusky’s position was entirely given to her because of his partnership with her.

Turning, Wrench headed back to the Supply Depot window.

Even before he got there, TomTodd appeared from somewhere. The Admini practically dislodging himself from a shadow and walking toward Wrench.

“Ah! Wrench, it’s a pleasure that you made it on time. I’m here to escort you to the Admini Head,” TomTodd murmured, smiling at Wrench.

“Ah, good. Thanks for getting me that three person Pen. Whoever had taken the request from my companions declined them. I might want to go find them and ask them what that was about since you were able to take care of the issue,” put forth in a clear and obvious way that he wasn’t exactly pleased with the Admini’s at this time.

“I’m sure it was just an oversight,” TomTodd said with a chuckle. “Now, come. We’ll go chat with the Admini Head. Their name is Shinista. It’s some Tongsta thing though no one really knows what it means.”

Ah yes. Naming a Hume after a person, place, or location.

Always a stunning font of creativity.

Wrench didn’t respond further, he just followed TomTodd.

He was led into the Supply Depot, past a number of Admini, and deep into the back of it. Straight to what looked a lot like a bunch of Pens, really.

In the Pens were Admini working away on things.

Quite a few were working on very outdated tools while others had much newer ones. It was quite an eclectic collection that he saw.

TomTodd led him to one such Pen and went inside.

Wrench followed though he had already dipped into his system. He’d ramped up his body to a point that if they tried to do something, he could react in a flash.

Except nothing odd was waiting for him.

It was just a man behind a desk, typing away at a keyboard while staring into a display. As soon as TomTodd had entered he immediately looked away from it and stood up.

“Ah! Yes! You’re the new Fixer. I was told you wanted to meet with me and that-well, that you’d taken the Ducts over,” Shinista said quickly.

He was a man in his middle years with dark black hair and light brown eyes. There wasn’t a lot of facial hair on him though he wasn’t exactly smooth faced. He had a few days of stubble and bags under his eyes.

“Yeah,” Wrench stated as if he were dropping a stone in the man’s office. It landed with all the same tact and diplomacy one could expect for doing such a thing. “Took over. Kicked the other Fixers out. Took their access. They’re not coming back. They’d been taking bribes in the form of captured Solos or School Hume. You can fill in the blanks.

“Anyways. I’ve got a damn repair list that was taller than I am. I could really use you going through and re-organizing it into priority lists. Need to have now, need to have later, good to have at some point, good to have in the future, would like to have.

“Or something like that. You could do one through five or all I care but I need a priority list. Too much to fix too quickly.”

Shinista and TomTodd both looked shocked to their core. Both men just staring at Wrench with a slack jawed appearance.

“No? Not possible? There’s too many. I could reject them all and you can relog them if that’s too hard to do,” offered Wrench. He wasn’t going to work on the list he had one way or the other. His best option was for them to direct the work they wanted done immediately, rather than him kicking the list out.

He’d do what he had to, however.

“Oh! Very possible! Very, very possible. I’m-yes, not a problem,” Shinista said with an eagerness Wrench could feel. “What do you need from us? Anything at all?”

Wrench grunted, then reached into his hip-pouch and pulled out a piece of met-ape. He and Stripe had gone over everything and put together the supplies the Shelter would need as well as what they’d need as Fixers.

“Everything in the first category are must haves as soon as possible. I wrote them out according to standard Hume inventory records. Should be able to be pushed to the Tongsta just like that,” Wrench explained and handed the list over to Shinista. He pointed to the second category. “This is just wants for me and my people. Not needed or required immediately.

“Third category is the same but for the Shelter as a whole. That’s everything really. Beyond that we’re just going to be working through our task-list as best as we can.”

“I-perfect. This is perfect,” Shinista said with a laugh, looking to Wrench with a wide grin. “Thank you. You made my job as simple as could be.”

Wrench shrugged at that. He was just doing what he always did as a Fixer.

“Anyways. I take it you’re fighting against the Lower Parts Hume? Fixers threw in with them rather than you?” Wrench prompted. “That why they tried to lock me out from joining them?”

“Ah, probably. Probably. Yes, we’re definitely working to keep the Lower Parts down. They’re just… terribly violent. They take anything they want, force everyone to do as they wish, and generally cause problems,” Shinista said without any irony in his tone as to what Wrench had quite literally done. “Whenever they send more than a handful up the Skybridge a Tongsta will get involved. By then it’s too late though.

“They’ve taken whatever they came to take and already moved it back to their own part of the Hab.”

“Right. Lot of hostages down there?” Wrench asked.

“No. Most of the people down there choose to be there. The people they take… they don’t survive or they just join them,” Shinista admitted. “A lot of those people end up coming back up with tokens and getting whatever resources they need and taking it back down.”

“Alright. In other words, they do have a functioning population of sorts. They raid the Upper Parts for whatever else they need, but otherwise they only launch small raids,” summarized Wrench.

“Tongsta not let you blow the Skybridge up?” Wrench asked.

Both Admini had a blank visage, staring at Wrench as if he were asking them to bend over the desk for him.

“No?” he prompted.

“No… no don’t… don’t blow the Skybridge,” Shinista murmured, sounding as if he was suddenly terrified of Wrench.

“Alright, then what’re you doing right now to stop them?” Wrench asked.

“We pay them off sometimes to get people back. Especially if it’s-it’s someone important. We’ve hired Brawlers to fight them off. Sentries,” Shinista listed off.

“Yeah… that sounds stupid. We’ll just militarize the Skybridge,” explained Wrench with a wave of his hand. “Fuck all that. I’ll just build an extension on the Skybridge and turn it into a Supply Depot queue. Anyone in the Lower Parts who needs something can request it there.

“It wouldn’t be a formal building so I don’t think the Tongsta will really care. I’ll build it overnight with some self-sealing bolts and building materials. Won’t be that hard.

“In fact, I can build most of it at the fabs. I could probably have it built overnight, put it up in the morning in just an hour.”

“Won’t they take it down at night?” TomTodd asked.

“Hm? They would if they could. I won’t be letting them get the chance. I plan on taking it down at night. No sense in leaving it out for them to damage it,” Wrench countered, thinking through other possibilities. “I’ll just keep it in three sections and do the assembly on site each morning. It’s fine.

“The Brawlers you’re paying can be the guards during the day. We can outfit them with some basic armor and clubs.”

“Armor? Clubs?” Shinista asked incredulously.

“Yeah, I’ll just disable the safeties. No point in having access to the system if I’m not going to use it effectively. Though I might give my own people some ranged weaponry like crossbows or bows,” Wrench continued, then he looked up at the two Admini and smiled. “I’ll need a personal liaison to work with. Please send them over tonight and I’ll make sure everything is on the up and up.

“I’ll get them prepped tomorrow morning afterward and have everything ready to go. Just make sure you send a second Admini to work the window.”

Both Admini were once again nodding their heads.

“Good, good. Anyone in charge in the Lower Parts? Would it be easier if I just go kill them?” Wrench asked curiously, looking from one Admini to the other.

Once again, they were silenced by his words. Neither of them responding at all.

Then TomTodd looked at the ground and shook his head.

“Its more like… five or six gangs. They all have territory in the Lower Parts,” answered the Admini. “They take turns to come up and raid… or… whatever else. There’s two that do it the most but the others are just as willing to do it.”

“And if I kill the leaders?” inquired Wrench.

“They’ll get replaced immediately. They often kill each other themselves,” Shinista answered. “Honestly, their fatality rate is really high. If it wasn’t for the constant stream of new people they’d be a ghost town down there already.”

“How often do adoptions occur?” Wrench asked, suddenly curious in the new topic that’d been brought up accidentally.

“Once every two seven day cycle,” Shinista answered quickly. “Some get picked up from the School but not as many. The Solos end up almost always being picked clean.

“Fixers get taken fairly quickly. Brawlers and Admini tend to stick around here for a really long time.”

Wrench had no idea why that was the case, but it was a curious thing to wonder about. Then he shook his head and looked back to the Admini.

“Alright. Let’s talk details. The boring stuff,” redirected Wrench and then pulled out a few met-ape sheets. “First… we need to talk about system upgrades. Because even without an implant, I can tell you right now that there’s probably more than a few people with a lot of static in their brains due to firmware mismatches in some key systems.

“I’m not blaming you, before you get defensive. I’m not blaming you. I’m just saying we need to work to fixing it.”