System Overclocked 2 -ch 17- (Patreon)

Goodie was hold the carrier still against the air-lock as the four got into it.

It had two rows of seats, each able to fit ten people. Each had a four point harness and were actually rather comfortable.

The sides, top, and bottom, were all see through and there was even an attached environmental unit on the bottom. The temperature of the carrier was lovely.

“I got this from a really sweet round-one and a manufacturer they own,” Goodie continued to explain the carrier they were getting into. “I plan on of course mentioning it to anyone who asks as well as my own spssss. Though I have to be a bit careful there.

“The spssss spssss won’t like me sharing the truth about Hume. Oh, and Grae of course. I’ll save the Grae, too, Tickaht. Don’t you worry.”

Tickaht hunched her shoulders inward when Goodie said her name but gave no outward sign of having heard her.

The Grae grabbed Wrench by the wrist and forced him down into a chair, then sat down next to him. She watched Stripe sit down on his other side and daintily cross her legs, one over the other.

Tickaht immediately imitated it though there was a casual lethal grace to it. She let out a soft honking chuckle.

Then she glanced at Wrench and clearly caught him staring at her legs and the way the dress pulled at her thighs. She quickly reached out and patted him just above the groin twice, then turned to Seventh.

“You don’t wear these. Why not? It creates a question for males, doesn’t it? They want to know whats under this,” Tickaht asked. She seemed intent on not listening to Goodie. “You wear that and it shows your legs off, but there is no mystery there.”

“— not much of an issue. It’s fine though. The captain is most definitely on our side. They had a great deal of positive things to say about you, Wrench,” Goodie murmured and then closed the back of the carrier, then shut the airlock.

Everyone was buckled in and seated now. Stripe slipped her left hand into Wrench’s right and then interlaced her fingers into his.

Looking over, he found her eyes on him, and smiled at her. She still looked rather nervous. Most likely because Tickaht had called her out about her figure.

“There we are. My precious babies,” Goodie said quietly and then lifted the carrier up with a tentacle. “Okay sweeties. Mommy will be back later. I hope you all have a nice day. Oh! Gagdet dear, I put in all those items you requested but I forgot to log it into the system that I did it. They’re all in the loading area. I’m sorry, hon. I was just really all flustered at having found everyone.”

Wrench imagined that there was probably a response from Gadget, but he certainly couldn’t hear it.

“Awww, thanks Gadget. You’re a sweet heart. Okay, bye babies!” Goodie waved a tentacle at the Hab and then turned away, heading away from it.

As they went, Wrench could see there were eight or nine other Habs in this area. He also spotted the Shelter Joy was still at with Blue-Bill.

I hope they do better with one another in this life then they did the last one.

“That’s… there’s a lot of Habs,” Stripe said having noticed the same he had.

“Oh, yes. I have a lot of Habs now. These are all the poor Shelters that you weren’t at. I just took them all. I’m also actively receiving all Hume shelter drop offs for several clans,” admitted Goodie enthusiastically. “It’s so exciting. Wrench, I’ve already saved over five-thousand Hume. Aren’t you proud of your mommy?”

“I’m… five-thousand? Yes. I’m very proud of you, Goodie. Mommy,” Wrench agreed, peering up at Goodie above him.

That was a massive amount of Hume for one Tongsta alone.

“Before you worry about it, I’ve personally hired on a number of helpers. I’m actively reading all the Hab Fixer system reports directly to make sure my helpers are doing what the Hume need,” Goodie quickly explained. “But this’ll go easier once you all spread your ability to talk with me. I’m looking forward to greeting all my babies every morning.

“It’s such a wonderful thing to see so many happy Hume. All so delighted to see my poor silly self.”

“You’re not silly at all!” Stripe immediately disagreed.

“Mm, thank you Stripe. I’m sure you’re already telling me to stop being mean to myself,” Goodie guessed correctly. “Well, it’s fine. Mother Goodie will keep going. My stipend is… well, saving a tier five clan flag-ship made me set for the rest of my life.

“That doesn’t even count our winnings from betting on my Wrenchie. I’m the single wealthiest round-one out there.

“Anyways, we’re doing well. Lots of Shelters to collect and pick up. I won’t let any Shelter exist ever again if it doesn’t end with me. Those are the lowest of the poor Hume and those most likely to be abused. That won’t happen anymore.

“Though now I have to expand my collection. I’ll need to pick up Grae when and where I can, though their numbers are much less than Hume.”

Tickaht had paused in her conversation with Seventh when Goodie mentioned Grae. Only to look at the ground, then look to Wrench.

“She’s always been like this?” she asked in a whisper, looking deeply nervous now.

“Yes, but she doesn’t hold Grae or Hume hostility against them,” Wrench murmured back, suddenly realizing why Tickaht was probably feeling off. “It’s no different than you and Sccsccc. She just doesn’t know any better.”

Tickaht winced, her mouth pressing into a tight line.

“Okay. Thank you, Wrench. You may look at me naked later as a reward for so gently correcting me. I’ll let you look at my privates as well again,” Tickaht offered, her clawed fingers coming up to cup and gently pat his cheek.

Then she turned away from him and looked back to Seventh.

I… yeah.

Okay, sure.

Why not.

Grae are great to look at.

Stripe squeezed his hand, causing him to guilty look her way. He’d just started to consider how Stripe would react to this.

She gave him a smile and nodded her head, her eyes scrunching up in amusement as well. Then she nodded her head again to convey her meaning clearly.

An approval for looking at Tickaht.

He had no idea why Stripe was so understanding for all this but he wasn’t going to forsake it. There was too much on the table with Stripe for him to go against her suggestions anymore.

His attempts to do so had already made Dusky nervous to the point of a break down. It’d spun Seventh up so bad that she’d become grouchy and almost unbearable.

From now on, he was just taking Stripe’s suggestions when it came to others around them when it came to their relationship.

“Okay. Here we are. This is my office!” Goodie declared and then set the carrier down in a place that was clearly designed for it.

There was an airlock that it fit into perfectly that led into a Hab.

“It’s a nice little ‘cottage Hab’. Or that’s what they called it. It’s just a nice place for you to sleep, relax, eat, and play, if you want,” Goodie explained. “It’s enough to hold a family of six.

“The back of it opens out into my office through a door. It has six Hume Zero suits, too. Those are upgraded suits to what you used last time, Wrench, but they essentially do the same thing.

“I got them for free when mentioning what you did in one on the ship. The captain agreed with it, of course. They’re sponsoring me now!”

Goodie laughed and floated away from the carrier.

Wrench unbuckled himself, hesitated for just a moment, then went to the airlock quickly. He went through the cottage Hab, didn’t bother with a suit, and just went into Goodie’s “office” through the back of the Hab.

He had a simple plan in mind and wanted to execute it. There was a thought in his head and he wanted to make sure it happened.

No sooner than he left the Hab than he felt his ability to move hampered. He was hovering weightless.

Grabbing the side of the Hab, he began to pull himself hand over hand across the wall. Getting to the edge he pulled himself around it, then looked around.

Goodie’s office had a number of things that made no sense to him.

Many things were just beyond his comprehension.

There were things that looked like mechanical machinery and consoles, but there was also a lot of things that looked more like small Tongsta. Gel filled objects that had mechanical components inside of them.

He also spotted what looked a lot like a bookshelf filled with things. He didn’t miss for a second that he was certain that the medical kit he used to fix her with was on it. The contents of that used kit were spread out around it.

Aiming for Goodie, Wrench launched himself forward.

“What?” Goodie asked sounding confused. It was obvious she had seemingly spotted him heading right for her. “Wrench what are you—”

Before she could finish, Wrench had closed the distance. He spread his body out spread eagle and was ready to grab her.

“My special Wrench,” cooed Goodie, a tentacle slipping around him in mid air. She slowed him down, then brought him up against herself. “How are you, sweetie?”

“I’m good. You saved me when I needed you,” Wrench said, laying his head against the strange exterior that was a Tongsta’s skin. “You saved me the first time, I saved you, now you saved me. Looks like it’s my turn. Hopefully it won’t be as hard as last time.”

Goodie put herself into what was an oddly shaped box and spread out into it. Previously he’d figured these as being a chair or a couch for a Tongsta. She pulled him up into her center and held him close.

“You definitely sound happy, Wrench,” Goodie said with a long sigh. “I’m so glad you’re home. So glad. I traveled all over trying to find you. All over.”

“Thank you for that,” Wrench answered.

“Of course. As if I’d not do all I could to find you,” chuckled Goodie. “Now that you’re back I finally feel at ease. That things are as they should be.

“Especially that I found all three of you. After seeing those good girls of mine saving you, I realized that they were every bit of special as you.

“Then I realized in the very next moment, that all Hume are as special as you. I think the Hume can be a massive and integral part of Tongsta society as it’s own people and clan.”

I… ah… yeah.

Yeah, that’d work.

If Hume were like a Tongsta clan, and integrated into Tongsta society… that’d do it. Then slowly bring all Hume into the clan and expand it out.

“It’s a good idea, isn’t it? I know you’re thinking about it now, too. That you’re actively moving down the same thought I did,” Goodie remarked, her voice was slowing down and softening. If she were a Hume, Wrench would suspect she was getting sleepy. “That was what I wanted to talk about as well. My plan is rather simple.

“I want to push the usefulness of Hume that we can actively communicate with and how they can help. The key there is the communicate part.

“If I balance the usefulness in counterpoint to the communication, no one can eventually argue that Hume aren’t sentient. That we just have been using the wrong definition this entire time. Hume are sentient just in a way that we don’t consider it, which doesn’t make them less.

“Making something as useful as the idea is distasteful, makes it impossible for a Tongsta to resist. It just feels too round.”

Blinking several times, Wrench could absolutely understand Goodie’s plan. It made perfect sense.

You tie the idea to it’s cost-effectiveness and suddenly it’s almost impossible to decline. It’d almost become a loss to do so, regardless of the idea being offensive.

“I made some arrangements for testing at a few Hab manufacturers. As well as Hume equipment companies. Additionally, I talked a Tongsta medical and nursing shaping facility to let us test with them, too. That’s Tongsta that are unable to care for themselves and Tongsta that are incarcerated mind you,” Goodie continued, her tentacle still loosely wrapped around Wrench. “On top of that, the captain is working on getting some military testing applications. Apparently you managed to kill an invader all by yourself.

“Right after healing me and getting me back to a point where I wasn’t going to… die. The medical team told me that if it wasn’t for your aid I most certainly would have been husked.

“That’s two factors that are already weighing in our favor for usefulness. Combat and aid. Now we just have to show them the rest and how Hume could and would be almost indispensable from Tongsta life. That we need to treat you like partners, not pets.”

“That makes almost too much sense, Goodie. You’ve been thinking on this for a while, haven’t you?” Wrench asked aloud. It only made sense if she’d literally been putting thought to this for a time.

“Praising me, aren’t you? Honestly I had a lot of time to think about it while I traveled around looking for you,” remarked Goodie. Wrench didn’t think that much time had passed, but he’d also lost track of time. Not to mention there was no telling how long they’d been in stasis before being sent to the Shelter.

Even Seventh and Stripe weren’t sure how long they’d been gone.

“I kept turning my thoughts around until my brain became boxed,” confessed Goodie with a laugh. “Over and over and over. The only thing I could come up with was showing how needed Hume are. How amazing you all are. That if I could do those two things, the rest would become obvious. Especially if we did so with Hume all trained to understand Tongsta.

“Then it’d be even simpler. At that point, I can reach out to the Hume-implant manufacturers. See if there’s something more we can do. Perhaps build in a better translation circuit and maybe even one that’d let us foolish Tongsta understand you all.”

“I… yeah. Yeah. That all makes sense, too. You’ve really put a lot of thought into this,” praised Wrench.

“Praising me yet again. Always so warm hearted with your foolish mommy. I knew you were special but I didn’t realize how special until I’d lost you,” whispered Goodie. “Well, that’s what the plan is. I’ve already set a lot of it into motion. I wanted to talk to you before we take the next step.

“That’s all the testing and the like. That’d require you and the other Hume to perform. That’s not something I can just push without you agreeing.

“If you do agree, in about… sixteen days for you we’d have an appointment. It’d be to do some preliminary lab testing. A military lab. This is the captain’s influence.

“They want to better understand what your capabilities are in the field. Apparently the captain immediately demanded Hume access ducts be put on his net ship and he wanted to have you train up hundreds of Hume as a security force.

“For whatever reason, he has in it in his head that if he had ducts filled with Hume, his security issues would become minimal.

“Oh, he did say he wanted you all armed with tunnelers. Hume sized and fitted tunnelers.”

“Ha… well… that’d be interesting. I could see that actually working rather well, too,” admitted Wrench. “It’s not like Tongsta could get into the ducts. Brawlers could scramble about relatively quickly and access a good number of points in the ship.

“I’m not a security person though, nor do I truly fully understand Tongsta ship safety needs. I’m sure that’d break some rules somewhere.”

“I wish I understood you, Wrenchie. My special boy,” complained Goodie. “Well, maybe the Hume equipment lab can help. I told them I want a simple devices that allows a number of preprogrammed responses that can also be changed. Yes, no, maybe, hungry, thirsty, hurt, more, less, good, bad.

“I kept it to ten so that it wouldn’t be overwhelming, but we can change it as we go. It’ll give us a better way to communicate.

“Anyways, so, are you willing to participate in the testing, Wrench? I’d never do something without you agreeing to it obviously. I wouldn’t want you to feel like you had to either.

“I just truly believe this is the right way to get Hume recognized as a species that is worthy of a clan designation. Grae might end up folding into that with them, or get their own designation. I’m not really sure yet.

“Up until Tickaht, Grae have been very… ah… combative, with me. They bite a lot. Obviously that’s not their fault. I’m fairly certain they didn’t understand anything I was saying till you stepped in.

“Just a communication failure. Something we can fix, thankfully.”

Wrench nodded his head once Goodie stopped talking.

“You will? Alright. Thank you, sweetie. I think it’ll be a great first step for us,” mumbled Goodie. “We need to go find that Hume you wanted to get a hold of. Then we need to start training the other Shelters to understand.

“I’ve got some of my assistants out gathering more Hume shelters. I’m going to collect every single one I can through my authority as a Nav-cerer. Few are willing to argue with me, and the guild is too busy driving recruitment to care about me messing with Hume.

“I don’t think the clan spssss will even listen to a report about what I’m doing. They’re too busy sending me thank you notes and gifts for the flag ship. Still.”

Chuckling, Wrench could understand that.

It sounded like she’d been the proverbial war hero who achieved greatness.

“You know… the other day… someone asked me how I felt about my scar. That I’d never be as perfectly round as I was,” mused Goodie, her voice taking on a faintness that certainly sounded like sleep was coming. “That this green scar will always mark me.

“I found it funny. I even laughed. I told them the simple truth. That scar was given to me by my Hume who saved my life. I’ll gladly wear it as proof of what Hume can do if only to force everyone to acknowledge it.”

As her words finished, Wrench realized that Goodie had indeed fallen into a Tongsta version of sleep. She wasn’t moving any more, her words had ended, and the tension that normally was felt through her skin was gone.

It was much softer now and he slowly sank into her a bit. As if he were on a large fluffy bed.

“You know, Goodie… I think you might really be our patron mother after all,” remarked Wrench and then closed his eyes. He felt like going to sleep was a great idea. “Good night, Mommy.”

He’d been up for a long while now.