System Overclocked 2 -Ch 27- (Patreon)

Wrench gave up on his thoughts, or Tickaht’s fleeting rear-end, and flew ahead. Shooting straight toward his target.

A Tongsta working at a semi-mechanical console on the far side of the bridge. One tentacle was tapping at things on a screen while another was submerged in the Tongsta-like goop of a different device.

The sudden scream of a Tongsta in pain cause the one Wrench was closing in on to flinch and pull away from the consoles.

“Oh my xxhht!” shrieked a Tongsta.

“What?” asked another Tongsta, likely the one Wrench was zipping toward. “What’s going—”

Slamming the tunneler home into the side of the Tongsta, Wrench turned away. His job was done here and the Tongsta would be leaving this world.

This time Wrench didn’t wait for even a second. He put as much distance as he could between himself and the Tongsta. Getting out of reach of it’s tentacles.

He looked over in time to see Tickaht spiraling wildly away from both Tongsta she’d gone after. They were emptying themselves out rapidly on the ground even as they screamed and flailed about.

Tentacles whipping around at Tickaht who easily dodged and spun off from them. Weaving herself through the air as a fish might in water.

Wrench aimed himself for the access point and waited for Tickaht. She’d been held up for only a few seconds by the Tongsta.

No sooner than she’d entered the pipe than Wrench hauled it shut. Closing it and locking the latch in place.

“They scream a lot,” grumbled Tickaht as the three Tongsta did just that. Slapping at the tunnelers all the while. “I can’t say I blame them. I’d probably be screaming in a similar way while watching my blood pour out.”

“I want to say I can hate them, that this doesn’t bother me… but I can’t,” admitted Wrench, watching as the three Tongsta lost their lives. “I can’t help but think of Goodie.

“I don’t want to look at Tongsta the way they did Hume. Or Grae. Where they’re all just the same and one life doesn’t matter. That they’re ‘not us’ so it’s fine.

“I just can’t think that way anymore though. Goodie’s changed me. Changed me for the better.”

Because she’s trying to live her life, while also living it for me. For Hume and Grae.

All while I’d been trying to live only for myself.

There’s something to be said for walking the middle ground. To live for others while also living my life.

“Oh,” Tickaht whispered. “Yes. I can understand that. Goodie is… Goodie is very good. To be fair she actually treated us Grae quite well. She took all of us from the other Hab. There’s always food and drink available for us and lots of tree tops.

“Its… well… Goodie clearly meant well for us. I just couldn’t understand her and thought she was more like a massive predator. Keeping us as snacks for later. Especially our young. Children never come back when they’re taken ”

Err… right.

I guess from their point of view that might fit better with their cultural values.

Even if it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever to me.

That’s fine though.

“We all thought the Tongsta were eating us. Anyone taken never comes back. Only breeders remain,” Tickaht said earnestly. “We didn’t even know about Hume where I grew up. We only learned what a Hume was when our Hab was combined.”

“That-that makes sense, I suppose. Huh. I guess Grae are raised very differently than Hume,” Wrench mumbled, slowly nodding his head. “Considering that there aren’t any male Grae in Habs I guess that’s how it has to be. The only place Grae are bred are where males are. That would certainly disconnected any Hab knowledge going back there.

“But… uh… wait, what happens to Grae when their Hab closes? If a Hume Hab is closed, or just goes under, Tongsta typically give us to a shelter.

“Well, some Tongsta just get rid of their Hume outright. Most will give them to a shelter.”

Tickaht shook her head, a curious look on her face.

“No. Not that I know of. Any Grae that went out, never came back. Ever,” she confirmed. “Also… I only know of a single place that Grae are born. I’ve never met any from anywhere else.

“Even those with me in our current Hab are all from the same place. Though two came from different groups. They’re a little older than me but… but they still came from—”

Tickaht finished her sentence with a whistling honk.

Wrench only smiled, a stray thought popping through his head.

“You know, I once wished I could understand you,” he murmured, staring into her black and red eyes. “You were talking non-stop for quite a while. We’d been sharing food and water. I remember just thinking how much I’d love to have understood everything you were telling me.”

“You-when… ah! Yes. I was telling you all about the other Grae and how I got hurt,” Tickaht explained with a soft honking chuckle. “That the other Grae were very curious about you and wanted to know more.

“I asked you several times if you were looking at me and longing for me. Your eyes kept going to my chest.”

Wincing, Wrench nodded his head. He did indeed remember doing his best not to stare, and failing a few times.

“I did look and long for you,” admitted Wrench, bringing his gaze back up to Tickaht’s. “Grae are fascinating people. With… fascinating anatomy.”

Tickaht gave him a wide Grae smile at that her eyes rounding out fully.

There was a detonation that shook the ship, pausing Tickaht even as she’d opened her mouth. She gestured once and then shot down the pipe, speeding off.

Wrench hadn’t really been able to figure out where the explosion had come from, but there was only one of two options.

Back to their tank, and back to the opposite side of their tank. Both of which they could access from the back of the ship.

Wrench chased after Tickaht.

Tickaht only barely slowed down as they went past each access point as they shot down the pipe. Spinning slowly even as she did it.

“You’re too damn graceful!” Wrench called after her, unable to stop his brain from spitting it out.

In response, he heard a warm and heartfelt laughter from Tickaht. A loud honking that he’d never heard before.

“Yes! I’m your Grae! Look at me more!” she called back, rapidly flipping end over end. She was now moving feet first through the pipe while staring back at him through her helmet.

It whipped to one side as they passed by an access point only for her to practically come to a screeching halt. Her arms flailing and her legs kicking wildly.

In a most ungraceful way, in fact.

Wrench also did his best to slow down and had to squirm to the side. In her awkward movements she’d ended up getting right in front of him.

Coming to a stop, Wrench reversed direction and came to float beside Tickaht.

They were looking out into the cargo bay.

The door was closed but it didn’t seem like that would matter for long. There were a number of holes torn open and when he took in the whole of it, it was obvious someone was cutting their way in from the outside. That all these holes were forming together to form a shape.

There were no Tongsta here either. Where-ever the repair crew was they weren’t here or expecting what was happening.

“It’s our Tongsta,” whispered Tickaht. “I know it is. We have to make sure it’s safe for them.”

Opening the hatch, Tickaht didn’t wait. She threw it open and rushed forward into the cargo compartment. She rotated as she went, clearly assessing the area.

Grimacing, feeling very strange about moving into the open, Wrench joined her. His Systems were all dialed up to an incredible level.

Everything except his perception of time was Overclocked and then some.

Though that was only a simple thought away from dropping him into a state where the world would be set to a glacial pace.

Even then, he felt somewhat naked without a tunneler in his possession. In this outting he had killed a number of Tongsta and was feeling quite lethal.

Most of it hadn’t even been done while optimizing himself for the action either.

There was a clang and a muffled pop from the cargo door.

Wrench had been wrong.

They weren’t trying to cut a massive hole into the hull of the ship.

Instead, they had been actively hunting for the door controls to blow them up so it’d open.

Because with that last boom, and a cloud of debris shooting out of the hull, the door had swung inward, revealing an entire party of Tongsta on the other side.

They quickly rushed into the ship and began fanning out.

Many of them held clubs though Wrench noted several held an odd device was spherical in nature though it did have a second, equally as round, object attached to one side of it. They rushed into the cargo room as if they were expecting resistance.

“Hello there,” Wrench called out loudly.

“Ah! There he is,” said a voice that took Wrench a few seconds to identify. It was Talker. The Tongsta pulled a carrier around that’d been behind it and dangling off a tentacle. He looked perfectly fine considering the last time Wrench had seem him, he’d been most certainly wounded. “Tickaht’s here, too, xxhht!”

“Wonderful news, xxhht,” replied Captain Boyfriend from a communicator somewhere on Talker’s person. Likely attached to the carrier.

Talker opened the carrier and held the door open.

“It’s an atmospheric carrier,” Talker said and then pulled a thrown-together communication box out of it. This was easily a fourth of the size of the last one and looked like Wrench could carry it like a backpack.

Talker set it down to the top of the carrier.

“Could you give me a report?” Talker asked earnestly. “What’s the situation here?”

The surreal nature of the situation made Wrench laugh.

Moving over to the device he sat down on the top of the carrier and looked to the buttons on top. They looked entirely different this time and the layout was different as well.

Tickaht sat practically on top of it, looked at the buttons, then casually hit several of them as she stared down at it.

“Many more buttons, it’s just a bit more crammed together,” she murmured as she kept hitting more buttons. “I like it. More to talk with.”

“Reporting in. Status. Affirmative,” came an electronic voice. “Enemy. Contact. Combat. Enemy. Dead. Enemy. Alive. Enemy. Ship. Disabled.”

“Got it… then… you’re okay, you’ve killed a number of the enemy on board, some are still alive, and you disabled the ship,” paraphrased Talker.

“Affirmative,” Tickaht responded with a slap of a button, followed by a hooting laugh. “Affirmative. Enemy. Dead. Enemy. Ship. Disabled.”

“Got it. Do you know where the enemy is, or their numbers?” asked Talker.

“Negative. Affirmative,” said the voice. Then it said ‘Enemy” at least twelve times. Wrench honestly lost count with how many times Tickaht hit the button.

“You don’t know where they are, but there’s at least twelve left,” Talker summarized. The rest of the Tongsta that were with him seemed equal parts confused and amazed. Whispering amongst themselves.

“Affirmative.”

“Weapons?”

“Affirmative.”

“What about the bridge crew?” pressed Talker.

“Dead.”

“Does the rest of the crew know their dead?”

“Negative.”

Talker laughed at that, then looked to everyone around him.

“Xxhht, I reccommend the assault teams just go to the bridge. If we can take control, it doesn’t even matter. Doubly so since the bridge is dead,” suggested Talker.

“Agreed. Assault team one, take the bridge. Assault team two, hold the insertion area. Xxhht bring back the cargo,” ordered Captain Boyfriend.

“Negative,” Tickaht stated. “Negative. Reporting in. Enemy. Alive. Reporting in. Combat.”

“No. I… I’m sorry, you need to come back. Your mom is literally waiting at the airlock and is sick with worry,” apologized Captain Boyfriend.

“Erm. Well. Hm,” mumbled Tickaht. Then she tapped two buttons.

“Affirmative. Reporting in.”

Wrench and Tickaht got into the carrier, though Talker didn’t seal it. He just held onto it and quickly left the cargo area and back off the ship. He walked into what looked a lot like a transport.

The Tongsta at the controls didn’t say anything but the door shut behind them. Then they were certainly off and away without another word. Though the way Talker cradled the carrier he seemed rather protective of the two of them.

In only a few minutes the transport popped. Then there was then a very loud hissing noise. As if the atmosphere of the transport was venting in or out something.

“Alright. You can take your helmets off if you want. Xxhht’s keeping the ship at a atmosphere in most of the compartments safe for Hume and Grae,” Talker advised, moving over to the door. “Only the engine room and batteries aren’t. It’s to limit the possibility of a fire or explosion.”

Wow, really?

Huh.

Kinda nice. Makes the ship almost a Hab all on it’s own.

The door slid open and Wrench found Goodie waiting there just as Captain Boyfriend had said. The obvious line running from one end of her to the other obvious.

“Wrench, Tickaht!” Goodie squealed excitedly. Tentacles appeared and were moving toward the carrier.

Wrench exited it before she could grab it and went straight into her. Slapping his body to hers.

Surprisingly, Tickaht follow his lead, though she didn’t slam into the Tongsta in the same way. Instead she settled down at the point that the tentacle came out of Goodie.

“My babies,” cooed Goodie. “Thank you spssss for getting them.”

“Course. I mean… I’m the Hume Partner. It’s my job,” Talker replied with a rueful sounding laugh. “Do you want the communicator?”

“No, I don’t really need it. Thank you though,” Goodie said, then began moving away. She had a tentacle wrapped firmly around Wrench and was holding to him. Another tentacle was very carefully laid across Tickaht’s legs.

It wasn’t possessive looking.

More accurately it seemed as if she was making sure Tickaht didn’t fly away from her. Which made sense given how quickly Goodie fled.

“I was so scared. So cared,” Goodie whispered in a way that sounded like it was near to actually sobbing. “My babies. I knew it was always a risk with you going, but I didn’t think it’d happen. It left me so wrung out.

“I’m not sure I can handle this anymore. I don’t want any of my babies going anywhere anymore.

“That includes you, Tickaht. You seem like such a precious Grae. You’re not allowed to put yourself at risk either, anymore.”

“I… yes, Goodie,” mumbled Tickaht, tipping to one side and putting her shoulder to the Tongsta.

“Thank you, sweetie. Now… we’re going to go talk to spssss real quick, then we’re going home. I think he just wants to confirm a few things so he knows what to report. That’s all.

“Doubly so since we’ll have to report we found the Destroyer. This damn pirate has been taking out a lot of ships.”

“It isn’t a pirate. They’re more like rebels. I have no idea about the details but… they’re hunting military ships,” argued Wrench. “What pirate in their right mind would hunt military ships? They wouldn’t. This is different.”

Goodie slowed down partially. Processing his words but not being able to directly understand them.

“You disagreed with part of that. But what… that it’s a destroyer?” asked Goodie.

“Not that part,” Wrench said and shook his head. He was still hugging Goodie.

“That… that we caught the pirates?”

“Yes. That’s part of it, but not completely,” Wrench nodded his head. Then shook it.

“So it’s about the pirates.”

Wrench nodded his head.

“They’re not pirates,” Wrench started, then he leaned away from Goodie, causing the Tongsta to come to the stop.

They were in some type of corridor.

Wrench pointed at himself.

“You,” Goodie said.

Wrench then pointed at Tickaht.

“Tickaht,” confirmed Goodie.

Pointing at himself, then Tickaht he shook his head. Then pointed at the floor, then the ceiling, and shook his head.

“The pirates are rebels,” Wrench tried. “They are not what you think.”

Damn.

Maybe we should have asked for that communicator box after all. This is pretty hard to translate.

“You are not Tickaht. The bottom is not the top. The pirates are not… pirates?” tried Goodie.

“It’s like she’s psychic,” whispered Tickaht, gazing at Goodie in a weird way.

At this point Wrench was nodding his head in long strokes and doing it with his near whole body. He was also laughing.

“Oh. Goodness. If they’re not pirates… that changes things. We most certainly need to talk to spssss,” Goodie affirmed.

“Are you dating him yet? I like Captain Boyfriend,” Wrench asked.

“Uhm… you… uhm,” Goodie mumbled.

“So you’re dating him? That’s good. I like Captain Boyfriend. Is that really fast for Tongsta? You all seem really slow in everything else,” pried Wrench.

“Shush, Wrenchie,” pleaded Goodie with a low and nervous laugh.

“Are you? Just a yes or a nod,” Wrench pushed, nodding his head, then shaking his head.

“Yes. I am. Okay? He’s very… very nice. And he really likes Hume!” pleaded Goodie suddenly. “He was there for me when you were missing. He didn’t ask or want anything he just… helped me. We talked about you and Hume and Grae and… and… I really like him.”

“Good! I like Captain Boyfriend, too. If he kept you happy, then that’s all I need to know,” provided Wrench.

“Really?” asked Goodie, apparently understanding him. There was a very nervous and worried undertone to it.

“Of course. We want you to be happy, mom. Just like you want us to be happy,” offered Wrench.

He felt Goodie pull a bit harder at him. Keeping him nice and tight to her body.

“Okay. I’m glad to hear that. I’m not willing to give up my crusade for Hume. For Grae. It’d be nice to have someone to go through this with,” explained Goodie. “I’m glad you approve of him. I was kinda nervous I’d have to try and convince you to be nice.”

“No, I’ll be very nice. I’m going to give that Tongsta a hug,” Wrench promised. “He literally took his brand new boat on a wild goose chase to find a Hume and Grae. Even if he only did it for you, he still did it. I can’t imagine his chain of command is real happy with him.”

“I’m glad you’ll be nice,” Goodie remarked as they kept moving. In no time at all they entered what looked to be a bridge. It was laid out in a similar way to the rebel’s.

“Ah, lady xxhht,” said Captain Boyfriend, the large Tongsta moving away from a console. “Wrench, Tickaht. I’m glad you’re both safe.”

To Wrench, the words sounded genuine. He even came over to hover near the trio.

Wrench did exactly as he said he would. He moved forward away from Goodie and hugged Captain Boyfriend.

Or at least tried to.

Given the size of the captain that was an impossible task.

“Good to see you, Captain Boyfriend,” said Wrench.

“Oh, erm, ah… thank you, Wrench,” mumbled Captain Boyfriend. “It’s good to see you, too.”

An awkward tentacle came out and patted at Wrench.

He definitely wasn’t opposed to Wrench’s gesture, the big Tongsta just didn’t know what was an appropriate response it seemed.

“Great, now… you said you had questions?” Wrench prompted and moved away from Captain Boyfriend. He nestled himself back into Goodie. “This should be pretty quick. Then I can go home and take a shower.

“Because… honestly… I think I probably stink. Bad.”