I stopped a few feet away from the supervisor and he only jumped a little when I appeared. “Hi, again. Where do you keep your broken things?”

The supervisor seriously considered not telling me and reporting me to The Order members.

“I give you my word that I won't use whatever I find to escape.” I said.

He gave me one really long angry look for almost ten seconds, then he nodded and waved for me to follow him. We walked about halfway back to the living area and he took an electronic key out of his pocket. He used it on what looked like a random spot and then there was a click and the heavy thunk sound of a large lock as it opened. A ten foot section of the wall slid out slightly and dropped down like a cargo hatch, just like the dispensary.

“I should have guessed.” I said with a laugh and the man waved me inside.

“I have to lock you in, so no one else can get in.” The supervisor said.

“I assume I'll have to wait for shift end before you'll come back for me?” I asked and he nodded. “All right.” I said and stepped into the fairly large room that was nearly the size of the shipping warehouse. There were racks of things and piles of things in front of the racks. “Is there any chance there's a desk or something in here somewhere?”

The supervisor shrugged. “They only dump broken things in here. If there's a desk, it's broken, too.”

“Got it.” I said.

“By the way, there's something I should tell you.” The supervisor said as he used his electronic key to close the hatch. “There's no lights in there.” He let out a single laugh and the hatch closed and the lock engaged.

“I knew you could laugh!” I said loudly through the door and saw him shake his head and walk away. “All right.” I turned to look at the room and could easily see everything using Presence.

I didn't move from the spot and 'looked' around the place and it really was just a dumping ground for everything. Appliances, drills, digging tools, broken cargo handles, broken wrist and ankle restraints, communication devices, full and partial consoles, display devices including three hologram projectors, hundreds of datapads, and pretty much everything you could think of that a prison and an administration building had to dispose of because they couldn't be fixed.

It wasn't until I looked through the wall and saw the next warehouse that I let out a loud laugh. It was full of broken robots, mechanisms and conveyor belts, and machines that were used in the automated factory to refine the crystals. There was even a huge pile of damaged crates.

“I am definitely going to like it here.” I said with a smile.

The first thing I searched for was a good place to work. I needed a half decent sized area, especially if I was going to work on the really big stuff. I also didn't want it visible from the doorway, so I made my way to the back of the warehouse and over several piles of items and around thirty free-standing shelves and racks. I chose the corner right beside the other warehouse wall and started to shift the debris away from the area.

I'm going to have to inventory everything, because I need to know what I have to play with. I thought and made careful piles not far away with the things I didn't wanted to look at first. I stored twelve broken laser drills along the way and hoped there would be enough parts between them to make what I wanted.

Once I had a good space cleared, I looked around for a good desk. I found three metal ones that were broken and easily cut off the broken leg and side with a portable plasma cutter and replaced it with the same part from a second desk. It had a large indented top, like something heavy had fallen on top of it, so it was useless as it was.

I tried to straighten out the top and remove the dent; but, the metal was stretched and it wouldn't go back into a flat shape. Not having a flat surface while working on small electronics was not a good idea. I took the now repaired desk and welded it right to the wall in the corner, so there was no way to lose anything off of the back or the side. I could worry about expanding it and making it bigger later.

During my searching and shifting items, I had found some of the broken digging tools as well. Unfortunately, I didn't know how they worked and I also didn't have a working one to copy, like I did with the laser drills. I stored a bunch of the tools anyway and would have to ask the supervisor about borrowing one. There was no way he would let me do that, unless I proved that I could fix one of the laser drills.

I took out one of the working ones I had and examined it very closely. Not surprisingly, it was quite complicated... if you didn't have the various components that just plugged together. Since I had a working one, all of the components were intact and I marked them all down and recorded the serial numbers on a datapad.

It was almost laughable as I took out a broken one and popped it apart. I easily found the two failed components inside. It was a regulator circuit board that had short circuited and that had damaged the laser emitter by providing the wrong setting when it was turned on. I took out another drill that the power supply was damaged, and since I didn't feel like rewiring the whole damn thing, it became the first sacrifice to my repair efforts for the other drills.

With a practically intact drill to harvest from, I easily repaired four of the drills. Obviously, I couldn't test them inside a damaged parts warehouse, so I marked and stored them. I took out the rest of the damaged drills I had and discovered that quite a few of them had the regulators and emitters blown, which could only mean that there was either something wrong with the regulator or there was feedback of some kind from the emitter that blew the regulator, which in turn would blow the emitter.

I chuckled at the waste, since it was such a simple repair job. If someone ordered a shipment of replacement parts, all of the drills could be repaired and put back into use. That wasn't my goal, though. It would disrupt the smooth every second day of the work schedule if everyone had access to laser drills.

They wouldn't be happy if they had to work every day like I have to. I thought with amusement. I would definitely be hated because I would be responsible.

I also didn't want to be seen as a miracle worker, so I repaired as many drills as I could, which turned out to be seven of them when I was done. Five of the dozen I had found were pretty much gutted, so I made a metal structure that was similar to what I had shown the big alien and his crew. I welded six of the drills together in a box pattern and wired them all up to a control panel that would adjust all six drills at the same time.

I made sure the switches and buttons were quite large for the big alien to use them, then I welded on the external plating from the five other drills, then added in a few outer panels from a few appliances to make the thing look like it was completely cobbled together. It looked like a junk heap and would possibly blow up if you used it, which was the perfect look that I wanted.

I added huge handles for the big alien to grab the thing and hold it like he was supposed to. I stored it and worked on the seventh drill. I used a few unnecessary outer plating parts to give it the same cobbled look and stored it. Now I had a whole pile of time on my hands.

Okay, let's take a look at the broken cargo handles. I thought and went back through the warehouse and gathered a pile of them up. I brought them back to my desk and spread them out and examined them. Once again, I didn't have a working one to compare them to, so it was difficult to figure out what parts were damaged and needed replacing. Dammit, I have to wait to look at a functioning one tomorrow.

I sighed and went over to the piles of miscellaneous items and looked for a chair of some kind, or something I could make into a chair. It took me a while to find some torn cushions I could use for padding, then I looked for some kind of chair or something in the shape of a chair. I didn't find anything, so I hunted around for good building materials and found another desk. With that and the one I hadn't used before, and some judicial cutting and welding, I made myself a pretty good chair.

Of course, once I had one, I couldn't help but use up what I had and made another. The cushions were quite pathetic and I didn't know how to sew, so I just bolted them into place and sat down.

“That's not too bad.” I said and leaned back slightly. “Now I just have to wait for the shift to be over.”

I checked my datapad and I only had a few more hours to go, so I didn't bother trying to work on anything else. I did look to see if there was any kind of access between this warehouse and the one next door, and discovered that it was sealed off, except for the cargo hatch that opened up in the main mine shaft.

Now I'm wondering where they store the working equipment. I thought and looked in the other direction. I only saw rock, so I looked across the main shaft and saw only rock there, too. It's pretty ingenious to hide their things like this behind thick rock doorways. If you didn't know what you were looking for, or where, you would never find these places.

While I waited, I started looking through random electronics for both laser emitters and the regulator circuit boards. I knew there wasn't much hope, since they were not components that would be in a lot of normal things, so I pretty much just looked for fun and marked down a few things in the start of the inventory I wanted to construct. It had to be detailed, because I needed to record the device and the serial codes for the internal components.

A full inventory was going to take a while, probably a month or so, because I also had to record the state of those components. I was going to have plenty of time to do it, so I just did the things within ten feet of my work area and that burned up the remainder of the shift time. I stored the datapad and pushed a very convenient pile of things over in front of the desk to hide it, then I quickly walked all the way back over to the cargo hatch to wait.

I watched through the door as the crews walked past and only seven crates were hauled along and not nine like there should have been. With eighteen sections split in half between two work shifts, the quota was nine crates a day. I saw two groups of four prisoners look dejected as they passed. After a few minutes, the supervisor came over to the hatch and used his electronic key to open it.

“Did you have a good day in the dark?” The supervisor asked.

“It was nice and quiet.” I said. “How is being two crates under quota going for you?”

The man opened his mouth to curse at me, then he looked at me. “How do you know that?”

I pointed to his datapad. “You were staring at that when I came out.”

The supervisor tucked the datapad into a pocket and I didn't tell him that I could still see it.

“What happens when you fall behind?” I asked and he didn't answer. “That good?”

The man let out a sigh. “It's bad for everyone if we don't meet the quota.”

“Then don't worry about it.” I said. “I managed to fix a laser drill.”

The supervisor looked at me skeptically and I took it out. “What the... it looks horrible!”

“You didn't give me any tools. Plus, it was dark.” I said.

He looked at the drill and then at me. “Keep it and I won't have to assign you one.” He said. “That way, only you are taking the risk with something like that.”

“That's reasonable.” I said and stored it. “I was wondering if I could borrow a working digging tool.”

“Why?” He asked, his mind full of suspicion.

I chuckled. “I want to dig out somewhere to live.”

“Not to escape?” He asked.

“Ha! Where would I go?” I asked. “We're on a planet that's been sequestered by The Order and the food is limited. I wouldn't get far, especially since I assume the digging tool creates a lot of dust and debris.”

The supervisor nodded. “Everyone would definitely notice if you try digging with it to get away.”

“If you could have one out and ready for me in the morning for my work shift, that would be great.” I said and started to walk away, then stopped and turned around to face him. “By the way, where do I get a shower and a new jumpsuit?”

“You do that on your days off during regulated hours.” The supervisor said.

“So, never for me, then.” I said and he gave me a surprised look. “Yeah, okay. I'll try and see what I can figure out on my own.” I turned away and ran back to the living area.

“Hunter!” Val said when I came to a stop and then she squawked at me.

I walked over to her. “Hey, you.” I said and made a motion to hug her, then stopped and chuckled. “I need a shower and a new jumpsuit before I can do that.”

“I was going to ask where you were that you would miss it.” Val said.

“I didn't know that people showered on their days off.”

Val nodded and took my hand and led me off to the side of the living area. “What about the digging tools?”

“I found a bunch of broken ones and the supervisor said he would let me borrow a working one tomorrow.”

Val let out a chirp and her feathers fluffed out a little. “I can't wait!”

“I might not finish it in a day, depending on how the tools work.” I said. “Do you know how to operate them?”

Val shook her head. “The big guy knows how, since he's usually the one they ask to clean up after the regular shifts.”

“His crew, too?” I asked and she nodded. “I guess that is one of their 'being the best' pains they talk about so much.”

“Besides getting extra rations and first choice on cubicles?” Val asked and chuckled. “By first choice, I mean that no one fights them when they come to claim one.”

I chuckled, too. “I figured that.”

Val looked around and then stepped close to me. “I can't do anything about missing your shower.” She said and started to open up her jumpsuit.

I used Presence to block anyone from seeing her. “What are you doing?”

“This.” Val said and opened the jumpsuit down to her waist. It revealed a substantial amount of her cleavage, which was nice to see, as well as a shrink wrapped bundle. “The booth operator said she missed you making her laugh.”

I grinned at her and slipped my hands into her jumpsuit. “Thank you.” I said as I plucked the bundle out of her jumpsuit and made it disappear, then I slid my hands up and cupped her breasts to make her gasp. I leaned in and tweeted and chirped for her, and told her that if she didn't mind getting a little dirty, I would be happy to start another mating ritual.

“C-c-cubicle.” Val managed to say. “Please.”

I read her thoughts and she didn't want to just do it out on the ground. She had a bit more respect for herself than that. “Of course.” I said and closed up her jumpsuit for her and absorbed the Presence blocking us from sight. “I'll be right back.”

Val stood there and I walked over to the living area and looked at the cubicles. There were some different people in a few of the cubicles and I saw the woman on my work crew on the second level. I walked over to the stairs and went up them and strode over to her cubicle.

“No.” She said as I stopped in front of her.

“I'll open up your restraints.” I said and she gave me wide eyes. “It'll only be for a few hours and not all night.”

She was still going to say no and I held up a hand.

“I use my own sheets that don't leave a mess and we won't wreck the place.” I said.

“Why don't you ask someone else?” She asked.

“Because you want to know if I can do it again.” I said with a smile.

She let out a sigh. “Two hours, and you open both my wrists and ankles.”

“Three hours, and you can stand right outside the barrier.” I said, as if I knew that she would enjoy being that close. I did, because she had that thought pass through her head only a moment before.

She gave me squinted eyes for a few moments, then she stood up and nodded.

“Thank you.” I said and took off both her wrist and ankle restraints. “Keep them close, in case anyone official comes by.”

She chuckled and tossed them into the corner of the cubicle and walked over to stand just outside. She leaned against the divider between cubicles and crossed her arms. She looked like she was bored; but, I could hear her thoughts and she really wanted to know if I could once again make the proud avian woman squawk so hard that she couldn't talk.

I walked by her and then jumped over the railing. That surprised a few people and I ignored it as I went over to get Val. “Your cubicle awaits.” I said and took her arm as if we were attending an important function. Her instincts kicked in and she straightened her spine and her head feathers fluffed out to get more attention. We walked across the living area and went up the stairs, then we entered the cubicle and I covered it in solid blue Presence.

*

“No no no!” The first avian woman said loudly and grabbed the blanket when the squawks of pleasure started.

“I'm going to kill him!” The second one said and the two of them tried to huddle together under the blanket and block out the sound. They were just as unsuccessful this time as they had been the night before and their bodies betrayed them and responded to the clearest mating calls they had ever heard.

“It's... not... fair.” The first avian woman said between pants and warbles as a few of her feathers fluffed out and a bit of down popped out. “Why... why him?”

“He's doing this... on purpose.” The second one said. “He's proving... a point!”

“We'll cut... his throat.” The first whispered. “Just enough... to stop this.”

“He'll kill us.” The second said, then her own body responded to what had happened. She had really liked that he defended his mate like he had and killed the threat without pause; but, she hated him almost with a passion, because he was faking it. He wasn't one of them and he was tricking them by using their own biology against them.

“What... do we do?” The first one asked.

“We... endure.” The second one said and grit her teeth.