I took the crate and the three avian women to the living area and dropped them off. Not surprisingly, cubicle eight hadn't been taken over while we were at work and the large blanket nest was still there.

“Val? Would you mind if the other two stayed with you in the cubicle?” I asked. “They did help you when I needed them to, even though they hate me so much.”

All three women were surprised when I said this.

“But... well...” Val wasn't sure how to say no.

“I'll drop off the crate and I'll be asking the big guy about how the digging tools work.” I said.

“As long as they sit on the floor or find chairs or something and don't try to claim the nest.” Val said, defensively.

“I would never.” The first one said.

“I would, just to spite you.” The second said to me. “But, since you've given me double rations for tomorrow, I won't.”

“That's nice of you.” I said a little sarcastically and she nodded and ignored the sarcasm. I walked at a normal pace all the way back up to the start of the mine and put on my restraints, then I hobbled into view and dropped off the crate in the middle of the area. I was a little surprised that the other Order member was there with a guard.

I gave him an enthusiastic wave and he glared at me. “See you tomorrow!” I said and hobbled back out of sight, took off my restraints, and then used Presence Run to go back to the living area. I gave Val a wave and then walked over to the first cubicle. “Hey, big guy.”

The large alien grunted to me. “I heard what you wanted.”

“Are you going to be nice and offer to help me out of the goodness of your heart?” I asked with a grin.

He laughed a big rumbling laugh.

“I didn't think so.” I said. “How about I offer you something that would let you mine crystals as quickly as I did yesterday?”

“You lie.” He said and squinted his large eyes at me, because he knew I wasn't lying.

“I even used it today and it didn't blow up in my face.”

“Why didn't the supervisor take it from you?” The big alien asked.

“He doesn't know I have it, of course.” I said and the big guy laughed. “I did repair a single laser drill, which he let me keep, so that I was the one accepting the risk. I also showed him the data and he was shocked.”

“He would be.” The big alien said. “We haven't had a mechanic come through here, ever.”

“I'm not a mechanic.” I said.

“Then how...”

“I just have a lot of electronics and construction experience.” I said and took out the single laser drill.

“That looks like garbage.” The big alien said.

“That's what he said.” I responded and put it away. “As long as I can get more parts, I can keep fixing them. Unless it's an emitter or a regulator circuit board. Those things are the rare parts that seem to break the most.”

“I've burned two of them out myself.” The big alien said and then leaned in close. “Can you show me the one you built for me?”

I covered the cubicle in solid Presence, made it soundproof, and took out the very large custom drill. The big alien let out a stream of some kind of curses in his native language when he saw it. I couldn't make them out and I also couldn't get the thoughts from his head, because they were going by so quickly.

“Can I hold it?” He asked like a kid about to receive a present.

“Just don't bang the end on the walls. It has six emitters.”

“SIX!?!” He yelled and reached for it. He stood up and his head brushed the top of the cubicle, then he braced the large drill on his hip and held one of the large handles to hold it steady. “You made the buttons and the switches for me, too?”

I nodded. “I had to use Presence to use them, because they're too big for my small hands.”

The big alien laughed as he touched everything without using it or turning it on. “All right.” He said and handed it back. “I'll show you how to properly use a digging tool.”

“I picked a great spot a couple hundred feet down the shaft on this side.” I said and he gave me a look that said he might kill me for making him walk that far. “Just unlock your leg restraints.”

“I tried. My leg muscles adapted to the movement years ago.” The big alien said. “I can't take more than a baby step without straining anything and hurting myself.”

“I was wondering why you didn't take them off.” I said. “I'm sorry.”

“Your pity and a hundred credits will buy me a nice bit of nothing.” The big alien said. “It's going to take me ten minutes to get down there.”

“I can just use Levitation on you, if that's all right.”

“Levitation?”

“It's a technique that lets me lift things like a crate handle, except it uses quite a bit of Presence with unfamiliar things.” I said. “I can take a few days of meditation and adapt...”

“No.” The big alien said. “Just get me there and I can walk back on my own.”

I nodded and absorbed the solid Presence around the cubicle and we both walked out of the cubicle. Once he was in the clear, I reached out and put a hand on his forearm, covered us both in Presence, then used the Levitation technique. We lifted up a foot off of the ground and I floated us at a walking pace out of the living area. Everyone was shocked to see it, especially the six remaining haters.

I stopped at the spot I had chosen and took out the digging tool. It took him about half an hour to explain everything, then to show me how each thing worked, the clearance you needed to work in, and also not to go too deep with each pass. The machine wasn't magic and couldn't chew through rock like it looked like it could. It would jam up and the circular drill bit on the end could stall, as well as the scooping mechanism and the conveyor belt.

It was quite the complicated machine and the settings for the different types of rock and dirt were numerous. He was gracious enough to tell me the different settings I would need to work on the part of the mine shaft we were in, and I thanked him for all the help and instruction. He handed the machine back to me and I used Levitation on him and sent him all the way back to the living area. He turned and gave me a look of disbelief and I gave him a wave. He shook his head and shuffled off out of view.

Now that I was alone and knew the specific operations that the digging tools could do, I spent the next two hours recording the information of every component and its location. It was essential information, especially since I was going to try to repair the broken ones that I had stored. I didn't want to do any work like that out in the open, so I settled on using the digging tool I had to made a one foot indentation in the wall that was ten feet square.

Once that was done, I started to dig six inches above the ground and went in a foot, then went out to the sides ten feet and only went up nine feet and six inches. I worked for the rest of the shift and made a dozen stairs into the side of the shaft. I couldn't do much with the dirt I had dug out, except move it out into the shaft, and I even managed to not get dirty myself. I used Presence and spread it out along the wall and it just looked like normal wear and tear on the walls.

I stopped digging and joined the people returning from work and went back to the living area. Val ran over to me and I told her I had only barely started the stairs. When she sighed and felt sad, I told her that I knew how to fix them and there were piles of broken digging machines that I could work on.

“Like the laser drills!” Val said excitedly and I nodded. “You'll be done in only hours if you have a bunch of them to work with!”

“Like the big guy said, it's not magic. It takes time to work and not burn out the machines.”

“I can't believe I'm going to have my own permanent nest tomorrow!” Val exclaimed.

“I have to fix the things first, then I have to dig it out.” I tried to explain.

“Tomorrow!” Val commanded. “You can't make me wait anymore!”

I sighed and she chirped happily and kissed me.

“How many meals do you have left?” Val asked and I checked.

“Two.” I said.

“Do you want to split a normal ration tray and one of yours?” Val asked.

“Sure.” I said.

Val warbled and tweeted at me to meet her at the cubicle and she ran over to the dispensary to get a tray of food. I walked over to the cubicle and the two avian women were there.

“Hi, there. I see you managed to find chairs from somewhere.”

The two women nodded and I sat down in the middle of the nest.

“Are you proud of yourself?” The first avian woman asked. “You've tricked that poor woman into thinking you are a viable mate.”

I chuckled. “She knows I'm not a valid male and that I can't fertilize her eggs.”

“Then why keep up the pretense?” The second one asked. “You're only going to hurt her when she generates an offspring and you can't do anything for it!”

“She would have started one already if she expected it to viable.” I said. “We could probably send it off to be adopted, even this far away from a populated system.”

“She will be devastated.” The first one said. “Not having the ability to raise young is heartbreaking.”

I nodded and they looked at me in surprise. “I've had close and similar experiences during my life.”

“How? You are only young.” The second said.

“I look young.” I corrected her.

Val came back with three food trays. “Here you go.” She said and gave one to each of the other avian women, then she sat in the nest with me with her own tray. I took out mine and we shared the food on both trays. When we had all eaten, the two avian women stood up to leave.

“You can stay.” I said and both women paused. “I said I wouldn't have sex with Val until the new nest is made, remember?” I reminded them.

“We should refuse.” The first said and I took out a couple of nice pillows.

“I know you have a blanket already.” I said and placed the pillows at the side of the cubicle, then I took out a blanket for myself and Val. “Goodnight.”

I turned away from them and cuddled Val, who didn't mind that one bit, and the two avian women gave me deadly stares for several minutes. I entered a half-meditative state and made sure my Presence gathering technique was active, then I set an alarm for the morning. When I didn't move or react to them, they both sat down beside the nest and used their blanket to cover themselves. I stopped my smile from forming and put myself to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up and discovered that I had a bit of a problem. Not one, not two, but three different hands had a death grip on my jumpsuit in different places. Val held onto my chest and the other two held onto my arm and my leg. I thought about complaining, then shrugged. I assumed that they didn't have anyone that even gave them the time of day and I had let them stay inside a cubicle for two nights in a row and had fed them delicious food.

I guess that bought me some slack, even though they still hate me. I thought with a smile and looked around at everyone. People were spread all over and under blankets, all the cubicles were full, and several of them had multiple people cuddled under blankets. The only ones that seemed to be alone were the six people that had reacted with hated towards me and the big alien. He was alone because literally no one else could sleep in his bed with him in it.

I laid there and used Presence to disable and secure the explosive devices in the other two avian women's heads, because even though they were hostile towards me, they weren't agents for The Order or assassins. Of course, now that I was doing it, I looked at the first of the six people that were actually assassins. With them asleep, I used Presence to hide the sound and used the gun version of the broadcast device and made their suicide device pop.

I did the same with the other five and then let out a low sigh. I had been tempted to wait and slowly pick them off, one by one, and decided that I didn't want to take the chance that one or all of them would contact someone to reveal where I was. I mean, I had killed many millions, possibly hundreds of millions, or even billions by now, of their fellow operatives from all over the universe.

I am definitely a tempting target. I thought and didn't laugh.

I laid in bed and let the three avian women wake up on their own. I kept my eyes closed and also stopped my laugh when the second avian woman woke up and rolled over to cuddle my arm. She opened her eyes instantly at the feeling of my arm between her breasts, then she let it go as if it was a snake about to bite her and she sat up with a barely suppressed squawk and pulled the blanket around herself.

Of course, that woke the first woman and she opened her eyes and saw that she had a death grip on my pant leg. She didn't freak out about it, though. She slowly opened her hand and let the cloth go and fought her disgust at her own weakness at reaching for me in her sleep.

Val stirred next and she stretched as she let out a continuous whistle, then she saw her hand had a grip on my jumpsuit. She chuckled at it and didn't let go as she leaned in to give me a 'wake up' kiss. I opened my eyes, since that was what she wanted, and I kissed her back.

“Morning.” Val said and sat up. “I can't believe I slept that well and I didn't even have sex in this nest yet!”

I chuckled at that. “I assume that's usually a requirement.”

“It gives our people a sense of accomplishment and makes the nest feel complete.” Val said. “Of course, you can't actually share in that, since you're not a male.”

I nodded and sat up. “I'm sorry that I can't do some of the things you need.”

Val chuckled. “That's okay. I know you're not perfect.”

“Imagine if I was!” I said and laughed. “I think the three of you would be fighting each other over who got to keep me.”

“I wouldn't be fighting.” The second avian woman said.

“That's because you lost the first time.” The first avian woman said with a smile.

“Only because you started hopping faster.”

“First come, first serve.” The first one said with a smile.

“On that happy note, I'll go get breakfast.” I said and went to the dispensary and waited for it to open up with a bunch of other people.

“You know he was awake the whole time.” Val said and both women let out a short chirp of surprise.

“No, he was asleep! He was!” The first said. “His breathing was slow and even!”

Val chuckled. “It's always like that.”

“WHAT?!” The second woman yelled.

“If you would stop dismissing him so quickly, you would get to know him a little better.” Val said.

“I don't want to get to know him, let alone better!” The second woman said.

“You don't know what you're missing.” Val said.

“I do.” The first woman said. “He's a pretender and he's leading you on. Only sorrow can follow.”

“Three years? Five? Twenty years? How long do I need to wait for that sorrow?” Val asked. “I'm enjoying it now and that's all I care about.”

“What if you gestate? There's no one within several light years to help you.”

“I won't. If by some miracle I do make an egg, I'll keep it for as long as I can.” Val said. “I'll inform the staff and see if they can spare a stasis pod, too.”

“You're delusional.” The second woman said. “There's no way they can spare a stasis pod for an egg!”

“We'll see.” Val said and then the dispensary opened.

I gathered three trays of food and brought it back to them, then we all ate in silence. I gave Val a kiss goodbye and walked over to the big alien. He looked genuinely happy to see me and we met up with his crew and walked out of the living area to get to work.