I ran back to the right spot in the mine shaft to go inside the broken item warehouse and took out my electronics kit. It didn't take me long to adapt one of my emitters to reproduce the same electronic frequency and the cargo hatch opened up for me. I stepped in and closed it again, then I went all the way to the back corner where my workbench was.

I moved aside all the broken cargo handles and took out the digging machine I had on loan and then took out all of the broken ones I had. I was pretty happy that I still had the working one, because it was so much easier to copy it while it was intact, instead of going through each broken one and trying to figure out which parts were damaged and needed to be replaced.

Unlike the laser drill, the digging tool was much more physical parts than anything else, since it needed to cut into, churn up, and dig out rocks and dirt. It couldn't do much against solid rock, though. If my looks into the other warehouse were any indication, they had a much larger digging machine when they hit a rock they couldn't dig around. I shook my head at that, because The Order members could just come down and use their Light swords to cut any large rocks into more manageable pieces.

I opened up the first broken digging tool and immediately saw the problem. One of the main turning gears that looked like a thick corkscrew, had several worn and broken edges. It was skimming, and in some parts skipping completely, the parts it needed to interact with to work both the drill part and the conveyor belt.

Dammit, why couldn't it just be a broken gear that I could easily fix or cut out of something else? I asked myself. Why does it have to be a precisely engineered part that I can't reproduce easily?

I sighed and shook my head and checked the two dozen other digging tools and saw that most of them had that part intact, so I took all the ones that didn't and set them aside to make a parts pool for the other tools. I picked each of the other digging tools up and quickly repaired them. When I was done, I had fifteen of them in working order.

Now for some fun. I thought and took five of them, since I needed them all to have the central corkscrew gear, then I took out some of the broken crates and made much better support members to hold them together. I had to remove two of the external conveyor belt mechanisms and digging scoops, so that I could mount all five of them in a round configuration, just like the laser drills.

I added the larger levers and controls for the big alien and then the handles. When it was done, I stepped back and looked at the cobbled together monstrosity. The damn thing was huge!

He's going to love it. I thought with amusement and looked at the warehouse next door. Now, what should I do to test it? I asked with a grin and walked over to the wall.

I cleared away a large section of the debris pile there and covered myself and part of the wall in a Presence Barrier. I took out a Light sword and changed the settings to one foot in length and left it three inches wide. I slowly slit it into the wall and watched with Detect Presence until the tip went through the tristeel wall. I moved it all the way up to about ten feet high, went across ten feet, then down to the floor. I moved across to where I had started and stood up to finish the cut.

This will make a great platform base. I thought and used Presence to move the very heavy piece of thick metal aside. With it out of the way, the bare wall was revealed. I picked up the giant digging tool and turned it on. I waited for a few seconds to make sure that everything was working properly, then pushed it into the wall. I was glad that I had made the barrier, because the sound of five digging tools was surprisingly loud as they dug into the wall.

The spinning drill bits cut into the wall, the digging scoops cleared away the things it cut, and the conveyors pulled the dirt and rocks away from the heads. I had to stop two minutes later, because I had cleared away all of the wall inside the hole I had cut and revealed the other wall. Now I had a decision to make. Did I want to reveal that I broke in, or do I try my best to hide what I was doing?

If the guards were even halfway competent, they've been watching me this whole time. I thought. I know the supervisor has told them about it, at the very least, because he admitted that The Order members wouldn't approve anyone else using my repaired items, which I could only have access to if I was in here.

I took out my Light sword and cut another ten foot by ten foot section out of the wall of the large equipment storage warehouse and pulled it back into where I was. I could make it into another platform, or attach it to the other one and make it that much more structurally sound and have room between them for the electronics it was going to need, rather than leave them exposed on the sides or top.

I walked over to the second damaged item storage warehouse and had to move an industrial crane several feet to get it out of the way enough for me to enter. Once inside, I saw the enormous amount of wrecked equipment that had gathered over the years... and decades... that the mine had been in operation. I was honestly surprised that they weren't feeding all of it to the asteroid smelter in the crate factory, just to get rid of some of it.

Speaking of crates. I thought with a smile and walked over to stacks and stacks of only slightly damaged crates. The rotten bastard really stiffed me with the garbage crates, didn't he? I asked myself with a chuckle and chose a dozen of the best ones and stored them, then a dozen of the not great ones to make seats out of them. The bottoms could be cut in half and the pieces welded side by side, then the tops could be cut in half and welded together as a seat back, which would make a bench seat two crates wide and it would just barely fit across the platform I cut out of the walls.

I thought about having a better look around and decided that I would have a lot of time to walk around and explore later, since I intended to stay here for quite some time. I absently rubbed the scars on my chest through the jumpsuit and walked back over to the entryway I had made. I moved the large broken crane back in front of the opening, just in case.

I walked over to my workbench and took out the first good crate and used a plasma cutter to cut it apart. I looked at the broken cargo handles and estimated how much room I was going to need, then started to cut up the crate into six inch strips of metal. When I had enough to go all the way around the platform, I started to weld them in place.

I had lots of hinges and things to attach what I wanted, thanks to the nearly perfect crates, so when I wanted to add panels that would let me gain access to the inside of the platform, in case the electronics needed to be worked on, I easily added them to the sides as well. With easy access panels, I could start adding the electronics needed before I added the top platform to seal everything in.

I knew that a square five foot wide crate needed exactly one cargo handle to hover a foot off of the ground and essentially become weightless because of the size of the anti-gravity field around it. The platform was twice that size, ten feet by ten feet, or four crates worth of size, which most people would think they would only need four cargo handles to function. Unfortunately, they would be wrong.

The power and electronics needed weren't additive, they were multiplicative. One large field need to be created, not four smaller ones, so I would need at least twelve of the cargo handles to compensate for the size. None of them were working, so it took me a lot longer to use the information on my datapad to figure out what parts were working and what ones weren't. Some were easily found because of visible scarring and replaced. A lot of the others were faults in a circuit board or a lose connection or soldering point, which were a lot more difficult to trace.

Once I had one actually completed and tested it on an actual crate to make it hover a foot above the ground, it didn't take me long to check over the piles and piles of others to get them working, too. It still took time, however. I felt someone enter my limited detection range, then several others, and I sighed.

I stored the ten cargo handles I had completed and all of the digging tools, then I propped the partially finished platform up against the wall I had cut it from and covered it with the nearby pile of debris. I walked across the warehouse and waited by the door for everyone to pass, then the supervisor stood there and waited for them to be out of sight. He used his electronic key to open the cargo hatch and let me out.

“How did things go?” He asked with a bit of a smile.

“You can have your digging tool back.” I said and handed it to him.

“I can't take this yet.” He said.

“But I'm done with it and want to return it.” I said with a smile.

“Give it to me when you show up for work in the morning.” He said and handed it back.

“Okay.” I said and stored it, then we started walking towards the living area. “Did you know that section eighteen needs to be dug out?”

The supervisor nodded. “I surveyed the shaft around mid-shift and I'll assign the big guy and his crew... namely you... to clear it instead of harvesting crystals the day after tomorrow.”

“We can do both.” I said and he gave me a surprised look for a second, then he frowned.

“That's an all day job... at least.” He said.

“For a normal crew, sure.” I said with a grin and he sighed.

“I don't want to know.” He said and quickened his pace.

“I was wondering if I can get some of the prefab wall sections...” I started to ask.

“No.” He responded.

“You don't even know what I want them for.” I said.

“It doesn't matter.” He said. “There's no way... no way in the seven hells... that they will allow a prisoner access to building materials.”

I already have access, dumb-ass. I thought to myself. “Then I'll scrounge up what I can.”

The supervisor stopped walking and turned to face me. “You are not allowed to destroy your cubicle or to harvest it for parts.”

I chuckled. “I wouldn't think of it, since I'm giving it to the avian women.”

“What?” He asked, confused. “Where are you going to sleep?”

“Anywhere I want to.” I said.

The supervisor gave me a disbelieving look, turned around, and strode away. I let him get far enough away and I walked over to the spot I had dug out the day before. The stairs were still there and were holding up, even without any real support to hold them together, except for being cut into that shape.

I smiled and took out five of the ten single digging tools I had and covered myself and the entryway with a Presence Barrier to stop the sound, then formed a solid slide over the stairs. I turned on all five diggers, held them the right distance apart, then pointed them up at an angle and slowly walked up the stairs. The diggers tore into the dirt and rocks at a slow and steady pace, and the slide delivered the dirt to the main shaft.

I didn't rush it and took the big alien's advice and let the machine do the work and took my time. Although, with five machines working, I was going five times as fast as normal, so by the time I stood at the top of the stairs and had walked around in a twenty foot circle, only an hour had passed and the pile of dirt and rocks at the bottom of the stairs was pretty big. I used one of the digging tools to dig out a nice sized window into the main shaft and then stored the machines.

I walked down the stairs and covered the opening with Presence and used some of the lose dirt to cover it as well, then for good measure, covered the very high window as well and spread the pile of dirt around. It was a lot harder to disguise it, so I didn't bother trying. I also wouldn't be able to add a door or a lock until I harvested some of the outer casings from a few of the larger scrapped machines in the second warehouse and used them to line the dirt walls.

I walked back over to the living area and saw that people were already eating. I went over to the dispensary and the three workers were just as happy to get my ration flavor packs as they had been the first time.

“Is anyone else surprised that I'm not getting double rations like the others, even though I'm on the crews that finish early every day?” I asked absently as I stored my nine prepared and delicious meals. No one said anything and I walked over to cubicle eight to be pleasantly surprised at the sight of all three avian women sitting inside the nest.

“The supervisor's being an idiot and said you haven't been here long enough to qualify for extra food.” Val said and held her hands out to me in a clear 'give me' gesture.

I chuckled and took out a meal for her and she sighed contentedly. I looked at the other two women. “Ladies, may I join you? I bring good food as an offering.”

The two avian women gave me stern looks for a moment, then they both reluctantly nodded. Bringing food back to the nest was a noble act and they wouldn't refuse, even if I wasn't a male of their species. Plus, it was delicious. I handed them a meal each and sat down as I took out my own.

“Tell me... that you made... me a space.” Val said between bites of food.

“It's made, it just doesn't have metal walls or a door.”

All three women laughed and I looked at them with surprise.

“Doors are not strictly necessary. No one will enter an Aviatoma's personal space uninvited, upon pain of death.” The first avian woman explained. “That isn't bravado, as you would call it. We will know the scent of anyone that trespasses and we will kill them.”

“Then I'm really glad I asked.” I said and both women nodded.

“You will... take me there... as soon as we eat.” Val said.

“Well, slow down. I haven't even started yet.” I said with a smile.

“Hurry up.” Val said and started to eat faster.

“Fine.” I said and opened my mouth, then I surprised the hell out of them when I used Presence to lift all of the food off of my tray, compressed it into several small balls and floated them one at a time into my mouth and down my throat. I used my body's Presence to quickly disperse the calories and energy into the rest of my body.

“What... that... how...” All three of them couldn't process what I had done.

“Finish eating and I'll take you home.” I said.

Val shivered with pleasure and her feathers fluffed out slightly. She shoved the rest of the food into her mouth and chewed on it as she tossed the tray aside and stood. I laughed and stood, took her hand, and we stepped out of the nest of blankets.

“Ladies.” I said and used Presence to carry my words to everyone in the living area. “I leave Cubicle Eight in your tender care and you can consider it your own personal space.”

Both avian women were shocked by the offer and tweeted and chirped at me and at each other. I only caught snippets of the rapid conversation and it didn't look like they were going to calm down anytime soon, so I waved at them and led Val out of the living area and walked down the main shaft to where I had concealed what I had dug out.

I used Presence to push the dirt away from the door and absorbed the block on the entryway, then led an astonished Val up the stairs a dozen feet to the room I had carved, then I absorbed the Presence over the window.

“Hunter! It... it's perfect!” Val said and she felt very happy as she walked around the circular room.

“I'll talk to the guard that likes me and I'll see about getting an actual mattress or two. Unused, of course.” I said.

Val didn't hear me as she went over to the window and looked out. “It's so high up!”

“I was limited by the top of the main shaft or it would have been higher.” I said. That she heard and turned to face me.

“You would have made it even higher?” Val asked.

“If I was allowed to dig straight up, you'd have a nice aerie up on the surface.”

Val squawked loudly. “That's... that's...”

“Assuming my distance count is right, it's about three miles to the surface, give or take half a mile.”

Val let out a low warble and glared at me. “Blankets. Now.” She ordered.

I knew that tone and she wasn't going to be distracted, so I took out several large bundles of blankets. I had intended to use them over the next few years as both personal bedding and for trades, then Val leapt across the distance, tore open the bundles, threw the blankets onto the ground in a big pile, then she tore open my jumpsuit.

Apparently, it was my turn to squawk loudly.