The tour lasted for nearly the full shift and the administrator was blown away at all of the changes. She had no idea that power, lights, showers, cleaning bots, and every modern convenience could be had by everyone and not just her. She hadn't had a cleaning bot though and wondered where they came from.

The old broken parts warehouse was almost completely empty now and it had been converted to a recreation and workout room. The large cargo hatch was always open and a lot of the prisoners spent their days off there. It wasn't until one of the inmates offered to let her see the inside of their cell that she realized the full extent of the changes. It wasn't a cell at all. It was a full residence, just like hers, and it even had a full display screen in the living room.

“Thanks for letting us intrude.” I said and the man waved as we left.

“What... how...” The administrator couldn't get the words out.

“Figuring out the logistics for individual showers only happened recently; but, I had left space in the rooms for it, so it was easily adapted.” I said. “Running the pipes and keeping the water hot and the pressure up with so many people using it at different times?” I chuckled. “What a pain in the ass that was!”

“Tell me about it.” Frank said and came over to us. He wore an administrator outfit and not a guard uniform. He also didn't have any weapons or armor on, which surprised the administrator, since he was among the prisoners. “I warned you it was going to be a nightmare.”

I chuckled. “Administrator, if you don't recognize him, he used to be a guard until I promoted him to Overseer about a year ago.”

“Over-what?” The administrator asked.

“He keeps all the little things here on task and running.” I said. “I was just too busy working to worry about everything.”

There was a loud siren sound for a few seconds and we all turned towards the main shaft. In less than thirty seconds, all of the prisoners that had been on shift were dropped off in the living area with their full crates. The supervisor stopped with the last of the prisoners and hooked all of the crates onto the back of his platform with cargo handles in a chain. He switched the platform to the top rail and floated up to the top of the shaft, there was a second siren, and he disappeared up the shaft with the crates.

“Good Goddess.” The administrator said. “Did I just see that?”

“It's damn efficient.” Frank said. “No one has been hurt, thanks to the field the platforms and crates generate, assuming anyone was stupid enough to stay in the way with the clear warning siren.”

“Even the big guy gets out of the way in time.” I said and waved to the big alien. He waved back and shuffled one foot and shot ten feet forward, then did it again.

“What is he on?” The administrator asked as she saw him.

“It's half of a cargo handle and part of a crate in the shape of a boot.” I said. “I made a small platform for him with the electronics in it. He just turns it on when he wants to move. It raises an inch off the ground and he uses his other foot to push himself along.”

The administrator stared at the ingenious contraption for several minutes, until the beeping of the food dispensary distracted her. It opened up and everyone gathered around to get their food. The three workers there served everyone fairly quickly, thanks to the updated and triplicated food processing units. The supervisor came back and parked his platform and got his food as well.

I turned my head when I felt three distinct people approach.

“Hi, Hunter.” Val said with a huge smile and kissed me, then she went to get her tray of food.

“False Tiercel.” The first avian woman said and gave me a kiss as well and went to the dispensary.

The administrator stared at me with an open mouth, because she couldn't believe what she just saw.

“Asshole.” The second avian woman said angrily, grabbed my collar and kissed me, then she blushed a little and went to get her food tray, too.

“What was that?” The administrator asked, shocked.

“I eventually wore them down.” I said with a smile. “She still tries to kill me in my sleep, though.”

“Are... are you insane?” The administrator asked, shocked.

“Only a little.” I said.

The administrator gave me an odd look, then she blinked her eyes. “Wait, what did the older avian woman call you?”

“False Tiercel.” I said. “Tiercel is the title they give mating males of their species. Since I'm not an Aviatoma, it means I'm a fake male breeder.” I let her think about that and walked over to the dispensary. “Four trays, please.”

“Yessir.” The three workers said and did up four trays and handed them to me.

“Thanks.” I said walked back over to the administrator. “Shall we sit?”

The administrator was about to ask where when tables raised up out of the floor and nearly everyone sat down to eat their food. The dispensary's serving job had been done in only ten minutes and the three workers sat down and ate as well. I put the four food trays down on the table and Noma, the guard and I sat.

“It's okay.” I said and motioned to the spot beside the guard. “It's not the tasteless stuff it used to be.”

“It's actually really good.” Noma said as the administrator sat. “The servers are the ones that take care of both farms and Hunter helps them with the cultivation.”

“It took a long time to get the right balance.” I said with a smile and started to eat. “Yeah, that's good.”

Noma took a bite and moaned a little. “I can taste you.” She said and looked at me with longing, so I reached up and touched the side of her face and put a little bit of Presence into her mouth. “Mmm.” She moaned and leaned forward and kissed me for another taste.

“You shouldn't be feeding her so liberally.” The administrator said.

I chuckled. “She'd be unconscious if I fed her liberally.”

“He promised to do it once a week and he's always done it.” Noma said and let out a long and satisfied sigh, then she ate some more food. “I can't wait!”

I laughed. “I still haven't broken her of the habit.” I said and we all ate our food.

The administrator tried it and the food was just as good, if not a little better, than the food being served to the guards.

“It's the same.” I said and she looked at me. “I doubled the size of both gardens and criss-crossed their contents. I even brought in new things and added them to the mix.”

“It's his Presence.” Noma said. “The little boosts he gives the plants makes all the difference.”

“Hey, I explained that you can't just pour Presence into a plant and it grows. It doesn't work like that.”

Noma poked my shoulder. “It's all you.” She said. “All of it.”

The administrator had to agree. Everything she had seen had all been because of Hunter's administration of her mining facility. She ate her food in silence and when they were done, they dropped off their trays and the tour continued as they went all the way back to the administration center. Even the subtle changes were significant, because she had been out of commission for so long. Everyone they passed nodded, waved, or saluted him and that bothered her a lot.

I let her ruminate over everything and didn't interrupt her thoughts until we reached her residence. Once there, my wrist communicator beeped at me to get my attention.

“Sir, you told me to call and remind you about your conference call.” An older woman's voice said.

“Oh! Ha ha. I actually did forget. Thanks, Peggy.” I said.

“You're welcome, sir.” Peggy said and clicked off.

“Who was that?” The administrator asked.

“My personal assistant.” I said and she stared at me. “I don't like doing paperwork and make her do it.”

“Where did you find a personal assistant?” She asked.

“She was one of the cleaning ladies. Once I brought in a few cleaning droids and eased all of their workloads, they branched out and do other things now.” I said. “Noma, you be good and I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Kisses.” Noma said and she gave me several quick kisses and I gave her touches of Presence each time. “Say hi to everyone for me.”

“You know they don't mind you being there.” I said and she shook her head.

“That's your time with them. I get you all the other times.” Noma said.

I gave her a longer kiss and a bit more Presence to make her moan, then looked at the administrator. “Go to bed and relax. I've got things handled until you're recovered.” I said and started to walk away.

“I'll stay and help you in any way I can to get you better.” The guard that liked her said.

“But... your duties...”

I turned back when I reached the lift. “He's assigned to be your personal guard and doesn't have any other duties, so he's all yours.” I said and rode the lift down to the ground level and went to my office. I had made a new place for it when the administrator was taken out of stasis.

“They're online and waiting for you.” Peggy said when I came through the door.

“Thanks.” I said and walked by her and closed the door.

“Hi, Hunter.” Hailey said from the middle seat of the couch on the huge display screen.

“Hey, beautiful.” I said and beamed a smile at her and sat down on the couch to copy her. “I know it's only been a week since we last talked; but, you look an inch taller.”

“How can you tell? I'm sitting down.” Hailey said and giggled.

“Why are you giggling? He didn't start flirting yet.” Simone said with a laugh. “Hey, handsome.”

“I'm still not talking to you.” I said and turned my head away.

“Aww, don't be like that.” Simone said. “It was only one public picture.”

“Simone, I did not want the entire galaxy to see me having sex with you on Adona's observation deck.”

“No one's talking about it anymore.” Simone said.

I sighed. “I'm on a prison planet and on a secured network, and I'm still getting random messages about it from everywhere.”

“It's not my fault someone put it on the satellite network.” Simone said and licked her lips.

“You're supposed to be less affected by public displays by now, dammit.” I said.

“If you were here, I wouldn't be so bad.” Simone said and bit her lip to plump it up.

I sighed. “You know I can't leave yet and you can't come here.”

“You've had the satellite in place for six months. I doubt The Order will just magically show up to kick you out.” Sheph said. “As far as we can tell, the new council doesn't have any complaints about how you're running the place.”

“Only because I asked you to help them track down the organization that's making all of those assassins.” I said. “Which reminds me, how's Kara?”

“She looked fine last month when I sent her the new data packages.” Sheph said. “She's been a bit cold after each mission, though.”

I nodded. “She's not really predisposed for that kind of work, so it's going to take its toll on her.” I said. “Did you tell her to call me here?”

Sheph nodded. “She said that she's not calling a prison, no matter how secure the call is.”

I chuckled. “She travelled for months to drop me off and yet she balks at calling.”

“I can't explain it, either.” Sheph smiled. “Oh, I've got the new shipping numbers, too.”

“Business can wait.” I said. “I'd rather talk to my friends right now.”

“He acknowledged us, even with Hailey here!” Sandy said exaggeratedly and hugged Beatrice. “It's a miracle!”

We all laughed at that.

“Is Opina linking everyone in?” I asked.

“You know I am.” Opina, our space habitat AI said. “Gleas, Jelly, and Monna, say hello.”

“Hello!” Three voices came from the display. They were currently out on a delivery and wouldn't be back at the station for another week.

“No video?” I asked, concerned.

“I've got a maintenance crew looking at Opina's communication suite. There's something wrong with the linking software and we can't add in more than one screen.” Sheph said. “They said tomorrow.”

“They said that yesterday.” Opina said, a little disgruntled.

I chuckled. “Well, just getting to hear all of your voices is good enough for me.”

“Us, too.” Gleas said. “We all miss seeing you around.”

“I miss being around. I'm also sorry that I missed all your birthdays the last two years.”

“You're a little tied up hiding from the rest of the universe.” Deborah said from just off-screen. “We all understand the necessity of staying there.”

“Thank you. Thank you all.” I said. “I'll do my best to make it up to you when I get the chance.”

“We love you.” Hailey said. “We'll wait for as long as you want us to for you to come back.”

“Some of us love you more than others.” Simone said cattily. “Guess who else got a boyfriend?”

“Simone!” Jelly's voice exclaimed and I laughed.

“You just gave yourself away, Jelly.” Simone said. “Poor girl was caught by this handsome pilot out near the rim during one of the deliveries last week.”

“Wow, really?” I asked. “Is he any good?”

“He's fully vetted and checked out.” Sheph said. “He's good.”

“Hey!” Jelly exclaimed and we all laughed.

“We all want what's best for our family.” Sheph said. “Don't take it personally.”

“Yeah, I know.” Jelly said.

“Deborah's husband has been a big help, too.” Sandy said.

“A dedicated heavy maintenance engineer is always handy to have around. I could use a man with his skills here.” I said. “I'm glad he accepted the job with our company.”

Deborah leaned into the camera's pickup. “That was mean of you to wait for us to be married first before letting Sheph make the offer.”

“I didn't want his decision influenced by your sexy body... I mean our money.” I said and she shook her fist at me. “I'm happy you're happy!” I quickly said and raised my hands in surrender, and everyone laughed.

We talked for another little while and my wrist communicator beeped.

“Looks like our time is up.” I said and looked right at Hailey and created a Presence Hand by her face and caressed her cheek. “I'll take a bath tonight and think about you.”

“I will, too.” Hailey said. “I love you, Hunter.”

“I love you, too.” I said and absorbed the hand. “Until next week.”

“Until then.” Hailey said and the screen went blank.

I stared at the screen and didn't regret initiating contact. I had debated hard about staying completely out of contact for as long as I was in prison, then when the administrator was brought out of stasis, I paid to have the very next ship drop off one of my satellites into orbit. If things didn't go well, I wanted a way to call the people I cared about in place before anything happened.

I had already modified datapads to give me backdoor access into the system if the old administrator did decide to try and put everything back to the way it was. If she tried to take over with her harsh tactics again, I was pretty sure I would have to arrange for her to go back into stasis.

I left my office and waved at Peggy, and she nodded and shut down her console. She had taken to administrative duties like a duck to water when I brought in her droid replacements. I had given her the options to be transferred out, to retire, or to become something I needed desperately. She had smacked my face for the last option, because her dead husband wouldn't want her to be one of my women.

It took me a week to convince her that I only wanted an assistant.

After that, and a bribe of two weeks vacation every six months, she took the job eagerly and pretty much ran my day and kept me on track. I would occasionally smile at her with one of my award winning smiles, and her hand would magically slap my face, no matter where she was in the room.

“The answer is no.” Peggy would say and then act as if nothing happened. I really like her.

I left the administration center and used the platform to get back to the living section. Once there, Frank gave me a wave and took it back. I walked down the mine shaft to Val's place and the cargo hatch opened as I approached. I looked up and Val tweeted at me. I chirped back and went inside the entryway. It was all done up and no dirt walls or floor could be seen. I went up the stairs and Val met me there and kissed me.

“Please tell me we can!”

I chuckled and knocked on the door across from her nest. It opened and the first avian woman was there. “Honored Matron, we are ascending to the roost.”

She let out a pleased warble and the second avian woman came over to us.

“The administrator is going to be upset when she finds out what you did.” She said and the three of us entered a hidden lift.

“Are you going to tell her?” I asked with a grin and she warbled angrily at me. “Then don't worry about it. Only we know this exists.”

It took a couple of minutes for us to ascend the three miles to the surface and then we smelled fresh air as we entered the twisting trees I had formed around the lift on the surface. We went up another two hundred feet and the lift stopped. When it opened, we were met with one of the most fantastic views on the planet's surface. The four of us took it in, along with deep breaths, then we climbed into the real and quite large wooden nest.

“This amazes me every time, False Tiercel.” The first avian woman said. “Thank you for this.”

“You say that every time.” I said and took out the dessert preparation device and put one of the desserts in it. I had added a self-contained battery pack and it only needed to be recharged occasionally. “You are quite welcome.” I said and took out the dessert and stored the device, then popped the dessert open.

All three women started to drool at the smell, especially mixed with the fresh air and the excessive height we were at, then I formed the claws around my hand and dipped my finger into the creme to start sharing the dessert.