As I was being drawn out of it back to my own mind, I heard Axle talking to the hobb in the living room.

They were speaking in the hobbs language, which was frighteningly gruff. It sounded a bit like angry gorillas in the lead up to a fight, but when I looked around the corner, they were both seated calmly, with Zach glaring at them both from across the living room. The conversation looked friendly, even. I waited in the kitchen, not wanting to interrupt, and quietly added a universal translator to my wish list.

It would spawn unreasonable ads aplenty, but every so often something better would come around and make the effort worthwhile. If nothing else, it would remind me that I needed one. I had been thinking about the situation with the ravens and realized that if I had simply had a way to communicate with them earlier, our little ‘misunderstanding’ may have never happened at all.

I also really wanted to hear Doofus talk, and since he didn’t seem to have any interest in buying his own translator, maybe I could find one that worked to at least let me know what he was saying when he barked. My desire to not be annoyed by ads was refreshed as one popped up to annoy me. The translator it offered was bundled with a small building and cost more morties than my recent purchases from the hidden Teslak Cooperative.

While I waited for Axle, my packages came. A pod arrived at the sliding glass doors with a quiet bonk, and I quickly moved to let it in. The first box was tiny, and the pod deposited it on the counter. It was only the size of a handheld cigarette lighter.

The next box it deposited was significantly larger and went on the kitchen floor beside the counter. My camp knife was open before the pod had even made it outside, but before I could slit either box open, I was distracted by a familiar tearing sound coming from the sky.

Drusk’s shuttle was returning.

As soon as the house began to shake, I walked to the screen door and peered up. The shuttle was angling in for another landing over the pool.

“NO SHAKE!” Cube suddenly screamed from the kitchen counter.

I reflexively grabbed the box off the tile and held it out in front of me. The little Cube inside clicked its metal lips in satisfaction and went back to its silent resting state.

With a sigh, I slid the door open and started outside.

“NO SHAKE! NO SHAKE!” It started screaming the phrase repeatedly until I got the sliding glass door shut again. I did notice that the entire glass frame wobbled and jiggled as the shuttle landed over the pool, as did the ground. Guess I was enough of a shock absorber for Cube because the little bastard stayed content as long as I held it.

The sun was still up, but just starting to color the horizon with our sunset for the day. As the colored light cascaded into Mr. Sada’s kitchen, Drusk’s shuttle settled into its final parking position. Once the craft was down and everything stopped vibrating, I set Cube back on the counter and walked out to greet the medical staff.

Drusk was unconscious and being pushed on the hover-sled stretcher. It was the same team as before, and as the mordren and her human allies took Drusk to the shed to get him unloaded, the Nah’gh approached me with his clipboard device again.

This time all he needed was my signature that the patient had been delivered. There was no system of law outside of BuyMort, so my signature released the funding I had approved for the surgery to their department, minus BuyMort’s minor fee, of course. The morties had gone into escrow with BuyMort during the surgery, so there was another small fee for that holding period as well.

After it was done, and all the fees were paid, by my personal account again, I went to go see Drusk. He was unconscious, but the female mordren that had accompanied him was still in the shed.

“This is where you’re keeping him?” She snapped as soon as I came into sight.

The shed was mostly empty, since we had pulled all the tents and air mattresses out, but there was still a cluster of old bikes in one corner, and Drusk was laying on a series of flattened cardboard boxes over the concrete.

“Uh, yeah for the moment. Sorry, I know, it’s not ideal.” I tried to meet her gaze, but her tail kept whipping around in the background and distracting me.

“I did build him a place to live and work though, today. Well, I had it built.” I looked down at Drusk.

His arm was wrapped in cloth, and I could see black gel beneath it, moving. His other arm ended in a stump, with a similar bandage and gel. The bandaging on his snout had been changed, I noticed, and he wore a new white gauze and string eyepatch.

“Will he be able to walk anytime soon?” I tried to meet her gaze, but the intensity of it made me glad for the helmet. She hated me, it was clear in her eyes.

“Yes, shortly after his anesthetic wears off he should be fully ambulatory.” She paused and looked down at her patient, sleeping peacefully and covered in bandages. “You don’t work him until at least sixteen hours of rest. Twenty-two hours if he’s performing any lifting overhead.”

I nodded. “He won’t be working until he’s ready, don’t worry. I just had his area built and equipped with basic furnishings, so he has a place to go that’s better than this.”

Her expression softened somewhat, which I was grateful for. She was intimidating when she scowled, it was like a smaller than average kaiju looking pissed off. It didn’t help that she stared at me from a significant height advantage, which afforded me an excellent view of her teeth as she spoke.

“Very well. Can I trust you with his medication?” she asked.

“Yes. I paid for and organized this surgery, as well as his new living area. I’m not going to sell his meds out from underneath him.”

Her gaze hardened again. “Are you not also the one who did this to him?”

My helmet bobbed as I nodded. “He attacked us. Hurt my friends. While I regret not stopping earlier than I did, I do not regret putting him down for that.”

The mordren doctor stared at me for a long moment, before eventually reaching to the pocket on her scrubs and producing a bottle of rattling pills from a small pouch. “As needed, for pain, and to reduce the phantom limb experience.”

She gestured to an oversized hook, with a wire attachment to the wearable portion that would activate a simple grab motion with the secondary arm. It was a basic, but functional prosthetic. “As requested, his hook.”

I nodded and she narrowed her eyes. “I do hope to see him back, and soon, for something more appropriate. Drusk himself requested this model, but I suspect it was at your behest and I do not approve of this situation.”

My sigh was loud enough that the helmet transmitted it, and her eyes widened in shock. Before she could start yelling at me, which she very clearly wanted to do, I raised my hands.

“Stop. It was his choice to attack us, and when you attack someone, you assume the risk of getting hurt or killed because of that attack. Violence is funny like that, it has this way of blowing back on those who use it, even in this screwed up system.” I reached up and unfastened my helmet as I spoke.

When I removed it, the mordren doctor’s eyes flicked over my face.

“I’m not interested in hurting Drusk, doc, and I never have been. I’m doing everything I reasonably can to make things better for him, without much personal benefit from it, so back off please.” I kept my tone level, but firm, and when I finished, her eyes widened as she took a deep breath.

“Understood.” The doctor stepped back and walked around Drusk’s prostrate form. She knelt and lifted one of his bandages a fraction, to look at the gel activity beneath. “I would like to follow up on his recovery, tomorrow. Will you allow me access to your affiliate for that purpose?”

When she looked up at me for an answer, I narrowed my eyes. “You work for Dearth. Can I trust you?”

“I do not work for the Dearth Conglomerate. I work for a small, specialist affiliate that contracts with Dearth regularly. I was called in to perform this surgery, as well as his scans, because of my expertise in mordren anatomy.”

“Then you’re welcome anytime you want, Doc,” I said with a shrug.

“My name is Doctor Trullo Firesinger.” She stood and met my gaze again, before ducking to leave the shed.

I turned and followed her out to where Axle was waiting for us. He held the box with Cube inside, and as I approached, I put my helmet back on and took the box from him.

“Our new spider rancher, I presume?” He asked.

“Yeah, once he’s recovered. The spiders don’t really need any help right now anyway.” I shrugged, checking in on Cube. It looked comfortable, for a small metal box sitting anyway.

“Once he’s recovered.” Dr. Firesinger pointed at first Axle, and then me. I nodded immediately.

Axle looked between the two of us and nodded. “Of course. I merely plan ahead.”

Dr. Firesinger produced a thin metal card emblazoned with her information and a picture. The picture and name combined would allow anyone in possession of the card to contact her via MortMobile.

“Please contact me if he needs anything.” She clasped her clawed hands in front of her chest and looked back at Drusk’s outline in the shed. “I hate to leave him like this.”

Axle stepped forward and placed a paw gently on her forearm. “I did not see what happened earlier, but this is being made into a good place, for good people. The hobb tribe here chose to stay after a single rotation, and many families have come to live here now.”

I grimaced and turned away. They walked to the shuttle, and I went back in the kitchen to apply my new upgrades.

After setting Cube down again, I took my camp knife out and used it to open the smaller box. Inside, nestled in a thin wall of foam lining, was my Power Blow upgrade patch. It had a small tag sticking up that said, ‘handle here,’ so I pinched it and lifted the package from its lining. Once it came clear, I saw another tag with another ‘handle here.’ I grabbed that with my other hand and a holographic message sprang to life over the patch.

“Pull apart,” it said, so I did. The patch slid into two separate patches, and the holographic message changed to, “apply to extremities.” I pressed one to each forearm and waited, leaning against the counter.

My skin began to tickle almost at once, and the sensation quickly escalated. The crystalline creatures activated and burrowed into my skin, and the tickle increased in severity again. I clutched the counter and tried to resist scratching my skin as the patches took effect.

Just as I was about to give up and scratch, the itching became a paralyzing fire in my fore-arms. They suddenly grew heavy, and I stepped around the counter to get help from Ordo, a small groan escaping my lips.

Ordo looked up as he saw me and stood. As he moved past me to help, Zach suddenly surged forward out of his seat on one leg and slammed bodily into the hobb. The two of them went down as my forearms burned in agony. I couldn’t even take a breath to scream.

Then it stopped, in an instant. The heat and itching both vanished and the feeling that remained, I could only describe as capability. I clenched my hand as Zach lifted and dropped an elbow on Ordo. The hobb struggled and got a fist into Zach’s face, and then I was there.

I lifted Zach by the back of his shirt and tossed him back onto the couch. His face twisted into a snarl of rage, and he lunged forward again. My hand formed into a fist, and I slammed it into his gut as he rose, while forcefully thinking the phrase ‘power blow.’ Something in my forearm clenched, immediately before my fist made contact.

Zach’s body lifted from the ground and slammed backward into the couch again. His eyes were crossed before his broken ankle hit the end-table, but the impact and sudden jolt of pain knocked him senseless. He drooled and lolled his head, gasping for breath.

I moved to help Ordo up, offering him a hand. He took it, and I could see the surprise on his face as I easily lifted him. These patches were working nicely already.

“All good?” I asked the hobb.

He grunted and nodded. “You okay?”

I nodded and lifted both arms to show him the patches. “Upgrade. Was a little harsh when taking effect.”

The hobb narrowed his eyes but nodded. He produced a strip of material from a pocket and bent to tie Zach’s legs together at the knees. “Won’t happen again, boss, my sorry.”

I shook my head. “I blame myself, Ordo. I distracted you from your work and he took advantage of that distraction.” When the hobb looked up at me in confusion, I shook my head again. “Don’t worry about it. I think you’re doing a good job.”

I looked at my forearms, feeling the power coursing through them. “And you know what? I think, maybe, I’m starting to do a good job as well.”