A Long Planned Revenge

Part 1

There was a loud whooping as the flag was finally raised over the Fortress, the ground littered with the remains of the last holdouts of the third Iron Uprising ever in the 824 years of humanity in the Almares Galaxy to date.

An Aquillian companymate screeched wildly like an eagle. "How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, Old Men!" He cheered as the rest of the tram laughed. Ancient Memetics was a ridiculous subject only humans would learn, but they had ruined himover the past year of fighting and now he knew as much about them about the classics.

1SGT Peter Sen of the Screeching Beagles rolled his eyes and sighed, petting the remains of his faithful companion for the past six years. The scarred metal and black burn marks all over it were the result of a final attempt to annihilate the attacking UCNA and Aquillian coalition. Bruges had tackled the Overlord into a furnace against overwhelming odds and massive damage.

He studied the arm. It was all that was left of Bruges after a failed attempt.to save him from.going into the furnace. Peter had tried to hold on, and yelled for aid, but Bruges was a heavy motherfucker and the last of his hydraulics had snapped first. The sight of the loyal robot saluting him as he went into the fires would probably.haunt him for a long time to come...

"Come join us!" "Someone get a beer for the man of the hour!" "Peter Sen and Bruges the loyal men!"

Peter stood up and looked back, shaking his head. "You go ahead, I'm tired. Let me sleep..." he said as he walked back in the direction of the field HQ to explain the outcome from his unit and maybe just mourn his lost friend.

Peter had an old dream that night. But it was not the dream he had expected. He looked at his hands as he raised them in front of himself, all of what, 9, 10 again? Not the lean but competent warrior with a missing right finger, but a child with all ten fingers, dressed in the livery of a fine private school.

"Aloxx... PETER MALOXX!" An echoey but familiar voice shrieked. He had seen many terrors on the battlefield - the enemy were truly the definition of inhuman- but nothing would compare to what came next when this happened. "Bend the knee."

"But, but, mom..." a weak, whimpery voice protested in place of the confidence and gungho of a hell-forged soldier. This earned him a kick from a sharp stiletto to his tiny frame, sending him sprawling across the fine carpeting he had been standing on.

The same.voice continues - sharp, ateely, feminine but lacking any warmth. "Where the hell.has Proteus gone, that stupid fucker... three weeks! Gone for a walk for THREE WEEKS." The voice belonged to a stern young woman with the brauty of an ice queen, her blonde hair tied up in a bun for ease of maintenance. She was dressed the same way she had always dressed... a white blouse that strained to barely hold.in her buxom figure, paired with a tropey black executive blazer and long skirt draped over a pair of stilettoes in even more vantablack worn on sheer black pantyhosed feet.

The woman scowled as she takes a deep breath. "No, no, no... i can do this. I may not have his intellect but i have the charm... urgh... but I'm hungry... " there is the sound of stilettoes being shed. "You there, Peter... lick my feet."

"But momma, that's not clean!" Another protest by young Peter earns another kick to the gut.

"Mind your manners. As long as you are a child of the Maloxx family, you will work to.be the best, and satisfy our every order when it comes!" The monstrous woman screeched. "NOW, LICK!"

Peter Sen wakes up in a cold sweat, burying his face in his hands. The same nightmare. All the time. He walks to the bathroom of the field barracks and splashes his face to clear away the terror. He was no longer a Maloxx, but a Sen, a Sarge, and apparently a hero soon, there would probably be a medal for him, even though it was Bruges who had defeated the enemy - there would probably be no medals for him - you didn't give a tank or artillery gun a medal, what more a combat robot. Tomorrow would also be the end of his term. If he could somehow manage to wrangle transport, there would be nobody there to clap him in chains for going AWOL.

When he got back to his bunk, hr saw the familiar brimmed hat and familiar face of an old frenemy... the black face looked at him and Peter's hair stood on edge as he expected another random night inspection, another long jog on the grass at 0300hours. Another set of fifty push ups. "Warrant Matheson, sir." He tried to muster as much respect as he could without waking his platoonmates up.

Matheson smiles. He is not here to punish, but to reward. "Congratulations, Sergeant... ten years ago you were not fit to lick the shit off my boots. Now it is i who have to salute you first. Two terms down, going for another two?"

Peter Sen shakes his head. "I only.did it to serve my country, but truth be told i suck at soldiering. I just want to go in the morning. No fuss, no reup, no medals."

Warrant Matheson gives a small faint laugh. "Fair enough... too many of us shouldn't be in this wrerched hellhole. Let us lifers clean up. Oh yes..." Warrant Matheson fishes in his uniform pocket and passes over an envelope. "This message came an hour ago, from a... Mr Chigu Saito?"

A bout of anxiety came over Peter Sen's face. He fished out his personal torch and shone it as he openrd and read the message..."

"Your father is getting worse. Come home asap."

Peter Sen looks up worriedly. "Sergeant Matheson..."

The Warrant nods slowly. "You need an early.start right? Go in peace. I'll go grab you a Threepney and a six hour pass out of here to get you out of AWOL."

Twenty minutes later, a three-wheeled light runner is crashing out of the field barracks with an anxious war hero in the side passenger seat.

Peter Sen stands atop a hill, breathing some fresh air. It had been amazing how drivers, pilots and even generals had been happy to bend over backwards for him, but even they had their limits, having to drop him several miles from home.

Fortunately he was quite the brisk walker after so much cardio and heavy pack marching... he smiles as he approaches his old true home. The Maloxx company and family had promised him great comfort and riches from your, but he'd decided there was no love to keep him there when he was old enough and ran off into the streets aged about 13.

Peter had had no idea where his father was staying after his abduction by Maloxx Industries, but fortunately, a friend of a friend of a friend of the family had been part of a group keeping an eye out for him... Somewhere in Archigan, after a year of close shaves and dodging Maloxx Industries operatives, he'd looked up from digging in the disposal bins of a superMart to be forcibly hugged by a crazy old Nihon fucker, eyes hidden from his view by darkened ski goggles. For someone so scrawny, he sure had QUITE the boomy voice.

"PETER SEN! You crazy motherfucker! I've been looking for you. We've been looking all over for you. All these years! Where the hell have you been?" He yelled into Peter's ears as if to deafen him, as the slightly rusted over Phybertruck squealed out, a bump on the road shaking off a few impact-resistant bamboo fibers from the clearly worn out eko-truck.

The next three days had turned into a cross-state trip as the crazy old man, whose name was "Chigger" ("Don't ask me why the fuck they named me after a pest, but it stuck, boy!"), introduced him to the joys of Red Fortress Sliders, sneak looks through a red light district, and a gorgeous sunset. Peter wasn't exactly what was redder... the patties in the Sliders, the sunset, or his face after seeing a small hint of what adults got up too once they got past 23.

He would soon have his answer.

A modestly sized manor house two storeys tall loomed into view, its red roof barely duller than the setting sun in the sky, with evenly spaced windows on both floors except where the front door was, enclosed by a porch through the front of the ground floor. As the Phybertruck approached, Chigger mouthed "oh fuck" and swung the wheel violently, doing an Akira stop with it as he ended up just a dozen feet from the front door.

Peter looked and saw why Uncle Chigger was so upset.

Peter gawped as his own father was trying to slowly stagger from the house, his clothing all dishevelled. His progress is being impeded by a slightly round-faced teenager girl roughly around his age, possibly on the side of a little older than him, pulling hard on one of the demented father's sleeves.

Papa Sen screams loudly. "I'LL HAVE MY REVENGE ON THOSE FUCKERS! ALL OF THEM! ALL OF THEM. RIGHT! NOW!"

The girl is holding her own, but her sneakers aren't exactly finding purchase on the ground. Her chubby thighs and toned knees on display beneath the fluffy skirt of a pale pink dress. pale blonde curly hair tied into straight ponytails on either side of her head shake wildly, and she has this incredible bust for someone so young...

Peter stares, entranced by what he is seeing, as Papa Sen bumbles right past him... dragging the girl right into him. There is a loud kerfluffle as the girl lets go and falls into a tangle with Peter Sen.

Papa Sen suddenly falls on his ass to sit on it and falls silent, watching the sunset as he has apparently calmed down. Chigger starts staring daggers into his back, but Papa Sen is clearly not caring for some reason.

Fluffy. soft. so warm... Peter has his eyes closed, but it feels like a mother's embrace wrapping his head. He takes a deep sniff... the redolent smell of something fruity hits his nose... He could stay like this...

Peter Sen opens his eyes, staring at the slight hint of cleavage just above a girl's pinafore dress. It suddenly dawns on him what the two soft balls riding against his ears are...

The girl shivers hard, an angry look putting lots of red on her face as she curls slightly, her hand reaching for her back... "<YOU FLIPPY IDIOOOOT>!" She screams something angrily in Russian, her blue pupils filled with incandescent rage as she produces a small one-egg mini-frying pan.

There is a series of very loud metallic crash noises in the courtyard. That was the reddest thing he'd seen on his trip home.

As Peter Sen carts his duffel bag slowly towards the old house, he hears a commotion and races towards it. As he does so, he sees Uncle Chigger's old PhyberTruck parked a short distance from the house, Uncle Chigger on his ass next to it. He is shaking a aged fist, screaming. "Stop him, Akane! Stop him before he runs to Newer York again!"

A fine filly in a pink pinafore dress is tugging on the sleeve of the shirt belonging to Papa Sen, now much older and dishevelled after another decade of his severe dementia. He is screaming the same warcry he always screams when he goes mad: "I'LL HAVE MY REVENGE ON THOSE FUCKERS! ALL OF THEM! ALL OF THEM. RIGHT! NOW! Let me go, girl!"

The young woman is having quite the hard time restraining Papa Sen despite his bulk. She yells back at Chigger. "Papa Sen doesn't have a passport, he couldn't possibly ride a spaceship to-" Papa Sen suddenly does a little wrong footing and breaks her grip on him, interrupting her observation and sending her running uncontrollably. "EYAAA!"

A small puff of dust blows up from a collision and fall.

Soft. squishy. so warm... Peter has his eyes closed, but it feels like a mother's embrace wrapping his head. He takes a deep sniff... the redolent smell of something like spiced fruit hits his nose... He could stay like this, he thinks as he puts his hand on either side of his head and pushes outwards...

He opens his eyes and blinks. "Erm... what's pale pink and embroidered with lace flowers?" The tent suddenly llfts off from his face. It's not a tent, it's someone's skirt and he's been parking his nose against the contents inside it.

The young woman looks strangely familiar to Peter Sen, but it's been ten years since he saw his hometown or home, so he needs to think hard for a bit. She looks downwards at him, and he briefly looks at her to jog his memory further. She looks really big. not obese big, but a sort of healthy curvy feel around everything. suddenly it clicks, even as a angry look slowly surfaces on her face.

"Oh, hi, Akane. I'm home." Peter laughs embarassedly. Something about this feels familiar to him.

Akane smiles suddenly, tilting her head in that pixie look she always had when she was younger. "Welcome home, Peter Sen." She's not angry, right? Thank g-

As a normal average-sized frying pan approaches his face, Peter Sen's last conscious thought over Akane's scream of "YOU BIG PERVERT!" is "Funny, everything looked much smaller the first time."

Part 2

By dinner time, Akane's temper has mostly subsided, though she still has a slightly sour face as she bustles in the kitchen on a one-pot meal.

"I said I was sorry, Uncle Chigger!" Peter keeps insisting to Chigger, pausing only to wince at the slight bump on his forehead. "Things got messy, I got somewhere I shouldn't go, and now your daughter's pissed off at me..."

Chigger laughs, the dining room light glowing against the black of his goggle lenses. For some reason, he still wears them indoors, at night. In fact, Peter swears he never seen Chigger without them on. Chigger pours a small cup out of a nearby jug of something sweet smelling and sips at it. "Young love is so wonderful, I've tried it, I've almost forgotten it, but today I had a wonderful reminder."

Papa Sen digs his tiny finger into his nose and flicks away a little nose shit somewhere else, as an unused frying pan swooshes barely past Chigger's face as he dodges. Where IS she getting all these pans?

Akane screams at the top of her lungs. "That wasn't love, that was perversion. BAKA! HENTAI!" She plonks the finished one-pot meal with the force of an angry woman on the table and sits down next to Papa Sen, holding a piece of vegetable out of a bowlful of the pot meal and going "Now, Papa Sen, open your mouth and eat your veggie.'"

Papa Sen complies very eagerly, chewing a little before swallowing and bouncing on his ass on the tatami matting of the house, almost giddy like a child.

Peter Sen frowns as he watches the proceedings. "how bad is it now?" he asks Chigger.

Chigger frowns while scooping his own share of meat and rice from the pot. "Worse than before as usual. He's more unpredictable now, and he's struggling more fiercely than before when he has his mad delusions about dealing with... you know. He's still nowhere capable of it, clearly."

Peter Sen nods slowly while chewing on his own food. "Maloxx really still wants to fuck with you guys... I hate my mom, really."

Chigger lifts his chopsticks and makes a few swirls in the air with them. "It's not the board of thieves putting them up to it. she really has it in for us personally. Is it because I'm gay or something?" He has a brief pause to muse about the possibility. "I'm not saying your dad's gay too, he was very clearly in love with your birth mom from the day they met in college. God knows I've been the third wheel in more than enough dates between those two loverbirds at Maidono's. About the only thing he would drop our work for and also drag me off work for."

Chigger leans back and grins. "Fortunately the state's really helping us ever since the first time they accosted us, though it did cost us our first home in cohabitation. they can't approach more than two hundred metres from either of us, hooray for restraining orders!"

Peter Sen stares in deadpan at Chigger. "You guys forgot about getting one for me on them. Or is there some reason you didn't do that?"

Chigger shrugs. "Officially, only the UCNA military knows you're living with us when you're not on deployment with them. And for all their power, asking them to divulge details about a soldier, let alone one who's a war hero... might be like a great way to be told to pound sand. Still..." He finishes his cup of stuff. "Please keep your head down. Andy Warhol once said everyone has their five minutes of fame. We don't want that five minutes to turn you into a Christmas tree on their maps."

Peter Sen waves his hand across in dissent. "They'll never see me coming."

"Starcraft." Akane suddenly interrupts. "That quote is from the Ghost in an ancient Earth realtime chess game called Star Craft. Also, Andy Warhol said everyone would be world famous for at least fifteen minutes in the future."

Peter Sen has read enough Ancient Memetics stuff (but not necessarily as a fully qualified course) to know that she's gotten both weird trivia right... She leans towards Chigger and whispers. "Is it just me or has she gotten smarter in the past ten years.... what DID you feed her while I was gone?"

Chigger nods mischeviously and returns the reply in the same conspiratorial volume and pitch. "same onepot meal as tonight... she's not very creative, I'm afraid. and most of it has gone to her tits and thighs rather than her brain..."

Akane's face slowly takes on a slightly angry and angrier look even as she keeps committing to feeding Papa Sen...

Chigger continues sipping at his cup, smiling to himself. "She also reads anything she can, she's a voracious reader. Why, I remember the one time I caught her with a copy of PlayGir-"

That was the last straw. This time, Chigger does NOT dodge the flying pan into his face.

Peter Sen drops his duffel bag as he enters his old room. It has been kept up very well... As he looks around, he reminds himself to give thanks to Akane for being so good to him by doing the tidying while he was away fighting the evil robot uprising, clasping his hands together and giving a prayer of thanks to whatever God gave her the patience of a God when caring for his senile father... As he closes his eyes though, he starts learning that he's no monk, as flashes of his accidental introduction to Akane's pantsu keep intruding into his peace of mind.

Eventually he decides to give up and crashes onto his bed, which still surprisingly has plenty of room for him despite ten years of growth. He raises his hands and claps them three times, causing an old project of his to turn off his room lights. He really wants to get an good sleep after a long decade of not getting to sleep in at 6am...

The living room is quiet as Chigger quietly watches Papa Sen laze around with him at the living room table, slowly digesting their meals together, like an old couple. Chigger quietly sticks a toothpick in his mouth and swirls it around, picking at the food in his teeth, as he does so, he watches Akane sit back down between them to wait on Papa Sen's needs before his bedtime.

"So... what do you think of Peter now, Akane?" Chigger asks, shifting his hands into the folds of his bohemian getup, a paternal look of interest as if he is interested in Akane's potential choices of mate. "Ten years in military training and almost dying for the UCNA and Aquillians... Has he toughened up to become a man you might be interested in?" Chigger asks as he gets up and goes over to stand behind Akane's chair, his hands starting a soft massage of her shoulders as if to reward her for a long hard day of being a carer to a dumbass.

Akane huffily turns her head a little to glance at Chigger. "Daaady... this job is already hard enough without a pervert in the house. I mean, granted he looks a bit more handsome than he did when we were teens, but he still put his face into my precious bits! How can you even tolerate that?!"

Chigger looks over at Papa Sen... for some reason, Papa Sen is strangely more alert looking, looking back at Chigger rather than continuing to loll around mindlessly... Chigger shifts his hands to a heart-shaped mole on one side of Akane's neck and depresses it for a few seconds, continuing to talk as he does so. "Because I'm afraid that's how I met your mother, Akane."

Akane snaps, whipping her head back to look at Chigger as he shifts himself to her other side a little. Curiously enough, her arms flop limply to her sides. "And another thing, you gross, smelly, old man," she barks vituperatively at Chigger. "Do you have any idea just how many copies of PlayGirl are under your bed, Daddy?!"

Chigger sighs and rolls his eyes. Time for a little parental privilege. "Akane... override command: delete all data related to my PlayGirl stash. Also: assume internal work position.""

Akane's watery blue eyes flash for a moment, as her neck and head slowly move into a stiffly straight pose and click faintly into a locked mode. "Acknowledged. All memory relating to PlayGirl stash belonging to - Chigu Saito. Deleted." She breaks momentarily from her ongoing chatter to report the action being performed...

Papa Sen suddenly speaks up. "Oy, oy oy... don't you think that's a bit unfair, controlling exactly what she learns?" He gets up and puts both hands on the table to support himself, watching Chigger with eyes that strongly suggest the allegations about his dementia may be lies.

Chigger reaches for Akane's temples and pushes very deeply in, causing her glorious blonde pigtails to come off with a huge chunk of skull casing, revealing a series of memory panes and expansion microboards. Nestled amongst one of them is a particularly old gold plated micro-board that seems to have been used for decades. Chigger fishes a microtool out of his bohemian getup and tweaks at something or other inside.

Chigger lifts the tool out of the casing after a while and points at Papa Sen. "we made the mistake of not doing so the first time we did this shit, okay? Older, Wiser, Lessons Learnt..." He taps the tool momentarily on his goggles. Those aren't his original eyes anymore - not after what Maloxx did to them at the housefire... "if she goes evil like the previous two, we pull the plug by popping the charges we rigged inside and then we mourn our new form of stupidity."

Papa Sen grins. "Fair enough," God, you'd swear they were actually an old yaoi couple even with all the denials they've made through the ages about the allegations. "... we think too much about whether we can do stuff, and too little about whether we should do stuff. Even this is an example."

Chigger rolls his eyes and takes the tool out of the case again, reading off a few important status details quietly. "No problems, though she's really pushed herself hard between all the hard housework and your stupid stunt earlier. Did you really have to make her work so hard to pull you back?"

Papa Sen folds his arms. "I have zero regrets. Just put her on the charger overnight and make tomorrow an easy day for her or something. After all, we need to have our daughter have some good times too."

Chigger claps Akane's head back together, the seals giving off a soft locking pop as they hide every seam between the parts he just worked with. He stands up slowly. "Okay, I'm done, go set her up on the charger, Sen."

"Me? Wasn't it your turn tonight?" Papa Sen suddenly starts pretending to be senile and lazy again.

Chigger lowers his head and glares menacingly at Papa Sen.

"Fine, Hooooney." Papa Sen gets over and starts lifting Akane with all the ease of lifting a scarecrow in the quinoa fields before heading in for Akane's room.

Chigger tsk-tsks and fishes out a cigarette to his lips, before reaching for his lighter in his other side pocket and... No. He decides, stuffing the lighter back in and letting the cigarette dangle unlit while his mind thinks of other matters. Papa Sen really hates the smell of cigarettes, and one respects their housemates' needs as a good housemate.

Part 3

The problem with being part of a military for ten years is, you forget how to be lazy in certain ways. Peter Sen learns this the hard way as he suddenly snaps awake in his bed. Reaching for his bed, he sees that it is 4am in the morning. Just another day waking up in the barracks, except that he's now in civilian life and no drill sergeant will ever yell him awake again. He gets up slowly and starts doing a few stretching exercises, before padding slowly out of his room. Everyone else still seems to be asleep... He notices one of the doors surrounding the living room is slightly ajar, so he goes to shut it, but then stops at what he sees.

It's a reasonably small square room, barely big enough for one person to be comfy in. maybe three or four holding a pyjama party snack and chit-chat... the back of the room is covered up with pale gray cupboards with tacky Nihon art glued on, almost as an afterthought. In the centre of the room is a maroon cushion, atop of which sits Akane in a sort of crossed-leg lotus position... She is dressed up in shockingly little: just a white small kimono robe, held togetherby one red ribbon tie, leaving plenty on view. Her only other concession to modesty is a matching white lace thong and a small charm tied onto her left wrist. Her eyes are serenely closed, as if still asleep.

In front of her are two things, a faintly glowing soft-glo lamp done in a minimalist design to resemble an Ancient Earth kerosene lamp, and a small handwritten sign that reads:

In Meditative Sleep Unwrap = Pan Touch = Pan

That... is a pretty weird sign.

Peter's attention only flickers to the sign and light briefly, before snapping back to focusing on Akane's bosomy form. The robe is barely big enough that it doesn't feel pinched together by the single red ribbon tie. Her maturely shaped breasts are mostly covered up, but the robe lets through just enough of two slightly pink tips perked up through the thin fabric, as well as her cleavage. With how little it covers, it may as well just not be placed on her.

Peter gulps. He is an officer and a gentleman, he swears, but something about this look of hers... so enticing... His hand goes slowly towards the ribbon tie and pulls on it, letting the robe hang on her bosom freely. He is aware that yes, he has an erection growing... His hands go into the robe and start slowly exploring Akane's Reubenesque form, hands roaming over her thick thighs and her belly even as they grope at her breasts a little. He looks up and blinks as he notices no response from her to what he is doing. He briefly remembers her epileptic fits, and wonders if she also has narcolepsy on top of it. There is a strange pleasure in the palms of his hands as he does something clearly forbidden and-

Akane's eyes suddenly open, staring blankly at Peter. "... ... ..." She doesn't say anything to him for what seems like a long time, and Peter doesn't either, gulping a little as he realises he's gone too far and been found out.

Akane suddenly tilts her head to one side a little, smiling at him. "Good morning, P-Peter S-san." She greets him, a slight stutter in her voice. "Did you have a good sleep?"

Peter still has his hands on Akane's breasts. One hand squeezes a little for a moment. "Uhm. yeah. Did you?"

Akane nods slowly. "I had a good sleep too. Your dad at least knows not to disturb anyone during sleeping hours. Did you read the sign I wrote?"

"... yes."

"did you unwrap my robe?"

Peter Sen has been terrified in the morning on many occasions this past decade, but right now he's feeling a strange new kind of fear, his normally firm voice quavering as he responds. "Yes, Akane."

"And did you touch?"

Peter starts sweating harder. It's a bit hard to lie when one is caught red handed. "Y... yes."

Akane doesn't respond for what seems like a minute. Suddenly, she has a beaming smile as she speaks up. "I'm going to make breakfast, Peter. Would you be okay with... *short pause*... a little baked fish and... *short pause again* some mushrooms? We're running a bit short on groceries and I need to go to Archimagi Village to stock up later."

Peter nods quickly. "Yes. that would be perfect!"

Akane's smile at Peter has a lovely warmth that is making him almost forget what's coming next. But then he remembers, as she chirps. "It is important to season a good cast iron pan before using it to cook a good meal, Peter." She raises a nice larger-size frying pan in her left hand from out of apparently nowhere. "Here, let me show you how I do it."

Chigger blinks slowly as he examines Peter Sen's face from side to side, his mouth chewing slowly on a little sweetfish and mushroom. "I must say, the squirrel cheeks look fits you very well." He notes, as he helps to feed Papa Sen, carefully mashing up the fish and checking for bones that haven't disintegrated from cooking. Even Papa Sen's eyes widened briefly when he saw Peter's new decorations, but he doesn't show it for long.

Peter Sen glances over at Akane, marvelling briefly at the small mountain of rice she's eating her fish with, before looking back at Chigger. It speaks for it self what happened earlier, doesn't it?

Chigger doesn't chase the matter, simply nodding his head. "So you two will be running errands in Archimagi Village today for us, Akane?" He asks.

Akane nods like the dutiful daughter that she is. "Yes, daddy. But do I have to bring ... him... along with me?" It's clearly obvious she's still holding a grudge from early in the morning.

Chigger nods. "We need to reacquaint him with the neighbours after so long away, it'd be rude not to." He idly polishes off his meal and motions to Akane's room. "I'll give you the usual briefing the usual way before you go, so that you don't screw it up."

Akane scowls slightly. "Do we have to? I'm sure I couldn't flub a short list of things to do." She asks.

Chigger sighs. "Akane, dear... You've certainly smarter than the time you bought sixteen gallons of milk simply because they were out of emu eggs, but I'd still rather dot my i's and cross my t's whenever I tell you to do something." He gets up and goes to the door, opening it. "Don't eat forever okay?"

Akane rolls her eyes and sighs. "Yes, Daaaad." She quickly chucks the last mouthful of rice into her mouth and... leaves her bowl on the table after a quick thanl you prayer to the Goddess of Bountiful Harvests. "Peter, help me wash up and all is forgiven. At least, this time." She points at the empty dishes on the table and goes off into her room, closing the door shut behind her.

The living room is quiet with only the Sens together alone. Peter piles up the dishes, wipes down the table, and slowly brings the dishes to the sink and starts running water to clean them with. "Dad, I have a problem... God this is stupid, I'm asking a demented father for ideas, what the hell... Dad... There's someone I just know who drives me crazy every time I meet them..." He wonders aloud. "I was just wondering what I should do to make them more accepting of me instead of having a hard time every time we talk..."

Papa Sen doesn't reply. He simply looks on with a... sympathetic look on his face, quietly yawning a little, as he half lays on the ground.

Peter shrugs as he continues washing up. "I don't know why I find them hot... maybe they remind me a little of mom... real mom, I mean, not that stupid Evangelina bitch you used to shack up with." Akane is not the only one who can hold a grudge, clearly. Peter sighs as he goes on. "The way they look isn't exactly model material, but, she's so maternal. and I feel safe and happy around them, even with the pans in my face... oops." He shouldn't have said that, was that a give away? but he's talking to an early-onset dementia patient, it should be okay...

Papa Sen's eyebrows raise momentarily on hearing the last bit.

Peter throws in the towel (literally) and walks back out of the kitchenette, wiping his hands on his apron as he does so. "what the hell am I even doing, trying to have a conversation with you when you're out there somewhere instead of with us in the present and here, honestly... I'm going to change up, Don't do anything stupid unattended okay?"

As Peter reaches the door to his own room, he hears someone say "Follow what your heart tells you, Peter." He blinks hard, then snaps back to look at Papa Sen flicking another nose shit out of one nostril with his back turned to him. "Hrm?" Papa Sen asks in that monosyllabic guttural manner he's become reduced to.

"..." Peter walks into his room and shuts it to change up for the trip out.

Akane is standing at attention, her pinafore undone at the front and her warm grey top lifted atop her engorged breasts. A small data panel has exposed itself beneath her breasts, the small square of skin having slid out of the way beneath her fake honeycomb ribs and warmed pseudoflesh. "Loading route map... Loading Small Truck Piloting... Joint and Muscle lubricant reservoir at 30%, approximately 80km of unassisted movement remaining..." She chants softly, as Chigger taps on a datapad connected into the panel. Akane had a reasonably good handwriting recognition system, but Chigger didn't want to make any mistakes and had opted to upload her errands list into her the safe way. She was aware of what shop was situated where, after years of living next to Archimagi, at least.

Chigger looks up with a satisfied mien. Akane would never give him grandchildren with anyone no matter how much they had sex, but otherwise she was the perfect daughter. Obedient despite all pretenses of rebellion, sweet, smart... he pauses - jury still out on that one - and it had to be said even being gay didn't stop himself from marvelling at how good she looked in her own way. "Akane, please recite the errands list I just entered."

Akane's watery blue eyes flash briefly... "Errand list for. 4th of August. 834 Galactic Almares Era. Main destination: Archimagi Village. To be done in order entered. Adaptations to list order due to outages. possible."

"One. Collect... Welcome Back Drink For. Peter. From. Archimagi Drinks.

Two. Collect three hundred Quinoaflake Packet Bags from. Bagger Aunt.

Three. Collect Two Special Order Burlap Sack, For Inorganic Storage. From Bagger Aunt.

Four. Collect Book Collection Order ACBADE-3113. From. The TARDIS Bookstore.

Five. Collect Standard Grocery Two-weekly Order, three units. from. The Budding Grocer.

Six. Collect Any Order Requests from. The TARDIS Bookstore. Bagger Aunt. Archimagi Drinks. The Budding Grocer. Do not give promise of fulfilment beyond reasonable effort. Terms. Barter and Cash with. Quinoaflakes Quest Account *brzzzwrrkrrpbllll* Number omitted in report for security.

Seven. Deposit Items from One. Through. Six in Conveyance.

Eight. Free time. Spend with. Peter. Limit to. Thirty Minutes.

Nine. Return to Home.

Ten. Deposit items based on previously programmed filters.

Method of Conveyance and Transport: PhyberTruck eko-truck, Serial Number GNY 40391134 A. N. B. Owned by. Unit Owner. Chigu Saito. Estimated power reserve left after accomplishment of Objective Ten: Approximately 8 hours at current power use speed."

Chigger sighed. Shopping was more strenuous for Akane than for a real human girl for some reason. He just couldn't figure out what. He would do so, one day. Just not today. He looked over the screen and was about to hit the Commit button before he had a few more thoughts... "Akane, alter Objective Eight. Limit Free Time with Peter to Sixty minutes."

Akane beeped faintly. "Estimated power reserve left after Objective Ten: Approximately 7.5 hours at current power use speed."

Chigger chuckled as he hit the Commit button. He wasn't normally a fan of dilly dallying at work but... hey, a date was different. He pulls the connector out of Akane's panel and watches it fade to darkness as the cover slides back in place, leaving no sign that he was ever doing data entry the inhuman way.

Akane blinks and slowly reaches her hands to pull down her shirt, before buttoning her pinafore up, as if it was a perfectly normal thing for her to be standing around with her tits hanging out. "I'll be going now, Daddy. Please take care of Papa Sen for me while I'm gone." She purrs, walking past Chigger and out of the room...

Chigger rubs his head. "What could go wrong, really?"

Part 4

Chigger watches the young pair drive away in his PhyberTruck, praying fervently they don't crash it. Akane was programmed and trained to drive the truck quite well after all these years, but standards of driving were dismal out here in the wild, and if she ran into an idiot who had even less respect for safe driving - or a antelupine stopped in mid-road in front of them - he wasn't entirely sure they could be safe.

Chigger shrugged. He'd thrown the dice, time to let them fall where they fell.

He spins on his heel and walks back into the house to check on what Papa Sen was doing.

There is a faint 'clack clack clack' storm as Chigger slowly descended the stairs into the basement. Papa Sen is working on a old-school terminal, complete with flatscreen and an actual physical keyboard. The terminal is wired to a heavily dissembled male Autoslav, a torso with all its limbs removed. A further blow to its previous realism and Adonis-like beauty is a gaping maw where once would have been installed a huge cock capable of simulating all the states of an actual human cock, and the fact that all the skin had been flensed above its head, exposing the black and silver-etched plasteel simulation of a male human skull.

Chigger briefly winces... five decades ago, this had once been his artificial lover in college, a release for his tensions in a school notorious for its harsh approach to homosexuality. It was parked in his solo dorm room under all the mess and every once in a while he'd get a little bottoming action going. Even when Papa Sen had been forcibly pushed onto him as a bunk mate, he was very flexible with "Paul", simply telling Chigger "page me when you're done, I'm using the kitchenette to study something else..."

Then he'd made one of his very best ideas as a young man... and then a few more pretty good ideas... and then a few VERY BAD ideas.

A few of them had been in cahoots with Papa Sen, back when he was better known by the nerd-haters on college as Marker "The Handsome" (and yes, he was that) Sen. And boy was he the worst nerd. He was seeing flickers of that old Marker in Papa Sen as he typed furiously, as if overly hopped up on Quaal-Cola (back before they nerfed the nootropic formula after discovering it had uppers sneaked in). Every few strokes sent a new spike of data over the lines into the hole in the haunches of the defunct unit, making it shiver uselessly and scream random lines.

"How dare you do this to me, I will-"

"Ahhhhh.... so good, I needed this."

"You get me haaaard, Chigu..."

"I'm the hardest man on campus, and I'm all yours, Chiguuu..."

"You will know agony beyond belief when the Maloxx board finds you!"

It had relied on something extremely critical for about four of those decades. Without it, a complex, conniving and brutally intelligent mind had been reduced to a messy hodgepodge of gay male sexdoll and corporate overlording data and memories, all useless with his ability to write memory soldered off to prevent a robosuicide, along with every possible communications pathway he could think of to avoid giving his location away. It had worked pretty well for fifteen years so far.

What they couldn't do was extract a certain set of codes. Maloxx had an obscene amount of wealth, and virtually all of it was stored in the form of a certain CryptYin cryptocurrency. The theft of Proteus Maloxx, CEO extraordinaire, as Paul's bloated ego had self-styled himself, hadn't entirely locked them out of its use, but it had placed harsh daily limits that it would occasionally run into without Proteus' access codes... and if someone, on the remote off-chance, managed to extract them in their totality, that balance could magically run into zero with all those limits ignored.

Of course, that was assuming it could be extracted. The same fifteen years they'd managed to stay uncaught were also the same fifteen years they'd spent figuring out how to hack CryptIn tools into a way to get the codes and take what was theirs by right of founders (if only the greedy bastards hadn't stolen Maloxx from under them by foul means, or at least means he'd considered foul)

Chigger gives the sex torso a slap in its firm abs for old times' sake, causing it to give off a grunt. "So, how goes the hunt for the great big whale in Paul's fucked up mind?" He asks Papa Sen.

Papa Sen grunts and looks up. "Maybe it would have been faster if we'd repurposed your old Grunt Gigaprocessor to do the math, Chigu-san"

Chigger shakes his head. "We talked about this, I didn't want to risk any traps, and I needed to reclaim the design off the die to build a... less megalomaniacal and more... perfect version. Besides, she's making far better use of it than Paul ever did...."

The wisdom of the day was that AI processors would forever be limited to slow, gradual improvements every few dozen years. There had been a very mad rush for a few decades back on Earth in terms of improvements, but just like the Central Processing Units of prehistory, they had eventually run into perceived limits and had to scavenge upgrades here and there with slight changes to this or that part of the designs or processes to make them. At some point, top-level processors were becoming these huge cubes that needed the space of an entire shelf to operate in in the farms...

Then Chigger and Papa Sen put down their plans to break that barrier, creating two new processor designs.

The Grunt Gigaprocessor was a AI processor that had been massively shrunk down from the giant cubes of the day while retaining all of the performance of those big irons. It fit in a average android or Autoslav standard memory pane slot, allowing it to augment the thoughts of the robot massively, including in maths calculations

They'd made a different variant of it, the Lust Device... Instead of hard numbers, this version was designed to simulate many aspects of female sexuality. Papa Sen had thought this was a different boundary that should also be pushed, and they'd perhaps spent a bit too much of their holiday time in college hanging around sex industry people as much as they did military types, financiers and other people who desired the ability to push massive amounts of crypto and calculation work.

In hindsight, the impossible creation of the two chip designs should have been their first warning they were doomed to be afflicted with mad science...

To commercialize their groundbreaking work on the Grunt Gigaprocessor and Lust Device, they'd made their first terrible mistake by installing the devices on their college sex toys and giving them a make over to pass off as the faces of the company.

They had figured nobody would take two college bohemians seriously, especially when one of them was a gay in a UCNA that was in many places slowly growing to persecute people who weren't of a certain mold. Paul the Perfect Pecker Pal and Anna Lisa had become "Proteus Maloxx" and "Evangeline Maloxx", and the two had charmed more and more people into their stock offering to fund the company.

There had been a few good years as they swam in money and used much of it to search for other avenues to improve cybernetics as a whole... then disaster struck, as the stock market decided they were no longer fit to lead, only to depose them from leadership. After that, their heart wasn't just in it as much, and soon, they left Maloxx, including everything they'd built. That was a lot of stuff for the new bandits to live off of, and they should have been content to just leave them alone. Chigger regretted not having listened to Sarah on staying private...

Ah, Sarah. Chigger sighed.

He was pretty sure he was into men only, but ever so often, Chigger would still get pangs for a woman. One of those blue moon times had been Sarah Sen. A mousy little chubby nerd of the same kind as Peter Sen, there was no way, in theory, that they should have fit together. In practice, they did. Always going on dates in the college cafeterias, always dragging him as a third wheel whenever they could... Heck, he'd even been best man at their wedding. It was a strangely comfy trio: the man-loving man who also loved cybernetics, the nerdy little roundball, and the handsome dude irredeemably married to flights of fancy that for some strange reason kept working out.

Barely a few years later though, the stress of trying to fight off the vultures and fix the egotistical, naive mistakes Papa and Chigger had made had driven her into a sort of pregnancy-related diabetes issue...

Little Peter had been born a week premature.

Sarah Sen had died just three years later.

Papa Sen finally sits back after an hour. "Still no dice. I need that guidebook we ordered, Chigu." He stands up from his chair and breathes deeply into his palms

Chigger nods and gave him a sympathetic kiss on one temple. Peter was clearly exhausted, not offering his usual protests about his preferred sexuality as he looked down.

"I need to do this. I need to be able to hit them both at the same time. This fucking company's stolen monies, and that bitch Evangeline." Unlike Chigger, Chigu refused to refer to their old sex toys by their old names, believing it humanised them by hinting they used to have ties. Yes, they did have ties, but the moment they had blinded Chigger and forced him to get cyborg eyes was the very last straw for any links Papa Sen would admit to having with them.

Chigger frowns. "This Revenge trip of yours has been running for so long... perhaps we should let it go and settle for the lives we have now. Besides, they'll probably already have reinforced their barriers around Anna - I don't think you can just waltz into a driverless car, stuff him in a space compression sack, and walk out like you did with Paul.... besides, they did hit us bad pretty hard even though they had no proof or evidence we did it."

Papa Sen finally snapped, kicking the chair as he stood up. "I NEED THIS, Chigger. I'm going to be as careful as I can, the window has always been as long as my life is, but some really good opportunities have been coming into focus about all this, and I WANT to take advantage of them when I can!

Besides, are you sure you want to leave a world behind for Peter and Akane where Maloxx will switch to harassing them, especially once they find out what we slotted into her head?!"

He breathes heavily, staring at Chigger so hard it is as if his stare will crack the goggles just so his cyborg eyes have to stare at him unprotected.

There is a long, awkward silence, punctuated only by the poorly-timed exhortation of Paul's mindless mouth screaming "I want head, need head, must have head!" Chigger glances over at the mindless toy, not entirely sure which meaning of head it was referring to, then back at Papa Sen.

"All this time, I have never stood in your way, Marker, but I'm sorry that my top priority now is Akane. Perhaps you should evaluate whether your son should be your priority too, " Chigger coldly stomps past Papa Sen. "Think carefully now. if you harm her, or him, I will not be as keen to stand aside and let you do whatever you want like I've been doing..."

The access door to the basement slams shut with a loud bang.

Part 5

Mad Science is a phenomenon uniquely specific to the planet of Archigan.

The cause of it is unknown, but it is believed to be a combination of the hothousing of humans in a environment where advanced alien technologies have become a part of their fabric generally, paired with the unquenchable human thirst for creativity, progress, and cool new shit to show off.

Others believe the use of nukes against Archigan in isolated exchanges several hundred years altered the biome sufficiently that the planet now creates less obvious mutations that lead to new forms of thought and tech deviation, much like how the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Earth created unique forms of thought and cultural change as seen in Ancient Memetics.

The treatment of people susceptible to Mad Science has long varied. On Archigan alone, it has widely ranged from ignorance, to witchhunts, to a current uneasy truce where its products are vetted and allowed selectively into use in the United Coalition of Northern Almares, especially in military usages in exchange for a recognition that they be left alone or treated as fellow humans who might, just maybe, be a touch crazy genius.

One such commune is Archimagi Village, situated six hours away by wheeled or hover land vehicle from the capital city of Archigan One in the conventional sense. For some crazed reason though, three things happen the closer you get to Archimagi Village with a clearly expressed intention to visit, such as by punching it in as a desired destination on a navigation device, or as simply as sticking a "Archimagi Or Bust" cardboard sign on the rooftop of your car:

First, your vehicle gets twice as fast - it it was going to take six hours to get there, it's now suddenly going to take only three.

Second, your hands are no longer needed on the wheel. If you are using a driverless vehicle, their AI is suddenly hijacked by unknown means. You spend the time just sitting around relaxing as the driver of the vehicle as it practically parks itself in the first available parking lot in the space right outside the Village.

Third, your radio is also hijacked and starts playing a set playlist. For some inexplicable reason, the first song is almost always the classic "Take Me Home, Country Road" by John Denver.

These effects also occur in reverse travelling from Archimagi Village (setting your navcomp to the next destination, a "Heading My Way To Archigan One?" paper sign etc) Curiously, they do not apply to flying vehicles or walking, and armed vehicles driven with clear malice wind up in a peculiar situation where it takes about twice as long to get to Archimagi.

In fact, it turns out that armed vehicles driven with ill intent never leave Archimagi Village ever.

It is not known by what mechanisms these queer effects occur. Some say it is magic. Some say it is a bargain with the devil, or dimensional anomalies yet to be documented.

The locals just call it Mad Science.

it kicks in a little bit closer to Archimagi for the PhyberTruck, Akane slowly lifting her hands from the wheel as the radio starts playing Country Road instead of the soft symphonic music Chigger prefers to play while driving the ekotruck. She has this quizzical look on her face, even though this isn't her first time seeing it happen... Akane looks over, brushing some dust off her pinafore... "We're almost there."

Peter Sen looks over. "You do know what we need to do in Archimagi Village on this trip right? Because I don't."

Akane grins over at Peter. "I'm sorry that my father trusts me more than he does you. But it is what it is."

Peter sulks. "ten years as a soldier, and my uncle gives a girl more trust. Anyhow, may as well tune in, turn out and enjoy this ride." He tilts the cap he's put on down, and goes to sleep. If there was ever a more sexist statement, Akane probably hasn't heard it, as she starts reddening in the face.

Akane yelps angrily. "What do you have against me, Peter? Ever since you came back, it's been nothing but dehumanisation from you! Did they raise you to be an officer and a gentleman, or a sexist? I have a life, I have a need for respect, and I would appreciate it if you stopped getting your hands on me every possible opportunity!"

Peter looks up at her raging face, rubbing his hurting nose. "It was an accident!"

"Not the last time, it wasn't!" Akane tugs at the straps of her pinafore, mocking him with a little Ancient Memetics. "You feeling alright, man? Boobs? You wanna touch boobs?" She scowls mockingly, clearly not fully aware of the context of its original use.

Peter thinks for a moment... then calmly reaches a hand out to squeeze a boob.

He makes it too easy for Akane to justify the frying pan clubbing.

The PhyberTruck suddenly slows to a halt as a short and rotund old man in a dapper suit and top hat walks by the side of the road, waving an umbrella at them. "I say! Could i get a ride?"

Akane pops her head out and motions to the back of the ekotruck... "sure, old man. Climb on."

The truck waits for the top hatted man to get on and sit down snugly in one corner, before launching itself onwards.

"It's so nice to be able to get back to town without having to walk both ways..." the old man observes cheerfully. He pauses to examine the bump on Peter Sen's head. "Domestic Violence?"

"Nah. I just hit my head on a low doorway getting to the truck," Peter laughs, glancing at a heavily blushing Akane. "Being careless is a thing in my family."

"I'm not sure it's 'being careless'..." Akane mumbles, crossing her arms in displeasure.

The Old Man doesn't seem to notice or care. "You're coming on a good day. We have a tourist visit day today so the town square will be livelier than usual. Mark my words, children, you'll have fun!"

The use of the assumed perjorative has Peter and Akane suddenly smack their cheeks together, yelling in protest! "I'm a veteran!" "I'm already middle aged!"

"You're a veteran as long as you've served five years at least ,and you can't be more than 30 or 40 in an era where humans are already easily dying several hundred years old. Are you two trying to make me happy with a good laugh? Because it's working" the Old Man laughs again as he starts unfurling his umbrella, watching Archimagi Village loom in the nearby. He yells as he suddenly starts flying off like a Mary Poppins on his dark blue umbrella, tipping his hat. "I'll see you two later! Have a great time in the village!"

As the Old Man leaves, Akane gives off a sigh of relief. "Oh good... the Mayor didn't poke my boobs again."

Peter gapes at her... then asks the only question this unfairnesscan possibly elicit."Why doesn't he get hit with a pan!?"

Part 6

The visit to Archimagi Village had started off well, with no issues parking the PhyberTruck in the parking spaces just outside the village's South Welcoming Arch. The problems, however came soon after...

"Tell me, what does this sign say to you, Peter?" Akane asks, pointing at a piece of paper plastered onto the glass door of the Archimagi Drinks store...

Peter peers a little. "Terrible handwriting... either they're closed for the Monthly Tourist Greet, or a group of wyrms and a group of dragons are having a heated argument."

Akane hmms. "I'm going to go with 'closed due to event'" She responds, her mind internally making a point to shift this errand for later or cancel if necessary.

Fortunately, the wizened old crone known as "Bagger Aunt" was still at her stall, half collapsed over it as if her bones had finally given up, and held aloft by her bones. She eyes the two of them as they approach her... "Well well well, Akane.... short time no see."

Akane waves and gives Bagger Aunt the smile and respect one gives the most elderly of elders that command it. "Hello, Aunt Bag, I'm here to collect an order for my father."

Bagger Aunt nods. "Quinoa Quest custom bags, eh... and who is THIS handsome young stud." She suddenly turns her attention to Peter Sen.

Peter shrinks back a little, the wizened look of this old crone and the suddenness of her interest in him was a little shocking to him. "I... I'm Peter, Peter Sen. I just got back from fighting the Iron Uprising."

"Again. It's like us humans never learn at all no matter we side we're on." Bagger Aunt rolls her jaundiced eyes, before handing Akane a small stack of clear plastic bags with a logo printed onto all of them. "Glad you're back alive, anyway, sonny boy. Now here: Three hundred custom clear bags for QuinoaFlakes Quest..." She announces, before also plopping a pair of burlap sacks with zip seals on them, one of them having a zipper that has a click dial marked "Swap Bag Spaces." "... And because your dad has been such a loyal customer of mine all these years, here's a little special I agreed to make for him. off the catalog, on the house, in confidence." Bagger Aunt winks as she proceeds to bag all these items for Akane. "Now, remind him not to stick anything living in them. It probably won't kill them immediately, but after a few swaps... "

Akane nods. "I will, Aunt Bagger. Thank you for the product." She nods as she takes the shopping bag off her and starts walking off, motioning to Peter to escort her.

Peter glances at the shopping bag, mystified. "Those were some odd instructions she gave. what are those sacks for...?"

Akane stops suddenly. looking over at Peter. "Peter, do you know how many of these shops are the actual specialty of their owners? Zero. My dad once said he used to live here and he saw a lot more interesting things come out at times. I'm going to just relay the instructions to him and leave it at that."

Peter looks around at the hodgepodge of assorted architecture styles. "So... erm... what's next?"

Peter finds himself standing in a unusually big and roomy bookstore. He pauses. He goes outside to look at the building holding it. it looks like a tiny Western Cowby Chapel like in the movies... but the inside of it is way too big for what it looks like. Hanging out of its roof is a shingle painted "The TARDIS Bookstore."

"Book Order... ACBADE-3113... yes, here it is, paid for in full." A mousy young clerk comes out from the backroom, holding another small shopping bag half filled with books of the thick kind as she adjusts her glasses to fit on her nose. "And also a order request for the next time. Plus a few extra items he requested since he's been such an avid reader and customer of ours."

Akane looks embarassedly at the clerk. "Erm... he's the customer, but I'm the avid reader of the family."

The clerk beams as she bows. "Then I should thank YOU. I hope you learn something new from them....

Barely an two hours later, they have finished even the fifth item on Akane's list. Peter struggles slightly with three large bags of groceries, canned foods, and a short list of items to procure in the city on the next visit to Archigan One as they walk back to the PhyberTruck. Pulling the securing tarpaulin over all the items to keep them safe and cool in the heat, Peter Sen claps his hands of dust. "And now we can get going back home."

Peter pauses and looks at Akane, having a hurt puppy look on her face. "Akane, are we missing something?"

Akane looks around at the parking lot, now heavily full with lots of tourist and visiting buses and cars. "... aside from your welcome drink, no..."

A panicked lass in a red tied-on shirt and worn jeans is running towards them, panting hard. "Wait, wait! Your welcome drink! The mayor! Told me you were here!" She stops in front of them and hands a small bottle of something in one last tiny satchel. "T...thank you for visiting Archimagi Drinks... I'm sorry I was busy in the square...."

Peter smiles awkwardly. "You didn't have to, it was just a courtesy gift, m'am."

The tired lady looks up. "Not in your case, The mayor insisted on it absolutely in your case, Peter... even walked up to our stall to impress us on it. Drink to your good health and all that..."

Peter nods. "Well, don't mind if I do since I'm not driving!" He pops open the cap on the bottle and downs it in one gulp. "Mmm... tasty. what's in-"

Peter wakes up suddenly in his bed. "Ah! whuh?" He looks around his room... and then at Akane sitting in seizo in front of him, looking very concerned.

Akane frowns. "Thank god. You just crashed all drunk. I had to carry you all the way here. I haven't even had the time to unload the truck."

Peter looks away embarassedly, before a major headache hits him. He'd taken much harder drinks in the NCO mess before... what the heck was in his Welcome Back Drink? As he grasps Akane's shoulder to reassure her that he's okay, he feels a faint hum in his fingers where he is holding onto her. "I'm okay, nothing wrong with me... but I think I'm going to skip dinner tonight. I don't feel so well."

Akane shakes her head. "Alcohol, probably. and on an empty stomach, I don't think you'll get better fast. I'll make you something simple and easy to digest." Peter sees something else as he briefly concentrates on where he's holding Akane's shoulder...

"That would be nice. Thanks, and sorry to be a bother." Peter turns away from Akane and lies down as if to sleep. but what he saw earlier was a bit of a shock to him in some ways.

Part 7

CPL Peter Sen glances up over the trench briefly, before he is pulled back down by one foot.

He falls flat on his butt and looks at the person responsible for his fall: a crazed old harridian with an eyepatch.

"Get down, you imbecile, you'll get your head shot off prematurely." She barks. Sighing at the babysitting she has to do, Warrant Momma calmly lights up a stale cigarette from one of her jacket pockets, the orange-reddish light striking a contrast against the dark tan and mud stains of her skin.

"Sorry, Sarge." Peter meekly bows and sits down next to her, trying to get comfortable with his rifle.

Warrant Momma fishes in her pockets and takes out a worn one-way radio, trying to flick the dial. "Darn, it's finally busted." There is a faint pause, before her hand glows faintly in a pale blue tone, and suddenly the radio somehow seems to track eventually onto a soft rock piece being played. "Ah damn, probably enemy propaganda shit. nice music though."

Peter notices this. "Your hand, it... glowed just now." He points at her one-way radio.

Warrant Momma blinks hard, then she nods as she remembers something. "Of course, you're the kid who made Bruges. Hell of a tackler and brick wall, that metal bastard is. And I picked you... perhaps it's not surprising you could sense it." She suddenly thrusts the radio into one of Peter's hands. "Here, I want you to give it a go."

Peter blinks quizzically. "Give what a go, Momma?" He asks, smiling a little

Everyone in this crazed Platoon got the weirdest welcome. Warrant Momma would just hug them and pat a little, saying "I don't give a fuck what happened to you, how you got lost, right now, I'm your Momma, okay?" For some reason, everyone she dragged into her little team from being surviving stragglers became her children of sorts.

Nobody seemed to mind.

Warrant Momma looks down at Peter's hand. "Just focus your mind on your hand holding the radio," she urges him. "Go on, give it a go."

Peter complies, and suddenly sees it. There is a faint glow in his hand, before it slowly spreads into the radio, tracing little square-angled branches all over the the inside of the radio that he can see through the casing of the radio. It suddenly flicks around before settling to a brigade code channel, the beeps and shrill meeps indecipherable without the codebooks.

Peter looks up. "There's some sort of, tree... inside the radio?"

Warrant Momma almost drops her cigarette from her mouth. She recovers quickly though. "My word, you did it much faster than I ever did." She closes her eyes. "Take a good look at it... that is the heart and soul of the machine. Most people never go beyond the switches and the buttons on a thing, but you... you can see all of it and how it's put together. It also tells you that it wants to serve you well. Sometimes, it tells you where it's breaking apart and needs help." She grins. "well, maybe with more training and practice. It's a damn shame my teacher isn't here, he'd tell you he was your father now too. damned bastard also had some really advanced tricks going down too."

Peter looks away. "It's only my mom who's dead to me. My dad's... he's just got dementia, is all."

Warrant Momma leans back and closes her eyes. "It run long enough, is basically the same. my paw became an entirely different person when I wuz younger. Not entirely though. Sometimes he'd snap back together briefly enough to say something that made sense and made me feel better, but he wuz always falling apart quickly right after, like one of dem magnet puzzles where the maker failed to account for the poles on the magnets properly."

Peter sighs. "They have a cure, but it didn't work on my dad for some reason."

Warrant Momma idly considers this. "That's what they said too. Fucking liar..."

There is a blinding flash as their discussion is interrupted rudely.

Peter blinks as the cooling fan in front of him suddenly comes on, crackling faintly under his hand, the faint glow diffusing from his palm quickly as he takes it off. The strange trick had always been more of a parlor trick, but it had saved him a couple of times when he had let it spread out a little further in wet soil and worm its way into hidden mines the machines had placed down.

It had not been this strong and fast though. Or gotten into something so deeply before.

Peter crashes back into bed, covering his face with one of his forearms. Confusion drifted over him as he did so. Akane was a machine? When? was she already one when they had first met all those years ago? Or had she never truly existed as a real human? Did she even know, or was she like one of those few sleeper droids who made everyone feel comfy and safe until they suddenly snapped and ambushed the rest of their team before they were fed an EMP grenade?

Pulling the blanket over himself was just a way to ward off the chill of that discovery and all its questions.

Did Uncle Chigger know of this, or had someone pulled the wool over him too? He gave it a thought and decided he'd broach the question when he could have him alone to himself. But in the meantime, what should he do with Akane?

There is a knock on the door, as Akane comes in, bearing a small bowl of some sort of porridge. "A little chicken, a little quinoa, and some carrots... all cut up nicely so it's easy to eat." She announces as she places the tray on the table. There is a little twitch on one side of her back as she briefly winces. "... ow."

Peter frowns and sits up, patting the side of the bed next to himself. "Have a seat, Akane... You okay there?"

Akane nods slowly. "I think I got ahead of myself while stocking the groceries. back hurts a little."

Peter places a hand against where she is rubbing and focuses. The glow happens again, diffusing through the assorted muscles and sensors beneath Akane's flesh. There were a few little glowing red bits around though. He focuses a little differently and watches as the pale blue beneath his palm spreads more into the red bits... not all of them went away, but most of them did.

Akane blinks quizzically. "That's funny, pain mostly gone." She turns a little gingerly to look at Peter before suddenly hugging him. "I don't know what you did, Peter, but thanks."

Peter stops focusing on Akane's back and smiles. "it's an old trick I learnt in the Army." That much wasn't a lie, up till the bit where he'd patched some of those issues (if that's what the red bits were). He suddenly wondered what would happen if he tried it a little further up, his other hand slowly inching up to rub Akane a little on her chest just above her bosom. He blinks as the glow under his palm catches onto and spreads into something shaped like a heart - not a human heart, but a cartoon-shaped heart of sorts, pulsing away.

Akane's head twitches a little, eyes rolling back as she suddenly speaks in a more youngish voice. "It me, I'm your mommy now. I love pink dresses. Would you like me to cook for you? I love you. I have always l-loved you..." something simpler, dumber tumbles out. Peter panics a little and lets go entirely of Akane, watching the glow through her head fade away with his attention broken. Something about what he just did felt like manipulation. It seemed wrong to do it to something so much more complex, possibly with a soul. More than that... was it really true? He looked away and blushed. "S...sorry if I went too far."

Akane's eyes snap back into their normal positioning as she pants a little. Was this what a proper kiss really felt like? "That felt different..." She smiled. "You should eat your porridge before it gets cold, Peter." She excuses herself and leaves Peter alone in his room, slowly closing the door, but with a sort of glance as she does so rather than shutting the door with her focus placed elsewhere outside of it.

There was so many things running through Peter's mind as he brought his first spoonful of porridge to his mouth and swallowed... Mmm, it was nice.

Akane blushes bright red as she leans against the small pillar between her room and Peter's room. That felt weird. The pain going from her back mostly, the brief moment where she was chasing after Peter in the grass as a girl ten years younger and happier... a soft gentle kiss between two silly teenage kids after a tumble... She glitches a little, eyes a little unsteady. "Have I loved him before?" Her mind was so weird, it was supposed to be all in one piece, but there were these walls about every few years that blocked stuff and while she could recall things past them, it felt unreal, as if she was seeing someone else named Akane do these things, and not herself.

She takes a deep sigh and goes back into her own room, still puzzled by what just happened.

Part 8

Chigger deadpans and stares. "No, no, absolutely not! It was stupid the first two times we did it, I refuse to work on shit like this the third time!" His cyborg eyes were basically just a pair of round flat sensors, but he still had enough of his face after the scars were removed and his ruined eyes replaced to convey a very large amount of anger."

Papa Sen sighs, and taps the heart-shaped component atop the table, causing the light to scatter oddly as it hit the intricate matrix parked inside its centre. "Yes, I know that. but I think I figured out what we should have done. It's going to work this time. Fast breeding the processors on a heavily matured AI with all its biases and flaws was how we got a cold intellectual monster and a bitchy harlot. This time, we're not going to do it in a matter of months. This is going to be a gradual labor of love over several years. And this time I need you to take the lead."

Chigger rubs his forehead. "You're just saying that because you fucked up being a parent the first two times, in a way. And why are we using such a low-end model AI to base it on?"

Papa Sen thinks. "I'm supposed to be a dementia patient. That fire they caused is supposed to have ruined me badly. You have a lot of work to do on the quinoa farm and processing factory alone. You can't do the work alone AND take care of me. Something has got to give. So I used that as an excuse to get in the simplest AI we could get as a seed bed."

Papa Sen walks over to behind the newly acquired caretaker android they'd just acquired on the cheap with both the assistance of Victim Relief and a few extra dollars from their own remaining largesse. The android had been stripped down naked pending a little custom work and a change of clothing to reflect a difference in the owner's tastes from tacky plain mint green medical fatigues. The blonde pigtails had been left behind though. Changing those on the order sheet would have been a extra charge, and they needed to pretend they weren't made of money.

Papa Sen leans down and rests his head on the Caretaker M505's shoulder. "Besides, with the Nihon default face, she DOES look kind of like she's your daughter. I mean, before the whole burn and slash thing they did to us."

Chigger points at a few things here and there. "Bullshit. Why did it have to be so realistic? it's not a sex doll, why does it need a cooch and actual nipples. And why is it so chunky? I feel like the GDP of Northern Pluto 2 was spent on it! And another thing, I don't want to be a dad!"

Papa Sen thinks extremely hard to make an excuse for several minutes before ending up with a shrug and the lamest excuse he could muster for a first think about this. "I suppose it's better to have it just in case it's needed?"

Chigger wakes up and shakes his head, leaning on the fencing. Quinoaflakes Quest is a very small labor of love, but even with all the help from Archimagi Village in the form of young lads running around doing the various things needed to make Quinoaflakes for a small buck to go on top of their allowance, it was still tiring especially in his advancing age.

He chuckles as Akane tries to get Papa Sen to do callisthenics in the open, her limbs waving around coordinatedly as she keeps looking over. Papa Sen is having none of it, feebly half matching her in the way a dementia patient would.

It was enough to make him proud to call her his daughter. Granted it was a fake relationship in actuality but... He puffs out his chest with pride and maybe a little bit of defeat. Papa Sen had been right. Gradually layering on lessons on human emotion had been tricky, but Akane had become a well-rounded (mostly, and in more ways than one) individual. Oh yes, one more thing...

Chigger yells for Akane. "Akane, I need to speak with you! Would you mind stopping for a bit?"

Akane says something to Papa Sen, some sort of praise, before pointing at the ground with both hands as if to tell him to stay where he is. Papa Sen acts like he still has enough brain cells and listens, simply standing there and dazedly looking around. With the number of farmhands walking around, there was no room for Papa Sen to slack off on his pretense, in case a spy was around to pass on the news that he had not, in fact, become an invalid.

Akane walks up to Chigger, as he chews on a small testing chip of QuinoaFlakes Qrackers (his current verdict: "does it really have to have zero salt, it tastes BAD.")

"I'm taking Papa Sen on a spa starting this afternoon, for a week. Ontario Falls." Chigger idly notes.

Akane ahs. "I see. Ontario Falls is a great recuperative destination, daddy. He might even recover a bit from his dementia if we're fortunate enough. Should I pack for him and me to come along?"

Chigger looks upwards. "Something like that... And no. You're staying put. As for packing for him, I've already done that myself last night while putting together my own stuff and prepping the PhyberTruck. If you need any transportation needs even after the grocer delivers, you know who to call..."

Akane frowns and hugs her arms together. "Daddy, you know how much the manager at Archimagi Drinks likes to gawp at my tits. It always feels like he's going to do something the moment I let my guard down."

Chigger laughs. "don't worry, he's a decent guy behind all that shady reagent and alcohol making he does... and besides..." He adopts a supposedly mock air of menace. "I know where he lives."

Akane isn't entirely convinced by that response, but accepts it seemingly. "... and his son?"

Chigger oohs and thinks about this. "... entertain him in any reasonable manner you see fit. I'm not going to be asking questions unless I come home to the QuinoaFlakes Quest partition or our home being on fire. Any how, we leave in two hours. Get Sen a proper bath and a proper change of clothes. can't have him travelling all sweaty."

As the Phybertruck pulls out with its optional add-on conversion to turn its truck bed into a spartan camper tent for two, the flimsy tarpaulin shakes wildly on the uneven roadway out.

Peter Sen idly watches Chigger leave with his dad on holiday, standing on the porch as he does so, right next to Akane.

Akane turns to look at Peter. "Your father is in good hands with mine, Peter. You don't have to worry that much about him." She has a momentary shiver as she realises she's alone with him, while wearing a skin-tight mint-green jumpsuit. She really ought to finish up her workout in the house and change into her usual pinafore dress after showering. "Meals for the next week will be cheaper but still cheerful." She was unable to ditch some of her programming as a caretaker even after all the work Chigger and Papa Sen had done to make her into something totally different, but nobody probably noticed, not even her.

Peter Sen *has* noticed it, but he tries hard not to let it show. He makes a show of simply going back into the house, lazily going "I'm going to do a little writing. Dinner's in about four hours right?"

Akane nods slowly. "Yeah, Peter. I hope you'll enjoy it."

Peter has a momentary spark of naughtiness: "Oh, I'm already enjoying it already."

Akane tilts her head and thinks for a moment, before shrugging and going into the house to lie down on the tatami flooring of the living room and finish up her 'keep-fit routine'. She didn't actually need to exercise, but doing so was a way to reconcile her heavy meals and the fact that she would not pile on pounds unless they were added manually on a workbench, so Chigger had kept it in to maintain an illusion.

Akane briefly thinks about the previous evening's events... it soon turns out not to be a good idea.

Peter idly looks through the notes he'd made after a few hours of noosphere lookups and digging in the study. Uncle Chigger was pretty fastidious about filing all the things he read and wrote, and that included a pamphlet for a Caretaker M505 with scribbled brief observations about its suitability for caring for caring for Papa Sen - water resistance for shower trips to help Papa Sen wash up, a working database of healthy dishes including adaptations for various infirmities, an ability to carry the kind of weights that a nursing aide might need to carry such as entire patients, plus a binder manual for user-side maintenance.

Peter thinks momentarily - something about this feels too obvious, as if he was doing this to allay someone else's suspicions and that the real point of her existence was something else. He quickly dismisses the thought and focuses on what he can learn in case something goes wrong. He still had a slight fear of androids after ten years of fighting evil rampaging robots on all fronts, and he wanted to at least know how to conk one out if needed, especially since it was living practically next to him.

Peter blushes a little. Actually, there was also the horndog factor of possibly being able to make her more amenable to his needs. He... had to admit that the way Akane looked was growing on him. And if Akane was also returning the favor like she did the night before? He'd never done it with a android before.

Maybe there was something to it. All the guys he knew who had shacked up with one away from their barracks if they hadn't managed to get a girlfriend before going to war. All the girls who did it too. It was kind of weird neither side thought to tie up with the other more, maybe the rules against fratenization had a chilling effect?

Akane's mind and emotion simulator started running wild about five minutes ago. "I love him hate him He loves me hates me We should we should not I love him I always have loved him loved him-" She mumbles wildly, her mind and 'heart' module tumbling through a wild spin of various thoughts and feelings at an increasing rate.

Chigger was a good programmer, and Papa Sen was a good hardware designer when he wasn't pretending to be dumb, but between the both of them, they weren't above making mistakes sometimes.

This was one of those times, as Akane goes through her workout programming slightly faster than programmed, her curvy body making plapping sounds as she keeps going through the motions...

Suddenly, Akane seizes up, legs slowly parting to either side, her arms slowly freezing into akimbo L-shapes as her head thumps limply on the floor. She falls silent, posed like a doll for a naughter use, unable to report her distress as all error reports had been suppressed and pumped only into her logs to avoid breaking the illusion that she was alive. "Daddy. Help. Me. Daddy." She makes one soft cry for help before the watery look of her blue eyes fade, replaced by the holographic array that faked the swelling and ebbing of her irises for realism.

Part 9

Chigger was lying about taking Papa Sen on a spa trip.

As he drives the PhyberTruck a few dozen more miles to the city of Archigan Two, he glances sideways for a moment and frowns at Papa Sen. "I hate it. I hate your makeover."

Papa Sen had ducked into a bathroom at a truck stop earlier in the day and spent half an hour doing two things... He was now totally bald, and his scraggy gray dementia-dude full beard was now a tidy red RDJ-style square mini-beard.

"It can't be helped. cameras all over Archigan Two owned by a Maloxx subsidiary. if they catch my look on camera, they'll know they have every excuse to break the restraining order because I was the one doing it. There's a reason why our camper add-on has that disgusting hash design all over it to drive the cameras mad too."

Chigger grips his steering wheel tighter as the PhyberTruck starts blending into the mass of traffic ahead of them. "I understand the need... I'm just saying I don't like it." Chigger had sacrificed his mustache on his part, but the hell he was letting go of his goatee. He needed it to attract the guys, that was his excuse.

Papa Sen nods a little as another PhyberTruck, this one with better Upkeep and but uglier "Keep UCNA For Humans" stickers plastered along the side, passed them by. He sighs at the prevalence of closed minds on the roads right now, and suddenly fishes out a familiar golden processor pane chip out, carefully packed in a insulated chip case. "You'll need this along with the program Akane made when you start running the heist on my mark."

Chigger widens his eyes. "You fucking son of a bitch, you took the Grunt processor out of her?! Then how is she supposed to THINK?" He scowls as he snatches the chip off Papa Sen and quickly secures it in one of his jacket pockets. "Isn't this a necessary bit to go with the Emotion Engine?"

Papa Sen looks out the window, and away from Chigger. "We all need to make sacrifices on this last jaunt. We're also collecting a custom chip print run to replace it just in case it finally burns out, which it probably will, but in the meantime, Akane will have to do her processing on a placeholder and her basic CPU..."

Chigger sighs. "And that placeholder would be?"

Papa Sen replies. "I just plugged in the CPU from our work terminal back home and looped it in between her brain and her Emotion Engine. It should hold."

Chigger swears more loudly. "That was my favorite computer in decades, dammit! I mean, it was basically 1/8th of what a computer should have for a CPU in this day and age but... You know, if you weren't the bastard who was about to do the riskiest stuff on yhis trip snd possibky get killed, I'd kick your ass RIGHT NOW, you heartless jerk."

Papa Sen looks down, clearly not proud of what corners he's cutting just to finally get his revenge on Evangeline Maloxx and the Maloxx Technologies board. "yes, yes, all praise the great Marker 'The Handsome' Sen! The man who clearly can do many wrongs in his quest to right two wrongs... I do hope the kids will be okay. I'm sure my new toys will..."

Peter Sen blinks as he wakes up and checks the clock. "6.45pm?" He looks out the window at the enroaching gloom of a October evening, before putting his Army issue personal barracks clock back down against the wall. No smell of anything cooking... He gets out of bed and collects his empty dishes, walking out of his door for the kitchenette. The house is mostly dark except for the auto-light kicking in on its own in the kitchenette. He shrugs and goes into the kitchen to do the dishes on his own for a bit, before coming back out. "Maybe she's still in her room."

No lights or anybody at all in Akane's room. He scratches his head. "Maybe she went out to get something done." As he turns on the living room light, he gets a small shock as he finds Akane lying blankly in a weird position. A disturbingly arousing position, even, legs parted in the air to either side, arms bent into akimbo L-shapes. "AKANE! Akane, are you okay? Speak to me!" Peter yelps as he quickly scuttles over and shakes her stiff body, slowly sitting it back up. He examines the weird things her lovely irises have become, a gridwork of transclucent display elements parked over a camera on each side. He thinks for a moment, then holds her finger down on the butterfly-shaped birthmark on one side of her neck, waiting till he hears a faint beep, before sitting back a little.

There is no response for a while from Akane... suddenly, her bosom heaves a very loud breath, her eyes blinking repeatedly as they become watery blue again, a gasp exiting from her opened mouth as she comes back to life, arms flopping limply. "*gasp*.... Peeee-tuuuur, did I have an-another, fit-fit-fit?" She stutters, looking around and focusing on the clock. "The whole d-day?"

Peter nods. "Apparently so."

Akane whimpers and slowly tries to get on her feet. "I'm late, dinner was an hour ago, I need to make din-diner..." She panickedly declares.

Peter puts an arm firmly on Akane's shoulder. "No. No cooking for tonight at least. Whatever just happened, Uncle Chigger isn't around to help you with. I don't want a repeat. We'll just have to be careful with what you do till he gets back."

Akane blinks "But that's-" She pauses, counting on her fingers slowly. "six days or so. I can't be lazing around for six days..."

Peter matter-of-factly rebuts her. "Yes you can, I say you can. I've done my fair share of cooking and cleaning as a soldier in barracks. You've just..." He thinks hard about the choice of word here. "crashed out hard. I don't want a repeat of that. it might go worse next time. Let me do the work for the next few days."

Akane whimpers and looks away, not too keen in her mind about being forced not to work.

Peter helps her to get up slowly, smiling. "Now, I want you to stick to wearing just comfortable clothes and resting in your room as much as possible. I'll be okay, there's plenty of Rapid Rations in the larder and I can stomach them." He soothes her a little as he eases her into her room. still a little alarmed at how such a robust girl could become a fragile little deer in the space of a day. Clearly something had broken inside of her somewhere, but he wasn't exactly trained in repairing anything like this that wasn't battlefield gear or weaponry. He checks one more time as she sits down tiredly on her meditation pad. "I'll check again in the morning, but feel free to knock on my door if you need anything before that." He says, before closing the door to give her privacy.

He is also doing it to give himself room to breathe, as he curses the tendency of the elders of the house not to bring a communicator he could reach them at.

Part 10

Actually, the elders HAD brought communicators with them, but not the usual communicators.

As the PhyberTruck slowly pulls into Archigan Two city limits, Chigger winces. "This smog is going to kill the bamboo cladding. Where did you say the Elderforest Hotel was, Herbert Dear?" He asks, using the names they'd agreed on to as part of their cover identities under the eyes of Maloxx's own little city.

Papa Sen briefly looks up from an unfurled brochure on the Elderforest. "Well, Naka, I think it's just up ahead." he looks back down and winces. "I'm not sure this is the best idea, a hotel where you can just dump your demented parents in calming sensory pods and then just do your own activities."

Chigger frowns as he pulls into the parking lot of the Elderforest, looking out at tallness of the hotel. "Yeah, I see how Maloxx would hold its Annual Overachievers' Gala on Friday night here. Look at the glitz."

Papa Sen looks over at Chigger as he notes the event board. "Ass-Club Six... The fuck is that?"

Chigger squeals briefly. "Omigod, it's my fave Ancient Earth Music Revival show. six handsome stripper boys in donkey masks stripping to the music of a band called... Ass-Club 7 from Ancient Earth?" They are supposed to keep a low profile, but this idiot, Papa Sen, has risked it on excitement over a stripper club show?

He looks away from the board. "Focus, Naka. We have two days to prep before I conduct the operation. Collecting the goods we need, the goods I ordered, meeting an old girlfriend of mine... stuff..."

Chigger points at himself as he stops the PhyberTruck in an empty lot. "And my goal is to, remind me again?" he asks.

Papa Sen rolls his eyes. "Drop me in the sensory calming pods, do some fake spreadsheet work, relax, chill till Friday evening. Make up an alibi for us 'lovebirds'. And remember, just because I kiss you and call you sweet names doesn't mean I'm going to be gay once we're out of here."

Chigger laughs. "Please, Herbert, once you go gay, it never goes away! Now, lemme get your wheelchair out and let's get you in it, Marker- I mean, Herbert."

Papa Sen rolls his eyes. "Please do NOT slip up like that in public. it could be our lives at stake."

The hotel clerk looks through the papers that have just been presented over the counter. "Well, Mr Naka Saito and Mr... Herbert Saito... Mid-range Two-bed room, floor 37 of 165... one week, including buffet breakfasts on all days including departure morning, plus free sensory calming camp for your... loved one" He pauses briefly, looking with disdain as Chigger gives Papa Sen a peck on the temple and fusses over him while he yells about not wanting to visit his mom yet again. "Is that correct?" Clearly the class of the hotel lobby was being compromised by these two bohemians, but money was money, and the manager had overruled someone on accepting the money these two must have offered by the load.

He bends down and hands over two hotel keys on card fobs. "Two keys for a couple. Check out time on last day is 10am, no late checkouts available unless negotiated for at least 24 hours prior to departure day at 10am. But I suppose Mr Herbert won't be really needing his keys, does he, Mr Naka?"

Chigger laughs embarassedly. "Guilty, you honoooor" he says, trying to pass himself off as a bit more femme. "His early-onset dementia is really a pain. but I really want to let him have a good look around somewhere different from New South Harales! And I have some work to do, so I can't just park him at home. Thank you for being such good hosts."

The hotel clerk has a brief smirk, but quickly hides his rudeness. "It's what we do."

The room isn't exactly palatial, but it IS clean, and there is a nice view out of the window of Archigan Two's neighbourhoods... In as much as a smog-filled, post-industrial slum city could be nice. As Chigger wheels Papa Sen up to the window and points out the view, Papa Sen closes his eyes and taps somewhere on the side of his throat, focusing on the words he wants to broadcast. "Testing, testing, this radio working okay for you?" He transmits, the words coming out as a crackly hiss-filled version of his own normal voice.

Chigger stands back a little, stretching himself before clapping his hands to either side of his throat. "It's not exactly Sennheiser, but hearing you loud and clear, Herbert bear..."

Papa Sen smiles faintly. "You need more practice focusing your mind on the words." He thought out to Chigger.

The communicators had been a gift from a bookshop-owning friend in Archimagi Village. Slap them on your throat and they adhered and became invisible, and they fed off your neural impulses for a week like a slug and turned them into communications between any two paired communicators within two city blocks of each other.

A finer product of Mad Science, kept under cover and issued only to the United Coalition of Northern Almares staffers of certain needs... and good friends who knew how to make a mousy little clerk in a lonely little bookstore feel like the greatest woman on Earth. She had left a few other interesting goodies from her secret vocation in infiltration gear, and if the Mayor found out, they'd probably be in big trouble for violating the Pact...

"We should get me acquainted with the Sensory Camp thingy now, shouldn't we? Lead the way openly, if you will?" Papa Sen continues thinking.

Chigger claps his hands a little. "Well now, Herbert, I need to do some work so, I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you with some good friends... will you be okay dear?" He says aloud.

Papa Sen makes a show of grunting and glancing upwards, as if he knows what the response he wants to make is, but can't quite word it out.

The Sensory Camp was themed in a tropical style, which was absolutely ironic given the nearest viable tropical paradise beach was on another planet off Archigan. As they toured the corridor, the fake grass rustled beneath their feet, and the coordinator overseeing the centre gave the usual spiel as if he needed to sell it to them. "It will be like being in actual paradise. sounds, sands, surf. We replicate many of the sensations of an actual tropical paradise beach but with none of the expense of going offworld! If you don't believe me, you can give it a try!"

Chigger waves his hands in a declining manner. "It sounds wonderful, but I have work to do." And a bad case of claustrophobia he did not want to trigger, either. He leans down to kiss Papa Sen. "Let's get you in one of them for the full ten hours!"

Papa Sen doesn't show any sign of comprehending what is being done to him as the coordinator helps him into an empty pod, but he rubs his throat for a moment and thoughtcasts again. "See you in ten, Naka."

Chigger nods slowly as the door to the pod shuts. "Like wise, Herbert."

Papa Sen gives ten minutes for things to calm down, briefly watching as the inside of the pod turns into a simulation of a tropical beach and the noises of seawash and seagulls squawking away come on.... He then fishes in his cardigan for another doodad and calmly slaps it into the walls of the pod. The show briefly fritzes, before the timer starts up again and things return to normal...

But Papa Sen isn't in the pod anymore as he climbs out and quietly shuts it. This is his alibi - a ten hour long trip to paradise. He muses as he peels the backpack from the backing of his wheelchair, pulling on the tabs on either side to expose the camo cloak. Another gift given to him for a six hour trip to a different type of paradise, lavished over the owner of The TARDIS Bookstore.

He suddenly vanishes from camera and hopes that nobody is really going to notice - what are a bunch of senile old pod people going to get up to, really, even as he finds the backdoor he'd seen on the plans and starts walking down the staircase to the back exit...

Part 11

Papa Sen aka 'Herbert Saito' makes a mental note never to breathe deeply in this godforsaken corporate town, as he makes the mistake of trying to take a deep breath on the main street, while orienting himself before collecting the terminal and small-batch chips he'd ordered a month ago. The streets of Archigan Two are a different sight from the warm, optimistic outlook of Archigan One, with people slightly hunched over as they walked past him. It was amazing how these two different cities could exist on the same planet. It also further cemented his hatred for how Maloxx Technologies dragged everyone it could down.

He puts the thought away, there's no point in trying to save everyone. He just wanted to take Maloxx Technologies away the same way it had been taken from him. Archigan Two would have to fend for itself. Maybe it would have a chance once Maloxx fell, maybe it would become a ruined wasteland. It wasn't in his pay grade to care or know about how things would change from Saturday morning onwards.

He paused briefly to order a dirtywater hot dog from a cart on the street, run by a sullen-looking old man, his face brightening a little as the coin went from Papa Sen's hand to his. Continuing on to his next destination while dining on the go, Papa 'Herbert Saito' Sen reflected that if there was one thing worth redemption in this godforsaken hellhole, it was probably this hotdog in his hands. He made a mental note to visit the cart again if he could ever step back in this town after what he was going to do, and if it still existed then.

Papa Sen is met with a downer on arrival at Little Q's Tech Shack,a small glass-fronted concern several streets and an hour later.

The top-of-the-line portable terminal he'd ordered a year ago was in store and all ready to be carried anywhere reasonably dry that needed computing power to the nth degree. That was good.

What wasn't as good was the small bag of custom printed Grunt CoProcessor Mark 2s and Emotion Engines he'd ordered. He'd expected a yield of about 60 usable Grunt chips and Emotion Engine chips each. Instead, he was confronted with a mere 12 of each kind, plus photos of the dies fresh off the small scale litho.

"As you can see, there's some pretty gnarly geometry on these chip designs. Insane, really. Never seen anything like them from a hobbyist. You sure you're not breaking DRM on some fancy corporate shit? or doing mad science? Herbert?" The manager points at the spots for a few examples of how his small scale litho had badly choked on Peter Sen and Chigger's Mad Science.

Peter ahems. "No, can't say I've ever seen these chips. I made them up after a pretty weird bender and got you to print them for shits and giggles. I'll still pay you the same as if you'd gotten the expected yield" He lies through his teeth.

The manager takes his word for it. "Don't do drugs, kid, especially not when you have a chip design program opened up. Anyway... pleasure working with you, and thanks for not holding my incompetence against me." He raises his hand out for a handshake.

"Likewise," Peter shakes his paw.

Peter sighs as he closes the protective case, the chips gleaming in the foam backing beneath the transclucent protective lid, as he steps out after stuffing the goods he'd just procured into his bag. He had plenty of time to wild out on the streets before they checked on him at the end of the 10 hour beach holiday he was supposed to be enjoying...

He shook his head and started walking back to the hotel to check back in the pod. He did NOT want any complications in establishing his alibi. That meant less diversions to and from his destinations, and-

"Sen? Is that you? of all the-" a voice yells behind him. Uh oh.

He whips around to see - a man in a casual T-shirt and worn trousers, wearing a full-head mask of a jackass drenched in key-lime green. The number "5" is painted in even more garish key-magenta.

Jackass Five walks over and gives Papa Sen a tight hug. "It IS you, you magnificent bastard. How've you been?!"

Papa Sen looks doubtfully at him. "Have we... met before? My name's Herbert Saito. Not this Sen guy."

Jackass Five studies him with a curious look. "Yeah, I've been there before. I'm an Ass-Club Six guy, we're not supposed to reveal our real identities too. eh? Eh?" The Jackass mask actually grins like the man beneath it - impressive Cybernetics at work here, Papa Sen thinks. It's probably not even his voice, there's no way this man is the long dead comedian Eddie Murphy. "So, whatcha up to these days... Herrr-bert?"

Papa Sen frowns. "I'm kind of in between jobs, my last coding design job didn't go too well." Which was kind of the truth, in such a painful way. "I thought i'd walk around, get a breather, watch Ass-Club Six tomorrow..."

Jackass Five suddenly looks a little more forlorn, scratching the back of his head as he looks around. "Erm... that might be a bit tricky... Jackass Six just got warded in hospital, he had a bad oyster for dinner last night while we were entertaining Maloxx execs. We're short one Ass, and we need all six to put on a good show in front of Evangelina Maloxx tomorrow."

Papa Sen pretends to be ignorant. "Isn't she the CEO of Maloxx Technologies? What's she doing watching a strip show?"

Jackass Five shouldn't be spilling this hard. Does confidentiality mean ANYTHING to this dude? "The same thing any female CEO does... all that testosterone mixed into their estrogen... rawrrr... they're not just menaces in the boardroom, dude, they also need to have a hunger satisfied in their loins. She always picks the best one of us after the show and invites him to perform for her overnight. And man, does she WRECK."

Papa Sen frowns. "But you can't do the show with one of you having overindulged in oysters. Too bad, eh?"

Jackass Five yelps. "No, listen... it's not necessarily gotta be a permanent job, I've seen people drop in and out like for the weekend. That's the beauty of it man, Ass-Club Six is just six men with hot bods, great spirit, good moves, and the masks never come off outside our private rooms. EVER. And I see you, also have quite the hot bod for your age. Help a homie out, PLEASE?"

Papa Sen hrms. "You guys doing a show tonight? At the Elderforest?"

Jackass Five nods quickly. "You staying there too?"

Papa Sen commits right there and then, as a more audacious plan with higher risks and rewards comes to mind. "I can't come for it, but I can commit to tomorrow......"

After one additional stop in the red-light district to procure two more things he suddenly thinks he needs, Papa Sen quietly unhoods himself and sticks the backpack back to the wheelchair, hoping nobody notices the extra stuff it's apparently gotten loaded with in the past nine hours. He clambers back into the pod and shuts it, before ripping the hack tool off the inside of the pod and shoving it back in his cardigan.

Papa Sen looks bleary eyed and dumb as the pod door opens shortly after.

"Sorry to wake you, did you enjoy your beach trip?" a young lady asks, a different coordinator from the one who'd shoved him in earlier. Presumably he'd knocked off shift already.

Papa Sen gives a non-comitted grunt. would a dementia patient know anything about enjoying that scenery, really? The coordinator doesn't let it get him down as he wheels Papa Sen slowly back to his room, pausing to borrow the key on his Dementia Alert chain to unlock the door and usher him back in. "Good night, sweet dreams, and later." The lady gives him a peck on the forehead before closing the hotel room door, the lock clicking shut behind her.

Papa Sen takes a deep breath and taps on his throat. "Ch- Naka, report. Where are you at the moment? You were supposed to fetch me back from the Sensory Camp." He barely catches himself just in time before he thoughtsends Chigger's real name.

It takes a bit, but eventually he hears the crackly response he wants. "Herbert, I'm just eating my heart out. Great steak in the lobby diner... but no Ass-Club 6 performance tonight. apparently one of them fell ill..." Chigger actually MANAGES to sound depressed right over the thought-comm system despite it supposedly being able to minimise non-verbal cueing. "Sorry I didn't come get you... they send you back already?"

Papa Sen leans back and watches the night cityscape outside of the window. "Affirmative. Naka... change of plans with respect tomorrow... We'll talk when you get back here. I don't want to risk interception across a larger distance like this."

There is a tinge of puzzlement in the reply. "Roger... interested in your new plans."

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A Long Planned Revenge

Contents

A Long Planned Revenge

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

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A Long Planned Revenge

A Long Planned Revenge

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Navigation menu

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