Reph was standing over Jack, concern visible on his metal features. “Jack! Are you with us?”

Jack tried to sit up, but he felt weak. His mechanical body felt sluggish and slow to respond.

“Be careful,” Reph said to him. “You were pretty busted up. It took longer than I thought it would to clean you up.” He tapped on Jack’s side, where there were steam pipes emerging. “You had an internal steam explosion. You must’ve been pretty worked up to have one of those. Are you feeling better?”

Jack held his head, it was pounding. “I think so.” Then he turned and asked the bore-bot, “Is that a risk I need to be worried about?”

Dirge spoke up from across the room. “That’s more my area of expertise.” Walking over, Dirge examined the steam pipes coming out of Jack's body. “Looks like you’re at normal levels of pressure. You really scared us there.” They smiled, then continued. “It’s not super common but does occur every now and again. I would recommend finding inner peace.” Dirge’s face became a mask of neutrality at that last statement, as if they genuinely expected Jack to do just that.

Jack wasn’t sure how to take that statement before Reph elbowed the other bore-bot in the side. “Quit teasing him you glorified sauna!” A lighthearted atmosphere blossomed between the two of them as they joked back and forth. Then Reph suddenly seemed to remember Jack was sitting there awkwardly. "Right, so most steam internals tend to be a bit... volatile. They often go through emotional therapy early in their development so as to not bust a gasket, literally."

Dirge nodded sagely at this. "I can run you through some exercises if you like. But first, let's do a checkup. Gotta make sure you're ready to be up and around."

The next few minutes turned into Jack moving around in very specific ways. Dirge and Reph had him move his limbs and digits individually, listening intently to different areas of his body as he did so. Once they finished, Dirge announced that Jack would not blow up anytime soon, and Reph elbowed them at the joke.

Jack watched the two of them with interest. He hadn't been able to speak with them much last time he was here, and was surprised at the level of emotion the two showed. He had expected robots-uh, he meant bore-bots, to be a bit more serious. These two seemed like lifelong friends, an easy back-and-forth of humor flowed between the two of them, coupled with gentle teasing. What Jack really noticed though was how well they worked together. The two of them were totally in sync when it came to Jack's checkup, never bumping into each other or even doing the same thing as the other. All without communicating in more than a few words.

"Have you two been working together for a while?" he asked curiously.

Reph and Dirge looked at him with surprise. "You can tell?" Reph said. "Yes, it's been us and Glimm for a long time. Almost eleven years now I think?"

Dirge leaned in and whispered loud enough for Reph to hear, "He can never remember the anniversary, so Glimm and I always manage to surprise him."

"Anniversary? Do you celebrate starting a job together every year?" Jack asked. Was this some kind of bore-bot cultural thing?

The two of them laughed at that. "Well, I won't deny that taking care of those two is hard work." Dirge chuckled. "But we celebrate our partnership. It's sort of like how other races get married. We pledge to work together for life, to share our projects with each other till the day we die." They looked at Reph, affection in their expression. "Eleven years of crazy projects and getting dragged around the world, I wouldn't have it any other way."

Jack was caught off guard. He hadn't been expecting a bore-bot thruple. That wouldn't have even been in a list of the top fifty answers he expected. He wasn't sure what to say but was saved from having to respond by someone coming down the stairs.

Glimm came down into the room and smiled as she saw Jack on the table. "Welcome back. Are you feeling better?"

Over the course of the checkup, Jack's body had drawn less and less of his attention. He didn't notice his aches or pains anymore. "I think so! Reph and Dirge have been checking me over."

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

The two of them gave her a thumbs up, indicating that Jack was in good condition. Glimm smiled gently at him, "Do you want to try going upstairs again?"

Jack hesitated. He had been able to process his feelings a bit but was still concerned about his mental state. Despite that however, he figured that this was a 'nothing ventured, nothing gained' kind of situation. The sooner he got used to it, the sooner he could get to work. Speaking with as much determination as he could muster he said, "I'd like to try."

The three of them walked upstairs with him, alongside him instead of following behind like they had before. They likely wanted to make sure he didn't collapse again.

The front door had been replaced, no longer shattered wood dangling from a frame. The house was bright, with natural light coming through the windows. Interior rooms had little glowing balls of light in the corners providing a soft glow to the space. Jeler was lounging in what Jack assumed was the living room. The furniture was mixed in size, some chairs seemed to be the size used for the bore-bots, while others ranged in larger sizes. Jeler had claimed the only couch in the room, laying down with his feet up and eyes closed.

He appeared to be sleeping. As they approached, Dirge began to grin mischievously. They began to leak steam from their pipes, more than Jack thought was normal. Then speaking quietly, Dirge simply said, "Water ball." The steam coalesced into a ball of water that hung in the air, then floated over to the space above Jeler's head. Jack watched with interest, aside from the [Status] spell, he had never seen actual magic before. The ball of water hung above Jeler's head, before Dirge let it fall onto the sleeping cat's face.

Jeler shot up, spluttering and coughing. "What was that for!" he yelled out. Then he saw Jack and his demeanor changed. Instead of angry, he instead appeared sheepish. "Oh uh, you're awake? Good to have you back." Jeler reached his hand out, shaking Jack's own. "I'll let the boss know you're up...wanna come with me?" Jeler looked at the three bore-bots accompanying Jack as if asking permission to bring him out of the house. They, in turn, looked at Jack as if asking what he wanted to do.

"Yeah, let's go." Jeler invited the bore-bots as well, and only Reph decided to come along. They walked out of the house, and Jack avoided looking up at the sky. The mountains surrounding the valley let him look around without seeing the world fold upwards around him. The group walked around some of the buildings until they came to a clearing, where the grass had been trampled flat and people gathered in a loose ring.

Jack was a little taken aback by the different kinds of people in front of him. There were humans, which was surprising enough, but also other animal people, demons, bore-bots, and a few he didn't recognize. There were a few people made of plants, a few people that were somehow bigger than Riniox and had greyish skin, and some scaled lizard people with tails. But the thing that drew his attention most was what they were all crowded around.

Riniox stood between six other people. They were all armed with weapons while the demon only had a long staff. The assailants charged her, weapons flashing out trying to strike her. Jack cried out, concern giving way to panic for the woman. Jeler just put a hand on his shoulder though and chuckled. "Don't worry, the boss wouldn't get hit by any of these guys."

Jelers words proved to be true as Jack watched Riniox use the staff to push off the ground. She vaulted up into the air and sailed over one of the men. She was now outside of the encirclement of enemies and they had to spin, reorienting to face her. But before they could form back up, her staff lunged out, snaking around weapons and shields to strike at the men. Even as she lunged with the weapon again and again, she called out reprimands and advice, calling for changes in their form or how the group should move.

Jack realized that he was looking at a training exercise. She must be teaching some new recruits or something like that. Her speed and strength were incredible, she easily overpowered six men, even allowing them to attack her as she deflected, blocked, or moved to have the men block each other's advancement. The whole scene lasted awhile, the surrounding mercenaries chatting or boasting about how they could do better. But Jack's attention was on Riniox the whole time. She danced among six others, untouched and unmatched. She was beautiful and terrible, truly a demon in battle. Jack had never done any martial arts on Earth, but this made him want to learn, it was impossible to not be in awe of her skill.

Only when the attackers were sweating and exhausted on the ground did she allow them to stop. She stood, barely breathing harder than normal over them. "That was barely a warmup you know!" She called out. "I'll need more challengers at this rate." Her eyes swept over the surrounding audience, and everyone avoided looking at her, clearly not wanting to get involved. She saw Jack and noticed Jeler with him. Her grin was predatory as she called out, "Jeler! Come give us a show with that new technique you've been trying out." Jeler froze, he had been trying to avoid drawing the attention of his boss. But he sighed in defeat and turned to Jack.

"You good for a bit? Reph will look out for you while I'm sparring." He seemed to be genuinely asking, as if his concern for Jack's safety meant something important to him.

"Oh yeah, that's fine! I'm looking forward to seeing it!" Jack said excitedly. He meant it too, Riniox had been incredible to watch, and he assumed Jeler was very good too.

Jeler grinned. His expression was the one Riniox had, predatory and eager. He walked out in front of Riniox, daggers drawn from sheathes at his sides. "You know I'm supposed to be watching Jack, right?" he said to the demon.

She shot back, "He needs to test his system, this will be pretty informative, don't you think?" She grinned again, more mischievous this time.

Jeler shook his head in amusement but dropped into a stance. His body was low to the ground, his feet spread apart and knives held before him. Riniox leveled her staff, holding it with two hands, and pointed it at Jeler.

"Whenever you're ready," Riniox called out.

The two stood there, not moving for a long moment. Jeler spoke a single word and a blue screen formed in front of him. Then he sprinted at Riniox.