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“That’s it for today, everyone! Make sure to read the next few chapters in your books for next week.” Kaleb said as his students gathered their things.
He got a few thanks and nods from the mass of students. With one scowl from a certain yellow Rapidian. But Kaleb knew the kid wasn’t going to cause too much trouble. He was just angry at being cowed by a Mundane. Kaleb waved at the yellow alien and continued to collect his own things. Somehow, in the course of an hour, he had already made a mess of his desk. It was full of notes he had taken while speaking to the class. Which students were engaged, and which weren’t? Ideas on how to reach difficult students.
One way was for him to dumb down the terms he was using. He had seen more than a few faces go slack-jawed as he was talking. He needed a way to keep them engaged, even when talking about highly technical things. Making the lessons more practical was his first idea, but that would require him to purchase more equipment. Kaleb found himself making plans and trying to budget out his credits for the foreseeable future.
He put on his lab coat and waved to Brick and Valerie as the pair left his class last. Following right after the pair, Kaleb spun and locked his classroom door as the noise from the hallway picked up. Apparently, more students were coming into the college. Probably for the robotics class that was about to start. He followed the mass of students toward the front of the school, but paused when he got to an open door. The class was closer to the front of the school and was clearly a nicer room overall. Sticking his head through the door, Kaleb glanced around.
It was a much larger, auditorium-style lecture hall. With comfortable-looking seats, and an electronic white-board sectioned into thirds. A slim person in a professional suit was behind the desk, swiping a slim finger through a tablet. From his position at the door, Kaleb could see the teacher and a decent-sized group of students already seated. Also, the teacher was an alien of some kind. Their hands and legs were human-esque, but their body was covered in small brown feathers. The feathers moved slightly as the teacher breathed. Kaleb was about to hurry on his way out of the college when a clipped voice snapped at him.
“Please, do not linger at the threshold of my class. If you are hesitant to take Advanced Robotics, then you are probably not a right fit for the field.”
The woman’s voice wasn’t condescending, but it clearly displayed a no-nonsense attitude and a degree of professionalism. Kaleb smirked as he thought about needling his fellow professor. He stood up straight near the door, but was careful to keep his robotic left arm hidden. Pretending to lean up against the door, Kaleb waved a hand into the classroom.
“Apologies, professor. I was just looking in on a colleague. It was my understanding that you were just starting today as well.”
“Hmph!” the professor snorted as she turned to regard him.
Her face was full of feathers going from dark to light brown, and she had a small curved beak for a mouth. Two large blue eyes stared at him as they took in his bright lab coat and armor. He saw her eyes linger a moment on his weapons, but they continued their journey up to his face. Kaleb grinned at the bird-woman, showing his sharp teeth. His fellow professor looked unamused as she clacked her beak.
“As I understood it, you are a professor of chemistry, correct?”
“That is one of my fields of study, yes.”
“Ahhh. A generalist. How quaint. Suffice it to say, Professor, we are not colleagues. In fact, I daresay my expertise would make me your superior.”
“Really?” Kaleb asked, no longer smiling.
He stepped from around her door, fully displaying his own cybernetic arm. The bird-woman’s eyes went wide and Kaleb thought she was impressed. But then he saw her feathers ruffle in waves as her eyes squinted at him. The robotics teacher lurched from her spot behind her desk toward Kaleb. Kaleb raised his arms up defensively but waited to see what she would do.
“What have you done!? This is a travesty!” The professor squawked.
Kaleb tried to explain himself as he was dragged back toward her desk. A murmur went up from the students, and Kaleb could hear a few of them chuckling. He grimaced in embarrassment as he focused on the slim bird woman examining his arm and muttering to herself.
“The form-factor is nonexistent, the bio-mechanics are shit, and the robotics are childish. This is what happens when you don’t specialize, Professor!”
She nearly shouted the last sentence in his face. But Kaleb was more focused on her other critiques. Sure, the upgrades he made were more interior based, but he didn’t think it was that bad. It was a little blocky and bulged in places, but that was so it could house Shocky and the Spike Launcher. He was about to explain that to the bird-professor when she came upon Shocky’s housing.
“What’s this?” She demanded, holding up Kaleb’s heavy left arm to his face.
Kaleb sighed and trigger the shield with a thought. The class’s murmuring grew louder as the professor cooed in wonder. Kaleb was feeling good about having impressed the NPC when she glared back at him.
“If you have mastered this level of miniaturized tech, then why are there so many design flaws in your arm?! This is hodge-podge of parts stuck together with differing degrees of skill! Which is most inefficient!”
She spat the last word out like a curse, and Kaleb used that moment to gently retrieve his arm from her grasp. Her human-like feathered hands clawed the air where his arm was as she searched his face for a response.
Kaleb sighed. “I’m still using the base arm I built for myself after my accident. I’ve upgraded it a few times and added some features since. But nothing too extreme.”
The bird-woman stepped back like she’d been struck and she even put a hand to her forehead. “Why would you do such a thing? You know they make perfectly normal cybernetics for prosthetic replacement, right? I mean, the corporation I work for, TekNik, has dozens of models available for all species.”
“Sure, so I can have an arm loaded with bloatware and random technical glitches that are ‘features’, not bugs? No thanks. I’d prefer an arm I could trust.”
“How dare you! TekNik is a reliable company, and all added software is meant to keep the arm in optimal condition. As well as defend against malware and viruses. I could implant a virus in this prehistoric prosthesis of yours that would alter the grip strength! Have you breaking things all over whatever hovel you call a lab!”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Now, how would you accomplish that without a direct hookup?” Kaleb asked smugly.
The bird-woman looked confused as she grabbed Kaleb’s arm again. “Well, I would just…”
She trialed off as she examined Kaleb’s arm for a few more seconds. Not finding what she was looking for, she glanced up at him, horrified.
“Why is there no Net-Access hookup on your arm!? That’s just barbaric! How do you issue firmware updates or diagnostics?”
Kaleb sighed again and tried to take his arm back. But the bird-woman held tight to it until Kaleb raised a hand in a calming gesture. She scowled at him at being treated like a wild animal, but released his arm. Kaleb reached his right hand around to his left shoulder. It took a few moments, but he mentally released his cybernetic arm from its housing at the same time he hit the correct switches on his shoulder. There was a sharp hiss, and Kaleb sighed as his arm popped off. He quickly moved it to the other professor’s desk as she gaped in awe at him.
Placing the arm down on the desk, Kaleb took a moment to look up and see a sea of student faces staring with interest at what they were doing. He grinned to himself as he waved his good hand at the arm. But the bird-woman was now studying the socket housing in his shoulder. He could see both wonder and curiosity in her large blue eyes.
“You really did this yourself, didn’t you?”
“What makes you say that?” Kaleb wondered.
“This housing is… old… and crude. No offense, but it’s clearly the work of an amateur and one with only a cursory knowledge of robotics.”
Kaleb shrugged. “No offense taken. I was young and stupid when I made it.”
“But why? Not only are Basilinoids know for your regenerating limbs, but your people have the science to build you a much better arm than this one here.”
Kaleb tried to recall his backstory. The AI had constantly been questioning him about things he hadn't considered. He remembered coming up with something at some point. But he couldn’t recall the details. So instead he tried to bluff, using as much as he could remember.
“The wound was so horrific it wouldn’t regenerate. And Basilinoids aren’t really into making cybernetics. Especially for a young lizard that wants to be a Supe.”
The feathery ridge around the woman’s right eye rose and face scrunched up in an approximation of a smile. Kaleb thought she was smirking at him as she took in his whole attire again. But the beak made it hard to tell.
“That explains the weapons and the armor. Tell me, which illustrious hero do I have the honor of addressing?”
Kaleb rolled his eyes at her pompous tone, but stuck his hand out. “Professor Pack Rat, contract hero and inventor.”
“You put ‘professor’ in your name? That’s presumptuous, even for a Basilinoid.”
“Hey, I’ve studied Electrical Engineering, Microbiology, Robotics, Chemistry, Metalworking, Mechanical Engineering, and Genetics. I’d say I more than warrant the title.”
“Generalist.” The bird-woman said again, shaking her head good-naturedly. “And did you say metalworking? So am I to assume you build your own armor as well?”
Kaleb held his arm out wide and took a step back. “Everything on me has been designed, tested, and built by me.”
Her sharp blue eyes flitted over Kaleb’s body, taking in all his weapons and even his lab coat this time. He grinned as he saw her nod in appreciation before she turned her eyes back down to his arm. She nodded down at it as she crouched low to get a better look.
“You were saying about this arm.”
“Ah! Right, well, as you can see, it has no net access or online functionality at all. So all firmware updates and such go straight through me. Basically, it’s a closed system that I control and it does not call out to other systems.”
“I doubt it would matter if it did. If you were the one that coded this arm, then it probably won’t speak well with others.”
“Just as well, because I don’t want it to.”
“Have you at least looked at other arms to get a better sense of aesthetics?”
“Seriously? You are still worried about how it looks?”
“Form and function need to be developed side-by-side, professor. An efficient product should look good, last a long time, and function to perfection.”
“Two out of three ain’t bad,” Kaleb smirked. “It’s lasted a while, and it still works. So I’m happy with it.”
The bird woman rolled her eyes up at him. “But think of how good it could be. You would need to do a complete overhaul and maybe look at some other models. Just to get ideas! This is a fine starter set, but you need something… special.”
Kaleb smirked as he thought about plans for a new arm. Looking over at the alien NPC, he could tell she was thinking the same thing. But before either of them could voice their ideas, Clarice’s voice yelled out from the door.
“Excuse me Professor? I’ll thank you not to bother our other teachers before their classes. Clara, if he’s bothering you, just tell him to get out of here.”
Kaleb glared out at the receptionist standing in the doorway. Behind her were several more students looking to get into the class. Clara, the bird-professor, cooed under her breath before looking from Kaleb to Clarice.
“No, Clarice, it is quiet alright. I’m just discussing robotics with a colleague. We were brainstorming ideas for an arm upgrade.”
Clarice scowled at the pair of them but moved out of the way of the door. Kaleb smiled as students stared, dumbstruck, at his one-armed state. He waved at them and then directed their attention down at his arm. Clara noticed the class’s interest and turned her back to Kaleb, fully addressing Clarice now.
“Clarice, would it be possible for Professor... Rat to join me? I think he brings a unique view of robotics and his guerrilla science style could be an interesting juxtaposition to my own.”
“I feel I was just insulted,” Kaleb muttered loudly enough for the classroom to hear. A few of them chuckled as Clarice stared daggers at him.
Her eyes went to the bird-woman, Clara, and then back to Kaleb, before she sighed. “So long as the Professor is fine with it. I see no reason to be against it. But Professor Rat, you will only be paid for the chemistry class. If this becomes a regular thing, then we can talk about bumping up your pay.”
Kaleb wanted to argue, but Clarice quickly left the doorway of the class. Clara turned toward him, her feathers ruffling animatedly. He smiled at her as her eyes were still on his arm.
“Suddenly you don’t want to be rid of me?”
Clara waved him off. “Please, you are a fascinating study and I meant what I said about your guerrilla science approach. I bet there are tons of things you could think of that wouldn’t occur to your more educated counter-parts.”
“That time I know I was insulted.”
“It was merely an explanation of the facts, Professor. Now I think we should plan for the class ahead. I assume you are okay with your arm being used as a prop?”
Kaleb squinted his eyes at the bird-woman. “I’m not getting it back otherwise, am I?”
“You were the one who took it off.”
He sighed deeply to himself as he heard more of the class chuckle at their by-play. More and more students were coming in, and the auditorium was filling quickly. Kaleb checked the clock on the wall and found that it was still early. And who knew what he could learn from Professor Clara? She was a teacher of Robotics. Which meant that he was bound to learn something.
The bell rang, and the last student made their way to their seat. Clara pressed a button on her desk and her classroom door closed and loudly locked itself. Kaleb raised an eyebrow as Clara smirked at him. She held the eye contact for a few seconds before she turned to address the class. Kaleb settled into a nearby seat at the desk, ready to learn.