Robin didn’t wait any longer and immediately began to move. He went over to Jim’s Broken Wing at noon and found the huge man tinkering at an old CTV himself.
“Do you even remember how to take care of that baby? I thought you were all meetings and dinners now!” Robin took a jab at him.
“Look who found his way back, already talking big again.” Jim put down the tools in his hand and walked over. He observed Robin for a moment and let silence convey his feelings.
‘What the heck happened to him? He is still joking around, but his eyes are colder and he feels more…decisive?’
“Did Patience come by already?” The technocrafter asked after the situation started to get strange.
“Ah, yeah, she was here two days ago. She gave me the short version of what happened and asked for two weeks off. I think she wants to finish the negotiations with the studios and get the new contract done as soon as possible.” He told Robin and hesitated to continue.
“I’m sorry Rob! From what I’ve heard, it must have been quite the shitshow. If there is anything you need, just ask. I’ll help where I can.”
“Thanks mate, I’m fine though, no worries. I just needed some time off to get my head straight again. And at the end of the day, they didn’t leave me any chance to act differently - they brought this on themselves. So, I’m good!” Robin gave him a bright smile and looked around to take stock of the ships that required some work.
‘What the…?’
“Damn boy, you’re sure you don’t wanna talk with a trauma-team or something? I’ve only heard good about them and…you don’t seem fine to me” Jim could feel that something in Robin had changed, he just couldn’t put his fingers on what exactly it was.
“Jim, I’m really okay. I had to make some decisions about how I want to proceed from here, that’s all. But actually, there is something you can help me with!” Robin changed the topic and Jim could only comply.
‘Maybe it’s something good. Perhaps what feels off is just him having shed some of the juvenile naivety.’ he mentally shrugged and put the topic to the back of his mind.
“Sure, what do you need?”
What Robin told him was the truth. He had decided to not look back and concentrate on the next step he needed to take to come closer to his goals. He just hadn’t yet realized how much this seemingly simple change of his mindset impacted his demeanor.
“I need a stitch, one that doesn’t ask questions and has the means to take a look at my mutation.”
“Burn in plasma, are you crazy? Why would you let such freaks mess with your mutation? Even the government doesn’t have the recipes to upgrade Minor Energy Senses, why do you think they could do any more?” Jim instantly regretted that he didn’t push Robin more and get him to a trauma-team. Just what the hell was he thinking?
“Relax, Jim, I just want them to re-analyze my G-Anomaly. No upgrading, no experiments.”
“Something is wrong with your mutation?” the man raised a confused eyebrow.
“Jim, you said you wanted to help, not make this an interrogation…”
“‘Tch, just have it your way, don't ya?” Jim scoffed and reached for his datapad, “I’ll send you the contact of a friend of a friend… of some dude I know. Just don’t mess around with them, okay?”
“Thanks, don’t worry.” Robin received a notification and looked around once more, “Let me help you with one of the CTVs today and tomorrow I’ll return to the normal schedule. I’ll just skim through the todo list and be back.” he said and walked over to the office to upload the list on his chip.
[*** INFO ***] 1 Update failed 2 Your Neuro-Chip’s memory is at 100% capacity 3 Please delete data to clear space [*** INFO ***]
“Ah right, there was that, too. Damn” Robin paused when he got the notification.
‘I’ll need an excuse at hand for situations in which others want to upload data onto my Neuro-Chip!’
Eventually he put the list on his datapad and looked for a short job. After he finished one of the CTVs repairs, he moved to the back of the workshop. Standing in front of the Melody II, he sighed as he saw the many scratches the shrapnels had left. Touching the two bullet holes he found on the right wing, he began to mumble.
“That was a close call for you! What a ride for your first flight - would nearly have been your last one, too! You soldiered on well, thanks!”
At the back he examined the failed thruster and found another hole where a bullet went through. Luckily, it didn’t look fatal, only some ripped cables. Robin climbed into the pilot seat, connected the datapad with the system and was about to power on the ship, when he suddenly saw something lying on the floor near his feet.
Stooping down, he grabbed the gun that went missing after their escape from the Vanguard relic site. Holding it in his hand again felt strange for a moment, however Robin focused not on what he had used it for, but on what it represented now.
“Last time I used it was a mess. I have no idea how to wield it correctly… though, even if I hope to never need it again, it’s better to get a little practice if I've already got my hands on it.”
He eyed the gun from both sides. The hand-sized black pistol had a magazine with five shots remaining and he quickly pushed the safety button in as the weapon was still armed. The gun was a cheap model and probably easy to get for some criminals, but for him? To get his hands on a gun, he would have to dive deeper into shady black markets than he was yet ready to do.
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Storing the gun under the seat, he concentrated back on the ship.
“You make a self-check-up and I’ll observe you a bit with my senses, okay? We will have you back up and running in no time and I promise you: I'll get you some awesome upgrades!”
With this, he began a full check-up of his ship to find any hidden problems and take note of the parts that needed repair or had to be exchanged.
***
In the afternoon, Robin sat in the train again and was on his way to Rust Hollow Quarters, another residential district. It had a lower quality than Nexus Haven and was also the district Patience lived in. However, he immediately abandoned all thoughts of visiting her. She had her own things going on right now and they would meet in the workshop sooner or later anyways.
He was on his way to a stitch going by the friendly name Slice. Jim apparently had given Slice a heads up, so he should at least hear him out.
After he got off the train at a station in the south of the district, Robin followed different streets for some time. It was a little less bustling here compared to Nexus Haven, the streets were smaller and the buildings older, but nothing too drastic. At least until he arrived in a narrow alley that led past the last skyscrapers. The high buildings made place for unfinished facilities and small houses that were more shacks than anything else. This part of the city’s construction was planned, but never finished.
‘So, these are the slums of Seka… never thought I would come here anytime soon, or ever at all’ Robin thought and caught himself thinking back to the gun in his ship sooner than expected.
Keeping his eyes open, he warily moved on and watched all the people around him. They were the poor that had mostly given up all hope to return into the more civilized areas. Criminals and desperation reigned here.
‘I just moved around a corner and entered a different world…’ Robin observed. He shook his head and hurried on, deeper into the slums.
Two crossroads later he came to a halt before an old fuel station that was also never finished. In front of the door stood a huge, bald man who wore a red shirt that failed spectacularly at hiding his bulging muscles.
“What ya’ lookin’ for, boy?” The man asked with a rough voice.
Robin reminded himself of what he had decided just this morning and steeled his nerves.
“Hey mate, I’m here to meet Slice, he should have gotten a heads up.”
The colossus looked him up and down for a moment.
“Any weapons?”
“No, none. I came here for a check-up with a doc, not to start a shootout.”
“‘Tch…” the bouncer clearly wasn’t impressed but pointed at the door with his thumb.
“Thanks!” Robin walked around him and entered the building.
The light inside was an uncomfortable mix of green, yellow and red lamps. Some clung to the ceiling, others belonged to little advertisements and were flickering every now and then. There was a small counter in front of him, messy with magazines and datapads all over. Since no one was there to receive him, Robin walked around the table and through the only other door, leading deeper into the building.
“Knock, Knock, somebody home?” he announced his arrival as he walked forward.
“Over here, just come in.” a voice came from the next room.
Robin entered what he could only describe as the exploded laboratory of a mad scientist. Everywhere tools lay around, different machines hung from the ceiling and he could see two messy workbenches full of technical stuff. In the middle of the room stood a medical examination bed and a little Mohait was tinkering with its sensors.
“You are Jim’s boy?” he asked without turning around.
“Yeah, Robin is the name”
“This is not some neighborhood you should run around in. What brings you here?” the man with the fluffy tail asked.
“Slice, I presume?” Robin questioned the obvious.
“At your service!” Slice said as he finally turned around and looked at Robin.
“I want to get a scan of my G-Anomaly. No questions asked, no upgrades, no experiments. I also would take a look at your stock of transparent Interfaces that can access ship’s live data."
“Just a scan? Why would you need that? You should have gotten one after receiving your mutation.” the Mohait asked, clearly ignoring the no questions part. But Robin had expected as much since it really was an unconventional request.
“I had some problems tapping into my mutation the last few days and don’t want the officials to take a look. Who knows what the scan might tell them?”
“You can talk crap, fine. Mutations don’t change suddenly or at all, without someone messing with your genes directly… just get on the damn bed.” Slice didn’t buy his story, but also didn’t seem to care much.
Getting on the stretcher, Robin carefully watched the stitch as he put some diodes on his arm and clamped a bracelet over his wrist. Pressing some buttons, the machine pricked his flesh a bit and the display to his right turned on.
“You know how this works, just activate your mutation for at least 15 seconds and I should get a read. After the machine matches your data with the governmental database, it calculates your specific mutation. You will see the result over there.” Slice pointed at the display.
“All right” Robin confirmed and activated his skill but kept his eyes open. Looking at the Mohait to make sure, he had no funny ideas. The stitch clearly didn’t care at all and just waited for the result to show up.
*beep*
[*** INFO ***] 1 G-Anomaly detected 2 Match found 3 Identification: 100% 4 Class E - Minor Energy Senses [*** INFO ***]
“I don’t know, what you’ve expected, but Class E seems plausible” the Mohait shrugged, “Well, that was easily earned mon…”
*beep*
[*** ERROR ***] 1 Unknown patterns detected 2 Corruption detected [*** ERROR ***]
Before they could even guess what this was all about, the error disappeared again. Being replaced by the same message from before…nearly the same one.
*beep*
[*** INFO ***] 1 G-Anomaly detected 2 Match found 3 Identification: 1‡0% 4 Class E - Mi⌂or Ξnergy Sens∩s [*** INFO ***]
“What the hell…?”