Needless to say I kept my word. Val squawked herself hoarse after about two hours and then she just moaned and grunted when she could. By the morning, her feathers were everywhere and I had groomed her all over with Presence Claws. Rather than leave the place a mess, which would have pissed off the big alien, I had used my own sheet and blanket with the Impervious spell cast on them.

I used Presence to pick up all of her feathers and down and put them into a sack, then rolled the sheet and blanket up and tucked them into a bag of holding. I could wash them off later when given the chance. When I handed the sack of feathers to Val, she almost cried.

“Don't worry. Once I get access to some digging tools, I'll make you somewhere to put them.”

“You promise?” Val asked, as if my answer would shatter her world if I said no.

“I even have lots of blankets that we can weave together for you.”

“Why?” Val hugged the sack of feathers and looked into my eyes. “Why are you doing this?”

“If you want the truth, I'm establishing a pattern.” I said and she blinked her eyes at me.

“What?”

“Your race is notoriously harsh to humans that try to sleep with you.” I said. “I just showed everyone here that I can do what they thought was impossible.”

Val thought about that. “What if I'm just an easy woman and slept with anything that would have me?”

I chuckled and took her into my arms. “Instead of being a rare bird, you would be a very rare bird.”

Val let out a warbled laugh. “Now I have to ask how many women you slept with.”

“I can count them on two hands.” I said. “Believe me, that's an impressively low number, considering how old I am.”

Val laughed. “What are you, twenty five? Thirty? Ten women isn't low!”

I laughed, too. “We need to go. The big guy is coming back over.” I absorbed the Presence Wall and took Val's hand and stepped out of the cubicle. “Thanks a lot for the loan!” I said to the big alien.

He looked into the cubicle and was very surprised that he didn't see a mess.

“I wouldn't abuse your hospitality like that.” I said and then smiled. “I'm not that stupid.”

The big alien laughed. “I think I'm glad I didn't have to kill you.”

“Keep going with that feeling.” I said and gave him a wave, then led Val away from the cubicles and away from two very hostile avian women that were off to the side of the living area. They were huddled together under a blanket and I could feel the residual sexual desire they had felt all night while listening to Val and I do a traditional mating ritual.

Their thoughts... well... the first one was still disgusted that I wasn't one of her species, despite being so turned on. The second one was even more hostile towards me now, even though she was just as angry at herself for rejecting me immediately. On the plus side, neither of them wanted to kill me.

“When are they delivering breakfast?” I asked Val.

“In about an hour they will open up the dispensary over there.” Val said and pointed to a spot that looked like solid rock.

I used Detect Presence to look through it. “Of course they used solid rock to hide the food.”

“Well, it's not like there isn't a lot of rock around.” Val said and I chuckled.

“Fair enough.”

The man that had given me a mean expression the day before when I entered the mine came over to us. He glared at Val and I got the thought from him that he had tried, unsuccessfully, to sleep with her.

“What are you in for?” He asked and looked at me.

“You're asking me that right away? No 'hello, my name is Five More Years'?”

“What?” He asked, surprised.

I pointed my hand at him in the shape of a gun, which got everyone's attention. “What's your name?”

“It doesn't matter what my name is.” He said and evaded the question. “All that matters here is what you did.”

“That's not true.” I said loudly. “What matters is how long you've been sentenced to stay here.”

“Is it true?” Val asked. “They gave you thirty years?”

“Yeah.” I said and then smiled. “Right afterwards, I caused an explosion that killed the entire Order Council.”

Shock went through all of the people in the living area, except for six of them, who thought I had killed Kralish the scaly alien, and they had flashes of hatred for me. Not surprisingly, so did the man in front of me. No one questioned if I was telling the truth, though.

“We have company!” A woman said as she hobbled into the living area.

“It looks like we will have to continue this later.” I said to the man.

He gave me squinted eyes and then stalked off.

“Val, don't be alone near that man. If he approaches you, do what (chirp-warble-tweet-tweet) said. Claw his eye out for approaching you unasked.”

“What?” She looked at the retreating man. “He keeps to himself most times, and...”

“Do it for me, then. I don't want you hurt because of me.” I cautioned her and put on my restraints.

An Order member and two guards came into the living area and spotted me, then walked right over to me. Val beat a hasty retreat without being asked.

“You. Come with us.” The Order member said.

“This would have gone a lot faster if you had brought an empty crate with you.” I said and started to hobble-walk.

“We're not allowed.” One of the guards said and gave a slightly deadly look to The Order member.

“That sucks. It's a great idea.” I said and both guards nodded.

It took us a good twenty minutes to get all the way back to the start of the mine. The other Order member stood there with the third guard and she gave me a tiny wave. I smiled and nodded to her, then I hopped up the stairs faster than my escorts could climb them. I waited for them at the top and they rushed to get to me.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Do you do regular patrols?” I asked her and her smile grew wider.

“Why? Are you afraid we'll interrupt you trying to have sex with that nasty bird person?” The Order member escorting me asked.

I chuckled. “You're just angry that she didn't turn me down.”

He glared at me and started walking at a normal pace towards the junction.

“We have to keep up.” The guard said apologetically.

“Not a problem.” I said and took off the ankle restraints and walked at a normal pace.

“W-wait!” The guard said and he and his partner jogged after me. That made the female guard laugh for a second before she caught herself. Neither she nor the other Order member mentioned me being able to remove the restraints.

We passed the junction and went towards the administration section. When we were almost there, I put the ankle restraints back on and hobbled in. The Order member escorting me turned around to wait for me. He assumed he would be waiting for a while and was shocked that I was right behind him and still had the restraints on.

“I hope I'm not here for what I think I'm here for.” I said and he gave me a big evil smile. “You do realize I could kill you all right now, right?”

He and the guards froze still and the door opened and the administrator stepped out.

“I oversee all of these procedures and they are completely humane.” She said.

“Sticking explosives in people's heads so they behave, isn't humane.”

“It's the only way to ensure compliance.” She said.

“I've been cooperating, haven't I?” I asked and she nodded. “I haven't caused trouble and I didn't kill anyone yet.”

“Yet?” She asked.

“I've got seven targets so far.” I said and looked at The Order member. “Maybe eight. He's being mean.”

“Please don't kill anyone.” The administrator said.

“Will you stop the operation if I agree?” I asked and she shook her head. “Then I will do what I have to do.”

“You can't resist.” The administrator said. “If you try, the medical team won't be as... gentle.”

I chuckled. “Neither will I.”

The administrator nodded to the two guards and they grabbed my arms and picked me up, then they carried me into the operating room. I didn't fight them, since they weren't really at fault, and the magnetic restraints unlocked from each other and locked onto the sides and end of the table.

“How was the dessert?” I asked the administrator.

She didn't say anything in response and I picked up from her thoughts that it had tasted a little bland. Two medical technicians came into the room and they wore masks to hide their identities.

“Just so you know, your pathetic attempt to be anonymous didn't work.” I chuckled when they both stopped walking.

“I thought you said you wouldn't tell him our names.” The man said and looked out the observation window.

“She didn't tell me, you idiot. I can read your name tag.”

“What?” The man tried to look down and couldn't see because of the mask, so he lifted it out of the way and saw his name tag on his lapel. He sighed and took the mask off completely.

“AHH! Put that back on!” I exclaimed and several laughs came from the observation booth.

“He's not going to be nice to you now.” The other medical technician said and took off her own mask.

“That's okay. He's not going to touch me.” I said. “I just started growing my hair back after having it all burned off in an explosion. I'm not letting him shave part of it off.”

Everyone was quiet for several moments after hearing that.

“You don't have a choice.” She said sadly.

“We all have a choice.” I said and smiled at her. “What will you choose?”

“If it was up to me, they would just let them work and leave them alone. They don't need the explosives as an incentive.”

“Ah, a like minded soul. They could revolt and kill everyone, and then what? Where would they go?” I asked. “How often does a ship come here? Once a month? Two? How would they get on it without being killed as soon as they tried?”

No one answered, so I continued.

“What about food? Is it grown here or shipped in? How long can they live on the current stored food if there's no one left to get it for them?”

“I think we need to gas him and put him to sleep.” The man said and reached for a breathing mask. “Don't fight, or we will stretch the cuffs apart.”

I looked at the woman and she nodded. The man put the mask on me and turned it on, then waited for several minutes. I pretended to breathe it in and closed my eyes. He didn't take it off, though.

“If you give him too much, he could be asleep for days.” The woman warned.

“That's fine.” He said and held it there for almost ten minutes. “All right. You prep the site and I'll get the aggression suppressor.” He turned it off and removed the mask from me, then walked across the room. He took out a single device and I spoke.

“That's a nice name for a suicide charge.” I said and everyone froze.

“You're awake?” The woman asked, shocked.

“The rumors of my sleep status have been slightly exaggerated.” I said and the man started to turn. “Don't move! That aggression suppressor is going to explode!”

The man looked at it and chuckled. “These are the safest...”

*BOOM!*

Apparently, when not within an enclosed space, like the inside of a skull to contain the explosion, it was quite energetic. The man's hand and forearm disappeared, along with most of his face, then the rest of him was shredded by the small pieces of shrapnel that were designed to mulch a brain. Both I and the woman were mostly blocked from the shrapnel by the man's body. The blood splatter on the other hand, went everywhere.

No one said anything for about three seconds as the man's dead body dropped to the floor, then the woman beside me started to scream. It started low as if she had to get used to it, then she worked it up to a full lung expenditure and let loose. I actually had to use Presence to protect my ears from the shrillness.

For the next few minutes, I laid there and tried not to laugh as several people, the administrator included, crowded into the room and scrambled to try and deal with the situation. The female medical technician was led from the room eventually, still screaming, and the guards carefully put the body into a body bag and carried it out of the room.

The administrator had a pretty heated discussion with The Order member that was mean to me and they talked about how unstable the explosives were, despite the reassurances and the record that no other accidents had ever happened. I didn't point out that I was still right there near them on the table and could clearly hear them.

I was glad I hadn't, because then the conversation's subject became me and stayed heated as The Order member argued that I couldn't be allowed to mingle with the other prisoners if I wasn't on the same leash as them. The administrator pointed out that I had spent part of the day and all night there and nothing happened. I successfully stopped my laugh before it escaped, because I had done a lot of things the night before.

“We don't have the facilities to hold him anywhere except in the mine, so he has to go back there.” The administrator said. “Unless you want to give up your own personal quarters and have it converted into a cell for him, then spend the rest of your days and nights guarding him, because we only have enough guards to watch the mines.”

The Order member actually thought about it, then decided he liked sleeping in a bed and not working all the time. “All right.” He said and turned to glare at me. “I'll be watching you.”

“I already warned you about peeking on me when I'm naked.” I said and forced blood into my face to make it look like I blushed, and The Order member had a shocked look on his face.

The administrator let out a quick laugh and then she caught her breath. “I shouldn't laugh.”

“Probably not, since it makes you feel worse about what happened.” I said. “Say, can I get out of these restraints? I have a breakfast date I need to get to.”

The administrator nodded to one of the guards and the man hit the buttons to unlock the cuffs from the table and their configuration changed back to self-restraint.

“Thanks.” I said and sat up, then hopped to the floor. “Am I going alone or will I be escorted there?”

The Order member sighed.

“Just the guard is fine.” I said. “You can stay here and have fun.”

The man gave me a glare for a second, then nodded to the guard, who took my arm and led me from the room. Once we were out of the building, I took off the ankle restraints.

“How are you doing that?” He asked as I made the cuffs disappear.

“I have the key.” I said and he gave me a skeptical look. I popped off the wrist restraints and stored them and he chuckled.

“You could have escaped from them in the operating room whenever you wanted.”

“Just like I told them...” I motioned back behind us. “...where would I go if I tried to escape?”

“That's true.” He said. “By the way, there's a small farm in one of the side rooms by the mine. It grows just enough to maintain the basic rations for the prisoners and that's it.”

“You guys have your own farm on the surface?”

He gave me a discerning look, then he chuckled again. “Yes, and it's not too bad. It's got some variety to it, at least.”

“Variety keeps things from getting boring.” I said and we walked normally to the junction, then about halfway to the mine entrance, I put the restraints back on.

“You know I'm supposed to confiscate it if you have a key.” The guard said.

“Did you see me use a key?” I asked with a huge fake smile.

He saw it and laughed. “You are going to disrupt everything, aren't you?”

“Nope.” I said and hobbled along. “I am going to make a few little changes, just so I'm more comfortable here; but other than that, I'm here to relax.”

The guard laughed really loudly at that and The Order member still on watch and the female guard turned to look at us.

“Did you hear that?” He asked them as we approached. “He's here to relax! Ha ha!”

The Order member gave me a look that clearly said I was stupid and the female guard had her mouth covered to stop her laugh, because she didn't want to be seen as encouraging me.

“Just wait.” I said and hopped down the stairs like a bunny rabbit. “I'm off to a good start so far.”

Both guards laughed at that and The Order member couldn't help it and smiled. I gave them a wave and hobble-walked quickly out of their sight. Once I was, I took off the restraints and used Presence Run to go back to the living area.