“HUNTER?!?” Val yelled as I appeared in the living area and everyone turned to look at me with a mixture of shock, surprise, and in seven cases, hatred. “Why are you covered in blood splatter?”

“I killed the doctor that tried to implant me.” I said and another ripple of shock went through everyone.

“They let you go after you killed someone?” Val asked.

“Sure. It was ruled an 'accident'.” I said with a grin.

“You're going to get us all killed.” The mean man said as he approached me.

“Stop.” I said and he did. “Take one more step and you're dead.”

“Did you hear that, everyone? The new guy is threatening to kill me.” He said with a smile.

“It's not a threat.” I said.

The man frowned at me for a moment and took one more step. Everyone heard the wooden bat hitting a watermelon sound and the man convulsed once and fell to the ground, dead.

“I warned him.” I said and I wasn't surprised when no one went near him to help.

“That's why you called him 'five more years'.” Val said. “You were going to kill him.”

“Yeah.” I said and the big alien looked at me and gave me a nod. I nodded back and turned to the food dispensary when the large rock wall popped out and dropped down like a cargo hatch.

One of the workers inside saw the body and hit an intercom button. “We have a code 118 in front of the food dispensary.”

I put on my restraints and the dispensary started to hand out the ration trays of food. All three avian women received double portions, to everyone's surprise, and they quickly hid the extra food to save for later and to trade. I was the new guy, so I had to wait until last to eat. Just as I took my tray, an Order member and two guards came into the living area with... surprise surprise... an empty crate with a cargo handle.

“All right! Who is responsible for this?!?” The Order member said loudly and the two guards loaded the body into a bag and then put it in the crate.

Not a single person spoke and kept eating, so I started eating, too.

“Not going to speak?” He asked and smiled evilly. “Do I have to go and get the device?”

A few people took in sharp breaths.

“Ha!” I barked. “Empty threat.”

“Excuse me?” The Order member glared at me.

“You just lost one worker from today's shift. You're not going to risk losing another.”

“Well, Mr. Smart Mouth, you'll be taking over his shift today.”

“I worked yesterday.” I said, knowing full well what he was going to say.

“Then you'll be working every day.” The Order member said with satisfaction.

“You're slowly working your way onto my list.” I said and finished eating.

“Ha! Empty threat.” He repeated my words. “Do you know what they will do to you if you kill me?”

“Even though you're not a prisoner, they'll give me five more years.” I said and a few people chuckled.

“They will put you in solitary confinement.” He said and grinned.

“Really?” I said excitedly and started to hop towards him. “I always enjoyed the quiet!”

The Order member took two steps back, realized his mistake, then tried to stand his ground. I grinned at him and held my food tray between my hands, then jammed my wrist cuffs together. Val had been right, because my wrists popped apart with the sound of a gunshot from the repulsion and the food tray shot out of my hands and struck The Order member right in the forehead. He fell backwards onto the ground and gripped his heavily bleeding face.

“You really shouldn't offer me incentives to kill you.” I said and the two guards stepped between us. “It's all right, fellas.” I chuckled. “I made my point.”

One of the guards knelt and applied a med-patch on the large cut.

“You know we have to report this.” The other guard said.

“Tell the administrator that he already assigned me to work every day without rest.” I said. “She'll understand that I took it easy on him.”

The guards nodded and helped The Order member stand up and he was a little wobbly.

“You should put him on top of the crate and let him ride in style.” I suggested.

“We're not allowed.” The guard said with a smile and activated the crate, then he walked away with it and the other guard helped The Order member walk behind it. When they were out of sight, nearly everyone else took in a breath and let it out.

I walked over to get the tray and stored my restraints. I picked the tray up and saw that it was bent on one of the corners. “He must have a really hard head.” I said and walked back over to the dispensary.

“That won't fit in the slot.” One of the male workers said.

“Sure it will.” I said and easily bent it back into shape and used my thumbs to smooth out the wrinkles in the metal. I dropped it into the slot and he just stared at me with his mouth open. “Since I have your attention, if I gave you a ration supplement, would you reconstitute it for me?”

The worker closed his mouth and looked at the other two workers. “We're not supposed to interact with the prisoners.”

I made a snort noise and then barked a laugh. “One for five? I give you one and you reconstitute five meals for me?”

“Not a chance!” The guy next to him said. “One for one.”

I laughed. “I'd be stupid to accept that.” I said and looked at the three of them. “Do the three of you do this every day?”

They nodded.

“You work the farm, too?” I asked and they nodded again. “Okay, how about this. I give you one each, and you each do three meals for me. That's three for nine.” I said and they thought about it. “Don't try to split the packs, because the flavor doesn't work right if you do. It's all or nothing.”

The three guys got together and conversed for a full minute before they looked at me.

“We need one to test.” One of them said.

“Ha. Smart.” I said and took one out, and nearly every single eye watched as I handed it over.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The three guys almost fought over it, then they grabbed another ration tray and liberally spread the flavor enhancement over it, then popped it into the reconstitution machine that looked like a microwave. After ten seconds, it was done and they opened the door.

A collective gasp came from them and they took in huge breaths through their noses. Of course, the smell easily reached the prisoners gathered around the dispensary and nearly every single stomach gurgled in response.

“That smells so good!” Val said from beside me.

“Hey, there you are.” I said and put an arm around her. “Nice disappearing act, by the way.”

“Thanks.” Val said and accepted the compliment.

The three workers carefully took the tray and brought it over to the counter.

“We accept your offer.” The one closest to me said. “I don't care if this still tastes normal. The smell alone is worth it.”

I chuckled. “I should have made a better deal, apparently.”

One of the workers handed the other two spoons and they dipped it in at the same time. “On three.”

“I think we better step out of the way.” I said and led Val off to the side and away from everyone.

“Three!” They said together and took big scoops and shoved it in their mouths. All three of them opened their mouths at the flavor and the food almost rolled back out.

“It's delicious! I've never tasted anything like it before!” One of them said.

“No words...” Another said.

“Do you want your meals done now? Now right? You want them now?” The third one asked.

“I'll wait for supper, thanks.” I said and waved at the tray. “Enjoy.”

The three of them realized their delicious food was sitting there, uneaten, then fixed that problem in about ten seconds and cleaned the tray off completely.

“That's even better than what the guards eat.” One of them said, completely amazed.

A man slipped out of the crowd and then his hand reached out and plucked the practically empty tray from the counter. He took off running and then a dozen people saw him and ran after him.

“That's what you meant?” Val asked me.

“I'm surprised they waited that long to make a grab for it, actually.” I said.

The shift supervisor came out of his cubicle with an empty food tray and spoke. “Day shift 2, you're up! Let's go!” He said loudly and walked over to the dispensary and dropped the tray into the slot.

The big alien looked at me. “You're on my crew today if you're taking that guy's slot.”

“That's great!” I said. “Val, I'll see you later.”

“Don't forget to ask about digging tools.” Val reminded me.

I gave her a wave as I walked beside the big alien. “Please tell me that they made a giant laser drill for you.”

The big alien laughed as he took baby steps. “Nope. I have to hold it like I'm writing something down.”

I laughed, too. “Now I really need to talk to the supervisor.”

“You're not going to convince him to do anything.” The big alien warned me. “He's a company man, even after all these years.”

“I understand.” I said.

“Do you?” He asked.

“I have to appeal to his bottom line.” I said with a smile. “Believe me, I will.”

“Good luck with that.” He said and didn't believe for one second that I could do it.

We walked all the way down to the spot where the supervisor usually stood and gathered around it, and the supervisor handed out the laser drills.

“I get one today?” I asked as he handed me one and marked his sheet.

“There's an extra one on this shift for some reason.” The supervisor said. “You're all the way down in section eighteen.”

I didn't question him as to why he made the biggest alien walk the farthest of everyone. “Do you have any broken laser drills?”

“That's almost all I have.” The supervisor let out a single laugh. “Did you see a mechanics shop or a maintenance bay anywhere in this place?”

“I didn't see any on the map I have of a similar place, so no.” I said and he gave me a strange look. “What about digging tools?”

“I have lots of broken ones of them, too.” He said. “Why? Are you a mechanic?”

“Nope. I just have experience working with electronics and some construction.”

“Then stop wasting my time and get to work.” The supervisor pointed at the back of the big alien.

“Can I look at them on my own time?” I asked and started to go where he pointed.

“You're working every day, so you're not going to have a lot of free time.” The supervisor said.

“Our section only has to fill one crate, right?” I asked and he nodded. “I'll be back in a little while to look at those parts.” I said and ran after the big alien. I marked the drill so I would know which one I had to hand in and then stored it.

“I thought he gave you a drill.” One of the other guys going to section eighteen asked.

“He did.” I said and didn't elaborate. “How many guys on your crew?” I asked the big alien.

“Six.” He said. “We work the fastest and fill the crate with almost two hours to spare.”

“Because of the extra people?” I asked and he nodded. “Which means you get extra rations every day.”

“It's the best crew to work on.” One of the other guys said. “We have to do our part, though. If you don't keep up, you get replaced.”

“Everyone wants a spot on this crew.” Another guy said.

I turned my head and looked at the woman that I saw that first day and she had licked her lips.

“Don't talk to me.” She said when she saw me looking.

“You were interested before.” I said with a smile.

“You hadn't slept with that bird woman then.” She said. “They treat humans like dirt, you know!”

“I know.” I said with a grin. “That's why I made her squawk so loudly.”

The big alien laughed. “I've never heard them quite like that before.”

“You should have seen the other two.” One of the guys said. “They huddled under that blanket and looked like they were going out of their minds.”

I chuckled. “That was also a reason why I did it.”

“I'm really surprised they haven't tried to kill you.” The woman said, despite telling me to not talk to her. “That was all they were chirping about yesterday.”

I nodded and looked at the big alien. “Can I ask you a question?” I asked and he nodded. “Why does the supervisor send you all the way down to section eighteen? You're the biggest guy here and walk the slowest, yet he sends you the farthest.”

“It's because we work so fast.” One of the guys volunteered. “If we were right by the supervisor in section one, we'd be done half way through the shift and could leave.”

“So, making it more difficult for you and keeping your crew on par with everyone else.”

“You got it.” He said. “Sometimes being the best hurts!”

The other guys laughed and the woman smiled.

“I hope you're up to feeling a lot of pain then.” I said as we reached section eighteen at the very end of the mine. “I'll cut, you gather.” I said to them and walked over to the wall.

“What?” Most of them said, then they all froze as I made six laser drills appear out of thin air.

I started the same technique I had used the day before, except that I had a block of six drills instead of five, and moved on down the lower part of the wall for thirty feet and searched it in five foot sections. Each stop took five minutes and I found a lot of crystals, nearly one for every drill hole. It took half an hour to do it, then I moved the drills to the top of the wall and did each five foot section on the way back to where the crew still stood.

“No wonder you guys work so fast! This place is full of crystals!” I said half an hour later when I reached them again. “Hey, why are you just standing there?” I asked and stored the six drills. “Grab the crystals and pack them up properly. There's over seventy of the things, so it should fill the crate.”

The three guys and the woman looked up at the big alien, who nodded, then they ran for the holes. It took them ten minutes to fill the crate and there were several crystals left over.

“I'll take those.” I said and stored the extra crystals. “We have a bit of a problem now.”

“What's that?” The woman asked, her feigned hostility had vanished.

“If the big guy sits on the crate, no one else can ride it.” I said.

They all looked at each other, then at the big alien, then they all laughed.

“We'll walk.” They said as one.

“I can take your drills if you want.” I offered and they all handed them over, even the big alien. I marked them and made them disappear. The big alien shuffled over to the crate and sat down on it like it was a chair. Because he was so tall, his feet only dangled a little bit off the ground. I activated the cargo handle and the crate lifted up a foot off of the ground.

“I didn't think it would work.” The big alien said.

“Most people don't.” I said and started to walk at the crew's normal hobbled walk. We made it back to the supervisor twice as fast as we had walked down to section eighteen, and everyone had stopped working and watched us walking by them.

“You have got to be kidding me.” The supervisor said and looked at his datapad. “It's only been two hours!”

“We work fast.” I said and dropped off the right laser drills for everyone and then tapped on the crate. “It's full, so I'll deliver it.”

The supervisor waved acknowledgement and I pulled the crate and the crew walked around me and the big alien. We made it back to the living area and everyone was surprised to see us so soon.

“Hunter!” Val squawked and ran over to me. “Did you ask about the tools?”

I chuckled and deactivated the crate. “Yes, I'm going back to the supervisor after I drop the crate off.”

Val made a warble sound in her throat and let out a chirp.

The big alien slid off the crate and stood up. “Thanks for the ride.”

“Same time tomorrow?” I asked with a smile.

“I'm off tomorrow.” The big alien said.

“You're off today, too.” I said with a grin and he laughed.

He and the rest of the crew went back to their cubicles and I took the crate all the way back to the start of the mine. I put on my restraints and hobbled into view, and I wasn't surprised to see the other Order member was there watching over things.

“Hey, there.” I said and pulled the crate into the center of the space and deactivated the cargo handle. “See you tomorrow.”

“You don't have to keep pretending with the shackles.” The Order member said.

“It gives me something to do.” I said to make him laugh and hobbled out of his sight. I removed the restraints once I was and then used Presence Run to go all the way back down into the mine to see the supervisor. I had a date with what I hoped was a treasure trove of electronics.