Over the next few weeks, no one asked why the administrator never left her residence. Some of the guards, especially the man that liked her, visited her regularly. They talked a lot about what had been going on the last two years and she told the man that liked her about how Noma was keeping her Presence from getting too strong.

“You told me a long time ago that you wanted to keep her here so you could regulate her ability.” The guard said. “Isn't feeding her what you meant?”

“It... is.” She said. Technically. She thought. “But... I can't even... if I don't have my powers, I can't maintain the fear needed from the prisoners to keep them in line.” She admitted. “I need you to knock her out or to sneak me out of here away from her.”

“I'm sorry. I can't do that.”

“What? Why not?”

“You need time to recover the full use of your hand.” The guard said. “I've talked to the medical technician and he said unless you work with it daily and maintain your strength, it's possible you may lose the hand again.” He sat back and looked at her hand. “Show me the basic exercise, please.”

The administrator sighed and did the fingertip touching the thumb exercise with each finger and she couldn't quite get the pinkie finger to touch.

“Ma'am, you need to keep working at it.” The guard said in encouragement. “I know as soon as you get full use of your hand back, Hunter will give up the administrator duties and you can resume your rightful place.”

“He should have done that already.” She said. “I'm fine.”

“Ma'am, you were in stasis for over a year while the medical technician prepared to reattach your hand.”

“How do you know that?” She asked, a little surprised, because she had assumed that Hunter would have kept her status hidden from everyone.

“Hunter gives us weekly updates on everything and invites us to look over what's going on and asks for our input.” The guard said. “I still hate his guts, though.” He smiled. “A lot of us do, actually. But...”

“But what?”

“He's a great administrator. He also said that we can hate him as much as we want, as long as we don't let it affect our jobs.” The guard said. “It's weird to actually hate someone and also respect them.”

“But... he... isn't he ruling with an iron fist? How did he make all those changes and not cause a riot?”

“He did what he claimed he would do.” The guard said. “He only made small changes and let them settle, then changed a bit more. Eventually, the changes happened right in front of us and none of us noticed, because we already accepted that things were always changing for the better.”

“I've heard that from several guards so far.” The old administrator said.

“Ma'am, we have mining equipment that any prisoner can use without training. We have anti-gravity transports that bring prisoners to and from the mine in seconds and they haul crates behind them, up to three at a time.”

“Three?” She asked, surprised.

“No shift is below quota. The refinement factory is getting a constant flow of unrefined crystals and is running all day, every day, and we're actually ahead of our shipment schedule by several months.”

“Wh-what?” She looked at him like he was speaking nonsense. “We've never been ahead of schedule.”

“I know.” The guard said. “Everything just seemed to pick up speed. Travelling, digging, mining, showers and inspections, all of it. Then one day, everything became... easier.”

She thought about speaking to tell him he was insane for thinking running a mine was easy.

“It wasn't really a task to handle the prisoners. They weren't unruly or caused trouble. They all have their own custom living spaces now and no one fights over it. Why would they? If they want a change, they let Hunter know and it's done the next day.”

“That... that's insane.” She said, shocked.

“You would think so... and yet, the prisoners love it. They have a problem, they tell him, and it's solved as quickly as possible. Since he's a prisoner and is working alongside them, they know he's as invested in their happiness as both a long term prisoner and a miner as they are.”

“I can't believe... why didn't they try to kill him?” She asked.

“They did. A couple of times. He enforced your rules and disposed of them.”

“He did WHAT?!?”

“Is everything all right in here?” Noma asked as she opened the door to the residence.

“It's fine.” The old administrator said.

“Okay. If you need me, just yell.” Noma said and closed the door.

“Please get me out of here. I need to see this for myself.”

“I'll ask.” The guard said and used his wrist communicator. “Hunter? Are you busy?”

“I just finished a crate, so no.” A man's strong voice said from the wrist communicator.

“The administrator wants a tour of the facility.”

“So soon?” Hunter asked and then chuckled. “You guys must have been telling her all about this place.”

“Only some of the changes.” The guard responded.

“I'll be right there to pick you up.” Hunter said and clicked off.

“I didn't mean... I wanted to see it for myself.” The administrator said.

The guard smiled. “If Hunter's coming to get you, then you're getting the full tour.”

“Hunter's coming!” Noma said and opened the door to the residence. “I can't wait!” She said and came over to the bed. “You should change if you're going to be seen by the prisoners.”

“I... yes, I should.”

“I'll be outside.” The guard said and left.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Noma helped the administrator change into her normal outfit of grey shirt and pants, then carefully led her over to the door of the residence and opened it. The guard smiled at seeing the administrator in her uniform and gave her a nod of his head.

*

“Ah, you're ready.” I said and came to a stop in front of them.

“How did you get here so fast?” The administrator asked.

“A quick anti-gravity platform.” I said and gave Noma a kiss and a bit of Presence, then waved at the hallway. “Right this way.”

“Where are we going?” The administrator asked.

“We'll start at the mine and work our way back as I show you all of the things that have changed.” I said and led them towards the lift. “I have to admit that even I'm impressed that I've done so much in so short a time.”

“Having access to an underground asteroid smelter is wonderful!” Noma said.

The administrator gasped. “What did you do to my smelter?”

I laughed. “I made it more efficient and put it to better use, of course.”

“You... what... how...”

“You'll see.” I said and we all stepped into the lift and went down to the main floor and walked out of the administration center.

“WHAT IS THAT?” The administrator yelled and Noma, the guard, and I laughed.

“That's the platform I came here on.” I said and helped both women step on. “Buckle up.” I said and sat on the small seat behind the half-console pedestal.

The guard showed the administrator how to buckle the actual straps to hold her against the comfortable bench seat, then the guard and Noma buckled up as well.

“Hold on.” I said and used the controls to take us from there to the junction, then turned to go to the entrance to the mine. We were there in seconds.

“I hope you're feeling better.” The Order member there said.

“Ma'am.” The guard there saluted. “Sir.” He said and saluted me.

“How are we getting this thing down there?” The administrator asked.

“Easily.” I said and turned the dial the last bit and the platform slid right out into the open air.

“AHH... wait, we're not falling!”

We all laughed.

“I'm on the top line here in this section, so now I'll switch to the bottom line.” I said and did so, and the platform sank down to the ground. “Here we go.”

The platform zoomed along at a ridiculous speed for any vehicle and then slowed to a stop in the living area... that now looked like the inside of a modern space station.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?” The administrator yelled and everyone in the living area laughed.

“The housing block for the prisoners.” I said. “Once I started making changes with the living arrangements, well...”

“We can't afford this expenditure!” She exclaimed. “By the Goddess, I can't even imagine the credits spent on this!”

“That's because you didn't know how to use the money you had.” I said and turned off the platform. “Hey, everyone.” I said and a few people waved.

“Hunter!” The woman on the big alien's crew waved at me. “My bitch is complaining that the cleaning bot isn't cleaning our room properly.”

I laughed. “I still can't believe you didn't kill him years ago for trying to rob you that time.”

“I beat the shit out of him and he took it like a man.” She said and shrugged. “I respect him for that.”

“Enough to keep him a lot longer than any of us expected.” I said.

“He's a good bitch.” The woman said with a grin.

I laughed again and looked at the administrator. “I'll be right back.”

I kept an eye on the administrator as she sat between Noma and the guard that liked her, and I could tell that she felt like she was in a completely different place than what she expected. The prisoners were all still wearing jumpsuits, except they were in different clothing styles. They also didn't have any restraints. That really surprised her.

I easily fixed the little droid that had a small rock lodged in its spinning sweeper gear. “I see the problem.” I said, even though it couldn't be seen from the outside. I used Presence to pull it out and the little droid spun its sweeper happily. “There you go, little guy. Have fun.” I said and put it down. It beeped at me and disappeared under the bed.

“Thanks, Hunter.” The woman said.

“It was no trouble at all.” I said and left her room and went back to the platform. “We can stop here for longer on the way back and you can look around.” I turned the platform on and started to move down the main shaft.

“HUNTER!” Val yelled and waved from her window near the top of the main shaft. “You better not waste time tonight.”

I chuckled and slowed the platform down. “Don't worry. I've got the Lover's Passion Fruit ready and waiting for you.”

“Excuse me?” The administrator said before she could stop herself.

“It works on Aviatoma, too.” I said and waved at Val. “I'll see you at seven.”

“I better!” Val said with a laugh.

I turned the dial and the platform picked up speed and we were at the supervisor's spot a few seconds later.

“Ma'am.” The supervisor said and nodded his head at the old administrator. Behind him were racks of laser drills and digging tools that looked to be in pristine condition.

“What in the... how did we get so many?” The administrator asked, shocked.

“I pushed through an order of replacement parts.” I said. “Mostly emitters and regulator circuit boards, a shipment of the main drive screw for the digging tools, and a few odds and ends.”

“But... who... how...”

“Once I had my hands on some actual tools and real replacement parts, fixing them was easy.” I said. “You also can't tell which ones are the repaired ones and which ones are the normal ones.” I looked at the supervisor. “We're heading down to section nineteen.”

“Your pet project still throws up too much dust, even with the extra air filters.” The supervisor said.

“That's why only I'm supposed to use it.” I said with a laugh. “I catch the excess with Presence.”

“I'll figure out how we can use it, too.” He said. “One of these days.”

I nodded and changed the settings on my half-console, then switched to the top line and the platform floated up towards the ceiling. I did that because I didn't want to interfere with the other workers and we travelled the entire distance to the new end of the shaft where my experiment was mounted.

The big alien laughed as I passed by section eighteen that used to be the end of the mine. “You're crazy!” He said. “I thought the things you made for me were ridiculous!”

“They are, you big lummox!” I retorted and he laughed.

“What are you talking about?” The administrator asked, confused.

“Feast your eyes on the new tunnel maker.” I said as I brought the platform to a stop and waved at the huge mechanical thing in front of us.

“What the hell is that?” The administrator asked as she saw the huge monstrosity.

“Years of engineering work and cobbling parts together.” I said and waved at the huge multi-arm laser and drilling machine in front of us. “Once I had access to actual replacement parts, I kind of went a little crazy.” I said and laughed. “Shall I demonstrate?”

“YES!” Noma yelled.

“Hey, now. Don't suck in what I make right away, okay?” I asked.

“Aww, that's not fair.” Noma said, sadly.

“I'll let you absorb what you want after I stop the excess debris.”

“Aaaaaall right.” Noma said and sighed exaggeratedly.

“You know I love you, right?” I asked and she beamed a smile at me.

“I've known that ever since that first day when you let me absorb as much as I wanted and I peed myself all over you. You didn't complain or even get angry at me, so I knew it was true!” Noma said happily.

I laughed. “I'm tempted to overload you now, just to see if you used the bathroom yet.”

“Oh! You bastard!” Noma said in an accusing tone, then she laughed, too. “You know I always try to empty my bladder first!”

“Then hold on to your panties.” I said and looked at the wall of machines. “One shift of filled crates coming right up.”

The administrator watched as I used the drilling machines on every second mechanical arm to clear away about six feet of rock and dirt to reveal a good vein of unrefined focusing crystals. I used Presence to catch all of the spit out dirt and debris and settled it to the ground. One I did, I used the other mechanical arms to find and then drill out the unrefined crystals and used Presence to catch the excess from them as well.

Both the administrator and the guard were surprised when one simple action revealed and yielded three crates worth of crystals in only five minutes. They both successfully ignored Noma's moans as she absorbed the Presence I had used.

“By the Goddess' grace.” The administrator said. “That's amazing!”

I took out three crates and filled them with the crystals and then packed them away. “So, now you know how we are staying on schedule.” I said and turned to the administrator. “I can create three crates of crystals every five minutes to supplement the normal shipment.”

“You... I can't believe...”

“It's all right if you can't accept it right away.” I said. “I mean, you only just learned about the changes I've made.” I chuckled. “Let's go backwards through everything and I'll show you the extent of what I've done while you were incapacitated.”

The administrator looked at me for a moment, then nodded.

“Hold on.” I said and the platform turned around to face the other way, then I turned the dial quickly to give them the real ride that the anti-gravity platform provided.

Both the guard and the administrator were surprised by this, since they hadn't experienced the full capacity before. Noma loved it, because I used Presence to brace them and she sucked it in.

“I should tell you to stop that.” I said to Noma.

“You love me too much to tell me no.” Noma said and laughed.

“Guilty.” I said and we both laughed together.