The setting sun warmed the smog clouds and the telltale smoke column of Belvidere's personal vehicle as it idled outside the warehouse. Inside the bossman and his entourage once again squared off against the Fableton leadership, only this time without the facade of polite business dealings. Belvidere crossed his arms and said, "Well Sophia, I hope whatever is so important to call me here is worth using up a favor. Now what is it?"

Ms. Uxral had smoothed out since her talk with the kids, but she didn't bother to hide her annoyance. "I'm actually doing you the favor here, Frack: Your ship's leaking. When's the last time you saw Zero?" Belvidere sputtered, caught off guard and off balance, and before he could recover Ms. Uxral continued, "Your shiny cyborg went rogue and he's been setting up a mutiny. Secret base right under your nose and everything. Or have you not noticed the dozens of employees that clock in but never show up?"

Belvidere's eyes darted around in thought, judging the reactions of everyone on both sides of the room. "Hand strangle that bulk... then why demand I come here instead of warning me over the socials? I should be preparing now! Did he offer you something to distract me??"

"Because we already took care of him for you!" The snap to Ms. Uxral's voice cut Belvidere off before his paranoia could fully take hold. "My people sent him, and the goons he pulled from under you, scattered into the dunes. They might try again later, but for now they're weak and disorganized. You're welcome, old friend."

"And why should I believe you?"

"Because we actually fought them," Phanya said as she stepped up next to her teacher. She hadn't been hiding, exactly, but standing up to her full height commanded attention when she wanted to. "They were hiding in a ma — in an abandoned mining site. They had cars, guns, relics, but we fucked him up real good." Ms. Uxral shot her a sideways glance and Phanya quietly muttered an apology without dropping her stance. "Isn't that right?"

The last statement, or accusation, fired over her shoulder at the other Fableton residents, and Steffo shuffled up to the front of the crowd. He squirmed under all the eyes, especially Belvidere's. "You're his brother, right? Steffie something?"

Oddly, that made him stand a little straighter. "Steffo, sir. And yes, Zero was going to betray you, but now he's either dead or too wounded to be a threat for now. Um... sorry?"

"Hmph, whole family's a waste." Belvidere pretended that no one heard his false muttering as he continued, "Well thank you for the terrible news, Sophia. If you'll excuse me, I have some major restructuring to do. Good day."

"Hold it, Frack," Ms. Uxral said, pointing an accusatory finger. Belvidere's too-wide mouth pressed into a line that gave the distinct impression that he was liable to croak at any second, but his hoverchair turned back around to face her. Instead Ms. Uxral swung her outstretched arm in a wide arc until she pointed at the youngest person in the room and nearly shouted, "Why the fuck do you have my child caged in a hauler suit!?"

Ricky stomped up to join the others and crossed his arms, his near-death experience having burned away any sense of fear or reverence towards Fableton's second-largest employer. He meant to look intimidating, but Belvidere only scoffed. "Him? I heard about you, kid. Fell asleep during onboarding procedures, distracted my employees, and camped in the streets like a bum! One of the saddest displays I've ever hired."

Ms. Uxral growled at the attempted feint. "You know what I mean, he can't take the damn suit off."

"And if he was even halfway competent then he would've gone to his supervisor for assistance. Really Sophia, if anything this just shows how deeply I trust you because I didn't have your boy here hunted down for stealing my valuable equipment. You're welcome, old friend."

Ricky waved his arms before the leadership started trading barbs and said, "Look it's fine alright, I'm sorry I was a bad employee for one whole day! I quit, I resign, no need to pay me, please just take the suit back already."

Belvidere's face split in an unsettling shark-like grin, gone in a flash and replaced with fake sympathy. "How unfortunate young man, you could've become a respected mechanic, if only you had a work ethic to match with those brains of yours. But if you insist, I shall accept your resignation... after you've settled your contracted debts, of course."

Most of the Fableton side managed to keep their groans and grumblings internal, but Ricky's face twisted inwards as if a bishop had directly accused him of blasphemy. "More debt? I was just trying to help..."

Belvidere's predatory smirk faltered, dampened if not deterred by Ricky's anguish. "It's nothing personal, young man, just business. But you did sign a contract and I will get what I am owed. If nothing else, let this be a lesson for you to not so easily sign your name in the future." Belvidere held out a hand and one of his subordinates passed him a tablet, and he made a show of clearing his throat before he started listing off fees.

"Including, let's see here, 5 Cyracoin for the onboarding procedures, 2.75 per day for the hauler rental rounded up, charging fees, loss of productivity penalties from the other employees you harassed, et cetera et cetera. I don't think we need to air all of young Ricky's dirty laundry in public, so to speak, but it's all right here."

At Ms. Uxral's demand, the same subordinate took the tablet back and handed it off to her before scurrying back to his boss' side. Everyone on the Fableton side crowded around to read over Ms. Uxral's shoulders as she scrolled, and scrolled, and scrolled, speeding through without reading just so they could reach the end. "2,497 Cyracoin!?"

The crowd reeled back in a wave, no one bothering to hide their various exclamations of surprise and disgust. Ricky started hyperventilating and more than one voice turned to threats — that was over an entire year's pay, before fees! Belvidere tried to pull another line about this just being business, but realized that the opposing energy was swelling past his control. He overshot his initial demand and underestimated how protective Fableton was of its kids, and the mining magnate heard mutterings of open confrontation.

Belvidere's guards started to nervously finger their holstered weapons, but Phanya acted first. She held up a hand and announced with a voice that commanded silence, "Excuse me Ms. Uxral, could I please see that contract?" She mouthed a 'Trust me' at the end that Belvidere couldn't see, so with a curious look the teacher handed the tablet over.

Ms. Uxral taught two semesters of contract navigation in her classroom, and over the years learned how to read a student as they read a contract. And Phanya scored better in that class than most, so the teacher recognized just how quickly the student was zipping through one now — almost too quickly. Now Phanya was reading like a professional lawyer, and it was thanks to the strange green wirefame that only she could see.

Her inner eye outlined messages with the same style when Phanya identified her special equipment, but it fed her information indirectly just like her outside gut. It pointed out references, signatures, inconsistencies, and helped her map out a line through the jungle of jargon until she started to find treasure.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Phanya would never admit it, but she always felt a rush of pride whenever she broke up a fight or dissuaded a bully. Doing the right thing was the right thing, of course, but showing everyone that she knew the rules and would not be bullied by them just felt good. "Mhm, mhm, right," Phanya made a show of nodding to herself, and when she had the whole crowd following her she announced, "I would like to contest this contract! Who can witness?"

Every hand on the Fableton side shot up and answered with a chorus of "Witness!" and the tablet chimed in recognition. Contesting the contract was always the plan, of course, but combing through the contract was going to take time and that meant more debt and penalties. That Phanya would so confidently call the process into motion surprised all her elders, and they were all swept up in the energy.

Ricky also did not know what Phanya was planning, but he had endless trust in her so he stepped up and grumbled through his full formal name. "Merrick McCormick VI present for affected side."

Belvidere floated up with an incredulous look on his face. "Really, kid? You've only got one chance, if your little school never taught you." But he shrugged and held up his own hand, saying, "Fracklin Belvidere present for the contested side."

Leader figures on both sides rattled off secret codes of identification and completed the ritual, the tablet now operating on encrypted levels of authority that few alive could ever comprehend. No one present knew how the process worked, but everyone knew that any changes made to the contract here and now were permanent and immutable. Phanya tried to assume her best teacher pose and said, "Yes really, sir. For the first item, at the end of the onboarding procedures there's no signature from the instructor, so we have no proof whether or not Ricky finished at all..."

And so the game went, Phanya would point out an error or bylaw in the contract and Mr. Belvidere had one chance to refute or accept the challenge, lowering the total debt owed as a result. Unbeknownst to everyone else, every time Belvidere accepted a challenge Phanya also received a blinking alert in her vision:

[You have discovered and upheld a new law for the first time! +lXP]

The first notification caught Phanya off guard and almost cost her rhythm, especially with everyone watching her. But once Phanya realized the implications, each message became an added layer of defense in shoring up her confidence. She watched the very same confidence flicker in Belvidere's eyes as the easy money drained away, but the initial sum was still too large for her to really handle.

By the time she ran out of ideas the debt was just under half its initial amount, impressive but nowhere near good enough, and right as she started to falter Phanya felt a calm hand on her shoulder and a reassuring presence by her side. Ms. Uxral had noticed something in the contract, but instead of announcing her own challenge she gently tugged Phanya down to whisper a suggestion. After all, the student had come this far on her own, everyone wanted to see Phanya drive it home.

"One more thing, Mr. Belvidere!" Phanya said, just a tad more joyously than was appropriate. "In the section for impacted profits we will, of course, require notarized statements from each impacted employee describing exactly when and how Ricky hampered their performance, with corroboration from their timesheets. And the equipment those employees checked out but couldn't use. Itemized, of course."

Phanya's grin turned downright sadistic as Belvidere flustered. It probably didn't look great for Phanya to be sneering at a man who, standing up without his hoverchair, wouldn't reach half her height, but no one gets to mess with Ricky except her. Ha, and he's even turning red!

"Do – do you have any idea how long that would take, young woman!? How much time that'll take away from my men? You'll need to be present for every moment of it! In fact I'll insist that only you get to audit, no substitutions!"

"Fine by me. I'm just an 'unemployed leech,' remember? I got time, Mr. Belvidere."

The bossman's mouth worked through several different words before he seethed, "Ffffine. Fine! I accept and cross out the whole blasted section!" The tablet chimed, but unlike every other time Phanya did not receive a pop-up for discovering the law. Strange, but Belvidere's face was reward enough on its own. "In fact, I'll even lower the total debt down to 500 Cyracoin if we can just end this farce now."

Ms. Uxral's acceptance was met with the sounds of joy, relief, and one cranky reptilian threatening to cut the frog down even shorter. The teacher mouthed "Good job" to Phanya as she retrieved the tablet to sign off. In truth Ms. Uxral was going to offer a smaller sum once the contract closed itself, all part of the informal haggling, if Tapper hadn't chose right that moment to appear from behind his counter.

In his defense, Tapper had promised to hide until the contract negotiations were over, and now they technically were. Logically his duty was fulfilled, and emotionally he really wanted to help. "I can process that payment for you now, sir!" Tapper announced in his best salesman voice, waving to get everyone's attention. Judging by the negative reactions of almost everyone he realized this was not, in fact, the opportune time to reveal himself, but there was no going back now.

Belvidere pointed an accusing, yet shaky, finger at Tapper. "Y-you! You're still here? Then my bot —"

"Was unfortunately destroyed, yes! If only Mister Drillbert had possessed the capacity to negotiate his own contract, then I would not have had to dismantle him in self-defense!" Without waiting for a response Tapper reached not for the lockbox, but into the out-of-place leather pouch attached to his waist. A few discerning people heard the tinkling of coins and saw a glint of silver catching the light, but Tapper pulled out a regular credit chit in all its dull glory.

No one spoke, both sides dumbfounded for different reasons, so Tapper used the time to calculate a throw the properly robotic way. He would swear to everyone that he intended for a gentle arc into Belvidere's lap, yet an unintentional twist and flick of the wrist sharpened the vector and plinked the coin right between his eyes. Whoops.

Whatever Belvidere wanted to say for the assault died in his throat when he tapped the chit and received the full payment. After a second of choking on his words he managed, "Why in Fairgood's name is that robot carrying so much money out in the open, Sophia? Are you people mad!?"

Ms. Uxral looked just as surprised, her wide eyes narrowing into suspicion when Phanya snorted back a laugh. Tapper announced, "I earned wages working a bartending job! And also from looting your mutinied employees before they could attack your place of business, Mister Belvidere! A home made light is a home of delight!"

Tapper held out his hand, and Belvidere personally floated over to hand the credit chit back without another word. "As always, if you were pleased with your service here today then please do not forget to leave a favorable review for Fableton on your preferred social media app!" The boss was in a daze, looking with unfocused eyes over the crowd before he turned and left with what remained of his dignity.

Most of the adults were thoroughly off their guard after the entire ordeal. One voice asked, "Why does the robot have so much money?"

"A majority of my funds did come from, to quote Miss Phanya, 'beating up goons.'"

Ms. Uxral looked from Phanya to Tapper and back again, trying to work out exactly what to say. Eventually, she just sighed and said, "Tapper, pour me a drink please. A strong one."

With that closure the crowd disbarred, leaving Ricky to choke down his emotions. Not one person chided him for his failed attempt to pay off the debts, the whole town banded together to help get Ricky out of the hauler suit — the suit!

"Wait hold up!" Ricky stomped after the departing miners, grabbing the closest one by the jacket. "I'm still locked in this thing, you gotta let me out!"

The miner in his grasp looked over to a coworker who said, "We, uh didn't bring anyone with authorization for that. No one actually thought you'd manage to break your 'tract, you'll have to come to the office on your own." He shrugged with a lame apology and Ricky let them go. He didn't want to risk messing anything else up today.

"Is everything alright, Mister Ricky?" Tapper said from out of nowhere, making the proprietor jump in his cage.

Ricky looked Tapper over again, appreciating him in a new light. He looked so much more confident now, so much more aware. A good semester of history and technology classes included the dangers of AI breaking from its safety parameters and going rogue, but despite Ms. Uxral's warnings Ricky just could not believe them now. This Tapper was, without any doubt, an improvement. So instead Ricky brushed the air away and said, "Oh, it's nothing that can't wait until tomorrow."