Life On Netori Island - Chapter 6

Al walked around the repaired combo-farmer, nodded, and said, “I think I got the bot we pulled from the trench back up and running Patrick.”

Patrick put his hair up in a man bun and walked over to him.  “Not bad Al.  Why don’t you send it over to Gus to help for the rest of the day.  Take a trailblazer sword with you though,  I need you to go to these coordinates on the ridge to get a drone that ran out of juice mid flight.  If we can’t repair it, I can use a bunch of its parts to repair some of the busted ones I have here.”

“Is it on the south side?  Am I allowed to fetch it?”

“Yeah, it’s 200 meters south of the ridge.  You should be fine.”

…

After dropping off the farm bot to Gus, Al spent the next two hours trekking up a narrow path up to the location marked on a tablet Patrick had loaned him.  When the path started taking him away from the location, he switched on the trailblazer and started hacking down the underbrush like it was cotton candy that was sprayed with water.

When he got to the drone he saw  that it was a total loss except for the transponder.  

“Patrick, are you getting a good look at this?” he asked, speaking into the tablet while recording video.

“Yeah, that sucks.  Try to pick up anything you think we can use back down at the garage.  I’m going to write it off as a total loss.  This is why those chargers are so important. See ya later.”

Al looked around and saw that the ridge was much closer than two hundred meters.  Looking down at the south settlement he said, “I don’t think I’ll ever be this close to getting a peek at the north side.”

He turned on the spinning flame of the trailblazer and swung the tool in lazy arcs and stepped up the mountain.  He got to the ridge and tried to look down but trees were in his way.  He saw that the ridge had a trail along its spine. When he set a foot down on the path, he started to hear sirens.”

“Halt!”  A female voice rang out through the forest.

Al raised his hands and froze.

“Al, we know where everyone is all the time.  You should know better than this.”  A girl's voice emanated from a swarm of drones that emerged from the sky.  Each trained lasers on his chest, aiming with their tranquilizer darts.

“Sorry Amy.  I have no excuse.”  He kicked a stone down the mountain.

“You’re lucky you’re cute, and the fact you can’t see anything from where you are.  If you had, you’d be unconscious and rolling down the mountain, and on the next chopper home.  Run along home boy.”

He spun around and looked for the path he just made.  “Cute?  Amy, you’re an AI.  I’m flattered but I don’t think it will work.  I had a long term relationship once and I just couldn’t have my needs fulfilled with phone sex.”

“What?!  I didn’t say anything.”

“Yes you did.  You said I was cute.”

“Shut up or I’ll tranq you.”

“For what it’s worth, I think you’re cute too for a disembodied voice."

“Shut up.”

“Fine, I just hope you find a male identifying AI and live happily ever after.”

Al felt the air past his ear whine, and a dart buried itself in the bark of a tree in front of him.

“Going…I’m going.”

…

Jo lounged in a recliner looking through gardening books, trying to get ideas for the North’s pool garden.  Today was one of her days off and she took full advantage of it.  She tidied up the cabin while in the nude, washed her clothes, and then started her sunbathing ritual.

She heard a knock at the door of the cabin so she put on her bikini and  walked through the kitchen and main room to answer  the front door.

When she opened the door she saw a young man with curly strawberry blond hair and a pencil thin mustache.  He was topless and had no chest hair over his chiseled torso.  He wore his shorts low, so she could plainly see the muscles that lead down to his crotch.

The man looked her up and down before smiling and said, “I’m Bret, the handyman.  Dispatch sent me over to this unit to look it over and see what needs repairing.”

“I’m so glad you came!  Please have a look around everywhere.  I don’t know a thing about home care, we lived in an apartment back home.  Come on in.”  

“So far things are looking real good.”  He chuckled. “But I’ll start in the basement. This will take around an hour to complete the inspection.”

…

She was dozing off in her beach recliner when she saw a man stand over her, uncomfortably close.  She opened her eyes wide and saw Bret feasting his eyes on her bikini body.  

Jo crossed her legs, covered her chest with a book, and said, “Can I help you?”

“You have a very nice body Ms. Mardresson.”

“Um, thank you?”

“I’ve had my share of beautiful women on this island, but you, you take the cake.”  He pointed to the chair. “May I sit?”

“Actually, no I’ll stand, thank you.”

“I just wanted to talk about what your cabin needs work on.  It needs a fresh coat of paint.  The roof needs reshingling.  The boiler and heat pump need an overhaul.  Looks like I’m going to be hard at work on your unit for a good long time.” He nodded. “And if you’re up for it, I can help you with your rankings.  Doc says I’m very fertile.  I have four confirmed pregnancies under my belt in the past two years working here.”

“You must be very proud.”  She looked down to see he sported a large erection through his paint stained shorts. “Bret, I think you need to take a cold shower. I’m sorry but I have the trots Bret, can I talk to you later?”  She turned around and covered her butt and ran for the back door.”

“I can see you're wet Jo.  Don’t say you’re not attracted to me.”

“Bye,” she said.  She slammed the door behind her.  She ran to the bathroom and shut the blinds.  She waited to hear Bret’s truck drive down the driveway.  Sitting on the toilet she jammed two fingers into her gash and fucked herself roughly. “Putting up a front is getting harder and harder.  What’s happening to me?”

…

A lumbering farming robot rolled into the cybernetics maintenance facility and squatted in the painted yellow square that was its home.  Its swivel camera pod turned to see Al working on its sister before it shut off.

“Patrick,” Al cried out, “I found a spare control board for the second unit out back.  It’s the first revision, but it will do fine until we get the real thing in the new year.”

“The fuck?”  Patrick replied. “I never go back there. I’m too busy.”

Al shut the control panel and started the initiation sequence.  The farm bot behaved slightly differently, with different self tests and start up jingles.  Thirty seconds later, the status panel read, “no faults detected.”

“Fucking yes!” Al yelled.  He pumped his fist in the air. “We’re back in action, fellow farm workers!  No more goddamn back breaking work.”

“I’m thrilled as well,” Patrick grumbled.  “I’m going to have to figure out how to keep those hayseeds away from my potential dates.

“Why don’t you fucking wash your hair, Patty?”  A woman's voice called out. “That would help increase your chances.  You may even help your wife with your rankings.”

Patrick started and asked, “Who said that?”

“Only your department boss,” said a stunningly svelte woman as she walked around the farming robot.

“Oh shit Liilian, I’m sorry.  Al, this is Lillian Montrose.  She’s the department head for all maintenance for the south side of the island.  Lillian, this is Al.  He’s been working on all the stalled projects while we wait for those inverter circuits to come in for the drone stations.  He’ll be working with me on them the moment they land on the helipad.”

Lillian was a woman of average height.  Her pale face was framed with curly light brown hair, held back with side clips.  Lillian’s round green eyes stared through tortoise shell glasses.  She walked up to Al, swinging her larger thighs from side to side and offered her hand.

Al smiled and said, “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Lillian said.  “Once word gets around that you’ve helped the men go home an hour earlier each day, you’ll be popular with them as well as the women.”

“I’m popular with the women?  Could have fooled me.”

Lillian smirked and said, “Oh, and he’s humble too.”  She tugged him away from Patrick to the garage’s break room.

She turned to him after he closed the door. “I don’t want to make Patrick jealous,” she continued. “Thank you so much for your work on the farm equipment.  If I knew it would only take this long, I would have had Patrick work on it weeks ago.”

“I’m only doing my job,”  Al said, smiling as he scratched his neck. “I love it when I’m helping people live easier lives.”

She pinched his cheek and said, “I could just eat you up!  Here’s my number, I’m one of the few employees to have a cell phone on the island, so you can reach me any time, for any reason.”  She winked and traced a finger along his jaw. “I mean that.”

She turned, walked out of the facility, and said, “good night boys.  See you later!”