System Overclocked 3 -Ch 5-

Wrench looked around at the interior of Squeak’s medical facility.

It was exactly as he remembered it and the Mender looked to be quite pleased at the moment. She was humming to herself and fussing with a series of tools laid out on a trolley.

Walking up to her he looked down at them as the Deme’s ear rotated partially to one side in his direction. She didn’t respond otherwise to his presence.

“Have you come to breed me?” she asked as she inserted some type of disc like object into a device. She pulled a panel shut over the insertion area then flipped it over, looking to a display.

Snorting, Wrench really wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He wasn’t quite interested in having kids at the moment, nor was he interested in doing such a thing if it was something driving Squeak other than her own desires.

“The fact that you have to medicate yourself so that you can think straight really… it… I’m not interested,” Wrench stated plainly. “If it’s your hormones, genetics, and instincts causing you to be this way, then I’m just not interested.

“Sorry.

“It’s not you, I think you’re quite attractive and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to just agree and ‘breed’ you as you said. Repeatedly.

“I’m just-the reason leaves me cold inside. It smacks of what the Tongsta did to our species as a whole and… just all of that.”

Squeak had paused with a finger pressed to the screen of the device. She’d been in the process of fiddling with the settings when he started talking.

“That’s fair,” she murmured and then shook her head. “I honestly can’t answer that to be honest. I’m not sure where my instincts start and where they end.

“I’ve already dosed myself for the month, which means my desires at the moment are purely my own. Or so I believed. There’s no denying that my genetic makeup has been heavily modified away from where I should be as a Hume.

“It’s why I’m a Deme after all.

“The only answer I can give is that before I met you, I didn’t have to dose myself every month. There were a few men who piqued my interest but I never pursued it. They didn’t interest me to the point of wanting to take it anywhere.

“With you it was fairly early on that I discovered this insatiable need to breed with you, but not immediate. To be sure it was after reading your medical history, learning more about you, and talking to a number of people about you.”

Squeak started moving again, her finger lightly tapping at the screen several times. She did it so quickly Wrench didn’t even have a chance to see what was going on.

Turning the device off she set it down then picked up the next.

“Is… that your way of saying you’ll look into your own head to see what’s going on?” Wrench asked. He reached out and picked up the device she had just put down.

Flipping it over he looked to latch plate and how the whole thing was held together.

He hadn’t seen a device like this before and was curious.

More than curious, really.

There was a desperate need to peel it apart and inspect it from the inside out. To figure out how it worked and understand it.

“Much in the way you want to dig into that, I now want to dig into my own head,” teased Squeak with a hissing laugh. “Menders and Fixers. Same thing, different lane.

“I’ll figure out what’s going on and get back to you. If I’m free and clear and this choice is mine… I will tell you again to breed me and I expect a more concise answer.”

“I mean, I’ll just tell you now that if you’re looking for fun in the bedroom on your own desires… well, I’d be quite willing to take a run at you, Squeak,” answered Wrench, setting the device down. With his right hand he put it on her shoulder. “I’ll breed you until you’re satisfied. Alright?”

“Wonderful,” breathed Squeak as she fussed with the device in her hands. “I’m very glad to hear that. I’ll get back to you on what’s going on with me as quickly as I can.”

Wrench clenched his hand, making sure Squeak wouldn’t be able to squirrel away from him.

“With that settled, tell me something. How crazy is Stripe?” demanded Wrench.

He felt Squeak flinch and nearly pull away from him.

To the point that he nearly put his other hand on her before she settled down.

“I found a little hidey-hole,” Wrench continued. “There’s a number of journals in there where she writes down her thoughts. Based on those alone I’d more than likely report her to my local Mender for an analysis and… well… have her ejected from the Hab.

“She seems like she has all the hallmarks for Demecopathy, or that’s what I’d guess at given that she’s a Deme.”

Squeak’s whole body was made out of one rigid stone at the moment. To the point that he was fairly certain if she moved at all part of her would break off.

“It’s-its not-not Demecopathy. That’s something that would’ve been brought on through time and her Hab. This is something else,” offered Squeak in a squeak. “It’s her implant. It wasn’t put in right originally, I think. There’s a lot of scar tissue around the area.

“As if it was put in wrong, then adjusted, without anyone bothering to fix the damage it caused originally. There’s nothing to mend, nothing to fix.

“This is just who she is now. Who she has been since she was a child. I don’t think she’s ever been anyone else given implants are put in nearly at birth.”

“Is that why she is terrified of you? That you’re aware of what’s wrong with her?” Wrench asked, still holding tight to the Mender. He got the impression she really would scurry off if he let go. “It also felt like she considered killing you.”

“Yes, I found out by going through all her medical records. Especially the ones from the shelter,” Squeak answered, her hands pressed to her stomach now. “The implant modifications they did there showed all the scarring around it for her. After that I just… tracked it back.”

“Mm. You likely also went through all the Hab records. What’s our dear Stripe’s kill count?” inquired Wrench. It being her implant wasn’t what he thought it would be, but it also wasn’t outside of something he had considered either. This was in line with his expectations.

“Thirty? Around there,” Squeak answered, her shoulders had slowly hunched in on themselves. “I think? It’s hard to tell. I can verify at least twenty but there’s ten that look like she could’ve done it.

“She’s not strong enough to do it with just her bare hands or anything. It’s deaths that aren’t obvious is how she’s done it. The bodies were usually hidden as well so there’s always the possibility not all were found.”

Right.

The questions becomes then, do I confront her or let it lie.

“Do you think she’ll kill you for knowing? After reading her journal, as long as I’m pushing for her to be as she is right now, I don’t think you’re ever in danger,” mused Wrench.

“I think I’m safe as long as that holds true, yes. Though I can’t guarantee that. She might assume that when you find out is when she’d lose her place. Which means you being around me, being in my presence, is likely going to increase her stress,” countered Squeak.

“In other words, I should probably confront her,” summarized Wrench with a sigh.

“Are you going-going to kick her out of the Hab?” Squeak asked in a soft voice.

“No. I genuinely love her,” Wrench answered with a laugh. “Crazy or not. I’ll just have to curb her. Curb her sharply. Then act like I didn’t know at all afterward. That way she can continue on as she was while also knowing I’m on board.”

“That would-maybe it-ah… yes. I think that’d work? I think,” confirmed Squeak. “She’s aware of what’s wrong with her she just also doesn’t have the capacity to go against it.

“If she feels threatened, concerned, or even just bothered, her likely response is to just eliminate the problem.”

“Well, I’m certainly going to corner her, but then I’ll just bait her with enough carrots that the idea of not listening to me would be the stick itself,” snorted Wrench. “Though I’m curious why she settled on me as her focus and target. She could’ve easily picked someone else.”

“It could be just how you treated her,” suggested Squeak. “Something you gave her that no one else did, maybe? I have no idea. It could even be something that lined up in her head due to the scarring.

“For all I know, you have a scent to you that short circuits her already bad mental circuitry.”

“Like a jumper?” Wrench asked, his brows coming down in thought. “Huh. I suppose that could be it. I act like a jumper. The traces are bad in the board and I managed to make the connection.”

“An apt analogy. Be sure to apologize to her for me when you corner her. It’s my nature to be afraid,” Squeak agreed. “Have I mentioned I’m extremely curious to see what kind of Mender children we could produce? Or Fixers?

“I’m incredibly overdeveloped mentally, you know. To the point that I can rival your own mind. Even at your best I could compete to a degree. Our children… our children would have the possibility of becoming incredible Hume.

“Oh, and none of my Deme genetics would transfer. It’s one of the reasons I’m actually breedable. None of it was grafted to any of my reproductive systems.”

“Mm, in other words, if I take Seventh and give her Eighth, breed with you at the same time, and wait for a year or so, I’d have a kids who max out nearly both sides of the spectrum?”

“Very likely, Wrench,” Squeak agreed. “I’ve been running a great number of hypothetical scenarios through the medical equipment Goodie gave me, which are so beyond anything I’ve ever seen by the way. Most of them turn out with children who are the pinnacle of genetics.

“Even with partners that wouldn’t be considered the maximum. Like… School Hume.”

“Stripe can never have children, right?” asked Wrench.

“Never. She is a Deme and-and barren,” Squeak confirmed sadly.

“Just another carrot to hit her with then,” muttered Wrench to himself.

He gave Squeak a squeeze, then turned her around and hugged her.

“Thank you for trusting me, Squeak, I’ll make sure this turns out correctly,” he promised her.

Squeak only nodded her head.

Even as both of her hands had dropped down between them and immediately went to fondling his privates. Groping at him as if she would never get the opportunity again.

“Thank you for saving me,” she said as her fingers began to rapidly stroke at him. “Save me and breed me. Breed me significantly. I can handle it.”

Wrench smiled grimly.

He had work to do and he couldn’t deny Squeak’s hands felt rather good.

***

He found Stripe in the Ducts.

She was quietly flipping through the camera system, as if she were only casually watching what was going on.

Now that he was paying attention more closely, Wrench could easily see that the most recent feeds were all lined up as if she were watching his search for her and the approach to the Ducts.

I wonder how much of this has all been hidden like this.

I’ll have to make sure I don’t pay attention after this if I want to keep to the promise I intend on giving her but… it shouldn’t be too bad.

Stripe turned away from the monitors and looke dto him, as if she were only just now aware that he was here.

He’d already noticed that the closest ear had been partially turned toward him the moment he entered, however. She was aware of him from the beginning and was playing it up a bit.

Not that he minded.

If anything he was flattered at the attention.

Entering the room fully, he closed the door behind himself, locked it, then leaned up against it.

Stripe wouldn’t be leaving and he was going to make this work, or he’d have to talk to Goodie about sending Stripe away.

Which was most certainly not what he wanted.

“You know,” Stripe said, her smile falling away and staring at him in a way that left him pained.

Her face was devoid of life, her eyes flat, and the very skin of her face seemed slack.

“I do,” Wrench admitted, then smiled at her. “I had no idea you cared that much though Stripe. I’m flattered at your dedication and devotion to me.

“I found your den, by the way. That’s how I know. I heard you going into the sub last night. Followed behind. I liked it as well.

“Was like a tiny nook all to yourself. I wouldn’t mind hiding away with you down there on occasion. If you’re willing to let me in.”

Stripe’s blank face didn’t shift at all.

It was as if she were a statue carved of stone.

“If it isn’t clear by that statement, I don’t mind. In fact you could say I don’t even care,” Wrench tried, taking up a different track. “I still love you. I still want to spend time with you.

“Kiss you.

“Make love to you. Repeatedly.

“Get someone else pregnant and then make you mother the child, if only to see you be a parent to a child of mine. I was leaning toward Squeak for that. A child from her would be best handled by someone with your ability, Stripe.”

That got a different reaction from Stripe. Her head twitched fractionally to the side, her ears were bent fully toward him, and her lower lip pushed into the upper a smidge.

“You don’t want to be a mom?” he asked, wondering if that was a partial hang up.

Stripe’s eyes narrowed and she looked like she wanted to argue with that statement.

Realizing he needed to wait, Wrench just stood there, smiling at her.

After a time, Stripe let her gaze fall away from him.

She slowly spun to the side and put herself facing the cameras again. As if the conversation didn’t happen at all.

Her hand came up and she slowly worked through each and every camera. Cycling through them one by one.

Surprisingly, she focused on the cameras that had Grae on them for more than several breaths each. As if she wanted to know what they were doing.

Once she’d done a full circuit she turned back to him. The blank face still present.

“Stripe?” Wrench asked, suddenly nervous if this had been the wrong approach. “I really just wanted to tell you I don’t care. That I’m flattered if anything. That I don’t want anything to change and I just… just didn’t want you to worry about this. To hurt anyone or do anything silly thinking that I’d leave or try to get rid of you.”

Stripe finally blinked, having not done so for a while.

She then took in a short breath, held it, and let it go.

“I understand,” she said with a small nod of her head. “You found my den. You read the diaries. You confirmed it with Squeak. You thought on it. You came here. You locked me in. You told me.

“You didn’t ask anyone to help you with this, nor did you ask Squeak to do anything.”

“Yes? Yes. That’s all accurate,” Wrench affirmed. He was really hoping he’d get his Stripe back after this. Part of him was sick at the idea that he could lose who she was, but he knew it couldn’t have remained the way it was.

She was a danger to others if he didn’t make sure to take care of the issue.

“You really don’t care at all,” Stripe said, her face finally taking on an emotion he could identify.

Confusion.

“I don’t. So long as who you’ve been so far with me, which from your diaries I gather really is your natural personality, then yeah. I don’t want anything to change,” agreed Wrench. Then he laughed and shook his head. “Well, that’s not true. I really do want to keep getting closer to you. At some point down the line, I want to talk to you about all the things in your head.

“I’d rather you talk to me about your diaries rather than writing them down.

“As I said, I found them flattering. Very much so.”

“You want to hear about my thoughts,” Stripe repeated, her face shifting from confusion to absolute disbelief.

“I mean, yeah. Is that a problem?” asked Wrench. “Stripe, if this is too much and you want out I’d understand. We can just call it quits and I’ll ask Goodie to move you to another Hab.

“I can’t blame you. I’m sure this isn’t what you were expecting to have put on you today. Here I am though, wanting more, and desperately trying to get you to understand.”

Shaking her head, Stripe looked to the ground, put a hand to her head, and went still.

“Isn’t-isn’t that something I’m supposed to say?” she whispered. “Am I dreaming? This is backwards. It’s backwards. I’m dreaming. This is wrong. I’m wrong.

“It’s all wrong.

“I’m dreaming. I’m dreaming. I’m dreaming. I’m—”

“Not dreaming and the best Stripe I could have ever asked for,” Wrench put in, squatting down in front of her. “Do you need time? To process this or… something else? I don’t want to push at you when you’re in distress.

“I hate cornering you like this but I needed there to not be any room for confusion. That you understood beyond a shadow of a doubt that I just don’t care that you’re different, have killed people, or that you have a certain set of feelings centered around me.”

Stripe’s eyes flicked away from the ground and settled on his face.

They were as intense as anything he had ever seen in his life.

“Not a dream,” she stated.

“No.”

“You want me for me.”

“Yes.”

“To have sex and sleep next to me, knowing what I’ve done.”

“Ahuh.”

“Want me to mother a child. Be a parent with you.”

“Yup.”

“Are you crazy, too?” she asked, her brows furrowing slightly. “You wouldn’t want me unless you were crazy.”

“Or… I love you. Genuinely,” Wrench reached up and laid his hand to her cheek. “By the way, Squeak isn’t bothered by any of this either. She was just afraid you would hurt her. It’s part of her nature. She wanted me to say sorry for her when I talked to you.

“Thank you for not hurting anyone as well. It would have indeed hurt me. Your written thoughts were correct. I wouldn’t have been happy at all about it.”

“Love me,” she whispered, staring at him.

Then she blinked and it was obvious her brain pivoted into a new direction entirely.

“I understand. I need time. Not much. Five minutes to fifteen minutes I think. Thirty at the maximum. Will you trust in me and wait in my… our pen?” she asked, staring at him.

“As long as you promise you won’t hurt anyone or yourself, yes. I’ll trust in your promise, trust in you, and go wait in the pen for you,” he said, still caressing her cheek.

“I’ll hurt no one unless you tell me to,” Stripe said in a strange deathly whisper. There felt like there was a lot unsaid but he wasn’t going to push right after she asked for time.

“Hurt no one. Don’t hurt yourself. Take your time. When you’re ready, come to me,” Wrench ordered. Then leaned in and kissed her.

Only to have her free hand come up, grasp him by the back of the head, and kiss him in a way she had never done so before.

A wild and frenetic thing that felt almost too energetic.

He could feel her whole body trembling as she kissed him.

Suddenly to jerk her face away and going absolutely still.

The hand on the back of his head was gently curling through his hair though.

“Thank you, Wrench. I’ll do as you’ve asked. Leave me for a time?” she pleaded, not meeting his eyes. Her entire face turned away.

Nodding his head, Wrench carefully pulled away from her hand, then got up.

He left her there, just as she asked.

Though he couldn’t deny he felt better for the fact that she’d kissed him the way she had. It’d made him feel like maybe it wasn’t ruined, that everything could be okay.

It was just deeply strained at the moment.