Body Shop

"I don't think we need to calculate any statistics, to make a guess at return rate. Not better than fifty percent."

Still some wiggle room there; Veena's profit threshold was just above thirty. We'd have to work hard to meet even that.

Lindy had a suggestion. "We set up a board resurfacing station..." but even that seemed a thin chance. Only a few boards had so few problems that a resurface would redeem them.

"Our ultimate goal is to quit seeing refurbs, to send them back fit for service. Not just working, but not gonna fail again! What will that take? Conformal coating?" My naïve guess.

No! from all three of them, looking at me like I was some newb, which was fair. I bowed out, let them sort it out.

They tossed ideas around, while I packed up the neurobytes' hardware, finished and tested and with fractal antennae installed. Had another day to deliver but I'd rather be early than on time. On time was late, according to my dear departed Mom, and I'd taken that lesson to heart.

Lindy came out to intercept me as I was dressing for the street.

"Potting!" She said it, like it should mean something to me. The other two had followed, wanting to hear what I had to say.

"Explain?" I was getting more like a bug every day.

"We fix the boards, test them. Then embed them in a block of resin, the 'potting'. It carries heat away, makes the unit more rigid. Prevents shock fracture! Reduces abrasion."

That sounded good, even necessary for this application. "What will that take?"

They frowned as one; some bad news coming.

"We can do that right here! The right resins, curing, the right release form, maybe a half-dozen to keep product moving. But."

Always a but.

"Then they should be remounted in shock-resistant fittings. With strain relief on the connectors. Retested in-situ. So..."

"So, somebody has to go down there, on the shuttle, and do all that."

Nods, like puppets in a kiosk theatre. I put my finger to my nose, the universal gesture for Not Me!

Got some laughs, everybody knew I wasn't built for groundside. Then who?

Veena was a risk, randy Prospectors and she being a slave and all, risk of assault, even theft. I wasn't gonna like that, if that was the group's decision.

"I'll go."

Karl!

Oh, right. His Dad had been a Prospector, had died maybe in a remote-related accident. This was within his skill set, even if his body could manage with a little conditioning beforehand.

And I could see it on his face, he needed to do this. But give him an out, that was only fair.

"You sure? It's pretty rough, some time in a centrifuge, then a rough trip, with rough people. Groundside, there's sandstorms and sand claws, con artists and grifters. Desperate characters. Even our customer, sounds pretty hard-bitten, could give you a hard time. You ready for all that?"

A nod; he's certain.

"I very much want to do this. To give something back, maybe we'll keep Prospectors safer, take this one risk off of their plate. If we save even one Prospector, keep them from harm, I'll know..."

He couldn't go on, but I knew. It would give him closure. He needed that; it would let him live the rest of his life without so much undeserved guilt.

"Ok." That's all I needed to say, my partner, my crew knew my word was good.

"Question? We do this, and heaven forbid we get a potted unit back. Is it repairable? Again? Or junk."

They all started in, then let Veena explain. "The resin is reversable! Just a vat of solvent, a precipitant-recovery chem-pack, we can even re-use it. Fits on a table-top, we can store it on a shelf until we need it again."

"Make up a shopping list! Resins, forms, vat, chem-pack, fittings, strain relief! Use your best judgement on quantity. Karl, you got time to make that trip? Veena has a chit, hire a hauler or whatever you need." And Karl did have time, this batch was going to take half the lead they'd scheduled, so many fewer units to refurb.

And I was off to bug-land.

I had remembered a mask, UV eye protection and wow it helped! The place was almost normal, seen through my lenses with my headlamp. Surreal, sure, but not spooky and dark and lurking danger.

Not even very surreal. They liked ramps, not stairs, that's what had tripped me up before. The blocky units were pretty sensibly arranged, if you saw them as a whole. And my refrigerator turned out to be a part of something bigger, some kind of center complex with tubes to the other stuff.

They left me to it, just a few stayed, surveying my work, watching me insert boards gently into the cavity, secure connectors, re-attach sensor leads. When I was down to the power lead I stopped to say a few words.

"We've coated the boards to reduce exposure to um, harmless aqueous vapors. That keeps the electronics from unwanted corrosion. You shouldn't have any more trouble, many fewer maintenance issues."

The bugs near me might have heard, but their answer came as a diffuse noise from bugs all around the chamber.

"Compensate! Value! Compensate for Brrrran loss!"

Loss? Oh. They meant, now I don't get to charge them again and again for service, we've fixed the problem for good.

"No need! We want to help make you successful. That's part of the job, repair means, making it right for you! And we don't charge for work we don't do. Veena has factored everything into our rate already."

A murmur went through the chamber.

"Veena. Veena."

A new word for them? Ok.

"I'm going to reactivate your unit? It has a new antenna design. Tell me immediately if it is a problem for you. I can remove it."

I paused, they were silent, just the sound of thousands of shuffling bug-feet. Nervous, anticipating something, what? Oh well, here we go.

I plugged it in. Lights went on as circuits reinitialized. Bubbles started moving in the colored fluids.

And in the room, a sensation! The entire place, every neurobyte turned to attend, ten thousand eyes upon me. Antennae quivering, they were up on their tip-toes, as if electrified! Rigid!

"Are you ok? Is this good? Should I disconnect?" Good ol' adrenaline kicked in, and I reached to unplug. Then,

"Clarity! Clarity! Sensation! Beneficial! Gratitude, gratitude! Compensate! Credits!"

Whew; they liked it.

"I'm glad that worked out! See, Veena suggested an improved antenna would increase signal fidelity and data rate. It's a fractal..."

"Veena! Veena! Veena!" Every bug in the place, keening Veena! like savages praying to a stone idol!

"Compensate! Veena! Prezzent embedz! Compensate!"

They wanted to give her a bonus. Well, fine, that would be just great. She would be pleased.

Oh.

"Veena is a slave and has no embed."

Another sensation! They knew what a slave was?

"Zlavzzt! Must Compensate Veena! Not zlavzzt! Providzzzz slaveprizzt Veena! Ratzzt Amendmenzzzt. Acceptable!"

They were excited, agitated, and their language skills suffered. I supposed they meant, they want to pay Veena a bonus? But then, not slave? And slaveprice? Did they want to buy her? No, I'm to adjust the rate, they wanted to compensate..."

I gave up. Maybe Veena has some idea what that all meant.

"Acceptable." Time to get out of here, I was sweating and damp over every inch of my person.

I left them to their happy buzzing, the whole place less frantic now, the calmest I'd ever seen them. Feelers were being preened everywhere, mutual grooming, like they were congratulating one another.

Veena always says, delight the customer!

The remote-wrangler had been phlegmatic when I called, let him know the return rate. He'd been mollified somewhat when I offered the recyc dividend for his trash parts. Somebody had slaves debonding junk electronics, selling the parts as seconds, always a market somewhere. He'd get a little back.

The potting, the tech coming down to train somebody in installation of his refurb'd units, that interested him. Not on board at first, but I offered to go half on Karl's shuttle fee, do the in-situ testing at a reduced rate if he'd agree to pay for training and we had a deal. Everything is in the deal; you have to make it work for both parties.

And I had new jobs! A flood of work, coming up on the first shuttle back, packed with busted gear, stuff ruined from the sandstorm, from the violent temperature changes that came with it. Every shop was booked solid but since we let them schedule it out, choose their lead-time we got many times the bookings I used to accept. My partner, a genius.

What a woman.

In our bunk, our newer bigger bunk, she's leaning up against the wall, letting me rub her feet. I remembered the bug mystery.

"Hey."

"Hmmmmmmm."

"Our bug friends?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I closed that ticket. Nice margin! You did good there. Ahhhh. Ah! There was an overpayment," and she named a figure, quite a bit. About the size of our entire shop account.

"What is that about? I didn't transfer that yet."

Ah. "So, it went well, they appreciated our selflessness in doing that preventative maintenance, coating the boards. Recognized it cost us future work, offered to Compensate!"

She giggled. "But still. That was a lot."

"Not for that; I declined to be compensated for work we didn't do." She frowned, accepted my decision. Probably should have talked to her, she is my partner, things like that should be talked over. Anyway.

"So, what for?" She meant, what was the bonus about anyway?

"It's for you. Slaveprice?"

That got her attention. "They want to buy me? You said No! Right?"

I nodded, squeezed her foot. "You are worth many times that to me, no worries." She leaned forward, punched me on the shoulder.

"See, when I plugged it all in, with your new antenna, they lost their cool, the whole place lit up like it was raining bug-candy. Overjoyed.

"I told them, Veena had this bright idea, better signal fidelity, higher bandwidth. And they started chanting Veena! Veena!"

She was amused, I think she has a soft spot for our bug friends.

"They wanted to pay you a bonus, on the spot. But I said No, she has no embed, she's a slave. And they said, let's see, um.

"Slave! Must Compensate Veena! Not slave! Provide slaveprice Veena! Rate Amendment. Acceptable! Or something like that."

She thought about that for a bit. Seemed to get it. Only I was in the dark now.

I tweaked a toe, she jerked. Decided to explain.

"Slaveprice? That's a phrase in the Settlement Charter, about a slave buying their own contract. Pay that, register for an O2 bond, sign the charter and get an embed."

Oh. "That way, you have an embed, they can give you a bonus after all. Smart little guys."

Took me a beat, then I got it.

"You can be free. If you want it. The credits are all there. Because you delighted our little bug-friend customers."

Her face was shining, it was sinking in for her too.

I rubbed her feet some more. Gonna miss her backrubs, she's just my partner and not my slave, she doesn't have to do that anymore. Maybe I'll keep giving her foot rubs, I like this.

I was taking this very well, I thought. Not much of a change for me, I'd never treated her like property. My responsibility, sure, but not something I could use and abuse. Just, Veena, this woman I worked with.

Wait! She knew about this slaveprice deal but had never mentioned it. I would have paid it, I think, if she'd asked. Bought my partner out of slavery. But she'd waited, for what?

Oh.

"You wanted to be paid, all along, so you could free yourself."

Nodding, grave. "I wanted to deserve to be free, because I worked for it."

We thought about that.

"You worked for this. All your own doing. Because you were considerate to our alien friends, now they're doing this kindness for you. Well-deserved. Friends helping each other."

That made sense, sort of.

"We should talk about it. It's not clearly a good idea, there are downsides."

She was interested. "Do tell."

"No job opportunities! Few in the settlement will hire a former slave. Too much bigotry."

"Bran will hire! Bran like slavegirl; Bran like freegirl! Bran hire."

She was being dopey. I raised her foot, bit her big toe. She subsided.

"You'd still be a sort of slave then, a wage slave. Like the Warren kids that get taken to sweatshops. No way out; can't leave for another job. Not so different from where you're at now."

She thought it was different.

"I can leave. I can leave Deimos. I always have that. Not any kind of slave, as free as anybody can be.

"And, I love you. That means something; it means, never wanting to leave."

She slid down, got under the covers, on her side of the bed. We lay for a while, looking at the panels in the ceiling, thinking.

So we transferred the slaveprice credits to a chit, her chit, keyed to her collar. And we went down to the civic center, just a deep corridor with ancient gold lettering on hatch doors, departments like Water and Air and Constabulary, found Registrar.

Went in, found somebody who knew what slaveprice meant. Got her contract called up, estimated her current value, the bugs had gauged it pretty well, it was enough and a little more, five times what I'd paid not so long ago. Recoded her contract from me to her. Got a citizen id, that shook her, she had a real number now! Registered for her O2 bond, spent the balance on the chit topping that up, good for a kilocycle.

Got her embed, Ow! and that was done, a little blood, she held my hand, I squeezed until it stopped hurting. Then she licked it, tasted the blood.

The lady turned a screen, Veema scribbled her name on the pad, signed the charter, I remember doing that when I took up residency.

And instantly ping! a transfer, showed up on that very screen, credits to her embed, from the neurobyte account. How did they know? They could think on the comms frequency, I imagine they just heard, somehow. The registrar lady was very surprised, but it was a done deal.

The transfer, Veena's bonus? Half again what Bran's Repair is worth. Veena is a wealthy woman. A wealthy freewoman.

We celebrated, the kids were overjoyed, knowing this was a great day, important for Veena. Not really appreciating what it meant, they're just kids, no experience with the brutality of slavery. Just a party, like a kind of graduation, a good one.

Went out to eat, a surface place, all of space above, Mars just hanging there, bright and beautiful, can't see the sand claws and suffering from here. Ate exotic foods, real stuff, not just printed carbos and protein. Drank more than we should, Veena paid, she's got the bucks now. So proud to hold her embed over the pad, hear the ping, she turned pink and I kissed her.

Got back late, work tomorrow, the work keeps coming in! Two more jobs on the comms when I checked, I left that until next work cycle, we are having family time.

Watched a vid, laughed like idiots over some strange liquid creature, eight tentacles and one big eye, opening jars and squeezing into tight spaces, playing tricks on the humans who cared for them. Went to our bunks, still laughing about them, happy and tired.

We got naked, got into our bunk. Veena sat up, one more thing to do, at least one more.

"Bran? Will you?" And she pointed at her collar, not naked, not yet, she still had that on.

No.

She got alarmed! "Why not!"

I reached, touched it; nothing. No click; still attached.

"You don't belong to me; not any more. Not ever, not really."

Consternation. "Will we have to cut it off?" She moved to get up, go to the shop, fire up the arc welder, whatever it took!

I restrained her. "Simpler than that. You can do it, yourself."

Understanding; she owned her own contract, now. With a suddenly trembling hand, she reached for the collar, found the clasp. Held it carefully, extended a fingertip and with the tiniest of click!s it fell free, into her hands. Leaving a pale band around her neck, on her skin, it would take some time for that to fade.

Shaking all over, entirely naked now, naked to me, here in our bunk.

"Is it ok, now? Now that we're peers?" She was asking, was this the last thing that was between us, this collar?

"Peers, and partners!" That got a smile, proud, a real full partner now, we had a business together, co-owners. Though she could buy me out if she wanted, she had the credits for it.

"We can share anything, now. Share the shop. Share jobs, you have your pick of them, whatever you think we should take, we take. Share in the shop credits; you're wealthier than me, by far, all your own credits and half of mine."

"I'm expensive, after all!" She was joking, but serious.

"I have your slaveprice! That went to me! And you're a free citizen, I don't have to pay anything for you. You even pay for your own O2!"

She shook her head, No.

"I cost you, dearly. The entire rest of your life."

That was an easy one.

"I have that deposited on account. Saved it up for you. And it's not payment, it's an investment! It'll return dividends, forever."

We sat, marveling at the life in front of us.

"What comes next?" she asked lightly, wanting me but not wanting to ask. Innocent, this was new to her, she was still a virgin after all.

I considered.

"Pay the fuckin' bitch to straighten me out?" Whispered into her perfect ear, looking in her perfect grey eyes and seeing myself reflected back.

Breathless, "Breed your slutgirl now?"

"Oh yeah."

"Bran a grinder!"

"Can't leave pussy alone!"