Chapter 76

The morning started off great... namely with a blowjob from Becky, who was very diligent in moving her head up and down. Then she swallowed my cum and smiled seductively at me.

"Good morning, David."

"And to you, Becca."

"You, uh. you know, this is kind of how I pictured what happened yesterday. Except Judy was, uh. a little unnecessary. Still, I would have preferred our first sex in a more private setting."

"Hey..."

Judy looked at Becca resentfully.

"Come on..."

Becca waved her hand.

"...I'm not complaining. It was more than good, I got fucked like I've never been fucked before. And that's basically what I needed."

"So why the outrage?"

"Well..."

Becca shrugged.

"...I have to grumble a little..."

"Chattering?"

Judy looked at Becca with a chuckle.

"Yeah. (chuckles)"

"Good, and we'll get you a collar anyway."

"Hey!"

"And don't eekay, you've been such an obedient girl, so affectionate and diligent, that such a thing cannot be left without a present... you'll have to tell the others that when you're had, you change in front of their eyes. I think they'll all want to see that side of you."

Becca pouted.

"Oh, come on."

Judy moved closer to her and mussed her already messy hair.

"You'll be our favorite..."

"I'm not an animal."

"Of course not, you are our Becca, the most obedient girl..."

"Judy's had enough."

I grinned, but still stopped her.

"You can see that Becca doesn't like that kind of talk. She may be a good girl during sex, but not now. So don't play on her weaknesses."

"All right, all right, all right."

Judy raised her hands in a gesture of surrender.

"I'm sorry, Becca, I did go a little overboard last night and now. it's just so strange to see you so obedient."

Becca glared at Judy, but still sighed and waved her hand.

"Okay, uh. I forgive you. It's family now anyway, and it's a bad idea to keep a rock on the family."

"That's good!"

Judy hugged Becca, and then they started to get dressed. So did I. Soon we were not only dressed, but six hands were putting together the tent that Becca had prepared, and then we were back at the camp, where I started making breakfast, and the girls went inside to take showers.

"How's that?"

Panam stepped out of the Hippo and grinned at me caustically.

"It's okay. At least I had to hold back a little less..."

"Hmph!"

"Don't snort..."

I shook my head and went to Panam and gave her a long and tender kiss. After that, I had to go back to making breakfast...

The next few days passed fairly quietly...

Work-rest-work-rest-work...

I would bring in weapons, fix or upgrade them, in some cases customizing them. Becca acted as a tester, while Panam disappeared to the clan workshops to help with repairs and upgrades.

Judy, Kiwi and Lucy have been working on cracking the whispers ...

All in all an idyll...

"We did it!"

I flinched slightly and screwed up the part I was milling for another cannon. Slowly, I looked up at Lucy, who had shouted it almost in my ear...

"Lucy..."

"Uh-huh?

She gave me a sly look.

"...You're lucky in that it's just a virtual model of the part that can still be fixed. If it were a real part..."

I shook my head and sighed rolled up the program and finally looked more kindly at Lucy, and the other girl runners appearing from Hippo.

"So we did it?"

"Yeah, uh. we cracked it. Only one so far, but since the chips are from the same company, they have similar defenses. The next one's gonna be a lot easier to crack."

I smiled.

"And what was the first chip you cracked?"

"Operative."

I grinned, so for me and Becky? They made a copy?

"Right now it's being copied for all of us, plus a dozen copies for the clan and two for Bestia and Regina. With our copy protection, of course."

I nodded my head.

"Okay, so we wait for it to be copied and Becca and I will dive into learning new things. Well done, I think you deserve some goodies for dinner tonight."

"You've already spoiled us enough..."

Lucy waved her hand.

"Exactly..."

Judy nodded.

"You just keep cooking for us and we'll be happy."

Kiwi supported her friends.

"Well..."

I shrugged.

"Whatever you say. It wouldn't be hard for me, but if you don't want anything special, then so be it."

"All right, uh. we'll take a little rest, ride our bikes around the campground, our brains are a little fried after all this work, and then we'll sit down to hack up the rest of the splinters. I think we'll be done by morning."

I nodded my head.

"You take your time, we're on some sort of vacation anyway..."

"That's right, a vacation, there's time to do a little upskilling to become even more efficient. So we'll be in a hurry..."

"Well..."

I scrutinized the girls.

"...you just take it slow. Don't underestimate corporations and their defenses too much..."

"Yeah, we know."

Kiwi waved, and then she and the girls went for a bike ride, and I went back to work. I had to fix the virtual model of the part, put it into production, then test and install it, and then it would be Becky's turn...

Nothing happened for several hours. I continued to work, Becca, somewhere not far away on the small shooting range prepared for her continued to shoot...

But the idyll was interrupted this time by a phone call.

"Hear you, V--

"David. I need help."

"What kind?"

"Shoot down one avi..."

"What kind of avi?"

"Does it matter? I need to shoot it down, but I need to keep all the passengers alive."

"I take it you're looking for someone specific?"

"Yeah... Bestia was able to find out that one of the chip's creators would be flying over the wastelands and this is the only moment to shoot down the avi with it and capture the type itself."

I sighed.

"From what you say I infer that avi will be owned by a serious corp..."

"So what if it is?"

"V... no."

"David, I really need your help..."

"Vee. I feel like I've already helped you in ways no one else has. Credit when you got kicked out of Arasaki, convinced you to put in upgrades that kept you from dying in Kopeki, helped increase the time you had left after I found out your brain was being rewritten..."

"Don't you think that, in gratitude for all this, dragging me into a showdown with the corporation, and a showdown after we put their avi away is sure to follow, is a little... wrong?"

"David, I've thought of everything. No one will ever find out."

"V... I already told you. No."

"Listen to me! We're gonna blow up the power plant he's flying over!"

"All the more reason not to..."

I shook my head.

"...V, do you even think about what you want to do?"

"I want to survive!"

"But at what cost? Do you realize how many people will die because of a failed power plant? Do you even realize that this power plant powers several hospitals, several city districts, which also have many private riperies, and how many people will get hurt on the roads and just on the streets of the city..."

I shook my head again.

"So you're not gonna help me?"

"No..."

I shook my head, for the umpteenth time in this conversation? But I couldn't help it, and even though I wanted to help Vee... fuck, she's still gonna blow it up! It's gonna kill a shitload of intelligent people! This isn't a game where nothing really bad happened because of a massive blackout and only the anchorwoman will tell you how she had to eat a cold burrito...

"...no help."

"Well, fuck you."

"Shut up and listen."

I wasn't in the mood to talk to her at all. But I had to prevent mass deaths, too. Well. not that I had to, and if the blackout had only killed gangsters I wouldn't mind, but...

"Now, you call Bestia or Regina, and you place an order through them. Two orders to be exact. The first order is for a narrow-beam EMP cannon. The second order is for a high-powered rocket launcher with an EMP charge.

"And how long will you be filling those orders?"

V's voice was extremely caustic.

"Three or four days."

"...okay, but if you don't make it in time, you'll tear up the power plant with me."

"No, V-- I'm not blowing up the power plant with you anyway...

And if I have a choice, I will protect her from you. But I won't tell you that, because you don't need to know.

"...But I'm giving you a chance not to become a Silverhand-type terrorist who blew up Arasaki Tower and killed a bunch of civilians.

"Huh, it's kinda funny..."

"So what do you see as funny compared to this garbage?"

"It's just that his engram is on the chip. and this asshole comes to me in visions from time to time. talking to me. threatening me."

I listened to her intently.

"But, you know, if I have to be a terrorist to survive."

"So I told you how I'm willing to help you. It's up to you."

I dropped the call and leaned back in the chair I'd been working on outside.

"Is something wrong?"

I cast a glance at Becca.

"We may have to zero in on V."

"What?"

"She found the information. or rather Bestia found it for this lunatic. Anyway, one of the chip makers will be flying an avi and the only place this avi can land and get the wasteland maker..."

"Well, that's good!"

"Okay... except she made a plan."

"A plan?"

"Blow up the power plant. the one outside of town."

Becca frowned.

"Wait, you mean that power plant?"

"Yes, it is most likely the microwave power plant we are talking about."

"But the civilians will suffer..."

"That's what I'm saying. I gave her a hint that she could put in an order for a very specific weapon, but if she didn't..."

"So she does decide to tear up the power plant..."

"Exactly."

"Yeah... the choice of course..."

"Exactly..."

I sighed and covered my eyes. Damn choice...