Childrens

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20+ chapter ahead. ----------------------------------------------

God damn it!

I turned around, and I could barely keep from growling. It was no big deal, but I'd lost in the first round of the tournament yesterday, and now I was in the common gym, watching my bully. Sigis is a thirteen-year-old zabrak studying in Sora Balk's Weequay group. The main contender to win this year. That's what I call bad luck. Poor Raine lost by four to one. And I got him in the beginning of the fight, when I was underestimated, and it took Sigis two minutes to beat the seven-year-old.

And the next day, in one of my gym classes, I noticed this kid practicing. So I decided to watch him, and while I was watching, I thought it was for nothing that Drallig had told me about my genius. I know in my head it's too early for me to be almost a Padawan, and I don't have any negativity towards Sigis, but it's infuriating. A fucking genius, a stick in my liver.

And so, just as my self-abuse was reaching its climax, someone suddenly tugged at my robe from behind.

- Tami," I said, smiling forcefully. - Don't approach the intelligent ones so inconspicuously. It's tense.

- I'm-I'm sorry," she mumbled, lowering her head.

- Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh," I ran my hand over my face, calming myself down. - It's good to see you again, baby," I smiled more casually. - What's the matter? Is there something you wanted to ask me?

- My tutor was telling me about Up-Cho but I couldn't get it out," she muttered to herself before lifting her head.

Up-Cho, in case anyone didn't know... though how could you... Well, it's a Shii Cho style of hand-to-hand combat. It's a straight fist punch that shifts sharply into an elbow punch. Honestly, I don't know how hard it is.

- Where's the... - I looked around the room, your mentor?

I didn't want to have to deal with the little brat, you know.

- There," she waved her hand, "is helping others.

And the mentor she pointed to was in the middle of the children, showing them something from the blocks.

- Tami," I said, as heartfelt as possible, "you just have to go up to him and ask for help. That's what the tutors are for. They're professionals, and they can help you much better than I can.

- I've asked," she said even more flatly. - But I still can't do it. Besides, he's busy with other people.

First my roommates hit on me, then Ahsoka and her friend, then the rest of the group. And just when my life had settled down and got back on track, and then there was this girl. God, why? You help her now, and she, I'm telling you, will sit on his neck. But I can't tell her to go away. I have to.

- Tami... ahem... I don't think you've come to the right place. We have tutors for training, and you should ask them anything you don't understand. Not a youngling only two years older than you.

- I'm sorry. - I guess if she'd had the chance, the girl would have sank even more, but she just turned around and walked slowly back to her group.

It makes my heart bleed. Br-r-r... Cheer up, Lex - she's just trying to control you. It's childish, but it works. All right, the hell with it. I glanced at Sigis and glanced around the room again, as Drallig was still nowhere to be seen. He was still out of sight, but it was a rare occurrence, which meant that I had self-study this afternoon.

After class, as I sat meditating in my room with the boys, I suddenly realized that the crystals that I had been pumping with the Force for years were not bottomless. I felt as if I was diluting water by pouring energy into them-they were no longer holding the "fog," and the same amount was coming out instead of what I had pumped in. It had taken me three years to fill them up to the brim, and now I had no idea what to do with them. I just had to put them away until better times, checking occasionally to see how well they held the Force, and whether it was flowing out of them.

- You're pretty fast today," Jiro said, watching me put the crystals away in the plastic case.

I stopped in front of the nightstand and looked at it thoughtfully.

- Where is everyone?

- Sam's at the simulators. And Palatt and Rama must be in the gym. That's what they said, anyway.

- Any reason to think otherwise? - I don't understand.

- Um... well... - he hesitated. - They were discussing how many gifted people work with Midgie.

Shit, not again. These two jerks seem to have gone to the trouble of robbing the canteen where Master Midgie runs everything. And it's not about the food, I told them after the first time, if I really had to, I'd get whatever they wanted. I don't intend to make public their personal accounts, which are slowly but surely filling up. Let them grow up first. They nodded in response, and two weeks later they made another raid. After which I, no, think about it -I was reprimanded, and they were deprived of free time, instead of which they sat and meditated. It's okay, I'll get over it. Guys also need to blow off steam in this boarding school. I wonder how they'll be punished this time.

- I'm gonna go see Jake," I said with a sigh.

- And the boys...?

- Losers," I said. - Can't clean out a fridge, good riddance to them.

- Where to?

- Wherever Master Lairi tells them to go," I said with a chuckle.

- "And if they can? - he asked incredulously.

- "Not likely. But if they do, they'll have a hard time," I answered in a slightly threatening tone. - There's a price to pay for everything. For luck, too.

Dzik's hangar was, as always, lively. Someone was drilling something, someone was digging in the guts of some equipment. Talking, shouting, shouting...

- Stop, you bastard! Stop, I tell you!

A two-meter droid, call sign BBR-4, scurried around the hangar, running away from the little Paratus. While BBR-3 stood still, holding what looked like a speeder engine in its arms.

- Help, good Jedi! - The droid was reluctant to stop, circling the hangar. - Save me from him!

- Stop, tin can! I told you...

- Save...

- ...vocalizer up your ass.

- ...rape.

- AAA! AAA!

Poor Paratus, he's gonna be foaming at the mouth. I wonder why he doesn't just order him around.

- Hello, Zik," I said, walking up to the mustachioed man. - How long have they been running around here? - I pointed behind me.

- Hi. It's been ten minutes," he said, still looking at something on his desk. - Oh, by the way," he slid a little box to me, "your processor.

- Oh, cool! - I took it in my hands. - I have something to do at last.

- Did you win yesterday? - The man asked, still picking at... something round.

- What is it? - I asked curiously.

- Is it? - the man looked at me. - And this, Rayne, remember, the limiter of the light engine AM356 fraction two. It's a total of four of them, and you can get a pretty good increase in hyperspace speed by just digging around in them.

- Oh. Cool.

- And complicated," Dzik went back to the detail. - So don't get in the way, kid, I'm busy today.

- Okay," I shrugged. I've got the Proz delivered, so I've got work to do. Got knocked out in the first round.

- So? - The man was distracted again.

- I've got this year's top contender.

- Think happy thoughts - you wouldn't have won this year anyway.

- That's true, but that's... Never mind.

The first thing I did was to roll the matrix I already had onto a new medium, and then I inserted the stone into the tester. Error. Well, good grief with you, it would be strange if it were otherwise. So, let's start from the beginning, with the basics. With fidelity. And first we have to erase everything. I've got a copy.

By the time I had to go, the loyalty block was set. I didn't bother too much and took what the R-series droids had as a basis, changing only loyalty to the master to loyalty to me. I'll clarify, though. Droids generally have two kinds of settings - internal and external, so to speak. That which is sewn into the processor to death, and the software itself. In the R-series, the absolute setting is submission to the intelligent, and the matrix itself sort of tells you who it is. I, as you guessed, initially set them only one master, but in the "external" part of the matrix I put a standard subjugation block. Not for the purpose of "duplication of loyalty", but simply because I'm afraid of changing something there. Everyone's been working as a pro. In fact, I'm not going to do any real programming, I'm going to keep putting these "blocks" together. I have a lot of droid matrices, so I'll put something together. The main thing here is not to get confused or make a mess of things, or I'll end up with a fire droid in the body of a trainer.

After looking at what I had done, I decided to try, later, of course, since there was no time, to put the standard firmware into the "inner" part of the matrix. I didn't have a particular goal, I just wondered what would happen. Set to obey me personally, plus.... And maybe just rework the standard? Immediately clarify, right there, exactly which sensible to obey. As long as the processor is in the test panel, you can screw anything you want, the main thing is to check everything well afterwards. Because once the matrix is installed on the processor, the "internal" firmware can no longer be changed.

Okay, that's all for tomorrow. Right now I have to rush off to Drillig's class.