Chapter 223: Paperwork
Climbing out of the hole, Milo found the lump of silvery metal easily. He stayed a few feet away and tried to identify it. What he learned was interesting.
Duram Argenti nugget
Estimated size: 3 lbs.
Partially enchanted.
Hardness: Tier 5
He pulled out the small nuggets he had found before. The largest was still less than a once in weight, but there were other differences.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøv€lß1n platform.
Duram Argenti chip
Estimated size: 0.75 ounces.
Fully enchanted.
Hardness: Tier 4
They were slightly warm to the touch but had been cool when he first picked them up. Had they drained mana from him without his knowing it? Only one way to find out. He searched through the rubble from his digging until he found another sliver of the ore. He identified it as a small chip, unenchanted, and Tier 5 in hardness. He drank a mana potion to restore a 300 points of mana before experimenting with the sliver. As soon as he touched it he lost 150 mana, and the chip changed to enchanted and Tier 4 in hardness.
More searching turned up another chip. This one he picked up with a pair of chopsticks. Nothing happened. He placed it into an ore bag with no effect and dumped it back out again. Only when he touched it did it drain mana his mana. That made handling the ore easier. If the mana drain had been at a distance, it would have been debilitating and possibly deadly to be near any of it. He rolled the larger chunk onto a bit of dirty laundry from his Scout Master Ring (Once again, vowing to clear it out.) Rolling it up, he dumped it into the ore bag as well.
He was out of mana again. There were too many unknowns in these caverns to explore them with mana exhaustion and no access to his spells. He retreated to the top of the tower and set up camp again. Georgie yawned and looked at him questioningly but got to work sniffing out any bugs or other threats to the camp. Milo took a break, logged out of the game, and opened his pod.
While he was exhausted in the game from lack of mana, he felt fine here. Checking with his surveillance systems, he saw that Victor hadn't moved from his apartment for several days but had been meeting with people each afternoon. Belinda had visited him once. He noted that she wasn't wearing her gloves when she did so. No major problems showed. His clog eaters were doing their job of keeping the major arteries clear and fixing small leaks. None of the air handlers was malfunctioning for a change. Power was flowing between Section E and Section H, fueled in part by the wind and solar generators taking up most of the roof. Even the food processors were running correctly, partly due to his systems delaying any updates from the supply company until he could check over the changes. He gave his approval to the latest updates and made a note to check in with Mama and make sure things worked on her end.
The only thing that bothered him was the continuous problems with the pneumatic delivery system. It was complex technology. Some cities had used similar systems since the 1950s. Families in the habitats could order goods from outside companies, and the products were delivered to a large warehouse on the ground floor of the habitat, already inside of the plastic transporters with their destination stored in the silicon chip on each transporter. Once loaded into the habitat's pneumatic system, the items should have arrived at distribution points on each level of every section. Yet items could be delayed for weeks or longer and, in some cases, never arrive at all. He put it down on his of things to investigate before putting on his 'normal' clothes and heading to see Butch and the family.
It had been several days since he'd been down. He tried to remember how many, got the number, and felt bad. But too much had hit at once that he wasn't expecting. He still didn't know where he stood with Belinda or where Belinda stood with Victor, but he'd taken care of a lot of other loose ends. Wally and Stephen (and Ralph) were allies now. He could handle the chaos of his family and work on the Belinda problem.
One small detail bothered him, though. Ralph had been surprised he wasn't behind the downfall of a crypto-currency called Syllabus. They'd used the tools he had found in Victor's system, his old hacking programs. And it didn't make sense that Victor's people would crash a system that took all of Victor's money. Ralph had been bemused by the idea. Wally and Stephen were worried. Milo didn't really care. If they took money from people like Victor, that was a good thing. But he did wonder about the possibility that there were more people out in the world that might be like him. Maybe from one of the other batches? He knew his own family was dead. It wasn't a problem he could solve and didn't concern him, so he tossed it to the back of his mind.
Arriving in the courtyard near Butch's house, he paused. There were several men sitting by the glowy tree playing cards. One was a medical technician. Two were beefy-looking guys that screamed 'bodyguard,' and the fourth wore the patched and worn coveralls of a low-level maintenance worker. It was common to see them in the hab, answering complaints they barely knew how to fix, nodding and saying 'We'll get right on that", knowing they don't have the tools or support to actually do real repairs. He assumed Belinda was visiting again; the wheelchair the MedTech was sitting next to was all the proof needed of that. He watched for a few minutes, then casually walked up to the door and knocked. Butch pulled it open.
"Hey, newest little bro! Come on in, the gangs here, and you can gaze in wonder at the expanded glory Casa Butch." Butch wasn't exaggerating; everyone was here, including Butch's parents and all of the children, including the two cousins Mama was trying to adopt. The house should have been packed, but wasn't, for the simple reason that the house was bigger. From the floor plan, walls had been removed, and two other units were added to the first to make a much more comfortable living space. Milo didn't mind things cramped, but then, he had the option of leaving when things got crazy. The living room was twice as big, and now had another gaming console and screen set up. Belinda waved to him, then grumbled as her distraction let Kenji have an opportunity to blow her up.
Big Butch was home. He and Mama were sitting at a second table, looking relaxed. Butch steered him over to them, whispering in his ear. "Shit happens, crazy stuff, we got a bigger house. You owe me a story later on, got it?" Milo nodded; that only seemed fair. He'd mentioned to Wally that part of his plan was to help out his new family. He had to keep in mind that Wally was also task oriented.
Mama came and gave him a quick hug. "Have a seat. You look hungry. And don't tell me you aren't; your ribs are showing again. I can feel them. What have you been up to?"
Agent Smith actually smiled at her. "No, please, don't apologize. Over-protective is good! If anything, it assures me that you're an ideal family for Milo. He needs protection, but more, he needs strong parental figures in his life. If something happens, we want him to trust you enough to go to you for protection, and then my agency can help all of you." By habit, he started to reach for his cup of coffee, thought better and set it down. He made a note to look into who supplied the artificial instant coffee to this habitat. It was truly horrible.
Big Butch scratched his head. He'd known there was more to Milo the few times he'd talked to him. Kids that young didn't know how to fix and reprogram food processors. Nor did they understand complicated work contracts. "Even knowing he's a few years older doesn't explain everything. He'd too smart and knows too much. A damned sight smarter than I am."
Smith nodded seriously, "Oh, I agree. From the little I've been told, he probably has an IQ higher than all three of us combined. That's part of what they did to him. He has an advanced mind, but stunted physical growth and hasn't developed emotionally. We are hoping that by giving him a permanent place in your family you can help him with that."
Mama was unconvinced. "So how did you find out about him? I'm guessing you work for that Claw Master place he got the gloves from?"
Smith smiled. "An excellent guess. Yes, I'm employed by the Claw Master organization, but I've also been appointed as the lead agent in this case. I'm sure you've seen his interest in video games. He's one of many people testing those gloves for us. He even suggested the sponsoring of the recent event. In dealing with him, we became aware of his situation. He didn't exist legally and was hiding from someone. Recently, he told us more, and expressed the hopes of being adopted after you made him that offer. Upon finding out what had been done to him, we notified the authorities. They are of the opinion that for his psychological health, we need to leave him in his current environment. But he needs emotional stability, proper food, people he can talk to and confide in, and a place to safely live."
"Which is where your family come in. By permanently placing him with you, we accomplish much of what we need. In return, we can help you with raising the rest of your family as well. I've looked over the paperwork for the other children's adoptions and can recommend those be approved immediately with credits applied to your account retroactively and going forward. You shouldn't become financially destitute for doing good deeds."
"Milo is a different case. He will be fostered with you under the assumption that he is a minor, and full adoption approved soon. But he needs more than part time care. We show that you are employed by Manpower, sir? Would you be willing to stay at home, care for your family, and help with Milo's special needs if we matched or exceeded your salary?"
Mama interrupted. "The answer is yes, and I think that matching my current salary would be a good compromise. After all, he's going to be doing much the same work."
Big Butch frowned. "Sarah, that's three times what I make now, working 24 hours a day and 6 days a week."
She looked at him. "If I'm worth 3k a month, so are you. And it goes to support your family, which is getting bigger and more complicated all of the time."
Smith frowned, went through his paperwork looking for details, and then smiled. "Ah, yes. I see that listed here. Yes, that is quite acceptable."
"Well, then, yes. I think I can ride herd on some children for that much money a month. It will come in handy. I'm going to need to apply for a second living unit, and that always takes a little extra to get pushed through."
Smith made a note on his paper. "Please, let me take care of that. You shouldn't have to pay for it. There is ample space in this section, even empty units adjacent to you. I'm going to authorize a work crew and engineer to remove walls and increase your living space. Frankly, DHDIP should be consolidating living quarters in this habitat and doing repairs section by section. I'm going to recommend that hiring an additional work crew and having them set up their living quarters in this section, and work on the empty units and open spaces." He looked around. "Right after they get me a proper desk and coffee maker. Can I offer you one as well? Even an antique drip machine can make quite acceptable beverages with the right grounds." He added a coffee maker and ten pounds of ground beans to his list.
"I'm not opposed to a decent cup of coffee. Thank you." Putting up with hab coffee wasn't the same as liking it. Mama felt the same way, but had a condition. "Only if you get a lock for the cabinet you keep it in. I'm scared to think what would happen if we introduced Milo to coffee."
Agent Smith paled. "A very good point, madam. I'll add a new locking cabinet to your list." He pushed forward an electron tablet with a contract on it. "This spells out your salary, money to be paid for Milo's upkeep, additional credits for the other children. We will also take care of all medical expenses for the family, along with costs of education. Please look it over and let me know if you need any changes."
Mama passed it to her husband. "Talk to me about education. I'm not sure I can teach anything to Milo."
Agent Smith shook his head. "From what I understand, ma'am, none of us could. He learns at an accelerated pace. It will be enough if you nudge him in the right directions and give him the emotional support that he needs. But for your other children, I would like to offer an education system that is being used now in some parts of the world. It's based on the use of the new Mk VII pods and a virtual classroom. Something you are already familiar with."
That was a surprise to Butch, "You use pods to teach the kids? Wouldn't they just use them to play games?"
"Well, yes, there is some time allotted for recreation. But the current programming includes a virtual classroom that gives anyone the tools needed for teaching a basic education. Lectures done in a virtual environment can greatly enhance learning. And as part of the program, we incentivize the children getting their work done by allowing them time for playing games, including limited access to the new virtual world, Genesis.
Butch was smiling widely now. Mama rolled her eyes. "Oh god, I just got you out of a pod. I can see it now. You're going to take little Butch and Min on some orc hunt with you."
She turned to Agent Smith. "Milo is going to want to play that game. Is that allowed?"
Smith paused, not knowing what to say. Finally he told the truth. "Ma'am, I think it would be impossible to keep him out."
