Chương 103: Book 2 - Chapter 23 - Teaching Opportunities

"So the gangs took you up on your offer? All of them?" Sharron asked.

"Not all of them, but most. It's enough support that I can start the school, without worrying about one of the other gangs fucking around. Hopefully, in time, they'll see the advantage of cooperation, and approach me as well," I replied as I set up the mass reconfigurator to start building the fabricators. Turns out, not only was a class 0 pattern cheap, but it was a hell of a lot better than the one Dante and I pulled out of the shelter.

I was planning to produce one fabricator a day, and use the rest of the time to produce construction materials for the building.

"You think the gangs will all keep their end of the bargain?"

"Fuck no. I expect that, within hours, one of them is either going to try and move, take apart, or reprogram the fabricators. As soon as they do, the machine will brick itself, and I'll either have to reset or rebuild it." With a final poke, I finished programming the machine, and set it to work.

"I meant, do you think they'll all let the kiddies through without any issues?" Sharron clarified. I turned to her, brushed off my hands, and shrugged.

"Probably. They never really had any reason to stop them before, and now that they've accepted the deal, they have incentive to let the little ones through. If they do start hassling people, I'll just shut down their machines for a little while."

"And you think that'll keep them in line?" Sharron asked.

"Not completely, but I don't think it'll take long for the fabricators to become essential to daily life in those areas. The Neon Scorpions made contacts topside, and were making money selling fucking screws from the one we pulled out of the shelter wreckage. I imagine it wouldn't take long for the others to start producing things, finding a niche. I'm sure the threat of having that stable income cut off will keep them in line." I paused for a moment, considering the situation.

"At least, somewhat. There'll still be skirmishes and fights over territory, I just hope they'll settle down a bit."

"That's a very optimistic way of looking at things. Especially for you," Sharron said, looking at me suspiciously.

"Hey! Just because the living conditions down here suck, that doesn't mean I like it." I sighed.

"Maybe nothing will improve after starting the school, and installing the fabricators, but if that's the case, I'll try something else. There are a lot of people here that deserve better than living in complete destitution, and giving them even the smallest chance of escaping that life is worth it."

"I get it. You want to give back to the community." She smiled, "When will you start rolling these things out?"

"Once I have enough for all the gangs, so in a week or two. I don't want to risk handing them out early, and giving the impression that I favor one gang over another."

"Makes sense," Sharron replied with a nod.

"So, what's next?" I paused, and looked around at all my equipment and troops. For what began as a completely empty space, the Shelter was really starting to fill up with my equipment, troops and various projects.

"I… don't know," I replied after a minute.

"I have a bunch of projects, but most of them require time to come to fruition. So… I don't know." I turned to her, "What are you working on?"

"I have a couple things. I need to check in with the Family, and I'm planning to do some upgrades, but nothing important." She looked at me, a small smirk on her lips, "Nothing I'd need help with, if that's what you're thinking. You little workaholic."

"Fine," I grumbled, "I'm sure I can find something else to do. Play with the kids, do school planning, world domination, something."

"World domination? Really?" Sharron asked with a smile.

"I have the troops for it," I replied with a pout, "and I was having trouble coming up with projects."

"Right. Well, maybe stick with the kids for now, and only move on to world domination when you've run out of other ideas." She turned, and started heading back to her RV.

"I need to head to the Family's headquarters now, if I want to get there before the meeting starts. I'll see you in a couple hours." Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. I waved, half heartedly, as she climbed into her vehicle and drove away. I took one last look around the garage, trying to decide if there was anything else that needed my attention, before deciding to head back into the residence.

Eddie and Isabelle were sitting at the table, playing some sort of game with a square board and plastic pieces. Alan was sitting on the couch, reading.

"Hey kiddos, whatcha doing?" I asked, as I sat at the table besides Isabelle.

"Playing checkers," Eddie replied, with an annoyed grunt.

"At least we would be, if Issi would stop cheating."

"I'm not cheating! You're cheating!" The little girl shot back.

"The queen can move wherever she wants!"

"I keep telling you, there is no queen, horse, or pointy guys in checkers. Just regular pieces, and double stacked pieces if you make it across the board. I know you enjoyed playing that game with Sharron a couple days ago, but that doesn't mean you can just make things up."

"Your face is making things up!" Isabelle retorted, placing her frog plushie on the table, then resting her chin on it. I chuckled at the sight of the frog propping up the little girl's head, topped by a froggy hood.

"Professor Froggington told me this is how you play Chess!"

"We're playing Checkers. It's different!" Eddie retorted. He paused briefly, before focussing on Issi again.

"Why has the professor been teaching you games?" He asked.

"I asked, games are fun. He only agreed to do it after I finished all my classes, and homework. I worked hard for it," the little girl declared proudly.

"Yes, yes you did," I said, reaching over and patting her on the head. Once I was done, I glanced down at the board.

"How about you two agree on which game you're going to play, before you start next time. It's easier that way." Isabelle nodded excitedly, but Eddie just frowned. Who knows how long he'd been trying to teach Issi.

"Where's Jane?" I asked, while Issi made another, supposedly, illegal move.

"Studying!" Issi replied in excitement. She bounced so hard, that she shook the table, dislodged the pieces, sending them skipping across the board. As soon as she realized what she'd done, she looked at Eddie with puppy-dog eyes.

"Sorry."

"It's fine," the boy replied with a sigh.

"We'll just start again, it'll be easier." While Eddie was picking up the pieces, I turned towards Isabelle.

"What is Jane studying?" I asked. The little girl cocked her head to the side.

"Teachering?" she said, although I wasn't sure if that was a question or an answer.

"And why is she doing that?"

"Because I want to help," Jane replied from behind me. I turned, and found her slowly coming down the hallway, tablet in hand.

"With the school?" I asked.

"What about the kids?"

"They can look after themselves, for the most part, and both Alan and the frog…"

"Sir Froggington!" Isabelle corrected, without looking up from the board.

"Sir Froggington, are here to watch the kids." Jane said, as she sat down across from me.

"You're doing a lot for the community, and I want to help too. If that's ok." I shrugged, "Sure… I was just going to get some new teaching bots and let them handle it, but I'm sure if you participate you'll be able to make things go smoother."

"I have no idea how you can be so thoughtful one minute, and completely ignorant the next. You were just going to leave everything up to the bots?" Jane asked.

"Look, I've learned over the last few weeks that the bots are smarter than I am. Better to leave it to the professionals," I replied.

"I'm not even surprised anymore…" Jane said quietly, shaking her head.

"Sir Froggington has been instructing me on counseling, and mentoring, so I can help the kids decide what kind of job they'd like in the future. Apparently the bots aren't great at that sort of thing."

"This lot didn't have any issues with it," I pointed out.

"Because they talked about it with me and Alan," Jane replied. I paused, and looked at her, slightly surprised.

"Oh… well, if you could help the other kids, that would be helpful too." I probably should have known that fact before now, I guess I'd been a little more distant from the goings on of the family than I realized.

"If you want to do something different, go for it!" I told her, "We can always get someone, or something to watch the kids while you're out. That goes for you too," I said, throwing a napkin at the back of Alan's head. He didn't even flinch. Jane relaxed a little, and smiled.

"Thank you. I'd never considered doing anything like this, until you suggested opening this school of yours, and now that it's becoming a reality I think it's important. Thanks for supporting me." I stood up, walked behind her chair, and threw my arms around her neck. Something I could only do when she was seated.

"No problem," I told her, "That's what family's for."