Chapter 86 A new house and everyone says it's a pile of junk

Luke pressed the bracelet and was on the moon. Where he was called to Ned. She gave a long croak as he walked in.

"What, can I help it if they don't show up. I can play my game too."

She looked at him worriedly. Luke grinned, went to her and patted her head.

Earl walked in, froze when he saw Luke looking at him.

"You're supposed to be downstairs..."

" I was, even gave a press conference. " 

Earl hurried out.

" Well, didn't go the way they wanted. " 

Ned croaked.

" Now? "

She nodded. 

"Good, I'll clean up."

20 minutes later, as Ned lay panting in his chair, Luke mopped the floor and tossed buckets into the trash can. Zed shuffled in, looked at Luke and let out a grunt.

" Earl must have scurried down to Alex's to make out, you know him."

Zed rolled his eyes, sauntered over to him and held out the tablet.

Luke took it and activated it, it was a message that his ad had been rejected. He walked over to Ned's desk, typed in a number. It beeped.

"Legal Department Council Building," a male voice answered.

"Hi, Akim here, I've just received a message that they've rejected my report. Why?"

"After checking your person, the department has not accepted the complaint until you pay the costs yourself, Mr. Akim."

"How is that supposed to work, the guy checked whether my bank account is in debt and I don't have a residence. How is that supposed to work then?"

"As I said, our department has checked and you no longer meet the criteria. You have 48 hours to pay the administration fee for it to go through. "

"Uh-huh, thanks." 

He hung up. 

Tapped the table and his file popped up and his bank account. In the account, the debt was gone and a whopping 2 points. In his citizen file, he was registered in Hawaii.

"There you go, playing the game...."

He clicked on the current housing offer, scrolled through the list, found a house in an outlying area of the main island that was abandoned. He grinned.

"Ah capitalism, always a fine thing," looked at the amount, transferred some money from his alien bank account and bought. 

He zapped his way down, according to the files, this had once been a health resort before the pandemic, then converted into houses on a grand scale and abandoned after the last wave due to demand. Bought by a millionaire, renovated so that it was an estate with a large plot of land. 

Looked at the house, registered at the entrance. Then saw the reason why it was abandoned, one of the outbreaks had taken place here. They had cleaned up, but the rich avoided that sort of thing. There was base power, he went to a wall terminal, activated it, set the system to his liking and zapped back to the moon. 

Ned looked at him, croaked.

"Oh, just for fun, I'll put you on my access list, Ned."

She raised an eyebrow.

"It's got a private beach and you wanted to get in the ocean down there anyway."

She croaked. 

Luke pulled up the access credentials to his Earth account, made sure he was the only one with access. He zapped down, rummaged around the house, found a few points slips, pocketed them. Zapped to the nearest cash terminal and cashed them in, he had a plus of 200k. After zapping back, hired a few companies to get the system in shape.

 Went to a VIP scandal lawyer so that the media would take him off the program. And then sat down on a semi-circular sofa in his new house, grinning.

"Something different," he lit a fag and switched on the TV. It was full of crap, especially about him. He looked at the pictures from the press conference. 

"Ah, the beard looks good on me," he stroked it.

Turned it off, walked through the house, found a storage room with weapons from before the breakout, Luke picked one up, examined it. Put it back and continued roaming the house. 

The next day, the technicians and gardeners arrived to start repairs. Luke looked around and destroyed John's muck. Another day passed and someone rang the bell at the gate of the property. 

Luke went over and Bettina stood in front of the gate, scowling at him. Luke stopped just out of reach.

"Yeah officer what's the problem? "

" Let me in."

" No. The last time I did you a favor, how can I put it? Didn't go well."

She rolled her eyes.

" What? You guys are in arrogant mode all the time. Oh Luke don't be like that, oh Luke it's not our fault, oh Luke come crawling on all fours. How did you even know I was there?"

"Because John's been mad at you for days. He saw your name on Poppen when you bought this shit and he cursed you out because he couldn't figure out where you got the money."

"All blood money, so what do you want?"

She looked at him.

" I want peace to finally reign."

Luke put his head on one side.

" Hhmm, I gave my grandfather my terms and a sincere apology."

"What kind of terms?"

" Debt off, my non-existent status and that they can't get my gene code."

" Those two are scared Luke."

" Scared? Of who?"

" Of you? Do you know what you did to those guys in the parking lot?" 

He lit a cigarette.

" Sure. I rammed one into a car, others too and crippled the main idiots. So what should they be afraid of? "

"Alex barely won against Sarge and the other two a couple months ago, barely, and you're sweeping them away like toys."

He blew a cloud aside. 

" Ah, control it is. Tell those two I just want my peace. I have battlegrounds to push me to my limits."

He looked at her.

" I'm really sorry, they should take you home..." came from her.

" Well then..." 

He opened the gate and let her in. A blond mop of hair scurried after Bettina. Luke grabbed her by the collar of her hoodie. Bonnie grinned at him.

"Hi Luke!" 

Bettina looked at her.

" So much you're waiting in the car..."

" Mom! I can't! Or I'll piss my pants!" She looked at Luke.

"Ehh, can I use the restroom? " 

Luke sighed and let go of her. 

"Third door on the left." 

She hurried inside. He closed the door and went in. Bettina followed him.

"Why did you buy this piece of junk now?"

" It was cheap and has a private beach and pisses John off. " 

" The house is used by gangs as a base ."

He looked at her.

" If they get over the electric fence, respect . "

" You have an electric fence?"

Luke nodded and sat down on the sofa.

" Yep. The previous owner invested quite a bit here. "

Bonnie came back.

"Brr Luke, you don't have any hot water."

He took a drag on the fag.

" I didn't turn the boiler on. "

" Really? Why?"

Luke grinned.

"Don't feel like it. Then why are you hanging out at your mom's? "

" Internship at the university."

" I thought you were in the army."

Bonnie grinned. 

" Yep. Then they didn't extend my time and I got a place at uni. Luke, why didn't you ever go to uni?"

He blew out a cloud. 

"I did go to one, but I pushed through more. Fast courses, degree. So you'd have something your dad could use."

"See mom, it's a good thing I didn't listen to dad and picked something out myself."

Bettina rolled her eyes.

There was a screech in Luke's pocket and he reached in, his communication crystal buzzing.

"That too. "

"Eh Luke... what's that?" came from Bonnie.

" Hhmm a cell phone so to speak." He pushed to the side and threw the crystal into the air in front of him, where it began to float.

A holo window opened. In it appeared the regent, sitting on her throne and looking annoyed, from her face and the color of her skin.

"That's not Niktar 6!" 

Luke grinned and took a drag on his cigarette.

" Yeah... was made by trade..."

" Blah blah blah, you should come here."

"I need to sort something out with the family here."

She tapped her finger on the arm of the chair.

"I see, and what's that there?"

" My domicile, isn't that nice?"

" Ha! But while you're sitting there. Activate the marker anchor, time shifts are annoying."

He blew out a cloud.

"Maybe."

" No, you activate it. "

" I'll see what I can do. I missed the gala night then, yeah? "

She scowled at him.

"Yes, you did. We'll talk about it some more and you shave!"

"Maybe I'll shave Teheen ..."

She leaned forward.

"You know the rules here, Luke."

The window went out and the crystal floated back to Luke, who put it in his pocket.

" Uh... Luke..." came from Bonnie. He looked at her.

"Yes?"

"What was that?"

He looked at her.

"Oh, a video call. "

"Yeah, and that chick there?"

" Hm, the empress, I'm on her payroll. She's not so much into the trade alliance, considered an effeminate lot. "

Bettina pulled herself together.

"Why does she know our language?"

"She's bored and thinks our language is perfect for getting on the nerves of others at her court. "

"And what does she mean by time?"

" Hhmm the solar system rotates slower than the core system. "

" So you've been gone longer than we thought?"

" Yup." He took another drag on his cigarette and looked at them both. Bonie looked around.

" Luke, since when do you have an entertainment projector?" she pointed to several bulges in the walls and ceiling. 

"Must be from the previous owner. " He got up and went to the terminal in the wall. 

"Let's see, heating on, power on, security on, water on," he scrolled through the list. 

"Oh here, that's right, that was modern 50 years ago," Bonnie slid in next to him.

"Click on the security system.

"But it's old, Luke, any fool with a bit of experience can crack it."

Luke looked at Bettina.

"This thing is a masterpiece..." 

" I see." 

He put the terminal back on standby. Bonnie looked at Luke.

"You need to update it."

" Where are you with your work?"

Bonnie groaned.

" It's not far," came from Bettina.

" Yeah, because you're just using me to sit around and fill things out. Every time I wanted to know about security systems, no Ai blocked me..." 

"Hhmm!" 

He blew out a cloud. Bettina handed him his watch and cell phone.

"Yours."

Luke looked at both, but only took the cell phone.

" I have a watch."

" But it's still a high-tech watch."

He looked at his, on his wrist.

" Sure. Mine too, I got it for my service as a guard. Made of metal, which we don't have, shows the time on site, no matter where I am, weather too."

"But no access to the system."

He grinned. 

He activated the cell phone, to his surprise there were no messages on it. He clicked on menu for system, where he was taken to the citizen system. 

"So that's what it looks like." Bonnie looked at it.

" Wow, that's pretty thinned out." 

He dialed his mother's number. She answered.

" Luke?" she said, surprised and tired at the same time.

" Hi mom, Bettina gave me my cell phone back. "

"Where are you right now? No one's saying anything."

" I'm in Hawaii, Mom, after checking in here."

" Here? Where are you? I can find your old ..."

"I found something, Mom, thanks for the offer. I found a place to stay, a bit run down but yeah. "

" Luke, Dad really wanted to come, but John stopped him and then the press conference.... "

" Yeah, got me a lawyer to make my face disappear. " 

" Honey..."

" Don't worry about it, mom. "

" Can ... I visit you?"

" Sure. I'll send you my address. " 

" Thank you."

She hung up.

" Will you call your mother?" came from Bonnie.

" Sure." 

He looked at Bettina.

" How many guns am I allowed to have as a civilian?"

" One or two, since you have a license, two."

" hhmm "

"Why are you asking questions like that?"

" Oh, I found a few in the house."

Bettina sighed.

"If they have a chip, you have to enter them into the system. If they're weapons without a chip, they're considered relics or collector's items because there's no more ammunition for them."

"Good to know. "

"If you show them to me, I can classify them on the spot."

"Okay." He led them both to the armory he had found. Bettina looked at them.

" They're all junk Luke. They might have been usable 60 years ago, but they're rusty, some of them are broken."

" Hmm."

" They're only good for looking at. " 

" Too bad, I like this one," he reached for the pistol he had his eye on first.

" Yeah, it's a nice piece too, before the first outbreak it was just a chav gun because it was glorified in movies. Maybe if you repair it you can use it, and otherwise from the weapons here," she pointed to a shotgun. 

"You can easily repair that too. There's also alternative ammunition, because they're still used for hunting mutant animals. And what's in there?"

She pointed to the sports bags thrown into the corner.

"I don't know, the cleaning crew put it in here when they were cleaning a few rooms, said it was lying around in a dirty room."

She went over and opened a bag and looked at him doubtfully.

"Do you know what this is?"

"Nah, I was busy exploring."

She pulled out several packets.

"Drugs Luke."

" Aha, you can keep them. "

" I have to take these with me."

" Bonnie, you help me carry them, we'll go straight to headquarters, then you can familiarize yourself with them too."

Bonnie groaned.

They carried the bags to their cars and drove off.