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Journey Chapter Short Story

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"You don't come to work, you don't have a job. Is that hard for you to get through your head?" Drift clenched his fists, resisting the temptation to try slugging the overseer. For one thing, it wasn't going to get him any closer to rejoining the dock crew. And, looking at the overseer's faceplate, he'd probably crack the struts in his hand. Not worth it. He schooled his face into a mask of a properly deferential bot. "I'm sorry, sir. The rations I was given were contaminated, I couldn't stand to walk here." *The rations you distributed, fragger. Figure just cause you're paying us under the table you get away with feedings us slop.* Drift had been up all night, purging the bad fuel along with what little good fuel he'd had left in his …show more content…

And one tainted fueling and he'd lost all of that wealth. It was *hard* getting bots to hire someone with a criminal record, even if they did come to Dead End to recruit some day laborers. Drift ran through his options, but most of the usual customers had already made their hires for the month. They weren't going to come back unless one of their workers got crushed on the job or otherwise kicked it. After the hospital fiasco, he just didn't have any emergency reserves left. Drift let himself sit down against the wall and consider his options. His HUD was pinging relentlessly, letting him know that his late-night purge had emptied both his primary tank and his reserves and that henceforth energy would have to be cannibalized from the energon circulating in his frame. He'd have a few days before things got so bad he couldn't move, but there wasn't much he could do in that time. He could try begging, but the cops would be shifting him back to Dead End if he tried it anywhere people had Shanix to spare. Probably none too kindly, either. He liked to think he was too honorable to steal, but he was mostly too scared. The cops might ruffle you a bit for begging, but they'd rend you limb from limb if they caught you stealing from a decent bot. Drift contemplated the billboard hanging across the way, edges ratty and the paint discolored from the streaks of acidic rain. *There was always the

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