Chapter 185 – Object Insertion

“There are all sorts of enchantments for weapons, tools, vanity items and so on, but have we ever thought about everyday things? There has to be a market for highly efficient and durable appliances or technology, right? I bet people would spend a little more if it meant their stuff would last longer and work better.” – LG intern just not understanding ‘planned obsolescence’.

“Ok, I think we have everyone and everything.” Kurt said and looked around. He wanted to do one last visual check before he started. He also wanted to get out of the rather breezy hospital gown he was wearing as fast as possible.

Kurt was in one of the Order’s surgical observation rooms that he had only vaguely been aware of before then. The hallway for the surgical wing of the medical center was on the way to where he normally went for mandated check-ins. When he asked Penny for a place to experiment with the implant, she had booked the resources for him and Jay ensured it was confidential.

In the room with Kurt was his full team, Jay, Anna and an elf he had never met before, who was apparently a healer based on the white robe he wore. Laid out on a tray near the exam table were his tools and the parts of the implants. On the counter behind that were ten more sets of the implants in individual sterilized containers. Each one was labeled but only his and the girls had names while the rest had labels designating them for Jay’s teams.

“Are you completely sure you want to do this now?” Jay asked. “I could probably round up someone from interrogations to use as a lab rat.”

Turning a look of disgust and horror at his boss, Kurt answered. “No. No, I don’t want to torture someone with an experimental medical procedure. Why would you even offer that?”

Jay clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Because, you dumbass, I care about your wellbeing more than theirs. If I have to expend a hundred lives of Order prisoners that are about to be converted to undead servants anyway, then it’s worth it even if every attempt is a failure.”

It was an incredibly selfish and pragmatic point of view. Kurt wanted to refute it but saw the girls all nodding in agreement. Even Anna seemed to take their boss’s side as she shrugged and returned her attention to the checklist she was holding.

“Point taken but the answer is still no.” Kurt said. “Besides, if something goes horribly wrong you can just cut the leg off and it will grow back on its own.”

The elf doctor, who had been sitting quietly in a confusion induced silence, raised his hand. “Umm. That’s not how biology works for elves or half elves.”

“Werewolf.” Kurt raised his hand in answer while turning to the tray of prepared implants.

They all saw the look of confusion on the elf’s face turn to disgust as he realized Kurt was a hybrid. “How disg-“

Jay shoved a pamphlet into the elf’s face, nearly slapping him with it and cutting off his unsolicited opinion. “Read this, then talk.”

They all waited for the elf to read through the trifold pamphlet. Once again, they had the interesting experience of watching his expression go from annoyed, through interested and finally stopping at understanding with a hint of embarrassment.

“My apologies. This has… this has been an interesting discovery.” The elf said while tapping the pamphlet. “May I keep this and share it with a few others in the clinic? It might help prevent some unfortunate biases.”

Waving his hand, Jay agreed. “Go ahead. If you think of anyone else that might be in need of it to prevent any issues with servicing my teams, let me know.”

Kurt clapped his hands together, drawing everyone’s attention. “Right, now that is settled, let’s get on with it.” He slid on a pair of surgical gloves, for a reason he didn’t fully understand but felt it was right, then picked up a small wand.

Everyone watched as Kurt aimed the wand at his thigh and triggered it. The wand was a derivative of his stun wands that would lock someone up, freezing them in place. This one would numb a certain location until a counter spell was cast or it wore off after a few hours.

The next thing he did was pick up the control device and set the dial to ‘0’. After that he placed the Interface on the back, aimed it at his thigh and pressed the button to ‘place’ the Interface. There wasn’t much of a sound or other effect other than his leg twitched slightly.

Even with the numbing, Kurt felt a slight movement. It was more like someone had jostled his leg than anything. A moment later, the elf came over and cast a spell that looked a lot like one Jay had used before, summoning a sort of window that he hovered over Kurt’s leg.

After some adjustment to the spell and moving his leg, the elf nodded. “Looks like it set perfectly. Exactly in the middle of the femur with no appreciable gaps.”

“Great.” Kurt said as he picked up the numbing wand and moved his thumb over the counter spell activation rune. “Now to see how much pain there is.”

When he triggered the wand, Kurt had the unpleasant sensation of feeling slowly returning to his leg. It was like when he had fallen asleep in an odd position and a hand or arm was ‘asleep’. The tingling sensation that crawled down from his hip to his knee was distinctly unpleasant but not painful.

After that sensation faded, Kurt found that he couldn’t feel much at all. He sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the table and gently stood up, Kristi stepping over to assist him if needed.

When weight settled on his leg, Kurt had been expecting some pain but found that there wasn’t any, almost like the implant had always been there. He took a few experimental steps and walked a lap around the room but didn’t notice any changes. Another quick look from the elf showed that the tube had seated itself exactly as predicted.

“Alright, next step.” Kurt declared as he climbed back up on the table.

He took the storage ring from its case and placed it on the control tool’s hook. He twisted the dial to ‘1’ and hit the place button. He felt a brief pinching sensation but nothing else as the spell took effect and the ring vanished. A moment later, the stinging pain he was feeling receded to nothing and he looked to Val.

“Ball please.” He said and held out his hand.

Val took the tennis ball he had brought out of her ring and tossed it to him. Kurt caught it and focused like he would with the storage ring he left on the counter with his clothes. A moment later the ball vanished, stored in the ring that was now securely fixed on the Interface. He resummoned it and tossed it back to Val

“The gen three ring works better than expected.” Kurt noted. “Much more intuitive and faster.”

Jay made a noise that sounded halfway between a grunt and a laugh. “Hard to believe when the second version is already so amazing.”

Kurt then went through the process of implanting each of the remaining rings in quick order. After installing the last of the battery rings, he did a test of removing one at random. He picked the first battery as a test and confirmed it came out and went back in just fine. He wanted to use a ring in the middle to see if there were any problems with the blending enchantment he placed on the Interface.

The medical elf who was watching the proceedings was growing more and more flustered by what he was seeing. “How is this actually possible? It must have taken years to enchant all this.”

“Not quite.” Jay corrected him. “Turns out the enchanters guild was a little shady and intentionally restricting its members to limited production.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Control the supply, control the market.” Kurt said, simplifying the myriad of reasons that an organization would do something like that. “Alright, Val, it’s your turn.”

Kurt had done a few laps and exercises around the room to get the feel of the implant. It wasn’t terribly off-putting but there was a noticeable difference in how his leg moved after adding extra weight, slight as it may be. He couldn’t tell if there was any size difference, but he wasn’t exactly measuring his thighs at that moment.

“Are you sure…” Val began to hedge and looked to Kristi. “H-hey!”

Ever supportive of her lovers, Kristi put her hand on Val’s back and shoved her toward Kurt. “Just get it over with while we have a healer here in case something goes wrong.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll use the numbing wand for the whole thing.” Kurt said while lifting her up to the table and retrieving his next box with Val’s sterilized implants.

Val eyed the parts critically. “You know that I would prefer you stick a different rod in me, right?”

Looking over to Kristi, Kurt was surprised when she shrugged. “I’m gonna let her have this one.”

Taking that as permission, Val immediately perked up. “I know you like to take your time, but I wouldn’t mind if you stuff that thing in me and fill me up quickly.”

“Don’t push it.” Kristi warned, her eyes flicking to the elf whose ear tips were turning rather pink.

Kurt snorted and triggered the numbing wand. “This might be the only time I brag about being fast when giving you some attention.”

Val whined at the sensation of suddenly not feeling her leg anymore. “Hnnnmm. Just had a flashback to the last time you numbed my leg. Hope I don’t ‘leak’ again.”

“You’ll be fine.” Kurt assured but secretly wondered if it would be an issue. He was pretty sure it wouldn’t but pretty sure wasn’t 100% certain. “Just look that way and it will be over before you know it.”

“That’s what he said.” Anna coughed and grinned, her ears flicking in amusement.

“AHA, Nice!” Val laughed as she turned to look at the opposite wall.

Working quickly, Kurt implanted the Interface and all ten rings she was getting in a matter of a couple minutes. The healer stepped in a moment later and cast a quick spell over the affected area before pulling up his examination screen.

“That regeneration spell was because she doesn’t have your natural regeneration.” The elf said before giving Val the green light to get up and walk around. “Her natural regeneration is pretty good but not by lycantropic standards.”

After getting the counterspell to the numbing wand, Val got down and went to walk around, gingerly testing her weight on the leg before taking full steps. Kristi replaced her and was much less squeamish about the procedure than their mate had been. After Kristi went Rindi, which led to the next question of how good the Interface’s resizing enchantment was.

“Alright, we are going to do yours slowly. I don’t expect a problem, but your femur is noticeably larger than ours are.” Kurt explained while prepping her parts like a mechanic laying out his tools for a job. He still had to test his while shifting but assumed it would be fine since it was the same resizing enchantment as his other items.

Rindi’s hand brushed his arm and she stared at him intently. “I trust you.” She inhaled sharply as her hand touched him and her pupils went through their rapid dilations again before they settled down. “I am all yours.” She nearly whispered before lying back on the exam table

That was a strange thing for Kurt to hear. After his impromptu talk with Val over the last weekend, the words held a certain implication. He knew that she meant it in that way too as the tigress hadn’t exactly been subtle about her intentions over the past few days.

She hadn’t been intrusive either. To Kurt, it was more like she was finally taking what was offered. The way she went about it was like someone who had been given a pack of cookies and held off on opening them. Now she was finally enjoying the delayed treat…just his personal space was the cookie.

Still, regardless of any confectionary analogy, Kurt proceeded with implanting the Interface, checking to make sure it was done correctly with the help of the attending doctor. Everything went as expected and the size of the devices adjusted as necessary to fit Rindi’s thicker femur.

“Great stuff, Kurt.” Jay said and clapped his hands in a soft round of applause after he had finished confirming nothing was wrong with any implant. “Now, on to our next stop. Thank you, Foris, for the oversight and your discretion.”

The previously unnamed elf nodded respectfully. “An interesting and unique experience as always, mister Jay.”

“Umm, what next stop?” Kurt asked as they collected their things and followed the daemon out into the hall. “I thought this was all we were doing.” Penny and Anna had peeled off, heading back to the Earth Operations Division, leaving just the agents with Jay.

“There are a few things you need to pick up and some people I want you to meet.” Jay said but otherwise remained silent as he led them to a part of the Order none of them had been to before. He led them to a gated hallway with a sign that read “Production – Precision Machining – Enchanting – Chemical.”

Apparently the ‘production’ area of the Order was restricted, even for their teams, and Jay had to take them through some additional checks with internal security before they were allowed in. They passed through the sets of security checks, then a long hallway before passing through another set of double doors and entering a rather strange area.

What they stepped into looked like a typical school shop class had been put in a box with a machine shop and a smithy before someone shook the box to make sure everything was evenly distributed. The person then dumped that box into a large room and tried to add infrastructure to the mess. The result was a chaotic amalgamation of agriculture, industry, craftsmanship and science that was hard to describe.

“What the hell is this place?” Kristi wondered aloud, craning her neck to stare at the massive lengths of bar stock that were being lifted off some sort of small cargo train.

Val pulled her back against the wall as a golf cart zipped past, pulling a wagon load of people along behind it. “I would assume the Order’s production facility. But I’m just guessing based off the sign on the door.”

Jay waved his hand, gesturing at the open area and the various halls and doors leading from it. “This is part of our internalized production facility. We make a variety of things in house for internal use and have been expanding recently.”

“Enchanters.” Kurt guessed.

“Exactly.” Jay confirmed before pointing to a set of doors on their left. “We are going that way.”

They followed Jay along like a row of ducklings as he had them all swipe their badges on the card reader before moving into the next hall.

After the door closed, the general clamor of industry was replaced with an eerie silence and a large hall with open doors and windows on both sides. That silence was quickly broken as the person at the desk right beside the door cleared her throat.

“Ahem, are you here for a reason or just gawking?” The orc asked in a slightly nasal voice, causing them to turn to her. “Ah, apologies mister Jay. I didn’t see you there.” She adjusted the large set of glasses perched on her wide, crooked, obviously broken then poorly set nose. Rounding out the visual incongruity was that she was wearing what looked like slacks and a cardigan over a silk blouse. It looked like someone had taken a gladiator and turned them into a librarian.

“Quite alright, Amy. We are visiting a few of the people we hired in last year.” Jay said. “I know the rooms, so I’ll show them down.”

“Very good, mister Jay.” Amy said. “I will put you down on the check in as having brought four guests with you.”

Jay smiled and waved over his shoulder as he began walking. “A pleasure as always, Amy.”

The group followed after their boss, peering into the slightly opaque windows that blurred the sights and people within. The sight was beyond strange, as they could see people within the rooms but couldn’t hear anything as they passed.

It was only after passing over a dozen of the silently occupied rooms that Jay stopped at one and pressed a button beside a sign which had the number ‘15’ written in several languages. Kurt saw a light flash a few times through the obscuring window before the person within moved to the door and opened it.

Accompanying the door opening, and the sight of a human man standing there, was a blast of music that made them all wince. The sudden introduction of a loud noise in a formerly silent space was bad enough but the sound of what seemed to be phonk mixed with some sort of stringed instrument made it unbearable.

The man himself was of middling height, rather heavy set with dark skin and absolutely no hair on his head, except for some rather bushy eyebrows. His clothes were mostly obscured by a stained, short-sleeved smock that seemed to be doubling as a shop apron, with a variety of tools and pencils sticking out of the pockets.

“Oh, sorry!” The man yelled and tapped something beside the door. “Sorry, sorry. I normally don’t have guests and didn’t think about the music.”

Jay, who was rubbing at his ear with a finger grit his teeth in a facsimile of a smile. “Quite alright, Tenvis. We dropped in on you a little early.”

Tenvis only then looked past Jay and saw the rest of the group standing there. “IT’S YOU!” He crowed and threw himself at Kurt and Val, grabbing their hands and shaking them in his best paint mixer impersonation. “I can’t believe it, and the third one is here!” He noticed Kristi standing behind Val and seized her hand to shake.

“Umm, hi. Nice to meet you…” Kurt floundered as the man came back around for another hand shake.

“Guys, this is Tenvis, he is one of our new hires here at the Order. He and his colleagues are the ones you rescued from the enchanters guild. They are now ‘willfully’ employed by the Order.” Jay explained and stressed that they were here completely of their own volition.

Continuing, Jay gave a little context for Tenvis. “You seem to remember Kurt, Val and Kristi who were part of the raid that liberated you. Rindi is the tall one and is one of the other agents on Kurt’s team. She is new so didn’t get a chance to participate on that.”

Smiling and gesturing to his shop, Tenvis stepped to the side. “Please, come in. No need to stand about in the hall.”

They entered the workshop which looked like it was laid out by jeweler, who also did woodworking, was trying to decide which type of welding equipment he wanted for his fiberglass business. Kurt recognized many of the tools on the various benches and noted that the large space only appeared cluttered because of the various large items on the mobile workbenches.

Tall ceilings arched overhead with track lighting angled to point at the benches from various directions. At the far end of the space was what looked like a small section of dirt and some sort of vent hood that loomed over it.

The walls of the room were not bare, however. Anywhere that wasn’t windows was covered in poster sized prints of various vistas. Mountains, streams and all manner of scenic locations were taped and framed on the walls. Even the cabinets had pictures on the doors that looked like someone had gone through an REI advertisement catalogue.

“Tenvis here is scribe enchanter who is rather talented and passionate about… what was it again?” Jay asked, trailing off as he introduced the man.

“I call them ‘quality of life enchantments’.” Tenvis said, passing his hand through the air like he was putting up a billboard. “Things that, while not needed, make life much more bearable.”

“Yeah, that.” Jay said. “I was thinking he might have some goods that you would be interested in. He has been selling very well in the markets, and his products are very popular for certain ‘missions’.”

Kurt immediately understood why Jay was bringing them here, besides for a little humanizing and the reality check. “Really? Well, can you show me what you have been making?”

“AH! Lately I have been focused on the more outdoorsy and adventurous types of customers.” Tenvis began. “I had a passion for camping and some of my first enchantments were carved and whittled beside the camp fire. Thanks to you, I can even do those things again…” He trailed off while staring at one of the posters.

“I would recommend Earth, not much magical presence there and very little guild activity.” Jay added from the side where he was flipping through a binder on a table.

Tenvis nodded once as he began bustling around the shop. “I will keep that in mind, mister Jay.” He then opened one of the wall cabinets and pulled out what looked like a rifle case with the word ‘Deluxe’ on the side. “I am most proud of this. It is a very popular item when I put them up for sale and I think you will like it.”

Kurt very much agreed he would like anything in a case like that and he walked around the tables to stand beside the shorter man as he popped the latches. Tenvis flipped the top of the case over and stepped back to let him see the item. When the case opened, Kurt was initially disappointed then confused.

“What exactly is it?” Kurt asked as he looked at what appeared to be an overgrown beach umbrella. The mottled tan and brown pattern appeared to be nylon, but it had several lengths of green rope wrapped around it and a flat base where the handle should be but instead had a short spike sticking out. The base also had a silver button that looked like a little countertop bell.

“Let me show you!” Tenvis was practically shaking in excitement as he scooped the item up and walked over to the back of the shop where the dirt patch was.

The enchanter grasped the umbrella and drove the 2-inch spike into the ground in the center of the dirt patch then tapped a silver button on the base with his foot. He stepped back and they waited until, a couple seconds later, the entire thing began unraveling.

The various ropes unwrapped and flung themselves outward, stretching farther than they should before suddenly burying their metal ends into the ground. The canvas followed them, billowing out as the center pole shot upward. After barely more than a few seconds, with a flap and a click, the entire ensemble was transformed into a tent.

Where there had once been a small, 4-foot-tall umbrella thing, there was now a pavilion-style tent. Its peak looked to be about 7 feet tall while the side walls were about 6 feet in height. There was a flap-style opening directly facing Tenvis and he turned around to look at Kurt, a big grin on his face.

“That’s quite the tent.” Kurt said, smiling at the very impressive bit of enchanting.

Tenvis shook his head, still smiling. “But wait, there’s more!” Billy Maze’s magical imitator then pointed to the flap and ducked inside.

Kurt and the girls shared a look before he shrugged and followed, stooping through the short door and moving aside in the…large space? As they entered, he noticed that the inside was not as dark or crowded as he had expected. He couldn’t help but stare in amazement at the sight. The space had not only been spatially expanded but also heavily modified.

While there was still a central pole, now much larger in diameter, it wasn’t the only change. The walls appeared made of some sort of wood panel that had the same tan and brown color as the outside. Above them the ceiling had lifted to at least 9 feet with built in lighting. The floor was also wood planks rather than dirt and had a slightly springy nature.

Amazingly it wasn’t one big room either, having been divided with three rooms at the back behind actual doors. The area they stood in was what appeared to be the entrance, which separated a kitchen and dining area from a lounge area. There wasn’t any furniture, but it was his best guess based on the cabinets and basin sink he saw on one side.

Grinning at their shocked looks, Tenvis stepped back into the middle of the space. “Can I offer you a tour?”