Stanley asked for help: Construction workers
Stanley walked to the door while Alex followed in his cat form. Just because it was most likely the construction workers sent by Handwitch didn't mean they would take chances.
When the door was opened, Stan got confirmation that these were the people sent by Handwitch.
Three burly men with long, pink noses stood at the door. Their heads were covered with hard hats, their hands looked strong, and they were tipped with sharp-looking claws. The skin that was visible under their dirk-caked clothes looked polka-dotted with dark bumps to the degree that their original skin color was impossible to identify.
The weirdest thing about them was that they all held parasails to shield them from the sun.
"Are you the construction workers Handwitch sent over?"
The man in the lead nodded. "Yes, we are the mole men. Handwitch said you had some things to ask us?"
"Yes, I do. Come on in, my name's Stanley." Stanley nodded before letting them in and bringing them to the kitchen table. As they sat down, Stanley looked at Alex.
"Hay, do you want to join the conversation?"
Alex looked at the group momentarily before shifting from his cat form to his base form.
"Hello, I'm Alex."
The three men raised their hands in greeting. "Hi Alex, I'm Star, that's Shrew, and he's Talpidae. Before you ask your questions, are you willing to hear how much we will do the job for?"
Stanley looked at them in surprise.
"I thought you wouldn't be able to give me a price until you saw the bunker?"
Star smiled at him. "Normally, yes. However, Handwitch said there was a cryo-system that could keep people in suspended animation built into the rear of the bunker and many computers. We would be willing to renovate everything in exchange for all that."
Alex then walked forward and folded his arms while shooting them a suspicious look. "Why would you do that?"
"Several reasons. First, lots of people want the casino to come back. Any work related to that will be discounted on principal.
"Two. We're hoping to use it to help with hibernation. With global warming an issue, we plan to use a low setting on the tubes to induce hibernation no matter the weather. With either a timer or some non-hibernating assistants, we will then wake up in the spring as usual.
"Third, the cooling system can also keep the tunnels near the volcano cool enough for us to live around it. It might even be able to keep the volcano itself cool enough to prevent an eruption from happening."
"Four. We have been trying to set up a system to monitor the location and levels of traffic of our tunnel systems for a while but have been having problems getting access to enough advanced computers to do that. We think those will be perfect for that."
Stan shared a look with Alex, who nodded.
"Ok, I'm ok with that. BUT! If I ever find out that you are using it to put ANYONE into status, I'm repossessing it. Got it?"
The mole men nodded, but Talpidae raised his hand. "What if someone has a terminal disease and wants to be put in cryo until a cure is found? Or someone sentenced to jail time asks to be frozen during it to have the time go by quicker?"
Alex thought a little before replying. "Ok, no using it on UNWILLING living things."
The moles all agreed, and Stan cleared his throat.
"Well, now that we settled that, I have a few questions for you. What is your experience with this kind of work?"
Star rolled his eyes and pulled out a folder of pictures from beneath his overalls before handing it to Stan.
"Mole men were the ones who made the original casino in the first place. We were also contracted to build the Crawlspace and expand the Mancaves, and we were the ones to teach the natives how to make them so they could move around the Valley without worrying about being eaten.
"Heck, the US Government hired us to make the Cheyenne Mountain Complex!"
Stanley was thoroughly impressed with the resume.
"Ok, you convinced me. I'll work here until 7, but Alex will go with you to the bunker."
Star nodded before turning to him. "Before we go, are you ok taking tunnels there? We don't like traveling above ground if we can avoid it. I know it must sound silly to surface dwellers, but being outside the chambers and tunnels fills us with dread. Most of us can't even muster up the courage to come to the surface, and those that do usually have to use these parasols to avoid looking up at the- thing up there! "
Stan and Alex both looked at them before Stan shot Alex a smile. "See, you're not alone in your fears! They feel the same thing you do!"
Alex shot Stan a dirty look before turning back to the mole men.
"Can I buy one of your parcels from you?"
Shrew shot him a smile before reaching into his sack and pulling out a spare.
"Consider it a gift from one suffering from Agoraphobia to another."
"Agoraphobia?"
"Fear of wide-open spaces. Very common among subterranean beings like us."
Stan shrugged before looking at the time.
"Geeze, is it that late already? I need to finish my lunch before getting back to work! Do you think you'll be alright going with them, Alex?"
Alex looked from the parasol in his hands back to the mole men.
"I think so, Stan."
Before they left the Shack, Star turned to Alex.
"OK, here's a suggestion that might help you with going outside a little. Imagine the clearing behind the Shack as just a big room. The trees bordering it are the walls, as is the Shack behind it. Just keep reminding yourself of that, and you should be fine. Ok?"
Alex nodded and took a few deep breaths.
The four rushed back towards a massive pit in the backyard, trying to escape the rain as fast as possible. Alex held the parasol above him as his life depended on it, keeping as much of him in its shade as possible. He was relieved to notice that the mole men were doing the same thing.
"So, are we using that pit over there?"
Star shook his head with a passion. "Absolutely not! That is an abomination to pits and caves everywhere! It's a shallow hole that either spits things out after 22 minutes or never again. The only things to consistently come out are living things.
"No, we are taking this tunnel."
He then touched a patch of ground 3 yards to the pit's left, and a trap door lifted to reveal a tunnel.
"In we go and out of this death trap of a place."
With that, all the mole men entered, and Alex followed soon after. None of them tried to hide their relief for being underground again.
Shrew then walked over to a large mine cart that appeared to be retrofitted with seats to be used as transportation. Above it was a sign attached to the tunnel ceiling: "HOLE 114 AND STANFORD'S LABSTANLEY'S HOUSE."
"Get in; we'll use this to get to the bunker."
After everyone piled in, Shrew pulled a lever, and the cart began to move. First slowly, then much faster.
"Where does this go?"
"Oh, we have a whole network of tunnels all over the valley for quick and covert travel. We subterraneans primarily use it, but a few topsiders will use it occasionally."
Alex held on as the cart continued to race across the tracks. He never moved so fast in his life! Part of him was beginning to regret this ride, but another part was enjoying it for some reason.
Eventually, it slowed down to a stop, and they all piled out. Above them was a sign that said, "CASINOSTANFORD'S HIDDEN BUNKER?"
"All right, let's prepare the parasols to go topside again. Hopefully, the first thing we can do is add an underground entrance to the place again."
Star then walked over to a tube on the wall with what looked like a pair of binoculars and looked into it.
"Handwitch is already there; let's head up and say hello."
He then pulled a rope hanging next to the tube, which raised part of the ceiling to let in the sunlight. The Moles climbed up a short ladder, followed by Alex. As soon as they reached the surface, they immediately pulled out their parasols and opened them to shield themselves from the sun.
"Hi, Handwitch. Can you open the bunker so we can talk underground where it's safe?"
Handwitch nodded and snapped her fingers, causing the hands waiting on the tree branch to activate it and have the stairway appear again.
The mole men and Alex watched in fascination as it descended into the ground, with Handwitch also enjoying the spectacle. Once it was done, they all began to descend the stairs.
"Ok, you're right, Handwitch. We are keeping this entrance. That was too cool not to use. After finishing this inspection, we are looking into how it was done to see if we can replicate it elsewhere."
After descending the outside and inside stairwells, they emerged in the bunker properly and began to survey it. The entry bunker portion was determined to be too small for an entry point, and plans were sketched up to expand it. When crawling through the tube, they all agreed to scrap it and make something more significant. The puzzle room was designated "move to the side and preserve; it is too cool to destroy." As for the observation room and cryo-chamber? They decided to remove the walls separating them and make it one big room.
While Star and Shrew examined the cryo-chamber in detail, Handwitch, Alex, and Talpidae stayed in the observation room. While Talpidae examined the computers, Handwitch placed a hand on Alex's shoulder.
"Hay, how are you holding up?"
Alex quickly shifted his face to Stan's so he could give her a 'comforting smile' before moving it back.
"I am doing a little better. Stan has been helping me adjust to life outside the bunker; I've made Stanford's underground lab my bedroom for now, I just found a massive network of tunnels outside of this bunker, and I found out that these mole men fear the same things I do."
The Handwitch smiled at him.
"That's nice to hear. If you feel up to it, I know where there is a "Stanford Sucks" meeting. It's where those who he has hurt gather to help each other cope. I think there are currently about 30 members."
Alex froze up for a few seconds before responding.
"Are there any meetings with fewer people? I don't think I'm up for a crowd that big yet."
"No worries, I am frenemies with one of them. I can ask if they will have a small meeting with three members?"
Alex swallowed before responding.
"Maybe, but only if we do it in the Shack. I'll talk to Stan to see if he is ok it. If not-"
Handwitch rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about Stanley; he will either ok it because he likes you or because he can charge them for using his space. Given his history with Ford, he might even join in himself."
Alex gave a small chuckle at that before there was a knock at the door. Handwitch opened it to allow Shrew and Star back in. They met up with Talpidae and huddled up to have a calm conversation. After a few minutes, they turned towards Handwitch and Alex.
"Ok, the computers are exactly what we think we need to set up our tunnel monitoring system. We'll write up a contract and bring it over to Stan and you to sign tomorrow around lunchtime again."
Handwitch smiled before turning to Alex again. "So you and Stan are ok with just trading the cryo-system and computers here in exchange for having this completely renovated?"
Alex nodded before shooting the mole men a look.
"Providing they don't use it to freeze unwilling creatures."
The mole men all nodded hurriedly at that. Handwitch chuckled before heading to the door.
"All right then. I'll see you tomorrow at the Shack. Are you coming with me, Alex?"
He gave her a nervous look. "Are you taking the tunnel or going on the surface?"
She stopped midstep before turning to face him. "I can take the tunnels if you want. Did they show you how to use the carts?"
"Not in any real detail."
"Ok, then how about we do it together? I can show you how to operate it. We can also schedule regular lessons so you can use it to get anywhere in the valley you want."
She then gave a small laugh.
"I might also give those lessons to Stan also, make it a bonding experience."
With that, everyone left the bunker and headed home. Three down one tunnel with the excitement of a profitable contract and two down the other with the joy and terror of driving lessons.
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I have decided to cap this series at 29 chapters, that way it will end with the year. I am not 100% happy with the in universe pasing and how I have been jumping from one idea to the next with no break, so when I do this again, I plan on setting up a timeline and outline from the start before writing my first chapter.
I have them all written up, and the final chapter is over 6k words.
I have a if you want to support me and my New Year's resolution of posting one fanfic of 2k words or more weekly. This is also being posted on , AO3, and Tumbler.
Remove all the spaces from the URLs to get them to work.
: : / / w w w . user?u=10132890
. c o m : : / / w w w . s/14051718/1/luz–appreciation–week–2022–from–1228248
AO3: : / / works/52823413/chapters/133608991
Tumbler: : / / w w w . blog/brianedner
I am also doing fanfic info dumps, like wiki articles that go one episode at a time, with some compilations at the end on specific topics sorted by episode.
Fanfic info dumps here: : / / w w w . 1228248/gallery
