Nick soon found himself nicely accommodating to his new position. Customers’ visits were regular and consistent, while no real problems had impeded the young masseur. He found himself quite happy here. Cornucopia provided almost everything he required and then some, but one could expect something like that from the beating heart of the galactic community.

"THERE YOU ARE!!!" but just like Sequoia, there were strange clients as well.

The door into the parlor opened, revealing a short female alien, whose finger accusingly pointed at the chilling Nick. A quick assessment of the guest gave some insight into her species.

"Welcome to the "In Human Hands" parlor." politely spoke the man, putting on his serviceable demeanor. "Do you have an appointment?"

"IT WILL BEGIN IN TEN MINUTES, BUT BEFORE THAT…" she belonged to the Grem'No, a species of technological geniuses and, which is more often, tech-nutjobs. These gremlin-like experimenters had petite bodies, covered in colorful fur, long pointy ears, and nimble little fingers. Big orange slit-pupiled eyes drilled into the masseur like a pair of industrial lasers. "... YOU ARE A CHEATER!!!!!!"

"Pardon?"

"I KNOW YOU CHEATED!!!" another very prominent feature of Grem'No was heavy augmentation. These creatures liked technology so much, that they used copious amounts of cybernetics. This one, for example, had both hands, both legs, and part of the head replaced by advanced implants. "NO ONE CAN PLAY "PARTY CITADEL 2" THAT WELL!!!!!!"

Nick tilted his head a bit. He was playing that game last evening for fun and was quite successful in it. He also remembered a pretty salty player there, who constantly died to his PC. Poor bastard was constantly raging and kept mindlessly trying to get revenge, only to be yeeted again.

"Wait, are you BeStGiRl69 by any chance?" ventured the masseur, glancing at the ticking clock.

"IN FLESH!!!" she was still pissed, but now the wounded pride was added to the mix. "I SPENT AN ENTIRE DAY LOOKING FOR YOU!!! NOW, SHOW ME THAT COMPUTER OF YOURS!!!"

"Fine, be my guest. Here you go~" Bourbon Jr. unlocked his PC and turned it towards the alien. She quickly climbed onto the chair and began meticulously checking what she found important. Specifically, the game engine and files in it. And while she was at it, Nick slowly prepared everything for the job.

Seven minutes later...

"Uuuuuuuuuuu~~~" female Grem'No was pouting so hard that human began worrying if she was going to explode in a minute or two. She felt incredibly embarrassed and even angrier now. "No... cheat... programming..."

"Since my innocence is proven, why don't we start the massage?" asked Nick, stretching his fingers again.

"I WON'T ACCEPT DEFEAT!!!" she yelled, again pointing at him. "I CHALLENGE YOU RIGHT HERE AND NOW!!!"

"Challenge to what exactly?"

"You are a massage guy, right?! Provide me with the best massage and I shall accept defeat! Fail and we will play games!!!"

"Okay. Let’s get started then."

The alien girl quickly scrambled onto the table, which immediately adjusted to her small form. She calmed down a bit, now looking quite smug. Grem'No acted quite confident in her bet since cybernetics weren't exactly living tissue and were full of nerves to stimulate. And while her torso remained majorly organic, limbs were also important parts to relax, since they directly perform most of the daily choirs.

But Nick knew what to do in this case.

"Ahhhh! What is that?!" smugness was immediately replaced with shock as human hands, dressed in special gloves, embraced her left cyberhand. Confused eyes jumped from the smiling man to the limb she carefully touched. "What are you doing?!"

"Feeling good, right? These are Electrosensoric Gloves. They were made when researchers were attempting to improve the working output of robotic workers. These things stimulate and optimize your neural connections that allow your cybernetic implants to work. That includes imitating the real feelings that only organics can experience."

"Really?! Oh cogs, I had never felt life in them since that accident! Are these for real?! Uhhh, why is this so good?!"

Careful and thorough, the masseur did the same procedure for all of her mechanical limbs. Voltana, as she named herself spontaneously, was moaning and twitching from pleasure, despite refusing to believe her implants weren’t just pieces of high-tech metallurgy. And when human began dealing with her torso, she apparently climaxed. This was hard to tell visually since her elastic black suit covered majority of her furry body, but Nick could tell when girls genuinely reached their peak. Well, he tried.

"I am done. Do you feel better now?"

"Yes... I..." Voltana collected herself, looking a bit down. She was on the verge of tears but managed to swallow those and muttered: "I admit... my defeat. But only today! We'll meet again..."

"We can play together if you’d like." Nick walked up to his computer and loaded the aforementioned game. Several buttons clicked and female Grem'No received a message on her dataslate. It was a friend’s request.

Voltana stared at it with honest surprise, before meekly hiding the dataslate, so that the human masseur couldn't see how she silently pressed "Accept". After paying up, the little cyborg left without a single word. All that time she held her mechanical arms like she just found out about their existence.

"There is definitely history behind those..." Nick wondered sympathetically, clearing the place again.

"Huh?" at the end of the day, upon returning from the shop with groceries, Nick noticed a lone alien standing in front of his parlor. It was already past the closing hour, so seeing someone here was a bit weird. Obviously, the station never fell asleep completely. When some aliens slept, others were active. Same as Earth, really. "Excuse me, can I help you?"

The alien in question was a female Crustia, a member of the sedentary species of sentient crustaceans. While having relatively humanoid form, her torso became wider as it went up, reminding him of the actual Earth-born crabs. A solid or segmented shell covered her body in all places, but remained dynamic enough for the owner to move around easily. The small head was partially fused with the body armor, but still retained some rotation, and was also endowed with a solid piece of natural protection. A pair of eyes didn't stick out like they should've been, but Nick knew that those were retractable.

"I suppose..." she turned to him on two strong, equally armored legs, while also showcasing her four upper limbs that ended with magnificent and powerful pincers. Thanks to the translator, the human masseur could easily understand this alien, even when her mouth opened up into six segments with no apparent tongue. Her carapace had soft pink coloration. "...do you own this establishment?"

"Yes, my name is Nick Bourbon, masseur." the human introduced himself.

"Holdereen Proof, ground forces, stormtrooper squad." she clacked, moodily closing her eyes for several seconds. "I require the help of a professional masseur. But everywhere I went no one could help me. Your parlor is the last available."

"Hm, I see. Follow me then."

"But... aren't you already closed?"

"If it is that serious, I will make an exception. Lay down there, please."

Holdereen did as requested, while Nick turned on the lights and rummaged a bit in his supplies. There, he obtained a bioscanner. He would use it in case he encounters some new species or just to be sure if he is correct in using a specific technique.

"Please, tell me your problem," asked Nick, activating the visor. The image of the outer shell began dissipating, uncovering the meat, organs, and other stuff beneath.

"I am working as a squad's shield and a melee fighter. My pincers can both carry ballistic shields and attack. But despite my shell being very sturdy, even additional armor doesn't completely negate incoming damage." Holdereen's natural armor did carry a lot of scars. The majority were on the surface, while others had managed to form deep craters.

The inner examination has proven her aforementioned statement.

"You have a lot of muscular stress and minor tissue damage." slowly stated the human masseur, continuing the thorough examination. "Your species can't take regenerative stimulants or drugs at all unless it is absolutely necessary. And even then, they don't remove the accumulated stress. Crustia people aren't exactly designed to fight in modern battles."

Female Crustia looked at him with those oval eyes with surprise.

"How do you know all that?"

"PhD in Xenobiology comes in handy when dealing with alien bodies." masseur smiled kindly, before getting serious again. "We have a tricky situation here. Your entire body is both protected and caged. And unlike primitive crustaceans, your kin has muscles underneath that carapace. I bet other massage professionals found this out too, unable to do anything without appropriate technologies."

"So... you can't help me either?" Holdereen's head sadly went down, like that shell wasn't heavy-looking enough already.

"Oi!" he took her by the shoulders, forcing their eyes to meet. "If you are truly willing to try, I have an idea."

Nick spent some time in the storage, looking for a specific piece of tech that he remembered was mentioned in the inventory list. His client was calmly lying down, wondering what he meant by that "idea".

"Okay, let’s try this little beauties." human masseur eventually came out, wearing something that looked like two loudspeakers on his hands. Upon seeing confused expression on the client's face, Nick explained: "These are modified Resonators. Usually I use them to treat slime-like species, but with correct adjustments I can localize the vibrations and regulate their power. I think this will allow me to pierce your armor without harming it. Here, let's test it on your pincer muscles."

Woman extended her left, upper limb, allowing human to fix it in place and activate one of the Resonators. Low humming came out of the device, which began generating strong and stable vibrations.

"How do you feel?"

"That... feels good." her segmented mouth began to clatter, which was a way how Crustia expressed joy. Vibrations went right through her natural armor and affected the tissues directly, causing her nerves to feel a nice tingling.

"Looks like it’s working." smiled Nick, ready to start. "Leave it to me and tell if there is any discomfort."

The process was slow, but sure. Since what he did was a makeshift technique, the human masseur tried to be as careful as possible. The safety and well-being of his clients were a priority. Thanks to the bioscanner, he could easier pinpoint the untreated areas, but that still demanded a lot of focus. Resonators weren't fixed, so keeping them from bouncing away and shifting was very important - faulty treatment could only make more trouble.

"Phew... well... I don't see... anything else..." front side and limbs were easier than the back, sides, and head. Especially the sides - those parts had the toughest armor. Because of that, at the end of the procedure, Nick finally lowered his hands, feeling completely exhausted. But he forced himself to remain upright, in case he missed something. "How... do you... feel?"

For a moment, Holdereen remained preoccupied, carefully examining her body with pincers. But then she stood up and approached the masseur very closely. Female Crustia heartily hugged him, with all four pincers repeatedly tapping on each other behind Nick's back. She wasn't ugly by any means, but the up close man admitted that this alien girl is actually cute looking.

"!" and then her segmented mouth carefully extended and gently nibbled on Bourbon's lips, leaving a slightly salty aftertaste. Only later, when Holdereen paid and left without a single word, did he remember that this was how her kin expressed affection. Those injuries must've really bothered her to do something like that in return.

Nick was about to get quite full of himself after such success, but then he remembered that it was already past closing hour and it is better to get on with the supper, some relaxation, and, ultimately, good sleep. After all, he'll have to deal with Sequoia tomorrow again, since she made another appointment. Hopefully, it won't get weird...