A Displaced Samurai

I arrived back at Styx base, which was fortunately still in one piece. The repair drones had finished the “basement floor” in the tower for my future helipad, but now I had to think a bit before I made any hard to reverse mistakes.

My plan was to repurpose that first hall where we had come in, the one with the now caved in roof. The rear half where the ceiling was still up would be shored up with a new load bearing wall, details to be decided.

The front half would have a higher ceiling than before, with a large door towards the valley. Large as in “can walk in with a somewhat larger spider mech than Herbie”. I decided on four meters high and eight wide.

Outside an almost level platform was in my plans, with a ramp down into the valley going off to the side. From the platform, an eight meter long bridge would extend, ending in an octagonal 20x20 meter helipad. Large enough for a medium sized helicopter.

But planning was one thing, building another. The two Mack repair drones did decent work, but for the amount of building I was planning I wanted something faster. So I asked “Elya, I’m looking for some more capable building drones.”

May I suggest a somewhat wider catalog? The Defensive Structures catalog for 400 points offers construction drones, turret emplacements and pre-designed structures to be built by your drones. It could save you quite a bit of design work.”

That sounded tempting, and I could always review the designs later. But there was still the question of what drones to use. “What drones suitable for the actual construction work would be available? Something affordable is preferred, and it must be constructible with my current manufacturing resources.”

There is the Japanese BuildBot CRX 2030 ST. It is not entirely autonomous and would need some oversight, but I can do much of that work for you. The blueprint is fairly affordable at 800 points, as it is a class 0 drone with limited autonomy.

“Ok, let's get both the catalog and the drone blueprint.”

Unlocked: Defensive Structures

Price…400 points

Purchased: BuildBot CRX 2030 ST Mk I (Blueprint)

Price…800 points

New balance: One token and 3982 points

I manufactured two of them and put them to work. It turned out that there was still a lot of work to be done even with the mechanical helpers. Collect rocks and cut them into building blocks with Herbie. Feed the rock scraps and some other minerals into the recycler. Order Mack style fibercrete pre-mix from the fabricator and bring it to the building drones.

Fortunately, a Mack-type assembly drone I built ad hoc would do most of the work in carrying the materials around in the base. My collection of looted Mack blueprints was useful again, buying all the designs from the Protector side would still be unaffordable.

Also, Elya kept her promise to organize the drones for me. While they could not fly, the blueprint came with a clever scaffolding system the drones could use to erect their own scaffolds. It was fun to watch them at work.

August, Tuesday 1st, 2048

The structural work on the tower, helipad and the bridge was done. The Mack repair drones were at work again, this time creating the pavement on the helipad, including colored markings as orientation for pilots.

The BuildBots were preparing the platform between the base entry and the helipad.

The two cleaning bots I had put to work a week ago had done their job well. The base looked much nicer now.

Yet another maintenance drone did check and where necessary replace the high voltage grid in the base. As it seemed to work well, I printed out another and gave it a job wiring up the base for 230V and a fast data network.

That required some catalog and blueprint purchases.

For connecting the base-wide high voltage grid to the local lower voltage grids, I recommend a bidirectional voltage converter from the Class I Power Grids catalog. It does of course include over-current protection, which the former owners of this facility neglected.

For connecting primitive household items you can abuse the Small E-Drive Controller Mark I. It is typically used in brushless electric motors, but can also provide fixed frequency 230V 3-phase current.

For the data network suitable blueprints are available from the Class I Telecommunications catalog, price 75 points. I recommend a glass fiber backbone along the length of the base, with WiFi access points along the main corridor and additional ethernet ports at the WiFi access points. Unfortunately, manufacturing restrictions will limit the data rate in your network to 100 GBit/s.

That sounded quite acceptable. Then I remembered that I still did not have internet out here.

“Show me a possible layout of the grid. I’d like to have those Ethernet ports in places where wiring up the rooms left and right of the corridor makes sense. Also, what options are there for an internet connection to Victoria without climbing on Mount Olympus to build a relay station?”

In the Class I Telecommunications catalog there are hyperspace modulators with considerable range. Even a basic unit offers planet wide range. A disadvantage is that others can detect the transmissions.

After some discussion of details: “Sounds good, show me the prices in table form.”

Item

Point cost

Description

Class I Power Grids

100

Catalog with equipment for high voltage / high amperage electric networks

Medium E-Power Transmitter Mark II (blueprint)

300

2 MW bidirectional voltage converter

Small E-Drive Controller Mark I (blueprint)

30

Variable voltage and frequency alternator, 3 phase.

Wall sockets (collection of blueprints)

10

This is where you plug in your hair dryer

Class I Telecommunications

75

Catalog with all kinds of advanced communication devices

InfoNexus Mark I (blueprint)

200

100 GBit/s WiFi / glass fiber / Ethernet multipurpose router

Various connectors, both fiber-optic and electric (blueprints)

30

Your physical path for the precious bits

HyperPhone Mark II (blueprint)

300

Basic hyperspace modulation communicator

Total price

1045 points

“Yes please, Elya.”

Purchased: Various blueprints as discussed

Total price… 1045 points

New balance… One token and 2967 points

Outfitting a base sure had a lot of little costs people might not think of. But now my bots could go to work on the electrical installation. At least I found suitable lamps in the Mack blueprint collection.

I went back to remove soil and rock from the mountain flank to make room for my yet to build local apartment. Herbie remained my most capable tool for such operations, and some uncomplicated 1980s metal on the sound system kept the boredom at bay. Mind you, it was not bad music. Just something simple that would work as background music.

When it became too dark outside, I started rearranging the storage belonging to the fabricator at the other end of the complex. Making some room by removing a tank I considered redundant, I added a chemical reactor for organic chemistry. That device could make propellants and explosives and feed them to the fabricator. Yay for big booms!

August, Monday 3rd, 2048

It was time to do some business in Victoria again. Also, Styx Base was running low on some raw materials I could not easily acquire there. Ferrying those over with the Variocopter would be a pain in the ass because of its low payload. Should I hire a commercial helicopter service?

I also wanted a nice, hot shower. Even in summer, washing yourself in cold creek water becomes old pretty fast.

The next day, I met with Major Allen to discuss sales of the Avian Eliminator. The only thing that really needed discussing was price and delivery dates, as HANAF and I were happy with the fine print in the existing mortar business. We signed a contract over eighty units, which gave me a little more work than I was used to in one batch.

When I mentioned flying stuff to Styx Base he mentioned that his former boss had bought a surplus old Griffon helicopter from the Air Force and started his own airlift service. Quote Major Allen: “I don’t know if the old codger is still in business, but here is his business card if you want to try.”

Interesting that these things could still fly. The military had decommissioned them almost thirty years ago.

After I printed and installed my first HyperPhone in the shelter, I went to work on the turrets. But as the fabricator did most of the job, I had a lot of time to think. For starters, I should talk to the old codger and find out if he was still in business. It turned out that yes, he was still in business and his name was Peter. We agreed to meet on Thursday.

Also, I had somewhat neglected staying in touch with the guys from Roger’s militia. I guessed that throwing a little party would be a nice way to introduce myself back. Nothing ostentatious, just a nice evening with some food, drinks and an opportunity to catch up.

I invited my old friends for Saturday. My little turrets would not be ready before the weekend anyway. It would be Monday at the earliest before I could deliver them and go do something useful at Styx Base again.

August, Thursday 6th, 2048

Peter turned out to be a weathered guy in his sixties, but still pretty spry. He greeted me with “Hi. I’m Pete. What can I do for you?”

“A transport to the ass end of nowhere, south of Mount Olympus. I’m building a small base there and have about seven hundred kilos of material to deliver”.

“Mack country. Building your base there might be unwise, and I will certainly charge extra for the risk of going there.”

On second thought, the whole affair seemed suspicious to him. “Sorry, but I have to ask what you are doing there - this is not exactly a normal business venture.”

“Researching the Mack base nearby, hoping to extract some useful tech or intel. I’m a sort of non-standard magical Girl who does solo recon missions of all kind.”

“Then you won’t mind if I call SHOCKS to confirm?”

“Sure, go ahead. This mission is confidential so we are keeping knowledge to a small circle. But I’m working with B.S.O.D. from time to time and she should at least be able to confirm my identity.”

Pete promptly did so. After being on hold for a while, B.S.O.D. arrived on screen and said “I certainly know Miss MacCallan. What is she up to now?”

Pete held the phone up to me and I looked at B.S.O.D.’s slightly exasperated face. “Hello, I’ve started to fix up the old Mack base. There is still a lot of interesting stuff there and having the base somewhat functional will make my work a lot more effective.”

B.S.O.D. replied “I’m relieved that you are going with an experienced pilot this time. Good luck with your new project, perhaps you will find something interesting for us. But now I have another appointment, so goodbye for today.”

August, Saturday 8th, 2048

Come Saturday, most of the militia showed up, including Ellen. We had some beer together, some friendly ribbing about my prolonged absence, and people were pleased about having real food instead of the synthetic rations made by Sanctuary, including myself.

The synthetic stuff had some artificial flavoring but below that it was as interesting as cardboard in taste and texture.

August, Tuesday 11th, 2048

The turrets had been delivered yesterday, now I met with Pete at the airport and loaded my cargo into Pete’s helicopter. I would start half an hour before Pete and land at the improvised helipad we had built two months ago, so the new pad was free for his Griffon.

Things worked as planned, and roughly an hour later I stood at the new helipad just as Pete approached in his old helicopter. I was just in time to shoo my Mack guards into the tunnels, lest they give Pete the shock of his life.

We unloaded my cargo and I said “If I already had a kitchen, I’d invite you to coffee.”

Pete just said “That would be nice, but I have places to be. So thanks for the business, perhaps we can work together again.”