It was time to learn more about the inner workings of the Macks I had recently acquired. Research I had neglected. I had the former body of Arina and the Battlecat, as I named it. But I also needed more manufacturing capacity.

“Elya, I think it is time for some reverse engineering. Immediate goal is analyzing what our looted tech can do, and turning it into blueprints we can build ourselves. What textbooks and equipment can you recommend here?

The “Scraper” Molecular Probe Mk I is both a destructive scanner and an assembler for very small objects. We are talking about detecting and placing single atoms, in a work area of a few hundred µm. Dissecting a few nanites with that instrument could help us understand their functions.

For your personal edification, studying the Lorekeeper Tome Of Nanotechnology could help.

“Prices?”

The MP is found in Class I Matter Reconfiguration Machines, which you already have. 800 points for the blueprint. 100 points for the book.

“OK, I’ll buy those”.

Purchased: “Scraper” Molecular Probe Mk I (blueprint), Lorekeeper Tome Of Nanotechnology

New balance... One token and 2423 points.

I started printing the probes. As I wanted two of them, it would take a while. In the meantime, I went back to inserting the windows in my new house on top of the base entrance. Unfortunately, that was something none of my drones could do autonomously, so I had to guide them in detail and even do some minor tasks myself. The downside of buying cheaply…

At least the drones could do other things without permanent supervision, such as installing the underfloor heating.

Tuesday, September 8th, 2048

I had finally brought in the intact Battlecat. After another, even more thorough check by Elya, I finally considered it a reliable member of the base guard.

Carefully and in small steps, I started to take the energy source of the broken one apart. At each step, I used one of the Scrapers to double-check the structure and composition of the parts. It would not do to miss a detail.

While the Scraper worked, I had time to do another thing I had neglected. Namely looking at some Mack equipment smashed by the SHOCKS strike team months ago.

The first thing was a sort of assembly drone. From my first expedition to Styx Base with the SHOCKS team, I already knew that its cyberbrain was ruined. We had not managed to extract any useful information. But after cutting one of its arms open, I realized it must be a mobile fabricator that could print larger units in place.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Which gave the answer to another mystery: How did the broken and incomplete Type 21s get into the base? The tunnels in the base were too narrow.

Answer: They were built right here in this hall. Sadly, the blueprints were lost with the drone brain. Having them would have made looting the Macks’ teleportation tech much easier.

Next was a device at the other side of the hall that had a passing similarity to the teleport gate in a Type 21, but was far larger. Well, the mechanism of how the 21s suddenly emerged in Haven for their attacks was still unknown, and so was how the 21s got out of this base for their attacks. Perhaps this was some sort of hyperspace catapult? It pointed towards Victoria…

Unfortunately, it was also broken to the point where finding out its secrets might be difficult. But in the next room I hit paydirt. On one side of the room was something that looked very much like the teleportation gate in a Type 21. Broken, but not as badly as the drone I had examined before. It might be possible to fix. It was also mounted on a turntable, so it would be possible to point it at different “senders” to pull units and materials to Styx Base.

On the other side of the room I found what looked like a larger version of the recycler in a Type Three. Also destroyed, but still recognizable as recycler after I removed the cover. The final proof was that it was connected to the storage facility near the big Mack fabber at the rear of the base. I even managed to recover the firmware of this one. It should be repairable too.

Back in my improvised lab, the next round of digging into the Battlecat’s energy source released a spray of silvery fluid. I managed to capture some of it in a vial, then I sprinted outside to wash the rest off. Who knows what stuff was in there. I already felt some burn on the places the stuff had hit.

Dammit, I needed to be more careful with stuff like that. And I really wanted to know what had just hit my face.

“Elya, I think I need something to analyze fluids and gases.”

You want to know what possibly just poisoned you? The “Sniff” Mini Mass Spectrometer Mk II from Class 0 Chemical Analysis Devices should enlighten you for the low, low price of 20 points for the class and 500 for the blueprint. I will even help you understand the measurement results.

“OK, OK, I’ll take it.”

Unlocked: Class 0 Chemical Analysis Devices

Purchased: “Sniff” Mini Mass Spectrometer Mk II (blueprint)

New balance... One token and 1913 points.

I queued up one of the devices and hoped the fluid had been nothing seriously poisonous. Either way, I might need the analysis results to figure out the function of the energy source.

In the meantime, I spent seventy points on blueprints for a bathroom installation. Which might be slightly wasteful, but I wanted a real bathroom, dammit.

And another ten points each on blueprints for protective goggles, gloves and masks.

Properly protected, I took the energy source further apart. Once the “Sniff” was available, I found out that the fluid had been a sodium-potassium-caesium alloy that belonged to a cooling system. At the other end of the energy source I found a device I did not immediately understand.

The Lorekeeper Tome Of Nuclear Technology might help you. It is only 100 points. Hint: Look into devices that deal with radioactive decay.

I spent the rest of the day engrossed in the world of alpha and beta decay directed and accelerated by alien tech. The Battlecat used a radionuclide battery in which the activity could be manipulated, to always fit the momentary needs!