Thursday, November 19th 2048, premises of Vanguard Enterprises

We had identified two of the dead Twenty-Ones in the driveway as non-repairable, only good to cannibalize for some parts. Wendy and the drone took them apart. Discarded parts went into the recycler, and for the first time we had a substantial flow of raw materials, measured in tons per day. We kept a few of the legs and arms for my salvager-Mack project.

Meanwhile, I examined the first Twenty-One we had picked up. Its reactor was intact, like most of the legs. The head would need rebuilding though.

On a virtual screen in my augs, I started a new project. The head would get a large shredder-mouth, halfway between Herbie’s and that of a Thirty-Two in size. Four arms of the same design the original Twenty-One had, and two tentacles with cutting tools at their end. I used a scaled up version of those in the Type Four for that. The single large eye in the middle of the head had to go in favor of two smaller ones, seated above the mouth and looking forward like in most Earth predators.

That looks properly terrifying. Are you sure you want to calm down Humanity over your use of Macks?

Elya had a point. I would have to repaint it at least, in yellow maybe. And put a few flashing warning lights on top, as often seen on oversized vehicles.

Applying that in my CAD software made the thing look more like a cross between a centipede and human-made construction equipment, still terrifying but no longer screaming “Mack!” as much.

Come to think of it, my roadmap in general could use a review. I wanted to improve my military capacity, but also extend the range of products Vanguard Enterprises had to offer.

So I invited Wendy to a meeting, with Elya participating through a nearby loudspeaker. I started with laying out my plans for manufacturing.

“I want to expand our production capacity into more sophisticated and perhaps larger products. Elya has already suggested a next step, but beyond that the options get complicated. Would you please summarize those again, Elya?”

Said next step would be the Attoscale Architect, a small Class II matter reconfiguration machine. It can produce almost all Class I and some Class II devices up to the size of a shoe box. The price would be 400 points and one token for the catalog, 5000 points for the blueprint. That would leave you with zero tokens and 10184 points.

Beyond that a variety of larger Class II matter reconfiguration machines is available, most of them still out of your budget.

Wendy asked “How would the Architect help with those?”

It could build the more delicate parts of other Class II fabricators. Manufacturing those requires arranging materials at the atomic level, which your current fabricators cannot do.

I started to dig into the options. “What other useful products could the Attoscale Architect make? Preferably ones that don’t overlap too much with existing SHOCKS supplies?”

Elya started listing stuff.

Various exotic weapons and ammunitions.

Various augs, most of them better than what civilians and HANAF soldiers currently have access to.

If you are looking for lucrative trade goods, I recommend the Class I Nano-Regenerative Suite from your Class I Medical Utilities catalog. It tends to work slower than SHOCKS first aid equipment, but is better at completely healing injuries. The blueprint price is 150 points.

“That sounds like an attractive list of goods. Especially considering that some SHOCKS grade medical equipment is hard to come by,” Wendy said. “That Nano-Regenerative Suite could be a bestseller.”

I asked Elya “What production rates could we expect?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Fairly slow, unfortunately. But the Attoscale Architect is small compared to your current fabricators. Double digit numbers would fit into the currently unused offices in this building.

“I guess we will have rows of it then. Next, I want to replicate the raw material teleport system of the Type 32 in a Type 21. But it has to be smaller and need less energy.“

I recommend getting the blueprint for the Tele-Chute Mark I for 400 points. It is a crude teleport bridge that will damage most delicate mechanisms in transfer, but works nicely for transporting some scrap metal through hyperspace.

Looking at the details, I approved. Which left us with the question of what war materiel to get next. I wanted something that could crack a Type 32.

“Elya, we need to talk about big guns. Or maybe missiles. I want something that can get through the armor of a Type 32.”

You could unlock Class I Heavy Weapon Emplacements for 250 points and a heavy railgun blueprint for 4000 points.

Or you could start tinkering again and try your hand at adapting the coilgun from the Type 14. The Lorekeeper Tome of Electromagnetic Actuators for 100 points offers helpful knowledge as well as simulation software to try out your creations in virtual space.

Wendy interjected “I guess Cait would love the challenge, but wouldn’t that also require a pretty massive vehicle to carry the gun?”

Correct. Shrinked a bit, it could still be strong enough to penetrate Type 32 armor. But it would also still be similar in size to a 155mm cannon.

“So we could end up with something similar to a modern self-propelled howitzer, just a bit more powerful,“ I mused. “Tell me more about that heavy railgun.”

Similar in penetration to the hypothetical shrinked Type 14 gun, but more compact.

Wendy mused “This sounds like we’re talking a few generations of weaponry ahead, but nothing really science fiction like.”

Class I technology is typically something that Humanity could produce in the near future, given some technological hints. Not something you might see in Star Trek. Most Mack tech is at a similar level, although they have some more advanced stuff.

“With either gun, that leaves the question of what vehicle to mount it on,” I continued the discussion. “Assuming I go with the railgun option, what options would I have for suitable blueprints?”

If you buy everything we have discussed so far, that would leave you with 5384 points. I’m afraid the points would not be enough for a full blown tank blueprint or for an aircraft that can handle the weight and recoil. The best I can offer is a heavy truck, on which you could mount the gun.

“I guess it is time for more tinkering then. I’m thinking of a big brother for Herbie. And I will take the Tome of Electromagnetic Actuators, I suspect I will need it.”

Here is your metaphorical shopping cart, please review it.

Item

Point cost

Description

Class I Nano-Regenerative Suite (blueprint)

150 points

Inhaler with medical nanites. Fixes a wide variety of injuries.

Class II Matter Reconfiguration Machines

1 token, 400 points

Hyper-advanced 3D printers

Attoscale Architect Mk I (blueprint)

5000 points

Small Class II Matter Reconfiguration Machine

Tele-Chute Mark I (blueprint)

400 points

Teleport bridge, consisting of sender and receiver portal. Not suitable for living things and delicate machinery

Class I Heavy Weapon Emplacements

250 points

Big guns, mounted to vehicles or fortifications

Thunderbolt Mk II (blueprint)

4000 points

Heavy railgun for cracking heavy armor

Tome Of Electromagnetic Actuators

100 points

Textbook with integrated design and simulation software

Total price

1 token, 10300 points

“Yes, purchase authorized!”

Thank you for shopping at Protectors’R Us!

Your new account balance: 5284 points.