Aria and I have been scanning the area between Caliente and Beaver for two days now with very little to show for it. There were a few patches of fading aether, likely blood from the splatter, and after another day of searching we get an estimated decay rate to put the aether traces at near a week old. We search towns along the old border between Utah and Nevada, but it’s large open spaces and not much to show for it. Frustrated, I have Aria drop me off in Winnemucca to begin the settlement process while she continues the search.
First, I draft a report on the actions I took in Durango and the search pattern we’d used for the monster attacks, and the aether traces that we found. Next, I send in the proposed pattern that Aria was going to continue with.
“Alright Tova. I’m here, standing at the riverfront, show me what the latest design looks like. And the items list please.” She projects some screens into my vision, one with a view of the town complex that will be built where I’m standing, and another with a view of the surrounding housing, showing green spots that can be immediately connected to my utilities. I look up to try and visualize what the town would look like, but Tova has an AR wireframe queued on my vision.
“Not sure how you’re doing that, Tova, but that’s stinking cool.”
With my newly expanded server space, I have the ability to process keypoints in your vision and project the plans via your aether connection to the ansible repeater nearby with low enough ping that the AR shouldn’t stutter or tear.
That said, we can either build here at the crossroads, or we can build at the edge of the reservoir in the hilled area that is ultimately more desirable as the distance to the cracked roadway is only a few kilometers away.
That seems like a pretty easy decision. I pull my bike out of Zia’s ring and head toward the damn that formed the reservoir. I deactivate the AR experience and enjoy the high-desert scenery as it whips by. The Dam is not in great condition, whatever automatic relief system had failed and allowed the reservoir to overflow the damn on multiple occasions as evidenced by stains on the roadway.
The campground and rest area where the small road ends has also seen better days, but it is overgrown instead of merely falling apart. I think we can restore this beach into a green space and park, with a small peninsula northward that would be perfect for a Municipal park with a government building or two.
I look at the list of materials, see the normal expensive utility complex, pre-fab buildings to be relocated, and 10k credits in construction drones? Tova . . . and she adds in the lifecycle over two settlement constructions. Makes way more sense. The drones we have at Elsewhere aren’t meant for construction, though we sometimes use them for siding and painting and such.
“So, if I’m reading this right, we move these municipal buildings in place, you transport in your computer stacks, and then you have those slap-together pods sent to have the drones assemble for the barracks, the watchtowers, and most everything else?”
I ordered extra towers for Elsewhere, and I’ll likely just keep ordering this assembly. Now all we need are the residents to make the settlement official.
“Warram sent me that list if you remember, there are a 100+ people squatting in the area—likely Winnemucca or Lovelock-- that should accept if we promise to connect their utilities.” I spend a few hours directing my newly purchased construction drones to clear and flatten the area for the buildings that Tova wants to import and then send them down to the camp ground to start clearing that area for some green space.
I cue up a combined transfer of a federal mansion and house, and a church? Alright going to trust in Tova.
Holt shit Tova!
This is the closest I could find to what I wanted to build. If you want it fast and ready, this is what it costs.
Gods damned it, fine. I cringe as hit the button and spend yet another million in old USD. The ground undulates for a moment as the hundreds of tons of concrete, brick and wood appear where there was once dirt. To my surprise there’s a small park with walkways leading from the small federal building with a second story vaulted dome with a cherubic figure on top. Must be the church. Expertly fitted to the long, narrow park, the mansion and the house are positioned across from each other, imported with their manicured gardens. No wonder the transfer was so expensive, Tova marked parts of the property for transfer, increasing the mass at least threefold.
It looks really nice, though, out of place, but nice.
Now that the buildings have arrived, I set to transfer the listed equipment in lots and Tova directs the construction drones to tend to whatever she wants and urges me to give one of the two stragglers my deconstruction rod. I shrug, handing it over and watching it attack the next parking lot and warehouse-like store.
I buy the municipal utility and center it well beneath the church that Tova has designated for Old West Municipal Alliance (OWMA, still workshopping) government building. Seeing that, the Mayor’s house, and the Municipal Government building connected to water and power, as well as some earmarked homes, I claim the area.
/Commercial Enterprise missing
Maybe I did that in the wrong order? I go back into my menus and set up the structure for OWMA in the System, set Nova Chem to an Alliance business and Camp Elsewhere to an allied Settlement.
I wish to use the Alliance business as a local commerce controller, with local trade being resources and cottage products.
Camp Humboldt.
Ahh, I remember this, I register the alliance between Fallon and Elsewhere and declare the OWM Alliance for the Empire.
Stolen novel; please report.
Copy that System, doing that anyway. That said, they aren’t built yet. I give Tova Settlement management authority for Fallon and set up a bank account for the town for her to use.
“Alright, Tova. I put 30k in there. The rest of my money is tied up in resources for a few months.”
It will be enough to erect subsistence housing and furnish it, as well as repair and reorganize some roads in this area.
Okay, Tova’s busy, Aria’s working, and I should probably message the Northern Deputy and Warram’s relocation company.
/Hey Kincade. Stood up a settlement. Camp Humboldt, at the reservoir. Collecting some folks from small towns in the area./
Do I want to build myself a place here too? I don’t think I need my own place to stay in each town I build. That and my actual house is only an hour or so away. I’d have to go to Europe or the middle of the Pacific for me to want to stay locally. All that settled and decided on, I should do some paperwork and settlement organization.
Instead, I drop some targets in the desert and have an impromptu range day with my guns.
***
Another week passes with no traces on the murdering marauder and after filling my time with clumps of people wanting separate clicks of houses to live in, but have no plan on how to pay for said housing and road building. I tell them that there are two elevators and ten floors to the barracks, talk to eachother and work it out. I also tell them that if they want to live in old houses in Lovelock, they can scout them and I’d connect them and let them live on my land rent free for a year. The current residents of former Lovelock, now Humboldt South on my maps, made a similar agreement but I told them I would allow them to buy their land back for a credit a dwelling. They formed the first independently owned community in my settlements.
To my surprise, a few craft people volunteered to come to the reservoir to ply their wares out of one of the storefronts that I set up as part of a City Center. Five friends got together put a sign up and started selling clothes and trinkets and toys when incoming refugees were being processed. They would then post the leftovers on the exchange and begin to work on building supply for the next published processing day. They were thrilled to find that if they filled my trade professional slots for the settlement, that they’d get a small salary. With the influx of refugees from Old West Relocation and the residents of South Humboldt, the new Camp is nearly ready to become tier 1 – Village.
I recently restructured what I thought they should be called and submitted it to the Consul of Urban Development for Astoria. I thought tier-1 small town, and tier-2 large town, was dumb. I submitted a new list.
Residents <100 = Homestead | No System interface.
100--1,000 = Hamlet | System interface, t-0
1,001-20,000 = Village | t-1
20,001—100,000 = Town | t-2
100,001—million = City | t-3
>million = Metropolis | t-4
I own a Hamlet and a Village right now. I’m freaking 19 and I own settlements. I make tens of thousands of credits a month, so what the hell else would I do with the money? Okay, I want a space ship, like a cute little Corvette or a Cutter, but that’s between 3 and 10 million Cr easy. That and Ganymede Foundry and Shipyard won’t build me one unless the Empress buys off on it. I asked.
Anyway, fantasy purchases aside, I did indeed build myself a small cabin that doubles as a rental and for four Marks a night, it’s practically a steal. I also scoped out a cute lodge in Tahoe that I might ask Zia if she likes when she comes to Earth next week. NEXT WEEK!!
\Kimber, I will be arriving at the Assembly building in moments.\
/Thank you Aria./ The tone of her messages has been sadder as of late, I guess the lack of leads with the Marauder is wearing on both of us.
I hop through the aft airlock as she hovers a foot above the ground. Walking up to the cockpit, I slump into the pilot’s chair and shimmy into the comfort of the acceleration gel. “Gods, Ari, I missed you.”
“I’ve failed at the task you’ve set me to, I have been reluctant to return.”
“Aria. Lady. You have put in more time than is humanly possible looking for this murderer. Part of the reason I wanted us to go to Reno and for you to tour and photograph Lake Tahoe is so that we both can take a change of pace.”
She grumbles at me.
“Okay, you are landing, and piloting a drone around the city.”
“But I haven’t finished yet!” she trills in protest.
“That’s the point! We both need a new perspective. That monster isn’t hitting every town, so searching every town is not that productive. And, anything more than two weeks old is going to be impossible to pick up.”
She anchors us in the docking tree just outside of the government district, asking me to leave her with the drone while she reconfigures it. I convey how disappointed I would be if she didn’t take this opportunity for a break and she pouts before acknowledging my request.
I finish putting my new armor on, fresh off the transfer from the Andromeda Galaxy, load some crystals into the backpack that secures to my back and get ready to jump from 100m up. Since I’ve had no experience with Ripple drives, I orient with aether-powered plasma thrusters and head toward the building where Deputy Kincade parks his butt.
While this suit has boot thrusters, and some aimable shoulder thrusters, the rest of the suit has an omni-RCS that stabilizes even through turbulence. This suit is smooth and looks way more like clothing than armor.
The building has a nice façade, but the interior is just another office building. I had to get directions to Kincade’s office the first time, but I know the way now. I knock loudly. The door opens with a familiar, edge of grey mane and beard that bring a smile to my face when meeting with the practically ancient 35-year-old man.
“Kimber, I wish I could say it’s good to see you, but you put another settlement on my circuit.” He points me to the coffee pot and the pink cup that I left here last time. I dutifully walk over and pour myself some before sitting in his ‘guest’ chair.
“I’m doing a service for refugees, and I get to peddle the Empire’s basic subsistence in Nevahrado. Causing you headaches is just an added bonus.” I grin. “On a more serious note, I have reason to believe that the marauder I was sent to capture, has come north. We lost track of it, but it doesn’t seem to need to kill more than a few times a month”
He sighs and looks at the data I sent him. “This isn’t a lot to go on, Kimber. A few spots of blood and stories of people acting strangely? Can you at least tell me what kind of aether creature we’re talking about?”
“That’s the thing, James, it’s a User. Whomever this was, figured out how to distill what aether is present in humans and is living off of that. I just can’t figure out how it’s hiding so well.”
Kincade drums his fingers on his desk for a few moments, sipping his coffee before browsing data with a few flicks of his fingers. Seems he’s still on the semi-tactile control that old movies showed us. I still do it while typing, so who am I to judge.
“One of the troubles of looking through records for this kind of thing is that killing isn’t that rare. Capitalize on regional feuds every so often and you could hide this for years without much effort.”
While all that makes sense, why would it slip now? What would cause it to chance a migration? “What if it was gorging in Sante Fe while the turf war was going on, and my increased patrols are driving it North?”
“Through some of the most inhospitable land in North America? There are easier ways to die. Though I could see that ending an active conflict between two tight knit groups would be a threat. Any odd behavior would get someone singled out. The outskirts of Reno would make the next likely stop if it survived.”
“You don’t think it would stay here?” I ask, informing Aria of Kincade’s thoughts.
He shakes his head. “Risking law enforcement seems to have prompted its movement in the first place. There’s not much wilderness here, so I think it would move North or West, but definitely not staying here.”
“How do we act when we know so little? Ugh!” I sigh, frustrated that this has taken up two weeks and has been thoroughly uninteresting the whole time.
He chuckles, “We do our diligence and don’t let our jobs and lives slip away as we push it to the back burner. Not that I think this has gone cold yet, but we’re facing the very real possibility that this case may not come up again for several years.”
We talk for a little while longer, how the South is shaping up, the absolute menace that a more present Sheriff has been since I accused him of being in someone’s pocket—normal stuff. He also forwards me an order for some dual gas canisters and a whole crate of stim chews. I send the chew orders to my trainees and get a deadline for another raid he’s been planning. I ask him to keep me in mind if he needs a gunner and thank him for the coffee as I leave.
Keeping what James said about cases going cold in mind, I head out to the spire dock to see what Aria’s been up to.