“Dramatic,” Sangita said, moving to stand beside Jill. “Do you have a plan for getting my son out of bed this early? Because heaven knows I’ve never been able to.”
“I’m going to tell them to wake up,” Jill said. She pushed mana into one of the powers granted by the Command module:
Captain Speaking: Jill MacLeod can speak to and receive replies from anyone within ‘Bertha’ or within 14 meters.
“Hey, Babu,” she projected her voice into the room where he was sleeping. Anything she said through the power emerged as normal sound at the target destination, but Jill heard what was said there directly in her mind. She realized with discomfort that she could hear two people breathing, and her spatial sense revealed another sleeping body tangled up with Babu’s. It was most likely Mia Williams, a rotary-cannon-wielding former school nurse who was riding with them until they reached New York.
Neither of the figures stirred, so Jill projected again, louder, “Hey! Babu, Mia, will one of you wake up?”
“Mmmflgggr,” was the only response, though Jill couldn’t tell which one had said it. The two were too closely entangled.
“He hasn’t gotten up, has he?” Sangita asked, eyeing Jill. From her perspective, Jill was just standing there, staring off into space.
Jill repressed a laugh. “Oh, I’m pretty sure he has,” she said back.
She projected the sound of an old digital alarm clock into the room, starting softly and ramping up in volume. Babu moved first, trying to sit up but getting caught on a leg. Mia pushed back and a thud announced Babu falling out of bed, making him cry out. There was a surge of foreign mana and the pop of displaced air; Mia had summoned Blossom, her cannon, out from its usual home in Bertha’s frontmost turret.
“What was that?!” Mia yelled. “Are we under attack?!”
“Easy Mia, easy,” Jill projected. “Sorry for the wakeup, but it’s work o’clock.”
“What,” Babu yawned, “what time even is it?”
“Dawn,” Jill said. “I need your take on magic. Sorry for waking you up, Mia, but Babu’s in high demand.”
“Are we finally going to talk settlement powers?” Babu asked, perking up. “Did you figure out how to take them?”
“Does a bear shit on the pope in the woods?” Jill projected. “I feel like stretching my legs, so I’m coming to you. And your mom’s coming too. Just so you know.”
“Oh,” Mia and Babu said at the same time.
Jill cut her communication power; whatever drama was about to happen was none of her business. “Are you coming along?” she asked Karen, who had slid into the driver’s seat.
“I’ll keep watch,” Karen replied, yawning. “Ok, maybe I’ll just take a nap. This seat is comfy and it took forever for me to get Kevin to sleep.”
“Don’t drool on the leather,” Jill said, turning to leave. She had a power that could clean up nearly anything that dirtied Bertha, but it was the principle of the thing.
Karen gave a salute and closed her eyes.
“Ok,” Sangita said as she caught up to Jill. “The first thing you need to know is that Commander Davis - well, one of his subordinates at least - wanted you to do more rescue missions into the city. And go on supply runs. And stay on patrol around the airport.”
Jill grimaced. “All of that is a hard no,” she said. “We’re leaving.”
“That’s what I told them,” Sangita said. “They said that I didn’t know what I was talking about and asked to speak to the person in charge.”
“Bunch of cloaca-snorting Karens,” Jill muttered.
“I heard that!” Karen said, eyes still closed. “But sounds accurate.”
Jill snorted and stepped through the door to the Cargo module, a lockable hatch more akin to a ship’s bulkhead doors than something that could be found in a home. She waited for Sangita to follow her, then shut it and took in the massive room in front of her. The inside of her truck was far, far larger than the outside.
She was proud that someone looking at Bertha from outside would still recognize it as a big-rig truck, though one that had been turned from a freight carrier into a mobile fortress. Seven turrets lined the trailer’s top and sides; six with fifty caliber machine guns and one up front empty, though it usually held Mia’s rotary cannon, Blossom. The gun was Mia’s Soulbound weapon, a magic-infused gun that could cut through a reinforced concrete building with ease and tended to make lower-leveled monsters explode.
Most of Bertha’s surfaces were covered in solid slabs of hardened heavy armor, painted bright red. The magical paint, made from electric eel monsters, made Bertha go faster, like any red paint should. It could also electrocute any enemy that managed to scramble on board. The most vulnerable places were the cab’s windows, which were a thick crystalline glass that could still take tremendous punishment, and the connection between cab and trailer, where overlapping bands of armor slid past one another to form a flexible joint.
Another memory flashed into Jill’s mind: Bertha whipping around a corner, dodging a horde of monsters in a maneuver that would roll any normal truck, with cab and trailer bent at a 90-degree angle. Tiny feathered raptors leaped onto the trailer, clawing and biting to get inside, only to die to the paint’s sting. Even during that crazy maneuver, the path from Jill to the trailer had been straight and clear. Bertha’s inside was a separate dimensional space from the outside world, one that obeyed its own rules.
Inside that space resided Bertha’s modules, stuck together by magic and steel: the cab, renamed to Command; the inflated trailer, likewise now Cargo; her tiny sleeping area, expanded into many rooms as Habitation; Bertha’s firepower, the Turrets; and born out of need, the Medbay. The Armor was its own module, forming the boundary between inside and out. That left the Propulsion module, which was spread out. Some of it was in the wheels, but it was also inside the front of the cab, where the diesel engine used to be. That had been replaced by one that ran on pure Mana.
“What did you say back to the military people?” Jill asked Sangita. She walked around the edge of the Cargo module at a brisk clip, heading towards Habitation. A few people waved to her and she waved back awkwardly; she didn’t recognize them.
It was here, in the cargo module, that most of Bertha’s residents slept, despite there being another module dedicated to just that purpose. The Habitation module was only 5 rooms and a stub of a hallway, while the inside of the trailer was the size and shape of a parking garage, a cube fifty meters on a side and four stories tall. The bottom level was half empty, with a large clear area by the cargo doors across from Jill, and a clear walking space around the periphery, along which the doors to the other modules were spread. The middle of the level was filled with airline-style seating. That had been the first way to pack people in somewhat safely that had popped into Jill’s head when the refugees arrived. She was hoping that the new Settlement powers would let her make something better.
A single ramp gave access to the upper levels, which were all filled with more seating, broken up into clusters to give at least some sense of family and privacy. Jill hadn’t gone up to visit the upper floors in person, but she could feel the physical presence of a huge number of sleeping people, along with a few awake.
“I read them a bill for services rendered by Highlander Shipping,” Sangita said, “to be paid in food, medical supplies, or material upgrades for Bertha.” She smiled; a thin, dangerous, self-satisfied expression. “I mentioned their radars in particular.”
“That’s how to fucking negotiate,” Jill said with a grin. She leaned over and punched Sangita on the shoulder, being careful to use only the tiniest fraction of her strength. “I bet they didn’t take it well?”
Sangita rubbed her shoulder but was still smiling. “There was profanity involved.”
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“Was it any good?”
“After meeting you? No.”
The corner of Jill’s mouth quirked up. She had an interest in swearing that was bordering on professional; the System had even recognized it, giving her a pair of spells based on cursing and the option to cross-class into Malediction Bard. She added asking how that all worked to her mental list of questions for Babu.
Jill stepped through the hatch into the Habitation module’s hallway. Babu leaned against the wall outside Mia’s room. He wore a grey suit, immaculately pressed, with black onyx cufflinks; his shiny hair stirred as if in a slight wind, and his eyes, so dark brown as to be almost black, flashed as he looked up at them.
Sangita stopped upon seeing her son. “Babu!” she said. “You look so put together!” She hesitated for a moment. “I owe you an apology, I told Jill you wouldn’t be awake, but I was wrong.”
Babu gave a half smile. “Morning, Mom.”
Jill stomped over to him and crossed her arms. “Turn down the magical looks a little bit, will you?” she said, quietly. “I’m tired of mind-control bullshit.”
He swallowed and leaned in close to her. “I can’t!” he whispered in her ear.
“Why not?” She gave him a look up and down; something about his clothes didn’t feel right to her mana senses. “Is that suit an illusion?” she asked back, also whispering so that Sangita wouldn’t hear.
“We couldn’t find my pants and the spell is all or nothing!”
“I knew it,” Jill snorted. She walked past him, to her own room, and opened the door. There was only one chair, tucked under a tiny desk, but Jill could fix that easily enough. Reaching mentally into Bertha she made the metal deck plating of the floor rise up in two stools. A flick of her will turned on the coffee machine and she waved them in.
“You two ready to help me choose some powers?” Jill asked them once they’d sat down. Sangita nodded. Babu glanced at his mother and swallowed, then nodded his own assent.
“Ok,” Jill clapped her hands together. “Sangita, tell me what we need to keep everyone alive, please. Babu let me know if I miss any solutions in my powers.”
Sangita cleared her throat. “First off, water. We filled some containers from the tap in the unoccupied rooms, but it ran out.”
“Really?” Babu asked. “After how much?”
Sangita hesitated. “The people filling didn’t count, but it didn’t last long.” She turned to Jill. “Does the room description say?”
“Let me check,” Jill said. She pulled up the status box for the habitation module and sent it to both of them.
Habitation:
‘Bertha’ has a habitation module with basic amenities for 5. Life support capacity for 12.
Includes: Single Bed, Washroom, Workspace
Add-ons (2/2): Inferior Coffee Machine, Dire Bobcat Fur Bedding
Completed Upgrades:
Restful Sleep: All allies who rest in the Habitation Module receive increased physical and psychological healing rates.
Available Upgrades:
Unseen Servant: Weak manifestations of force will see to the maintenance of the Habitation Module and the resident’s possessions. Unlocks Roaming Servants.
Bunkroom (1/5): Increases the capacity, life support, and volume of the Habitation Module by 2.4x, and by 1 add-on slot.
‘Hey, System,’ Jill thought, directing a sliver of mana through her mind towards where the boxes came from, ‘how much water does ‘life support’ make?’
System Inquiry Detected
Soulbound Modular Vehicle ‘Bertha’s Habitation Module life support produces 20 liters of new water per person per day at the cost of 1 Mana per liter. Waste water is recycled into fresh at a cost of 1 Mana per 100 liters.
She sent that box along as well, speaking at the same time. “240 liters total.”
Sangita grimaced. “That’s not enough.”
“With four more points in Bunkroom, and that one power from the Cargo Nexus to boost it more, life support should go up to,” Babu paused a moment, “594 people, for 11,880 liters. That’s got to be enough, right?”
“Maybe,” Sangita said. “What power from Cargo?”
“It gives another class boost to connected modules,” Jill said. “Get ready for a longer box; the booster is at the bottom.”
Cargo Nexus:
‘Bertha’ has a cargo bay of total volume 30,408.7 cubic meters, a spatial compression factor of 335.5, and internal dimensions of 50 meters by 50 meters by 12.16 meters. Effective Boost: +1.2
Includes: Doors
Add-ons (1/5): Hearth of the Wolf
Completed Upgrades:
Cargokinesis: Objects inside of and within 14 meters of the cargo bay doors can be slowly moved.
Climate Control: Control the temperature and humidity of the cargo bay. Unlocks Freezer Control.
Freezer Control: Non-living goods spoil at 1/22 the normal rate when inside the cargo bay.
Volume (5/5): Per Point Invested: Increase the volume of the Cargo Module by 3.2x and create 1 add-on slot.
Cargo Nexus: The Cargo Module becomes the central hub for Soulbound Modular Vehicle ‘Bertha’. The Cargo Module receives a class boost (+.2) for every exclusively attached eligible module. Current exclusive modules: Medbay. Habitation, Advanced Turrets (Small Arms), Command. Ineligible modules: Armor, Propulsion.
Teamster Enhancement: All authorized sapients inside of the Cargo Module and within 22 meters of ‘Bertha’ have their movement speed and spatial reasoning enhanced by 32%. Unlocks Teamster Tetris.
Available Upgrades:
Teamster Tetris: All authorized sapients inside of the Cargo module can teleport non-living objects to other locations inside of the Cargo module, using ‘Bertha'’s mana reserves. Unlocks Teamster Sidestep. Mana cost: 1 per kilogram-meter.
Reinforced Module Mounting (0/5): Choose one exclusively attached module. That module’s class boost increases by +.2. A module may only be boosted once with this power.
Jill squinted at the box. The information was as she remembered, but the text looked different.
‘Hey System,’ she thought, directing a sliver of mana through her mind, towards where the boxes came from, ‘did you change how shit looks?’
System Inquiry Detected
The adaptive display has been upgraded based on data gathered from local sapients. User confusion is indicative of an unfavorable deviation from mean levels of understanding.
“Fuck you!” Jill said aloud.
“Excuse me?” Sangita said with a glare.
“Not you,” Jill said, “the System. The sassy bitch just called me dumb.”
“Of course it did. I’m going to ignore the insanity that is your relationship with the System,” Sangita said, “and focus on the matter at hand. Twelve thousand liters is a start, but barely enough.”
“Doesn’t a person only need a few liters a day? If they are just drinking at least. How many people are coming?” Jill asked, dread rising inside of her.
“2977,” Sangita said quietly.
“Fuck a duck!” Jill rocked back in her chair. “That many?”
“That many so far,” Sangita said. “Once word spreads in the airport about your truck, and how tough it is, I think we’ll get even more.”
Jill groaned.
“I think the water is still workable,” Babu said. “Jill, you can make a big tank, right? It’s just metal, so Customize can do that. Someone must be able to rig up a pump and we can fill up at rivers.”
“Yes!” Sangita said, snapping the fingers of her free hand. “Then recycle all of the water through habitation to clean it. The production should be enough to tide us over between fill-ups, and recycling what people excrete will help too.”
“Drinking each other’s piss, great,” Jill said, mourning the days when she had Bertha all to herself.
“Magically cleaned piss!” Babu said.
“That,” Jill paused, “that does make it a bit better, actually. Thank fuck for magic. Alright, that’s water sorted, at least in theory,” Jill said. “Four points into Habitation then, plus one in Cargo. What’s up next?”
“Food,” Sangita said. “You had just under ten tons of canned goods left from that shipment you never made, but that’s only going to last a few days, even with rationing.”
“Can we scrounge?” Jill asked. “I’ve done deliveries to supermarkets and warehouses all along 90. We can check and see if they have any, uh, extra. They should have a lot more than a few tons.”
Sangita made a note on her clipboard. “You mean steal, ” she said with a frown. “We do need the food.”
“It’s only stealing if someone still alive owns it,” Jill said with a shake of her head. “Hitting a few stores and depots must buy us a week, right?”
“We can’t plan on that, not for sure,” Sangita said. “They could be burned, or looted, or people could resist.”
“Alright, scrounging food is plan B,” Jill said. “Maybe a few days is all we need, anyways. Bertha can go hella-wicked fast now.”
“We have stops to make,” Babu said. “Those two military bases where no one magicked any messages back, remember? And, well, if there are other people along the way to rescue, are you really going to leave them behind? All that adds up.”
“Dripping fuckburgers,” Jill sighed, “you’re right. We’ll have to grow our own. Someone must have taken a farmer class.”
Sangita and Babu shared a look.
“We have 109 people with some sort of food-producing class,” Sangita said, “but you can’t grow food on metal. Well, maybe magic can, but it can’t be efficient.”
“And even if they could, there isn’t the space. The Nexus is at maximum size and we need that space for people to sleep in,” Babu said. “We could try buying all of the currently available powers to see if something in the next set would work, but that’s a lot of points for an uncertain payoff.”
“I could do that,” Jill said. A slow grin spread across her face. “But I think Bertha’s Settlement powers will be a better fit.” She leaned over and opened the door to the bathroom. “Take a look at this.”