“Penny, there’s at least 100 sites of interest, why are we continuing to survey.”
“Melissa, we’re one day out from a complete survey. Hold your ponies lady.”
“But I finished the remote relay you wanted me to work on! I’m bored!”
Tessa, I can give quests now right?
Affirmative.
I want to issue a quest to Melissa and Katie to make a community control center that can remote control containers and ships to close Astoria orbit, with relays to embed into the vehicles for nav control.
You need to set rewards. Andromeda will set xp for skills used, but money is up to the community.
Does 1CE wortth of AE and a 2CE bonus for extending it to GEO synch orbit sound okay.
The base exchange for your world at the moment is 10kAE per CE. Your reward is mediocre for a colony achievement, but the bonus takes it to above average. Your team tends to overachieve, so it should work out.
Lets register that quest then. I also want to issue a 2CE quest for security prep for a warped animal incursion. Spread amongst the involved personnel, 1CE bonus for completing it within a month. All paid in AE.
30k in AE is high over five people. Granted, you expect them to fund ancillary expenses themselves, it doesn’t seem too bad.
I feel as though I should provide Francesca some husbandry bonuses. 5k AE for a sustainable colony of meat animals. Additional 5k for variety of sustainable creatures?
You should also pay Francesca and Katie an AE salary for their continued colony benefit. 10 AE a day should be sufficient. 50AE when quests are not available.
Make it so number one. Seriously Tessa, you should be doing this. Although, my luck, you are forbidden to take control as though you were a citizen. Though, I would be interested in creating you a whole persona that you could be a citizen if you wanted.
Those sound like equitable taskings. I would like such freedoms, but I am mandated to caution you the dangers of awarding me freedom.
Wow. Your geas must be strong. I will ask my big-brained friends, but since you’re developing into an entity of yourself, I want you to have some agency.
“Astoria just offered me a quest. Is that you?”
“Yes ma’am. You wondered what was next. Well, if I want an orbital station or planetary transit control. The ansible and your array will make our expansion much easier to execute.”
“But why am I working with Katie?” She doesn’t sneer at me, but that tactical eyebrow is effective.
“Katie is geared toward communication and Magitech interfacing. You are focused on Psi, AI and Bio-tech interfaces. You two are optimally skilled to make a global AI assistance interface and I want one for my potential galactic empire.”
“Okay Merc Queen. I’m gonna hit your numbers and get the implants that I want.”
I know she has a cyberpunk image in her mind, and I don’t care much, but I don’t want a mod-fiend in my midst.
/Penny, DE Katie, your quest is adequate. I require a consult with Hunsaker immediately/
/Katie, Melissa is currently occupied for one more day of survey/
/You’re being difficult. Is this because you’re sleeping with her?/
/Katie, I’ve been inside of both of you. Your brains are what I want for this quest and neither of you give in professionally. Do some research. Out/
Ugh, I felt nasty for that. Katie didn’t necessarily deserve that but the shade on Melissa wasn’t great either. More on that, I guess I hate a challenge on my perceived authority. Blah. Stupid authority.
Tessa, I want to hold enough CE to put up a moderate shield for the colony. I also want a line on an Aether condenser if it exists.
It does, but is largely advised against for long-term sustainability. An aether-based population of any significant size suffers from Aether refineries.
Copy Tessa, but if we make contact with Earth again, I’m going to need a supplemental Aether source love. Maybe once we get back to Earth I can . . . shit. Diplomacy and planning. I want to cry.
/SUMMER STATION: Aether warped within 1km. YELLOW ALERT/
Damnit. “Mel, taking fastest approach to Summer Station. Prepare for manual re-entry.”
Melissa kisses me and straps in.
***
I land the shuttle next to the large seemingly concrete structure that was assembled in my absence. There is a convenient pad of asphalt-looking material next to it, larger than the ship I am piloting.
The building was placed about halfway between the pond by the hills and the Summer Station farm house and Ansible buildings. I store the shuttle and port Melissa and I to the Ansible.
“Hey Katie, saw the alert, where do you need us?” I ask?
“You’re deferring to someone now? That’s nice for a change.” Katie might have well snarled at me. Instead it came out as haughty and dismissive.
I want to fight at the accusation. “You ordered and installed the warning system, and I just got here, so yep.”
“It was a Yellow Alert. Something I projected that Viper and his detail could handle, and they did.” She doesn’t look away from her screen once.
“Ah, good. So I guess that Red Alert is when you need everyone. Since we have a neat defense grid now, I should tell you my AI and I got some high Aether vibes in this direction from . . . Yes, please send her the data Tessa, a possible source of the warped animals.”
“I’ll correlate this with the Voosel attack and see what we find. Is there anything else?”
Yeah, Katie, if you’re this cross with me, we should talk about a lot. “Yeah, thanks for setting up Summer Station.” I walk out of Katie’s control center and sigh.
>M] And you want me to work with her?![<
>P] I want to get Astoria moving toward a livable settlement. Please don’t burn the building down. [<
Melissa growls in my brain and turns our connection off. Oof, she is mad. Well, best way to distract from life’s drama is to work, right? To the Lab!. No wait, I have some things I need to purchase. To the Exchange control panel!
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
I chose storage items and search spatial or dimension or space. It shows me a list of some wacky storage items for interstellar travel, but not seeing a backpack. Okay, refining search: Bag, sack, satchel, Backpack, with my previous terms relegated to meta data sarch.
Query Results (Keywords: Bag, sack, satchel, backpack): Item Name Rating Description Price Smuggler’s Trunk 1EIA A chest that lightens the objects stored within 1,000 AE Timeout Crate 1IAC A pen to displace unruly animals 700 AE Portable Archive 2EEA A self-organizing storage room to take your library with you. 7,000 AE
Okay, the last one sounds like what I want. Why is it so expensive though? It’s almost a whole CE.
The quality and craftmanship is mid-range with an excellent magical rating. Pocket dimensions are also tier 2+ magics. The 4 character code for magical items is the quality of the base-level craft, such as a bag or a box. This is an average of the materiel and crafting of the item qualities range from basic, novice, intermediate, advanced, expert, master, Pinnacle. The next is the quality of the spell work or engraving, same range. And finally, the power rating of the magic, which is the same alphabet ranking as your power rating.
Pure tech has tier, material, and craftsmanship. Machitech is complicated as it has tier, item quality (average of material and craft), Integration rating (spell work + Aether and tech fusion rating), and Power (combination of tech power and magic power). Your Ansible is currently rated 1ABA, which is far above average for a new species.
That’s a lot to think about. But . . . I want that bag. I look deeper into the description and though it is shaped for larger books, it has to completely enclose said book and transports and recalls them one at a time. Hmm, this doesn’t seem as perfect as I was hoping. Guess I’ll just stick with the ship right now.
I take a look at firearms and personal defenses and purchase a 2IEA personal shield matrix and a 1IIB plasma rifle for 2.7kAE and 400 AE respectfully. With enough to buy the bag if I can’t live without it. I also take a look at the listing part of the exchange, and decide to offer the old sundering bench for sale.
The Ansible models the unit and pushes a nominal description and base listing. I change the description to include a non-living tag for targets. The overall dimensions and sundering rates are listed already, and it was appraised as a 1NIS. Shit, I made that after my Aether Walking mutations. I wonder if that’s going to get me looked at.
It absolutely will. But with an Advanced runeshape with an “S” power rating, you could sell that for 3k even though it’s only a T-1 item. I wouldn’t list anything like your sundering staves though. Not yet at least.
Uh, thanks? That’s a creepy way to say wait to post more. But I take her advice and list the bench at 3k and log out of the terminal. I pick up my shield unit and rifle and go try and find the security team.
I know I was excited for crafting at first, but browsing weapons made me realize I should check on the symbiote integrations of our mutated friends.
I ask Tessa to hook us into the Ansible’s data connection and into the security monitoring whatever Katie setup so that I can find Viper and his team. Some might consider it an abuse of power, but I’m going to hand waive that and think about that later. Tomorrow Penny will have morals, I’m sure of it.
When I see a black and tan scaled man in green fatigues I pop the shield up on my suit. He looks every bit a special forces mercenary in that getup and his serpentine features make the look more menacing.
“Looking dangerous there, Viper. Thanks for taking out the Voosels.”
He turns to look at me, tasting the air as I approach. “It’s a good look yah? The boys and I wanted to test our shop gear out anyway. Got us a decent haul of AE as well.”
“That’s great! How’s everyone doing with the symbiotes? Full integration for everyone?”
He scratches a claw behind his ear hole, “Meeker is happy as a husky in winter, but Beecham and Eyes didn’t take it as well. I’m pretty happy as well. These tracks they have available for us are a trip. Meeker actually got the ‘Jedi’ track. Said you promised him a lightsaber.”
A deep belly laugh flows out of me. Universe does it feel good to hear that at least two of the symbiote users are liking their changes.
“I take it you found a track you like?” I ask round-about, trying not to pry to hard.
“I have ideas, and so far it seems I’ll get there.” He takes a big breath and locks eyes with me. “I don’t mean to hassle you, but I got your quest, and the boys and I don’t have a lot to make that happen. We could use a loan, or some of your magic weapons to help get it done.”
“I’d gladly trade some martial training for a few runic weapons. But if you want more than bombs or energy melee weapons, I’ll have to do some experimenting. But loans are gonna be a no go for now. I have another quest I want to push out, but setting the security procedures and basic defenses for the first quest would set y’all up better for the search and discover one I have in mind.”
“Yah, that trade sounds fine. Now that you’ve called attention to it, the quest doesn’t say anything about gear and personnel does it?”
“It does not.”
“Yeah, alright. I’ll get you a list of one item I want for each of my team-mates, as soon as you hand over at least one, I’ll start training you. I’ll train you to Beginner 1, and we’ll be square?”
“B-1 in knives, and gain the skill in Hand-to-hand and you have a deal.”
“Deal.” He walks away, picks up the weapons he was training with then turns back to me. “There’s some trouble brewing Boss. The fussy doctor is kicking up some dust.” He chuckles at his dirt joke. I thank him again, hoping that he knows it’s for more than just the extra info.
>P]Hey hon, you surviving the vampire? [<
>M] Eh, yah. She’s easier to deal with when she’s working. Talk to you later? [<
I ping her with an affirmative chirp.
Well, I suppose I should talk to Francesca? Boo. Being a diplomat sucks. I find her with Tessa’s aid and find her in her new grow house.
“Hey Doc, how’re things?”
She turns on me with rage in her eyes. “You come here, after giving me a quest to raise chickens, and you’re asking how I am?!” The shrieks make me cover my ears. “I’m a BOTANIST not a fucking farmer, Penny.”
“The colony needs some sustainable protein, Botanist, and unless you have some super-beans on the list that taste like bacon, these “chickens” are going to fit protein and morale purposes.” I take a deep breath and continue, “I realize that maybe your quest isn’t the best, but you, Katie, and Viper are now salaried employees and are making the equivalent of at least a thousand dollars a day.”
“Oh yeah? And what are you paying yourself?”
This bitch. I swear I’m going to slap her nose off. “I’m not. I figure my System Custodian privileges are all I should get. I’m not issuing myself quests, and I don’t get a salary. You’re one of the 5 designated voters, you can check the assignment logs.”
I stand there, awkwardly trying to calm myself down without looking in her direction. “Is there something you want to talk about Francesca? You seem more on edge than usual?”
She sighs and walks over to a tap hidden in the wall, “GMO corn-based shine?”
“Doctor, pioneer, and entrepreneur? I accept.” She pours us both a dram. It smells like the cleanest alcohol I’ve ever smelled. Tastes like nothing but pain. “Jeesus Doc, that shit is clean and strong. What’re you selling this for?”
“Selling? Why would I sell this, it’s my private stock. I use it to prep experiments and clean my experiments.”
I stare at her, mouth agape. “Are you serious?! Francesca, Doc, buddy. Put a little flavor on this and Astorians would pay an AE for a cup of this marvel. Have you never talked with Katie about business?”
Bringing up her girlfriend sours her face something fierce. Ten minutes of sipping has her collect my cup and pour us another. Fifteen minutes later she starts speaking again.
“Things aren’t great right now. After we got off of the ship, she’s gotten more distant. I thought it was your fault at first—you should have seen how she lit up when you two were working on the ansible—but then, her behavior continued to get worse and more bitter.”
If they’d never talked business since we got here . . .
“It’s not exactly a secret, but if you haven’t talked business with Katie, I’m sure that she’s feeling neglected, but in a way that makes her feel you don’t acknowledge her intelligence.”
Doc gives me a side-eye that doesn’t quit. And doesn’t quit.
“Look, being smart, logical, and objective is a part of her identity. If she doesn’t feel you accept and recognize that, she’s not going to feel seen. She probably just wants to feel like you see her Francesca.”
We’re quiet for a time. Time enough to empty our shine.
“You really think I could make AE with this stuff?”
“Yeah, Doc. Especially for moments like this.”
I ask her if she has any bottles to fill, and she says she has half liter bottles, so I ask for one and pay her 10 AE for the trouble. Way too much for a casual bottle of booze, but the sentiment was there.
I que up an order for gelled fuel for experimentation purposes and walk my way to the Lab building.