The first thing I did upon entering my workshop was to inspect the equipment and materials I had in stock. Not everything could just be ordered at a moment’s notice, with some parts needing to be crafted or through placing a special order.
This was especially true for specialized parts like the processing chips and nanomachines. The nanomachines I had been using for my Shades were made by a company based in space that specialized in them.
It required a lot of sophisticated equipment to produce and a zero-G environment reduced the production cost significantly, so almost all businesses that were in the market had their manufacturing done in space.
After taking stock, I performed the diagnostics on the equipment like the 3D printer, and took out my terminal to start working on a new design.
There were a few things I had on my wishlist and now was the time to bring two of them into reality. The first one was the simplest, to create a terminal for the hacking and data retrieval I did during infiltration missions. Not just any terminal, though, a hidden cybernetic version with some serious processing power, and would be placed inside my body.
It would allow me to sneak a more powerful unit unseen into restricted areas when I disguised myself.
It was simple enough to make with ten points in cybernetic engineering and referencing the readily available terminals throughout society. It could only serve as a warmup project.
The second thing I wanted to make was a mobile camera to help me scout ahead. I realized it one day when tuning my Shade and studying the nanomachines I used.
They could observe the surroundings and project them back into reality, creating the active camouflage effect. That meant they were all literally mini cameras in themselves, despite the fact that they had limited range due to connection and battery levels.
As much as I wanted to be able to design longer-lasting batteries to solve the issue, I would have to settle for enlarging the entire device to create capacity instead. I would take a group of nanomachines and have several of them become battery packs for the others.
While it would lose the size advantage of nanomachines, it could still be kept at the size of a grain of sand, barely visible to the naked eye. My electrical engineering knowledge came in handy in configuring the ranged control modules and tuning how they shared their battery packs with more efficiency.
Once I got into my groove, I spent the next three days ordering food every meal to sustain my workshop sessions. I only emerged when I finally had a prototype to test.
As my new device, I dubbed it Nye, and it was only the size of a grain. I had made it entirely controlled through my SAID and a housing unit for it, so I could carry it around and charge the nanomachines.
I exited my workshop and headed for the residential floor where I should find the others eating around this time. Once I arrived, I hid in a corner and unleashed my latest creation.
Kiri, send the Nye to scout out my surroundings.
‘Affirmative, connecting their feed to you now.’
Just like with camera feeds, several small windows popped up in the corner of my vision. It was entirely dark, as it was still in its charging case, so I quickly took it out of my chest pocket and placed it on the ground.
A few seconds later, the scene brightened, and I could see my surroundings projected on the feeds. It was disorienting being so low to the ground, and everything looking gigantic.
Hmm, I should tune it up and add a filter so the video is easier on the eyes.
The little Nyes started moving around. It had some issues with choppy footage, but that couldn’t be helped as the transceiver needed some work. I would need to do some trial and error to stabilize the footage while keeping the connection secure and discreet.
The Nyes soon reached the first room closest to the elevators and slipped easily under the door. It took a tour around and found Thorne’s room to be empty. It was tidy but also bare, with only the essentials.
Claire’s room was surprisingly techy, with terminals laid about. The real surprise was in Leo’s room, which had all these posters of retro movies and animes. It was surprising because he had never really mentioned this hobby of his before.
Passing by the rooms, the Nye soon arrived at the communal room where we used to eat our meals together. I found the entire gang there as expected and listened in on their conversation.
“---don’t want me to get him?”
“He’s an adult, so he can take care of himself. This is better than him running off to join the fight with Vin,” Claire’s voice rang out through the feed.
I couldn’t get an angle on what was on their tables from the ground, so I made the Nye climb up the table. While it was midway through, the low-energy failsafe kicked in, and it dropped back onto the ground and cut the feed.
‘Nye #2 is returning in low energy mode.’
Right, I still have to work out how it reacts in different situations. I only have the self-destruct configured, so that it would activate if returning to me wasn’t possible. I will have to add more of a battery warning, and maybe a recording function for when the connection gets interrupted.
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I quickly sent a text over.
*Thorne, stop the little camera on the ground from exiting the room.*
With the test drawing close to finish, I swiftly made my way over in time to find Thorne squinting at the ground by the door. He reached out and grabbed the Nye and it suddenly sparked and turned to dust in his hand. The nanites had successfully broken up and vaporized themselves.
It’s a good thing I had the foresight to ask Thorne to do it, or someone may have burnt their fingers.
Thorne stared down at his hand, puzzled until he spotted me.
“Rollo, what was that about?”
“Just testing out a new gadget. Want to try it out, too?”
For the first time in three days, I had dinner outside my workshop while I explained to them about the Nyes and the terminal implant that I would get Claire to install for me the next morning.
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Andrew - Halls Corporation
Andrew stared out the window to only his entire view filled with sand. The sandstorm persisted no matter the time of day out in the wasteland.
He couldn’t help but think back to a week ago when his boss ordered him, “Go to NLA to support Vin in gathering intel.” What he happened to have left out was that he was to be sent to Miles High, a city that was separated from NLA by the entire western wasteland.
“Peng needs to use the washroom.”
“...Peng, you just went not that long ago.”
“Sorry, but Peng needs to pee.”
“We’re on a schedule, Peng. Go pee in a bottle off in the corner or something.”
“Okay.”
“...”
Well, that’s one bottle that’s no longer usable.
He exchanged looks with Brian and Mark, his two other teammates, who were seated up front. An awkward silence permeated throughout their car as the only sound that could be heard was a slow and steady trickle of liquids filling the bottle.
For a short while after that, the three occupants of the car could be seen with glows in their eyes, distracting themselves with whatever media they had saved as they drove along. They could safely do so because they were simply following along the other car that was leading the way.
It took another two hours to exit the wasteland and another hour until they reached their target destination, Miles High.
The two unmarked cars entered the metropolis like any other mercenary team visiting. Immediately upon seeing the pedestrians on the streets, Andrew suddenly felt like they were a lot more haggard than he had thought when compared to them.
I thought we did pretty well keeping ourselves clean after a whole week out in the wasteland. We definitely need a shower.
The entire city of Miles High seemed to favor the neon lights that were usually only in the entertainment districts. Even during the day, the entire city was lit up in a variety of neon lights, including the downtown office areas.
Their two squads soon arrived at a motel. As they got out of the car, they couldn’t help but notice the various groups hanging out in the parking lot, all visibly armed. Their team of eight continued onward to the lobby, while keeping careful watch of the other, even though the other party seemed to ignore them and were busy having fun amongst themselves.
Andrew was relieved upon entering the room he would be sharing with Peng. He immediately took a hot shower, savoring the hot water he finally had access to once again. The moment Peng was ready, he shepherded them out of the room and grabbed some food that wasn’t field rations.
After a night of well-deserved rest, the entire team gathered in Andrew’s room. They all thoroughly inspected the room for bugs and turned on a jammer before they began their discussion.
A woman from the other squad facilitated the meeting as she was the appointed leader of this expedition.
“We will do as planned and work separately from here. My team will handle contacting the fixers, while Andrew’s team will start working on their low-level employees. We’ll meet every day during lunch, message us otherwise, or we’ll assume your cover is blown and the rest of us will escape immediately.”
Everyone in the room nodded but Peng.
The meeting soon finished, and the two teams quickly got to work. Andrew rounded up his team and directly went to one of the QuickLinks Logistic facilities. The information provided showed that the facility was only a processing center where low-level employees were, but they still cautiously approached.
The information showed that the facility superiors rarely showed up here, preferring to stay in their cozy offices in the downtown area. That didn’t mean the security was lax there, though. As a vital facility to their business, the important packages they were entrusted with were well-secured, with various automated defenses in place.
Andrew’s team of four drove around to scout out the building and its surroundings before they parked a street away.
“The lobby is filled with scanners, like our intel says. We’ll be detected even with our Shades,” Mark said.
“That’s standard corpo practice. We’re not the only corporation around with active camouflage, you know,” Andrew replied as he poked Peng to make him pay attention to their discussion. “There look. Let’s catch a ride with one of their vehicles as it goes inside.” He pointed toward the loading docks.
The team then hid in an alleyway while they waited for a QuickLinks vehicle to arrive. It didn’t take long, as it was early in the day when packages arrived to be processed in this facility. They quickly activated their Shades and jumped onto the back of a truck while it stopped at a red.
The truck slowly drove through the gates of the processing center and directly went to the cargo area. It slowed down to back into a dock, allowing the team to all disembark and enter the facility through the opened cargo doors. They immediately hopped off the conveyor belt meant for packages and began snooping around.
The team surveyed the building for an administrative office. It didn’t take long, as they followed the signs and the employees that walked around. They easily sneaked in as the door was left open and found the office of the head of the facility. It was easy to spot when it was the only room behind glass partitions throughout the entire office.
The manager was busy working on his terminal, but that meant he was in the way.
Have to get him out of here somehow…
Andrew spotted the drink the man had on his desk and swiftly pushed it over, spilling its contents onto the manager.
“Goddamnit it!” The manager yelled.
He tried to wipe it with some synthetic tissue paper and cursed at the stain. He then got up and exited the room, cursing the entire time.
“Okay, Brian, download all their employee information. Mark, go bug the place. We’ll need to make a visit to their employees once we get their addresses, too, so let’s hurry it up.”