It had been another shit day but the highlights were; Tromping through the sewers, AGAIN! Got to stop doing that. Then coming home to find Grasshopper waiting to nag me about my homework, like I hadn’t been saving the city and shit. Worse, she did that patronizing thing that lets you know she knew you were going to do this all along!
After promising to do my homework next time, I decided that I wanted to unwind with a little bit of entertainment. Unfortunately, Grasshopper was still over so I couldn’t convince Lucy to help me out. I decided to put on the documentary about the aliens that Myalis had promised and watched it with Lucy, the Kittens, and even Grasshopper, who said she certainly wouldn’t be missing me voluntarily learning something, Whatever that meant.
The documentary followed a handful of species that had successfully repelled the Antithesis. I suspect that Myalis made this documentary herself, to encourage me and Grasshopper to find new heights or some shit. I was so inspired that I promptly fell asleep.
When I woke up, Grasshopper was already gone and I had been snoring in Lucy’s lap. The kittens were, amazingly, still mostly watching the show. When I sat up, I figured out what had woke me up. There was some little purple and pink species blowing up cities of what looked like glass spiderwebs with nukes! I have to admit, that got me a bit more invested in the show.
The last species that the show featured was an agriculture-based species that literally began beating the Antithesis at being plants! I had to admit that was a real mean feat, even if plants weren’t my thing. However, I did know somebody who liked plants a lot more than me.
On a whim, I had Myalis send the documentary to Sprout, Manic, and… On second thought, fuck Arm-a-geddon. He wouldn’t understand it anyway, too many big words and not enough boobs. Maybe that’s why I had fallen asleep? No! It had nothing to do with me being stupid and everything to do with wanting to lay my head in Lucy’s lap. I laughed it off as I sent the message and promptly forgot all about it.
Meanwhile in Burlington
Anxiety! Every day was worse. I spent hours this evening going to places I never wanted to be. Only a few meters away from where the Antithesis were clambering at the walls we built only yesterday. Walls built on ground that we had been in possession of at that time the day prior.
And what was I doing? Planting seedlings that probably weren’t going to make much difference in the long run. Running from place to place trying desperately not to flinch every time the autoturrets cut loose or something blew up on the other side.
I had just settled into my bed, a surprisingly nice bed that had been scrounged for me by the Kittens a few days ago. Even when everyone knew that I was basically useless, they still treated me like a hero. It was piling on and getting worse every day.
Every time one of the PMCs or the Kittens or, god forbid, the regular civvies looked at me with expectation in their eyes. Every time they looked at me to give them hope that I didn’t have. Every time they would turn to me for guidance I would just about puke. The stress was gnawing at me constantly.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Inyris was doing what she could for me. She was giving me a steady supply of cocktails and pills to mitigate the worst of my anxiety and dampen the fatigue. I couldn’t fault her. The drugs she provided from the protectors were way better than my scrips had been and that was the only reason that I was still alive to begin with.
Things had been so much easier when Stray Cat and Gomorrah had been here. With them around, everyone had looked at them as the ones who knew what was supposed to happen. It had been even better when Lucy showed up with her silver tongue. Cat’s girlfriend had been a literal miracle worker in the city.
It was pretty obvious why Cat had gotten with a woman like her and the two were absolutely adorable together. It made me a little envious but I could settle my feelings with the realization that I would never have the courage to approach a woman like that, like either of them, really.
‘You have an incoming file transmission from Stray Cat.’ Inyris informed me from nowhere.
I almost jumped out of my bed. I had been zoning out and the idea of having a voice randomly speaking to me in my own head still freaked me out to the limit. I have to remain calm and keep my voice level. It’s not Inyris’s fault that she ended up in my head. “Thank you Inyris, What did she send me? Is it urgent? Do I need to review it right now?”
‘I don’t believe so. It appears to be a documentary of several alien species in the sphere of the protectorate. The information if about the species who fought against the Antithesis and won or at least stalled them. It does not appear to contain any information that is immediately relevant.’ Inyris replied in her dispassionately concerned voice that always made me think of my therapist AI from before I became a Samurai. In fact, I was almost certain that her voice was the exact same one, which helped soothe the transition a bit. At least I was used to talking to that AI so having Inyris in my head wasn’t that bad.
“Hmm, Inyris, can you give me a brief summary of each species and their strategies and whatnot? Maybe there is something there. I can’t see Stray Cat sending me something for no reason.”
‘Certainly, Jerome, I will display the information as a list. Please observe the info in your augs.’
After reading through the brief list of information something caught my notice right away. “Inyris, Can you please play me the info on that last group? I think I may have found what she wanted me to see.”
Rather than reply, Inyris simply started the video playing in my augs but I had her stop after only a couple seconds. I needed to see this with more detail than my augs could supply. “Inyris, Please put it up on that monitor over there on the wall please? I need better definition for this.”
‘If you would like, I could procure the Class I Basic Cyberwarfare Utilities catelog for 100 points and acquire you…’
“no, no, Not right now Inyris. I just want to view this documentary at the moment and then figure out if this is what Stray Cat wanted me to see.”
The video was informative and the footage was gruesome but not really all that much more than what I had already seen lately. I supposed that any civilization under siege by the Antithesis got inured to the horrors of the plant aliens. This documentary, however, gave me pause for a different reason. These aliens were winning against the Antithesis, before they even met the protectors.
If that was possible for them using plants then there was more I could be doing... Should be doing! Leave it to Cat to find the right motivation to show me how to advance as a Samurai. Then Inyris had to go and drop a bombshell on me. All I really wanted was to own a plant store and sell to the few who could afford them. I didn’t want to be dealing with alien plant monsters and definitely not like this!
‘I feel I should inform you that the species you are watching went on to become a very prestigious member race in the protectorate. They have an entire line of catalogs. You have just enough points to acquire the Class I Basic Gardener Biotechnologies catalog.’
To borrow a phrase that Cat seems fond of, FUCK!