Put the two or three samurai in a room together and they’ll create new worlds. Add just a couple more and they'll destroy them instead.

-Modern Proverb

—

Skyler and I were one of the last ones to leave. We followed the pair of girls that had been sitting across the room from us. I was surprised to see the smaller girl didn’t walk but unfurled an exceptionally long fish-like tail and just swam through the air. That wasn’t something I’d seen before.

As soon as we stepped out of the room, Albrecht was standing there, waiting for us. “I hope everything went well,” he said lightly. “Did you have other business on the ship, or would you like me to escort you outside again?”

“Outside, if you would please,” Skyler replied politely. “Sounds like we have a busy day ahead of us.”

The older man bowed, tapped a couple buttons on a nearby panel, and the floor started moving again. We didn’t say much on the way back, so I spent most of the time inspecting the corridors around us. The walls appeared to be made of the same matte black metal as the hull, but they somehow emitted a small amount of light. There wasn’t track lighting around them, the walls themselves glowed like an LED panel, despite appearing to be a solid metal wall.

In addition, there appeared to be a long red line running down the wall, following our path. I thought it was something permanently painted on, since there was a sign at most intersections with the Label ‘Exit’, but the one time we stopped for someone coming the opposite way, a blue line magically appeared on the wall. As soon as the man passed us, it faded again.

Albrecht must have sensed my question, because he answered it before I asked. “The ship’s corridors are all constructed of a unique Class III metal. Not only is it strong, but it has the innate ability to change color. The crew harnessed this to create adaptive guidelines along the wall, for people that are in a rush or don’t want to use the floors,” he explained.

“The metal itself does that?” Skyler asked in awe.

“Indeed. I’ve seen some extremely remarkable things while working for the Family. The more advanced catalogs contain some absolutely magical things,” Albrecht said proudly. “I’m sure you’ll get to experience some of them soon.”

“I can’t wait,” I replied quietly.

As soon as we got our first glimpse of the outer hatch, Albrecht whipped out two metal cards and handed one to Skyler and me. “My contact information. If you need anything, or have questions about the local branch of the Family, please don’t hesitate to ask.

I gently grabbed the card, and as soon as I did a tingle went through my fingers.

{Arty: Tsk, a neural imprint signal. It added all his information to your contacts without asking, but don’t worry, I made sure it didn’t go any further than that. Dangerous tech to be using for business cards}

I just barely managed a smile after that, and said a polite, “Thank you,” before stuffing it deep into my pockets. I also made a note to discuss the tech with everyone later.

Skyler managed to pull off a much more natural smile. “Thank you for everything,” she said, gently shaking Albrecht’s hand as we stepped out onto the pier.

“My pleasure, take care now,” Albrecht replied pleasantly as Skyler and I stepped away.

“Ugh, I hate intrusive tech,” I muttered as soon as we were out of earshot.

“I wouldn’t worry about it that much. It’s probably standard equipment for the Family,” Skyler replied. “And I’m sure our AIs would be able to detect and prevent anything malicious.”

“Maybe Athyna would,” I grumbled as I opened the passenger side door of Skyler’s car and slipped inside. “Artymis would probably just berate me for not unlocking the right catalog to stop it.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

{Arty: That’s not true… I'd at least give you a heads up, and delay the malicious code long enough to give you a chance to buy the catalog. Whether you did or not would totally be up to you.}

Sklyer laughed, “At least you’re honest about it.” After she fastened her belt, Skyler turned to look into the back, smile fading slightly, before turning back towards me. “I think we have a problem. Howie isn’t going to fit in any of our vehicles.”

“I doubt he’d fit in anything smaller than a delivery truck,” I admitted. “So yeah… maybe the staff has something we could use?”

{Athy: You both earned quite a few points while fighting your way out of the Tanaka Industries building, along with the reward for killing both the Fourteen and Seventeen. Skyler now has Sixteen hundred, Seventy points, and one Token. That’s more than enough to put Howie in a more compact body and maybe get him a few friends.}

“That would be perfect!” Skyler declared, delighted at the idea. “It would make things much easier if I could fit Howie into the car.”

“It does sound like quite an upgrade,” I agreed. “We’ll check it out once we get home.”

Skyler nodded happily, leaned back, and triggered the ignition. The car roared to life, only taking moments to build the lift necessary to take off. Skyler gunned the engine, and if anyone else had been driving, I would have been worried, but she was one of the best drivers I knew.

While Skyler concentrated on getting us home, I dove into the mental chat room.

{Rei: Can you two go over the data feed and try to identify the best hive for Skyler and I to cut our teeth on?}

{Athy: Already done! There are three in the yellow zone, and we’ve already flagged the most promising one for you and Skyler to deal with. That won’t prevent other samurai from trying to slip in, and destroy it before you arrive, but if that happens, Arty and I have identified a couple probable hive sites.}

{Rei: You have? Why hasn’t anyone else flagged these places?}

{Arty: It’s possible that the other AI suspects, but haven’t flagged it, or maybe they’re still investigating. Because Athy and I are linked, we can run significantly more operations than other AI.}

{Sky: Useful.}

“Almost home,” I heard Skyler declare, so I closed the chat. We were flying higher than normal, way above the regular car lanes and surrounding buildings. I turned towards my girlfriend and raised an eyebrow. “What? We’re samurai, with special travel permissions now, so I thought I’d take advantage. It’s much faster to fly above all the buildings, then between them, and we made excellent time,” she explained.

She was right. I could see the shining white walls of Elysium Heights quickly approaching and the blast doors on our garage opened to welcome us home. I could even make out the security inside. They seemed appropriately wary, but at least they didn’t greet us with guns out this time.

Skyler expertly maneuvered through the outer doors, picked out a spot close to the doors, and slid to a stop. It was so smooth I didn’t even feel her touch down. “Now, upgrade time!” she declared as she undid her seatbelt and slid out of the car.

I laughed lightly and slipped out my own door, following her into the house at a much more sedate pace. By the time I arrived in the front corridor, she’d already maneuvered her oversized bot out of the closet and was inspecting him.

“So I can put Howie here into a smaller frame? What about the older shell?” Skyler was saying. “Store it, huh? We do have the space, and maybe we can leave this one here for home defense.”

“I don’t know if keeping a mortar bot indoors, for home defense, is a great idea,” I said as I got closer.

“Reina! Athyna has the perfect replacement for Howie. Although I’ll miss the big lug, having something smaller would be useful. I’ll share the plan with you!” Skyler declared excitedly. “Oh, and we’ll continue our discussion in the group chat, okay, Athy?”

Skyler sent me an augmented reality file, and when I opened it the new drone model appeared before me.

This new version was tiny compared to the original Howie. Where the big bot was six feet wide, two feet long, and about three feet tall, the new version could fit inside a suitcase.

The new design was closer to Skyler’s scout drones than the original Howie. It was only about two and a half feet long, a foot and a half wide, and just under a foot high. The top appeared to be some sort of wing, with compact hover jets mounted on the left and right sides. Between them was the main body of the drone, a rounded fuselage with a handful of sensors sticking out of the front. If the drone had stopped there, it might have passed as some sort of corporate automated surveillance device, but the new drone also sported a pair of mortar tubes, mounted flush with the top, down the center line, and a pair of heavy machine guns on each side of the fuselage.

“Where’s the ammunition go?” I asked as I poked at the projection, disrupting it. “It looks too small to carry more than a single mortar round for each tube.”

“They use miniaturized rounds, so there’s enough room for six in each tube,” Skyler explained. “I have to pick up a new catalog for it, but it’ll be worth it.”

“So you’re going to buy a couple?” I asked.

“Oh yeah,” Skyler replied, a massive smile on her face, “and I can’t wait to give them a go.”