We can reverse engineer many samurai technologies, but even with the best engineers our tech will be nothing but pale imitations. Even our best attempts seem to lack the ‘soul’ of tech that samurai bought items have. Although our recreations aren’t quite there, I’m sure we’ll get there someday. We just need to keep trying.

- Azumi Tanaka’s TED talk on Replicating Samurai Technology

—

It took us about half an hour and two dozen grenades to completely eliminate any trace of the hive. We actually spent most of that time trying to figure out how to get the enzyme grenades up into the top of the infected evergreens. At first I thought I could easily throw a grenade into one of the nooks and crannies that had been created by the mess of parasitic vines, but after about ten minutes of failing to land a single grenade in the trees, much to Skyler’s amusement, I gave up.

Skyler’s solution turned out to be a lot more effective. She bought a roll of tape, taped the grenades to the front of her drones, then had them hover to the top of the trees. Once the grenades were triggered, the enzyme gas gently wafted downward, destroying the last remnants of the hive.

“That was… surprisingly easy,” Skyler said as we trudged back towards the car. “Except for the Thirteen.” She added when I shot her a disgruntled look. “Do you think they’ll all be that easy?”

{Athy: We recommended this hive because it seemed to have taken longer to go active than the others. Now we know the delay was because it prioritized creating a Thirteen over a horde of weaker models.}

{Arty: To give you an idea of how fast the antithesis reproduce: In the time it took you to get here, kill the thirteen, and clean up the hive, most of the other hives have produced one to two more generations of antithesis. A single hive, left undisturbed, can produce models One through Six in less than an hour.}

{Athy: Not only that, but when a hive is left undisturbed, it can grow at nearly an exponential curve. The early models go out and retrieve biomass, allowing the hive to grow and produce more advanced models while still producing the original models. The more a hive pumps out, the faster it harvests the surrounding area… Within a day a hive will have produced an army large enough to give you two troubles. Within a week, it’ll be producing models that are beyond your capabilities to fight, at least for now.}

“Fuck,” I muttered. “How the hell have the samurai managed until now?” I asked.

{Arty: That IS the worst-case scenario, where a hive remains undisturbed and has access to abundant biomass. Typically, if a hive tries to grow that aggressively, it will be detected within hours, and a samurai response team will be sent out to deal with it.}

“Makes sense,” Skyler said. “So what do we do now? Is there another Hive we can hit or…” As we were hiking over a particularly steep section of the hill, a rock gave way under her boot, causing her to flail wildly, almost tumbling down the hill. I reached out to grab her, but before I could, one of her drones shot forward and pushed against her long enough for her to regain her footing. “Close one,” she chuckled nervously.

“Your drones seem pretty responsive,” I said sullenly. “Doubt the old Howie would have been able to do that.”

“Awww… are you mad that you couldn’t play the hero?” Skyler teased as she carefully made her way over to me. “Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of chances in the future. Besides, it’s the thought that counts!”

Before I realized what she was doing, she’d already darted forward and planted a quick kiss on my lips. “Thanks for trying, honey.”

I smiled, “Anytime.” I held a hand out and carefully helped Skyler reach the nearest flat area, thinking about the situation. “Why exactly did that drone react so quickly?”

“I think it’s because they’re slaved to my augs?” Skyler said thoughtfully. “Athyna said that if I want to run more drones or have more fine control over the drones I have, I should upgrade my system. Maybe there’s more to the current link than I thought? I do remember thinking, ‘Oh shit, I need help,’ as I toppled. Maybe that was transmitted to the drones?”

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I eyed up the nearest bot. “Maybe? That’s actually pretty useful if true. If the antithesis manage to get too close, and you don’t have time to make cohesive commands, the drones will react to your general intent. Throw themselves between you and the enemy. It’ll probably mean the end of the drone, but it should give you time to escape or prepare a counterattack.”

Skyler smirked. “Please, like you’d ever let the antithesis get that close to me,” she said warmly.

“True,” I said seriously, “this is all just theoretical!”

The two of us giggled as we emerged from the forest, back at the stream. Athyna had already brought the car down and had it waiting for us when we came out.

I slipped into the passenger’s seat and fastened my seatbelt before finally asking, “So, what’s next? Minor cleanup?”

“I’m not sure,” Skyler admitted. “We should check the map and see if there are any emergencies.”

I nodded and swapped over to the real-time map. Once I zoomed out, I noticed a ton of samurai signals dotted around the area. There were only a couple in the yellow area, most of which appeared to be targeting the hives, a couple in the orange, and just a single samurai in the red. Grey Goo.

“Grey really knows how to clean house,” I muttered. Even while zoomed out, I could see that she was leaving a small strip of yellow and orange in her wake. It quickly disappeared as the antithesis moved back into the areas she’d cleared, but the fact that she’d cleared the red area to that extent was impressive.

“I don’t see any other low-level hives we can hit,” Skyler said as she checked the map. “But there are a couple alerts from Cascadia command asking for help to protect the construction crews while they reinforce the defenses. Maybe we should head there?”

I mentally scrolled closer to the city and checked out those alerts. They were of moderate priority, but the construction was still deep in the green zone, and each construction crew had a full PMC contingent. It wasn’t something that needed samurai intervention yet.

I bit my lip and scrolled aimlessly, looking for something juicy. If Skyler and I were going to earn some points, we needed a little bit of a challenge.

I was still scrolling when I was surprised by a call from my mother. Since Skyler jumped at the exact same time I did, it probably meant it was a group call.

[Hi mom,] I said as I accepted the call. [I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon, I thought you’d be super busy dealing with the increased demand for medical supplies and such today.]

[I admit that’s taking up a lot of my time, but it’s not my only priority. Can you two stop by my office? The sooner the better,] my mother replied. I could hear the stress in her voice.

[We’re kind of busy right now,] Skyler explained. [The situation outside the city isn’t very good right now, and both the government and the Family have asked all samurai to help deal with the situation before it gets worse.]

[I’m aware of the situation right now,] my mother replied. [I’ve been receiving hourly briefings from my government attache, but there’s a situation developing which needs not only direct samurai intervention but also a significant amount of discretion. The government has already agreed to give you both clearance, and Velvet has already agreed it should be within your capabilities.]

I blinked, absorbing what my mother had just said. [You know Velvet Aurora?]

[I know a number of samurai dear, Velvet is just the one coordinating certain… projects in this area,] my mother said. [I can’t tell you more unless you come talk to me personally, it’s not something I can discuss over the phone. So, will you girls help?]

[If both Velvet Aurora and the government think this is important, then of course we’ll help,] Skyler replied. [We’re outside the city right now, but we’ll be back as soon as possible.]

[Splendid! I’ll ask Agnes to prepare the tea and dig out some chocolates from Moray’s shop!] Mother replied.

I sighed. The world might be ending, but my mother still insisted on only providing the best snacks to her guests. She was too nice sometimes. [We’ll see you soon, Mom.]

[Love you both, bye-bye!] my mother replied before hanging up.

“I find it so cute how your mother can go from no-nonsense businesswoman, to doting mom within a couple seconds,” Skyler said with a small smile. Her expression almost immediately hardened as she went on to her next thought. “Did you know she had contracts with the local samurai?”

“Contacts? Yes, Contracts? No. I knew she was branching out and becoming a major supplier for the government, but this is news to me,” I replied. “She’s not one to exaggerate or lie to us, so whatever she’s working on, it must be important.”

Skyler nodded and put her car into drive. We gently rose above the treeline, but as soon as we were clear, she stomped on the accelerator so hard that I was pressed back into my seat by the acceleration. “Then we better not keep her waiting,” she said.