It took awhile for Whisperer to actually enter the compound, long enough for the IFVs to arrive and my troops to start unpacking. “What took you so long?” I asked when she actually came in, followed by the two newbies.
“I was busy getting Red up and running,” she replied, as her massive wolf-like pet shoved open the gate behind her. “Unfortunately, when I don’t have ready access to antithesis corpses, I need to harvest some other kind of biomass to get the process started, and let Red feed in order to grow to the right size.” The huge wolf bent over to smell one of my bears before huffing and going to lay in front of the furnaces. “I see your reinforcements have arrived.”
“Three extra squads, along with a couple dozen more squirrels,” I confirmed. “I’ve pretty much finished securing the area and we’re ready to go into the tunnels.”
“Although I appreciate your enthusiasm, maybe we should actually discuss the situation rather than entering the tunnels blindly. We should also make sure Jesse and Tina are properly prepared before we enter,” Whisperer admonished me.
“Fine… we’ll do some planning first,” I grumbled. With a single thought, I sent the bears scurrying about, picking up miscellaneous junk in order to create an impromptu briefing area. Once we had a decent setup, I called the other two over.
Tina sprinted over and stuck out her hand to Whisperer. “I’m Tina Reed,” she said energetically. “Nice to meet you.”
Whisperer shook her hand, after a moment of surprise. “Olivia Reeves, but most people call me Whisperer,” she told the girl. After a moment, Jesse also wandered over and shook her hand and introduced himself, before everyone took a seat.
“Alright, since I’ve been here the longest, the least I can do is tell you what we’re dealing with,” I said. “We’re here because a newly discovered antithesis tunnel complex was discovered in Jasper, and because it was so extensive and resembled a previously discovered tunnel in this area, we’ve been sent to investigate. It seems that, after the cleanup crew left, the mining crews hit additional tunnels in this area.”
I paused for a moment and sent everyone a copy of my mapping data. “I sent scouts into the tunnels and, as you can see, they’re quite extensive. I haven’t been able to locate any hives yet, but I do know there are antithesis down there,” I reported.
“How?” Jesse asked.
“They ate one of my scouts, then fucked off,” I grumbled. “I didn’t have anything else close enough to see which way they went afterwards.”
“Something dangerous?” Tina asked excitedly.
“No, just a Model Three. There probably was more around, but I didn’t see any,” I replied with a sigh. “The tunnels are coated in some sort of protective coating, which is apparently excreted by Model Fourteens, so we can probably expect a couple of those running around the tunnels somewhere.”
“Shit…” Whisperer swore. “They’re not exactly that dangerous in an open area, but in tight spaces there’s a serious risk of getting trampled, and none of my boys are great at rending armor.”
“I’m planning on sending a squad to escort each of you, and they have a railgun which can penetrate, but line of sight kinda sucks in there, so it’s not something we can completely rely on,” I said. “With the clean lines of sight and static defenses I set up, we don’t have to worry about the mine entrance, just the tunnels.”
While Whisperer considered, I turned to the other two. “If you two intend to go into the tunnels, you need to be equipped properly, so… how many points do you have available, and how are you going to invest them?” I asked.
Jesse shifted on his stool uncomfortably. “Can’t we just buy things as we need them?” he asked in return.
“In some cases, yes, but you should have the basics before entering,” Whisperer replied, turning to join the conversation. “Have either of you bought armor? Or night vision?”
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“I haven’t, but I can!” Tina declared from her side of the table. “What else should we purchase?” she asked excitedly.
“That’s really up to you,” I replied. “You need the equipment to survive and, you know, function down there, but it’s up to you to develop your own style. I’ve told you what we might encounter down there. How do you want to prepare for it?”
The girl frowned for a moment, then nodded. “Big gun, more spiders,” she mumbled to herself. Tina stood up and walked over to where her spiders were sitting before leaning down and talking to what I could only assume was her AI. Jesse, on the other hand, didn’t move.
“You ok there?” Whisperer asked. “Have questions or anything?”
“I’m fine… I just want to consider my options before I make a purchase. I don't want to waste my points on a sub-optimal purchase,” Jesse grumbled.
“You shouldn’t worry about making a completely optimal purchase right now,” Whisperer told him. “The lower class of equipment is relatively cheap and disposable compared to the more advanced catalogs. You can try a few things and see what you like, rather than trying to find the absolutely best option right off the bat.”
He grunted. “But I don’t have the points to experiment with. If I don’t choose properly, I may be caught off guard once we get going, that’s why I want to evaluate the situation before purchasing.”
“Well, we’re not leaving this instant, so you can take your time to go over the options with your AI and make the most informed choice possible. Once we actually find and engage the Antithesis, you can purchase something better, or try something new,” I told him.
“Fine… I’ll think about it,” he said, before going quiet. He got a far away look in his eyes, which I suspected meant he was discussing things with his AI through subvocallization, or some other method. I waited another minute to see if he actually wanted to discuss anything else, before getting bored of being ignored and wandering off. I didn’t quite know what was going through his head, but if he didn’t want to discuss it, that was his choice.
Instead, I wandered over to where Tina was. She was in the middle of laying out a fancy suit of armor, with mechanical spider-like arms extending from the back, so I crouched down and looked at her setup. “You weren’t joking about the spider theme, were you?” I quipped.
“Absolutely not,” she replied seriously, checking on the arms while the little mechanical spiders crawled around her.
“Well, I’m glad one of you has decided to take Whisperer’s advice,” I said while poking one of her spiders. “Did you decide on any other purchases?”
“Yup! I picked an alternate spider-bot design, which should help with the big guys,” Tina said happily. “Those black colored ones, like the one you’re poking, contain pressurized acid canisters and can explode on demand.”
I froze. “That’s a joke, right? They’re not actually filled with acid, right?”
“No joke. Even my regular bots are armed with acid, although they’re designed to either inject it or spray it a very small distance,” she replied with a small nod. “Don’t worry though, the exploders keep their payloads in an inactive state. It needs to mix an activator into the mixture before it becomes dangerous.”
“Well, that’s a good idea. I don’t think many samurai actually think about that sort of thing ahead of time,” I said.
“Well, I do. Chemistry is my best subject at school,” she said with a smile. “I'm actually a little surprised that I even thought to throw acid on the antithesis when they crashed into the school lab. It was a super risky move, but I didn’t exactly have a choice at the time.” Tina sat back after inspecting her suit and looked my way. “You know what? I’ve always been fascinated by samurai, but never considered what I would do if I was ever chosen. That moment in the lab made me realize that I could use my love of science to fight."
"Makes sense. That doesn't explain why you decided on a spider theme though," I said.
Tina smiled just a little wider. "I like spiders."
“Right… that seems kinda weird to me, but what do I know? I specialize in teddy bears,” I said with a sigh. “Does your suit have night vision?”
“Yes!” she said with a smile. “It wasn’t expensive, and if we’re going to be crawling through tunnels, I’ll need it. Don’t worry, I was paying attention.” She scooped up her suit, or attempted to, but it seemed to be much heavier than either of us expected, so I summoned one of my bears over to pick it up.
“You can change in the van or my truck if you feel more comfortable,” I told her. “Just tell the bear where to put the suit when you’re ready.”
She nodded excitedly, then stood up and headed back towards the gate. “Thanks!” she called.
I nodded as I watched her walk off. At least I was comfortable with how one of the newbies coming along. Hopefully, by the end of the day, Jesse would start figuring things out. Otherwise it was going to be a long exploration.