I spent the next couple days trying to avoid dealing with Family. I did spend a couple hours redirecting some bears, optimizing their patrol routes and changing their standby positions, since I had the processing power to do so now, but I did that without any input from the others.

Instead of dealing with Mirage, Hel, and all the drama from above, I spent time checking on the facilities I’d spent the last few months installing. Since Issi loved plants so much I brought her up to the top floor of the tower, where I’d installed the hydroponics a couple weeks before.

“What’s this?” Issi asked as soon as we stepped off the elevator, running towards the nearest growbed.

“Ummm… lettuce?” I replied, squinting to read the plaque further down the row. “It’s one of the staple foods the frogs are growing here,” I told the girl.

“Why froggies? You have bears,” Issi asked, as she jumped in front of the machine, trying to get a good look inside. I smiled, then bent down to let her climb on my shoulders, before standing up so she could see. This would have been difficult a few months ago, but was something I did rather frequently after my muscle enhancements.

“My bears are…” I started.

“The frog models are much smarter than the bears, that’s why they teach you and your friends at school. The bears could do manual labour, but wouldn’t be able to perform the required decisions to make these foods grow efficiently,” Sir Froggington reported from behind me. I really wanted to give the frog a dirty look, but that would have caused Issi to swing around too, so I refrained myself.

“So this is what we eat at lunches?” Issi asked as she reached out and touched one of the grown lettuce heads. “Pretty sure our lunches don’t look like that.”

“That’s because everything we farm here is taken down one floor to the food processors, where it’s turned into a nice meal for you,” I replied. I reached over and inspected the same lettuce head that Issi was handling. It was firm, and a nice green color, unlike ninety-nine percent of the foods I’d grown up on, I hoped that the kids around here would grow up a little healthier with these foods.

After she was done inspecting the lettuce, Issi reached out for the next row, which had tomatoes. “Why don’t you give food out to everyone, instead of just the kids?” she asked as we walked over.

“That’s kind of the plan. We’re still ramping up production, and making sure we can maintain the output, before we sell it to the locals,” I explained. “Can’t give it away for free, because then kids wouldn’t come to the school, but I’ll probably sell it for cheaper than nutribars. Better for everyone.”

“And teach everyone to be responsible!” Issi announced.

“And teach everyone to be responsible,” I repeated with a smile. “Can’t give something for nothing, or people will try and take advantage.”

As we wandered around the isles, Issi inspected the various foodstuffs. After about ten minutes, she looked down at me. “Why only food? Flowers are pretty!” she asked, confused.

I sighed, “Flowers ARE pretty, but can you eat them?” I asked her back.

“Some you can!” Issi declared. I turned towards Sir Froggington, eyebrow raised, and the bot nodded in agreement.

“Alright,” I said, deciding to try a different tactic, “Do you think flowers would be as filling as a broccoli?”

“No…” the girl conceded. “Broccolis are bigger.”

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“And that’s what I’m going for, more food for more people,” I told the tot. “At least in the short term, but in the long term, who knows?”

“So maybe flowers in the future? Can I help when it’s time?” the girl asked, kicking her legs in excitement.

“Sure… I already have the plans, so I can create more hydroponic grow beds if I need to,” I told her. “You’ll have to be patient though.”

Isabelle wiggled, which was her signal that she wanted down, so I gently grabbed her and placed her on the ground in front of me. The little girl immediately turned and looked me straight in the face. “Why do you even need hydroprawnics anyways? I do it in pots, and they survive fine. What makes these metal tubes special?” Issi asked as she knocked on the nearest tray.

“The pots are fine, if you’re willing to wait for something to grow, but with the frogs monitoring everything the food here grows faster, and healthier, than it would in a pot. It would be hard to provide much food if we grew them in pots,” I explained.

Issi nodded, then turned to watch one of the frogs, dressed in a labcoat, walked up to a nearby tray and took some measurements before walking away. “Acceptable,” she finally said before turning back towards me. “But, it still needs more flowers,” she added.

“I believe you!” I told her, before ruffling her hair. “How about I set up a small hydroponics area downstairs to grow your flowers? I promised Jeniffer more room to work on her projects anyways, so I can set up a hobby area for you all.”

“Don’t call it a hobby to Jeni, she doesn’t like that. She takes it very seriously,” Issi warned me as she pushed my hand away. I smiled slightly when I saw her grumpy face.

“Would you like to see the food processors, since we’re already here?” I asked after she fixed her hair.

The little girl cocked her head to the side for a minute, thinking, before she nodded. “Yus! See the food.”

I reached down and grabbed her tiny hand, letting my smile grow a little, “Alright, this way.”

I led our little group, including Sir Froggington, back to the main lift, and pushed the button for the food processing floor. It only took a moment, before the doors opened on a much more industrial looking area. “No touching here, okay? There are dangerous things here,” I told Isabelle. The girl hesitated for a minute, then nodded, stuffing her free hand into her hoodie.

We walked between the rows of produce cleaners, heading deeper into the floor, before I stopped before one of the new processors. I immediately picked Issi up so she could see it.

“The frogs bring down vegetables from upstairs, wash it up, then put a specific mix into these machines,” I explained as a frog came along and dumped a tray full of vegetables into a hatch on the machine’s side. The machine made a number of chopping, whirring, and sizzling noises, then spat out a small tray of… something, on the other side.

“Lasana!” Issi cried when she saw the tray. “It’s my favorite.”

I sniffed at the tray suspiciously. I’d seen the machines work before, even tasted the results, but having a Class II machine seemed like magic sometimes. “What’s is it?” I asked suspiciously.

“Noodles, and tomato sauce, and spinach, and other vegetables. It’s very similar to a lot of the other meals, but noodles make everything better,” the tot explained. She started to reach out for the meal, but then immediately pulled her hand back when she remembered my warning.

“School isn’t on today, so this one was going to go into the freezer, I think…” I glanced over at a nearby frog, who nodded in agreement. “Would you like to take it home for dinner?”

Issi’s eyes lit up, and she stepped right up to the edge of the machine. “Are you sure?” she asked.

“Positive. You can even carry it,” I told her with a smile. I grabbed the ‘lasagna’ and handed it to the little girl. “Just be careful.”

Issi nodded, then immediately put on her concentrating face, doing her best to carry the small meal as flat as possible. I slowly guided her back to the elevator, making sure not to move too quickly and bump her. The elevator only took a few seconds to take us back down to the main floor, and when it opened up into the garage I found both Sharron and Nora waiting for me.

“Issi take the lasagna into the house, I’ll be there in a minute,” I told the girl, while I stared at my friends. Neither of them wanted to look at me, which probably wasn’t a good sign. As soon as Issi, led by Sir Froggington, was far enough away I turned towards the other two women. “Please tell me you’re here for a social visit,” I whined.

“I wish,” Sharron mumbled. “Let's go up to my apartment, we need to talk.”