Archimedes
They trudged along the dusty path through the camp until they reached the plant proper. The security was tight with five heavily armed soldiers right outside the doors. The sergeant gave some passwords, and the four were let through. She led them through long stretches of the industrial hallways with guards at various doors protecting chokepoints. Eventually, they reached the heart of the nuclear power plant, the gargantuan structure towering over them like a concrete and steel behemoth. As they drew closer, Archimedes could feel the thrum of the turbines and smell the faint smell of ozone. Inside, they saw the reactor, its heat radiating off its steel housing along with the whirring of electrons in motion.
Their footsteps echoed down the long, sterile corridor to stairs leading up to the plant's reactor control room, which was guarded by twenty soldiers. The room was filled with a dizzying array of buttons, levers, and gauges. The hum of the cooling systems and the low throb of the generators were palpable in the air. Archimedes could feel the power emanating from the core of the facility. The towering steel pipes and the blinking lights of the control room loomed over them until finally, they reached the center of it all.
“There’s the base core,” Sergeant Maryland said, gesturing at the orb in the middle of the control room. “We kept it here since, if an enemy gets this far, everything is over with anyways.”
“Makes sense,” Nguyen remarked.
“Which one of these buttons starts the apocalypse?” Lucy asked as she looked around. “Where’s the red button? Or the double-fucking-key thingie? Where’s the giant ‘don’t touch this, or we all die’ sign?”
“You watch a lot of movies, don’t you?” Sergeant Maryland asked.
“Not really?”
“Well, we’ll take control of the base using the orb. There should be some notifications about an invading faction popping up for everyone, but don’t pay them any mind,” Archimedes said. He then put a hand on the floating orb.
Warning. Non-faction personnel attempting to access the portal core. Be warned that all individuals within 100 feet of the established base will be notified of the attempted seizure.
Correction . . . Vassal system found . . . Agreement for vassalship confirmed . . . Access to base core functions established.
Welcome, Baron [Level 1] Archimedes.
Current Factionwide Benefits:
2.6% Increased tool and weapon efficiency.
2.6% Increased reproduction speed and growth rate.
1.5% Increased effectiveness of consumable buffs.
1.5% Reduced resources required for mechanical summons.
2.2% Increased water-traveling speed.
2.2% Increased aquatic lifeform reproduction speed.
With that greeting, the entire base system opened up to Archimedes. He grimaced when he saw the title Baron, feeling uncomfortable with it since he instinctively felt like the word might become a barrier between him and his friends. He glanced at Nguyen, who was staring at the display as well. He was relieved to see she hadn’t reacted to the title, so he pulled up the current base layout and its upgrades.
Building Types
Sustenance-Related Buildings:
[1 Unit] Water Filtration [At least 1 Core]
Food Processing [1 Core if Automated]
[1 Unit] Kitchen
[2 units] Monster Processing [2 Core]
Farming [1 Core if Automated)
[1 Unit] Medicine [3 Core]
Soda Processing [2 Cores]
Crafting-Related Buildings:
[1 Unit] Armor Smith [1 Core]
[1 Unit] Weapon Smith [1 Core]
Skill Crafting [1 Core]
Workshop [1 Core]
Magic Tool Shop [1 Core]
Robotics [1 Core]
Trap Smithing [1 Core]
Living Facilities:
Restrooms
Showers
Lodging
Common Room
[Unit 1] Training Room [1 Core]
Compressor [1 Core]
Sanatorium
Defensive Facilities:
Moats
[1 Unit] Walls
Regenerative Coral Wall – 1 Core
Trap Walls – 1 Core
[6 Manual] Turrets [1 Core if Automated]
Turrets – [Ice Ballista – 1 Core]
Turrets – [Automatic Laser – 2 Cores]
Specialty Facilities:
Portal [10 Cores]
Trade Hub [2 Cores]
Shipyard [5 Cores]
Garage [5 Cores]
[Level 2] Communication Center [5 Cores]
[Level 2] Energy Production [5 Cores]
[Level 2] Repair Facility [5 Cores]
Archimedes was surprised by how many upgrades the military had been able to build at the base. They’d captured or created twenty-six cores and built more facilities than any other base he’d seen. It made sense, in a way, since there were hundreds of armed, combat-capable soldiers at the base, but it was still impressive.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
He even had to admire how they had focused on things like armor and weapon production as well as repair facilities and training facilities, ignoring the automated turrets since there were no shortages of soldiers to operate them.
“What are those options doing there?” Sergeant Maryland asked as she leaned over Archimedes’ shoulder.
“What?”
“Those. They’re new,” she said, pointing to the base menu. “Robotics, Trap Smithing, Magic Tools, and all the different types of walls and turrets.”
Each faction has unique traits that allow for special developmental features. Human bases have the trait Technological Appropriation: Vassal technologies and base upgrades from existing vassal bases become available to Human Faction bases.
“Well, there’s the system doing its Q&A thing,” Nguyen said. “Only there to answer the unimportant questions.”
“I wonder if other people have figured this out yet? That taking over bases and not killing everything can be useful too?” Sergeant Maryland muttered to herself. “None of the other bases we’ve been in contact with have mentioned it.”
“I doubt there are many people that have bothered to try. We got the first vassal bonus when we took in the otters and the crocodile.”
“But it would be worth it if we could get access to new technologies,” Sergeant Maryland said. “I’ll have to let the colonel know, and he can relay the information to the higher-ups back at headquarters.”
“What about what we can do with the new options? With two processing facilities, you guys must be able to produce a number of cores. Do you have spares? How quickly can you make more?” Nguyen asked.
“We have five cores banked and are currently producing two cores every three hours when the system is in full operation.”
“With all those monster bodies out there, I don’t think that’ll be an issue,” Lucy commented.
Archimedes shook his head. “The options we have for upgrades are fantastic but I don’t want to make any decisions without talking to the rest of the group. Can we get them over here?”
The sergeant sent a runner to gather the remaining members of the team and they arrived wide eyed and staring at the massive industrial power plant.
“Thanks for coming, guys. I want your input on these upgrade options. Turns out we can choose from any of the upgrades from our vassals in addition to what the base has on its own. Apparently, humans are good at adapting other people’s technology,” Archimedes said as the group gathered around the base core and the information displayed above it.
The team all took their time looking over the options, Lucy and Emma only mildly interested.
“Obviously a lot of this depends on how quickly the changes can be made, but get the moats and the regenerative wall at a minimum. With so much water nearby, I don’t see a reason not to use it as a first line of defense. A wall that can repair itself automatically is a must as well. I mean, we all know how effective it is at the aquarium.”
“But we need to prioritize the portal,” Chedderfield argued.
Nguyen sighed, shaking her head. “But we can’t forget about the defense systems around the city. If we don’t have that secured, then all of our work on a portal will be for nothing.”
Chedderfield shook his head. “The portal has to go up first, that is how we’re transporting our allies over here. With enough allies, we’ll be able to make this fight a lot easier.”
“I understand the importance of the portal, but I think we should also consider a range of other options as well,” Nguyen reasoned.
Archimedes stepped forward, his hands outstretched in a placating gesture. “It doesn’t have to be one or the other; we can do both. We just need to make sure that we maximize our resources and time since we might not even have three hours before they arrive.”
“No, invest in offense. Why waste ten cores on a portal when Chip can round them up and bring them here in half a day,” Emma objected. “If Arc and y’all made me walk it, then why don’t they walk it too?”
“Mini-Lucy makes a point,” Archimedes nodded. “The turrets don’t tire, and we should build as many of the ice ballistas as possible. Those spiders being hit by the ballistas were a real lifesaver for Chedderfield and me. But the regular ones don’t require turrets, and we have plenty of spare people. We can still build the portal first, and then when we get extra cores from the monster processing facility, put them into making an ice ballista. Win-win, right?”
“I think we should build laser turrets and pew-pew the heck out of those monsters,” Danielle insisted. “Slowing them down isn’t going to do anything for us. Even if we freeze a chunk of them here and there, the others will just push past them and still be at our gates. Trust me, the pew-pew will not betray you.”
Nguyen nodded. “The pew-pew never betrays.”
“Pew-pew is love; pew-pew is life,” Lucy solemnly affirmed like she was quoting scripture.
Emma put her hand over her heart. “Yeah, pew-pew for li—”
“Not you. No pew-pew guns for you. Ever. You take their side of the argument, you’re not allowed to pew-pew. My butt may have lived through a bullet, but it won’t live through a laser,” Lucy said, shutting down Emma immediately.
Archimedes shook his head. “Look, slowing them down is something. It’ll give the other turrets and fighters more time to whittle down the enemy, and it’ll clog up the hell-cursed behind them.”
“No, at this scale, slowing down a dozen monsters isn’t worth it. Just kill them already and move on. The faster we can destroy them, the better our chances of living.” Danielle seemed rather adamant as she pointed at the laser turret option on the screen.
“But how long do you think we have until that army gets here? You guys are arguing about what turrets to go with the walls, but will regenerative walls even be finished by the time the big, scary undead army shows up?” Emma asked.
“I’d say we would be lucky if it took three or four hours,” Nguyen said. “Given their movement speed, four hours is reasonable.”
Archimedes gently caressed the floating orb and asked, “Orby, can you tell me how long it would take to build a new wall or a moat around the base?”
Processing request . . .
5 hours to build the Regenerative Coral Wall
3 hours to build the Moats
“Ha! So you girls can’t even build your pew-pew now either. If you do that, then the wall won’t be finished!” Chedderfield laughed.
“Look at the build time on the wall though. It’s five hours. The wall won’t be finished even if we start it right now either,” Archimedes said. “Not to mention, Chedderfield, you realize we can build things simultaneously? It just means we’ll have to deal with more than one monster wave during the process.”
“Why would building the wall take so long? It only took like half an hour at the aquarium.’
“Have you seen the size of this place? It’s over 10 times bigger, that means the wall has to be built around a lot more,” Danielle said.
“Which is why unless they drag their feet and take four hours to get here, that moat is the only thing we’re going to be able to get up and operational in time,” Archimedes sighed. “It’ll have to do, but I still think we should double build, so if we manage to hold them off a bit, the wall can finish and we’ll have the added defense.”
“What about the portal?” Chedderfield asked.
“Orby . . .” Archimedes started.
“You know you don’t have to caress it like that,” Lucy commented, her eyebrows raised as she looked enviously at the attention Arc was giving the orb.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t hurt to be nice. At least in my experience,” Archimedes said with a shrug, then turned back to the base orb, “Orby, how long will it take to build a portal?”
Processing request . . .
20 minutes to build a Portal.
“If we only have three hours, then we can’t even afford the portal,” Nguyen pointed out.
“Frak, that’s right,” Danielle grumbled. “We have five cores now and another two in three hours. We need a minimum of 10 for the portal.”
Chedderfield shrugged. “The guys at the aquarium and World of Soda have to have created more cores by now. Why don’t we just have them bring them here for us?”
“You want those poor racoons to travel all the way here?” Emma asked.
“No, we ask the sirrušu,” Archimedes answered. “They’re more than capable of covering the distance. We give Chip a good map and some directions, load him and the cores up with Redeye or Sharptooth, and they make it over. I don’t think there’s a monster that could stop them.”
“Oh, then we use the cores to build our portal to get the rest of the team here?” Danielle asked.
“That’s the plan.” Archimedes nodded before putting his hand back on the orb. “Alright, we have one more thing to do.
“What’s that?” Nguyen asked as Archimedes swiped through the menu options until he reached the one he was looking for: the quest system.
There, he began to immediately generate a quest, with the caveat that he had to word it carefully. The last thing he wanted was to send out a distress call that low level people, or small and unprepared groups might receive, only to be completely killed along the way.
Duke it out at the Nukem [Nuclear Power Plant Location]
Objective: Defend the Nuclear Power Plant.
Description: As we speak there is an army of hell-cursed rapidly approaching the nuclear power plant, and should they succeed in defeating us and seizing the nuclear material within, there will be no safe space here or anywhere else.
Hey, while it was a fun game, no one wants to actually live in Fallout!
Rewards: One Laser Rifle before the battle, XP from the fight, and as many cards as you can collect. When the enemies feel endless, so too shall be the loot.
“An FPS reference? Did you even play that game?” Lucy asked Archimedes as he typed up the prompt.
“What? What game?” Archimedes raised an eyebrow as Lucy pushed herself in even closer to Archimedes so she could better read the prompt in front of him.
“You’re . . . you’re messing with me, right?” Lucy asked, pointing right at the “Duke it out at the Nukem.”
“I’m lost too,” Chedderfield also looked oblivious as he expressed his own confusion. “Lucy, what are you talking about?”
“You’re messing with me . . .” Lucy blinked. “You have to be kidding . . . right?”
“No idea what you’re talking about, Lucy,” Archimedes replied. He had trouble not laughing as he watched her face contort, so he turned and joined Chedderfield and Nguyen as they left to man the walls during the construction phase. If they couldn’t build the moat or the coral walls, there wouldn’t be much to laugh about then. They’d all be dead before anyone could come to help them.