Uninspired
Mass Effect, Inspired Inventor
05
"Alpha, mass broadcast. Every channel but emergency and government services. Television, radio. Stream it to every platform. Let me know when you're ready."
The holographic interface in front of me flashed a red 'transmitting' warning, showing a view of me sitting in my chair in the Phoenix's cockpit. Looking off to the side, I instructed, "Play it."
The events of the missile strike on Alpha's press conference played, followed by Alpha's own recording that followed, then her backtracking of the missile and the jet that had launched it. Finally, beaming the pilot aboard the Phoenix and me beating him until he started answering questions.
"Who sent you?" Alpha helpfully translated my words for the pilot, and on the screen, would be putting subtitles in every language depending on region.
"I can't! They'll kill—"
"'They' aren't here. I am." The pilot screamed as I broke his knee in the video. "I've already pulled the flight data from your aircraft. I know. I know where you came from. I want you to say it. Who sent you, Xiao Ping? Who gave you the order to fire? You'll tell me, or I'll return the favor to you personally when I fly over your family's house and put a missile through their front door. Say it."
He spilled his guts after that and I let it play out on screen. When he finished, I looked into the camera again. "Congratulations, China. You've just lost the highest stakes game of 'fuck around and find out' in human history. For everyone else, let me tell you what's happening."
I gestured and several more screens joined the one with my face on it, which shrank to give them more room. A map with my current position, sitting over Beijing. Satellite footage looking down on Beijing, highlighting the Phoenix. Multiple camera feeds from the ground both from CCTV and from people who looked up, noticed my presence, and began filming.
"I'm not an unreasonable man. I don't believe in grossly disproportionate responses and acceptable civilian casualties. That's why I'm not sitting in orbit, bombing your country back to the stone age. However, you committed a war crime. Your government, that is. Your government attacked a civilian target on foreign soil. You may not have declared war, but that was an act of war. The thing is, you didn't just commit an act of war against the United States. If you had, I'm sure some diplomat would be complaining about it in a few hours. No, you decided to wage war on me, personally. So, now we're at war. I'm not a diplomat. I'm not a politician. I'm not a soldier. I'm an inventor. I'm not going to impose economic sanctions or a trade embargo. I'm not going to fire a single shot. I don't need to, when I have a teleporter."
I paused a moment to let that sink in, before a thought towards Alpha had pictures of every member of the ruling party of China displayed on screen. Followed by a map with every military asset they possessed—the ones people knew about and the ones they didn't, including their NBC program.
"As of today, the Chinese Communist Party no longer exists, nor will it ever be allowed to again. In a moment, every ranking member of the PRC will be removed. The People's Republic of China no longer exists as a nation, nor as a global super-power. You are no longer allowed military assets—from firearms, to fighter planes, and everything in between. No guns, no tanks, no ships, no planes, no missiles. I'm confiscating them. They will all be melted down and converted into raw materials, for use constructing ships and other things. You are no longer a nuclear armed power, nor will you ever be allowed to be so again. You will forever be at the mercy of your neighbors. Pray they are merciful, because this is all the mercy I have for you." I paused a moment, before ordering, "Alpha, do it. And send Mr. Ping to a hospital."
"Commencing beaming, sir. Estimated time to completion: ten minutes."
"Thank you," I nodded to the VI, before looking into the camera again. "You're probably wondering where I'm sending the Party members. I'm saving them for last, so they might be watching or listening to this as it happens. Then, when it's done, they're all going to be beamed to ten thousand feet above Tiananmen Square—after we clear the square to make sure no one's in it when they return to Earth. After that, I don't care what happens to them, or to China as a whole. You can clean up your own mess."
Leaning back in my seat, I continued. "As for the rest of the world, this is your only warning. It probably seems unreasonable that a private citizen can just declare war on a country and do something like teleport their entire government into the air so they have enough time to realize just how badly they fucked up before they hit the ground. And it is unreasonable. It's just as unreasonable that a foreign government can decide to just kill someone, for financial or strategic reasons. I'm a generally peaceful man. And as I've said, I'm also not a politician, so I'm going to put this in simple terms that anyone can understand. I don't like hurting people, but I believe that if someone makes an attempt to kill you, then returning the favor is fair and just, no matter who it was that did it. So this is your one warning. You don't have a monopoly on violence or technology anymore. We can all get along and continue to do business together, to advance the human race and step into the stars together… Or you can fuck around like China here and find out what happens. It's your choice."
With that, I cut the feed and closed my eyes. "Take me home when it's finished, Alpha."
"Yes, sir."
"Sir?" The bedroom door opened and I cracked an eye open, staring as Alpha peered in.
"What is it, Alpha?"
"Sir, if you don't mind my saying—"
"I might. Say it anyway," I grunted.
"It is my duty to see to your health, and that includes your mental health. You could have died, but you did not."
"Because of random chance," I pointed out, and she nodded.
"Perhaps. But you did not. I have taken steps to ensure it won't happen in the future. A new body without the element zero experimentation will be completed within the week, for you to move into. Until then, you cannot allow a brush with death to cause you to fall into depression and lose your drive, your will to go out into the world and do more."
I stared at the AI for a moment before nodding. "Fine."
"I believe that should start with getting dressed," she stated in that dry tone that made me wonder if she hadn't actually developed emotions on her own—or at least emotion, singular, in the form of sarcasm.
"Yeah, okay, fine. Let me grab a shower and I'll be down in a bit. I want breakfast. Kind of in the mood for waffles."
Alpha nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her. I sighed and flopped back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling for a moment before forcing myself to get out and make my way to the bathroom, and the shower. Standing under the hot water, I closed my eyes and let my mind wander.
She's right. I've got shit to do if I want to keep myself from getting killed in the future. A single spare body isn't going to cut it. I need to make more than one, and start working on serious personal upgrades.
I brought up my menu and checked to see what was available.
Leon Reynolds. Experience: 0xp. Points: 13.
Shop
Tech Trees:
1. Assassins Creed. -100 points.
2. Arpeggio of Blue Steel. -100 points.
3. Earth Final Conflict (Series). -100 points.
4. Battle Angel Alita (Manga) II. -100 points.
5. Terminator II. -100 points.
6. Cyberpunk II. -100 points.
7. Mass Effect IV. -100 points.
8. Stargate VI. -100 points.
9. Marvel (Cinematic Universe) VI. -100 points.
Upgrades:
1. Russian Roulette. -20 points.
– You can choose to pay points and have options replaced in the store. Does not effect direct upgrades to tech trees already purchased. Will not replenish options if you've bought everything available.
2. Delayed Gratification. -20 points.
– You can now choose to receive updates to the store and new options at slower intervals, in exchange for more points, every six months being a 100% increase in points generated daily and a 100x yearly increase from the mission 'Survive.'
3. Gacha Whaler. -20 points.
– You can choose to pay points and replenish all options available in the store.
Tech Tree
1. Mass Effect III.
2. Stargate V.
3. Marvel (Cinematic Universe) V.
4. Big Hero 6 (Movie Universe) Max.
5. Battle Angel Alita (Manga) I.
6. Terminator I.
7. Cyberpunk I.
8. Horizon (Game) Max.
Upgrades
1. Fast Learner.
2. Mechanical Savant.
3. MacGyver's Apprentice.
4. Nimble Fingers.
5. Crash Override.
6. Bishop Administrator.
7. Sell By.
8. Neural Mancer.
9. CAD Master.
Missions
Main:
1. Survive. (16) 100xp/year.
2. Leave the solar system. 10000xp.
3. Make contact with an alien race. 10000xp.
4. Make contact with every main race of the current cycle (Asari, Turians, Salarians, Krogan, Quarians). 10000xp.
5. Get xeno pussy. 10000xp.
6. Kill a Reaper. 50000xp.
7. Kill all of the Reapers. 100000xp.
8. Leave the galaxy. 20000xp.
Side:
1. Achieve immortality. 10000xp.
2. Solve world hunger. 10000xp.
3. Achieve world peace (or close enough). 10000xp.
4. Uplift humanity. 10000xp.
5. Start terraforming Mars. 10000xp.
6. Bring peace between the Quarians and the Geth, one way or another. 10000xp.
7. Romance a Quarian out of her suit. 10000xp.
8. Mind meld with an Asari. 10000xp.
9. Cure the Quarians. 10000xp.
10. Find the Quarians a home. 10000xp.
11. Fix that levo/dextro bullshit. 10000xp.
12. Free the Collectors, one way or another. 10000xp.
I need more points. I need more missions locally, too. Things I can do on Earth.
The menu blinked and new side missions propagated. "Huh."
Side – Earth:
1. Solve world hunger. 10000xp.
2. Achieve world peace (or close enough). 10000xp.
3. Uplift humanity. 10000xp.
4. Clean the planet of pollution. 10000xp/country, 50000xp/ocean.
5. Move to clean energy. 10000xp/country.
6. Replace aging and/or damaged infrastructure. 10000xp/country.
7. Replace or repair existing housing to more efficient standards. 10000xp/country.
8. Cure cancer. 10000xp.
9. Cure disease. 10000xp.
10. Move to a post-scarcity economy. 10000xp.
11. Engineer superior humans. 10000xp.
12. Genetically engineer humans to breed Asari and Quarians. 10000xp.
On and on it went, and I chuckled, shaking my head. "Guess I've got some things to do."
First things first, though. I looked at my list of available tech trees. Assassins Creed can go. I don't need VR or memory dive tech, and the rest of that tech from the ancient civilization would just cause problems. I don't recognize Arpeggio, so it's a mystery box. And I do love a mystery… I think I remember Earth Final Conflict. That was by, uh, Roddenberry I think. Aliens do a soft takeover of Earth. Don't remember anything that really stood out, so that can go too.
Selling off those two netted me 200 points, which I immediately invested in Arpeggio—AoBS?—and the available upgrades, leaving me with 53 points. Information poured in and I almost slipped and busted my ass.
Shipgirls. Nanite based AI shipgirls with absolute bullshit tech. Oh my fuck. I need everything in this tree. Not just ships running AI, but intelligent ships with their own avatars, fanatically loyal to humanity and willing to burn out anything that bears fangs at us.
I was going to need more investment into the tree to get there, however. Nanomaterials were nice, though. Klein fields and Wave-Force armor was ridiculous and immediately going into all future shielding designs.
Which brought me right back to needing more points.
Not actually in any particular hurry, since I've got time before we'll be making first contact So, use Delayed Gratification. Set it for one refresh every two years. That should give me 4 points per day just for existing and 100 points per year from the 'Survive' mission. That's 365 days a year, times 2 for two years, times 4 points per day, plus 200, for a grand total of 3120 points per two years. I could dive deeper into new tech trees and then use Gacha Whaler or Russian Roulette to use the extra points to buy a refresh on the store. It's more efficient this way. Slightly longer lead time, but more resources when I get there.
I didn't like it. It wasn't what I wanted, which was all the tech, now. But it was the best option I had available at the moment, so I'd take it. And in the meantime, I would build up. I'd advance my tech. Study everything I got my hands on. I would find a way to make sure that something like this never happened again.
Because in the end, it was ultimately my fault that it happened. I changed too much, presented too tempting a target, I put off improving my body beyond what I already had so I could do it 'better' when I should have taken good enough, I hadn't thought that any nation in this time would be stupid, shortsighted, and greedy enough to try something like this. China saw a threat, in someone who looked to be set to rapidly advance the 'west's' tech. They saw an opportunity to neutralize that threat and took it. I could, and did, blame them for it, but I had some blame myself for not keeping my head down.
I'll focus on what I can get done first.
I finished my shower, dressed, and made my way down to breakfast. I had a long day ahead of me.
"Thank you for meeting with me today, Prime Minister, ladies, gentlemen," I smiled, returning the Prime Minister's polite bow before shaking hands with him.
"It is good to have you here, Mr. Reynolds," the man said. "We've read your proposal and we are very excited to hear more."
I grinned and took the offered seat at the table. "Certainly. Before we begin, however, would you Alpha?"
"Certainly, sir," the VI went around the table and began handing out small, metal triangles to everyone.
"This is a Focus. Once you put it on and activate it, it broadcasts a signal straight to your brain that provides an Augmented Reality overlay of the world, including sight, sound, and touch. It sticks to your temple like this. Don't worry, it works by molecular magnetism, so there's no adhesive or residue," I demonstrated, pressing it against my temple, with the point facing forward. "They work by inductive wireless charging, and can passively charge off of any nearby signal. They're waterproof and, as you'll discover, almost impossible to remove once you stick it on unless you go into the menu and tell it to disengage. The interface is completely neural, so there's no need for silly hand gestures or anything, but tests have shown that most people find it easier to adapt if they start by using their hands first. Next week, I'll begin selling them worldwide, for less than the cost of a cell phone. They run off of my own network, which is free to access using the Focus, though they will still interface with the normal internet and cellular phone system, for now. I aim to have those phased out in the coming years and replaced with a faster, more secure subspace network."
I watched as everyone attached their focus as I'd demonstrated, before activating the presentation, producing an image over the table that only we could see. "This is the future of power production, not just in Japan, but the world over—and I'm giving you the first crack at it, publicly."
A man at the table, who my Focus tagged as the Minister of Defense, asked, "Why Japan?"
"A few reasons, actually. Firstly, simple geography. Japan is a small island nation. You're perfect for this test, in terms of size. Cuba, Ireland, the UK, Indonesia, the Philippines, and New Zealand were all on the list by that criteria. Second, your existing infrastructure. You're a first world nation with existing modern infrastructure that, outside of remote rural areas, you've kept up to date. That eliminated half the other candidates on the list. Thirdly, you're not a nuclear armed power who may worry that, after my handling of China, I would try to work in some sort of nuclear disarmament clause into the deal. And last but not least, Japan is a beautiful country. It's in the top three of my favorite countries in the world for the scenery alone. You're proud of your country, as you should be, and I know you'd like to keep it looking clean—and improve on that if possible. Fix those little unsightly, problematic areas no one likes to talk about. I have a solution for that and your country is small enough that we could see it done inside of a few months, once I have the green light. If I could continue?"
"Please," the Prime Minister nodded.
I bought up the technical specs and diagrams for the new arc reactor, along with a live feed of the one running my underwater production facility. "Using some advances made thanks to technology found at the Prothean site, and some proprietary new metals I've created separate from that, I've developed a new power source to push humanity into the future. To pull us off the dirty teat of fossil fuels forever. Nuclear was previously the cleanest, safest alternative, but the stigma surrounding fission plants and the scaremongering about potential fusion plants has forever tainted the idea of nuclear power with popular culture images of giant explosions, glowing green goop, mutations, cancer, death, and leaking barrels of waste that will kill everyone within a hundred miles of them for the next million years.
"The arc reactor is 100% safe and produces no waste whatsoever. It produces no radiation, very little heat. If it fails, it does so non-destructively. The technology is built in such a way that there is no way to induce any kind of dangerous overload. The materials within it are non-volatile short of a nuclear explosion going off on top of it, and in such an event, there is shielding technology in place to protect the reactor. Current calculations show that one of my arc reactors will produce enough power to fuel a country ten times Japan's size and population for half a million years of continuous runtime. When it does eventually go out, all of the parts can be recycled into making another arc reactor to replace it. It broadcasts power wirelessly, safely, to any device equipped to receive power via inductive technology. If you'll take out your phones, you'll see that they're actually charging right now, and will stop charging the moment they're full."
I waited as several people fished out their phones and confirmed just that, before continuing. "That's running off of the reactor built into Alpha's chest, but once we get one built here in Japan, it'll be a reality for everywhere in the country. And because it's wireless, that means that all of those unsightly utility poles and power lines can be removed. Every household can be equipped with one of these," I brought up a second schematic, showing a wireless power receiver for a home. "My wireless power receivers are simple to install and require no maintenance. For this project, I'll be supplying and installing them to every home in Japan, free of charge. If you'll let me, I'll also remove the utility poles and lines, on the condition that they be classified as scrap and given to me. Which brings me to my next proposal."
Another two pieces of tech were displayed for them to look at. "This is a garbage transporter, and beside it is a recycling center. You already have trucks doing garbage pickup. Instead of going to a landfill, incinerator, or other facility they'll bring their loads to the transporter. The transporter then scans the contents for organic life or anything resembling a human, or part of one. If it detects a person or part of one, alarms are tripped and whatever it's found is teleported to a safe collection area, here," I pointed out a set of rooms off to the side of the small building, "and authorities are contacted. Assuming it doesn't find a person, body, or animal, then the materials inside it are teleported to the recycling center. There, they are disassembled on a molecular level, sorted into their constituent pieces, and reassembled in bricks of material to be reused as raw building material stock for other things—which I'll be keeping as payment for the use of the service. Related to this is…"
I brought up another image, this time of a flying drone. "A teleporter equipped drone. If you agree, I'll be having them sweep and scan the country for existing landfills, pollution, junkyards, and other collections of scrap. When it finds something, it'll be teleported to the recycling center. They're programmed not to destroy anything of cultural or historical significance and only target waste. But that's not all they're good for. Finally…"
I brought up some footage taken of a small scale experiment I'd done in the US—specifically, in one of the ghost towns that had been used for nuclear testing. The footage was sped up significantly, but as they watched, flashes of light took place all over the town as the entire place was stripped down to the bedrock and replaced, bit by bit, with new construction. New homes, new roads, grass, trees, fertile farmland—all over the course of a week, according to the timestamps.
"They can tear down and completely replace existing damaged structures in any style chosen. Or they can take structures that are already good, disassemble them, rebuild them with better materials, and put them back exactly as they were on the outside but better on the inside. Homes made more efficient to heat and cool, old wiring replaced with new, unsafe insulation or other things replaced with safer, better alternatives. Asphalt roads and concrete sidewalks, which leak chemicals into the environment and retain heat leading to radiant heat keeping cities hotter in the summer, that have to be replaced every few years due to wear and tear removed and replaced with new materials that don't wear down under use and rain. That dissipate heat and which can lead to at least a ten degree Celsius drop in summer temperatures in cities. Replacing materials in skyscrapers for the same sort of effect, while making them better able to withstand environmental factors, like earthquakes, wind, fire, flood, and so on."
Bringing up a map of Tokyo, I highlighted one building in particular. "I'm aware of the homeless problem in Japan. Don't feel too bad, no one likes talking about it. And at least yours aren't as bad as the wasteland San Francisco has become. An entire city, abandoned because of crime and homelessness," I shook my head. "I see this building here is slated for demolition. If you'd let me, I can construct a building large enough to comfortably and safely house the entire homeless population of Tokyo and the surrounding areas."
A new skyscraper replaced it, standing taller than any other structure on Earth at a mile high—a sleek, smooth exterior of mostly black, with a hint of blue and purple in the right light, with a few accents and touches to acknowledge the local aesthetic. If an Asari saw it, they might notice some similarities to their own buildings on their home planet. Then, the building changed as I progressed the image through the course of a few years. The building turned green as it was covered in moss. Hanging gardens and waterfalls, trees providing shade. Flowers growing all over it as spring came. Images of simulated people swimming in pools circling each level. All of it was made possible by force fields and other technology, that would also make it safe, both from external factors and from something as simple as someone slipping and falling over a ledge.
"Small apartments on every floor for individuals, larger apartments for families. Power, water, utilities, and other services provided free of charge. If you like this one, I can make more. Not just housing for the homeless, but for anyone who wants it." The image changed again, showing a changed city center. All of the old skyscrapers removed in favor of mine. "Not just homes, but office space as well. We could do away with most skyscrapers by building taller, which frees up that area for more green space—parks to beautify cities into something nicer to look at."
The gathered group all looked at each other, clearly wanting to speak, but not willing to voice their thoughts to an outsider. I smiled at them and stood up. "Well, that concludes my presentation. Keep the Focuses as a gift. I've left you all of the plans to review here in more detail. When you've come to a decision, please feel free to contact me by Focus."
With that, I dug into my neural interface and beamed myself and Alpha home. "Show me the progress on China."
"Of course, sir," Alpha nodded as I stepped into a standing cradle on the wall of my basement workshop and my vision went black.
I opened my eyes in my living room, sitting in my new, comfy chair as the VR connection that let me remote pilot a cyborg body shut off. With access to space age designs, materials, and processes I had begun replacing all of my furniture with new, better alternatives. The result was the most comfortable chair I'd ever sat in, a bed that felt like actually laying in water, sheets that felt like being covered in warm clouds, and clothes that fit like a glove, looked great, and felt amazing. I'd made a few changes, namely in coloration and a few stylistic changes, but the smart matter clothes in the Horizon tree were good stuff.
"It's eleven p.m. and you haven't eaten since noon. Would you like me to prepare something, master Reynolds?"
"Uh, please, Alpha. If you don't mind. I think we should have some leftover pizza."
I turned my attention to what my Focus was showing me as she left the room. Japan wasn't the first or only country getting the proposed upgrades. China was actually the very first. The difference was, China didn't get a say in the matter.
I had started with the most egregious offenders first and had swarms of drones tearing down and rebuilding their cities. Buildings made of substandard materials that should have never gone up (known colloquially as tofu dregs), but had passed inspection because of face and money changing hands, all came down—replaced by the very same buildings I was proposing to Japan. Families and businesses were relocated overnight to new accommodations and given Focuses, which would direct them where they needed to go and serve as the keys to their homes and offices. Roads and sidewalks were ripped up and replaced. Their entire utility infrastructure was overhauled completely to provide fresh, clean running water and waste disposal.
Every single factory was torn down and replaced by my own, clean factories. Every power plant replaced by a few of the big arc reactors. Every ghost city torn down and replaced with greenery. The drones would eventually spread outside the cities and start work on the rural areas, doing the same thing. Every pile of trash, every bit of junk, every toxic dump—all of it cleaned up, tainted soil cleaned, filthy water filtered and cleaned.
But that wasn't all. It wasn't even the biggest change. No, that would be the release of medical nanites across the entire country. The sudden complete removal of disease, cancer, health complications from exposure to pollution in not just the human but also the animal populations. Those nanites would self-destruct and be excreted harmlessly from the animals they resided in, in stool and urine because I was only using them as a test.
As far as long term plans went, I planned to do away with normal schools entirely and switch to classes taught by VI through the Focus. I was going to be hard on those kids, in order to make sure that they broke hard from the mindset and policies that led to the decline of China from an empire to a corrupt shithole—by pointing out every single failure over the last several centuries and comparing what went wrong with other nations, who did it right. I would offer similar teaching tools to other countries at a later date, but again, China wasn't really getting a choice there.
Eventually, every single child conceived across the world would also receive nanite delivered exposure to eezo in utero, with those medical nanites making sure they not just lived, but that every one of them would grow up to be a biotic. They would also be subject to minor improvements using Goa'uld tech derived from Anubis's work—not up to the standard I wanted, but they would all be stronger, smarter, and all around better than the generation before them and better capable of handling biotics and whatever else I threw at them.
I was going to drag humanity into the future kicking and screaming if I had to. The entire human race. China was just unlucky enough to be the ones to piss me off and get some of those things with no explanation and no way to refuse.
We don't have time for you idiots to fuck off fighting each other when the Reapers are coming.