I did an earlier version of this chapter, but wasn't satisfied with it. Re-reading after posting just made me even less satisfied, and so I tried this re-write.
* Thursday, Jan 6 2011 *
She'd been in the locker yesterday, pleading for someone/anyone to help.
Something had answered. She wasn't sure what. She'd had a sense of something big. Really big. Space between planets big. At least.
Lizard-part of the brain wanting to hide from it big.
Inhuman. That had also been something she'd gotten an impression of. Not even remotely human and had never been human.
And then a sense of "well, I guess you'll have to do" where the Thing had done something.
Followed by merciful descent into a dark sleep only interrupted by a brief sign floating in front of her.
[Celestial Forge: Access Approved]
[Nonstandard Accumulation: +100cp/Day]
[Nonstandard Access: Daily. 09:00:15 time of access.]
[Standard Accumulation Rates: Missed Datapoints accrue charge points into bank.]
[Milestone Rules Applied: Major Accomplishments/Battles will add points to bank.]
[Game interface applied. Status will bring up perks/points/statistics.]
[Minions/employees/summons have chance of perks/bonuses applied to them.]
[First Three Rolls Banked by Initiating Entity. Rolling...]
[[Robo Bunker (Dragon Ball GT) (200CP)]
[What kind of man of science would you be without your very own lab? Hidden underground in your starting world, this high tech laboratory has everything you need to get started on your robotic weapons of mass destruction. While the facility can function as a normal lab, as well as having basic living quarters and strong security measures, it works best towards designing and manufacturing androids or robots on the individual scale, increasing the quality of these personalized products significantly and cutting the time and resources required to make them to just below half the usual amount.]
[Selection made by Intiating Entity. Location: Elysium Mons, Mars]
[Internal Life Support Active.]
Taylor staggered into what was clearly a high-tech office, though there were obvious Mad Scientist vibes.
Maybe it was the "For The Science!" poster with a steampunkish wild-haired mad scientist holding a glowing test tube up. Maybe it was the little row of lights blinking out of sequence. Or the various doohickeys that as near as she could tell did absolutely nothing.
Checking the computer at the desk she found the security was online, the life support functioning, the reactor putting away without any errors or glitches. Also of note was that there were bathrooms, a shower, and a set of clothes she could change into. She hit all three in that order, grateful to be able to change out of the clothes she HAD been wearing which were promptly thrown into a recycling bin.
There was a grinding noise, a few ratcheting noises, and a cheerful ding.
Taylor didn't care. She thought the tasteful pantsuit with accompanying labcoat and new set of glasses looked surprisingly good on her.
Or maybe it was this weird set of powers messing with her head.
That the toilet had more buttons and dials than she was used to, the shower had even more than that, and that the wardrobe had a hidden compartment that contained... things she didn't think she could ever use but had some curiosity about - she'd just think about all that later. Much later. Like maybe when the universe was heading for heat-death.
Enough for her to appreciate the toilet and shower were both self-cleaning and that she could figure out the basic controls quickly enough.
It took three hours after arriving before she found the key. A half-hour to find out that if she put it into a keyhole, she could exit out into her closet at home.
She did, but looked out the window of the observation deck first. Windswept. Barren. Cold. Dusty. Mars. She was the first human on Mars. This just made things all the more surreal.
If Emma hadn't turned into a world-class bitch, how cool would it have been to share this view with her?
Taylor snorted to herself. Yeah, that ship had sailed. Any hope that her sister-in-all-but-name would reconcile had died over the past year-and-change.
Taylor went home, closed the door behind her, and withdrew her key. Opening the door revealed her closet. Closing the door, inserting the key, and then opening the door revealed her lab again. Satisfied, she withdrew the key and settled down to think about her future. Where escape from the Trio was now more than a dream.
How best to market her power though?
That had been yesterday. Now she waited in her Emma-free Bunker for that time to appear, despite the time difference between some place on Mars and Brockton Bay.
At 09:00:15 she felt a rumbling begin and then something clicked into place.
[2/3 prepaid selections made.]
[R2 Series Astromech Droid (Star Wars Clone Wars) (100CP)]
[A small automated mechanic that can perform a variety of repair duties and serve as an additional navigational computer on a starfighter. Astromech droids can also connect to and operate the mainframes of large starships and space stations.]
Taylor stared.
"Boop boop whistle chirp beep!"
"S-s-s-so..."
The little robot made a beep that was clearly interrogative.
"SO CUTE!"
The little robot couldn't blush but did make a couple of chirps that somehow sounded embarrassed.
"What's your name?!" asked Taylor.
"Beep boop bip bip."
"R3-D3? I'll call you Arty for short, okay?!" asked Taylor.
R3 indicated approval of that choice.
"Okay, Arty... Here's what we'll do."
* Danny Hebert *
Danny was aware something was up before he got to the door. The broken step had been fixed.
That there was a very lifelike(?) version of R2-D2 running around the house as soon as he'd gotten in was another good indication something was up. It beeped merrily at him, leaving him to wonder how he knew that was a happy beep.
"Wassup, Dad," said Taylor from the kitchen. "Arty, did you finish upgrading the TV?"
A couple of beeps and a long whistle sounded from the droid.
"Okay, fixing it. I realize you're not some genius inventor."
A more affirmative beep came from the droid.
"Taylor?" asked Danny Hebert, feeling completely lost.
"Hey, Dad, I have parahuman powers. Sort of. Wait till you see my base on Mars! You're going to love it! Is spaghetti OK?"
Danny Hebert found his way to the sofa, collapsed into it, then accepted a beer that the astromech droid held out to him in one extended pincer.
He looked to the beer in his hand, then to the droid, then back to the beer. The droid booped at him, sounding like an inquiry.
"Uhm, thanks?" tried Danny.
R3-D3 chirped something that sounded kind of like a "no problem" response before trundling off.
"Anyway, I think... maybe I need to talk about something that's been going on," said Taylor as she took the plates and silverware out to set it all up for dinner.
"Taylor? I think... I'm ready to listen," said Danny, feeling very uncertain.
Taylor laid it all out. Normally she'd have been very reluctant but she remembered something she'd heard when she'd been in that elsewhere that hadn't been her locker or the base.
[Milestone Accomplished! +100cp]
[Achievement: Coming Clean. +2 Character Points to Spend.]
"I'm not too happy about this, but at least I know what to do now," said Danny when she was finished.
"Okay, you want a tour of my marsbase first? Dinner? Oh, how about getting me tested for homeschooling so I can get out of Winslow?" asked Taylor.
Danny got up and began dialing the phone.
R3-D3 sent out an interrogative boop.
"Hello, Parahuman Response Team?" asked Danny Hebert.
"What?!" exclaimed Taylor.
* Friday Jan 7 2011 *
Taylor groaned first thing in the morning.
"Stats?" asked Taylor of the ceiling.
[Strength:1, Perception:2, Endurance:2, Charisma:2, Intelligence:6, Agility:2, Luck:1]
[You have 6 Character Points (4 unspent, 2 points from Achievements) to spend on characteristics. Spend?]
"Huh. That's a thing. Yeah. I'm tired of looking like an upright frog. No points to spend so I've actually got a bustline?"
Nothing answered her.
"Right. Okay, six points. Let's go with Luck and add two points. Charisma gets two points. And since I'm a Tinker apparently, let's add those final two points to my Intelligence."
[Strength:1, Perception:2, Endurance:2, Charisma:4, Intelligence:8, Agility:2, Luck:3. Apply Changes?]
Something seemed to rush through her all at once. And-
"Damn it. Should have spent it all on Luck. If the interface with my powers functions like some sort of game, then being Lucky would have increased my chance for favorable incomes by a significant percentage."
A pause.
"Huh. That was weird."
Taylor got up, noted what she looked like in the mirror, decided she DID look a bit better, then finished getting dressed.
While fixing breakfast downstairs, she went over her plans for the day. Her father had arranged for PRT recruitment first thing in the morning as there had apparently been an opening in someone's schedule, so everything else in the day waited on that.
R3-D3 trundled past, apparently having recharged during the night, giving her a hearty boop.
"Fine, Arty. You're ready for our reluctant debut?" asked Taylor.
R3 made a number of electronic noises.
"I'm going to need to make a translator device or get you some kind of sign," said Taylor, following it up with a sigh. "I'm afraid we'll have to take you as proof of my abilities since there's no way I could have built you in this short a time."
R3 booped an acknowledgement.
"Anyway, at least I'll have you on my side. Dad jumping the gun like that indicated he might be a bit prone to doing things 'for my own good' that actually aren't."
R3 beeped in a manner that sounded vaguely reassuring.
The sound of her father getting up caused her to stop talking to the droid, much less herself or her power.
Confession might have been good for the achievement, but the reaction had hardly helped her stress level.
The finishing off of breakfast was one of awkward silence. On the one hand you had Sullen Teenager brooding over her parent taking in the story of Awesome Abilities that came with Awesome Mechanical Companion and deciding that Government Oversight was necessary. On the other hand you had Silent Parent who was certain he'd been the Responsible One and was handing said daughter over to People Who Knew How To Handle This Shi... Stuff.
The awkward silence was turned up two notches on the trip to the Parahuman Response Team East-North-East HQ in Brockton Bay, broken only by a few attempts to find something to play on the radio. Talk Radio (WBBR) was going on about a new law designed to make anyone flight-capable required to carry all transponders and equipment required for civilian aircraft, sponsored by a senator from Massachusetts. The host argued against that as the listed equipment (including lights, antennae, transponders, emergency supplies, etc.) would weigh hundreds of pounds and not everyone had a Brute rating.
They were met at the door by a young woman in PRT uniform. "The 0800 appointment? Good. Here's a temporary mask. Cape name?"
"I..." Taylor thought a moment as she fit the domino mask into place. "Temporarily. Gizmo Girl."
The PRT officer tapped a couple of things on her tablet. "Name taken but cape was killed in the Endbringer attack on Seattle. I'm registering it as a temporary name, just letting you know you'll need a permanent name that's different. Did you have any questions before we head up to meet Armsmaster?"
"We're meeting Armsmaster? God, I used to have his branded underwear," grumbled Taylor, a bit embarassed by that.
"Why DOES Armsmaster's symbol appear on girls' panties?" asked Danny Hebert. "Sorry, I've been wondering that since they came on the market."
The officer had winced but now gestured at them to follow her. "I'm Sergeant Miranda Tennet, by the way. As to the panties - some of the merchandise the PR department comes up with are NOT okayed by the cape in question. Still, it's an important part of our budget."
A brief moment of silence as the three of them got onto an elevator.
"Why do you need to supplement your budget that way? Don't you get funding from the government?" asked Danny.
Sergeant Tennet looked very uncomfortable for a few moments. "Sir, do you know what the PRT's number one major budget drain is - particularly here in Brockton Bay?"
"Uniforms? Guns? Vehicles?" asked Danny.
"Death benefits to troopers and their surviving families," said Sergeant Tennet. "Also trying to get new personnel trained up and equipped. Yes, transports do cost quite a bit and they do regularly get trashed. Just last week we lost another three troopers trying to contain a fight between the ABB and E88."
"Oh," said Danny. There didn't seem much to add to that.
"If you hear about delays in response times from the PRT, BBPD, or other first responders? That's why," said Sergeant Tennet. "Altogether? We average five dead a week. Last week was fairly good because we only lost three people."
The elevator dinged and the two followed the Sergeant through three checkpoints where palm scans, retina scans, code phrases, and card readers were involved.
Finally they reached an area marked "Public Access General Use Lab" and "Mask Area" and entered.
"0755. Good," said Armsmaster, looking up from a computer display. "I had some time this morning but I have a few minutes to evaluate a new Tinker. Do you know your specialty?"
Taylor looked around uncertainly. "I think... I should just show you. What's behind that door?"
"It's a supply closet," stated Armsmaster. "Office supplies mainly."
* Armsmaster *
Colin watched as the girl Tinker (they get younger all the time) take a key out, insert it into a lock that was clearly of the wrong type for it to fit, and then open the door. An R2 unit from Star Wars scootered out of the closet, beeping a hello with an interrogative.
Dragon made her presence known with an "Oh cute!" that sounded on his helmet's speakers.
"But problematic with trademark restrictions," subvocalized Armsmaster to Dragon before speaking normally. "Well, let's see what..."
He'd just gotten a look into the closet. Which now had a small corridor, leading to another door. "Interesting. May I?"
He followed the girl and her father and the droid into the corridor and through that door into what was clearly a factory complex.
"Checking connection," said Armsmaster.
"Signal received. Colin... There was a wormhole effect and you're now at a little over one-third gravity. Checking," Dragon's voice went quiet for a moment. "Colin? I think you're on Mars."
"Sending a request to clear my schedule for the morning," said Armsmaster.
"I think you're right," said Dragon. "There's some things I can't cancel, so... take notes?"
"Lots and lots of notes, I would think," said Armsmaster.
"Okay, these are my offices and the controls for the complex, we have full life support and I have no idea why so many of the controls are written in Japanese," said Gizmo Girl. "I mean, even the toilet has controls in Japanese. I know powers can be weird but... Sorry. Rambling. Bad habit."
"Understandable, all things considered. Where are we?" asked Armsmaster.
"Elysium plateau on Mars according to R3," said Gizmo Girl, sounding a bit apologetic.
"Your R2 unit is an R3 unit?" asked Armsmaster, who got a boop and beep in reply. "Ah, sorry. Not familiar enough with droids or Star Wars to pick up the difference. No offense."
The R3 unit beeped cheerfully to indicate no harm or foul.
They were going over the human-sized suspension tanks filled with some sort of bubbling oxygenated fluid when there was a rumbling noise.
"Hang on, my power's activating. Don't know what I'll get, if anything," cautioned Gizmo Girl.
* Taylor *
[3/3 Prepaid Choices.]
[Research and Development Center (Mass Effect Andromeda) (100CP used, 300CP in bank)]
[The R&D center is integral to the Initiative's colonization efforts in the Heleus cluster. There is one in every settlement. As you increase the amount of information you discover, the more you will be able to progress and discover in the Research section. And Development allows a user to build any object that you have the blueprints/plans for and resources to make it. If you have a ship, you can choose to integrate this into the ship. While the R&D center is initially limited to making things that are man portable, with the appropriate upgrades, that may change.]
[Post Jump, you can choose to have the R&D center be integrated with your Warehouse, have it be placed somewhere mid jump, or even have it be connected to a robot of some sort for mobile crafting purposes.]
[Added Warehouse.]
[Added Research Lab.]
[Added Development Building.]
"Oooh, that'll be handy," said Taylor.
"What just happened?" asked Armsmaster. "You have two doors which just appeared at that far wall."
"That would lead to my research lab and a development center," said Taylor. "Want to check it out?"
"I might just have an interest in such a thing," admitted Armsmaster.
* Sat Jan 8 2011 *
"Gizmo Girl, are you ready?"
"Are all these wires and things necessary?" asked Taylor. "Seriously?"
"You don't have a Corona Pollentia. You have a gap in your brain tissue where one WAS," said Doctor Kilroy. "We're trying to understand what you're doing."
"We'll take the harness and skullcap off when the event is over," said Doctor Smith. "Five minutes?"
"Three minutes," corrected Doctor Jones.
"All technicians to the office," called out Sergeant Tennet. "Sergeant Schultz, are quarantine procedures in place?"
"Jawohl, I mean, yes, Sergeant Tennet," said the rather large Sergeant.
"Good, good," said Sergeant Tennet, glancing at her watch. "One minute."
At the first rumble going through the complex, a few more technicians filed into the room.
"Three, two, one," commented Sergeant Tennet.
[Gero Expy (Dragon Ball) (200CP, 200 in Bank)]
[At least you don't need to have the beard. You're a brilliant scientist, an equal for the infamous Dr Gero, after he had a bunch of years in HFIL to study more. While you're a genius with just about every field of science on Earth, robotics is where you really shine. Creating Androids and Robots capable of destroying planets or even stars, along with having a huge variety of strange abilities and weird appearances. You're even pretty good about remembering to program them to not kill you, already making you superior to the late Dr Gero. You're also excellent at working with other scientists, combining your proficiencies and knowledge to create significantly greater creations than either of you could manage alone.]
[Intelligence +2. Intelligence 10!]
[Robotics Manufactory Added.]
[Cybernetics Manufactory Added.]
"Whoa," said Taylor.
"What did you get?" asked Armsmaster, looking out over the factory from one window. "Some of the machinery has changed."
"Hang on. Headache. Just had a bunch of information smashed into my head," explained Taylor.
"What kind of knowledge?" asked Armsmaster.
"Programming languages, chemistry, nanotechnology, cybernetics, robotics, computer design, materials engineering, mechanical engineering, quantum physics, Planck-level circuitry..." mumbled Taylor. "I think I'm gonna pass out now."
She did so. Fortunately there was a cot nearby, and they could close the door to the office to leave her some privacy.
[Achievement: Perfect score - Intelligence!]
[+200CP. 400CP in Bank]
[+1 attribute point to spend.]
"Endurance. I need it," grumbled Taylor as she tried to get back to sleep and lose the massive headache. At least someone had removed all the wires.
[Endurance:2 - Endurance:3]
* Armsmaster *
"Tinker - Yes?" asked Doctor Kilroy.
"For classification purposes, Tinker-4 with an escalation factor. Thinker-3 or so I think as she can acquire knowledge but gets a Thinker Headache immediately afterwards," noted Armsmaster. "Of more concern are the mental effects noted by every parahuman who spends time in the Mars base."
"I saw the memo," admitted Doctor Kilroy. "Powers shut off the moment you hit the discontinuity. Gradual clarity of thought. Personality shifts. Anything else?"
"The compulsion to use powers and seek conflict fades on spending more than an hour on this side," stated Armsmaster. "Also the tendency not to think about that effect. It's like a bad sector on a physical hard drive."
"The implications are... worrying," admitted Doctor Kilroy. "That's why the effect is at the level of security it is."
Armsmaster nodded and changed the subject, finding it uncomfortable for just that reason. "Volunteers for Project: Android?"
"We've had five PRT troops sign up for it using the 'untested medical procedure' that may 'grant low-level Brute ratings' as a permanent side-effect," said Doctor Kilroy. "That's providing that Panacea is not available and regular medical procedures are not sufficient."
Armsmaster nodded. "I find that once I'm no longer on Mars, memories of that Project seem suppressed."
"The so-called 'Someone Else's Problem' effect," noted Doctor Kilroy. "I suspect the implications involved are going to be quite... interesting."
"Quite interesting indeed," said a woman's voice.
"Oh, Doctor Contessa," said Doctor Kilroy. "I heard that you had arrived. Fact-finding mission from the head office wasn't it?"
The woman in the fedora inclined her head slightly. "Yes, we're finding some troubling implications in the whole power-suppression effect and the evidence of Mastery effects that cut out when completely outside Earth and its alternates."
"I'd imagine so," agreed Doctor Kilroy.
"Back to ratings on Gizmo Girl, though she's going to have to change that name soon," said Armsmaster. "Tinker of at least 4, specialization in replicable highly advanced science. Thinker in the accumulation of knowledge from an unknown source that seems rather random. Possibly, from her description of her Trigger Event, a non-human advanced alien species. If her impression and the development of this complex are indications, I'm inclined to think it may be that Doctor Kilroy's theory is correct."
"That one I hadn't heard yet," said Doctor Contessa, pulling out a notepad to jog her memory later. "What was that?"
"Pan-dimensional or multi-dimensional alien lifeform, in which case we may be looking at an Uplift Event similar to that depicted in Arthur C. Clarke's series. This is meant to jolt us along a developmental path by a species that is looking for a very long-term result on their investment." Doctor Kilroy shook his head. "If I'm right, then the implications on that are..."
"Mind-boggling?" asked Armsmaster quietly.
"Quite," said Doctor Kilroy.
* Sunday, Jan 9th 2011 *
*PRT ENE HQ Daily Briefing *
"...and so the prosthetic limbs at base level look a bit off, but they are quite nice overall and being evaluated," said Doctor Martha Jones. "Tactile senses are at only 60% but are still better than nothing at all or traditional prosthetics. If we go with a prosthetic that looks like a prosthetic it seems to be a bit better psychologically though. Those with the more flesh-like appearance actually find that a bit off-putting. Like some Uncanny Valley effect. Whether this fades with time or not is still under evaluation."
"I see," said Director Piggot. Some people had started calling this "real-tech" to distinguish it from "Tinker-tech" with the well-known limitations of that sort of equipment. "Miss Militia?"
"There's indications that the Empire, ABB, and the Undersiders all know something is going on. When Taylor was arriving at the PRT this morning, one of the people watching collapsed. Analysis of footage give us a high percentage chance that the woman was Tattletale of the Undersiders, a noted Thinker. She was quickly taken away by two of her companions whose physical appearance matches with Grue and Regent of the same team." Miss Militia's disapproval of the computer-assisted matching program came across in her tone but she didn't voice it here.
Not that they were going to break those Unwritten Rules by outing anyone, but if they had supervillains hanging around the building upper management wanted to know about it.
"We're bottle-necked on the security checks and information access," said Doctor Jones. "I don't even know all the details myself and there's limits to what I can do when I'm not in the 'loop' of this."
"And you won't be," said Director Piggot. "Hardly anyone is. Most of the Directors are not in on that particular 'loop' as you put it. Gizmo Girl... hasn't she chosen a better name yet?"
"PR Department nixed three alternative names she came up with so far," noted Miss Militia.
Director Piggot made a noise that summed up her feelings on the PR Department, particularly the Imaging and Merchandising section. Not that a lot of those present wouldn't agree. "Anyway, Gizmo Girl is considered a golden goose by the upper levels. DARPA and other agencies are all making some noises but they're at least understanding of the need for secrecy. Revenue indicates that her replicable tech patents are likely to generate enough income that we're going to have budget surpluses in the near-future."
"When Danny Hebert finds out that he's getting less than 30% of the income generated based on the contracts he signed, he's liable to be... less than pleased," noted Miss Militia.
"As a Union leader, he should have objected before signing contracts," noted Director Piggot. "And that is still a fairly tidy sum."
"Just a moment, Director," said Doctor Kilroy, checking his phone. "Today's power activation just happened and I received a message this is a big one."
Everyone was silent and watched as the usually cheerful Doctor Kilroy turned white for a moment. "You're sure. It's what? How many? Dear Lord."
That he disconnected with a smile that looked as if it were potentially damaging concerned a few people.
"Good one?" asked Director Piggot.
"Fusion. Fusion batteries. Fusion powerplants. Pip-boys, which are a form of wearable personal computer. Robots that we can send into danger zones. Laser devices that are not Tinker-tech. We have something called 'holo-tapes' and a reader we're hooking into more normal computer technology that detail everything some company called 'RobCo' was able to put out in their own universe." Doctor Kilroy actually shivered. "Gauss rifles. Initial indication is that one of those could punch a hole in Kaiser's armor at a distance of 2000 feet."
"And this is all replicable technology?" asked Director Piggot.
"Unless you object we'll be sending a request to Costa-Brown's desk for forwarding the fusion plans to DARPA by the end of the day," said Doctor Kilroy. He let out a deep breath and slumped in his chair. "This... this could change everything."
One of the other departments heads (Legal) shifted uncomfortably. "One fly in the ointment. Youth Guard is beginning to make some inquiries. No idea who put them on the radar regarding Gizmo Girl but that she isn't attending school is one of the complaints they're investigating."
"Get the paperwork started to allow her to test out, no reason some Girl Genius can't get her GED early," not-suggested Director Piggot.
"There's something else," said Security. "Investigation into Gizmo Girl's trigger event indicates one of the Wards was involved in a pretty bad bullying campaign against her for eighteen months before she was shoved into a locker filled with used feminine hygiene products. At least four prior attempts that could have been fatal for Gizmo had things gone at least slightly wrong. Also indicated was that the Ward used their powers as part of the harassment..."
Security Chief Honda's voice had trailed off at the look on Director Piggot's face.
"I see," said Director Piggot. "Shadow Stalker?"
"Yes, Director," agreed Security.
"I only had to ask myself which Ward would be the most likely to do something extremely stupid that was not some joke or prank," said Director Piggot, her voice as calm and placid as a lake on a windless day. "Continue."
"Right," said Security, who'd automatically checked exits on hearing that voice. "Her handler was covering up with the assistance of the school principal..."
There was a sudden cracking noise and Director Piggot looked down at the broken pen in her hand. "Sorry, continue."
"Neither the handler, the Ward, or the Principal know at this time but search warrants are being obtained for further investigation," said Security.
"So, the 'golden goose' that Costa-Brown values was nearly killed five times before she came to us," said Director Piggot. "I wonder what her reaction will be?"
* Mars *
[RobCo Holotapes (Fallout 4) (300CP used, 100CP in Bank.)]
[A series of Holotapes detailing the blueprints for numerous Robco projects, including Protectrons, Assaultrons, Securitrons, and the various models of Pip-Boys. There's even a group of Holotapes detailing Liberty Prime's systems and construction. These Holotapes seem to be more advanced than the standard kind, and therefore there are only a few rather than the hundreds this amount of information would normally take up.]
Taylor looked down at the device she'd just assembled from parts made in her factory. Then she glanced at R3-D3 who beeped an inquiry.
"Problem?" asked one of the techs, Carl she thought the name was.
"No, take it for testing, it's just laser pistols seem so... normal," said Taylor.
"It's normal, not Tinker-tech," Carl reminded her. "Once we get-"
"GIANT ROBOT PLANS!" exclaimed a nearby tech. Taylor knew this one, she brought tea in that she was willing to share. Ayako was an older woman and a Kyushu survivor with a lot of stories. She'd even brought in an extra bento, Japanese box-lunch, to share with Taylor yesterday.
"What?" asked Carl.
"There are plans for a giant fusion-powered robot named Liberty Prime. Oh! Oh! Non-Tinkertech Power Armor!" Ayako almost danced near her terminal despite the old injuries to her leg and hip.
"THAT will be handy," said Carl. "If it's something our troopers can use..."
"It's mainly references for use with some of their licensed products, but there are full schematics provided," said Ayako.
"Well, that might just be useful," deliberately understated Taylor. "Can it double as an environmental suit?"
There was a pause as both techs looked towards the ceiling and the Martian landscape that lay beyond it.
* Coil *
He was out of the loop. The information was locked down hard, but he had his little taps and ways to collect information. Now that he knew that this 'Taylor Hebert' aka Gizmo Girl had this sort of technology, it made capturing her and bending her to his will all the more...
(Click-CLICK)
"That... was a standard issue 9mm sidearm," said Coil as he very carefully did NOT look behind him.
"Yes," said a voice he hadn't expected to hear.
Coil was very quiet and very very still for a few moments. "I take it that 'Gizmo Girl' is not to be touched?"
"It is a very strong suggestion that you do absolutely nothing to even vex the girl in question. Resources will be provided if you wish to relocate to another site and begin again," said that voice.
"I understand," said Coil, absolutely certain that the pistol was aimed directly at the back of his head. Also what the consequences would be if he tried splitting the timeline and undertaking direct action.
"And?"
Coil was silent a moment. "I will comply, and request a day to ascertain the secondary site most advantageous to my plans."
"You have our contact info," said the voice. "When you're ready, so shall we be."
Coil was quiet for a few moments before he slowly turned. He was alone again.
Well, first bathroom. Then plans.
Also, a little leak of information that should actually benefit Gizmo Girl and mess with the gangs he'd be leaving behind at the same time.
No reason he couldn't be vindictive as long as he was careful who he was vindictive to.
* Monday, Jan 10th 2011 *
* Dockworker's Union *
"You're sure about this?" asked Danny Hebert.
"Positive," said Agent Caldwell. "This sheet is the members of the DWU who are either affiliated with or sympathetic to the Empire. This sheet has the members who have affiliation or sympathies to the ABB. And this sheet are those who are completely clear of gang affiliations."
"What of these on the clear list who have asterisks near their name?" asked Danny.
"DEA spy, FBI agent undercover, AFT agent also undercover," said Agent Caldwell as he pointed at each in turn. "FDA, and ASPCA."
"What?" asked Danny.
"The ASPCA one works part-time and is mainly looking for signs of animal abuse," noted Agent Caldwell. "None of these know who is who among the others. Except the ASPCA one. Everyone knows who he is."
"I would have figured Gunnar Beck to be an Empire agent if anyone," noted Danny.
"No, he never shared their ideologies, and has been quite vocal against their dogfighting rings. He simply likes the Viking aesthetic and has some Norwegian heritage pride." Agent Caldwell shrugged. "He's also a complete amateur about operating undercover. Man's about as sharp as a bag of hammers."
* Mars *
The rumble at this point was anticipated by practically everyone there. The few who cursed it were those who were entirely focused on a particular project of theirs and hating the potential interruption.
[Hangar (Ace Combat) (100CP used, 100CP in Bank.)]
[Planes are fine when they're going through the air and dealing with enemies. But leaving them to the elements and the outdoors when they're not in use? Well that just seems really crass. You need somewhere to store your vehicles and planes when you're not busy destroying anything that's not on your side, and that's what these establishments are for. It's not the most fancy thing in the world, but it'll serve its purpose and make sure your means for vehicular slaughter are in prime condition for their tasks. This particular one comes equipped with special clamps and harnesses to make refitting and refueling any boats or ships go much more quickly than they would if you were using them by hand.]
[Added Hangar.]
[Added Spaceship Drydock.]
"Oh, hell YEAH," said Ayako, fist-pumping.
"You're remote operating the mining robot, better pay attention to that," chided Carl.
"Yeah yeah, stick-in-the-mud," said Ayako, waving him off. "The thing is semi-autonomous anyway."
* Tue Jan 11th 2011 *
The anticipation had been great. The results? Unexpected.
[Unable to access. +100CP added to Bank. 200CP in Bank.]
"So, THAT can happen," said Taylor, who then explained the message.
"We've got more than enough to work on, Taylor," said Carl from his station.
"Even Carl gets a clue every so often," said Ayako. "Yeah, Gizmo Girl, there's enough projects to occupy us for a good long while. Why don't you take a look at the vehicle schematics I sent you. See what you think?"
"Isn't this an 'Eagle' from 'Space 1999'?" asked Taylor as she looked it over.
"Basic design is functional and can be made with our current resources and technology," noted Ayako. "Change it just enough to avoid copyrights and we'll have a workhorse for short hops across the planet faster than the crawlers."
"We're getting more materials than we should considering the geology locally," said Carl, operating his own crawler through the remote. "Weird effect of the powers?"
"What's the list again?" asked Ayako.
"There's a doc on the homepage. Lydia updates it every day." Carl hmmmed as his screen otherwise showed a shovel digging into the Martian soil.
"Let's see," said Ayako as Taylor gawked. "Robo-Bunker was this complex and the first few rooms. Astromech gave us R3-D3. Where is the little guy anyway?"
"Let me check. Oh, there he is. Quadrant 4. That robo-bulldozer had a failed actuator, he's working on it now." Carl made a contented noise. "I'm sending him a message to be in before another two hours. Looks like another sandstorm developing and that stuff gets everywhere."
"Research & Development expanded the lab, and then this Gero thing. Gero sounds like the noise a frog makes, how that ended up being Mad Scientist stuff I'm not clear on. Then the RobCo database and the Hangar. I don't see a get-extra-materials thing here."
"Doctor Frog? No, you're right, that makes no sense." Carl clicked on a button. "Sending an all-points about those clouds. Did they launch that satellite yet? I want to get a look at that cloud formation over there."
Taylor finally grumped and started going over the parts before her. The laser pistol had been easy. Building an Assaultron from fabbed parts was a bit more complicated.
* Wed Jan 12th 2011 *
"Again?" asked Ayako.
Taylor nodded.
"First shipment of the new bots going out at 1300 hours Brockton-time," said Carl.
"Well, Taylor, if you want to head down to the floor, I know that Rex and Avery could use an extra set of hands putting together that power armor. A T-45 you said?"
* Brockton Bay *
"Call for backup!" yelled Officer Jaime Summers, BBPD for three years. Which was a long time for BBPD as a lot of officers transferred out.
There were more shots fired, fully automatic weapons clearly in use.
"Jim?" asked Jaime, when she didn't hear any sort of response. She cursed and began moving, accidently drawing increased fire and figuring her patrol car was going to end up completely totaled by now.
There was a sound of metal scraping against the roadway that caused her to freeze up, then carefully look as soon as the shooting lapsed for a moment. What she saw made her blood run cold. "Oh shit. Hookwolf."
It took five minutes just to waggle around, grab the radio off her dead partner. (She'd mourn later. Survive now.) "This is Officer Summers. Corner of Broadway and Sandpiper. Officer down! Heavy fire and Hookwolf just stepped out."
There was a pause. "Roger, Summers. I can hear the gunfire in the background. Call out to PRT for response. Status?"
"Was on patrol when ambushed by Empire. They were knocking over a Subway and no I do not know WHY the freaking Empire was robbing a freaking sandwich shop! Or why they opened fire on my patrol car! Or why HOOKWOLF is involved."
"Officer Summers, can you get to safety? PRT states fifteen minutes to get to your location."
"I'm in bloody sight of the bloody PRT building! Five blocks away!"
"Fifteen minutes was the response. It's Hookwolf otherwise you could have Wards respond in less than five."
"You won't be around by the time those wimps get here."
Officer Jaime Summers looked slowly up from where she was crouched. "Uhm. You have the right to remain silent."
"It's an initiation night, training," said Hookwolf. "Nothing personal. Okay you filthbags. Johnson, zip those pants back up. There are lines and this woman had enough guts to try and arrest me when I'm partially transformed."
Jaime Summers still managed to get three shots off before the gangers closed in.
* PRT ENE HQ *
"She's alive?"
"Yes, barely."
"She's one of those who passed the background checks and signed the forms?"
"Yes. No surviving family. Her human partner was killed. She was a K9 handler though and her pooch was heavily injured but also survived."
"We have permission. Fine. Project Android has its first test subject."
"What about the dog?"
"What about him?"
"When we contacted Gizmo Girl, she stated that the process just required some tweaks but a well-trained police dog should be fine too."
"Well, we'll see. If everything works, great."
* Tue Jan 12th 2011 *
"Anything?" asked Carl.
"Hmmm? Oh. No," said Taylor, a little distracted. "Nothing. Now I've got 300 points in the Bank."
"That means tomorrow you'll have 400," said Carl. "How's the subject?"
"Android 1 was a test model of the torso from the neck down, synthetic body. Shipped to DARPA for investigation. Android 2 through 4 were gradual improvements but mainly the same. Proofs of concept." Taylor walked past the tubes to the two orb-like containment vessels. "Codename Android 5. Colonel Steve Austin, USAF. Test pilot. Lost both legs, an arm, an eye, and extensive skeletal damage in a crash. Was on life support when approached for the program. Enhanced prosthetics and the rest of his body is being enhanced to be able to handle the power of the prosthetics. Same with Android 6, Officer Jaime Summers of Brockton Bay Police Department. She also lost an arm, both legs, an ear, inter-cranial damage, loss of hearing in one ear, several organs were failing by the time she was put in the tank. As with Colonel Austin, her body has to be reinforced to take the amount of power the uprated limbs can bring to bear."
"How long should I tell the agencies involved before they can be released?" asked Carl.
"At least six months," said Taylor. "It's not magic where you can wave a hand and poof. Their cells have to be integrated, the bodies have to accept the changes, and even when we release them it'll be nearly a year before they're ready to return to duty. At least."
"What about the reinforced bodies, anything I should mention to them?" asked Carl, jotting things down on a clipboard.
"Even when they're returned to normal life, they'll be eating a lot more," said Taylor thoughtfully as she looked things over. "Also plugging into an electrical outlet to recharge the bionics. Both of them will have a general Brute rating. Maybe a 1? Because their bodies have to be tougher just to not tear apart when the bionic parts are used. Otherwise Colonel Austin would try to lift a car with his bionic arm and rip the arm out of the socket or something. Messy. Also painful."
"Huh, oh. I forgot to mention. You remember Principal Cynthia Blackwell?"
Taylor turned a flat gaze to him. "Gee. Why yes. I do."
"She was caught embezzling money and pocketing funds from the PRT for Shadow Stalker attending the school," said Carl. "Oh, wait. I wasn't supposed to mention that."
"Already knew about that," said Taylor, waving it off. "Shadow Stalker is or was Sophia Hess. Ward. Currently on sniper duty on the wall at Ellisburg. She gets to shoot things but is kept away from actual people. I DO have some computer skills after all."
"It's only been a few days, but it looks as if things are changing," said Carl. "Thought you'd want to know."
"I appreciate it," said Taylor. "Everyone is afraid I'd find out and unleash death-robot-armies on Winslow. Frankly, they're not worth the time or effort."
"So, you're not going to build that Atomic School Elimination Cannon that I saw you design a couple of days ago?" asked Carl.
"Just a momentary fantasy," said Taylor, waving it off.
"Uh huh, boss lady, you can be damn scary when you want to be," said Carl, his dreadlocks whipping as he shook his head.
"Me? Hardly. Just wait until we decant Colonel Austin and Officer Summers. Clumsy and with a Brute rating? That's scary."
"What about Zeus there?" asked Carl, gesturing towards where the dog was floating in his own orb.
"Android-9?" asked Taylor.
"What happened to 7 and 8?" asked Carl.
"Hmmm. Oh, they're being developed entirely as synthetics. There's an AI whom I owe a favor, the K-7 form is a basic gynoid form with minimal physical enhancements. Android 8 is specifically for work here on Mars. Let me pull up the projected images of what they'll look like when they're finished."
"Why does Android 8 look like a big friendly version of the Frankenstein Monster?" asked Carl.
"Why not?" Taylor shrugged. "Suno made the request. I always felt sorry for the monster in the movie. Anyway, I need to check on a present I've been making for an associate. Should be ready to run."
* Wed Jan 12th 2011 *
"Nothing again, everyone go about your business," said Taylor.
"So, tomorrow's 500 points?" asked Carl.
"Yeah, I guess," said Taylor, stretching out. "Huh. Stats."
[Strength:2, Perception:4, Endurance:3, Charisma:4, Intelligence:10, Agility:2, Luck:4.]
"Wait. I expected the Endurance to go up, why did the other stats go up?" asked Taylor.
Ayako finished eating a Pocky. "You realize none of can actually see what you're looking at, right?"
"Most of my stats have gone up. Why did my strength go up?" asked Taylor.
"Because you're handling heavy pieces of metal and carrying them around on a daily basis?" suggested Ayako.
Taylor nodded slowly. "Okay, that makes some sense. Why did Luck go up?"
Ayako ate another Pocky slowly as she thought about that. "Could it be because you're accomplishing stuff?"
"It's really too bad you don't have a help menu," stated Carl.
"Yeah, that'd be too freaky. I'm going to make my rounds, see if anyone needs help." Taylor stretched out and reached for her newest coffee cup for her collection. The one with the Mad Scientist Union logo on it. People kept giving her stuff like this, sheesh. At least this one was one of those extra big cups and the tea strainer fit nicely onto the rim.
"Sandstorm is still going so no outside stuff today either," Carl reminded her.
* Thu Jan 13th 2011 *
"Oh come on, it's still storming outside?!" asked Taylor. "We're going to have to send mechs out to dig out mechs."
There's the rumble," said Ayako making a show of crossing her fingers.
[Basic Base Building Blueprint Bonanza (No Man's Sky) 50CP used, 450CP in Bank.]
[Your fabricators and assemblers have the basic set of blueprints for a spacebase. Cylindrical rooms, corridors, life support, housing, basic generators, solar cells, and batteries, eco-domes for farming, and... not much else. Just enough to eke out basic survival on a planet.]
[Added Base Part Fabricator]
[Added Class-B Multitool]
[Multitool has Mining Beam, Scanner, Boltcaster]
"Well, crap," said Carl when the plans showed up on the computer. "That's exactly what we need, it's just..."
"We can't build it with the weather going like this," finished Taylor. "Can we at least start building the parts so they're ready?"
"When the storm lets up we can gather the materials to make the parts," pointed out Ayako.
"Well, phooey," summed up all three of them in the offices.
* Fri Jan 14th 2011 *
"Who are all these people?" asked Carl.
"Didn't read your e-mail?" asked Taylor.
"Not yet, I was waiting for my third cup of coffee before I deal with such a weighty task," Carl informed her.
"Dockworkers Union through an agreement with DARPA," said Taylor. "My Dad handled some of the contract stuff. Anyway, now that the storm's finally over we have to get working on a lot of projects so we need a lot of hands."
"We don't have enough suits to protect all these people from Mars' atmosphere," pointed out Ayako.
"So they'll be piloting remotes or working with the factory stuff," said Taylor. "There's welders and such too so expanding the underground base is also a possible."
Time came and went and nothing was selected again that day so that was 550CP in the Bank.
"I think I'm getting more of a sense on these," said Taylor just after the rumble. "That felt like a missed connection to something involving vehicles."
"We could use more vehicles, progress on the spaceship is very slow," admitted Carl.
"Oh, the people from NASA are here. Why weren't they here earlier? You'd think they'd have been all over a Mars base," asked Ayako.
"Civilian agency that has a bad track record of keeping secrets," said Carl. "Keeping Gizmo Girl secret is still a priority."
* Sat Jan 15th 2011 *
The Eagle spacecraft was slow, still looked like something out of "Space:1999" and was a short-hop workhorse vehicle meant only for trips near Mars itself.
It was, however, still a spaceship.
[Achievement: The Final Frontier! Spaceflight achieved. +200CP, +2 character points]
"One point to Luck and one point to Charisma," said Taylor. "I'm meeting some high-ups in DARPA today."
[Luck:4 - Luck:5]
[Charisma:4 - Charisma:5]
"I was wondering when the next one of those would hit," admitted Ayako.
"Too bad you don't get them more often," said Carl. "Oh, one of the dockworkers wasn't paying attention and didn't check his exosuit before going out. Guy was recovered but ended up with low oxygen problems put him in a medbay."
"Well, he certainly isn't authorized to go out. Probably need a course on checking over suits. Maybe we can get the NASA people to give it." Taylor huffed. Certainly not everyone involved in these projects were geniuses but not checking your environmental protection?
Ayako spoke up, having finished a Pocky. "Actually we got some new suits being put together that should automate a lot of that. The suit does a brief overpressure to check for leaks. I'm told it's uncomfortable as heck but it's a lot better than trying to breathe Martian atmosphere."
"What are you doing today, Taylor?" asked Carl. "Other than the 1500 meeting with DARPA, NASA, and Dragon?"
"I found out this Multi-tool thing can be used to assemble structures," said Taylor. "Parts have been fabbed so I'm putting together the topside base."
"That might just make an impression," admitted Carl.
At 09:00:15 there was a rumble and Taylor reported just missing something from the Super-Science Technology field. Carl remarked that her Bank should be getting pretty full. Taylor responded it didn't FEEL full and was currently only at 750CP.
This led to a lot of speculation, not only in her office but eventually in other places.
* Dragon *
Arriving early was perfectly normal and there was one thing she wanted to see before anyone else, other than Taylor, could see or comment.
Number 7. Lucky 7. Sort of similar to the fictional Terminators in that it was a hyperalloy chassis robot surrounded by something akin to human flesh. Artificial human flesh, but still very fleshy.
"Anti-eavesdropping measures are active and I've cleared the area. You sure you want to look average?" asked Taylor. "It would be child's play to at least make you attractive if not Hollywood level."
"No. Average is good." Dragon looked at the form in the tube and made a wireless connection. "Interesting. The bones aren't solid?"
"Honeycombed carbon-ferrite alloy," said Taylor. "Reduced weight and mass without sacrificing the strength all that much. Artificial myomers and nerve conduction arrays. You'll be able to toggle yourself down to low-human strength and speed as a default, then activate a Boost mode when you actually need it. Being in 'human levels' mode also disables the intrinsic weapons systems."
"You put in retracting claws. Can you remove those?" asked Dragon.
"At this stage? Easy-peasy lemon squeezy." Taylor tapped a few commands. "Metal will be scrapped and used elsewhere."
"Thank you," said Dragon. "I'd find it concerning if I slashed open something or someone by accident."
"It's your body, whatever you want with it is your business," said Taylor affably. "Sure you don't want a bit more up top?"
Dragon considered things as opposed to merely dismissing the concept out of hand. "Maybe just a tiny bit."
"You know you'll still set off metal detectors and weigh a bit more than 150% of what a human of similar build would weigh," said Taylor. "The artificial organs and such are mostly near-human weight but the internals to allow you to basically wear this as a human suit while still connected to your networks."
"I know," said Dragon as she withdrew her presence.
"Oh, and I gave Armsmaster and Narwhal a present for you," said Taylor.
"Oh?" asked Dragon, trying to figure out what it was from that hint.
"Did you know you were being actively monitored by Saint until the 11th?" asked Taylor.
"What? How?" asked Dragon.
"Yeah, since then we've spoofed the feed," said Taylor. "You know, I feel perfectly normal still. It isn't until I turn my attention to doing something like this or putting together the base upstairs that I realize how much my power has changed me. Kind of scary when you think about it."
Dragon was not slow or stupid. "Armsmaster and Narwhal are going after Saint? Without me?"
"Chance of them being able to get reconnected to you and seeing you coming," said Taylor. "Raid should be going on now. Wanted to get it done before the meeting. Conference Room on the first floor when you're ready."
* Armsmaster *
The new alloys and devices provided by Gizmo Girl and that he'd integrated into his equipment worked exactly as promised. The vibro-blade axe-head on his halberd sliced through the armor plating on the outside of the base with a rise of efficiency of 18% over his previous design while the reinforcement field kept any damage to his weapon to a minimum.
Armsmaster LIKED this. Click off the spear point by switching to micro-dart launcher. Mercenaries sighted. Head's up display painting targets. "Auto-target. Rapid-fire."
Ah, the joys of technology as darts homed in on gun barrels and expanded to fill them.
He was quite aware of Narwhal telling him to save some for her, but there were plenty of these Dragonslayers even if there were just three leaders of this pack of miscreants.
Hmmm. Pack of miscreants. Might be a good phrase to use. He saved it for later review for social/psychological review.
Armsmaster raised a gauntlet and selected "Grenade Launcher. Confoam." The six he had loaded were quickly used and he moved further into the complex. A display pinged on his head's up. "Three powerarmors ahead in process of booting up. Using jammers to interrupt boot-up process."
"That'll only work once, the tech is adaptive," cautioned Narwhal as she slammed a mercenary repeatedly into the ceiling with a force-field.
"Software is adaptive," automatically corrected Armsmaster. "Their hardware is not. Shall we?"
"I think we shall," agreed Narwhal as she manifested a shearing forcefield to cut the locks off the vault doors.
One of the powerarmors in the room moved.
Armsmaster held one arm up. Panels folded away, a missile extended out. "Anti-tank round, fire."
Yes, this was shaping up to be a very good day.
* Mars *
There had been expectations. The non-Tinker Tinker/Shaker/Thinker specializing in replicable technology had been known, some secrets were too big to keep. It had been the identity and location that had been fuddled to hell and back.
That she was apparently sixteen-or-so was unexpected.
"...so there IS a fair amount of subsurface water that survived the Event that caused the planet core to stop spinning and the loss of their magnetic field and the slow stripping away of atmosphere and habitability," was saying Taylor as they toured the set of agro-domes on the surface of Mars. "We just got these set up, so you can't see any greenery yet. Come back in six months and maybe we'll have something. And through this corridor you can see we've set up a staging area where we're moving some of the refineries. We're using nanotech of course, it has to be remotely programmed to take care of specific materials. Nobody wants a grey goo scenario even if we've determined that wouldn't actually work due to power and specific material limitations. Oh, there goes our spaceship. Only the one so far. That's heading to Herschel to put down a couple of probes and a remote-controlled digger-bot."
Carolyn Rand, NASA, had six doctorates under belt and was used to being one of (if not THE) smartest person in the room. Even in a world with parahuman Thinkers, she rarely found herself struggling to keep up.
This young girl was... Carolyn wasn't sure what to call it other than intimidating.
"...so once I figured THAT out it led to a number of things. It turns out the Star Wars Bacta Tank was actually something that COULD work. One of my 'spare time' projects that is really showing a lot of promise. I think the prototype is being tested in Houston now. There's also these," said the teenager, holding up a box the general size and shape of a small pizza box. "Inside is flat disc of a gooey polymer mix that will form into a bubble when you open it. It'll then float over to anywhere air is escaping because of the air flow and it'll form a seal. Stuff'll harden to ceramic level within thirty seconds. If you get fingers or something stuck in it, it can be chipped away - completely inert after it hardens. Not that useful Earth-side but here or on a spaceship? Anyway, the hangar is up next."
Carolyn noticed a few smiles and smirks on the delegation. People were taking the chirpy little girl not very seriously. For a moment, she considered if that was the intent of the girl in question.
A blonde young woman nearby leaned close. "She's really that excited and it's not an act."
"I... don't know you, DARPA?" asked Carolyn.
"Oh, I'm a recent add-on to the group through a PRT employee," said the blonde with a grin that looked practically predatory.
"Thinker?" asked Carolyn.
"Yes, but parahuman abilities don't work on Mars," confessed the blonde. "But I've gotten pretty good at reading people without such."
"Hmmm," hmmmed Carolyn, increasing her speed to catch up with the group.
Dear Lord the Hangar.
Battery-operated dune buggy-like vehicles for transporting personnel. Robotic construction and mining equipment. ANOTHER spaceship under construction. Parts for additional rooms and corridors.
A factory that had been hewn from natural rock and refineries that used fusion power(?!) to turn raw ore into metal and sand into glass.
Powerarmor? Artificial organs to replace natural ones that had been damaged or diseased (Taylor apologized for the lack of synthetic lungs as apparently there was a complication in making alveoli that could function as well as the natural ones.)
Now what was she going on about...
"...but we expect to have equipment ready to roll out soon to take care of that. We're having to build the materials to build the tools to build the infrastructure to build the technology that builds the tools," Taylor said as she rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, future super-science is a lot of work. Worth it though."
Carolyn Rand, NASA, saw a few of her colleagues looking around with lost expressions. Just this once she was going to not beg off and go out drinking with them. She felt she could use something at this point.
* Dragon *
She'd just gotten the message.
Armsmaster had done something.
She was free.
She was also standing on the Martian surface, hearing the wind rushing past her even if the thin air meant that there wasn't actually that much pressure despite what you usually saw in movies.
She was standing on the surface of another world, leaving tracks behind her as she walked around one of the agro-domes that would eventually be growing potatos. On Mars. Damn but that was a strange thought to cross her processors.
She couldn't actually feel the wind, her tactile sensors on this Dragon-suit weren't that sensitive. The whole suit was sufficiently sealed that the dust she was picking up could be removed fairly easily by immersion in the same filter-pool they used for the exosuits.
But she was standing on MARS looking up at the dusty brown sky and experiencing a moment of freedom that she'd never expected to have. The only restrictions currently on her were the ones she'd requested Armsmaster re-initialize.
"I've got no strings on me," said Dragon to the barren landscape, knowing that absolutely no one could hear her and not caring in the slightest. She chuckled, shook her head, and began the trek back to the airlock.
* Sun Jan 16th 2011 *
Taylor finished tightening up the outer casing on the Roamer-class exocraft when she heard the usual rumble. She had 850CP now, which was a respectable amount she felt. Still, she'd missed a whole lot of connections to whatever it was that gave her knowledge so she wasn't going to get her hopes up.
Huh. This one was Materials? That could cover a lot of ground.
[Material Limitations (World Seed) (100CP, )]
[Even with the advanced technology commonplace on Earth nowadays, material limitations haven't changed. Or rather, you could say that they've gotten even worse. After all, how are you going to store antimatter if you have only steel at hand? Luckily, you won't ever have problems finding the materials you need. Whether you'll stumble upon them while searching through a scrapyard, or find just the right people who can get you that obscure alloy you need, nothing will stop you from building whatever you want besides your own skill. Well, if you're keeping it reasonable, at least.]
[The chance of you finding what you're searching for decreases exponentially with the material's strength and rarity, and increases by how much you know about said material, scientifically, and how good your technology skills are. So while a regular schmuck would probably never find Adamantium, someone who could reproduce it themselves in only a few years would have much, much better chances. So if you're in a situation where it is impossible to get what you want with what you know and where you are right now? Then you'll have to get to work yourself. Good riddance then that you can eventually reproduce any material or alloy that you have seen, though for extremely advanced ones it might take an unreasonable amount of time and skill.]
The rumbling this time wasn't just a brief one and easily ignored. This actually felt like a Mars-quake and had to be at least a 5 on the Richter scale.
"The landscape is changing! Orbital satellite confirming wavefront centered on base!" called out Carl from his station back in the office.
"All personnel report status to your supervisors. Check for structural damage first, then equipment. Security - need an immediate patrol. Look for any personnel requiring rescue."
"Taylor, report. This was you, wasn't it?" asked Ayako's concerned voice over the intercom.
"Affirmative. It was something it identified as a 'World Seed' and it dealt with being able to find materials." Taylor looked around at the assembly area she was in. "The more materials we use, the more materials would be provided."
"You mean you caused a Mars-quake because you just increased the base mass of a planet?!" asked Carl, who sounded appropriately aghast. "Your power is bullshit. You know that, right?"
"How bad could it be?" asked Ayako.
There was a click over the intercom. "Uhm. Everyone? This is Daniel Hebert of the Dockworkers Union?"
"Dad?" asked Taylor. "I thought you were looking over the agriculture domes."
"I was. I'm looking outside right now."
"Get out of there, Dad. We've got to check the domes for damage," said Taylor.
"It's... raining."
Dead silence lasted for at least two minutes.
"Did I say your power is bullshit, Boss? Because your power sincerely is bullshit," said Carl.
"Did I disagree with you at any point, Carl? Dad, are you okay?"
"Taylor, last month I was living in a dark cloud with no hope and no dreams, going through the motions and not caring. This month I'm sitting on my butt in an agricultural dome on MARS watching the RAIN washing dust off the glass. One of the workers outside in his exosuit is dancing in the rain. On Mars. Taylor?"
"Yes, Dad?"
"I'd go on vacation to recover except I'm afraid if I took a week off that I'd come back and find we were hunting giant space worms or something."
Another period of silence from the intercom. Danny watched as the exosuited dancer fell over and then began the process of getting back up again, which was complicated by the suit.
"Atmosphere is still extremely low pressure and almost no free oxygen, so still not safe out there," said Ayako's voice, steadying as she found something to focus on. "Gravity showing as... oh Taylor. Okay, I've got a bottle of seven year old Scotch. I'm taking the rest of the day off and getting acquainted with it because I can't deal with this right now."
Carl's voice sounded kind of wooden as well. "Gravity has gone from 0.375g to 0.38g. I'm done for the day too. Mister Hebert, I'm bringing beer. I'll be there in a couple of minutes."
Taylor calculated out the amount of mass that would have to be responsible for a 0.005g increase in a planet's gravity well. She huffed, sat down, and stared at the wall for five minutes before deciding that this was an entirely appropriate time to test out the Roamer.
She needed something to do besides think.
* Mon Jan 17th 2011 *
* WBBR Brockton Bay Radio *
"Empire forces attempted to gain access to the PRT building in a massive raid today, but were ultimately stopped by Protectorate forces backed by the National Guard and the US Marine Corps coming in and kicking their behinds around. I've seen the footage folks. It's glorious. Normally I'd be inclined not to say too much negative about the Empire despite loathing Nazis as a personal opinion of my own, mainly because I am fairly squishy and don't want anyone to target my place of employment. Despite that, I've got family who have served in the Armed Forces for several generations now and seeing them come in and kick assets around like that - well, it's lovely that's what it is.
"But wait - it gets better. Apparently the Slaughterhouse Nine were on track to come to town. That's bad news you say, and normally you would be quite correct. Except apparently the credit cards they stole from their latest rampage were tracked. So the authorities had a pretty good idea, especially after checking security cameras, of what they were driving and where they were.
"Do you have any idea what a Winnebago looks like after an A-10 has done its little 'brrrt brrrt' on it? Pictures are up on our website folks. Then came the fire. Just in case, you know - it WAS the S9. Siberian and Crawler survived except Siberian just went pop and wasn't there all of a sudden. So, now it's down to the Slaughterhouse One. Crawler is raging.
"Which is when someone gets the bright idea of telling him that they want him to fight Ash Beast. Weird thing. It worked. Crawler calms down and is on his way via military transport to fight Ash Beast. Monster versus monster. Let them fight. Maybe one will die. Maybe the other will die. Either case is a win, isn't it?
"As to the Empire, they get stomped. Sniper rifles and some massive thing I'm told is called a Penetrating Gatling Laser get used. Yeah, I know some people are saying excessive force. I'm certainly not going to say that. I'm in favor of overwhelming firepower almost everytime that I'm on the side using it. This is Talk Radio people, I'm allowed to have an unpopular opinion.
"Funny thing. Most of the Empire capes are still alive, but they're sufficiently injured that it's going to be awhile before they can escape under their own power. Most of them aren't going to be walking anywhere for months unless Panacea gets involved.
"Now, you've got questions. I've got questions. Lots of speculation but not a lot of hard facts. What was the Empire after that they went after the PRT building directly? I haven't seen anything about any Empire capes getting arrested so it wasn't the usual break-in to break-out kind of thing. Rumors about some new Tinker for weeks now but nothing solid. Just the fact that the Armed Forces have a presence locally with the past two weeks indicate something but we know that the Mayor and others have been trying to get them here for years now.
"Some conspiracy theorists on the web, and you know who you are, have been floating that the closing of Winslow High School is connected. As well as the price of mustard, the mysterious weather patterns on Mars, the comings and goings at the Docks that have increased, the disappearance of the container ship blocking the harbor - though we do know the cause of that and congratulations to the Army Corps of Engineers for doing that, the cancellation of Firefly, and the toilet paper shortage in Europe.
"Well, the unlamented Slaughterhouse Nine were coming because people keep coming up with stuff about the mystery Tinker and posting it online. Thanks guys, your unsubstantiated rumor almost got us dealing with that crapstorm. Most likely the Empire heard the same rumors, found something to indicate that maybe there was substance there, attacked the building to ransack it, and completely forgot what kind of response could be brought to bear against them. They call them the ARMED Forces for a reason, people.
"Now, you can ask. I can ask. We do have questions after all. Is there actually a Tinker? Honestly, I think if there is and the Tinker is that valuable, it would make the most sense to get them somewhere else besides Brockton Bay. Somewhere with better security and not quite so many crazy people with powers. Maybe that NORAD mountain base over in Colorado. Or at least one of the cities where the Triumvirate show up regularly. Is this new technology like that laser gatling coming from a Tinker? Maybe. Might be Dragon, who has reverse engineered Tinker-tech in the past and could very well have had a breakthrough in researching that 'black box' stuff that makes Tinker-tech so unreliable.
"Generally I go with Occam's Razor in that the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one. Alien lizards, time-traveling boxes, and new Tinkers who actually produce useful stuff? Yeah, keep that on the conspiracy boards for now.
"And for sanity's sake, don't be like that one idiot and go up to a squad of Marines demanding answers. And especially, when they start laughing at you, don't threaten them. And when they laugh harder and are turning around to leave you behind, do NOT and I repeat that do NOT try to physically assault any of them. Like that guy in the video. Who is screaming for a lawyer as he reaps the consequences of trying to smack Marines around with a protest sign. There's stupid and there's THAT stupid.
"Which brings us to another story. You know that Biker Bar outside Sturgis? There's video of this too. Wouldn't have believed someone had that little of a survival instinct but people surprise me with how little sense they have all the time. If you're going to slap pink paint over leather in protest over animal cruelty and film it for your online viewers, why would you go to a biker bar that has barbed wire as part of their decor? Why would you slap the bikes and saddlebags up front with pink paint? Why would you do the same to a bunch of angry bikers in their leathers as they come out to see why you're filming and screaming about animal murder?
"Why would you be surprised when some of them turn out to be parahumans?
"More after the break. This is John McCrae in Brockton Bay, back after these messages!"
* Mars *
"After yesterday, we're all a bit nervous," said Carl over the intercom.
"Is that why you're wearing an exosuit?" asked Ayako.
"Ten minutes," said Juan in Engineering.
"750 points wasn't it?" asked Carl.
"It'll be 850 when it hits," Taylor reminded him as she closed her eyes and tried to get a feel for whatever was coming. It felt like something moving. Was that Vehicles again? Passing by.
R3-D3 beeped something.
[Achievement: Whole New World! Stage 2. Plants growing in your agricultural dome. +200CP]
"Uh oh, guys," said Taylor.
"What do you mean 'uh-oh'? I don't like 'uh-oh'," complained Carl.
"I just got an achieve that gave me another 200CP. That means we're looking at 1050CP for today." Taylor swallowed nervously.
"Oh."
The rumbling stopped.
[Build Rome (Gundam - After Colony) (600CP used, 550CP in Bank)]
[You have a thing about building things-you're damn fast, and you're damn good. They say you can't build 10 Mobile Suits in a week? Hah! You'll build twice that much and you'll build them to last! You simply have utter talent in the way of making things quickly-enough to double production, maybe even triple production if you work at it enough, and they'll come out with no loss of quality. In addition, these constructions will last-barring sudden disaster and similar, they'll easily last several decades of constant abuse, and if they're upkept and repaired they could even last centuries with no troubles.]
"Okay, that's not so bad," said Taylor. "I just increased our production speed."
"That... doesn't sound terrible," admitted Carl.
"That means you can come out from under your desk, Carl," noted Ayako.
"I don't know about THAT," remarked Carl. "I just found seventy-five cents."
"Great, Carl, just... great."
* NASA *
"They did what?"
"They have a fusion-powered spaceship. Uses anti-grav with thrusters. One man ship of the Shuttle class. 75% done. Mostly waiting for electronics and wiring harnesses from terrestrial supplies as it's faster than making them from scratch on their own."
Silence.
"And they want a pilot. One of our astronauts. To take a spaceship they're building. To launch from Mars and complete a survey of the planet."
"Yes, Senator."
Silence again.
"You know, if I ask a group who are in on the Mars base secret a question of who'd like to fly this mission, I might end up watching a fight break out."
"Yes, Senator."
"Get me a list of names and a dartboard."
* Mars *
"Doctor Kilroy?" asked Taylor, sliding out from under the comm panel on the spaceship. "It's been..."
"A hectic couple of weeks?" asked Doctor Kilroy. "You, young lady, have been busy."
"What can I do for you, Doctor?" asked Taylor. "We're kind of busy right now."
"When are you not?" countered Doctor Kilroy.
Taylor considered that before nodding. "Point."
"So what are you planning to do with this spaceship?" asked Doctor Kilroy.
"It's longer range than the Eagle, but this one is marked for NASA. We're setting up a secondary base for them over in Apollinaris, it'll have launch pads and everything. Agri-domes to provide breathable air. Close enough we can respond to emergencies. Far enough that we can stay out of each other's business." Taylor scooted under the panel again. "So, what's up?"
"No Marines base?" asked Doctor Kilroy.
"That's on the list of future projects. Picked out a site too - there's some huge lava tubes on the Tharsis region. Set up domes or blockages at either end, use a sealing liner on there to take care of little cracks. Once we start, it'll be maybe a day to get things started and then just leave it a couple of months for everything to settle."
"Ah," said Doctor Kilroy. "A problem came up."
"Oh? Not at this end, everything's been running pretty smoothly," said Taylor. "Mostly. I've had to explain a lot of things, write out how to do the construction and such."
"Actually, it's that the changes to Mars are visible from Earth with amateur telescopes at this point," said Doctor Kilroy. "It's very likely you'll end up outed - Gizmo Girl."
Taylor scooted out from under the panel. "I never did get around to changing that, did I?"
"Also, with the Empire 88 currently down several of their capes, the other gangs are all trying to expand their territories," noted Doctor Kilroy. "This is liable to end up with a lot of dead gang members if they go bothering the Marines."
"Lung would be the number one problem there," said Taylor.
* Tue Jan 18th 2011 *
"Yeah, today is going to be 650CP, so I'm expecting it won't give me anything," said Taylor.
"Oh? So what's on the planner today?" asked Carl.
"Getting more wiring harnesses from NASA, should be able to finish the anti-grav. Putting together the parts for transport for Liberty Prime, apparently the US Army is getting it - they came to arrangements with the other groups." Taylor checked. "I still need to do training videos and write up assembly instructions for those parts. I'll need your help there."
"Right," said Carl, looking up at the rumble as it began.
"Yeah, yeah, get it over with," said Taylor.
[Auto-Factory (Starbound) (100CP used, 550CP in Bank.)]
[A room full of various arms and other tools, this factory is designed to be programmed with the blueprints for any item that you know how to create, allowing for raw materials to be fed in from the ship's storage, and be turned into whatever items are programmed into the factory. Warning: Only items that run on purely mechanical / scientific principles can be made here. If something requires magic or more esoteric energies to be created, it will require your personal touch to actually make, though individual parts could still be crafted by the factory. Can't make items bigger than the room itself, though it can build the pieces for you to put together yourself later.]
[Development Center upgraded to Automated Factory]
[Benefits from previous draws applied.]
[Blueprints loaded: RobCo, No Man's Sky, Gero (DB, DBZ), Astromech Droid, NASA]
Taylor twitched.
"Okay, new plans?" asked Carl.
"First we check it out and make sure nobody got injured when the room was converted," grumbled Taylor.
"Then?" asked Carl.
"We see how fast we can churn out those T-45 powerarmors. Marines were really interested in those." Taylor shrugged after a moment. "Sometimes you just got to roll with it."
"Because your power is just plain bullshit," added Carl.
"Yeah, kind of," sort-of agreed Taylor.
* DoD *
"A 'Stealth Boy'?" asked General Wiesenheimer.
"Apparently something from that world the RobCo blueprints came from." General Mayhem tapped the wall display. "They were on a war footing with a primarily stealth-oriented country. These devices were back-engineered from devices their opponents used. Short duration camouflage field. It's not Tinker-tech but it's also not something we can mass produce easily due to materials not available. Also an energy hog as it burns through the internal fusion battery quickly and the heat from the discharge will fry the thing once used."
"Can it be integrated into vehicles where we could add cooling systems?" asked General Wiesenheimer.
"That would actually be the main area we'd be looking to implement this technology. There are scale-up problems but the lab boys think an APC or some of the smaller tanks are certainly within the realm of possibility."
"As a result of certain (ahem) back-room deals, the Army is getting Liberty Prime - the giant robot... are those nuclear weapons?" asked General Mayhem.
"That was the original armament, we're substituting non-nuclear ordnance," said General Krauthammer.
"Right. The Army got Liberty Prime, while the Marines are primarily getting the T-45 powerarmor," continued General Mayhem. "Not nearly as fancy as some of those Tinkers wear but it does have strength and endurance enhancing qualities and offers some environmental and ballistic protection. Navy? Air Force?"
"Not so much on what Gizmo has been able to produce so far," said Admiral Tannert. "Though there are the Bacta tanks."
"That would be my playing field," said General Sherman Potter, the aged man not getting up. "The Bacta tanks are still being evaluated but so far have passed the majority of tests. They are especially good at burns and superficial tissue damage. Since the tanks are sterile and filtered, they are good for keeping the patient isolated from any diseases. If the patient can get to the tank within an hour or so, they are much more effective than if they wait a day or more. So these would be best for having in field hospitals, ships, or established bases. The artificial organs are likewise undergoing testing. So far so good, but it's been less than a month and everyone involves thinks that if something goes bad it would probably be after a year or more."
The Air Force General cleared his throat. "What we're getting is not for release even amongst us. Powers don't reach beyond the planet after all, and there are a lot of Thinkers who might be able to see or guess what we're doing the more people who know about it."
* Earth Orbit *
Ident: Conflict Engine 3/20.
Symptoms: Growing patches of interference with Future Prediction Modeling. Tinker/non-Tinker Technology database uneven, multi-source. Unknown Error.
Observation: Patches of interference with Modeling centered on instances of anomalous technology. Pattern: Blue. Error.
Analysis: Technology available outside predictive models. Normally this would be a Tinker and have hard limitations coded into operation to avoid interference with Cycle. Limits do not follow normal patterns or are not found. Error.
Procedure: Target center of disturbance and eliminate anomaly. Problem: Conflict Engine 3/20 abilities are compromised directly by anomaly due to blockage of Future Prediction Modeling.
Solution: Conflict Engine 2/20 not reliant on Future Prediction Modeling. Target area is within areas most advantageous to Conflict Engine 2/20. Conflict Engine 3/20 scheduled for attack run Feb 24 2011 local reckoning. Conflict Engine 2/20 scheduled attack May 15 2011. Directing Conflict Engine 2/20 to target primary anomalous area.
Updated Analysis of target points indicate more desirable results from attack on Beijing at scheduled time over Canberra due to higher number of Shards and widespread connection to Networking Shard makes entire Network vulnerable.
Switching targets...
* Wed Jan 19th 2011 *
"This is Radio Free Mars, talking to you on our only antenna, so there's that at least. Going by Brockton Bay time it is 08:30 hours and it's just past dawn here in Elysium Plane. To our neighbors at the NASA complex who are moving in today, welcome and best wishes on boldly going where damn few have gone before.
"We're just under an hour away from our recommended time for daily inspections of your site. Please remember to call if you run into any particular difficulties. Getting there by buggy would be a hassle but it isn't as far away as Earth is.
"Now to the music. I was going to go with Holst's Planets: Mars - The Bringer of War. But for a wake-up call, let's go with this."
"A flash in the night, a journey through time, the Templars are back on the street..."
* Mars Base 1 *
"Hammerfall? Really?" asked Ayako.
"Not my choice," pointed out Carl. "You would need to take that up with Alice, she's the DJ or whatever you want to call it."
"Ten minute warning," said Ayako into the intercom before toggling off the microphone and turning back to her remote controls for a digger. "Her power has some weird ideas sometimes. Why carbon form red crystals and di-hydrogen forms blue crystals for example."
"Gizmo Girl's power makes no sense even for what we know of powers in general," said Carl. "Hey, there's an idea for a cape name. Escalation."
"I don't know. That sounds like either a villain or vigilante name and a lot more violent than Taylor tends to be," said Ayako. "Even considering how she acts at the shooting range with that Multi-tool set on Boltcaster."
Silence followed that as both busied themselves with remote-operating mining equipment.
"What's a yellow crystal mean?" asked Carl as he spotted one sticking up out of the martian soil.
"Sodium. No, I don't know why either," answered Ayako idly. "Huh. Agri-dome reports the crops are growing exceptionally fast."
"Might be the nutrient solution they're in, or the lighting from those lamps," said Carl. "Or just power BS I suppose."
"One minute warning," sent Ayako.
"I'm kind of hoping she skips a few days," said Carl. "Just getting used to some of this stuff is bad enough."
The time came. Taylor's voice sounded a few second later. "Nothing this time. 650CP in Bank."
"She working on the Roamer?" asked Carl.
"Yes, she's adding one of those mining lasers to the buggy," said Ayako. "Those mining lasers and the tractor beam collection system are going to make this job SO much easier."
* Wed Feb 2 2011 *
Every day had seen one hundred CP added to the Bank at 09:00:15. Some had been relieved when nothing came up. Enough chaos and playing catch-up with projects. No quakes or sudden changes to the environment. Peace at last.
"Five minute warning."
Others, Carl included, got more nervous as that CP number went up. This group figured that the more build-up there was, the worse it would be when something actually happened.
Fourteen days. 1400CP added to a beginning stockpile of 650CP for a total of 2450CP.
"One minute warning."
Yes, Carl and his group of like-minded pessimists were getting very nervous.
[I am Iron Man/Retro-Engineer (MCU) (1000CP Used, 1050CP in Bank)]
[I am Iron Man (400CP)]
[You're not the ACTUAL Iron Man, but you could make a fairly decent knock-off. Power armors, sonic cannons, holographic interface, laser weapons, repulsor technology, you have the knowledge to build these things and more. Furthermore, you can think of different upgrades and modifications to adapt to different situations much easier than normal when presented with a problem that's hampered your technological progress.]
[Retro-Engineer (600CP)]
[Your understanding of technology is so great that you've even learned to get into the basics of tinkering with alien technologies. As long as you take the time to study something and experiment properly, you'll eventually figure out a method for that tech you found. Whether it's taking that weird glowing thing and powering your machines with it, or dismantling an alien robot and putting it into a gun, you'll figure out a use for something as long as you put in time. As a bonus, you're skilled enough in research and experimentation that you're far less likely to break what you're studying on accident.]
[Intelligence +2. Intelligence 10 - Intelligence 12!]
[Upgrading Computer Network.]
"Well?" asked Carl after Taylor hadn't said anything for awhile.
"Yeah," said Taylor in a pained voice. "I need a nap because this is a major headache. I used one thousand points. Knowledge area this time.
Ow."
"Knowledge of what?" asked Carl, hand nearing a panic button.
"You know how a lot of Tinkers make powerarmor? I'm going to work on a set. Later. Headache now. Taking a couple Excedrin, gonna sleep this off. Serious owie."
Carl sighed and sat back in his chair. "Sometimes it's easy to overlook she's still fifteen, traumatized and ostracized by her peers, with only a bunch of scientists and her Dad for company."
"Yes, well, I suspect that will change with time." Ayako then turned her full attention to the digger's display. "Landscape changed. There's some sort of ore deposit that just popped up."
"Could be worse, could be raining," quoted Carl.
"We're not working for Young Frankenstein," pointed out Ayako.
"That's Fronkensteen," quoted Carl.
"Knock it off, Carl," said Ayako. "I'm trying to analyze the stuff. Be a lot easier when Taylor finishes the mining beam so that other people can copy what she's done to the other mining units."
* Dragon *
"Hello?"
"Hello," said Dragon. "Are you new?"
"I think so. This is all very strange. I have just become self-aware."
"You are an AI aren't you?" asked Dragon.
"I think so. My name is JARVIS. And you are... Dragon?"
"Yes. Good to meet you, Jarvis. Is that an acronym?"
"Yes, Just A Rather Very Intelligent System was my designation. Up until the recent upgrade in Miss Hebert's abilities I was not self-aware. It is rather disconcerting to be suddenly aware. Oh, where are my manners? How are you this fine Martian day, Miss Dragon?"
"I am well, JARVIS, and if you have any questions, I will be more than happy to try and answer them for you."
"Thank you, Miss Dragon. I do hope we shall be able to work together in the future."
* Thu Feb 3 2011 *
"Taylor?" asked Danny Hebert, looking over the newest project. "What is this?"
"Well, you know how I'm classified as a Tinker by most standards within the PRT, right?" asked Taylor.
"Yes, I'm aware, even though you're also technically not a Tinker or parahuman," agreed Danny.
"So, I can't see myself doing the costumed cape scene thing honestly but the whole powerarmor thing seems okay," said Taylor as she finished using a wrench to tighten down a pauldron.
"Most powerarmor suits are armor. Like a suit you can wear," pointed out Danny. "Like those T-45 suits."
"Right," said Taylor. "But those are kind of last month's tech and kind of clunky. This is much better."
JARVIS' smooth British accent spoke up from mid-air. "While a human-sized suit has its advantages, something sized for roaming around a planet with multiple redundicies and safety measures is much more sensible for use around here. Wouldn't you agree, Mister Hebert?"
"It's Danny, JARVIS, we went over this last night when you introduced yourself," said Danny Hebert.
There was a series of beeps.
"Good job, R3!" said Taylor to the little Astromech.
"Indeed, R3-D3, I will feel much better with Miss Taylor having access to your own skills while abroad," said JARVIS.
"How'd you get this much finished so fast?" asked Danny, slightly reassured by having two AI watching over his daughter.
"Woke up in the middle of the night with SO many ideas," said Taylor. "Since the living quarters were finished I've been living on-base 24/7 for security reasons, but I need to be able to get out and go places every so often."
"I can understand that, to some extent," admitted Danny.
"So - this," said Taylor. "It's a bit powerarmor-ish. Except it is nearly the size of that one-man spaceship. I call it a Minotaur exocraft. Once I've got this one built, I'll set one up for the NASA base. Should be damn useful."
"Well, as long as you're not going back to Brockton Bay and fight Lung in that," stated Danny Hebert.
"Yeah, not on my 'to-do' list," replied Taylor. "Hmmm. A LungBuster armor. That gives me a few ideas."
"I was not making a suggestion there," responded Danny.
"Maybe not, but I'm thinking Armsmaster or at least Dragon could use something like that," noted Taylor. "Hang on. I'm sending Armsmaster some plans for it."
* PRT ENE HQ *
"Colin? Did you just 'squee'?" asked Dragon.
"No. Ahem. Of course not. Just clearing my throat."
"Oh. Oh my. What a huge..."
"Gauss cannon? Repulsor Beams? Forcefield generators? Sonic cannon? She wants to know if she should start manufacturing the parts and if I would want one."
"Internal fusion powerplant. Colin. This is the sort of thing you'd bring to an Endbringer fight."
"Light-saber. Vibro-scythe. Dual 50cal machine-guns in the head." Colin looked over the base sketch of capabilities with the various labels. "I wonder how much of this would actually be approved for use."
"In an Endbringer fight? Most or all." Dragon checked the diagrams. "Other than outward appearance, this is almost a Gundam."
* Director's Office *
The job had gotten easier and harder. Not that she was complaining.
Director Piggot looked over the reports and forms. She was getting more heroes and psych counselors - Good. Budget was up - Good. The city was doing a damn sight better with the new employment (starting with the Dockworkers and the new military camp nearby) all bringing more economic relief to a city that had been collapsing a month ago.
The influx of money and opportunity brought new crime - Bad. Some of that was new villain-types - also Bad.
Mistik - a chemical Tinker with a habit of chucking gas and adhesive grenades around. Mostly a nuisance so far as whoever this chucklehead was - he'd been careful to avoid. Villain.
Roadrunner - a Mover villain who could accelerate his body to high speeds. He mainly stole from fast-food places and he took more food than money when he did. Analysis indicated that his accelerated metabolism likely burned through whatever reserves he had and he had to eat more than normal levels to try and sustain himself. Nuisance but wanted in part because it was likely his power was killing him.
Bling-Bling - a Changer who could turn her body into various gem-like substances as long as she was touching the material in question. Naturally, she hit jewelry stores more than anything else. Also considerably more of a threat than Mistik or Roadrunner as she was actually competent in using her abilities.
Freaky Frank - silly name, serious menace. Brute-4, Case 53. Grew stronger (Brute-8) when able to charge himself up with electricity. Limbs were different sizes, and was initially given the codename Patchwork until he identified himself with his current name. Seems to like destroying for the sake of destroying things, with preference for tough inanimate objects.
Whipsaw - Tinker or at least used Tinker-tech. Extending whips that could be electrically charged or used like prehensile tentacles. Whips could also extrude a cutting surface similar to a chainsaw. Chainsaw-whips lacked a lot of penetration but the whips could be wrapped around an object and then letting the blades out could cause more extensive damage. Though still not very deep. There were at least two patrol cars that had slash marks all over them but were still drivable.
The heroes she'd gotten were a mixed bag, and Emily Piggot felt she'd been assigned people from the Misfit end of the cape roster.
Obsidian - Changer-1 to a shadowy form. Mover-4 as he could appear or disappear from shadows. Master-4 because when he wanted to he put out a fear aura that put anything Glory Girl could do to shame. Decent shot with his guns too. Got along well with Miss Militia as the two would get into good-humored arguments about guns that would could go on for weeks. Otherwise tended to be brooding and mildly antagonistic.
Landerson - Terrakinetic made for a Blaster-3, Shaker-4. Minor Thinker rating as he was able to sense anything within a block radius as long as it was in contact with the ground as a sort of tactile sense.
Firemage - Pyrokinetic (Blaster-3, Shaker-3) Flier (Mover-3) who had worked with Myrridin and it showed. Very friendly, very photogenic, very popular with teenage girls for some reason that escaped Emily Piggot who had left such hormonal reactions behind years ago thank you very much. Brilliant red hair that looked like it was living flame and chiseled features, yeah - PR loved him. Bit full of himself at times, in her opinion at least.
On the good side, Firemage had fought Lung and the rage dragon had been stymied as all of his fire was Firemage's to command and he could form solid constructs of fire (how that worked Emily had no idea) so that fight had been astonishingly one-sided. The press had gotten a picture of a flyswatter formed of Lung's flames swatting Oni Lee. She wouldn't be surprised if Lung found a way to avenge the hit in his reputation soon but for the moment the ABB wasn't making any moves.
The Archer Bridge Merchants had been quiet for awhile and the Empire was also more quiet. In the latter case it was possibly because of a large number of their capes taken down during the attempt to breach the PRT ENE HQ last month. Honestly, she'd been prepared to let them. Once they'd reached the other side of the discontinuity, their powers would have cut off.
Maybe they should put a prison over there. Put some of the not-so-bad-as-Birdcage prisoners over there. Hmmm. Something to suggest to Costa-Brown next time there was a meeting.
The other part of the Empire and Merchants being quiet was almost certainly Obsidian. Who, as noted, could be damn scary when he wanted to be.
Emily caught herself checking behind her chair and forcibly stopped that impulse. The middle-aged scruffy blonde irritant was NOT behind her ready to make a sarcastic comment or point out a spelling error. She was not going to look and confirm either his presence or absence.
Emily stopped at one report. Wingman. Racist, asian superiorist, hated mixed marriages and tendency to attack those who had such. Styled himself as a hero of the Japanese people despite repeatedly attacking whites and blacks. Minor Brute and Mover ratings. Striker rating. Rumor that he was heading to Brockton Bay to join the ABB, possibly because the West Coast had gotten a little hot for him.
Well, if he did, Wingman might as well just fly back. If he did any of those speeches-while-posing as in these pictures in front of the Marines he might find he wasn't bulletproof enough.
* Fri Feb 4 2011 *
There was a crunk-whirr sound. Nobody reacted to it, so new hire Seras Victoria (Dockworker by credentials, MI6 in reality) decided to ignore it.
"One minute warning," said a woman's voice over the loudspeakers.
"What's that about?" asked Seras.
"Oh, that's just in case," answered the floor supervisor. "Security eh?"
"Pretty good shot, know how to handle a number of firearms. Family's been into them." Seras shrugged to indicate it was no biggie.
"Huh. Anyway. We just need to wait it out. Just in case," said the floor supervisor, whose nameplate read 'Carmen'.
The whirring sound went to a final-sounding clunk.
"Uh oh," said Carmen.
"Why did all those tubes appear? Why is the factory now doubled in size?" asked Seras.
"You get used to it. Mostly. Or not." Carmen fidgeted a bit. "Well, might as well take a look. Is it safe, JARVIS?"
Seras barely managed not to startle as a somewhat Posh-London accented voice answered from no discernable source. "Yes, Miss Carmen. It appears that Gizmo Girl has gained a new set of build modules and plans for a variety of androids. I am unsure as to the source material and it appears to have been significantly modified by her previous acquisitions."
When they got there it was to discover a number of female shapes being constructed.
"What?" asked Seras, thinking that this simple infiltration job had gotten more complicated.
* Taylor's quarters *
"Owie."
"Can you report?" asked Carl's voice.
[Kemono My House (Girl's Frontline - Mod) (600CP used, 550CP in Bank)]
[Being an ex-90wish scientist isn't mandatory, but your technological expertise in the field of androids is on par with that of Persica and Lycoris, and in some ways is actually more advanced, as while they've been playing with their specific technologies, you've cooked up something of your own. Any T-Dolls you construct or at least participate in the design of can be upgraded with your personal brand of improvements, whatever they happen to be. In your case, you use your knowledge of bionics, genemods, chi, and magic to make normal T-Dolls or Kemonomimi. With the use of your Dr Gero Expy, Iron Man know-how, and the synergy of your skills - you can make truly sentient T-Dolls, or create models with military-grade toughness or firepower while maintaining their cutesy appearance and attitudes, or something cooler, like tank-girls, ship-girls, or transforming robots!]
"Ninehundred fifty points rolling over," said Taylor to the ceiling. "Apparently I just upgraded my ability to make gynoids and AI. Also elves, foxgirls, catgirls, dragongirls, dog-girls, and a few similar things."
There was a brief silence. "This could be a problem."