by Marcus Sloss
“We have four stalls on this Xgate. We tend to always store inventory inside the Xgate between trading markets. I have a full inventory list here,” Blob said, and zapped a catalogue to both our translators. “Basically, we produce more than we sell. We return unsold products into raw materials to keep the cycle going. When you have been at this for as long as we have, you rarely have a zero-inventory day. If you do zero out our tank inventory, then we simply shift some manufacturing from less productive models to these.”
The platform shot across the storage room at speeds that should have thrown us from our ride or at least have given us whiplash. When we came to a sudden halt, I felt that our momentum should have jerked us forward off our feet. Neither happened, causing me to smirk.
“This has dampeners? Do all your creations—”
“Of course!” Blob said in a great saleswoman tone of voice. “These are relatively expensive compared to other models. They have climate control, force dampeners, internal element control guaranteed to match the atmosphere of our client’s homeworld, contouring seating that fits most species, and even extra storage. There are also many attachments for these AGPT63 models, or as you called them, gravity sled tanks. You can also add a second or third optional turret for extra firepower—at the expense of other systems, of course.”
One of Blob’s eye stalks rotated to look right at me. “To answer your question, yes, one of the options does include a towing package. We make gravity sled trailer models for moving creatures within enclosures, there is a flatbed model for stackable loading, and even a model with fixed walls to pile loose items into.” She paused with what vaguely resembled a frown, “while the dampeners are good, there is no perfect means to stop overly violent maneuvers.”
“Goodbye, trucks,” I muttered, an idea popping into my head. I called up a breakdown of our electric trucks and zapped it to Blob. “We have these already. Should we turn them into scrap and buy yours, or convert them?”
“You realize I’m the wrong Sluggero to ask? I, of course, will tell to scrap them and buy ours. Even though I freely admit my opinion is biased, you should believe me. These use batteries that corrode over time, are ineffective, and, well, they’re don’t run on elemental generators. That alone is reason enough to scrap them. These vehicles have no offensive capabilities, another major fault. They will not handle the transition between Xgates that are not locked down without significant risk. They have many weak points vulnerable to numerous types of incoming fire. Should I continue?” Blob asked.
I sighed, “I have hundreds of these I would have to replace. And this tank only carries one beint,” I said.
“Well, this is a machine of war. It carries the lowest risk to reward ratio, as many like to term it. You use one tank, you only need one pilot. If, on the other hand, you want an armored personnel carrier with some light armaments, I also have many of those. Let me finish showing this tank to you before we dive into other vehicle types,” Blob said. The tank lifted off from the floor, up to our eye level. “As you can see, this antigravity sled can extend its elevation. There are several factors that influence how high it can go. These include: gravity density, power generation, elemental density in the atmosphere, the weight of crew and supplies, etc. We try to simplify our creations, but universal rules prohibit some shortcuts. You will not find a better solo tank for this price.”
“Is there a height limit?” Torrez asked while scratching the back of his neck in thought.
“No, if you equip a gravity sled tank with fifty generators, technically, it becomes a flying tank. We have aircraft, though, so don’t buy this for that. For this unit, the cabin is nearly a ten-foot-cubed box. Your actual measurement scale is calibrated to your feet? Ha!” The slug jiggled with a chortle. “Who uses an appendage to measure distance? Anyway, it is nearly ten Sluggero dicks in height.” A long laugh caused to stop talking for a while. She let out a long gurgling exhale before she resumed her sales pitch. When she was ready, she continued. “You get into that box and the science does the rest. So easy a cavern goop can use it.”
I rolled my eyes, still chuckling myself. “So, it goes fast, is a deluxe version, and is not overly expensive?”
“Oh, you are wrong on the last account. While quite fast, this is a premium model—it is expensive. A piece of armament only comes cheap when it is looted from a battlefield. I do not sell used armaments, however, for numerous reasons. Your loot numbers and the fact you're using ancient technology tell me you’re a new addition to our invisible master’s quarantine. So, you will struggle to afford—”
“We have nearly unlimited zinc below our fortifications,” I said, interrupting Blob.
“Then we will become trading partners, of sorts. Who sent you to me?” Blob asked.
“I am not at liberty to say, unfortunately,” I said, hoping that would be enough. “You were highly recommended, though, and I can see the reason why. How many of these can we buy?”
“So, you can get two of these for each of those trucks you showed me. Give or take,” Blob said.
I struggled to control my facial expression.
“I see your delight at replacing outdated trucks for tanks. That is the power of new technology—we make more from less.” Blob blew another raspberry, “Those old devices will convert down splendidly. If I was allowed, I would authorize direct trades. Alas, we are regulated to zinc.”
I checked her inventory sheet while she talked. There were fourteen thousand AGPT63s in inventory. My jaw dropped. Okay. Our community was never going to be the same. I was sick of the wooden homes, the slow transportation, and the thousands of inadequacies we faced every day. It was time we stepped up our game.
“Based on a human's weight, a high nitrogen count, and a 9.8 m/s gravity… can these gravity sled tanks fly at an above-ground altitude of twenty feet for an extended period? Or would that require a smaller sled with extra power?” I asked, sending Blob an image of Xgate 232 with its rocky terrain and sporadic pines.
“Yes, that would be well within their parameters, with no extra power required beyond a standard nitrogen generator. I take it you are interested?” Blob asked.
“I want bigger tanks too. These will become our light units. Please excuse me for just a moment, I need to contact a few people real quick,” I said to Blob.
I sent a message over the command net.
“Ranking officer in storage, please respond.” - Cap
“Go for DD.” - Deluxe Duke Jevon
“Keep piling in loot. Our vehicle purchases are going to be epic. I want to convert a lot into zinc. Almost everything, in fact.” - Cap
“Roger, Cap. Will keep filling the shelves with converted goods.” - Deluxe Duke Jevon
“Well, I tapped this bank out. I’ll need more help converting.” - Queen Willow
“Mrs. Moore is holding down my storage section. OMW to the closest bank.” -Jacky
“Keep up the good work.” - Cap
With that taken care of, I pulled my attention from my gpad. Torrez was busy on a calculator. I peered over his shoulder and asked, “Torrez, have you been crunching the numbers?”
“For the AGPT63s, yeah, that one is easy. Willow liquidated a lot into zinc. Now that we have a balance sheet in zinc, I can compare things properly. We’re rich right now. Even with the current loot conversion incomplete, and lots of loot still to convert, we can buy five hundred of these and be fine,” Torrez said.
Blob’s face contorted into a horrific smile, of sorts. “We do offer bulk discounts, not much, but it adds up. How about we go take a look at the eight seaters? It is similar to the AGPT63, just eight times bigger with a communal cabin. There are many different armament packages with which this model can be outfitted. The unit uses three power plants to the AGPT63’s one. These will not hover, however, over obstacles like trees with ease unless you add additional nitrogen generators paired with a stock oxygen injector. You can increase the power plan from three up to five generators before you need to a
dd a towed sled. Would I recommend a sled with stacked power plants? No. Will you ask for one anyway? Highly likely.”
The platform zipped across the warehouse to a large tank. It had a long central turret, with two side turrets with swivel seating. The hull was a series of hard angles meant to be beam reflective, if I had to guess. The front was narrow and slender, the rear boxy with armaments. There were loading ramps on either side. The design reminded me of a ship somehow.
“I want these as our core movers,” I said to Torrez. “The AGPT63s will be for our QRF and these as the backbone of our forces.” My grin split my face near in two. These were killing machines and I was excited to test them out. “Take us to the smaller mech suits, please.”
The platform zoomed over to a rack of twelve-foot-tall exoskeletons. The material was something I had never seen before. It had a flat dull brown coloration. The mechs’ lower portion had eight legs in an octagonal pattern with triple joints. The torso included shoulder-mounted turrets with large square openings. Dual arms attached to both the front and the back of the torso. Each of the four arms had a weapon mount attachment on the forearm. The torso swiveled over the eight legs. Below the torso, an extra-large power generator hung like an egg sack.
Blob’s translator pinged while I marveled at the machine.
“You cannot steal from me. I have another customer to attend to. Feel free to board any device you want and shop around, though I recommend you try to order sooner rather than later if it's a big order. That way you have time to offload your equipment and beat the other purchasers to our more limited inventories,” Blob said, summoning a second platform that she slurped onto. “I will be upstairs. Just wish the platform to take you to any location you want in here and it will happen.”
Blob’s platform zoomed towards a distant elevator point in the storage container.
“Well, Torrez, what were you thinking?” I asked, a joyous, shit-eating grin still plastered on my face.
“That we need to buy everything, keep what we like, and resell what we don’t, even if it is at a loss. But this is not a game,” he frowned, “we should buy core items and work with what we have. We are going to be hemorrhaging zinc. Now is not the time to go cheap, Eric, not in the least. There is not much difference between these AGPT63s and the tanks the Squibbles were using.” He blew out a breath. “I want the mecha suits. I want the big beast. I want it all,” Torrez said with wide, excited eyes.
“Okay, get Perci and Everly to set aside twice what they need, and then I will leave you here to see if you can spend everything else,” I said, tapping my chin in thought. Hmm. Yes. “I think I want to go personnel shopping with them, instead of being distracted by all these new toys. Wait,” I paused, “are you okay with not having any electric trucks to move supplies?”
“Cap, keep a reserve. No reason to put all our eggs into a nitrogen basket,” Torrez said, and I nodded. “Those electric road salters can certainly go. That would free up a lot of parking space for more tanks too.”
“I will tell Jevon to toss in only half our fleet, then,” I said, grimacing. I thought of moving the platform to the starting point and it immediately shifted. “We are going to become a fundamentally different fighting force. I hope we can weather the next blue portal cycle, at least until we can figure things out.”
“Aye, Cap, I agree,” Torrez said, giving a wave.
I stepped onto the platform for the orbital. I set my exit for the spot nearest to Everly and Perci, and rubbed my hands together in anticipation. I was excited to see what a contract market entailed.
CHAPTER 3
A bipedal turtle over a hundred feet tall stepped on me. I knew I would pass through his foot but I still winced in reflex. This was a busier outskirt of the grand market. I hustled to catch up to Perci and Everly, only to find the inability to run infuriating. Getting there at a brisk walk was turning into a half-hour ordeal. I felt like I did when Mom would take forever to take me to Burger Queen for a Princely Meal. Patience had never been a virtue of mine in my youth. My mental fortitude increased in prison, and the military forced me to hurry up and wait so often, that I learned to take most things in stride. Apparently, since the apocalypse, I was regressing.
I rounded a corner, expecting to see yet another long corridor of massive Xgate booths. This area was different, it opened into an open space with no towering booths. The fact that I could see so far in front of me, startled me. Up until this point, everything had been cramped and confined into irregularly branching corridors. Here, rows upon rows of sentient species were arrayed out in the open, arranged from shortest to tallest groups. My eyes scanned down the line, noting that there were hundreds of variations for almost every species. A tiny six-inch-tall tree being was the first species group, and ironically enough, a massive three hundred feet tall six-legged tree being was the very last species group in the line.
My position on the edge of the contract market gave me insight into how this worked. There were hundreds of rows. Each row was a duplicate of the entire available catalogue. I meandered over to the little tree creature. There was an interface panel on a floating bar that automatically adjusted its position to accommodate my height. I realized once I was close enough, that the tiny tree dude was an exquisitely rendered holographic image. I tapped on the interface to view available inventory: three thousand contracts, with varying methods of payment for different types of listings. It was all neatly organized but still chaotic in its plethora of options. I left the tiny tree warrior to walk to a different row.
I approached the identical image of a tiny tree. The interface populated, giving me the exact same listings. I could inspect individuals from this list. The list could be broken down by sex, age, seller, price, and so many more options. Hmm… I thought about why they might use such a system.
I saw a bipedal black panther with orange stripes walk by. His tail swished into my body. Since the appendage flicked through me, it must have been intentionally aggressive. He walked four creatures down to a ten-inch tall spider-looking creature on a rock. The male input his required data, only to scoff. He chewed a nail, contemplating something. With a hand wave, he dismissed the image. He stalked off, only to return less than a minute later. I saw him select four of these creatures from a seller’s icon. He accepted the trade with a snarl.
Alright, that made sense. Instead of forcing a buyer to meet a host of different sellers, these stations acted as a middleman from a common location. My initial reaction was that it should cut down on swindling interactions. It was hard to upsell a digital client. My next thought was that we were limited to ten personnel per portal or forty to a gate. This might be for many reasons. If there were giant pens here with millions of contracted servants available, then that would certainly break the ten-per-portal rule. One thing was certain: this process was much easier to manage, less chaotic, and cleaner than I had expected.
A seller posted a listing of those sentients they had an excess of, listed a price, which was compared side-by-side with their competitors prices, and then hoped their inventory moved. I bet prices went down sharply towards the end of the market. I also figured that this is why some sellers opted for auctions. You would hook a buy regardless. Okay, this was something I could work with. Now to find the girls in this universal zoo.
My Gpad pinged an alert. It showed two red dots a good distance to my right. I bet Perci had been tracking me for a while. She had always been such a Gpad wizard. I saw the girls’ icons closing the distance between us. We walked towards each other through the crowded area full of meandering aliens. A few small groups of aliens chatted in clumps, but for the most part, it was a myriad of individuals focused on their tasks.
The tall red-haired Crixxi was much easier to pick out of the crowd than the shorter Perci, her russet colored hair touched up with blonde highlights. I waved my arm when Everly picked me out of the crowd. Perci was in yoga pants with a plain white shirt on as she ran to me.
“Hey, handsome!” my
tiny wife squealed, “This place is crazy. If you go over to the creatures, there’s a—”
“Interface. Yeah, I saw that. I didn’t see any salespeople. I am surprised by that,” I said honestly, a bit shocked. “I figured the interfaces might be a market guide or something, but it looks like they are the whole package.”
“That is why this Luna gave us recommended species,” Everly said in a chipper tone, lifting her tail to gesture that I was silly for not realizing this. “You can hire guides at the four corners. Trust me, not needed.”
“We could just buy the Crixxi tribe, and forget about these other species,” I said.
Perci twirled her hair, sliding a hand down my arm. “Eric, the Crixxi are intermixing and awesome. They also are a warrior race.” Perci’s hazel eyes locked to mine, “but as much as I want to help Crixxi, we all do, I also want peaceful races doing our laundry, cleaning our homes, and raising our children. Crixxi can do most chores, but they do not excel at menial tasks. How about we stick to the Mounamine and the other species that Everly recommended?” She frowned, “I’m drawing a blank on the name, though.”
Everly’s tail swirled around my wrist. I smirked, pulling her closer to me. These two were always so happy to see me. They would flirt, smile, and entice my libido to no end. I loved their banter and teasing.
“I don’t say it enough: you girls spoil me. I feel like the happiest man in the world. Business can wait for a nice kiss,” I said, leaning over to plant a sweet kiss on Everly’s lips. Perci leaped onto me the moment I was back upright. I held her close as she wrapped her legs around my waist. She savored our kiss for a long moment. I released her lips with a smack. Traffic flowed around us, a few aliens giving us stares. “Okay,” I turned back to Everly a little breathlessly, “what was the name of the panda-type creatures, again?”
Everly stroked her tail up and down my inner thigh, stopping right before where my package hung low. My pants got a little tighter. I rolled my eyes at her.
