by Pal, J
“Oh, no! They do. Viewers are ecstatic to see base building this early in one of these shows. The forums and talk shows are electric with discussions regarding the use of your upgrades—”
“What are the Alvans doing about it?”
Knurven rolled their single eye at the interruption. “Nothing,” the balloon person answered. “We bought the exclusive rights to several channels when we bought yours. Then our agents scrambled their records. All they have in hand are your aliases. We’re keeping the location vague enough to keep them guessing. They have the technology to find out, but it will take them a while since they have to conduct everything through the pylons and their own drones.”
“That’s pretty devious, Knurven. I’m impressed.”
“We learned from the best.” They laughed. “The Alvans have spent so long conning people and getting away with it. They’re mostly unprepared when the tables are turned on them. In fact, the Alvans are so convinced they’re the most intelligent scammers in the universe that they don’t expect others to get the upper hand. It’s ridiculous really. You’d think they’d learned their lesson after my people—a comparatively underdeveloped civilization— debunked their claims and beat them to a stalemate. But no, they didn’t. They’re making the same mistakes again, and we’re going to take full advantage of it.”
“So what’s up with this visit?” I asked. “Anything of importance we need to discuss?”
“I’m mostly here to tell you how good of a job you’re doing and to ensure we not only censored but also cut away from your intimate moments with Kitty.” Knurven looked hesitant between me and the still-open portal. Delta was probably waiting on the other side, ready to censor classified information. “The Alvans know someone like you exists. They’ve gotten in touch with a few groups desperate to mate with the Alvans. These people know to look out for individuals with unusual technology. All Tinkers, Technopaths, and Technomancers are now under scrutiny. If such a group finds you, they’ll try to take you down for a fast track to the pleasure palaces.”
“Damn.” I sighed, hoping the raiders from our last sector weren’t foolhardy enough to follow us here. Regardless, we needed our base ready to defend against the monster and human threats.
When evening came, I sensed a new presence in the building. Knurven had not been gone long, and my friends were still busy. There was no telling how long the spider-bot would take to upgrade. It, and the glass container which contained Liam, had long become one entity. It wasn’t just a drone we were upgrading, but his body. Meanwhile, Kitty appeared to be working on something fairly complex. The glow from her now-white golem core was so bright that looking at her hurt my eyes.
Winnie had been following me around all this time, but he froze as well. Could he sense whatever I felt? It was coming from the first floor where my two friends were. I knew not to be worried though. The presence didn’t feel malicious but calm, intelligent, and curious. We raced up the stairs, confirming my suspicions as soon as I stepped onto the floor. It was Morpheus. He was an independent tech-born entity, and therefore my technopathic abilities could sense him.
The bike golem’s headlight and the front wheel turned to look directly at us. Kitty’s power no longer shielded his mind from me. I guessed henceforth all growth and upgrades he received would need to be of his own choosing. The dim consciousness that was the Medi Gun had disappeared. There was no sign of the Flash Gun either. Morpheus had assimilated both, and I could feel the two McGuffins within him. This was fascinating.
The bike golem rolled towards us, and Winnie stepped up to meet him. Kitty’s two creations made contact as the stuffed bear pressed his fluffy head to the headlight. I didn’t quite understand what kind of entities the two were anymore, but it was clear they had an invisible bond. Would my Creations reach a similar level of existence someday? Perhaps once we had some time, I could focus on nurturing their minds.
Kitty wanted her newest golem to be a surprise, and I couldn’t wait to find out what it would be. When she rejected my assistance, I half expected her to animate the giant metal sculpture on the ground floor. It stood close to three meters tall and had sufficient bulk needed to wreak havoc on anyone who attacked our base. Considering its size, a golem of its sort would’ve done a great job of helping us against the crushers. Come to think of it, since we’d met, this was the first golem Kitty was working on without my input. Perhaps it was important I take a step back and let her do her thing.
Winnie stayed with Morpheus as I went up to the Menagerie. The drones had already put together a strange device to put our gifts to good use. A large vat sat on a set of wheels near the eggs. Clear pipes connected it to the eggs, which were not only now larger but covered in minuscule cracks.
“Thank you for the gift, boss,” the lead drone told me. “The lads were going mad with boredom. Now they’re focused and excited about their work again.”
“Are the platyhawks going to be okay?” I asked. Sure, he was all enthusiastic about the improvement, but the contraption’s appearance didn’t give me much confidence. It was the tubes pumping the silvery, mercury-like fluid that sent shivers down my spine. “These don’t look particularly healthy.”
“Don’t you worry, boss. They’re going to be born stronger and more powerful than what your average queen creates. Your little minions will start off as elites, but with parts you’d only find in an orange-threat, boss-class monster. Thanks to the Nurturing Field, they’ll mature like the Menagerie was A-ranked, and then we can use the female to create more of these beauties.”
“And this place will be as good a fortress,” I mumbled, imagining an entire flock of platyhawks with abilities similar to the king. We needed some variety too, but that would have to wait. “We need to look into getting some ground and ranged defense too. The sector has a nocturnal, four-legged creature we could use.”
“Not my place to say, boss, but you don’t want to count on nocturnal beasts for your ground troops. They might be great for night-time patrols or to set up ambush spots for anyone trying to sneak up on the base, but not for all-round ground troops. In most cases, these creatures will have developed to excel in the darkness, but this comes at the cost of poor performance during the day.”
“Well, you have the ability to grant creatures you raise new abilities. Can’t you take away their nocturnal nature?”
The drone shook his head. “At B-rank the Menagerie lets us add and remove parts from a creature. If you want to edit creatures or build chimaera, we’ll need a floor upgrade.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I told the drone. “Keep it up, mate. You’re doing a good job. I can’t wait for the eggs to hatch.”
“Thank you, boss. The upgrades have enabled us to speed up the incubation process. You’ll have your platyhawks tomorrow morning.”
“I can’t wait.”
Before heading back down, I checked the top floor and roof. The leather-textured parts of the wall had disappeared. It had all blended into the homogenous concrete-like hardness. The Hub Core was extraordinary. Looking around, I knew for sure I had made the right decision picking Technogogue. Psiconstructor probably would’ve helped us in the short term, but using my power, I could build a safe haven for friends and allies. I’d have the ability to equip people to stand up against the Alvans, possibly even leave their territory, and find independence.
Perhaps when I had some time, I’d contact Delta for more information on Hubs. I wanted to know whether it would be possible to use a Hub Core to power a spacecraft. If not, maybe we could find a way to use the same technology the System had used to move sectors to take our home to the sky, far from people and most monsters. I found myself imagining a floating city traveling around the world, helping people that needed us and picking up allies along the way.
Liam was done upgrading when I returned to the ground floor. Like with Morpheus’s transformation, the core spider-bot body had condensed into a more compact form. However, the new look had a strange weighty
look about it. The glass capsule that housed the brain was now more exposed than ever before. I couldn’t figure out why Liam wanted to leave himself so vulnerable. Then again, he had two McGuffins powering his body now. For all I knew, the glass could be as hard as diamonds and have regenerating capabilities. The metal now only covered a bottom third of the capsule and the legs growing out of it were thick and cylindrical.
Unlike the previous spider-bot, the new version looked less like an individual entity and more like a control center to slot into a larger body. Come to think of it, that’s precisely what Liam was going for. Once we got the necessary parts and Liam had his 3D printer running, I expected him to build several drones of his own. He hadn’t finished his first year at the university, but his Mega Brain gave him the potential to become much more intelligent than an ordinary human.
“How do you feel?” I asked him.
“Stronger than before and more energetic,” he answered. “It’s like every part of me has become supercharged, and I don’t need intent to control or guide it. I’m not sure how to explain...” He scuttled around for a couple of minutes, testing his new body. “Until now, it felt like the spider-bot was a remote-control car, and I was behind the controller—a very intuitive controller. Following the upgrade, it all feels like a complete organism.”
“Better be careful with your limbs then. Try not to let any beasts rip you apart.”
“They couldn’t if they tried.”
Liam fused with his drones, but this time they didn’t assume the normal ground spider form. First, the metal plates grew from the base, covering the glass in its entirety. Then the spider-bot’s eight legs paired off, each set fusing into a singular limb. They were thicker and longer. The recon drone’s propeller fans shrunk into the base where all the legs met, and the gun drone’s air propulsion system sat next to them, forming a triangular shape.
The rest of the recon and gun drones wrapped around the metal-covered capsule, forming armor and four arms. Each of them ended in a large three-fingered hand. I didn’t see the gun drone’s barrels, but I assumed they would grow out of the appendages when needed.
“What do you think?” Liam asked when the transformation completed.
“Badass,” I said, struggling to find better words. “You look like a Terminator out of a James Cameron fever dream. How does the biometal feel?”
“Light and flexible. I’ve used it for the internal joints and in the stress points. It’s not the most resilient of materials, but damn does it feel good.” He tested his arms, flexing the joints and checking the radius of movement. “Best part of it is, nothing is forcing me to always take this shape. I might take a minute or two to transform and will probably have to test optimal forms, but I can change to suit the scenario pretty damn easily. With two McGuffins in me, I have enough power to run four drones like Recon.”
“That’s pretty damn awesome. Do you have any idea what you want?”
“I’m thinking something with bulk,” he answered. “I can bring the pain with the gun drone and my melee weapons, but I don’t have much in terms of strength or defense. Instead of four small drones, I’m thinking of going for two complex modules.”
“I think I understand. You want the option of switching from assassin to ranged damage dealer to bruiser.”
“Precisely. When fighting the king, I had the weapons to put him down but couldn’t get to the critical spots or take down the defenses. I’m hoping this will solve that.”
“I imagine you eventually creating a body similar to the crushers’ and dominating any that dare oppose you.”
Liam laughed. “Or we could keep stacking modules until I become a hyper-intelligent Hub.”
“Is this your ploy to get us to live inside you, mate?” I asked, chuckling.
“That wouldn’t be weird at all,” Kitty said, making us jump. She must have finished creating her new golem while we were talking. Dark circles sat below her eyes, and she looked pale. The process must have taken a lot out of her.
“Where’s the golem?” Liam asked.
I scanned the room but sensed nothing besides Liam, Morpheus, and my devices. A good deal of the biometal was missing—it had to be a tech-based golem, right?
Kitty leaned against me, smiling. “You’ll see tomorrow.” Considering the amount of weight she put on my shoulder, I guessed she was having trouble standing up. Come to think of it, Kitty hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. “The construct needs some time to form before waking up.”
“I wish you wouldn’t leave us in suspense and just tell us,” Liam commented, heading for the stairs. “You two go eat dinner, I’ll be on the top floor if you need me.”
Chapter Eight
Hatchlings
The following day we rushed to the Menagerie first thing in the morning. It was time for the platyhawk eggs to hatch. We were all eager to meet these infants programmed to serve the Hub. The fact that these creatures would be born elite with a boss-class monster’s abilities also played a big part in our excitement. The beasts would help us rule the skies.
My mind drifted to Rajesh once again. If he were still with us, we’d have figured out a way for him to communicate with our platyhawks. He could’ve led them and become a badass aerial troop commander. I’m sure he would’ve loved it. After all, he loved animals and often said that if his parents hadn’t forced him into engineering, he would’ve pursued veterinary science.
Liam was already there, waiting for us in his base spider-bot form while the drones scurried around him. I couldn’t tell whether their numbers were double what we had seen the night before or it looked that way because they had gathered around the eggs in mass.
Except for the leader drone, they were all identical in appearance: gray skin, long spindly limbs, no genitals, and large egg-shaped heads. They spoke to each other using clicks and little beeping sounds. Their leader—the one with the little fin on top of his head, appeared to be the only one capable of human speech.
I found myself wondering whether the countless UFO sightings had some truth to them. The descriptions matched. It could be that the spaceships were portable Hubs and the aliens people claimed to have seen were System-made drones. If we had picked a different building material for the Hub Core, would the resulting drones be different in appearance?
Perhaps the drones were a species in service to the System. I hoped their employment was voluntary. If the System was willing to assist the Alvans in their endeavor to screw over humanity, perhaps slavery wasn’t a big deal to them. I planned on having a solo one-on-one with the lead drone later. They did seem to love their work though.
“The little one is hatching!” Kitty exclaimed, grasping my hand. She pointed at the smallest egg as it quivered and large cracks spider-webbed across the top half. A little beak poked out, dislodging a fragment of shell. “Please don’t let it be ugly.”
“Have you seen the adults?” Liam asked. “Except for the king, they were all ugly.”
“The queen wasn’t much of a looker either.”
Then more of the eggshell fell away, revealing a tiny head with large puppy eyes. Kitty got her wish. It wasn’t ugly.
“Rajesh would’ve loved this,” I commented. Imagining Rajesh gush over the newborns made my face break into a little smile. “Don’t you think so, Liam?”
“And Pallav would’ve been terrified.” He laughed, a toothy smiley face appearing on his tinted dome. When a pair of passing drones stopped to scrutinize the brain and tap the glass, he had darkened his container. Liam didn’t divulge to what level it bothered him, and I thought it best not to ask. “I’ve never been a fan of babies or newborns, but these things are bloody fascinating. Note how there are no external biometal parts yet. A thermal scan suggests the glands are present but dormant. I bet they’ll become active around adolescence.”
The egg next to it burst open, and its inhabitant came stumbling out, cooing. Much to our surprise, this one didn’t have wings. It had a tail as long as its body in
stead and a load of baggy skin. Tiny bumps ran along its spine from the top of its head to the end of the new skinny appendage.
“Forceful addition of parts sometimes changes the creature at its base level,” explained Fin—it’s the name Kitty had designated the leader drone. Apparently, his people didn’t have the need for names and people rarely bothered speaking to them. “We can’t do much to control it until you upgrade the base.”
“Is it a new creature altogether?” I asked.
“Think of it more along the lines of lateral evolution. We’ll know more as it grows. It’s got the beak and the claws, so it won’t be too far from what the parent creature was. If it’s a new species and the abilities are desirable, we can look into breeding more of them.” Fin raised a hand, anticipating my next question. “Our processes take away unwanted genetic anomalies born from breeding related pairs. Until you get us fresh stock, we can use artificial processes to impregnate female subjects as well. So you need not worry about incestuous relations among the stock.”
“You sound like you know what you’re doing, Fin. I guess I have no option but to trust you.”
“My people have been running the System’s Hubs for several millennia, and my family has been in charge of Menageries for sixty generations now. So we know what we’re doing.”
The conversation confirmed one thing. The drones weren’t mindless or System-created, but individuals with minds of their own. Before I could ask Fin more questions, he rushed off to help another drone with the wingless platyhawk. After licking up the fluid that had spilt from its egg, the creature was now trying to climb the walls.
We watched, amazed, for close to an hour as three-quarters of the clutch hatched. The majority of the creatures were the normal winged platyhawks. Most of them were bigger and louder than the first to break free of its egg. While they yipped, mewed, and screeched at one another, the little one climbed to the top of the discarded shells, watching its siblings with curious eyes. Seven more tailed platyhawks hatched, bringing the total number of critters to twenty-four.
