Chapter 337
I left the clinic’s room several hours after that. Luna was a fitful sleeper at best, and she barely got four hours before waking and getting back to work. I tossed her my auto-pilot program and then left. If she could get that up and running, as well as some solid ICE, I’d be set to start mass producing my hover bikes. Just as soon as I got a production facility set up, ‘course.
Saint had already left at some point. The reporter sent me a message about a potential lead, though asked I didn’t tell Luna just in case it fell through. That left just Nael and I in the clinic. He was off in his chrome vault which gave me plenty of time to get set up.
I pulled out the Transporter. Ten minutes of sitting around and hoping he’d stay back there later, and I ducked into the portal. Using a dolly, I pulled out the heavy Foundry that I’d made for him. It was a struggle to get it all out, though the filament and stack of prototype chrome were far easier.
Maybe I should look into some kind of anti-grav pad or something? Just to transport heavy objects. Or I could do some kind of powered lifting device, but the anti-gravity sounded cooler. Hmm… yet another thing to add to my list of inventions.
“Hey, Nael!” I called out to the ever-so-helpful medek once I got everything set up. It was really about time I got around to delivering this to him.
”What’s up, Shiro?” Clanking came from the vault, and then the man himself appeared at the door further in. He rubbed oil off his hand and paused.
“I got a gift for you.” I waved to the Foundry. I hadn’t set it up anywhere in particular, so it just sat in the middle of the clinic.
Nael tossed a rag onto one of the counters and moved over to me. ”I don’t need—“
“It’s a gift.” I quickly cut him off before he could get his refusal fully out. “Besides, this thing's just a prototype. You’d be doing me a favor testing it out.”
The medek stared me in the eye. A subtle battle of wills played out—one that I eventually won. He sighed and shook his head. “What is it?”
“I call it the Foundry.” I lightly kicked the box of machinery. My boot hollowly rang off the side of the thing. “It’s basically an all in one production facility. Just stick in a template, hit start, and the Foundry will assemble everything in one go.”
“That—surely this must be incredibly expensive, right?” Nael frowned.
Glad to see that he noticed the value of such a thing almost instantly. With just one Foundry, he could theoretically replace an entire corporation’s assembly line. Sure, the production was smaller scale, but it was also dirt cheap to operate by comparison. Not to mention I could just make a hundred more Foundries and scale up operations.
”It’s a prototype from Cold Moon.” I pointed at a small engraving I’d tacked onto the Foundry at the last moment. “I’m taking the corp back over and saw this. You’ll be helping me out by running it and letting me know how it operates.”
And that was the trap in my words. Nael wasn’t the type of guy to just accept money or gifts from those he saw as impoverished. That, by the way, would be at least 95% of his customers including me. If I set up the gift as from a corporation and made it seem like he’d be doing me a favor, though, he wasn’t likely to refuse.
He nodded his head a few times, looking lost in thought. “How’s it work?”
“A bit like an oven.” I took a spool of metal filament and strapped it into the top of the machine. “Just choose what you want to bake and then sit back and relax.”
I opened up the front of it like it was a large oven, showing the perfectly crafted and polished internals. The walls of the machine hid countless micro nozzles for printing parts, dozens of different robotic arms to manipulate production, and a full array of automatic tools to assemble the chrome. Creating something so compact and effective would’ve been impossible without help from Quantum Automation.
Even crazier, and this still blew my mind, I could make something even smaller. Something, say, like a backpack sized Foundry. I just needed to get the tech to make smaller and smaller parts, which was why I was investing so heavily into getting Foundries set up.
Of course, I still ran into several limitations. The biggest one was that the product of a Foundry directly related to how large I needed to make the device. Nael’s one was big enough to make chrome, but it wouldn’t be able to make a full hover bike or objects larger than a limb. For that, I’d need to make a much larger one. That was yet another reason I wanted to create a massive space under the speakeasy so I’d have room for all the bigger machines I intended to make.
That was all background stuff though. All he needed to know was how to operate it. I’d designed it specifically so even an idiot could operate a Foundry, though, so I had no worries about him figuring it out.
I pulled out a drive and stuck it into a terminal built into the device. Once I booted it up, I waved him over. “There are five hundred templates of chrome in here. They should cover all sizes, types, and anything a patient will need. They're not top of the line, but they're definitely better than back alley specials.”
I wouldn’t just hand over poor quality templates. Every part here was specially modeled and designed to fit Absolom Clinic’s needs. Quite literally, as long as he had filament, he’d have an endless supply of chrome. It’d be way cheaper to buy filament than individual pieces of chrome too, which would help the financial situation of the clinic significantly. Especially considering how often the Nael gave away free treatments.
I walked him through running the Foundry. It was quite literally as simple as picking the output product, hit start, and then wait for the timer to end. “Shiro… this—are you sure you should be handing something like this out?”
“It’s fine, Nael. It’s just a prototype, like I said. Oh! And if the screen ever shows an error or flashes red, call me. There’s several dozen anti-tampering features built into this thing. It’ll melt all the internals and explode if tampering is detected.” I wasn’t a complete idiot. At least, most of the time. I, of course, recognized how valuable the foundry was.
”Smart.” He nodded his head, not at all offended by the suggestion that I didn't trust him. I, of course, did trust the medek. Probably more than anyone else, and definitely more than I should. I just didn't trust other people.
If someone ever saw this and wanted my Foundry, they’d be in for a rude awakening when they tried to figure out how it worked. Especially since the anti-tampering measures were the scariest ones I’d plucked and modified from the Big 7. There were a few of my own design, some from Sentinel, KairoTech, Raijin, Medtech, and even Shen Kong from that Maniac I scanned back in the AEZ. No one except me was getting into my Foundry.
“If you need more filament, call me.” I should have my own filament production running soon. “Cold Moon will sell you our proprietary blends super cheap once I get everything set up.”
”Right… how much do I have?” He looked at the boxes of filament I’d brought. Most of it was high-end, store bought stuff. Soon, though, I’d make some custom blends that would work a whole lot better than this stuff.
”Enough for five or six thousand pieces. You shouldn’t run out anytime soon.” I waved a casual hand and tossed him the drive with all the templates on it. “Don’t lose this. I can get you another, but I’d rather not see all my designs leaked onto the Net.”
The designs themselves weren’t anything ground breaking. I pulled a few tricks from Quantum Automation to fix some issues with how cheap chrome tended to operate. Specifically, the static nano generators that powered the stuff. Chrome didn’t just plug into an outlet. That drive there could fund a small-scale corporation’s R&D for months if they got their hands on it.
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep it safe.” Then, proving his point, a small hidden panel on his collarbone stuck up. Inside were several drives of various sizes and kinds. He carefully stuck my template in alongside the others, then the seamless panel shut like there was never anything there. Cool.
Although I was curious, it was probably for the best I didn’t ask about the other drives. “I’ve got some other stuff to do. Oh! And thank you for taking care of Iris and Luna.”
”No problem… though she scared me half-to-death when your bike flew down on its own and dumped her at the entry to my clinic.” He sighed and shook his head. “Thought she was you for a moment, kid.”
“Really?”
“Only for a moment. You’re way too small, not to mention her glowing chrome.” He chuckled and ruffled my hair.
I dodged too late, and he sent my hair flying in every direction. I backed away and clutched at the strands, trying to get everything back into place. Why were people ruffling my hair like a kid more and more frequently?
”Don’t let this old man keep you.” Nael waved and went for a dolly to move the Foundry to a better spot.
”See ya around, Nael.” I left the clinic and headed back up to my bike.
— — —
Back at my apartment, I laid back in bed and fell back into the learning space. It definitely wasn’t because I felt Mira coming my way and wanted to prolong the inevitable conversation. Only a coward would run away from their friend jut because of a stupid argument. I… fuck, I was a coward, wasn’t I?
I had a Perk Point I’d really been meaning to spend, though. First Aid. I’d thought things through a lot over the past couple days. There were two things I wanted in particular. The first was simple—something to heal myself. I’d passed it by previously, but Perfect Donor truly was the best of the bunch here.
And, although I was extremely reluctant to take something that could make Shiro Slurpies a reality, I couldn’t deny its usefulness. Especially considering I’d noticed a new issue. Or, really, it was an old issue that I’d started to look at more and more recently.
I needed to sleep to heal. Sure, I could heal from practically any injury, but what about situations where I couldn’t sleep? We had to stop the hunt for Kaynis because I was injured, for instance. Wouldn’t it have been so much better if I just healed passively and we continued looking? Not to mention Perfect Donor would work on others just as well.
So, yeah, that’s where I leaned. Still, that didn’t stop me from looking through the Perk list for a different kind of Perk. I wanted something to handle chemistry, whether that meant teaching me how to do it myself or some kind of synthesis ability. It just seemed like a useful thing to know, especially in relation to medicine and pharmacy. Unfortunately, there weren’t any Perks that fit what I wanted.
[Universal Donor - Rejected by none, accepted by all. Your potent blood supercharges the regenerative process.]
With a fair dose of trepidation, I reached for the Perfect Donor scroll. I was terrified of a future where a pharmaceutical corporation strapped me to a table to extract my blood for Shiro Slurpies. A life of constantly being drained and kept like a pet made my heart shrivel.
Mira’s words came back to me though. I didn’t agree with everything she said, but she did have a point. I couldn’t just keep basing my decisions around my fear of a negative future. I wasn’t still the weak street rat that I used to be. If something happened, I had the power and capability to face it now. And if I didn’t, I could run away easier then ever before.
Being bold… I could try that. I would try that. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure where I stood next to named mercs, but I sure as hell wasn’t an easy target anymore. And, if at the end of the day, I was proven right? Hopefully it wouldn’t be too late to change tracks. ‘Sides, being bold didn’t necessarily mean I had to give up sneaking around like a rat.
It was with that mindset that I tossed the scroll onto the easel. A painting of a transfusion unraveled, and then I was kicked back out of the interface. I took a few breaths to calm myself. It wasn't active or learned, which meant it was a mutation. Pain would come at any moment—
“Shiro?” Mira called from the other side of my apartment.
My cal completely shattered. I forgot she was here, about to witness this. ”M-Mira? I’m completely fine, so don’t—Argh!”
My voice cut into a shrill scream. Every vein in my body burned like a sun had been injected into me. I curled into a tight ball, trying to block everything out. Between the heavy thumps of my heart and the ringing in my brain, everything started to fade away.
— - —
AN: I, uh, I messed up. I accidentally posted Stormfall, my newest story on RR. I forgot to hit the manual upload check for Royal Road, so it’s out now… take it as a teaser and nothing more, I guess? I was planning on launching it closer to the beginning of March. I don’t have much of a back log for it yet.