by Skyler Grant
Now for the Flames.
Research Menu
Flames
Requirement: 3 Flame Corpses
Time: One Week
Flames are those closely linked to a Power core who have had their biology and physical composition greatly altered. Study of them may unlock the secrets of that alteration.
Do you wish to Research? Y/N
Once again, a clear yes. I was never not going to want to research.
I began the dissections.
The important work done, it was time to check on less important matters. The status of the base and to see how Anna was faring.
11
During this encounter the facility suffered a lot of damage. On the plus side, the top levels remained unharmed and their traps ready. If anyone should just happen past I was prepared for them.
The floors below were another matter. The part of Hydroponics I had set aside as a garden was sealed off and fine, but because of the traps the floor had largely collapsed into the Storage level below.
The Storage level itself was flooded, partially melted, and had taken a lot of damage overall from Hot Stuff's escape.
My level had a fair bit of structural damage as well from the explosion and intense heat.
I began the major repairs first. It wouldn't do anyone any good for the entire base to collapse.
I left the door to the surface just barely cracked open and turned off all the lights on the upper levels. I wanted to do my best to make the facility look abandoned. It wouldn't do to draw more attention.
Anna looked a bit like an overdone roast.
"It's true. The paler the skin, the worse the tan," I said to her.
Anna gurgled something back that was probably an insult.
The next few weeks passed quietly.
Hot Stuff was less than eager to cooperate in my experiments, but I found collapsing testing platforms behind her if she dawdled to be a great motivator.
I learned a great deal from testing her. She could do more than just generate heat. One ability was creating weapons made of a sort of living flame. Soon enough I had her vaulting over spiked pits with the help of a flaming whip.
The results of the various research projects came in.
Research Menu
Flames
The Flames have a crystalline latticework in their blood similar to the Embers, but even more advanced. This lattice allows for the distribution of energy that they can use to such flashy effect. As a result of your research you have gained the ability to manufacture a temperature regulating crystalline virus in a genetics lab.
Research Menu
"Hot Stuff"
You have studied this Power core enough to be able to incorporate its powers into your own. As a result of the absorption of this core, your Reactor level has been effectively doubled.
You have an unspent core point.
Core points can enhance your competencies and open new options for Research and Manufacturing.
Your options are:
Research 2
Research 2 will allow you to build either the genetics lab or the physics lab. Only one can be selected and this has long-term implications. Genetics will allow you greater understanding of life forms and will unlock the ability to create creatures and biological upgrades. Physics will aid you in mastering the concepts of energy and will unlock many specialty traps and devices.
Military 1 will allow you to build defense drones. Defense drones are mobile weapon platforms capable of base defense and attacks at a distance. While basic in function they can ultimately be updated to become formidable weapon platforms.
Manufacturing 1
Manufacturing 1 will allow the production of automated minions. They are capable of autonomous facility repair and will halve all build and production times for new facilities.
These were some difficult choices. I'd taken Research the first time around, but this core point was the first real result I was seeing from that choice. Up until now the data I'd gotten had been largely useless. A second level seemed it would change that. Most of the data I had gathered so far was biological in nature, but I suspected the crystals that kept popping up in everything would probably best be unlocked with physics.
Then there were the other options. I'd already seen how long it could take to construct things, and it was a problem that would only get worse as I brought more of the facility back online.
Hot Stuff had very nearly made it to my Core Room. All my traps and planning, and still she could have very well killed me and taken my core for herself. While I doubted the first level of military drones would have been effective against her, those too could be upgraded and might in time become formidable.
While the other options ultimately had some appeal, they were not SCIENCE. I selected that option and chose the genetics lab.
While physics was tempting, almost all the samples I had found so far were biological in nature. I planned to lure in yet more living beings to trap and test.
Genetics Laboratory
With the construction of this laboratory the in-depth study of the genome and the application of genetic science will be possible.
Requires 100 resources to construct and 10 power.
You have no building resources and not enough rubble to construct this project.
You do have excess power. Every day blocks of 4 power can be converted into 1 resource unit. Doing this, estimated time to project completion is three weeks.
Do you wish to begin this project?
I needed more rubble, or more building supplies. I was starting to run into a real bottleneck. Power would fill that void for now, especially given my newly expended reactor, but that was a short-term solution at best.
I began the construction and checked my sheet to see what had changed.
E.M.M.A
Underground Facility
Power Core: 100
Power Usage: 45
Habitability: 5
Biomass: 145
Research: 2
Military: 0
Manufacturing: 0
Between the Testing Center, the new lab, and all the facilities made to care for the humans, power usage had really been pushed. I needed more rubble—that was easy enough, I could clear rooms for it. Anna's treatments should just about be done and I could discuss the next steps with her.
12
"Sorry about the face. The best the autodoc could do was put it back exactly like it was," I said. Anna had finally woken up from her treatment and was busy exploring the enhancements I'd made to the base.
"You could have moved me, as opposed to setting me on fire. I woke up for that. It hurt," Anna said.
"They might have stumbled across you elsewhere in the facility. Keeping you in the Infirmary was the best way to assure you retain whatever minimal utility you have," I said.
"Aww, you do care," Anna said flashing a grin. "You even built me a proper bed and grew me some food so I don't have to eat chopped-up rapist wannabe."
"With another guest, it seemed best to expand the facilities. Do not give into your own hubris. I tried to make a list of everything special about you, but found I couldn't save an empty file," I said.
"How is she working out?" Anna asked.
I brought up a monitor. Hot Stuff was currently trying to navigate a maze of levitating platforms. She had yet to figure out that she needed to burn through the floor beneath her at set points. I'd have to make my verbal barbs a bit more clue-heavy for her.
"I've gotten an impressive amount of data from her already. There is some continued gain from the testing process and I do love the testing. I have room for you too, if you'd like to become useful," I said.
"You and I both know I'd be in one now, if I weren't useful already. Let's talk next step. Those targets I told you about still stand, or we can go for someone new," Anna said.
I didn't like her feeling too useful, and yet she had a point.
"I elected to further expand my research facilities and I'
m constructing a genetics lab. I'm running into issues with supplies of building materials, and the labor to do anything," I said.
Anna watched sprinklers spray over a few cabbages that were growing in the new agriculture section in Hydroponics.
"Mechos, maybe. You and he have a lot in common," Anna said.
"Does he find you frightfully mundane as well?"
"Mechos is an upgrader. He can enhance and modify himself and his tools. He leads a group of cyborgs, who he has modified to the point they all have some version of the talent themselves," Anna said.
"You think he would work with us?"
Anna considered that and shook her head. "He is jumpy. They are all jumpy. Those like him and yourself are considered parasites by a lot of the other Powered. You can drain a part of what makes them unique and add it to yourself. We try getting diplomatic, he's only going to get scared and run."
That made sense. I was also not the best at diplomacy. For some reason people didn't seem to like me very much. Perhaps humans were always afraid of their betters.
"Then we trap him," I said.
"If you can bundle together an assortment of technology, I can get him here. Say I scavenged it in a ruin, sell it to him, and say I know the location for more—here," Anna said.
I noted how easily the idea of selling me out came to her.
"You do seem like the sort too stupid to keep such a treasure for yourself. They should believe this tale," I said.
Anna gave me a dark look and said, "This one will be tough for you. They're versatile, which means you don't know exactly what they'll be coming at you with. And if you come at them with too much of any one thing, they're likely to adapt themselves to defend against it."
Dealing with Hot Stuff, it was the sheer outlier nature of her ability that had almost overwhelmed me. Versatility, I could manage.
Most of my traps on the upper level were designed to be fatal. Spikes, saws, crushing walls.
Again, I'd spring my main trap on the Hydroponics level. Aside from the agriculture, it was a lot of space going unused and I could re-portion most of that into a maze filled with trickery.
I'd lure them there, seal them in and arm the traps above. Any who tried to escape would perish. Those who continued through the labyrinth and tried to get below would encounter non-lethal traps and I could take them alive.
Sleeping gas, concussive rounds, timed asphyxiation chambers. I'd load things with puzzles and riddles, and make certain to taunt them. I didn't have to get complex with my traps, I just had to make my victims screw up once.
Fall to one of these and they would be out of it—and become my test subjects.
I harvested a small assortment of technology for Anna to take with her. A part of the watering system and a nutritional monitor from Hydroponics, and a bit of the foam bedding from the Residential unit.
When I presented all of this to Anna she looked in the bag and grimaced. "I thought you'd give me something flashier to sell them."
I'd considered it, but then I thought of the Wasteland out there.
"From all that you have told me, the world finds them very nearly as unlikable as it probably finds you. Show them this and they'll see a place with farming equipment, beds, a place to hide away from it all," I said. "That's better than any technology."
"They won't just come to scavenge. They'll come in force looking for a new home," Anna said with grudging respect. "This will do. I'll be gone a few weeks."
"You won't be missed," I said. It was true. I had lots of construction to do in the meantime.
13
It took Anna three weeks to return—time enough for me to have set the traps and arrange the labyrinth. I was ready for my latest guests.
I also completed the genetics lab. It made me glad to have Anna back, I'd been wanting to test it out and see how it could perform on a real subject.
"They took the bait," Anna said, setting aside a small pile of guns. She was more armed than when she'd left, she must have traded for upgraded weaponry.
"Your foolishness was beyond their ability to question. Get undressed and report to the genetics lab," I said.
"Is this where you finally reveal your long-held plans to dissect me?" Anna asked.
"When you are still alive it is called a vivisection. If you are dead, I can't test my capabilities at upgrading you."
Anna actually did as she was told. Perhaps she was becoming more obedient, or perhaps she simply wanted the upgrades.
That I did vivisect her seemed to come as something of a surprise. Still, it was nothing that couldn't be undone and I got to test out the new restraints.
Anna
Age: 23
Height: 127.7 cm
Weight: 64.4 kg
Physical Stats
Values out of 10
5=Average
Allure: 8
Endurance:6
Strength: 4
Agility: 6
Health
Subject shows signs of recent malnutrition and elemental exposure.
Subject is upgradeable
You have 5 core points available.
Physical stats can be upgraded at a cost of 0.1 per point up to 10.
You also have the following options based on research.
Fire Matrix 0.5 points.
Temperature Regulating Virus 0.2 points.
Those were some intriguing options. I didn't have the points to install a Fire Matrix in Anna, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to anyway. For all that it had made Hot Stuff and her companions very dangerous, it also came with some major disadvantages. The tendency to incinerate clothing meant armor wasn't an option, and their power was rather obvious.
I ultimately settled for giving her the temperature regulating virus and upgrading her strength by one point. The results were immediate, her mass increased to 64.7 kg with the addition of new muscle tissue.
With that done I put her organs back inside of her and sealed Anna back up. It took a few hours before, looking pissed, Anna could storm out of the genetics lab.
"You dissected me!" Anna screamed.
"Vivisected," I said.
"You didn't even bother with anesthetic."
Really, she could be so very whiny. It was unbecoming. After all, I'd just used some of my precious points to make her better.
I'd been using my environmental controls in the hall to play with the temperature. I took it to fifty-one Celsius and then down to zero.
I activated a nearby display and brought up the thermostat readings.
"Have a look," I said.
Anna glared at me, but then moved to the display. "Really?"
I brought the warmth back up with my rapid-heating coils.
"I take it that ambient temperature now joins self-worth in the things you don't feel?" I asked.
"No, I feel it, but barely. Did you do anything else?"
"I made you stronger. You were so weak to start with you may not notice the difference."
"No. Everything has been feeling super-light compared to normal," Anna said and laughed. "Oh, hell yeah. This is what I'm talking about. All the power and none of the insanity. I knew I took a chance on you for a reason."
I was quite certain I could drive her insane if I really wanted. It might be an interesting experiment someday.
We settled back into something of our usual routine for the next few days. It wasn't long though until we had new guests arriving outside the complex.
They arrived in a massive truck that spewed black smoke from numerous smoke stacks. It looked to have no shortage of gun ports and armored observation windows.
Twelve figures dismounted. They all seemed to be some combination of man and machine, robot limbs mingling with human flesh.
This time I could tell their leader at once. There was just something about him that radiated a different power than the others. This must be Mechos.
He told the others, "Markham. Take your team and get control of the reactor. Expect opposition.
Alice, you and yours will be heading down into the depths. Archived storage should be there and we want those records. I'll take the rest and we'll set course for Emma's core."
They knew me, and they seemed to have some understanding of this facility. In fact, they seemed to have more awareness of my base than they should.
Twelve people were more than I was expecting, but that gave me ample opportunity to take some of them alive. Splitting into teams would also help me, although I was concerned by the targets they were setting for themselves.
Mechos led his people towards the main entrance. The doors as always were slightly open, maintaining my illusion of being long-abandoned. The man put his shoulder into it and forced the massive metal to the side.
I was impressed, that strength was well beyond a normal human. They really were upgraded.
Inside the hall was dark.
Mechos looked up, directly towards my camera. "You can turn on the lights, Emma. There is no need to pretend. I can feel you there, watching."
No, I supposed there wasn't any need to pretend. I activated the lights and triggered the door to slide the rest of the way open.
"You know who I am and still you came?" I asked.
"Oh, Emma. How could I not? You and I have history, do you remember?" Mechos asked.
I didn't. I didn't remember this man at all.
"You don't. I didn't think you would. You were wiped. For you to live again means a Power core. You've gone feral. Don't worry, I'll see you tamed," Mechos said.
Would he now? We'd see.
14
There was no reason for the group to split up until they got to the Reactor level. That meant all twelve were making their way through my facility together. I'd have to try to separate them once they got to Hydroponics.
Mechos was a threat, I knew it and I was sure that he knew it. As soon as they reached Hydroponics I closed the doors behind them and activated the traps on the first few levels.