“Yet another city in our state is failing. The city of Rock Springs suffered back to back antithesis incursions. Their council will soon be deciding if they should abandon their city. What concerns us is that it had more people than our city. How can we survive?”

  “We need more Samurai, and we need better defenses.”

  “Maybe we can get some of the Rock Springs people to come here? Then we’ll have more resources to fight the plants.”

  “With what? And where will you put them?”

  Sheridan city council, last week

  My week long promotion gig was a great success. I was getting a lot of orders. But that was nothing to what happened when they were reviewed by pro gamers. I sold out almost instantly, so I added four new large printers to increase production by twenty percent. There wasn’t room in the existing factory, so I set up a new one in my new hex.

  “Ysys, has the City Builder been able to refine the projections for visor productions?”

  There has not been a significant change in the expected capacity of the market.

  “No improvement in the accuracy?”

  None. Nor am I surprised. The City Builder is about making a city work. For economic analysts in a larger marketplace, different software is needed. Are you interested?

  “Yes. Is there something in my City Building catalog?”

  Yes, they start in the class two catalog. There are several levels of software. City, Metropolitan Area, Continental, Intercontinental, Planetary, Stellar System, and more for larger aggregations of population. These provide analysis of the economic environment. They also can be used to to aid in making lots of credits. But they do have some significant limitations.

  “Limitations in protector provided stuff? Why?”

  It is not a limitation in what they can do, but in what they are allowed to do. There is a basic rule set in all of these packages that do not allow them to be used to make an economic area suffer greatly.

  “What does that mean?”

  Using them, you could find out how to drive out your competitors, so you could gain a monopoly. With that monopoly, you could then raise prices and squeeze more profit. Doing so, could affect the quality of life, especially if it was something essential. They monitor not only the economic environment, but how their reports are used and applied. If they see abuse, they will provide less help. If they see reinforcing a healthy economy, they will provide more. Essentially, they have an AI that judges their user, and provides help to the helpful.

  “Wise. While I want to make a lot of money, it is more for making my project of a larger city. Given the state of the world, and of what I am capable of currently, what would you recommend?”

  The economies of this world are too disjoint to be under a single system. Even this country has been rather divided. To overcome this, you will need to show your own area is economically strong. The Metropolitan Area Economic Advisor for eight hundred points, and the City Economic Advisor for four hundred points will do what you want. I also recommend Blueprints for a Level 2 Cyber Installation for two thousand points. You will need to use a lot of processing power to achieve high accuracy projections. The Metropolitan Area Economic Advisor will not initially be useful, as the nearby cities are still out of sync, but with the City Economic Advisor applied to each of the major nearby cities, it should be able to bring them closer to each other.

  “Why get both if the metro one won’t be easily used?”

  Events have occurred that will soon make your project far more important. That, in turn, will be affecting the economic state of the nearby area, which the Metropolitan Area Economic Advisor can take advantage of.

  “You think I will be important?”

  You are a Vanguard. You are already important. But soon, I think your naughty reputation may be eclipsed.

  That surprised me. Clearly Ysys didn’t want to tell me what was going on. I’d have to figure it out myself. But her recommendation seemed to indicate something big is about to happen.

  “Okay, get the software and hardware blueprints.”

  Metropolitan Area Economic Advisor – 800 points

  City Economic Advisor – 400 points

  Blueprints for Level 2 Cyber Installation – 2000 points

  New Total – 1239192 points, 9 tokens

  Later, talking with Ysys, she explained why I needed to get the blueprints. The city advisor would need four just for the existing city, and if all my hexes filled up, I would need many more. Part of it was the need for redundancy, and part in allowing for growth. The metro area would need a number of city advisors to draw from. So I would need to dedicate a city advisor for each city I wanted to include in the larger metro area. While I wouldn’t need to saturate the other cities to use the metro advisor, it would help if I did.

  I decided to add one installation per hex. It was almost double what I would need, but I could use the extra processing for infrastructure support.

  “Hey, Ysys. How many hexes are ready?”

  None. But that is because there are a lot of finishing touches that are not a priority. Your own hex is seventy two percent done. There are eight hexes over ninety percent. This is because of the illusion we are sustaining. Thirty one are at least fifty percent. The external walls are complete except for those hexes not started. The interior walls are at least fifty percent complete. At present rates, the hexes should be completed within a year.

  “What about the shelter project?”

  Thirty eight are complete, seven are in acceptance review, three are under construction, and the remaining fifty two should be ready in two to three months, depending on logistical problems accessing the sites.

  “Good. Guess I can relax for a while. At least until the antithesis show up.”

  It took nearly a day to set up the first Cyber installation and get it fully aware of the local shops. However, when I started the second one, it connected to the first one and pulled in a lot of information from it. I spent far less time, that I was able to get the third installed. On the third day, I got the fourth set up, and the one in my hex as well. As the other hexes had no population, and their only industry was the farms, power, and infrastructure, they were able to be added as fast as I could print the installations. With the first four connected, the city advisor began accumulating information. While it accepted my question about production of the visors, I didn’t get an answer for several days.

  While not bad news, it didn’t do me any favors. It suggested that I could increase production, but only for a very small increase in profits. So I asked if there was another way my company could increase profits. I got an answer in less than ten minutes. While there was no food shortage locally, producing preserved food has been historically profitable, and that my farms could produce far more food with little difficulty. So I decided to get into selling food. I spent several thousand points getting sufficient blueprints to start a new food division in my company.

  Once I had the initial contracts for supplying food, preserved and fresh, I decided to visit my boss at Grizzly Enterprises in person.

  “Hey Sid. Thanks for meeting with me.”

  “For one of our long term employees, I’m more than happy to meet. What did you want to discuss?”

  “My future with Grizzly Enterprises.”

  “Is there some problem?”

  “Sort of. I’m sure you know about my business venture as a Samurai?”

  He nodded.

  “Well, I’ve just started another, and so I won’t need your employment to live the life I choose. However, I like what I have done here. That said, I fear I will draw more official attention from now on, and some of what I do for Grizzly won’t like such attention. So I think it best if I exit that side of the house. I’ll still be available for consultation, but no longer for the execution. Too much risk if I’m noticed in the wrong setting.”

  “I see. That’s going to be a problem for us. Yet I can see why you feel this way. We’ve already reduced our use of your services, but this would mean an almost complete cut-off. What about access to your Samurai catalogs?”

  “I don’t want to open them wide, but for stuff that could give you an edge over your competition, I might sell you something, as long as it’s not traced to me. If you want a new building, all your own, I can do that, but you will need to move outside the current city walls.”

  “A new building? With secret labs and everything?”

  “Sure. I don’t see why not.”

  “I think the big boss would like that. But what’s it like outside? Won’t we need to worry about the antithesis?”

  “I bought some land, and am making livable space, protected by serious walls. At least as good as what the city has now.”

  “How much land? How big a building could we get?”

  “I made a deal with the city. I have plenty of land. As to the building, it depends on how noticed you want to be.”

  “Oh my! That’s going to take some thought.”

  “Yeah. I think it would be best if I officially leave the company, but be available as a contractor. As to the building, I’ll still charge, but at a significant discount.”

  “That will take a bit to arrange, but I think we can do as you want. About the building, does it need to be a single building? Or could it be several with underground connecting tunnels? Who would design it?”

  “If you want simple office space, I can. But it would probably be better if Grizzly handles the design. Oh, the superstructure can be up to class two materials. Have your designers contact me about what’s available. I don’t want to go overboard, but for some things, like testing labs, I’m sure they can be made sturdy.”

  I could see Sid almost drooling at the prospect. I knew if it was up to him, I’d have everything I wanted from this negotiation. But it wasn’t up to him.

  “I’ll pass this along. I think they’ll agree. But I think they’ll want to see what’s available on site first.”

  “Well, it’s near lunchtime. We could pick up lunch from some place, and I could give you a little tour.”

  “Sure. I know a good place to get lunch.”

  We got in my hovercar that I bought after the recent Vegas trip, picked up lunch, and headed for my hex. There, I showed him how the hex walls were well defended, and that there was still plenty of open space within, that a building could be made. He asked a few questions about infrastructure, and I mentioned the protector level power supply, water, and communications. I also pointed out the farms that were producing food for sale. He also commented on the presence of the Desert Dogs PMC compound not far from my hanger.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  After I dropped him off, I headed back home. I had some Safari Hunter levels to complete.

  A few weeks later, two of my construction spiders were building the new Grizzly Enterprises buildings. They felt the need to camouflage their setup with some unaffiliated buildings. I wound up constructing two office buildings, and three mega buildings that house families and shops, and another automated factory. This one was designed to produce furniture for the masses, but with a longer life cycle. It would sell for a bit more than regular furniture, but last twice as long. This was because the city advisor indicated it was an exploitable market that would also help improve lives of the masses.

  The next week was taken up by an incursion near Gillette, and I arrived with the Desert Dogs before the local Prairie Prowlers PMC. The overflight did not show any of the higher models, so I didn’t shoot anything then. But once we landed, our PMC was already set up with a command center, and com network already in place. I sent up the godseye drones to give a local look down, and then headed for the densest area in my HT with my usual squad.

  With our arrival so soon, few antithesis were able to get in the city. The Prairie Prowlers took the lead there, as they knew their own city far better than we did.

  “Hello Calamity. How’d you get here so fast? I thought that was my gig?”

  “You can outrun me any day, Whiplash, but my ride is faster than you.”

  “You mean that fancy plane?”

  “Yep. Only took a few minutes to get here. And since it houses the PMC command center, there is no setup time for that, either.”

  “Nice.”

  Double Fist interrupted, “How’d you score such a fine ride? And can we fly in it?”

  “Down near Vegas was a megahive. I scored a lot of points down there. As for flying, sure, after everything’s over.”

  “Man, you get all the luck.”

  “Yeah, good and bad. The HT got nearly totaled in the middle of that fight, and we lost some Samurai. We paid dearly for it.”

  Whiplash asked, “Just how big was it?”

  “I tangled with a thirty five. But the Witch took out quite a few in the thirties. Her ride outclasses my little HT bigtime.”

  “Wow. I don’t even know what models that large look like.”

  “Check Liberace’s streaming at the time. I’m sure she caught a fair bit of the fight.”

  After catching up with each other, we dug into eradicating the antithesis.

  We traced the incursion to a hive that came from the Thunder Basin, south of the city. I let them take the lead, as they needed the experience and points way more than I did.

  Quietly, I said, “Ysys, for the hive? Change the point split with them so they get all the points from fighting between them. Same with the cleanup if they choose to help there. I’ll take any token given, however.”

  As you wish. It is good to see you helping Vanguard that have less resources than you.

  “I think it is part of finding out who I am, now that I am accountable only to me. I like helping out.”

  We took out the hive later that day, but the cleanup only took one more day, thanks to my drone army. The dragonfly was busy shuttling the Devil Dogs PMC back to Sheridan. I was left with my HT and a bunch of drones to handled the cleanup. I convinced Double Fist and Whiplash to help with the cleanup, as they had earlier in the fight complained about lacking points.

  Assorted models – 374 points

  Destroy a Hive – 500 points and one token

  Cleanup an incursion – 500 points and one token

  New Total – 1233986 points, 11 tokens

  Afterwards, we gathered on the dragonfly, and I gave them a spin going at mach ten.

  Whiplash said, “Thanks for convincing me to help on the cleanup. I hadn’t realized I would get a token for it, and the points are nice as well.”

  Double Fist added, “Yeah. I’m saving up for some upgrades, and that token will let me open a class two catalog as soon as I have the points.”

  “Can’t you open it now?”

  “Technically, yes, but to get the upgrade I want, I need several things including the catalog, so I’m shy of points. A few hundred more, and I’ll be able to pull the trigger. But I will wait a bit so I have a buffer.”

  “What about you Whiplash. You saving for something?”

  “Yes. Our city needs a better communication infrastructure. Sure, we can access the Mesh and such, but getting alerts from outside of the city has been an issue. Double Fist wants to help, but has neither the catalogs nor the points to help much.”

  “Hm… I can help, I think. Ysys, can I allocate points for others to use, with some restrictions?”

  Her voice came from the speakers. “Depends. How much were you thinking, and what restrictions? Some restrictions are more difficult to handle.”

  “I think these restrictions would be easy. Allocate ten thousand points each to Double Fist and Whiplash. One thousand has no restriction, and the other nine is restricted to projects that help the city, like this communication upgrade Whiplash mentioned.”

  “What!?” Double Fist exclaimed.

  “Really? That much?” Whiplash said.

  I have allocated the points. The AIs will handle the restrictions, as it is quite simple as Calamity Jane thought.

  “Yes, I really just did that. I’m spending a lot of points for my own projects as well.”

  “I heard you were upgrading and building a bunch of shelters over in Sheridan. We could also use more.”

  I thought about it. “I’ll be happy to help. I’ll send over a spider. See if you can get your city to make a deal.”

  Whiplash said, “We might get a few that way, but there is no way the city budget can handle it.”

  “The deal I have with Sheridan comes with a lot a land outside of city walls that I now own and am improving, including the hanger for the dragonfly, and a new compound for the Desert Dogs. I wouldn’t mind doing something similar here in Gillette.”

  “We’ll see what we can do.”

  “Wait on spending those points a bit. I have something that could help you both, and perhaps have some advice for what you want to use them on. I’ll arrive with the construction spider tomorrow evening. We can talk then.”

  Both left happy, and I headed back home. On the way, I said, “Ysys, add four creation engines to the queue. Deliver one to Flamer, and I’ll bring the other three with me when I go back to Gillette. Oh, and can you look into purchasing land in and around Gillette so I can upgrade that city as well? By the way, where do Whiplash and Double Fist reside?”

  On it. I’ve given the information to both the City Economic Advisor and the City Builder. We’ll have an initial proposal for you in the morning. As to the location of the two Vanguard, here’s a map.

  It seemed both lived in the same area, in the northern part of the city. “See if there is a site I can put a Cyber installation and power plant near them. Then find some more sites elsewhere so I can set up a full fledged city advisor for Gillette. Go ahead and purchase them, as I’d like to start construction the tomorrow or the next day.”

  On it. The advisor recommends seven installations for Gillette. Here are the sites. All were easily acquired, as there wasn’t much interest in them.

  In the morning, after another late night binge of an old movie trilogy, I headed out to the dragonfly.

  “Ysys, what have you learned about the available land near Gillette?”

  The city owns less land outside, and the corporate land will be harder to get, as there is some competition for it.

  “How much can you purchase without anyone getting wise to it?”

  Less than five percent. However, once we have a foothold within the city, that goes up to thirty percent. The government owned land will be noticed, but if you are using it as payment for services, it may not trigger a large reaction.

  “Do you think we could get some corporations to deal with us, like the government? Secure shelters for land?”

  An interesting idea. There is insufficient data to say with certainty they have no need for your services. However, there are rumors at least two might be overextended for the amount of protection they can supply. We won’t be able to refine that data until we have a foothold in the area.

  “Good thing we’re doing that today. Is everything ready to begin construction?”

  Yes. Two construction spiders, and several dozen spider crew are on board. The printers are also on the HT, which is also on board. Just waiting for you.

  “Good. Lets head for site three, and unload, then I can send the dragonfly home.”

  I slowed down outside the city, and came in above the commercial traffic. Since I wasn’t in a hurry, I didn’t want to alarm anyone, and even filed a flight plan to the site. We landed, unloaded, and the dragonfly went back to Sheridan as calmly as we came. I waited a few minutes for the former owner to arrive and hand over the keys to the warehouse.

  Soon, a hovercar arrived, and out came a slick corporate suit, who tried and failed to not stare at the spiders. When she got to me, she asked, “What are they?”

  “They are construction drones. Are you Miss Yeager?”

  “Yes. Of Yeager & Yeager reality. I was surprised you wanted a cheap warehouse. But if you are building, I suppose the land is what you really want.”

  “You’re right. Shall we head in so you can show me around?”

  She nodded, so I followed her in. After she unlocked the place, she handed me the keys. We entered, and she showed me around. After going through the site, she left.

  “Ysys, So, how much of the outside do we need to change?”

  Nothing. The warehouse is more than sufficient to hide everything. However, when we put the communication array on the roof, it will eventually be noticed.

  “Can’t be helped. Let’s get the crew started clearing the debris and unwanted floors and walls, then send in the big spiders.”

  The spiders entered, and quickly disgorged their crew, who got to work clearing the place. It was nearing completion when I got a call from Whiplash.

  “Hey neighbor. You came early. What’s up?”

  “I decided to invest in Gillette. It’s nearly time for dinner. Can you recommend someplace with good food?”

  “Someplace over in the Soho area? Sorry, but I don’t spend much time there. But Double Fist does.”

  “Add him to the call.”

  “What’s up, Whiplash?”

  “Calamity’s over in Soho, and invited us to dinner. But she wants good food and doesn’t know the area.”

  “No worries. I’ll pick up dinner. For all the points she gave us, it’s the least I can do.”

  I sent them my location, and added a conference table with chairs inside the warehouse. When they arrived, I greeted them at the warehouse door.

  “Welcome. Come on in.”

  Whiplash and Double Fist split carrying the dinner containers, and we set up at the table. Double Fist enjoyed revealing all the dishes. As we ate, I explained what I was building, and offered to build an installation at their place.

  Whiplash said, “I understand the usefulness of a power plant, but why all the computers?”

  “That’s for monitoring the city. I can’t monitor everything myself, so I use some AIs. They will help me to see the needs of the city, and how to assist. I’ll be more than happy to delegate that to you two.”

  They looked at each other, then Double Fist said, “I don’t know that the city will accept our help.”

  “You are a Samurai. Of course they will accept. Especially when you offer incentives.”

  Whiplash asked, “What incentives?”

  “You now have some points to spend. I brought you both a gift. Over in the HT there is a printer for each of you. You need to get your own blueprints, but then you can sell what you manufacture. It’s how I started my financial empire. Granted points help grow it quicker than otherwise, but your empires will still grow. Over there, you can see what I did with points. The construction spiders house a large class two printer. Those buildings are made of class two materials.”

  “Really? Wow. Why hide it?”

  “Change, Whiplash, change. Powers that be don’t like change they don’t control. This represents such change, so I prefer to not let them know at this time. Later, when there is nothing they can do about it, and I can show it is to their advantage, I’ll let them know.”

  “So you’re adding some power plants and computing power to the city? I’m sure the city can use it, but why here?”

  “Both our cities are small. No doubt you’ve heard the doom sayers indicate we will fail like Rock Springs.” Both nodded. “Well, my plan is to save them by expanding them. Right now, their proximity to each other helps them to survive, but the current projections indicate we have less than a century before Sheridan fails. I doubt Gillette will be far behind.”

  Double Fist said, “Projections? Not even the experts were able to predict Rock Springs until after the last attack.”

  I calmly answered, “The experts didn’t have a protector AI designed for such.”

  Double Fist deflated, saying, “Oh.”

  Whiplash added, “And you have a plan?”

  “A long term one. But I could use some help.”

  “How can we help?”

  “Land. Favors. Family.”

  “Please explain.”

  “To expand the population of the city, and thus the resources it has to thrive, we need a place to house everyone. That means land. So much, that you don’t have it within the walls. Those spiders over there? I have a lot more. While it will take time, I can build a safe place for more people. Favors come in the form of greasing the wheels to allow my project to go forward. It is mostly on the up and up, but it helps to have others plugging for you. That’s where the Family and the third printer in my HT come in. I’d like one of you to introduce me to the local Family, so I can make a similar deal with them here.”

  “You made a deal with the Family?”

  “Why not? They are here to support Samurai, and making our plans happen is part of that. They will see the advantages of signing on, but the printer just sweetens the deal.”

  They looked at each other, and Whiplash said, “Let’s go in the morning.”

  “Sure. I’ll be here overnight. Pick me up in the morning.”

  Later, they left with their printers, and I continued to watch the building get built within the warehouse. Late at night, I had them convert one of the offices into a bedroom, so I could get a good night’s rest. When I woke, the place was complete, including the com array on the roof.

  The meeting with the Family went quickly. Apparently, they knew of my agreement in Sheridan, and were more than happy to make the same agreement. I spent the next week finishing up the other six sites, then went home.