“Did you catch that stream from Stray Cat? We’re all gonna die!”

  “Then pay me back the credits you owe me. Now.”

  – Overheard in a corporate restroom.

  As I lay there, seeing the targeting screen on my HUD, it looked like a turkey shoot opportunity. But I wanted to do this smart.

  “Ysys, suggestions for the shooting priority?”

  You want to locate clumps of antithesis where smaller ones are gathered near a larger one.

  “Gonna be hard finding them at this range. Can you highlight some, and tag the range?”

  Suddenly, several groups were highlighted. I looked for the farthest one, and said, “Back to front. Here goes.” I then selected the farthest group in my with my augs, and pushed the firing button. The status went from ‘Ready’ to ‘Firing’. Five seconds later, a tiny sonic boom left the end of the barrel, and the status went to ‘Cooling’. After about twenty seconds, it switched to ‘Ready in 5’ and counted down. While it did that, I selected another target.

  When the status went back to ‘Ready’ I hit the firing button.

  “Ysys, will I see what happens when it hits?”

  It will take over an hour before the first one hits. Once they do, it will take over a minute for the report to be seen. Even then, it may not be clear what, if anything, was actually hit. However, there is a very good chance you will kill some antithesis, and possibly damage others enough that they will die on entry.

  “That delay will suck.”

  Welcome to space combat.

  “Yeah. Well, let’s just keep firing and hope it all comes out in the wash.” I fired again as it was ready. And again. It almost seemed mind numbing, but the knowledge that I might be saving other people’s lives kept me at it despite that. I must have shot at least a hundred and fifty shots before Ysys alerted me.

  Model 33 – 2000 points

  Model 22 – 500 points

  Model 11 X 3 – 300 points

  New Total – 604,972 points, 9 tokens

  “Ysys, what happened?”

  Your first round hit the central target, and the other four were near enough to take lethal damage.

  I hit the firing button again. “Hmm. Better just total it when the fight is over. Getting an update every thirty seconds would be a distraction.”

  Very well. I’ll update when the battle ends.

  “Actually, how about a running tally in the corner of the HUD.”

  Below the ammo count of my current weapon, a new number appeared.

  “Thanks.”

  I focused on continuing to aim for the various highlighted targets Ysys highlighted for me.

  Several hours in, I took a break. Closing my eyes, I asked Ysys to wake me in an hour if I fell asleep. Then I meditated to clear my thoughts. Next thing I know, Ysys is waking me.

  “How goes it?”

  It’s clear that the oncoming antithesis are breaking into three streams. One headed for the Lagrange point where one of the major weapons against Phobos is, another is headed for the orbital factories producing the drones that attacked Phobos, and the last is headed for the Big Gun. Your attacks have also been noticed, as that last stream has a distribution that still covers this side of the planet, but now with two centers of density.

  “Guess I need to get back to shooting.” I went back to my weapon and began shooting again. “Ysys, based on your information, which area is better able to deal with the landing of the antitheses? Here or over by the Big Gun?”

  The eight city area’s defenses are better able to cover the sky, but once down on the ground Calgary has better defenses in depth.

  “I guess I should shoot at the ones heading my way. The more we take out on the way down, the less we will have to deal with later. How is the Family’s plan looking?”

  The number of Samurai involved has grown significantly, but even so, there is still too much territory to cover.

  “All the more reason to take ‘em out on the way down.”

  Except for the sound of my weapon, it was quiet for the next few hours. Eventually, Ysys told me that they were twenty minutes away from our defensive range. I asked her to alert everyone to a final chat in two minutes. Waiting was hard.

  “Hello, everyone. Samurai and PMC and others. In just a few minutes the antithesis will be in range of our interceptors. We are fighting not just for our lives, but for our homes and loved ones. We will not roll over and die. I want you all to fire as long as you can, then retreat to shelters if you cannot defend yourselves. These will be higher tier antithesis, so the normal rules don’t apply. If you cannot take them out and cannot withstand them, retreat to the shelters. Samurai will draw their attention, and we will deal with them until they are all gone. Now, let’s get ready to fire!”

  I received a great cheer for my short speech, but soon everyone departed, as did I. “Ysys, I may need your help. I want to see how many of the remote interceptors I can handle. I’m heading to my HT and head out so I don’t have to worry about being disturbed. Send me to the best point to control them from.”

  I’ll point out one remote system after another and switch them from automated to being under your control. Here’s the first.

  I spotted the connection, and before taking it over, I took one of the C&C attack spiders, and patched it in through the spider. Ysys highlighted another, and I added that to the spider. When the spider’s last usable slot was filled, I added a second spider. Then a third, and a fourth. The last available interceptor was placed in the eleventh spider. I then started balancing the load after adding the twelfth spider. Should have added them balanced instead.

  Each spider now had some excess capacity it could use to better control the interceptors, and twelve spiders was well within my capacity. I then hooked in the sky map, showing the portion of the sky assigned to each interceptor. A number of areas were outlined, with labels beginning with a letter assigned to each of the spiders I commanded. Ysys informed me the areas were dynamic, and would be adjusting to the successful interceptions, and to the attack density.

  Each outline was in red initially, then yellow as the range was closed, until they became green when the antithesis were in range. I waited only a moment, and then I was choosing targets and firing with all the interceptors I had.

  A few minutes later, I could sense the city’s incursion defenses come online. I allowed myself a small bit of thought to monitor the chatroom, where I heard assorted people reporting what was happening to them, and also the report of the city’s status.

  As every mentioned bad thing seemed minor, I continued firing until the last of my area was cleared of any more incoming antithesis. I noted that over time my area of the sky seemed to grow, while the areas over the cities shrank. Apparently the antithesis could see the cities soon enough to adjust their aim.

  As a number of others had indicated earlier, I too, announced my completion of interceptor fire. Now I turned the interceptors to area denial and headed out.

  “Ysys? Where am I most needed?”

  For the next several hours I was bouncing back and forth all over the city, usually high above it, taking out the larger models with my Overwatch rifle. Meanwhile, the attack spiders I currently had under control were dispatched to aid others. Four hours later, the last of the ones that got through were dealt with.

  At that point, I looked and saw Boulder Colorado was in trouble. So I took the dragonfly with its PMC and all twelve attack spiders. I had to load them in the pocket dimension cargo area of the ship. We landed near the worst area, and I went out, followed by the spiders and the PMC. The dragonfly then hovered high above to keep the area clear while the PMC aided those closest. The spiders and I went after the antithesis.

  A few minutes after we arrived, Gillette gave the all clear. Two hours later, the largest of the antithesis in Boulder were destroyed, so I took a break to rest, eat, and confer with the locals. Another five hours, and I had to break for sleep. At least it looked far better for Boulder.

  When I woke up, the local Samurai had powered up sufficiently, that we were no longer needed, so we packed up and went home. I set up some print runs of the Arcs for more locusts and spiders, and I sent them under the command of the advanced attack spiders to search and destroy all antithesis near my city. While they handled a lot of the area outside Sheridan, the local PMCs used the older ones nearer to the cities and within them.

  The council had a quick meeting, with the local Samurai and a Family liaison in attendance. The chairman opened.

  “Everyone, it seems we have weathered this crisis. We owe a lot to our Samurai friends, especially Calamity here. Without her infrastructure, we would not have had sufficient weapons to defend our city. But she did not do this alone. Flamer and Soundbite organized the city’s defenses and made sure everything was handled, even after the missiles stopped. With their diligent handling of all the many emergencies, the plants did not enter the city in any significant way. While the Family did not have much to do within the city, they did handle the continental organization of the defense. Thanks to their efforts, many lives were saved….”

  A round of spontaneous applause interrupted the chairman. He waited it out, then continued.

  “I have also spoken with Gillette’s Mayor, and she agrees. The selfless organization and fighting of our heroes preserved their city intact, just like ours, even if it took a half an hour longer. Of the other cities that joined us in housing the evacuees from Rock Springs, they also are faring better than many other nearby cities. But a number are still handling the last of the antithesis, so cannot join us yet in celebration.

  “That said, we propose a celebration the weekend after next. All eight cities should be past the worst of the recovery from the attack by then. This celebration will culminate in a celebration in Kendrick megamall. We will coordinate with the other cities so that each can celebrate in their own city with their own Samurai.

  “Now on to the more depressing matters from this crisis. Handling all the issues that came up. First is coordination between cities. The liaison from the Family will speak to this.” Nodding to him, the chairman stood down.

  “While we have some issues with the Samurai that failed to tell us about this sooner, that is not under our control. What was, however, was getting the Samurai spread out enough to to cover all the areas. At least Stray Cat’s stream, for all it’s terror, did bring out quite a few Samurai that might not otherwise have responded. We created a mesh and spread out the Samurai as best we could.

  “While there are a number of areas still dealing with the fallout from this attack, Sheridan is not one of them. Nor are the other seven cities that joined your evacuation project. We did not expect that. Calamity’s printers were a game changer. We knew she had a number of Arc printers, but we didn’t understand how many she had or how fast they were. Their production of the interceptors made the difference between your light damage and what most other cities are dealing with. Miss Calamity, please expect a call from us soon. We have much to talk about.” I nodded, and then he sat.

  The chairman then said, “Soundbite, you did the lions share of the city organizing. If you would…?”

  “Sure, Mr. Chairman. Although I’m not sure anyone wants to hear me all that much after those intense initial hours.”

  There was a quiet chuckle, then he continued.

  “Thanks to Stray Cat, we had about sixteen hours to prepare. Most incursions are either a surprise or give a few minutes warning. We used that time to plan out as much as we could, and to get the populace ready to shelter up when the time came, but without being rushed. Without the normal amount of panic, things went far more smoothly. If fact, Myestro tells me that only a handful of people died getting to shelters rather than the usual hundreds. Reducing that death toll only happened by the long lead time. When the antithesis came, the PMCs didn’t have to deal with civilians trying to find shelters. While a number of PMC members died, it was a fraction of what it could have been. The upgraded armor, weapons, and medicine that is the new standard for our PMCs meant they suffered far less.” Soundbite then sat. Then he realized he needed to nod to the chairman, so he did after he sat.

  The chairman rose and said, “Flamer, what have you to add?”

  He rose, and said, “Not much. The extra time meant our communication protocols were tested and online before they arrived. With the tracking, we knew where the antithesis were coming from, and could set up to handle them. As difficult as it was, this was the smoothest battle I have ever encountered.” He nodded and sat.

  The chairman looked over to me and said, “Calamity, while others were thinking small, you thought big. You didn’t think just about us, but about the entire region. If you would, for the record, please tell us what all you did.”

  I stood, and gathered my thoughts. A few moments later, I spoke. “Folks, having an expanded awareness of our eight cities with the evacuation project, I knew I had significant assets in all of them. We had a few hours, and I knew the Arc printers were fast. So I worked with Ysys to optimize production and distribution of the interceptors. Once that was set up and running, we Samurai brainstormed some other things, and implemented them. We did all we could think of, for our cities.

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

  “Afterwards, I recalled my rifle’s ability to hit at range, so I spoke with Ysys again, and I learned I could get something with significantly more range. Enough range to attack in space. We spoke further about ammo, and I selected something potent. I spent the hours waiting for the antithesis to come into range of the interceptors by shooting with my new weapon. It was nowhere as capable as the Big Gun, but I did my part, and helped thin the swarm before it hit atmosphere. Once they were in range of the interceptors, I used them. When the last of them were too close, I abandoned the missiles, and took to my usual fighting methods.” I nodded and sat.

  The chairman rose and said, “I had not heard about your shooting into space.”

  The Family liaison turned to me, and said, “So, you were the one responsible. We had wondered.”

  The chairman coughed briefly, then said, “Ruby, what is the state of the city?”

  “Our department is still assessing, but preliminary indications are that the inner city and all the hidden city hexes appear not to have suffered appreciably, and most likely need only resupply and a coat of paint. Of the older sections of the city, the outermost perimeter suffered the most. Yet even there, it is far less damage than usual. I think we may spend more time inspecting than fixing, this time.”

  Ruby answered a number of questions, before sitting. Then each of the other high councilors had their turn. But since this was more of a status report and less a working meeting, it at least didn’t bore me, nor take too long. We left, and Flamer and Soundbite suggested lunch.

  A few minutes later, we were in a private room at a fancy restaurant. Flamer said, “I didn’t know you had a new rifle. What kind is it?”

  I sent the specs to them. “Cobra Assault Cannon. State of the art. Bang! Bang!”

  “I like it!”

  Soundbite added, “What kind of ammo did you use?”

  “I didn’t want to mention this in council, but I used antimatter rounds.”

  “What? How?”

  I looked over at Flamer, and his mouth was open, even though no sound was happening.

  “Like I said, I didn’t want to mention it. As to how, I had to spend points. Can’t print antimatter so easily. That requires Class V. I don’t even know how many tokens that will take.”

  “Yeah,” Flamer added, finally handling the shock, “Why haven’t we heard how many points we got.”

  Flamer’s AI, Pyro, spoke to all of us.

  All the Samurai of the eight cities decided to share points of the interceptors and ground combat, and also shared many catalogs. So, until the attacks against all eight cities finish, a full accounting of points is not available. While not usually allowed over such distance, we decided that since it was essentially a single attack spread across many cities, we would allow it. Even so, it was also in part, because you were collectively planning to defend all eight of them in a unified defense.

  “Pyro, how much have we made so far?”

  The numbers are still rising, but over three hundred thousand each, and at least one token.

  “Even for the new Samurai?”

  Yes. However, the number of tokens will vary as they don’t get shared under the same rules.

  Soundbite said, “Fuck. That’s a lot of points.”

  I added, “It sure is. And it is still rising. Oh, and for those that want some more tokens, there is still a lot of cleanup. Soundbite, since you are handling the local new Samurai, maybe you could get some of them to help out there. Anyone that wants Class II stuff needs tokens.”

  “Sure. I’ll take care of it.”

  “I’ll also mention it to the other city’s Samurai.”

  Soundbite and I spent a few moments calling on our augs, and when we finished, we got to talking about how things went well and went wrong so we could do better next time. While this wound up being a working lunch, we took it slow, since we had the sensor net to alert us in plenty of time if more trouble happened. None did.

  Later, shortly after I got home, Ysys alerted me to some unexpected information.

  Jane, while Pyro mentioned a tentative amount, you actually will be getting far more.

  “Why?”

  The eight city agreement was for the missiles and the groumd defense. However, your antimatter shots were not covered in that total. It’s closer to five times that number.

  “But I thought those would be part of the whole that was shared. Maybe I should add them to the pot.”

  Of course you can do that, but there are other considerations. The additional points the others would receive would not really change what they can get. You can also gift them points later if needed. A significant consideration is that you are nearing Class IV catalogs. You will find them to be expensive.

  Another consideration: your antimatter shots were noticed, as was your eight city defense. Even now, the Family has spread that information. The Family no longer considers you to be small time, but someone important. They are not alone in that assessment.

  “You mean I will have even more paparazzi and other stalkers?”

  Not likely, unless you try to grab attention. Liberace might do that to you, but might not. But be assured, the Samurai on Mars will soon know.

  “So, long range antimatter bullets are that important?”

  Not really. They got you a look, but the highly effective multi-city defense is what will keep their attention. This is a war against antithesis, and you specialize in logistics. Wars are won by logistics. Your weapons are impressive for your tier, but it is your city building and organizing that really stands out.

  “Is building that important?”

  Yes. Remember I told you Sheridan wouldn’t last a century if nothing was done?

  “Yes.”

  Your actions have removed it from the short term death list. It may still fail, but not due to antithesis. Gillette likewise. You have rescued both. Of the other six cities, they are either safe or nearly so. It may be time for you to start some kind of official regional alliance. By formalizing the eight cities into one alliance, you open the way for other cities to join. Then you can have more cities to spread your construction empire into. The larger it becomes, the stronger it becomes.

  “I never thought of becoming a politician.”

  You don’t need to become one. Instead, you would become a power that politicians will pay attention to. Currently Samurai get attention, but mostly so that the politicians don’t anger them. Samurai tend to be willing to take extreme measures to deal with annoying politicians.

  “Yeah, I heard about Stray Cat.”

  The protectors don’t encourage it, but we do see that at times it can be necessary. Most politicians do their best to ignore Samurai if they can. But you can become one who leads and they will follow. Just as Sheridan and Gillette have different forms of political control, they both listen to you, and heed your advice. They still decide their own choices, but it is an informed choice, thanks to you.

  “That’s a lot to think about.”

  There is no hurry. I recommend you relax until after the celebration. The last few days have been hectic, and it would be a good idea to rest a bit. Don’t forget, you are pregnant now, and need to consider that…. Don’t worry, your child is developing normally, and is doing fine.

  When Ysys mentioned my child, I was suddenly worried. She must have noticed, and so told me it was fine. “Thank you for keeping track. I totally forgot.” I got off the couch and headed for the bath. I knew a nice bubble bath would relax me for a few hours. Especially since I no longer would wrinkle by staying in too long.

  A few days later, I had an appointment with the Family. When I got there, my contact, Richard, took me to another office where the liaison from the council meeting was. He rose and greeted me.

  “Welcome, Calamity. Please be seated. Would you like something to drink? No? Then shall we get to business?”

  “Gladly, Mr…?”

  “Pardon me. I forget my manners. I am Jordan Kendall, regional Family representative. I work for Frank Castle of the Family’s Plains Regional Office.”

  “So what interest does the regional office have with me? I’m not that special.”

  “Actually, you are. I was assisting over in Boulder when you arrived to take on the overflow of antithesis there. I quickly learned who you were, but it wasn’t until the fighting finished that I was able to connect you to the sudden increase of defense several cities gained. Since then, I’ve been digging into your activities. It seems you have an unusual understanding of the needs of cities. Not just of one city, but several in the area.

  “It is clear that you spend a fair bit of attention to Gillette, but you do give some attention to the other six cities. I don’t want to intrude on your vacation, but when you finish, I would like to talk with you again about expanding your attention to the rest of the cities in the Plains region.”

  “I don’t mind. We can talk about it now. I have recently been reminded that I have some long term plans in the works that I need to prioritize, and it will eat into my free time. But even so, I set up some automated projects with all the cities to get them more aligned with each other.”

  “I know you had a hand in the governmental changes of Sheridan and Gillette. Have you been doing the same with the other six?”

  “Not really. I merely told them that they need to give the evacuees some agency in their respective cities. The projects I have are economic. While my construction spiders are the best known aspect, I am doing a lot across the board with trade and with optimizing the markets to each other. I am not trying to take over, so much, as to provide a stable playing field. It is that stability that creates growth. I don’t see why I could not expand to more cities.”

  “Your empire is that large?”

  “Yes and no. Yes, it is that large, but I have taken pains to hide it. Since the hidden parts are actively working to calm the markets rather than making waves, they actually fade into the background when people are looking into economic difficulties. It is also not that large, because it has a greater effect on the market, compared to most companies. Lastly, Liberace, Cowboy Bob, and I have a company, Samurai Supply. Basically a wholesaler providing whatever is in short supply. Since it is not trying to compete with abundant supply, the market doesn’t pay much attention to it. But where there is a significant shortfall, it suddenly relieves the pressure of scarcity. While a few companies grumble about lost profits from hiking prices for a scarce item, the rest of the market is more than happy to get the temporary help.”

  “I can see how Samurai Supply can have a greater influence than the size of the company would normally indicate.”

  “I am careful to calm the markets rather than excite them. The exception is Calamity Logistics. It has two main sources of revenue. The first is medical supplies. There are never enough to go around, and so was a good way to begin my financial empire. The second is the construction arm. I have bought and developed a lot of land. The resulting living area is considered premium, and is actually encouraging people and companies to relocate. I also used that arm of the company to generate the interceptor array that defended the eight cities. Even though it was a pure expense, it still pays for itself in increasing the safe living area available.”

  “I have not had time to dig into the source of the interceptors. I had thought that was more of a government thing.”

  “I’ll probably get them to maintain and man it later, but I could not wait for a bureaucracy’s time frame to get it operational.”

  “You have given me a lot to think about. Can we set up another meeting after the celebration? I’m sure the home office will want to know what you just told me.”

  “Sure. Just have Richard set it up.”

  A few more pleasantries, and I left the office, thinking about the wider situation. I let things percolate while I headed home. When I arrived, I headed into my office area, where I handled routine business.

  “Ysys, how good is my penetration into the Family’s Plains region with my Economic Advisors?”

  Within the eight cities, it is very good. Within the greater Plains region, much less. You have some, since you trade with a number of companies outside the eight cities. Do you want to expand the area you monitor?

  “Actually, I want to do more than that. I want to cover every city in the region, and to start growing my business in every one of those cities.”

  Do you have any priority?

  “Not really. Whatever works best. With the aftermath of the Phobos attack, every city will be experiencing some instability, especially the smaller ones. It’s time to leverage my assets to expand Calamity Logistics in all those cities. Start buying cheap land and setting up Cyber installations in all of the cities. A pair of construction spiders with resource gathering spider crew should be sufficient to get things started. Also send teams to these cities to handle the new branch. Once the first Cyber installation is finished, have the spiders duplicate themselves and the spider crew to send to the next city.

  “But I want this done out of sight. A local type three hologram can hide the actual work. I don’t want the reveal until at least a week after the next Family meeting, perhaps a month from now. Nor do I want the hired people to know who they are working for just yet. Once the new spiders are sent off, build an Arc and then additional Cyber installations. Install a city builder and city economic advisor and begin planning how to expand in the city.

  “Once revealed, start renaming and registering and advertising Calamity Logistics. Use the economic advisors to direct the plan, and have the hired team implement it. With luck, we can get in cheaply with the reconstruction, and so also get more data for the metropolitan area economic advisor. Wait, do I need another metropolitan?”

  You will be near the limit of two, but you don’t need a third.

  “Better to be safe then. Clone two more. Enough to handle everything comfortably. What about the next level up? Do I need that?”

  One additional Metropolitan Area Economic Advisor is sufficient for the plan. As to needing a Continental Economic Advisor, no. you won’t really need one until you have at least four Metropolitan Area Economic Advisors.

  “Then let’s go with that plan for now. Get the initial stages done quickly, so we can get a foothold in many cities. Let me know if any issues come up.”

  I shall. Since there is very little work here and at Gillette, I’ll start sending out spiders from both places to head to other cities in the area. It will be simplest if they start in an empty warehouse in a poor neighborhood. That will attract the least attention. Rented offices in the better areas of the towns will be used initially, until the reveal. I’ll create shell companies for each city to hide things financially. Anything else?

  “No, that should do it.”

  That night, while partying at a local rave, Ysys sent the new point totals. Apparently, the last of the fighting was over.

  Assorted antithesis in space – 1,824,000 points, 6 tokens

  Assorted antithesis on Earth – 437,293 points, 3 tokens

  New Total – 2,663,765 points, 18 tokens

  I had to go sit down to deal with the shock.

  “How did I get millions of points and nine tokens? What happened?”

  Earning nearly four thousand points a minute while shooting into space for ten hours does rack up the points. There was some fall off as the antithesis adapted a bit as time went by. But it is difficult to avoid hypersonic ammo that does not emit radiation. Especially when it has passive scanning flight aids. Of more interest is that you failed to kill a lot that you hurt, and they had time to partially heal. You got partial credit for those when they were killed.

  As for the tokens, you defended two cities directly on the ground, and did sufficient at each to earn a token. Likewise, masterminding the defense of the area earned another. For the space tokens, however, you were punching far above your weight. Additionally, your efforts took out over three percent of the swarm. The lives you saved earned the tokens.

  “Wow. That’s gonna take some time to get used to.”

  Perhaps. Might I suggest you go back to dancing? There are several people looking interested in you over there by the bar.

  “Yeah. I see them….” I headed over, and soon was dancing again. And I had some naughty fun with several of them before heading home.

  Two days later, Liberace gave me an interview. This time it was in a studio, in costume, sitting down. Over the course of twenty five minutes or so, we talked a lot about how I organized the defense of the eight cities, and my plans to take up the Family’s suggestion of expanding my network. Since I was in my new costume, I indiscreetly crossed my legs a few times. But since I was usually reaching for something, I made it seem an ‘accident’.

  Afterwards, Liberace said, “You crossed your legs improperly on purpose.”

  “Yeah, but I couldn’t resist. Sorry about that.”

  “Don’t be. The fans loved it. They know you’re naughty, and love seeing you that way.”

  “Should I have been more blatant?”

  “No. You kept it at the level of a tease. Going further would have crossed into sexual territory. Fine for a taped event where it can be advertised in advance, but not for a live streamed one. Besides, there are already plenty of clips for the perverts to enjoy in private.”

  I was rather surprised at how blasé she was, but was glad it didn’t hurt her ratings. Liberace later told me it was one of her more popular interviews.

  Finally the day of celebration came. I privately sponsored a large number of booths with discounted fresh food from my farms. Flamer pitched in with some pyrotechnics later in the evening, and Soundbite set up some awesome entertainment areas. A large number of corporate sponsored booths and food was also highly visible, but that was to be expected. I had a few construction spiders on display for the public. They were just sitting there, but beneath them videos played showing them at work. A few other companies were doing likewise.

  I spent a lot of the day just wandering the crowds, signing autographs and posing for pictures. I did not eat, rather I nibbled all day. I could not really listen or enjoy much of the provided entertainment, as my presence was a bit disruptive. To avoid causing strife, I kept away from the rest of the entertainment, unless I was a scheduled part of it.

  In the middle of the afternoon was the big event. All the local Samurai were gathered on stage, and we all received a pin signifying our defense of the city. Then came time to reveal whatever it was beneath the tarp. After a drum roll sounded, the chairman of the council announced a new statue to commemorate this epic win for the eight cities. On the seven screens at the back and over the stage were identical tarps. Suddenly, the tarps fell, all in sync, and I saw a statue of myself, lifted on a transparent pedestal. It was quite lifelike.

  Around me were three PMCs, each in the uniform of one of the PMCs that lost people. All of us were armed. My overwatch aimed upward, while the PMC weapons aimed outward. The statue was on a short dark pedestal, so none of the weapons were pointing at anyone. There were four raised plaques beneath us. The ones with the PMCs listed their dead. The statue in the image of the senior-most member that died. The one below me detailed how I had lead the multi-city defense. Below that was the list of the town’s dead not on a PMC’s list. When I looked at the other screens, they held the same pattern, but with varying number of PMCs. I later learned that each represented a PMC with at least one loss.

  By the way, I was asked to provide your exact dimensions so they could have the statues accurate. When they went to print them on the Family’s printers, I modified your statues to be anatomically correct, and to show your current outfit.

  “Ysys, do you mean if someone looks up the statue’s skirt….”

  Anatomically correct.