“Don’t worry about everyone that died to the plants. They weren’t important people like us. We have secure shelters, and the best protection money can buy.”

  – CEO of Shelter Security LLC shortly before antithesis broke into their own substandard shelter.

  The next two weeks were fairly low key. I had a gig to appropriate more information from Snider’s Automation. It seems that the information I retrieved was worth another trip. I also got a large bonus for the extra information I retrieved last time. The information was not as well protected, because they thought no one knew about it. I did have to break into a scientist’s home workshop, but it wasn’t hard to arrange his absence for a few hours. I took my mini swarm spiders, and I was able to access the data without even going inside.

  I spent way too much time with lawyers, but my new company, Calamity Logistics, was operational. I hired the Family to run it, but I hired Grizzly Enterprises to keep an eye on it. My engine was running most of the day, either making med kits, med scanners, or construction material. I was using the site’s own debris to provide raw material. With the sales from the medical stuff, I hired a construction company to assemble the structure, but only at the pace I could supply material. I also printed a few more rats each day, to allow the feeding of the printer from further away.

  Then early one morning, a very loud explosion woke me up.

  “Ysys, what was that noise?”

  An explosion not too far away. Scanning the emergency networks…. It appears a nearby warehouse exploded. While it is totaled, the nearby buildings took a fair bit of damage, including a megabuilding, which partially collapsed.

  “Do you think we need to help?”

  I don’t know. At this time, they are still assessing. However, even if they don’t need help, it would be good PR for you.

  “You’re right. Please let them know I will be on site shortly.”

  I got dressed, and commanded the closest rats to get in the HT. But I had them empty their collected matter into the printer first. I also loaded two med kits and several scanners. By the time I left the building, there were seventeen rats in the HT. I had them lay low, and while I brought my guns, I planned to leave the big stuff in the HT when I got there. I wore two mini swarm spiders disguised as a belt.

  When I arrived, a number of emergency vehicles were about, clearly already starting rescue efforts and putting out fires.

  “Ysys, who’s in charge?”

  Look to the left. See the woman I marked in your HUD? She’s currently running everything.

  “What is the best way I can offer my assistance to her? I don’t want to annoy her.”

  Let me alert her to your presence when she gets a moment.

  I nodded, and shortly, she looked over my way and I waved. Then Ysys forwarded her call.

  “You the Samurai that wants to help?”

  “Yes. My vehicle has advanced sensors and armor, so I should be able to get a look inside if you need that. I brought some drones that can make openings through anything, and I brought some medical stuff in case there was need on site. How can I help?”

  “Praise be, you’re not an idiot. See that ambulance over there? Take the meds there and leave it with them. Then see if you can scan the megabuilding and determine where people are stuck, and how structurally sound it is. If we need to do something fast, the quicker we find out, the less trouble it will be. Call Roger on channel seventeen about your drones.”

  Looks like Captain Carol is quite busy. Shall I connect you to Sargent Roger?

  “Yes, please.”

  “How’d you get on this line? Who’s this?”

  “I’m Samurai Calamity Jane. I have drones capable of making their own holes in most anything. Captain Carol said to connect with you.”

  “Make their own holes? How? And can the make holes big enough for people?”

  “They are construction drones of a sort. They have protector tech to disintegrate and collect raw material. They can chew through a building, even one as big as this. But it takes time. A few holes in walls, however, should be quick. I don’t know about structural integrity, so you will need someone to guide them. But they can make holes big enough to rescue people.”

  “Nice. Not quite an ACME Instant Hole, but close. Where are they?”

  “With me. They are disguised as large rats, to blend in with their scavenging some dumps for raw material. I’m over at the medical area now.”

  “Stay there, I’ll be right over.”

  I was explaining the medical equipment when four people came rushing over.

  “Calamity!”

  I turned and said, “Roger?”

  One guy raised his hand. A few moments later, they arrived, and he said, “The four of us have some experience in structural integrity. We can guide your drones.”

  “Look inside the HT. See the rats? They are the drones.” I pointed to the HT, and they looked inside.

  One of them said, “They look so real.”

  Another said, “She’s a Samurai, idiot. Of course they look real.”

  Roger said, “Quiet, please.” Then he looked back at me. “How do we use them?”

  “Send me your aug contacts, and I’ll delegate them to you. I’m limiting your control to this site for the emergency. But otherwise, just mark the location you want gone, and alert one of them, and it will be gone. Be sure to make the marked area to be big enough to get through.”

  They sent me their contacts, and I delegated four rats to each one. The last one I kept with me, just in case. With that done, I then got in the HT and headed up to the top of the damaged megabuilding.

  “Ysys, can you scan the building for signs of life, and structural problems? I don’t want to get crushed by a falling building while scanning it.”

  Sure thing. Let me take control of the HT, and I will get you that scan. I’ll also make it available to the captain.

  “Good idea.”

  So began several hours of work. After scanning the building, she had me scan the other buildings. There were several thousand essentially trapped in the megabuilding, but my rats were creating pathways to freedom for them. With every structure scanned, I was able to take a break and eat a very late breakfast at a food stall that set up some time after I arrived.

  While I was eating, I looked around to see how things were going. That’s when I noticed that the access was somewhat constricted due to fallen debris. While many vehicles came by air, there were a number that came by land. Those, however, had to navigate the debris. So when I finished eating, I called captain Carol.

  “Thanks for your work, Calamity. Your fast thoughts made my job somewhat easier. What did you want to talk about?”

  “I noticed your land traffic has to deal with some rather large obstacles. I still have one drone I can use to remove them. Do you want me to?”

  “That’s a great idea. Start clearing the eastern approach, as it has the most traffic issues. Then get whatever is on the roads. Don’t worry about the smallest stuff.”

  “Okay. I’ll take care of it.”

  “Thanks again, Samurai.”

  “Ysys, can you drop us off, then take the HT and get me a god’s eye? Then we can plan my route to clear what needs to be cleared.”

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  Of course. Hop in.

  It only took two hours to clear the streets of the major debris. The rat I had was reading nearly half full, so I could get more. When I called captain Carol, she said my part was over, but my drones were still being used for rescue. She said she would call when it was over.

  I hung around, but when I hadn’t been called by midnight, I left to get some sleep. When I woke up, I had my news feed alert me to anything about the state of things at the nearby rescue scene. That’s when I learned they could be searching for days or even weeks if the conditions supported it. I did have the rats rotate to empty their collected raw material every night.

  On the third day, I got a call from the mayor’s office. It seemed several buildings would be condemned, and I could have the job of clearing up the debris once the site was cleared for demolition. We negotiated a bit, and my company got a contract.

  With a lot of work for my rats, I decided to swap production of shelter construction material for more rats. In a few days, I should have several hundred that could swarm the site. Five days later, I shifted production back. Two days later, the rescue operations were halted for weather, and the news speculated they might decide to switch to recovery from rescue.

  An hour later, I got a notification:

  Humans saved: 2752 – 721 points, 1 token

  New Total – 1965 points, 4 tokens

  “Ysys, where did this come from?”

  Your efforts in the rescue efforts saved a number of lives. While the meds and scanners helped a number of people, less than a hundred would have died without them. On the other hand, the vast majority were people trapped inside, that your rats were able to rescue by way of creating holes. As it was at a remove, you don’t get full points. The token is for the first time you save 100 people. Again, credit was discounted, but the additional people more than made up for it.

  “Why now?”

  As you will soon hear, the rescue team has made the decision to call the rescue over, and to start beginning recovery.

  Two hours later, I got a call from the mayor’s office, asking me to report to the recovery team. I decided that since this was likely going to be about the cleanup, I decided to load up the HT with rats so I could begin demolition. I had already moved the printer into the HT so that the rats could feed it quickly on site. I made a call, and rented an automated hover truck. It would be ready to store the processed material in condensed form after the printer quickly made sourcing material blocks.

  There was barely any room for me to stand in the HT, but I arrived on site and parked near the others. I left the rats packed inside, as I didn’t want to disturb folks. Then I went to the command tent, and reported in.

  A number of people looked haggard, like they hadn’t slept well. I could sympathize, as the decision meant there would be no one left to save, just bodies to recover. Several people nodded to me, and I nodded in return.

  “Samurai Calamity, your early assistance saved a number of lives. Thank you. Now comes the grim task of recovery. Your rats have shown the capability to provide access to blocked areas. I understand they can also remove a building, given time. From what I have seen, I believe it. The city wants to contract you to do some demolition, but in a way that we can recover any bodies. If you agree, and sign, you can get started.”

  He sent the contract, and I had Ysys look at it. She said it was good, so I signed. She also identified the person as deputy mayor Anderson. I said, “In anticipation, I brought a fair chuck of rat drones, and am ready to start now. Just point me to what you want cleared.”

  Anderson pointed to someone else, who came over to me, and said, “Hello, I’m Jack Slater, from emergency services. I’ll be directing you. Here is my contact info.” His augs sent them over, as well a map of the site with some buildings marked. “If you would, please start at the Tanaka building.”

  “I shall. Also, I will need space to get a hover truck to haul away some material. Can you find someplace with easy access, but not in the way of others?”

  “Give me a few minutes, and I’ll send you some locations you can use.”

  “Thanks. I’ll get started now. The rain won’t be a problem for me.”

  He returned to Anderson, and I went back out. Once in the HT, I headed over to the Tanaka place.

  “Ysys, I think a top down removal is probably best. But I don’t want surprises, so can you spiral up and scan so that we can do things safely? What should we do if we find a body?”

  You can print a body bag, and place the body inside. We can store a few at a time. When we have several, we’ll deliver them to the operation.

  “Thanks.”

  Ysys took over and we went to the top in a spiral pattern. Hovering next to the top, Ysys activated the hard light steps as a ramp, and the rats started leaving the HT. Soon they were spread out, and slowly devouring the building. When they neared capacity, they returned to feed the printer. Soon, it was printing out slugs and bottles of assorted matter. After an hour, I realized I could use help putting the slugs into the truck, so I had Ysys bring my other construction drones to do that for me.

  After another hour, the first body showed up. A body bag was printed, and I went out to put the body inside. Then I carried it back into the HT and set it down away from the slugs. I then had the printer make a frame that I could stack bodies in. I moved the body into it.

  I realized the construction drones could get up here easily, so I had them unload the HT into the truck. Then I had one of them handle stacking the slugs to one side and to call others to unload when needed.

  Over the next several hours, I found several more bodies. After delivering them to the recovery team, along with images of how I found them and other data I collected from them, I asked Ysys if we could go faster with more rats. Since we could, I went back and got more. Twice. At that point, the printer was running almost at max.

  When the truck was filled, I sent it with most of my construction drones to offload it in my place. Meanwhile, the one I held back was stacking more slugs. Rather than stopping for meals, I spent a few points on Samurai food. Afterwards, I could see why Samurai swore by it. When night came, I went to sleep in the HT while the rats continued through the night.

  Ysys woke me up twice to collect several bodies. In the morning I had more bodies to collect, but over half the building was gone. By dinner, it was gone. Then I headed on to the next building. All told, it took nearly three weeks. Going full bore, I scheduled enough medical stuff to make my commitments, and had the Family deliver them for me. The company doing the repair of the megabuilding paid me to dispose of the broken parts of the building they were removing, so I gained a fair number of credits from them.

  With my contract with the city complete, and work accepted by the city, I had another large paycheck. Soon, I’d be headed to Vegas for the convention. Until then, I kept the HT on the shelter site generating construction materials using the slugs I had made from the demolition job. I also stocked up an extra weeks worth of medical supplies as I would be away almost that long.

  I headed out to Vegas the day before, and settled into the suite Ysys had reserved for me. The Witch had accepted my invite to dinner, and the hotel service was quite nice.

  After some initial chit chat, she said, “I heard about the explosion near you. You handled things well. Good work.”

  “I know I couldn’t do anything about it, but Mori, I feel like I could have done something.”

  “Likely you could have, but it would have cost you a lot of points. At least twenty thousand, unless you got lucky.”

  “I still don’t have anywhere near that amount. And I’m saving for a fifteen thousand plus item now.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Blueprints for a matter printer.”

  “Ooh, that’s a good thing for mass production. I have something similar, but solely for nanites.”

  “Nanites?”

  “That’s my thing, if you didn’t already realize it. With a creative mind behind them, they can do just about anything. However, my printer instead looks like a cauldron. Goes with my theme.”

  “What do you do with them?”

  “I’m a scientist working for Tip of the Spear Technologies. I was the leading researcher for understanding protector tech before I became Samurai. I’ve since renegotiated my contract. My first product is nanite armor in a can. PMCs can use this for an instant upgrade in the field. I have other things in the pipeline for TotST.”

  “Sounds like something quite marketable.”

  “It is. Multiple printers sounds like production as well. What is your initial plan for them?”

  “I want to help out my city. We are somewhat strained resource wise, including population. To grow the population, we need to protect them, which means shelters. I am working on my first, but with only one printer and several demands upon it, it will take some time. Once I have blueprints, I’ll make more, and then I can scale up.”

  “Sounds like a good plan. Is the city on board?”

  “Yeah, the Family handled the details, so all I need to do is make shelters. The city tells me where they want them, and what capacity, and I will make them. Barricade sent me blueprints for a number of shelter sizes. While my place is not officially a shelter, it will be at least as strong as one. The outer shell is already done, but there still is a lot of work to be done.”

  Mori and I continued talking for a few more hours, before she departed. I then took a long shower, and headed for bed. In the morning, I dressed up in my full Samurai outfit, including my rifle, and went down to meet the guys for breakfast. I got the nicknames correct, but I messed up which belonged to which. During breakfast, I arranged for my samples to be delivered to the conference room. Afterwards, we headed to the convention and registered, got our name tags, and headed in. quite a few people recognized me, and some even stopped me to take pictures or get autographs. Well, I let myself be stopped, as the guys gloried in being seen as with me.

  As my first meeting was at ten, I excused myself, and headed to the small conference room reserved for me. I met the hotel staffer, who handed me a key. Once inside, I noted my boxed sets were there and unopened. At ten, there was a knock at the door. I opened it, and it was my first set of vendors. First up was the non-disclosure agreement about the meeting. As I had already sent when they agreed to the meeting, they all quickly signed it. And so, I began my career in sales.

  Ysys had coached me frequently while I did demolition work, as it was a good way to pass the time. She also helped me to read their reactions, and gave tips as my sales pitch went along.

  Then I let them try out the visor. “Folks, I have loaded these with some old games with expired copyrights. Don’t want legal problems. While the games are old, note the fidelity of sound and vision. Spend a few minutes playing them and see how smooth the game play is.”

  When I introduced the wristbands, I said, “These expand the experience by adding tactile feedback. Check them out with one of the sword and board games.”

  After a while, when I saw they were ready, I said, “Now it’s time to see what it does with modern games. Please hook up the game you brought with you.” It took only a few moments for their expressions to change to awe and joy. Not long long after, they started talking about it between themselves.

  After ten minutes, I interrupted their conversation.

  “Folks, enough of that. Please exit that game, and load up Treasure Hunter. It’s another old game, but the version installed has been modified to handle this last item.” Then I handed out the augmented reality module. They attached it, and I continued, “This module changes the environment of the game to another location. Any mapped place can be set, and the game will play in that setting. I have the default currently set to the convention floor. It has all the convention mapped, with imagery from the local cameras for added realism. Play a few minutes, and let me know what you think of it.”

  Before, their talking was a low buzz, but now, it doubled in volume, and then some. Clearly they were enthused with the product. A few minutes later, I told them that it was time to finish up the meeting. They were saddened by not being able to play, but got over it quickly.

  Their leader said, “This is the next big thing in gaming. We need some samples, so we can adapt our game to that last mode. How did you come up with this?”

  “Simple, it is protector gaming gear. As a Samurai, I bought the blueprint, and plan on manufacturing it. Sign a second non-disclosure contract, and you may take one set with you. I’ll also include instructions on the augmented reality’s game interface so you can add it to your game. I plan on introducing this when I have sufficient games to make it worth releasing. I will release the AR a few months later. Being new to the business, I had my lawyer add a few bonus clauses. I want your feedback and suggestions. If you are the first to send marketable ideas, you get a bonus.”

  “Can you send me the contract? I’ll have legal check it over.”

  “I’ll be here for the whole convention, so as long as you come back in time, you can pick up your sample for testing.”

  I had a fifteen minute break for the next meeting, so I made use of the restroom, locking the door behind me.

  I met representatives from quite a few companies. One of the last ones was with Hunter Games, the company that makes Safari Hunter. I made the appointment a bit longer, as I wanted to discuss making a side deal to promote the device with their game as the free game it comes with. They provisionally agreed to the side deal, and left with one of the sets.

  I saw Mori again before I left. We only sat down at a local vendor to grab something to eat.

  “Jane, something big is in the works. I think we could use some help, and I think you might be able to fit in. There’s a meeting soon with several powerful Samurai in the area to make some decisions. Want to be at the meeting?”

  “Think I could get sufficient points for my plan?”

  “And then some. I’ll send you the info.”