“So, you’re a big company expanding into New New York? Where will you build your factories? Where will you house your workers? We have the answer: Own your own mega tower! We have several sizes available, and can handle custom needs. If you don’t need a whole tower, we also sell by the floor, with a minimum of ten.”

  – Advertising by Mega Real Estate of NNY, “The other guys”, shortly after the 2041 NNY incursion

  I pulled in to Kansas City after midnight, and found a hotel. Being a Samurai is sometimes quite useful. Waking up, I really wanted to sleep in. Yesterday had ended quite late, but I didn’t want to disrupt the plans of who known how many experts. So I got up, and dressed as Business Sheena for the meeting with Frank Castle and his experts. I arrived a few minutes early, and got a chance to meet a few of the experts before the meeting.

  Frank arrived shortly after I did, and sat up at the head of the conference table. I grabbed a cup of coffee, and sat opposite him. When the time came, he called everyone to sit. Half of the seats were already full, and soon most of the rest filled in. Suddenly, the remaining three empty seats filled with holograms of people.

  “Welcome everyone. I am Frank Castle, the regional Samurai liaison. I have asked you all too come here to discuss recent developments instigated by Samurai Calamity Jane. I believe you all received a copy of her announcement?”

  As he waited a bit, the others either mumbled their ascent, or nodded likewise.

  “Good. Let’s cut to the chase. This means we have a lot of work ahead of us. Don’t worry, Calamity. It’s work the Family was designed for. We just didn’t expect it to happen all at once. The first big change is the hover truck. They are disrupting the transport industry. They are currently being made and delivered within the Plains region, but the kits, and a few trucks, are being shipped worldwide. The second big change is the arming of a large chunk of real estate. That’s potentially going to be a security nightmare. Yet it also creates an area that is relatively safe that people can expand into. The third big change is the political alignment she is spearheading. Forth, she has a quiet project up north, that looks to be potentially game changing.

  “Lets start with the trucks. Calamity, can you let us know what you did, and how you see it affecting things?”

  I had Ysys access the room’s main display hologram to show images while I talked. “Thank you Frank. I am Calamity Jane, Samurai, and a sub regional coordinator of Samurai. Thanks to the megahive I helped take down, I gained points enough to invest in my master plan of the time. I wanted to save my town of Sheridan from likely collapse, like Rock Springs, by providing additional living space and shelters. When Rock Springs happened, I helped my city, and later seven other cities, to entice a large chunk of their population and companies to our city. My secret project became public knowledge, and our city practically doubled in population overnight.

  “The immediate need for construction meant I printed many printers in all eight cities. That foundation allowed the creation of enough space for the new population. All the cities are still working on integrating the new population. That said, I now owned a large distributed manufacturing ability. When the world incursion came, I leveraged it to emplace missile sites. I spent points but gained far more during that incursion.

  “Recently, I had the idea to improve trade between cities. Research indicated hovertrucks were highly desired, but weren’t able to be made. Ysys and I found a way to fineness it by effectively creating an upgrade kit that would allow a normal truck to become a hover truck. Those kits, along with prebuilt trucks with kits installed, is what I am now selling like hotcakes.

  “A hover truck, by its nature, avoids most antithesis problems, making it far safer. The added bonus of speed means it will soon displace most intercity transport. It will not replace intracity trucking, as that requires a lot of infrastructure support that doesn’t exist. In time, such support can be created. Mechanically, the kit comes in two parts. The power plant, and the engine reinforcement. The class two power plant is needed to handle the cargo capacity. Even a minimal amount. The class one reinforcement, however, is only needed if you want to use at least half the maximum weight. If you are hauling something light, then you can get away without it.”

  I nodded, giving Frank the ball.

  “Thank you Calamity. Some of what she spoke about, we’ll get into in a bit. But for now, lets focus on the trucks. First, Jason, how well do these trucks perform?”

  “Hello, I am Jason Richter, and I analyze Vanguard technology that comes on the market in notable quantities. As soon as I heard about these hovertrucks, I sent word out to a number of my Samurai contacts, and asked them to report on their abilities. While the long term claims are still being evaluated, the short term claims of speed and cargo capacity are slightly better than the advertised amounts. We also noticed several kits disappearing into the R&D of a number of players in the transportation and power sectors. It is clear that the power plant is beyond us, but the reinforcements may not be.”

  “Thank you, Jason. Prishe, what of the economic impact?”

  A woman with dark skin and pale purple hair that falls to the small of her back, with two bangs that frame her face, started talking. “I am Shelly, the Samurai Prishe, and I do economic research. I’ve just scratched the surface, but it is clear that demand will outstrip supply until at least eighty five percent penetration of the local market. It will be slower to penetrate the worldwide market due to transportation difficulties unless other regions acquire manufacturing facilities.

  “I estimate it will have little impact in short range capacity, but will significantly increase long range capacity. That increase will be spread throughout the economy, without long term issues. Short term difficulties will happen as the sector transitions. Basically, short term pain, long term gain.”

  Jason called on several others, before finally asking me, “Calamity, what are your plans for hovertrucks?”

  “I have no specific plans. I saw a need that I could fulfill, that would also help uplift humanity. I leave it up to my business managers to handle the sales and distribution, as they run the business.”

  “Very well. Now then, everyone. Does anyone see a need for the Family to take an interest?”

  There was a brief pause before one of the holograms spoke. “I have an interest, but not exactly Family business.”

  “Then, please explain.”

  “I am Harold Xanderson, of the East Coast branch. I feel that the disruption in our region will be rather extreme, due to the existing level of trade between cities. I ask that when Calamity opens up production on the east coast, that she does her best to make it available in quantity and in many locations. Otherwise, the economic chaos will be quite disruptive. Right now, companies are salivating, and making plans.”

  “Calamity?”

  “I’ll keep that in mind. Would an initial distribution of kits work? Then everyone could roll their own, as it were.”

  Harold nodded yes.

  “Anyone else have anything to add? … No? Then let’s talk about the next item. Missile site security. Calamity, can you describe what you have done?”

  I detail the design and specifically the security measures I put in place.

  Frank says, “Sandra, your opinion on the security?”

  “Excellent. Hi, I’m Sandra Owen, security expert. Without Samurai assistance, no one is getting in without sufficient warning to get a response in place, provided one is on standby. Even Samurai will have difficulty without a class three catalog. At least if they want to be anonymous. Once in, access to significant ammo is difficult without the site helping. Access to Vanguard tech, however, will be somewhat easier. Even so, it will be difficult to escape detection. Essentially, not an issue. The only significant threats are class three Samurai or the lack of a response team.”

  Frank turns to another, and says, “Bob, your opinion on effectiveness?”

  “I am Bob Evan of R&D. The site effectiveness against spaceborn enemies has already been verified. The automated site defenses should handle antithesis well enough until a Samurai can clear it out. Unless, of course, a smart one decides to go underground. How good are the sensors at handling that vector?”

  “I don’t know, but I can definitely go back and add that.”

  “In that case, they can also be used as safe points should anyone be stuck outside when antithesis attack.”

  I spoke privately to Ysys, “Let’s plan for that also when adding sensors.”

  We can add a shelter on the outside.

  Frank asks, “Good. Thanks Bob. Calamity, do you have plans for this Samurai council?”

  “Not at this time. I am open to suggestions.”

  “In that case, I’ll toss it to the planning committee. Next up is politics. What are your plans for this alliance?”

  “Before the antithesis, this was a powerful and united country. A lot of its power came from being united. It had its problems, but those are small compared to the city-state society we have now. Yes, there are some other alliances out there, but not enough. We need more if we as a species are to survive.”

  “I see. Thortan?”

  This was another hologram. “Hello, I’m Thortan Tawny, main office. Your new alliance is making waves. That is, a number of major political figures are talking about it. I am glad to hear someone is thinking to the long term. I think this is a good thing, and the incentives for entry are significant. The federation style rather than the former state style may well prove to work better, considering how many different styles of city governments there are to deal with. We may be able to use this concept elsewhere.”

  “Well, that’s better than I’d hoped. Moving on… the Fortress of Solitude. Please tell us about it.”

  “The fortress is a self contained city, entirely built with protector tech. Technically, it is a city sized spaceship, but without stuff like engines. I built it as an experiment. I wanted to see how far I could automate construction and also the defenses of an area. Since no one lives out there, it was the perfect test area for reclaiming from the antithesis. One effect of its location is the lack of activity. With so little Terran life that far north, the antithesis have not invested as much into their occupation.

  “It has encountered a number of hives, but they have been relatively small despite being old. Some of those have been stealth hives detected by the advanced sensors used by the scouting drones. However, it wasn’t until it encountered the hive in Slave Lake that it found a hive too big for it to handle. That was the hive I told the Family about, and asked for help. In the end, I went up myself. Mako and Clear Eyes wound up helping me. I gave the Family a report of what happened. With that hive destroyed, the expansion continues. Once it completes the fifty mile zone, I will consider the experiment complete. I also expect several more hives to be discovered that will need my assistance.”

  “I have read that report. We can always use more Samurai that can operate underwater. If we find another major underwater site, we may be asking for your help. Bob, what does R&D think about the city?”

  “When we first heard of it, our minds were blown away. The sheer scale alone dwarfs anything we had considered. Regrettably, I was passed over when the investigation team was sent. But at least I got a copy of all the visuals. Anyway. It appears ready for immediate full scale occupation. We had wondered why you went with an enclosed city, but your explanation of it being a spaceship answers that question.

  “When we realized it’s area denial was using the same missile sites as the alliance, we decided to ignore them, since there were other sites that were easier to study. It does appear you thought of everything. Even a brainstorming session failed to find significant omissions. How did you manage that?”

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  “I build hexes. They are now part of their city and well occupied. In the process, I had to add all sorts of blueprints to my collection for every problem that came up. With that many people stress testing the hexes, you can be sure almost every possibility was covered.”

  “That would do it. How easy would it be to build another?”

  “Give me a location, a reason, and all I need is a single drop to deliver. It will take a while to build out to a secure closed area, and more time to be fully built. If you want an open sky, that will save time, but make securing it a little more complicated.”

  “Can you make an underwater city?”

  “I expect so, but the initial startup time will require a lot more support until the shell is completed. Might be easier to make a submersible with a drone defense fleet and expand in shells like a nautiloid. I’d have to ask Ysys.”

  “You can make submersibles?”

  “I think so. If not, I’m sure I can get a catalog. If I’m still around when we tackle the oceans, I expect I’ll have suitable catalogs.”

  “The team will love to hear that. Printing cities, who’d have thought…”

  “Bob, is that all?”

  “Oh! Sorry Frank. Yeah, I’m done.”

  “Does anyone else have questions about the fortress? … No? Is there anything else we need to cover? … No? … Okay. This meeting is completed. Calamity, thank you for coming. While you have caused some heartburn, most Samurai do. We’re used to it. Keep up the good work.” He then rose and left, but only to the snack bar outside.

  The rest of us broke up and followed. I decided to meet with Prishe as a fellow Samurai. “Hello there. You look like another Samurai anime character.”

  “Yeah, Final Fantasy. I was out larping with friends. Got lucky with my first kill, but went into fighting up close and personal. Kind of why I like this character. When another Samurai finally arrived, I was defending a broken shelter with a few dozen kills. I saved my larp group, and the Samurai said since I already had a name, I would keep it. So I became Prishe.”

  “I went range, but my favorite isn’t the historical figure I’m named for, but the comic book character Sheena.”

  “So why did you get the name Calamity?”

  “I came on the scene with a bang. One big enough to take out a pod that just landed. Later, in that same incursion, I indirectly caused another explosion that took out my second model eleven when the first died crashing into a flamethrower truck. Those were ‘calamities’ for the antithesis. It’s upgraded, but I still use that long gun as my primary ranged weapon. Anyhow, Calamity’s a good name for me. Does your fit?”

  “Yeah. Mostly because I went and owned it. My outfit is quality armor, and my body reinforced. There’s even a forum for Sams like us. We got comic books, amine, movie heroes, game heroes, and more. There’s a high percentage of action heroes from all sources. Want to exchange contacts?”

  “Sure.” I sent mine, and she sent hers. “Thanks.”

  We then went and got snacks. Parting ways, I stuck around for another ten minutes making connections with the experts. Then I headed back to my hotel, and planned for another city to be added to my monitoring network.

  I decided to go back and assist with the cleanup at Great Falls. I figured since the mess I made would be difficult to cleanup, I owed them help cleaning up. Gave them the points, but kept the tokens. Only took three days.

  A week later, I had another bunch of advisors monitoring the city, and a branch offices for my construction company.

  The prospect of a city underwater was intriguing, but not anytime soon. But I did have spaceships. Except they weren’t complete. My city catalog was for all environments. I wonder…

  “Ysys, do my city catalogs handle cities in a vacuum?”

  Yes. Some of our members don’t breath, or breath very seldom, and a vacuum is not a hardship to them.

  “They must have some strange biology.”

  The antithesis can operate in space. So can other life forms. Especially mechanical life forms. Creating such a city is one of the first steps to galactic citizenship. Right now, only a few people have left this planet, and nearly all were Samurai. Such a city, whether in orbit of Earth or on a big rock without air, will inspire people to think to the future.

  “So I could build a city on the moon? What would I need?”

  You would need Class I Vacuum Utilities catalog for sixty points, Background Aura Life Line blueprints for three thousand points, and Artificial Instrumented Regeneration blueprints for seven thousand points. This would be a minimum. However, for a more robust solution, the Class II catalog would be an additional six hundred points and a token, a Pressure Limiting Uniform Guard blueprints for fifty thousand points, and Basic Regulated Enthalpy All Terran Habitat Environments blueprints for one hundred thousand points.

  “Aside from class, what is the main differences?”

  The class one solution is more suited to temporary use. This would be suitable for building the city. However, for living in the city, you want a more robust solution that can withstand the stresses to be expected of a city exposed directly to vacuum. Class two can withstand any solar system impact event that would not be large enough to make a crater that would swallow that city. While your plant farm can help with the air renewal, you would need to dedicate a large amount of space to them to replace the basic environment system.

  “I have the feeling I can’t afford class three blueprints.”

  Your feelings are correct. You need additional items before you get to this point.

  “How about getting there? I have a ship that can travel there, but you mentioned it wasn’t truly space-worthy.”

  You have a hull and engine that can do the job, with barely enough power, but you do not have life support, radiation shielding, long range communication, or navigation. The shielding used to build the city will also work for the ship.

  “What blueprints would I need to bring the ship up to space-worthy standards?”

  Besides the previously mentioned shielding, I recommend replacing the class two power plant with a class three one of a similar size. The added power will be needed to travel the solar system. Going to another star in that ship would require years at class three. That said, you need Light Freighter Environmental System blueprints for thirty thousand. For communication, I recommend Class I Telecommunications catalog for seventy five points, and the HyperPhone Mark III blueprints for five hundred. This is a hyperspace relay capable of reaching past Jupiter. Mark IV At seven hundred, past Saturn, and Mark V at one thousand, past the Oort cloud. Finally, you need to open the Class I Navigation Utilities catalog for fifty points, along with a Basic Space Navigation software for thirty points and from your Class III Sensor Technologies, Navigation Sensor blueprints for thirty thousand points.

  “I think I want communication out past the Oort cloud. Given the likely speeds it could achieve in system, will the sensors be able to handle it?”

  No. You would need to stop accelerating and coast before decelerating on a trip to Mars.

  “What would I need to to go full speed?”

  You would need to open Class IV Sensor Technologies catalog for seventy thousand points and four tokens, and Spacial Sensors for twenty five thousand points. Blueprints for two hundred fifty thousand. You would also need to open Class II Navigation Utilities catalog for four hundred points and a token and get Advanced Space Navigation software for three hundred points.

  “What would be needed to have full mesh access within the hyperphone range?”

  You would need a Hyper Mesh Hub blueprints for thirty seven thousand points. It would need to be supported by sufficient computing power. A Cyber Installation would be more than sufficient.

  Hmmm. I should probably check with the Family before I make a city on the moon. But I don’t think I need their approval for the ship. And if I have the ship updated, then I could ask at the Family office on the moon.

  “Ysys, let’s upgrade the ship as discussed. With the mesh also.”

  Opened Class I Vacuum Utilities catalog – 60 points

  Opened Class II Vacuum Utilities catalog – 600 points, 1 token

  Opened Class I Telecommunications catalog – 75 points

  Opened Class I Navigation Utilities catalog – 40 points

  Opened Class II Navigation Utilities catalog – 400 points, 1 token

  Opened Class IV Sensor Technologies catalog – 70000 points, 4 tokens

  Blueprints for Pressure Limiting Uniform Guards – 50000 points

  Blueprints for Light Freighter Environmental System – 30000 points

  Blueprints for HyperPhone Mark V – 1000 points

  Blueprints for Hyper Mesh Hub – 37000 points

  Advanced Space Navigation software – 300 points

  Blueprints for Spacial Sensors – 250000 points

  Blueprints for MTX Zone Power Plant – 100000 points

  New Total – 254,507 points, 2 tokens

  “Go ahead and print what is needed for. When I get home, I want to upgrade the Falcon.”

  All necessary items will be printed by tonight, and installed before the morning.

  “Great. Thanks, Ysys.”

  The next day, as I was going over the weekly report from the fortress, I saw there was an elevated loss of drone scouts. It was still within the range of what might be expected, but I decided to see what next week’s report had.

  During that week, I not only outfitted the Falcon so it would be ready for space travel, but I also decided to get a shuttle designed for Earth Moon usage. All I needed was hull and engine blueprints. The rest I already had.

  Blueprints for Mark II Eagle Transport System – 25000 points

  Blueprints for Plasma Thrust engine – 30000 points

  New Total – 199,507 points, 2 tokens

  Once I got the blueprints, I realized I didn’t really have a good place to put it. The Eagle had a tiny class three engine, and life support for ten man-weeks, but a maximum of 2G acceleration, so it would be slow to lift off Earth. While it could fly automated, it could support a crew of a pilot and engineer, and had modules for eight passengers, cargo, or science. It could handle the Van Allen belt, and travel to and from the moon. It had hard-points for arms, but was only lightly armored. It used hard light docking. The modules had ground level access, and were lifted up to the Eagle.

  As I was currently starting three hexes on the outside of the current ones, I decided to start a fourth. But instead of being a regular hex, I was going to make it a spaceport.

  “Hey, Ysys. I want to make a spaceport.”

  Sounds ambitious. Do tell.

  “Well, my Falcon will likely remain here, but other ships based on it could use a dedicated spaceport facility. So can my Eagles. My big question is what spaceships do we already have here? I mean, ones that could land? We have a bunch that recently went to mars, so I’m sure there is some information on them. Were there any standards used, like docking mechanisms, landing footprint, fuel, and so on?”

  Quite a few were sent to Mars, and also a number were not. Some used standards, but not always the same standard. Others were unique without any other ships matching them. Still others, in fact most, have not indicated any standard.

  “I guess we’ll just have to set the standard. Can you access all available documentation and create a standard that will work for most? I want to have mostly generic facilities that most can use. Oh, lets include the wish lists of corporations looking to space. Go ahead and use my Cyber Warfare utilities for that.”

  I should have that by tonight, but I can already tell you that maximum thrusts will be nearly unique, only being matched by sister ships. Likewise, overall size and weight.

  “We may need to have sections for small, medium, and large ships. Then there’s refueling, repair, parking, and so on. Let’s skip the largest for repair and moving. They will just park where they land, in the outermost landing ring. Inside that, the medium ring will have hangers for repair, that move to cover the ship. Small ships, however, will be ferried to hanger space in their inner ring. The center will be for a trauma hospital, administration, and site maintenance. Think you can make a workup from that?”

  Yes. Be ready for the briefing tonight to have visuals, including known ships.

  “I look forward to it.”

  I went and placed all the infrastructure into the central area, but had hard links to the outer wall and all throughout the open space. In fact, I spent most of the day playing with the design. I did not expect it to survive tonight’s briefing, but it helped me get ready to think about all the pieces I would need.

  After dinner, I went into the meeting room, as it had an impressive holographic display. As I entered, Ysys lit it up, and I could see a number of spaceships in various places.

  “Wow. That’s a lot of detail. Tell me about it, please.”

  Gladly. For a port like this to work, you need workers, and they need housing. You also have travelers, and they need hotels. As to ships, there is lots of footage of them accelerating to Mars, and given the known size of some, the rest can be inferred with great accuracy. Likewise acceleration. Weight is far harder, as little information was ever mentioned. Company wish lists were more detailed, but not always viable with the available tech the company has. On the other hand, detailed specs were available, and greatly helped with standardizing things like docking ports, parking space needed, and so on.

  As expected, the Eagle is a small ship. Most personal shuttles are small as well. The Falcon is over the boundary of the small ships, and like many cargo shuttles, is medium. A few of the smaller Vanguard ships are also medium. Most, however, if it can land at all, are large. In fact, the largest known landable is shown in the hologram.

  I see one large ship briefly flash.

  Most port specific infrastructure is underground, to keep out of the way of ships. There are many access points that act either as elevators or ramps, but are flat to the main surface when not in use. Beneath that is all the pipes and wiring. Each quadrant will have an Arc printer, to provide needed parts for the ships. Your class three construction drones can handle the bulk the loading, unloading, and heavy work. Repairs will need their own specialized equipment, some of which we already have. The outer wall, and the inner zone will handle antithesis defense. Ships will be expected to be effectively their own shelter, but numerous shelters will be built below the landing surface. The central zone will use standard hex city shelters.

  As she mentions things, they flash, or otherwise show themselves. The explanation goes on for quite a while, and I can see it is very detailed. Finally I ask, “You mentioned I needed some more blueprints?”

  Yes. Ports have a lot of specialized equipment. The need to handle mobile structures, both hangers and ships are not something that has yet come up in your existing hexes. Additionally, the weight your drones can handle is not sufficient to handle the largest of the medium ships. Lastly, you need adaptable connectors all over the place to handle all the non-standard stuff. A budget of one hundred fifty thousand should handle the needed blueprints.

  “Ouch. But if I authorize it, we can make what you’re showing here? We can handle everyone’s spaceships?”

  Most likely. There are too many unknowns to be sure, but most should be handled.

  I sat and thought about it for a few minutes, looking all over the hologram before finally deciding to go ahead.

  “Let’s do it.”

  Starting new hex.

  Only one last thing to do. Check out the weekly report. While I enjoy the view of the planned port, I pull up the report. Halfway down the summary, I react.

  “Shit.”

  Over half of the Slave Lake monitoring is missing. And it looks like there are three areas on land nearby that also are missing surveillance. So much so, that the ‘safe’ zone has shrunk.

  “Ysys, looks like we’re headed back north.”