Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty-Five: Inventive Ideas (Patreon)

The gathering of inventors had two things in common. One, they all wore something that looked like power armour but - according to Observe’s reading of their armour points - had less protective ability than a cotton mattress. And two, they all had plates full of mutton biriyani in their hands.

“Belessar!” a stout gentleman with a grey beard, slightly stained with a dark brown sauce, greeted me. “I’m Rasayan. Try the dhansak, it’s really good!”

“Thank you, maybe later,” I replied, trying desperately not to stare at the dhansak sauce dripping from his beard - and back onto his plate, ye gods. “It’s nice to meet you, Rasayan.”

“I’m an organic chemistry inventor,” the man added. “Multiple patents on complex compound synthesis. Good work on the Aerovascar modifications, by the way, your process improvements were fascinating.”

A tall man in a grey bodysuit - one reinforced with what looked like styrofoam - spoke up. “What Rasayan neglects to mention is that he has many, many different types of chemicals that can kill you hidden in various parts of his bodysuit. Don’t eat anything he hands you, by the way.”

“Vatanu! For shame.” Rasayan shook a finger - one soaked in a brown sauce - at the grey-bodysuited ultra. “My reagents don’t kill. Disorient or paralyze, sure, but nothing irreversible.”

“Which is why you are still considered a hero,” Vatanu snarked, “despite the obvious excesses of chemical warfare.”

“Are you still mad about the little accident from last year?”

“You blew fart gas in my face!”

“It was a stinkbomb, and you have only yourself to blame for being caught downwind.”

“I told you I was positioning south, gave you the wind direction, and you still let off that bloody abomination!”

“As fascinating as this is,” Kalachakra cut in, “perhaps we could talk about ideas for Aerovascar? Potentially saving millions of lives without wrecking the economy?”

“Certainly.” I made a mental note to look up the stinkbomb incident later, Anne would probably find it funny. Oh, who are we kidding - so would I. “I know many of you have been working on ideas to speed up production and efficiency. Care to share?”

“We would appreciate working with you, Belessar,” said a third ultra, clad in orange-and-white body armour that made him what Doyle would call a ‘natural target’. “However, we’re curious about what we get in return. You must understand that our ideas are the result of much hard work on our part.”

I’d come prepared for this question. “BAE-Dragonfly, the company I represent - and part own - has agreed to pay for any innovations or ideas that speed up Aerovascar synthesis. We can outright buy certain technology, at a fair price, depending on how much it reduces production costs.”

“That’s mighty generous of you,” replied the ultra. “And somewhat suspicious. Your company makes armoured suits, what do you get out of this?”

Kalachakra cleared his throat. “As some of you may be aware, BAE-Dragonfly sells its suits to certain qualified militaries. The Indian government requires any defence equipment purchases to have a local offset of thirty per cent - meaning that if we buy ten suits, the manufacturing value of three of them has to be produced locally. Our understanding is that, due to the nature of the technology, this is not possible. We have granted BAE-Dragonfly a concession, any investments towards reducing the cost of Aerovascar synthesis will be counted towards the offset requirements.”

The inventors around the biriyani table nodded slowly. 

“Makes sense,” the orange-and-white ultra said. “I’m Kalpavriksham. My area of expertise is to modify trees to produce certain biochemicals; I’ve been trying to get neem plants to secrete Aerovascar, but no luck so far.”

KALPAVRIKSHAM

LEVEL 15

CLASS: INVENTOR

A FARMER’S SON, KALPAVRIKSHAM GREW UP WITH A LOVE OF NATURAL THINGS, UNTIL HIS CITY-BRED MOTHER FORCED HIM TO GO TO BUSINESS SCHOOL AND GET AN MBA. HE HAS TRIED TO COMBINE HIS PASSION AND HIS TRAINING INTO A WIDE VARIETY OF PLANT-BASED PRODUCTS.

SKILL: VERY SPECIAL SECRETIONS

CAN MAKE TREES OOZE SPECIFIC TYPES OF BIOCHEMICALS. COMPOSITION AND PURITY VARY DEPENDING ON THE TYPE OF PLANT.

“Part of the challenge with the drug is the complexity of each ingredient required to produce it,” commented Rasayan. “For example, picocicrin permanganate would be an excellent catalyst in the seventh step, but it’s almost impossible to get pure picocicrin.”

“Why is that a problem?” asked Kalachakra. 

“Picocicrin is extracted from saffron,” Rasayan explained. “The best extraction processes can get it to 99% purity. The impurities, however, are catalyst poisons; so far, every time we’ve added impure picocicrin permanganate, the effect is to actually slow down the reaction instead of speeding it up.”

That was my cue to cut in. “What if you could get pure picocicrin?”

“Then we could speed up step seven significantly, increasing the yield of the intermediates and lowering the overall process cost. Why, do you have a source?”

“I’ve been working on synthetic saffron. Not there yet, but my process so far allows me to synthesize chemically pure picocicrin.”

There was a sharp intake of breath from Kalachakra. “You are trying to replicate saffron synthetically?”

“Yes. Is that a problem?”

“He’s just worried about his precious economy,” laughed Kalpavriksham. “Saffron is a vitally valuable export. A quarter-million rupees per kilogram.”

“Which works out to about two and a half thousand dollars, for you Americans,” added Vatanu. “It’s a fairly big export for us.”

“Not that large,” Kalachakra said. “We export about two hundred tons per year, with a market value around fifty million dollars. I’m more concerned that the industry employs thousands of people, who would be out of a job if cheap synthetic saffron were to flood the market. Though in this case, if it helps Aerovascar synthesis, we could overlook the issue.”

“And where was that tolerance when I was trying to make it naturally?” sniped Kalpavriksham. “Your precious Agriculture Ministry told me I needed an FDA certification! For a naturally occurring product!”

“It’s not my Agriculture Ministry, Kalpavriksham,” sighed Kalachakra. “Let’s not drag Belessar into our local political squabbles, shall we?”

“Happy to be excluded,” I said. “Anyway, I can get you synthetic picocicrin, upwards of 99.9% purity. How much do you think you’d need?”

“For the national supply of Aerovascar?” Rasayan whipped out a calculator and started crunching numbers, drawing snorts of laughter from the other inventors. “Yes, yes, I use these things instead of tablets. The joke’s growing old, boys. Let me see… two hundred tons should do it.”

“Two hundred tons of pure picocicrin, coming up,” I replied. “It should take me about three weeks.”

“I think we’d all appreciate it if you stayed out of the saffron industry,” sighed Kalachakra. “Making that much picocicrin would require three years of cultivation, worldwide. How much are you going to charge for it?”

I shrugged. “Market price for 98% picocicrin should do, if you let us have it as a credit towards offsets.”

“I’ll talk to the Ministry and try to convince them.”

“You’re getting fleeced,” interrupted Kalpavriksham. “99.9% should be worth at least thrice as much as 98%.”

“Which is why I’m hoping the government will agree to the deal,” I smiled. “It’s good enough for us to agree to, and it helps get Aeroscar costs down - both wins.”

“You’re leaving value on the table.”

“Not everything in MBA textbooks has to be implemented all the time, Kalpavriksham.”

The ultra bristled. “How do you know I have an MBA?”

… Busted. How to talk myself out of this one?

Ah well, just roll with it. 

“I made a wild guess. ‘Value on the table’ is a typical MBA term.”

Vatanu chuckled. “He’s got you there. Besides, most of us know you have one of those things - because you insist on telling everybody you come across.”

“Fine, I just don’t want Nanocloud spying on me.”

“Nanocloud isn’t spying on you,” I sighed. “Honestly, she’s got too much homework right now.”

“We heard about a universal surveillance web,” commented Vatanu. “It does sound sinister. Then again, it’s hard to imagine a sixteen-year-old girl as, well, some sort of diabolical mastermind.”

“That’s his sister you’re talking about, Vatanu,” chided Rasayan. “Please be respectful.”

“Thank you, Rasayan, it’s fine,” I said. “On a separate note, which of you would be up for an alien defence?”

An awkward silence cast across the three inventors. One that spoke volumes for their willingness.

I sighed. “Perhaps, at least, contribute to the defence? Tools, equipment?”

“I’m a bit too old to be dodging laser fire,” said Rasayan. “I can provide stockpiles of paralytic chemicals, though, if it helps. Although they are intended for humans, not aliens.”

“Given samples of alien biochemistry, could you make chemicals that work on specific species?”

Rasayan nodded slowly. “That I could do - if given samples. Live subjects for testing would be better, though.”

“Be difficult to get you live Carnotaurs,” I chuckled. “Samples of the skin of dead ones, and their tissues, for a fast-acting paralytic agent - or, heck, even itching powder - those are possible.”

“Anti-Carnotaur weaponry sells at a premium,” nodded Rasayan. “But what would you do with Carnotaur itching powder?”

“Let’s keep that a secret for now. Kalpavriksham - anything similar you can provide?”

“I’d need a chemical composition,” said the inventor. “But I can make a lot of ooze. Collecting it would be a problem, though.”

“Labour would not be a challenge,” Kalachakra said.

“It’s not labour. My oozes need to be collected from individual trees, which means at a large scale we would need people climbing them with test tubes and tapping the trees. A high risk of some tubes breaking on the way up - or the way down.”

“Perhaps I can help with that,” a fourth voice spoke up.

The individual in question strode forward, a tall and graceful gentleman in what looked like realistic power armour. No short-cuts or shoddy styrofoam patchwork - this one was reinforced steel, with a tiny engine powering the exoskeleton. Most impressively, a pair of tiny black drones floated over his left and right shoulders. 

“I am Droneacharya,” the newcomer announced. “A pleasure to meet all of you.”

DRONEACHARYA

LEVEL 48

CLASS: INVENTOR

LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT THIS RECLUSIVE ULTRA, WHO PRIMARILY MAKES MONEY BY SELLING SPECIALIZED DRONES TO A WIDE VARIETY OF CORPORATE AND MILITARY CUSTOMERS. SOME OF HIS PRODUCTS HAVE BEEN USED BY SKYGUARD.

SKILL: AUTONOMOUS DRONE MANUFACTURING

CAN PRODUCE HIGHLY ADVANCED DRONES IN LARGE NUMBERS. ABLE TO BUILD COMPREHENSIVE, AUTONOMOUS DRONE SWARMS. 

“You spoke of problems with tapping the trees,” Droneacharya said. “I can produce thousands of small drones, capable of carrying the test tubes up to the trees and tapping your ooze of choice.”

“That’ll require operators,” replied Kalpavriksham. 

“My drones are quite autonomous. Expensive, of course, but self-guided.”

“And how much do they cost?”

Droneacharya bowed. “For anything related to an alien defence, I would be happy to contribute their time free of cost. As a sign of my commitment.”

“That’s very generous of you,” Rasayan beamed.

“Think nothing of it.” Droneacharya inclined his head in my direction. “Belessar. I have heard a great deal about you. An honour to meet you, in person.”

“Thank you, Droneacharya,” I replied. “Your drones would be a powerful force multiplier on any battlefield. I’m told you sell some to Skyguard?”

“Yes, Reconnect is a valued customer. Our areas of interest overlap slightly, though his drones are much larger.”

“So you have experience making combat-capable drones?”

“Not as much,” shrugged the inventor. “My drones are autonomous, but they lack proper  weapons systems to utilize their skills. Projectile weapons are, unfortunately, not a good fit.”

“Why not?” asked Kalpavriksham. “Seems obvious. Fit a machine gun to a drone, and bang, bang, bang!”

“Recoil,” I explained, as the other inventors smirked. “Conservation of momentum means than when a small, fast-moving object - like a bullet - leaves a larger, immobile object, the immobile object will get pushed back. It’s why soldiers brace themselves against something before firing their weapons, and why you only see projectile weapons on larger aircraft.”

“Smaller airframes get tossed around horribly when firing a standard bullet,” nodded Droneacharya. “For that reason, I would need a reactionless firing system - such as a laser - in order to make my drones truly combat-capable. So far, though, I have yet to be able to build a suitable one.” Droneacharya tilted his head. “Belessar, I understand you are looking for others to join the fight against the aliens. While I would not be averse to the idea, a lack of effective combat systems has left me rather disadvantaged. Would you be willing to consider technology sharing?”

“I suppose we could work something out. If my laser technology makes your drones combat-capable, how would that impact your participation?”

“I would stockpile a suitable number of drones as a reserve. These would be deployed in the event of an alien attack. Needless to say, we could work on a compensation-sharing model, depending on how much the Stratospheric Guard values the contribution.”

“We can talk that over with my business folks, but it’s definitely workable. Of course, the larger the reserve you can build, the better; but I’d insist it be deployed wherever, say, the Rapid Reaction Division goes.”

“Agreed. I’ll have my business people contact your business people.”

Vatanu scowled. “The idea of autonomous laser-armed drones does not fill me with confidence.”

“The drones already exist, Vatanu, and they are perfectly safe,” Droneacharya said. “Consider my two companions - Hugin and Munin.”

“After the Norse ravens,” I said.

“You know your mythology, I see. Yes, they are primarily information gathering drones. Though not, of course, as sophisticated as what Nanocloud certainly has at her disposal.”

I sighed. “Nanocloud does not run a large-scale surveillance network.”

“Of course not. I did not mean to imply anything untoward, Belessar,” Droneacharya chuckled. “Although given the state of our country, such a network might not be unreasonable.”

This time, it was Kalachakra who let out a tired sigh. “I am sure you know of the privacy regulations, Droneacharya.”

“Fully aware, my dear Kalachakra. Merely stating my official position, which will inform my vote in the next election. You may take as much interest in that as you please.”

“Why does everyone assume I am interested in drumming up people’s votes?” asked Kalachakra.

“Because you are,” the four inventors chorused, simultaneously. 

I gently patted Kalachakra on the shoulder. “There, there. I know what it is to be the subject of misunderstood expectations.”

“And false rumours,” grumbled Kalachakra. “And vile calumnies, and… and… well, some of that’s not fit to print. Droneacharya, thank you for your feedback, and I’ll pass it along. In the meantime, can I request you to take Belessar’s request seriously and participate in future defences?”

“Since Belessar’s asking, the answer is yes,” Droneacharya replied. “Although I am curious about the progress of the Aerovascar synthesis project.”

“Belessar has kindly agreed to supply the quantity of picocicrin permanganate required to speed up the seventh step, which was one of the two remaining blockers,” Rasayan added. “Now all that’s left is figuring out how to accelerate step nineteen - the formation of the lytic nitro groups.”

“Lytic nitro group synthesis is being looked into by the National Chemical Laboratory,” Vatanu commented. “I’ve been following the research. They’ve tried about eight hundred different catalysts to speed up the conversion from tetranitromethane to Precursor-16. All of them failed.”

“Not to mention how toxic the tetranitromethane itself is,” Rasayan said. “There were three exposure accidents in the last month - all hospitalized, requiring significant therapy. It’s a miracle no-one’s died yet.”

“The synthesis process is inefficient and expensive, as well as highly risky,” commented Vatanu. “Unfortunately, there’s really no other known way to make Precursor-16. It’s one of the most expensive steps in a very expensive process.”

“Unless you follow the proposal put in by Dr. Sensharma, and swap the tetranitromethane with a high-order nitrocubane,” said Kalpavriksh. At the stares he got, the ultra shrugged. “What? I read the Journal of the Indian Chemical Society, just like the rest of you.”

“What high-order nitrocubanes would work?” I asked. 

“Octanitrocubane would be best,” said Rasayan. “But I doubt anyone’s going to show up with, say, a ton of it. The stuff’s incredibly hard to synthesize, and - gram for gram - more valuable than gold.”

I stifled a laugh. “Let’s assume we could get our hands on some. How much would you need to, say, produce a gram of Aerovascar?”

“About three kilos of octanitrocubane,” replied the inventor/chemist. 

So, a ratio of three thousand to one. 

To get seventy-five tons of Aerovascar, therefore, meant that I would need … two hundred and twenty-five thousand tons of octanitrocubane.

It was a tall order. Also, that much of the stuff, in one place, could blow up a city with the force of a half-megaton bomb. 

“Too much octanitrocubane in a single vessel could start a chain reaction,” Rasayan was saying. “So it would need to be packaged into smaller vessels to carry out the reactions - we’d need a massive workforce, able to titrate correctly, and to make this at scale….”

“Or a very large number of drones,” suggested Droneacharya. “Might I suggest that, instead of relying on unsteady human hands, you use the power of technology and mass production? Also, a drone will not be tempted to sneak away with some small quantum of a substance worth more than gold.” He gave me a look. “Although if Belessar has an idea, it may be worth somewhat less soon.”

“I believe I can get the octanitrocubane,” I found myself saying. “At cost.”

“What’s it going to cost us?” asked Kalachakra. 

“Support, mostly, but I won’t be asking money for this specifically.”

“I’d offer a discount against offsets,” Kalachakra said, “but this is… a lot of octanitrocubane. Although I am curious where you get it from.”

“It’s the primary component in my missiles.”

Kalachakra looked stunned. “You use octanitrocubane in your missiles? Not TNT?”

“Yes. It’s why they pack that much of a punch.”

Droneacharya chuckled. “And are worth more than the GDP of a small city, it seems. It will be interesting working with you, Belessar.”

“If you can provide the picocicrin of required purity,” Kalachakra murmured, “and supply enough octanitrocubane to accelerate Precursor-16 synthesis… I think, gentlemen, that might actually solve the Aerovascar supply problem.”

“I’ll get working on the octanitrocubane and picocicrin permanganate,” I said. “I’ll need some information on how to package and ship it. Meanwhile, I hope to see all of you at the next defence?”

“You can count me in,” Droneacharya said. “Assuming I get the lasers, of course.”

“We’ll consider it,” Rasayan said. 

“Thank you, gentlemen, that’s all I ask.” 

As Kalachakra and I steered away from the inventors - who had returned to attacking the mutton biriyani with an enthusiasm seen mostly in starving college students - I spoke to Kalachakra. “That was a convenient meeting.”

“Yes, most convenient.”

“Too convenient. Did you know this would happen?”

Kalachakra sighed. “Is it that obvious?”

“I’ve been an ultra a long time, Kalachakra. Happy coincidences don’t happen without a ton of planning.”

“You are right about that,” Kalachakra replied. “There is a precog called Twinsight - a major consultant to the Union Home Minister.”

“I’m guessing he can see two futures?”

“He can consider a decision, and then visualize two futures - one in which the decision was made, one where it was not. He can identify the differences, and use that to infer the effect of the decision. A strong power. The Minister believes strongly in him… Twinsight predicted that at this conference, if Rasayan, Vatanu and Kalpavriksham were to meet you, then the Aerovascar problem had a high chance of being solved.”

“So it was a precog-aided setup.”

“I hope you understand.”

I shrugged. “You could have told me, but I understand the need for secrecy. Did Twinsight also predict Droneacharya? Or anything else?”

“He mentioned some new ultras would offer you special insight into solving the problem, but he did not mention names. Twinsight’s power isn’t as precise as we would like it to be, but the Home Minister values his advice - just as the Finance Minister values mine.”

I chuckled. “So that’s why they asked about your drumming up votes.”

“It’s no secret that I am, openly, a strong supporter of our current government. Twinsight and I - we advise different factions of it, with my voice being valued more by Finance Minister Aurobindo Singh, while Twinsight is the darling of Home Minister Abhinav Chowdhary. For reference, that is Kumaraswamy’s boss. However, both of us are viewed with a degree of distance by other ultras because of our …. strident opinions.” 

“You openly support the party of your choice, and that’s alienating other ultras?”

“Not alienating, more … there is a certain social distance, between the ones who think of themselves as free agents and those who are seen as loyalists to a political cause.”

“You have my sympathies.”

“Thank you. I must be heading out soon and informing the Ministers. Twinsight will, of course, cherish the thought of being right; and I can hardly fault him.”

“Good luck.”

We turned the corner, and ran into a rather irritated-looking purple-sequined superheroine.

Shadow looked infuriated. She walked up to me, her finger pointed squarely in my direction. 

“You!”

“How can I help you, Shadow?”

“I told you to take the stairs! You went haring off into the lawn! Jumping all over the place!” Her finger poked me in the chest, driven by the anger of the short, irritate superheroine.

In retrospect, it was somewhat like being prodded by an angry rabbit. 

“I do believe my speech had the right effect.”

“Aaaaarghhh!!!” The heroine wheeled around and stomped off.

“Your protege seems a mite miffed,” I chuckled.

“I’d thought the two of you would get along,” sighed Kalachakra. “She’s roughly your age, or so I understand. The younger generation can be difficult to manage, sometimes.”

“Is she family?”

“No, but a family friend. Actually, she’s a very sweet young lady, and her passion for the internship - and the career opportunities it offers - is a refreshing break from the Byzantine politics at work.” 

“How does one ultra get an internship with another, anyway?”

“One doesn’t. She’s the first person to ever ask.” Kalachakra chuckled. “If it isn’t too much trouble, I’d like her to benefit from the opportunities it provides to consider - alternative career paths.”

“You think the acting thing is not for her.”

“Definitely not. She told you about that? She must trust you already.” Kalachakra paused. “I had intended to have her learn on the job by working on some special assignments, and report back to me and the Ministry what she learnt. I hope you won’t mind if she does drop in from time to time, to understand the status of the project and inquire if you face any challenges?”

“It’s fine. I can handle any questions she might have.”

“Thank you, Belessar. And thank you for your efforts today. You can stay and enjoy the party - see if you can rope in a couple more.”

“Don’t you want to meet the other ultras?”

“I’ve met most, and my understanding is that they’re here to meet you, not chat with a government-affiliated savant. Do enjoy your evening, Belessar.” Kalachakra bowed and walked off. 

Which left me with the moment I’d been waiting for - a moment where I had time to myself.

Slowly, I pulled up the notification that had displayed when I spoke to Porcupine. It twinkled, in the manner that any Quest Update would twinkle.

Only, this was for the Quest I’d almost given up on, for lack of clues.

QUEST UPDATE: SAVE THE MISSING CHILDREN.

PORCUPINE’S BROTHER IS ONE OF THE MISSING CHILDREN YOU DID NOT TRACK DOWN ALL THIS TIME. 

FIND OUT WHERE HE DISAPPEARED TO. IDENTIFY WHERE THEY WENT, AND WHAT TOOK THEM. 

ONCE YOU HAVE THE ANSWER, THE NEXT CLUE WILL BE REVEALED. 

FINAL QUEST REWARD: +10,000,000 XP + 500 ETHICS + RELATIONSHIP INCREASE WITH ALL NATIONS WHERE MISSING CHILDREN ARE RETURNED ALIVE.

Ten million XP and five hundred ethics. Crippling Attack, my assault on the Hierarchy forces at Lonavala, had netted me three million as a quest reward, and Forge of Adamant would offer only four million. 

Why would finding a set of missing children be tougher than fighting off dozens of Carnotaurs?

What exactly had I found myself in?