Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Nine: You Hired My Father, Prepare to say Hi (Patreon)

“And this is the cafeteria,” I said loudly to Paul, “where we can relax and eat lunch.”

Paul looked around the tiny room with two tables and four chairs. “Do you plan on hiring more staff?”

“Not at the moment. Next door is our CEO’s office. Gideon!”

Gideon looked up wearily from his desk. “Belessar, there’s no need to shout. How do you do, Paul?”

“Quite well, thank you,” replied Paul. “Belessar was kind enough to give me the orientation tour.”

“Please take over that responsibility from him at the earliest possible time. Welcome to BAE-Dragonfly.”

As we walked into the courtyard, Paul gave me a bemused look. “What did you do to annoy him?”

“He’s just been cranky the last few days. It’s his time of the month.”

“... Excuse me?”

“At the start of each month Gideon gets cranky about something called financial closure.”

“You mean closing the books of accounts for the previous month.”

“Yeah, he gets extra cranky around then. Dr. Palmer started calling it Gideon’s time of the month and the name sort of stuck.”

“I see. Don’t you have an accounts department to handle this?”

“Nope. Gideon’s the only one.”

“And he’s handling all the financials for the company?”

“We’re only four people. Do we need more?”

Paul sighed. “Belessar, you have revenues in the millions of pounds, right? The more money you earn, the more the number of forms you have to file. A multimillion-pound enterprise usually has dozens of accountants finalizing the books; Gideon’s trying to do everything himself.”

I frowned. “I thought that was normal.”

“Not everyone has your gift for multi-tasking. Come to think of it, you should have a lot more scientists too. Why only one? And operations - you need at least half a dozen people.”

“This sounds like a job for ….  Human Resources Man.”

“I can see my work’s cut out for me. Anything else I should know?”

I chuckled. “Honoria had her seventh surgery yesterday. Combined with the half-kilo of tumour tissue we’ve been able to scrounge up from different sources, we have enough to make the fourth mentacapacitor - and then we can assemble the synthesis furnace. Which means that by tonight, the nanofibre weave fabricator should be online.”

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Standing in front of Dr. Palmer, Gideon, William and Paul, I picked up the four mentacapacitors.

“Well?” asked Sarah. “Shall we get started?”

I nodded. “Linking with the mentacapacitors now.”

Linking to the mentacapacitor was a strange experience. For a second, it felt like my brain had… bulged slightly.

LINKED MENTACAPACITORS: 1.

MP: 2708/2708.

WARNING: YOU CAN STAY LINKED TO A MENTACAPACITOR FOR A MAXIMUM OF 5 MINUTES. THE MP FROM THE MENTACAPACITOR WILL BE CONSUMED ONCE YOU CAST YOUR FIRST MP-BASED ACTION.

MP REGEN DEACTIVATED DURING MENTACAPACITOR USAGE.

A surprise limitation, because why would my power be straightforward anyway? I quickly linked the other three.

LINKED MENTACAPACITORS: 4.

MP: 4208/4208.

Energy crackled at my fingertips. My head pounded in rhythm, the strain of holding more - far more - than my MP capacity beginning to tell.

WARNING: YOU CAN HOLD MULTIPLE MENTACAPACITORS FOR A MAXIMUM OF 1 MINUTE.

Blue light streamed out, linking with the different objects arrayed in front of me.

Eight hundred kilos of fullersteel flowed like liquid around the hafnium carbide, forming a massive, hollowed-out chamber.

38 SECONDS REMAINING.

Gravitic control arrays took up positions at various points. Thin cables ran between the chamber and the control computer, and heavier ones between it and the power transformer.

The glow of plasma torches - powered by the same technology that ran HEPARs - lit.

16 SECONDS REMAINING.

My head felt like an Advanced Battlehammer was pounding on it.

“Control arrays seem misaligned,” Sarah Palmer’s voice came from far, far away. “Something’s wrong.”

TEST OF DEXTERITY FAILED.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO TEST WITH INTELLIGENCE INSTEAD?

Yes! I screamed in the recesses of my mind.

TEST OF INTELLIGENCE FAILED.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO TEST WITH LUCK INSTEAD?

For god’s sake, just stabilize!

TEST OF LUCK PASSED.

SYSTEM STABILIZING.

MENTACAPACITORS 1, 2, 3, 4 DRAINED. STATUS UPDATED TO ‘BROKEN MENTACAPACITOR’.

MP CONSUMED: 4000.

NO ACTIVE MENTACAPACITORS. MP REGEN REINSTATED.

NANOTECH SYNTHESIS FURNACE CREATED.

YOU HAVE CREATED A DEVICE WHICH HAS NOT BEEN FORGED IN THE HISTORY OF THE GALAXY AND ONLY THEORIZED. FOR THIS UNIQUE, ONE-TIME ACHIEVEMENT, YOUR MECHANIC SKILL IS UPGRADED BY +5.

NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: SPACECRAFT LEVEL 1.

STATUS EFFECT INFLICTED: UNCONSCIOUS (18 HOURS).

The last line stayed in my memory as I blacked out.