TBoB - Book 7 - Chapter 77 - Loose ends (Patreon)

There'll probably be one last chapter for book 7, an epilogue, then I'm planning on taking Thur/Fri off. I have a general idea on what I want to do for book 8, but absolutely no ideas where to start, or where I want it to go, so I need to think about it. I'll start it monday.

Hope you guys enjoyed. Let me know.A light knock on the door finally shook me from my musings. I padded over to the entrance and triggered the door mechanism. Even though I could have accessed the security system and checked who it was, after being plunged into the command network for so long, and then taxing my brain by using the network to its full potential in order to survive my encounter with the Gene Tender, I just wanted to be offline for a while. 

Besides, the only people with access to Bear Force One were the Samurai and support staff I’d already authorized. If it had been someone dangerous, I’m sure I would have heard the sounds of weapons fire long before now. 

Beyond the door I found a familiar fox-shaped figure.

“I, uhhh, heard about what happened below,” Cinnamon said, her ears twitching slightly. “Are you doing okay?”“I’m fine, just tired,” I replied, stepping aside so she could come in. “I checked everyone’s status before coming up, and it said you were helping with medical aid.”“I was,” she replied. “However, the search for survivors has been slow, and even when we found someone, I wasn’t always the closest medic to them. Since I was spending so much time sitting around, I decided I’d support everyone in a different way, by coming up here to bake.”I just stared at her for a minute. “Beg pardon?” 

“Oh, I know that probably sounds odd, but there’s methods to my madness. I have several samurai-grade baking catalogues, so I can enrich my pastries with all sorts of fortifying effects. I was planning on creating some that could reduce fatigue, relieve hunger, and even some plain ones for those that don’t want empowered edibles, in order to improve morale,” she explained. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a good skill set to help with the current situation, so I’m just doing what I can to help.”“Smart,” I grunted, “Better than jumping face-first into a situation that you weren’t properly prepared or geared for.”“Hey, I know you’re not specialized in underwater combat, but I was monitoring the comm channels; you didn’t go down there to fight, but to search for survivors. Things just spiralled out of control,” Cinnamon declared. “I think the fact that you managed to perform the killing blow on the Gene Tender, despite being ill-prepared for a fight, is amazing.”“I got lucky,” I grumbled. “The fight wasn’t without casualties.”“Still, it could have been much worse,” Cinnamon said. “You did what you could.”

“Maybe,” I replied tiredly. “I’ve gone over the battle a dozen times in my head, probably hundreds more through the command network, and I’m tired of thinking about it. I can’t change what happened.”

“That’s very mature,” Cinnamon said, settling into a chair. “But are you okay? Is there anything I can do?”

I let my head roll back so I could stare at the ceiling. “I’m fine. Tired, and worried about Heavy, but otherwise fine,” I said. “And for what you could do… would you mind if you brought me a batch of your cookies? I had a nutribar to help cheer me up, but it wasn’t as effective as I expected.”Cinnamon opened her mouth and raised a hand like she wanted to say something, but she seemed to reconsider and instead nodded. “I can do that!” 

“And… could you maybe make a batch right before I leave? I don’t know when I’m leaving exactly, but I know my family would love to try them,” I said.

“I can do better than that! I can deliver them fresh to your home!” Cinnamon declared. 

“Uhhhh… I live in another city though,” I said. 

“I use delivery drones with stasis fields in the delivery bay. Same day delivery, guaranteed fresh!” the fox-girl said.

“If that’s the case, you must be quite dedicated to baking,” I muttered.

“It’s my passion. Just because I’m a samurai, doens’t mean I can’t do something I love,” she replied.

“I guess that’s true,” I replied, leaning back in my chair. 

An indicator in the corner of my augs blinked, my eye to twitch in irritation, until I checked who it was. “Uhhh, I appreciate you coming to check on me, but I have an incoming call I really need to take…”

Cinnamon shot to her feet, and held out her hands in front of her. “It’s okay! I appreciate you making time for me. We can talk more later, when I deliver your cookies, if you feel up to it,” she said.

“I’d like that,” I said with a smile. As she headed to the exit, I connected to the ship’s systems and flicked my hand toward the door, opening it for her. I waited until she left before closing it behind her and connecting to the call.

[So, how is he?] I asked the beaver who had called me.

[Processor is completely shot, like we expected; The spike triggered a power surge, blowing out his backup systems and destroying his neural net,] the beaver said. [He’s a total loss.]

[So, he’s dead,] I muttered.

[What? No, ma’am. I’m just talking about his body. Completely trashed; we could fix it, but it be far easier just to buy or print a new one,] the beaver explained.

[But you said his neural net collapsed,] I said, confused.

[Uh-huh, but the big bots all regularly back up their neural patterns onto the command network, which means we can put his brain back in a new body,] the beaver explained, before pausing. [I will warn you, his personality might not be exactly the same. While we can back up the neural pattern, we can’t back up the… let’s call it spark of life. He might not be the same at the beginning, but if you treat him the same, he should slowly return to the way he was.]

I frowned. [Well… That’s not ideal; it’s better than him disappearing forever,] I replied. [How long will it take to get him up and running again?] 

[Body? Four hours on the Class III machines; the commanders are complex and have a lot of tech shoved into their frame. The mind, on the other hand… Week minimum. Rebuilding a mental pattern is complex, and if it’s not done properly, then it could cause cascading errors, or even affect the backup pattern. I’d recommend having a squad of frogs monitor the process to prevent anything from happening,] the beaver said.

[I’ll arrange it. Thanks for letting me know,] I replied. [Can you arrange for time on the Class III machine? I don’t care what else is on the docket, this is top priority,] I said.

[Ayup, I’ll take care of it,] the beaver replied. 

[Thank you for all your hard work; keep me informed,] I said, before cutting the line.

Leaning back in my chair, I let out a sigh of relief. Heavy losing his personality was bad, really bad, but compared to losing him completely… I’d have to ask Deadbeat if there was any way to help him recover properly and make sure all those recommendations were applied properly. Heavy and all my other squad mates had saved my life dozens of times. It was the least I could do.

I was about to sit up and head to the bridge in order to get an update from Spooky when my augs flashed again. “I cut myself off from the command network in order to get a few minutes of peace and quiet. I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy,” I muttered as I accepted the call.

[Hey Dierdre, how are things going?] I asked.

[Hey Evelyn, I know you just got back topside and probably want a few minutes to yourself, but I have some news,] Dierdre replied.

[While you were down below, I pulled some strings to get access to the global satellite network in order to track all the Antithesis that fled the area,] Deirdre said.

[I know, I know, I’ve been informed,] I said. [Do you already have the results?]

[Yeah. We’ve been pushing the data through the biggest neural network processor in Seattle and…] Deirdre said, trailing off.

[And?] I prompted, feeling a little annoyed by her hesitation.

[Do you want the good news, or the bad news?]