TBoB - Book 8 - Chapter 11 - The State of the Falls (Patreon)

“How long are you planning to stick around?” Alice asked, before popping a few colorful chocolate candies into her mouth.“As long as it takes to clean up,” I replied. “Unfortunately, I only have a handful of support vehicles, and they’re fairly slow, so it’ll take a couple of days to rip apart the defenses.”

“Did you ever consider leaving them in place? They were pivotal in the defense of the town,” Oggy said. I glanced back at the girl, expecting her to be looking at me, but found that she was still head down on the counter.

“Well… I guess I could leave a couple panels in place if the townspeople want a monument or something, but I wouldn’t recommend using it as an actual fortification going forward,” I said. “The truth is, even though the Bear-a-cades make exceptional stopgap measures, traditional fortifications work far better in the long run. The Bear-a-cades are designed to provide cover for my troops, not regular-sized people, and they’re held in place with anchoring spikes that are driven into the ground with pneumatic pistons. Some might be placed on uneven ground, creating small gaps that could be exploited, and others might have their anchors driven into unstable ground and could collapse if they’re ever disconnected from their neighbors.”

“Why use them if they have so many issues?” Oggy asked. 

“Because the modularity, ease-of-use, and the fact that they can be removed after combat, make them far more useful to me than a bulkier made-to-fit option,” I explained. “Normally, they’re used to lock down streets. I think this is the first time I’ve used them to cover such a large area and, honestly, if I had known what we’d have to deal with, I probably would have deployed something else. I swear, every time the Antithesis made it to the wall, they managed to breach it. In fact, the only reason we managed to hold back the last wave of mutants was because Bob hopped over the wall and took a hit that would have completely devastated the walls.” 

“That does sound like something he’d do,” Sharron laughed.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Unfortunately, the thing hit him so hard that he had to undergo a complete rebuild. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but he had to be close to taking critical damage and ending up like Heavy. I really need to get them more help so they can stop getting messed up so often.”Oggy sat up and turned her head towards me. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”“Oh! Sorry,” I chuckled. “Bob and Heavy are two of my Command Staff, like Dusty over there,” I said, gesturing towards the little bear that was perusing the bookshelf.  

Dusty jumped and looked up from the book in his hand. “Hey, nice to meet you,” he said, waving slightly before returning to the book. 

“So… I’ve got to ask. Why is your entire military made up of Teddy bears?” Oggy asked.

“They’re not. I have all sorts of creatures. Foxes, Frogs, Chameleons…” I said. 

Oggy held up her hand. “Sorry, I guess I should have said plush animals.”“Oh, well… When I was first starting out I felt a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of Antithesis that I was running into, so I asked my AI Nyx for some backup,” I explained. “Unfortuantely, the Class I combat bots they suggested looked like something out of a nightmare, so I asked them for a covering and well… you can see what they came up with. I probably could have changed it, but they kind of grew on me over time, so I stuck with the aesthetic.”

“Wait, really? That’s the story behind your troops?” Alice asked. 

“That’s it. Don’t get me wrong, I love the little guys now, but I probably would have chosen something incredibly boring if Nyx had left it to me,” I admitted. “I tend to be more concerned about the price and effectiveness of my gear than what it looks like.”

“Huh. I kind of expected a more entertaining, or at least playful reason behind their appearance,” Alice said. 

“Sorry to disappoint you,” I replied, giving her a small apologetic smile. 

“It’s not disappointing, just a little surprising is all,” Alice replied. “I thought it was your idea.”

I shrugged slightly before jumping up and leaning over the counter to steal another couple of candies from her cup before retreating towards the couches. “So, how many samurai are still in the area? When you said you wanted to introduce me to someone I expected half a dozen people, not just Oggy.”“Not many,” Alice admitted. “A lot of them left a day or two after the hive was destroyed. We had a small, dedicated contingent stick around for another couple of weeks, mapping out and sterilizing the tunnel network, but most of them have moved on already. It’s just me, Mud, Dial-up, Lag, Oggy, and Townsend now.”I turned back towards her and raised an eyebrow. “Townsend?”

“It’s a species of mole,” Oggy explained. “Which is a apt name, because I don’t think I’ve seen her above ground since she arrived.”

“Huh, well, I’m going to be here for another couple of days, maybe I’ll run into them,” I said.

“Unlikely,” Oggy yawned. “The only reason I even knew she was here is because a couple of my wayward nanites found her in the tunnels. I wasn’t joking when I said I’ve never seen her above ground, she’s been down there for weeks now.”“That can’t be healthy,” I muttered. 

“No, it can’t,” Sharron agreed. “Maybe I’ll wander out there in the next few days and see if I can find her. Both to say hello and check that she’s okay.”“That’s a good plan,” I said. “I may join you, depending on how busy I get with the cleanup,” I said, sinking into one of the plush chairs. “Speaking of other samurai, where’s Mud? I kind of expected to see him here.”“I’m not sure,” Alice admitted. “I let him know you were on your way, and he said he’d drop in… He’s probably up in his garage, working on one of his bikes. He tends to get distracted while working on those things.”“He has a garage now?” I asked, surprised.

“He kind of needed one. He has close to a dozen bikes, and even though the locals might find their presence comforting, he couldn’t just leave them all sitting around in the middle of the street,” Alice said. “He built a red brick building that ‘evokes the feeling of the pre-antithesis biker bars’, or so he claims. It just looks like an old rundown building covered with neon signs and graffiti to me. If you ever want to check it out it’s pretty much right across the road from my lab’s entrance, it’s hard to miss.”“And what about Dial-up and Lag? I know they can’t visit in person, but I’d like to have a word of them while I’m in town.”“Well… Unfortunately, I’m not quite sure what they’re doing right now, I just know they’re extremely busy right now,” Alice replied. “Lag popped in a couple of days ago and told me that they’d continue to crush the tunnel systems around here with their tanks, but would need to focus on dealing with something in the Mesh for a few days, and I haven’t talked to either of them since then.” “A problem on the Mesh? What could that be? Someone stealing people’s bank account information?” A virus? A virus stealing people’s bank account information?” I asked.

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask them the next time you see them,” Alice said.

“Evelyn, you do more to the Mesh than payment processing, right?” Sharron asked.

“I know, but that’s the first thing that comes to my mind whenever someone discusses the Mesh around me. It’s not exactly a place that a lot of undercity citizens have a chance to visit, and everytime it was mentioned in the news it was because some rich CEO lost a fortune to some sort of scam,” I replied.

“While there’s certainly some of that, the Mesh is a lot deeper than that,” Oggy declared. “Especially if you have a little tech know-how, it’s like an entirely new world.”

“Yeah, well, I certainly don’t have the know-how to access it,” I replied. “I barely remember to check the messages on my augs. I’m sure I’ll explore it one day, if the kids ever get interested in it, but I’ll avoid it for now. I have enough problems to deal with in the real world.”“Me too…” Oggy groaned. “Hunger pains.”“Oh, speaking of which,” I said, gesturing towards the door just as someone knocked hard enough to shake the door. 

Alice nodded towards the portal shot open, causing Bob to come stumbling through, arm outstretched. “Did someone order cookies?” he asked, holding out a bag once he’d regained his balance. 

Oggy shot to her feet. “Absolutely!” 

“Well, enjoy them. There are plenty where those came from,” I chuckled. “And I’m not going anywhere in the next few days. You should come up and visit the ship before I leave, I’ll give you a tour.”“Maybe I will… Oggy said. “As long as you provide some quality treats.” 

“I can’t promise they’ll be anywhere near as good as these; they were given to me by a friend I met in Seattle, but I’ll do my best,” I promised.

“In that case, I’ll look forward to it,” Oggy declared as she wandered towards Bob. “For now, we eat!”