As you grow into your new strength, into your new role in the world, a lot of you will realize that your hormonal levels will have stabilized, bringing control to your urges and desires that you were experiencing before. Most of the time, this happens because your AI optimised your hormones when you underwent your bodily upgrades, as a vast majority of them see recreational sex as a distraction.
I am here to tell you that such activities are not a distraction, but a reward for the hard work you will do in the future, and that none of you should be ashamed to seek out such pleasures. In fact, I have just sent you all the my hotel room key, and I invite everyone to-
-An excerpt from Samurai Doma, giving a speech to Samurai in New New York shortly before being banned from giving speeches in New New York as the event coordinators cut her mic, 2052
The rest of the day moved by quickly, with Bahamut dragging me out of my office for dinner. I had gotten pretty lost in both dealing with some direction questions for the PMC from Tungsten as well as going over applications for the Pandora’s crew, having successfully shortlisted a number of officers and crewmembers already. Okay, I say already, but I had also experimented with my perception acceleration to see how long I could keep it up at different speeds.
For my maximum, approaching-the-speed-of-lightning speed, I could hold it for ten perceived minutes, which looked like three seconds to others. For the maximum duration, however, I could comfortably sustain my speed at a factor of ten to one. Meaning for every ten seconds in thought, one second would pass in reality. I could also have ten parallel processes going at the same time, which made work easier. I could increase those numbers by connecting to the external processors in the Screen, but those were being used by the PMC for training right now.
Morrigan had assisted me in monitoring my speeds and health through my Network, letting me know that my fastest was close to her own speeds and giving me tips on how to better optimize my thoughts. I thought I was impressive after her praise, but then Synaptic burst my bubble by telling me that I was approaching a near fully loaded Morrigan, with ninety six percent of her processors already in full use.
I took solace in the fact that my rating as an antithesis player in Samurai Rush was higher than hers, however. The Niltmore Employees rated me higher due to my pacing, rather than Morrigan’s dedication to the extermination of the other team. She claimed it was for research, to better understand the enemy, but everyone called her out on her bullshit.
We all knew it was because she hated playing the xenos and wanted the game to be over as quickly as possible.
I was enjoying seeing the different playstyles that the women utilized, as many of them took inspiration from various known Samurai to play as, with others creating their own unique styles. One thing that they all had in common, however, was that they were very aggressive and rarely played defensively. Quite a few games ended within ten minutes, as they would rush the hive structure the moment they discovered it, with this strategy ending in Samurai Victory more and more often.
I also sent an email to the company who owned Samura Rush, indicating that I would be willing to not only add a number of new catalogs for use, as well as the balancing to make them viable and not overpowered, but also a few of my old antithesis models Cody and I made years ago. A number of flyers based on moths, a new type of shock troop based on Cassowaries, and a new design, something for mid to late game antithesis players to enjoy, based on my recent experience with actual xenos, the turtle wall breaker.
I nerfed the hell out of it, of course, as it required Class III catalogs to even scratch it normally, and the highest comparable catalog for Samurai Rush was Class II. Fewer needles in the projectiles, weaker acid, softer armor, not to mention twenty percent smaller than the actual thing. I received an automated email telling me that my request was under review and that someone would get back to me soon.
I had Synaptic plant a daemon on my files to make sure they would not simply rip my stuff and use it anyways. They were a subsidiary of Nimbletainment, however, who had a very good track record of working with Samurai. Did that mean I trusted them? No, not at all.
As for the direction that I wanted the PMC to move in going forward, that was a question I had no thoughts on until I was directly asked. I had seen most of the PMCs in New Phoenix operate in one form or another throughout the years, and I knew for certain that I did not want a fanatical group. While I am sure they would be pretty effective, I hated dealing with them in any capacity, and I didn’t want that negative association to form with my own people.
The biggest thing for me was to actually deal with the antithesis first and foremost, something Morrigan had made sure to incentivise through her equipment policies, followed closely by the protection of civilians over property. Stuff can be repaired, and based on the projected sales of Morrigan’s R&D stock, money would no longer be an issue as far as lawsuits went. Which, much to my annoyance, would be a thing we would have to deal with, considering how petty landlords were.
I wondered if we had an actual legal team, or what the plan for legal representation was, and pinged Bahamut to ask. He indicated that Roger was screening the team, considering they would have to protect all of Real Dreams, and not just The Monster Box. He did say that the legal teams from the PMCs we absorbed were decent enough for short term use, but they had a lot of problems tied to them, so they would have to be replaced soon.
Eventually, I entered the common room, and I was surprised to see that only Cari and Opal were present at dinner, with Synaptic having convinced Opal to buy a Class I Gourmet Meal Catalog, if the container that appeared on the table was any indication. I narrowed my eyes at the floating eye, causing it to roll. “Before you ask, no, I was not jealous of Baba Yaga for cooking for you all instead of you buying meals from me. Opal was already curious about Protector made food, considering her father gave every excuse under the sun to not give her any.”
I glanced at Opal as I sat down and grabbed a plate of what looked like a large pastry with mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. She shrugged, “He said it would ruin my appreciation of normal food. And, to be fair, if I had had this,” she waved her fork at what I could now see was beef wellington, “before I had Buddy’s cooking, I would have agreed with him. Now? I want to see if he can do better.”
I glanced at Synaptic and saw that she had narrowed her eye at Opal. I decided to let this topic go before a storm took hold over dinner.
Taking a bite of the beef, I was impressed at not only how tender it was, but also the flavor of the juices. It wasn’t simply beef, but also had notes of a wine of some sort mixed in. The pastry was dense, yet it absorbed the juices well, holding its shape. The potatoes surprised me, as they appear to have been mixed with a white cheese of some sort. Not mozzarella, this cheese had an acrid bite to it. With the juices from the Wellington, however, it tasted amazing.
I could see that Cari and Opal were enjoying the meal, and even though I had questions I wanted to ask or topics I wanted to discuss, these quiet meals were nice in their own way. I did check in on Roger and the others to try and understand what was holding them up from being here.
Turns out, the space station required some serious overhauls in order to make it move, let alone move it to the other side of the planet. They decided to stay for the evening, both to fix the thing up enough to get it moving, and also to take care of the numerous displaced civilians. Most of them had their identities fully erased when they were either grabbed or hired, meaning that they had nowhere to go. Buddy did reassure us that he would be back tomorrow, considering he had to work in his teacher’s bar that evening.
I glanced through the schematics Morrigan was updating in real time as she scanned the station, causing me to stop eating entirely. Cari must have noticed that I was distracted, as she nudged my side with her elbow. “Is everything alright?” she asked softly. “It is rather abnormal for you to stop eating mid meal.”
I shook my head. “No, everything is alright. I am just shocked at how incompetent Bestle actually was at building their satellite.”
At Cari’s prompting, I linked her to Morrigan’s scan, causing her to pause as she saw the highlighted sections that indicated structural instability, extreme fire hazards, and inefficient logistic paths, all indicating form over function. I also saw Cody’s rants towards the coding and could only chuckle. Thankfully, Synaptic fixed things before any of the “Failsafes” hidden in the code activated.
Dinner finished quickly, and with a small chorus of satisfied sighs, I turned towards Opal. “So, I know that Yerlette is studying business management, Cari has been setting up the administration arm for Real Dreams with Roger, and Alice is doing… something that you guys are keeping quiet about, but I don’t know what you do, Opal. May I ask what it is you do during the day?”
Opal stretched her back, causing a few small pops to sound from her back. “Huh, yeah. I’m surprised that Mellow hadn’t told you yet.” She took a drink from the glass of tea in front of her. “Its nothing special, really. You know that my dad has all those charities and soup kitchens set up around the city, yeah? I volunteer at them every now and then. Moving inventory, working the kitchens, dealing with more problematic elements of the areas around the buildings. That normally includes patrolling areas with my bike and staying on call for the actual managers.”
She took a drink from her cup before continuing. “It wasn’t anything glamorous, but it was something I enjoyed doing.”
“But now? It sounds as if something changed?” I asked, noting both her tone towards the work as well as the past tense he used.
Opal shrugged, her expression indicated some remorse. “After dad left for space, the vibe of the city had changed considerably. I mean, probably not just because dad left, but also because of the other Samurai as well, but the circles I run with mostly mention him. How his absence has emboldened certain gangs to act up, about some of the more ruthless PMCs are making moves, and how a lot of the homeless are spooked by shapes in the shadows.”
That last statement put both Cari and I on alert. “Shapes in the shadows?” Cari asked, her tone concerned.
Opal waved her hand dismissively. “Not plants in the shadows, don’t worry. Consulting agents. The homeless refer to them as shapes, as they are in the shape of a human but they lost their soul, the thing that makes them human.” She chuckled while glowering at us. “Seriously, Mellow, a little trust? If there were any actual hints of antithesis, I would have alerted Jason first, then you guys.”
While Cari whispered an apology, I leaned onto the table. “And yet, we know there is also a cult of plant people working through various corporations, most likely Consulting agents as well. Would you mind getting together with Outsider and marking the areas the homeless mention the shapes are moving around? Call me paranoid, but I would rather be cautious here.”
Opal raised her eyebrow, but nodded in ascent, smirking hard. “Yeah, sure. Any excuse to be around eldritch beauty.”
With that, she stood and sauntered towards the door before she paused and glanced back. “I’m heading to your gym. Feel free to join, cause you, Vickie, need to move your body more. I would be more than happy to help you figure out your baseline.”
That got a snicker out of Cari while I nodded slowly. I really did need to move my body more, as I had barely touched the gym since I had arrived here, and I am-
Cari draped an arm over my shoulder while poking my cheek, breaking my thoughts. “Love, don’t overthink it. That was her way of inviting you for sex. Probably in the shower, knowing her. After a workout routine, of course. She never jokes about gym time.”
I was very thankful for the previous mental training earlier today, as I was able to recover very quickly. I sighed, deflating slightly, causing Cari to chuckle. I would need to have a talk with Opal about her libido soon…
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