RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

Three days later, Hans returned to the laboratory. The argument had apparently survived the calibration.

"It’s point zero three outside the reference."

"Which is inside tolerance."

"For the old reference."

Kordula looked across the workstation.

"You spent three days recalibrating the fucking thing."

"And found a discrepancy."

"Point zero three."

"It still counts."

Hans stopped beside them. If anything, hearing them argue was reassuring.

"The calibration seems to be going well. Is the laboratory useful now?"

"Yes," Tyrus answered.

"Yes," Kordula repeated a moment later.

Several workstations deeper inside the HELIX section were active now, along with equipment that had remained dark during his previous visit.

Other rooms were still sealed, but neither Tyrus nor Kordula seemed particularly concerned about them anymore.

Tyrus moved through another diagnostic screen.

"The important systems are stable enough to begin. Anything beyond this can be dealt with as we need it."

Kordula leaned against the console. "And we did all that in three days."

"Under my strict guidance. Otherwise, your sole expertise would have..."

Hans left them to continue the argument. The trip back from the Nuclear Power Station was considerably quieter.

He spent most of it looking through the window. The secured road down south had changed again.

Checkpoints occupied the larger intersections, Engineer vehicles moved between work areas, and military traffic passed in both directions without anyone waiting for Hans to tell them where to go.

A few months ago, that would have felt strange. Hans would have micro-managed every little bit to survive one more day without being overrun.

Now, such operations barely registered anymore.

By the time the vehicle reached northern Ironford, Hans had already decided he did not want to handle more paperwork for today.

He got out near one of the secured buildings and went upstairs instead.

"I need some time alone."

"Understood, Commander."

Callum’s footsteps faded down the stairs.

Hans reached the rooftop and found it empty. He walked toward the edge and rested his hands against the concrete barrier.

Northern Ironford stretched out below him. This area was packed with industrial buildings from left to right.

Now, it still remained industrial, though the owner had become him.

A War Factory occupied part of the old industrial yard, its wide deployment lanes feeding into roads that had once carried civilian trucks between warehouses.

Power Plants stood farther behind the secured perimeter, while vehicles moved between checkpoints and construction sites without much interruption.

Hans watched one Guardian APC disappear behind a warehouse. Another came from the opposite direction.

He had no idea where either was going. That kind of feeling was new to him.

A few months ago, almost every vehicle movement eventually traced back to something he personally ordered. A squad moved because he sent it. A tank appeared because he bought it. A structure existed because he stood on the ground and deployed it himself.

Now there were too many of them. Not too many in the sense that he wanted fewer.

That would be stupid.

Hans pushed away from the barrier and started walking across the rooftop. His boots carried him toward the opposite side before he turned around and came back again.

Saicine was already moving without him.

The Core was being surrounded without him.

Tyrus and Kordula had spent three days bringing a laboratory back into working condition while Hans dealt with everything else that kept appearing on his desk.

Even the Nuclear Power Station itself no longer needed him standing outside its gates every morning. That was supposed to be the point.

He built the army so he would not have to personally solve every problem.

Hans stopped near the middle of the rooftop.

So why did it feel strange now that what he wanted was finally happening?

He resumed walking.

Maybe because everything had happened too quickly. Survival became a base. The base became several bases.

A few squads became companies, and those companies kept multiplying until Matilda finally told him to worry about the people behind them instead.

Now there were roads under military control, survivor settlements depending on those roads, facilities being restored, cities being attacked, and another city north of Grefort slowly falling into his hands.

Hans scratched the back of his head.

"Just what the hell am I even building?"

The System offered nothing.

Come to think of it, it had never offered much direction at all.

It gave him units, structures, promotions, and requirements, but never a mission telling him where to go next. Not even some stupid side quest whenever things became boring.

Hans had always decided that part himself.

He walked back toward the edge.

Grefort remained visible beyond Ironford, though much of the city disappeared behind buildings and distance.

Somewhere farther south, tens of millions of infected sat around something even the infected themselves refused to approach.

And once that was gone?

Saicine needed a Shipyard eventually. The airport still waited. So did the dam and the river beyond it.

And after Grefort?

Hans stared at the horizon.

The System certainly wasn’t going to tell him to stop. Every promotion only gave him more ways to continue, and he could already imagine the next requirement demanding more soldiers, vehicles, structures, or something even more ridiculous.

Maybe that was the problem.

He knew how to expand, fight, and break impossible problems down until his army could handle them.

Hans slowed near the stairwell.

For several seconds, he simply stood there. The city continued moving below him.

Hans released a long sigh.

"That was quite a sigh."

Hans froze.

Kimmy stood near the stairwell.

He opened his Radar almost by habit. Her green marker stood behind him.

Hans searched for the one he expected beside it. For some miraculous reason, Yunera wasn’t there.

The next familiar green marker was several dozen meters away. Hans looked back at Kimmy.

"Coming up here alone, has your sister finally let you go?"

Kimmy’s lips curved slightly. "You’re becoming silly. I can walk upstairs by myself now, Hans."

"So how does it feel now? Your senses, I mean."

"My mind has never been this powerful. The world, I didn’t know it could be this beautiful."

"Your world’s about to be better."

Kimmy pursed her lips and took a short moment to reply.

"And yours?"

Hans looked at her.

"My what?"

"Your world. You said mine is about to become better."

His attention returned to Ironford.

"That sigh gave me away, huh?"

"Your pacing did more of that."

Hans glanced across the rooftop. "You noticed that?"

"I felt you walking back and forth before I reached the stairs."

"That’s unfair."

Kimmy smiled. "So are your soldiers."

Hans chuckled. She walked closer to the edge, stopping beside him.

"So what were you thinking about?"

"Too many things."

"You normally like having too many things to think about."

Hans looked at her again.

"Why does everyone keep using my habits against me?"

"I don’t think everyone does."

The answer bought him several seconds before Kimmy returned to the question.

"What were you thinking about?"

Hans rested his arms against the concrete barrier.

"Where this ends."

Kimmy remained quiet.

"A few months ago, I was happy having enough soldiers to keep me and the small group alive. Now there’s a huge army up north. And another surrounding the center. And I realized, I don’t know where some of my soldiers are going anymore."

"Does that bother you?"

"More than it should. I was not born to be in this kind of life. The... program was never meant to be... active."

"And yet here you are, Hans."

"Yeah. Here I am, commanding an ever-growing army to fight who-knows-what. When Grefort is done, what am I suppposed to do? Become the next great conqueror of this planet?"

Kimmy remained quiet for a moment.

"Do you want to, Hans?"

Hans looked at her.

"What?"

"To become a conqueror. To rule the planet?"

He stared before snorting. "Do you think I have a choice on that one? With the current trends, you ought to know where this is heading."

Kimmy rested her hands against the barrier.

"Must you always answer to your calling, Hans?"

"I can probably drop this bravado right now and pick up a rake down the street. Put up my own farm."

"Why do you not want that life?"

"This thing will still follow me anywhere."

"Your program?"

"It’s not something I can detach on my own."

"Does it force you to keep going?"

Hans paused. "For now. Whatever the case is. It never told me to take Grefort. Never told me to build any of this. I did it. On my own."

Kimmy stayed quiet for a moment.

"Then perhaps you need someone to reward you when you make good decisions."

Hans looked at her.

"And punish me when I don’t?"

"If you keep building something worth living in, I’ll stay beside you."

"And if I become that terrible conqueror?"

"I’ll stay close enough to make your life miserable until you stop."

Hans stared at her. Kimmy remained silent.

The rooftop was suddenly embroiled in something mysterious.

"You’re using your powers, aren’t you?"

"I’m not."

"Yeah. Your blush says otherwise."

"Hans, you—"

"The SAS greets you with such honor and reverence. And what do we have here? A Young Star-Blood about to unleash her own supernova."

"You dummy! I—"

Kimmy stopped herself and turned away.

Hans chuckled. "What? Did I get it wrong?"

"You understood perfectly well."

That shut him up for a moment. Kimmy’s face was still warm, but her voice settled.

"I meant what I said."

Hans looked at her.

"Both parts?"

"...Both."

"That’s quite the commitment from you."

"Someone has to make sure you don’t become insufferable."

"A bit late for that. What if your brother says otherwise?"

Kimmy smiled despite herself.

"He won’t have the chance."

"And how are you going to do—"

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