I woke up the next morning to my alarm blaring. I was bleary-eyed and very much not ready for the day, which was exactly what I got for staying up so late in the first place. I quickly made myself some coffee and enjoyed the first cup while still lying in bed, my back against the headrest. It wasn't until I had poured my second cup that I finally felt mentally prepared to leave my trailer.
I headed to the Shack, to the small kitchen we had tucked into the corner. Jackie wasn't in town, having returned to help his mother around the bar. That was fine. It just meant I would put together a simple fruit salad for breakfast, as well as a big chunk of cheese with some surprisingly decent crackers. I could have done something more fancy, but Kayt had already eaten, and cooking big things just for one person always seemed silly to me.
When I finally made my way to my workshop, watered, fed, and ready for the day, it was a bit later than I usually started. Then again, considering the state I was in when I woke up, getting to my workshop at all was a win.
With the stealth suits finished, it was time to start tackling the rest of the list. At that point, I had finished some of the big things, which just left a lot of smaller things to tackle. For instance, Vault-Tec and several of its subsidiaries and branching companies have gone out of their way to develop methods of cleaning and repairing ecosystems. Some of these devices were trash, excuses to prop up and show off as cures and fixes for the world after the apocalypse. Other things, like the water purification system I had made for during my bunker/vault spree, were actually incredibly effective and advanced for their time. Most of this technology and science would have been crammed into the G.E.C.K. database.
One of the bits I wanted the most was a method of radiation decontamination that allowed a person to remove radioactive particles and contamination from topsoil. It was a process that was significantly faster and more effective than removing the topsoil and stuffing it away in a radiation-proof container or just simply burying it, which was both how the Cyberpunk world and my old home primarily dealt with heavy radiation contamination.
Having a way to actually clean dirty was not something anyone else had here, as far as I knew. Since I just wanted to have a full understanding of the process, I built a simple, small version of the machine, which looked kind of like a miniature combine harvester.
Essentially, the machine chewed up the dirt in front of it using a grinding and digging apparatus. The dirt is then passed through a purification system, which uses a series of fields similar to the photonic resonance barriers, though not quite the same. These barriers had unique interactions with radiation, namely that particles of contaminated materials had a harder time passing through them. By passing the dirt through a dozen of them at an angle, you could slowly shift it to the side, sorting the contaminated material out of the dirt.
The result was cleaner dirt coming out the back of the machine and radioactive materials being sucked up into a storage container. Unfortunately, the process wasn't a hundred percent effective, so each strip of contaminated dirt required multiple passes to truly be considered clean and safe.
Of course, the process was far from perfect. The grinding and digging would kick up a good amount of contaminated dust, and the machine you are using will no doubt get covered in contaminated materials. Still, the process, as well as the background information about the specifically tuned projected field, was making the device worth it.
Creating the device, which was about the side of a large home refrigerator, laid out on its side, took about three hours and unlocked a solid understanding of how radioactive contamination spread and could be handled. That knowledge alone got me looking at my list again, looking to add other decontamination methods for other issues, with the hope that they would fill in more gaps in my knowledge.
I was just considering what to do next when my radio chirped.
"Jackson, we have an incoming vehicle," Murtaugh said, voice coming through clear. "It appears to be Sable Arcturus' vehicle. She is three minutes out at current speed."
"Alright, spin up the defenses, but keep them off of her directly," I ordered. "I'll be waiting for her by the Shack."
"Yes, sir."
I quickly patted myself down, confirming my pistol was on my hip, before making my way out of the workshop, sealing it up, and locking the door. I could see security tightening up as well, the AI MRVNs retreating into the production addition, where Samwise and Noah already were. Kayt and Riggs also showed up, the former jumping down from her spot on top of the security building.
"No armor?" She asked. "Guess you trust her now?"
"I feel like I'm starting to," I said, pulling down my shirt to reveal I was wearing my undersuit. "Not completely, mind you, but at this point, I'm giving her the general benefit of the doubt since she has stayed faithful to her promises."
She nodded before boosting up onto the Shack, leaving Riggs alone to defend me. Luckily, he was in his full armor, including his helmet. Arthur, his bear robot, was not far behind, looking intimidating as hell. Duke, having followed me out of the garage, sniffed around Arthur's feet before going to sit by me. I ran my hand over his head, scratching his fur as we waited for Sabel to arrive.
"Any idea what she wants?" Riggs asked, his hand casually resting on his belt, just by one of his pistols.
"Last time she was here, she mentioned eventually needing more parts to sell," I responded. "Wish I had thought of coming up with them while I had the time. I've got no idea what to give her now."
"Procrastination is a bitch."
I snorted and shook my head, looking out down the road, where I could see the approaching cloud of dust, still behind a small hill. Eventually, Sable's Rayfield Caliburn came into view, pulling out from behind the desert terrain. After a few seconds, the vehicle noticeably decelerated before returning to its original speed until it finally approached the town. The vehicle slowly pulled in through the road, passing the undeployed bollards before finally pulling in front of the Shack. A moment later, the familiar white hair, golden-eyed woman stepped out of her vehicle. She took a look around, turning to face the walls that now encircled the town center, shaking her head.
"Looks like you've been busy," She said, turning to focus on me. "You really aren't good at playing it low-key, are you?"
"We were attacked by Wraiths, and it was a knee-jerk reaction," I said with a shrug and a "what can you do" tone. "I'm surprised you didn't hear about it."
"Oh, there are plenty of rumors and questions floating about what's going on at Rocky Ridge. I just underestimated what a 'whole defensive perimeter, overnight' meant," She assured me, shaking her head. "You're lucky that, so far, I've managed to keep people focused on what you're offering."
"Oh, goodie, I love knowing people are asking questions," I said, shaking my head. "C'mon, let's get out of the sun."
I led the way inside, holding the door open for the Corpo woman. She smirked and stepped inside, only to stop and look around. The interior of the shack had changed a lot since she had last been here, including the open area above the meeting space being covered to make more room for Frank's lab.
"Looks like it's not just the outside that's changing," She said, shaking her head, before turning back to look at me, her hip cocked with her hand resting on it. "How are you making things this fast, Jackson? This kind of speed usually means some serious backing, usually a corporation burning some heavy Eddies to push things along."
"No one is backing us, Sable. Just pushing the limits of tech," I assured her. "You know what kind of stuff we are building here. You've peeked behind the curtain."
"Pushing the limits? And I'm secretly Johnny Silver's kid," she responded, shaking her head. "Fine, I won't push for more. Keep your secrets."
She turned and made her way to the table, taking a seat with her usual subtle grace. As she settled, I watched as she pulled out a cigarette, casually lighting it with a snap of her fingers, something sparking as she did. She took a slow pull as I sat down across from her, leaning back in my chair. Despite the fact that it all seemed very... average for her, there was something off.
"So, what's up?" I asked, looking her over. "You seem… different today."
She pulled her smoke from her lips and looked at me, just a slight hint of surprise on her face. As she breathed in the last bit of smoke, she chuckled lightly.
"Surprised you notice, Jackson, I thought your friend, the big guy with the pretty eyes, was the people person in your group," She said. "Did someone get a behavioral reader when I wasn't looking?"
"No, but you're not so difficult to read," I said, ignoring what she dig at Jackie. She absolutely knew his name, probably knew it before she even met any of us. "Everything okay?"
"Everything is fine. TinkerTech is doing well, the team is growing, and money is still coming in," She assured me. "We have proper accountants now, which means they set up an account for you, with your profits being sent there. Here is your access."
She slid a data chip across the table to me, and I grabbed it, carefully sliding it into my keyphone. The automated systems scanned it in depth for any harmful code before accessing it. It was the account security information, which I could pair with my own. After a bit of connecting, I could now tap into both to send money around. I steadily ignored the rather large number sitting in the account, though I did make a mental note to get Jackie asking around for more fruits and vegetables to buy.
I was desperate for him to find some salmon.
"That's good. I'm glad the business is doing well," I asked, giving her an eye, which caused her to snort.
"Nosey, aren't you? And after I promised not to poke into your secrets. Everything is fine. My grandfather called a family meeting, which I was forced to sit through," She explained. "I don't get along with them, mostly since I've been so determined to strike out on my own, while most of them are happy to ride the family name."
"What was the meeting about?"
"Family business," she responded, giving me a harsh look and holding it for a moment before laughing. "No, nothing like that, Jackson. A rival group has been getting active, and my grandfather is concerned they may be pushing for some sort of acquisition or political action. Nothing for you to worry about. It won't affect your group in the slightest. I've separated TinkerTech pretty well from my name, and even if they did connect us, they can't just go around tearing down non-connected businesses. At this point, we are starting to arrive at a safe zone, where attacking us would threaten several large-scale projects they, or anyone for that matter, can't mess with."
"I assume you'll need another batch of parts?" I asked, the corpo woman nodding. "Alright. Sit tight, I'll go get some stuff."
"...Do you think I could come with you? Maybe get a tour?" She asked, suddenly very concerned about her nails. When she looked up at me, seeing my surprised face, she shrugged. "What? You keep talking about what's happening behind the curtain. You can't expect to keep teasing a girl and for her not to get curious."
I narrowed my eyes at her, trying to judge her expression. As far as I could tell, she seemed genuinely curious. Unfortunately, she had been correct earlier when she stated that I wasn't the team's people person. Jackie was. Then again, she knew we were doing crazy things already, like my plasma pistol and how Duke actually moved. Showing a bit more wouldn't be the end of the world.
Besides, the garage had already been cleared up of anything to do with teleportation. Even the teleport room under the garage just looked like an empty room, with an attached room filled with three heavy-duty fusion generators.
"Alright. We can check out some of my worship," I agreed. "Don't expect me to answer all of your questions, though."
"Probably wouldn't understand the answers," She admitted, standing from her seat. "I know next to nothing about tech and engineering."
I stood after her, Riggs following us both as we left the Shack and made our way over to the garage. We entered through the side door, passing through the room, which now had an extra stairway going down, sealed off with another heavy-duty door. I led Sable into my workshop, heading over to my computer and sitting down. The Corpo walked around Samwise's section, admiring the room.
"Seems basics, but I'm guessing that appearances may be deceiving," She said, running her hand along the helmet of the T-51 power armor. "This looks…"
"Crude? Yeah, it's a proof-of-concept helmet for a new style of power armor," I explained. "Something a user can hop in and out of as needed and is much cheaper and easier to manufacture than other suits. This is just the basic first iteration. I want to spend some time refining it into something really impressive."
She looked shocked for a moment, studying the helmet for a moment before looking back at me.
"Rapid deployment power armor?" She asked, with a hint of confusion. "How quick can you get in and out of it?"
"At the moment, five or six seconds," I answered with a shrug. "I'm pretty sure I can lower that, though. Like I said, the systems are crude at the moment, just a proof of concept. Some work should bring the armor and tech up to more realistic levels."
"Fucking hell, six seconds? You realize you've got your closest competitor beat by a minute or two already," She assured me, pulling her hand away from the helmet. "How did you manage that?"
"By simplifying the system until there was enough room for several parts to fold out, letting the user climb in and out as they wish," I explained. "Would you like to see it? It's stored away at the moment, but I could go get it. The helmet is more of a desk ornament than anything."
"No, that's fine. I don't want to bother you for too long. We both have work to do, after all," Sable responded, her eyes still trailing over the shop. "What can you give me to bring back?"
"Well…If I'm honest, I meant to put a box together over time, but I forgot," I admitted. "So-"
"Sir, Sam mentioned putting some suggestions together on a list synced with your keyphone," Riggs said from beside the doorway. "You've been busy for the past few days."
"Damn, he is a lifesaver," I said, pulling out my phone, quickly finding the list app we used.
Samwise, brilliant AI that he was, had created a list of a dozen different items, ranging from the new coolant liquid we had just formulated from the Fallout nuclear generator to a more durable LED that was cheap and powerful. I quickly went through the list and selected four of them, including the LEDs. The Fallout coolant did not make the list, as I was pretty sure it was actually too good for the moment. It did, however, give me an idea. I had several coolant mixtures from Titanfalll, which were definitely better than what they had here. Even better, the formulas that were on the lower end of quality were not so dramatically superior, unlike what the Fallout universe had provided. For that, I simply wrote down the chemical information and a method for synthesizing it.
For everything else, I needed to print out a model with a molly maker.
"You ready to see how I'm making changes so fast?" I asked, before gesturing over to the small molly maker array in the corner of my workspace. "Just watch."
Sable, the cool-as-ice Corpo veteran, approached the small molly makers, peering into the viewing panel that was built into them, just as I started them up. She startled a bit as they got going but watched them closely as the machine furiously created a stack of LEDs.
"Your trick is 3D printing?" She asked, looking back at me with a frown.
"At a molecular level," I explained. "No seams, no defects large enough to interact with significantly advanced tech, and fast as well. It takes raw materials and prints out entire parts, sometimes entire devices, at once. The LEDs contain several different materials, and yet the printer will complete them without any input from me, and no assembly. Metal, polymer, glass, other complicated materials, they do it all, and they do it fast."
"That's… ridiculous," she said, turning back to watch the molly maker work. "We have printers that work with special alloys, but…"
"Of course, that only works with production, I still need to design the items," I explained, gesturing to my computer. "Then print them out."
"Incredible. I certainly made the right decision seeking you out, Jackson," She said, undaunted by my second statement. "We are going to change the world, assuming we don't get ourselves killed too soon."
"Yeah, I'm working on that as well," I said, shrugging when she looked back at me. "Stop by in another week or two, I might have something for you to keep on you, something that will keep you safe."
She narrowed her eyes for a moment before snorting and shaking her head.
"Alright, keep your secrets, you already shared enough," She said, sitting back on the edge of my desk. "Just keep in mind my situation. I can't exactly go carrying around a big briefcase with dangerous materials in it, or walking around with a big armored Borg. Well… actually, that might be nice… My very own Adam Smasher would be an interesting image…"
"Nothing like that, unfortunately," I admitted. "Just a nice, subtle, get-out-of-jail-free card."
Her eyes narrowed again, but this time, she said nothing, simply rolling her eyes after a moment. We talked for another thirty minutes, discussing some of my other projects and explaining that the Pip-Boy still on my desk was more of an artistic desk piece than a functional creation. I showed her my plasma pistol, which I kept by my desk, letting her hold it herself. I also showed her some advanced tools from the Titanfall universe, as well as showing off my enhanced strength, which was given to me by my undersuit.
I debated showing her a fusion generator but figured that might be too much for the moment. She might play the cool, unflappable Corpo, but even that had limits.
Probably.
When the LEDs were done, a MRVN came out from the production room, carrying a plastic box, which contained everything else I was handing over. I slipped a shard that held the technical information into her hand before Riggs carefully lifted the box, and we left the workshop, heading to her car. As we got close, Sable took the box from Riggs and stored it on her passenger seat, walking around her vehicle partially before topping to lean back against the hood of her extremely expensive supercar.
"So, something you're probably not going to like," she said, her tone at least slightly apologetic. "We are getting to the point where people are going to want to see you, the person responsible for all this."
I barely held back a groan, putting my hand to my forehead. Why I never saw something like that coming, I didn't know.
"Is it really necessary?" I asked.
"Honestly, yes," she responded. "People want to be able to put a face to the name. So far, we have deals with seventeen major companies, including Militech and Arasaka, so we are quickly reaching that equilibrium we talked about, where you are too sensitive to be worth trying to fuck with."
"You sure I can't do the whole secret eccentric genius, who only meets people over video calls? Preferably while pixilated and with a voice changer?"
She gave me an annoyed look, and I held my hands up in surrender.
"Alright, alright, we can do your PR tour," I said. "As much as I might hate it."
"Good. I would also like to, at this stage, introduce a bit of a falsehood," She said, continuing with a nod. "I suggest we present you as the head of a team rather than the sole genius."
"Okay... I have no issues with that. I'm not here to impress anyone after all," I responded. "But why?"
"Well, for one, it knocks the surprise factor down a few levels," She answered easily. "It's a lot easier to explain that a group is developing these things rather than just one person.
"So, I'm the leader of what, a think tank?"
"Pretty much, and now we are building a company around what you have been developing in relative secret," She said with a nod. It explains the speed and quantity of what you are releasing."
I nodded, chewing my lip for a moment, just long enough for her to pick up on my nervousness.
"Don't worry about it too much," She assured me. "We can sit down and have a much deeper conversation about it when the time comes. We have plenty of time to plan and for you to prepare. I just wanted you to know that it's something we may need to think about in a few weeks, maybe a month."
"You sure that is safe?"
"About as safe as we could hope for," She responded with a shrug. "You may be… something else, something unique, but the situation we are trying to set you up as is nothing new. Smart people or groups pop up in weird circumstances sometimes, and the corpo world is used to handling whatever it needs to to make money. And believe me, you are already starting to make people a lot of money. I know for a fact that the artificial muscle you gave me is going to be part of a new batch of precision cyberware from two different companies, and the micromotors solved some big problem Militech was having with one of their drone projects."
"Alright, I suppose I needed to step out of the shadows eventually," I said with a smirk. "We can talk more about it when you get a better idea about what's going on."
"That's the plan, Jackson," she responded, pushing off of her car and giving me a nod. "I'll be around, call if you have any questions."
"Will do," I said, watching her walk around to the driver's side of her fancy car. "And Sable, you are welcome to come by more often. You know, get to know everyone around here a bit better. I'm starting to feel that I can trust you, so who knows what kind of stuff you might learn."
She stopped for a moment, before eventually nodding, just the barest hint of something unreadable on her face, before her door opened and she slid inside. It took a moment, but her car started, and she pulled away. The vehicle was traveling at a much more sedate pace than Sable usually pushed it as she drove away. Once she was past the walls and heading down the road, still moving slower than I expected, Riggs stepped up closer from behind me.
"You really starting to trust her?" He asked, sounding curious.
"Well, she has invested so much time into us, it wouldn't make sense if she was just going to hand us off," I responded with a shrug. "I suppose she might be playing some sort of long con, though I have no idea what kind. I can't imagine any corp just patiently waiting for… well, anything like this, honestly. If this was some sort of scheme… I mean, she could be looking to start her own massive business, using my tech as a foundation… but if that's her goal, she is going to be pretty surprised when she realizes I've blown past everything she knows about us and I'm working on things far beyond what she would imagine."
"The money sounds good, too," Riggs pointed out, getting a nod from me in return.
"It lets us expand as far and quickly as we have, without constantly taking jobs or doing crazy sales to the gangs," I explained with a shrug. "Not to mention, the money we are making from selling the parts is funding a lot, including everything we can't find through scraping, which is a relatively short but very expensive list."
"It also funded most of the machines in my workshop," Frank said, startling me a bit as he stepped out of Riggs' shadow. "My apologies. I was merely following along, waiting for our business partner to leave so I could reveal the good news. The Bio lab is finally complete."
"Really? That's fantastic!" I said, doing a bit of a fist pump. "Everything is installed and properly hooked up?"
"Correct, the Bio lab is fully operational," he confirmed. "I will continue working on the food production full-time until you are ready to begin work."
"I… think we might be starting tomorrow," I admitted. "I want to give it as much time as I can. There is still stuff that I want to get done before shifting gears. How is the production set up in the lab?"
"There is a considerable array of molly makers prepared," Frank responded. "It should meet any need for anything you wish to make, barring anything larger than might fit in the lab itself."
"Alright, then we can get to work tomorrow."
Frank nodded, before turning around and heading back into the Shack, leaving Riggs and me alone.
"Do you think making something called the Bio lab on top of where people eat and meet with people was smart?" Riggs asked, looking up slightly at where the second floor of the building was.
"Maybe? We won't be using it for that for long, maybe a couple of weeks before we move it all to the Vault," I pointed out. "Besides, you'd get exposed to worse things in the rain here than you would with what we will be working on. The only thing I have access to this week that is that bad is the FEV crap, and I'm not touching it with a ten-foot pole. I don't care what I lose access to."
FEV was, as far as I was aware, on par with something like the T-virus, except rather than squishy zombies, it created hulking mutated freaks that could tear you limb from limb. I knew it was somewhere in the mostly dark biology-focused branches, but when I found it, there was no way I was touching it. Birthing that into the world was just asking for some stupid fucking crop to get their hands on it and accidentally turn a whole city into super mutants or something.
Besides, what was the point of turning people into super mutants? I could build a robot that was smarter, stronger, faster, and tougher in half the time, all without being an evil bastard. There was, admittedly, the allure of a possible cure for aging lurking in the research of FEV, but even that wasn't worth bringing the horrific liquid into this world.
"Alright, Riggs. I'm gonna go get back to work. I have a whole list of stuff I want to get done before tomorrow, and limited time to get it done," I said, patting his shoulder as I walked by, Duke trotting along beside me.