Chương 101: Book 2 - Chapter 21 - Undercity Construction Company

"Sooo…" I started, staring up at the heavy metal superstructure that was now embedded in the middle of the shelter, "What do I need to do to complete a building?" I thought you'd already have some ideas about that. You were very confident that building a school was the best course of action.

"I thought I'd just use points to buy what I needed. Beyond that? No clue. I used to take things apart, not put them together." I walked over to the nearest heavy beam, and knocked on it. Even though it was a high tier metal, it felt more like a polymer, or ceramic. It passed seamlessly into the foundations. There was no sign of damage on either the floor or roof, it was like the metal had always been there.

Barricade had provided me with a skeleton, the metal girder framework for a building, but the rest of the structure was up to me.

"So there are five floors within the shelter, then an additional ten floors on top of it. I'm not going to connect the two, in order to keep the shelter secure." I tried to picture what the finished building might look like.

"I think I'll have hydroponics on the top five floors, as a way to get food for the kids. The school can occupy everything from the roof level up to hydroponics. That should be enough space to start." That's it? You don't want anything special?

"Well, I'm planning on letting civilians in, so I'll probably need some stairs and catwalks to access that area. I'm not concerned about internal security, there'll be kids coming in regularly, and I can use bears to manage access. Externally, I'd like to have APS hardpoints, just in case we run into another incursion." That shouldn't be too difficult to arrange, it's just a question of how many points you are willing to spend, and where you want to focus.

To start, I would recommend a Class I Building Materials catalog, Class I Hydroponics Catalog, Class I Genetically Modified Seeds, some sort of Class I Construction Drones, and a couple Class 0 Furniture and Utility options. I've already created a few hundred floor plan alternatives for you, but if you plan on building other structures later, you may want to invest in some sort of architect AI to help you plan.

"Can't I use the bears for construction?" I asked, glancing over at the far side of the room, where several rows of bears were standing idle.

"I am building twelve a day." You could, but I wouldn't recommend using them for anything more than heavy labour. They're not designed for construction, so progress would be slow.

"I guess… At least I can use some of the spares to carry materials up from the matter reconfiguration machines. Since I have close to a hundred units, most of them are idle." And yet, you haven't halted production.

"Yeah, well, if I had a hundred in Seattle I might have accomplished more. I'm not sure how many more I'll make, but I'll know when I have enough." Without a doubt.

"Anyways… I think I'll hold off on the purchase of the hydroponics equipment, and architect AI, for now. I can wait until the building is complete to install the hydroponics equipment, but we'll probably need to account for the power drain. Maybe you could include a power floor in the designs? I'll probably need to install generators in the future," I asked, as I tried to picture what other equipment I'd need. Already done.

"Anything else you'd recommend then?" I asked, with a frown. Nyx was super helpful, but sometimes I just felt slow, and stupid, while talking to them. I wondered how many contingencies they'd planned for, that I'd never even considered. Perhaps it would be worth spending your last token on Class II Building Materials. It would be relatively simple to upgrade most fixtures within the building, but not the structure.

Constructing it out of Class II materials would make it nearly impenetrable to most terrestrial weapons, and extremely difficult for the antithesis to breach in the future.

"And I could produce those materials with the elements I'm already collecting?" If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Absolutely, the reconfigurators will break the source materials down and extract the elements they need. There'll be a fair bit of waste, but the structure will be stronger for it.

"Fine, how much?" Five hundred and a token for the Class II materials catalog, then another four thousand for the base molecular formulas for glass, concrete, metal and wood-ike composites. I flinched, "That seems a little expensive." They'll have similar textures, and uses to those terrestrial materials, but every one of them would be able to withstand a sustained attack from a model Twenty-Three, and not suffer much more than a few scratches.

"Expensive but worth it, I guess," I said with a sigh.

"What about the construction bots?" There are millions of different options available, so it really depends on your personal preference. I would recommend the Swallow flying drone. They're fairly large, but mobile for their size, and strong enough to ferry materials to the higher floors.

"So no bears?" You COULD make more bears, but you'd need another catalog for that. There's a catalog that contains both flying construction rigs, and a construction analog of your combat bots. Higher strength, and precision movement, but slower movement. They even have integrated tools.

"And that would cost?" Another two hundred for the catalog, two hundred for each flying rig, and fifteen hundred for the blueprints for the bots.

"Can we get started with just the materials and bots?" I asked, as I squinted my eyes at the skeletal building. Pretty much. Let me show you my initial design for the shell, we can discuss the interior layout later. I'll include a list of other, minor purchases you'll need to complete it. My augs flashed with a 3D representation of a building. It had a lot of glass windows, which were an oddity for the undercity, but beyond that it wasn't anything special.

It was pretty much just the exterior, floors, a set of stairs, and elevator shaft. What really caught my eye was the massive list of blueprints I needed to complete it. Cabling, fasteners, door mechanisms and hundreds of other small doodads required for constructing a building. I flinched when I saw the list.

"Is all this really necessary?" I asked, "It'll cost a fortune." Necessary? No, but I do recommend them. You can manufacture each item using the Class II materials, and having the blueprints means you'd be fully prepared for any construction projects in the future.

"And the cost?" Only a thousand points. I curated the blueprints so you'd have everything you'd need.

"That's not so bad… So the total is," My implant kicked in, helping me with the math, "Seven thousand five hundred, plus two hundred for each lift drone. Say five of those, so eight thousand five hundred, and that's before the hydroponics and bots." I sighed, that would really cut into my points, but at least it was things I could re-use in the future.

"Fine, I'll consider it all an investment. As soon as the purchase goes through, spool up the mass fabricator to start creating the materials, and swap one of the industrials over to create the construction drones." As soon as I finished, five massive drones, each the size of a mid-sized car, appeared. They had large storage compartments underneath, and dozens of manipulators, welders, and other attachments I didn't even recognize.

The drones flew over to my mass fabricator, waiting for the first batch of materials to be created. That leaves you with 17138 points. The swallow drones will start putting down floors as soon as they have materials, and your construction drones will start once they're complete.

"You've already decided on a facade, and made them look like something ridiculous, haven't you?" I HAVE chosen an appropriate facade, but I think they look very noble. Would you like to see them?

"Sure, show me whatever fantasy creature you've cooked up this time." As soon as I asked, my augs flashed up a picture of a chubby rat, with massive buck teeth, and a large, flat, black tail. The bot was wearing a hard hat, and a backpack full of different mechanical arms, each ending with a different tool.

"What the hell is this?" It's a beaver. A semi-aquatic animal that was famous for its building skills.

"You know what? It's fine. I got used to the moose, I can get used to this." I turned away from the superstructure, and headed towards the residence. In the grand scheme the form of the bots didn't matter, as long as I got the building started. What I had to do next was much more important, and difficult. I had to talk to the gangs. That bunch weren't known for being accommodating, or in some cases rational, so if I was going to get them to cooperate with me, I was going to have to come up with a plan.