Chương 36: Chapter 34 - The Bear Necessities

I left the burrow shortly after lunch. The Antithesis may have been exterminated, but I had plenty of other issues to deal with. After their stunt yesterday the Hell Moths were at the top of my list. Unfortunately I had a slight issue with logistics.

"Nyx, I need more bears. I don't have enough to both protect everyone here and run down those assholes. Can I buy one of those machines yet?" You could, it would be better if you had a place to put it first. The Creation engines are big, two feet on each side for the Mark I machine. I would actually recommend the Industrial Creation Engine for your bears, which is six feet square, three feet high. It can print slightly larger blueprints, and it has a self contained power supply.

"Fuck… I'm going to have to buy bears outright, aren't I?" Well, I can think of a compromise to get you started, I'm not sure if you're going to like it or not.

"Tell me." You could open the Class I Cargo Vehicle Catalog, invest in a big rig hover truck and trailer, then mount the system in the back I narrowed my eyes.

"That sounds completely unnecessary." How were you planning on collecting materials for building your bears, or transporting them if you needed to leave the area.

"Ummm…" I said, staring ahead blankly. That's what I thought.

"I've never even considered driving a vehicle. Not only was I too poor before, but they tend to get either stolen, or scrapped for parts around here." Well, I don't think that would happen to you, considering you'd be printing a security force out of the back. Plus, most vehicles have a built-in autopilot so you wouldn't need to drive it yourself.

"Fine," I sighed, "How much?" Three hundred for the catalog, one thousand for the truck and trailer, seventy five for the creation engine catalog, and two thousand five hundred for the industrial creation machine. If you wanted to build more advanced bears you'd need the Class II catalog.

"Look, I've only ever learned basic math, and that was to make sure I didn't get ripped off too hard. Totals please." Three thousand eight hundred and seventy five. Then the blueprints are extra.

"Of course they fucking are, how much?" Blueprints cost ten times the base cost of an item. I'm assuming you want to replicate everything you're using, which is bears, basic facades, sensor upgrades, B3s, the Ripper, the RX, the armor and the ECM hardening it'll be five thousand and fifty more.

"I'm pretty sure I don't have that much Nyx… or do I?" You're at 7028, and one token. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. I waited a second.

"Sooooo…" No you do not"I figured," I huffed.

"What if we cut back to the bear basics. Bears, rifles, ECM, and facades." Was that a bear pun?

"Shut up and calculate" That would cost you six thousand four hundred and twenty five, leaving you six hundred and three. It would be difficult to integrate sensors or armor to the created bots in the future, without spending points.

"That's fine," I said, nodding my head. It is?

"I wanted the machine so I could recycle the lost bears anyways. Less waste overall. If I buy upgrades I can just upcycle the older models." That's morbid.

"As you said when we met Maria, that's efficient" So? I sighed.

"Fine, do it" I felt a phantom pain in my wallet as a massive truck appeared before me. It was covered in armour plating, looking more like an APC than a traditional semi. The attached trailer was just as heavily armoured, one entire side of the trailer had folded down creating a ramp and exposing the machine within. The Creation Engine was a massive block sitting up against the front of the trailer.

One side was a massive hopper designed for material intake, the side pointed towards the back had a massive touch screen which displayed my current blueprints. It seemed simple enough. It took me a few seconds to realise a crowd was gathering. Including Jane, Alan and the kids.

"Teddy, what the fuck is this?" Alan asked.

"It's a portable build-a-bot workshop, I think,""You think?" His brow furrowed.

"I haven't tested it yet." I replied, slightly offended. At least the children were impressed, based upon their simultaneous cries of 'Cool' and 'Shiny'"I plan to make a bunch of new bots to protect you guys while I go and deal with a few 'Issues'" I threw up some air quotes.

"You plan to go beat up some gangs, we know," Eddie said, trying to get into the cab of my new truck. Meanwhile, Isabelle had wandered over to Deadbeat, and was staring at him wide eyed.

"What's this?" she asked. I ran over and grabbed Deadbeat's gun before any accidents happened.

"A robot. You'll have one to protect you tomorrow, probably."

"Really?" Shit, Issi was really cute when she was happy.

"Yes, with some minor changes."

"Can I hug him?" I sighed, "Yes." I could see Jane over Issi's head, grinning.

"You can keep him until tomorrow."

"If you want to see the inside, come on. I have other things to do today." I opened the driver's side door, sat down, and immediately noticed an issue. The front seat was the perfect size, for Bob. Do you want a booster seat? — Now that I had the ability to create new bears, I wanted to test it. So I took Bob and Heavy over to the Scrapyard. I say I took us, but unfortunately the truck wasn't built for someone of my stature.

While I was sitting in the front seats I couldn't even see over the dash, so Bob needed to drive. The Scrapyard was practically deserted when we arrived, I guess most people were either still too cautious to scavenge, or must have heard the Antithesis had set up the hive in this area. That was fine with me, I really didn't want gawkers while I was testing the machine. I had Bob park in a relatively clear area and opened the ramp.

"So… how does this work?" I asked, poking the display. Choose what you want to build, then deposit the required materials into the hopper. Excess materials will be compressed and expelled after the requested item has finished printing.

"Cool," I added five bots with all the upgrades to the queue while ordering Bob to start collecting random junk. This will take some time, several hours per bot.

"That's fine, I want to discuss something before we get these boys back home.