We didn’t hang around the speakeasy for long. I just swung by quick enough to get so parts printing. There were two new projects I had my eye on. The micro-fabricator for Nael was the first. The second was an autominer I’d been roughly sketching recently.
I needed space. Building a workshop above ground could work. I could just go buy a warehouse and set sothing up, even. It wasn’t a perfect idea though. I had first hand experience with how easy it was to infiltrate places like that. I wanted it to be close too. The speakeasy was my base of operations through and through, so not having to go far would be ideal.
Buying out the apartnts and retrofitting them was sothing I already wanted to do. They were aged, and I’d spent enough ti around here to see quite a few issues with the structure. Tech wasn’t strictly technology. I had a pretty good understanding of architecture by now. Or, at least, a good enough understanding to see this place was falling apart.
Even then though, I didn’t have the Rayn and the apartnt building itself wasn’t an ideal place for the workshop. Like I was always saying, the best security was no one knowing it existed. I was better off with sowhere hidden and defensible like so kind of supervillain lair from old comic books.
No matter where I went in the city, I’d have to pay for it… except the AEZ, I guess, but that was out for other reasons. Everywhere except underground, that is. Savants and Scavs definitely didn’t pay land taxes on their structures. I was going to take a page out of their book. Although I hated to admit it, they knew what they were doing most of the ti.
I wasn’t planning on going all the way down to the Underground. Instead, I wanted to basically add a sub-level underneath the speakeasy. An underpinning excavation was dangerous, would take a lot of planning, and could potentially collapse the whole building if I ssed sothing up. This wouldn’t be a quick process.
I’d have to check for a lot of things and ensure the structure was safe before anything. If I couldn’t retrofit a sub-level underneath the speakeasy, I’d just go deeper down and either make one off the Underground shaft or down in the Underground proper. I should also widen the shaft and put in a more permanent lift there when I got the chance. The vault down there—usually I just left it alone because it was such a hassle to go up and down. Not to ntion I had little worth keeping safe like that.
Either way, the mining bots would get so use. Not to ntion they might be helpful in other ways. It might open so paths in upcoming gigs that were otherwise inaccessible. Literally in the case of digging out a shaft. Maybe I could just straight up dig into a facility rather then doing my usual song and dance?
I might even be able to set up a mine out in the desert or Sunderland for so more passive inco. Or use the extracted resources to funnel into Transmutation to further boost my capabilities. That was an idea for way later down the line though. It’d take a lot of ti and money to get everything set up.
The Aether was also an option for a workshop, but it had its own host of issues that I wasn’t so sure about. The ti limitation for one. It’d be a struggle to get anything down in a couple hours. And there was always the risk of sothing unforeseen happening. Although I trusted the other dinsion more now, I didn’t fully trust it.
Rayn… I should text that Knight about the hover bike soon. It’d take a couple days to make another model, but it shouldn’t be too difficult. I should make a catalogue of features too and try to get as much money from her as possible.
Ugh- so much to do. Why was it that I never felt like I had ti to do everything? I finished up the setup for the parts and then left the back of the speakeasy. Mira sat at one of the tables, lightly poking at the Aether Lavender plant.
”Ready?” I called, looking away from the distasteful plant. It’d grown after a couple days of watering it. There were now several offshoots tipped with purple.
”Isn’t it pretty?” Mira asked. She pushed it toward , not making a move to get up.
”I- yes. Yes, it's very pretty.” Although I felt nauseated just from being around it, I could admit that much. Natural plant life had a certain beauty to it… I can’t even imagine being on a different continent. North Arkhanikas was a massive dessert, but the other continents were thriving with plant life. How absolutely torturous would it be to live there?
The lavender plant bobbed in joy as if my praise was its life goal. The thing dipped low like a breeze pushed it down. There was no wind down here. My hand itched down toward my gun. The scent of the lavender plant washed over , making calm down. If anything though, the attempted calming just put more on edge and my eyes narrowed at the hateful creature.
Mira leaned forward, completely missing the silent standoff, and breathed in. “This is nice… there’s one of these in the apartnt too, right.”
”Don’t remind .” I muttered under my breath.
“What was that?” Mira looked up from the flower and slid out of the booth.
”Nothing…” I moved back to the hidden door and opened it up. “Hey, when we get to the apartnt, I’m going to be out for a while.”
”That-“ She took a breath. The halo atop of her head pulsed faintly. When she saw looking, she flashed a smile like nothing was wrong. “Okay.”
I tossed her my phone. “I’ll be popping by the Aether for a bit.”
Her expression shifted into a frown. “Look- I know you said it was safe… it’s the Aether though. There’s all sorts of unknown monsters there.”
“I’ll be fine.” Was it ti for that conversation? Or- no, I should wait a bit longer. Wait for her to establish so normalcy before I fully tell her about it.
“I imagine you’ll be gone a while if you’re telling about it.” Mira opened the door out onto the streets for , and we stepped out to head for my bike.
“An hour or two at most. Probably just ten minutes, though.” Not like I was planning on doing much there anyway.
“Are you not worried about that- um- what did you call it?” My mikata scratched at the halo. “Aether Sickness?”
“I’ve built up tolerance.” I could handle that much without any issue now. Before too long, I might even be able to visit Fox’s place with that crystal.
“If you say so…”
We both fell silent and walked toward my bike.
— — —
I stumbled through the portal, nearly tripping into my bunker hidden away in the Aether. It was filled with a clutter of items. I’d have to clean it out soon or find so way to expand upon it. Most of it was just parts, illegal substances, and guns. I’d make a hell of a black market dealer if I ever wanted to get into that buisness.
I looked away from the ss and took a seat on the cot that I klept from the Savant Lab. Now that I was finally by myself, I let the electrical charge that’d been building up leak out of my system. It followed my will, flowing out and between my fingers into an infinity symbol.
I tossed out a hand, sending a weak arc of lightning toward the other side of the room. It cracked against the cent of the bunker and disappeared entirely. It might be enough to stun? It wouldn’t really do any damage though. I had a feeling I’d need a much higher charge to get to that point.
I drained out the batteries along my Neural Link while I was at it. It all drained away, leaving with a sensation akin to hunger. “Um- anyone there?”
[Crow: Unfortunately.]
“Ouch.” I fell silent for a mont. If only he answered, did that an he was the only one watching? I an, I knew that they were probably busy with other stuff as eidolons, but for so reason I just assud they were always watching.
[Eel: I’m here t-]
Ah, Eel. I rember seeing that guy. Never had the chance to et yet. “Hey…. Why’s the ssage cut off?”
[Crow: He’s too weak and lacks Authority. Not exactly easy to do this.]
“Oh… chek, that makes sense.” They were basically directly ssaging through the Aether, weren’t they? Eel… he definitely wasn’t the only one. There were probably all sorts of eidolons I’d never heard of that were too weak to interact, huh? Or didn’t want to for so reason. Crazy.
Eidolons were usually looked at as extrely powerful entities. It only made sense that they wouldn’t all be at the sa levels, but I just assud… so there were weak ones after all. Was there one that was, like, significantly stronger than the others? Who would that even be?
I shifted on the cot. Probably best I didn’t fall into that line of thought and accidentally insult one of them. ”Um- could you help out? I’m looking for-“
[Fox: I’m here! Don’t start the party without ! ヾ(＾∇＾)]
[Crow: Great. Bye.]
“Uh- right. Bye, Crow.” I shifted uncomfortably once more.
[Fox: You look so pretty today! Oh! And congrats on finding your friend. I was biting my claws with nerves that entire ti! Can’t wait to see the adventures of Mira and Shiro! (｡>﹏
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