Stray Cat Strut Chapter Eighty-Four - Modern Goddesses

Chapter Eighty-Four - Modern Goddesses

"There hasn't been a single damned creative idea in years. It's the sa thing, over and over again. Sequels of sequels, mashing ideas together that have been done to death.

A creative person cos, creates sothing new, and then the corporate dogs rip it to shreds and parade the corpse around for all to see!

I give Inside Out Seven a 6 out of 10"

--NeonMovieReviews, 2039

***

"What's this one even called?" I asked as I gestured to the ch carrier.

The changes I'd asked for weren't too extre, I don't think. It mostly ca down to adding sofas in the little command room in its centre and an integrated mini-fridge. At least, at first. I started to have fun with it after that.

The centre-most space, designed to hold two chs, was replaced by a small mobile garage. Nothing too complex, but enough that I could maybe fix a few easy things on the move. Myalis helpfully added a docking port for a repair drone as well, which was sensible.

The ship... was it a ship?

I frowned. This was way too big to just be called a car, or even a truck. It had more in common with a ferry than either of those. Yeah, ship felt right.

Anyway, the ship had plenty of guns strapped around it. Six twin-barreled machine guns, in ball-shaped turrets that had wide angles of fire, and a single-barrel 105mm gun on an angular, flat turret at the top. Below were two large pods that could tilt in and out of view, each one able to hold sixteen rockets or small guided missiles that could be reloaded from the interior.

It had less armant than a modern main battle tank, sure, but it could also fly and was armoured up the tits.

Myalis shifted the design a little, making it sowhat less boxy. The armour gained more of an angular look to it, sharp edges and all.

"Okay," I said. "Lay it on , how much would this thing cost?"

Currently, with the modifications you've brought to it, the Catbox will cost you--

"No," I said. "We're not calling it that."

It's an objectively good na.

"It's objectively stupid," I replied. "Co on, we need a na with a bit of... you know, oompf to it. Sothing cool and... stronger?"

And you expect to co up with this na yourself? I will defer to your greater erudition in the matter of nonclature and your obviously superior vocabulary with regards to nas with appropriate gravitas.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't be a bitch. We just need a cooler na than Catbox. The Nyanzerfaust has a silly na, but it's got so syllables to it, and Gomorrah has her God's Righteous Fury which is a na that has hairs on its chest."

Felis Aegis?

"Lucy would like that. But it's too cutesy," I said.

I see. How about the Clawhold? Or perhaps the Iron Pride?

I passed my tongue over my teeth. Yeah, that was a bit better. "Not bad, but like, for a gun or a shield or sothing. It doesn't feel right for an entire... you know." I gestured to the hologram of the ship.

I see. Then perhaps sothing with a bit more fur on its chest? How about the Bastion of Sekht?

"Who's that?" I asked.

Myalis took over the hologram and showed so old Egyptian-looking art. So lady in a skirt with a cat head with one hell of a headdress on.

Ancient Earth mythology warrior goddess. She has a lion's head and is one of the solar deities of Ancient Egyptian mythology.

I rubbed at my chin. Was it cool to appropriate another culture's imagery just because it was kinda badass looking?

Probably not.

Would it annoy Gomorrah and did it sound rather badass?

Yeah, it did.

"Alright, I'm done for that. The Bastion of Sekth."

Sekht.

"Sure," I said with a nod. "And this is gonna cost ..."

Forty-two thousand points.

I needed to sit down for a minute. Forty-two big ones. That was... a large chunk of what I had. Way more than half of my total points. Sure, it was for sothing big and there were good chances that I wouldn't be replacing that for a long ti.

I chewed on my lower lip. If I was a smarter sort, I might consider a pros and cons list, but that'd never been my way of doing things. Did I want this thing? Yeah, it seed damned useful. It would be a hell of a thing to show up to problem locations with. I'd spent a decent load of ti in mobile bases recently. PMC and army ones. This would be the sa, but flying, and it would be mine.

Did I want it?

Yeah.

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"Alright," I said. "But why's it so damned expensive?"

Mostly the cost cos from the technology required to ensure that it stays afloat without breaking apart under its own mass. The sheer size is also a factor in its cost.

Right, I couldn't argue that too hard, it was a big thing. "Go ahead, Myalis," I said.

New Purchase: The Bastion of Sekht

Points Reduced to: 25,017

Oh boy, seeing my points drop by that much made feel dizzy for a second. I took a deep breath and then flinched as the air in the parking garage whumped past .

There was suddenly sothing huge taking up a hefty chunk of the room. A wall of flat black steel and armoured panels.

I blinked dust out of my eyes, then looked up at my new toy.

The Bastion of Sekht was larger in life than I'd expected from the hologram. It looked like it was just a few centitres from scraping against the ceiling.

Legs larger than my old ch were deployed around its base, all six of them clamped onto the floor. I hadn't asked Myalis about colour, and the hologram had been a glowy blue as they tended to be. The Bastion was a flat, light-absorbing black, except where its armoured panels had sharp edges. There, it was covered in gleaming gold panels and backlit by a pale blue light.

I started to giggle to myself as I walked around it. It took a while. There were, as I'd noted, six large doors, slightly angled, with golden numbers embossed onto them. Each was more than large enough for to walk my old ch into.

"Ah, shit," I said as I finished my circuit. My Nyanzerfust had been like, twenty-thousand points. I wasn't sitting at much more than that now, and if I spent what I had left I'd be point-broke.

... fuck, did I just buy a ch carrier without the points to fill it with chs?

Don't worry, Catherine, I'm certain we can buy you at least one new ch.

I frowned. "Are you reading my mind again?"

You're predictable.

I wanted to disagree, but she was probably right. "Let give the inside a tour first," I mumbled. My augs connected to the Bastion automatically, which was nice. I could open up any of the gates from a rather simple interface, and there were controls for the guns, the ship itself, and all sorts of knick knacks like the lights and stuff from a simple set of nus.

Opening gate six, I stepped back as an unfolding ramp ca down and gently touched the ground.

"So, chs," I said as I stepped in and started to look around. The bays weren't entirely cut off from each other, but they weren't sharing a large space either. There were thin walls with bracing between them, and folded up robotic arms designed to cling onto any ch parked in here so it wouldn't bounce around.

I have a simple suggestions for you. Since you seem to use your Nyanzerfaust as a scout relatively frequently, why not purchase a fra more capable in that regard? A lighter, faster-moving fra, with better stealth capabilities and a more powerful suit of sensors?

"And cheaper?"

By a certain number of points, perhaps.

Uh-huh. A stealth ch wouldn't be too bad, and sothing faster might be fun. It didn't sound as safe as what I had already though. Then again, if it was ant to serve a different purpose, then did it matter?

I walked deeper into the Bastion. There was a wide corridor down the spine of the ship, large enough for a ch to walk down and over to the garage-like installation at the very rear of the vessel. Myalis, being handy like that, took over one of the projectors in that room, sa as the one in my other new garage, and she tossed up an image of a ch.

It was another cat-shaped fra, only this one was lithe, thin, and with the proportions of a cheetah rather than an overstuffed lion like my Nyanzerfaust. It was lower to the ground at first, but then stood up in the hologram.

I eyed it over as it spun slowly.

A central cockpit, behind the 'head' of the ch, with a seat designed to be laid down onto. Two small holes on either side of the chest by the front for missiles, a tail that could elongate itself as a sort of barbed whip, claws like on my last ch.

The head had a mouth that could open up to reveal a small turreted gun, and there were two more mounted on the flanks that could unfold on a pair of long, articulated arms that let them aim in every direction. They were still rather small, belt-fed machine pistols, basically.

"Yeah, that's sothing," I said. "But... I want enough points for another upgrade to my wetware too. To keep Lucy happy."

***