Stray Cat Strut Chapter Sixteen – Die Welt ist im Wandel

Chapter Sixteen - Die Welt ist im Wandel

"Sure, we live in a multicultural, multilingual world.

But if you don't speak the sa language as , then I still think you're a weirdo."

--Witch strear CielCiel minutes before being cancelled, 2036

***

I leaned back a little in my stool. "So, Doc, how have things been, besides the whole Phobos situation?"

Radikal blinked owlishly, then casually shrugged. "Things have generally been well. There's always a slow return to so form of normalcy after such a big event. And the Phobos incident was one that the Nachtwächternetzwerk willingly chose to embark on. There's so political barking about our Storm device, but it's hardly the first ti we've built or purchased sothing capable of causing mass destruction."

"Yeah, I can see why people would bitch about it, but it's kind of pointless to whine about one nuke when you're sitting on a stockpile of them," I said.

"Exactly, yes," he said. "In any case, the state of things is returning to the way we like them."

"What's that an?" I asked.

"There are fewer threats of human extinction this week than there were in the last. Our doomsday clock has slid back several microseconds."

"Doomsday clock, huh? What hour's it at?" I asked.

Radikal chucked. "Twenty-three fifty-nine."

"Ah, well shit," I said as I reached up to rub my face. "You know, I started to go to school this week. For the first ti in... anyway. Uh, learning that we're so close to everything going tits up kind of makes that seem like a waste of ti."

The doc shook his head. "No. I believe, firmly, that there is a serious need for us Vanguard to have real, stable lives. I'm not a top-tier one myself, but I have been a Samurai for ten years now. Eleven? Ah, it has been a while. I've seen so young souls beco Vanguards and lose a great part of themselves as they race to the top. They co to their senses eventually, or they're the kind of person for whom such a high level of power feels natural, but I think that taking things slow and keeping a firm grasp on your humanity is important. If your way of doing this is to attend school and be surrounded by normal people, then so be it."

"I don't think there's much risk of forgetting my humanity or whatever. Or leaving normal people behind," I said. I had the kittens to look after, and Lucy to keep ... more or less grounded.

"Ah, I shouldn't have presud. Forgive ," he said. "In any case, what is that I see behind you? The leg of a chanized system?"

"Huh? Oh, that's the leg of my ch. One of them. It's... kind of semi-taken apart. There was this nasty fucking model thirty-sothing that took a few bites out of my ch and left it all sorts of fucked. I've been fixing it since. I have another to use in the anti."

"Ah, a chanic! Perhaps you'd fit into the Network better than you think. We support a number of more engineering-inclined Samurai."

No way was I gonna head over and embarrass myself in front of the Germans.

"It's just a hobby," I said. "Don't go looking at if anything breaks down."

Talking with Radikal was... nice? The guy had this sort of 'awkward scientist' vibe in the way he dressed and moved, but it didn't feel that way at all when he talked. I guess I was stereotyping him based on his looks or sothing, but as we chatted about this and that, he never really dropped the ball.

Before I knew it, half an hour had passed. He'd told a few stories about so of the people he worked with, and I got to tell a few about how shit had gone down around the Big Gun.

"I actually don't know what we're going to do with it now," I said. "The army's still stationed all around it, as far as I know. I think they're building up an entire ass base right next to the Big Gun? It's not a really great place for that, but... actually, it's not terrible either."

"Oh? Why's that?" he asked.

"Gros Baton. That little French-Canadian kid? He still lives in his hotown, and that's a stone's throw away from the Big Gun's site. So they at least have a Samurai within shouting distance if anyone tries anything. Not that I think anyone will."

"It would be difficult to steal an installation as large as the Big Gun. However, don't underestimate the willingness of so to try," he warned.

"I guess it might be worth it. Things got to be worth a few billion, right? But like, the other half of the gun is useless without a samurai to operate it."

"Yes, certainly, but the portal system isn't. I can imagine so corporations paying quite the sum just to have images and blueprints of such a device to throw at their research and developnt teams."

"Would they get anything out of it?" I asked. "Shit was the collaborative work of a dozen samurai. It's not sothing that's going to spill its secrets just like that. And if it did, then it's still like, a few decades ahead of any tech we have," I said. "We" being humanity in general, of course.

"It's only a few decades ahead because we've spent decades catching up," he said sagely.

"Are we actually catching up?" I asked. "Feels like this shit is pure sci-fi stuff." I gestured around vaguely at all the stuff around .

Radikal just nodded. "We are. You are, forgive for saying so, still quite young. It's normal that you haven't internalized the change, but it is happening, and at a pace that is startling. It is rely that in the last few decades, change has been happening in a sort of wave."

"A wave?" I asked.

"Yes. You may be too young to have noticed it, but every five to ten years now, there's a great breakthrough in one field of science or another. Usually sothing that propels a corporation into prominence, and usually sothing linked to a Vanguard."

"Okay," I said. "And that's the start of a wave?"

"Yes, a wave," he said. "Because there is then a race to apply this new technology to everything. It becos a craze, usually going too far before it recedes and a new normal is achieved."

"So like... hover cars?" I asked.

"A good example! The technology was innovative when I was still young, and it was applied to everything. Now it has been scaled back to more reasonable productions. Mostly automobiles and so utility items. No one speaks of flying cities anymore, not since Atlantica was built at great expense and proved to be problematic in practice."

Right, that big floating city over the Atlantic ocean. Kind of a hot ss from what I rembered, but also like... kinda popular as a nation-less citystate for so folk.

"Obviously, when the Nachtwächternetzwerk built our flying base of operations, we utilized similar, but more advanced, technology. Afterall, the purpose of technology is to better allow you to accomplish a goal. More efficiency, more effectiveness, lower cost and upkeep. These are all factors that co into play when adopting sothing new. In that respect, the goal of the Protectors is slowly coming to fruition."

"Their goal?" I asked. "Ain't that just to keep us alive?"

"No. Don't you recall the words your AI companion first spoke to you?"

I blinked. "I think I was impaled with a tal pole at the ti," I said. "And I wasn't expecting a voice in my head."

He didn't even hesitate at the admission. I guess he had been a samurai for longer, so my origin story didn't sound too special. "Each AI says sothing slightly different, I believe, and there's the linguistic difference as well. Mine said, 'Ich werde Ihnen helfen, die nschheit zu erheben, damit Sie Ihre Heimatwelt vor der Bedrohung durch die Antithese verteidigen können,' or sothing similar. Essentially, 'Ich werde dir helfen, die nschheit zu erheben, damit du deine Heimatwelt vor der Bedrohung durch die Antithese verteidigen kannst.' That is not the sa as assisting humanity itself, but assisting , and you, to assist humanity."

"I guess I get it," I said. "It's giving a gun to a cop for him to keep the place safe, rather than doing it yourself."

"That analogy works... to so extent, yes."

"I'm not good at those," I admitted. "But yeah... I guess we're helping in our own way?"

He nodded. "As long as we're not giving people too many tools with which to kill themselves, I think we'll be fine. There will be more need of us in the future. Take this mont of calm for what it is; ti to let yourself learn and unwind and sharpen the skills that you will need later, because later always cos sooner than you might think."

***

1If the German is wrong, it's the German's fault for having such a complicated language.

Also, my other story, Magical Girl Rending Nightmare, just ended! Replacing it with Fluff starting next week! We have 10 advanced chapters of Fluff on the patreon already!