Reports on the New Houston Flotilla's destruction were and still are sparce and heavily redacted. The only thing that is confirmed is that the flotilla structure was destroyed by a Model in the Forties that climbed up from the Earth's Mantel. And the only reason that has been confirmed is that seismographs across the world reacted, confirming massive seismic activity from the gulf, and the few satellite images trained to look at New Houston.

  So now the biggest question on everyone's mind is, where did it go?

  -Pirate Radio DJ NotaCorp's show "What's in The Closet?", 2056

  “Well, after leaving The Family HQ, I upgraded my swarms, then Synaptic showed me this new app for Samurai maintained by the Family. It's got a bunch of good stuff on it. We should see if there is a way for you guys to get some access, if just for the mostly unbiased new aggregator on it.”

  The Family Store app is only for Samurai. There is a different version for the family of Samurai, which will be offered tomorrow in the meeting.

  “Oh? How unbiased are we talking?” Roger perked up.

  “Oh, oh! I know!” Morrigan said, bouncing in place, “The site is run by a series of information gathering Class VI AI spread across the continent. They compare hundreds of thousands of public feeds to obtain a comprehensive picture of numerous topics, curated by a Samurai and their team, edited down to be understandable with resources to get as detailed as you want.”

  “Before you ask how she knows this,” Baba Yaga spoke up, “When I was still developing, I often trolled the web and Mesh for information, and I brushed into one of these AIs, drawing the attention of said Samurai. Morrigan had to step in to explain what I was doing, and Synaptic finished the introduction. The Samurai in question gave me access to the aggregated site, afterwards, telling me not to be so obvious in attracting attention next time.”

  I didn't know any of this. I would have to ask about that later. “Anyways, after upgrading my swarm a bit, I headed out to Payson to hunt for points. It's a well known high level hunting ground, and it has a Samurai stationed there permanently, so I felt it was safe enough while offering a decent challenge. However, during the course of my hunting, I discovered a massive underground hive, I called in reinforcements, which took some time, so I began the process of having Rogal being made, and then upgraded my augs and brain to Class II, which I needed to have happened in order to expand my command capacity. Oh, I can now control over two thousand swarms now, which is nice.”

  Jill raised an eyebrow, leaning back after finishing her plate. “Sands, Victor, what the hell do you need so many swarms for?”

  “Well, for hives like the one me and seven other Samurai dove into. Tens of thousands of antithesis, maybe hundreds of thousands, ranging from Model Threes, which I could easily handle in those numbers, all the way up to Model Twenty Eights, which I could do almost nothing against. Then, there was the two mile wide cavern they had dug into the earth, filled with even more threats, such as these gun-like Model Thirty Threes, and two massive pillars that the others had classified as pods for Model Forties.”

  “Everyone grew quiet and stared at me. “You fought Model Forties?” Cody asked, a creeping awe and fear in his voice.

  “No, no. We didn't even enter the cavern, just saw it on my Scouts. No, what happened after we saw that was for us to build a massive bunker, as another Samurai fired an antimatter shot from somewhere, and that annihilated the cavern and everything in it and around it.”

  Jill stared at me, hard. “How close were you to death in that situation?” her voice was cold.

  “Not at all. Rogal made a very effective barrier to keep the damage outside, plus Laser Lasso's bull, Betsy, transformed into a bunker that she was very confident would survive.”

  She stared for a bit longer, then nodded, turning to Rogal. “Thank you for protecting him. Please continue doing so as best you can.”

  “Of course, my lady.” He responds

  “After that, we made our way back to Payson. Oh, Morrigan was also awakened during that process, so that was nice.”

  Morrigan snorted, "About time you remembered me. I was working that entire time, making new swarms to keep you safe.”

  “You’re right, Morrigan. I'm sorry for not mentioning you sooner. But to be fair, I didn't skip over you on purpose.”

  She huffed. “I forgive you. Now, please continue.”

  “Um, right. After returning to Payson, we had an after action meeting, we got invited to a Samurai ball next week, and I explored town for a bit before heading back.”

  “Wait a moment, back up. What do you mean we got invited to a ball? Who invited us?” Roger interjected.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Oh, yeah. Samurai Blizzard was a part of the action and invited me and the other new Samurai to a party next Thursday, a black tie event. Synaptic informed me that the family of Samurai was also invited along.”

  “You met Samurai Blizzard? And we are going to a party hosted by her?And you didn't tell me first thing?” Cody yelled.

  I had forgotten that Cody was a simp for her. He mentioned it a while ago, something about the mystery that lies beneath or something.

  “Chill, Cody. I'm sure he wasn't hiding it from you, you know how he is. Just focus on what you are going to wear to the party.” Roger patted him on the shoulder.

  Cody grumbled, but I could see his excitement.

  Roger motioned for me to continue, but Jill interrupted. “Who else was there at this hive? You mentioned seven others, plus one more from afar.”

  “Right. There was Heracles, Fleming. Shrew, Senestera, and the new Samurai, Magical Girl Chocolate Thunder. Then the guy who fired the shot was called Gunny.”

  There was a delay in their reactions as I saw their augs light up as they searched for the names.

  Well, except Jill, “Heracles? Nine foot tall golden wall of muscles Heracles? Same guy who was almost mayor?”

  “Yeah, same guy. He's actually very chill and kind, and apparently his body is a Class IV weapon, based on how he punched Model Twenty Eights to death.”

  “Huh. Crazy.” She mumbled.

  “That's a lot of fire power that went with you, Vic. And yet they all still huddled together to avoid both fighting that many antithesis, as well as to avoid Gunny's shot.” Roger stated.

  “Yeah, it was a lot. But hey, I have their numbers now, and they know me, so that's good, right?”

  Roger burst out laughing, “Yeah! You did some honest to Sands networking with some of the most powerful people on the Continent. Great work surviving, bro.”

  “Well, right. Anyways, after lunch, Morrigan made me a new van to carry all the swarm dice we had made, then we talked about some future plans that I thought would be a nice surprise for you all.”

  I flicked them the building file link and saw them descend into my network. Then, I heard them gasp.

  “What the fuck is this, Victor.” Roger whispered.

  “This is going to be our new home. Morrigan and Baba Yaga designed it, well, Morrigan designed over ninety percent of it, but still.”

  “Three thousand feet per room. Shit, Morrigan, that's bigger than our entire dorm room previously.” Cody mumbled.

  “Not to mention the communal living area. Look at that kitchen. And a pool?” Buddy said in awe.

  “What's those blackened bits?” Jill asks.

  “Oh! Right. The top one is for the other project Victor assigned me, which he is very pleased about, but I can now reveal the second one!”

  On the model, the black censor bar was pulled back like a massive curtain, revealing a room that looked straight out of an old Apocalypse movie. Computers and servers lined the walls, a massive screen on the wall detected the Arizona area, a large hologram table in the center of the room, and a few isolated chambers near the edge.

  “Dun du du dun! Introducing the command and observation center! Otherwise known as the Dungeon Master’s Screen! With Outsider as the core of the room, it is designed to connect to satellites and swarms spread throughout the state, and even beyond!” as she says that. The screen on the wall zooms out to show the entire Earth, with a smaller corner of the screen showing the Moon.

  “From here, Victor will be able to command his entire army with up to the nanosecond positioning, directing entire war fronts from the safety of the tower. On the other side of the room is the more clandestine operations center for you guys! For Cody, a modular intrusion setup that you can design and build yourself with as much or little help from me as you want, so no need to worry. Then for the team as a whole, planning software, printers for drones and any gear you may need, as well as isolated interrogation rooms for those you capture in order to either obtain more info from, or to enact punishment!"

  “Pretty good. Do we have transport that can avoid tracking for when we obtain such individuals?” Jill asked.

  “I have a number of blueprints for just such an occasion.”

  “And, once I grow, I can easily hide you from said surveillance.” Outsider said calmly.

  “This is a very nice surprise, Morrigan. Thank you.”

  She beamed with pride.

  “May I ask why there are eight floors of Hydroponics facilities? Don't get me wrong, the opportunity to work with so many ingredients for free is nice, but if these notes are correct, this could feed most of the city.” Buddy asked, confusion heavy in his tone.

  I sigh heavily, “That is part one of two of the major troubles I have found myself in.”

  Cody pulls himself away from observing the DM Screen room. “How could feeding people be major trouble?”

  “Heracles explained it as a tangled mess of politics from five companies, so entrenched in Arizona food and water production that even attempting to do more than run a few charities would cause them to go to war on anyone who tries. And at the heart of it all is Bestlé, threatening to poison the water table if The Family so much as look at them too long.”

  “Motherfuckers, I told you! I told you that they were pieces of shit strangling us to death!” Cody exploded.

  “Calm down, Cody!” Roger snapped. After a moment, he turned to me, “I'm going to need more details on this, plus you said this was one of two problems, and you heavily insinuated they were linked. What's the second one?”

  “In order to make any of this, I need materials, and since the ratio for refining normal, terrestrial materials into the higher Class stuff is abysmal, it's not like I could mine the entire desert. We did the math, it would be too destructive. So, we need to import the materials from somewhere. At first, we thought of the sewers, but The Family is already using that for other projects. Then we thought of putting portals in the ocean, converting seawater into materials, which we could get away with for decades, but we have no way to guarantee the antithesis won't destroy or invade the portals, or corpo intervention. Hilariously, The Family also thought of these things to try to bypass Bestlé, and ran into the same issues, just worse cause they are actively being watched. The only real option we had left was, well, the Moon.”

  They all looked at me like I had grown another head. “The Moon?”

  “Yeah, we put a portal on the moon and mine it for resources, converting it into water and pushing out Bestlé. I'm not sure what happens next, cause we were going to go over that tomorrow during the meeting.”

  They all sat in silence once more, and I could tell that they were contemplating the issue a bit more deeply now.

  Finally, Buddy broke the silence. “So in otherwords, you are planning to eat the moon to feed the people?”

  That got a round of chuckles out of everyone. “Yeah. Yeah, I suppose we are.”