Chapter One Thirty-One A Tour and a Refit

Megumi turned a corner, a small rock fall had forced them to take a different route to the surface. Sadly the age of the tunnels meant some sections were less than stable, but they were not really in danger. Nearby Kiru rubbed her ass, commenting, “I can’t believe that rock fell on me.”

“Well you are fine,” replied Megumi.

“But it had to weigh what? Three? Four tons?”

“Four point six eight tons,” replied Megumi automatically.

“Yeah that should have crushed me, why didn’t it?”

“Well I did make you much tougher, and your shields did help a lot,” she paused in her speech as she noticed something, “It can’t be.”

Kiru paused as she noticed some markings, “Um what is that?”

Megumi walked over and took a look, “Ancient Solean, Columbian Dialect. Not a very common pick.”

“Why?”

“Well the dialect largely died out when the cityship Columbia was destroyed in 4163 at the Battle of Somar Point.”

“Right, I forgot about that.”

“I don’t blame you, it’s pretty old history.”

“So what does it say?”

“It’s a warning. Woe to all who enter the Tomb of Erin, last daughter of the First Lord Ruri for they shall face a fate worse than death for disturbing my child’s sleep.”

Kiru looked her in the eyes, a frown on her face, “This is a strange place for a Tomb, why bury your dead daughter in a mine?”

“Solean Lords love obscure places for their Tombs but the Solean word for it has another meaning. Not all Solean Tombs house the dead, this is especially true of obscure ones,” she replied as she gave the spot another look. Frowning, “Tell me does anything about this tunnel feel off?”

Kiru looked around, “Now that you mention it there is this weird chill, I mean the air is warm yet somehow...”

“Magic, I thought so. This entire area is warded, and it’s messing with my sensors. Might be why I couldn’t get an exact fix on the Typheron ore and I am starting to think that the rock fall wasn’t an accident.”

“Right, why don’t we leave the creepy tomb and come back later,” said Kiru as she started walking away. Only for a rock to suddenly fall and block the exit, “Guess we need to...”

And another blocked the other path. “You were saying?”

“Creepy tomb it is then and I think you are right.” replied Kiru as she stared at the oddly timed rockfalls.

Anai leaned back in her seat. The refit of her battleship was well underway. The Yuras was undergoing some pretty major changes and significant repairs with only a week to do it. That was certainly a challenge, but with the extra hands it could be done. She’d reviewed the changes, the addition of a cloaking generator, upgrades to the shields and some hanger upgrades stuck out to her.

As a ship, the Yuras was 2640 meters long with ninety-three decks and a standard crew complement of two thousand four hundred, but like most battleships, she had space for more. She’d left port with a crew of four thousand, along with some extra personnel. During the battle, they had lost about a thousand people including the ship's previous captain. Now they were getting those back plus an additional department of analysts, scouts and pilots. With the hanger upgrades, they were going to have some stealth-equipped corvettes to serve as extra eyes for the mission. If possible they were to try and get some eyes on the ground to scout out what the enemy was doing.

Of course, they wanted her to be able to protect herself and get away again. Previous battles showed that the alien warships were very resilient, and worse, their own weapons were growing increasingly ineffective. Which is why they weren’t receiving new weapons nor was their supply of WMDs being replenished.

That would leave her with her standard complement of heavy particle beam arrays, antimatter torpedoes, and light particle cannons. Well actually both particle weapons were particle laser weapons, a hybrid beam weapon that hit hard and accurately. Not that it helped against the Menace warships, they were basically immune to them now.

Thankfully her mission didn’t require her to sink enemy ships. That was why the upgrades to the shields were being done. The latest generation of shield tech, if these numbers were right they would see a nine percent improvement in shield grid performance. That wasn’t much, but it could make all the difference. Especially when paired with the new hyperdrive generators being leveraged in to replace her old damaged one. They were replacing the hyperdrive with a new one. Unlike the standard drive she previously had, this one was  able to open jump points inside a gravity well.

Behind her Reyna commented, “Quite ambitious isn’t it?”

Anai nodded, “It’s a lot of work, but things seem to be going smoothly.”

“They are, and I believe Larrisa wanted you to come by so she can keep working on your boobs.”

“Right, she did,” said Anai as she stood up, stretching a little, “I believe I should be free for the next few hours anyway.”

Ruya happily reclaimed fifteen the moment she saw her. A smile on her face as she cuddled with the little one and looked her over. She wasn’t sure why but she’d been afraid something might go wrong. Her mind flashing to that moment when she saw how coldly R23-G had accessed the infants in the nursery. Yet it seemed that fear was misplaced.

Nearby her medical drone ran a scan for her and quickly informed her that Fifteen was perfectly healthy and had been fed recently. Her belly was nice and full, which might be why the little one was acting so content. Giggling at her touch too. “So how was she?”

Yia smiled, “She was such a perfect angel, I’d love to have her over again, maybe her twin too.”

“I guess that might be okay,” she responded while cooing to Fifteen.

“Well, she is your child sister, so it’s up to you.”

Ruya blinked, “My child?”

“Well are you not, her mother?”

Frowning, she said, “Isn’t Auntie...”

Yia giggled, “Oh that’s cute, you know she merely carried the womb for the Collective. You are caring for her, providing food and love. What does... Auntie do?”

“Um...” Ruya closed her mouth as her thoughts trailed off. Auntie really wasn’t caring for them and seemed pretty content in her cold room. Maybe Yia was right, she was 15’s mommy. A pleasing warmth appeared in her belly at the thought, and she realized she liked that idea. She was a mother, with her own little ones already.

“Maybe I’ll introduce you to one of my daughters later? I kinda miss when they were this young though.”

“You’ve raised ones this young before?”

“Yep I can offer advice if you need it.”

Yia was starting to seem very trustworthy and she did seem interested. Maybe letting her have one for a night or two wasn’t that bad an idea. It would let her focus on the other one while she was gone. Her mind raced along as she considered that.

Then Yia spoke up, “well I did promise to show you my facility, so why don’t you lay Fifteen down? R23-G can keep an eye on her for you.”

She nodded and got ready to leave.

Heading into the town, she found the city a little different. Plenty of drones walked around on the streets moving with purpose as they carried tools and construction materials. Several buildings were gone, and new ones were well on their way to being built.

Yia didn’t take her straight to the facility, but instead took her on the scenic route, which allowed her to see her former neighborhood, which had already been leveled. Where her house had once been was now a nice empty plot of land, where a couple of drones were conducting scans.

When she saw her missing house she blinked, “My house!? It’s gone.”

Yia giggled, “Well of course, the old residential accommodations are quite inefficient. They have been removed to make way for better drone quarters and production facilities, while other locations are being turned into farmland. There is a lot of fertile land around here that can be used to feed millions of drones.”

“Well I don’t see much farmland,” she replied.

“Not yet, give it time,” said Yia, “we only have so many drones, and there’s a lot of work to do.”

“I think you have a point there,” said Ruyi as a drone came around the corner leading several cowlike creatures by rope. Ruyi watched the cattle for a moment and then turned to Yia, a question already on her lips.

“Livestock, being moved to a better facility. They are quite useful,” said Yia.

That made sense, she thought as they moved on. She took in the sights, as the city was a hive of activity. There was a lot of work happening actually, so much being torn down and replaced. They really were working to make a better city. Part of her expected to see piles of trash by work sites, but instead she saw waste materials being hauled off.

Turning a corner, she passed a drone pushing a large cart full of children's toys, blankets, and clothes. She didn’t see where the drone was going with that stuff since they were going different ways. “So what was with the children’s stuff?”

“I think it’s going to be processed and then either distributed or recycled. I could use the blankets, more bedding is always welcome. Anyway we are almost there.”

True to her word, the facility came into view around the next corner. It was a large multistory complex that dominated this part of the area. There was a sign out by the door that a drone was changing.

“Kinda pointless, since the drones would know anyway, but the sign was there.”

“Well it looks nice.”

“Yeah AR-225 said it was a nice sign and that we should keep it for the aesthetics.”

Ruya stepped towards the sign and read the text that had been freshly painted. With new text, where it had once proclaimed the place as a school. Now it said, Y-229 Children’s Care and Boarding Center.

After enjoying the pretty mix of bright colors on the sign, the pair headed inside. The front rooms appeared to be reception and admin offices, which Yia quickly ushered her past. Leading down the hall to the boarding rooms.

“Okay here on the left are the boarding rooms for young drones,” said Yia as she opened a door. Ruya stepped inside to take a look around the room. It was a bit small and each of the walls was lined with recessed alcoves from floor to ceiling. Each alcove was padded but otherwise empty. She didn’t see any beds, or furniture in the room for that matter.

“So? Kinda bare...”

“Well the only thing they are here for is sleep, right now it is empty since it’s not bedtime. Each alcove is sized for one drone and features automatic temperature controls to keep the drone's body at optimal temperature while resting. Each room is designed for 60 drones,” said Yia.

Ruya blinked, “But I only see slots for 54.”

There are six more alcoves under the floor,” replied Yia.

Ruya glanced at the floor and soon picked out how those alcoves would be opened. There was a console to the left, which seemed to be used for opening or closing alcoves. All sixty were marked and labeled. Seeing that,  she walked over to one on the left wall. The alcoves were stacked six high and three deep on the wall. Allowing for eighteen alcoves on the wall. Whatever the door mechanism for the wall alcove was, she couldn’t find it. “So how do these close?”

Yia showed her, and she watched as an alcove closed. The door closed around it like those circle doors she had seen on TV. “Oh that’s cool!”

“Very, and useful. Now there are quite a few rooms like this one on the level and they are pretty much all the same. We need a lot of them to house all the drones.”

“That makes sense, we’ve been expanding the nurseries back at my place. Maybe I should use the walls too?”

“You should, anything to maximize use of space would be good.”

“Agreed, it’s quite clever setting the room up like this,” said Ruya as she was led out of the room.

Yia showed her around the floor, where she noted that there were indeed a lot of rooms for storing young drones. Then they went up to the second floor, where they soon came into a different room. Almost immediately she was greeted with the sight of children. Boys and girls both were in the room and like the babies back at her place unclothed. Something she rather expected, her chats with R23-G being why.

Looking around she noted some were younger, others older. There was a mix of boys and girls with most of them sitting at tables and using tools to assemble parts. “This is the workroom, the drones here are working on whatever tasks they have been assigned.”

Ruyi nodded and started looking around. Noticing that the younger ones seemed to have simpler tasks when compared to the older ones. The older ones seemed especially focused on their tasks, well most of them. She spotted one girl, rubbing between the legs of her neighbor who seemed to really like the attention she was getting.

Ruyi looked to Yia, “What are those two doing?”

“I’ll show you later sis, it can be a lot of fun, but it’s nothing to worry about. We can let those girls play, as long as they get their work done. Besides I have those two scheduled for their womb removals, so until then they can enjoy them.”

“Right speaking of play, I haven’t seen...”

“They’re drones, they don’t play, they work or learn.”

She frowned, “I see, what does that mean for the twins?”

Yia giggled, “Those two are princesses, they will have a playroom. I’ll show you later.”

Leaving behind the workrooms, Yia showed her to the cafeteria where young girls and boys were lining up to get their food. Looking around, she noticed a lack of tables or any counters, “So how are they going to...”

Before she finished, a tube lowered from the ceiling and each child took the end into his or her mouth. For a couple of minutes they sucked on the tube as it fed them some kind of slurry that moved down the tube. The process reminded her of the automatic feeders that were being installed in her own facility. Feeders that made sure the kids got enough to eat at proper intervals.

“As you can see, we give each young drone a calibrated dose of nutrients here. Each drone has five minutes to get his or her required nutrients and then it’s back to work.”

“Efficient,” commented Ruya, “but I guess they don’t really get to enjoy the food.

“Well they are drones.”

She was starting to understand what that meant. They were beneath them, why treat them to the same standard? This clearly worked and she could see they all looked healthy. They were growing nicely. Then she had a thought, “Um, will the Twins be coming here later?”

“Sure will, but they will get to use the other cafeteria,” said Yia while pulling on her arm.

Across the hall, she was led to a small room where she could see a few young girls seated at a table, with a bowl of something on a tray. They were happily chatting with each other as they enjoyed their... was that soup? No, that looked more like a stew. It smelled good too.

“As you can see sis, junior princesses have their own cafeteria. Today is stew.”

Ruya looked around, it was small, there was a counter at the back where a drone was standing waiting to serve. A younger girl from the look of it and she seemed to be staring at the stew. Six young girls were sharing the one table. Ruya wasn’t sure but she guessed the youngest one was about four, while the oldest looked to be eight, maybe nine. “They look to be enjoying themselves,” she commented as a thought occurred to her, “What do their chambers look like?”

“This way, I’ll show you,” said Yia.

They had to go up a couple of floors and she was soon presented with six bedrooms side by side. Each room was modest, with a desk, a single bed, and a trunk. It was much smaller than her room, but there was a nice bathroom across the hall.

“As junior princesses, they don’t yet rate the rooms we get, but they get more space than a drone. The girls share this one bathroom, when the twins come here later they will get a similar arrangement of linked rooms.”

“Nice, those beds look better than my old one.”

“I’m sure the Juniors would enjoy meeting the twins and it would be good for them to come here every once in a while.”

“Oh? That might not be a bad idea.”

“I’ve been thinking we could trade who has which twin every week. One week I get fifteen, the next you get fifteen and I have fourteen for that week.”

Ruya was silent for a moment, “I guess but...”

“Fifteen enjoyed her first night didn’t she? Why not just give it a try? We can always change it.”

“Alright, we can do that.”

Yia jumped up happily, “YAY! I get more Fifteen!”

Ruya smiled, there was something about seeing her so happy that made her feel warm.