Once we left Yellowstone, it didn’t take long for the rugged, rocky terrain to give way to rolling hills and, shortly after that, flat plains.

  After traveling over the mountains for so long, the plains were extremely disappointing. Although we could see for miles in every direction, the only things to look at were the abandoned towns and occasional copse of trees. The kids quickly lost interest in the observation deck and retreated to their activity room to work on their projects.

  Alan, on the other hand, barely left the place. He claimed that even the most featureless areas had an understated beauty, and he’d paint them all. I, for one, didn’t get it. Everything looked exactly the same. How many different ways could you possibly paint an empty field? Well… since that’s what he wanted to do, I left him to it.

  Jane and Deadbeat had created an impromptu cooking club, looking up new recipes online and whipping up small portions so they could check the taste and develop their skills. Our meals over the last few days were more like miniature buffets, each one containing half a dozen different dishes for us to try.

  I joined them for a while, but I quickly discovered that even though I didn’t mind cooking occasionally, I really didn’t enjoy standing around a hot stove for hours on end. I only made it through cooking two dishes before I felt the need to excuse myself and find something else to do.

  Since I’d spent almost every waking moment with either my friends or family over the last week, and everyone was distracted with their own projects right now, I decided to spend a little time checking on the ship upgrades.

  I quickly made my way through the maze of corridors towards the back of the ship. Instead of taking the regular route, which would take me out to the hangar area, I stepped into the stairway that connected the residential area to the command deck and followed it downwards. Once I descended to the bottom, I stepped through the automated bulkhead into the production area.

  Located in the heart of the stratocarrier, just ahead of the hangar area, the production area was one of the most well-fortified areas of the ship. This section had been specifically designed to house fourteen molecular reconfiguration machines—four of the massive industrial machines and ten of the regular-sized ones. I didn’t have that many devices right now, I didn’t even have half that many, I just wanted to leave enough space for future expansion.

  Each bay had an automated feed system, which could draw resources out of the storage areas on either side of the production system, through the walls, and into the machines. It was far more efficient than having the bears load the machines manually.

  At the back of the production area was a massive set of blast doors, some forty feet long and thirty feet wide, that separated the production area from the hangar area. Although they were normally left open, allowing troops, vehicles, and materials to pass between the two areas, they would help protect the delicate equipment if the StratoCarrier ever got boarded.

  After stepping out of the stairs, I surveyed the area. I had my current machines all lined up on the left side, constantly pumping out the bears, weapons, and the various miscellaneous bits and pieces I needed to upgrade the StratoCarrier. The beavers had taken over the right side of the area and had created an impromptu work area. They were currently crawling over three Kodiaks, methodically ripping apart their turrets so they could remove the heavy weapons mounted within.

  As I wandered towards the little construction area, one of the beavers stopped working and moved over to intercept me. As it stepped away from the Kodiak, the servo arms that it was using work folded up and disappeared into the oversized backpack it was wearing.

  “Sorry, boss lady, can’t let you get any closer than this. Active construction area. You’ll need the proper protective equipment before we let you approach,” the beaver declared.

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  “That’s fine. I just wanted to come down and get an update. How is the rearmament going?” I asked.

  The bot blinked a couple of times. “You know we’re connected to the command network, right? You didn’t need to come down and actually find us.”

  “I know. I just prefer a more personal approach,” I muttered. “So, what’s your progress?”

  “Pretty good. We’ve disassembled twenty-seven Kodiaks already, removed their coilguns, and begun installing them in the defensive turrets around the hull,” the beaver reported. “Unfortunately the installation process is fairly slow. Not only do we have to install custom housings and ammo feeds for the weapons, but for the lower turrets we have to work on a Kodiak flying under the hull.”

  “Beg your pardon?” I asked, shaking my head. “You have to do what?”

  “The StratoCarrier doesn’t have any gantries, and even when it’s stationary it’s too far off the ground for us to reach, so we’ve been borrowing the Kodiaks and using them as work platforms. Since the Kodiak’s pilot can sync up with the StratoCarrier they can perfectly match the carrier’s course and speed. It’s almost as good as being on solid ground while we work.”

  “Is that safe?”

  “The beaver union follows all safety procedures. Exterior workers are tethered either to their vehicle or the carrier while they work,” the beaver exclaimed. “Wouldn’t want anyone to go missing!”

  “Right… No, sorry, it’s great you’re following the proper safety procedures. It’s just that when I ordered you to perform this work, I didn’t realize how dangerous it was or what kind of setup you’d need to work on the StratoCarrier while it was moving. That’s my bad,” I told the beaver. “Would it be easier for you if I bought a couple engineering vehicles?”

  “In all honesty, ma’am, probably not. Most engineering vehicles are designed to either carry engineers or assist in construction projects. That’s not what we need here. What we need is something strong enough to carry the team and the gun and a flat area to work from. The Kodiaks aren’t ideal, but they do the job.”

  I nodded hesitantly. Even though the Kodiaks were strong enough to carry the engineering crews, they couldn’t be comfortable or easy to work on. There had to be a better way.

  While I was thinking, the beavers succeeded at removing another coilgun. They carefully pulled the weapon out of the turret with a crane, then drove the vehicle to the other side of the area, where a line of Kodiaks sat, waiting for their turn to go into the industrial matter reconfigurator to get rebuilt.

  “How many Kodiaks do you still need to disassemble?” I asked the beaver as I stared at the line of vehicles.

  “Thirteen more. We need forty guns to install in the defensive turrets,” it reported. “Why?”

  “Because I just had an idea,” I said, turning back towards the beaver. “Even after you're done installing the defensive cannons, you’ll probably have to do work on the outer hull later. Be it future upgrades, hull repair, or something else, so you should have the proper vehicles to do it. Since you’re already taking apart these Kodiaks, taking the guns off and such, you might as well take a couple and modify them further to fit your needs. Extend the work area, add some cargo cranes, create a windbreak… you could probably even add a system that tethers you to the StratoCarrier’s hull in order to further stabilize your work area.”

  It took me a second to realize that the area had gotten quieter, so I turned towards the Kodiaks behind me. All the beavers had stopped working and were looking at me.

  “You’d let us do that? Design and build our own vehicles?” one asked.

  “I was willing to buy you some engineering vehicles a minute ago, so yeah. Because I only have the blueprint for a completed Kodiak, these vehicles need to be completely broken down and rebuilt from scratch to get them combat capable again. It actually takes longer to break them down and rebuild them than it does to build a new one from scratch, so if you can take the existing hulls and make something out of them, go for it,” I said.

  The beavers climbing all over the Kodiaks immediately started to gather and argue among themselves.

  “Ummmm… Further upgrades may be delayed slightly,” the spokesbeaver muttered. “Although we love building, design is our passion. This lot probably won’t get anything done until they finally agree upon a preliminary set of features.”

  “I guess that’s fine. You’ve already installed half of the defensive weapons, and since I don’t have any plans to go into combat anytime soon, the other half aren’t a huge priority. You can take your time,” I said, before turning towards the Kodiaks and raising my voice slightly. “Although you should all keep in mind, you still need to disassemble a couple more Kodiaks if you want enough hulls to work with.”

  The bickering beavers all turned towards me, eyes wide, then immediately went back to work. Disassembling the vehicles with a newfound gusto. The spokesbeaver glanced between me and the crew, and back again, apparently unsure what to do.

  As soon as I waved them off, they sprinted over to the vehicles, doing whatever they could to assist in the deconstruction.

  I just sat there, watching them for a minute before chuckling. “I can’t believe that worked.”

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