Beyond that? Who knows? It’s not like they’ve ever survived long enough for us to find out. Either they end up killing the observer or are killed themselves.
…I imagine that somewhere at a hive level there has to be some memory, or it’d keep trying the same tactics over and over again, but individual models? Who knows, and who cares?”
--Samurai Trandilar on an AMA live stream, 2049
***
Caroline and Ginny walked up, forcing a change of topic.
“Ginny and I have hammered out the contract. As a last-minute addition, it includes the right to park your vehicles on the balcony, which is normally restricted to the top two floors. All we need is your signature. Once I have that, I can head out and leave you to the renovation planning.”
--I’ve been watching the discussions, and Portera didn’t try to slip anything by. They must really want you.
“The lease is perpetual and binding, so it can’t be altered down the road.” Ginny added. “Once you sign it, the place is yours for a steal, as long as you want it, whether one year or two hundred. The only restrictions are safety-based: fire, collapsing building, rampant nanite swarm, things like that.”
We spent a few minutes going over the details of the deal, including how often I would be making appearances and other uses of my name and likeness. Caroline initially balked at my one addition to the contract: the inclusion of the firearms permit for anyone living there. She pointed out that the permit requirement no longer applied to me, a privilege of being a Samurai. However, she relented when I questioned if I’d be able to keep training the security team. She knew that the value of my teaching far exceeded the cost of the permit.
After that change, I signed the contract, and Caroline handed me the master key card for the door and the server codes. I walked her out and rounded up everyone else. We met in the office that had the least offensive decor and a large table that we could sit upon. The office had a markup wall, and I splurged on a set of removable markers to brainstorm with.
I leaned against the edge of the table, off-center. “The place is mine now, so what do we need to do to make this livable?”
John took the lead in giving me a summary of what they had found. “Structurally, the place is safe and not going to collapse.” He took one of the markers and started drawing the apartment with sure, straight lines. “However, just getting rid of the decor will mean we have to strip and resurface every wall. From a security point of view, all we can address right now is the physical security, and for that, your biggest concern should be the walls, floor, and ceiling.
“The wall shared with the Shelter is fine. The hardened concrete it’s made of would take some serious work to get through. But the other surfaces are normal stick-and-drywall construction, doubled up for sound insulation. That means that anyone with a chainsaw can break in from any direction. A mildly creative intruder could find a dozen other ways through. The same goes for spying. And don’t even start on electronic intrusion.”
“Do you see a lot of chainsaw-related break-ins?” Ginny asked. She had settled on the side, with her legs dangling off the side. Her tablet and stylus rested in her lap at the ready.
“Normally no, it’s not worth it. But for some place guaranteed to have a lot of Samurai tech? I would consider it a likely scenario. Fortunately, Corie has some materials that would be much harder to penetrate, making this more secure than even the Shelter.
“But that’s going to cost. And you’ll want to remove all the walls to do it; otherwise, you will have weak points. Active security will depend on the layout, and I can work with Tom about how to make the layout enhance the active security.”
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“From a construction point of view,” Tom took his cue and stepped up to the markup wall, “it’s not going to cost much more to demo it all and start from scratch than it would to remodel what’s here. Removing the wainscoting alone will pretty much mean redoing all the walls. At that point, it won’t cost much more to move the walls entirely. And once you do that, you can make sure the place has the spaces you want where you want them.” As he spoke, he wandered, taking a few steps and then turning to drift another way.
“We can also reclaim a little space by shortening the hallway.” Tom pointed towards the front entry in John’s diagrams, erasing half the figure in the process. “That’s extended deeper into the apartment than necessary, and we can recoup that space for other uses. Corie also has some ideas about making some internal walls modular, letting you change them at need.”
“It will take a new catalog, maybe two,” Corie added as her drone flew to the center of the group. “But you’d be doing that anyway. What I have in mind would let the walls shift around, but they’d be as sturdy and soundproof as normal construction.
“A central computer would control it all, switching between a VR space, a living space, or anything else you want in seconds. The walls are expensive enough that you don’t want to do the whole place with them. But, say, a VR room that can expand into the Great Room wouldn’t be too bad.”
As I looked at the three, it felt like they were holding back something that they thought I’d balk at. “That’s good, but…?” I left the question hanging.
“It’s going to be expensive,” Tara said from the dead center of the table. “Rich-man expensive. They know you were made a Samurai only a couple of days ago and aren’t used to high spending. No one wants to tell the Samurai that he’s going to have to pay that much.” She had her legs curled, and one knee rose to meet her chin for support.
“How much are we looking at?”
Tom cleared his throat. “Exact amounts will depend on some choices and how much we rely on and use the Samurai materials, but somewhere around 1.2 million credits.”
“And a bunch of points,” Corie added.
--Yes. It shifts a lot, based on supply and demand. Today it’s up, so the conversion is 30 per point. That rate’s a rule of thumb to start with for negotiations, which is why it changes rapidly and unpredictably. But you’d have to trade with a Vanguard for direct conversion.
She giggled in my head.
--Sorry, that’s thirty thousand per point.
--I’ve been doing some estimates, and the materials alone could come to six thousand plus whatever you need for the credits.
Forty points was nothing; six thousand, however, could be a problem. How much of one depended on how the meeting with Trinidom went tomorrow and if I could find more Antithesis to kill.
--You peaked at 7,579 just before going to your parents’s place.
--Assuming you can find Antithesis. Incursions don’t happen all the time.
“Don’t worry, credits are the least of my concerns. Though if you hear any rumors of Antithesis attacks, I’d appreciate the tip. Alright, where do we go from here?”
Tom turned to John. “Are you sure you don’t want the lead or a joint contract?”
The security consultant shook his head. “There’s too much that isn’t in our toolset. We’ll be happy to subcontract.”
“Okay, then I guess I’ll be your general contractor if you’ll have us. We’ll need a layout before we can start any work, and for that we need to know your design specs. Once we have that, I can have the office send over a contract and estimates.”
“I can draw up blueprints,” Corie volunteered. “I already have some ideas, do you want to see them? Or come up with a list of rooms, and I’ll fit them in?”
The meeting devolved into a brainstorming session covering everything from the basic rooms to more exotic options. Lists grew on the markup wall and shrank before growing again as we tossed ideas about for several hours.
I drew an odd look from Ginny when I insisted on three large bedrooms beyond the master and guest bedrooms. That cleared up when I added that one of the rooms would need a panic room attached, and her gaze flickered at Tara.
In the end, I had to bring the meeting to a close and head out to Threat Dynamics for my shift. Tom promised to send the paperwork over to me the next day. “This won’t go up instantaneously,” he added, “but I’ll see about pushing it forward quickly. We’re limited in what we can do until we have the floor plans and materials, but I can start on the demo early next week.”