As the climate continued to change, more and more people fled the fire deserts of California and came north to the former states of Oregon and Washington. This shift was increased further with the breakup of the former United States.

  Southern California had long been overburdened with too many people for the resources it contained. This especially applied to drinking water, which it had been stealing from as far away as Colorado for nearly a century. After the breakup, California suddenly found itself without enough drinking water to supply its citizens. They tried to claim prior rights from Colorado, but the Confederation wasn’t having anything to do with that. The issue almost came to war a couple of times but hasn’t yet.

  Most of the people moved north, and over a decade, Seattle and Portland doubled in population. That growth was compounded by the ongoing trend of moving out of rural areas.

  Cascadia, as the new country was called, managed to fight back many of the cultural influences from the influx of people. Aided, perhaps, by some of the immigrants having learned from their mistakes. The most notable area that they lost the fight was in higher education, particularly the universities.

  The locals must have been looking the other way because suddenly they had a single combined nationwide university with many campuses, similar to California. That consolidation became a godsend.

  At a time when higher education institutes were closing up shop at alarming rates, Cascadia’s remained functioning and even absorbed some of the smaller private schools. A popular directive also attacked the inflated costs of a degree, bringing it down to a less egregious level, which also prompted an influx of students coming for cheaper education. Many of these students stayed in the area, finding jobs and again spurring on population growth.

  --Population, Growth, and Growing Pains, published 2043

  ***

  I met up again with Kaitlyn, Ginny, and Tara for dinner and dessert after work again. Corie had finished her initial designs, and I wanted the trio to give their input.

  But before I showed them the design, I raised the idea of their moving in as roommates. “Tara, from what I saw this morning, you don’t seem ready to move back to your own place. It might be presumptuous of me to say it, but I doubt you would be comfortable with other roommates either, right?”

  “My advisor’s been pushing me about roommates for months now. I…Even before, I didn’t like having strangers around. Now…I can’t do that. I can’t go back there either,” her voice had lowered to nearly a whisper. “Mrs. Wilsers’ asking housing about paying for a higher security space. I picked out a moving firm after class today.”

  “What about roommates you know and trust?” I asked. “If you want, you can come stay with me permanently. I’ll be honest that this is part of why I pushed hard for security in the design, and it’s the reason for the panic room.”

  Tears filled Tara’s eyes as she nodded. “I want to, I was hoping you would ask. But Mrs. Wilsers won’t like it being only one man. She’s pretty backwards that way.”

  “Well, I already asked Kaitlyn. How about you, Ginny? I’m sorry I hadn’t asked you sooner. Would you like some extra security? Feel free to say no. At the very least, as an employee, you rate an office.”

  “I… let me think about it,” Ginny said. “There’s restrictions for first-year students, for one thing.”

  “I’ve already checked with housing. We can form a micro co-op, and as long as there is one staff advisor willing to sponsor us,” Kaitlyn nodded her head towards Tara. “The only other restriction is that we have to prove it’s safe. I have to imagine having a Samurai living there would qualify for that.”

  “That would help. Would CU be paying for the rent?”

  “And maybe more for meals and utilities. Marcus might even turn a profit subletting to us.”

  “Wait, what?” I asked.

  “Housing pays a set amount per student to cover the rent. It’s part of what we pay the university for,” Tara said. “Or it’s included in the scholarship. If we form a co-op, that money would go to the new landlord, which in this case is you.”

  “Either way, let’s leave rooms for each of you in the design. If you don’t choose to use it, I can find another use, maybe for storage or a secret lab or something.

  “And if Mrs. Wilsers complains, she can help me learn how Samurai get away with everything.”

  We turned the conversation to other areas, and soon we had a working floor plan to send to Tom. Even with the addition of rooms for everyone and an additional guest room, a large amount of undefined space remained in the middle. We decided to leave it only minimally finished for now, allowing for changes in the future.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Tom replied that he would review it and get back to us with an ETA soon. It sounded like he was pushing this through as quickly as possible. Most likely I would be the one causing delays since I’d need to earn some points before we could start.

  ***

  The next morning, Ginny pointed out the Stumpy Pete’s coffee near campus. I met with Trinidom and Professor Colt in a coffee shop close to the Cascadia University campus. The cheap industrial look had been codified as The Look for coffee shops, despite decades of chances to change it. Its only redeeming feature, in my opinion, lay in how the cavernous bare stone walls echoed the smallest of sounds to form a cacophony that would drive any listening devices into a nervous breakdown.

  After getting my drink, I found Trinidom seated at a back corner table in her Samurai kit. Beside her sat a large man in full mech armor with his helmet on the next table over.

  For some reason, the cybernetic-heavy mech-armor look was the most popular among Samurai. There were so many of them that they’d started to blur one into another. If you’ve seen one mech-man, you’ve seen them all, with only the smallest variation to tell them apart. This one leaned into the stereotype with boxy white plates, standard issue helmet wings, and a slightly sinister mechanical faceplate.

  I activated my armor and helmet as I approached and took a seat at the table. “Morning, Trinidom, and you must be Professor Colt? I didn’t realize you were a Samurai.” This could complicate things; a Samurai could buy the catalog themselves and cut me out of the deal entirely.

  Some of my doubt must have shown in my tone, for the man smiled gently at me. “Pleasure to meet you. We need more Samurai that think outside the box. You must be worried that another Samurai will try to horn in on your d-d-d...trade?” I nodded. “D-d-don’t be. Ethics aside, the Change League would lay heavy fines on me if I were to promote my own gain while on their business. Fines that I-i-i’d have to pay or be cut off.”

  Trinidom nodded. “The Change League’s emphasis is on helping Samurai in any goals they have that are not directly related to killing antithesis. That could be buying a house,” she gestured towards me, “starting a business, or experiments to push the bounds of what we know about physics.” This brought a gesture towards Colt.

  “Many of the League’s members are non-combat capable or prefer the safer side of resisting the antithesis. They are usually strapped for resources, and we help them find or get what they need.”

  “I am one of those non-c-c-combatants,” Colt said while rubbing his left side. “I get by on the d-d-daily points, but what points I earn go into my physics experiments.”

  “And most Samurai don’t have enough spare points or need enough credits to make a whole new catalog worthwhile. Credits are easy enough to come by for us,” Trinidom said.

  A little reassured, I pulled out the communications drone for Corie to join us. “Corie is my AI. She can send you a synopsis of the catalog and the types of modules it contains.”

  “Hello, Professor Colt. Hello, Trinidom, it’s a pleasure to meet you both.” Her voice today was slightly lower and huskier. Still a soprano, but it had lost most of its childlike qualities for a more professional tone.

  “The catalog contains modules on proven knowledge, skills, and processes, both practical and esoteric,” Corie continued. “It has no material products beyond a general data module used for delivery of the material. You can sync to the data cybernetically or use the integrated teaching programs to learn the material organically.

  “I’ve grouped the modules into four large groups, from most to least recommended, which are practical methods, pure theory, applied topics, and exotic or world-specific data.”

  I let Colt and Trinidom scroll the lists in their augs before explaining the pricing and the release agreement I made with Mannie.

  “That release to the commons aspect will drive down the price. People will want exclusivity,” Trinidom said.

  “The administrators w-w-won’t like it, but the scientific community will respect you for it. I-i-it’s the right thing. But you might consider d-d-d-d...a sliding scale, where th-there’s a minimum period of exclusive access, then pay for more time up to a maximum.

  “I think y-you’ll have two main groups interested. The research and education communities, mainly the universities, will want the pure theory and some of the practical methods, while various industries and companies will want the applied topics.”

  “There will be some overlap between the applied topics and the pure theory,” Corie said. “For instance, the applied topic for plasma weapons includes the physics and chemistry behind the energy source and the specialized materials the weapons need.”

  Colt shrugged. “All of science has areas of overlap. I have been consulted on some genetics experiments. Just make sure that the contracts d-d-don’t mention or hint at exclusivity of content.”

  “Sell exclusive access to the curriculum, not the info in it.” Trinidom said. “And don’t overlook the value of the exotics. Anything about aliens is a big seller in the erotic markets.”

  I looked at her for a minute, trying to decide where her blush came from. She tucked her hair behind her ear and didn’t meet my gaze.

  Colt took a deep breath. “But th-that’s all long-term, and you need a quick sale. We can put the curricula on the Exchange. Eventually th-that’s going to become a good bit of income for you. In the short term, I-i-i…CU’s department heads and admin will probably be the first to buy some. How many points are you looking to spend on this right now?”

  “I can spend about five hundred right now. Hopefully I can earn some more points soon. I need them for this, but also for the new construction.”

  “Getting set up as a Samurai is expensive.” Trinidom gave me a wry half-smile. “With care and luck, you only have to do it once, and then you can concentrate on what’s important. It’s worth the investment to do it right.”

  “Well, I have a class to teach, and I think we’re done here. If I have any questions, I-i-i’ll call you.”

  We exchanged contact info, including providing Ginny’s details in case I wasn’t available and broke up.