231: Assembler

Nicolai looked the Assembler over carefully. It came packed with raw materials, all of its vats and bins full, and was thus able to create a huge variety of items.

He looked at the crack in the wall and his thoughts spun on, into matters of security, which as always were a priority. The cave was a risk. Threat Analysis and Simulations presented a simple solution; some explosives, placed after careful analysis of the cave rock, should be able to cause a series of collapses. With that he could section the cave tunnel into chunks. Airlocks, of a sort.

He would be blocked in at first, but he would be able to dig his way through with the help of mining bots, made by the Assembler, and create fortified entrances at each one. In the meantime he had plenty of sustaining Seeds, and if necessary the Assembler could make him more food. He wasn’t concerned about oxygen, as he had determined that there were indeed thin cracks in the ceiling, from which fresh air was winding its way through the cliffside and into here.

The jungle was full of dangers. He would appreciate knowing he had a place where he was entirely safe from them.

He settled in before the Assembler’s primary console, waiting as it powered up. Seeing GRECKON TECHNOLOGY INC blazing across the startup screen made his lip curl. Still, no one would deny they made good tech.

Setting it up didn’t take long. After tapping through the intro portions he connected to it directly via Link, keying it to himself as its primary user. With the aid of the other Modules, he was then able to go through the full setup, add a number of modifications to its programmed rules and issue dozens of orders, all in only moments.

To construct these bots, and these components, and these tools, and… so on.

The Assembler ground into action, rattling and humming. He took a slow walk around it, visually checking and ensuring there were no issues with its functionality.

It had one large construction bay, comprising the majority of the space it took up. The bay was big enough to construct an SUV, if desired. There was a toughened glass panel he was able to see through, giving view into the bay to check everything was going well.

Within he already saw components emerging from the fabricators, being pieced together by welding torches on one side, while more careful soldering work was done on another. It was creating four mining bots at once, each of which would be larger than a human.

It also had a few extra bays. One for apparel, two for handheld items—tools, weapons—and then a few for smaller and more specific items.

For now, only the primary construction bay and the one of the handheld item bays were operating. It didn’t take long, it wasn’t making anything complex. Once finished, he retrieved a simple sledgehammer and pickaxe, and carried them to the crack which he squeezed through.

Out in the cave tunnel, Nicolai walked for a few minutes until he was near to the entrance. This was the site where he intended to have the first and furthest collapse.

Ground penetrating radar analysis of the rock formation via his Skin Suits scanners told him exactly where to place the explosives; C4 he’d purchased from the Trade Link long ago, which until now had been kept in his storage Symbiote.

This wasn’t ideal for the purpose. Plastic explosive was expensive and meant for finer use, but it was what he had. He used the pickaxe and sledgehammer interchangeably to create holes to place the C4 into, then squeezed it inside and affixed a Link enabled detonator. That done he retreated all the way back through the crack to wait with the Assembler.

The first detonation went exactly to plan, dumping tonnes of rock at the very entrance of the cave, entirely blocking its length. After that he moved backwards, and performed two more detonations, splitting the cave tunnel into a total of three sections.

It would take roughly a day for the mining bots to be completed, and unless he wanted to do some mining himself in the meantime (not particularly appealing), there wasn’t much for him to do here. However, now he was assured that the Assembler and his new home were safe, Nicolai was free to leave it for a while.

That was good, because a timer he’d been keeping an eye on these past days would be ending momentarily. He tapped his Mark and it showed itself.

Phantom City opens in;

0:00:00:02…

0:00:00:01…

0:00:00:00

You may now enter the Phantom City.

Simply accept this prompt, and a portal will open on your location. For the next eighteen (18) hours, you may freely open and close the portal and use it to come and go, travelling between your current location and the Phantom City.

Once opened for the first time, you may not choose a new portal location until the next opening of the Phantom City.

You may take others with you to the Phantom City, keying them to your portal.

Your current limit for additionals is: 1.

It is possible to find Permits to expand your portal capacity in the Phantom City.

Do you wish to open your Phantom City portal here?

He considered the message thoughtfully, then moved and placed the Artifact Blade against a wall. He decided not to bring it, because doubtless he would encounter others in this city. The Artifact Blade had led him to be immediately targeted by the first true Cultivators he had met. He was free to return here whenever he wished, and it should be safe here. If it wasn’t safe here, then he was in some very serious trouble and had truly fucked up by placing the Assembler.

He’d done all the checks he could, as thoroughly as he was capable. He’d sealed the only entrance to the cave with three collapses of rock. There was no reason to suspect anyone knew he was here or had followed; he’d killed all the Cultivators and he was very experienced and skilled at detecting when he was being tracked.

Though his paranoia gnawed at him, saying But what if? What if? Somehow? How can you know for 100% sure? He took a slow breath. I cannot, but there is a difference between being cautious, being thorough, and being paranoid. He stepped away and left the Blade against the wall. Threat Analysis helped him calm himself, reassuring him that there was no more he could do, that the Blade and the Assembler would be as safe as anything could be.

He moved through the gap in the wall to stand just outside of it, and summoned up his UI once more.

Do you wish to open your Phantom City portal here?

Yes, thought Nicolai. He chose this particular spot because he worried it would be possible to see through the portal from the other side. He didn’t want anyone seeing the Assembler or the Blade.

A dot of blue light appeared and rapidly widened, swirling into a circular portal. The light flickered, growing darker on the edges, while in the centre formed an image. No, not an image. A window.

He saw a city and many people. A thrill of excitement shivered his limbs.

He stepped into the portal, and the world shifted around him. A frozen moment, stretched and warped, then it snapped back together and he was on the other side, his portal fading behind him.

He was trapped in the midst of a crowd of bodies. People all around him. Yelling and shouting, voices angry and affronted and afraid.

He was reminded of his entry to the Trials, a dangerous place he had unfond memories of, though the crowd wasn’t quite as pressing. There was a bit of space between everyone, not all squeezed together. Back then, he’d been naked and unarmed. Now, not so much.

He held his assault rifle ready, casting his Soul Sense around him in a passive scan of his immediate environment. Merging with Threat Analysis, he was able to view the world through every camera on his Skin Suit and the drones he let loose to fly above him. They joined the humming cloud of dozens of other drones up there already, and more joined as he watched.

Through the ones he released he saw the extent of the crowd. A few hundred-odd people, spread out over a large, circular area. The ground beneath him was worked stone. Where the circular area ended, there was nothing else. This place was suspended in an empty white void.

The resemblance to the Trials was intensifying. This could be dangerous. Those immediately around him were peering about and holding their own weapons warily. Neither he nor Threat Analysis detected any signs of impending attack—all were too busy with their own concerns—but that could change in an instant.

The people around him were a very mixed bunch; not what he’d describe as standard fare. These weren’t the average randoms. Everyone here was someone out of the norm.

Immediately before him was a Tier 2 Cultivator wearing a dazzlingly emblazoned purple robe, with an Artifact Bow in her hands and spiritual wings furled on her back. She, in turn, was subjecting the large Level 2 Cyborg beside her to a stunned stare.

That Cyborg was staring back at her through the six cameras dug into his orbital sockets. He was very tall and his skull was a patchwork of metal and flesh, the rest of him hidden beneath his large black coat. Bulges told Nicolai he had numerous weapons tucked under it.

They both glanced over in response to the flicker of blue light as Nicolai used his Mark to reactivate his personal portal, which had disappeared after he stepped through. It spun back into life beside him. He released it. So long as it remained callable he wasn’t in too much dangerous here. If it all went to shit he could just spin it up and be gone.

The Cyborg let out a mutter of surprise when the Cultivator bent her legs and jumped into the air. Nicolai felt the Aura ripple as her spiritual wings unfurled soundlessly, taking her weight and flapping as she rose higher. She raised her bow threateningly when a number of the drones up there shifted closer to check her out. She wasn’t the only human up there. He saw more Cultivators, and even some Earthborn riding hoverboards or jetpacks.

Nicolai turned his eyes away. He could have used his Pegasi ring to join her up there, but he was content to remain on the ground. Flying would make him more noticeable, more of a target.

His Soul Sense monitored the space around him, but he saw no signs of attack. Only confused people. The people could hardly have looked more different while still being human.

Earthborn with body parts replaced by metal, wearing techwear and tactical gear, festooned with straps and bags, guns and bombs, magazines full of bullets tucked into webbing.

Then the Cultivators, who were almost entirely clothed in robes of varying colours, from simple to ornate, slim to voluminous, dark to pale. Occasionally these Cultivators had, hanging from their belts, weapons or tools. Imbued and Artifacts, if Nicolai was any guess. They also wore numerous items of jewellery—earrings, amulets, necklaces, and rings that glittered on their fingers.

Their skin was also paler, and they tended to wear their hair much longer than those from Earth—even many of the men had long hair.

Watching through his drones, Nicolai saw portals flashing open and closed at the edges of the crowd as more people arrived. The number of flashes was decreasing. This was the initial mass, those who had come in the first moments of its opening. People were spreading out, too, and the press was growing less tight. There was only so far to go, however.

Heaven seemed to have a penchant for unceremoniously dumping people at wherever they were meant to go; uncaring as to whether those humans might be squashed by all the other people it was also putting there.

His attention was drawn to the white void surrounding this place, because something had appeared out there. Giant words, writ in blue light, which formed a repeating band that encircled the great stone disc they stood upon. The words said:

—LOADING PHANTOM CITY—PLEASE WAIT—LOADING PHANTOM CITY—PLEASE WAIT—LOADING PHANTOM CITY— PLEASE WAIT—…

The crowd was beginning to move. A Cultivator strode past, treating him to a cold look at he went. From the other direction came someone from Earth.

Over there, in the direction the one who’d passed him by was heading, the Cultivators were all gradually forming into one mass. Meanwhile, behind Nicolai those from Earth were forming up.

This movement seemed to have started without any words spoken, it was just a kind of natural sorting where people, noticing that those around them were increasingly strange and foreign, decided to move to somewhere more comfortable; where people looked more like them.

In front of him, the two men striding in opposite directions bumped one another. Nicolai noted that this was unavoidable, because both had clearly seen the other and consciously decided to not give way. After colliding they spun, both their faces twisting with sudden fury.

‘You dare touch me, barbarian?’ hissed the Cultivator.

‘Fuck off,’ sneered the Earthborn, looking the Cultivator up and down. ‘Primitive,’ he added, after a moment’s thought.

The Cultivator drew himself up, eyes glittering coldly. ‘You, a mortal, dare to insult me? Hand over your valuables, beg for my forgiveness, and I will leave your family a—mostly—intact corpse.’

A circle of empty space rapidly grew around these two, as people recognised the imminent violence and pulled back and away.

Nicolai, like many others, took a few steps back then settled in to watch.

Things were getting interesting.