Chapter 675 - Boredom Induced Innovation

Once all was said and done, little Rose was laid to sleep in a crib that sat next to their bed in the Sink. Both the baby and Josie were exhausted, the latter falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Afton was tired too, but, he doubted he felt as bad as Josie did... After all, he didn't just push a new person outta his genitals... Unfortunately, the suddenness of her water breaking had left him with quite a few tasks that needed to be completed, so sleep could wait for now.

He walks back into the living room and takes the freshly made double espresso that was still steaming on the table, courtesy of Glados. He takes a big swig and looks at the T.V screen which was currently displaying the nighttime landscape of Big Mt...

By the looks of it, people were still celebrating, and with the way this was going, the birth of his daughter would probably become an annual holiday... He was unsure whether people actually cared, or just wanted another excuse to get a day off. Not that it mattered, playing to his sentimentality was probably the way to go if they wanted something from him.

He shakes his head and finishes the last of his drink, the sugar and caffeine waking him up slightly, "Glados, what'd I miss while I was away?"

"During the time Subject designated: Josie Parker, was squeezing out a little person, there had been two attempted murders, two successful murders, a message from Mr House, oh... And your father is currently trying to escape again." she states.

Afton runs his fingers through his hair and lets out a sigh, "Again?... Mmm, whatever, let him go. He's been waiting to see Rose before he tries again, I don't really see a reason to continue holding him prisoner... He's been chipped, and I doubt the Brotherhood will be kind to him... Alert me if he's in mortal danger."

"Affirmative... And the other tasks?"

He shrugs, "What did House want? Sum it up for me." he asks, immediately regretting it as Glados starts.

"The immortal meatbag wishes to control the other destitute meatbags by sending in machines to crush any resistance from the western meatbags." she states.

...

"Uh huh... All I got from that was, 'Mr House is going to finally take control of Westside'... Correct?"

"Affirmative."

"Alright... I'll just leave him to it then I guess... And these 'murders?'" he asks.

"Some Former-Legion slaves thought the birth of your daughter would be an opportunity to rebel. They attempted to murder some civilians, but were murdered in kind." she states.

"Oookay... Anything else?" he mutters, feeling as if that didn't require his attention.

"Negative, I have completed all other tasks in your stead."

He slumps back in his chair with an odd look, "Huh, so I've been worrying for nothing then?"

"Affirmative."

...

He sits there in silence for a couple minutes before finally dropping a fist on his open palm, "Aha! I know one thing that'd definitely give me something to do!... Glados, show me the space-scout cameras!"

...

The T.V screen in front of his buzzes with activity, quickly swapping from the Big Mt landscape, to blackness dotted with many brilliantly shining stars.

This, was one of Afton's precautions against Alien attacks, while the Archimedes defence sattalites were being set up, he'd had many smaller intelligence-gathering satellites launched into space with them.

Their functions were rather limited, but they'd at least be able to find and warn against any Alien attacks. They were fitted with many sensors, cameras, radars, etc.

He'd be able to keep himself busy by monitoring these things, at least, until he fell asleep. Fortunately, the view provided by the cameras was definitely a beautiful one... Unlike the light-polluted atmosphere of earth, everything was visible from space.

Every galaxy, star, nearby planet, nebula... He was honestly looking forward to the day he'd get to explore it... First, he'd need to develop warp-speed or something similar though, he wasn't willing to spend hundreds, if not ten of thousands of years cryogenically frozen just to visit another viable planet...

Though, it would probably be easier than fixing Earth in its current state. Radiation had infested almost every facet of life here, and as far as he knew, there wasn't an easy solution to it... Maybe he should try to terraform mars?

With the teleportation relays, the journey time would be significantly lowered, though, due to the fact that the lighting you travel by isn't the speed of light, it'd still take quite a while. Not to mention the time it'd take to research and build machines to actually terraform the planet.

...

"Alright, I'm bored. Fuck watching the stars, let's get active... Too the Afton-Lab!" he exclaims, dramatically standing and pointing at the roof.

"... Has boredom caused you to have a psychotic break, creator?"

He shakes his head, "Haha, I'm just messing around... Let's see what it'd take to create a terraforming machine, shall we?" he mutters while entering the laboratories.

The other scientists were currently asleep, which gave him full access to their equipment... Not that he needed to ask permission before...

Whelp, first thing to do was figure out how to recreate mars's atmosphere... Greenhouse gasses anyone?

The next morning :

Once the scientists had awakened and headed to the Think Tank, they were surprised to find the place in a complete and utter mess... Electronics, scrap metal, and other machine components were liberally scattered around on the floor, as if a tornado had blown through a scrap yard and brought the contents inside the previously clean hall.

Not to mention the large.... Thing, now sitting in the middle of the room, with Afton standing atop it, using one of his plant-arms to drill in a loose screw.