Book 2: Chapter 32: ANUF

Book 2: Chapter 32: ANUF

USD: ~1 day after SubCore A-3123Y deployment

Location: Ackman Orbit, Asteroid Belt, A-3123Y Orbital, Mess Room

Alex nodded, continuing to explain what happened inside the ShipCore while the two of them were enjoying a non-kebab but still tasty chicken Caesar salad, Nameless is a guy.

The ships computer is a guy. Elis repeated back to her.

He said he prefers us to use whatever pronoun we want.

It did, did it?

Everything is now operational on the Orbital, and with another AI running it, we can sort of be in two places at once. Ive tasked A-3123Y with expanding its processing facilities and drone work force while producing the supplies we need to move the manufactory.

Alex smiled and poked Elis.

Once we have that facility, well be able to restore it and Nameless says well be able to begin construction of new ships then. Theyll have pure carbon nanotube hulls at first, but well be able to expand into better composites later.

Elis pointed a fork at her.

Did you contact Thraker about the frigate? I dont like the idea of leaving the Orbital here alone without security. There are miners floating about, and while Im sure most of them are fine folk, some of them will be looking to score a hot FedTech refinery.

Alex frowned, Theres been a problem. Captain Harris took the Sharknose and left the system, leaving the company. Apparently, their ships are personally owned, and the ship captains are free to leave if they terminate their contract. The Captain-Major apologized and said hed have the Silverstreak over here in three or four days.

Alex, I think we should have Nameless take off a few PDC-Ks and PDC-Ls and rig them up to the orbital. Just to be safe.

Nameless?

[Recommendation: Allow A-3123Y to produce its own defenses. SubCore can produce armaments at a slow rate already. Four PDC-Ks can be produced in one day.]

Alex wrinkled her nose suppressing a sneeze, That sounds goodthe lasers probably would overload its energy systems right now, anyway. Can you message it to build up to 12 and make sure it has them in good coverage locations?

[Affirmative: This unit will assist A-3123Y in placement locations.]

Alex had noticed that once they had handed off half of their drones to A-3123Y that those drones controlled by it had suddenly become much clumsier. She hoped that it would be able to learn quickly and somewhat blamed herself for putting all its points into improvisation.

[Notice: Tight beam signal received from A-3123Y.]

|Spitters of Fire|

|In my belly|

|Be forged|

Elis shook her head, The rock is trying to be a poet.

Its not a rock anymore, its an orbital station.

Itll always be the rock that saved our asses.

[Informative: If A-3123Y had not alerted sleeping Federation drones our asses would not have required saving.]

Youre both right. Alex mumbled, but then a thought occurred to her.

Nameless, when will A-3123Y build its avatar?

[Informative: While A-3123Y has not disclosed when synthetization will begin, it will likely delay this until multiple NAI computronics compartments are operational.]

|Clittering steel shells beat|

|Collection Production|

|Our eyes will meet|

|After reconstruction|

Alex tilted her head, Nameless, speaking of computronics when will our next one be ready? I know we used the first one for A-3123Y, but I am really interested in seeing the personal Avatar upgrades.

Just dont upgrade something to be crazy, like walking around with nanite hair.

[Notice: A small amount of nanites are actively patrolling Avatars hair for damage. Additional compartment will be operational within the hour.]

Oh. Thats why it is so soft even after I ran out of conditioner.

Elis rolled her eyes, We mortals can only dream.

Elis, if you were willing I asked Nameless if he could give you a neural visual link. Hed be able to help you do all kinds of things like he does me. Its a neat overlay on your eyeball.

No. The answer was so sudden Alex did a double take.

You wont even consider it?

No. Leave it at that.

Alright. Sorry.

No, you are fine, I just dont want that.

Alex nodded and went back to focusing on her salad, and the two continued to eat in silence. At least until Nameless beeped again.

[Notice: Operational preparations for return to Ackman station are now commencing. Low storage space requires usage of multiple inner compartment free space areas to store excess goods that are not vacuum safe.]

Thanks, Nameless. I mean for taking care of it, not the planning to stuff things on our heads. Alex answered, before glancing at Elis, So would you like to help me go over the personal Avatar upgrades when its ready?

Elis looked at her and tilted her head and let out a sigh, I cant say I am pleased about it, but yes if you want, Ill help you look over the options. We can do it while Im fitting you for your power armor, so lets head to the armory when we are done eating.

A big smile erupted on Alexs face. Thanks! Honestly, I felt sort of lost doing the SubCore thing, and that was inside my own head or something.

|Teleoperative Processing: Utilizing neural connection to ShipCore, Avatar can personally take remote control of multiple electronic systems including remote pilotable aircraft, drones, ship systems, and terminals. Range limits can be increased with extra ANUF point allocation. Standard range: 1000m |

|Electrostatic Manipulation: Utilizing nanite movement allows Avatar to create static electricity. Nanites can be used to store, transfer, and discharge this energy. Consumes a large amount of Avatar energy storage. Includes safety protocols for protecting Avatar from electric discharges. |

|Nanite Correlation: Allows the Avatar to increasingly combine multiple ANUF active abilities into new ones, altering or enhancing their effect. The power of these modified effects is limited by the level of Nanite Correlation. |

Alex, I recognize some of these.

Alex turned to look at Elis who had a blank expression on her face. She was obviously not enjoying this, and Alex felt a bit of regret at asking her to help.

Elis, Im sorry. I didnt consider how you might feel dealing with nanite things considering your history.

Elis shook her head, I will be alright. Its good I can give you some advice. Especially on these Projective abilities. Ive seen them in action.

Alex blinked, Against other nanite avatars that you fought?

Elis nodded, Its hard to tell the difference between an Avatar and the MainComputer controlling things, so I dont have much to say about Teleoperative Presence. However, it was very, very common to see all Avatars using Kinetic Projection and Electrostatic projection.

Elis found a bare piece of metal, then a black marker and started drawing stick figures. If it wasnt for how serious the information was, Alex would have joked about her artistic skills.

The Kinetic thing allows basically waving your hand and you can dissolve stuff or even block bullets with a bunch of nanites. To create the cloud they have to eat something, and usually I didnt see the Avatar put things back together the way Nameless repaired its room.

[Informative: Avatar creation ability is a separate skill, please refer to the utility tab for more information.]

Alex nodded for Elis to continue.

Electrostatic is a dangerous one. There was a time when my team was boarding a nannie ship and the Avatar had this. Dropped an EMP-like shock on all of us that fried our combat suit computers somehow. That was a real cunt punch, and half the teams were lost in the assault because of it.

Elis frowned, This last one is probably related to the Correlative thing, but one high ranking nannie that we did take out was able to manipulate their own body. It was using Physical Reinforcement, but then it turned one of its arms into a gun, definitely using Kinetic Manipulation. Then it shot us with a railgun. So Electrostatic Manipulation probably as well.

Alex swallowed; shed need to be way more introspective if she was going to figure out all the ways these things could interact. I wouldnt have thought of that in a million years Lets see whats under Utility.

|Utility ANUF|

|Creation Utility: A specialized nanite computer nodule permanently installed in Avatar that allows for on the fly programming of nanite constructs. These constructs can either be produced purely out of nanites or fabricated from mundane materials and then deployed. Requires Kinetic and Electrostatic Manipulation and Nanite Correlation Projectives. |

|Energy Density: Converts empty spaces in Avatars body to store energy in nanite pockets. Directly increases the amount of nanites Avatar has immediately available, as well as increasing ability to metabolize energy from food and other sources. Dangers include risk of fire, and rapid degeneration during a rampancy situation. |

|Nanite Cohesion Enhancement: Additional nanite processing nodes stored within Avatars body increases the time Avatar can prevent rampancy. In emergency disconnection cases automatically expels nearly all Nanites from the body and shuts the remaining ones into maintenance mode until Avatar regains consciousness or expires. |

|Nanite Connection Protocol: A multi-discipline approach to increasing Avatar range capabilities by deploying miniaturized high-powered transceivers inside Avatar body while improving Direct Neural interface connection protocols to be more bandwidth efficient. Current Range: 25km |

Three categories of four each, with a bunch of blank boxes showing each category might have more. Alex mumbled to herself.

[Notice: No Avatar Efficiency or Cognitive upgrades currently exist, recommend research to improve upon Avatar shortcomings.]

Ill improve on you by painting your room purple.

Elis shook her head, So what are you going to do?

Alex smiled, I want the ability to reallocate points on the fly. Some of these have costs higher than others though, so I am not going to be able to get much at first. More computronics will be awesome!

Its going to mean we need a bigger ship, I guess. I think we are already stretching the poor corvettes design, even if it was some sort of jack-of-all project, I doubt they envisioned this Elis laughed.

Ok, let me show you what I was thinking for now.

Alex went through the list quickly, mentally selecting the things she had picked out. Really, the best thing on the list was the fact she wasnt going to have her period anymore. No more being jealous of Eliss implant and lack of monthly suffering.



||Avatar Nanite Upgrade Framework v1||

||Points:0 ||

||Physical ||

|Strength Enhancement: 5 |

|Agility Enhancement: 5 |

|Physical Reinforcement: 20 |

|Biological Modifications: 5 (reproductive cycle, paused) |

|Nanite Rerouting Alacrity: 10 (permanent) |

||Projective ||

|Kinetic Projection: 10 points (permanent) |

|Electrostatic Projection: 10 points (permanent) |

|Nanite Correlation: 10 points (permanent) |

||Utility ||

|Nanite Cohesion Enhancement: 25 points (permanent) |

Elis had a surprised look, I thought you were just going to buy everything. I for sure thought you would take the Teleoperative and creation ones.

Not yet. I could take those in an emergency, but I wanted to keep a lot of free points for the re-routable physical abilities. They also cost 50 points each, and I dont have that many points yet.

[Informative: Avatar ANUF settings updated. Avatar adjustment period will last approximately forty-eight hours.]

[Notice: Operations completed; ship is ready for departure for Ackman Station.]

Elis coughed, By the way, who named it ANUF?