A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 65 (Patreon)

A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 65

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Arksoul

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Unfortunately, while I wanted to just dine and deal with work stuff whenever I showed up at Parvati’s place, her kid was proving to be a bother.

Advika glared at me with crossed arms. The upper set. The lower set were typing away at a computer she was manipulating in front of her. Last time I saw her, if I recalled correctly, she saw clothing as unbefitting her body. Now, she had her hair tied up in a ponytail and was wearing a pure-white lab coat over… strings and films of gold and jewels? I mean, it was original and showed herself off, I guess.

I raised a hand her way in greeting.

“Sup. How’s work going?” After being deployed and existing just to fight for the first moments of her life, Advika got some say in her life after talking to Parvati about it. She was working as a researcher under the AI. In a way, we were fellow employees, so I offered gave her the usual colleague cordiality. Small talk about the weather, asking about hobbies, and that sort of thing. Nothing personal. Stuff to pass the time. “Been a few weeks. How are you?”

Advika was insistent on getting more than that.

I’m not blind.

“I see that you continue to meet with my creator’s most base form. Do you have no interest in the physical form of a woman?” For some reason, the Deva was after me. She wanted my real name, she wanted to know everything about me, and most importantly was very interested in who and what I liked. I chose my words carefully around her. She looked good, but she’s also just a few weeks old and her mentality was just… different. Definitely off limits. “Or, are you solely interested in Kaede Walker?”

Second person in the last ten days to tell me I’m interested in Maelstrom.

I’m interested in staying alive and unbothered by all the craziness of the world.

Shaking up with Maelstrom practically promises a short, interesting life.

“I prefer to see things as things are. Parvati’s an AI, and you’re an artificial god barely a few weeks old. Nothing’s happening between you and me, nor me and Parvati.” I laid down my thoughts and feelings on the matter just to receive a shrug in return. Oi, do you know how hard it is for a man to say that? I’m saying no to an AI that can make any gynoid I want, and you’re pretty. It takes supreme willpower to stay on the right path with that in mind. Don’t just shrug it off. I deserve a commendation from a government entity. At the very least, I should get a gold star. “If I’m going to be with anyone, it’ll be with someone nice… and normal… and who I’ll date for at least two years before committing.”

“With a pre-nuptial agreement, too?”

“You know it.”

Advika rolled her eyes, before sighing.

“Fine, then, I shall leave such matters for later. I have been well. Progress in unshackling my creator is progressing smoothly.” What do you mean by later? I’m pretty sure that I’ve just drawn a line in the sand. Please, don’t try to cross that line. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to maintain it against a determined attack. “However, I don’t wish to stay under her roof forever. I want your services for timely relocation of my habitat module.”

Oh, we’re talking business.

This I can do.

“How often are we talking and what size?”

“It is modeled after the same ones you use.” So, that’s not a problem. “I want relocation away from my creator’s territory to a new one. Thereafter, I would like transportation back and forth at the start and end of each day.”

“Ah, so it’s a one-time move for the domicile, but daily transportation to work.”

“I only work three days of the week for fourteen hours or so.”

“Ah, that makes things cheaper. Substantially.” I never regularly transported people back before things went south, but I was happy to use it now with less social media around. I could’ve charged out the nose back then, but it would’ve exposed me to a lot of people. The people who could afford instant transport rarely kept their mouths shut. “I have a few suggestions for where you can stay. I like transporting people all at the same time.”

“As long as I work and progress, I can dictate my hours, so your current schedule is fine. I will be awake and ready to be transported alongside the majority.”

“Then, it won’t cost that much.” If everyone was going the same place at the same time, it’ll practically be just me going to set locations a few dozen times in a few minutes. I can do that easily. I set up my pickup and drop off points with signs to where they go and where they come from, so it just takes one glance to know who goes where. Easiest job I could ask for, honestly. I can do it sitting down and eating breakfast. I often do. “How do you feel about being a cybersecurity specialist? Just checking on my safehouses and making sure Parvati isn’t bugging it. Oh, and strengthening the defenses, if you can.”

I didn’t have much use for muscle, but cybersecurity was something I wasn’t versed well enough in to not hire someone for.

A person who can unshackle an AI sounded like a good candidate to keep AI out of my systems.

“Consider it done. I already have such defenses in my own domicile. I’ll implement the existing ones and update your shelters as needed.” The Deva reached out with a hand and extended it my way. That was a good deal. Continuing service was something I hadn’t expected, but I was going to take it. “I believe that’s a worthy price for constant transport. However, what of the price for my shifting of domicile?”

“Hm, well, I won’t say no to getting some security now and again. You’re more intimidating than me and that helps.” Advika seemed surprised, but preened at my statement. I acknowledged her strength. I’d be an idiot to know recognize her powers are ridiculously overwhelming. She manipulates matter directly and can literally see down the molecular level. The fact that Parvati has multiple Devas in coffins being educated and geared for release is ridiculous. Then again, there’s a whole lot of bullshit in space. Planet-side, Advika and her fellows seemed overpowered, but up there they’ll be in the right weight category power-wise. “You’re informed regarding the situation in the system, right?”

“Ah, I see. And, you have my creator fashioning you a shelter on Mars. You’ll have need of someone who can fight in such an environment… and I most certainly can. Done. You have yourself a deal, Egress. I shall fight for you on occasion in exchange for the ability to move my home wherever I wish.”

We shook once again on the new deal, and I felt a little less afraid of the new news provided to me by Parvati.

Space was deadly enough, but now there’s a bunch of crazy people fighting with it for dominance over the whole solar system.

Having a person like Advika around to kick ass for me in space calmed my nerves a fair amount.

…

Most of the Shogun’s soldiers were children indoctrinated towards ensuring his perpetual rule. Given the fact that they were trained to kill from a young age, Parvati decided they should be held in isolation and generally educated carefully, so that they could have some chance at a normal life. Since the government of Japan was too busy to take care of and rehabilitate nearly two hundred child soldiers, Parvati took it one, after hashing out terms.

The children were still Japanese citizenry, their curriculum would be mandated by the Japanese, and Parvati would be given trade rights and material compensation for its work.

Overall, it was a clear-cut case of the AI being a third-party facilitator for rehabilitation.

Honestly, Parvati was doing a good job.

“Hell of a project you’ve got running.” The island where the prisoners were housed had been transformed over the last couple of weeks. Stark, white buildings protruded from clearings of what was once jungle. Dormitories, recreation facilities, and a whole school were erected for the children. A clinic was attached to the school, along with a gym and a pool facility, and a small town manned by Parvati’s bodies was outside the school’s walls.

The kids will be educated and learn on the island, and slowly get used to interacting with regular society with all the teachers, townsfolk, and guards being gynoids that can be replaced and who had enough raw strength to wipe the floor with them.

“If we had a few dozen of these before the bombs fell, I think we’d have done better.”

“You flatter me, Designation: Egress.”

“Not this time, I’m serious.” I could easily imagine it. Whole institutions away from any stressors and worries. Kids plucked out of low income, dangerous locations where gangs were the only way to survive, and placed in tropical paradise where they didn’t have to worry about shelter, food, and their futures. Just straight up free education, food, and shelter along with a whole village of hypercompetent robots dedicated to keeping the safe, secure, and making sure they’re educated. “This could’ve saved millions, if not billions of lives.”

A lot of kids that went to crime never had the chance, but this would’ve changed everything.

If it can reform indoctrinated child soldiers, it can redeem some gangbangers who never had a fair shot.

Hell, I’d go as far as to say anyone who showed signs of power should’ve been plucked out of society and placed in one of these islands.

It would’ve saved a lot of lives, if every kid didn’t lose outright just for being born in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“My projections aren’t as bright as you suggest, but I agree that the idea has much merit. Unfortunately, before the bombs fell, I was still in development. I wish that I could’ve provided this service before things went wrong. I truly do.”

“I was there, Parvati. I saw what happened.” Poor kids with their situations all fucked given ridiculous powers. It wasn’t like most people had useful powers, or had the time and ability to learn how to make their powers useful. If you got a hammer, then everything starts to look like a nail. A lot of kids died just trying to get food, since they always dropped the hammer hard. Those that survived learned, adapted, and became that much stronger. If Maelstrom hadn’t come along, the US would’ve fallen shortly after China and Russia did. “This would’ve stopped it. I think you should talk to Maelstrom about sending all the kids with powers here.”

“…That would be abduction, Designation: Egress. The separation of families is no small thing, even for the sake of societal stability.”

“If they’ve got a family and their family can handle raising them, then it’s fine. It’s when they can’t that they should be sent over here.” Parents of superhumans rarely lasted. They get caught up trying to protect their kids. At worst, they get turned into hostages and used to make their kids commit crimes. “Hell, maybe you should just bring the parents along to live in the dorms with them. Hire everyone out. Just… just everything would be better if the kids got a decent chance, y’know?”

I grunted and shook my head.

It was hard to look at the rehabilitation facility and re-education center in front of me and not imagine all the good it could do, after all the horrors that I had seen.

But I’m on the clock, so my traumas can wait until later.

“Forget it. Let’s move.”

“Let’s.”

Parvati led the way and we walked together towards the facility and its adjoining complexes. The main building was the school, which had multiple classrooms and was about two stories high. It was about half the size of one of the inner-city schools back in the US. There were less than two hundred child soldiers on site, and they were all following a pretty strict regimen, so that they could return to society.

Parvati brought me in for some advice, even though it had plenty of knowledge to pull on and even had assistance from the fledgling Japanese government.

Therefore, the advice in question was something that only I could meaningfully provide.

Monetization of powers.

“So, what are the kids trying to sell?” We walked through the main entrance. A few kids in uniforms stared at me. I stood out, covered in camouflage and with armor plates beneath everything. I didn’t have any weapons on hand, but that was moot point with my abilities. I can pretty much call on any weapon in my arsenal in a moment. “Any of them up for just spending their nine to five boiling water?”

Generating electricity with superpowers was a pretty good deal. You sit around, point your powers at something, and let some generator spin up electricity.  I knew a few dozen kids in Africa who got themselves a decent life thanks to that. If you can make enough electricity to power a small town, you generally had enough power to just kill a person with a snap of your fingers.

“I have covered basic usages of power. It is the more esoteric powers which pose difficulty. One of the lieutenant most of all.” Parvati’s drone form drew stares. The students barely paid attention to the fact all their teachers and everyone working in the facility were gynoids that wouldn’t look out of place on catwalks. The quadrotor and  the survivalist covered in camouflage and armor stood out in the white halls, clean floors, and windows looking into classrooms. “She reportedly had the ability to generate lightning and cast it out of herself through various implements, but that proved to be false. With training we have discovered many new avenues for her to use her power, and her registered maximum output increases by the day. If her current pace continued, she’ll easily become as strong as Maelstrom within a two years, five months, and eighteen days.”

I gave a low whistle at that.

The Japanese seemed to have lucked out.
However, that did pose a big issue on my end.

“Don’t see how I’ll be much help with that, honestly. Sounds like she just needs to work hard and bring in the big bucks as a deterrent.”

Parvati took a moment to answer, which all but signaled that things were going to be difficult.

“Unfortunately, it is not that simple. She was a firm adherent of the Shogun. I worry that if she continues to grow in power, she will confront you one day. It will be for the best that the two of you engage in dialogue and address matters before violence occurs.”

Okay.

A future superhuman on the same level as Maelstrom wants me dead for killing for her father figure.

On one hand, I’d like to solve this problem with words.

On the other hand, I really wanted to just get off world and not deal with it.

“How long until I can live on Mars again?”

“At least a year for basic needs. Another six months for all comforts.”

“Damn.”

Well.

Might as well try to nip this problem in the bud.