The Territory Control Tower was utterly and embarrassingly unguarded. No security booth or checkpoint. Not even a bored rent-a-cop scrolling through his phone.
Luca crouched behind a decorative planter shaped like a saguaro cactus. Ceramic. Who made ceramic cacti? And more importantly, why was he hiding behind one when there was literally no one around to see him? And why didn't they grab their Phantom Cloaks to begin with?
"This is ridiculous," Emily whispered rather loudly from behind her own planter. "We're not robbing the place."
She had a point.
Ryan was already halfway across the street, walking at a normal pace like a normal person, because apparently, he'd figured out what Luca hadn't: Tucson, Arizona, at eleven-forty-seven PM on a Tuesday was the most aggressively boring place in the known universe.
"Co on." Luca stood, brushing dust off his knees. Arizona had a lot of dust.
The four of them crossed the street like slightly paranoid tourists. Emily kept glancing around. Ryan had already reached the tower entrance and was examining the System Store entry.
"No one inside," Ryan said when they caught up.
"Remind why we can't just call them?" Emily asked.
"Patrol routes follow portal activity," Ryan said. "They could be anywhere in a hundred thousand square miles by now. Last ping was six hours ago, southwest of here."
"Plus," Luca said, "I want to see how they work before they know we're watching."
Emily considered that. "Fair."
Territory Control Towers were the System's gift to civilization, if you could call forced municipal infrastructure a gift. Plant one of these things, and the System designated everything within its radius as a settlent. No portals would spawn inside the control zone, which ant no waking up to find one had opened in your living room. Overflows still targeted populated centers, but at least the monsters had to walk there first. The tradeoff was that the tower handled everything else, too: taxation, zoning, and infrastructure. Local governnts could customize the settings, but the System always got its cut through the attached store.
Tucson was a dium-sized city that had probably peaked in relevance soti around the invention of air conditioning. A well-managed town like this one didn't need to babysit its tower. The thing basically ran itself, collecting taxes and keeping portals at bay while everyone slept. Which explained why there was no security detail at midnight.
Luca pressed his palm against the access panel, and the door slid open with a soft hiss.
"I'll keep watch," Emily said.
"Watch for what? Tumbleweeds?"
"You never know," she positioned herself by the door, arms crossed, trying very hard to look like she wasn't playing lookout.
Joey settled onto a bench near the entrance. "I'm going to sit, I'm tired."
"We barely walked twenty ters."
"Take your ti," said Joey ignoring the ribbing and stretching out his legs. "The evening air is actually nice."
It was. The night had settled into sothing almost pleasant. High sixties, maybe.
The interior was exactly what he expected from a System installation: sterile, functional, and about as welcoming as a hospital waiting room. White walls, white floor, and a central console dominated the space, its screen projecting the standard Territory Tower nu.
No chairs. The System never provided chairs. Probably so design philosophy about efficiency and throughput, but Luca suspected the real reason was that whoever built these things just didn't like people very much.
Ryan pulled up the main interface. Categories expanded across the display in neat hierarchical rows.
[System Store]
REGIONAL TERRITORY TOWER - TUCSON
AVAILABLE CATEGORIES:
- Infrastructure
- Comrcial
- Residential
- Transportation
- Agriculture
- Utilities
- Ergency Services
Right. Town towers, not Company headquarters.
He'd known that, obviously. Town Control Towers didn't stock weapons or combat armor. No defensive gear or military hardware. That was what Company HQs were for, places like the IFC store back in Sandworth. Town towers handled civilian infrastructure: buildings, utilities, transportation.
But this tower gave them TL9 access.
Angelo's voice surfaced unbidden, that Brooklyn rasp cutting through the mory of pipe smoke and machine oil. Industry isn't buildings. Industry is flow. The old man had sketched pyramids on scrap paper, walked them through ore and ingots until Luca's head spun.
"Infrastructure," Luca said, tapping the category.
[SYSTEM STORE] > INFRASTRUCTURE
- Communications & Governance
- Defense & Protection
- Energy & Utilities
- Food & Agriculture
- Healthcare
- Hospitality & Recreation
- Logistics & Transport
- Manufacturing & Production
- Research & Developnt
- Residential
- Retail & Comrcial
Ryan pointed at Manufacturing & Production. "This is what Angelo was talking about."
[SYSTEM STORE] > INFRASTRUCTURE > MANUFACTURING & PRODUCTION
- Automated Fabrication Plant [Basic] - 12,000,000 credits
- Ore Processing Facility [Basic] - 20,000,000 credits
- Warehouse & Distribution Center [Basic] - 6,000,000 credits
- [Expand for complete list...]
Ryan whistled low. "Twelve million for a fabrication plant."
Ore processing. Fabrication. Twenty and twelve million credits for facilities that would turn rocks into civilization. The Triumph would carry the bootstrapping gear, the tools that made tools. But these were the grow-into facilities, the ones you bought once you had resources flowing.
"Twenty million for ore processing," Luca said. "That's the base of the whole thing. No ore, no ingots. No ingots, no parts."
Ryan nodded. He'd been in that eting too. He got it.
Ryan tapped the next category. "Food & Agriculture."
[SYSTEM STORE] > INFRASTRUCTURE > FOOD & AGRICULTURE
- Hydroponic Cultivation Center [Basic] - 18,000,000 credits
- Atmospheric Water Harvester [Basic] - 8,000,000 credits
- [Expand for complete list...]
He tapped the hydroponic center. Climate-controlled growing chambers. Automated nutrient cycling. Could feed five hundred people indefinitely. The images showed interconnected dos designed to maximize sunlight.
His stomach did a slow roll. Eighteen million credits for a hydroponic center wasn't theoretical. That was real money for a real building that would feed real people counting on him not to screw this up.
"Keep going," he said.
Ryan scrolled through categories.
[SYSTEM STORE] > INFRASTRUCTURE > ENERGY & UTILITIES
- Solar Array Farm [Basic] - 15,000,000 credits
- [Expand for complete list...]
[SYSTEM STORE] > INFRASTRUCTURE > HEALTHCARE
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringent.
- dical Complex [Basic] - 25,000,000 credits
- [Expand for complete list...]
[SYSTEM STORE] > INFRASTRUCTURE > COMMUNICATIONS & GOVERNANCE
- Administrative Center [Basic]- 12,000,000 credits
- [Expand for complete list...]
[SYSTEM STORE] > INFRASTRUCTURE > RESIDENTIAL
- Modular Housing Block [Basic]- 8,000,000 credits
- [Expand for complete list...]
[SYSTEM STORE] > INFRASTRUCTURE > LOGISTICS & TRANSPORT
- Maglev Station [Basic] - 80,000,000 credits
- Monorail Hub [Basic] - 50,000,000 credits
- Landing Pad [Basic] - 8,000,000 credits
- Starport [dium-Capacity] - 5,000,000,000 credits
- [Expand for complete list...]
Ryan made a noise that was definitely a sob. "Five billion credits for a starport."
"A dium-capacity starport." Luca read the specifications. The description showed it had infrastructure to handle a small fleet of shuttles, support craft, and vessels up to frigate class.
Five billion. Just for a place to land ships.
His brain tried to do the math. They had roughly two billion in the company account. A starport alone cost more than twice their total assets. Add a fabrication plant, a dical complex, housing for a hundred people, food production, power generation. A real settlent would cost tens of billions. Maybe hundreds.
Angelo had warned them. Two billion credits sounded like a fortune until you started shopping.
"These are System prices," Ryan said, reading his mind. "Ten to twenty tis more than if you'd build it yourself. But you get instant deploynt and no delays."
"Exactly." Luca scrolled through the list. "That's why we're doing it Angelo's way. Bootstrap the basics, build what we can ourselves, buy the System stuff only when we need it fast or can't make it at all."
The plan. The Triumph would carry the seed, the minimum viable industry that Angelo had drilled into their heads. Everything else would grow from there.
No wonder regular folks pointed and sneered when a new system-architected building went up. It wasn't just expensive. It was offensively expensive. The kind of expensive that existed purely to demonstrate that you could afford it.
"Show the vehicles," he said.
Ryan pulled up the category.
[SYSTEM STORE] > VEHICLES
- Ultralight
- Light
- Standard
- Commuter
- Cargo
- Heavy Cargo
- Utility
- Ergency
"Ground vehicles," Luca said. "What about aircraft?"
Ryan backed out and selected a different category.
[SYSTEM STORE] > AERO-CLASS
- Nano
- Light
- dium
- Tactical
- Heavy
- Super-Heavy
"Now we're talking." Ryan tapped Light.
[SYSTEM STORE] > AERO-CLASS > LIGHT
- "Hopper" Fan-Jet (6-Seat VTOL, TL8) - 10,000,000 credits
- "Kestrel" Vertol (6-Seat, TL9) - 100,000,000 credits
- [Expand for complete list...]
"Hopper's your basic VTOL," Ryan said. "TL8, conventional fan-jets. Ten million credits. Louder, slower, but gets the job done." He tapped the Kestrel. "Now, this? This is the good stuff."
Luca's eyes snagged on the Kestrel. A hundred million for a six-seat VTOL with TL9 magnetic pulse propulsion. He pulled up the specifications.
The image showed sothing that looked like soone had taken a helicopter and stripped away everything that made it a helicopter. No rotors, no tail boom, just a sleek angular fuselage designed by soone who really liked fighter jets but had to settle for civilian transport. The desert variant ca in matte tan with burnt orange accents, which was either incredibly tacky or incredibly appropriate depending on your perspective.
"Magnetic pulse drive," Ryan read. "No moving external parts. Top speed four hundred kph, whisper-quiet above two hundred ters. Climate-controlled cabin with particulate filtration."
"What does that an in normal words?"
"Fast, quiet, and won't fill your lungs with desert dust." Ryan pulled up comparative data. "The TL8 Hopper is a tenth of the price but half the speed. And louder... less efficient."
"We need transport," he said slowly. "But we don't need to be stupid about it."
"What are you thinking?"
"Kestrel's TL9. Better tech, better range, better everything. But it's a hundred million credits."
Ryan made a face. "Yeah, but we're not flying around in TL8 gear when we have TL9 access. What do we do with the Hopper when we're done? Ship it to New Dawn, where it'll be obsolete the mont we touch down?"
Luca chewed his lip. Ryan had a point. The Triumph was TL9. Their weapons were TL9. Their armor was TL9. Buying TL8 fan-jets when their ship ran TL9 systems felt like showing up to a portal delve in flip-flops.
"That's five percent of our entire company treasury," he said. "For a helicopter."
"We have two billion."
"We have two billion to outfit the Triumph and build an entire settlent. Fabrication plant, dical facilities, housing, food production. And we can't even afford a starport because those cost five billion."
"Okay, okay." Ryan held up his hands. "But we're not building a settlent tonight. Tonight, we need to find one team in a hundred thousand square miles of desert. The Kestrel does that better than the Hopper."
"Fine. The Kestrel." He paused. "What about ground transport? Sothing smaller for scouting."
Ryan backed out and pulled up ground vehicles.
[SYSTEM STORE] > VEHICLES > ULTRALIGHT
- "Sun-Dart" Jetbike (Personal, TL8) - 70,000 credits
- "Roadrunner" Hoverbike (Performance, TL9) - 700,000 credits
- "Coyote" Trike (Cargo, TL8) - 150,000 credits
- [Expand for complete list...]
"Sun-Darts are jetbikes," Ryan said, pulling up the description. "TL8, ducted fans. Seventy thousand each." He tapped the Roadrunner listing. "These are mag-lev hoverbikes. TL9. Seven hundred thousand. Top speed two hundred and twenty kph."
"Two Roadrunners," Luca said. "That's a hundred and one point four million total."
Emily had appeared in the doorway. "Did you just say a hundred million?"
"A hundred and one point four," Ryan corrected helpfully.
"For a helicopter?"
"It's a TL9 magnetic pulse vertol with integrated—"
"For transportation." Emily's voice had gone flat in that particular way that ant soone was about to die.
"We can sell it to Karen when we're done," Ryan said quickly. "Or the UER. They'd pay through the nose for it."
"And the bikes?"
"Those are essential," Luca replied, totally serious.
"Yes, essential," Ryan agreed, nodding gravely. "How else are we supposed to navigate canyons and other totally impassable obstacles?"
Emily staggered back a step, genuinely perplexed. She motioned at the screen. "The vertol isn't enough?"
"Not nearly," Luca said, earnest as a preacher. "There might be overhangs or sothing, who knows where they're hiding."
Emily stared at them both. Then at the Roadrunner listing. Then back at them. "You just want cool bikes."
"We need essential cool bikes," Ryan corrected.
"There's a difference," Luca added.
Emily closed her eyes. Took a breath. "If this is what you're spending on the first stop of the tour, I'm going to have a heart attack by the ti we reach Europe."
Ryan elbowed him. "That went better than expected."
Emily crossed her arms and stayed by the entrance, her lips pressed into that thin line she made when she wanted them to know she was serious. She probably was serious. But god, she was cute when she did it, all narrow-eyed disapproval and perfect posture, like an adorable kitten trying to intimidate a pair of golden retrievers.
Luca was about to confirm the purchase when sothing caught his eye. He navigated back to Aero-Class and tapped Super-Heavy.
[SYSTEM STORE] > AERO-CLASS > SUPER-HEAVY
- "Condor" Cargo Lifter (Atmospheric, 200-Ton, TL8) - 180,000,000 credits
- "Cloudkeeper" Mobile Habitation Platform (TL9) - 4,000,000,000 credits [UNAVAILABLE]
He tapped the Cloudkeeper. A floating city. Four hundred ters long, roughly the length of the Triumph, designed to drift through atmosphere indefinitely. The listing noted the deploynt zone required a minimum clearance of half a kiloter in every direction. Downtown Tucson didn't exactly have that kind of real estate.
"Four billion credits," Ryan said. "For a flying city we can't even spawn here."
Luca stared at the image a mont longer. Sothing to file away for New Dawn. Not today.
"What's taking so long?"
Luca turned. Joey had wandered in from the bench outside, rubbing his eyes like he'd been nodding off.
"Shopping," Ryan said.
"For an hour?"
"There's a lot to look at." Luca gestured at the display. "This place sells buildings. Vehicles. Entire city blocks, basically."
Joey had wandered to another screen and was scrolling through categories. His face lit up when he found sothing. "Trauma Kit. TL9 dical supplies. Sa stuff we found in Alpha Centauri."
"May as well get it," Emily said.
Joey added it to the cart without hesitation. Then he kept scrolling, adding items with the focused efficiency of soone who knew exactly what he needed. Another trauma kit. A field surgical set. Pharmaceutical compounds in vacuum-sealed containers. The whole package was called a Triage Shell, a compact case that folded out into a full surgical workspace. Joey looked at it like Christmas morning.
Emily had found the supplies section. "Saguaro Expedition Suits. Climate-controlled, Reflex material."
"Get four," Luca said.
"Already did." She was adding other items. Energy bars. Water purification. "Desert goggles with low-light and thermal."
"Boots?"
Ryan had been quiet, staring at sothing on his section of the interface. Luca moved closer.
[SYSTEM STORE] > AERO-CLASS > NANO
- "Poorwill" Civilian Drone Hive (6-Unit) - 300,000 credits
- [Expand for complete list...]
The image showed a compact deploynt case containing six disc-shaped drones, each about the size of a dinner plate. Ducted fans surrounded by high-impact polyr shells. The desert variant ca in mottled tan and brown camouflage.
"Civilian reconnaissance drones," Ryan said. "But look at this feature."
He expanded the specifications.
"Six hours of flight ti each," Ryan said. "They return to the base station when they're low, recharge, and go back out. The whole hive runs off a single D-Cell." He looked up from the specs. "Think about it. New planet, unknown terrain. You drop the case, let them loose, and they map everything within a fifty-kiloter radius while you sit back and watch the feed."
"These are all civilian spec," Luca noted. "No weapons."
"Doesn't need weapons. High-res caras, thermal imaging, mineral detection, atmospheric sampling. It's a multitool on steroids." Ryan shrugged. "Less granular than the tactical version, but for scouting? Perfect. Drop them along the major roads and wait for them to spot a team running portals."
"They hum and flash lights when they get close to people," Ryan said. "So you don't accidentally spy on anyone."
"Or so anyone you're spying on knows they're being watched."
"That too." Ryan's grin widened. "Engineer override turns off the nice behavior."
Emily appeared at his shoulder, reviewing the cart. "What's our total?"
Luca pulled up the summary.
PURCHASE SUMMARY:
- Kestrel Vertol (TL9): 100,000,000 credits
- Roadrunner Hoverbike (TL9) x2: 1,400,000 credits
- Saguaro Expedition Suit (TL9) x4: 180,000 credits
- Desert Goggles (TL9) x4: 40,000 credits
- Desert Operations Boots (Assorted) x4: 12,000 credits
- Triage Shell (TL9) includes Trauma Kit x2, Field Surgical Set, Pharmaceutical Pack: 220,000 credits
- Ration Pack (Energy Bars, 100-count): 2,000 credits
- Water Purification System (Personal) x4: 8,000 credits
- Poorwill Drone Hive (Civilian): 300,000 credits
- C-Type Power Cell Pack (12-count) x4: 432,000 credits
- D-Type Power Cell Pack (2-count) x1: 60,000 credits
SUBTOTAL: 102,654,000 credits
UER ADMINISTRATION TAX (25%): 25,663,500 credits
TOTAL: 128,317,500 credits
"What the hell is that?" Luca said.
"UER Administration Tax," Ryan read. "Twenty-five percent on all System Store transactions."
"Since when?"
"Since always, apparently. We've just never bought anything outside IFC territory."
Emily leaned in. "They're charging us twenty-five million credits. In taxes. On one purchase."
"That's how Anderson funds consolidation," Ryan said. "Every credit that goes through a System Store, the UER takes a quarter."
"The System already marks everything up ten tis," Luca said. "And they stack another twenty-five percent on top?"
"Welco to Earth."
Joey, who had been quietly reviewing his dical supplies, looked up. "The IFC doesn't charge taxes."
"The IFC isn't trying to unify the planet."
"The IFC also isn't robbing us blind."
They all stared at the total in silence. Twenty-five million credits. Gone. Just like that. For the privilege of buying things they'd already paid an obscene amount for.
"I hate this planet," Ryan said.
Luca thought about the starport at five billion. The flying city at four. In comparison, this almost seed reasonable.
"We're going to need all of it," he said. "The Kestrel gets us to the Desert Sparks fast. The bikes let us scout canyons without landing the whole aircraft. Joey's dical gear keeps us alive if sothing goes wrong. The drones help us find one team in a hundred thousand square miles of nothing."
Emily gestured at their current outfits. Jeans. T-shirts. Sneakers. "And we're not walking through the desert dressed like tourists."
Joey laughed. Ryan was already confirming the purchase.
The interface pulsed.
PURCHASE CONFIRD
DEPLOYNT ZONE: EXTERIOR PLAZA
The air outside the tower shifted. Luca felt it through the walls, a low electric hum that raised the hair on his arms. Static crawled across his skin. Then ca the displacent, a pressure wave rolling inward as the System shoved reality aside to make room for a hundred million credits worth of hardware.
Emily's fingers found his arm. Squeezed. When he glanced over, she wasn't looking at him, just staring at the door with wide eyes and a smile she was trying very hard to suppress.
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