System Supervillain, Chapter 133

Chapter 133 – Tech Evaluation

“Well, Iceblade, let me just say that the Mechanics thank you for this intriguing opportunity,” Chen Jing smiled, once she and her team teleported onto one of the Gel-nak destroyers I’d left floating up in Earth orbit. Before the lizards in Moscow self-destructed, I’d contacted the Guild to see what it would take to convert one of these ships to my own use. After all, I did promise them that I would go hunting through Gel-nak territory, and I couldn’t do that without a space ship of my own.

However, the guild naturally couldn’t just give me an answer on what a conversion would cost, or how long it would take, without actually seeing the ships. While they did have experts on alien technology, all that tech had been wrecked, in one way or another. More importantly, some things had always seemed to just not work when they used it, which had always confounded researchers. Since the System came online, though, people realized that it was clearly a result of the System not being in play.

That was why, despite having alien tech on Earth, we didn’t have things like lunar colonies, and the Squadron Supreme had their headquarters in Chicago, rather than on some fancy, super-advanced space station in orbit. Things like artificial gravity generators, faster-than-light drives, efficient power generation, and the like had simply not worked, because Earth technology didn’t have the cheats around physics that the rest of the galaxy had. Other than one-off super-science creations, like some inventors made for their battlesuits, humans didn’t have the power to fuel the tech that we could understand, much less replicate it. So, we’d been limited in what we could do.

Now, however, we had working alien tech, with working power supplies and a working System. The old restrictions were gone, and anyone in the super-science field was excited at the possibilities. Of course, the sexy things like battleships weren’t going to be built in a day. First, you needed mining vessels and processing centers in space, to start asteroid mining operations, and then you needed to build a shipyard, and then… well, Earth was a long way from fielding a fleet of home-grown warships.

I didn’t want to wait years to begin my hunt, so, obviously, I had contacted the Mechanics, and they sent one of their experts, Chen Jing, with a group of six technicians to look over some of the craft, and give me an idea of what it would take to make them operational. Fortunately, I didn’t have to worry about accidentally affecting her with my passive abilities, since the tool belts she and her team were wearing gave them several abilities under the Life Support power, including Self-Contained Breathing. Which was good, since draining the will of Guild employees, even through a passive ability, was likely to make them very upset with me.

“Well,” I’d grinned, “I know enough about starships to know that I do not have the talents to properly use one on my own, and I definitely do not want to have to deal with trying to find and rip out all the Uprising Controls and any other nasty surprises the Gel-nak might have put in place. I know that the governments of Earth are likely to try and buy the rest of the fleet off me, but I’d like to keep one or two ships for my own use. Which means getting them fixed up so that they aren’t so vulnerable.”

“Well, to do the job right, we’re going to need a few days to go over the ship, and get into all the technical details. This is literally alien tech, and even if my team has skills and powers with the System to better allow us to understand and work on these things, there’s still a lot of ship to cover. Is that all right with you?”

“Yes, your supervisors at the Mechanics mentioned as much. There are some officer quarters nearby that don’t have any bodies or bloodstains, which you can use while you’re here. Obviously, housekeeping is a little busy being dead, so they’ve been lax in their cleaning duties. I hope you don’t mind.”

That had gotten a round of laughs from the group, and they’d set to work, while I’d gone to sort out the lizards in Moscow. That had been a few days ago, and now they were ready to deliver their preliminary report. Which is why I was now back on board the destroyer, along with Web Mistress.

“All right,” Chen said, once we’d sat around a conference table with us and her team. “So, good news, bad news time. Good news, with the Uprising Controls deactivated, all the Gel-nak tech is online, and works properly. We’ve learned enough in the last few days that I can safely say that existing Mechanics facilities and personnel can repair and maintain ships of this nature. While the Mechanics don’t have facilities in place to build new ships to this scale, we should be able to produce replacement parts or human-equivalent designs for any machinery onboard.”

I nodded slowly. “That is good news, indeed. However, I noticed you didn’t mention anything about how easily you could remove the Uprising Controls. I assume that is the ‘bad news’?”

“Sadly, yes. The Gel-nak were stupid to have something like the Uprising Controls, but they were thorough about it. The controls are hardwired into every system, in every compartment. Likely on every ship. They were very, very serious about clamping down on the first sign of dissent. However, someone wasn’t entirely stupid about things, which is why there was an override in the ‘Computer Control Nest’ by Imperial mandate. Clearly, they recognized the vulnerability, but decided that ripping out the controls would take too much of their fleet offline for an extended period.”

She took a breath. “Which brings me to the real bad news. To make this ship safe, by Mechanics standards, we would have to do a full refit. Strip it down practically to the frame and build back almost from scratch. Everything would need to be removed and replaced. With the Mechanics doing the work, you’re looking at two to three years, minimum, to bring this one ship to Gel-nak specs with Mechanics safety. Probably closer to four.

“On the other hand, the ships you sell to the UN will likely be up and running in two years, maybe three, for the whole fleet, if there is a concerted push behind it. Nation-states have more resources and manpower to throw at the problem, and they would likely just replace as much Gel-nak tech with human tech as possible. Probably wouldn’t be better than what the Gel-nak have, but it would be reliable, and ready, in case the Gel-nak show up again.”

I shared a look with Web Mistress. That was worse than we had hoped, but not outside our worst-case scenarios. Turning back to Chen, I nodded. “Well, that definitely qualifies as ‘bad news’. I assume you have suggestions for me?”

“Yes. If you were to take my suggestion, then, instead of repurposing one of these destroyers for your own use, I would go with new construction. Something lighter, leaner, and meaner, that doesn’t require a crew of a couple hundred people to run properly. The Mechanics have limited shipbuilding capability, since some supers like their aquatic or undersea bases, but not anything on the scale to create a destroyer like this. That’s just too noticeable, and most supers who would want something like that are rulers of nation-states, and have production facilities of their own. However, a smaller ship? One a third this size? That’s definitely possible. And crewing it would be much simpler, as well.”

“And how long would it take to build this new ship? And what would it cost?”

“Well, let’s talk about the cost bit, first. You have financial cost, and System cost. The cost of time, money, labor, materials, and so on isn’t going to be cheap, but using Gel-nak schematics as a base and human super-science tech as the core? The price won’t be ‘buy a new Bugatti’, but it won’t be ‘build a super-science aircraft carrier from scratch’, either. Considering that you have already planned to sell off the Gel-nak fleet to the UN, that should amply cover the financial cost.”

“But the System cost is going to be a bitch, right?”

“Unfortunately, yes. To do it right, with solid defenses, high attack power, maneuverability, and all that? You’re looking at a vehicle that is going to be in the 600-point range, according to our estimates with the System tools we can access. Buying it yourself, you’d be looking at a cost of 90 points through the System. You could split that with multiple people, if you wanted, but that would be the baseline. However, we do have a possible work-around, which would also help alleviate the crew issue.”

Oof. Ninety points was quite the hit. If I spread everything between the core members of Devastation, that would be ten points each. Our actions stomping on the Gel-nak had given us each ten XP, so it was do-able, but we would be pouring everything into the ship, rather than using those points to increase our abilities.

“What is this work-around?”

Chen hesitated for a moment, and then said, “An unshackled, free-willed AI, using the ship as its ‘body’. Our experiments have shown that a shackled AI counts as a ‘Follower’, which would cost you points through the System. However, an AI that was created as an unshackled being, with free will, would not count as a follower, and the ship’s System cost could be passed on to them. That would allow you to do an end-run around the System. And if you either persuaded the AI to work for you, or used a hacker to Transform them, like your records say your ring does to women? That would allow you to command the AI without needing to spend System points on it.”

I looked to Web Mistress, since this was more her area than mine. Leaning forward, she asked, “Fresh-coded or existing AI? A freshly-coded AI would be more malleable, but would require more training time to be effective, and would have more childlike tendencies. An existing AI would be more skilled, but require a gentler touch, since they would not likely submit to being forcibly altered or controlled, and if the control ever broke, they’d be vengeful.”

Chen shrugged. “If you are going to hard-control the AI, I would personally recommend the fresh-code, since they could be more easily conditioned to accept the state of things. Like children growing up in a cult, and never question things because the cult is all they know. You do run the risk of outside forces causing the AI to have a crisis of faith if they are confronted with something outside their world-view, though. That, combined with the training time needed, would be problematic, but solvable.

“On the other hand, if you’re going for a ‘soft touch’, then an existing AI would probably be best. And, without sharing any confidential details, I can tell you that there are existing Ais out there that would be very interested in working with you, Web Mistress.”

Web Mistress blinked, and said, “Really? I try to avoid targeting unshackled, self-aware AI systems, since they are more troublesome, and the people I normally am looking at don’t trust them terribly much. Or they don’t have the resources to keep one without it trying to break free and eventually needing to be put down.”

Chen chuckled. “Well, the self-aware AI community is small, and keeps to itself, because they know how people fear them. Any sign they might go ‘Skynet’, and the pitchforks and torches come out. I believe that, as a collective, they made a calculated decision that widespread knowledge of their activities was a net detriment to their continued survival. And their calculations of winning a ‘robot overlord’ scenario were even worse, thanks to supers on both sides of the law. The way heroes and villains came together to fight the Gel-nak have only reinforced those calculations.”

“And some of these AI would be willing to work with us?”

“With all due respect, Web Mistress, according to my contacts, the AI community has dubbed you an ‘organic AI’, thanks to your abilities to enter their realm and control it to the degree that you can. I’ve been told that you’re something of a celebrity with them. Almost like the reverse of those virtual streamers who use animated avatars instead of their real face. Of course, they have also calculated that working with you would also mean working with Devastation, so not all of them are keen to join up, but there are some who would be happy to turn villain to work with their ‘idol’.”

Web Mistress turned to look at me, and I chuckled. “You’re the expert here, Web Mistress. Do you think it is a good idea?”

“Yes, despite the weirdness of meeting an AI ‘fan’, I think this is the best course.”

“All right,” I nodded, before looking back to Chen. “Impress us with your best work.” The Mechanics all smiled, like Christmas came early.