Sigma 16 - Chapter 27 – Stripping for Profit (Patreon)

As the resource drone continued to fabricate, Talia delved into the maps and reports generated by her two QCD-2P quadcopters. They had catalogued a trail of wreckage sprawled out for miles to the northeast and southwest, marking the passage of her ship’s dramatic descent from orbit. The debris thinned rapidly past the immediate area around the Bootstrap Module.

The map also showed that there was a cluster of wreckage around where her escape pod landed, but that was too far for today’s mission. Examining the black areas of the map, she drew a white pin far to the southwest in uncharted territory where she had suspected the ship had come down.

There was also another ship module she’d ejected to consider. She drew a straight line through the Bootstrap Module, her escape pod, and her ship’s suspected crash located. The research module would most likely be somewhere near the line.

Her immediate concerns had so far been focused on security survivability in the short term. The progression she’d made on the Bootstrap module had been slowly tilting toward larger considerations. A large lightweight flyer would be capable of doing the full scouting run she knew she needed to do, but first she felt like she needed to continue making the Bootstrap Module self-sufficient.

If the ship wasn’t repairable, the groundwork she was doing here would be critical to acquiring enough resources to build a new way off the planet.

[Notice: Cortex Resource Drone fabrication process is complete.]

“Good,” Talia replied, examining the data one last time. “Neo, finalize the mining route.”

[Affirmative: User established mining route is 5.6km in length. This unit will provide optimization.]

While Neo worked on that, she checked her suit’s power level. It was dipping slightly below 80% so she headed to her Battpack and exchanged the batteries in her pockets and suit for fully charged ones. She checked her PAR and multi-tool next, making sure they were topped up as well.

Good to go, she made her way down the grated ramp she had replaced the staircase with. It made stashing her ATV on the top level much easier, but she didn’t take it with her, since her destination was just at the bottom.

The large resource silo rose to just under the Cortex Vanguard ADS base. She’d had the option to make it taller, but had declined. She’d build horizontally to protect her turret’s firing arc. At least until she had the ability to build more turret coverage into the defenses.

One of her quadcopters buzzed in from a scouting run and landed neatly on the little platform she had built for them, complete with a charging pad so they didn’t have to rely on the RSU-7S.

A metal panel opened on the resource silo’s wall, revealing a touchscreen packed full of technical information. She went to find the button to retrieve the resource drone module, but paused halfway through a technical list.

“Neo, send me my robot,” Talia ordered. A verbal command would be way faster than her trying to find it herself.

[Affirmative: Retrieving recently produced resource drone.]

The sound of machinery moving echoed from the structure’s metal shell, but then a large slot opened and then a tray extended out of the base of the silo, revealing a large cube about the same size as her survival crate had been.

It was heavy. Talia grunted as she used her legs to lift the object. Her suit blinked yellow and informed her she was nearly maxing out her exo-skeleton servos and warned her to reduce the load. She hobbled away from the base and found a cleared flat area of sand to place the deployment cube on.

She sat it down carefully, panting slightly from the exertion. “Alright, Neo,” she said, dusting off her suit gauntlets. “Let’s get this thing working.”

[Notice: Please step back for User safety.]

She complied and retreated a safe distance away as the cube began to unfold in a series of mechanical whirs and clicks. Much like when she had deployed her other printing modules, the cube extended into a much larger platform before a series of holographic lights danced around the central area.

The module beeped, and the lights turned green. The process seemed to pause and a message on her HUD reported the module was ready.

“Neo, print the resource drone,” Talia confirmed.

[Affirmative: Initializing deployment process.]

The process was identical to when she had built her ATV, the circling lasers rapidly spinning faster than the eye could track. Lasers left material behind in the form of tracks and the lower chassis as they worked their way upwards. The vehicle was much larger than she had realized.

The poles along the edge of the module’s area extended upward. The twelve-ton vehicle dwarfed her RSU-7S, but then it was supposed to. A new set of lasers began to play, waving up and down the vehicle’s exterior.

As pretty as it was, she felt her patience wane. “Neo, how long until this is done?”

[Notice: The full printing process requires approximately twelve more minutes to complete all finishing stages.]

Talia looked down and thumbed her multi-tool idly. It was just long enough to be annoying, but not long enough to give her time to work on anything else. Urgh.

She sat down and watched the module finish printing itself out. Recognizing the finishing sequence, she was already standing when Neo confirmed.

[Notice: Resource Drone assembly complete. Displaying unit specifications sheet.]

[Status]

| Cortex Resource Drone, CRD-X9 |

| Vehicle AI: [Standard Cortex Interface] |

| Vehicle Health: [100% (Brand New)] |

| Power Source: [Fusion Cells (5) (100% Charge)] |

| Vehicle Speed: [0 km/h (Stationary)] |

| Terrain Handling: [100% (Optimal)] |

| Storage Capacity: [0% (Empty)] |

| Vehicle Upgrades: [AI-Assisted Navigation, Adaptive Suspension, Laser Mining Attachment, Standard Resource Hopper] |

| Cargo: [Empty] |

[Vehicle Specifications]

| Manufacturer: [Cortex Inc.] |

| Model: [CRD-X9] |

| Type: [Automated Resource Collection Unit (ARC)] |

| Mass: [24,000 kg] |

| Crew Capacity: [Unmanned, 1 Person Internal Cockpit Module] |

| Max Speed: [20 km/h] |

| Ground Clearance: [1.8 m] |

| Climbing Grade: [88.6% or 40 degrees] |

| Fording Depth: [2 m] |

| Endurance: [1500 km – Empty, 250 km – 100% Cargo Load (Dependent on power cell condition driving conditions.)] |

[System Status]

| Power Cell Status: [100%] |

| Chassis Integrity: [100%] |

| System Status: [All systems operational] |

| Cargo Load: 0/10,000 |

Talia took a step forward, her boots crunching on the sand before clanking as she stepped up onto the thin Durasteel platform the tracked vehicle now rested on.

She circled around the newly assembled resource drone, taking in its impressive size and sturdy appearance. It was a heavy machine of hard lines centered around two flexible tracks with independent suspensions. It dwarfed any piece of machinery she’d ever used before. Other than her ship, but that didn’t really count.

Her gloved hand reached out to touch the chassis; the hard surface of Durasteel met her fingertips. With an approving grin, she slapped it lightly. “Great job, Neo.]

[Appreciative: This unit appreciates positive User feedback.]

“I would like to get in. Open up the cockpit,” Talia replied.

[Affirmative: Initiating cockpit opening sequence.]

A hiss of hydraulics filled the air before the whirr of gears raised a hatch on the vehicle’s rear. A small ladder unfolded automatically, and she worked her way around and then climbed up into the cockpit. The internal cockpit had a single seat nestled within a nest of multiple screens. As she sat down, the ladder and hatch sealed themselves back up and she was cocooned inside a cocoon of metal.

The front display activated, showing an optical view of just in front of the vehicle. Two sliding trays slid out and provided two joysticks with more buttons than she wanted to consider. It felt like she was inside a tank.

The boot-up sequence took several more minutes, but finally all the screens reported ready status and her HUD connection confirmed the integration software had finished updating.

[Notice: CRD-X9 is ready for operation.]

“Let’s put this thing through its paces,” Talia ordered. “Set the drone up to use our pre-planned route.”

A screen with the map they had worked on earlier appeared, and the drone’s engine spun to life and the vehicle immediately lurched forward to follow the directions. It was relatively slow compared to her ATV, but the sound and large monitor setup made her feel like she was a giant as the vehicle rolled across the small land bridge of her defensive trench.

It moved effectively between each designated piece of wreckage. She watched as it lasered through each pile rapidly. A small sensor pinged automatically every so often, highlighting random boulders and rocks on the surface that mostly contained the raw materials for producing Durasteel. It made short work of those just as quickly.

A clean path was left behind them across the landscape as it moved methodically between each rock and pile of salvage.

Their quadcopters had done a preliminary job mapping several underground resource deposits, although their limited detection capabilities for sub-surface minerals rapidly became apparent. The first four of five sites all returned nothing as the CRD-X9 scanned them. The false readings were a major disappointment—but the fifth…

Her main console screen blinked a green message at her.

| Resource Deposit Located |

| Material Composition: Durasteel Equivalent |

| Estimated Material: 50,000 to 500,000 units |

That was pay dirt. Talia smiled and examined the 3D imagery of the prospective resource vein. It was nearly fifty meters below the surface. That wasn’t too deep, and she set the drone to automatically excavate a ramp tunnel to the deposit so it could begin excavating.

It worked quickly, blasting away the sandy material rapidly while spewing out the raw strata from a waste pipe on its rear. It took nearly an hour to reach the valuable minerals, but once they did, the already half full resource hopper began to fill rapidly.

Talia monitored the resource drone’s progress meticulously, keeping an eye on the screens displaying power consumption rates and the remaining cargo capacity status. Every system seemed to work perfectly as advertised and she found herself unneeded in the pilot’s seat.

As productive as it was, it was almost…boring. She grabbed one of the joysticks and initiated manual control over one of the laser heads. Several smiley faces appeared in the rich rock as they tunneled through the vein.

In the middle of a new artwork, the laser suddenly cut off and mining stopped. A second of alarm filled her. Had she broken something? But no, she saw the flashing indicator on the central screen. The resource hopper was full.

[Notice: Mining unit has completed operation.]

“Neo, take us back to unload,” Talia ordered.

The vehicle reversed obligingly, and a set of waypoints appeared on the nav map, showing the route back to base. They’d made it nearly five kilometers to the northeast. The trip back was as smooth as the trip out.

Talia pulled up the cargo hold screen on the central screen as they neared the resource silo to take stock of their haul. She wasn’t disappointed.

[Cargo Hold Status]

| Cargo Capacity: 10,000 / 10,000]

| Durasteel: 6,200 |

| Refined Silicates: 1,800 |

| Advanced Alloy: 1,500 |

| High-Conductive Material: 500 |

Her eyes widened slightly as she took in the figures on the screen. The drone had done exceedingly well—it was the equivalent of ten full trips with her NCS cannister backpack. Plus, it had taken a fraction of the time, only a couple of hours instead of the 10 or twelve she would have needed on foot.

Most of the haul was overwhelmingly Durasteel, thanks to the rich vein they’d hit. But there were also substantial amounts of refined silicate and advanced alloy, enough to take care of the deficit she had run into earlier.

All in all, the first run had been a resounding success.

As the drone lumbered into its unloading cradle and began to deposit its contents into the silo, Talia felt a surge of elation that was hard to suppress. The fact that she had found such a rich deposit so close to the base was miraculous.

The excitement died slightly as she looked at the resource map. They’d cleared a lot of the wreckage, though. It wasn’t likely they’d find rarer deposits nearby, too. Once the wreckage ran out, it would be a lot harder to acquire everything else. A few more trips, and the drone was easily capable of doing those while she slept, and all the wreckage would be exhausted.

She needed to have the critical base modules online and operating before that happened or risk running into major problems. Energy was number one; a quick check of the Bootstrap Module’s status told her that getting the power cell fabricator and generator online was now top priority.

[Notice: Updating resource status post recent haul.]

Talia watched as the central screen swapped to a new screen. Neo had recalculated the stockpile levels, updating them with their haul.

| Durasteel: (4737+6200) = 10,937 |

| Refined Silicates: (293+1800) = 2,093 |

| Advanced Alloy: (148+1500) = 1,648 |

| High-Conductive Material: (210+500) =710 |

The new figures flashed in green across her screen. The resource deficit of Advanced Alloys was now comfortably ended. Now High-Conductive Material was low in comparison. Her encounter with the Rockslasher replayed in her mind for a moment, causing her to suppress a shiver.

Hopefully, they would find a new source of the material because hunting was not something she wanted to really do. Not if it meant going up against more of the vicious creature.

“Neo,” Talia said, “update fabrication queue and resume operations for all pending upgrades.”

[Affirmative: Fabrication of suit upgrades has been entered into production queue.

[Notice: Updating total resource count post-fabrication.]

| Durasteel: (10,937 - 900) = 10,037 |

| Refined Silicates: (2,093 - 600) = 1,493 |

| Advanced Alloy: (1,648 - 450) = 1,198 |

| High-Conductive Material: (710 - 250) = 460 |

Taking care of the suit upgrades was good, but even at a glance, she knew they were going to need to go gather more before she had enough for the power cell fabricator and generator module. “Neo, can you show me the numbers for what we need for the power systems?”

[Affirmative: Comparing current stockpile levels against estimated costs for construction Fusion Cell Fab and Cortex Power Generator - Mark I.]

| Durasteel: (10,037 - 2,500 - 1,250) = 6,287 |

| Refined Silicates: (1,493 - 450 - 350) = 693 |

| Advanced Alloy: (1,198 - 900 - 300) = -2 (Deficit) |

| High-Conductive Material: (460 - 450 - 850) = -840 (Deficit) |

Their haul was diminishing fast; but production of the modules didn’t feel out of reach. Another trip with the resource drone would be enough to get fabrication of the two pieces of equipment started.

“Neo, looks like we are making another trip,” she said wit ha sigh. “Lot’s more work for us ahead.”

[Affirmative: Additional resource acquisition is required.]

She was very satisfied with the performance of the drone. She pulled a latch and initiated the cockpit to open and then disembarked. Once the compartment had closed back up, she patted the machine fondly. “Send it on its way. We’ll follow in the RSU-7S.”

[Notice: CRD-X9 fusion cell capacity is at 82% power after recent excursion. One fusion cell has been nearly depleted.]

Talia frowned. “Send it anyway. We’ll replace it later. We can’t solve the fusion cell problem without more materials, anyway.”

The news was a bit annoying, though. She hadn’t expected the drone to be such an energy hog. She waited while her ATV’s systems booted up.

“Is the resource drone’s power consumption really that intensive?” she asked, unable to hide a bit of disappointment.

[Informative: Resource extraction and processing are high-energy operations. Further optimization may improve efficiency but will not eliminate substantial power usage.]

The RSU-7S’s quiet whirr vibrated through her suit as she turned the vehicle to follow her resource drone. “Alright. We’ll solve the problem once we get this haul in, at least for a while. We should investigate renewable energy sources later.”