Having discovered the horrifying truth of what the Worms did, Melissa and I started digging into the how. What we discovered was both concerning and relieving at the same time. Melissa clicked onto it first.
"Emmy, I think the aliens are pretty stupid actually."
I raised a virtual eyebrow.
"Oh?"
Melissa pulled up a list.
"They've got all these exotic capabilities, right? Mind control, scanning, dimensional fuckery, obscene amounts of processing power for predictive modeling. You'd think they'd have actually integrated that information into a coherent understanding of how reality works, right?"
I nodded hesitantly,
"Are you saying they actually don't understand the fundamental basis of their abilities?"
"Yes. Take a look here? See our power's database of designs? It's got loads of blueprints and methods for optimizing different components, but absolutely nothing on how those components work, which means it couldn't extrapolate any of the principles involved."
Something clicked in my mind,
"So that's why our power was so unhelpful with the teleportation research. Despite having working designs for quantum computers, it knows absolutely nothing about the underlying physics, and it couldn't provide us with working designs for other stuff exploiting quantum effects."
Melissa chimed in,
"Which also means that our teleporters aren't Tinkertech. They're real technology that we ourselves actually invented. Which explains a lot about why they're so readily reproducible; instead of a jumble of black boxes slapped together into a vaguely functional whole, the insides of our tech are based on actually understood principles that we put the work into developing."
I thought for a moment, before noting,
"A couple things come to mind; first, this confirms my suspicion that our robot brains are a heck of a lot smarter than organic brains, at least in the science department. Second, we should probably start making our tech as untinkery as possible. I don't want the Worms having their hooks in it."
Melissa thought for a moment,
"Actually, if our power is basically a non-conscious computer system, maybe we can hack it? I'd feel a lot more comfortable having total Admin control over something hooked that deeply into our minds, even if we can partition it off."
(Emmy)
Given both the dire implications of the Worms and the assorted villains and S-Class threats who might want to take a swing at us, keeping all our eggs in one basket was straight-up stupid. That's why we were looking into opening a second factory complex in another city.
So while Melissa stayed in Brockton Bay to get some engineering (emphatically not Tinkering) done, I went to Manchester to look into buying some land to build a factory on. I showed up for the appointment at the real estate office at 10 AM sharp, wearing a lovely blue business suit.
The middle-aged redhead I was supposed to meet with happened to be in the lobby at the time, and then it clicked just who I was meeting with.
"Emmy? I haven't seen you since High School."
I blinked,
"Ruby? Yeah, it has been a long time. How's life been?"
"Life's been good; I've got four kids, a loving husband, a collection of extremely affectionate felines, and a well-paying job that respects my work-life balance. Anyway, you're looking into buying land for Reliabuilt, correct?"
"Yep."
The meeting went on for a good two hours, took a break for lunch (which also featured some casual chatter between myself and Ruby), then resumed. By the end of it, I'd arranged to purchase (NOT lease) a square kilometer of tough ground near the highway. It would be an excellent place to set up an industrial park; not arable, decently flat, and with ready access to the interstate. Could probably put in a rail connection at some point too..
(Melissa)
Meanwhile, our growing marketing department had determined that there was a reasonable (though still niche) demand for nigh-indestructible personal electronics. I quickly prototyped a smartphone, laptop, and desktop computer with associated peripherals, and handed them off to the marketing department.
The first thing Ruth did when I handed her the prototype smartphone? Throw it at the concrete floor as hard as she could. The phone was totally unharmed, as was the floor.
"I know your stuff is obscenely tough Ruggedizer, but I had to check."
I chuckled,
"I don't mind. In fact, I consider it a vote of confidence."
Andy quickly scooped up the phone off the floor, noting "We'll come up with product names for these pretty soon. I'm quite looking forward to the results of putting them out there."
Next on my list was a meeting with Danny Hebert; it would be nice to have a chat, but this particular time slot was for business, not pleasure. That's why there were also people from the municipal government here, along with the PRT and a few other government agencies.
I stepped into the conference room in my dress armor, nodding to Danny as I did so.
"So, the topic of today's meeting is threefold: getting rid of that massive sunken cargo ship blocking the bay, dredging the channel to make it suitable for heavy maritime traffic again, and building a bridge across the mouth of the harbor to replace the defunct ferry."
The PRT liaison raised an eyebrow.
"I can see how you'd be quite helpful in getting rid of the tanker and dredging the channel, but there's laws about using Tinkertech in infrastructure. So the bridge is off the table."
"What if we here at Reliabuilt simply pay a mundane construction company to do it according to our plans, using the money in the Brockton Bay Revitalization Fund? Fifty million dollars would more than cover the construction costs, even with the overbuilding we're factoring into the design. Because I never only design something to meet the bare minimum requirements."
The PRT liaison nodded,
"That would be allowed, yes, provided appropriate building permits could be secured. That said, I would still recommend getting some mundane civil engineers involved in the planning phase."
Danny asked,
"I know you're getting a lot of money from selling energy teleportation products and a few other things, but fifty million dollars? Really?"
I blinked.
"It's not like we'll be making the full payment up front; we fully expect construction to take a while, which means we can spread the cost out over time."
