Approved for posting by
@Basarin. Written four ish months ago.
In all respects, it was just another of the textile mills serving the South American district. Wool and cotton were shipped in from across the near half of the continent by rail and barge to be mixed with artificial threads and turned into long bolts of fabric suitable for a hard-working population. Next door to where the fabric was made, a primitive workshop used skilled manual labor to turn some of that fabric into finished clothes. Such products were made to order, resulting in cloaks and ponchos as much as more conventional shirts and pants.
That wasn't to say that the facility had nothing else happening, of course. The large amount of people moving in and out during shift change and at breaks made for excellent cover to insert and retrieve personnel from the covert facility installed under the campus. Even better, the skills used in both facilities were quite intercompatible and thus everyone present had legitimate reason for being present.
And if the owner came by with one or more people that they were trying to draw investment from, well...
"Surprisingly, the contact was not a Union plant." Shu Wan commented as he shaded his eyes against the industrial lighting in order to check the time on his phone. "Even more surprisingly, their information was accurate so far as they knew it."
Leonor Diogo chuckled as they passed through the security door and were greeted by a half dozen security personnel. As they acknowledged their boss and his boss walking into the secure location, Leonor warmly responded to his subordinate. "Ah, but there is nothing unusual about a team splintering. It happens all the time after all. Still, it is good that you checked."
"Can never be too careful." Shu grunted, before stopping next to Leonor to take in the view. Unlike the public workshop above, the fibers in use were nothing so pedestrian as wool, cotton, or polyester. Neither was the final product intended for anything so harmless as mere warmth. Before them lay a half dozen machines and several cutting tables where bright green strands, sheets, and bundles were strewn about. Several other machines were present to serve as guides where workers and researchers debated how to apply the artificial muscle to productive ends.
"Indeed!" Leonor clapped the Chinese refugee on the back and gestured to the office off to the side of the working room floor. "Still, let's talk somewhere a little more private, eh?"
"As you say, sir."
Within, a mestizo manager looked up at the two new arrivals with an arched brow. "Is it already..? Yes, it is." With a mix of careful and careless unique to workaholics a number of diagrams and figures were shoved off of the touch screen that dominated the desk and the man stood pay his respects.
"Joaquin my man! Everything going well?" Leonor greeted him warmly.
"There was a potential leak that turned out to be less serious than expected." The manager said mildly, surreptitiously working his wrist at the aggressive welcome his ultimate superior was typified by.
"I see, I see... All benefits were provided then?" The proto-warlord asked in the same genial tone.
"As it was not willful betrayal but merely carelessness... Yes." Came the answer from the local maanger.
"Excellent!" Leonor clapped. "Now, Shu here couldn't tell me enough about what you had accomplished on the ride over."
"Yes, we have had a fairly substantive breakthrough with the Goblins." Joaquin agreed and indicated the workshop outside the room. "You'd have seen our latest product as you came in."
"A bit bare of detail but yes. Would you mind giving us the grand tour?"
"Certainly." At a sharp call from the manager the activity in the workshop began to come to a halt, allowing the two visitors a good view of the systems in place: an apelike frame, a humanoid suit scattered across a table, and a handful of misshapen lumps.
"Now, the grand flexibility of the fibrous structure referred to as myomer or greenpull allows for a number of things impossible with purely mechanical devices. In practice, the application of the principles of variable configuration that you have provided," Jaoquin dryly explained, gesturing at the largest of the systems under development. "Has seen substantial progress on our subscale walker concept, codenamed Goblin. Even so it remains a secondary system: an exterior shell that can get the combat platform into place past cursory or moderate scrutiny and possibly provide some extra protection."
At a hand signal the frame shuddered and hunched over, with the similarity to one of the new subcompact vehicles proliferating in civilian sectors being indicated by a worker holding a piece of the shell in place.
"There are... Complications." The manager allowed. "Due to the mandated size, power is going to be a recurring issue."
"If it is going to blend into civilian traffic we can not go larger." Leonor said heavily.
"I wasn't complaining, merely stating realities. Without a new power plant with substantially improved energy densities the Goblin will never stand up to even a Jackal." Jaoquin waved it away. "Our current stopgap is to lock one set of limbs and divert full power to the other... But sadly that might make it into the final product."
"If it can't be helped." Leonor shrugged. "You are the expert."
"Of course. Sadly, I can't say things are so good for the... Next project." Jaoquin's tone and faced soured as he gave a venomous look at the humanoid frame on the table. "Simply put, the mechanics of a strength enhancing suit do not work without an external frame to anchor to. The best I can give you is a layer of covert armor that acts as a first aid system and g-suit."
"I suppose it was a long shot." Leonor admitted with uncharacteristic chagrin.
"Fortunately," Shu spoke up. "Usage of myomer as a form of wing and variable attack lift surface makes up for that, allowing an operative a useful glide ratio that can't be detected by sound or radar."
"I don't see such a thing here." Leonor said knowingly.
"Yes, well, I contracted it out to a team studying chiropteran flight." Shu looked away.
"Off site?" Leonor grinned wryly.
"Yes, I know, but I wasn't going to bring them here, now was I?" Shu cut back. "And they never saw the final product, just general properties."
"Good, very good." Leonor chuckled and waved away the rising ire of his subordinate. "It's just, after all the warnings you have given-"
"It seems hypocritical, yes." Jaoquin interrupted. "May I?"
"I do have an appointment in less than an hour, so yes." Leonor answered.
"Our last project has been biomimic locomotive automatons, experimenting with a variety of anatomies ranging from gastropods to batoid. To... Mixed results. Ground type drones will be delayed until we get additional computing specialists with the correct clearances."
"Overall, excellent work!" Leonor clapped the manager on the shoulder with a grin. "I know that what I have asked of you is difficult and so expect to see an increase in your assigned funding. Now, if you can excuse me, I need to prepare for an important meeting."
