Chapter 21

“Speaking of core factories. You can secure a loan through the galactic swarm bank. They even have a program for new swarm barons that lack patrons. A loan of ten thousand bonds will get you the hundred nano swarm factories that you will need as a new swarm baron.” Alex said excitedly.

“Why do I need a hundred nano factories?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Did you not study about swarm barons at all? Even if you came from a planet that didn’t know about swarm lords, I’d think that’s one of the first things I’d do. Even if you didn't, it should be obvious why you need more nano core factories.” Victoria clearly thought I was an idiot.

Unfortunately for her I couldn’t think of any obvious reason I needed those core factories. Surprisingly this time it was Julie that explained. “Each nano factory you create needs a nano core. How many nano factories will you need for every micro drone you create?” She asked me.

That question made me realize that the answer really was obvious. “A thousand nano cores. But wouldn’t that mean that I need a thousand nano core factories?” I asked.

“Each time you move up a core type production speed for the cores is a tenth as fast. So your micro core factory will only produce two hundred micro cores a day instead of two thousand. Which means you only need a hundred. Most swarm barons like to have a hundred and one though. That way they can keep on progressing with their nano swarms.” Alex explained.

“Well I suppose that settles it. I do need an account with the galactic swarm bank. And I’m probably going to have to get a loan. How does repayment on loans work?” I asked.

“Standard interest for a new baron is three percent a swarm year.” Alex instantly answered. Obviously he was serious about following in his father's footsteps.

At least I knew what a swarm year was. In a universe where humanity had spread out over an uncountable number of planets, using anything as mundane as the time it took for a planet to go around a star was impossible. Especially since after hundreds of thousands of years that time could change. Instead time was based on the swarm since the swarm itself didn’t change.

A swarm day was two thousand units of swarm time. A year was five hundred days. Which was quite a bit longer than a year on Earth. If you did the math though it was obvious why that number had been chosen, five hundred times two thousand was a million units of swarm time. Although that did change the timing for things like weeks and months. There were fifty weeks in a year instead of fifty two and there were ten months instead of twelve. Which meant that there were one hundred thousand swarm units of time in a month and twenty thousand in a week.

It was a pretty clever system. Much easier to remember than the calendar system used on most of Earth. Kind of like how the metric system was easier to learn than the imperial system. The imperial system would have been relegated to history books if it wasn’t for the animosity between America and England after the revolutionary war. If there were two ways to do something, inevitably neither side would agree on doing it the same. Didn’t matter if it was how to spell something, measure something, or even what something was called. For example in Britain what was called a biscuit would be called a cookie in America and vice versa.

“I’ll send you my contact information. Contact me tomorrow and I’ll make sure you get an account setup. I can also introduce you to my father and he can discuss that loan with you.” Alex said drawing me away from my thoughts. It seemed like my mind was drifting onto tangents quite a bit today.

A symbol I had never seen before popped up in the corner of my vision. Obviously it was something generated by my swarm interface and not something in the real world. Concentrating on it a message appeared asking me if I’d like to accept Alex’s contact information.

After clicking yes I realized that there was a whole new social section of my interface that hadn’t shown up before. A few seconds later the rest of the table also shared their contact information with me, the swarm interface automatically stored it. Glancing at the system I saw that it resembled any of the dozens of messenger systems I had seen on earth. Voice communication wasn’t possible but I could send text messages to any of my contacts. I was guessing it would work even if we weren’t on the same planet, which meant that faster than light communication was possible. Thinking about it I realized that it would be kind of crazy if the swarm hadn’t cracked faster than light communication. After all, I had just used portals that definitely transported me far faster than light.

It seemed like today was just full of surprises and new things to learn. The fact that there was an entire swarm economy I had never heard about, a swarm bank, and now new functions in my swarm interface I hadn’t read about in any book. I was starting to think there were a lot of aspects of being a swarm lord that weren’t written down because everyone assumed that everyone knew about them.

Just then the door opened and what I could only assume was another prospective swarm baron walked into the room. It was another male teenager. “Have a seat.” Alex gestured to one of the chairs at the table. “My name is Alex, what is your name?” He asked.

The teenager looked down his nose at everyone at the table. I could already tell that he had an attitude. “I’m Josh the third. Future swarm king and I don’t sit with those beneath me.”

I had to make an effort to keep from showing just how much I disliked the young man. Part of me wanted to just get up and punch him in the face. A more observant part of me remembered that I had heard the name Josh recently. As in the swarm king Josh that Faye had warned me about. Obviously this wasn’t him but it was possible that the two were related.

“Cut the crap. There is no way you could know if you are a future swarm king. You’re in the same boat as all of us. Until you purchase the swarm units it’s impossible to tell what your final rank will be.” Victoria said clearly enraged at meeting someone even more arrogant than she was.

“My father is swarm king Josh the second and my mother is a swarm queen in his harem. I’m the most talented of his children. Of course I’m going to be a swarm king. Unlike all of you.” Josh the third said with a sneer.

That pronouncement actually shut Victoria up. Everyone else in the room was equally as silent. Apparently unlike me, all of them had studied and knew who swarm king Josh was.

Fortunately we were saved from any further argument by the door opening again. An elderly servant walked into the room. “It’s time for the ceremony. If you will, please follow me.” He said.

All of us followed the servant out of the room and down the hallway. I noticed that Josh the third took the lead. The rest of us trailed a bit behind and the shy Julie in the very back of the group. Clearly nobody wanted to risk upsetting the son of a swarm king.

A few minutes later we walked through a set of massive doors and into the largest room I had ever seen. It easily rivaled the size of a football stadium. Except that this was decorated and filled with people. Looking around I realized that these were likely all swarm dukes, counts, barons, and their servants.

Luckily the room wasn’t packed and it was easy enough to navigate until we reached the opposite side. There sitting on a massive stone throne was a lady that must be the lesser swarm queen Andrea. Next to her in an even more massive throne was a man I was guessing was swarm king Josh the second. Although the giant throne looked a bit odd to me at first, then I realized it was because it disassembled. That way his servants could pack it up and take it wherever he went. Surrounding them was a horde of guards and servants.