Chapter Nineteen - Where the Heart Might Be

"With the world almost-ending as often as it has in the last few decades, it's no wonder that the less robust parts of our society have failed. The economy went to shit sometime in the late 90s, we didn't really see it collapsing in full until the 2020s though. By the 2030s there were more new types of currency than you could shake a stick at.

Every corporation had its own currency. Primebucks, Steamdollars, various kinds of points, usually with some shorthand of the company's name at the start.

It all went to shit eventually.

Now we have the handy credit. A monetary unit that means nothing, that's tied to nothing, and that's accepted everywhere!"

--Ramblings off the Street, Episode 385 Interview with a Homeless Economist, 2041

***

"Lucy!"

"Cat!"

Lucy hugged me, and I hugged her right back. I didn't care much that some of the kittens were nearby and making disgusted sounds. They could fuck off for all I cared. "How's the moving coming along?" I asked as I pulled back a little. Not so much that she could escape from the hug, but enough that I could see past her and into the lobby of our home.

The kittens seemed... a bit bored? There was a large table in the centre of the room, a few of them were sitting around, and the twins were hanging off the side of the staircases leading above. I heard some laughing from the sides and glanced over in time to see Nose running out of one of the bedrooms, soon chased by Tim.

"The Kittens are alright so far," Lucy said. "They're a bit bored, but hey, the place has wifi so they'll live."

"Cool, cool. Did you figure anything out with the hotel?" I asked. The entire home was still barren. It worked, in a minimalist sort of way, but minimalist wasn't exactly my style.

"Yeah, I've figured something out. I met Rac, she's off somewhere right now. Anyway, she made like, fifteen of these turrets?"

"Yeah, I gave her the blueprint for those. Or I gave it to the machine above, whatever," I said.

"Right, so I called up the hotel, got on the line with someone important, and we struck a deal. We give them fifty of those turrets and they'll furnish the entirety of our home at their cost."

"Fifty?" I asked. "That's a lot, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but they're providing the raw materials. I got Rac to give me a list of how much of every material each turret takes, then I rounded that up generously. The hotel gives us materials, we give them turrets, and they furnish things for us."

I nodded along. Fifty laser turrets around the hotel would probably do a decent job of protecting it. Or they could put some inside, in lobbies or open spaces.

"They want you to do the delivery yourself. At least the first one. Uh, they'll probably turn it into a minor PR thing. Is that alright?"

"I guess so," I said. "We'll have to see how many turrets we can make in a short period. If Rac made over a dozen in half a day... yeah, maybe fifty won't keep the printer too busy. We still need some for around the house."

"I was thinking we set aside half of those we make," Lucy said. "Use the other half to arm the kitten house up."

"We're not calling this place the kitten house," I said.

"The kitten place?" Lucy asked with a growing, shit-eating sort of grin. "The Cat Tree? Oh, the Cat Palace?"

"Cat Palace isn't too bad," I muttered.

"Does that make you the queen of the Cat Palace?" Lucy asked. "Oh, does that mean I'm the King?"

I sniffed. "You're the other, hotter, queen," I said before giving her a peck. "Oh, right, speaking of gayness, I invited Gom and Franny over for dinner."

Lucy's eyebrows shot up. "You know we don't have cooking appliances. Or know how to cook."

"I figured we can order out," I said. "Maybe eat upstairs, away from all the brats."

Lucy nodded. "I'll see what I can do. We'll need to order for the kittens too. They'll start complaining soon. You know, it only took a couple of days for them to become complacent and used to eating as much as they want."

"I... don't think that's necessarily a bad thing."

Lucy shrugged. "It isn't. Well, maybe it's not too healthy to overeat, but whatever. We're all too thin anyway."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Right, I need to call Peter. You know, the non-profit guy? We need to arrange things a bit better and I want to stay on top of things. Made a few points today, so I can afford to get some of the shit we'll need."

"Nice," Lucy said. "Did you fight a lot of aliens?"

"Eh, a couple. Mostly let some grenades melt them. Then Gomorrah and I dropped a bomb onto a hive. Oh, I need to show you that later. It was awesome. There was a mushroom cloud and everything."

Lucy giggled. "You sound enthusiastic."

"Lucy, it was one of the hottest things I've ever seen. Metaphorically and literally."

Lucy mock-gasped. "Should I be worried? Will you break up with me and try your luck with the mushroom cloud?"

"Hmm, I don't know," I said. "You're able to make me explode in much more interesting ways," I murmured as I tightened our hug.

"For fuck's sake, there's a crowd in here, you know."

I turned--still in Lucy's arms--and noted Daniel stumbling over. "Hey," I said.

"Yo," he replied. "Nice place. Decent internet too."

"You've got your priorities," I said. "Hey, Daniel, do you think you'd like doing volunteer work?"

Daniel shrugged. "I might, what's up?"

"Cool. So, I was thinking. We're going to start producing some prosthetics and shit soon. We'll probably be opening a sort of clinic in this building. I was thinking about our home at first but, uh, that doesn't sound like a smart idea now that I'm thinking about it."

"Lots of injured people walking into our living room does sound a bit weird," Lucy said.

"Yeah, exactly. So, Daniel, can you find out who owns the floors below this one? Then bully them into letting us use them as a clinic. I'll get you in touch with Silverbloom. We can make the prosthetics here, then slap them onto people below."

"Sounds good," Daniel said. "And yeah, I can help. I've done my share of organising before."

"You have?"

He shrugged. "Mostly getting raids together for a few MMOs. Same difference, really."

"Uh-huh, I'm sure," I said.

"Oh, come on, it's not like you have a degree in samurai-ness. We're all just muddling along here and doing what we can," he said. "Now, I couldn't help but overhear you mentioning that two babes will be coming over for dinner."

"Yeah, you should probably stay away from them," I said. "One's liable to burn you."

"Ohh, maybe he can help them, actually," Lucy said. "Make men look so cringey that they finally admit to their secret love for one another?"

"I'm pretty sure that's not how it works," Daniel said. "Also, ouch."

I shook my head, then glanced at the time. We were nearing five in the afternoon. It was getting dark outside, the overcast above shifting from grey-white to a burnt orange. "I'm gonna go give Silverbloom a call. Lucy, wanna order stuff for us so that it arrives on time? I bet a bunch of delivery drivers will be quitting today, what with the apocalypse happening."

"I got it," Lucy said. She gave me a peck on the cheek, then skipped off to the main room of our new home where she bullied Nose off the table.

I nodded to Daniel before heading upstairs. I elected to send Silverbloom a long-winded text instead of calling him. I linked him over to Daniel's number at the same time, I was a little tired, and dealing with someone over the phone would just tire me out even more.

I found our bedroom, currently sans-bed, then with a sigh, sat down on the floor and laid myself down so that I could stare at the ceiling.

This day has been... a day.

Tomorrow, I figured, would be an even busier mess.

There are small cushions and mattresses available for just a few points. If you intend to lay there for a while you might want to consider something of the sort.

I hummed. "Nah, this is fine," I said. The hard surface felt good for my back, and it was nice to get some weight off my feet, armoured boots or not.

I opened the map of the city and its surroundings.

There was a lot more orange. Huge smears of the colour marked the countryside in every direction. I could imagine the hundreds and thousands of little antithesis scouring the world for everything they considered a threat.

It was going to take a lot of work to make the area safe. More than I'd ever be able to do.

The likelihood of the city falling is relatively low.

"That's nice," I said. "I imagine it'll be even lower if we do our part?"

Every vanguard lending their efforts to the protection of humanity helps.

"Good," I said. I'll help... tomorrow.

***