Stray Cat Strut

Chapter Seven - Home Sweet Fortress

“If you look back at our records--which unfortunately only stretch back to the early 1900s reliably--then you can chart the size of the average person’s home through time. It’s pretty obvious that from the 1940s onwards, the average size of a family’s dwelling became significantly smaller year by year.

Now, in the early 2040s, a hundred years after the start of that decline in space, it isn’t uncommon for the average person to have under a hundred square feet to call home.”

--Quote from a Jon Mott Youtube video, 2042

***

I sent a text to the construction company foreman, asking him if the area was cleared. Then I sent another to Rac, to make sure she was safe. Apparently she was hanging out with the printer which had been moved into the room where Longbow was storing his gun. I told her to stay there for the next few minutes. It wasn’t far off and it was probably a safe spot for the moment.

And that was it for preparations.

“I think we’re ready,” I said.

The area is cleared of living people, the struts are cleared and all structural points have been cleared by your new drones. It seems as though some of the metal used in the construction of the main building was predictably sub-par, but it’s all still well within tolerances.

“You mentioned the drones being able to fix stuff, right? We’ll set them to upgrading the rest of the building later.” I hovered down so that I was closer to the building. I couldn’t call it the museum anymore, not when the entire top floor was gutted. “Let’s do it,” I said.

This was going to be, by far, my largest purchase yet. That was a lot of points gone, points I could have spent on guns and armour and toys. Still, it would provide something important. A place for the kittens to stay, a safe place for Lucy to live in. A home.

New Purchase: Custom Building
Points Reduced to: 1,894

Such a small name for such a huge point sink.

I looked at the museum, waiting for something to happen. It seemed entirely unchanged, and I wondered if Myalis had made a mistake. “Hey, wher--”

There was a bang, like a car backfiring.

A huge sphinx now sat atop the building, a cloud of dust falling away from it. “Whoa,” I said as I pulled my bike back. Everything sat pretty though. No big explosions, no sudden collapse. I waited, expecting it all to crumble apart, but it held fast.

“Well then,” I breathed out.

Riding my hovercycle around, I flew to the front of the building and came to a gentle landing between the cat’s forepaws. My bike’s landing legs popped out and I slid off and stepped onto the landing pad.

The huge cat head had looked a bit silly on the plans, but from up close, towering above me, it was actually rather intimidating.

I didn’t know if I really had time for a tour, but it would feel weird not to at least check the place out.

The cat’s ‘mouth’ had a large set of double doors in it which slid open as I approached. There was a tiny lobby area, with room to take off shoes and hang up a jacket to the side, and a second set of doors leading deeper into the building. It made a lot of sense to me. It would keep out the cold better, it was a decent place to hide some anti-personnel defences, and by the looks of it, the room was air-tight, with some sort of air circulation system in place that was already humming nearly inaudible when I stepped in.

“How well equipped is this place?” I asked.

There are hidden solar panels on the roof segments that provide enough power to supply the building’s basic requirements. Lighting, temperature control, air filtration and basic functions such as the automatic doors.

“Neat,” I said. The entranceway led into a large room. There were spaces to the sides with half-walls around them, like playpens almost. A long table sat in the very centre of the room, and there was a kitchen at the far back with an arched entrance way leading into it.

Stairs rose and dropped to the sides, leading into the rest of the building.

The lower sections are the housing spaces, the upper floors have living spaces, access to your new armoury and garage as well as access to Longbow’s weapon platform and your factory machine. The master bedroom is also on the upper floors.

“Nice,” I said as I looked around. The walls were all done up in whites and greys, with a few neon splashes of colour here and there to spice things up. Lots of RGB lighting, which was important.

I could imagine the kittens having a blast around here. It was definitely nicer than any place we’d ever lived in. Even the hotel wasn’t as spacious.

“Bathrooms?” I asked.

Seven of them, including the masters.

“Damn,” I muttered. “We’re going to need some furniture and shit, aren’t we? TVs to distract the kids... wifi.”

There is internet access already. Though you are correct that there is a distinct lack of furniture. The rooms have beds built into the walls, but otherwise lack any spaces to sit or work.

“I guess we’ll have to figure that out as we go,” I said. I poked into a room to one side and found a nice boxy room with a decently high ceiling, a small slit of a window looking out into the city, and not much else. It could serve as... anything, really. There was a lot of potential here.

I got a text from Raccoon, and decided to put off visiting the rest of the place in favour of meeting her.

Taking the steps up two at a time, I wandered around the upper floor until I found the reinforced door leading into Longbow’s weapon’s platform. I knocked twice before opening the door.

Rac was laid down on the floor, legs bent and one hand raised before her face. “Oh hey,” she said. “Gimme a sec.”

“You alright?” I asked.

“Yeah, middle of a game,” she said. “The house here yet?”

“Uh, yeah,” I said as I glanced past her. Her precious pile of metals and plastics and other materials was stacked up against one wall, and the printer was sitting in the middle of the room on a wooden pallet.

Rac waved her hands dismissively before her, then she kipped up to her feet. “So what’s the plan now?”

“For you?” I asked. “Simple. Myalis, did you narrow down a good turret blueprint?”

Indeed. Two of them, in fact. One I would suggest using around your new base, and another that is more mobile and easy to place, though they are weaker overall. The second requires significantly less maintenance and only needs some sunlight in order to recharge itself.

“Huh,” I said. Two options wasn’t bad. “What’s the first one need then?”

The first is from your Plasma Weaponry catalogue. It requires more power and ammunition to be fed into it. The destructive abilities are significantly greater though. If you intend to protect your home against Antithesis in the third tier and up, then I would consider using these.

Two images of turrets hovered before me. I have to admit I was instantly enamoured with the plasma turret. It was a big chonky boy, with a big barrel that had rings around it and a heavy base that looked like it was made to fit on a battleship.

The other turret looked fine. A box with a stubby barrel, some panels around it, and suction-cup like legs. It was the off-brand Ikea of laser turrets.

“Can’t you make that one look less lame?” I asked.

In trying to keep the price low, I forwent any attempt at making the design appealing. I can armour it up for a few points, perhaps add some glowing bits to it?

The design changed, gaining a bulkier frame with some inset holes that glowed from within. The barrel got a bit fatter, and the end of it now looked like the silhouette of a cat’s head.

“Stupid, but somehow much better,” I said.

What a wonderful way to add ten points to the cost of something. Do you approve of both?

“How dangerous are they?” I asked.

Both are fairly lethal. The laser turret can burn through most first tier antithesis in a matter of seconds. The plasma turret can fire a supersonic burst of plasma capable of denting modern tank armour. The fact that the projectile is burning at several thousand degrees celsius might also add to its lethality. For both blueprints, it will cost you around four hundred and seventy points.

“Alright, last big purchase of the day then” I said.

New Purchase: Heavy Plasma Turret Emplacement Blueprint
Points Reduced to: 1,594

New Purchase: Mobile Laser Defence Mechanism Blueprint
Points Reduced to: 1,424

I clapped my hands. “Alright Rac, I’ve got some work for you. How do you feel about turning this place into a fortress that’d make any aliens think twice?”

***