System Escape, page 44
“Hey, check this out,” he said. “My mom said we were running out of paper, so the newest building I made yesterday is a pulp mill. This is from the test batch I ran last night.”
He handed the paper over to her and Felicia took a moment to clean her fingers before taking it.
“It's kind of thin, isn't it?” she asked.
Marc nodded.
“Yes, much like a lot of other things I had to make some like this before the System opened the next step. We'll need chemicals to make the thicker stuff, something about them allowing longer fibers or something like that, but that's opened up now and we have a little bit of at least one chemical that can do that in the resource pile.”
A moment later, the chair alongside of him was pulled out and his dad sat down.
“I didn't mean to snoop, but you were talking about chemicals?” Sean asked.
“Yeah dad, I was going to ask you. Where did the Sulfur Dioxide come from? I saw some in the resource listings.”
“Oh, that one. It came from two different spots. There's a filter on all of the engines that use actual material to burn for fuel. We didn't know what to do with the used ones and someone had the bright idea to feed it to the recyclers. Most of it came from there, plus I think the slag produces a little with the new software on the recyclers. That's probably left over from the smelter though, those filters are what have produced most of that stuff. Burning the coal found in the mine to smelt the metals found in there produces a fair bit of it. What did you need that for?”
“Well, mom told me that we were almost out of paper, so I made a pulping mill.”
Marc produced the other sheet of paper he'd brought and handed it to his father.
“Without the chemicals, we end up with paper like that. The addition of Sulfur Dioxide to the pulp is supposed to do something about leaving the fibers longer so we make stronger, thicker paper.”
“Oh, I hadn't even given that any thought, paper that is. I didn't know that we were low,” Sean said.
“Anyhow, that's why I was asking. Also, it'll be this same brown unless we come up with a bleaching agent. Hydrogen peroxide is supposed to work, and MIT had published something on making that at home, so I'll research that and maybe we'll be able to make actually useful, white paper pretty soon. We do need someone to man the mill, but I left mom a note about that on her desk.”
Sean grinned.
“She'll be both happy and mad about that. She's discovered that administration may be her forte, but human resources is definitely not.”
“Should we find someone to help out with that then?” Marc asked. “Or is she going to keep doing it despite hating it.”
“You know your mom, she'll keep doing it herself. If you do look for someone for that position, I suggest that they have more duties than just that. It wouldn't be enough to keep them busy all the time.”
“Maybe handle Safe Zone communications as well? We can base them out of somewhere in the Town Hall and they can handle those two things?” Marc asked.
“That'd work. Also, on the subject of Safe Zones, you were right and the crows were happy to see us with the Legionaries tossing out shiny bits and some food. That encampment will be ready to turn into a Safe Zone within a day or two. One other thing also. We've had a request for the zeppelin to run cargo.”
“From where?” Marc asked.
“I sent a recycling team and a guard squad out to that destroyed Safe Zone. They filled the wagon in just over an hour. Since the trip is the longest part, the recycling team wants to just recycle and have the zeppelin carry the materials back here to Any Port,” Sean said.
“I'll talk to Jeff once he's awake,” Marc said. “That would probably be a good short trip back and forth for Crystal to do some more pilot training also. Do you already have the materials out for the new Safe Zone?”
“Yes, I had the Legionaries take them out in their inventory while we worked on the encampment.”
“Awesome. I thought we'd need to be pulling more out for that. When I looked this morning, we almost had enough to upgrade Any Port itself again. If you've already got the resources for the new outpost Safe Zone, then especially with the materials coming in from the recycling team, Any Port can probably grow again. Then we'll have four and a half miles we can go between Safe Zones.”
Sean smiled at that.
“Good, I'll have to recalculate where to put the future Safe Zones if you do that, but that's something I'm more than willing to do.”
“Oh, one more thing. The next few you calculate, can you plan them to Capture the area around the Andres Safe Zone?” Marc asked. “Mr. Andres has consented to take the Steward position I told you about. I bribed him by telling him we'd get his fields Captured so he could work them again.”
Sean chuckled, but nodded.
“I'll make sure to plan those out the next time I'm working on potential Safe Zone areas,” Sean said.
* * *
Marc sat in the cafeteria, nursing several cups of coffee in a row, and waiting for Jeff. Jeff didn't arrive until about a half hour before they were ready to close down the cafeteria. Even when he did, Marc waited to talk to him until after he'd eaten. Then he caught Jeff right before he was going to leave.
“Hey Jeff, I've got a job for you,” Marc said.
Jeff rolled his eyes.
“What is it this time?”
“Cargo hauling,” Marc said. “They're recycling that Safe Zone you destroyed, but the longest part of it is getting the materials back to Any Port. They're spending five times more of their time and effort doing that then they are actually recycling. I figure it's a good way to train Crystal more also.”
“Hey, you're right. I can train her on landings out there, maybe. There's no structure to run into, we'll just land on the ground, but that'll be easier than training her on the mooring dock. If she hits too hard out there we might need some repairs on the gondola, but nothing else,” Jeff said. “When?”
“Probably as soon as possible. If you want, you can wait until they come back the first time today, then take the guards and the recycling team out on the zeppelin itself. We'll arrange for people to unload from the mooring dock when you get back each run.”
“Can do. Is the zeppelin inflating already?” Jeff asked.
“Uh, no, but it will be in ten minutes once I can get down there,” Marc said.
“Of course it will,” Jeff said chuckling. “That's the way things are, Jeff to the rescue again.”
Now it was Marc's turn to roll his eyes, but he did it on the way out of the cafeteria to go start inflating the zeppelin.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Three
Over the next day and a half the zeppelin flew back and forth between Any Port and the destroyed Safe Zone repeatedly. Knowing that the recyclers had brought a couple of wagon loads back before they started using the zeppelin to transport the recovered resources from the destroyed Safe Zone, Marc estimated that they'd pulled seventy-five to eighty percent of the materials that had been used to originally build that Safe Zone.
No wonder Todd was so happy recycling the dungeon, Marc thought. If those give the same percentages, I can't imagine how many resources they'd produce when being recycled. Most of them are a lot bigger than Safe Zones and probably require a lot more materials, which can then be recycled after they're destroyed.
Those thoughts confirmed that he wanted to build a small Safe Zone right outside the first dungeon they'd destroyed. There had been an awful lot of metal in the above ground portion of that Safe Zone, and more underground as well, so it might help with their bottleneck of metal.
Not that the bottleneck is a problem right now. I've got enough to expand Any Port again, for all the basic materials we need at least, he thought. They've already brought the materials out for the next outpost Safe Zone, so I don't have to worry about that either. If I do upgrade Any Port, though, we'll be back to metal being a bottleneck.
It was still before breakfast when Marc headed into the build room and pulled up the upgrade screen. He'd skipped his walk around the Safe Zone to check this after all the materials that had been brought in recently.
You have sufficient resources to increase your Safe Zone.
Resources required:
Wood: 6000/6000
Stone: 6000/6000
Metal: 4000/4000
Designated power source for Safe Zone:
Monster Core – common – poor (3/3)
Monster Core – Rare – Excellent (5/5) (+4 power slots 4/4 (Smith)(Communications)(Tannery)(Dairy))
Dungeon core – common - good (0/4) (+2 power slots, Core allows jukebox, arachnid (giant), skeleton, zombie to be created)
Power Slots – Mill Wheel (3/3) (Sawmill, Grain Mill, Pulp Mill)
The current power source allows for four expansions.(0/4)
In current configuration, Capture Protocol is available and may provide more materials for expansion now and in the future.
You have specific materials that can be used to decrease the resources necessary to expand your Safe Zone. Due to your tech level you have iron and copper ingots available. Each iron ingot may be used to count for two metal on an expansion. Up to 250 iron ingots may be used this way. Each copper ingot may be used to count for two metal on an expansion. Up to 200 copper ingots may be used in this fashion. Wooden planks may be used to count for two wood on an expansion. Up to 1500 planks may be used this way.
He wasn't going to use the specific metals. The iron was going to building the firearms and he had a sneaking suspicion that copper would be needed in large amounts in the Computer age. Planks, on the other hand, were part of what was helping him make up the massive amount of wood needed for another expansion. The stone wasn't an issue since that was one of the easiest things for the recyclers to obtain, anywhere it was visible above ground.
Marc wondered what types of special buildings they'd offer this time. He could build barracks style buildings at any time now, but only those done during a Safe Zone upgrade gave the combat buffs. The powered dairy was something he hadn't seen at any point except during the upgrades as well.
It seemed that each time he expanded Any Port, there were more and more special buildings that he could add on. A lot of them were simply superior versions of things he could build at any time, but the added benefits of the versions built during an upgrade had been well worth it so far.
He didn't want to trigger the upgrade yet though and he wouldn't be able to view the special building choices until he did. He was waiting for Felicia to show up, and also for Amy to finish her morning trip between the Safe Zones in the Captured network.
Now Marc headed up to breakfast, hoping to meet Felicia there. He was early, but only by a few minutes. Before he finished his first cup of coffee, breakfast was ready, and before he'd finished eating that, Felicia had arrived.
He shared the news with her as she ate.
“So, we'll upgrade it today after Amy's back from her run of the connected Safe Zones,” Marc finished. “I'll want some input on what we should build for the special building though. I won't even know what's available until I start the upgrade process, so it's not like we can discuss it now.”
She nodded, finishing her food. They left the cafeteria and headed down to the Town Hall.
“We can estimate where we'll want the new land that will actually be part of the Safe Zone though,” Marc said. “The new core actually mentioned bonus area when I Analyzed it, so I don't know just how much we'll get.”
“Well, we'll prioritize. We'll figure out a base expansion, then add maybe five percent at a time? Figure out where each five percent would go, then just go down the list until you run out of area to expand?” Felicia said.
Marc nodded.
“That should work. Let's go figure this out. I know we don't want to go south, because the elves are out there and I don't want to infringe on their area. We can go a bit east, I'll eventually want to do a lot of expansion of Captured area that way, right back to the Safe Zone I want to build outside the ruined dungeon there. For now though, I'm not sure which way we should push the actual expansion of the Safe Zone itself.
“North,” Felicia said. “See how close you can get it to the mooring dock for the zeppelin. If we manage to keep expanding, then we can have that inside the walls eventually. You only put it outside the walls because it needed a lot of space, right?”
“Yes, and that's a great idea. I won't be able to put all of the expansion in one direction, we know that from earlier expansions, but I'll push it that way as much as possible. Where do we want the spots they'll force us to expand in other directions though?”
They discussed it for a while, made a template for the expansion in the wire frame and tested it, then saved that template and headed out to the porch to wait for Amy. Felicia was just sitting down, doing something on her pad, but Marc was impatient and ended up pacing back and forth while they waited.
* * *
Amy arrived later than Marc had guessed she would and it took him a moment to realize that she'd probably added the Outreach Safe Zone to her stops.
Since that's on a spur line from here only so far, it would need its own special trip, he thought. Well, no big deal on waiting since my only formal plans for the day were to expand Any Port.
“Hey Amy, you willing to do some message running and mark out a few areas?” Marc asked. “Actually, a lot of area?”
“Give a girl a chance to catch her breath first, would you?” Amy said, taking a seat.
“Sorry, I'm just eager for this one. I love making the smaller Safe Zones, since that gives us more Captured lands, but Any Port is our main area, so I like upgrading this one even more.”
“I get that,” Amy said, “But I just trotted here from the train station. So I need a couple of minutes to catch my breath, then I'll get started on what you need.”
Marc waited, impatiently, until Amy was set. Then he led her into the build room.
“This one will be a problem. We won't know how much we'll be able to expand until we start the expansion. I want to start it, let you see just what will be needed, then Felicia and I will discuss our bonus building while you go mark everything out, okay?” he said.
Amy nodded, so Marc triggered the upgrade. He made sure to keep the wireframe visible as he selected the areas to expand. The bulge to the southeast stretched further east once he was done. He was hoping to stretch that out a few more times before he started putting in outpost Safe Zones to the east. The added distance available between networked Safe Zones with Any Port at its higher level would account for far more than the little bulge he'd have headed east in the walls, but he still felt better for that bit of expansion. Almost as though it was an expression of his intent to expand that way eventually.
In addition they stretched out to the west a hundred yards or so, but the largest expansion was to the north. The walls were going to be just shy of getting to the mooring dock when they were done, maybe fifty or sixty feet away from it.
He settled on the expanding areas, then turned to Amy.
“I know it'll take a while, but mark those areas and warn people near them? After you do that, come back and Felicia and I will have decided on the bonus building and its location.”
“You got it, Marc. Wow, that's a lot of space getting added on.”
“Yeah, the core I'm using for this expansion told us there would a little bonus area, if this is little, I want to find what a big bonus area would be,” Marc replied.
“Marc, pull up the building list and share it with me,” Felicia said, her patience finally running out.
Amy turned to leave as Marc pulled up the list and started skimming through it after making sure Felicia could see it. There were a lot of the same things he'd seen in it before, some of which he'd built and some of which he couldn't even imagine why someone would want to build.
He was halfway through the list when he stopped and pulled up the help on one of the buildings listed. It wasn't so much a building as a series of them, but it was on the list, and he was interested, so he pulled it up.
Help Menagerie, he thought.
You, and many others from your Safe Zone, seem to have a fascination with animals, be they livestock, normal Earth creatures, mutated Earth creatures, or even spawns.
The addition of a Menagerie to your Safe Zone will allow you to keep animals in an area safe for them and safe for others to view them. The Menagerie comes with ten miniature biomes installed, each of which may be set to their own conditions from desert to ocean. The biomes may be altered at a later date at the cost of resources. Additional biomes may be added at a cost in resources. The initial settings of each new biome will be free, alterations beyond that will cost resources.
“Felicia? Take a look at this one and tell me I'm being stupid, would you? Because it's sorely tempting me,” Marc said.
She quickly skimmed the entry.
“Why this one?” she asked.
“Well, what's the biggest problem we have here in the Safe Zone? I think it's still entertainment. The jukebox in the cafeteria and the movies are it for that so far, right? Is it just me, or have I seen people going out to look at the livestock, just because? So, this might be another entertainment thing.”
“What would we put in it though?” she asked.
“Well, the giant chickens could go in a section, and I could put a bounty out for live, healthy jackalopes. They never did hunt those because they only saw three or four of them. There were tracks that might've indicated more, but that's all they saw. So we could get some of those in there. It says water biomes are a thing, so maybe we could manage to get some of those massive fish from up near where we got the satellite to go in a tank in the Menagerie. Heck, Octavius the second might even like to have a tank there where he could see more people. We could do a normal salt water tank too, with some of the stuff from the Crustacean/Mollusk tank once they're breeding well.”
