The Brink and Back - Tinker of Fiction

When we got back to Rocky Ridge, Duke was the first one to leap out of the truck, heading right toward the BD shack. He was carrying a message, Lassie style, to Frank, asking him to come help us as the town's doctor. It didn't take long for both of them to return, Frank helping me guide Jackie out of the truck and to one of the remaining, cleaned and restored trailers. Misty was planning on stopping by after running her shop for a bit, and until then, we would be keeping an eye on him. At this point, he would just be sleeping off the anesthesia, anyway.

I left Frank in charge of the recovering man, heading back to the garage to spend the rest of the day trying to be useful. Duke followed closely behind, probably sensing that I was really starting to feel the effects of the muscle lace. My limbs burned like I was pushing through the last legs of a marathon, my muscles feeling tired and weak. Vik assured me as we were leaving that I was fine with being moderately active, but anything past that would put the muscle lace at risk.

Not that I was eager to push myself, my body ached and burned too much for that. Working in the workshop, where I would spend most of my time designing things, was fine. As long as Samwise and a few MRVNs were around to help, at least. As I walked into the shop, Spot rose up from his perch and floated around, following me in.

"Samwise, how's it going?" I asked as I made my way to my workstation, the modified MRVN AI turning around to look at me.

"It is going well, Jackson," He responded. "I have been working on acquiring a new Thorton truck. We can expect to arrive today in approximately seven and a half hours.

"That's good. I'm hoping that with two trucks, we can build up a solid surplus of materials," I explained. Should make Noah happy, at least."

Speaking of Noah, he wishes to talk to you as well," Samwise revealed. "He wants to brief you on their progress and discuss some things."

"Alright. I'm probably gonna start getting to work on Kaytlyn's cat after that," I responded, grabbing the radio from my desk. "It might seem dumb, but I have a bunch of good ideas for it that I think will actually really increase Kayt's effectiveness."

I flicked on the radio and got in touch with Noah. Normally, I would have gone out of my way to go to him rather than asking him to come to me, especially since he was working on important things, but my legs were already killing me. It took a few minutes to finish what he was doing and make his way to the garage, but once he did, he was all business as usual.

"Sir, we are prepared to begin connecting the addition to the garage," He explained almost immediately as he arrived. "We are putting the finishing touches on the room, but the room is waterproofed and ventilated, and we have the doors prepared."

"Alright, Noah, it's your show," I agreed. "What do you need us to do?"

It turns out he didn't need much from us. Not long after I gave him permission to get started, it was pretty clear that that was all he really needed. The door to the garage space was being cut into the wall at the furthest space of the second garage bay, just at the end of Samwise's workstation. Both Sam and I were pushed back, and our equipment was quickly covered with plastic to prevent dust from getting into anything important.

Within fifteen minutes, Noah and two other MRVN units were cutting the door space clear, then quickly reinforcing the structure on either side. When that was done, they installed a door that was wide enough for me to walk through with my arms spread and not touch either side.

At the same time that they were installing the door in the workshop, they were also putting one into the side room. This door was normal-sized, since there wouldn't be any large parts moving back and forth frequently through it.

The whole process took an hour, and when it was done, I stepped into the addition for the first time since they had started putting up walls. The interior was pretty simple, with the basic design taken from the prefab structure plans I copied while I still had the Titanfall tech tree. It was basically just a large open space, slightly taller than the garage itself. When it was finished, we would stuff it with molly makers, massively increasing our production capabilities. Opposite the newly installed workshop access door was a massive garage door.

The plan was to have the three extra large-scale molly makers, even bigger than the large model we had in the side room, along the back by the garage door. This was so that pieces made by the extra large molly-makers could be quickly taken outside and used for buildings. Next, we would have two rows of large makers, then two rows of medium makers, followed by a whole wall of small-scale makers. All of this would be hooked up to the control and processing area, which we would build in the side room. The control room would take care of all the filtering and metal suspension needed for all our new molly makers.

For now, however, the room was empty, save a half dozen MRVNs working on small projects. I couldn't help but smile in appreciation for the progress Noah had made so far.

"Noah, this is excellent work. I know the project wasn't exactly stimulating," I admitted, patting the upgraded MRVNs shoulder. "But it's encouraging that you can work so well and produce something that fits what we need. I look forward to what you build next."

"Our next project is the various hardpoints around the town," Noah reminded me. "We will begin construction once Chase arrives with our delivery of concrete mix."

"Well, use that time to relax for a while," I suggested with a wince. "Find a hobby or your own project you wish to work on. Maybe your own house… or maybe a separate garage for large-scale building materials and tools? It's going to be busy for a while, but I don't want anyone to think that they don't deserve time for themselves."

"My purpose is building large-scale structures," He pointed out. "It is what I enjoy. However, a garage for meters and equipment does sound... interesting. I will consider it."

"That's all I can ask, buddy," I said with a smile. "If you want some time for yourself, all you have to do is ask."

Once the doors were set and installed, we sealed up the addition for its final prep, while a pair of MRVNs cleaned up the mess. Once that was all set, I finally got to work on my next project, Kaytlyn's cat. Originally, when she first asked for it, I had agreed under the assumption that it would be a simple project, a basic companion with no frills and only simple parts. However, the more I thought about it, the more ideas I began to have for it.

One of the more dangerous things that can happen to people who rely on tech or equipment for weapons or power is being caught without it. In all honesty, it was one of the positives of cyber and bioware. It was hard to get caught without your armor or weapon when your weapon was built into your arm and your armor was already in your skin.

That said, having an animal companion by your side was an excellent way to carry basic gear with you. Duke had enough room in his chest for a full mag rifle and enough ammo to take over a small country, while still having enough room to carry lunch for five. While a cat wouldn't have that much room, if I upped its size a bit, making it something akin to a large Maine Coon, it would have enough room to carry some basic gear and still be small enough to be stealthy.

The design process was pretty simple, though I did want to pull the cat in a slightly different visual direction from Duke. I built my companion to be a function over form, though personally, I thought he came out looking badass. For Kaytlyn, I wanted her cat to be able to show off a bit, which I'm sure she would love. So, while the robotic cat did have the same general design of an AA frame with dense artificial muscle acting anchored to it and AA plating on top, I also included several dozen flexible strands of glowing lights, which would enable her cat to glow from underneath her outer layer of muscle fibers.

On top of that, since it wasn't designed to be a frontline fighter, I gave it slightly thinner armor, only really protecting critical areas. This decreased the overall weight and maximized its maneuverability. The final design almost had a sixties robotic chic feel to it, belying its rather dangerous nature, its AA claws and teeth hidden from view.

While I had yet to figure out what I was putting inside Duke, I already knew exactly what was going inside Kayt's cat. First was a foam block that contained a mag pistol and three magazines of ammo. That would get clipped to the side so she could pull it out in seconds. There was a small first aid compartment, which would probably get filled with a few max docs, or whatever else Frank decided should go in there.

The rest of the space was filled with six custom-designed circular drones. They were small enough to fit into your hand, but were also stuffed to the brim with scanning software and cameras. They could be deployed to scan an area, surveil a location until the target arrived, or even track that target in a crowd. They were the perfect tool to keep a sniper from being ambushed or keeping an eye on a target that was hiding behind a barrier or in a building. Even better, the drones used the same process as Spot to fly, so they were fast and maneuverable. Due to their small size, they shouldn't even be that noisy, the thrumming and snapping sound easily lost in the typical Night City ambiance.

I also stuffed the cat itself with as many sensors as I could, letting it scan any area it was in. I even included vibration sensors in its feet so it could feel people approaching Kayt while she was focused on shooting. Overall, I was pretty happy with the results, and I was already looking forward to Kayt's reaction. Unfortunately, I didn't have any leftover fur or any other options. After a few minutes of consideration, I decided that I would present it to her without fur, but then offer to add some later if she really wanted it.

With the design complete and the garage small molly-maker working to produce the parts, I left the assembly process to a MRVN unit. There was usually one standing around, waiting for something to do, and since this wasn't from a tech tree, there was no reason for me to assemble it myself. Instead, I got to work on a different project, something I had been wanting to do for a while. Something that slipped through my fingers a few times already. Something that was extremely important.

Despite the fact that all I had access to at the moment was tech that was only slightly more advanced than what I had back home, I would make due.

I was finally going to work on weapon attachments.

Honestly, part of me was glad that I would be starting with something low-tech. I tended to prefer simple and straightforward when it came to accessories, as I thought making things complicated often made them unreliable or hard to use. I remembered preferring two of the most simple weapon sights in the Cyberpunk game, the Kanetsugu and the Add-Vantage. Part of that was because when I was a pistol punk in most games that I played. Further than that, though, I also just preferred clean and simple looks.

Starting with bare-bones concepts first would let me build up to adding more things to the scopes at my own pace, rather than starting with something overly complicated and picking it apart until it was simple enough for my tastes. I ended up designing and building several dozen flashlights, laser sights, knife attachments, and bayonets, as well as more than two dozen varieties of scopes and sights, including one similar to the style I liked.

Once they were designed, I printed out almost all of the parts at once on the medium molly-maker. The parts were so low-tech that I could have probably printed them all out at once, already assembled, but I didn't know how the Tinker of Fiction would react to that. So, instead, I spent a few hours assembling them, absorbing the knowledge around their design. By the time I was done, I had a pretty solid grasp of the design methods and methodologies. I was confident I could build my own from scratch or simply continuously upgrade the options I had now through new tech and concepts that I learned. Already, I was ready to apply several bits of material sciences to one of the long-range scopes to increase its level of magnification.

During my time working on scopes and weapon attachments, our new vehicle, the second Thorton arrived. I took a break from working to pay the man who was selling it, the older gentleman thanking me for the good deal, and for the extra pay to have it dropped off. I assured him it was fine before he drove away in a companion's vehicle. He had barely made it out of town before Samwise and a pair of MRVNs got going over the truck's internal. They quickly and efficiently pulled it into the garage to open up, inspecting it carefully.

At the same time, another MRVN got to work clearing out the interior and making the required modifications to its cargo space. Like the first iteration, it would be a self-contained salvage vehicle, capable of intaking scrap and outputting a significant amount of materials every morning. Between the two salvage trucks and the improved mass recycler that Samwise expanded on, our materials were looking very well stocked.

That night, I went to sleep after helping Samwise do some work on the Thorton's motor. He actually knew a bit more about the subject of vehicle repair than I did since I had yet to make my own vehicle, so that was an interesting experience. I went to bed relatively early, sick of dealing with my sore muscles. Frank prescribed me some simple pain medication, and I managed to fall asleep relatively quickly.

The next morning, I woke up to someone pounding on my door. I dragged myself out of bed, idly noting that my muscles were no longer sore. I put on the bare minimum to be presentable before pushing the door open. Kaytlyn was standing there with a big smile on her face, her arms full of robot cat.

"She is fucking perfect!" The blue-haired woman said with an excited smile, patting the cat's metal head, the robot letting out a meow and nuzzling against her owner. "I love the bits you fit inside her back, it's absolutely perfect."

"I'm glad you like it," I said, letting out a yawn. "Did Samwise show you how to access the chest cavity?"

"And explained the drones," She said, running her finger along the spine of the robot, from the back of its neck all the way to the base of the tail. There was a voice command, too, of course, but the physical method looked cooler.

The compartment opened up, revealing everything I had designed for it, including the foam block that contained a pistol. She closed it back up with another motion, looking back up with a smile.

"Well done," I said with a yawn, wiping the sleep from my eyes. "Do you want me to put some fur on her like I did with Duke?"

"...maybe…" She said, frowning in thought. "I'll think about it."

"That's fine. It'll take a few days to get the material, so let me know…" I explained, trailing off when my brain started to fire on all cylinders. "Wait, was that all you had to say? You woke me up to thank me?"

"Nope," She said, popping the "p" with a smirk. Sable is back and waiting for you in the BD shack. Said to take you time."

I scowled, shaking my head and turning to head back into my trailer to get appropriately dressed. I stopped, however, and looked back at Kaytlyn.

"Go find Frank and ask him if Jackie would be up for a meeting," I said. "If he is, ask him to wake him up."

"Sure thing, captain!" She said, giving a sarcastic salute and letting her cat jump down from her arms before walking away.

I shook my head and headed back into my trailed, quickly showering off and getting dressed. Duke waited patiently for me to get ready before following behind me as I made my way to the BD shack. Sure enough, Sable's fancy high-end car was parked in front. I spotted Murtaugh standing guard, along with several specters. He gave me a salute as I waved and headed inside. As I stepped in, I spotted Riggs nearby, leaning against the wall and watching our guest. Sable was sitting in the same seat as before, patiently waiting for me to arrive.

"Sable, welcome back," I said as Duke pushed into the building after me.

Duke, immediately noticing someone I hadn't introduced him to, locked up into incognito mode automatically. Sable was not one of the pre-programmed people to trust, after all, so he defaulted to hiding his nature.

"Thank you, Jackson," she said with a smile. "And who might this be?"

"Duke, part bodyguard, part companion, all badass," I explained with a smirk, whistling the free and clear command that released the robot from its stiff movement.

"Interesting design, it-" She stopped talking the moment Duke slipped back into his much more lifelike mode.

The robot canine made his way around the table to her to sniff at the corpos side, getting her scent before walking back around the table to sit beside me. I couldn't help but laugh at her dumbfounded expression.

"What… how?" She asked, her golden eyes wide, shifting between myself and Duke. "I have never seen any robot like that… not even high-end military models… It reminded me of my grandfather's actual dog! Did you make this? What am I saying? Of course you made it. How did you make it?"

"A lot of complicated programming and my own special artificial muscle design, a version far beyond what I gave you," I explained with a shrug. "The current market is obsessed with servos and hydraulics because there have been a lot of advancements in scaling them down due to the success of cyberware. Artificial muscle, however, is your best bet for actual fluid, realistic movement."

"Absolutely incredible, and you're not wrong… The market is currently saturated with servos and similar products…" She admitted, looking at me with a nod. "And artificial muscle has fallen out of popularity since servos are generally more powerful and more precise. I assume that's not an issue for you, though…"

For a moment, she watched Duke in silence. I could see a want in her eyes, but I decided to cut her off before she could get any bright ideas.

"Before you ask, they aren't for sale," I said, leaning back in my chair. "Prove you're loyal to the group, and I might make you something, but until then, no dice."

"Of course not. Something like this needs to be kept close, and I know I have an uphill battle when it comes to earning your trust," She responded, her hands raised defensively. "But perhaps a progress report might help?"

"Depends on what kind of progress you've got to report."

She chuckled and nodded, pulling out a tablet and sliding it to me. It blinked on as I caught it and lifted it up. As I scrolled through, I realized it was all a load of corpo legalese and data, probably compiled by a VI to present as a well-designed report. I put the tablet back down and gave her a look. This time, she rolled her eyes, nodding at the unspoken directive to explain what she had been up to verbally.

"Creating the company went about as well as you can expect," She explained. I used my name to push it through, loathe as I am to do so, which means it happened pretty quick. Congratulations, as we agreed, you now own ninety percent of TinkerTech, while I own the remaining ten. I am-"

Before she could continue, the front door opened, and Jackie stepped in. He looked tired, moved a bit sluggishly, and winced when he sat down, but other than that, he looked fine. Frank stopped by the door, standing by the side opposite Riggs. Sable eyed them both before focusing on Jackie.

"Everything alright?" She asked, watching as he purposely leaned forward. "Rough night?"

"Recovering from getting chipped," He explained. "Finally got myself a Sandy."

She opened her eyes in surprise, the skeptical, unappreciative look she had given him for what she assumed was a hangover disappearing. Instead, she gave him another look before responding.

"Those can be dangerous," She said, raising an eyebrow. "You're willing to gamble on your health?"

"Sometimes you need to bet the house, chica," He explained, wincing when he shrugged. "Besides, my chooms are keeping an eye on me, and I'm not stupid. If I start to crack, I'm getting it removed."

"... Fair enough, I suppose. Anyway, as agreed, I own ten percent of the company, and I am the current CEO, at your pleasure."

She made a grand gesture, mocking the specific wording of the contract, before pulling a cigarette from somewhere and lighting it with the same finger-snapping flourish as the first time she was here. After she took a long pull, she continued, smoke flowing from her nose lazily.

"The products that you gave me are patented, and I have already pushed them to a few contacts of mine," she continued, focusing back on me. "I received several rather large offers to purchase the patents outright, but since the purpose here is to establish the company as a neutral entity providing designs to everyone, I denied them. I then started selling out licensing. You'll be happy to know I have closed three deals already and have several more to discuss within the coming week."

"Way to go, Genio," Jackie said, slapping my shoulder, wincing as he did. "Looks like you are on your way to the big leagues!"

"Hold on there, hot shot, I want to prepare you," She said, holding a hand out to cut off Jackie's celebration. "Our company is completely unknown, with no reputation. These companies are going to be putting a lot of money into confirming that your tech works as you claim it does. Also, since I assume we are going forward with the second stage of the plan, a significant portion of ongoing profits will go to me building up a business around your inventions. I'm building this from the ground up, after all."

"Your point?"

"That your cut might not be as large as you might expect," She explained. "As discussed, I won't be receiving any payment until the company is stabilized, but even so… Temper your expectations."

She made a gesture, and my keyfob began to vibrate…. And vibrate and vibrate. I pulled it out of my pocket and watched the numbers spin up past the highest I had ever seen on it. I looked up at Sable when it tripled that.

"I know it's not much," She said, shaking her head. "But this is the cost of starting a business. Give it a few more months and a handful more devices, and that number will go up considerably."

"Sable… This is a lot of money," I said, putting my keyfob down on the table. "I understand you might be used to bigger numbers, but I thought the point was to stay under the radar until we can set up the networked neutrality?"

"Jackson, for the environment you just stepped into, these are small numbers," She explained, shaking her head and sighing. "I am basically letting these licenses go for free. These numbers will disappear into project costs without an issue, giving us more time to make a stable base of friends."

I leaned back in my chair, steadily ignoring the fact that my keyfob was STILL FUCKING VIBRATING.

"Okay, I'm trusting your expertise here in that we didn't just send up a red flare," I said, still shaking my head, sagging a bit when the vibrating keyfob finally stopped. "What sort of the time scale are we looking at? What's the next step?"

"The next step is, in a few weeks, we start another round of patents and licensing," She explained. "A different box of middle-of-the-road upgrades. After that, I can start hiring some people, and we can move on from me tapping into contacts to doing actual business."

We spent another hour discussing the ins and outs of what Sable was planning, talking about what sort of items she suspected would be a good choice for our next round of patents. When we were done, she tapped the table with her nails, giving me a thoughtful look.

I have a suggestion, something you might consider for this town if you're willing to hear it?" She asked, and I raised an eyebrow, which apparently she saw as the go-ahead. "Right now, you're a small group of people doing strange things. I saw that building you threw up behind your workshop. I can only imagine what sort of crazy shit you're putting in there. This whole place stands out like a sore thumb."

"And what is your suggestion for solving that?"

"You need a crowd to hide in. A group to cover up some of your activities," She explained. "Find a gang, a group, something to populate this town and redirect those eyes somewhere else. Right now, you're a curiosity, but if that changes before we can secure our position, you're gonna get vanished."

I sat there, considering her words. After a moment, Sable said her goodbyes. Jackie and I both shook her hand, watching the woman leave before we both sat back down.