บท 34: Chapter 33 - Getting Workers

His first steps to complete were the farm and then he would start a big project that would most likely need the octopeople's help.

He would build a big submarine building bay, and maybe first an underground city for the octopeople to live there safely, then he could teach them how to do various things and would have gained strong subordinates, then after that would come leviathan hunting using modern tools, cleaning the kelp snake forest or catching leviathans from beyond the deep, also moving more of his spaceship back to base, even the alloys and cables inside were valuable, and he wanted Rose to scan the cryopods and engine inside, as they were technologies that would help him in the long term, now he had his longevity secured thanks to the genetics module, and just needed qualified personnel and armament to start taking over these endless seas, evolving this octopeople race the human way, cheating nature!.

--- A week later ---

Erik had gotten used to his new body and had also thrown all the compost inside the pool, he let it ferment a bit on the water one day, and then he drained it, letting all that duckweed die, then with the dirt from the grass pit he covered it all and also added another layer of rock dust, it would soon be ready for planting.

He also cut lots of reeds and made a small boat and filled it with a dirt and rock powder mix, and added some floaters to the sides and below just in case, then put them on the pool with germinated rice seeds, once the plants grew a bit, he would plant them around the pond below on the second floor.

The Second Elder came every few days too and she seemed to be getting impatient, as she was probably not used to being denied.

He had already decided how to deal with her though, as he needed her help, Rose had printed lots of tools for the Octopeople to use in digging the third floor and lots of modular metallic columns, she had also helped him design a 3D model and add enough columns to keep it all stable and who knew, keeping a mountain below the ocean standing wasn't easy, so he chose a donut-like shape for the third floor to save on columns, he also asked Rose to print some augmented reality glasses so they could see how it should look like and what to do, it would show in red the rock to remove and in blue the rock to leave.

He would also propose moving the village to a city dig out on the stone near the base to the Second Elder and see her reaction.

He also started growing some chestnut trees, as they would take a long time to grow.

That day the Second Elder came as always but a bit grumpier than the first time and was pleasantly surprised to see both garage doors open and she quickly swam inside, launched out of the water, and got inside coming to the living room already half erect and fins flapping, but she found Erik and Inky there waiting for her and indicated her to sit in front of them on the other sofa.

The Second Elder frowned but complied, her excitement dying somewhat.

Then Erik with the help of Inky translating told her.

Erik: " we need your help, if your people help us build something, in exchange, we will give you new weapons for free" in the video he showed her the plasma spear and saw her interested expression, but then she frowned when he showed her the enormous donut shape.

Erik never gave her time to doubt as he took her down the stairs to the second floor that he had made bigger already and at the base of the stairs there were dozens of sets of equipment, he offered her a pair of glasses with an elastic band and adjusted it to her head when she bent over, he could see her surprised expression as the glasses revealed all the rock to remove, he then showed her the tools, from the pickaxe to a vibroshovel to dig stone directly and also sets of hammers and chisels.

They then went back to the living room taking off the glasses from her and he emphasized that he would catch food and keep the workers fed, he still had lots of stored food after all and had captured some fishes' with palangres these days, he also showed her how the third floor would look like once completed, a mostly grassland area and also some chestnut trees with boletus edulis on their roots in a symbiotic relationship, they would take 8 years to grow but she didn't need to know that.