Chương 299: fd5
Arc 1: Arrival
Part 5: Convoy
Calendar: Advent 3
I awoke much more slowly the following morning. I refused to open my eyes, desperately praying that everything was just a dream.
"Please, if there's a god, don't let this be real."
I wasn't quite sure which scared me more. The zombie apocalypse, of which I was just barely staying ahead of a panic attack over, or the highly advanced nanomachines currently taking up residence somewhere inside my brain.
"WOOF" LICK.
The presence of Shep standing on the bed beside me and delivering a slobbery kiss to my face made that a moot point.
"Alright, alright already. I'm up, I'm up." I muttered as I opened my eyes and slowly forced myself into a sitting position.
My little sanctuary was already looking less like a random hotel room and more like some place I was actually going to live.
Or, you know, hole up in in the event of a major zombie herd.
After eating dinner the previous night, and confirming the existence of the nanomachines in my body, I had spent the remainder of the evening improving my second floor bolt hole. After confirming that everything, even the electric stove, was working in the suite I had carted up a large amount of food. Dried and can goods filled the pantry and took up an entire corner of the small dining area. The fridge was packed with fresh and frozen goods which I needed to use first.
I'd carried, and god wasn't that an example of how much stronger I was in this armor than before I had been shot, an entire gun rack plus guns up to the room and situated it against an empty stretch of wall, conveniently located next to the door onto the balcony.
Spare blankets and bedding were stacked in the second bedroom, along with a full assortment of medical supplies and two portable first aid kits.
One of my jump bags was near the front door, and my original backpack and its contents were spread out on the kitchen table from when I had begun organizing them.
As I made breakfast, bacon and eggs for myself and some pork chops for Shep, I thought on my situation.
On the one hand, there was clear evidence this site had been inhabited mere days before my arrival, and the relative state of everything heavily implied that the outbreak was relatively recent, or at least the collapse of civilization in this region was. You could never tell with zombie outbreaks. Some settings they swept over the world in days or weeks. In others, you had pockets of survival or even a border line between infected and functional territories.
For all I knew the survivors here had actually left in some vehicles heading for some other sanctuary.
Or there could be survivors hiding out somewhere in the nearby towns.
Which brought me to the other issue I had been contemplating. The viability of this site in the long run. Sure, I had fuel for now, but eventually that would run out. Even if I could find other remaining sources, the simple fact was that until and unless I discovered a functioning drilling operation and refinery nearby there was a finite time limit on both gasoline and other fuel sources. That meant electricity was limited unless I could come up with or find a replacement source.
I glanced down at my left forearm.
Of course, these nanomachines may eventually provide a viable solution for that. But that would probably take time. And expertise that I didn't necessarily have yet.
Even if the electricity eventually ran out, I had other options for heating and cooking food. The presence of forest on the other side of large fields meant wood could be harvested for heating. I guessed that I could probably fashion a woodburning stove of some sort given time and materials, and the office/dining/lounge space of the motel appeared to be outfitted to resist snowy winters. It even had a fireplace against one wall. So did the suite I was in, thankfully.
I'd also taken a closer look at the diagrams in the assayers office while gathering some of the supplies. According to the diagrams the water supply for the buildings at the intersection came from a pump system attached to the lake. It had a water purification system set into the pump and reservoir station, which in turn sat about halfway between the lake and the intersection, off the south-bound road. I would definitely need to take a closer look at that, figure out how it operated, what it's power supply was, and how many backup filters were in stock.
I could always boil water, eventually, and the water tender sitting with all the military vehicles could transport enough water that I could use it to fill up from the lake if the pump system goes down.
The more I thought though, the more I kept coming back to the inescapable conclusion that I was going to need more survivors if I was going to make this place viable. Sure, for my own survival I could get by and scavenge. I certainly wasn't going to starve to death since my nanites could apparently create some food. But the amount of work needed just to maintain this place was going to be far more than any one man could manage.
That meant that I eventually I would either need to find a better, less maintenance intensive place to hole up and gather supplies to, or I needed to gather some survivors and form an actual community.
Either way, the more supplies I could gather early, the better.
I looked down at Shep and smiled.
"What do you say girl?" I said as I dropped a pair of porkchops into her bowl. "Why don't we take one of those trucks and go scavenging?"
Shep barked happily at me, probably only getting my mood but no actual concept of what I was saying, before digging into her breakfast.
I smiled and slid my eggs and bacon onto a plate, eating while standing at the counter and debating the merits of investigating the large town with the mall and factories, or the dense housing community with a variety of stores.
Decisions, decisions.
In the end it was the fact that the town was closer that made the decision for me.
XxXxXxX
After breakfast Shep and I took a stroll around the perimeter with the heavy cart. Six zombies had shown up during the night, and I gave them each mercy. I noted that two of them were wearing University of Atlanta t-shirts, while a third was wearing a cap for the Atlanta Braves. Given that these were the first things I'd seen to give me any clue to where I was beyond it being more or less rural America, this led me to believe that I was likely somewhere in Georgia. How close or far from Atlanta was a different question entirely.
Once we'd disposed of the corpses in the body pit, Shep and I returned to the compound and I began considering my options.
In the event that I found any supplies worth gathering, which was high, I'd probably want to bring as much back with me as I could. This fact would imply that bringing one of the big rigs with an empty trailer would be the best option. On the other hand, I was just going to scout things out first, so a smaller, lighter vehicle might be better. Something that could get be around road blocks or stopped traffic.
A lighter vehicle also wouldn't be as big a loss if I was forced to abandon it, either due to a zombie swarm or finding another vehicle I wanted to bring back.
As I considered my options I looked down at my left arm. Hadn't I seen something in the technologies last night about an automatic driving system?
Praying that it worked I held my right hand over my left forearm and focused on my desire for the interface. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then the tiny waves of particles began to form around my forearm. I let out a sigh of relief as first the lattice then the projected interface appeared.
I checked over it for a few seconds and then smiled.
Yup, I had been right. There was an AI driving system which could be installed into vehicles. It looked like it could be installed in two different methods as well. The master version required that a quantum computer, quantum energy cell, and communications system all be installed in a vehicle. That vehicle could then be driven manually or programmed with a destination or job, and could communicate instructions to any drone system within two miles in order to drive them as well. A single master system could control up to twenty drones within range. More if other master systems were slaved to it.
Drone versions could be installed with no additional hardware into any vehicle, allowing them to receive instructions and report data back to their controlling master system. These versions relied on the car's battery though, so would likely lessen the overall lifespan of the car.
I looked back at the primary technologies again. That could probably be fixed by installing a quantum energy cell into each drone car, but at the same time it might just be better to scavenge car batteries along the way. Maybe find an auto parts store and stock a trailer full of batteries.
I glanced around me at the vehicles in the compound.
It would be just my luck if I left on a scavenging run and some survivors showed up who didn't want to share.
I was already thinking of this compound as mine. Call it survival instincts. Call it an unwillingness to be anyone's bitch. But I was not going to give up control of what was mine without a fight.
Share shelter and supplies with those willing to work with me, sure.
But not give up my shit.
After considering it for a few minutes I decided that my best solution for now would be to ensure that in the event that happened, that I was not going to be stuck outside without my supplies.
I returned to my motel room and began packing.
It was nearing noon by the time I had finished my preparations. I now had one of APCs, one of the gas tanker trucks, the water tender, and the largest of the big rigs and trailers gassed up and prepared for an excursion. I figured that if this took too long I could hole up inside the APC for the night and return in the morning. The water tender and gas tanker guaranteed I wasn't going to be without water or gas if I lost this compound.
I had stashed go bags in the cabs of each vehicle, along with my backpack and two go bags into the back of the APC. A mattress stolen from one of the motel rooms and some bedding made the rear of the APC into a place I could actually be comfortable if I had to crash there.
Each vehicle had a couple cases of canned food in it, and for good measure I'd loaded the back of the trailer with some extra just in case.
Now all that was left was to actually prepare my little convoy for the journey. Shep was standing by my side looking around excitedly. I guess the concept of 'trip? we're going on a trip? yay yay yay!!' was universal in dogs, because Shep was bounding around with excitement.
I pulled up the Proteus system and considered what I was about to do. It would cost me much of my energy reserve, but as an investment in my future and survivability it was probably the best option open to me.
I started with researching the technologies that were immediately important to my convoy. AI driving system and communications systems were an absolute must. I considered the zombie proofing and various supplementary technologies, but then decided they weren't actually important quite yet. The APC should be sufficient protection for now.
With those researched I moved over to the APC, saying a silent prayer that this would work.
I pressed my hand against the hood of the military vehicle and quickly selected a number of items to install.
I'm not sure what I was expecting. Maybe for the vehicle to rumble to life. Maybe for it to swirl and be lifted into the air.
I did not expect the entire thing to seem to shift into a mass of floating particles shaped like an APC, glowing with inner light. Nor did I expect it to demonstrate signs of rapid movement within before seeming to resolidify once more into an APC.
I blinked and looked down at the display on my forearm.
Quanta: 315/2000
Quanta Regeneration Rate: 50/dayQuantum Energy Generators: 2Okay, so between researching those two technologies and upgrading this vehicle I had spent close to a third of my total energy supply. That was okay. I still had more than enough left for what I needed to do with the remaining vehicles.
I looked inside the cabin of the APC. It looked very different than it had before, and this caused me to blink.
The entire interior of the cabin was now black and dark grey, with what appeared to be comfy leather seats and the dashboard covered by advanced electronics and display screens.
"So….that worked." I muttered, turning to Shep.
Thankfully the Shepard was just sitting there with a curious tilt to her head. Apparently now that I was fine with the buzzing magnetically induced nanomachines my dog was no longer scared of them. I just wish my first dog had felt that way about the vacuum cleaner.
"Well." I continued, looking at the three vehicles I had lined up facing the west gate. "Now to do the others."
I started with the gas tanker next, then finished with the water tender and the big rig. I gave all three an AI driving system, but only installed the drones. I needed to conserve energy if I might be rigging up more vehicles to bring back with me. The only exception was a small thing I installed onto the intake for the large tanker trailer on the gas truck.
"This may well be the most important thing I can make right now." I had muttered to myself at the time.
The fuel convertor was interesting, once the vehicle had been transformed by the nanites to include it. Outwardly it merely looked as if a large, flat cylinder had been attached on top of the normal intake. However, looking inside it I could make out the shifting pattern of nanomachines as they maintained some sort of screen.
According to the entry in my system, I could insert any sort of material, liquid or otherwise, and the nanomachines would disassemble it and convert it into fuel.
Originally I had planned to just use that directly on the APC, but then common sense got the better of me.
It could convert any amount of fuel supplied, so why use it on a single vehicle? Instead, by using it on the intake for the tanker trailer, I could replenish my fuel supply and gas up ALL of my vehicles.
Looking around at the nearby gas station I had another thought.
"The system mentions acquired designs... I wonder if I could use them to acquire the interface for a gas pump and apply it to the trailer? If I can…" I muttered to myself. "I would be able to refuel my vehicles more easily and safely."
It didn't hurt that I recalled that gas pumps were generally run on electricity, so getting gas once they weren't working could be a problem.
With a shake of my head I had returned to the APC, ushering Shep up into the passenger's side before taking my own seat.
I couldn't really feel the comfort of the seat, seeing as I was wearing my armor, but from the way it moved it appeared to be comfy enough. Certainly better than the military issue material had been.
"WOOF!"
Well, Shep seemed to like it.
"Ok girl," I said. "Shall we see what this baby can do?"
"WOOF!!!"
"Heh, I'll take that as a yes then."
I reached for the keys to turn it on and then realized that maybe I'd made a mistake.
The keys weren't there anymore. Neither was where they should have been inserted. I looked around the dash, trying to figure out if maybe they had been moved somewhere.
"Now, that's odd." I muttered sitting back and considering the dash when I found no sign of the keys or a keyless starter.
After a second I blinked, then blinked again.
The front of the steering wheel, which normally would have included the horn, was changed as well. Instead of a horn it appeared to have a round flat touch screen. I spread my hand in front of it and looked between the two. Could the system have…
I decided it was worth trying it out instead of wasting time wondering. I pressed my gloved left hand palm down against it and waited.
There was no change for a few seconds, and then suddenly lights began to turn on all around the cabin. The engine began to rumble and the screen in the center of the dash lit up, showing a female face. The face was comprised of floating blue and green pixels, and reminded me vaguely of Cortana from Halo.
"Well, it's about time you woke me up, Chief." The female said, yawning. "So, where are we off to today?"
Either my subconscious had more influence over what the nanomachines did than I was aware, or whoever had created this Proteus System was a major science fiction geek of some sort.
After a moment I realized it probably didn't matter, since the end result was the same.
"We're headed west, Cortana." I replied, crossing my fingers.
The smile on my voice told me I'd called it correctly.
"Okay, Chief. Just let me load up the maps and start the rest of the convoy up and we'll be on the road."
After a moment her image refocused its gaze on me.
"Um, you wouldn't mind opening the gate, would you? Apparently it has no automated control systems installed."
I laughed as I opened the door to comply.
It wouldn't do to break my defenses down, after all.
As I walked to the gate and unlocked it I wondered about that. Would it be worth the investment to install automated opening systems to the gates?
After considering the possible energy requirements I wrote it off as a waste of resources for now.
Afterall, the weather was still nice out. Might as well enjoy it when I can.
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