Chapter Thirty-Three - Minor Improvements


    <strong>Chapter Thirty-Three - Minor Improvements</strong>


    <em>User Milesglorius: People have tried all sorts of things to kill them already</em>


    <em>User Adfligo: Yeah, so?</em>


    <em>User Milesglorius: wtf, you think your ideas better?</em>


    <em>User CuteGirlsRCute: Maybe? Not like every ideas been tried and anyway I think that it''s okay to try new things. ATs have only been invading for like 20 years. Gotta try stuff yeah?</em>


    Systema IRC, 2043


    ***


    This was shit sprinkles on the turd cake. I didnt have time to deal with zombies on top of all the rest. Myalis, what are the chances that this is a small, one-off offshoot of the antithesis that we wont have to worry about? I asked.


    <em>Its unlikely. Though I havent noticed any parts of the hive specifically growing model sevens. That isnt entirely unusual. Model sevens are small and quick to grow to their full maturity. Hives will often have other models grow them wherever they find a sufficient number of corpses or usable bodies. Remember that more than a weapon, a model seven is a means of transporting biomass back to the hive.</em>


    Right, the zombies were basically the antithesis way of co-opting a persons body to walk it back to the hive for digestion. The fact that it was a psychological weapon probably didnt factor in. The antithesis were scary, but it was never <em>purposeful</em> terror that they sowed.


    I jumped when a call came in, the alert not loud or anything, but I was a little on edge and the sound poked at my nerves. Intel-chan was calling.


    Hey, I said.


    Hey, Intel-chan replied. Were getting everyone to take their anti-zombie pills, just in case. We dont have much manpower to check on people, but your girlfriends working on sending people to every housingplex on the edges of Downtown, just to make sure that everyone is still entirely human.


    I nodded. Thats good. Will we have enough meds to go around?


    No, Intel-chan said. Not nearly. But we can give some to every militia person, and most if not all of our volunteers. The pills are only meant to be good for a day or so before you need to take another dose though.


    Well buy more if ites to it. I looked around the office space again. Earlier it had been a big, worrisome ce because it might hide a few lower-tier models. Now it was worrisome for entirely different reasons. If the zombies are <em>here</em> inside the barricades, then... shit, how likely is it that theyd just spread out from here?


    <em>Model sevens are notoriously stealthy. They arent fast-moving, but they can reproduce within a captured body, and there are many tales of model sevens taking over a body, then walking past defences to reproduce next to heavily popted areas.</em>


    Right, I said. Intel, can you add a pin to Gomorrahs agenda?


    I can, Intel-chan said. What do you need her for?


    Burn this entire building down. In a way that <em>doesnt</em> spread to the rest of the city. Im sure she can amodate that much. I dont know how heat-resistant model sevens are, but Im sure they wont survive the kind of shit Gomorrah can unleash when she has permission.


    Understood. Sending a message now, Intel-chan said.


    And, uh, hey, wheres all your weebness?


    Intel-chan went quiet for a moment, then when they replied it was with a much more perky, upbeat sort of voice. Almost gratingly so. Oh? Stray Cat Sempai wants me to talk like this?


    I squinted.


    Intel-chan waited for a long, long beat. Then they spoke up. Uwu?


    I hate you, I said.


    Pardon? Sprout asked. He looked like hed calmed down a little, though I noted that he wasnt looking at the corpse on the ground next to us.


    Sorry, I muttered. Just talking to a few people at once. The militia will start taking their anti-zombie meds, well see about everyone else once were out of here.


    Are we leaving? he asked, and I couldnt miss that hint of hope in his voice.


    I didnt want to squash it, but there was a lot of stuff I didnt want and I didn''t get. No, were finishing what we started. Do you have something to stop model sevens? I asked.


    He shook his head.


    Myalis, two of those Proofing Pill things, please, I said.


    <em>Coming right up.</em>


    The pills appeared in a pair of little cigarette-box-sized containers. I tossed one to Sprout and opened the other, then I undid part of my helmet to dry swallow one of the pills. It wasnt exactly tasty, but Id live with it. Honestly, I was probably safe. A model seven would have to get through my armour first, which I doubted they could do. But Sprout wasnt wearing gear that was as good as mine yet.


    Besides, it was better to be safe than sorry when it came to zombification.


    Once Sprout took his pill, then stuffed the rest into a pocket on his vest, I tapped him on the shoulder and gestured deeper into the office space. Lets go, I said.


    The staircases door was wedged open, so I approached it ready to have something jump at my face. Nothing did, though the stairwell was unlit and windowless, so it was filled with long shadows that we only made worse as we stood by the entrance.


    That, and there were potted nts scattered across the ground.


    Just three or four different sorts of nts on what looked like thosemon brownish-beige ceramic pots that Id sometimes seen in groceries with, like, a dying sprig of basil or something in it.


    These werent anymon spices though. One of the nts had spread roots out across the ground and another was covered in little ball-like flowers with what looked like sacs under them.


    Those are mine, Sprout said. Spreading Creeper, Acid Bells, and Thorn Thistle. He pointed to the nts in turn.


    You dropped them here? I asked.


    On the way back up, he said.


    What was your n, exactly?


    He shrugged, a little sheepish. Get to the entrance, nt these down. Theyre all hyper-invasive and can grow quickly.


    Like, quickly for a nt, or actually quickly? I asked.


    They mostly take a few hours to grow. The thorn thistle would berge enough to block a doorway in under six hours.


    And that would stop the antithesis from breaking in here? I asked.


    He squirmed a little. It would make it harder for them. None of my nts break down into usable biofuel for the antithesis. Some are the opposite, even, with chemical packs hidden within them that can destroy the digestion baths the antithesis uses to dissolve organic matter into the nutrient slurry they use.


    That seems decent for area denial, I guess. Fuck with their food supply, make the area inhospitable to them. But, ah, Im not sure if its ideal for plugging a passage.


    They dug the passage, I figured it wouldnt matter if I plug it since they could just dig out another. And... well, you sent me here, and this is the best I could do. He gestured futilely at the pile of discarded nts on the floor.


    Kinda felt bad for the guy.


    Shit, I said. Look, this is my bad. I should have figured out what youre good for before sending you over here. Could have used your area denial stuff around River Heights, or on the borders.


    Ive nted some things there, he said. A lot of my nts are good for blocking alleys, and some I got to nt outside of the walls. Hopefully theyll bring those back to their hives. Ah, some nts have trackers in them too, and pheromones that make them really attractive to the Antithesis. Or some of them. Most dont have... noses.


    Do you make any points with that kind of thing? I asked.


    He nced away. I havent figured out that part yet. I do make <em>some</em> but my AI exined that since its at such a remove I dont make many. But a lot of my nts can multiply. So once I get a proper set up going, Itll basically be free to keep going. I... my goal is to create some semi-invasive species, or buy them at least, and then nt them around areas with Antithesis hives to kill them off without ever putting someone at risk.


    Didnt they do that in Australia?


    Yes, he said. And they made it worse. But I think... I think I can do it better.


    I gave him a pat on the shoulder. Guy was aiming a lot higher than I was. Had to respect that.


    He was still useless in a fight though, which became obvious when a model three scrambled up the stairs and Sprout stumbled backwards and out of the stairwell.


    I rolled my eyes, then shot the alien. Then shot a second time to actually hit it.


    We all had something to work on, it seemed, and I couldnt fling stones from my ss house just yet.


    ***