It’s finally the day of the signing.
The Amadeus will become a member of the family today!
It’s quite thrilling, and anxious at the same time.
I just want everything to go smoothly.
No hiccups.
No speed bumps today please.
Meeting up with my sister before the document signing, helps calm us both down.
She still thinks it’s going to be difficult to pay the Amadeus off, while I’m happy it’s almost paid in full.
I think tomorrow will be the day.
I sent another 7 cases to Murdock this morning before heading out.
That makes 28 cases.
At 750 apiece, that’s over 450k, once it’s all sold and paid for, which shouldn’t take long.
Over half of them are already gone.
If I can grind out 10 more cases, then head out of town, I’ll be happy.
This grinding nutripacks is getting boring.
It is paying for everything in actuality so I can’t complain too much.
And my mana is growing radically quick.
I’m up to 92 nutripacks on a full mana reserve.
It feels like level 6 but we’ll have to see later.
“How’d you sleep, Lili?
Are you ready to be a frigate owner?” I ask her while we’re eating a quick bite.
“Slept ok, but it’s exciting taking this step.
The company can start to get above just surviving and hopefully prosper.
You know?” she asks back “Yeah, I hear ya.
It’s been a long road to get here.
You’ve earned it” as I give her an encouraging hug.
She really has.
She’s had to raise herself while I’ve been out mining.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t around more.” I open up to her, my deepest guilt.
“Dont feel bad, I’m pretty good.
It was lonely at times, sure, but I knew you were out there thinking of me.
I knew I had you.” It sounds like she’s comforting me now.
“Thanks for turning out so awesome.
Mom and Dad would definitely be proud of you.” I pull out the big guns, since it’s a big day.
Her eyes are full of water but she maintains herself.
Nodding, we finish out breakfast and head to the lawyer’s office.
It’s a decent place: faded glory.
Its decor is nice, old, but well taken care of.
You can’t hide the wear marks of years of people walking in and out.
The lawyer looks old and weathered, just the kind you want: experienced.
Uncle Lin is there and we make small talk for a few minutes before sitting down.
It’s all going normal until I take out 200,000 credits for the deposit instead of 100,000.
Nobody complains though, as everyone wants to conclude this slightly awkward, but necessary step as soon as possible.
Uncle Lin smiles and nods, while my sister’s mouth hits the floor.
She gives me a look, and I know I’ll have to think of something to tell her later.
I’m leaning towards the ‘I just found some rock and it was valuable’ excuse.
We sign the documents and acknowledge the two payment dates and amounts due: 100k in 30 days and 100k a month later.
I smile, securely knowing it’s no problem to pay it all off in the first month.
Money can’t buy happiness but it sure makes life easier and less stressful.
After the handshakes it’s all done.
The Amadeus is ours!
Wow, such a dream ship and it’s finally ours.
Uncle Lin takes us to the ship and shows us both all the features and functions.
It’s truly gorgeous: clean and well maintained, such a nice machine.
It’s nothing like that junky pirate ship.
This is a working mining craft.
It feels like a new car to Lili and I.
Everything is functioning, no broken equipment, no shoddy repairs.
The layout is basically the same as Beta with the Bridge in the front and 4 rooms along the corridor to the cargo hold and then the engine compartment and the crawlspace underneath the floor.
The difference is in the room configuration for the crew.
Instead of bunks for 15 people its 2 cabins w queen size beds, which are huge for a ship, and 2 rooms with 2 bunk beds, so 6 beds but can easily sleep 8-10 people.
The galley is upgraded with an actual oven and cooking top to make real food, as well as hot/cold water, a deep freezer/fridge combo, and a steamer for rehydrating dehydrated food.
It’s got a small table for 6.
Nothing fancy but light years ahead of Bessie.
Christmas morning has come early.
For some reason the beds being made make me want to lay on one, the captain’s one of course.
That’s my room.
It’s got the biggest room and ensuite, since it’s the captain’s quarters.
It’s always the best on any ship.
The desk and chair look ready for some serious administrative work.
It’s all so much nicer than my bed stuffed in the corner of the bridge on Bessie.
Using projected thought I communicate with Exie ‘so Exie have you infiltrated the ship already?’ [Of course, Host.
I penetrated its network immediately after you mentioned buying it.
No shady programs found.
No malware.
No trackers.
Everything seems in working order.
And I’ve already optimized many functions.
It’s 11% faster and 9% more fuel efficient than before.] Ever the overachiever, Exie is already cleaning house.
‘Good work, let me know if you find anything interesting and make a list of parts we might need’ [Done.
The cargo hold will surprise you then] they mention the cargo hold right as we pass into it.
“Damn, so nice” I can’t help but exclaim, seeing all the new equipment.
Diggers, Front Loaders, Rock Trucks all twice the size of the ones on Bessie.
The refiner is Massive.
It must be 3 or 4 times the size of Bessie’s.
And right next to it is a Molten Material Separator!
Exactly what I’m looking for, but it looks different.
Uncle Lin sees me checking it out and comes over.
“This bad boy is the Mercury 3000.
It can separate any molten material that melts below 3000 degrees Celsius.
It won’t work for the high temp, super dense metals, but your standard iron/nickle/aluminum alloys are no problem.
Tin, copper, chromium are all not a problem.
That’s most metal on ships except for high end armor and parts of equipment that require exotics.” It’s obvious to see he’s very proud of it.
I would be too.
It’s nicer than anything I could get on the budget I gave Murdock.
Heh, I’ll have to tell him to use it to get a better printer and pelletizer.
This single machine can double the profitability of any operation.
It’s much more profitable to sell billets of refined metals than ore that’s been cleaned up a bit in a simple field refiner.
Hook up a pelletizer to the end of this and a printer after that and you’ve got the full circle from mining all the way to production… My space trike is getting closer.
“Uncle Lin, all this is great.
You take such good care of your gear, I’m a little envious.” but it’s all mine now anyway, hahahah.
I don’t add the last part obviously, just think it deviously inside.
“Yes and now you better take care of it too.
Don’t ruin all this nice gear I’m selling you.” he responds, while wagging his finger at me, smiling good naturedly.
He’s clearly in a good mood, getting more money today than he’d anticipated.
“I will, I will.
This is our bread and butter now” then, glancing to the side I see a food materializer in pieces on the side.
“What’s this?” “Hah oh that’s some old food materializer I was working on.
I never got it working though, see if you can.” he says thinking it’s just junk, but I’m pretty sure Exie can fix it.
‘Exie can you fix this?
And order food packs for it?’ I ask Exie internally.
[Yeah, I’ve already investigated this and ordered the parts and supplies.
We should have it running soon after the parts arrive tomorrow.] Excellent, excellent.
Food materializers assemble food on a molecular level from packets similar to nutripacks, but in more base flavors and textures to ‘assemble’ food.
From chicken dinner to jello or coffee, it can all be ‘assembled’.
Obviously it’s only imitations of food, the flavors are good and it’s much more fun to eat than nutripacks.
This model is capable of making thousands of different foods from just a dozen different base, flavor and texture packs.
They are high end tech!
Only the best outfits can afford a food materializer, but they are indispensable for long voyages to maintain morale.
I’m definitely excited to try it on the next trip out.
After making so many nutripacks, I hope to never have to eat them again unless necessary.
Famous last words, I’m sure I’ll have to eat them again eventually.
If I’m lucky they’ll be some high end flavors at least.
This is a great find, an unexpected bonus.
After this we check out the engine room, and it’s as anticipated: clean,well maintained, and all the tools in proper places.
I don’t have the patience to do something like this, but it’s truly exceptional.
Truly feels like a brand new vehicle.
I’m beyond happy.
Uncle Lin says he’s got a warehouse full of supplies and replacement parts he’s been renting for years and it’s paid for three months for us.
He’ll sign it over to us and we can decide whether to keep renting it or clear it out.
No problem.
3 months is plenty of time and I don’t have to decide today.
We all go out to dinner and after Uncle Lin heads home, Lili and I jump for joy together.
It’s done.
It’s ours.
This is the foundation of our future financial freedom!
I think she’s even happier than I am.
“Now that it’s ours, we gotta make it pay.
I’ll double check everything onboard tomorrow and then head out to the field the day after.
It’s gonna be a busy couple of days to familiarize myself with everything.” I’m itching to go, but need to gather the last few items, like those food materializer parts and food packs.
Heh “Oh course.
I’ll come over to the Amadeus tomorrow to help get it ready.
I’ve got the day off.” With that we find a small tea shop and get some tea: genmaicha for her and jasmine chai for me.
After walking and talking about future plans, we head our own ways home.
On the way back, I don’t feel tired, so I check the dating app to find some new responses and a pretty red head messaged that she’s going line dancing tonight, sending the address as an invite.
Never having tried line dancing, but in a good mood I head out to the location, ready to make a fool out of myself but have fun and maybe get lucky.
After an hour of trying to keep up with everyone, my good attitude helps me play it off enough to join the fun.
Sure I’m horrible, but I keep trying and most people are happy to see someone getting into it.
Thankfully I’ve got some good rhythm which hides my horrible choreography.
My fitness seems to have improved a tiny bit with Exie bonded to my bones.
They mentioned a small increase, I’ll have to ask them about it later.
Not caring about that, my new friend is impressed as she eyes me up and down.
I’m sweaty from all the dancing but laughing good naturedly.
I’m pretty easy to get along with.
Customer service is one of my strong suits.
Either way after a couple drinks, I’m invited to her place for ‘takeout’.
Why not?
I’m famished.
The next day it’s all business.
Inventorying parts, making sure the Amadeus is really ready to go mining, buying fuel, there’s even a bin full of soil.
Heh forgot about that, oh well I’ll find a use for it.
Maybe even do some farming, fresh food is not only valuable, it tastes good too.
Dinner with my sister as we go over all the things to do and not to do with the new ship.
I promise to take it easy and not do anything stupid.
After all, if something happens, she is also responsible for the remaining debt, but she’s more concerned about my well being.
It’s the little things that make it all worth it.
Her concern warms my heart.
I’m determined to really make something of this opportunity, for the both of us.
Since I’m heading out the next day, we say goodbye here.
It’s obvious she’s sad I’m going, but knows it’s our family’s business.
“Don’t worry, next month I’ll take you out and show you the stars.
We’ll mine and spend some good family time together.
I’m sure you’ll be sick of me by the time it’s over.” “It’s a promise.
Come back safe big brother.
You’re all I’ve got.” She says it all.
“Ok, I hear you.
I’ll come back safe, probably sooner than you think.
I’ll have these ships full in no time.” small boast, big promise.
One more hug and we’re both on our separate ways.
I’ve got to make this work.
She’s all I’ve got too.
Enough stressing and planning, it’s time to DO.
Back on Bessie it’s straight into grinding nutripacks.
Ha whine and winge as I do, the money’s too good while I’m still in port to pass up.
Not sure if it’s my late nite workouts, but 96 nutripacks lay on the ground by the time its ‘lights out’.
Exie dims the lights after I’m asleep, such a considerate companion.
The next day I realize the 96 nutripacks I made last night are 4 cases.
62 was the max amount of nutripacks I could make when I started and this is now a 50% increase in a week.
I’ll take that.
When I check my call power’s distance, it’s now 28 meters.
That’s almost level 6.
I barely notice level 5 and we’re almost to level 6.
Woot!
All this grinding really paid off, in more ways than one.
Sending the last 8 cases to Murdock, that makes 36 cases in all delivered.
Not too shabby, over twice as many as I’d originally hoped to make.
My powers have grown and we are fully stocked up ready to start building an asteroid base with all my new equipment.
Oh and a new ship.
Hells yeah.
Thinking of which “Exie, we really need to start upgrading our laser and defensive equipment soon.
You mentioned upgrading our lasers a long time ago.
A whole lifetime ago, 10 days.
Heh.
Anyway, do we have what we need to do those upgrades?
I’m pretty sure we’re gonna run into some more pirates soon.
If not this trip then definitely the next.” [Host, rest assured.
I’ve ordered all the parts to increase the power of each shot, the capacitors which give it more shots, more quickly, and the wavelength modulators which can adjust the wavelength to maximum damage.
Also with my AI on fire control, the accuracy is unparallel.
Overall, once we make the upgrades, the damage per second will be 3 times the unmodified lasers.
Not only the lasers, but the shielding has been modified to make it twice as stable,able to soak up double the damage for a longer time.
The capacitors will allow them to store up charge before the battle, allowing them to soak up more hits for a longer time.
We will definitely be punching above our weight.
Not to mention with both ships under my control,they will truly fight as one with perfect coordination.] No one cares about a 20 millisecond delay.
It’s practically real time.
Wow, I had no idea Exie was planning so far ahead.
I guess you get what you pay for with this futuristic tech.
Someone spent a ton of money making them.
Thankfully not me, and now I’ve got 2 ships able to go toe to toe with some pirates.
Nation building with a side of adventure.
Sounds like fun.
And a space trike.
“What about how you took over that ship last time?
Now that the antennas are fixed can we do that again?
Maybe before we have to dock together, like last time.” I’m very interested in this feature.
If we can infiltrate and hack enemy ships and take them over before the pirates notice, that would allow us to eliminate the majority of combatants.
We can vent the ships and space most of them right from the jump.
[Yes, now we can infiltrate the electronic systems of ships within 10,000 miles of Bessie or 25,000 miles from Amadeus.
Their electronics and antenna are much better than here.
It’s a frigate and we’re a shuttle.
Also I got parts to double those distances once we install them.
Importantly a few ships can prevent infiltration, not many but some people greatly value their security and get the few tech devices capable of blocking me.
Rich bosses, CEOs, government and military, some scientific institutions.
Those kinds of places.
You must be prepared for this to happen and take them out immediately to prevent this capability from leaking.
We would be hunted relentlessly if they found out about this.
It can’t get out.] yeah I get it.
We’re both screwed if this gets out.
“Ok ok, I know.
This can’t get out.
Neither your power nor mine, heh.
2 peas in a pod.” We’re in this together.
Amadeus and Bessie easily exit the docking areas and rendezvous to head to Beta together.
5 days of travel.
Plenty of time to see how much I can grind nutripacks.
3 ‘light out’ a day is possible, I’m just still thinking it reckless.
The time I’m asleep after passing out seems to be decreasing as well.
It’s around 5 and a quarter hours now instead of 6 hours.
Sure it’s only 45 minutes, but if I’m doing 3 then it’s over 2 hours a day saved, that I can do stuff and not be sleeping to regain my mana.
What does that mean?
I could do it 4 times a day eventually?
Forget that, I didn’t reincarnate to this new world to work myself to death making nutripacks.
Even if I can make tons of credits and bump my mana reservoir.
A lot of credits.
And the mana bump is noticeable.
Damn I just need to find something else to use this mana on and I wont feel like a nutripack factory.
Since we just left Luna 7, there’s lots of ships still around us as we head out to space.
Luckily none seem to be following us.
Why would they?
We’re just another couple independent miners heading out to the void.
No super powers here.
No Overlord level AI here.
Nothing to see here.
Ha.
Not.
I’m making a space trike as soon as we get back to Beta!
Exie and Beta can take care of the mining.
I’m gonna have some fun.
Then I take out some nutripacks and start grinding since I’ve got nothing better to do.
98 shiny new nutripacks later, and I’m dreaming of my new space trike, hoggin’ it all over Beta Asteroid.
Microgravity jumps.
Can’t forget thrusters, though or I might zip off into space and have to be rescued by Exie.
That doesn’t sound too embarrassing.
But I’m too far asleep to think about any of this.
Happy mumbling as I dream of space trike is the only sound and one man, one AI and 2 ships head off to the belt.
Just another couple indies out to make a buck.
Nothing to see here.