The second and third were equally as ineffective as the first. Despite there being three locks, the door didn't end up being any more secure than a standard door inside the station. I wondered why the owner had bothered.
After the three locking mechanisms were done, I levered the door open. I heard the clunk of metal bits falling out of place as the destroyed locking mechanisms rained parts onto the floor.
Behind the door wasn't what I was expecting. I'd been expecting somebody's man cave, or their luxurious bedroom. Why else would you put three locks on your quarters in a remote base? Instead what I saw were the Union equivalent of cardboard boxes. Grey packing cubes stacked to the ceiling, filling almost the entire room.
"Whoa. What's this then?" I asked. I reattached Excalibur to my right hip.
I entered the room, focusing on the first box in front of me. The Interface popped up a label.
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Anti-personnel defense turret parts
Spares for interior anti-personnel turrets
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The next and the next were similar.
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Nutrient paste dispenser parts
Spares for nutrient paste dispenser
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"It's all parts."
"It seems so. Allow me to inventory," Brick said.
Without waiting for my permission—he knew better—a swarm of black robotic spiders flowed into the room. They disappeared into the stacks of boxes, climbing over, under, and behind them. A moment later, the inventory was complete.
"It is a fairly comprehensive collection of spare parts for nearly every system in this base. Obviously, the individual responsible for this base intended it to be able to operate independently of Union support for quite some time. If it weren't for the fact that no Union citizen was present to make repairs, the plan would've been a good one."
"Wow, that's great. I guess now that the base is running again, we could use some of these parts to beef up the Redemption."
"Yes, you certainly could. Some of the spares for the orbital and ground-based defense turrets would make suitable upgrades to the Redemption, assuming we also upgraded its power generation at the same time."
"Awesome," I said, my mind already racing. Despite the fact that Marty was our pilot, I was beginning to think of Redemption as my ship. I was the captain, after all. Wasn't I?
"There is something in here that is noteworthy, in addition. There is a complete set of parts for a standard gate."
"Whoa, what? A gate?" I asked, caught unprepared.
"Yes," Brick replied simply.
I thought about that. Gates were expensive. They required a lot of high tier exotics and radioactives. The very things that we were shortest on. If there was an entire set of gate parts here, that was a big win.
"I've got a great idea, Brick.”
Chapter Forty-Two: Time to Spend it All
SOMETIME LATER, I WAS in the hangar standing near the Redemption with a big, dumb grin on my face. A virtual river of black spiderbots flowed in and out of the ship, entering with parts and returning without. It hadn't been that long since the last part had disappeared inside.
Marty entered the hangar as I was standing there and quickly saw what was happening. "Hey, what's going on here? You started the modifications without me?"
"Yes, I did. Come and see," I said.
Marty and I walked up the ramp, the bots skittering out of our way as they flowed out of the Redemption. Marty cursed and laughed as he saw it.
"Holy shit, you installed a gate in the Redemption? That's awesome man."
At the back of our tiny excuse for a cargo hold, mounted on the wall, was the gate that less than an hour before had been hidden in that storage room packed in Union cubes. Now it was there, waiting for us. Standing on the ramp we could see it clearly. The cabin of the Redemption just wasn't that big.
"Yeah. Turns out there was a hidden room full of spare parts. That, and a complete gate sitting in boxes ready to go. I thought, where else would we put it but in this ship?"
"Great, but does it work? Do we have the power?"
"You're the pilot; try it out," I said and waved him forward.
"Marty, I have given you unique keys for the gate here on Mercury and the gate on Pax and Hephaseta 2. They are specific to this ship's gate. If the ship is ever lost I will revoke the codes to maintain security," Brick said.
Marty nodded absently, his hands already manipulating the gate control panel in front of him.
"Damn, here it is."
He punched an invisible button and with a flicker and snap the gate opened, showing the gate room on Hephaseta 2. I recognized the dirty floors and scuffed walls immediately.
"Remember that the Redemption only has the power needed to initiate a gate connection, and not enough to sustain it. Your destination must supply the power to maintain the connection after initiation."
I nodded, already understanding that. One of the reasons I originally hadn't been able to open the gate back to Earth after I first arrived on Pax was that even if I had the energy from my limited power to initiate the connection, the receiving end wouldn't be able to sustain it. That energy had to come from the fusion reactor on Pax.
With a flick of his hand, Marty closed the gate.
"That is gonna be really handy, I'm sure. At the very least, we can use it as an escape hatch, if it ever comes to that," I said.
"Hey, don't say that. It's bad luck," Marty protested.
"Jake, I've completed salvage of the power harvesting unit. Here is the list of materials salvaged and our current budget."
Two Interface windows popped up.
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Resources in Station Storage
Nanite Clusters: 59898
Metals (Tier 1): 611.0kg
Metals (Tier 2): 321.0kg
Metals (Tier 3): 12.5kg
Organics (Tier 1): 62.1kg
Organics (Tier 2): 200.3kg
Organics (Tier 3): 912g
Exotics (Tier 1): 22.4kg
Exotics (Tier 2): 2.6kg (+2.0kg)
Exotics (Tier 3): 144g (+117g)
Radioactives (Tier 1): 26.1kg
Radioactives (Tier 2): 2.2kg
Radioactives (Tier 3): 23g (+15g)
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"I'd say that was worth it, don't you?" I asked Marty.
Marty had the same window
