NOVEL WEB Chapter 12: Planning
I was able to return home by early evening after having my new Nova Tech cyberarm installed. When I stepped into the apartment, both Sarah and Caleb sat on the couch, watching TV.
“You guys all good?” I asked as I placed down several bags.
“Yes, we are fine. What did you bring back? The two walked over to sate their curiosity. Woah, is that a new arm there?” Caleb’s eyes sparkled as he stared at my new arm.
“Yeah, the old one wasn’t in the best of condition anymore,” I gave Caleb a wink.
“Woah, can I get an arm like that too, sis?” Caleb pleaded with puppy eyes.
In response, Sarah crossed her arms and made her displeasure apparent, “You know you can’t. Don’t make me tell Dad.”
“Aww…”
“Here, both of you, I got you guys some stuff. See if the clothes are the right size,” I push two bags toward them.
Since all they had were the dirty clothes they had been wearing, I bought some daily necessities, clothes, and some blankets.
The two went ahead and tore open the bags and inspected the items within.
“I guess this will do,” Sarah muttered while Caleb continued going through everything with excitement.
“Hey, I can’t say I’m well-versed in fashion, let alone for teenage girls.”
She glared at me and walked away towards the bathroom. Once they both cleaned themselves and changed into new clothes, we sat down and ate.
“So, do you both remember anything about how you got here?”
“We… don’t really know. Once they captured us, they kept us in that container the entire time until you came.”
“I see… how long were you guys in there for?”
“I don’t know. It’s not easy to keep track after the first few days, trapped in a box.”
“Thanks for telling me about it, even though you may not want to talk about it. I’ll try to figure a way to get you back to your tribe.”
“It’s clan, clan Wells, and we can take care of our—” Sarah paused for a second and looked at Caleb, who had pulled at her sleeve. “...If you get us back to NLA, we can make it back from there…In return, I’ll handle cleaning and laundry for you.” She looked around at the unit as if to emphasize how valuable her service would be.
I mean, it wasn’t that bad, presentable at least. The priority of a cleaning robot on my wish list may need to be bumped up a little…
“Sure thing. I’ll see what we can do. Anyway, let’s eat before the food gets cold.”
If they were in the shipping container the entire time, that meant they probably didn’t get here by plane. The more likely method was probably by cargo ships. That made sense, as that was the best way to smuggle something, considering they didn’t have any IDs.
Now, I had a direction to look into.
With Fitel not wanting to get involved, I had to go find a cargo ship to smuggle Sarah and Caleb, myself. I doubt Flo and her team are experts at that, and I’d rather not bother them for this.
The next morning, after having failed to find any cargo ship information regarding their routes online, I went to District 20, where the biggest commercial port in Elevate City was.
There were crowds of workers rushing about their day throughout the entire area. I managed to enter the port management building uncontested. From the signs on the wall, it was apparent that port customs were on the third floor, but I didn’t need to head all the way there.
I directly headed to an automated terminal that dealt with all the incoming ships that docked here and directly jacked into it, using the cable from my new cyberarm. The new arm had a slot to hold a portable terminal to perform the hacking that I had been doing with my old terminal.
To be honest, the three points in hacking weren’t enough to make me into a super hacker. If one point gave me beginner knowledge, three points only made me a little better than an amateur. Judging from my stealth upgrades, five points would make me about average in the relevant industry, enough to be a professional, and seven would be around the veteran level.
Luckily, the shipping routes submitted to the port authorities were stored in this outdated security terminal that even an amateur like me could handle. I got through after several minutes and downloaded everything into my terminal, then exited the port by blending with the crowd.
With my new data in hand, I headed to a fast-food chain and got to work, looking over the data while enjoying a refreshing milkshake.
Dozens of vessels arrived in Elevate City every day so the files I downloaded were quite a pain to go through, even with a search function, but I narrowed down the dozen of ships that would leave within the week.
I crossed out the options that had their cargo noted as classified or were obviously managing stuff from large corporations, which left me with four options.
Then I checked the shipping company for each option and investigated how much their employee’s pay was. To nobody’s surprise, they were paid like crap unless they were higher up on the totem pole or had valuable skill sets as captains did.
I looked up the file for the Chief stewards for each of my options and examined the details.
Within two hours, I found everything I needed and headed to the closest hostel where one of the Chief Stewards was staying.
I waited outside and soon found a tall woman walking out with several others who matched the profile I had. I followed them, heading into a diner where they ordered their lunch. My patience paid off as she left the table and headed to the washroom.
“Chief Stewardess Ava, can I have a moment of your time?” I asked as she was about to pass by me.
Her body snapped toward me and had a hand on her holster while looking warily at me.
“Ambushing a lady on her way to the washroom isn’t very gentlemen-like. Why don’t you introduce yourself first?”
“You can call me…User, I don’t mean any harm, just wanted to propose to you a business opportunity.”
“Really?” She said as she raised an eyebrow at me.
“Your ship is heading to NLA next, right?”
“... Yeah, I ain’t doing anything that would harm our ship. The crews are like family to me.” She glared at me and tightened her grip on her pistol.
“Relax, I just want you to bring some people with you and ensure their safety. How does 5,000 credits sound? That’s almost your entire monthly wage.”
“Smuggling? They wanted or something?”
“No, just no IDs. They’re fine otherwise.”
“...5k per person, upfront payment.”
“I’m only paying you half upfront, the other half once I confirmed you got the job done.”
“You look here boy, I’m the one taking the risks here, upfront payment or no deal.” The Chief Stewardess made a show of slowly walking away.
“...6,000 per person, if you can accommodate half now, half after the job.”
I didn’t mind paying more, as long as she accepted my condition. People worked harder if they still had something on the line. Upfront payment would incur a higher risk of her screwing over Sarah and Caleb if anything went wrong.
“Fine, but they bring their own supplies. The trip’s going to take a week or two.”
“Deal,” I replied and held out my hand.
While we ate lunch, I informed the siblings of the ride back I secured for them. The ship was scheduled to leave in two days’ time.
With their situation settled, what was left was for me to begin serious planning for the business I wanted to start.
I had a ton of valuable cybernetics that hadn’t been liquidated yet. It wasn’t something easy to do in a short time without tipping people off on the amount I had.
Anyway, to start my business, I, of course, had to decide on which industry I would go into. The system would definitely be an integral part of this, as it served as the basis of the business. Therefore, I opened up my status page and went through all the potential upgrades that would fit what I was looking for.
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Status |
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Level: |
3 |
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EXP: |
210/300 |
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Musculoskeletal: |
51 |
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Neural Reflex: |
15 |
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Visuomotor Coordination: |
12 |
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Endurance: |
8 |
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Sensory Perception: |
37 |
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Upgrade Points: |
0 |
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Upgrades: |
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Enhancements: |
SAID: Zenitech Hoth Mk.3 Optics: Nova Tech Stars Mk.4 Cyberarm(Left): Nova Tech Mudra Mk.6 |
After installing my cyberarm, my musculoskeletal stat shot straight up, which definitely tempted me to install more implants to raise the scores, but I was wary of the augments that dealt with how my brain worked, especially with the cheaper models.
I proceeded to select upgrade and went over the vast collections of various things I could spend points on.
While some names like energy weapons popped at me, I doubt I could enjoy my wealth for long with all the attention that it would draw. It wouldn’t surprise me if a corp violently took over my business if I proceeded recklessly like that. I also didn’t want any tech that was in markets that made me compete against big corporations for the same reason.
The more mundane everyday products weren’t something I wanted to go into either, as the system’s technological aid wouldn’t be as helpful and those industries required more brand recognition than quality of products, anyway.
I remembered a line I had heard before: “Third-class businesses sold products, second-class businesses sold brands, and first-class businesses sold markets.” I would have to start from the bottom with a great product first.
I would still need to level up a lot more in order to attain enough upgrade points for my selected field. Gaining experience points would only get harder and harder, so maybe I should select something that synergized with helping me gain the experience points as well, in other words, killing.
There was an option to level stealth technologies, but all the best stealth products I knew were, for good reason, cybernetics. It simply blended in better when it was literally hidden within you, but cybernetic engineering was a separate category in the system.
There currently wasn’t much stealth-oriented cybernetics out in the market though, as corporations kept that technology to themselves, but a solid target market for it was there too. Mercenaries like Flo had sufficient disposable income and were willing to spend big, since they could always die on their next job.
That meant I should focus on cybernetics first. I probably needed both points in cybernetic tech and stealth tech to create any half-decent implants, but I happen to be sitting on a pile of cybernetics right now.
Cybernetics was definitely something cool that only this world had, and it was honestly exciting too. It’s decided, I will focus on cybernetics first and then go into stealth technologies to create my own implants.
In the afternoon, I finished up the last of my errands, dealing with my two new cars. They may have seen better days, but they were still new in my books.
I tried to rent the parking spot to keep the SUV, but apparently, car registration was actually something required, so I headed to a second-hand dealership instead.
The place I went to had a wide selection of vehicles displayed up front and they all looked to be in much better condition than my two rust buckets. Though for now, I was satisfied to have something practical, I’d rather not waste unnecessary credits in my current situation.
“Hey there, I wanted to sell the sedan over there and fix the registration information on the SUV,” I spoke to the man in a suit who immediately came to greet me the moment I walked in.
“Welcome to Don’s Auto. We can definitely do that for you. Why don’t we get a closer look at the vehicle you would like to sell!”
To no one’s surprise, the sedan wasn’t worth a lot but could cover the cost of having the SUVs registered to me. It didn’t sound very legal, but I guessed no one cared, especially not for an old car.
I was on the road once I sorted the insurance out and enjoyed my first actual drive without the auto drive this time. Just as I got out of the dealer’s parking lot, I received a call.
“Hey, Mr. Rollo, this is Caleb. Can you buy some ice cream when you come back?” A childish voice rang out.
“Sure thing, kid.”
“Thank you!”
“I’ll be back in half an hour.” I hung up, only to realize I forgot to ask what flavor they liked.
Just as I was about to call back, another call came in first and I quickly picked it up as I started accelerating onto the freeway.
“What flavor did you—”
Before I finished, a different voice than the one I expected interrupted, “Rollo, are you free right now? We could really use your help.”
It took a second before I realized it was Flo on the line. Well, unfortunately for Caleb, it seemed like ice cream was going to be delayed.