Swarm Ascendant

After winning two landslide elections in a row on a platform of Unity and Commonality, the Communist Peoples Party of Scania decided to forgo future elections in an effort to further bolster cohesion. In what critics decried as a backslide into tyranny, Scania sought refuge in the stability of a single party system.

--"European Politics in the 21st Century", page 401

***

The next day I awoke with half a plan. I'd give Mother the things I had immediately available, then kick the can down the road for the rest. As to my own upgrades, I'd wait and see if Ghost Widow would talk to me first, before making any real decisions.

That non-decision made, I shuffled down to the kitchen to find Mother sipping coffee and Dad drinking a cup of tea. There was another family in the kitchen, but they were busy doing their own thing, keeping their kids on task. I nodded to them.

"Good morning, sweet pea." Dad greeted me.

"Good morning, Dad."

Mother just grunted, in her early morning, pre-coffee way.

I sat down, grabbed some oats and a glass of apple juice, then went on the offensive.

"So, I have some gifts for you both today. First of all, aug upgrades!"

New Purchase: Class One Basic Augmentation x2 - 100 points

Points reduced to... 5038

Two boxes appeared on the table, and I pushed one to each of my parents.

"You really shouldn't have, you know. My augments work just fine, they're only a couple of models old." He protested.

"I wanted to, though. These should be a pretty big step up from what you have now."

Mother, meanwhile, had opened the box and was looking intently at the two discs inside. "How do I install these? Will I need to visit a clinic?"

"No, you just place them to your neck and temple respectively. It'll feel a bit weird, but it is mostly pain free." I answered.

Mother did so, then her eyes lost focus and she had to grab the table to stay upright for moment, before righting herself.

"You were right, that did feel weird. Although, hm. Yeah, this is definitely better. Let me see..." She drifted off as she presumably began testing the capabilities of her new augmentations.

Dad didn't look much happier about the prospect after seeing Mother stumble like that, but seemed to steel himself and grabbed for the box in front of him, opened it up, grabbed the discs and held them to their respective locations.

After a brief stumble, he too tested his new augmentations, although his test was a lot more perfunctory.

"Thanks a lot again, sweet pea, but you really didn't need to."

"Nonsense. Next up, health checks. Do either of you have any specific outstanding or niggling health concerns?"

They both looked at me a bit strangely.

"No, just a bit of old age." Dad eventually chuckled.

Mother just narrowed her eyes at him, but said nothing.

Two Nano Suites, please.

New Purchase: Class I Nano-Regenerative Suite x2 - 40 points

Points reduced to... 4998

Another pair of boxes appeared on the table. This time I opened one and picked up the inhaler within.

"This thing is full of nano-bots that'll fix you up. It's normally used for major injuries, but it does also fix any small problems you might have."

I handed it off to Mother, who looked at me with a bit of impatience.

"Thank you." She said. "I just put this in my mouth?"

"And breathe in deep, yeah." I confirmed.

She did so, coughed a few times, then shuddered. Some members of the other family looked our way at that.

"That was even weirder." She said.

"But there's nothing wrong with either of us." Dad said a bit confused.

Mother looked at him a flatly. "Think of it as preventative care." She said.

"I guess..." He said a bit hesitantly, then accepted the inhaler as I handed it to him. He then inhaled it's content, too, and stayed very still, before letting out a shaky breath.

"Yeah, weird doesn't begin to describe it. But really, I hope this is the end of it." He said, looking at me.

"It is for now, yeah." I smiled at him.

"And the other items on my list?" Mother asked me.

"I'll get back to you on those." I deflected.

"Fine."

I then resumed my breakfast, as Mother went back to absentmindedly sipping coffee with that far away look of someone lost in their augs, and Dad began cleaning up after the two of them.

***

Later, as I was cleaning up the last of the breakfast, chatting idly with some of the people we lived with, I got a message.

"Hey Hornet, just wanted to let you know that I've set up a date between you and Ghost Widow tomorrow." My brain short-circuited for a moment. A date? Surely not. But. Argh, why did she have to use that word! I shook my head to get back to my senses and continued reading. "She seemed really eager, so I don't think you have anything to fret about. Anyway, here's the time and location. Have a pleasant day, Laura."

So that was happening. I felt conflicted about it, simultaneously really excited and really, really nervous. Well, that was tomorrows trouble. I had figured I would see if any of my friends from university were available for a bit of a hangout, so I sent messages to a couple of people, saying I was back in the city and asking if they were free to catch up sometime in the next week or so. I was expecting to have a lazy day today, maybe catch up on some reading or a show, but soon after a reply came in from one of my friends, Cammy, saying oh my gosh yes, we should totally hang out, like, right away I haven't seen you in aaages, how have you been, girl? Let's meet at the rock climbing gym in an hour, alright?, you gotta tell me what you've been up to.

Cammy was a bit of an experience at the best of times, but she never failed to put a smile on my face with her relentless energy. I lazed around for a bit longer, then put my gym clothes on, grabbed my climbing shoes and two drones, told my Dad I'd be going out and left to walk over to the gym, which was conveniently located in an adjacent building.

I arrived to find Cammy putting on her climbing shoes, and walked over to her. She spotted me coming, jumped up and ran over to give me a hug.

"Sylvi! It's been so long, how've you been? You won't believe what's been happening here, last week was..."

She went on like this for quite a while, during which time I put on my climbing shoes and put my regular ones in a cubby in a shoe rack.

"...so anyway, how've you been? I haven't heard from you since you left for that work contribution tour. I wasn't expecting you back for another week, what happened?"

I eyed the routes on the wall, looking for something easy to warm up on while trying to decide how to answer. Probably best to just get it over with.

"Weeeell... I might have become a Valkyrie, you see the-"

"What?!" She interrupted me. "You've got to be messing with me, there's no way you're a Valkyrie, is there? Really? A real Valkyrie? How did that happen?!"

"As I was saying, the farming compound was overrun with Antis, and while I was defending myself and my supervisor from a Model Three, I kinda just heard a voice and-"

"No way! No way you were chosen for a Valkyrie, that's so cool! Oh my gosh, no way! But, a Model Three assaulted you? Oh no, that sounds so scary, I could never, you're okay, right? You didn't get hurt, did you? Tell me you didn't get hurt!"

She grabbed my arms and inspected them, then looked me intently in the eyes waiting for an answer.

"I did get hurt, a little, but Valkyries have access to some amazing medicine so it's alright, I'm all-"

"Oh my gosh, I'm so glad to hear that, not that you got hurt, obviously, that must have been so terrible, but that you're okay again. Oh, if you were hurt I could never, I'd be so distraught, please tell me you won't get hurt, Sylvi, being a Valkyrie is all well and good, but if you get hurt I couldn't, I just couldn't."

"I'm being quite careful, but killing Antis is kind of my job now. Like, I was on a mission with a squad of military rangers, and-"

"A mission? With actual rangers? Like with guns and stuff?! Oh that sounds so cool, but also scary..."

In the end, we didn't get that much climbing done, but then there had been a lot of catching up to do. We ended the session after a few hours with a raspberry sorbet ice-treat to cool down and split up after a hug and a promise to keep in touch and possibly meet up again later in the week to get some actual climbing in.

I decided to take a run since I was already dressed for it, and I remembered how the jog through the forest with Red Knight had gone. I would need to be in shape if I was going to be running like that on the regular. I left my climbing shoes in the rack by the climbing gym, and headed for the elevator down to ground level. Then I thought for a second, and decided to take the stairs down instead.

Outside it was a pretty day, a few clouds on a blue sky. I stepped out of the megabuilding into the green parkway, and started jogging around the building, among other people out enjoying the sun and air. The temperature was just right for a run, not too hot like it sometimes got in the summer. After a short while, Eyon piped up.

[You know, there are any number of ways to avoid having to spend your time like this.]

There are? Like what?

[You could get cybernetic or bionic limb- or muscle-replacements, you could get a powered exoskeleton or you could get a genetic treatment to change you resting muscle density.]

That last one sounds interesting. How does that work?

[If you do not exercise regularly, your muscles decay. This deficiency can be corrected, so your muscles stay at an optimum level no matter your workload.]

Are there any downsides?

[You will have an increased metabolism, and caloric needs to match. You will be able to run more than five kilometres without dying. People might find you attractive.]

Oh shut it, you. That was mean.

I thought for a second.

That's it, though? I'll just have to eat a bit more? Put it on the top of the list, then.

[Done.]

I finished my jog, having to walk the last stretch due to a stitch in my side. As I got inside, I considered the stairs for a brief second, before heading to the elevator. Exercise was all well and good, but some thirty odd flights of stairs against gravity was still madness. I grabbed my climbing shoes on the way back, then headed home for a shower.

The rest of the day I spent as I'd originally planned, catching up on some light reading. There were so many series to read, it was kind of crazy. Some were inspired by real life Valkyries, too, and while I had previously avoided those, now I was seeing them in a new light.

So, I spent the afternoon reading about a young girl and her army of teddy bears, putting a mess of a city into order. It was quite thrilling, and I wondered if I could ever be as cool as that.