Base Building
"What is it then, Hammerhead?" Adam asked the Auxiliary Man-at-Arms, who had a shovel and a hammer by his side.
In Wartopia RTS games, all units were fighters, but each had a different specialization. The cheapest ones were Auxiliary Men-at-Arms: Blazer gunmen, builders, and resource gatherers. They could be upgraded later on, but they were faster builders than more advanced units.
Hammerhead and Dusty were both of this elementary unit type.
"As you see, Commander, that rig's an old beast, but no use for a beast with no juice, aye? That's problem number one. Problem number two is that the rig's unregged," said Hammerhead.
"What's that?" Adam frowned.
"Let me explain." Kave stepped up. "I went with Hammerhead to check on the Refinery Rig, and it seemed that the terminal needs to identify some data before proceeding to work."
"Why didn't you do it, Sergeant?" Adam asked.
"This may sound strange, but I think your power is interfering with the machine, Commander," she replied.
"How so?"
"Look for yourself."
As the group of seven arrived at the Rig, right next to where they had moved camp, Adam looked at the Terminal and understood what was going on.
"I see," Adam said, seeing the terminal.
"It is in English," Kave said.
"Well, I'm glad it is, since I can't read the Urdic Vulgar anyway," Adam said and approached the machine's terminal, which was glowing green and displaying nothing but text.
> COMMAND CHAIN — SEVERED
> ERROR — LINK TO COMMAND NODE: NULL
> FACILITY FUNCTIONS — INACTIVE
> DIRECTIVE — PRESENT VALID SIGNET TO NEAREST BINARY SANCTUM
> WARNING — ANY UNAUTHORISED ACCESS CONSTITUTES HERETECHIA
> PRAISED BE SOL IMPERIUS
> GLORY TO THE SOLARIUM
Adam was somewhat taken aback by the serious messages displayed and understood why even Kave didn't attempt to bypass protocol on the rig. He might be scrutinized by the Wartopian summons, but since Adam was their commander, he had some sort of authority over them as his familiars and could commit heresy without fear.
Adam placed his hand on the terminal keyboard and started typing various commands, not from lore knowledge, but rather from his personal skills as a tech guy. After all, he graduated from BIT—Brighthaven's Institute of Technology—and may have had a promising career, except for a certain apocalypse.
"Alright, bypassing restrictions."
After running his keys across the keyboard, he was finally able to access the inner workings of the system's software and disable the security protocol.
> COMMAND CHAIN — PENDING
> ERROR — NO COMMANDING PERSONNEL REGISTERED
> DIRECTIVE — APPLICATION TO COMMANDING POSITION: POSSIBLE
"Alright, registering Adam Clay as Commanding Personnel."
> DIRECTIVE — ENTER YOUR MILITARY CODE
"Hmmm... Citizen management mode then."
> DIRECTIVE — ENTER YOUR NAME AND CITIZENSHIP CODE
"Clay, Adam... as for code... let's try ADAMANT."
> ERROR — UNABLE TO ESTABLISH CONNECTION TO BINARY SANCTUMS
> ERROR — UNABLE TO LOCATE SECTOR CIVIC COMMAND
"Alright. This is going nowhere. Let's just go from the beginning. New Sector, new slate."
After a bit of practicing his mad computer skills, Adam was finally able to reach the point where he had to manually register the machine's operation from the start.
In the Solarium, such tech wizardry was only restricted to the clergy members of the Cult of Sol, the secret archivists of much technical and advanced knowledge. While this didn't restrict the state from having its own mechanics and technicians, all back-end development was solely practiced by the clergy to better safeguard the secrets of the Solarium.
Right now, Adam was surfing through those secrets like they were basic knowledge, and it looked to the Wartopians as if he were a senior Techno Monk fresh out of his Techno Monastery cloister. Even Captain Creed, who was watching from the back, couldn't help but sink into deep thoughts as the precious tech of the Solarium was being commandeered by a human from an era seen as ignorant and barbaric that had ruined their home planet.
As for Adam and Kave, there was no longer a need to explain what Kave's Level 9 Artifice skill was; it was just him doing what he did best.
And here's where things got interesting.
Artificial Intelligence in its self-aware and creative form is considered HereTech, short for Heretical Technology, whereas all the programming done in the Solarium is restricted only to Techno Monks. This doesn't restrict mechanical or hardware innovation by any means; however, when it comes to adding programs to machines, only a Techno Monk can do that, which is what Adam was doing right now.
"You are versed in the Sacred Code?" Elena asked with a hint of fear and worry in her voice.
"I studied it for years. Kave also knows some code, but... elementary at best," Adam replied.
The Sacred Code was something that was an open secret in the Solarium. It is words that only make sense to the Techno Monks, but in actuality, it is just a back-end programming language that is both archaic and advanced, alive but stagnant, mythical but mundane.
To the Wartopians, especially to Creed, Adam was now full of surprises, even more so than his ability to summon them. Touching the Sacred Code is one of the greatest taboos in the Solarium, after all.
> COMMAND CHAIN — RESET
> DIRECTIVE — ENTER PLANET NAME
"Alright. We're finally here."
Adam rubbed his hands with excitement and looked around at the solemn faces of the Men-at-Arms around him.
"Who wants to establish a new Solarium Planet in this world?" he asked.
At this point, it was no longer surprising to hear what he said.
"We follow your command, sir," Elena responded.
"Fine," Adam said and turned to the terminal once again, "Register Planet as... Earth."
> REPORT — PLANET REGISTERED
> DIRECTIVE — ENTER SECTOR NAME
"North America."
> REPORT — SECTOR REGISTERED
> DIRECTIVE — ENTER DISTRICT NAME
"Ahem..." Adam cleared his voice, grabbed his M16, and with a sense of patriotism, he wrote, "The United States of America."
KREEEEEE!
And with the sound of a bald eagle soaring with freedom into the skies of the United States, the Refinery Rig terminal hummed with machine noises processing that input data and returned...
> ERROR — FORM DENIED
"What? Why?"
Adam turned to the people around him, who shrugged at what the terminal said, most of them not understanding the language or the words, and Kave suggested trying other forms as a single entry this time.
"Alright... MURCIA!" Adam shouted as he typed the input.
KREEEEEE!
The bald eagle screeched harder along with Adam's patriotism, but still...
> ERROR — FORM DENIED
"USA! USA! USA!"
> ERROR — FORM DENIED
Adam leaned against the terminal, heartbroken but still functional, looking up at the sky.
-Sad Bald Eagle Noises!-
"So that's it, huh? No more America... no freedom... democracy..."
At this moment, where liberty and freedom were one step away, Kave seemed to have realized something:
"Remember in the Wartopia grand strategy game, Solarium Rises? Whenever you build a new world colony, you are restricted from giving it names that reflect real Earth history. So it's probably something hardwired in the Sacred Code."
Adam was greatly disturbed.
"We truly live in dark days. The hands of liberty are tied. Freedom doesn't come free anymore."
"Just try Massachusetts," Kave sighed.
"This machine has no auto-correct, so... how to spell it?" Adam asked with an embarrassed face.
"First, write Mass," Kave said.
"Alright."
"Achu."
"Bless you."
"Setts, with double Ts."
> REPORT — DISTRICT REGISTERED
"Liberty is back online... one state at a time," Adam announced.
"I can make Liber-tea if you like too," Biscuits said.
"Thanks, Biscuits," Adam said.
> DIRECTIVE — ENTER COMMAND NAME
"Brighthaven City," Adam said.
> REPORT — COMMAND REGISTERED
> REPORT — BRIGHTHAVEN ECONOMIC OUTPOST ECO-001 ESTABLISHED
> REPORT — CITIZEN COMMANDER CLAY, ADAM ASSIGNED TO ECO-001
> PRAISE BE SOL IMPERIUS
> GLORY TO THE SOLARIUM
With that, the first ever Solarium based on Earth was established, with full authoritative command given to Adam.
The screen immediately shifted to the management terminal of the Refinery Rig.
——————————
> STATUS — /INACTIVE/
> POWER — /NO POWER/
> SELECT MODE — ≪ Processing ≫ < Printing >
——————————
> DIRECTIVE — ESTABLISH COMMAND TERMINAL TO RECONFIGURE BASE SETTINGS
Adam stepped back from the machine and looked at the people around him.
"Alright. We made it, ladies and gentlemen. Our first Solarium based on this planet is officially online."
Rather than a hooray or a celebratory pose like the one Kave made, the five Men-at-Arms made solemn poses and hailed the machine, banging their chests.
"Praised be Sol Imperius!" the five shouted in one breath.
"Yes, yes... praise be..." Adam did the same move meekly and turned to Elena, "Sergeant, can we now start giving power to this machine? The old generator in this place is rather old, but if we fire it up..."
"That won't be necessary."
As Adam was moving on to the next stage of building the base, Captain Creed seemed to oppose the idea.
"Sorry, sir?" Adam asked.
"To burn fossil fuel is to breach the Solar Dogma. It is tolerated only in worlds where no air can be breathed. As for such a pure world, we cannot risk repeating the errors of the Dark Fossil Era," Captain Creed spoke.
Adam looked at the familiars he summoned, then at Captain Creed, sensing that their unique egos wouldn't follow him blindly in all cases like RTS units. Kave also seemed to have realized that earlier, as he had told Adam about the conversation he had with Sergeant Elena.
Adam didn't want to have a clash of ideologies with his summons, so he had to give them an inch so that they could take a mile later on. Now that he was considered the leader of the group, a position he would mostly avoid, he had to be both diplomatic and strategic about it.
"If you say so, Captain Creed."
Adam smiled and showed no hint of defiance to the Solar Dogma. Still, he asked:
"But without power, even if a Heretechal one, how do we generate power?"
To his surprise, Sergeant Elena stepped up.
"Commander, I believe that Captain Creed and I have reached an agreement regarding that," she said.
"Is that so?"
Seeing that his puppets were making deals behind the scenes, Adam was both fascinated and scared. This meant that their loyalty could shift one day, and he might face defiance.
"Yes, Commander. I have agreed with the Captain that he will provide power from his Power Armor until we build the first functional Solar Plant," Elena said.
As a long-time RPG player, Adam had the makings of a great actor within, knowing how to RP and improvise in such situations. He immediately became all smiles as he replied:
"This is... fascinating! Captain, I can't believe that after you saved my life, you would do such a thing," he said with a touched expression.
He composed his words well so that Creed's eyes wouldn't detect any malicious intent from him if he had any.
"You can thank Sergeant Elena for that. She was the one who convinced me that by helping you in this stage, you would all be able to thrive and provide assistance," he said.
"That is a given. As the one who brought you into this messy world, I should at least do that much," Adam said with confidence as he finally managed to get a hold of the situation.
He then turned to Sergeant Elena and spoke.
"Sergeant."
"Yes, Commander."
"Once Captain Creed fires up the Refinery Rig for us, prioritize the following: First, direct all your available subordinates to scrape the area clean and feed the Rig. Second, calibrate the Rig to produce the building materials necessary for a crafting workshop that can help us create the materials needed for the Solar Plant. Lastly, I will be attempting to summon the rest of your squad, so I'll be indisposed for a while. Use Kave to help you translate the Refinery Rig terminal."
"Understood, Commander," Sergeant Elena saluted Adam and turned to her squad members, giving them their first assignments ever.
Captain Creed walked past Adam and Kave, placing his hand on the Rig's mechanical part, as his suit started humming with energy from its power core.
GRRUM! GRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!
The monstrous machine suddenly started to operate as it was supplied with power enough to make it shake like a beast coming to life.
Adam and Kave exchanged a nod, and now their operation to build up began.
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