Six years. The "anniversary" of it was a few weeks ago. Anna thought about this particular fact as she lay in the darkness of her room, Nathan right beside her and still sleeping soundly. She was up early. Most people also forgot that her birthday was a week ago. Fifty. She was fifty now. The tentative back pain had grown into much more persistent displeasure. Brief, existing only at times of straining, but present. This was why she did not want to get out of bed. No doubt her body would draw a groan out of her as she straightened up. Her son might wake up from that, though at the moment he was only passively fondling one of her breasts. They began to sag... bionics were a tempting option.
James hadn't visited in two years. A long time. A productive time. He was still up there, she could tell, but the man had engaged in a driven focus in leading them. And somewhere in her mind, she put things together. A smile crept on her lips. They were in that final stretch. He said there might be two more years, but something made her feel that they were ready. And they were. The Outsider considered the screen with any remaining apprehension he had.
Time to get up. The woman locked her teeth together to not make a sound as her back complained of having to do any work. Spoiled thing. Though it had worked enough. She was getting old. A fact. But a long time ago she thought of growing old in their previous world. She also thought about never seeing dick again for the remainder of her life. That did not come true.
The beauty of having a colony where sex was a casual subject meant that she did not have to get dressed yet. The woman would put on some slippers to walk out of the room and down the hall, mature form fully naked and just barely showing the evidence of the sex she had with her son. Down the hall was the bathroom, where she would slip inside to sit on a toilet, getting that nightly buildup of pee out of her before a shower. This philosophy also helped with her body positivity. Before this, Anna would have thought that her body was gone and expired, that men wanted young women and she was a hopeless prospect. That was untrue as plenty of people got hard or wet over her wide hips and full tits. She eagerly rubbed her body in a silent appreciation of it, slightly engaging in masturbation during this cleanup.
If there was something she did not like it was the extensive amount of clothes they had to wear. James used every layer to maximize their protection. The good news was that the new exoskeleton frames that everyone now had would also help with handling that weight, applied on top of the military uniform, it was like a smart and minimal power armor to make everything a tad easier. One by one, the clothes went on her as she dressed in the dark, but the dark was no longer a problem. Genetic upgrades now gave all of them a sight that could work in complete darkness. It was black and white, but it meant a lot.
Coffee was a good idea. The woman would walk down the hall, contemplative of their base. Pam said that they had nothing else to build. The greenhouse was complete, and they had already harvested twice out of every crop. It took forever to plant, and it equally took forever to harvest, but the kitchen bots could help with that. They were growing a bit of everything. Corn, potatoes, strawberries, pineapples, peppers, tomatoes, coffee, tea, cotton, rice, coca, marijuana, tobacco, healing plants, mint, sugar, soybeans, hops, haygrass, and this incredibly tough mushroom called devilstrand that made for incredibly strong fiber, though add some plasteel and take it to the matterweaver and you could make hyperweave. Their fermentation room constantly had something cooking, the mash for it ready months in advance and needing just a swift change. Whiskey, aged beyond the normal requirement, was one of their exports, as well as cocaine from those plants, rolls of mary, and properly rolled cigars, and for all the guests coming in they had plenty of great food and desserts, coffee, and tea done with more than the usual. The place was at its peak.
Breakfast sounded good with the addition of coffee. She'd slip into the freezer to get one of the already-made meals, just needing to set it down to warm up, a mug of mint coffee on the side. Bacon and eggs were a staple, made from their locally-produced materials, as they raised both pigs and chickens... and maybe some pineapple with cream for dessert. Once she got into it, the woman could only sigh. It was good. It was really good. Yes, she had good meals for years now, but remembering the times when they did not have them helped her appreciate it better. Maybe that was why she was around. To remind some that this is the good and not the average to get used to and demand more. Yes, it could get better. But no reason to get conceited.
Six years. The colony was done. The outer limit of their construction was delimited by a dark-green wall stretching from the east to the west, turning to border the edges of the kill box, like a great Y to tell their enemies to fuck off. Those walls were pretty much permanent. Once Pam put those down, she realized that you could just... not deconstruct them. The walls were less built and cast into that shape on the spot. If it wasn't so heavy, one might think it was great for tools. A very thin wall of rock was set against it from the outside to not give such an obvious image of where they were, but nature did not create walls that straight.
They had hybrids now... well, just two kinds. The wolfhorses were a clever and capable mount, one to let them quickly go out of the colony, or move around it. She did not summon one because they were sleeping peacefully in the barn... and the colossal pack animals, a mix between those incredibly powerful white gigantic creatures and something from a more traditional pack animal. Those things could carry a TON EACH. But they bred incredibly slowly, though when they might fully breed, their leather put everything else to shame. For now, they had been useful whenever they hunted some bigger beasts, able to haul back corpses weighing tons with no issue. And their milk was just ludicrously rich. The cheese from that milk was practically a luxury. Hard to make, but those things were the peak. If they hadn't restored a big rig, it would leave all their cars in the dust. They had nicer cars, but the Pelican shuttle was their main method of trading. It went far and fast and could hoist a thousand tons. It pretty much had to as Anna had returned with bigger and bigger loads from trading.
Yes, this felt like they were reaching a peak. Everyone with superpowers, a third of them with psy powers, if someone did not get loaded with bionics, they at least had one... her right arm was not natural, yet it was easy to forget it. Raids were becoming easy, even if they had armies dispatched to their location. Nathan could dispatch them before they could fire on him. Those powers stacked... he fired like a minigun with the range and damage of a sniper rifle. Still, she wondered what they might face to require that.
And then, as she contemplated their state, something appeared on the table in front of her, something she did not put there, but made the woman smile. A tomato. James's sign that he wanted to visit. The thought was easy to make, summoning the man over from his world. She could have just done this to see if it was alright, but the woman was supposed to have faith in him. And if he hurried, they might be able to have a private conversation.
The notice did not wake the rest.
*
Once again, down this road, into the killbox, keep to the center to not trigger mines or the spike traps. There were new things... like the asphalt stretching out from the colony's land borders, going towards the nearest road in a straight line, through mountains, hills, and forests. When there was nothing left to build, roads were a good idea as the bots and builders were sent out. James felt proud of the colonies that were at their peak. He did this, but they also did this.
The dark green vault walls made for an ominous entry, that alloy ensuring that any attempt at trying to break in through any way beyond the front door was pathetic. The colony was now encased in this alloy, even having the ceiling and a deeper layer of it. Nobody was getting in other than the front door, and even that door was equally unyielding The barricades were now cast from this alloy, the separator walls and the entire entry bunker might as well be cast in one solid piece. All that remained was for the people to be so indestructible, and with all sixteen of them bearing superpowers, six using psychic powers... it would be so. The shield generator in the courtyard made sure that the one opening to the sky was not a vulnerability.
He'd like to live here, even with all the raids, all the unpleasant events that would come by. This was better than the real world. Comfy rooms that each colonist had ownership of, a close-knit community, good food, good entertainment, and even luxuries. They ran out of stuff to buy, now having three safes full to the brim with silver. The knowledge of this tempted armies of raiders, but they just fell to plasma fire, shelling, and lightning strikes.
It was quiet inside, with just the bots roving around. A chilly spring morning, with the sun barely rising over the horizon. But one was awake. James proceeded to the great hall to hopefully finish the conversation before everyone else woke up. He'd find his mother still enjoying her breakfast, that tomato he offered now cut up and salted, enjoyed on the side. Her smile was genuine to see him again.
"Sorry I didn't visit for so long."
"You were busy. And so were we. I think I can guess what you want to say... but please say it."
He took his seat, lighting that smoke just before a mug of coffee was shoved towards him. Getting welcomed with this felt like a tradition. Just how he likes it. Anna tried it a couple of times, but her heart could not take such a boost.
"We're ready. I can press the button to get started on it."
Anna took a deep breath. It felt like they were working towards this for a lifetime. Just six years. But they were some of the best years of her life, despite actually dying TWICE during this segment. Pam brought her back with that resurrection power. And she had to bring back several others. Her left hand lost and grew back every finger she had, a needed sacrifice for this process. And now it felt worth it.
"What will happen?"
"From what I gathered, everyone we converted will start coming in. But in-between that you're gonna be hit with EVERYTHING. We're talking daily raids, probably more than one in a day. And bigger. The other factions do not want us to have a force that could demolish them. And this will cause an energy build-up that draws insects and mechs alike. We might even see ships landing on our bloody front lawn."
"Let them come. We will fight them. And once all of them arrive? We might need to convert some guest rooms to bigger rooms."
"Once that happens, I don't quite know. Only thing that was mentioned was a grand ceremony."
"You have many believers out there now. I will admit some want it merely for the easy sex. But others... they share your vision. Our vision."
"Never got to meet them. Guess I will later."
"Well... what else do you need? You should have started it already."
"Your approval. This is gonna be hard on you. So, I didn't want to just make the decision in a vacuum. Oh and, I need to sleep and didn't want to waste real-world time. And some food might be nice after that."
"I'll go fetch something for you. Pam will be giddy to have you. She can take the day off. And you had our approval for years. Go do it. Come home."
Home. The word made his heart sink. Home. Did he consider that world he was in a home? No... it was a house. It was a place where he lived, a place indifferent to his presence and at times wishing for his absence. James was tempted to shed some tears, but too long a conditioning made him unable to do it. So he offered a sad smile.
"I will."
He denied food at the moment. And still had it forced onto him... something to better help him sleep. Just a token amount of things he had not tried before, but Anna had started being VERY good at cooking, to the point where she could make the things this man hated into something he requested more of. She got a fine story out of it about the first time he ate with gusto something that he had previously hated, with the secret ingredient to make him ask for more being cream.
James could sleep even after a mug of coffee. His tolerance was so high that it could not hold him awake... it was just a taste thing. They managed to finish that interaction before most of the colony woke up. The man came into the room that Pam slept in with a decent, but not sufficient attempt at not waking her. The twenty-seven-year-old girl peered through the darkness to see his face, suddenly awake and cheering.
"You're back! I'm claiming you today."
"Yes, but only for a while. Need to sleep and get well-fed. We're ready."
He did not need to explain that to her. Pam drew a breath as her excitement jumped... as did she jump out of the bed to hug the undressing man. You could hear her from down the hall, several people complaining about her volume. But it was time to wake.
Pam had an absolutely explosive torrent of words for the man, though she made sense only towards the end. Most of it was just excitement getting out and the man smiled to enable that.
