Chapter 4
Entering Mountain Home's technology market is to submit yourself to sensory overload. There is an overabundance of sounds, lights, sights, and even smells, as there are quite a few food stalls hidden away in nooks and crannies about the place. Like most things in Mountain Home, the Blessed Accord carved the market out of the mountain.
There are four major sections of the market. First, there is a farmer's market and food area with everything from fresh fruit and vegetables grown down in the valley to mushrooms grown close to the market itself. Second, there is a 'home goods' area with furniture, linens, and non-technical home appliances. Knowledge and entertainment fill the third area. It contains books, holos, games - both virtual and physical, anything that gets your attention and keeps it. And then there is the part of the market that she is currently entering. In this area, ads constantly assault the senses. The stall beams ads directly into all ocular implants, for those who have them. It is possible to block them, but most do not.
Cali never opted to modify her body in that way. Not for any purity reasons; she just likes it the way it is. Also, it seemed a lot more intrusive to replace an entire eye than a tooth to her. So instead of beaming into an ocular implant, the ads play on her auditory tooth implant. She raises her left arm and bares her wrist; the tattoo there moves and arranges itself into a control panel. She adjusts the sliders down on outside influence. Cali didn't want to block it entirely. There are sometimes good deals, and she wants to hear about those. She visibly relaxes as the volume and quantity of ads lowers.
Most stalls have holographic projectors that incorporate their name and some animation that integrates what they sold. Many of them are in the animated cartoon art style, and she clicks her tongue. In her opinion, it is a little overdone, but she also knows that she has a bias because she tends to the more classical art styles. She especially likes oil paintings and had one commissioned of her home ship that is on the wall in her quarters.
Cali wanders down the hallway, letting the ads quietly wash over her. She knows what she is looking for, and several shops sold those components, but she is looking for deals. She doesn't want to spend all the ship's money on something they don't need. Though in her eyes, there always needed to be more protection. She takes security with the utmost importance.
Cali sees an ad that appeals to her, and she turns into a shop. Before she looks around, though, she pulls out her Personal Information Device, which routed all communication. She doesn't need to take it out as her arm tattoo connects to it, but it has a better resolution, especially for text, and she wants to check the reviews of this shop.
Truth, being highly prized within most of the Blessed Accord, made reviews more believable than in other places. Any false reviews were usually quickly found out. They gave the person who wrote them a pretty good lecture about the negative energy of lying that harms others and benefits no one but themselves. So she reads through some reviews and finds the shop is favorable. The prices are fair, and the merchandise is in decent order. She saw that when there were sales, a person should compare to nearby stores as the price could be cheaper elsewhere.
Cali had already planned to check nearby shop prices for what this one was selling and when she does, she smiles, as this is a reasonable price all around. Cali puts her PID away and looks up, having started to scan the store, when a gasp catchers her attention. She turns to take in the cute young woman behind the counter. Cali surreptitiously runs her hand through her auburn hair as she takes in the person. Getting a good look at her, it is apparent that this is the owner of the shop as she matches the person in the ads. Seeing the flush that fills the woman's face, Cali surmises she may soon get an even better deal than she had thought.
The person behind the counter shakes her head and leans forward on the counter and addresses Cali pleasantly, "Hello, miss. I'm Penny," she gestures all around with an arm, "of Penny's Prizes. How can I help you?"
"Well," Cali knows she is beautiful and sometimes likes to use it to her advantage. Currently, she is using how her flowing golden dress clung to her curves in places as she walks in a saunter over the counter. Knowing it's a bit over the top, she still added a little hair flip as she got to the counter. "I'm not sure you'll have what I'm looking for, as it is really quite rare after all..." Putting together the fact that Penny appears to be fairly successful and was also quite young, Cali surmised Penny has a high interest in new technology and new ways to use it. She plays on this by acting like she hadn't seen the item already.
"Ooh, what is it?" Penny perks up, almost woken from her trance of Cali's beauty.
That trance solidifies again, though, as Cali slowly runs the fingers of her right hand along the soft skin of her left arm, a slow, sensual movement that draws Penny's attention.
"Well, I need the principal components to build a quantum fMRI device. I've done it before," Cali says, pausing to let those words sit there as she looks at Penny through her long lashes, really playing it up before saying, "but I've never tried powering it with a micro thorium reactor before.." Cali trails off as she sees Penny's eyes dart to the bin she had spotted the components in earlier.
"Yeah, we should have those," Penny says and shakes herself free - at least temporarily from the hold that Cali has on her and heads to the bin. "But why don't you just use ship power? Sorry, I assumed you were on a ship, are you?"
Cali nods, "Yeah, I'm going to be heading out soon on the Tyche. Have you heard of it?" She knows that Penny most likely has heard of it, since it was the newest ship to come out of the docks and had all the latest Accord technology in it.
Penny nods as they walk to the bin, finding herself looking sideways at Cali as Cali continued, "I can tie it into ship's power, sure, but the device I'm building needs to work even if the ship loses power, especially if the ship loses power on purpose, if you know what I mean..." Cali let her voice trail off and turns to see how Penny reacts. The bin was right next to them. She wants one last chance to fully enrapture Penny.
"You don't mean bandits, do you?" Penny asks, her brows furrow in uncertainty and she reaches out to hold the bin, like she needs to ground herself to the nearest object. "Surely those are just tales.."
"Well, most of the stories are indeed stories, especially in established shipping lanes. But I prefer to plan to meet any threat that comes my way." She turns to Penny, who is facing her and has the bin of components to their side. Cali closes the distance to Penny, placing her hand next to Penny's, which is still grasping the bin, her shockingly green eyes seeming to peer into Penny's pale browns. "And I intend to survive." Cali holds eye contact for a moment longer, letting Penny feel the heat, finally letting her go, and turns to the bin. "So, let's see what you've got, then!"
In the end, Cali got everything but the micro thorium reactors at Penny's Prizes with two pretty significant discounts. One was the "ship's discount," which Cali is pretty sure was Penny trying to keep herself in Cali's mind. The second was a deal Cali worked out where she promises to spread the news of how Penny had helped her get everything she needed for this new device. Last, when, not if, but when it becomes something everyone had, they'll know that Penny supplied the components.
"Thank you so much for all this," Cali says at the counter, thoroughly enjoying how red Penny is. "You'll have this delivered to the ship for me?"
"Of course, of course, and here. " Penny holds out her hand and gives Cali a little square. It has a tiny holo emitter in it and an animated cartoon of Penny herself running into a wall and falling with various devices that she sold swirling around her head. Cali kisses the holo emitter and spins it slowly as she reaches down to pocket it, letting her see the lipstick marks and smiling one last smile and a little wink, which melts Penny even more. "You have been so helpful. Thank you so much!"
Her left arm buzzes to alert her of an incoming message from the ship. She holds up a finger, taps her arm, and turns. "Go ahead; this is Rove."
"I know who this is; I called you, silly. This is Adair; the captain wants to know your ETA."
Cali can't help but smile at Adair's playful teasing. No matter how down Cali got while at the academy, they would always cheer her up. Of course, she isn't down now, but their teasing still brings a smile to her face.
"Tell the captain I've got a majority of my purchases made; I just need to get a few micro thorium reactors." She turns and glances back at Penny, who is unconsciously licking her lips while looking at Cali's finger and now tries to make it look like she is working on shipping the items to the ship. "And I think I know someone who can tell me just the place to go."
#
Cali walks up to the shop that Penny had sent her to. The sign above the door proclaims in loud colors, "BYU Reactors" In small print under that, "A family-owned and operated business. We've got parents, children, siblings, and yes, even uncles. " She looks at the slogan quizzically, shrugs, and enters the shop.
A grizzled older gentleman lounges behind the counter. He is lying in a chair that hovers behind the counter while he watches what, upon closer look, Cali thinks she recognizes was water polo.
"Whatcha need?" He says, not even looking away from the TV.
Since he hasn't turned away, Cali pokes some fun at him. She smiles slyly, lowers her voice and gravels out, "All your reactors, and all your ..." Before she could finish, he is up, spun around, and has two boomsticks readied at her, one in each hand.
"Woah, Woah, Woah, I jest." She holds up her hands, palms up, showing that she is unarmed.
"Now listen, I have been having trouble with hooligans ever since The Trine opened up Mountain Home to tourists." He plops the boomsticks down on the counter. Cali casts them a quick, appraising glance. She can tell that these were a newer model with a longer battery life which allowed more 'shots'. The boomstick is a very effective non-lethal takedown weapon that emits a highly focused cone of sound that makes the other person sit down. It is weird to see and even more bizarre to experience. One minute, the person is standing there, and the next, they're sitting down. She doesn't fully understand how they work, but she knows it has something to do with the ear and balance.
"My apologies, um..." Cali asks as she lowers her hands and steps up to the counter, slightly resting on it.
"Robert, at your service." He holds out his hand, and as she takes it, he continues, "I sell all kinds of power systems. If you are having capacity issues, you buy from me and Bam! Bob's Your Uncle, and you're back in business."
"Hah! You've even got uncles. I get the BYU now." Cali says enthusiastically. "Penny sent me, said if anyone knew how to make the smallest thorium reactor known to man, it would be you."
He waves a hand dismissively. "That girl is too kind. I've known her since she was knee high to a toadstool. The bright kid sure knows her tech. Well, you came to the right place. Whatcha need?" He repeats his earlier query.
"I need an MTR. As small as you got."
"Few people need Micro Thorium Reactors. Mind if I ask the purpose?" he asks, leaning on his stocky arms, his thick unibrow scrunching as his eyes narrow slightly.
She thinks for a moment, taking in his reaction and realizing it is probably a security mindset and that meshed with hers, "Well, I don't really mind, I guess. I'm using it to power a qfMRI device." She leaves it at that, standing there, arms crossed, waiting to see if he puts it together.
"Wait a minute; you want to scan people's brains as they enter your ship?!" He says, taking a step back and straightening up, eyes wide. When he does so, Cali realizes he is larger than he looked.
"Yeah, but only for self-defense. If you're not intruding, it's not scanning." She leans on the counter and looks up. "Penny is right; you really are a bright old codger." Cali smiles her brilliant smile and defuses the beginnings of his huffing.
He grins at the compliment and steps around the counter, walking down the aisle towards the back of the shop. "You are expected to say complimentary things when Bob is literally your uncle," he said with a grin and stepped around the counter. Then he walked down the aisle towards the back of the shop.
#
Cali exits the shop, the ship now several credits poorer, but with precisely what she needed to build her device with Rory's expertise.
She takes the circuitous route around the market to the transport hub. It didn't have any shops and was a pleasant respite from the noise. Cali enjoys the quiet and walks along, pleased with her purchase and filled with thoughts of protecting her crew. She starts humming to herself and after a moment stops, checking to see if she heard something. Indeed, it was faint, but she makes out the sound of booted footsteps. And when she stops, they also do. That seals it. Someone is following Cali. When she walks again, she walks a little faster, and the footfalls do as well, echoing off of the rock walls. That is when she makes out another set of clomps joining the first.
They would have aborted their mission if they could see the wicked smirk on Cali's face. She doesn't particularly enjoy hurting people. But she got an absolute thrill at being the instant karma of showing those who underestimated her just how wrong they were.
She stops and fiddles with her arm, making little sounds of being annoyed as the footfalls rapidly got louder, signaling to her they weren't far away. Finally, when they are within throwing distance, she spins and has a knife in each hand. "I wouldn't try anything if I were you. Taking out a kneecap is non-lethal." Making a quick appraisal of the duo's worn clothes and dirty skin, their hair a mess, she figures they are not from Accord, but they would most likely know of the Accord's rules on non-lethality.
As she speaks, she notices a flicker of light coming from another entrance into the chamber they are in as a third threat enters. Taking in this new threat, she rises on her tiptoes, raising her arms in a gesture of power, making her body a large Y with hands raised to the heavens. "I open myself to Rhadamanthus and Adamanthea. May they help me have the wisdom and judgment to know when to give and when to spare the knife. May they allow me to be the protector of the weak. That I shall fight, so they don't have to." She speaks the words in a normal voice that, with the acoustics of the chamber they are in, seemed to reverberate and vibrate with an energy all their own.
She could feel that energy, the energy of her deities, flowing into her, and she settles lightly onto her feet, balanced and ready.
She has to give them a warning. "I must warn you. Should you insist on attacking me, it will hurt you."
The two that initially converged on her laugh at her warning and approach, brandishing larger knives of their own.
When they got within striking distance, she shouts so that any nearby could hear. "Last chance, miscreants." She always liked that word, "Surrender, put down your weapons, or harm will come to you."
They continue to approach, she sizes them up as brute attackers and smirks, her green eyes cold and calculating as she calls out, "I warned you," before sliding into the fighting movement of Cat Plays with Mice and slips around the two men. They try to slash at her, but the space where they hit no longer contained her as she slid gracefully around them, and makes two quick slashes as she danced. Her razor-sharp knives severs their belts and the fastenings on the front of their pants, nearly castrating them as well, and then she is back where she started. Frustrated by their inability to hit her, they growl and try to rush toward her, but their pants trip them up, stopping them.
Before she could boast, though, Cali's connection to deity helps her to sense the foe coming up behind her. She drops into Mice Versus Elephant and stamps hard with her right boot. The not-quite stiletto pins the assailant to the floor. She moves from that into Spinning Starfish and cartwheels away. Removing the pressure from the wound she has made frees the foot to bleed as much as it wants. During the cartwheel, her foot makes jarring contact with his chin and she came to rest ten feet away.
Cali takes a moment to survey the damage. She had tangled two together on the ground. The third writhes on the floor and holds his foot, bleeding through his hands. She turns and walks away, pulling out her PID to summon the Watch to clean up her mess.