Mel was behind the gobb workforce, sitting with Cube and drawing in her notepad. She had the door open and was ignoring the gobbs that ran around a few feet from her. The girl seemed strangely calm, possibly because she was armed, with a Glock in a holster attached to one thigh. She sat comfortably, leaning back in the large wicker chair, with one leg crossed casually over the other, her foot bouncing as she sketched.

As I watched, Cube suddenly shouted, “HUNGRY!”

Mel jumped, but quickly reached down into a bucket at her side and produced a small cube of yarsp meat. She placed the little chunk of meat in her outstretched palm, and I watched the sentient block of metal extend its long tongue to slowly wrap around the yarsp meat and drag it back into its mouth.

The process repeated a few times while Axle and I watched. Eventually, after a few chunks of the meat, when Mel offered Cube another, the little box simply turned away from her. He began purring, facing the gobbs and their activity.

“Hey, I thought that thing ate radiation? How come he’s helping use up our yarsp?” I asked.

Axle took a breath, nodding. “They primarily consume radiation for nourishment, but Cubes opportunistically consume other material as well, namely meat mixed with inorganics, like metal or composites. An increase in this behavior usually coincides with a growth spurt, I would expect your Cube to become larger soon. I’ll make a new platform for him.”

I hesitated, fully expecting BuyMort to bombard me with another serious volley of ads to compete with Axle's offer. When none came, I nodded, looking back to the working gobbs. “Okay, sounds good. Means more power for us, right?”

“Oh yes, significantly more. Fortunately, most Cubes tend to create a symbiotic relationship with their power output, and do not overwhelm it unintentionally. Once he upgrades to his secondary stage, his power output will far exceed our needs and uses,” Axle explained.

I thought about it for a second, nodding, before I asked, “can we store and sell the excess?”

Axle puffed out his canine cheeks in an amusing expression. “That is not impossible, but the margins on selling empty batteries versus full batteries are usually quite negligible. We would already have to be producing and selling batteries on a significant scale for that to be worthy of the infrastructure costs.”

“So perhaps someday, but not right now,” I said, getting out of the cart to stretch.

“Yes, exactly. I’ll keep you posted on any uses for his waste power, but for the moment, I will dig him a ground he can use to safely discharge any excess,” Axle said as he got out of the cart. “In preparation for his upcoming evolution. You should be prepared, I have heard it can be quite messy.”

I balked. “Messy? Messy how?”

Axle dipped his snout. “Ah, unfortunately that part is unclear, I have never seen it myself.”

“Well, okay then. Thank you, Axle, most of that sounds good. How safe is Cube to be around for the staff and residents?” I asked, watching Mel and Cube interact. She was able to lightly scratch his surface too, producing the same growling purr from him that Axle could produce. I became jealous and looked away, instead staring into the distance at the space elevator.

“For the time being, very safe. I would avoid allowing his second phase to be near children or small animals unattended, but Cubes are also much more open to external influences in their second phase of life. It is not impossible to train them,” Axle said, drifting a little toward the end when he saw me staring into the distance.

“Ah. Yes, the Dearth elevator is quite impressive.” He joined me, clasping his paws behind his back.

“How much does something like that cost to install this quickly? It’s only been five days.” I said.

Axle blinked. “Trillions. The installation tells us this is the center of Dearth’s entire operation on Nu-Earth. It is a massive undertaking, and the elevator itself was likely brought in from another location, through the Jupiter gate once it opened. I cannot imagine the BuyMort transport costs on such an item over any sort of distance.”

The Knowle squinted and shielded his eyes from the noon-day sun, staring over the nearby mountains at the glittering cable. “The Dearth Conglomerate moved into Prescott after the Sleem and yarsps cleared it of life on day two and began their assembly of the base. After that, it was merely a matter of expert piloting and planetary alignment. With it in place, they stand to make septillions from this planet. I was part of this without being allowed to know anything about it, that was a huge factor in our decision to leave.”

The Knowle watched me staring at the elevator in the distance. “Why are you asking me this?”

I sighed and shook my head. “No reason in particular, Axle. Just working on a plan to deal with Dearth.”

He shook his head, shaggy fur drifting side to side. “If it involves that elevator, I must warn you it will be guarded well. Better than a handful of low-paid mercenaries with conventional equipment. Much better.”

That got my interest. “Guarded by what?”

Axle blinked and shook his head. “I cannot say for certain, I was a very minor cog in Dearth’s Arizona machine, and that was for a very short period of time. I know they have planetary goals, but Jada and I were not even aware of the elevator, and we worked in their Prescott division. We heard rumors of specialist Dearth bodyguards, brought in to work with the Arizona board for something important. The elevator must be it.”

“I have a bodyguard too,” I offered.

Axle grunted a laugh. “Yes, indeed. Phyllis is a mighty combatant, but you can expect equivalent threats from Dearth.”

“Yeah, they almost got me today, on the way back. If not for Phyllis . . .” I let it drift, Axle understood what I meant. I simply stared at the space elevator.

It was the key, somehow.

“Well, let us return to Silken Sands,” Axle eventually said. “And the additions we are making today.”

I nodded, taking a deep breath, and turning away. The Knowle pointed up at the second floor of my home, where gobbs scrambled around working to install a wide, glass door.

“Your greenhouse and first floor additions should be completed according to specifications soon. If you would like, I can aid you in ordering some plants for the room, once it is complete,” Axle said.

I smiled, and finally removed my helmet. “Thank you, Axle. I would appreciate that. Is there anything else?”

The large Knowle nodded. “Two things. First, the underground residential area is cleaned out, and all the bodies are stacked at the entrance to Quadrum’s area. We will need to work with the beholder in order to dispose of any bodies, but I intend to get the Sleem feeder pipe installed at the same time. I would appreciate a guard with experience killing Sleem.”

“I want to see what Quadrum has done in experimentation, anyway. Let me know when it’s time, I’ll join you,” I said.

Axle turned his head to smile at me. “That would be appreciated. Quadrum is unlikely to allow many others in their space, so that would be ideal.”

“Yeah, I’m not even allowed to refresh my MortBlock in that part of the facility. Just have to hope the darn thing isn’t building a bomb or something,” I muttered.

Axle laughed again and shook his head. He looked around to ensure no gobbs were nearby and spoke under his breath.

“If a beholder wanted your affiliate gone, it would take very little effort on their part to make it happen. Something about your Sleem is unusual enough to invite Quadrum’s genuine interest. I could feel it when they touched my mind.”

“Well, that’s not comforting. Think the Sleem are still a threat maybe?” I asked.

Axle immediately shook his head. “The Sleem may be a top ten affiliate, but they’re extremely predictable. At the rate our freezers are filling up, we have a robust population in the cavern below making full use of the pipe we installed. Once we’ve worked through the orbs and cubes that will naturally leave the chamber first, to attempt foraging, we will be left with nothing but freshly born slimes. Those are the best for sales, by the way, but also extremely stupid.”

He finished with another shake of his head. “There are some things that are not known. With Quadrum, many. With Cube, a few. With the Sleem? There are none. The Sleem have been part of BuyMort longer than most of the rest of us, according to what records we have. I do not think they will surprise us.”

I nodded slowly, chewing on the inside of my lip. “Okay, I’ll take that as encouraging.”

“If they were to escape, our Fumble-Bees would alert us. I have those that remain patrolling the camp, and underground. Any Sleem they discover would be red-flagged to an alert for myself, Rayna, and you,” Axle said.

“Okay, thank you.” I stopped and frowned. “Hold on, you said two things. What was the second?”

Axle grimaced, before he put his hands on his hips and looked down at his feet. “I do not mean to overstep, but Jada insists you will be open to a specific proposal.”

I frowned and narrowed my eyes but said nothing.

“We were hoping you would support a Knowle library, as part of your affiliate,” he said.

I blinked, my frown deepening. “Sure, why wouldn’t I?”

Axle brightened. “Well, most affiliates do not care for them, they tend to bring visitors. That can be a security risk, if not managed. It is often an expense that does not provide many short-term morties in return.”

I nodded. “Ah, that makes sense. Yeah, I don’t care. If you guys want it, and it’s a good thing for the people here, I’m happy to have it be part of my affiliate. I don’t have the funding for it right now, is all. We have security needs to be seen to first.”

Axle shook his head insistently. “No, of course not. I intend to build it all myself, with my own morties. I have enough to add it onto this gobb construction queue, I merely need permission for the space.”

“Of course, no problem. How much room do you need?” I asked.

It was Axle’s turn to grimace. He bared his teeth briefly before answering. “A single acre would suffice for the final project, but for the start any small area of fifty feet squared would be fine.”

“Oh, that’s bigger than I thought. A whole acre for a library?” I replied.

“It would be the library and grounds at that point, but yes. Conservatively, an acre for a completed Knowle library would generally be the minimum. There are a great many terminals and upload stations needed at that size, the flow of knowledge can become highly sought after,” Axle said. He got a dreamy look in his eye as he spoke, and I nodded when he finished.

“Well, there’s at least an acre between my privacy mound and the barns, you could have that area.” I paused and thought, then added, “or Mr. Sada’s old lot, that would work nicely too. I think that’s roughly an acre.”

“The new people seem to have designs on that area, I would be happy to take the space behind your home. Thank you very much. This library means a great deal to myself and my mate. Someday, I hope it will mean as much to all Knowles,” he said, wistfully.

I shrugged. “Probably. If we survive the week, I’ll wanna know how it’s going. I like libraries.”

“Oh it will take a great deal of time to accomplish the renown all Knowles hope for, but my heart swells to be able to begin the work,” Axle said, still smiling. “And Jada’s reaction when I tell her, I’ll have to make sure we’re at home.” His tail wagged at the thought. I ignored it.

“Right, I’m glad to help, seems like a worthy goal. Anything else I should be aware of? How’re the Sundew folks settling in?” I asked.

Axle shrugged. “Nothing major, all projects are under-way and on schedule. Slightly over-budget, with some additions I suspected you would approve of, but we still have nearly a quarter of a million morties available in the construction fund.”

He took a breath and sighed, putting his hands on his hips. “I don’t have much to report on Sundew’s operation yet. When last I checked, they were moving equipment into place and parsing out the land above the escape hatch for crops. I believe they intend to claim that area, likely by asking you for it soon.”

“Hey, if they’re gonna use it to grow food, it’s all theirs. We need a lot of that, and fast. We’re feeding the militia now too, in exchange for mo-gas,” I said with a shrug.

“Mo-gas? Unfortunate, that’s a bad trade,” Axle replied. “Very low quality combustive fuel, but it should serve in the vehicles. If we have enough of it, Jada will likely concoct a defensive weapon from it, but for now I will prioritize our vehicle fleet. Our own remaining supply, siphoned from the other tanks in the parking lot, was what got you there and back today. It is good you found something to replace it.”

I sighed and smiled. “Limping is better than nothing, I suppose. And the trade was mostly for the guns and ammo we took. That should shore up our defenses significantly.”

I snapped my fingers.

“That reminds me, I gotta ask about shields for our buildings? We got hit by a,” I paused to pull up my sales page and be certain of the name before continuing, “Dearth in-atmo glider, a D4C, on the way back. Really shredded Phyllis’ armor before she took it down.”

Axle’s eyes widened as he pulled up the affiliate sales page. “Against our mud-crete, they won’t send a plasma glider, we’ll probably get hit with an E4C instead, they’re equipped with explosive ordinance. Standard Dearth security protocol when dealing with mud-crete fortifications. We’ll need to install at least some form of basic radar, but we can combat bombing runs with the Fumble-Bee hive, after some modifications to their software. I strongly suggest purchasing more drones, before Dearth realizes our trick and leverages the markets against us there too.”

The Knowle panted, staring at the space elevator in the distance for a moment. “For now, I think that is what we should do. Early warning will be critical, we can get everyone below, and simply rebuild any structures that are lost. The gliders Dearth likes to send against minor threats like us are not likely to be well armored, yet. The more we shoot down, the more our fund to combat them will grow.”

He cocked his head to one side. “Your thought about shields is good, but I seriously doubt we will have the funding for anything like that anytime soon. Those systems are expensive on the best of days, and for a new planet, that market will be aggressive with pricing. On the other hand, fumble-bees and shock wave barriers are cheap. I will make some adjustments to the spider ranches cover, it is being installed currently.”

I nodded and stared into the distance with him. When I looked back down, I noticed Mel was drawing the two of us. I huffed and frowned.

It wasn’t a big deal, but what Rayna had said to me earlier about being ‘boss’ first and ‘Tyson’ second struck a chord. I had to start thinking about my image as the camp’s leader, and wistfully staring at the natural beauty of Arizona, pondering the horrific intrusion of an alien space elevator wasn’t how I wanted my people to know me.

I sighed and turned away. “Axle, you can head off, I’m gonna crash for a bit, then go check on Lee and his people. After I get that radar setup, of course.”

“Of course,” he said.

Molls was in her car window behind him, peeking through the blinds at us and smiling.

I waved at her, she motioned me over, and the blinds snapped shut.