AnnouncementWe're back! Did you miss me?

  Book 4 is a big milestone, in the next couple chapters we'll be caught up with the prime timeline! I can finally start expining some of the loose ends from both SCS and TH!

  Hope you enjoy

  Nora frowned as she watched the little squad of bears squeeze through the crowd of their inactive counterparts and vehicles, to climb into a nearby Kodiak Infantry Fighting Vehicle. They’d been assigned to head out to Airdrie, a town just north, partially to reinforce the existing garrison, partially just to get them out of the way.

  My cavernous garage area was again completely packed full of excess combat equipment. A couple of months ago I had secured an empty lot and moved a lot of my vehicles there, but since I never stopped producing troops, that just turned out to be a temporary solution.

  “How many bears have you sent to the surrounding towns, and other cities now?” she asked.

  “I don’t know exactly, probably a couple hundred,” I replied with a shrug. “The st few months have been extremely quiet, so I managed to build up a lot of forces. I actually have a surplus, even after sending reinforcements to Mars, so I thought I’d scatter a couple around to help secure the surrounding communities. I’m having them patrol around and hunt the scattered antithesis in the area to earn me a few points.”

  “Isn’t that why you sent the Marsupial out east?”

  “Well, that was the original pn, but it turns out having those forces halfway across the continent, even under the control of Spooky, I don’t get that many points,” I said. “That being said, I didn’t want to bring them straight back, because the locals were finding the hundred bear emergency response team useful during incursions, so I left it up to Spooky when he wanted to come back.”

  As the two of us slowly worked our way through the crowd of bears, moving towards the entrance to the residence, Nora finally got frustrated with the crowd. She crouched down slightly and leapt as hard as she could. Her cybernetic legs propelled her with explosive force, throwing her clear of the crowd. She nded gently, about sixty meters away in the space always left clear next to the residence entrance.

  “Sure, do things the easy way,” I muttered as I continued shoving my way through the press of cuddly teddy bear-shaped combat bots. It took me a minute.

  “You should probably think about either expanding your patrols to the adjacent undercity sectors, or sending more bears to the surrounding cities. It’s already standing room only. Soon you’re not going to be able to even move in here,” Nora said, with a small smirk, as I struggled to push through the st few bears.

  “I just expanded into sectors ten and twenty-two a couple months ago, and wanted to wait until things were stable there before expanding any more, but I’ve already had a some people approach me and ask for my help, so I’ve been thinking about accelerating the rollout. I can at least deploy bears and distribute fabricators to a few more pces,” I admitted. “As for the other cities, that’s a little more complicated. Most megacities already have a samurai contingent, and a lot of them don’t appreciate some outsider sending in a significant military presence. The Family has asked me to refrain from sending more than two squads to any of the other cities without being asked, and to leave the squads near the their local buildings so they could be monitored.”“They dictated terms, and you agreed to them, without arguing?” Nora’s eyes narrowed. “That doesn’t sound like you.”

  “Look, I may not exactly be the most personable samurai, but that doesn’t mean I want to make enemies out of half the samurai in the north west,” I grumbled. “I’m happy just leaving enough bears around to keep an eye on the local situation. Plus, I can use them to securely contact people, if I need to.”

  “Like who? You barely talk to anyone around here. Who could you possibly want to talk to in another city?”

  “I don’t know? The twins, Magpie, maybe Grey Goo? I have plenty of friends,” I insisted.

  Nora raised an eyebrow.

  “Okay, I have a couple acquaintances. But they’re all important people!” I crified.

  “And most of them are probably on Mars right now,” Nora replied as she pulled open the entrance to the residence.

  “Not all of them, though.”

  “How is the Mars mission going anyways? I’ve been trying to get permission to use the Family’s communication network to talk to Sharron for a couple of days now, but they’re taking forever to authorize it.”“I talked to Hel st week, and it sounds like everything is going fairly well. Their first month was pretty sketchy, as you know, but they’re pretty much in control of the pnet now. They’re closing in on the st few major hives, and sanitizing the controlled areas with viral and radiological weapons,” I paused and turned back to look at Nora. “Sharron was saying that even if humanity wanted to go back to Mars, it’d take decades before the pnet’s surface is safe to walk on again.”

  “Scary,” Nora mumbled.

  “The good news is that barring any unforeseen surprises, they should be finishing up in the next couple weeks. Everyone will be coming home soon.”

  “Good! I can’t wait to see everyone again,” Nora excimed. “We should arrange a welcome home party!”

  “Ugh… I really don’t want to, but I guess they deserve it,” I muttered quietly. Nora smiled lightly, and punched me in the shoulder, but didn’t say anything.

  As we walked into the kitchen, I was surprised to find the entire family sitting around the table. Jane and An were at opposite ends, with Jenifer, Eddie, and Issi between them. Everyone had a mixing bowl, and there were a handful of ingredients in the middle of the table.

  “What is everyone doing? Dinner isn’t for a couple hours yet?” I asked suspiciously.

  “Even though we have more than an hour until Nora’s self-defense css, Isabelle was getting a little impatient,” Jane started.

  “Hoo Hah!” Issi excimed, without looking up.

  “So, I thought it would be a good time for this lot to learn how to cook. I knew most of the kids wouldn’t find that very exciting, so I made the first lesson on how to bake cookies,” Jane expined.

  “Why didn’t you wait for me?” I pouted.

  “Because you actually cook, occasionally, and I figured that you’d rather participate in the tasting, rather than the making.”“I won’t deny that,” I muttered.

  I slowly walked around the table, gncing in each person’s bowl. It looked like things were going well. I stopped when I got to Issi’s seat. Although the table was fairly clean, and the batter looked okay, Isabelle was absolutely coated in flour.

  “Issi… why are you such a mess?” I asked.

  “Cooking is a messy hobby,” Issi decred. “And creativity cannot be contained!”

  “When we were measuring everything, she dropped the sack of flour, and it billowed up into her face,” Eddie expined. “She thought the cloud of flour was funny, so she picked up the bag and dropped it again.”

  “Creativity cannot be contained!” Issi repeated, as she stared at Eddie through narrowed eyes.

  “No fighting. It’s fine as long as she cleaned up after herself,” I said, while looking at Jane for confirmation.

  “And she did… after I told her she had to or she couldn’t participate,” Jane expined.

  “I was responsible!” Isabelle decred.

  “Yes, you were,” Jane agreed as she withdrew her spoon from the bowl in front of her. “Nyx, can you give us three new baking trays, please? I already have a pair, but we need a couple more.”

  “Absolutely,” a small panda bear in a casual bck suit decred as it walked up to the table. He waved his hands, and a couple of trays appeared.

  Although having Nyx hijack whatever bear was closest to talk to me was convenient, a lot of people found it confusing, so I made them a special bear to use while inside the residence. Everyone was already used to having the AI around, and having a single avatar just made it easier for everyone to understand what was happening.

  “Now everyone take a tray, spray it with the non-stick spray, and then put a spoonful of cookie dough every couple inches,” Jane said, while demonstrating for the kids. A second ter, everyone followed her example.

  I stepped away from the table, and signaled Nyx as I stepped into the living room.

  “Is there something I can help you with today Evelyn?” The bear inquired as Nora and I sunk into a couple of chairs.

  “Have there been any alerts today? New incursions reported, or outbreaks?” I asked quietly.

  “You have eyes everywhere, so you’d probably find out almost as fast as I would, but no. There haven’t been any major engagements in the area for over a week,” Nyx reported.

  “They’re unusually quiet tely,” I murmured.

  “It’s true, activity has dropped significantly in the st few weeks. Unfortunately, I do not have data to expin this recent change in behaviour.”

  “Well, let me know the instant you hear anything. I don’t like how quiet they’ve gotten.”

  The bear nodded, then headed back towards the table. As soon as he left, Nora leaned forward.

  “What’s got you so worked up? Isn’t a ck of activity good?” she asked.

  “Normally, yes. But after months of patrols, resource gatherers, and town defenders getting into daily skirmishes, I find the ck of activity concerning. I have no idea what changed, or why,” I grumbled.

  “I think you’re just being paranoid,” Nora scoffed, before leaning back in her chair.

  “Maybe. But I have a feeling they’re up to something, and I intend to figure out what it is,” I decred.

  “Just don’t say something to tempt fate, like you always seem to do. I’m enjoying the quiet tely,” Nora excimed.

  I gnced at my friend quietly, but didn’t say anything.