58. Lesser Replicator

Music of a long since almost forgotten video game about a vengeful man ripping and blasting demons apart in hell with a shotgun echoed inside Valkyrie 16, not waking up Gladius sleeping on a pile of animal skin. 

Music that was surprisingly in the database of Hell's Gate, brought here by one of the employees on a physical copy.

And Liam thanked the now dead man who had the idea to borrow such music from 'old' time here as the new music from this time was… Strange to say the least, not that he particularly hated it from the small percentile of he heard on Pandora.

It's just it didn't feel the same, and the 'old' of not straight considered ancient music brought a sense of familiarity. Thought it was more a background noise as he needed to fully focus.

His gaze was magnified through a mask-like device on his face that let him work on the finer detail of a multi-layered sphere of metal and crystal the size of a large bowling ball magnetically held in levitation in a glove chamber filled with argon.

It was the 'heart-brain' of the Stereolithography Plant, or at least what has become of its inner core. 

It meant the giant 3D printer was out of usage presently but that was something planned from the start, all the parts he was adding or taking out were prefabricated by his fabricator.

Fabricator he upgraded first mainly for this reason, if both were to be out at the same time it will be a problem aside from the fact he couldn't do this without a better fabricator in the first place. 

He could work at an inhuman level in both speed and precision but he had limits. Some components simply couldn't be done by hand and with regular tools or if that was the case doing them this way involved too much of a loss be it time or resource.

The crystal-like appearance of the core wasn't for aesthetic purposes even if it was beautiful all the same, it was made of artificial diamonds with various other gems and metals like pure electroplated aluminum and niobium. 

Pandorium was also used at other various points in its original design which he barely changed, you don't fix what isn't broken. He still put out more of that unique metal virtually reducing the transformation of electrical energy in thermal energy to zero. 

It already had the processing power of a powerful supercomputer before but for Liam, it wasn't enough. The level of precision and scale needed that much, so he altered it into something comparable to a quantum computer but different. Mainly because he didn't exactly know how to do the latter.

It was based on the 'brain' of various Tekgram but it was overall weaker and in need of a perfectly monitored environment to even begin function. Of course, he made sure at every step to not create 'life', he wanted a tool not an unwanted child.

He could create artificial life but that didn't mean it was the time for that nor would it be very successful as of now aside from true AI.

A plasma welder was in his left hand that had a point precise enough to work on the microscopic scale, each micro-movement of his muscles with the use of his inventory led to the appearance of thin threads of the purest of pandorium coated in pure silver. It was as if he had done this his entire life.

Each extremely fragile thread was thinner by a large degree than any human hair and kept on being added one after another forming an intricate tapestry invisible to the naked eyes aside from their reflection that fractured light giving them an ethereal appearance.

If someone were to look at it with a microscope they will see a forest of complex geometric patterns reminiscent of a spider web after the other growing a forest of neuron-like structures already present between each piece.

The last of the thread was added, totalizing their number to exactly five hundred thousand, not even reaching a percentage of the number of neurons in a human brain. 

It will be rigid in comparison to a human brain or the one from his Tekgrams aside from it not being alive but it wouldn't need to be this adaptable in any scenario, it's the processing power of a giant crafting station nothing more nothing less. It could correct mistakes, anticipate them, and calculate but nothing out of its goal.

It had a purpose and it was with that purpose it was made this way aside from Liam being unable to do more but at this point, it would be the mechanism of the machines themselves that wouldn't be able to keep up.

'I did it… Now to put it to use.', he thought, a large smile forming on his face as he stored his tool in his inventory followed shortly by the new Processing Heart.

He took off the device on his face showing noticeable bags under his eyes, he barely slept this week. It was a race against time and one he won.

His happiness radiated through the link and Gladius woke up looking at him with a curious tilt of its large head to the side to which Liam responded by scratching its chin.

"Forty-five days and that would be a full year…", he mumbled to the confused if happy Gladius who purred louder. 

Everything passed so fast, his awakening filled with panic dread, and existential crises as he adapted to an alien new world, a new body, a new mind, and new capabilities, the first few nights with a gaping wound on his back.

Then the first few months in the wild trying to survive and thrive. First, and second contact with the native, Gladius hatching in between those, meeting with Eywa.

The battle where many died and where he massacred hundreds of humans in cold blood to the point of being drenched in it, the rebellion that ended with Tsu'tey's father and mother being banished from the Omatikaya.

Arvok was spared from such a fate by Jake but he was still forced to work and would bear the shame of such an act for the rest of his life.

The fate of the two parents was known to him as he made one of his tetrapteron follow them, how Eywa was displeased by their actions, to say the least, but she wasn't the only one as the Great Leonopteryx that Jake rode was the one who killed them two days after they were banished. 

It was sad, a tragedy even for the one close to them but they as one would say 'Fucked around and found out.'. Ultimately all were the result of Jake's actions and inactions though Liam hoped this was a learning experience and wake-up call for the ex-marine that will stay.

There was a mass burial as well a week after this incident that he oversaw and where he had declared that as of now that the date the Battle of the Hallelujah mountains was won was going to be a day of remembrance that was called the Day of Remembrance.

It was going to focus on the ones who died and suffered but not only as it included aspects from before and after the victory with everything it entailed the goal being to prove everyone become better. 

It was a way to reduce tension for the long term in either case it wasn't going to be forgotten due to Na'vi capabilities to download and upload memory with the Trees of Souls and experience fully what their ancestors, forefathers and foremother did. 

Warping it into something that won't turn into a radical anti-human or anti-Na'vi mindset was one of the goals. It was the actions and ideas of individuals, in both camps behind this tragedy that were at fault, not the entire species in themselves.

None involved were truly innocent. He needed to stay as unbiased as possible as he was considered a part of both camps by many but also as an outsider, a third party by just as many. Both with varying degrees of accuracy.

If his choice displeases some then they can go discuss their disagreement openly with him and if their point was well and truly valid, he wasn't past putting himself in question. He was better at cooking and building machines and that's what he mostly did.

He hated politics, be they with aliens or not but it was a necessity. He couldn't even begin to imagine the headache it would cause him if it was with politicians on Earth.

Though that was the general gist of it to do such a dedicated day to such an event but the application in real life wasn't going to be simple or instantaneous. He wasn't going to force it but finding a way to stop hate from festering was a hard if not impossible task.

Of the fifteen clans that participated all but the Omatikaya stayed close to Hell's Gate, the others having divided to go back to their normal away, the last having left a month ago being the Olangi as it was the clan with the least amount of casualties.

As such they were the ones who could help the most and they did so of their own will, adding the entire clan moved here. They didn't need to keep an area safe or take care of what was within it such as livestock or plantation, they were free of such concerns.

Still, the Olangi had plenty of wounded within them, many amputees came to be either by force with the bullet of autocannon that could blow limbs or done surgically for a plethora of reasons. 

In total, there were twenty-four of them from one who lost hands to one who lost arm up to the shoulder or even one that lost legs up to the kneecap just to name those. 

He used five days in total to make them, he had passed time studying their body structure before so it took a few hours to get the data necessary for each individual. 

The rest was making blueprints in accordance and building them. He also checked on Mìruk's own prosthetic and it was surprisingly in excellent condition, though a few changes were made for it to be better. 

All of these prosthetics were evidently not connected to any of the wearer's nervous systems. It added a layer of complexity that would even with his intelligence take a few years of studying to have a good enough grasp of the Na'vi physiology and anatomy by his VERY high standards. 

Having data and understanding them was something completely different and then applicating them in real conditions even more so. 

Aside from a higher chance of failure due to organic not being a fan of foreign inorganic objects being put in them for extended periods, that was an entirely new can of worms. Na'vi and humans were different on a fundamental level.

Not forgetting he wasn't a surgeon, even less one specialized in cybernetics, even if having these skills and knowledge would have resulted in what he did being exponentially better if more time-consuming.

Time was again a problem aside from the Na'vi in question not being able to wait for years on end to have a perfect prosthetic, and him having more important things to do as harsh as that sound. None were entitled to such service, he was doing it because he wanted to.

Only the Olangi were given such treatment as well, it was a privilege that was done as repayment from Liam as they followed him in that war. The other clans followed the Toruk Makto in said war, not him, so no such things were given.

He wasn't a slave, if some wanted such an arrangement he was open to it as long a price was set. Either way, it was impossible to make prosthetics of various shapes and sizes for several hundreds of people.

"Sorry buddy, I have things to do.", Liam said as he stopped scratching and walked out of the Valkyrie, the great austrapede nearly five meters (~16ft4) tall followed behind but at some point changed direction toward the Avatar Compound to feast upon the fruit he planted.

Crossing the large Airfield in a minute he entered the Armor Bay, it was empty as usual but less so than when he arrived, two new Samson made mostly recycled material there with a dozen AMP suits and several other vehicles that were brought from the unused mines.

'Will need to put in more adapted machines for me…', Liam idly remarked while he entered the main building, the little smell of sulfur in the air changing to the recycled air with sweat, iron, and gunpowder.

He walked along the corridor of the Habmod ground floor where the gym and the firing range were.

His presence did not go unnoticed by the few present who saluted him without looking as if they messed up. He was going to rip their throat open. 

At this point, most did not react much unless he directly went and talked to them. Fear started to slip away and that was good he presumed as long as nobody decided to be stupid.

The base was huge and without running it took on average fifteen minutes by foot for him to go from one point to another and the reason why people shifted their quarter to the middle of the Habmod. 

Though it mattered little to him as he used Valkyrie 16 as a temporary 'house'. He still ate in Hell's Kitchen when given the opportunity when he did however it was him who cooked.

It wasn't to insult the ones who made the food, it was good but they weren't cooks by profession and that showed. 

It was a bit bland and slightly soulless with a lack of shape, it was sad, to be honest, so he gave them some advice that some took but still when he cooked the results were self-evident, there was a better mood for the entire day, as such better work was done. Happy individuals tended to be effective.

There were a hundred-and-thirty-five humans in total so it was many mouths to feed with various differences in allergy and the like but compared to some of the very busy days at the restaurant it wasn't difficult since it was 'simple' dishes here.

The fact he was superhuman with at his disposal various futuristic cuisine utensils and machines dedicated to that made it to be an easy task. And not everything was done on the go.

Arriving seven minutes later at the Stereolithography Plant he smirked as the sound of metal being welded and rotor blades spinning entered his ears the drones were adding the final touch as they worked tirelessly on the gargantuan 3D printer. 

Climbing up on the large machine using one of the metallic ladders he weaved carefully between beams of steel, metal arms, and spark flying from welders.

His gaze focused on a perfectly smooth regular dodecahedron in a small room maintained in suspension by cable and hexagonal titanium skeleton far into the literal labyrinth of metal. 

Three of the dodecahedron facets unfurled revealing a seemingly empty glass sphere with many cables around, it was placed in like a jewel on a ring. A red silicon gauntlet appeared on his left hand as he put a centimeter above the sphere.

Mist escaped his mouth as the argon inside the sphere shifted from gas to liquid as the Processing Heart materialized within, the supercritical liquid infiltrating the processing core every nook and cranny as both took the entire space in the sphere. everywhere.

He lifted his hand shaking the cold off, his face unreadable as the core lit up and he walked back out of the small room, the dodecahedron faces that unfolded folded.

A long *pssschhh* sound was heard as all air was evacuated from the contraption and the room sealed itself with only him holding the authority to open it or to even be this close to it.

It consumed less than its old form, as counterintuitive as that might sound, the aspect that was the most costly in energy was the method used to maintain the argon in a supercritical state. 

It's not like it would have been a burden to the base even if it was more greedy in energy than its predecessors. It wouldn't have been able to beat the life support system of Hell's Gate with how astronomically high the amount of energy they ate each day.

Lifting his right palm he gave an order to the Processing Heart via his implant, dozens of small articulated arms moved around and in less than eleven seconds before his ever-growing smile a small titanium fork was created from what appeared to be thin air and landed in his hand.

"YES! AHAHAHAHAH! Now we can talk!", he laughed loudly in pure joy, the fatigue on his features disappeared before calming himself down after a good minute.

"This isn't matter manipulation, not even remotely close thought but that will do for the upcoming years… Now let's help the drones finish it… A change of this mouth full of a name is in order too.", he spoke under his breath while a metallic arm grew from a strap on his back.

He baptized the reborn house-sized machine as the Lesser Replicator. It's less of a mouth full but he guessed it would still be called Grinder, and now it can serve that function too. 

*

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