“So, you ’t find them either Nyx? How is that possible?” I asked. After leaving the Terminal, it occurred to me that Nyx could do the same job as the Ravens, just much faster and more effitly. At least, that’s what I thought.

  I’m actually surprised the Ravens were able to find anything. There are very few security cameras in the Uy, most of them are clustered around highly secure locations like Leah’s ic. They mao locate the Guiding Light zealots because the group wandered a little too close to a corporate facility. I did mao identify the vehicle as it passed two additional locations during its escape, and three additional times during the st three months.

  I ot identify exactly where they came from, but it is somewhere in the southern part of the city. I will say, I believe they’ve been iionally avoiding camera systems.

  “Wonderful.” I sighed, “At least I have a pce to start looking now.”

  I stared out the window, watg the mess of crete buildings that made up the uy passed by. As far as I could tell, I had two options going forward: flood the streets with squirrels, and make sure I could track down Guiding Light before they could cause more issues, or flood the streets with bears and prepare for a fight.

  The bears could cause more issues in the long run. I didn’t want to take over from the gangs, and if I sent armed bears into gaory a lot of the idiots would take that as an act of war. It didn’t matter that I was a Samurai, and they wouldn’t st seds in an open battle, there would still be people that’d try and take me on. That’d just be annoying to deal with. Maybe I’d just build up some forces ahem in reserve, just in case.

  As the truck pulled into the shelter and stopped, I shook my head. No matter what I chose to do, I o perform some setup. I o upgrade my produ capabilities before anything else.

  I was still p the best way to prepare when I stepped bato the living area, where Jane was teag Jennifer and Eddie. The thing that drew my eyes though was a tiny pair of legs poking over the top of the couearby.

  “Issi… why are you upside down on the couch?” I asked.

  “I’m bored! I want to learn too, but what those two are learning is too hard, so I have to wait my turn.” The little girl didn’t move from her position, she just twisted her head slightly so she could see me standing over her.

  “You have better Augs now, you could wate shows while you’re waiting.”

  “Nuh-uh. I don’t like any of the shows. They’re all things like Captain Co, and his quest to rid people of bad fvor, or the teicolor pals, which you o buy the dolls to i with the show. They’re all bad scams, like the bad people in the markets!"

  I raised an eyebrow, “Are all children's shows terrible?”

  “Most them are even worse, you have no idea how many shows I had to watch, and bcklist, before allowing the kids access to media,” Jane said, as she checked Eddie’s paper.

  “Fu…” I barely got a single sylble out before Jane’s head shot up and she shot me a death stare. “Fulming corps, it’s all about money with them.” vinced she prevented me from swearing in front of the kids, Ja back to her work.

  “So Issi, what do you want to dht now?”

  “I want to learn, so I be helpful to everyone when I get bigger.”

  I smiled down at her, “You don’t have to worry about that for now.”

  “Still want to do it! I’m going to be a smart assistant for Teddy iure.” The little girl squirmed, struggling for a moment tht herself, before staring at me with wide eyes. “’t I do that?”

  “Of course you .” As the cute little girl stared at me, I got an idea. “How about I get you all some personal teachers? Jane, An and I do our best to teach you, but let's face it, we’re relying on our own limited knowledge. I probably plug some pretty effective teag AIs into some of my bears. That way you all learn at your own speeds, and Jane doesn’t o monitor you all the time.”

  Everyone looked up at my suggestion, their expressiing from excitement, to distrust. “That doesn’t seem like a great use of your ‘points’, wouldn’t those be better used to fight aliens?” Jane asked.

  “I made more than enough points to get by ile. A couple points to help the muns won’t hurt my totals.”

  Jane gnced between Isabelle and myself, before sighing. “Fine, I’m not going to tell you how to spend your points, but only oo start. If it works out, you buy more.”

  “Sounds good to me. Nyx, would it be possible to put together a teag bear using my current catalogs?”

  “Froggy!” Issi said, jumping up onto the couch. “Teag froggy instead.” I gave her a stern look, which caused her to sit back down. “Please.”

  I nodded, “That’s better. Nyx, teag frog.”

  You have most of the parts, I would reend a Css I teag catalog. The rest of the parts be covered between your modur bat robotics, facades, and AI catalogs.

  “How much?”

  It’ll be one hundred points for the Css I Basic Teag catalog, another fifty for an adolest teag program, one hundred and fifty for the chassis, two hundred for the AI and twenty-five for the facade. I would also reeing all the kids a tablet to work on, those are css zero so they’re only three points each.

  “Five huhirty-four points in total? I’ll pay that.”

  Purchased:

  Css I modur autonomous bat unit - 150 points

  Css I Basic Teag Catalog - 100 points

  Adolest Teag Program - 50 points

  Teag AI Core - 200 points

  Advanced Facade - 25 points

  Css 0 Tablet x 3 - 9 points

  Points Remaining - 106,432

  A fairly rge box, three feet long and a foot wide, appeared in front of me, and after a moment the robot inside unpacked itself. It was a frog, as Isabelle requested, but it was a frog in a purple suit, with a top hat and a mohe entire room turo look at the odd-looking robot as it dusted itself off, then took off its tophat and bowed.

  “Sir Froggington, at your service. I believe this young one wishes to learn? I appud your enthusiasm.”

  Issi made a high pitched ‘Eeeeeeeee’ noise and rushed forward, which required me to intercept her before she broke my purchase. “Just remember, the frog is your teacher, not a toy.”

  Her face fell, “But… hugs?”

  “Are acceptable for diligent students. I will give you one now, and more after your lessons, but I expect you to study when asked. Do you uand, young dy?”

  The little girl nodded enthusiastically, then pushed forward for a hug. O was dohe frog held out one of the tablets to the small girl. “Now, we should head to your room and do a short test, then discuss what you want to do iure. I make some lesson pns from that.”

  Isabelle hen grabbed the frog's arm and dragged him down the hallway. After a few seds, I heard the sound of her door smming down the hall.

  “This is going to be ht?”

  Don’t worry, I will monitor Isabelle’s results and help Froggington ize a learning pn for her.

  I noticed Jane giving me one of her looks, so I smiled. “Nothing to worry about. Nyx is monit everything. Let's give it a week and then evaluate how her new education is going. If we like her progress I get a couple more teachers for the kids, maybe even a bot to teach you cooking!”

  Jane’s eyes narrowed slightly, “Just because you’re a Samurai doesn’t mean I ’t hurt you.”

  “I’m kidding! Sort of. Anyways, since you’re all busy with education I’m going out to the garage. Going to spend some of those points I was talking about to get properly set up. Call me if you need anything.”

  The kids waved at me as I left, but I couldn’t help but notice that Jane was already givihe silent treatment.