Ceres Chaos [Exosuit Progression]

The group of five strolled through the main command building, naturally having the highest access to anywhere in the building as long as they kept their hands to themselves.

“The biggest workload for the human workers is just making sure all the automated systems run properly – that means farming drones and shipping drones too! They also coordinate types of crops to plant and shipments to our regular customers, making sure everything goes smoothly.” Ardan explained as he led them through an office room with a small team of workers at workstations looking through sprawls of data.

Making sure that the fleet of drones worked efficiently was a tough job. Naturally, the best drones available on the galactic market would have a runtime of up to five hundred years, but this was a backwater planet, and Ardan’s family wasn’t that loose with their money, especially when running a business.

Instead, it was cheaper to buy drones that had a lifetime of one year before requiring maintenance – which could be done on-site as well.

Given that the fleet of drones numbered in the thousands, it was a daunting task for the workers, but they were trained and became experienced over time.

“So they make nutri-paste here?” Braton asked, to which Ardan nodded.

“A good chunk of our exports is nutri-paste, which ties in well with our training business at the Gladius. However, the real money comes in when you export luxury food!” Ardan led the group to a dining area, where they were about to test all the different types of crops grown in the greenhouse.

For Erik, Braton and Trissa who had eaten nutri-paste and dumplings made out of nutri-paste for the majority of their lives, this was a game-changer.

Considering that they treated dumplings that were shaped from nutri-paste as a luxury food, the number of delicacies laid out in front of them was more than enough to cause them to salivate.

Braton cheered as he rushed to take one of the seats, immediately grabbing the nearest vegetable to eat. As he took just a single bite, he made a retching sound before dropping it in disgust.

“Why the hell is it slimy, and why does it have the face of a pig on it?!” Braton screamed as he recoiled in the chair. The vegetable was like a tiny potato, except it had twelve tentacle-like vines growing out of its bottom like roots, but much more alive, though they moved in a lethargic method as though it has been drugged.

The pig face was on the main body of the plant – the ‘potato’ – and it had a smiling face as though in derision of Braton.

“That’s one of the more expensive crops in the system – the tentagloo. It essentially tastes like seafood despite being a plant, while the juice is secreted on a regular basis, coating its skin. The juice serves as a coat to protect the plant from external harm, while its vines naturally attack as a defence mechanism. It’s native to Athen but very rare to find. We have cultivated it in small amounts around the greenhouse, though they do quite a bit of damage to the drones that water them sometimes when they get feisty.“ Ardan explained as he took a seat next to Braton calmly, ignoring the disgusted faces around him.

He then sliced off one of the vines from the stem using a knife, causing the pig’s face to scowl without a sound, while he devoured the vines with a fork. A large smile appeared on Ardan’s face, and he started laughing hysterically.

Erik hesitated, but seeing Ardan eat it so happily, he decided to give it a try. His previously moody face immediately lit up with happiness as he ate the vine, his mouth contorting into an uncontrollable smile, grinning nonstop.

Soon, Erik started to laugh too, which made Ardan laugh even harder to the point of being out of breath. Ardan seemed to be trying to say something while laughing, while the butler drone stepped into the room behind them, staring daggers into the back of the two girls who were still reluctant to enter the fray.

Under the pressure of the butler drone and curiosity, Braton, Lisa and Trissa all ate a vine and soon entered the same laughing state. The laughter was contagious; seeing someone else not be able to stop laughing made them laugh even harder. It was an out-and-out laughing fit.

After a good ten minutes of hard laughter, in which Erik’s abs hurt like hell, Ardan finally managed to say what he wanted to say. “I forgot, the juice secreted also helps to induce happy emotions in anything that eats it, but it goes into overload to prevent the predator from ever wanting to eat it again. Of course, some humans are addicted to the laughing fit, and value this crop extremely high!”

The tension between the group of five gradually decreased as they tried more weird food, all grown in the greenhouse.

They all joked about each other’s expressions and discussed the food, becoming more familiar with each other.

Ardan smiled as he internally checked off his checklist. “That ‘introvert’ link was right! The more group stuff we do together, the better chance we have to fix the friendship!”

“Okay guys that’s enough for today, tomorrow we’ll hit the shopping malls!”

***

It was the third day of the vacation, and the group had been bonding well. Lisa managed to actually get Trissa to talk to her, potentially becoming female friends. It was no surprise that Trissa too didn’t have any female friends with her aloof and weird attitude, so she was also slightly happy that she bonded so well with Lisa.

They did not know each other too well, so most of the conversations were barely scratching the surface of the real stuff Lisa wanted to know.

“Lisa, do you like your family?” Trissa asked during one of their conversations out of the blue, while they sat on the bed in their shared room.

“Err... yes and no. Sometimes I really hate them like I wish I could run far, far, away. But most of the time it gives you a sense of familiarity and belonging. Oh and I know you orphans have no family, but you can always make your own!” Lisa replied bluntly, causing Trissa to start thinking deeply. Lisa naturally caught onto her expression, slyly getting closer to Trissa.

“Are you thinking about starting a family with Erik?” Lisa whispered to Trissa, who immediately jumped up and threw a kick at her legs out of reflex.

Lisa laughed as she easily parried the kick with her leg, treating it as a light slap. If Ceres saw it, he would consider that kick as one that could easily crack his groin, but Lisa just easily shrugged it off.

“N-n-no! That idiot ran away from me! Why would I ever hang out with him?” Trissa pouted as she was about to storm out of the room but turned back towards the bed just before the door, realizing that she had nowhere to go.

Lisa laughed even harder, slapping her thigh. “Trissa you’re in a love-hate relationship with him, right? It’s okay, let me teach you the ways. Some people even call me the love doctor!”

It wasn’t a hidden secret that Lisa sucks at relationships, having almost no friends at all, only rivals, yet Trissa was too shaken to think about it.

She went with the flow, simply nodding while Lisa recited all the devastating slick moves to handle a guy that she learnt from the holo-dramas she had binged watched.

Across the hallway, in the boy’s room, Braton, Erik and Ardan proceeded as per usual, playing cards and board games in their room as they wagered the number of tentagloo vines to be eaten by the loser.

Laughter continuously overflowed from the boy’s room late into the night, disturbing the tranquillity of the sleepy girls who came over to shut them up.

They had visited the tourist attractions that have sprouted up around the greenhouse, going to amusement parks and carnivals to enjoy themselves.

Surprisingly, everyone vetoed the shopping malls, apparently not having any interest at all in shopping.

Ardan was a bit shocked that they were not following the ‘introvert’ link checklist, but then he remembered that Lisa and Trissa were not anything like his mom but more like his aunt, and everything became clear to him.

Instead, they participated in all sorts of fun activities like drone hopping, hoverkart racing and other serious sports.

Sure, they could have done all of that in the VR world, but there was just something different about it when done in reality. Human virtualization technology in the Loeric Empire just hasn’t reached that level of detail yet to fully simulate reality to the tiniest details.

“Ardan, this vacation has been amazing! Really, thank you so much. I bet Ceres would be extremely jealous if he saw this right now.” Erik patted Ardan on the back, who smiled cheerfully before replying: “Yea fuck that bitch Ceres! We are going to party like hell without him!”

“Okay okay relax Ardan! What are we going to do tomorrow anyway?” Braton asked.

Ardan was getting into the groove too, no longer feeling the need to follow the checklist any longer. He had ‘broken out of his introvert zone’. “Well, whatever we feel like!”

***

Ardan wasn’t having a good time, sitting at the head of this meeting room. His legs could barely touch the ground as he sat at the end of a long conference table on a large cushy chair that was meant to be his father’s.

He eyed the human who stood on the other side of the room, giving a presentation.

“Thank you again for hosting us, Young Master Fye. I hope you found our presentation clear and precise.” An older man dressed in a proper business suit stood stoically next to the holoprojector, which was still showcasing a video. “Do you have any questions?”

Ardan sat up properly, clasping his two hands together as he stared at the older man. “Let me get this straight. In summary, you want us to remodel the entire greenhouse into a 3D Printing farm, printing food?”

“Not quite exactly, sir. We want to rent 50% of the space to establish a printing factory, which would be much better than wasting both the land and vertical space on regular crops. Only the rich care about whether the food is ‘organic’ or not, but they won’t be able to tell the difference with our 3D food printer.”

“As long as you dedicate the remaining 50% of the land that you have to the crops that are the most generic, our 3D food printer will be able to print out any recipe that you name!” The older man gestured wildly at the holo-projector which showed the technical specifications of the food printer.

It was definitely a technological marvel and Ardan had absolutely no doubt that this was imported from a more advanced state, perhaps a C-class state.

It seems that the company that the older man represents is trying to bring the same market success that has occurred in advanced states and ride the same wave in less advanced places.

Ardan was also very sure that such a food printer would be extremely popular, especially in Athen, where the city administration would surely approve the lower costs of such a printer.

Wouldn’t the populace be happy having a wider range of food to eat compared to just nutri-paste? However, there were other concerns as well.

“So, half of the greenhouse will be your... food factory, while the other half would be a complete overhaul of whatever we’re growing?”

“Not exactly, all I have shown you is the potential market that you can tap into! You can’t tell me that you and your family are satisfied with just farming a small batch of luxury crops and the rest being regular crops! You can maximize your land by improving the vertical space as well! A few other greenhouses have already subscribed to the idea, you’re one of the last few remaining!”

“Assuming you are willing to rent out the food factory space, it only makes sense for you to grow crops that directly feed into our food factory! The supply chain will be extremely low cost and we would of course purchase your raw crops to process into printed food!”

“There's no need to rely on tourist dollars any longer, nor have such a wide empty vertical space. What’s the point of doing it like the ancient times? I suggest that the town be remodelled into more compact and efficient worker housing to maximize both land space and vertical space!"

Ardan’s eyes immediately squinted at the mention of remodelling his current idyllic greenhouse. This was his family’s summer retreat and one of the only remaining tourist areas featuring a spacious green area.

Yet the older man didn’t notice the growing ire from Ardan, continuing to push his agenda.

The older man pulled up an organization chart, showing the other greenhouses who had already signed up to the deal while continuing to speak: “With our cooperation, the shared benefit of revolutionizing the entire agricultural industry on this planet will naturally be yours as well! If you miss out on this wave, it would be very hard for you to compete in this industry in the future. Our company is offering to pay high rent to achieve this goal, and you will get both short-term and long-term benefits!”

“Well, that’s even better to know. I completely understand now.” Ardan sat back in satisfaction, nodding his head.

“That’s great, sir, I have here a copy of the non-disclosure agreement, so we may discuss further on the cooperation between the two factories once you signed it. No need for your parents to sign, yours will do as authorization.” The older man smiled as he took out a multi-terminal from his pockets.

“I will leave a multi-terminal here so you can reply to me directly on our corporate network anytime. We hope to hear a favourable deal from you soon. If you could fill up the information sheet on your company structure and list of shareholders, it would be good for us to know any potential conflicts of interest anywhere. We naturally won’t leak that information elsewhere.” The older man bowed.

“No need to wait. I refuse your deal. You can take back your multi. Albus! Escort Mr Watson here out.”

The older man was stunned as the butler drone opened the door forcibly before bowing to Watson. “Mr Watson, this way please.”

“Wait, what do you mean you refuse? Don’t you know this is a once-in-a-lifetime deal package that I’m offering here? Maybe you should discuss with your family first on what to do, don’t be so quick to reject the deal!” Watson asked in a shocked manner, while the butler drone continuously inched closer.

“My father and mother are currently off-system, so you can count on me to represent them. I have full authorization.” Ardan got off his seat, picking up the multi-terminal and tossing it back to Watson.

It clattered on the ground, but Watson was still in disbelief, not picking it up.

“You can’t possibly speak for your father or your mother! You’re not even of legal age! I demand to talk to your parents or anyone in charge!” Watson shouted as the butler drone forcibly grabbed his arms, dragging him out of the conference room.

“Then why did you even ask me to sign the agreement? I thought I didn’t need my parents’ signatures? I AM the one in charge!” Ardan sneered as he left the conference room, while Watson continued to be dragged away out of the building.