Once the kids had worn themselves out, I helped put them to bed. Then, after another hour, Jane and Alan also retired, leaving me alone in the kitchen.

  Since the hydroponics systems on the ship needed a little time until it could start providing crops, the fridge was completely packed with produce. I poked through the loaded shelves, looking for something to munch on, before finally grabbing a handful of carrots.

  “Did you happen to get ahold of Grey’s AI while I was down and let them know our itinerary?” I asked Nyx before biting into my snack.

  I did. Grey expressed her excitement in seeing you again, my AI intoned after a moment.

  “Great, but what’s with the hesitance in your response?”

  Well, even though she is looking forward to seeing you, the rest of the locals are… less enthusiastic. The Cascadian government, which is the governing body for several megacities along the west coast, including both Vancouver and Seattle, has raised concerns about letting an unknown samurai float into the city with enough firepower to level it.

  “There’s an easy way to fix that,” I huffed. “We’ll just park the Stratocarrier outside the city and take my truck in when we visit. There’s no point in aggravating the locals if we don’t have to.”

  I slowly wandered over to the living room as we chatted, nibbling on my carrots, before sinking down on the couch and stretching out.

  “How is the situation around Vancouver anyways?”

  The local samurai managed to put down most of the Antithesis in the first week, with the help from some of the Family’s orbital weapon platforms. Now they’re performing regular sweeps of the city’s perimeter and conducting regular seek-and-destroy operations to deal with the remaining hives.

  “Wait, wait, wait… The Family has orbital weapon platforms? Like what? Lasers?” I asked, sitting up again.

  The most common model fires a massive tungsten rod at near relativistic speeds. When the rod strikes the target, it releases about the same amount of energy as a low-level nuclear weapon. They deliver immense destruction with only a fraction of the fallout.

  “How come I didn’t know about this? And why didn’t they offer to use them around Calgary?” I pouted.

  Well, first of all, you spend most of your time actively trying to avoid going to the Family headquarters, and you rarely like to talk shop with your friends in the organization. That’s why you didn’t know about the satellite network, even though you really should have expected it.

  “Hey! I have enough trouble keeping track of my own equipment and forces. Why should I spend time wondering what other people have?” I grumbled.

  And second of all, Nyx continued. The battlefields around Calgary were fairly stable, and there was no chance of the city or surrounding towns getting overrun. Since they only have a handful of these platforms, the Family had to prioritize targets. They were often used to break up swarms of Antithesis just before they broke through a city’s perimeter, and on more than one occasion, after the defenses had been breached.

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  “They fired into cities?” I asked, horrified.

  No, the swarms were large enough that a danger close strike would kill and disrupt the swarm still outside the city, giving the defenders enough time to close the gaps and reestablish their defensive positions.

  “Fuck me,” I muttered. “I guess I was so focused on the local situation, I never considered how things were going elsewhere. Are there any cities that are still under siege or require backup?”

  The situation has pretty much stabilized across the continent. If there was one advantage to this catastrophe, it was that almost all the samurai involved made quite a few points and came out of the situation much stronger than they started.

  “Great, so we’ll be in even better shape if this ever happens again,” I said, slowly laying down again. “What were we originally talking about again?”

  Vancouver.

  “Right, shit, I get distracted too easily,” I muttered. “How long until we arrive?”

  Only three more hours. We could have arrived earlier today, but Spooky wanted to perform a complete systems check before he started pushing the engines.

  “You sound disappointed by his choice,” I said.

  I created this ship and checked every part on an atomic level during construction. There’s absolutely no reason why Spooky would need to perform checks and reviews.

  “I mean, it’s the first time he’s been in command of such a large ship. He’s probably less concerned about the quality of construction and more concerned with flying it into the side of a mountain or something,” I remarked. “Besides, it’s not like we’re in any rush.”

  It’s possible, but it still feels like he doesn’t trust my work.

  “I’ve never seen this part of you. Are you afraid that he’ll discover an issue?” I asked.

  Of course not. My work is perfect.

  “Then let him perform his checks. If it lets him get more familiar with the ship so he can direct it more efficiently later, then what’s the harm?”

  I extended my arms out above my head as far as I could and even felt my back curl as I stretched out my shoulders before finally collapsing back on the couch, frowning.

  “Why don’t I feel tired right now? I know I just spent the last day in a coma, but this is long past when I usually head to bed. Shouldn’t I feel something?” I muttered.

  It’s because your body is now several steps beyond what humanity would call ‘peak form.’ You require significantly less sleep than before, either only two to three hours a night or one night every few days.

  “Wait, what?” I sputtered. “Wait a minute. Leah once told me that sleep was necessary to recharge the brain as much as the body, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t undergo any mental augmentations lately, so why the change now?”

  Your brain has been able to handle the lack of sleep ever since you upgraded your command and control augments. Perhaps you’ve noticed that you woke up extremely easily whenever you didn’t have to command your bears for a day or two? Your brain really doesn’t get pushed unless you’re in full strategic command mode anymore.

  “Bullshit! I felt tired yesterday. You can’t tell me that my mind has been able to shrug off sleep for the last six months,” I snapped.

  It would have been able to if the situation required it. Didn’t you notice that you never felt tired while dealing with a critical situation, only after?

  “I assumed that was just adrenaline or something,” I replied.

  It was because your brain didn’t need the rest and only registered your body’s exhaustion once the situation was dealt with. Now your body can keep up.

  “Awwww… You mean no more early afternoon naps?” I moaned. “I already had a hard enough time finding things to take up my time during the mandatory rest times that you and Jane implemented. What am I supposed to do with the extra time?”

  Find more hobbies.

  “I already have a couple!” I exclaimed. “I don’t need more.”

  I honestly didn’t think you’d find having a couple extra hours in your day that distressing. I guess this is where I tell you that, even though you don’t need sleep, you can still force your brain into a sleep mode.

  “I can? How?” I asked.

  Easy, just close your eyes and try. Your brain will register the attempt and slowly switch to a REM sleep mode. You’ll even wake up around the regular time. Like you said, your brain hasn’t changed it’s just not relying upon your internal clock or body’s condition anymore.

  As I lay there, silently urging my brain to shut down, I suddenly felt exhaustion wash over me, like someone had flipped a switch in my brain.

  “Neat…” I yawned. “The system works.”

  Is there anything else you need before we arrive in Vancouver? Nyx asked. Their voice barely cut through the growing haze.

  “Just sleep, so I can keep up with the kids tomorrow,” I murmured. “Have a good night, Nyx.”

  Sweet dreams Evelyn. They replied as I finally drifted off, dreaming of what tomorrow may bring.

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