Save the Day Program, once again. (Gundam IBO/Satisfactory SI): Chapter 11

“You know, these days, it feels like I am attending meeting after meeting as if I am some kind of a business tycoon looking to expand my company and deepen my pockets.”

“Isn’t that exactly what you are doing? Besides, I think what you are doing is quite efficient compared to how the previous Board of Directors and CEO of FICSIT did things when they were alive.”

“…..Were they really that inefficient? Also, are you sure you should be speaking like that about your creator?”

“Caterina Parks and the rest of the former Board can hardly be called my creators. The R&D division of FICSIT Inc. is my true creator. And yes, I do not think there is any problem in calling out the flaws of the old regime, just like I do not feel bad for pointing out flaws in your logic, Administrator.”

“As for their inefficiency, you only need to look at how they destroyed the Earth in a matter of three decades, a record in and of itself, to understand how incompetent they were. There is a reason why I did not model the clones I used before you after one of FICSIT’s original staff, the Board, or the CEO, and instead went for one of the greatest original Pioneers within the solar system, codename: Monica.”

“Hmm, makes sense.”

Back when I first woke up with ADA on that stupid desert planet, I spent many days going over the data that ADA had with her, which included the history of her version of Earth.

From what her records show, the Earth of her origin was extremely advanced, which made sense since ADA’s manufacturing date is shown as December 12th, 2580.

Given that she has refused to divulge how long she had been active since then, spreading across the galaxy in that universe, it might as well have been hundreds or thousands of years since that date.

Aside from her age, which she has refused to share under the pretext that ‘a girl’s age should never be questioned’ the most important things that I’ve learned from her records is that the Earth of her universe was fucked beyond belief by humanity as a whole.

Rampant Capitalism, wars, overtly strict communism, the increasingly confusing labyrinth of Democracy that only became even more complicated as time went on, economic collapse, riots, the list went on and on.

By the time of ADA’s creation and the launch of the real ‘Save the Day Program’, The ecosystem of the planet had been devastated, humanity had been reduced to a handful of cities across the world living within domed structures that barely sustained them, a tyrannical government body that answered to no one but the various influential corporations, and the corporations themselves who bled the people dry for their own greed despite the planet being on the brink of destruction.

The most interesting and horrifying detail in all of this is that FICSIT and a few other companies played a major role in all this destruction and ruin, hence ADA’s words about them holding the record for ruining the planet.

By the time these corporations and government got their shit together, It was already a complete clusterfuck the likes of which simply cannot be fixed without outside intervention, hence the creation of ADA and other AI of her kind, each one created for a specific task.

It was a grim reality.

Unfortunately, I don’t know what happened after ADA was launched into space along with the original Pioneers of FICSIT to send resources back to Earth since communications with the homeworld were cut off shortly after establishing their first colony on a barren planet in the Sirius star system.

The door to our room opened, making me stop communicating with ADA through our communicator.

Once the door fully opened, revealing a well-built man with sandy blond hair and deep brown eyes.

“Apologies for the wait, Mr. Thornton. There were a few matters that I had to take care of.”

I nodded and smiled wryly at his words.

The soundproofing of this room, while impressive, is nowhere near enough to keep my enhanced sense at bay.

It was why I knew that he was not kidding when he said he had to take care of a few issues. Which mainly consisted of the large group of protesters who had camped outside his office at the main entrance, forcing us to use the back entrance when we arrived in the morning.

“It is fine, Representative Bernstein. I do not mind waiting since it gives me the time to discuss a few things with my second in command.”

With a nod, Norman Bernstein looked towards my companion before taking his seat in front of me, as my companion stood behind me.

I did find him checking her out quite a bit, which I would not fault him for.

With long golden hair, a rugged face that spoke of hard work but still retained its beauty, calloused palms that showed her efforts, deep blue eyes that blankly looked at everyone without showing any emotion, and a rather shapely form, my companion would turn heads no matter where she was.

Unfortunately for the Representative and any guy or girl interested in her, they would find that she was no human.

This was another Pioneer Clone that ADA manufactured and modified to house a Photonic computer within its skull, allowing her to be present in a physical form by my side so that she can play the role of my subordinate without spooking people with her nature as an AI.

I suppressed the amusement I felt and motioned towards ADA’s body.

“This is Ada Monica, my second in command and the one who looks after FICSIT in my absence.”

ADA simply made her puppet body nod at the man, who returned it much more enthusiastically than I anticipated.

Dude, chill. You are a married man and have a nine-year-old daughter. This kind of thing is not a good look for someone who is practically a noble in all but name.

…….Then again, this is a Gundam universe and shit like this happens all the time, which is disgusting to say the least.

Of course, being an AI, ADA simply did not notice or care about the looks she was receiving from the man.

I did warn her from using her usual Pioneer clones for her purposes since I had seen its image when she was planning on creating one, knowing that her physical form would attract a lot of unwanted attention, but she was adamant that she would not use any clone body aside from the Monica-type which she had gotten used to printing ever since she started spreading across the galaxy.

Leaning forward in my seat, slid the datapad that I had towards the Representative of Chryse Autonomous Region, who took the datapad and became serious.

“As we agreed, I have transferred four million credits as the initial downpayment for the land outside your city. I have also taken the liberty of acquiring mining rights for Half-Metal and other resources in the area from Arbrau and have set up a contract for the next ten years.”

‘Illegally’ is the word I refrained from speaking.

Half-Metal is a type of metal that is unique to Mars that ADA and I had never come across during our dive into the historical and economic records of this universe.

From what ADA had managed to find out through her experiments and gathering data from her various access points across the solar system, this metal has many unique properties, including its tensile strength being higher than Tungsten and natural hardness being just under Chromium, making it one the best metals for manufacturing ships and weapons before the Calamity War.

Nowadays, the metal is mostly used to shield against the adverse effects of Ahab Waves and mask the wave signature of a stealth-grade starship.

In other words, it is another branch of technological wonder that is banned from being used in anything outside its permitted area by Gjallarhorn for some foolish reason.

Since this metal is regulated so much, it makes sense that the mining rights for it would be heavily regulated as well, making it so that only the industries that are either directly connected to the Economic Blocs or those that have managed to bribe their way into the Blocs can gain the rights.

Fortunately, I had access to a cutting-edge AI that could easily breeze through the anti-AI protocols of Gjallarhorn and Bloc systems, allowing me to easily manipulate things and giving me the rights to mine, use, or sell the metal.

Of course, if I only mined Half-Metal, I would stick out like a sore thumb within their systems, flagging me for investigation by Gjallarhorn. That is why I also bought the rights to mine every single available resource on Mars with money and legal means, masking the one illegally acquired right below hundreds of legally bought rights.

I admit, the cost of acquiring these rights nearly bankrupt me, forcing me to sell all the ores and resources I have mined so far in the past year and a half on Pluto, but it is money well spent since ADA’s projections show that I can easily make back all the ores and resources in a matter of days once my factories and mines on Mars are properly set up.

Representative Norman continued browsing through the datapad as I leaned back into my seat and waited for the man to speak.

However, whatever he was thinking about saying could not be said as the door to our meeting room was slammed open by a little girl and an adult woman who followed the girl.

Her hair color and eye color, along with a similar face shape, showed that this was probably the daughter of Norman Bernstein.

The scuff marks and dirt on her clothing, along with those of her follower, who was probably her maid, showed that they had been caught in some kind of altercation recently.

And the way the maid was clutching a hidden gun within her clothing, which I only caught thanks to my enhanced eyesight, showed that the altercation was not something small.

“Father! I am back from visiting the slums! And I want you to help them!”

…….I see, it was typical gundam universe bullshit that they were caught it.

God, Universe, whatever the hell governs this universe, I beg you, please don't throw any protagonist grade bullshit my way. I just want to mine ores, make cool shit, and better the lives of these people in as much peace as possible, I don't want to deal with all the shit that comes with the kind of nonsense that a Protagonist needs to deal with.

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Norman Bernstein:

Ada Monica (ADA's clone body):