Mod Superhero

Chapter 7.23 - Venture 1

Dr. Venture stood alone in the control hub, surrounded by light—glowing wall screens, holographic displays, even overlays on his glasses and his retinas. He saw the world in data—sector reports, production graphs, updated calibrations... Layers upon layers of data. Venture's knack let him take it all in like a human supercomputer.

Still, it felt like trying to sift through the sand on a beach that stretched out for miles. TINA was already condensing and simplifying things where she could. In short, Venture was just reading the summary of her ongoing operations.

TINA's voice came through his ear. Quietly, like she was trying not to startle him.

"Let me know when you want to take a break."

Venture flexed his hands and forced a yawn. He'd been tensing up again, and his muscles ached. Taking in so much information was pushing his brain and his body to their limits.

"No, I'm fine, TINA. We'll stop when we're done."

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Venture realized that this was the first time TINA had spoken to him in almost twenty-four hours—not since the team had gone on their mission to New Venice. Nothing was the matter. It was just faster to speak in data.

And TINA had a lot to say.

Venture scanned a wall screen that showed the Western Hemisphere. North and South America were covered in various overlays—green zones for established control, yellow for ongoing set-up, and gray for complications and paused construction. There were deeper layers as well, showing communication lines, troop acquisition, and manufacturing. In general, expansion followed that order, though there was some overlap between phases.

Altogether, the maps told the story of the Resistance and its expansion.

Almost all of the Allied States was deep green—the Resistance had manufacturing capabilities in every state but Alaska and Hawaii.

Venture zoomed out to a map of the world. New green footholds appeared in the southern swath of Brazil, followed by spots in Nigeria, Kenya, and coastal Morocco.

The green was expanding. Fast. Far faster than Venture could have predicted.

And the data in the corner reminded him why.

DUNAMEN ARRIVAL: APPROXIMATELY 4 MONTHS

If everything went according to TINA's median projections, then the Resistance would be ready for the Dunamen with one month to spare.

Of course, not all projections were comforting.

Venture turned his attention toward the holographic table in the center of the room. Schematics appeared, layered overtop of one another. To anyone else, the images would've looked like a kaleidoscope. If they looked closely, however, they would see tiny annotations updating in real time.

This was TINA's latest version of the antimatter reactor.

For most of Venture's life, fusion had been heralded as the future of energy. Fusion reactors had been viable for decades, but hamstrung by the same artificer politics that held back gene therapy and nanotech production. Fusion energy alone could've solved the world's energy crisis, allowing civilization to grow while mitigating global warming.

But even TINA's most advanced fusion reactor designs paled compared to the prototype antimatter reactor. At peak operation, fusion cores yielded upwards of 300 megawatts of sustained power. The first antimatter reactor was projected to yield 4.2 gigawatts. Its energy was clean, stable, and had a near-total mass-to-energy conversion. The waste heat profile was so low it could be cooled with passive radiators.