A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 69

A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 69

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Arksoul

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Alexis stared at me and I stared back.

“Been a while. No trenchcoat today?”

“I quit it with the cape and dagger stuff months ago. Just an analyst now.”

“Congrats. You’ll find using your power for fun and profit is a lot better than using it for other people for no profit at all.” Alexis was one of the three superhumans that I first met in Walker’s camp. I didn’t recall the names of the other two. They were just your average flying bricks. Alexis, though, had some sort of analytic power that I thought was pretty neat. “Hope that you’re charging Walker through the nose for it. Having someone sniffing out crime and spies is always great.”

“…It is much better than my old position. Less dangerous, too.” Alexis sighed and shook her head. No one was behind her waiting in line, so I decided to chat for a bit. Didn’t hurt to have good customer service. It helped that she also had a whole bag full of stuff to trade, which I was looking forward to. “And, if you don’t mind, I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I’m here for shampoo and conditioner. My mother said that I should try it out now that I have some money to spare.”

“Coming right up.” I bought the stuff by the pallet back when things were going pear shaped. Lots of wholesale warehouses sold the stuff off since most people were focused on food and other necessities. I took advantage of the panic and just bought as much as I could store. While I was thinking that, I realized something. “Hm? You never had shampoo and conditioner before?”

Her hair looked pretty good considering.

“My mother and father were both… rural homesteaders? I think that’s what they call it. They make what they can from eggs, animal fats, lye, herbs, and othersuch things.” Ah, that made sense. Alexis’ brow furrowed as I didn’t elaborate aloud and her power told her nothing. Sorry, we’re not strangers exactly, but I’m not letting you use your power on me. “Are you familiar with the term?”

“Yep. It’s when someone from the middle class or lower upper class manages to get enough money and work hard enough to just leave the system.” I put down the large, liter-sized bottles. Shampoo and conditioner. Delicate shampoo with just an ordinary, clean scent and extra-strong conditioner with all the vitamins and minerals. Not luxury products, not by a long shot, but still pretty good. It was a big buy, and Alexis seemed to be a big customer, so I pulled out a bar of moisturizing soap, too. She nodded at the sight of it all and put the duffel on the counter. “They learn all they can, live off the grid, and make everything that they need while living on small income. Honestly, it’s cool. I’m what they used to call a prepper, but with my power… I’m probably the best of the lot.”

“I told them about you. They called you a lucky son of a bitch.”

“Guilty as charged.” I couldn’t deny that. I could deny my power being a WMD or some miracle that I was being selfish for not using for everyone else. Some homesteaders and survivalists telling me that I’m that I’m a lucky son of a bitch with my powers, though? Yeah. They’re completely right in the context of survival. Being able to just instantly go to somewhere safe, and not have to worry about traveling was amazing. I’d also admit to my power being busted to anyone with a 9 to 5, since I didn’t have to travel at all. “What’ve you got for me?”

“For the shampoo and conditioner, four pounds of venison steaks trimmed and readied by my father and two pounds of carrots grown by my mother, as well as a pound of tallow for use in cooking.” The steaks were wrapped up in butcher paper and string, and I put it on the scale to verify. Almost four and a half pounds. I made sure to get another bar of soap for them for that. The carrots and tallow were also slightly above their required weight to compensate their packaging. The carrots less so because it was just string for them, but the tallow was in a large mason jar. I ran the numbers in my head and got some spare, clean towels and a body scrubber out. Alexis blinked at them, but nodded. “As for the rest, we were told that you have refrigeration and freezing, so we’d like to pay the rest forward now and exchange it for items later.”

“Right, here’s the paper for that and I’ll take a picture. If you want the stuff just stored, you’ll need to pay a fee.” I had space to spare for my freezer and refrigeration units. Not enough to store food for thousands of people, but if someone wanted to keep some meat frozen or something along those lines, I was willing to rent out space. Everything would be stored in a sealed box with a code for the owner’s eyes. If they packed things wrong, or some bugs got in, I didn’t want it messing with the rest of my food and supplies. “Just confirming that this all for future trades? You know that my stock is limited and in the future you might have to ask for something else?”

“It is and I do know.” Alexis nodded. In effect, she was giving me stuff now, so that her family could get more out of me later. It was a pain to track, but it was good customer service and I wasn’t going to say no to more supplies. It was like a reverse loan. They were paying ahead of time for goods and services from me. If the goods ran out, then I’d have to provide services. “This is fifteen pounds of venison steaks, twenty of carrots, and five of tallow.”

Ah, classic price anchoring.

They made Alexis see what I’d provide for one bundle of trade, then sent in the rest for the future.

I respected the hustle.

These guys are going to be good customers.

“Yep, got it. I’ll set aside four times as much as you’re getting now for the future.” Alexis nodded and a small, sly smile flitted across her lips. For a second, she looked like your average teenager in denim pants and ordinary shirt. Not a kid born in the post-apocalypse who’s never used shampoo and conditioner before. Damn, the world really got fucked, huh? “Now, that’s it for my family… I heard from quite a few people that you’ve received tea from China? Mother’s spoken about it once or twice.”

“Well, you’re in luck. I’ve got samples.” Qin’s people had access to a whole tea-making region and they were producing the traditional pucks of tea, as well as extracting caffeine from the leaves in a pill form. The former I was willing to trade in, but the latter I was hesitating with. Caffeine had been a massive industry for a long time, and its worth was obvious, but was I willing to take on that much risk? Did I want to start a tea company in the current context of the world? I didn’t think I could withstand the power that came with owning that kind of market and the wealth and power and enemies it would bring me. “I’ll give you four servings.”

A kilogram of good tea went for a hundred dollars if I recalled correctly. Some people would say that’s a lot, but it was about five grams of leaves for a full cup of tea. About two hundred servings of tea for a hundred dollars was fifty cents a cup, and it was real tea from China that was properly prepared without pesticides or any other additives. Any tea enthusiast would gladly pay the price, according to Qin. Not only that, but they only needed to be stored in a dry place, didn’t weigh much, and could be sold off to third parties in bulk, too. Easy to sell in a wholesale market, even in the current condition of the world.

Also, Parvati can’t just mass produce it.

What?

In the near future, products like tea are going to be the bedrock of commerce with the amount of fabricators and tech that Parvati planned to churn out.

“Thanks, I appreciate that.” Alexis gave a nod, I finished recording our transaction, and handed her over a receipt. “Thanks, Egress. See you around.”

I gave a nod in return, before settling in to wait for my next customer.

Young superhuman quits and uses her power to make money.

I felt proud by association.

…

I hung around for an hour or two at my storefront, just to catch people getting off the tram. Lot of people worked in the fields and got a ride back to town in wagons, which were pulled along by horses. Some of the trams were trucks with engines modified to use electricity, but they were still pretty rare. Maelstrom paid me to bring a lot of trucks and cars to their manufacturing center, and those were good raw materials, but they had a labor shortage of people who can miracles happen with tech, so getting loads of trucks was going to take some time. Most were focused on just moving things where they needed to be, and that included workers.

Anyway, the workers coming in always had a bit to spare after their work.

Nothing stolen, of course.

I’m not risking all my work with Maelstrom and this community by becoming a fence.

“Hey there, Egress. Looks like you’ve had a long day.”

“Cade, Allen, and George. Always together, huh?” For the most part, everyone still just traded and money wasn’t a thing, but there are jobs that take a long time and need some form of currency to function. Toiling in the fields didn’t exactly open time for people to make something extra to sell later. Therefore, farmers and other people who toiled all day for the good of society got a form of currency for trade. Maelstrom, in my opinion, was doing the right thing and slowly reintroducing money back rather than just up the economy straightaway. “Y’all going to use the same laptop or what?”

“No, one for each of us please.” I had a couple laptops with some old games in them, which I had Parvati clone out a few dozen times for a good payment. The ones she gave me were far better than examples that I gave. They also never entered my house and were stored in one of my safehouses in a cart where they were all charged and housed together. I heard some public schools had computer labs with laptops stored away the same way, but I never went to one. Anyway, I let people rent the laptops for a day or two. That’s how long their charges lasted and no one else had chargers… and I could easily check and find where they were. “Any new movies?”

“Went over and got a bunch form Japan plugged in.” They were talking about actual movies. Parvati was making moves and I couldn’t compete in that sort of entertainment when facing off against an AI that could literally make any possible body you wanted to interact with. We were talking literal movies that you sat down to watch and enjoy. “Bunch of regular movies and anime with subtitles courtesy of Parvati. It probably didn’t sanitize anything.”

“Nice! Finally, I can rewatch some great stuff.” Cade had the biggest grin, but the other two nodded along. They were all in their thirties, meaning the end of the world started when they were in their teens. Tough luck, really. “Oh, what about shows from here?”

“Dredged up a lot of that, too. I think most of it’s garbage, but you do you.” Oh and here. I got the three laptops in suitcases which contained their peripherals. I opened one and showed the latest addition. “I got projectors now. Just beam it onto a blanket or something. Don’t want you all turning into hunchbacks.”

“Awesome! Did the price change or—

“Nah, I think it’s just a courtesy not to force people to choose between their necks and entertainment.” I closed the briefcase and handed the three their rentals. They had tons of games in them, too, but most people were into just watching old shows and the like. “Anyway, how do your kids like it? Any market for me there?”

“Easy to get them addicted to it, but they don’t exactly have time. Home needs work round the clock, really.” Cade told me simply. He put a thumb on his cheek, though. “Could set up an arcade or a computer shop or something, with a daycare where kids can just watch shows? Serve some tea, some fried stuff, and you can lock down the market.”

“Hm, I’ll bring it up with Parvati. I like managing a storefront. Not managing employees or maintaining a building.” Cade nodded at that before nodding. Time’s of the essence, right. “Well, I just waited around for you guys, so I can drop the three of you at the town square, while I get something to eat.”

“Oh, that’d be great. Thanks!”

“No problem.”

I locked the place up quickly, then hopped over with the trio to the town square, while they went off towards their homes.

There were lights now, though they were dim on purpose in case some flier no one knew was around. For the most part, Maelstrom worked with Parvati to get the place up to snuff. Cobble roads, functioning sewers, and electricity were back in business in the town. Hot showers, consumer appliances, and all that jazz were coming back quickly. Most of it was being handed out, making the citizenry love Maelstrom, and money was going to come into the picture once the necessities were given.

Still, though, there were people already out there cooking food and serving drinks before money came into the picture.

“Ah, Egress! It’s been too long.”

“Sorry, Antony, been a wild week.” I took my seat near a cart, which had a bunch of tables and people chatting and eating around it. Antony was serving grilled sausages with onions, ketchup, and mustard on local hotdog buns. The ketchup was made with my assistance. He’d dialed the flavor in with my help. My help meant a free glass of chilly soda and a great sausage and some toppings for dinner. “How are you?”

“Good, good. Maelstrom gave the okay! I make the same as workers in the field now and get my ingredients for free!”

“That’s great man, I’m real happy for you.”

I ate.

We chatted.

If I ignored how all the houses were new, and how dim the lights were, I’d actually think nothing bad happened and everything was okay.

Honestly, nights like these made me believe in Maelstrom’s goals more than anything else.