An idea came to me. "Since you've clearly been watching Ironman, I don't suppose any of your space magic catalogues have a solution to the reaction mass problem? I've always wanted one of those suits."
Oh, yes! but you'll have to trim your facial hair if we're going with the whole Ironman aesthetic.
"Lay it on me."
55 points for the suit-
"Sold!"
You don't have enough points just now. It's bigger than you imagine, and the thrusters are a problem. The reaction mass problem, as you say.
"When I buy stuff it just appears, right?"
As you say.
"So you can teleport things. There's no 'receiver' at this end so obviously it can be done without one. A mechanism like that could totally solve the reaction mass problem. The other end could be a fixed installation so-"
Chief, I hate to rain on your parade, especially when you're kind of right, but direct manipulation of space is a type of technology reserved to Class IV catalogues. You'd need three tokens and thousands of points.
"Because... let me guess: the first thing people do with space manipulation is weaponise black holes."
No, the first thing normal species do is play with black holes and have an accident. Normally it's a week after the accident that someone thinks of weaponising black holes. Unless, it would appear, humans are involved.
"It's one of the Great Filters, isn't it."
Great Filters? Ah, yes. What an odd little species you are to think such a thought, depressingly nihilistic and optimistic at the same time. It does make you excellent candidates for the vanguard, I suppose.
"What if we gave up on looking cool and basically turned it into a pauldron mounted drone with simple rotors? The pivot is high so I'd be stable. In fact, it might be better if the pivot were just far enough above my centre of mass so I'd hang forward about thirty degrees off vertical, so I can see the ground well but looking up isn't too hard. You can put the mechanism at the centre of gravity then and you could even make it detachable from the armour so it doesn't mess with ground movement."
The design you're describing is a common Class I geometry for personal aircraft and combining it with hardpoints on light armour is far from novel. This isn't the worst idea you've had today. Are you sure you want me to remove the airframe mounted-
"HAMMERSPACE!"
Do you have ADHD?
"I could if it would get me Hammerspace."
What exactly is- oh, I see. Chief, this is more space manipulation. You can't have it. Back to the possible: do you want it to have gun mounts and if so how big?
"A one-man helicopter gunship. Why not! I presume the question of recoil has been considered."
If you think you're getting inertia-compensated gunmounts, for the last time space magic is Class IV! Oh, you're talking about a gas cushioned slide with a high mass and a spring return. Yes, that's an option, but you'll get better accuracy with a rocket rounds.
"Won't those be more expensive?"
I prefer a weapon you only have to fire ... once!
Unable to avoid rolling my eyes I drop down behind a falling tree and sure enough the movement I thought I saw is a group of small units stuffing the remains of a smaller sow into a huge centipede thing. "Fine. How much is an RPG?"
Single shot, discardable, unguided - three point. Or you can have an M41 SPNKr reloadable two shot launcher and three two round clips of M19 102mm surface-to-surface missile for ten points.
"A spanker, huh? Can you do the SPNKr EM with the big clip and the laser guide? Either way, sold."
A familiar hardcase appeared against the fallen timber. It was the EM! Four shots, point and shoot. Leaning into the whole thing I vaulted the tree and ran directly at the problem. Halfway they saw me and I saw the dot on the big one. Aiming low for skip and splash damage: FOOM FOOM FOOM FOOM! "Reload!" my hand was out ready but they were heavy. Oof! Clack flip snick CLUNCH FOOM FOOM! Two in the tube and mulch still raining. My heart was pounding when I realised we had music. "Seriously?" I laughed, still breathing hard. "Battle music?"
You respond to it without thinking. It's faster than words.
"Hah. I suppose I do." Recovering soon enough, "Have we got enough points for the personal hoverdrone thing?"
No. Let's keep moving, maybe check on your other neighbours.
"Janna? Might be a bit late, those were her sows." We walk in silence for thirty minutes, finally up her drive. What a mess. There's nothing left of the nursery, not a single plant. Her tiny cabin was timber and they've even eaten that. All that remains is fibro sheets, roofing and gutters, all metal. Vines trail out of the irrigation tanks, making it clear what must be done. "Fragmentation grenade." Hand out. Plop! "Blast radius?"
About six metres. Be at least ten metres away.
Pulled the pin and lobbed, spoon flying dramatically aside with a satisfying spang. My target was the top of the tank but I completely overshot. WHAM! Gruesome beasties boiled out of the tank. "Another!" Pulled the pin with my teeth (because war movies!) this time low and slow like an unsporting cricketer. "Another!" Yanked the pin. Spang! Lob. WHAM! WHAM!
"Chainsword!"
75 points?
"Chainsword, now!" It had a big red button and a satisfying roar. Remnants of the small, fast ones tried to swarm me but the chaps were thick and tough and the chainsword was just plain fun.
"Backpack chopper thing?"
You need another 300 points or so. Keep shooting.
"With chainguns and rocket launchers!"
I've created a monster. Right, now you need some flesh-melters for here, and then we should go back and clean up. In the meantime, you can afford a recon drone now. Remember when you said you didn't have a helmet? You're about to buy one. I know you don't do implant augs, but there's no reason we can't project on the inside of a visor.
"Wrap-around, light-armour, polarised, half-silvered, flip-face with a rebreather in case we run into that one with the trippy gas and the spikes. In-helmet audio, an external speaker so you can talk to other people, and please tell me you can do a compass across the top of the visor and waypoints!"
Twelve points. Here you go.
A Mk IV Mjolnir helmet appeared. I glared in the direction Autumn was giving her voice.
You were very detailed about function and said nothing at all about styling.
"Autumn."
No refunds.
"Autumn. It's very cool but I want something that won't look completely ridiculous over a lumberjacket. Another 12 points if you must."
Since when do you care about image?
"You're right. Maybe I should order a clown outfit? Perhaps motley would be classier. Or maybe a pinstripe suit and a bowler hat?"
A full-face PPE visor with shroud appeared. The outside must have been some kind of illusion because when I put it on no light leaked in save through the lens and it felt more like a motorcycle helmet than anything else, but lighter.
Twenty-five points for protection without the appearance of protection. It has all your toys. And I can do this!
My field of view zoomed quickly and smoothly in till I clearly saw an ant carrying a football sized aphid up the underside of a broad expanse of grass leaf. A callout box surrounded the giant ant in case I hadn't noticed it. Then the world zoomed out, the cone of my vision narrowing as distant flecks bloomed into vivid focus. She must have been doing some kind of steadicam thing, smooth as silk, level, no jittering. The targetting reticule was still there, even though the aphid wasn't even a speck in the panorama. And a compass across the top! I concealed my excitement with deflection, trying not to be obviously stoked.
"Can you do thermal? Sonar? How about electric and magnetic fields?"
Stop it with the gratitude, you're making me blush.
"Yeah, alright. It's very nice. Thank you ... Bluetooth?"
What do you think?
"Good. Call Trix and give her an update. We're going to Oleksiy's. Can you put a waypoint up?"
You need a waypoint to find your neighbour's house?
"I need a waypoint to nerd out."
I got a waypoint.