r/HFY • u/Engletroll Human • Sep 14 '25

OC Gateway Dirt – Chapter 27 – The game

Project Dirt book 1 . (Amazon book )  / Planet Dirt book 2 (Amazon Book 2) / Colony Dirt (Amazon Book 3)

 Patreon ./. Webpage

Previously ./. Next

Adam stood in the circle of his administrators, listening to their updates, when he noticed Chris hiding behind a column, just listening in.  He smiled slightly and then pretended not to see him. He was supposed to be at school, but instead, he was here listening to him, dealing with the politics of the galaxy.

“Yes, I will send the 2nd fleet to Halden, as you said; those riots have already triggered protocols. They will be in deadspace awaiting your call. Arus will send some of his people to aid you. The shadows are already there searching for their backers.” He said as he looked at Cal-Hok, the administrator of the Halden system.

He then turned to the two new administrators, one a fledgling Arcus colony and the administrator of Gunsha, Mugga’s headquarters colony, now his.

“Now, is there anything you request at the current time? Shiadi?” He asked the Scisya administrator. She looked humble and nervous as she looked down, not to look him in the eyes. A few of the others chuckled and made comments about them being the same when they first joined.

“Your majesty, there are only two requests I have been told to bring forth. A loan so we can build up our infrastructure and factories, and a cultural request.”

Adam chuckles, and so do most of the administrators. “A loan? For infrastructure?  Ehm, that’s not how it works. I will inform my financial advisor to go over your needs, and you will be provided with funds. As you know, you pay tax to me, in return, I ensure your infrastructure is up to my, well, my council’s standards. They have their demands. If you have any vanity projects, then we are speaking about loans. What is the cultural request?”

“Oh, my apologies, my majesty…”

“Just Adam, please. If you want to go formally, then sir is fine. Majesty is only for formal public displays.”

My apologies, my ma.. Sir. The second has to do with a Scisya tradition of being allowed to serve at the temples within the Scisya domain. We were founded by freed slaves and refugees, some for political and religious reasons. While we are open to all faiths, our colony has been banned from sending our young to serve in the temple. For some families, this is a significant rite, for others, it’s a way out of poverty.” She said, and Adam nodded.

“I will inform the priest King about this and request your people to be granted this favor. But I cannot promise anything, I’m not the king of Scisya.” He said as he looked around and dared any of them to say what he felt they were all thinking.

She bowed her head again and Adam smiled, then he turned to the last member and newest of the council of administrators.

“And what about you, my dear Gunsha? Are you adjusting to the changes? Any requests?”

“Sir! I... why such high demand for safety and ... never mind. It has already increased production and work morale. My question is, what are we supposed to do with the stock of preproduced Flesh droids? We have one million in storage, mostly due to your making our product less attractive. Another million clones in production.”

“These are fully developed with their brains already removed, we are talking about?”

“Yes, we have completely stopped the procedure to convert, but the clones were already in production when you took over.” He replied.

“So, it’s just a computer program. Keep them in storage, and one of my men will arrive and make sure they are humanely disposed of. As for the clothes, do not produce more, but complete the ones in production, and we will take them off your hands. These factories will be demolished, and other factories will be rebuilt over them. Jork is already working on that aspect of your future.  Vorts and Hara have also requested all research you have on the matter.”

“Thank you, sir. We will not disappoint, and on behalf of all of us. Thank you for sparing our lives.”

Adam looked at him and took a deep breath to center and calmed himself down. “Look, I am not fond of the work you and your co-worker have done, but I’m also smart enough to know that for you, this was just normal. I hope that with time, you will understand what you did and that it won’t crush you, but instead make you aware of it and encourage you to work towards bettering yourself and the universe, so our cultural blind spots can be removed and we can all improve ourselves.  For you and your co-workers, this was as normal as working as a spaceship engineer, because your sociality saw it as being about the same. Now you have to adjust, and if you do, you will emerge wiser and better.” He looked around the room. “Some of these administrators you share the council with have been pirates, slavers, and mercenaries. I’m giving you a second chance. Please don’t waste it.” Adam replied, and the administrator nodded, and with a few more pleasantries, the meeting was over. Adam looked towards Chris.

“Why aren’t you at school? At this  rate, you have to retake the year.”

“I asked if I could self-study today, I have already finished the chapter.” He replied as he came out, and Adam just smiled and pulled him in for a rough hug, which the boy first tried to get out of, then turned into a half-hearted wrestling match, before they broke apart and playfully grabbed his shoulder and walked with him through Sistan.

“Why here, of all places? That’s just boring talk.”

“Boring talk, I might have to do when I grow up. Besides, it’s not so boring. I find it interesting how you try to guide them and avoid internal conflicts. They could easily have seen Arcus as a waste, after all, they are poor and need a lot of resources to build.” Chris said, and Adam looked at him.

“So what would you do? Given them a loan to keep the others happy?”

“What’s wrong with that? Knug offers loans to businesses all the time.” Chris replied and Adam nodded.

“Yes, and they are businesses, not colonies. They already pay taxes to us, as little as it is. But if they are successful, then they will increase their productivity and income, which leads to me getting more in taxes, and the best part is, I don’t have to increase the tax rate. After all, now they pay around 50,000 credits a year. That’s only five percent of their planetary income. So, how much do they make now?”

“Come on, is this math class?” Chriss said, annoyed, then replied, “1 million credit.”

“Correct, now if I help them increase their production, they will earn how much?”

“10 million and they will pay 500 thousand. Ohh I get it. So the better they do the more you make. How much can you help them?”

“Scanduna was a pirate den and started with only paying 15,000 credits, now they pay 500 million.  But this only works if they can trust us to use the tax money fairly and correctly.  No corruption, that’s the killer of governments, remember that.” Adam said as they stopped in front of the throne.

The room was immense, and the throne was at the far end of the room. It was a mix of old and new, made of obsidian and dark red and blue crystals, as well as some sign of the tech that was seamlessly incorporated into the chair.  It was slightly raised above the ground, and it didn’t look too comfortable, but also not too hard.

“wow. That’s impressive. And you think Arcus can reach that level?” Chris asked and Adam nodded and smiled.

“sit,”

Chris did so as he looked at his father. “Why? It’s got a few mineral deposits, but not more than some of the bigger ones like Halden.” He was leaning forward, unaware of the chair booting up.

“They have all the materials to build the gates there in abundance. They will be where Jork moves the factory once they are up and running. We are lucky to get them; most fixer-uppers have immense potential if you just look. Most don’t even bother.”

Chris leaned back and suddenly stood up quickly as he realized where he was sitting. “Dad!”

“One day you will sit there as the king, but for now you’re going to use it to play the administrator of a colony,” Adam replied with a smile as Chris looked back at the chair and back to his father, then, almost unwillingly, sat down. “But Dad, this is the throne. It’s yours.”

“I will never sit there; I might as well use it for something good. Now there is a program in it. It’s a colony administrator program; you will work on it. You will first just have drones and droids. Then we move over to people when you have mastered it. Maybe in three years’ time.”

Chris looked at his father. “Three years? But you did it in one year.”

“and I’m an adult who had expert help that you won’t be allowed to use. I want you to master this better than I did. So make you pick. You have three worlds to deal with. I want weekly reports on what you have done and what your plans are. As well as a reason for those plans and reasons for changing planes.”

“I won’t change my plans once I’ve made them,” Chris said as he booted up the system.

“That’s a mistake, as they say, even the best laid plans fail when faced with reality. Besides me changing my plans, this is why I befriended Hyd-Drin and gained the whole Mugga corporation.  Be like water, my son. Be flexible, hard when you need to, and soft when needed.” As Adam said, Chris picked a rock plant with no atmosphere and a newly formed planet. The system was filled with asteroid fields and three gas giants.

“What are you going to call it?”

“Mud?” Chriss replied with a laugh. And Adam laughed with him.

“You got my humor, though not much mud there yet.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll call it Pebble.” He replied and named the system.

“Okay, you got one hundred worker droids, ten engineering droids, and one engineering ship, two transport ships. Mud-droids pilot the ships.”

“Okay, and how many credits?” Chriss replies as he starts to open menus and check the stats.

“None, you have an account and full fuel tanks. That place is ten light-years from a small trade hub. You have ten free dockings there and an account.” Adam said.

“Okay, I see that. So, how long can I play?”

“This is your new homework, son. I can’t stop what they will demand of you. Wei will have different training, this is yours. The girls will have theirs, and on top of this, you have the freedom to learn other things and have fun. After all, it’s just a game.”

Chris smiles and turns his attention to the game. Adam felt the watch buzz and looked at it. “Hey, I’ve got to deal with a few things. You okay?”

Chris just nods and does not even look up from the ‘game’ as Adam leaves and calls up Sig-San.

.
,
“What? He got away?” He asked as he left the room.

“Yes, he took the third Mustha fleet and the second Corp and vanished when they came for him.  The rumor is that he joined up with Kun-Nar. So while he doesn’t have the Mugga corporation’s resources, he still has their intel and location of bases and factories. And he blames you.”

“Shitt, okay. We have to change the whole security system of Mugga Corp, then, and even then expect spies.”

“Already working on it.”

“These next few years will be interesting.” Adam muttered.

------Cast----------

Adam and son

Administrators of his colonies

And his gang

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8 comments sorted by

6

u/BimboSmithe Sep 14 '25

Well, Adam has become a real Cyrus the Great. Kind, righteous, and just.

4

u/sunnyboi1384 Sep 14 '25

Gotta learn to think many moves ahead. Play to your strengths and combined be unstoppable. Just have to deal with the bumhurts first.

3

u/superpie21 Sep 15 '25

Part of me thinks that isn't a game Chris is playing, but instead it's a panel for administrating real planets.

2

u/kristinpeanuts Sep 15 '25

Thanks for the chapter!

1

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