28. Base

Two weeks after starting his side project, Alistair discovered something uncomfortable about himself. He was less practical than he liked to think. He had overdone it. Honesty left no way around that.

The original plan had been simple. He wanted a hidden shelter outside town, something safer and more private than the first place he had made for Lauren. At most, it should have had two rooms: one for sleeping, and one for storage and basic work. A plan like that would have been reasonable.

Instead, Digger got carried away, and so did he. At first, the extra digging had felt harmless. The clone was good at it, the work earned EXP, and there was something deeply satisfying about watching it take shape through his own power. That feeling only grew stronger once the space started to resemble something real. The first real warning came when one section of the excavation gave way and buried the Digger clone under a collapse of earth. A sensible person might have stopped there, rethought the whole plan, and shrunk it back into something modest.

Instead, he summoned Framer.

He could not honestly blame it on the clones. He could have said they were following their class instincts or working with too much autonomy, and perhaps there would have been some truth in it. But even in their most autonomous setting, the clones were still him. If they kept digging, it was because he wanted them to keep digging.

The simple truth was that he had become excited.

Once the excavated area grew larger than intended, the temptation followed naturally. Since the space was already there, why not use it properly? If he had room for more than a sleeping bunk, he could add a training area, a workshop, proper storage, a better entry, even an emergency exit toward the road. After considering it through several bodies at once, he realized the original two-room idea had already become too small for what he had started. By then, the underground area could fit at least four rooms, and probably more if he kept it simple.

Then the first real problem appeared: water.

Saboteur, making one of his now-routine inspections for weaknesses, found the issue before rain had the chance to ruin everything. The danger was not deep groundwater, but seeping water.

Once noticed, it was obvious. Rainwater would naturally try to move through the soil. A storm would turn parts of the base into mud, damp walls, and rotting timber.

The project came to a halt for two full days while he replanned it. For a while, he was close to abandoning the whole thing.

In the end, he found a compromise. Instead of a true underground base, he would build something closer to a hidden lower structure. He dug the whole area above the future rooms so the roof would sit just below the natural surface level rather than buried too deep under it. Then, once the ceiling had been properly reinforced and protected, he would cover it again with a very thin layer of earth and growth so the whole thing would disappear into the landscape. It would not look perfectly natural at first, but in time, weather and plant growth should soften the signs.

Once he settled on the new approach, he moved to the foundation. This time he forced himself to follow Framer’s guidance properly. Survivor was still useful, but only after the essential work had been decided. He did not want the place where his main body would sleep held together by Improvise alone.

The first thing he built was drainage. Before the floor was fully leveled, Digger and Saboteur shaped shallow channels around and beneath the planned rooms so any seepage or rain that found its way in would have somewhere to go. Framer clarified the support lines, and Binder became far more useful than Alistair had expected.

At first, Alistair had treated Binder as a class for rope and bandages. It turned out to have far wider uses. Secure worked on lashings, braces, joins, fitted coverings, and all sorts of temporary holding arrangements that construction needed constantly.

Carver, naturally, became involved in almost everything. Timber needed shaping. Support posts needed cutting. Stone had to be reduced, flattened, or notched. Alistair had once assumed carving would be limited to wood and food. He had not expected it to help so much with stone.

Another class, one he had almost forgotten about completely, finally found a place in the work as well.

The class was specialized, and that had made him dismiss it before. It lacked Survivor’s flexibility and Binder’s general utility. But once the walls, support posts, and stone joins started needing precise fits, it became invaluable. It helped reduce gaps, smooth connections, and make different pieces hold properly against one another instead of only meeting roughly and being forced into place. Alistair could already think of several older jobs where it would have saved him trouble if he had remembered it sooner.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Once the floor, drainage, and primary supports were planned out properly, the structure began taking form quickly.

The lower level came first. A central room was laid out wide enough to serve as both training space and the heart of the base. Around it, three side rooms spread outward. One would be for sleeping, another for washing and changing, and the third would serve as storage at first, though later he decided part of it would need to handle waste until he built something better.

The combination of clones was unreasonably effective.

Even without formal construction knowledge, progress came steadily because each body only needed to solve problems related to their class. Framer and Saboteur pointed out structural concerns. Survivor and Seeker found practical solutions and materials. Binder, Carver, and Fitter handled the more technical execution. Digger prepared the earth and opened the space.

The second major obstacle came when it was time to make the ceiling and the earth cover above it. Even a thin layer of earth above the roof would hold moisture, and if he wanted brush and grass to grow there later so the place would look natural, then the cover had to be thicker. A heavier cover meant more moisture, more pressure, and more chances for seepage.

Framer could only show support lines for a structure Alistair could meaningfully imagine. Saboteur could only identify weaknesses in something that already existed. This time, Alistair had to gather ideas.