Chapter 183: Claw Master Inc

Chapter 183: Claw Master Inc

Milo's list of things he needed to do was getting longer and stranger.

Research the party.

-Identify possible dangers of attending the party.The original appearance of this chapter can be found at Ñøv€lß1n.

-Find out if they will have food at the party. (New things to try.)

-Find out why the group running section H is holding a party.

-Get stuff ready for a swap meet.

Research 'Gaming Gloves'

-Create a design for gaming gloves and set up fabricators.

Research Anime.

-Pick a favorite somehow.

Research ways to legally make money, store money, and use money.

.

Overhaul programming and fix the food system. Why is it breaking down so much?

Now armed with the knowledge of what the guys wanted, Milo started work on new designs. He wanted to make gloves that would help the guys react quicker when gaming and looked just like his own gloves. They would look like the second category of glove that gave a better grip, reduced sweat and massaged the user's hands. But he saw no reason to make an inferior product. He left in the complete nerve interface and micro-muscular that could interact with a game controller. His gloves used layers of titanium and graphene. The gloves he was designing now would be 99.99% cheaper to produce than the multi-million dollar set he'd be wearing.

The first set he made in the fabricators had problems. The micro-muscles were too strong and could break a controller. He experimented to find the correct strength and modified the design. He also incorporated security into the programs run by the micro-computer. He didn't want someone experimenting with his gloves and accidentally crushing their fingers by resetting the strength of the motors. When he was done, he had two versions. The first was fingerless; the second was a full glove. The full glove was 1% more effective than the fingerless version and gave better fingertip control. Doing his own tests, he found that his gloves were better than the Ubergear gloves, coming in at a 34% increase in reaction for the fingerless version and 35% for the full finger sets. Satisfied with the design, he had his fabricators make four sets of each.

He took some precautions with the gloves. Each set would work for just one person. When each of the guys put them on, the gloves would analyze their DNA. Anyone else attempting to use the gloves wouldn't be able to turn them on. Any attempt to tamper with the glove's programming or integrity would cause the micro-motors to destroy the nerveware and wipe the software, turning them into scrap.

Something bothered him, and finally, he realized it wasn't the gloves but their look. Ubergear looked good. They had a red and black design with the company logo. His were black. Plain, boring black. He needed to make them distinctive. It took him the rest of the night to come up with something he liked, and then he did another set of gloves with a new look, making his gloves sport the same style. The gloves had silver highlights that glinted in the light as they moved. Not something that would distract the user, but obvious to someone watching. The logo on the back of the gloves was four jagged slashes cutting through the word 'Claw Master.' He hoped Butch and the guys appreciated the extra work, not that he could tell them that he had made them.

Milo had been turning that problem over in his mind while he worked. He settled on the idea that he'd been testing prototype gloves for a new company. He hadn't said anything because of the Non-Disclosure agreement he had signed. He had copies of the same agreement for the gang to sign when he gave them the gloves. They could show them off and use them but not loan them out or sell them. The contract even had a generous sum of money that the Claw Master corporation would pay at the end of the short testing period.

Again, Milo paused, sensing a loose end; There was no Claw Master Corporation. Anyone who checked would know that and know that the agreement wasn't worth the plasticard it was printed on. This could lead to trouble for the gang. He needed the corporation to be real. And if it was real? Several thoughts cascaded through his brain. He filed them under the heading 'Find ways to make money.' Later, he filled out the ideas.

Creating and hiding his corporation turned out to be easier than he had thought. Small corporations had fought for laws that would help them protect themselves from larger corporations. Larger corporations used those same laws to protect their divisions from each other. Someone could research a corporation and communicate with them without the corporation divulging where they were located and who its officers and owners were. Many firms handled the front end for hidden research corporations that wanted people to know what they had to offer but didn't want to be a target for Alchemarx, Acme, Solent, or any of the other dozens of large and powerful entities. Milo just had to find someone he thought he could trust to handle that chore for him, negotiate contracts, collect the money, and hold it securely for him.

Milo didn't trust people. So he found someone else.

Wally would say he wasn't surprised; things just happened that he had foreseen but had a very low probability of occurring. Milo contacting him to get help with negotiating a contract for online workers had been one of the few times he hadn't foreseen something. After that, he thought about other things Milo might do. Milo asking him to take 25% ownership in 'Claw Master Inc' in exchange for running the front end of the business and protecting Milo's patents was very far down the list. The work was negligible for him, and the novelty of the situation was high. The AI agreed. Patents were filed but kept secret for now. And Wally had made a request of his own.

Steven Duran was mildly surprised to find a present on his desk. Checking security cameras showed it had arrived at the building, been scanned and approved by Wally, and then sent to his desk. Opening them, he found a sleek pair of think grey gloves with a company logo on the back. "Wally, who is 'Claw Master,' and why did you approve of them sending me a bribe?"

The AI appeared on the large screen across from Steven. "A bribe? No, I don't think so, especially since I bought those for you. I think the company tournament is coming up in two days, and you've barely had any time to practice, you've been working so hard. Those will let you be more competitive."

Steven flexed the gloves; they did feel comfortable. "Everyone else will certainly be wearing a pair of M-1000s; how will giving me a knockoff brand help me compete?"

"I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Oh, and I need you to sign an NDA before you leave the office. Company policy."