A light bulb went off in his head.  He was on this trip to try and establish locations for more Strongholds.  Why couldn’t this be one of them?  It was a good fifty miles from the Warren, near the top of a mountain with a commanding view of the valley below.  It would give him control of the road outside if he needed it.

Opening up his Stronghold interface, he began looking for a tab that would allow him to claim a second Stronghold.   He knew it was there somewhere, as part of the quest to survive the year was to claim territory.  One could not manage a large territory from a single point.  It was why the military’s ground forces always established forward operating bases.

When he found it, he thumped the glass countertop and clicked the button to establish a second Stronghold.  A message flashed up on the screen.

This structure does not meet the physical requirements of a Stronghold.  Would you like to establish an Outpost?

“Well, I do believe I would,” he mumbled to himself as he flipped over to read the information on Outposts.  They were basically smaller than the Strongholds, with a lot fewer options.   By claiming it, he would be awarded ten thousand Outpost points, which traded at a 1:1 ration with klax, just like Stronghold points.

He looked at the available options.   There was a wall, ten feet high.  The same water and power options as the Warren, along with a communications option that would allow outpost residents to communicate via a holo-terminal with the Stronghold or network of Strongholds and Outposts it was tied to.

He was almost giddy with excitement at this point.    First, he clicked Yes to establish the Outpost.  Then he added the wall, expanding it so that it encompassed the parking lot and stopped about ten feet off the road in the front, and ran about fifty yards back behind the building.  He chose the electricity option, and all the lights came on.  A pump outside began refilling the toilet tank from a well in the back, saving him from having to buy the water option.  He added the remote gate activation, and the sensor network, which he was pleased to find extended across the road outside.  So he’d know any time someone passed by this place.  Or stopped there.

Lastly, he added the communication option.  With that, he pushed the button to accept the transaction, spending the whole ten thousand points that came with the Outpost as well as twenty thousand of the Warren’s points.  The expenditure didn’t even faze him.  They had another RV to sell, and he had a feeling the books and artwork were going to be huge sellers.

As the golden glow surrounded him, he thought about how he would explain it to Luther and the others.   He especially didn’t want Luther to feel like he was being usurped from his former leadership position.