by Marcus Sloss
“The changes are perfect, thank you, Sally. Establish our value and then let us know when you would like us to collect on our end of the deal,” Perci said in a pleasant tone to Freddy.
Freddy gave a small nod and darted into the jungle around a tree. A second later, he was soaring into the sky in an orb contraption that almost went faster than my eyes could track.
“Wow, I want one of those,” I said.
“They are expensive to make but doable,” Sally’s voice came from my Gpad. “Their big downside is that they are completely lacking in offensive capabilities.”
“Sally, build yourself an orb or a drone. You need your own platform to speak from. I also need a way to know when you or Willis are observing me ... color code who is actively listening in for my simple mind. I would be remiss to our people to shut you out,” I said.
“I am sorry, were you talking to me?” Sally asked and I almost smashed my Gpad.
A few deep breaths later, I saw a prancing king kitty returning home. Trailing behind Onix, was Everly, carrying a small ratty pack. Behind her, a string of Mounamine intermixed with my soldiers trudged forward. The immediately noticeable thing was that the line of Mounamine consisted of ragged, disheveled beings that were far from perfect. Ah, non-virum infused.
Sammie led an old Mounamine over to Perci and I. Onix sat on his haunches as the sad souls walked for their new home.
“King Eric, this is Den Father Barels. He is very excited to be offered a new home,” Sammie said and the meek mouseman went to his knees and tucked his head to the ground in a prayer position. I gave Sammie a shrugging ‘what gives’ look. “His former owner had habits we will need to break,” she laughed nervously. “These will recover smoothly, especially with the virum. Right now, however, they need a shower ... Ugh, yup, a shower, and a warm meal.”
“And their previous owners?” I asked, gazing down at the groveling Barels.
“Unable to provide for their contracts and let them go free. This is where the gates sent them. They were originally one hundred and seventy; now there are one hundred and fifty one,” Sammie said sadly. “But no more of your tribe will die needlessly. You have a home now, Barels. Off the dirt and through the portal. Off you go.”
Barels scurried off the ground to obey Sammie. I raised an eyebrow.
“I may have been less than honest when I said we do have a hierarchic society for our own kind. We do, just not to the same extent as other species. I am your Mounamine queen, of sorts. I promise never to talk back to you, my king. Only to those who need instruction and others are not around to give it,” Sammie said in her chipper tone.
She left my jaw hanging as she turned and went home. Perci chuckled and Everly came over to us.
“This is what is wrong with the gatekeepers. This is why they are not gods. These Mounamine served, their protectors were unable to maintain them, and then they were shipped off to a jungle planet, to slowly to get picked off. They were literally right there,” Everly said, pointing off in a direction that gave me no indication as to the distance she was referring to. “There were six massive snakes Onix killed that were fat on Mounamine.”
“I was wondering where the gravity sleds were. I take it you gutted the bodies first?”
“Yes, they are working on that now. We Crixxi have no qualms with blood. How about we head home and create a large fire pit to roast a nice snake dinner over?”
Onix licked his lips from over my shoulder with a purr so loud, my bones felt like they were vibrating. Everly petted the big beast and we shared a smile at the odd moment. We headed back home to have a rain B-B-Q of sizzling snake meat.
A half hour later, we were snacking on snake and waiting on Freddy to deliver on his end of the deal. The trip back to Mansion was quick, considering we had no aircraft.
Willis and Sally were in full relocation mode and that fact was evident when we arrived home. The scene was chaotic with household items being moved. Everything from the cave was coming out, while loot was going in. Deep freezers were being hauled out of our kitchen area alongside beds from other homes. There was very little rhyme or reason to what was going; the resulting process was a jumbled mess.
Items were being stuffed into AH1, which left me confused. Willis had said we would be moved before the next blue gate. Then it dawned on me. He meant home complete and everyone moved in. I shifted my gaze around in a hurry. There were only a few Crixxi and Pandarin. I couldn’t see a single Mounamine, besides Sammie and the newcomers. Oh … So that is what went over on AC1.
When I pulled up the flight records, I saw that AC1 was constantly ferrying loads back and forth in thirty-minute trips, with minimal offloading and loading time. They had to be going insanely fast. Sally saw me standing around the fire pit snacking on some yummy snake and happily slithered in my direction.
“I am repurposing the majority of your gravity sleds. I can hook your spare generators to them and create flying platform decks. Once I place a TP63 on top of the platform and modify the controls, off it goes—a new aircraft of sorts,” Sally said, pointing toward the massive trees by the hesco barriers. Two Goliaths lifted a mighty redwood out of the ground. The dirt cascaded off the roots as they were exposed. “This next part is great.”
The tree was laid gently on a platform of joined sleds. A moment later the combined device lifted off the ground to a hover. There were a few warning sounds from the goliaths before the platform gently rose into the air about a thousand feet. A smooth forward motion propelled the platform north at an ever-increasing speed. When I glanced back, I noticed we were missing about eight of the enormous trees already.
“I take it you’ve built an entry tunnel already?” I said in wonderment.
The Sluggero’s snort always reminded me of a kid sniffling. Sally said, “Oh definitely. The cavern is large. Your Longoria mate—good choice, by the way—bought the correct type of machines when you also purchased my brother and I. I am handling things on this end. Willis is already sculpting your city.” She looked around at the newcomers. “You brought additional workers from a raid? Impressive. I hate you less with every minute that goes by.”
“Hey! What did I do?” I replied in a hurt tone.
“You were born,” Sally said, laughing as she slurped away.
“She can be such a bitch,” Perci said, sneaking up on my other side. Her hand folded into mine. “What’s next?”
“Well, I am waiting for Eddy to call me. I am showing all of our people with good vital signs inside Colorado Springs, so that means he is probably assessing the situation now,” I said, seeing AH2 come soaring over the mountains from the direction of Boulder.
The aircraft flew directly for the caves. Willow’s voiced boomed out of the aircraft, “Clear the cave area, dropping loot.”
She repeated this call three times. Half a minute later, AH2 tilted and electronics rained out of the hanger to crash below in a roaring crescendo. I watched the process unfold without obstruction, since we had cleared all the trees in that area. When the items stopped cascading down, the aircraft zoomed back towards Boulder. That was that. The pile of loot then lifted a few feet off the ground and then hovered into the cavern. Well, hell yeah, that was awesome! I bet the platform would return in a few minutes, after dropping off the loot in the rapidly expanding cavern.
I was contemplating how much loot we could jam down there when my Gpad rang.
“Go for Cap,” I said.
“Hey, Cap, it’s Eddy. We have two hundred and twelve seeking refuge. They lost over a hundred thousand people a few days ago during a long-running battle. While we were comfy and looting, they were being raided and Colorado Springs destroyed. More survived capture, but had already fled south for Phoenix or west for L.A.”
“Give them the scoop on what we're doing. And our rules,” I said evenly and without inflection.
“Oh, they are willing to do whatever to have protection. The missus is with me, bawling with some other ladies. Turns out being behin
d walls with an army to guard them and in a safe spot matters. They had no true soldiers here. Only a few veterans and they were not equipped to smash through empowered shields,” Eddy said sadly. “We are RTB with an ETA of two hours.”
“Damn Eddy, you’re on point.” I grinned. “I see your soldier lingo is improving. Promise those people we will do our best to ensure they are safe. See you soon. Cap out” I closed the connection.
Everly sauntered over when a gout of flame ignited behind her. She had perfect timing, like a hero walking away from an explosion in the background without looking back. A new fire pit was getting ready to increase the roasting production. We certainly were not short on firewood.
“The next snake should be ready soon. Onix is eating his raw.” She grimaced. “Silly cat started to stuff a second snake into the mansion. Can you believe that!? Maria figured out he was trying to stash the corpse in the freezer,” Everly said, flicking gore off her arm. “Stuffing a snake downstairs … things got dark.”
My chin tucked against my neck as I winced at the thought. “Eddy is bring refugees from Colorado Springs. We need to prepare for some dreary folks arriving. At least that closes off that avenue for people wanting to leave Bastion for a nearby home.” I sighed. “Time to call Tina,” I said and rang our animal handler up. She answered immediately.
“Hey Cap, I convinced Norm to stay. No way am I leaving Derek, Willow, and Slister. I think he was sad, more or less, to have to abandon his hard work. He grumbled a lot, but the crops will still grow and be harvested, right? So, anyway, I was going to go over to Stronghold Castle first to start setting up electric pens when Sally denied my request, so I called Willis and was like, ‘Why is your sister hanging up on me? I need to figure out what is happening with the animals.’ And then he was like—”
“Hi, Tina,” I said, hoping to cut off her rambling. Nope.
“There are only so many seconds in the day and breaths that I have. Those are not allocated to listening to you.” Her imitation of the Sluggero brother was pretty good, actually. “Can you believe that? Well, I couldn’t and—”
I muted my mic and Tina. “Sweet mother of god,” I groaned. I removed the mute.
“… Sluggeros are outside the far southern gate eating fresh pine needles, right? And I get a text message that the ramoth can be moved first, so I replied ‘okay’. Then nothing. If I reply with one word, you should text more, am I right?” Tina asked.
Then it dawned on me, she had given me the answer. “Absolutely, unless things get chaotic, which they are right now. Let me shoot you a text in a bit. One more quick question, though; I just need a yes or no really. Are the Tavers okay?”
“Yes, they are around their lake relaxing. Why wouldn't they be okay?”
“Thanks Tina, you’re the best. Lunch soon with Willow. For the community! Cap out.” I hung up.
Longoria had arrived, mid-conversation. She scoffed and sighed, “Oh, to be young.”
“Funny, really, because she is older than Everly but you’d never know it,” Perci said, slipping an arm around the Crixxi’s waist.
“She is a fantastic animal manager, a good person, and has been nothing but positive during these dark days.” I massaged my temples. “Tina also trusted Willow enough to fly across the country before the darkness descended on a paper-thin promise that it was vital. I need more Tina’s, regardless of their tendency to talk too much, they’re vital,” I said, kneeling to greet the bulldog that trotted up, eager for food. “Howdy Felix. Easy boy, don’t eat my hand. Well, that answers my Tavers question, for now at least.” I turned to my little Queen. “Perci, I need you to tell Tina we may have more animals arriving in trade soon. Inform Norm about the plants that may be coming, too. The Gribin seemed nice enough, but they could just head home and never live up to their end of the bargain.”
“Not like we lost anything if they shaft us,” Perci said with a shrug. “What is next on your agenda?”
“I guess we keep looting, focus on moving, and monitor the gates at a semi-alert ... adjust as needed as this season continues. I should probably have dinner with Jill tonight and ensure she is okay.” I looked around at the chaos. “We need to shift a lot of stuff as we break down and move. I have no idea how the Faeries intend to replace entire hotels that our Aspen residents are currently living in,” I said, scratching my short beard. It seemed I needed a shave. “Probably best if we let the builders build while we focus on getting them the resources they need. Oh, and we need to keep an eye on Jarod. Hopefully, he stays put.”
“Hopefully he does not,” Everly said with disdain, “hitting him on the move or while assaulting Teton is the smartest option.”
“I know, but fighting another battle that we should not have to is less than ideal. Still, stopping that evil maniac is the right thing to do. Even if we don’t want to,” I said with determination. “The loot is just a bonus.”
Longoria raised her hand and we all rolled our eyes. “Fine,” she muttered, “I will stop raising my hand to speak.” Perci smirked. “Let me say this, though, at some point you need to let Teton learn a hard lesson. If not, they will call on you often, and they may never pay up or could eventually run out of the ability to finance your costs.”
We sat there in silence for a moment. Longoria had a good point. What would it cost to save the day, and were we prepared to pay it?
INTERMISSION 2
In a Galaxy Close to Universal Origin Point
“Seetheus, this was never supposed to happen. You guaranteed us an expanding containment without the possibility of system failure,” Arenius said in a soothing even tone. There was only the tiniest hint of hostility and anger in the air, but you would never know it, unless you were one of the divines. “What are your contingencies?”
Seetheus vibrated in a calming simmer. The construct’s passion for peace never wavered. There was only ever two goals worth achieving: to keep the violence from spreading and to contain evil, no matter the cost. This was the only way to protect those with the moral fortitude to never cause harm from those who would eliminate them.
“We set about this task eons ago. The days of our youth have proven unwise. Irrational almost. The faction that is kept at bay will not be pleased by these developments,” Seetheus said, shifting its orb to use the view screen to gaze upon the orbital. “We must adjust, that is all there is to it. Our bindings prohibit us from changing the nature of the market day, so we cannot save energy there. We will need to reduce the Xgates to three portals until more black holes are created and the balance restored.”
“Excuse me, Supreme Leader Seetheus,” a construct in the back said.
The meeting was a standard event, held in reaction to every flaw, as ordained by the covenants of the contract. As issues happened, they must be rectified with a discussion and a vote. The previous cycle caused a surge in power requirements for the containment field. Three emergency black holes were necessary to vortex power to maintain the portals.
“And what name shall we address you by this time, market keeper?” Seetheus said with a chuckle.
The market keeper was normally a cause for humor. When the orb with arms morphed into a fish with three tails, there were gasps. The summoned deities were not often shocked. This was against protocol.
“Today, I will go by Goldie. I am enacting the clause of impending containment failure three-dot one point six. It is no longer a question of power adjustments; in twenty-seven seasons, you will no longer be able to sustain this farce,” Goldie said with a buzz of annoyance.
A divine orb fainted at this display of indignation.
Seetheus gave a shaky laugh. “Ah, you are right to make such a claim. Do you know what happens if you do?”
The taunt was met with a stiff reply. “We die. Eventually. As do all other creations the creator has ordained.”
“Therefore, you understand why there will never be an approval of such a motion. I am not suicidal, market keeper. Your motion is struck down. We will
expand. We will continue to preserve. That is the way. For as long as this universe has existed, our divine ways have kept the peace, and we will continue to do so -”
“For only twenty-seven more seasons,” Goldie stated in a flat even tone. “Fellow divine, I am the leader of the anti-containment faction. We have been a minority. Today our extreme patience prevails. My faction has warned, almost since the creation itself, that life will find a way to get beyond our grasp. On the record, we currently have over three thousand planets out of containment. Our ships, once used to ensure no AI or space faring vehicles were developed, have been diverted to catch those on the loose.”
Goldie paused for effect. “Our fleets are depleted to the point that we’re moving old ships to new sections of space and leaving planets unguarded. Our portals are not firing on time and we are destroying entire stars to generate enough power to achieve our goals. We have gone from the holy; to no better than the wicked. This has been foretold. You were all warned, and now the end of our time is nigh.”
Seetheus gave an echoing laugh that roared through the meeting room. “We will expand, I am calculating if we go trim the gates to three portals, our fields will last us another three thousand rotations,” Seetheus said, reassuring his frightened faction. “That will give us plenty of time to repair this small issue. It is of no consequence.”
“That is without the new worlds recently conquered. I grant you, going to three portals does extend the time until a collapse. It also strains the system and will forever prevent new subjugates from feeling the true effects of peace. Which means more will die and you cannot remove more ships. You ignore the fact that thousands of worlds are blind in the containment,” Goldie said to a shuddering reply. “Yes, Seetheus, your allies are not as loving as you thought. Be careful, your web will break. I have warned you. It is best if you hide now, before the enemy fleets, hungry for revenge arrive. Before the end changes everything you hold dear, after all this time.”
Goldie left the room peacefully. The matter was settled. The only question that remained was where he would hide after the system collapsed. His mouth twisted in a tight smile as he formed a plan.
