Eve thought to herself, who is the Creator? They got up and followed the Android down a few halls and onto an airlift that was going down. Eve notes that the airlift has no floor buttons on it and thought this is very odd. After descending downward for several minutes, the airlift stops and opens up. They get out and turn left and go down the long hallway. In this hallway, there are soldier Androids walking through the corridors and posted at each of the doors. A big sign on the wall indicates the restricted area in several languages.
They walk down to the end of the hall and take a right. Then they go down another long hall and take a left. The door opens up into a large grand hallway with two big doors at the end. The grand hallway is lined with soldier Androids who are heavily armed. They go down to the end of the hall and the two large doors open slowly and they walk inside a vast chamber that has the Consortium symbol in the middle of the floor. The chamber is empty of people but does have pictures of various places and a huge vid screen that covers most of the north wall in front of them.
“Wait here,” the Androids instruct and then leaves the room in the same manner that they came in. After the Androids leaves, there is a pause of silence. A couple minutes later, two big glowing eyes appear on the screen.
“Greetings, Evella Noctu,” an ominous voice says with a slight echo ringing. “Thank you for coming as we have much to discuss you and I. I am Dracabardillous, created and leader of the Machine People or better known as the Consortium.”
“Yes, I believe we have met before. You contacted me.”
“Indeed I did.”
“What are you doing here in this place. This is just a consulate.”
“I am in many places all over the universe at the same time—multitasking, if you will. Consortium space is vast and extends to many regions and galaxies. Thousands of worlds have our citizenry. It might be hard for you to understand this concept. I am an energy being with different limitations than what you can probably comprehend.”
“I see. What do you want from me? I am just a mere mortal woman.”
“On the contrary, you are not simple at all. In fact, that is why you are here speaking to me now. You and your daughters will play a fundamental role in bringing this region of space under control and unified as one entity. That is one of the reasons I saved your daughters.”
“Um, I think you’ve got me mixed up with someone else. I am not a hero by any stretch of the imagination. And what you are talking about is a little above my ambitions in life or should I say way above my goals in life.”
“The hero is not what is needed to consolidate the intelligent life forms in this region of space. A leader is needed who would be willing to make the tough decisions with wisdom and not heart. Deciding to sacrifice thousands to save millions or millions to save billions, and not everyone can make these types of decisions. Sometimes things need to be done that are not ethically correct but the ends justify the means.”
“Well, I am not following you, as this seems to be above my head.”
“To put it in terms that you can understand, you are the only one in this region who can conquer or persuade all of the empires in this area of space to become under one rule, your rule.”
“Whoa…back up there, buddy. I know you’ve got the wrong person now. I definitely do not want to be some Grand Empress over the galaxy. I can just imagine all of the enemies I would have trying to kill me on an hourly basis. I think I will pass.”
“You already possess great personal power; it is highly unlikely that anyone knowing this would challenge you. You do not need armies to get what you want. You just need intelligence, wisdom, and tactics. You have the intelligence already, and I can help you with wisdom and tactics. I will also educate your daughters and teach them many languages, history, science, mathematics, politics and how to use their telepathic abilities on a master level. I can show you what powers you possess and how to use them skillfully. We have technology that can accelerate the education process.”
“That sounds intriguing, but why are you doing this? With your vast military and your personal power, you can quickly consolidate this area of space.”
“Unfortunately my resources are being used in other galaxies far away from here against invaders who are vastly more powerful than anything you can imagine—even I have limits. This is why I chose you to help with this. There will be a time in the future where invaders such as the ones I am fighting now in another part of the universe will come here. This region must be prepared for that day by being unified as one instead of several squabbling empires fighting against each other as they are now.”
“Hum…that sounds very scary. Very well, let us proceed then. About this educational technology, how fast does it work exactly or should I say how does it work?”
“Works similar to the computer to download information into your brain and sections at a time will take about 30 days. I will also show you how the telepathic concepts that you will learn are used in practical applications. Also, I have four special telepathic suits created for each of you that will graft to your body. They are thin and lightweight pieces. They absorb magical and energy attacks and convert them into PSI energy. The more you are attacked, the stronger you get, and the more powerful your telepathic abilities are. You will not need to activate devices for shields any longer, as you can generate your own PSI shield from mere thought. The more PSI energy you have, the stronger the force shield becomes. These suits will help you achieve your goals. This is the best I can do for you under the circumstances.”
“That will be adequate and thank you for your help. I can hear your thoughts. Thirty days that will be fine. Okay, girls, follow me to the educational room. We are going to be there for a while.” They leave the room and go to a different level where there are a bunch of chairs and a large chamber with wires connecting to a huge headset. They sit in the chairs, put the helmets on, and lay back. The helmets activate and start the education modules.
***
Over a month passes by as Eve and her daughters learn many things during this period. They also practice many of the skills they have discovered that they possess.
“Yes, most impressive indeed, Lady Eve. Gothica is the finest example of an arachnid warrior I have ever had the pleasure of training. Most warriors master one or two weapons during their lifetime and she has mastered three,” Weapons Master Jazrath says as they both stand watching Gothica practice on the weapons range.
“That is awesome,” Eve says with enthusiasm.
Jazrath yells out, “Show your mother what you can do, Gothica.” The Weapons Master is a male arachnid transported here by the Consortium to train Gothica. She runs through some moving targets and whips out her four swords and slashes the objectives with blinding speed and accuracy.
“Excellent,” Eve shouts and claps in approval.
Next, the arachnid hurls several throwing daggers from a bandolier of daggers into several targets with pinpoint precision. Both of the observers clap vigorously. Then she moves down to the rifle and hand blaster range. The range activates and five targets that shoot up in the sky. Gothica quick draws four hand blasters out of their holsters and rapidly fires all of them, easily dispatching all five targets, then twirls her blasters and shoving them back in their holsters. She winks at her mother in rodeo fashion.
“Ha-ha, you show-off. You just need a cowboy hat now!” Eve teases. All three of them laugh. An Android comes on the practice field and walks over to Eve in an efficient manner. It was one of the educational instructor Androids working with her other two daughters.
“Greetings, Lady Eve. I am here to give you the progress report you requested. Xaqu has shown an extremely high aptitude for engineering, most notably in weapons design. Chaca, oddly enough, also has a great skill in engineering. She has very impressive designs for starships. They both can speak Arachnid, Elemental, Wolfkin, Reptilian, and Katin at a master level. They scored very high on the IQ tests, just as you did. One other thing we discovered is w
ho their father is—if you want to know.”
“Yes, I want to know.”
“The lab use DNA extracted from Capt. Zach Blem when he was in captivity.”
Eve was surprised by this news and was unsure how to react to it. He probably has no idea he has two daughters, but was he going accept them, as they were, mutant experiments?
“Where is Capt. Blem currently?”
“He came in this morning from the Consortium home world. Right now, he is at the consulate in our temporary lodging.”
“Thank you for your information.”
“No problem, my lady, good day.” The Android walks off and disappears into a hovercraft waiting for him on the other side of the field.
“Is she about done for today?”
“Yes, this is her last day with me, I cannot teach her any more than she has learned,” the Weapon Master says, with a hint of sadness.
“Don’t worry. We will stay in contact with you. She doesn’t have a lot of arachnid friends.”
“Yes, I look forward to talking to her again. Here she comes.”
“So I guess we are done for today?”
“Yes, this is your last day, so make sure you keep in contact with me, young lady. I want to hear about all of your adventures. I am an old person who does not get out much. Contact me whenever you get to the arachnid space. We will go out and do some shooting or something.”
“Oh yes, definitely, and thank you for all of your help and I would never have done this well on my own,” Gothica says and leans over and hugs the Weapons Master.
Eve says, “Okay, Hun, lets go.”
As they depart from the field, they see Henry waiting with their limousine. They climb into the limousine and dart off into the distance toward the consulate. After a short flight, they get out and go inside the consulate. The consulate is busy, as a lot of travelers are going in and out. The pair goes down to the lower levels to check up on Xaqu and Chaca.
After searching for a few minutes, they find Xaqu in a room that appears to be an assembly area for Androids or is perhaps a maintenance bay. There are two other Androids in there with her. They are standing and looking at what she has created.
Eve and Gothica go over to see what all the commotion is about. As they walk up, they see a sleek, shiny chrome female Android who looks very similar to Eve.
“She looks like me!” Eve says with amazement.
“Yes, Mother. I was working on a new Android design and I decided to make it look like you. Doesn’t it looked neat?”
One of the Androids says, “Your daughter is very talented not just with weapon design but with Android design as well. I believe this is the most advanced Android that has ever been constructed to date. She took the concept of the suits that we designed for you to wear and altered it to create a material that absorbs cosmic radiation such as solar power and converts it into energy that can recharge an Android’s battery. With this new exoskeleton, an Android can run indefinitely without ever having to recharge. Your daughter’s grasp of chemistry and electronics is astounding.”
“I am so proud of you, daughter,” Eve says and hugs her tightly.
“You are just about to turn it on to see if it works…knock on wood,” Xaqu says, nervously hoping not to fail in front of her mother. “Here we go.” She flips on the switch in the back of the neck. There is some noise inside of the Android and it appears to be active. Suddenly, the eyes began to glow as a large bolt of energy arcs from the computer they are standing next to hits the Android.
“Hmm…very interesting design,” Draca says with intrigue. “Sorry for hijacking your Android, as I have been observing your progression and was curious as to how it turned out. I was looking at the schematics yesterday and wondered how the practical application would function. You have done very well, Xaqu. You have created a next-generation Android with this design and my citizens are in your debt. It is only appropriate that we call this the Xaqu model. I would like to use this prototype model for myself, if you do not mind—unless your mother objects, as after all it might make her feel uncomfortable having a metallic Eve walking around.”
“Ha-ha, I don’t mind. It is uncanny how much it resembles me. You are very good with art, it would appear, Xaqu.”
“Thank you for your kind words, ma’am. I do not mind if you keep the prototype as they can always make more and would like to keep working on perfecting the design, if you do not mind. I like making androids.”
“Certainly, by all means. I know this maintenance bay is not exactly a research and development laboratory, but I will give you a computer that links to our R&D department on home world that will give you access to more stuff you can experiment with. They always welcome gifted minds like yourself, especially when it comes to developing Androids.”
“Now that would be excellent,” Xaqu says with excitement. The Empress leaves the room.
“Let us check on her sister and see what she is up to,” Eve suggests.
“She was practicing her telepathic abilities earlier and I am not sure what she is doing now,” Xaqu says and turns to Gothica. “I look like a real mercenary or pirate with all those weapons.”
Gothica smiles, “Yeah, just need an eyepatch or parrot.”
“Or a cowboy hat, then you can be a space cowboy,” their mother interjects. They all laugh as they walk out the door and go down some halls looking for Chaca. They walk into a room where Chaca is training with another telepath. They stop and sit in the observation seats above the training area. Chaca is about to be tested.
The female snake instructor says, “You must be able to find your targets under any circumstances by using all of your senses because there may be a time where one or more of your primary senses, such as sight or hearing, may be impaired. This test we going to blindfold you and make you use your hearing to guide you to your targets. Begin!”
Some balls start flying around the room in random directions. Chaca is blindfolded and is concentrating to release a lightning bolt in the general area that would take out the balls. Two more come flying toward her from behind and she ducks and fires a wideband electrical charge that strike both targets. A bunch of balls come flying out at one time from her left side and she hear those and launches a large cone of ice shards that fly into that direction and destroy all of the targets.
The instructor says, “Splendid, Chaca. I see your mother is here and so we are done for the day. Put all the gear up while I talk to your mother.” She walks over, sees her other pupil, Xaqu, and gives her a hug.
“Your daughters are very gifted and are the strongest telepathic students I have ever had. They are very smart, and so I guess they take after their mother.”
“Perhaps, but I give them a lot of credit for being their own selves.”
“I am sorry that I never got to work with you, Eve. Empress Dracka wanted to work with you directly, and besides, I think your abilities are far beyond anything I could teach you.”
“Yes, Dracka is definitely an odd one to figure out, but she is very knowledgeable when it comes to telepathic abilities, though.”
“Your daughters have basic telepathic communication abilities like all telepaths have along with some telekinesis abilities. These are not as strong as yours are, though. Xaqu can manipulate intelligent beings on a mass scale like I have never seen before. She has mass chaos mind, mass charm, and mass hallucination and fire attacks. In contrast, Chaca can control the weather with a massive gust of wind and electrical and cold attacks as well.”
“That is good to know. Thank you for working with them and you’ve done a marvelous job.”
“Thanks for letting me work with them. Now, they are done as far as what I can teach them.”
“I will stay in touch with you. You have been a good mentor to them,” Eve smiles.
Chaca finishes putting her training materials away, and then she joins her mother and her sisters.
“You did well today, Chaca, and I am very proud of you,” Eve says with ho
nesty. She gives Chaca a hug. Okay, girls, wait in the limousine outside. I have to make a detour to another room here to meet with someone. I will be up there in a little bit. You can watch the vid for news or other programs until I come up there and meet you. Just tell Henry to wait and I will be there in a minute.”
The girls disappear and go upstairs and out the front door where Henry is waiting and get into the limousine. Eve goes up a few levels and gets off the airlift and starts searching the halls try to find the temporary quarters. After wandering around for a bit, she finds a hall with the sign above it that says temporary quarters. She walks over to the front desk and says, “Excuse me, is Capt. Zach Blem staying in one of these rooms?”
The Android replies, “Let me check one second…yes, I have him registered here.”
“Could you contact him for me and tell him Eve is waiting at the front desk?”
“Sure, one second.” The Android presses a few buttons: “Capt. Blem, there is a woman named Eve waiting for you. Okay, I will tell her.” The Android disconnects and says, “He says to go up to his room; he is in unit 43.” Eve nods and goes down a few halls until she sees room 43 and knocks on the door. A few moments later, Zach answers the door.
“Well, hello, Beautiful. What brings you to a slimy dump like this?” Zach says with sarcasm.
Eve pushes inside the room and begins hugging and kissing him. They have not seen each other in a couple months, and she is making sure he knew it.
“How’s my stud been?” Eve says with curiosity.
“I have been fine, Sweetheart. What have you been up to?”
“Just boring merchant stuff, nothing exciting.”
“Why do I doubt that. You just don’t want me to worry. I think I might have been missing you too much. I thought I saw an Android in the lobby who looked just like you. I must be losing my mind,” Zach laughs.
“But, of course, my evil Androids were getting ready to take over the universe,” Eve smiles and winks while running her hand through his hair. If he only knew, she thought to herself.
“Sit down for a minute. We need to have a serious conversation.”
Galaxy of Empires- Merchant Wars Episode #1 Page 7
