The Pantheon Moves

by Michael Chatfield

  Xue finished his checks and checked his communications.

  “Chief, how are we looking?” Xue turned and moved for the door in his office.

  “Running final checks on the shuttle. Boys and girls are arming up—they’re all a little bit excited about visiting Ice City,” the chief said in an excited voice.

  “Looking forward to having a real meal.” The corners of Xue’s mouth rose into a smile. “I’ll be there in five.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ve been trying to contact Councilmember Lisdel. Both he and his secretary are not responding.” The chief’s voice was filled with hidden meaning.

  Xue sighed and shook his head. The council member was married, but on a ship as small as the Sprite, everyone knew what everyone was doing—and the walls weren’t exactly thin. It seemed that he had not only hired his secretary for his acute managing of his timetable.

  “Call them on internal comms. I don’t want to be late. We’re going to be meeting with Dave and he’s a busy guy,” Xue said.

  “Yes, sir, I’ll see to that,” the chief said.

  “See that you do.” Xue cut the channel as he walked through the Sprite. He made a detour to the bridge, checking in and making sure everything was fine. Showing his face to show that he had confidence in them helped to calm any of the nerves they might have not having the captain on the bridge. They were a well-trained team at this point, so, he truly had no fear in leaving his command under their care.

  Xue made it to the shuttle bay, which was barely big enough to fit the two standard combat shuttles of the Sprite.

  The doors were open on the craft, with the security detail checking their gear and weapons.

  “Officer on deck!” the chief yelled out, saluting Xue as all the others came to attention.

  “At ease.” Xue returned the chief’s salute.

  A few nodded in greeting to Xue; the rest continued their conversations and went back to what they were doing. They had all come to know Xue in their travels from Deq’ual space and were comfortable with all of their officers.

  Most of them were excited as they talked about going to see the asteroid base, talking about different things that they had seen, enlightening those who were going on their first trip.

  “All right, we leave in five. Load up!” the chief called out.

  The security detail pulled on their helmets, which sealed to their suits. The clear front of the helmets turned black and hid their faces. They pointed their weapons to the ground, organizing into two lines as they rushed up the ramp of the shuttle.

  Xue pulled on his helmet and opened up a private channel to the chief. “Any word from Lisdel?”

  “Wasn’t too happy about me interrupting him and his secretary.” From his voice, Xue could tell that the chief didn’t hold the council member in much regard. “He also demanded that a position be made for his secretary for the trip.”

  Xue shook his head as he and the chief made their way up the ramp and to their seats in the shuttle. “Guess it’s time we played the waiting game.”

  The chief let out a tired grunt, accepting his fate.

  The excited atmosphere in the shuttle slowly faded away as they passed their launch time, waiting for Councilmember Lisdel and his secretary. The security detail undid the tint on their helmets. Xue could see the annoyance on their faces. The council member had an easy timing to meet but instead he’d wrapped himself up in his secretary.

  After a half hour, there was a message from the bridge.

  “Captain, we have a message from Dave Grahslagg, asking if we’re all right. If you want, he is willing to come meet you on the Sprite,” Xue’s second-in-command said.

  Xue and the chief shared a look before Xue responded. “Tell Dave that we’re running a bit behind but we will be there shortly.” Xue could only hope that he was right.

  Nearly forty-five minutes after their supposed lift time, Lisdel and his secretary, wearing their high-quality space suits with armor plates over top, showed up.

  Lisdel’s helmet was made so that people could see his head at all times. His hair was coiffed and he wore makeup to emphasize his charm. He was bit thicker around his stomach, something that was rare in the Deq’ual system and pointed to someone eating—regularly—much more than their normal food ration.

  His secretary was a flamboyant-looking character; he moved ahead, getting the security detail people to move so that the council member could sit between them.

  “Well, let’s get this shuttle moving already.” Lisdel smiled, as if he were waiting on the shuttle crew to get flying for the last twenty minutes. Lisdel sat in the shuttle and the secretary snapped photos of the council member “among the soldiers.”

  “Sir, you should take a seat,” the chief said to the secretary, who was in the middle of the shuttle, looking to get the best angle for the photo.

  The secretary gave the chief a look of disdain and tilted his head as if questioning the chief’s credentials before he rolled his eyes and got back to the important job of taking photos.

  The shuttle sealed and the air was evacuated from the shuttle bay.

  The shuttle rose, not so gently, knocking the secretary over as the shuttle then accelerated out of the shuttle bay. The secretary hit the rear ramp of the shuttle, in disarray.

  Xue’s eyebrow rose as he looked at the chief, who had a look of pure innocence on his face even as his eyes had some hints of pride. Xue saw that the security team’s chatter was filled with noise. He listened in to it, hearing the chuckles of the team.

  The secretary was flustered as he ambled back to his seat, looking at them all as if it was their fault for letting him make an ass of himself.

  Xue sat back in his seat as they traveled toward the asteroid base.

  Lisdel tried to contact him a few times but Xue made it look as though he were sleeping.

  Lisdel had a cold light in his eyes before it was quickly hidden and he started trying to talk to the security detail around him. They gave him one-word answers and felt obliged to answer him even if they didn’t want to.

  It didn’t take long for them to reach the asteroid base. The same hidden entrance greeted them as they passed through.

  Xue used the sensor feed of the shuttle to look out at the main thoroughfare. It was larger than before. He could see the asteroid base’s interior growing with the visible eye as an army of automated miners and machines worked to carve out the slips, offices, and different parts of the asteroid base as they went.

  Xue’s eyes moved to the main attractions in the thoroughfare. In the slips, there were shuttles, the massive automated mining excavators, and their smaller automated mining drills, though two massive battleships and now eight destroyers in various stages of completion dominated the space.

  Automatons moved all around. The battleships were having some panels removed from their armor. Xue could see them with his eyes but the sensors of the shuttle were unable to even perceive the battleship and the destroyers.

  If it was not for Xue looking at them, he wouldn’t have thought that they were there in the first place. He was once again struck by just how advanced the machines and items the Emerilians used were. Even though it was magic, and it sounded unstable and confusing, they had melded it with scientific methods to increase their understanding of it to the point where it was more potent and powerful than any technology the Deq’ual had.

  Xue looked upon the different ships and machines. The activity had increased by a massive margin. The speed at which the destroyers were coming along was impressive. There was even another superstructure that seemed to be laid down for a new battleship.

  The shuttle moved into a landing area, where shuttles were moving cargo crates to and from.

  The doors opened up as Dave and his entourage appeared at the end of the ramp, using teleportation. There was just Dave and Suzy. Dave had called her back from the front lines in order to help handle the different needs of the Initiative and manage it all. She was also there to help sort o
ut a way to help gain the Deq’ual system’s trust.

  Lisdel pushed past the different soldiers and moved to the front of the line, a brilliant smile on his face as he moved down after Captain Xue.

  Xue saw Dave frowning. Suzy’s expression didn’t change but he saw something flash behind her eyes.

  “Captain Xue, good to see you,” Dave said as soon as Xue entered his Mana barrier, the atmosphere inside allowing them to talk. Dave shook Xue’s hand and then indicated to Suzy. “This is Suzy, my right-hand woman and the one who keeps all of this and everything else under control.” Dave laughed and waved at the asteroid base.

  “My job is hell,” Suzy confirmed with a straight face before she let out a short laugh and shook Xue’s hand.

  “Well, I know I wouldn’t be able to manage all of this. I’m still in shock with how fast you’ve been able to do everything!” Xue admitted.

  “Councilmember Lisdel.” Lisdel put his hand forward.

  “Dave,” the man replied, shaking Lisdel’s hand.

  “It’s so good to meet you. I’m very interested in seeing how we can benefit one another in the future. For the good of the human race, the council and the people I represent are very interested in the plans and trade you have,” Lisdel said forcefully.

  Xue hid his displeasure while Dave’s smile became a bit more forced. There was no trace of changes on Suzy’s face as she hid her emotions deep.

  “Now let’s have a pose of the first meeting between the Emerilians and humans.” The secretary moved among them, not caring about propriety as he tried to arrange Suzy and Dave for the photo shoot.

  “Sorry, we don’t have much time on the schedule for photos,” Suzy said with a smile that actually looked disappointed. “We’ve got a lunch set up to discuss our future endeavors together. Need to keep Dave on track or else he would be all over the place.”

  Dave laughed good-naturedly, showing their skills in working together as a team.

  Xue was impressed with their skills. It was as if they had experienced situations like this multiple times.

  Quickly they got everyone organized and walked through the asteroid base.

  Suzy informed the secretary of the upcoming schedule. The secretary tried to exercise power over what was to happen, but Suzy’s skills were not to be underestimated. As even the secretary felt as if he had won, Suzy had maneuvered them expertly.

  Dave, in turn, talked to Xue—citing military secrets—on a private channel. Lisdel was not very pleased to be left out of it all and instead walked with the poor security detail.

  Xue’s face turned ugly as he heard Lisdel’s comments on the different people they passed. He called them half-breeds, pests, and a stain on humanity’s purity.

  The security detail had all experienced meeting these people before and although a few of them might have some similar viewpoints, the majority didn’t and they tried to hammer reality in to those who had similar ideas to the council member.

  However, Xue was happy that he wasn’t dealing with the council member. He made sure all of the recording devices were off as he cleared his throat.

  “Dave, could you make sure that our conversation is private?” Xue looked at the secretary and Lisdel, who were caught up in their own worlds.

  There was a change in the air that the sensors in Xue’s armor barely registered.

  “Done,” Dave said in a serious tone, obviously feeling that this conversation had a bit more weight to it.

  “The council of my system are dragging their feet on helping you. They want resources, technology, and all of that but they want to stay hidden and give limited to no benefits. They’ve even passed orders for us to secretly gather all information on your technology as well as your facilities,” Xue said, his tone dark.

  Dave didn’t say anything but his eyes became cold as his expression dimmed from smiling to apathy.

  Xue continued on, his own anger building. He trained to fight, not to go around stabbing their allies in the back and then hiding within their own system, doing nothing against the forces that put them there. “I have been given another set of orders from Commander Sato, Admiral Adams, and Edwards. Lisdel is supposed to leave within a month. When he does so, I hope that we can work together completely. Whatever you need and we can help you with, we would be happy to do so.”

  Dave seemed to be scanning Xue before he nodded. By his look, it seemed he understood what kind of pressure this would put Xue under and how going against the council wouldn’t be a good thing, but they felt it was their duty to help out the Emerilians.

  “Well, if that is the case, then I indeed do have something that I need your help with,” Dave said. “We’ve started to wake up the players who were stuck in the Earth simulation. We have a number of them who want to help and fight the Jukal, but they are green. They’re quick at learning from their mistakes and they take to the simulations in the Mirror of Communication like fish to water. However, only very few of them have a background in the military or other related areas. I hope that you and your people might be able to aid in their training. I want them to get down the basics, come to understand space, the dangers that they face as well as the issues they will have when fighting in a spacecraft.” Dave watched Xue for his reaction.

  “We can certainly do our best,” Xue said.

  “That’s all I ask,” Dave said.

  “I didn’t know that you were able to wake them up,” Xue said.

  “Well, it’s not simple. We only just got the capability to do it and we’re walking on a tightrope. We’re currently disconnecting and waking up only the players who don’t have many other players around them. The players will easily recognize when another is acting strangely. However, we can trick the AI easy enough—Bob knows how they were coded, after all. We’re pulling out more and more of them every day. However, it’s only a small number when compared to them all.”

  “If you don’t mind my asking, how many of them are there and how many are awake?” Xue asked.

  “There are around five million in the simulation—two point five million for the next two generations who have been ramped up. However, some of them are at different stages of their life. We’ve been speeding up the simulations slightly so that all of the people who come out will have the mental age and experience of an eighteen-year-old at least. Right now, we’ve got maybe fifty thousand moving around. It’s a lot of resources being burned through by having them awake. However, we’re starting to see results from it already as they’re helping out with the various facilities and helping us in growing the different bases, driving production to new heights and allowing us to build up a core group that will be able to man the different ships that we have.” Dave looked to Xue, who felt an unseen pressure on him as he felt the trust that Dave had put in him was no small matter.

  Xue was lost in his own thoughts as he considered the numbers Dave mentioned. There were nearly three million people in the Deq’ual system. With all of the players awake, then the Pandora’s Box Initiative by itself would have nearly two times the amount of people they had. That wasn’t even starting to consider the forces that were on Emerilia.

  Dave guided them through the asteroid base. Since they had last come, there were more armored doors, people, and automatons. Even in just a few short weeks, it was clear that the Pandora’s Box Initiative was not some small entity and they were only just starting.

  They passed through a portal. Lisdel inspected the different Aleph automatons that stood watching the portal like statues. “Well, they look good, but all statues do. Waste of resources that can’t move.” Lisdel let out a barking laugh, calling the defenses of the Initiative simple statues.

  Xue remembered how one of the battleships had appeared above his own Sprite, with its missile tubes and cannons runes glowing as Mana surged through them. He didn’t deem to make a comment as they exited the facility holding the portal and looked at Ice City.

  Xue smiled. The buildings of Ice City now had more green areas,
where parks had been allowed to grow. These parks were filled with different plants that would create food and air. Xue approved; living in Deq’ual, there was nothing that was done for just simple decoration. People needed a place to relax and get away from their worries like the park; they wouldn’t fill it with useless items, but items that could help support the station and the people within it.

  There were more people moving around. The city seemed pretty full, with people talking and chatting everywhere. Most of them wore casual clothes that seemed a bit more modern than the simple hemp clothing. Others wore close-fitting clothes covered in runic lines.

  Xue’s eyes fell on these people. They had a familiar atmosphere about them—he felt a connection with them. He looked to Dave, who smiled as he created a dome around them that wouldn’t allow noise out.

  “They’re your new trainees,” Dave said.

  “What are they wearing?” Xue asked.

  “They’re wearing the best in magical coding protection. The clothing has a Mana barrier built in that they can activate at will or will activate when it senses an incoming threat. In the soles and the clothing, there are slight gravity runes that will allow them to stick to anything they step on and walk on it without the nauseous feeling of null gravity. There’s heat and cold exchangers so that they don’t freeze or burn up no matter where they are. Also, we’ve added in some slight enhancements to increase their stats. If you look on their arms, they have armbands. We code different armbands with these enhancements. They usually only have one or two active at a time; having them all going is a huge power draw and it’s likely that after five minutes of use that they’ll burn out. It’s the newest design—switch and change your enhancements on the fly. We’re going to add support orbs that will be able to help them in their jobs but the factory is only just coming online and the people in Emerilia will be getting them first. For the time being, they will just have to get used to them while they’re in the Mirrors of Communication training,” Dave said.