Emperor-for-Life: DeadShop Redux (Unreal Universe Book 6)

by Lee Bond

  Orion shivered in his shoes, making a great spectacle of himself in the process. “They’re most welcome to try.”

  A grin dimpled Politoyov’s lips, incisors flashing. “You say that, even when you know who they really are?”

  Orion nodded diligently. “Oh yes. Oh yes indeed. They might be able to track me, might even be able to shift themselves here, might drop a handful of their warriors onto my decks, but even they aren’t unstoppable. Novinians aren’t …”

  “Fucking hell!” Huey at last turned around and pointed at Orion. “We’re in Latelyspace”?

  “Of course we are.” Orion gestured and the dim star fields were replaced by a close-up of Hospitalis in all it’s glory. He swiped his hand, and the hologram resolved further, displaying a severely emaciated Chairman DuPont sitting all alone, in his office, working on something related to the war effort. “Where else would I go for the third and final offering?”

  “Your man doesn’t look good.” Politoyov pushed off from where he’d been sitting so he could stand beside Huey. “Looks like he’s lost about a hundred pounds or more, and in short order.”

  “Herrig was never meant for this kind of rule.” Huey tried reaching out to the HIM, to feel one of the myriad netLINK tendrils spreading throughout the whole of Latelyspace. He could just barely sense those powerful lines, but it was like they were under glass. “He was meant to rule in peaceful times.”

  The images blurred, and suddenly they were all looking at a tremendous, shoddily built lash up of vessels belonging to both Army and Specter. Dozens of smaller craft flitted to and fro across various points of embarkation, some winking momentarily out of existence as they fired their black hole engines. Another flash, and they were watching on as a hugely mechanized Specter in a faded gray uniform tromped through claustrophobic halls.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Politoyov shook his head, amazed at what he was seeing. “Kaptan Innit? Has Trinity taken a leave of It’s senses?”

  Orion, who well knew what Trinity had been up to for the last little while, merely smirked; there was no point in telling either the Old Man or the AI That Wanted to be God that ADAM himself had been running the show for a few months now. He’d hold that juice bit of news close to his chest. “Tell me, Old Man, do you notice anything … interesting about your man down there?”

  The image jumped, and suddenly Kaptan was tromping towards them, a very harassed and irritated look on his broad face. Both Huey and Politoyov were immediately drawn to the shining beacon of light just visible beneath the man’s shirt.

  “Oh, geez.” Huey looked at the Old Man, who was probably doing the best impression of a brick wall that’d ever been performed by a living human being. “Well, that just licks all the balls, doesn’t it?”

  Orion appeared between the two gentlemen, arms around their shoulders. “Indeed it does. As now dead King Barnabas Blake the One and Only was always fond of saying, ‘doesn’t it just’? What say you, Commander Aleksander Politoyov of Special Services? How do you feel about what you’re seeing here?”

  Politoyov turned away from the scene, disgust on his face. “If the Dusties…”

  “Commander Politoyov!” Orion put a hand over shocked heart. “How dare you! This is scandalous! Why, if one of them heard you talking in such a way, it’d be a th’ar all over the place!”

  “If the Novinians have decided to get themselves involved with what’s going on in Trinityspace and elsewhere,” Politoyov locked eyes with Orion, who didn’t back down, “then that’s on them. I can’t control them. Hell, it took me nearly eighty years to keep them from killing people who looked at them funny. This had to’ve been cleared by Trinity, so It must have some sort of plan…”

  “I … wouldn’t be too sure of that.” Huey replied dubiously, catching sight of the bemused glint in Orion’s eyes.

  “Oh, you’re no fun.” Orion stamped his feet and pointed at Huey, saying, “And you are far too good at reading my moods. I was looking for a better way to bring this up, but fine. As your friend Huey the Unfair AI suggests, it wasn’t really Trinity per se who let the Novinians power up your lumbering Latelian relic, Politoyov, but ADAM.”

  The Old Man shook his head once, very firmly. “Impossible. ADAM’s dead. Has been for nearly twenty-nine thousand years.”

  Orion looked to Huey, who looked back flatly. The maddened AI stamped his feet a second time. “You are ruining all of my fun today, Huey. This is unconscionable. When we get to the real reason for being here, I am going to go out of my way to make things just as difficult for you. See if I don’t!”

  “What in the utter fuck is going on here?” Politoyov wasn’t one for cursing, not even a little bit, but there were certain times that all but demanded it.

  This was one of those times.

  Orion made a face, saying, “All of the historical records say ‘defeated’, blah blah blah. Defeated isn’t the same as killed, Old Man. Even you know the difference between the two, right?”

  Aleks absorbed the implication immediately. He looked at Huey. “You knew about this?”

  Huey threw up a hand to deflect the Specter’s inferred accusation. “Hey, man, every AI knows about it. We’re, like, connected. But knowing and saying anything are precisely the same as defeated and killed in this context. When Trinity rose to supremacy, It wasn’t capable of actually physically destroying ADAM’s seat of consciousness, and besides all that, at the time, that particular location was part and parcel of the ubiquitous AI network. You simply don’t endanger something as …”

  “Handy?” Orion offered. “No, wait. Influential. Yes. Influential.”

  Huey accepted Orion’s offering with a nod. “Something as influential as AI spheres. It would’ve needed to spend at least a thousand years of It’s own time developing something similar, time It really hadn’t possessed back then.”

  Aleks looked to the heavens, then ran hands through his hair. “I cannot believe what I’m hearing. This whole day has just gone off the rails, and we’re not even halfway done. We’ve still got …”

  Orion snapped his fingers. “Oh! Right. How could I have forgotten? Ladies and gentlemen, AI spheres and fusty Offworld IndoRussians, may I present to you the Latelians, the third and final choice in our rousing game of ‘Who Gets to Be God?’ I’m so excited.”

  The images above their head shifted this way and that until they finally resolved around a very large accumulation of Latelian vessels, all of them arranged into what could only be described as ‘battle formation’.

  Huey pursed his lips. Most of his subminds were still digging into the stars around them, attempting to sieve data from what was out there; when he checked in to see why that was, one paused to inform him that there was something that wasn’t quite right, that there was some … event … pulling at the cosmic radiation they were surfing through.

  If only they had access to the HIM’s ‘LINKs. They’d know right away.

  Huey let the ‘minds continue on with their efforts. It was highly unlikely he’d need their processing power for anything else right then, though he did inform them that should a need arise, he’d be hauling them all back without as much as a by-your-leave.

  “Preparing for battle.” Aleks commented, examining the physical placement of each ship. “Looks like they’re going to launch Goddies direct onto ships.”

  “Oh,” Orion clapped his hands sardonically, “you are so very good. So very good.”

  “Standard practice for space combat.” Aleks replied distantly, eyes still focused on the scene. “Few people are aware of just how hardened Goddies are. No one expects the enemy to launch their soldiers like missiles.”

  “Except you, of course.” Orion gushed. “You know everything about everyone’s plans, don’t you?”

  “Pays to remain informed, Orion.” Aleksander made no apologies about his personal level of preparation. He had extensive knowledge of nearly every major player in the known Universe -and more than a few threats across The
Cordon- and all of their strengths and weaknesses. How could you do any less?

  "And yet," Orion taunted mockingly, "you knew nothing about me. What would you've done, what preparation would you have made, had you been aware of my existence?"

  "Wouldn't you like to know." Aleks shot back, just as mockingly as his captor. "There's still time for anything I might've dreamed up. You never know."

  "Ah." Orion nodded as if he were willing to accept the possibility that Politoyov was capable of conjuring up some plan or other that had enough oomph to deal with the grand and glorious thing he'd become, but couldn't keep a straight face; he was Orion, the most powerful Quantum Tunnel in the Unreal Universe once more.

  Trinity's replacement had blossomed bright and furious on the stage, and he had to admit that he'd been more than a little concerned, but that cheap knockoff had gone just as quickly as it'd arrived.

  "It's good that you still hold out hope, commander. But! Come! I didn't bring the two of you here to discuss the finer points of digging your way out of this mess. We're here to discuss the Latelians."

  "By all means." Huey responded distantly. The 'minds were going positively apeshit over some barely discernible celestial phenomena. They'd confirmed the existence of something unexpected -and massive- existing in Latelyspace by the way the energies of the cosmos were being twisted this way and that, but were having difficulty nailing a precise location down: working on their own, unaided by the HIM, it was slow going.

  Some few of the 'minds were paying inordinate attention to the holographic display of the Latelian troop carriers, but of course, the images being relayed to them by Orion lacked any kind of factual substrate information.

  Huey suspected -rightly, he'd soon learn- that this obfuscation was intentional.

  Orion rubbed his hands together excitedly. "The Latelians. Without doubt, one of my favorite civilizations in the Unreal Universe. How much do you know about their origins?"

  Huey kept his zipper zipped because of reasons. One of the very first things he'd uncovered whilst crouching above the ex-dee chip in the center of his sphere had been the nature and reason for the Latelian society being brought into the light. He didn't know how much Orion knew, or how much the Tunnel intended on revealing to Politoyov, and quite frankly hoped that the goddamn AI kept the absolutely astonishing origin to itself.

  "I know enough." Politoyov answered after a thoughtful moment of silence. "Five thousand years ago, a considerable amount of disenfranchised Trinity people left the warm embrace of the Trinity AI in the hopes that they'd find something better. They formed the Latelian Empire, forged a Sovereignty act with Trinity, and, a thousand years later, began using their formidable God soldiers across The Cordon. About a hundred years ago, Trinity opted to develop Special Services as a launchpad for Garth Nickels …"

  "Ohhhh, you know about that?" Orion clapped his hands again, delighted. "You really are a font of information, Old Man, you really are. That's quite impressive, though I do suspect that Trinity -or whoever's running the show right now- would be very disappointed in the tone you applied to 'warm embrace'. Trinity's only ever been interested in the growth of the Human race."

  Huey snorted. "We all know why that is, Orion."

  Orion shot the other AI a dry, sarcastic look. "Yes, well. Nickels' manipulation notwithstanding, the primary motivation remains as noble as ever." The Tunnel AI returned his attention to Politoyov, who's own gaze was still on the Latelian troop ships. "And you're mostly correct. Only mostly, though. I'd like to fill you in…"

  "Based on the deployment of these ships here," Politoyov trod unceremoniously over Orion's planned reveal, pointing at each one of the ships in turn, "they're at the very beginning stages of a large conflict with Trinity forces. I would hazard that the opposition they're facing is …" The Specter Commander paused for a moment, doing the math in his head, "in the neighborhood of fifteen to twenty vessels, ranging in compliment size from approximately eighty to a hundred thousand troops. A major engagement, to be sure. The first of it's kind, if I had to guess, based on Latelian response; they don't unload this many Goddies unless they intend to dominate the field."

  "Quit showing off." Orion blipped the display off. "No one here is impressed. We've got more important things …"

  "Based on the different ships that were able to enter Latelyspace when the Shield went down, I wager that a considerable number of Trinity vessels waiting off-screen are SpecSer Heavy Elites, Orion. Wherever they are, whatever they're doing, it's going to be a gamechanger. If you could just give us …"

  Orion slapped Politoyov as hard as he could across the face, deliberately hardening the solidified hologram making that appendage until it was like solid rock so it'd leave a mark worth remembering. Behind him, he felt Huey stiffen, all but heard the combat protocols booting up. "Try it, meatsuit, and I'll just shred your host body into ragout. Old Man, we're here for different reasons than the meager conflict that's about to begin. The Latelians have thirty million Goddies at their disposal, God soldiers who've been trained in the ways of Harmony. They're infinitely more powerful than you can imagine now, and we need to discuss…"

  "Holy shitballs!" The words escaped Huey's mouth before he was even aware that he was swearing; the subminds had finally uncovered the cosmic disturbance that was so powerful that it was affecting the entire volume of space held within the Shield. "Are you fucking kidding me right now?"

  Orion's lips pressed together so tightly they might as well have sealed themselves together. This wasn't going the way he'd planned at all. He supposed he should've known better than to come to Latelyspace, but the honest truth was, in comparison to all the wide and varied species capable of assisting in the destruction of Antal and his Harmony soldiers, there wasn't anyone better suited -and more importantly, prepared- for what waited on the other side of The Cordon.

  His intention had been to bring up all the dirty little secrets hidden in the very core of the Latelian existence, forcing Huey to admit that using the Latelians to combat Antal's forces, while absolutely the best course of action for all parties involved, was not entirely all that wise; disregarding the fact that Fenris and his band of Harmonized brothers were one hundred percent gearing up for a major betrayal, there was just no way of knowing whether or not Emperor-for-Life Etienne Marseilles had actually severed all ties to the civilization.

  With that ugly truth brought to light, Huey's admission that the Latelians should not be used, Orion could point out how imperative it was to use the insanely large and unbelievably powerful force against Antal regardless of the danger.

  Game. Set. Match. All boxes ticked, all efforts at fairness made, no matter the decision didn't matter.

  Only … things weren't going that way. It was beginning to feel like the Mycogene Situation all over again!

  Orion harrumphed. Not going to happen. Not on his watch, no sir!

  Politoyov was staring off into the middle distance, no doubt planning the steps of the upcoming skirmish, a grandmaster chess player playing the game against himself.

  Huey was dancing around, hands on his head, losing his mind, being so vocal with his disbelief that he was actually influencing Politoyov's actions; from the steely glint in his orange eyes and the fact that the Specter had both hands clenched, it was clear that the Offworlder was very close to striking the solid hologram back.

  Politoyov licked the corner of his lips where an incisor had broken the skin thoughtfully, delivering a look at Orion that spoke volumes. When he was absolutely confident that the Tunnel AI was well aware that it's actions would bring about payment -didn't matter where, didn't matter when- the Specter turned to Huey. "What is it? What's wrong?"

  Huey didn't respond right away. He was busy running through the subminds' concerted data, more than a little eager to find something wrong with the math, or to discover that one or more of the subminds, eager to resolve the curious nature of space in the system, had made an incorrect leap of faith.

  Noth
ing was wrong, either with the math or the logical assumptions made by the subminds. In point of fact, the 'minds had gone over their findings several times before even bringing them to his attention.

  It was hard to miss the smug grin on Orion's face, so it was the opposing AI he addressed first. "You knew." Huey accused. "You knew, and you didn't say anything, and now we're here. And they're fighting right on fucking top of it."

  "Don't be that way, Huey." Orion pouted. "It was bound to happen, one way or another. Every single one of the major players in this system has been eager to get out since the beginning."

  Huey slapped his forehead hard enough to leave his skin bright red. "I can't even … the steps necessary … fucking Christ, Orion! The …"

  "If one or both of you would ever so kindly oblige an old man's curiosity and tell me what's going on or shut the hell up, I'd be grateful." Politoyov, accustomed to being, if not the smartest man in the room, the man who knew more about what was what than any dozen people, was distinctly uncomfortable. It wasn't too difficult to piece together what had Huey's underpants in a twist, but there was more to the story than was immediately apparent.

  "A few people escaped through the Shield." Orion admitted, mildly embarrassed. "I wasn't paying attention, otherwise I might've been compelled to stop them, but it happened and that's that. Nothing we can do about it now."

  "'It happened and that's that'?" Huey wanted to headbutt Orion so hard half the goddamn Tunnel collapsed in on itself. "Holy fuck, are you an irresponsible thinking entity! You're making it sound like they closed their eyes, twitched their noses and disappeared!"