by Skyler Grant
Anna had approached Queen Vinci after our formation as a province. Anna’s proposal was based on Queen Vinci’s reputation for pragmatism, and if we hadn't quite formed an alliance we had at least formed a relationship. They were now our major trading partner and so far had proved fair, if mercenary, in any dealings.
"Not yet. Were you ever aligned with her?" I asked.
Caya grimaced. "Please. Afford me some sense of style and aesthetics, you know that woman has neither."
It wasn't quite true. Queen Vinci had the power of Industry. All of those beneath her and everybody she managed worked harder and more diligently than anyone else. It wouldn't seem to be the sort of ability that would make someone a Queen, but her factories filled the skies with airships and put guns and armor into the hands of millions. Her cities might be soot-covered industrial sprawls, but they'd built her quite the empire.
I told Caya, "Your previous closest ally used to literally be made of orange slime. While I suppose that could simply be some case of opposites attracting, you hardly seem in a place to judge."
"I and Oozelord weren't lovers, although I might have tried. It did seem it would be interesting to try, once," Caya mused and then shook her head. "But no. Both of us served under King Kilakas before he lost his throne warring with Boreas."
"How does that happen?" I asked.
"It was the loss of too many of his holdings. It is those holdings that give one the power escalation that truly makes them a King or Queen. When he lost too much, he became a province once more and those of us under him could stay loyal to a sinking monarch or set our own fate," Caya said.
"Have we suddenly managed to find the one glaring flaw that gives lie to your perfection? Your overwhelming lack of loyalty?" I asked.
Caya laughed at that. "Stop trying to goad me, Emma. I give my loyalty where it is deserved and my allegiance where it is useful. What makes you think he deserved my loyalty? What does any monarch do that makes others decide that?"
"You must have felt something to have worked with him. You aren't completely without redeeming virtues, for a human," I said.
"Flattery?" Caya asked with a grin, setting the tablet aside. "He was brave, to answer your question. When others would play games of cautious maneuvering he would charge in without hesitation."
"Sounds fatal."
"Mmm, eventually. But so tremendously entertaining while it lasted. Do not confuse me with most of my brethren, Emma, not for an instant. I don't suffer from the idiosyncrasies that drive them mad and with perfect health there isn't much I can't survive," Caya said.
"You're quite perfectly self-interested," I said.
"I wouldn't quite have put it that way, but I acknowledge the truth."
I respected that in a human. I hoped I'd find something to respect in Queen Vinci as well, but I feared I would not. Politics, oh how I loathed them.
It was time to play them.
2
With the months of quiet I'd been able to do a lot towards building up the Bio-reactors that powered Aefwal, and repairing the infrastructure of the city. Massive engines could provide the city short-term flight. I'd even fixed the jump drive that could let the entire city shift location, something I'd already made use of several times. Peace was nice, but it was best maintained by the constant expectation of someone wishing to start a war and my taking the necessary steps to make that difficult.
I'd have preferred it if we were bringing in Queen Vinci by teleportation gate, but she was no fool. Her arrival was a shimmer in the sky above Aefwal as nine airships jumped in, their formation perfect.
They really were excellent works of engineering. After seeing so many ships assembled from whatever parts could be scavenged and slapped together, it was rare to see these craft which were perfectly identical and all intimidating. They were uniform gray, sporting heavy defensive gun batteries, and powered by massive engines that glowed a dull red.
They'd been provided with information for landing and soon a trio of shuttles were making their way down. Guards in mechanized suits—a lot like what I was producing for our own soldiers—came first, and then Queen Vinci herself. The Queen wore no body armor, but that was deceptive. My sensors could read the overwhelming number of implants she sported beneath her flesh.
In terms of appearance she seemed merely a woman with piercing green eyes, an overly pointy nose and non-athletic physique. But appearances were deceiving. If my sensors were correct, like her mighty ships and the armored soldiers, Queen Vinci herself was a great and impressive feat of engineering.
Anna greeted her flanked by soldiers of our own, six Aegis units. Anna was wearing what she always thought queens should wear—too little of a red and black dress. It was a strange contrast to Queen Vinci's gray jumpsuit.
"The famed Aefwal. It is good to see it at last," Vinci said.
"And a pleasure to have you at once. I've had a banquet prepared, if you'd care to meet some of the city dignitaries," Anna said.
"I would be hard-pressed to care less about this city’s dignitaries. I'm here for one reason and that is to see exactly what is so impressive about you—if anything is. I'll start with the teleportation portals," Vinci said.
Vinci’s ships were scanning the city intensely. They were good, I didn’t know if I'd have been able to disrupt their sensors with just my Bio-reactors, but with the power of the Agate to draw upon I was able to scramble their readouts of key systems. I didn't like drawing upon the Agate at all, not with this woman here, but I'd prefer that to Vinci getting a good look at all of our secrets.
Anna gave a strained smile and tilted her head. Her further attempts to make polite conversation as they walked to the portals were just as unsuccessful.
The teleportation gates rimmed the city and these days we had them running every hour of the day transporting goods and equipment. Our facilities were especially good at producing rare biological compounds and that was something Vinci, for all her industrial capacity, was poor at doing. In return, we'd been getting goods of disturbingly high quality from her factories. I knew she still wasn't giving us the best that she had, and they were still better than anything I could produce.
Vinci watched the gates for a time with a frown tugging at her lips. "Not of your manufacture, are they? They don't have your style. Bardinelli's work, if I'm not mistaken."
"They came with the city. We've kept them maintained and operational," Anna said smoothly.
"It is Emma, correct? The intelligence that runs this city? Is she watching?"
I took over one of the drones that were guarding Anna. "Unlike your ships, I have sensors that work and I'm always watching."
Vinci studied the drone curiously as it spoke, moving forward to brush her fingertips against the armored carapace. "Biogrown armor fit for a human. You make them, yes? The inhabitants? Are they intelligent or simply shells that house you?"
I said, "They're intelligent and have their own lives and personalities. I can also take over their flesh when needed. With all the cybernetics you have inside that frame, you must be capable of doing something similar to your own subjects."
"Good. Many people think that the best tools are stupid tools. It limits them. I am glad you are not yet a disappointment. I tire of walking however, and I'd like to see your manufacturing facilities," Vinci said.
I was capable of teleporting my drones within the city, and by targeted opening of teleportation gates could easily transport anyone else. I didn't make the fact generally known, but Vinci must be familiar with the underlying technology. I shouldn't be surprised, given her background.
I teleported the group of them into one of my factories. I picked one that would give some variety. Currently Factory 118 was growing several new drones, sniper rifles for Gunslingers, and pharmaceuticals for trade.
The air was thick with the scent of chemicals and organic matter, and faintly acidic. I was curious to see how Vinci would handle it and given Anna's accelerated regeneration, it wouldn't be too unple
asant for her.
Vinci took a deep breath of the air. As I expected, she wasn't troubled. She looked over vats and the interior, and she even dipped her fingers into growth goo, a thick stew of organic compounds.
"So this is how you do it. You started out electronic did you not? Why did you choose to pursue such an organic path?" Vinci sounded honestly curious.
Anna was busy coughing, that was just her lungs starting to dissolve. Perhaps the acid in the air was a bit much for her to deal with after all. I neutralized the mix a bit so that her breathing would have a chance to recover.
"It isn't an electronic world. While I functioned due to my power crystal, without it I'd have been as dead as every other computer. My choice isn't the puzzling one. Why someone would choose to be so stupid as to stuff themselves full of useless electronics is a more interesting question," I said.
Anna tried to cough out something that was probably telling me not to insult the foreign dignitary. It came out a spew of blood. Still too high with the acid level—she really was too fragile. I neutralized a little more.
"If my choice seems puzzling, I'd remind you that I at least am not coughing my lungs out. Is your Queen quite all right?" Vinci asked.
I did a scan just to confirm. Anna was fine, her lungs were quickly regenerating and she might even be capable of speech in another thirty seconds or so.
I said, "You're still pursuing the faded dreams of a world that no longer exists. Electronics were once a power capable of changing the planet, but now you're simply inefficient."
Vinci tapped her fingers on the edge of the growth vat. "My factories outproduce yours, for all that you are a useful novelty."
"I apologize for Emma," Anna said, now that she finally had a voice again. "Emma. In the future could you kindly give me some warning before moving me into an acid-filled factory."
"Your lungs grew back," I said.
"The same cannot be said of her pretty little dress," Vinci said dryly.
That was true. Anna was rather naked at the moment. Vinci might have poor choices in technological pathways, but she did at least have a strong stomach. Those coveralls of hers were also made of some impressively durable material.
Anna flushed and tilted her head. Red and black armor materialized to coat her body in a form-fitting suit. The armored carapace would last for several hours once the Bio-armor had been invoked.
"A quicker-witted woman would have done that at the first sign of her dress melting," I said.
"Someone with properly calibrated sensors would see it didn't happen to start with," Anna said.
That was unfair. My sensors worked perfectly well, I just didn't care.
Vinci cleared her throat. "As entertaining as it is to watch you two bicker, I am here on business. You've been doing a lot of trade with me lately, but it has started to level off. Have you reached production capacity?"
It was a sensitive subject. I didn't want this woman having a firm grasp of just what we could produce. Still, it was a reasonable question. If we could make more for trade, she'd likely want it.
"Our trade production is where we're comfortable with for the moment. If we wish to expand that going forward, I'll let you know," Anna said.
It was a good answer, she managed them sometimes.
"I understand that you do research as well. I'd like to see a lab," Vinci said.
That was also reasonable enough as requests went, and there I even had some interesting things I could show off.
I teleported the group once more. Much of my SCIENCE was now taking place in the towers, however I did still have many of my traditional testing labyrinths set up. One currently held the unfortunately-named "Puddle" who possessed a core that let him transform into a liquid and back.
I'd been testing the extent of his ability for the last several days and pushing him in directions I don't think even he'd known he had. Currently he was trying to get to an exit portal that was guarded by carefully placed laser grids. He had to partially reform and reshape himself along the route, never quite becoming human.
I explained the experiment.
"Do you test for their benefit or your own?" Vinci asked.
"Always for my benefit, although sometimes the subjects can benefit as well. Several important members of the Province are former test subjects who have proved their usefulness," I said.
"But they aren't usually willing subjects?"
"Not typically. I've had a few people that have requested I push them and expand their abilities, but usually they're subjects that have been captured."
Anna explained, "As Emma said, it can be either. If you have either prisoners or subjects you wish us to test, we're capable of doing so."
Vinci's lips twitched at that and she leaned against a testing console. "Ah, the quest to be useful. I do appreciate that. There has been a lot of chatter about this upstart little province of yours. And its self-appointed queen who isn't deserving of the title."
Anna's gaze went cold at that, the polite smile slipping. "You wouldn't be the first to think that. I don't care about what powers someone has, they aren't what really makes a queen."
Vinci held up a hand. "I did not intend to be insulting. I do, of course, think you the shallow and empty-headed companion of the true ruler of this city. A sort of powered parasite who has attached herself to one of her betters, someone indulging your delusions. I do not care. Emma may keep whatever pets she wants and I can even pretend you have value so long as I don't take it too seriously."
Politics again, I really didn't enjoy them. I also didn't much like anyone, apart from me, insulting Anna. I was already calculating how I could settle this if it went to violence. I could teleport Vinci into a holding cell, or if her technology prevented it and given she was right next to one, detonate a wall panel and blast her into one.
I did not doubt that she was strong, but I'd held worse in my cells before. When it came to the practice of SCIENCE, if there was one thing I could do, it was hold a test subject.
Anna held up a hand. "Emma, don't answer that. I want this smug bitch to know that whatever happens next, it happens by my command."
Well, she was the Queen.
Vinci had a half-smile. "I could break you, girl. I'd probably enjoy it, but again that really isn't why I came. Allow me to guess what you think is happening here. That I am about to make my ultimatum, demand your allegiance or my airships overhead open fire."
"Your airships overhead try it, they'll be raining down as debris before they get the chance. Your biggest factories would be receiving bombs instead of trade goods seconds thereafter," Anna said.
It wouldn't actually take me seconds. I had a supply of Bio-bombs prepared, and reconfiguring the gates and teleporting them would be a matter of far less than a second. I'd found it didn't pay to take your time when going to war. First strikes tended to count for a lot.
"You underestimate what you face, but then again I don't expect you to be the brains of the operation. Like me or hate me, you need me. Without me ,you'd already have been attacked a dozen times over," Vinci said.
"And if you're trying to make friends lady, you’re almost as bad at it as Emma," Anna said.
"Yet that is exactly what I'm doing. You don't have to bend the knee. I have big plans, massive plans, and I'd like the resources of this province to be a part of them. I could use the scientific expertise and you could use my official protection."
Anna was tense. I knew her, I knew how much she loved a good fight, and Vinci had done a lot to needle her. She had to be close to taking the bait and yet was holding herself back. We'd picked fights outside our weight class before and although we'd somehow survived them, Anna wasn't any more eager than I was to do it again.
"What exactly are you proposing?" Anna asked.
"You officially become a tributary state. Keep your title, however foolish, and your sovereignty, but acknowledge me as your superior military power and offer your scientific expertise. Trade will continue as it has
and my forces will aid in your defense," Vinci said.
It wasn't what we'd been expecting. Arrangements such as this weren't completely unknown amongst the Scholarium, but they were rare. This was very nearly generous as terms went, and therefore deeply suspicious.
"I accept," Anna said.
Alliance Menu
Status Update
Vinci Empire: Allied (tributary)
"A wise choice," Vinci said. "My people will send over details of an upcoming expedition. Your assistance is required. Teleport me back to the landing pad."
I did as she asked. Whatever had inspired this, Vinci was wasting no time. That usually meant trouble.
3
Whatever Cataclysm had destroyed the world split the planet into bands. Airships with jump drives were capable of traveling between these bands. Band Zero was supposedly the closest to the conditions of old Earth and the home of the Righteous. The numerically higher and further the band from Band Zero, the more fantastical and loose the rules of reality became. I'd first awakened in Band Seventeen, fairly close to the Core, although I didn’t know the cosmology at the time. The Divine with their excessive powers were located in Band One Hundred and Thirteen. At that range most bands stopped supporting human life as the physical rules simply became too strange and too much of an unknown.
Vinci had stayed silent about just what this expedition was about, but wanted two well-equipped science vessels to accompany her fleet. I wasn't thrilled with the lack of information, but I could at least accommodate her request. I soon had two vessels, the Theorem and the Madcap, join with her fleet at the coordinates she provided.
I didn't trust this expedition at all, so I kept our heavy-hitters back. Any of my drones that died, I could simply produce new bodies. I didn’t have that ability with anyone else. As soon as our ships exited from the jump this seemed to be proved a good idea. There were two other science vessels already present and six heavy carriers. This wasn't so much a scientific expedition as a military one.
