by Bruce Marcom
Chapter Six
After spending a couple of days at Eve’s home, they hear the door chime. Henry, pulling double duty as the butler as well as the driver, walks down the hall and answers the door. There stands a tall skinny Android in yellow and chrome metal with triangle eyes.
“Greetings, I am assistant 123. I work with the consulate for the Consortium. I have been instructed by my government to invite Evella Noctu to the consulate for a meeting with our administration.”
“I will inform the Madame promptly. Wait here.” Henry walks down the hall and knocks on the door.
“Ma’am, someone is here from the Consortium consulate. The consulate has requested your presence for a meeting with their administration.”
“Okay, Henry. Tell them we will be there within 30 minutes.”
“Excellent, ma’am.” Henry walks back down the hall to the front door and delivers Evella’s message to the representative, who then leaves. Just as Henry begins to walk down the hall again, he sees Eve emerge from her room.
She says, “Bring the hovercraft around the front. I need to get the girls up and dressed.”
“Excellent, ma’am.” Henry disappears outside and goes to the garage. Eve goes to the back part of the house and wakes up the girls, telling them to get dressed and ready to leave in 10 minutes. The group of four women soon emerges out of the front door and climbs into the hovercraft that is waiting for them. After a quick flight downtown, they come up to the Consortium consulate and land at the drop-off point at the front gate. Henry pulls the hovercraft around to where the other limousine drivers are waiting at the consulate. The four women go through the main entrance after being scanned for weapons, continuing through the courtyard into the main building. They see Androids scattered all over the place, some of them working as employees and some trying to get different types of documents from the government.
“That is a whole lot of Androids. I’d guess the Consortium has about 20 billion citizens, though,” Eve remarks to her daughters. They take a number and sit down among the hundreds waiting to get service. A few minutes later, an Android comes up to Eve.
“Lady Noctu, you do not have to wait here. Please come with me. The Creator is expecting you. Follow me.”
Who is the Creator? Eve thinks to herself. Still curious about who they are about t meet, they get up and follow the Android down a few halls and onto an airlift that is headed down. Eve notes that the airlift has no floor buttons on it and thinks this is very odd. After descending downward for several minutes, the airlift stops and the doors open up. They get out, 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 in several languages that the area is restricted.
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 another large grand hallway with two big doors at the end. The grand hallway is lined with soldier Androids who are heavily armed. As the group approaches the end of the hallway, the two large doors begin to open slowly. Once fully opened, they walk inside and see that the room is 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 Android instructs and then leaves the room through the same doors they entered. After the Android leaves, there is a pause of silence. A few minutes later, two big glowing eyes appear on the screen.
“Greetings, Evella Noctu,” an ominous voice says with a slight ringing echo. “Thank you for coming; we have much to discuss, you and I. I am Dracabardillous, creator and leader of the Machine People—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… way above my goals in life.”
“A hero is not what is needed to consolidate the intelligent life forms in this region of space. A leader is needed—one who will be willing to make the tough decisions with wisdom and not emotion. One who will recognize the need to sacrifice thousands to save millions or millions to save billions. Not everyone can make those 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. 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 own 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 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 exactly?”
“Works similar to a computer, downloading information into your brain in sections at a time. It will take about 30 days. I will also show you how the telepathic concepts that you will learn can be 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, lightweight pieces. They absorb both 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 become. 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. Thank you for your help. I can hear your thoughts. Thirty days, that will be fine. Okay, gi
rls. 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.
