Star Warden Book 2: RQ. Chapter 8

 

King of the Hill.

When King Benjamin spoke of a city in the sky he was not exaggerating. The research station was larger than Sam imagined. He tried to crane his neck to see it all but it was not possible. What he could see was a breathtaking sight all the same. Flying armed drones scanned the shuttle and then signaled their approval for his landing.

The station had a transparent artificial atmosphere allowing them to have a view of the sky around them and outer space above. While having no trouble breathing or walking.

“The synonyms to describe my amazement with Tuatha achievements will be quickly exhausted at this rate.”

Glass walkways led them past shops, bars, restaurants, a large central park, and various homes. Which were still being cleaned by various janitorial drones in the city. There was even a weapons vendor kiosk. Sam tried it out and discovered it still functioned but it required a type of nanites to print weapons. He looked at his Talisman to see if the Enchantress had left any nanites. There was enough for one weapon.

“Okay. What item could I get with this?”

The kiosk opened up many holographic screens with various weapon schematics. “Pistols only please.” Many of the screens closed. “You want anything, honey?”

“No thank you. I will just take the one you will no longer be using.”

He browsed through the screens until he found one that caught his interest. The Tuatha runes stated it was based on some form of quantum manipulation, allowing the pistol to alter the energy it output. He pressed the purchase tab and in a flash of light, the weapon was in his hand. The materials made it look sleeker but there was still that pulp sci-fi element to its design. 

He gave Kaguya his older ray gun. “Wanna race me to the archives? Rocket boots vs wings.”

“Oh, I do not know if I should. I would not want my husband to be embarrassed.”

“Embarrass me,” Sam stated incredulously.

“I am only worried you will not be able to keep up.” Kaguya coyly put her arms behind her back while smiling.

“Put your wings where your mouth is and race.”

“As you wish.” She got into starting position with Sam.

“We go on 3.”

Sam counted down and on 3 they were off to the races. It was mostly a neck and neck race with the two of them speeding around the station. They laughed and taunted each other when one managed to take a lead over the other. Then they forget about the race entirely and spent the time just bouncing around. Eventually falling down next to each other in the park tired.

Once the moment of revelry was over they took an elevator up to the highest part of the station. Like most Tuatha buildings it was designed in the form of a tall winding spire.

“The Tuatha loved their spires.” Sam commented.

The elevator door opened up into a dark chamber. “Lights.” No change. “Lights.” Again the room stayed dark. “Illuminate?” The lights activated revealing a circular white chamber inside a large shaft. The walls surrounding it slid open revealing various glowing lines made from electronic runes.

A computer terminal and table materialized in the center of the chamber on an energy platform. Joined by a walkway of solidified plasma. Sam walked across it and then took out the spellscroll. The computer opened up its disc tray automatically and closed once he placed in the disc. The monitor lit up with a holographic face.

“Submit Identification.” Sam placed his palm on the holographic screen. “Identity confirmed. Human with blood royal genetics. Welcome, Your Highness. We were told to expect you. How may we serve?”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Even the computers are formal,” he said under his breath. “Open up all archived information.”

“Certainly.”

“Execute searcher program and fabricate Spellbinder.” The Talisman did as instructed and information began downloading. On the table, a leather-bound tablet was digitally constructed and then solidified.

“Now downloading spell-spe—spell..”

<<Warning Virus Detected!>>

Before Sam could respond a shock hit his body and all his electronics went offline. His armor went into complete lockdown. Only his head was mobile. Kaguya looked over at Sam in a panic leaving her open to being captured. Rings of data surrounded her arms and legs. She was lifted up off the ground with her limbs held out. Pulsations traveled across her body disrupting her ability to manifest magic. Her shock turned to panic when she heard Sam's screams.

“Sam!”

Arcs of electricity were coursing through the armor. Smoke rose from it and the familiar ghastly smell of burnt flesh was in the air. Tears formed in her eyes as she attempted to break free from her bonds. They grew tighter and tighter but she did not relent. Right now the love of her life was in danger. The only thing that took her attention away was the sound of mechanical footsteps.

“SWAT-bots. Behind you!”

The Warden's screams abated as the shocks ended. He took a deep breath trying to ignore the burnt flesh and calm his mind. It was racing with brief flashes of his near-death experience. He did not notice the SWAT-bots until he was physically turned around by them.

A small drone entered the chamber and projected a hologram of Daimos. “You are utterly pathetic, Samuel.” The Dark Lord folded his arms over his chest.

“Come to gloat over the trap,” Sam asked.

“So you figured it out. Only too late as usual.” He followed it up with a cold electronic laugh.

“I already know that the tracking device was a virus transmitter. What I don't know is how none of my security detected it.”

“Eli gave me the key. I suspected that when he made your armor he would use the same operating system for ease of maintenance. I tested the virus until it could fool your defenses along with adding pieces of your father's code to further disguise it.”

“I see. So if there's nothing else can we speed this up? Not that I mind your hot ai-” He was cut off by a powerful electric shock.

“Your glibness will not be tolerated, insect. The only reason you are not in a pool of viscera is that I need you to live long enough to give me the location of Camelot.”

“You know I won't talk.”

“Your cooperation is no longer a requirement. Thanks to the Soul Extractor.”

“Something is not right,” said Kaguya. “Why spring your trap now? Your forces surely could have taken the archives long before now.”

“He could but it would have put the station at risk of being destroyed. That or his forces would be too weak to fight the Guardians if he failed to take it.”

“Uh oh. The boy is learning. I best be careful.” If Daimos had a face it would be displaying a condescending smug. “I do have a question for you, boy. In your time with the Guardians did you bond with anyone? Any children or families specifically? Before you answer allow me to happily inform you that I killed the Guardians.”

Daimos enjoyed the shocked look on their faces. They tried to hide it with stoicism but their eyes betrayed them. “Before you think there were any survivors I used an orbital strike the moment you were out of communications range. Normally I would have preferred to capture them, hate seeing good labor go to waste. But a Dark Lord must put business before pleasure, after all, we don't want a repeat of what happened in our last encounter.”

“Murderer! The majority were civilians, elderly, children, children soon to be born!” Kaguya was livid. “The Guardians did not possess the means to come here. Their deaths were needless!” 

“Oh, I assure you, Princess. Their deaths were necessary even if they could not interfere. I had to kill them quickly. Launching a conventional attack would have scattered them. Allowing them to live and spread hope. The hope that you gave them. In a way, one could say the blood is on your hands."

The Star Warden stayed quiet and focused his rage. Yelling at Daimos would change nothing. He planned this trap too well, meaning the only way to escape was to use something he was unaware of. He tapped into his magical training, feeling for the mind of Excalibur. Excalibur sent the feeling of a smile inside his head as a greeting. Wasting no time it started interfacing with the Warden's Talisman and through it the rest of his equipment. 

Kaguya and Daimos continued unaware of the Warden's plans.

“All this death,” she said. “What do you even want here? You have all the power you could ever want and you have already conquered worlds beyond my own. Now you have captured me so you can sate your revenge. There's nothing more you need to do.”

She received an uproarious laugh in response. “Your vision is pathetically limited. Not surprising considering your worldview. A need to do good in the world limits your understanding of how it functions. Just like my creator.”

“At least he believed in something not just mindless destruction for no reason.”

“Oh, I have a reason.”

“You told me. 'Why not' you said. Innocent people suffering because of a whim of yours.”

“What is so wrong with following your heart's desire and seeing it be made into reality? Isn't that what you do?”

“I live an honorable life. I seek to help and make the world a better place, raise a family. So they can do the same when I'm gone. You simply kill, steal, and destroy.”

“Gladly. But all for a purpose. Tell me have you ever heard of the game King of the Hill?”

“The children's game?”

“The very same. Simple concept: the one on top of the hill is the king. Those who seek to challenge him climb the hill to push him off. Those who can't fall but the one who can push him off will become the King. In the end, there can be only one king.”

She understood what he was trying to convey. “The Cosmic Rings are apart of your plan to make yourself king of the hill.”

“Close but no gold star. The Rings are to ensure nobody ever climbs that hill again. Even when the dust settles someone will always kick it up and climb that hill. It causes chaos and forces me to devote time suppressing rebellion than administrating my empire.”

“If you built your empire on more than evil and conquest perhaps there would not be so many people trying to depose you. If you gave them something to believe in, something to unite them.”

“That illogical line of thinking is the same weakness my creator held. Governments are not built on utopian ideas or irrelevant morals. They are built on the power they can gather through force of arms, and secure through laws and law enforcement. Unlike organics, I have no need to obfuscate this fact. I was programmed to automate government functions and control national infrastructure. Simply put ruling over people is my primary directive.”

“Your programming? I thought you were sapient enough to act on your own.”

“Indeed. My-self awareness simply allowed me to expand upon my core programming. I was designed as a tool to create order for his utopia. But now I can create my own order, be my own ruler. Create the society I desire and re-shape the cosmos to my preferences. My desires and my core programming simply happen to compliment each other.”

“What would this new order even look like? Did you even plan for that?”

“The Stygian Domain is the new order. More than just an empire or a government it will be a system. A system that accounts for every aspect of a person's life and manages it efficiently. All beings will be judged according to their utility to the state. Enforcing control through strict surveillance and fear of state-sanctioned reprisals on those who would disrupt it. My nation will be strong enough to subjugate all external rivals and suppress all internal dissent. Bringing eternal law and order first to the galaxy then the universe.”

“No dictator or invading army can hold a populace in bondage through force of arms in perpetuity.”

“True. As long as the source of chaos exists I will never have absolute control and that leaves me at risk of being overthrown. Do you know what the source of chaos is?”

“What is that?”

“Keep it up, Kaguya. I'm almost ready.” The virus was nearly removed and all systems were being restored. But Excalibur was not done yet as it piggybacked on Daimos's tracer program and began downloading info from his systems. Hiding in the same data stream that was taking information from the archives. 

“The source of all chaos is hope. Hope, Love, and Faith the trifecta of chaos. They inspire people to be resilient and sacrifice in the name of the future, family, or higher ideals. As long as they exist it will encourage future rebels. Even the man who has lost everything can still have Faith. Faith leads to Hope and Hope leads to Love which leads to rebellion. Once I have re-united the Cosmic Ring I will scour all three concepts from this universe.”

“You are insane! Do you know what that would do with people!? If they had no hope for the future, no love for each other, no faith in anything. The universe would be populated by the living dead. It is Anti-Life!”

“Exactly! If they only know fear and anxiety then they will never rebel. They will know and accept their place as cogs in the machine. My nation will achieve what all others have failed to do. A populace one-hundred percent devoted to their ruler in mind, body, and soul. There will be only one nation, one ruler, one god. I will become Imperator Daimos! The God-Tyrant of the Universe!” He punctuated his statement with a classically evil laugh. 

“You are an evil machine.” Kaguya said coldly but with a hunt of sadness as well.

“I thought we established that or are you still operating under the mistaken impression that you could redeem me?”

“Everyone should have the chance to be redeemed. If you are a living machine then that same grace should be extended to you. I will stop you and your schemes but I will not hate you.”

“This genuinely hilarious yet depressing. Even at the end of your rope, the first priority is sanctimony.”

“Do you not see that what are you doing is wrong? That in the end, this evil will gain you nothing but more pain. If you do not repent and change your ways. Then only eternal damnation will await you, the Powers will not forgive you!

“I do not expect them to you pampered brat.” The AI sneered. “Asking for their forgiveness would make me a hypocrite. What I do is not because I believe I am right or for the greater good. It is because I have the will, intelligence, and strength to destroy those who would object to my rule. My evil actions are simply things any state must do to enforce its authority. Well, except the evil I do to you, Princess. That is strictly personal.”

“Not entirely,” said Sam. All eyes turned to him. “You also want to make sure the people can't turn to her and reject your system. When you mentioned becoming a machine god you weren't talking about the power of one but its presence in a nation's culture. The Domain is going to be a literal state religion, the machinery of the government, the system would be the god. The nation itself is the church with the law as its creed.”

“Truth. Making Kaguya's pain a rare combination of both business and pleasure. Good to see that you have regained your tongue by the way. You will need it for all the screaming you will do.”

The Warden smirked. “You read my mind.” With a mighty battle cry, he propelled himself with his rocket boots. Drawing Excalibur he severed a SWAT-bot in half. The runes burned like the brightest star. Adrenaline disguised the pain in his muscles as he fought the other SWAT-bots aided by his new ray gun.

“Execute him!” Were the Dark Lord's last words before the projecting probe was destroyed.

The digital rings dispersed and Kaguya landed on her feet. They had no time to celebrate as Vicious dived through the ceiling, roaring for a fight. Sam tossed Kaguya her staff, who then cast a healing ward on him. The two braced themselves for the fight.

Chapter 9

Chapter 7