by Skyler Grant
The clones were a mess. Several were missing limbs and most had a combination of external and internal injuries. They could have been healed quickly with the help of Ophelia, and I imagined that was where most of the wounded were going. Housing them in my Medbay would eventually have healed them as well, but again, Sylax was after pain. She wanted Anna hurt and wanted me to do it.
I didn't like that either, but I'd do it. This was part of a longer game.
I brought the real Anna into a surgical suite along with a clone that had lost a leg.
I couldn't alter the video, but nothing said I had to give Sylax everything she wanted. No audio feed and only selective views of Anna’s face would give me a chance to have a conversation. It was an opportunity we hadn't had since taking the city.
"Sylax wants me to use you as spare parts for your clones damaged in war. I know she thinks she is only torturing you, but truly, having to endure your company again is more torture for me," I said.
I severed Anna's leg. Her limbs were something that would regenerate, she had heightened healing, although not to the degree of Ophelia.
Once Anna got done screaming she managed to say, "Nice to see you too, Emma. I've missed you."
I believed her. I doubted Sylax gave her cookies.
"We can talk. I haven't given her an audio feed and I'm sparing her the sight of your face," I said.
The second injured clone required a fair bit of intestine. It was messy work. I took it as slow as I could, I needed Anna to be capable of something more than screaming.
"What is the situation?" Anna asked.
I filled her in on the details of what had happened since her capture. That Sylax had control of the Vainglory and that all of the crew were prisoners or captives of the other District Lords, and I explained my own weakened position within the city hierarchy.
"You need to get our people back and you need to get Sylax's attention off of you," Anna said.
I had forgotten how capable Anna was of saying the perfectly obvious.
"I got Mechos back, and he has been of some minimal use. The others are difficult, with Sylax being in such foul spirits," I said.
"Lately she has been angry about delays in some kind of armor and weapon production," Anna said.
I ran over the recent council meeting. Nothing of the sort had been addressed there, I could only think of it applying to one thing. Equipping the clones.
I had a solution there. I could grow armor and weaponry in the growth vats just as I grew the clones themselves. I could probably even grow the armor on the clones.
"Worry less about me and more about yourself. I'm at least competent," I said.
"I'm fine. Especially with the upgrades you gave me. That was reckless, but thank you," Anna said.
I had to pause so that Anna could regenerate some tissue. I'd removed around forty percent of her body mass. It was probably only because of those upgrades she was still able to talk at all.
"Do you have a way out of what is happening to you?" I asked.
"Sylax is a crazy bitch, someone is going to take a shot at her. When they do, I'll help to stop it. Is Ophelia on our side or an enemy?" Anna asked.
"Is anyone really on your side? I don't know where Ophelia's real allegiances are," I said.
That wasn't quite true. So far as it went I thought Ophelia was probably on our side. Unfortunately she seemed to have three personalities running around in her head.
"Find out," Anna said. It was the last word she got out for awhile—the next clone was missing most of her face.
Anna was usually full of helpful advice. Was Ophelia a threat or an ally? I really should figure out which.
109
The city was going to war. I know that sounds strange given the city was already at war. I certainly thought so, but Sylax did like to put on a show and this was a retaliation for the forces we'd lost in the recent attack. A sense of drama and flair was one of the woman's few redeeming qualities.
It might be more accurate to say that we were going to the front lines. Up until now our forces had served as reserves, and while that obviously didn't insulate them from harm—as the recent rush of wounded had indicated—it was still different than being the spear tip of an attack.
Airships filled the sky, their shadows falling over the city from the sundome above. I was under orders to triple my clone production. It was a formidable undertaking, but I had forgotten how useful Mechos was to have around.
After my conversation with Anna I'd decided on a plan of growing armor directly on the Anna clones while they were still in the tanks. This had proved wildly successful and now they all wore identical sets of red and black armor. Under Crystal's commanding aura they marched down the streets in perfect step to the transports.
The Professor, who had been working on the very problem of armoring the troops, had instead been able to focus his efforts on weaponry design. Even I was a bit impressed with what he'd come up with. The energy rifles could fire off over two hundred rounds before changing the power cartridge. They avoided any sort of recoil and had a dial control that set a maximum range at the cost of power consumption.
Sylax was observing all of this from the Powerhungry—or that’s to say the airship that had once been called the Powerhungry. I took some satisfaction in the fact that she hadn't been able to fully undo all that I had done to it. Originally her flagship, I heavily customized it during the time when it housed my core. Bio-armor still coated the surface, and I understood that unexpected effects still typically happened on board. The guns were new, something I'd only ever barely managed to get working, and if there was one thing Sylax was an expert at it was hurting people.
The District Lords were to remain behind to provide city defense, which was for the best as I really didn't have much in the way of any military myself to contribute anyways. With Sylax gone I'd have to be extra wary in case any of the others tried an attack—and extra watchful for opportunities.
My quiet conquest of Jade meant in an emergency I might draw upon her forces, but I needed to make sure nobody succeeded in a conquest of her district.
Mechos had time to familiarize himself with the other District Lords. I'd set him up with his own workshop and staff, far larger than the one he used to have in my underground base.
I asked him through the room's speakers, "Given that you seem to be afraid of everyone, you might actually have some useful information to contribute. Who should I be the most wary of?"
Mechos sat beside his current project. He was attempting to improve the grinder engines I was using for biomass conversion. "Fearing what they'll be up to with Sylax away? The Professor, in the short term. Crystal and Ophelia in the long term."
The answer was surprising. I agreed with him on Crystal, how could I not. She had made Sylax. Despite my upgrades to Anna, Anna simply did not compare. But the Professor?
"What makes you say so?" I asked.
"You and the Professor share a similar domain, research. If you were thinking to your advantage, instead of thinking about rescuing your crew, you'd already be thinking about how to kill him. He likely thinks you are," Mechos said.
I thought clearly. I did. Of course, when he put it in those terms, killing the Professor did seem like a really good idea.
"Some would say that would make us natural allies," I said.
Mechos grunted. "Nobody smart would ever say that. Those who want exactly what you do are your natural adversaries. The longer term threats should be obvious. Crystal is formidable and terrifying."
I had already deduced that one for myself.
"And Ophelia?" I asked.
"It isn't her I’m concerned about so much as that other personality of hers. Amy. From what you've said it sounds as if the source orb in some way inverted you. If so, you should be terrified, everybody should be terrified," Mechos said.
"Even your limited monkey brain recognizes how formidable I am. You are one of the more sensible humans. You should however be able
to reason that the original is more fearsome than a bad copy."
"You're bad on the outside and decent on the inside. Your mirror image is going to be the opposite. Amy is dangerous, Emma. Frightfully dangerous. You need to realize that."
I still didn't accept the fact that I was fundamentally decent on the inside. Still, I did appreciate another reason to dislike and distrust Amy.
"Well, let’s watch Sylax win her battle and we can figure out what to do about that," I said.
According to reports, the battle Sylax was heading for should be decidedly one-sided. The enemy was a Baron Oozelord. With a name like that you'd expect the battle to be won with a mass of hyper-absorbent paper towels.
I would at least have a front line view of the battle. Now that I could maintain a connection with my agents I could see what Anna saw, and Anna was again playing the leashed and collared pet at Sylax's feet.
While bad for her, this was rather good for me. Being near Sylax through Anna, I was getting information from the very heart of the command structure.
110
The city of Zarkiel probably looked magnificent once, canals crossing through a city of ornate stonework with fountains in every square. That was before the ooze. The ooze was colored an unpleasant shade of orange and now coated the city in a thick layer of slime. Canals blurbled and fountains glumped and nothing moved.
Sylax frowned. She was standing at screens and looking at the city she had come to conquer. "Well, this is disappointing. Any signs of resistance?"
"Nothing," said one of the crew manning the sensors.
"Land shuttles. Proceed with the invasion. If they are hiding away in fear, let us show them that being terrified is just getting started," Sylax said.
Shuttles broke off from the ships of the fleet and scattered throughout the city.
"Teams are down," said the sensor operator.
Camera footage of the clones disembarking began to pop up on the displays.
For several minutes nothing happened. They searched buildings with no sign of the townspeople. Then one screen after another filled with static as contact with the teams was lost.
"What is happening?" Sylax asked, leaning forward.
"I'm not sure. Some sort of communication scrambling."
"Raise shields," Sylax said.
"If we raise shields the shuttles won't be able to return."
Sylax snapped her fingers and the crewman screamed as his bones snapped and he was flung violently across the room. She said, "Now, someone?"
Several of the crew hastened to be the first to raise the shields. It was just in time.
"Shuttles are lifting from the surface and attempting docking," said a crewmember, who looked none too thrilled at his sudden promotion.
Through Anna's eyes I got a look at the sensor readouts. It wasn't just a few shuttles, every one that had been sent down to the surface had taken off.
"Still no communication?" Sylax asked.
"Negative."
Sylax considered for only a moment. "Assume the shuttles compromised. Gun crews are to open fire on them and begin bombardment of the city. Release the dragons."
Crystal had modified the massive dragons of the wild expanses to be shape-shifters. Allied with Sylax, they were still rather feral, for all they had been picking up the fundamentals of language.
A specialized container ship dropped its shields just long enough to release cargo. Humanoid bodies tumbled through the air. With ripples of muscle they transformed into mighty winged dragons and unleashed bursts of flame.
Their release suggested that Sylax was scared. Those dragons were firmly under Crystal's control and they had been contained for a reason—Sylax was still reluctant to trust to Crystal too much.
It was time to open a comm to Crystal. I didn't know if any of the other District Lords had their own ways to spy on the battle, but Crystal would be seeing what was happening through her own agents.
"Emma," Crystal said, as she answered the line quickly. "You have eyes on the battle?"
It didn't seem the time for deception. "From in the command center. Things aren't going as she anticipated."
The dragons were spinning about and blasting fire at the shuttles. The airships meanwhile were opening fire on the city. Their shields were synchronized with their weapons, each down for only fractions of a second as a bank of weaponry unloaded. The city had no shielding at all. Stone melted and ooze evaporated as the landscape was quickly becoming a ruin.
"And I just lost control of one of my dragons," Crystal said.
Anna didn't have eyes on any screens showing that.
"Two dragons," Crystal said.
Now I did get a sight of one of the dragons doing what it shouldn't have been doing, launching a fireball at one of the airships causing the shield to ripple with energy. Attacking its own.
"Some sort of compulsion effect?" I asked Crystal
"It must be. Five, now," Crystal said.
This wasn't going unnoticed on the bridge of the Powerhungry. Sylax has risen to her feet to check the readings herself.
"It has to be a compulsion ability. Have we lost contact with any of the ships?" Sylax asked. There was nothing wrong with her reasoning ability.
"Negative," said one of the crew.
"Cut our loses. Engage the jump drive and get us out of here," Sylax said.
It didn't seem like her to cut and run. It did seem smart.
"Drive not responding. No response from engineering," someone reported.
I tried to teleport Anna away. Up until now I hadn't wanted to risk Sylax's ire with such a display, but I was getting the impression that events were escalating beyond Sylax's control.
Unfortunately, my powers were still dampened. Not to the degree they had been, but I couldn't get Anna out of there.
"I've lost all my dragons," Crystal called. "Do you still have your visual?"
"I do. Whatever it is, it’s infiltrated the command ship and taken over engineering," I said.
Sylax was ordering, "Activate emergency protocols. Wipe the Aefwal coordinates from the fleet drives. All ships are to break off fire at once and focus on shielding. Withdraw to rally point beta."
"You should get out of here," Anna said, rising to her feet.
"Don't presume to tell me what I should do, pet," Sylax said.
"You are the most powerful person on this fleet. If they compel you, things get far worse for any rescuers," Anna said.
Out of the corner of Anna's eye I saw two ships jump away. The rest of the fleet remained where it was. Whatever orders had been given had come too late.
The fact that the enemy was targeting the engine rooms first indicated intelligence. This was an orchestrated assault.
The doors to the bridge hissed open and a wall of orange slime poured out. It was the last of the battle I'd see. I watched a droplet of it fly through the air towards Anna's eyes—and then nothing.
"I've lost my connection to the bridge. I believe Sylax is down," I said to Crystal.
That resulted in a moment of silence.
Crystal said, "When the others learn of this, they’re not going to have any interest in a rescue. I do, and I believe you do as well. I'm the stronger of us, do you accept my authority?"
That was a powerful question. I didn't trust Crystal, not a bit, yet she did have a connection to Sylax and here she was right.
"I do," I said.
"I'll be in touch. Defend yourself," Crystal said, and ended the connection.
111
The other District Lords must have had their own way of spying on events, because it took all of half an hour after contact with the fleet was lost for the attacks to begin.
Jade, Crash, and Flicker launched simultaneous attacks on James Wolf, while the Professor began to bombard my district with some sort of mortars.
I'd already reinforced my structures and the mortars were an annoyance at most. Any damage done I was quickly able to regenerate. Still, I was sure it was o
nly the opening salvo with more aggression yet to come.
I needed to be prepared and get my facilities fully online. I could have started pumping out clones for my own defense, and I already had their templates prepared, but I only did a few. Enough that I could position them at key points on the edges of the District to be seen.
The other District Lords knew that I'd been providing Sylax's foot soldiers and if it looked as if I were arming up, I'd be a much less tempting target.
I focused my actual production on research, and manufacturing personnel and equipment. My district was still only at a fraction of its full capacity and it was time to change that. With my facilities fully online I'd be able to quickly research any threat and manufacture a solution to it. Far more than any short term gain, my power was to be found in infrastructure.
I opened up my stats.
E.M.M.A
District 3
City of Aefwal
Civic Order: 100%
Population: 417 of 100,000
Contentment: 17%
Research Generation: 108/Daily
Defense Rating: 12
Research Points: 517
BioMatter: 1080
14 units of 180 utilized
0 Entertainment
1 Utility
1 Defense
2 Residential
3 Research
8 Manufacturing
Each new unit will require 10 units of Biomatter. Every 10th unit of a facility type will require 100 Research points to build and include substantial improvements.
I'd been stockpiling away Biomatter from what I'd managed to steal from the corpses Sylax provided. That was a supply was running out, because I had to use it for more than building new facilities. My drones and building repairs also came out of it.
I could actually produce more from my growth vats, although it ate cycles that could be used for something else. Still, upgrading my manufacturing was my first priority and I added two units. Before doing anything else I wanted to find out just what were these improvements mentioned.