by Skyler Grant
What is hard to accomplish with subtlety is sometimes easy with brute force. I had a plan.
When Ares finally approached the city, I had Jade waiting for him.
“You’re not the one I want to make bleed. Send out the bitch and maybe I’ll make you a part of my harem,” Ares said.
I said from a nearby speaker, “With pickup lines like that it’s no wonder you’re only dating your own daughters.”
“There she is,” Ares said with a smirk. “You’re pretty good, but I’m the God of War. I am going to raze this city to the ground and see that every person in it dies screaming. I will unleash torment the likes of which you have never imagined.”
I could imagine quite a bit. The air around him flickered as several drones teleported in long enough to drop their cargo of fragmentation grenades before teleporting out.
They detonated and Ares was pummeled with shards of metal from all sides and wreathed in smoke.
When it drifted away he was still standing, but bloodied, a few gouges cut into his flesh.
“Like I said. Pretty good, but your best shot just isn’t good enough,” Ares said.
“I’m just the warm-up act. Jade, your turn,” I said.
The metal fragments scattered about Ares vibrated and hummed as the telekinetic field gripped them and they rose in the air to surround him in a swirling tornado of metal.
The screaming went on for a long time. I made sure to broadcast it to the forces surrounding the city. If they still wanted this fight, it would be their choice, not his.
174
It had been several months since Ares went down and in that time a lot had changed. Most of the warriors joined up with us once they’d had a chance to speak with those we had captured earlier. They had been raised to respect strength and we’d shown it.
With Ares’ fall we bought ourselves some much-needed time. Minera provided what we sought, but like most things in the quest so far it was of little help. It was a key crafted of power crystal, circuits carefully etched into the surface. Ornate and fancy, and completely useless without knowing the location of the lock it was meant to open.
I was done with the quest for the moment anyways. It was not that I was giving up, but I’d put this city through a lot in search of a single solution to all our problems and was increasingly of a mind that perhaps I should instead be focusing on smaller problems one by one.
Even without a power source capable of operating the shields, this city, if fully functional, would have the personnel and defenses to fend off anything a single Powered could throw at it.
I pulled up my city administration display.
Aefwal
Controller: Emma
Queen: Anna Berasi
Commander: Hot Stuff
Population: 1,350,000
District Zero
Controller: Emma
Role: Research
Major Projects: Tongue, Keystone, Compound BioReactor
District One
Lord: Crash
Role: Espionage
Major Requests: Rare Metals, Computing Cores, Teleportation Gates
District Two
Lord: Blank
Role: Manufacturing
Major Requests: Forge Core, Programmers, Energy
District Three
Lord: Crystal
Role: Education
Major Requests: Power Crystals, Crystal Dust, Combat Bots
District Four
Lord: Jade
Role: Construction
Major Requests: Low-energy shields, constructor suits, skilled personnel
District Five
Lord: Zora
Role: Entertainment
Major Requests: Enhanced data network, holographic projectors, sound dampeners
District Six
Lord: Professor
Role: Research
Major Requests: Research Materials, Biomatter, Growth-vat access
District Seven
Lord: Hot Stuff
Role: Military
Major Requests: Valkyrie units, Aerial units, Crystal Dust
District Eight
Lord: Ophelia
Role: Medical
Major Requests: None
District Nine
Lord: Flicker
Role: Administration
Major Requests: Distress Beacons, Trans-dimensional pens, Dimensional Stabilizers
The greatest change was the increase in city population. Before we took down Ares the city wasn’t technically deserving of even being called that with only ten thousand people. I’d managed to grow that number to over a million.
Mostly those were from my own growth vats. We’d found a number of villages and added their populations to ours, but all in all the residents from this realm still contributed just under ten thousand to our numbers.
With a steady supply of new workers we’d been able to grow quickly. We still didn’t have the systems I’d come to this place hoping to restore. The city defensive shields remained offline and the teleportation gates were still disabled. Still, we made do with what we had.
None of the requests on the lists were new.
Crash had been asking for rare metals for awhile as part of building infiltration drones. His desires for computing cores to process information and teleportation gates to dispatch agent were also not news. I put a few new biocomputers into the production queue to send over to him, it was the best I could do.
Blank wanted a forge core, programmers, and energy so she could further production. Her district made use of Righteous manufacturing techniques which were well different from my own growth vats. I had a lead on a forge core from Minerva and I hoped to have good news for her soon.
Crystal was out of luck with her requests for everything except more combat bots. As part of her academy for the Powered she wasn’t just trying to train the ones we had, but to create new ones. That required supplies we simply did not have.
Jade had become even deadlier in a fight after killing Ares. In addition to controlling matter with her mind she could now create it, in limited quantities, with weapons materializing from thin air. Yet, she preferred construction to warfare. Her requests were all reasonable and with our rapid growth her district had become one of the most important in the city. I’d get her everything she needed.
Zora had taken well to her role of being in charge of the city’s entertainment. In fact she took to it so much I had some regrets about assigning it to her, I’d caught more than one of my drones drunkenly whispering secrets. As their numbers swelled it had become increasingly impossible for me to maintain a constant eye on every single one.
Hot Stuff was asking me for aerial units again. I’d put development of unnecessary military projects on a lower priority scale while rebuilding. It was probably time to rethink that. The city now had ample anti-air cannons, but little in the way of our own air force.
Ophelia, as usual, wanted nothing. After absorbing Bast’s powers her healing aura had been enhanced considerably, and so had those of her lieutenants. A touch from Ophelia would heal even the most exotic of diseases and a few minutes in a room with one of her followers would cure any mundane injury. I thought it was probably a mistake to be so completely dependent on her crystal, but I couldn’t argue with the results. The city was astonishingly healthy.
Flicker was an interesting case. When I had assigned her Administration it seemed she must have some sort of knack at it—otherwise, why had it been an option? I’d been wrong. People seeking permits of approval went into the administration building only to emerge days later, if that, wandering about and having had countless extra-dimensional adventures and typically requiring a visit to Medical.
I’d taken to telling those requesting any permit that there was no need, and sending only those who only wanted to complained into the administration district. Far from harming city operations the lack of red-tape was working out rather well.
175
I and Minerva still didn’t get al
ong, but for a self-styled Goddess of Knowledge she was almost deserving of the title. Thanks to her we had a real map of the region. It allowed us to expand our reach without tripping over the Divine, who in turn also seemed inclined to leave us alone.
We even had trade agreements with a few, but most were wary of our presence and I thought it only a matter of time until they pooled their resources for a larger attack. I decided that we would make the first move before that happened.
Our target was called “The Forge” and was occupied by Kothar, who was a renowned craftsman amongst the Divine. It was common to utilize types of power crystals in technology, but the Divine seemed to do it differently, somehow imbuing them directly into objects.
Kothar’s anvil was said to be home to a Forge core, just what Blank insisted she needed to expand her district. I found it curious that the Divine and the Righteous might have something in common when their world views in many ways seemed completely at odds with each other.
I moved an airship to where I could get a proper look at what awaited us. The Forge was a large complex for the Divine, with quarters and workshops for dozens of craftsman along with a thriving marketplace.
Like in most of the other Divine villages we’d seen there was a sharp contrast in the facilities for the Powered versus the unpowered. They weren’t alone in this, of course—the Scholars had a caste system based on the same principles.
A central workshop gave off the strongest readings and was most likely the home of what we sought. I was picking up one Powered inside and perhaps two dozen lieutenants. That was on the high side of what was expected, but still within expected parameters. The market was another matter. According to my readings there were three other Divine and another dozen lieutenants.
Hot Stuff was leading this operation. I sent her what I’d found.
“Not ideal,” Hot Stuff said.
“Never stopped you in love, why should it stop you in war? We need this,” I said.
Our plan had originally been to capture this facility and take Kothar captive. He hadn’t proved amenable to cooperating with us so far. Overwhelming force was good for making friends.
Hot Stuff had her flames disabled so she could interact with a tactical display. “Will you settle for just the anvil?”
I didn’t like leaving any potential resource behind. I particularly didn’t like leaving one behind who had friends. I’d never settle for leaving empty-handed.
“Better half of what I want than none,” I said.
“Words to live by. We’ll make it quick and try the new barriers,” Hot Stuff said.
The barriers were one of the latest inventions from the lab. The theory was that few things governed how a fight went so much as mobility, and even in situations where we couldn’t make our own forces more mobile we should at least constrain the enemy. The barriers were high-powered force shields of short duration meant to do just that.
“They’re Divine. It won’t buy you long,” I said.
I did a short range jump to bring us in directly above the facility, our ramp already opening and forces deploying. Hot Stuff led the way, igniting her flames and heating up enough that she melted through the roof upon impact. Four Valkyries followed her in. Quarters were close in there and that was the environment they excelled in.
Grenade launchers sent tranquilizer gas bombs tumbling through the air throughout the complex. I detonated two barrier bombs on top of the marketplace encasing it in a glowing blue energy shield.
It didn’t survive a single hit. An arrow of pure glowing white energy ripped the barrier to shreds and hit the ship. Armor was holding, but it was quite a shot, equal to what I’d expect from an airship cannon. Another arrow followed it a moment later.
There was no point in informing Hot Stuff, not right now, she had enough on her plate. Kothar’s forge hammer had no issues with intense heat and she’d already taken a blow from him that had broken three of her ribs. It was a rare case where the Valkyries had more success. Their heavy armor wasn’t dependent on fire for defense. Two had stepped forward to guard her even as she manifested a wall of fire to stop several of the forge assistants from joining the fray.
Another arrow hit the ship, and not from the ground this time. A massive eagle swept above the marketplace and an ebony-haired woman in a skirt of leather strips rode on its back. That was her mistake. I had some issues at leveling the ship’s cannons at a crowded marketplace, I didn’t have a problem firing at an aerial threat shooting back.
I began to return fire with the energy cannons. Two shots were dodged as the eagle swept to the side and another one was neutralized as an arrow met it part-way resulting in a brilliantly flare of energy.
Down below Hot Stuff had killed her flames to rig booster jets to Kothar’s anvil. That was supposed to be the Valkryie’s job, but the first two had already gone down against him. No armor was perfect, there were always weak spots, areas of tiny vulnerability. This God of Craftsman seemed to have an eye for them.
Hot Stuff was coughing up blood as she draped herself over the anvil and triggered the boosters. Gouts of flame erupted as the anvil was lifted into the air and shot up through the hole in the roof.
They were almost to the airship when an arrow caught the anvil, exploding against it and destroying the boosters, sending Hot Stuff flying.
A head for math again proved itself the greatest superpower one could ever hope for. One short range jump later had Hot Stuff and the anvil falling into our cargo bay as we manifested inverted directly beneath them. A second jump moments later had us away.
We might have gotten what we’d come for, but these new Divine had again proved themselves capable adversaries.
176
After a few hours in the Medbay Hot Stuff was back on her feet. When the airship arrived back at Aefwal I turned over the anvil to Blank. I wanted to study it further, but observing Blank putting it to use was even better than having it sitting in the lab.
We also needed to get it operational as quickly as possible. Kothar was of value to the other Divine primarily because of what he had been able to construct with the thing. If we could fill those same needs instead, we might find ourselves some new allies.
I didn’t intend to waste any time before going after our next target. Minerva had given us the locations of several artifacts of value to the Divine. According to Minerva the next one belonged to a secretive cult, a lead she considered among the more valuable she had to offer.
To me it seemed far more likely to be useless—supposedly a Goddess of Vegetation by the name of Ningal had a tree the fruit of which could create new Gods. While I doubted it worked exactly as described, if a plant had somehow gotten infused with a high concentration of crystal dust it might be possible the fruit gave abilities to someone young.
A concentration that high might allow us a few uses of some of the city’s more energy-sapping functions.
I jumped in our airship close to the grove where this tree was supposed to exist and began to scan. My sensors were a mix of results. Being biomechanical I had both electronic and membrane detectors and only half of them were picking up unusual energy readings in the distance.
It was a curious phenomenon. I moved some of my drones to the observation deck to observe first-hand and I discovered the effect duplicated there. My human drones saw an unremarkable forest down below, while my mechanical ones observed a massive tree growing in a large clearing and glowing with a faint luminescence.
Whatever was there had found a way to mask itself against biological life. As a hybrid I was only partly under its influence, but with no electronics amongst the Divine this would be a secret to most of them.
I devoted more resources to my electronic sensors. I owed Minerva a plate of cookies, the forest was absolutely teeming with the Powered. There were roughly one hundred down there, a huge concentration, and while I was only detecting a few at the power level of a standard Divine only a handful were as weak as the Dust. There was something to th
at tree, and that posed me quite the dilemma.
I wanted that tree, but not only was it too large to effectively transport, we didn’t need to make this many enemies. I’d gotten Aefwal built up to some extent, and while we might be strong enough to withstand an attack from any single divine we weren’t strong enough to handle this.
Well, I’d devoted a district to espionage for a reason. I consulted with Crash.
After filling him in on what I’d observed he spent a good ten minutes tapping away at his keyboard. Why were humans so very slow?
“I’ve got you a solution. It should allow you to get samples at least. Maybe even a branch or whatever tree-thing people do,” Crash said.
“Have you ever actually stepped foot outside?” I asked.
“Why bother when all the really interesting things are indoors? What I’ll be doing is using my abilities to subvert their already existing stealth system,” Crash said.
That was an interesting idea. It hadn’t occurred to me. Humans were almost worth the trouble, on occasion.
“You want to camouflage a probe from biological sight. We should adopt this system for Anna,” I said.
“Anna is hot and you’re just a hater, but yeah, you got the idea. Then you just sneak up with it and get what you need from where nobody will be the wiser,” Crash said.
It was far from ideal. I was convinced that the tree must operate from some pre-existing concentration of energy. Something had not only fueled its exceptional growth and the luminescence, but was also providing the energy that went on to make future Powered. A sample wouldn’t be enough to get me some of that power, although it might at least show how biology had been altered to achieve these effects.
I readied a probe according to the specifications Crash provided and waited for nightfall. The time of day shouldn’t matter—if the field was working properly they shouldn’t see it approach the tree in either day or night. Still, I thought it best to be cautious. While the tree might be invisible to the biologicals on this ship, obviously someone down there could observe it just fine. Whether that meant a power that specifically countered the field it put out, or some more symbiotic relationship, I didn’t know.