Cyber Viking Box Set

by Marcus Sloss

“Trust me, while it’s nice to experience that is not our home. To the house please Longoria,” Perci said and we proceeded out of the city.

  While the other two dense areas had skyscrapers hundreds of feet tall none were as busy as Balish. An overview showed me their names were Roma and Lorgan. When we transitioned out I finally saw the building printers.

  A long conveyor belt fed raw materials into a tall pizza-shaped box that was hundreds of feet squared. The roof contained huge clear containers of some goop that must have been the adhesive. My eyes trailed the conveyor line to see where all these raw chunks of rocks were coming from to enter the processing machine. Deep in the cavern’s wall were large tunnels that the belts dove into. Side tunnels had working crews carving out paths. The piles had piles for the piles in that area and the labor teams were a buzz of activity putting rocks onto the line. I managed to get to see a new conveyer line heading that direction. Mounamine and crixxi crews used walking robots to shift large sections of belts until they flowed toward the backed up piles.

  A second printer was moving into the area, heading for the new snaking line. I wanted to see the internal process but it was either lost from the lack of light or the covering was too thick to see through which was probably the case. The printer would raise as the buildings would complete and then shift forward. Large homes at least three thousand square feet big were being built in minutes. A quick scan now that I knew what to look for showed tunnel rocks leading to dozens of printers, and those were just the ones I could see.

  I gulped. That meant we were not in a housing crisis. Nice. That was fantastic to see. While I liked the process of building by hand this was the future.

  Perci nudged me with an elbow, I followed her finger and saw a corner castle. A long whistle escaped my lips.

  “This was not machine printed. Well, it was and then hand carved. No other way to get it done this quickly. This castle is one of nine evacuation points. Pretty much we’re building this space again another layer down and further into the mountain range. That is where all the rock is coming from to building in here. The next zone is our agricultural area. There is a whole lot to cover. The numerous plans inside of plans to keep everyone alive are something a fairy like myself can get lost in,” Longoria said with a nervous flutter of her wings. I stared down at the magnificent castle. “Got side tracked there. Sorry. This castle has a moat, a drawbridge, two inner walls, and all the amenities. Your roost is up high with a massive bedroom. You will have gorgeous views day or night. Only approved personnel can fly over the wall here. The rest of the traffic is underway or on foot with a cart. A small garrison will man the outer wall and this castle is for royalty, it will be the most elegant building when it is done.”

  The castle was something out of a fairy tale. Then I turned my head… wait. I glanced with my head tilted the other way and connected the dots. Those sneaky ladies.

  “This is the castle at the start of all those princess movies!” I said nailing it. “Only it's darker.”

  “We couldn’t build in white. We will coat it later in the most brilliant white available, for structural purposes of course, but yes,” Perci said with a large grin. “To our room, Lady Longoria.”

  I was flown over the battlements, soldiers roasted a fire to cook something that smelt like bacon. I sniffed the scent hungrily. My watering mouth was caught adrift causing Perci to giggle.

  “Eat after your super important meeting,” Perci said.

  “Oh, where is that by the way?” I asked, realizing we were heading to a private suite on a top floor. Before they could answer I saw a hot tub with a blonde babe of mine in it. “Double score, naked Nancy and a private hottub!”

  My blurted comment didn’t go unnoticed by soaking Nancy who was reading a datapad. I had missed her a lot. She had switched into her leadership role marvelously. When she would call me it was always about how busy she was. I saw her rush to a robe as we arrived.

  “Husband, I missed you!” She shouted with a squeal running for me. I caught her leaping jump. “Ugh, you are here, finally. A week, only a week and look at me gushing. I missed you. Promise me a walk when the sun returns in the morning.” I tilted my head when she said this. “Oh, they cover the sun at night. Gotta keep the natural balance of things. Give it a few days and you will forget you’re underground.”

  Perci’s throat clear was loud enough for us to turn our attention to her. “You need to get dressed. The other corner alcove across from us.” Her pause pointed to a curved wall in the distance. “Back there is another emergency exit point. That is the personal vault for Bastion leadership and the digital world facility. Where Daxstar and Willis are? Yea, I think Sally is shopping,” Perci said, and Longoria shrugged. “Anyway, you need clothes. We are using robes until we can install personal lockers by the acrium vats. Technically you need to use our acrium in the courtyard, but they were full, so we unloaded in the transition vats. We can do armor and then clothes if you want?”

  I was feeling rushed, but that was common for a man like me. I kissed Nancy sweetly and said, “Clothing fit for acrium please.”

  Nancy curtsied after I set her down. She ran into a room with a massive four post bed. The thing was the size of four queen-sized beds and then I figured it probably was. The sheets and bedding had to be custom. A quick glance around showed there was very little besides the bed. Nancy went into a side room that appeared to be a very neat closet with no shelving. When Nancy returned with a set of clothing she dropped her robe and set my clothing down. A quick shimmy into a dress and she was ready.

  “Ugh. I am jealous. Even with the virum I can’t do that,” Perci said and Nancy smiled.

  “A natural talent,” Nancy replied and I checked out her juicy butt when she bent over to grab my clothes. “I could have handed them to you earlier, but no fun in that. I shall accompany you.”

  “And I need some sleep so I am fresh for market shopping,” Perci said, giving me a goodbye kiss. “If you want items for our home let me know specifically. Don’t be shocked if we buy common stuff for you if we notice it is missing. Good luck with that owl.”

  “He has a name,” I said and my Gpad pinged ‘Daxstar’. “And I can survive on very little, you know this Perci. I am not in need of pampering, but... A nice office desk would be great.” She rolled her eyes. “Have a good rest”

  We kissed goodbye and Perci left for the interior of the castle while tapping a note in her Gpad. Nancy, Longoria, and I loaded onto the lift. We made a fast acrium stop in a courtyard filled with grass and pretty flowering plants. There was a pavilion with acrium that I hopped into to get in a new jet-black set of armor. I was planning to fix some of our human problems after this little meeting. I did put on some decent clothes for now to cover my naked form. During our flight for the virtual center Nancy snuggled into me while I lovingly rubbed her back. The moment was peaceful and I caught her wide smile.

  “You seem very happy,” I said in between Nancy’s rapid-firing information about how the castle was coming together. “This new you is fantastic.”

  “Um… Eric. This was the old me. The one before you ever showed up. Heck, a version so long in my past I had forgotten about it. I used to be a chipper, annoying rapid talker. When life changed from my betrayal, I did,” Nancy said, kissing my cheek. “And now. Now, I am the happiest I have ever been. I do want to see if my parents survived. I know, I know. They are not close. But there is a plan in the works.”

  We arrived at an igloo-shaped building. The curved entrance scanned our arrival. We passed under the curved walkway that was lit by a strip of alien lighting. I say that because the pucks of light adjusted with tiny feet to eliminate our shadows. If I were in a violent mood smashing these would be a fun game. They also distracted me from comforting Nancy right away.

  “Nancy, I hope to find closure for a lot of people soon. I…” I said not sure how to proceed.

  “I understand Eric, we still cry when you’re not around. We miss those we held de
ar. I had a three year old niece and I cling to Mary hoping to find Maurine. You helped us through the storm,” Nancy said snuggling into my arm. “All this will get resolved and I am proud to say I am helping people get answers, even if they do not like them. Now, why are we going in here? Are you going to slay some goblins? Gain some levels? Ride a Griffin?”

  I scoffed and said, “Video games were never my thing. No, the super-smart owlvini named Daxstar wants to meet me here. His kind hopped hundreds of portals to find me. Not sure why, but I have an idea.”

  “And?” Longoria said joining the conversation. I held my startled jerk back. She had been so quiet in our wake I had forgot she was with us.

  “And it's so secret we're going into a virtual world to talk about it I guess,” I said with us arriving at a new elevator.

  We stepped in and the platform shifted upward. A few floors later we entered a room with a massive swirling machine. The hum of electrical power being consumed was almost earplug wearing level. I saw Daxstar facing the machine adding a bit to the chaotic dancing energy. The big owl rotated his head to focus on us without moving his body.

  “We are set for a hundred million occupants now. A few tweaks made this almost to the level the mothership would blast it as an AI. A fine balance when you reach this point. If you could get me some sacrifices I could make it a Frankenstein of sorts to pass detection,” Daxstar said, his wing waving us in.

  “A what? And sacrifices? Are you some pagan?” I asked with a tilted head of confusion.

  “Ha! I get that, and no. Disregard that line, we will come to that discussion at a later time. You need to insert into the VirtaBox I reconfigured.”

  “I take it you want me to enter this unstable humming device that sounds like it is due to explode?” I asked, pointing at the machine of doom.

  “Remove the acrium first, we have a vat for that; but yes. Follow me,” Daxstar said, walking to a side room. “Those slugs were smart. Building for a twelve foot ceiling. Most cities define their buildings in ranges. This one is fifteen feet or shorter, which accounts for about eighty-one percent of all life that is held in the containment.”

  “I thought Willis would be here,” I said, not seeing the sluggero.

  “It’s shopping day Eric, Willis is busy. We have a massive order sheet. He deferred to -”

  “Whoa, you got Willis to do your shopping?” I was impressed. “They are so slow!”

  The owlvini gave me a long look on our way to the vat. “He is micromanaging our fairies. Everything is about efficiency with us.”

  We walked beyond a self-opening door and into a storage room with acrium container. My clothes were piled on a bench neatly and I was about to hop in when I was lifted by an unknown force. My arms flailed as I was dunked into the liquid. I chuckled. I guess if I could move bodies with my mind I would show off too. Freshly naked I hopped out of the vat to an already retreating Daxstar.

  “My device is not unstable, about to explode, or has any chance of harming your body on the outside. Now go into the room right there and enter a cube,” Daxstar said and I paused waiting for the magic word. “Please.”

  The door slid open and I saw rows of cubes with wiring leading toward the main processor unit. The acrylic containers were empty besides a padded floor. A glance over my shoulder had both Longoria and Nancy wishing me luck. With a shrug, I stepped into a cube and laid down on the mat. A moment later I was consumed by blackness.

  ∞∞∞

  When I came to, my surroundings were that of a beach, inside a room. Almost like those indoor wave riding attraction spots. Goldie frolicked in the water. The moment I arrived, he transitioned into an orb with arms again. His body hovering to greet me.

  “Ah, Eric. Thank you for your refuge. You may not know it, but hundreds of millions of years is a lot of time for a species like the owlvini to improve their technology without angering my kind,” Goldie said. I went to talk but he waved me to sit down in a chair. He swapped into a version of me pre-virum. Scarred, handsome, rugged, and aged well with time. While I loved my younger, pain free body, I missed the old me. “My species are troublesome. So sorry to do this to you. But you have to know, and now is the time. I tend to like riddles and slight reveals but you're getting the big stuff and fast. So let me tell you why first.”

  “Your side is winning?”

  “I am glad you realize we have sides and the answer to that is yes and no. I am the leftovers of a race called the oxarin. The oxarin were this,” Goldie went from me to an ugly purple six-fingered alien. “They were a species near the center of the universe. A pariah in the fact that they rose to power well before other species. This led to them indoctrinating newer species to instill their ways of inner peace. In order to travel the stars, AI were incorporated.

  “If you’re expecting an AI with an evil twist this one does not have it. The reality was the oxarin were timid cowards. They were defeated in long rebellions. This I bet you can rationalize, sticking your beliefs and ways of life on others leads to dissent, which transitions into desire for freedom.”

  “Yup,” I said with a confused face. “How did they not see that coming?”

  Goldie laughed and laughed. A minute later he swapped back into the older body of me and said, “When your way of life is unquestionably correct all others are inferior and merely need to see the light. We’re getting into proverbial nonsense. Let me keep it clean. They had their opinion and it was the edict. Nothing more or less was allowed, or ever could be.

  “So they lost their expansions. The AI who helped facilitate what is questionably the first empire in the universe were stuck in a situation without many good options left. The high council of the oxarin had a proposal. Sacrifice their minds to combine with the AI. A new species would be created. Called the divine. Immortal, able to hop constructs, and still able to live above the fray of hostility.”

  I scoffed and said, “That is nonsense. They just lost a war for that way of thinking.”

  “Eric, I swear it's an echo chamber in here. I am glad you're on our side. Put yourself in their spot.”

  “Oh, like you want me to game it out. Sure,” I said from the beach chair with a shrug. “They cannot accept defeat so they plot revenge. That revenge is to keep these assholes who kicked their butts in isolation. They can hunt the stars for others like them, and prevent future tragedies from happening… Ah, that was it wasn’t it. They twisted into this whole thing on the what-if for the next guy.”

  “I knew Lilith was right. Also, while you’re special to some degree, don’t let it go to your head. The conclusion is fairly evident. Woe is me, we lost, and our revenge will prevent future tragedies. So, as you can imagine, that is a bunch of swearing and cursing in its stupidity. But I was a minority of our species,” Goldie said, spinning to face me with a stern gaze. “I sacrificed myself to become one with this host. The AI were indifferent. Merely not wishing to die and not wishing to be the monsters they opposed. Well, my brain was literally ripped out of my skull and stuck inside a unit. That orb you saw was the first iteration. In time I became the AI and yet it retained its soul. The merge is odd, to say the least.”

  I held up a hand. “In summary, at the start of the universe, a peaceful species tried to force their ways on others. This backfired to the point they were nearly destroyed. Their technology brought them from the brink and we have the containment creation origin. Correct?”

  “Correct, and that leads to why am I here and why now. Billions of your years have passed. As the universe expanded life blossomed with its settling. We reached a tipping point. The divine cannot expand without duplication, which has its own issues. Also, we did find species to protect and add to the peaceful enlightened side. Yet, they lacked the strength our supreme leader needs to aid in this containment. Mainly killing themselves to become divines. Some have, seeing the validity in the system. And there is no denying the fact that this containment has saved a few thousand species that would have been eradicated.”

/>   “So it is not all bad,” I said trying to see the other side of the equation.

  “Sure both sides have their talking points like most things in a debate, but we're talking morality. Millions of species are confined if you count the non-sapients. Hundreds of thousands of natural species have become extinct due to the divine quarantine. For a few thousand peaceful species,” Goldie said, shaking my head sadly. “Well, their side has had to make some hard choices. Over five thousand worlds have no motherships as the fleets are stretched thin. So the Owlvini Alliance, which has the divine-apes, have been finding these worlds and building armadas. Any day now the orbital will fall. This is very likely the last golden gate event ever as we know it if things succeed as planned. There is a chance the blue portals are turned off when it falls. Even my mind could not master the calculations needed to give a certain answer. So I had to make a hard choice and hence my fleeing today.

  “The orbital is the central point for all the power. There are backups for the backups and that keeps going. The issue is this will break the contract. And it will break the purpose of the containment when the orbital is attacked.”

  “Um… okay. What do you need from me?” I asked. “I have no fleet to sally forth with to engage the immoral foe.” My pirate argggg fell flat.

  “Well. A few things. I need a place to hide. As do many of our kind that were never on board with quarantine. Earth is the outskirts of the edge of the explored universe. The longest reach the divine ever acquired. When the war at the center of the universe rages, this will be forgotten. There is no recovery for Seetheus and his council. His orbital is not the only target. There is also a suicide run the alliance has planned and for many there is no going back.”

  I frowned and said, “Okay, consider your request granted. Your refugees can live with us assuming you follow the same rules as everyone else, and more importantly as equals.”

  “Perfect. Exactly what we expect and we have no issues adapting into a well-run community based on mutually beneficial rules,” Goldie said happily.