I order the digger to be taken care of. and go back to the bridge.

“Get me command”. the communications officer does so. “I need to declare an emergency. We need as many available agents as can be spared.” I relate the situation. “We need to face it in melee, so I suggest we get out the old Knight's equipment. a suit of armor, a shield, a longsword, a mace, a dirk, and a War Horse for each agent. It seems there is one more legend to be added to the tales of chivalry. We're going to need room to fight, and it does not want to leave the tunnels, and I suspect moving it by command won't work, So we need bigger tunnels. do we have the land's code isolated?” We do. “Good, I request you resize it bigger. This should make the tunnels relatively bigger compared to us and the monster.”

the tunnels are resized

Agents begin to arrive with equipment. The equipment is almost the same as what was used by the original knights Templar, but with some updates. The plate mail is made with cubic zirconium plates, instead of an undershirt of chainmail, it's a shirt made of nanotubes (which many agents already wear.). The sword is titanium, reinforced with nanotubes, the mace is depleted uranium. The horse, is just a really well trained and bred horse.

I don my equipment, and prepare to lead the charge. one last thing. I put a finger to my ear piecce. “Permission to go superluminal speeds?” after a moment I turn to the gathered knights/agents “Breaking of the speed of light has been authorized.”

all unessential ground personnel are evaced to the ships, and the ships pull back some. in all their are about 50 agents mounted, and ready.

I call one more time “any word from outwatch? anything strange occur? Canuoeva's story is getting more real then I'd like.”

(about to have a physics breaking brawl.)

I am busy in my buker trying to get my mole people to convert to a more angry and extremist branch of Hark-ism.
I am also tryign to genetically manipulate them to make space marine mole people, but all they do so far is walk slowly while talking in boring voices and holding flags.

I cant help but think that this would be going better if I wwas more certain that my minions actually exist.

The following conversation is heard by those present around and including Tiberius:

“You have new orders Calthorne. Pull back, we are abandoning this world.”

“What?”

“We are leaving these fools to their doom. Whether that thing kills them or Varamortian claims them, it doesn't matter to us anymore.”

“We cannot do that!”

“Yes. We can and we are.”

“Where does this come from, may I ask?”

“Her.”

“Well, you tell her to sod off! I'm not going anywhere.”

Silence for a moment. “You can't defeat that thing alone Calthorne. Come home.” More silence. “Respond! Damn. I told you this would happen!”

And now… Tiberius, you have forgotten one thing. The creature is an extension of a being almost as powerful as Canuovea, which in turn allows it to do some things similar, except it doesn't need technology to do them.

As you enter the tunnels you realize that there is something terribly wrong. The creature is simply not there anymore.

The digger had been attempting to get some rest. It is awakened by a wail and something chanting… “can you run a little faster?” The digger only gets a scream out. The Medical staff are almost instantly slain. It then moves towards the bridge of your flagship, killing all in its path with a kind of backhanded ease.

You and your agents hear something in their minds. “Can you catch me? Can you not? Can you kill me? you cannot!” And it begins repeating.

Then it hits the command bridge and you get a transmission. “Sir! Its on the bridge! Our swords have some effect, but…” it breaks off for a moment then is reestablished… “It has some kind of thick exoskeleton that even our weapons cannot crack. But” there is a gurgling scream, “damn. There are softer parts… and…” the wail comes over the transmission… “it regenerates quickly, but it can be ki-” there is the sound of a sword snapping and the communication goes dead.

The voice continues in your head.

“When midnight mists are creeping,
And all the land is sleeping,
Around me tread the mighty dead,
And slowly pass away.

Lo, warriors, saints, and sages,
From out the vanished ages,
With solemn pace and reverend face
Appear and pass away.

The blaze of noonday splendour,
The twilight soft and tender,
May charm the eye: yet they shall die,
Shall die and pass away.

But here, in Dreamland's centre,
No spoiler's hand may enter,
These visions fair, this radiance rare,
Shall never pass away.

I see the shadows falling,
The forms of old recalling;
Around me tread the mighty dead,
And slowly pass away.” (Lewis Carroll)

Then: “You will never see them again. They are mine now, all mine. Terror, fear and PAIN!”

I shake my head in frustration, then I get an idea.

“There's more ways to harm something when it is in a computer. Prepare to perform a second Philadelphia experiment. Let's try sending it to another world, and hope it turns out like last time.” some of the agents chuckle.

“set up a link with simulation… 034, and prepare the audio conversion algorithms.”

My eyes go wide, then I turn to the assembled group. “We just got transferred to a separate network. We are alone. The experiment may be our last chance. If it fails, we'll have to try to kill it manually. We're going to have to close to melee anyway, we need to locate it, and keep it occupied, so the experiment can begin. split into ten teams of five, and get ready to fight.” I speak into the ear piece. “delete, fill, and reboot.” The agents brace.

reality blinks out, and in. the flag ship is gone, all personnel within fall to the ground. most prepared for the impact with various devices to cushion the fall. The tunnels are also all gone. the reboot is rather uncomfortable for all.

to clarify the area of the hill has been put into a seperate system, completely quarantined, on an un-networked computer. It is now it's own mini simulation. all that is in this world is the crater, beyond that is literal nothinness.

after some thought I've determined why ranged weapons don't effect it. A projectile carries a large amount of kinetic energy, almost all of which is delivered at once. A melee weapon has kinetic force being fed into it in a constant stream even after contact. there's a glitch that causes the creature to only get hurt by energy delivered over time, a pressing force, not a striking one. I believe I have a solution to this problem.

The thing to remember is no matter how powerful you are, you are constrained by the rules of where you are. in this world you are computer code…

A defensive perimeter is formed on the surface. and we prepare to fight.

(note: these aren't regular forces, these are agents. they are not easy kills. in a toe to toe fight, one could probably hold out for some time against the beast. With 50 of them in groups of five, it's, not going to be like before with people getting slaughtered with ease. superluminal was not an exaggeration.)

(2nd note: I love Hark's newest post-

harkovast
I cant help but think that this would be going better if I was more certain that my minions actually exist.

)

(Interesting theory about the ranged weaponry. You will have to test it out!)

The creature is confused for a moment. But quickly recovers. And wherever you are, you hear it wail. It knows where you are and it is there. You are just unable to find it for a moment.

(I already said that it wouldn't be so easy to shake it's direction or position.)

(I never thought it would be easy. time for the most epic game of hide and go OH GOD IT'S RIGHT BEHIND ME!)

Luckily for me, I have admin powers. I summon crates of ammunition and guns. They get passed out. they're gyro jet guns.

If you don't know. Gyro jets were an interesting idea conceived in the late 60's and early 70's. Unlike regular guns that shot a projectile using an explosive charge, gyro jets fire what is basically a mini rocket. the bullet has propellant in the back, with exhaust ports angled to make it spin as it flies forward. They were quite effective, but had some problems. the main one i remember is that the ammunition was impractical to make, and that you could stop bullets by putting your finger in the barrel. these should do the trick, since at least at close quarters the jet should still be going strong at impact, so as to continue pushing it.

the regular troops are given sub-machine guns, and the agents get high caliber pistols to compliment there melee weapons, and armor. of course we have worked out all the kinks of the system, like reliability.

I say aloud “If your going to help us, who ever you are, now is the time.”

(Wait… your giving out 40K Boltguns? Okay, only sorta…)

“He isn't listening, program.” The voice that had been coming from the creature announces. “Canuovea's troops have pulled back. It is amazing how easy it is to manipulate those fools.”

Evidently it is not aware of that conversation you managed to catch in your heard.

“And I would have thought you would know such weapons have no effect on my little creature here. Or, perhaps you fail to understand? Ranged weapons do not work because they have no will behind them…”

A bird's beak attached to a mass of rubbery scaled flesh shoots out of the ground and straight through the armour and gut of one of the agents. The agent turns and cuts the head from the limb. The limb shoots back into the ground, leaving the agent with a giant bird's beak sticking out of his gut.

“Where do you stand when the ground is your enemy? You cannot hope to defeat me.” The creature cannot expect to get such a surprise attack in again, no matter how confident the voice sounds. “You are doomed, either to a slow death or a quick one, as I please.”

You hear a voice in your head, it is the same voice that refused orders to leave the place to its fate. “Agent Tiberius? It doesn't know I'm here and it can't hear me. It thinks it has one more advantage than it really does. Taunt it, get it angry, then it will show its face. You may not be able to quite kill it, but if you defeat it or hurt it enough I can become involved. Its controller, by the way, hates cliches. Goad it. and when it does show, you may have some trouble ganging up on it. But it will attack you directly if you do this right. It should be too busy fending off your allies to bring its full might against you. Good luck.”

(what's a bolt gun?)

I begin laughing, as do all the other agents. a medic tends to the agent's wounds.

“You are an idiot. you know that right? All it takes is some ”will“ behind the bullets? Thanks for solving that riddle for me.” I snap my fingers in a very cliche way. “problem solved.”

The bullets are now mentally linked to their owners, so their is just as much will behind them, as their is behind a sword.

(though there already was. you have to aim a bullet. you don't just fire mindlessly)

“the ground is my enemy? What part of SysAdmin, do you not get?” Another cliched snap, and underground gets incredibly deadly for the creature. specifically it's going to get stabbed, by me, a lot, if it doesn't go above ground. Unless it has a death wish, it comes up rapidly.

“Fire”

A hail storm of rocket propelled lead peppers it, most of them harmlessly hit the armor plates, but some hit the fleshy bits, though that doubtlessly won't kill it. more like flesh wounds probably.

“You are quite arrogant for someone with such a poor grasp of what they're dealing with. This is a computer. there are rules. right now, I make those rules, and me and my men, are exempt from the rules.”

the creature is suddenly surrounded by 50 agents, but the 50 agents seem to still be where they were for a moment. this is what happens when you face a faster then light foe. The agents begin slashing, and dodging at the creature, inflicting grievous wounds, but not quite killing it.

I “accidentally” forget to keep the underground dangerous, thus “accidentally” letting it escape.

“Is that all you got?”

It doesn't try to escape. It too is moving fast. It has been wounded though.

You now have a better look at it. It is like half a large beetle. The head is a heavily armoured dog like thing, attached to a hunched body covered in thick armour. It has two large, in fact oversized arms, also covered in thick armour, and ending in wicked claws of the same material of its armour. But there are gaps in the armour, and underneath you catch glimpses of a pinkish flesh. The legs (there are lots of them) are as long as the body and made of more bonesless muscle and there are plenty of them, all helping to propel the thing forward in a snakelike manner. All over the body there are hundreds of red holes in the body that glow a dark crimson, including the face, which seems to have several smaller holes in the place of eyes, but the largest of the crimson holes was on the chest, and it had a diameter of a foot. It stands over fourteen feet tall and five in width.

The voice laughs. “Not so simple. Will is will is will. And they have to contend with mine.”

One of the agents that was standing still suddenly isn't anymore. The creature caught it in its hands and completely crushes its chest before biting the head off. “It knows where you are, no matter how fast you run.” Boneless limbs with a of different type of animal jaw attached to each one come pouring out of every one of the crimson holes, except those on the face.

An agent loses his shoulder to one of the jaws, it looks like a giraffes, and only just gets pulled away on time to avoid another hit. Your other agents start being far more careful.

And the damage that had been done to it is quickly re-knitting before your eyes.

“You cannot run from me.”

(well you could do that, but as soon as you turn your back it will have you. It may not seem to be moving as fast as your agents, but it would spring the instant you tried to run.)

Meanwhile, the knight who took the bird's beak in the gut is shocked to find that the boneless limb is re-knitting and wrapping itself around his head and neck. Before he can do anything else the beak's mouth opens and cuts him in half. Now there are 48 of your agents.

You have to face it yourself Tiberius. You have a choice of targets in the front of it.

I still have lots of tricks up my sleeve.

“You still haven't grasp the nature of your battlefield.” and with that I initiate a denial of service attack upon the creatures central mind. this has the effect of making it numb, as it's body parts can't access the mind, thus it can't feel them, and can't control them with any sort of agility (try walking when your leg is completely asleep. you might pull a muscle, and not feel it. I did). the insane guy also can't feel it.

with it severely slowed down the agents next to it attack, while still careful to not get hit by the limbs still flailing about, since it's numbed, not immobile. the rest are taking shots with their guns at the fleshy bits.

I take my sword and plunge it into the biggest hole, and cleave through to the side.

The area just around the creature feels incredibly busy, but there is no discernible reason why. the creature can't feel the vast majority of it's own body, but there is one thing it feels about it's entire being; a very uncomfortable tingling.

(God, I love knowing a lot about computers)

A large fox's head rolls out of the large hole in the chest.

The beast slows. Twitches. Gives a kind of bark. “Kill him! Kill him!” Instead the creature drops to hands and begins rolling in a playful manner. It barks happily again. “No! Stop! You are mine!” It lets a tongue out of its mouth and happily licks Tiberius in the face.

“No, you have elected the quick death.” The creature disappears.

didn't even need to use my big finisher. there might still be a use for it.

“spread out, be ready for anything. is that connection to 034 ready yet?” it is.

A few network protocols are put in place, in preparation.

“Sir!” Someone yells, “Outwatch is reporting something strange.”

You bring up the view of the outside of the facility. There, slowly making its way towards the vents, is the creature. It begins to re-knit its body

The voice returns. “Now, do you see? A quick death along with your entire system. I can slow it down I suppose, by just destroying your maintenance bots and vents…”

The voice chuckles. “I will admit, I doubt I will be putting the controller in such an obvious place next time… Ah, full control returned. Your little machines will have no chance.”

The creature reaches a vent. And stops, straightens to its full height, and sniffs.

There is a flash of light and the creature tumbles backwards and lets out a wail.

Now Outwatch also picks up sound outside the facility

“Oh, did someone really think it would be that easy? Hello Caligula.”

The creature rears up and hisses. “You? Which one are you? And don't call me that!”

A man in segmented plat armour appears thirty feet from the creature. “My name is Calthorne. I am Auxiliary to Praetorian Earatar. Prepare to die.”

The voice, Caligula, gives a laugh. "An Auxiliary? Oh please. What hope have you?“

”Enough.“

”NONE! You shape yourselves like humans, but you are not! Such foolishness.“

”We were shaped as humans. We retain a love of our form. And you now, your gallivanting about ends here!“

”You are far to confident in your own abilities, little Auxiliary.“

Calthorne pulls an open faced helmet out of mid air and puts it on. ”Now, you will die.“

The beast charges towards him, a large round shield appears on his left arm and a short sword appears in his hand and he begins running forward too. In the clash Calthorne gets a single thrust in at the creature's neck before he is smashed aside by the claws. Calthorne rolls to face the thing and it drives the claws of its right hand through his gut and severs his lower spine.

Calthorne doesn't make a sound.

Caligula laughs. ”Now, you are doomed. And I intend to make it slo-“

Calthorne smiles. The beast topples over and disappears. This time for good.

Standing just behind the creature is another humanoid. The satin black armour on it flows seamlessly over the body. It is wearing a mask of purest white and ashen gray hair flows down its back. It looks almost like a monochrome painting. There is a blade extending from a device on the forearm of the thing's right arm.

Calthorne coughs but it ignores him. The voice from the humanoid is emotionless and business-like. ”Zerus, we have been tricked. This world holds no more life, there is no reason he would desire it. Analysis suggests he was only after the creature. Acknowledged. Moving on to next planet.“ It disappears.

Calthorne heaves himself up with his hands. ”And thats what you get.“ He turns towards the viewing screen. ”Have you guessed the last riddle yet? Some of them never see… and I have made sure of it." He disappears as well.

“truth”

the hill has been reintegrated.

A council is formed to discuss the events. 23 worlds are represented. it's like a giant conference call.
.
I give a debriefing to the council on the events

the delegates debate theories of what was going on, what sort of threat might be. It can be summarized bluntly as “WTF was that?”.

The rep of 013 takes the floor.

“It is our opinion that this threat requires more study. based on what was said we can conclude this is an interstellar group, as hard as it is to believed.” he turns to another rep. the rep has short hair, pale skin, a gaunt face, and a very weak look. “did you catch anything with any of your sensors? where they came from, where they went?”

“our global observation network did register a couple of anomalies during the duration of the crisis. We also picked up similar anomalies with our deep space arrays. we're analyzing both now. We can confirm however that they match the anomalies associated with this group.”

"How soon will the Enterprise and the Matrix be ready? and will they be armed?“

”we foresaw their need, and have rushed their completion, and arming. They'll be ready as soon as their crews arrive.“

”excellent. I put forward a motion that we follow this unknown group, to learn more.“

a vote is made, and it is almost unanimous.

”will simulation 016 be able to supply transport to the ships?“

”we can“.

”The crew of the Matrix should be made up of agents from the simulations closest to 016, so that we do not have to wait long to get the crews to the ships."

the council agrees. The crews will consist of agents from 013, 016, and 137. there will be 50 from 016, and 25 each from 013, and 137.

the council ends.

the crews are stored in drives, and transported over land to cape Canaveral, near the 016 facility. from there they are launched to the moon…

(a few notes. When I said travel between worlds was impossible, I wasn't entirely honest. there is the method of storing someone on a drive, then traveling over land to another facility. there is theoretically another, faster method, but the last time it was tried was called the Philadelphia experiment, and it ended badly. wiki it to learn more. it involves people being fused to the hull of a ship. this method would be done by converting the target into an audio signal, and then transmitted by audio to another world. the problem is that with such complex and large code, there is alot of degrading, and corruption done by the conversion, and by the unstable method of transmission, since there isn't a wire connecting the worlds. the worlds talk by looking through a camera at a screen that shows another screen of another world. so the signal is sent through two microphones, and two speakers. results are horrifying.)

(another note. the ships are called the enterprise and the matrix for a reason. when the space shuttles were made, one was called the enterprise because of star trek's legacy, this ship is named for the same reason; the name enterprise has been on ships for ages, from sailing ships, to nuclear ships, to space ships, so it's only fitting it go on the first interstellar ship. The matrix is a bit different. The movie the matrix has gained incredible popularity with the various guardians of the simulations, for obvious reasons. this is also why in every simulation the matrix can be found in the pop culture of the regular populace. It's presentation is often different tho. in most it's still a movie, just different actors, and maybe some difference in story. In a few it's a famous novel. In 137, since their still in the dark age, it is an incredibly popular play about a world contained in the head of a sleeping man, built to contain the souls of people who's bodies are being used as slaves by the fair folk. since this story has such relevance to the actual world these agents all live in, it only seemed appropriate to name a ship after it.)

(I said earlier there was only 22 simulations left)

(I said there were no humans on earth)

Truth is the answer.

Elsewhere another group is meeting. All of them wearing armour similar to Calthorne's, though more ornate in most cases.

“We need to make a decision now. What do we do with the world?” A deep voiced male speaks.

“Claim it and move on.” Another male, but with a lighter voice.

“Wait for instructions, he cannot be out of commission too long. A self inflicted death often allows for a relatively qui-” This female is cut off by another.

“I suggest we completely incinerate the planet.”

“What?” the deep voiced man.

“Two reasons. Caligula's presence there was more than just in his creature, we need to remove it utterly. Second, I place full blame on the mortals there for the loss of our leader. I want them annihilated.”

“Inconceivable.” The other female replies. “He did it himself fully knowing he could simply have fled. There was a reason for it.”

“There was also self doubt.” The lighter voiced male. “But this is not an idea I can support with a full conscience.”

“You are taking this too far Earatar.” The deep voiced male. “There is no reason for us to take such a drastic step. Besides, given that one of your Auxiliaries ensured that Caligula's manifestation was destroyed and that he fooled the Karian into believing the world was devoid of life… it seems a waste.”

“Three to one, Earatar.” The lighter voiced male.

“Ve… What are the fools doing?”

“Earatar?” The first female asks, “what?”

“They are launching ships!”

“What!?” Exclaims the deep voiced male. “They can't be that stupid!”

“That will surely give them away to the Karian!” The lighter voiced male.

“Oh, you're the master of the obvious, Lucifer.” Earatar sighs. “Prepare the troops for combat.”

“Ground or space?”

“Space. They may not figure out those ships came from the planet for some time.”

it takes a few days to reach the launch site, then the moon.

The same pale, weakly rep from the council begins outlining the capabilities of the ships. It is evident now, that he is human. He is the representative of the moon colony that survived the nuclear war. over the past few centuries humans have gotten weaker due to the low gravity, but as descendants of scientists of many fields they are very technologically advanced, and have colonized mars as well, where they get many of their resources).

The enterprise will be manned by humans, and the Matrix will be manned by the programs. Both ships use a black hole, or specifically the singularity as the main power source, drive, and theoretically defense. both ships are mainly designed as science vessels

The enterprises main role is as a science vessel, and cargo carrier. It is as the same size as the matrix, but has much less space, and has much less mass. this is because it has crew quarters, and other living spaces. It is lightly armed with gyro jet launchers (no recoil), and directed energy weapons. these are mainly for point defense. It's sensor arrays are superb, and are meant for studying, and detecting just about anything.

The matrix, being manned by programs, has much more room for equipment, armor, weapons, and power sources. It's black hole is somewhat bigger. It has the same point defense as the enterprise, but also carries heavier weapons. It has four batteries of rail guns, one on each side (right left, top, bottom), and on the lower half running down the spine there is a larger rail gun, that is big enough to be called a mass driver. it is fixed, and requires the ship to maneuver to aim. It's sensors are almost as good as the enterprise. The sensors are better at tracking multiple fast objects at great distances tho.

After study, and analysis of the anomalies, there is a theory that some of the effects seen can be recreated using the rip in time and space that powers the ships. It was already known that FTL travel, and “jumping” are possible using the black holes. Before the launch they do a few tests, and find that a shield of sorts can be made easily against the sort of power they might be facing. Whether they can harm it, is another question.

The strength of the crews is as follows.

013- good at research, and problem solving. this comes from their pro-progress and science policies. the scientists of the matrix crew
016- with access to cape canveral, and much of NASA's old work, they have become adept at space travel, a few probes with “colonies” have been sent out to explore the outside universe. the general populace of 016 is aware of their world's nature. It is hoped one day 013's population will be ready for the news. 016 are the general crew, and pilots of the ship.
137- masters of the computer world. This comes from their iron grip on the functioning of reality itself in their world. Actually pretty nice people once you get to know them. have an archaic view of things, treating technology in almost a mystical sense. they're not superstitious, it's just their culture.
Humans- They are born and bred in very low gravity, in sealed buildings, so space travel is instinctual to them. they are all very well educated, even the lowest workers. Every miner has a degree in geology. They'll try to stay out of trouble, and leave most of the danger to the matrix. they're scientists.

The crews board the ships, and head to the last recorded anomaly.

It takes the council a few minutes to realize that the things being launched from the surface of the planet are not actually major ships per se, but are instead transports.

This does nothing to reassure them of the situation, however, as they still believe their enemies have noticed as well. Yet they have detected no movement into the general area.

“Perhaps they are only interested in biological life?” The deep voiced male ponders aloud.

“No.” Lucifer, the lighter voiced male, replies. “We cannot assume that.” He beings pacing. “I fear they suspect something we don't.”

“What could that possibly be?”

The first, so far unnamed, female speaks up. “What is the destination of the transports?”

“This planet's moon.” Earatar responds.

“Might there not be humans on that moon? The place Canuovea visited displayed a high level of technology, even to make it, surely they could have…”

“So, the Karian may be waiting for confirmation of organic life forms on the moon.” Earatar finished. “We need to know what we are dealing with. I doubt they can defend themselves from Karian, but we could. I only worry about if they have brought in thrall from this galaxy. We cannot defend them against both.”

Lucifer cut in. “Perhaps they are not trying to destroy these people. They probably just want to grab them for their own.”

“We can solve two problems at once.” The deep voiced male announces. “Send Calthorne in as an ambassador. That way we can discouver if they are worth protecting and if they could defend themselves from attack. Sometimes it is better to talk than fight. And since Calthorne has some experience with them… why not? I believe he should be more or less recouvered for this?”

Earatar nods. “So be it.”

Within minutes a small ship is heading towards the moon, with the intent of reaching there just after the package from Earth. It is broadcasting a request along the lines of “Permission to come aboard?”

(touched up some dialogue that was bugging me…)

they're is no sign of habitation on the moon, that they find.

as the small ship approaches it gets hailed

“approaching vessel: shut down your engines. You will be brought in.”

There is no sign of any vessels.

Ship slows to a stop and allows itself to be brought in.

Edit: Oh, and it should be noted, the ship is about the size of a single, one man fighter. Actually, a little larger than a motorbike and made of an indiscernible type of material.

from around the moon come a squad of small two man ships. They are designed for asteroid interception. one of them fires a mesh net that envelops the ship so that the pilot can not tell where it is going. after some time there is gravity, and the net is removed, and the ship is inside some sort of hangar. there is a single door open at one end of the hangar.

“Proceed through the door”

through the door is a hall way, the announcer guides you through the hall, to a room with a single chair, and blank walls.

Calthorne dismounts his position from the ship and moves off towards the open door. He is dressed in his armour from earlier, the hole that had been punched in the armour is slowly repairing itself. Through the remaining hole in the armour there is what looks like bandages wrapped around his gut.

He stops abruptly, turns turns to face his ship, and says: “Now, stay you!”

He then continues towards the door and, when he sits in the chair (which he presumes is for him) he smiles and says, “Take me to your leader… or suitable representative.”

“This is agent Tiberius, we've met before.” it's audio only. “We've told you who we are, now it is your turn. why did you come? what is your source of power? everything.”

“Oh good, a friendly fa-… well. Human turns of phrase don't always sit well with my kind.”

“Alright then. I understand that you are familiar with the concept of alternative realities, yes? I'll assume so. Despite appearances, my kind are not human, you've undoubtedly figured that out by now. Where we come from is important, I'll try to keep this relatively simple. We are a kind of, category, of beings who find themselves able to travel from one universe to another. It is not so simple as saying ”multiverse“, as we find plenty of those too, and we may be in one which we ourselves are unaware of.” He chuckles. “Either way, we are from an entirely different universe. We arose through a kind of, semi, natural evolutionary process.”

“Despite us being not human, we are quite aware of humans, having run into them on a variety of separate occasions. Usually there are subtle differences between them though. Hence my comment on alternate realities. You'd be surprised with what we have found. We've come across people with green skin, for example.”

“Anyway, we are here to oppose and improve, but improve indirectly and by permission. For example, your Earth is devoid of life. If you wish, we could provide you the means to change that. If You are content with the status quo you can choose to leave it. It is kind of a… hobby of ours. The main business is in dealing with our opposites. They are like us in their essence of being, but differ considerably in the origin and philosophy. In origin they were directly created. Philosophy, well, this is difficult. They like to improve things too, but without asking. Their approach to areas under their control is fairly… disturbing for us.”

Calthorne pauses. "Okay, while they do not always take the same approach to the matter, I find this descriptive in a general fashion. Now, you wake up in the morning. Do you brush your teeth? You might decide not to, or you might decide to. It isn't my business. For them, however, you lose the choice. I've heard it described as watching a movie with every one of your senses, but not being in control. The upside is that they eliminate anything that could be considered negative. So, no war, disease, poverty, etc etc etc. You might even feel happy. But I don't think you can be happy, if you understand me? I am fairly biased I suppose. But that is what is meant when they say they grant you freedom. Freedom from choice and responsibility. We oppose them on a moral basis.“

”Any questions so far, or can I move on to the, eheh, source of our power?"

“please continue.”

“Okay. Source of our power is fairly simple. It is a part of what we are. We… are not physical creatures. We have a physical manifestation, yes, but that is not the principle factor. We aren't some form of energy either, not in a conventional sense. What we are is creatures of will. When we fight each other, it is only partially physical, and always a contest of wills to some degree. We decide that something must happen, and we can make it happen. It is almost what you would call psychic I suppose, or magical, whatever works for you.”

“However, we have recently been careful to limit ourselves to more directly physical means of contention. This is because the last time we all started firing away at each other we left a permanent stain on the fabric of that reality. Not exactly what either side wants happening.”

“We pop around from place to place doing our business. But how? Well, we could just do it ourselves. And sometimes we do. But when working on a galactic scale it is much better to have a base of operations, you know, to let us relax and not stress ourselves to death. Our BOOS, or base of operations ship, is relatively nearby. We call it George. Canuovea calls it the HMS Humming bird. I still don't think it looks a thing like a hummingbird. It is a large sentient space vessel, that is armed with what is basically the most conventional weaponry you will find with us. I think Canuovea had it made that way just for kicks, but I don't understand the man, and I'm certain he doesn't understand himself half the time.”

“Also, with our decision to restrict ourselves to more physical forms of warfare, space has put us in a difficult situation. So we have living ships, like the one I rode in on. Don't get too close to it though, it might mistake you for food. They're worse then Beagles. Anyway, I hope we don't end up having to demonstrate how we fight with them, but it isn't conventional space combat. Fun fact, one of our Commanders named his ”Pony.“

”Anything else I can help you with?"

“could you give a demonstration of these powers? I think you'll agree that it is in both our interests for us to know what we are dealing with.”

back at the george…

everything is normal. there's an asteroid that seems to have drifted out of the asteroid belt, but it's not on a collision course.

“A demonstration? That depends. You have already seen a Karian in action, it appeared and disappeared. That was what can be simply called teleportation. Physical death is not a permanent thing with us, as you will see when our leader returns. You saw how one of us appeared in that computer simulation, thing, of yours. And that was inadvertent, he was trying to find the creature. Will and direction took him out of the physical universe and into a digital one, by accident. I also communicated with you directly from outside your program.”

“But if you want to see the power we can represent… very well.” Calthorne smiles. “I wish to access the images pertaining to Vaerius' recent defeat as well as incident ‘Transcendant Ire’ and ‘Restoration.’ Yes, thank you commander.”

“The first thing you are about to see is a particular incident that was dealt with by our current head of staff. You see, we do not take kindly to certain treatment of our charges.”

A holographic simulation plays itself out in front of Calthorne. It involves a female in a kind of white armour standing on a thin object in space. “That is the very front of George.” In front of her is a planet, covered in constantly broiling dark clouds. “A very technologically advanced civilization, in theory. Very aggressive as well. They seemed to think that the best way to deal with possible threats to their existence was to exterminate all life they came across. Not the nicest of fellows. We decided they shared a collective responsibility for genocide, as they were a race with a kind of collective consciousness, a hive mind if you will.” The female regards the planet for a moment and gives a dismissive gesture. The simulation pauses. “This incident could have gone one of two ways, we use the ship or ourselves. Earatar felt that this was personal enough for her to warrant this reaction. Canuovea was less then pleased with this, but allowed it to happen.” The planet shatters, and the fragments disintegrate. “You must understand, Earatar is one of the more dangerous of us, I could not do that, as I am simply an Auxiliary. She is a captain of the Praetorians.”

Calthorne shrugs. “Not everyone was for that course of action. You should count yourselves lucky that she is not in full command of this expedition. She was all for incinerating your planet with George. Speaking of which, I will get around to demonstrating George's capabilities in a moment. But I figure having seen what we can do when we are feeling destructive, you should see what we do when we decide to repair. This is ‘Restoration.’

A barren planet appears on the simulation than moves in closer until it is focusing on a single Praetorian, Earatar again, standing with a look of concentration on her face. ”This was the second phase, coming after ‘Transcendent Ire,’ which you've already seen.“

Earatar begins muttering to herself. ”Carbon Dioxide. There. What else? Ah right. Make it so.“ The planet springs to life, returning vegetation and basic animal life, as well as actual atmosphere. ”And the cities, as they were before.“ Strange buildings appear. ”Were it I could restore the whole population. Caurus? Bring the survivors back home. Then we move to the next one.“

”We are not omnipotent. That was only possible because a Praetorian was doing it and because nothing opposed her. Most plant life doesn't have a strong force of will, nor does metal and stone. Restoring that was easy enough. But we… cannot quite, bring people back from the dead. As you have seen, we do intervene sometimes, despite what Canuovea may have lead you to believe. But that was an extreme case.“

The simulation ends. ”There is one more thing that you should see. I will only provide an image of this. Not a moving picture. But it demonstrates what we are dealing with.“ A picture appears where the simulation was. In it a male dressed in armour similar to, though more ornate than, Calthorne's has a blade being pushed through his head by a creature almost exactly like the one that finished off Caligula's monster, except taller and of completely indeterminate gender. ”That was our leader Vaerius. That is the leader of the Karian, named Zerus. This is why, at the moment, Earatar is in charge of this expedition. We expect to get Vaerius back at some distant point in the future.“

”So, there you have it.“ Calthorne pauses. ”Oh, we may have a chance to demonstrate George. I have just gotten word that George is feeling a little leery about an asteroid. They are currently debating if they should move away, blow it up with the star killer, or just let George ram straight through it. George doesn't believe that he can't ram straight through it, so he probably can. I know, what would you prefer?"

“Ramming is nothing new. please demonstrate the ‘star killer’”

“Alrighty then. They want you to blow it up.” Calthorne nods. “I don't think they have a preference. Uh huh… George feels like what?… Yes, I suppose he hasn't bisected anything for some time.”

“I'll show you here in real time, in the very unlikely case that you don't know what is going on.”

The hologram thing switches to showing George, it is made of a fluid length of white material that stretches from one end to the other, the front ending in a long, thin, pointed hummingbird like nose. The whole thing is dotted with glassy orbs. There are three particularly large ones though, one near the back of the ship, placed between a fold in the white material. A second is located just above and before the beginning of the nose. The final, and largest, runs along the bottom front of the ship (terminating a slightly further distance from the beginning of the nose than the second orb) for a good third of the ship's bulk. “The biggest one is what we call the star killer. We have tested it on stars, but I swear, George takes an almost sadistic delight in blowing chunks of space rock up with it.”

George angles his belly up slightly, to a degree that he feels appropriate for the matter. The glassy bottom orb begins to glow a light pinkish colour. Next second a thin beam of white light shoots from the large glass orb and hits the very top of the asteroid. From that point the light continues along, very rapidly, until it hits the bottom. George simply maintains the beam where the asteroid has already been cut, creating a fan like shape. Before the asteroid can drift apart the beam splits open and becomes two separate, fan shaped, walls of light that incinerate the remnants of the asteroid. Immediately all the glassy orbs begin glowing different colours, then rapidly shifting. “He does that when happy.” Calthorne ends the Hologram.

“Actually, one of the more natural methods of killing stars is simply to open a large black hole in the center of them, then shut it off before it consumes too much. It isn't particularly difficult to do that. George just likes flashy lights. And that is only one type of beam weapon he has available to him. It changes according to his tastes on that day, and the required effectiveness.”

(Fun fact, the US navy are working on a free electron laser. They want one able to cut through 2000 feet of steel in a second. I did the math, sorta, and that should take about 30 days to put a hole in the planet from end to end. Scary thought, eh?)

“from your point of view, where do you think we stand? what do you think of us, and what do you thin we think of you?”