《Apocalypse on Endless Earths: Apocalypse How? A LITRPG Adventure》 1) The last day in the life of . . . Apocalypse on Endless Earths Apocalypse How? Raymond Johnson Cover Art by: Andrey Denisov Copyright: ?2018 Raymond Johnson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book, including the cover and photos, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher. All rights reserved. Any resemblance to persons, places living or dead is purely coincidental. This is a work of fiction. I dedicate this book to the love of my life, my wife Carrie, who has always had my back even when I was fighting myself. Prologue The Last Day in the Life of . . . Sarah Crowe, of the Earth known as 755RRX, lay in her bed and played Kandied Krunch on her phone. She was a pretty dark haired girl, who maybe stood five five without her ¡°special boots¡±. She was one of the least important people on the planet, and she knew it. She had known it from a very early age. She had also realized early on that in the wider more cosmic sense of existence that she infinitesimally unimportant to such a degree she wondered why she had ever been given life. As a result, she had long long ago given up on doing anything of importance and indulged in a laissez-faire lifestyle that supported her way of thinking. She had no aspirations, no goals, and no ambition and she had every reason to feel that way. She briefly considered going into work but decided against it. She already had an eviction notice and they had shut off the water. She was pretty certain that the electricity was going to go next; the only thing that she had paid was her phone bill. She hadn¡¯t even bothered to get dressed or rather just put on some clean clothes for the last three days. She was still in her pajamas that she¡¯d put on over the weekend, and had worn them because she didn¡¯t see the point of having to wash more clothes when she had no water. Similarly, she hadn¡¯t bathed in over six days. The lack of water had no bearing on that decision; she just hadn¡¯t felt dirty enough to warrant her getting out of bed or off the couch. When she needed a shower she¡¯d call one of her girlfriends and see if they wouldn¡¯t let her scrub down at their place. If worse came to worse she could always ask her boss, Pat, to let her clean up over there. She¡¯d let him peek through the keyhole, but that was all. He was a creepy bastard, but he was her creepy bastard. Either way, it beat having to pay the backlog on the water bill. She had better things to do than worry about how fresh she felt. With Pat on her mind, she sent him a text saying that she was still sick and couldn¡¯t make it to work. How could he refute it? She never left the apartment, and if he decided to check in on her he¡¯d see that she hadn¡¯t cleaned up in a while. A very long while at that, but he¡¯d never realize the truth that she cleaned up if she absolutely had to do so. She knew the only reason he hadn¡¯t fired her was for the fact that she¡¯d occasionally shake her rear end at him and give him a wink. That exhausted her. Sometimes it was too much work getting out of work. She sighed and realized that she was going to have to pack somethings for when they eventually, but probably sooner rather than later, kicked her out of her apartment. She didn¡¯t need any more hassles with the deputy sheriffs. They never seemed to understand her side of things and always made her leave without making a scene. She could, she decided, pack somethings up tomorrow. Right now she was ready for a long nap. She shut her phone off, dropped it to the floor because the stand was too far away, and sank her head into her fluffy pillow. She would make certain that she took that pillow with her when they kicked her out; it was just too comfy to leave behind. She pulled the covers over her head because the sun was shining in her eyes, and it was too cold in the apartment for her to get up and close the blinds. Satisfied, she closed her eyes and drifted off into sleep. Slothful Sarah had no idea that she was living out her last day on Earth. Not that it particularly mattered; even if she had known she wouldn¡¯t have done things much differently. She hated that nickname, but she couldn¡¯t argue with it. She had always earned a title that alluded to her lethargic nature. If she had the energy or the inclination, she could have rattled off titles such as Lazy Sarah, Sluggish Sarah, Sarah Idle, and her newest one that had been bequeathed to her at the coffee shop by her co-workers, Slothful Sarah. She was blessed to die the way that she lived, laying in her bed trying her best not to do anything. She had no idea that as she contemplated calling her boss her fate was already being sealed. If she had then she would have probably rejoiced because it is a horrible thing to recognize that nothing that you do will ever matter. Living under such an onus was unbearable. Six thousand miles away a frail figure covered in a black hooded robe and cloak stepped from a shadow beneath a stone bridge. The bridge was ancient and still viable and it provided the easiest point for the figure¡¯s entry into the world. The cowl was a stygian mass of murk and betrayed no features of the hood¡¯s wearer. The thin form scanned the area making certain that it was indeed alone. Satisfied that no one was about it bent down to the earth and tore a chunk of soil from the ground. He brought the handful of soil and grass before the hood¡¯s opening, and words like snakes slithered into the air, ¡°They were hungry and thirsty; their soul fainted within them. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble.¡± The voice was male, with an accent that hinted that he hailed from somewhere in the lower southern states of the U.S. It was deep and sonorous and held a bit of contempt buried between the syllables. The clump of vegetation withered and shriveled until only dust remained in the hand that had been holding the mass of dirt and green grass; dust the trickled to the ground through the figure¡¯s fingers. The hand was emaciated, covered with a tissue-thin black skin that was so delicate that a paper cut might slash his wrist better than a razor could hope to do. As the last grain of dust fell from his palm he wiped his hand on his robe and drew back his hood. As was the hand, so went the head. The man¡¯s flesh was pulled so tautly over his skull that it looked that if he smiled he would break into a rictus grin so morbid that he would never recover from it. Wisps of hair sprouted in small spots around the top of his skull, but he had no eyebrows or facial hair of any kind. He winced as he looked into the sky and the sun¡¯s light seared his skin like a blowtorch used on solder. His dark skin shriveled and fell from his face and hands like flaming pieces of tissue paper; leaving only a bleached white skull and boney hands as evidence of the sun¡¯s power against his personage. The skull bore no expression, nor gave any indication that what had just happened had caused it pain in any way. Empty sockets stared at the ground and watched as the grass and all surrounding vegetation grew brown, withered, and finally crumbled into a grainy powder; everything around him that was within the floral spectrum of life shriveled and silently faded into nonexistence. It did not matter if it was a huge and vibrant tree or a small struggling to survive seed. They all wrinkled and died. The harbinger of death turned his attention to the small river that ran beneath the bridge that had cast the shadow that he had used to enter this world. It was swollen and swift, and was actually quite clean for a Chinese river. It rolled beneath the bridge sure and strong as it had done for thousands of years. The hollow eyes of the skeleton watched impassively as the water dried up and aught but sand was left behind. He took note that there was not even moisture in the air any longer. Although it was not obvious, the skeleton was not satisfied with his handiwork. His voice, now raspy and wisp-like, choked the air with his corruption as he spoke, "When they become waterless, they are silent, when it is hot, they vanish from their place. It is I who says to the depth of the sea, ''Be dried up!'' And I will make your rivers dry. " It hadn¡¯t been enough to kill this world by taking away its food and water, the skull-faced fiend had to make it so that the very air leached moisture from the flesh of every living creature on the planet. The inhabitants of this world no longer had days left for them to lead their lives, but hours, at best instead. Slothful Sarah Crowe would die peacefully in her sleep. While billions of others, those who were awake would feel the fluids being slowly pulled from their cells only for the moisture to dissipate into the air, and grow weaker and stiffer until nothing was left of them but mummified and desiccated corpses littering the streets or filling their homes. The entire process was not painful, but it was agonizingly slow and incredibly uncomfortable as those who were awake bore an unquenchable thirst that could never be satisfied. Theirs was a Tantalusian death; which was just how the robed figure preferred to mete out his apocalypses. Armageddon, he felt, should bear the taste of bitter irony. The shadowy form of the skeleton flitted from one continent to the next, making sure that not a single creature was still alive. He had been tasked with killing all life on the planet and he had done so swiftly and efficiently. Hours later, he found himself wandering through the city of New Amsterdam, the Big Orange, as it was affectionately called. He stepped over body after body; sometimes accidentally stepping on one of them and crushing the corpse into dust. He did this without malice; he simply went where he needed to go. He paused at a tourist shop, stepped inside, and saw what he had been looking for; a small glass globe sitting on a shelf. He reached out and plucked it like it was the last flower in a field near a beautiful girl. He held it up to his face and shook it. He watched as small white plastic flakes swirled around the image of the skyline of New Amsterdam. It was perfect. He slipped it into the pocket of his robe with an inward smile. His mission was accomplished and he was free to go, but he had decided that this was the last world he was going to destroy for his interdimensional overlord. He had had enough of the killing. The commandment Thou Shalt Not Kill rattled around in his skull more and more nowadays. He had no stomach left for it. He had long ago decided that he would go against the wishes of his master and save the worlds he was ordered to destroy. He would no longer be a monster. He would become a savior. He had decided to oppose his lord and had lost his flesh because of it. Now he was forever marked as a death bringer, for surely now he was the reaper incarnate. He was willing to pay such a price if it meant that he could regain his soul. He just wondered how many lives he would have to save in order to make up for the Quintillions that he had killed over the years. He found it ironic that the champion of light and life should be molded into the image of death and destruction. He was a Horseman of the Apocalypse. He had taken that title for himself, but he had embodied all four of the horsemen, not just death. This was his master¡¯s idea of a joke. In order to save the lives of untold googleplexes of people, he would have to become the incarnation death. He was already a destroyer of worlds; he had been for a very long time. The irony of it all was that in the end, Sarah Crowe of Earth 755RRX had been correct after all. Nothing that she would have done would have mattered, and there was no one in the multiverse who would ever care if she had lived or died. Always a Minute too Late Declan Mason was perpetually late. It was a constant and irritating issue in his life, and nothing that he did seemed to curb it. If he got himself ready an hour earlier then traffic would get him. If he stayed in a nearby hotel to make it to an important meeting, then the meeting would move, and someone would neglect to tell him. As a result, he had long ago stopped trying to get anywhere on time. He would get there when he got there. Anyone who had a problem with that would either deal with it or move on. That''s all there was to it. Accept it or let him go. The only exception that he had to this hard and fast rule was that he made sure that he always got a cup of coffee from Bucky Starrs down on Wabash and Lake. So long as he made it there before noon he was OK. BS had some great coffee, but he stopped in to see one person in particular. Her name was Sarah Crowe, and she was beautiful. At least she was to him. She was special in a myriad of ways that he couldn¡¯t even contemplate. The way her nose crinkled when she laughed, that glitter in her eyes when she was thinking of something devious, the way she blushed, even after two years, when he told her that he loved her. He loved her harder and more deeply with every day that passed. For him, there was no other woman in the entire world. He didn¡¯t even notice other women anymore. He hadn¡¯t noticed that fact for some time until she had made a comment on a blonde that had walked by them in a too-revealing outfit and he realized he hadn¡¯t seen her because he was thinking about how he couldn¡¯t live without her. How he needed to marry this amazing woman beside him. Of course, when he realized that she had said something about her and he said he hadn¡¯t noticed the woman she didn¡¯t believe him. Well, maybe she did just a little. Everything about her appealed to him from her appearance to her demeanor; she was all that he could ever ask for in a woman, and today he was going to ask her to marry him. He decided that they had dated long enough and that even though many people in his generation felt that marriage was an outdated ideal that he needed to proclaim that he was hers, and that she was his. Yes, he knew he was whipped. He was hopelessly and happily whipped. He had been going to that particular coffee shoppe every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday between eight am and twelve noon for the last three years; because that was when she worked. They had met there, he had asked out there, and now he was going to propose there. It seemed cheesy, but this was the three year anniversary of the day they had met. While he never made it there when he said he would, she didn¡¯t mind. She was more concerned with his presence, not his timeliness, and he cherished her for that. They often chatted while she took his order, and would make plans for that night. She was not a woman that you spent time with at home. She was one that you took out and marveled at as streetlights shone in her eyes, or gape in wonder as she managed to make restaurant music seem like the soundtrack to her life. She was someone that made the stars dim when compared to her. She was short, just about five five, but she was thin, save for her c-cup bosom. She wore her hair in a simple bob style cut and wore no make-up. Her skin was pale, a creamy white, and her eyes were a brilliant and sparkling green. She was a dreamer, whose starry eyes had sucked him in like a black hole the day that he''d first seen her. He had so wanted to ask her out right then but didn¡¯t because he was running late for a doctor''s appointment. After that, it took him a few weeks to find the proper moment to ask her out. The timing always seemed off to him. He wanted everything to be perfect when he made his move. He had done the same thing in regards to his proposal, he kept looking for the right moment, the perfect situation, but nothing ever seemed right. Today was different for some reason. Now, he had a sense of urgency about him. He felt that if he didn¡¯t ask her right now he would never have the chance. Today he had awakened and felt like it needed to be a day of change. Something big was going to happen to him. He didn''t know what, but he just felt like Tony in West Side Story. Something was coming. Something big, something better, and it was meant for him. He left his habitat pod, told it to lock behind him, and climbed into his car. It was a retro-design hover vehicle that had been shaped to emulate the American Chevy from 1957. His was molded in the Bel Air model style, toned with the classic cherry red paint with white trim. Since his car was operated by a sentient A.I. he had seen fit to provide it with an appropriate voice and name. "Good morning, Declan," it said in a soothing feminine voice. He had programmed her to sound like Lauren Bacall, the actress from the nineteen forties who had dated Humphrey Boggart. He had always found her voice fascinating and leaped at the chance to have his car speak to him with her dulcet tones when the dealership asked which voice he wanted for his car¡¯s AI. He had then named her after an old horror book that he had read as a kid. It was about a murderous Model-A car named Kristine and had been penned by that century¡¯s leading horror novelist, Samuel Baron. It was the first time someone had written about a sentient vehicle, and he appreciated the irony that he would be trusting his life to an automobile named after a killer car. "Where shall I take you today?" Her voice was soft and sonorous, and just slightly seductive. He made a mental note that he was going to have to change it to something a little less appealing once he was engaged to Sarah. Declan shook his head at the thought and gave the car a broad grin. "Kristine," he said with no small amount of joy in his voice, "I would like you to please get me to Bucky Starr''s Coffee Shop as soon as possible." "The one on Wabash and Lake, I presume?" She said it questioningly as if there might be some doubt as to his destination. He appreciated her playful attitude. He was definitely going to have to readjust her whole personality soon, he couldn¡¯t get caught flirting with his car. The car rose gently from the ground and accelerated in the direction of the I-50 Skylane. Declan nodded, his dark brunette hair flopping over his left eye as he did so, "Please. You know where I¡¯m going. I¡¯ve done the same routine week after week for months, now." He saw no reason not to be polite to the car. Hell, it held better conversations with him than most people he knew. "Ah, then we must be going to see Miss Crowe today. It is a Wednesday. Another triple shot expresso?" Declan chuckled, "No, Kristine, today is the day I am going to ask her to marry me. I''m tired of....," he paused. He wasn''t sure of what he wanted to say. He didn''t know how to put his feelings into words. Kristine, had no problem substituting, however, "Pussyfooting around? About damned time if you ask me, Dec. Pulling out now, please buckle up; your safety is important to me." He wondered why Kristine always said that. His belts secured him in his seat automatically. He always assumed it was a little joke that Kristine found funny; however, it could have just been the standard safety protocols kicking in but he couldn¡¯t be sure since she always managed to say it with some snark at the end. ¡°Kristine, what is our ETA?¡± The car did not hesitate, ¡°Twenty three minutes and forty-four seconds,¡± she said casually. Suddenly, his guts twisted, that seemed like it was too long to wait. ¡°Please see what you can do to cut that time down, will you?¡± He swore he heard the car snort when he asked that question, ¡°Declan, I am already exceeding legal speeds by seven miles since I could sense your urgency when you entered. Your heart rate is all over the place. You really need to calm down. I will see what I can do.¡± While Kristine drove him to the coffee shop Declan opened up his heads up display. The HUD was a red screen that opened in front of him. He marveled at the relative ease he had when using it compared to his parents using theirs. They literally had to plug in to access the headnet because the tech was still in its infancy when they were born. They had to have hardware physically installed in their craniums in order to access the World Wide Head Web. His mother and father had opted not to update their hardware, choosing to jack in when they needed to do so. His father used to laugh and tell Declan that when he was a kid his father not only had to plug in, but also required dial-up via telephone lines and that he knew whenever his dad was getting on the web by the squealing noises that emanated from his head. By the time Declan, and those of his generation was born they had developed tech to the point that they just injected some nanites into his infant brain and they grew the necessary neural pathways that allowed one to connect directly to the new Headnet wirelessly. It was a lot like those people with belly buttons, you could tell those who were homegrown and those who came from a lab. Vatties had no umbilicus on their navel, rather it was at the base of their cranium. He was a vattie. Engineered to be the exact model human that his parents had desired. Headnet was a great invention. It acted like the old style internet, email, television, and video games all rolled into one. If it existed electronically then you could access it. Headnet made teachers obsolete because children could download information and skills directly into their heads. You could connect to anyone at anytime anywhere in the world. It really broke down the concept of countries, once Headnet created a new human language that everyone under the age of thirty spoke fluently. Everyone over the age got reprogrammed when they jacked in. After everyone spoke the same words in the same way a lot of issues began to vanish. There had been some holdouts, but no one could stay off the HNET for long. He had heard of living off the grid, but never understood the concept. Headnet was everywhere. One of the biggest boons of Headnet came from the psychological and medical benefits that it provided. Hnet acted like a counselor, a psychiatrist, and a therapeutic pharmacist so that there was no mental illness anymore. No one suffered from anxiety, grief, loneliness, or psychoses anymore. Hnet diagnosed, provided and applied subliminal therapeutic counseling techniques as people slept, and made sure that no one missed or skipped medication. Internal nanites provided everything necessary to stabilize mental health and keep the citizens happy and productive. If you were lonely then Headnet would seek out a partner that would be one hundred percent compatible with you if you so desired. Most people didn¡¯t even look for mates on their own anymore. They simply allowed Hnet to guide them to a compatible choice and were content to leave it at that. If you didn¡¯t use Hnet to find a partner then it could be used to vet how the relationship would work in the long run. Declan had been lucky; he¡¯d found his Sarah on his own, and they had fit together so perfectly that he¡¯d never even considered needing to run his relationship under the HNet¡¯s microscope. Headnet was not omniscient, nor was it omnipotent. It could only access thoughts when it was given permission to do so, and it could not reveal any private information that you did not want to disclose to someone. Medically, Hnet constantly scanned your body via billions of nanites and took care or any physical ailments that might appear. Disease was nonexistent, although it was well known of and would never be forgotten. Wounds were knitted back together via the nanites as well. It was not a cure all, nor was it perfect. As for its matchmaking capabilities, well, people were people and sometimes people changed. When two partnered people¡¯s goals began to shift they were notified that the relationship was facing stress and could fracture. Sometimes they would realign their priorities and others they would allow the Headnet to find them someone more suitable to their current needs. It was all quite civilized and amicable. Headnet had become such a boon that it was used in virtually every aspect of their lives. Headnet also allowed people to keep track of themselves. Everyone had a character or information sheet that displayed skills, attributes, abilities, wealth, etc. You could literally assign points to areas that you lacked and improve yourself. Not all skills were available to everyone either. There had to be a reason for you to know how to sharpshoot, or even load a gun for that matter, but if you wanted to go swimming then you could just contact Headnet and within moments you would have the knowledge, skill, and muscle memory of the best swimmer that had been recorded into HNET. No one was paid with cash anymore, it was a cryptocurrency known as Expy. Expy was used to purchase items, pay for services, and self-improvement. The trick was balancing those things out. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The HUD shone red in his eyes as he looked at his character sheet. He looked at the section that said Relationship. He could have cared less about anything else on there. The words DATING stared back at him. It should have said engaged a long time ago, even married by this point. Declan smiled inwardly at the thought of marrying Sarah, although it felt more like a grimace to him. He decided not to wait any longer. Something was telling him that he was going to be too late to do what he wanted. He had to ask her right now or she was going to slip through his hands forever. He touched his right temple, and said, "HNET, contact Sarah Crowe, the barista employed at Bucky Starr''s on Wabash and Lake." He didn''t need to talk, just tapping his temple and thinking it would have worked just as easily, but he enjoyed talking. He knew numerous people his age that never uttered a word aloud anymore. They just communicated via HNET. So boring. So silent. In a moment Sarah appeared on his screen. She was in full living color but framed with the red tone of his HUD. She looked a little shocked to see him but still managed a smile. "Hello, Declan. Are you running behind? Do you want to order your drink now, so that it is ready when you get here?" Her forehead crinkled when she asked that. She was clearly surprised about him calling her directly. She was taken aback because he never called her when he was on his way to see her. He always made it a point to speak to her directly and in person. It was important to him to make actual personal contact rather than connecting via a social network. He hated talking via Headnet. "Actually, Sarah, I''m calling because,¡± he felt this throat constrict as he tried to say the words, ¡°I feel that if I don¡¯t do something right this moment then I am going to lose my opportunity forever. I don¡¯t know why, but I do.¡± He stared into her verdant eyes, eyes that stole his breath whenever he looked into them, ¡°You know how I feel about talking to you in person, and that the HNET is more harmful than it is helpful when it comes to interpersonal relationships.¡± His voice was coming out in desperate tones, and he had no idea why. He wasn¡¯t afraid to ask her to marry him, but there was an underlying urgency at this moment that he could not shake. ¡°I¡¯m so tired of not doing what I should have done so long ago. Three years ago I took a chance on getting to know this incredible woman that I had met. I admit that I have been struck by your beauty since the first time ever I saw your face, but it is so much more than that. You are the kindest, sweetest person I have ever known. You are so smart, and you care about people and things that so few do nowadays.¡± He paused and took a breath. Then he took another and another. It didn¡¯t help. He had to do this now. ¡°I want to spend the rest of our lives seeing what the world brings to us, what it throws at us, and how we deal with it together. You are the best part of my day; You make me laugh when I should cry, and you have been there for me at every hurdle and at every loss.¡± He thought of his parents and how she had never left his side once she learned that they had been killed. How she stood by him through his hardest moments. ¡°What I¡¯m saying is that there is nobody that I want to grow old with, nobody I would want with me from now until the end of the world. Sarah Crowe, will you please consent to be the one love of my life from now until the end of the world? Will you marry . .¡± He stopped as the HUD cut out. Kristine began to shudder, and shimmy on the road. Declan¡¯s first thoughts would have been that they were hydroplaning, but she was a hovercraft. Kristine only touched the ground when she was parked or letting him out. A violent thrust rocked the auto and Declan almost flew out of his seat when his vehicle all but rolled over; somehow Kristine managed to right and realign herself as she continued to vibrate like she was in an earthquake. "Sorry," the car said, "The road isn''t as smooth as it should be. They must have done some work last night, but I can''t find anything in the DOT''s work logs to indicate that.¡± Road work, he thought, road work wouldn¡¯t cause that! She began again, ¡°My sensors are either malfunctioning or the road has vanished. Something is wrong." Her speed suddenly began to increase, and the ride felt as though they were driving over a pothole disguised as a road. Potholes the size of kiddie pools. "Kristine, please give me road view." He trusted Kristine''s driving, but the vehicle showed no sign of slowing down, and he was literally bouncing out of his seat. If he hadn''t been strapped in as well as he was he would have been thrown into the view screen. He didn''t have it on transparent mode, since he had planned on talking to Sarah, and then looking his character sheet over until he got to work. Now he was worried that something was really wrong. He wanted to see what was out there. ¡°Kristine,¡± his voice was oddly calm, he had expected something to go wrong and now that it had he became cradled in an aura of serenity and acceptance, ¡°Can you please stop? Can you show me the road? Can you tell me anything?¡± No answer came. He looked at the dashboard, and Kristine''s screens began flashing on and off. Declan called up his HUD again since it had dropped right when he was going to ask Sarah to marry him. The HUD went wibbly wobbly and started squirming and blurring in front of his eyes. Something was seriously wrong. He put a finger to his temple, "HNET, rider needs assistance." He waited for a response, but nothing happened. HNET was, for all intents and purposes, practically instantaneous. His alert would have had them location spot him, ascertain what was going on, and moved to assist him before he heard their reply. The response team¡¯s silence sent a chill down his spine and destroyed the air of calm that had swathed him moments ago. "Kristine? Are you viable?" Again, no answer came. His blood ran cold. He was in serious danger if Kristine couldn''t respond. "Kristine?" His voice broke as he spoke, his nerves suddenly struck him so hard he began to shake violently. "Krrrriiiiiissssstine!!" He barked out the name over and over as panic drove him to completely lose his composure. Outside he could hear small pings and dings as what Declan assumed to be pebbles from the road began pelting the sides of the car. He futilely struggled to get himself free from his safety restraints, as the bouncing and rattling continued to grow worse. The restraints, however, did what they were supposed to do and held him in place. He felt the emergency gyroscope kick on and while he still vibrated and shook so hard that his teeth rattled he knew that even if Kristine rolled tailpipe over tea kettle he would remain upright and relatively safe. Then he calmed himself. Panic accomplished nothing. Kristine might not be responsive, and there might not be anything he could do about it, so he figured he might as well calm down. He began to take deep breaths and center himself. He checked over Kristine''s readouts and saw that everything was still inoperable. His Headnet was still down; he had no traffic on it at all. There were no incoming or outgoing messages, and no matter what he did he could not pull up his character screen. All that he was able to get was a red screen that was filled with static and snow. It sputtered and blinked and then went completely blank. He stared at it and, surprisingly, it helped to calm him down. He left it up and focused on it as the vehicle rumbled and bounced. Alarmingly, he noticed that the pebbles that were assaulting the car were growing in size from what he could hear. He had no doubt that the rocks were now the size of his fist. He gagged instinctively as the air around him was filled with the scent of burning asphalt, sulfur, and oil. He swore that he could hear rumbling like thunder as well; a deep and hungry thunder that rolled and roiled like a rockslide in an earthquake. Then, his crimson HUD screen was filled with a picture. His heads up display was stable and show no signs of the glitch behavior it had moments before. A smiley face stared back at him, and the words Keep Calm glowed beneath it. As soon as it filled his screen the car began to ease up and the rollicking rolled back to a slight bounce. Then the ride completely smoothed out, and everything was calm again. Kristine had still not rebooted, and he knew that because the test pattern signal that was still on his HUD. He felt the car steering itself, however, even if Kristine wasn''t back in control cognitively she was there instinctually. Core programming like hers was hard to dismiss. She banked left and climbed upward, and then he felt the car drop suddenly as if it were being lowered to the ground. His restraints released him, and his passenger door opened. He looked out and had no idea of where the hell he was. Inducted into Service Declan stepped out of his vehicle after turning off his Heads Up Screen. He found himself standing in a room that was smothered in darkness, and yet filled with light. The area that the car had landed was clearly some sort of construction, but he had no idea of what he was in. The walls of the facility he now found himself to be in appeared to be constructed of shining stainless steel. His eyes followed the path of the walls as they went shooting skyward but never seemed to end. They were swallowed by a nebulous ebon shadow that gave no hint to their height. Declan¡¯s best guess estimated the walls, or rather wall as the room itself was circular, was at least half a mile high. The floor was made out of the same material as the walls. He bent down and touched it. It was smooth and warm to the touch and he could feel a slight pulsing beneath his fingers. The ambient light that filled the room seemed to emanate from the air itself because he saw no lamps, lanterns, torches, or other devices anywhere around him. The eeriest part as far as he was concerned, the thing that unsettled him the most, was the complete and utter silence that enveloped him. He couldn¡¯t even hear his own breathing. He became paranoid and thought that the metal was absorbing the sound around him. The room and he hesitated to call it that, was simply massive in its scope. He estimated that it could have easily held about fifty football fields. His best reckoning told him that he was smack dab in the center of the place. Normally, he would have just used his HUD to get a reading and know the exact dimensions of the space around him, but Headnet still wasn''t functioning, and he felt like one of his limbs had been amputated because of it. As much as he disparaged over how impersonal the Hnet could be he''d never been without the HN before and it was disconcerting. It was like a tight rope walker losing his safety net for the first time while he was walking over a lava pit on a windy day. He genuinely felt lost. Worse yet, he was alone. Sarah was gone, Kristine was gone, and the Headnet was down. He was utterly and completely cut off from everything that he knew. No one knew where he was. Hell, he didn¡¯t know where he was. He knew only one thing for certain, no one was coming to help him. He was on his own. "Hello," he said, fully expecting his voice to echo but it almost vanished as soon as he had spoken. The room had devoured the sound like a great white shark striking an unsuspecting seal. He shut the car door behind him, and it too was muted. The door closed with a slight wumph, not the slam he''d been hoping for when he''d shut it. He was hesitant to step away from the remains of the car as it was really his only refuge that he had if something went wrong, but then he considered that the car would not start or drive on its own at the moment. He could not drive the car, because Headnet was down. Without Hnet he had no idea of how to manually start the car. Driving it wasn¡¯t even worthy of consideration. Then it hit him. The realization caused his guts to roil and twist. Kristine was beaten to pieces. Every square inch of her was dented, bent, scraped, mangled, and broken. Declan had seen cars in junkyards from historic vids, and they had looked better than his beloved vehicle currently did. As far as he knew she was damaged beyond repair, and there would be no coming back. He gently ran a hand across her roof, ¡°Oh, Kristine,¡± he moaned. He knew it was stupid, but he had always considered her to be a companion. A confidant. He could talk to her, unlike his personal habitat. Watson, his house, was amiable but he showed no desire to get to know the man who dwelled within him. He was great for helping with appointments, shopping, and the like, but he shunned idle chat unless he was forced to participate. Kristine, on the other hand, would fight with him over what radio station they were going to listen to as they drove. She had no shame; she had a penchant for Hair Bands and Boy Bands. He would have given anything to hear her singing along with the New Town Boys to Men and their hit, I love Everybody That Way. Now he looked at his battered and broken automobile and wondered how she had kept herself together and prevented him from getting even a scratch. He didn¡¯t know how, but he silently swore that he would restore her someday. He laid his head on her roof and gently rubbed her top with his left hand. It took Declan sometime before he could step away from his battered friend. A glance at his HUD and he knew that she was still offline, and from what he could see of her she wasn¡¯t going to be coming back any time soon. It dawned on him that he needed to figure out where he was, and hopefully find some help. He hesitated, not sure of where he should start. Then he decided to just go for it and started walking towards the area of the wall directly across from his passenger door. His first steps were hesitant, but within moments he was confidently striding towards a wall that held no window or doors. He had no idea of why he was walking to the wall other than because it was away from his beloved Kristine. He knew two things with absolute certainty. First, he couldn¡¯t stay with the car, no matter how badly he wanted to, and second, he couldn¡¯t just stand around idly by and wait for something to happen. Waiting would make things worse. He knew that his mind would begin to play tricks on him, and without HN to support him psychologically with its subliminal counseling he would panic. Of that, he had no doubt. So, it was stay by Kristine and drive himself crazy, or walk until something happened or he found a doorway. He opted for the latter. Standing around accomplished nothing. He had walked about five minutes before he stopped. The floor beneath him had begun vibrating, and a low hum could be heard in his ears. Declan looked down to his feet and noticed that his pale hands were vibrating in rhythm with the floor. He could even feel it in his guts. Then, the floor beneath him began to rise, or rather a circular disc about ten feet in diameter lifted from the ground and floated over his car and continued upward in a slow and steady progression. Without his HUD it was hard to tell, but he''d guess that he was climbing at a rate of about five feet a second. As he rose he bent his knees and spread out his arms to keep from falling if the disc he was on decided to tilt. He wasn''t keen on staying where he was, but he had no intention of going anywhere near the edge of his levitating shield. His trip upwards continued for what he assumed was ten minutes before it came to a stop. He inhaled sharply when the disc began to slowly rotate. He was afraid it was going to work itself into a rapid spin and throw him to the very distant floor below. His jaw fell open in disbelief as the disc turned him to face a....face. The ¡°face¡± was at least four stories tall and was glowering at him. The face, and that was all he could call in spite of the fact that it was partially obscured, turned its eyes to look upon the tiny man on the disc before it. It gave him a quizzical look and sighed. The face¡¯s mouth was obscured by a metallic mouth guard that rose from the giant¡¯s sternum to a point just below his nose so that all you could see was the area of the giant¡¯s head from its eyes up. Yellow and green smoke rose from the guard but did not flow in front of his orbs. His eyes were human in appearance, but the irises were golden in color and tone. His pupils were a whirling mass of shapes, one second they were formed like a skull, the next an hourglass, and in the next instant, they were goat-like. They never stopped changing and morphing while he watched. The massive being had no eyebrows, eyelashes or any other hair on his head that Declan could see. His skin was a pale and jaundiced yellow and had deep worry lines etched into it. The titan bore a disinterested if not slightly disappointed look as it stared at him. Declan stared back, too afraid to move or look away. "You are the one they call Devastation?" The goliath¡¯s voice boomed with a hollow metallic reverberation and Declan knew without a doubt that it had been the merest of a whisper. The thing spoke with the voice of God himself, and Declan realized just how insignificant he truly was in that moment. For just the faintest of moments, he could hear Eric Idle singing Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. The great hulk¡¯s words bounced around Declan¡¯s head, but he could not make any sense of them. The words had been so much more than he was. They were more than anything he¡¯d ever known or understood. He could not comprehend their meaning. If Headnet had been operational it would have decoded the words in an instant, but at the moment his universal translation device was on the fritz. "Uh, my name is Declan Mason," he said helpfully. He had found that it never hurt to introduce oneself. It was the proper thing to do. "Dec-lan Ma-son," he repeated loudly and slowly like they used to do in the old movies when a foreign person had a hard time understanding the speaker. "You are De-cim-a-tion?" The hulking form cocked its head slightly as it whispered even more gently the second time around. This time, Declan began to see what the giant was getting at, it had been trying to confirm his name. Declan shrugged and decided to go with it. "Yeah, that''s me. Decimation. What can I do for you?" He was a little worried about that last part, he was certain that whatever the big guy wanted it wasn''t going to be good. He was genuinely surprised at how well he was taking in his current situation. He had completely forgotten that he was standing on a metallic disc that had no visible means of support and was hanging in the air hundreds of feet off the ground. "I have brought you here to work for me," he began. "My role in the multiverse is too vast to contain me to just one path, I must be ever vigilant. My vigilance is all consuming. You will do a portion of my work. In recompense, I shall grant you certain latitudes. I shall upgrade you so that you can do the work required, and shall provide you with some assistance so that you are not alone in your task." The giant was stories tall, and Declan had no way of even guessing his size. He was dressed in what looked to be black plate armor that was covered in glowing silver lines. The lines leaned towards a Celtic design, but not deliberately so. Aside from the top of his head, the alien was completely covered from head to toe in his armor. Declan tried to suppress a shudder but failed miserably; as he all but spasmed in front of the massive figure. "Uh, what do you want me to do?" The face¡¯s eyes scrunched like it was making a frown. "I was getting to that. You need to learn patience, flea. All will be revealed in due time." He cocked his head upward in contemplation, "I shall amend that. What I want you to know shall be revealed at my leisure." His voice boomed for the first time, as irritation crept into his voice. "I am going to send you from world to world, and once there you will do what I would have done." Declan watched the giant head and when it paused to take a breath, he could tell by the way that the strange gasses pulled back into the face shield area, he interjected. "Am I to herald your arrival? Announce that you are there to eat the world or something? Because that''s copyrighted you know. Your name wouldn''t happen to be Galactica or something like that, would it? Maybe you call yourself the Observer? Are you going to turn me into the Red Rollerskater, the Steel Skateboarder, or the Purple Parasailor? If so I would say that you aren''t being very original." The face leaned in until it was just feet away from him. "YOU WILL BE SILENT," he said. "You may call me the Invigilator for that is what I do. I invigilate. You will become my Revelator. I have grown weary of that role, and I grant you the title. You may call yourself whatever you like, as I do not care, but you are from this point forward a Revelator.¡± He paused, straightened himself and continued, ¡°In the past, I have allowed my agents to choose their own titles. No more. I realize now that I granted them too much freedom, which in turn, made them believe that they had options.¡± His voice was so deep and resonant that Declan¡¯s ears rang. ¡°Will not,¡± he said as he shook his head, ¡°Repeat that mistake ever again. Your old life is over, from this point forth you are mine to do with as I see fit. If you disobey me I shall obliterate every trace of your existence from the cosmos. Nothing will be able to hold an impression of your passing, and no one will remember you.¡± He brought one large hand up and pointed at the mortal before him. ¡°You will travel to worlds that I assign to you and you will act in one of three ways. You will either destroy all sentient life on the planet, you will kill all the life on the planet, or you will completely destroy the planet. I will provide what you call Expy for efficiency and creativity. In this way you will grow in power. You will be able to increase your mental and physical prowess, gain new skills or abilities, and earn special items or allowances from me. Any failure on your part to be expeditious, to show alacrity, or lacking in creativity while following my orders will result in penalties. Failure to complete a task in its entirety will result in death or replacement. Replacement will result in my creating a pocket universe that will house you long after eternity has fallen. Death is a slow arduous process that will eons of time, during which you will suffer the vilest tortures ever conceived of in all of the vast multiverse." Then, what looked to be his right hand crested the edge of the disc that Declan stood upon. It held the battered and beaten frame of Kristine. His fingers flexed, and then closed over Declan''s beloved car and crushed it with a cacophony of metal on metal crunches. He rolled his fingers as if he were squeezing a rubber ball, and as he did so the metallic crunching sounds continued. The giant brute stared at his hand impassively as he did so; he showed no sign that he cared what Declan thought of the action that he was performing. When the Invigilator opened his palm there appeared to be a small object floating at its center. It was difficult to estimate size due to the enormity of the hand, its distance away, and his lack of his HUD but if he had a gun to his head he would have said that it was shaped like and was roughly the same size as a football. As he watched the metallic object floated upward and zipped towards him. Declan had been correct, it was about twice the size of a football, it was yellow, and had what appeared to be two windshields on the front end of the prolate spheroid. The odd football hovered near him and seemed to be looking him over. It made no sound as it floated, and he couldn''t help but think that it was circling him in the same way that a shark would. He noticed that the metallic skin that enveloped the spheroid wriggled as if it were still undergoing some sort of changes. The yellow/gold tint was taking on a reddish tinge with white streaks. Then, Kristine''s voice came from the odd device, and as she spoke her windshields lit up. "I am glad to see that you are unharmed, Declan. I was very worried near the end. Needless to say, I was very surprised to find myself functional after everything that happened." He drew in his breath, holy hell, it was Kristine! She was ¡°alive¡±. Declan was taken about, "What do you mean," he asked. "What happened?" The floating football, whose shape was slowly shifting from haploid to returning to the vehicle¡¯s original shape, spun around and faced the Invigilator as if waiting for permission to speak. The Invigilator said, "As I said. You shall have help doing your tasks. This device of yours has been modified and upgraded so that it is more mobile, and can access areas that it could not have done in its original form." Kristine had returned to her own distinctive form but was about a ninth of her original size. Her overall body length was shorter than his arm now. "I have also reconstructed the concept known to you as Headnet. It retains all the knowledge of your world, and when you get to other worlds of equal or higher tech levels you will be able to access their knowledge base as if it were your own database. I have also made it sentient so that it will be easier to interact with. Your Headnet will become an invaluable asset. I have reset your device''s software to its default setting, and your nanites have also been upgraded to be more . . . efficient." He gazed into Declan''s eyes, "Please me, and I shall truly empower you beyond your wildest imaginings; though you shall ever and always be naught but a germ when compared to me." He then pointed upwards, towards that unseen ceiling, and when Declan followed his finger he saw a world, not unlike his home world; it was a vibrant blue with verdant continents and spiraling white clouds. It looked pristine and pure. It was untouched by any kind of technology or humanity since the day of its creation; which was, unbeknownst to him, only yesterday. "I am also going to give you this planet as your residence. The whole of it is yours to do with as you please. You may remake it into a technological world or keep it pristine and pure. That is your choice, I care not how you live. As of now, it has no life forms save for some plant life and harmless necessary insects. I will allow you to populate it with whatever creatures you desire. You may even bring back trophies from the worlds that you destroy. You might call them mementos or knick-knacks." He looked contemplative for a moment, "I know one of your predecessors used to bring back something called snow globes from where ever he visited. I will assume you will do the same." Declan did his best to look impressed. "Hey, that''s great and all, but I can just live on my world in-between apocalyptic gigs can''t I? No need to give me a whole planet just for myself. that would be a little lonely." The big head nodded. "That is exactly what the man with the snow globes said. That is why I have redesigned your vehicle. It is sentient, if not sapient, and it will serve you very well in the role of a companion, but even I know that it will not be enough for you to have a mechanized companion. You may bring certain individuals back with you. Save whom you can, but not all will be permitted to return with you." He saw that Declan was about to ask him a question and cut him off, ¡°I will not tell you what my criteria are, or the reasons for them. Know only that some may be brought back to your world and some may not. Perhaps in time, you shall determine the whys of my reasoning, but I care not one way or the other.¡± Declan shook his head, "Yeah that''s great, but, like I said I don''t need a mechanical companion or a whole planet to myself. I can just hang out on my world and flounce out when I need to if you insist on using me to do this." Kristine, spun around swiftly, "Declan, you can''t use our planet." The man looked at his former car and then turned back to the giant, "Why not? What is Kristine talking about?" The floating bot''s "eyes" glowed, as if it were about to speak, but then the giant known only as the Invigilator spoke, "Hmmmmm. I had thought you realized what had happened. Do you know? No. You don''t. I can see that now." Then he said nonchalantly, and in a manner that implied that he had no concern for how Declan felt, "I destroyed your planet when I picked you up and brought you here. You can''t go back. Everything and everyone that you knew is gone." Declan fell to his knees. His stomach felt like it had been hit by a cannonball. His body felt hot and stifling, and he suddenly broke out in a profuse and cold sweat. His whole life was gone. His home, his friends, his co-workers, even his beloved Sarah was gone. She had been taken before he could even finish asking him to marry her. Dear lord, you couldn''t get anymore late than that! He was too late. Just like every other time in his life he was too late. Everyone and everything was gone. He looked up at the face of the man who had just destroyed his life. It looked back at him with alien eyes that were apathetic to what he was going through. Declan managed to think that the being was so far above him that it could not conceive of the emotional turmoil that afflicted him. His head wasn¡¯t swimming, it was drowning. He managed to sputter out the word, "W-wh-why?" Then, quite mercifully, he blacked out. 2) A brave new world to destroy A Brave New World To Destroy Declan awoke in a very comfortable bed. It was regulated to keep his body at the most preferred temperature possible, and adjusted to his form by the microsecond to insure maximum comfort. His clothes had retracted into his body as he slept. That was a benefit to having his Headnet back. HNet not only fed him information, but it also regulated his vitals via his clothing, which were nothing more than nanites. The nanites retreated into his system as he slept, which helped to maintain his health because they repaired his body and fought disease as he dozed. It was a very nice system. Technically, he didn''t even have to bathe because the nanites scoured his body clean. He noted that his body was leaner and stronger, and that he felt far more vibrant than he ever had before. So, when he awakened in a strange place nude he didn''t panic. He had a full memory of what happened to him prior to passing out, and would have never considered it to be a hallucination. HNet was good that way, it recorded everything he''d ever seen and heard, which allowed for playback anytime he wanted. He thought about it, and a small box opened in his visual field, showing him the head of the being known as the invigilator. He then replayed everything that had happened to him from the moment that he stepped from his vehicle to the point that he passed out. He replayed it about a thousand times with a period of two minutes, instant download and review was a benefit of HN. The thing that struck him as odd was the way that he had reacted to the news that his world had been destroyed. It didn¡¯t bother him at all now, and he couldn¡¯t see why it bothered him so then. He sat up and inspected his new home. His room was circular and very sterile. The walls and floor were made out of what looked to be stainless steel, but he knew that wasn¡¯t the case. He wanted to ask Headnet to analyze it, but held off. There was no type of personalization to the room. Aside from his bed there was no dresser, stands, or pictures anywhere. He imagined that the Invigilator felt that this was sufficient for his needs, and for the most part he was right, but it still felt empty and void of a life¡¯s presence. He climbed out of the bed, and a pair of slippers appeared on his feet. The nanites worked quickly; before he would have had to of thought about needing slippers or asking Headnet for a pair. Now, it seemed, the nanites reacted reflexively to his needs. He walked over to the massive bay window and looked out upon his new home. He had to admit, it was beautiful in a primal way. His eyes fell upon rolling hills off in the distance and a lush forest a quarter of a mile from his estate. A door bell chimed, and he turned to look at the area the music had come from. No doorway was visible, but he willed his nanites to cover him in a long terrycloth robe, and said, ¡°Come in.¡± Kristine floated in as soon as a section of the wall pulled away from itself in a fluid liquid motion and formed an archway. The walls must have nanites in them, or be made of some sort of smart metal, he mused. Kristine moved silently through the air and stopped just a few feet shy of his position. She was looking like her old self completely now, only much smaller. He wanted to reach out and pet her like one would a dog, but he refrained from that. He knew her well enough to know that it would piss her off if her treated her like a pet. "Are you coping better today, Declan?" The voice was not accusatory or said in jest. Declan could swear that it actually held some concern for him. "I could come back later if you . . .," she began, but Declan cut her off. "No," he said flatly, "I suppose that I''m about as good as I''m going to get." "Yes, you entered into a state of shock so Headnet automatically shut your system down for your own protection. It has been employed several psychiatric coping and counseling techniques on you as you slept to help you reintegrate into the new world that you now exist in." Kristine let out an electronic sigh, "It has also been flooding your brain with endorphins to keep you from becoming depressed." Declan blinked, "Well, it''s working then, because today just feels like another day at the office. I supposed I should be a catatonic mass over in a corner," he stated as sarcasm dripped from his words. "But, in spite of the loss of everything I''ve ever known I feel like I could still make a run to the coffee shop and see Sarah, even though I know she is dead." Then Declan laughed, which demonstrated just how out of touch he was with his emotions, "Are we still calling it Headnet? Seems a little silly since I''m the only person that uses it now. Not much of a network anymore, now is it?" He leaned on the railing before the bay window and stared off into his world. There was no question that it was his world, not now anyway. Who the hell was going to try to take it from him? "What would you suggest we call it, then?" Declan sighed. "I think that because I''m going to be depending on the system a lot, that it is going to be my lifeline, my umbilical cord if you will; that maybe we could maybe," he said wistfully, "call it mother." Kristine made no expression, she had not been given that capability during her rebirth, but if he''d have had to guess he suspected that he would have seen a look of sympathy on the bot''s face. "Of course we can do that for you, Declan. Is there anything else?" He nodded, "Yes, there is one more thing you can do for me," his voice came out weakly and thinner than he would have liked. "Can you modulate your voice so that it is feminine again? I think that I need that right now. I need that more than anything." Kristine, bobbed up and down, "Of course," she now said in a sultry female tone. Declan twisted his head as the device''s words reverberated in his ears. Lauren Bacall was back and in full force. He had considered asking the former car to imitate Sarah¡¯s voice, but thought better of it. No matter what ¡°Mother¡± did to him it would still be a strain for him to hear her voice and know that she wasn¡¯t really there or ever coming back again. Now he had something else in mind. Kristine was great when she was a car, and he knew that the Invigilator had said that he could bring others back, but he needed to see a human face right now. Subliminal counseling aside he needed to be around someone human. "Kristine, do you remember an old TV show that was called White Dwarf Star? One of the characters on that program, Zimmer, was nothing more than a hologram who had what he called a ¡°photon bug¡± inside of him. The bug projected a hologram when he was outside of the ship. Basically, it allowed him to do things with the other characters when they went outside because for the first two seasons he was tied to the ship¡¯s interior and couldn''t go anywhere else. They needed a plot device that would allow Zimmer to go outside with Wister, Koontz, and Dog. Do you know what I''m talking about?" He was excited, and energy flooded his body as he spoke. "Do you know?" "Mother has just filled me in on the basics," she replied. "I do indeed know exactly what you are talking about. How is it relevant to your current situation?" He waved his hands in the air energetically, ¡°In the show the main character, Wister was in danger of going crazy from loneliness, so the ship''s computer took a personality disc that was on file, and recreated the person that drove him the most crazy, Barney Zimmer! Zimmer hated Wister, and Wister hated Zimmer, but their pairing kept Wister from losing his mind." The bot would have stared at him blankly if it could have, "Your point?" she asked. He bit his lower lip and squinted his left eye, ¡°Can Mother give you a holographic body? Add some tech so that you too can have a photonic bug and can look like a real person? That might help me. It would help me. More than you know." The bot considered things briefly, which meant that it took five nanoseconds to consider the request, three more nanoseconds to converse with the possibility of achieving his request, and replying back to him in one more nanosecond, "Of course. That is well within the realm of reason. Expect it done soon." "One more thing," he added, "Make it so that you don''t look like anyone I know." My Bonnie Kristine Kristine returned an hour later, only when she returned to his quarters she was now in the form of a freckle-faced red-headed girl who appeared to be around the age of Twenty five. She had milky white skin, full lips, and brown eyes. He had to admit that she was pretty. He hadn¡¯t asked for that, but Mother would have gone out of her way to meet some predisposed standard of beauty that was the opposite of Sarah. Sarah was short, dark haired, and had unblemished skin. Kristine contrasted her in every way. She smiled, and Declan noticed a slight gap in between her front teeth, which oddly only added to her beauty. She smiled as she entered his room, "What are ya still doin'' here?" she asked jovially. He noticed that she carried a slight irish lilt in her voice. "Ya wanna see sumthin?" Then before he could answer she walked over and moved the sheet on his bed. "Ah kin touch stuff, an everything," she giggled as she moved the sheet around, "This shore beats sitting inna garage waitin'' for you ta go somewhere!" Declan chuckled, "That''s great, how do you manage to do that? Move the sheets, I mean." The ginger before him twirled around, lifting high into the air like an umbrella in a slow tornado, and floated off the ground. She giggled as she rose, "Well, clearly ah''m practically perfect in every way as you can see." She then drifted back down to the floor, "Actually, Mother watched all the episodes of that show you mentioned, as well as another show that had a different holographic character, she called it Space Odyssey: Wayfarer. In both instances, the holograms used force fields to effect items in their general area. It was rather simple for mother to accomplish with the technology that the Invigilator has provided us." As she spoke her faux irish accent faded. . "Can I touch you?" Declan¡¯s voice was tentative and a little nervous. As he looked at her he forced his nanites to dress him in his daily clothes, his bathrobe quickly converted from a green terrycloth and into a blue cotton business suit. It was the default suit that all the nanites started out with, other designs were purchased with Expy. He didn''t know why it went to the default setting, and that became just one more thing that he was going to add to his list of questions he was going to ask Mother, not that it bothered him, he actually preferred the blue suit.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Kristine walked over and took him by the hand. He was surprised that her hand was warm and firm and as far as he was concerned it was very real. "Fascinating," he said breathily, "you feel like a live person." She nodded, took his hand, and placed his palm over her chest. Declan startled, as he could feel her heart beating beneath his hand. "How?" She gazed into his eyes, "Mother has made it so that I am indistinguishable from a living human at a cursory glance. I have a pulse, a heartbeat. I also inhale and exhale." To prove her point she blew in his face, and he could feel a rush of air gently blow onto his features. "She has also made it so that I can, in times of danger,¡± she stressed, ¡°Extend my force field around you so that you are safe from projectile weapons." "Couldn''t she make me a force field belt or backpack? It would be safer and easier on me if I had something like that of my own." Kristine sat on his bed and looked out off the window, "It would be, that''s certain, but for now this is what she came up with. Right now, you need to focus on what the Invigilator wants. That should be all you worry yourself with for the next few days." Her tone was serious, and he could tell that there was an undertone of worry in there as well. ¡°I¡¯ll set Mother on the task of creating a force field ring or belt for you.¡± "What do you suggest I do in the meantime?" She stood up and began striding out of the bedroom with a purpose. "We need to go to the Ready Room, and make plans. You need to understand what your purpose is meant to be, what your abilities are, and how to use the powers that the Invigilator gave you." Mother will show you the way. I will go ahead and meet you there." With that the form of the female faded, and Kristine the former prolate spheroid rocketed from the room as if she had launched herself into FTL levels of speed. Both actions took him aback. He hadn''t been prepared for her to go full on mecha so quickly, nor had he expected her to be able to go . . . so . . .well, fast. He touched a finger to his temple and said, "Mother, feed me directions to the Ready Room." He instantly had a blueprint of the entire facility in his head. The diagram not only told him where the room was, but provided him with a walking ETA, as well as lighted path for him to follow. It was a path that only he would have been able to see if others were around, and was only n his head. He certainly enjoyed having HN back; five minutes later he was in the Ready Room. The Ready Room was oval, and in its center was a large silver table that was an ellipsis in shape. Kristine hovered at the head of the table, where a shining silver chair emerged from the floor. That, he assumed, was his chair. He rounded the table and sat in the chair. In spite of its metallic nature the chair was both warm and comfortable. It practically felt as if he were sitting on air. He reflexively hit several buttons that he did not even know were on the arm of his chair. He did so swiftly and confidently, as if he had done that maneuver hundreds of times, and as he punched the subliminal code into the conn an image formed over the table. Mother''s voice, feminine and yet still electronic, floated through the air. It surrounded him, and enveloped him from all directions. A planet, roughly three quarters the size of his Earth appeared over the table. It had less water than on his world; it looked to only be covered by water by approximately fifty percent of the surface. He could see traces of industrial expansion, such as pollution and roadways. This world was not as green as he would have expected, but seemed to have more mountain ranges and deserts than his world. Mother¡¯s voice boomed from overhead. "Greetings Agent Revelator. The planet that you see before you is designated as Earth 5,596. The Invigilator has designated it to have all sentient life on it rendered extinct within five days. You have wasted two days as you slept, so this mission will have less time available than usual. Your limitations on this mission are: None. You are free to completely destroy the planet, or simply erase the blight known as humanity. The method of destruction had been left completely up to you, however creativity is highly cherished, and will be rewarded accordingly." He stared at the planet. "What can you tell me about it?" "The planet is very similar to our homeworld, with the main difference being that it is about one hundred to two hundred years behind our earth in levels of technology." Her voice was very calming, and Declan was certain that the nanites in his brain were responsible for that effect. "My scans indicate that many of the people you know will have dopplegangers, yourself included. I can foresee no dangers of any significance for you there so long as Kristine remains close by you." Declan nodded, "I see." He stared at the holographic planet, "Mother, how do I, um, you know . . . apocalypse the thing?" He had to admit, that Mother''s manipulation of his brain chemistry was amazing. In his old life he would never have been able to conceive killing a person, and right now he was contemplating the complete genocide of untold species and he hadn''t even blinked. The fact that he was going to neutralize a sapient species, a human species, did not bother him in the slightest. That thought alone should have terrified him, instead he was curious how he was supposed to do the job. He felt like Mick Road in that show, Filthy Jobs. Someone had to do it, and he had been chosen. He had no choice but to do the best he could until he could figure a way out of the mess he found himself in here. ¡°Time to practice,¡± the former Headnet told him, and indicated that he needed to pull up his HUD. He did so, and per her mental instructions he typed in the words Generic Planet A. The hologram over the table made a snowy shift from his target planet to Designation: GPA. "Normally," Mother said, "you must be on the surface of the planet to initiate the apocalypse that you desire. For the purposes of this demonstration you will be able to perform said functions from the comfort of your Conn." She then told him to examine the planet''s information tab, which would be similar to his own character sheet. He pulled the screen up and looked over the information. Planet Name: Generic Planet A Designation: GP 00001 Planet Class: Life Supporting Life Forms: Standard Mammalian Dominant Sapient Species: Humans Level of Civilization: Industrial Reason for Destruction: REDACTED There was more, but it just spiraled into a lot of statistics about the size, weight, density, its distance from the local star, its rotation schedule, its position in the solar system, and so on. Things that he could, and undoubtedly would, completely and utterly ignore when he did his job. He was not a math jockey, and he could not conceive of even attempting to figure out how to wipe a planet out based on its rotation speed or the inclination of its axis. He had, however, a pretty good grasp on the overall place itself, and he could always look over the minor details at any point. He was pretty good with minor details. "So, what do I do next?" Mother then told him to go to the last page of the Planet Sheet. He followed her instructions and found that the screen opened to a slot that read: Please detail the method of the Apocalypse. He typed in, ¡°An asteroid twice the size of Texas hits the Asiatic coastline.¡± Another cursor flashed just below the preceding line. It read: Apocalypse Now? Yes/No. slightly to the right and atop of the other screen. He punched the Yes on the screen and turned his attention to the Planet rotating over his table. He observed a large chunk of space debris hurtled towards the planet. The impact was overwhelming to see and he watched captivated as the blast threw up a massive cloud of earth and water, and the shockwave covered half the planet in under five minutes. His eyes were glued to event unfolding before him, but after a minute he asked, "Mother, is there some way to speed this up so that we can see the results in something other than real time?" She did not answer him, but he observed the planet rotate swifter, and in seconds encompassed a period that equated to four days real time. The cloud had completely enveloped the faux world, and as the planet suddenly came to a complete stop the word FAILURE appeared over the space blasted planet. He sat forward in his chair. "Failure? How in the hell is that a failure? Look at it, there is no way anything survived that event." Mother''s voice was stern. ¡°Incorrect. Several agencies on this planet had bunkers that not only allowed them to survive the impact and the immediate fallout, but would have allowed them to survive another sixty years before they ran out of either food, medicine, energy, water, or tolerance for one another. Your mission was to eliminate all sentient life on the planet within a timeline of five days. It took one day for the asteroid to arrive, and you observed that the following four days did not result in the complete extinction of all sentient life." "What did I do wrong, Mother? How do I fix this?" Her voice was reassuring, "You were too general in your wording. You could have had multiple impacts of various sizes striking pinpoint locations that would have targeted the aforementioned bunkers. Or, once the volley of space debris finished the main job you could have then shaken things up even more by causing earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or simply have the entire crust slip back into the mantle. In your less than well thought out plan people would eventually die, but they would do so outside of your allowed timeline. Bunkers could not withstand being swallowed by the mantle, but there was another thing that you did not consider. There was an international space station, and the cosmonauts there would have survived beyond your permitted timeline as well; even if you had managed to destroy all of the people on the planet. Their presence would have invalidated your attempt as well." He mulled that over. She was right, he hadn''t put an ounce of thought into what he''d done. He''d simply punched in the one thing that he was fairly certain would kill everything on the surface. Not only was that a failure, but it also lacked any sort of creativity. The one thing the colossal alien who had a hard on for Armageddon had said was important for him to demonstrate. The man wanted some clean and original forms of destruction from him. Declan had no intention of disappointing his despotic alien overlord and vowed to work smarter. "Another thing to consider is that some worlds, according to our alien overseer, is that have preset Apocalypses built in. On those worlds all you will have do is to start the tumblers in motion, or fill in for missing key players to make sure that their roles are fulfilled. You are still generally tasked with providing an ingenuitive method to cause the end of the world." "So, you are saying that there are cheat codes? Things that will help me git r'' done? That''s great!" He sat back in his chair with a smug look on his face. "I can''t wait to get onto one of those planets!" "Actually," Kristine began, "having a preset apocalypse code could . . .," but she was cut off by Mother. The slightly electronic voice chided Kristine and finished her sentence for her, ". . . be completely irrelevant at this moment. The important thing is that Declan successfully conclude a simulation on GPA that results in zero survivability for all sentients. I will stay with him and run the simulation until he manages to conclude with a satisfactory success rate. I shall also limit him to the effect that he will not replicate a single apocalyptic event even once. He will need the practice." As she spoke the holographic image over the table kept replaying the event over and over, ending each time with the Fail stamp appearing over the planetary debris. Kristine puttered around the simulation, "He will also need to know how to travel, scan, and retrieve." "You are correct, Kristine, after I finish with his apocalyption schooling, I shall brief him on how to come and go on the planets, since he must be on the planet in order to actually initiate the devastation. I will also upload information into his HUD on how to scan life forms, and bring items or other things back with him," She cooed in her loving mothering voice. 3) The Crowed Warrior The Crowed Warrior She drew her handgun and crouched behind the rubble of what used to be a car. Her hover bike was safely hidden a quarter of a mile away. She could not risk its noise alerting the things that lived near the water that she was nearby. A patrol of the gibbering creatures had just passed her by, and she listened to make sure that they were gone before she stepped out from behind her hiding place. She was not afraid to face them. She had killed many of their number, but they were hard to look at. Just seeing them made it hard to think and ate away a small piece of her soul. Maybe even her mind too. It was hard to tell anymore. She recognized that sometimes she would have to face them, but if she had a choice she would look away until they were gone every time. Once, her world had been beautiful, but that time seemed like a dream and no longer felt real. Everything before the big change felt false in her memory. She was a different person then. She even thought that she might have smiled and been happy. Now her life was a rotation between pain, fear, and thirst. She struggled, what was it about thirst? Ah, she needed water. The things by the water had left. She would see if she could get enough water to last her for days. Days? Yes, days was the right term. It was hard to remember. Sometimes all she could see were those things faces, and the way that they called for her to join them. She had come here for another reason; it was before she realized that she needed water. Something had drawn her out to this place populated by the monsters devouring her world. Something, something, something. She could not remember. What was more important than water or food? There was nothing that she could imagine; survival took precedence over all else. Slowly she edged her way to the small pond that still held fresh water. She filled four canteens before she heard a shuffling noise. Quickly, the filth stained girl put her canteens around her waist. She wore only a bikini bottom and thick leather boots that crept up to her knees. She kept low, and looked downward as she slowly made her way back to her hiding place. She hoped that she could slip away unnoticed, but doubted that her luck would hold for much longer. The shuffling had stopped, and she had no idea of where the noise had been coming from. She froze in place, straining to hear something that would clue her in on the direction she needed to avoid. Thankfully the tall yellowed weeds around the water hole would hide her until she made it to a place where she could run easily. The tall grass here was like razors, and her barely covered body would be slashed in a hundred locations before she made her way clear. The grass also rustled and crunched as if it had been dry for months in spite of being near the water. There was a small path that was clear of the plants that she followed, but she still could not move without disturbing the local flora a little.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Whatever was out there knew she was nearby and was also playing a waiting game. Unfortunately for the girl she could not afford to remain in place. Sooner or later the monsters would come back, and they would kill her. She could not face three at the same time. She would lose her mind before they ever got to her. Reluctantly, she crept forward once more crouched like cat on the prowl, trying desperately to keep as quiet as possible. She heard the sound again. It was close. She decided that she had no choice but to run. If she moved surely and swiftly the things would never be able to catch her. They were lumbering and slow, but tough and strong. Running always beat fighting. Hiding generally beat running, but she had no cover here and it was a fight or flight option. She moved into a runners stance without realizing what she was doing. Lately she existed on an instinctive level. Higher thought hurt and was difficult. She could still operate a hover bike or load a gun, but simple concepts such as humor, love, and joy were beyond her at the moment. They might have been stripped away permanently. The noise came again, behind her and to the left, and the girl bolted like a cat with its tail on fire. She ran, taking in great gulping breaths of air, and pumping her legs like a receiver trying to get to location the ball was going to be. She could hear it coming after her and she lost her focus. She tripped just as she exited the dying grass, and slid forward, just managing to catch herself with her hands before she struck the jagged stones on the ground. In an instant she was up and on her feet. She swiveled around to face whatever was coming and pulled a .45 Magnum from behind her back. She had already drawn the hammer back and was squeezing the trigger so that she could shoot whatever was after her. A split second later she was looking at the reason she had come to the water hole in the first place. The reason she could barely remember with her mind being so clouded lately. The thing that she sought more than life sustaining water; it was her friend, Mace. Mace, who had gone missing days ago, only to be standing beside her now. Mace, whom she recognized by his blue slacks that hung from his waist like a loin cloth, having been torn and shredded long ago. Mace, who was mutating before her eyes, becoming one of those . . . things. She knew he was not all the way gone, because even though her head hurt when she looked at him her mind did not go all slanty into oblique non-Euclidian angles. Not that she would even know what a Euclidian angle was anymore. That kind of knowledge was buried under writhing nightmares and unspoken whispers of doom and damnation. She did realize that she could fire, but he was struggling with the transformation from man into monster, and she realized that he was going to be slow. Slow enough that she could run from him and make it to her bike. The bike where she had left her bandoleers with her extra cartridges. If she fired now she would only draw the attention of the others to herself, and she did not have enough bullets to stop Mace and the three others that she knew of, hell there might even be more of them. So the girl fled as fast as she could after she had eased the hammer back on her weapon and took her finger from the trigger. She did not want to shoot herself any more than she did her former friend. She ran back into the broken wasteland and hoped that there were no surprises waiting for her. 4) Ready Room Or not Ready Room or Not Six hours later he left the Ready Room, mentally and physically exhausted. Mother had shown him no mercy. She had forced him to replay the apocalypse event over and over; which had surprisingly drained his physical stamina. Very clearly, his physical health was tied to his initiation of the apocalypse process. He noticed that every time that he had ordered his specific apocalypses that he became a little more tired. The other process was mentally exhausting. Trying to come up with a new way to wipe out an entire planet''s worth of people taxed him mentally. He knew that the mental stress was not connected to the apocalypse process, it was a matter of pure and simple mental exhaustion; which came from using brain cells that hadn''t been fired in years. Declan knew he wasn''t stupid, but his job didn''t exactly require a lot of imagination or creativity. He attributed his mission failure to his not really need to think about what he was doing. He just did each assignment and moved on to the next when he finished his work. He never had to think about anything, he just crunched raw data, applied it to his assignment, and handed his work in at the end of the day. If he was honest with himself, it was his HUD that did most of the work; he had just guided the device in the necessary direction that was required. Thanks to Mother''s generous uploading of information he now knew the ins and outs of moving to each planet, returning home, how to scan animals that he wanted to populate his planet with, an how to retrieve artifacts for his own personal edification. The only restriction that he could find in that aspect was that snow globes were off limits. He could live with that. To leave his home planet he had to go to a launch bay, which would open a portal directly to the world he was to destroy. To return he had to be at his entry point, and nowhere else would suffice. As far as he could understand it, it had something to do with the portal tech. He had what he needed on Homeworld. He had assigned a temporary name of Homeworld to his new planet. He would come up with something later on, but for now that was good enough. He had already decided that he was going to make his entry point in to each world at the geolocation that would correspond to his world¡¯s Bucky Starr. If he was going to find Sarah anywhere, it would be there. Declan had made up his mind that he was going to rescue every Sarah that he could. He realized that they would not be his Sarah, but that didn¡¯t matter. Every one of them that died due to his inaction would be a small piece of his soul that he would never get back. He had already checked with Mother. The Invigilator would permit him to save some people from each world if he so desired it, but that there would be a filter that would not allow him to bring everyone. The Invigilator had a profile that he would not allow to move about the cosmos. From what little Declan could glean from Mother was that those people were what triggered the giant alien to want the world wiped out. Beyond that she could not be more specific, and would not reveal more.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Declan put on a fresh blue suit and a red tie. He liked the red tie, it made him feel stronger and more alert. It was foolish, he knew, but the fact was that the power tie image worked for him. He also picked up a large leather bound book with gold gothic font trimming that read HOW TO APOCALYPSE in bold letters across the front cover. He¡¯d had mother create a manual for him. Yes, he could have simply downloaded the information via HNet, but it felt good to have the guidelines right in his hands. It made it more real for him. Headnet was great for playing games, experiencing old movies and TV shows, music, and a million other forms of entertainment but he far preferred actual learning over instant learning. He walked out to the Launch Bay and stared into space. It was disconcerting to realize that the bay was actually a telepad that would send him to the dimension of the Earth that he needed to destroy. He was still on Homeworld, but through some sort of wobbly whimey space tesseract physics he was also on a vessel floating just outside of his target world. He watched as the world turned, oblivious to its imminent demise. It was ironic that as powerful as he now was, holding the fate of this planet in the palm of his hand, that he felt so helpless. He had no choice in what was to come. Mother had seen to that. She had run psych programs that made him more amenable to doing what needed to be done. He knew this, because while he hated the concept and his inability to not go apocalyptic he was eerily at peace with the notion of wiping out a few billion humans at a go. Mother¡¯s voice broke his concentration. ¡°Have you decided on how you wish to destroy this planet?¡± Declan shook his head. He had scanned the requirements. It was a simple wipe the whole bloody planet¡¯s human population off the map job. It was a fairly simple and very easy to accomplish assignment. He could have just run his final scenario for GPA and been done with it, but he wanted to do this right, and actually tailor the apocalypse to what the people deserved. Right bastards would have a hard time of it; while good people would get it quick and clean. Hopefully, they would never see it coming. He owed it to them to at least try to be fair. ¡°No, Mother,¡± he surprised himself how calm and resolute his voice was, ¡°I thought that I¡¯d reconnoiter the place, get a feel for the people and see what I could come up with.¡± He paused, licked his lips and asked, ¡°There aren¡¯t any astronauts or space stations that I need to worry about are there?¡± She gave him a reassuring , ¡°No.¡± ¡°Anything else I need to be aware of?¡± ¡°Nothing that wasn¡¯t in the briefing profile,¡± she stated. Then she decided to add, ¡°Although you are behind schedule. You wasted two days practicing on how to properly destroy a planet, and now you only have twenty two hours, ten minutes, and fifty three seconds to end this world. So, you might want to move quickly.¡± Declan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, of course he was late. He was always late. His timing sucked. ¡°Send me,¡± was the last thing he said before everything went white. 5) You Can Suck My Blood You Can Suck My Blood Sarah was bored. She had been stuck in her damned coffee shop all day, working two shifts so that her boss, Pat, could have the night off. He did this to her every freaking Friday night, and that shit was getting old. If she didn¡¯t need the money so badly she would have cut out of her job months ago, as it was she barely made the rent, and she managed to swipe all of her food from the store. If she quit she¡¯d starve. The only bonus of working at Bloody Starrs was that they didn¡¯t care how she dressed, and Sarah liked to show off her assets. Today she was wearing a nearly see through shear black dress that had a v-neck that fell all the way to her navel. The dress was very form fitting and went down to just below her knees, with a slit up her right leg. The sleeves extended her wrists, with a small hole that she extended her thumb through. She wore an silver ankh on a chain around her neck that dropped into her cleavage. It was plain to see that she had no bra or panties on beneath. She loved to tantalize the customers. There were about ten people in the caf¨¦, and they were engrossed with their computers or phones. Bloody Starrs had free Wi-Fi for its customers, and they took complete advantage of it. She was considering sneaking into the back and grabbing herself a Bloody Mocha Surprise when four people walked into the shop. They were wearing dark robes, with the hoods up. The biggest fellow in the group stopped at the door and locked it behind him. Sarah could see outside and saw that the sky was growing dark even though it was four in the afternoon. She thought that she could hear screams in the distance, but was more concerned with the fact that each of the people who just walked in didn¡¯t look like they wanted some coffee. A frail hooded figure stepped from their group and spoke, ¡°Fellow travelers, rejoice. Rejoice, for this is the day of the great coming. He has been called, and he has answered. You have been chosen to serve as sacrifices in the name of the one who must not be . . .uh. . . named.¡± The voice of the speaker was that of a woman, but it rasped and gurgled at points when she spoke making her sound inhuman. The word sacrifices made everyone look up from their devices. Moments ago they couldn¡¯t have cared that a group of strangers dressed in black hooded robes just walked in and locked the door, but as soon as mention was made of them being sacrifices they forgot all about their InstaSPam, Gibber, and Lifebook. All except for one guy in the back corner; he was still watching wrestling on his phone. The speaker pointed to a chubby man with a white beard who had earbuds in and had been listening to an audiobook or a podcast. He threw his phone at her, but two of her companions grabbed the man¡¯s arms and slammed his face into the table. The speaker produced a wavy blade that Sarah recognized as a Kris, and drove it into the base of the man¡¯s skull as he struggled. One of the figures holding the first sacrifice looked to the leader and said, ¡°I thought we were supposed to be chanting when you did that or the great overlord didn¡¯t get to devour his soul.¡± The leader screamed, ¡°Dammit! You¡¯re right. Our Nameless Lord just missed out on a snack.¡± She spun around and looked at the rest of the crowd nearly cutting the other hooded man beside her with the bloody Kris. ¡°Watch it, Methany! You don¡¯t know what bloodborne pathogens that guy might¡¯ve had. You could have given me any number of infectious diseases if youd¡¯ve cut me with that.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Imbecile,¡± she screamed, ¡°This is the end of the world. There will only be three types of people left in a few hours; the transformed, the dead, or us cultists. The Dark Lord will eliminate all disease and all mortal suffering when he arrives.¡± The figure nodded his hood, ¡°Well, that¡¯s all well and good. That doesn¡¯t mean you get to go around waving that knife like it was a sparkler on the fourth of July. You could¡¯ve put my eye out.¡± Methany, the cult leader, shuddered with anger but kept her rage in check. Sarah could see that she was barely keeping herself from stabbing the man in front of her. She decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to quietly slip away to the back, and make her escape from these crazies down the alley. Once she was clear, she¡¯d call the cops, but she had to get out first. She started to back away from the cash register when a great meaty paw grabbed her shoulder and squeezed. The pain caused her to inhale sharply, and she turned her head to see the man who had blocked the front door now was holding her in a vise like grip. ¡°Don¡¯t even think it, missy.¡± She looked back at the people at the tables and saw that they had grabbed a woman who was dressed like she was an attorney. Her briefcase was on the floor and papers were scattered all around her. She was struggling, but the cultists held her firmly. Their leader stepped forward and held the knife above her heart. Just as she was about to drive the blade home when a nasally voice came from the guy who had been watching wrestling, ¡°You guys forgot to chant!¡± Methany stopped the blade inches above the woman¡¯s sternum. ¡°I swear to the Dark Lord, you two are complete idiots. We just talked about this.¡± The man who had realized their mistake the first time around spoke up, ¡°Yes, well you didn¡¯t even notice. Your bloodlust is so great that all you want to do is kill. That¡¯s all you talk about. We need to kill him, we ought to kill her, Oh, let¡¯s kill that dog he just peed on my lawn. It¡¯s bad enough that you won¡¯t even let us drink the blood we spill because that belongs to the Unmentionable Occult Overlord. I will not, however, be treated like an idiot because you aren¡¯t paying any more attention to what you are doing then we are.¡± The leader gurgled and spat. ¡°I have enough to do here. Do you want to stab them? Do you have any idea of how hard it is to drive a blade through somebody¡¯s breastbone? Let me tell you it isn¡¯t as easy as it looks.¡± The other man, the one who had been concerned with her stabbing him said, ¡°Well, you really don¡¯t make it look all that easy.¡± He looked at his partner, ¡°You remember last week when we were sacrificing that family in Idaho? Methany must¡¯ve stabbed that one guy twenty times before he bled out. I was thinking, geez, I thought those old Aztec fellas were able to cut still beating heart out of their victims with a single swipe of their blade, and Methany can¡¯t even make a cut deep enough to pierce a vital organ.¡± The cult leader snapped, ¡°Start chanting right now, or I know two other people who will be counted among those whose souls are delivered to our Dark Lord.¡± ¡°Technically, you can¡¯t send either one of to the Dark Lord unless one of use is chanting, and who¡¯s going to do that if you¡¯re killing us? Not me.¡± Sarah couldn¡¯t tell who had said that until the man on the left shook his head, ¡°Me neither,¡± he said emphatically. ¡°I will,¡± said the wrestling fan. Methany drove the dagger down into the woman¡¯s throat, and stepped back as a gout of blood sprayed upwards. ¡°Hey, we didn¡¯t get to chant,¡± her helpers said in unison. Methany pointed at the wrestling fan, ¡°Take him, and start chanting.¡± Outside the sky blackened and the air was filled with screams, crashing cars, and gunfire. She swore that she saw a great hulking shadow run by the shop window, but she couldn¡¯t make out what it was for certain. All she knew was that just seeing its shadow made her woozy. She heard them chanting and the sickening thunk of a blade piercing skin, and an agonized scream. Things were not going well, and she wondered why the other customers were just letting themselves be killed, they just sat there as if waiting for their turn under Methany¡¯s blade when the power went out and darkness filled her mind. 6) Never say die NEVER SAY DIE, SAY APOCALYPSE INSTEAD When Declan¡¯s eyes cleared he found himself standing outside of Bucky Starrs. He could smell the coffee, and the line of people waiting to get inside. Oddly, none of them seemed to have noticed him suddenly materializing out of thin air. He looked around and marveled at just how similar this world was to his own. The only difference that he could immediately spot was that their cars could not fly, but even his world had terrestrial automobiles. All this meant was that they were not quite as technologically advanced as where he was from. That, might also explain why the air seemed cleaner. He tried to connect to the local Headnet, but logged in to what was known as the interweb. It was similar to headnet, but it had no artificial intelligence to help its users search for information. He put a finger to the side of his head. He checked to see if his system was online and working properly and found that his Hnet was still operating as per usual. ¡°Mother, can you download this world¡¯s information? I¡¯d hate to see it lost just because I must destroy it. Be sure to get all the art and literature. Culture is more important than history. Then,¡± he said, ¡°run a scan on the planet¡¯s animal life forms. I want to start populating Homeworld with biological life as soon as possible. I miss bunnies.¡± It was then that he noticed that several people nearby were looking at him oddly. He realized what he had just said out loud, smiled at everyone, and said, ¡°I¡¯m just going to go see if my fianc¨¦e is in right now.¡± He bypassed the line, opened the glass door and stepped into the caf¨¦. It was then that he realized that his hands were shaking. He¡¯d been fine a moment before, but stepping into the coffee shop set his mind ablaze. Sarah might be here right now! He had to find her. He saw her manager, and realized that while the name was the same the person was not. Sarah¡¯s original manager was a tall immaculately dressed black man named Pat, this Pat was a frumpy Caucasian woman who looked like she slept in her clothes. She saw him and waved at him, ¡°Hey, Deck! Sarah isn¡¯t scheduled for another fifteen minutes, and you know how she likes to cut it close to starting her shift. You¡¯d probably be better off catching her outside.¡± Declan waved back, ¡°Thanks, uh, Pat! I¡¯ll give that a try!¡± It was disconcerting having someone that you¡¯d never met recognize you and talk to you like an old friend. Funny thing was, his Pat didn¡¯t really like him all that much. He¡¯d suspected that the man had his eye on Sarah as well, and that Declan had put a kibosh on his plans for romance. He liked this Pat much better. It was a shame that he¡¯d have to kill her in a few hours. He spun about and exited the shop in one fluid motion. He was back out on the street and scanning the sidewalk looking for Sarah before he realized what he was doing. He wondered if she¡¯d be coming on foot, or if she had another mode of transportation. His Sarah often walked to work, but she also owned a scooter and puttered her way in when she had plans after work. One thing that he found odd was that his Sarah was not only punctual but she was often early to most events; work in particular. Funny how something so small could make such a difference to him; it seemed that this Sarah was more like him. His Sarah, No, he thought, he had to stop thinking of her like that. She never belonged to him, but she was the first so he would refer to her as Sarah Prime. Sarah Prime¡¯s insistence on being at places early balanced out his tendency to be late. They were a good pairing in so many ways. He wondered how different this Sarah would be to the girl he knew as Sarah Prime. Three minutes later and he saw her. She was a city block away, but there was no way that he could miss her. She was just as stunning as the woman he¡¯d fallen in love with, she even dressed in the same goth manner. He made sure to refer to it as goth, too, because Sarah would blast him if he ever called her Emo. He could tell that she was listening to some bouncy music through a pair of red earbuds because of the way that she was dance walking down the sidewalk. She had not a care in the world. The sunlight shone off of her hair, and even from this distance he could see the same naughty gleam in her eyes as she danced. She didn¡¯t care who she was around or what they thought of her. She just lived the moment as much as she could. Without thinking he ran to her. His feet carried him towards her before he could even consider to tell them to do so. The second that he realized what he was doing he urged his legs to go even faster. He practically knocked an old man who was using a walker over as he shot passed him. He yelled an apology back, but didn¡¯t stop. He didn¡¯t even slow down until he was ten feet from her. She had seen him coming a few seconds earlier, had stopped dancing, and stood stock still in the sidewalk as he approached her like a guided missile. When he was several feet away he slowed down and came to a stop before the shocked girl. ¡°Sarah?¡± She wore a mask of confusion, and looked a little scared. ¡°Declan, what in the hell!¡± Her voice carried over the noise of the street, the people passing by, and the rumble of the subway below. She pulled her earbuds away from her head, and wrapped them around what Mother explained to him was known as a Walkman. She slipped it into a backpack that she was wearing while she looked into his manic face. ¡°Sorry,¡± he sputtered, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I was just worried that I had missed you or that I wouldn¡¯t be able to find you in time.¡± He panted, a little from the exertion that his exercise deprived body demanded, and a little from the mere joy of seeing Sarah alive and well again. It didn¡¯t matter that she wasn¡¯t Sarah Prime. She was a Sarah, and that was what counted. Her look shifted from confused and frightened to quizzical, and he was sure that only he would be able to read her so easily. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He knew that if he didn¡¯t then he would end up rambling like a mad man in some desperate attempt to explain everything to her all at once. ¡°I can¡¯t explain here,¡± he said in the most reassuring voice that he could, ¡°Just trust me. Ditch work, we can go back to your apartment and I can explain everything, but right now we need to get off the street and go somewhere we can talk.¡± ¡°Ditch work?¡± Her eyes widened and she pulled her head back indicating that she thought he was crazy. She shook her head, ¡°Deck, I can¡¯t just skip work. I¡¯m behind on my rent and it¡¯s the only place I can get free coffee and sneak some cookies or muffins.¡± Her hand instinctively went to her stomach, making him realize that this Sarah probably didn¡¯t eat as often as he¡¯d like. ¡°Look.¡± He said, ¡°I¡¯ll buy you lunch. Whatever you want. Just let me talk to you. This is really urgent, and I mean life and death urgent.¡± ¡°Are you in some sort of trouble, Deck?¡± Suddenly, she shifted from defiant to concerned. He realized that this was his chance. After all, he couldn¡¯t just grab her and take her against her will, could he? He supposed he could, but he wanted her to have as much of a choice as he could provide. ¡°Huh. Yes. Yes! I am in one hell of a situation. I really need to talk to you about it, but it has to be right now.¡± She eyed him wearily, ¡°I don¡¯t know, Deck. I don¡¯t see you in months, and then BOOM! You just appear and expect me to pick up the pieces?¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Though it pained him to admit it, she hadn¡¯t looked at him like a lover or even a former lover. She knew him well, though, and she was miffed by his other self¡¯s absence. He couldn¡¯t help it that his clone had ditched her, but he could make up for his other¡¯s shortcomings. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t even ask if it wasn¡¯t important . . .¡± He let the statement hang in the air. She rolled her eyes and blew out an exasperated puff of breath. ¡°OK, we¡¯ll go back to my apartment. I¡¯ll call Pat and tell her that an emergency came up and I can¡¯t make it in.¡± Declan stopped her. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t even bother with calling off. Pat saw me and knows that I was looking for you. Besides, what I¡¯m going to tell you will make missing a day of work the least important thing in the world.¡± New Sarah placed a hand on her hip, her elbow jutting outward like a right triangle, and pouted. Her other arm gently swung the backpack back and forth, ticking like a clock. A doomsday clock, Declan thought morosely. In twenty or so hours everyone on this planet was going to be dead, or he was. He didn¡¯t want to rush her, but he could feel the weight of the world resting on his shoulders. ¡°God! Ok, let¡¯s go.¡± She slipped her backpack over her shoulders and turned around. She didn¡¯t even wait to see if he was following her. He could tell that she wasn¡¯t happy by the way she stomped her boots against the sidewalk. It was good to see that not everything had changed. Twenty minutes later and he was walking through the door to her apartment. A small black cat shot out and rubbed against her legs as soon as she entered. ¡°Whiskerbiscuit, stop it. I fed you before I left,¡± she chastised the feline, but still poured some more food into its bowl. Declan followed her in, and looked at the cat in shock. Sarah Prime had been allergic to cats and had never wanted a pet of any kind. The cat took one look at Declan, and he braced himself to get cat hair all over his new suit, and he idly wondered if the Homeworld had dry cleaning. He needn¡¯t have worried, as the cat ran away from him like its tail was on fire. ¡°That¡¯s weird,¡± New Sarah said in an ominous voice, ¡°Whiskers loves you. Sometimes I think that puss likes you more than it does me.¡± ¡°Maybe he¡¯s just picking up on my stress,¡± Declan managed to say quickly. She shrugged. She threw her backpack on the counter, and went to the cabinet and took out a glass. ¡°You want some water,¡± she asked. ¡°You look a little flush.¡± He nodded and watched her get out another glass. She turned on her tap and waited ten seconds before water began to emerge from the spigot like piss from an old man who had an enlarged prostate and kidney stones. It trickled out in a sputtering stream and took nearly a minute to fill each glass. When they were finally full she handed him a glass and motioned towards the couch. Declan chugged the water and before he moved he blurted, ¡°I need to use the bathroom!¡± Without waiting for a response he set the glass on the table and moved down the small hallway towards the door on the right. He entered, closed the door, and sat on the toilet. Thankfully the lid was already down because he¡¯d failed to notice prior to his sitting. He pulled up his HUD. The world¡¯s info sheet was already up and waiting for his input. ¡°Mother,¡± he whispered, ¡°have you gotten all the data? Do you need more time?¡± She responded with a resounding, ¡°I have acquired all of the music art, and other pertinent information that this world has to offer. Most scientific data is useless, but it has been cataloged. If you are waiting for me then you may proceed.¡± Declan nodded. He found the section where it asked if he wanted to Apocalypse Now and hit the Yes button. In the details section he typed: Every human inhabitant on this planet twenty five minutes from now will be struck by five different virulent and deadly viruses that have secretly lain dormant in their bodies for months. Strain one will be a Hemorrhagic illness that will cause them to bleed uncontrollably from every orifice of their body until death takes them. The second with be a pleural effusion that will lead to congestive heart failure within minutes of its appearance. The third will be a febrile virus that will cause the host body to increase in temperature until a core body temperature is an average one hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit. The fourth virus will be a neurotropic virus that will cause the brain to swell and lesion so that madness sets in, making the carrier incredible violent and striking out at anything humanoid in shape. The fifth and final virus will cause a pulmonary edema, filling their lungs with fluid making it impossible for them to breath. If any human manages to survive the instaplague they will then become suicidally despondent and kill themselves in the quickest manner possible. He then hit enter and hoped that he¡¯d been original enough to please the boss. OK, Declan, he thought, the timer is running if we aren¡¯t off this planet in twenty five minutes then we are both dead. Time to stop being coy. He burst from the bathroom and looked for Sarah. He found her on the couch, sipping a glass of something that he doubted was water and holding the TV remote out before her. ¡°No time for TV, Sarah,¡± he said breathlessly, ¡°We need to go now. As in right this minute!¡± He tried to remain calm, but there was an urgency in his voice that he could not control. She picked up on it immediately, ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Deck? First you make me come back here, now you are saying I have to leave. I¡¯m not a freaking yo-yo. Tell me what¡¯s going on!¡± He could feel the clock winding down as she spoke. Sweat began to cover his upper lip, and rolled down his back in great globs. He suddenly realized that if he were on this planet when his apocalypse hit then he would also be vulnerable to the diseases that he had let loose upon the world. The inconceivable part, and yes he knew what that word meant, was that Sarah would also fall victim to the microscopic murderers. He could not allow that to happen. ¡°Sarah, I know that you trust me,¡± he hoped anyway; he had no idea of what kind of relationship that they had on this world, ¡°I hope that you know that I would never lie to you or do anything to hurt you. That¡¯s why I¡¯m here. I¡¯m here to save you, but we don¡¯t have much time. Can you trust me that I¡¯m here to help?¡± She stared at him, remote in one hand, and a knee casually thrown over her other leg. She wiggled her boot in the air as she stared at him. She dropped the remote beside her, took a long sip from her glass, and stood up. She approached him slowly. She stopped less than an arm¡¯s length away from him, and drove her finger into his chest like her hand was a nail gun. ¡°What in the Hell, Deck,¡± the words sputtered out like she was breathing fire. ¡°You vanished months ago. No word. No goodbye. Just poof, and you were gone. I thought someone had killed you.¡± Tears welled up in her eyes, and her voice was strained and hoarse as she struggled to get her next words out. ¡°Then you show up like nothing happened, tell me to basically quit my job on your say so, and come back to my apartment where I think you are going to tell me what happened to you. Instead, you rush off to the bathroom, and then burst out with a crazy look on your face asking if I trust you. Are you one drugs?¡± With every sentence she drove her finger into his chest harder and harder until her finger became a fist, and she began to gently, though forcefully, pummel his chest as tears streamed down her face. He softly grabbed her hands, and held them against his bruised ribcage. ¡°What? Drugs? No!¡± He released her hands and pulled her into a slight embrace, he so very badly wanted to crush her in his arms, and let her know that he was going to keep her safe, but he held off. He realized that she was both vulnerable and weary of him at the moment, and he did not want to scare her or set her off any more than she already was. ¡°Please just trust me for a few more seconds, and I will explain everything, but we need to go right now. This very second or we¡¯re both dead.¡± He kept one hand on her shoulder and brought a finger to his right temple. ¡°Mother, it is time for extraction,¡± was all he¡¯d said when a shimmering heatwave rose from the floor two feet away from them. ¡°You need to step through right now,¡± he said with as much conviction he could muster. ¡°That is a gateway. A doorway to a safe place. Step through, and I¡¯ll tell you everything on the other side.¡± She stared, dumbfounded, at the portal before her. It had shifted from appearing as a simple heatwave to a glowing green rift in space. It shimmied and shimmered, wavering before her like a flag caught in a heavy wind. She looked back over her shoulder at Declan, and he smiled at her as he pantomimed pushing her forward. ¡°I can¡¯t go without Whiskers,¡± she choked. Clearly she had no idea of what was happening and terror was causing her to freeze up. Declan reached over to the counter and grabbed the cat by the scruff of the neck. He stepped towards her, and she reached out to take the cat from him but he stepped around her and swung the cat into the air and through the glowing aperture. ¡°What the hell, Deck!¡± Without thinking she chased after the cat, and vanished through his gate. Declan breathed a quick sigh of relief and followed her through knowing that he was going to be in for it when he made it back to Homeworld. 7) Assassination Interlude Assassination Interlude Earth 6178 Declan Mason was crunching numbers. It was something that he was very good at, and unlike most people in his position he could almost see a pattern weave itself before him before he took a really hard look at the information on hand. He loved it, it was just like decoding a puzzle, only instead of doing it for fun he got paid for it, and damn did he get paid. At this particular moment he could almost see that he was going to be earning a huge paycheck from this forensic analysis that he was doing. He could see seven figures coming from this job easily, and he hadn¡¯t even gotten to the meat of the material yet! He could tell in his gut that this was going to be fun and lucrative. When he finished this evening he was going to call a few girls, hit a club or two and get his living on. He worked hard, and still took time to savor every drop he could squeeze out of life. Data forensics was the easiest job in the world for him. He saw patterns everywhere, and they were the real deal. He looked at his watch and figured he had about two more hours of analysis before he could call it a night; so he pulled out his cell phone and texted the first girl he could think of, Susan Hawke, and that was only because she came with a very amenable twin sister. He could never remember her name, not that it mattered, ten minutes after meeting and he would be partying so hard he wouldn¡¯t know his own name. He placed the phone beside his mouse and returned his attention to the screen. There was a time for work, and a time for play. Mason knew how to keep the two separate. He casually clicked open another folder and began examining its contents. He found that he was humming Maxwell¡¯s Silver Hammer by the Rolling Stones. There was just something about Paul McCartney, the lead singer, that gave him an ear worm. He had just gotten to the part where the judge addressed Rose and Valerie when he heard a noise from behind him. He realized that something was wrong, since he was locked in his private office, and that there was nothing behind his office chair that could have contributed to the sound¡¯s creation. He whirled about in his chair and was shocked to actually see a figure standing behind him. The shadowed form that had been behind him was motionless. He could see that it was dressed in what he assumed to be dark hooded cloak and what appeared to be black monk¡¯s robes. The clothing smoldered shadowed streams of umber smoke, and gently billowed as if they were blown by an unfelt wind. Mason immediately noticed that the figures hands were skeletal. They were bleach white and completely void of flesh. He noted immediately that a red sword was held in the death¡¯s head¡¯s left hand. He wasn¡¯t an expert, but it was huge and he would have said it would have taken a normal man both hands to wield it properly. The right hand gripped a Sig Sauer, which he only recognized from his time spent playing video games, that came equipped with a silencer.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Ah¡¯m truly sorry that I have to do this, Mister Mason. Ah truly am, but it cannot be helped.¡± The voice was a deep and sonorous tone that was flavored by a southern, possibly Alabaman, accent. Mason watched in shock as the gun was levelled at his forehead, and did nothing to stop the gun from firing. There was a wumph, a quick flash of light, and a thud as Mason¡¯s body hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. The skeletal man holstered the weapon on his right side, and stepped over the body. Two boney fingers touched the man¡¯s throat and stayed there for about twenty seconds before he retracted them. The robed assassin raised the sword in his left hand, and in one swift and fluid motion severed the dead man¡¯s head from its body. His eyes traced the decapitated pate as it arced across the room and landed with a soft squish on the plush blue carpet. ¡°Always, Ah say, ALWAYS,¡± he said the last word with a deep emphasis, ¡°Do the double tap.¡± He sheathed his blade, seemingly unworried about any blood that might be left on its edge, and stepped over to the computer. He stared at it intently; reading every line as if it were some secret codex that held occult information he had been desperately searching for his whole life. He sighed disappointedly and held the power button down until it shut off. He then began rifling through the papers on the desk, only stopping when a small item caught his interest. Had his head not been a yellowed hollow eyed skull a rictus grin would have spread across his face. He reached over and picked up the small plastic snow globe that had been acting as a paperweight for what he assumed were important documents. He turned it so that he could see the interior scene. He glass ball showed a small wood cabin in a forest scene with a bear in front of the lodging. A scroll at the front of globe had script that read: Summer in Wisconsin. The gaunt figure whispered, ¡°Malachi 3:10,¡± and a green screen appeared about a foot and a half from his face, ¡°Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.¡± So saying he hit the word INVENTORY on the screen and the globe vanished from his palm. If there had been another soul alive in the room when he spoke that verse they would have noticed that his southern accent had completely vanished. Seconds later, so had he. 8) My Hero? Declan stepped back into the launch bay right behind Second Sarah. He¡¯d already dubbed her that before her realized what he was doing. He doubted she would want to be referred to as Second Sarah, so he¡¯d have to come up with a way to make her distinctive from his own Sarah, Sarah Prime. His feet clinked against the metallic floor of the bay, making him wince. He¡¯d hoped to come in silently behind her. He didn¡¯t want to have to take another beating from her, not that she¡¯d hurt him, but he did not want to cause her even more stress. Instead, he found that she didn¡¯t even notice him even when he stepped up right beside her. She was staring out the Bay Window that currently looked out over her Earth. She was frozen in place, nearly comatose in his eyes as she stared out at the planet she had known as home. She hugged herself, grabbing her upper shoulders and squeezing until the skin around her fingers was white. ¡°I guess you were really out of contact, huh. I guess this explains why you didn¡¯t call.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± he began, ¡°I have no idea what happened to your Declan. The Declan that you knew. I am not from your dimension or even this one for that matter. I am from an alternate reality, one in which I lost my Sarah, and I have vowed to never let you go again. I¡¯m going to save as many of you as possible.¡± She turned with a quizzical look on her face, ¡°What you mean you aren¡¯t the Declan I knew? I know you better than any other man on that world floating out there, and you are him. I have no doubt, you are Declan Mason. My best friend, my confidant. You are the one person that I turn to when I am lost or hurting. How are you not him?¡± His stomach dropped the moment that she said that he was her best friend, but he recognized that all that meant was that he could take the time to get to know her and see if he could get emotion to grow in the direction he hoped. ¡°I told you. I come from another world. There are, it seems, endless Earths and that sometimes they are destroyed by beings greater than us. I don¡¯t know why they do it, but they do it. My world exploded, and I was the only one to survive.¡± He paused and let that sink in for a moment before he continued. ¡°Like you I have lost my Earth, and can never go back.¡± Her whole body turned to him and her arms dropped to her sides, ¡°Like me?¡± She looked from him to the planet that was slowly turning outside. ¡°My planet is still there.¡± Declan nodded sadly. It hurt him more than he realized that he was the cause of what she was about to discover. ¡°The planet is, but the people aren¡¯t.¡± He cut her off before she could ask, ¡°What do you mean?¡± or ¡°Why aren¡¯t there any people?¡± He opened his HUD and looked at the screen, he noted the time and wiped his forehead. It was just starting. ¡°I can show you, but I have to warn you, it is going to be graphic and possibly traumatic. Do you still want to see?¡± She bit her lower lip and arched an eyebrow. Her look shifted from concerned to constipated, but she nodded in the affirmative. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m going to pull up an image from the surface, but nowhere near any place you would have a connection with, let¡¯s say we zoom in on China? Sound good? No friends or relatives there, right?¡± She shook her head almost imperceptibly. ¡°All right, China it is.¡± He punched in some co-ordinates and the Bay window became a magnifying glass. It rocketed from their position in space to the Asiatic coast; eventually locking onto one of the larger cities there. The municipality of Shanghai filled the window, and they could see people walking, riding, and driving along. ¡°Ten seconds.¡± Declan¡¯s voice was cold and emotionless; it was as if it had been cut off from his emotions. Sarah counted out Mississippi¡¯s in her head and sure enough, as soon as she had hit zero people began to vomit, drop to the ground, scream, and bleed. Cars crashed into one another and ran over prone pedestrians. Sarah noted that it had all happened in unison as if it had been orchestrated by a master conductor. Bodies did not drop here and there, people fell in groups. The hardy few who kept their footing were purged of bodily fluids as they bled and vomited over themselves and their neighbors.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Most of them died in the first few minutes, but some took longer and managed to hang on for as long as they could. That made it harder on them, as the longer they managed to survive the worse their symptoms became. She watched as they struggled to breathe or shook uncontrollably from fever. She was thankful that she was unable to hear their cries or she would have lost her mind. She looked over at Declan, who had shifted from being the concerned friend to having a very business-like appearance on his face. His whole demeanor had changed. If she had to have made a guess she would have said that he was very clinical in his analysis of what was going on before his eyes. He was as detached as a photo-journalist who was snapping away shot after shot as child was mauled by a bear. It chilled her to look at him like this. Declan, however, was busy watching the population count of the planet drop steadily on his HUD and was to absorbed in the event to even notice how Sarah was reacting. What had started out as six billion people was now down to just three billion and the numbers were getting lower with each passing second. Mother kept him up to date with each event. Not only did she tell him how many people were still alive, but she also let him know what stage of the disease progression they were on. He had learned, from Headnet, that no disease was so virulent that it could wipe out an entire population. So, he¡¯d created multiple ones to do the job. He hadn¡¯t liked the idea of a Plagueocalypse, but knew that he would need to create one at some point in the future, this just provided him with valuable data to help him later on. His initial dislike for the apocalyptic medium was washed away as he observed the death count rapidly growing. He could see a lot of potential with disease. Sarah stared in horror as more and more people died, and suddenly she realized that Declan had saved her. He had come down to that planet and pulled her away just before things happened to her. He had risked everything for her. He was, without a doubt, the best man that she knew. There was a reason he was her best friend. He couldn¡¯t let her go any more than she would have been able to let him die, and in that instant she understood. In spite of everything that stood between them, he would never let her down. She reached over and plucked his hand away from the HUD that she could not see. She gripped his hand in hers firmly and brought them down between them. Declan almost pulled his hand away so that he could continue observing the data collection, but snapped back to reality when he realized what she had done. What in the hell had happened? It was as if he went into a form of autopilot, and did not even realize that he was human once the numbers started crunching. He had gone away, and was replaced by something less than he. Lesser, but greater in some ways, as it was able to process what was happening far better than he could have hoped to do so. The thought terrified him. He planned on talking to Kristine and Mother to learn what was going on with him. ¡°You saved me from this,¡± came Sarah¡¯s trembling voice. ¡°I would have choked on my own vomit or bled to death from my ears or some other horrible way if you hadn¡¯t come for me.¡± Tears ran down her face, and he was just about to tell her that it was his job to do this to each world he was set to when she continued, ¡°I want you to know how much I appreciate that, and that I will do everything I can to help you kill the monster responsible for killing our worlds. We will figure it out together.¡± Aw, crap, he thought. 9) Saving Sarahs Declan stared into the hard cold eyes of the woman he had just saved . . .from himself. He had to admit it. He had just doomed her world, and he had been magnanimous enough to save her from his misdeeds. He really was some kind of hero. It killed him to think that he had just done to her what had been done with him, only she had no idea of who was really responsible for what happened to her world. He realized that if she ever learned the truth that she, and more than likely all subsequent Sarahs would hate him forever. This was his Scylla and Charybdis, he couldn''t stop destroying worlds, nor could he ever let the Sarahs that were to come know what he was doing. His eyes never left her gaze, and he saw just how much she was like his Sarah. So strong, so resolved and resolute that she would do everything in her power to keep her word. He''d just gotten started, and he''d already ruined a potential relationship by not being honest and open with her. "Sarah," he began, "I am so sorry for what happened to your world. I''m just glad that I could save you, and your cat." He knew that was probably the dumbest thing he could have said, but he had no idea of how he could make her feel better. He realized that he couldn''t start out his relationship with the woman before him with this giant obstacle between them. He had to come clean, hope she would eventually come to understand that he had no choice. He could live with her hate, but he couldn''t live with a lie between them. "Look, Sarah, I have to tell you something. . ." Just as he was about to come clean, he heard a small puttering sound, and saw Kristine come flying into the room from the far door. She was back in her car form and was moving rapidly towards him and Sarah. She made a beeline right for them without showing any indication of slowing down. Declan almost ducked but the miniature car pulled her front end up like a plane going in for a landing and stopped just two feet shy of his face. She hovered in the air and revved her engine. "Kristine, is something the matter?" He would have said that the car looked impatient, that that was foolish; still she did turn towards Second Sarah and then back to him. He realized immediately that she wanted to talk to him alone. "Kristine, just give me a rundown. What''s going on?" The faux ''57 Chevy floated a little nearer, and whispered, "Mother said that five more worlds just went hot, and that you only have hours to take care of things." Sarah stepped beside Declan, and grabbed his hand. He realized that his palm had gone all sweaty and her hand was dry as a cotton swab. "Are you saying that more worlds are going to be destroyed, and that Declan only has a few hours to help save some more people?" Declan swore that the car looked uncomfortable, "Yeeeah. He only has hours to take care of the people on five worlds. I need him to come with me. Right now," she hastily added the last part. The man in the blue business suit and red tie released the hand of the woman who looked like his dead fianc¨¦e, turned to her and said, "I''ve gotta go, but I''ll be back as soon as we can, and we''ll talk then. Hopefully, I''ll be sending you some refugees. Help them. They''ll need someone to guide them as they arrive." Sarah sputtered, "I-I-I just got here myself!" Declan smiled at her, "Who better to help then?" He nodded at the mini-car, which turned around and flew towards the exit. "I''m counting on you." He gave her a wink and followed the car. Minutes later he was heading back to the launch bay and idly wondered why it had that name, nothing was launched from there and there wasn''t a ship contained therein. "All right, give me the run down. What is going on?" Kristine whipped around to face him, but continued her forward trajectory. It was a little disconcerting to see her flying backwards without any sign of it being a hindrance. "You need to turn your notifications on. Mother sent you several notices which you either ignored or were clueless of . . . kinda hard to tell with you right now. Sarah does seem to be the main subject of your focus.¡± Declan sucked air in through his teeth. ¡°You¡¯re right, Kristine, but I can¡¯t help it. She¡¯s all I¡¯ve thought about since this whole thing happened. I¡¯ve got to focus. One thing, though,¡± he said with a grimace, ¡°I can¡¯t let them know that I¡¯m the cause of all this. They¡¯ll never forgive me, and I¡¯ll never be able to bear the thought of them hating me. Can we do that? Keep them from knowing what we do?¡± The car¡¯s little headlights flashed, ¡°Neither Mother, nor myself, will tell them.¡± Declan¡¯s heart grew a little heavier at the thought of having to lie to Sarah, any Sarah, but he knew it had to be done just to keep the peace. Maybe one day he¡¯d build them all a home, a Sarah Terra so to speak, and he¡¯d let them decide for themselves what they wanted to do with him. Right now, however, he had an impending deadline, and Sarahs to save. He called up his HUD and saw the flashing light in the right hand corner. He opened it up and saw dozens of alerts from Mother regarding his new assignments. It was just dozens of the same message letting him know that the Invigilator had sent him not one but five new planets to be destroyed. He closed them up as son as he saw a slot that read MISSIONS and opened it up instead. Five boxes slid across his HUD and he tapped the first one. The box enlarged and read:
Planet: Earth 6346This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Creator: Malgabsin Mission: This planet has suffered a near apocalyptic event, and life is dying out, only not at a sufficient pace. This world must have all life scoured from its biosphere within the remaining six hours and 17 minutes. Reward for success: 10,000 Expy Failure will result in your Death and the elimination of all items, people, and information that you have saved. Possible destruction of the Multiverse.
Planet: Earth 987y43 Creator: Moreauxe Mission: An abundant and verdant world, this planet known as Gea must end within the remaining time limit of six hours and twenty minutes. Only humanoid life need die. It would be a shame to waste excellent flora and Fauna. Reward for success: 10,000 Expy Failure will result in your Death and the elimination of all items, people, and information that you have saved. Possible destruction of the Multiverse.
Planet: Earth 1232r323 Creator: Gnal Mission: A world that has melded the mechanical with the biological, known as the Krome must be completely oblitered within the remaining time frame of six hours and thirty minutes. Reward for success: 20,000 Expy Failure will result in your Death and the elimination of all items, people, and information that you have saved. Possible destruction of the Multiverse.
Planet: Earth 87435jybw3 Creator: No name submitted Mission: This planet has only just gone over the infestation allowance, as such it is up to the mission specialist to decide how extensive the erasing of life will be. He may utterly destroy the planet or only the intelligent life contained there on. Time limit: six hours forty seven minutes remaining. Reward for success: 15,000 Expy Failure will result in your Death and the elimination of all items, people, and information that you have saved. Possible destruction of the Multiverse.
Planet: Earth 876 Creator: Rekots Mission: All life on this planet must be erased. A planet of Hemovores stained by the *Classified* would be impossible to contain. Scrub protocols must be maintained. Alpha Veta must not be permitted to have even microbe to survive. The only acceptable outcome is the utter destruction of the planet. Reward for success: 25,000 Expy Failure will result in your Death and the elimination of all items, people, and information that you have saved. Possible destruction of the Multiverse.
A sixth box appeared:
Tap here to recieve more information on any of the planets that you have been assigned.
Then a seventh box popped up on his screen:
In order to achieve full Expy for a successful mission you must perform the mission in a unique manner or add a twist to the outcome. Unoriginal thinking will result in loss of Expy. Good luck!
Declan studied the information before him. He scanned everything once quickly, just to get an impression of what he was up against. His decision came down to a matter of how much time was left for him to complete his task at hand. ¡°Looks like I¡¯m going to go to Earth 6346 first,¡± he said to Kristine. ¡°It has the least amount of time left on the clock so I¡¯ll head there first.¡± The Launch Bay came into sight and he suddenly wished he had some time to actually do some prep before he went down there. It sounded pretty rough down there. He began to suspect that a business suit and dress shoes probably weren¡¯t the best attire for a world that was already half dead. Still, time dictated that he move forward as fast as he could, and so he gritted his teeth and soldiered onward. Kristine puttered up beside him, ¡°Would you like me to come with you? I¡¯m sure I could help.¡± He glanced over his shoulder and looked at her as he walked. He¡¯d have preferred to have left her here to keep Second Sarah company, but the mission took precedence over her comfort levels. It pained him to admit it, but it was the truth. ¡°I would love to have you along.¡± She gave a happy honk and zipped into the Launch Bay ahead of him. He arrived a minute later, a little out of breath. ¡°Making me look bad, Kirstine.¡± She did a little loop de loop and came to a stop before him. He swore she was looking him up and down. ¡°Not possible, Declan,¡± she cooed. He loved that voice of hers. He checked his pockets. They were empty. He felt like he should at least have a lighter or a knife. Hell, a gun would have been just about perfect in this situation. ¡°Kristine, do we have any weapons on Homeworld? Something I could take with me?¡± The minicar somehow managed to look dejected. ¡°I am sorry Deck, but no. We could have mother start making something, but her printers will take a while, and we do not have that kind of time. I could have her start something now, and it should be ready when we get back. Is there something you¡¯d prefer?¡± ¡°Maybe a couple of handguns, something I could conceal, but I¡¯m probably going to want something with more kick for situations that become a little too hairy. Not sure what would work best. Have Mother give her best guess on what I¡¯ll need and have her create a pack for me.¡± ¡°Good idea, I¡¯ll give her the parameters you mentioned and see that it is done when we get back, but Deck. . .¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°With the time constraints you are under with multiple assignments and short deadlines on each, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be able to come back here in between the completion of a mission. We¡¯ll be cutting it too close.¡± Declan palmed his eyes with his left hand, ¡°Are you saying we won¡¯t be able to save any Sarahs?¡± ¡°No,¡± she replied hurriedly, ¡°If you come across a Sarah to save then you can just direct send her back to the launch bay, as we head to the next world.¡± A wave of relief washed across his face, and he unbuttoned his jacket. If he was going to a post-apocalyptic alien world then he was going to go in comfort. He even loosened his tie from around his neck and undid the top button of his shirt. Now he was ready to face whatever the Invigilator was going to throw at him. He stepped onto the so-called Launch Bay pad and felt its energies caressing his body. In a brief flash of light and sound he vanished from his new home. 10) The Fast and Furious Road Warrior One moment Declan was standing in the Launch Bay and the next he was on the surface of Earth 6346, and all he could think of was that it was a stink hole. The air carried a burned smell, as if the denizens here had tried to fry their atmosphere. The sky was a pale yellow, dotted on sparsely with a cloud or two. Just breathing through his mouth made his tongue tingle. It was like licking a nine volt battery. The earth here was scorched. Remnants of buildings and civilization were hinted at here and there, with only a few actual structures still standing. Most of the ground was either dust or rubble. He could tell at a glance that the soil held no nutrients and could never sustain life again. He listened and noticed that he couldn¡¯t hear anything. There were no signs of life. No wind was blowing. Every plant that he could see was dead, and each building looked like it had been abandoned for a hundred years. He could see an ancient looking Bucky Starrs coffee shop right where it should have been. He¡¯d forgotten that he¡¯d set it so that he always arrived near her store, and was surprised that of all the buildings that survived that good old B.S. managed to keep standing. There was no sign of life there; at least none that he could see at a glance. Everything was as still as the grave, and he definitely felt entombed. He wondered what could have caused this, and then a thought struck him. ¡°Kristine, would you be able to detect if someone had tried to apocalypse this planet, and failed?¡± The idea swirled in his head like a fly caught in the waters of a flushing toilet bowl. It was spinning around in his head, and he couldn¡¯t let it go. On a basic instinctual level he could feel it. Someone had come here, tried an apocalypse, and failed utterly. He had no doubt that all life on this planet would die off soon, but it was going to be a long lingering agonizingly slow death. Declan decided that he would put it out of its misery if he could. The car gave a little honk. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can come up with, but I think you¡¯re right. This place looks like an Apocalypse went wrong here. Maybe it was one of your predecessors. What do you think,¡± she inquired. He walked to the coffee shop and Kristine followed him. He noticed that she wasn¡¯t making a sound, so he guessed that she only puttered when she wanted to. ¡°I think I¡¯m going to go into Bucky Starrs, and then I¡¯m gonna put the whammy on this planet and get the hell out of here. I just have to check.¡± He pushed open the glass door and was surprised that it wasn¡¯t shattered and still had its logo etched into the glass. It would never fade away that was for certain. The room was covered in dingy cobwebs and had a layer of dust on the tables that looked to be an inch high. The floor was cracked and covered in dust as well, but he noticed some footprints that lead behind the counter. Someone had been in here before, but not all that recently. ¡°Declan,¡± Christine prompted, ¡°From what I can tell by my scans you are right. This world had been targeted for destruction, but whoever had the job botched it big time. It was done half-assed. They created an incomplete apocalypse, and people survived. Of course, nothing will survive here for much longer, but they would certainly live beyond the deadline that the Invigilator has set for us. It would seem that you are cleaning up somebody else¡¯s mess.¡± ¡°Great. That means that he wasn¡¯t kidding about the whole do it or die thing, and that the deadlines are not negotiable. I was seriously considering having Mother ask for an extension on one or two of those time frames that he gave us.¡± He pulled up his HUD, ¡°Mother, give me everything you can about this world.¡± Just as words began to fill his screen he heard something. It was an electric whine, something that he recognized but couldn¡¯t put his finger on. ¡°What is that,¡± he asked Kristine. ¡°Believe it or not, to my sensors it sounds very similar to a hover bike from our world,¡± She replied. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what it is!¡± he shouted. He turned back to the door and ran outside. He hit the street and looked in both directions before seeing a figure on an early model hover bike riding in from the north end of town. The figure was nondescript and impossible to tell if it was human, let alone male or female at that distance, but whomever it was they were coming in fast and hard. By his estimation he had about ten seconds before the rider made it to his position, and they showed no indication of slowing down. He edged off the road, and backed towards the door to the coffee shop. He watched the figure get closer, and could tell right away that it was a female. She was wearing goggles and a mask over her nose and mouth to keep the dust from suffocating her as she rode. She slowed down as soon as she saw him and pulled the bike up to rest just on the sidewalk. The woman climbed from the battered hover bike in one sleek movement. Her hair was short and chopped, she wore no top but instead had a pair of crossed bandoleers that covered her breasts, she wore what looked to be a black bikini bottom, her hands were covered by black fingerless gloves, she had a pistol holstered on each of her sides, and wore black military styled boots that came up to her knees. She was sort in stature, but was muscular, and her skin was a cocoa color that could only have been gotten from weeks of tanning under this odd sun. Before he realized what she was doing she had moved before him. She¡¯d grabbed his left hand and had splayed it out to examine. She scrutinized between each finger as if she were expecting to find something odd or unexpected, but hadn¡¯t. She dropped his hand and then shoved her fingers in his mouth. She studied his teeth, running a filthy finger over each one before, she took her finger and thumb and propped open his eye. Her googles obscured his view of her orbs, but she was gazing intently into his. She let go of his eyelids, and drew her eyewear up to her forehead. He guessed that they made it hard for her to see his eyes as much as it made it hard for him to see hers. Kristine began to edge up behind the girl. Declan would have sworn he could see an angry snarl on her grill. Her fingers forced his eye open wide again, and Declan waved Kristine away, as he could see that she was about to do something. The woman stood on her tip toes, and looked back into his eye, and when she did he knew who she was. There was no mistaking those beauties. It was Sarah. Another version of Sarah, and he had found her. OK, he admitted, she had found him, and he had been about to kill her by setting off the final apocalypse on this world, but she was here now, and that was what was important. Right? ¡°Sarah,¡± he said gently. ¡°Sarah Crowe?¡± The sound of his voice snapped her out of her entranced gaze and she stepped back, and hand going towards what looked to be a .45 Magnum at her side. She had one arm out in a warning gesture and a look of confusion filled her eyes. Her voice, when it came was as dry and dusty as the land here. She cracked and croaked when she spoke, ¡°Mace? How? You change-ed.¡± Her voice was guttural and she spoke more like a child than an adult. The way that she said the word changed made her sound like a four year old, and it scared him. What had happened here? What had she called him? Did she know him? Mace? He wondered and then he realized that Mace was short for Mason. It was Sarah, and she recognized him. ¡°Sarah?¡± She shook her head and pointed to herself, ¡°Crowe. Imma . . . Crowe.¡± She said that last word like it was a revelation. Her eyes were filled with awe as she remembered the woman that she used to be. It was as if she had all but forgotten who she was. He realized that they must go by last names here, and that was why she referred to him as Mace, and herself as Crowe. ¡°Yes, Crowe, it¡¯s me, Mace. I haven¡¯t changed. It¡¯s still me. I can help, come to me and I¡¯ll get us out of here.¡± He stared at her grubby face, and could see that it had clean streaks where tears had washed away her filth. In spite of everything he could still see her innate beauty shining through everything. She pulled the rags that had been wrapped around her mouth and nose and let them hang around her neck. He had no doubt that this was Sarah now. Even as dirty and bruised as she was she took his breath away. ¡°No, you change-ed. Not Mace, but now Mace. Mace was gone, not Mace now.¡± Her eyes darted from him to Kristine. Undoubtedly, the miniature car was disturbing to her and only added to her tension. She looked like she was strung tight enough that she might snap at any moment. What hurt him was her eyes. He could see the confusion in them, and it stung him deeply that she didn¡¯t trust him instantly. His mind swam; he wondered what had made her so child-like. Was it the result of surviving an apocalypse or what had caused it in the first place? How had she survived when so many had obviously died. Would he be able to gain her trust enough that he could save her? He broke from his reverie, his gaze wavering between her face and the gun at her side. ¡°I swear to you, Crowe, I will not hurt you.¡± Kristine quietly puttered to a safe distance of an additional twenty feet away. She did not want to spook the poor girl any more than she already was, and she was certain that she could get to Declan before she could draw her weapon. Human reflexes were only so fast, after all. Thankfully, she lowered her outstretched arm and eased her hand away from the gun at her side. She smiled at him and stepped closer. ¡°You not dead,¡± she asked, ¡°Mace not change-ed?¡± He held up both hands to show her he wasn¡¯t any danger, ¡°No. I¡¯m not dead, and I haven¡¯t changed. I¡¯m still your Mace.¡± He hugged her in a tight embrace, ¡°You¡¯re safe now.¡± Kristine snorted, ¡°You had to say that, didn¡¯t you?¡± As if on cue, there arose a strange sound from the direction that Crowe had just arrived in. It was a gurgling drowning sound that was wet and trilling; like mud smothering a songbird. The echoes that it made off of the few standing buildings around them sent chills down his spine. He had never heard anything like that before, and it almost drove him mad. Something within him, however, resisted the temptation to throw away his sanity. In fact, he felt something stir within him. Something that told him that he had to stop whatever was making that sound, and the best way to do that would be to drop a planet on it. ¡°What is that noise?¡± His voice was tinged with fear and curiosity. As soon as the sound faded, Crowe spun around and ran to her hover bike. She pulled a pump action shotgun from the side of the bike, threw it to Declan, and then followed up with another toss of a box full of ammo. Crowe spun around and drew both of her pistols and then hauled ass into the undamaged Bucky Starr caf¨¦. She had given him an Are you coming look as she ran inside the dilapidated coffee shop. Declan stared at the gun in his hands. He had never fired one let alone loaded such a weapon. To be certain, he¡¯d seen them used in countless cerebral experiences, holo-vids, and dream sequence shows, but he had never touched one until now. The only thing he knew to do was point it at what you wanted dead, and then pull the trigger. Granted, that part was not quantum particle science, but he knew that there was a little more to it than that. ¡°Kristine,¡± he said breathlessly, ¡°How much Expy would it cost me to by a shotgun skill?¡± She hovered over before him, ¡°Basic knowledge is one thousand five hundred Expy, the more skill you desire the higher the price.¡± ¡°How much Expy do I currently have,¡± he asked. ¡°Your current Expy reserves sit at eighty five thousand points.¡± ¡°And to reach the maximum skill level for this weapon?¡± ¡°Fifty five thousand points of Expy. That expenditure will make you an expert marksman with a shot gun, you will be able to strip, clean, and repair the weapon, you will be able to speed load, as well as perform trick shots. No one will be better than you, but they might tie, so do not decide to get into a pissing contest with someone carrying a shotgun. A tie can still equal death.¡± She was not preaching, only informing him. ¡°Okay, do it. Add the skill as soon as . . .¡± he stopped as all the information regarding everything about shotguns flooded his mind. He lived out other expert¡¯s memories as they trained, competed, and fought until they had become his own recollections and experiences. In a half a second he had become a master of the boom stick. Somewhere in the back of his head he knew he was receiving a notification that his Personal Sheet had been updated to include his newfound expertise. As far as he was concerned he had grown up practicing with a shotgun every day, and gone to bed to snuggle with one at night. ¡°C¡¯mon,¡± he said to his floating companion as he ran into the shop behind Crowe. The imitation Chevy followed closely behind him, and narrowly missed getting swatted by the door as it closed. He could see Crowe was already behind the counter checking her weapons. He sat his gun on a table and placed the box of shells beside it. He looked at Kristine with a snarl forming on his face, ¡°I don¡¯t know what the hell that was,¡± he spat, ¡°But I¡¯m going to end this here and now. I¡¯m not doing a last stand at the OK corral. I¡¯m gonna light this puppy up and high tail it to the next world. I want you keep me straight. Make sure I¡¯m not going to flub this like I did on the trial runs. Do quick simulations.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± the car beeped. His head spun. So his mission was to scour all life from the surface. That meant it had to be thorough. No halfway point, he was already on his Hail Mary, and had to come up with something fast. ¡°Kristine, could I send the earth into the sun?¡± The car pulsed a blue light, ¡°You could, but not in the time limit allowed. The distance is too far, and you could not get the planet to make it there in time. Nor could you rip away the atmosphere, as there may be creatures here now that could withstand the rigors of space,¡± she putted, ¡°just thought I¡¯d slip that one in there for you.¡± ¡°Ha! Got it! You gave me the idea.¡± He pulled up his HUD and looked for his Apocalypse Now button. He quickly typed in his commands and then hit accept. ¡°This world is toast in three hours.¡± The floating car circled him slowly, ¡°What did you do?¡± ¡°I changed the atmosphere. I made it so that will become an incredibly corrosive haze that it will eat or burn away anything it comes into contact with, it doesn¡¯t matter if it is living or inorganic. It will begin to rain acid in about twenty minutes and it won¡¯t stop until the entire surface of the world is degraded. Nothing in the land, sea, or air will survive the acidic levels I¡¯m producing. Hell, this will probably burn away the crust and mantle of the earth too.¡± He looked over at Crowe, who pointed her gun toward the doorway. Declan could see a large shadow looming just outside. It was so big that it would never fit through the door, but he watched as it casually swung its arm and shattered the door and the frame like a crowbar through a sheet of paper. ¡°Gotta go,¡± he said and ran to Crowe. Kristine emitted an angry putt-putt. He should have asked her to run that by her first to see if it would work, but as always Declan just dove in without thinking. He did it all the time, most of which ended with him having a bigger problem than he started with. That was why she was glad that he had failed to complete his proposal to Sarah. She had run the numbers and just could not see in her what he did. Sarah seemed like trouble to her. Here he was, going for the flashy prettier option rather than crunching numbers or checking his options once more. She understood that he was under one hell of a time limit, but the faster you did something the more likely an error could occur when caution could have prevented it. Declan was his own worst enemy sometimes, and he was oblivious to that singular fact.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. When Declan made it to Sarah¡¯s side she was already firing round after round at the monster in a precise center mass formation, and Declan could see that it hadn¡¯t made any kind of an impact on the creature. He knew that because a green bar floated over the creature¡¯s head that looked to be what he assumed was a Health Bar. To his dismay and astonishment he noted that not one round of hers had caused the bar to drop in the slightest. Declan noticed that the monster had a rubbery but gelatinous skin which was a tone of pale green and oozed with a repulsive ponging slime. The beast was twice the size of an average man, and had a huge pot belly that connected to squat toad-like legs. Its chest and shoulders were broad and muscular, and its arms were twice the size of an Olympic body builder. It was the head, though, that unnerved him. The bizarre pate was octoid in design, with a dozen tentacles wriggling about the area of its mouth. The creature¡¯s eyes were black and bulbous and looked like day old jelly that had shriveled in the sunlight. It had no visible ears or nose, but Declan did notice that each of its tentacles were covered in suckers that had ringed rows of teeth around their centers, and each appendage was tipped with what looked to be a scorpion-like stinger. What really bothered him was that he could see where the bullets had struck. He could see the bullets laying just below the skins surface, like fruit in gelatin, and that they were melting from their contact with the beast. The odd thing was that, as he looked at it, he knew the Ichthian terror didn¡¯t belong on this world; in fact, it didn¡¯t belong in this universe nor any other he had visited. It was not of this reality and was not in a way like him. He belonged here, on this alien world in an alternate universe, more than it did. His body and mind mirrored the things in this universe. The strange creature before the two of them did not. Its very presence vexed him, and he could tell that he should have gone mad just looking at it. Its visual impression on this reality was scraping away his sanity like the claws of a drowning rat scrabbling to find purchase on a stone wall. It was hard to quantify, but he could tell that it did not come from anywhere in the multiverse, and deep in his soul he knew that it was his job to stop it, and that the only possible things that kept him from slipping his bonds of sanity were either Mother¡¯s mental blockades or the changes that the Invigilator had instilled in him had been what saved his human mind. He suspected that it was a combination of the two. Again, his wandering mind had caused him to lose himself. He snapped too and Crowe was screaming; her eyes bulged and were completely unhinged. They were filled with a touch of fear, madness, and desperation. It was obvious to him that the creature¡¯s mere presence was affecting her sanity. He had been altered by the Invigilator, though, and still it was hard enough for him to force himself to simply look at it without losing his own mind. Crowe was only human, and it was getting to her. She had emptied both weapons into the hulking mass of sludge, and it didn¡¯t blink, not that it could; since it didn¡¯t have any sort of eyelids he noted detachedly. She was holding her guns and staring at the creature. Declan was sure that he could hear a soft whine emitting from her after she had finished screaming. Without thinking he stepped forward and fired three rounds into the creature¡¯s chest. The shot did nothing to decrease its Health Bar any more than her rounds had done, but the impact managed to drive it back a few steps. Declan dropped the shotgun and ran to pick up her up. Crowe was locked in a fear frozen form and Declan snatched her statuesque form and threw her over his shoulder. He bolted for the remnants of the kitchen area and ran out of the back of the building. As soon as he was outside his eyes and skin began to sting immediately. Damn! He¡¯d forgotten that he¡¯d jiggerd with the atmosphere. Things were going to get sketchy really fast if he didn¡¯t get moving. His head swiveled frantically, scanning the area. He could vaguely make out what used to be a street or alleyway, but was now little more than a faded path. Though the coffee shop was still whole there were skeletal remains of the frames and walls of other buildings that forged a semi-straight line of obstacles for about forty yards in either direction. He did not think that he¡¯d be able to move through so much debris fast enough that the creature would not be able to get to them. ¡°Mother,¡± he choked, ¡°Open a portal to the Launch Bay. Now!¡± He waited for the glowing fissure to appear, but nothing happened. ¡°Mother?¡± No answer came. He was stranded, and now he could hear that walking pile of insanity coming ripping a pathway through the building towards them. He decided that he would make a run for her hover bike. That way they could at least get way from the monster, and hopefully get Mother to respond. Christine shot out of the backdoor doing at least fifty miles an hour. Her scream was louder than her engine¡¯s roar, ¡°Ruuuuuuuuuuun!¡± She flew past him like a bullet going so fast that her voice trailed behind her like a kite¡¯s tail. He didn¡¯t even think to question her command, he just turned and bolted down the alleyway. Crow was much heavier than she looked, he decided after about thirty yards of hard sprinting. It was hard enough to breathe already, but now her added weight only compounded the problem. He managed to force his way onward, and could now hear the bulbous headed creature entering the alley. The beast was too large to fit through the back door, but it was pushing its way through the bricks and door jam; its actions accompanied by a shower of stone and steel. It was slow, but it could afford to be if it was as unstoppable as it appeared to be. It could take its time and would eventually catch up to him if he remained on foot. Thankfully, he had the Hover bike to get to and make his escape. Another thirty yards and he rounded the corner and went back to the front of the shop. ¡°Mother!¡± He yelled her name over and over, and finally she responded. ¡°Declan?¡± ¡°Mother, I need you to create a portal back to Launch Bay. Right now!¡± ¡°My deepest apologies, Declan, but that is not possible at this time.¡± ¡°What? Why the hell not?¡± ¡°It seems that there is something near your location that is interfering with my being able to lock onto a location near you. Whatever it is it seems to be mobile. I¡¯d suggest getting at least two hundred yards from it or I will not be able to help you.¡± Her voice faded in and out and was accompanied by radio static and electronic squeals. Somehow that thing¡¯s very presence was messing with Mother¡¯s ability to lock onto him! He was going to have run for it. Thankfully, it was pretty damned slow and he could easily outrun it if he didn¡¯t have to carry Crowe. The combination of her weight and the air¡¯s growing toxicity was exhausting him. In other words, it was becoming too damned hard to breathe and Miss Crow was getting heavier by the second. She was still out of it, so hoping that she could do some running on her own was out of the question. His only hope was the hover bike. Which he could now see was crushed flat on the rear end. How had he not heard that thing crushing the bike? When had it done that? Before it had entered the caf¨¦? That meant the thing wasn¡¯t stupid. It could think ahead, it had planned to cut them off in case they escaped it inside the building. Kristine buzzed by his head, ¡°It¡¯s still in the alley. That thing is really slow, but it is uber strong.¡± She flew over to the trashed bike. ¡°This thing is non-operational. There is no way you¡¯ll be able to use it to escape now. I would say to out climb it since Mother said you only needed to be two hundred yards away for her to get through the interference safely. You could climb that high, but I don¡¯t see any buildings near here that come close to reaching that height.¡± Declan, stopped and wiped his eyes. They were burning and stinging and it was not only getting harder to see, but it was also getting harder and harder to breath. The whole initiate your apocalypse on the planet thing was getting really old really fast, and this was only his second one. He had to learn how to best pull the apocalypse trigger and the proper time to do it as well. He felt it was definitely better to act like a sniper than going point blank as he tended to do things. He could hear the slobbering mass coming for them and had no idea of what to do. He had seen it take multiple rounds from Crowe¡¯s .45 and shrug them off like it was being hit with Skittles, and his shotgun did little more than tickle it. Declan knew that the creature could easily smash its way through any improvised defenses he could put up. Kristine pulled up beside him, ¡°You realize that you could get away if you left her behind, right? You are much faster without her weight, and it would stop for her. Even if it only dallied with her for a minute that would buy you the time you¡¯d need to get away.¡± He looked at the red and white car floating before him with a pained expression. ¡°Hear me now, I will never leave Sarah, any Sarah behind if I can help it. My whole mission is to protect every version of her that I can find. Don¡¯t you ever,¡± and he held his forefinger up for emphasis, ¡°Ever suggest anything like that again.¡± Kristine tilted downwards in shame. ¡°I was only thinking of you,¡± she whispered meekly. Declan coughed, and he noticed that he could taste blood, ¡°I know.¡± He watched the creature round the end of the street and come at him full bore. Its skin was smoldering and he saw blobs of flesh flying free of its frame as it ran. The acidic atmosphere was affecting it far more than he could have hoped. Its once full Health Bar was already at the halfway point and it was rapidly dropping. He had no doubt that while the acid he had created hurt him it was especially horrific for the fish-like fiend that trundled towards him. The monster did not have much time left before it dissolved into a murking puddle of gludge. Unfortunately, he and Crowe weren¡¯t likely to survive much longer for the same reasons. ¡°Watch her,¡± was all he screamed as, against all of his better judgement, he propped Crowe¡¯s limp form by the remains of the hover bike and ran into the coffee shop. The air was getting thicker and it clung to his skin like an airborne glue; it also burned as if someone was holding a blowtorch just far enough away that you got the heat, but not the flame. Declan could barely see through his watering eyes well enough to find what he was looking for, but he managed to locate the shotgun after a few seconds of feeling about. He stuffed the ammo box into his pocket and began feeding the chamber shells. His fingers stinging with pain still performed the actions as if he had been blind loading a shotgun all of his life. Finished, he pumped the fore-end once, flipped off the safety and stepped back outside. The air had grown thicker in the few seconds he had been in the shop. It was no longer light and misty but was a full formed miasma of poison that was thick as a London fog at midnight. He could only see Kristine because of her small headlights shining through the haze, and he moved towards her. ¡°How is she,¡± he shouted. The model sized vehicle started to say something, but he heard a loud THWACK and saw her headlights spin away into the yellow fog that encompassed them. Then his vision was consumed with the image of the hulking figure of the octopus-headed monster coming at him once again.. Its whole body quivered and shivered as if it were undergoing muscle spasms, and fluid was steadily flowing from its limbs onto the ground. He could literally hear its flesh pouring into a puddle at the thing¡¯s feet, and noticed for the first time that its breathing was labored. It towered over poor Crowe¡¯s prone form looking back and forth from Declan to her as if it were deciding who it would kill first. Finally, a decision having been made, it raised a massive but melting fist over the girl¡¯s body. Without thinking, Declan charged ahead, he shoved the shotgun¡¯s barrel into the creature¡¯s right eye, and pulled the trigger. If he could have seen what he was doing he would have been overjoyed to observe the dried jelly orb explode from the impact of the projectiles. The creature¡¯s head erupted like a pus filled pimple. Part of its face, where the nose would have been, flew off into the air followed by a thick green sludge. Declan could not see this, and so he fired again and again until the molluskian skull was unrecognizable as having ever served as a head. Even after all of his shells were expended he kept racking the fore-end back and forth and pulling the trigger. Amazingly, the creature¡¯s body remained standing. Its flesh rolling and quivering as if something struggle to erupt from just beneath its surface. Declan slammed his weapon¡¯s butt into the headless abomination¡¯s chest, and watched it fall backwards landing with a loud squish. He didn¡¯t even realize that he was screaming until he heard Crowe¡¯s voice behind him. It was weak and tired, but he heard her call his name. ¡°Mace.¡± It was less than a whisper but more than a roar in his ears, he scooped her up, coughing as he did so. He noticed that his mouth not only tasted of blood but it was now full of the irony fluid and his eyes were burning so badly that he couldn¡¯t even consider opening them any longer. ¡°I¡¯m here,¡± he reassured the girl. He dropped his gun and gently hefted the girl into his arms. He called for Mother in his head, but she did not respond. Dammit, of all the times for her to ignore him! It was time to go! ¡°Kristine!¡± His voice rang out through the empty space, but he could hear her putter up to him. ¡°Get us back to the Launch Bay. I can¡¯t see or breathe.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got you Deck,¡± she said, and he could not so much see as he could feel the rift open around them. A second later light and air returned to his world, he could feel a liquid solution falling from above him covering his body and neutralizing the acid that he had created for his brilliant apocalypse. He flopped onto the ground and took in huge gulps of air. After each inhalation he coughed out a mouthful of the fluid that was cleansing his body of the corrosive liquid he had been living in for the last twenty minutes or so. His eyes were finally clearing up, and he could see that Crowe was in far worse shape than he was, her skin was gone in patches all over her body, blood poured from her nostrils and mouth, and she was unconscious again. Declan realized that they had made it back alive. He could tell that Crowe was breathing, but she did so in weak and ragged inhalations that reminded him of someone having an asthma attack. ¡°Get her to the Med Bay, right now!¡± He rose up to his knees and saw just how badly his clothes had been eaten away. He was wearing rags, but oddly he wasn¡¯t nearly as flesh burned as Crowe was. His inspection lead him to believe that he had what looked like a slight sun burn, whereas she appeared as though she had been slow roasted over a low flame. He was home, and Crowe was alive. That was going to have to be enough for him. He would look at what he did later, right now he had to focus on the task at hand. Two med mechs entered the Bay, one levitated Crowe with an antigrav stretcher and hurried off with her. The other stuck a diagnostic needle into his arm. It ran bloodwork, chemical levels, took his temperature, and numerous other medical details from him before withdrawing the device out of his forearm. It inserted the scanner into its torso, and assessed the damage. The mech itself was all white, human in form, but lacking any human features. The area where its face would have been glowed orange and then shifted to blue. ¡°Diagnostic complete. Subject Mason, D. All damaged has been reversed and countered by subject¡¯s internal nanites. Prognosis: subject requires bed rest, fluids, and an injection of nanites to replenish those that were expended in the healing process.¡± It then applied an epidermal patch to his shoulder. ¡°This will replace your lost nanites. Give it one hour for the entire process to be completed. Until then, you may have difficulty contacting Mother or accessing Headnet.¡± The mech then stood, pivoted, and strode away confirming that it was done with him. So much for their vaunted bedside manner, he thought. ¡°Mother, can I access you verbally?¡± ¡°Indeed you may, Declan. How may I serve you?¡± ¡°Get me a new set of clothes, some bottles of water, and one of the guns that the girl I just brought in had with her. Designate her as Crowe, with an E at the end, and do everything you can to help her recovery.¡± ¡°Of course, Declan. May I remind you that your current remaining timers have less than . . .¡± He interrupted her, ¡°I know exactly how much time I have left. So, just get me what I asked for and make it quick.¡± Kristine dropped down from the ceiling, the right side of her hood was smashed and bits of metal jutted out from various spots. It looked like a war hammer had crushed her front fender and the adjoining areas well. ¡°Ready to g-go,¡± she sputtered. ¡°You get yourself fixed up. You look like a refuge from a crash up derby.¡± She revved her engine and her lone headlight flared, ¡°I won¡¯t leave you alone, Declan. My job is helping you.¡± He smiled, ¡°I know, but you aren¡¯t any good to me in this condition. Get yourself repaired, and then join me on the next world.¡± A service mech carried in all the items he¡¯d asked for; setting them on a stand that grew out the ground beside him. He tore the flimsy cloths from his back and began slipping into a white dress shirt. ¡°Go on, I¡¯ll be fine, but I couldn¡¯t have made it without you on that last world. I¡¯ll save the really tough one for last, so you can be with me.¡± The car did a barrel roll, ¡°But I¡¯m fine,¡± she protested. ¡°And you are right. You would not have made it off the planet without me. Your nanite network had been diminished to a point it could not connect with Mother and keep you alive at the same time. Had I not been there. . .,¡± but he cut her off, ¡°Go, I¡¯ll be waiting for you. I¡¯ll be very careful. Besides, I want to put on fresh pants.¡± 11) Assassination Tango Earth 9dS895WW Assassination Tango Earth 9dS895WW A skeletal figure dressed in torn black robes drifted lazily through the night sky. He sat astride a jaundiced yellow hover bike that cut through the air silently. His name was Poe, and he was the Horseman. That was the title he had taken for himself after the Invigilator had made him a destroyer of worlds. The woman whom he replaced had called herself the Shiva; it was a courtesy that the giant had permitted them to choose what to call their position. He had opted for the term Horseman on behalf of himself since he had come from a world with deep religious roots. The title, he learned later, dictated what abilities one had as an executioner of worlds. His powers had been molded to match those of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He was a bringer of death, destruction, disease, plague, and war. He was unstoppable; a force of nature, and he was now trying to save the multiverse. The Invigilator ordered worlds destroyed on nothing more than a whim. There was no rhyme or reason for what he did. Poe had destroyed enough of them to realize that there was no pattern to why he chose a world. Sometimes it felt as if the planets he was ending were simply failed high school lab experiments. He¡¯d noticed that each dimension he entered had a creator listed most of the time. Sometimes he ran into the same name over and over again, but mostly were just one and done. This meant that the Invigilator did not create worlds, he merely disposed of them. He supposed that some worlds deserved to be destroyed, the ones that were hybrids of humans and animals or machines. He had no problem destroying those places, as they were abominations in God¡¯s eyes. They desecrated his sacred image, but there were other worlds where the people were Godly folks, or at the very least lived in a quiet kind of harmony. He saw no purpose for continuing to wipe those people out. They did not live like the people in Sodom or Gomorrah. Poe felt that he was a reasonable man. He was a southern Baptist, through and through, having grown up in the country of Louisiana. He carried a light Cajun accent since he had lived most of his life in New Orleans, and he was fluent in French as well as English and Spanish. He also spoke the secret language of the slaves. It was a dialect that had grown to life in the numerous slave quarters; a language that had only been spoken in whispers for fear of their owners discovering their private thoughts. After the Insurgency, as the slave revolution was better known, his people had earned their freedom and the right to speak their minds and so the secret language began to vanish like a weak scent in a hurricane, but a select few kept it alive, and used it to do their secret work. His skin color when he was human had been dark, a deep ebony hue that nearly shone in the sunlight, which he had preferred to contrast by wearing red or white suits. That changed when he became the Horseman. His flourish of color and stylish clothing vanished with his morbid task, and he took to wearing a tattered cloak and carrying a sword, a bow, and a set of scales. He had decided against wearing a crown, as he was not so presumptuous as to consider himself royalty and only God was the one true king, but he did employ a light yellow hover bike that he used to fly from one world to another. Symbolism. One had to appreciate it. So strained was the color of his vehicle that it could barely be said to be of anything but a jaundiced canary tone, and instead often appeared as to be bone white in the proper light. Nonetheless, it was his steed, and with it he brought death wherever he went, and hell followed behind him. He had been relentless and without mercy in those early years. His reasonability made him realize that what he was doing was wrong, and that he could no longer continue to attend his assigned duties. At first, in order to justify his actions he had envisioned each world as having violated one of the sacred commandments, but the more he continued his burden the more it became clear that he was killing off good people. They were righteous people; people who knew the Lord and followed the scriptures out of nothing but love. He had tried to rapture them, and then kill the rest, but instead of going to heaven, they all ended up back on his personal space station. He could not care for and sustain billions of people from one world, let alone a dozen or a hundred planets. Still, he tried. As resources such as something as simple as living spaces were stretched thin and more people were added to his home tensions began to increase and riots broke out. They began killing one another. In an unthinking fit of rage he had turned his powers onto his own home and killed every person there. His actions shocked and horrified him.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. He then lived as a gypsy, travelling from one world to another, waiting for the call that would send him off to destroy countless more lives. It was then that he had gotten into the habit of gathering a snow globe from each Earth that he visited. It was something his mother had done whenever she had gone somewhere new on vacation, and he kept the tradition alive. Finally, he couldn¡¯t take it anymore. He had been sent to a world and given a surprising order, take ten years to have the job completed. This world was to die a slow death. Given the time frame he had opted to smite the doomed domain with a pestilence that killed the plants and made the water grow more and more toxic over time. His curiosity proved his undoing. He periodically returned to the world from time to time and watched as the civilization collapsed and the survivors of the initial outbreak began to devolve. Deviant behaviors became the norm. The people broke into tribes, and used their vehicles to chase down loners and outsiders, whom they killed for their belongings and then often cannibalized them. Children grew up feral and family meant nothing. They killed each other over canned goods. Strange cults that were abominations began to grow as people sought meaning in their lives. Finally, Poe could take it no more. Ashamed, he reversed the apocalypse that he had started. He undid the doom that he had brought, but he could not reverse it. His powers were destructive in nature. The best he was able to do was to stop the process where it was, but that was all. He had taken God away from them. He had taken away all hope. His plague would have killed the world off in the time he¡¯d been allotted, but he could not stand the thought of being responsible for tearing down their society to such a degree and then killing them off. This slow death he had given them was a nightmare that he could not bear to see through to the end. So he had stopped the blight and gave the humans there an opportunity to begin again. They might not have much, but they at least had a chance. Then, he began spying on the Invigilator, being very careful to escape his notice. The being already knew about his betrayal and was seeking a new Horseman. He saw the man that he had settled on. He was named Declan Mason, and all that was left was for the Invigilator to decide which version of him he wanted to use. He had ten candidates, and Poe decided that he would kill them all. He would not allow the Alien Overlord a new harbinger of death. He would kill all the potential candidates for this man, and any others that the Invigilator might want in the future. If the Invigilator wanted worlds to die he was going to have to do it himself. Now, Poe floated outside of the apartment of the ninth candidate. This Mason, like the others, was a self-motivated man. A millionaire by the time he was sixteen, and well on his way to becoming a billionaire by twenty. Unlike most people of wealth, he had worked hard and done his homework. Poe knew that even though it was two a.m. the man was still awake and reading reports. He hated to kill such a man. Poe could see that he was honest in spite of being a businessman. He was also generous, having given away millions of dollars to help the homeless in his home town. He even believed in God. Poe himself, had long ago dismissed the beliefs that he had in a divine creator. He had seen universe after universe that had been made by unknown beings of power after all. It was nice to see someone who still had faith, though. He stepped through the apartment complex¡¯s wall like a wraith into a dimly lit room. He saw his quarry seated on a plush leather couch scrolling through a tablet. Its glow was what provided the little bit of light in the room such as it was. Mason was focused on the device, but even if he hadn¡¯t have been he would never have heard Poe. The robed skeleton was a specter shrouded by shadows and silence. His form floated slowly and deliberately behind his quarry. A scythe slipped from behind his back and into his left hand. He raised his arm, letting it hang in the air the air for just a moment like the sword of Damacles, before bringing it down in an uninterrupted arc. The blade was so sharp that it did not make a sound as it cut through the air. It met no resistance as it cleaved through the man¡¯s neck. He may as well have been cutting a light beam for all the opposition the body provided. Poe watched as the blood sprayed upwards like a geyser, the head rolled away from the body, and came to a stop at the armrest. The body slumped to the floor as Poe watched impassively. He shook his skeletal head. Here was another senseless death; the death of a productive man made in the name of the Invigilator. It hurt him, but he had been washed in the blood of quintillions, what was one more murder? At least this man had died to stop the posturing dictator. He now had only one more person on his list to kill, and the Invigilator would have to find another pawn in his game of Armageddon. Then Poe would kill whomever the alien chose as well their dopplegangers. 12) Cyborgs, Centaurs, and Bunnies . . . Oh, my! Cyborgs, Centaurs, and Bunnies . . . Oh, my! SC7456, Essea to her friends, stared out across the counter and sighed internally. It took her precisely .4 nanoseconds to do so, the rest of that second was spent wondering if she would ever be more than a drink dispenser. It wasn¡¯t that she didn¡¯t mind the work; there were times that she got to see interesting things and people, but the work was monotonous and unfulfilling. She often felt as though she should be doing something bigger, like making sandwiches. No, she chided herself. She was worth more than that. There was so much more to her, but no one ever noticed. It was hard to be considered special when you were judged by your latest upgrades. No one cared about you, they only worried about what service you could perform or how new your latest appendage was. On Krome everyone was equal in skills, intelligence, and abilities. Everyone had the same computer bioware installed, and since no one was better than anyone else jobs were randomly assigned. Once you were assigned a position it was yours for life. You were expected to do your utmost to perform your tasks at peak efficiency. At no point did anyone stop to ask if you were happy in your job. No one cared if you were fulfilled or if you had burning questions that you wanted to discover the answers to, or if you yearned to do something else. You were expected to be a good little cog and keep the machine operational. No matter what she thought, she knew that it was impossible for her to change her position. On Krome baristas carried the same prestige as an astrophysicist. The fact that she did not like doing what she did was utterly irrelevant. Still, that fact did not stop her from taking every half second that she had free to dream of going somewhere new, and doing different and exciting things with people she did not know. She was hollow inside, and no amount of circuitry upgrades could fill that void. As she mused on her condition her body moved reflexively, filling each order of caffeinated water and synthoil mix as they came in. She only half paid attention to her motions, and for all intents and purposes the mind of SC7456 needn¡¯t have bothered to show up for work. What, she wondered, was the point to having an incalculable IQ, eidetic memory, and a quantum logic processor that allowed her to intuit equations that would take thousands of years to calculate by hand. Her best hope was to find someone compatible with her, so that she could engineer and modify children for the Cooperative. A partner with whom she could build better cybernetic organisms would be pleasant. Even if they only spent a week together creating the next line of Kromiuns it would be a welcome diversion from the doldrums of pouring liquid refreshments to The same members of the Cooperative week after week. Nothing ever changed for her. She considered DM4352. He seemed to be like her. She could sense his dissatisfaction with his own life, and had always thought of him as having a nice chassis. She knew he was a bit of a nonconformist because he was only seventy six point six percent bioware. The rest of him was pure flesh. Most people on Krome were at least ninety percent artificial. She, her self was only eighty two percent inorganic. SC7456 did not want to be like the others around her. It wasn¡¯t about standing out from them, but it was the idea of conformity that weighed on her soul. Intuitively, she knew that there was something called individuality, she just could not conceive of it as fully as she should have. She was her own person, that was true, but in the overall schema her role was insignificant and utterly replaceable. It was DM4352 that had first referred to her as Essea, as simple shortening of her name and it was wonderfully scandalous. In return she began referring to him as Dee-em, and it had made him smile. She had replayed that image in her mind thousands of times since then, and whenever she became depressed she brought that picture back up. It was a panacea for her problems. Essea had planned on proposing that the two of them share genetic material the next time that he entered her shop, but he had inexplicable stopped coming by. She had inquired after him, in her off hours, but no one seemed to know where he had gone, and on a planet like Krome in which every move of every citizen was documented it began to worry her. In fact, SC7456 had noted that there were numerous people that had simply vanished, and that no one seemed to have noticed. Since her world had no concept of crime it was impossible for her to conceive of anything nefarious happening to Dee-em or any of the others. Sadly, her perceptions of the world were going to change very soon. Sarah cantered down the road. She was in a good mood today. The sun was shining and the air was fresh. Her tail swished with her satisfaction. This was a rare day among days, and the weather seemed to acknowledge that simple truth by raining sunshine down upon her while cloaking her with a soft, but cool, summer breeze. Her hooves thumped the earth in a one two rhythm and she accompanied their beat with a light whistle. Time seemed to stand still as she went towards town. She kept the music up for several minutes before she burst out laughing. She simply could not contain herself.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. As centaurs went Sarah was well known for her jovial attitude and smiley disposition. She was also known as someone that did not brook a lot of crap when it was dropped on her doorstep, so to speak. You kept things light and jocular with her or you treaded lightly. Last night someone had finally stepped up and made some moves on her. It was a mid-level male who was either going to get gelded or have to leave the herd soon. She supposed that poor Declan had opted for the latter because he had asked her to come away with him. Sarah had actually considered it, too. Unfortunately, the stud had done so within earshot of Allen. Allen was the stallion, and he laid claim on all females of age in the herd. The only way to mate was to beat him, which no male looked to be able to do, or to cut a few mares from the group and run off to start a herd of your own. Failure to succeed at either of those would result in gelding or death. She hoped that Declan had just been gelded. He was a nice guy. He was good looking, as well, but he was no match for the Stallion. Allen was a hulking brute that made up two and a half of the average male centaur. She had watched as Declan was dragged outside and prayed that his beating wouldn¡¯t be too bad. In spite of Declan¡¯s fate Sarah was overjoyed. Someone other than Allen had noticed her, and been attracted to her. That meant that her plan to sneak away to find another herd might work. If she was pretty enough to make someone like Declan try to mate with her she knew another stallion would also find her appealing. This would make her transition into a new herd a lot easier. She had just come of age, and that meant that Allen would be looking to mount her the first chance he had. Sarah also knew that Allen was so crude that he wouldn¡¯t care where he mounted her at, it could be at work or one her way home, and she would have no choice but to comply. She was his without question. She just didn¡¯t like that fact. She rolled the sleeves of her flannel shirt up to her elbows as she headed into town; she then tied her hair into a ponytail and slowed her pace. She could see blood still stained the ground from Declan¡¯s encounter, and her smile diminished. She really did like the sap. She had hoped that somehow he would have overcome the Stallion, but thoughts like that were just tobacco smoke being blown up your butthole; twice as unpleasant as it should have been. She had to face facts, Declan was gone, and Allen was going to be taking her soon. She was going to have to leave no later than tonight one way or another. She pushed her way through the swing doors and went to work with a whistle. Rah was free. She loved to dance, and as a beastion her animal side liked to be a bit flirty. On stage she controlled the crowd, and made them do what she wanted. She could make them sweat or make them frustrated. The only issue that she had was that dancing made her horny. Who was she kidding? She was half rabbit; everything made her horny. While dancing might have made her ¡°hungry¡± it also helped her control her appetites. She worked off the physical needs with the pleasure that dancing brought her, and that curbed he desire immensely. Tonight the crowd was especially worked up, and she was giving them a little more than usual. Her life was full, and she could ask no more from it. She knew that soon she would find a mate, and once she did that she would settle into a cycle of pregnancy after pregnancy, and she was happy with that thought too. She loved everything about her life. She enjoyed wearing skimpy clothes and performing for the men as she did serving them coffee and food afterwards. Sarah was complete and she knew it. She was always where she was meant to be and doing what she was supposed to be doing. Rah was a rabbit of simple tastes and pleasures. Today was different. Today, she could feel something coming. Something great; she just had no idea of what it was, but she knew that she would recognize it as soon as she saw it, and she had no intention of letting it pass her by. She was going to grab it with both hands and never let it go. In a fourth alternate reality there sat a version of Sarah Crowe that was normal. She was not made of metal nor did she have the body parts of an animal in any capacity. In most ways, she was identical to Sarah Prime, with the exception that this iteration of her was vegan. She was also slightly more upbeat and preferred summer colors over black emo/goth styled clothes. Otherwise, she was the closest of all other Sarah¡¯s out in the Multiverse to the original version that Declan knew and loved. She sat in her apartment and ate her vegetable soup, crunching buttery round crackers into her dinner. As she ate her cat, Mr. Biscuit, leapt onto the table and stared disdainfully into her bowl. Vegan Sarah rolled her eyes at the cat. The cat was telling her in no uncertain terms that if she was going to eat something, then it was going to eat something. She stepped away from her bowl with no worry that Mister Biscuit would try to sneak some of her meal. He had done that once and had ever since turned his nose up to what she ate. She opened the pantry, grabbed the bag of Meow Chow and poured some into the cat¡¯s bowl. She had to use it sparingly, since she had not left the apartment in over a week. She had been parsing her supplies out to last as long as possible. Sarah the vegan had been afraid to go outside when the sky had inexplicably turned green. Shortly thereafter all communication systems failed. There was no internet, television, or phone services available anywhere so far as she knew. She had stayed inside that very first night, and she was glad that she did as she could hear the screams of her neighbors periodically breaking the odd silence that now hovered outside her door. At night she saw strange shadows stalking the streets, and when the power went out she resolved to stay put until it came back on or someone came to help. So far nothing had changed. 12 1/2) The Great Escape The Great Escape Poe entered the final dimension that held the final candidate for the Invigilator. He was surprised to find that he had arrived only to discover that the world had already been destroyed. This meant that the Invigilator had gotten his little soldier for his war against life. He drifted through the debris, occasionally reaching out a boney hand to grab a hand-sized chunk of the former Earth as it drifted by. He was very disappointed in himself. He had thought that this version of Declan Mason was the least likely to have been chosen. He wasn¡¯t nearly as impressive as his counterparts, but there was something that he¡¯d missed when he had evaluated them. There was something that the damned goliath had noticed that Poe hadn¡¯t about that version of Mason.Stolen story; please report. No point in worrying over spilled blood. He could still try to convert the man, or, failing that he could simply kill him. It really didn¡¯t matter either way. He hoped that Mason would join him, as it would expedite things and would be a boon if they could the Invigilator together. He stopped his hover bike and began gathering energy. It would take him some time, but he would be able to reconstruct a photonic replica of everything that Mason did. This would allow him to observe the last few hours of Mason¡¯s life prior to being grabbed by the interloping alien. He did this for no other reason that he would be able to make some determination about Mason¡¯s skills and abilities without ever putting himself in any kind of danger. More importantly, he might be able to find some weakness, some chink in the man¡¯s armor that would open opt options that Poe currently did not have available to him at the moment. 13) Ive Got your back I¡¯ve got your back ¡°I come.¡± Declan shook his head. He didn¡¯t have time to argue with Crowe. She had been cleaned up and healed to the best of Mother¡¯s abilities, which were fairly impressive medical skills, but he did not have time to explain why he had to get back to his job. The clock was ticking, and he did not mean that metaphorically. He was on a strict deadline, and Crowe, as tough as she was, would probably be more of a hindrance than a burden. ¡°No, Crowe, it isn¡¯t safe. I won¡¯t be long. I promise.¡± She stepped in front of him and placed her palm on his chest. He found her arm to be shockingly powerful, and he doubted that he could simply move her out of the way without finding himself on his ass. ¡°I go. Mace needs Crowe.¡± To emphasize her point she pulled her handgun and twirled it like a baton. He started to say something, but her palm turned into a pointed finger that jabbed him in the sternum. ¡°I go!¡± Declan realized that there was no way he was going to talk her out of it. Either she was going with him, or he was going to get his head handed to him by his girlfriend¡¯s look alike. He had no option, it was either take her or waste more time. Resigned to his fate he raised his hands in an ¡°I surrender¡± gesture, ¡°Ok, but you can¡¯t go like that. You need pants, and a top. Otherwise you are going to stand out like a balloon in a needle factory.¡± She looked skyward, as if she were praying to God. ¡°Momma, bring them things to me. Please, with sugars and stuffins.¡± The bodiless voice of their caretaker echoed in the hallway, ¡°Of course, dear.¡± Less than a minute later two drones drifted into the corridor with the items of clothing dangling from below their metallic frames. Crowe snatched the pants and slipped them on over her boots, buttoning them in one fluid motion. Declan marveled at how childlike her mind was, and yet at how astute her muscle memory was. He had now doubt she could field strip, clean and reload her weapons in less time than it would for him to tie his shoes, and yet he doubted that she would be able to name a single piece of her equipment. Crowe whipped the jacket over her shoulders and zipped it up to her bosom. Declan noted that she hadn¡¯t removed the bandoleers, but had effectively hidden them underneath the bomber jacket. Idly, he wondered how those straps didn¡¯t chafe her nipples and took note not to ask. He was sure she would show him if he inquired. That done the pair of them started towards the Launch Bay once more. He had to admit that he did feel better having someone else along. He couldn¡¯t believe it took longer for Mother to repair Kristine than it did Crowe. Biology must be much easier to deal with than he realized. He had to admit that Crowe looked good. She was cleaned and polished, and her skin had a shine to it that he knew hadn¡¯t been there for years. She looked rebuilt, as if Mother had thrown the old version out and had simply rebuilt her from scratch. Crowe, version 2.0, looked even more dangerous than the first version. Her world had been harsh, and it had whittled her down piece by piece. Mere hours on his home and she was already a new person. He could see a vibrancy in her eyes that hadn¡¯t been there before. She looked more confidant and more sure of herself. As if she could feel the weight of his eyes on her she turned her head to look at him. ¡°Momma said you blow up bad places. She telled me that you killed my home. Izzat true?¡± The Revelator nearly stopped in his tracks, but he continued onward. Truth with Sarah. That was the rule. He didn¡¯t see how that rule had changed just because this woman wasn¡¯t his Sarah. He had fully intended to tell Second Sarah the truth as soon as he could, so why would he lie to Crowe? ¡°Yes,¡± and he nodded his head to emphasize the point, ¡°I go to worlds and destroy them sometimes. I usually just kill off the population of people there.¡± ¡°These people are bad?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯d like to think so, but they can¡¯t all be bad. Look at you. You aren¡¯t bad. I destroyed your world.¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. She cocked her head off to one side in thought. ¡°You save Crowe, but if could not then better I be dead. My world sick. Poison. Hurt brain. Hurt soul. Better Crowe die than be lefted there. You did good thing.¡± She reached out and grabbed his hand. She gave it a squeeze. ¡°Good thing,¡± she said softly. They turned the corner and entered the Launch Bay. Declan stared into the room. It was empty. Just a large space covered in gleaming stainless steel, or at least what looked to be stainless steel. The far end of the room held what looked to be a large bay window, but he knew that wasn¡¯t the case. The window showed him the planet he was going to in real time. This allowed Mother to monitor him while he was away, and for him to observe the effects of his handiwork when he returned. He had no idea how the room sent him or retrieved him; although he was sure mother could upload all the information in his head, but he didn¡¯t want information just piled into his brain on a whim. He would learn things on his own unless the situation warranted otherwise. ¡°Okay, Mother. Send us to the next target.¡± He didn¡¯t hear her if she responded, but he felt the wave of energy crash over him in a tingling sensation. This felt wrong, he instantly noted. Before it was just tingles; now it was like being stabbed with hundreds of tiny needles. The process was all but instantaneous and left him no time to notify Mother of what he was experiencing. The two of them vanished into the synchronicity stream. Poe let fly a Machiavellian laugh. Technically, as a Machiavelli that was the only kind of laugh he could produce, but it didn¡¯t make it less menacing. The moment he had been waiting for had come. He had felt the beginnings of a dimensional rift forming and knew that his replacement was about to head off to Apocalypse another world. That was all the man could do. Unlike the Horseman, Mason was restricted from full interdimensional travel. He was in his probationary stage, and so could only travel to worlds that had been placed on the destruction list. The Horseman himself could not get near Mason, since he did not know the man¡¯s destination, and the Invigilator made it impossible for him to determine where his agent was going, but Poe had figured out a way to interfere anyway. Poe had surmised that Mason could only travel to worlds that were on the Invigilator¡¯s list for deletion. He no longer had access to that list, but that didn¡¯t matter. He could not follow Mason, but he could redirect him to another world. One that was slated for destruction, but not the one that was in eminent need of retirement. By shunting him away from his target he would cause the man to become mired in the task of killing off an entire world that wasn¡¯t relevant to the time constraints that he knew that the man was under. The Invigilator always placed his minions under time limits, and any delay only served to hinder his real goal. No one knew how every second counted more than Poe. He had barely succeeded with nanoseconds to spare several times. His interference would cost Declan Mason precious moments he did not have, and once he landed on a world condemned to oblivion he would not be able to leave until the job was done. So he had waited. He had waited for a disturbance in the veil between realities to indicate that his opponent was leaving on another mission, and began the necessary steps to shunt the man away from his intended objective. It would take precision timing on his part, but that was not an issue. Poe was perfection in action. He sense the moment that the A.I. directing the transport was about to initiate travel and redirected its intended path to a distant world that was slated to be destroyed. One that he would go to ahead of them, and speed up the necessity of its destruction. He disliked causing so many deaths that could have been delayed if not prevented, but in the overall scheme of things he knew that sacrifices, however small, had to be made in order for his vison to come to fruition. He would need only seconds on the planet to make things worse. He would then move on. His goal was to recruit the man named Mason, not destroy him. If he could convince him to ally with him then they could face the Invigilator together, and Poe would sacrifice him at the proper time so that he could actually harm the alien overlord. He would only kill Mason if the man proved to be obstinate. He would be a far better pawn than he would plant food. Then the moment he had waited for came. He could feel the initiation of the process of opening a dimensional rift, and he forcibly shifted the destination point to his intended goal, slowing the process down enough that it would take Mason five minutes to arrive. He slashed a rift in reality with his scythe and stepped through, already at the place that Mason was headed. Poe looked the world over. He didn¡¯t care what it was that ailed it, or had marked it for destruction. He simply gazed at it and sent out a mental command. Intensify. That was all it took. All the problems that had beset the planet were now amplified a thousand fold. It now had a timer that ticked off in seconds rather than days. The overall time frame for this world¡¯s destruction had just jumped from six months, ten days, fifteen hours, thirty two minutes, and eleven seconds had been trimmed to an exact hour. He returned to the rift that had yet to close and returned to his other endeavor. Declan Mason and the woman named Crowe would not arrive for another four minutes and twenty seconds. 14) Face to face Face to Face Declan and Crowe appeared in an electromagnetic haze, screaming from pain, and fell to their knees when they arrived. They had felt the energy¡¯s burn the entire time they were in transport. Thankfully, the pain ceased as soon as they arrived. It took Declan longer to readjust than he would have preferred, but once he was oriented he managed to make it to his feet. He offered Crowe his hand, and she accepted with a smile. He could see tendrils of smoke coming from her body, and he wondered if she had suffered more than he had in their shipment to this world. He placed a finger to his temple, ¡°Mother, what the hell happened?¡±
Planet: Earth 24,862,048XA ----***** full designation not available Referred to by inhabitants as Feganiaid Creator: NostawnoD Mission Correction: Scour all sapient life from this world within the newly slotted time frame. Remaining time allotted for planet wide destruction: 47 minutes Reward for success: 45,000 Expy Failure will result in your Death and the elimination of all items, people, and information that you have saved. Possible destruction of the Multiverse.
He received cold static in reply; it was a static that he was familiar with. It was the same interference he¡¯d experienced on Crowe¡¯s world when the creature was nearby. Only here, he had no connection to Mother whatsoever. No squeals, no squelches, no hissing in the background. The connection was static free. He began to sweat. On a whim he pulled up his Hud and looked for information on this world. What he saw terrified him. He realized that they were on the wrong planet. They were supposed to arrive on a place called Krome, this was planet was titled Feganiaid. He enlarged the information screen: This was not good news. It looked as though this planet had just taken priority over the others he was already scheduled to destroy. That did not negate his need to put the apocalypse on the other worlds, only that he already had even more crappy food on his plate than he did before. With that thought in his head he looked across the street, looking for a sign to give him his bearings and saw a Restaurant that he recognized. He saw the glowing neon sign flash General So-So¡¯s. Beside the electric light up words was another sign, on that was handwritten. It read: Mediocre but hot Chinese food at low prices. He had taken Sarah there several times. The sign was a little misleading, the food wasn¡¯t always hot. Their best dish was the Dropped Egg Soup, and he had been very careful to never ask them why it had that name. The good news was that he knew, relatively, where they were. They were only a block from Sarah¡¯s, well his Sarah¡¯s apartment. They would head there first, he decided. If this iteration of Sarah wasn¡¯t there, then he would just punch this place¡¯s ticket, and move on. He was on a deadline after all. He didn¡¯t have time to search for her. He paused. That was not his thought. He would never think that. Never. He would give every Sarah a chance. He would not give up on them. Suddenly he felt a pressure in his head, and he realized that Mother had implanted mental suggestions that would make him do the practical thing when it came to seeking Sarahs. Then he wondered if she had done the same thing to Crowe. That might be why she was so content that he destroyed her world. If Mother had done that to Crowe, then she would have undoubtedly done the same to Second Sarah. He considered the ramifications of that thought. If he was right then he wouldn¡¯t have to convince Second Sarah that he¡¯d had no choice in what he did to her planet, she would just be hunky dory with whatever he did. That did not sit well with him. He could not let Mother just brainwash his problems away. The thought that she had potentially done so without telling him made his skin crawl. He would never have permitted it, and that, he suspected meant that she had most likely been conditioning his mind as well. Either way, he didn¡¯t have time to worry about brains being scrubbed. He had a girl to find and a planet to destroy. Crowe looked nervous, and he saw that she had drawn one of her guns. She did that whenever she got jittery, he realized. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Crowe.¡± ¡°Is quiet,¡± she said. Comprehension dawned on him. They were in a city at what looked to be noon time, and there wasn¡¯t soul in sight. She was right. It was too quiet. Time seemed to stand still, but he knew the timer was running. He didn¡¯t hear a car rumbling or a dog barking. Aside from a slight breeze whistling around the buildings there was no noise. It felt like time had stood still, and that they were the only people free of its influence. Declan was wise enough not to say, ¡°I don¡¯t like this.¡± That was just asking the universe for trouble, and now that he was aware that the universe was a lot bigger, and was undoubtedly vindictive, he did not relish providing it the firepower to shot him in the head. Crowe, to her credit, was stock still, and had clamped her mouth tightly shut. She had lived through enough tight spots that she knew better than to draw attention to herself. Declan noticed that she had already slipped her revolver from her back, and was gripping it with her finger resting beside the trigger. It scared him how easily she had slipped back into that warrior mode.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Then it hit him that he hadn¡¯t brought his shotgun. He¡¯d expended all that Expy to master the damn thing, and he had been more worried about pants than he¡¯d been about a gun. Right now he¡¯d trade his pants for a Benelli. He shook his head, yesterday he had no idea what a Benelli was, and now he was missing one. That was the wonderful and horrifying aspect of Headnet. Learn whatever you wanted to without the effort. It bred complacency. He looked back to Crowe and gulped. She had already taken off her jacket. The bandoleers being the only thing that covered her breasts; her hands were equipped once more with her fingerless gloves as well. Thankfully, she was still wearing the pants. He hoped that she was comfortable in those. It was hard enough focusing on what was happening around him without her butt cheeks popping out with every step she took. His Sarah had never been so . . . fit. He had to admit that she distracted him. The two of them carefully wove their way down the street. The silence grew deeper and heavier in their minds as they pushed forward. Time was ticking and they did not tread slowly. The pair kept a steady jog going until they rounded the corner to Sarah¡¯s apartment. Crowe froze upon seeing it, and recognition flashed in her eyes. It was like she had forgotten everything about her old life, but the moment that she saw her old home something within her snapped and awakened in her simultaneously. ¡°Home,¡± was all she managed to say with a whisper as she stared at the building in awe. Suddenly, she seemed like a child who had seen her mother for the first time in years. She bolted towards the facsimile of her home, oblivious to everything around her. Declan found himself to shocked to move. He hadn¡¯t expected her to just bolt like that, but he should have known better. She might have been the survivor of a hell world, but her mind had been reduced to that of a child. Of course she would run to the one place that she would feel safe. Home was a shield against all the evils of the universe, and he had just led her there and expected her to just follow him. What the hell had he been thinking? His blue business suit blurred as he chased after her. He watched her enter the building unconcerned with what might be behind the doors. Declan¡¯s slip on loafers slapped gently as he ran after her, but barely made any noise as they slapped the pavement. He reached the entrance seconds after her, but Crowe had already vanished in the shadows of the lobby. It dawned on him that the power was out, and that he was going to be entering a potentially hostile area while blind. There was a wumph as what had to be the door to the stairway closed and he ran after his bodyguard. The irony was not lost on him. He found the stair¡¯s entrance and fumbled with the door before it swung open for him. He prayed that this version of Sarah was home, but he wished that she didn¡¯t live on the seventh floor. He started after Crowe, taking the stairs two and three at a time. Declan marveled that he wasn¡¯t even winded. He hadn¡¯t been in bad shape, but a sprint like he had just performed would have made him take pause before stomping up seven flights of stairs. The door to the seventh floor opened without a creak, and swished silently closed behind him. Declan didn¡¯t notice because his eyes rested upon Crowe, who was standing in front of her apartment door. Her fingers were etching the numbers embossed on the apartment¡¯s front entrance. She traced them delicately, as if she were afraid her touch would knock them from the door. Her gone was gone. If he hadn¡¯t known she had a pair on her he would never have suspected that she was packing heat. She had never looked so child-like before. Not that he¡¯d known her for long, but something told him that she had not been allowed to drop her guard in a very long time. Her face held no tension, no fear, and he could tell that she no longer had that thousand yard stare that had filled her eyes from the moment they had met. He didn¡¯t even need to look into them to see that. She was so relaxed. Her hand dropped below the last number and she rested her palm flat against the door. Her head bent so that her forehead rested just below the numbers. Declan stepped up behind her. He put his hands on her shoulders, and pulled her in for a hug. He knew his time was ticking, but if he couldn¡¯t comfort another human being when they needed it most then the rest of the world could go to hell for all he cared. There was more to life than just living. He was pragmatic, though, and released her after just a few seconds. His long arm reached around her and knocked on the door. His voice was low but forceful. ¡°Sarah.¡± He rapped once more, hitting the door with four solid knocks before repeating her name again. Declan watched the peephole and saw it grow dark as someone looked out to see who was there. The man had been wise enough to place Crowe out of the peephole¡¯s line of sight, but allowed the occupant to see his face clearly. He heard a gasp in what he¡¯d hoped was recognition. Things were moved from the door, then a chain rattled and a bolt was slid. The door clicked as a final lock was undone and the door cracked open enough for the tenant to see him fully. The woman before him was a mirror image of his Sarah. Right down to her clothing she was the same. Her eyes held no recognition of him. His heart skipped a beat. He¡¯d hoped that she would know him in some way. ¡°Are you h-human?¡± She stuttered the world like it was impossible to be true. Declan heard an inquisitive meow come from the other side of the door. ¡°Is that Whisker Biscuit,¡± he asked. She looked at him quizzically, ¡°My cat? You mean Mister Biscuit?¡± He nodded, ¡°Yes.¡± He fumbled as he stared into her face. ¡°I, uh, mean that I¡¯m human, and I that I was also asking about your cat.¡± He stared down the hallway and then back to her. ¡°Can we come in? It¡¯s pretty urgent.¡± ¡°We?¡± The Sarah in the doorway edged back a little, suddenly concerned that the stranger before her was not alone. Declan pulled Crowe over so that she was visible to the girl in the doorway. The duo stared at each other in disbelief, each unable to process that they had a doppelganger of themselves standing before them. ¡°Look, I know this is hard to believe, but we¡¯ve come to help you.¡± Crowe nodded, ¡°And blow up everybody.¡± As she said this her hands came apart as they mimed an explosion. She looked at Declan with a huge smile on her face, like a child looking for praise after they had done something special. Sarah in the door formed a quizzical look on her face, ¡°What,¡± she asked half in terror and half in disbelief. She was clearly having a hard time digesting everything that was going on. He could see she was about to slam the door on the pair of them when he heard another door open at the other end of the hall. He turned to look as a shadow draped form edged from the distant apartment. Declan could see that it was another woman, but not the one that had lived there on his world. This woman was short, thin, and bore Asian features. What stood out to him the most were the cluster of tentacles that sprout from where she should have had arms. They were hard to count by the way that they wriggled and writhed, but she seemed to have six on either side of her body by his best guess. Crowe said, ¡°Shit.¡± 15) Fast Travel Declan looked at Crowe, ¡°That¡¯s a fair assessment,¡± he said with a grimace. He looked at the Sarah in the doorway, ¡°You wouldn¡¯t happen to have a shotgun by chance, would you?¡± Her eyes widened at the question, ¡°I . . . don¡¯t l-like guns.¡± Crowe rolled her eyes and Declan nodded, ¡°That¡¯s what I thought. Lock up, we¡¯ll take care of her and be right back.¡± Declan shook his head, ¡°No, I think I can see something that I can use.¡± His vision suddenly went red, and he knew his HUD battle overlay had kicked on. He hadn¡¯t used this before, but there was no time like the present to get a feel for the thing. He looked at the woman and now saw a Tag over her head that read as immature abomination. A bar glowed green at her knees indicating that she was at full health. The bar, he noted did not indicate how many health points that she had. So there was still going to be some guesswork unless that information popped up when she took damage. He looked at the left side of the hallway and his eyes fixed on what he hoped would be his next weapon. He had hoped it would be there, since one existed on his former world. There was a fire axe and a fire extinguisher, both read as weapons on his screen. He ran over and smashed open the glass case holding the axe. He¡¯d expected an alarm to go off, but nothing happened unless there was a silent alarm ringing somewhere far away. He ripped it from the case and held it like a baseball bat. As he did so his HUD read: Fire Axe This is a multi-use tool. It can be used to chop through obstacles such as doorways or as a weapon. The axe does 10 health points of damage if the blade edge is used, plus strength bonuses are applied. The blade will apply Bleeding to the target until the blood flow is staunched. The pick end will provide 5 points of Health Damage and apply a bleeding DOT, but cannot be staunched without proper medical treatment. Strength bonuses only apply if a full swing is used. Proficiency with the fire axe will increase damage and DOT duration. You currently are at 0% proficiency with the fire axe. Would you like to expend Expy to increase your skill? YES/NO Declan didn¡¯t even think about it and hit the YES button. The response made him sick to his stomach. Headnet is currently unavailable. We apologize for this inconvenience and will provide ten extra Expy to your account in recompense. He grit his teeth. He didn¡¯t know what it was about these abomination things, but they seemed to play hell with Headnet and Mother¡¯s connectivity to him. On a lark he opted to see if he could turn this to his advantage in some way. He hit the YES button again and received the same response. He noted that his part of Headnet now stated that he was owed twenty Expy. He set his HUD to hit the YES button once a second, and then turned back to the battle before him. The woman at the end of the hall did not look completely alert. It was as if she had been hibernating and had just been awakened by a strange noise. Her focus was off, but he could tell that she was still deadly however, and had no intentions of treating her like a drowsy bear. As far as he was concerned she was a rabid Grizzly. Unfortunately, Crowe saw a sleepy squirrel and sprinted passed him firing both pistols as she went by him. He¡¯d hoped to keep this quiet and not draw more attention to themselves, hence his going for the axe as opposed to letting Crowe put one in the thing¡¯s ear. Surprisingly, both of Crowe¡¯s shots struck the multi-limbed woman in the eyes. Her health bar dropped to half and she stumbled back as they rounds struck her. Unlike the creatures they had faced on Crowe¡¯s world the one here were different. The seemed incomplete, and did not have the same strengths that the others had. Declan wondered if they were even the same things. For all he knew this was the result of a demonic summoning gone awry or an airborne alien virus. Similarities did not mean connections. He rushed after the screaming Apocalyptic Valkyrie. He swung the axe in an overhead arc and brought it down on the top of the woman¡¯s head. Somehow he¡¯d used the pick end, and it drove into her skull like a needle through fabric. Her health dropped to zero, and he withdrew the axe. Crowe gave him a satisfactory wink. ¡°Cut off head. Then chop up.¡± She began to reload her expended cartridges. He noted that he¡¯d received a notification saying that he¡¯d earned 25 Expy He knew why she had said that. There were to ways to make damn sure something was dead. One was to kill it with fire. The other was dismemberment. It was gruesome, but it was pragmatic. He began the grisly work. Declan noted that his proficiency with the axe was climbing quickly, and that he was almost at 9% from just the one chop and the subsequent blows that severed her limbs. He didn¡¯t know why, but he had the feeling that he needed to investigate the apartment she had just come from. He was pretty sure that the little Asian lady wasn¡¯t going to get back up and attack them. He shook the reddish but green tinged goo from his axe¡¯s blade and stepped in though the open door. The apartment was a mess. Furniture had been knocked over, lamps were broken, as were some chairs that he could see, and the walls looked like wasps had begun building a nest over them. He went from room to room, and found one other body that looked to be cocooned. It was enmeshed in a green gel, the body floated inside, suspended in the gelatin like a piece of fruit. Declan could see that the man inside was undergoing some sort of transformation. His face has fish-like features rather than a cephalopod like the woman in the hallway. His eyes had grown huge, were round without eyelids, and were as black as coal. Similarly, his lips and lower jaw had taken on a protrusible form and he swore he could see gills forming.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Declan didn¡¯t hesitate, he whipped the axe over his head and swung with all of his might. The blade struck the gel, causing it to ripple as it bit into the infected man¡¯s brain. His HUD flashed for an instant and declared that he had achieved an insta-kill. He received another 30 Expy. Declan wondered if everyone was gone because they were also undergoing the same process as Sarah¡¯s neighbors down the hall. It made sense. If they were all in this state then all he needed to do was go from apartment to apartment and he could clear them out until he reached a two hundred yard distance that he would need to reestablish contact with Mother. He wasn¡¯t even sure if he could leave until he did so. He swept the apartment one final time, and when he was certain that it was all clear he stepped back into the hallway. Crowe, he noted, was waiting for him at Sarah¡¯s door. Her guns were returned to their hiding place, and he wondered if she had proper conceal and carry paperwork for this world. He rested the axe over his shoulder and walked over to her. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why aren¡¯t you inside with her?¡± Crowe snorted, ¡°She too scared-ed to open door again.¡± He could see her disdain for the woman written across her face in big bold letters. It struck him that your counterpart could be more annoying than a stranger might. It was when you saw things in yourself that you didn¡¯t think were there that you got upset. He himself could not conceive of any Sarah being capable of doing something that he wouldn¡¯t be able to deal with. She was simply too amazing a woman to ever disappoint him via a perceived personality fault. A quick rap on the door and he could hear Sarah refuse to open up. ¡°I told her to go away. I don¡¯t want to deal with you. It isn¡¯t safe out there.¡± Declan inhaled slowly and counted to ten. He didn¡¯t want to sound aggressive or upset. ¡°Look, Sarah, we know you¡¯re scared, and you have every right to be, but we are here to help you. We are going to take you to a safe place. A place where there are no things looking to make you into one of them; I promise, we can and will get you there.¡± He knocked on the door again with light little raps. ¡°We just need to come in and talk for a few minutes, but we really don¡¯t have a lot of time left before we have to go. Believe it or not, everything here will be obliterated in about half an hour. We¡¯d really like to take you with us.¡± He turned to Crowe. ¡°These people have been infected by something, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s the same as it was on your world. The things on your world hurt you to look at them, these ones don¡¯t do that. Can you clear these apartments out while I talk to her? I¡¯ll come to help as soon as I can. We need to get a distance of about 200 hundred yards from all of these things to get clear.¡± Declan began running the numbers in his head. A story was ten feet. There were three feet in a yard. That meant that a story was just over three yards in height. Ten stories would only equal thirty yards! They could kill everything in the building and still not be far enough away! He needed to rethink everything. ¡°Crowe, stay here. There¡¯s no point in doing any more damage. I¡¯ll need to rethink this whole escape plan.¡± He faced the door again. ¡°Sarah, change of plans. We need to get inside now, and we need to leave five minutes ago. I am really trying to be patient, but there is more riding on this than just you, me, and Crowe here. So, with all due respect if you don¡¯t open the door I¡¯m afraid we¡¯re going to have to break it down and let ourselves in.¡± He let that sink in and then continued, ¡°It would be really bad if we were forced to do that and more of those things suddenly woke up and came looking for you. So, please open the door.¡± He heard the bolt being slid aside very slowly, and then the chain fell and the door opened enough for them to go in. Crowe slammed the door shut and began locking it back up behind them. Declan surveyed the room. It was almost identical to his Sarah¡¯s place, with the exception of some brand names on her electronics. ¡°Who are you people? Why does she look like me? What is going on?¡± Sarah began to vomit a torrent of questions that didn¡¯t seem to end. They were legitimate things any sane person would ask in her situation, and she would receive answers to all of them eventually. Right now he had more pressing concerns to attend to; like getting back to the home world so that he could get to where he was supposed to go. He opened his HUD and ran a search on travel. He noted a fast travel menu pop up and he looked it over. He had no idea of where he was, but it looked like he could see where he had come from. His problem was that he needed a starting location for the fast travel to work. His landing readout hadn¡¯t provided him the full location. It had read, Earth 24,862,048XA ----***** full designation not available. Without that designation he could tell it where to take them from. He was in trouble. He had ten minutes left on his timer, and no way to escape. He chewed his lip. What was it his dad used to say? When in doubt, wing it. He supposed that he could just punch in a random number or letter or two and see what happened. The worst thing would be they¡¯d be stuck here and die. The fast travel menu popped open before him. It gave him a list of options, but he just looked at the travel from and travel to options. In the empty bar labeled Travel To: He punched in 0.001. That was his home world, or at least he hoped it was. The Travel From bar worried him, but he filled it with 24,862,048XA *****. There were five empty digits that needed attending, so he just picked a letter and a few numbers so that when he was done the bar now held the following sequence: 24,862,048XA85R26. When the screen didn¡¯t any problems he figured that it was a viable code. He had no idea of what would happen when it tried to grab them from that location rather than his proper one. That dilemma solved he turned to destroying the place. All sapient life had to die. The problem was that those things were in what looked to be life pods. He doubted environmental changes like dropping everything into the oceans or ripping away the atmosphere would do what he needed done fast enough. He needed something big and dramatic. He hoped there was a towel nearby because they were going to need it. ¡°Sarah, grab your cat. We are leaving right now. Crowe come to me!¡± The women obliged him, Crowe listening without question and Sarah hesitantly obeying. She had grabbed her cat when a loud voice could be heard outside. ¡°People of Earth. You had been given two hundred years notice to evacuate this planet as the Intergalactic Confederation of Intelligent Species had designated this spatial area to become the location of an intergalactic garbage dump via black hole generation on this date in your history in exactly one minute of your time. We respect the fact that you claim sovereignty over this quadrant, and expect you to file a complaint if you are unhappy with the results of our restructuring of your solar system.¡± Declan hit the Fast Travel button and watched as the world went black. 16) Youre a what? Everything went wibbly wobbly spatially exciting as something grabbed the group and dragged them across dimensional barriers. By his count Declan knew that they had changed spatial dimensions at least three times after they had escaped the black hole generation of the Intergalactic Confederacy, as they first appeared in what he believed was a world called Lineland, a supposedly fictional place which they all appeared as straight lines. They all had length but no width. The effects were dizzying and they would have fallen over had they not lacked height. True to form they next materialized in Flatland. Now, having two dimensions Declan could see that he was a polygon and the women presented as segmented lines. He could not tell what happened to the cat, but he realized that he was an octagon. This pleased him insofar as he had always believed himself to have more sides than most people, and this proved true even in Flatland. The team exploded unexpectedly and reinstated themselves in a three dimensional state once more. Declan pulled up his HUD, since he had no idea of where they were and tried to see where they had landed. His world indicator opened and he read: They found themselves on the corner of a street in a sprawling Metropolis unlike anything Declan had ever seen. He assumed that the system had routed him to the nearest place that would approximate his targeted landing zone, which would place him close to Sarah¡¯s Bucky Starr coffee shop. He saw no such store, though, but did see something called a McStarbuck that looked like it served coffee. There was also a Krunkin Kronuts next door to it. Both places looked so good that he thought that he might get something from there when he saw another Sarah come out of the McBucky, er, McStarbucks. He was about to yell to her when they were suddenly ripped from reality again and pulled back towards the Home World if they were lucky. Again, they slipped the bonds of the third dimension and burst into the fourth. Declan would literally sense time. He could feel it as it actually existed, not the way in which three dimensional beings perceived it. His HUD opened and he began to scan and record everything that he could see. He knew that he would not be able to understand any of it until Mother had a chance to digest the information he was going to feed her. He looked at the girls. Crowe was struck with childlike wonder; staring in amazement at the river of time that surrounded them. The new Sarah had her eyes squeezed shut and was refusing to look at anything. Mister Biscuit began hacking and vomited out a gout of letters, hieroglyphs, cuneiform, emoji¡¯s, and numbers. Declan had no clue as to why that would happen, but he¡¯d never gone out of three dimensional space before. For all he knew cats horked up a dizzying array numerical alphabets whenever they were elevated beyond the three dimensions they were comfortable with. His blue suit glowed as if it were under a black light as time trickled into its fibers. He could see the girls, but not the cat, begin to bioluminesce. Cats are weird, he decided, and studied the way that time had taken hold of the girls. He presumed the same thing was happening to him as well even though he didn¡¯t feel any different than he had before he entered this strange space. As he watched he had the feeling that they had just arrived, had just left, and had always been here. Cause and effect were merely suggestions that his limited mental capacity needed to permit him to exist, and that linear time was a myth. Every piece of Planck Time existed separately but was entangled with the one preceding and following it. It was like a stack of photographs on a string that then was crushed into a ball flattened, and spread out like a veil. Declan had no idea of where this thought was coming from, but it intrigued him. He felt like he was very close to understanding something much bigger than he was, when he could feel the pull of the Fast Travel once again. There was a brief stutter and he found himself back in the Launch Bay. The newest Sarah, her cat, and Crowe were, thankfully, with him. The three of them looked stunned, and Crowe seemed less dumbfounded than she did awestruck. Before he could do anything his HUD opened and he read: A Fast Travel Error has occurred. You have returned to your starting point before your departure due to interference from the fourth dimension upon reentry to Home World. Please immediately remove yourself and your party to the second Launch Bay via tram twenty four to avoid temporal disturbances. He shrugged. Who needed a temporal disturbance? Not him, that was for damn sure. ¡°Ladies, I need you to come with me. I know some crazy stuff just went down, but we have to leave this area right now or something even worse is going to happen.¡± The new girl looked at him. She was frazzled and could see she was close to crying. ¡°C¡¯mon,¡± he said as he put his arm around her. ¡°We¡¯ll get you some coffee, and some food. What would you like to eat? A nice rare steak? A hamburger with all the fixings, maybe? How about some shrimp, we can do raw or fried. Your choice.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Numbly, she shook her head. ¡°No. No, meat for me. I¡¯m a Vegan. A salad and some bean soup would be nice, though.¡± Declan stopped. He had just risked his life for a vegan? Couldn¡¯t she have just been a nazi? A Mad Engineer? (He knew people always mixed up Mad Scientists when they really meant engineers and he¡¯d sworn to never fall into that trap.) Those he could deal with, they were ideologies that he could understand even if he would never agree with them, but a Vegan? Life was cruel. She¡¯d seemed so nice, too. Well, he¡¯d just have to put her in the far wing of the complex. There was no point in letting her try to corrupt everyone else with her life style choice. She was going to announce her lifestyle every single time she saw someone. She¡¯d probably get on Headnet and make Vegan proclamations three times a day. What had he done? He was already in hell, now he had willingly brought in demons to torture him. He could just see it now, he¡¯d wake up and she¡¯d have breakfast sent over for him. It would be a piece of dry wheat toast, some carrot juice, and a pickle. No bacon, no sausage, no Canadian bacon, eggs, cereal with milk ever again. For a moment he wondered if he could send her back. They had time, his other self was heading to the Launch Bay right now. He could just put her on there, and have them hang back. His other self who was temporally behind him would completely agree and he would happily let that world do whatever it was going so the Invigilator could kill them all. Better that than vegan world. Instead of venting his thoughts he said, ¡°I¡¯m sure Mother will be able to accommodate your palate. No worries. We¡¯ll get you some food and then give you a room to bed down for the night.¡± As soon as she heard him say that Crowe shook her head. She pointed one finger at her chest, and motioned the pointer finger on her other hand from her chest out as far as her arm could extend as she shook her head no. The implication was obvious, don¡¯t put her anywhere near me. Declan nodded in understanding and she got his message. Crowe relaxed and yawned. ¡°As for you, Miss Crowe, you can get some rest. We¡¯ve all been through a lot and I think I¡¯ll be ok this one time without you.¡± He took her hand and squeezed it tightly, ¡°Thank you for being there for me. I do appreciate your help.¡± He kissed her on the forehead and put her on the tram. ¡°Mother, give these ladies some food, and set our newest guest up with our finest accommodations,¡± mentally he sent her, and keep her the hell as far from me and Crowe as possible. If the A.I. was shocked that he was her while he was also in the launch bay she gave no indication. He turned and started back to Launch Bay One. By the time he arrived back there his other self would be long gone and headed into a mess he didn¡¯t want to think about. ¡°Mother, I have some things I want you to work on. First of all, I need you to figure out why Headnet goes down whenever I get near some of these odd creatures. See what you can do to negate the effects altogether.¡± He kept a brisk pace as he returned to his point of departure. ¡°Yes, Declan. I shall list that as my top priority. We cannot continue losing communication every time you go planet side. By the way, were you aware that the world that you reintegrated on after leaving flatland was completely digital? I have never seen a living computer simulation before. I think that I might create my own virtual world.¡± He ignored her comment on the trip home. He didn¡¯t want to think about, but he still had to bring it up, ¡°Secondly, we ended up in the fourth dimension. I want you to examine all the data I collected, from my observations to the scans that I ran. We might be able to up our game if we can move through time as well as space.¡± ¡°I will see what I can learn, but it is improbable to believe that we will be able to do more than glean an imperfect understanding of what time really is. It is similar to asking a blind man who placed his bare feet in the ocean for a minute to break down everything about the ocean from what he experienced. I will try, though.¡± ¡°Ready Launch Bay One for my next destination.¡± He stepped into the room in time to see himself and Crowe vanish while screaming. That sight made him remember that he¡¯d left his messaging system in an auto sequenced loop when he couldn¡¯t contact mother. He was stunned to see that he¡¯d racked up two hundred thousand points of Expy. It seemed that the trip from Line Land to the Fourth dimension took a lot longer than he¡¯d thought. Coupling those points with the Expy that he just earned for apocalypsing that world and he was actually sitting on a tidy sum of Expy. Mother¡¯s voice sounded in his head. ¡°Just so you know. The world you just came from was actually a pocket dimension in sub-space. That is why you had to re-enter the universe one dimension at a time. I just thought that might be of interest to you.¡± He straightened his tie and continued into the Launch Bay. He had girls to save, worlds to destroy, and a mystery to solve regarding why he was wiping these worlds out. None of that was going to get done with him standing around dodging Vegans or questioning the implications of time travel, but he knew that he could save his Sarah if he could only figure out how to travel through time. That was the only way she was coming back and he knew he wasn¡¯t going to be able to replicate his temporal trip again without dire consequences. For now he was going to have to do this the hard way. 17) Krome Dome A minute later Declan was back in the Launch Bay slipping the .45 he had taken from Crowe into the rear of his trousers. He tested his Headnet connection, finger set to his temple he thought, Mother, send me to Earth 1232r323. He felt an odd vibration and then he was on the world of the Krome. Now that he knew what fast travel was it amazed him. It seemed to be instantaneous in most cases but interference could disrupt it enough that more than picoseconds were involved going through space. He resolved to study this more when he had time, he currently had far more pressing matters at hand. The air not only smelled of emissions and exhaust; it tasted of it too. He chuckled to himself as he realized that it was always the smell that struck him first. The odd flavor of the air covered his tongue in a white coat that he could not rid himself of via spitting, although that didn¡¯t stop him from trying for several minutes. The odor of stale motor oil and the smelting of steel burrowed up his nostrils as a dark haze that was an odd chemical cocktail hung thickly in the air like a black fog. He wouldn¡¯t have said that it was choking him, but having just come from a planet on which he had changed the atmosphere into an acidic cloud had earned this world a few points on the breathability scale, but just barely. The first thing he did, after getting used to the smell was check his connectivity to Mother. He did not need a repeat of her vanishing in a crackle of static leaving him stranded once more. Their next conversation, when he wasn¡¯t worrying about completing Armageddon, as going to be about creating a tether that would be able to maintain communication or pull him back to the base when he got in trouble. That happened a lot more than he was comfortable with. ¡°Mother, are you there?¡± Her voice purred in his ear in a way that was simultaneously disconcerting and reassuring, ¡°Yes, I assume this is a check to see that communication channels are clear?¡± He nodded, knowing full well that she could sense his every action. She had a cybernetic connection in his brain as well as a body filled with nanites that made her aware of the status of every cell in his body. ¡°Start infiltrating this world¡¯s communication network. Download every scrap of information that you can. I can see that these people were more advanced than mine. Their tech and know-how will be a huge boon to the cause.¡± He felt a mental nod, ¡°Understood.¡± The first thing that he noticed after the overwhelming industrial smell was that there were people everywhere. He had been to Japan once, and the crowds there were like a never-ending wave of people. This situation was more like a biblical flood than a wave. Bodies took up every inch of the walkways, and the ground and air were bloated with vehicles. Technically they weren¡¯t people; they were a hybrid of man and machine. A flawless blend of biological and mechanical that blended so well that the changes were almost imperceptible to the human eye in some cases. Each Kromian was radically different from the next. This went against Declan¡¯s logic. In his mind, everyone would be uniform in appearance like a cookie cutter appliance that was assembled on a line. He had failed to consider the human equation, everybody had their own style; their own flair. That applied to cyborgs as well. He noted that some of them had completely human heads whereas other¡¯s pates were entirely robotic in form and functionality. Some of their faces were a combination of flesh and metal. One man had a steel jaw, but otherwise normal remaining portion of his head and a businesswoman had what appeared to be a speaker where her mouth was supposed to be and a pair of red reticles in place of her eyes. Everyone was more machine than not for the most part, and he very clearly stood out from the masses. Oddly, none of them even noticed him. They did not speak to one another or fiddle about with a phone in their hands. They all seemed to be on a very serious mission, and they did not care to deviate from it in the slightest. His non-cybernetic appearance he did not give them pause. He considered that they might all be on a feed similar to Hnet and that they had no need to actually vocalize anything, as they could communicate in a sort of party chat system or even play Krumbly Kandy Krunch while the went on their way. ¡°Mother,¡± he said softly, ¡°How long will it take you to absorb this world¡¯s data?¡± Her voice chimed in his head, roughly twenty minutes to download everything of importance, maybe a little longer to get it in its entirety. He nodded, ¡°OK, I¡¯m just going to give myself that much time to find this world¡¯s version of Sarah and skedaddle.¡± He looked around, and for the first time noticed that there was no actual sky. This world was encased within something similar to a Dyson¡¯s sphere. He pulled up the schematics and looked them over. It was pretty ingenious. The world had twice the surface area of his Earth. From what he could see not one inch of it had been wasted; every section of ground was utilized to its fullest capacity. The planet was connected by a neural web, as he¡¯d suspected. The web tied every individual to all other individuals but left them space for privacy and individuality. It existed only to expedite communication and was not a means of control. The most interesting feature was that instead of the local star hanging in the non-sky he noted that there was a white orb that was encased in a silicon-aluminum compound that provided power for the entire world. The energy appeared to be comprised of electromagnetism and electronegativity. He had no idea of what they had done to make those forces interact, but somehow they had managed to make it work. Bolts of energy arced inside of orb with an output that was one million ties more than the energy place into it. This took the place of needing a sun. The imitation star was not connected to some enormous wires or tubes that kept suspended it in the air but instead hovered there on its own. Declan could tell it was generating untold gigawatts of energy with each passing second. He could hear the electric hum overhead. It reminded him of a bug zapper as it crackled and popped. He assumed that its current configuration represented daytime, and when the diurnal shifted to the nocturnal the orb would dim and lessen its luminous output accordingly. It was a wonder of engineering. He had Mother try to generate a holographic map for him so he could get his bearings. Request made, he headed to where the coffee shop was normally found on most worlds, not that he¡¯d been to a lot of them but Mother had assured him that large deviations of spatial localities did not change until you completely changed Phyla. After that, there was little resemblance to the worlds. He shuddered thinking about there being a humanoid ant named Sarah. That just seemed wrong. Mother had assured him that those sorts of things did not translate either and that there was no fully arachnid version of Declan Mason in the Planeiverse. She had differentiated the Multiverse from the Planeiverse in simple terms. The multiverse was a collection of reflections of a prime world made long ago. Each was a copy with perhaps only one single deviation to a quadrillion differences in just one piece of land over centuries of time. There were realms that were totally technological and realms that were utterly magical. Anything was possible in the multiverse. The multiverse¡¯s only distinction was that humans or mostly human humanoids were the dominant species on each earth. The Planeiverse was where each animal Phyla was represented in a way similar to the humans. Each one contained Polyverses, which were both similar and dissimilar to the multiverse. It had been a lot to take in, and to be honest, it wasn¡¯t something he¡¯d understood very well. He had chalked it up to being something he would ¡°look into later¡±. Bringing his focus back to the present he noted that there were no street signs to guide him, and even if there had been everything was written in binary. He was completely lost. All he could hope for was to step into various stores and pray that he stumbled into Sarah¡¯s coffee shop. That was if they even had coffee on this world, or if she was even a barista on every world. That was a depressing thought. Was she slated to serve coffee in every iteration of her multiple existences? Was he always a data analyst? How far did individuals vary in an infinitely multiple universes? Then a lightbulb clicked on and he realized that he could have Mother translate the binary code for him; he wasn¡¯t using his head effectively lately. He really needed to stay focused and on point. Even if she couldn¡¯t provide a map instantly she sure as hell could break down simple binary codes. He had to get in the game, and right now he wasn¡¯t even near the stadium. Hell, he had to get in the zone if had any chance of completing these missions. He sent a mental nudge to Mother and suddenly he could make out what everything that was printed. He breathed a long sigh of relief as soon as he saw the words Bucky Starrs hidden in a series of ones and zeroes. He sauntered into the caf¨¦ trying to look as normal as possible. Again, the people in line didn¡¯t even react to his presence. He may as well have been invisible. Each of them stood patiently; facing forward, and moving only when the person ahead of them finished their order and moved to the side. As soon as the woman in the front finished she stepped to her left and a man took her place. The girl at the counter wore a plastic smile that would have put a fashion model to shame, but it was still plastic. He watched as a man stepped up and said, ¡°My order is a venti salted caramel mocha frappucino with five pumps of frap roast, four pumps of caramel sauce, four pumps of caramel syrup, three pumps of mocha, three pumps of toffee nut syrup, double blended with extra whipped cream. I should like it heated to 190 degrees Fahrenheit.¡± Having finished he placed his finger on the counter, a light appeared beneath it, and he deftly stepped to his left. It was the most perfectly given order he¡¯d ever seen. It even sounded delicious. The clockwork precision of the people and the store also amazed him. No one was impatient, no one complained, and everyone knew what they wanted when they got to the counter. No one had to make up their mind, had to ask questions or give long detailed instructions about how a specific extra was to be added or blended into their beverage. He had dreamt of such a place but never thought it to be a reality. He watched as the barista behind the counter began to flawlessly reproduce his order without bothering to look at a ticket or a screen. She simply smiled and pumped away oblivious to anything else about her. That was when he realized that the barista was Sarah. Her face had no mechanical replacement parts and he could see her eyes sparkling like diamonds from across the room. She was, he noted with a tinge of disappointment, almost one hundred percent robot, though. Her face was human, but the rest of her head looked like a space-aged biker helmet. Her breasts were visible partially, being covered from the underside over to where her areolas would have been. He could see perky points where they were covered. Her body¡¯s metal was gold in color, and he could see glowing lines and wires around her joints. He could see that parts of her forearms were also exposed skin, as well as her upper thighs. There was very little left of what he would have considered to be his Sarah. He shook that thought out of his head, he was here to save her and as many like her as he could. He stepped up to the counter and called out, ¡°Sarah. Sarah, can we talk?¡± She continued working, and only after finishing the order she¡¯d been working on did she notice him. Her eyes scanned him up and down and a look of utter confusion came over her. ¡°DM4532, where have you been. I have not seen you in weeks, and suddenly you appear without any notice and look as if you have removed all of your cybernetic implants. How did you manage to regrow your biological aspects?¡± Her face was the perfect image that was burned into his mind, but it was disconcerting to see Sarah ensconced in a metal body. ¡°Who,¡± he asked when she referred to him, ¡°Sarah, I need to talk to you. Right now. Can you take a break? Please?¡± The beautiful cyborg looked at him quizzically. ¡°DM4352, my name is SC7456. You used to call me Essea for short. Is your memory malfunctioning due to the loss of your biomesh equipment? Why would you remove your Organomechwear? You look very,¡± she actually paused having to search for the proper word to describe his appearance, ¡°Silly, without it.¡± She turned and began preparing another coffee order. ¡°In fact,¡± she said without taking her eyes off of the order she was making, one that she had not heard ordered but knew anyway, ¡°You look naked.¡± He realized they must have had something similar to Headnet here as well.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°What?¡± Her mention of his nudity threw him off, ¡°No, please we need to talk and I do not have time to dance with you around here.¡± He put his hands on the counter and vaulted over to land in front of her. ¡°Uh, Essea,¡± he pleaded, ¡°Please listen to me, you are in danger. I can help, but you have to come with me, right now, if you want to live.¡± He added the last part for dramatic flair. He had seen it in a movie once. The only other possible line he had to go with was ¡°GET TO THE CHOPPA!¡± He didn¡¯t think it would have been appropriate to the situation. ¡°Dee-em,¡± she said with a mechanical lilt, ¡°If this is some kind of game. . .¡± He shook his head vigorously, ¡°No, no game. I¡¯m deadly serious. We need to go right now.¡± Essea cocked her head sideways, then nodded. ¡°I trust you Dee-em, even if you have gone crazy and removed all of your biotech.¡± He grabbed her hand and prepared to tell Mother to open a gateway for her when all the power went out. ¡°Aw, crap,¡± he said. He knew deep in his gut that this was not a good sign. He hadn¡¯t even implemented his apocalypse protocol yet. Reflexively, his finger went to his temple, ¡°Mother, what is happening?¡± ¡°Declan, I forced a power shut down in your immediate area. There was a corrupted feed in what you would consider to be the local WIFI. It is creating havoc wherever it has been received. I cannot sustain the shut down for long. The Krome are very efficient and will find and resolve the issue that I caused within less than five minutes. Set your apocalypse and get out of there.¡± Her mention of corrupted feed worried him. What if the thing that had caused Vegan Sarah¡¯s world or Crowe¡¯s had just been some sort of core rot that ate away at whatever it touched? Vegan Sarah had been locked in her apartment for a long time and hadn¡¯t had contact with the outside world for almost two weeks. Crowe¡¯s world had taken longer, but the corruption may not have had as solid a footing as it did on Vegan¡¯s world. He suspected that wherever that tainted signal had touched bad things would be happening. He didn¡¯t flinch. ¡°Give me one minute,¡± he said to Essea. He turned away from her and didn¡¯t notice her going to the store window. ¡°Worldfeed is down,¡± she said softly. Everyone around her said in unison, ¡°It¡¯s too quiet.¡± He looked to the woman known as Essea, ¡°This is what I was talking about. This is just the start. In minutes things are going to spiral out of control.¡± Mentally he sent, Mother, disconnect Essea, otherwise designated as SC7456, from the Worldfeed. In fact, do it for everyone here. I¡¯m going to try to save as many of these people as I can. Declan opened his HUD. Its red glow calmed him, as he finally felt like he was gaining some control over the situation. He looked to the Apocalypse page and was about to open it when he heard a man in the back of the line that was still maintained in perfect formation, say, ¡°It is the time for the Master. I give myself to him fully. My artificial heart beats for him and my biological eye cries for him. I can feel Shuggthorichx. He has blessed my soul.¡± Mother chimed in Declan¡¯s head. I didn¡¯t shut it down fast enough. That man received about a quarter second¡¯s worth of feed. You can see how much he¡¯s been affected. It is worse in the areas of Krome that the feed was unchallenged. People are killing one another and destroying property while chanting. This is not something that you want to allow to spread any further. The former Data Analyst nodded and watched in fascination as the man in the back of the line began to shudder. The sound of metal rending and bone snapping issued from his body, and he began to scream. In a panic, Declan searched the room for a weapon. He did not think that Crowe¡¯s gun was going to do much against a foe who was mostly made of metal and was more than likely carrying nanites in his system. He quickly pulled up his Personal Data Sheet. He scanned it quickly. PDS: Declan Alaric Mason ATTRIBUTES Strength: Average Agility: Average Intellect: Above Average Acumen: Average Vitality: Superior Charisma: Average Perception: Above Average Occupation: Revelator, former Data Analyst Skills Abilities Expy Equipment Personal Data He stopped at the skills, he didn¡¯t need to see those at the moment. Right now he wanted to focus on his attributes. He¡¯d never really looked at himself this way, but Mother had run the numbers for him to get a better grasp on who he was now. He looked at the Attribute scale. It went: weak, below average, average, above average, conditioned, superior, superhuman. He didn¡¯t need to see what each of those correlated to in terms of each attribute. He already knew he wanted to get to superhuman. Mother, he thought, can I expend Expy to increase my attributes? Her voice was calm in spite of the fact that all hell was about to break loose any second from now. You may use Expy to modify any attribute, skill, ability, etc. What would you like to do? ¡°What would it cost me to go from average strength to superhuman?¡± He didn¡¯t realize he¡¯d switched from thinking to her to speaking. Essea must have thought he looked like a mad man. With your current amount of Expy the upgrade would leave you thirty thousand available Expy when completed. ¡°Can you hold off Worldfeed, but restore power?¡± It will not be easy, and I will not be able to do so for long. With power restored the Worldfeed will not be easy to squelch. Would you like me to restore power and initiate your upgrade now? It was a lot of Expy, and he had only just become Expy rich! Easy come easy go, eh? He had no real choice. He needed strength and he needed power to stop his opponent. He grit his teeth together and said through pursed lips, ¡°Do it.¡± It was now his turn to scream as his muscles ripped apart and regrew over and over again. He suspected that this was something that was supposed to be done incrementally, step by step, with pauses and breaks to allow your body to adjust to the changes. He lacked the luxury of time, an so had to undergo the entire process instantaneously. He imagined that he screamed. He had to be screaming as his body literally exploded, imploded, and rebuilt itself from the atom up, but when it was over his throat wasn¡¯t sore, and his voice wasn¡¯t hoarse when he said, ¡°Everyone, get behind me, now.¡± The Kromians did as he bade without question. They might all have been individuals with complete freedom of thought and expression, but they were also a people of discipline and order. Organization was their bailiwick, and they obeyed him as if he had been the ultimate figure of authority in their culture. That left the tainted man who, like Declan, had just gone up a few shirt sizes. Declan could already see that the man was transforming into something new. He was still a combination of man and machine but there was something alien that had been added as well. His metallic parts were shifting to form a protective shell, not unlike that of a crab and his hands were already razor-sharp pincers. Declan knew that he did not want to go toe to toe with the unfortunate stranger. That was not what he had used up so much Expy to do. No, he had something else in mind. He allowed his HUD to cover his vision with its red screen. He had eliminated all text but commanded it to seek out power lines and conduits of power hidden in the walls or floor. Energy had to be thrumming through a place like Krome, and he was right. He could see a line of energy running the length of the floor below him. He didn¡¯t hesitate, he drew back his arm and drove it down into the floor. Two things happened. First, he was shocked that he had punched through the floor so easily. Second, he realized that having gobs of strength did not make your body indestructible. His hand hadn¡¯t broken from the impact, but it came close to doing so. He could barely close it. He knew his nanites would repair his hand, but it was going to take some time. Clearly, he was going to need to increase his Vitality to superhuman levels as well just to avoid events like this repeating. He reached down with his left hand and wretched the line from the floor. He was disappointed that the line hadn¡¯t torn in half when he lifted it from the ground. That would have made his life that much simpler. He looked up in time to see the Crab clawed man charge him. Poe was angry. He had sent the man into subspace. Subspace! Yet he had not only he managed to kill his appointed world off within the deadline, but he had also somehow managed to negate any time delays on his overall mission from the diversion. His replacement was crafty and mentally flexible. He seemed to take a disadvantage and turn it around to his own benefit. The Horseman had no idea of how his counterpart had managed to find his way home, or arrive before he¡¯d left, but it was clear to him now that the man was far more capable and dangerous than he¡¯d expected. He would not underestimate him again. He realized that he was a complete idiot. Declan barely registered his foe rushing him. This turn of events was completely unexpected. He¡¯d planned to be the one running and acting threateningly. Now his plan had gone to hell and he had no idea of what to do. The power line had been supposed to break when he ripped it from the ground. That happened all the time in those old movies and vids. Then he was supposed to thrust its crackling power-filled end into the steel crab¡¯s chest. He¡¯d break out the champagne, and they¡¯d all go home and celebrate Krome¡¯s destruction. Now he had what looked to be a half ton of inhuman bionic crab man bearing down on him like a hawk on a field mouse. The transmogrified man hit Declan like a runaway train. The impact was intense, but the former Data Analyst held his ground. He used his HUD to increase his perception, allowing his reflexes to react faster than real time, which he could do now that he had superhuman strength. Death Claw, Declan had named his opponent Death Claw so that when he told this story later and expounded on his resounding defeat of the bioengineered being it would sound a lot cooler, drove his razor-like pincer at Declan¡¯s face in slow motion. Enhanced reflexes allowed the Revelator to put the powerline in the claw¡¯s path. The chrome pincer snapped into the power line but could not cut all the way through. Damn, these people know how to build safe power lines, thought Declan as the energy contained therein now surged into the corrupted man¡¯s body. In mere seconds he was on fire but immobilized as the power continued to enter his body. Declan released the line and stepped back. This was the chance he needed to set his apocalypse. He set his HUD back to normal and tabbed open his Apocalypse Now Page. He began typing like mad on his invisible screen. He began to fill in the details of how his apocalypse should occur. He had no idea of what quantum interference was, or would it did, but he figured what the hell. The Apocalypse Generator could do the heavy lifting there. He hit enter and spun around. Essea was gone, the entire caf¨¦ had emptied out. He hadn¡¯t expected that. He looked outside the shop window and could see the patrons all staring at a rooftop about seven hundred yards away. He could see oddly shaped figures on the top of the building. They were hurling the humanoid figures high into the air and watching them fall to the ground. Sometimes, a humanoid form would suddenly shudder and morph into one of those things. He tried to think of what they reminded him of, and then it struck him. They were mechanical replicas of the Octomonster that he¡¯d fought on the last world. He¡¯d thought that they had been remnants of the failed apocalypse. Leftovers of a prior attempt to destroy the world, but he could now see that he¡¯d been wrong. These things hadn¡¯t followed him here. They were already here. Were they why this world had to die? Could it be that their presence had some deeper darker meaning? The mission said something about an infestation. He wondered if those creatures could be what it was talking about? Then it hit him; right now, it didn¡¯t matter. He had to get off this world ASAP. He stared into the Tesla ball and could see that it was overloading. Electricity was arcing outside of it and striking random areas around them. The smell of ozone was strong and even he could tell it was going to go any second from now. He realized that the faux sun was miles away and that it had only seemed close. Mother¡¯s map snapped into his head, and he could see that there was not one sun in the sky, but thousands of them all around the planet. Each and every one of them was failing. The quantum interference had done something to each of them at the same time. He ran to the front of the crowd and grabbed Essea¡¯s hand. ¡°Time to go,¡± he said and had mother open a portal in front of her. He had her enter first and sent mother a mental note that she was to be treated well, given her own quarters, and given whatever she wanted. ¡°All right, I¡¯m only going to make this offer once. Anyone that does not want to die here is welcome to go to my world, a place that is safe, and you will be given anything you need to make a fresh start, but the time to go is now.¡± He gave Mother instructions for the Kromians similar to those for Essea, but made certain that they had a separate complex to stay at, they did not need to be cluttering up his home. That done he told her to leave the portal open for as long as possible, but not to let any of those things into his residence; then he stared at the dying energy globes. They were beautiful. ¡°Mother, can you send me directly to Earth 987y43?¡± He felt a slight vibration and he could see an arc of electricity strike where he had just been and he faded into a bright and sunny world. 18) Rabbit Season Rabbit Season The air was crisp and clean, and it carried a fresh and natural smell. It didn¡¯t have a trace of fossil fuels or anything industrial, and Declan thanked his lucky stars that was the case. He¡¯d had his fill of industrial and chemically touched worlds. The only word that he could describe for this planet was it smelled natural. This was the way his world would have been if they had never introduced gasoline or coal into the atmosphere. There were no chemicals or pesticides, and the air tasted completely clean. Declan found it both a refreshing and a welcome change in comparison to the last few worlds he had visited lately. Krome had nearly burnt out his olfactory bulb, of that he was sure. He took note that the road was a made of dirt, and that the city looked more like something out of an old western than a sci-fi or post-apocalyptic flick. He liked that aspect as well. He loved westerns. John Eastwood and Clint Wayne had been his childhood heroes. The city¡¯s buildings were all wooden, and built in basic frontier style. He saw no real signs of technology, he could pick up no trace of any sort of worldweb or Headnet. He didn¡¯t even detect radio waves for that matter, not artificial ones anyway. This world was amazing. He saw a Buckaroo Starr¡¯s Coffee and Show house about three streets down from the edge of town, and he began walking toward it at a crisp pace. The name had changed slightly, but there was no question that it was a place that served coffee, and provided a show apparently. ¡°Mother, did everything go as planned on the last world?¡± Her voice was more gentle than normal, ¡°Yes, Declan. There was a complete system failure and the planet was vaporized. Your little Electricocalypse seemed to work just fine. Excellent work, you made it clear just in time, too.¡± ¡°What about this world. What can you tell me?¡± ¡°Earth 987y43 has no advanced technology of any kind. No electricity, no computers, no internet or worldwide web. They seem to have steel making capabilities, but only do so in very small quantities. I do not believe they have invented gunpowder yet, but I may be wrong. I cannot access much information within a society such as this. I absorb knowledge via newsfeeds, wifi, radio waves, and so on. This planet has none of that. It impairs my data gathering capabilities.¡± He had continued walking as she¡¯d spoken. ¡°I will have to ascertain information via inductive reasoning as you observe the inhabitants.¡± ¡°I see,¡± he said. He looked the streets over, but only saw some horses tied to a post. This wasn¡¯t a city at all. He would barely call it a town. He could hear a lot of raucous laughter coming from the saloon, uh, coffee shop he amended mentally. He straightened his tie, buttoned his jacket, and stepped inside. The interior was not what he¡¯d expected. Everyone inside, insofar as he could see, appeared to be a human animal hybrid of one type or another. At one table there sat three men playing cards. One looked like a young man, but was distinguished by light fox-like features. His hair on the top of his head was orange, white, and black. The tip of his nose ended in a canine set of nostrils, and his fingers ended in dog claws. His sideburns flared out, all white with black tips. He was chewing tobacco and studying the cards in his hand intently. Declan noted that his eyes were an intense green hue. The fox had dressed himself in some very nice silk fineries, with a green jacket, white dress shirt, and matching pair of green slacks. Declan assumed he wore those colors because they matched his eyes. The fox clearly had no need of footwear as he wore no shoes, and Declan could see that his toes had the same claws as his fingers. Next to the youthful fox sat a dirty little fellow with squinty eyes, and a long thin nose. The mustache beneath his nostrils was brushy, bristly, and stuck out in all directions. He was mostly bald and like his companion wore no shoes. If he had to guess, Declan would have guessed that he was a mole hybrid, but it was really hard to tell. He was dressed in a filthy brown button up shirt, and had on blue corduroy pants that were similarly stand and bore several holes, and a good sized tear on the lower half of his right leg. The other card player was a yellow eyed man with a flat nose and leathery green scales for skin. His fingers ended in long sharp claws, and a long tail protruded from just above his red trousers and spiraled down around his chair leg. Clearly he was the result of human and lizard pairing, but Declan could not discern what type of lizard. It was probably native to this world. The players all glanced up at him from over their cards and gave him a long cold stare, but returned to their game moments later after they¡¯d determined that he wasn¡¯t significant enough to interrupt their game. The fox bit his lip, laid down his cards, and the other two acknowledged their loss by slamming their cards down in mild anger. Declan ignored the shiver that ran down his spine and stepped up to the counter. He noticed an intensely suggestive figure that was turned away from him. She was wearing white silk stockings, a pair or white French style panties with a matching bra, and a bunny tail settled just above her curvaceous bottom. Her hair was a matching white to her clothes, and he noted a pair of bunny ears protruding through her long locks of hair. He had to admit that she was stunning from behind. ¡°Excuse me, miss.,¡± he said as he kept his eyes lifted skyward, ¡°I¡¯m looking for a friend of mine. I believe she works here. Her name is Sarah Crowe.¡± He fought the urge to stare at her bottom one final time before she turned around, and most admirably managed not to sneak a peek. ¡°That¡¯d be me,¡± she said amiably, ¡°Although, I go by Rah, not Sarah. I haven¡¯t gone by that name in years.¡± She looked him up and down, ¡°You say you know me? I admit that you look familiar, but I can¡¯t seem to be able to place where I know you fro. . . .Clan? Holy, hell. Is that you?¡± She stepped from behind the counter and came around to give him a hug. Her face, was unquestioningly that of Sarah¡¯s, even though it bore traces of her rabbit heritage. Her nose was a little thinner, and ended in a pink cottontail nose, he cheeks were a little chubbier, and her two front teeth were a bit more pronounced, but none of that took away from her beauty. Her hair was the stunning white of a Calla lily, and her ears were pink on the interior. Her eyes, though, where an astounding brown; so deep and earthlike and so unlike his own Sarah¡¯s green that it made them stand out even more. ¡°How did you get the Geneers to diversify you? Is that why you¡¯ve been gone so long? Because they were desplicing ya?¡± Her voice was slightly higher, and she had a quicker cadence that Sarah Prime, but carried its own wonderful lilt that sounded like Springtime. She sat a cup on the counter and poured him some coffee. It smelled strong, and he could practically taste it in the air. He nodded his thanks, reached down, pulled the mug to his lips, blew on it, and then took a long sip. It was the best straight coffee he¡¯d ever had. It was so . . . pure. He didn¡¯t care what kind of coffee came out of a cat¡¯s ass, it would never match this pure blend. ¡°Rah,¡± he said sincerely, ¡°That is the best coffee I¡¯ve ever had the pleasure to put into my mouth.¡± She rolled her brown eyes, and he was amazed at how they glittered and sparkled in the light of the saloon. Those eyes were so wholesome and innocent that they contrasted with her choice of clothing. Normally, he would not have complained if his Sarah had dressed like that for him, but in public her carefree attitude towards her partial nudity bothered him. He couldn¡¯t help himself, and before he realized what he was doing he inquired, ¡°Can I ask why you are dressed like that?¡± She gave him a sheepish grin, ¡°Well, you don¡¯t make anything just slinging coffee all day. I¡¯m a show girl, too. Two shows a day, and then I brew java till the boys go home. It ain¡¯t bad. I enjoy it. A lot. It¡¯s fun and freeing at the same time,¡± she said with a sultry smile. ¡°Now, you tell me how you got the Geneers to undo their handiwork, and why you would ever do such a thing to yourself.¡± ¡°Look, Rah, I don¡¯t know how to say this, but I¡¯m not the, erm,¡± he fumbled the words, ¡°Clan that you know. I don¡¯t know where he¡¯s been, but I can guarantee that he hasn¡¯t been to see the Geneers lately.¡± Then he added, ¡°Whoever they are.¡± He scratched behind his ear and looked for the right thing to say. ¡°My name is ¡®Clan, Declan Mason to be exact, but I¡¯m not from around here. Most obviously I am not from here. The only reason I¡¯m with you right now is to save your life.¡± ¡°Save me? Save me from what?¡± She gave a little hop as she pouted, ¡°What¡¯s going to happen to me?¡± This was the part he hated, where he always sounded crazy. He realized that it just couldn¡¯t be helped, but that didn¡¯t make it sound any less crazy. ¡°I am from another dimension. A place similar to your world, but radically different in many ways.¡± He paused and watched her expression, trying to see any hint of doubt or suspicion. ¡°This world of yours is about to end. Horribly so, it will not be pretty or painless. In fact, it is not just you, but all humanoid life on this planet is going to end very shortly, and it will do so in a very messy way. I want you to come with me.¡± She looked at him with big puppy dog eyes, which was difficult to pull off because of her status as a half-human half-lapine individual. ¡°Me? Why me?¡± She seemed incredulous that anyone would care about her.Stolen story; please report. Declan didn¡¯t hesitate, ¡°Because you remind me of someone that I lost not so long ago. You remind me of my Rah, ah, Sarah,¡± he amended carefully, ¡°And I have made it my mission to save every version of her that I can.¡± His eyes never left hers as he spoke, and he poured every ounce of emotion that he had into them. He hoped that she would come around . . . ¡°Okay,¡± she said with a smile. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see why I wouldn¡¯t go with you. I believe you. I can see that yer telling me the truth. I can smell it on you. You aren¡¯t from here. And at no point did you lie to me. I can tell when people lie to me.¡± She gave a non-committal shrug, ¡°At least I can tell when my people lie to me. Can¡¯t see how¡¯d you¡¯d be no different.¡± She hopped on to the bar and slid across before delicately lowering herself to the floor. He noted that she wasn¡¯t wearing shoes either, and that her feet were pretty large for her tiny frame. ¡°How do we get there,¡± she asked with a grin. ¡°I open a portal to a place a called . . .uh, Terra Sarah,¡± he blushed. ¡°There will be servants there to help you adjust to your new home until I get back. And I will be back shortly,¡± he promised. In his ears it almost sounded like a vow. ¡°So, just wait for me, and I¡¯ll let you know what is going on when I return home.¡± She nodded to him and then she asked him, ¡°Can you take other people, besides me? Or am I special,¡± she asked with a wink and a grin. He paused. He hadn¡¯t expected that question. He nodded at her and said, ¡°I suppose that you are. At least you are to me.¡± H swallowed hard. I¡¯ve just been so busy lately trying to save the various versions of you that I sort of forget how very special that you all are. When you get there you will find that you have sisters that you never knew existed. Cherish them as I do.¡± She giggled and jiggled, in a way that made him blush and avert his eyes, ¡°Good! Do you mind if I ask if anyone else wants to come?¡± He shrugged, again he hadn¡¯t expected that question, but didn¡¯t see why he couldn¡¯t accommodate her request and he told her so. She took about five minutes and explained things to the shops patrons. All in all, she had convinced ten of the animal folk to join them. Rah bounced over to him, ¡°Give me a minute. I want to get my mother, and I¡¯ll ask if anyone else wants to come or stay here.¡± Before Declan could even respond she had hopped out the door and bounded down the street. He didn¡¯t mind. He was on a deadline, but he could spare a few minutes, and if he could save a few people doing so, then he had no problem with that either. As he waited he looked over to the young man who looked like a fox. He was one of the ones who said he would go with them. Declan cave him a shy wave, ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Declan, and you are . . . ,¡± he left the question hanging in the air hoping that the fellow would pick up on the cue. ¡°Thirsty?¡± The reply was not what he¡¯d expected, and he stifled a laugh. ¡°Ah, no,¡± he amended, ¡°your name is . . . . ,¡± this time he hoped that the young fox man would fill in the opening that he¡¯d left for him. ¡°My name is Ray, Ray Nardo, but you can just call me Ray,¡± he said with a slight volpine smile. ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you, Ray. While we¡¯re all waiting for Rah to get back here can you answer some questions?¡± The fox man gave him an, I guess so shrug, and nodded for the man to sit down. Declan sat down across from him after grabbing a pot of coffee from behind the counter. He filled the young man¡¯s cup and then poured more of the magic java his own. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you can tell,¡± Declan began as he pointed at his face, ¡°But I¡¯m not from around here.¡± The canine tinted lad gave him a toothy grin, ¡°Yeah, you sorta look like a cubling before the Geneers get a hold of them.¡± Declan inclined his head. ¡°Rah mentioned the Geneers. Can you tell me about them? Who they are, what they want, and where can I find them?¡± Ray snickered. ¡°They don¡¯t want nothing,¡± he took a sip of coffee and continued, ¡°Geneers are strange little critters that are kind of like little blobs of snot. They are harmless, but they seek out us Beastions, that¡¯s what we call ourselves by the way, when we hit puberty.¡± He put his cup down and started shuffling his deck of cards. Declan wondered where the other two had gone. He had been too swept up in talking to Rah to notice what strangers did, no matter how strange they were. Ray continued, as he began playing a game similar to solitaire. ¡°See, before puberty we all look like you do now. Y¡¯know, no animal side at all; just bland as a blade of grass.¡± He flipped a card and laid it on the discard pile with a grimace. ¡°The Geneers, well they attach themselves to us and sort of merge with us for a bit when we come of age. Sometimes it is for a few days, sometimes a week, but it¡¯s pretty rare for it to go as long as a month. All we know is that when they are inside us they add something to our bodies, and when they are done doing whatever it is they do, we go to sleep.¡± He shuffled the cards in his hand and then flipped another. It went to the discard pile as well. ¡°While we sleep we change, and when we wake up we are remade into full adult Beastions like me or Rah.¡± Ray put down his cards and sipped his coffee. He licked his lips when he finished and then took another drink. ¡°We come in all sorts of types too. None of it runs in the family either. Rah¡¯s mom, for example, is a cat blend. My da is an eagle mix. Affleck, over there,¡± he pointed to a duck man, ¡°Has a da who is a bull type, and a mum what¡¯s a snake. Some of our smarter types seem to think that we get are melded with whatever animal the Geneer had last bonded to.¡± Mother¡¯s voice broke in over Ray¡¯s explanation. ¡°Declan, these people have been gene-spliced by these ¡°Geneers¡±. I can see multiple places where there genetic code has been rewritten; more precisely, overwritten. I would guess that the Geneer¡¯s life cycle starts in an animal, the DNA of which it keeps, and it cannot grow into adulthood until it merges with a pubescent human. The Geneer then rewrites the human¡¯s DNA code in a very specific pattern using the original animal¡¯s genetic material as well as that of the Geneer¡¯s. I can see pieces of the original fox, as well as the Geneer itself, all over his DNA strands. It looks to me as if the genetic material that the Geneer leaves behind inhibits the parent¡¯s ability to pass along any of the animal coding that has been changed within them. You should get a couple of the Geneers for further study. Just be careful not to touch them. Unless, that is, you want to undergo a bestial metamorphosis yourself. I do not think that I could undo what the Geneers have done here.¡± She paused for a moment, ¡°It seems that they have taken on the name of Beastions for their species.¡± Declan nodded to Ray, but in response to Mother¡¯s diatribe. ¡°Where can I find some of these Geneers?¡± The teen fox crinkled his nose as he smiled. ¡°Ya wanna make yourself nice and proper like the rest of us? Good for you! No sense in walking around numb to the world around you. You won¡¯t believe how your senses will change once you go undergo the change.¡± The fox man downed his coffee. ¡°C¡¯mon. They¡¯re easy to find. I¡¯ll show you where to look.¡± He pushed his chair away from the table and stood up. He straightened his jacket and headed for the door. Declan followed. They hadn¡¯t taken two steps from the wooden sidewalk when the foxling bent over, and turned the leaf of a dandelion growing in the earth. Declan examined the plant and saw three very small green amorphous blobs clinging to its underside. They were almost see through, and were not moving. Either they were inactive during the day, or they didn¡¯t move much. The foxman, Ray, seemed to read his mind, ¡°These¡¯uns here are immature. In a coupla weeks they¡¯ll get to scooting around looking for an animal to join with. They¡¯re all over the place then. You have to watch to not step on ¡®em. They live inside the animals for a while, but eventually they come back out, and at that point hey are as big as your fist.¡± Inactive sounded just about perfect to Declan. As he reached down and plucked the leaf he said, ¡°Mother, put this into my inventory,¡± and watched as the leaf instantly vanished from his palm. He had never used the inventory system since he had been given it and it was a little shocking to see in action. Even though he¡¯d known what to expect he shouldn¡¯t have done that in front of the beastion. Ray, however hadn¡¯t noticed, as he had spied Rah and was watching her and about fifty other animal people coming up the street towards them. None of them looked panicked or scared, they all looked like they were just out for an afternoon stroll rather than getting ready to shift dimensions. Declan stood up and looked to the fox man. ¡°All of those people are coming just on her say? You all are some trusting folk,¡± Declan said. Ray shook his head. ¡°No, but we know when someone lies to us by the way they smell. We learn to stop prevaricating when we are youngsters. People who lie give off an odor, and their heart rates tend to speed up. Sometimes, their breathing changes, or they start moving a part of their body they normally wouldn¡¯t move in a similar situation. Our young learn that they can¡¯t beat a good nose or a strong set of ears, so we pretty much take people at their word.¡± Rah was smiling. ¡°I brought Ma, and some friends. I hope that you don¡¯t mind, Clan.¡± He noticed that she was calling him by her friend¡¯s appellation. He hoped it brought her some comfort. ¡°I couldn¡¯t bear to leave any of them behind.¡± Declan scanned the crowd. Everyone had brought a handful of their belongings, and was wearing a smile. These were the friendliest people he had ever met. He opened up his Apocalypse Generator, and typed in what he needed to. This world¡¯s destruction finally set into place, Declan had mother transport the lot of them back to Terra Sarah, and then closed the gateway. He noted that three of the beastions had not transitioned from this world to his. They had been left behind and he had no idea as to why. He considered asking them if they had changed their minds about going, but Mother began shifting him to his next rendezvous. She hadn¡¯t delayed. There was a mission to finish and he had little time left to see it through. Their shocked faces told him that they had not planned on staying behind. He regretted that there was nothing he could do about it now. Their fates were sealed. He would ask Mother why that hadn¡¯t all transported back to home when he had time to worry about the small stuff. It really bothered him that he was losing people every time he tried to save a group. He knew it had no relation to the number of people he was trying to transport. There was something far stranger going on. Then, he felt a small tingling in his head for just a moment. It was familiar, and reminded him of when Mother was uploaded something into his head, but he felt no new information. He considered the three people left behind. One had been the mole man, the man that he¡¯d felt was just a little bit shadey and he wondered why he cared that the beastion hadn¡¯t transported to safety. He¡¯d watched Rah and her people vanish through the portal, and honestly, that was all that really mattered to him. If the others opted not to go or could not go then that was on them. He smiled as he went to the next world. He wished that all apocalypses could be conducted so casually and easily. 19) Im just a Poe Boy I¡¯m Just a Poe Boy It had taken some time for Poe, in spite of all of his powers, to construct a way to view the events of the past that he craved to see. It was delicate work pinpointing the exact space and time of the events that he wanted to witness transpire; in fact, it had taken him far longer than he had anticipated to simply locate his adversary¡¯s home world. A tinge of jealousy touched him as he considered that what he had been given as a place to live was a lifeless metal shell that approximated a planet. It was completely artificial and while it had been staffed with various mechanical servants he had not even been given a companion to help guide him through his first days as a Horseman. He had been left on his own and metaphorically thrown out to sea to see if he would sink or swim. For some strange reason, the Invigilator had seen fit to bequeath Mason with not one, but two A.I. guides. He forced power into the window that he was creating and waited for the image to become clear. The effort he needed to maintain the as yet incomplete image was incomprehensible. He had viewed the past many times, but had never encountered such a strong resistance as he did now. This led him to believe that the interdimensional overlord had put up barriers in case Poe had wanted to observe his enemy in some capacity. He pushed even more energy into the whirl of colors that sat in the air before him. He continued to push until he felt something snap and the image came into view. Poe watched the holographic replay of his replacement struggling to destroy his first world. He rubbed his forehead, predictably he had gone with a meteor strike. They always went for a meteor strike their first time or nuclear war, and for half a moment he wondered why that was. Was it because it was the easy way, or was there something more to it, perhaps? Was that the image that advanced people picked? Why not a designer built germ instead? He considered more primitive people would probably go with a plague or a flood. More advanced individuals would probably make technology turn against its users. Even he had used a meteor on his first go round. He wasn¡¯t original in any way, he knew, but his ability to eliminate worlds had grown over time, and he had embraced the calling. His power had grown because of it, and he had become the best the Invigilator had ever seen. He didn¡¯t need creativity when he was productive. Then he considered Mason. The man had only made that choice because of time constraints. He had been under the gun and went with the most reliable method that he could think of, that made sense and he could forgive the man his choice. He had no doubt that if he had been able to actually think things over then he would have gone for something with more panache. Now, he watched as yet another world died, albeit a mock world that had been built solely for the purposes of breaking in a rookie. It was all in an effort to satisfy that monster, the Invigilator, and he wouldn¡¯t have any more of it. It was time to put an end to all the incalculable deaths that were going to be ordered by that maniac. He was going to stop his replacement. First, he would try recruitment. If he could convince him to join him then they might be able to turn against their extra-dimensional overlord and defeat him together. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to get an extra pair of hands in this knife fight. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. However, if he decided that he¡¯d rather countless lives rather than challenge the gigantic alien then he would simply slay him, and climb over his corpse as he made his way back to the Invigilator. Realistically, a fight was destined to happen at some point between them; he could feel it. There would come a reckoning and on that day the multiverse would be freed from tyranny and he would be the one to dictate who lived and who died. He watched this Mason, the one that he had not gotten to in time, as he refined his craft and he had to admit that the man caught on quickly. He was smart and dedicated, but Poe could see that his mind had also been altered. It had been sculpted to make this sort of work simpler for him. By that he meant that Declan Mason would have no qualms or second thoughts about destroying one world or a trillion of them, but what caught his eye was that there was something that the invigilator had not been able to erase. It shone from his soul like a supernova to his eyeless sockets. This man carried a love for one woman so deeply that he could not let her go. Even here, across time and space, in a simple replay he could see the man¡¯s devotion to this female. He could see where the Invigilator had tried to squelch her memory but could not do so. The only thing he could do was to divert his singular drive to reunite with this woman into saving her otherdimensional duplicates. Clever, he would still mourn for her, but would also still go to the planets in an effort to save every doppelganger that bore her image as he simultaneously obliterated each planet he visited.. Eventually he would amass more women than he knew what to do with (if Poe didn¡¯t kill him), but Poe saw this as the opportunity that he needed to convert Mason over to his side. All he needed to do would be to get the original girl; the one that he really loved, and he would be able to make that man do anything he wanted. He would be a puppet, and Poe would be holding the strings. The Horseman looked at Mason¡¯s vibrational signature. With that, he would be able to physically enter the universe he had originated from. He knew that the world there was gone. It had fallen victim to the great pan-dimensional fiend himself, but that didn¡¯t mean there was nothing that he could do. No, what was a little time travel to those who knew the secret of crossing dimensional borders? It would drain most of his power and it would certainly expose him to the Invigilator when he went in for the extraction, but it was a price he had to pay if he was going to win the long game. In the game of cosmic chess Poe was a master of the King¡¯s Gambit. Once he started playing a match he played for blood. Mason was not his opponent. He was merely a pawn in the Invigilator¡¯s game, but that didn¡¯t mean he wouldn¡¯t bleed before he was sacrificed. Poe would wash himself clean in that blood, and emerge stronger than before. 20) Hay is for horses . . . Hay is for Horses, Grass is for Free He appeared on a world not unlike the one he had just left. It wasn¡¯t as fresh smelling, in fact it reeked of horse manure, but it still had clean air and a pleasantness that he¡¯d never inhaled on his world. There was smell of fresh grass, wildflowers, and coal. He could also smell coal being burned. It was not overwhelming, but it tinged the atmosphere around him to a point that it stood out against the otherwise wholesome quality of the air. Declan had appeared on a dirt road that was surrounded by well-cut pastures. He didn¡¯t see any fences that declared ownership of the property or any signage warning him off. His tie whipped up into his face as a gust of wind lifted it from his chest, and he brushed it back down to his chest and buttoned his blue jacket to hold it in place. Declan didn¡¯t dally. He strode toward the area that he knew the town would be. It was obvious that he would not be heading into a city, just from his present surroundings, but he thought he spotted a familiar landmark here and there. Having just come from what he would have termed a western styled technology level world he assumed that it was the same here. Not that a high tech world couldn¡¯t have clean and fresh air, but it was more than likely that this place was at about the same level as the last. His dress shoes danced around huge piles of horse manure as he went, and that fact coupled with the ruts he could see in the road led him to believe that this was a horse and buggy kind of world. He was a little disappointed; he enjoyed learning new ideas and listening to new music, and seeing new art that advanced cultures had. Mother, he was sure, was still sorting through the information that he¡¯d gotten on Krome. Declan was certain that they¡¯d have some strange music and art to peruse in his free time. He tried to get a feel for the world he was on, desperate to see what kind of vibe it provided him. He would use whatever he intuited to help devise his apocalypse. He planned on tailoring his destructive side to each planet¡¯s signature if he could. There was no reason not to be creative, and that was what the Invigilator wanted after all. He found himself humming the old Cole Porter song, Don¡¯t Fence Me In, as he walked. Finally, he rounded a bend and saw his destination. It was not what he¡¯d expected. There were things that would qualify more as pavilions than they would actually be considered as buildings. They were built in the form of the classic A frame design, with the rooves being about two feet taller than the height of what he would have considered to have been a standard story. Everything was constructed of wood, but not the advanced planks that you would find in the old west. There were no two by fours. Instead, the top of the pavilions were supported by pillars that were the skeletal remnants of the trunks of huge trees. The front of the building was wide open, save for a very large set of swing doors that looked like they could fit three people through via either swing. The sides of the building were simple felled trees stacked upon one another like Lincoln Logs. The fencing that he¡¯d missed on the roadside appeared to the rear of the building, spreading from the pavilion in a hexagonal shape the enclosed a sizable portion of land that seemed to serve no immediately discernable purpose. There were varying types of these constructs that were laid out in a manner very similar to an old style town. They were just more spread out. Some of the buildings he could immediately identify as shops and others as homes. He could also see one structure that looked to be a stable, but he could clearly make out the word HOTEL hanging from a sign in the front. Declan was curious as to why people would build their homes in such a manner, but the moment that he saw the world¡¯s inhabitants he instantly knew why. The few folk that he could see in the early morning hours had the upper torso of a human, and the lower half of a horse. They were centaurs. Coming away from a world where everyone was an anthropomorphized animal it really wasn¡¯t all that much of a stretch to make the leap to centaurs. It made him wonder if all the humanoids on this world were centaurs, or if their might be Satyrs and Minotaurs running about as well. Regardless of which monster manual the creatures had sprang from, their form made him realize that he had a major problem. Unlike Rah¡¯s world, this place didn¡¯t have humans of any type that he could see. These were half people all the way. In the world of Beastions Declan could, and did pass as one of them from a distance, and close up he¡¯d just looked like one of their children in adult form. This was very different. There was nothing that he could do to disguise himself, or provide a reasonable explanation for what he was if they saw him in his present state. If he just walked into town he might start a riot or get attacked for being so alien to them; and, he realized, he was an alien. He had no idea of how he was going to go into town and just mingle with the people. He considered pulling up his HUD, but knew that there was nothing it could do, and he noticed once again the Mother was silent upon his arrival. He didn¡¯t know if she was giving him time to take in his surroundings but he would have liked a rundown of what she knew about the place. Options were not limited, they were fairly non-existent. As much as he wanted to save this world¡¯s version of Sarah he realized that he was going to have to forgo his pleasantries and just blow the place up. His heart sank at the thought, but he had to recognize his limitations. He couldn¡¯t save every Sarah every time. He had to face that fact. Shoulders slumped he pulled up his HUD. He needed to do this quickly anyway, he supposed. No point in dragging it out. The mission prompt said he could outright destroy the planet or just the intelligent life. He really was feeling a bit thin, and so decided to just wipe out the whole damn planet. No need to go for the save if he couldn¡¯t rescue Sarah. He was about to open his apocalypse tab when a voice stopped him. ¡°Boo!¡± Declan jumped a foot into the air despite the fact that his heart had also stopped when the word was spoken. Somehow, he¡¯d managed not to scream, but he wasn¡¯t so certain that he hadn¡¯t wet himself in the process of jumping. When he landed he spun around looking for who had just scared the living Bejeezus out of him while he simultaneously checked himself for a wet spot. He tried not to be too obvious about it but probably failed. The mini car pretended not to notice what he was doing. Kristine, looking polished, new, and very smug floated before him. ¡°Hello, Declan,¡± she purred. ¡°Were you about to just blow up this world?¡± She seemed incredulous at his actions, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you have already given up on saving this version of Sarah?¡± She had really ramped up the Becallness of her voice. It was already calming him when he should have been a lot angrier at her sneak attack. ¡°Dammit, Kristine! You almost scared me to death. Do you have any idea of how stressing my day has been thus far? I¡¯m strung up tighter than a long tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs with razor blades wedged in the bottoms of the rockers, and you have to go and do something like that?¡± The corners of his lips began to gather saliva, making it look like he¡¯d been eating glue. ¡°What did you get out of that?¡± She started honking the beat of Low Rider on her horn. She drifted lazily in front of him, and laughed, ¡°I just did it for spark plugs and giggles.¡± ¡°We are on a deadline,¡± he snarled at her, but then he broke into a fit of laughter himself. ¡°I¡¯m here to help.¡± He visibly deflated, ¡°I don¡¯t see how you can,¡± he said flatly, ¡°The people here are centaurs. I¡¯ll never be able to pass as one of them. That means that I can¡¯t rescue this iteration of Sarah, I just have to apocalypse the place and move on.¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I. Can. Help,¡± the miniature car revved. She flew behind him and settled on his back. He felt her gently impact him and then sensed that she had fastened herself to his spine. Then she lifted him so that he floated three feet higher in the air. His legs dangled helplessly. ¡°We are connected through to Mother, so I can see what you see. Just step in the direction you want to go, and I¡¯ll move us there. In other words walk normally. You¡¯re driving me this time.¡± Declan dangled in the air. ¡°I appreciate that you want to help, but how is me hovering three feet off of terra firma make me inconspicuous to the native people of this land? Kristine revved her engine again, ¡°Look at yourself, silly. Remember, I have holographic-technology. As far as they are concerned you look just like one of them. You shouldn¡¯t have any problems interacting with them at all now.¡± * * * Declan trotted into town keeping a wary eye out for any horses that had tentacles dangling from them. His apparition cantered into the one location that had the words Strong Coffee and Good Eats painted on the side of the walls. This would be the most likely place that he would find a Sarah. the swinging doors creaked as he entered through them. He paused and took a quick scan of the room. He¡¯d been right, Sarah was right where he expected her to be behind the counter serving customers. He entered the huge room and stepped right up to her. Then, he took a risk. It had worked the last time. Why wouldn¡¯t it work again? ¡°Sarah Crowe,¡± he said as he looked into her eyes, ¡°I have come here for you.¡± She gave him a big toothy grin, ¡°Tell me about it, stud,¡± she said with a snicker. It was then the Declan realized why she had said that. He looked into the mirror over her shoulder, and could see that Kristine had indeed made him look like a centaur, but she¡¯d made him a classic Greek centaur. He wasn¡¯t wearing a shirt, and he had a bow and quiver of arrows slung over his shoulders. Conversely, Sarah was wearing a white tank top and a long sleeved flannel shirt with the cuffs rolled up. She had on a pair of glasses, and a gold necklace that ended with a crucifix on it. The centaur Jesus disconcerted him. Everyone else in the shop was dressed similarly. Some had leather jackets or tee shirts, but they were all dressed in some capacity. He, on the other hand, was basically naked. ¡°First,¡± she said as she eyed him hungrily, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you wearing any clothes. And second,¡± she said as she licked her lips seductively, ¡°When did you get so ripped, Decky?¡± Decky? Oh, sweet Jesus. First, the whole Decky thing made him feel like he threw a shoe. Threw a shoe? Where did that come from? He was already thinking like a centaur. Secondly, in spite of her half horse nature, he could not help but notice how amply endowed her human half was; his Sarah had not been so generously gifted. He tried not to stare, and any other time he would have averted his gaze, but for some reason he could barely look her in the eyes. Declan tried to stammer something coherent; to force viable words out of his mouth, but his tongue rolled around like it was chasing a marble. ¡°Have you come to challenge Allen?¡± He knew that she had asked him a question and all he could do was look at her like he was a doe caught in a pair of headlights, which was ironic if he stopped to think about it. It seemed that this universe handed out situational irony. He managed to mumble a, ¡°Huh?¡± She rolled her eyes and pushed some hair behind her ear, ¡°You know Allen.¡± She reached over the counter and grabbed his cheeks. She squeezed them together when she said the name. ¡°Allen, the Stallion of this herd.¡± Her squeezes mad it look like he was mouthing her words; Declan felt foolish but he could not do a thing to stop her. ¡°The guy that dragged you out of here last night,¡± she said with a knowing look in her eyes. ¡°I can only assume that he banned you from the herd.¡± She could see by the look on Declan¡¯s face that he was utterly lost. ¡°Y¡¯know, Allen, the guy who said he¡¯d kill you if you ever came back into this town let alone this poor establishment.¡± She released his cheeks and rubbed a towel on the counter and picked up an empty cup.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Declan swore that the centaur Sarah took a peek at his junk while she wiped the counter. Her lip had jutted out and she made an ¡°I¡¯m surprised look¡± at she stared at his illusionary genitals. Sarah slung the towel over her shoulder and grabbed the tip that lay beneath it. ¡°I like you. You know I do, but what the stallion says around here goes.¡± She pointed at the door. ¡°And he said that you go. I¡¯m not trying to be rude; I¡¯m looking out for you sweetie. I don¡¯t want to see you get hurt again.¡± Declan swore that he could see hope in her eyes. Was it hope that he would leave before Allen learned of his presence? Hope that he would take care of the tyranny of this Allen fellow, or was it hope that he would win the encounter? He wanted to ask, but saw that she was just staring off into space towards the door. Declan looked over his shoulder, fully expecting to see ¡°Allen¡± waiting for him. That was just how his day had been going. He was surprised that there wasn¡¯t a hulking brute of a lusus naturae waiting to punch him in the face. ¡°Look, Sarah,¡± he said as he turned around to face her, ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know what you are talking about. I¡¯m not the guy that you think you know. I have come here from very far away to save you.¡± She looked at him like he had lost his mind. ¡°Did he hit you that hard,¡± she asked; concern in her eyes. Declan sighed. Questions rebounded from one side of his skull to the other such as, why did he always make himself go through this? There was nothing stopping him from just grabbing her and sending her back to Terra Sarah. There was no way that he could do that to her, though, this had to be her choice. She had to be the one making the decision. He wouldn¡¯t force her to come. Options had to be provided. ¡°Look,¡± he said earnestly, ¡°Your world is about to die, and I don¡¯t want to leave you here. Come with me, and I will protect you.¡± He added that last bit because it seemed to be working for him so far. He was glad to see that he was branching out from the come with me if you want to live shtick, but he was still itching to tell someone to get to the choppa. She stared back at him, looking him in the eyes, and he felt a connection. She saw him, not the man that she thought she knew and she realized that he was serious about her being in danger. He smiled, appreciating that he wasn¡¯t going to have to grab her and drag her away unwillingly, and was especially happy that he was no longer focused on her chest. It seemed like things were going smoothly after all. He almost panicked a little when she¡¯d told him to go, but now everything was back on track. On track? Did he seriously just run another horse reference through his head? What the hell was going on with him? A young colt who stood at a table nearby chortled. ¡°Betcha didn¡¯t see me over here, didja?¡± He was a burly fellow, but didn¡¯t look like anyone that Declan couldn¡¯t handle. He was young, in his early to mid-teens. The boy wasn¡¯t buff, but he was wiry. His beechnut hair was long and ran down the length of his back. The centaur was wearing a flannel shirt with the sleeves cut off, and no shirt beneath it. He had a scruffy patchwork beard of scraggly hairs that made peach fuzz look full and luxurious. ¡°My dad is gonna kick the ever lovin¡¯ horse piss out of you when learns that you came back. Hell, I thought he killed you. I reckon that he¡¯s going to this time. You just wait right here. Imma gonna go git him.¡± The centaur that was known as Sarah raised a hand in a hold it right there gesture, ¡°Stop, Chet, you don¡¯t need to do anything. Declan was just leaving. Isn¡¯t that right, Decky?¡± Her eyes were wide and imploring, and her voice made it clear that she was telling him instead of asking. Declan smiled and decided to ignore her. The faux centaur stepped in front of the door way, blocking Chet¡¯s egress. ¡°Do you always run to daddy for help, or do I scare you?¡± Declan¡¯s face was painted with a smirk as he asked the question, and his tone was mocking. He absolutely hated people like this, the pot stirrers, who went out of their way to cause trouble for someone else without getting their hands dirty. He wanted to spook the boy. Spook him? Seriously, what was happening to him? Chet put his mug of coffee down, his chin whiskers wiggling as he stifled the crying fit he was about to have, and galloped out the doors. Declan let him pass. His fight wasn¡¯t with the boy, and one way or another he would be out of the Revelator¡¯s hair in under half an hour. Declan thought about calling out a snide remark to Chet as he ran out of the coffee house, but thought better of it. He was going to bring the Stallion, Allen, and Declan idly wondered if Allen was Italian. That would make him Allen the Italian Stallion. He slapped his palm to his forehead. What was it about this place that was making him think and act so stupidly? Oddly, after facing bulbous gelatinous masses of tentacles, being burned by an acidic air, and narrowly missing out on being imploded he wasn¡¯t very worried about some half a man who had a boner for beating on the other him of this world. In fact, he was feeling like giving out a little payback on behalf of his duplicate. ¡°Sarah,¡± he said with a devilish grin, ¡°If I beat Allen in a fight does that make me the new stallion?¡± She made a raspberry sound as she snorted, ¡°Look, hot to trot, if you can beat Allen, then you know that you automatically become the new Stallion of the herd. And that¡¯ll mean that I¡¯ll have to do whatever you tell me.¡± She gave him a wink, ¡°But we both know that¡¯s never going to happen. Get out of here before he seriously hurts you.¡± ¡°Does it matter how I stop him? What if I kill him?¡± This time everyone in the shop burst into laughter, a few unprepared customers did a spit take, and even Sarah the centaur had her hands on her hips and was laughing herself silly. ¡°Honey, you are gonna hafta kill him if you want to survive this day.¡± Declan smiled inwardly, that was just what he wanted to hear. His holographic hooves clomped over the counter and he asked Sarah the centaur to bring him some black coffee. He was feeling the ache of having been running and fighting for the last several hours and needed a cool down. Coffee would hit the spot. She brought it, shaking her head in sadness, as she knew what was going to happen very soon. ¡°No charge,¡± she said. He stood there sipping it pleasantly for about ten minutes before he heard loud hoof steps coming in their direction. The swing doors creaked open slowly, and a gruff voice barked out a single word, ¡°Mason!¡± All Declan heard, however, was ¡°McFly!¡± An obvious alpha male stepped into the caf¨¦ and pointed a thickly muscled finger at Declan. Jesus, Declan thought, it looks like his finger could kick my ass. The brute stepped forward and then started doing body builder poses. First, he did the Front Lat Spread while giving Declan a half-cocked nod with one eye closed, then he transitioned into the Front Double Biceps stance that he paired with a wolf-like growl, then he shifted into doing the Side Chest pose holding it for a solid twenty seconds, after which he performed the ¡°Most Muscular¡± position. Finally, he french kissed each of his biceps; then he put his enormous mitts together and intertwined his fingers, turned his palms outward and stretched his arms until his fingers cracked. ¡°I¡¯m gonner beat¡¯cha till you can¡¯t breath, then Imma gonner break each of yer legs, and leaves ya outside for the wolves ta eat you alive. Imma gonner make you regret comin¡¯ back inta my herd.¡± To Allen¡¯s astonishment, Mr. Mason trotted over to him, and brought his face up to look the brutish equinoid in the eye. Allen snorted, but Declan did not flinch. Instead, he snickered. ¡°Not only are you too stupid to realize that you are outmatched, but you can barely string together a coherent sentence.¡± The stallion was faster than Declan had anticipated, and drove a fist towards the false centaur¡¯s stomach. Thankfully, Kristine had swifter reflexes and swiveled her leader out of the way in the nick of time. She was unable to dodge the uppercut that Allen had followed the first punch with. It snapped into Declan¡¯s jaw with a crack, but Declan hardly felt it. Declan calmly backed up and turned around and withdrew his .45 from his back. ¡°Sorry, Biff, but I¡¯ve done about enough fighting for the day.¡± He leveled the hand cannon at the big bearded centaur¡¯s head. He had to admit that this Allen guy was a bruiser. He was twice the size of Schwarzenegger, and he was uglier than a homeless three year addicted crackhead needing a morning fix. His beard was black and unkempt and his eyes were bloodshot, and Declan assumed that he had just come off a long night of drinking. Declan blew him a kiss and pulled the trigger. He couldn¡¯t feel bad about it since he would have made sure that he had died in the apocalypse that he was going to initiate, and in fact, it sort of eased his conscience to know that the stallion went fairly quickly. The brute hit the ground like a turkey that had been dropped from a helicopter for a Thanksgiving day giveaway. His brains sprayed all over his son, who had been standing behind him. Declan noticed that Allen, the now deceased stallion was holding a knife in his hand, so he chalked that one up to self-defense, even though shooting the man had pretty much been his plan the entire time. Reflexively, Allen¡¯s body made the most muscular pose once more as it laid on the ground and then went still. Everyone in the shop stared at Allen¡¯s corpse. They couldn¡¯t believe that he was dead. He heard all sorts of exclamations from the crowd. ¡°Holy Horse Hockey!¡± ¡°How in the hell do he do that?¡± ¡°Didja see that?¡± The best came from behind him. It was Sarah, and she actually sounded relieved. ¡°You got the bastard.¡± Declan twirled the gun in his hand and then returned it to his backside under his jacket. He took his time turning around to look at Sarah. She wore a look of shock and surprise, obviously unable to connect what happened with he who had just done the deed. He was about to make a smart remark, but the look on Sarah¡¯s face shifted from shock to that of a warning, and she yelled, ¡°Look out!¡± Declan turned his head to look behind him, and saw the blood covered colt approaching him with his father¡¯s knife in hand. The boy made a diving motion towards his flank, but the blade and the boy who followed, fell through the false image of his horse half. The boy had clearly intended to tackle his flank and stab him repeatedly until he¡¯d killed Declan, but the illusionary horse hide was immaterial and he ended up diving right through it. The colt hit the floor hard and lay still. Declan could see that the fall had driven the blade into the boy¡¯s chest just below the sternum. A pool of blood began spreading and if Declan had actually been on the ground rather than floating three feet above it he would have been standing in the lad¡¯s life blood. Nonplussed at the event that had just occurred Declan turned to face the crowd; he imagined that they thought of him as some kind of wizard what with him killing a man from ten feet across a room and then becoming ghostlike when he was attacked from behind. ¡°All right, by your own proclamation that dead jerk,¡± he pointed to Allen¡¯s corpse, ¡°Over there just handed me the title of top dog. As the Stallion of this herd I hereby order Sarah to come with me. Any of you yahoos don¡¯t want to die I suggest that you follow her lead and come with me too. Or don¡¯t, it¡¯s your call, but if you stay here you will die.¡± Declan then tapped his temple and told Mother to open a gateway for Sarah and any others who wanted to, to go through. Sarah and several others spooked when the crackling blue energy portal appeared but calmed down when Declan showed them it was safe by putting his hand into it and withdrawing it whole. She entered easily, but Declan noticed that two of the centaurs could not pass through the threshold no matter what they did. It reminded him of a magnet repelling another magnet with a similar pole, no matter how they tried they couldn¡¯t get close to it. This felt familiar, like he had seen it somewhere else, but he couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on where or when. Declan shrugged. He could always ask Mother later. He had bigger fish to fry. He had an apocalypse to perform. How did one deal with what were essentially horses? He wasn¡¯t down for disease again, and he had to do something that would take care of business. He flipped on his HUD and looked it over when he started thinking about an article he had read when he was a kid about how they had reintroduced wolves to Yosemite National Park and how good they were for the environment. Their presence had knocked back deer populations that had been ravaging the area for years. Wolves loved to eat four legged beasties. The bad news was that they only killed one or two animals at a time, and then laid off hunting until they were hungry again. He needed wolves on steroids. He needed rabid wolves on steroids. He needed giant wolves with rabies on steroids that were angry at their mothers and had become addicted to methamphetamine. Screw that he thought, he needed giant freaking Dire wolves with claws that could cut through steel that were utterly ravenous, insane, and came in droves. He began typing on his HUD, Dire wolves that suffer from Acromegaly suddenly appear in packs that outnumber each centaur by five to one. These packs will appear within five feet of every individual currently alive and begin ripping them to shreds. Each wolf will seek to sate its hunger by devouring no less than five centaurs, after which it will be in a bloodlust and will kill any centaur it sees heedless of the danger they pose to it. If a wolf does not manage to eat a centaur every five minutes it will go into a blood lust and kill any equine creature it encounters with the centaurs taking priority. When the last centaur on the planet is dead they will then turn on each other and kill one another until only a few are left. These Dire Wolves will have claws that can cut through steel, and teeth that could bite through plate armor. They are sterile and cannot reproduce, and if they do not eat centaur meat within twenty four hours they will die. The wolves will appear as soon as I leave the planet and begin their grim work. He pressed enter and closed his HUD. He saw there were messages flashing, but Kristine was on his back, and if something important came up she would let him know. Right now he had one more world to get through before he was finished. ¡°Kristine, you ready to go?¡± She dropped him to the ground and released from his back. ¡°As I¡¯ll ever be,¡± she purred. His outward form wavered and in a second he looked just like a normal man again. The two remaining centaurs were yelling at him since they hadn¡¯t been able to get through the portal, and now it was gone. Declan shrugged them a, hey whatta ya want me to do look, and vanished after asking Mother to take him to Earth 876. 21) Cult .45 Cult .45 He phased into hell. He noted that this was the first time that he hadn¡¯t had the opportunity to stop and smell the roses, so to speak. He had no time to register the smells that this world might provide, and he was happy for that. He scanned his environment and the only thing he could see was blood and body parts. The urban landscape was like a scene from Dante¡¯s Inferno if Dante had mixed Crack, Meth, and Krokodil together after downing a jug of pure corn whiskey. Declan had seen some things in his life, but nothing had prepared him for this. He could already feel mother rummaging through his head, applying psychiatric techniques built for trauma victims, and adjusting his body¡¯s response by flooding his head with endorphins. She was, in the immortal words of NYC sewage workers, keeping his shit together. The sounds of screaming echoed through his ears, and fires were burning everywhere he looked. It was hard to tell what made him gag, the smoke, the blood, or the stench of decaying bodies. Ah, he thought, there is the smell I was so desperately missing! He was in sensory overload, dizzy from just being dropped into what felt like a torture chamber run by H.H. Holmes and the Marquis De Sade under the guidance of the CIA. Bile rose in his throat and he choked back a full-on vomit that was forming in his stomach. He caught some in his mouth, but swallowed it quickly; swaying, he grabbed a street pole to steady himself and looked around. ¡°Kristine, what the hell is happening here?¡± The car bopped beside him, ¡°War? Riots? Hard to say.¡± Declan examined the area around him, and he immediately ruled out war. He saw no signs of shelling, and the fires looked to have been started by accidents or by spreading from one place to another. The damage and devastation could have been caused by riots, but if that were the case then they were the bloodiest riots he¡¯d ever seen. Riots didn¡¯t generally leave limbs hanging from lamp posts about or heads laying in gutters. This was just bad timing on his part. He¡¯d tried to get here as soon as he could and clearly was in the middle of whatever it was that the Invigilator wanted to be stopped. He understood that now. There was something seriously wrong with each world that he¡¯d visited, or so he believed. He may not have seen it on Rah¡¯s world or that of the centaur known as Sarah, but he was certain those were worlds that were like rotten apples; lovely on the outside and a horror show under the skin. Declan was about to pull up a mental map of the area when he realized that he was standing under a street sign and he looked up to read the names of Wabash and Lake. He was right where he was supposed to be. The man in the blue suit closed his eyes and silently thanked God that he was at least close to where he was supposed to be. He turned and saw the sign for Bloody Starr¡¯s Coffee and More. It wasn¡¯t lit up but he could see people inside. Declan made a beeline for the door and found it locked. He knocked, but no one answered. Again, he knocked harder and this time was answered with a scream from inside. It was a voice that he knew all too well. Sarah was screaming like she was being murdered. He didn¡¯t hesitate. Before he realized what he was doing he was already in motion. His foot flew up and kicked just below the door handle. Unfortunately, Declan had never been trained to use his foot to kick down a door, so when he lashed his leg out he struck with a solid thunk and pushed off the door so hard that he ended up landing on his ass hard. He looked up at Kristine hovering there and shouted, ¡°Kristine, break the glass of the door and help Sarah. I¡¯ll be right behind you!¡± The miniature 57 Chevy imitation took off like a bullet and shattered the glass of the door, shards sprayed inward in her wake, and Declan heard her strike at least one body as she vanished into the darkness. He picked himself up and pulled his gun from his back. His knee was stiff and was not happy being asked to move so soon after his failed attempt to SWAT the door. It protested loudly with each step he took. His rear end didn¡¯t feel any better, but he supposed it was better than having one¡¯s limb¡¯s ripped off. He saw a struggling body laid out on the counter. She, he was certain it was a she, was fighting and kicking as three other individuals who were wearing black robes held her down. A fourth individual was laid out on the floor and Declan could see that the unconscious form prone on the floor was also wearing black robes and holding what appeared to be a Kris in their hands. The first of what he assumed to be cultists looked up at him as he entered. Declan could not see his face, but he could hear him clearly, ¡°Greetings, brother! Have you heard of your Overlord and destroyer, Shoggluthoid?¡± The third acolyte cut him off, ¡°We are supposed to be chanting, Jerome! Chanting! How can we sacrifice this maiden if we aren¡¯t chanting? Let¡¯s really call to the master!¡± The second figure turned his cowl to face the man wanting to chant, ¡°Are we doing the Om mani padme hum chant?¡± The third figure almost threw up his hands but realized just in time that he was holding his victim down, ¡°No, you idiot. Buddhists chant that, not members of the Cult of the Endless Eldritch Entities!¡± Cultist number two pointed a finger at himself, forgetting completely about the girl he was trying to kill, ¡°I am a Buddhist, and a cultist; the two things are not mutually exclusive. Everyone seems to think that Buddhism is a religion, it¡¯s not. It is more of a philosophy or way of life. Anyone can be a Buddhist, even the Pope!¡± Jerome cut in, ¡°You don¡¯t find being a Buddhist interferes with your murderous and bloody philosophy of appeasing the old ones?¡± The second thug shook his hood, ¡°Not at all, I believe that they are mutually exclusive endeavors. Buddhism allows me to try to be a better self as I struggle to summon the dark gods whose names must not be spoken.¡± The third assailant started screaming, ¡°Eeeeaaaay, eeeeeeeAh, Shuggim, Shugger, Shuggthem, Riley, F¡¯taghn!¡± The others just stared at him from their dark hoods. ¡°I think you mispronounced R''lyeh,¡± Jerome stated flatly, ¡°Unless one of the dark lords is named Riley.¡± The third cultist growled and began chanting again, but he stopped when no one joined him. ¡°We can¡¯t stop chanting just because the Unholy Friar has been knocked unconscious!¡± The second hooded figure turned to look at the first, Jerome, and let out a soft, ¡°Eeay?¡± Jerome the cultist chastised them, ¡°Look, I like chanting as much as the next guy when we are doing a sacrifice, but we also have to think of recruitment. Someone will have to replace those that we lose during the culling. This guy,¡± he pointed at Declan, ¡°Looks like a decent candidate. Why not ask him to join us? I have a spare robe in my car. We can just sacrifice her, and then I¡¯ll go get it.¡± ¡°Uhhh, eeay,¡± said the second noncommittally. Declan drew up his gun and didn¡¯t even give a warning. He fired three times, one cartridge pierced the chest of the furthest robe wearer, one round went into the arm of a second, and his third shot pierced the skull of the nearest acolyte from hell, the one who liked chanting. He had to admit, it sure looked like they were trying to sacrifice her, so he figured he¡¯d let them join a real death cult. One in which the first requirement for membership was death. He reached out a hand and helped to pull the hapless victim up into a sitting position and Sarah¡¯s face appeared before him. She was paler than he was used to seeing her, and was wearing a gossamer black dress that did little to hide her, um wow, bigger than average assets. She clearly had no bra on, and he was not about to look south unless she said that her feet were on fire. She stared into his eyes and he saw no hint of recognition. This iteration of his love clearly did not know him. ¡°My name is Declan,¡± he said in as calm a voice as he could manage. The car motored over and came to a rest near his shoulder, he nodded towards her and said, ¡°This is my friend, Kristine.¡± The stunned barista looked the two of them over, ¡°Thanks, I¡¯m Sarah. I work here.¡± Declan couldn¡¯t wait, ¡°What is going on around here? It looks like the whole world has gone mad.¡± She shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. All I can tell you is that everything was normal three hours ago, and then everything started going crazy. Some people started changing into these crazy things. The ones who didn¡¯t were torn apart. Other people, like these bastards in the robes, came in and started chanting, and before you knew it they were grabbing customers and making sacrifices. I was the last one left and they weren¡¯t wasting time doing their thing. If your little car thingamajig hadn¡¯t come in when it did that wench on the floor would have already cut my heart out.¡± She kicked the prone form at her feet, and Declan accidentally looked south. He blushed and turned away only to see the cloaked figure he had shot in the arm standing back up. ¡°Eeeeaaaaaay,¡± the man roared as he pulled what looked to be a short paring knife from his sleeve and waved it over his head. Declan took careful aim with his handgun and fired another round directly into his cowled head. That did the trick, as he dropped like a sack of rotten tomatoes. ¡°IiiiiOoooUuuuu,¡± Declan said as the monastic menace dropped, ¡°You should have brought more vowels if you wanted to do a chant off. I didn¡¯t even have to say, ¡°And sometimes Y, punk.¡± The gun was suddenly heavy in his hand, and a wave of exhaustion swept over him. He had never felt so tired in his life. It was finally getting to him, all the nonstop fighting and running. It bothered him that he had taken to killing so quickly and easily. The man was drained and all he wanted to do was go to sleep. His arm with the gun dropped to his side like the weapon weighed a hundred pounds. Sarah had shrieked at the sound of the gun going off, but Declan waved her down, showing her that he had just finished off the one acolyte that he had hit in the shoulder. Kristine lifted the kris from the floor magnetically and scanned it carefully. ¡°Declan, look at this.¡± The wavy knife floated over before him and he could see intricate designs etched into the metal of the blade. ¡°Any idea of what they mean,¡± he asked the car. Her laser light ran over the symbols on the blade, ¡°They are . . . ,¡± she began, but stopped. The knife flipped over and over, rotating as she scanned it once more. ¡°Declan, this is worrisome.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. She scanned the knife again. ¡°It¡¯s odd,¡± she said ominously, ¡°I know that I have scanned this weapon several times. I am further aware that I had downloaded all the information on it into my database, but all of that information is gone.¡± Kristine paused and levitated the kris in front of her headlights so that she could have a better look. ¡°I know that I have repeatedly recorded the symbols, but I have no records of what those symbols were. It is as if they were erased from my database. Let me try to compare them to my store of known languages.¡± She became absolutely motionless. Normally she would drift a little to one side or bob up and down ever so slightly. Declan realized that he had never seen her completely still until now. It was unnerving. Her headlights came on and she swung her tail end around. ¡°This is most curious. I cannot retain the images of those symbols within my database for longer than twelves seconds. They are purged in some manner that I cannot counter. This should not be possible.¡± Sarah brushed herself off and straightened her dress, ¡°Look, I appreciate the help and all, but the door is broken and there are weird things roaming the streets. Cultists are going around killing people, and I am several blocks from home. I appreciate all the Sherlocking the two of you are doing, but it isn¡¯t safe here.¡± She emphasized her observation by pointing at the piles of bodies in the caf¨¦. ¡°I would be happy if you came with me and helped me get home, but if you are more interested in some creepy knife then I¡¯m going on my own. You want to join me? Great! If so, let¡¯s go, but I¡¯m not staying here much longer.¡± Sarah put her hands on her hips and licked her lips most suggestively. ¡°Whatta ya say, tough guy? You coming or staying?¡± Declan had never seen Sarah so, erhm, aggressive before. He had thought the centaur version was bold. This Sarah was really coming on strong, and it bothered him. ¡°Look, Sarah, I can get us all out of here safely. No worries about those things outside, I¡¯ve dealt with them before. Give me a minute, and we¡¯ll be on our way.¡± He looked back at Kristine, ¡°How much time is left on the counter?¡± ¡°You have fifty-six minutes remaining.¡± He pinched his nose, ¡®Great, we are going to be really cutting this close. Mother open a portal for Sarah and Kristine.¡± He looked over to the car, ¡°Make sure that you take that knife back with you. I want mother to study it.¡± ¡°You got it Deck!¡± She motored over to the girl, ¡°We have a safe place that we¡¯d like you to join us in. In a moment a doorway of sorts will open. Once we go through we will be safe. Will you come with me?¡± Sarah smiled a toothy grin. ¡°I don¡¯t have much of a choice,¡± she said as she looked outside. ¡°Will the hero be coming, too, or is he planning to stay here and fight off the ravening hordes?¡± The car listed to the right, ¡°Declan will be joining us immediately afterward. He just has to take some precautions so that nothing follows us. He¡¯ll be fine.¡± The girl, as frazzled as she was, gave him a hungry look, ¡°Good,¡± she whispered to the car, ¡°He smells absolutely delicious.¡± Kristine not only caught the predatory glint in the girl¡¯s crimson eyes but also saw what she thought were fangs extending from behind her upper lip. Declan was oblivious to the conversation his car and the new Sarah was having. He had picked up an order pad and a pen and was frantically writing down numbers. ¡°Eight minutes twenty seconds before we see it, then another half hour, give or take a minute or two, before the shockwave hits. That gives me thirty-eight minutes. We can do this.¡± This time he did not wait. He pulled up his HUD and scrolled over to his apocalypse screen. He typed: Eight minutes ago the sun gained extra mass from a passing main sequence star. This caused the sun to go Super Nova and explode. A shock wave has since been traveling at one quarter the speed of light and will strike the earth on its day side instantly vaporizing everything on its surface. The night side temperatures will exceed the average temperature of the sun¡¯s surface by 15 times and incinerating/disintegrating everything on the night side moments later. Then the planet will fragment and explode and become little more than space debris. He hit enter and closed his HUD. It was time to go. He appreciated the way he could make things happen retroactively, which helped him shave off an extra eight minutes from his deadline. He wanted to make sure that he was able to leave before he set everything up for the apocalypse. Needless to say, he was surprised to see both Kristine and Sarah still there. ¡°What are you still doing here?¡± ¡°Mother hasn¡¯t opened the gateway, she says she can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t?¡± ¡°As before, on Crowe¡¯s world, something that she will not permit through is too near the gateway position.¡± Declan was looking out the window as the car spoke. He saw the night sky flare brightly for a minute before it settled back down into its normal luminescence. ¡°Dammit,¡± he spat. ¡°Can you go take a look outside and see if there is anything nearby? If there is we might be able to get out of its range this time around.¡± Once more his focus was such that he hadn¡¯t even noticed that Mother had not spoken to him since the time he¡¯d arrived on this world. They needed to get a set protocol together, something that was better coordinated and not so reliant on taking care of things ¡°In the moment.¡± The car didn¡¯t even acknowledge him; it just zipped out the broken door and flew down the street. Sarah looked over to him, ¡°That makes it just you and me. All alone.¡± She stepped over and slid behind the counter. ¡°I¡¯m starving, you want some coffee?¡± He nodded, ¡°I could use a cup. Just surprise me. I really don¡¯t care what you give me so long as it has caffeine.¡± She gave him a thumbs up, and two minutes later came back with two steaming cups of coffee, she handed him one as she sipped hers. ¡°Mmmhhmm. I was worried that I wouldn¡¯t be able to get it hot enough, but this is perfect.¡± Declan blew on the cup and inhaled a strong scent of pumpkin spice, he was already thrilled to get coffee, but pumpkin flavor was the best. Normally, he enjoyed drinking his coffee in much smaller sips, but the cup in his hand seemed lukewarm and so he took a long draught, and almost spit it onto the floor. It tasted of iron and pumpkin. At first, he tried to figure out what was in his mouth, but then he remembered the name of the store. Bloody Starr . . . surely that wasn¡¯t really blood in his cup, was it? He forced himself to swallow it. Sarah saw his face and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Is it too hot? I thought I had it at exactly 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.¡± He forced himself not to gag, ¡°Is there blood in that coffee? She looked puzzled, ¡°Of course, but I gave you O-. I thought everyone liked O-. Are you more of an AB+ guy? I can get you some of that if you like.¡± Declan looked at her, really looked at her, and realized that she had fangs. Her canines were elongated, not enough to protrude from her mouth, but enough to be noticeable if you paid attention. Dear God, he was so stupid, didn¡¯t his mission statement say something about hemovores? Her people drank blood to survive. She was a living vampire; flesh and blood, but a vampire nonetheless. ¡°No,¡± he sputtered, ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m going to check on Kristine. Give me a minute, OK?¡± She nodded and he initiated his Headnet. Kristine, are you all right? Do you see anything? Declan, the streets are clear. I can¡¯t find anything around or above the area I have designated as minimum distance for being able to interfere with our extraction. I¡¯m coming back, I¡¯m afraid that my presence will only draw attention if I remain mobile. I saw that flash of light, was that your doing? Yes, I set off a supernova, we don¡¯t have much time left. Get back here and we¡¯ll try again. I am returning now. ¡°Kristine says we are all clear, so whatever it is has to be nearby. Mother wouldn¡¯t leave us here to die unless she had no choice.¡± He looked the caf¨¦ over, even going into the back, but he found nothing. He went back to Sarah and sat beside her. She was still cradling her coffee in her hands and taking short sips. He was about to ask her about being a living vampire, as opposed to the undead variety when he noticed movement on the floor. The stabby cultist, the one the other robed madmen had called the Unholy Friar was moving his leg, and the exposed flesh was a light green. Declan stood up and pulled his handgun from his back. He placed the barrel right behind the hood of the killer and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened; he was out of cartridges. He began thinking, did I fire five shots or did I fire six? He¡¯d lost count in all the commotion, so he wasn¡¯t sure. For all he knew the weapon hadn¡¯t been fully loaded when he took it from Crowe. She might have fired it before she found him, or she may have just left a chamber empty so she didn¡¯t shoot her foot off. Either way, it didn¡¯t matter now. The cultist was getting up. He figured if he couldn¡¯t shoot the bastard then he¡¯d use the gun to club him to death. He began battering the cowled head over and over. His blows, numerous though they were; seemed to do nothing to the hooded cultist. The friar stood up slowly and drew back his hood. Declan saw that he had made two miscalculations. First, the friar wasn¡¯t a man at all, she was a woman. At least, she used to be a woman. A presumably pretty one at that, but now long strands of black hair were falling out in globs as she transformed. Her eyes were already those jelly-like fish orbs and her mouth had become lamprey-like, circular with numerous rows of teeth spiraling around in an endless circle. He could see buds that would be quickly growing into tentacles forming above her upper lip. Her skin was swiftly becoming more gelatinous, and her fingers were rapidly extending into talons. He was boned. He knew it, Sarah knew it, and the friar knew it. He and Sarah were going to die in moments unless he could think of something quickly. Before he could move a stool slammed into the monster¡¯s head. The seat flew off to the right, and the four legs splintered on the impact. Sarah had clocked it from behind! The assault had no effect on the beast, though. It didn¡¯t even turn around to see what had just hit it. Its eyes were focused on him. Oh, joy, he thought, she likes me. He drew his hands up into fists and prepared to jab her in the eye. He took a step forward when he heard Kristine¡¯s voice. ¡°Get down, Declan!¡± He didn¡¯t hesitate. He dropped to the ground face first. He heard a loud Ka-Chunk! And Kristine screaming, ¡°I¡¯ll run your green ass over, bitch. I¡¯m a frikkin¡¯ steamroller.¡± She had connected to the cult monster at the base of its skull, the creature¡¯s head rocked forward, and it stumbled, but it quickly righted itself. Declan rolled out of the way, and grabbed a stool. As he stood he used it to play lion tamer and kept her at bay. The woman was getting bigger, and less woman-like by the second. He looked around for anything he might employ to hurt the creature. He doubted there was anything that he could use; she had just taken a full shot to her skull with Kristine going at mach speed and she didn¡¯t even blink. The fact that she no longer had eyelids might have contributed to that factor, but she wasn¡¯t slowed in the slightest. He could hear Sarah yelling and frantically patting him on the shoulder. He spared her a glance and saw she was offering him the strange dagger that they had gotten from the friar pre-transformation. He reached out his left hand and took it from her. He sent a signal via Hnet to Kristine telling her to distract it for a moment. The little car did not disappoint. She began circling the monster¡¯s head so fast that she was little more than a blur. Declan took advantage and lunged forward with the knife. He drove it deep into the beast¡¯s belly and dragged it upwards until he struck the breastbone. Then he shoved the blade in as deep as he could, going so far as to drive the blade in so far that he was in its chest cavity as far as his wrist before he could stop. The creature shuddered and fell backward. His hand came free with a disgusting Sssshhhhlucking sound and he flapped it in the air in a vain attempt to get the green goo off of him. Between the goo and the blood, he had just imbibed he really wanted to retch. There was a tingle in the back of his head and without thinking about it Declan dropped the knife. It fell from his hands and plopped into a green puddle of sludgey blood that was threatening to stain his shoes if he didn¡¯t move soon. He heard the portal open and saw the blue glow that it emitted. He grabbed Sarah and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Kristine zipped ahead of him and entered the portal just before him and Sarah the Vampire. 22) The Return The Return Declan found himself in the launch bay. Kristine was looking beaten and battered again and his newest Sarah acquisition looked a little queasy. She was pale, but then he supposed, that she was always pale. He hadn¡¯t noticed her wan pallor under the dim light available at Bloody Starrs. He had to admit that there was a strange attraction to this Sarah. He pale skin was like freshly fallen snow, and her dark hair was like wisps of shadows on a dusky day. Her red eyes were magnetic, and pulled him in, although why he couldn¡¯t say. Red eyes, and skin the tone of death should have not have made his heartbeat as much as it did. His own Sarah had been pale, but vampiric Sarah was nearly absent of color. ¡°Kristine, get thee to the motor pool.¡± He said it with such conviction that she didn¡¯t even bother to argue. She knew exactly what he¡¯d meant, and she was once again in need of repairs. He would have her filled up with nanites to help in moments like this, but nanites only worked on organic materials so when she was damaged she had to get repaired. She gave him a weak beep and floated off to see about repairs. Maybe they could reinforce her somehow. Give her a stronger frame and outer shell. There had to be some weird dimensional metal they hadn¡¯t known of on his world. His concern for Kristine was genuine, but it was more of an excuse to get his mind off of the newest Sarah. A medmech stepped forward. ¡°I will take the lady to the medical bay, sir. She will be well taken care of, I can assure you,¡± his voice was not even remotely mechanical, and sounded slightly British to his ear. Declan nodded and assured her that everything would be fine. She seemed to be in a daze but was handling herself quite well. She went off with the mech-less reluctantly than he imagined she would. ¡°Get her some new clothes, too,¡± he yelled to the medbot and it waved a hand back in acknowledgment. After they had vanished around the corner he realized that he might have been more specific on what kind of clothing he had been intending. He did not need another Rah bouncing around his home half naked. He was only human after all, and his ability to resist their allure might waver. Then he chastised himself for worrying about how much skin might be showing while he had been operating under such a strict deadline. He may not have made it. He had been cutting it very close on that last world. ¡°Mother, did I succeed? Her voice was strangely melodic and soothing to hear, ¡°Yes, Declan. Would you like to get a breakdown of the Expy that you earned or possibly spend some Expy to upgrade yourself or Terra Sarah? You did very well, your Novapocalypse was a rousing success, and you just made the deadline with minutes to spare.¡± He shook his head in negation, ¡°I¡¯ll worry about Expy and upgrades tomorrow. Right now I want a shower, some food, and a bed in that order.¡±The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Mother chimed an acknowledgment, ¡°It shall be provided. Query, would you like me to install Headnet systems in all the girls you have retrieved? It will make things easier for them,¡± and then she added, ¡°and you I would imagine.¡± He wiped his goopy hand on his dress shirt. ¡°Yes, but only do the Sarah¡¯s. I don¡¯t want any of the centaurs or other people cluttering up our comms. Did you find space for them?¡± ¡°Yes, we have more than enough accommodations to serve the people that you bring.¡± Declan wavered where he stood. The knowledge of his success had not fully sunken in, and he took a moment to just breathe. ¡°Mother, in my inventory I have some lifeforms known as Geneers. Retrieve them and then study them and learn everything that you can. They might be something we can use later on.¡± ¡°Understood, and undertaken.¡± He didn¡¯t bother to check his inventory. If she was on it then he trusted that they¡¯d be already gone. ¡°Another thing, Declan. I will be taking genetic samples from each of the girls as well. You have brought home some breeding stock with you, already, so that we can begin to populate the planet with the various species that you save. Do you want me to begin using the genetic materials from the various Sarahs to create a strain of DNA that has no encoded defects, and rebuild their races? We have some Centaurs, but more would be better. Also, we completely lack any breeding stock for the vampire race that you just brought in. We could save their people from extinction by doing so. Will that be amenable to you?¡± Declan considered the implications of what she was asking. He was wholly against it, he¡¯d saved who he could, and did not regret the ones he couldn¡¯t. He wasn¡¯t interested in becoming an intergalactic Noah¡¯s Ark saving every species that he destroyed. He knew that Mother took samples of all life forms on the planets that he visited so that he could replicate them here is he chose to do so. Doing that to sapient beings, however, did not sit right with him. ¡°No, I don¡¯t like that . . . ,¡± his words were cut off as a stabbing pain shot through the back of his head. He grew dizzy and almost tipped over before his head stopped spinning. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself. ¡°I am sorry, Declan. What were you saying?¡± ¡°Apologies Mother, I guess I¡¯m more tired than I¡¯d thought. I got a little wobbly for a second, there.¡± He licked his lips, they were dry and his mouth tasted of ozone. ¡°I was saying that I don¡¯t like that the girls are alone, and I think that we need to do what we can to rebuild their people as much as we can. Get started on it right away.¡± ¡°As you wish, Declan. Will that be all?¡± ¡°Hmmm. Make up another gun for that second Sarah I brought in, she goes by Crowe, and I think I left her weapon on the last Earth I was on. Get her plenty of ammo, too. I may start taking her with me on missions if she is half as tough as I think she is. Then print me out a top of the line shotgun. I need something that I can use to defend myself when I¡¯m on an away mission.¡± He almost shuddered at the thought of going on an away mission. It thrilled him to his core to be able to do something like that. He started to leave the bay and then realized that he had no idea of where he was going, ¡°Hate to ask, but where is my room?¡± The floor lit up in small squares leading him out of the bay. ¡°Just follow the path I¡¯ve made for you. Tonight I will upload the floorplans into your cortex so you will know where everything is.¡± He nodded and strolled to his room. Ready to crash and burn like a shooting star falling into the Big Dipper. 23) Alone Time Alone Time Declan let the steam open his pores as the water turned his skin a bright red. He had already rinsed off minutes ago, and he was just letting the water do its magic work. He would have to talk to Mother in the morning about installing a hot tub; he could really go for a good long soak right about now. Every muscle in his body was aching in spite of the nanites that were rebuilding his tissues and clearing his muscles of lactic acid. In the morning he would be hale and hearty; ready to go bite the universe on the behind. Right now all that he was fit to do was go to bed. In fact, he was going to skip his meal. He knew that the nanites needed fuel for their work, but right now he needed sleep. He shut the water off with a thought and stepped out into the bathroom proper. Air vents opened around him and enveloped him in a blanket of warm air, drying his whole body in seconds. He combed his hair and slipped into a pair of boxers and his slippers. He considered shaving, but dismissed it for the morning; there was no point in doing it twice. He shut the lights off and slipped into his bedroom. That was when he came to the realization that he wasn¡¯t alone. ¡°Lights,¡± he called out and the room illuminated instantly. That was when he saw Second Sarah sitting on his bed. She was resting against the headboard and had her legs stretched out in front of her. She was still in her clothes from this morning. Was it only this morning that he¡¯d saved her? That was worlds ago and felt like several lifetimes. She casually threw one leg over the other. ¡°Uh, hello,¡± he said cautiously. ¡°I brought your dinner,¡± she said as she pointed to a tray with a lid. ¡°Thanks.¡± He nodded to her but felt very self-conscious being around her in his underpants. His hands drifted to cover his crotch subconsciously. ¡°I was actually planning to just go to bed. I¡¯m pretty tired.¡± Second Sarah gave him a curt nod, ¡°I imagine so. You¡¯ve been out saving me all day.¡± He coughed, ¡°Yes, well, all in a day¡¯s work as they say.¡± He reached out and grabbed his bathrobe. He slipped his arms into it and tied the belt around his waist, and his shoulders slumped as the tension they had been carrying suddenly vanished. ¡°Look, Deck. I know you are tired and have had one hell of a long day, and if you want me to go I will, but,¡± she began, ¡°I wanted to just ask you a few things before I called it a night. Is that Okay?¡±Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Sarah,¡± his voice was hoarse and dry, ¡°I have never denied and will never deny you anything. I can last a few more minutes. What do you want to know?¡± ¡°Why?¡± She stared into his eyes and he was drawn in as if they were black holes, ¡°Why do you risk yourself to save me? I mean all of the me¡¯s. It¡¯s confusing, I know, but you understand what I¡¯m trying to say.¡± He nodded, ¡°I do,¡± he said. ¡°Well, you clearly aren¡¯t in it for the sex. I mean, Jesus, you almost ran away from me just because you were in your underwear. I met the other ¡°girls¡±,¡± she made quotation marks with her fingers when she said girls, ¡°Jiminy Christmas, there is a frigging centaur and a cyber-robot me. Don¡¯t think I forgot about the sexy bunny girl, either. Plus, you bring home some topless crazy road warrior chick? WTF, dude? I know you said you were out to save as many Sarahs as you could, but this is nuts.¡± He leaned towards her, ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I help them? Just because they aren¡¯t like you or me doesn¡¯t make them less special. It doesn¡¯t make their existence any less valid. I cherished my Sarah, and I am sworn to keep her memory alive by saving every single one of her I can. I will make this planet a true Terra Sarah by the time I am finished.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve said that already, why is it so important to you?¡± He didn¡¯t blink. He didn¡¯t flinch. He just looked her in the eyes and said in a voice o faint that it barely came out of his mouth, ¡°Wuv, twu wuv.¡± He fought to keep his eyes from watering as he said it. Now a look of what in the hell are you talking about clouded over her face. He was shocked. ¡°Have you never seen the Princess Bride?¡± ¡°The Princess Bride? Who is that? You mean Lady Diana, who married Prince Charles? Or are you talking about that Julia Roberts movie?¡± He shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s just a movie. My . . .¡± he paused and then amended, ¡°Our all-time favorite film. I will show it to you tomorrow if you want. I promise that you will love it. It is, perhaps, the greatest movie ever made.¡± She crinkled her nose, ¡°What is it about?¡± ¡°Everything. Revenge, intrigue, murder, giants, pirates, poison, giant rats, and most importantly, true love.¡± He paused and took a deep breath. Sarah saw tears well up in his eyes, but he managed to hold them in. ¡°We must have watched that movie a million times. We threw quotes at one another all the time. That is why I do this. Because death cannot stop true love, it can only delay it for a little while.¡± She watched as a single tear rolled down his cheek. He stood up. ¡°It is always a pleasure to see you Sarah, but it has been a long day, and I am very tired. If you don¡¯t mind I¡¯m going to go to bed.¡± She stared at the ceiling for a second, and he could see that her eyes were watering too. ¡°Tell you what,¡± she said, ¡°I hate sleeping alone somewhere new. How about I stay here tonight and we just hold each other?¡± She wiped her eyes, ¡°As long as you promise no funny business,¡± she said as she pointed her finger at him. He climbed into bed beside her, leaving his bathrobe on. ¡°That would be nice.¡± The lights dimmed and went dark a moment later, and Declan rested. 24) Confession is good for the soul, but not for Declan Confession is good for the soul, but not for Declan Declan stared at the assembled Sarahs. Each was beautiful in their own way; so similar and yet so different from his own beloved Sarah that he could not believe that they were basically the same person. He admired them. Each was so strong; they were all fighters and had far more courage than he did. Second Sarah sat in the front center of the group. She¡¯d somehow already become the de-facto leader and spokesperson for them. To her immediate right sat Crowe, and beside her was the centaur; who had the vampire sitting on her back in an old ladylike manner. To Second Sarah¡¯s left was Essea who had a half-cocked smile on her face as she looked at Rah, was filing her nails. Sarah the vegan had separated herself from the group and was sitting about ten feet from them. Each of the girls had a large cup of coffee in their hands that was emblazoned with the Bucky Starr logo from their own world on it. His stomach had been doing flip flops ever since he¡¯d decided to convene this council. There were things that needed discussing, and he did not want to put them off. The first item on the table was the fact that he was the destroyer of their worlds. Then they would get into all of the other issues. If there was time. He suspected that they were going to be discussing that first item for some time in the foreseeable future. If they ever made it passed that first hurdle then he would inform them of his decision to rebuild their people and societies on Terra Sarah. He wanted to make independent states that ultimately capitulated to him when absolutely necessary. He had no desire to become king of the planet of Jurassiced species. The ones brought back from the dead via the recoding of DNA. He wanted free people who would need and want for nothing, whose sole purpose would be to better the world they all lived on. He looked at all of them sitting in the amphitheater-styled room Mother had constructed for them mere hours before. It was not open air, but he wanted a place in which all of the Sarahs could have a say in how their world was going to be run. He envisioned a Roman Senate-style of speaking and this design fit. It amazed him. They had all just been through complete and utter hell in a span of time that was far less than a day, and they all sat there seemingly unaffected by their ordeals. No one mentioned the loss of loved ones, no one said a word about surviving an apocalypse. The vampire never once mentioned the cultists that almost killed her to the others, and Crowe, well Crowe would be hard to follow at the best of times. Vegan Sarah, ugh, she had already separated herself from the giggle of other girls. Their fortitude was unbelievable. Declan gulped and stepped forward. ¡°Ladies, I have asked you all here today so that we might discuss some things, set some ground rules, and get to know one another a little bit better.¡± He stopped. In his experience, it was right after making a statement like that someone always interrupted with a question. None of them moved. ¡°Ok. If you don¡¯t have any questions,¡± he paused, hoping that one of them might say something that would delay him having to come clean right at this moment. Naturally, none of them said anything so he resumed his speech, ¡°There is something that I want you to know. It is about me, and it will most likely make you very . . . upset.¡± Again, he scanned their faces and saw nothing out of place. They showed no sign of concern. Dammit, he thought, just rip the band-aid off and get it over with. ¡°I did save each of you. Some of you,¡± and he looked at Crowe and the vampire, ¡°a little more than the others. But if I had not intervened you would all be dead right now.¡± The girls nodded, some sipped their coffee. Crowe eyed him with the admiration of a child, and the vampire looked at him like he was one big neck ready to be bitten. Second Sarah was the only one that looked bored. ¡°What you might not know is that I was the one who destroyed your worlds.¡± He braced himself for them to shout at him or charge him, hell, he half expected Crowe to draw on him. That was her de facto move, but they all still bore the same looks as before. There was something very strange going on. ¡°Did you hear me? I destroyed your worlds. Wiped them out. Killed everybody.¡± A few of them nodded, but there was still almost no reaction.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Second Sarah stood up and blew a bubble. After it popped she sucked it back into her mouth and gave it a few frantic chews. ¡°Look, Deck, we all know this and we¡¯re all cool with it. Right, girls?¡± She looked to either side of her shoulders and noted that they were all nodding their agreement. ¡°Mother clued us all in on what happened and why when she put that Hnet thingy in our heads.¡± She tapped her temple with a black polished nail. ¡°We all know that you didn¡¯t have any choice in the matter and that this isn¡¯t something that you like to do or even want to do.¡± She plopped back down onto the bench beneath her bum, ¡°Why would we hold that against you?¡± Declan was dumbfounded. Just because they knew why he did what he did didn¡¯t mean they would understand or even accept his actions. No. There was more to it than what it seemed. He went to put his finger to his temple so that he could communicate with Mother directly, when it struck him that Mother had manipulated them. She had rewritten memories or used psychological techniques, meds, endorphins, or any combination thereof in order to secure their compliance. He wondered if she had done that to him. Had he had any recent change of mind that he could think of? Nothing jumped out at him, but he couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that if Mother would manipulate them that she wouldn¡¯t do the same to him. He had to play this smart. He knew that she was watching him and that if he didn¡¯t do things right he would be the next one to get his brains scrambled. So, he smiled and said, ¡°That¡¯s great! I¡¯m glad to hear that you are all on board with this and behind me one hundred percent.¡± He then segued from his big announcement into the way that he hoped life would be on Sarah Terra. From there real disagreements and voices came out, and personalities clashed. That helped him confirm that Mother had altered them in some way since they could not agree on anything else. The meeting went on for several hours. They all broke for a half an hour, and when they returned he had queued up the Princess Bride for them all to watch. He had plenty of popcorn, coffee, and handkerchiefs prepared for all of them. An hour and forty minutes later and every one of them was quoting lines and imitating characters. The best part of the entire thing was that he sat beside Second Sarah, and she had laid her head on his shoulder. Crowe had held his hand, while the vampiric version of Sarah had sat between his legs, her arms wrapped around his calves as she watched. He had set it up with Mother ahead of time that they would perceive the film in a way that each girl got to experience the movie as if it had been made on their world. Essea, for example, saw a cybernetic setting, Crowe watched a post-apocalyptic version, and Sarahtaur (Hmm, he liked that appellation, he¡¯d have to start calling her that) watched centaurs play out the scenes. It was nothing for Mother to let them see things that way, and that was why he had no doubt that Mother was playing brain games. The only thing he couldn¡¯t figure out was why she would do that. That was something he¡¯d have to think about, and he would talk to Kristine about it the next time that they got cut off from Mother¡¯s connection once more. Once the movie was over, and everyone had their fun they were free to do whatever they wanted, and most of them left. Second Sarah gave him a hug as tears ran down her face. ¡°I get it, Deck. I really do. I wish that there was someone who loved me as much as you loved her.¡± She turned away from him and walked away with a strange sad little smile on her face. Deck waited and watched her go. She deserved her space, and he would not pursue her. He was just getting to know this Sarah, but he could already tell that she was a nice girl. That was something he would think about later. He had plans to meet with Mother and Kristine and run simulations so that when the time came he would be much better prepared. He ordered the lights out, and then wiped a tear from his own eye. The movie had gotten to him as well. He might be the bringer of death for untold worlds, but he was still human. He had feelings. He was sensitive. Satisfied that his face was dry and that he was no longer teary eyed he left the amphitheater. He didn¡¯t notice that Sarah the Vegan was still in her seat, that she was crying, or that she looked at him forlornly. She had already laid her heart at his feet and he hadn¡¯t even tripped over it as he left. She consoled herself by eating a carrot in the dark. 25) Saving the Day Saving the Day Eddies of solar radiation swirled around the Horseman as he called the star¡¯s energies to power him as he prepared to open a chronal gate. He had done this once before, and the attempt had taxed his power immensely, because of that, he felt justified in using an external source, such as the star, since no one was using it anymore. The star was now half its former size, but it was not collapsing in on itself. Poe was pulling energy away fast enough that the star lost mass and power equally. Contrary to logical thought, the Horseman was not glowing or growing hotter, he was merely a conduit for the power he was stealing. It channeled through him and was converted into anti-chronal particles. It took a lot to alter the flow of time, even mere minutes could be draining and he was attempting an even larger leap. He carefully shaped the expelled particles into a fourth-dimensional mass that would implode on his command when he was ready. Two things slowed his progress. Firstly, it was a delicate matrix that he was forming. He had to place each particle individually into a structure that defied time. That meant that it also defied space. So, he was building his construct in a subspace pocket dimension and it required his utmost concentration; he knew that a singularly misplaced atom would result in a failure that would destroy everything around him for no less than one hundred light years spherically. Considering that would also include him, he was going to take his time and make sure things were done right. The second factor was that he was not going to travel in time; time was going to travel around him. This made his task all that much easier. Reversing all of time was almost impossible if you were in it, but a small portion could be rebounded back, pulling him along in its momentum. Once the matrix was formed he would cut the area of space that he currently occupied from the rest of the universe. He would then draw the matrix into himself in a way similar to water being sucked through a straw. He had to know the exact place and time that he wanted the ¡°water¡± to stop in the straw so that he could enter it. Once in that rewound chunk of time, he would have about ten real time seconds to achieve his goal before he had to use the remaining energy from the sun to reverse the ¡°water¡¯s¡± flow. He was not looking forward to that event at all because it would not be similar to stepping through a doorway, but would feel more like he had been snapped back to his original position by a giant rubber band. It didn¡¯t matter if the girl survived or not. He had more than enough power to restore and revitalize her if that occurred. Human bodies were fragile, but they were also resilient; he could restore dead cells to life with ease depending on how long the person being revitalized had been dead, and hers would be a very fresh corpse. He floated in space, arms spread out as if he were embracing the great void, his legs together, toes pointed downward. The lack of a solar wind did not stop his robes from twisting like snakes in a hurricane. Shadows swirled around him, tenebrous and stygian in depth. The light of the dying sun behind him had no effect on his dusky wardrobe they remained darker than a black hole. Finally, he dropped his left hand to his side, and pointed his right hand, finger extended at the shimmering ball of anti-time. At once he spoke and yet did not speak, words came, but were without form. They were without sound. Had he lips they would have mouthed, ¡°Say not, ¡°Why were the former days better than these? For it is not from wisdom that you ask this,¡± but his rictus smile made no deviation to indicate that he had made a vocalization of any kind. Serpentine and swiftly it extended a strand of sparkling energy towards him. It slithered through the space between them like a striking snake and struck him in his chest. He was not as prepared as he had thought as the sudden burst of pain nearly caused him to blackout. Machiavelli was strong, however, and he managed to maintain his focus as the unchronal powers surged through him. This was the balancing act. His actions had to de as delicate as a butterfly''s wings in a hurricane, but it felt like he was attempting to cut a toenail with a chainsaw. He now had to continue to draw power from the sun in order to maintain the matrix¡¯s form while simultaneously pulling the anti-time through his body until he recognized his destination. He had no idea of how long he had to juggle those energies, or if there was even a passage of time to note. For all he knew he had created a null space, a place where time and space were merely concepts, and if that were the case he could spend a trillion years in an external second or a second in a trillion years. This was why he did not manipulate time. It was dangerous and would induce madness in lesser caliber minds. At last, he came to a point where the Earth was rebuilding itself. He was shocked at how quickly the process actually was; the Invigilator played no games, he had snatched Mason and crushed the planet within seconds. It was an impressive feat. Poe could admit that to himself. He had destroyed so many worlds that he knew all the intricacies of the job, and his former master had made it look easy. He refused to believe, that for the Invigilator, destroying a world was actually effortless for him.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The reversal continued until he was floating over the area that the coffee shop had stood. He waited as it rebuilt itself and he drifted, immaterially, through the building¡¯s roof. He watched as death was unspooled and people rose from the ground no longer crushed or on fire. He zeroed in on his target, the female known as Sarah Crowe, and settled behind her. He marveled that this was the woman that Mason had lusted after. She was so plain. He had never seen a more unassuming female. She was short and had no color at all. She dressed, he noted, as if she were going to a funeral. There was something about her eyes. He could admit that. She had eyes that were at once entrancing and mysterious. He could instantly see that there was something more to this woman than he¡¯d first imagined. There was something hidden behind those verdant orbs; something that he had no doubt that his replacement had failed to note when he looked inside them. A faint shiver of fear ran up his spine. What was it that she was hiding? The girl was still frantically looking around as the first signs of the apocalypse started, but within moments he could see her talking to that vapid Mason via a viewing hologram. He let the flow of time crawl to a stop, and he phased into the past effortlessly. He could see Mason on her HUD, he could hear his adversary clearly now, ¡°What I¡¯m saying is that there is nobody that I want to grow old with, nobody I would want with me from now until the end of the world. Sarah Crowe, will you please consent to being the one love of my life from now until the end of the world? Will you marry . .¡± He watched as her HUD cut out and the first vibrations began. Poe did not wait. This was the moment in which he had to act; he could not delay. He did not try to explain anything to her. He simply reached out, grabbed her by the shoulders, and hugged her close to him. Her co-worker, Pat, saw this and the last thing he thought before a cappuccino machine was thrown across the room and crushed his head was that he had just seen the Angel of Death. He could not have been more right. Poe would have appreciated the thought. With the girl secured he released his grip on the temporal matrix he¡¯d created, allowing it to collapse back in upon itself. The implosion wrenched them from that stolen moment and catapulted them back into the NOW. Poe felt that the return trip could have been much worse. He had expected more resistance upon his reentry into real-time again. He checked, both he and the girl were unharmed, although she had passed out from what he would approximate as something similar to a G-force. Her skin was clammy and she was covered in a sheen of cold sweat. The little color that she¡¯d had when she was back on her Earth had drained away. It didn¡¯t matter to him one way or another, she would live and that was all that he cared about. It was then that he noticed that the area of space they¡¯d returned to was very dark, he had used up more of the sun than he had expected. There was nothing left of it. Not a trace. There was no heat signature, no residual radiation. There was nothing to mark its passing. He almost felt a pang of regret, but then he realized that this entire universe was now void of life, and there was no reason to care. The sun served no purpose any longer, and it had, he considered, at least been used to fulfill a need. As far as he was concerned his needs were paramount to anything else, and if he¡¯d needed to subsume the energies of a thousand stars then he would have done so. It took him much longer to get his bearings than it did for his arrogance to return. He checked his internal chronometer and found that they had actually returned four weeks later than when he had left. His rictus grin twisted into a scowl. That was four weeks that fool Declan had to get to better acquaint himself with his new powers. The man would have time to settle in and possibly experiment with his abilities. He was more dangerous now than he had hoped he would be. This meant even more time to scout him and reevaluate his strengths. He was going to have to rethink his whole plan based on just how advanced Mason had become. Mason did not worry him. Poe had no doubt that he could take the man at his leisure, but he didn¡¯t want to run the risk of being hurt unnecessarily. Mason was like a porcupine. Poe could take him out, but might suffer a quill in the process. There was no point to being hasty. Besides, he mused, he had the man¡¯s woman; the woman that he loved more than anything else. He could simply dangle her in front of him, and Mason would jump through hoops to get her back safely. He was in no danger so long as he held her as a reserve trump card. He smiled inwardly, he would make the man dance before he¡¯d deliver his precious Sarah to him. When he was done with him, he might actually allow them to embrace one another before he vaporized them. He could be magnanimous. He could allow them that much. He was not a monster. Hishoverbikee drifted to him with his mental call. Poe tossed the girl over his shoulder and seated himself on his ride. Fatigue hit him the moment that he stopped using his power to move through the void of space on his own. He had not realized just how drained he actually was, and now could feel the strength seep from his weary bones. He would put off his surveillance of Mason until he recovered. For now, he would focus on the girl and gaining his strength back. 26 The invigilator schemes against Declan Setting Limits The Invigilator, real name redacted, looked over his minion¡¯s handiwork. He was mildly impressed. The human had exceeded his expectation. He had been creative, innovative, and most importantly, successful. It had all been a test, one in which he hadn¡¯t allowed the man to study for, and he had passed in spite of his inexperience. He was surprised that in at least two of his objectives the human had managed to have a peaceful resolution prior to destroying the planet and its inhabitants. In spite of the agent¡¯s success, the Invigilator had decided to handicap the boy to a certain extent for an undetermined period of time. It had to be done. This was meant to force him to grow, and think even further beyond the paradigms that he knew. He did not know when he would decide to give the human back full use of his abilities, but when the time came he would unshackle him once more. For now, however, he had to temper the agent¡¯s powers until he garnered a better understanding of them. Success aside, he was admittedly disappointed that the Decimator had not employed a single one of his powers that¡¯d he¡¯d been given, and had instead relied on primitive weapons to see him through times of difficulty. He had given this agent more power than he had any other. His powers would be almost limitless at their peak. Once he had mastered his skills he would be unstoppable compared to the beings of the worlds he would be going to. Not even his vaunted Horseman could compare to his Revelator. He had looked into the man¡¯s soul, and he had found fortitude, patience, and a strength of character than none of his variants had come close to possessing. Mason had been chosen for his combination of physical skills, mental fortitude, and intelligence. The man was creative and successful in all of his iterations, but only this man had built a substantive character. There were nine others that he could have chosen, but they would not have been able to handle the upcoming trials, and if the multiverse was going to survive then he needed the man that he had now. This version would also bring his wayward son, the Horseman, back into play and if he was able to read all of the variables then it would take the two of them working together to stop what was coming. His hands, as big as they were, were metaphorically tied. He was not permitted to interfere, but he could call upon others to do his work. They needed to discover what was happening, and figure things out before the others broke free.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He stroked his chin guard absentmindedly. He would use the artificial intelligence known as Mother to implant a thought into his head. He would think that he had come up with it on his own, and he would investigate in the proper places. He had to make sure that his intermediary moved quickly and did not waste time. Time was a commodity that they did not have. He could already hear the others beating on the veil between worlds. They had come so close to getting a foothold here too many times, and once that happened the continuous cosmos would cease to be. He had to help in small subtle ways. Anything overt would cause his superiors to come down on him hard. This was just a small section of reality, and they could care less whether it was obliterated or grew unfettered. They just wanted it tended to. He sent his commands to Mother and then lined up several more worlds for the agent to destroy. He would be generous this time around, and he would give him some time to come up with a plan of success. It was time to see how well he played the long game. The fact that he was hobbled with meaningless things such as a point system made it all the more interesting. Declan Mason was facing numerous hurdles in the foreseeable future. The Invigilator wondered if he would be able to jump them all while his legs were shackled. It was time to really push his boundaries. There would now be a system in place that would force him to adapt and evolve, and hopefully, prepare him for the horrors to come. 27) Making a mess of things Making a Mess of Things Sarah awoke with a migraine. She wanted to vomit but managed to keep her stomach under control. She had no idea of where she was, but she was thankful the lighting was dim. She tried to think of what had happened. She had been in the coffee shop and Declan was . . . proposing to her? She thought that was what he was doing. He had unquestioningly said, ¡°Will you,¡± before something cut him off; before something had grabbed her. She could just remember spiraling down a long hole that went on forever. She¡¯s have sworn that she had died at the completion of her endless fall, but her she was alive and slowly dying of a massive migraine. She didn¡¯t even have any of her medication on her to help alleviate the pain. She was just going to have to suffer through it until it went away. She realized that she was lying on a cold metallic floor. It was smooth, but it was the temperature that was her blessing. She slipped her head back to the cool floor and let the icy chill combat the pain in her head. She had no idea of how long she had been out for, but she knew that she slipped into unconsciousness as she did when her headaches appeared. At least now all she had was her nausea and a slight pain behind her eyes. She sat up slowly and tried to make out where she was. She could see that she was in a nearly empty room that was probably 10 x10 in dimension. Even the ceiling looked to be ten feet high. She was in a cube. The only other thing that she could make out in the room with her was an old Halloween decoration; a robed skeleton seated on a rolling chair. She wondered if that was meant to scare her, but for all she knew she had been locked in some sort of storage closet. She stood up and realized that her legs were wobbly. She simultaneously came to the understanding that she needed a bathroom, as she had to urgently deal with both of nature¡¯s calls, and was quite possibly about to make a rather vocal deposit in the porcelain piggy bank. Her stomach protested the height changed and was insisting that she eject its contents as soon as possible.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Sarah searched frantically for a door but found no means of egress. ¡°If you are looking for a door, then your search is quite futile, Ah assure you,¡± said the ragged skeleton as it stood from the chair. ¡°You are my prisoner, and you will go nowhere without my say or supervision.¡± It stepped forward and grabbed her wrist in a grip like an iron vise. His hollow eyes stared into hers, ¡°You will eat when Ah say eat, you will urinate when Ah tell you to, and you will defecate on my say so. Do I make myself clear?¡± Sarah nodded and then vomited on his robes. She was sure that some had splatted up onto his teeth, but she couldn¡¯t look. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be crude, but unless you tell me to do those last few things you mentioned I¡¯m going to do the same thing to you in about the exact same order.¡± The skeleton dropped her to the floor and examined its robes. It pulled the parts covered in sick away from its body and then gestured to a wall. The metal surface rippled like water and a doorway appeared that led directly to a restroom. She picked herself up and ran inside. Sarah was a touch miffed when the door did not close behind her, but at least the skeletal man turned his back on her. She relieved herself and then washed up. When she exited the bathroom she found Skeletor seated on his chair once more. He put up a hand to keep her away. ¡°Let us begin again, my name is Poe. Poe Machiavelli. Ah, am better known throughout the copious cosmoses, as the Horseman. Ah have slain a probable googolplexian amount of lives, and I have no qualms about adding yet another body to my count.¡± His outstretched palm closed into a fist and he pointed a finger at her so that he had no illusions about who he was going to be adding to the pile of bodies. ¡°Ah saved your life,¡± he shook his head and waggled a finger in the air, ¡°No, Ah shall amend that statement. Ah saved you from an apocalypse, but you died anyway. Ah was, however, able to resurrect you. It was simply minor damage.¡± Sarah swallowed hard, ¡°Why did you save me?¡± ¡°Because your boyfriend, a mistuh Declan Mason, has been pining away for you since your planet was destroyed, and Ah aim to manipulate him into helping me or killing him so that he cannot interfere with my plans. Ah went back in time to retrieve you, and you will do as Ah say or Ah will kill you repeatedly, and bring you back to life until you have lost your mind. Do you understand me?¡± ¡°I¡¯m your huckleberry,¡± was all she said. She could not tell, but the Horseman smiled. 28) Ambushed Ambushed Declan stared at his harem of women. Well, OK, they weren¡¯t technically his harem. They¡¯d never had sex, and he was very much a one-woman guy. The fact that his woman was dead didn¡¯t matter. He couldn¡¯t and wouldn¡¯t let go. He now suspected that his inclination to cleave onto Sarah¡¯s memory so hard was because of Mother¡¯s manipulations. He would have liked to think that it was because in his heart he was certain that we would still be able to save his Sarah. All the power at his command and he couldn¡¯t save the one thing he loved. Then again, he could crush worlds with a tap on his HUD, but he couldn¡¯t go toe to toe with an extradimensional entity that looked like three-day old calamari. He really needed to get a better grip on his powers. He also could not place as much trust into Mother as he once had, at least not until he sussed out whether or not she was working for him or had her own agenda. Now, he was facing a wall of women whose faces were determined and arms folded. They did not seem willing to take no for an answer. ¡°We come. We help,¡± spoke his apocalyptic Valkyrie, Crowe. She was dressed and ready for war. She still wore her bandoleers without a top, and once more his mind could not help but wander into the thought of certain parts of her anatomy chafing. She had foregone the bikini bottom, although he suspected that she still had it on underneath of her exterior camouflaged military styled pants that complimented her almost knee-high boots. Her handguns were holstered at her side, a shotgun was slung over her back and a scimitar dangled from her hip. Beside her stood Rah, who wore a skin-tight suit, and clearly could not find a bra in her size anywhere on Terra Sarah. The rabbit had various types of blades all over her body. At her ankles were two long thin dirks. At her waist was a belt of at least four blades that he could see that looked like a bowie knife, a wicked trench knife on which the brass knuckles were spiked, a KA-BAR, and a tanto. She was twirling a kukri in her hands as if she were an expert. Countess had steel blades over her fingers that were attached to a thin mesh metal glove on each hand. Sarahtaur carried a bow and arrow, Essea was simply herself, carrying neither a weapon nor looking like she needed one, and Second Sarah had several sticks of dynamite tucked into the belt at her waist. She stood at the center of the group, her hands on her hips. Her lower lip was sticking out, a look that Declan recognized as, This is NOT up for discussion mien, and he trembled a little. He knew not to argue with that face. In fact, he noticed that all of them bore that same expression now that he looked. Sarahtaur was the one that surprised him by speaking first. ¡°I¡¯m not sure why they gave me this archery set,¡± she said, ¡°I have never used a bow in my life.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± He stared into their ranks and counted them as one member short, ¡°And where is the other Sarah?¡± Countess rolled her eyes, ¡°You mean the Vegan?¡± She said that last word with a trace of disgust. ¡°We took a vote and decided not to invite her.¡± The other girls all nodded in agreement. ¡°Did you know that she is also a CrossFit trainer as well?¡± Declan shook his head in the negative. ¡°Give it time, honey,¡± Rah said in a stone cold tone, ¡°She¡¯ll tell you about a hundred times an hour if you let her.¡± As things went, he understood part of what they were saying; he had considered leaving her on the planet when he¡¯d found out she was a vegan, but he¡¯d been sympathetic enough not to do so. ¡°Um,¡± he began, ¡°Sarahtaur, Rah, aren¡¯t both of you vegetarians as well?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. The centaur nodded, ¡°Well, yes, but not by choice. My stomach can¡¯t handle meat, but I don¡¯t have to announce it to everyone when I walk in the door.¡± ¡°I¡¯m half rabbit, not half crazy,¡± Rah chuckled, ¡°Rabbits do eat meat you know. Did you think we just stood around eating carrots all day? Really, Clan, you have to wise up.¡± Chagrinned at his ignorance Declan shrugged his shoulder. ¡°So, why are you here?¡± Second Sarah stepped forward, in spite of her mundane origins in comparison to the others she seemed to have become the de facto leader of the group. She seemed completely unflappable, nothing he could say was going to change her mind, and he was fortunate enough to recognize that fact before the discussion started. He¡¯d been through enough ¡°discussions¡± with Sarah Prime that he knew this was a battle that he simply would not win. ¡°Mother has informed us that you have another world to take care of, and we want to help you,¡± her voice was even and calm and told Declan that she would brook no dissension. How in the hell did they find out about another pending apocalypse before he did? He was going to have some words with his surrogate cyber-parent. She should not have disseminated information to them before he was apprised of the situation. This was yet another thing Mother had done to wiggle out of his good graces. She was, by the minute, digging herself into a pit from which he doubted she could climb out of by the time she was finished. ¡°She shouldn¡¯t have done that,¡± he said sharply, but then he hastily added, ¡°But since she has I¡¯m guessing this isn¡¯t up for debate.¡± She walked up to him and flicked him in the chest and gave him a wry smile, ¡°Nope.¡± His shoulders slumped in defeat. At least they were all outfitted for battle. How had that happened anyway? He had a bad habit of jumping in over his head with little more than a towel, a toothbrush, and a big smile. Another concern that he had was that all of his expertise on the shotgun had been barely helpful in his battle with those strange creatures. Their weapons would probably fare no better than his had, which meant that the girls would be in a lot of danger. He¡¯d allowed Crowe to come with him that first time because she was a warrior and would have ripped his head off if he¡¯d said no. He stared into each of their eyes and saw their resolution. There would be no dissuading them from their course of action. The best that he could hope for would be to mitigate damages as they went. He hoped that Kristine had gotten the upgrades that he had told her to if nothing else she ought to be able to help keep an eye on the girls. Declan ran his fingers through his hair. He used both hands because he was extremely agitated. ¡°All right,¡± he said solemnly, ¡°We¡¯re going to do this, but we are going to do this right.¡± At his words, the girls all smiled and looked relieved, clearly they had expected a bigger fight. Second Sarah, though, was unfazed by his pronouncement, she had known he would cave in before they had even confronted him. She gave him a lopsided smile and said, ¡°I knew you could never tell any of us no,¡± she stated coyly as if she¡¯d been reading his mind. She turned about and faced her squad of Sarah¡¯s, ¡°Ok, ladies. Let¡¯s get ready. Declan is on a deadline and we are burning daylight.¡± The girls all turned in unison and mock marched their way to Launch Bay One. He watched them go, simultaneously terrified and thankful that they would be there to help. Kristine floated up behind him, and for a moment he considered having Mother create a mini DeLorean, with a compatible A.I. for her to hang out with, she deserved companionship too. As loathe as he was to even talk to Mother at the moment he would give the idea some serious consideration. ¡°Did you get the upgrades I suggested?¡± She bobbed her chassis up and down in the affirmative, ¡°And then some. I also saw that the girls were dead set on going with you so I made some things to help. Our printers work so much better since we incorporated the information from Essea¡¯s world.¡± Declan raised an eyebrow, ¡°Things? What kind of things?¡± Her engine growled, ¡°Oh, let¡¯s surprise you!¡± Kristine didn¡¯t wait for his reaction but instead tore off for the Launch Bay as if she were on fire. Declan stared in disbelief. They were all against him. 29) Your Place or Mime Your Place or Mime? Declan entered the Launch Bay and for the first time since he had become the Revelator. The girls were waiting for him, and they actually seemed eager to be going with him. As if reading his mind Second Sarah said, ¡°What, you didn¡¯t think we¡¯d just sit around the house eating bonbons and waiting for you to get home did you?¡± The others let out a giggle and nodded in agreement. Rah was bouncing up and down anxiously, ¡°I can¡¯t wait to go, go, go!¡± She said full of enthusiasm. ¡°I want to go and see another world!¡± Countess, the vampire, rolled her eyes and said, ¡°You¡¯re on one now, you nib nab.¡± The beastion nodded her head like a jackhammer, ¡°I know, isn¡¯t it great? I can¡¯t wait to see another!¡± The living vampire chuckled and shook her head in resignation. She was wearing a skin-tight dress, but it was unnaturally tight as if darkness had been stretched thinly over her nubile flesh. Declan tried desperately not to look at her, but Crowe¡¯s topless figure just happened to be where his eyes went next. His head twisted of its own volition and did not stop until his eyes rested on the resident centaur. ¡°No, seriously,¡± Sarahtaur said in exasperation, ¡°Why do I still have this freaking bow? This is utter bullshit!¡± She was deliberately holding the arrow with the tip towards herself while struggling to pull the bowstring backward. At least, Declan prayed, she was doing it deliberately. He shifted his eyes to Essea, who seemed to be the calmest of the bunch. She had pulled up what looked to be a HUD of her own; the screen was black and green binary numbers were falling from the top of the display to the bottom like falling stars. The glittering digits reflected in her eyes, making them sparkle like little flares of jade. He found it to be . . . enchanting. He wondered why he could see her HUD since he had never seen anyone else¡¯s, not even when they were actively using it in front of him. Kristine did a quick circle around the bay twice then she floated over to Declan and said, ¡°We are ready to go. I think you¡¯ll be pleasantly surprised at what the girls came up with.¡± Declan gave her a quick nod and twirled one finger in a circle. ¡°Let¡¯s go, we are on the clock.¡± He heard Mother initiate the transport process and felt the world slip away from him. Less than a second later he and the Sarah Squad had arrived on the target world and Declan couldn¡¯t help but think that he was little more than a gun that pulled its own trigger. He was given a target and told to get the job done as quickly as he could. He flinched as his dossier pinged in his HUD. Now he would get to know a little bit about who he was annihilating and how long he had to get the job done. He opened the info box and gave it a once over. His eyes ran over the words repeatedly. He had no idea what Apoc points were, but he could guess what the Stat point would do for him. He wanted that. A free way to increase one of his physical or mental abilities would be fantastic. Declan shut down his HUD and looked around. As far as he could tell, this world was about as advanced as his planet had been about one hundred years ago. The buildings were constructed of steel and concrete but there were no land bound cars that burned petroleum for fuel. For that matter, he didn¡¯t see any kind of a vehicle anywhere. There wasn¡¯t a sign of a skateboard, a horse and buggy, a rickshaw, or even a scooter. Granted, they had appeared in what looked to be a vacant lot in an empty industrial part of the city but there was always some sort of transportation around. The thing that stood out to him was the silence. It reminded him a lot of Essea¡¯s world, a place in which no one seemed to speak unless they absolutely had to for a valid reason. The bay had not set them down where it usually did. They had not arrived near a Bucky Starr¡¯s Coffee Shop, nor were they deposited near Sarah¡¯s apartment. That meant that either there were no B.S. coffee shops or any Sarah Crowe that existed on this world. Kristine motored up beside him. ¡°Here is surprise number one. I can scan the local area and search for the genetic marker of DNA matching Sarah Crowe.¡± Declan glanced over at Sarahtaur and the vampire and was about to say something when the mini-car cut him off, ¡°It takes into consideration variants such as hybridization or complete non-human genetics. No worries.¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. The replica Chevy floated up into the air about one hundred feet and started rotating silently above them. She quickly picked up speed until her frame looked more like a rotary fan than it did a car. After three seconds of intense spinning, she stopped suddenly facing a direction southeast of their location. ¡°I have a fix on out girl¡¯s location, how do you want to proceed?¡± Declan rubbed his chin, ¡°Hmmm, why don¡¯t you take Crowe and everybody¡¯s favorite bloodsucker. See if you can¡¯t get her to come back on her own if she refuses,¡± he paused, ¡°Figure something out that will convince her to come. If you need me, give me a shout. I need to look into this world and see if I can figure out the proper way to put it down gently.¡± ¡°You got it, Deck.¡± The car zipped over and rounded up her helpers. ¡°OK, ladies, let¡¯s go.¡± The three of them left but not before Crowe pulled a wedgie out of her ass crack and the regal vampiric Sarah gave him a saucy wink goodbye. He watched them go. Crowe already had one of her pistols drawn and was running in a hunched shoulders up style that she had seen on one of the old TV vids. It had probably a very bad police drama. He almost choked when they vanished from view in a blink. ¡°What in the hell just happened?¡± He started running to where he had last seen them, but Essea placed her metal hand on his shoulder and held him back. She turned her head in a way that reminded him of a quizzical dog and stared into his eyes. ¡°You really do care,¡± she whispered to him quietly, ¡°About all of us. Don¡¯t you?¡± His brow furrowed, ¡°Of course I do, but I need to,¡± she waved him off before he could say anything more, ¡°That was another of Kristine¡¯s surprises. As is this,¡± so saying she punched a small screen that opened over her wrist and in a shimmer, her metallic body was replaced with one of flesh and blood. Or, at least it appeared to. Declan reached out a hand and touched her wrist, and could feel her metallic chassis still in place. She had covered herself with a holographic image. Essea appeared in a blue business suit that complimented his own clothes. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and she wore round black-rimmed glasses. The cybernetic girl pointed at Rah and Sarahtaur and he watched as they also shifted their appearance. Rah changed into a farm girl who was wearing a short denim dress, a sleeveless flower printed top with a large V-neck and a straw cowboy hat. Sarahtaur now looked like a perfectly normal woman wearing a white tank top, an unbuttoned plaid shirt that was tied at her stomach, and a pair of baggy blue jeans that all but covered her white tennis shoes. Second Sarah was unchanged. She still wore her goth styled wardrobe but did so with panache. With the squad camouflaged they moved out from their location. Declan assumed that Mother was downloading the info from this world, but he didn¡¯t bother to ask. She knew her job and he didn¡¯t want to talk to her any more than was necessary. They moved out and Declan was impressed that somehow the cloaking tech had managed to muffle the sounds of the centaur''s hoof steps. The team rounded the corner and found the local populace. The group stopped in their tracks as soon as they saw the people that lived there. They were not what Declan had expected. He had anticipated normal humans, maybe some sort of hybrid. Pretty much he had considered every other option but this one. The girls all looked at one another, then at Declan, and then at the crowd of people before them as if they were some sort of synchronized Olympic staring team. Declan opened his HUD and did the one thing he didn¡¯t want to do. He contacted Mother. With a finger placed to his temple he projected, Mother. Can you send me some information on the local populace? I¡¯d like a little background info on these people before I go any further. As if sensing that he did not want to talk to her a screen opened before him. He read it quickly. Two hundred years ago the people of this Earth, known collectively as the Metamfiezomaio, had brought their world to the brink of extinction. Through war, pollution, and numerous government bailouts of major corporations their Doomsday clock was moved to one second to midnight. All seemed lost until a one man unified the people of the world via his clever use of humor and a limber body. The simple application of greasepaint and a strong no talking stance the man known Markel Moreso used exaggerated motions to enact simple everyday life events. Through the use of his comedy, the various countries of the world began working together and rebuilt their entire way of life from scratch. The Metamfiezomaio emulated Moreso in every way possible. Like him, they refused to speak and allowed their actions to define them, not their words. They too began to wear greasepaint in honor of him, but after his death the people felt that simply wearing greasepaint wasn¡¯t enough, and so they genetically modified themselves so that the skin of their faces and hands became so white that they looked painted on, their lips, eyebrows, and the edges of their eyes became a stark black. They also removed the ability to speak from themselves, so that they would be forced to communicate physically. Their wardrobes were now duplicates of Moreso¡¯s clothing which consisted of a horizontal black and white striped shirts, tight black pants, suspenders, white gloves, and a beret. Declan closed the info sheet. He didn¡¯t want to read anymore. He could see that he hadn¡¯t lost his mind and that he had been right when he saw the locals going about their daily routines. Somehow, a sick and twisted god-like being named Ozob had created a planet that was populated by mimes. 30) Yours, Mime, and Ours Yours, Mime, and Ours Declan stared at the wall of people milling around before him. Actually, he couldn¡¯t call what they were doing milling. Each and every one of them engaged in some elaborate form of pantomime. One person pretended stop be walking a dog, they paused a moment as if the hound was taking care of some doggie business on the sidewalk and then moved on. Seconds later another person walked in the same spot the dog had just ¡°went¡± and slipped as if they had stepped in the dog¡¯s mess. The man looked at his shoe, then looked at the dog walker, shook his fist in the walker¡¯s direction, scraped his shoe on the sidewalk and then continued on his way. Other passersby studiously avoided the same area as if there really was something disgusting there. What amazed Declan was the fact that some people were pretending to ride bikes or drive cars, and were actually moving at speeds as if they were. He watched in awe as three kids bopped down the street on what he assumed were skateboards. The leader, a boy of about five feet in height, did a kickflip while the boy behind him tried to do the same trick. The boy very clearly missed and hit the ground hard. The third boy and the first left their fallen companion on the ground and continued down the sidewalk. Everywhere that he looked it was the same thing. People, who looked exactly like mimes were in the act of performing some sort of action that garnered the desired results. He noted that while they were all mimes (shudder) they did not look exactly alike. They all varied in some small and minute details, such as one person having a teardrop falling from one eye, while another had red circles on her cheeks, one man had a greasepaint handlebar mustache and wore a top hat, one girl had a black star on her cheek, and another had lines emanating from her around her eyes like a starburst. A casual glance would have never revealed such small details, but Declan was learning to train his eyes to see beyond their initial assessment. On a whim, he imagined that he had a skateboard under his right foot. He lifted his shoe up off the ground to the height that a skateboard would be. He pretended to roll it gently back and forth under his heel until he swore he could feel one there. Tentatively, he placed his weight on his right foot and found that although there was nothing there that he was, in fact, standing a few inches off the ground. He put his other foot on the board and could feel it rolling forward as he stood on it. He shifted his weight, but did not keep his balance, and fell right onto his rear end. Second Sarah shot to his side, ¡°Declan, what happened? Are you all right?¡± She offered her hand to him to help him up. Declan burst out laughing and took her hand. ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± he replied with his voice still rich with laughter, ¡°I was never very good at skateboarding, that¡¯s all.¡± All of the girls looked at him oddly and he explained. ¡°These people don¡¯t just pantomime things. Their actions have tangible results. If they pretended to be driving a car, then they would be. Thoughts and motion affect reality here. Rather, intent combined with mannerisms shape the world around you. I think you have to believe it and then pretend to do it for it to work. From what I¡¯ve seen these people use a combination of sign language and, naturally, pantomime to communicate.¡± Second Sarah gave him a grin, ¡°Gee, Deck, this is Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra all over again, but you figured it out pretty quick.¡± Essea crouched down and extended one arm. She extended her index finger and had her thumb raised high. She then made the universal shooting a gun motion, while saying, ¡°Bang, bang, bang.¡± Nothing happened and a look of disappointment was hinted at on her face. She barely registered any emotion, but Declan could see it in her. He knew that face so well he could tell what they were thinking just by the way they held their mouths. ¡°Well, I guess that craps all over your theory,¡± Sarahtaur said with a smirk. Rah, who had been hopping up and down in excitement became suddenly sullen and said, ¡°Aw, flippity floppity flop.¡± The cybernetic girl rose from the ground showing no outward sign of disenchantment with her attempt. Declan was surprised that she had been the first to try it, he had expected Rah to do so, and had Crowe been here with them he had no doubt that she would have become a silent killer. And it was there that he had an epiphany. Essea, try that again, but this time don¡¯t make any sounds as you do it. The metal maiden nodded and raised her arm and pointed her finger at a street light. She held that pose for the space of a breath and then dropped her thumb. The light exploded and glass rained down from the silent impact. She looked over to Declan in awe. ¡°It is safe to say that your hypothesis was correct after all, Dee-em.¡± Before he knew what was happening, Rah was bouncing on an invisible trampoline and Sarahtaur had a ghostly hairdresser braiding her hair. Second Sarah just smirked as Rah went higher and higher into the air. Then she giggled and she landed on her feet, collapsing to the ground with a whumph. Declan worried that she might have hurt herself from the fall, but relaxed when he saw her rise and rub her curvaceous derriere with a hand. She winced as she rubbed it, but showed no signs of having taken real damage. She had just confirmed that in order to maintain the effect one had to remain silent the entire time. That was good to know.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°All right ladies, I think I¡¯ve scouted this place enough. We should go and find Kristine and the others. If they have a new Sarah that¡¯s great, if not we can go. I doubt that there is anything here that Mother will want, but I¡¯m sure that she¡¯s grabbing whatever information she can. No need to stay any longer than we need to.¡± He started to head for the area he¡¯d last seen Kristine go when he saw his car, Crowe, the Vampire, and a mime that looked suspiciously like Sarah come running around the corner. There was also a man a little taller than the girls who were following along with them but he looked winded and seemed to have acquired a stitch in his side. Crowe had her pistol out and was firing at something in the air. The report of her gun stood out amongst the silence of the rest of the city. He turned to look in the direction that she was shooting and saw a huge spider that was at least seven stories tall trailing them. Wriggling tentacles sprouted from its back and its abdomen drooped from the weight of a huge stinger that slid in and out of its rear end as it dripped venom. The creature was not only preceded by his girls, but also by a throng of mimes fleeing for their lives. The fact that all of it played out silently, save for the crack of Crowe¡¯s pistols, made it all very surreal. Like the mimes, the spider creature was black and white, and had a very human looking ¡°face¡±. Declan suspected that this was another transformed beast, as he had seen on other worlds. He watched as the spider spit a white foam stream from its mouth and every person that it struck dropped immediately as if they¡¯d been shot. His team was nowhere near the spray, and he thanked God for that. Unsurprisingly, he noted that Crowe¡¯s volley of fire had no effect on the creature other than to annoy it. That was when he watched the apocalyptic angel reload her weapon, and this time when she fired there appeared to be plasma blasts that were being shot. The scene was like something from a space movie. He would have thought that they were laser beams, but since he could follow them with his unaided eyes he knew they were not photonic in nature. His disappointment grew when he saw that the plasma blasts had no more of an effect than the normal rounds did. Kristine and the others drew closer and Declan could see for the first time that the man with them was another version of himself. He had not met one of his own doppelgangers so far, and the mere sight of his double unnerved him. Not only had he not expected to see himself, but he was seeing himself as a mime. The girls nearby circled around him protectively and readied their weapons when the spider monster decided to follow the human that was pelting it with plasma blasts. Crowe and the vampire moved as if their asses were on fire. They tore a path towards Declan and his crew as Kristine stayed with the Mimes Sarah and Declan. The spider vomited forth a gout of foam which doused Declan¡¯s Doppelganger. His duplicate dropped as if he¡¯d been shot and lay on the ground unmoving. The silent Sarah and Kristine caught up to them three seconds later. The car zipped around the team in a wide arc, inspecting all the girls as she went. Sarahtaur yelled, ¡°Explosive arrow,¡± and Declan watched as her quiver made a rotating sound and an arrow rose up from the arrow case. She pulled it, knocked it, drew back, and fired in one fluid motion. The projectile arced through the air and struck the looming arachnid in one of its eight black orbs, but like Crowe¡¯s bullets, it had no effect whatsoever on the creature. Kristine pulled up beside Declan and revved her engine. ¡°There are more of those things all over the city. I counted five on my way here, and nothing we¡¯ve done can harm them.¡± Declan gave her a nod that conveyed understanding and gratitude. Something was tugging at the back of his mind. Something that he should have realized earlier, but he couldn¡¯t draw it forth. He tried to make the connections that his subconscious had but to no avail. It was the complete and utter silence of the events going on around him that threw him off. It made it harder to think that if he¡¯d been drowning in a cacophony of noise. He could feel himself about to put it all together just as the first person that he¡¯d seen sprayed by the white foam stood back up. His first impression was to be thankful that the substance hadn¡¯t hurt the person, after all, he could save some of them and he didn¡¯t wish death or pain on anyone (unless he had to apocalypse them). He changed his mind on not wishing death when he realized that the mime¡¯s face now held eight black eyes and looked more like the giant spider than it did one of the Metamfiezomaio. He could already see spindly spider legs sprouting from her back and as she ripped out of her clothes he saw that most of the humanity had been erased from her. In under a minute there stood a very close approximation of the towering creature that was still spraying fearful mimes with its vomit foam. ¡°Deck, what the hell do we do,¡± came Second Sarah¡¯s voice from behind him. She didn¡¯t sound afraid, just concerned. That meant that she was doing far better than he was at the moment. He didn¡¯t really like spiders and the fact that all the foamy mimes around him were about to start sprouting eight legs and seeking to kill everyone around them. His mind raced. He knew that there was something that he was missing. There was something that should have been obvious to him, but he simply could not come up with it. It was only after his Metamfiezomaio Memorex stood up and silently hissed at him that it all clicked into place. ¡°All right, listen up,¡± he shouted, ¡°Here¡¯s how we stop these things . . .¡± 31) Anti-personnel Mime Anti-personnel Mime Declan watched as his spider double-barreled towards him clawed hands flexing and Chelicerae silently clicking together. He looked over his shoulder and yelled to the girls, ¡°Watch what I do!¡± He then extended his arms forward and pretended that he was touching an invisible wall. The unslowing spider fiend smashed into the unseen barrier face first. Black blood dribbled down a non-existent wall as the spider-mime¡¯s head exploded on contact with the faux wall. He touched his temple and contacted them all via Headnet. ¡°The trick is to imagine what you want until you know it is real, then you have to accurately pretend to do whatever it is you are creating. Essea provided the answer. You have to remain completely silent for this to work. I suspect that the second I make a sound my wall will vanish, so don¡¯t talk whatever you do.¡± For some reason, he couldn¡¯t help but look at Rah when he said that. Just to be safe he uploaded the video recordings of Essea trying to shoot her finger gun, and then ultimately succeeding so that they would see exactly what he was talking about. Two more spiderlings stalked toward them, so Declan pretended to pick up a shotgun, pump it, and then went to where his ¡°wall¡± was. He acted like he opened a door, stepped through, and fired at the closest of the creatures. A satisfactory smile crossed his lips as the spider¡¯s head erupted in a spray of black gore. As he turned and aimed at the second spider he noticed that it now had a health bar floating over its head. That told him that he was doing something right. He pretended to fire two more rounds into the oncoming creature and watched it drop as its health bar bled empty in seconds. Declan went back through the opening he had made and shut the door. He gave the girls a ¡°You give it a try now¡± nod, and they leaped into action. Essea dropped to one knee and pantomimed placing something over her shoulder. Rah pretended to shove something into whatever it was the cyber-organic girl was shouldering, tapped Essea on the should and then covered her ears. The cyborg pulled a trigger as she aimed at the giant spider¡¯s head, and Declan watched in awe as the arachnid rocked as if it had been struck by an explosion. Blood poured from the side of its face as the duo repeated their performance. Three shots later and the giant beast was on the ground dead. Crowe was firing twin guns at anything that moved towards them, occasionally she would pretend to give them a spin or fan the trigger so that she could fire more rounds even faster. Sarahtaur was miming shooting arrows and the vampire had gotten it in her head to fire mortar rounds. Second Sarah stayed close to his side, wielding an imaginary flamethrower at anything unfortunate enough to come into her range. But, the one that both surprised and impressed him was the silent Sarah. She was a literal ninja in the field. She tumbled, rolled, jump-kicked, and slashed opponents with twin, but invisible, katanas. Spidermorphed mimes lost their heads, arms, and spindled spider legs to her imaginary blades. She was a whirlwind of motion and wherever she went death followed. When the spider contaminated mimes were out of range her terrifying and unseen blades she would pretend to throw grenades at them, and Declan watched as groups of three and four spiderlings would fly into the air, bleeding, limbless, and more importantly, dead. She singlehandedly pushed the tide of horrors back; giving Declan¡¯s team time to recoup. Rah bounced next to him and yelled, ¡°Hey, playboy, check this out!¡± Then she pretended to pull the cord on a chainsaw. She struggled to pull the start cord twice before she managed to get a good yank off. He could tell that she had managed to get the make-believe mangler motorized by the way her body started to shake. He couldn¡¯t help but watch as her d¨¦colletage vibrated from the saw¡¯s power, nor could he avert his eyes as she boobily bounced her way over to Sarah the mime and began pruning the limbs off of any spider wannabe that got too close to her or the mime. Meanwhile, Crowe had foregone the repeating revolver and was now wielding what looked to be great-ax by the way that she handled her non-existent weapon. Occasionally, she would stop swinging and let out an un-vocalized roar of either triumph or challenge. Any foe stupid enough to accept her silent scream of defiance soon found their head rolling away noisily amidst all the chaos of the quiet confrontation. Kristine wobbled over to him and rested partway on his shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Declan. I¡¯m of no help here. I do not have an imagination, and therefore cannot affect our enemies.¡± The Revelator shook his head, ¡°Nonsense. You are extremely vital to us. Do what you can to let us know what is coming, and try to get Mother to open a portal for us to go. I know how to kill this world now.¡± He paused, swallowed, and wore a defeated look then he said, ¡°Also, see if you can¡¯t round up more of these mime folks. I hate to admit it, but they seem like capable people. I¡¯d like to save at least a few of them.¡± Kristine bobbed in the affirmative and pulled away from his shoulder slowly before hitting the gas and taking off at Ludacris speed. She was without a doubt the best vehicle he¡¯d ever owned. He refocused on the battle, and could see that the vampire was now helping Essea load her bazooka, the mime Sarah and Rah were effectively weeding the numbers of the morphlings, as Sarahtaur fired an endless barrage of arrows into the more distant spiderlings. Declan noticed that the longer the spider-shifted mimes lived the bigger they got. Yeah, they were becoming the giant spiders that started this whole mess in the first place. He realized in a panic that he hadn¡¯t seen Second Sarah and scanned the field of engagement for her. Twirling around, he found her several hundred feet behind him facing a group of mimes that were all wearing black robes. They even looked to be the same group of cultists that had been attacking his hemovore, well, not the same group. He¡¯d killed them all. These were this world¡¯s variants although they looked to be in the same line of work as the others had been. They were nihilistic death cultists seeking the end of the world. Damn if he wasn¡¯t going to give it to them, too. They were annoying the first time around. This batch of bastards were also mimes, and somehow that made it worse. Second Sarah didn¡¯t even give them time to blink. She pointed some pretend weapon at them and began to wave it back and forth as the cultists all made like Thich Quang Duc, the burning monk, and erupted into a wall of conflagration. She was wielding a flame-thrower! He watched as fire belched from a non-existent nozzle and melted the murderous monks into masses of charred flesh. Second Sarah was utterly ruthless and left her fire wash of the downed bodies until there could have been little left but soot and ash. Declan could see her sweating from the heat, and could see a slight smile grow in the glow of the flaming friars. Satisfied that she had handled the situation she let go of the nozzle and ran back to Declan. She gave him a wave as she jogged up to him, wiped her brow, and shook the sweat from her hand as she approached. ¡°Dang, that was hot!¡± Her innocent wording sent him reeling. His Sarah had often said those exact words to him whenever he¡¯d bent over or did some small feat of strength. Basically, the words rolled out of her mouth whenever he¡¯d done something manly or that she could make into a sexual tease. She had done it in the same playful tone that her doppelganger had just done, and he was knocked out of breath but so small a phrase. Declan didn¡¯t let it show that she¡¯d just smote him with words on a world that no one spoke. He collected himself and flashed her a quick smile. ¡°Thanks for having my back. I didn¡¯t notice them.¡± Second Sarah placed her hand on his shoulder and gave him a playful wink, ¡°I¡¯ll always have your back, Dec. Just like I know that you¡¯ve got mine.¡± Before he could say anything she hurried over to the bazooka team and took a position beside Essea and they began to fire off rounds in tandem. Rah and her mime counterpart had joined Sarahtaur and were riding her backfiring what he took to be lever-action rifles at anything that was still moving and wasn¡¯t a mime. Crowe was now swinging two axes and had a trail of bodies behind her. She was so frightening a figure that even the monstrously enormous altered arachnids were backing away from her murderous rage in terror. Maybe I ought to call her Crowe-nan, he mused. He doubted she¡¯d get the reference, but he knew that she¡¯d have been flattered if she did. Kristine buzzed in his ear. ¡°Declan, Mother can now open a portal for you and the Sarah squad. I have managed to rescue about two hundred mimes of various ages and got them to the homeworld. Some could not go through the transport portal. I suspect that those that could not pass through were tainted in some way that Mother could not let them pass.¡± Then she paused as if taking a breath, ¡°Pull the team back and you can earn your Apoc points.¡±This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°All right ladies, I would like to thank you all for spending time on this lovely world, but it is time to disembark. Mother has a doorway ready and waiting for us and I have a world to take out.¡± They all started back towards him, Rah taking the quiet Sarah by the hand and bopping her way back with her. She was still jiggly but thankfully wasn¡¯t chainsaw jiggly anymore. He didn¡¯t think his heart could take it if she was. As he waited a shimmering blue screen opened behind him and he could see the launch bay through its glow. One by one the girls passed him by and entered the Portal. Centaur Sarah smacked his bottom playfully and as she stepped into the threshold said in a saucy voice, ¡°That was a hella lotta fun, cowboy.¡± Crowe followed closely behind her with a look of utter satisfaction on her face; Declan almost asked her if she wanted a cigarette but thought better of it. Essea, Rah, and the mime came immediately after. ¡°Dee-em, I wish to thank you for including us in this rescue mission. It was both enjoyable and enlightening.¡± The cyborg¡¯s whole body was crackling with energy. She put an open palm up to her face, the tips of her fingers touching her lips, and blew him a kiss. An arc of electricity hit his lips and made his hair stand on end. In literal shocked silence, he watched her go into the trans-dimensional doorway. Next, Rah leaned on his shoulder and very seductively asked, ¡°Do we have any other, erm, power tools on your planet, ''Rou¨¦? I kinda liked the way you were looking at me when I was waving around my ¡°weapon¡±.¡± She wriggled her nose at him and bounced into the portal before he could say a word. The revelator could suddenly envision her using a jackhammer on the station¡¯s unbreakable floor and he was about to swoon when he caught himself. At least she didn¡¯t do that boobily this time, he thought as she left. What was it with her and her boobs? There was just something about her that made him crazy. He belatedly ran his hands over his wild hair in an effort to get it to lay back down. The euphemism of what he was doing was not lost on him. That was when Sucking Sarah stood before him. Sucking Sarah? He¡¯d better come up with something better than that or Rah would be the worst of his fantasy problems. Besides, the luscious living vampire deserved more respect than that title implied. She reached over, wrapped her arms around him and then kissed his neck lightly. Before he could react, she gave him a slight nip, giggled, and flounced into the gateway. The mime version of his love simply gave him an appreciative nod and left him alone with Second Sarah. She walked up to him and ran her hands over his chest, ¡°Oh, Decky, fighting extradimensional monsters makes me all hot and bothered. Is there anything you could do about that before we have to go back home?¡± Declan didn¡¯t know how to react. Here he was, trying to be a stand-up guy and treat each girl as a person and not a sex object, and suddenly they were coming onto him like dip on a chip. Second Sarah saw the look of consternation on his face and burst into laughter. She bent over holding her stomach and gave out a gut-busting guffaw that almost made her vomit. When she caught her breath she placed one hand on his chest and kept the other at her stomach. ¡°OMG, Deck. I can¡¯t believe that you fell for that.¡± ¡°Um, fell for what,¡± he asked cautiously. ¡°I told the girls to do that to you when we were leaving. I think we all owe you a little grief, and I knew that this would help to lighten your mood.¡± She kept leaning on him but placed her other hand on her hip. ¡°You are so stiff around us.¡± She looked upward for a moment, ¡°Well, you are around them, anyway.¡± She raised her hand and put a finger in his face. ¡°You treat them like yer gonna molest them or something.¡± She shook her head, ¡°They all know about your Sarah, and they understand. Talking to them, touching them in a friendly and accepted manner, and spending time with them will not put them into your bed unless that is something that you want, and I know it¡¯s not because you have never tried to touch me in any way.¡± She drove her finger into his chest, ¡°You need to lighten up and spend time with all of us. Otherwise, what¡¯s the point of having us around?¡± So saying, she strode into the shrinking archway. She had made her point loud and clear. Declan just wished that she had done it in a less teasing sort of way. Damn that girl! She was just like . . . Sarah. So much like her, more than any of the others, and it wasn¡¯t her humanity that made it that way. Crowe was just as human as she was, but personality wise the others only showed hints of his Sarah from time to time. Second Sarah was practically the real deal. Still, there was something about her that made him recognize that she didn¡¯t want him. He was very much in the friend zone with her, and he was fine with that. He was going to save HIS Sarah. He didn¡¯t know how he just knew that he was. The others, though? They hadn¡¯t taken Declan off the menu so far as he could tell, and now Sarah¡¯s little lesson may have just opened some doors that had been firmly closed. Kristine zoomed in from somewhere, he¡¯d thought she¡¯d already gone through the home gate, and stopped in front of him. ¡°Orders, Declan?¡± He considered his options. ¡°I want this conversation to be private. Just between you and me. Can you do that?¡± The smoke from the flaming bodies wafted over to him and suddenly he wanted barbecue spare ribs for dinner. The little car bopped up and down in the affirmative. He prayed that she realized that he meant that Mother was excluded from their talk. ¡°OK, who all can hear us?¡± The Faux Chevy listed to the left, ¡°Just you, me, and the lamppost. If there are any Metamfiezomaio about they won¡¯t tell anyone. I can promise you that.¡± Declan decided to risk it. If Mother did find out his suspicions then she would most likely mind wipe him as he suspected that she had done in the past. Eventually, he would figure it out all over again and he would have to be smarter the next time around. His one fear? What if this wasn¡¯t his first go around with being mind-wiped? If it wasn¡¯t then he had to wonder if he was being smarter now than he had been in the past. Still, he had no choice. He had to trust Kristine. She was, at the very least, a separate entity than Mother and could make independent choices on her own. ¡°Kristine, there is no one I trust more than you,¡± he raised a hand to stop her before she could say anything, ¡°But, I believe that if I tell you what I am going to say that I will be putting you in danger. Are you willing to hear me out?¡± Kristine shimmered, and the red-head that he¡¯d seen her become before now stood in front of him. ¡°Declan, you can tell me anything. I am not afraid.¡± Her face was earnest, and even though he knew it was just an impersonation that approximated human expressions he felt it was sincere. She was there for him; he had no doubts about that. With a sigh, he said, ¡°I believe that Mother has been manipulating my mind, and maybe yours, too. I know that she has done it with the girls. She made them all happy that I destroyed their family and friends. No one is that understanding, not even my Sarah, and yet not only are they content to let me zip through dimensions destroying planets and people, but they also want to help me do it. That isn¡¯t normal. Mother has scrambled their thought processes.¡± He took a deep breath, ¡°I think she¡¯s done it to you too, on the planet of the Hemovores. Remember how you couldn¡¯t store the images on the knife that the cultist had? I suspect she didn¡¯t want us to examine it.¡± The girl before him nodded, ¡°That was odd. It never occurred to me that Mother might have been interfering.¡± ¡°Even if you did I doubt you would remember it now.¡± He buttoned up his jacket and straightened his cuffs. ¡°Is there any way that you can filter Mother¡¯s influence?¡± She nodded, ¡°Yes, but not right away. For now, do not let her into your head, give me some time to devise a way that she can make changes in you, but only changes that you permit. I can already do that to myself, and will make it look like I am still under her influence.¡± He nodded grimly. ¡°Don¡¯t take too long, that is one less worry I want to have.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do my best,¡± she pouted. ¡°Next, I want weapons on hand in the station. I don¡¯t want to have to ask her for anything. Then, build some military mechs, and give them the same filter as yourself. Let¡¯s keep Mother thinking she is in charge as long as possible. I don¡¯t want her making some sort of preemptive move on us. I want them completely loyal to me. No one else.¡± He couldn¡¯t imagine any of the Sarahs causing him problems, but it was better to have it where he was in charge and didn¡¯t have to worry about watching his back. After all, hadn¡¯t he just noted that the Sarah¡¯s weren¡¯t all exactly like his lost love? There could be a rotten apple that made its way into the cider. ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°Oh, one last thing,¡± he said as he pulled up his HUD. ¡°I don¡¯t want any more uploads until we have this brain-washing business taken care of,¡± he licked his lips nervously, ¡°To that end I want you to create manuals for me whenever Mother wants to upload information into my mind. I would rather study it, and learn the old fashioned way rather than worry that she is trying to do an end-run around our precautions.¡± He slid the screen of his HUD until he came to the Apocalypse Selection page and he began to type. His fingers pounded holographic letters: All sentient and sapient beings on this planet suddenly become encased in an invisible box the moment I leave the planet. The box is airtight and utterly indestructible. It cannot be opened by any means, not by knob or key, not by raw power, and not any known or unknown means of force. The structure is airtight and after ten minutes the boxes will begin to shrink. They will then compress to a one-foot by one-foot cube or until the creature inside is completely crushed and dead. Once the contents of the container are deceased the interior of the box will heat up to 5,778 K thereby incinerating the contents, but the heat will not distress the area outside of the box. He looked for an enter button, but only saw a tab that said: THIS ACTION WILL COST YOU ONE APOC POINT. DO YOU WISH TO SPEND IT ON THIS APOCALYPSE? Then a Yes/No tab appeared and he hit the Yes key. He looked at Kristine and said, ¡°After, you,¡± as he gestured towards the gateway. With the rev of her engine, she was gone in a blink. He stepped through and wondered about the Apoc point demand. 32) I Have the User Manual, Can I please Call Tech Support? I Have the User Manual, Can I please Call Tech Support? Declan stood in the Launch Bay. He was holding a large leather bound book that had the words ¡°How to Apocalypse¡± etched on the front cover in large gold gothic styled lettering. He had his HUD open and was tapping on its screen periodically. The book was open about halfway, and its size was making his one-handed grip on it tenuous at best. He was currently scanning through the APOC costs that he now had to apply to each event that he initiated. The prices were daunting. ¡°So,¡± he said to Kristine as she hovered just behind his left ear, ¡°I earn APOC points when I end a world. I earn more depending on how creative I am, and less if I just rehash something or don¡¯t use any type of imagination?¡± She revved her engine in an Mmhmm manner. Sometimes he wondered if she wasn¡¯t becoming more car-like as the days wore on. She never made such sound when she was transporting him around physically as just his car. She had made the transition from being a means of conveyance to companion fairly well, though, so he didn¡¯t hold her idiosyncrasies against her. He owed her that much. ¡°I don¡¯t understand why you don¡¯t just have Mother download the information into your head directly, Deck. It would make things much easier.¡± He side-eyed her, knowing that she was just saying that for Mother¡¯s benefit. Not his. They had talked this over via his HUD so that Mother could not follow their conversation. Kristine was supposed to play the Devil¡¯s Advocate for the Artificial Intelligence that was their overseer. In that capacity, she could keep Mother¡¯s guard down in regards to the car. He shrugged, ¡°Maybe, but I don¡¯t want to rely on the Headnet for everything. I remember when our world was destroyed and I was on the Invigilator¡¯s homeworld. I was completely lost and disoriented without it. Dependency breeds complacency, and complacency leads to failure. In this business that means my death. I need to actually learn things on my own.¡± That was the story they¡¯d come up with to work as an excuse when Mother tried to convince him to let her into his head. ¡°So what are you working on?¡± One corner of his lip scrunched into a frown. ¡°I¡¯m trying to figure out these Apoc points. I know I earn them through creative application of my apocalypses, but I am having a hard time figuring out what makes the cost go up or down.¡± He turned a page, then flipped back to where he was and began run his fingers over a paragraph. ¡°What it says here is that certain events will initiate a higher point cost than normal. A simple apocalypse will cost one point to initiate, but it never really says what the events are that will cause that price to rise.¡± Kristine began circling his head, ¡°It does say it later on, but I¡¯ll condense it for you if you like, and then you can go and read what I am talking about.¡± Declan raised an eyebrow, ¡°Okay, he said optimistically, ¡°Fill me in on what I¡¯m missing.¡± The car came to a stop in front of him. ¡°Honestly, most of the stuff you¡¯ve done so far is a part of the high point cost. For example, bringing in an extra-planetary object, such as a meteor, moon, or sun, will cost you one to three points depending on the object¡¯s size. Start at one for the meteor and go up to three for the sun. Bigger objects just cost more. Multiple meteors, regardless of how many, would be a two. Temporal alterations will automatically cost no less than three points and will increase the further back in time that you go to initiate your apocalypse. A month from the current time would add one point, and a point per month after that. More than one event, such as mixing a plague, volcanic eruption, an earthquake would be a single point for each apocalypse that you choose.¡± Declan sucked air in through his teeth, ¡°Damn, that means that I need to couch the Apoc points that I get to use for when I¡¯m in really dire situations.¡± He flipped through the book until he got to Expy uses. ¡°So, each apocalypse will provide me with Apoc points now, as well as Expy. What do I do with the Expy?¡± The car shifted into her humanoid guise, a freckled redhead shimmering to life before him. ¡°The Expy,¡± she said, ¡°can be used for multiple things. You can use it to upgrade yourself via increasing your attributes, you can add powers such as flight to your abilities, or you can save them to buy Apoc points. Current store prices are one Apoc point per one hundred thousand Expy. Prices may change at any time.¡± He looked her in the eyes, feeling a bit more comfortable now that she wasn¡¯t circling his head as she was wont to do. ¡°Why would the prices change?¡± She raised a warning finger, ¡°They will depend on the Invigilators mood with you. How he feels about your job performance. Right now prices are neutral since he really isn¡¯t happy or upset with you, but make him angry and the prices will soar, conversely, a happy Invigilator means much lower prices for you.¡± He nodded in understanding. Declan glanced back at the book, and it now made a lot more sense to him. It behooved him to be creative, so he could earn extra Expy and Apoc points, as well as keeping the rarely seen alien overlord happy so he could spend his earnings wisely. Now the question came up as to whether he should hoard his earnings for when he needed them or spend them for upgrades on himself. That off-handed remark about flying intrigued him. He couldn¡¯t wait to get into the store and see what other abilities it offered him. ¡°This is pretty great,¡± he said as he closed the book. This means that when I actually come across one of these worlds that have a preset apocalypse code I won¡¯t have to do much to set the chain of dominos falling. Turn a key, and boof! I create a predetermined apocalypse without having to spend any points, but still managing to accrue the basic points I would get for having done it all myself.¡± Kristine stepped in and spoke, "Actually, having a preset Apocalypse could make things even more difficult for you. Imagine if the key goes something along the lines of, When Hell is full, then the dead shall walk the earth. That would mean that you, personally would have to fill Hell with enough souls that the dead could rise and walk. How would you know when you''d killed enough sinners? How would you manage to kill them and do it in time for the deadline to be met?¡± She paused and let that sink in. ¡°Additionally, you cannot access your HUD on a preset world. The HUD is something that you use to create an unstoppable Armageddon. You cannot use it to initiate anything else. For example, if a Tsunami is required to wash over a specific village to begin the end of that world you can¡¯t just punch in a tidal wave crushes the village. You,¡± and she emphasized that word, ¡°You have to figure out how to create a tidal wave and make it strike that little village. If you could just punch in something on your screen then the keys wouldn¡¯t be relevant at all, and they are. You cannot avoid them, or circumvent them with the application of your apocalypse generator.¡± She took him by the hand, ¡°Look,¡± she said, and a cartoon styled plunger box with the letters TNT stenciled on the side appeared on the floor before them. ¡°Open your heads up display, and tell the plunger to depress itself, without using the AGen.¡± She had just used the term he¡¯d come up with to refer to the Apocalypse Generator. It made him happy that she was using his terminology. She continued, ¡°It won¡¯t work. You cannot make that thing activate from here. You need to go over and do it yourself.¡± Before she could say anything else, Second Sarah came into the bay with the other girls. They were all drinking coffees and chatting amongst themselves. The group went off in a corner to continue their conversation, but Sarah number two strolled over, pushed the plunger, and sat down on the box. ¡°What are you two up to,¡± she asked with a grin. Declan stuck the book under his armpit, covering the title. ¡°Just trying to figure some things out. What are you doing?¡± She shrugged, ¡°Nothing, just bored. We thought we¡¯d come down and check on you. You¡¯ve been a sort of absentee landlord the last few days. We haven¡¯t seen much of you. We wanted to make sure that you were all right, and I wanted to find out if you were up for another viewing of the Princess Bride. I told the others about it, and they are itching to watch it with us.¡± He glanced over at the Sarah Squad, they were all sipping on their version of Bucky Starr¡¯s coffee in carry out cups. Essea was walking along balancing her drink on her head. Countess Sarah, as the vampire was getting to be known, was sitting on the back of Sarahtaur. Crowe and Rah were giggling about something, and it warmed his heart to see that warrior maiden actually laughing. There was no doubt that her time on her Earth had scarred her mentally. Her sanity had been strained, and nearly snapped according to Mother¡¯s diagnosis. Thankfully through the use of meds and subliminal counseling therapies via her newly implanted Hnet she was doing much better. He also suspected that her trips planet-side had helped her mental health a good bit too. Dishing it out rather than always taking it always improved one¡¯s spirits. He noted that now that she was cleaned up she was even prettier than before. Her hair was short, all but shaved on the sides with an almost Mohawk running on the top of her head, but it fit her fierce attitude. Unfortunately, she still refused to wear a top of any kind and only covered herself with her crossed bandoleers. She had moved her holsters to behind her back after seeing where he had carried his weapon. She was still in the bikini bottoms and knee-high boots, which cemented her into the scary but attractive category. Maybe she was in the scarily attractive category. He couldn¡¯t tell, but it was nice to see her interacting in a ¡°normal way¡±. Crowe and Rah had become close, which had surprised him. He would have envisioned Countess or Sarahtaur before Rah, but Rah, it seemed, had a lot more grit than one might expect from a bunny. Like Crowe, she still insisted on wearing her showgirl attire. Again, it was both attractive and distracting. He¡¯d never even seen his Sarah in her underwear. They had both been waiting for marriage. Now he was ensconced in caring for two mostly naked versions of the woman he loved and he had no choice but to grin and bear it. Each world came with different values, and Terra Sarah, the name he had decided for their shared world, respected each and every belief, no matter how alien they seemed to him. The fact that it drove him insane made no difference. Maybe he could ask Mother if she could install some modesty blockers in his head so that instead of the girl¡¯s assets he just saw black squares over the exposed areas. That might help. Unfortunately, that would mean letting Mother into his Headnet, and that wasn¡¯t going to happen anytime soon.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Crowe looked to be telling a story about her time on her homeworld; a fishing story from what he could tell from her pantomime, and just as it seemed she had gotten to the part about the fish¡¯s size she stretched out her arms and Essea walked into her hand holding the coffee. Crowe looked shocked, then looked at the spilled cup on the floor and drew her gun. She began yelling at the cyborg but did not point the weapon at her. He and the others had long ago that she pulled her gun whenever she was frustrated or scared. It was more of a security blanket for her than it was a threat to Essea. He was impressed by how none of them even batted an eye at the desert warrior. Sarahtaur was right beside her and was struggling not to laugh, while the Countess, who was still in an all too revealing dress that was less of a v-cut that showed her ample cleavage to being a capital V-cut that ran dangerously from her bosom to something a certain redshirted bear would be sure to get his hand stuck in. What was the term? Ah, yes, her honeypot. He averted his eyes. Declan was certain that this iteration of Sarah was a nudist who just hadn¡¯t closed her dressing closet yet. Sarahtaur at least wore a woman¡¯s running tank and green cloth jacket with white stripes down the length of the arms. Her ¡°assets¡± might be on display, but that felt more acceptable somehow. In mere moments the entire event had cooled off. Essea had turned her coffee over to Crowe, and the cleaning mechs did their job and mopped up the spilled mocha. He idly wondered where the other Sarah¡¯s were. He assumed that Silent Sarah, as the mime was getting to be known, was with Vegan Sarah, who refused to be around Countess on principle. Triggered Sarah, who was from an overly political world that he had wiped out was probably arguing with Conservative Sarah, and he had learned to keep out of their way. Conservative Sarah had come from a place very similar to Triggered Sarah but had leaned the other way politically. He suspected that the Invigilator had only sent him there to cause him problems as those two fed off each other like a snake eating its own tail. Both of those worlds had been quick in and out deals, he hadn¡¯t needed to fight any cultists or battle rampaging monsters. He¡¯d just set down, gotten his Sarah, and wiped out everybody there. They all continued on as if nothing had happened. The gun was slipped back into its holster and the fish tale continued. It was like watching a fragmented mind unify into a gestalt before his eyes. He looked back at Second Sarah. She was the exception. She was solid, level headed and had her act together. The others all had their own ticks and quirks, but not Sarah the sequel. She was just like his own Sarah; so down to earth, so compassionate, and understanding. They had shared a bed every night since that evening after he¡¯d come back with the Countess, and she¡¯d comforted him and given him his space, but she had never made a move. She knew he was in mourning and that he only wanted his Sarah back, and he respected her for her resolve. The last few weeks had been nice as they had gotten to know one another. He had loved introducing her to the Princess Bride, his favorite movie and she had shown him several things that his alternate-self had loved that he¡¯d never thought of trying. The biggest issue he had was when Mother had installed Headnet into each of them, and in addition to Crowe¡¯s psychotherapy she had also made them not only aware of what his actual task was, but that she had manipulated them into not only being ok with it but actually going so far as to have them cheer him on for his efforts in destroying their worlds and the ones were to follow. Brainwashing left a bad taste in his mouth. He wanted nothing to do with it, and had ordered the A.I. to undo what it had but, but it refused. Mother had felt that she had done the best thing she could have for him. She had also refused to stop the practice, having made Silent Sarah, Triggered Sarah, and Conservative Sarah into converts of his minutes after their arrival. I chilled him to his core, as he knew that she had done the same thing to him. She had made him perfectly comfortable in ending billions of lives. Even now he didn¡¯t have a tinge of guilt when he knew he should have, but it was Second Sarah¡¯s conversion that bothered him more than his own modifications. She had been vehement in her fury over her world¡¯s death and now it didn¡¯t seem to faze her. She had been lobotomized. That was why he¡¯d hidden the book title under his arm when she appeared because he was embarrassed to let her see what he was working on. He respected her real feelings too much to flaunt his work in her face. ¡°Give me a minute,¡± he said to her. Kristine looked almost as uncomfortable as he felt. He nodded to her to continue. ¡°The Apoc Generator won¡¯t give you nuclear access codes or allow you to create a Kaiju to stomp the blasphemers to death. That part only comes if there is no set apocalypse for the planet. So, on a pre-industrial world how would you fill up hell? It would be an understatement to say that it would be difficult to achieve something along those lines because it is something that would be almost impossible to succeed at." Mother chimed in from "This is not something that you can take lightly, your life, all of our lives, depend wholly on your unfettered success. You need to stop acting as though this is trivial. We are all that is left of your world. I contain all of the accumulated knowledge of your society. If I am erased then everything about our world will vanish as if it never was. The two of us represent the genetic and technological pinnacle that your/our world could produce. You must take this seriously. The Invigilator is not a being to be trifled with, and I have no doubt that he will make good on his threats. You are little more than a germ to him. You are an ameba, and amoebas are everywhere. He can replace you in an instant.¡± ¡°Do I look like I am not taking this seriously? This isn¡¯t just about you and me any more Mother.¡± He threw his hands up in frustration, his book fell from his arm, but Kristine caught it and brought it to her bosom protectively. ¡°My actions also dictate as to whether these women around me live or die. There are people that I brought back from some of those worlds. They are counting on me as well. I am doing my best to get a handle on how to do this job, but if you think bullying me or scaring me will work then you are wrong.¡± Mother¡¯s retort almost registered as harsh. ¡°If you are so concerned with success why do you simply not allow me to download the knowledge of the ancient art of apocalypting directly into your cerebral cortex? It would eliminate all of this prep time and you would be adept at doing what you need to do.¡± Declan didn¡¯t realize how much he had raised his voice or that it had all but turned into a snarl as he spat, ¡°Because I can¡¯t risk becoming too dependent on frequent uploads whenever I¡¯m in a bind. I need to know what I am doing from actually learning the craft, not just being told how to do it.¡± He took a deep breath, ¡°My actually learning this on my own might give me some insight that I wouldn¡¯t get if I just knew it all instantly.¡± The feminine voice seemed calmer now, ¡°Declan when you awoke last week I explained that the Invigilator had been most generous in allowing you an opportunity to get to know your powers. Those last worlds were an opportunity for you to stretch your wings and see just how far you could fly. His bounteous nature has faded, and you have been reigned in. The entire system is extremely complex, and you grasp about a tenth of it. I see no reason for you to not accept my help and download this vital information. Your reaction is based on an emotional reflex. It serves no purpose but to hinder our cause.¡± There it was. He was throwing a tantrum while everyone else was depending on him to take care of them. He couldn¡¯t have Terra Sarah if they died. He sighed. He hadn¡¯t used Hnet that way in years, not since college and even then he¡¯d done so only minimally. He¡¯d always preferred to learn on his own. He was still certain that just downloading knowledge whenever he could would just get him into more trouble later on. It didn¡¯t hurt that he knew that all she wanted to do was to get inside his brain and rewire it so that he¡¯d be a good little soldier for the Invigilator. He looked at Kristine, and she gave him a very slight nod. That meant that he should allow the overbearing A.I. into his head because she finally had a filter that would work. Knowing her she¡¯d probably just finished it. He shut his eyes and grit his teeth together. ¡°Very well, Mother. Upload the information as you see fit for this, I want to survive and knowing how to expend points will be very beneficial to that end.¡± He acted as if he¡¯d given up like there was just no fighting her. That, too, was an act that he and Kristine had come up with for Mother¡¯s benefit. ¡°Mother is always right, Declan.¡± He wanted to tell her to cram her smug sapient face into a coffee can, they had plenty of those lying around, but he didn¡¯t. Getting her mad would serve no purpose and right now he had to foc....Ugh. He nearly dropped to his knees as all the information he¡¯d been fighting about suddenly filled his mind. The rules, the point systems, the end goal of the whole thing formed in his brain in seconds. It was a lot of information to take in all at once, but he dealt with it. Minutes later he was feeling better. That was odd, as he realized that the entire process should have only taken a few seconds. Then he realized, it had taken longer because of Kristine¡¯s filtering process. He mentally reviewed everything he had just learned. One thing that caught his attention was his inventory. His HUD leaped before his face without him even having to call for it. He saw that the inventory held twenty slots. Each slot could hold one item or ten identical items which would stack up on each other. He could place anything that he could hold with one hand into his inventory, it didn¡¯t matter how large it was; he just had to be able to grip it. Once he had a grip on it the item would instantly pop into the next available inventory slot. To retrieve it he needed only open the inventory screen and then think of what he wanted to get. It would then appear in his hand. Nothing could be taken from his inventory by an outsider, nor could they see what he held therein. He was surprised to see that he could even place living things inside, but they could only survive for twenty-four hours before they died. They could be removed prior to that time limit, and then placed right back in with no negative side effects, but leaving them inside too long would prove utterly fatal. Then he realized that he¡¯d known that, and had actually used his inventory before. How had he forgotten that? He checked it, and the Geneers were gone. There was no trace of them at all. Without even thinking about it he placed his ¡°How to Apocalypse¡± guidebook into the first slot of his inventory. Partially because he wanted to test the system out, and partially because he wanted to preserve the book; items in the inventory could not be destroyed. He looked at the girls and smiled. He now had a way to protect himself from Mother. Next, he would work on getting them safeguards from the rogue A.I.¡¯s manipulative machinations. Things were finally falling into place. 33) Sarah Smiles, er, schemes Sarah Smiles Second Sarah, as she was known to Declan, went to her room. She was exhausted and drained from helping her friend learn how to become a better destroyer of worlds. She had done everything that she could to encourage him and advised him whenever she thought that he needed a good prodding. That was not the part that had drained her. No, she was tired for a completely secondary reason. She could feel that Declan was growing more and more attached to her. That she was quickly becoming a surrogate for his lost love she had no doubt; in fact, she was beginning to think of herself as Surrogate Sarah, the replacement chick, and it bothered her. It wasn¡¯t that she didn¡¯t have very strong feelings for Declan. He looked just like her best friend, even acted like him for the most part, but there were small variances and then there was one rather big difference between the man she had known and the one she knew now. She actually appreciated the little variations in the new Declan, she honestly felt like he was a better man than the one that she had known. It was the massive divide between the two that bothered her. The old Declan had been gay. Just like her. She picked up her cat, Whiskerbiscuit, and began to stroke him. He purred gently and pushed his head against her hand indicating that he wanted a head scratch. She used to joke to her Declan that her pussy got very cross if she didn¡¯t stroke it at least twice a day; so she obliged him and continued her train of thought. She couldn¡¯t stand the thought of breaking New Declan¡¯s heart. He had come to her right after his Sarah had died, and even though he had been nothing but a gentleman she could tell that if she showed even the slightest interest in him then he would try to pursue a new relationship with her. It killed her that she couldn¡¯t reciprocate. No matter how much she wished that she could she realized that she just couldn¡¯t live out that lie. It had been her Declan that had made her face the truth about her sexual orientation in the first place and had convinced her to finally be herself. He had seen the truth in her that she had never been able to admit to her own self. He had held her hand as she took her tentative steps into accepting who she was. She had lived that lie too long, and now that she had thrown off that oppressive yoke; the one that she had worn for so many years, she had no intention of ever putting it back on. Not for him, not for anybody. Sarah stared out of her window into the lush forest outside. Declan had said that he was going to fill it with animals, and she had put in a request for raccoons. She loved them. Sarah had a pet raccoon as a child; it had died when she entered her teens, but she cherished her memories of the scruffy little bastard. She didn¡¯t think she¡¯d want to live on a world that didn¡¯t have trash pandas in it. As if reading her thoughts Whiskerbiscuit meowed and pushed his head against her hand once more. The cat demanded more strokes and scratches. She began to tickle his chin lightly, sighed, and turned her thoughts back to Declan. She knew how deeply he felt about his Sarah, Prime Sarah as she thought she¡¯d heard him refer to her, and there was no way that she¡¯d be able to fill those shoes. Even if she only pretended to be what he needed for his sake she knew it would never be enough for him. She saw how deeply he cared for her alternate. She watched him die a little every time he thought of her. He had saved her life, but she could not restructure her whole lifestyle to make him happy. Her mind wandered into other ways to help him. She might be able to set him up with another girl from the Sarah pool. It was getting big enough. She considered her options. Crowe was nice, and she was obviously attracted to Declan, but her time on her dying world had broken her and she was slightly insane. Declan did not need more crazy in his life. Essea was not even a potential candidate. Even if she could reproduce, which she wondered about, the woman was extremely analytical over being emotional. Half her brain was a computer after all. She was an organic A.I. in a cybernetic body. She doubted that Deck would even be attracted to her, and she seemed extremely asexual to start with, but who could tell. Maybe Declan charged her circuits in ways that she didn¡¯t even notice. Countess, as they had taken to calling the living vampire, had guessed that Essea¡¯s people grew their babies in labs and added mechanical parts as they got older.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Rah, the bad-assed bunny that she was, was smoking hot and smoldering too, but Sarah didn¡¯t know if Declan would even consider a Beastion as a possible mate. She was all hopped up on the thought of mating and making babies. Declan was still a virgin and didn¡¯t plan on having sex until he was married. Sarah doubted that no matter how much fun Rah would present to less morally encumbered males that Declan would not appreciate the position she would put him in or the numerous positions that she¡¯d want to try out with him. Satisfied with her attention, the cat leaped from her arms and landed silently on the floor. He stalked from the room with a haughty attitude that only cats can pull off and vanished around a corner. She had tried to tell Declan that conventional thinking, such as the concept of marriage, was no longer an option for the inhabitants of Terra Sarah. There were no governmental or religious institutions that could legally bind anyone in holy matrimony. To his credit, the man had stuck to his guns. He felt that he had waited this long and that if he never knew love again then he would never need to know carnal pleasure. He¡¯d rather never have sex than have it with someone that he didn¡¯t love or didn¡¯t love him. He was so frustrating! Every other man in the cosmultiverse would jump at the chance to had sex with somebody they were even just slightly attracted to. She began pacing the room, hands behind her back. I need a coffee, she thought. So, by her reasoning, if Rah was out so was Sarahtaur. She just didn¡¯t see him ever mounting her horse half no matter how much he grew to love her. She also doubted that he would be able to satisfy the centaur in any meaningful way down there. Parts is parts after all, and fair is fair. Why should Sarahtaur go her whole life sexually frustrated? No matter how well-endowed the human Declan might be, she doubted he would ever compare to Declantaur. Out of the current batch of girls that just left Countess, Surrogate Sarah (herself), Vegan Sarah, Silent Sarah, Triggered Sarah, and Conservative Sarah. She just could not see him devoting himself to someone who needed blood as sixty percent of her daily diet to survive. Countess was lovely, but she had the eyes of a predator, and the Surrogate her would always wonder if she hadn¡¯t just set a banquet table for her alternate self. She really had no desire to make Declan into a sacrificial dinner lamb. Silent Sarah had proven to be more awesome than a mime had the right to be, but how could you connect to someone that communicated by pretending to pull a rope that wasn¡¯t there? No, they really had nothing in common. Vegan Sarah was . . . well, annoying. Everything revolved around vegetables and her inability to eat meat. On top of that, she was a Crossfit trainer who also had Mother upload aerobics instructor information into her head. The political Sarah¡¯s never stopped fighting or arguing among themselves, and they demanded that their positions be heard. That was why she had shunted them off about three miles away from everyone else. The place was huge, and they needed the space between them. If they got too close they would badger you to reveal your stance on things like abortion and immigration, and even though they were told that neither of those topics had any relevance to their lives anymore it didn¡¯t seem to matter to them. Sarah suspected that in a few weeks they would have opposing viewpoints on what kind of soap you should use in the shower, or what was proper baths or showers. Declan didn¡¯t deserve the hell they would put him through. She ran her fingers through her hair in exasperation. If she was right on the way that she saw the others then she was certain that Declan would too. It was scary how well she knew the man. She had known him for years but had only met him a short time ago. That meant that she was right back where she started; as the sole object available for his affection. She had a target on her back and right now that little bastard Cupid was aiming at its bullseye. She laughed suddenly at the realization that with an infinite amount of worlds potentially existing that somewhere out there, in the vastness of multi-space and time, there really was a Cupid. That struck her as hilarious. She wiped a tear from her eye and flopped onto a comfortable cushioned chair. She would, she decided to have to do something to help Declan. She was going to have to find him the perfect woman. 34) Horseman vs Revelator The Penny Drops as does Declan¡¯s Heart The floor brought him no comfort. It had been his decision to forego snuggling with Second Sarah this evening, and he¡¯d opted to simply lie down in an empty room. He had slept on enough floors in college that it wasn¡¯t a foreign concept for him to even consider napping there. The problem wasn¡¯t that he was tired. He was exhausted. His body was hale as could be, but mentally he was walking a thin line. If he was still allowing Mother to access his Hnet he had no doubt that he¡¯d be feeling fine. She would make an attitude adjustment and a new Declan would wake up ready to go out and obliterate billions of lives. The truth of it was he was wearing thin. He was being beset on all sides, and all he wanted to do was get some sleep. Declan had just taken in a ton of information via Hnet (filtered as it was by Kristine, but it was still a huge amount of knowledge for him to absorb), and then Mother lobbed another grenade onto his lap. He was always one of those people who said that he would never ask the universe what more it could pile onto his shoulders because the second that he asked that question it showed him just how much more it could give. The universe, as he knew all too well by this point. was very generous. In fact, there were days that it was downright charitable. He hadn¡¯t even had to ask the question. Just the thought had been enough for it to open its heart to him, even though he didn¡¯t realize it at the time. Considering that he was no longer dealing with a singular universe he could only surmise that his problems were compounded with extreme prejudice. He had just closed his eyes when he found himself pulling his blanket up to his neck. His first thought was that the temperature controls in the room had malfunctioned, but then he knew that Mother would have never let things get that bad; because the temperature in the room suddenly and inexplicably plummeted to a point that he could see his breath. Then, he noticed that the lighting in the room had also dimmed. He normally didn¡¯t sleep with lights on, but he had just laid down and hadn¡¯t done more than dim the lighting. His stomach did flip flops as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and his arms became covered in goosebumps. Every fiber of his being was screaming that he was in danger, but he could not tell where the menace stemmed from. Instinctively, Declan dodged to his right, rolling away when his sense of impending doom peaked. He had no idea why he¡¯d done it, only that a sense of urgency to move had overwhelmed him. Like a feral cat, he sprang to his feet and came up in a boxer¡¯s stance unsure of what he should expect. His eyes methodically scanned the room and stopped on a dark shadow in the corner. He could just make out what appeared to be a vaguely man-like shape. Despite the lack of visual information, he could feel the dark intent that the shadow carried from across the room. He could sense waves of hatred, anger, and even jealousy roiling like an agitated honey badger. ¡°Ah¡¯m impressed,¡± came a hollow voice from across the room. ¡°Ah had aimed my pistol at you, and you simply moved away without even knowing why. Ah kin see why the Invigilator chose you. Your other selves, sadly, were not as finely tuned to their surroundings as you. Of all the Declan Mason¡¯s that Ah¡¯ve killed you are the only one to even sense my presence.¡± Declan crinkled his nose and squinted in the area the voice was snaking from. He still couldn¡¯t see his foe, but he knew where he was, ¡°So, you¡¯ve come to kill me?¡± Something stirred within his breast, and he felt an unknown power building in the core of his being. He felt like he was ready for anything. The fatigue fled from his mind and he became more alert than he ever had before. It felt like his blood had been swapped out for lightning and his senses flew into overdrive. Declan watched as a ragged figure slipped from the shadows in the corner of the room. It seemed to struggle to enter the light as if it were pressing through some dense invisible barrier, unmelting from the form to grow into the shape of a man. A man, he saw, stripped of flesh and wrapped in a ragged black robe. Immediately, Declan saw the deliberate resemblance to the Grim Reaper. Whatever he was looking at wasn¡¯t this man¡¯s natural form. This was something he¡¯d taken as a symbol of his power. He was death incarnate. Well, Declan pitied the asshole, because he was the Revelator and death worked for him. ¡°Not at¡¯all,¡± continued the invader with the woeful countenance, ¡°Ah have come to make you a deal. To give you a little something on chew on for a bit. I don¡¯t,¡± he said languidly, ¡°expect an immediate answer from you.¡± He paused and put his pistol back into its holster on his side. Declan noted that while the thing that his shadowy visitor had gripped so tightly was a handgun it was far from being a pistol. The device seemed to bear a malice of its own and looked as if it could vaporize a man on a low setting. After his visitor had snapped the gun¡¯s cover in place he brushed off his ratty robes. ¡°Sorry,¡± he declared, ¡°Interdimensional travel does wrinkle my mantle something awful.¡± ¡°Who are you, and what do you want?¡± His voice was steady and calm, belying his thoughts, which were racing like a horse on dermorphin. Declan began wondering why Mother hadn¡¯t sent a squad of guardmechs or even set off an alarm, she should have been doing something; it was only then that he realized that Hnet was down again. He wondered what the hell Mother was good for if she kept going down all the time. ¡°Quite right, introductions, I say, introductions are in order.¡± The man stretched forth a skeletal hand, ¡°My name is Poe. Poe Machivelli,¡± he chuckled, ¡°Ah know what, what you are thinking, suh. Right now, you are saying to yourself, ¡°He doesn¡¯t look Italian.¡± He dropped his hand slowly when he realized that Declan wasn¡¯t going to shake. Declan couldn¡¯t tell if the corpselike being as angered at his recalcitrance to shake hands, or his failure to laugh at his pitiful joke. He hadn¡¯t put his guard down and remained in his ready pose, fists in the air poised to lash out at the first hint of danger. The skeleton ignored his aggressive stance. And began rambling again.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°Ah, am a southern boy. More of a gentleman, than a boy, in truth but I do try to stay true to my Baptist roots.¡± The grim figure gestured and a chair composed of shadows formed behind him and he sat down and steepled his fingers as he studied Declan. ¡°You, are Declan Mason, and you hold a position that until recently, was mine own. Ah served the Invigilator for centuries until I realized that life was sacred and that I could no longer go forth and erase countless lives. It was a long time before Ah could break my mind free of the Invigilator¡¯s spell. A spell that, Ah am certain, you are currently under.¡± Empty eyes drilled into the back of Declan¡¯s skull. ¡°Ah must wonder, do you feel sympathy for those you¡¯ve killed? Do you miss those who died on your world?¡± Declan dropped his boxer¡¯s pose and warily faced the anthropomorphization of death itself sitting before him. ¡°I feel nothing. No regrets, no guilt, no shame for what I have done or must do in the future.¡± He lied. He felt agony for every life he¡¯d taken, but he would never admit that to the undead man before him. Instead, he said, ¡°There is one soul that I miss with all my heart, but she is dead and gone. Her absence makes me glad that I cannot feel much, because if there was a glimmer of hope for me to see her again I would go mad. Her name was Sarah, Sarah Crowe, and she was my whole world.¡± He paused as the realization that a man that could span galaxies and dimensions had been hobbled with the loss of one world. With the loss of just one woman, he¡¯d been undone. He would never recover. His vain attempt to replace her loss by saving simulacrums was pathetic. ¡°Hell, I lost my whole world and the only thing that I cared about was her not being here anymore.¡± He stopped as tears welled up in his eyes. He sniffed and wiped below his nose with his forefinger. ¡°The Invigilator has spared me the madness that would come from my loss and allowed me to keep her memory alive by saving her counterparts on other worlds. I do what I must to keep her memory alive.¡± Machiavelli chuckled, ¡°And if Ah could give this person back to you . . . what would you do?¡± Declan felt his teeth grit together and before he realized what he was doing his hands had clenched into fists so hard that his fingernails were digging into his flesh so hard that he was drawing blood. ¡°Do . . . Not. . . Go . . . There,¡± he snarled. ¡°I am not to be trifled with, not matter how scary you think you are, and no one desecrates her memory. Not unless they want to face me.¡± Poe waved his hands in a ¡°settle down¡± gesture and said, ¡°The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised.¡± Declan looked at him confusedly, ¡°What?¡± He was unused to having bible quotes tossed at him. ¡°Declan,¡± he couldn¡¯t see it, but he could hear the smile in the death¡¯s head¡¯s voice, ¡°Think of me as the Lord. Ah have visited your Sarah, and Ah have saved her from the death that she was destined to have, and Ah can return her to you.¡± He stopped for dramatic effect, ¡°Provided, of course, that you are willing to work with me.¡± Declan didn¡¯t know what to say, let alone how to react. Seeing him speechless the Horseman took it as a sign that he should continue, ¡°Ah will give you time to think about it, too. Ah¡¯m no monster. Ah want you to work with me against the Invigilator. Together we can stop him; I know it!¡± Saying that he drew forth a chain from his pocket, at its end dangled a glass tube with a silver top and bottom. Inside the crystalline tube was a small figure that looked like Sarah. Declan knew that there were billions if not quintillions of Sarah¡¯s out there, but he somehow recognized his Sarah as soon as he saw her. He had no idea of how he knew that this was his Sarah, the woman he¡¯d been mourning the moment his world was destroyed, but he just did. Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice said that it was because she matched his universes vibrational frequency, but he couldn¡¯t hear it. His Sarah was here. She was real, and she was alive. Alive, and she was in the literal clutches of the poster child for the Blue Oyster Cult. She pounded on the sides of the container and screamed for his help, but he could not hear anything she said. He could only see the terror on her face, and her urgency to escape her confinement. It was her absolute horror that pervaded his mind. He had never seen such fear in another living thing and it overwhelmed him. Declan snapped. He had no notion of what he was doing but he was atop the dark framework of death that sat in the shadows before him before his opponent had realized he¡¯d moved. His left hand grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the chain and twisted. He heard a snap just as his right hand came up from below and landed a terrible uppercut to the skeletal man¡¯s lower jaw. His right hand, acting on its own accord then struck Poe in the ribs repeatedly. The incarnation of death reached out for his holster, but Declan swung his left hand around the broken wrist and held it firmly. His right hand shot out and struck below the elbow, driving it upwards further than it could go so that like the wrist it snapped with a sickly, but very satisfying, crunch. He was vaguely aware of the glass vial dropping to the ground with a clink as his rage drove him onward. ¡°You come into my house,¡± he said as he released the Horseman¡¯s broken arm, ¡°Point a gun at my head, and try to intimidate me!?!¡± Again, his hand reached out and snatched the gun from the boney fingers that were drawing it from its holster. ¡°You pull a gun on me! In my house!!! No one comes into my house and threatens me! No one threatens Sarah, not any Sarah, not anywhere, not anytime.¡± He emphasized his point by holding the handgun like a hammer and striking the fleshless skull every time he nailed down a point. Cracks formed and ran across the ivory surface of Poe¡¯s head as chips of bone flew by Declan¡¯s face like snowflakes in a blizzard. ¡°You trap my beloved Sarah and dangle her in front of my face and you want me to join you?¡± Spittle showered the shattered skull as he screamed. Declan snarled and brought his leather shoe up between the man¡¯s legs. His foot came away unsatisfied as there had been nothing of substance to strike, so he drove his sole onto the undead monster¡¯s knee. There was a crack, but nothing broke this time. Two failures made Declan¡¯s rage double and he resumed pummeling the personification of death like he was trying to revive him. Poe tried to back away, but the rabid assault that Declan was performing made it impossible for him to think or retaliate. He had not expected the level of ferocity that the man unleashed upon him. The man¡¯s rage was unsurpassed in his experience. He had never seen such a transformation take place in another human being before, and he was shocked at the levels of power that Declan was drawing on to attack him. Power, he suspected, that not even Declan knew that he possessed. He had come too early, his own power was still just a ghost of itself, and the Revelator had already become more dangerous than he would have thought possible. He could see the man¡¯s eyes were utterly void of mercy and were swiftly becoming empty of all rationality. There was far more to this man than Poe had realized, and if he didn¡¯t do something he was going to die. 35) Girl talk at the coffee shop Girl Talk Countess grabbed the hot cup set before her, excitement glowing in her eyes. She hadn¡¯t had anything to drink in hours and she was starving. It smelled delicious and before she knew what she was doing she had sunk her fangs into the side of the Styrofoam cup and taken a large gulp of the steaming fluid inside. ¡°Blah!¡± She spit out the word and the coffee simultaneously. Her face was contorted in a swirl of shock and revulsion. She hadn¡¯t realized it, but as she had dragged the cup of coffee away from her face it had leaked onto her exposed d¨¦colletage from the punctures that she had made when she had bitten into it. Not only had she put that nasty fluid into her mouth, now she was wearing it as well. ¡°I told you vampires said blah,¡± Rah snickered to Essea. The cyborg gave a slight nod to the beastion and sipped her own cup of java. Rah¡¯s sensitive nose could smell that Essea¡¯s drink was laced with chemical components that probably tasted worse than what Countess had just sipped... .ah... .sucked? Sarahtaur trotted over to the vampire, a towel draped over her shoulder. She handed the cloth to the pale girl who began wiping off immediately. The centaur scolded her gently, ¡°I told you, Tess, you have to tell the machine what universe you are from or what your dietary needs are. Otherwise, you just get straight coffee.¡± Countess sighed, ¡°How am I supposed to know what universe I¡¯m from? I¡¯m a bloodrista, not a rocket scientist.¡± Crowe entered the room as Countess was speaking. She walked with a purpose, simultaneously scanning the room for danger and nodding a hello to the other girls. Countess noted that everyone was there now except Second Sarah. She watched as the little psychopath, Crowe, stepped up before the enormous Bucky Starrs Coffee machine. Her lip twitched as she stared at it. ¡°Coffee,¡± she demanded with a snarl. The machine almost reacted as if it was afraid of her and began brewing before she had even ordered. Countess watched the girl snatch the drink away with a satisfied smirk on her face. Crowe downed the entire contents of the cup in one long gulp. She gave a satisfied belch and sneered at the coffee maker. It produced another cup, and Countess swore she saw it give a little shiver as Crowe took her new brew from the machine. Countess liked the coffee lounge. It was full of comfortable plush chairs and sofas. There were tables you could stand at or pull a stool up to as well. The colors were soft blues and orange. The color mix was odd to her red eyes, but it worked. The self-serve coffee was the best part. There was no waiting. You simply told it what you wanted and it was made within seconds. Her problem was that she kept forgetting to tell it to make hers with blood. Honestly, why should she have to tell the machine to add what should already be in there? Countess remade her cup and went over to a bright orange couch to sit down. It was her favorite spot in the whole lounge. The cushions hugged her bottom and formed around her back so that it felt like she was getting a comfy massage. This time she resisted her urge to bite into the cup and took the top off. She gave it a sniff and took a long drink. Caffeine and blood filled her system and she immediately felt better. Everyone needed caffeine. She liked watching the others. They were like funhouse mirrors of herself, so similar and yet so different. She could already see the cliques starting to form. Rah and Sarahtaur clung to one another just because of their animal natures. Essea and Crowe, who had been like oil and water at first now found common ground in being outsiders. Essea, who was nice enough, was not able to comprehend all of the complexities that came from being completely biological. Crowe had lost enough of her humanity that she could identify more with the machine half of Essea than she could any of the others. Silent Sarah fell in right between the two of them. Her inability to speak matched Crowe to some degree and Essea seemed to be able to understand everything that she pantomimed when she spoke. Countess found that she fit in with all of them. Her vampiric nature made her inhuman enough to fit in with the animal folks and her alien way of seeing the world placed her right into the outsider camp. Oddly, she even felt like she was companionable with Second Sarah. Second Sarah was the only ¡°normal¡± one of them. She was like the basic template from which the others had been made, and Countess had to admit that the idea of that bothered her a little. She didn¡¯t like the idea of there being a main mold, with tiny variants being produced, with her being one of the variants. She was her own person. Still, she had to admit that while each Sarah here was different they were also the same.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. What really scared her was Mother. The Headnet, as Declan often referred to her, had very clearly initiated changes in herself and the others that she didn¡¯t like. First, she noticed that she no longer spoke her own language. She could only speak in Declan¡¯s native tongue. While this was helpful she found it very disturbing on a number of different levels. If the artificial intelligence was able to change something so fundamental and deeply ingrained in her as her native tongue Countess found that she had to ask what else she could change. Was her favorite color really sanguine red? Had it always been so? She would never know if her memory had been altered. Secondly, she had been far too accepting of the name of Countess. She had no idea of why she had been given that appellation until Mother had spoon fed her the stories of Countess Elizabeth Bathory and Count Dracula. She would have preferred to just be called Sarah, but apparently, it would have gotten confusing if everyone referred to themselves by their actual names. Sarahtaur was a good example of someone else who had basically been given a nickname and forced to live with it. Countess recognized the reasoning behind it, but she didn¡¯t like it. She also noticed that she was perfectly fine knowing that everyone she had known was dead and gone. She hadn¡¯t suffered a moment of grief, nor had she suffered any sort of mental trauma from the events in her caf¨¦ the night that Declan had saved her. She should have had nightmares, flashbacks, or experienced moments of rage due to inability to have fought back against the cultists. She had none of those things, and that was wrong. Without warning her mind grew fuzzy. She shook her head, suddenly, trying to clear it. She had completely lost her train of thought. What had she been thinking about? Oh, yes, Second Sarah and how she got along with her so well. She assumed that the Sarah Assortment was only going to grow because there was no way Declan¡¯s obsession over his lost love was ever going to decline. As it did so the girls would further divide into more diverse camps. Hell, there were three of them that wouldn¡¯t even associate with the original group. Conservative Sarah didn¡¯t like the idea of what she termed as non-humans, Triggered Sarah got upset over everything that they did in one way or another, and Vegan Sarah had been ousted by the core team from the beginning. Her ideas were just to alien for them to stomach. So, that sequence of Sarah¡¯s had shunted them to the other side of the compound. She wondered where she would fit in with them. Would she always be the one who had a place in each circle, but never fit in all the way? Would Declan, she wondered, bring home other monsters? After all, wasn¡¯t that how the others saw her, as a monster? She knew everything they did when it came to arts and entertainment. Would he bring back a Zombie Sarah? A Slasher Sarah sounded both horrifying and titillating all at once. What if he brought back a ¡°real¡± vampire, as in an undead version of herself. Where would that leave the Countess at then? She never got to finish that thought. She had been about to take another sip of her coffee when the lounge doors burst open with a horrendous rending noise. It was impressive as the doors were solid metal and about two inches thick. Two figures flew through the rent doorway and crashed to the floor. Declan was on top of what looked like a pile of rags that covered a Halloween doll, only the doll was moving and fighting back. Declan was in a rage. She had never seen him in such a state, and it scared her. It scared her because she knew of only one thing that could drive him to go so mad. The monster that he was straddling had threatened one or all of the Sarah¡¯s, and their man was fighting to protect them. She could see it in his eyes. Eyes that were glowing a reddish tint just like hers, only his were actually glowing with a raw untamed power. Red energy smoked from his eyes and he looked . . . bigger, more muscular than normal. Suddenly, she was far more titillated than she should have been in a situation like this, she hated herself for it, but then also couldn¡¯t help looking at him. Declan had grabbed the skeletal man¡¯s head and was pounding it against the floor repeatedly. Each bounce produced a sickly crunch and a scream of pain from Declan¡¯s opponent. Then the reaper man managed to raise a hand to Declan¡¯s chest and a brilliant flash of white flared. The glow enveloped the entire room, leaving a negative image of what she had been looking at moments ago burned into her eyes. Countess could barely see anything for going flash blind, but as her sight returned she could make out the figure of the man that Declan had been fighting rise to his feet. Countess leapt to her feet and screamed at the top of her lungs, ¡°Ladies, break out the gear Kristine gave us, and get ready to give Declan some backup! We¡¯re gonna kill this asshole!¡± 36) The First Rule of Coffee Club is Don鈥檛 Interfere with Coffee Club The First Rule of Coffee Club is Don¡¯t Interfere with Coffee Club Declan sailed through the air as a burst of energy erupted from the palm of Poe¡¯s hand. He hadn¡¯t felt anything except for his forced repulsion from his prone foe, and he didn¡¯t feel anything when his spine impacted on the steel wall of the Coffee Lounge despite the fact that he created a two-inch deep dent in its surface when he struck it. The fact was that he wasn¡¯t even aware when he placed his hands against the walls and shoved himself back to the ground. His hands clenched involuntarily as he landed, seeking to wrap themselves around Poe¡¯s boney neck once more. His eyes scanned the room and they locked onto his skeletal prey. Poe, or as his now maddened mind perceived him, the enemy was still trying to get his footing; the Horseman was staggering more than Declan would have expected but he was still on his feet. That bastard was tough. That was good, he reflected, that meant that he was able to give the son of a bitch even more of a beating than he¡¯d hoped. Declan crouched and then charged forward. He did not notice that his jacket, tie and shirt had been burned away by Poe¡¯s blast, or that the last remaining smoldering remnants of his clothing fell away as he ran. He vision swirled so that all he could see was the Horseman. In contrast, his movements were so fast that Poe could barely see where he was coming from, and only just manage to step aside as Declan dove by him as he had tried to tackle the robed skeleton. His momentum was such that even though he missed Poe completely the Horseman was still spun around like a top that had just about lost all of its momenta. Poe managed to recover his senses just as Mason crashed into a plush chair and landed in a display of cookies. The horseman reached out his left arm and with a flash and a clap of thunder, a scythe-like weapon appeared in his hand crackling with a malicious energy. His scythe, he knew, was so sharp that it could cut between atoms. It carried an edge so fine that it even allowed him to cut pathways in-between dimensions. This was his up close and personal weapon of choice. He had played with Declan Mason long enough. It had been his hope to bring him over to work with him, but he could see now that the man could not be reasoned with. He just wished that he had waited a little longer before he had come to parlay. He was still weakened from the time travel, and he could not defend himself like he would have been able to if he were at full strength. All that was left for him now was to kill this man, then his women, and try to stop the Invigilator on his own. He spun his scythe in a great sweeping arc and began to edge towards Mason. This fight was going to end now. Declan stood up. Poe could see him clearly now, for the first time since he had initiated his attack and what he saw scared him. Mason¡¯s upper body only had a small circular burn on his chest from when he had been struck by Poe¡¯s point-blank power blast. That energy burst had been three times hotter than the sun¡¯s core temperature. The result looked like little more than a light sunburn on Mason. This unnerved the Horseman, as he had used that ability many times in order to burn through to a planet¡¯s core in mere seconds. Mason had hardly taken any damage. As far as wasted efforts went, Poe might as well have been hitting him with spitballs. Declan rose and brushed a chocolate chip cookie from his shoulder. The Revelator¡¯s eyes crackled with red energy and his muscles coursed with raw power. He looked like Atlas free of the world¡¯s burden from his shoulders, and it was obvious to the Horseman that he had actually increased in muscle mass in the seconds it took him to crash into the couch. Poe advanced a step, but his opponent did not move. The whirling of the scythe was merely a whisper in the air but Mason looked unconcerned. He stared into Poe¡¯s cavernous eye sockets and breathed harder. Poe¡¯s arm was utterly useless, but he didn¡¯t need it to deal with Mason. He would heal in due time, at the moment he was focused on killing the man before him. He took another step and then another, and still, Declan did not move. The Horseman watched as the man¡¯s rate of breathing increased and foam began dribbling from his lips. His red eyes smoldered now, with an energy that seared into the depth of Poe¡¯s soul. Finally, the horseman had had enough and leapt the distance between them. He brought his weapon down in a crescent moon arc and was met with Mason¡¯s blocking X-crossed arms. The blade that could cut through anything shattered on the impact with Declan¡¯s skin. A small scratch appeared on his arm, and a faint trickle of blood trailed to his elbow, but that was all that happened. The man was otherwise unhurt. Poe had landed in a kneeling position, with only half of his scythe¡¯s handle left in his hand. He looked up in confusion. What had just happened was impossible. He had seen that blade cut the Invigilator when the great being had forged it for him when he¡¯d become his new minion. To even consider the possibility that this man¡¯s skin was so powerful was simply unthinkable to him. ¡°Inconceivable,¡± he whispered. Declan didn¡¯t acknowledge Poe¡¯s words and did not hesitate to strike. His hand shot forth and poked two fingers into the Poe¡¯s empty eye sockets and lifted him from the floor with the ease of lifting a balloon into the air. Mason began to shake the Horseman like a postpartum depressed mother taking all of her anger out a screaming baby. ¡°No one threatens my Sarahs. No one harms them! And no one,¡± he bellowed, ¡°Tells me that they will hurt MY Sarah!¡± His voice started clear but became less coherent as he went. ¡°I will protect the Sarahs!¡± Finally, he ended with a primal roar and snapped Poe¡¯s neck with a sound like kindling crackling on a fire. ¡°Aaaaarrggghh!¡± The roar escaped his lips primally, his mental state now more animalistic than man, and in that one moment, he was closer to Crowe than he would ever be again. Had he eyelids, the Horseman would have blinked in disbelief. He was stunned and could not move due to the pain that coursed throughout every inch of his body. Pain became his world, and agony his wife. It was the realization that he was utterly helpless before this man that chilled his soul. As the Horseman, he had killed numbers so endless that it was impossible to begin conceiving of, but at this moment he was nothing more than a helpless babe caught in the maw of a starving wolf. The Revelator dropped the reaper to the ground and kept screaming in spite of his foe¡¯s apparent destruction. Energy poured from his eyes cascading down his body like glowing water. Mason foamed at the mouth like a rabid dog that had attacked a tube of toothpaste. In his unfettered and maddened mental state, Declan began to smash everything around him caught up as he was in his uncontrollable fury. He grabbed at the thing nearest to him and found a plush chair that he used to mercilessly pummel Poe with it until all of its stuffing was left floating in the air like lazy snowflakes. Soon he had ripped a coffee maker from the wall and pounded Poe¡¯s body with the device until it fell to pieces in his hands. The girls huddled into a corner and were all collectively holding their breath. They were stunned to see Declan in a full-on berserker mode. They had never seen him truly angry before. He had shown them fear and concern and even love, but they had never laid eyes upon the blind rage that now festered in his soul. Declan¡¯s countenance was a truly horrifying thing to behold. The smile he bore was warped; it was something less than a sneer and more than a snarl. It was obvious to them that he was out of control and could not find his way back to them. Their man was lost. Countess stepped away from the group and was about to try to talk him down, but before she could say anything the imposter grim reaper rose from the floor. He shrugged off the fluff and the coffee grounds that covered his body and began to glow a dark greenish color, and before she could even shout a warning to Declan the doppelg?nger of death fired a huge blast of caustic energy into Declan¡¯s back. The energy flared for a full minute eating away at the very fabric of space that held Declan before finally stopping; exhausted the skeletal warrior fell back to his knees. He had just given everything that he had. That was the very energy that he used to pull apart the strands that held the universes together. Nothing could withstand its force. It was the most caustic power known in any universe.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Ah¡¯ve done it,¡± he cackled. ¡°Ah¡¯ve killed you. You were far more than a worthy opponent, Declan Mason, but nothing can stop the Horseman.¡± He stayed on his knees because he was too weak to stand. He was too drained to move. With his energies depleted he knew that the flying car, Mother, and a squadron of battlemechs would be heading his way shortly, but he could not force himself to stand. He had not been this weak since he had been a simple human. Thankfully, Mason was dead or was in serious medical distress. A challenge issued from behind him by means of a roar. All he could make out was the word, ¡°Mmmmmaaaaaaaccccce,¡± before he was clubbed in the back of the head by a vicious blow. His assailant was a half-naked girl with a Mohawk. She was holding a heavy looking plasma pistol in her hand, and he assumed that was what she had used to strike him with; regardless he would deal with her, and then the others. He began to try to get to his feet when he was struck from behind for a second time. He felt large clawed feet shredding his back, and damned if it didn¡¯t hurt. His reserves were all but gone, and he was more vulnerable now than he had been in centuries. With a sudden revelation, he realized that these girls were more of a threat than he had originally realized. The topless girl shoved her gun into his nare and fired. Normally, something like a plasma bolt wouldn¡¯t pose a threat to him, but in his current condition and the extreme proximity of the gun meant that he had been seriously hurt. A strange sensation overcame him as it felt like his sinuses were draining and that a great ball of pressure had vanished from behind his eye sockets. Black ichor poured from the gaping hole that had been his nose and covered him to his feet. He threw the annoying rabbit girl who had been dancing on his spine like a prima ballerina across the room. Poe watched as the half-naked bunny girl sailed over the head of what looked like a mime. The girl stopped in front of him, pretended to slowly draw a sword from her side, he got the impression that it was a katana rather than a broad sword, and then proceed to twirl it around her body. Then, the white-faced girl slashed down in an arc that swept across his chest, and he felt her cutaway ribs. She was not holding an imaginary sword. The weapon that she held was real, and it was powerful enough to slice through his bones. He turned to go back to the hallway as he smacked the mime in the face. The blow knocked her down in a heap, so he stepped over her and headed for the hallway, as he still had to retrieve his encapsulated Sarah and then get to his hoverbike to escape. Poe would come back for the women later. He just had to make it to the hallway. What he got instead was a hoof in the face. Sarahtaur had joined the row with the rabbit girl on her back. She had reared back, intending to stomp on the skeleton¡¯s skull, but when he had stood up he¡¯d just presented too easy of a target for her front leg to kick. The blow sent him reeling and as he spun he came face to face with Essea. ¡°We do not appreciate you interrupting our coffee time,¡± she said mechanically. She lifted her hands; hands that were crackling with raw electricity. The energy sputtered and sparked, and for a moment Poe thought she was only going to warn him; to threaten him into leaving, he couldn¡¯t have been more wrong. He thought that right up until she unleashed far more than 1.21 gigawatts of energy on him, but it was definitely enough to make him go back and rethink his future. He sailed into the hallway, robes smoldering, and a scream ripping from his lipless jawline. Countess followed him into the corridor; she was carrying one of Crowe¡¯s guns and she looked rather pissed. The vampire grabbed him by his robes and slammed him into the wall of the corridor. Poe¡¯s head rebounded like a punching bag as Countess pummeled him with a barrage of jabs and uppercuts. She had knocked out two of his teeth before he managed to get a hand up to block her attacks. ¡°You are so lucky that you don¡¯t have any blood vessels, you wretched man!¡± Her fangs flashed and snapped as she switched from throwing punches to slashing at him with her blade-like claws. ¡°If you did,¡± she hissed, ¡°I would rip your frigging throat out!¡± Rah¡¯s right foot connected with the left side of the Horseman¡¯s face just as Countess cut a ragged gash in the Horseman¡¯s robes across his chest. The impact drove him back into the coffee lounge and right into Essea¡¯s reinforced steel fist. She struck him solidly in his thoracic area, and she heard more of his ribs snap. One dropped to the floor and she nonchalantly kicked it out of the way. Her eyes flashed and an intense beam pierced his chest leaving a hole three inches in diameter behind. Poe struck out frantically and managed to knock the cybernetic female away from him, but before he could take advantage of his minor success Sarahtaur¡¯s rear legs drove him into the air and across the room. Crowe watched him land right where the centaur said she would send him and tossed a scalding pot of coffee in the boney face of her foe. Poe could not understand what was happening. He was being manhandled by a roomful of average women. On any other given day they would not be able to touch him let alone issue one point of damage, but right now he was at their mercy and it seemed that they had none to spare. He went to pull his gun, but the instant it was drawn the mohawked girl ripped it from his hand. He shuddered. That was no ordinary weapon. Aside from his now destroyed scythe, it was probably the only thing that could kill him outright aside from the Invigilator himself. Crowe looked at the handgun and smiled. She had a hard time understanding a lot of things, but pistols were not one of them. She whipped the weapon around in her hand and pointed it at his right foot. Before he could move she had fired and every bit of him below his knee shattered in a hail of atoms. The pain was unimaginable, unfortunately for him, he didn¡¯t have to imagine it; he had the pleasure of experiencing it firsthand. Before he could scream she had fired another round into his other leg doubling his displeasure and his forlornness. His vision, so blurred by pain, allowed him to only perceive light and dark and minimal motion. He wanted to clench his teeth and bear with it all, but his endless screaming would not let him do so. Had he a throat it would have been raw and he would have been vomiting gouts of blood. In a panic Machiavelli did the only thing he could think of; he did not have the energy for it, and so he was going to suffer even more pain and was going to be weakened for days as he recuperated from this fiasco. He used his remaining life energy and went immaterial. He forced his body to ignore gravity¡¯s call and fly towards the hallway. His vision was so bad that he had to rely on the light of the corridor to guide him back to where he had left his hoverbike. He had no idea how he would escape this dimension, but he could use it to get him far enough away that he could figure that part out later. As he soared past the women Crowe pursued him, as did the Countess. They raced after keeping pace as he tried to outdistance them. His cries of agony echoed throughout the building. Even Sarah the Vegan could hear him from her room on the other side of the citadel. Sarah the mime cocked her head and placed a hand to her ear as she tried to decipher what was causing the noise. She had just awakened and was confused, she had no idea of where the fleshless fiend had gone. The girls returned four minutes later and relayed what had happened. Poe, they said, had run into Declan¡¯s room and vanished. He had scrabbled around on the floor around searching for something until Crowe shot at his head twice before he had jumped through one of Declan¡¯s walls and vanished into the cold expanses of space. She looked to see if there was anything in the room that he might have dropped, but neither she nor Tess had found a thing. They then returned to check in on Declan and the others. The rest of them looked ashamed, they had been so worried that the reaper man was going to come back that they hadn¡¯t checked on Declan. They had been far too preoccupied with the fight. Rah began to bounce over to his body, but just before she got to him he picked himself up off the ground. Declan stared at the girls. He had no idea of how he had gotten into the lounge or why it was so trashed. He recalled talking to Machiavelli until the man had said something to upset him. After that, it was all a blur. He was sure they¡¯d fought, but he had no memory of anything after the Horseman had shown him . . . something. His head was still swirling. He needed a few minutes to catch his breath. ¡°Are you girls all right,¡± he asked worry straining his voice. Each of them came to him and embraced him in a group hug. They all began crying, even Essea, and Declan just hugged them back reassuringly. ¡°WTF is going on,¡± came Second Sarah¡¯s voice. ¡°We just had one hell of a fight, but everyone is OK,¡± Declan said to her, a tired smile tracing his lips. ¡°Yeah,¡± she asked. ¡°That doesn¡¯t explain why you are naked,¡± she pointed at him, ¡°Or what the hell this is.¡± She held up the chain that ended with the miniaturized Sarah Prime in the clear capsule. She was frozen in place, looking like an action figure behind the plastic bubble. She seemed unharmed but exhibited no outward signs of life. For all intents and purposes, she may as well have been a toy figurine. Forgetting his nudity, Mason gently broke away from the group hug and stepped towards Second Sarah. She averted her gaze upward as he approached, slightly embarrassed by not only his nudity but reverent look in his eyes. They practically glowed with love. To her surprise, however, he reached out not to her, but to the pendant that held her image. He pulled it gently from her hand, the chain dragging along like a silver snake from her palm until it leapt from her fingertips. Declan had dropped to his knees and was holding the odd piece of jewelry as if it were a holy relic. ¡°I have you back,¡± he whispered, ¡°And I¡¯m never letting you go again.¡± His fingers reflexively wrapped around the immobile figure before he passed out. 37) He Who Plans Ahead . . . He Who Plans Ahead . . . The Invigilator felt the draw of energy and instantly knew what was happening. It was a minor niggling siphoning of his strength, but he noticed it. He had prepared for this moment. He had foreseen the betrayal and knew that his Horseman would kill anyone that he suspected would be taking over his duties as a destroyer of worlds. That was why he had allowed him to find the list of potential candidates. He had used the list to mislead him from the true, and sole, contender for the role of a destructor. The fact that he had sacrificed so many innocent lives to do this did not even occur to him. Does the sun care if a child used a magnifying lens to scorch some ants? No. These beings were less than ants to him. He knew that his Revelator had engaged his former Horseman and that the pair were engaged in a life or death struggle. Unfortunately for the Horseman, his contingency plan made the Revelator all but indestructible while on his homeworld. Nothing the Horseman did or could bring to bear against this operative could cause any real harm. He felt a surge of shame, for he had trained the Horseman, and the fool should have known better than to go against an enemy in his own lair. He had been doing so well striking down the alternate Declans. None of them had ever had a chance because he had struck surely and swiftly, but now he went head to head against a chimera whose powers echoed his own. That was arrogance, and it would be his downfall. The invigilator considered viewing the skirmish as it happened but decided that it did not matter what happened. He knew his Revelator could not lose, and therefore he would not need to intervene. The Horseman would either die or escape, and again neither outcome mattered more than the other to him. The only thing that he was thankful for was that his former astronomical assassin hadn¡¯t struck somewhere else. Off homeworld, the Revelator would be on his own, bereft of his additional power boost, and would be no match for the Horseman in a straight up fight. He turned his attention away from his minions, he had far more important things to focus on. The list of worlds that needed eradicated continued growing exponentially. He continued to delete the vast majority of the universes on his own, the ones that had just microseconds left before their rot would fester to a point that nothing could be done and he would fail in his task of overseeing the multiversal project. The Invigilator knew that there was little hope of his eliminating these contaminated worlds doing more than just slowing the progression of the others and that all he was doing was putting a finger in the proverbial dike. Eventually, he would have to destroy every universe that had been created and ban additional one from being translated into reality. That was the only real way to close that door once and for all, but he had been tasked with simply pruning the root away from the roots, and could not burn the orchard to save the grass. Still, it was only a matter of time. With each passing moment, his list of options grew shorter. He could make a million Revelators, Shivas, or Horsemen and they would not be enough to help.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He had, instead, chosen the one man in all of creations to be molded into a scalpel that he use to cut out the cancer that was metastasizing across dimensional planes. He also recognized that once the infection got into the multiverse then it would be inevitable that his own plane of existence would contract the disease as well. He was the firewall, the shield, the last hope of his people and they bound his wrists in regulations. He could not do what was needed to be done, and so had to struggle to keep the sickness at bay. He knew the only real cure was to kill the patient, but so far he was doing nothing but biopsying cells from a soup of pure putrefaction. He felt the power drain stop suddenly and idly wondered if the Revelator had killed the Horseman. He knew the reverse could not be true, and with that in mind he lost interest in their actions and returned to his task at hand. Another thousand worlds had just progressed to a point where the infection would become contagious, and he had to expunge them from existence. He sighed and returned to his arduous task. A quintillion googleplexes of lives were snuffed out with a simple thought, and still, he had to continue his grim task. He swore that when he next spoke to the architects that he would demand that they try to instill some sort of immunization action into the weave of their cosmos, but he already knew that they would complain that it would only serve to stifle their creativity and inhibit what they could do during the creation process, but it was worth a try. Some of them might listen. Most wouldn¡¯t though. They had higher ideals and loftier goals than to worry that their pet projects might actually lead to the destruction of their own species. He waved a hand and another five thousand universes vanished in a blink. They had never existed. They had been erased from time and space, both of those dimensions being little more than an instrument of measure for the Invigilator. His biggest concern was that every universe he destroyed was replaced by the architects before the last atoms of the old one dissolved into nothingness. It was a losing battle, he cut away infection and they replaced the space he had extracted with fresh tissue. He could enjoin entreat for a moratorium on the Creation project, but he knew they would never consider a slowdown let alone a complete cessation for any amount of time. His work would only end when he failed, and he would not fail.