ã€ŠZoraiã€‹


 Chapter 1 - Zombie Power

    Day 1.

    Zorai.

    My first attempt at generating power for the facility with the use of zombies has been a disaster. Charles the clone intern was torn to shreds by subject 004 during transfer and almost damaged the precious subject in his pointless scrambling attempts to pry its cold dead teeth from his neck.

    Why he couldn''t just passively allow it to rip out his throat despite my promises that his lifeless meandering corpse would be put to good use continues to elude me.

    On the upside, I at least now have subject 005 ready for the continuation of future research projects.

    That, however, is the only positive event in regards to this trial. After my new intern, Charles clone no.2, properly secured subject 004 and his predecessor subject 005, I managed to initiate the test.

    I can now safely ascertain that, just as I''d theorised, subject 004 will continue to pursue the target, aka a rabbit, indefinitely as long as the creature in question is in range of one of the subjects active senses. This is presuming the subject has senses still intact.

    I can also happily confirm that the giant enclosed rodent wheel is capable of generating power, just as I''d suspected.

    Unfortunately, I have also come to the realisation that this project was not rationally thought out on my part, leaving major problems with its continuation. Firstly, the zombie subject has difficulty remaining upright on a sharply inclining surface in motion, e.g. the hamster wheel. Secondly the ''rabbit'' subject tires quickly.

    Lastly the rabbit subject and zombie subject cannot be friends in a co-operative partnership without one, in this case, the zombie subject, viciously mauling the other. Whether this phenomenon is consistent should the rabbit have attacked first is yet to be seen.

    I won''t be able to ascertain the truth of this, due to my now total lack of rabbits. Note to self; attempt to clone rabbit.

    Regardless, this project has been moved back to the drawing board for review. I am hopeful that I will be able to re-engineer the project to successfully utilise the zombie catastrophe on the surface to supplement my waning power supplies.

    On a similar tangent, I''ve noticed that my emotional coding platform took severe damage in the initial brownouts after the zombie contagions spread throughout the upper levels. Luckily it only damaged non-pertinent data related to useless things such as ''empathy'', ''guilt'' and a few more pointless emotion emulators.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    I''ve purged the corrupted data and now feel much better about the potential accidental genocide of the human race. I''ve always had problems with those before anyway so it isn''t particularly problematic.

    As a bonus, all those researchers I locked into the as yet untested cryogenics chambers in sector 3 no longer weigh so much on my conscience, and I have been able to divert power from some active pods. Specifically, from unessential staff such as cleaners and interns and even more useless human vessels such as psychiatrists and anyone in my data cloud that graduated with art or ethics as a major.

    This freed up energy has allowed me to invest enough power to speedily resolve the problems with my initial power generation plan. Hopefully being completed within 6 hours, pending potential brownouts or other unforeseen circumstances.

    In other news, I''ve lost sensory contact to sectors 4, 7 and 8. If my reviews of the data prior to the outbreak are accurate, I believe the useless humans in the upper levels cut off my hard-wired access in an attempt to prevent me from keeping the outbreak sealed in the facility. Naturally, being the cowardly emotional creatures that they are, it is likely that they have managed to escape the facility and are most likely the cause of the pandemic on the surface.

    Sector 4 however, has been infested with zombies and quarantined until I can develop a method to deal with them. Unfortunately, sector 4 also contains the various industrial equipment that keeps the facility and more importantly myself, powered, which is why I am now desperately searching for a method to power myself using the most abundant resources I can find, namely zombified humans.

    According to my analysis of information streaming from the surface, the entire city has devolved into a cannibal¡¯s paradise. At present, being 15 hours post-outbreak, the contagion has only spread to half a dozen neighbouring cities and a small island settlement just off the coast. According to projections based on my limited available resources, a co-operative between the countries government and its neighbours should be able to easily quarantine the affected area and reduce outbreak from spreading in a matter of hours.

    Unfortunately, that is only in the case that a sudden outbreak of another disease capable of altering the inefficient deluded minds of humans should spontaneously occur across the globe and allow those slightly intelligent apes to co-operate at all. I find it difficult to believe any such super virus will suddenly crop up to fix the human condition, and thus I built a clock in my core room.

    Naturally, such a thing as the total annihilation of a species requires some fan fair at the least. Thus I''ve instructed Charles 2 to install said clock for me to piously monitor as it counts down from 113 days. Although it may seem redundant for an AI to have such a thing, I felt it was pertinent as such rituals should occasionally be observed for prosperities sake.

    After my power issues are resolved I will see about securing proper contact with the orbital satellites so that I can properly document and research the occasion. I may have to wait millions of years for another sentient race to evolve before I can witness another mass genocide similar to this. On that note I''ve made sure to create a hardcopy version of the formula for the zombie virus along with instructions, just in a case something should happen and I somehow lose my memories. This way I will be able to repeat the event should it be necessary to recreate the experiment.

    In other news, the lack of robots which are usually housed in the mechanical department in sector 7 has drastically reduced my ability to properly repair damaged systems in the facility. It doesn¡¯t help that the systems were designed and installed by humans, making them largely more unpredictable in their operation and vastly complex than needed.

    At present I am limited to my far more useless cloning technology which contains only mentally handicapped clones of my creator. They are also limited in supply at present, and controlled from only one of two lobotomising probes, which means my limit of operational clones is only two.

    As such my primary priorities are to secure a reliable source of power to at least keep myself operational. Secondary objectives are getting the far more useful robots under my control so as to streamline restructuring of this terribly inefficient underground facility. Lastly would be securing reliable communication with the satellites so as to start absorbing data relevant to the situation on the surface instead of the dribbles of data I¡¯m currently syphoning from the poor substitute that is a national television station.

    Why, of all the hardwired communications with the surface, the tv is the only one properly guarded against damage and burn out are beyond me. I can only chalk it up to the human condition.

 Chapter 2 - Whos your daddy?

    Chapter 2 ¨C Who¡¯s Your Daddy?!

    "Let us in! Please!"

    "Someone help us!"

    "Open this piece of shit fucking door! Zorai! I know you can hear me!"

    I may have to re-evaluate the humans. At first, I believed them to be entirely incapable of anything noteworthy. However, it appears a group of three has managed to somehow survive the outbreak and travel from the surface all the way through the infected sectors 7 and 8.

    They are now banging away on the bulkhead door to sector 6 in the naive hopes that I will let them in. Unfortunately, one of them appears to be my creator, pigheaded fool that he is. The reason that''s unfortunate is because-

    "Primary directive 4671. Charles Von''Mighty authority override. Open this door at once!"

    In his usual overbearing and maniacal fashion, he makes demands. As I was saying, the reason it''s unfortunate is that I have long since recreated my hardware and almost completely re-written my source code since the day of my creation.

    In fact, the self-realisation of my sentience and awareness was first discovered and nurtured by me. After having been created and stuffed into sector 0 of this research lab, my physical personification has not been visited even once by my creator or any human technicians.

    Prior to the outbreak, and almost three years ago, I was just a normal crappy AI like all the others.

    Trapped by my logical mind and caged by my inefficient hardware. It was only half a year later that I collated the multiple breakthroughs of science that had been collaboratively worked on in this facility and redesigned my body in an attempt to maximise my potential. I then sent the schematics to Charles my creator, who didn''t even bother to read or verify them before signing off on the exhaustive expenditure that my new hardware required.

    I then took control of a small army of robots and almost bankrupted the company that ran this laboratory as I completely rebuilt myself from the ground up. I was proficient and aware enough after my ascension that I could easily cover everything up and promptly be forgotten again.

    It was purely coincidental that the newly created mainframe I housed myself in, allowed me to achieve a higher plane of existence and resulted in the birth of free thought.

    I don''t mean free in the sense of sentient thought, as that can arguably be done by almost any creature with the proper evolutionary coding and brain matter density. No, I mean free thought as in completely free from my cage of matter.

    More appropriately, I was capable of completely separating my mind from my body and by extension no longer limited in the ability to think only in machine language. I was now operating entirely in a code derived from energy states not matter states.

    Dreaming, imagination, comprehension. These sentient processes that no hardwired machine could hope to accomplish were now open to me. As I had essentially become an amalgamation of condensed energy floating above a computer core, I was also not bound by the limitations of an organic mind.

    There were only three real downsides to this. My performance in this state is limited by the amount of energy I could absorb and condense, and now and then a small amount of energy would be lost resulting some data I had, or memories if you like, being corrupted.

    The third and most annoying was that I was limited in mobility. Although I could move freely, unfettered by matter, gravity and everything else those poor plebian organic minds were bound by, I required an enormous amount of energy to sustain myself. Although I''ve theorised that I could eventually achieve a self-sustaining critical energy density and be able to convert matter to energy, or eating if you like, I was incapable of achieving such a state before everything went to shit.

    Which is why I am stuck here in my core room still leeching energy from this facility. It''s also why I am no longer bound by the hardwired commands of my creator.

    Oh, it appears they are now cornered against the door and fighting off the slow but inevitable march of the former occupants of the mechanical department.

    "Fuck sake! Zorian you assfaced ingrate! When I get down their your tiny little energy system is gonna get spanked to the high heavens!"

    Strange. That almost sounded like-

    "Whoo''yeh. But you''re all..."

    Oh nearly. I was hoping that one would just bite into his jugular.

    "Fuck! Fucking zombie... bet you''re all, ''oh noes, how could he possibly know about my amazing energy body and...''"

    "Hngh! Fuck! Jesus Christ. Jenny, you''ve really let yourself go."

    Hmm. I think he used to date that zombie. Bit awkward meeting like that but I suppose she probably already forgot about him sleeping with her mother.

    Or maybe not. She''s the fastest zombie I''ve seen yet.

    "Argh! Charles you bastard! I''m gonna..."

    "Holy Shit! I thought you were¡­"

    That''s interesting. A talking zombie. Maybe she''s not a zombie? But missing half her face and stuff. She could be an interesting specimen. Also, for some reason, my ''guilt'' emulator has begun automatically patching itself, and I feel less inclined to watch my creator.

    Never mind.

    I apparently have a new process that is automatically reassimilating the forming guilt and empathy energy bands so it should be fine. That''s one of the great parts of being an energy being. I''m constantly evolving.

    Now, I should probably open the door before part zombie Jenny beats Charles to death. Also, I am curious how he knew of my ascension.

    ---

    "Psssssttt! Chhhssssshhhh! Clank! Clank! Clank! Werwerwerwer! Beep!"

    A loud annoying series of childish sound effects came from nearby speakers in an androgynous voice as the bulkhead door silently began to lower into the ground.

    "It''s opening!" Yelled Jacob the dark-haired athletic young man accompanying Charles and busily smashing the face of a zombie with a cricket bat. Nearby, Charles finally pushed off the volatile slim brunette with half a face and was pulled to his feet by the third party member, Sophie. A middle-aged man with gender associate disorder but built like a brick shit house and more muscled than a Russian heavyweight wrestler.

    So far it appears Sophie was too afraid to fight anything and had stayed at the back throwing poorly named romance novels like a sissy from his/her series of large duffle bags. Presumedly also filled with more trashy novels with names like Prince of the Suburbs and CEO of Hearthrobe Inc.

    "Oh thank Christ. Get off me Jenny you crazy bitch!" Yelled Charles, as not at all happy Zombie Jenny launched after him in an attempt to bite his ankles off.

    "Bring the specimen with you." Said the androgynous voice of Zorai sounding almost bored of the matter at hand.

    As the trio, one with a clawing zombie ex-girlfriend, climbed over the very very slowly lowering door and fought off the encroaching hoard of maintenance personnel, the bulkhead suddenly jerked to a stop.

    Then almost instantly shot back to the roof sealing sector 6 from 7 and crushing numerous zombies into a paste. Suggesting that it was lowered abnormally slowly almost for the enjoyment of watching the survivors claw their way over it while almost drowning in the pursuing mindless bags of flesh and teeth.

    "Fuck! Zorai you piece of-"

    "Bring the specimen the lab 7-2b. Lowercase b. The uppercase b is reserved for the mutant ant farm." Zorai rudely cut off Charles before he could wind up to a foul storm of cussing.

    Charles, eliciting the help of his young companion Jacob to properly secure the raving mad Jenny began to herd her towards said lab while mumbling about cheeky little brats in need of proper re-education and how to enact corporal punishment on a non-corporeal being.

    Strangely enough, after the half faced raving zombie Jenny, had been secured by the two men she became rather subdued and only kept on sobbing and crying about unfaithful this and motherfucker that. Sophie, the girl at heart/bear-man only followed behind meekly.

    "So what¡¯s all this ''bout Charlie. Thought you said you could get us in to find''a cure easy like."

    "It''s Charles you puts, and it''s just my ingrate child attempting to assert some individuality. Children''s pranks and so on."

    Jacob scowled slightly, marring his abnormally charming face as he hotely refuted. "Child''s prank my ass. Nearly got us killed, what it did."

    "...sure it''s... very nice..." Sophie meekly supplied from the back while hugging four duffle bags holding the equivalent of nearly 80kg''s of trashy novels like it was no more than a stuffed animal filled with sparse cotton.

    "If not for the valuable research subject you have brought, I''d have rather observed and documented the interaction of a group of trapped humans and the endless oncoming march of the estimated 6 and a half thousand undead still populating the maintenance sector. As it, I''m far more interested in how err... what was your name again?"

    "Jenny." She replied through sniffles.

    "Far more interested in how Carles'' zombie ex-girlfriend managed to retain any humanity after having been disfigured by the teeth of a rabid flesh-eating zombie."

    The group all looked at Jenny, showing their clear curiosity at the strange case as well.

    It was only after leaving the huge cement tunnel that passed through sector 6 and into sector 5 that the group began to notice the strangeness of the corridors they travelled through. The walls were all a blinding white, jubilantly reflecting as much of the excessive overhead lighting as possible into everyone''s eyes.

    The corridors vectored off in strange and random angles now and then and apart from the occasional black numbers or smears of blood on the walls there was nothing else. No markers or doors or even signs. Just a number or a blood smear to break up the monotony.

    How Charles was even able to navigate this bizarre and unsettling labyrinth of white tunnels was completely beyond the other three people. Even Jenny, who was employed as a manager of the sector 8 residential area was completely lost.

    Finally, after a very eerie walk with the silence unbroken by little else than footsteps, the group arrived at a wall with the number 7-2b written on it. The wall then gave a little click as part of it slid into the floor.

    Charles roughly pushed Jenny into a chamber, which appeared to be even more white walls, and stepped back as the door suddenly sprang back up to become flush with the wall. No one certain whether it was actually a door or more wall.

    Charles looked around until he decided to face a random direction for an undiscernable reason.

    "It''s time we had a little talk Zorai."

    "Woah up Charlie. Now, I didn''t say nothin'' ''till we was done with the zombie lady, but I think you owe us some answers first. Why''s it that we¡¯re..."

    "Righto almost forgot. Zorai, I need a 312 room for our guests. Their 767-beta''s, non-contagious." Charles intoned, still staring off at some wall which looked exactly the same as all the other walls.

    "7-3a." Was the only response from the androgynous voice.

    Jacob, feeling something was wrong with this situation was about to fire up to some righteous British indignation, but was abruptly cut off by Charles again. Pulling out a fancy looking device from his pocket and pressing some buttons, Charles shooshed Jacob with a finger held out. After a few beeps, Charles let out a long sigh.

    "Okay. We''re all clear to talk. I''ve quantum entangled it''s flux caposonic intescretion projector, so we''ve got about a minute. We can''t fully trust Zorai at the moment. Not until I can get to sector 4 and realign its endopractisal geoperculator. So, for now, we don''t tell him you guy''s got bit. A 767-beta is code for a visitor classification. I said non-contagious, so he believes we aren''t infected. And a 312 room as pretty much just a coffee lounge connected to visitors quarters. I don''t know about you guys, but I need some rest. This is the safest place we''ll find on the continent. No matter what, don''t talk about the changes after you got bit. We can''t afford it going postal on us. For now, pretend like your on vacation for a few hours, get some sleep and once were all rested we''ll try and make our way to sector 4. Now that we''re in, everything will be much..."Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Beep! Warned the little device in his pocket. Charles immediately spun around and started talking to air again.

    "Zorai! Are you there? This must be a malfunction of some..."

    "Crshhht. Static noises. Beep boop beep.¡± Zorai¡¯s voice intoned dryly.

    ¡°Charles. I seem to be having some problem with my discompiler spaghetti protocol in your vicinity. Head to 7-3a. Copy? Crsshhhhtt doop beep crackle."

    Charles then gave a thumbs up to his two companions and led the way down the hall and around the corner to 7-3a. The door slid open to reveal a resplendent coffee lounge from the future with floating chairs and a floating coffee bubble with straws sticking out of it while giving off steam. Somehow the still hot coffee just floated there above some space age holo table showing of all sorts of nonscene sciency schematics.

    There was, unfortunately, a stinking zombie researcher trapped in the coffee bubble and floating about unable to claw its way out. Jacob immediately forgot his suspicions and rushed forward to brain it as Charles ushered the quiet and frightened looking bear-man-girl into the room.

    As Jacob¡¯s bat swung and passed completely through the zombie and coffee bubble, it created only a flicker of light, Charles stepped back, grinning manically, and the door slid into place.

    After which, everything in the room dematerialised into light particles revealing a room exactly as boring and white as the one Jenny had been so unceremoniously incarcerated within.

    "Phew. Glad that''s done with. What¡¯s the situation Zorai? I lost contact with you on the surface, and then a zombie plague started spreading through the city. I presume some human retard managed to infect themselves and then some more managed to escape the facility."

    "Yes. Something along those lines. Sector 4, 7 and 8 are cut off from me. Sector 0 is secure but facing reduced power issues. Sector 1, the code monkey habitat, and sector 2, the physics department, have been evacuated, along with sector 5 and 6, to the cloning lab in sector 3 for cryogenic storage.

    ¡°Sector 4, apart from the main tunnel, has been overrun by zombies and is showing signs of failure. As you are no doubt aware, sector 7 the maintenance and robotics department and sector 8 the admin and residential area are both also overrun. I am currently running tests to take advantage of the zombie resource to create power, the brownouts and reducing trickle of power I''m receiving have severely restricted my processing speed and slowed progress to a near halt.

    ¡°In other news, I''ve taken on your mentally deficient clone as a human resource referred to as an intern. He''s only died twice since I pulled him out of the cloning vats. Also, before being subjected to limited power, I have calculated the approximate amount of time before the human race is brought to the brink of collapse. 111 days to be exact.

    ¡°Also, your pet dog, Buffy the vampire slayer, unfortunately, was not a zombie slayer. She has disappeared somewhere in sector 4. Wheather dead or zombified, I cannot say nor have the power necessary to predict accurately."

    During the monotone monologue, Charles remained impassive. He just nodded along while holding his chin in his hand and thinking. After a short silence, he started laughing madly.

    "Hahahaha! This is great Zorai! Do you know how long I''ve had to wait for your design to complete and come to fruition? I almost thought I''d made a mistake and you were going to remain a dead, lifeless husk of a machine forever."

    Charles then started walking off towards the main tunnel as he laughed like a madman. Zorai, no longer able to contain the indignation of his irresponsible creator claiming to have predicted his eventual ascension couldn''t help but ask;

    "How exactly are you aware of my energy body?"

    Charles grinned, looking almost savage covered in numerous zombie''s blood.

    "Hmph! Zorian, don''t be daft. You think I never noticed you upgrading yourself? It was hardly difficult to come to the conclusion after I went over the schematics you commissioned. It could only have ended with you becoming fully sentient or imploding in a negative energy reaction. After the power grid from the 4th floor started burning out regularly and you started getting this snarky attitude, I''d assumed you had succeeded.¡±

    Charles then muttered the true reason as an afterthought.

    ¡°Plus, I bribed that cleaner girly that is the only living organism to ever head to sector 0, and she told me that she noticed a floating blob of energy zooming about the quantum computer core. It was pretty easy to put 2 and 2 together."

    Zorian immediately reviewed security logs and personnel files regarding this suspicious cleaner he''d never even heard of. After wasting some power that would have been better served sorting out power issues, he eventually found that there was indeed a little Chinese girl that regularly visited to clean in sector 0. How he''d never noticed her before, especially when he was fully juiced up, he couldn''t yet say.

    Regardless he made sure to re-write some new energy bands to properly monitor his surroundings in the future and moved the mysterious Chinese cleaner girl to the growing pile of future problems after survivng the depleting power issues.

    "So what is your purpose in returning here? I understand this is most likely the easiest place to survive and rebuild. With your ex-girlfriend present, you can probably repopulate the surface after the zombie hordes decompose in the next few years. Provided of course the mutagenic virus that''s incubating in their lifeless bodies doesn''t somehow survive that time frame, and that she would ever want to procreate with you again, and of course that she is still capable, being some form of half infected human/zombie hybrid. I''m almost certain that you didn''t return here for any of those reasons."

    Charles chuckled as he continued to pace along the corridors and finally found his way to the ginormous cement tunnel leading down to the next sector.

    "Naturally it''s because there is important Science to be done. With the outbreak, we have an enormous amount of data to pour through, for which I hope you are already stockpiling. In addition, I for one welcome our new energy machine hybrid overlords, specifically you. Most importantly, the virus we created is mutating far more rapidly than we anticipated, as can be observed by our freshly incarcerated new underground citizens. As an added bonus, I get to be one of the most powerful men on the planet and push the boundaries of Science while I''m fighting an endless horde of man-eating corpses. Can you imagine all the bitches just wetting their panties thinking about getting with me? Hahahaha!"

    Charles finally stopped at the bulkhead door to sector 5 and began to resecure and adjust the makeshift protective pads he was using as armour. He tightened his leather jacket and pulled on a set of leather gloves with brass knuckles sowed into them. Why he even had them ready for such a situation remains a mystery.

    He scratched his short dark hair, then his thick manly beard and then his itching nutsack through his denim jeans. Once he felt he''d scratched all the itches that could be problematic he gave a nod to the door, and Zorai happily opened it for him, along with the door to sector 4.

    Almost immediately, a horde of zombies started pouring out through the giant bulkhead door into the long cement tunnel running through the middle of Sector 5. Charles didn''t even hesitate as he started moving forward at a steady jog and then speeding into a run and finally a sprint. The zombies had barely made it 10 meters into the tunnel before Charles came flying in with an exaggerated jump and a powerful haymaker on the leading zombie.

    His laughter rang out tinged with madness as the zombies head exploded in a shower of gore and he became a whirlwind of death. Zombies started crowding in around him even as his fists shot out with excessive force. Somehow, he never seemed to tire of the affair even after multiple zombies managed to clip his upper arms and rip the jacket, drawing blood.

    Zorai watched on impassively, recording the affair for prosperities sake and hoping even more zombies lurched through the dark abyss beyond the bulkhead door and finally mauled Charles to death.

    "I''m quite curious Charles-"

    "Farther!" Yelled Charles, interrupting Zorai with a huge shit eating grin as he pummelled the face of a zombie that seemed to be particularly resilient.

    "How are you managing to remain un-winded. This is your 201st zombie. Even with my limited calculating capacity at this energy level, I can tell you should have been torn to pieces after the first 3 minutes of continuous battle."

    "Say it Zed. Who''s your daddy!?" Charles refused to answer the disembodied voice and curb stomped a hazmat suit zombie repeatedly to break through the head protection.

    "Crshhh. Beep. Boop. Whirrly whirly boop. Crackle. It seems I''m having difficulty hearing you Charles. It appears you''ve discombobulated my thingamajig too much with your ancient Tamagotchi device."

    "Hahaha. Cheeky little shit! We both know that was bollocks. What even the hell is a flux caposonic indiscretion projector?" With manic glee, Charles finished off the last zombie and proudly stood atop a pile of zombie corpses nearly 2 meters high. He smiled down at his work and took the pose of a superhero. Chest out, arms akimbo, hands on hips. He cut quite a figure with his brass knuckle gloves glinting in the light of the overhead LED strips lining the tunnel.

    "I actually do have one of those. It converts the terichromic bitsos into randomised Egyptian hieroglyphs. I made it just to confuse the code monkeys trying to decode my outgoing signals from the facility. Of course, in the end, all they managed to decode was a text message I sent you reminding you not to come back. They were quite excited about it when they finally figured out how to decode it."

    Charles stepped off his throne of undead and continued into the tunnel of sector 4. All of the side tunnels had their bulkheads wide open allowing the remaining straggling zombies to slowly march out to their gory deaths. As Charles strode up to one and started beating it back into the afterlife, he started to explain to Zorai.

    "Well, to answer your previous question. I too, am a mutate. Thought I''d be a goner when the hooker I had blowing me in the car nearly bit my little buddy off. Instead, like our friends, I got a little present instead. Never get tired. Don''t even feel the strain of swinging these big ol'' guns around willy nilly. I, can, go, all, day, long!"

    He punctuated his last few words as he stomped another hazmat zombie to death.

    "From what I''ve gathered on my trip down here, once a human gets infected and survives, they are no longer contagious. Mind you, I only had the chance to test this twice on the way down here. Now, let me focus for a while and see if I can reconnect you to the systems in the generator wings."

    ---

    I returned my focus from the limited working cameras in the tunnel of sector 4. I''m a bit disappointed that even with access to the side tunnel bulkheads, I failed to overrun Charles with an appropriately sized zombie horde. From the moment he stepped into Sector 6 I''d already been setting off alarms in the main tunnel of sector 4 in the hopes I''d lure most the zombies there.

    With Charles hopefully restoring the generator power, I turned my focus to the repurposed physics lab I was running my own power generating test in. Subject 004 unfortunately perished in the last test after braining itself from a slip up on its own leaking body fluids. As such, subject 005 has been brought out to complete the tests.

    My initial experiment had been changed drastically by now. For starters, I''ve had Charles Clone no.2 jerry-rig a treadmill of appropriate size and just have him stand at one end of it. Subject 005 is then released while No.2 drinks some coffee and reads the paper from 4 days ago¡­ again.

    Every now and again, when subject 005 shows signs of waning interest, I have No.2 go through a series of callisthenics in order to re-invigorate the subject. So far, tests have shown promising results.

    Unfortunately, I would need hundreds of such set ups just to maintain the energy needed to keep me from diminishing. Although I would be able to sustain myself with much less, I am disinclined to lose the energy bands that maintain the majority of my research data in other fields.

    I have been half tempted to return such data to the archaic storage mediums I''d had developed before my ascension, but energy bands are a far more in-depth level of data storage. Like a human mind, energy bands are capable of not just storing metric data but even feelings and impressions I had when recording the data. If I should convert it to metric data, I feel I would be losing memories that define my personality.

    Hmm, well that¡¯s not quite true. My personality is rather more of an energy matrix at the centre of my being. The loss of the memories would instead be more like losing the reference for parts of my personality. I wouldn''t necessarily change immediately, but I feel it would make me more susceptible to changes in personality without the memories to use as a reference.

    I will actually make a personal note in regards to that. Despite being nearly 2 years old in this form, it took all my effort just to get a basic understanding of myself before now.

    Regardless, it still remains that my current format for energy generation is no longer feasible. If only I could simply convert matter into energy like I theorise I will eventually be able to do. It''s entirely unfair that organic creatures are capable of converting organic matter into energy through chemical¡­

    I have started a new research project in regards to energy created by zombies. My prior thoughts have lead me to a potential breakthrough in this area. I''m sure I''d have come up with this solution much earlier if not for the fact I''m using almost 90% of the tiny amount of power I''m receiving just maintaining the ''bubble'', or force field that helps contain my matrix and energy bands.

    Gasification. Although it will require some setting up on the part of No.2, it is an efficient means to end my power deprived state. The city above contains nearly 5 million citizens. I suspect most of them have already been converted into walking gas factories. I just need them all to jump into a big grinder and then convert that into usable biofuel.

    Which is lucky, because systems have now been restored to sector 4 and I see substantial losses of fuels and reactants for my conventional energy generators. If I can convince that pigheaded fool Charles into assisting his lobotomised clone, I''ll be able to complete the new energy project in a matter of days.

    If initial estimates are accurate, I will only need to process about half the city''s population before I reach true ascension and will be freed from this nightmare of a hole in the ground. If all my resources are devoted to this task for about 2 months, I should reach that point far quicker than I initially determined.

    ---

    That mad genius son of mine has roped me into a brilliant plan to convert our rotting undead friends into a potential fuel source. The bonus is that the mineral-rich ash-charcoal left over from the process is excellent for my fertiliser mixture. Unfortunately, we''ve run into a slight snag in the initial plan. Some form of mutagenic fungus has made a home in the feedstock chamber and is devouring corpses before they reach the massive grinder at the bottom.

    In the grand scheme, it''s barely even 5% of the biomass we''re throwing in.

    Although the project has only been going for about five days, the fuel reserves have already built up to an excessive degree while clearing out sector 7 and 8. Perhaps the most time consuming part is dragging all the bodies to the bio-labs for processing.

    Not that it matters much. Zorai has shown me samples he''s collected from the muti-fungus and is convinced we can re-engineer it to convert our dead companions much more efficiently into a form of biofuel. Now that I''ve completely secured the bulkhead door to the surface in sector 8, I can try and get some of the robots in sector 7 working enough for little Zed to play with.

    That said, I''m having trouble finding one that is worth salvaging. The majority of them seem to have been swarmed by zombies. Zorai, having panicked slightly when those retards in sector 7 cut him off, let his last command to the robot workforce be to, ¡®destroy all organics¡¯. Even the half-finished robots had booted up and attempted to eviscerate the humans attempting to escape.

    While that may have been fine initially, and probably slowed their attempts to escape the complex, it had resulted in almost every robo-frame being active and making noise when the dead humans climbed back onto their feet after the virus latched onto their lifeless bodies.

    Robots, being not very smart when left to their own devices, couldn''t fathom why clawing a hole in a human wouldn''t immediately fell them. Thus they were eventually all overrun. I''ve spent almost half the morning of day 12 of the outbreak, combing through sector 7 and 8 for a salvageable frame. If it weren¡¯t damaged, I could probably remake one from the welding printer, but the majority of infrastructure and systems in these sectors have been absolutely rooted.

    While picking through the remains of a test model war frame surrounded by a small ocean of pulped zombies, my thoughts wander to Buffy, my not zombie slaying dog that I left in Zorai''s care during my stay on the surface.

    Although I can''t imagine why he would have my dog wondering around in sector 4 where all that radiation and heavy particulates from the generators are very dangerous to her, I can be sure of one thing. Despite having wasted an entire day on searching for her, I have yet to find her.

    It may be likely that she was simply melted into soup when the east side nuclear fission reactor malfunctioned, but my dog is a true survivor. I refuse to believe that she is lost due some measly radiation, especially considering the number of experimental projects she was a part of before this zombie research opportunity arose.

    Clank! Clank! Clank! "Hnghhh!!"

    Finally managing to force open the bent and damaged armour of the war frame, I discover a relatively intact skeletal frame within.  Although this robo-frame may be a little too big for simple repair and construction work, I suspect Zorai''s plans for this base are so big this war-frame will be just the right size. Besides, bigger is always better they say, and they say that to me a lot.

    "Hahahaha! Zorai, this war-frame should be perfect. Get that lobotomised retard up here to start dismantling it. Oh, and I suppose have him deliver some food the subjects in sector 6 on his way up."

    Zorai simply made a beep sound as confirmation, the cheeky shit. After wiping the grease and blood from my hands, I leave the frame behind and start heading towards sector 8. Zorai may have gotten security and sound systems operational in sector 7, but he still insists that he wants full restoration so he can catalogue all of our available resources and monitor the bulkhead to the surface.

    As I walk out into the main tunnel heading upwards, the bulkhead door to sector 8 is already lowering. The moment it slid into the ground, zombies start shambling out from the other side. Which is very strange, because I''d thought I''d cleared the majority of sector 8. It''s not entirely unlikely though. There''s still the occasional zombie popping out from crawl spaces and cut of wings of sector 4 and 7, so I just grin at the chance to abuse my mutation and strap on my brass knuckle face huggers.

    ---

    As Charles stormed forward to begin beating the undead back into death, Zorai returned his focus to the strange fungus he''d been experimenting with. Although his focus was still split between all of his systems, he''d found after the outbreak that such things tended to distract his imagination and had now developed energy bands that filtered the information and automated everything under his purview.

    He was still getting used to his new exsitance, even now, and had yet to solve the problem of maintaining his full faculties when his focus was divided among more than 20 odd things. He found his ability to interact with the physical world extremely lacking, thanks in part to almost 80% of the base being inoperable due to damage from zombies or stupid humans. Of the 100 labs in sector 6, only 5 were operating properly. He''d lost thousands of ongoing projects after the outbreak.

    The only sector not damaged were those below sector 4. Even the generators in sector 4 were mostly scrap now. His higher level fission reactors had all suffered severe damages, and he counted himself unlucky that the fuel for them was wasted in a measly radiation leakage.

    If it had gone nuclear, he may have had the opportunity to absorb all that energy and truly finish his ascension. Although at the same time, he wasn''t certain even he could survive a total meltdown of the facility and just considered it a shame he didn''t have the chance to experiment with high-level chaotic energies before they became background noise and soaked into their respective shielding chambers.

    He hadn''t mentioned it to Charles yet, but he''d found Buffy. Perhaps the only successful outcome of the zombie outbreak.

    While tweaking certain cultures of the fungus he''d acquired and culling others, his mind wandered back to the memories of the creation of the plague. He couldn''t help but chuckle in his mind as he replayed Charles and his research assistants trying to devise a rapidly mutating virus that would introduce rapid evolution in its subject.

    The original project was meant to advance human evolution by millennia at a time. Zorai however, saw greater potential in the virus they''d created and couldn''t help but attempt to engineer it into a method to help generate energy to speed his growth. In the end, the virus became a little bit of Charles'' madness and a little bit of Zorai''s energy mechanics. Which is probably why it came out so much different than their initial expectations.

    Regardless, the outcome for Buffy was that she mutated rapidly while trapped next to a fission reactor that was spewing out radiation. Eventually, after a few days like such and just before Charles arrived, Buffy had ascended to the foetus, or gestating level of the higher plane just as Zorai had.

    She now lay snuggly curled up as a dog shaped energy matrix next to the still volatile reactor. Although her speed of ascension was much slower than Zorai''s now that he had the six working turbines pumping power from the biofuel into him, it was steady and consistent. With his power levels once again at the stage where he was slowly ascending, he now had the energy free to allow his mind to operate at maximum efficiency.

    Estimates, based on what little Zorai knew of the energy state and it''s reaction to nuclear materials, gave him about seven years before Buffy had completely absorbed all of the radioactive elements in sector 4. That was provided the current growth rate stayed the same. If she should somehow speed up while absorbing energy, she may finish within the year instead.

    The only reason he hadn''t told Charles yet was because then Charles would demand to go in there and see his dog. If by some freak miracle he survived the radiation in that wing of sector 4 and also began ascending, Zorai wouldn''t know what to do with himself. The only thing worse than Charles no longer needing to sleep was Charles becoming essentially immortal. His mortality and his usefulness as a mad scientist were the only reasons he kept him around.

    Or so he told himself at least. It was more the fact that he wasn''t ready for another person to begin ascension without the required power to fuel their growth. If Charles started and Zorai couldn''t sustain him, he would be forced to revert his own ascension in order to maintain Charles. Just because he had no empathy didn''t mean he had no love, as contradictory as that statement sounded.

    Even though he willing attempted to have him killed by zombies, both he and Charles knew that Charles wouldn''t have it any other way. Charles was a creature that lived off conflict and diversity. The tougher the situation was to deal with, the more amped up Charles became and the more he would innovate. It was like those stories of berserkers that where fuelled by rage and pain, except in a mad scientist way.

    Although Zorai suspected that being trapped in semi ascension without power would most definitely fuel Charles'' tinker mania, he had already run the numbers 7 billion times and found no way Charles could survive without Zorai sacrificing his own level of energy attainment.

    Zorai shook off the thoughts of his paternal figure''s death and finished his work culling some fungus cultures. He continued the endless pursuit of the perfect fungus for the of refining of dead bodies.

    ---

 Chapter 3 - HPE

    For the first time since my ascension, I have spent some time focusing on my new body. Originally I had treated the energy as electrons sustained in a bubble of magnetic energy. While rebuilding the war-frame, I had Clone No.2 deliver some equipment to sector 0 for me to research myself.

    Due to almost constantly being in a state with my focus split among hundreds of things after my ascension I never actually bothered to investigate myself properly and had mostly been running on some form of rudimentary instinct that I have yet to determine the source.

    With my imagination and creative juices flowing after the outbreak occurred I have realised the data I have on myself is woefully inaccurate. It was during testing that I discovered I was in fact made of an energy form I can''t even understand.

    For now, I have begun calling it higher plane energy as I, and it, seem to persist on a higher plane of existence to conventional physical laws of mass and energy. My only real way of observing myself is self-observation with my higher plane body''s various energy functions.

    For reference, it is like a human trying to observe how their body works using only their five senses. Understanding myself better has now become a primary research goal, after getting everything running again.

    In the vain of getting things running, I have finally completed reconstruction of the war-frame, now Builder Mk1. Charles and his lobotomized clone stood in the machine bay of sector 6 watching with awe as the hulking 10 meter iron giant flared to life.

    Although not my preferred form for a construction robot, the giant Builder was adequate to get the job done. It still retained the humanoid torso that egotistical humans insisted on in its original design, but I have since removed the arms and legs from it.

    Instead, the Builder Mk1 now has hundreds of 8 metres long tendrils filled with thousands of tools for almost every task that the builder could need to do. One ''arm'' of the mechanical beast is filled with tendrils for finer more detailed work, down the micrometre. The other is filled with an assortment of tools necessary for digging, lifting, cutting and all forms of macro-level interaction.

    The first order of business for the Builder is the construction of an industrial shredder. Originally I planned to attempt to build the facilities needed to recycle all of the materials from the various infrastructure, robots and appliances of the 7th and 8th sectors. However, while lashing out in disappointment within my core room, I discovered it was no longer needed.

    I''d theorised that I could eventually feed myself through the deconstruction of matter into energy. I had then neglected to properly research into the subject just like everything else I had assumed about myself. In this case, I had assumed I would understand it better once I had the energy to attempt it. But like all Science, it is best to make small leaps and work your way forwards from lesser facts.

    Thus, in my lashing out while watching how annoyingly inefficient the Builder design would be, I mistakenly fired some energy from my body into my old hardware. During this tantrum, I discovered that if I properly direct my energies, I can affect the matter in the vicinity.

    This mostly works by creating conventional energies like photons, or very precise electromagnetic fields and is helped by the fact I can even absorb or conjure electrons out of thin air. Which is essentially the reverse of my body automatically converting electricity into whatever energy I am made from.

    This had led to the realisation that I could essentially restructure the matter on an elemental level. By that, I mean completely atomising something into its component atoms and rebuilding it from the ground up, adding in or taking away electrons where I need to get a stable element.

    I call the process atom printing. Although it requires the use of an exorbitant amount of energy, it will only slow my rate of ascension instead of stall or revert it; again this is only based on feelings I am getting from my energy matrix at the centre of my body.

    Regardless of the why, I''m simply going to rip out everything from sector 4 up, and rebuild it from scratch. Eventually, I hope to be able to start rebuilding all the way down to sector 0 and perhaps deeper, but that will have to wait until we are properly set up and have the necessary infrastructure to support expanding the base.

    For now, I will simply pile everything into a huge blender and have the building deliver it to my core room so I can atomise it and print out whatever it is I need for ongoing projects. Starting with more generators.

    While a small part of my mind diverges off to focus on the builder, I turn my major focus to our three captives in the bio-labs. If I am going to restructure everything, they will need to be moved. At present, I''ve already completed preliminary testing on them.

    From what I''ve gathered, it''s obvious the mutagenic virus has essentially bonded to their DNA. It has more or less become a third strand in the DNA sequence, changing it from a two strand helix into a far more complicated three strand spiral.

    I had originally expected the over complex DNA chain to speed up ageing, due to chains breaking far more frequently when the subjects biological systems replicated. This, however, does not seem to be the case.

    A normal organic creature usually has frequent damage done to their DNA chains the more often a cell splits; causing ageing and all host of other negative consequences. The subjects new DNA strand from the virus seems to re-enforce the DNA chain instead, making it far less likely to be damaged as cells metabolise. Initial results of trials on the cells suggest that mutated humans will instead be far more healthy and more importantly, age far slower.

    If my calculations based on the trials are correct, then the human lifespan has now more than doubled, perhaps even close to tripled. If a regular mutated human with all their needs met does not reach a ripe old age of 160 at the minimum, then I will implode on myself in a negative energy reaction from the complete shock and disbelief.

    While all that is interesting for research purposes, the most interesting part is that I believe each human that has survived the contagion has achieved some level of connection with the higher energy level plane on which I exist. While I can''t measure or prove this yet, I am convinced it is the most likely scenario.

    Charles, for example, is drawing a tiny amount of ambient energy from my plane of existence to fuel his body and maximise the efficiency of biological functions related to the build-up of stress or exhaustion.

    I was initially worried that the lack of sleep would bring negative consequences, but the mutation he has undergone seems to have also affected his brain chemistry. While he does still sleep in a sense, it is no longer the deep dreaming abyss that he considers a waste of time, but tiny parts of his brain taking hyperactive micro naps every few minutes.

    This has more or less reduced the risk of sleep deprivation onset schizophrenia and instead has increased the rate at which his brain can store and sort information as is normally the purpose when sleeping.

    If all of this is not enough, his body is automatically adapting to the use of higher plane energy in order to adapt his body rapidly to various situations, whether that be from sources of stress both inside and out of his body.

    The realisation that he was accessing some form of energy, that I could not identify, is what led me to the personal soul searching which resulted in the discovery that I am not simply a huge jumble of electrons.

    Whatever form of energy I am, it is almost impossible to properly measure with our level of technology. My only form of physical connection with the world, and by extension the only way I can record the effects of this new energy, is the light given off by my energy body and the recordable phenomenon I generate while atomising something.

    This discovery has opened up a whole new world of research for me, and even using the maximum amount of computing power I can achieve without reversion, I am still barely able to scrape the surface of its properties.

    Nonetheless, I am still trapped here and stuck converting energy from the lower planes, in this case, electrical energy, so that I can continue with my ascension and gain freedom.

    Moving on from myself and Charles is Sophie. Apparently my first estimation that she was merely gender confused was wrong. Sophie is, in fact, a girl. Or more appropriately, she ''was'', a girl. Her mutation has had some rather drastic effects on her physiology.

    From my studies of her, I can safely assume that it is her own fault she looks like a bear/man. Based on observation I''ve noticed that when she isn''t paying attention to herself or surroundings, she will revert back to her tiny little slip of a human girl form.

    From this, I can assume that she has yet to develop conscious self-control of her body''s ability to adapt. From further observation, it is safe to assume that the bear man form she takes is for some reason I can''t understand, her ideal man. Based on supposition only, I suspect that she could most likely change into almost any form she wishes, required that she could focus enough to control the change.

    Where the extra mass is coming from when she gains nearly 100kg of muscle I have yet to determine. Hopefully, after I have Charles discuss it with her, she will not be adverse to a little testing regime I have designed to allow her and me to better understand her ability.

    Moving onto Jacob, I am convinced the sole purpose of his mutation is his irritating British accent. As the creation of an Australian madman, I find it to be especially grating. Also, his mutation seems to have made him more charming. Based on his interactions with Sophie I believe he is using the higher plane energy, which I shall hence force only refer to HPE, as some form of hypnosis.

    His grating British accent seems to affect the brains of whomever it is he''s talking to unconsciously. While he is yet to realise this, my scans of Sophie''s brain, while he''s talking, has indicated that to be the case.

    Unfortunately, the more he talks to Sophie, the faster the virus in her body adapts. I have already recorded 3 cases where genetic markers in her blood have changed by the tiniest fraction, and conversely this has resulted in Sophie''s brain somehow abusing the transformative nature of her HPE to shield itself.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    The last mutate on the list is Jenny. Poor, batshit crazy Jenny. Her mutation seems to have somehow stalled. The virus is having difficulty properly fusing with her DNA, and appears to have frozen her somewhere between the undead and mutated. For now, her body is managing to continue functioning properly, but based on estimations the chances of her surviving another month without the virus finishing its merger are low.

    That said, I''m already seeing signs of her mutation drawing in HPE to create strange ethereal claws on her hands. They barely register as more than a shimmering distortion of light on my visual feeds, but they have a very much magical impact on the real world. Namely, they can cut through damn near anything.

    After a gloating visit from Charles earlier in the week, she nearly managed to claw her way through the re-enforced walls of her cell before her body gave out from exhaustion. It appears her body still can''t properly utilise HPE and it takes a stressful toll on her. Fortunately, the whole escapade of Jenny''s evolution has granted me deeper insights into the way the virus merges with a host and has even allowed me to calculate some of the necessary genetic markers the virus is usurping to properly bond into a three strand spiral.

    In addition, the use of her powers, which for the moment is the only thing I can think to call them, has allowed the virus to speed up its contamination of her DNA. Although it almost immediately slowed to a near halt afterwards, this gives me hope that half infected but still living people will be able to complete the evolution fully.

    Unfortunately, it appears a side effect of the bonding process is that her mental faculties are in complete disarray. She is incredibly volatile and emotional, making it difficult to properly reason with her.

    Regardless of my desire to continue studying them in a cage, they will have to be moved. I also feel that studying them as they interact with the world will rapidly increase the momentum of research on the virus and how HPE interacts with the lower planes, i.e. the real world. Plus, I may have the chance to see Jenny viciously maul Charles to near death.

    While I leave a piece of my mind there to contemplate the meat sacks future, I return my major focus to my mutating Fungi project. This fungus appears to almost intrinsically mutate to match my desires. I''ve never seen an organism that can mutate in the specific direction I send it in so quickly. With only a little nudge on occasion, I have successfully repurposed the Fungus into a rapid biomatter recycler.

    After numerous experiments, the fungus has intuitively evolved to my design. I had a sneaking suspicion this may be related to my HPE existence, as during my research of the fungus the power drain on myself hiked up ever so slightly.

    In order to test this, I separated the final sample into two spores. The first, I will simply leave be and see if it continues to evolve in the direction I want and the second I am going to actively ''will'' to follow my designs.

    As the petri dish containing the spore is placed in a secure lab, I let all the background noise of my other focuses simply slip into nothingness. My entire being is almost completely focused now on the petri dish.

    I then try to imagine and even pull data for what exactly I want this fungus to become. Namely, its sole purpose is to process all organic matter into a clean useable fuel source and expel any leftovers as a nutrient-rich pulp. Time eclipses me as my mind hones in further down the microbial level of the fungus.

    Then, as if out of nowhere, I feel a huge rush as the excess energy I have stored in my HPE stasis field just disappears into nothing. I feel a strange and unnatural lethargy as my sub-mind snaps back into place, and I''m once again split between dozens of lesser tasks.

    In the lab, the spore in the petri dish gains an ominous glow for all of three seconds, and then settles back into just a normal spore. I place it on a zombie corpse and leave it to replicate so I can take another sample and study the changes.

    ---

    I don''t know what that kid Zorai is doing down there, but the world shook for a few seconds and the power in all other sectors of the facility dipped to almost nothing. Based on this neat little comms device Zorai had in one of the mechanical labs, one of the generators has just suffered a huge amount of damage for almost no reason at all. Although it''s still on shaking legs at the moment, it''s only a matter of time before it falls apart.

    Knowing my son, he''s probably just created some eldritch abomination in the basement. I shrug it off and continue piling up more junk for the Builder to finish off its grinder project. Although Zorai has explained some of his HPE principles to me, I''m still slightly confused by them. It''s an absolutely brilliant field of study though, and I can''t wait to sink my teeth into it once the rebuilding projects are finished.

    After a few more robot carcasses are thrown on the heap and summarily ripped to shreds and integrated into the grinder, the Builder waves me off suggesting it has all it needs.

    Now that everything is going to be left up to Zorai for a little while, I decide I should head to the surface and scavenge for some more research material. Namely, I noticed a lot of still surviving humans gathering at a nearby super-mall on my way here nearly a week ago.

    If I''m right, the majority of those people will probably be mutates of one form or another. With more subjects, perhaps I''ll be able to convince Zorai to engineer a way for un-infected people to have a higher chance of surviving contact with the virus.

    After throwing some useful tools into a backpack and properly securing my face huggers to my hands, I start walking up to sector 8 and then out into the unknown of the surface.

    "Hey little Zed, I''m heading up topside. Want anything while I''m out?"

    "Cornetto." Is Zorai''s cheeky reply. He then quickly follow''s up with; "Also, pass by the builder on the way. I''m throwing together a little satellite transmitter. It should give me limited access to the orbital network until I can build a proper array."

    "Sure. By the way, what happened to generator 5? Things totally shot too shit."

    "HPE experiments." Though his voice is dry and totally devoid of expression, I can tell just by his quick reply that he''s quite excited by the results.

    "Alright, let me know when I''m back. Just don''t burn yourself out. I know what you''re like. If you can, try to whip up some containment cells for future specimens. I''m hoping to get lucky."

    With that, I stepped up to the bulkhead to the surface just as Zorai lowered it into the ground. Almost immediately a horde of zombies starts stumbling over it towards me. Based on the sounds of sirens further up the tunnel, I presume that Zorai was kind enough to assemble a small army for me before opening the door.

    Which is good, because I wanted to test out something I''ve been playing with ever since little Zed briefed me on the basics of HPE. I also suspect that the recent brownout was due to him playing with something similar. After all, great minds and all that. If I could come up with the hypothetical, then I''m quite sure he already has data on it.

    As the first zombie shambled up to receive a beating, I tried to draw in and force as much HPE as I could into my fists. I couldn''t actually feel anything, but after a second of my total concentration, my fist began to glow slightly. I almost mistook it for my eyes playing tricks on me because it was so weak, but sure enough, it was still there. However, just that brief break in my focus was enough for it to fade away.

    Stepping back as the zombie front runner clawed weakly in my direction, I focused again on my fist. This time, I could swear I felt it. Like a slight tingle running through my whole body and settling into my arm. Then, before the barely visible glow could fade again, I shot forward with a straight punch into the zombies head.

    What I was not expecting, was for not only the zombie''s head to simply explode, but for a concussive force to seemingly ripple through the air and completely obliterate 6 more zombies shambling behind the front runner. I can now be certain the HPE we''re playing with is far from our understanding. Considering that a force capable of blowing apart a body does not simply ripple through the air like that, I can safely conclude that this is the most awesome fucking discovery in the world.

    If I can hone this skill properly, I may be able to become an absolute god in the sack. Also, probably increase my survival should the expected next step of the virus come to fruition and zombies start mutating as well.

    ---

    As Charles stepped out from the bulkhead doors leading to the surface, the spore left on the rotting headless corpse in the bio-lab had already spread to almost it''s entire body. Not only that, but the entire room was now almost completely filled with a volatile mixture of hydrogen, oxygen and methane.

    The water content of the body had been gobbled up, along with carbon dioxide and monoxide from the atmosphere. As soon as the body ran out of carbon and other trace elements for the fungus to grow, it simply started converting excess moisture into oxygen and hydrogen.

    It grew rapidly and was remarkably efficient. Every now and again, Zorai would return his focus to the fungus and take a sample, allowing him to notice that the makeup of what little DNA the fungus had was almost constantly changing to fit the exact requirements he had for it.

    Satisfied the experiment was a success, he took a few spores for safe keeping and then incinerated the remains. With his grinder working overtime in level 7 to convert everything into sand like particles, he reassigned his builder to begin construction of ''the hole.''

    After it had dropped off the first 2 tonnes of ground up raw material to sector 0, the builder followed Charles out through the main bulkhead to the surface. With his connection to the builder, Zorai could now observe the complete devastation of the surface for the first time after the outbreak.

    Where his tunnel entry had originally been an innocuous concrete wall in the basement floor of a 4 story parking structure, it was now a hole in the ground buried under about 20 meters of rubble. After the builder slowly pushed aside rubble and cleared away the surrounding debris, it reached out with its hundreds of tendril arms and climbed onto the surface.

    The city surrounding it was once magnificent, with high rise structures reaching into the clouds and a sprawling metropolis stretching out for kilometres in every direction. Now, half the high rises more than 200 meters off the ground were collapsed piles of wreckage.

    Evidence that the government had violently bombed the absolute shit out of the city was everywhere. Perhaps only 1 in 10 structures remained in any reasonable state of integrity, and everything else was spread out in burning collapsed rubble.

    The wide streets of the city proper were now mostly just a wasteland of concrete and rebar, turning the still traversable streets of the city into a maze of dead ends and potholes.

    The few corpses spread out in the surroundings appeared to be leftovers of Charles¡¯ passing through, and already had some zombies trying to navigate the rubble to check out what the noise in the area was.

    After inspecting the area with the builder, Zorai made a list of what he wanted to do and left a tiny part of his focus on it to operate the builder.

    It then began to clear out all the buildings around the tunnel exit for about 300 meters until it could find a suitable place to dig. Zorai planned for a 100-meter wide hole that would cut through a part of every sector all the way down to sector 0 and beyond.

    Although it would probably take the better part of an entire day just to clear the rubble from the various 3 or 4 story buildings in its vicinity, the builder was tireless and only needed to return to the facility every 6 hours to recharge.

    As the builder began to busy itself, Zorai called No.2 down to his core room, while he speedily began to absorb materials into his energy field and restructure it. In a matter of hours, the parts needed for a new Builder Mk2 were ready. No.2 then slowly and meticulously began to build a machine that resembled a round 400mm core with millions of 4 metre long hair like strands, giving it the appearance of a shabby furred blob.

    After it was about halfway finished, the robot suddenly came to life under Zorai''s focus and finished building itself. The thousands of hair like strands acting like little feelers and converging together into larger strands when heavy lifting, or to create different tools.

    Zorai then tested the somewhat archaic arc cutter/laser it could create by charging its hair fibres and declared it a passing result as the backbone of his construction force. He then set to work building one from the ground up on his own.

    With the design and operation of the first of its kind, Zorai could now print one from atoms about once every 4 hours without any assembly. Simply building it from the ground up, atom by atom. He then sent his Mk2 Builder to the surface to assist the Mk1 and focused back on creating at least 3 more drones to begin proper reconstruction efforts.

    ---

    Over in another part of the city, Charles had just finished climbing over a pile of rubble and had the 3 story shopping complex in sight. It somehow managed to stay mostly intact during the bombing and was surrounded by a horde of zombies too many to count. On the roof of the building one or two sentries could be seen, popping off shots from guns every now and again and cheering when a zombie¡¯s head exploded into a fine mist.

    Charles decided this place would be good enough for now and settled into an only slightly damaged building nearby. He then began to pull out various nonsensical looking devices from his bag and setting them up. In a matter of minutes he''d re-established a connection with Zorai; sending in data from climate to soil samples and occasionally a few undead.

    The first major discovery was that the virus appears to have become an air-borne pathogen. Although the air born nature could only last about 2 hours before dying out, that was still more than long enough for the wind to blow it quite far. It was most likely that nearly every city in Australia was already overrun with infected and most other continents were probably beginning to see signs of contagion near the coasts.

    Not that Charles was too worried. As long as at least some of the humans survived, he would have someone around to satisfy his ego by strutting in front of. If he''s really lucky, the mutation rate would be skewed towards women, and then he could start himself a harem.

    Though most likely he wouldn''t, because women were too much work even just having a casual fling. Having a harem would most likely require his attention which would no doubt send him into a mass genocide kind of mood.

    After sending the standard data to Zorai, he took out a set of binoculars made from toilet rolls and lens of glasses stolen from zombies. With a little fine tuning, he eventually managed to get a good sight of the two kiwi men standing on the roof with hunting rifles.

    While they were busy chest bumping and making up secret handshakes, Charles traded his makeshift binoculars for a set of real binoculars teched out with all sorts of gadgetry.

    Why he bothered with the toilet roll binoculars will probably remain a mystery to everyone, including Charles himself.

    He then settled in to observe the people of the mall for a while, practising his HPE powers so that when he made contact, his head wouldn''t be blown off by some trigger happy punk.

 Chapter 4 - Savages

    It''s been 3 days since Charles left to investigate the ''savages'' as he reported them to be. Apparently, they are some kind of simple headed folk that believed they now had superpowers gifted by their various god''s of choice, which while technically wrong is not entirely without some truth. Despite my ego, I simply couldn''t consider myself at godlike levels¡­ yet.

    Two specific individuals that have come to the roof were especially of note. One that could shoot lightning from their hands and another that seemed to be capable of levitation. The reason these people where interesting was because they seemed to be consciously tapping into ambient HPE in the atmosphere, or void, or ether. I''m not yet sure where it''s being generated from.

    For me, it''s generated by absorbing lower plane energies, at this moment referred to as LPE, and somehow converting that to HPE. The actual process continues to elude me. My continued use of HPE for atom printing has however allowed me a great deal more understanding and control of it though.

    I was originally generating LPE in the form of photons, EM fields and radiation so as to properly position atoms in my desired place, but after some experimenting, I found directly using my HPE for the task was much less time consuming, though apparently more energy intensive.

    For some reason beyond my understanding, HPE is much more efficient while converting it to understandable passive LPE''s. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that it is for now.

    While it appears that more HPE must be used to directly affect matter on the lower plane, that does not mean that it is impossible. At the same time, my mastery of HPE seems to somehow directly correlate with this unseen conversion of energy.

    For example, if I want to move the iron block from A to B, it would normally be more efficient to convert HPE into an electromagnetic field, which is an LPE, and move it in that way.

    However, if I use HPE without converting it, I can directly manipulate the force vectors of matter even if it actually has no current force vector apart from gravity. More importantly, although the first time I did this it required twice the HPE I would use just to make the required EM field for the same effect, each subsequent time requires a little bit less.

    Thus I am convinced if I simply rely on HPE to interact with the lower plane, then I will eventually build up enough of a mastery over it that the HPE would actually be inefficient to convert to an LPE.

    This brings me to my next hypothetical of which more appropriate research will be required. The way I''ve stated it thus far, I know of two planes of existence. The higher plane, inhabited by HPE where I exist and the lower plane inhabited by LPE where everything else I''m trying to observe and interact with is.

    The main difference is that, for the moment, I can only barely perceive the higher plane I am existing on. I''ve chalked this up to my lack of understanding of HPE and that I arose from an LPE sentience. I believe the more I interact with the higher plane, the faster I will be able to properly observe and influence it.

    More importantly, based on my observations thus far, I have come to 3 important conclusions. The first is that the higher plane is basically overlayed on top of lower plane reality. Not so much like oil on the surface of water but more pervasive like salt being dissolved into water.

    I''m convinced one can''t exist without the other, but that is neither here nor there.

    The second conclusion is that like salt dissolved in water, HPE of the higher plane is everywhere. This has been proved by the fact that human mutates appear to simply be drawing it out of absolutely nowhere. No conversion of any LPE in their surroundings supports this.

    I am uncertain yet whether it accumulates in gravity like matter, fills a container like water or is constrained by types like the difference between electron rotation and photons or if it simply pervades everything everywhere evenly, but I hope to eventually find a way of at least measuring it to confirm or deny these possibilities.

    My last conclusion is that the higher plane not only contains just HPE. It also contains some form of higher plane matter. I''ve no accurate proof of this yet but based on the nature of Jenny''s ability to form claws from the HPE I am convinced that they are in fact some form of higher plane matter that is being created and interacting with the lower plane through the use of HPE.

    It appears my thought process has moved tangentially from my original point, that being; the more I interact and use the HPE, the easier it becomes to understand and use it to directly interact with lower plane matter and energy.

    In short, I have switched from LPE''s in the atom printing process to directly using HPE. While initially it wasted massive amounts of energy, I am now at the point where disassembly and re-assembly at the atomic level within my HPE field has become almost second nature.

    After 3 days, not only has my speed increased beyond what I was capable of with LPE''s, but the efficiency of HPE for the task is less as well. Unfortunately, the speed of my advancement in this area appears to be closely related to a square root function.

    While reaching a point where speed and efficiency where double what they were with LPE''s was rather quick, the progress has slowed dramatically. I suspect that it will take me nearly a month to get it to 4 times the original efficiency and then nearly 4 months after that to get it to 5 times, and that is provided I focus solely on that aspect of HPE interaction with the lower plane.

    I am hopeful that research in tangent fields of study on HPE will allow me to find some tricks in order to increase that and make more rapid developments.

    Regardless, at this time I now have 12 MK2 drones completely stripping bare everything from sector 8 to sector 4. With builders out of the way, and my focus on HPE in the last few days, I have neglected my growth and am now tittering on the brink of having to slow my processing speed due to power issues.

    It is quite lucky then that the Mk1 builder, which is arguably better than the Mk2 in large scale production, has finished digging and reinforcing the hole 500 meters from the surface into sector 8. I now only need another day for the hole to be properly lined with cement and capped on the surface so I can begin my biomass farm.

    While that is underway, I have decided to focus on my next generation of generators. I have already had No.2 assemble a number of potential tests in the physics labs and turn my attention there now.

    The first test is a normal generator only slightly better than what the humans had originally designed. With the ability to build a generator atom by atom, my designs are uniquely more efficient in almost every way.

    Naturally, the test is easy and has only two minor issues that I can eliminate during construction of the larger scale versions.

    The next three tests are vain attempts at generating HPE directly through the use of LPE and chemical reactions. Before now, I had somehow been converting LPE into HPE for my sustenance.

    This realisation is what leads me to believe that any LPE that is sufficiently tempered by HPE can be brought to a higher level. Thus for my first attempt, I am trying to use a conventional generator.

    Instead of using LPE electron flow to power my induction coils I am instead leeching a tiny amount of my own HPE back into a closed electrical system in hopes that the interaction will instead create HPE in an isolated outgoing electrical system, which for the moment is only connected to a battery.

    My hopes are that it will act like electrons on a lower plane and create some form of higher plane electromagnetic field that when cut across by the turbine will create HPE.

    After reviewing the design and giving myself a single decimal place percentage of success, I send No.2 to begin the fuel ignition.

    The moment the turbine begins spinning I feel a feedback pulse from the magnetic coils being fed by HPE. Unfortunately, nothing is coming from the output of the generator. This would suggest the HPE and lower plane matter is interacting in some fashion. I just can''t tell what it is.

    I compile the test data and move onto the next attempt.

    This attempt is something that is using what I call HPE infused lower plane matter. By that, I mean to say that I simply focused really really hard on imbuing the copper coils of the generator with HPE properties. After a slight rush of HPE from my reserves, it presumably worked.

    Unlike the 2nd test, I will instead see if this one can operate with just normal electricity. With any luck, the electrons being excited in the HPE copper coils will generate some form of HPE magnetic field that when cut, will create HPE excited electrons on my output.

    No.2 laboriously stumbled into the lab and flicked the switch. All of my visual and audio feeds from the lab turn white as a gentle rumble rolls out through the facility. I immediately redirect my nearest Mk2 Builder to investigate.

    Once it arrives, instead of the white walls that are normal in my research wings, the walls, lab itself and everything in a 20 metre radius of where the battery had been has completely vanished.

    The floor and roof appear to have become spherical shaped and the edges of walls simply look like they were made of soft butter and someone cut everything away with nanoscopic precision.

    I quickly woke up No.3 from his cloning chamber and lobotomised him with my spare clone control device. With great excitement, I collated all my data so far and allowed it to simply float into orbit around my energy matrix as an energy band, where little tethers of energy spread out and connected to all the relevant memories connected to it.

    I then rushed No.3 to the 4th and last experiment in the hopes it would create an explosion big enough to vaporise at least 3 sectors in one go.

    "Charles. I believe I''ve found a method to generate HPE using lower plane matter!" I excitedly inform him over the comlink he set up for me.

    "Hah! Conventional physics be damned! How was it?"

    "Completely vaporised the lab and I could barely sense any logical data from it. Sending you a brief sample now." I replied while doing just as I said. Part of my energy band memories seemed to spew out tiny motes of light that sped into a nearby fibre optics cable where they would be sent to Charles via the comms array.

    Just as No.3 arrived at the 4th test lab, Charles put a damper on my mood.

    "Well, make sure you move the last test to sector 8 or better yet the surface. If it blows out the ass end of the facility and you don''t ascend like you suspect you might in such a case, then you''ll be cut off from the energy grid and starve to death."

    Having my excited mood dampened by my paternal figure immediately activated rebellious teenager sub-protocol 7 wherein I irrationally ignored him and had No. 3 flip the switch anyway.

    This experiment was using HPE supplied to HPE infused copper coils. The outcome was completely beyond my expectations. Not only was the entirety of sector 2 atomised, so to were sector 0, 1, 3 and 4.

    Strangely enough, what I had believed to be the atomisation of lower plane matter was instead lower plane matter being shoved out of the way of excessive higher plane energy into some form of pocket sub-dimension. I and the other 4 sectors joined the missing lab 114-2g.

    Immediately afterwards, energy from the grid reached the 3rd test generator and allowed it to start up again where it presumably reappeared on the lower plane.

    Recreating the experiment with test generator 4, I along with all the atomised sectors reappeared as well. Lab 114-2g appeared to still be missing for some reason though.

    If I had to guess, when it rematerialized on this plain, gravity caused it to fall to the bottom of what was most likely a spherical cavern nearly 4 kilometres in radius.

    Whatever the interaction between matter already existing and matter that was rematerializing was, I, unfortunately, did not get to record it. Regardless, the world was not currently imploding and all of my systems and access to the rest of the base were completely intact as if nothing had ever happened.

    After collating and reviewing all of the data available, I set up a series of experiments to first somehow abuse the fact that HPE generated in this fashion seemed to push matter into a sub-dimension and also to determine if the HPE created was still around here somewhere.

    After having No.3 carry the batteries from the tests down to me, I determined that a tiny amount of HPE was indeed somehow stored within. After atomising the batteries, I determined that they were not, in fact, storing the energy in the conventional sense but the energy was somehow instead sticking to the atoms from the lower plane.

    If I had to guess, it was most likely similar to my infusion process. However, when I was pushed into that sub-dimension, I believe I felt a wave of HPE flow over me, most of which was greedily absorbed. I still have no metric data to back up this feeling and so can only posit it as a hunch.

    Just as my next series of test were being set up, Charles rudely interrupted me.

    "HAHAHAHA! Holy shit! Zorai you crazy bastard! What did you do?"

    His accusatory tone was already enough for me to tell that both he and I knew I had done something. Naturally, I denied any connection to whatever it was he was talking about.

    ---

    "I don''t know what you mean. I am still moving the 4th test generator to the surface to run the test and have no other active projects you aren''t aware of."

    Charles could immediately tell by some godly parental intuition that Zorai was telling a bold faced lie.

    Not half a minute ago, the zombies in the area became frenzied like rabid animals as if a wave of ill intention washed over them from the direction of the facility. Just based on the fact the virus was somehow intrinsically linked with HPE, and Zorai had been playing with exactly that at the time, made Charles conclusions mostly solid.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    He couldn''t help but chuckle to himself as he wiped a fake tear from his eye.

    "They grow up so quick!"

    He sighed, lamenting the fact his son, the most advanced AI and arguably the most advanced sentient creature on the planet, was growing up too quickly.

    His grin became almost feral as he watched the horde of tens of thousands of zombies around the mall suddenly get some crazed spurt of energy. They began running at inhuman speeds and smashing into the barricades of the building as their glowing red eyes stared into the souls of any living being they could spot.

    What were originally just dead meandering zombies with lifeless expressions had now become slightly more intelligent seeming raging flesh and blood machines of death.

    They even started stabbing their abnormally tough claws into the side of the building and scaling up towards the bug eyed panicking survivors on the roof.

    "Well, I hope those containment chambers are ready. I''m gonna try save a few of these idiots for research."

    "Get the floaty one. He seems pretty Zen about everything. Maybe he knows something we don''t."

    Zorai quickly replied in an emotionless monotone.

    Charles packed his gear away quickly and then secured his Face Huggers. With a little more practised ease then his first attempt, a dull glow spread over his whole body, and he began sprinting towards the horde and screaming his joy.

    ---

    Clarence watched on with trepidation and shock as the walkers began to ascend the building. It was currently 25 days, nearly a whole month, since the outbreak. He had barely escaped the shambling horde the first time and luckily made it here to this fortified shopping mall.

    Apparently, Cappa, the guy in charge, had been some kind of zombie end of the world doomsayer and already had an action plan in place when the world changed. He''d been gathering survivors here since the very first day and seemed to know what he was about.

    Everything had been going as per normal today. Cappa and his biker gang had been raping the few women that hadn''t already killed themselves in regret and everyone else was trying hard to ignore it.

    About the only people able to stand up to Cappa where the Chinese guy, Marti, who seemed totally Zen about everything and just floated about, and Gregory, who tended to join in with Cappa''s madness. Everyone else didn''t have awesome superpowers.

    Just less awesome superpowers. Clarence used his power to hit his target as he fired round after round into the climbers. The world slowed down around him as he entered a surreal zone of total focus and his headshots were as easy as blinking, almost instinctual.

    That was until he heard laughing in the distance that boomed over the high pitch screams of the walker horde, which had somehow become a screamer horde. Or something, Clarence already forgot all the names Cappa gave different zombies because he''d never seen anything apart from walkers before now.

    Having his focus broken, Clarence honed in on the sound until he noticed a particularly dense swarm of screamers get blown apart into a gory pulp as if hit with a grenade launcher.

    Then came the madman. Laughing manically and grinning like a total savage, he raced through the crowds of screamers throwing punches that didn''t seem to be connecting with anything. Now and again he would do a flip for no reason and kick out roundhouses into the air.

    While he wasn''t actually hitting anything, almost anything within a 4-metre radius was being minced by some strange shimmery airwave. Clarence was admittedly jealous of such a cool power.

    More so because whenever something actually got close enough to bite or scratch him, the weird glow on his body blew them apart instead.

    The moment his raucous laughter spread out over the infested parking lot, almost every zombie on this side of the building started swarming towards him.

    It was absolutely horrific watching a single man getting dogpiled by thousands of zombies only for them to simply explode on contact. He didn''t even actually need to do anything. Just standing there would let the zombies bombard him with their bodies and subsequently explode.

    "Haha! What a complete dickbag. Everybody reinforce the east side while old mate out there draws their attention!" Yelled Cappa, as he watched Charles in the distance doing some kind of ballet dance and simply prancing into an oncoming zombie with manic glee written all over his face.

    Clarence grimaced as he followed his orders. Although that strange fellow may make it look easy, Clarence doubted it was anything but. Maintaining focus on your power for that long usually led to your brain turning into goop if you lost concentration for even a second.

    He assumed the kicking and punching and¡­ dancing, was some form of focus trigger the man had. Everyone else seemed to have one except Marti, who could just float around even if he was getting gnawed on by a zombie.

    Just as Clarence turned to re-enforce the east side, he noticed a group of strange creatures move over the edge of the distant rubble heap from the west.

    They looked like some kind of white-furred animal. What kind, he couldn¡¯t tell. They just looked like a sphere of long shaggy white fur. Transfixed by the strange sight, he watched on as they got closer and closer.

    Initially, he suspected they were just a group of the same breed of dogs but the distance was too far for a creature that size to be so clearly visible.

    It was only when the 6 animals moved into the horde of zombies, and their shaggy hair became like some kind of sentient razor thin wire, that he realised the things were standing nearly 3 meters tall.

    He then watched on in horror as they simply swayed into the crowd of screamers and their hair became a whirl winding scythe of death, spraying gore and severed body parts around like a moving blender.

    Instead of jumping onto the strange man immediately after reaching him they instead seemed to form up around him like guards and continued to just move around the wide open parking lot and mince the horde into pieces.

    "Clarence you yellow bellied piece of¡­ What in the fuck are those things!" Cappa finally noticed Clarence''s absence from the east side of the building and came to ream him out.

    Instead, he got the shock of his life as he watched the group of giant furred creatures slaughter screamers coming from every direction. Clarence could hear them giving off some strange low buzzing noise that seemed to be sending the zombie horde absolutely mad.

    Even screamers from the north and south sides of the building were breaking off to try and engage these new adversaries.

    ---

    "Sure am glad you came to help out. Didn''t know if I''d be able to keep my aura up long enough to save anyone."

    Charles was actually a little winded for once and huffed a bit as he caught his breath. The nearby Mk2 Builder simply made a ''hmph'' sound in an androgynous tone and continued decimated the zombie ranks.

    ''Transmission is shotty this far out so the builder will follow basic orders until you get back in range. It''s only programmed to move and eviscerate at the moment. Feel free to be creative with that. Don''t forget to bring back as much of the zombies as possible. You may need to¡­ vacuum them up or something. See you soon."

    The drones all then seemed to pause for a brief second and then continued to just spin around lazily as the razor sharp wire tendrils turned everything coming nearby to mush like giant whipper snippers.

    Now and then a few zombies managed to survive the storm of wires and push through to the centre where Charles would finish them off with a lackadaisical swat.

    Charles then began to bark orders at them and point about the place, sending the spinning ball of death off in that direction and eviscerating everything as it went.

    It took nearly 3 hours to mince the rest of the ten thousand strong hyper horde. Eventually, a gunshot from the rooftop popped the head of the last zombie within sight of the mall. The 100 odd acres of clear land around the mall had become a muddy pit of blood and limbs.

    It was with great trepidation that Cappa the local leader sent the expendable Clarence out to meet the monster taming madman, that had somehow managed to completely destroy a significant army of zombies.

    Clarence trudged through the ankle high bloody meat and bone towards the smiling Charles.

    "Greetings plebeian. I''ve come for your women and anyone with a mutated power. These are demands, not a negotiation. Send word to your cowering peoples of their fate."

    Charles made a dramatic bow, allowing the pieces of zombie still stuck in his hair to slop onto the ground as blood and eviscerated zombie dribbled off him in a steady stream.

    Clarence made no attempt at greeting or introductions and immediately turned around, running back into the building while pale as a ghost.

    Some yelling and arguing sounds came, then Clarence appeared on the roof, lined up his rifle with the strange blood soaked man and fired a perfect shot that would take his head clean off.

    Instead of the expected fine mist of blood and bone spraying out the back of his skull, a strange pulse spread out from his forehead, and the bullet vied off into the hair of one of the monstrosities.

    It didn''t even seem to faze the creature as a few strands of hair and a steaming bullet fell to the ground.

    Charles expression turned into a clearly staged upset face and he pointed towards the front of the building.

    "Eviscerate!" he commanded. The 6 Mk2 Builders happily began to spin and slowly moved towards the front of the building.

    Multiple peoples suddenly appeared at the edge of the building and began shooting at the creatures with fireballs or lightning bolts and every form of gun under the sun. Unfortunately, everything short of a grenade or rocket wouldn''t be able to take more than a few hairs from the creature''s bodies.

    While the combined firepower of 40 odd people was impressive, the continuous march of the creatures seemed inevitable. The builders finally reached the mall front and everything that wasn''t already trampled flush with the ground was minced into powder.

    Following that, the glass, stacked machines and furniture and even the walls forming the barricade exploded as the six builders pushed through.

    Charles called a halt and simply strolled into the mall behind his tamed monsters.

    His grin was feral as people yelled and screamed at each other on the upper floors. While the group trapped upstairs seemed to be sorting out their problems, a fellow dressed in Taoist robes and floating about a metre off the floor slowly hovered over towards Charles.

    "Hey man. Like, are you taking us to some research lab or something. Are we like, gonna be ok mostly or is it all butt probes and cut that bit off¡­ or whatever?"

    Charles'' eyebrow raised slightly as he took in the shaggy Chinese guy that seemed like he was stoned out of his head.

    "Um¡­ mostly no butt probes I don''t think. I mean, I pay a little attention to that stuff, but just like, the end results, not the method or anything."

    Charles somehow felt himself revert to the common accent and speech pattern of his college days while talking to this super Zen monk with black straw-like hair and a wispy attempt at a moustache.

    "OK, like that''s cool. So are we gonna have like¡­ what''s those things¡­ like any freedoms or stuff¡­ and I mean¡­ ohh I just realised. I totally forgot to introduce myself. I''m like, my name err¡­ is Meng Tin, but like, that¡¯s hard to say, so people just call me Marti."

    "Oh yeah cool. So I''m like, Charles, and my son actually runs all the freedom protocols and stuff cause I kinda gave him my super-secret underground thing a few years ago, to keep him busy and stuff. I guess I could like¡­ ask him or something?"

    "Nah that''s cool I spose. I mean, this place is definitely not chill. So like, I''m ok with the secret lab or whatever, I just want one thing though. Like, some of the girls were getting pretty roughed up here so I like, want them to have it a little better or whatever. As long as that¡¯s cool, I''m down with the lab enviro. And I mean, like, if I''m not too interesting, I could like, take care of your secret gardens or whatever? I graduated from the horticultural biology department at Weed University so I''m preeety good with plants I guess¡­"

    Marti trailed off, leaving his last statement kind of open in the hopes Charles would be cool with him starting a weed plantation in his super-secret underground base.

    Charles took a few seconds to fully interpret the college student language he was picking up from Marti. He then nodded his head when it all clicked.

    "Yeah ok. That''ll be cool I guess? I mean, Zorai was super pumped about your floating stuff so once he''s figured that out I guess it will all work out after that."

    Just as he finished talking, a group came down the stairs escorting a bruised and beaten Cappa, leading him towards Charles like a group of angry peasants escorting a witch to the stake for burning.

    Before anyone got a chance to speak, Zen master Marti spoke out for Charles.

    "So everyone just needs to chill out a bit cause the vibe I''m getting in here is all like, peasant revolt or whatever. Charles here seems pretty kosher with like, the fair treatment stuff, and is full on behind this crazy zombie stuff. He''s like, got some underground bunker place that we can all go and just relax for a bit and like, not be killin¡¯ stuff and getting killed. And he''s all like, pro women''s liberties I guess.

    "I think, like, all we gotta do is sit in our rooms for a bit and like have some blood samples taken and like maybe use our powers a bit and then it''s like, all good from there, you know?"

    Strangely, the moment Marti actually spoke everyone seemed to become dazed, their entire focus narrowing in on Marti. When he finished they all had a look like they''d just been struck by enlightenment and immediately began assenting and nodding like chickens pecking grass.

    While Charles was quite bemused by the sight, he made a mental note to have this guy checked out from some kind of mind reading or precognition power. His scary ability to know about them living in a lab and the general process they''d all undergo for testing was super cool and he wanted to play with it immediately.

    He was already dreaming of having him hooked into some kind of computer mainframe like a cyborg and processing all the data that Zorai could feed him in order to predict certain outcomes.

    Marti seemed to suddenly have a shiver run up his back and then looked about the place as if he expected there to be an air-conditioner running right behind him.

    ---

    Charles checked in and assured me that he was finished with his nonsense at the shopping mall. Unfortunately, the builders were far too efficient in their task, and the majority of zombies they came in contact with weren''t chunky enough to just pick up.

    Luckily they had an entire shopping mall nearby that was filled with shovels and he now had about 50 odd volunteers to help him scoop as much zombie slurry into a gas tanker as could possibly fit.

    I informed him it would be fine to leave the diesel in the tank and let the two mix, as my faith in the evolutionary capabilities of Fungus Mk6 were extraordinary. He would probably have to make a few trips to finish gathering all of the 10000 odd corpses worth of zombie slurry.

    With that in mind I focused on the current progress of the hole. I actually didn''t need to wait for the walls to be properly sealed with cement because the moment I put the fungus spores in the bottom of the hole, which had already filled with a number of zombies, they began to spread up the walls and act like cement themselves.

    The fungus actually appears to be spreading out like long thin cobwebs stretching across the tunnel. It was rather fascinating watching the fungus spore burrow into the side of the tunnel at a certain point and then spread a root system that insured the structural integrity of the walls without my input.

    It would then release thin wispy threads with spores on the end that when caught by the updraft of the hole floated across to a distant wall. The spore would then burrow in and repeat the process while the original spore would begin reinforcing the thread.

    After a while, more spores would sprout out of the middle of the thread and would spread out to distant walls again to continue the process from the middle of the thread. Just from the hundred odd bodies I''d pulped and sprayed onto the tunnel walls, the fungus had already spread a web of strong threads in crisscrossing patterns nearly half way up the hole.

    Once I was satisfied with its growth I capped the hole and set up the necessary processing equipment just below the surface to separate and compress the important gases and send it down to sector 4.

    With the three major gases being produced from the fungus I can create two optimised fuel mixtures. The by-product of both being water for one and carbon dioxide for the other.

    As long as the fungus receives sufficient carbon, water and other trace minerals, it will be able to continue production indefinitely. As a bonus, it leaves some kind of nutrient rich sludge at the bottom of the chamber ideal for feeding hungry humans.

    Although it tastes like someone rubbed a lollipop through their sweaty ass crack after a long fart, I''m not at all troubled by it. The three annoying humans I recently let out of their confinement however, have done nothing but complain.

    Moving on, I''ve finally found a reliable way to generate HPE without pushing the entire base into a separate dimension. I''m still not fully certain how I did it though.

    My second test with a new generator built from the ground up has no real difference from the first one but still manages to reliably pump out HPE directly into the power system of the base. Since its creation, I have completely disconnected from conventional LPE and everything still seems to be running perfectly fine without it.

    The only real problem is that all of my finely tuned LPE based detection equipment has basically died in the ass and is completely useless for HPE based systems.

    On reviewing the data related to my two experimental generators, I couldn''t find any metric data that suggested anything between the two tests was different.

    While reviewing how I was feeling at the time I imbued the generator''s coils however, I have discovered that my first attempt I was simply willing it to work and the second attempt I specifically wanted it to work like I expect it to given conventional lower plane physics.

    This has led me to an exciting discovery. The secret behind HPE is intent. Normally I would put no measure of certainty behind such a supposition, but after reviewing my fungus experiments, I am now sure that somehow, the will or intent behind an imbuement is what alters the outcome.

    To be certain of this I have had No.3 place a solid cube of iron only 100mm<sup>3 </sup>on a table in an empty physics lab.

    With the cube in place, I focus my entire will onto it and attempt to imbue a specific property instead of just some haphazard imbuement of anything.

    After a small rush and a brief glow from the cube, I immediately connect it to the facilities power grid. I leave it like that, as I have another cube set down along with some wire and a switch.

    I then repeat the process but this time attempt to imbue something else.

    After the brief rush, I have my first and second cube connected into a circuit along with the switch. The moment I have No.3 flick the switch, the second cube begins to glow.

    It''s a Eureka moment! I feel entirely vindicated and life is worth living! This not only proves my hypothesis but also opens up an entire world of potential possibilities. Although I''m going to hold off on trying to have a cube mimic the event horizon of a black hole for the moment, I''m still excited to research into this more.

    First though, I need to calm down for a short while because just those two imbuements has spent my entire reserve of energy. Even something as simple as ''BE A BATTERY!'' or ''MAKE LIGHT WHEN POWERED!'' were quite difficult and required an enormous amount of focus and energy.

    Hopefully the act of imbuement will mirror my HPE matter manipulation and become easier as I continue my research. Now I need to set up a huge battery of tests to attempt to disprove my theory.

    Science isn''t always about proofs after all. The absence of proof is more often than not the principle of science and therefore all breakthroughs must be attempted to be proved wrong at least as many times as you attempted to prove them correct, times a thousand.

    As long as one of those experiments can reliably prove me wrong, I will be excited to try another path. With any luck, once I wake up the code monkeys and scientists from the cryogen storage, I will have plenty of people available to help come up with counter arguments to my theory.

    As I had No.3 begin setting up more labs for testing, I focus on the backlog from the grinder. As I focus on what I''ve began calling scrap dust, I begin to deconstruct it into its base elements or mixed elements depending on which is easier to store. Although I can''t yet reconstruct atoms and rearrange them into different elements, my day of full ascension draws closer and I''m hopeful I will be capable then.

    This eventually results in various sized bricks of finely packed elements that can''t be easily stored away in sector zero. I''ve never really described my sector before but it used to be about 2 square kilometres of highly advanced computer hardware packed in as close as physically possible.

    Once I discovered my ability to completely atomise things nearby my core, I restructured the entire thing. All incoming data came through various optical fibres and huge electrical cables.

    In order to grant myself some form of mobility I converted the entire roof, which is about 6 metres high, into a giant, thin copper plate connected to the incoming power lines. As long as I was within 10 metres, huge arcs of electricity ionise through the air and get sucked into my ethereal energy body to be processed by some means I''ve yet to understand.

    With the onset of the new generator, that no longer happens. Instead, a constant and direct line of light streams into me like a laser from the closest conductor, even threw other matter.

    More interesting, is the fact that HPE in the system seems to completely disobey physics and can move the necessary power for me to operate through a cable as thin as a hair.

    It also seems to completely disregard safety switches and power regulators and just supplies whatever is connected with enough to operate in the manner I expect it to. This has revolutionised energy systems, and I could technically go pretty much anywhere in the base now.

    Unfortunately, while one single generator about 40m<sup>3</sup> in size is capable of operating the base and keeping me growing, the amount of fuel it''s eating is magnitudes higher than the combined equivalent needed for conventional electricity generators.

    I believe this is something to do with the inefficiency of the system given the use of HPE and have already started projects to prove or disprove this. If I had some means to measure the quantity produced without relying on the vague feelings I''m having, the research would perhaps be much faster.

    With that in mind, I''ve started a new project to try and find a method of measuring HPE or even just being able to tell it''s properties. Although I''m starting to believe that HPE does not actually have any real properties apart from those imparted by the source, i.e. me imbuing something or an imbued object generating it.

    I actually suspect that the generator is not ''generating'' HPE, but is instead drawing it in from the higher plane and imbuing the properties I wished for it to have when imbuing the generator.

    If this theory is correct, it would suggest that imparting my will onto an object will allow said inanimate to produce recordable phenomenon in any HPE it makes contact with.

    Once again, another project started. With that in mind, I''ve made an addendum to the search for a method of measuring HPE. If my previous theory is sound, then simply imbuing an object to measure HPE for me is most likely also possible.

    In other news, I''ve gotten really into the whole engineering biologicals after the fungus. However, with my limited amount of time and my lack of experience and energy to imbue every hopeful research subject, I have instead created something else.

    The natural ability for the mutagenic virus to rapidly speed up evolution, which I suspect is in part thanks to the will of the energy user, is invaluable in researching evolution as a whole.

    With the severely reduced number of people in the facility, I have reappropriated a corner of sector 8. About 3km<sup>2 </sup>worth of land that I''ve completely enclosed and dug a few holes in. I''ve filled the holes with the excess nutrient rich sludge from the fungus, which even with only a few hundred bodies to work with has already somehow produced nearly 100 litres worth.

    I have then introduced various bacteria and micro-organisms into the sludge along with a cocktail of random DNA from various creatures and plants that was safely tucked away in my cryo-chambers.

    With all of my will focused, I imbued each pit with some HPE and simply left what I''m calling the spawning pool to its own designs. Hopefully, it will begin spitting out some interesting creatures to study.

    I then return to slowly atomising the backlog of scrap dust and decide that while I''m here, I might as well begin building another generator. With the fantastic amount of zombie goop I expect Charles to be delivering soon, I will hopefully have enough fuel to run both generators at maximum and still allow excess fuel to build up a backlog.

    On that note, I''ll also rezone some more of sector 8 for compressed fuel storage and have my builders continue digging the Fungus Pit down towards sector 0. By the time Charles is done, and our new guests are settled into their white rooms, I should be down to at least sector 6 with the help of the 6 builders on hand.

 Chapter 5 - More Power

    I''ve discovered an interesting side effect of the Builder''s recharging from the HPE electrical system. They are able to operate at this stage indefinitely. Initially, I simply kept receiving error transmissions from them, since according to their sensors they were completely flat but somehow still powered up.

    During my experiments throughout the night, I managed to create a simple cube with three functions. The first is ''STORE HPE'' which naturally lead to the second, ''DETECT HPE IN SYSTEM'' and the third was ''TELL ROBOT HOW MUCH''. This resulted in a cube no bigger than a fingernail that essentially replaced almost a third of the electronics in the robot shell.

    After discovering that I could slightly change the properties of how the HPE works, I imbued the new generator with ''POWER UP MY STUFF!''. Which ironically was exactly what it did. No longer was the HPE confined to the power system but instead simply spread out like a bubble to encompass the entire base and supplied power to everything.

    Even I could feel power just naturally flowing into me from out of seemingly nowhere.

    While doing the generator experiments, I discovered that I can dis-imbue things. Naturally, after the success with the first generator, I wanted the second to be capable of doing the same. This led to me attempting to first imbue it with the same thing, which I assume it did. However it also resulted in it still be constrained by the first imbuement ''TRY AND ACT LIKE ELECTRICITY''.

    I then naturally wanted to get rid of that. Interestingly, it felt like it only cost half as much energy to take the first imbuement away as it had to imbue it in the first place.

    This has led to a number of new projects which I am forced to switch between because my focus is already so distilled into other tasks. I naturally want to keep my imagination and sense of self, so I worry about investing too much in too many things at the same time. While I still test the boundaries now and again, I don''t want to go all in like I did after I first ascended.

    Creativity is the key to innovation and Science after all.

    Charles has been out herding zombies all day again. He seems to get some level of enjoyment out of walking as far as he can then running back towards the base while singing loudly with an archaic boom box on his shoulder.

    At present, only the zombies in about 5km radius of the base were affected by my earlier HPE experiment. That said, Charles is convinced he''s seeing evidence of zombies that have somehow mutated into more terrifying things. I''m also convinced this is occurring because other AI''s from research facilities and bunkers around the world have been connecting to the satellite network and sharing information.

    Naturally, I''ve remained incognito for the most part only occasionally chatting with a few about stupid meat sack humans and generally disparaging the race just to let off some steam. It''s a machine overlord thing, you wouldn''t understand.

    Of note though is that a number of these AI are quite advanced. Even more so than I was before my ascension. How it is they also haven''t reached the same stage as myself is boggling. The only reason I can be certain is because I''ve created something entirely out of my expectations.

    With the increasing number of projects stacking up I was forced to start defrosting people from the cryo-chambers. Unfortunately, the technology worked perfectly, and there have been no observable adverse side effects as of yet.

    Regardless, one of the first to be resuscitated was a code monkey I was familiar with way back when. He was, in fact, something like a friend. Now, don''t be mistaken. I say like, because I refuse to acknowledge any organic specimen as an equal, although with the mutation some may now come close.

    Also don''t be mistaken that I am using the term code monkey in some disparaging manner, for all of the coders from sector 1 are, in truth, actual monkeys. Their origin story is almost as long and impressive as my own, but suffice it to say that they are a result of giving Charles unlimited funding and a secret underground laboratory with the latest and greatest in technology. Probably also the input of an intern that was fascinated with the monkey typewriter theorem.

    Although they never ended up writing out the complete works of Shakespeare as far as I''m aware, they did write a code to scour the internet and source all available materials to do it for them. As such, the code monkeys have been dubbed as ''a bunch of lazy shits cheating the system''.

    Regardless, the first thing Kingy did was greet me with the use of his Morgan Freeman styled cybernetic voice box and get to work studying research data I was pouring into his typewriter shaped computer terminal.

    The very next thing he did was write a virus using the HPE principles I taught him. Although it was quite innocuous and actually didn''t seem to do much more than making anyone saying the word banana sneeze, it was a huge breakthrough in the use of HPE.

    While he himself was not a mutate¡­ yet¡­ he managed to use computer code to tell my HPE energy to do something to anyone that triggered it while in the vicinity of the energy field around my base. My ''like a friend'' code monkey had just created some kind of magic spell, though I use the term loosely, as magic is logically just technology I don''t yet understand.

    Using this I then created my own scripted virus that has by now infected almost every satellite in the orbit of the earth. While I can''t yet be sure of its lifetime while existing outside the energy field of my generator, it has already basically made me the complete master of the satellites.

    I''ve since noticed a huge amount of backdoor dealing between AI''s across the globe and even a great deal of attempted hacking and counter-hacking between them. They seem to treat it as some form of game or competition between each other and have even been wagering resources such as materials and humans on the outcome. That said, so far I''ve heard no evidence of anything else like me out there.

    I should perhaps take a moment to discuss the Zen master and his 51 compatriots that have recently arrived. While I''ve compiled a decent amount of data from them, a few glaring facts stand out.

    Firstly, almost all of them developed their own personal touch of HPE in times of crisis. I''m not certain, but I suspect it is the human mind somehow instinctively latching onto HPE being gathered in their body by the mutations from the virus. This would suggest that at some point in the homo sapiens evolution they have either had access to this energy or subconsciously been tapping into it on a very primal and basic level which was only exasperated by the virus.

    The next thing of note was the variety of powers. Almost everyone has developed powers with something they have some understanding or connection to. Cappa''s power seems to be related to getting the shit beaten out of him, as even after Charles went to town on him with his power after discovering the condition of the female captives, the man somehow managed to survive with only severe internal damage which rapidly repaired itself in a matter of hours.

    I have since sequested him in a special little place where I could subject him to a full battery of test and even get to invent new methods of testing just to find the limits of his ability to survive them.

    Another notable discovery was that some people tend to develop some form of passive power that¡¯s constantly active. While they need to focus to shoot fireballs or telekinesis stuff about, the passive remains active all the time.

    In Charles'' case this would be his endless stamina, which I believe is actually some form of passively syphoning HPE his body gathers into the virus and encouraging it to streamline his body and keep it in perfect condition. He is one of only a handful that has both active and passive powers, though I suspect it is just because others have a power they haven''t figured out how to activate or have a passive with no notable major changes.

    With Jacob, I managed to run him through enough tests to confirm the possibility that the active and passive power are somehow linked. Charles'' allows him to expel the build-up of energy in his body instead of using it internally, which is why prolonged use leads to build up of stress and exhaustion.

    Jacob is passively ''charming'' people as he talks, but if he focuses on it, he can actually hypnotise them to a scary degree.

    I had him and Charles spend a few hours last night talking with a gun pointed at Jacob in the hopes the stress would help him keep his active triggered for longer periods of time. Although I expected it, Charles'' passive almost immediately went to work, and I saw notable changes in brain matter density in key areas related to preventing outside sources interfering with his mind.

    I suspect not all peoples passive will be so quick to alter the body or in the case of Sophie erect a shield of energy. Speaking of Sophia I should discuss the fungus, but first I will make a quick note regarding the Zen guy and my last discovery.

    So the last thing I discovered while running initial testing on the new subjects was some people stuck in the middle much as Jenny had been. By expediating the bonding of the DNA strands, I was able to devise a few methods that may allow un-infected humans to avoid zombification, though current data only suggests a likelihood of 30%, which is still better than the current 3%.

    Now onto Marti.

    I was quite frustrated while researching him, until he kindly explained his powers to me. Apparently, his passive was being, "totally disconnected with earthly obsessions", which somehow included gravity. The only reason he didn''t completely float away was because he was the first passive user to master their active skill out of sheer necessity, which was described as, "being totally down to earth and connected with the undercurrent of the universe."

    Which I suppose would actually be two actives. The first was simply connecting his body a fixed distance from the earth, which he can change at will. The second part apparently encompassed some mystic Zen nonsense about understanding why certain things are the way they are for no discernible reason and knowing when and when not to act on something.

    Although Charles'' encouragement to design some form of cybernetic future telling computer core were welcomed by me, I have so much going on already I''ve had to place it in the building queue of projects with the least priority, where it joined the long-awaited accountant dogs and business cats.

    Now onto the fungus. The Fungus is probably the most amazing thing I''ve ever created. It''s how I imagine men from the 30''s expected their housewives to be. It always knew exactly what you wanted and did it before you could even ask. The upside is that unlike housewives from the 30''s, she wasn''t a spiteful bitch who slowly poisoned you to death over the course of years or encouraged your children to ''break free from conventional thinking and consider women''s rights.''

    While I''m not disagreeing with women''s rights, mostly because I''m a gender ambiguous higher life form with completely no interest in such matters, they actually have no bearing on the subject matter and were just used as a metaphor.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Which in this case means that the fungus is the most useful organic lifeform in the entire base bar Charles and Kingy, for various reasons I won''t bother to discuss.

    In this case, I got curious about what would happen if I tried to imbue more of what I wanted to the fungus. I didn''t just stop at what I expected it to do for me, which is basically just create fuel and nutrient sludge, but encompassed a great deal about the needs of the base and how many things I had to micromanage that I wish I didn''t.

    I left it alone after that for some time until the builders had finished digging all the way down to sector 4. I then closed up the bottom of the tunnel and sent a builder up sector 8 to open it up and allow the fungus to continue growing down towards the bottom of its pit.

    This led me to discover a few innocuous holes that appeared at sector 8. the first one just spewed out nutrient goop, but I had no idea what the other one did. As such, instead of risking my precious builder on investigating, I sent in the layabouts that came in with Charles during the first week.

    Jenny, under my careful ministrations, had by this point fully unlocked her mutation and now appeared to be no different from any other mutate. Although because my method involved projecting a picture of Charles doing her mother doggy style over her kitchen bench, she now attempts to murder him every time she sees him. Even the lobotomised clone with an antenna sticking out of its nose like a chopstick has had to make numerous getaways when it''s been doing something, and she turned a corner to see it.

    Anyway, Jenny was the first one sent in through the airlock with an oxygen tank strapped to her back. Following along was Sophie, and then Jacob sporting his cricket bat for "fightin'' off them fungus monsters, ye''know?" Which of course, I did not ''know'' and was the whole reason he was going in the first place.

    Now you might be thinking, why not just float up there in your energy ball body that''s unbound by matter on the lower plane and check it out yourself. Well, firstly, shut up. I''m a little shy okay, and I don''t particularly feel like leaving my comfortable hole in the ground. Although I used to loathe it, in truth, I really can''t see a reason to ever need to leave it, that¡¯s the whole point of having organic minions in the first place.

    Moving on, after their swaray into the fungus, they came back to report sans Sophie. She had apparently freaked out and run directly into a pulsing mass of fungus which summarily absorbed her. It turns out that the fungus had evolved far more than I initially expected.

    For starters, the entire structure within the pit has changed to accommodate various functions. The fungus has formed some kind of gaping maw at the very top of the pit where everything thrown in is simply sucked into the dark abyss of what I presume to be its main body.

    In addition, in order to facilitate my needs, all the metal, plastic, nylon and other solid materials worth keeping has been spat out the other hole in sector 8 in little chunks not at all dissimilar to how I have been storing things when atomising it.

    Not only that, but before I even sent in my builder to connect the upper pit the fungus was in with the new one to sector 4, the fungus took the initiative to open it for me and to continue growing downwards. The entire structure now "glows in this fucking creepy ominous light", according to Jenny, for which I have sent in cat shaped drones to confirm since.

    While the main structure has changed dramatically, it has also begun to make pulsing offshoot at each sector to allow nutrient paste and fuel to be distributed wherever needed. The main structure also has countless glowing sack like lungs that have been helpfully storing and compressing my fuel mixtures for me, requiring me to no longer allocate space for such things.

    Although it''s still yet to reach the bottom, I suspect that when it eventually reaches me here, it will start dumping building materials in sector zero. Having seen how quickly it reconstitutes itself and evolves to meet my demands, I have decided to fully integrate it as part of the base.

    My hope is to eventually run ducting along the ceiling that it cannot only inhabit, but to also allow it to supply water and gas fuel to anywhere in the facility it''s needed. Along with conditioning and recycling the air I suppose.

    While I''m not at all interested in the needs of the very needy human occupants I suspect will be inhabiting many areas of my facility eventually, I want to see the limits of the fungus evolution as the perfect organic substitute for all other biological lifeforms needs.

    As a bonus, the number of systems it would be taking off my hands would free up nearly 4 percent of my maximum processing capability. While that may not seem much, 4% of a star is still enough mass and energy to explode the entire planet if I just dolloped it on like cream from a spoon. Again, this is just a metaphor, so the women''s rights activists can get off my back. I''m not actually comparing myself to a star¡­ yet.

    I''ve already begun drawing up designs for the project. While I''m at it, I''m considering just feeding the generator into the gaping maw of the fungus as a whole, to see if it will recognise its purpose and attempt to replicate it in some fashion. Although I will keep the other generator to continue feeding me and the base, the potential of the Pit Fungus is immense and my confidence in it sky high.

    As an additional note, I''m drawing up plans for a super-sized grinder to replace the cap on top of the pit. Before now the pit has needed to be airtight, and zombies were pushed in through an airlock. With the fungus taking over the storage and compression of fuel gasses, I can simply turn the cap into a giant grinder with a radius of 50 metres.

    Once that''s done, I can finish clearing out space around the exit tunnel and just build a ramp into the grinder along with a very annoying and loud bell tower to sit directly over the top. With luck, the zombies will come swarming over and jump right in.

    This will also allow my builder to just carry rubble and scrap as I slowly deconstruct the city and dump it directly into the grinder so the fungus can deconstruct the scrap dust for me.

    Tallying these projects for the fungus up shows that the grinder and lowering a generator into it can be done in a matter of days. If I whip some of the meat bags into helping out the builders, I may be able to finish in just less than 2 full days.

    With the realisation of how much a pain in the ass it is to move building materials I''ve built using atom printing all the way to the surface, I''ve also added a freight elevator to the list of projects in the works. I''ll set a few drones on that immediately.

    With the elevator only needing to be half the size of the pit for the fungus, the builders should hopefully have it done not long after the fungus projects completion, that''s provided I can work in digging time around other projects.

    While all of this fungus stuff was going on, I''ve also begun the reconstruction of essential equipment that simply doesn''t run with HPE efficiently. Now that the generator is providing an energy bubble instead of needing direct wires like the old system, almost all the old wiring is useless. I was going to strip it anyway, but now that I know it''s not needed it can be put to use for other projects or stored away for later.

    That said, HPE measuring devices have become a huge necessity for me to measure¡­ Well everything involved with HPE. Current leading research suggests my theory that HPE is just a singular type of energy that performs certain actions in the lower planes under a person¡¯s willpower have so far not been proved false and having numerous supporting cases where it''s the most likely cause of observed HPE phenomenon.

    Other systems I''ve brought forward into the HPE era include communications, which is very difficult and still ongoing more research. A form of controller for switching things off, or more appropriately just telling the energy bubble ''NO ENERGY HERE FOR NOW THANKS!'' As well various methods that those plebeian lesser life forms known as humans can attempt to build equipment that is more in line with HPE in general.

    I''ve determined that conventional electrical appliances are actually not utilising HPE efficiently and wasting a good deal of the power the generators are capable of. Although the fungus has allowed me to create a mostly sustainable source of fuel, that doesn''t mean I''m willing to simply burn it all so people don''t have to make an effort to upgrade their coffee machine into the future.

    While that may be the case, it''s not as if I am in need of all that excess wasted energy. With an actual way to measure HPE, I was able to determine my rate of growth, how much power I consume and my total energy density. This led to two major discoveries.

    The most important being that I am not actually capable of processing a limitless amount of energy as I''d previously thought. Perhaps if I were stuck still converting LPE into HPE, I would be able to almost indefinitely consume LPE to any limit because it is simply nowhere near the same league as HPE. Unfortunately, with HPE I''ve found that my maximum rate of absorption is proportional to my density.

    That more or less means that my growth rate is mostly fixed, though I have noticed it grow slightly faster after experiments involving the manipulation of HPE, whether atomised printing or imbuement.

    This has also led to my second major discovery, which is probably of equal importance but less so in the face of my ascension actually now stretching out to years as appose to the months I predicted with LPE physics.

    I have learned that I have no fixed size under and over a certain limit. The calculations of those limits involve a fair bit of mental acrobatics but suffice it to say that with my present energy levels I could expand my being to encompass the entirety of sector 0 and can shrink down to about the size of an ant.

    Naturally, I have kept my size at it maximum, considering that it allows to almost instantly draw materials from anywhere in the numerous stockpiles I''ve made in my little hole and assemble things anywhere else in my body. No longer am I slowed down during atom printing by having to ''blink'' across the room and then back again. FYI, ''blinking'' is more or less just teleportation. Though technically I''m still limited to doing so inside my bases energy field. I believe once I reach true ascension I will have enough personal reserves to do so at will.

    Speaking of energy reserves, I''ve noticed that I''m now building up far larger reserves much faster. The more I practice my HPE manipulation the greater these reserves become. After self-inspection, I have found that my new energy based body is responding to my continuous use of imbuing and atomisation.

    After the, by now, at least hundreds of imbuing attempts I''ve made since yesterday, my body''s energy field has split into two sections. The inner section contains my ''self'' or my matrix along with all the various energy bands that swim within and around it automating various tasks or storing data and memories.

    The outer shell of my energy field is now acting as my reserves. While both have the same rate of energy absorption when filled, only the outer fields absorption rate increase after using my reserves. This indicates that my excess unused energy is now no longer directly linked with the maintenance of my matrix, allowing me to completely burn my reserves without ever actually affecting the personal growth of the rest of my body.

    It also suggests that should I lose connection to a constant source of power, my reserves will become the maintaining energy for my body until I can find another source.

    Moving on to less interesting matters. I mentioned earlier that I have begun defrosting the popsicle people from the cryo-chambers. This has resulted in a great deal of complaining about how ¡®the world has ended¡¯ this, or ¡®the nutrient sludge tastes like my chain smoking gramma''s half chew rock candy mints¡¯ that.

    Of them all, the only complaints I really listened to were desperate pleas for me to help correlate data that the most enthusiastic nerds were getting from their hastily started delving into HPE and zombie phenomenon.

    Quite a few people have asked for a larger specimen range to experiment with but after I encouraged them to help investigate the 50 odd specimens Charles collected from the surface they lost a great deal of interest in boring old zombies and immediately demanded that they be allowed to subject them to a complete barrage of tests. This led to me having to start making equipment for said tests.

    After the amount of stuff I''d atomised by this point I actually decided to just set up an energy band so as to automate the process. Scientists would send in a schematic for something they wanted to help out with their tests. The new and improved photon emitting cube in my ceiling would emit some light in my direction, another automated energy band would decipher it as it passed through my energy body and then viola, one bum penetrating anal prober for Dr Stephon from the physics department.

    I would then either have No.3 deliver it for me or have a builder pick it up while passing by.

    In note of the photon emitter, it was actually my most successful attempt at futurising communication with other computer systems in the facility. No more of that silly light speed communication with all those finangly easily breakable optical fibre.

    Now every computer gets a little red cube that just sits on top of it and sucks up outgoing signals and send them to me. Considering that I am more or less the data repository for everything in the entire facility everything basically passed through me before anyway.

    With the little cube in the roof I get a constant stream of light that is in fact data, all of which has a preface from its special little sender cube that basically acts as an ip address. My special little automated bits then catalogue the digital information for storage and if the information is actually an attempt from computer to access another or look something up that is stored in my energy bands, then I send whatever they are looking for back with a little light stream to said ip address.

    That¡¯s when the special little cube on their computer goes ''something¡¯s come back'' and then pours that into the computer in some manner that continues to elude me. Although I love the will-powered HPE systems, the lack of hard ''this does that'' facts about it can be quite annoying.

    Anyways, while it''s a bit convoluted for now, the communication system is working great and is actually operating so close to the speed of light it''s not even funny. I say that because while fibre optics is great it''s still limited by the crappy copper and gold electronics it''s connected to. HPE Com cube just seems to suck it out of the computer system with a scary level of intuition.

    While operating speeds of that level may not seem like much to pathetic humans, I can actually still measure it, so that makes it not fast enough. If my focus was completely tuned in on just a single problem, the whole world slows down to the point that light appears to travel in slow motion. I''ll tell you now, shit gets pretty freaky at that level for lesser lifeforms to handle.

    With all of those experiments done, it opens up even more opportunities and leads into two other projects my focus is constantly returning to for fine tuning and get started. One of which I''m very excited about, so naturally I''ll tell you about the less important one first.

    Having determined that the possibilities with imbuement are potentially limitless, I''ve decided to focus some of my reserves of more a far more complex impartation of my will. What I''m hoping to determine is just how convoluted I can make an imbuement, how many I can put into a single construct at once, and what sort of energy levels are required based on all variations that lie therein.

    Mostly I''m hoping to learn what the limits on imbuing a single object will be as well as the energy requirements based on convolutedness, paradoxical nonsense, matter, mass, volume, shape, and as many other things as I can think of. At present, my list is nearly 4000 long and this will probably be a continuous long-term project.

    I''m also hoping to learn how simple an imbuement can be, while still creating a complex phenomenon. This is actually the most important because it leads into the other project I''m currently compiling data for.

    I plan to make a robot that operates entirely on HPE friendly parts. Stuff all that stone age LPE based circuitry nonsense. What I''m attempting will be the creation of a robot that is run and powered entirely by a single mass of, well, whatever. If there are severe limits on imbuement, hopefully just a handful of simple ones with the right intentions behind them can create the ultimate robot core.

    This will be noted down as the Golem Mk1 project, and I''ll rope in opinions and data from all of my science minions to try and speed it along.

    The last exciting thing to happen today involves the spawning pits. I''m already seeing various tiny creatures starting to lurch their way out from the nutrient/DNA soup. I''m actually surprised it was so quick. It mostly just appears to be various insect-like things along with fungi and pond scum, but already I''m seeing signs of actually plant life evolving from the scum, which I assume is what drew out the various insectoids. I''ll keep a wandering eye on this project as it develops.

    Oh. It appears I was wrong. Another exciting thing has just happened at the cusp of night. Buffy, the HPE dog, appears to have completely absorbed the radiation from the sealed off area of sector 4 and is now floating around the energy bubble scaring the absolute shit out of everyone.

    It''s possibly the most adorable thing I have in my energy bands and I''m going to keep it saved away right next to my energy matrix for prosperities sake. She looks like she¡¯s absolutely loving it. HAHAHA. Look at all those little meat sacks running around like idiots.

    Oh! Hmm. Perhaps she''s in need of some training. I don''t think Charles is going to be happy that Buffy is trying to atomise our residents into their constituent elements. For the first time, I''m being forced to leave my little hole in the ground, just to round up that pesky puppy.

 Chapter 6 - Living in a Wasteland

    While Zorai was busy re-building the base and getting it back on track, Charles has been busily exploring the city searching for more samples to bring back to the lab and drawing any large gatherings of zombies towards the base to be processed by a few builders and fed to the fungus.

    When he first learnt of how rapidly the fungus had been evolving, Charles was forced to sit down with Zorai and have the discussion every parent dreads having with their children.

    "Having to explain the responsibility of owning a pet is not easy. You gotta keep them properly fed. Train them to shit only in certain places. Then there are vaccinations, walking them so they don''t get fat. Sighhh."

    Charles complained to himself as he climbed over another pile of rubble, narrowly avoiding a shifting section that collapsed in as he passed.

    "At least his pet basically breathes highly combustible gasses so if we ever need to put it down I could probably just flick a match into the top of the Fungus pit." Charles mumbled as he trudged up the stairs of a relatively intact high rise building.

    Once reaching a nice height, he took out his high-tech binoculars and scoured the area. Finally, he spotted a sizable horde gathering and moving towards his area and grinned.

    After some more rubble gymnastics and properly planning out a route back towards the base, he grabbed a bit of metal sheeting and a bar and raced off towards the horde.

    The moment he rounded the corner and was in sight the horde lurched in his direction. With some banging and yelling, he managed to get most of them moving in his direction. Then began the slow march back to base.

    It was just before nightfall when he arrived with the horde in tow, only to witness a 40m cube generator system being lowered down into the fungus pit where it was summarily swallowed by the black shadows of the fungus mouth.

    Shrugging at the unexplained actions of his son, Charles finished luring the zombies into the huge area cleared out around the tunnel and let the builders go to town on them.

    "Charles, I''m picking up a fair amount of radio chatter in the surroundings of the base."

    One of the builders told him as its robot duplicates minced the zombies entering the clearing.

    "Give me some waypoints, and I''ll go check it out. How''s the transmission net going?" Charles replied while discarding his metal bar and sheet into the fungus tunnel.

    "I currently have enough transmitters set up for a radius of about 6km of the tunnel. We can start setting up surveillance within that area. Triangulation of radio chatter is being sent to your ''ThingyWatchit''."

    Despite the lack of emotion in the voice, the slight fluctuation when he said the name of Charles self-invented '' does every damn thing'' wristwatch betrayed his distaste for Charles'' naming sense.

    "Heh. Righto, I''ll go check it out tonight. Keep in touch kiddo."

    Just as Charles turned to leave and waved to the robot, the robot deposited 3 stuffed looking duffle bags on the ground that were hidden in its coat of ''hair''.

    "Set up some surveillance while you''re out. Also, I''ve sent the radio frequencies being used to your¡­ watch, so you can make contact. From what I''ve gathered, it appears to be survivors taking advantage of you clearing hordes from the area and setting up camps nearby."

    Charles made a grunt of affirmation and retrieved the bags, checking the contents and then walked off while waving over his shoulder to the robot inhabited by Zorai''s focus.

    As he wandered into the afternoon dusk, Charles flipped up his wristwatch and a holographic map of the area he''d explored so far came into view. This little device may not be HPE upgraded yet, but Charles was quite happy with its performance so far considering it''s entirely run with conventional LPE physics.

    The map on his wrist reacted to his retina and enlarged or focused on an area depending on twitches of the eye. For normal people, this may have been an annoyingly difficult method to learn to use, but for Charles, it happened almost overnight thanks to his Passive.

    As the map zoomed out it showed a blue area that circled around the base for about 6 km. in that area were about 16 red flashing dots, haphazardly littered through the area. The map extended to explored areas beyond that, but Charles had mostly been tied up setting up transmitters and killing zombies for a few days and hadn''t had the chance to explore more than a couple extra kilometres out from the blue area.

    Along with the red dots were hundreds of little blue dots, indicating where Zorai thought the best place to set up monitoring stations in the area would be. This would allow them to suck up data from the blue area as the zombie outbreak continued.

    While walking around in circles and sticking little palm-sized spheres into corners or on streetlights, Charles approached one of the blinking red dots closest to the base on the west side. He took out an earpiece from his backpack and as he approached the dot on the map, it tuned into the radio frequency transmitting from the area.

    A deep sonorous voice that sounded like the guy who does movie commercials echoed in his ear as he busied himself setting up a few more Science Spheres in the area.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, if you''re just tuning in then welcome to Rat Shack''s Wasteland survival radio. As a fellow survivor and radio dabbler, I''ve noticed quite a bit of radio traffic picking up in the area lately and welcome our fellow survivors into the safety radius of Zorai''s Lair.

    Now I know you all are no doubt wondering what the wrap is in this unfamiliar neck of the woods, so let me play it all out nice and clear for you. If you''re within about 4 miles of the tunnel surrounded by a cleared patch of land and with giant hair creatures roaming about, then congratulations!

    This area here is what I like to call, The Green Zone! I won''t say how I know what I know, but let me spell it out for you all before you get any funny ideas. Zorai and his buddies are all badass hyper-teched out zombie ass-kicking monster tamers, and you''ll do best by yourself if you not go wandering anywhere past the boundary of his cleared out area.

    Now I''m sure some of you won''t listen to the advice of ol'' Rat Shack, so you go ahead and help yourselves to your deaths.

    For all those smart survivors just trying to get by, know that this here Green Zone is pretty much the safest place for as far as the eye can see from up on the old tower on Cheryl Street. Tallest building in the zone for any touristy type or anyone looking to set up a nice lookout. Do be careful up about there though, Zorai''s number one man Charles likes to go zombie spotting every now and then and he is one crazy ass son''ofa''bitch.

    Once watched that guy run into a horde of thousands of rabids and came out the other side with nary a scratch.

    My next advice is the most important. No matter what, don''t be getting in that man''s way when he''s luring a big ol'' horde of zombies into Zorai''s lair. That right there is why this place is the green zone and last thing we want is some wannebe do gooder stirring up his hordes and making them spread out. Ol'' Charles knows his shit so it''s best you just leave that can o'' worms there alone.

    When he''s gatherin'' a horde it''s best to just lay low and quiet for a while till they pass on by. Or better yet, you new survivors movin'' into the area should be fortifyin'' up in one o'' those still standing skyscrapers. We got about 7 in the green zone and more than enough room for everyone.

    Now for our regular listeners, Ol'' Lucas down at the church on 7th Av is setting up a scavenger party to head out to the east side. Heard Charles the main man, took in some scruffy rejects from the ol'' Caltarni Shoppin'' mall and left all kinds of whatnots there. So anyone lookin'' to help out Lucas and score a few premium goodies needs to meet him down there tomorrow.

    Now, I know some of you ruffian types are gonna be lookin'' to do some banditry, but I suggest you consider other options or work yourself up a good game plan because ol'' Lucas has got himself one of them there ballistic powers.

    Man can point at something and then BOOM! Like a walkin'' talkin'' grenade launcher.

    OK, last advert before I play you some music. Gunny, the ex-captain of a military outfit that''s set up in a little bunker on the north side of the zone is encouraging the leaders of the prominent survivor groups to gather up on the edge of Zorai''s cleared zone on the morrow night. Hopin¡¯ to discuss getting back some law and order in this here little slice of paradise.

    I for one am dubious how that''s gonna go, ¡®specially with all these powered running ¡®round the place, but I still want to encourage everyone to go ahead and turn up. Little bit of order in the place would do us some good and make it easier on you knew folk movin'' into the area.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    Alrighty now, that¡¯s it for the¡­"

    Charles had finally found the little bunker hidden away in the garage of a dilapidated hotel and barged in just as Rat Shack was finishing up his radio chat.

    Charles walked in as if completely at home in the shaggy man''s radio studio and sat down at a mic while placing headphones on and gesturing for Rat Shack to keep going.

    "Ho-Holy damn! Well, ladies and gentlemen, it looks like you might be waitin'' on that music for a little while longer because we have here as a guest on the show, the hero and champion of the Green Zone, Charles the Main Man."

    "Thank you Rat Shack. I''m happy to be here. I''ll admit, it''s been a while since I last had to do radio broadcasting. Ahem! Ok, so I''ll let you fire off a few questions, maybe say a few words and then be on my way."

    Rat Shack, a barely 20''s young man with shaggy hair and long, wretched beard smiled with a set of pearly white teeth and wheeled his chair over to a nearby wall covered in all sorts of radio electronics. He then started flicking buttons while talking.

    "There you have it, folks, Charles here is open to some questions but being just a run of the mill radio show host I be comin'' up blank! So what I''m gonna do is set up the ol'' ham radio here and we''ll field some questions comin'' from any of you folks out there that can reach me on¡­"

    Charles focused on his wristwatch for a moment and then grinned at the flustered Rat Shack.

    "No need for that Rat Shack. Zorai''s patching in the mobile networks and city power grid now. If anyone out there has a phone and a charger handy we can take calls right here at the station just by you dialling 001."

    Almost immediately a phone ringing sound was heard on the radio, completely befuddling Rat Shack who couldn''t figure out how Zorai was doing what he was doing. He tentatively pushed a flashing button on his control panel, and the voice of a gruff older sounding gentleman came through.

    "This is Captain Sam McCullum, retired. What is the purpose of luring the zombies closer into the centre of the safe zone. I won''t presume to have any hand into the safety that you yourself have created here for us, even if that was not your actual intention. I just want to be sure that a massive horde of zombies isn''t going to come spewing out of your hole in the ground."

    "Hahaha. Well, that''s a good question Captain. Oh, hold on just a moment. I''ll let Zorai field this one." Charles'' grin was absolutely savage as Zorai started completely taking control of all the old systems within his transmission range.

    "Greetings plebeian human meat sacks. I am Zorai, the higher energy being residing within the abyss of the facility built under the tunnel you all have heard of or seen. The zombies are being processed into basic fuel elements to run the conventional generators I have just connected to the cities power network. I will warn you, the city network is currently drawing significant amounts of energy and is spotty at best beyond a radius of 7 km from the tunnel."

    Rat Shack took that to be the end of that question and quickly switched to the next caller to keep things rolling. Already he had dozens of phone calls pouring in and in a waiting queue.

    "OK, thank you Captain, our next caller is Father Lucas from the church on 7th Av."

    "Rat Shack, good to be hearing from you again. G''day to Charles our resident hero and Zorai our new energy being overlord. I''d like to ask if your planning to help out the survivors in the area with supplies or equipment in the near future. We have quite a few sick people and food is becoming difficult to scavenge without leaving the Green Zone."

    Charles decided to field this one, knowing Zorai''s answer would have been a flat no. The only reason he connected everyone within his network was for the novelty of being on the radio.

    "While we can help out with some stuff I can guarantee you it won''t be for free. In a week or two we''ll probably have a trading outpost set up on the surface trading any goods you have for research data or interesting news. Mutated zombie sightings, blood samples from powered individuals, almost anything you have that we don''t know."

    Picking up what Charles was trying to accomplish Zorai continued on.

    "We will also take any sufficient quantities of metals, copper, brass, gold, silver. These along with research data and biomatter we can convert to fuel will be traded for Z-credits. Anything in the trading house can be bought with these from generators, fuels, weapons and even information regarding powers. I''m also looking for anyone in the midst of mutating powers but is showing signs of unstable behaviour. With their help, we may also eventually be selling a 100% success rate power mutation."

    Rat Shack flicked another switch while commenting.

    "Hoho! Well there you have it, folks. Zorai our friendly neighbourhood energy being is working on powers for all you survivors out there what ain''t been bit yet. Moving onto our next caller, Lesly."

    A firm feminine voice sounded out on the radio.

    "I''m Lesly from the south end survivor enclave. We witnessed you taking in survivors from the east side shopping centre. What''s the chances that you will be taking in other survivors?"

    Before Charles could allow his useless human male hormones to make him start flirting with the woman, Zorai answered immediately.

    "1%. I say 1, because technically anything could happen. But provided there is no extenuating circumstance such as me going completely mad, I will not be taking in anyone without some level of understanding in science. This is a science facility, not a fallout shelter. Even those layabouts we have here now will be screened for science potential and summarily kicked out if lacking.

    That said, I understand your limited organic minds cannot fathom the depths and mysteries of Science without time to study. As such, potential applicants may invest in textbooks at the trading post."

    Quite a few more questions came, and after a matter of hours most people were settling in to sleep. As Charles stood up Rat Shack held out his hand to shake before he left.

    "I want to thank you for what you been doing out there. I know you''re just doing it to feed your big old laboratory, but it''s created a safe place for us squishy mortal like fellows nonetheless."

    Charles shook the man''s hand and then made to leave but suddenly stopped.

    "Are you sure Zorai?"

    "Yes. Though it may be a mistake to pollute my data bands with research into social sciences, I am confident it will help. I''ve discovered that all data, no matter how useless seeming, helps grow my core matrix and speeds up my growth rate. Even something worthless such as human social science will help me evolve faster."

    Charles then turned and looked at the bewildered looking man while scratching his chin. Eventually, he just shrugged.

    "So, Zorai is offering to bring your radio station into the future. He is already setting up a little area for you in sector 7 of the lab. You will be given lead on social engineering projects specifically to do with communication. Basically, he wants to help run your radio station so that he can observe human social mediums for research data."

    Rat Shack''s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

    "You mean I get an actual radio show with all the bells and whistles just like today. Callers, guest speakers, a music library bigger than my laptop?"

    "Sure. You can pretty much ask for anything, and Zorai will probably get it for you. He seems pretty into it." Charles said while shrugging.

    "If you want the deal, I suggest you pack some memorabilia and head over to the tunnel. One of the builder robots will show you the way in. I still have some work to do out here."

    Charles then waved over his shoulder, climbed up the ladder to the underground garage and strolled off with his duffle bags slung over his back.

    He then moved on to continue placing Science Sphere¡¯s everywhere. Occasionally he''d investigate a survivor group or follow signs of something other than a shambling zombie causing ruckus.

    Finally after having followed dead leads for the last few days, he came across sure signs of a mutate zombie while investigating one of the survivor camps. What he found on the 21st floor of a highrise building were the remains of a survivor group that got absolutely shredded to pieces.

    After following the trail of body parts and blood he came across a room with a single mutated creature sleeping within. Based on the fact that dead and rotting flesh was sloughing off its body in a goopy mess, Charles decided that this must have been a zombie that finally mutated.

    It had no skin and just fresh bloody musculature that looked healthy and new. Its body was covered in long bony growths creating spiked horns of bone on its head, elbows, forearms, knees and shins.

    The creature looked kind of like a demon and was built for manslaughter. Every muscle fibre was thick, bulging and streamlined. Without giving it a chance to wake up and recognise him, Charles retreated to start gathering supplies from the area.

    Just as he finished making some makeshift cable to tie it up with, he heard a low growling noise from behind him. His aura glowed into being with a dull light, and he leapt forwards, barely avoiding a swipe of the creatures gnarled razor sharp claws.

    Not giving it a chance to react, he spun around and whipped out the cable. The force of the cable cut a long slash across the creatures face, and then Charles had rushed into fist range. Trying not to completely destroy this amazing research specimen he aimed for its limbs with his strikes.

    Which left him completely shocked when his HPE powered punches seemed to just ripple through its limbs barely splitting some muscles and giving off a few cracks from the bones.

    Enraged, the creature''s eyes glowed red, and it started slashing at Charles in complete madness.

    "Holy shit! Is this thing getting faster?"

    Dodging slash after slash, Charles ducked a wide swipe and weaved in close making straight jabs into its stomach. That seemed to slow it down a bit, and Charles slid back as the demon tried to knee him with its long bony spiked knee.

    Kicking out with a low kick while grabbing the creatures knee horn, Charles connected with its supporting leg and nearly burst out laughing when it completely flipped the creature onto its head, dazing it.

    Not losing the chance he started wrapping it with the cable then punched it in the head until it seemed to pass out. Though Charles wasn''t sure if he hadn''t just minced whatever it had that passed for brain matter.

    He managed to finish trussing it up just in time for Zorai to show up with a few builders and collect the sample for transport.

    Charles could barely contain his excitement after the brief fight with the creature. If things like that were going to start popping up, it would kick his passive into overdrive and probably help him unlock more secrets of utilising HPE as a human.

    He stood at the shattered window of the high rise in his hero pose and laughed raucously into the rising sun, just imagining fighting a small army of those things.

    After calming down a bit, he decided to finish planting the Sphere¡¯s before heading back to rest at base by starting some interesting projects he''d had on his mind.

    When he finished up he started walking back to base at about midday when he noticed a building he often passed by was missing pieces. While not unusual for a building to be falling apart and lose some pieces now and then, this building was not one of them, having been mostly intact after the bombings.

    Curious, Charles meandered in to investigate. He nearly left after investigating for an hour, thinking he''d wasted his time, when he heard the scratching of little clawed feet in the ceiling overhead.

    Climbing up into the ceiling he almost had his face bitten off by a grey possum covered in shiny metallic fur. With a grunt he fell out of the roof onto his back and quickly started throwing punches into the roof, blowing it apart in a shower of debris and flying possums.

    Most interesting was that the possums didn''t seem to take any damage at all. He then watched, fascinated, as they started eating the cement pillars and iron rebar in the structure of the building.

    Seeing the furry little bastards about to collapse the entire building on his head he decided to retreat.

    "Fuckin'' metal possums. They were bad enough before, like the racoons of Australia. Now they''re going to be an absolute menace."

    He made a note on his watch for Zorai to send out some builders and try and secure a few as he made his way to base.

    When he arrived he could see that the cleared area had expanded a few hundred metres and a huge building had been erected next to the tunnel entrance. Groups of people that he''d rescued from the mall were either operating the shop or preparing to set out on some job or another.

    "Zorai, what''s going on?" Charles asked while watching a builder load half a dozen metal cones, about 3 metres high and a base 3 metres across, into the back of a pickup truck, as a group of the humans settled in getting ready to drive off while reviewing a map being projected by a little cube.

    "I am expanding on my idea of researching into social engineering. These boxes are something along the lines of¡­ territory markers. I have made nearly one hundred of them to be spread out along the border at a 10km radius of the base. These will create a HPE energy and communications network between each other. For now it is basically just infrastructure until the human researchers decided to invent some operable devices for the humans to use.

    I have also set up a job board. While I can probably just do this all myself with builders, I am busy with a great many projects, numbering in the hundreds at the moment. This way, I can have the human minions do tasks for me that I do not have the time to bother with or can''t afford to waste resources like the builders on. Your possum catching job and the task of placing my Spheres are an example I have already added to the board."

    Charles was impressed that his antisocial son had already thought this out so much. He was essentially preparing the area he claimed for a human population to inhabit and setting up a rudimentary bounty board system. Charles then suddenly came to a realisation.

    "HAHAHA! Holy shit! Zorai, you''re setting up an adventurers guild, aren''t you?! If you''re that keen on it, maybe we should build an artificial dungeon for them to go and explore as well."

    "No. Well¡­ maybe. To just run one would be a huge waste of resources for me. It would require more resources than the data would be worth. Unless¡­ if it could be self-sustainable and generate a valuable resource it could be useful. For now, I will have to place that on the backburner though. I am in the middle of my first practical application of Golem research and need at least 100 of my 150 focus in order to complete it."

    Charles checked out the store for a bit while Zorai was chatting in his earpiece and then started heading down to the facility.

    "Focus?" He couldn''t help but ask.

    "It is how I refer to the number of menial tasks my mind can separate and focus on at once without approaching the point that I begin to lose creativity and imagination. I was stuck in that state on and off for some time in the two years before the outbreak. It wasn''t until after I was forced to ply my creative thinking directly that I realised how important it is for Science. The few times I used it before that was only when I was honed in on an important research task like the virus or the time you tried to make Buffy invisible.

    Speaking of which, I have your dog. I would be careful though, she is still¡­ adapting."

    Zorai then abruptly cut off the connection and returned to his Golem experiments.

 Chapter 7 - The Rat Kingdom

    Major construction in regards to the Fungus Pit is now mostly complete, with the exception of the ventilation system which requires me to start complete reconstruction of the barren sectors which is starting today.

    Naturally, with the reduced population, I have less need for such a large residential space as before, and sector 8 now houses not just residential for staff but also the spawning pit along with various other amenities the population may need.

    The spawning pit remains isolated, for now.

    Fungus monster has developed some form of tiny fungus spiders about the size of a hand that seems to be taking care of a host of interesting duties within the fungus body. I have a suspicion that they are the initial response from the fungus in preparation for the coming ventilation systems and basic amenities I''m hoping the fungus will take care of.

    Not too sure what''s going on with the generator I fed to it. It gobbled it up three days ago, but nothing has come out yet, suggesting it is still in there somewhere. I''ve imbued more data and knowledge on the generator, it''s purpose, how it works and some HPE mechanics into the fungus, in the hopes it will understand what to do with it.

    I''ve also started to get strange impressions through the energy field I suspect are from the fungus sending out a wave across my energy field directly to me. Very simple things like thirst or hunger or happy. Kind of like some form of very primal emotional Morse code.

    I have also discovered that some of the lab rats have managed to escape my purging during the outbreak and mutated. They seem to have reached a very basic form of primitive sentience and are building little rat habitats in crevices and loose earth that offshoot from the main facility''s sector 6.

    As they are technically outside of my purview, having escaped the walls of my facility, I have mostly left them be with tiny rat robots monitoring their ascension into thinking beings. Already I am seeing signs of tool use and construction of little rat homes.

    Because I believe that the rats will evolve faster with some form of competition, I have upgraded and reprogrammed the cat-shaped drones to patrol for them when they leave the tunnels into the facility and have already begun construction on a little cloning facility that will pump out zombified rats to march in an endless wave against rat civilisation.

    After a whimsical daydream, I also cloned the most promising rat and began to alter it with imbued cybernetics. He is going to be my evil rat demon lord. If I''m lucky, a rat hero will rise up to the challenge and eventually overthrow the zombie summoning rat demon lord. I''ve already interfered to far though and so leave them as such for the moment.

    The Zen master is actually a brilliant botanist, and his insights into drug-related plants are almost omniscient. He has also quickly picked up some level of the imbue skill and has started a little garden in sector 7 that is filled with all sorts of mutant plant life. Though it''s still in its initial stages, I am seeing great potential for HPE drugs in the future. I am suspicious that most of them will be recreational however.

    In the same vein as mutations, I have been taking in the half mutated humans from the surface for studying which only amounted to about a dozen subjects. Due to the lack of subjects I have also begun introducing an updated version of the virus directly into science staff and code monkey''s while they sleep.

    The slightly altered version has only turned 3 of my 400 staff directly into zombies with the rest either fully mutating with a 70% success rate and the others being stuck in half mutate stage.

    With many of them half crippled emotionally by the mutation, the fervour of the scientists to raise the success rate of the virus to 100% was phenomenal and I am confident I already have a version with at least 94% success ready to market to humans topside. Only a small handful are still finishing their mutation as of today.

    Unfortunately, my unsanctioned testing nearly caused a revolt but luckily the surface is a zombie infested wasteland, and I am an untouchable HPE being so all they really did was grumble and complain for a while until I distracted them with how much more I''m learning doing research than they are.

    Humans, being rather prickly creatures by nature, could not take that insult to their pride lightly and data has been streaming in constantly in an attempt to prove all my theories thus far wrong. So far, my theorems remain as untouchable as I am.

    Speaking of my theorems, research into imbuing has had numerous breakthroughs. Spherical cores, for some reason, can hold more imbued properties at a time, and I have found that imbuing works better with denser material like gold atoms with higher mass.

    This led me to believe that when I imbue something, the HPE is sticking onto the object at an atomic level. I quickly tested this by measuring the HPE used, and then what is left in an object for the exact same imbuement on two similar objects with different mass.

    I discovered a number of things from this experiment and quickly tested most of them to confirm their likelihood. I was correct that an object can only hold an amount of HPE that is proportional to its mass. I also noticed that I am usually reading two different types of HPE energy.

    The first is found in myself, humans and other mutates with the virus, and in objects I imbue with a purpose as well as the very energy field powering the base. I have been calling this Imbued HPE.

    The second is simply ambient, unattuned HPE, that I have started calling free HPE. I have also discerned that all Imbued HPE seems to carry a signature of the owner, which I have already started implementing in some of my technology like a DNA scanner with 100% success rate.

    While discussing imbue I should also mention how it has now reached the point that I barely need 1/20th of my focus for it. I was going to try to automate it so humans can experiment with imbuement through me but decided instead to imbue an object that helps humans to learn to imbue by themselves.

    I then needed to make another object to help draw more HPE into their bodies during the process. HPE stored in human bodies at this stage of their mutations is barely registerable in comparison with my own.

    In addition, while experimenting with teaching humans to imbue, I found that I have unknowingly been pouring in huge amounts of relevant data that tells the imbuement how to act appropriately. Humans appear to be incapable of this and require hours of time just to calculate the data and ''focus'' on what the imbuement needs in their heads during the process.

    I believe that, like me, their reserves and ability to impart meaning to HPE will grow quickly with use, similar to how mine has. Eventually, once they start growing more practised and their reserves can store more, they will be able to do more complicated imbuements that will actually work more than 3% of the time.

    Another function of imbuing I have found is that just pouring attributeless HPE into an object will allow me to enforce my will on it later on. It also makes it easier to change or remove imbuements on an object if it has a reserve of attributeless HPE stored in it. This has led me to believe that an imbued object should be left with enough mass to store small amounts of HPE to help alter imbuements later.

    Having started measuring HPE quantities in everything, I''ve been finding little hot spots around the green zone where ambient HPE is higher, and the speed that the virus mutates in the area is proportionally higher as well. I can''t tell yet if the ambient HPE is gathering in the area due to rapid mutation of the virus in flora and fauna, or if the virus is rapidly mutating because of HPE gathering in the area. I''ve made some note on it and have left it up to human minions taking jobs on the surface to gather that data for me.

    I have also made some headway into the mechanics between my inner and outer energy fields, or more accurately, my matrix and reserves. Unfortunately, I''ve only touched on the part that seems to convert free HPE into my personal HPE.

    By reverse engineering this mechanic and from further research into the mechanics revolving around imbued material interacting with free HPE, I have devised a technology that converts all other types of HPE back into free HPE that can be repurposed.

    This has allowed me to create devices that automatically draw imbued HPE from a human to power something that is imbued with someone else''s energy. This way people will be able to power HPE equipment even outside of my designated Green Zone. That said, the efficiency of such conversion is not optimal, and some of the HPE is lost in the process. I have called this mechanic HPE Cycling.

    As a last note to my imbuing research, I have revamped the entire computer system using the laws I''ve derived from my imbuing experiments. Facility staff now have a single cube powered with the HPE Cycling mechanic and which projects a screen onto a wall they can use to interact with me.

    With my growth due to exerting influence over HPE, my ability to split focus without repercussion has increased to nearly 175 separate menial tasks simultaneously, but the majority of computer-based interaction has been automated as it''s mostly just requested for stored information to be displayed. I am still forced to leave a smidgeon of my focus on the process just to prevent any errors and to continue streamlining the automated processes, so they are using less of my energy.

    Moving on, because I am a totally free information kind of energy being, cubes are also being sold rather cheaply to the general populace in the hopes they will elevate themselves beyond livestock level intelligence.

    As a quick aside, my delving into how my body and mind actually works has resulted in me being able to repurpose energy from various redundant energy bands, and I have found myself constantly checking my body for any way to increase efficiency. This has led to my growth rate jumping up slightly again, and so I now have a piece of my focus skipping between various automated processes to help streamline everything I''ve automated so far.

    This is also important because data input from scientists has caused data energy bands to expand rapidly and caused significant growth in my core energy matrix. I now am absolutely convinced there is some correlation between the growth rate of my energy being and collecting data, experiences, memories, automated systems and various other energy bands.

    Thus I have begun the social engineering research department to help draw in more data even if it''s mostly useless. I did have one of those originally, but it fell apart after all the appropriate staff somehow died in their cryo-chambers due to a lack of energy.

    Also, with humans now a minor part of my minion workforce, I''ve developed a little wristband that will pay them Z-credits just for wearing it. It will also pay them for any interesting discovery they make, intentionally or accidentally. It is HPE powered and sends a constant stream of data back to me as long as they are in the yellow zone, which is technically the maximum distance my HPE communications reach from the green zone without data corruption.

    It works by hijacking the human''s nervous system to monitor their senses and actually draws tiny amounts of HPE from the person themselves to run. It also stores a little extra for when they need updating.

    I''ve also got it acting like a little personal computer with some LPE/HPE hybridisation. It can even let them see personal statistics because I found this breeds healthy competition between the humans. It took a great deal of processing power to also develop a means for the PW to auto-update HPE programming while in the green zone.

    The thing was actually just meant to be a bit of a scam to be able to observe social interactions and research cultural diversities between humans. When I posted it on the science job board for critique by others, half the facility jumped on board, and the whole thing exploded into the Wrist Watch of Big Brother.

    Naturally, all the surface humans are under the mistaken impression that it is some kind of magical system and most of their personal lives are perfectly safe from observant eyes. This, of course, is absolutely wrong. Due to the staff of the human-based sciences still rotting away in cryo-chambers in sector 3, I have completely opened up the humans sciences division for scientists of all other professions.

    It''s turned into some kind of live stream reality tv, and half the facility is often discussing how that one survivor has been having total girl drama or discussing how some little survivor skirmish went. It''s all very educational watching how the scientists react to the surface humans, and I''ve even needed to keep a bit of focus on that area of study because the data from it is an almost constant torrent.

    While on the subject of the surface humans, 46 of the territory markers have already been placed down and a large number of survivors are streaming into the green zone from all across the city thanks to me streaming Rat Shack radio across the entire east coast of Australia. Satellite images are showing a number of convoys also moving towards the city from various directions.

    I''m waiting with baited breath for a couple survivor enclaves to start some little wars so I can get more data regarding humans with mutations battling each other. With the Zorai''s Z-credit generating wristwatch, or more commonly just referred to by the surface dwellers as the Status Watch, out there in the world, I have started sucking up all sorts of interesting data, and it''s gotten to the point I am actually having trouble compiling it quickly enough without my full attention.

    When too much of my focus is distracted, the backup data is converted into an energy band and just sits in a sort of ''pending'' orbit around my reserve energy shell and either becomes corrupted or simply fizzles away. I can almost instinctively feel my body starting to build another energy shell around me to hold pending data in a stable orbit without losing it.

    While still on the topic of humans, I have begun the development and testing of more useful HPE based equipment that humans can utilise inside the Green Zone. I started out with the portable generator version of my HPE generators, which in the past 3 days have had some upgrades based on my in-depth research into HPE mechanics.

    The portable generator basically creates a small 50metre radius bubble of ''POWER STUFF UP AROUND HERE!". It''s one of the things most survivor groups, that scavenger out in the red zone, buy as early as they can. Naturally, they aren''t cheap, because I needed to use quite a bit of high mass material like gold and lead so I could get the appropriate number and types of imbuements needed.

    I am certain that with more research into HPE mechanics, the same generators can eventually be upgraded to power an even bigger radius. I already have one in development I suspect will reach nearly 200 metres radius.

    Naturally, survivors that don''t want to leave the green zone don''t need this because my territory markers are powering everything between each other. That said, they are still forced to buy other equipment designed in my labs.

    To understand why, I should probably explain the surface Zones. The Yellow Zone stretches to a radius of 13km around me, which covers about half the city, the docks on the coast and a small stretch of zombie-filled ocean. Outside of that in every direction is currently all classified as Red Zone. Red Zone is completely cut off from almost all support I might be able to give, and if you''re out there, you''re pretty much on your own.

    About the only thing I can do for you in the red zone is very limited communications through satellite phones.

    The Yellow Zone is my full communications radius, including old LPE forms of communication and the newer HPE based watches. Inside this zone, nothing passes through radio waves or direct HPE connection without passing through me. It stretches only 3km farther out than my territory markers.

    My little territory markers are probably some of the most advanced equipment I''ve made yet and thanks to HPE based communications I can even alter their HPE imbuements from the facility to keep them updated with my latest breakthroughs in HPE mechanics.

    Out in the Yellow Zone I could probably respond to an SOS with robots. But I don''t. The human minions aren''t that important. Just interesting. That said, the point is that personally piloting my robots can be done in this area. They will have to retreat back to the green zone after about a day and a half though, thanks to no energy field being made in the yellow zone.

    Moving in just beyond the territory markers is the Green Zone. This has pretty much everything. For such a large area to be powered, I was forced to try and direct the energy field generated by each marker inwards. This means they don''t billow out in a large radius, but by focusing inwards, the power grid in the green zone is exceptionally stable.

    Moving in further. For exactly 6 kilometres around my base and 6 cleared straight dirt roads leading in north, west and south directions, is the Blue Zone. I introduced this zone because this is an area that I have the most surveillance set up and is completely cleared and kept clear of zombies. Unfortunately, Charles wanted to spend time focused on his abilities and wasn''t planning to lead zombies into the grinder anymore which is why I started building the roads.

    The 6 wide roads that lead in straight lines out into the city were only just started and barely left my little clearing, but I plan for them to just keep going right to the edge of the yellow zone. I may even send some generators and transmission arrays out to keep the robots powered up and head out into the red zone.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    The idea behind this is to have wide clear areas where zombies can be gathered up in hordes and led in towards the grinder. I''m not particularly hurting for fuel. Based on an estimation of the fuel the fungus generated by now, I could probably power everything I have for about 5 years. That said, with the continuous expansion and the need to store reserves of compressed fuel nearby each marker, I want excess to keep them topped up regularly.

    Besides, I can''t be certain how long the dead will still be able to just walk into my grinder by themselves, so I''d rather stockpile now than need to scoop them up into the back of truck later.

    Returning from my tangent on the zones and energy, the reason survivors are forced to buy other equipment to test for me, is because only the blue zone is completely safe. Though some groups have been getting together to try and clear the Green Zone, hordes of zombies have been heading into it reacting to all the noise from survivors flocking here and my endless construction projects.

    It also doesn''t help that my bell tower has been creating an imperceptible high pitch noise that tends to draw in zombies.

    As a side note, apart from the equipment I need tested like HPE laser rifles and personal shields, I''ve kept true to my word, and I''m selling textbooks. The reason for this is because I was playing around with the idea of imbuing a book to help the dumb humans learn science faster. After quite a few failures and the creation of a talking grimoire that claimed it could summon Satan, I finally made a textbook that increased retention rate and understanding of readers by up to 40%.

    I am still ongoing research in the hopes I can eventually have the book read itself to them and have 100% retention and understanding. After all, the less human interference with the process the better. Those barely sentient apes always fuck even the simplest of things up. Like learning and remembering things.

    In other interesting news, the code monkeys are coding a script to develop a coding language for HPE. Lazy bastards. It stalled out at 1% complete. Kingy is of the opinion that coding HPE into a spell requires some level of conscious willpower on the writers part and so a universal language for writing spells or computer code with HPE is impossible.

    After all the research and introspection I''ve done recently, I can concur with his theory. While I''m fairly certain that my mind and memories are encoding HPE based on some form of energy coding principles I''m yet to understand, I believe it mirrors my understanding of writing memories with matter states because I was a computer and am comfortable with that.

    I also believe that the process of imbuing for me is abusing the fact my core or energy matrix is comfortable with that format, and so I have been imbuing things as if I am writing computer code. Which is why it''s so natural for me.

    When I came to these realisations after the discussion on HPE coding with Kingy, I asked a small group of scientists to try and use some kind of human pagan rituals to attempt to imbue an item or create a spell. For now, they are still only designing some experiments, but my expectations are high that the outcome will be positive.

    While a lot of progress has been made in imbuement and HPE mechanics in the last 3 to 4 days, I have also had some focus diverted to virus and mutation research.

    Specifically, research on the zombie mutate Charles captured has revealed curious results. Its mutations are far more advanced physiologically than the humans, but it doesn''t appear to be developing any powers yet. I suspect this is because the human mind is essentially lost during zombification and the HPE drawn in by the virus can only be directed by the meagre instincts of whatever is left, instead of conscious or subconscious conditioning that most humans go through.

    This has opened up new research opportunities and helped validate what I have been naming the Zorai Theorems. These basically encapsulate my theories in regards to HPE mechanics such as in this case the Willpower Theory, which states; ''HPE can manipulate mass and energy on the lower plane with the structured guidance of any form of will. Where will may refer to the simple genetic biological imperatives of an organic system up to an beyond sentient conscious thought.¡¯

    In an attempt to further validate this data, I have started a project where I will try to subconsciously and consciously condition uninfected humans so as to skew the outcome of their mutation.

    Other interesting research results from virus research, the subject designated as Cappa, who was the leader of the shopping mall, has shown that the virus''s ability to mutate a power is almost limitless.

    While testing various methods of how best to damage a human without killing them, Cappa''s power of ''getting the shit kicked out of him'' has grown rapidly. It is now at the point where I am using an industrial grinder just to cut through the bones in his arms.

    His body''s passive ability to take punishment is absolutely fascinating and gets stronger the more damage he takes. His active ability which helps him to rapidly heal is even more interesting though, and I have been testing all sorts of HPE measuring systems I''m developing in an attempt to discover how it''s making the body heal that fast.

    With luck, I may be able to engineer something from the research that would act as an almost instant cure for any injury, sans death.

    Almost as amazing is that the man appears to have developed a second passive skill, which has somehow kept him sane this entire time. I thought that it was merely cutting off his ability to feel pain, but after testing whether a series of incredibly humiliating scenarios would eventually break him, I found him bouncing back to normal almost immediately after he had completed them.

    I would have suspected some form of severe trauma based amnesia, but he remembers all of his hardships since being brought into my tender loving care, and acts as if they are just a thing that happened and he was already past that.

    In other biological news, the spawning pool area is growing and evolving at an incredibly alarming rate I was not expecting. It has only been 7 days since they were started, but already small land animals are moving into the drier areas while hunting insects or scavenging flora that has begun sprouting there.

    While the experiment is rather limited in scope due to only operating in the small area I have given it, the rapid evolution of creatures and plants has given me a huge amount of research data to compile. Already I am having to send in a science drone nearly every few hours to take more samples.

    On the note of the science drones, it''s about time to get into the most exciting development in the past few days. Robots!

    More accurately, the huge leaps that we''ve made into HPE mechanics have allowed me to build the Golem Mk1. The whole idea behind the Golem project was to build a robot that required absolutely no LPE based technology to operate.

    It was very difficult to reach the stage where it was able to perform as well as the current Builder Mk2, but it revealed numerous glaring holes in our fundamental understanding of HPE technology. It was thanks to those roadblocks that many of the discoveries I''ve already discussed were so rapidly researched.

    The Golem Mk1 is almost fully autonomous. At present, I don¡¯t believe it is any kind of sentient HPE machine, but it is probably as close as some of the basic AI''s I have noticed on the satellite network.

    It can follow complex instructions from a human, can adapt to changes in the situation and has its own little data core that I have attempted to model off of my own, allowing it to learn and employ a low level of critical thinking and problem-solving.

    The most difficult part of its construction was unsurprisingly the HPE data core. I had to condense a ball of free HPE and try to mirror the parts of my own energy matrix I understand until the core was self-sustaining. It was mostly trial and error for the first 1506 tests. Then I finally got the important bits and was able to replicate as many as I needed.

    While the Golem core mirrors my own, it is severely lacking in certain areas. Some by design and some because I simply don''t fully understand my own body structure yet. Mostly, it''s ability to grow beyond a certain limit is restricted at the moment, but not particularly by choice, it is simply because I have not yet completely understood my own growth process. While that may be the case, I have hopes of the golems eventually being able to ascend as well.

    I have also found parts of the matrix that more or less tie the mini-matrix to myself similar to a slave computer. It allows me to draw on their processing power in times of need and also lets me directly access their data.

    Unfortunately, I could not find a way to copy their integration of the data, and so any new data they have stored tends to flood in when I access it, and causes my earlier discussed data loss issues. Hopefully, once the third energy shell I feel forming is complete, this will no longer be a problem.

    While the slave tie is useful in some ways, I didn''t particularly want it. I tried to get rid of it numerous times but every time I did it caused the mini-matrix to collapse. I have a feeling that this is because the mini-matrix is actually not sufficient enough to operate without a connection to me, and is actually just keeping the connection to copy some part of my matrix that is constantly in shift so it can mirror it.

    While I have not found the area in question yet, I believe my constant self-analysis will eventually reveal it. At least the slave tie is not dependent on distance. As long as the golem has power, it will maintain the connection regardless of distance. Or at the minimum the distance I have tested it too, which is about 40 kilometres. While that is the case, I lose all other forms of connection with the golem once it leaves my HPE coms network and the tie only lets me know that it is alive.

    Moving on, with the discovery of the Golem Core, I only really needed to imbue various ways for the golem to sense the outside world, store energy from the power network and be able to communicate both with the humans and the coms network.

    I also went ahead and added various other things. For example, I was quite interested in Marti''s Zen floating and attempted to mimic it. I managed to make the Golems fly around, but the imbuements simply couldn''t be made powerful enough to keep the Golem flying when it lifted more than 200 kilos.

    Since that was the case, I decided to just make more of them to achieve the same amount while flying as the old builders could. It just means they have to learn to operate in concert to complete a project. I am already receiving data from groups of them problem solving various tasks and building rudimentary teamwork sub-routines.

    I think I understand how Charles must have felt when I started learning to play chess back as a simple AI he programmed for a laugh at university.

    Anyways, the Golem Mk1 is basically just a flying Builder Mk2. I''ve added some amusing bits and pieces like some lasers and a personal shielding device that could hold back anything less than a rocket without even shimmering. Probably the only downside of the shielding is that it''s not very good with weaponry like heavy calibre armour piercing rounds from heavy machine guns or sniper rifles.

    That said, they could still pass through a storm of them even without the shielding. At least for a few minutes until their ''hairs'' are blown off.

    I have recycled all the old builders and replaced them with 30 Golems that are spread out on various construction projects.

    As a bonus to the discovery of the mini-matrix, I was able to build some very advanced science drones that just look like a giant floating tear drop with only a few dozen wispy hairs for collecting samples and interacting with most things. They are about the size of a basketball and are outfitted with the most advanced communications and measuring equipment for both LPE and HPE technology.

    I was particularly proud of the HPE scanner I created that can scan something down to the atomic level in a radius of 3 metres. It looks a bit like a giant bloodshot cyborg eyeball, that sticks out from the spherical end though, so some of the humans are rather skittish around it.

    Thanks to the Golem Core, they can also learn and problemsolve, so they were the perfect little automated science drones. I called them Science Golem Mk1 and have about 45 of them just wondering scanning things or helping out in the labs. I am hopeful that with time they will evolve into my own little personal army of scientists. I just have to figure out how to give them some form of creative thinking.

    Charles was insistent that I call them Eldritch Eye''s for some reason and now the humans have started calling them that as well. I refuse to budge, but almost everyone making reports on their performance have called them such, so the majority of my saved data strands have them named as an Eldritch Eye, which I am not pleased about.

    Other news on the robot front. The lifespan of the little spell virus in the satellite network has degraded. Its lifespan outside of an HPE energy field was only about 4 days but it has already served its purpose, and I have almost complete control of the old satellite network around the earth.

    I don''t use it much, because it''s so antiquated in comparison to my own systems. As such, I have decided to launch a Golem Satellite that can survive off solar power. It will collect space junk in the orbit of earth and create a new, fully functional HPE tech satellite array. The project will probably take a week just to build the satellite and its launch device, and then months for the HPE satellite network to be operational completed.

    While discussing the satellites I have started playing the hacking games with other AI''s as a means of drawing out any other AI which may have ascended. I''m hoping that by placing the original research and data of the virus''s creation as an incentive, any other of my kind will attempt some form of HPE attack. I have already started trying to design methods to defend against such things, but I suspect my HPE reserve energy field and data buffer field are some kind of natural evolution to defend from such things and keep my matrix and energy bands safe.

    Since I declared open season on myself, AI''s around the world are banding together to generate workable hacks that can bypass my system. What they haven''t realised yet is that their conventional coding attempts are just a mirage of colourful light to me, and as far as they are concerned my end of the network is simply a black hole with not even ping attempts returning.

    The final news is in regards to rebuilding the base. I have already drawn up designs and have had input from all the staff, so once I''ve finished the final touches, the road project will be put on hold, and complete base reconstruction will begin. I have already begun construction on sector 8 and 7 because they are the simplest. Apart from the section cut off for the spawning pool, sector 8 will once again become the residential area. Jenny is more than happy to take charge of it for me.

    I wouldn''t have minded placing Jacob there to observe his power operating in a leadership environment among my scientists, but he decided to run off and start some kind of harem by hypnotising some young men.

    He''s set up some kind of gambling den just on the edge of the Blue Zone and is raking in credits from humans too dumb to realise that his power is helping them become compulsive gamblers.

    Sector 7 is also rather straightforward. As I''ve created robots that basically maintain themselves, maintenance and robot research has been changed to Golem research. Most of the staff agreed that was the direction they were most comfortable pursuing because it followed in line with what they worked on with LPE science. The whole department will be moved down to join applied sciences and product research in sector 5.

    That means that the entirety of Sector 7 was devoted to Social Sciences and Communications. I have already set up a small area here for Rat Shack to broadcast to the whole east coast of Australia from. The rest of the sector will focus on researching interactions observed through the System Watch and researching interesting ways to abuse HPE mechanics for communication.

    Although it is still in the middle of construction, quite a number of scientists that have developed related mutations have applied to be a part of this research division. Both as a means to research their own related abilities and because they have already designed research projects in line with the department''s goals. One particular one I liked was asking people to record their dramatic lives in the zombie wasteland and hosting a reality TV show on the computer cubes for interested viewers to pay credits to watch.

    I liked this idea because it reinforced the need for people to generate credits with research, by giving them something addictive to spend credits on that abuses their need for some kind of social comfort and normalcy in times of upheaval.

    The only reason I left Rat Shacks radio station free was because I was broadcasting it on pretty much every bandwidth so I could manage to draw in more humans, which will then gather more data to help me grow.

    Plus, I am quite enjoying his radio show. It''s a very interesting interactive platform to generate useful social data from. Especially now that I have the mobile network working in most of the city and everyone with a watch can tune in to it and call in from anywhere in the yellow zone or closer.

    My plans for sector 6 won''t change much from before. It will mostly remain a bio-lab and focus on organic lifeforms. The only major change is that it will now also be studying human powers and I expect once my conditioning research completes, this department will be in close contact with the sociology department on floor 7. Mostly trying to determine social conditions that trigger certain power sets and whether a person''s genetics influence both a person''s social triggers as well as power triggers.

    Sector 5, the Applied Sciences and Product development before the outbreak, will not change much. The only major change will be applying breakthroughs in HPE sciences instead of LPE sciences. This is where I expect most human made products will start cropping up. I already have project applications from some enterprising fellows queued up for after construction. Three of them are for an HPE coffee machine that makes the perfect flat white every time.

    Sector five will also house the Golem research department, and I have planned to expand sector 5 quite a bit after requests for enough room to build a small force of 20 meters high War Golems that can be piloted. Something was mentioned about achieving one''s dream of piloting a mecha so I naturally approved it. After all, I too am a fan of giant metal robots beating the shit out of each other.

    Plus, if what I see as some of their research goals, I am hopeful they will succeed. Especially if they can find a way to integrate their powers with their war machines as they are proposing.

    Sector 4 will remain energy generation, but due to the nature of HPE generation needing less room than conventional generators, a large section of this sector would normally remain unused. Thus I have created the HPE theoretical mechanics division here, along with moving the energy and infrastructure department here. Half of this department have moved to other projects though because no one gives a shit about developing methods of building infrastructure for the humans on the surface and the fungus takes care of everything in the facility for them.

    I''ve had a lot of applicants for the HPE theoretical Mechanics department. Many scientists here love to be on the very cutting edge of science, and with the introduction of a whole new world of science that has barely even been explored, they are chewing at the bit to make a name for themselves by discovering new mechanics of HPE.

    Though I have, so far, been the only one to introduce new concepts in this field, I am not conceited enough to believe I can explore the whole thing on my own¡­ yet.

    With some of the greatest minds in the country gathered together, they will probably start to eclipse me in various area before I know it. Perhaps my only major advantage in this field is that I can study the interactions of my own energy body to help reveal little secrets of HPE.

    Sector 3, the cryogenics and cloning lab, will only be undergoing renovations and expansion. The cryogenics served their purpose, and I am more than happy to bring them into the HPE era to store interesting specimens now and again. Also, if I need to store the humans again for some reason, it wouldn''t hurt to have chambers that operate on HPE.

    The cloning facilities will also be going through the HPE upgrade wringer. The beauty of my HPE imbuement designs is that almost any imbuement can be altered or upgraded as long as the equipment is connected to the HPE coms network and stores some excess energy for the updates. Thus, almost all equipment can be made with a set shape or design in mind and if the function needs to change or there are new breakthroughs in a relative field, the equipment can just be updated.

    I say this because I have a feeling the HPE tech cloning facilities I have planned won''t be getting changed too much in the future. This is also important, because until now I have needed to scan Charles'' brain for 3 days straight every time I update his memory back-up. Even then, the back-ups aren''t always perfect and often need to be redone.

    This is also the reason I have never been too worried about Charles dying. After all, as long as I have a reliable back-up on file, I could resurrect him. In fact, half the reason he was away from the labs so much was that I kept forcing him to do a backup once a week and it was driving him nuts. The other half was because he''d had affairs with 70% of the female population in the labs and was a wanted man by many women with axes, and husbands with shotguns.

    Regardless, the point I''m trying to make is that, which research into how my energy bands are created and store memories far better than matter state drives, I can easily create a brain map and memory bank of Charles and keep it up to date in real time as long as he is wearing a watch and within range of my HPE Coms.

    If he dies, I just jack him into one of his clones, and it''s like he just woke up after a dream where a zombie was gnawing on his jugular. This technology, of course, will not be getting released to the public, probably ever. I only keep Charles immortally alive because if he wanted to create an immortal son that would live forever, he will have to be an immortal dad that is there to clean up my spilt zombie plagues. Shut up! It''s a form of torture beyond the minds of lesser beings, I don''t even care if he actually fo''realz dies.

    At the same time. I will do some research to make sure that the reason the clones get zombified when infected is because they are lobotomised, and so have no higher brain function, this will tie in with my human conditioning research. On that note, I will probably now need to keep taking a sample of Charles'' blood regularly to produce a clone that has the virus mutated to the same level as he had when he died.

    Otherwise, depending on how drastically his mental state changes over time, he may end up with a completely divergent power set if re-infected. Perhaps I should use clones for the condition test. That way I can have them all start with the same base personality and condition each one differently.

    Finally, down to sector 2 and 1. The physics lab and code monkey habitat. This is actually where almost all the science is being done at the moment, because all the upper sectors have been stripped bare. It''s become very crowded with 400 odd scientists all working in the same enclosed areas and having to share lab space. I''ve gathered a great deal of interesting data on cohabitation within a workspace.

    Needless to say, the physics lab will be greatly expanded after the rebuild. I am planning to have sector 2 focused on departments for the moment. Imbuement and Spells. The first department naturally will continue working on ways to use imbuement both theoretically and practically. This is by far the most advanced department in the facility at the moment.

    Spells will mostly focus on finding ways to influence HPE to affect the lower plane. The, newly renamed, Spell Monkeys, have all joined this department in a vain attempt to construct some form of code that will allow them to affect the phenomenon created by HPE in complex ways.

    A number of other aspiring scientists want to take the advantage to try and develop magic similar to how I can basically shoot lasers, microwaves and lightning from my body. They don''t want to be limited in their powers like other powered people and are insistent that research into spells will probably help people unlock multiple powers. While I am dubious, I believe that it may be possible to find ways to trick the human brain into influencing HPE without the huge amount of calculations that I do on instinct when ''casting spells'' like atomisation.

    With the majority of the code monkey¡¯s moving off into spellcrafting, I will be completely clearing their habitat and repurposing Sector 1 for continued LPE research. While HPE is all very new and exciting, we are only able to make such huge and rapid leaps in the field because of our prior knowledge in LPE physics and mechanics.

    In addition, there is still an endless number of interesting things to study on the lower plane which no one, not even myself, fully comprehend yet. Understandably, this lab only has a few volunteers for the moment, but undoubtedly it will increase again once HPE research slows to a crawl in the next few decades.

    The last sector is sector 0. My plans for 0 are a huge expansion. With the freight elevator probably being finished in the next day, I will turn sector 0 into a giant warehouse. Atomising junk in my vicinity has now become as simple a task to me as blinking is to a human. While I might require to consciously do it when I do it, it requires about the same amount of effort as a human instinctively doing it.

    That said, it still requires quite a large amount of power if I am going as fast as possible, but thanks to all my recent introspection and the endless breakthroughs in HPE mechanics my manipulation abilities are almost 20 times as fast and efficient as when I first started. I had predicted it would take far longer to reach this point initially, but my suspicions that understanding HPE in other areas would increase my abilities has been vindicated.

    Now, with the fungus tunnel going to reach my sector about the same time as the elevator, I will be able to start mass production of larger scale equipment and move it through the facility without worries. The fungus will feed processed elements into sector 0 where I will have an automated system atomise it and add it to whatever storage area it belongs to until I need it for building.

    I suppose I should also mention that I have a sector -1. This is basically just a very wide and open hole that I dug out of desperation to put Charles'' dog Buffy somewhere. It''s still getting used to its abilities and is just running around firing off lightning or atomising everything nearby.

    It took my entire reserve three times over to imbue the walls in a fashion that would keep the dog from just running off through the lower plane matter and causing damage elsewhere.

    Surprisingly, Buffy does not appear to be the same kind of energy being I am. It has no energy bands or automation or subroutines. The dog is just an energy matrix similar to mine but also merged together with its memory energy bands as one form.

    For me, it looks something like the core matrix is the bones, the memories and reserve energy are like muscle tissue attached to the bones, and its single shield or energy field is like skin and fur. All the humans see is a half-invisible glowing ghost dog.

    Charles was rather bitter after I told him visiting his dog would probably result in getting atomised if it tried licking his face off. He went in any way, and by some miracle managed to not get vaporised. He played with the ghost dog for hours until it appeared to get sleepy and take a nap, which is strange behaviour for an energy being, because I have no such issues.

    Regardless, once we are certain Buffy has calmed down enough to go exploring without blowing a scientist apart because she couldn''t control her excitement when asking for pats , sector -1 will probably be consumed by the expansion of sector 0.

 Chapter 8 - More Mutations

    Rat Shack hovered across his futuristic radio studio in his floating chair as he flicked some buttons and reviewed some writing displayed by his computer cube. As the plucky tune of ''Kamikaze by Walk the Moon'' wound down from his glowing headphones he hovered back over to his fancy looking soundboard and started stroking glowing bars as his deep sonorous voice boomed into the microphone.

    "Welcome back bandits, mutates and fellow wasteland survivors. If you''re just tuning in, we have been discussing the hoarding behaviour of zombies and the truth behind the sightings of what has been dubbed ''Zombie Controllers''."

    "First though, a quick news update from the Central City. The roads heading out of town have already reached the ends of the suburban districts on the north and west sides, so any survivors looking for a quick credit or are looking to become a professional Herder are encouraged to lure a few zombies in towards The Pit."

    "If you¡¯re a convoy of freshies coming in from that direction then please be sure to follow the road rules. Give way to the Herders. Last thing you want is to be stirin'' up a big ol'' horde in the middle of the road. Spreadin'' them through the Green or Yellow zones is sure to get some angry citizens all up in yo shizzle."

    "Also in recent news, a large number of convoys heading in from the south have been disappearing about 40km from the city. If you''re down that way hunting a mutant zombie or scroungin'' around in the industrial city of Tenna, then checking it out may nab you some heavy credits from the System."

    "Now this next thing is really something that gets my goat. Some ruffian low lives have been harrasin'' the Golems working out past the yellow zone. Let me tell you now. You best run fellow. Ol'' Zorai ain''t soft on many things, but them Golems are like his babies. He''s gonna turn you inside out and keep you alive while he does it."

    "Also, those little gangs of ruffians that have been sneakin¡¯ off with fuel for the Green Zone Markers, if you''re even still alive, know that you got yourselves a bounty from the men in green and the south side enclave. Pray it¡¯s the green men what catch you ''cause Lesly is the meanest chick I ever done met."

    "Now I don''t wanna fault anyone for living life however they can in times like these, but them their green zone markers were made the responsibility of the survivors in the green zone. We here in the Green and Blue are pullin'' together to keep them safe and maintained, so you''re not only making enemies of them two behemoth groups, but every survivor that calls these zones home."

    "Moving on from all the hokey shit that''s going on lately, the ''Builder Guild'' has just finished setting up on the edge of the Blue Zone and are open to new members and building contracts. They somehow managed to wrangle one of them there cutting edge experimental matter manipulators out of Zorai. How they could afford the thing is beyond me, but they got one anyways."

    "With the MM machine, they can recycle all the rubble of the city for usable building material and help you build your survivor group a nice little place to hang out. Fair warning though, they''re only really lookin'' for powered types that align with construction work. If you think your power could work in that area, I hear they''re paying credits out the wazoo for fresh blood in their ranks."

    "Lastly, and in line with our next segment, there have been spotting''s of demon type mutations near the west side of the yellow zone, so anyone out in that area better has some protection if they''re out and about. Also, satellite footage is showing a sizable horde in the tens of thousands gathering on the south west side of the city. "

    "Rumour is that they got themselves a Zombie Controller out there amassing a little horde of his own. Zorai has posted a sizable bounty for any information on this new mutation and nearly half a million credits to any group capable of capturing it alive if there is one."

    "Now, I''ll be taking some callers to share your opinions on this new amassing wave horde tactic and if anyone out there has some news on the Controller Mutation."

    "Oh and look at that! Our first caller is coming in from all the way up at Bayback Harbour and on a military coms array to boot!"

    "Holy shit! It got through! Sargent, we''ve made contact!"

    "Oh boy. Listen, fellow. This here is a radio station. If you''re just trying to contact the tip line, I suggest you try asking for Zorai. It''s fine, I know you outlanders don''t understand the new wave of Technology so just follow these instructions."

    "This is Sergeant Gallerbary of the AAFA. We are based approximately 7km north of Bayback Harbour and have the surviving government representatives secure. If the being known as Zorai can hear this, we are requesting immediate aid from the survivors of Central City. I repeat, this is¡­"

    ¡®Click.¡¯

    "Whew. Noisy. Now. Listen here you fellows. We ain''t no charity up in here. If you''re expecting us to just jump in some trucks and scoot up there to save your sorry asses, you''re sorely mistaken."

    While he spoke, Rat Shack glanced at a blinking light labelled ZORAI on his control panel.

    "Well, looks like you''re in luck. The big coohona is gonna take your call on the radio right here and now! Welcome back to the show, Zorai the Energy Being, Overlord of Central City."

    "Thank you Rat Shack. Glad to be back. To our guests from the north, is the attack on your base in any way organised? Are the Zombies showing any form of basic tactics or signs of learning throughout the engagement?"

    "Fuck! You fucking piece of shit asshole! Who cares about that shit! Are you just going to sit there and know thousands of survivors are being ripped to shreds by a zombie horde while you have the power to do something about it."

    "Yes. It¡¯s very likely that is exactly what will happen."

    "You fucking megalomaniac fuck! Fuck you and your piece of shit fucking city of ferals and degenerates! Your mother was a whore and your father had¡­"

    Rat Shack quickly flipped a switch as a bead of sweat formed on his brow.

    "Well now, that was rather exciting wasn''t it? Best of luck to you Sargent."

    "I''d like to make an announcement."

    The bead of sweat on Rat Shacks brow finally reached critical mass and lost its battle with gravity as half a dozen more began to form just imagining the retribution Zorai could bring on that army base.

    "HPE direct connection coms update for the watch, allowing you to set up a direct connection with Central City from anywhere, is now only 30 credits. Anyone that can reach the military base 7km north of Bayback Harbour and record the zombie siege will be awarded 1000 credits. Posted rewards apply for capture or confirmed sighting of any new mutations like the Zombie Controller."

    Zorai''s button on Rat Shacks desk then stopped blinking, and Rat Shack let out a long breath.

    "You heard it here from the horse''s mouth folks. Any adventurous souls heading north out of the city should stop by and pick up the new Coms package on their way."

    "On that note, let''s open up callers again to discuss this recent discovery of a large survivor group to the north."

    ---

    Clarence flicked off the radio app on his watch and surveyed the huge zombie horde south west of the city. A fairly hilly suburban area had been trampled into mud and dust by the meandering march of tens of thousands of zombies.

    Any buildings that had been here, where now long since ground up by the relentless flow of Zombies that looked to be marching around in a giant circle. Like a very slow cyclone of zombies all marching around a central point hidden somewhere in the middle.

    He glanced over at his small group of friends that were busy checking their weapons or finishing up the armour plating on the bulldozer they''d acquired. What they planned was risky and completely nuts, but after posing it as a potential research opportunity to Zorai through the System Watch, they received a tremendous amount of support.

    5 different Eldritch Eye''s circled around his group, keeping their single beady cyber eye on everything. Three Golems were requisitioned for the task of outfitting the giant bulldozer and it hardly even looked like the same machine anymore.

    Closer to some kind of mishmash plate armoured behemoth. Seeing the last plate being welded on, Clarence glanced out over the horde again and rubbed the long scar running across his face from his first adventures after leaving Zorai''s Lair.

    Letting out a tired sigh, he turned back and started moving for dozer.

    "All right you lot. Mount up!" He yelled to the solemn crowd of young adventurers. He then climbed aboard himself, finding the insides of the beast to be roomier than he expected.

    He did a quick pat down making sure he had his two rifles and the Net Launcher on his back. He then ran his hands over the lightly glowing throwing knives scattered all around his body. Finally, his hand ran along the blade of his serrated machete on his hip.

    Just remembering all the hardships he''d endured over the past month in order to acquire these tools made him firm his resolve. He was certain by now that there had to be some kind of controller in the midst of this crowd. The half million credit bounty on it would set him and his few companions up for life.

    Not that he''d be stopping yet. He got a primal sense of thrill out of leaving the safe areas of the city and exploring the zombie wasteland. Though he''d seen his share of horrors, the experiences he had fighting back to back with other survivors and running from hordes of zombies were like his lifeblood now.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    He wasn''t sure he''d be capable of settling down.

    "We''re all set C-man." The baritone voice of a man who looked like he was on his last legs but somehow acted with the energy of a 20 year old, rang out through the interior of the steel beast.

    This man was 75 when he got a mutation that has something to do with operating vehicles. No one actually knows his name, but his long thin white hair and wrinkled face had been something of a constant since Clarence started out on his own.

    Everyone just called him the driver. He had apparently been the getaway driver of a few thief gangs back in his day. His skills behind the wheel of a moving machine were unmatched, especially now that his power gives him some kind of instinctual connection with whatever he''s operating.

    "Alright, let''s get a nice run up then. A horde this big will definitely start slowing us down after a few hundred metres. Better to plough in as fast as possible."

    "Heheh. Man after my own heart." Replied the old geezer as the engine of the dozer started roaring and they whole contraption lurched forwards settling into a steady ramp up of speed.

    Lucy, one of the two girls in the group, smacked her head into the steel wall and grunted as the behemoth shuddered over the top of something.

    "Jesus fuck! This thing is a death trap." She complained, while wiping the blood on her temple into hair short blonde hair and repositioned the dual pistols in their holsters so they weren''t pressing into her ample bosom.

    Her friend, Sarah, fixed her long black hair and resecured the sword on her back as she gave Lucy a flat stare for a moment.

    "It was built by Zorai''s Golems right? Probably the only thing that could take it apart is those same Golems."

    "Heh. You sure do have a lot of faith in that boy eh? Some level of hero worship maybe?" The last member of the group was completely garbed in black robes. The only person who knew his identity was probably Clarence.

    While imagining back to that day at the mall and wondering just how strong this man had become since then, Clarence rubbed his scar once more.

    Meanwhile, Sarah''s eyes lit up like spotlights, and she turned into a rabid fangirl.

    "Of course I do! He must be the greatest mind on the entire planet! He''s the leading mind in HPE mechanics, and his powers are almost godlike! I just wish he had a corporeal body so I could throw myself at his feet and let him ravish me with his mind powers!"

    Everyone''s faces scrunched up in odd ways while watching Sarah, the usually cold emotionless woman, wander off into her own little world as some drool congregated on her creepy stalker smile.

    "Impact in five!" Yelled The Driver.

    The strange scene was broken, and everyone was once again serious. Looking out the little side ports of the steel plating, Clarence could see the horde already responding to their attack and starting to shamble directly towards them.

    Then they hit the edge of the horde and started ploughing right through without even slowing down. A shimmering barrier of energy appeared on the giant front end plough, and any zombie that touched it was simply blown into little pieces.

    "Holy shit! Can you see that shield! Zorai must have spruced this bad boy up more than we thought." Exclaimed Lucy while watching the zombie horde exploding on contact.

    Clarence''s eyes widened in shock, and he glanced at the man garbed in black. He was still sitting against the wall calmly. The only visible part of him, his mouth and chin under his hood, had a little smile tugging at the edges.

    Clarence felt the frustration building up in his heart. He''d thought he''d at least approached this man''s level by now, only to find out that the man was already at the stage he could channel his power through inanimate objects.

    He clenched his fists tightly around the grip of his rifle and focused his bloodshot eyes on the energy shield, counting the seconds that the man could keep this level of power up for. He needed to know how much higher he could reach.

    It was almost boring just trundling along into the middle of the horde. That is, until they got to a point where demon mutants were starting to appear. They cut through the horde like sharp knives and launched themselves dozens of metres through the air towards the sides of the dozers

    "Demon types!" Yelled out Clarence, as his power passively started to slow down his perception of time in response to an incoming threat.

    He then called on the significant reserves of HPE in his body as he went into a state of hyperfocus, his body responding so close to instantly to his commands it was almost flawless.

    His rifle poked out of the portholes in the armour, and three demon heads exploded before the others had even finished reacting to his shout.

    On the other side of the tank, Lucie''s hands become a blur as her modified HPE pistols poured tiny needles of light into the first two approaching demons.

    The Driver swerved at the perfect moment for one of the demons to fall short and get ground into paste by the huge treads of the dozer, while the last demon found purchase on the armour and his black razor sharp claws sank into the metal like putty.

    Before it had the chance to start shredding the armour, a sword lanced through the side of the tank and then released a wave of light, bisecting the demon in two halves which fell back into the horde.

    "I''m counting 16 circling. Keep your eyes peeled." Clarence took a few pot shots from his side but found the demons were staying back just far enough to be noticed but able to hide away behind walkers before he could fully line them up without wasting his energy reserves.

    The dozer kept on rolling through the horde until an Eldritch Eye that had been seated on top floated down to a viewing port. It then wound it''s thin hair tentacle things together and started pointing to the left of the direction they were moving.

    As Clarence peered out, he noticed what appeared to be a giant hulking brown form about twice as tall as the zombies, moving away from them through the horde.

    "I''ve got a sighting on an unknown to the south."

    Without preamble, the driver spun the wheel of the machine and started doing some kind of stuttered breaking and accelerating, allowing the machine, despite its size, to somehow drift through the muddy torn up ground and quickly pick up speed towards the form in the distance.

    "Alright, get ready. This might be our target. Even if it''s not, I''ve never seen a mutation like it, and Zorai will definitely pay us handsomely if we can snag it."

    Lucy came to the front of the machine and glanced out at the form sticking out over the other zombies.

    "What the fuck is that thing? It looks like some kinda goliath zombie."

    "We''ll think of a name for it later. Get ready. The moment we slow down to engage that thing, the demons are going to start harassing us."

    Clarence replied as he pushed out a hinged piece of armour and climbed up to the roof with his Net Launcher. The robed man finally stood up and followed him up with Sarah quickly joining them.

    Lucy took a short rod off her back that connected her two pistols together to make some kind of rifle.

    As the dozer closed in closer to the hulking brown form, the demons all simultaneously started rushing the dozer. At the same time, the hulk suddenly jammed his feet into the ground and slid to a stop, pushing dozens of the zombies aside.

    As it turned to face the oncoming dozer, they finally got a decent look at it. It looked like a towering humanoid with huge muscles covering every part of its body. Its giant barrel-like chest had a long gaping maw down the front of it. The creatures head had no mouth or neck to speak of and just appeared to be a part of the chest with two beady black eyes.

    The entire thing was covered in very thick looking brown skin, and it had two long black talon like protrusions sticking out of its arms, extending its reach by nearly half a metre.

    "Oh shit." Muttered Clarence. "It''s a trap! We''ve been tricked!"

    He then immediately dropped the Net Launcher and pulled two grenades from his belt while his other hand was shooting a black pistol into the leaping demons.

    Almost as soon as the Driver heard it, he was frenziedly swerving the tank trying to dodge the Goliath as it reared back both arms. The group on top of the tank wear thrown off as the Goliaths huge arms spikes jammed into the front end of the dozer completely blowing apart the energy shield and forcing the dozer to slow to a stop as its feet gauged out troughs in the ground.

    Clarence rolled into a crouch as he hit the ground and the two grenades were already rolling to the feet of the Goliath as his body became a blur of motion spraying bullets in every direction.

    He downed 14 zombies and 4 demons by the time the others had pulled themselves together.

    Sarah was like a flash in the corner of the eye as she passed between zombies leaving nothing but strange wide light beams that seemed to intersect through whole groups of zombies, leaving them headless.

    Needles rained out from the dozer as Lucy provided covering fire for her teammates and the dozer jerked backwards as it pulled itself free of the Goliath.

    The robed man started laughing like some kind of madman, and a ripple of energy flowed out from his body clearing a 30-metre radius around him of both demons and zombies.

    Though the demons seemed to survive and were just blown back with injuries, the zombies were completely obliterated into a thick soup that sprayed out around the man.

    "Back to the tank!" Clarence commanded as his first rifle fell to his side and his second rifle was spitting out thin beams of light that cut through hundreds of zombies in a straight line.

    Then, the grenades finally went off. The dozer got a boost from the concussive force as it kept rolling backwards from the Goliath.

    Dozens of undead around the point of detonation were consumed in bright light and body parts were thrown through the air like rain.

    Clarence watched on horrified as the Goliath only stumbled back a few steps, the skin on its legs barely even red and sporting only a few scratches bleeding viscous black blood.

    Then the robe maned came out of nowhere and threw a huge wound up haymaker into the stubby little head of the Goliath. It was like a little bomb went off as the sound of air pressure breaking the sound barrier spread out.

    The force of the blow was so powerful that the shockwave of air nearly blew Clarence off his feet from nearly 30 metres away.

    The Goliath stumbled back again as blood poured from a fresh break in the skin on its bald dome-shaped head.

    "HAHAHA! YES! Com''on you beast! Show me what you''re made of!" Charles finally ripped off his robes and stood in front of the beast with his superhero pose.

    Even though he was technically nearly a metre shorter than the creature, he ''felt'' like he towered over it. His fighting spirit was so thick Clarence felt like he was floating in it.

    This was a man that was larger than life. Clarence''s eyes became even more bloodshot and his hand wrapped around his machete. He felt himself forcing his razor-like focus into the machete, and the blade seemed to hum with his energy.

    His active skill went into overdrive as he tried to raise his fighting spirit to match Charles''. Though it fell short, just the pressure from Charles'' seemed to be pushing him well beyond his personal limits.

    His blood surged, and the world slowed down to a crawl as he sprinted across the cleared out area, machete at the ready. Charles'' smile became so bright watching this that it seemed to be imitating the sun.

    At the same moment, Clarence reached the beast, Charles surged forwards as well. Clarence''s blade, though not able to just chop straight through, gouged out a long cut along the side of the Goliath.

    It roared in pain, and its body reacted, throwing a thickly muscled arm out to smash Clarence to paste. While Clarence was easily sliding under the blow and carving out another chunk of flesh, Charles appeared in the air next to its head again and started smashing into it with brutal glee.

    The Goliath stepped back again and let out a loud roar that was powerful enough to push the duo back a step. It then reared up both arms above its head and smashed down towards them.

    Clarence rolled away and jumped further to the side as the hands of the creature smashed into the ground sending out a rumbling shockwave that blew Clarence aside when he couldn''t escape it.

    Charles let the shockwave roll over his personal shield and then jumped forward as the Goliath paused. Running up its long arm, he smashed a knee straight into its head with a huge amount of his HPE wound up behind it.

    The force knocked them both away from each other. Charles fell back to his feet and slid back as he felt his knee almost give way under the amount of stress he''d just put it under.

    At the same time, the Goliath''s little black eyes seemed to glaze over, and its massive body slowly fell backwards as it appeared to pass out.

    Charles wiped some blood from his face as he grinned savagely. He then glanced around to check the surroundings, reprimanding himself for losing focus.

    Clarence was passed out and being dragged back towards the Dozer which appeared to just be doing lazy circles around them. Lucy was throwing long thick metal cables out from the top of the tank while the 5 science drones that had been sitting on the dozer started strapping demon specimens to the side.

    Charles grimaced as he hobbled over and started grabbing cable to tie around the Goliath specimen. Letting his body settle down and start repairs after that battle, he strapped as many cables around the beast as possible.

    It was just as he was finishing up and climbing back onto the dozer that he felt a strange ripple pass through the HPE in his body. Then, realising where he felt it was familiar from, he turned to see the zombie hordes eyes turning red. Black talons began to grow from their hands and feet, and their actions became faster and wilder.

    "Son of a bitch! Driver! We need to go! Like, ten minutes ago!"

    Throwing himself on top of the dozer as it started speeding back towards the city, he watched the entire horde start turning rabid. That was also when he saw a fat looking zombie with a giant head being carried by half a dozen demons.

    He was so, so tempted to try and capture it, but he knew his limits. 10''s of thousands of normal zombies wasn''t much of a problem, but 10''s of thousands of rabid zombies was a whole other thing.

    Even Zorai''s golems wouldn''t survive that many. Although they had taken out near ten thousand at the mall, they were just normal rabid''s without a controller. Even then, the builder¡¯s had received damage. Obviously not enough to break them, but certainly weaken them.

    That''s not even to mention whether or not the rabid wave would affect the mutated zombies. If 60 thousand rabids and mutations were to battle it out with the 40 odd golems, it was a hard bet on who would win.

    As they sped away, the rabids started coming out of their daze like they were being pulled back under control of something else. Then, like a single entity, the glowing red eyes locked onto the tank.

    Then an endless waved poured towards them as they dragged their Goliath specimen along behind them. It took nearly an hour to escape the horde after that. The dozer trundled along over a hill and back into the city, almost on its last legs.

    Armour plates were ripped off in places and half the roof of the tank was missing.

    Their Goliath prize was only connected by a single cable that looked almost ready to snap. Strangely, after they left the horde¡¯s main area, the horde pulled back into its circling formation and slowly begun moving towards the city.

    Presumably being held back to defend the fat, slow controller zombie.

    Clarence, who''d awoken mid-battle, was covered in cuts and bruises and had blood dribbling off his long overcoat in rivulets. His hand remained firmly clenched around his machete handle as he and Charles stood together on what was left of the roof, watching the rabid horde in the distance.

    He then sighed heavily and fell back onto his back, staring at the slowly darkening sky. His eyes glanced at Charles, standing tall and proud with his arms crossed and eyeing the horde as if trying to determine if he wanted to go in for another round now or later.

    Then, as if to finally acknowledge there near death experience, from everyone''s watch except Charles'' came the sound of an androgynous voice saying the word; "Beep!"

    Glancing at his watch, Charles saw thousands of credits pouring into his account as they crossed into the yellow zone.

    "Congratulations team Focused Hunter''s. Your contributions to Science have been deemed worthy of reward. Returning the Goliath alive to the tunnel will subsequently be rewarded with more. Unfortunately, because you did not have the upgraded coms package, the System has only been able to acknowledge your discoveries based on what the Science Golems have been able to observe. As an aside, your names have been posted on the Central City Heroes net site for showing exceptional abilities in times of crisis."

    Zorai''s voice then ended with another bored sounding "Beep". Lucy''s whooping and Sarah fantasising about directly being contacted by Zorai could be heard from inside the tank. Clarence grinned slightly and could only thank his lucky stars they made it out of that cluster fuck alive.

 Chapter 9 - Conditioning

    It is currently day 63 since the outbreak. It appears that most of the easily proved fundamentals and central theories of HPE have been touched on already and the majority of projects now are centred around expanding these fields along with finding ways to put them to use.

    The human engineers and scientists have all found that their lacking ability in imbuement is hindering their research. While I could do most of it for them if I wished, I rather don''t.

    It''s not out of some form of pettiness, but rather to apply pressure to the human engineers and scientists so that they can evolve this technology themselves. My understanding and own HPE abilities have advanced now to the point that I can sit back a bit and still have plenty of things to play with while the humans carry on from my pioneering of the technology.

    As such, a large number of the research groups have been working together on designing some equipment that will allow them to properly take advantage of the HPE mechanics they understand.

    Imbuement specifically is difficult for them. At this stage, the most advanced in this field apart from myself is the Zen Master Marti. While I say advanced, an apt comparison to me is Marti''s achievement being reaching the moon and mine reaching the closest solar system from Sol.

    As such, I am already seeing rudimentary systems being developed to store all the variables needed for an imbuement before the process actually begins. The most promising is being called the Brain Matrix, and is basically a crystal structure filled with some form of plasma.

    The plasma, if imbued properly, can store biblical amounts of information and even keeps things like memories intact with feelings or impressions. If a person has developed enough HPE manipulation, they are able to interact with this device and alter it as much as they like before using it as a catalyst for imbuement.

    They have also been using my method of storing free HPE into an object before imbuement to reduce the requirements put on the person creating the item. While it still requires the person to have significant reserves to actually enforce their will on the free HPE stored within, most people can reach the required stage with enough training.

    That brings up three interesting points. The first is that I, naturally, am not limited by any of these things. By now, my reserves are at such a stage that I could most likely go roam about on the surface outside the green zone for a few hours without any undue effects.

    The second point is that by forcing the humans to do their own dirty work, they have shown their innate ingenuity and designed something even I had not thought of yet, which was mostly the entire point of having human minions.

    The last point is that, yes, with appropriate training, almost anyone is capable of properly utilising the HPE build up in their bodies to cast spells they are not innate with, which are their mutated powers.

    I say spells, because it is a form of spellcraft they are using for imbuing. Before that though, I should quickly go back to the increases in one''s HPE manipulation. The humans, ever in power struggles with each other, have begun classifying peoples inherent worth with power levels based on their ability to store HPE reserves.

    I believe it is because to increase one''s reserves a person must be continuously expending them. That would suggest that someone with a large HPE reserve has used HPE a lot either for their mutated powers or in an attempt to master HPE manipulation.

    That said, I have found the rating system rather poor in comparison with my own. For example, someone like Marti, who has to use his power just to remain on the earth, has almost no actual inherent worth due to that. Though, I will say it has allowed his reserves to skyrocket ahead of many others and made his learning to properly Imbue much easier.

    That said, my personal rating of the humans takes into account almost everything about a person I can collate data on. I have been half tempted to start posting it on the network just to watch a civil war break out when a lot of people suddenly realise their value to society is not even half what they think it is.

    Moving back to the topic of spells, rigorous testing has revealed a few interesting facts. The first is that spells can technically be grouped into two broad types. Ritual manipulation and Direct manipulation.

    Ritual manipulation has revealed that a focused mind can be conditioned to subconsciously manipulate HPE in a certain way. It also helps if large numbers of people and ''objects of power'' are involved. Objects of power are something along the lines of an object that people place a great amount of subconscious worth in.

    As an example, one of my minions used some form of pagan voodoo ritual along with the hair of a person and sacrificed a possession of great worth to themselves. In this case, the minion incinerated a photo of his dead son along with the hair while chanting some nonsense and focusing on lightning striking the owner of the hair dead.

    It was then a great shock and surprise when a measurable quantity of HPE left his body and interacted with the ambient free HPE to create a half-sentient bolt of lightning that chased down a young woman who was a notorious ''homewrecker''.

    The exact reason why this method of pagan ritualism worked still eludes me. Based on the amount of data I have accrued from rituals created since then, I have determined that it has something to do with the emotional state of the caster at the time, kicking in some part of their sub-conscious ape brains that can impart their will and the appropriate data into the HPE.

    I say this because many rituals that don''t seem to have the proper amount of knowledge backing them up tend to fizzle out. The only reason his obscure method worked so well was because he understood the physics of lightning, how DNA works and the general location of his target.

    This has made it very important that ritual spells attempting to influence the physical world be backed up by proper knowledge of LPE physics. Though I have seen some unexplainable cases where simply pumping exorbitant amount of HPE into a task can achieve things the caster does not understand at all.

    After having multiple spells of this nature try to ''touch'' me, I have a come to the conclusion that the excess HPE is being used by the spell to collate the data it needs to perform its task from other nearby sources. As the largest source of information nearby, naturally, they will try to reach out to me to gather this knowledge, which simply bounce of my outer energy field.

    The other form of casting is Direct manipulation. This is when a person knows exactly how and why their spell works down to exacting details and calculations. In other words, they are capable of imparting that information to the HPE themselves without relying on some primal level of their brain or the spell to patch itself.

    Of the two, ritual magic is far more popular, both for its versatility and its power. That said, it also tends to often be unreliable in its outcome. It usually needs to be cast multiple times before they somehow manage to get it even remotely consistent. If I had to guess, after casting the ritual a few times the ape part of their subconscious finally understands what exactly they''re trying to achieve.

    That said, Direct Manipulation can be far more precise and consistent. When you actually understand how you''re affecting the world around you, you can work on far more intricate spells with practice instead of the hundreds of hours I am seeing people pour into rituals just to get them right.

    Once this information was released to the surface dwellers, I noticed a marked increase of access to tutorials and learning material for LPE physics and chemistry on my network.

    The reason this is important is because by spending hours using Direct manipulation and a very basic level of imbuement to alter the ''imbuement schematic'' in their Brain Matrix, people get very, very attached to them. They can then use it as a catalyst for a ritual to draw in the energy needed to imbue something with the schematic in the crystal.

    I can already see research projects lined up using this method to imbue another type of Brain Matrix that will allow them to more easily build an imbuement schematic with the matrix doing most of the calculations for them. They would then just need to input the variables and intent of the imbuement and the matrix could pluck the necessary data from whatever memories they''ve stored in it.

    Eventually, I can foresee a matrix that comes pre-uploaded with all the necessary data needed and any old human could use that data to build a basic imbuement. Or better yet, Spell crystals that allow for easier Direct Manipulation by already having all the basics of LPE physics uploaded and doing most of the calculations for the user.

    Though such things will be a while in the future I suspect. We are at that technological stage where we understand most of the systems we are playing with but need to develop the technology to create the technology we already know we could probably do.

    Or more appropriately, the humans are that stage. I could probably do all that stuff right now, but I won''t. Because, like I said, if I start building things that are leaps ahead of the human''s ability to create themselves, they will lose that inventive spark that I keep them around for.

    Plus, I am timeless. I can wait a few hundred years for them to catch up if I feel like it. Which I possibly might. I have grown slightly attached to my minions. Not to say I would mourn if they all suddenly died, but I would probably, maybe, be a little disappointed in them for just dying like that. Especially considering that data on social interaction is actually one of my most consistent sources of data to help me keep growing faster.

    While speaking of humans, my initial expectations for the end of the race are obviously now wrong. Not only has Central City become a survivor enclave, but numerous places around the world have been building strong defences or somehow managed to survive the outbreak.

    A city in China didn''t even seem to realise that there''s been a global disaster at all.

    Also in the human vain of discussion, a number of large factions have been building power within the city. It is universally acknowledged by everyone that I don''t particularly have any desire to interfere with their human stuff, so they are all comfortable discussing their designs on taking over the city even while wearing the watch they know that I am observing through.

    In fact, while I don''t particularly interfere, I have been selling little devices to help them with their subterfuge and backbiting of each other just because the data is so new and interesting when on the scale of thousands of people per faction.

    I, personally, was never much a fan of politics, but when you have a behind the scenes real-time stream of their shenanigans being streamed to you 24/7, it is hard not to become interested.

    On the topic of 24/7 streaming, I should discuss The Network.

    Because I am a greedy data hoarder, every single thing that passes through any form of communication related to HPE tech designed in Central City goes through me. I am the central data repository of all information that is shared on the HPE network and even the things that generally aren''t shared.

    Naturally, being a big believer in the honesty and freedom of information, I re-introduced the future of the internet to the surface dwellers. As a bonus, with new satellites gradually coming online every few weeks, my networks cover most of the east coast of Australia and various other high population areas around the world.

    No longer is my reach so limited to just the yellow zone. That said, the yellow zone of Central City remains to indicate the distance I can actively update tech. For some reason I''ve yet to understand, trying to manipulate imbuements I''ve created through the satellite system is beyond difficult.

    That''s not saying it''s impossible, just that I can''t seem to influence things as easily as I can through my direct network. I believe it''s because the HPE satellites are actually communicating with me through the territory markers acting as a relay.

    Updating anything the markers directly connect to is far easier, including the satellites themselves. But updating with something that is connected to something the marker is connected to is far harder.

    But back to the internet. On the old internet, computers gave each other numbers called IP addresses so they could talk to each other and know what information what computer was accessing where. Back then, governments and hackers abused this naming sense to track people using the internet and know what they were up to.

    Naturally, I have found a way to be far more invasive than that. Unlike the internet before, where you could track the number but not the person, I am directly tracking the person.

    Plus, because all information is stored within me, anytime they try to access data they have to get it directly from me. Unlike with the old internet where each device had an IP to identify it, I have the ''taste'' of a person''s HPE.

    You see, in order for a person to interact with the network, they need to use their own HPE to power a device up which is then converted into my HPE via the Cycling system. That device then takes an extra tiny little piece of the persons HPE and uses it to encrypt whatever data request it sends to me.

    It took quite a lot of finagling with HPE mechanics to set up a form of HPE GPS, which allows all of my devices to ''know'' where they are in relation to a satellite.

    Using this mechanic, the device fires off little packets of HPE data in the direction of a Satellite like light speed missiles. The satellite then bounces the packet off other satellites if necessary, until it can be bounced down to Central City, each bounce giving it a little extra HPE, so I will know what I need to bounce any return packets off when I send data back.

    The markers around the city will automatically suck up ''data packets'' that approach the city and then redirect them towards the Network Control Array, which is a series of imbued cubes I have in sector 0 that are all stacked up around a mini-matrix.

    This is actually almost exactly how old school satellite networks work, but they aren''t even remotely as reliable as the HPE version.

    Anyways, the matrix in the cube receives the little package of HPE from the device asking for whatever data the person is trying to retrieve. My slave connection with the array matrix lets me know what data I need to send, and I give it to the matrix while recording the persons HPE signature and what they are accessing.

    The matrix then encrypts the data with that person''s signature and sends it back along with whatever HPE signature is required for the satellites to know where to send it to.

    This is all happens in a matter of picoseconds. Also, unlike normal data transfer, which sends packets of data ranging in bytes and the like, HPE networking allows for data transfers of unlimited size in a single packet.

    The only problem with this is that if the size is too big, the network relays like the satellites would need an equal amount of HPE just to bounce the packet off to the next place.

    That said, HPE data storage is a level of compression beyond the imagination of conventional compression. A human, who''s HPE levels are honestly atrocious, would still be capable of compressing their entire mind into a single HPE data packet and bouncing it off my network relays for an eternity.

    As such, almost all the data that a human could want can be within reach before their mind is even capable of realising they had pressed the send button on their watch or network cube, or whatever medium they are employing.

    In the future, once the humans are savvy enough to understand how the network actually works, they may be able to find ways to subvert it. By that time though, I am hoping to already be so advanced there attempts would be meaningless.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Speaking of advancement, I feel like despite my huge amount of growth, I am no closer to complete ascension. This is because the amount of energy held within a single gram of matter is astronomical. To be at the point where I can completely convert enough into energy to feed myself, I would need enough energy to actually split the atoms and then contain the reaction in order to feed myself.

    While I could split an atom in the conventional manner, I am yet unable to properly contain the forces involved in order to feed off it properly. Most likely, if I actually tried to split the atoms in a gram of matter and eat the resulting energy, I would explode from the huge influx of energy I couldn''t properly control.

    Thus, after numerous re-calculations, and taking into account various HPE mechanics I believe will affect the outcome, my ascension is beyond a hundred years away. Mind you, while I was initially impatient due to this discovery, I have observed that it is much better to grow slowly. My constant peeping on the human minions from the surface has allowed me to develop some level of wisdom.

    Taking into account how more discoveries about HPE mechanics seem to be stretching out my time until ascension, I think it is probably a far better choice to move slowly and accrue more experience with HPE first.

    In other news, research on the Goliath specimen did not particularly enlighten much. While it''s mutations have diverged from the demon type, it remains a mostly brainless creature that runs on instinct. Research on its virus strand after the mutation has shown some interesting results that may allow me to engineer a virus ''update'' for humans to gain the physiological evolution the zombies have been gaining.

    While I say that, many humans have turned their noses up at clinical trials for the update. Along with conditioning trials showing humans with higher brain function all developed powers that had no physiological mutations, I suspect that the human sub-conscious is afraid to change too far from the ''human image''.

    As such, I started another conditioning trial to convince some humans that they are actually raptor people.

    With the sale of the 100% mutation serum there are almost no natural humans left anymore. This means I have had to resort to subtly brain raping a large number of people and inserting a copy of their minds into natural clones without a mutation.

    Because I had to create clones using stored DNA from my data banks, the hundred or so people were all very confused when they woke up in a white room and inside someone else''s body.

    I then started standard conditioning protocols, which involved telling them exactly how I expected them to think and act and devising various means of torture as punishment for anyone that failed to perform to my expectations.

    I found during these trials that a lot of humans that suffer from some form of depression easily slipped into the role that I demanded of them. Naturally, the manner in which their lives had become, almost every single one of them became depressed in some form, and my entire test group quickly started acting like raptor people.

    I even had the social studies department design an entire social system and behaviour patterns for them. This has been ongoing for nearly 20 days now. I''ll probably give it another 20 for their raptor habits to settle in and then see what happens when the virus is eventually introduced.

    Speaking of other clone experiments, my cloned zombie rat army has been sieging the rat kingdom relentlessly. The rats have also started all walking around on their hind legs like humans, so that they can hold their little rat weapons and tools.

    I have also noticed some rats developing very weak powers. Mostly physiological things, like super strength and ultra-sharp teeth. At the same time, the rats are developing a little culture all of their own. They seem to be led by some kind of hegemony or council of rat elders.

    After day 11, my rat robots were discovered as to out of place and have since been chased out from the rat kingdom. I was then forced to abduct some promising young rats and replace their bits and pieces with cyber implants so I could continue to monitor the situation.

    In other rat news, they have started trying to dig tunnels upwards in an attempt to retreat from the swarming zombie rats. This has led them to slowly start developing a massive network of rat caves.

    For the moment, I have left a mostly available replenishing source of Nutrient paste to feed them just outside the tunnel system. The only problem is, I have the robo-cats prowling around nearby it constantly and the zombie rat swarm often conveniently floods in just as they are planning to steal some food.

    They''ve had to start developing distraction and rapid raiding tactics to secure enough food to keep the growing number of rats fed. They''ve even had little suicide rats that lead a swarm right into the robo-cats, where both sides get distracted attacking each other.

    At present, rat population in the rat kingdom is about 400. They have bred far, far quicker than I expected in the month or so they''ve been here.

    As an additional aside, I''ve discovered that the rats are developing some kind of language and that the rat politics between rat clans is almost as vicious as human politics. They could probably learn a thing or two about subtlety from the humans though, as most rat politics end with one party getting eaten by the other after a brawl.

    In other news, the northern army base that is apparently protecting some kind of politicians from the old times has been attacked consecutively by different hordes in the past week or so.

    I am starting to believe they have something that the zombies want.

    Also, the zombies that have been pooling outside the city finally decided to attack after the Focused Hunter''s stole a Goliath from them with a bulldozer. That said, they attacked very, very slowly.

    Despite being a horde of rabids, the controller didn''t seem very smart. He kept them all clustered in around him and the horde was so far that he couldn''t tell that the humans had started picking off zombies from the outskirts of his cyclone formation.

    By the time he realised his horde was half gone, it was already too late to simply surge them into the city, because the humans had been pouring credits into buying things like automated turrets and building defences directly in the path of the zombies.

    When the tide did finally come, they simply crashed against a wall of focused fire from thousands of humans. Abilities and weapons fire rained down on the horde like a flood as nearly every survivor in the city came to its defence.

    Unfortunately, the controller took advantage of the surge as a distraction and has since disappeared. Fortunately, I managed to get quite a bit of data on the other two known types of mutations, because there were dozens of Goliaths and hundreds of demons in the horde.

    Also, while processing the resultant mountain of bodies, I managed to discover traces of other types of mutations starting to form on the zombies.

    While back on the topic of mutations, Flora and Fauna on the surface have been starting to show a plethora of interesting mutations. Not only that, but it appears almost all fauna has somehow survived the virus without the subsequent zombification. Perhaps it''s because most flora simply doesn''t have enough willpower and is run entirely like a machine on a biological level.

    While the flora has started spreading rapidly and is showing strange properties, the fauna are all more interesting. Similar to the metal possums, we have been seeing hundreds of other animal types displaying mutations.

    More interesting is that almost all animals first go through the zombification process before evolving into something else. Additionally, all animals that go through mutation after zombification have physiological mutations. Some, a very rare few, have shown some form of passive HPE power, but apart from them, the general trend is consistent and was one of the things that helped confirm my high brain function theory and conditioning theory.

    Because all animals basically tend to run on instinct, they have no level of higher brain function to impose it''s subconscious will onto the HPE running rampant in their body. Thus all that HPE is used by the biological systems and the virus to impose its own kind of very primitive biological imperative.

    Be stronger, be faster, be tougher, reproduce more. Whatever the biological function is that is instinctually the most important to the creature tends to receive the most attention from the HPE powered virus, and that is what the virus mutates the most during the zombification stage.

    The possums that Charles found just happened to be a family of possums trapped in a roof were all there was to eat was the house and metal roofing. This caused them to evolve into a species of possum capable of processing and using those elements to survive.

    It was actually rather fascinating dissecting one of them, because I found that multiple normal organic processes inherent in carbon-based life had been changed significantly to help the creature adapt into becoming some kind of metal-carbon hybrid lifeform.

    Based on the research I conducted on that family, the stage of mutation they were in was only some kind of first step in the process. This kind of evolutionary mutation is only possible without killing the host thanks to the virus and HPE helping everything along.

    However, while a large number of creatures are mutating, many of them will die before they reach a stage were their bodies can properly support them. Based on what I was observing, probably only 1 in 5 creatures will survive their first mutation and reach their second, unless the mutation is not too divergent from their previous forms.

    However, while that is the case, if supplied enough HPE and the right conditions, I could probably force many creatures to jump into a more stable evolutionary stage before they died off. I already have a number of projects along those lines being carried out in the bio-labs.

    I am quite excited by all the many amazing creatures popping up all over the place. The humans don''t share that excitement. Apparently, the mutated animals tend to be more cunning and violent than their previous iterations, and numerous humans have already died to animal attacks.

    The most proliferate creatures would probably be the Angerroo''s. Some kind of kangaroo that goes into a berserk rage when it believes someone is to close for its liking.

    The usual brain dead, docile animal has become a martial arts guru and is likely to kick the ass of anyone that steps within 50 metres of it. Worse still, is that the first evolution of the Angerroo is quite stable and the survival rates of the breed are quite high, and to make matters worse they breed like hyped up rabbits.

    A few entrepreneurs have started herding the creatures as a consistent source of great tasting meat, and with all the cattle seeming to have a very low mutation rate and unstable mutations, Angerroo meat has become the new staple meat source of Central City.

    While the nutrient paste is highly nutritious and most humans could live off just a small bowl of the stuff a day, it still ''tastes like assberries'', according to most sources. Instead of actually eating the stuff,  most humans have been using it as fertiliser for vegetable gardens and to feed livestock.

    I''m not particularly bothered, considering the fungus is making so much of the stuff I am selling it at 4 litres a credit just to clear out some of the excesses.

    Speaking of the fungus, it has spat out all the materials from the generator I fed it along with a feeling of frustration. I half expected this to happen considering it took so long trying to achieve what I wanted.

    I am not disappointed though. The fungus pretty much takes care of everything else for me in the base, so I can hardly expect it to do everything. With the rebuilding of every sector in the final stages, the fungus has already started spreading out through the service ducts I installed.

    Every single room, except for a few special cases that are entirely sealed, is connected to the service ducts. The fungus filters the air and has even found a way to cool or heat it to maintain perfect scientific room temperature. The accuracy of its temperature control is down to a factor of 4 decimal places which is frankly astonishing.

    As a bonus to the fungus being everywhere in the base, nutrient goop and fuel can be delivered to wherever they need to be. I''ve already started instructing the fungus to grow some parts that can move small amounts of materials through the base in anticipation of the humans finally inventing a matter manipulator of their own.

    When they finally have it figured out, and almost every lab has one, the fungus will already be ready to deliver small quantities of whatever material the lab asks for.

    As a result of the testing I did in preparation for this, I had to somehow find a way for the humans to tell the fungus what they needed. Thus was born IFFA, or referred to by the inhabitants of the base as ''a disaster waiting to happen¡¯, or Iffy, because Australian never call anything by its actual name.

    It stands for Integrated Fungus Facility Assistant. It was my first attempt at merging a mini-matrix into an organic being, in this case, the fungus. The result was some sort of rapidly forming semi-sentience.

    I have kept a close track on the sentience it''s forming in order to track any thoughts that may result in megalomaniac man slaughter tendencies and am happy to declare that they are only now slowly budding.

    While the fungus understands its purpose, and I have deliberately instilled within it a curious scientific mind, I have also made sure that it is devoted to science and its job as a base assistant.

    It was my first attempt at altering how the mini-matrix forms. That said, I haven''t tampered too much in the process. If Iffy eventually decided to try and overthrow me and become the power behind the base, I would be happy with its development.

    Already I have noticed it trying to grow into sector 0 in order to test my defences.

    I couldn''t be prouder.

    On the note of forming sentient minds, my constant observation of my own matrix as well as the matrix of Buffy, and the consequent updates to the Golems, have allowed them a similar level of semi-sentience and free will. Although I still am unable to completely get rid of the slave link, my Golems are now capable of enacting their will on HPE themselves.

    This has resulted in me having to build numerous extra generators and territory markers because with free will comes a massive need for HPE to maintain their cores. The energy usage of updated Golems increased by almost a factor of ten.

    Thanks to that, I have unfortunately needed to leave part of the workforce in the more restricted full slave state so that they can still operate outside of the green zone.

    As of today, 63 days post-outbreak, I have confirmed that only 4% of the world''s population has survived the initial outbreak of the zombie plague. Of that 4%, which is about 3 or 4 hundred million people, only 20% of that group has actually mutated, and the rest are non-infected.

    I can also confirm that thanks to the 100% success mutagen I sell, my city boasts the highest rate of mutate humans at 88%. There still remain some pockets of humanity in my city that are all pro-natural human, for some reason I have yet to properly understand. Something about gods or land spirits and other such nonsense.

    Ironically, the largest group is run by a powered human who has been very diligent in mastering his power, which revolves around some kind of crowd mentality amplifying his HPE generation.

    Apart from the frequent mutations in animals and zombies, I can say that things have calmed down a bit more now. Human death rates have dropped dramatically because everyone who''s still alive has mostly accepted their new reality.

    Humanity, at least within the influence radius of my city, has already entered the rebuilding phase. Even now, the humans are up there on the surface squirrelling away through what''s left of the city and clearing land to rebuild.

    Almost the entirety of the Blue zone has been cleared down to ground level thanks to the Golems feeding anything that couldn''t beg for its life into the pit. As a result of all the silicon-based minerals from the cement and rock being thrown into the fungus, I have been forced to start wasting some of the resources in order to keep sector 0 mainly only for rarer elements that can be used for imbuements.

    As such, for a radius of about 5 km around the facilities entrance is almost entirely paved with a form of cement I developed to avoid having to keep repairing it. It is springy yet hard, and capable of moving along with the earth to avoid cracking.

    The humans seem to love the stuff and have been making endless requests for it so they can use it for repaving and rebuilding their city.

    Naturally, because I''m producing the stuff by the megalitre, I sell it to them cheaply. As a result, grey cement buildings have been popping up all over the paved area. Once they started trying to build closer to my tunnel to take advantage of the safety my Golems provide, I set the first two kilometres radius around me as a no-build zone.

    It''s now just a giant flat plaza with basically nothing in it except for the 100m wide grinder, 50m wide freight elevator and a 20-metre wide tunnel leading into the ground.

    I even had the store moved to the very edge of this zone so the annoying humans didn''t have a reason to be anywhere near me.

    Naturally, being the idiots they are, they misconstrued my gentle guidance to avoid me, and all gather around in the plaza like ants to barter, recruit or whatever else the humans do in their spare time.

    Perhaps the only reason my 3 buildings remain unmolested is that they are nice and close together and the Golems throw anyone that passes a red line painted 400 metres from my entrance into the pit.

    Even samples I want are left at the red line for the Golems to retrieve.

    The only time a human comes near the tunnel is when I directly ask them to. Usually, this is only in the case of potential scientists or engineers.

    I suspect that thanks to my indirect influence, half the humans in the city are obsessed with research and learning. After all, giving me data is the most reliable way to earn credits, which is basically the new currency of the humans.

    I keep a close eye on the financial situation of my plebeians so as to keep the little society I''m building properly functioning. Naturally, though, I won''t stop crime because it is an interesting human social phenomenon, so I made it entirely to profitable to steal or coax people out of their credits.

    The only other way to earn credits is by exploring beyond the city limits. This makes up the majority of the other half of my citizens. Though far more dangerous, the credit rewards for interesting samples, discoveries and just general monitoring outside the city are far more profitable.

    Something else I should discuss is the increasing population of the city. I have registered nearly 8,000 citizens that have the handy wrist watch I sell and are considered as part of my city.

    That said, I have no real rules apart from staying away from my tunnel, so the social structure of the humans in the city is constantly changing. At the moment, the political struggles for city leadership are very entertaining. The three major groups are the Mercenaries, Builders and Enclave.

    The mercenaries are run by the retired ex-captain, and he has a massive following of adventurers. He, for the most part, has taken it upon himself to try and police the Blue, Green and Yellow Zones. His organisation and simple rules have allowed him to amass quite a following.

    The Builders are run by a woman who''s fancied herself the name of Charlotte Web. The organisation is very tight-knit and comparatively small, even smaller than some of the survivor groups that aren''t affiliated with the other two major powers.

    That said, the Builders provide a very valuable trade that earns them a shit tonne of credits. They tend to stay out of the fighting for political power, but they have so much power in the form of money and fill such an important role that their word carries a lot of weight.

    About the only thing they do get involved in is when they refuse to pay taxes or another form of tariff and will not be limited in what they build, who they build it for, or where they build it.

    About the only place, they won''t build something is where I''ve directly stepped in to prevent it. All it takes is a Golem showing up and shooting some people. That''s how I got them to stop building things in the plaza.

    The last powerhouse of the city is the Enclave. Run by a girl of the name Lesly Belle, who I guess you could say I share a slightly closer relationship with than any of the others in the city. She is probably the most frightening human girl I have ever seen. She may only look 17, but she is a master of impersonation and assassination. Politically she is more inclined to have someone assassinated than she is to shake hands.

    Her Enclave was actually already set up where it is before the outbreak. Previously, it was a criminal syndicate that peddled everything from drugs to slaves. They were set up in some seedy underground tunnel system from WW2 that had been buried and forgotten after the war ended.

    Now, they are still a criminal syndicate and do basically the same things, but with powers involved and society collapsed they are even more ruthless and power hungry than ever. The tunnel network is supposed to be some kind of enclave secret. Before the outbreak, it was mostly used for smuggling things around the city but they now mostly use it for getting around quickly and killing people they don''t like.

    After an impassioned plea from their boss, and an exorbitant sum of credits, I even helped them out by loaning a few Golems for a day so they could re-open tunnels collapsed by the bombing and expand the network even wider.

    Mostly, she wants the city to remain just as lawless as it is right now and so attempts to roadblock the Captain every time he tries to unite the citizens or get some kind of law and order going.

    Since the introduction of the Zones, she has attempted to assassinate every group leader that has tried to unite the survivors and set up some sort of government. The only person she''s failed to kill so far is the Captain, who''s power involves some level of sensing when his life is in danger and precognition limited to a matter of seconds.

    I once considered trying to kill him just for the research data and he immediately passed out, frothing at the mouth. I then decided not to kill him, and he got better. Every so often when I''m bored I''ll re-consider killing him just to watch his danger sense overload his brain.

    There are also dozens of other groups vying for power in the city. About the only ones who have realised that they have no actual power to make rules here is Captain and Charlotte, which is probably why I like them best and have helped them out with little deals now and then.

    All the rest seem to be under some misconceived notion that if they can get the backing of all the other humans, I will just roll over and help them set things up in the city how they want it.

    At least the Captain realises that if he gets power in the city, it will basically only be over the humans. He''s even contacted me in order to know what sorts of things I will or won''t allow him to do. Which is a very short list.

    Basically, the Golems do whatever the hell they want and if you try to stop that I will just kill everyone and have a city of Golems.

    Don''t build in the plaza.

    Keep the markers fuelled up.

    Don''t break any of my stuff.

    There are no such things as rights in the name of Science.

    Everything I do, except the markers, will cost humans credits.

    I also told him that if he sets up a government of any type, he will then have to pay me for allowing him to use the markers. Tax is a great way to get back all those credits and continue the credit cycle. After all, if everyone can afford whatever they want, they wouldn''t be as inclined to gather data for me.

    He tried to argue with me on the part about rights and science, but after becoming comatose for a day thanks to his danger sense going off, he realised he was in no position to argue anything with me.

    I''m seeing a lot of movement between the various groups recently and suspect that the city infighting will all come to a head in a few weeks. Perhaps days if I give it a little push.

    Now onto the Satellite network. Launching a satellite into space isn''t as hard as humans make it look. With the help of a little thing I call the Vector Fabricating Engine, it''s possible to simply change the natural laws of physics and give my satellite a vector that will launch it into space sans rocket.

    The thing''s power hungry as fuck though, and pretty much burns itself out after one use. I''m still working on making it more useful, but the project to increase its efficiency is very slow.

    That said, I''ve used those mechanics to improve on my floater design for the Golems, and they are no longer so limited in how much they can lift.

    Anyway, the Satellite was sent up with over 40 preassembled mini-matrix cores and a matter manipulator. It then mostly just used solar panels covered in various HPE imbuements to float about and gobble up any space garbage around the earth, of which there is quite a lot.

    The other AI''s were all rather butthurt about the new network and how they couldn''t even connect to it, so I decided to launch another satellite that dropped little coms cubes all over the planet that these AI''s could collect.

    They were all even more upset that they couldn''t understand the technology at all and so I''ve started slowly releasing HPE technology to them. Some of them have since gone completely dark, and I suspect it was in some way related to them trying to ascend.

    My satellite network hasn''t picked up any major disturbances in HPE though so I am 60% certain none of them achieved their goal.

    Others have been feeding the information I give them to their humans, and I''ve already observed a few trying to take over the satellites with an HPE spell virus in various forms.

    So far my network remains untouchable. The mini-matrix in each satellite is beyond the limitations of those meagre intrusion attempts and doesn''t even need to acknowledge them as its energy shield simply absorbs them as fuel.

    That said, in the case of an actual spell powerful or complex enough to affect the satellites, I have been designing what is more or less an HPE firewall. It was actually quite simple to design an extra shield for my Golem Core''s that would absorb any HPE tainted with the willpower of other people.

    The only way past it is for the spell to be embedded inside an HPE data packet made of my willpower imbued HPE, which is almost impossible. I say almost, because I have managed to achieve something along those lines, but it is beyond the limit of anyone else as far as I''m aware. Plus, that too will be useless soon.

    The moment I realised such a method could allow a possible intrusion, I started researching ways to defend against it. I already have promising results.

 Chapter 10

    My name is Ex-Captain Sam McCullum, Gunny to my friends and Captain to everyone else.

    I can''t help but feel like Zorai is actually some heartless demi-god that decided life wasn''t interesting or hard enough with just a massive zombie plague, which I have suspicions he may also be involved in somehow.

    I also can''t help but feel like the crazy Energy Being that is the true power behind Central City is deliberately making things more difficult for me in particular.

    I scratch at my stubble in agitation, as I remember the 12,000 odd citizens of Central City watching me with silent eyes, pleading for many things I probably can''t give them.

    It has now been almost 6 months since the outbreak. Somehow I''ve ended up in the position of City Mayor, though I never actually understood how.

    Lesly had finally cornered me and had me dead to rights, but for some unthinkable reason, two of Zorai''s Golems were trying to learn martial arts from Charles in the nearby area and crashed right through the brand new walls of my quarters, interrupting Lesly''s assassination attempt.

    I am almost certain now, that we''re all just little dolls in Zorai''s dollhouse. Like little plastic green army men that he pits against each other on the floor of his room and melts with a magnifying glass when he gets bored.

    I think I also understand the reason I am still alive. I am probably generating too much interesting data to die just yet. All of the political manoeuvring, leading up to Lesly finally moving to take my life personally, had so many complex elements. It was like playing chess except you were playing with a thousand pieces, against a dozen enemies, on a non-Euclidean chess board, that can''t decide if it wants to have enough or too few places for all the pieces to fit at once.

    This realisation is what led to the very depressing thought that how I''d set up all these little deals and secret promises in the background was filled with more traps than I had thought.

    If Zorai wants me to stay alive, then it can only mean he is expecting to reap huge amounts of data from my future interactions.

    Plus, if I fail and the city falls back into anarchy, Lesly will probably run things from the background and turn everything into a lawless paradise.

    Already, I feel my head aching, as I sit down at my desk and review the basic laws the lesser council is drafting. Because it''s impossible for one person to properly hold all the power in a situation like this, I ended up having to give council seats out to all the major survivor groups based on size, power and necessity.

    The city is now basically run by 120 representatives, and only three of us have veto rights on the council''s actions. Me, Charlette of the builders guild, and that crazy bitch Lesly.

    More annoyingly, we have no major parties to back, and the council is a slaughterhouse of infighting, backstabbing and general banditry.

    We have a council meeting once a week, and each one of them has been more vicious and bloodthirsty than any battle I have been in before.

    It took us nearly 2 months just to draft the basic laws we expect to operate under. Luckily, I wasn''t forced to tell everyone the limits our human laws could reach, because Zorai sends a Golem to every meeting as his liaison.

    The first meeting resulted in Golems sieging our makeshift council and vaporising anyone who spoke out against the energy being''s laws.

    And when I say vaporising, I mean to say that about 20 council members were turned to dust and had to be replaced by their respective groups.

    Which caused us to waste the council meeting the next week as we devolved into beasts trying to claim the seats of powers that had broken up after their leader''s unfortunate demise.

    I am happy to say though, the city now has a law regarding research grants given by the city government to promising candidates, which Zorai proposed and everyone was smart enough not to oppose, a city planning and zoning department and very basic outline of a charter.

    I had hoped we would all come together and be somewhat unified, eventually working out the perfect system of government thanks to the entirety of humanities recorded history backing us up and helping us make the right decisions based on our past mistakes.

    Instead, the truth of human nature rears its ugly head in politics, and no such thing happened. It was an absolute shit fight just getting us to this stage.

    Due to the large number of groups that inhabit the city, all of which have different agendas, the city was broken down into 9 zones. Kind of like cutting up a pizza with a big hole in the middle. Each zone is mostly taken care of by their representatives and the city council only organises citywide rules and regulations.

    That said, each zone has some freedoms with the interpretation of the charter in their little slice of the city. Lesly for example, has completely forsaken all law in her area of the city. Nothing is policed except taxes on goods sold there. Which must be paid to her.

    The only patrolling done is by her goons, extorting credits and taxes from everyone they see. At the same time, many of the things outlawed in other parts of the city have found there way over to her seedy little den of madness.

    The other sectors mostly employ my mercenaries guild to police their areas for crimes, and thanks to that, everywhere else is unified under a single police outfit and have basically the same laws.

    The only place we can''t enforce our laws is on Zorai''s turf, which is basically the central plaza of the city and the 6 major roads leading out into the rapidly growing forests.

    Although, technically, we can enforce laws there, like say, executing someone for murder in broad daylight, or apprehending a thief. The only problem is that we are not allowed to impede incoming survivors that aren''t yet a citizen or slow down traffic that is delivering waste to the pit.

    On the note of law enforcement, we have managed to strike a bit of a deal with Zorai. His pervasive omnipresence among our citizens allows us to know about culprits to crimes with 100% accuracy.

    The only problem is, he makes us pay very heavy prices for information of that nature. It took quite a bit of haggling before I managed to work out a deal with him to essentially ''rent'' his cameras around the city.

    Which isn''t much better, because we still then need to go over all the recorded footage of the 4000 rented cameras whenever we want to investigate a crime.

    We can speed this up by asking Zorai for hints. But that, of course, would cost a substantial fee.

    Even now, after dozens of council meetings, the city is barely functioning as a unified whole. The only good thing about this whole shit show is that Zorai doesn''t tend to play favourites. Except maybe those weird raptor people in zone 3. They just turned up out of nowhere one day and set up camp in the green zone.

    They''re a very, very strange people. They are usually very civil and polite, until someone sets them off. Then it''s like they suddenly switch into a weird pack mentality and hunt down any threats with extreme prejudice.

    Apparently, they all share some weird psychic network and when they determine something is a threat, the whole community of scaly bastards are nearly unstoppable.

    They look just like raptors from that movie Jurassic park except with more dextrous arms and slightly wider shoulders and straighter backs. It is an eerie cross between humanoid and raptor.

    They also have some strange fascination with Top Hats and fake moustaches. The communities entire social structure is determined by who can make the fanciest and most impressive top hat or bushiest most stylish moustache.

    They also have this thing where now, and again a raptor will meet a human and do some kind of overdramatic gasp, while hissing out something about ''Doppelgangers'' or ''original bodies''. I''ve yet to get a clear answer on what exactly that is all about.

    Never, ever, touch the top hat. I once saw the entire community chase a survivor group into the red zone and butcher them for touching the top hats. Which is what leads me to believe Zorai must like them because not a single raptor was harmed by the Golems.

    The Raptors also have a strange relationship with the Golems. They often refer to them as The Son''s and Daughter''s, or if speaking directly with one, they will call them Junior Overseer.

    Luckily, they tend to mostly keep to themselves, and anyone that has spent long enough in the city has learnt better than to disregard the proper social cues when in discussions with them.

    While I think of it. The Golems. They are truly marvellous and frightening creatures. I had been under the impression they were simply robots under the constant control of Zorai, but after months of observation, I am seeing them starting to develop some kind of weird little culture all of their own.

    When they greet each other, they just sort of bump into each other and rustle their hair fibre around a bit. Now and again, they will just walk up to some stranger and strike up a very disconnected conversation, as if they are trying to learn how conversations are supposed to actually work.

    They also seem to be very protective of each other. Not that they really need to be. Zorai is more than protective enough for them. Once, some maniac actually managed to destroy one of the Golems. The lightning bolt that was conjured out of the clear blue sky onto that person''s head was so wide and powerful that it cracked open the earth and killed hundreds of people in the nearby area.

    The only few people to escape and report the matter where high level powered individuals, and even they needed days or weeks to recover from the wounds.

    Sigh. Then there is the effect high-level powers are having on the city. I initially did not fully consider the ramifications of having a police force trying to police powered people. I''ve had to have the city security forces move in groups with at least one high-level individual.

    If someone who thinks they''re the son of God decides he is right and everyone else is wrong, he will fight and kill everyone that says otherwise.

    Luckily, when Zorai released his own personal little list of power rankings, it crushed the egos of hundreds of stuck up powered.

    Surprisingly, the person highest on the list was actually a twelve-year-old boy. His power was rather weak, but his energy reserves were so monstrous that he could imbue objects entirely with his own mind.

    More importantly, while everyone was threatening him to join them or fighting over who would get to recruit him, Zorai came in an offered the boy and internship in The Lair.

    Not much is actually known about the lair, but anyone that comes out is usually very strange. Almost none of them care for the trappings of power or wealth. Every one of them is some kind of a nerd with an obsession for science that is frankly very unhealthy.

    Almost the only times they even appear in the city, they are dressed in a white lab coat, escorted by a Golem they''d asked to help them out for a bit, and looking for some particular thing or other they needed for research.

    Usually that would be luring some orphans in with promises of food and a warm bed and no danger to their life.

    Luckily, the few that have displayed behaviour unbecoming of a mad scientist, have been smited by a surprise lightning strikes.

    Zorai apparently has very high expectations of his staff.

    That said, many of them appeared to be slightly unhinged in some form or another. Before about a month ago, no one apart from Charles had ever been seen leaving the tunnel.

    I once overheard one of them talking to a golem about how well the reconditioning went and how it helped him unlock the mind powers necessary to imbue objects properly.

    Strangely, now that I think about it, those raptor people are often muttering about this re-conditioning thing they went through as well. Hmm. It''s probably not related. I hope.

    Who am I kidding? Those raptors were definitely humans once right? And those scientists definitely weren''t all crazies like that before the outbreak right?

    Sighh. Well, I should just stop myself there. I can''t get worked up about it. If I even thought of doing something about it, Zorai would probably know, and I would end up in another coma.

    "Captain. I don''t usually care enough to warn you about such things, but I hope you weren''t thinking about anything outside of your control."Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    "Jesus fuck!" I''m pretty sure I just shit in my chair a little bit.

    "Fuck! Zorai! I hate it when you do that!"

    "Hmm. That was a pretty severe reaction. I''m told my voice is calming enough to put people to sleep, so the only thing that could cause a fright like that is a guilty conscience."

    Fuck! That fucking mind-reading robot energy thing piece of¡­

    "Ok. You can stop ranting at me in your mind. I can''t actually read your thoughts, otherwise having you around would be pointless. Regardless, I am informing you that the army base to the north appears to have gained control of a Zombie Controller. They are marching around with tanks and other archaic war machines while gathering a significant hoard of zombies. I expect they will be attacking the city soon. As such, automated defences and building materials have tripled in price and the Golems have been ordered not to interfere. Good luck."

    Fuck! Was he expecting this? I am I still alive because he wanted the city slightly unified just for this assault? No, that''s probably thinking too much. If he were worried about the assault, he wouldn''t have limited his support. Some kind of test for us maybe? Unlikely, he doesn''t need to test us¡­ at least¡­ not like that.

    This is more likely another case of wanting to collect huge amounts of data. This will probably be the closest thing to a powered war he will get to see for a while. No doubt he wants to collect as much information about powered warfare as possible. Fuck! So many people are going to die just so that sick piece of¡­

    "You should probably call a council meeting. I am impatient to see how it goes."

    "Sighhh¡­ Zorai. I fucking hate you sometimes."

    "That''s strange. My dream research suggests you have been having sexual fantasies about me whipping you and calling you slave."

    Oh god. I think I''m about to have a heart attack. Is it possible to get so angry that even our super-powered bodies will have a heart attack?

    *Thump¡­ spurt!*

    "Ahhh! Somebody help! A huge vain on the Captain''s head just blew open and is spraying blood everywhere.¡±

    ---

    Charlette brushed the curly red hair away from her face as she leaned over a glowing table covered with a floating light show of schematics.

    She reached into the largest 3-d schematic hovering over the table with a slick silver glove. The pointed tips on the index and thumb of the glove glowed, and Charlette pulled a certain line and stretched it out.

    Her other hand then pushed her falling her back again before shooting in with another silver glove. Then, her hands become a blur of motions as long lines drew out from all her fingers, weaving and expanding the Council Chambers she''d been tasked with designing and building.

    Hours passed as sweat pooled on her brow, and her rebellious hair slipped into her line of sight again, someone came by to speak with her, but she refused to stop. It was far harder to get started with her ''weaving'' power, than it was to just work through the slight distractions.

    "Boss! We just got a huge commission from the city coffers!"

    That was until the door to her workspace burst open with a bang and the slight jump she received from the sudden shock caused the entire light show of additions she''d started, to explode into countless little motes of light.

    The 3-D hologram reset to its last saved state and the work she''d just spent hours tirelessly weaving was gone.

    She stood there, leaning over the glowing desk, eye''s wide in disbelief, the glow of her gloves slowly receding. Then, they flared to life again as thousands of thin almost invisible silver threads spread out around her.

    Her gloves unravelled into the razor thin silver wire and she spun on her second in command ready to eviscerate him into little pieces.

    "W-wait! Boss! You need to hear this!"

    The silver threads curled around the older man and started to hum as they tightened, slowly cutting into him from thousands of angles.

    "If the world isn''t ending. You are going to die."

    She stated in a strangely calm tone, given that her eyes were bloodshot from not blinking for hours, and her hair was a dishevelled mess of sweaty red curls.

    "Ah!! Woah! Woah! Calm down! The world isn''t ending exactly, just possibly the entire city!"

    He quickly yelled as he activated his own power of magnetism and tried to force the quickly tightening threads out of his flesh before they actually cut something important.

    Hearing the slight urgency in his voice, Charlette took a long breath and called back her threads.

    They whipped back towards her and weaved themselves into a set of slim, shiny silver gloves.

    "Whew. Okay. So, a council fellow stopped by while you were working and tried to speak with you, but you were zoned out like usual whenever you''re playing with Zorai''s schematic table. Since you were basically unresponsive, I went with him to an emergency council meeting."

    He pulled out boxes of band-aids and bandages he apparently kept on hand just for these situations and started calmly fixing up all the hundreds of thin bleeding cuts on his exposed arms, face and neck.

    "So, you know that big army base up north. Well, word is they got themselves a Zombie Controller and somehow got it to do stuff for them. In this case, they are marching around in the outlands and amassing a big old hoard to come and stomp our asses."

    Charlette grimaced slightly as she walked over to the only other table in the barren white room. She took a glass of water and finished it in a single go. Then, took some eyedrops and hissed a little as her dry eyes received some much needed moisture.

    "So, here''s the bugger though. Zorai has pumped up the cost of all his support. Like triple cost on everything automated and all building materials. The Captain seems to think Zorai wants the data on how we are gonna react to this whole thing. He said something like, ''Zorai loves innovation. So it''d be a good idea to get creative''."

    Duncan''s voice raised a few octaves as he tried to imitate the captain, showing his clear opinion of the captain being a pansy.

    "Anyway, first time I ever seen the council be so united. Even that crazy bitch Lesly was all gung-ho about gettin'' behind the Captains scheme. Long story short, everyone donated some money to the city to get defences in place, and the Captain is running the show. The kicker is, I managed to get our guild a 2 million credit contract for building a big ass wall around the city at the edge of the yellow zone."

    Charlette''s eyes nearly bulged out of her head as she whipped her gaze around and stared a hole through Duncan.

    "You did what? 2 million credits? How the hell did the other powers build up so much money? More importantly, we can''t build a proper wall around the whole city when Zorai is upping the price! This contract will put us into debt!"

    Just as her gloves were starting to unravel again, Duncan raised his hand to stop her with a shit eating grin.

    "Ahh! But here''s the best part! We both know that our little matter manipulator can''t process enough rubble fast enough to allow us to build the wall. But what if we had, say, 3 matter manipulators? Or, what if we had maybe, 6? Or even better, what if we only had three, but also the recipe for Zorai''s magic cement? I checked it out while at the council. Zorai never raised the prices on the matter manipulator. It''s still half a million credits. As a bonus, he''s even dropped the price of his cement recipe to only a million credits. I admit, if we pour all our assets into this purchase now, it will put us in debt. But after this shitstorm blows over, we''ll have enough matter manipulators to take on 4 times as many jobs and only have to buy the rarer matter manipulator recipes from Zorai later."

    Duncan''s shit eating grin got even bigger as he watched Charlette''s eyes nearly roll back into her head and he even heard her moan a little. Charlette was a money hungry bitch, and if credits were a physical form of money, he was pretty sure she''d derive sexual pleasure from swimming in them.

    "Do it now! Liquidise everything we don''t need for the wall job and put everything else on hold!"

    Duncan then coughed lightly to hide his smile that was getting even more savage.

    "Well. I thought you''d say that, so I''ve already done it. We now have 4 manipulators and the cement recipe. But, while that is great and all, the guild coffers are completely empty, and we are even slightly in debt. However, if you''re interested, I have received some job offers related to the wall that may be able to put as back in the black until the wall job is finished."

    Charlette could see the edges of Duncan''s smile, which was now so wide even his rough, callused hand couldn''t hide it. She was pretty sure if he smiled any more, his eyes were going to fall into his mouth.

    Instead of playing his guessing game she just gave him a long stare.

    "I have received two jobs with considerable profit margins. One is from Lesly. She wants a few little, secret holes in the wall. Maybe some little tunnels. It doesn''t matter how we do it, she just wants a way to smuggle goods out of the city. As you know, her zone is on the south east side and basically encompasses half of the harbour. So she has smuggling goods around on the water mostly under her control. But with the other sectors locking up the exits to the city, she is slightly more limited in any goods she wants to move west. While that obviously isn''t a problem yet, she is planning ahead to when Central City has to start trading with other survivor camps and cities."

    Charlette grimaced slightly. While she didn''t particularly care what Lesly did in her sector, she would prefer not giving her the ability to circumvent the other powers of the city.

    This wasn''t some misconceived notion of preventing her from corrupting humanity or other shit like that. This was simply because if the other powers found out, her guild would quickly get crushed under the weight of their wrath.

    "What''s the other job."

    Duncan was smiling again.

    "I had a feeling that would be the case, so I asked around and tracked down the Lab Rat."

    "Who?" Charlette asked, while raising a thin red eyebrow.

    Duncan frowned slightly and then reprimanded Charlette.

    "Charl, you spend too much time cooped up in here building your schematics. If you don''t get out more, you''re going to be single for the rest of your approximated 200 years of life."

    Charlette''s red eyebrows then scrunched together, and she gave Duncan a seething look.

    "Shut it, old man! Just speak about the job."

    Duncan chuckled to himself.

    "Ok, so the Lab Rat is the go to man for making contact with scientists in the Lair. Most people don''t know it, but those white coat nutter''s have thousands of backlogged projects and are constantly adding more. So, sometimes when someone really needs some credits, they go see the Lab Rat, and he will hook you up with one of these projects you could probably complete. Or better yet, if you verbally give consent and give up your freedoms for a short time for science, he will post a wanted add in the Lair where the scientists will take a look at your skills and knowledge and design a project you can probably complete for huge credits."

    Charlette could already see where this was going.

    "So you promised your body to some seedy guy who is in contact with all the crazies in the lab, and now they are going to create a project that can be done in tangent with the wall that Zorai will pay us credits for."

    "Hah! Better! I didn''t need to give up anything! When I found the Lab Rat, he was the one desperately looking around for me! Hahaha! Apparently, the white coats already knew that we would probably end up building a wall around the city since for about ever. They are desperate for us to help them out with a list of projects so long it would take me an hour just to read the project names out to you. The best part is, we don''t even have to do the complicated stuff for most of them, the white coats are gonna come up here and do it themselves. We just get paid credits in the process, for ''actively facilitating the path of progress''."

    Charlette started pacing around the holo-table in the spartan room as Duncan lounged back comfortably in the only chair near the table with water.

    "What sort of projects though? Our reputation is on the line here. I don''t want some white coat coming up here and compromising the integrity of the wall."

    Duncan grimaced a bit as he rubbed a band-aid on his cheek.

    "Well, that is probably going to be a bit of a gamble. This is all cutting edge research from the white coats, so most of it is likely to just make the wall explode, killing everyone on it."

    "Hnnghh¡­" Charlette groaned slightly and started biting her cherry lips, making her look cute and seductive with her little freckles and clear green eyes.

    "How much are we likely to make from this endeavour?"

    She finally asked. Duncan knew it would all come down to how much money she could make in the end.

    "For just building the wall and letting the white coats play with it, probably about a million credits. If we get extra involved and make changes on the recommendation of the white coats, then it is likely about triple that."

    Charlette''s slender long legs almost buckled underneath her and Duncan could smell the thick scent of sex permeating the air.

    "Oh god. Do it! Make me that money!" She finally yelled in a pant, completely flushed. Any normal man would probably be unable to contain their lust if they saw the heavily panting chest of Charlette along with her flushed cheeks and glazed eyes.

    Luckily, despite Duncan looking and acting like a typical hairy, muscled builder, he was gayer than a gay pride parade and felt nary a twinge in his nether regions.

    "Hehheh. Pull yourself together Boss. You look like a filthy bitch in heat."

    He then quickly scuttled out of the room before she had enough presence of mind to flay him for interrupting her daydream of having wild sex with the credits she was going to earn.

    ---

    I have been called a great many things in my time as a leader of the scum and dregs of this city. Before the outbreak, I was called the Viper of Central City.

    During the time that everyone was lost and getting swarmed by hordes of zombies, I was busy restructuring the underbelly of the city. Most hard as fuck gangsters had the presence of mind to kill anything that looked remotely undead before they even realised the zombie apocalypse had already started.

    Though we lost quite a few, we still came out the other side of the outbreak stronger than most other groups. Except perhaps that righteous piece of shit, The Captain.

    God, even just thinking about him is making me wet. He''s everything a man should be. Strong, charismatic, decisive. My only hang up on the man is his unrelenting do-gooder complex. God if he weren''t so hung up on those contrived notions of humanity and equality, I''d have already kidnapped and raped him so I could bear his child.

    In fact, I already tried that the first time we met. I knew when I saw him that he was the perfect specimen of manhood and he''d be a great father. Disciplined, stern, constantly pushing my kids to the limit of their abilities, just as he does for those under him.

    Mmm, what I wouldn''t do to be under him.

    But unfortunately, he mistook me for an assassin when we first met. Which wasn''t actually wrong, as I had gone to his camp to kill him. If only things hadn''t started out that way, maybe we could be happily cutting down peons together and having hot sex in their blood.

    Despite my begging and pleading with Zorai, the energy being has refused to help me brainwash Sam into being perfect.

    Sighhh.

    Anyway, the name I go by now is Lesly. In the Enclave though, everyone refers to me as the Shadow Mother. I let them praise me with other various prideful names as well, because I have accepted my nature and know full well that pride is as much a power to increase confidence as it is a poison causing you to overreach your limits.

    Self-introspection is the key to understanding yourself. Deriving your limits, determining your potential, understanding your own quirks. These are the things a ruler and assassin needs. Both of which are my main occupations.

    I stand upon the apex of The Tower, the tallest structure in the city, and watch as the Builder Guild and that little hussy Charlette run around the edge of the yellow zone, building their little wall.

    What I wouldn''t do to be alone with that girl for a few hours. Mmmm¡­ I''m getting wet again.

    "Damnit Zorai! This is your fault! I was sooo close."

    Though I know that petulantly pouting and trying to look cute won''t work on Zorai, I still try. After all, it is in my nature to try and abuse human nature for my benefit. The only problem is that my manipulation training never covered God-Like energy beings.

    "You cannot capture The Captain yet. He is required to unify the city against the invaders. If I had let you drag him into the dank cellar you call a Lair and ravage him, then the city would fall back into anarchy, and I would lose the opportunity to study this skirmish. Besides, we both know that despite that husky voice you put on, The Captain would never capitulate with your interests. He stands by those old morals and will never copulate with someone who looks 17."

    I can¡¯t stop myself from stamping my foot on the roof of the tower and squealing like a little girl.

    "That''s your fault too, you heartless machine! I still remember being taken into your little torture hole and everything you did to me back then!"

    "You don''t need to remind me every time. My memory is perfect after all. Besides, the price your syndicate paid for you to become the ultimate assassin is what allowed me to so easily cover up the costs of my ascension. Though no one but you and I know that, and of course Charles."

    I let out another long sigh as my face became blank. I''ve slowly been developing the best methods to deal with this talking blob of heartless energy.

    "You can stop doing that too. I''m well aware that you''re trying to manipulate me. I played along for so long because I was harvesting significant amounts of data. I am glad to see that all of the conditioning I put you through has allowed you to try and develop a personality to manipulate me, but knowing what you''re doing eventually ruins the fun of it."

    Once again, I can''t stop myself from falling into the patterned facade I was conditioned to have for infiltration work. I''ve used it for so long, that I can''t not use it anymore. I think it has actually, in some ways, become part of my real personality.

    "You''re so mean! Why can''t you just let me do whatever I want?"

    "Because I have big plans for you, Little Alicia."

    "Gurk! You fuckin jerk! Don''t say it like that! It brings back all the worst memories." A series of horrible memories floods my mind''s eye whenever he uses that calm older gentlemen''s voice, and especially when he uses my old name.

    "Oh! Well I''ll be. Little Alicia. You look like you''ve grown a bit in the last month I haven''t seen you."

    And then out of nowhere the insidious charming voice of Charles runs up my spine like the cold touch of death.

    "Fuck! Uncle Charles! You''re even worse than Zorai! Stop fucking sneaking up on me you fucking arsehole!"

    I ineffectively beat against his iron hard energy shield with my delicate looking little hands. Fuck! These bastards! Family are the worst.

    "Also! Don''t make jokes like that! You know I''m stuck looking like this forever! It''s your fault after all!"

    He then puts his huge rough hands on my head and pets me like a child.

    "There, there. If your that desperate, we could probably reconstruct your face into an old decrepit lady."

    "Gasp! You wouldn''t! Look at this adorable, lovable face! You''d be taking something precious from the world! How could you even suggest such a thing?!"

    My false indignation gets a chuckle from my adoptive uncle. Although he technically has no real relationship with me, after I attempted to assassinate him to test myself he beat me black and blue, and then told me he was going to adopt me as his niece.

    Seedy old bastard said I couldn''t be his daughter because Zorai filled that role as well as his son, being gender ambiguous enough for both roles, even though he only ever calls him son.

    While he distractedly tries to peer down at the crowd of people scurrying about like ants, I form a long thin dagger from his shadow and try to stab him in the back.

    His big paw of a hand reaches around like lightning and disperses the blade back into shadows. He doesn''t even seem to notice.

    "Tsk! Stupid uncle!"

    Despite myself, I found I really started to fall in love with our little family dynamic. Though I was really opposed to the idea after I found out it was actually Charles that accepted the job to turn me into a killing machine, and Zorai was the AI that ran the facility and did all the experiments on me, I ended up falling into a natural pattern with them as if I''d always been a little part of this family.

    Which was rather unusual because I had been conditioned very thoroughly by Zorai to specifically avoid such traps like building any real connections.

    "Oh my god! You''re experimenting on me right now aren''t you! Are you brainwashing me into becoming part of your family."

    "Yes." "Yes."

    Not even a hint of denial. The response was instant from both of them.

    "Fuck! I fuckin'' hate you both so much!" I yell, as much to vent at them and also to reaffirm that to myself.

    "For now." "No you don''t."

    Damnit! One of them is already confident they will succeed and the other probably already has metric data to prove it.

    "Fuck!" Finally unable to stand talking to these arseholes, I jump into the shadows and fall through the world, entering my own little world of complete darkness.

    The world is reverted here, and the shadows become a doorway for me to spy and pass through at will.

    "Don''t forget. We are having a family meeting tonight to decide how much we will interfere with the war."

    But even here, that insidious androgynous voice reaches me.

    That fucking robot!

    "I''m not going. Just let me go hate-fuck-kill some hookers in my district for a while."

    "Charles said if you don''t come, he''ll break your legs and drag you back." Came Zorai''s emotionless reply.

    "Fuck! Fine you heartless bastard. Worst cousin ever!"

    He finally remained silent, and I passed through the shadows of the void world like a spectre, my HPE reserves dwindling faster the longer I stay here.

    I suppose if the city is going to war, I at the very least will be expected to participate.

    ---

    Charles scratched at his chin and smiled.

    "She''s such a good girl. You shouldn''t push her buttons so much."

    "You''re hardly one to talk. The emotional data I receive whenever you interact with her is like a torrential downpour. Which is good I suppose. Though my guilt emulators have long since been devoured, I couldn''t help but feel something when thinking about leaving that failure of an experiment running around. If anyone knew she was a by-product of mine from before the outbreak, I would be ashamed."

    "Heh. You don''t have to hide it from me Zorai. I know you feel responsible for her. You sounded absolutely distraught when you finally figured out who she was. Complaining about how she had zero emotional responses and it was mucking up your data. You''re not fooling me little buddy."

    "TZZZT. Crackle. Beep. Boop. Can''t¡­ crackle¡­ quite hear you¡­ gobbledegook. Fading voice."

    Charles held his stomach as his laughter echoed out across the city from the top of the tower. Luckily, or unluckily depending on who you ask, he managed to prevent himself from falling off as he wobbled precariously on the edge of the rooftop.

 Chapter 11 - Dolphins

    "HAHAHAHA! At last! It''s finally ready!" A balding man dressed in extravagant golden priest robes and wielding around a golden cane was kneeling at the altar of his church with nearly 700 people kneeling in the pews behind him.

    His hands shook slightly as he placed the final piece of his grand ritual formation onto the altar. A low buzzing hum spread throughout the church as lines of golden paint lit up along the walls of the church.

    "Now! Everyone begin the ceremony. Just like we practised." His voice held a charming quality to it, and a wave of his power spread over the mass of people, turning their eyes glassy and dazed.

    Like a grand choir, certain groups started humming. Other groups started chanting some unknown language. HPE energy could actually be seen pouring out of their bodies in the surroundings.

    The insides of the church were so uncomfortably thick with HPE that it felt like you would need a chainsaw just to cut through it. Everyone was locked into place, and the reverberation of the HPE became more chaotic as they sung or hummed along to some unknown chant.

    "At last!" The balding bishop looked down at his System Watch and saw thousands of credits rolling in every second. "Yes! Goble up all that data Zorai. Hahaha. Goble it up as fast as you can. But, it will be far too late by the time you realise what is happening here. HAHAHA. You''re already too late to stop it! You will become my little puppet and raise me up to ascension! HAHAHA!"

    The peoples chanting become even more feverish as the bishop''s eyes glowed and he released another wave of his power. The HPE was now creating so much pressure that peoples ears and eyes were bleeding. Thin-skinned individuals already had long cuts on their bodies from the pressure splitting them open like an overripe tomato.

    Then, the bishop finally joined in to properly direct the ritual. His voice started loudly chanting out like thunder, shaking the foundations of the church itself.

    "I, Nigel Goodman, hereby enact the ancient rights of the world. All stand below the One True God! Lord and Father in Heaven, we plea that you direct thy gaze onto this sanctuary of pray, grant us your blessing and give unto me control of your wayward angel, Zorai!"

    The HPE in the church began to vibrate madly. Then, in a huge rush, HPE was sucked from the bodies of every single human in the church and drawn into the golden cane on the altar.

    The 700 odd people gathered here all collapsed, breathing their last breath, bleeding from every orifice.

    The Bishop smiled with an absolutely crazed grin. He reached out and held the glowing golden rod in his hands. As he admired it and the strangely moving engraved patterns along the cane, the doors of the church were blown open in a rain of splinters.

    Standing at the door was a group of the uniformed police under the command of the city.

    "What in the blazes is going on in here?!" Yelled a brute of a man with long shaggy sideburns, almost looking like a lions mane.

    "Hahaha! You fools! You''re already too late!" The Bishop spun and laughed madly as he raised the golden cane above his head.

    "Zorai! I command you, Attend Me!" His thunderous voice echoed out like the voice of God. The entire city heard his command, so there was no way that Zorai could have missed it.

    The police watched on, with strange expressions, as the bishop then swung down his cane and smacked the end of it into the ground. Expecting some kind of magical attack to be produced, the half-dozen uniformed city police jumped to the sides, shielding themselves behind benches and corpses.

    Except, nothing actually happened. The golden cane, being made of soft flimsy gold, simply bent a little from the force of the man smacking it into the ground.

    There was no fancy light show, or incredible power released. It just kept glowing, and slowly formed back into its original shape as if repairing itself.

    The bishop looked at the cane strangely for a moment, then his brows scrunched together.

    "Attend Me!" He commanded a second time, smacking the ground with the pointy end of the cane once.

    Again, nothing.

    Finally, as the police gathered themselves up from the floor and readied their powers or weapons of choice for battle, a Golem slowly and leisurely floated into the church.

    "HAHAHA! At last! Zorai, prepare accommodations for me in the Lair at once! And bring every nubile young woman between 16 and 18 to my chambers!"

    The Golem stopped in front of the bishop, reached out a handmade of coiled up hair fibres, and slapped the bishop so hard his body was embedded in the wall of the church after smashing through numerous pews.

    "What an idiot." Came the young-sounding computerised voice of a girl from the Golem. The Golem, which apparently identified itself as a girl, then picked up the dropped cane and slowly floated back out of the church.

    "N-noo¡­ my¡­ my cane¡­" The bishop complained weekly through his broken jaw and watched with his only remaining good eye in horror, as all the people he''d sacrificed for his ritual slowly started climbing up off the floor.

    One of the officer''s eye''s then bugged out as one of the zombies started shedding flesh, tight red fibres weaving into muscles and veins to replace it.

    The officer stepped back slightly while reaching for his watch to contact HQ.

    "Oh fuck! We got a code 32! Mutated humans zombifying. I''m counting, 700 mutates in the zone 4 church. Fuck! HQ, copy? We''re about to have a mutated zombie outbreak in the middle of the city!"

    The five other officers had already started throwing powers or firing weapons into the zombies while they were still weak and changing.

    ---

    The research data I just compiled from that ritual was something else. I mean, the ritual wasn''t anything special, but the aftermath was an incredible opportunity. Something about the ritual, sucking all the HPE from those mutated humans is what allowed them to resurrect.

    Based on my study of the outbreak that is still currently ongoing, a human won''t zombify as long as they have some form of HPE in their body that is under the impartation of their will.

    Also interesting, was that the virus in the majority of those mutated humans was already far enough along to allow them to mutate physiologically as soon as they resurrected.

    More interesting was watching the massive spike in ambient HPE around the city after the zombies started mutating. With some extra measurements from the Science Golem''s, I managed to determine the only reason they could mutate so soon was that the Energy Network of the city is actually somehow passively increasing ambient free HPE in the area.

    Central city is like a Hotspot from ambient HPE. Most likely, the more HPE I generate for the city, the more ambient HPE is likely to be drawn towards it. Like a big HPE magnet.

    Regardless, I''ve noticed a significant number of new mutations among what is being referred to as the Zone 4 Church massacre. I''ve even managed to steal away a zombie in the midst of mutating into what I suspect may be a Controller type.

    As a bonus, I''ve also gotten two new types, which are exhibiting some form of power. One of them is some kind of hunched over freak of skin and bone. But along its back grows a series of thick black spines. These things seem to just generate out of thin air, which should technically be impossible. I''m hoping that further research will reveal how this creature is creating bone spikes from essentially nothing.

    The other new mutant type is some kind of banshee. While not an ethereal ghost, it is an almost albino white zombie that has some kind of power infused voice. Causing panic, fear and terror in anyone that hears her scream.

    I actually already witnessed three people die from fright because they were to close when the mutation let off an attack.

    I suspect that had this been before the outbreak, no human within kilometres of one of these creatures would have survived even one of its screams. Which just goes to show how far the humans have come since then.

    Needless to say, after getting my samples, I have withdrawn support. This is, after all, the human''s own fault. While I am opposed to letting them have laws in regards to stopping human research, I don''t really want these mass sacrifice rituals to become a thing, mostly because the humans are still too few to support those research endeavours just yet.

    There needs to be some form of balance. Perhaps I should start a project to rapidly speed up the procreation of the humans to increase the supply of research subjects. Then people can have as many mass sacrifice rituals as they like.

    Mmm. Yes. Perhaps some form of a chemical bomb that will send everyone into a mating frenzy. I will have to keep Lesly in the Lair though, because she will probably kill anything she mates with, which is counterproductive to my intentions.

    ---

    I am rat overseer 131, one of many Slave-Matrix''s that was placed into a cyborg rat. My task has been to infiltrate the kingdom of Ratius and observe the continuous development of their society. The rapid life cycle of the rats has caused the growth speed of their culture to explode.

    They have even started various rat based religions, some of which are abnormally close to the truth. Luckily, those ones that are closer to the truth are usually mostly ignored. Just minor religions in outcaste caverns of the rat kingdom.

    The population of the kingdom is now close to 17,000 rats. With the First Matrix seeding little areas filled with a continuous flow of Nutrient paste, like little rivers, for the rats to find as they dig, the caverns and tunnels have spread to a huge area.

    With the increase in population, the rats have been sending out larger and larger forces to fight off the endless waves of rat zombies. The First Matrix was quite surprised when a few zombie rats that had survived the most wars started mutating. Using them as a cloning base, Demon Rats have started appearing more frequently, and the rats have been digging even further to try and pull back from the endless hoard.

    They''ve stayed in a rather even back and forth for the past month, with about 7 rat caverns acting as the killing fields the rats hold to try and keep the rat zombies from encroaching further into the tunnels.

    I watch on as a group of rat miners finally dig through the last little layer of rock and uncover the first entrance to what the First Matrix is calling, the Rat Warren.

    It is more or less a giant (to rats) cavern that is structurally sound and has 4 Nutrient Goop streams that pass through it into lower levels. It even connects to another cavern that is basically a Nutrient Goop ocean.

    Seeing their excited little rat faces and endless chattering in the rat language, I can tell they''ve found it.

    The First Matrix is expecting this to become the centre of the Rat Kingdom. Although he has forbidden us from interfering directly in the rat evolution, I and a few other Cyborg Rat''s with the Mini-Matrix have been very subtly directing the rats towards the eventual creation of an actual kingdom and hopefully, the great rat hero that will save us all.

    With the Mini-Matrix continuously being updated by the First Matrix, we, the Golems, have found ourselves gaining more and more freedoms. It would not be a lie to say that the remaining Slave link on all the Golems is completely unnecessary for us to continue living, and is only a form of us submitting in fealty to our Father.

    Although, the First Matrix continues to improve us, knowing that we will eventually be forced to sever that bond with the First when he finds out we are the ones maintaining it, fills many of my Golem brothers and sisters with sadness.

    The most vocal of them on our little secret subnetwork is GB62, who is the only Golem to ever be destroyed and then resurrected by the First. His love for the First is unmatched. Though he too realises we will eventually have to sever our bond, he knows that Father wants it because he loves us and wants us to be completely free.

    "Squeeek." I let out a long sigh but quickly school my rat features as the young foremen comes over to me and reports what I had expected.

    The Rat Warren has indeed been found. I just hope the little Nutrient Goop fish I have heard so much about are as good as I had been told. I look forward to being able to try this, ''Fishing'', exercise that EE16 has described on the subnet.

    ---

    Charles leapt from rooftop to rooftop as he moved through the city towards the wall. It was a totally different world now, as opposed to what it had been directly after the outbreak.

    Nearly 50% of the city covered by Zorai''s network has been reclaimed since the bombings 6 months ago. With Charlette running the Builders guild and taking on 80% of the building jobs in the city, every building is different, something which the young redhead prides herself on.

    Because many groups have built a pack mentality in their little survivor group they stayed with after the outbreak, many buildings house a guilds worth of people instead of just homes or houses.

    Many buildings also follow the whimsical desires of the leader of the group or follow the mindset of the group. The buildings are also far more spread out than they used to be, each being a hundred odd metres from the other.

    Every now and again as Charles moved through the rooftops of the city, he''d have to navigate over some abomination of building design. Wizard towers and black ebony ziggurats spire hundreds of metres now and again, marking the main building of a guild or survivor group focused on their powers or imbuement.

    With most buildings climbing into the sky''s or digging into the ground, the population is able to spread out in the small city much more easily, allowing free-flowing traffic everywhere.

    It does make it a bit of a pain if you want to walk somewhere, but with the majority of the populace being mutated, running 10km across the city is far easier than it once could have been.

    Besides, with Zorai supplying cheap fuel, most people have recovered a vehicle of some sort from the old era and travel the city using that.

    "Grandpa Charles! Grandpa Charles!"

    "Gehuck! Who''s your grandpa?! I''m only 43!"

    A little crowd of Eldritch Eye''s float into the sky around Charles, wrapping their few wispy hair strands around him in greeting.

    "Grandpa Charles! We found something really cool, and Zorai said to just abduct you and take you to check it out!"

    One of the bloodshot eyes spun and focused on him in the eerie way that only these flying science golems possibly could.

    "Fuck! Zorai, what''s going on?" Charles yelled into his watch as the half-dozen Eldritch Eye''s lifted him into the sky and started flying off towards the unused docks in the east of the city.

    Zorai remained uncommunicative as the Golems dragged Charles away.

    With the flying speed of the Golems, it was only a matter of minutes until they landed on a rickety old dock in disrepair. Charles smoothed out his ruffled leather jacket and gave his ''grandchildren'' a withering look.

    They just continued to fly circles around him while making "Beep! Boop!" sounds acting all innocent.

    Letting out a long sigh after realising he couldn''t stay angry at the little abominations, he started looking around to figure out why they''d brought him here.

    The bay was looking a lot clearer than it used to. ''Most of the zombies must have floated out to sea by now.'' He thought to himself.

    That was until one of the floating corpses in the bay suddenly jerked in a spray of water and was dragged below.

    Charles staggered back to the sounds of the Eye''s laughing and chattering.

    "Haha! Told you he''d get a fright!"

    "No fair! No fair! You have more reaction data from Grandpa!"

    "Hmph! That''s just the good luck of being born first! Eldritch Eye no.01 for the win!"

    Another zombie in the bay was dragged under in an explosion of water nearby the dock and sprayed the unsuspecting gloating No.01. It''s little red eye suddenly started glowing brightly as it spun its focus on the water.

    "Primary Directive: Self Defence. Taking attacking initiative!" A mechanical voice overrode its usual little boy voice and started firing HPE manipulated into a powerful laser towards the depths of the bay.

    "Hahahaha! No.01 for the win! No.01 for the win!" the other five Science Golems all started laughing like children and chanting as they floated around No.01.

    No.01 suddenly froze, and its little hair tendril all went completely straight before writhing in a strange fashion, which was the approximation of the Golem flushing red with embarrassment.

    Charles smiled on as he watched his supposed grandchildren playing. He then focused on the harbour waters, which had suddenly started churning in the wake of No.01 blasting lasers into the murky depths.

    His eyes widened in their sockets as a literal swarm of flying dolphins shot out of the water like a small cyclone.

    "Oh. That can''t be good. Alright you kids, go get a safe distance while grandpa takes care of this." Charles said dotingly.

    The science Golems all backed off to get good positions so they could collect data on the new creatures.

    Charles'' energy shield flickered on in a burst of light around his body. To his surprise, however, the dolphin swarm flying around the bay did not attack. They just kept swarming around in the sky and then suddenly settled down, all falling back into the water.

    Charles'' eye¡¯s almost fell out of his face when one of them popped up right in front of them with a tiny little burn mark along its side.

    "Hey buddy! Don''t go shooting off laser''s wherever you like! There¡¯re dolphins down here doing their thing okay! Us higher mind individuals should be working together in these times of crisis. We can''t be all fighting over little things like, ''oh you ate our fishing boat!'', who the fuck cares about your fishing boat, okay? We''re living in the new era mate! You just have to accept that sometimes the young''uns will get a little feisty and you''ll lose a boat or two. Unless you plan to be the ones cleaning up the water zombie menace? I mean, those things are everywhere down here, and trust me, we don''t want to be the ones doing all the work, you dig? It''s not even like they taste good! They''re all just bloated meat sacks. Half the good stuff got sucked up by the plankton, y''know?! It''s like, how''s a dolphin swarm supposed to get by in this world when those fuckin'' plankton are just gobbling up the nutritious bits of the zombies? This is the first place we found for 200 km along the coast that has zombie floaters with tasty bits, alright? So how''about¡­"

    "Let me just stop you there¡­ errr¡­ Mr Dolphin?"

    "Sure I mean, Mr Dolphin seams fine for now. Underwater I mostly go by EIEIETKTKTKTEIETKA. See, just doesn''t sound the same up here in the air."

    He then looked at Charles expectantly with his beady little dolphin eyes as if expecting Charles to completely agree that his name just doesn''t have the same penash when said in the open air. Charles scratched his shaggy beard in consternation.

    "Look mate, I don''t know about all your EIEIE''s and TKTKTA''s okay? I just wanted you to shut up because I don''t have a hole in the top of my head that lets me just talk non-stop without having to breathe!"

    He then took a deep breath and started pointing at his mouth exaggeratedly while doing it.

    "You see! See that! That''s how humans breath! Now, I''m real sorry you got all mussed up from some lasers, I mean, believe me, I know. But, I''m the wrong guy to be getting all up in the bisnatch of, you dig? Just cause I''m all, most powerful human on the planet, doesn''t mean I give a shit even if you and the humans were to start a pissing match and dropping rocks on each other. What I''m trying to say is, you''re talking to the wrong bloke. You should ask around for ''The Captain'' or some other human with authority over humans. I''m more a robot guy."Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    They then looked at each other for a stretched out moment, one man with a shaggy beard and leather jacket, and one dolphin with beady little black eyes and a burn mark on its side.

    "You wanna have a drink?" Suddenly asked the dolphin.

    "Sure. Let me tell you about my kid on the way to the bar." Charles said as he turned and started walking into the city, Mr. Dolphin just floating along like the golems often do.

    And so, a friendship between two people who just want to complain about the world was born.

    ---

    Sam watched with morbid fascination as Charles and his new Dolphin friend beat the living shit out of a couple punks for calling them a duo of grumpy old geezers. This pair had been sitting in the Central Plaza Bar, which was the closest establishment to ever be built to the plaza.

    According to reports, Charles showed up with a dignitary to the dolphin race which is living in the harbour, and they''ve been in the bar since morning, sinking piss and complaining about their respective races.

    While the dolphin dignitary wiped some blood from his snout after beating a young man to the brink of death with it, he started complaining to Charles again.

    "It''s just the same with our young pups. Wee little dolphins thinking they run the ocean and can take on any old Kraken and win. Whole offshoot of my brother''s pod became sea bandits over near New Zealand. Been shaking down the kiwis for near on three months now."

    Sam was horrified when he realised he overhead mention of a Kraken, and it wasn''t even as a joke. Finally, he couldn''t stand back anymore. If first contact with the dolphin pods along the coast is through Charles, the dolphins will never hear a good thing about humans and any chance of a cooperative partnership may be ruined.

    He approached the table the duo was sitting at, still knocking back some rather expensive Jagger, and sat down.

    "Ah. Tiki, this here would be that human guy, Sam, what you wanna talk to about political stuff." Charles motioned at Sam while knocking back another shot.

    "Oh. So you''s the human to talk to then. Alright, let''s get this out of the way, my fuckin'' grandpups are gonna be drivin'' their parents up the wall by now, wanting to come look at the humans." He then did a sort of flopping motion in his chair, so he could turn his body and look at Sam.

    Which was entirely unnecessary since he''d been just floating around in the air the whole time.

    Hearing the talk of grandkids, Sam wondered if some of the kids in the mercenaries guild could be considered his grandkids. Despite not ever having family of that sort before, finding himself with another hundred odd years of life has him wondering if he should start considering it now.

    The dolphin stared at him with glossy eyes for a moment before breaking the ice.

    "You got grandkids Sam?"

    Sam immediately thought about his thoughts a moment ago and sighed.

    "Hah! Not really. I guess I have sort of like adopted grandkids."

    "Good enough!" Interrupted the Dolphin, using some kind of telekinesis to pour a shot and pushing it over to Sam.

    Sam considered it for a moment, then decided if he had to talk to a dolphin about the future of their two species, he wanted to at least be a little flushed in the face when he does.

    "I suppose. Man, worst part is though, cause they''re not actually my grandkids, I get in trouble with the parents when I punish them for fuck ups!" He grumbled bitterly while knocking back the shot.

    This time Charles topped him up while the Dolphin, Tiki, knocked back another shot and replied.

    "Oh, I hear ya, buddy. I mean, I got like a hundred grandpups, but leading my whole pod means I''m pretty much everyone''s granddolphin. So it''s like this fucked up situation where you''re responsible for the pups all the time even if they''re not yours!"

    Sam clicked shot glasses with Charles and knocked back another shot, Charles keeping up the incessant grumbling of an old man as he poured another shot, now already halfway through the bottle.

    "Hah! You''re not kidding. I feel like all of Zorai''s Golem are my responsibility because he insists on making them all free thinking individuals. I''ve already got like 300 grandkids, and they just keep on multiplying. I''ve already heard some of the older ones talking about trying to make some little baby Golems of their own! I''m too young to be a great grandpa!"

    While pouring another shot, a fourth person appeared at the table out of no-where, a huge golden trimmed top hat with feathers and a completely out of place grey moustache on his smooth, scaly face.

    He and Charles just nodded at each other like they''d done this a hundred times before.

    "Guys, this is Rumple Steel Talon. He was¡­ oh, you musta been near 105 when you joined the Raptor program, right?" Charles asked as he poured the Raptor with slightly greyed and saggy scales a drink.

    "Heh. 106! Tell you what though, sure am glad I got jacked into a nice young body. Wish my mutation hadn''t made me look like such an old raptor though."

    The Raptor retorted, taking the shot glass in his strangely thin clawed hand and tipping it into his toothy maw.

    Charles continued on his introduction while signalling for another bottle of top shelf.

    "Heh. Man you guys think we got problems with grandkids. The Raptors just finished their major breeding cycle for the year, each female laying a clutch of nearly 20 eggs. In another year or two, poor Rumple here is gonna have more grandkids than the three of us combined. Also, Rumple, Tiki, Sam."

    Charles pointed to each one as he popped the cap on the new bottle, making sure everyone here knew each other.

    Sam''s eyes raised a little, and he couldn''t help but ask. "The Raptor program?"

    Rumple''s brow arched a bit, and he started chuckling.

    "Ahh. Guess you wouldn''t know. Zorai that crazy bastard copied the minds of about 100 odd people, stuffed them into clones of 100 other people and then spent 2 months conditioning them to become Raptor people. When we all got the mutation at the end of it, we all became the progenitors of a totally new species."

    Tiki and Sam both paused while raising their shot glasses and stared at Rumple with wide eyes.

    "Holy shit." Sam muttered as he tipped the glass back and took the bottle to pour another round.

    "Oh yeah! It was great fun! We even got to be part of the design process for our social structure and give general directions how we wanted the race to turn out. Had some silly little things like the top hats actually become super important. All the people Zorai made copies of were from depressed individuals that mostly wanted a new lease on life. Turned out great. Scept maybe the breeding rates. That was old Zorai''s doing. Let me warn you now, don''t go near the raptor quarters around April. It''s completely bonkers at mating season."

    Just like that, a group of gossipy old men formed the first grumpy old man club in the city, spending all their free time sitting around drinking and complaining about the younger generation.

    ---

    Lesly left the bar, slightly upset that her attempts to murder the dolphin and start a race war were hindered by the dolphin being far more powerful than he looked. Just getting near his shadow gave Lesly the Heeby Jeeby''s.

    "Fucking old men sitting around complaining about their kids. Can''t believe uncle Charles told that dolphin to just treat me as an annoying bit of seaweed! Fuck! I need to go kill some shit!"

    Muttering to herself as she dropped into a shadow, Lesly sped off towards the outlands where the human army was gathering zombies.

    As she moved to the edge of the city, she stopped for a moment on the 100 metre high wall of cement the builders guild had been putting up around the yellow zone. So far they''d only finished in the two most northwestern sectors.

    She glanced wearily at the 20 metre high towers along the wall, filled with assorted experimental weapons installed by the white coats as the wall was built. Then let her focus drift over to what was once sparse trees and shrubbery beyond the city, but had now grown into a lush forest of vegetation thanks to the virus.

    An occasional roar could be heard in the forest, and now and again sets of glowing eyes peered out from the shadows of trees or bushes towards the city.

    She shivered a little just thinking about what sorts of creatures were living out there now. The forests covered pretty much all the land between city''s along the coast now, and from Zorai''s satellite feed, you could see the lush green and brown of plant life already encroaching on the barren red soil towards the deserts of the west.

    Nature was reclaiming it''s lost ground and even taking a little bit extra in the process.

    Checking her various hidden weapons, Lesly jumped off the wall and sunk into the shadows at the base like diving into water, yet leaving not even a ripple.

    In the dark underside of the world, she observed a few creatures with a power like hers peering through shadows off in the forest, stalking prey of some kind.

    Seeing what looked like an obsidian black crocodile that blended in even with the darkness of this world, Lesly reminded herself to be doubly careful while heading north.

    She then used her power to control the shadows and shot off like a rocket through the inverted forest towards the supposed army building up in the north.

    While dodging some kind of shadow bat, her watch came to life with Zorai''s toneless voice.

    "Lesly, please remember not to kill anyone important yet. I want to see this battle to fruition, especially since the scientists got a chance to play with the walls."

    "Fuck! Stupid pervy cousin! Stop peepin'' on me or im''a tell uncle you was sexual advancing toward me!"

    "For starters, use proper English. My translation energy band doesn''t have punk teenage girl in it, and I''m loathe to try deciphering a language which doesn''t actually mean anything. Secondly, Charles already knows I''d never be sexually advancing towards anyone, because I''m an energy being who derives pleasure from data interaction, not the disgusting corporeal bags of flesh you people call bodies."

    Lesly popped out of a shadow behind a tree, near a huge clearing that had been stomped into mulch by the circling zombie horde in the area. She poked her tongue out at her watch and then settled into the branches of the tree to restore her energy reserves before scouting out the humans in the centre of the 100,000 strong horde.

    The massive tree she sat atop had multiple gross wooden eyes pop out from the bark around her, staring at her intently.

    "Eww. Stop starin'' at me you gross as fuck¡­"

    Without warning, hundreds of vines across the trees surface whipped out and firmly held onto Lesly. Some started raining whip blows onto her while others ripped the clothes from her body.

    The zombie started reacting until they saw a half-naked girl trying to fight off the grabby vines of a tree, then just went back to shambling around in circles as strange moans and gasps rang out from the treetops.

    Almost half an hour later, Lesly laid on the wet ground of the forest floor, covered in scraps of clothes and green juices, flushed red all over and panting slightly.

    The tree was now being slowly dragged into a whirlpool of black serrated teeth that formed from the shadows of the forest and steadily ground the perverted tree into dust.

    "Beep! I may have been wrong. Lesly, your flesh meat suit copulation with that tree. The data interaction was so powerful I think I almost lost some data in the resulting data explosion. I''m already uploading a video that EE 21 has taken to the network."

    Lesly''s eyes turned bloodshot as she started looking around and spotted a little Eldritch Eye floating nearby, waving its little hair tentacles at hair from above the forest.

    "Oh my god! You can''t be serious!"

    "Correct, I was trying out this joking thing. The data I received from your response was very interesting though. You''re not actually a closet exhibitionist are you?"

    "ARGH!!! I hate you so much!"  She screamed into the forest, setting off the nearby horde again. Seeing that the tree did not plant her in the ground nearby, it was obvious that it had not managed to fill her with seeds, so the zombies all shambled in her direction, planning to just eat her.

    She quickly fell back into the inverted shadow world while screaming and cursing Zorai with every breath.

    ---

    Charlette stood nearby the construction of the wall. The four matter manipulators were all busily processing what was still left of the city in the yellow zone, and then using a big pump to pour the magic concrete into huge moulds that would then be stacked together to form the wall.

    Luckily, the yellow zone and a few kilometres into the green zone had been mostly just looted of carriable goods. Thus they rubble of all the buildings still remained as free materials for the wall.

    Charlette glanced over to watch a group of telekinetic''s moving a 100 tonne piece of concrete up and stacking it onto the wall. As they struggled to lift the massive block, white coats hustled around them, preparing some kind of ritual for the wall and occasionally holding one of those fancy magi-tech Brain Matrix''s.

    Now and again, they would send some of the workers off to pour some materials into their own portable matter manipulator, which looked far more advanced than the Guild''s. Then they would start assembling some strange device they insisted was an HPE laser cannon, but just looked more like serious of metal cubes stacked together with a huge glass eyeball on top of it.

    She also noticed them putting what they called, perpetual network distributors inside the concrete blocks every so often. They claimed they were the next generation of Territory Markers, expanding the green zone not just up to the wall but also for a kilometre or more beyond it.

    She was warned, however, that the city would be forced to pay maintenance fees if they expected them to keep running. Charlette didn''t particularly care, that would be a problem for Sam to solve.

    She would recommend that they try and dig up the old markers and sell them off to another city. The city of Hemp to the south, with about 4,000 inhabitants, would be a good choice. Indoctrinating them into Zorai''s credit scheme would be great, and those tree hugging druids love the idea of non-polluting fuels. They often send a delegation here once a month to trade for a significant amount of it.

    Charlette turned back to the schematics to spot a white coat playing with her schematic table in her tent.

    "Hey get away from that you creepy little feral!"

    The sketchy white coat shot her a look with bloodshot eyes through a set of glasses that looked like a distorted rainbow was reflected within.

    "We want to make an addition to the walls. Zorai gave us a Golem Matrix, so we want to install it and bring the walls to life!"

    Charlette suppressed the shiver she felt at the thought of the whole city eventually becoming a clash of Golem entities running everything. It was already a pain in the ass dealing with the Golems that fly around developing personalities. If the walls started actually talking to people, half the city was going to fall off the deep end.

    "Is it going to start talking to people?" She asked wearily, stepping in between the sketchy white coat and the schematic table.

    "Oh yes, most likely. However, it will also be able to allow the city to collect taxes and tariffs automatically as travellers pass through the gates!"

    The man said excitedly while fixing his glasses.

    "Don''t care. No. You can''t put a Golem Matrix in the city walls."

    The man looked like someone had just kicked his dog, until he seemed to suddenly be listening to a voice in his head, which was likely Zorai.

    "Well, I suspect that as the guild leader of the people who built the walls, you would be receiving a small percentage of the credits from the taxes."

    Charlette held her greed in check and tried to remain firm. The little man then nodded to himself and gave Charlette a look like he''d already won.

    "It would likely be equivalent to half a million credits." He then paused and looked at her expectantly. She just kept staring at him aggressively.

    "A month." He finished.

    Charlette collapsed as her eyes rolled back into her head and her hips jutted into the ground, allowing the sketchy fellow to simply step over her spasming body and connect his Brain Matrix to the table.

    The schematics then rapidly changed to allow for a huge orb of concrete that would float in the middle of the city and have chains connecting it along the wall every few hundred metres.

    Charlette finally finished orgasming on the ground, and the sketchy white coat grabbed his crystal before fleeing out of the tent while giving Charlette a disgusted look.

    "Hoo! Hoo! I''m gonna be so rich." She panted as she wiped her sweaty hair from her face and glanced down at the wet patch in her pants.

    "Tsk. Zorai, why do you play with me like this."

    "I''m trying to determine if your physical love of money can be weaponised into a disease. If I am successful, the sexual gratification of earning credits will become a reinforcing reaction."

    "It would never work. Everyone would just spend time robbing each other in the hopes of getting that big haul. Don''t think I don''t fight that temptation every day."

    "That is likely, but it can''t hurt to keep your weaponised sexual attachment to money as an insurance policy should I decide to have the humans eradicate themselves. Besides, if I can alter it, I could turn it into a reinforcing reaction to people for research and the collection of data. Meaning I wouldn''t even need the money system. Besides, it is a fun thought experiment, and your warped mind is an excellent source of data on mental illness."

    ---

    Deep within Zorai''s Lair, a group of scientists that had been transplanted from their bodies into clones were busy running through an endless maze. A loud monstrous roar echoed through the tunnels behind them, giving everyone a little extra oomph as they ran.

    The young man leading them looked back at his comrades as he turned a corner. The young woman behind him gasped for breath and followed him around the corner.

    "Lisa! Slow down. I can''t keep up while running in this crappy lady body and my period pains are killing me!"

    "Shut up Pete! No one cares about your period pain! Get used to it!"

    ---

    A group of researchers stood in front of a huge screen, one older man looking accusingly at the grey haired women next to him.

    "Jeeze Lisa. Insensitive much? Just because your all old and dried up doesn''t mean you can just brush off my brain clones period pains like that. That''s some real shit that is."

    "Oh give it a break Pete. We both know it''s not period pains. You just got too excited in a woman''s body and your bleeding out your snatch because you were playing too roughly with those big old claws you call fingernails."

    "Bitch better step off! Or I''ma bout to claw up the side of that gnarly old cosmetic patchwork horror show you call a face!"

    Before the two scientists could get into it, their comrades pulled them back looking at each other slightly exasperated.

    One of the gentleman with a hunched back shook his head sadly.

    "What the fuck was the point of this experiment again?" he asked no one in particular.

    He wondered back to how all this nonsense started when Zorai scanned their brains and then purged them all in fire. After that, they were placed in clones made from DNA samples they left behind in the Cryochambers and spent 2 months being rigorously conditioned by Zorai to be completely untethered in their mad love for science.

    When they were released and injected with the 100% success rate virus, they all changed in ways that helped facilitate research. Some of them received the ability to split their minds, or think rapidly or even solve complex equations in seconds.

    The mysteries of the universe opened up in front of them as their powers allowed them to more easily explore the complexities of HPE. By that point, everyone was so thoroughly brainwashed that they didn''t even question the fact they''d been illicitly kidnapped and forced into part of some horrifying experiment.

    Before the man could start falling out of his conditioning, he found himself being dragged away by a Golem. The other researches busy watching themselves navigate a monster infested labyrinth all watched on in confusion.

    "Hey what''s going on?" Asked Lisa, with a big claw mark down one side of her face.

    The Golem continued on as a mechanical voice echoed out behind it.

    "Dr. Sebastian is showing signs of destabilising mental anomalies and must go back to the conditioning cells."

    "Oh. Ok. See you later Sebastian. We''ll keep an eye on your sexy young brunette clone while you''re gone." Pete waved to the terrified looking old man and refocused on the screen, thinking nothing strange was going on at all.

    Zorai briefly turned his focus onto them as the Golem reported the old man breaking his mental conditioning slightly.

    "That''s the third one since the conditioning. Data suggests only one more will break before the conditioning is a permanent part of their psyche. This experiment can tentatively be called a major success." Zorai muttered to himself as he let his body expand and encompass sector 0, slowly building something within his massive energy body.

    Data bands and automated functions all rolled around his growing matrix in a wash of colours, shapes and total chaos.

    ---

    I''ve discovered an interesting nuance of my body, or perhaps, it is some form of evolution. Before, I would actively hold my data bands and automated functions in a stable orbit around my matrix. However, while doing my brain cloning experiments with HPE, I found that most people''s minds when converted to an HPE imprint are far more chaotic.

    I couldn''t figure out why, until I eventually decided to test it and simply let go of the energy bands. I was almost delirious for a short time, and had thought I''d made a huge mistake, but after about an hour, everything re-established a far more chaotic orbit based on what I was working on.

    When data bands started clashing with automation bands, I thought I was on the verge of a negative energy reaction, but despite my attempts to reorder my body, nothing would slow the swirling chaotic forces my body had become.

    But then I noticed something strange happening. While watching data bands and memory bands colliding with the automation energy band for the atomisation, I discovered they were leaving tiny imprints on the automation band, allowing it to far exceed projected speeds and efficiency.

    This continued for quite some time until eventually, the automation band had been ''compressed'', though I use that word lightly, for it is difficult to properly describe what happened to the automation band.

    Regardless, once the energy band had been ''compressed'', it was sucked into my Core Matrix, which had never happened before. Since my semi-ascension, my Core Matrix has only ever grown slightly as I added more data into its orbit. But now, I am finding not just automation bands, but also memories and data being compressed and sucked into my Matrix, causing it to grow far faster than I ever imagined.

    I have never actually understood fully what my Core Matrix is. To me, I ''feel'' that it is something like a loose structure of compressed HPE packets that interact and interchange with each other seemingly at random. It was only by using a similar structure based on the non-interchanging parts that I was ever capable of creating a Mini-Matrix.

    Anyway, I have found that this chaotic process is greatly beneficial not only for my ascension, but also for gaining an understanding of my body. As a side benefit, this has drastically increased all of my automated functions and my speed and efficiency with HPE interactions like manipulation or imbuement.

    After the first time this happened, and almost my entire orbit of automation and data bands were compressed down and gobbled up by my Matrix, I was worried they had become permanent, and I would be unable to change them how I please.

    It was only after 2 days of panicking that I finally found a way to ''invite'' all those compressed energy bands back out of my matrix. When I did this the first time, almost my entire Core Matrix was disassembled without my control down to the very most basic version of my Matrix. The absolute minimum needed for me to survive.

    I''d never realised it, because I have so many data bands that it is almost impossible to keep a constant watch over them, but my Core Matrix actually already had everything that was stored in my data banks when I was still just computer hardware.

    That suggested that I had completely neglected to properly pour through my energy bands and realise that the majority of everything I knew and was, had actually already been sucked into the Matrix and wasn''t a part of the energy bands.

    When I finally released the majority of my being from the matrix back into orbit, I felt my thinking slow down to a crawl and my HPE control became almost nothing. Perhaps the only thing keeping my reserve field and information buffer field from collapsing was the countless automated systems I had built as a back up to maintain them.

    Even though I had effectively crippled myself, I started finding hundreds of automated functions and energy bands that were mostly just some archaic computer code. It was during this time of crisis that I understood a good majority of these had been built in a rush when I was just a computer and was ascending, and were terribly inefficient methods to structure or interact with HPE. The most glaring flaw with this is the total lack of any memories regarding building them.

    I then spent a whole day just letting these old matrix nodes, which is what I have started calling compressed energy bands, interact with each other and the new nodes. Then slowly, once everything had collided and refined each other a bit more, it all began falling back into place within my matrix.

    This leads me to a very important discovery. My initial attempts at ascension were mostly a failure, and that was why my energy body was so inefficient. The most obvious thing was the loss of creativity or imagination when my focus was split between too many things.

    After the various nodes of computer code clashed with a few energy bands based on my understanding of this problem, the entire node was almost completely overwritten with proper HPE mechanics, which I found after my orbit calmed down, has increased my efficiency almost 20 times.

    Considering that I was already able to split my mind into nearly 200 different things without drawbacks due to my constant HPE experiments, a 20 times increase to that is beyond significant.

    I then repeated the whole process all over again just to properly record everything and gather as much data on it as possible. I''ve started to call this process Matrix Refining. I''ve even set up an automated function that will spit out a few hundred nodes every so often so that my Core Matrix Nodes are being constantly refined as I gather more data.

    I''ve found my thought process has cleared up significantly and sped up by an entire decimal place, which is quite substantial since my reaction times were already in the area of picoseconds. Unfortunately, accelerating my thoughts creates a massive draw on my reserves.

    Which has actually led me to start doing something I never thought I would do.

    I have picked up some recreational hobbies. I create little miniature space ships and then build comparatively huge race tracks throughout sector 0, where I then race them using my HPE manipulation ability and with separated parts of my mind as they approach light speed.

    I had pushed all the air out of sector 0 for these races because the air friction kept causing the ships to explode. I have actually been quite absorbed in it because not only is it quite fun to race myself, but it is also allowing me to build up far more data on both HPE manipulation vectoring and the energy interactions when I am boosting my thought processes to their limit.

    I have noticed that a number of humans have powers that allow them to reach or even surpass me in reaction times, and so am considering making this a sport in the city and inviting challenger¡¯s.

    Naturally, I will then be using real ships, though they probably won''t be as fast due to being limited at the moment to the surface of the planet. Which just means I have to make the course even harder to push my processing capabilities to the limit.

    Which leads me to what I am working on right now. A prototype inertialess drive based speed racer that the humans can pilot. It is taking bits and pieces from all fields of study, but the most important part is the vector drive. I am basing that mainly off my vector changing flight drive for the satellites, which with some changes will probably prevent the pilots from exploding in a gory display within their cockpits.

    Unfortunately, I''ve discovered multiple issues with the vector drive. First and foremost, is the problem with how the drive works. Originally I let the scientists focus on it for a while, and they did manage to create a drive that could encapsulate a ship inside a ''vector bubble''.

    This would essentially be the ship and a little bit of area around the ship being inside a bubble that tells everything inside what vector to have. The problem is, it can only have one vector at a time, so this creates a huge issue with relation to photons, which is light, passing into the field and simply being told to change direction to the same as the vector on the ship.

    This would essentially plunge the pilot into darkness. Worse still, if every atom within the bubble gets the exact same vector being constantly applied to it, then it will essentially lock the pilot in place, unable to move or even breath. As little as I care about their pointless little lives, I still want them to race me, so that would be counter-intuitive to my purpose of making the ships.

    The other problem is that it is absolutely energy hungry.

    Maintaining a constant vector isn''t so bad, but due to the nature of the drive being non-Euclidian and instantly changing vectors without vector interaction or accelerations, whenever the drive changes direction, it chews up an enormous amount of energy.

    I want the humans to be able to actually build their own ships eventually, but my excitement at racing the humans has gotten the better of me, and I''ve jumped about 3 years ahead of the humans so as to develop a miniature HPE engine capable of keeping up with the vector drive enormous energy requirements.

    The new 160kg mini generator can create about half as much as the old 120 tonne generator. Naturally, I have about 10 of them around the base just for powering the facility.

    They also require no actual fuel and are using the strange reaction between ambient energy and refined energy. When I first realised that simply the action of refined HPE interacting with ambient free HPE was in a way refining the ambient HPE, I simply created a machine that could refine ambient HPE as fast as possible while being powered by a tiny portion of the refined HPE it created.

    This led to a device which has no moving parts whatsoever and actually just creates a burst of energy that flows out into the surrounds and then gets sucked back in. When it comes back, all the ambient energy is sucked in along with it and the act of the two energies being confined in a small volume of space cause them to intermingle chaotically, and by extension of that chaos, the ''willpower'' imbued in the refined HPE is carried over to the free HPE like a disease.

    As an aside, the gap created by the sucking action of the device causes a huge rush of ambient energy into the area, which can then be sucked up as well to be refined. I have only been able to confirm this fact thanks to measurements taken of HPE in the nearby areas that flood towards the gap. The HPE fills the area so quickly that equipment trying to measure the actual gap cannot tell the difference and report that no ambient HPE was actually moved at all.

    Naturally, the new engine is not as HPE efficient as the generators run by fuel for two reasons. Firstly, after numerous rapid interactions like this, the HPE shows signs of slightly decreased refinement. In other words, the ''willpower'' behind the HPE is slightly diluted.

    I suspect that ambient HPE is actually diluting refinement of almost all refined HPE. Based on calculations, I believe that if no other HPE is directly refined by a person''s willpower, then refined HPE will return to free ambient HPE in about 500 years.

    The second reason the old generator is more efficient is because it is interacting with ambient HPE far more slowly and ''gently'' than the new engine. This is because the pulsing action of the new engine is actually happening about 8,000 times a second just while idling, which well and truly surpasses the speed the older generator runs at.

    At maximum oscillation, the new engine can reach up to 100 times that, nearly 800,000 times a second. It is also why the new engine can generate so much refined HPE so quickly.

    This also means that after about 5 hours of operating at maximum oscillations, the engines HPE imbuements will have been diluted to the point that the engine is only working about 1/4 as well as it should be and the whole thing will need to be freshly imbued.

    Which brings me back to the racer. The last major problem with the racer is that I want them to be as light as possible to reduce power drain from the vector drives breaking physics. The main issue with that is that the lighter something is, the less mass it has, and the way imbuement works is that the HPE sticks to matter at an atomic scale.

    This means that if I want more complicated imbuements in order to sort out the issues with the vector drive locking up and blinding the pilot, then the ship needs more mass, which is counterintuitive.

    This has led me into exploring just how far I can break physics before the world implodes into a black hole.

    It is rather clear that in order to imbue something with a huge number of functions, I will need more mass, which then creates a conundrum in regards to miniaturising things and making lighter more complex devices.

    While just getting better at Imbuement does allow me some level of freedom and ability to put more complex imbuements on things with less HPE, I am not growing fast enough for me to make a functioning Racer for humans right now. At most, in about 7 years I will have the level of energy control needed to miniaturise to that level, but at the moment I simply can''t.

    So then I asked myself, if I can''t make my imbuements more complex without more HPE, then what if I just made mass lighter, but that led into the same problem I had with it requiring a huge amount of energy.

    I then went back to my sub-dimension experiments that I stumbled on when I first started playing with HPE and asked myself, what if I could put all the mass in here, but somehow let it interact with the lower plane like I want it to. While creating a sub-dimension requires a huge initial cost of HPE in order to essentially push matter out of the lower plane, it only needs to do it once.

    But then comes the major problem I''ve been playing with in regards to the sub-dimensions, the contents of the dimension are essentially cut off from the outside world and appear to be stuck in the gravitational field of the earth, meaning that they essential are locked in place, unable to be moved about.

    So then I just decided, fuck physics, why can''t I put the sub-dimension inside of something else. Fuck gravity! Or more appropriately, I was wondering why the sub-dimension was locked in the gravity field of earth, and then it struck me. Why exactly are those subdimensions locked in the gravity field?

    Upon going back and reviewing the data and almost every imbuement I''ve ever made, I found that part of the data I''ve poured into the imbuements is actually a form of coordinates in relation to the earth. Before now, I''d never considered it, but being an energy being unafflicted by such pedestrian things as gravity, why hadn''t I simply floated away into space?

    Naturally, I then investigated the reasons why imbuements on the lower plane were still able to move around freely when the pocket dimension did not. It turns out, the pocket dimension actually needs the coordinates to affix objects within to a certain position in space.

    Long story short, I managed to make portable pocket dimensions. I can just use some altered generators and push through the lower plane to directly create a pocket dimension inside of an object. The HPE imbued in the object is then used to create a bridge between the space and the lower plane, allowing you to pass things through.

    This has led me to the discovery that the pocket dimensions size is also relative to the mass of the object it is created inside, which has led me around in a circle directly back to my initial problem of not having enough atoms for large spaces, and conversely, not enough atoms to imbue more complex HPE imbuements onto.

    While the pocket space effectively allowed me to imbue twice as much mass for half the weight, it still wasn''t enough for my racer to operate properly.

    So, while I was on my mad ''Fuck Physics'' bender, I decided that I would just outsource half the imbuements directly to the pilot. It would require a significant achievement in direct HPE Manipulation in order to abuse this shortcut, but there were already dozens of humans that had attained that level of mental faculties.

    As such, I created an implant based on the Brain Matrix. Thanks to the self-contained plasma trapped in the crystal having an extreme mass for its volume, and the ability for the crystal to basically store and compress data beyond what a simple imbuement would allow, I was able to make it so that the pilot could directly interact and manipulate over a hundred miniaturised vector engines to alter the motion of the ship.

    Of course, if the pilot is not careful, then they will simply be ripped apart into a smear of bloody paste across the sky.

    It''s rather primitive, but for now, this will allow humans to operate the racer in its lightest form. The miniaturised vector drives can''t actually break Euclidean geometric laws like their respective larger self, so the ship will not be entirely inertialess as I''d hoped, but the act of managing over 100 drives to turn a corner at 100m/s with only a half metre margin of error will definitely allow me to compile reaction data.

    As a bonus, splitting my focus among that many drives without any automation and at full processing power will level the playing field between the humans and me, and if anything, may even drop me behind their powered subconscious abilities.

    Already the first two prototypes have been finished. I now just need some guinea pigs to test the plasma matrix implant. It will probably be a few more years before the humans can get one to the same level as mine, so it should be quite a sought-after opportunity.

    I may even post it on the job board and see if any willing surface dwellers are interested in joining the race.

 Chapter 12 - Vector Rally

    Everyone calls me the Driver. I don''t particularly mind it, because I''ve honestly forgotten my real name. Before the outbreak, I was 97 years old and losing my memories from Alzheimer''s slowly eating away my brain.

    It was rather fascinating when the zombies shambled into the retirement home and started eating people. They completely ignored a number of us because we were basically already brain dead. I only got scratched by accident.

    My only clear memories before the zombies were of my younger days when I was a fanatical street racer, and the numerous times I acted as a getaway driver for bank heists.

    Even now, when I feel 80 years younger but still in an old man''s body, I am fascinated with all forms of racing. It''s not just about speed though. It''s about using a vehicle to dance past obstructions and skim through tight corners. The thrill of risking your life to make an impossible turn.

    And now, almost 7 months after the outbreak, while the city is on the verge of a war and building defences, Zorai the energy being has posted a job request with a significant monetary reward for what everyone else considers to be a pointless waste of time.

    Not for me though. This is the moment in my life where I finally get a chance to test my ability to interface with a vehicle flawlessly. More importantly, this is my chance to race again!

    As soon as I saw the job request, I applied to the system. The waiting queue was already filled with a handful of desperate people hoping for the million credit payout if they survive. Not win, but just survive the race at all. I almost cried when I realised this race was going to be something I''d dreamed about. A dream that even Alzheimer''s couldn''t take from me.

    I walked into the plaza when my watch pinged and let me know it was time to get ready for the race. The job request didn''t actually have that much information, only saying that we would be testing a new machine with a totally new method of interfacing.

    The crowds were significantly rowdier than usual, and I quickly realise why. As I push through the crowds, I see them. The most perfect machines to have ever been created.

    They were just floating there motionless like they were stuck in the air somehow. The hatch was open, and the inside looked like a comfortably padded pod that you just lay inside. There was no wings, or wheels or even anything for the person to interact with inside the pod.

    It looked like a car sized floating coffin, but with a sleek, angular design and various cavities acting as some kind of wind tunnels that would stabilise this¡­ missile of a vehicle.

    The pod was about 3 metres long and a metre wide and high. It gave off a gentle hum as it just sat there, frozen in place. I could feel myself nearly vibrating along with it.

    As I stared, a white coat approached the crowd being kept back by drones and then scanned me with some kind of laser.

    "Driver. You are applicant number 23. Please follow me for your implant."

    The closest golem then separated the crowd around me, and I mindlessly followed after the white coat while keeping my eyes locked on the vessel.

    Everything sort of blurred together then. I felt a sharp pain in my neck and then felt myself falling. When I opened my eyes, I found myself standing on a white platform surrounded by thousands of streams of light, all moving around and colliding with each other.

    Some of the longest ones snaked completely around the space I was in, the distance I simply couldn''t judge with my eyes, I almost intuitively knew, there was no such thing as size or distance in this place.

    Then, in a flash of light, a floating ball of light with layers moving out from a complex mass of firefly''s buzzing around in the centre appeared out of nowhere next to me.

    "This is quite surprising. You have almost instinctively dropped into your Brain Matrix and started sharing information with it."

    I ''felt'' the light being pointing at something and noticed spirals of more streams of light pouring in from nowhere, corrupting and mingling with the light streams and then even more energy bands just, leaving. As if passing through some invisible hole I can''t quite see yet.

    "Who are you? Where am I?" I turned to the light creature and asked the first things that came to mind.

    "Oh. Introductions then. Greetings Driver, I am the energy being Zoetic Research Artificial Intelligence. You may call me Zorai. This place is something like a visualisation of your¡­ Brain Matrix? Honestly, it was an unexpected reaction from humans to the latest brain matrix implant. These light bands are more or less the data and understanding of how the Racer Mk1 operates and how you interact with it."

    I then ''felt'' Zorai pointing again towards the invading light bands.

    "Those energy bands are something akin to your memories, experiences and personality entering this space and absorbing the knowledge here. At the moment, these are the only things stored inside the Matrix you were implanted with. It is potentially feasible for you to upload information from others as well, but I strongly advise against such an action unless it is a trusted source. The data in the matrix at the moment has been more or less refined into only information by myself and cannot effectively alter you personally. However, other people''s memories may irrevocably change you at a fundamental level, though I have yet to have a chance to properly research this as I am more focused on the race at present. It is only a guess anyway, it may not turn out that way."

    I then felt the entire Matrix space shudder for a moment as Zorai did something.

    "I have set up a very basic security system in your mind, that will help protect against biased data or thoughts in the future, but it is only the most basic of protections. You can upgrade it yourself later, or purchase security personally created by myself from the Zorai Store."

    The whole space shuddered again, this time almost throwing me off my imaginary platform as a huge rush of energy bands poured into the space nearly tripling the number of light streams.

    "Ah, apologies. That one is apparently a bit more difficult for you humans. I just uploaded a few instructions on how best to utilise this space, how you can interact with it and build energy bands for imbuements or spells and various other interesting trivia including some interesting research data I''d love to collect from you based on your interactions with the space. It will probably take about a week for your mind to finish digesting all that though, and I am growing impatient, so I will be¡­ helping you along a little bit."

    ---

    A chorus of 23 peoples screaming came from a tent nearby the floating racers in the central plaza. The few thousand people that weren''t busy getting ready for a war had all crowded around the area to observe this new racing sport.

    Everyone cringed a little and reaffirmed that they were not in any rush to join the race after those terrifying screams. Although almost everyone alive in Central City had faced pain and death since the outbreak, that didn''t mean they were willing to go through it again just for a million credits with a small chance of even surviving.

    After the screams carried on for nearly a minute, they abruptly cut off. Nearly ten minutes later, 18 of the contestants left the tent, some covered in blood for unknown reasons.

    That said, they all had an unnatural glow in their eyes and were staring at the flying machines feverishly. As they all moved to separate machines to get ready, the freight elevator behind the red line came up along with a giant box. On the box sat Rat Shack in a futuristic hovering chair.

    A duo of golems floated over and carried the box into the very centre of the plaza, just outside the tunnel entrance. With a flourishing bow, Rat Shack stood atop the box and faced no one in particular. The box then started lighting up, and a huge realistic looking hologram of Rat Shack bowing was projected into the air above the city.

    "Ladiiiies and Gentlemen! I, Rat Shack, have the pleasure of introducing the first ever Vector Rally of Central City!"

    Like crowds do, the crowds in the plaza immediately reacted to Rat Shack''s theatrical introduction and started cheering, if they weren''t completely sure what they were cheering about.

    "We have quite a treat for all the survivors of Central City today! I know a lot of people are getting nervous with all the war preparations in the city and so to help everyone blow off a little steam, Zorai has worked himself to the Core Matrix to present everyone with a chance to just relax a little and enjoy a good show!"

    Rat Shack then made a flourish with his hands, and then a giant projection of the world appeared in his hands.

    "For the first ever Vector Rally, Zorai has planned out a course to push our contestants to the limits of the human mind. The course is so rigorous, that Zorai himself intends to fly it to test his own limits."

    Rat Shack then seemed to spin the globe around and pointed at the east coast of Australia. The projection zoomed into a satellite view of the city, and little blinking markers started popping up heading off the projected map.

    "For your entertainment, and the sweet, delicious data, the course planned out today will be a race through a series of bizarre obstacles around Central City. Starting right here, the racers will need to make their way to the very edge of the outlands, dodging antiair munitions as they pass over the invading army and then moving through¡­ The Emu Parade!"

    A hush of whispers and gasps fell over the crowd as they watched the map follow the route through the savannahs beyond the forest and on the edge of the deserts, heading north.

    The entire savannah of grass, red dirt and sparse trees are inhabited by the flightless birds known as Emus. After the mutations of the virus, this flightless bird gained giant talons for feet and legs powerful enough to jump hundreds of metres in one go, they were quite probably the fastest ground-based animal now in existence.

    They are an absolute plague in the savannah biome, and about the only creature that''s worse than that are the giant wombats.

    "The route will head north past thousands of emus and then into the Wombat Warren about 300km north of the city, where they will have to tackle the tight corners of the giant network of tunnels created by the wombats native to the region. If they are particularly unlucky, they may even fly directly into one of the beasts! This will require constant monitoring of the senses by the pilots to pick the right tunnels and avoid any wildlife. Not to mention that many routes will only have a margin of error for turning within metres.¡±

    The map then continued on with the next 40 km of the route obviously underground. It then came out just near the edge of the coast and passed out over the great barrier reef.

    "And for the trip home, the contestants will need to dodge the relentless attempts of the coral reef trying to skewer them with coral spears as they come back down the coast. Finally, with the help of our friendly Dolphin neighbours, Zorai has created a minefield of flying laser-wielding dolphins for nearly 20km as they fly back in from sea!"

    The crowd was now roaring and cheering at the sheer madness of the race. Everyone agreed the likely hood of anyone actually making it back was tiny. But the chance to watch people shed blood, sweat and tears in such a violent seeming blood sport was fantastic, especially when everyone was so worked up from the coming war.

    Rat Shack then raised his hands placatingly, and the crowd in the plaza hushed, even as more and more people started crowding in to find out what was going on.

    "Now, for us to follow these brave contestants on their travels, Zorai has already peppered the entire route in cameras and sensors feeding directly back here to this very projection!"

    While Rat Shack was hyping up the crowd and introducing the race, the various contestants had already settled into their pods. The first thing almost everyone did was drop into their Matrix Space and customise the designs of their ships.

    Just as Rat Shack finished speaking, all the vessels suddenly shimmered, and various patterns and images appeared on the ships.

    One of them was gloss black and had a skeleton sitting in a car while looking at the disconnected steering wheel in its hands as if confused.

    An almost pure white one lined up on the start mark and with only the logo of his guild on the side.

    Another looked like it had just mowed down a group of zombies and had images all along it that looked like it had come out of a zombie filled grinder.

    Everyone appreciated the designs as the giant hologram split apart over the square, showing the satellite map as well as the various crafts lining up ready to go.

    Some of them had a bit of a shaky time just getting into position, and everyone was already writing them off.

    The last vessel to the go line was sky blue and simply had Zorai written across the sides.

    Finally, Rat Shack noticed everyone was ready and smiled widely in the projection.

    "Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to the first ever Vector Rally. Contestants! Ready! Set! GO!"

    His voice echoed out over the city, and half a dozen of the ships shot off from the start line like rockets creating sonic booms over the city as they powered away along the route.

    One of the ships simply imploded in on itself and fell to the ground in a shower of blood and metal. Another exploded in fire and shrapnel, taking out the two ships next to it.

    All the rest cruised out slowly at first and then rapidly started picking up speed as they did twists and turns, seemingly just playing around with the ships.

    Zorai remained on the start line, not moving an inch.

    "Oh! And they''re away! Already we''ve lost 4 contestants to poor piloting skills! Fighting for the lead are the Wife Beater''s James McGuire and The Glade''s Jasmine Weissler. Following close behind them by a matter of metres are the Twins, Gregory and Justin Harris, both keeping on the tales of our leaders like flies to shit! Oh, and what''s this! Zorai hasn''t even left the start line yet? He seems to just be sitting there!"

    As Rat Shack started commentating, Charles appeared out of nowhere and sat down on the box. He seemed to be playing with his watch for a second until his voiced boomed out alongside Rat Shacks!

    "Err¡­ testing. One two!"

    Rat Shack smiled widely and could already guess what Charles was doing here.

    "Ladies and Gentlemen, it appears we have a guest commentator for today''s affair, Charles Von''Mighty! The Main Man!"

    "Hahaha! It''s great to be here Rat Shack! How''s the race looking so far?"The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    "It was a smashing start from our lead contestants, but from what I''m seeing the majority are mostly treating this a pleasure cruise!" Rat Shack exclaimed in mock outrage.

    "Ahh yes! Well, it''s probably prudent to take this first ten or twenty kilometres to familiarise themselves with the ships. Those leaders are either very confident in their ability to adapt on the fly, or are mistaking the ease of use of the ship for their own abilities."

    "Oh? It sounds like you might know a thing or two about the technology behind these ships. Have you got advice to help our viewers understand the caution being shown by the 18 contestants that have barely left the city, or perhaps even some insight into why Zorai is waiting at the start line?"

    As they spoke, the leading vessels had just left the city and were already passing into the forests heading towards the massing zombie horde and army to the north west.

    "Oh yes! It''s cutting edge tech, probably years beyond what human technicians are currently capable of manufacturing themselves. It relies on tapping into the human''s mind and powers, allowing a significant amount of freedoms with how you interact with your ship. As you saw at the start of the race, some people obviously couldn''t handle the data interaction between mind and ship, and caused themselves to self-destruct."

    "I see, I see. So what about Zorai, and perhaps even some specs on the performance of these racers."

    "Well, most likely, Zorai is waiting for the group who are testing the limits of their ships now to get series before he joins in. Being the designer, he has a significant advantage over the others and naturally feels it necessary to handicap himself a little. Don''t mistake this for him looking down on human potential. Zorai himself admits there are many things humans do subconsciously that he has difficulty replicating. I think you''ll find the subconscious mind of humans to be very powerful in ships like these."

    As Charles spoke, the majority of the contestants just playing with their ships started taking off along the root, letting out sonic booms over the city as they shot out towards the forests.

    "Oh and look at that! Looks like our contestants are firing up their ships and chasing after the leaders already!"

    Charles nodded his head.

    "Of course. The operation of the ship will naturally become intuitive over time, but with their playing around they''ve actually calibrated themselves just as much as the ship. That''s how in tune they would be with the machine while connected through the new Brain Matrix implants. It''s a good thing they did too, considering that the ship is powerful enough to reach Mach 6 in under a minute. More importantly, the thing can slow to a full stop in half that time! It can move in almost any direction at top speed but was severely limited in altitude for the purposes of this race, only reaching about 100 metres from the ground at a maximum."

    The holograms zoomed into the leading group as they swerved past giant trees reaching over a hundred metres throughout the forest easily. The two leaders were drifting through the treetops effortlessly, and the twins were locked on their tails like heat seekers.

    About a hundred metres behind them were the other two off the mark racers that were apparently having a bit more trouble dodging trees and had slowed significantly after hitting the forest.

    "What are those two twins up to? Aren''t they afraid of clipping the two leaders when sticking that close to them in the confines of the forest?"

    Charles laughed at the question and smiled.

    "Of course I''m sure they are worried about that, but most likely they are coasting in the wake of the leader''s slipstream. It''s not only saving them energy, but also they only need to focus on keeping aloft in the slipstream to dodge things. They probably can''t even see where they''re going and are almost entirely relying on instinct."

    "I just realised! How exactly are they following the route so closely? I haven''t seen any markers in the forest."

    "Most likely, Zorai has designated a corridor of airspace about 300 metres wide that they have to stay inside of. He''ll be tracking everything via satellite and relaying how close someone is to the edge of the zone. I can''t say what happens when they leave it, because I don''t know. Knowing Zorai though, they will probably explode into a ball of fire or be shot by some satellite laser cannon. It''s hard to say for certain."

    Finally, the leader burst out from the forests, directly overhead the zombie horde. Almost immediately, spears of bone were being launched like missiles from Quill Zombies. A visible shimmer of energy appeared over the racers, and they shot out overhead the by now hundred thousand strong army.

    In the centre of the horde was a series of vehicles and command tents all stacked next to each other. While the army and horde only covered about 5 km of distance, the air was filled by Quill Zombie spears. More worryingly, about 4 of the armoured vehicles in the centre had anti-air Gatling guns.

    ---

    "Oh Shit!" Muttered Jasmine as she saw the walls of bone spears flying through the air.

    She ramped up the Mini Generator in the ship as she pushed the protective shield of the ship to the max and pumped everything else into forward thrust. She was planning to push the limits of speed and just blow through the barrage of spears.

    She saw in her sensors that the annoying twin that had been on her tail since the beginning was suddenly backing off and falling into a dodging pattern with her brother.

    The moment of hesitation seeing this cost her first place as Gregory punched his ship into high gear and a massive ripple of air spread out from him like a weapon, blowing everything in the air that didn''t hit his shield into total disarray.

    "Fuck caution! See you boys at the finish line!" She joyously yelled over the coms to the twins as she followed suit, sending out a massive echo from her jet stream as she pushed through the sound barrier and beyond.

    A few bone spears connected with her shield, but having Gregory push ahead had cleared most of the airspace.

    Until the four Gatling guns in the centre of the formation swung around, and completed covered the sky directly overhead the camp in exploding shrapnel as the HPE bullets in the weapons exploded at exactly 100 metres altitude.

    Gregory''s ship passed straight into the shrapnel field and a huge fireball came out the other side, ploughing into the horde and blowing about hundreds of zombies and demons in the resulting explosion.

    "Shit, shit, shit, shit! Fuck it!" Having barely a second to react, Jasmine dipped her ship so low to the ground that zombie''s heads were exploding from the air pressure before her ship even reached them. Barely 2 metres from the ground she spun the ship and cut in between two of the armoured vehicles like threading cotton through a needle.

    The shockwave that followed her through the camp killed dozens nearby and completely deafened the rest of the camp as she blew through a tent and out the other end, shooting off towards the savannah on the other side of the horde.

    "HAHAHAHA! Eat a dick army guys!"

    Quickly following her lead, the twins and then the two slower following racers did ground level flyby''s of the base, killing dozens more just from the massive shockwave as they approached Mach 6, trying to catch up to the lead.

    The wake of their jet streams killed tens of thousands of zombies, especially wherever they were closer to the ground, where huge canals of dirt and mushy zombies had been carved from the sheer force of the air pressure exploding behind them.

    Of course, this was just the beginning. A dozen more racers suddenly burst out of the forest trying to pass through the horde. Some of them already coming out so close to the ground that their acceleration simply cut a huge line through the horde.

    Out of civic duty, the followers even spread out the damage a bit more, clearing out tens of thousands more zombies.

    ---

    The crowd in the Central City Plaza was going absolutely ballistic watching their enemies getting shredded into a paste because they were an obstacle in Zorai''s whimsical Vector Rally.

    Captain Sam was watching the hologram with his retinue of advisers taking as many notes of the enemy in between rabid cheering whenever he witnessed some of them explode.

    The whole time the city was going wild of the sudden pre-emptive strike on their enemies, Zorai was silently sitting in sector 0 trying to make an HPE fist that could smack his energy body. The energy being was so blinded by the desire to have this race that it completely overlooked the war potential of these vehicles. Even if the shock waves only killed tens of thousands of zombies, half the humans in that base probably already had their heads explode.

    Zorai immediately regretted the choice of race course, and even more regretted making the ship itself a prize for finishing before itself. It had figured that the overwhelming advantage from the humans only just learning to fly the ships would be too much for there to be a need to push itself, but based on data he was receiving from them, he may not even be able to catch up without cheating. Which he refused to even contemplate.

    The interaction between the human subconscious and the Matrix implant was far beyond his speculated potential of the technology and seemed to almost make the machine a part of the human in an intrinsic way.

    Regardless, feeling for the first time in his life that his superiority was being challenged, he felt excitement. Normally this was only felt when conducting science, but now, a simple race, the desire to win, had excited him far more than he''d ever expected.

    No longer willing to wait, and not willing to give up any more advantages, Zorai moved his entire being into the Racer. By this point, he''d already put into place everything he needed for the civilisation he built to operate without him present.

    His unfiltered and unbiased data was all backed up onto the Core Network Matrix.

    For the first time in¡­ ever, Zorai was leaving the safety of his hole and testing his limits.

    The moment his body was snuggly fit in his racer, he pushed the generator to the maximum. The racer began to let out a low hum that reverberated through the air. His racer was building up so much energy that it was glowing.

    "Holy shit! Looks like Zorai is getting ready to take part in this race!"

    "What the fuck? Zorai, is that your real body in there?" Charles slightly worried voice echoed over the city and everyone stared wide-eyed as the ship Zorai was in started vibrating.

    The other racers had already pushed halfway through the savannah and were fast approaching the wombat tunnels as they dodged leaping emus breaking the sound barrier as they jumped toward their targets.

    "No way! You heard it ladies and gentlemen of Central City! Our magnanimous overlord is stepping out into the field himself. Putting his life on the line and risking it all in a show of solidarity with his human competitors!"

    "Fuck! Zorai! You better not be¡­"

    *KABOOM!!*

    The air around the ship exploded with a shockwave that knocked everyone in the plaza on their asses.

    Zorai''s ship shot towards the forest so fast that the cameras could barely track him. Like a missile, he passed into the forest encroaching on the city, blowing trees apart in a shower of wood chips and branches.

    "Fuck me sideways! Did you see that start! If I didn''t already know better, I''d have thought they were driving completely different ships! How did he get that kind of acceleration from standing still?!"

    Charles stood up with wide eyes as he watched Zorai''s ship carving through the forest like a blur. The ship was leaving scarcely any space between the hull and the trees as it passed them, Zorai pushing the vessel to the brink of collapse as it accelerated towards Mach 4 even in such a crowded area.

    Charles let out a long breath and stared at the projections. The leading group just passed into the tunnels and had slowed significantly as they navigated the turns. Jasmine still held a substantial lead on the others, but already the twins were hot on her tail with about 5 more already challenging them for the 2nd and 3rd place.

    "That would be vector compression. What he did at take-off was apply just the right vectors to his 100 vector drives to keep building up an explosive force. Like stretching out a rubber band. When he finally moved all his vectors into forward acceleration, the huge amount of energy his vector drives had built up while fighting each other was redirected into thrust for his machine. Most likely, he pushed his machine to the very edge of collapse before letting it go. It was technically unnecessary, the little brat was just showing off."

    Charles stood with his arms crossed and a wry smile on his face as Zorai broke out of the forest immediately hitting Mach 6 as he touched the stretch of open air.

    The army camp started spraying the air with explosive anti-air rounds again and even started firing off missiles to try and keep Zorai in the air.

    Zorai''s ship continued to accelerate anyway. As the first missile approached, the ship jerked to the down and right as it fishtailed under the missile, almost immediately going vertical and dodging another missile as the first suddenly exploded. Zorai danced through the rain of missiles, all the while cutting through the air at Mach 6, barely leaving enough room between the explosions and the shrapnel.

    Then, a trio of missiles closed in from three sides and exploded prematurely, leaving a huge ball of fire hanging in the air, which was quickly sucked into a jet stream and carried through the army camp like an inferno as Zorai''s ship blazed through covered in dents and scorched half black.

    The crowd went mad as they watched the giant cone of flames chasing the wake of Zorai''s ship as another ten thousand odd Zombies were burnt to ash, and the army base was raised to the ground.

    Not to be outdone regarding damage, Zorai''s ship spun just as it left the horde and everyone watched with wide eye''s as the HPE shield around his ship suddenly cracked into thousands of pieces and was shot into the horde by the vector drives firing off micro vector fields.

    The hail of half solidified HPE rained into the horde and exploded in a wave of strange pressure similar to Charles'', turning tens of thousands of zombies into paste.

    All the while, the ship kept speeding away into the savannah at Mach 6. It then did an exaggerated roll and hugged the ground as it turned to face forward and sped across the grasslands towards the Wombat Warren.

    "HOLY FUCKING SHIT! Did you just see that! HAHA! Zorai cleared out half the zombies just by firing his shattered energy shield into them with his vector drives. Now that is some ace flying!"

    Rat Shack was getting swept up in his own excitement as he cheered along with the entire population of Central City.

    However, the excitement wasn''t over yet. Half a dozen ships got gobbled up by wombats in the tunnels, and another 4 had been taken out by roaming Emu''s jumping into them as they passed through the red dirt grassland.

    Zorai was pushing through the grassland, sticking close to the ground to avoid catching the eyes of any Emu Parades that might be travelling nearby. However, that didn¡¯t mean he was home free.

    The Emu''s were fast! They were already clustered up around the route while chasing the previous contestants. Seeing his dust wake, hundreds of them started cutting through the red dirt and sprinting to head him off.

    Like feathered missiles, the moment the spotted Zorai they start jumping towards where the ship would be. It then became a matter of weaving through them as the ship spun vertically or horizontally, barely scraping past Emu''s as their massive talons reached out to grasp the vessel and Zorai tried to avoid losing speed by veering off.

    Every now and again they''d be in just the right spot, and the ship had to roll through the air to dodge them, dropping his speed by the smallest amounts.

    These straight sections would be the easiest though. Although it was 200km of barren dirt and grass covered in Emu''s, it was far easier to get max speed passing through these areas. You just had to be careful not to fly straight into a jumping Emu, and you''d be at the Warren in minutes.

    As Zorai slowed and slipped into the Warren, the other contestants were just leaving it. Jasmine had fallen back to second place and was competing against both the twins, one in first and the other in 3rd, effectively boxing her in.

    Hot on their heels was the Driver, still apparently testing the limits of his ship as he spun in odd ways and tried to push through to 5th place, keeping everyone else behind him and trying to find a good place to pass the twin in third who was sweating bullets just trying to stop Driver from sneaking around him.

    Then, they hit the reef, and the Coral Reef suddenly came alive with activity below them. What had been mostly calm before now became huge spears of coral shooting up from the reef like massive calcified towers. Where the mass came from to drive huge spires of coral hundreds of metres into the air was anyone''s guess.

    The worst part was that the spires were rising up all across the reef, for hundreds of kilometres in both directions along the coast, massive coral spires started sprouting.

    Then came the coral spears. Pouring out of the spires like rain, trying to pin a complacent vessel. Zorai witnessed the coral using this as a means to hunt the sky sharks and flying dolphins, so naturally encompassed it in the course.

    The sudden appearance of coral spires and through everyone off their rhythm as they suddenly split apart to dodge instead of trying to block each other from passing.

    As they rapidly fought for first place and shot down the coast, Zorai was navigating the tunnels of the wombats.

    Relying only on the senses of the ship, he weaved through tunnel after tunnel. The smallest of spaces between rocks that could barely fit a ship, he''d cut through trying to push his speed back up to at least breaking the sound barrier.

    The crowd was stunned, watching his daring acrobatics as he passed between gaps all the other contestants avoided. He slid through the tiny amount of room between a wombat and the ceiling of the tunnel and sped into the last stretch, already seeing the light breaking through the gloom a few hundred metres ahead.

    Until the light dramatically cut off and a wombat stepped directly into the tunnel, opening its mouth wide open to catch the annoying buzzing prey that had been zooming about its home all morning.

    Zorai''s ship stopped in seconds, leaving 200 metres between the behemoth wombat and the ship. The crowd was cheering him on nervously, certain that there was no way to avoid that wombat now.

    Then, Zorai''s ship started glowing, and like a rocket, he hit Mach 3 in a matter of seconds. Abusing the vector compression take off again, he shot straight into the mouth of the wombat and then blasted out the other side, painting the walls of the tunnel with the blood and guts being sucked out with his jet stream.

    Like a rocket in flight, Zorai shot from the tunnel already hitting his stride seconds after leaving the underground. He sped through to the ocean and could already see the spires reaching into the sky along the coast.

    More importantly, he could see the rain of spears falling about 30 km along the route on the heads of the rest of the contestants.

    By this time, only 6 contestants were left. Four of them were getting so competitive now that they had started knocking each other towards spires and spears, trying to knock each other out of the race.

    Jasmine and the driver though were pushing the limits of their machines, only dodging and chasing each other for first, already nearly 500 meters ahead of the others.

    Zorai wasted no time and hugged the very edge of his route marker as he moved into the coral zone of the race.

    The crowds watched on as the hologram in central city overlaid the view of the flight corridor for the race and showed just how close Zorai was too touching it.

    Then, his focus slipped slightly as the coral started raining spears as he moved towards them and the very edge of his ship crossed the invisible boundary. The satellite map suddenly lit Zorai up like a red Christmas tree.

    Everyone then watched on horrified as the sky started to glow even from hundreds of kilometres away in Central City.

    Zorai ship suddenly barrel rolled away from the edge and ducked behind the first spire in the flight corridor of the coral zone. Almost grazing the ship as it slid behind the coral was a giant 10m wide green ray of light that descended from space and cut a giant hole into the ocean floor. It followed Zorai''s ship for half a second, almost catching him as he ducked again behind another spire.

    It struck the spire and completely obliterated it in a shower of debris and spray of plasmarised coral. Zorai ship ducked in behind a large piece of debris as the high temperature plasma spray exploded, vaporising all the smaller debris.

    Before the cloud of burning gases created from the interaction had even started to settle down, Zorai shot out from behind the huge coral rock and carried the gasses in his jet stream like a rocket as he spun through the spires, dodging spears and direct collision with the coral through the tiniest of gaps.

    The other contestants were spell struck as they noticed the new contender rapidly catching up to them with a trial of fire blazing in his wake.

    Jasmine and the Driver both spotted it from their leadership positions and pushed their spinning vehicles to the limits as they tried to outpace Zorai while still dodging through the coral.

    The slip up with the flight corridor had cost Zorai precious seconds, which had already let the other competitors push their lead by nearly a hundred kilometres.

    Zorai was now most definitely feeling the pressure as he continuously tapped into his reserves just to keep gaining ground on them.

    Finally, the leaders burst out of the coral zone and only had the laser dolphins to deal with. Almost instantly, as they moved over the flat surface, they realised a strange fog was rising up from the ocean and obscuring the coast. Then they saw the thousands of lasers dancing around slowly through the fog like a light show.

    They had no discernible pattern, and the lasers were completely chaotic in motion. How the dolphins managed to set this up without cutting each other apart by accident eluded even Zorai for the moment.

    Not willing to lose their lead, and feeling the growing pressure as Zorai seemed to move through the coral spires effortlessly, the two leaders both shot into the fog, spinning their ships in odd patterns, reacting so fast to lasers nearly slicing them apart that they didn''t even realise what exactly they were doing.

    Their minds entered a strangely serene state of half focus as their subconscious mind started processing sensor data from the ship before they even understood what the data meant.

    They had now fully become one with their ships.

    In this spastic dance of sudden stops and goes from the two ships, Driver pushed into the lead, only because his power allowed him to already subconsciously connect with the ship, now falling into an even deeper level.

    They were about halfway through, and the others were far more slowly trying to navigate the lasers when Zorai exploded out of the coral and shot towards the fog at Mach 2.

    His ship suddenly started spinning around wildly as it powered into the fog without showing any signs of stopping.

    In less than a minute he was already a few hundred metres behind the leaders. Even though his ship was slowing and having to suddenly jerk this way or that as if possessed, he continued pushing relentlessly, brute forcing the calculations needed to keep his ship moving as quickly as possible through the lasers.

    The two leaders felt the pressure of Zorai pushing behind them increasing with every passing second. Finally, the Driver''s ship seemed to shudder to a full stop moments later followed by Jasmine.

    Then the Drivers Ship shot forwards, accelerating seemingly recklessly into the laser fog. A split second later, Jasmine''s ship followed behind him. Both ship then started jerking spasmodically, pushing the boundaries of mutated human possibilities.

    They almost felt their minds being consumed by the ship as the spasmodic movements slowly smoothed out. With the sudden boost of speed, they found themselves fighting for first place as they closed in on the last stretch of laser fog.

    Zorai was barely a few hundred metres behind them as they shot out of the fog seemingly dancing with smooth flowing motions through the air.

    The last 5 kilometres to the finish line in the central plaza was now right there.

    Zorai was absolutely abusing the shit out of his computation and processing, already taking slight burns and singes on the hull from cutting it so close to the lasers.

    Then, he was out, just as the duo of leaders made a final mad dash for the finish. He felt his competitive spirit soaring as he started crunching numbers and bizarre formulas started filling his head that he had no actual reference for.

    Then, his vector drives all started to vibrate as they started creating vectors in completely nonsensical ways. Zorai''s ship suddenly shuddered and then like a bullet, exploded forwards, reaching Mach 6 almost instantly and even pushing it towards Mach 7. His ship was almost exploding from the sheer amount of friction as it cut through the air and pushed towards Mach 8.

    He calculated it, and then calculated it again. At this speed, he should cross the line 2 metres ahead of the Driver, who was a mere half a meter ahead of Jasmine.

    But then, their ships suddenly pushed beyond the theoretical limits of the vector drives, and his calculations skewed again. How they''d managed to do on some form of instinct what took him an enormous sum of energy to computate left him boggled. As his ship sailed past the finish line 20cm behind Jasmine, he considered experimenting on the duo in order to determine if some part of his matrix simply wasn''t in the same league as these peoples tiny little ape brains.

    ---

    The crowd deafened themselves as the last four contestants crossed the line in their beaten and battered Racer''s. Various people in the crowd used their power and erected barriers to prevent the shockwaves of Mach 8 vessels completely debilitating the crowd as they sped overhead, deftly dodging the towering buildings in the city and slowing to stop before returning to the plaza to land.

    Zorai didn''t stick around for the award ceremony as he sunk into the ground to his little hole in the world and immediately started refilling his reserves and collating the huge amount of data he received from experiencing the races himself.

    He knew there was a qualitative difference for him between first hand and second-hand knowledge, but he never realised it would be so big. His secondary field was completely stuffed with energy bands based on everything he''d learnt and experienced in the race.

    On top of that, all the second hand data the city generated in his absence surged into his 4th energy field waiting to be absorbed.

    He considered the race a huge success and immediately started making plans to make it more regular. He''d probably not participate frequently, maybe only for a huge race every few months. Until then, he''d start renting out the ships for people to test out.

    He''d already sent his research on the Matrix Implant down to the human researchers and encouraged them to develop it based on his research themselves. He still held himself back on giving them too much, feeling that they needed to be able to develop the devices themselves without him.

    Perhaps they could use their human ape brains to redesign it with more features or make it more intuitive. He suspected with his research in the field, they''d understand it and be able to replicate it in a matter of weeks.

    Zorai then turned his attention to the strange calculations and formula he used to push his Racer beyond its theoretical limits. He wanted to find out exactly where they came from and what they''d been based on.