Which Can Eternal Lie - Act III: The Future Past

[Eva 'Skuld' Stark]

Kriff, she hated it when she was right.

She exhaled slowly through her teeth, causing a slight hissing sound to exhale at the sight. More Slaughteroids… and it seemed like their Professor was the man with a plan of some kind.

Though fighting through a swarm of killer droids that were smart, fast and ancient was at first an amusing anomaly, it was becoming old faster than a looped song at an old cantina.

There was no need to trade insults, but oh how she wanted to.

"You don't want us to destroy them, but you keep bringing more. Poor world leadership hosting skills," was her reply, bemused. Perhaps to bait the genius moron into monologuing, but also to buy a moments' time for the others to prepare to fight. Or whatever options they had in mind to get the kark out of here, because all the options to her seemed simple.

Fight to get their friend and get out of here.

@Nefieslab @AutoFox

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Everything had a brain.

Sure, some things had a flesh and blood brain and that made sense but some things... some things had a brain even though they were nothing but wires or thoughts or just dreams. Everything had a brain, something that kept it going, something that made it react rather than remaining inert. According to those Force cult weirdos, even the Galaxy itself had something of a brain behind the scenes, one that was not actively guiding the Galaxy but instead reflexively changing it just due to it's will and it's Force alone.

A centre like this with all these droids and defenses? It had a brain for sure.

So they continued on and Tagal said nothing.

Tagal stared at the speaker in silence for a moment.

Before laughing.

"Your army, huh?"

He tipped his head back and laughed again.

"You've got to be kidding me - you? With an army?" he grinned, "Let me guess... this was all part of the plan? We get you here, you get control and then go out and conquer the Galaxy with your millennia-old droids? Wait no no no... wait don't tell me... you're secretly related to the old ruler too? An ancient bloodline? Or maybe..."

He wasn't laughing anymore.

"Maybe you're just a deranged little man who thought that the only way to make his mark on the Galaxy was to stand atop the shoulders of greater beings because he knew, deep down, that no one would ever remember his name for anything he could do himself. Go ahead, little man, tell me your consequences." he urged the speaker, "Tell me them. Maybe you'll even get to act on them. But I'll find you. And when I do, I'll make sure to take my time with you."

He carried on walking.

@AutoFox @Killa Ree

 

[Irma Kinton]

THE VOICE OF AGORANDER

"FOR CYCLES UNCOUNTED, I HAVE WAITED." The machine boomed, lights and screens flashing now in time with the syllables. "BETRAYED, AND ISOLATED FROM MY EMPIRE. BUT NOW YOU HAVE COME, SMALL ONE, AND THE WORK CAN BEGIN AGAIN."

Irma stared up at the huge machine. It towered over her, reaching nearly to the ceiling of the cylindrical chamber, far overhead. The Tintinna judged that the entire thing had been designed to make any being who beheld it seem small; being small herself, she was used to this, but even so.

"What... what are you?"

The lights pulsed again in reply.

"SMALL ONE, BEFORE, YOU MENTIONED GODS. I KNOW NOT WHAT DEITIES YOU KNEW OR WORSHIPED, BUT KNOW THIS; I AM THE ONLY ONE WORTH YOUR ATTENTION. YOUR OBEDIENCE."

The lights flared, and Irma, from her vantage point, thought she saw one of them burst, a little cascade of sparks bouncing down the face of the vast machine.

"I AM HE THE STARS OBEY. HE WHO BUILT THE WORLD ON WHICH YOU STAND. HE WHO CONQUERED DEATH. YOUR LEADER. YOUR DEITY. NOW AND ALWAYS."

Irma's eyes widened.

"No... no, you can't be!"

The machine glowed.

"CAN'T I."

Irma's gaze was drawn back to the charred skeleton at the base of the vast machine. Her mind raced. Plainly, keeping this machine off the network had been important, but could that mean what she thought it did? Surely not!

"I saw your bones in the last room!" She challenged, teeth gritted. "Agorander is dead!"

"AGORANDER LIVES."

The denial was boomed at a volume that made Irma clutch her ears. She stepped back a pace, before looking up at the huge computer once more.

"LONG AGO, THIS SYSTEM WAS MADE TO AUGMENT MY FLESH. GRADUALLY, THE ROLES WERE REVERSED. THE THING YOU SAW UPON THE THRONE WAS ONLY THE LAST VESTIGE OF WHAT I WAS. BUT IT WAS CUT FROM ME, AND I AM GREATER FOR IT."

Irma stared up at the machine. So, it was Agorander, or it thought so, at any rate. Once more, she looked down at the skeleton, and the thick braid of severed cables.

"Then you're..."

She looked back up at the machine. For the first time, she noticed its age; unlike much of the rest of the planet, it had not been maintained, and though it was solidly built, she could see spots of corrosion and neglect. Even as she did, another of the glowing status lights - probably unused for millennia, before Irma had entered the room - burst and threw sparks.

"...isolated down here, aren't you."

The machine was silent for a few moments, before it finally replied.

"I WAS BETRAYED. EVIDENT BY WHAT YOU SAY YOU FOUND UPON MY THRONE, I EXPECT."

Irma shook her head. She still gripped the ancient blaster in one hand, and her fingers tightened on it.

"You've been sitting here for thousands of years! Alone! Isolated! Do you even know what's happening beyond this room?!"

The machine almost visibly shuddered.

"MY CONNECTION IS DAMAGED. IT CAN BE REPAIRED. ONCE AGAIN, MY POWER WILL ANIMATE THIS WORLD, AND FROM HERE, MANY MORE. AND YOU, SMALL ONE, WILL HELP ME."

Irma gritted her teeth again, glaring up at the machine.

"And what makes you think I'll do that?!"

Abruptly, the lights on the front panel of the machine changed color, and began flashing in a strange pattern. It hurt her eyes, but when Irma tried to look away, she found she couldn't.

"SMALL ONE." The machine boomed. "YOU WRONGLY ASSUME THAT YOU HAVE ANY CHOICE."

As Tagal began striding toward the group of droids, they visibly tensed, assuming a fighting stance. Millennia old they might have been, but their creators knew as much about combat as anyone. Even with incompetent leadership, they could still be dangerous.

"I should have known better than to expect a Mandalorian to understand my motivations." Replied the Professor's voice. "Weapons and battle are your religion, but like any faith, you seldom look very far beyond it."

Behind the group, another group of droids strode into the corridor. Behind Tagal and Skuld, the other members of the group trained their weapons on the newcomers.

"This Galaxy is sick." The Professor proclaimed. "We have had centuries of war, which while you may not think much of it, holds us back in so many ways. I mean, look around you! Look at my troops! They are as good as anything made today, and that should be troubling. It means that we are stagnant; science has barely advanced since the days of Agorander, and people's lives are the same as they've always been."

The droids began to advance from either end of the hall.

"Adherents to the Force guide our destinies! Magic!! In a society that has developed droids, we still have slaves! And whenever we have peace, the ravages of endless, pointless conflict resurface to tear down any progress we have made."

The droids began to sprint.

"Well, no more! You said that I stand on the shoulders of greater beings, and if that is what I must do to bring an end to this madness, then that is what I shall do! If I must tear down the Galaxy and start again, then so be it! You cannot stop me! YOU SHALL NOT!!"

Abruptly, there was a squawk of static and feedback from the speaker. A new, mechanical voice issued from it.

"ADMIRABLE AMBITION." It boomed. "BUT ONE DOES NOT SEND AN IDEALIST TO DO A LEADER'S JOB."

@Nefieslab @Killa Ree