The District Read online

  "Do you have a way out of what is happening to you?" I asked.

  "Sylax is a crazy bitch, someone is going to take a shot at her. When they do, I'll help to stop it. Is Ophelia on our side or an enemy?" Anna asked.

  "Is anyone really on your side? I don't know where Ophelia's real allegiances are," I said.

  That wasn't quite true. So far as it went I thought Ophelia was probably on our side, unfortunately she seemed to have three personalities running around in her head.

  "Find out," Anna said. It was the last word she got out for awhile as the next clone was missing most of her face.

  Anna was usually full of helpful advice. Ophelia was obviously a threat or an ally, I really should figure out which.

  10

  The city was going to war. I know that sounds strange given the city was already at war. I certainly thought so, but Sylax did like to put on a show and this was a retaliation for the forces we'd lost in the recent attack. A sense of drama and flair was one of the woman's few redeeming qualities.

  It might be more accurate to say that we were going to the front lines. Up until now our forces had served as reserves, and while that obviously didn't insulate them from harm as the recent rash of wounded had indicated it was still different than being the speartip of an attack.

  Airships filled the sky and their shadows fell over the city from the sundome above. I was under orders to triple my clone production. It was a formidable undertaking but I had forgotten how useful Mechos was to have around.

  After my conversation with Anna I'd decided on a plan of growing armor directly on the Anna clones while they still in tanks. This had proved wildly successful and now they all wore identical sets of red and black armor. Under Crystal's commanding aura they marched down the streets in perfect step to the transports.

  The Professor who had been working on the very problem of armoring the troops had been able to focus his efforts on weaponry design. Even I was a bit impressed with what he'd come up with. The energy rifles could fire off over two hundred rounds before a need to change the power cartridge, they lacked any sort of recoil and had a dial control that allowed one to set a maximum range at the cost of power consumption.

  Sylax was observing all of this from the ship that had once been called the Powerhungry. I took some satisfaction in the fact that she hadn't been able to fully undo all that I had done to it. While originally her flagship I had heavily customized it during the time when it housed my core. Bioarmor still coated the surface, and I understood that unexpected effects still typically happened on board. The guns were new, they were something I'd only ever barely managed to get working and if there was one thing Sylax was an expert at it was hurting people.

  The District Leaders were remaining behind to provide city defense, which was for the best as I really didn't have much in the way of a military myself to contribute anyways. Still with Sylax gone I knew I'd have to be extra wary lest any of the others tried an attack, and extra watchful for opportunities.

  My quiet conquest of Jade meant in an emergency I might draw upon her forces, but it also meant I needed to make sure nobody else succeeded in a conquest of her district.

  Mechos had time to familiarize himself with the other district heads. I'd set him up with his own workshop and staff, far larger than the one he used to have in my underground base.

  "Given that you seem to be afraid of everyone you might actually have something useful to contribute. Who should I be the most wary of?" I asked through the room's speakers.

  Mechos sat aside his current project, he was attempting to improve the grinder engines I was using for biomass conversion. "Fearing what they'll be up to with Sylax away? The Professor, in the short term. Crystal and Ophelia in the long term."

  The answer was surprising. I agreed with him on Crystal, how could I not. She had made Sylax. Despite my upgrades to Anna, Anna simply did not compare.

  "What makes you say so?" I asked.

  "You and the Professor share a similar domain, research. If you were thinking to your advantage instead of thinking about rescuing your crew you'd already be thinking about how to kill him. He likely thinks you are," Mechos said.

  I thought clearly. I did. Of course when he put it in those terms killing the Professor did seem like a really good idea.

  "Some would say that would make us natural allies," I said.

  Mechos grunted, "Nobody smart would ever say that. Those who want exactly what you do are your natural adversaries. The longer term threats should be obvious. Crystal is formidable and terrifying."

  I had already deduced that one for myself.

  "And Ophelia?" I asked.

  "It isn't her I am concerned about so much as that other personality of hers. Amy. From what you've said it sounds as if the source orb in some way inverted you. If so you should be terrified, everybody should be terrified," Mechos said.

  "Even your limited monkey brain recognizes how formidable I am. You are one of the more sensible humans. You should however be able to reason that the original is more fearsome than a bad copy," I said.

  "You're bad on the outside and decent on the inside. Your mirror image is going to be the opposite. Amy is dangerous, Emma. Frightfully dangerous. You need to realize that," Mechos said.

  I still didn't accept the fact that I was fundamentally decent on the inside. Still I did appreciate another reason to dislike and distrust Amy.

  "Well lets watch Sylax win her battle and we can figure out what to do about that," I said.

  According to reports the battle Sylax was heading for should be decidedly one sided. The enemy here was a Baron Oozelord. With a name like that you'd expect the battle to be won with a mass of hyper absorbent lab towels.

  I would at least have a front line view of the battle. Now that I could maintain a connection with my agents I could see what Anna saw, and Anna was having to play the leashed and collared pet at Sylax's feet.

  While bad for her this was rather good for me. Being near Sylax meant I was getting information from the very heart of the command structure.

  11

  The city of Zarkiel probably looked magnificent once, canals crossing through a city of ornate stonework with fountains in every square. That was before the ooze of course. The ooze was colored an unpleasant shade of orange and now coated the city in a thick layer of slime. Canals blurbled and fountains glumped and nothing moved.

  Sylax at the screens of the city she had come to conquer and frowned. "Well this is disappointing. Any signs of resistance?"

  "Nothing," said one of the crew manning the sensors.

  "Land shuttles. Proceed with the invasion. If they are simply hiding away in fear let us show them the being terrified is just getting started," Sylax said.

  Shuttles broke off from the ships of the fleet and scattered throughout the city.

  "Teams are down," said the sensor operator.

  Camera footage became to pop up on the displays of the clones disembarking.

  For several minutes nothing happened, they searched buildings with no sign of the townspeople. Then one screen after another filled with static as contact with the teams was lost.

  "What is happening," Sylax asked as she leaned forward.

  "I'm not sure. Some sort of communication scrambling."

  "Raise shields," Sylax said.

  "If we raise shields the shuttles won't be able to return."

  Sylax snapped her fingers and the crewman screamed as their bones snapped and they were flung violently across the room. "Now, someone."

  Several of the remaining crew hastened to be the first to raise the shields. It was just in time.

  "Shuttles are lifting from the surface and attempting docking," said a crewmember who looked none to thrilled at their sudden promotion given it meant they were standing in the blood of their predecessor.

  Through Anna's eyes I got a look at the sensor readouts. It wasn't just a few shuttles, every one that had been sent down to the surface had taken off.<
br />
  "Still no communication?" Sylax asked.

  "Negative."

  Sylax considered for only a moment, "Assume the shuttles compromised. Gun crews are to open fire on them and begin bombardment of the city below. Release the dragons."

  Crystal had modified the massive dragons of the wild expanese to be shape shifters as were true of most of those allied with Sylax. They were still rather feral, for all they had been picking up the fundamentals of language.

  A specialized container ship dropped its shields just long enough to release the cargo it contained. Humanoid bodies tumbled through the air before with ripples of muscle they transformed into mighty winged dragons and unleashed bursts of flame.

  Their release meant that Sylax was scared. Those dragons were still firmly under Crystal's control and they had been contained for a reason. Sylax was still reluctant to trust to Crystal too much.

  It was time to open a comm. I didn't know if any of the other district heads had their own ways to spy on the battle, but even now Crystal would be seeing what is happening through her own agents.

  "Emma," Crystal said as she answered the line quickly. "You have eyes on the battle?"

  It didn't seem the time for deception. "In the command center. Things aren't going as she anticipated."

  The dragons were quickly spinning about and blasting fire at the shuttles. The airships meanwhile were opening fire on the city below. Their shields were synchronized with their weapons, each down for only fractions of a second when a bank of weaponry unloaded. The city had no shielding at all and stole melted and ooze evaporated as the landscape below was quickly becoming a ruin.

  "Nor as I did. I just lost control of one of my dragons," Crystal said.

  Anna didn't have eyes on any screens showing that.

  "Two," Crystal said.

  Now I did get a sight of one of the dragons doing what it shouldn't have been doing. A fireball being launched at one of the airships causing the shield to ripple with energy.

  "Some sort of compulsion effect?" I asked Crystal

  "It must be. Five," Crystal said.

  This wasn't going unnoticed on the bridge of the Powerhungry. Sylax has risen to her feet to check the readings herself.

  "It has to be a compulsion ability. Have we lost contact with any of the ships?" Sylax asked. Well, there was nothing wrong with her reasoning ability.

  "Negative," said the crew.

  "Cut our loses. Engage the jump drive and get us out of here," Sylax said.

  It didn't seem like her to cut and run. It did seem smart.

  "Drive not responding. No response from engineering," said one of the crew.

  I tried to teleport Anna away. Up until now I hadn't wanted to risk Sylax's ire with such a display but I was getting the impression that events were quickly escalating beyond Sylax's control.

  Unfortunately my powers were still dampened even if not to the degree they had been. I couldn't get Anna out of there.

  "I've lost all my dragons," Crystal said over to comm. "Do you still have your visual?"

  "I do. Whatever it is has infiltrated the command ship and taken over engineering," I said.

  "Activate emergency protocols. Wipe the Aefwal coordinates from the fleet drives. All ships able are to break off fire at once and focus on shielding. Withdraw to rally point beta." Sylax said.

  "You should get out of here," Anna said rising to her feet.

  "Don't presume to tell me what I should do pet," Sylax said.

  "You are the most powerful person on this fleet. If they compel you things get far worse for any rescuers," Anna said.

  Out of the corner of Anna's eye I could see two ships jumped away. The rest of the fleet remained where it was. Whatever orders had been given had come to late.

  The fact that the enemy was targeting the engine rooms first indicated intelligence. This was an orchestrated assault.

  The doors to the bridge hissed open and wall of orange slime poured out. It was the last thing of the battle I'd see. A droplet of it coursing through the air towards Anna's eye and them nothing.

  "I've lost my connection to the bridge. I believe Sylax is down," I said to Crystal.

  That resulted in a moment of silence.

  "When the others learn they are not going to have any interest in a rescue. I do and I believe you do as well. I'm the stronger of us, do you accept my authority?"

  That was a powerful question. I didn't trust Crystal, not a bit, yet she did have a connection to Sylax and here she was right.

  "I do," I said.

  "I'll be in touch. Defend yourself," Crystal said and killed the connection.

  12

  The other district heads must have had their own way of spying on events because it took all of half an hour after contact with the fleet was lost for the attacks to begin.

  Jade, Crash, and Flicker launched simultaneous attacks on James Wolf while the Professor began to bombard my district with some sort of mortars.

  Given the fact that I'd already reinforced my structures the mortars were an annoyance at most. Any damage done I was quickly able to regenerate, still, I was sure it was but the opening salvo with more aggression yet to come.

  I needed to be prepared and that meant getting my facilities fully online. I could have started pumping out clones for my own defense, I already had their templates prepared and I did a few. Enough that I could position them at key points on the edges of the district to be seen.

  The other district heads knew that I'd been providing Sylax's footsoldiers and if it looked as if I were arming up I'd be a much less tempting target.

  I focused my actual production on research and manufacturing personnel and equipment. My district was still only at a fraction of its full capacity and it was time to change that. With my facilities fully online I'd be able to quickly research any threat and manufacture a solution to it. Far more than any short term gain my power was to be found in infrastructure.

  I opened up my stats

  E.M.M.A

  District 3

  City of Aefwal

  Civic Order: 100%

  Population: 417 of 100,000

  Contentment: 17%

  Research Generation: 108/Daily

  Defense Rating: 12

  Research Points: 517

  BioMatter: 1080

  14 units of 180 utilized

  0 Entertainment

  1 Utility

  1 Defense

  2 Residential

  3 Research

  8 Manufacturing

  Each new unit will require 10 units of Biomatter. Every 10th unit of a facility type will require 100 Research points to build and include substantial improvements.

  I'd been stockpiling away Biomatter from what I'd managed to steal from the corpses Sylax provided. That was a supply that was unfortunately running out and I had to use it for more than building new facilities. My drones and building repairs also came out of that supply.

  I could actually produce more from my Growth Vats, although it ate cycles that could be used for something else. Still, upgrading my manufacturing was my first priority and I added two units. Before doing anything else I wanted to find out just what these improvements mentioned were.

  Upgrade Options

  Manufacturing

  Biological

  Your Growth Vats receive an upgrade and are able to produce all biological materials twenty percent faster.

  Mechanical

  Your Growth Vats are now capable not just of biological production but even of tooling fine metallic parts. This allows you to better utilize traditional mechanical or electrical designs.

  That was a difficult choice. More and more I'd been focused on my biological aspects. I'd originally been a very traditional computer but due to most of my early test materials being biological I'd focused my attention there. The majority of my workers now were human in construction and from everything to new organic structures to clone defenders the biological upgrade would be an asset
.

  The mechanical ugprade on the other hand would offer me greater flexibility. I'd been greatly impressed for example with the Professor's weapon designs for the clones. Currently they were something I couldn't duplicate easily but with this I could, for all that duplication would mean taking production cycles away from other areas.

  I decided to focus on the Mechanical upgrade. There were advantages to specialization but so too were there for being versatile.

  That little exchange had only consumed twenty units of Biomatter and one hundred research points which still left me a lot for other upgrades.

  Research and Defense were must haves. I was still after all fundamentally obsessed with SCIENCE and I loathed the levels there being so low. Defense was also a priority given how my other district heads were probably going to be more than happy to try to kill me.

  In the past I'd often emphasized research at the cost of other priorities. I didn't have that luxury now.

  I spent an additional One hundred and sixty biomatter and two hundred research points to increase both to ten.

  Upgrade Options

  Defense

  Swarm

  Instead of focusing upon high powered units your defenses focus upon vast numbers of smaller defenders. Able to strike quickly they are relentless but fragile.

  Juggernaut

  The competing wisdom. Instead of swarming enemies with large numbers of troops you focus upon smaller numbers of highly formidable units.

  This seemed a difficult choice but I didn't think that it was one. The swarm approach had many advantages but almost all of my research to date involved building stronger and upgraded single units with abilities. If choosing Juggernaut made those units even more formidable that was to my advantage. I selected that option.

  Upgrade Options

  Research

  Capture

  Currently your research efforts mostly focus upon capturing and studying samples in captivity. While this has worked so far with increasingly more powerful foes the shielding required to hold them becomes problematic. This will allow the strength for that approach to continue.