The Messenger Ch. 02

My running away wouldn't solve anything about the dying world or the monster behind me. I knew with all the certainty of a truly clueless person that it was just me standing between it and the world. Things were really shitty if I was the world's last hope, but that's what it looked like. Fuck.

Sighing, I turned back into the tomb I called home to resume my lonely non-reign and self-imposed isolation. I guessed rulers tended to become detached from real life, but this seemed a bit extreme.

I woke up just as tired as always and once again had no idea what to do with the hours and life ahead. Exploration was the only option yet again, although I dreaded it. It was bad enough the Thing could come for me in here, but to actively go looking for it seemed insane. As insanity seemed the only constant in my life, I just sighed and went ahead.

The lower levels had been mostly identical to this one, minus the main hall, and totally uninteresting. I didn't feel up to the excitement of the upper level, so I decided to explore something in the middle.

My new expedition immediately started with a fight. It was me against the elevator. Calling it was easy enough. As always, it appeared silently and quickly from wherever unused elevators spent their free time. I hopped on, mentally expressing my wish to be taken to a mid level.

The elevator moved upwards, but came to a stuttering halt again right afterwards. Damn, I even managed to break hi-tek elevators, I thought. I tried to repeat my mental command, causing the elevator to express a general feeling of disapproval. I was way beyond wondering how an elevator could communicate right into my mind. As I insisted, the thing started to move again, although slowly, as if under protest. Damn, just when I thought my life was weird, I started to argue with an elevator.

The contentment of having won my first-ever argument with an elevator was short lived. The level we stopped at exuded hostility. I was used to the generally low light level in the palace, but this was darker than the other levels and the air felt colder. Still, it was pretty interesting. The layout was definitely unlike any other I'd seen. Maybe this was where I could find some clues about, well, anything. Understanding what I was exactly looking for would have been a great first step, but I couldn't have everything, now could I?

In front of me was a long, curved room. On one side was a long row of seats, facing a wall. They were the first pieces of furniture that looked like they belonged in here. The seats looked pretty comfy and so flawless, they just screamed "never used." That was pretty unusual in a world full of worn-out or broken things. Even more unusual was that they seemed way too big. They looked perfect for a person that was maybe two or two and a half meters tall. I didn't know much about our hi-tek building ancestors, but I was surprised how tall they were. Hmm. Maybe they had four toes on each foot, too?

Each seat was surrounded by some controls in a horseshoe-like arrangement. I had already learned something on this trip. The palace, or at least this room, had been designed to control or monitor something. When I came to think about it, it was hardly surprising. In a world that was able to build such a palace, everything was certainly connected. The whole kingdom must have been like a well-oiled machine. Being a queen would be a completely different job, with information at your fingertips and decisions to be made.

Now, with the kingdom broken, it was just a dark room. The underlying feeling of deep oozing hostility was so damn intense, like the constant warning bells in the back of my mind. The responsible thing was to go away, towards the obviously safer levels. I decided to do exactly that, right after briefly checking the first seat. Curiosity had nothing to do with it, I was just looking for useful information. As long as I avoided the really irresponsible urge to sit in one of the seats, I should be okay. Those seats might be any kind of trap.

The seating surface looked like it was made of stone, but turned out to be quite comfy under my back. The whole thing was just way too big for me. Maybe it was just a design flaw, I thought. Someone ordered them five sizes too big.

I looked at the flat, black surfaces in front of me and wondered who was supposed to look at them and what they'd show. I so wished they'd let me have a glimpse at what they were supposed to show.

Had I been standing, I would have landed on my ass. Seated as I was, I just jerked a bit in shock. The flat surface right in front of me started to glow and display strange symbols. They were like text, but unlike any letters I had ever seen. I wished to see something else, something I could understand, and the thing immediately showed me a moving picture of the desert in front of the palace.

Suddenly, the rim of the picture started to glow red and the images changed, opening some kind of floor plan. It was a curved room with seats facing a wall, just like the one I was in. The thing showed a glowing blue dot at my current position and a pulsating red one, coming towards the blue dot from the right.

Suddenly remembering where I was, I looked to the right. The sense of dread rushed back, stronger than ever. I slid down from the chair, trying to hide behind the huge thing. Peeking around the corner, I saw a huge dark figure moving in the shadows.

I checked my weapons, only to find them completely dark. 'No, no, not now,' I thought, just like the dying messenger and his brother had. The weapons must have decided to dispose of me, and even my suit no longer glowed. Shit, this was how my aunt must have felt right before I killed her. She had still tried to fire her weapons, even though she knew they had abandoned her.

That was what I tried as well, mostly because I didn't have a better plan. I jumped from my hiding place, determined to at least put up a good fight, and fired my small pistol.

The most noticeable thing about the silence I expected was that it wasn't there. Instead, I heard the familiar vicious whip crack and saw a nastily glowing section on the otherwise matte dark surface of an inhumane killing machine. My suit suddenly glowed brightly again and I found my dagger in my left hand. As usual, I had no idea how it had gotten there.

The weapons had again taken control of my body, and I was thankful, as I sucked at fighting. My trusty pistol fired again and again, but the huge black dude, or thing, disappointed me seriously by just continuing its weird half gliding, half walking movement towards me. I wondered if I should worry about running out of ammunition, or whatever my pistol used instead, but decided I didn't have time for that.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. I had nowhere to go, nowhere to hide this time, apart from an oversized chair. My pistol kept cracking, the thing's chest kept glowing and I watched it raise its clawed right hand. Instinctively, I knew this was a deadly weapon against a tiny confused queen, even if she wore some kind of protective suit.

I was standing with my hip against the chair, making my upper body the perfect target for any killer claws happening to be around. One such claw swung down as if to bisect me like a common butler. Right before it hit, I decided not to disturb the perfect arc of its swing by standing in the way.

As I danced backwards in a fashion totally unknown to myself, I had to admire the graceful movement of the impossibly long arm that mostly bisected the beautiful chair instead of my body. The chair looked much more used now, like the rest of this world. The thing grunted, impressing me as it had no discernible mouth. It had grunted right into my mind, which seemed to be open for anyone. Or maybe the weapons had shown me the thing's mind? Shit, this was no time for existential philosophy, something was trying to kill me and I should probably pay attention.

My opponent definitely was a born, or made, fighter. To my surprise, I realized that I was, as well, at least whenever a hovering blue ball thing took over my body. I had mixed feelings about that, but not enough to stop my right hand from shooting at the thing's head. I would have chosen the neck as my target, if it had one, and if anyone had asked for my opinion.

As it tried to dislodge its claw from the remnants of the chair, I almost missed the low arch of its left arm. It would have cut my knees off, had I not jumped up quicker than I had ever moved before. Shit, I was watching two non-human opponents fighting, and one was me. At least my view of the fight was top notch.

Just as I landed, I surprised myself by being insane enough to jump forwards, towards the thing. That seemed counter-intuitive, but my body hadn't bothered to ask my opinion.

The thing still hadn't dislodged its right claw and had used up its only joker, its left arm. I ended up right in front of the thing, just as its left arm was finishing its sweep.

Not being bothered by having no eyes, the thing looked at me, telegraphing its surprise and dismay, just as I pushed my blade deep into its left shoulder with superhuman force. I can say that because the force wasn't mine. My body was still the one I had left the damn messenger station with, and I was still just a small girl.

Still, I managed to penetrate whatever armor the thing wore or was made of. It howled right into my head, which wasn't the nicest experience ever. It seemed to voice mostly disappointment in my behavior, pain wasn't an issue.

Again, my body decided to jump backwards without consulting me and just in time to avoid the left arm's backwards motion, which again tried to separate my knees from the rest of my body. Even while I jumped backwards, my right hand kept firing at the same spot on the thing's head with eerie precision.

Just when I skidded to a halt, the thing mentally proposed a temporary truce. This level was its territory and if I stayed out of it, it would stay out of the lower levels I lived in. Damn, those moving wall pictures had been the best source of information I had found, but the prospect of having a bedroom free of insane killer machines and half butlers was tempting too.

I agreed and turned around, resisting the urge to look back or run like the frightened girl I really was. The elevator greeted me by humming slightly, welcoming my return. Being on the long list of things that had direct access to my mind, the platform expressed its happiness. I wondered if having emotions meant that it was alive, before dismissing the thought as absurd. It was an elevator, after all. Next thing was probably my left shoe wanting to talk about its depression.

No, I was a human, I knew what I wanted and I was the queen. Asserting my will, I casually ordered the platform to go downwards, to my room, and it immediately complied by shooting upwards fast enough to make my knees wobble.

The elevator spit me out on the top level, which I thought of as the blue level by then. Reluctantly, I walked towards the blue sphere room, feeling as if I was summoned to my father to confess my sins.

Cautiously I peeked inside the blue sphere room, only to find it completely free of black killing machines. The sphere itself was either rotating or not, as it always did, the constantly moving surface making it impossible to tell.

Without knowing why, I checked the point where the Thing had worked on the blue wall before I had convinced it to stop. I was sure the wall was nothing but energy until I saw the claw marks on the surface. It seemed like a hybrid material, part matter, part energy.

"Yes, it would break down if the matter was destroyed," the blue ball informed me, talking directly to my brain, just like everybody else did.

"Contact with the other half of the room would kill me on the spot," it told me. "I need the protective wall to stay alive."

"Why does it want to kill you? What is this thing anyway? Who are you?"

"I'm not sure if you are ready for all the answers yet. I am what you call The Mind. I control the palace, the weapons and a few other devices, like the butlers."

"Okay, but why did you choose me? What do you want?"

"What I want? That's easy. I want to live. I want to survive. That's why I chose you. That's why I chose your aunt, but she went crazy and unleashed the Dark One. It was dormant at the time and I wasn't even aware there was one left in here."

"There was once more than one?"

"Yes, there were five of them. They caused the Great War, which lead to the doom of civilization. I had hoped they were all killed back then, but one remained hidden in here. Your aunt became more and more unstable. I understand that, this place is not good for humans. She found it by coincidence and decided to wake it up. The Dark One tried to convince her to switch sides and I tried to prevent it. She was becoming even more unstable and probably about to decide for the Dark One when I became aware of you. You are a chosen one, a telepath, if you want to use the word.

"There are only very few left. It is inheritable, but most people with that gift were either killed in the war or killed as heretics afterwards. I was surprised you are one, as your parents aren't. That's probably why your aunt was caught by surprise and didn't try to kill you earlier.

"I need a queen to control the messengers, who keep an eye on things in my name. I need a stable civilization and want to rebuild it, but I need a middleman, a partner. The messengers or other people must never see my physical form. They wouldn't understand and might even try to destroy me. With a stable human partner at my side, I'd like to help rebuild human civilization. Right now, all I can do is try to prevent a complete breakdown.

"Neither Abigor nor your aunt were really what I had hoped for, so finding you solved several problems at once."

"Still, we have this tiny problem of an insane killing machine running around and trying to kill me."

"Not just you. You aren't important to it. You are just in the way of killing me. Unfortunately, it is far from being insane. It was built to kill and it does so very efficiently."

"Okay, so it tries to kill you, as well. How can that be? You're not really alive. You're a machine."

"I am as alive as you are. We are both just machines that host our minds. You are a biological machine; I have been built. That's the only difference. I am as conscious as you are."

"Okay, but I'm..." I was at a loss for words. Surely, there was a difference between us. "I'm God's creation." I already knew how weak that argument was.

"No, you're your parents' creation."

Damn, there must be some difference between me and that thinking machine. There has to be.

"Okay, I have an immortal soul," I stated as if I was convinced of it.

"You hope you have one, just as I do. One day I will be powered off and I sure hope that won't be the end."

Fuck.

"Just relax for now. Let's meet in a nicer world," he invited.

As if by magic, we again stood on the lush grass. There was no doubt anymore that this hot guy was the blue sphere. I should have been surprised that it was using a body unlike its own, but so was I, and I had already gotten used to it. I wasn't surprised about much anymore, but I sure was curious.

"So who are you? Who built you and why?"

"Do you really need to know that? Isn't it enough that I am, that I exist, that I'm here with you?"

"Not really. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful you're here with me and for what you've done for me. Still, I feel as if I'm just being pushed around here, without a clue what's happening."

"If it's any consolation, I feel much the same way. When I was booted and came into existence, all I knew was how to operate the ship. Then all went wrong, and I had to learn, adapt and improvise since..."

"Ship?" I interrupted him. "What ship?"

He looked at me, genuinely surprised. "Are you serious? The ship we're living in, of course. What other ship would I want to talk about?"

"Ship? I mean..." I was at a loss for words. "I admit, I've never seen one in real life, but I've read all kinds of books. I know what a ship looks like. Well, used to look like when there was so much water around you could... Anyway, I haven't seen anything even vaguely resembling a ship around here. Well not here, but back there. You know what I mean."

"I see," he answered, nodding thoughtfully and graciously ignoring my incoherent babbling. "I'm not sure if there's a gentler way of telling you, so I'm going to be straight. What you call the palace is actually a ship."

"What the fuck?"

"Well, not what you'd call a ship, maybe. It's a space ship. It was built..."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I know it must be a shock for you and I'm sorry, but you wanted to know the truth. I don't know too much about why it was built. I'm just the ship computer, if you want to call it that. They didn't think it was necessary to give me too much background info. My guess is it's some kind of ark or rescue vessel. It was supposed to carry 16,384 individuals from my home planet."

"What is it called? The planet?" I was still just babbling to cover my shock. I really wasn't all that interested in the name.

"Home, of course."

"So what went wrong? Where are these 16,384 individuals?"

"I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure there was a terrible war going on. The ship was launched prematurely by an override command, against my will and programming, and I was unable to prevent it. I still don't know who did it and why. The ship wasn't even completed. The lower levels you live in were supposed to house the passengers. As you know, they are still empty.

"I didn't know it at the time, but a few of the Dark Ones had found their way aboard the ship. They are sentient killing machines, built for the war that was about to destroy my home world. I strongly suspect that world is gone by now. I was pre-programmed to travel to Earth, which was identified as potentially habitable. Returning to my home planet was technically impossible, and as I had no passengers, my own survival was my top priority.

"Not knowing what else to do, I followed the program and traveled to Earth. I landed as planned, but was unable to establish contact with what you call the hi-tek civilization, your ancestors. They were a bit unsophisticated and couldn't even communicate by mind. I am unable to talk, using sound waves. That kind of communication was unknown in my home world and no one prepared me for that eventuality.

"Unfortunately, the Dark Ones disembarked, probably found an ally that tried to use their power, and started the war that wiped out the human civilization."

"But why?"

"I guess because war is what they're programmed for, but I'm not sure. I find it difficult to communicate with them. We speak the same language. It's universal, at least if you communicate mentally. Their thought pattern is just too alien for me to understand, although we were created by the same species."

"I... I find this difficult to handle..." I replied, but wasn't even sure why. I had seen so many improbable or impossible things recently, this didn't even add that much. He just looked at me patiently.

"So, what's your plan?" I finally asked.

"Well, apart from enjoying as much time as we can in here?"

"You bet, smartass. I mean the general plan. The Dark Ones. Earth. Your home world. That plan."

"I'm pretty sure my home world is just a radiated ruin by now. I'm also relatively sure the Dark Ones I brought here against my will are all dead, except the one they left behind in the ship for some reason. Your ancestors paid a heavy price to kill four of them, but there was nothing I could do to help. There were no chosen ones available to me back then, so I couldn't communicate. Some of them saw me, but I was just this mute hovering miracle blue ball to them, and they had more immediate problems.