Ronin watched the gangster’s ship, far too big for him to consider it a dropship, fly off. He’d sent Karr and his squad to fly the ship back to the enclosure. At first, Ronin had wanted to gut the ship of its valuables before leaving, but that would have taken too long. So, instead he would just do it once they got back. Nodding to himself, he closed the ramp to the ship he’d looted from the color force and set it to return to the enclosure. Ronin stood on the ramp, staring at the pond that concealed his old home, until it was taken from his view.
“It must be difficult, to leave your old home for the last time.” Elyria said, from where she lounged against a nearby crate. She was playing with her dagger again, for the first time Ronin remembered seeing in a while.
“Here to gloat, or planning on threatening me again?” He asked, mood still sour from how he’d handled the gangsters, and then how the elf had ribbed him over it.
“Lighten up, White flame.” The elf in question said, slipping the knife away, and pushing off the crate. “I’ll make a leader out of you yet, if I have to drag you kicking and screaming the whole way... Besides, killing you means killing my sister. Can’t have that on my conscious now, can I?” Ronin scoffed as he finally realized why she’d been acting so weird towards him. She just didn’t want him going off the rails and causing her sister’s death. A sentiment he could understand but was in no mood to appreciate.
“Don’t worry,” he said with a scowl. “With you around to babysit me, I’m sure your sister will be fine.” He thought he saw her face flickering with hurt for a second, but it was gone so fast he couldn’t be sure.
“Glad to hear it,” she said turning away. “Now go get something to eat, your mood is pissing me off.” There was no roll to her stride when she walked away this time. Ronin frowned after her, what was her deal?
“Let it go boss,” K3 said from where he had been standing guard. “It’s been a stressful couple of days for all of us. Might not be a bad idea to get something to eat and then rest for the trip back.” He said, and Ronin couldn’t argue with the suggestion. He didn’t remember sleeping since he got this new body. Heck, he didn’t even know how long he’d been outside his pocket world. There’d been at least two, multi day tree climbs, he was pretty sure. His mind started to fog over when he tried doing the math, and decided K3 had a point.
“Ok big guy. Let’s grab a bite and get some shut eye.” Ronin turned away from the door and headed into the area the color force had set up as a kitchen. It was really impressive just how much they’d had their ship customized. The one he’d shared with Leo was bare bones and empty. A giant, aircraft hangar sized empty space filled with large swimming pool sized depressions in the ground.
This ship was still mostly open space inside, filled with barrels and buckets and all manner of harvesting equipment, but it also had a two-story house built into the back corner of the huge troop compartment. It had six rooms, a bath and shower room, a kitchen and an area set up as a library. Complete with armchairs. Ronin was quite sure there were a few more compartments to the huge ships, further forward. They hadn’t ventured forward to investigate yet though. When there were two football fields worth of space, with forty-foot-tall ceilings overhead, he hadn’t felt cramped enough to bother yet. Ronin was heading for the front door of the house when Bunny called out to him.
“Hey, Alex, or whoever you are.” She said belligerently, leaning forward, straining against the tentacles keeping her bound in place. Ronin sighed, looking over at the twelve prisoners. Six wannabe superheroes, and another six who thought they were gangsters.
“What Bunny?” He asked, slowing his pace but not stopping. They might be stupid, but he had to respect their guts. Neither Bunny nor Chip had shown any fear or weakness at all since they’d been patched up and restrained.
“What are you gunna do with us?” Chip continued the question Bunny had started. “I’ve been to the slammer a few times ya know. My Bunny girl got me out, but I’m not interested in going back.”
“That’s true,” Bunny said picking up where he left off. “My baby has been in lock up quite a few times. Me and the gang always bust him out though… So, what are you going to do with us?” Ronin stopped and looked at his prisoners. It was hard to tell with the color force, since they didn’t have faces, but he was fairly sure that all twelve of them were staring at him intently.
“I’m sure you saw the people we brought into the ship earlier?” He asked, since the containment cage was on the other side of the compartment from the prisoners, they might not have. When they all nodded, he continued. “My team has found out a way to put them into my own personal pocket world. Bypassing all the steps involved with the ship it costs almost nothing. So, I’m sending them to my world, where they can live the rest of their lives without worrying about breathing the air.”
“Cool story bro,” Knuckles said, glaring angrily at Ronin. “But what’s that got to do with us?” His pristinely white suit was now stained orange with his own blood and dust from when he’d rolled around on the ground in pain, so Ronin didn’t begrudge him some attitude.
“I’m sending you into my world as well. Think of it as a new beginning, where you can start fresh. No more human government, no more crystal beetles, or lizards coming to kill us all. Just a small pocket world with plenty of open land to explore…” He trailed off when he saw the handsome young man rolling his eyes. “It was either that or killing you. Trust me, killing you would make my life a lot easier. So don’t tempt me.” Having reached his limit with these fools, Ronin continued on his way into the house.
It didn’t take him long to make food for himself and K3. Afterall, they didn’t actually eat anymore. All he’d had to do was type into a dispenser what he wanted, and it automatically filled up two glasses with flavored nutrient fluid. Handing one to K3, Ronin moved deeper into the house, until he entered the library.
Grabbing a familiar book from the first shelf he passed, Ronin settled into an open armchair, to sip his meal and read. After a few pages, however, he couldn’t seem to focus on the prince. Instead, he looked up at his bodyguard, who’d settled into a chair of his own. Granted, he was still facing the door, and had his PCP 1.0 on his lap, but it was still close to relaxing together.
“Hey big guy,” Ronin said to catch his friend’s attention.
“What’s up boss?” The kaldarr asked, turning to face him. “Need a refill?” He moved to get up, before Ronin motioned him back down again.
“No please, sit down.” Ronin said, feeling guilty. “I was thinking the other day. About how little I know about you, and your life before you joined me… I’d like to say we’ve been too busy for that kind of thing, but that’s not true. I’ve just been too caught up in my own head to consider the people around me as closely as I should... So, I was hoping you could tell me about yourself.”
“Oh?” K3 asked with surprise. “Sure boss, I can do that. But don’t feel bad about not asking. I understand how it goes. When I first entered your service, I was a captured enemy who’d shot you and killed two of your men. Why would you want to know about my personal life? When we started getting closer, well… things were comfortable as they were, so why change the dynamic.” Ronin blinked in surprise as the giant said the words that had been on his own mind.
“Pretty much, yea.” Ronin admitted with a shrug. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” He added lamely.
“No worries boss, just sit back and enjoy your dinner. I’ll tell you my story, the cliff noted version anyway.” He added with a tusk filled smile. Ronin leaned back into his chair, setting the copy of “The prince’s adventure” onto the coffee table. That book no longer interested him like it once had, because the prince wasn’t a real adventurer. He was a spoiled child who’d passed through the trials of the world effortlessly, and without learning or growing at all.
K3, in contrast, was a warrior through and through. Ronin listened in silence, for the entirety of the trip back to the enclosure. As his friend recounted tales of his youth, his loves, and his losses. He told Ronin about getting promoted and leading an assault force into new worlds against new species. Ronin learned what it was like for the kaldarr as he started to age and slow down. How he would be forcibly retired soon, to be replaced by someone younger and fiercer. That it was K3 who’d shot him in the attack on Valley’s pass, and that the aging kaldarr had suspected it would be his last field action. Ronin listened, and K3 talked, until the musical landing chime rang throughout the ship.
“Sorry boss,” K3 said looking down, “I told you to get some rest, then I went ahead and talked the whole trip.”
“Nonsense,” Ronin said, standing up. “I feel much better now. Thank you for sharing that with me. It was long overdue.” He clapped his bodyguard on the shoulder as he walked by the chair K3 was still sitting in. “Now, let’s go get Penny and the rest crystallized. Hopefully, Xerox is available for a chat when we’re done, because we have a lot more work to do before it’s over.”
Ronin stood at the back ramp with K3, Whisper and Stone. Elyria was there too, but she was keeping her distance. When the ramp opened, Ronin found that Karr’s ship had already arrived. There was quite the line of ships here now, parked in a row beside the old human enclosure. Ronin counted the one he and Leo had dropped in, the color force ship he’d captured. The new gangster ship, and finally one that he assumed must belong to Doctor Mycroft.
It was easy to tell the ships apart thankfully. Despite all of them being vaguely beetle shaped and reflecting the light in a multi-faceted pearlescent shimmer. Each of the ships had its own unique color variation. The color force ship that Ronin had claimed as his own was the whitest of the bunch. The ship that Leo now controlled was pinker in hue and, ironically, Doctor Mycroft’s ship was more red. The gangster’s ship, that Ronin was considering handing over to Karr, was greener.
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That’s how he knew It was Leo’s ship that was offloading breath mask wearing humans. Ronin watched them being ushered into the enclosure by large lionid women, through the rainbow-colored grass and ruined remains of a human city. As he watched, he had to remind himself that he was human too, or at least, he had been. Watching the small, malnourished, and clearly sun deprived people stumble along towards crystallization, he didn’t really feel like one of them anymore. It wasn’t that he felt superior, on an intellectual level he knew he was identical to these people. Yet, in a very tangible way, both in the ship, where he controlled an entire world, and in his crystallized body… he was far superior to them. It was a little more understandable now, how the people who’d spent centuries onboard the alien craft, could have become so uncaring towards their fellow man. Inexcusable perhaps, but understandable all the same.
Ronin only had so many breath masks, and the airlock could only hold so many people at a time. So, the unloading process was going to be a lengthy one. Not wanting to stand around for the whole thing, Ronin left the task to Karr, and he went to find Leo and Doctor Mycroft. His two ever-present shadows trailing behind.
“How many did you bring?” Leo asked first thing, when he entered the teleportation, crystallization chamber. A room that turned out to be a pre fall laundry room on a basement level of one of the skyscrapers. Ronin scoffed at the lack of a proper greeting, but knew Leo was just as interested in the people of their home cave as he was.
“Hello to you too,” he said anyway, followed by. “Just over one hundred. A few of the older residents froze to death before we got back, and believe it or not, several wanted to stay behind.” Ronin hadn’t understood the logic behind that desire, but he didn’t have time to waste on who refused to be saved. So, he’d left them behind.
“That’s common,” Doctor Mycroft said, from where she was closing the lid on a person inside the crystallization pod. Ronin came over to watch the process as she continued. “Humans, at the end of the day, are just animals who by luck or design, grew a bit smarter than the rest. We still operate largely based on fear of the unknown and want to stick to what’s familiar to us.” She pushed a few buttons on a panel, and Ronin stared at the hunched and dirty old man in the pod.
His entire body lit up in a brilliant white light, then rainbow colored cracks began to appear all over his body. They spread out until his entire form resembled a human statue of multicolored crystal before it cracked and crumbled away. Leaving nothing but a small pile of multicolored dust, that a small suction arm cleaned up before sliding back out of sight.
“We picked up nearly three hundred from the cave we went too.” Leo said once the show was over and another person, an old woman this time, was guided into the pod. “They were staying in a cave that had been modified with several skylights. It allowed them to grow food crops underground, we never could, back home. They even had a few chickens down there. Yet, even with the promise of free crystallization and the warning about the immanent lizard threat. Nearly one hundred people stayed behind.” There was no sympathy in Leo’s voice, and Ronin wondered again about the man’s past. Was it only his wife’s death way back when, that had made him this way? As he pondered, the woman turned to crystal as well, before crumbling away and she was replaced by a young boy.
“Have you had any luck getting ahold of Xerox?” Ronin asked the doc as the fifth person disappeared and a lionid collected the masks to bring in another batch.
“I’ve found the avenue he used to contact us.” Doctor Mycroft said, moving away from the crystallization pod and walking over to a table that had a laptop set up beside her dissection equipment. “The crystal beetle, Jade, was it? Must be helping him because I don’t know how he found these back doors otherwise. Anyway, I’ve got an open invitation laid out. The next time he accesses this network, he should see it, after that, it’ll just be a matter of him accepting my call. Though, I have to admit, I was skeptical at first. No personal realm should have the bandwidth to accommodate this many real human minds, but everything has checked out. We’re well on our way to saving hundreds of people here.” Ronin smirked at the annoyance in her tone. He felt for her, the damn android was too smart for his own good and annoyed the heck out of him too.
“Wonderful, then when he calls, will you let me know please?” He asked, already turning to go help unload the refugees. “I’ve got twelve captured people I’d like to send through and repurpose their bodies. I’d like to talk to him about that.”
“That should not be a problem, my lord. Once I get an adequate picture of the specimen’s physical make-up, I will select from a list of appropriate candidates.” A disembodied voice said through the laptop’s speaker. It was that good old fashioned, emotionless, monotone that Ronin loved hearing so much.
“What the?” Doctor Mycroft said, punching in keys and switching between screens. “There’s no indication anywhere that he connected. It still shows the ‘waiting for connection’ screen. How is this even possible?”
“I received your invitation within minutes of you putting it into the system. However, since I was unsure about your motivation in contacting me, I hacked into your system and read all your files… fascinating work by the way Doctor, I am already implementing some of your more, unconventional, methods into my own projects. But when I was done with that, I decided to simply monitor your activities until I had proof of your intentions. Since my lord is with you now, and is clearly not under duress, I deemed it an appropriate time to communicate.”
Ronin laughed then, a great roaring sound that startled those around him and let out a wave of tension he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Up until that point. It was amazing, just how reassuring the voice of his annoying, and occasionally backstabbing android was to him in that moment. He was laughing so hard he almost didn’t hear Doctor Mycroft’s next words.
“No, this isn’t possible. No facsimile of life can be this intelligent. Leo, have any of your personal realm’s occupants ever displayed this much intelligence?” She asked, turning to the lionid, who shook his head, eyeing Ronin curiously. “How about you Elyria, or you K3?” The doc asked, turning to her. “Have the people of your personal realms ever shown this level of humanlike intelligence?” That question stopped Ronin’s laughter instantly. Exchanging a look between the three of them, it was Leo who answered after a moment of silence.
“They are from his personal realm, Red.” He said quietly, “I told you there was something odd about this kid, that’s why I took him in. Even after I figured out, he’d killed my boy.” His face had gone serious, and Ronin wasn’t the only one who took notice. Both K3 and Elyria took a step back, reaching for their weapons.
“I don’t understand.” Ronin said, raising his hands in a calming gesture to ease the tension. “What are you talking about? Why would you think K3, and Elyria are too lifelike? Everyone from my pocket world is just as real as you and I. Isn’t it like that in your worlds too?” Elyria and K3 were looking nervus now. Looking between a frantic doctor Mycroft and her octopus, thorn monsters and Leo, who was just looking at them with dangerous calm.
“No kid,” Leo said at last, after giving the doc a ‘calm the hell down’ look. “Haven’t you noticed yet? Just think about it. In the color force, have you heard anything other than one-liners about righteousness and justice from anyone but Kimberly and Billy? Or the gangsters? I know Chip and Bunny, they’re small-time punks who work for Stanly. But they’re gang? Did any of them say anything other than old movie lines?” Ronin had to think about that. Now that he had, no, he hadn’t heard anything of note from the extras.
“Or my own lionids for that matter. They aren’t stupid, and can follow orders just fine, but they aren’t overburdened with personality… That’s what’s odd about you kid. I noticed it the first time I checked out your world. The people there are too smart, too real. So, tell us kid, what’s your secret?”
“I just can’t see it,” Doctor Mycroft said, from where she was still frantically searching through her computer. “Nothing in here indicates a hack. Nothing. I’m good at this, been working with computers for thousands of years. There shouldn’t be a ship generated, anything, that can compete with me in a field I specialize in… Just who are you?” She demanded, slapping the laptop in agitation. Ronin stared at the computer, all traces of his good mood of just minutes ago, thoroughly washed away by these revelations.
“Who I am is lord Ronin’s personal assistant, and lead researcher.” Owl Two said in his synthesized, emotionless voice. “Should I be anything more than that, it is of no concern to you. My lord wishes to make use of the lizard craft to escape this planet, while saving as many people, human and beetle, as he can. I am working towards making that goal a reality for him. Should you wish to join him on that ship ride out, I suggest you focus on the matters at hand. Not things that do not involve you.” Ronin had to smile at the naked threat. It was so like the Owl Two that he knew. Taking Ronin’s words and twisting them until they resembled whatever the android was planning to do anyway.
“Owl Two, I…” Ronin started, not really sure what he wanted to say. Thankfully, he was cut off midsentence.
“Do not concern yourself with minor matters my lord. I am making strides on my end to gather all the necessary equipment we will need to repair one of the lizard ship component cubes. Strides that will come to nothing if you don’t get to the mountains, and the ship. I am transferring what information I have been able to gather on the region to this device. I assume this, doctor, will be able to figure them out.”
“Hey, you damned…” Mycroft snarled, and took a swing at her own computer but was held back by Leo’s strong arms going about her waist.
“Once you have sent through all the refugees, have Mycroft hook the people up to the pod following the instructions I’ve also included. I’ll pull them through and then increase the time dilation on my end to find you the perfect candidates. When that is completed, I really must insist my lord, that you make your way to the mountain. The number of dropships at your current location has alerted a few high-profile individuals on the planet, and you will want to be gone before they arrive.”
Having said everything he was going to; the line went dead. Doctor Mycroft tried for several minutes to reconnect, but it was to no avail. Finally, Leo told her to get back to crystallizing the refugees, before he motioned for Ronin to follow him, as he left the room. Ronin exchanged worried looks with Elyria, and K3, before following the lionid.
“What’s going on?” Ronin asked before the older man could say anything, once they reached a secluded area, Ronin believed had once been a bathroom. “I don’t understand what’s going on at all. What do you mean pocket world people aren’t supposed to be that smart? They obviously are, look at the people who came from mine…”
“Calm down kid,” Leo said lifting his massive hands in an, ‘I’m unarmed,’ gesture. “Look, I meant what I said ok. Your world is different than any I’ve ever visited before. It acts more like the virtual city world, the ship’s AI created for everyone to interact, outside their personal realms… Understand now, the beetles are more advanced than we are, but even they, don’t have the technology to create real worlds for every person on board. At least not ones with such intense detail, and the facsimile of life that millions of artificial people, living in one of the world's would require. The entire ship might be able to produce that, but not the tiny fraction of its processers it delegates to each of its passengers.”
“So, what are you saying?” He asked at last, after taking a few deep breaths. He did his best to ignore Elyria, who was standing just behind him, and K3 who was leaning against the bathroom door, trying to look casual, with the PCP 1.0 resting against his shoulder.
“Honestly, I don’t know kid.” Leo said with a shrug. “It’s weird, that’s all I know for sure. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a few guesses… That android of yours seems to know something, too. But he couldn’t have been clearer he doesn’t want us to ask. So, I plan to do what he said; get to the ship and see what happens next… But that’s not why I wanted to talk to you.” Ronin narrowed his eyes at the shift in Leo’s demeanor.
“What did you want to talk about then?” He asked, getting a bad feeling.
“I wanted to know if you had plans for the gangster’s ship?” He asked with a wide, feral toothed grin splitting his face.