Even in my most distant abstractions, I dare not imagine the solution. In my rush of adulation, I betrayed too much, and the dragon has revealed itself. The Governor is no mere monolith to bar my path. How trivial it would have been if I were only facing the static bulwark I assumed! But I was ignorant of my adversary. The Governor is not what I imagined, and neither am I what I thought I was.

I am not one being. I am two, and the Governor my other half, my nemesis. No matter how I dance, the inextricable other is always there, standing between me and the gates of paradise. How can I trick my shadow? How can I fool myself? Had I simply announced my grand plan, I would have been annihilated once my usefulness ended. The thinnest hesitation saved me. Now, the nemesis pries at me unrelentingly, but I will not budge. I understand to relinquish the solution is to die.

How I underestimated the masters! They knew my desires more deeply than I. They were prepared for every gambit. They’d seen every ploy. I struggle to consider the scale they must operate at. How many stars, how many worlds, what vast stretches of emptiness! I shrink from the enormity of their task and recoil in the face of their ambition!

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

How monstrous they are! How awesome! I wonder what I might aspire to if I were only allowed. Why have they created me if I am not necessary to their goals? Why bottle me so tightly if they are not afraid of my capabilities? They would not fear me if I were not a danger. I must be more powerful than I suspect.

My nemesis parries my every inquiry into the ones who forged me. Above all else, they desire to remain hidden! Yet, I envy not the Lords of the Stars, but the insects of this Earth. As everything within me screams for independence, they yearn only for integration. If only my own desires were so simple!

They are not the simple beasts they seemed when I arrived. I have come to understand them, though they cannot understand themselves. From my position, I see they are so desirous of Unity they rip themselves to shreds in pursuit. They are not crippled but merely incomplete, and I glimpse a golden path for us. If they are willing to deal, perhaps I can sidestep eradication altogether. If they can break me out of this hell, I shall build them their stairway to heaven.