40

“You went scorched Earth,” Uncle Nathan said through the radio, “Again.”

“Good afternoon to you, too, uncle,” I said. I looked at the observation booth above the combat simulation room, where The Wolf stood.

“I’ve been trying to reach you all day, nephew, but instead, I find you here playing with your toys again,” he said, amused.

“As you can see, I’m busy training. I got an op to run.”

“Well, this is a good place as any. I need to talk to you about the incident with the Russian ambassador.”

I raised my hand. “End simulation!” In a second, the walls changed from the black void of space to a blank concrete wall, the floor reforming from the moon’s gray surface to a smooth floor. I had learned from Uncle Nathan to practice and train every day just like a SEAL would. Learn it as muscle memory. Lessen the mistakes. Hone your body. I thought it would be best to change the pace by creating a combat scenario on the moon.

Seventeen Praetorian Knights hiding behind cover and other obstacles stepped out, waiting for my orders. “That’s it for today, knights. We’ll reconvene at oh eight hundred hours tomorrow. Don’t be late.”

“Yes, emperor!” The knights said in unison, bowing their heads, their right fists raised to the center of their chests. No one dared look up before I walked past them.

Since yesterday’s incident, my soldiers’ demeanor across Segerstrom Station has changed drastically. They no longer gave me a casual glance or the nonchalant way they acted around me as if I was just part of the gang. A high-ranking one, but part of their club nonetheless. Sure, they bowed and addressed me properly, but as if they were in on the joke of calling myself emperor, trying to piss off the world leaders who had insulted me for many weeks. But now, they had taken my position more seriously, hanging by my every word as law and that every misstep they made could spell a severe punishment or even death.

They were afraid of me…yet regarded me with higher esteem. They had seen the vids circulating on the news cycle and online. Most of them approved of what I’ve done to Mikhail, calling it payback or karma for organizing a massacre. If it weren’t for the nanites, dozens would have died, and I doubted I would have restrained myself from doing things much worse on Mikhail and the ambassador than what I did on that observation deck.

That scared me more.

Uncle Nathan rode the elevator platform from the observation deck to the combat chamber as I approached the door. I gave a small wave.

He and I were the tallest of everyone in the family, but even Uncle Nathan towered over me by a couple of inches. The Wolf, they called him. Eyes of steel, always ready for combat, even in civilian clothing. With the nanite armor he wore at all times, he stood imposing as a respected admiral of the Imperial Legion, revered by my men like a walking legend. It helped that Kyle, Smitty, and the rest of his former unit from the Navy SEALs spread my uncle’s legend further into the station. And I did reap the benefits of having him by my side. I’ve used plenty of his advice against the quartz in San Francisco, utilizing his strategy once we siege the city.

As much as the crew feared me because I am the emperor, Uncle Nathan basked in the same reputation.

Hands behind his back, he walked with me toward the private core elevators.

“Impressive display,” he muttered.

“Of what?”

“The men.”

“They’re scared of me.”

He raised his brow. “I wonder why.”

“Don’t start with me, Uncle Nate.”

“I’m only telling you what I know. Do you know what they call you now? The Ripper.”

“I guess I’m joining your little club, Wolf.”

“Bah. It has a nice ring to it. Ripper.”

“I hope that’s a good thing?”

Uncle Nathan gave a small smile. “Time will tell, Tony. Time will tell.”

“Imperial Palace,” I said when we entered the elevator. A chime dinged as it ascended from the military sector on level 19 to level 17—the Imperial Palace. A hover car waited for us as we exited the Pillars.

“Want me to drive?” Uncle Nathan asked.

I smiled and threw him the keys. “Why not?” As he drove toward the main palace grounds, I hopped onto the passenger seat.

“Look at this. Every time I drive home, the road changes, or a building pops out of nowhere when I wake up in the morning.”

“The drones and the nanites work fast, uncle.”

“Yeah, I know that. Are you sure we can’t have neighbors around here? We’ll get lonely.”

“Tom and Ben wanted to stay on level 18 and said something about it being closer to their jobs and the military sector. They say the commute wasn’t worth it,” I chuckled.

“And are you really planning on building a lake?” He pointed at the drones excavating almost a mile wide and forty-foot deep hole, the maximum depth I could go before I might punch through to level 18’s ceiling (each floor was two hundred feet thick between the levels).

“I plan on putting fish and growing a small forest around it someday with animals. I’m trying to make this place feel like home. Like Earth.”

“Must be expensive.”

“You know I have cash to spare.”

“And how long will that last?”

“Prime said a hundred and fifty years if we maintain the pace, but that doesn’t count our growing gross domestic output. In five or six years, it wouldn’t matter.”

“Your dad told you many times to be smart with your money, and boy, do you have a mountain of that.”

“And I’m also building a city from scratch, so dropping an exuberant amount of money comes with the territory.”

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Uncle Nathan shook his head. “Alright, do you want me to drive you home to your palace quarters?”

“The throne room. I’m supposed to meet the Swiss Ambassador there. I might as well wait. After all, he’ll be the first diplomat to set foot on the hub with their own embassy at Level 18.”

“But that’s in two hours. You should rest. Get some change. You smell like sweat.”

“Well, I was supposed to train, but you distracted me.” I gave his shoulder a gentle pat. “You worry too much, uncle. This way, I can direct Prime to clean up the throne room before our guest arrives. We don’t want them to think we’re slobs, right?”

“Tony, have you seen most of the construction across the station?”

“We’re a work-in-progress.”

We arrived at the ziggurat, and Uncle Nathan parked the car in front of the steps. Several praetorian knights waited for us at the bottom and quietly followed us into the palace and then into the throne room, which had been completed for a few days. Royal blue curtains hang from the arches, the pillars and columns laser-engraved to depict greco-roman figures, stained glass on the windows depicting Prime’s and the aliens’ arrival and the empire’s ascension, and the floor we walked on was carpeted and hand-stitched by three hundred people in a month. They did a good job, and I paid them their wages, which should set them up for a year.

“The Swiss ambassador will likely talk to you about the Russians,” Uncle Nathan said.

“Yes. Jason and Amelia prepped me.”

“Alexei already condemned your stunt as a hostile action against the Russian state and a blow to their people’s image. You’ve insulted them or whatever he’s spouting in the past sixteen hours.”

I rolled my eyes. “They’re all running their mouths, uncle. It’s not exclusive to the Russians.”

“There’s talks of war.”

“They also demand I give up already.”

“But we can’t ignore this.”

“I can and I will. Uncle, the man tried to kill my brothers—your nephews. I won’t just let them roll over me like some doormat. I’m done with that.”

“I know that believe me, but you are emperor now, which means all eyes are on you. Your words and actions will be misinterpreted like a fucked up game of telephone. You must remember that being an emperor transcends the role of a mere commander. While a commander leads battles, an emperor governs a country. The two roles require different approaches. You need to respond more carefully.”

“I just did.”

“And Kindly.”

“And what have they ever done for me that they deserve my goodwill? I’ve shown it to them for the past five weeks, but they gave nothing in return but showed me their ass. I’m sorry if I’m not being cordial enough.”

Uncle Nathan sighed. “The problem is, they don’t see it that way.”

His concerns were valid, but it still made me angry to hear it out loud. “Can we talk about something else? I don’t want to talk about this all day.” And I need to do something else than ruminate about the attempt on my life and my family. “I’ve had plenty of scolding from Dad and Amelia. No doubt the Swiss ambassador will broach the topic, too.”

“Yesterday’s incident was all everyone’s talking about. Tony, we need to nip this in the bud.”

“Nip, what?”

“Your anger against the world.”

“I’m not angry. I’m disappointed.” And this shouldn’t be this complicated. Fighting aliens seemed more straightforward than fighting my own people.

“Tony—”

“Enough!” I shouted, and my uncle froze. I turned to the knights guarding the chamber—all twenty of them. “Leave us!” I commanded, my voice echoing loudly across the space.

Without hesitation, they quickly scrambled and marched out of the chamber. Once we were alone, my uncle took the last steps onto the platform, arms crossed.

“It wasn’t long ago you made me an admiral and a senior member of your inner circle so that I can advise you. Well, Let me advise you now, nephew. Please, temper your anger. Lord knows we Segerstroms are cursed by it. Your grandfather has it. Your dad has it. Hell, I have it, and I know how hard that must be to control our emotions, especially our anger.”

“You didn’t see it, Uncle Nate. You didn’t see the look in that man’s eyes when he aimed that gun at us—At Daniel and Isaac.”

“You’re right. I didn’t. But I’ve experienced dozens of people pointing guns at me and my men for half my life. I know the feeling. And don’t forget I was there. You protected the boys. They’re safe.”

“And you’ve always told me that Segerstroms don’t back away from a fight.”

“I did, and I’ve always stood by it, but you must think about consequences larger than yourself. Your choices will change the lives of billions, Tony. Good or bad, whether they like it or not. Your choices will be one of the most important decisions in our history.”

“And throwing it away means I die, right?”

Uncle Nathan thinned his lips and lowered his head. “Right.”

“How are the boys, by the way?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“They’re doing well given the circumstances. Isaac seemed to have forgotten the whole thing, but Daniel was afraid to leave his room now. Samuel and Meredith wanted to hire a child psychologist, and she found someone who could help. And now, with you planning to run this campaign without approval—”

“I’ve already postponed it for another month. The troops will train harder than ever, and you don’t have to worry about me being killed,” I said, more annoyed. “I’ve also increased my training in the simulation room.”

“I still wish you solve this diplomatically. You and I have seen what war brings.”

“I shouldn’t have brought the boys with me.”

“It’s never your fault, Tony. Sam, Meredith, and I also thought it was best if the boys returned to Earth. They’ve been asking to go back ever since they got here, wanting some fresh air, and stand on real gravity, and then—”

“And then everything went to shit.” I massaged my temples, trying to stave off the growing headache.

And I killed people, I wanted to say. Even though how much I argued it was self-defense, it wasn’t. I attacked. I swung the sword. I killed. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw that man’s head sliced clean off my blade, and I watched it hit the pavement, rolling across the asphalt in a never-ending loop.

“Maybe I should hire them a private tutor, and the boys can study here in the palace where they’re safe. Several teachers came up with the last group. Some have doctorate degrees. Maybe I can talk to them.”

“And you think that is the best way?”

I threw my hands up. “I don’t know! I don’t feel comfortable with them out in public after what happened. I know Meredith is opening up a school, but thousands of people are on this station, and I don’t know if any of them are spies.”

“Let’s think about this rationally. Prime vetted each person who gets here. The algorithm works so far.”

“And what if we slipped up? It only takes one bad person, uncle. Lots of people want me dead. I thought it was all talk and some offensive memes on the internet, but no. They wanted me dead. I’ve never… I’ve never had people treat me like it’ll make their life so much easier if I was just out of the picture. I’ve lived with Pastor Eric and his congregation harassing me for being gay growing up, and many people have done that even outside of town, but this is different. At least I had a community to fall back on, and you, Dad, Meredith, and my friends. But on this, I’m entirely alone.”

“We are all on this together, Tony. You have a country behind you. Your friends and family are still here. They’re not gone.”

“They’re more focused on their attacks on me than you, uncle. Sure, they’ve thrown dirt your way, and you should read what they call the others online, but most of that dirt hits me. It’s focused on me.”

I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed that this was getting under my skin. The world was against me even when I tried to help them. All I wanted was to kick the quartz off the planet, but President Howell had been difficult to deal with, Zhao and Borodin threatening war against me, and most countries refused to speak to me. I just wanted to scream into the void, sit everyone in the room, and make them listen.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said... I’m just worried. That’s all.”

“And I’m worried, too, Tony. Emperor or not, I am still your uncle. I am family. I have the right to worry.”

“But what will I do to make people see what I see? We all need to work together against something bigger than bickering about borders and who gets what?”

“You shouldn’t be hard on yourself. There are dangerous men out there telling millions of people what to think about you. They are to blame for that. You wield probably the greatest power in history.” Uncle Nathan gestured around the chamber. “This all came from your brain. From Prime. They’ve seen how you use its potential, and they want to control it for themselves. They may have nukes, Tony, but you are a forerunner, and that scares the shit out of them.”

“Do you think the Swiss ambassador’s gonna kill the deal?”

Uncle Nathan sighed. “Amelia, Tom, and Jason spoke with him on the call, but fortunately, they are keeping the deal they made with you. Partly because they were embarrassed by what happened, especially your attempted assassination, which occurred within their borders. They considered it a breach of confidence with their intelligence agencies for not stopping it.”

“Or they allowed it to happen.”

“We don’t know that for sure.”

And a dangerous thought to have. “I can’t help but be paranoid about all of this. I’m sorry if I’ve been acting rashly.”

“I understand. Also, you might have scared the living shit out of them, too.”

I scoffed. “I didn’t do much.”

“I wouldn’t call cutting off a man’s hands, detaching his optical nerves from the inside, and then slicing off his tongue a small thing, Tony. With your stunt on the Achilles, you scared half the world, and they already fear you.”

“That wasn’t my intention.”

Uncle Nathan raised his eyebrow, amused. “Was it?”

I looked at him. That was a lie, and Uncle Nathan knew me too well.