The moment I sat down on the Throne, something activated. The lights that I turned on in the room became brighter, and there were more of them. Galleries on my left and right lit up, empty now but clearly meant for the residents to see me when I made speeches or proclamations. And most surprising of all, I could see, Everything.

I could see how many ships are docked - it's 6 counting us. Hah, we're listed as UNKNOWN STARSHIP. Hold on, I could fix that... There. Now we're listed as Far Reach - Human/K'laxi exploration Starjumper.

I could see how many people were here - it's 11.5 million - huh, Rapid River Roaring wasn't lying after all.

I could see the food distribution centers - they were offline. What the? How were people getting fed? Clearly something was up there. I wouldn't turn them on just until I learned more.

I could see the environmental systems... Why were they running at such low output? That doesn't seem right. I think if I pushed here, and tweaked there... There we go. That should help a great deal.

I could see... wait, what's this over here?

I could see the Gate but the Gate is locked.

How did we get through the Gate? That means that Ottarn won't be able to get through, at least. I'll have to explore that one later.

Turning away from the Gate, I looked back at the Starbase. Hmm. It felt like I'm on the edge of something big. If I were to just... let go a little bit... I thought I could... see...

I regained consciousness on the floor, out of breath, with Ava shaking my shoulders, kneeling over me nearly in tears from panic. "Melody! Melody! Oh thank goodness you're all right!"

I sat up and looked around. Ava wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly. "I was so scared Melody. After you sat on the Throne, I heard noises like heavy machinery starting up, and then there was this storm of wind, and then your eyes glowed and there was a scream."

"Slow down Ava, a scream?"

"It came from everywhere. It sounded like the whole Starbase was screaming! It sounded like you were screaming. I looked up at you, and you had blood coming from your nose and ears and your mouth was open and you were glowing but your body wasn't making noise. I-I didn't know what to do, so I pulled you off the Throne."

I reached up to my face and touched my ears; sure enough, my finger came back wet with blood. I could feel it drying under my nose. What the hell happened?

You tried to integrate with Reach of the Might of Vzzx, but the you and your connection with the starbase wasn't ready. You had a partial connection; Ava was correct to pull you off.

But what did it mean? What about all that stuff I saw?

When you sit on the Throne and truly integrate you become Reach of the Might of Vzzx. This is what Builders are.

Wait. Our starbases and starships are operated by AIs. You're telling me that out here they're operated by Builders?

Builders build. They rule. They are.

I looked back at Ava "Thank you Ava, the Nanites tell me that you saved me." I returned the hug just as tightly. "Builders are the starbases out here. They sit in the throne and become the starbase." I stopped and looked past her shoulder. Holy shit. That was the missing piece!

"Ava! I know why everything looks so run down here. They haven't had a Builder on the throne in a long time. Reach of the Might of Vzzx is running on automatic! The wind you heard? The environmental systems were running at a super low setting. I turned up the air and scrubbers!"

Ava broke the hug and looked at me wide eyed. "You mean that they... don't have AIs here, they have humans running all the stations? As Builders?"

"Yes, I think that's how it works. A Builder, or a team of Builders lives and works at every starbase and they... become the starbase with the help of the Nanites. My Throne was like a... superpowered version of that. I could see so much more than the Starbase. I was able to perceive out into space, I could see the Gates! Ours is locked by the way, Ottarn isn't going anywhere."

"But, how did we get through then?"

I shrugged. "Builder... magic I guess. As we learn more, we will become more proficient at operating things. For now, I'm going to take it easy and just try and get a handle on the basics." I moved to get up and get back onto the Throne.

"No Melody! It nearly killed you!" Ava's voice trembles.

I reached for her hand and squeezed it tightly. "It's okay Ava. I know what I did wrong. I tried to go too deep too early. The Nanites say I'm not ready to fully integrate yet, but I could get on and at least like... read the status log. Find out what needed to be done, and then make plans. I'm also going to try and reach out to Far Reach, and let her know what I've found."

"If you say so..." Ava plunks down next to the throne, and sat on the floor crossed legged. "I'm staying right here though. If you start making the Starbase scream again, I'm pulling you off."

"Thanks Ava, please do that." I smiled warmly at her. With the dried blood under my nose and down my neck, it probably didn't look as nurturing as I meant it to.

Sitting again, I'm more prepared for it, but it was still a shock when I became the starbase again. This time, I reached out for the radio. There, okay, I saw how it works. I thought about the human system frequency for our Starjumpers and try to talk to Far Reach.

There's a pause and a burst of static, then it clears and I hear Far Reach! She sounds very confused. "This is Far Reach, joint Human/K'laxi exploration Starjumper, who is this?"

"Hi Far Reach!" I said brightly! "It's Melody!"

"Melody? Where are you? What are you doing? I suddenly got flooded with radio until I opened the mic to listen, and then it focused on the standard channel."

"Sorry, that was me."

"You? Are you at a comm station?"

"Kind of? I'm Reach of the Might of Vzzx right now."

"I know you're on the Starbase Melody, where on the Starbase are you?"

"No no, I mean I am Might of Vzzx right now. I've sat upon my Throne and it turns out when a Builder does that.. they kind of become the starbase.

"Become the-- Melody, What are you doing?" Far Reach sounded even more worried.

"Don't worry Far Reach, other than the screaming - that was totally my fault, I tried to go too deep at first - it's fine. It's better than fine actually! I can see everything. I can see the Gates - they're locked by the way, I have no idea why we can traverse them. Also I can see... everything. It's tough to describe."

"Believe it or not, Melody, I have a hunch I know what you mean. You're looking at things like we see them."

"Yes! That's what I was thinking. I don't think they have AIs out here, they have Builders."

"Melody, that's... quite a lot. Is this what being an Empress is over here?"

"I think it's what being a Builder is. As Empress I think I have access to a higher level. I tried to access it, but Ava said I made the whole Starbase scream, and she had to pull me off the Throne."

"We heard that! That was you?" Far Reach said.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Ava said it was. Sorry if I scared everyone."

"And you got back onto the Throne?"

"Well, yes. I am Empress now. This starbase hasn't been managed in a long time. I need to read the logs and figure out how to start affecting repairs."

There was a pause at that. I bet Far Reach is talking with the crew.

When Far Reach gets back on the line, their voce is more subdued. "So Mei'la was right. Thank you for reaching out and letting us know where you are and that you're safe. Captain Q'ari was worried when Mei'la and Fer'resi came back alone. Ava is with you?"

I looked down at Ava, and she looked back up to me worried. I smiled down at her and gave her a thumbs up.

"Yes, Ava is here with me, she's okay too."

"Thank you Melody. Come on back when you're able. Everyone would love to hear about what you found." Far Reach closed the connection.

Huh. That was odd. She sounded distracted at the end. I wonder why.

The crew told her something she didn't like.

But what, do you suppose?

Many people in the crew do not like your new role and title. Some worry about what it means for them, others worry about what it means for things back home. Still others seethe with jealousy.

No, that can't be it. Why would they be jealous? Why would they worry about what this means for back home?

Melody, you are being naïve again. You are Empress. You can control matter. You can order people to do anything. You rule this side of the Galaxy now, and can easily rule the other again.

But it's not like I'm going to do anything bad to anyone. I'll be a good Empress. A great one even.

Great Empresses are feared as much as they are loved. More so perhaps. We can discuss this later. Look, you are seated upon your Throne. Much can be done here, call up the Gate map.

I thought about a Gate map. Springing in front of me was a stylized map of the Galaxy. I recognized the spiral arms and it's actually quite pretty. A small royal blue dot was lit. That must be here.

I concentrated on the map. "Show me the last known location of all Gates."

A flood of yellow dots appeared on the map, all over the Galaxy. Far more than we had mapped out, truly there are over five hundred of them, wow.

"Show me currently active Gates."

A worryingly small amount of the yellow dots turned blue. Maybe seventy five of them? Interestingly there was a large cloud of blue dots over on the other side of the galaxy, back home. Other than a small swarm around here, that's the largest other location of Gates.

Even after they rejected your rule, they kept their Gates and they are some of the largest group now active. The Nanites chuckled to themselves.

Hmm. If the Gates were connected to each other - and they'd have to be in order to work then I wonder...

"Ping all known Gates. Color code replies; Green as working active gates, Yellow as working but deactivated gates, Red as locked but still active gates, and Black as no reply received."

At that command, I could feel it. My... order, my command left the Reach and connected to the Gate. There's a sense of spreading as the command reached out. How was I able to see the Gates so quickly? What was I seeing?

There is only The Gate. All Gates you traverse are... shadows of The Gate that exist in alternative dimensional spacetime. They all pass through The Gate which exists outside this dimension.

So Gate traversal was instantaneous?

Well yes. You're not moving once you enter the Gate. The Addressing Module directs the Gate where to put you in Spacetime. It takes no time, because no distance is traveled.

Wild. Did Builders make them?

With our help, long, long ago. It was one of our greatest achievements.

Okay, so I had the data, but how to interpret it? Let me try and overlay the results of the Census over the galaxy map. When I looked up, my jaw dropped.

Way more of the gates are green than I had figured. As in, active, operating and ready to traverse. The majority were yellow, meaning that they're currently not online, but could be brought online. There were only a few red gates, and no black gates; the Gate system was completely intact.

Wait, what's that red gate over on the other side of the galaxy. There was locked gate near home. The K'laxi have never reported to us they found a locked gate. I wonder if that's one we don't know about or if...

That's the Gate to Earth.

It's just locked? As in, I could unlock it and open it? But Ancestors, where in Sol was it?

You could unlock it at any time, Empress and find out.

But, we never had a Gate. Where was it then? We explored our system inside and out and never found any technology - and believe me we looked. We spent millennia thinking we were alone until we met the K'laxi.

I wanted to unlock the Gate. Pass through it, and show everyone what I found, what I am.

You need only say it, Empress.

No. Not yet. I need to be able to go there in a way that's... befitting me. Back to the starbase. If it had 11 million people, then it had to be way larger than what I've seen. Show me the whole thing. After a moment, i'm shown. I saw kilometers upon kilometers of halls, thousands upon thousands of living quarters, I saw gardens, parks, and playgrounds and offices and... I saw a whole transit system I had no idea was here! I couldn't believe there's a train here and I haven't ridden it yet! Remembering Ava, I said out loud, "Holy shit, this place is huge. The parts that we've seen is barely a tenth of the whole place. They have a train Ava! Let's go for a ride later!"

Ava smiled "I'd love that, Melody."

Wait a minute. I turned inwards again.

"Give me a listing of all known Starbases."

A list appeared next to the galaxy map. Almost every system at one time had a Starbase at least as large as this one, some had even larger ones.

"Give me a listing of known Planets."

A slightly smaller, but still large list appeared. I'm starting to feel faint. What have I gotten myself in to? There were possibly tens, if not hundreds of billions of people here. Back home there were around 15 billion humans spread across space, with 4 or 5 billion K'laxi and 3 or 4 billion Xenni. Combined that's... That's more people than what I could effectively rule. What was I doing? I don't even know about this whole Starbase, let alone the Galaxy. One person couldn't rule a Galaxy, no matter how much they wanted to. What were these Nanites trying to sign me up for?

We needed you to understand the immensity of your task, and understand that we did not intend for you to rule alone. Currently, you were the only Builder known, but that never meant you were meant to be the only Builder. Make more.

W-What? I didn't even have a partner! I didn't even really know yet if I like men or women or both or neither! I'm barely out of my teen years, I can't make more people!

Sigh. Not like that, Melody. Use us. Use the Nanites to make Builders. You are Empress, only you will have the commanding voice, but other Builders will help you to rule. Start with that one, Ava. She already craves it. She will be a welcome and loyal addition.

I looked over at Ava. She's still looking at me worried. She really does want to be a part of all this - whatever it's going to be.

There are others too. Q'ari wants to be involved very badly, but we don't know if the Nanites will work on K'laxi. We don't know how we feel about K'laxi Builders too.

Don't be racist. They'd do a fine job.

So you say, Empress. Invite them then.

Ugh. If I was going to do this, the Nanites were right. I needed help. I needed more Builders. Should I do this? I wanted to do this, but was that the Nanites talking? Every time I let them off leash I tended to sound... intense. I wish I had some coffee. I wish I could get some range time in. I sighed again. Was I doing this? Was I really doing this? I think I was. I had never really wanted anything as much as I wanted this. As much as I wanted to show everyone what I could do, what I could be. I stood up and broke the connection. I felt... empty for a moment. I could see how people could get addicted to data streams like that. I stretched mightily and sat down on the floor next to Ava.

"Ava. There's a metric ton of work to be done, and I don't think I can do it all on my own. I don't want to do it all on my own. The Nanites were giving me options and I was wondering..."

As I spoke, her eyes got wider and wider and she practically vibrated with excitement. She knew what I was going to ask her.

"Do you want to become a Builder? You won't get the voice that orders people around, that's an Empress thing - apparently - only one person as a time can do that. I could see why too, what happens if we both have the ability and try to use it on each other, right? Anyway. The Nanites said I can make you a Builder, and you could help me out. We'll need more Builders too. I wanted to try on the K'laxi too, Captain Q'ari seems like she wanted in, though I don't know if she'll agree to it. Being Captain was important to her. So what do you say?"

Ava jumps and is practically bouncing. "Yes yes yes yes! I want in!"

I held up a hand. "This means that officially, your old life was over. It meant throwing our lot in on this side of the Galaxy permanently. We could Gate home for visits or something - probably - but it won't be for a while, and it'll be as foreigners. We would be cutting ourselves off from our old lives."

"My old life sucked ass. I want in!"

"Okay, last thing." I took a breath. "It could mean - though I hope it doesn't - that we would be seen as enemies back home. You saw the Marien's ship, it's trying to escape and is taking days to get somewhere Far Reach can go in hours. Far Reach alone has enough firepower to shrug off any threat we could bring to bear. If the folks back home decided to cause trouble for us, it'll be big trouble. If you throw in with me, it becomes your trouble. Our trouble.

Ava kneeled down in front of me without a single bit of hesitation. "I want this, Melody. More than anything else I've ever wanted. I accept all the risks, I happily throw my old life away."

We like her. She gets it.

I stood in front of her. Okay then, how do we give her the Nanites?

Give her a kiss.

You are kidding me.

We are completely serious. It's the quickest way to transfer enough of us to begin the process. Plus, it's ceremonial, has an air of regal intimacy about it. Also, she'll love it.

Fine.

I reached down and gently tipped her head up with my fingers, bent down and gently kiss her on the lips. She leaned in slightly and melted into the kiss.

We told you she'd love it.

Shhh.

"Rise, Builder."

She stood on shaky legs. "Builder Ava, it will take a day or so for the Nanites to replicate and integrate, but once they do, you will be a Builder like me, and be able to do many of the things I can do. You will be my right hand, and be my voice where I am not. You will carry out my decisions and have the power to make your own. Together with the other Builders I create, we will reunite this galaxy and show everyone our power, our might and our love."

"I am yours to command Empress."

"Excellent. Your first task is to get me my coffee supplies from Far Reach, I am dying for a cup."