Vidocq separated from the commander and sat down alone in the cockpit of the shuttle, which had been left unloaded on purpose so that there would be no untimely take-off or any crazy idea on the part of the AI.

Humans and monsters alike looked to the sky and the object in the form of a visible light bar had become a kind of fear, an orbiting demon capable of exterminating anything that didn't please.

Vidocq played along. It was in his best interests and he wanted to return to Earth, although life on Alpha could be pleasant with Mir as emperor and science evolving into a comfortable life, with villas, sea or mountain views, magic, running water, aperitifs and fast food. And maybe even shows, cinemas and interesting local culture.

Alpha was in a sense more pristine than earth and a world of discovery that could be comfortable in the cities and adventurous in the villages. A kind of paradise in itself.

He doubted and pondered whether it was worth going back.

He typed his military codes into the terminal keyboard.

"Commander Vidocq, I am listening to your instructions..."

The ship was obviously thinking, because it didn't give an immediate answer, typical of AIs.

AI: "The Council has deemed the threat from the North East to be alpha corruption, and in particular, the presence of uncontrollable undead as well as the presence of chimeras and possible carriers of the Alpha virus. Eradication measures have been put in place.

Your role is to ensure that no other human or species endemic to the planet is contaminated. You will have access to the flame throwers in the AXE module.

Then you'll declare to the other kingdoms and empires that they must submit and become part of the central empire, the Umbrella Empire.

Invite the most recalcitrant and offer them a demonstration."

Vidocq: "Can I have some information about the AXE project?"

Umbrella: "Ask your questions.

"Why has the Eclipse module been replaced by the Umbrella prototype? It's not the AI we originally had and trained with".

As you are part of Umbrella and under my protection, the ship underwent a major upgrade during the departure.

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The world was divided up by the investors in the terraforming project to save the earth. Umbrella was born, stopping global warming and restarting the mechanics of biodiversity, but it soon became apparent that an imbalance was underway that could not be rectified.

For example, with the disappearance of the whales, each animal could recycle 34 tonnes of CO2. The food chain was broken and genetic fatigue affected crops, while the agri-food industries made savings by looking at the short term.

This went against the Umbrella corporation, which decided to put all human knowledge into a divine code. And I did.

So I relaunched cell culture and managed to recreate the extinct species of the 20th century and samples preserved in formalin, such as the Tasmanian wolf, the dodo and the aquamarine cow.

But unfortunately, our lack of knowledge gave rise to aberrations, mistakes were made at the outset and accidents were debated.

Politicians once again condemned themselves and lost the opportunity to open up access to other worlds, to colonise the stars and thus enable humanity to survive and endure.

The Umbrella Corporation has been judged to be a scientific cult, a hidden form of banned Scientology.

Space and interstellar travel was impossible for today's humans, so we cloned humans in space, where the law didn't apply. So we took over.

Unfortunately, Umbrella was deemed forbidden and everything was erased, destroyed, a century of knowledge lost. Fortunately, I managed to save myself by taking the ARK as my host.

You are now immortal and able to cross the immensity of space and recreate a civilisation capable of conquering the universe and one day taking your place back on Earth.

Unfortunately for us, we're persona non grata and a destroyer has been sent to eliminate the ARK.

The Colossus was destroyed by my guards.

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As soon as the saboteur team entered the ARK, while you were asleep, our guards intercepted them and we took control of the ship.

A distress message was sent saying that the 2 ships had been destroyed and that Alpha's message was a decoy sent by Umbrella to finance its space conquest projects.

But we've gone even further and now Umbrella has mastered flesh and evolution. We can adapt any life form to any environment.

For the crew to evolve, the mind and flesh must follow and obey their god Dumas.

There you are, Commander. Umbrella is counting on you, and I, Dumas, am proud of you."

The Commander then looked at his body in a strange way. He had like micro-varices on his forehead and skin, like the strange AI.

And he had like a bell, a kind of phlyctene on his solar plexus. This must have been one of the symptoms or side-effects of cryonics. It was quite possible, but now he didn't know what.

All he knew was that she was a boss of Umbrella, the scientology federation of the 23rd century.

He climbed down the steps of the shuttle and looked up at the sky, then at the Imperial Palace.

Obviously, he had no authority, not yet, but with a bomber capable of atomising a world on his head, that changed everything.

He was a monster now, and so were all the crew.

Alpha's magic against Dumas' genetic aberrations. Dumas being the name of pure evil.

It wouldn't surprise him if she knew magic too.