Chapter 4

Tetra

“Tetra, the protector…” I scoffed. The thought almost brings me to tears as I gaze out at the blue planet. A world full of such beauty… now drowning in fear, confusion, and sorrow.

“Councilman Tetra! Stage one of the casting is complete. All of those deemed unworthy by the AI to be of use to the empire have been culled and are being synthesized as we speak for the working caste.”

“Thank you, Captain. Inform me when stage two is complete.” The Captain gave me a curt salute and went back to his station.

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It's true; the first stage of integration is cruel. Anyone too old, feeble, or anyone with a permanent illness or injury that would inhibit them from being a productive slave was instantly killed via a focused gravity pulse. Then they were meticulously broken down into their building blocks and fed to the rest. As horrific a fate as that is, sometimes I think they are the lucky ones in any integration. The rest now have to face forced labor camps and beatings until they ultimately are worked to death or worse—sent to the pyramid to fight and die for sport to entertain the rest of the galaxy's inhabitants.

Stage two is just as distasteful a process as the first in many ways. Round up the rest of the population like simple cattle. Separated, sorted, then collared… the AI chooses the fate of all that remain. Some of the population will be used for physical labor; others will be forced into an AI-driven simulation and have their minds enslaved and used as a supplemental computer to keep the AIs running smoothly. Others will be used strictly as breeding stock, and research will be done on them to see how compatible the human genome is with other species. Nothing left to do but wait… something has to change.