Chapter 68
Tetra
Standing in the shadows, I watched impatiently as Amy made another fruitless attempt to sway the decisions of the newly appointed government that was haphazardly pieced together after arriving in the valley. The pompous politicians had quickly made their presence known, and before a stick of wood was erected for shelter, they bullied the scared masses into holding an election that devolved into the person with the loudest cheers winning.
The sound of a makeshift gavel being pounded against a shoddily crafted table brought me back to the present, and I focused on the chubby human as he stood to his feet, sending the log he was sitting on rolling to the side. Then he said, “I have had just about enough of your second-guessing! This council has unanimously decided that our number one priority is to proceed with the construction of our new government building, then build outwards from there. It's absolutely critical that we secure our new governmental heads so this new hell we find ourselves in does not worsen due to poor leadership.”
From my vantage point, I could see that Amy was trying her hardest not to reach across the table and throttle the haughty fool. The veins on the side of her neck were bulging, and patches of her red skin were slowly hardening. To her credit, she took a deep breath, then in a calm, even voice, said, “Councilman Dewitt, I am afraid you do not fully understand the danger that we find ourselves in. You witnessed what happened when we arrived. If you do not deviate from your course and focus all of our resources on the defense of this valley, then we stand to lose everyone that is left.”
“You think you can waltz in here and lecture me on loss? Every mother and father alive is grieving the loss of their children. When we were slated to be slaves, at least we knew that the empire was planning to allow our kids to become citizens, but now what? You say this Ryker character just decided to bring us here? Not a single child has been seen since we arrived, and I personally will never forgive him for taking the one ray of hope that I had away from me.”
Looking on with a mix of pity and disgust, I decided that I had finally had enough. Stepping out of the shadows, I was greeted by a chorus of gasps, and two sword-bearing guards rushed me with blades held high. Without breaking my stride, my right hand struck out like a viper, and two hollow thuds could be heard as I gently knocked both men unconscious. They crumpled to the floor at the same time like a set of puppets with their strings cut. Upon arrival at Amy's side, I heard the woman let out an irritated noise, and she shot me a glare. Just as I was preparing to speak, the portly man lifted his gavel and threw the piece of wood at me. Without any noticeable effort, I caught the tiny hammer in one hand and stared directly into the eyes of the fool, then said, “What a pity, I had planned to let you live.”
With a flex of my hand, the solid piece of wood cracked, splintered, then broke apart like clay. The widening of the councilman's eyes was all he managed before I grabbed the corner of the table and easily tossed the 300-pound slab end over end across the clearing. Reaching out, I gripped the outspoken man by the throat, and without any delay, broke his neck. Unfortunately, I underestimated my strength and overestimated his durability, and accidentally removed his head entirely, showering myself and everyone nearby in the idiot's blood. Turning my bloody visage towards the three remaining officials, I said, “You had your chance to rule, and I have found you wanting. The new reality you find yourselves in is a cruel one. If you cannot be trusted to make logical decisions after being given multiple chances to do so, then I will. My name is Tetra, and from this day forward, this council answers to me. If any human wishes to challenge my rule, I welcome it openly.”
Stepping up next to me, Amy handed me a towel that she retrieved from her newest purchase from the shop: her storage ring. Gratefully, I took the towel and, while wiping the blood off my face, she said, “Was that really necessary?”
“Amy, you know as well as I what lies right outside of our borders. We don't have the manpower nor the time to sit around and debate over what is the right or wrong decision. In a democracy, you can believe it or not, but in a dictatorship, you believe it or else!”
“You expect me to believe that it had nothing to do with that man's comment about Ryker?”
Turning my hard glare on the traumatized councilmen, I said, “My companion here is right about that. I will not tolerate anyone speaking ill of my husband again. The next person to slander Ryker's name before me will share the pig man's fate. Now, gather every able-bodied human you have and build me a wall 30 feet high and 10 feet deep, spanning the entire 3 miles of the valley's mouth. We are already out of time, and lives will be lost due to your inaction.”
The council, hearing the finality in my voice, gathered themselves and stood to their feet. To their credit, the woman in the group bowed her head towards me and, with a shaky voice, said, “Ms. Tetra, if I may. One of our biggest issues is our lack of understanding. When trying to estimate the number of workers, logistics for food and water, or awakened security, we don't have the data to effectively do our jobs.”
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Feeling Red's urging, I held out my left hand, and Red appeared above my palm. Foreseeing the need for her to be present, she created a holographic projector on the hand of my suit. She bowed respectfully to the room, then said, “Ladies and gentlemen of the council, my name is Red, and I am an artificial intelligence that now resides inside Lady Tetra. To answer your question fully, you need to understand that during our final approach to the Pyramid, the fleet you resided in was attacked by the empire. During this desperate fight, 226 ships holding 2,322,195,878 humans were lost, leaving humanity with 2,301,645,706 people spread across the remaining fleet. Upon arrival at the Pyramid, everyone was randomly placed across 8 starting locations. This equated to approximately 287,705,713 humans appearing at each location. After the initial attack and the resulting pilgrimage to this valley, you now have about 115,082,285 humans that need food, water, shelter, and protection.” With another bow of her head, her holographic form disappeared, leaving the three council members wide-eyed and silent.
After the council was scattered, Amy accompanied me out of the city to the area where the wall was going to be erected. Unbeknownst to the council, we had already gathered hundreds of awakened and had charged them with clearing out all of the trees and stones within three hundred feet of the site. Massive caches of raw materials could be seen growing in size.
As we approached, we noticed a commotion and found a few dozen men and women huddled around a group of 5 unconscious forms. The moment we were recognized, a man shouted, “Lady Tetra! Lady Amy! Come quick!”
We jogged the remaining distance and were greeted by a slew of concerned faces and ominous mutterings. I looked down at the group of people, seemingly unharmed, and said, “What is the meaning of this?”
An older-looking woman, bent down on her knees and holding the hand of one of the young unconscious men, looked up at me through teary eyes and choked sobs. She said, “I, I just cooked the meat. Everyone was so hungry, I just cooked the meat. I'm so sorry.”
In confusion, I scrunched up my brows and looked around the crowd for someone to provide an explanation. A man stepped forward, holding a thick cut of seared meat wrapped in some kind of large leaf. The smell of the meat was enticing, and I found my mouth watering immediately. The man gestured down at the cut and said, “Earlier, while we were clearing a copse of trees, we were attacked by a beast the size of an elephant but more closely resembling a rhinoceros. After several of the awakened killed the beast, they brought its corpse back to the camp and butchered the creature. They were able to salvage half a ton of meat, and this woman cooked and fed it to everyone present. A few minutes after these 5 ate, they all collapsed and haven't moved in hours.”
Amy crouched down and began looking over the downed people, and said, “So if we think the meat did this, then why did it only affect these 5 and not the rest of you?”
Red appeared next to me and, while looking down at the humans, she said, “Hmm, I see no outward signs of trauma. Place your hand on one of them, and I will take a closer look.”
Following Red’s instruction, I knelt down and grabbed the wrist of a frail-looking woman. I felt the nanobots at the tip of my finger extend. Observing closely, I could see that Red had made a small puncture wound there and more than likely injected the person with some nanobots to conduct diagnostics.
After a few minutes of silence, I saw Red's expression change from deep concentration to shock, then to pure elation. The tiny A.I. pulled out several confetti cannons and detonated them in rapid succession, obscuring my sight in a rainbow of imaginary glitter and shreds of paper. After my vision cleared, I found Red standing at the head of the downed woman, pulling her fists in towards her body and her elbows back behind her, while giving a rapid-fire series of hip thrusts and screaming, “YAAAA BABBYYYYYYY!!!!!!!! That's *thrust* how *thrust* we *thrust* do *thrust* it *thrust* EM *thrust*.”
Standing to my feet, I looked from Amy to Red and, caring not for the odd looks I would garner, shouted, “RED! That's enough! What are you doing?!?!?”
Teleporting instantaneously an inch from my face, I stumbled back a step, then she excitedly shouted, “The meat didn't make them sick!”
“That's great and all, but that doesn't explain to me why they are still unconscious, nor does it explain why they were the only ones adversely affected.”
Red, barely able to contain her excitement, ran in place, turned in a 360-degree circle, and while gesturing around her, said, “Oh boy! This is so exciting! Like I said, these people are not sick. They are awakening! If I am right, everyone else that ate the meat that isn't unconscious is already awakened.”
With wide eyes, I turned to the man holding the leaf-wrapped meat and half-shouted to the crowd, “Raise your hand if you ate the meat!”
Looking around me, I found nearly every hand raised. I smiled, then said, “Keep your hand raised if you are already awakened.”
Amy and I shared a hopeful set of smiles as we noted not one hand lowered. Amy's grin turned sinister, then she asked, “What do you say, Tetra? You feel up for a hunt?”
Feeling hopeful for the first time in a very long time, I closed my eyes and allowed the part of me that was created to cope with the atrocities I was forced to inflict on trillions of lives by Viltrix to wither and die. I then opened my eyes and breathed life back into the person I was long ago. Tetra The Protector was back, and it was time for her to hunt again.