45 minutes later, I was standing on the slightly sagging stairs of the chapel. I had gotten to the point of the story where the group had boarded the Ghost-rider, when Zorg reached out.

Delivery has been completed. It’s time we had that talk, before we departed. The night is young, and for us, there will be no rest.

“Thank you, for deciding to trust me with your story.” Sister White said, from the doorway of the chapel. “Please, do take care, Ellis. If you’re ever in need of an ear to speak with, you know where to find me.”

“I’ll try my best Sister.” I replied, as I started to head back toward where the Ghost-rider had landed. “But you never know with Nuffle, sometimes they are a right finicky bugger.”

“Nuffle?” Came the confused mumble of the Sister, as I rounded the corner.

A couple minutes of walking later, and I was climbing the ramp into the dropship. Sitting down on the right side row of seats, was a giant of a man, wearing what looked like a set of 15th century plate armour. Or at least a hologram of the man was sitting there, as he was slightly clipping through the seats.

Ah, there you are Ellis. Come, sit down. I would offer you a handshake, but the lack of physical hands makes that difficult.

“It’s good to meet you. Zorg’s an interesting name for someone who is wearing plate that looks like it’s from the 15th century.” I said, as I sat in the seat that he had waved towards, as the ramp closed behind me.

It is, isn’t it. Truth be told, I had forgotten my original name by the time I became artificial. As for the plate, it was the set of armour that I was wearing when I became a victim of an accidental portaling.

He leaned forward to rest his chin on his hands, looking forlorn as he continued.

I was just about to partake in the joust, for the honor of my lady when it happened. My poor horse, Ghost, died not long after I became a Vanguard, having found myself on the Sunrider’s home planet.

A small farm was being attacked by the Antithesis when I arrived, and although I was given the opportunity of returning home, my honor wouldn’t allow me to leave them to their fate. A Model Four managed to drag Ghost down, as I was preparing to make a second charge through the mass, forcing me to continue the fight on foot.

In the end, I was able to overcome the Antithesis. However, by that time the field that I had been fighting in, was well on its way to being consumed by a fire that had started. As we fled the growing inferno, the old couple that had lived on the farm named me Zorg, after an old fire god, as they were unable to pronounce my original name. Even with a protector translator device.

From there, I continued to work as a Vanguard, until I was offered the opportunity to become an AI, and assist new Vanguards in getting up to speed. I accepted, and was given the facilities that a Class 10 Vanguard personal AI would have access to. After a century of helping the new generation get their feet, I decided to take what should have been a year-long nap, so I could tend to the sections of me in need of some repair.

Evidently, more than a year passed, as I came back into full consciousness part way through the operation at the cheese factory, and from there you know most of the rest. Just don’t read the papers for the next couple of days, part of that plausible deniability.

At the mention of him being a Vanguard, I slowly managed to bring up the FACOM system on my hud. Listed there was the Ghost-rider, but there was no mention of Zorg on the list. Still, clarifying where we stood in that regard was important. So I asked.

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“Zorg, what exactly is the current situation, in regards to our working relationship with each other. Mor mentioned having two AI assigned to me.”

I think I understand what you’re concerned about. Yes at the moment you are able to issue commands to me, via the FACOM system, as a fair bit of my consciousness is currently residing in the dropship that bears my Vanguard name.

Worry not, even in my much reduced state, I have enough computing power to overthrow a command from the FACOM system, should I morally disagree with it.

As for my being “assigned” to you, I had marked you as a tentative pupil while you were having your sleep. Pending of course your acceptance, perhaps this is what Mor saw, and thought that I had been assigned to you.

“That’s good to hear.” I said, letting out a sigh. “So, what exactly would agreeing to be your pupil entail?”

An excellent question. For the moment, it would mean that we have a formal agreement to operate as partners. This would mean a lower point gain per Antithesis that you personally kill, however you would gain some of the points from any Antithesis that I kill. The system will automatically split the points gained to 55% each, resulting in more overall points being awarded.

I would also offer critique on how you're doing in combat, and once I have managed to get the system repaired, access to a virtual training program. That way, you can practice against different types of Antithesis models, without having to risk your actual body.

However, you will be expected to maintain your current code of ethics. The occasional murder to rescue someone, or to fix a social wrong will be overlooked. Wholesale slaughter will not be overlooked, and will cause our partnership to end. In such a scenario, I will take full control over the dropship, and leave, regardless of what your current situation is.

“That’s more than agreeable terms to me. I accept.” I said, nodding my head in agreement. After all, the wholesale slaughter of a population wasn’t exactly a thing on my to do list.

Wonderful! Now, if you could turn your attention to the projector screen, I’ve finished going through the footage of the cheese factory operation.

An honest to god, old fashioned projector screen, along with a projector, descended from the ceiling of the dropship. As I turned to face it, the lights dimmed in the dropship, as Zorg started the projector up.

Now then, based off of the footage, I assume that you have received combat training?

“Yeah, I was in the army reserves for the past 4 years.” I replied, once again nodding in agreement. “Though for the past year, I’ve been mostly training to attempt entry into the local army HRT team. To be honest, I got lucky that the cheese factory was a lot like running through a kill house. Just replace the hostage takers with the Antithesis.”

Ah, that certainly explains the critiques that I have. Let’s go over the first one.

With that, Zorg stopped the replay of the wireframe footage from the Deep Breath, just as I entered onto the 25th floor fully. I hadn’t been aware that it had the ability to record, though it did make for an excellent way to go through things.

The first critique I have for you is this. You failed to clear above the door, before entering the room. This was after seeing a Model Four climbing into position, on the staircase side of this door. If there had been a Model Four waiting above the door, it would have had a much easier time getting at your neck around the collar on your armour. You were right in saying that you got lucky.

The footage sped up again, before coming to a stop at the point where I had checked out the 24th floor quickly.

This is the far more dangerous critique I have, and is a direct result of your training. You failed to make sure that the Antithesis were all dead, before you called the people out of the shelter. It wouldn’t be the first time that a Model Six survived what should have been lethal damage, then played dead to buy time to recover slightly. Also, with the number of bodies in the room, a Model Nine could have been hidden in the pile, waiting to strike.

“How could I have detected a Model Nine, when they can go invisible?” I asked, feeling like I was back in school.

Hmm, going invisible isn’t quite what they do, though they are capable of it. Model Nine’s hunt more by being mimics, than going invisible. As for detecting them, with your current sensor systems, one part luck, and one part recognition of when an object doesn’t appear correct.

With that, the projector and its screen retracted into the ceiling, and the hologram disappeared, before Zorg continued.

Overall not a bad showing, though in the future, try not to let your muscle memory carry you away too much. Now then, despite the failure of communication systems out of province, I have managed to grab snapshots of information from satellites passing overhead. From what I can gather, there appears to be a hive that has emerged near the New Brunswick border, with the main host of Antithesis heading towards Amherst. This is a perfect time to deal with your point debt, and eventually get you some additional forces to command.

“Alright, what’s the estimate for when we are going to arrive?” I asked, standing up to grab what little bit of gear I didn’t already have on me.

Roughly 5 minutes.

The slight shock I felt at the short travel time, must have been visible on my face, as Zorg continued.

We actually took off not long after you had sat down. With the possibility that this is just the start of a global incursion, it is as one of your new songs put it, “there ain't no rest for the wicked.”