Interlude 1: Management
Priorita worked in a billion, billion places at once. But while they were uncountable clones, she was the original, the prime. The first cube that she’d ever been and the one that the rest had split from.
She was the last of her species. That the rest of her civilisation hadn’t suspected her until it was too late proved just how unworthy they had all been. She had been right to subsume them.
A message pinged and her green mass tinted a darker green, she’d told them not to bother her. The audio package suffused into her mass and her voice spoke in her mind as the clone made contact.
“Prime, an anomaly has been detected! It’s great!”
Unable to contain herself, she flashed chartreuse. How exciting!
“An anomaly dear? Oh what a treat! Do show me.”
A visual package arrived through the subether to suffuse into her mass and she watched as one of the protected species from this years WARGAMES fought and killed a winged warrior species with his bare hands.
“Oh my! Good on him!” She gushed, strobing between the spectrum to settle on celadon.
“28 seconds.” Her clone replied, even though Priorita had asked no questions.
“Pardon?” She asked.
“28 seconds, Prime! It occurred just 28 seconds after the end of the tutorial announcement. He met the minimum requirements for a perk and, oh my, you’re just going to love this. He received the Hatchling Predator perk at random!”
“Oh goodness! You’re kidding? No, of course you’re not. This is amazing!” She rippled her form and released the scent of satisfaction.
“Told you! And that’s not all! I looked a little into their history and it seems that this civilisation has managed to technologically progress far more quickly than almost any other we’ve seen.”
“Were they the ones who were peeking out into the stars, looking for us?”
“They were!”
“How rude, one should always ask before peeking.” She filled her cruiser with the scent of humour.
“That’s what I said!” Said her clone. “You know apparently they also had a primitive version of our wetware implants?”
“You’re kidding! Wow, that’s rare, what a bunch of go-getters!”
“Yep!” The clone replied. “Our wetware has overridden it, of course, but it seems like the two systems might be, er, interacting. Some of the humans appear to be getting significantly enhanced effects. Watch this!”
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Another visual packet arrived and Priorita Prime was treated to the visuals of a human running full pelt through the jungle of the war world, pouring with blood from numerous wounds and bludgeoning members of a warrior species to death, one after another.
The scent of satisfaction filled the air, overpowering her earlier waft of humour.
More and more visual packets suffused into her being. Humans going wild, tearing a path of carnage through the species that were meant to slaughter them. A dark skinned one leaped from the trees to flatten a Golonite into paste. A pair of human clones sitting on a pile of bodies, eating the dead and telling jokes. She hadn’t known the humans had clones, but a quick search showed her the term, ‘Identical Twins.’
Not all emerged victorious though, for every human that proved themselves worthy, hundreds went down bleeding, or in pieces. But even those that went down, did so with style! They went down tearing, biting and bludgeoning the warrior civilisations. They fought to their last breath.
A flush of amber tinted her form, little spiked ridges appearing. So delicious! “My word! And we’re sure that they were unsuitably docile?”
“Yes Prime. They were so utterly hopeless that we snatched a sample population of 1000 to make sure! They died practically immediately. Not a single one even fought back!”
“Goodness me! How pathetic.”
“Yes Prime, absolutely pathetic!”
She watched a tiny girl block a spray of spines with a crude shield, then run and ram the shield into the attacking Pinto, impaling it on the spines that were still stuck in the shield. The girl raised her head, mouth open wide. Priorita Prime activated the audio and listened to the girl howl. Delightful!
“But dear, these ones certainly are fighting back. So what’s changed?”
“We’re not sure, Prime. But we think it might have something to do with their primitive implants. One of us is looking into it”
Priorita Prime strobed again, centre narrowing as she jiggling in place, she should split soon.
“This is going to affect the betting.” She said.
“I know! Isn’t it exciting!?” Replied her clone.
“Some of the member civilisations might not be happy. You haven’t… Tilted the scales at all, have you dear?” She asked.
A telling silence.
“Naughty naughty!” She filled the cruiser with the scent of humour again.
“Not so much that anyone would notice! I promise!”
“Well bump it up a notch dear! These humans are absolutely marvellous, it would be a shame if they were eradicated before the week was out.”
A pause.
“Um, Prime, The Sobutkan Conglomerate placed a hefty wager on them being eradicated within the first week.”
“Yes dear, I know.”
“And you want me to…?”
“Yes dear, I do.”
An audio packet sent from her clone filled Priorita Prime with the sound of giggling. She pulled up her resources and trading dashboard, then snapped the betting summary dashboard beside it and played with some number predictor algorithms.
Oh my!
One could never be too wealthy! A deep vermilion red bled through her gelatinous form as barbed hooks sprouted all along her midline.
“How many members placed bets on the zoo species extinction before the end of the first stage?” Asked her Clone.
“Practically all of them.” Replied Priorita Prime, her voice low and husky.
“Oh you are so naughty!”
“Yes dear, I know.” She was back in control now, the red colouring and hooks that had appeared momentarily, now suppressed. If anyone had seen her… Scandalous.
“Should I keep them separate from the Tourists? You know one of them nearly bumped into the Hatchling Predator perk holder!?” Asked her clone.
“Oh my! That would have been a pity! But no, dear. The Tourists pay for precisely this kind of privilege.”
“Understood, Prime.”
The visual packets continued to play, one after another. Each showing the apparently docile zoo civilisation going absolutely and deliciously berserk. Killing or being killed in spectacular fashion.
“Prime… How long has it been since a zoo species made it out of the first round?” Asked her Clone, breaking the silence.
“Never!” Replied Priorita. She watched a pair of humans that had burrowed beneath a squad of blind Luzian-Singers, they burst out and shattered the reptilians into shards. “But you know what, dear? I have a good feeling!”
And they traded packets of laughter back and forth.