<<< PREV | FIRST | NEXT >>>

Chapter 25

"Here! There they here!" a voice yelled as the final crate slid into place. "They must pay for this foul act of regicide! Kill them all!"

"Was that a request?" Niall asked, and took a pot shot at the officer, missing his head but punching a hole through his large, fluffy ear.

"Nearly there," Quirk said, logging into the teleporter. "Xerian, put Rexx in the circle. We'll try and beam him down first."

Struggling a little, Xerian lifted the stasis pod and placed it on circular plinth Oram had pointed out last time.

"Okay," Quirk said. "Let's see what happens."

At that moment the lights flickered and the teleporter went dead. Dim backup lighting systems kicked in.

"F***!" Quirk yelled.

"Is... Is it the reactor?!" Xerian looked appalled. "Is the ship about to blow up because the Emperor is dead?!"

"There would have been a warning," Quirk said, eyes narrowing. "They've cut the power to stop us escaping. Look... The corridor's still lit!"

"You will all be shot for this!" a voice yelled angrily. "We shall incinerate your corpses! The Emperor will be avenged!"

Energy beams shot out from behind the barricade, and one of the crates exploded, rupturing the barrier. Through the smoke they could dimly see a large mob of very angry officers.

Xerian had retrieved Lautrec and was standing next to the teleporter console with a look of confusion and terror.

"Get behind me," Niall told him, clutching his rifle grimly. "I'm harder to kill. But frankly... I think this is it. May Bob save us."

"I always wanted to go out in a blaze of glory," Quirk said, flashing "KiLL" across his visor.

"Wait!" a new voice commanded. "Hold!"

"But, Lieutenant..."

"No! Stop!" the voice demanded. "New orders... Hold fire! Stand down!"

Niall and Quirk looked at each other as the gunfire abruptly ceased. The lights flickered again and came back to full brightness, and the teleporter console began to reboot itself.

"A trap...?" Niall asked. "If so, I'll go first. You stay back..."

Lieutenant Sorg walked slowly and deliberately out from behind the makeshift barricade, gauntleted hands held in front of him.

"Do not kill him!" Xerian and Niall said together, as Quirk took aim. "He is surrendering!"

"Not quite," the officer said, approaching with his hands raised. "But I am here to bring you a message. From the Emperor."

"What...!?" Quirk said. "But I blew that little shit to atoms!"

"Was this message left in the event of his d-death?" Xerian asked.

"His Majesty cannot be slain so easily. In various secure vaults he has had a number of replacement bodies set aside for such an incident. Cloned from his flesh and kept in stasis, awaiting the installation of his cyber-implants. Which, I might add, are specially hardened and survived the explosion intact."

"Dammit! I knew I should have blown his head out the airlock," Quirk pouted.

"QUIRK!" Xerian snapped.

"His implants are regularly backed up," the officer pointed out. "You would be hard-pressed to permanently kill him without first destroying the entire ship. And I might point out that if you somehow succeeded, that would trigger the self-destruct protocol."

"Told you so," Niall said quietly.

"So you're saying we should surrender?" Xerian asked worriedly. "Is that even still an option...?"

"That is not in my briefing. However, the Emperor does request your presence," the officer said. "With a guarantee of your safety. I have been sent to tell you this, and to bring back your reply."

"'Requests'...? Not 'commands'...?"

"He urgently wishes a parlay. Indeed, he has made a large number of excessively generous concessions to try and win your cooperation. The security robots and troops have just been stood down, and among other things, a pardon issued as a token of his good faith. He will not attempt to kill you again, or impede your attempts to leave the ship.
"But in exchange, he desperately needs to speak with Xerian. I and my men have been sent unarmed to bring this message, and to escort you back, should you agree to see him."

"He wants me to go alone...?" the Synth looked worried, as a couple of other officers arrived, hands similarly raised and empty of weapons. Some of the other officers had left their posts and were watching the scene unfold, visibly confused and perturbed.

"The invitation is for you specifically, but it is assumed that the rest of your group will want to accompany you," Lieutenant Sorg said.

"No," Quirk said stubbornly. "I don't trust him. Let him come here."

"I had expected this," Lord Cyra said, stepping out from behind a crate. "Though I cannot say I blame you."

"What do you want with us now?" Xerian asked, miserably. "Why are you here?"

"There is a saying in most cultures," the Emperor said. "'If you can't beat them, join them.'"

"You... You want to recruit us...?" Quirk looked perplexed. "After all we've done to thwart your plans...? You expect us to give up and throw in with your lot...?"

"No," the Emperor said. "I am here to surrender." The officers looked at their master as if he had gone insane.

"What?!" Quirk gurgled. "No! It must be a trick!"

"It's not. I give up. Invading this world was a stupid idea."

"My Lord!" Lieutenant Sorg looked shocked.

"If it was so stupid, then why did you do it at all?" Niall demanded heatedly. "You've ruined people's lives!"

"I don't know," the Emperor said sadly. "All I can say is that after I was revived... I couldn't remember why it seemed so important."

"Because you're short and wanted to get back at the universe?" Lautrec asked. Lieutenant Sorg curled up into a foetal position like the juvenile protogen in the tank and covered his face, waiting in terror for his master's wrath to explode over them.

"Yes, it was something like that," Lord Cyra admitted, looking thoughtful. "Admittedly, being swindled and generally abused by my clients was frustrating and humiliating, but becoming an evil overlord seems a little disproportionate, don't you think...?" He looked down at himself and studied the back of his hand for a few moments. "Re-engineering myself to be taller and blacklisting those clients would be far less effort."

"Did they put the Emperor back together wrong?" Lautrec asked, looking astonished.

"No. I have been put together correctly, for the first time since this whole business started," the protogen said. "What I have being doing... That is not the mark of a properly functioning ruler."

"So what are you going to do to us now?" Niall asked. The Emperor turned to face Xerian, and unpinned the cape that attached to his shoulders.

"Hail, Emperor Xerian!" he said loudly, kneeling before the astonished Synth. "May your reign be long!"

"Take these as the symbol of your office," he added, proffering the cape and some shiny black gloves that had been designed for a Synth to wear.

"But I don't want them!" Xerian protested, staring down at the uniform with amazement and horror. "I don't want to be emperor!"

"You must," Lieutenant Sorg said. "We need an Emperor. The robots are programmed to require one. So are our... mooks, as you call them. Parts of the ship's systems will respond to our Emperor, and him alone. If it has no leader for more than one day, the ship will enter self-destruct sequence. If it impacts the planet it may cause an extinction-level event."

"Told you," Niall said.

"Very well," Xerian said, reluctantly donning the rubber gloves and cape. "But this is strictly as an interim measure until we can remove that dependency."

"Are you saying that all I had to do was wear a latex cape and evening gloves?" Quirk said, appalled. "And I could just have taken over the ship at any time?!"

Lord Cyra cocked his head slightly. "That is possible," he admitted. "The robots and individuals whom I had cruelly enslaved would certainly have been fooled, but the others would not. It would likely have resulted in a very messy situation, a civil war aboard the Vengeance."

"What about Lieutenant Sorg?" Niall asked pointedly. "He seems to have been a loyal henchman to Lord Cyra."

"Lord Cyra gave me the gift of these implants," the Lieutenant said. "I owe him this long life and the enhancements he has made to me. If his wish is that I should serve another, even one with different aims, then I shall do so to the best of my ability."

"Very well," Xerian said. "But I'd like someone to check you over, just to make sure you're not brainwashed into subservience. I don't want you devoting your entire life to me, that wouldn't be fair."

"I could do with a holiday," the protogen admitted.

"Talking of messy situations, what about the kangaroo creature?" Xerian asked. "He's a bit of a wildcard."

"He is now your problem, your highness," Lord Cyra said, bowing his head. "His fate is yours to command. As is mine."

"We'll get to that later," the Synth decided. "Now, I believe you have the remote device taken from Niall here. I would like that back so that Lautrec can have his limbs reactivated. Arrange for that as a priority, if you please."

"At once, Majesty!" Lieutenant Sorg said, snapping a salute at Xerian. "I shall bring it to your throne room."

"Talking of which, check the spare thrones for explosives," Quirk suggested. "I don't want to kill two Emperors in one day, especially not this one!"

"It will be done," Sorg saluted and briskly left the room.

"If I may make a suggestion, majesty, a public broadcast to the ship would be wise," Lord Cyra said. "My men here know that I have abdicated, but the rest of the ship will not. Until that has been done, there may be resistance."

"Will there be resistance afterwards?" Niall asked, looking concerned. "Will some believe that you made this announcement under duress and plot to restore you to the throne?"

"I hope not," Lord Cyra said, making a face. "Running this place was a bit of a strain. It makes a nice change for it to be someone else's problem."

"If you've got all this power," Lautrec said hopefully, "Can you use it to get the band back together?"

Solemnly, Xerian surveyed the assembled protogens who were kneeling before him.

"I'm not used to giving orders," he told them. "I don't want to command anyone. I don't believe in kings or emperors. However, Lautrec is right. I would very much like to have 'Zuki returned to me. He is a blue and black Synth with orange eyes who was abducted shortly before I was. I also require medical attention for the lizard lady Eris, and the protogens known as Toast and Oram. Then, we will look into communicating with the planet and agreeing the return of the abductees."

"At once, Majesty!" the highest-ranking officer said.

"Oh, and get rid of that horrible symbol, please," Xerian said sternly. "We're through with that fascist crap. Pick something else, something more friendly."