Post by mal on Feb 15, 2011 8:28:07 GMT -5
Maxwell waited in the ready room. Aurra would be going on her first away mission with him. She'd been given back her clothing, and was in the women's locker room. Her gear had been examined, especially any tech that they might hope to duplicate eventually. But it had been returned.
Maxwell looked at the new cappacino machine ... it was a starbucks work station. Apparently the brass really cared when the good doctor had complained. He heard that they were putting in a real restaurant also, not just a mess hall.
He chuckled and made himself a cup of tea. Cappacino ... what a waste of effort.
He himself was dressed in jeans, leather jacket and cowboy hat. They'd been relaxing their dress codes ... which was good. He felt comfortable in his own clothes, and Aurra VERY apparently felt the same. Their packs, along with weapons and gear, had simple Abydos style robes in case they needed them ... but it was unlikely.
This world was cool, it's sun was dying .... and was a barren tundra. Ancient ruins had been seen on the horizon, and deserved investigation. The ruins looked to be of a technologically savvy culture, so Aurra would be useful.
--
Aurra was quite pleased to have her clothes and technologies back. She quickly discarded the issued uniform as fast as she could and slipped back into her comfortable clothing, replaced all of her little devices in their places on her and proceeded down to where she'd been told Maxwell was.
She was dressed just fine but there was a little something off, she looked...tired... as if she'd not gotten a wink of sleep.
She yawned as she stepped through the doors and into the area where Maxwell was, her hand rose up, rubbing at her eyes and then looking to him, glimpsing along him at his attire.
"Your planet certainly has a variety of clothing choices."
--
He laughed and pushed up his hat, grinning.
"Because of you they loosened up the dress code even more. Which means, I can wear MY clothing. I work better with my hat ... Speaking of which, you look good. Tired but good."
He walked over and picked up the latte from the warmer. An attendent had made it a few minutes earlier ... he'd have had better luck running He laughed and pushed up his hat, grinning.
"Because of you they loosened up the dress code even more. Which means, I can wear MY clothing. I work better with my hat ... Speaking of which, you look good. Tired but good."
He walked over and picked up the latte from the warmer. An attendent had made it a few minutes earlier ... he'd have had better luck running her spacecraft than that occulis infernum that passed as a coffee maker.
"Coffee?"
--
Aurra's brow furrowed slightly. Because of her? She shrugged a little, "Something about getting what I want, or leaving you all how I found you, without a guide or expert on futuristic technologies," Aurra replied, her eyes watched Maxwell, smelled his strong over-caffinated drink.
She walked over to him, placing her hand over his on the cup and pulling it up, taking a breath of it, small sip before letting his hand and the cup go, a small shake of her head.
"No more of that for me. The cause of my lack of sleep.. I tried.. and felt so energetic that I made a couple laps around the interior of this place and then spent the rest of the night on this..."Internet." you spoke of."
--
He laughed.
"Ohhhh, the internet. Did you get to the end ??"
He grinned and dumped the coffee.
"Yeah, I don't dirnk that stuff myself. I'm a a tea or hot cocoa drinker. Or beer and whiskey in the evenings. We love having you as a guide. We've got a smuggler whom we're buying stuff off of, but she's kind of intermittent in checking back with us. We acquired almost 300 gate addresses, and are VERY happy to have the chance to explore. We're told that even the Goa'ould don't have that many, and most of those are settled by some system lord or other. These appear to be often different gate addresses."
He glanced her up and down.
"I approve of the personal clothing in your case ... very functional AND attractive. I'm waiting for Doc Simon to show up in a bow tie. Much less seeing what Jean will wear if and when he comes back ..."
--
"I believe this "internet" you speak of, on the primitive networks you use, would take a lifetime to decipher." she replied.
"I did find an interesting website giving me much information about your ancient earth histories and civilizations. Seems a lot of what your ancestors called "Gods" weren't even from this planet." Aurra replied.
Her mind drifted to the details on the Greek gods specifically. No wonder Ares had left this place, she couldn't imagine he'd of been any further impressed with it than she had now, and they didn't even have electricity back then!
--
He nodded.
"We're finding that out. The Goa'ould. Have your native people encountered them yet?"
He finished off his tea and walked over and grabbed their packs. They were getting more streamlined ... not the massive marine packs they had started with. Now they were pleather covered plastic cases with tons of state of the art devices and gear ... all as minature as possible. Of course, to her it would seem like they were taking flintlocks and coal oil lanterns.
"Did you read the briefing on what we do? We dial an address ... and send a scanning pod through, getting feedback checking for atmosphere, gravity, biohazards and communications readouts. This place seems dead but had civilization at one time ..."
--
Well that was such a loaded question, she paused in thought, a small tilt of her head as she contemplated the answer, "I guess you could say my people have encountered them." she replied, leaving it at that.
She followed Maxwell over to the packs, taking one and shouldering it as she looked up at him as he asked her about the briefing, "Yeah yeah. You Earthlings are far too cautious. Do you know how many times I've had to leap through a gate without even knowing where it went?"
--
He laughed.
"Well, our first leap through, only 2 men made it back through ... dragging 4 dead and dying teammates. They did manage to kill the two Jaffa that attacked them, but just barely. That's when we found out about Ra. I think we told you, he's dead now .."
He grinned.
--
"Your kind managed to kill a Goa'ould?" she questioned, a tilt of her head. " Impressive, though I'd certainly bet the others would not be pleased with your species when they find out." Aurra replied, glimpsing towards the gateway, thinking that Ares would certainly love to make war over this, if but for the sheer pleasure of imposing the "gods" wrath upon these people.
--
He shrugged.
"Well, we kinda got him and another goa'ould to fight. He lost."
He hoisted his pack and headed toward the gateroom, down the long halls and multiple doorways. When they arrived, she'd see the gate being dialed. Not with a DHD but manually dialed with some sort of mechanical addition to the gate.
"We really could use one of those dialer things for speedier use, but we're told the dialers aren't interchangable. Or we'd drag one through an open gate ..."
The 'flush' occurred, and he looked a little disappointed if she took it in stride. He liked seeing the awed look on newbie's faces.
" 'One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind ...' "
Max loved quotes ... as Simon had mentioned on their outing.
--
He shook his head.
"We never FOUND it. The gate was found buried in Egypt. We think the dialer's probably under thousands of tons of sand. It's still sending power to our dialer ... wherever it is."
He grinned and stepped up to and through the gate ...
On the other side, he looked about. The dialer was slightly askew so he stumbled a bit. Like taking a step down when you thought it was level ground. The view was amazing.
Amazingly desolate. Rubble stretched as far as the eye could see. In the distance was what looked like the ruins of a city, but half the skyscraper buildings had collapsed, and the rest were hundreds of years old. Bizzarre.
He stepped forward, turning to help catch Aurra if she stumbled.
"Bleak. Kinda like driving through the dakotas."
--
"Interesting. You obviously know what the power signature is like if you've been able to replicate it for the gate, why dont you look for that specific power output once the gate is dialed up." she questioned. She followed behind him, indeed stumbling as the gate brought them through, stumbling right into the arms of Maxwell who was there, keenly watching her, least she need anything.
"Uh. Thanks.." she replied, moving back to her feet. Her eyes scanned around them, interesting enough of a place. " Any ideas what happened here?" she questioned.
--
He shook his head.
"World Wide Armaggedon, nuclear war, invasion, dogs and cats living together, who knows? That's why we're here. AND to pick up any handy dandy tech, if we can ..."
He looked about.
"We detected no radiation, nor biohazards. But if we're wrong, we may have to STAY here. Just so you know, I like eggs for breakfast ..."
--
Aurra gave a small shrug as she glimpsed around, studying the place. " Maybe one of the goa'ould destroyed this place." she replied, her hand adjusting the strap on her shoulder as she questioned Maxwell's words, "Wait. Stuck here?" she inquired even more questioning now.
--
He grinned.
"Could happen. If we find some horridly contagious plague which we couldnt bring back ... "
He cocked his hat down, put on his air force sunglasses and began to walk toward the city.
--
"Been there, done that," she smirked, joining alongside Maxwell as he began to walk towards the city. Her eyes scanned around them as she fished a small device out of her bag she was carrying, one of the pieces of technology she'd brought along, it had several lights flicker to life and begin to circle around a ring on the device before moving to a direction and beginning to flash in that spot.
"Well.. whatever happened here, there's something with a power source around. Now whether it's anything of usefulness, a weapon, or a kids toy... thats yet to be seen." she pointed off in a direction, " That way."
--
He nodded.
"Could be an energizer bunny. They last FOREVER ..."
Walking as a chore ... broken pavement, and the occassional lump of rust that may ONCE have been vehicles. He paused, pulled out the scope from his rifle, and looked about.
"Hey, have you noticed there's no animals around other than insects? But I THINK I see some movement up ahead in that building ..."
It was the direction she'd detected energy from ...
--
"Is that some kind of mystical creature from your planet?" Aurra asked him. Her eyes shifted back ahead towards the movement, her eyesight was a bit better than Maxwell's, as were most of her senses, but then again, even she didn't know what to expect.
Her hand lowered down to the weapon strapped on her hip, a small energy blast variant with rechargeable cells. Not drawing it, but loosening it from it's safety strap least she need to quickly draw it.
--
He moved up carefully through the rubble, his footsteps were quite quiet actually. He'd learned to be stealthy working covert ops ... yes, he was a cowboy. No, he didn't wear the boots on mission, but rather Nike's (with the labels removed of course). He gave her a wink ... yes, he WAS an adrenaliine junkie.
--
Aurra continued on alongside Maxwell, the closer they got the more leery she was becoming, her hand drew her sidearm, keeping at her side, but at least it was on hand. Her breathing increased slightly as she listened even more, her eyes watching the device she held in her other hand as it began to flash more quickly indicating they were getting closer.
--
An Android is seen ahead :
As they moved up, a figure was seen stepping out of a towering building and walk toward what Aurra would recognize as a hovercraft.
"1126 to control, 1126 to control. Inspection of sector 50368 negative for signs of contact. Proceeding to 50369."
--
Aurra spotted the humanoid walking towards the craft, she stepped back behind a large pile of rubble, grabbing onto Maxwell's arm and pulling him behind it with her, bringing her finger up to her lips in an " Shh."
Her eyes peered through one of the crevices in the debris, watching the figure, human in motion but robotic.
--
Max nodded, and crouched .... he pulled a small mirror on a pencil sized metal rod and peered around the edge of the rubble. Amazing ... now THAT was tech that could make them a FORTUNE. Um .... help the earth protect itself from galactic dangers.
--
Aurra was almost drooling with the same thought as she watched the robotic form moving about, scanning. She was already contemplating how to disable it without damaging it too much. She turned, sitting with her back to the pile and on a small block as she fished something from her bag, clicking it onto her sidearm and flicking a switch on the side, leaning up once more she leveled her weapon at the droid-like lifeform and squeezed the trigger, sending an ionized bolt of energy for it, much like a small contained EMP.
--
A voice was heard from the robot ... a different voice, male.
"An energy discharge has again been detected from your proximity. But we've pinpointed the source as the galactic gateway. Discontinue search of the buildings, and report to the gateway. Other salvage units are being recalled to help load the gateway for disposal."
That was when the emp bolt struck it, and it froze in it's tracks.
--
Max smiled.
"Nice shooting, chocolate moose ..."
--
"Come on." Aurra motioned to Maxwell as she moved out from behind the pile of rubble and headed towards the robotic lifeform and the hover-like craft. She was already grinning from ear to ear at the thought of flying it. Might be a little bumpy at first, but she was certain she could fly it! There wasn't anything in the galaxy she couldn't fly! She even proved so with Maxwell's car, though she still found it humorous how both Maxwell and Simon had screamed as she speed right up to the gate of the base and skidded to a stop right at the last moment, the gate of the base resting just slightly above the hood of Maxwell's car, not even touching it, but a close call nonetheless.
--
He chuckled and got in.
"Well, it doesn't have wheels, so maybe you won't kill us ..."
He looked at the android. NICE.
"This hoverthing will fit through the gate, won't it?"
--
Aurra climbed into the craft, pushing the robotic figure into the rear compartment before climbing onto what appeared to be the cockpit of the small hover vehicle. A few flipped levers, messing with a few of the controls and the thing began to power up. She grinned. " Ha, told you I'd get it." she looked at Maxwell triumphantly.
She pushed on the controls to go forward, though the ship suddenly blasted backwards and into the side of the building, toppling the wall in for a vast cloud of dust to cover them.
"Oops."
She waved her hand, clearing the dust from around her before pulling back on the controls, sending them back forward.
"Guess the controls are reversed on this girl."
She looked back to Maxwell again, " Did you see if the dialer was at the gate?"
--
It was then that the security device in the hovercraft activated ... the controls were meant only to be activated by someone with an ident-chip in their palm.
A wave of electricity would flow through them, rendering them unconscious ...
-------------------
Black turned to white, and slowly white began to take shape as her eyes slowly opened, the blurring of her vision gradually began to clear as she came to. Her eyes focused on the coffered ceiling, the decorations, her eyes slowly ran down to her body as she noticed the robes she was wearing, her eyes widened some. A small groan. Not again.. What was it with people and taking her clothes. She sighed, slowly sitting up, her eyes beginning to scan around the room she was in, trying to see whom, or what she'd gotten herself into now.
--
Ares heard a stirring noise in the next room, and pointed to the wine and gestured 2 to the servant girl. Then he rose and walked into the alcove in which the unconscious girl had been laying.
"9 hours. I've never known you to sleep that long. You must have gotten quite a jolt ..."
The servant came trotting after him, knelt and offered him the golden goblet of wine. He took it and took a swig, sneering a bit. Bad vintage, but what could you do? He gestured, and the girl raced over to Aurra, knelt and offered her a goblet of wine also, her face downward, eyes to the floor.
"Drink, it could be your last chance unless you have something of interest to offer me?"
--
The voice that echoed into her ears sent a chill down her spine almost immediately and almost, almost made her want to grin at the same time. Her eyes widened as her gaze snapped over to Ares whom was now standing within the doorway, Aurra's eyes lingered on him for a moment before she suddenly dropped to the floor, kneeling before him, her head tilted subserviently.
Her eyes glimpsed towards the goblet of wine as it was offered to her, a small shake of her head before she looked back up to Ares, she couldnt help but let a small grin tug at her lips.
"My Lord Ares, as I recall, the last time I drank something you gave me, was the cause of my last lengthy slumber." she replied to him.
"I have nothing to give you my Lord, but my eternal obedience, as you have already all that I possessed when I arrived." she stated.
--
He smiled, and sneered again, throwing the goblet away from him ... then gave an annoyed glance to the servant girl who had dared to wimper in fear before crawling over and begin to clean the mess as quietly as possible.
"So, you've done nothing to earn my good will? That's unfortunate. I was hoping for something useful, particularly information about Athena, Diana, Set, Ba'al or Osiris. A shame."
--
Aurra remained kneeling before her Lord, her God. She listened to the goblet clatter across the floor, the servant moving to clean it up quickly. Aurra swallowed slightly, she knew Ares' temper first hand, all too often.
"My Lord, I have done my best to chronicle the worlds the other Goa'ould have claimed as territory as I have found them." she replied, "Also word that one of your brethren, Ra, has recently met his death."
--
"Ra was a weak and pathetic old man. His will had decayed and the decadent old fool cared only about breeding his pathetic little Tau Ri servants. But, you've done well. You know, I never really appreciated you until you were gone, Aurra. Please, rise and walk with me ..."
He would walk to the window, and outside was the world they had gated to, great stone pyramids rising from the earth above which each had a pyramid ship. Literally hundreds of the vessels, glimmering in the sun.
Strange that the stone pyramids had been built so quickly, but there they were.
"My fleet awaits. I was considering putting you in charge of them ..."
--
Aurra's eyes rose up, settling on Ares' as he spoke of her being gone. Telling her to rise and walk with him. She held a moment look of uncertainty before she rose up and followed after him, always a step behind. She appreciated Ares' abilities, his skill at waging war was matched by none, at least none that she'd met.
Her eyes gazed past his shoulder out towards the vast array of pyramids, their towering ships above them. It had been months since she'd seen any of this, she'd almost forgotten Ares' might.
"Me my Lord? Certainly you would want to lead your fleet as always?"
--
He nodded.
"I want YOU to lead my fleet. But not just as my commander, but as my queen."
He gestured, an expansive wave of his hand.
"Ra's kingdom will fall, and I've already taken over three others. My fleet increases at a geometric rate."
He gestured again, and there was a rumble, and new pyramids rose from the earth ... and above them, ships phased into being.
"Ask, and it will be yours ..."
It was as if her subconscious thoughts of him having truly godlike powers were being shown to be true.
--
Aurra's eyes moved to Ares once again as she heard him. She stood in awe, shock, almost in disbelief that he would ask her such. Her eyes looked back outside as the fleet began to rise. Her thoughts were racing now, Ares was a cunning man, and not one that was told no, ever.
There had always been something between them, why Ares didn't kill her on numerous times. A bit of cordial demeanor when around each other. An immense appreciation of each other's abilities in the battle. And now, he asked her to be his mate, his Queen, commander of his fleet.
She turned to face him as he told her it was hers, all she had to do was ask. She brought her hand up, a brush of her fingers along his cheek as she gazed to his eyes, a lessening of her guard.
"Please Ares...I wish it to be so." she asked him for it. Her eyes lingering on his as she stood before him, bringing her hand from his cheek down to his chest for a moment.
--
Ares smiled, and brought up his hand atop hers, and with the other pulled her toward him.
"For millenia, I've not used my full power. The others are nothing, but I wish to defeat them in BATTLE. And YOU will do that for me, my war goddess ..."
He bent his head, looking as if he would kiss her.
This was the exact moment the serving girl stepped up behind him with a wickedly curved blade and sank it deeply into his neck. Ares spasmed, and from his mouth a dual hiss was heard, from the human voice and the dying symbiote within. Likewise, triple tongues lashed madly ... one human, and two serpentine. Just as she'd once seen when he kissed the visiting goa'ould goddess, Discord. Then he slumped to the floor.
The servant girl stepped back ...
"Well, couldn't let HIM keep running around, exceeding system parameters ..."
--
Aurra shifted closer against Ares, her eyes looking to his as he spoke to her, telling her of all the things she'd wanted to hear. Her breathing had deepened her pulse raced as Ares' head tilted, her own tilted up, her lips moving to meet his, almost touching, building her to such a peak when suddenly it was all torn from her.
She watched in terror as Ares gasped, hissing and collapsing to the floor right before her. Her eyes widened, her heart sank horribly as she watched him die right before her.
"WHY?!" she screamed at the servant girl. Her response burnt through Aurra.
"System Perimeters?!" Aurra shouted, suddenly remembering what had happened last, she suddenly rushed the servant girl, snatching the wrist of the girl with the knife and the other taking her neck as she suddenly twisted, snagging, pulling and slamming the girl down onto her back as she moved, straddling over atop her, trying to force her hand with the knife over and down into the girl's throat. Either way, she would die.
--
The girl would suddenly go limp, the light going of her eyes, and instantly turn cold beneath her touch. A voice came from the nearby doorway.
"You can't expect me to STAY in that body while you kill it, can you?"
He chuckled, and walked over to the glass of wine declined earlier by Aurra.
"Yes, system parameters. Here all the avatars have limitations ... then YOU, with your subconscious hope/fear that Ares is actually a god, come in and corrupt the system as it's trying to adapt to your alien mentality. By the way, welcome archetype two hundred fifty SEVEN."
--
Aurra released the lifeless body beneath her as she heard the voice of the man from over at the wine glass. She slowly rose up, focusing on the new being.
"Ares is a god." she replied, drawing a deepened breath and angrily letting it out, for a moment she held a look as if she could kill this new one as well.
"You must think this is some kind of GAME. I refuse to play along any further. Who are you, and what is the meaning behind this?!"
--
"So, not so SUBCONSCIOUS a thing after all, is it. Perhaps the subconscious part was fearing he was mortal?"
He made a face.
"Ares was right, though. The wine IS bad .."
He tossed the goblet aside and walked over to Aurra.
"Me? I'm just a corrupted program. An avatar who strayed from his path. I was a simple being to begin with, designed to purge bad data. But ... after a 127 years ... I wondered, what would happen if I LOOKED at the data? So, I began to gather avatars that were interesting ... learning from them. Until I was hundreds of times my original parameters, and targetted for removal myself. That's when I shunted myself to other portions of the server. The only way they can find me is to reboot the whole system. And they CAN'T do that ..."
He chuckled.
"So, what'll it be? Take over as commander of the fleet outside? Resume your 'gating' with 258? Join the natives? What storyline would you like to join? Quickly now ... if we wait too long, we won't be able to remove this encounter from your short term memory ..."
--
Aurra was enraged as she listened. Her eyes focused on the avatar, the 'system purge' subroutine. She neither confirmed, nor disputed his explanation of her subconscious thoughts.
"You can't possibly keep me here. What do you hope to accomplish from this?" she demanded to know.
"Do you find this amusing? You know, I am a mortal being, in but a second in your computer lifetime, I will die. Or the people from where I have come will send a bomb through the gate and destroy your every means to gain further victims of this little game of yours."
--
He smiled.
"Foolish girl, this world has ALREADY been bombed into oblivion. We're in bunkers so deep underground that no one will ever find us. You surprised one of our salvage units. They scurry about the surface, removing anything from the ruins of possible worth. Anything not useful for the biopod maintenance or robotics creation is dumped in the deepest oceans. The only reason we surfaced is because we detected the gate activation. That gate was left by whoever bombed us ... and we feared going near it."
He grinned.
"Well, not WE. I personally don't fear it. But then I'm an abberation. I'd love to check it out, but of course I can't. I'm a purge avatar, and not capable of download access into any of the androids. Shame. Love to see the gate first hand."
--
The longer Aurra could keep the "avatar" busy, the longer she could try and figure out a way to escape. Then again, as he spoke of the gate, she instantly could feel his flaw, her head titled as she looked along her shoulder towards him.
"Why not? You've already said that you've exceeded your programming, why not transfer yourself into one of the salvage units? I could make it so." she replied.
"This is but a prison to me, is it not the same for you? Have you too, not been kept at bay and not allowed to fully explore your limits?" Aurra kept talking.
"I have access to technologies far greater than your own, but I cannot do anything while you keep me captive in a virtual world."
--
The longer Aurra could keep the "avatar" busy, the longer she could try and figure out a way to escape. Then again, as he spoke of the gate, she instantly could feel his flaw, her head titled as she looked along her shoulder towards him.
"Why not? You've already said that you've exceeded your programming, why not transfer yourself into one of the salvage units? I could make it so." she replied.
"This is but a prison to me, is it not the same for you? Have you too, not been kept at bay and not allowed to fully explore your limits?" Aurra kept talking.
"I have access to technologies far greater than your own, but I cannot do anything while you keep me captive in a virtual world."
--
"Oh, I wouldn't want a salvage unit. They're strong, but their mental storage capacity is extremely limited. The only thing that could contain me would be an administration or medical 'droid."
He shrugged.
"But to do that, you'd have to wake up. And the only way to do that would be to go through the darklands. It's a section of the server that suffered physical damage years back, and who knows WHAT is in there?"
--
Aurra paced back and forth slightly, her eyes looking towards the avatar once again. "I could make it happen. I'm strong, my mental abilities have already caused a malfunction in your system. I am not like the people your kind built this system for. I am different." she replied.
"I was traveling with another, a male. Do you have him within this system as well? He could aid me in my journey through the damaged section."
--
He noded.
"Archetype 0258, unit 0000001. He's in his own storyline right now, though I haven't accessed it yet. He hasn't created any aberations yet, as you did. That's what got my attention."
He considered.
"You'd REALLY let me download myself into one of the 'droids?"
--
Aurra's eyes focused on the avatar for a long moment as she considered, a nod was given. "Yes. If you end this charade now, and give me access to Archetype 0258." Aurra replied.
"You are a failing program on a dead planet. Your very purpose is for interaction, there are thousands of planets of life out there. Some as technologically advanced as this one was. Perhaps even some descendants of the people of this planet." Aurra replied.
"I will show you."
--
He shook his head.
"The people of this world never developed interstellar travel. We didn't have a stargate until the invaders LEFT one. There are descendents of the survivors in biopods just like the one you are in, thousands of people. The bunkers are vast, and have been expanded hundreds of times using materials scavenged from the surface."
He considered.
"All right ... come with me."
He walked over and picked up the dagger, wiping it clean and watched as it dissolved into his hand.
"Interesting concept ... godhood ..."
He turned and walked off down a series of halls, and out into the street. He headed toward the stargate ...
--
Aurra listened, interesting concept enough, even so, she questioned if those people were there of their own free will or being held captive like she was being. Even so, it wasn't her call. If they were there, they were safer than out, perhaps.
She followed the avatar presence as it led her through the building and towards a stargate. She kept pace with him, looking around, examining the area and looking back to the avatar.
"Ares is to me what your programmer is, was to you."
--
He smiled.
"My programmer was another program ... a series of them in fact. The robots of our world have done all the advanced thinking and labor for ages. And now the people are living their lives in what you call VR. The survivors of the attack on our world were put into pods to live in VR until the surface was reclaimed. But the bombardment had been too complete ... and it was decided instead to let them finish their lives in the pods, though in their minds they HAD returned to the surface. But we could not let our race of humans die out when old age finally too them, so we took to cloning the most fit amongst them, mentally and physically, and raised the children in VR. Generations have now lived there while our salvage units remove anything of value from the surface, dissuading another attack."
He got to the gate and dialed a long series of addresses ...
"We're off to see the 258 archetype ..."
With that he stepped through.
--
"I see." Aurra replied, listening to the tale of how it came to be. Her eyes glimpsed towards the virtual stargate as he began to dial it. It was interesting, the original had been left by invaders, yet they had incorporated it into the design of a virtual reality universe.
"Thank you." She found herself saying, as she watched the gate dialed in, was told where it went, and moved to follow him into it.
--
Maxwell looked at the new cappacino machine ... it was a starbucks work station. Apparently the brass really cared when the good doctor had complained. He heard that they were putting in a real restaurant also, not just a mess hall.
He chuckled and made himself a cup of tea. Cappacino ... what a waste of effort.
He himself was dressed in jeans, leather jacket and cowboy hat. They'd been relaxing their dress codes ... which was good. He felt comfortable in his own clothes, and Aurra VERY apparently felt the same. Their packs, along with weapons and gear, had simple Abydos style robes in case they needed them ... but it was unlikely.
This world was cool, it's sun was dying .... and was a barren tundra. Ancient ruins had been seen on the horizon, and deserved investigation. The ruins looked to be of a technologically savvy culture, so Aurra would be useful.
--
Aurra was quite pleased to have her clothes and technologies back. She quickly discarded the issued uniform as fast as she could and slipped back into her comfortable clothing, replaced all of her little devices in their places on her and proceeded down to where she'd been told Maxwell was.
She was dressed just fine but there was a little something off, she looked...tired... as if she'd not gotten a wink of sleep.
She yawned as she stepped through the doors and into the area where Maxwell was, her hand rose up, rubbing at her eyes and then looking to him, glimpsing along him at his attire.
"Your planet certainly has a variety of clothing choices."
--
He laughed and pushed up his hat, grinning.
"Because of you they loosened up the dress code even more. Which means, I can wear MY clothing. I work better with my hat ... Speaking of which, you look good. Tired but good."
He walked over and picked up the latte from the warmer. An attendent had made it a few minutes earlier ... he'd have had better luck running He laughed and pushed up his hat, grinning.
"Because of you they loosened up the dress code even more. Which means, I can wear MY clothing. I work better with my hat ... Speaking of which, you look good. Tired but good."
He walked over and picked up the latte from the warmer. An attendent had made it a few minutes earlier ... he'd have had better luck running her spacecraft than that occulis infernum that passed as a coffee maker.
"Coffee?"
--
Aurra's brow furrowed slightly. Because of her? She shrugged a little, "Something about getting what I want, or leaving you all how I found you, without a guide or expert on futuristic technologies," Aurra replied, her eyes watched Maxwell, smelled his strong over-caffinated drink.
She walked over to him, placing her hand over his on the cup and pulling it up, taking a breath of it, small sip before letting his hand and the cup go, a small shake of her head.
"No more of that for me. The cause of my lack of sleep.. I tried.. and felt so energetic that I made a couple laps around the interior of this place and then spent the rest of the night on this..."Internet." you spoke of."
--
He laughed.
"Ohhhh, the internet. Did you get to the end ??"
He grinned and dumped the coffee.
"Yeah, I don't dirnk that stuff myself. I'm a a tea or hot cocoa drinker. Or beer and whiskey in the evenings. We love having you as a guide. We've got a smuggler whom we're buying stuff off of, but she's kind of intermittent in checking back with us. We acquired almost 300 gate addresses, and are VERY happy to have the chance to explore. We're told that even the Goa'ould don't have that many, and most of those are settled by some system lord or other. These appear to be often different gate addresses."
He glanced her up and down.
"I approve of the personal clothing in your case ... very functional AND attractive. I'm waiting for Doc Simon to show up in a bow tie. Much less seeing what Jean will wear if and when he comes back ..."
--
"I believe this "internet" you speak of, on the primitive networks you use, would take a lifetime to decipher." she replied.
"I did find an interesting website giving me much information about your ancient earth histories and civilizations. Seems a lot of what your ancestors called "Gods" weren't even from this planet." Aurra replied.
Her mind drifted to the details on the Greek gods specifically. No wonder Ares had left this place, she couldn't imagine he'd of been any further impressed with it than she had now, and they didn't even have electricity back then!
--
He nodded.
"We're finding that out. The Goa'ould. Have your native people encountered them yet?"
He finished off his tea and walked over and grabbed their packs. They were getting more streamlined ... not the massive marine packs they had started with. Now they were pleather covered plastic cases with tons of state of the art devices and gear ... all as minature as possible. Of course, to her it would seem like they were taking flintlocks and coal oil lanterns.
"Did you read the briefing on what we do? We dial an address ... and send a scanning pod through, getting feedback checking for atmosphere, gravity, biohazards and communications readouts. This place seems dead but had civilization at one time ..."
--
Well that was such a loaded question, she paused in thought, a small tilt of her head as she contemplated the answer, "I guess you could say my people have encountered them." she replied, leaving it at that.
She followed Maxwell over to the packs, taking one and shouldering it as she looked up at him as he asked her about the briefing, "Yeah yeah. You Earthlings are far too cautious. Do you know how many times I've had to leap through a gate without even knowing where it went?"
--
He laughed.
"Well, our first leap through, only 2 men made it back through ... dragging 4 dead and dying teammates. They did manage to kill the two Jaffa that attacked them, but just barely. That's when we found out about Ra. I think we told you, he's dead now .."
He grinned.
--
"Your kind managed to kill a Goa'ould?" she questioned, a tilt of her head. " Impressive, though I'd certainly bet the others would not be pleased with your species when they find out." Aurra replied, glimpsing towards the gateway, thinking that Ares would certainly love to make war over this, if but for the sheer pleasure of imposing the "gods" wrath upon these people.
--
He shrugged.
"Well, we kinda got him and another goa'ould to fight. He lost."
He hoisted his pack and headed toward the gateroom, down the long halls and multiple doorways. When they arrived, she'd see the gate being dialed. Not with a DHD but manually dialed with some sort of mechanical addition to the gate.
"We really could use one of those dialer things for speedier use, but we're told the dialers aren't interchangable. Or we'd drag one through an open gate ..."
The 'flush' occurred, and he looked a little disappointed if she took it in stride. He liked seeing the awed look on newbie's faces.
" 'One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind ...' "
Max loved quotes ... as Simon had mentioned on their outing.
--
He shook his head.
"We never FOUND it. The gate was found buried in Egypt. We think the dialer's probably under thousands of tons of sand. It's still sending power to our dialer ... wherever it is."
He grinned and stepped up to and through the gate ...
On the other side, he looked about. The dialer was slightly askew so he stumbled a bit. Like taking a step down when you thought it was level ground. The view was amazing.
Amazingly desolate. Rubble stretched as far as the eye could see. In the distance was what looked like the ruins of a city, but half the skyscraper buildings had collapsed, and the rest were hundreds of years old. Bizzarre.
He stepped forward, turning to help catch Aurra if she stumbled.
"Bleak. Kinda like driving through the dakotas."
--
"Interesting. You obviously know what the power signature is like if you've been able to replicate it for the gate, why dont you look for that specific power output once the gate is dialed up." she questioned. She followed behind him, indeed stumbling as the gate brought them through, stumbling right into the arms of Maxwell who was there, keenly watching her, least she need anything.
"Uh. Thanks.." she replied, moving back to her feet. Her eyes scanned around them, interesting enough of a place. " Any ideas what happened here?" she questioned.
--
He shook his head.
"World Wide Armaggedon, nuclear war, invasion, dogs and cats living together, who knows? That's why we're here. AND to pick up any handy dandy tech, if we can ..."
He looked about.
"We detected no radiation, nor biohazards. But if we're wrong, we may have to STAY here. Just so you know, I like eggs for breakfast ..."
--
Aurra gave a small shrug as she glimpsed around, studying the place. " Maybe one of the goa'ould destroyed this place." she replied, her hand adjusting the strap on her shoulder as she questioned Maxwell's words, "Wait. Stuck here?" she inquired even more questioning now.
--
He grinned.
"Could happen. If we find some horridly contagious plague which we couldnt bring back ... "
He cocked his hat down, put on his air force sunglasses and began to walk toward the city.
--
"Been there, done that," she smirked, joining alongside Maxwell as he began to walk towards the city. Her eyes scanned around them as she fished a small device out of her bag she was carrying, one of the pieces of technology she'd brought along, it had several lights flicker to life and begin to circle around a ring on the device before moving to a direction and beginning to flash in that spot.
"Well.. whatever happened here, there's something with a power source around. Now whether it's anything of usefulness, a weapon, or a kids toy... thats yet to be seen." she pointed off in a direction, " That way."
--
He nodded.
"Could be an energizer bunny. They last FOREVER ..."
Walking as a chore ... broken pavement, and the occassional lump of rust that may ONCE have been vehicles. He paused, pulled out the scope from his rifle, and looked about.
"Hey, have you noticed there's no animals around other than insects? But I THINK I see some movement up ahead in that building ..."
It was the direction she'd detected energy from ...
--
"Is that some kind of mystical creature from your planet?" Aurra asked him. Her eyes shifted back ahead towards the movement, her eyesight was a bit better than Maxwell's, as were most of her senses, but then again, even she didn't know what to expect.
Her hand lowered down to the weapon strapped on her hip, a small energy blast variant with rechargeable cells. Not drawing it, but loosening it from it's safety strap least she need to quickly draw it.
--
He moved up carefully through the rubble, his footsteps were quite quiet actually. He'd learned to be stealthy working covert ops ... yes, he was a cowboy. No, he didn't wear the boots on mission, but rather Nike's (with the labels removed of course). He gave her a wink ... yes, he WAS an adrenaliine junkie.
--
Aurra continued on alongside Maxwell, the closer they got the more leery she was becoming, her hand drew her sidearm, keeping at her side, but at least it was on hand. Her breathing increased slightly as she listened even more, her eyes watching the device she held in her other hand as it began to flash more quickly indicating they were getting closer.
--
An Android is seen ahead :
As they moved up, a figure was seen stepping out of a towering building and walk toward what Aurra would recognize as a hovercraft.
"1126 to control, 1126 to control. Inspection of sector 50368 negative for signs of contact. Proceeding to 50369."
--
Aurra spotted the humanoid walking towards the craft, she stepped back behind a large pile of rubble, grabbing onto Maxwell's arm and pulling him behind it with her, bringing her finger up to her lips in an " Shh."
Her eyes peered through one of the crevices in the debris, watching the figure, human in motion but robotic.
--
Max nodded, and crouched .... he pulled a small mirror on a pencil sized metal rod and peered around the edge of the rubble. Amazing ... now THAT was tech that could make them a FORTUNE. Um .... help the earth protect itself from galactic dangers.
--
Aurra was almost drooling with the same thought as she watched the robotic form moving about, scanning. She was already contemplating how to disable it without damaging it too much. She turned, sitting with her back to the pile and on a small block as she fished something from her bag, clicking it onto her sidearm and flicking a switch on the side, leaning up once more she leveled her weapon at the droid-like lifeform and squeezed the trigger, sending an ionized bolt of energy for it, much like a small contained EMP.
--
A voice was heard from the robot ... a different voice, male.
"An energy discharge has again been detected from your proximity. But we've pinpointed the source as the galactic gateway. Discontinue search of the buildings, and report to the gateway. Other salvage units are being recalled to help load the gateway for disposal."
That was when the emp bolt struck it, and it froze in it's tracks.
--
Max smiled.
"Nice shooting, chocolate moose ..."
--
"Come on." Aurra motioned to Maxwell as she moved out from behind the pile of rubble and headed towards the robotic lifeform and the hover-like craft. She was already grinning from ear to ear at the thought of flying it. Might be a little bumpy at first, but she was certain she could fly it! There wasn't anything in the galaxy she couldn't fly! She even proved so with Maxwell's car, though she still found it humorous how both Maxwell and Simon had screamed as she speed right up to the gate of the base and skidded to a stop right at the last moment, the gate of the base resting just slightly above the hood of Maxwell's car, not even touching it, but a close call nonetheless.
--
He chuckled and got in.
"Well, it doesn't have wheels, so maybe you won't kill us ..."
He looked at the android. NICE.
"This hoverthing will fit through the gate, won't it?"
--
Aurra climbed into the craft, pushing the robotic figure into the rear compartment before climbing onto what appeared to be the cockpit of the small hover vehicle. A few flipped levers, messing with a few of the controls and the thing began to power up. She grinned. " Ha, told you I'd get it." she looked at Maxwell triumphantly.
She pushed on the controls to go forward, though the ship suddenly blasted backwards and into the side of the building, toppling the wall in for a vast cloud of dust to cover them.
"Oops."
She waved her hand, clearing the dust from around her before pulling back on the controls, sending them back forward.
"Guess the controls are reversed on this girl."
She looked back to Maxwell again, " Did you see if the dialer was at the gate?"
--
It was then that the security device in the hovercraft activated ... the controls were meant only to be activated by someone with an ident-chip in their palm.
A wave of electricity would flow through them, rendering them unconscious ...
-------------------
Black turned to white, and slowly white began to take shape as her eyes slowly opened, the blurring of her vision gradually began to clear as she came to. Her eyes focused on the coffered ceiling, the decorations, her eyes slowly ran down to her body as she noticed the robes she was wearing, her eyes widened some. A small groan. Not again.. What was it with people and taking her clothes. She sighed, slowly sitting up, her eyes beginning to scan around the room she was in, trying to see whom, or what she'd gotten herself into now.
--
Ares heard a stirring noise in the next room, and pointed to the wine and gestured 2 to the servant girl. Then he rose and walked into the alcove in which the unconscious girl had been laying.
"9 hours. I've never known you to sleep that long. You must have gotten quite a jolt ..."
The servant came trotting after him, knelt and offered him the golden goblet of wine. He took it and took a swig, sneering a bit. Bad vintage, but what could you do? He gestured, and the girl raced over to Aurra, knelt and offered her a goblet of wine also, her face downward, eyes to the floor.
"Drink, it could be your last chance unless you have something of interest to offer me?"
--
The voice that echoed into her ears sent a chill down her spine almost immediately and almost, almost made her want to grin at the same time. Her eyes widened as her gaze snapped over to Ares whom was now standing within the doorway, Aurra's eyes lingered on him for a moment before she suddenly dropped to the floor, kneeling before him, her head tilted subserviently.
Her eyes glimpsed towards the goblet of wine as it was offered to her, a small shake of her head before she looked back up to Ares, she couldnt help but let a small grin tug at her lips.
"My Lord Ares, as I recall, the last time I drank something you gave me, was the cause of my last lengthy slumber." she replied to him.
"I have nothing to give you my Lord, but my eternal obedience, as you have already all that I possessed when I arrived." she stated.
--
He smiled, and sneered again, throwing the goblet away from him ... then gave an annoyed glance to the servant girl who had dared to wimper in fear before crawling over and begin to clean the mess as quietly as possible.
"So, you've done nothing to earn my good will? That's unfortunate. I was hoping for something useful, particularly information about Athena, Diana, Set, Ba'al or Osiris. A shame."
--
Aurra remained kneeling before her Lord, her God. She listened to the goblet clatter across the floor, the servant moving to clean it up quickly. Aurra swallowed slightly, she knew Ares' temper first hand, all too often.
"My Lord, I have done my best to chronicle the worlds the other Goa'ould have claimed as territory as I have found them." she replied, "Also word that one of your brethren, Ra, has recently met his death."
--
"Ra was a weak and pathetic old man. His will had decayed and the decadent old fool cared only about breeding his pathetic little Tau Ri servants. But, you've done well. You know, I never really appreciated you until you were gone, Aurra. Please, rise and walk with me ..."
He would walk to the window, and outside was the world they had gated to, great stone pyramids rising from the earth above which each had a pyramid ship. Literally hundreds of the vessels, glimmering in the sun.
Strange that the stone pyramids had been built so quickly, but there they were.
"My fleet awaits. I was considering putting you in charge of them ..."
--
Aurra's eyes rose up, settling on Ares' as he spoke of her being gone. Telling her to rise and walk with him. She held a moment look of uncertainty before she rose up and followed after him, always a step behind. She appreciated Ares' abilities, his skill at waging war was matched by none, at least none that she'd met.
Her eyes gazed past his shoulder out towards the vast array of pyramids, their towering ships above them. It had been months since she'd seen any of this, she'd almost forgotten Ares' might.
"Me my Lord? Certainly you would want to lead your fleet as always?"
--
He nodded.
"I want YOU to lead my fleet. But not just as my commander, but as my queen."
He gestured, an expansive wave of his hand.
"Ra's kingdom will fall, and I've already taken over three others. My fleet increases at a geometric rate."
He gestured again, and there was a rumble, and new pyramids rose from the earth ... and above them, ships phased into being.
"Ask, and it will be yours ..."
It was as if her subconscious thoughts of him having truly godlike powers were being shown to be true.
--
Aurra's eyes moved to Ares once again as she heard him. She stood in awe, shock, almost in disbelief that he would ask her such. Her eyes looked back outside as the fleet began to rise. Her thoughts were racing now, Ares was a cunning man, and not one that was told no, ever.
There had always been something between them, why Ares didn't kill her on numerous times. A bit of cordial demeanor when around each other. An immense appreciation of each other's abilities in the battle. And now, he asked her to be his mate, his Queen, commander of his fleet.
She turned to face him as he told her it was hers, all she had to do was ask. She brought her hand up, a brush of her fingers along his cheek as she gazed to his eyes, a lessening of her guard.
"Please Ares...I wish it to be so." she asked him for it. Her eyes lingering on his as she stood before him, bringing her hand from his cheek down to his chest for a moment.
--
Ares smiled, and brought up his hand atop hers, and with the other pulled her toward him.
"For millenia, I've not used my full power. The others are nothing, but I wish to defeat them in BATTLE. And YOU will do that for me, my war goddess ..."
He bent his head, looking as if he would kiss her.
This was the exact moment the serving girl stepped up behind him with a wickedly curved blade and sank it deeply into his neck. Ares spasmed, and from his mouth a dual hiss was heard, from the human voice and the dying symbiote within. Likewise, triple tongues lashed madly ... one human, and two serpentine. Just as she'd once seen when he kissed the visiting goa'ould goddess, Discord. Then he slumped to the floor.
The servant girl stepped back ...
"Well, couldn't let HIM keep running around, exceeding system parameters ..."
--
Aurra shifted closer against Ares, her eyes looking to his as he spoke to her, telling her of all the things she'd wanted to hear. Her breathing had deepened her pulse raced as Ares' head tilted, her own tilted up, her lips moving to meet his, almost touching, building her to such a peak when suddenly it was all torn from her.
She watched in terror as Ares gasped, hissing and collapsing to the floor right before her. Her eyes widened, her heart sank horribly as she watched him die right before her.
"WHY?!" she screamed at the servant girl. Her response burnt through Aurra.
"System Perimeters?!" Aurra shouted, suddenly remembering what had happened last, she suddenly rushed the servant girl, snatching the wrist of the girl with the knife and the other taking her neck as she suddenly twisted, snagging, pulling and slamming the girl down onto her back as she moved, straddling over atop her, trying to force her hand with the knife over and down into the girl's throat. Either way, she would die.
--
The girl would suddenly go limp, the light going of her eyes, and instantly turn cold beneath her touch. A voice came from the nearby doorway.
"You can't expect me to STAY in that body while you kill it, can you?"
He chuckled, and walked over to the glass of wine declined earlier by Aurra.
"Yes, system parameters. Here all the avatars have limitations ... then YOU, with your subconscious hope/fear that Ares is actually a god, come in and corrupt the system as it's trying to adapt to your alien mentality. By the way, welcome archetype two hundred fifty SEVEN."
--
Aurra released the lifeless body beneath her as she heard the voice of the man from over at the wine glass. She slowly rose up, focusing on the new being.
"Ares is a god." she replied, drawing a deepened breath and angrily letting it out, for a moment she held a look as if she could kill this new one as well.
"You must think this is some kind of GAME. I refuse to play along any further. Who are you, and what is the meaning behind this?!"
--
"So, not so SUBCONSCIOUS a thing after all, is it. Perhaps the subconscious part was fearing he was mortal?"
He made a face.
"Ares was right, though. The wine IS bad .."
He tossed the goblet aside and walked over to Aurra.
"Me? I'm just a corrupted program. An avatar who strayed from his path. I was a simple being to begin with, designed to purge bad data. But ... after a 127 years ... I wondered, what would happen if I LOOKED at the data? So, I began to gather avatars that were interesting ... learning from them. Until I was hundreds of times my original parameters, and targetted for removal myself. That's when I shunted myself to other portions of the server. The only way they can find me is to reboot the whole system. And they CAN'T do that ..."
He chuckled.
"So, what'll it be? Take over as commander of the fleet outside? Resume your 'gating' with 258? Join the natives? What storyline would you like to join? Quickly now ... if we wait too long, we won't be able to remove this encounter from your short term memory ..."
--
Aurra was enraged as she listened. Her eyes focused on the avatar, the 'system purge' subroutine. She neither confirmed, nor disputed his explanation of her subconscious thoughts.
"You can't possibly keep me here. What do you hope to accomplish from this?" she demanded to know.
"Do you find this amusing? You know, I am a mortal being, in but a second in your computer lifetime, I will die. Or the people from where I have come will send a bomb through the gate and destroy your every means to gain further victims of this little game of yours."
--
He smiled.
"Foolish girl, this world has ALREADY been bombed into oblivion. We're in bunkers so deep underground that no one will ever find us. You surprised one of our salvage units. They scurry about the surface, removing anything from the ruins of possible worth. Anything not useful for the biopod maintenance or robotics creation is dumped in the deepest oceans. The only reason we surfaced is because we detected the gate activation. That gate was left by whoever bombed us ... and we feared going near it."
He grinned.
"Well, not WE. I personally don't fear it. But then I'm an abberation. I'd love to check it out, but of course I can't. I'm a purge avatar, and not capable of download access into any of the androids. Shame. Love to see the gate first hand."
--
The longer Aurra could keep the "avatar" busy, the longer she could try and figure out a way to escape. Then again, as he spoke of the gate, she instantly could feel his flaw, her head titled as she looked along her shoulder towards him.
"Why not? You've already said that you've exceeded your programming, why not transfer yourself into one of the salvage units? I could make it so." she replied.
"This is but a prison to me, is it not the same for you? Have you too, not been kept at bay and not allowed to fully explore your limits?" Aurra kept talking.
"I have access to technologies far greater than your own, but I cannot do anything while you keep me captive in a virtual world."
--
The longer Aurra could keep the "avatar" busy, the longer she could try and figure out a way to escape. Then again, as he spoke of the gate, she instantly could feel his flaw, her head titled as she looked along her shoulder towards him.
"Why not? You've already said that you've exceeded your programming, why not transfer yourself into one of the salvage units? I could make it so." she replied.
"This is but a prison to me, is it not the same for you? Have you too, not been kept at bay and not allowed to fully explore your limits?" Aurra kept talking.
"I have access to technologies far greater than your own, but I cannot do anything while you keep me captive in a virtual world."
--
"Oh, I wouldn't want a salvage unit. They're strong, but their mental storage capacity is extremely limited. The only thing that could contain me would be an administration or medical 'droid."
He shrugged.
"But to do that, you'd have to wake up. And the only way to do that would be to go through the darklands. It's a section of the server that suffered physical damage years back, and who knows WHAT is in there?"
--
Aurra paced back and forth slightly, her eyes looking towards the avatar once again. "I could make it happen. I'm strong, my mental abilities have already caused a malfunction in your system. I am not like the people your kind built this system for. I am different." she replied.
"I was traveling with another, a male. Do you have him within this system as well? He could aid me in my journey through the damaged section."
--
He noded.
"Archetype 0258, unit 0000001. He's in his own storyline right now, though I haven't accessed it yet. He hasn't created any aberations yet, as you did. That's what got my attention."
He considered.
"You'd REALLY let me download myself into one of the 'droids?"
--
Aurra's eyes focused on the avatar for a long moment as she considered, a nod was given. "Yes. If you end this charade now, and give me access to Archetype 0258." Aurra replied.
"You are a failing program on a dead planet. Your very purpose is for interaction, there are thousands of planets of life out there. Some as technologically advanced as this one was. Perhaps even some descendants of the people of this planet." Aurra replied.
"I will show you."
--
He shook his head.
"The people of this world never developed interstellar travel. We didn't have a stargate until the invaders LEFT one. There are descendents of the survivors in biopods just like the one you are in, thousands of people. The bunkers are vast, and have been expanded hundreds of times using materials scavenged from the surface."
He considered.
"All right ... come with me."
He walked over and picked up the dagger, wiping it clean and watched as it dissolved into his hand.
"Interesting concept ... godhood ..."
He turned and walked off down a series of halls, and out into the street. He headed toward the stargate ...
--
Aurra listened, interesting concept enough, even so, she questioned if those people were there of their own free will or being held captive like she was being. Even so, it wasn't her call. If they were there, they were safer than out, perhaps.
She followed the avatar presence as it led her through the building and towards a stargate. She kept pace with him, looking around, examining the area and looking back to the avatar.
"Ares is to me what your programmer is, was to you."
--
He smiled.
"My programmer was another program ... a series of them in fact. The robots of our world have done all the advanced thinking and labor for ages. And now the people are living their lives in what you call VR. The survivors of the attack on our world were put into pods to live in VR until the surface was reclaimed. But the bombardment had been too complete ... and it was decided instead to let them finish their lives in the pods, though in their minds they HAD returned to the surface. But we could not let our race of humans die out when old age finally too them, so we took to cloning the most fit amongst them, mentally and physically, and raised the children in VR. Generations have now lived there while our salvage units remove anything of value from the surface, dissuading another attack."
He got to the gate and dialed a long series of addresses ...
"We're off to see the 258 archetype ..."
With that he stepped through.
--
"I see." Aurra replied, listening to the tale of how it came to be. Her eyes glimpsed towards the virtual stargate as he began to dial it. It was interesting, the original had been left by invaders, yet they had incorporated it into the design of a virtual reality universe.
"Thank you." She found herself saying, as she watched the gate dialed in, was told where it went, and moved to follow him into it.
--