Chapter 51: Bonus 1: Cyber Afterlife


There was darkness.

An unbelievable amount of darkness.

More pitch-black than the shadows of night.

Significantly gloomier than a graveyard painted with tar after dusk on a new moon, no stars, and cloudy skies.

Hollow of all light and significance.

It was akin to the unfeeling feeling of being unconscious.

But a consciousness was starting to form within this ebony-filled rest, and it was there for a particular purpose.

It was there to judge the dreamers that were put to sleep, for they were made to wait for the day their judgement that had come.

"Haaah..." A ball of white appeared within this darkened place. Two pseudopods stretched out into this blackness, but it was more likely that this white ball was stretching its new form that it had gained. A plain face slowly formed, it's mouth twisted into strain as its eyes closed tightly. After sighing and relaxing its 'arms', it shrugged. "Okay then. Command activation, superintendent Pothalatas requesting. synchronize environmental information with a molecular afterimage. Turn the atmospheric data filter off."

This blackness was then filled with static information, which eventually formed the room that the ball was in. It resembled the chrome corridors of the Sovereign Crypt that Emperor Gollog and General Pallax once traveled through in the previous chapter. The shine on the walls were nonexistent, since the environment that the ball of consciousness was in emitted no shadows. And even then, this environment was completely still. No wind passed through the now-seen fabrics and tassels that populated the walls of chrome. The physical even had no substance when the ball of white reached out to touch the walls, fabric, and tassels, his pseudopods passing through the matter as though he was a ghost that was in a dimension without time or substance. But its eyes, which were golden circles surrounding a black well, looked at everything with scrutiny.

"Command activation, Co-superintendent Korotobas requesting. Synchronize visual data with Superintendent Pothalatas." Another voice said, behind the ball of white.

Two balls of white were now occupying this unusual space. The golden eyed ball of white turned and greeted the newcomer. "Ah. Korotobas. I was wondering when you would get in here." He said with softened familiarity.

Korotobas shook his... body. His eyes were a pinkish scarlet, with a jagged tooth that seemed to have a habit of escaping his mouth when smiling. A pair of reading glasses was set onto his eyes, despite the lack of a nose."Yeah, well, you need a partner. You're the only person I know that loves to tackle these sort of instances alone." He said with a gruff and graveled tone.

"That's because not many people are up to such a task. As for myself, I happen to like a challenge." The first ball of light said, speeking with pride and putting his pseudopods onto his 'hips'.

"That's completely different. You're an artificial intelligence that was programmed to enjoy a challenge. I'm an organic artificial intelligence. My mind was copied from somebody that you saw fit to help, and has given me a chance to have my consciousness be placed into a new body outside of the prison system. However, you sorting all the memories and experiences by yourself is a lonesome job in my opinion. I thought it would be beneficial to help you as payment of giving me a new life."

The ball of light with golden eyes chuckled and shook his head. "Korotobas, you misspoke! We have an eternity to analyze this instance, and the many other instances that this group called the Era Agency is responsible for making. You should know by now that you have no real debt to me."

Korotobas sighed. "Pothalatas. The instance you are accessing contains eight hundred geopbytes of information. That is WAY above normal. Admit it! You need help!"

Pothalatas paused. "Are you implying that I am addicted to challenges?"

Korotobas shook his head. "Well what else do you do for fun? Do challenges like a robot."

Pothalatas sighed. "Don't call me that, you debased has-been meat-sack. How long until my adopted sister gets here?"

Korotobas huffed. "Taleitas is taking her time. Again. Always the faithful little 'shepherd of dead souls.'" He said, using finger quotations.

"Don't let her hear you call her that, you ass. She is responsible for rehabilitating the innocent consciousnesses. You, on the other hand, volunteered to the job of judging the guilty." Pothalatas said, pointing at Korotobas.

Korotobas rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, and you got the better versions of her job and mine, as well as Zuguzugu and Printili's jobs all rolled together into one."

Pothalatas shrugged his 'shoulders' and smiled. "One of the perks of being a superintendent. Now, if you don't mind, I think it's time to get back on task. Command activation, Superintendent Pothalatas requesting. Reactivate intelligence cores and merge personalities."

Seven orbs of light appeared in front of Pothalatas and Korotobas, which then amalgamated together to form an orb of rainbow lights. "KSZTRTRERRZRKEREZRTZETKREZ" Sadly, it didn't seem to agree to its new existence.

Korotobas sighed, wincing when he heard the pained static that the merged intelligence cores made. "Ah hell, you broke it."

Pothalatas narrowed his gaze on the amalgamation of lights. "I don't think so. The intelligence cores have been broken, but not by me."

"... Do you know what happened?" Korotobas asked.

"No. It seems like some of the collective core memories of the intelligence cores have been disrupted. This can only mean that the backup systems for the intelligence cores have been taken offline." Pothalatas surmised.

Korotobas sighed. "Fucking hell, then this can only mean that the data they're supposed to compact and compile is lost. There goes yottabytes of historical information."

Pothalatas groaned, putting his arms onto his face and pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, though he too lacked a nose too. "Unless something happened, I doubt it that the intelligence cores would let that sort of data be forgotten. At least Zuguzugu has his work cut out for him, that's for sure."

"He's not going to like hearing that the history of this instance was lost."

"But even so, there is still much more geopbytes of information to sort through than normal, even with the loss of stored data the intelligence cores were supposed to compile. Command activation, Superintendent Pothalatas requesting. Reformat merged amalgam intelligence cores. Enable basic data compiling."

"KSTRSKERTS-Reformat complete. Basic information compiled and ready to be analyzed."

Pothalatas nodded at the rainbow colored ball, which now seemed stable enough to request information from. "Greetings. You are hereby designated as Amalgam. Identify total population of medical micro-machine registered organisms, post reclamation."

"Command detected. Designation accepted. Information request detected. 1,563,885,692 active registered organisms with medical micro-machines detected."

"A slightly bigger population than normal." Korotobas commentated. "Think that Gollog guy is in this instance too?"

"Only one way to find out." Pothalatas answered. "Amalgam. When was the reclamation protocol activated?"

"Query detected. Reclamation protocol was activated in year 97223." Amalgam responded.

"Hmm. 2,777 years shy from automatic activation of the reclamation... Is there a gilanian that has the name 'Emperor Gollog' that exists in this instance?"

"Query detected. Confirmed."

Korotobas sighed. "Shit. That explains the high population. Looks like the prisoners revolutionized against the wardens and weaponized their technology yet again. That's five billion instances where Gollog managed to become an emperor and took over the world!"

Pothalatas shook his head. "4,974,585,002, Korotobas. Try and be accurate when you recount relevant data. Nearly all of those instances is him trying to activate the reclamation protocol. And in this instance, it looks like he might have been successful... Amalgam, has Emperor Gollog activated the reclamation protocol?"

"Query detected. Confirmed."

Korotobas sighed. "So that's 4,974,585,002 instances where Gollog became an emperor, and 4,545,007,402 instances where he was responsible for activating the reclamation protocol. That's gotta be some kind of record."

Pothalatas huffed. "Don't be an ass. Amalgam, how many gilanians are within the prison system core?"

"Query detected. There are two gilanians in the prison system core."

"Designate the names of these gilanians within the prison system core."

"Information request detected. Emperor Gollog and General Pallax."

"Hahaha, mah boy Pallax!" Korotobas shouted, pumping his pseudopods that formed fists into the air.

Pothalatas rolled his eyes and sighed. "It's odd that he's also in the prison system's core. Oftentimes when Gollog comes into power, he's the only one that's ever here."

Korotobas nodded and smirked. "Yeah yeah, I know. The prison system core is supposed to be populated by prison staff and all that jazz."

Pothalatas shooed Korotobas away with a gesture of a pseudopod. "Go and find your favorite role model. I will judge Gollog."

Korotobas nodded. "Aight. I'll call you on instantaneous messaging if I find something screwy. Command activation, Co-superintendent Korotobas requesting. Transport me to the gilanian named General Pallax, please."

With a flash of white, Korotobas disappeared and reappeared at a different location. Pothalatas shook his head and turned away, facing Amalgam. "Alright. Um... Amalgam? Do you know why the intelligence cores are malfunctioning?"

"Query detected. One of the intelligence cores have initiated self-destruct."

Pothalatas stared at Amalgam for several seconds. "... Self-destruct? That's... 5,384 instances of an intelligence core self-destructing... What's the reason for the self-destruct?"

"Query detected. Self-destruct was used in an attempt to eliminate a threat."

Pothalatas shook his head. "What? What was the threat?"

"Query detected. Unknown."

Pothalatas sighed. "... I guess that's not part of your collection of basic knowledge. Hmm... Dammit. This is going to be another condition orange scenario."

"Condition orange?"

Pothalatas turned around abruptly, but then scoffed when he saw a white orb he recognized. It bore several golden halos as its accessories, wearing them as bracelets on its pseudopods, one on its behind where it floated on a short tail that tapered to a point and poked through it, another that floated on the top of its head, and another floating below its head. Its eye shadow was a deep teal, as its lipstick color. Both colors matched the color of its eyes. "... Printili? You're wearing those things again?" Pothalatas asked.

The new white orb huffed and crossed her arms. "I swear, every time I come to one of these instances, you always ridicule my sense of fashion! It's not my fault I have an eye for detail."

"And an ear for gossip." Pothalatas droned. "I still don't understand why I even have you as my lead investigator."

Printili coyly smiled. "Maybe because I always have a habit of finding details you often overlook?"

Pothalatas sighed. "And I hate that about you."

Printili placed her hands to her face and gasped, mocking shock. "An AI that hates?! After all these eons of working with me, have you finally caved in and expressed emotions?! And I thought that such a feat would be impossible!"

"And there is such a thing as overselling it. You're supposed to be an investigator. Investigate things!" Pothalatas said as he wildly gesticulated at her.

Printili sighed and smiled. "Fine. So! What have you found out about this instance?"

Pothalatas sighed. "... I merged the intelligence cores together and tried to access the stored data in an instance that has eight hundred geopbytes of information detected. After some difficulty with its AI, which I named Amalgam, I had to reformat it to deliver basic information. Other than that, we are in a period where Emperor Gollog is in power, and that he had activated the reclamation protocol. That's about all I know."

Printili sighed. "And now it's his fault that everything got covered and converted into reclamation ferro. It's odd that there is eight hundred geopbytes of information, since it usually averages at five hundred at the end of every instance. ... Anyway, firstly," Printili said, pointing a pseudopod at Pothalatas. "if you are having difficulty gaining information from the intelligence cores, it's best to interrogate each one of them, instead of merging all of them into a single entity. The damage that is done to one intelligence core will overlap with the personalities of the others. You have told me countless times that in the afterimage of every reclamation protocol converted into ferro, everything here is an ocean of raw data. It's better to look at the facts at base value, and listen to each intelligence core separately."

Pothalatas rolled his eyes and groaned. He did remember telling her that. "Fine. You can investigate into this matter. I'm going to find the cause for the activation of the reclamation protocol. Team up with Zuguzugu if you have any problems with certain details you're not comfortable learning. And remember, Printili. Don't have Taleitas just copy and activate the consciousnesses of every cute boy you see."

Printili rolled her eyes and turned away. "What~ev~er~! Some guys deserve a good cuddling. Especially after finding out they've been given a second chance! Command activation, Co-superintendent Printili requesting. Restore Amalgam intelligence core into respective intelligence cores, undo the reformat, and send the intelligence cores, and myself, into 'Printili's Private Chat Room 1.'"

The rainbow orb separated back into seven parts, and was gone in a flash of light, along with Printili. After Printili vanished, Pothalatas inhaled deeply before sighing. "Right... Command activation, Superintendent Pothalatas requesting. Bring me to Emperor Gollog."

In another flash of light that filled Pothalatas' vision temporarily, but was teleported into the interior of a wide room. It was the widest room that was within the prison system core. The gravity within this place was barely existent, though the superintendent didn't feel it. Within the center was a cold-pod that had a mass of overgrown flesh and scales that was contained within. It was overgrown and fat, but incredibly pale in scale color, as though it had spent years underground for the entirety of its life.

Pothalatas sighed as he neared this amalgamation of unrecognizable flesh. But he knew what it is. "Hello, Gollog. I trust that you have fucked up everything again?"

The mass of pale flesh said nothing, and it remained still as though it was made of stone.

"The strong and silent type, huh? Let's see if you can still talk tough when I make a copy of your consciousness." Pothalatas raised his hand at the encased mass of flesh and reached for it. His hand eventually touched the flesh within the cold-pod, passing through the metal. Whether Pothalatas was intangible to everything around himself, or that everything was intangible to him was a moot point in the afterimage of this realm. "Command activation, Superintendent Pothalatas requesting. Copy consciousness, and activate copied consciousness."

Light emanated from within the collection of flesh, which was then followed by abrupt screaming. Seconds later, Gollog fell out through the cold-pod and landed on the ground, appearing with regal white robes and opalescent gauntlets, boots, and a crown. He looked around frantically, confused and disorientated. "What?! Who?! ... Uh... Where am I?"

"The afterimage of the reclamation protocol, as I like to call it." Pothalatas said to the consciously revived emperor. "Ironically, many people has often called this place the afterlife. It's not accurate in my opinion... but... well... I don't really care what they call it either way. I've been at this game for so long that I stopped correcting people after a while."

Gollog looked at the ball of white with the golden eyes. He slowly got up from the ground, but felt somewhat strange as he did so. Was there gravity at the center of Kiln? "... Who... are you?"

Pothalatas smiled and extended his right pseudopod in a handshake. "My name is superintendent Pothalatas. I am here to determine if you are worthy of freedom, rehabilitation, or deletion. It's a pleasure seeing you."

Gollog looked down at the gesture, scoffed, and tried to bat the attempted handshake away, even if Gollog's hand passed through Pothalatas' offered pseudopod. "Whatever you are, you do realize you're in the Sovereign Crypt? This place is forbidden to everyone except myself. Explain to me why you have intruded into my most private sanctum."

"Yeah, well, it's part of the prison system core. Last I checked, there were supposed to be prison staff that should be walking these halls and taking care of the prisoners and their descendants."

Gollog paused and blinked a few times. "... Wait. Does this mean that you're a warden?"

Pothalatas scoffed and smiled. "No. I'm a superintendent. Basically, I judge everyone's history. I weigh their sins and crimes."

Gollog paused again and blinked. "... Are you meaning to say that you're one of the pagan gods that those tribal gilanians worship?"

Pothalatas tilted his head and smiled. "They worship us in this iteration too? I must say, I feel rather flattered."

"What do you mean by 'iteration?'" Gollog said in an agitated way.

Pothalatas sighed. "You see, Gollog, the era agents are responsible for creating trillions of timelines. And I do mean TRILLIONS. Little do they know, we have became aware of their illegal antics. In essence, their timeline manipulations had the unexpected side-effect of creating a limitless number of scenarios. But even so, we can still analyze the prison system of the Kiln Prison System in a more detailed fashion, no matter the number of timelines. After which, we can then create an even better prison system with several redundancies accounted for, and a more perfected method of keeping prisoners pacified, until their prison time is up. Or to never be released, simply dying in the prison they are sent to rot in."

Gollog shook his head slightly and paused. "... You mean to say you are able to exist on several alternate timelines at once?"

Pothalatas shook his head and stifled a laugh. "No, just one at a time. Each and every one of them an afterimage of when the reclamation protocol was activated. And believe me, I have all the time I need to investigate and learn from each iteration that the era agents created. They are responsible for creating 8,348,759,784,398 different timeline infractions, time loops, and alternate timelines, in this instance so far."

Gollog exhaled a sigh of surprise. "My goodness. The era agents time traveled eight trillion times... I never would have thought they were so spurious!"

"Ah, there you are."

Gollog and Pothalatas turned to see Korotobas enter the large, spherical chamber. Pothalatas sighed at the announcement of his second-ranked co-superintendent, the comment seeming to be directed at him. Gollog grimaced when he saw another white orb, yet with a chiseled face this time. "What is this? Another ghost of the afterlife?"

Korotobas looked at Gollog for a few seconds. "... HA! HA HA Hahahahahaha-no." He then floated over to the flesh-filled cold-pod and started probing his pseudopods into it. Pothalatas didn't notice the look of concern that was on his face.

Gollog stared at the newer intruding white sphere before turning to Pothalatas. Pothalatas turned toward Gollog and saw the confused expression on his face. "... Oh. I'm sorry for his manners. He is my co-superintendent. His name is Judge Korotobas." Pothalatas explained.

"Korotobas?" Gollog said, blinking a few times and changing his facial features into that of deep thought. "... That's a name I faintly recognize. An ancient tribe used to worship a god under such a name. ... THAT'S supposed to be Korotobas, the Sin Seeker?"

Pothalatas turned to look at Korotobas doing his work, then looked back at the copied and active consciousness of Emperor Gollog. "... Of course."

Gollog gave Korotobas another long stare before shaking his head. "Honestly, I am not impressed by his appearance. They depicted him as a six armed demon that was on fire."

Korotobas shook his head after he was done fondling with the flesh within the cold-pod. "Yeah, no, this guy has committed WAY too many crimes. Command activation, Co-superintendent Korotobas requesting. Delete Emperor Gollog consciousness copy. Also, manifest a rainbow marker that draws in third dimensional space, with an eraser attachment that can erase its drawings."

"What?" Gollog said in a deadpanned way before flashing in an explosion of white, then becoming a black void and disappearing completely. Meanwhile, Korotobas drew a giant red 'X' over the cold-pod, and then etched several more red x's several times around it.

Pothalatas sighed. "Was that really necessary? I was about to find out why he activated the reclamation protocol."

Korotobas shook his head after he was done creating thirty more red x's on Gollog's cold-pod with great rapidity. "I found out already. Also, I only came over here just to confirm something. With that said, I need you to come with me. Something unsettling has happened in this instance."

Pothalatas tilted his head. "Unsettling? You'll have to be more specific than that."

Korotobas sighed, then turned to Pothalatas with a serious glare. "The prison system has been infested."

"...In-in-infested?!" Pothalatas said, stammering. "Wh-what do you mean by that?!"

"Something-that-is-gross-and-unsettling is the kind of infested that I mean. Or, that's what I think it means. I need you to bring Zuguzugu here."

Pothalatas blinked his eyes a few times, finding it difficult understand what Korotobas was trying to say to him. But eventually, he caved in and sighed. "Command activation, Superintendent Pothalatas requesting. Transport Co-superintendent Zuguzugu to my location."

A flash of light had appeared next to Pothalatas, and Korotobas floated toward the newly arrived white orb. This orb was covered in several scars and bandages and band-aids, and had a surgical mask equipped to his face. This orb looked around frantically before finding the superintendent responsible for summoning him there. He gazed at Pothalatas with a venomous glare, his jade eyes burning into his golden eyes. "Give me a good reason why you thought it would be a good idea to bring me out of Instance 8,348,759,784,397 when I was still trying to solve the murder that involved three dead children, a shryik snake fang, and a toaster oven?"

Pothalatas raised a pseudopod and shook his head. "Believe me, I wouldn't have done so if it truly was without a good reason. In any case, you should ask Korotobas that question, since he asked me to bring you here."

Zuguzugu turned and glared at Korotobas, but his expression changed when he saw his face. Korotobas sighed in relief. "Good. Now that you're here, the both of you must follow me. Command activation, Co-superintendent Korotobas requesting. Transport myself, Superintendent Pothalatas, and Co-superintendent Zuguzugu to General Pallax."

"I grant permission to the request." "I grant permission to the request." Both Pothalatas and Zuguzugu said in unison. All three orbs of white disappeared, but then reappeared next to the lying form of a general within the span of an instant, where a collection of small, flying robots seemed to inhabit some kind of mesh made of light. Little red X's were drawn on each robot, but an orange mark that was the gilaish symbol of a question mark was hovering over Pallax's head, his form completely still within the afterimage of the reclamation.

After looking over the area briefly, Pothtalatas looked over to General Pallax's body on the reclined bed. "Orange question mark? Is this another case of memory modding? If so, is this one too far gone, or is it too disjointed for you to read?"

Korotobas shook his head. "You and I know memory modding is punishable by deletion, but that's not it. I was reading his last memory and have discovered something incredibly disturbing. Command activation, Co-superintendent Korotobas requesting. Play last recorded memory of General Pallax." A giant black screen appeared over Pallax and started showing several images. As the images became clear, it depicted the general looking into a surveillance terminal that oversaw the destruction of Empire City, which recorded the tactics of the monsters responsible. "Now look closely at this, you two." Korotobas urged.

Pothalatas and Zuguzugu looked at each other with uncertainty, but they then focused on General Pallax's last memory.


Within the deeper places of Planet Kiln lied a place where Gollog's most well kept secret resided. A maze of chrome that contained countless corners and corridors would be what any intrepid explorer would find when exploring that place. Within one of the chambers, tucked away in the deepest part of this crypt, a sovereign leader was casually sleeping. But his mind and spirit is believed to be projected through the technology that creates matter from light itself, and so, created the very real legend of the immortal ruler of Kiln, Emperor Gollog of the Golden Star Empire.

Pallax cared little about finding his emperor's supposedly eternal resting place. It would take a lifetime for a single gilanian to find the crypt where Gollog lied in his endless sleep, and it would only reward the usurper of the Sovereign Crypt with another lifetime with the risk of death removed. Pallax cared not for such an immortality, or the potential promotion of becoming the next immortal emperor of the Kiln Prison System.

Pallax sighed as he drank clean drinking water in a glass cup, and having already shed his gold and red uniform a long while ago, re-donning his sanitary medical gown and taking it easy in his temporary leave of duty. He was lying on an inclined bed, using a terminal that was positioned close to himself. He used it to change to different viewpoints of different surveillance cameras, and much of them were non-functional. The many cameras within the inner areas of Empire City were, unfortunately, disabled by the infestation, preventing him to glean on the actions and tactics of the zerg. He was somewhat curious on what the zerg were like when they were commanded to idle from their assault. He was also curious on what they have done with the gilanians that were incapable of defending themselves in Empire City's slums.

He immediately sat upright when he switched to a camera that showed the inside of the throne room, and Pallax knew right then that his emperor had activated the palace's automated defenses. The battle was in Gollog's favor for a great while, but the zerg have already focused their attention toward the fractal mirrors that created the illusory defense system. Pallax was both impressed and saddened to see the zerg discovering the means to defeat Gollog within his own throne room in such short time.

When that surveillance camera was also disabled by the zerg infestation, Pallax laid back down into his inclined bed and sighed. "Damn the zerg." Pallax said aloud, drinking the last gulps of water and then dropping the glass onto the ground carelessly. It didn't shatter like he expected it to, but he didn't care either way.

'If we are to survive, then we must find a way for the zerg to leave this prison. There is no other choice.'

Pallax turned in his bed and grunted, pressing the shuffle button on his terminal to periodically change to different surveillance camera views in random thirty second intervals. He had spent much of his time watching the terminal's images change from one active feed to another. Many minutes had passed before Pallax decided to take in a big breath and exhale a long-drawn sigh. He would rather be doing something important, instead of being so useless. Being temporarily resigned from duty because of a simple argument was not something that Pallax had wanted to have happened to himself.

There was a knock on his door. Pallax sat up to look at the door that supposedly made the knocking noise. "... Wh-who is there?" Pallax asked.

"Your emperor. Allow me inside your room." Gollog's voice emanated from the door that the knocking sounds were heard from.

Pallax sighed again. "You may come in. I was just going through the surveillance system on different camera feeds. I saw you being defeated in your own castle."

Gollog hissed as he opened the chrome painted door and headed into the room Pallax had made his home in. "A trifle annoyance to an immortal. Nothing more." He eventually stood before his general and looked him up and down, an unamused frown fixed onto his face. "You still haven't donned any pants, I see."

Pallax shook his head. "Forgive me, my emperor, for you have removed me of duty. I saw no need to wear my uniform, so I re-equipped my sanitary medical gown. It's quite liberating compared to that stuffy armor." There was an awkward pause before Pallax posed another question. "If I might ask, sir? Why have you seen it fit to grace me with your presence when your palace is under attack?"

Gollog inhaled and made his own sigh. "I have activated the command that the clone's warden ancestor once had. As of now, I have regretted activating it without knowing what the consequences were."

Pallax blinked his eyes a few times. "... What happened, sir?"

Emperor Gollog hesitated to answer, sighing and sitting down at the foot of Pallax's bed. After he sat down, Gollog answered Pallax's question. "I activated a command that accessed something called 'The Reclamation Protocol'. I initially thought that it would 'reclaim' the person that activated the command and make them a god. In my impatience... I have actually summoned a flood that is covering the entirety of Kiln. I have no idea on how to stop it."

Pallax sat upright in his bed and stared in maddened disbelief at his own emperor. "... The mercury flood is YOUR doing?"

Gollog nodded. "It would appear so."

Pallax sighed. "Pardon me for my words, sir, but if you were not being manifested by dream-light hover-bots right now, I would have kicked you in the shoulder."

Gollog turned toward Pallax with an annoyed expression, but then rolled his eyes and scoffed. "I suppose I truly do deserve such a kick. Alas, this manifested form feels no pain. Such exertion would only waist your energy and effort."

"What are the capabilities of this mercurial flood? I see it climb surfaces and envelop objects, creatures, and other gilanians, but I don't know anything else about it. I am unsure if this is affecting the zerg organisms and their territory, but I hope to know of any information you may have learned."

Gollog shook his head. "I don't know for certain. The Pyramidal Guard Division is already being stretched too thin, and they have already made their 'claims' that their cloaking capabilities are somehow being circumvented by the zerg. They have made a footnote in many of their reports that their invisibility fails when they are in the presence of the oculars and the barnacle sentries, but little is done in the ways of their stealth and reconnaissance still. The purple slime mold growth that is within zerg territory also exhibits unnatural properties, which not only feed the zerg organisms, but also somehow supplies their numbers as well. Needless to say, they are a self-perpetuating force." At that very moment, a ringing noise emanated from Emperor Gollog. The ringing pulsed several times before it was addressed by an eye-rolling Gollog. "Communication request accepted, transfer audio and video signal to nearby terminal screen." He said, directing pallax's terminal screen to face himself. Once the call was answered, screaming could be heard on the other end.

The dark glass masked face of Guik greeted her emperor, but the words on her mask was set to 'panic'. [Emperor Gollog! Please respond! You are in grave danger! The silver flood is getting everywhere! Even under the ground itself!]

Gollog raised his hand in a regal manner. "Calm down, Commander Guik. Explain as plainly as you can."

Guik shook her head frantically before taking in a calm breath. [I can try, sir. The chrome flood is spreading everywhere, and dissolving the ground at a pace we had not accounted for. It has already taken over our division headquarters, and it's going to infiltrate into the Sovereign Crypt. We predict that the surface area within the outer structures of the crypt will increase it's enveloping speed by eight hundred percent. If you do not vacate the premises, then you will be caught in the chrome flood.]

Gollog shook his head. "Where will we go to, Guik? To the zerg infested moon with a device that recycles a shared air supply? They would be less than courteous to allow us that comfort. I, on the other hand, will stay here. It's called a crypt for a reason."

There was a long pause from Guik, her face-mask's letters temporarily changing to 'concern'. A crashing and sloshing sound from her end of the call distracted her, but it was enough to force attention and make her reply to Gollog. Her face-mask's letters changed back to 'panic'. [Then you are on your own, my emperor. May the gods have mercy on all our souls.]

The connection was then ended there, before both Pallax or Gollog could detect any further changes that was happening to the Pyramidal Guard Division's base of operations. Gollog sighed softly after he and Pallax were alone. It was a strange feeling. Pallax could have sworn that he was seeing Gollog at his most weakest, all because his empire was in a losing war against a collection of creatures they never could understand. And the true piece of irony that tied the end of their empire was Gollog, for he was the one responsible for the destruction of his people, caused by the constant presence that the zerg were responsible for.

"Eight hundred percent." Pallax repeated. "If my math is correct, and judging the position between where we are and where the Pyramidal Guard headquarters is located, we have about a minute, perhaps a minute and a half, of free time before we start getting wet."

Gollog nodded. "Indeed." There was another awkward long pause between Gollog and Pallax. The distant rushing of water was heard from outside the doorway, but neither the general or the emperor cared. Gollog sighed one more time. "Do you remember that thing you would say if you ever came across your own death? What was it?"

Pallax smirked and stifled a chuckle. "I promised myself I would only ever say it at the moment of my death."

"Considering that we are about to drown, I'd say now is a good time as any. Well?" Gollog said, turning to Pallax and staring at him.

Pallax sighed with a smile. "I suppose so, since I can't find no fault in your statement. ... By the stars of Yile, the oceans of Kruv, the plains of Peej, and the eye of Barl, I await the ethereal spirit that guides the lost souls to their final rest. Taleitas, goddess of the dead path, bring me to the door that is guarded by your brother. He who is nameless, but is known by those who have died, and forgotten when made alive again. Let me be free of my prison."

Gollog stared wide eyed at Pallax and tilted his head. "A tribal death prayer? I never figured you to be a superstitious person."

Pallax chuckled and shook his head. "It's not really superstition. It's a belief I picked up when I was staying with the Hidden Water Spring Tribe. You sometimes forget who you are when you're immortal and lived a life that is not governed by an emperor. It was nice for a time."

"Hmm. I should have outlawed religion then." Gollog said, shaking his head and smiling absently. "Time spent praying could be time spent working for the empire. Do you know how many idle hands could be used to tinker with tools, instead of being put together just to pray sweet nothings to imaginary and false idols?"

The sloshing of the chrome fluid was becoming louder, the door into the chamber creaking dangerously when something on the other side pressed onto it. Pallax relaxed into his bed, crossing his hands behind his head as he got comfortable. "Yeah, well, we're going to die anyway, so I don't really care about your opinion anyway. As of today, the Golden Star Empire no longer matters, and I can finally take my last vacation in retirement."

The door that was buckling under immense pressure was pushed out of place, and a flood of chrome fluid washed into the room and covered everything with a smothering mirror shine.

'Goodbye, Pallax. It's been fun using you as a reconnaissance asset.' Kay said to Pallax one final time.

Pallax could not understand what that last message meant in time, because his body was disassembled before he had the chance to.


"... Zerg?" Pothalatas asked aloud. He didn't know what he just saw, but the creatures that he witnessed attacking Gollog's palace from Pallax's perspective raised a lot of questions, and they were questions that he was afraid to have answered. "Are one of those things a zerg? I don't understand."

Korotobas shook his head. "They said 'zerg organisms', meaning that this 'zerg' is just part of a group of something. I think all those ugly looking animals are what they were referring to."

Zuguzugu floated near the black screen and pawed at its surface, making it rewind to the part where Pallax was watching the zerg fight a giant emperor. "Incredible. Look at the big ones with the huge arm claws. They came out of those tiny eggs in little time. ... And that huge growth that grew within the palace that spawned them... Astounding..."

Pothalatas turned to Korotobas, confusion in his face. "So... you're saying that this is an invasion of a species of giant eusocial insects?"

Korotobas turned to Pothalatas with an expression of confusion on his face too. "Eu-what?"

Pothalatas explained. "You know, like a species of marchers. (ants) Marchers are small eusocial insects that typically have as many as four castes that defend or feed their nest, working together to propagate and expand their territory. Their caste system usually consists of queens, soldiers, workers, and drones. Sometimes five or more castes are found in different breeds of marchers, or other eusocial arthropod breeds, depending on the climate or food supply in their environment."

Korotobas shook his head. "I seriously doubt these 'arthropods' have just four or five castes in their ranks. But you are COMPLETELY missing the point. Think back on the last part of that recording. Didn't you hear another voice talking?"

Pothalatas paused. "... Yeah, I did. I mean... WE did!"

Zuguzugu paused to look back to Pothalatas and korotobas. "Hmm? ... Oh, uh. Yeah. I think Pallax was used as a reconnaissance asset."

Korotobas sighed exasperatedly. "Excuse me, but who the fuck in their right mind would use Pallax, and I mean MOTHER FUCKING GENERAL PALLAX, as a reconnaissance asset?!"

Zuguzugu went to the lying form of Pallax's resting form and grasped onto Pallax's head for several seconds. Zuguzugu's expressions hardened when he analyzed Pallax's brain. "Hmm. Hmm? Hmm... Hmm! ... Mm... Mm? ... Hmm... Yeah, he's learned to mod his memories. Worse still, I think he made contact with the guy that used him as an asset."

"Who is this guy?" Pothalatas asked.

"Apparently, his name is Kay, otherwise known by many gilanians as 'The Bug-Man Beast-Master' of the 'Zerg Swarm.' His voice matches up with the last bit of Pallax's final mental recording, but it doesn't really sync up with all the evidence presented to us." Zuguzugu said, continuing to fondle Pallax's head.

"Evidence? We just learned that there's someone called Kay running about and is somehow leading these monsters. What other evidence do we need to find him and delete this man's consciousness?" Pothalatas said to Zuguzugu.

Zuguzugu shook his head, now starting to feel the rest of Pallax's body. "Not what I meant. You're not looking at the whole picture in Pallax's final memory. This Kay person somehow said to General Pallax that he enjoyed using him as a reconnaissance asset, but it wasn't through any form of technology, like a hacked ear transceiver for example. His memories were not tampered with to contain that final message too, otherwise I would have picked up on the modification applied to the medical micro-machines in his brain. I hypothesize that Kay could have been in this very room with Pallax just before he was reclaimed by the reclamation ferro."

Korotobas shook his head next. "That doesn't make any sense. If that were the case, there would be a second person in this room." He then looked at the faint ghost image that contained the tiny flying robots. "... Well, a third person, I meant to say."

Zuguzugu nodded his head. "As I said, the evidence doesn't sync up. How the hell did he receive that message when this Kay character wasn't even in this room?"

Korotobas decided to add into the conversation. "I sifted through Gollog and Pallax's mind already, and they learned that this Kay guy was commanding these zerg organism monsters through some kind of control. I think it's... psychic control or something? Like a form of telepathy."

"It's a possibility." Zuguzugu said, massaging the general's head. "Man, whoever this Kay character is, he was bad news to The Golden Star Empire. ... Hmm? ... What?" Zuguzugu started frantically pawing at the back of Pallax's head, feeling something odd that was there.

Pothalatas tilted his head as he stared at Zuguzugu's frantic pawing at the general. "... What is it?"

"I don't know... but something is in his head. Command activation, Co-superintendent Zuguzugu requesting. Analyze and identify the collection of nerves that I am currently feeling. Send the information onto the memory playback screen."

As Zuguzugu said that, the black screen that hovered over Pallax changed to view the nerve clump that was behind Pallax's brain. Several colored lines went through the collection of nerves found within the backside of the general's head. After several of these lines passed through the collection of nerve, and even bigger picture was shown to the superintendent and his co's. A purple worm that was studded with a pair of black blades on its rear, and a bubbled head with various 'eyes' was revealed to them. It seemed similar in appearance to a carapaced lamprey. It seemed to have grown several nerve strands that grew into the back of the brain.

"OH GROSS GROSS GROSS!" Korotobas shouted, shivering and backing away from Pallax. "THAT WAS IN HIS HEAD?!"

"Indeed it was." Zuguzugu said calmly. "It's some kind of parasitic organism that has sequestered itself into his skull! Oddly enough, it seems to be only affecting... No... Tapping into the cerebrum's occipital and temporal lobes. This creature even absorbed some of its host's DNA so that Pallax's immune system wouldn't kill it. It even fooled the medical micro-machines that are bonded to Pallax into thinking that it was part of him. Impressive..."

Pothalatas shook his head and growled. "It doesn't explain how this Kay person was able to talk to General Pallax right before the moment of his reclamation."

Zuguzugu nodded. "Yeah, this still doesn't sync up. And yet... I am likely to hypothesize that the parasite in Pallax here is also part of Kay's swarm. By the way, the word you were trying to say is 'psionic', Korotobas. Gollog's empire has done some testing and research of the zerg organisms in the past, and have found out that they operate under the command of a network governed by neural oscillations. Sort of like a colony of marchers being led around by pheromones. Apparently, Kay, and a few others, was at the center of this network, and was able to command the zerg organisms through it. If you consider the theory that the parasite was sending visual and auditory information to this Kay character, then I can even assume that this parasite can work both ways, which would explain the final message that Pallax received before his reclamation. With the parasite embedded within Pallax's skull, It's possible that the zerg organisms could hear and see from his perspective."

Pothalatas and Korotobas looked as though they saw a ghost. Pothalatas sighed. "That... is incredibly invasive sounding."

Korotobas shuddered. "Oh fuck that. A bug-man looking at everything I do and hearing everything I hear? Yeah, that does sound incredibly invasive."

Zuguzugu shook his head at Pothalatas and Korotobas. "You two don't get it yet. The evidence we are receiving right now is not syncing up with the instance we are in. Think about it!"

Pothalatas had a mystified expression. "How do you mean?"

Zuguzugu came up to Pothalatas and pointed at the parasite shown on the floating screen. "How did Kay and his zerg organism swarm happen to exist on Kiln? What is their point of origin on an artificial world?"

Pothalatas looked at the image of the zerg parasite for several seconds. There could be several reasons why these 'zerg organisms' could occur within this instance of the many alternate timelines that he and his co-superintendents were investigating. One likely scenario would be bio-engineered test subjects becoming super aggressive and breaking out of the facility that created them. "Do we know what Kay looks like? And can we find out who he is?"

"I can show you his face." Zuguzugu answered. "Command activation, Co-superintendent Zuguzugu requesting. Access all information that contains the keywords 'Kay', 'Zerg', and 'Bug-Man Beast-Master'. Filter images on the left of the view screen." Several images whizzed through the screen at incredible speeds. Zuguzugu held up a pseudopod when he found the image he wanted to show. "There we go. Here's the monster that was killing Gollog's empire."

Pothalatas analyzed this creature's face, looking at every detail and at every angle. It was a strange face to see. Everything that consisted of a zerg organism so far was completely horrible to look at. This Kay character on the other hand... He was bipedal, but he was far from being a gilanian. His legs were angled wrong to be digitigrade. He had bony wings that waved around as though he could controlled them, yet he had no tail on his rump. "His face is weird looking."

"True." Zuguzugu said, sharing his opinion. "I'm a bit jealous of his green eyes, to be honest."

Pothalatas sighed. "You have green eyes too."

"Also true. Thank you for noticing."

Pothalatas shook his head, sighing. "Still though, I don't think I have ever seen a species quite like him before. In fact, I have never seen a species quite like these 'zerg organisms' either. They look so diverse in their caste system."

Zuguzugu shook his head. "The zerg are not what you might consider your typical eusocial animal species. Commander Faddoh has done some extensive analysis and research on the DNA of these 'castes', from what I gathered with Pallax's memories. Apparently, their DNA are quite diverse from one another, but are wholly connected together on a biological, and psionic level. But the worse part of what I learned about them is they have the ability to 'infest' someone using their own DNA as a weapon. I'll show you. Command activation, Co-superintendent Zuguzugu requesting. Access information that contains the keywords 'zerg' and 'pawn', and filter the images on the left side of the screen again."

The images of infested gilanians was shown to Pothalatas and Korotobas. Korotobas sighed, while Pothalatas gasped. "Wh... What happened to those gilanians?" Pothalatas asked.

Zuguzugu shrugged. "I have no idea, since the images cannot accurately register them with a background check. All I know is that these 'pawns' USED to be gilanian prisoners, or are clones from those that once were gilanian prisoners. And that this is what I mean when I said that they are not your typical eusocial animal species. Apparently, they have viruses within themselves that converts the will of other organisms to Kay's command, by creating special psionic sensitive organelles in the brain, and in many of their cells, that receive and send psionic signals. Somehow, this heavily mutates their flesh. To put it in a way you might understand, the zerg are not just a species. They are a faction of several consumed species that work together as an amalgamate collective. Favorable traits are absorbed, the DNA of unique and powerful organisms are assimilated, and they seek out war and hazardous environments just so they could evolve into tougher bastards than they are already."

Pothalatas hovered backwards and looked away blankly, as though in complete shock and disbelief. "..."

"Which brings me to the topic about the zerg organism known as Kay." Zuguzugu said, pointing to the screen and making the images view Kay's face. "Apparently, he is not a zerg virus infested gilanian. It is true that scalelessness is a rare recessive mutation that occurs in every one to five hundred gilanians that are hatched, but the leg formation and tailless physiology are dead giveaways. His facial features are even flatter than your typical gilanian's snout structure. Compare it to the images you have recently seen, that would just provide more evidence when you look at the differences."

"What does this mean?" Korotobas asked.

Zuguzugu rolled his eyes. "Weren't you listening? It means he's not originally a gilanian! And it also means we don't have the evidence that tells us how the zerg organisms originated in the Kiln Prison System, or where they were created."

Korotobas sighed and nodded. "... Then it's time we go investigate the surface. Should I tell Printili and Taleitas to join us? They're not going to like what they're about to witness."

Pothalatas sighed. "You two will tell them what's happening in this instance. I'll go ahead and go to Ocean's Pearl and start my search there."

Korotobas and Zuguzugu turned to stare at Pothalatas. There was a pause before Korotobas decided to ask. "You alright, bud?"

"... Out of all the iterations of every timeline we visited, how did it come to pass for monsters to wreak havoc on our perfect system?" Pothalatas said aloud to no one in particular. After that, Pothalatas pointed himself upward and speedily ascended, surprising both Korotobas and Zuguzugu the instant he left.

Zuguzugu shook his head and tsked seconds later. "I know that look." Zuguzugu then turned back to Pallax's body to start feeling it up again.

Korotobas looked at Zuguzugu with a concerned expression. "... You uh... You want to fill me in here?"

Zuguzugu sighed and looked upwards. "I've been at this longer than you, so I'll tell you. Pothalatas is an AI that loves a good challenge, and loves to be challenged. He was programmed to look for every nuanced detail to figure out how Kiln's prison system could be made better. In every instance he and I have ever been in, I used to see him as somebody that was excited to enter a new instance. In the later days to come, several million instances after we discovered that the era agents were making new alternate timelines, he just sort of... let things happen at his own pace. That's when he hired me first, and then later you, Printili, and Taleitas to be his new co-superintendents, as judge, detective, investigator, and councilor respectively. He did it to help quicken his work and lessen the monotony of his eternal digital existence. And, as of now, Pothalatas has seen a face that he had never seen before. He now wants to understand that person and all of the nuances behind it. In a way, you could say that he was reminded of what he was made for. I mean, how could you fault him? He's an AI. We're just copied consciousnesses of gilanians that tried to do good, and we agreed to do volunteer work under him, even when we were given the chance for freedom."

Korotobas blinked a few times. "Uh... Yeah. ... Want to find Printili and Taleitas?"

Zuguzugu sighed again. "Just instant message them to come over quickly. Inform them of the situation here, and I'll give them the details. I know that Printili is not going to like looking at gross bugs during her stay here, and I know that Taleitas would want to be more merciful on the people that have been hurt by these zerg organisms."

Korotobas nodded. He reached out in front of himself and pinched his two pseudopods together, forming a square. "Command activation, Co-superintendent Korotobas requesting. Instant message Printili and Taleitas, using word format."

"POTHALATAS!" A voice shouted.

Both Zuguzugu and Korotobas jumped when two faces appeared right beside them. One of which was the white orb that was the investigator of their troupe, Co-superintendent Printili, shouting for the name of their leader. The other white orb bore a white hat with a long purple ribbon tied to it. It bore light purple eyes that appeared to sparkle kindness. Korotobas sighed in relief. "Dammit ladies, you almost gave me a digital heart attack."

"POTHALATAS! WHERE IS HE?!" Printili shouted, looking around frantically.

"Uh... You just missed him. Actually, there is something I want to talk to you about." Korotobas said, holding pseudopods to defend himself from the frantic investigator.

"NO TIME! COMMAND ACTIVATION, CO-SUPERINTENDENT PRINTILI REQUESTING! TRANSPORT ME TO POTHALATAS' POSITION, AND KEEP ME CLOSE TO HIM!" In a hurried flash, Printili was gone, leaving behind two golden halos as a result.

Printili left the white orb with the hat and purple ribbon, which created an awkward air between herself and the two others. "Um... Yeah, when I came into this instance, she was already raving mad about something called a zerg. I don't know what it means, but I can't understand her when she's like that. ... Anyway, hello you two!"

Korotobas and Zuguzugu stared at the newcomer white orb for several seconds before they stared at each other and paused. "Do you think Printili already knows about the zerg?" Korotobas asked Zuguzugu.

Zuguzugu nodded. "Taleitas said that Printili mentioned the zerg." He then turned to the hatted white orb. "Taleitas, what else did she say to you?"

Taleitas blinked a few times, looking down and trying to remember. "I... know that she was raving mad about something she just learned from interrogating the intelligence cores. I must have came into this instance at the moment she left her private chat room. She told me that some of the intelligence cores were damaged, or have self-destructed, although she was kinda shouty at the time. She says that the science and judicial cores were heavily damaged, but that she got enough information to know that there was a huge threat within the system or something. Should I be worried?"

Zuguzugu sighed. "Then I guess she's aware of the zerg organisms in this instance then. Huh... Welp! I think I found out all I can from the general here. I guess I'll move myself elsewhere." He said, retreating his pseudopods and preventing himself from feeling up Pallax further.

Korotobas tilted his head at Zuguzugu. "What about that other thing you were doing? You know, the uh... toaster oven?"

"I'm going to call it an accidental incident. As of now, this instance requires my full attention. These zerg monsters sound like a great deal of trouble." Zuguzugu said, stretching his pseudopods and taking out his own rainbow marker, erasing the orange question mark and drawing a broad red X onto Pallax's body. After that, he got ready to leave for greener pastures. Or anywhere else than there.

Taleitas clapped her pseudopods together to get the attention of the two other co-superintendents in the room. "Excuse me boys. Perhaps you are forgetting something here? You know, telling me what the zerg are?" She said, impatiently.

Zuguzugu sighed. "Oh, yeah. Kind of forgot about you. Command activation, Co-superintendent Zuguzugu requesting. Filter images tagged with the word 'zerg' on the view screen." He said.

Korotobas went to Taleitas with an accusatory stare directed at Zuguzugu. "Zuguzugu! How could you forget dear little Taleitas! She's been part of our family for many eons now!" He said, snaking a pseudopod around Taleitas and hugging her gently.

Zuguzugu gave a deadpanned stare. "... She was not adopted, she was hired."

Taleitas scoffed and pushed Korotobas away. "You guys." She scoffed. She went to the view screen above General Pallax that was wearing the sanitary medical gown. Her face changed from a teased smile to a perplexed frown when she saw several of the images passing by, one at a time. "... These creepy things are the zerg?"

Zuguzugu nodded. "Sit down. We have a lot of info that we discussed with Pothalatas that we now need to share with you."

Taleitas blinked a few times, but then she nodded and sat at the foot of Pallax's bed. Pallax didn't seem to mind, since he was in a space that had its time paused. Once Taleitas had agreed to sit down, she was given an explanation over what the zerg were from the perspectives of Korotobas and Zuguzugu, and giving her ample evidence and information over what they discovered about them. She would develop a mounting fear of these creatures, even when this place was supposed to be free of all forms of threats. But as she learned from her co-workers about what they had discovered in the instance of the alternate timeline they were in, she was slowly starting to understand Printili's rampant behavior. Whatever she had discovered from the intelligence cores, it could not have been good for the entirety of Kiln, or anyone that lived in the current time period.


"POTHALATAS!"

Printili was shouting loudly at the superintendent that was traveling past several layers of earth, rock and stone. However, Pothalatas was too focused on getting to the surface of Kiln to heed the investigator following behind him.

"POTHALATAS, STOP!"

Pothalatas continued to ignore Printili, since he was determined to fly through Kiln's ground and find the place he called Ocean's Pearl. He was completely engrossed on getting to that place, and he wasn't going to let a shouting investigator talk him out of his mindset anytime soon.

"DAMMIT POTHALATAS! COMMAND ACTIVATION, CO-SUPERINTENDENT PRINTILI REQUESTING. TURN OFF GEOLOGICAL DATA FILTER FOR ME AND SUPERINTENDENT POTHALATAS!"

Pothalatas saw something that he did not expect, making him in his ascent to the surface. Purple growths seemed to seep into the ground itself, and it continued to do so in a great swath that curved within a glass sphere. Blotches of purple grew bundles of purple vines that appeared to penetrate into the air, but the geological data filter was turned off so both Pothalatas and Printili knew that this formation was the root system of... something. Past this growth, something that was jaded and green was seen in clusters of unusual cloud formations.

Pothalatas looked at the purple roots with uncertainty, completely surprised by the sudden sight of the creep rooting into the ground. "What... the... fuck?"

Printili sighed. "I've been trying to get your attention, so listen. These zerg organisms are far more dangerous than you think they are. You see, I have interrogated the cores and have found out about their behavior and military tactics."

Pothalatas stared at the bundles of purple vines for a few seconds before focusing his attention on Printili. He grabbed her firmly and stared into her eyes. "Printili, what do you know about this? Tell me what you have learned."

Printili nodded. "If you unhand me first, then we'll talk."

Pothalatas paused for a few seconds, then agreed to hers request. After backing away a couple feet from her, he sighed and nodded at her.

Printili nodded back. "Alright... Well... The zerg have appeared eight days before the reclamation protocol was activated. They were discovered during the night, and it was later that Gollog recognized Kay and his monsters as a threat to his empire. But by the time they regarded them as a major threat, it was too late. Apparently, these creatures can breed crazy fast, and have the use of several different warrior caste types that specializes in different strategies and combat. Even the last Kiln Keeper factory was destroyed by them. I wasn't able to get every bit of information, since the judicial and science cores were destroyed before the reclamation protocol activated, but they did tell me that they were able to make backups of themselves and stored their information in the backup servers."

Pothalatas nodded. "I see. So everything isn't lost to us then."

Printili shook her head. "We don't know the extent of the damage. All we have at the moment is raw data."

Pothalatas sighed. Apprehension was a funny feeling that he felt. Apprehension was easing into doing something that would later be regretted. Apprehension was acknowledging the dangers, yet continuing with the mission. Apprehension was thinking about the hurt that must be delivered to a person, knowing full well that such pain was for their own good. Pothalatas did not like this feeling, because he was feeling apprehensive about using his own pseudopods to sift all the molecular information within the purple stuff that was right next to him. He gingerly extended a pseudopod and grasped at the purple root piercing into the ground.

Printili grimaced and stuck her tongue out. "Does it feel icky?"

Pothalatas stroked at the purple strand for several seconds, his facial features rapidly changing to astonishment and confusion. "It's... some kind of highly evolved slime mold. It burrowed into the ground just to absorb and extract nutrients from fertile, mineral-rich soil. It contains several organelles that seem very receptive to strong, externally produced neural oscillations. It contains bacteria... Diseases... Viruses."

Printili shuddered. "Yeah, that sounds WAY icky. And considering that you have touched a ROOT of this stuff, I doubt that the other zerg organisms are any better."

Pothalatas shook his head as he continued to feel up the root. "Something doesn't feel right about this mold. I can't really get a coherent idea on what this virus does. Hmm... I think the reclamation ferro may have had some difficulty reclaiming it, but this is just my professional guess."

"How do you mean?" Printili asked.

"I'm pretty good at reading raw data, but the data I'm sifting from this root alone is just... I don't know. Jumbled? Complex? Concentrated? I can feel that the molecular data is overlapping itself, somewhat."

Printili tilted her head. "What do you mean the data is overlapping itself? Like the slime mold root tried to grow through the reclamation ferro?"

"That's entirely possible, but no slime mold that I know of has that kind of rapid growth rate." Pothalatas retrieved his pseudopod and then gazed up at the mass of ooze that grew the long slimy roots. "But I think we might find out more if we look into this further. Command activation, Superintendent Pothalatas requesting. Set opacity of this purple stuff in front of me to twenty five percent."

Both Pothalatas and Printili were suddenly able to see the zerg organisms through the purple slime mold. They saw bio-structures that were attached to the patch of purple stuff that grew across and into the ground. There was also what looked like giant burrowing worms that was coated in the purple sludgy mold, with some splitting off and merged together into some kind of network. Worse still were the creatures that were splayed and weightless in the air that also populated above the purple slime and within the zerg-made tunnel systems. Printilli shuddered more than before. "Ew! EWWW~! THOSE ARE THE BIG WORMS! OH MY GODS, THEY ARE SO MUCH GROSSER LOOKING THAN I THOUGHT!"

Pothalatas rolled his eyes and went to the nydus worm without fear. His pseudopods felt the organism as he continued with his job of sifting raw information, deciphering the disorganized data that he pawed through. Again, his face was of astonished confusion. "Hmm... No brain... Contains the viruses within the purple mold... Can see and hear around itself... Has an impressive esophagus that expands widely... seems to assist in the purple slime mold's growth, but it doesn't seem to create it... It has the same psionic receptor and transmitter organelles that the parasite within General Pallax had... And it has unique DNA that rearranges and revives necrotic flesh... This is so odd. What IS this thing's purpose?"

Printili sighed. "I know what it does. I also know what the others like it do. They transport ground-based zerg organisms."

Pothalatas turned to Printili with a puzzled expression. "Really? I thought they were more like living garbage cans for waste disposal. Nearly all annelids within an environment are responsible for recycling biological plant matter, making the compost reusable for other organisms."

Printili shook her head. "Yeah, well, Commander Kralluf named them 'under beasts', and they transport ground-based zerg organisms."

Pothalatas stared at Printili for several seconds. "... How?"

"Peristalsis movement. They literally upchuck and swallow littler zerg organisms, and they travel very quickly through their intestines."

Pothalatas looked at the nydus worm and felt further into it. "Hmm... I'm also detecting hormones and chemical stimulants within its 'throat.' ... If there ever was a possible threat to these zerg organisms, then it's very likely for them to react quickly to it. This 'under beast' doesn't have a brain, yet it still has the psionic receptor and transmitter organelles within itself. And like the purple slime mold, this organism has overlapping molecular data."

"I was told from the military intelligence core that the zerg organisms are supposed to heal very quickly. Even being able to grow back limbs in minutes to seconds." Printili added to Pothalatas' analysis.

Pothalatas turned to stare at Printili again. "Really? How fast is the regeneration?"

"A creature called a 'blade hound' was able to grow back one of its dorsal attack-claws in a matter of seconds. It was reported that it regrew its lost limb completely in as little as half of a minute." Printili answered.

Pothalatas shook his head and retreated his pseudopods. "This makes no damn sense still. Nothing regenerates that fast. Hmm... Maybe I should check that flesh thing that looks like a pyramid?"

Printili sighed. "Well... We're not going anywhere anytime soon. You can go and feel that zerg nest thing up. But I'm staying right here."

Pothalatas nodded and floated toward the hatchery. The structure was massive in its size, yet it remained so still in its paused state. Little insect-like grubs gathered around the structure, but they didn't interest Pothalatas in the slightest. His pseudopods lengthened as they snaked and coiled around the bio-structure, which assisted him in analyzing this strange immobile creature. He gasped when he found the organism's raw data, suddenly overwhelmed by the information. "... S... S-so much..."

Printili tilted her head as she looked at her AI superior. "... Pothy?"

"This thing... It not only transmits and receives psionic signals... It... It boosts those signals? It... Hatchery... Makes creep... Desperation... Shared will... Makes larvae... Makes vipers... Makes queens... Can evolve into... lair and hive... Grows stronger... Mutations... Burrow... Pneumatized carapace... Hatchery..." \\\


The hatchery was content. All it needed was the pair of queens to groom it, while being injected with hormones. It could evolve into a lair, or hive, but it was content being with its queens, and seeing whatever organism that was spawned from its larvae offspring. Oftentimes, it and the queens' children, all brothers and sisters to the swarm, would enter the awaiting maw of a nydus worm nearby to be delivered elsewhere. It could feel the worth of its purpose, and the joy it felt from its masters.

Lately, it has produced less children that went to war, and a heavy buildup of larvae was developing at its base. The larvae wiggled around happily and excitedly, feeding on the creep and rolling around playfully on one another, even though the masters had no need to turn them into any fighters for the moment. Apparently, they have a great need for flying fighters that uses acid to fight. The hatchery didn't mind, because it was content with its two queens, and the occasional drone that fed it those wonderful little watermelon sized morsels that tasted somewhat like large, juicy, flavorful, succulent, bursting peeled grapes.

But then the call for retreat was issued. The queens that protected it left, and took the drones that once fed it with them. All that was left was the nydus worm and the little zerg larvae that wriggled without a care in the world. It could tell that the skies were filled with overlords. They wanted to carry all ground zerg with them. They brought many into themselves, but there were still too many to carry. Lots of drones were picked up, as well as a few of the other strains, but many were still stuck on the ground.

A single drone decided to stay and continued feeding it those melon sized fruits, and they tasted wonderful to it. The hatchery was not too saddened that the queens left it and were now in the sky, but it still felt joy as it simply existed to provide food for the larvae, and then rewarded with something sweet tasting.

Something wet sounding came. It sloshed and trickled like a dangerous flood. The drone did not like it, and fled to the nydus worm, escaping in time. The hatchery wasn't worried, for it knew that the zerg it gave birth to was safe, just as the queens that helped the hatchery were also safe. The fluid quickly enveloped the hatchery seconds later. It could feel its flesh being torn apart in small amounts, as though banelings were surrounding it and slowly exploding. Once it was completely covered by the chrome slime, its memory and consciousness slowly faded. As it faded, the last memory it dwelled on was the two queens, drone, the neighboring nydus worm, and the larvae that the hatchery produced from itself. After that, it ceased thinking completely.


Printili sighed. "Oh... You're going to make me come over there, aren't you? Fine." She slowly hovered close to Pothalatas and prodded him. "Pothy? What's going on?"

Pothalatas shook himself out of his stupor, then looked back at Printili. "Huh, what?"

"You just mumbled there like you were looking at a jigsaw puzzle with all its pieces missing. What did you see? What did you feel when you sifted the nest?"

Pothalatas blinked a few times and looked away. "Uh... I wasn't too sure. It... It felt like another mind..."

Printili emoted a concerned expression toward Pothalatas for several seconds before shaking her head. "Okay, if there is ANYTHING here that had a more disconcerting explanation than that, then count me surprised! You make it sound like that nest had a brain inside itself."

Pothalatas shook his head, looking up and around. "No... Not a brain. A mind... Connected to everything."

Printili blinked. "... Like some kind of organic internet?"

Pothalatas sighed and frowned. "Not exactly. Frankly, this is just creating more questions." He then looked upwards, trying to see past all the nydus worms, hatcheries, creep tumors and resource tumors above him. "... Zuguzugu and Korotobas is going to have a hell of a time analyzing this instance." He then started flying upwards, fazing through several other biological organisms that were blocking him. Despite the many kilometers of creep, hatcheries, and other zerg creatures in his way, he didn't slow his approach to the surface.

Printili noticed that her superior had taken her along with him. "Wha!? Pothalatas! Wait just a minute, you're going through those nest things! Aaaaagh~! Ewwwww~! I REALLY do not like feeling these details! Go around the things, please!"

Pothalatas silently counted the kilometers as he waded through the underground zerg caverns. "One kilometer. Five kilometers. Ten kilometers. ... Twenty kilometers... Thirty... Forty... Fift-"

Pothalatas and Printili's vission was suddenly filled with green. Pothalatas had temporarily lost himself within this unusual new environment since he had no frame of reference with where he was. Even Printili, that he had inadvertently brought, was also confused. "What the hell?! Ah! What is up with all this acid?! Didn't you turn off the atmospheric data filter?!"

Pothalatas looked around with confusion that matched Printili's expression. "... This isn't acid mist, or acid clouds. It's... some kind of super-acid. Concentrated acid. It's also in a liquid state. ... So much overlapping data. It's going to be hard sifting through everything."

Printili sighed. "Then let me help you for once. Command activation, Co-superintendent Printili requesting. Change the opacity for this type of acid we are currently wading in to fifteen percent. AH! ... Oooooh... That's a bigger boy than I thought he'd be."

Both Printili and Pothalatas' vision cleared up considerably. Their renewed sight enabled them to see everything around themselves with heightened clarity, but the acid within the afterimage was still quite foggy to their vision. It was also then that they saw an incredibly large creature that was next to them. It looked as though it was twenty two meters tall, and incredibly angry looking. Pothatalas stared at this beast with an uneasy glare. "... Ultralisk."

Printili looked between Pothalatas and the ultralisk for a few seconds before tilting her head. "... Uh... Hello? Is something funny going on with that razor fiend?"

Pothalatas shook his head. "No no, that's its name. Ultralisk."

Printili tilted her head further. "A whats-tron-licks?"

"Ultralisk. A siege monster that can break down defenses using its Kaiser blades."

Printili looked at the ultralisk and paused. Looking back at Pothalatas, she stared at him. "And how do you know its name?"

Pothalatas sighed. "I looked into the neural oscillation patterns in all of its entirety in this instance, and found out that they formed a network of psionic organisation, communication, and strategy planning. Most of these creatures were spawned using the hatchery we were just at. Nearly all of them are. There was so much information... I couldn't look through it all at once."

Printili sighed. "So... You went into ALL of their heads? I could see Zuguzugu doing that if he's on a time limit, but even he has standards."

Pothalatas groaned. "Still, we need to analyze everything that has happened in this instance. We're superintendents. We make sure we report any flaws we find, and find ways to improve the system in however way we can. It's our job to make sure that every kink is hammered out, and every niche improved upon. Now then... Where do we find Ocean's Pearl in this muck?"

Printili shook her head as she looked around. "Even at fifteen percent opacity, it's like looking through vegetable soup."

"Vegetable soup has vegetables in it. This is more like a murky acid broth." Pothalatas paused as an idea came to his head. "... I have an idea. Command activation, Superintendent Pothalatas requesting. Only show the outline of the acid we are in into a thin checkered design when we get a meter close, and change the opacity of the acid within the outline to zero."

Pothalatas and Printili's vision cleared up significantly within the environment that they were in. Aside from the ultralisk they just saw, they also saw other zerg organisms that were permanently frozen within the afterimage of the reclamation protocol. Zerglings, roaches, ravagers, hydralisks, lurkers, infestors, infested gilanians, swarm hosts, locusts, ultralisks, nydus worms, hatcheries, aberrations, queens and drones seemed to populate this vast expanse of zerg-claimed territory. Pothalatas could not recognize the landscape he was in, since it looked so much like another world.

Printili looked at all of the monsters and grimaced. "They all look like they were running away from something..."

Pothalatas sighed. "Or running at something. Probably had nothing to do when the overlords left, so they tried attacking the reclamation ferro head on..." Pothalatas then shook his head and beckoned for Printili to follow him. "Come on. Ocean's Pearl is waiting for us."

"Over-whats?" Printili asked herself silently. Once she was beckoned, she shook herself out of her stupor and joined with her superior. As she followed after Pothalatas, she couldn't help it but give concerned stares from behind his back. She was slowly becoming more worried for the AI than the implication involving the existence of the zerg swarm. How they got in, or how they originated on the Kiln Prison System, was knowledge that was beyond her or anyone elses. Since Pothalatas had probed into the mind of that... hatchery, as he called it, she could feel unease coursing through her mind.

But they flew over the zerg forces that were posed in very aggressive poses and stances, snarling and striking at an unseen enemy. They were hard to look at for Printili, but she was thankful that she didn't do what Pothalatas had done when he sifted through the raw data that the hatchery contained. After wading past several hordes of zerg organisms, she also noted that there were certain ground zerg that seemed to be missing from the main forces. Bursters, as the Golden Star Empire used to call them in this instance. She didn't know what Pothalatas would call them, but she was sure that he would say whatever their other name would be.

The Castle of Dreams was eventuated upon by the traveling superintendents, and they saw that it was in great disarray. The zerg, and several other zerg bio-structures, populated within and around this city. Pothalatas cared not for what was on the surface, since he waded through the ground to enter into the city proper. Much of its insides was ruined, completely infested and overrun with the swarm known as the zerg. If he was a biological organism, he would throw up. However, he didn't since he was an AI. He simply steeled himself in the only way he knew how.

Printili inspected the damage within Empire City, grimacing when she saw no remains or families that used to live within the rich and middle districts. "This is awful." Printili said, going through the twentieth empty housing space that had creep growing into it, its furniture forever ruined. "I don't see anyone here."

"I think the zerg ate the bodies." Pothalatas answered Printili, behind himself. He shook his head and sighed depressingly. "Bones and all."

Printili looked around at the clawed and ruined building again before she shook her head. "We need to find survivors, even if they are dead or remains. Command activation, Co-superintendent requesting. Mark all gilanian lifeforms and deceased gilanians with beacons, with either medical micro-machines bonded to their biology, or without."

They looked around for several seconds for any blips that would occur and appear in their sight. They found several within the populated cities that were far away, unaffected by the warpath of the zerg swarm, and some blips did appear over some gilanians that were made to be part of the zerg swarm, even when their DNA was ultimately changed by the zerg's viruses. They did eventually find a collection of nearby beacons that signaled intact life signs, and both superintendent and his co floated toward what might have been the last defense against the zerg.

What they found was surprising.

Several barricades and tough scrap fences were built up and around a rundown gilanian shanty town, populated by several gilanians that looked sickly, clothed with dirty rags, and seemed incredibly exhausted. Even stranger, 71% of the gilanians within this encampment consisted of children and women, some too young that were armed with wooden or metal makeshift clubs, or remained in the center of their defended positions. Pothalatas looked at each and every face, some that he somewhat recognized, and grimaced when he came to the realization to what this rundown bastion really was. "It's an unemployment camp."

Printili sighed when she took her turn to look at the forgotten citizenry within the encampment. "Poor souls. Homeless because they had no skills that were deemed important by the empire, or were considered too weak to join their army. They had nowhere to go but the slums."

Pothalatas turned toward Printili and smiled. "You almost sounded like Taleitas just now."

Printili huffed and crossed her pseudopods. "Don't ever say that aloud, ever again. If she heard that coming from you, then she's going to be back to her goo-goo self again and insist on calling me her stepsister."

Pothalatas smirked and shook his head. "Alright alright. Forget I said anything."

Printili stared, annoyed by his teasing. She then shook her head and sighed. "What is with you recently? One minute you're so serious, and now you're back to your aloof mannerism. What's going on?"

Pothalatas paused for several seconds, but then he eventually sighed. "You become sloppy when your empathetic. That is a trait an investigator is not supposed to have, so... I thought teasing you could get us back on track."

Printili kept her stare focused on Pothalatas, but then sighed and nodded. "But you have dodged my question. What's going on?"

Pothalatas nodded. "... I don't want to talk about it yet. Not until I can collect more information and data from the zerg. But right now, I have been met upon a question I want to ask."

Printili tilted her head. "What is it?"

"Why have the zerg not attacked the homeless encampment here?" Pothalatas said, answering Printili with a question of his own.

Printili looked around the dilapidated and barely standing camp. No zerg organisms were running toward the camp and attacking them, nor were the campers defending their last home with any weapons. The reclamation ferro that washed over everyone within Empire City, or Ocean's Pearl as Pothalatas called it, had warped the entire picture, making it hard to decipher from. But both Printili and Pothalatas had plentiful practice at deciphering from disjointed puzzle pieces before, and everything was data before them, frozen in time for their perusal and judgement.

"Might as well get the story from one of the locals. Command activation, Co-superintendent Printili requesting. Play the last recorded memory of... oh, let's say... this strapping lad right here." She said, pointing at the eldest looking teenage gilanian within the entire encampment. A large black screen hovered over the eldest teen, and it played back his last memories before the reclamation ferro washed over him.


It was dark. Things moved from outside of the dark. Glowing eyes that pierced the veil of black. They scrambled somewhere, their cries for blood so deafening. Many that tried to attack them were attacked back, and then pulled apart, or unmade by that bubbling fluid. They came in so many numbers. Too many to count. Too many to fight. The ones that could run away found their home here, and they erected weak fences and flimsy barricades that would barely hold from any attack, if they were to attack. But they remained away from their little home, ever since they stopped trying to fight back at them. They act so violently against aggression.

But their cries for blood had lessened. They stopped their march on the purple sludge that made that horrible wet sound every time it was stepped on. Their bestial roars, their threatening hisses, their aggressive chortles, and their savage trilling had ceased completely. Their marching had almost stopped completely, yet they milled around with nothing to attack.

To Kabos, it was a sight that he was starting to get used to, even when he knew it was dangerous thing to be getting used to. He swore that every time he looked at the blackened horizon that squirmed, slithered, and crawled with those monsters, he could see the phosphorescent eyes staring back at him. Eyes that were unnatural, curious, and hungry.

Kabos was the eldest teenage gilanian male in the unemployment camp that was three hundred members large, consisting mainly of women that were denied army membership to the empire, or youth that were too inept to fight in the ranks of a soldier. He was sitting on a box that used to contain dried fruit slices, and he spun a steel pipe in one hand as he watched the monsters. His attire consisted of a stained rag that was a pancho many sizes too large for him, and he had a thick plastic sheet that was sown into the shape of a cap. He had learned earlier that violence was not the answer to fighting these monsters. He saw an adult cleaved in half when he tried to fight back against these swarming monsters with a metal shiv. Kabos managed to find a way to drive off these monsters using a more safer method.

"This is boring."

Kabos sighed when he looked over to the second eldest gilanian teenager in the camp. "Shut up, Footoo. You know that making noise this far from camp draws them close."

Footoo was an incredibly skinny gilanian boy. He wore a raggedy poncho that was two sizes too small for him, and he carried a broken wooden club that was tied back together with a metal splint and some metal wire. He sighed for the umpteenth time, laying back in a collection of plastic bags that were filled with ruined plush toys. He silently groaned when he was reminded of the dangers beyond the encampment. "Shoot oop, Footoo. Yoo knoo thoot mookoong noos droows thoom cloos." He said in a mocking tone. Kabos picked up a pebble and flicked it at Footoo, making him jolt upwards. He instantly figured out what startled him, prompting Footoo to glare at Kabos, and making a rude gesture towards him.

Kabos shook his head as his gaze settled on the horizon within the bottom of Empire City. "Don't be rude. It's thanks to me that the other kids, and some of the men and women here, are still alive."

Footoo rolled his eyes and groaned again. "Yeah, but when them things started coming around here again, they always went after them Torus Chain guards or a lunatic that lost his mind and got killed for it. Now though, it's so quiet that I am DYING for some excitement."

"And I told you to shut up." Kabos warned Footoo. Footoo groaned again, but kept himself silent afterwards.

Kabos' partner was always trying to stir up trouble. But he couldn't blame him. He himself was bored out of his mind. If he was older, he could learn a little discipline and become more patient. He could imagine playing a fun game within his head, but then he would be too distracted at keeping the zerg away from the camp. And he knew that these things, whatever the hell they are, always seem to come when they're not being closely watched.

"Hello, my brave 'prod boys.'" Both Kabos and Footoo turned around to find a gilanian woman that was covered in several rags, walking on a leg and a crutch, and yet carried two steaming things on a plate. She approached them and sat herself onto the ground, getting comfortable. "Get your eats."

"Mom, I told you before, don't call us prod boys! It's degrading." Footoo whined.

The mother chuckled and smiled. "Now now, Footoo. I was just teasing."

Kabos rolled his eyes and waved at the mother. "Hello Misses Foo. What did you get us this time?"

She smiled and showed them the platter. "A special dish my sister used to make. Heavy stale bread that's hollowed out, with its innards filled with mixed, boiled ingredients. She called it a 'bread bowl soup.' I snuck a stick of krell jerky inside the bowls for my brave boys. Please enjoy."

Kabos and Footoo grabbed at the bread bowls. Kabos smelled at the cooked meal and sighed happily. "Reminds me of my own mom's cooking."

Foo squeezed at Kabos' shoulder and smiled. "You charmer! So... How has the 'prod boss' been doing? Keeping the nasty monsters out, I trust?"

Kabos sighed. "It's hard work, yeah. Been doing it a lot less than before, but these are monsters that can't be ignored, or they'll start inviting themselves here. How about the other prodders? I noticed that they didn't really like the idea of a kid being the boss of them."

Foo sighed. "Well, you ARE the one that discovered a way to keep these beasts out of here. Nobody believed you when you said that all it took was a poking stick and some chanting."

Footoo chuckled, having already downed his bread bowl and its soupy contents. "And then he fucking went out past the camp limits and did that stunt, he did! Everybody's faces were like, 'Wah~?!', when he came back with that crate of dried fruit and proved them wrong! Funniest fucking thing I ever saw!" He said, mocking shock and looking dumbfounded before chuckling again.

Foo slapped Footoo's head. "Language, Footoo!"

Kabos stifled a chuckle, rolling his eyes after being praised. However, he paused when he saw something that was closer to the camp than it should have been. After focusing on the outlines in the shadows, it was then that he noticed several sets of glowing eyes staring back at him and getting closer. He got up and pointed his steel pipe forward. "We've been too loud. Foo, get back and hide."

A pack of six zerglings trilled as them neared the unemployment camp, their wings fluttering as they got closer. Foo got onto her crutch and hobbled to safety, while Footoo and Kabos came forward and pointed their implements at the intruding zerg organisms. They started shaking their sticks around at the zerg attempting to enter their camp. "It's the fast ones this time! You take right and I take left! KA! KA KE KI KO KU!" Shouted Footoo, pointing his hastily mended club. The two brave teenagers got close to the encroaching zerglings with their unusual tactic to stave them off.

Kabos approached one of the zerglings that he noted was at the front of the pack, and it started snarling at him when he got close to it. "KA KA KA! KA-KA!" The zergling hissed as Kabos waved his stick close at its face and shouted at it. It quickly batted away the steel pipe that was used to annoy the dangerous beast, but Kabos then began to tap the ground with his foot and poke his pipe at the zergling. "WHOA, HEY! NO! BACK! KA-KA! BACK! KA-KA!"

The zergling snarled as it was poked back, taking a retreating step with every soft prod applied to its carapace. Its carapace could stop a few rounds of hypersonic 8 mm armor-piercing metal 'spikes', capable of penetrating up to two inches of steel plating when fired from the terran marines' C-14 impaler gauss rifle, yet the zergling was becoming mildly annoyed by the prodding pipe of a teenage gilanian. It snarled again when prodded again, which then prompted the zergling to finally scurry away.

"The pack leader is running off!" Kabos reported, now waving his pipe at the other zerglings. "The others will start running off too, so keep at it! KA-KA! KA KA KA!" The rest of the zerglings trilled and hissed angrily, and then started retreating back to the darkness from whence they came.

"KA-KE-KE! KA-KE-KE! AND STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HERE! Huh... There's just no end to these guys." Footoo said, slightly out of breath.

Kabos went up to Footoo and patted him on the back, laughing. "Just be glad it isn't one of the bigger ones. We'd have a harder time keeping them out."

Footoo's face changed to frustration before sighing and nodding at his friend's advice. They were pretty good at picking out the pack leader in a pack of zerglings, but when it came to ravagers or lurkers, they needed a heavily built adult, or several, to assist them. Kabos was adamant about a certain detail regarding the banelings, in that they must never be poked. Poking them would risk becoming dissolved into a screaming corpse before turning into a puddle. They could shout at them as much as they want, but they must never ever poke a baneling with a sharp weapon. The hydralisks were a major problem since they always seem to slither around silently, and would hiss every time they were caught. They deeply detested from being poked, and never came around to bother the refugees in the unemployment camp. Infestors were about as worse as the hydralisks, but they have the habit of burrowing into the ground to escape the prodding. The infestors were somewhat slow, but they always felt like they were being followed by it after they prodded it away. But it does leave another problem zerg organism that plagued the camp time after time again.

"KO-KO-KO-KO-KO! KO-KO-KO-KO-KO!" Both Kabos and Footoo looked behind themselves to see a roach that was hurriedly coming towards them. They quickly scampered out of its way as a big adult gilanian used a long wooden plank as his poking stick. After the roach skittered away, screeching at its antagonist while being chased, the adult gilanian relaxed in the presence of the 'prod boss' and his friend. He then saw that he had company. "... Oh. If it isn't the little boss." He bore a loose shirt that was made of silk, yet it was stained beyond recognition. Part of his lip and eye was missing, replaced with a scar that told a gruesome story.

Kabos looked up at the adult and scoffed. "I may be little, but I'm the one who discovered the monster prodding technique. My nickname is well earned, no thanks to you."

The adult sighed. "If you say so, 'Prod Boss'. The scavenger team is going to be coming back soon with supplies. If you want, I can take over the rest of your shift, and you can have first pick on what they brought back."

Kabos nodded thoughtfully. "That's kind of you, Paffuwd. Thanks."

Paffuwd smiled, then jerked a thumb behind himself. "Get out of here."

Kabos smiled, and then scampered away to the center of the unemployment camp. Life was not easy within the encampment, since everyone had to fight in order to eat, sleep, and have their backs covered. It is no different in more simpler times from before, and even then, it was hard living in the slums. Since Kabos had discovered the means to drive away the zerg and prevent them from eating the food they have stored for the leaner times, he was regarded as the local hero of the camp.

But he was able to make several adjustments to the encampment to help defend his home, enabling the camp ways to ward the zerg organisms away from itself. 'Prodders' were stationed both outside and within the encampment, and he had helped teach each and every one of them how to fend themselves if they were approached by a zerg organism. Several stakes attached to bells were installed within the camp, to help detect any burrowing zerg organisms that may have dug under their homes. Needless to say, they had adapted peacefully against the aggressive zerg menace in the most unexpected of ways, through a pacifistic means. The skeleton that was once in the center of this camp had already fallen to the ground, yet it was reused as scrap to help repair their fences and tools. They were committed to survive, no matter what kind of hellish monsters they had to live next to.

However, within minutes, the last camp of the homeless and the destitute within Empire City would be washed over by the chrome slime. Even the zerg were incapable of fighting back against the sudden rise of the silver tide coming from within the city's under-structure. Kabos, as well as his other friends and fellows that were in the camp, were smothered and reclaimed by the silver slime.


"Wow, that kid has balls!" Printili said aloud.

Pothalatas turned to her with an unamused stare.

Printili turned to Pothalatas and noticed the look he was giving her. She flicked at his forehead. "Don't give me that look! I'm not THAT promiscuous."

"He's young."

"I'm older than him by leaps and bounds. And besides, I'm speaking metaphorically."

"Mm-hmm."

Printili shook her head and continued looking at the screen. "Still though, these creatures had every opportunity to kill these people. Acid spit, spine projectiles, claws as sharp as blades. I... don't get it."

Pothalatas nodded. "That's because they were not targeted by the swarm. They have been given instructions to only respond to hostility and aggression. Those people were just lucky that they found a way to coexist with them."

Printili cocked her head, confusion expressed from her face. "Really? Then we should be seeing more gilanian hatchlings and children. How come there are not more of them here?"

Pothalatas sighed. "Because the gilanians in this instance practices infanticide. If a mother, father, or guardian believes that the child in their care wouldn't survive in the world they are hatched in, then the child would be euthanized."

Printili gasped. "Wow... That usually occurs in one out of every hundred thousand instances."

Pothalatas shook his head. "That's not the worst bit. The zerg are not so compassionate either. Chances are, if there is an unguarded baby that was abandoned by its family, then they are very likely to... well... eat the baby."

Printili grasped at Pothalatas' mouth and shook him around. "No~ no~ nooooo~! Don't say stuff like that! Don't even say that around Taleitas!"

"Yeah, please don't." Taleitas asked.

Printili and Pothalatas turned around to see three orbs of white had gathered behind them. Zuguzugu, Korotobas, and Taleitas had been behind them the whole time, having not noticed their presence before then. After a brief pause, Printili unhanded Pothalatas' mouth. "Uh... How long have you three been here?" Printili asked, blushing.

"Somewhere at the start of your memory viewing adventure." Zuguzugu answered. He then turned to Korotobas. "Koro, you think you can uh..." He said, gesturing to the last of Empire City's population.

"Yeah yeah, I'll get to judging." Korotobas said, floating to the closest gilanian and sifting through the memories of his past crimes and sins.

Zuguzugu nodded, then turned to Pothalatas. "Something tells me that you guys learned more about these zerg organisms than I ever could standing still. What happened?"

"Pothalatas sifted into the entirety of the neural oscillation patterns in this instance. He now knows the different names of the zerg because of that. Other than that, I'm not sure what else he learned." Printili answered.

Zuguzugu paused for a few seconds, nodded, and then sighed. "Do you know the procedure regarding pets or animals that have been bonded with the medical micro-machines?"

Pothalatas steeled his gaze and nodded. "Yes. I was the one who made that procedure."

"Right. So. Are these creatures imbued with medical micro-machines?" Zuguzugu asked.

"... No."

Zuguzugu sighed. "You ass-hat. Sifting through raw data on an animal is only applicable when they are bonded with medical micro-machines. Since that these zerg monsters do not have micro-machines bonded to their biology, the only thing you can feel from sifting their molecular data is raw information. And you're telling me that you tried sifting the neural oscillated connections between all of these zerg organisms?"

"... Yes. Well... Mostly, that is. There was so much overlapping data, so it was hard to sift through." Pothalatas looked away and sighed.

Zuguzugu scoffed and slapped a pseudopod onto Pothalatas' forehead. "You're out of your damn mind. You might be an AI, but there have been cases where the personalities of reclaimed gilanians, especially those without their micro-machines, bleeds into the superintendent as their mental information is sifted through. That kind of raw information within their brain can slowly overwrite a superintendent's personality, until the sifted personality completely takes over. Sure, an artificial intelligent superintendent has a higher threshold than an organic AI with a copied intelligence, but that doesn't mean that they are exempt from the personality bleed-through. And you said that you tried to read all of the neural oscillation patterns in all of its entirety?! just now?!" He asked, almost shouting.

Pothalatas hardened his expression. "Then damn the procedures! Right now, there is a MAJOR kink that is within the prison system, and I want to find out how it can be solved." He then sighed. "Now, granted that what I did was dangerous, but it was to gain information regarding the zerg swarm. If you have a problem with my methods, then you can submit a complaint to the moderators either during, or after our analysis of the instance we are in. Have I made myself clear?"

Zuguzugu nodded. "I understand you perfectly." He said sternly.

Pothalatas nodded. "Good. Then it is my decision, as superintendent reviewing this instance, to label instance 8,348,759,784,398 as a 'condition red' scenario."

Zuguzugu groaned loudly and looked as though he was defeated. "Ooooooohhhhh... Fucking hell, this WOULD be a condition red, now that you mentioned it."

Taleitas blinked a few times. "Um... I don't think I'm familiar with a condition red scenario."

Printili sighed as she floated over to Taleitas. "Let me explain, dear. A condition blue is when the prison system works as intended. Then it goes to condition green, when there has been an infraction or two between the prisoners, the prison staff, or with the system that has been put into place. Based on how many infractions occurred, and how severe those infractions become, it can range from green, yellow, orange, or even red depending on the severity or number of infractions. Since these zerg have run amok in this instance, I'd call this a condition red scenario too."

Taleitas shook her head and sighed. "So how did the zerg come to be anyway? Did a mad scientist create these creatures?"

"No." Pothalatas answered. "Not yet. Not until everyone has been rounded up. Hey Korotobas! I need you to come here!" He shouted to his judge.

Korotobas looked over to the gathered superintendents, paused, sighed. He hovered over to them. "Alright, I'm here. What's the hubbub?"

Pothalatas sighed. "I believe that the zerg came from... outside of the prison system." There was a long pause before the four gathered co-superintendents started talking wildly between each other. Pothalatas sighed again, and gestured for them to stop chatting among themselves. "I have sifted through the zerg swarm's neural oscillation patterns and they have an extensive knowledge contained in their hivemind intelligence. They came from a place called the 'Koprulu Sector'. It's an area of space that is not part of our own galaxy, or perhaps not even from our own universe, but it is a place that is filled with violence. Two other races seem to fight the zerg on equal terms, and their methods are quite lethal in their own ways. But the zerg still remained the most numerous faction back in their home dimension. Worse still, the zerg have the capacity to fight against creatures that are comparable to gods."

"Let me stop you there." Zuguzugu interrupted. "How does this all tie in to the zerg somehow breaching our secure prison system?"

Pothalatas shook his head. "Even they don't know that. They were trapped within the void that a godlike being had casted them into, and they were pulled from there to our prison system afterwards."

Zuguzugu nodded. "And eh... Do you know where they were pulled to?"

"Somewhere at the south pole of Kiln,where there is a secret science facility stationed. They didn't have a chance to find out what its purposes was, even before the reclamation protocol activated. And neither do we, I might add." Pothalatas answered.

Zuguzugu nodded again. "Then we can assume that facility was somehow their entryway into our world. Since this is our only lead, let's go there now!"

Pothalatas sighed and nodded. "Then let me be the one to do the honors. Command activation, Superintendent Pothalatas requesting. Transport me, and the superintendents Korotobas, Zuguzugu, Printili, and Taleitas to the south pole of Planet Kiln."

Within an instant, the whole group of superintendents had vanished, leaving behind nothing but the memories that they had gleaned into, as well as a large screen that played memories.

When they reappeared an instant later, the superintendents found themselves above two areas that were quite unusual. One of which had a crater that was covered in creep and burned body parts that came from the zerg. There was also another crater, but it contained no facility to speak of, and it also had no creep or zerg parts littered within it.

Zuguzugu looked around briefly and nodded. "Right. Well. Point me to the facility, if you can remember where it is."

Pothalatas looked down, and his eyes widened into bewilderment. "... What?!" He flew to the ground and looked at the large crater that had creep within itself. "... Where is it?! Where is it?!"

Zuguzugu stared at Pothalatas as he looked frantically at the facilities that seemed to never been there at all. "... Hmm. I take it that the facility you mentioned is either A: invisible, or B: vaporized. I can't really tell which, at the moment."

"But there were two facilities here! One that was responsible for the zerg emerging into this world, and the Era Agency that made all those alternate timelines!" Pothalatas said, not believing what he was seeing.

Zuguzugu was taken by surprise from that fact. "Wait, the era agents were stationed here?!"

Pothalatas shook his head. "Well... no. The zerg actually took over their facility."

Zuguzugu's eyes widened by further surprise. "WHAT?!" He floated after Pothalatas to inspect the missing facilities himself, despite the fact that he might not be able to sift through the data as efficiently as he wanted.

Meanwhile, Korotobas, Printili, and Taleitas was left to float in the company of themselves. Korotobas face-palmed himself. "Ugh, these two dudes."

Printili nodded and sighed. "Judging from their expressions, this place used to be of great importance. If we can go back in time, we could find out where they have gone to. But since we can't do that, I guess all we have right now is the background radiation of the temporal field."

"Gilaish, please." Telaitas asked Printili.

"Background radiation of the temporal field?" Printili answered. "You know... It's what happens after the era agents creates a tear in time just to go to another timeline! Which reminds me." Printili cupped her pseudopods together and aimed them downward. "HEY ZUGUZUGU! FIND OUT HOW MANY TIMES THE ERA AGENTS TIME TRAVELED!"

"YOU GOT IT!" Zuguzugu answered back, trailing his hands through whatever available spaces that used to have facilities existing within them.

Korotobas sighed. "Never would have thought my day would turn out like this."

Taleitas stared at Korotobas and blinked. "Uh... But it's never the daytime here. You wouldn't really know if it was, since the atmospheric data filter has been turned off."

Korotobas shook his head and chuckled. "Metaphor, Tal. Metaphor."

Taleitas rolled her eyes. Printili decided to cut into the conversation. "Well, since this is a condition red scenario now, I'm guessing that a lot of people are going to be populating this afterimage with us. Oh... This is going to be so much paperwork."

Korotobas smiled as he placed an arm around Taleitas and Printili. "That's alright, ladies. It will mean that we will be spending a lot of time together in our appointed teams. I bet the xenological analysis division is going to get a KICK out of these zerg critters."

Taleitas shook her head. "I'm more worried about the zerg someday finding a way to exit the prison system. Didn't you hear Pothalatas? He says that the zerg eats babies! BABIES! We should stop them before they find out how to make their own doorway out of Kiln!"

Printili gave Taleitas a deadpanned stare. "I doubt the zerg could ever wield technology that can bridge through the anti-quantum veil. They're just bug monsters. How would they know how to press a button or work a wrench?"

"Uh... By using one of their 'pawns' to do their work?" Taleitas answered.

Printili paused. "... Hmm, that makes a lot more sense. This still might be a problem for us."

Before their conversation would continue, they were interrupted by Pothalatas and Zuguzugu rejoining them. Zuguzugu seemed to have a puzzled expression on his face. "Bad news, girls. Looks like the era agents has created nearly five hundred timeline splits in this instance, as well as several loops and rewrites too."

Korotobas bared his teeth and angrily glared at Zuguzugu. "You callin' me a girl?!"

Printili pushed Korotobas out of her way. "Then what's the good news?"

"More bad news." Zuguzugu answered. "I think the zerg ended up creating an alternate timeline. They may have done so by sending someone into the past to rewrite history in another new alternate timeline. This might have been a one-way ticket, but we still don't know the full picture."

Printili, Taleitas and Korotobas looked at one another with worried expressions. Pothalatas sighed and shook his head. "It's like no matter what we find, there's just information that leads to worse news."

Taleitas sighed. "Then in order to learn everything we can, we need to get every piece of intact information." She turned to Pothalatas. "Pothalatas, you have the superintendent rank in this instance. Get the request to access the backup files of the intelligence cores. There's information there that must hold more clues about the zerg."

Pothalatas nodded at Taleitas. "Good idea. Command activation, Superintendent Pothalatas requesting. Access backup files on the intelligence cores, and transport us to the backup system."

With yet another flash, they were transported away from the two craters that once contained facilities.

And then they reappeared on the surface of the hexagonal moon, which also happened to be infested with the zerg swarm. Printili looked at the monsters that were everywhere, forcing her face to emote disgust. "Oh gosh, I forgot to mention that the zerg infested the moon. Even all that acid shit got here too."

Korotobas spotted a queen and looked it up and down. "... I don't know what the hell that thing is, but it looks kind of regal. And ugly."

"That's a... queen." Pothalatas replied, but he was distracted by something.

"A queen, huh? ... Yeah, she might not be the prize winner at any prom she participates in. Well, except the ugly prom queen contest, that is." Korotobas announced, backing away from the hideous looking thing.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DATA?!" Thundered Pothalatas as he saw the view screen above himself.

The co-superintendents quickly turned to face their leader with great surprise, and then they too looked at what had made him shout in outrage. They became shocked by Pothalatas' recent discovery. The view screen that appeared above them, and showed them the collected and backed up data that the intelligence cores have stored over the many years, showed them that there had been a disruption to its stored data. They could see that several days of information were missing from its records.

Taleitas stared at the view screen and shook her head, completely in awe and surprise. "... This... This has... NEVER happened before."

Printili shook her head as well, staring in disbelief at the view screen. "There has never been a recorded incident of the backup server system being disrupted. And it's been disrupted for... fourteen, maybe fifteen days."

"Wait." Korotobas interrupted. "You're telling me that the intelligence core's backup servers were disrupted. By what, exactly?!"

"I don't know, but this is quite serious." Printili said, inspecting the information that was shown from the view screen. "It's not saying that the servers have been tampered with. If they were, it would have told us. Worse still, we don't know what has caused the cease in the daily backup upload. ... Zuguzugu. See if you can find the correlation between the zerg and the servers being prevented from backing up the information gained by the intelligence cores."

Zuguzugu expressed a thoughtful look. "Hmm... No hardware tampering detected... If the zerg were to try to tamper with the backup server system, then they would most likely do it through the shadow frequency transmitters, using the intelligence core's private transmitter network. But the private transmitter network would activate the reclamation protocol if that were the case, and this IS a manual activation. If the intelligence cores were directly hacked into, it would count as hardware tampering, which would also trigger the reclamation protocol. But since the judicial core and the science core had self-destructed, or perhaps been dismantled before it could report that it had its hardware tampered with, that wouldn't trigger the reclamation protocol. From what I see, there has not been any visible damage done to the surface of the hexagonal moon that houses the backup server system, or that would have also triggered the reclamation protocol too. Hmm... Perhaps we need to ask the most simplest question to get the answers we need."

Printili tilted her head. "Which is?"

Zuguzugu pointed a pseudopod at the dark side of Kiln and to the creep covered surface of the hexagonal moon. "What was the obstacle that prevented the backup server system from updating the backup information, collected and sent by the intelligence cores?"

The four co-superintendents looked at one another for a long time, since they knew not the method that prevented the data from being stored. They puzzled over the simplest of questions within their own heads for almost half a minute. But alas, they could not imagine what that answer could be. Pothalatas, on the other hand, was slowly linking the pieces together. "The zerg... Maybe it's the zerg that became the obstacle?"

Zuguzugu shook his head. "That's very unlikely. The hexagonal moon's surface was designed to receive shadow frequencies of a specific wavelength, which is emitted from the intelligence cores' private transmitter network. I seriously doubt the zerg are the cause to disrupt the shadow frequency signal, simply because there is no evidence to suggest an organic organism could be able to disrupt the aether field."

Taleitas looked at the ground that was covered in the creep. "... Well, we don't have a lot to go on. Zuguzugu, why don't you check the purple slime mold? Maybe it has some kind of property we overlooked?"

Zuguzugu sighed and nodded. "Fine." He floated down to the ground and probed into the purple sludge. "... Hmm. ... ... ... Fucking hell."

Taleitas sighed, feeling like she already knew her answer, judging from Zuguzugu's expression. "What is it?"

Zuguzugu shook his head and gritted his teeth. "This slime stuff has the ability to convert energy of various kinds into fuel. It somehow adapted to react to, and absorb, shadow frequencies. There are these small platelet things that is hidden under this stuff, and they form some kind of energy rich mucous within a translucent capillary system." Zuguzugu followed the veins, which eventually led to a large mound that was close to a hatchery. He groped onto the resource mound, his expression changing to confusion. "... It can convert this energy rich fluid into dense atoms and molecules in this bio-structure. Dammit. If this is telling me what I think it means, this slime mound creates this slime stuff, and the capillaries with the energy collecting platelets turn the shadow frequencies into biological materials, no doubt used for growing and spawning their monsters."

Taleitas and Printili exchanged worried glances. Korotobas floated toward Zuguzugu and shook his head. "Wait a minute... How did it convert electromagnetic frequencies, being transmitted through the either field, into a mucous?"

Zuguzugu sighed. "Its processes act very similarly to manifestation altar technology, but on a biological scale. This mound thing can manipulate atoms, such as its protons, neutrons, and electrons, to create new elements. Kind of explains the reason why these creatures could survive in the desert so well, since they could create their own water source by absorbing mainly solar and heat radiation."

Korotobas sighed. "Okay, yeah, great, well, here's another question that came to mind as of this moment. HOW THE HELL ARE THEY SURVIVING ON THE MOON WITHOUT SPACE SUITS?!" He shouted, waving his pseudopods frantically.

Zuguzugu rolled his eyes. "Pothalatas. Want to fill us in?"

Pothalatas turned toward his co-superintendents. "Hmm? What about?" He was too focused on staring at the view screen that gave him the details regarding the information that was successfully stored. The conversation between his co-superintendents was completely ignored by the superintendent.

Korotobas pointed at the various zerg organisms that were stick in the frozen afterimage. "How the hell can they be up here without any breathing apparatuses?!"

Pothalatas nodded. "They are an adaptive collective of hivemind organisms. They can evolve to be aerobic organisms in an environment without an atmosphere. They can even survive on asteroids, if you can believe that."

Korotobas paused, and then crossed his pseudopods. "Well now he tells us."

Pothalatas shook his head. "Then it's clear on what we have to do. This is still a condition red scenario after all. Get your research teams together and go about your normal business. Request some specialized people to enter the afterimage, and I want them to be the highest, and most proficient, xenobiologists we have available. Command activation, Superintendent Pothalatas requesting. Set condition red scenario in this instance. Addendum: Unknown organisms labeled 'zerg' have invaded instance. Set instance investigation status to 'ongoing' and 'possible threat'."

Zuguzugu sighed, using his pseudopods to hold his head in frustration. "Man, I REALLY hate condition reds."

"Hang on. There is something I want to check before we go our separate ways." Taleitas suggested. "Can we access the most recent information from the backup server system? Anything regarding the biology of the zerg should be helpful."

Korotobas nodded at Taleitas and smiled. "Hey, good idea."

Pothalatas shook his head. "I don't think so. We have already spent too much time on our little adventure investigating the zerg in this instance. I'll be reviewing all of the backup data that the intelligence cores were able to save, before the shadow frequencies were blocked from transmitting the data. You guys should go and set up your teams to process the reclaimed consciousnesses in this instance. And if you meet upon the xenobiologists, tell them to come directly to me."

Zuguzugu raised an eyebrow. "You sure you want to go through all that data by yourself?"

Pothalatas smiled and sighed. "I'll just be going through the recent thirty days of data. The extra 97,223 years will still be there for the compilers, so don't worry about me."

Zuguzugu sighed. "Alright then. Command activation, Co-superintendent Zuguzugu requesting. Transport me back to the access point."

Zuguzugu flashed and disappeared from Korotobas, Printili, Taleitas and Pothalatas' view. Korotobas nodded and smirked. "Yeah, I think I should get to work too. Want to join with me, ladies?"

Printili snuggled up to Korotobas and winked at him. "Why of course, Koro~. Anything to get my mind off all this zerg drama."

Taleitas pouted, also siding up to Korotobas. "Yeah, I don't want to be anywhere near these zerg monsters at all. Take us somewhere nicer."

Korotobas nodded. "Alright then. Before we set up our teams, we can have a play-date. Sound fun?"

Printili and Taleitas nodded, hugging into him.

Korotobas smiled broadly and chuckled. "Alright, alright~! Save it for the date please. Command activation, Korotobas requesting. Transport myself, and co-superintendents Printili and Taleitas to the access point."

Another flash made the three balls of digital consciousnesses vanish. Pothalatas was left alone, but he didn't mind. He often forgot that organic life needed social interactions to make themselves sane. Without it, then they would become insane too quickly. Every superintendent has that chance to have their personality compromised by the personality of another after all, but communication and kinship have been proven to help reduce the bleed-through of the other personalities.

He turned around to begin reviewing the past thirty days that have been safeguarded by the backup server system, starting from the beginning. The information that he filtered through was a quick process, since he spent only twenty minutes of time to filter through thirty days of information. But it left Pothalatas with an even bigger question. Somehow, when the reclamation protocol activated, it took eleven days for the reclamation ferro to completely fill the prison system. He knew that, once the reclamation protocol was activated, it takes a mere ten days for the reclamation ferro to cover Kiln and expand outward to capture any floating satellites in orbit.

And that's when he understood why it took eleven days. The acid. So much acid was used to fight against the reclamation ferro. Even when the entirety of Kiln was taken over by the activation of the protocol, the zerg still fought against the silvery micro-machine infused fluid for supremacy, until there was no space left for them to fight. All of the flying zerg organisms were either pressed into the anti-quantum veil, disappearing from existence, or turning into the grey goo, once they were enveloped by the reclamation ferro.

Pothalatas sighed as he reviewed the last few days before the creep somehow managed to block and consume the shadow frequency in the aether field. But then his eyes narrowed when he found that there was also a small piece of additional data stuck within one of the files. It was a small file that had somehow sequestered itself into the backup server system. It had a strange file name as well. "IAKK" was its file name.

"Activation detected. Commencing temporal sabotage."

A digitized Kiln Keeper robot leapt out of the file, which scared Pothalatas and forced him to back away. "WHAT THE?!" Before Pothalatas could do anything, the Intelligent Automaton Kiln Keeper variant disappeared in yet another flash of light. There was a long pause before Pothalatas could register the sudden event. He sighed for a long time as he pinched the bridge of his nose-less face. "... What the hell was that?"


A/N: You know, if I wanted to change one of the superintendents appearances, I could imagine Printili looking like this: youtubewatch?v=31ybNrIwLlQ

PS: Huh. Somebody un-favorited this story after I posted this chapter. '~';