In this chapter I show where the Atlantians are going to get most of their troops in later chapters. Next chapter will probably skip a few years.

"Alright ARC, what are we up against?" I asked. It was morning, the day after I had snuck into the human compound and downloaded all their data in their computers.

"In military terms, they have a surprisingly large force for being so far away from earth," replied ARC, "Enough to take out the Omaticaya and level Hometree about three and a half times over. The main thing they are lacking is artillery. None of their weapons are suited for long range combat. If they want to fight, they have to come to us. Satellite surveillance is surprisingly advanced for how long they've been here.

That's their military, but one of the interesting things is that most, if not all, of their funding comes from a mineral they are mining here called unobtanium. Because of this, most of their supplies are for mining. Plans show that Hometree is high on their target list for mining. Anyways, the hybrids they are using are called Avatars, and they function almost exactly the same as the Proxies from the beginning of the war with the Mundars. "

"The Proxies? But only the most advanced Atlantians could do that, " I said. The Proxies were an elite force of powerful Atlantians. The reason they were the best fighters we had was because they created Proxies, which were whatever they wanted, and were controlled by them while in an unconscious state. The best part of this was that the Proxies were made out of ice or water, and could be remade almost instantly at the nearest water source. The downside was that if the Proxy was injured in a way that would kill an Atlantian, the Proxy would become just water and disappear. However, they could not be tortured if caught, bleed out, and could heal themselves quickly. The Proxy controllers had been killed seven months after the Mundars landed by an Atlantian version of an ICBM, which the Mundars had captured and used against us.

"I know sir, but humans can do that now with technology. The good news is that it takes a while to regenerate one of their Avatars, several years actually. They had them ready so quickly because a probe from a few years ago landed on the planet and collided with one of the Omaticaya, which is where they first got the DNA. Also, none of the Avatars are going to be created for soldiers, so that's good for us if it comes to war. "

"Good to know. Anything else that you found?"

"I've run several simulations, and the results of such lead me to believe that you and the others are capable of controlling Proxies. "

"Proxies? Plural Proxies? We've never tried anything like that!"

"I know sir, but you never know until you try. "

"Alright, I'll try it. Give me a minute. " I sat down, cleared my mind, and closed my eyes. I pictured myself as a Proxy, made of ice and water. After a few minutes, I opened my eyes to see that I had managed to create the body of a Proxy, but I was still sitting on the ground in my normal body. I sighed and stood up. I examined the sculpture and found that it looked like me, only made of ice. I took some plants, crushed them up to make red, yellow, and blue colors. I opened a piece in the back and poured them in. After moving them around with water currents I was able to put color in it, so that it looked even more like me. A short time later I realised that I wasn't keeping the colors in place but, they weren't moving anyways.

"ARC? What's going on?"

"I don't know sir, I've never seen anything like it. "

A few minutes later, I was still trying to figure out what was happening. It was keeping itself from melting, and I was maintaining its form, even when I snapped off a finger, a new one formed within seconds. "What are you?" I asked aloud, mainly talking to myself.

"I am you sir, " I heard from somewhere. It sounded like me, but I wasn't speaking. I walked to the front of the figure.

"What?" I asked.

"I am you sir, " this time I saw the mouth move, but the speech wasn't coming from the figure. It was speaking in my mind like ARC.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I am you sir. "

"Why are you not just dissipating like anything I make and leave?"

"You attempted to make a Proxy, but instead you made a Program. " Programs were legendary even from before the Atlantian population got too large for our powers to support them. They were like Proxies, but self-thinking and most of them duplicated their creator's personality. Most of them even had a limited range of powers, but it diminished their creator's.

"How good are you at combat?"

"As good as you are sir. "

"Let's try a quarterstaff duel. " I made a simple staff and took a combat position. The program did the same.

"Ready?"

"Ready. "

"Begin. " After several minutes of fighting, neither of us had hit each other. Every move I made he blocked, and every attack he made I recognized and could block easily. After a short while, I was beginning to tire, and my defense was flagging. Almost immediately after, I began to take hits. I kept trying my best, but I couldn't block them all. I refused to yield, but I knew I couldn't win. A low sweeping strike knocked me off my feet and I hit my head on a root, blacking out.

I awoke immediately after and rolled over to avoid any followthrough attacks, and stood up. I remade my quarterstaff and prepared to defend myself again, but I saw myself on the floor where I had fallen down. Then I realised I had succeeded in making a Proxy.

"Duel is over. Good job, " I said to the program. He nodded and discarded his quarterstaff, and then dispersed himself back into the air. If I needed him later, I would have to make another one.

I looked at myself on the forest floor. I didn't know how to get back into myself, but after concentrating a little bit I was back in my old body as the Proxy dissipated.

"ARC, get the others to start practicing this. Let's finish looking through the human's data. "

"Yes sir. They will know momentarily. The human's compound is mainly for scientific research and mining, and several more mining camps are going to be set up in a few months. The building outside the compound is set to be a school to teach natives about the humans, and they hope to learn about them too. The main reason for the Avatars is to get the Omaticaya to leave Hometree so they can mine there. "

"That won't work. They'll never leave. "

"I know, and that's why their military is so large here. They can kill anyone who tries to stop them. "

"How long until things get dangerous?"

"Files from before the time machine say about seven years. "

"Alright. Plenty of time to prepare. Let's start by getting all of our technology out of hometree and to the auxiliary camp. "