Star's Allies
Extra - The FRONT of the Cause
A workshop. A man. A job.
All day. Every day.
Novus worked long and hard for this. Their work would not go unfinished soon. The ruler of Halcandra oversought their assets. Novus was one to keep, definitely. If he could finish his machine…
Halcandra would become the most rich planet yet!
…
I work in my small workshop, just at the edge of town. I'm usually Novus, or sometimes 'The Genius', as those folks in the big place called me. I'm just an inventor, working the everyday job.
My next project would be the wish granters. Honestly, the thought of such small little things, granting the small wish of a child…
Maybe a small cookie, or some ice cream, to cheer them up…
Or maybe some cake, for their birthday!
Well, it's a small scale project. I didn't wish it to blow up beyond my handling.
But sometimes the recognition I get is astoundingly annoying.
"Novus. Work on this," they would say.
And I always said no. A creator's ideas should only be theirs. If you aren't original, nobody will pay attention. Good attention, I mean.
I don't want to be known as a copycat. An inventor must invent, after all, not improve on what already exists. Improvers would do that, calling it their 'brand new product' or something like that.
Sometimes I wish other inventors got their own recognition.
I would bring my little wishmakers off to the park, so that children could wish.
Wish to all their hearts' content. At least, that's what they would always do, as I always brought my little wishmakers here, until…
"You'll get a pay raise."
"...of how much?"
".000 halcoins. Every month for the scope of the project, for the funding and the material, as well as your time. .000 halcoins, for the end project."
"I'll accept it."
I fell to the hands of greed. Sometimes, things look too good to be true. I wished I thought of that before trying to back out multiple times during the project.
"I need that deadline to be extended."
"M-more time, president! An invention has to be in great care!"
"I NEED MORE TIME! LET ME HAVE MORE TIME! I'LL PROVIDE AN UPDATE, BUT LET ME INVENT AND I'LL CALL WHEN IT'S READY!" I slammed my communicator at the floor, my eyes red and baggy, tired from the eleven allnighters I pulled.
This is crazy! They expect me to finish that fast!?
"Give me a damn break! This is- I'll sue you!" the inventor rambled, his hands slamming against the metal, sterile table.
"And you think you have enough political power and influence to do that? Know your place in society. We are the ones who enjoy luxury. The workforce is the one who slave away under the heat of the sol," the agent notified. "And yeah, you'll sue us, and then get absolutely crushed in court? You know we have the judge, jury, and the prosecution ready to execute you the moment you step in there with a lousy attorney."
The agent informed him of this in a monotone voice, his eyes glazed over.
"Agh…"
He knew he signed himself away. He knew why he was erring. He knew how a single decision can bring hell to your life.
Stressed out by the daily rants and ramblings of the contractor's agents, Novus knew he would get himself executed sooner or later. Power was everything, after all, even if compared to the normal denizens of Halcandra, the government was a-ok in that department. What could a single inventor do against a whole corporation of like-minded individuals?
Which is why he wished for things himself.
"I wish for currency."
[WISH GRANTED.]
And coins would drop from thin air, though they were an unusual sort of bunch. They were different coins, from different ages, from different worlds.
Thus, came conclusion number 1.
It must be effectively possible in any world for the item to exist.
And later, an addendum.
Correction; the item given fulfills the bare minimum. Specific instructions are required to give the wisher what he or she truly wants.
Both these two concrete constants was what he was working around, keeping him on his toes. Those agents could've done something before this all happened. They could've messed everything up with a single prompt.
I wish.
Distrust; fear; of the unknown, of the untrustworthy.
The chances that the government will abuse this power is extremely likely.
In the history of Halcandra, there had been many cases as such.
Novus knows this well; he is studious on many historical topics, despite being an inventor. Sometimes, both those things mix well, like the re-discovery of several different materials, buried under the old castle (which the presidency soon claimed as theirs, only letting a small amount known to the rest of Halcandra).
There had been an old castle, which led to the discovery of such elements. This was definite proof that since the beginning, the leading government is actually hiding things from the population. They were the ones who lived in luxury, whilst the rest of the world starved in hunger and lived in poverty.
It sure is better now, but the history says otherwise. Novus knows this.
He knows that sooner or later, they'll come and get it all. All of his hard work. All of his labour, sweat, gone, only for the rich to use and the government to abuse.
Which is why he set up a countermeasure.
That the Novae will always obey their original creator, no matter what. The government will not be able to reproduce the machines; no, only he knows the true key of how to truly build it. Should they ignore his warnings, they might just find ten thousand time bombs blowing up their presidential factory.
The Novae will be hardcoded to obey only him. The Novae will ignore all other priorities and only focus on his command.
Such were the countermeasures Novus implemented.
Confident in his work, Novus stepped off, glanced at the batch of Novae, and walked off with his book of notes. Soon, he'll burn them. After all, the memory was already in his head.
No one will know how to produce his little machines. No one will be able to.
Multiple safety precautions, all encoded and encrypted with the best way he knew how to. All stacked in his favour.
"And so, this is my offer to you. I sell you these Novae right here-" and he turns around, signalling the two small machines to come forward, "-and I'll receive the money."
"Can we buy the patent and the blueprints?" the gruff voice asked of him.
"No can do! I'm the only guy in town who can actually build it. If you try to, you might find the building blow up or something! It's a safety precaution that only I can build it, see! I fear that inexperienced people would attempt to build something like this, so all the knowhow is in here!" Novus tapped his head.
"...hhhhh."
A tense negotiation. Novus nearly wanted to throw up from all the pressure that was building up.
They gave him a good, long stare before sighing.
"In that case, we are lowering our 10 billion halcoin deal to our usual 1 billion."
"No can do. I am staying put at 10 billion. You can't back out now."
"8 billion."
"Why are you trying to haggle with me? 9.5 billion."
"8.35 billion."
Novus gave his limit. "9.35 billion is the lowest I'll go."
"...Alright."
The money was transferred well. Novus had gotten his money, all in physical form. It was only ten suitcases, and the space used for to transport the Novae was repurposed for them. "Yep. Received, documented. Thanks for the deal! Contact me when you need more!"
And the inventor strolled off, happy that the deal was done and he was out of the stuffy room.
One Nova turned to their new boss.
AWAITING PROTOCOL.
"I wish for Novus to be dead."
WISH GRANTED.
And a dragon egg appeared.
…
It was a calm day in his house. Though he had all the cash in the world, he lived a frugal life. The money was mostly spent on funding his next projects; his main one being building the ultimate Nova, the greatest wish-granter he will ever build. It was a carbon copy of himself; atleast, as close as he could get it to with gears and the exterior machinery.
It's a masterpiece.
He had produced even more Novae for the government, some even as large as entire planets (all of them were repurposed for 'so and so' things, an example would be transplanting the entire botanical side of Halcandra, which disappeared along with the wish-granters). They would sometimes house other Halcandrans, or procure food and daily necessities.
He was proud of his work. It made a dent in Halcandran history as one of the things most influential in the public's eyes.
Of course, the public version of the Novae had to be dumbed down a bit, but otherwise people seem to be using it as intended.
Which is good, of course, as the multiple precautions both in paying for the Nova itself and the instruction manual pointed out drastic things should they mistreat the mini wishmakers.
All was good in life. Maybe his paranoia wasn't justified, after all. His students would laugh it off. He really should, too.
It was a time of rest and relaxation. What's left of his projects were automated, and a definite headway was making it through in the science world.
After all, it was all his little wishmakers could do.
Grant wishes, within reason.
The Novae had become a staple in every single house on the planet. No more were old robots, struggling here and there to buy produce and make said produce. Now, all they needed was the need to cultivate, and the wish for such a thing.
Wishes come from belief, and belief can only go so far. Ambitions, on the other hand… His little Novae works like that.
Any stray thoughts wouldn't just become the wish it would grant. It needs ambition.
Novus had already planned it through.
Through and through and through.
The world was an utopia.
And with it, came monotony. Systems in place, daily lives everyday doing the same tasks over and over again. He could see it from his bedside. Thankfully this didn't affect the world's greatest thinkers, him included.
As scientists and progressers for the future, their minds had to stay creative. Always filled with ideas. Novus knows that they'll run out of new ideas some time in the future, but now, it was another golden age of science. Time to answer lifelong questions, to break the barrier.
The frontier was clear for young, aspiring individuals to take and the old to teach. But...
It was, in all senses, quite the utopia, despite the monotony.
And he wanted to break that monotony. And thus, with that, he started his research on age old questions. With wish-granters, anything is possible.
Even immortality.
…
"He is ready?"
"Yes."
"Good. Release him, then."
A four-headed dragon was bound, laced with restraints and whip marks, along with gash marks, bullet marks, burn marks, and whatever marks was possible to be inflicted on a young dragon.
The drake was a red one, and one heavily abused for its appearance. It has a powerful gaze at the ones running the show, the people in black and blue suits.
The dragon wanted to burn them all.
And as soon as the people's slimy hands turned off the laser bars…
"Aaaaaauuugh! S-shit!"
Landra chomped one whole arm off. The other tried to shoot him. Too bad his fire already burnt the weapon too much, as it exploded on the man's hands.
"Sound the alarm! Sound the-"
They had gotten too lax on his security.
This was one full advantage that he took graciously.
Eating the two people whole, Landra headed for the exit, wherever that may be.
"So, I see that you have paid attention. Very well. Now, we'll move on to quantum connection, the complicated basis to our daily tech, at least here in the lab. You'll need to be able to fix your own equipment, and I will definitely not be doing that for you. Now… these connections are usually represented by a blue glowing line when a certain compound is exposed to it."
A hand rose up from the group. "Uh, is that compound algerite, sir?"
"Correct. Algerite, mined from our planet's depths, shines a deep red when solid and invisible when it's a gas. It is also non-toxic, which makes it our number one pick for identifying the quantum connections. I'd rather not use the other alternatives, see."
"What's the a-alternative to algerite, sir?" the timid one asked.
"Hm. That would be cyanide, mixed with an odd compound called bosmium. As you can tell, cyanide is lethal in large doses especially in its gaseous form. Have I mentioned that its reaction to bosmium is explosive, as well? We used to pour it in with long titanium clamps before we started using the simpler version, algerite."
The class 'ooh'ed in unison as Novus rambled on about the topic. Showing them the blue lines, Novus moved on. "So, you see, there's a tiny bit of coding here, too. Who here has studied coding?"
A few of his students raised their hands. Good.
"Alright. So, imagine the connections as code. And that code does something; has an input, an output, and everything in between. We modify that line of code to produce the result we want. Fooor example…"
A Nova floated in the room.
"Say hello to Eclipse over here."
The Nova mewed as the class mumbled a hello.
"Ah, sad that you don't share the same enthusiasm I have about those little wishmakers. Anyways, Eclipse here is made out of that code. We bind the quantum connection to an input and output, write the code, and make sure it works."
Novus stopped.
"Well, we usually simulate the code, first… which is why today you'll be downloading this handy application I have here. Personal AI, will keep all your computations and simulations safe, secure, and recorded. That's about it for today, if you'd like to ask Eclipse about something, please go do so. I'll be over there," and Novus pointed, his finger to the 'planning table' as he usually calls it, "planning my new idea out. So then- ciao!"
A few of the students immediately left. Some stayed behind, heeding Novus' words. As Novus stepped over to the planning table, a loud roar was heard.
"W-what was that?" one of his students worryingly murmured.
...Turns out his paranoia was justified all along.
Novus turned around, grabbed his preferred weapon and stormed out of the lab, ordering his students to go to the bunker in the basement.
He worried each day for some crazy situation the government would pull at him.
And today's that day. Novus raised his weapon as a shadow moved.
Novus looked up.
A Landra was there, roaring in pain from the multiple injuries it had sustained.
But the drake continued on, roaring, yelping, as it breathed fire and burned Halcandra down.
A magical creature, one from the books of legend and fairy tales.
Right outside his doorstep.
It didn't take long to realize that this was probably the government's fault.
They were the only ones with advanced wishes unlocked in their Novae, after all.
Shit. A dragon's running rampage and oh boy what can I do-
"Eclipse, I wish for ultimate power."
"Wish granted."
And a crown appeared, right at Novus' hands. "Uh-"
Novus glanced at it for a good minute, before putting it on. Once it was on top of his head, he could feel the amount of power this thing boasted. And..
...and...
He could feel the power.
The power.
…
...what was his goal again?
Power?
No, that seems off.
Maybe Power was it.
Yes… power.
And then we'll rule the world!
With nobo-
...
The crown was unceremoniously smacked off of his head. Novus fell down in a sense of confusion, as his surroundings soon turned into a brawl.
His students were fighting each other for the crown. Unnerved by the item, Novus crawled the best he could out of his house.
He was not touching the crown again.
No, no, nononononono.
No power.
Must have power.
Power.
Po-
Novus shut off that part of his mind, paying the greed no heed.
"Eclipse, go big and run! Run! Before the dr-"
Landra growled furiously at the scientist.
As it landed, Novus could only glance as the four headed dragon split into four willingly.
One of the four stepped up to him.
"You failed," it said.
Another resumed their brother's words. "You summoned a cursed item here."
"Wh-what? No, no I didn't."
"I can feel the greed from you. You and your wish granters have made too much greed in this world. So-"
Another part of the dragon continued. "I must eradicate the world of the taint, I suppose."
"Wait, no! You can't do this!"
And the dragon growled together, merging back into one.
"You cannot order us. We have the purest of hearts. This is for the best. This world is too rotten. My handlers are dead."
It snarled. "Good for them."
And the dragon continued its rampage, switching from its four dragon form and its conjoined form.
And Novus took a stand, watched; as he saw the world burn, literally.
He turned back, to see that his students were dead, blood in their hands as the crown remained in no one's hands.
A voice enticed him to pick it up.
So he went to try to do it. But Eclipse was in the way.
Eclipse is in the way.
IN THE WAY.
Novus punted the ballbot, and went diving for the crown.
Eclipse responded by latching itself to Novus, pulling the incomprehensible scientist away from the crown, as he spouted nonsense at the robot.
Once the crown was out of his range of sight, Novus collapsed again, this time, for real.
Eclipse stood watch as the Nova sighed in relief.
Several hours passed. Eclipse was getting anxious. Novus is still collapsed. They do not know enough about living biology to ascertain the safety of their creator.
The dragon stepped near them. They were together again.
"So, I see. He remains the last one."
And the dragon let out a scream of victory.
Those yells it did in the air were that of confidence, not pain.
All those screeches were done intentionally.
All to spread the message. Nearly every single member of the rotten civilization is dead.
All that remains is the man resisting the pull of the powerful yet cursed artifact.
Landra let out a sigh. It will be its last kill on this planet. So, Landra starts while the man is still unconscious. Less pain for him.
But, his odd pet intervened. "Do not harm master. He is a good person. Harm the crown instead."
It tried to reason with him, unlike anything in this damned planet.
So, Landra heeded the message. Maybe he'll let one alive. The civilization is effectively dead anyways.
Landra turned it four heads to the crown. As it approached the accessory, Landra smelt smoke.
Something was up, and this smoke is different compared to his own smoke.
It had a bit of a metallic tang to it, as if it was made from something that is not fire on wood.
And then-
BOOM!
Landra screamt in pain, actual pain, as a giant laser beam shot at them from the skies. It pierced the dragon to four.
No big deal. They could always merge back-
No. They no longer could.
They tried and tried, oh so tried, tested.
But it was to no avail. The damage was enough to permanently set them apart.
Indefinitely.
A young voice chuckled as it boomed across the planet.
"Take that, dragon! Now, give me the crown!"
Landra wasn't just about to listen to some snot-nosed brat. It took the crown for itself.
And thus, Landra was back in their merged form, four heads and one body, all in its glory.
The ship that was voicing its thoughts suddenly backed off. Too late for that.
Landra beamed multiple fireballs at the blur ship, nailing multiple parts of it.
As the ship sailed back into space, damaged, Landra stopped their assault and began to care for the two others on the planet.
The odd pet thing and the important guy.
It was the least it could do, after showering the entire planet with fire.
The Halcandrans were dead now.
Landra turned to the cursed artifact. It knew it was cursed. One look at it and one could tell the heavy miasma over the entire crown.
Landra knew it was its job to wear it. No other being of pure heart can withstand its temptation of power.
The crown was picked up, and established on top of Landra's head. With that, the multiple parts of Landra begin to merge again, all into one being with loaded amounts of power.
It let out a screech of power, of hierarchy as volcanoes boomed all around them.
Lava poured on to the surface, ruining the once prosperous lands of Halcandra.
The sky turned red as the smoke from all the sources of lava blocked the light from the nearby star.
"Master. Master, are you all right?"
"Ngh. Uagg. I'm- I'm fine… fine…?"
Oh. Right. Nearly forgot about those two.
The odd man was sweltering. Collapsed in front of the enviable dragon.
The pitiable man knew his end was near.
"My domain is not one for you. This planet's hideous beings are dead. Soon, you will be, too."
Novus took a deep breath, choking in the ash.
"Agk-ah-haaaa… Wha-hat have we…. done to.. kha- wrong y-yo-"
Novus broke down in a fit of coughs, Eclipse beside him.
"Your people desecrated me. Mistreated me. Used me. I did that to your people. Now they are gone."
"Eclipse…"
"Yes, master?"
In the undying winds of ash, howling as the world spun, Novus wished for something incredulous.
It was not his time to die.
Not his time to die.
Not his time to die.
…
His head hurt.
It hurts.
All of it hurts.
ithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsith-
Novus…
was not in the right state of mind for this.
He is dying.
But the frontier was too large to explore. Too many questions left unanswered. Too many sciences, not yet done.
…
His ambitions got the better of him.
…
"I wish for-kh; immortality."
"...Wish granted, master. Allow me to transform into the appropriate form."
And Eclipse launched to space, flying off, turning large, and larger, as the spherical robot soon turned into a massive planet sized threat.
Landra could only watch. What is this…?
Wish granted.
Preparing Results.
Pinging.
And a goddess appeared in all of its beauty, summoned by the plea.
"I am Andromeda, and I assume you are the ones who summoned me?"
"I-agaaaah… did." Novus breathed again, more dust and ash into his system.
"Let me live, grant me immortality, please. It is not my time."
"Absolutely not!" Landra yelled. "I'll burn you right now! I should've burned you when I had the chance…!"
Landra raised their heads and golden fire swept down their throats-
-and Andromeda, firing down a gullet of water down Landra's throat.
"I will grant that request. However, their request is also just as valid. For immortality, I turn you into one of us."
Andromeda touched Novus.
"For the dragon's objections…"
Novus started to become made up of gears. Everything was gears. He looked more like a robot than a living being.
"You will serve me. Oh, how I longed for a personal servant…"
Andromeda touched Novus again. But Novus had already punched her in the face.
"I value my freedom, and despite my immortality, I want free will in my life!"
"I am the goddess of order, and you have spelled your own death sentence! Begone from my sight!"
Novus widened his robotic eyes. "Wait, n-"
And Andromeda blasted him with water, soaking him, before gripping the robotic arm he now had and flung him as hard as the goddess could.
Novus flew straight at Eclipse, out to the reaches of space.
Still, he lives. A robot does not require basic needs of a living being to operate.
"Why, no… no, no..."
Andromeda twinkled from the planet, readying a spell.
"With a fraction of my power, I shall merge you with that ingrate machine! Goodbye, you ungrateful, fallen man!"
Nothing happened for a second.
But then a pink heart surged through the skies and up and out, hitting Novus square in his robotic chest. It dug deep, bored itself in.
Another pink heart lazily travelled to the mega-sized Eclipse, who only meowed at the sight of the planet.
The heart dug deep, and killed, killed, killed-
Novus felt himself growing sleepy.
And then the pain started.
His metal arm merged with Eclipse's outside, dragging him further inside, like a cell eating a bacteria.
As he was pulled further in, the pain wracked his body, as he could feel his arms and legs being disintegrated, repurposed for additional machinery.
His body disconnected from his head, as it connected via wires to the core of the Nova.
His head was positioned right on top, the mess of metal situated at the centre and the brains of the operations.
"Serves you right."
Novus could hear the booming voice of this goddess; no, this devil of a woman.
As he allowed himself to be submerged with his creation, Novus thought back on how he could have prevented this.
...maybe the granting frivolous wishes wasn't such a good idea.
"Agh, darn! Well, maybe next time…"
A young Magolor piloted his ship carefully, soaring the stars.
"Hmm. Maybe I should go for the gold some other time. I did just get this ship a few months back, after all…"
The pilot paced around the control deck, as he heard a ping come from the screens.
"...'My name is Lor Starcutter'…? Oh... right. That's what this unit is called…"
Magolor paced around some more.
"...Alright Lor. Where are we going?"
AN: Oh, boy.
This is done. Hmmm.
Here, we see the dynamics of Novus. Mind you, the guy's pretty smart, but he's not exactly the most smart in most situations…
Ambition comes first for him. Getting overworked doesn't help, either.
His out-of-nowhere need of immortality comes from his ambitions. The man already made wish-granting robots; who's to say of he also chased after the lifelong question of immortality?
Anyways, that's about it for this one, and so; we're off to the next one!