Date: February 12, 2114.

Location: Mohave Desert, en route to Cape Cod for space launch.

Alexander slammed the 2073 Bugatti Veyron into 6th gear, making the car reach 600 miles per hour. He swore. The mechanic promised that the Nitrous Oxide modification to the engine would get the car past the speed of sound.

"I still can't believe that I'm finally going into space!" Alexander shouted over the wind.

"Yeah, me too!" The General shouted back. "But we need someone to look over humanity fight daemons on Mars."

Then, the radio broke.

"Damn it!" Shouted Alexander. "Why can't the author write something more creative than break my radio whenever he runs out of ideas?" He then addressed the car's dashboard. "Computer, please hire a fourth wall repairman."

"Shall I send for Dave, sir?" The car's AI responded in an epic British accent.

"Yeah, sure. Dave did a good job last time."

"Yes, sir."

It took exactly an hour before the travelers became restless.

"I'm bored," said Alexander. "Computer, what music do we have left?"

"Well, sir," replied the computer. "We have music by Fun and The Beatles." The General groaned in mock distress.

"Why do you always listen to these two bands? They're outdated! You got lost in 20th century culture." He looked at the car's rapidly spinning tires in disgust. "You haven't even bought a new car since 2073!"

Alexander looked unemotionally at his friend. Without turning around, he asked, "computer, please once again inform my brother why I have not bought a car since 2073."

"Yes, sir. It was because from 2074 onwards, they stopped making the cars with wheels and loud engines, both of which he has emotional attachments to, especially after inventing the Model-T 200 years ago."

Alexander smiled. "Thank you, computer."

"And he's notoriously cheap."

"Computer?" Said Alexander.

"Yes sir?"

"Shut up."

"Very good, sir."

The two brothers drove in silence for a few hours, until the general became board of listening to "All you Need is Love" for the hundredth time in a row. Then the General tried to start a conversation about politics. Big mistake.

"People these days are too lazy." Stated the General matter-of-factly.

Alexander looked at his brother in a quizzical way. "I can't believe that you called me outdated. Look around you! There is no more war. Robots do everything for humans! Without internal conflicts, humanity can easily unite against the ruinous powers. All we have to do is make sure that mankind does not become a race of hedonists."

The General grumbled, "In Rome people worked hard."

Alexander slammed on the breaks, stopping the car in 5 seconds and nearly breaking his brother's neck. "Don't. You. Ever. Mention. Rome. To. Me." He said in a darkly furious way. "They called themselves civilized. Ha! They were no more civilized than the cavemen, killing women and children for the sake of violence. There cannot be any species any more violent than those Romans, even if orcs did exist. Which they don't."

"You're just mad because they conquered Greece before Sparta could conquer them."

"Are you listening to me?! They were so interested in total warefare, but that's not all. The medieval knights' atrocities disgusted me so much that I left you to live your dream while I went to Japan for some peace and quiet. At least they have the nobility to decapitate you instead of burning you at the stake!"

The General rolled his eyes. "Whatever, man. The last time you were this mad, you killed that demon prince with pure warp energy on Roanoke. Remember that?"

"Don't remind me! I vaporized everyone there! I'm not proud of it."

This went on for a few hours, until they both grew bored and drove on through the night. The Bugatti pulled in to the space port 8 hours later, mostly due to the fact Alexander broke the sound barrier a few times on the straightaways (finally that stupid upgrade engaged!)

The car pulled up to a massive chrome skyscraper, attached to it was a massive iron block, which would house colonists and carry supplies to the very first human settlement on Mars. Various mechanics, riding modified golf carts, sat beside their Android assistants. Above the scene flew a huge flag of the United Nations, billowing in the wind. The General turned to his brother. "So, Alexander, do you have your effects with you?"

The Spartan scratched his head. "Well, let's see. Shield, check. Spear, check. 13th century Japanese katana, check. 1876 Colt revolver with modified plasma armor-piercing rounds, check. Yeah I think I'm good."

"Brain?" Asked the General with a smile.

Alexander smiled back. "I'll have to get back to you on that one."

"So, I guess this is it," said Alexander as the two brothers walked on the docking platform towards the giant spaceship before them.

"Not quite yet" replied the General. I wanted to give you this." He unveiled a small microchip in a transparent plastic case. "This is Computer, condensed so that you can talk to him in case you get lonely. Just put the case near any computer and say computer."

"Goodbye, General."

"Goodbye, Alexander," and with that the two brothers departed.

Alexander entered the cryo room, full of roughly 500 other colonists. "Commence cryo-sleep process, stage one. "Wait!" Shouted Alexander before the ice froze him over. "That goodbye scene was nowhere near dramatic enough! I know that the author now has school and stuff but seriously, re-write that!" But the author became annoyed with Alexander's pleas, and decided to initiate the cryo-process himself. "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" yelled Alexander, attempting to make his departure more dramatic.

"Oh dear," said Computer. "Dave will have quite a large job with this one."

The Future Emperor of mankind watched his brother enter the space ship. This time, he thought, I will succeed in saving humanity. He snuck quietly to the side of the ship that controlled the course of the voyage. The foolish engineers put the voyage computer near the outside of the ship, so it could be easily accessed without having to go inside. If I were emperor, he thought, engineers would not be as idiotic. The General began to type in a new command for the voyage computer. By now, all passengers would surely be entering the cryo- sleep tubes, so nobody could stop him now. The General decided to send the ship to a distant planet outside of the solar system. The cryo tubes would fail before the new destination would be reached, and everyone aboard save Alexander would surely die, but it was all in the name of progress. Luckily, he will have Computer with him, so he can find his way back. And I will show him that I was right the entire time: I need to take control.

"Hmmm," said the General. "The computer says that the ship will reach this planet by 38,111." He shrugged his shoulders. Surely 35,000 years would be enough time to take up his rightful place as ruler of mankind, and forge a new empire in the likeness of Rome.

Goodbye, brother.

Darkness began closing around the Emperor. There was little time left for him. The foul traitor Horus had mortally wounded him. He saw his entire dream of a glorious empire collapse before his eyes. He saw that the end had become the means. The Emperor reflected on all of those lives he had ended with the reconquest of the human planets. I'm a genocidal maniac, he thought. By God, my brother was right. Even I cannot handle unlimited power.

"Bind me to the throne," he ordered with the rasping breath of a dying old man. The primarch nodded and began inserting him into the massive golden machine. In this he would be neither alive nor dead, but in an eternal limbo of pain; an appropriate punishment for the deeds he had committed. As he began to black out, the Emperor uttered, no more than a faint whisper, three words. "Alexander, I'm sorry." Then the darkness closed on him, and he did not speak again.