Hidden away from prying eyes, the Overseer of the Ark watched as the humans feasted and made merry, emboldened by their victory over Broodmother Lysrix. Now that they had conquered one of the ultimate lifeforms, they were likely to succeed in vanquishing the rest. If they succeeded there, and then managed to defeat the Overseer's physical form, then they stood a good chance of helping the Ark Initiative defeat the Element menace. That was a big if, though.

Now, though, the Overseer had to look into those who were not yet on the Ark. Potential survivors were examined every day by each Overseer, using their vast intelligence to determine whether or not the given target was worthy of becoming a survivor. Those who were to save the world needed to be many things: resourceful, capable of working in groups, intelligent, innovative...and given how absurd things could get on an Ark, more than a little crazy.

Putting those thoughts aside, the machine turned its attention toward the vast multiverse and began determining which candidates it should bring in.

Our victory was hard fought and well won, with a feast that lasted late into the night. Dinosaurs and tribesmen devoured hearty meals, while one of our medieval kin recorded the story on parchment and stone.

Also, several guys and a few girls ended up getting drunk and trying to make passes at M4 and the T-Dolls. It went about as well as you'd think it would.

"Looks nice to see everyone celebrating, doesn't it?"

Glancing over to Vivian, I nodded. "It does. I'd say we've earned this celebration and a day of rest afterwards. Before we take on the other bosses."

"Well, I think we'll have help there. Celm's told me that there's an energy surge coming from the Ark, and that he's determined it relates to the arrival of new survivors - so we could eventually expect to see more people that we could bring into our tribe."

"Nice. Fide crack any secrets on the nature of element?"

'Incoming call'

"Nevermind, she's calling me now."

"Regarding the nature of this material, which I've decided to name Aberrantium as element is a better common name and Edmundium is too egocentric, it appears that it shares properties that are similar to the crystalline substance known as tiberium, at least based on what I have read from Celm's version of the internet. It gradually converts other substances into more of itself via chemical reactions, though I cannot say how it affects biological organisms without examples of creatures afflicted by its corruption."

The Commander glanced at his nominal second in command. "Do you want a corrupted corpse from Extinction?"

"Preferably alongside a dead rockdrake, yes. When you get there, of course."

"I see. So, are you sure that our research facility for element is safe and secure?"

Fide glanced around the lab. "It is buried miles underground, guarded by all kinds of technological defenses, and we have gleaned data from your specimen implant that would allow us to process the material into an inert form. It is safe. Though honestly, I still expect a portal to randomly open up and spew out something to cause us trouble here - I'm not sure that it is possible to suppress them now."

"I see. Oh, is that a Faro machine back there?"

Fide glanced over her shoulder. "Yes - Kathikon thought it best to store it here, believing that we could throw unrefined element at it if it reactivated and cripple it severely. Though I am simply attempting to purge it right now, so unless something absurd happens in the next few seconds, then-"

"Warning," noted Synais in an emotionless voice, "Portal formation detected within facility."

"MOTHERFUCKER!"

Before Fide could say more, a portal opened, out of which emerged a strange machine. Said machine glanced around at its surroundings, before noticing the deactivated Faro drone. Without hesitation, it grabbed the machine and darted back into the now-collapsing portal, accidentally taking a sample of element with it.

Fide blinked in bafflement as the portal closed. "...Was that a machine from the Matrix?"

"Yes," answered Synais, sounding bored. "And it just took back a sample of element with it. One of the unstable samples that Celm gave us to start up further research avenues, if I remember correctly."

"Oh. Well, sucks to be them."

"Indeed. Commander, can we begin creating additional underground facilities?"

"You thinking they are going to come back later?"

"Yes, after the Faro Plague is almost finished eating them. And I don't want them invading the surface."

"I see. Your request is approved."

"Oh, sir?" asked Fide.

"Yes?"

"A representative of the Altarian Republic said that they wished to offer you some form of compensation for assisting them in defeating the Drengin and Dread Lords. They admit that heroism should need no compensation, but still feel honor-bound to offer payment."

I snorted. "For the last time, I told them that I don't need a reward from them. Besides, they don't have anything to offer that I am interested in."

"Really?"

"Well, unless they have magic, but they don't."

I expected Fide to simply move on at this point, but that didn't happen. "You...don't know?"

"Don't know what?"

"Altaria is not the original name of the Altarians' world."

"Then what was the name it had when it was ruled by the Drath?"

"According to my research...Elemental."

...What?

"What?" croaked Vivian, echoing my thoughts.

"Yeah. The ambassadors told me this a while ago."

"I see. Tell them that I would like a teacher in their mystic arts...and make sure that said teacher has everything they need to provide proper lessons."

"Understood, sir. Will that be all?"

"Yes."

"I copy. Fairwell."

As the line went dead, I looked at Vivian. "I now feel very stupid."

"You and me both. So, what happens next?"

I shrugged. "Knowing our luck, someone important from another universe would promptly wash up on the beach and become a member of our tribe out of necessity."

For some reason, the Observer felt obliged to meet that human's challenge. But who should it send?

...Wait, this human was being observed by some random omnipotent being, which was using an open frequency to observe him. Perhaps it could just ask?

...Well, that was easy.

"Really?"

Before I could answer Vivian, I heard some people coughing from the beach. Turning, we found three new figures crawling up the shoreline, clothes soaked. One looked like a Japanese maid, who was accompanying a black haired boy and his sister...no way.

"Excuse me?" I asked, having walked up to the trio.

"...Yes?" asked the woman.

"My apologies, but what is your name?"

"...Sayoko. Sayoko Shinozaki."

...Looks like the universe answered my challenge.

AN: Short chapter, I know, but I need to get back into the groove for writing.

For those who don't know, Stardock confirmed that Galactic Civilizations is set in the same universe as another of their games, Elemental: War of Magic. I literally found this out (or at least remembered it) in the time between the posting of the last chapter and this one.

The trio of characters are Lelouch Lamperouge/vi Britannia, his sister Nunnally, and their ninja maid Sayoko Shinozaki from Code Geass. I had plans for them to show up soon, but couldn't figure out the best location to introduce them and ended up settling on now. Sorry.

Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!