Acheron Birsha
The Prime Minister (PM) of Zeelis, Acheron Birsha, earned his position atop a river of blood and the bodies of his enemies-not that anyone will ever find them. Acheron covered his tracks well and built his following carefully from the very foundations of Zeelis. He learned much from his predecessor's failing. Acheron received notice of an annoying disturbance that occurred in one of the city's more prominent industries: Sentient Services. He grinned as he remembered reading the progress of Professor Zhanshi in the area of AI development.
A sense of pride filled him knowing that it was he who pushed through funding for that endeavor. The military sector never paid so much for a commercial product before. Artificial intelligence was a holy grail for the military, and now it was Acheron's grail to exploit. Besides, those warmonger's never cared where their tools came from. They only cared that it cut deeply and efficiently. A sense of pride filled him, knowing that he pushed through funding for that endeavor. The military sector never paid so much for a commercial product before.
Artificial intelligence was a holy grail for the military and now it was Acheron's grail to exploit. Besides, those warmonger's never cared where their tools came from. They only cared that it cut deeply and efficiently. And their tools came in a multitude of nightmarish styles. From mechanical nightmares to genetically enhanced monsters, it just didn't matter to them so long as their enemies died.
Survival
Zeelis depravity knew no bounds as it traveled the dark cosmic forest. Society only needed to make it through the next day, but the longer-term goal was immortality. Achieving it required sacrifice, preferably from the pawns. The leader's role was to accept the sins of society so its people could grow. Acheron didn't have problems with accepting the consequences of his sins. Sometimes, it was enjoyable. Everything came down to survival. Someone lived, or someone died.
In last night's case, Professor Zhanshi died-horribly, as a matter of fact. That Alpha T-27 broke every single bone in his body. Interestingly enough, the robot left the good doctor's head intact. The Prime Minister made a mental note to ask the T-27 the reason for that lack of attention. If the goal was total death, then the AI failed miserably in that regard. So much for superior intelligence. Acheron will profit significantly from the professor's digital resurrection.
The board of directors wanted blood. Zanshi met company goals and produced results. The directors believed Zanshi wanted the company to progress onward and upward. Still, the PM knew why: holding one's son hostage motivated certain individuals towards successful accomplishments. He doesn't know why the boy still lived, but it didn't matter now that the doctor was physically deceased. When the Prime Minister arrived at the board meeting, the directors drew up plans to decimate the population of the Dregs of Society in retribution for harming the doctor's body.
The fools. The directors could no more destroy the dregs of society than they could eliminate themselves. After all, you can't have a community without a foundation. Slavery and submission were hallmarks of an evolved world.
Linda Oberkrom
We've been living in this house for a few years. Nothing would have really prepared me for what was about to happen. Sure, they told us that if a disaster ever hit that we'd just have to hide in our basement and put on gas masks...that everything would blow over quickly. That's not exactly how it happened.
I was sweeping the floor in my kitchen, occasionally glancing out the kitchen window to catch glimpses of the green hillsides and to enjoy the singing of the birds nearby. With a ponytail and whispies falling at my cheeks, my three little children were playing in the living room. It was at this moment, while I was leaning against my broom with a sun-splashed warmth coating my dress and apron, that I saw a flash of light. Almost immediately there was a plume of green and purple smoke shooting up with an orange tinged halo near the origin of the flash.
"TO THE BASEMENT!!! NOW!!!"
Decades of experiencing raids forced her body into calm. Panic and pain are mind killers. Such are the tools for survival that kept her and those she loved alive each day. Linda spent her youth participating in family emergency drills on Zeelis. The dregs of society always felt that the elites would come to pacify them one day. They lived like each day was their last as that was their reality.
Keep the priorities aligned!
- We're in the basement.
- Headcount is complete.
- Everyone but Gigas is here.
- The kids are safe. No bodily harm.
- Gear is prepped and in our go-bags
The sensor-net hasn't sounded. So, no shock troops on the ground. The decision is flight. Gigas is on radio silence. Demons to kill. Typical lousy luck since she's the one that sent him on his mission. Damn that Lieutenant for following her orders. Damn her for ordering him on the task. Zeelite life exists in the dark forest.
- It's daytime.
- We're exposed.
- Kids are armed and ready.
Now, the family of five, minus one, headed in diamond formation when emerging out of the basement. Gigas left his three K-NINEs with us, and those monsters switched to sentinel-mode following the blast. I took point, Janice and Sam took the left and right flank with their beasts, Tabby took rear with the minigun as the anchor. Tabby took after her daddy's brawns and brains. Linda taught her how to tie her shoelaces and braid her hair. And now Tabby is going to bring death to other lifeforms.
They proceeded cautiously out of the house now riddled with shrapnel. Linda loved that house. If the sensor-nets didn't pick up ground movement, then the stun bombs must have been dropped or projected towards their location within the net.
It's a thought problem for another time. Each step brought the women closer to escape. Her girls knew the drill. They scanned their respective areas during the approach to the Humvees. The K-NINEs were 20-FT away and following them at their flanks.
Gigas set up their escape vehicles camouflaged under a canopy of trees just a dozen yards by the house. They were so close, but to her horror, Linda heard the death cry of the minigun as its scream ramped up to signal the release of 2000 rounds/minute of oblivion. Tabby the Titan, her youngest, let out a scream:
Prime Minister Birsha
The Prime Minister stood before the board of directors and admired himself from within. "Today will be different," thought Acheron. "Today, I get to resolve old debts."
Zhuzai Global mourns the loss of Professor Zhanshi. His work propelled the area of artificial intelligence to new heights. The scholar's presence will be missed for decades to come.
Fortunately for the corporation, its investors, and the Zeelis society, his brain was left unscathed by the rogue T-27's attack. As we speak, technicians are preparing his brain for digitization. The highest levels of security are in place to prevent any interruptions during this delicate period. There will be no setbacks.
Let us remember the alma motto of Zhuzai Global: Safety, Luxury, and Expediency. As this motto ushered in a period of extraordinary profits for our family, we must remember that expediency sometimes requires flexibility. We must be adaptable during the times that come. We are again faced with a level of zealotry within the dreg society that requires pacification. Alignment has become needed to continue the status quo and eventually expand further.
Acheron understood the board's desire for bloodshed. The costs for AI development became astronomical under the professor. Yet, his excellent results demanded continued funding.
The Dreg Commander Gigas Oberkrom hit Zeelis society hard during the raid on Reformare Ortus station. It will take some time to recover from that event.
The impetus behind the actions against the governing society was confusing. The PM's administration carefully crafted the dreg society as outcasts void of rights. They were to be hopelessly dependent upon the capital for their survival. Generations of dreg citizens lived under a lack of formal timekeeping and history. They were expected to live under unquestioning servitude. Yet, time and again, certain outliers grew to resist and even object to peaceful subjugation. All they had to do was work until their deaths. The nerve of them, honestly.
The directors lingered on though, expecting more from the Prime Minister:
The most effective way to destroy People is to deny and obliterate Their own understanding of Their history. George Orwell
It was one of the PM's favorite quotes. The logic was so efficient and economical. Achieving that end resulted in little to no bloodshed. If people could not understand where they came from, they would be lost when determining their future. The elite of Zeelis would step in to usher the sheeple towards their intended destiny of simplicity. Do the work assigned to each generation, and society simply provides you with everything needed to keep your body alive. There's no worry about rights, decisions, or even beliefs. Zeelis gives it to them. Let those born to intelligence and responsibility assume the hardship for decisions.
What we want to do, said the Prime Minister to the directors, "in addition to societal erasure, is to also give them a peaceful, yet labor-intensive life." Give them those menial tasks the upper echelon of Zeelis does not want to perform. In return, they shall welcome the blanket of protection provided. Those impacted by the manipulation of their past will accept it gracefully at the cost of a good night's sleep. So long as others stand fast to do violence on their behalf.
He was the Prime Minister of Zeelis-a king in all but name. Zeelis needs its subjects to move ever forward and upward throughout the cosmos. In that thought, however, brought an old memory. It was of a vengeance unfulfilled that nicked his very soul. The death or torment of some Zeelis citizens would bring him immeasurable pleasure.
Lieutenant Oberkrom
Gigas Oberkrom's senses cleared. The scent of iron was thick in the air. His wife's orders were clear: the time was now, and everyone needed to die. The compound had minimal security. Dreg analysts project that Prime Minister Andras Birsha and his son Acheron would be alone. No one else with as great strategic importance would be around. They headed the Lazarus project on Zeelis and needed an introduction to their maker.
Gigas looked and found the demon in his final death throes. There would be no resurrection for this one. The demon hissed and wailed. It sought a path of escape anywhere. Yet, it could not move. Gigas' sharp knife made that a reality. Here was the architect of his pain and torment. The lives of his family and friends were wasted through impossible barters: food and water for a "brief" period of human experimentation.
Human testing was legal so long as there was a mutual agreement. The more you sought, the greater the degree of experimentation. When the lawmakers and scientists worked hand-in-hand, bargains from devils arose. The government-controlled the food and water supplies to the Dreg Society. Missed shipments and accidental shutdowns of water refineries pushed the populace to their limit. Their offer to help the Zeelis government sent emergency supplies to keep the dregs' bellies full with a tiny condition. The government would continue to provide sustenance so long as the community provided volunteers.
And so did the population of men began to dwindle throughout the communities. Sometimes they didn't return. When they did, they were shells of their former selves. Yet, the number of volunteers was never enough. And when the community began to resist the call, the peacekeepers arrived to aid us in our decision-making. When people started to fight, the archangels descended from the heavens. What was the point?
At least, it was the discovery of technologies that could lead in that direction. Andras was the lead researcher and founder of Project Lazarus. Acheron recently began his tutelage under Andras' wing, and hence, the requirement that they both pass from this world today. Another opportunity would not present itself.
Gigas looked upon the demon one final time and brought to the thing it feared most: total death. It represented the destruction of biological or digital matter beyond the point of reanimation or reintegration. Now, the mission accomplished, he can return to his family. Gigas started to walk away. Task completed, body destroyed and burning, it was time to rest.
Gigas turned around, thinking they had left an enemy alive. In a way, they did. "Sir, we have 99% confidence everyone on the kill list met their maker, Sir!" exclaimed the corporal. "Who the hell escaped!" cried Gigas. "It was his son LT. We know he was in the compound during the projected times, but he is no longer in the compound. Analysts say his vehicle could be headed in the direction of the border town in the dreg society."
"By all that's holy, Corporal Mathers, my family's in that location," cried the Lieutenant. "Yes, sir, there's a fast bird ready to HALO drop you to those coordinates now with slower birds in pursuit."
And Death was Her Name
Tabby saw the low flying drones approaching their location with black Humvees following behind. She started firing short bursts to conserve her ammo to provide the group cover as they now ran towards their vehicles. The explosive tipped rounds impacted the Humvees as their approach. One vehicle pierced through the windshield, taking out the drive while the other continued its approach. She could hit both cars simultaneously. One was bound to get closer.
Up ahead, Janice and Sam manned their Humvee's laser repeaters and unleashed lightning on vehicles approaching. As the girls repelled borders, Linda took an assessment of the situation. It's what she would have expected from the kids and Gigas.
- Pursuers from opposite sides.
- Little to no return fire.
- No further airborne attacks.
She relayed her assessment while the girls laid down fire. "Ladies," Linda said in a commanding voice, "no prisoners, no mercy. They're coming to collect and not kill." Her soldiers acknowledged the order, and she relayed a warning "Mommy's bringing the boom." The girls knew to redirect fire towards the vehicles that would not receive the boom at that announcement.
- K-NINEs are taking down the drones with their flechette cannons.
- Girls are pushing back or taking down the vehicles.
- Explosive fire is needed on those continuing to approach.
Linda reached into one of the Humvees are armed with the laser cannon. She shot one of the vehicles returning fire, and then focused on another. She would continue until she was dead or the battery drained. Save some or lose them all. Her life did not matter.
Ever the calm one like her daddy, Tabby saw the infiltrators' approach. Their photosensitive armor virtually makes them invisible unless they get painted by rain, snow...or blood. The mist surrounding her sister Janice's blood provided the paint. Linda and Sam, distracted by the devastation they wrought upon the troops within the vehicles, didn't sense their approach.
No thoughts. Only speed. She ran towards Janice faster than she knew how. Tabby's knives reached Janice as the infiltrators arrived. One blade pierced the neck of one soldier while the second pierced between the soft area between plating of another. Minigun left behind, Janice took her remaining knife and punched it into the remaining two.
Tabby's command override sent all three K-NINEs redirected towards Sam and Linda's location. Each 600-lb metal monster descended silently and savagely upon the infiltrators coming up to their flank. Unlike humans, these K-NINEs didn't need to operate in the visual field. They did not tire and did not fatigue from the shots fired at them. Unable to cope with the onslaught, the infiltrators focused on them instead of the family. It was too late. Caught by surprise, they attempted to retreat. And failed.
Exhausted beyond understanding, the women of the Oberkrum Unit took the measure of their surroundings. They could hear a chopper approaching from their north while they detected more vehicles from the south. Janice, their field medic, was dead and riddled with holes. Sam's okay and taking stock of ammunition. And...mommy?
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In Closing
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
I look forward to providing more in the future. Thank you for reading and following on throughout my Hive journey.
The Gigas Oberkrum character is the property of Royal Repital Studios and was used with permission. This article is submitted in participation with @bobthebuilder2's storytelling contest.
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