With a wide smile I look to the lady. I know full well that my home is located in the border. Uncomfortably in between 2 universal civilizations. Maybe some of the other civilizations leader heard about me. I'm pretty sure they would be informed about someone who could acquire something so dangerous that all production was illegalized in every corner of the universe.
Suddenly she looks to her side. With a slight frown she steps away, turning off the hologram. Even with her the old man continues to sit still. Though, he's clearly very angry.
What? Were you expecting me to suck up to your boss? To bad. For now, I should be safe. I can't begin to imagine the damage the other gods caused. These government servants might try to kill me but the claim of protection and existence of other gods should act as a good enough murder repellent.
Plus I'm pretty sure they won't be able to keep me for long. I'm sure at some point the gods will target the 4 universal civilizations. Honestly, I give them 3 or 4 months at most.
We all sit still for several minutes. The 28 people that followed still staring at me. Dai tries to start a conversation with some of the people. Of course, they reject. So after a while he just comes to me.
"Hey leader do you think the humans are fine? Or at least some of the comic creators?" Dai said while scrolling through the novels downloaded onto his wristwatch.
Suddenly everybody else begins to glare at Dai. Five of them seem about ready to stand up and punch him. Thankfully, the rest of the crowd stops them. Honestly, I think he deserves a slap or 2 for asking that but for now things should stay calm.
Finally, after an hour the lady finally shows up again. She appears stressed, her hair ruffled and her eyes puffed. She looks at me with absolute horror and speaks.
"We will do whatever you want. Just please help. Can those gods protecting you help?" She said with despair.
The hell happened? She looked so confident before. Hey system can you tell me what's going on.
-The Host Has Been Discovered And Is Now Being Monitored. Your Assistance Is Currently Under A Joint Attack-
....
....
Fuck! Hey how am I supposed to grow! Huh!
-Those Who Devote Their Faith Towards You Will Be Fine. Please Note That This Is Solely Because Of The Gods Rules.-
I have to start a cult?
-As Long As There Is Faith There Is A God-
"....Spread the word. Those who worship me as the god of machinery will be spared." I said as my face visibly cringes. The woman gives me an odd look, the light in her eyes coming back.
So is there a holy text, system?
-Purchase The Hard Copies Of The Learning Materials And Spread Them-
I hear a loud snap. The old man moved the hologram ball, taking a picture of me. The woman is gone. While everything's seems to calm down a several small white light fly towards the fleet. Suddenly, several balls off light appear in the room. Explosions occupying every flash.
A floating light pink fetus surrounded by multicolored fog, a human infant surrounded by various magic runes, a human toddler surrounded by golden church bells, a human child surrounded by a grey light with multicolored orbs of light appearing and disappearing every second, a human adolescent surrounded by grey flames, a human adult surrounded by white fog filled with balls of grey and yellow light, and a human elder surrounded by pitch black and pure white fog appear.
Every one of them, with the exception of the fetus is wearing a brown tattered robe. They all turn to me and smile, a large curved crack appeared on the back of the fetuses's huge head.
Following the appearance of these people a heavy fog begins to surround us. Slowly growing, covering every inch of this large fleet. Suddenly, a large silhouette begins to form. Slowly and slowly until it's the size of a star.
As it begins to form, more and more ships explode. Within seconds the large fleet is reduced to nothing, leaving nothing more than the ship in on. Everyone screams, Dai instead smiling.
Suddenly, the silhouette moves towards us. It's a humanoid creature. It's arms are large and it's hands thick. It's torso is wide and it's two legs are long. Finally it's head. It's hideous hideous head.
It has no mouth, instead a cluster of thick, long tentacles on its jaw. It's four bulbous eyes are shining yellow, it's numbingly my dark pupils are vertical rectangles. On the back of its head is a large, smooth, and round growth.
It's closer and closer slowly. Suddenly it begins to grunt. Everyone other than me and the strange people scream in pain, gripping their ears. Slowly the grunts turn to growls, then to roars. It's voice is deep and scratchy. Like an old man struggling to breath as he screams at his assailant.
Suddenly, the human with the bells walks forward. The sound of ceremonial bells rings in everyone's ears. The silhouette begins to quiver, its screams going louder with each ring.
Suddenly they all disappear. The fog vanishes, the strangers vanish, and so do the strange lights. All around us is pure empty space, the thousands of ships gone as if they never existed in the first place. The old man lies dead on the ground, blood gushing from his ears and eyes, a wide smile on his pale face.
Everyone else seems to be fine. Everyone looks to me with absolute horror, a glimmer of reverence shining in their eyes. Everyone bows, even Dai, all of them slamming their bodies against the cold steel floor.
"Praise Be The Mighty God Of Machinary!"
"Praise Be The Mighty God Of Machinary!"
"Praise Be The Mighty God Of Machinary!"
Ignoring them I move to Dai, grabbing him by the shirt and pressing him against the wall. "Why are you smiling!" Everything's gone and he smiles. He's dangerous so I have to get the situation in order.
"Hehe. That thing looks a lot like cthulu. Centuries ago a human wrote one of the most influential works in their history. He wrote of tragedies, gods, and un-killable beast." Dai said with his arms spread, a toothy grin spread across his face.
"The hell does that have to do with you smiling!" I screamed, getting ready to punch him.
"Well, as you can see human books are important. Nothing to be made fun of. See!" Dai said as he begins to wildly laugh, his smile growing so wide his hideous teeth show. In response, I punch his stomach.
I drop him, leaving him to grunt in pain on the cold floor. I know full well what he means. He has a passion for the human culture. That much is clear. Chances are that he was stupid enough to be open about it.
My people despise the humans. Their gaudy ways and obsession with appearances. Erasing our culture and forcing their own on us. Anyone who shows any signs of liking humans will be beaten brutally without hesitation.
Honestly, I understand. I just don't think that people should be punished for something so stupid. Still, what in the hell did Dai grow through to reach the point of smiling at our home planets destruction.
Suddenly everyone else in the room begins to crowd around Dai, beating and insulting him. Traitor, human lover, garbage they all scream. They begin to preach the usual Planetary Puritan speech.
"Get away from him." I said, my voice sounding unusually calm. Despite how quite I was they still move away, turning their heads towards me. They ignore me, continuing to beat him. "Stop or there will be consequences."
I point to the corpse of the old man. Remembering the silhouette they all begin to shake. They all step away. I move to Dai, seating him against the wall.
"Okay we're moving to the nearest habitable planet." I said. Of course, assuming there's any left. I move to the pilots seat giving everyone a job. I send 5 people to check for rations and see how much water we have.
I send 3 to check if there's a carbon converter. I send another 3 to check for weapons and lodging areas. The rest I have just explore the ship. I tell Dai to stay next to me since there's a chance the others will attack him.
Thankfully this ship has a standard manual control found in most approved vehicles. There are a few unknown buttons but for the most part I know how to drive this. I try to avoid what's likely to be weapon controls and look for a way to communicate with the outside world.
Unfortunately it seems that the communicator is damaged. I look out the glass. The sun is fine and there are still several familiar planets. It's ordinary boring space. Nothing special. As if nothing has changed.
I begin to see if I can look at some sort of map. Unfortunately, it's blocked. It needs an identification card to be inserted in a small slot. Likely because this is a military ship. I don't know how to hack and it's likely that all ship workers are dead.
Hopefully, there's something on the old man's corpse. Ignoring Dai's strange stare I begin searching through the old mana pockets, eventually stripping his corpse. I manage to find a thin palm sized card hidden in between the seems of his shirt.
It's extremely flexible. I can bend and stretch it as much as I want and it still be fine. I immediately put the card in. Finally I see the map. On the center display of the pilots controls in the center of the room a large map is shown.
It labels every single habitable planet, places to avoid, and some commerce stations. The planets are colored green, yellow, blue. Green meaning currently inhabited by allies and safe, yellow meaning habitable but be careful of dangerous plants and animals, and blue meaning habitable but currently empty.
I can't visit the green ones. I don't know if there are any left or if the gods decided to go on a recruitment spree. Red is too dangerous since I'm low on man power. Blue should be fine.
I wait for everyone to come back. It takes around 2 hours since the ship is rather large. I'm told that there's enough rations to last the 30 of us 5 years. There is a carbon to oxygen converter so we don't have to worry about air. Unfortunately, nobody could find any weapons outside of the ones found on soldier corpses. There's also plenty of beds so we don't have to worry about that.
For now I should be safe. Still I need to be careful since these people clearly aren't to reliable. I have to pay special attention to Dai while dealing with terrorist. Fuck, when did life become so annoying
I just tell them that we're moving to the nearest blue planet. It should take a little over a week. If that doesn't work we're going to move to a red planet which will take about 3 weeks. I try not to talk about the possibility of failure. I don't really care about them having faith in me but right now every person matters.
"Alright, I want everyone to look around again. See if you missed anything. Dai, you stay with me again." I said, waving at Dai.
Everyone walks away with stuff faces. I begin piloting, making sure to check on Dai every now and then. Fuck, I really am screwed, huh?