The robot rambled about the city and its history as the group walked down the stairs, its friendly and patient tone crackled as the rusted parts struggled to fulfill their long-forgotten purpose.
"Currently, we are located in the city known as Marx Keep, it was created ten million Earth years ago, and has stood ever since."
"It was made with the blessing of the Empress, Gurhla the thirty-fourth, and it was essential in providing supplies for the matriarchy during the ravaging."
"Could you tell us about the ravaging?" a curious soul asked.
"Of course! The ravaging war began exactly nine million years ago, it was a massive-scale conflict between the matriarchy and her allies, and hundreds of different Hives that threatened to consume the surrounding arms."
Upon the mention of the Hive, the team glanced at one another, they lived through the war between the Empire and the Hive, but as far as they were aware, there was only one. It alone was enough to nearly drive thousands of species into extinction, albeit primitive ones, and who knows how many failed and were consumed before they won.
The AI continued: "The matriarchy was a formidable force, and her allies were nearly as powerful as her, however, the Hive was clearly ready for the supposed surprise attack, overwhelming the Arm with sheer numbers, and driving the local powers here to extinction."
The robot's light darkened, and its tone grew heavy, whether this was programmed into it or not was unclear.
"However, the matriarchy was not a force to be underestimated, and a vast majority of the Hives that invaded were destroyed, leaving only one standing."
"My knowledge of the outside world is null after the collapse of the government, hence why I, unfortunately, can not tell you anything past the 542th day of the ourobor calendar."
"Right... do you know anything about our species?" An archeologist asked possibly the most important question of all, earning a few surprised glances.
"Ah! The primitives found on Habitable planet 726423, you live upon the planet you refer to as Earth, a historian has noted the creative name to be possibly the most intricate name ever created, I suspect this to be sarcasm."
The archeologists laughed a little to themselves, literally calling their planet dirt is funny, especially considering the pride many held toward it.
"You are an ambitious and stubborn species, refusing to surrender to the natural order of your planet. When the Matriarchy collapsed, you were partially successful in conquering your planet, becoming dominant enough to care more about killing one another than working together to survive."
"However! Seeing as you have made it this far into the Hive, the Matriarchy's efforts to conceal your location must have been fruitful."
A stunned silence seemed to be louder than any noise previously heard by the expedition, and the leader finally recovered and asked.
"What do you mean you concealed us?"
The robot twitched a little and answered with the same energetic tone, "As the matriarchy was on its last legs, it initiated the 'Halo protocol,' creating giant planet city-sized cloaking arrays that hid areas of space with a great potential for intelligent life to develop."
"This was made in the hope of new more unpredictable species overwhelming the last weakened hive, which was too weak to invade more advanced regions and gather more biomass. Effectively rendering it stuck here to rot away for eternity."
"Since you are here, your nation of origin has no doubt uncovered the now ruins of the Halo project, with eight planets seemingly orbiting around your sun at the perfect distance, speed, and trajectory, it would be impossible to miss."
"How did something so large and complex work?"
The robot stopped dead in its tracks, the metal on its head seemed to smoke a little and an emergency cooling system seemingly powered on, barely saving the machine from a crash.
"Apologies, that is far too complex for me to explain. In order to cover all of the information, it would take approximately nine years of nonstop explaining for you to fully get the picture. Would you like me to begin?"
After a few quick no's, the AI shrugged and continued explaining the sights, many of which were now crumbled away and falling apart.
Soon, on the horizon, an immense structure could be seen, rivaling the size of the Imperial palace, it looked like an immense, heavily protected, and armored box.
"What is that structure in the distance?" Tom asked, but he already knew what it was, and his thoughts were confirmed by the AI.
"That is the nexus, it is responsible for controlling all remaining machines that are still functional, including your truly. It was deactivated after the collapse of the government, but with your return, it has successfully awoken."
"We are currently on our way there, it can answer all of your inquiries far better than my damaged processor can."
-x-x-x-
Meanwhile, on the stage of galactic life, a large amount of shocking news traveled through the many nations in the federation.
Suddenly, around a majority of the nation's capitals, the formerly quiet ruins roared to life, and signals could be detected traveling through space across thousands of points.
Some planets and even systems were previously completely invisible, some planets were cracked, others were bare, but all of them seemed to activate like a switch was turned on somewhere in the Arm.
Military forces were mobilized, but the sudden new force seemed to have no interest in expansion, instead, it simply gathered its robots and acted as if nothing interesting was happening.
The Azburgian Galactic Imperium was quickly questioned when it was discovered the sudden change seemed to have originated there, the Imperator, Adam Valencia, could only say that their best were working on it.
In an Orion news platform, one which had a reach across all federation members, two members could be seen in front of the cameras.
One squid-like creature and another that looks like a large slime, a new addition to the federation.
"Greetings sentient creatures of the Arm, today here on Orion Bulletin, we have a new hot take today! My name is Hank and with me here is Pol." The squid spoke with an energetic tone one would expect from a professional.
After a short applause, the slime now known as Pol spoke, "Thank you Hank, and you are quite accurate in your introduction! The human troublemakers have once again done something to cause chaos."
"I swear, when will those madmen run out of ideas?" Hank joked, making the slime jiggle a little, which was translated for the listeners as laughter.
"Never in human history is anything to go by, but anyways, we suggest you avoid the core regions of most nations, as an unknown new possible threat has appeared," Pol answered and went back to the topic they should be discussing.
"Yes, the ruins of ancient civilizations rumble to life once again it seems, and most nations have already employed martial law on nearby planets, locking them down and employing a large amount of troops." Hank continued, "Most look to the Azburgian Galactic Imperium for an explanation, as it seems the first signal was detected in their borders.
"Yes, some of the more fragile relations even seem to be under threat of collapse! Some think this is a ploy to gain power made by the Imperator Adam Valencia, who has proven more than capable of developing weapons of immense power," Pol commented.
"Yes, now we wait and see how the situation develops, make sure to stay tuned in and we will update you as the situation progresses." Hank finished up the quick intermission and the background crew started playing some music for their listeners to listen to while they waited for more information.
-x-x-x-
Now back in the ruins, the group has reached the large box.
Thousands of little lights and glyphs hummed with power, and the whole structure looked as if it was alive, its walls occasionally shifting and changing shape for an unknown purpose.
Thousands of droids with ancient weapons patrolled around it, droids of all shapes and sizes could be seen in these groups.
A large double door opened before them, and the hallway before them stretched on and separated into tons of rooms as they walked through.
Tom noted the walls seemed to each be matters thick, making this place unshakable by artillery and bombardment.
Eventually, they took an elevator up to the 167492 floor, also known as the middle floor, or the control room, as kindly explained by their guide.
While they were traveling here, they learned a lot about this Matriarchy, the Hive coalition, and even a few shocking facts about humanity and its past.
The Matriarchy, also known as The Arachnid Matri Hegemony, was a country made up of arachnids, giant spiders, and other bugs, in which the spiders were very similar to black widows, the only difference being they didn't consume their mates after the deed.
Originally in their history, they did, but as society advanced, there was no longer any point in doing so since food was abundant, instead, the males would be allowed to live and create more offspring, catapulting the population of the species to new levels.
It covered half of the Orion Arm by itself in the past and was a dominant force in not only the Arm but also in galactic politics, which were present at the time.
Then, a large amount of Hive creatures invaded, most likely from another galaxy they had successfully dominated, and they began working their way here as well.
The Matriarchy took the brunt of the initial invasion and the other elder civilizations quickly moved to aid them, but even with their help, the battle was difficult.
Thousands of planets were burned to the ground in an attempt to slow the Hive, and at the end of it all, 957 Billion soldiers and civilians were dead, thousands of cultures, and hundreds of nations were collapsed, or near collapse.
The remaining Hive was left alone, since the surrounding nations wanted them as an excuse to gain more power over their citizens, using it to lower citizen privacy and using fear to manipulate them into being more obedient.
A long time passed, and all nations that saw the fighting were devoured by their neighbors in their weakened state, no good deed goes unpunished after all.
Humanity has apparently been a key species of interest for the Matriarchy, with its divided yet united acting at times, and most of all, its supernatural capabilities.
At first, the archeologists were skeptical, spiritualism was present in the Imperium more than religion, but even it was quite rare, about one in a hundred believed in spirits or other such things.
However, they still listened, and if what the robot says is true... then human history would no longer be the same.
Apparently, most historical figures were potent mages, figures like Jesus, Cleopatra, and Ceasar, and most shockingly of all, the Azburgian Royal blood was particularly potent and powerful, so powerful in fact, that the only figure who could match their power was Jesus, who could split an entire ocean with some time, and a bit of effort.
They immediately refused the possibility but were still going to mention it in their report when they got out when they all realized something.
Whenever they saw their Imperator, or when someone spoke of how they saw him, they always described it as if he was the center of the world, the room bending around him, the lighting always being incredibly convenient for whatever purpose he needed.
The very laws of luck and physics seemed to bend to him, and while these could be lucky coincidences... what if they weren't?
So the shaken group stood in front of the room where the Nexus AI was, and the door slowly opened to the room where their questions would all be answered.