EXXOS
The Shana Rei ships lurked in the back passageways of the universe. They glided through wrinkles in space-time and made their way through folds of entropy, where they could escape the yammering pain of intelligent life-forms. Any organized atoms or chemical reactions—from DNA strands all the way up to planets and stars—sliced like sharp little knives flaying at the shadows, causing them nonstop agony.
The creatures of darkness wanted to annihilate all life, and then they themselves wanted to be erased from existence. They begged to die and thereby achieve peace, but they simply didn’t know how to accomplish it.
Exxos and his black robots would have been happy to oblige the Shana Rei in this, but they were trapped among the shadows. His comrades were the only survivors of a once powerful metal swarm that should have destroyed human civilization, should have wiped out the Ildirans, but after turnabouts and repeated defeats, the black robots themselves had almost been eradicated. Almost. Now, the insane and unspeakably powerful Shana Rei were their only allies.
Exxos still didn’t know if he and his robot comrades were partners of the poisonous Shana Rei, or prisoners. Or specimens.
Only a few hundred robots remained of the millions that had comprised their original swarm. Initially, the Shana Rei had torn several black robots apart, partly out of curiosity and partly for amusement before a desperate and crafty Exxos had convinced the pulsing shadows that his robots could help annihilate the biological life-forms that caused the shadows so much agony.
It was a lie, a bluff, or at the very least an exaggeration. Exxos only hoped that he and his dwindling robot cohort could find a way to escape from or—preferably—exterminate the creatures of darkness. It was what the Shana Rei wanted, after all: to die.
But Exxos needed to survive.
In order to convince the shadows of the robots’ worth, he had to demonstrate as much wanton destruction as possible. Each time he and his comrades wiped out a colony, an industrial complex, a whole world, the robots increased the level of entropy in the universe and eased the pain of the Shana Rei. It was a sign of goodwill.
And because of that, the black robots would remain in existence for another day.
Trapped in the shadow void now, waiting for the next outburst from the Shana Rei, Exxos drifted among his comrades. Some robots extended reflective solar wings, though in this dark emptiness there was no light for their power films to soak up.
Enclosed within the Shana Rei entropy bubble, Exxos had no way of measuring time. It might have been a century or it might have been a millisecond since their resounding defeat above Theroc, when the humans, the Ildiran Solar Navy, the powerful verdani treeships, and even the rogue elemental faeros had fought back against the Shana Rei. Now it was time to recover, and to strike back. But the shadows were so chaotic, they did not know how.
Exxos communicated with his comrades, using open transmissions guardedly because they knew the Shana Rei were listening. The robots had a more intricately coded machine language, a private network of electronic whispers, but Exxos couldn’t risk that the shadows might understand. “We must plan our next attack,” he said aloud. “Too many targets await us, and we have promised to ease the pain of the Shana Rei.”
They could plan together, but there was very little exchange of ideas, since every single one of the robots shared an identical thought grid.
Breaking from millennia of Klikiss programming and tradition, each of the black robots had synchronized their memories and personalities with those of Exxos. Previously, they had been unique individuals and therefore irreplaceable if they were destroyed. With so few robots remaining, though, Exxos could not allow that. He had copied all of their thoughts into his memory core, which was then duplicated across to the others. For the best chance of achieving their destiny, Exxos was the primary mind, the baseline for all remaining robots. Their individuality was subordinate to his own. It was the only safety they had.
The black robots were advanced enough that they could grasp fragments of fear. Now, his comrades moved in a flurry, issuing a buzz of communication, and Exxos rotated himself as a darker blot opened up against the inky void, a Rorschach smear of utter darkness with an incongruous eye manifesting in the middle.
A maddening, thrumming voice issued from the Shana Rei. “The pain increases.”
Other shadows appeared around them, ragged holes of lightlessness with staring eyes. The voice was accusing. “Your plan failed at Theroc.”
Exxos said, “No—your pain makes you blind to what we accomplished. The plan succeeded, but imperfectly. The humans and Ildirans understand their imminent extinction. They are terrified of us now.”
“Yet the pain does not go away,” said the Shana Rei, adding a wordless, ripping howl of agony. The eye stared, blazing in a way that made the robot’s optical sensors burn. “You must help us. You are our allies.”
Seeing the throbbing edges, Exxos knew the Shana Rei were on the verge of uncontrollable violence, and he could ill afford to lose more robots. He rapidly said what he knew the shadows wanted to hear. “We share the same goals. The robots will work with you to destroy the worldforest, destroy the Ildiran thism network, destroy the prison of Order. We can accomplish it—but you must give us the tools to do so. Give us more battleships, and we will take care of the rest. Let us attack the Ildirans, destroy them—ease your pain.”
“Creating battleships also causes us pain. We cannot bear it.”
Exxos insisted, “You must endure that pain so we can annihilate your enemies. It is necessary.”
He wanted to develop a methodical list of targets to obliterate, one after another after another, but because the Shana Rei hated order for its own sake, they did not value plans and intricate schemes. Exxos found it maddening to conduct a war this way.
Finally, capriciously, the pulsing inkblots agreed. “We will create ships, as you request, but your black robots must cause enough destruction to mitigate the pain of the additional molecular framework that you force us to impose upon blessed chaos.” The Shana Rei eyes continued to stare at the robots. “Destroy many targets, but remember that the Ildirans and humans are not our real enemy. Eternity’s mind is awakening.”
Without further explanation, the inkblots winked out like eyes closing, leaving the robots alone, suspended, and waiting for the creatures of darkness to manifest the promised battleships that Exxos could take into war.