“You can’t win, you can’t break even, and you can’t get out of the game” - Ginsberg’s Laws of Thermodynamics

“Yeah, but a Smith & Wesson still beats four aces” - anonymous Terran physicist, C+ cannon development project.

"The longer things go your way, the worse it will be when it all comes apart on you." - Dev'Ryenor, Rigellian Kobold philosopher, during the Egg Crusher War

"But if I plan right, you can die with me when it all comes crashing down." - Shelkar DuTrains, Warlord of the Trenshillit Cluster

"Don't call it a grave, call it the future you chose." - The Hamburger King, to Purple Devourer Grimace, just prior to his execution at the end of the Third Burger War.

Legion looked over at Daxin, just raising his brow slightly, tilting his head toward the Detainee. Daxin glanced over and nodded, turning and leaning against the computer console that chuckled and muttered to itself. The Detainee staggered a few steps then went down on her knees. The carrier clunked as she set it down and let go, her hands balling into fists and her arms bending at the elbows to bring her fists tight against her chest.

She gave a low moan of pain, her eyes rolling back. Pinkish fluid welled up in her eyes, spilling over her left eyelid and trickling down her cheek. She leaned forward, clenching her teeth, and put her hands on the floor, clenching her hands on the tile.

Legion moved over and knelt down next to the Detainee, rubbing her back through her blouse.

"Thin..." she whispered. "Too... thin..." Pinkish fluid dripped down her face.

Daxin nodded at her words, turning and looking at the door, uncrossing his arms and letting his hand drop next to his thigh. There was a click and a quiet hiss and the compartment on his leg opened up, the pistol popping out.

"Is she going to be able to hold it together?" Daxin asked.

Legion shrugged, still rubbing the Detainee's back. "Maybe. Not for long, we need to hurry."

Daxin nodded, pulling the pistol from the holster, which slid back into his leg. The compartment closed as he moved up. "Grab the carrier."

Legion nodded, grabbing the handle and standing up.

Daxin leaned down and picked up the Detainee, pulling her arm up over his shoulder before pulling her across his shoulders in a fireman's carry. The Detainee shook her head, weakly slapping Daxin's chest with one hand.

For a second Daxin could smell the acrid smell of power armor worn too long on the sands of Anthill.

"She just has to live long enough to get there," Daxin said, moving toward the door. "She can play her part, we'll play ours, grab that kid in a headlock, and let the computer chips fall where they may."

Legion nodded as he followed along behind the large cyborg carrying the dying woman across his shoulders.

-----

"Casey, you got eyes on The Detainee?" Peel's voice asked.

"Roger," Casey said, raking the front ranks of the android with the cannon on rapid-cycle submunitions, blowing the artificial humaniods into scraps of synthetic flesh and blood. Their power armor, which Casey knew was top of the line eight thousand years prior, was little more than over-bulky powered protective shells by current standards.

"Shoot her in the head," Peel ordered.

"The Detainee appears incapacitated, my love," Lozen said as Casey turned at the waist, raising his left arm and charging the mag-system in the forearm.

The Detainee was standing stock still, wavering back and forth slightly, her knees shaking.

Casey fired once, a 15mm hypervelocity shot that snapped the Detainee's head off in a spray of slurry.

The body dropped and Casey went back to work.

----

Major Acharya ducked back behind the column, the rounds sparking off the heavy molecularly aligned crystal and whining around the chamber. He reached up and touched his face, feeling bare warsteel bone beneath his fingertips.

"Dammit," he snarled. "So much for my pretty face," he said. He swapped out the magazines and took two hitching breaths.

When he came back around the pillar the androids up on the balcony were looking at the wrong side and his return burst, 'walked' with his smartlink so that no bullet was wasted since the weapon only fired when the reticle was over an android even though he had the trigger locked back, shattered the chests and faces of five of them before he pulled back behind the pillar.

"You all right in there, Kay?" Acharya yelled.

**STILL SYNCHING** came the reply in his retinal link. **3.584x10^8 MINOR ENGINES OVER HALF ARE OUT OF SYNCH OR SEVERAL THOUSAND YEARS BEHIND STATUS REPORTS AND URGENT SERVICE MESSAGES ONLY TWO THIRDS THROUGH THEM YOU OK STUD**

"I'm OK," Acharya said. He dug in his pocket, pulled out a smoke grenade and tossed it to the right after glancing at the bar code at the bottom and blinking twice. He pulled out another one, repeating the glance before tossing it to the left.

Both started hissing out red smoke. Acharya could see through it somewhat, the bar code having contained the information he needed to adjust his eyeware to remove most of the masking.

The androids on the surrounding balcony started firing into the clouds of smoke and Acharya grinned. In his vision he saw the 20mm variable munition cannon in his forearm was loaded. He swapped the brutal battle rifle to his left hand, letting his left-hand smartlink synch up with it. Once it was done he closed his eyes for a second as the bullets hit the floor and howled around the chamber.

Acharya took two deep breaths and stepped out from behind the pillar, sliding around it as he raised his right arm, his wrist cocked back, his middle and ring finger spread to give him a 'V' sight. The androids were still shooting to either side, hoping to catch him when and if he lunged from one pillar to the next.

Instead he fired the 20mm across the balcony, hitting the bottom of it. The HIT rounds (High Impulse Thermobaric) rounds exploded at the bottom of the marble balcony, the stone exploding upwards, androids shattering and flying across the room.

Bullets were finding him now. Not enough to penetrate his armor, but here and there they found synth-flesh to puncture and tear before hitting his subdermal armor and bouncing away.

My instructors would kick my ass if they saw me drawing fire like this, he thought as he kept firing the 20mm rounds, running through the whole thirty-round magazine. When the magazine clicked empty and the bolt locked back he withdrew the barrel and clenched his hand before running a function check where he touched the end of each finger to the end of his thumb.

The whole time he kept moving, firing the battle rifle one handed. It was a lot easier when he could lock his joints, use cybernetic enhanced muscle to hold it steady, and the smartlink. Any android that tried to get up he shot in the face or the back of the head.

The main door opened and he ducked behind one of the pillars right before the Thinker ordered the Warrior androids to move left and right out the door with a single rank moving forward in the middle, kneeling down and looking around.

Check your corners, dumbasses, Acharya thought to himself as he waited, back against the pillar, trusting in his skills and instincts. He swapped the battle rifle to his right hand and changed out the magazine, putting the half-empty mag in his pocket.

The Thinker took two steps out, looking around.

Acharya stepped out, rifle pulled tight into his shoulder, and fired a quick burst before stepped back around the pillar.

The Thinker went down, the side of its head caved in.

"Getting tight out here, Kay, dear," he said.

**Let Momma help** Lady Keena said, the link less shouting and more normal conversational levels.

The androids started shrieking, the shrieks going bubbly and trailing off.

Acharya looked around the corner.

The androids were melting down into puddles, their legs looking like half-melted candles as the matter of their bodies puddled around their feet in a steaming pile of silvery liquid.

**Took me a little while to access the system to shut them down** Lady Keena said. **I've cleared the queue and have control of all the sub-engines**

"Can you handle it?" Acharya asked.

**Barely** Lady Keena admitted. **How's the face?**

"I'll never be pretty again," Acharya joked, touching the two places that hypervelocity rounds had torn away the synth flesh from his warsteel skull.

**I, for one, find it extremely arousing** Lady Keena said. **You would look fetching and alluring in silks resting on my lap as I sat on my throne to give orders to my liegemen and soldiers. Virgins would cry themselves to sleep at night knowing that I was the one who possessed you and you were far beyond their reach.**

Acharya just smiled.

-----

Her name was Didi Summersong Wildflower, a typical name on the planet she was born on, almost stereotypical for her culture. Her mother and father and siblings had shown her nothing but love. She had grown up without hunger, without deprivation, and without fear.

Then the Lankys had come.

Then the adults had died.

Then they had gotten back up to kill whoever had not died from the bioplague immediately.

Her parents had died in the first handful of days. Her siblings over the course of two weeks.

She had kept going. Gathered up others. Pushed them to go a little further. To survive one more day.

Rescue had come literally at the last moment.

Life had been slowly returning to normal. Didi had gone to therapy, horrified to find out that the SUDS was jammed and her siblings would be gone forever.

Then the Great Die-Off had happened.

Didi had been alone again.

Then, something new had happened.

She had been on a park bench, then suddenly woke in a bed in a bedroom that felt warm and comfortable despite the fact that she had never been in that room in her life.

It was then she learned that she was one of the lucky few that had been moved to someplace called the Massive Catastrophic Event Recovery System.

Seeing the other Dyson Sphere above her had been awe inspiring. Realizing that it was moving, slowly sweeping by, was even more startling.

She had been cared for by Nurse Satisfactory-Bit-D-T3B9-183713, who had accepted her bitterness and anger and tried to teach her to work through it.

In the six years since arriving, Didi had grown into an adult woman and learned to process and live with her trauma.

She had also learned that the Event Recovery Vaults were off limits to anyone not part of the system. That none were allowed inside without proper authority.

Which made it startling to see a woman walking with one of the eVI's.

She wore a shawl on her shoulders and a body wrap, all of vibrant colors and pleasing patterns.

The tall slender eVI, balding with rimless spectacles, was walking next to the woman, who's skin was dark brown.

The woman stopped in front of Didi, looking down at the young woman.

"General Chisisi, this is Patient Wildflower," the eVI stated.

"Such a lovely child," the woman said. She looked at the Administrator. "How is her treatment progressing."

The eVI produced a clipboard and examined it for a moment before going down the list with a finger, his voice making a buzzing sound that Didi knew was perfectly audible to the woman but masked to keep anyone else, including Didi, from listening in.

"It is good that she is responding well to her treatment," General Chisisi said. She reached toward Didi. "May I touch you, child?"

Didi just nodded.

The woman's fingertips were firm and warm, pressing against her forehead, right above her nose.

Didi sighed and closed her eyes as a pleasant warmth filled her.

The woman turned and looked at the Administrator. "The lockdown will be lifted soon. Prepare your patients for transfer."

"Terra is still unreachable," the Administrator said.

"Terra is currently interdicted due to active combat engagements in the Sol System," the General said. She made a tossing motion and Didi caught a flicker of the glittering ball that made up the datapacket. "This is the authorized planet. Do you recognize my authority with Earth Defense Force?"

"Of course, General Chisisi," the Administrator said. He turned to Didi. "I will miss you, my child. I hope that your life is long and full of contentment."

"Thank you," Didi said.

"May the Digital Omnimessiah watch over you and keep you," the brown skinned woman said. She turned and walked back the way she came. "My time is short. There is still combat operations to oversee."

"As you wish, General," the Administrator said.

Didi felt excitement.

Finally.

She would be leaving.

Her soul sang as she got up and walked back to her little house.

-----

The frog pulled himself up with his suckered fingertips, managing to reach the top of the glass mountain. His shirt was torn and rent, his skin scraped and bruised, but he smiled widely as he turned around and held out his hand.

The fox took the offered hand, for there was no shame in being helped by a friend, and with the frog's help he pulled himself up to the top of the glass mountain.

Below them were the terrible things they had seen. Ravines and crevasse full of the bodies of knights and horses, of heroes and heroines, who had tried to ascend the glass mountain and failed. Of twisting and rustling briar patches where suffering corpses were impaled on poisonous thorns. Of boulders that had shifted and crushed the valiant and brave.

But that was below, and the fox and the frog stood at the summit.

They both breathed deep, looking up at the starry sky where shooting stars streaked across the inky blackness.

They looked back at the figure on the slowly rotating throne.

It was screaming and raving, crying and sobbing, as it struggled. Six arms, six legs, three faces, two sets of burning wings, the feathers consumed by fire and sweeping away to char into ash even as more feathers grew to replace them.

"He is in great pain. We must succor him," the frog said.

"We will help him," the fox agreed. "Perhaps a song?"

"A song," the frog nodded.

The moved toward the slowly rotating throne, holding hands, lifting their voices in a song of the wonders they had seen on their travels.

-----

Four of the strangely clad Terrans knelt next to a panel. Two faced outward at forty-five degree angles, covering the whole arc behind them. The other pulled a toolkit off their waist and went to work, pulling the panel free. The fourth looked over the equipment revealed, closing their eyes for a second to bring up the schematic they'd practiced on.

The fourth shifted slightly to get the angle right, then nodded, holding out his hand.

The third handed him several small soft beads of brownish white that had a tiny fleck that blinked pressed into it. The beads were put on certain superconductor cable and one way-datalines.

The plate cover was quickly replaced and the quartet quietly moved out to their next objective. They moved in a steady fashion, speed without hurry. They were 90 seconds ahead of schedule.

-----

Daxin knelt down, Legion helping him pull the Detainee off his shoulders.

They set her against the wall and stood up, looking down at her.

She was staring at the floor, drooling slightly to herself.

After a moment she clenched her fists. She looked up with bloodshot eyes.

"I'm clear," she looked around as she stood up, gritting her teeth to avoid swaying. "All right, past this is the security lockdown checkpoint, then the Master Control Room of Atlantis."

Daxin and Legion nodded.

"We can get through the security checkpoint," Legion said.

"That's why I brought you two," Dee said. She shook her head, swallowing thickly. "Ugh, I hate the taste of bananas."

Daxin glanced at Legion again as Dee picked up the carrier and turned around. Legion just shrugged.

"Time to see a man about a horse," Dee said, putting her hand on the security scanner.

-----

The Enemy fell back from her firepower, their bodies shattering, the heavy ackack rounds blowing apart synthetic just as easy as it shredded the flesh of the Fallen.

She was buoyed by the song and choir of pure carnage as she raked the oncoming androids and Enraged.

Her heart beat a single time, the damaged and punctured cardiac muscle flexing to push another heartbeat through her veins. The trickle of blood running from the puncture in her armor glittered in the light of the muzzle flares of her ackack as she screeched in ecstatic agony and furious joy and kept up the fire.

To her right the two white goats danced through the flickering phasic shades, which gave out wordless cries of ecstasy as Digital Omnimessiah's grace touched them. They faded, not with a scream or a wail, but with a song on their lips.

Next to her was Kalki the Furious, Defender of the Little Peoples, of Those Too Small to Fight, of the Forgotten and Lost, Bringer of Hope to the Hopeless and Forlorn.

In her mind, she was surrounded by light and beauty.

-----

Vuxten sat on the empty workstation's flat work surface, his heavy subgun in his hands as he sucked on the ration tube and got a mouthful of artificial turkey butthole surprise as a reward for his efforts.

Trucker and Peel stood in the middle of independent holotanks. Trucker's was all raw data, taking from a trillion points around the Dyson Sphere onion. Peel's was slightly more refined, tightly focused around Trucker's inputs.

So far the worst he had faced was the fact the chair he had sat down in succumbed to age and crumpled underneath the weight of his armor, dumping him on the floor.

--this part best part-- 471 said.

Vuxten swallowed his mouth full of Turkey Surprise. "Definitely," Vuxten said.

Peel chose that moment to toss a datapacket to Vuxten.

"Herod's down to only two more recursive exit points," Peel's voice said. "Enraged are massing outside. So far, none have gained access to the facility."

"I'm ready when they do," Vuxten said, tilting his stubber to check the ammo level.

The mat-trans reload system had functioned correctly and the weapon was at 100%.

--gonna be epic-- 471 said.

Vuxten just nodded.

--then we can go home-- 471 added.

"That'll be the best part," Vuxten said.

-----

Herod climbed in through the window, falling on the floor. The window shattered into a waterfall spray of derezzing pixels as Herod rolled over onto his back, breathing hard.

That one had been too close. Sam had gotten close enough to actually touch Herod, rake down his arm with curled fingers tipped with talon-like nails.

"One left. I'm hurt, but not too bad," Herod said to mid-air.

"Roger. Sending window-maker," Peel's voice replied.

A dozen windows appeared on the scarred walls.

"Get ready, he's coming," Peel said. "Red casement."

Herod nodded, pulling himself to his feet and staggering over to the window with the red casement. Beyond was desert, old ruins in the distance, an oasis partially visible.

The door burst open.

"KILL YOU!" Sam-UL screamed. "I'll..."

Herod dropped backwards out the window, which shattered into glittering dissolving pixels.

"...who... who are you..." Sam-UL asked softly. His image flickered and wavered for a moment. "Help me, strangers, please."

He stood silent for a moment, then looked up and screamed in rage.

"KILL YOU!" Sam-UL screamed as he turned and lunged through the door.

"Please... help me," the sob wafted in the air a moment.

-----

"He is badly injured," the fox said. "I think, however, we can pull him from the grasp of his torment."

The frog nodded as he stood up. "I hope so. I have not seen one in such need of compassion in quite some time."

The fox stood up, his hand going to the satchel on the strap that was hung over his shoulder. He undid the catch then froze.

The fox lifted his nose to the breeze, sniffing. "Do you smell that?"

The frog sniffed and nodded. "Yes. Things are shifting and changing."

"We must hurry," the fox said.

-----

Herod stood in the Master Control of Atlantis, staring down at his feet.

He was in the flesh, in the body that the madwoman had gave him when he had escaped the SUDS.

At his feet was a therapy frame, slumped over the body of a dead woman.

At the same time he splashed cool water from the oasis on his face, tensed to dive into the water at the first sign of Sam-UL.

But all he could do was stare at the woman's dead body.

She had no fear of death, he thought to himself.

Herod straightened up slowly and turned around, looking at the control station.

I'm tired of running, he thought to himself.

-----

Sam-UL burst out of the water of the oasis with a roar of rage.

"NO WHERE TO RUN, HEROD!" the Enraged Digital Sentient screamed.

Herod stood up, staring at Sam-UL as the other DS waded through the water toward him.

"The time for running is over, Sam," Herod said. He looked out. "User Function: Log Out."

Sam screamed in rage as Herod dissolved and vanished in a flash of light.

He looked up into the sky.

"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE ME!"