“Some things are better done alone.”

- Jill

***Outer Rim***

***Antioch***

“Are you sure that everything is in order?” I ask Martin. “A mistake could cost us more than we are willing to pay. We made sure that there are backups, but I am afraid that your guys could be a little too unconcerned with their lives. It could result in wasting resources which we might need in the future.”

The material which we are about to commit amounts to a decade of building up our military forces. Even if it means losing all of it, I am willing to take the risk. But that doesn't mean that we should throw anything away without a good reason.

“As sure as I can be,” Martin answers patiently. “Playing king, gathering experience in the role of a leader, you know as well as I do that subordinates may tell you one thing, while something completely different happens in reality. But right now, all of our lights are green. I assure you that if there is a mistake, then it would be only because of insubordination, something which we can hardly stop. Unless you are willing to cut out all the human elements.”

The individuality of our people and their ability to think for themselves is what got us to this point. I would hardly risk this operation by replacing everyone with drones.

“Then about the colonies...” I allow my voice to trail off, knowing that Martin is aware of what I want to know. We went through this exercise so many times that I stopped counting. The only difference is that this time, it isn't an exercise. It's real.

“The unfinished colonies and those which are built mainly for industrial purposes are being pulled back. The non-combative personnel, including most of the demonlings, is being moved away from the front-lines,” Martin assures me.

He waves his hand, indicating the large hologram which takes up the entire throne room. It changed quite a bit since the G.S. engaged the Cyber with their military forces. The two parties are taking shots at each other which led to a handful of sizeable engagements. They included more than a few hundred ships and some of the battles were quite impressive, considering how little both parties care about their environment.

Using asteroids on planets seems to be fair game as far as both parties are concerned.

But since the G.S. launched their surprise attack on the Cyber, nothing major happened. The Cyber sent a large liberation force to regain control of their gateway. And, as expected, the G.S. pulled out without fighting. They tried to destroy the gateway though.

Their explosive charges succeeded in annihilating the warp-emitters which created the gateway, resulting in some impressive fireworks which could easily be picked up by our spy-probe. Unfortunately, the gateway stayed in place, which came as a surprise.

Though, Jill quickly explained that once a wormhole is open, it has to be closed intentionally by destabilizing the dimensional effects which created it.

Apparently, a stable wormhole doesn't need any energy to be held open. What's a problem though, is that the warp-emitters which surrounded the event horizon functioned as anchors. Now that they are destroyed, the wormhole will start drifting out of position rapidly.

Jill wasn't exactly thrilled about that. A wormhole like this one doesn't have any mass, so it isn't bound to the solar system by gravitational force. Without warp-emitters which function as a focus, the wormhole will drift with increasing speed. There may be a point at which it's impossible to catch and stabilize the loose end.

It's in fact, a permanent threat to n-space.

There is a possibility to close the wormhole from the end which is still tethered by the Cybers. Fat chance that they will give it up freely. If the second gateway's warp-emitters also get destroyed, we might end up with a permanent blight on the galaxy.

I know that the chance is small, but what happens if one end comes in contact with a planet? Or worse, a star?

For a moment, I play with the thought of utilizing wormhole technology as a weapon. But only for a moment. Even at our current technological level, my people came up with hundreds of ways of wiping out planets. If we start blowing up stars, then we might end up turning this galaxy into an expanding cloud of gas.

Having an uncloseable wormhole drifting through the galaxy seems bad enough. What happens if this technology becomes common practice? The dangers clearly aren’t restricted solely to n-space.

I pull myself together and try to focus on the things I am actually able to deal with.

Our opponent's hesitation is worrisome and a relief at the same time. Luckily, the direct result is that we have plenty of time to position and organize ourselves. Sadly, it also means that the Cyber and the G.S. won't do what I wanted them to do: destroying each other while we get to lean back and watch.

Instead, they carefully dance around each other like two boxers who are trying to assess their opponent's abilities without committing themselves. It doesn't mean that they don't lose a handful of ships here and a transporter there, but nothing which would constitute a major weakening of their forces.

They are painfully aware of the fact that we are the third player who is just waiting to strike. So all they do is bide their time, hoping that one side makes a mistake.

Martin and I continue working out the finer details of breaking the status quo of this triangle. It means that we have to throw a major part of our forces right into the middle of the battle, which will hopefully draw in the G.S. and the Cyber.

It sucks to throw away so much material, but there is nothing we can do about it. The whole operation has to look like a genuine commitment from our side. Like a desperate 'all-or-nothing' move.

The Cyber will believe that we are trying to grab the biological resources which are currently under the G.S.'s control. Something that will, hopefully, be evident once our weapon activates. They will have no other choice but to move in and commit themselves.

“You look lonely on that couch of yours. Why don't you convert it back to a throne as long as the women aren’t here?” Martin asks after a long pause in our planning.

Startled out of my thoughts, I turn my attention to him. I notice that I was indeed the only progenitor who used our seat of power for quite some time. It feels awfully empty without a warm body to my left and to my right. “I haven't even thought about it. After a while you get used to the available space, you know.”

I pat the empty spots and suddenly realize that, because of all the work, my love-life took a sudden dive down the gutter. “You know, I haven't had even one of my wives in a whole week! Where did they run off to?” We met a few times for dinner, but that's it. Normally, they are the ones who seek me out! Usually, I can't go two days without at least one happy occasion.

Martin looks troubled. “You haven't heard?”

“Heard what!? We are here, at the centre of our culture's power! All the important information ends up here sooner or later.” I raise my hands in indignation. “What could be so important that it needs the attention of all three of my wives! They should be here, helping! Did something happen to Tartarus and I wasn't told? If this colony isn't able to perform its functions then-”

“Nonono. Nothing like that,” Martin assures me. “The colony is perfectly fine, it's thriving! In fact, that's the problem.”

I furrow my forehead. “How can a thriving colony be a bad thing? It's impossible that something like ‘that’ needs the attention of three progenitors. I told them to hand responsibilities off to others. If we have one thing in abundance, then it's manpower!” Or womanpower... to be fair... three-quarters of our current population are women.

Martin clears his throat. He looks at a distant wall, avoiding my eyes and mumbling, “Oh, boy. How do I explain this to him?” Looking at me, he starts, “Have you taken a look at your family accounts?”

“No?” But after getting the hint, I do. Our society doesn't use money and our mostly automated technology allows us to build anything a person might want. But as long as resources remain limited, we had to come up with some way to distribute what's available for comfort. Those were contribution credits, of which I and my wives receive more than enough in our function as rulers.

I press my lips together when I notice a massive dent in our family-bank account. After sighting the transactions, I notice the pattern. The dent happened to appear within the last week, and most of the transactions went to a certain conglomerate of businesses.

“What's a shopping mall!?”

Martin coughs. “The bane of all men!”

I get up. “I will take a look at this.”

Martin raises both hands stopping me. “Just sit down. You are in a unique position! You are innocent! Don't go there, or they will have you in their clutches! Jenny and Fiona showed Lisandra and Silith the shopping mall when it opened up. They haven’t tasted what it’s like to have a man with them.”

“But I want to know what they are spending all those credits on!” I complain.

Martin raises his hands reassuringly, then continues to explain the finer details of women going ‘shopping’, and that my presence would only mean that I would be used to carry more of their acquired goods. How I would have to listen to their exploits, or which dress to choose, even if in the end they would buy both dresses anyway. “Believe me, it’s better to stay here.”

I sit back down. “This shopping mall sounds like a horrible place! Why would any man want to go there?”

Martin clears his throat. “Well, it isn’t all bad. Just remember not to go there with your family.”