PHALANX - The series

Episode Thirty-seven: Where stranger things may happen.

Barbara Fromthefield walked into her office, located on deck two of the humongous Space-bound Command, Exploration and Colonization base known as SpaCECoB. Located directly below Deck One, the legendary office of her brother, Frederic Fromthefield, Barbara's office was large and spacious... as well as equipped with all the latest technology the Earth Strategic Mental Forces had to offer.

She sat down in the padded pseudo-leather chair, and sighed contently when the material contorted to her shape, supporting her in all the right places. Feeling the stress of a night spent thinking too much finally ebb away, the blonde closed her eyes and allowed herself five seconds of relaxation. It would have been ten, too... had her chime not done its job to its usual perfection.

Sitting upright, feeling the chair change to her new position, Barbara hurried to put in her contact-contacts. The little clear contacts immediately contacted the computer on her desk, giving her an overview of the night's activities overlaid upon reality.

“Enter,” she stated firmly, years of working as CEO of the F² group sounding through in all its glory.

“Good mornings, Barbs,” Sonya said as she strode in, Michelle right behind her. Together, the trio formed the entire Board of Directors of the F² group, scattered across the multiverse in ever-expanding numbers. Sonya was a stunning brunette, while Michelle's dark skin and darker hair shone in the gentle artificial lighting.

“Good morning, Sonya, Michelle,” Barbara greeted her two semi-adopted sisters.

“You worry too much,” Sonya immediately declared upon sight of her sister. “You spent half the night worrying about the new chapter on 112, haven't you?”

Barbara shook her head, not knowing where she found the gall. “No.”

Michelle and Sonya eyed her, obviously not believing either the single word or the expression. Barbara sighed, and relented.

“I was up the entire night worrying,” she admitted.

Shaking their heads, Sonya and Michelle took the two vacant chairs on the other side of Barbara's huge desk. “Anyway, how have things progressed?” the blonde asked her two early-morning visitors.

“We have acquired the Lesotho territories,” Michelle announced. “The government has changed over peacefully.”

Sonya nodded. “Construction crews of F² have moved in across the dimensional walls... we have plenty of volunteers for the cross-dimensional groups now.”

Barbara chuckled. “Ever since word got out about Universe 89.”

“Must be the fact that people there enjoy something akin to the Garden of Eden...” Michelle said dryly. “And the fact that it's practically off-limits to everyone but those select few rewarded with a holiday in one of the villages that agreed to have them.”

Barbara and Michelle smiled, and nodded. “Anyway, how's the construction coming along?”

“It's moving quickly... the people of Lesotho in 112 are learning quickly. We've already brought in a team of scholars, too... we'll have our local headquarters up in no time. All we need to do then is worry on how to start production, and how to get our things marketed and sold... it's one of those annoying worlds where the government thinks it needs to protect the populace... they'll try and break us up.”

“Maybe we should try a new trick...” Michelle thought out loud. “If we started multiple companies...”

“A multiply the workload?” Sonya asked.

“Not if we create a company for each section...” Barbara whispered, thinking things through, as usual. She thought too much... always did... but in this case, it was justified. “If we created a company for the hardware, one for the software, one for household appliances, one for general electronics...”

Michelle nodded. “Right!” she shouted excitedly. “And nobody needs to know!”

Sonya shook her head. “Won't work... especially the US will get in our way as soon as one 'part' of F² starts gaining a monopoly.”

Barbara sighed. “I know... we'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it. Nothing we can do otherwise...”

Michelle snorted. “We'll buy them out, like usual... throw a couple of billion dollars worth of lawyers at them, and we'll have them jumping through hoops.”

“I'm still not happy we did that,” Barbara grunted. “Poor humanity, that...”

“But good business sense,” Michelle countered. “We don't do bad, we bring top-notch products, don't overcharge, make sure all is of the best quality, we provide work for how many now? Five hundred million people across the dimensions? We pay everyone a fair wage, have excellent benefits, make sure everyone is fully insured medically, and so forth. So why would they try and break us up when all we try to do is raise their technological standard?”

Barbara and Sonya nodded silently. “But it's still low-by-the-ground,” Barbara grunted.

“Lawyers need work, too,” Michelle said with a grin. “And the US needs to keep its judges and trade courts in motion, too.”

Barbara rubbed her eyes, looking at Sonya. The brunette didn't get involved in these kinds of philosophical discussions, her Amazon nature too brutal for common businesses... had the F² group been a Mafia Family, she would have made an ideal Enforcer. But, it wasn't, so she didn't get involved.

“It got them off our backs...” Sonya ventured. “And even with the fines, we only lost one billion dollars...”

Barbara chuckled slightly. Only they could truly and honestly say ONLY a billion dollars. “Did we have the funds set up as initial injection?”

Michelle nodded, recognizing that the philosophy was over for now. “We have, for the moment, twenty-five billion set up in various account scattered throughout Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. It looks like 112 misses a lot of gold and platinum... prices are ten times higher than those on comparable worlds... rules have already been set in place to make sure that there's no black imports from other realities. Linda's keeping an eye on the crossings.”

Barbara nodded in agreement. “For now, we'll limit our own input... what have we brought in?”

“The usual,” Sonya replied. “Gold, Platinum, diamonds, some oil and natural gas, Uranium, gems, various jewels. We've also sold the usual array of R&D results: low-end improvements on chip design, production methods in the electronic industries, as well as new high-efficiency engines for cars. The Oil companies are already gunning for us.”

“But not as much as when F² automobiles starts launching its fuel cell cars,” Sonya grunted. She turned to Barbara. “We'll need to do the usual courses on getting people chanted over from working for the oil companies to working in Fuel Cells...”

Barbara nodded. “As well as locate those factories in the Middle-Eastern countries...”

“We found that out the hard way,” Michelle grunted. “That sure wasn't pretty...”

“Having terrorism destroy five of our plants never is... the human toll was appalling,” Barbara grunted. “But... we learned from it.”

“Yeah,” Michelle grunted. “No more relying on ‘standard’ security measures. From now on, full shields on all installations.

The man panted, vision colored a dull red through the blood in his eyes, running down from his forehead. Panting he did as he dragged himself through the narrow streets of Jerusalem, the heavy cross burdening down upon his shoulders. Dragging himself and his burden through the crowds he did, through the walls of people that simply stood… stood there, shouting, screaming, crying, wailing. It hurt him greatly to see his people crying.

He fell.

Out of the crowds, people shot forward, brutally repulsed by the brutish roman ‘escort’ he enjoyed.

Then, somehow, a person made it to him. Gentle yet powerful hands helped him upright, the cross on his shoulders suddenly feeling lighter. Confused, the man looked up to the person helping him. The moment his weary and blooded eyes made contact with the face, he gasped.

“I can help you,” the person offered. “I can make this all go away… You do not deserve this fate.”

The man shook his head. The helper sighed, and nodded once. “At least let me help you,” he said, reaching down and lifting the back of the cross. A grateful smile spread upon the lips of the weary and beaten man, mere moment before the Roma, soldiers brutally pushed them forward.

Not long after, they stood upon Calvary Mountain, the soldiers brutally lashing the man to his cross, before driving long nails through hands and feet, before lifting the cross up into position.

The helper stood there, among the crowds, feeling the rage of the people surrounding him taking root deep within his heart. His fists balled, and almost… almost, he took a step forward, managing through superhuman effort to restrain himself at the last moment.

“You will be there with me, this day, in Paradise,” the man spoke to the person hanging on the cross to his left. The man in the crowds screwed his eyes shut, fighting back tears at the words that followed. “Father… forgive them, for they know not what they do…”

Down in the crowds, amidst the hushes of silence, the man stood, staring at the ground through clenched-shut eyes.

“I hope you’re happy.”

“It was, always was… his choice, Young Gerius,” The Wise One whispered in his ear.

The man looked up, confused, looking over his shoulder to the mythical being. “You…”

“I always come,” The Wise One said, sadly, looking up to the man on the cross. “He may not have been my son in flesh and blood, but surely, he was in soul and spirit. I always come to this moment… when he chooses to give his life.”

The man shuddered, and looked up to where Jesus the Christus gave his life on the cross. “I hope… when my time comes… that I am able to go to my death as bravely and courageously as he.”

The Wise One sighed, and nodded. “We all do, Young Gerius. We all hope, that we are able to die by his example.”

“I wish I could have saved him.”

“I do, too, Young Gerius… but take only one piece of advice on face value… none of them will ever accept your help any more than they accept mine.”

“I know, Wise One. I saw it… the moment I offered my help… I saw it in his eyes, in his soul… he wanted to do this, to offer his life for what he believed, even thought it meant dying like a common criminal…”

The Wise One put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “I know, Frederic… and believe me… it never gets easier. And I have been doing this for millennia.”

Ten minutes later, Frederic sunk down in the command chair of the Ortega’s command center.

“How did it go, Love?” Jennifer asked, already knowing the answer from the single look he shot her. His shields wavered; then dropped, and she shuddered slightly at the emotions. It really had been so long since they had been this intimately connected… she felt like she had just been married, all over again.

“He refused,” Frederic simply stated to the other people on the bridge; be they human or AI.

“At least you satisfied your curiosity,” Daphnix replied. “I tried to warn you he wouldn’t accept your help.”

“And I still had to try,” Frederic replied evenly, looking up, staring at the huge viewscreen that showed an Earth in the year 33 AD.

The Entity looked up from the surface of the planet it was on, to the skies where the triple sun-system cast ghostly shadows down. Or rather, usually, it did.

Now its green scales where shining purple in the strange light provided by one of the most special occurrences in any universe: the passing of the wandering Black Hole.

Temporal displacement active, it read from an ocular overly. Phenomena is distorting time and reality, adaptations calculated and implemented. Gravitonic enhancements calculated and implemented. Current gravity holding steady at 863 times normal levels. Anticipated problems: none.

The Entity drew a breath of non-existing air, the planet’s atmosphere long since gone. The bio-neural circuitry that went through its entire body sped up its processing abilities, trying to predict how the strange phenomena would evolve. Gravimetric calculations that took ages to develop by human scientists were replicated within seconds by the strange bio-neural computer that was interwoven in every cell of its strangely composed body.

The radiation-purple eyes of the Entity continued to gaze upward to where the Black Hole was now feeding off of the outmost sun’s gasses, its usually vibrant orange gasses accelerating on their course to the Hole, lighting up in ever brighter colors before disappearing off the visual scale.

The Entity’s eyes tracked them well into the x-ray spectrum, and beyond with the strange senses it had been provided with.

The planet shook, and the Entity knew that its planet was doomed in the near future, torn apart by the gravity. Tearing itself away from the spectacle, it balled its fists, and jumped off the humongous gravity, its bio-neural computerized body continuing to adapt… and calculate the gravimetric distortions, trying to predict the future path of the monstrous eye in the sky, totally invisible, even to the Entity’s advanced sensors, even as it executed complex martial arts maneuvers and trained itself to use whatever magic it had been designed to incorporate.

Stepping up Training Program: switching to level 12, post post-advanced martial arts training of the Astral and Physical body.

The battlecarrier known as Ortega had docked quietly in its private berth; one of its many advantages of being not only the flagship of the ESMF fleet, but also being the semi-permanent residence of its leaders.

After making it to the huge office located at the top of the SpaCECoB, the foursome relaxed, even as Linda and Borlan watched over them through the computer systems. Frederic sat in the self-molding chair behind the huge semi-circular desk, while Jennifer, Daphnix, and Ami occupied similar chairs located throughout the spacious office.

Built by the ESMF’s top scientists, the office was designed to be not only functional, but it was also stunningly beautiful, with gentle light-blue carpets on the floor, while the conical walls were constructed out of what appeared to be tropical hardwoods… but were probably Quadranium, altered to look and feel like hardwood. Because the bio-metal was always warm to the touch, it passed very close inspection.

“I still prefer loitering on the bridge,” Daphnix muttered, looking around. “It’s nice and all… but it just doesn’t feel like…”

“Home?” Jennifer offered, smiling slightly at Daphnix’s nod. “I know how you feel, D,” she added. “This place looks like the home of a pencil-pusher.”

Frederic made a show out of theatrically linking his hands behind his head and reclining in the self-molding chair, while looking at the exact middle of the ceiling, where the conical walls met in a single point. “Oh, I don’t know… I could get used to this… SpaCECoB has its advantages over the Ortega.”

“Like what?” Daphnix asked sourly, while Ami molded herself to his side, calming his temper down.

Jennifer smiled at the gesture, aware that her husband had also detected it, just chose not to react. “No aliens attacking us out of the blue,” the former Amazon said, on a tone that was midway between sarcastic and honest.

“Peace and quiet,” Frederic mused, remaining in his semi-reclined position. “Lots of room, all the science, latest upgrades, not on the frontier…”

“Enough labs to keep David and Jessie occupied,” Jennifer said with a smile.

“Now that is a good thing,” Daphnix grunted. “I love those two as much as you do, but I’m getting tired of being a guinea pig.”

Ami blushed a delightful shade of pink. “Like that shampoo they asked me to test…”

“Blue looks good on you,” Daphnix complimented her.

“Not on my skin!” she protested. “It made my hair white and my skin blue!”

“It’s exotic…” Daphnix muttered with a mischievous grin.

“Like that time they asked you to test the bio-neural interface to the main computer, and Borlan subsequently had you square-dancing because you happened to make a rude thought?” she rebutted.

Daphnix chuckled. “That wasn’t exotic… that was sadistic,” he grunted to the ceiling.

Remind yourself not to connect any time soon… It shouldn’t take more than five thousand years for the memory to be buried deep enough, the war-time AI replied levelly. Ami, Jennifer and Frederic chuckled as Daphnix glared at the ceiling.

“You know, if you keep it up, you’ll burn holes through it,” Frederic commented off-handedly.

Daphnix shook his head. He was just about to reply when Linda interrupted.

There’s… something… appearing below us! The female AI semi-shouted. I can’t identify it!

“Show us,” Frederic ordered, sitting upright as the walls and ceiling vanished, replaced by a starscape showing something that, for the lack of a better word, could only be described as… a hole in space.

And what came through it… two things that came through it… sent shivers down Frederic’s spine. One was the Ortega, albeit in a modified form… the other was something from his dreams.

We’re being hailed.

“Battle Alert,” Frederic grunted, standing up as the desk vanished, to be replaced by a standard tactical display, and various stations appeared out of thin air, exactly where Jennifer, Daphnix, and Ami were sitting. “Show us.”

“No need for that,” a second Frederic, standing on what appeared to be the Ortega Bridge, said. Split-screen next to him stood a younger, fresher, Frederic, on the bridge of what appeared to be the USS Enterprise… NCC-1701-D. And behind him… was an all female crew.

“He’s right. I’m just paying a visit, no need to roll out the hostilities,” the younger Frederic said with a huge and enthusiastic grin. “But now… what am I doing here, how did I get here, and who are you jokers?”

Daphnix turned to Frederic. “Peace and quiet, huh?” He turned to Jennifer. “They’re not aliens, and they’re not attacking… but they did come out of the blue.”

“Believe me, Little One,” the second mature Frederic replied from his Ortega Bridge. “I am no joker.” He turned to Frederic. “Greetings from LOBO.”

Frederic glanced to Jennifer and Daphnix. << LOBO? What in the Name of the Wise One is a LOBO?>> He wanted to groan when he received two mental shrugs.

He exchanged glances with the younger him, before both turned to the second mature Frederic. “What's a LOBO?” Both asked at the same time.

GEXFred chuckled slightly. “How about you come over in an hour, and I'll explain?” He nodded to someone off -screen. “I've just sent you both the interdimensional coordinates.”

Frederic glanced to Jennifer, who nodded. DreamFred, the younger him, looked behind him, to a copy of Seven of Nine, who was manning the Science Station on the Enterprise-D bridge. She nodded as well.

“One hour, then,” Frederic answered his double.

GEXFred smiled broadly. “I know how much we dislike secrecy amongst our doubles, but in this case, it's justified, believe me.”

DreamFred rumbled something about rudeness, while Frederic's eyes narrowed slightly. “You know... every time one of us says that, it gives me the creeps. And it's usually justified, too.”

GEXFred chuckled. “I'll be seeing you in one hour!” With those words, he vanished... as did his modified Ortega starship.

“He... He vanished,” Daphnix and Jennifer reported at the same time, looking up from their tactical and science consoles.

“Interdimensional relocation,” Jennifer then added. “It's impossible... Spatial relocation is extremely limited in range, and it can't go across the dimensional border... yet he did it!”

“So the guy has a new trick”, DreamFred grunted. “I don't like him... he's keeping secrets.”

Frederic scowled slightly at his younger self. “So am I,” he replied, severing the connection. “Borlan, stand down from battle conditions... but keep us as DEFCON three. I don't trust that guy.”

“Simply because he asked us to meet him in one hour?” Ami asked, confused.

“No, the other one. He's the one I don't trust,” Frederic grunted, sinking back in his chair. Immediately, the screen on his desk lit up. Admiral Charles Decker's face appeared.

“What happened, sir?” he asked respectfully. “We noticed you assuming main command, and placing the entire base on combat status.”

“We weren't sure, Admiral,” Frederic replied. “We merely made sure... it appears that some doubles of mine decided to make an entrance.”

Admiral Decker smiled slightly. “And you weren't sure if they were friend or foe.”

“I can't help it... the last couple of times I met a double, I ended up fighting for my life,” Frederic grunted in reply. “I'm getting paranoid about my image in the mirror, too.”

“Don't like the way it's looking at you, Love?” Jennifer said with a chuckle.

“Precisely,” Frederic said with a straight face. “I think it's up to something... it's always copying me. I think it's trying to learn my moves.”

Charles Decker laughed, and signed off, still chuckling.

On his bridge, fifteen-year-old Frederic paced angrily. He snapped his fingers again. And once again, he flashed to the exact same location he left. “Why can't I get IN!?” he demanded angrily, practically stomping his foot on the deck. Fifteen-year-old Daphnix sitting in the second-in-command chair sighed.

“Maybe because they're stronger? You know... they both seemed pretty powerful people...” he suggested.

“They're hiding things from me!” DreamFred raged. “The last time that happened, I nearly got killed, my girls were enslaved by an evil version of me and I only ended up destroying him with sheer brute force tactics!”

“I don't think these guys will attack us... they seem the good sort,” Daphnix said, trying to calm his friend down.

“Let's hope you're right, D,” DreamFred grunted. He took a deep breath. “I'm a fucking Q, damnit! They can't DO this!” he raged anew. He snapped his fingers, and vanished. “I'm going to relieve some stress, I'll be back,” DreamFred's disembodied voice said.

Exactly five minutes before the hour was up, Frederic was looking at the people that would accompany him: his wife, Jennifer, his best friend, Daphnix, Daphnix's girlfriend Ami, Frederic's two children, and Charles Decker as well.

“Why the full uniform?” Jessica asked as she straightened out the black-and-gold dress uniform of the ESMF.

David straightened out the gold pads on his sister's shoulders, right before she did the same for him. Meanwhile, he answered, “Probably because we're meeting a head of state... one who knows us as well as we do, apparently.”

“Not just that,” Frederic whispered as he frolicked with the two swords on his back. “But he's a Gerius, too... I felt it, the moment we looked into each other's eyes. He's Gerius.”

Jennifer, Daphnix and Ami nodded. David and Jessie stared in shock at their father. “Forty-eight... forty-eight Gerius?”

Frederic dipped his head once. “Which is why we must make a favorable first impression.” He blinked. “I just asked the others to be on standby... we can't let this run afoul, but it there's no other way...”

“Let's hope not,” Jessica grunted. “The odds of the omniverse surviving a battle between Gerius...”

“Are as insignificant as it surviving an all-out ware between Gods and destroyers, I know,” Frederic whispered.

They appeared exactly next to DreamFred, who had only brought his Daphnix with him. Directly in front of them stood GEXFred and his wife, Jennifer. As best as Frederic could tell, he stood on a raised platform of some kind, carefully constructed as to not allow any vision whatsoever beyond its rim.

Drawing a steeling breath, the Gerius Supreme Commander stepped forward to his double. In exact duplication, GEXFred stepped forward, mirroring Frederic's movement in what appeared to be a carefully choreographed performance. As they reached each other, Both Gerius crossed their arms over their chest.

“Welcome to LOBO,” GEXFred said, smiling slightly.

“Your invitation honors us,” Frederic replied calmly.

Jennifer... both Jennifers... sighed. Shooting their respective husbands an angry glare, they strode purposefully forward. “This is how you greet dimensional doubles,” both women said, hugging. Turning to each other, GEXJenny said to her counterpart, “Welcome.”

“Our pleasure,” Jennifer answered with a smile.

“Hey, after you go through what we went through with doubles, you'll learn to be cautious too!” both Frederics replied simultaneously, before looking at each other and bursting out laughing.

“Hey! Enough chit-chat!” DreamFred grunted. “I still don't know what I'm doing here... and you still haven't told us who or what this LOBO is!”

GEXFred stepped back, and motioned forward, to where the red carpet vanished beyond the rim of the platform. Curious, the visitors stepped forward. As the curious construction gave up its secrets, the ultra-flatness of the landscape was obscured by but one thing... the entire ESMF of GEXFred, all two million of them, standing in perfect parade rest, as far as the eye could see.

At the sight of the visitors becoming visible, they snapped at attention, the sound of boots hitting ground nearly overwhelming.

“Welcome... to LOBO,” GEXFred said with a smug grin. The visitors stood speechless, and it was David and Jessie who regained their composure first. Both broke out in wide grins.

“Cool!” they shouted simultaneously.

The voices of his children snapped him out of it, and Frederic turned to his double. “Just where are we? That surface is way too flat to be an Earth-like planet.”

David and Jessie blinked, glanced at their father, then back to the flat surface below them, supporting a double of their ESMF... gathered together. “The surface coefficient is indeed a lot lower than Earth...” David whispered.

“Below any planet,” Jessie answered her brother. “If this is correct... we're looking at a structure that is 16 light-minutes in diameter. It's Earth's orbit in diameter!” She shook her head. “It's a simulation...” she reached down, let her hand slide over the metallic surface. “And a damn convincing one. I can't feel the difference between this and real bio-metal.”

GEXFred chuckled. “We're presently located within my version of SpaCECoB. Welcome to the largest Dyson's Sphere. Known to humanity.”

EvenDreamFred lost his arrogant smirk over that one, and stared slack-jawed at GEXFred.

“Eh... Excuse me? Dyson's Sphere?” Admiral Decker asked, not at all up to date on science-fiction writing.

“GEXFred made a spherical motion with his hands. “Basically, a Dyson's Sphere is a spherical structure built around a star. This particular one is unique in the fact that it is a DOUBLE Sphere. We have the large Sphere with the living quarters, drives, weapons and shields and all the other necessities of life, built at the distance of Earth's orbit. Which means Jessie's correct... it is 16 light-minutes in diameter. And then there's the smaller sphere, built directly outside the Sun's corona, where we have the energy production facilities, as well as command and control centers. In case this entire base has to go to war, they'd first need to get through a 120,000 kilometer thick structure built sixteen light-minutes away before getting to the command bridge.”

GEXFred then smiled a little darkly. “And then... there's LOBO.”

DreamFred grunted. “Just what is this LOBO? And who the fuck are you, to have this kind of technology?”

GEXFred scowled slightly at his younger self, and motioned down the platform. “Come with me. I'll show you.” He turned to the ESMF. “At ease!” Again the sound of millions of boots filled the air, s the entire ESMF fell into easy posture.

Frederic smiled slightly. “Glad to see that discipline goes across the dimensions,” he said to his double as they stepped down the stairs to the platform. Behind them, Decker nodded in agreement.

At the end of the line, DreamFred's mood was below freezing. “Jesus, Fred, I haven't seen you this pissed since the Klingons attacked Enterprise.”

DreamFred snorted. “I hate those jokers. Acting like they're all high and mighty. And this base of his... it's irking me. I could create larger with the snap of my fingers, but somehow, this entire base is immune to my powers. And I don't like being trapped in a place without control.”

“I think the feeling's mutual, too,” Daphnix whispered, catching an angry glance shot backward by GEXFred and Frederic.

“It'd better be,” DreamFred growled lowly.

Barbara leaned forward over the large boardroom table in dimension 112. Even though it sporting the rather attractive coordinates of 01-25-78-42-12, it still sported a number on the old tri-numeral dimensional system, and as such, it was still called 112.

“Just what are those people thinking!?” Barbara asked angrily, not a pleasant sight for the usual calm and composed interdimensional CEO.

“They are afraid that we are taking advantage of Lesotho’s third-world status to underpay our workforce,” the local CEO, Gérard MButu, said. His two-meter hulking frame towered over Barbara, even in the plush seats and across the table, yet it was extremely clear who was in charge. Sitting on the left and right of Barbara were Michelle and Sonya, both keeping quiet, watching the proceedings with interest.

Barbara’s fist clenched. “But sending the WTO on us? Imposing import taxes in 70% of the world? Demanding official investigations!?” She was practically shaking by the time she finished. “You know how little we can tolerate on investigations! Even if it’s just an arbitrary inspection, we’d attract unwanted attention! Especially in this phase of the construction… it would take zero seconds before our interdimensional status becomes painfully clear!”

“I know, ma’am… unfortunately, there’s not much we can do…” MButu replied; sweat pearling on his smooth dark forehead. He wiped at it with a fine white handkerchief. “The rules are quite rigid in this universe…”

Barbara glared slightly to her right, to Michelle, who had something interesting to look at outside the large window. “That was a small oversight on my intel, apparently,” Barbara grunted, turning back to MButu. “What are our options? Can we find a legal loophole? Is there anything we can do to make sure this chapter… and thus this universe… have to be abandoned?”

MButu sighed. “Bad press is hard to counter. The rumors are out, and there’s nothing we can do to stop them.”

“How about we let them investigate?” Sonya asked. “We let them come, look through the factories, interview the workforce, let them see our training center, and send them on their merry way? And, once they’re gone… let’s sue the WTO for slandering our good name. That should convince them not to do it again.”

“And the technology?” Barbara demanded. “We can’t let them see us brining in outside forces, materials and whatnot!”

“Of course not,” Michelle answered. “But we can hide… For instance, we don’t do anything public for a couple of weeks, while we bring in a couple hundred workers from other dimensions, hurriedly remove any trace of advanced technology, and give the impression of being a standard, normal, 20^th century production facility. We tell the workers to be nice and all, but not to spill the beans.”

Barbara rubbed her chin, thinking that over. “We did raise the standard of living here… the people are already loyal, seeing how we stand by them in whatever happens….”

“It would work, Ma’am,” MButu said. “I’m sure of it. The people are indeed incredibly loyal to F²… if we explain things to them, I am sure that things can be worked out without too much problem.”

“Except for the loss of production…” Barbara said calmly. “We’re scheduled to release the first batches of processors in a month and a half. If we miss the first deadline…”

Michelle tapped on her computer. “We still have a production line for those processors in universes 98 and 99… they haven’t been used in a while, and are scheduled to be scrapped in a couple of weeks. We can delay that, and get some temporary workers from universe 74… we could meet the deadline.”

“I never thought I’d see the day I’m glad for a flood…” Barbara grunted. “Seventy-four needs an economic boost in that region, and transferring their technically unemployed people to 98 and 99 to help with production for 112…” She smiled, and turned to MButu. “Take measures to provide accommodations for five hundred extra people to help downscale the plant. And the processors will be here on time, and on schedule.”

MButu smiled, and nodded gratefully. “This is why I love working for F²… the resources are astronomical!”

Barbara smiled. “This is nothing,” she stated calmly. “We were there when battleships needed to be produced… believe me when I say that you haven’t seen what F² can do until you’ve seen it produce entire fleets of warships in mere weeks.”

MButu shook his head. “When the ESMF is in need of production, no doubt?” he asked. “I have queried Linda about that. It is indeed incredible.”

The three Interdimensional Executive Officers stood up. “Good luck, Gérard. We’ll be coordinating from SpaCECoB… right after we pay a visit to 74, 98 and 99,” Barbara said, smiling as she and her two companions shook the local CEO’s hand.

“That was just freaky,” Jennifer grunted as she emerged from a circular portal into a dimly lit room.

“Because the SpaCECoB is so large, we have connected it with a network of portals… Curious, I thought you’d be familiar with them,” GEXFred explained.

“Normal portals, generated by the mind… or by the device known to some as the Stargate, yes,” Jennifer replied. “Not portals that just appear out of thin air while you’re walking!”

GEXFred shrugged. “Are we all here?” he asked, looking around, which was more a way of asking if everyone was paying attention, rather than asking to see if everyone was present or not.

“Yeah, yeah,” DreamFred answered for everybody. “Now… get on with it, already!”

GEXFred exchanged a look with Fredric, before sighing, and nodding. “LOBO. Demonstration mode.”

Of course, Father. DreamFred and his Daphnix weren’t particularly surprised by the voice, but the normal group exchanged glances.

<<Where are Borlan and Linda?>>

My name is LOBO, the bass continued. I was born when the nanoprobe-enhanced Ortega vessel was fired upon by a species of sentient arachnids firing bioplasmatic weapons. The weapon backfired along the Zero-Point shields, wiping out every major system on board: shields, weapons, propulsion, main power, auxiliary power, life-support, sensors. The nanoprobes were wiped out, and the Ortega was caught in the gravity well of the Arachnid homewold’s moon. It crashed. Only one probe survived the cataclysmic events.

In the middle of the room, a circular patch lit up, projecting a hologram of a single nanoprobe in mid-air. Obediently, the group turned to it, although Frederic and Jennifer exchanged worried glances among the people of their group. Especially David and Jessie were looking worried. As chief designers during the last wars, they knew more of the technology involved than even their mother and father.

The single surviving probe was damaged. It memory banks were partially destroyed, its sensors were erratic, its knowledge of where it was in was rudimentary at best. All it knew was to get power to its world, and then, after completing that objective, to enhance its world as best it could.

Was that a sigh? A sad breath? Whatever the case, LOBO’s voice halted for a fraction of a second. One became many as it replicated itself, before swarming to the main reactor. They got main power back to ten percent, and the probes started swarming out. As one group detached to get the main reactor on-line, another group started reattaching memory storage banks, engines, sensors, computers…

They assimilated knowledge. One became Many. Many became self-aware. After finding the backup cores of the AIs known as Linda and Borlan, the sentience became Alive.

Greetings, all… my name is LOBO, the Linda-Ortega-Borlan collective. And I… am the consciousness of quadrillions of sentient nanoprobes scattered throughout the multiverse.

David glanced at his sister. As one, they turned to the visual representation of the nanoprobe that still hung in the room. “A sentient collective of nanoprobes…” David whispered.

“Your intelligence factor… is it as high as we think it is?” Jessie finished.

Probably higher… I evolve at the rate of one generation every tenth of a second, LOBO answered truthfully.

“So this is how you were able… to build this place?” DreamFred asked. “You had your pet nanoprobes deconstruct who knows how many resources, and rebuild them into this impregnable battle base?”

The base is indeed impregnable, as you no doubt know, Frederic, LOBO stated, rather coldly. But also know that this base’s abilities have not yet been demonstrated to you. And also know that I built this base as a gift to those people who gave me life, who treated me well, who supported me, and would never abuse the trust I place in them. Currently, I am able to warp reality to a point you can not imagine, so maybe you should try and lose the arrogant attitude.

DreamFred grew pale, while Frederic exchanged an amused glance with GEXFred. “As amusing as it would be so watch LOBO tear our dream-colleague here into shreds,” Frederic then said, “It wouldn’t solve the rest of my questions… like how it is possible for you to be here? This isn’t the usual standard dimensional crossing…”

“I know,” GEXFred acknowledged. “As far as I know, LOBO was attempting a new technique to travel across dimensional borders. But I think he can explain it better.”

Thank you, Father. LOBO changed the image of the nanoprobe to a standard multi-dimensional tree. This is a standard six-dimensional interdimensional tree. I am sure you are all familiar with it. As the group nodded, LOBO continued. This is what I think happened: I was attempting to use a new hyper-dimensional jumping technique, yet it failed. As it failed, I felt it drain more energy from me than I have ever believed possible, enough to force me to upgrade our zero-point reactors by 500%. Quite a feat if you have only two seconds…

“Not if you evolve one generation every tenth of a second,” David remarked.

Also true, LOBO conceded. Yet I didn’t want to sound conceited. Anyway… this is the result.

The image of the one six-dimensional tree of universes within the multiverse changed. Another six dimensions were added, and nobody stopped to think about how it was possible to show twelve dimensions in a single hologram, to be interpreted through standard eyes. Meanwhile, LOBO went on. As the new drives energized, they not only tore through the fabric of the universe… it tore through the fabric of the multiverse as well.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am forced to admit that we are now officially inhabiting a hyperverse, as best as I can describe it. Multiple lines of parallel parallels run side-by-side. The image morphed, showing three tress interconnecting. The force of the transfer drew the SpaCECob of my reality, as well as the Enterprise-D from the young Frederic’s reality, into this reality.

However… I have detected that this transfer has placed a serious burden upon all three of our multiverses. It appears that jumping multiverses isn’t as straightforward as jumping universes. I advise that, as soon as we are returned to our places of origin, we don’t cross any more. Doing so might cause all of our realities to tear and collapse in on themselves. Another halt in LOBO’s speech. Beyond the control of even the Jokilar Gerius to repair.

GEXFred and Frederic stared at the hologram, two Jennifers grew agitated, one Daphnix was thinking over scenarios, David and Jessie was chattering shocked with each other in short-binary, and Decker glanced around with only a slightly worried look in his eyes.

“What the FUCK is a Jokilar Gerius, and there’s no damage that I can’t repair!” DreamFred shouted, causing his Daphnix to look slightly embarrassed.

GEXFred opened his mouth to serve the young upstart of reply, but LOBO beat him to it. Listen to me, Young One. If I can’t repair it, and the Jokilar Gerius can’ repair it, there’s no hope in hell for you to be able to do so!

“Huh!” DreamFred huffed. “I am Q.”

Frederic stepped up to him. “And I am the Supreme Commander of the Jokilar Gerius. Your point?”

DreamFred growled, balling his fists, and stepped up directly into Frederic's personal space. “That's again you use that term! Just what are these Jokilar Gerius jokers!?”

Frederic chuckled as he looked down upon his younger self. “The Jokilar Gerius are the most powerful beings in the omniverse, save for the Gods themselves. We are destined... designated... to protect all of creation from the darkness.”

“Huh,” DreamFred huffed. “Creation. A Q can create whatever he wants.”

“Not unless we say so,” Frederic growled, bending down, now invading DreamFred's personal space. “Listen to me, little brat. I've cut you a lot of slack because you are what I used to be, but even my patience has limits! We, the Gerius, command the armies of might, light and creation! When we snap, even the mighty Q continuum jumps!”

“I'd like to see that,” DreamFred said with a big smile. “And just in case age has degenerated your mind, old man, that means I am calling your bluff!”

GEXFred chuckled. “LOBO, the challenge has been accepted.”

Of course, father! LOBO shouted, actually sounding happy about the turn of events. Immediately, the room vanished, and the entire group found themselves in a level grassy plain. The individuals found themselves changing positions, until Frederic and DreamFred were the ones standing in the center of a large circle, the other spread out around it.

Triple dimensional shield wall has been enabled! Please use whatever force you deem necessary... for it is impossible to penetrate a wall three dimensions thick. Oh, and just in case... because I happen to know what a Frederic, ANY Frederic is capable of, I can lay another dozen dimensions on it if necessary.

Frederic smiled, and cracked his knuckles. “Bring it on, then,” he challenged his younger self.

DreamFred scowled darkly, and balled his fists. Two slabs of rock appeared out of thin air, before blasting toward Frederic, who sighed and made a sweeping motion with his right hand, scattering the rock into sand-dust.

“Now I remember... you're not much of a fighter, are you? Just throwing small planets at your opponents may do where you're from, but over here... we fight grown-up style!”

DreamFred scowled once again, then growled as he sunk through his legs, into a martial arts pose. “Fury of the elements!” he shouted out, slamming his fists together. Frederic raised an eyebrow, and smiled slightly. He closed his eyes, and seemed to meditate.

As he had done before, DreamFred had summoned to very fury of the primordial elemental forces, blasting out of the four corners, rock, wind, water, fire.

A truly devastating weapon.

But totally meaningless against a Jokilar Gerius, as the four steams of energy seemed to collide with a perfectly spherical shield around Frederic, merging together to form steam and lava-enriched tornadoes, obscuring him from view, and causing DreamFred to actually take a step back. Even though he was immortal and near invulnerable, his body remembered being human, and it flinched instinctively away from deadly forces.

“That's it?” Frederic asked, chuckling, as he stepped totally unharmed out of the elemental chaos caused by a rampart Q. Crossing his arms, he then asked, “Next trick, please?”

DreamFred snarled his teeth bare. “If you're so good a fighter, show me, then!” he demanded.

Frederic smiled, and uncrossed his arms. “If you insist,” he said, dropping into a martial arts stance. DreamFred stepped back, readying himself for whatever his older counterpart could cook up. Suddenly, unexpectedly, Frederic shoved off, blasting toward DreamFred, one fist drawn back, ready to strike.

Lighting-fast reactions caused the young Q to throw up a Q grid, the impregnable Q barrier that could take the most powerful of damage without even scratching. Frederic ground to a halt in front of it.

DreamFred chuckled. “You're done now! You can't hit me!” he bellowed, laughing heartily.

Frederic hit the grid. It held, small waves radiating out from the punch. “Watch what a Gerius can do!” the older Frederic stated calmly, taking two steps back. “That grid works both ways... as long as it's up, you can't hit me, either. And I am going to use that time...”

“Really? You're going to have a coffee-klatch?” the Q demanded with a laugh.

Frederic closed his eyes, and drew in a deep breath, summoning forth the energy within him. His ki swept up, rotating around him in with ever-increasing speeds, sweeping up material off the ground as if it were a tornado in the making.

“What the...?” the Q asked, startled, not knowing what was happening.

Frederic growled, the energy exploding around him, lifting him to Super 1. He opened his eyes, and scowled with red eyes to his young counterpart. “Watch...” he growled. “Watch you demise unfold before you eyes, behind the barrier of your own making!” He shouted out now, burning rage firing up within his heart, summoning pain and hatred forth. His Ki exploded. Super two, and his Ki turned purple instead of blood red. DreamFred took a step back. His Daphnix looked pale as a ghost.

The shout became a howl, and Frederic lifted himself to level three, secretly enjoying the powerful feeling of a power-up. So much better than just clicking to full output... His long hair now reached his waste, his muscles enlarged noticeably, and lighting flashed through the energy-tornado surrounding him.

“Oh, God...” DreamFred whispered.

“You don't know how right you are,” GEXFred chuckled darkly, also enjoying the show. Is this how I look when I do that? Jesus, no wonder everybody's scared to death of me... I'm a seriously fucked up piece of work. He chuckled to himself. I LIKE it!

Balling fists together, crouching deeper, Frederic summoned more power. The Ki exploded a fourth time, obscuring him from view as it turned black as pitch, before revealing a Frederic with black eyes, short black hair, and a Ki that seemed to come from hell itself.

“Magic Augmentation, level two,” he whispered, secretly powering the magic into himself as well, before straightening out, and lifting one hand to hip-height, motioning his palm to the ground. “Alter!”

DreamFred stared as a part of the ground vanished... no, exploded, into Alter energies, recombining with Frederic's body, powering up the full Alter Armor. “This is nothing,” Frederic stated, walking forward. “But it will do.” Placing one hand on the waving barrier, he chuckled. “Jokilar Gerius. Disband.”

DreamFred let out a small cry as his barrier vanished. Frederic smiled darkly, and drew his two swords. DreamFred, not known for staying down, opened his hands. “Stones!”

A red and a blue stone appeared into his hands, and he thought a command to them. The two stones morphed, becoming long swords of a vibrant red and a dark blue in color. Frederic smiled, and thought a command to his swords.

Banes of Darkness.

DreamFred lifted a single eyebrow at the sight of twin purple-glowing moonstone-encrusted swords emerging from whirling lightning. Then, he smiled, and tapped into the final knowledge of the Q, drawing in all the martial knowledge he would need. Dropping into a combat stance, swords held at a cross, he studied his opponent for a fraction of a second, before vanishing in a flash of light.

Frederic, meanwhile, closed his eyes, and relaxed. Gerius-sharpened senses detected DreamFred's emergence before the flash of light appeared, and he dodged to the ground, extending one Bane of Darkness, and going for the strike to his opponent's leg. DreamFred's eyes went wide as he saw Frederic do the impossible, the Bane of Darkness closing at super-light velocities.

Q reactions took over, and the Q vanished, appeared in the air, striking to the ground, toward his older double, who nimbly dodged sideways, jumping to his feet the fraction he was clear. Sighing, the Gerius sheathed his Banes, and crossed his arms.

“You're not going to get me, Young One,” Frederic stated calmly. “My abilities outpace yours, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

The young Q seethed inwardly. The twin longswords vanished, and he balled his fists. “Damn you... I am going to wipe that smirk off your face, even if it's the last thing I do!” the Q promised darkly. “Prepare for your annihilation!”

Frederic lifted an eyebrow.

DreamFred exploded in rage, snapping his fingers. He vanished in a burst of red light.

Frederic lifted his second eyebrow, and smiled slightly to GEXFred, who just shrugged. The next instant, the Gerius lifted an open hand, catching the strike of his Q opponent, who vanished directly after, and Frederic lifted his second hand, stopping a strike coming from the other side. The next instant, he moved his right hand once more, stopping a kick to his side coming from behind. He turned around, and lifted his leg to catch kick coming from the other side.

“BASTARD!!! DIE!” DreamFred hollered, materializing at the top of the domed shield, lifting one hand, and materializing a black hole. The moment it vanished, Frederic knew it was going to be close. He started dodging, yet he realized instantly that there was no way he could dodge the full effects of a black hole detonation... the maximum power output of a Q at war.

Flashbacks to his dream crisscrossed his mind as he flashed to speeds beyond light, trying to outpace the tracking weapon. Drawing one Bane of Darkness, he flashed around, catching the enraged orb on his pissed-off Bane.

Energy clashed with energy, as Gerius power met gravity and dark matter. DreamFred smiled evilly as his opponent vanished in a blinding flash of light and destruction.

He materialized on top of a semi-molten, semi-de-atomized battlefield. “I won,” he stated coldly, glaring at GEXFred.

The other Gerius smirked back, and pointed up. DreamFred's look of triumph shifted to one of confusion as he looked up, just in time to see his opponent come gently floating down, totally unharmed. With a single sign of power, the Gerius touched down, landing in a full Gerius-style annihilation technique stance.

“You have forced my hand,” Frederic stated coldly. “As Supreme Commander of the Jokilar Gerius... I am labeling you a category A threat. I am authorizing the full release of the level one powers.” He closed his eyes, feeling the power-release trigger deep within his body. When he opened his eyes, they had an obsidian look to them, and DreamFred could see himself reflected in those mirror-finished orbs of dark glass. “Gerius Annihilation Technique. Sword Dance!”

Twin Banes of Darkness teleported to the Gerius Commander's hands, right before he vanished. The Q had time to glance around in blind panic right before he felt a crippling pain surge through his supposedly invulnerable body, a purple glowing sword sticking out of his side, driving in from the back.

“What the...?” he croaked, paralyzed with fear and pain, managing just to glance over his shoulder to his opponent.

Frederic stood behind him; hand on the moonstone-encrusted handle of the Bane, eyes closed. “You're lucky I didn't kill you.”

He withdrew the sword, and turned in the same motion, walking to the Shield Wall. “Disband,” he stated coldly, and the entire dome trembled, before vanishing. Only then did he relax, taking a deep breath, feeling his power lock itself deep within his heart once again. “I always hate doing that...”

DreamFred, meanwhile, had fallen to the ground, clutching his wounded side. His Daphnix, meanwhile, was already at his side. “Jesus... what did that guy do to you?”

“Show... show me... how little I mean,” DreamFred croaked. “I... just assumed... Q's the powerful...”

“A Gerius commands even the forces of the Q, Young One,” GEXFred said, not unkindly. “Here... swallow these. They'll help you.” He held out two Senzu beans, and Daphnix took them, albeit a bit unsure. Only when DreamFred nodded did he put them in his friend's mouth. After he swallowed, the wound closed slowly but surely.

“This is SO cool!” Jessie shouted, as she and her brother looked around the computer control room on board the Dyson's Sphere. Circular in design, it currently sported four access terminals situated two by two, facing each other. David just nodded in stunned agreement, looking in the opposite direction his sister was looking, their minds already linked and exchanging data at bursts of speed that would boggle even their father's mind.

Their dimensional equivalents merely smiled, taking their seats, leaving a second set of terminals free. “LOBO can generate any accommodations we require,” GEXDavid replied. “It comes in quite handy for dangerous experiments.”

David and Jessie chuckled. “Too bad, that's always the most fun,” Jessie said to her counterpart, who shrugged, then nodded with a wide grin.

“Come on, let's do this,” GEXDavid grunted. “I'm getting anxious.”

David and Jessie chuckled, and sat down, cracking their knuckles. When their GEX-opponents put on headsets, the twins looked curious.

“Neural Interface, directly linked our minds to LOBO's,” GEXJessie explained.

“Ours are still in the experimental stage,” David replied. “And they'll probably stay that way for quite a while... after uncle D made a rude thought during testing, and Borlan had him square-dancing, nobody really wants to try them anymore.”

GEXDavid and GEXJessie chuckled at the thought. “Well, ours are quite safe,” GEXDavid said, motioning for the headsets near the terminals of his opponents. David and Jessie shrugged, then put on the headsets. Immediately, they felt as if they were being pulled into the virtual world, an overwhelming sensation of vertigo overtaking them instantly. As soon as the feeling came, it passed, and the twins opened their eyes, looking out in the real world... only, they now had a data overlay, and their thoughts immediately pulled up the required information.

“Neat,” David whispered.

“Uh-huh, bro,” Jessie replied honestly. She smiled at her opponents. “Let's do this.”

Together, the four twins nodded. “We're declaring... COMPILATION WAR!” they shouted at the same time, two teams immediately breaking contact.

David already felt the first wisps of attacks brushing against the virtual server he was supposed to protect, so he immediately starting thinking up strategies to counter. The neural interface dutifully noted his thoughts, and reacted accordingly. A firewall program popped up, and David started expanding his defenses, while at the same time, creating a virtual LAN connection to his sister's server. Minds connecting, they agreed on a protocol, and the connection established.

Now able to communicate virtually as well as in reality, the twins started designing and implementing their defensive programs, while their opponent's barrage increased evermore.

“Distributed Denial of Service!” David screamed.

“Twin Virus release triggered on their net,” Jessie answered coldly. “DDOS servers down.”

“They hacked the first shield,” David then grunted, “Countering... their anonymizer's down.”

“I've got their home address!” Jessie screamed. “Going at them!”

“First level shield repaired,” David noted. “I'm strengthening our defenses...” He growled in frustration as the neural interface didn't compile the program the way he wanted it to.

Jessie, directly next to him, scowled similarly. Her attacks were less useful as they should have been, too easily brushed aside by superior defenses on their opponent's systems.

Game Paused.

“Hey! Who hit the pause button?!” GEXDavid screamed.

“I did,” David grunted, pulling the headset off. “This thing is worthless!”

“Agreed,” Jessie grunted coldly, pulling her set off as well. “LOBO... can you give us the Fromthefield extended Key System?”

Eh... I am afraid I am unfamiliar with that system...

Jessie's eyes sparkled, as she touched her communicator. “Linda... can you provide LOBO with the design specifications on the FEKS?”

Thank you, LOBO noted. Interesting design... here you go.

The small keyboard hidden behind their terminals grew to a massive size, about six times larger than a standard keyboard, housing a whole lot of unknown characters, designed especially by the Twins, for the Twins, for full-speed computer programming. Stemming from their shot binary speech they had invented, the FEKS allowed them to make full use of their formidable minds.

“Can we get on with it?” GEXDavid asked, a little impatiently. “I don't know what this FEKS is... and I think I'll like getting to know it... but only after this game's done, ok?”

David and Jessie smiled at him. It reminded GEXDavid of the smile of death their fathers always had when they knew something their opponents didn't. It sent shivers down his spine.

Game resumed.

“Fingers loose,” David whispered in short-binary.

“Pupils dilated,” Jessie answered him.

“Full speed...”

“Dead ahead!”

Small arms blurred and shifted as ten fingers manipulated humongous amounts of keys. “Double compile.”

It was as if a switch had been flicked in their minds. Immediately, they could see their opponent's code, de-compiling the attacking programs in real-time, while, at the same time, reading said code, designing counters, compiling it, and inputting the data directly in binary into their virtual servers.

Without using a computer-optimized compiler, the code did exactly what the twins wanted it to do, as fast as their servers could hope to handle it, without needing to worry about excess baggage compilers always added to the binary code.

“Attack blocked,” David's code told Jessie, who immediately responded by executing a program to attack the first shields of their opponents.

“First shield breached,” Jessie's code told David mere second later, as their opponents started to look a little worried.

“Keeping hole open,” David's program inserted itself.

“Blocking counter,” one of Jessie's programs noted. “Sending virus counter.”

“Virus blocked,” David's probe noted.

David blinked as his program keeping the shield open vanished. “First shield reconfigured,” he grunted coldly as he decompiled some more source code. “Brilliant.”

“I know,” Jessie grunted. “Her second shield's impenetrable!”

“All-out,” David said. “I'll try and distract them, you breach the shields!”

Jessie gave a short burst in acknowledgment, and immediately launched a brilliant set of programs at the firewall-shields protecting their opponent's servers. Meanwhile, David set out a massive virus attack on the virtual Internet connecting their servers. As he constantly updated the code to include not only 'windows', but also 'Macintosh', 'Linux' and even 'Solaris' computers, servers, data-centers and Supercomputers. As more and more processing power became available to his renegade programs, their second purpose kicked in; after expanding, they now started attacking, flooding the public access points to their opponent's servers with useless and badly configured traffic, causing massive delays and slowdowns on their opponent's servers.

Finding their counter programs before they could do much damage, David managed to keep the inertia of his attack up, while Jessie quietly hacked her way in the back door.

Suddenly, she hit something. A sort of wall, but the moment she probed it, the wall's texture seemed to change, and she found her main hacking tools vanish, forcing her to rewrite them, losing precious time. Time their opponents used to shut down David's denial of service attacks, freeing the full processing power of their servers to come bearing down upon the twins.

“What the...?” David grunted.

“Nanoprobes,” Jessie growled. “It's that blasted neural interface! They're wired directly into LOBO!”

David scowled, and his fingers started racing the keys. Jessie smiled slightly. She knew what her brother was going to do, and she braced herself to keep the firewalls up as long as she could, her code's power and potency increasing as she designed new countermeasures and more destructive viruses. Using her brother's source, she changed his super-virus program to search out weakness in their servers, and immediately drop a logic bomb through it, in an attempt to bring down their servers the brute force way. Not pretty, but effective.

“First shield breached!” Jessie grunted as her twin kept coming at them, GEXDavid occupied with her Logic Bombing program, apparently. Glad to see her efforts were at least having some results, she kept trying to repair the shield.

“Second shield breached!” Jessie screamed, abandoning her attempt to fix the shield, and threw a couple of weaker ones in her twin's face, but they were quickly swept away, less then useful. The moment it took to counter a Denial of Service attack was all GEXJessie needed.

“Third shield breached! Hannibal is at the Gates!” Jessie screeched. David's frantic tapping increased. Jessie's frown deepened as her concentration expanded. Her mind started humming a pounding theme. So deep was her concentration she no longer paid attention to her programs, as long as they did something to halt her opponent's advance.

So engrossed was she that she failed to notice her mind converting the song she was hearing directly into MP3, and inputting that data into her latest virus. GEXDavid and GEXJessie looked up in confusion when the last of the Fromthefield Viruses caused them to hear Heather Alexander's March of Cambreadth.

Axes flash, broadsword swing, Shining armor’s piercing ring.

Horses run with polished shield, Fight Those Bastards till They Yield

Midnight mare and blood red roan, Fight to Keep this Land Your Own

Sound the horn and call the cry, How Many of Them Can We Make Die!

David grinned deep in his concentration as his sister fought valiantly to keep their last shield up. On and on the song pounded, but it was of no use.

“Last shield breached! DAVID!”

David's hand went to the 'enter' key, yet at the last moment, he halted. These are sentient nanoprobes...

That moment's hesitation was all GEXJessie needed, and two servers extinguished from the Internet.

“Damn,” David whispered. “If I hadn't hesitated...”

I'm glad you did, LOBO whispered. Even if the collective consciousness would've survived, that program would've wreaked havoc.

“Hey... this is virtual, right?” Jessie asked, confused.

David's program would have breached the shields between reality and virtuality, LOBO explained. I don't know how... but the moment the game ended, and his source became available to me, I knew how close I came to losing quite a bit of my population.

“Damn... how'd you do that?” GEXDavid asked, coming around to finally take a look at the Fromthefield extended Key System. “And what in HELL is that?”

“Meet... FEKS,” Jessie said, grinning slightly, despite her loss. “The Fromthefield Extended Key System, based upon the short-binary language me and David developed for verbal communication.”

“That looks so cool!” GEXJessie replied, subconsciously mimicking her twin's earlier remark. “Can you teach us?” she asked, pleading eyes meeting her twin's. “Please? Pretty please?”

Jessie turned to her brother. “Now I know why you can't say no... I look SO cute when I do that!” she said, grinning, causing both Davids to look at each other, and laugh quietly at their fates.

It was a curious gathering in one of GEXFred's cozy sitting rooms. A snapping fire crackled in the fireplace, and three couches were spread out through the small, yet cozy room. And within those couches were three almost-identical people: three dimensional twins, the most powerful dimensional twins in existence.

“Damn, you two are powerful SOB's,” DreamFred grunted, partly in admiration and partly in envy. “I still can't believe it... Jokilar Gerius, second under the Wise One.”

GEXFred chuckled along with Frederic. “It was a dumb stroke of luck... I asked to augment the Master Slayers, and the Wise One decided to just up the ante, claiming we deserved it,” Frederic explained, his dimensional twin nodding in agreement.

“That was after I told him to go to hell, though,” GEXFred added, causing Frederic to chuckle in remembrance of that episode, while DreamFred stared at the both of them in shock.

“You ... actually... told the Wise One to go to hell?” he asked with shaking voice. “And he didn't obliterate your existence?”

“Nope,” twin Gerius said at the same time, chuckling.

DreamFred shook his head, and snapped his fingers, materializing a glass of whiskey, and drinking half of it in one gulp. “Ah... I needed that,” he groaned.

Frederic and GEXFred exchanged one glance, and, at the same time, extended their hands into a patch of utter darkness that hadn't been there moments ago. After withdrawing, both held a glass of whiskey of their own, and the darkness vanished. “I guess I'll let you drink, this time,” GEXFred said on a fatherly tone to his younger twin.

“Fuck off,” DreamFred grunted. “Knowing myself, I'll probably let those two kids of yours drink.”

Frederic shrugged. “Sure... but David and Jessie are a lot more mature than you are at this point,” he said with a chuckle. DreamFred glared daggers at him, while GEXFred chuckled.

“You stay out of this!” DreamFred grunted to GEXFred. “For once, it'd be nice to have someone on my side.”

GEXFred shrugged and chuckled. “Hey, can't argue with the man when he's right... and besides, we're so alike, it's as meaningless as arguing with myself. It's a pointless exercise.”

DreamFred grunted something under his breath referring to sexual activities with themselves, and crossed his arms. Both mature Gerius chuckled to each other as their younger self pouted.

Deciding to cut his losses and try a different tack, DreamFred turned to GEXFred. “Now... you explained how you got the Gerius powers... by kicking God in the shins and demanding it... but now, just how powerful is LOBO? You told us how he came into being, but not his total power. And it just irks me that I can't use my powers on him any more than I can use them on you.”

GEXFred leaned back in his seat, and sipped his 25-year-old single malt whiskey. “Well... not even I know the total extent of LOBO's power. I doubt even HE knows. But basically, I have seen LOBO manipulate time and space and universe as easily as we can take a step forward. To him, it doesn't matter; it's all dimensions, all physics.”

“So, there's basically nothing he can't see within his sphere of influence, then?” Frederic asked, also insanely interested.

“Yep. And imagine the fun when I have myself assimilated by sentient nanoprobes... it's like having all of LOBO's senses incorporated into my own. As well as his powers... where universal protection fails, LOBO takes over. It's insane. And powerful. And really, really neat,” he finished with a chuckle.

Frederic shook his head, and chuckled as well, while DreamFred just sat there, with open mouth, watching these two insanely powerful beings jest with each other, their power, their authority, and with the Gods of the Universe. The last being something not even a Q would dare to jest with, yet these two got away with it.

He shook his head, and drained his whiskey. “Now... since you two are older than I am... how about some pointers for my future?” he finally asked.

Both older Frederics looked at him, calculating gaze. “Sorry,” Frederic said.

“Can't do that,” GEXFred apologized. “Too dangerous.”

Frederic nodded. “We can't run the risk of events not following their due course.”

“It could destroy us,” GEXFred finished, loving the fact that he and his twin could practically think the same thing. “And THAT is the last thing we'd want.”

DreamFred pouted again. “Come on... one thing? Please? Everything helps.”

GEXFred shook his head. “We can't run the risk... you're approaching a crossroads. We can't influence your decision.”

DreamFred grunted something under his breath. “Damn assholes... think you're so much better than me.”

GEXFred and Frederic looked at each other, shrugged at the same time, and nodded. “Yep,” they said in unison, turning to their younger self. “We need to protect the safety of the omniverse... our separate omniverses, anyway,” Frederic said.

“We know how to keep a secret when we need to,” GEXFred finished. “Speaking of protection... LOBO, how are the scans coming? Anything strange happen recently?”

No answer came.

Frowning, the Gerius sat up. Frederic watched with interest, while DreamFred merely smirked at the thought of LOBO not being as all-powerful as he pretended to be. “LOBO? Everything alright?” GEXFred asked again, with growing concern.

I am sorry, Father. I needed three and a half seconds to make an evolutionary step in my nanoprobe-stream, to counter a potentially catastrophic design fault within their primary data interfaces.

“What happened?” GEXFred asked, sitting back and relaxing only slightly.

Our twins were having a Compilation war with their new dimensions equivalents... our Jessie was forced to create a nanoprobe barrier to keep the new Jessie out... and while they thought it was a simulation, it was, in fact, tied directly into my primary data-stream, to keep up with their processing speeds. The new David then created a program that would defeat that barrier.

Frederic smiled slightly. “The twins will never cease to amaze even me.”

Agreed, LOBO stated. David's program would exploit a previously unknown configuration error within the nanoprobe interface... the program would infect one probe, force it to upload the viral code as a systems upgrade to ten others, then force it to self-destruct.

A simulation predicted that within 25 nanoseconds, the code would grow at speeds greater than the speed I am able to replenish them. By the time I would have been able to defend myself; fifty nanoseconds later, approximately 25 billion nanoprobes would have been destroyed, taking large parts of the central control room with them. I would have remained conscious, but it would take a while to repair the damage of 25 billion nanoprobes self-destructing throughout the SpaCECoB Dyson's Sphere.

GEXFred whistled. “Basically... four twins run amok,” he said.

Basically, LOBO agreed. One Jessie's attempt at ultimate defense against a program to eradicate said defense created by a second David.

“Never say they do half work,” Frederic said with a chuckle.

GEXFred shook his head. “They get worse by the day... and now that there's four of them...”

“Yours give you as much a run for your money as mine give me, right?” Frederic asked with a chuckle.

“Yep,” GEXFred grunted. “Although mine have LOBO to keep up with them.”

“Mine have taken to experimenting with Linda, Borlan and all of us when the AIs run out of resources,” Frederic said. “Like last week... they asked Ami to test a new shampoo they developed. It turned the poor girl's skin blue, while making her hair snow-white.”

GEXFred lifted his hand to his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. “That must've been quite a sight... what did Daphnix say?” he finally asked, still grinning.

“He thought it looked exotic,” Frederic answered with a snicker.

Father, you asked for anything strange that happened lately? LOBO then asked. I am catching up to requests, he then apologized.

“Oh, yeah,” GEXFred said, remembering his first inquiry. “And? Anything strange happen lately?”

The Guardian of the Crossroads needed a minor assistance... her new assistant had a problem with his grandfather. He was dabbing in dimensional magics. Gods know where he got it from, but he had it. I re-sealed the universal barriers, and locked the grandfather down. I hope I did good, since this is not my universe.

“No problem,” Frederic said, inwardly disturbed by that revelation. Dimensional magics? Never good, that. “What is the status of the magics?”

I took it away. A being we met recently has taught me how to lock down a person's magical abilities. His name's Joshua. Have you met him?

“No, can't say that I have,” Frederic answered, turning to his double. “I suppose I will now hear that episode?”

GEXFred chuckled, and threw a ball of energy at a table, materializing a couple of bottles of single malt. “Sure. I have time.” Frederic and DreamFred grinned, and refilled their glasses.

Remember... the Lotus of Konoha blossoms twice.

Frederic looked around his new location. Fog greeted him everywhere, impervious to whatever senses he threw at it. Feeling both confusion and worry, the triple Phalanx-cum-Supreme Commander of the Jokilar Gerius flipped around, trying to pinpoint at least the direction of the strange omnipresent voice.

Remember the Lotus! The Lotus of Konoha blossoms twice! The voice insisted. Frederic jumped around once more, but still he was unable to determine the direction from which the voice came.

“So familiar... what is that voice?” he muttered darkly to himself.

The Lotus blossoms twice! The voice repeated a third time. Immediately afterward, Frederic felt, rather than heard, something change within the strange opaqueness of the bright-white fog that surrounded him, blinding his senses.

Last Exile! YOUR Last Exile!

Frederic felt dread creep up his spine, and into his cerebellum. He could feel his quadranium nerves freeze in the cold of fear.

For the first time since long, Frederic was afraid.

Truly afraid.

Remember the Exile... the Last Exile!

With those words, Frederic snapped upright in his bed, fear-sweat dripping from his powerful body as he panted for breath.

“Is everything alright, Love?” Jennifer asked, sitting upright as well, and hugging him close. “I heard you scream,” she whispered.

“It... was just a nightmare,” Frederic whispered. “Just a nightmare, that's all...”

“What was it about? What did you mean with 'the Konoha Lotus blossoms twice'? And what's your last exile?”

Frederic chuckled once, a dry, unpleasant sound laced with sarcasm. “If I only knew that,” he muttered darkly. “I hate it when dreams like that happen. I never know if they're prophetic or not.” He drew a breath. “And what's worse... even if this one's prophetic, I have no idea how to interpret it.”

“Unless you wait... these kinds of prophecies turn out when the time comes,” Jennifer said, calmly, still hugging him. Feeling her closeness, mentally and physically, allowed him to relax his raging nerves, to calm the streams of adrenaline that flooded his bloodstream. Gently, he slipped back toward sleep, and Jennifer let him, holding him, cradling his body against hers, providing the best presence she could, protecting him from the nightmares that sometimes terrorized the mind and sleep of the most powerful mortal man in the omniverse.

<<For some reason, I'm suddenly nervous,>> David sent to his sister, as well as their doubles, as they sat down behind lined-up consoles. On the other side, Frederic Fromthefield, the double of his father, was sitting with eyes closed. <<Every time we go up against dad...>>

<<Same here,>> GEXDavid sent back. <<And that's our father sitting there... He knows LOBO better than we do... he's faster than we are... better, smarter, stronger. I'm apprehensive myself.>>

Jessie chuckled mentally, while her exterior maintained an air of concentration as she prepared her station's FEKS for her specific intonation of shortened binary. Even though the general FEKS could be used by either twin, full optimization could still be done, making it uniquely suited for each of them. David was doing the same, while GEXDavid and GEXJessie were priming their neural interfaces with specially-cut orders.

“Are we going to begin... or are you going to keep talking among yourselves?” GEXFred then asked, a small smile on his face. “I can feel the thickness of mental conversation to here... must be some conversation you're having.”

“Or be scared out of minds,” GEXJessie whispered, not sure whether her father heard it or not. Looking to her fellow compilation-warriors, she received a nod from each of them. Finally, she looked their opponent in the eye. “We're ready.”

GEXFred nodded. Together, two sets of twins and one Jokilar Gerius announced, “Three...two...one... we're declaring COMPILATION WARS!”

Immediately, GEXFred closed his eyes, and linked his brain directly to the virtual server's processing space and main memory banks. He could feel the virtual boundaries protecting LOBO from anything that could happen, and probed them for just a few fractions, before throwing up his first firewall-shield, mere moments before David's first virus slammed into it. Small, fast, but not really that advanced yet, it was still enough to show GEXFred that this David was not to be outdone by his double, who followed fractions later with a larger, more potent, yet computer-compiled anti-firewall program. GEXFred brushed it aside.

David scowled slightly as he tapped in a new string at a blinding pace, mind making up for the lack of speed of the fingers, his telekinetic abilities slamming down on the FEKS' keys with increased ferocity, his mind compiling the source directly into binary computer code. His next attack slammed into GEXFred's firewall program, disabling it. His double immediately took advantage of that, and launched a virus down the open hatch.

GEXFred smiled as his mind kicked into overdrive. Three separate trains of thought started inputting data into the memory of the poor virtual server. One was a new firewall program. A second was a countermeasure, and he saw with increasing satisfaction that the two Jessies needed all their strengths to keep their own firewalls from collapsing. A third train of thought canceled out the virus that threatened to spread into dangerous memory space, memory space he needed for his most basic operations.

Two twins were tapping, while the other two frowned deeply into neural interfaces, but GEXFred had no time to enjoy his momentary reprieve. His own countermeasure negated, he felt the two Davids once gain pour on the fire, and as his new firewall collapsed, GEXFred smiled as his mind exploded one again, his eyes opened, yet didn't see. Multiplying the streams of thought active within the Gerius-mind he now held, GEXFred executed multiple programs Firewalls compounded, and he moved his kernel, the most basic part of any operating system, into his own memory, rather than entrusting it to his virtual server's memory banks, where it could be attacked.

Now actively part of the computer system, Frederic's mind and memory became one with the virtual server's Central Processing Unit and memory banks. Where man and machine united, things went out of hand. First thing that happened was that the two Davids managed to penetrate the firewall, only to find a computer system so alien none of their executable programs were remotely capable of being executed, making their viruses worthless.

The second thing that happened was that GEXFred started developing his knowledge of the system into weapons of war. Knowing fully well that he needn't fear viruses for the moment, he developed a suite of programs designed for one thing, and one thing only: the annihilation of his enemy's sever banks.

Two Davids growled, one to his FEKS, the other to his neural interface. Two Jessies joined them. David and Jessie reverse-engineered the new environment their doubles' father had developed, while GEXDavid and GEXJessie kept exploring what little they could, trying to get to know this alien system based upon totally different rules, apparently.

<<It's in trinary!>> GEXDavid suddenly shouted, causing David and Jessie to just flick a switch in their minds, and recompile every program they had, and immediately launching what little they had.

GEXFred's eyes went wide when an attack managed to be staged sooner than he had expected, and slammed a new virtual server in between the kernel, still in his organic mind, and the server that was his main base of operations.

<<Virtualization software!>> GEXJessie shouted. <<He's separating parts of his memory and Processor!>>

David and Jessie scowled. <<Attempting breach! Hang on!>> they shouted.

GEXFred smiled. Program complete. Here we go.

The next moment, four twins looked up in surprise when a message appeared on their screens.

All your bases are belong to us.

“Shit on us...” GEXDavid cursed as their FredOS 9.5 systems showed a Windows-style Blue Screen of Death.

“Smart to use the FredOS as stable base to launch your attacks... but I designed that system,” GEXFred said with a chuckle as he withdrew form the computer terminal.

“We should have plugged that hole,” Jessie grunted. “We plugged it last time, after David's double threw a logic bomb through it. We just forgot to do it again,” she cursed herself.

“Don't worry, Jessie,” GEXFred comforted his double's daughter. “You went up against the person who designed most of the tricks you're using, and didn't come up too much short. You especially surprised me by figuring out my trinary OS so soon...”

“Next time, we'll get you, dad,” GEXJessie promised. “You can't keep winning.”

GEXFred chuckled. “One day, I'm sure,” he said, rubbing her brunette hair, before leaving, still chuckling to himself.

Father, LOBO said the moment the doors had closed behind the Jokilar Gerius' Supreme Commander.

“What's wrong, LOBO?” GEXFred asked, confused.

Come to control room Omicron... I need to show you something.

Frowning in confusion, the Gerius folded himself through netherspace, directly to the designated control room. It was as near to instantaneous as was possible in the omniverse without actually starting to pump up on power.

“LOBO?”

As a standard action, I scanned their universe through time, the collective whispered. Everything seemed normal... but then I came to this...

A monitor lit up.

GEXFred's eyes went wide. “LOBO... do you have a way home yet?”

I found it mere moments ago... I started upgrading my processing abilities in preparations for that question... I knew you were going to ask it the moment I saw it.

“Wipe us. And that Dream-Fred guy, too. And make sure that the grandfather of that assistant to Guardian stays grounded... then remove us.” He sighed. “I hope I don't have to wipe any minds on my side... temporal incursion's one thing, wiping memories another.”

Father, I need formal authorization for that action...

GEXFred nodded, and straightened out. “Linda-Ortega-Borlan Collective, as Commander of the earth Strategic Mental Forces, I, Frederic Fromthefield, Supreme Commander of the Jokilar Gerius, am authorizing you to do a temporal incursion on the aforementioned events upon this omniverse. I am also hereby ordering a complete lock down of this entire multiverse, as well as an interdiction to any future incursions across multiversal boundaries.”

Acknowledged, Father.

“Like that time they asked you to test the bio-neural interface to the main computer, and Borlan subsequently had you square-dancing because you happened to make a rude thought?” she rebutted.

Daphnix chuckled. “That wasn’t exotic… that was sadistic,” he grunted to the ceiling.

Remind yourself not to connect any time soon… It shouldn’t take more than five thousand years for the memory to be buried deep enough, the war-time AI replied levelly. Ami, Jennifer and Frederic chuckled as Daphnix glared at the ceiling.

“You know, if you keep it up, you’ll burn holes through it,” Frederic commented off-handedly.

Daphnix shook his head. He was just about to reply when Linda interrupted.

There’s… something… appearing below us! The female AI semi-shouted. I can’t identify it... her voice trailed off. For a moment, I thought I saw two ships, but it's closing up now.

The walls of Frederic's office change to show the hole in space that was now rapidly closing up. It's almost completely gone... I don't know what it was, but it was strange.

Frederic frowned slightly, then shrugged. “Do a full system scan on SpaCECoB, to see if it damaged or tampered with anything, then transfer the data you collected to Alpha Labs. Let the twins tinker with it for a few days.”

“That should keep them out of our hair,” Daphnix said, causing the entire group to chuckle good-naturedly.

Later that night...

Remember: the Konoha Lotus blossoms twice!