Month: May 2024

As the Adrexians were evacuated, Touché continued to duel Jansha. “What’s your endgame here?!” she demanded. “How will this get you the Source of Peace?!”

“Like I’d tell you!” snarled Jansha. She activated a concealed blaster and fired it. Touché rolled out of the way and converted her blade to gun mode. She opened fire, then Jansha pulled out a metal wand and fired magic blasts. Touché’s helmet gave a readout on the energy of the magic blasts.

“You can use magic?! How’s that possible?!” she yelped.

“Still not singing!” replied Jansha.

“Oh, you and your team WILL sing!” hissed Touché. She then inserted her ID tag into her weapon.

“Final Attack!” it announced.

“RIDER TOUCHÉ SHOT!” she called as she pulled the trigger. Jansha rolled out of the way, the energy blast grazing her shoulder. She clutched her shoulder, then a runic circle appeared beneath her. Touché recognized the circle. “Come back here, you coward!” she shouted. Too late. Jansha vanished and Touché growled. She then heard an alarm. “Hm?” she said. She then noticed a phone icon on her helmet’s HUD. She tapped her belt while looking directly at the icon. Rouge’s symbol then appeared.

“Touché honey,” she purred, “the shuttles are being prepped for heading planet-side!”

“Excellent!” praised Touché. “I’ll join you on the ground!” She ended the call, then summoned her motorcycle and sped to a nearby shuttle. She then dismissed her bike and her armor and Adrexians helped her into a shuttle.

“Madam, we owe you so many apologies-!” said one.

“Save it. I fought one of those that duped you all,” assured Emily. “I don’t blame you all in the slightest.” The shuttle then lurched before escaping to the planet below.

---

The whole journey took two hours before they arrived at a spaceport that was overgrown. “…Damn,” said Emily when she stepped out.

“…We didn’t take care of our home,” sighed an Adrexian.

“Well, we have time to fix the damage,” called a voice. Scorpainia approached them.

“You’re a Tarlaxian, yes?” asked a second Adrexian.

“Queen Empress Scorpainia, at your service,” replied Scorpainia.

“Our deepest apologies for dragging you away from such important-!”

“Believe it or not, you have nothing to apologize for,” said Scorpainia. “In fact, there’s a reason I and my friends are here. Emily, since you’re leading this mission, mind telling them?”

“Ladies of Adrexia,” said Emily, “we’re looking for Lady Peace of the Horsemen of Flourishment, the counterpart to War of the Apocalypse. A person naming himself Khan has seized control of the Tome and is bent on gathering the Sources of Flourishment on top of the Sources of the Apocalypse. Can you help us?”

“We can,” said an Adrexian.

“And we will!” said Lurazzi. “Adrexians, search the planet!” Never had there been a more dramatic surge of unity! All Adrexians scoured the planet! Naturally, Emily and her team helped out. It was Override and an Adrexian nurse that saw something.

“Hey, is that supposed to be part of the tree?” Override asked the nurse. She pointed to a large tree with a woman standing against it and the branches currently holding her to the bark. The woman was cyan colored and wore a floral necklace. The Adrexian nurse gasped.

“THAT’S HER! THAT’S LADY PEACE!” she cheered. Override then switched her comms on.

“Override to all search party members!” she said on an open channel. “Peace has been located! Repeat: Peace has been located! Converge on my position!” Everyone gathered and began cutting the branches restraining Peace. It took a lot of time and careful effort to get her down, but get her down they did. Emily started tending to her. Peace groaned as she opened her eyes.

“Lady Peace, are you okay?” asked Emily. Peace blinked blearily, then focused on Emily’s face.

“…I…don’t know you,” she mumbled.

“We never met,” explained Emily. “I’m Dame Emily Williams, Chief Medical Officer of the Feudal Nerd Society and student at After Academy.”

“After Academy? Then you were taught by my Apocalypse sisters?”

“Still being taught, although I feel the time for graduation is coming up for me. In any event, there’s a reason for my being here and it’s a dire one. Auriella had initially promised this universe’s loyalty to a multiversal terrorist organization called Shocker Umbra twenty of my universe’s years ago, roughly eight hundred thousand here in this universe.”

“That’s when this forest took over the planet!” realized Peace.

“Yes, and now Shocker Umbra has joined with a madman called the Author, the master of the Tome and he’s after your Source.”

“…He cannot claim it, but neither can I.” Emily arched an eyebrow at Peace’s cryptic remark.

“I’ve seen your Apocalypse sisters as well as Life and Bounty hold onto theirs easily,” she said.

“…You saw Life and Bounty?!” asked Peace.

“Yes. The situation is that dire,” replied Emily.

“Then I need to join you, but I need help. You see, the reason I cannot claim my Source is because it’s the cause of this forest.” Emily goggled.

“Auriella used your Source…to make this forest?!” she whispered in awe.

“She has used your Source for ill!” said Lurazzi.

“Lurazzi?!” asked Peace. “A Queen now?”

“Lady Peace, let me explain what happened,” said Lurazzi.

---

Peace was aghast at what she learned. “My dearest friend…fallen to evil!” she said sadly.

“Peace, perhaps there’s a way to fix this!” said Emily. “We just need to-!”

“Back away from the Horseman of Flourishment!” called a voice. “We don’t want the situation to escalate!” Everyone turned to see Cyber-priestess Gi, Femfaf, a blunette with a pink and cream dress and rose hairpiece resting on one of her two pigtails, Adachi Hana, Jansha, and Remsu approach them with a contingent of female Lord drones. Malnar growled at seeing Femfaf and Remsu.

“Malnar, you know those two women?” asked Emily as she pointed at Remsu and Femfaf.

“The silver thing is the first female Golem, Femfaf!” replied Malnar. “And the Succubus/Zephyr blender is my old First Officer, Remsu Borg!”

“Borg?!” yelped Geltar. “Like, DOCTOR Borg?! Mama Arsha’s main nemesis?!”

“The same!” confirmed Malnar. “She married Dr. Borg when she was initially in Realmfleet Max!”

“Old rivalries aside,” said Gi, “do not interfere with our plans. WE will be taking the Source! By force, if necessary!”

“You have meddled in affairs that don’t concern you, mortal,” the robot maid said to Emily.

“These affairs DO concern me, tin can! They’re getting in the way of real peace!” Emily tried to wiggle out of the robot’s grasp.

“There IS real peace. You are a disruption and will be removed.”

“There’s no peace! Lurazzi! You know this is just tyrannical quiet! You can’t turn a blind eye! Your people were praised for being peaceful because you changed your social status on a whim! The Adrexians were prospering because a Queen could be a farmer or a maid or a street sweeper and no one would bat an eye! I’m begging you! Listen to me!” Lurazzi considered what was said.

“…X5272, let her go!” The robot stopped.

“…Your Majesty?” asked the robot.

“Your new orders are to help me propagate this information to the entire station,” ordered Lurazzi.

“Not necessary. You may give me that data-disc,” urged the robot.

“…You know what, I should do it myself.” Lurazzi headed to the door. “Somebody’s gotta fix Auriella’s mess!”

“Your Majesty!” The robot then got between Lurazzi and the door. “Ma’am, I insist you give me the data-disc.”

“X5272, get out of my way!” commanded Lurazzi.

“We cannot go home,” said X5272.

“What do you mean ‘can’t go home’?! Why not?!”

“That is classified information.”

“What’s classified?! You don’t keep secrets from the Queen!”

“You are the stand-in Queen,” reminded X5272. “Give me the data-disc.” The robot reached for the data-disc, but Lurazzi kept it out of reach.

“Tell me what’s classified! Is it what Verdutha found?!”

“The disc!” Lurazzi then pointed a magnet at X5272.

“Tell me what’s classified or I shove this magnet into your brain!”

“Your Majesty!” protested Emily. X5272 and Lurazzi stared each other down.

“…Very good, Your Majesty.” X5272 headed to a window and keyed in a command on the terminal nearby. The window became a holographic display of Auriella with an arm around Katie while she rested her head on Auriella’s shoulder.

“And the light’s on! We’re good!” said Auriella. “Hello, Nanny! I’m sure you remember what’s going on. Well, this is kind of my confession. I have constructed an ecological disaster so the Adrexians will have to move. It should be millions of years before it’s over. Until then, the Adrexians need to be off planet as life is unsustainable on Adrexia Prime.”

“Unsustainable?” asked Lurazzi as she remembered some reports about plant life.

“I know, sad and against what Peace taught us, but we can’t tell who’s doing what job anymore,” continued Auriella. “So, rather than go to all-out war against Peace, it’s easier to just contain her and her followers.”

“Easier?!”

“Nanny, I’m implementing Directive V-117,” commanded Auriella. “Go to full autopilot, take control of everything, and do not let the Adrexians return to Adrexia Prime. Repeat; do not return to Adrexia Prime.”

“I think that’s enough, sweetheart,” purred Katie.

“Right you are, love.” Auriella kissed Katie as she turned off the camera. Lurazzi was dumbfounded at what she just learned.

“Now, the data-disc,” said X5272.

“No!” said Lurazzi. “No, wait a minute! Dame Emily, does the data-disc actually have an ecological report?”

“It does,” replied Emily. “Last I saw, there was plant-life.”

“And X5272, when was Nanny given that message?”

“The message was received in the year of the Blooming Star,” replied X5272.

“THAT’S 800,000 YEARS AGO!” shrieked Lurazzi. “X5272, it’s been long enough! We gotta go back!”

“Our orders are not to return to Adrexia Prime,” said X5272.

“But life IS sustainable! The plants’ existence down there is living proof that Auriella failed!”

“Irrelevant.”

“What?! IT’S COMPLETELY RELEVANT!” Lurazzi pointed at the planet out the window. “Down there is our home! HOME, X5272! And it needs us! I can’t just sit on the throne and do nothing! That’s all I’ve ever done! That’s all anyone on this damned station has ever done! NOTHING!”

“You are surviving,” said X5272. “This station means survival.”

“Do these women LOOK like Cybermen to you?!” snapped Emily.

“Silence, interference!”

“Belay that!” snarled Lurazzi. “Dame Emily, keep talking, because you’re right! I don’t want to just survive! I want to live!”

“Survival and living are the same thing,” insisted X5272.

“Living isn’t just blood-flow and heartbeats and brain activity!” Lurazzi went on. “It’s exploring and playing and doing new things!”

“I have directives to follow.” Lurazzi howled in frustration. She then looked out the window and clenched her fist.

“Auriella is no Queen! I am!” she said. “We’re going home TODAY!” Just then, there were multiple clanging sounds. Lurazzi, Emily, and X5272 looked outside the throne room to see robots falling over. Emily smiled.

“Outdated hunks of junk that can’t handle paradoxes,” she said.

“That should make the job easier!” said Lurazzi. “I’ll take care of my people! You and your team get the shuttles ready!”

“Will do!”

“STAY WHERE YOU ARE!” shouted a voice. Lurazzi and Emily turned to see X5272 still standing and tearing its maid dress off!

“…How are you-?!” gulped Lurazzi.

“That robot wasn’t built here,” guessed Emily.

“Correct,” replied X5272. “But my mission remains the same! To prove to everyone that Auriella has it right! That there NEEDS to be a rigid hierarchy! I would have been the first robot of the Realms to prove it, but now-!”

“The Realms?” interrupted Emily. “As in…Arsha’s home?” Emily then realized who this robot was! “JANSHA?!”

“In the flesh, in a manner of speaking,” replied X5272-Jansha Borg.

“You know this robot?” asked Lurazzi.

“Your Majesty, get your people to the shuttles and get them home!” directed Emily. “I’ll take care of this out-of-date scrapheap!”

“Don’t lump me with those things running the station!” snarled Jansha. As Jansha charged, Emily fastened her Vortex Driver and inserted her id tag.

“Henshin!” she called. She spun the wheel and became Kamen Rider Touché, drawing her blade and swinging it at Jansha while Lurazzi dashed out of the throne room to tell everyone the news.

---

Verdutha and her team dashed through the station and were trying to make their way past confused Adrexians. Lurazzi then ran into them. “…Stand-in Queen Lurazzi?” asked Verdutha.

“No, I am QUEEN,” replied Lurazzi. “Nothing more, nothing less!”

“Lurazzi, what makes you say that?” asked an Adrexian.

“Adrexians, we’ve been duped!” called Lurazzi. “I have here, in my hand, proof that Auriella tricked us all into staying here on the station! The rebels have been trying to clear a path for us and we were too comfortable to listen to them!”

“Then…there IS no ecological damage?” asked another Adrexian.

“None whatsoever!” replied Lurazzi. “Release the rebels and let them get down there first!”

“EXPLOSIVE?!” yelped Rouge as she stopped playing dead. Bashoon helped her up on account of the bat’s boots.

“Don’t panic!” said Bashoon. “Scorpainia’s an expert!” Scorpainia had transferred the imaginary explosive material to her hands and kept molding it like a snowball. Verdutha looked concerned.

“Scorpainia, isn’t that a bit much for our purposes?” she asked.

“I believe that’s the correct amount,” replied Scorpainia. Verdutha simply backed off. Scorpainia turned to Bashoon. “Captain Barmek, are you ready?”

“Aye aye!” replied Bashoon as she assumed a catcher’s position.

“I would not want you to drop it.”

“No fear.” At Bashoon’s reassurance, Scorpainia threw the imaginary explosive underhanded and Bashoon tracked it…then mimed fumbling it. Her team cried out variations of “Watch it!”, “Look out!”, or “Careful!”. Bashoon then caught it and smirked. She then carefully set it onto the floor and held her hand out. “Detonator,” she said. Fitri slapped her hand and Bashoon mimed adding a detonator to the explosive. “Fuse.” Another hand slap and more setting up the explosive. “Primer.” Another hand slap, another setup. Bashoon then stood up. “Matchstick.” She was given the imaginary matchstick, then she held it like it was a golf club.

“There is…no explosive!” protested the lead robot.

“No? Observe!” challenged Verdutha. Everyone then called out “FORE!” before Bashoon swung her imaginary club and they all acted like they were caught in the blast! Various robots shut down except the lead robot. “You okay?!” asked Verdutha. She then snapped her fingers near the other robots. They didn’t respond.

“But…there was…no explosion!” said the lead robot.

“I lied,” replied Bashoon.

“What?”

“She lied,” said Verdutha. “Everything she says is a lie. Remember that.”

“Now listen carefully. Verdutha has spoken truthfully.” The robot started smoking at trying to work Bashoon’s statement out.

“You say Verdutha has spoken truthfully,” it said, “but she said that everything you say is a lie, thus you tell the truth, but then that would mean that you are making a liar out of Verdutha, but she tells the truth about everything you say being a lie but you say she speaks truth but you…she…the truth is a lie is the truth is a lie is the truth…Illogical! Illogical! Explain! You are non-robots! Only non-robots can explain! PLEASE EXPLAIN!”

“I’m not programmed to respond in that area!” taunted Verdutha. This time there really WAS an explosion as the lead robot detonated. The women took cover quickly, then peaked out to examine the wreckage.

“What a dated hunk of junk!” complained Bashoon. “Even the dumbest robots of my world could handle paradoxes like that!”

“Here’s why,” muttered Verdutha as she pulled a diamond out of the robot’s chest. “This thing was used as a sort of brain. It’s absolutely terrible in circuitry. It’d be better suited to be on display in a museum. I mean, in many a universe, this would be about twice the worth of the Eye of Chizara, the most priceless jewel in the multi-!” Verdutha didn’t get very far as a certain bat swiped it. “Rouge, give that back!”

“No!” Rouge then hid the diamond…well…you know.

“…You actually put a diamond in your cleavage,” remarked Verdutha.

“Yes, I have,” replied Rouge.

“…How comfortable is it?”

“…Not comfortable at all. But it’s not coming out until I put this thing in me and Knucky’s vault.”

“…Well, as I’m not willing to stick my hand between a woman’s breasts unless it’s a woman I’m sharing a bed with,” said Verdutha, “all I can really say is that the ball is in Emily’s court now.”

---

It was a long way to the Throne Room, but Emily made it. The robot maid opened the door and Emily went inside. After shutting the door, Emily curtsied, and the maid announced her presence. “Presenting Dame Emily Williams of the Feudal Nerd Society,” it said.

“Come forward,” directed Lurazzi. Emily walked forward, then got to her knees. “What is your desire?” asked Lurazzi.

“Your Majesty, an ecological report managed to worm its way into a call I was granted to Verdutha,” explained Emily. “I only request that it be returned to you.” She presented a metal disc with a holographic emitter in the center.

“Let us see this report,” said Lurazzi. “We thank you for returning our property to us. It seems to be an honest mistake and no punishment is needed.” Emily handed the disc to Lurazzi. Lurazzi then activated it and the conversation played between Emily and Verdutha. Only, this time, it was decoded.

“Emily, I just discovered some very disturbing news about this ecological disaster the Adrexians are going through,” said Verdutha.

“What’s going on, Verdutha?” replied Holo-Emily. “When did this all start?”

“What is this?!” hissed Lurazzi.

“Your Majesty, I beg you,” said Emily, “listen to the whole thing.”

“The disaster happened by artificial means,” explained Verdutha.

“…Man-made?” asked Holo-Emily. “For what reason?”

“Auriella became too enamored with a single social structure and came to the conclusion that only an unchanging hierarchy would make the Adrexians better than anyone else in the multiverse and would make them ready to join Shocker Umbra.” Holo-Emily rolled her eyes.

“Because, of course, my cousin’s wife would want that! So, Umbra’s had this universe in their grasp for 800,000 years, local timescale. That’s only 20 years by Beyond City’s timescale.”

“It gets worse. Auriella uses these robots to quell any ideas of resistance. Though, according to the logs I stumbled upon, the robots can’t handle paradoxes.” Holo-Emily blinked at Verdutha’s statement.

“…The robots aren’t THAT dumb, right?” she asked. “I mean, there’s no way they can get stuck on paradoxes like we can.”

“Well, they can. Listen, I have Auriella’s logs encoded in this message as proof, but someone in authority needs to hear this! The Adrexians are stagnating, and they NEED to reclaim Adrexia Prime!”

“Auriella’s logs?” Holo-Emily grinned. “I know how to get them to Lurazzi. You take care of the robots, I’ll deal with Lurazzi. The Adrexians will go home today!”

“Here’s hoping. Good luck, Emily.” The decoded call then ended. Lurazzi sat there, trying to process it all. Just before Emily spoke, the robot maid that accompanied her grabbed her shoulders.

“…Uh oh,” gulped Emily.

To say Emily was going mad was an understatement. She never had been so isolated (having moved from her old universe to Beyond City in 2018, two years before COVID-19 lockdowns). It felt wrong, not being able to contact her friends. If anything, she felt like she was in prison. Her mind raced with plans to see the Stand-in Queen. Maybe she could help. The question was how to get an audience with her. Just then, a robot maid came in. “Dame Williams, Lady Verdutha has requested an audience with you. Would you like to speak with her?”

“Yes, please!” replied Emily.

“Very well,” said the maid. “I shall connect you to her.” The robot then plugged into a computer console and Verdutha appeared on a screen. It seemed like the video was in an old red and blue effect for 3-d glasses. Emily blinked as she recognized what was going on. There was a coded communique.

“Hello, Emily!” said Verdutha. “Enjoying the life of Peace?” Emily had paid attention to Verdutha’s mouth movements and gleaned the message. She knew the audio would be scrambled and respliced into a different sentence.

“What’s going on, Verdutha?” she replied. “When did this all start?”

“Oh, I know,” said Verdutha. “The poor planet. Auriella really has her work cut out for her.”

“…Man-made? For what reason?”

“Well, they saved the important stuff, but the fluidity of it all nearly killed the Adrexians.” Emily rolled her eyes when she translated the mouth movements.

“Because, of course, my cousin’s wife would want that! So, Umbra’s had this universe in their grasp for 800,000 years, local timescale. That’s only 20 years by Beyond City’s timescale.”

“And it gets better! Crime has dropped to only two percent since this new change!” Emily translated Verdutha’s mouth movements.

“…The robots aren’t THAT dumb, right?” she asked. “I mean, there’s no way they can get stuck on paradoxes like we can.”

“It really is the perfect society. The stand-in Queen, Lurazzi, has helped Auriella keep things in order.” Emily goggled.

“Auriella’s logs?” She grinned. “I know how to get them to Lurazzi. You take care of the robots, I’ll deal with Lurazzi. The Adrexians will go home today!”

“You take care too, dear!” Verdutha’s call then ended. The robot maid was about to leave when Emily acted.

“Excuse me! Something went screwy with the call between us!” she called. “It looks like one of your top-secret reports meant for Stand-in Queen Lurazzi wormed its way to my end!”

“Has it?” asked the maid. It checked the call files. “Oh my goodness, it has!”

“Do you think I can give this to her in person? You can watch me so I don’t do anything suspicious.”

“I don’t see any issue with that arrangement,” said the robot maid. “This way, please.”

---

Verdutha managed to call Bashoon, Fitri, Rouge, and Scorpainia. They were granted a group tour of the computer center where all the robots were linked up to a hive mind. Verdutha whispered the plan to her group members as they walked. They soon arrived at the main computer banks where the main robot in charge was coordinating the action. “As you can see, this perfect system is what keeps the Adrexians alive,” said the robot in charge. “If need be, we can restrain those who would be imperfect. We are much stronger-”

“No, WE’RE stronger,” challenged Verdutha. “And I’ll prove it to you.” She leaned to the robot as if she were about to impart a great secret to it. “Can you harm that which you’re programmed to serve?”

“…No,” answered the lead robot. Bashoon took the lead.

“But you already HAVE, my dear,” said the Goblin woman. “Womankind cannot survive on bread alone, you poor, soulless creature, but on the nourishments of liberty! For what indeed IS a woman without freedom? Naught but a mechanism trapped in the cogwheels of eternity!”

“You offer us only well-being,” said Fitri.

“Food and drink and happiness mean nothing to us,” continued Rouge. “We must be about our jobs.”

“Suffering and torment and pain, laboring without end…”

“Dying and crying and lamenting over our burdens…” Rouge and Fitri then looked at each other and spoke in unison.

“Only this way can we be happy!” The two women curtsied. The eyes of the robots were starting to flash as they were processing this new information.

“That is…contradictory,” said the lead robot. “It is not…logical.” It turned to Scorpainia. “Queen Empress Scorpainia, explain.”

“Go ahead,” Verdutha urged the Tarlaxian ruler. Scorpainia then whispered in the robot’s ears.

“Logic is a little, tweeting bluebird chirping in a meadow of carnivorous plants. Logic is a wreath of beautiful flowers that smell rancid.” Scorpainia then studied the robot intensely. “Are you sure your circuits are registering correctly? Your ears are green.” Rouge suddenly wailed in misery.

“I CAN’T GO ON!” she cried. “I’M TIRED OF HAPPINESS! I’M TIRED OF COMFORT AND PLEASURE! I’M READY! KILL ME! KILL ME!” Her compatriots then made finger guns and…fired.

“BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!” they all said. With each bang, Rouge moved as if she were shot.

“Goodbye, cruel multiverse!” she said as she slowly fell to the floor.

“BANG! BANG!” Rouge’s eyes shut and she stopped moving. Fitri put two fingers to the bat’s neck to check for a pulse.

“…She’s dead, Jim,” she said to Verdutha in a perfect Dr. McCoy impression.

“You…cannot have killed her,” remarked the lead robot. “You have no weapons.” Verdutha soon cradled Rouge in her arms.

“Lady Rouge!” she whispered in mock horror. “She had too much happiness! Now she’s happier she’s dead! We shall miss her! Let us hear it for our poor, dead friend!” They all started laughing, then Verdutha moved her hands for silence. “What is a woman but that lofty spirit? That sense of…endeavor?” She winked at Bashoon. “That devotion to something that cannot be sensed, cannot be realized, but only…DREAMED the highest reality?!”

“Brilliant! Bravo!” cheered Bashoon as the group, sans Rouge, clapped and shook Verdutha’s hand. Verdutha then spoke to the lead robot.

“How did you like it?” she asked. The robot wasn’t very advanced, so it got stuck on one thing like a bit of bad code.

“That is…irrational. Illogical. Dreams are not real.”

“Our logic is to be illogical,” replied Verdutha. “That is our advantage. Scorpainia, it is time. The explosive.”

“Very well,” replied Scorpainia. Her right claw then moved from behind her back as if she were holding a sphere of explosive material in it.

Emily woke up on the day of her team’s departure feeling a little nervous. This was a totally different universe they were going to. She headed to the departure point and breathed deeply to calm her nerves. Moradelia then saw her. “Pre-mission jitters?” she asked Emily.

“Yeah, and for two reasons,” replied Emily. “One, I hope the mission goes well. Two, I hope this universe is as friendly as you say it is.”

“I don’t know how much this is worth, but I can assure you, the Adrexians are a lovely bunch.”

“What are they like?” Moradelia smiled as she answered Emily’s question.

“I’d like to keep that for the briefing. Gotta make sure everyone knows what me, Verdutha, and Rojenthi know.”

“Fair enough.” The two women then arrived. Bashoon, Cosmo, Dinara, Elmpam, Famine, Firestorm, Fitri, Gabriella, Geltar, Lacey, Llyra, Malnar, Maria, Natalie, Override, Palmarta, Rojenthi, Rouge, Scorpainia, Sophie, Trema, and Verdutha were gathered as everyone else wished them well. Emily took one last breath, then adopted her signature confident smirk. “Are we all ready?” she asked her team.

“Yeah!” cheered everyone.

“All right, then all that’s left is the briefing on the universe. Moradelia, Rojenthi, Verdutha, take it away.” The three Chizaran Princesses took the stage.

“Like us,” began Moradelia, “the Adrexians are a race of God-like immortals. However, they achieved their power through technological means whereas we achieved ours through magic.”

“Thus, we’ve always called them our technological cousins,” continued Rojenthi. “Unlike us, where we have all the gender and sexual identifications, the Adrexians are a race of women with both sets of…equipment. An accident that went awry, but everyone became so used to it that they stopped trying to bring men back.”

“And while everyone on Chizara is rich,” said Verdutha, “there’s a hierarchy on Adrexia. It’s not totally enforced, though. An Adrexian could be a Queen one day, then decide to be a maid and let a farmer take her place. Everyone’s been the Adrexian Queen at least once or twice.”

“So, the social classes are just where people decide what jobs they want to do for a while,” guessed Bashoon.

“Exactly!” confirmed Rojenthi.

“Takes the fun out of having riches,” muttered Rouge.

“What’s the use of them if we all make the same income?” asked Moradelia.

“All right, ladies! It’s time!” called Emily. “It sounds like this universe is gonna be a breeze!”

“Why’d you say that, Emily?!” protested Famine as she finished her candy bar. “Now it’s gonna be harder!”

“Emily’s right on this one,” said Verdutha. “The Adrexians and Chizarans are our friends. They won’t succumb to evil so easily.”

“Coordinates set,” reported Cosmo. “Let’s go!” Emily opened a rift and the ladies went through.

---

They all landed in a hallway of some sort. The place looked absolutely spotless. “…It’s quiet,” muttered Bashoon.

“Too quiet,” replied Trema. “Something’s wrong.”

“Visitors detected,” called a computerized woman’s voice. “Welcome to Homeworld Station.”

“Who said that?” asked Override.

“I am the station itself,” replied the voice. “May I inquire as to the purpose of your visit?”

“We’re looking for a woman called Peace,” explained Natalie. There was no response.

“…Hello?” asked Emily. Still no reply.

“…Computer, you were given an explanation,” hissed Verdutha.

“My apologies, Lady Verdutha,” the computer finally described, “but I cannot answer questions from servants and low-class ladies.”

“Excuse me?!” snarled Emily.

“Who’s the idiot who programmed you?!” demanded Override. No answer. “…I am Override, the Nitro Convoy of Velocitron and as the duly appointed leader of my planet-!”

“My apologies, Override,” said the computer. “I had no clue you were a lady of such high repute. Your questions are now valid ones.”

“Then answer me this; who programmed you to spout such nonsense?!” repeated Override.

“That would be our Eternal Queen, Auriella Seflowa,” answered the computer.

“You don’t have Eternal Queens,” said Moradelia.

“After the Great Disaster, we had no choice but to elect a permanent Queen,” explained the computer. “This required a new social structure that was rigid and everyone knew their place.”

“Fluid social structure, huh?” Emily snapped at Rojenthi.

“Don’t blame us!” protested Rojenthi. “It was fluid last time we were here!”

“What disaster?” asked Verdutha.

“I’m sorry, but that is classified information,” answered the computer. “Please excuse me, the stand-in Queen is about to speak.” A portly, blonde woman appeared onscreen.

“Good morning, everyone,” she said. “Welcome to Day 37 of the 800,000th year of our five-year planetary cleanup. I can see from our systems that our Chizaran cousins are visiting and they brought people from other universes here with them. As long as they abide by the rules, I’m positive there will be no incidents. Also, today we have a play scheduled for this evening for our flesh and blood servants, so I’d recommend giving them a break from serving you and letting the robots do their work. Other that…it’s same old, same old as we’ve been doing for 800,000 years. My Chizaran cousins, you’ll be escorted to the throne room while your retinue will be escorted to their respective quarters according to their social status. Thank you very much for visiting. You’ll get the full story soon.” The woman vanished and robots arrived. They looked like robots you would see in shows like The Jetsons or other various sci-fi shows of the 50’s and 60’s. The Chizarans were taken to the throne room in the center of the station as everyone else was bustled into quarters relating to their social status and height. Emily found the questions very annoying.

“Name?” asked the robot.

“Emily Williams,” replied Emily.

“Title?”

“Dame of the Feudal Nerd Society.”

“Occupation?”

“General practitioner and surgeon.”

“Universe of origin?”

“Beyond City.” After that, the robot began calculating.

“Our computer sends her apologies for the misclassification from earlier,” said the robot. “You will be assigned Section 3, Room 1. Have a pleasant stay here.”

“…Thank you,” replied Emily. She was then escorted to a rather spacious suite. “Computer, when will I be meeting my friends again?” Emily asked once she settled in.

“Contact with those outside your social class is forbidden,” replied the computer.

“Forbidden?! They’re my friends!”

“Irrelevant.”

“It most certainly is not!”

“No further questions related to communication. Eternal Queen Auriella was quite clear. Good day.” The computer switched off.

“…Peace really has her work cut out for her,” muttered Emily.