#99

The Red Tower was once used as a production facility for a series of prototype warriors intended for Imperial use. The Ultramarine Guards, from the viewpoint of the Emperor, were always meant to be replaced, and before the rise of the Crimson Guards, robots had been subjected to viability tests at the Tower. While the White Tower had served as the initial throne of Imperial power, and had been used to store a good number of political prisoners—the grand majority of which were now free—the Red Tower not only served as a secondary control point for the entire Empire, but also was a sort of museum, holding such failed experiments as the 1^st Stellar Trooper Corps, Pneumatic Prototype 3H-12I, and the Death Guardian. The Emperor now sees You's party entering the Tower, and so these old relics are ordered to be powered up.

The group moves swiftly, but cautiously. They're on the Emperor's home terms here, and already they can here the sounds of a good number of people moving about. Eventually, the hallway walls open up, becoming glass, and through this glass those assembled can see a number of similarly glass-clad pathways above and below them. There are a number of normal Imperial soldiers walking along them, being escorted by divisions of Crimson Guards. Some of the Crimson Guards still haven't received armor, and are little more than grey corpses covered in the red circuitry. Occasionally, the Guards can be seen escorting the fuel-mutants on chains, who appear to be docile, at least in the presence of the soldiers. There are also a few chambers off to the sides that can be seen; and in these, there are cyborgs, presumably patching up any worthwhile casualties from Imperial Central; or else turning those less worthy into Crimsons.

Everyone is amazed at how huge this Tower is. The passages branch off everywhere like spider-webs, and below it all, many more passages are eclipsed by the yawning blackness of the pit beneath.

You feels around inside Your pockets, and remembers then that You left the Cosmic D8 or whatever it is back in The House. You's not going to risk taking it in, because it's what the Emperor wants. However, You does have the flash drive, in case You needs to disable security. Maybe You can scramble the forces here and keep them away from Your path. But then, none of you know the path ahead.

Aside from the laser pike and the flash drive, You has nothing else. Remember how You was lugging around a car battery for most of this adventure? You thinks You left it back in the White Tower or something. Geez. What a weird thing to think. You doesn't really have hammerspace or anything; so, like, really? But that doesn't explain how You could conceal a pike like the one You has. Oh well.

You has noticed something else that's more serious, though. You's been watching the grammar, subtly, in some of the instances of Your group. Occasionally, You will sense the pronoun “they” or “them” applied to the group, as if they were all just...separate from You, detached from You. The only reason why this is irregular is that the APPLE has also been shifted the group, any group You's been with, to cause the group to be referred to as “you” or “you all”. It's apparently been shifting randomly, but You wants to chart it all and see if there are any patterns. You doesn't believe there have been any so far, but You never knows.

In any case, you all (see?) keep moving, hoping none of these Guards notice you. They don't seem to. Which is odd; presumably a facility such as this would have a strong surveillance system that would take notice of the floating House outside its wall. But then, there were no defenses here either, so maybe this place hasn't been properly reorganized. That would serve as an excellent advantage.

Ahead, there seem be some sort of room. This room bulges off of a large, central spire that all of you can now see; it was masked by the darkness of the vastness of the Tower. This “middle” tower has a number of bulges on it that link to several passages; each of these chambers presumably uplink with elevators in the center tower, allowing access to other passages. They don't intersect otherwise. Several of you get the impression that at the Tower's bottom—if it has a bottom—there are even more rooms of larger scale, like perhaps a docking bay where the Emperor's escape pod could have entered.

In the room up ahead is one of the massive computer terminals that You, Mark, and Susie have seen so often. Everyone sprints towards it, knowing from You's story and from experience that they can use it to potentially take over the Tower. As they approach, however, Jacob, who is at the front, holds his hand up to get them to stop. There's a bit of a “lobby” leading into the room, with walls separate from the chamber, so they hide behind those.

The others besides Jacob peer in, and sure enough, there a figure at the screen. However, he or she seems to be leaning heavily on it. The lighting is good, though, so they can see that it's a Crimson Guard; an unarmored one. There's a fainting dripping sound coming from it, and at once they can see that the drip comes from...a patch of rotting flesh on the Guard's face.

“Ugh!” Mark cries, and Mina tries to silence him; but he goes unheard anyway. The Guard stands but then lurches around, heedless to the group. It seems to be talking quietly to itself.

“Necrosis...” it gasps. “Necrosis...detected.” Its voice is low and crisp, and it's impossible to tell whether or not it was once a man or a woman.

The circuits on its face begin to buzz, and suddenly, emerging from one of the caps gripping its face is a tiny probe. The probe is grasping a small scalpel, which begins eagerly cutting away the rotten flesh. Soon, other such blades pop out, and began to hack away all of the flesh on the Guard's head. The moldy patches fall and splatter on the ground, and as they do the tiles on the floor glow with an eerie blue light; the fallen skin and muscle are vaporized. Within seconds, all that's left of the Guard's head is a grinning skull, held in place by the circuit caps, which indeed cut down to the bone.

And it isn't over. The neck-brace of the Guard, made from the medic's dart that assimilated this soldier in the first place, is suddenly buzzing as well; and from the brace, there appeared to be a scarlet cloud emerging. Susie, in particular, recognizes this from a book: they're nanites. Jacob and Mina know of these things also. The nanites encompass the skull and after another short period of time, the eyeless helmet of a Red Guard has been built.

The Guard straightens out its back, and without a word begins to walk away. Soon it leaves the room completely, much to the group's relief.

Trying to shake that image out of their heads, they approach the computer. As they approach, a metal plate slides over the keyboard.

Jacob points towards a circular sensor of sorts, which has a five-fingered imprint in it. “Looks like there's a hand scanner on it. And I doubt we're in the system.”

“I'll fix that,” You says. You takes the flash drive, and thankfully, there's a port. You enters it into the server and the virus suddenly retracts the metal plate. That's when Mina walks forward.

“Let me give this a try. I bet I can enter us into their database.”

After some typing, she grins. “Okay. Just set your hands on there, one at a time. I think we're good.”

Jacob goes first, and sure enough, a high-quality image of his hand's texture appears onscreen. Susie goes next, followed by Mark and You, with Mina going last. “Welcome to the Empire, I guess,” You says.

Mina continues to mess with the computer. “It looks like your virus isn't perfect, Yorick,” he says. “There are still some protected files that I can't get into, even with the virus affecting them. So I don't really know where we're going, or what's ahead of us.”

“Wouldn't it make sense for the Emperor to be at the top, and in the center top at that?” Mark points out. You looks back at him, and realizes that he's probably right.

Everyone else nods, figuring it's the best bet they've got.

There's another door, one beside the terminal. Mina opens it for you, and all of you go through.

Meanwhile, up ahead and below the floor, the robot forces whir to life, and begin moving. They remember little of their failed former lives. They now merely have some hand-imprints entered into their databanks; with the knowledge that the possessors of these imprints must be destroyed.