Warrior Games

Chapter Eight

MAIA Talks Back

Kyle was looking once more at the white ceiling, once more on the white bed, in the white room with the white walls.

This time though, he was calm and brooding, his arms folded under his head with one knee propped up. After the briefing, he and everyone in that place had been pretty much spent already. Not by anything physical, but by the series of shocks their minds were constantly being battered with. This last one had been top shock for them.

How was anyone—who was an Earthling— supposed to even grab the logic of all these? He had asked MAIA for her estimation on how many days had passed after the invasion. Her answer had been four days. He had chosen not to even think of how the hell he could sleep that long because it would just boggle his brain further. And boy, was he tired of the boggling.

For the past few hours after the briefing, he had been swimming in an ocean of thoughts. He had not even registered anything that was happening after the display had disappeared. All the way back, even Trevor had been quiet, mulling over the mind boggling words of the stunning lady and probably trying very hard to digest everything. He had also felt the same. Hearing suddenly that a world-ending greater by far than the one they had just witnessed only days ago was not that easy to accept. The lady had not wasted words, directly hitting her points, one of which had also had Kyle thinking.

The Empire.

As he lay there on his bed—he should really call it his now—his eyes darkened and narrowed. What was this Empire? Okay, the stunning lady had answered that one there, though only at a shallow depth, not giving them a deeper understanding of their invaders. What she had said though was enough for him to arrive at some conclusions.

The Empire, from the little he had heard her say, was yeah, ' an empire ' in all sense of the word. But this one was even more vast, covering planets that Kyle believed were also conquered, just like Earth. She had not gone into details of the power system, especially the emperor, but from what she said, Kyle knew with certainty that she was his daughter. That would explain the sheer power she wielded, and the way she behaved like she was forever out of reach, like she was the top of all human existence.

My God, if this is the way the kid behaves, what about the father? . . . No, I don't wanna think about that. . .

One of his hands left his head and moved into the pocket of his white overalls, eventually exiting with one of those fruits he and Trevor had eaten. When he had finished eating then, he had felt like it would be a very long time before he felt like eating again, but his tiring mind was also affecting his body and he wanted a fruity companion to lighten his senses.

Sure enough, when the refreshing taste of the fruit met his tongue, his thoughts lightened and he wasn't feeling the headaches again. The fruit was like a magical refresher, instantly clearing his mind and letting him control his thoughts to only a trickle. Before it had been like an avalanche, overwhelming his brain.

Ahh. . . Better.

His eyes finally closed as he was plunged into a peaceful sleep.

****

" My Lady, are you sure? They may not be ready. "

Uliana rotated her chair to face the man who had spoken and fixed him with an icy stare. " If we wait for them to be ready, then we will wait forever. "

The man who had spoken, and who was one of her High Commanders, immediately looked down, not daring to meet her gaze.

Uliana rotated her chair back, resuming her brooding stare at the darkness of outer space as it zoomed by the moving spaceship. " Start their training as fast as possible, " she ordered. " We have no time. "

" Yes, My Lady. " The man bowed and left the central room.

Uliana just continued staring thoughtfully. Truly the training was a little too soon, but did she have a choice? The games, this time, had high stakes and she didn't understand why. The previous games had all been held just like a normal tournament, not with the taking of a universe being the stake.

Her violet eyes narrowed. Father is hiding something.

Humans were going to have a hard time in this. She sighed. We are weak. The other Domains didn't possess limits like humans. They had almost no restrictions to their potential and could survive more in dire environments than humans.

But, she thought. We'll try hard.

And that was the main reason the Empire had invaded Earth. She hated to admit it, but Earthlings had more potential to grow. If they could be groomed properly, they would make fine Challengers, but that grooming had to be quick because of time. Which was why she had ordered her men to rush their training.

The Human Domain must not fall. Humans must not fail.

****

Kyle awoke feeling refreshed and energized. Using his hand to stifle a satisfied yawn, he jumped out of bed to stretch and warm up his limbs, his whole body brimming with vigour.

Then he sat back down on the bed, looked at the whole room in all its white splendor and the smile on his face slowly vanished, turning into a frown as everything that had been happening came back to him.

"So annoying," Kyle muttered to himself. For a whole minute there he had felt normal, like there were no troubles in the world for him to face. Normal and peaceful.

What a joke.

Kyle scoffed. Normal and peaceful? But he couldn't ignore that this was the first time in a long while that he had slept with no nightmares of his mother encroaching his dreams. No nightmares. It took a moment for Kyle to even fully process that fact.

He patted the pocket of his overalls and felt the soft lump that nestled there. He brought it out, gazing thoughtfully at the soft, lush red skin of the fruit.

This strange fruit must have been the cause of his peaceful sleep. But he couldn't help but be confused. Back in the huge space that Earthlings had been briefed, he and Trevor had filled themselves up eating the fruit. Why had they not slept then?

"MAIA," Kyle called.

Yes?

"Can you explain to me this fruit I'm holding?" For good measure, he brought it closer to his eyes.

No need for that. Anything you see will be picked up by me, no matter how small.

Kyle coughed. "Yeah, okay. The fruit?"

It's a ciderfruit.

"Ohh." Kyle nodded. "Alright. What about its properties?"

The ciderfruit grows from the branches of the cider, with two to four weeks being the amount of time it takes to mature fully. When unripe, it's green, but then as it slowly matures, the colour becomes light yellow before settling into a deep shade of amb . . .

"No, I didn't ask for that," Kyle interrupted. "I was asking about its properties."

No? MAIA said in his head. But you said to explain.

His eyes narrowed. Was he imagining it or was there not a hint of teasing tone in her voice? "Are you teasing me?"

The ciderfruit does not have a lot of properties, only that it's extremely tasty and refreshing, and when plucked from its tree and kept for more than a day, it gains the ability to induce sleep, taking on a deep, red colour like the one in your hand.

Kyle mouth opened. This damn artificial intelligence had ignored him. Ignored him. No, he thought. More like a snub.

Then the deep, red colour of the fruit caught his eye again. When the colour had changed then, he had thought it to be nothing important, thinking that it was maybe overripe. Now he knew better.

He emptied his pockets of the three remaining fruits and put them on top of the chest, along with the one he had been holding and then looked at each one, clearly contemplating how he would use them. If they could truly make a person sleep, they may prove useful to him someday, just that he didn't yet know how.

His eyes moved to the chest again, even as his hands moved over the top, the sides, searching for a way to open it. Curiosity had taken the better of him and he wanted to see what was inside the white chest. Staying in a room with no particular thing to do must have started getting to him.

Feeling somewhat defeated, he stood up and surveyed every inch, his eyes looking for that hint to a lock.

"Tell me how to open this," Kyle asked the AI.

Can't you figure it out yourself?

Kyle was speechless yet again. Was he really going to waste time exchanging words with some AI using his head as a home? He could not help himself burst out the question in his mind.

"How can you talk to me independent of the questions I ask?"

Boy, just because I'm an AI doesn't mean I have no life

Kyle opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but shut it. She was one to talk! Wasn't she practically still a baby? Calling him boy. Boy!

"Oh my God, I've got mutiny on my hands."

He took a deep breath and forced a smile, making sure to project it to his mind, and then said through gritted teeth, "I can't figure it out myself and need your...help to figuring out how to open this. There. You satisfied? "

His eyes widened as MAIA snorted indignantly. Certainly not. Just trace the rune.

"What rune? "

That's on top of the chest, dummy.

Kyle almost mourned. Where was the cold, emotionless voice? She just changed from a well behaved, obedient AI to a loudy-mouthy, obnoxious....

Are you insulting me?

Kyle froze.

D-Did she just read my mind?

Cold sweat beaded his eyebrow as MAIA asked again, Were you actually just insulting me?

He had no answer to give.