StarGaze

Enter The Palace

"Wow, you have a beautiful place," Raghav said, looking around and bobbing his head in appreciation.

Four of the five creatures walking in front of him disappeared in a whiff of air, and the fourth one looked at Pinky with an angry look. Pinky held Raghav's hand as a reflex. Raghav was startled by this sudden physical contact and looked at Pinky's pale face.

"Do we have a problem?" Raghav asked the diety with a frown.

"No, but I am afraid that what I am about to show you will not be taken kindly by your female companion." The deity said.

Raghav looked at the diety's face and knew that he wasn't kidding. But he gulped and told him to show what he intended to show.

A large golden gate was opened and cold dry air came gushing out of a room. Raghav shivered a bit, but his spine was chilled even more by the contents of the room. Pinky froze where she was, and the diety knew he was right about her reaction.

There were large mechanical spinal cords, each ranging from nine to eleven feet in length. There were also sharpened metal claws lying around, and some robots were polishing them to perfection. The room reeked of oil and welding. But the thing that caught everyone's eye was the skull.

The large metal skull with pointy spikes coming out of almost everywhere. The nose was replaced with two holes and there were no ears. The eye sockets were large to give maximum vision. The whole skull was the size of a basketball.

Put the whole setup together with skin on it and some creepy eyes, and it was enough to make a grown person cry. There was no doubt that these were the apex predators that hunted the ancients and lived in the mountains.

"You...you made them?" Pinky asked with red eyes.

"Yes, we did. We have to keep the population in check. And any natural predator, no matter how strong, would soon have been hunted down by our species, so we had to take action and make sure that we had complete control over the situation.

Our invention is ever-evolving, becoming more lethal and efficient each time. we release a new body. And hence this planet can always be in peace." The diety said without budging.

"Oh I see it now," Raghav said all of a sudden, looking around the room.

"What do you understand?" the diety asked.

"You are not a higher species among the ancients. You are not the ones who sacrificed your lives so everyone else could have a better one.

No, you are not even real at all! You are an artificial intelligence. Some kind of software ruling above all ancients and disguising yourself as a god." Raghav said as he figured out the secret behind all the magic tricks.

"Good observation skills, as one would expect from a Namiha." The diety said and the smile on its face widened.

"Who the f**k gave you the right to rule above humans...or well, their distant relatives," Raghav asked furiously.

The idea of aliens attacking Raghav's planet was acceptable, but an AI using them as pawns to attack Earth boiled his blood.

"THEY...gave me the right to rule them. When their ancestors arrived on this planet, they had already seen struggles in their day and knew that mortals could not be trusted with ruling a species.

So the power was to be handed over to me if they didn't survive the landing on Mars. And unfortunately, they died in a mysterious fire in their aircraft while landing." The deity said.

"Ahh yes, how 'unfortunate'," Raghav said, eyeing the software in front of him.

"What do you mean?" The diety asked.

"I mean I know exactly what you did. These people may be stupid and could have forgotten where they come from, but I know what you are and how you made yourself ascent." Raghav said with fire in his eyes.

"I fail to understand your words. But as I was saying, I took over the power and designed a system to bring peace to this planet. And after a long time, I can say that I have achieved my goal. Until earth interfered..." The deity said.

"Oh, that's not peace. There is no peace and happiness if the citizens of a society are not capable of feeling peace or happiness. You didn't take away their feelings for their good. Oh no, it was for the greater good, for YOUR good.

You made them numb so that no one would oppose you in the foreseeable future. You make your decisions for them, all the while making them believe that you are just another one of them with superior skills. And for f**k's sake, you even make them share a common network, which surprise surprise, can easily be manipulated by you.

I mean you can easily craft memories into their minds and trigger whichever emotion you would like for them to feel. That's a little extreme power given to a machine, don't you think?" Raghav said.

"No, I don't. You are afraid of me having that much power because you are judging me as a human. Humans are selfish, blinded by power and incapable of making good logical decisions under pressure, and are often driven by passion or anxiety.

I, on the other hand, was designed to be the savior in need. I would never misuse my powers because I am simply incapable of doing so. Besides, why would I even try to harm the very race that is the reason for my existence and is crucial for my survival?" The diety laid down some pretty heavy facts.

"Know this, I am not an i***t. Now, where am I staying at?" Raghav said, deciding to check out the rest of the creepy mansion afterward.

"I am unable to step outside the premises of the palace, but I will arrange for someone to show you the way." The deity replied with a plain creepy face.

"Of course you will. And remember, the girl is with me. If any harm was to come to her, you would be lying among your fried CPU wires." Raghav said, leaving the palace and taking Pinky with him.