The Eidolon's Conquest Read online

  "Hey! Gizmoidon needs replacement fuel cells! Which of you is a driver?"

  His heart raced as he waited for an answer. Orbs would spot him within a one mile radius of the dome. That was too far to jump out of the truck with the accelerator jammed. The only way to get it done would be to gun it at top speed and hopefully get close enough to destroy Gizmoidon when an orb set off the bomb by shooting him. He could still fail. His best bet was to have a robot at the wheel. Even if it was an unexpected delivery, it shouldn't draw any fire.

  A robot stepped out of its formation. Rand watched with his lips parted. It walked over to a case in the wall and took out a square key card that Rand knew would fit into the ignition of the fuel cell truck.

  Fuck. Yes.

  Rand climbed into the passenger seat. The robot went through the motions to start the truck even though it was already running, then it backed it out of the yard and onto the road.

  Rand watched through the windshield until he spotted a distant orb. He slid down to hide on the floor of the passenger side. Now he estimated how close they were getting in his head. He took out the gun, set it to overload mode so that it became a small bomb, and placed it on the passenger seat. Then he opened the door and somersaulted out of the moving truck. He dashed into an alley. The dome was only two blocks away.

  Ten, nine, eight...

  He ran beneath the fire escapes of old brick buildings away from the dome. He'd never sprinted so fast.

  Five, four, three...

  An orb whizzed high over him. It kept moving so it hadn't seen him. It was searching so fast the roar of the wind it flew through had drowned out his footfalls. Rand stuck his fingers in his ears.

  The eruption was still deafening, and sent out a sonic boom that hit against his back like a giant fist. Rand went sailing five feet in the air. He tucked instinctively and rolled out the shock of his impact on the pavement.

  There were still cracks and eruptions when he was able to climb to his feet. He caught the moment when all the orbs dropped from the sky in unison. They were followed by chunks of red-hot metal. Rand stood gasping with his eyes wide. So much debris was falling—there had to be a crater where the dome used to be.

  Rand knew his mission was complete.

  He doesn't own you anymore, Master.

  * ** *** * *** ** * * ** *** * *** ** ** ** *** * *** ** ** ** *** * *** ** *

  At some point he'd broken a rib. Maybe when he crashed the cruiser, or maybe when he tumbled out of the truck. He didn't feel it until his adrenaline had diminished after the long walk back to where he'd first crashed hours ago.

  Deandred was gone from the wreckage. Rand smiled while hugging his painful flank.

  He lived. Of course he lived.

  Rand hadn't allowed the thought that he might have killed him come into his mind. All that mattered was the mission. Now that it was over, all that mattered to him was Deandred.

  He walked back to the mansion. The front door was open for him.

  "Master!"

  He searched the downstairs, then the atrium, and then finally went up to their bedroom.

  Deandred was lying face down on the carpet.

  "Oh, fuck—Master!"

  Rand raced to his side. He turned over his master's large form and cradled his head on his lap. Dried up trails of blood were beneath both his eyes. Rand's heart thudded.

  "Master!"

  He felt caked up blood on the back of his head. Something, like a small metal wire, was sticking out of the base of his skull.

  Oh God—no!

  He pressed his neck for a pulse. It was there. Slow, but strong. Rand gasped with relief.

  "Okay...okay, hang in there."

  He dragged him to the bed, lifted him by gripping below his arms, and pulled him to the middle of the bed. Then he ran, taking the steps three at a time. He got into Deandred's cruiser in the hangar and sped to the prison camp. He was screaming before he emerged from the stairwell leading down from the roof.

  "Medic! I need a fucking medic!" He ran into the cubicle area. "One of you fuckers has got to be a medic!"

  No, wait—the clinic you had built. The medical bot.

  He ran in the other direction. The medical bot was on casters.

  "What is your ailment?"

  "You...roll outside. I'm going to pick you up in my cruiser and take you to the High Lord. He's hurt! Hurry the fuck up!"

  The robot started moving. Rand saw the clinic door was now blocked by several prisoners.

  "I was a medic's aid," one young man said.

  "Fuck that," a slightly older man said. "Someone blew up Gizmoidon. That's why all the orbs just dropped like dead birds."

  "The Eidolons must have gotten fried too!" A slow grin formed on a third man's face. "Then they're all dead or dying—can it be over? Is the war over?"

  His grin infected the others. They all looked to him for confirmation. "They're all fucking dead, aren't they? The orbs, the Eidolons, Gizmoidon—tell us it's fucking true."

  Rand stared at them with his chest heaving. His mind started moving a mile a second.

  It's true. Gizmoidon is destroyed.

  The Eidolons are hurt...maybe dying.

  Even without Gizmoidon, the Eidolons have a thirst for conquest.

  If the Eidolons survive the war isn't over.

  The Eidolons will still conquer humanity.

  The Eidolons should be destroyed.

  My master...should be allowed to die.

  My...master...

  "Guards! Clear these men out of here! Guards!"

  The men backed away. Five robot guards zoomed in on them. Rand raced through the path created and led the robot to the steel front door. He used his code to let the medic bot out, then relocked the door. His feet sped him back toward the roof.

  Fuck them. Fuck humanity.

  Tears streaked down his face.

  He had to use all his strength to tip the medical bot into the back of the cruiser. Then he lifted off, flying back just as fast as he'd come. He now quaked with sobs.

  "I don't give a fuck," he said to himself. "I don't care if I'm fucking brainwashed. Killing you wasn't part of the deal, Master. I won't. I won't fucking do it. I don't care if it's wrong."

  His eyes blurred with so many tears he had trouble landing. He stuffed the medical bot into one of the service elevators that would lead to their room, then ran up two flights of stairs to meet him. As he leapt up the final steps to his room he could hear Deandred groaning.

  Rand raced to his side. "Master."

  Deadred's blood-encrusted eyes opened weakly. Rand took his hand. His mighty master felt weak as a kitten.

  "What have you done?" Deandred said, almost too softly to be heard.

  "I blew up Gizmoidon."

  His master's brow trembled. "You..."

  "I had to, Master! He was a monster. You know he was!"

  "You...blew up..."

  "He was going to kill millions of people!"

  "Gizmoidon...is..."

  Rand blinked at him while gasping.

  "You can't have destroyed him."

  "What do you mean?" Panic gripped him.

  "His orbs...you would have never...never gotten close."

  Oh. "Master, I'm telling you, I did it. If anyone could do it, it was me. He's gone. Blown into a million pieces."

  The elevator opened in a far corner of the room. The medical bot scraped the walls while rolling out.

  "It's...impossible."

  "Master...I swear I did it. Let me show you one of the orbs."

  "Impossible." He closed his eyes and his head lolled to the side.

  He's in shock.

  The medical bot rolled up. It brought up one of its thick square arms and scanned him with a laser. Rand stared at it with his mouth open.

  "The High Lord's natural recuperative abilities will heal him. He does not require treatment."

  Rand wet his lips. "Are you—are you sure? There was something sticking out of the back of his
head."

  A third arm with more range of motion came out of a portal on its cylindrical body. He used it to turn Deadred over and scanned the back of his head.

  "He will recover faster if the debris from the burnt out tracer chip is removed from his head."

  Tracer chip? Gizmoidon didn't even trust his own Eidolons!

  "Then do it! Make him better!"

  "I must sterilize the area to perform the operation. Remove yourself."

  Rand backed away, then slowly forced his legs to bring him down the stairs.

  When he'd descended to the atrium he heard a human voice yelling. Rand hurried down to the main floor.

  "Rand! High Lord! Anyone!"

  Wallek was in the great room dressed in the same sort of sultry outfit Deandred usually had him wear. Rand went him. The younger man was in tears.

  "What the fuck happened? Master hit the floor—he's bleeding out of his eyes! All the orbs just dropped and—"

  "I destroyed Gizmoidon."

  Wallek gaped at him.

  "They had six warheads tucked in the edge of the city—big as houses. They were loading them up with enough ketomite to wipe out the human race. This whole truce was a farce. Gizmoidon was just buying himself some time to finish his bombs. Your master's going to be okay. It was a blown tracer chip. I had a medical bot look at Deandred. He said he'd recover."

  Wallek pursed his lips with his eyes lowered.

  "How did you know to come here?" Rand said.

  "I saw this place before...it was on the way home from the...are you sure he's going to recover? He was bleeding out of his eyes!"

  "Deandred was already awake and talking when I got the medical bot to him. You know these fuckers are tough. It will take more than a little blown circuitry to kill them."

  Wallek nodded and turned his body partway towards the way out. "I need to...to get back to him." He looked at Rand. "What happens now?"

  Rand thought a moment. "Now. Now we get to see what the Eidolons do when Gizmoidon isn't pulling their puppet strings."

  * ** *** * *** ** * * ** *** * *** ** ** ** *** * *** ** ** ** *** * *** ** *

  When Rand returned upstairs later the medical bot was performing a scan at Deandred's bedside. His master's scalp was covered in bandages.

  "Is he—?"

  "He will recover speedily."

  Rand swallowed.

  "My services were designated for the human prison camp. Return me to my station there."

  "No. Get in the elevator and wait downstairs. I'm keeping you close in case anything goes wrong."

  The robot hesitated, but then obeyed.

  Rand sat on the bed next to Deandred while holding his hand. He could see his master's chest rising and falling with steady breaths. He kept vigil beside him for hours, while working through his own thoughts. Eventually he climbed down to the trundle bed and tried to sleep.

  Near morning the sound of his master's voice shocked him into full wakefulness. Rand scrambled to his feet. His master's weary eyes were open. He could tell there was some swelling in his face. Not much. Were he human Rand knew he'd look a lot worse.

  "Tell me exactly. After you crashed the cruiser..."

  Rand took a deep breath. "I went to the site with the warheads. I stole a truck full of ketomite. Then I went to the fuel cell plant. I filled empty fuel cell housings with crates of ketomite and then loaded them on a fuel cell truck. I got a robot to drive it like a normal delivery to Gizmoidon's dome. I lay down on the passenger side, then when we got close I set your gun to overload and jumped out. The robot kept driving, all the way to the dome. Then it exploded. Pieces of Gizmoidon flew up about a hundred feet. The orbs all dropped like dead weights. I haven't been back to check for the crater, but there's no way—no way anything is left."

  Deandred turned from him to look forward. "Then...he's truly destroyed."

  Rand reached out to squeeze his hand. "That's a good thing—isn't it, Master?"

  Deandred stayed silent for several harrowing moments. Rand got an ache in his chest.

  "Inside of me...there's still the imperative to obey him. But if he's gone..."

  "You're free, Master."

  "I feel as if a part of me has died."

  Rand grimaced. He soothed the side of his master's hand with his thumb.

  "This pain...is it grief?"

  "He was part of you for a long time, Master."

  Deandred closed his eyes. Tears spilled down his cheeks. "He created me."

  Rand spoke through his own burgeoning pain. "But he was evil...and he had to be stopped."

  "I had dreamed he would mellow over time. When I saw him start to like you—I'd hoped he would change his opinion towards humans." He grew quiet several moments. More tears ran down his face. "I wanted to object sometimes...it was not within me. And I tried to be joyous in my service to him—to put my heart into my work for him. There was always conflict inside. Guilt for the things he'd made me do. I wish I could have...come to trust his dominance of me. In truth, I was a pitiful servant."

  "You were better than he deserved."

  Deandred looked at him. "I want to revel in this victory with you. I want to feel relief or triumph." He blinked out more tears. "There's only emptiness inside me."

  Rand climbed onto the bed and hugged him. "I'm still here, Master. I know it's not much...but you don’t have to go through this alone."

  Deandred wrapped an arm around him. "It is much, Rand." His chest shuddered with a sigh. "You were...what the world needed...but I need you even more."

  Rand squeezed him.

  By the next afternoon Deandred had risen from bed and was able to eat at his table. Rand attempted to feed him but was gestured to sit.

  "Why are you wearing clothes?"

  Rand looked down over himself. A smile tugged at the sides of his lips. "I...uh, sorry."

  Deandred spooned a bite of mashed potatoes.

  "You really are the High Lord now, Master. Now that Gizmoidon's gone, you're the top guy."

  He paused. "You wish for me to tell you what I mean to do. I have no such answers, Rand. There's such a great deal...a great deal of work to do. I just don't have the spirit for it."

  "There's no timeline. No rush. I just want you to recover."

  His dark eyes fixed on him. "And if you were me? How would you have me lead, Rand?"

  Rand set down his utensil. "I'd have you sign a treaty. Make the truce permanent. Keep the trade going. End the war...now and forever. It was Gizmoidon's bullshit agenda. Not yours."

  "Do you think I've lost my desire for conquest?"

  "That's what I'm here for, Master. And the other comfort slaves the rest of the Eidolons will get. You could be happy without destroying any more human lives."

  Deandred's brow twitched. He focused on his food.

  "I suppose that's true, isn't it."

  * ** *** * *** ** * * ** *** * *** ** ** ** *** * *** ** ** ** *** * *** ** *

  Deadred's lush hair had grown back before the final treaty was finally signed. By then the rest of the collateral prisoners were delivered, and most Eidolons had received their comfort slaves.

  Sidmory insisted on giving Rand a medal at the signing ceremony, held in the massive crater where Gizmoidon had once existed. Rand only accepted it because his master urged him to. The gathering of high-ranking officers and clapped and cheered as it was draped over his shoulders. Rand noted how little this stirred him. He'd never cared about pleasing them or being a hero. He'd done the right thing. There was solace in that, but he'd had no choice. If he hadn't discovered the warheads he would have done nothing. He'd enjoyed his period of blissful ignorance.

  It was only when Deandred smiled at him that he finally felt the pride swell in his chest.

  The joyful feelings continued to swirl inside him as he flew back. His master was watching him from the passenger seat with a pleased expression.

  "It's better this way. To be at peace."

  "Yes, Master."

  "I ne
ver enjoyed taking the lives of humans. I felt it a waste. There are so many better uses for them."

  Rand laughed.

  "What's the point of conquering a land where all life has been extinguished?" He glanced at his tablet. "I received a message from Ottrea before we left."

  "Huh? Really? How's Skip?"

  "Did you know that Skip is quite...libidinous?"

  "Yeah. That's why I picked him."

  "He's grown extremely comfortable with his master. In fact, he bade Ottrea to ask if we might help indulge one of his fetishes."

  Rand turned with dubious expression.

  "He's an exhibitionist."

  Rand shook his head with a smile. "What the fuck."

  "He wants us to watch as Ottrea disciplines and pleasures him."

  Rand burst with a laugh. "Are you serious?"

  "I think it's magnificent. These are just the sorts of things I should like to distract myself with, now that the war is over."

  He continued smiling. "Oh, Master..."

  "Change the coordinates to go to Ottrea's home."

  "Pssh." Rand tapped the computer screen to obey. "You know, we could just go home and have our own fun."

  "But then I'll miss out on an education. Ottrea shall provide me many new ideas."

  "That guy looked like a pussy-cat to me."

  "The sweeter the Eidolon, the more insidious their play. Their slaves come to trust them faster and with great conviction."

  "No one could trust their master more than I trust you. I've got more conviction than Skip will ever have."

  Deandred reached over to caress his thigh. "That's why I love you, Rand."

  Rand met his gaze. "I love you harder, Master." He steered the ship where the navigation system indicated. "Now let's go watch this freak get owned."

  Deandred laughed. He palmed Rand's groin before moving his hand away.

  The trust Rand saw Skip give to his master that night resonated deeply within him. He realized he wasn't the only one to take pleasure in giving himself unequivocally. Seeing Skip made him feel part of a secret society, a rich one, where he could be completely content. He wasn't free, but had no desire for freedom. This was where his heart could thrive.

  He'd saved mankind, and given the world a future without war. Now he could enjoy the fruits of his own labors, without misgivings.

  This is what he thought of while sleeping beside his master in the bed they now shared. Rand knew he'd earned the reward of having a master as great as Deandred.