20 Welcome to Purgatory

"Zero, this isn't our solar system" Null was puzzled, Zero had told him they were going home but they had passed through a strange gate into a strange system. Even the voice of the universe sounded different here.

"No, but this is your new home, welcome to purgatory. It is a system that is completely separated from the rest of the universe. It can only be entered or exited from a single gate. This was discovered about 90 000 years ago and the council uses it as a temporary prison for high-level threats. I'm sorry Null but this is the council wish".

"But dad, why must I be imprisoned, what did I do that was so wrong? I used a bit of magic. So what you are all using magic" Null rarely called The Watcher dad, as Zero didn't like being called dad but when he was emotional it would slip out from time to time as that how he saw him. "Will you be here with me?"

The Watcher felt bad, but he couldn't defy the council. "No, I won't be able to stay. I have been commanded to return to our homeworld Heaven and face the Conclave. Null you know you are special and I'm not just talking about your normal magic. The council was able to detect that when you cancelled the portal and they are scared. It won't be all bad you will have a workshop and training rooms and be able to go anywhere within the system."

"This isn't fair, so..will I be alone again?" Null fear being alone, even when Zero was around he could easily get engrossed in an experiment for months at a time.

"No, you will have two guardians. A Valtaui guard and a member from the TMA to train you in technomagic." This was something The Watcher couldn't understand if they were so scared of him why would they be training him. He believed he was missing some information.

** Alert: Unclaimed Alterra Colony Seed Detect**

** 10 000EP Claim Ownership Seed**

**100 000EP Activate Colony Defenses**

Null hoped that his system would be more cooperative than it normally was. "What is an Alterra Colony seed" but he got no response once again. 10 000EP was all he had, he had some blueprints he had planned to buy. I guess I will just have to try and see.

Null transmitted the coordinates he had received from the system to Zero and requested that they travelled there. "You said I could go anywhere in the system right?"

The Watcher was worried, the coordinates led to a cube of unknown origin. The cube had been studied for 1000's of years and no progress was made but it didn't seem hostile so it was just ignored. Yet somehow Null knew about it, which suggested it was somehow related to Alterran. That might have been why the council had sentenced him here.

They flew to the location of the smooth cube with a 200m side length.

"So is this what you wanted to see?" The Watcher was observing Null carefully as he seemed overly excited by the cube.

Null claimed ownership of the seed, and he received a massive information dump on its capabilities. It turned out this whole system was an Alterran forward operating base. It was set up out of phase with the main universe this acted like an old-time mote. It made it impossible for enemy forces to surround or attack the base from normal space. The gate was like a draw bridge.

This system would allow its owner to amass an army and attack with impunity. The council didn't understand what they had stumbled upon.

"system why can't I claim the gate", he wasn't expecting a response but there was nothing in the information dump about the gate.

**Response: Not Enough Energy Stored. Earn More Empire Points**

Not only was he shocked at getting an answer, but the answer had also given him some extra information. So EP are related to energy which means the system somehow gains energy when Null kills an enemy.

** Colony Initialisation Complete **

** Please Enter Colony Name **

Null was awful at naming things, he had named his first ship after one of Apollo horses. He had loved the story about Apollo that Zero used to tell him when he was younger. Zero once told him that he resembled Apollo. Null used this as inspiration and name the colony Olympus.

The cube started to power up which in turn alarmed both The Watcher and the Valtaui.

"Null explain, quickly!" The Watcher was trying to prevent the Valtaui from attacking them.

"Relax, it doesn't have any weapons it's just a colony base. I've taken over ownership" Null was telling the truth the seed only contained basic equipment and drones for starting a colony, he had been unable to bring any defensive systems online.

The Watcher didn't have to ask how, he knew it had to be something to do with the Alterra system implanted by the artifact but he didn't want to spread that news to Valtaui. Unit 7321 had also guessed it had something to do with Null having Alterran powers and got the other Valtaui to stand down. It was their job to observe and collect information for the council.

"You won't be able to enter without me, but I assume both Zero and Unit 7321 you want to come with me and check it out?" Null had been given the enter codes along with teleportation control when he received the information dump.

He teleported himself, Zero and Unit 7321 to the hanger of Cube. The Cube was divided into 3 floors the bottom floor housed the hanger, engineering laboratory and material Storage, the Middle floor was the living area and contained all the facility required long term space flight including the entertainment section. The top floor was the defence floor that had was currently empty.

The three toured the ship and found that it was lacking most of the equipment and was bare bones. Null was disappointed he had been expecting a station full of advanced technology but instead, he got a floating ship that was worst than Zero ship.