Another One

A few days passed since the incident and as such, Artemis has forgotten all about it except the lingering feeling within his stone-cold heart. The days have gone by with little to talk or worry about, the clouds of smoke and ash continue to cover the sky above and the fires continue to engulf the forest around the Machine Base.

Artemis has taken upon himself to spearhead the eventual defeat of the Theocracy, this time he was to employ modern warfare against the Theocracy as a show of strength. To set up a foothold and to ensure that other states would recognize him and his country as another of their own, he needs to set up an example.

The following months have been rather tedious for both sides, not only did the Machine Empire get pushed back from its patrols in the eastern part of the forest, it's lost a considerable amount of military Androids even if they're merely patrols. If an enemy that only relies on swords, spears ad something called Magic can do that much damage against sophisticated and technologically superior machines then Artemis has underestimated them greatly.

His underestimation did not come without merit. Ever since they came here, they've only experienced victory after victory and only recently did they become entangled with losses even in the slightest.

Artemis was the only strategist in the Machine Empire, although he had supercomputers back on Earth, he did not have such a luxury in this world and thus he was the main strategist with Caitlyn as his adviser. According to his estimates, bringing the sophisticated AI to this world would require a huge amount of energy, something they won't reach until they manage to create a small fusion reactor.

A small fusion reactor required a lot of robotic expertise, robotpower and resources. Robotic expertise and robotpower could be easily acquired but resources were a complicated matter. The wormhole allowed anything to come through it from either opening but it was small, up until now the machines have been relying solely on live human beings to maintain the wormhole.

A few months ago, the wormhole almost collapsed in what could have been the end of his entire mission. The two humans that were the main source of power for the wormhole expended all their mana because of a slight miscalculation during an experimental wormhole gate expansion. The two humans experienced total organ failures and subsequently combust into a pool of rotten flesh and blood.

The entire Machine Empire was thrown into disarray as the wormhole began to fluctuate out of control. Artemis had five of the nearest humans kidnapped regardless of their magic aptitudes and forcefully made them into living batteries. The wormhole stabilized but because 2 of the 5 kidnapped humans were inept, they suffered the same fate as the first two.

With research back on Earth entirely focused on wormhole stabilization and magic extraction, other fields were left relatively abandoned and thus Artemis had to micromanage. Although all of it was tedious, even for him, he was enjoying the work regardless.

And now, he wanted to end the scourge which was the Theocracy and finally set up a permanent foothold.

To do that, he has decided to completely abandon Caitlyn's newly enforced protocols for him and go to the frontlines instead.

Artemis made it known to Caitlyn that he was stubborn but Caitlyn was even more so.

"If you want to go to the frontlines, I will only let you IF you bring one thousand of your finest with you!"

She stubbornly said.

"But, my two personal Elite Androids could handle it,"

Artemis tried to negotiate.

"No,"

But to no avail.

He finally conceded and allowed one thousand of his best Androids to accompany him but gave strict orders to maintain a certain distance between them and the main unit which was composed of him and his two Elite Androids.

The frontlines have approximately a distance equal to both sides, a distance of 100 kilometres split the Machines and the Theocracy apart. With such a wide frontline, the Theocracy has decided to consolidate their forces into several large groups that have set up camps across their side.

Meanwhile, Artemis has began implementing what Caitlyn thought him about 20th century war. He was to fight an exhausting war of attrition against the humans, Artemis only needed to maintain his Androids via maintenance and resupplying of needed goods without the slight threat of them starving, rebelling, routing or failing to follow orders, why? Because they were complex yet simple machines.

Complex nature but simple needs, unlike Humans who need food, shelter, constant resupply and dangerously fragile more that could be easily exploited and the entire fabric of their being collapsing into a cascade of madness if the circumstances proved to be right, like a nuclear detonation, the blinding light, the mushroom cloud, the eventual nuclear fallout, all three of which would prove disastrous for them.

Luckily, although Artemis can theoretically ship a nuclear missile from Earth, prepare a launchpad and launch it against a couple million poor souls, he has no reason to do so.

Yet.

Artemis could also engineer a biological agent and wipe them out but doing so may cause magic to dwindle since it seems to be heavily connected to humans and he does not have the spare research capabilities to start with.

He embarked at dawn with his army of a thousand. A hundred Gunship Drones provided air cover as modified prewar AI Piloted F-90s zoomed overhead to the frontlines. The army of a thousand was mainly on foot but a few hundred were inside tanks and transports for fast response to any danger that may befall their leader.

Artemis was walking through the forest and was somewhat enjoying the scenery but the signs of damage could no longer be ignored. The entire segment of the forest that was completely blocked by the cloud of smoke and ash has begun to die. Without sunlight, photosynthesis could not happen and thus, the plants have begun starving and choking.

He leaned against the trunk of a particular tree, it looked like any normal tropical tree but a colony of ants seemed to have made a colony inside its trunk.

Interesting..

He thought.

He made a stop and decided to observe the ants for a while, this curiosity eventually evolved into a genuine interest towards ants that Artemis did not expect.

Maybe he saw himself and his Androids as mere ants and he as their "Queen" or maybe he only just liked ants. They had jaws and big butts, probably because they had jaws and not big butts, at least he can't get stung.

He was entranced by the ants for a good hour, he watched the workers climb up and down the bark and into the forest floor, bringing in their prey of insects and a human finger.

Human finger?

"Hm?"

It was a strange catch but food for the ants nonetheless, he wanted to open the bark and take a peek inside the heart of the colony but knowing that destroying their nest would otherwise disturb nature, he decided not to and left them alone.

He continued his journey and through the forest, he walked with his elite guards followed by his ominous army from behind. A few hours passed and faint sounds of battle could finally be heard. Gunfire, explosions and strange noises that could only be from magic spells or weapons by the Theocracy.

He decided to check in with Caitlyn for an update on the status of the frontlines. He communicated via the communicator in his brain that directly connected to the Machine Intercomm.

"Caitlyn, status report on the frontlines?"

"One of the main armies of the Theocracy has launched a concentrated attack against our middle line, field Androids report that they are holding and require no assistance,"

"Good, make sure they are reinforced once the mages become a problem,"

"Of course, by the way where are you? I sense you as usual but I don't know your exact whereabouts now,"

"We are supposedly near the middle line since I hear the faint sounds of battle overhead,"

"There's nothing you need to be concerned about, for now, I will inform you immediately if a threat arises,"

"Before I go, what is the status of Valentine and Liz?"

Caitlyn paused for a second.

"Caitlyn, what's their status?"

Caitlyn then replied.

"The two have not reported back for a few days,"

Artemis stopped for a second and clenched his fists.

"They went south, didn't they? Has the storm reached their position?"

"No, the storm has maintained its speed but our instruments have not been deployed for a full intelligence report, but we are sure that the storm is still far away, it is most likely they encountered trouble along the way and have hidden themselves for now,"

"How could you be so sure?"

"I can see their vitals in the system, but as long as its still beating then they are very much alive."

Artemis was silent and decided to end the communication link. He sighed and sat on the forest ground, his two Elite Androids stood behind him and stared at his back.

"Why is everything so hard?"

He murmured.

"Overall, nothing is hard,"

All of the sudden, one of the Elite Androids suddenly spoke...in a british accent? It surprising Artemis. He quickly turned his head and faced the Android but he was unsure which of the Androids spoke, he feared that another deviant was forming! Although the first deviant eventually became Caitlyn, what assurance did he have that the next deviant Android would be loyal to him? He was unsure and was not taking any chances.

"Who said that?"

He asked quite rudely.

"Forgive me, Overall,"

The Elite Android to his right flashed and the same voice escaped from its voicebox, it knelt down on the ground as a sign of respect to Artemis but Artemis was not entirely convinced.

For all he knows, the Androids don't possess such a capability to initiate a conversation and would only reply brief sentences whenever asked for. This was new and terrifying.

"You knew my name as EA-1, your loyal Elite Guard,"

The Elite Android said with its head bowed down facing the ground.

Artemis was silent. He stood up and looked down on the Android before finally uttering his mind.

"You're supposed to be a mere droid, a mindless hunk of metal that follows whatever I say and possesses little to no free will, how did you gain a level such as what you're showing me right now?"

The Elite Android looked up towards Artemis.

"Overall, little did you know that your psychic presence has been influencing us Androids for centuries you've been with us, I myself don't exactly know either but as much as I want to be what you think of us to be, I cannot hide my new self from you,"

Artemis stared blankly at the Android and placed his right hand on the scabbard containing his weaponized glove.

The Android seemed to have noticed Artemis' will and thus spoke once more.

"It's been a great honour, dear Overall, I have protected you for the short time I have lived and will gladly die by your hands for it is our duty as your puppets to always fulfil your will,"

The Elite Android stood up, prompting Android and the other Androids to take a few steps back.

"Fret not, I hereby present to you my chest,"

Its chest suddenly opened and exposed its machine core, one clean swipe at the core would render it inept and therefore avoid a cataclysmic explosion from happening just like during the infiltration of the Papal Estate.

But Artemis only had his hands on the scabbard but he did not grab his weapon nor did he drew it any further. He removed his hands from the scabbard and looked at his loyal Guard directly in its one glowing red eye.

"You continue to surprise me,"

He said.

"Indeed it was, Overall"

Suddenly another of his Elite Android, EA-2 spoke.

"Great, another one,"