I don't have screws

Without further gawking at the futuristic structure, they entered the base of Command Core through the door. The door opened by itself as they walked in. If the outside of the Command Core was mind blowing then the inside was just jaw-dropping. It looked like a small city inside. In the games there has never been any mention of how things are being conducted inside.

Almost no RTS game had ever given any lore or in-depth explanation of how things are being done inside. Robin and the girls were the first person to get an in-depth understanding of how the inside of these structures were. The whole inside of the building was draped in white and blue with shades of steel around to give more color and contrast.

There were various sections of huge rooms inside that were separated just like any human building should have. But that was not all. Each and every section had a function and there were labels marked on top of these huge sized rooms. There were various bot moving around, each and every bot seemed like they were moving on purpose. Not all bots were the same looking. Some looked more advanced than the others, while some just had a skeleton body with a minimum amount of machinery attached to their bodies.

The Command Core looked like a whole world of its own. This was the supposed main center of their base and it sure did look and acted like one. In addition to building there were levitating elevators which regularly went up and down from various marked places. The elevators didn't act like the typical ones where the elevators were covered on all sides, but rather were free and levitated on their own. This was just one of the interesting facts inside the Command Core.

As they looked around, a bot which looked quite advanced came forward.

"Creator, we have been waiting for you. Please follow me to the bridge."

"Bridge?"

"Yes creator."

Robin was curious of what this bridge was referring to but followed this random robot that came forward. As he walked by he could see that each and every robot would bow their heads at him when he passed by. He felt a little uncomfortable at this but didn't stop them.

"Sigret, can you hack into them?"

"Do I look like someone who has a death wish? These robots were made to battle against hacking. Hell, some weapons were made just so that they could hack into their enemies."

"You could have just said no." Robin grumbled under his breath. After following the robot for quite some time they finally came upon the middle portion of the building which had a large bright circular pillar of blue, holding down the huge base and probably the upper part of the Command Core.

Surrounding the pillar were various screens that showed different things. Some screens showed Earth's geography, some showed Earth's people and such other random things. Below the screens were many robots actively working on their advanced computers while some were discussing among themselves.

"The creator is on the bridge." The bot which had been leading them shouted. Immediately the bots who were working actively left their work, stood up and bowed in his direction. Robin couldn't help but say

"At ease."

"Creator, this is the bridge where we carry out your orders to the T. We don't have any leaders among us so we are working collectively and executing your orders. If you want anything from us, you can come here and order us or just speak with the leaders when they arrive."

"Hmm... Let me bring the Founder. What about Mirabel? Do you have her DNA?"

"Yes creator. Do you wish to bring her to her organic life?"

"Yes, bring her online. I will bring Viktor and Vertigo"

"As you wish creator."

Robin took out his laptop that he had been carrying and went to the saved last mission of the game. Only in the last mission, was the Founder available as a playable character unlike other heroes of the game which could be used from the start.

He inserted his hands through the screen and held the body of the Founder and brought him out. He proceeded to place the Founder on the ground and waited. Within seconds, the body of the Founder got large and his height reached a massive 7 feet tall. He remembered that the Founder in the game was taller but maybe since they were inside, the Founder controlled his size so that he could fit in the base of the Command Center.

"For Novus, my creator." The Founder just like the Constructors bent his knee at Robin.

"Founder. Welcome to a new Earth." Robin said.

"It's my honor to be called upon by the creator himself in his birthplace."

"You know why you are here?"

"Yes my creator. To carry out your orders and die if the moment is called for to protect the creator."

Robin had hands on his forehead listening to this tall steel colored robot. The Founder had blue eyes with two antennae type outgrowth from his ears. His steel body had thick lines of glowing blue that made this robot look like a mixture of both ancient and modern technology.

"Don't be so formal, Founder. You can chill a bit."

"I am sorry creator, but I don't understand what that word specifically means. Do you want me to freeze myself, Creator?" The Founder asked in all seriousness.

"God, this tin head definitely has some screw loose somewhere." Sigret whispered near his ears.

The Founder clearly heard the words of Sigret but didn't react. She came with the Founder and was standing toe to toe with him so she might be quite important, otherwise he would have boldly claimed that his mechanical body didn't have any screws. But he vaguely felt that it might be insulting to her.

"No, I want you to calm down. And just take it slow. You have one year to secure the country in the most stealthiest way possible. I want Flow Conduits running through all the villages, towns and cities. If the people come forward to ask anything you can say that the Supreme Leader with the help of the science division has made robots. And if they are scared, handle it in the most peaceful way possible. I don't want any casualties in this. These people have suffered enough. The only thing you will have to make sure of is that you keep away from the international train from where the products are being imported."

"Your orders are my command creator. Do you want anything else?"

"I will bring Viktor and Vertigo. You can take their help in any stealth missions. And make sure to send invisible variants along the trade routes to make sure none of the people will spill our secrets out immaturely. I want you to be my secret force."

"Acknowledged, my creator."

The Founder then proceeded to give commands on the bridge. First and foremost thing they needed was to make a Flow generator which would power their structures. The Founder ordered that and then asked to make Recycling Centers. But soon they came to stand still as they didn't have enough scrap metals to proceed further.

"Creator, do you want us to travel distances in order to salvage the scrap metals?"

"No. I have better things."

Robin said as he walked out of the Command Core and came to a little distant place from the Command Core. He inserted his hand again and brought out several damaged Habitat walkers from the game. They needed massive amounts of scrap metals and what better way to get it than from the bodies of their defeated enemies.

These habitat walkers were giants. At least 20 to 30 storeys tall in height and at least half the length of its height, breadth wise . Robin placed the first one in the ground and almost made a run. He was sure that this thing would grow taller at a very fast speed due to the sheer size of it. And he was right to do so.

This thing was so huge that it took up a huge space. It should have been bigger if not for the fact that it was already destroyed. The Founder who had followed flinched in his place for a second but didn't speak anything.

"You can show your emotions. The Hierarchy are dead and you are free."

"I understand my Creator."

"Don't send the Collectors to salvage scrap from all the places in the country. Salvage from here and use it. If you run out of scrap metals, ask me. I will help you. The collectors might mistakenly show up in front of people they shouldn't have and just destroy our plans."

"But creator, there is a chance that our troops might be exposed to the enemy. We can deflect the satellite images with fake ones and do various kinds of anti-surveillance. But I am not sure how the Creator intends to stop the organic species from places that don't belong to the boundary of this place."

---

Read 10 chapters ahead on my p@treon.com/thelightedghost