The army company

Chapter 3

It was already surreal to see so many robots moving in unison, but hearing them speak as one was completely mind-boggling.

He made an effort to keep his expression neutral, but it was impossible to do so in such a short amount of time. He apparently went from being on his deathbed, wishing he would die, to being in charge of 250 Star Wars battle droids.

How wildly and unexpectedly can one person's life shift in the span of a week?

Clyde, who was not accustomed to authority, said, "Stand down," as he attempted to adjust to his new position.

The battle droids resumed their fluid motion, each one gripping its weapon firmly in both hands. Clyde, realising the urgency of the situation, quickly devised a plan to put them to work.

"Put your weapons in the chest by my side and equip the other items."

"Put your tools in hand and make this cave longer and wider; I want it to be three stories high and the length of two football fields."

"Yes, supreme ruler," a second salute followed.

Without showing any signs of displeasure or questioning Clyde's judgement, the battle droids formed an orderly line and began to follow his instructions. Strange as it was, having such power in his hands felt good.

The robotic miners wasted no time in getting to work, smashing away at the cave's rock walls with their pickaxes.

After observing the droids in action, Clyde realised he needed assistance with things he didn't know, like building and making complex judgements. To help him, he required a unique form of artificial intelligence. Thinking of this, he loaded up the first mission of Destiny and summoned a ghost.

"Do you wish to summon a ghost?"

"Yes!"

Before his eyes, a ghost materialised, no bigger than a human hand. Its single glowing eye was centred in its spherical body. The shell was comprised of eight detachable, rotatable tetrahedral segments surrounding the central core.

A blue, transparent light materialised from its centre and swept overhead, inspecting Clyde. Clyde wasn't concerned because he was playing the role of a guardian in the video game when he called upon the ghost, so he himself would be seen in the same light.

"Hello, guardian."   The voice sounded robotic but also somehow comfortingly familiar.

"Ghost, tell me what you can do."

"Yes, guardian, when assisting Guardians, ghosts can perform tasks like providing illumination, fixing broken equipment, breaking into machines, alerting Guardians to impending danger, calculating complex enemy behaviours, determining combat outcomes, mapping numerous projectiles and their myriad trajectories, and providing communications. Most significantly, Guardians may be brought back from the dead by ghosts. As long as the Ghost is still around, Guardians are essentially immortal and can be resurrected from any death with no damage done. It is possible for ghosts to heal any wound sustained by a Guardian in a matter of seconds."

Clyde couldn't believe it; he had known ghosts had some influence, but not this much. All sorts of information stored in machines and tools could be read by them. Clyde may now be able to see content that is normally off-limits to the general public.

A future apparition of his might be able to shed light on how the game's technology functions in reality, allowing him to make necessary adjustments or enhancements.

To be warned of impending danger via an awareness of projectile behaviour and enemy patterns of action sounded equally appealing.

Clyde concludes that he can always count on having a trustworthy ally who won't betray him watching his back thanks to this. His level of security will be greatly improved by Ghost.

"Hmm, ghost, is it possible to be brought back to life in this world?"

"Yes, I am already bound to you, guardian; as long as I am alive, I can revive you anywhere in the universe."

Clyde's heart was racing after hearing this; how would you react if you were told you were nearly immortal? It was unbelievable, like something out of a science fiction movie or TV show, but it was happening right in front of his eyes.

"Ghost, log in to my laptop, connect to the internet in this foreign world, and get online to gather all the information you'll need to navigate it."

"We are maintaining complete anonymity for the time being by not revealing our true identities, and when visiting restricted websites, we leave no digital footprints behind."

"Yes, guardian, this will take some time."

A transparent blue light appeared to be scanning the laptop as the ghost hovered nearby. Clyde realised he would have to return to his work with the robot miners for a while.

Clyde was seen walking up and down the cave, instructing a large group of miners on his rough layout. To prevent everything from collapsing at once, he had the miners leave some rock pillars in place around the cave for the time being.

And so it went on; the work progressed. The cave measured a total of 200 metres in length and 118 metres in width. Comparable in size to two regulation football fields. The height was roughly equivalent to that of a standard three-story structure, or forty metres.

The speed with which Clyde's plan was coming together in this space was incredible. It wasn't too shocking, considering that the 250 robot miners had everything from iron to diamond pickaxes and shovels.

When the task was nearly complete, Ghost had finished gathering all the information it needed about the current planet's structure. Everything you could ever want to know about everyday life, tyrannical governments, and world maps, as well as information on in-game items and machinery, was readily available.

"Hello, guardian, all relevant data has been collected and is currently being organised for future use."

Clyde said to ghost, "Thanks; your cooperation will be very important for my takeover." Clyde was considering all the ways in which ghost could aid him in his plans.

"Guardian, I found a game called Deus Ex: Invisible War that will help you with your current predicament."

"The Piezochem W31V Repair Bot could help with repairing any future damages to the robots and also help with building structures."

"A big cleaner bot could help with cleaning the mess of rubble everywhere and help maintain cleanliness."

"Ghost looks like it will be a great help; it will guide me through any areas where I'm uncertain and will naturally speed up the process overall." Clyde thought to himself.

"Get blueprints drawn up for our base and make a list of necessities; our schedules are looking full."

A while later, when everything was happening around the cave, Clyde began his summons.

"Do you wish to summon 125 Piezochem W31V repair bots?"

"Yes"

After the usual burst of light, a hundred and more Piezochem W31V Repair bots materialised to Clyde's left. They materialised in a form resembling a mechanical arm.

It was entirely yellow with black aspects, giving off a futuristic, industrial look. This is a most unusual pairing. The main body was equipped with an argon laser for routine tasks, and it could move along a set of continuous tracks.

The repair bots were autonomous units that could perform a variety of maintenance, construction, and repair duties. Perfect for what Clyde was looking for.

Then, it was as if every repair robot turned its gaze towards Clyde with a hint of intelligence.

"I just can't get used to this," Clyde told himself.

"I need all repair bots to follow a pair of battle droids to help them with repairs and construction."

*BEEP* *BEEP*

Each repair bot flashed a couple of red lights and made a beeping sound of recognition to its new master. The repair robots kept moving forward, leaving continuous tracks in the rubble as their mechanical arms rotated forward.

"Do you wish to summon 50 big cleaner bots?"

"Yes"

This time, fifty enormous robots made of silvery metal were coming. Each one stood about two feet tall, was made of metal, and was equipped with a frontal extension resembling an industrial hoover. The hovering section seemed to be able to ingest any substance imaginable, and a navigational light helped illuminate the area.

The big cleaner robot is a defenceless robot that cleans and maintains floors and carpets. It wanders around, cleaning and vacuuming as it goes to keep the walkways clean.

Clyde gladly took the opportunity to avoid a simple task. Who would do it if they could call on mechanical servants to do it instead?

"Big cleaner bots, listen up." "Go do what you do best!"

Clyde said with a sadistic grin.

After that, each robot turned and departed in a different direction, and the cave floor was left smooth.

Service robots from Deus Ex and battle droids equipped with Minecraft tools are working together to get Clyde's headquarters ready as quickly and efficiently as possible.