CHAPTER SIX
Belly of the Beast

  THE WALLS WERE BEGINNING TO CLOSE IN from every side of me, the lights becoming dimmer as I entered the lower levels, below the Capitol Ithaca. Claustrophobia was more commonly found in Humans, and yet I couldn't shake the feeling of being trapped inside a computer once more, simply an A.I. 

Above, sounds of fighting and gliders in the sky became nothing more than background noise until it was as silent as the day of prayer, where Humans would solemnly gather at the steps of the Temple, to pray quietly, and the Mortals to offer what little food they had to please the Gods, even when gauntness showed in every angle of their faces. Anything for a sweet vial of Immortality.

A smell hit me, and I was relieved for a moment that I were not a Human, otherwise I would have lost all contents of my stomach on the floor. I had reached the Vault, and in it -- the Box, in which all viruses, every sin, every record of enslaved Mortal or fraudulent serum the Gods had worked with over the years before they were Pantheon Incorporated... All of it stored over the past one hundred years.

For the first time in a century, the Humans and their android counterparts would be free. Free to rebel against the empire, to live above the Underworld where Epimethius spent so many of his years in poverty simply because he was not Immortal.

I felt my something flow from my eyes, and it splattered onto the floor, a mess of gold.

Tears.

I quickly reached up to wipe them away, smearing them even more as I noticed in the reflection of the Vault doors, mixing it with soot the pyre cannon had created in the explosion.

I placed my hand against the panel of the Vault, and reached inwards, closing my eyes to focus on the thread of electricity, of the A.I. within. The computer that I once was before they made the mistake of giving me a body, and to Epimethius who gave me emotion.

Hello, who are you? the A.I. asked softly, neither curious nor prodding. It did not feel, as I once did not feel, it simply wanted to know the being requesting permission to access its Vault and the contents within.

I did not answer, I simply pushed against it, and it gave way, like toy droid with no life left in its batteries. With a spark, the panel cracked against my hand, the screen turning black and reflecting my face, and the doors slid open. It stank of disease.

"Hello, Pandora." I stopped. The voice was like thunder in a field on the mountains. I turned slowly, my hands above my head, to face Zeus.

"Hello, Uncle."