A straight line of radioactive energy ran between FeRRuM 26 and its star; like it was drawn with iridescent marker and a ruler. The Ibi-Ero Makina were at the beginning stages of becoming a type two civilization and beamed energy directly from their sun to collecting stations in orbit. When scanned from space the glowing robot ecumenopolis, a literal planet-wide city, showed low levels of oxygen and no signs of life.

Pippalotti stopped pacing when her cell door rushed open. A two-meter high Makina robot-soldier filled the doorway with its gunmetal steel body. Three electronic eyes scanned her from below curving shoulders that wrapped the robot's oval face. Thick tubular arms led down to clamplike hands. It clanked into the square room followed by a second.

Pippa backed up against the opposite wall. The non-communicative robots stood side-by-side leaving just enough space between to see a synthetic woman entering behind them. She was naked, tattooed head to toe, perfect breasts with no nipples, and sporting a spiked forest green mohawk.

"You!?"

"The Makina want to know why you're still alive?" asked the synthetic Zero-G commando.

One of the Makina rattled off rapid digital gibberish. The Zero-G listened while her triangular pupils swirled in her yellow eyes.

"They think your ring has nanotechnology beyond their comprehension."

"You were on Elipso! With Grandmama's dog walker!" Pippa couldn't believe it was a coincidence.

"They'd like to cut off your finger and dissect it. I suggested removing the ring may kill you."

Pippa cupped her fingers into a fist. "His name's Greg, Greg Pedix!"

She heard in her mind. "Rhymes with buttocks," followed by the stern warning, "all technological communication will be monitored."

The cyborg's pupils spun when she used her neural transmitter to communicate telepathically. She winked a glowing eye at Pippalotti.

"There's not enough oxygen on this planet to sustain a Grandorian. The only reason they don't kill you right now is that you're alive and they can't figure out why?"

Pippa looked down at the glass rainbow ring Murphy had given her. "Magic?"

The Zero-G rolled her eyes, stuck out her hip, and put her hand on it. "Take her."

The first Makina clamped an unstoppable metal hand onto Pippa's wrist. She struggled and attempted to pull away. The second grabbed her other arm and they lifted her kicking and screaming off the floor.

"You fuckers!"

#71EEB8

Qubits of information passed through the #71EEB8 populations at speeds that defied the laws of subatomic motion. They were able to reach a uniform consensus on needed decisions at seemingly the same moment a question came into play. In the case of what to do about getting involved in a mission to retrieve a possible teleportation device from the Ibi-Ero homeworld, they determined to use an unknown operative that would leave no trace of their involvement.

The knocking that woke Shorty this time was far less aggressive, yet far more immediate. He stumbled across the room and opened the door to three identical silver-skinned clones in matching seafoam green outfits.

"I already told your buddies everything. I had no idea those birds had Makina contraband and I had no part in Chauncy stealing it and trying to sell it. All I did was pull them out of a VR situation."

"We would like to hire you for an extremely delicate and unofficial bit of espionage." The first clone spoke for the others.

"Sounds illegal?"

"Most Certainly. And our involvement can never be known. We are not here. This conversation is not happening. However, we are willing to buy out your contract on Elipso. If you succeed we'll throw in a considerable bonus."

"And if I fail?"

"Then, you'll be free to do what you like with your decade contract paid in full."

Ten years pay upfront was too enticing to say no to. "What do you want me to do?"

Shorty was led to a clone vessel, flown off Elipso, and ushered to the command center of gigantic #71 deep-space freighter. There were several million identical clones on board. Shorty stood out like a sore thumb with his brown complexion, his dreadlocks, being in his early 20s and, of course, his t-shirt with "Fuck the Man" emblazoned across the front.

"We will connect you here." The #71 guild ambassador paid his appearance no mind. "We are aware of your skills as a hacker. Please be respectful of our network and do nothing that could lead the Makina to us."

Shorty was placed in a VR remote station and given access to their stack of Hexagon Memorizers. His mission was to impersonate a Makina soldier unit, gain control over it, and attempt to help three prisoners escape the planet with a device the clones had no description of.

"I'll do my best."

Shorty leaned back in the reclining interface, pulled down his custom VR headset, and dove headfirst into the best quantum computing environment in the known galaxy. He bounced their signal off a deep space listening station, relayed it to the Profitus Maximus Transstellar Broadcasting dish on the moon of Grandor 6, placed a bet with the casino under the name Lucky Star, fixed it to win, broke the bank, and transferred $40 million Grandor credits into Lucky's account on Grandor prime, then he pinged the relay uplink of FeRRuM 26's energy monitoring network and used his mouse program to slip past the Makina fire-wall. After that, he just needed to interface with the unit's brain matrix.

"I'm in."

2+2=Butterfly

Two more Makina were assigned to interrogate Melock. The Ibi-Ero found it useful to keep the wizard distracted at the expense of their guards. They could always build more soldier units.

The door to his cell opened. A lovely set of candlelit chandeliers hung from the ceiling and a French impressionist landscape, painstakingly painted in a vibrant pointillist style, covered the entire back wall. Gentle Baroque music played from an unseen harpsichord and the floor was littered with small metal parts. Floating in mid-air at the dead center of the cell was Melock. The barefoot monk sat with his legs crossed and his palms resting casually in his lap. His long white hair in a pristine topknot and his mustache perfectly combed.

"My friends, please do come in. Don't be shy." The hovering wizard opened his eyes and smiled.

The two hulking soldier-bots entered the chamber. Melock raised his left hand with his fingers together toward the first one and when he opened his fingers every part, every bolt, every screw, every wire of the Makina robot separated by two inches from any other part touching it (roughly the space between the wizard's fingers). The Makina's parts floated, sputtered, powered down, and joined all the other bits of metal on the floor.

Melock raised his right hand toward the second soldier.

"Wait a minute, mate. I ain't here to hurt you!" said the robot in an odd modularized accent as it held its arms out in front of itself like it was scared.

Melock paused his displacement spell and a bright orange Monarch butterfly flew from his hand and landed on the frightened robot's head.

"And who might you be, then?"

Pray to the god of Robotics

Her body weight pained her knees as Sister Murphy knelt on the iron floor of her pitch-black holding cell. It was ruthlessly hot and the thumping of machinery pounded through the walls. She focused her meditation on the ceaseless rhythmic sound and after an hour was able to slow her heartbeat to the same chugging rate. She pleaded with the gods for strength to endure.

The door opened and she faced mechanical death head-on without fear. She was ready. Her body was bruised, bloody, and torn from the last Makina that worked her over. They certainly wouldn't go so easy on her this time. The light behind the menacing robot blinded her dilated pupils.

"You may torture me, break my bones, even kill me, but you'll never have my obedience, only my dead body." She looked up into the triple eyes of her captor; a praying Joan of Arc quoting Gandhi before going to the stake.

"Love, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to rescue you," said the robot in a very unusual accent.

"Your tricks will not work on me, machine."

"I'm not Makina. I'm Gerald, your guardian angel. You know, the koala bear you met in heaven."

"The who?"

"The rodent," said Shorty through the voice modulator of the Makina soldier.

"The furry gray rodent at the gates of Olympia?" She stood up off the floor.

"The same. I gave you the golden armor. And now I bring you this." The robot dumped a pile of Makina body parts on the floor and held out her golden electro-bat. "Melock says we have to meet him at the portal vault."

Murphy took the thick gold rod. "Thank you, Gerald."

Then she smacked the robot in the head, scrambling its brain matrix, and sending it crashing to the floor.

Shorty lost his signal and his mouse program scurried back through the Makina fire-wall, lept across galactic space, pinged off a massive transponder dish, and fizzled out. He lifted his headset and addressed the clone ambassador looking anxiously in his direction.

"She hit me in the head with an electro-bat and scrambled the Makina's brain waves."

"Did you accomplish your mission?"

"I freed the old man and the younger of the two girls. You know that Melock was up to some crazy shit, it almost seemed like he was toying with the Makina. He sunk a butterfly into my data stream with the message: 'Tell Abaddon I'm taking the hint and leaving.' I mean, he's either a better hacker than me or he might actually be a wizard?"

The clone ambassador stared blankly.

Death from Above

The Grandor fleet sat on the edge of Makina space; twenty-seven massive warships on the brink of starting an interstellar war. Admiral Kreutz stood on the bridge looking at the power beam running from the nearby star to the robotic world. His fleet could hold its own against Makina ships in space, but taking on the planet was another story altogether.

The Varans and #71s left after the incident resulting in the destruction of the oval teleportation station. They saw no path to victory against the Makina homeworld and the clones would honor the digital species' sovereignty, even if they were willing to participate secretly in covert operations.

The Admiral hadn't heard from his agent on the surface in well over 20 hours. Two Varans and a clone ambassador were in his medical bay trying to keep alive a birdman they pulled out of the vacuum of space. Kreutz contemplated this as he waited.

The ambassador returned to the bridge.

"Our infiltrator has been neutralized by the human female, Murphy. Both she and the human, Melock have been freed from captivity. Melock sent back a message to Abaddon that he would be leaving. Our operative indicated that this Melock was able to defeat individual Makina soldiers easily but that their sheer numbers kept them prisoner. We have the coordinates to the vault where the teleportation device is being kept."

"Why didn't you say that first!?" Kreutz went into action. "Commander, ready the fleet for planetary bombardment. We're only going to get one shot at this. We move in fast, blast the site from orbit, and run for our lives."

"The #71EEB8 cannot condone this plan of action. I will return to my ship and remain outside the system in accordance with interstellar treaties. We will grant our Varan guests and Abaddon St. Baal asylum until this operation of your's ends." The clone turned and exited the bridge.

"As soon as his ship leaves our docking bay, start the countdown," ordered Kreutz.

"Sir, we still have four life signs on the surface and they're all in the vicinity of the target," the helmsman reported.

"Great. Keep an eye on them but consider them expendable."

Admiral Kreutz returned to looking out the window and waiting.

Below

Murphy moved through the complex unnoticed. She was covered in Makina body armor and swinging her electro-bat carelessly as she made her way toward the vault. She passed multiple sentries who miraculously paid her no mind. Her body was broadcasting the beacon of a Makina security soldier.

"Look, I'll walk, I'll comply, I'll do whatever you want. You don't have to carry me anymore!" She recognized Pippa's voice a mile away.

Murphy waited at the next corner. A naked ink carved woman walked by with green berserker hair followed by two Makina guards hauling Pippa between them. As soon as they'd passed she stepped out and cracked one in the head. It fell forward nullified and luckily released Pippa's arm.

"Murph is that you!?!!" Pippa dangled kicking the other that still held her.

Murphy wound up her electro-bat as the second Makina guard turned around. She swung but the robot caught her bat. It dropped Pippa and reached for its blaster with its freed hand.

"Halt. These prisoners are too valuable to destroy!" commanded the synthetic woman.

The robot hesitated and she jumped onto its back. It released the electro-bat, grabbed the Zero-G commando and threw her down the hall, then turned to fire on Murphy. She brought her bat down with gusto on the robot's head. Stunned, it dropped its weapon and Pippa dove for it. Murphy swung again and cracked an electromagnetic pulse right into the robot's motor functions. It stammered and collapsed in a reverberating crash that echoed down the steel corridor.

Pippa aimed the Makina blaster at the synthetic woman.

"Don't shoot! It will set off every alarm in the place," she warned.

"What the fuck do you care?" Pippa asked.

"I can kill her without setting off alarms." Murphy dropped the head casing of her armor to the floor revealing her bruised and battered face.

"Oh my god, Murph! What did they do to you?" Pippa's eyes welled with tears seeing the state of her friend.

"I've hurt worse." Murphy advanced on the berserker.

"Stop! I'm an agent of Grandor. I'm here to help. My name is Lieutenant X. Pippalotti knows who I am." She raised her arms in defense.

"Hold up a minute, Murph, let's see what she has to say."

"Look, there's a Grandor fleet in orbit and they're going to turn this whole facility into a crater. We need to get Melock, get the device, and get the F out of here!" said X.

"You're forked tongue and your letters mean nothing to us, berserker," said Murphy threatening her with the bat. 

"You ladies should try to get along better."

They looked to see Melock standing in the hallway as if he simply appeared out of nowhere. Alarms rang out and lights flashed.

"Ah, we must make haste. Everyone take the next three steps with me." Melock turned and took three steps forward. "One, two, three..."

Pippa and X felt their bodies rush forward flying down the hallway at a ludicrous speed. They passed guards like they were frozen. Murphy was peeling off her armor as they flew dropping clanging metal breadcrumbs in their wake.

They came to a rushing stop outside a giant iron door. Melock raised his hands to the two sentries and they blew to a million inanimate pieces that fell to the floor.

"Open." He waved his arm at the great door and it obeyed.

They entered a robotics laboratory. Large multi-armed machines hung from the ceiling over an operating table. On it lay the #71 clone captured with them. The top of his skull had been removed and the robots were dissecting his brain, his positronic enhancements, and his neural transmitter. The frozen look of horrifying pain on his lifeless face implied the lack of any anesthetic during the procedure.

The robots turned their attention to the intruders. Melock raised his arms but Pippa had already fired. A thick ball of electricity launched out of her blaster and destroyed one of the robots. She fired again and again, destroying the second robot and igniting the entire surgical section ablaze. The clone's body burned as the equipment around him exploded.

"Well, they know we're here now," suggested X.

Melock led them deeper into the vault. Four more guards aimed their weapons and fired. X dropped to the ground and the first shot ripped through her mohawk adding the smell of burnt hair to the already fire scented air. Melock took an electro-blast dead center in the chest and for a moment his whole body flushed with color and he was fine.

Murphy batted a ball of electricity back into the oncoming guards and two had every circuit in their bodies fried. Pippa fired into the next two, blasting the head off of one and blowing a hole through the last. It raised its blaster and fired; knocking Murphy over with its rolling bolt.

"Murph!" Pippa shot the last guard breaking it clear in two.

X and Murphy both got up off the floor.

"How the H are you alive? You should both be disintegrated?" X looked on with wonder at the two humans.

"Don't ask," said Pippa.

They ran past the fallen guards and in the next room connected to a sea of wires and control panels was Melock's amulet. It was encased at the base of a large platform with clear intent on moving Makina troops via teleportation. Melock ripped the amulet away from its housing.

That's when the bombardment began. The entire facility shook with concussive force. The sound of wailing ordinance screamed down through the planet's thin atmosphere. Deafening explosions rang out from every direction.

"Come to me!" Melock shouted over the roar.

Murphy tucked herself up under his arm, grabbed Pippalotti, and pulled her in. X jumped forward and took Melock's other forearm. Pippa locked elbows with Murphy, reached up, and slid her fingers into Melock's bony hand.

Thermonuclear fission blasts from the Grandor fleet in orbit obliterated the teleportation research facility from the face of the planet. All that remained after the massive mushroom clouds faded was a twenty-five-kilometer lake of liquified iron magma.