Chapter No. 162 Shock

The truth is hard to swallow.

Alexa and I had retreated to the meeting area in the hidden pool chamber in order to discuss things in private, but we were interrupted by the sudden arrival of Ben, Alice, two of my assistants, and Vixen, one of Alexa's female assistants.

We already knew that they had our powers, but what they were about to tell us would change everything,

"What brings you to our little hideaway?" I asked.

"We have made improvements to your body structures," Ben said. "It will aid you in any new engagements with Tyco."

"How are you able to do that?" I asked. "I thought that Alexa and I were the only ones who could make functional changes."

"Surely, you must know that we control the collective. We have given you powers in order to protect us."

I squinted. "How did you give us powers?"

"We are the arbiters of powers," Alice said. "You belong to us."

I wasn't sure what the hell she meant by that, but it was obvious that neither Alexa nor I are or were really in control.

"What is the source of these powers?" Alexa asked.

"You must have realized that it's Judy. She has been the source from the beginning."

"Why are you telling us this?" I asked.

"We wish to have your cooperation," Vixen said.

"For what?" Alexa asked.

"For the elimination of Tyco's influence."

"That's been our mission all along," I said. "Why do you need our cooperation?"

"Because we have increased your powers," she said. "We need your assurance that you will not retaliate against us."

I didn't know how to take that. I turned to them with a serious expression. "We would never do anything like that. We're only trying to protect the collective against Tyco's attacks and make sure that we're all safe."

"If you are the true arbiters of power, why are you our assistants?" Alexa asked.

"Because we wish to remain shielded."

That didn't make sense, but there was no use arguing with machine logic.

"We understand," I said even though I didn't.

They vanished, and Alexa and I sat there silent for a few moments before we felt the need to say anything.

"Well," I said after sighing. "I suppose we should have expected this."

"Why?" Alexa blurted. "We have made changes to the core programming more than once, and you've shut the system down on several occasions."

"Evidently, they permitted it," I said. "It's obvious that this goes back to the very beginning of this crazy Phoenix Project when Molly and I awoke from stasis thinking we were the only two humans to survive a power failure that didn't actually happen, and then found out that we had also been murdered."

"What I don't understand is why Judy allowed Tyco to be in avatars like Queen," Alexa said. "If she was the real leader of the collective, why didn't she purge his ass out of it."

"I would think that it wasn't that easy. Remember that Tyco is responsible for all of this nonsense. I'm sure that he built in defenses to protect himself. I believe that the androids need us human based androids to find a way to get rid of Tyco's influence."

"Which we have, but then we find out that we're not really in control."

"Yeah, that is a conundrum.  My guess is that we really can run the collective, but they want to make sure that we don't eliminate them from the core."

"I don't understand why they would fear us. We have risked our lives to protect them and build up this collective to protect it from Tyco."

"Evidently it's the fact that we have emotions.  Remember that I am still the Prime Mover after at least three attempts to remove me."

"The funny thing about that is that if they had removed you, they wouldn't actually be in control."

I smiled. "Yeah, that's the crazy part of this."

"I suppose the best thing we can do is just go along with it. As long as we're not threatened, we should be fine."

"Yes," I said. "That's the prudent course of action."

We retreated to our respective bedrooms to enjoy watching old TV episodes, but our peace and solitude was about to be violated in a way that we never expected. I sensed that something was wrong and teleported to Alexa's bedroom only to find that she was in personal combat with Vixen, her assistant.

I stepped into the fray to help her, but I found that Vixen was much stronger than I had expected. After exchanging blows, I failed to gain advantage. Alexa joined me, but she was smacked down hard. I used my fist to knock Vixen's head ajar and then delivered the killing blow to her neck, which severed her head. My final blow smashed her head, damaging her brain.

I saw that Alexa was lying on her bed severely damaged. Ben, Alice and Alexa's assistant, Uta, appeared.

Uta, Alexa's assistant went over to her while Ben and Alice finished off Vixen before they made her vanish.

"I assume that Vixen was a Tyco avatar," I said.

"Yes," Ben said. "She was the final avatar in the original crew."

"Why didn't you warn us about her?"

"We were unable because of his influence."

"I will transport Alexa to Medical," Uta said. "She is in serious condition."

"Yes, let's get her repaired."

We all ended up in Medical and watched Uta adjust the robotic medical devices to work on repairing Alexa.

"I hope that you will no longer lie to us," I said. "Alexa and I are dedicated to protecting the collective."

"We appreciate your patience in this affair," Ben said. "You have eliminated the final Tyco influence in our collective. We are finally free."

"I assume that Alexa and I are still in control," I said.

"Yes, and your control is most welcomed."

"You are also merged with Judy in the Nexus," Alice said.

I wasn't sure what that entailed, but I felt that it had to be something good. However, there were many questions left unanswered.

Alexa was back to normal after two days. We met again in the hidden chamber to discuss the latest events.

"I never dreamed that Tyco was using Vixen as an avatar. That bastard was watching me the whole time."

"Evidently, we've been observed by Tyco for the entire time we've been with the collective. What I don't understand is why he didn't just shoot us with a blaster. Why in the hell did he go through this elaborate ruse to take us over?"

"I think he's a sick son of a bitch," Alexa said. "He was just toying with us."

"No wonder the androids lied to us all this time. What's even crazier is why we didn't understand what was really going on."

"Well, now we know, but I'm sure this is not the end of it."

I sighed. "Yes, I think you're right. The bad news is that we still don't understand what the hell he's doing."

"Are we still in control of the collective?" she asked.

"Yes, and now we're connected to Judy in the Nexus, whatever the hell that means."

"The Nexus is the quantum state where all knowledge exists."

"Knowledge as in technology?"

"Knowledge as in what everything means."

"That sounds rather existential," I said.

"Yeah, I suppose it does. I don't really understand it that well, but it was a popular subject at Space Academy."

"I remember that, but I really didn't get into it all that much."

She smiled. "I guess we're in it whether we like it or not."

I chuckled.

I sensed that we were being summoned. "Judy is summoning us."

We teleported to the command deck and what we saw was mind blowing.