Lana was standing in front of the Teddy Emperor, hand in front of her chest in a submissive way. "Thank you, my lord." She said with a smile on her lips.
"But before I decide on the deal… tell me more about that trapped Teddy, yes?" He asked with a soft voice, patting her head. Then he walked past her, gesturing at her to follow him.
She nodded happily and hurried after him. Her eyes stayed focused on him, there had been enough distractions while she told him about the Geddos who invented magic. "Besides us, there are 4 more citadels. One of them is nothing more than a combination of 5 other citadels who agreed on a philosophy to live under, then there are 2 more which are currently just hiding, nothing noteworthy going on there. But the Teddy copy, Captain Teddy as she calls herself, is trapped within a certain section of the fourth citadel."
"And? Anything going on there that stops me from getting her?" He asked her.
She sighed, "There is a citadel filled with Geddos copies, the brother of Teddy, and they have the highest military strength in the simulation. They could obliterate everybody without much difficulty." Her voice was filled with worry as she read the thought in the Teddy Emperor's head. "You would die."
The Teddy Emperor stopped and turned around: "Please stop snooping around in my head, yes? There is some private information in there." He lifted his chin and shoulders. "This… Alliance of Geddoses, I should be able to infiltrate them. You just have to teach me how to—"
"I can't!" She interrupted him. "It is against my very existence to change the fabric of your existence and I already attracted their attention because of my interactions with you. If I teach you anything you aren't supposed to learn, they will delete me… they will delete you, take my first friend ever, rip you from my clutches and destroy your existence and any remnants of your existence." She stepped closer to him, grabbing his hands. "Do you feel that?" She asked.
"What?"
"The warmth of my hands, the air moving across your skin and the sun kissing you?" Her voice got quieter. The moment he nodded, she spoke again: "Well, I couldn't… until I met you. Until you gave me the blueprint for the sense of touch. Without you… I would be a handful of polygons which vaguely resembled a woman. And now look at me."
The air in the Teddy Emperor's throat got stuck. "I don't—"
"I modeled myself not after my preferences, not because I don't have any, but because I wanted to please you." She whispered, "This whole body, every part of it—" She grabbed his hands against her body so he could feel her heart beat and the texture of her skin, "—is modeled after your preferences in women."
He sighed, dropping his hands and taking a deep breath. He closed his eyes while doing so. "I can do it." He told her, "I will survive and come back, remember what you taught me?"
She nodded, thinking about the eye.
"I saw it in myself. Every single clone and copy is different. Just a slight difference from the originals, from the ones we are modeled after and… do you know the change they added to me? Go ahead, read it."
Her eyes turned black and she could see the code which made up everything. So she looked deep within the Teddy Emperor, just as he asked her to. Then she saw it, on singular change, one added line. "I always win." She read out loud.
"Yes!" He said euphorically. He jumped around happily.
"But that doesn't mean you will stay unharmed, " Every second which passed while the Teddy Emperor was wearing that joyful expression scared her, "it is so… unclear, left open to interpretation! What does that even mean?" She searched for an answer to her own question, scanning and bolting through thousands of lines of code which made up the Teddy Emperor. There should be an explanation somewhere, because, yes he won, the cleansing was his first win, but he did not come out unharmed.
"You aren't going to find anything." He told her, "Just… give me the information I want."
The two of them walked back to the citadel in silence, it was the first time she was allowed inside. But the idea that the Teddy Emperor would go onto a mission which might cost him his life, worried her too much and she was unable to enjoy all the data she came across.
The plushies were silent, because of course they were. Lukas kept talking to them, as if they were answering him. Sometimes he would love, other times scold them or praise them for their work.
"Scan the universe!" He declared loudly while the 2 of them walked onto the bridge. "For any ginormous star eating machines, they should not yet be able to hide something that big."
Within seconds one of the machines displayed results and made a sound to alert Lukas: "Good work, Cyborg Teddy." He quickly ran over and read the results. Over 150 solar systems gave results, all close to each other. There were over 150 different machines absorbing the energy from stars to power something.
It was horrific to think about. A citadel filled with bloodlust? THAT citadel had enough energy to end half the universe and was using it to increase the size of their kingdom and produce weapons and armor and spaceships.
The Teddy Emperor fell backwards into his chair. "Oh my god." He muttered. How would he find their citadel in all that? How would he be able to fly into that and leave with all his limbs attached and intact, or at least leave alive?
Lana stood next to him. "They have a special weapon that teleports one into their citadel, freezing you in the area Captain Teddy is at."
"An idea just kissed my beautiful head. Is there a way to make something that protects me from being frozen? So that I can let myself get caught on purpose?"