Two Hours Later
Truly, it's impressive.
Not the fact that the Sovereign captured me, unremarkable would be a better description for that feat.
Through mild effort and somewhat dwindled ring charge I could easily blast a hole in this hallway-maze facility of theirs and escape my 'captivity' into the endless void of space. But that would only result in a grander list of issues that had many more pages than the list of so-called laws I broke.
What I find impressive is the sheer arrogance of the Sovereign.
Beyond the constant self-praise, mumbles about biological perfection, peacock strutting, elaborate designs that really only comprises the "make everything gold-coloured" philosophy.
After capturing an entity with energy-based powers within an energy-based cage, the logical assumption would be to apply secondary means of entrapment.
I'd seen nothing to suggest as such.
Their capabilities displayed so far are notably extensive, don't get me wrong, this cage literally spawned from thin air.
But while walking alongside me, it didn't appear as though they held any worries of the distinct possibility that I would break out of my cage and leave them in far worse conditions than their species-mate who's in need of surgery.
Which proposes more than a dilemma:
1) The Sovereign are dim-witted and don't believe I'm strong enough to escape captivity.
2) The Sovereign are not dim-witted and don't believe I'm strong enough to escape captivity.
3) I vastly underestimated the durability of the energy cage.
4) The Sovereign can redeploy more of these cages if I manage to escape.
There's reasons 5 through 10 but they aren't all too important to mention.
I also can't remember what they were.
The fourth possibility is troublesome. Extremely troublesome. Having to deal with that type of nuisance would make any attempts of getting off of this planet, facility, whatever it is, an arduous affair.
Still, the question presents itself, why hadn't they deployed this energy field the moment I got out of the medical bed? Or broke out of my straps?
I'm not entirely sure but the question places me in a ball of contemplation.
The energy cage continues to drift through endless golden corridors, following tracks embedded in the walls. My stomach churns as I try to work out how this trial is going to go. Best-case scenario, they sentence me to some kind of imprisonment. Worst case, they execute me and spend the next few months trying to dissect my ring.
Neither option sounds appealing.
I'd seen that small creature from the escape pod earlier, alive in his own containment field being moved through a parallel corridor. At least the little guy made it through their hospitality.
My cage continues toward what Nine described as my "just and methodical judicial tribunal".
The platform stops inside a massive cylindrical chamber that stretches up beyond sight. When the energy field dissolves, It leaves me standing on a disc that's maybe ten feet across, floating in empty space surrounded by curved golden walls.
The platform shoots upward without warning, accelerating hard enough to make my knees buckle. My heart hammers as the walls blur past, if this thing malfunctions, I'll be paste on the ceiling of their fancy courthouse.
When we finally slow near the top, the design becomes clear. Platforms extend from the walls like mechanical flowers, each filled with rows of Sovereign figures. Smart defensive architecture, they can retract instantly if their prisoner gets loose. Makes sense for a species lacking in physical durability when trialing anything they encounter that could squash them like a bug within a moment's notice.
The platform I'm on stops in the exact center, completely exposed, with nowhere to run and hundreds of witnesses to whatever they're planning to do to me. Have to hand it to them, they may be narcissistic dirtbags but they aren't stupid in the slightest.
The highest platform extends furthest. The familiar figure of Nine emerges, his chains chiming as he takes position above everyone else. When he raises both arms, his chains let out a merry sound and every Sovereign mirrors the gesture.
"Sovereign Assembly," his voice booms through the acoustic chamber, "we convene under Purity Preservation Protocols to judge this contamination event."
All hands lower in unison. The formality of it makes my skin crawl.
"Before us stands a dimensional breach entity whose presence threatens our perfect order," Nine continues, real menace in his musical voice. "Destroyer of irreplaceable research. Killer of species. Bearer of unknown weapons exceeding our classification parameters."
The crowd murmurs in organized waves, discussions following a strict hierarchy that I can't quite follow.
One speaker stands from a lower platform. "Security Division confirms the entity penetrated our most advanced research facility and eliminated seventeen biological specimens before our systems could respond."
Another rises. "Medical assessment indicates Personnel Unit Forty-Seven suffered severe skeletal trauma requiring extensive reconstruction."
My mouth goes dry.
I'd rather not have to blast my way out of here but unfortunately they're building a case for execution, and I have little to work with.
Nine's chains rattle as he shifts position. "Analysis shows the entity's technological capabilities suggest external enhancement. It serves a higher power with access to reality manipulation devices."
The murmurs take on an edge of fear now.
Nine turns his attention down to me. "Entity. You will respond to these accusations."
Now what could I even say? They clearly plan on just swiping my ring away from me. No matter how I plead, did I even have an eventual goal in mind? Was it within the realm of possibility that I could save my own skin?
Time to be very careful about what I say.
"Now listen here, your accusations assume intent where none existed. I didn't even choose to crash into your fancy little spaceship."
Nine stares at me for a beat. "Yet you acknowledge the destruction?"
"Um, I acknowledge that my very uncontrolled arrival caused property damage. That's not the same as deliberate sabotage."
"And the assault on our personnel?"
"I'd describe that as self-defense against what appeared to be an attack."
The chamber fills with cold, musical laughter.
"Self-defense?" Nine leans forward. "You launched Personnel Unit Forty-Seven fifteen feet into reinforced plating with casual effort."
Can I get a break? How was I supposed to know these people were flimsy?
"I pushed him away from me. It's not my fault your people are apparently made of glass."
The laughter stops immediately. Several platforms erupt in angry chatter.
"Contempt of genetic superiority," Nine says icily. "Added to your charges."
This is going badly. I need to give them a reason not to try killing me immediately.
"Look," I say, raising my voice to cut through their outrage, "I understand you're upset about the damage. But before you do something you'll regret, there are things you should know about my equipment."
The chamber quiets slightly.
"This ring," I hold up my left hand, letting the green light catch their attention, "contains infinite power drawn from cosmic sources beyond your understanding."
Somewhat lie.
"If I die, or if it's forcibly removed, the fail-safes activate and all that energy gets released at once."
Also a lie.
Several platforms break into urgent whispered conferences.
"The explosion would vaporize several city blocks and the longer I'm separated from that green thing you took, you know, the 'clamp' device with the crystalline matrix, the more unstable the containment becomes."
Even more complete nonsense, but it sounds technical enough.
"Every hour without proper stabilization increases the risk of spontaneous energy discharge. Keep me away from it too long, and the detonation becomes inevitable whether or not I'm alive."
Definitely a lie.
The whispers grow more urgent. Good. Fear is better than righteous anger.
Nine's expression doesn't change. "Your threats carry no weight, entity."
"Not threats," I say, trying to project calm confidence while my heart pounds. "Just physics. The ring has built-in safeguards against exactly what you're planning and what you've already tried, torture, dissection, reverse engineering. You can't have it both ways."
But Nine ignores my words entirely. "Your destructive capabilities exceed our galactic defensive parameters. Your threat assessment approaches that of our most dangerous adversaries."
I need to be careful here. "Well, yeah. That's kind of the point of being a space cop. We've gotta be strong not so?"
"Space cop?" Nine's voice sharpens.
"I'm what you might call a galactic peacekeeper," I say, choosing my words more carefully. "A guardian of—"
The chamber explodes.
"Guardian?"
"Impossible!"
"They sent an infiltrator!"
"Execute him!"
"Security breach!"
My stomach drops as panic spreads through the crowd. That was apparently the wrong thing to say.
Nine raises his hand for silence, but it takes long seconds for the chaos to settle. When it does, his voice carries deadly calm.
"Clarify your statement, entity."
"I'm a cosmic law enforcement officer," I say carefully, trying to figure out what I just stepped into. "A guardian of—"
"Are you affiliated," Nine cuts me off, "with the criminal organization led by the Terran?"
Terran? There's a human leading some group that these people are terrified of, and suddenly I'm very interested in learning more about them.
"What Terran?" I ask, genuinely curious. "Who are we talking about exactly—"
"Answer the question," Nine snaps. "Are you connected to the terrorists calling themselves Guardians of the Galaxy?"
Guardians of the Galaxy. A human-led criminal organization. If there's another human out here, especially one with a ship and crew, that could be my ticket home. Every universe has humans, and humans always have the very difficult solutions to also very difficult problems that shouldn't be at all be solvable. Including, hopefully, dimensional travel.
But now wasn't time for dimensional pondering, rather, spouting nonsense once again—
"Those idiots?" I let contempt creep into my voice while my mind races through possibilities. "Seriously?"
The chamber goes dead silent.
"You know of them?" Nine asks slowly.
"Know them? I've been cleaning up their disasters for months." I straighten up, letting confidence replace fear in my voice. "Bunch of criminals hiding behind a noble title, making proper guardians look bad."
The atmosphere in the room shifts completely.
"You oppose the chaos-generators?" someone calls from below.
"I hunt them," I say with growing conviction. "It's my duty to track down criminals who corrupt the meaning of justice and order."
I draw myself up to full height, letting authority fill my voice. "By sacred oath sworn to cosmic law, I pledge this ring's eternal light to preserve the sovereignty of perfect civilizations and guard the innocent from those who would bring chaos to ordered realms. No mission abandoned, no duty forsaken, until justice flows like starlight through the void and sovereignty reigns supreme. This is the premier oath of a Green Lantern."
Which is completely made up on the spot, but heavily biased toward exactly what they want to hear.
The platforms buzz with excited conversations.
"Did you hear that brother in perfection?" someone calls out. "It swore to preserve sovereignty!"
"The entity opposes our enemies!" another shouts.
"Of course I hunt them," I continue, really warming to this now. "Those so-called protectors are a disgrace to everything the title represents!" I slam my fist into my open palm.
"From what I understand and have come to know per super excellent beings such as yourselves, they leave chaos and destruction wherever they go."
"Yes!" someone shouts. "Exactly!"
"Curse the vermin!" another voice calls, and suddenly half the chamber erupts in agreement.
"Biological aberrations!"
"Chaos-bringers!"
"Destroyers of perfect order!"
"Vermin!"
"The entity speaks the truth!"
Nine's jaw tightens, but satisfaction gleams in his eyes. "The degenerates," he snarls, "were contracted to eliminate the Abilisk parasites consuming our power matrices."
And suddenly the sound of sweet gold fills my ears once again. Humans, Thanos, The Collector, Infinity Stones, and now Power matrices? Another option in a growing list of energy sources.
Thank the Sovereign indeed.
Thank the Sovereign.
"Instead," Nine continues, his anger building with each word, "those criminal scum stole our batteries and vanished into the void like the cowardly thieves they are!"
The crowd erupts again.
"Left us defenseless!"
"The Abilisk swarm grows unchecked!"
"Energy-devouring parasites!"
Nine's chains clatter as his fists clench. "The creatures consume our power sources faster than we can manufacture replacements! They drain the batteries powering our atmospheric processors, our defensive grids, our very civilization!"
I don't think explaining for my benefit, he's venting rage that's been festering since those Guardians betrayed them.
"Imperfect beings existing solely to unmake the order we've spent millennia creating! And those genetic disasters calling themselves protectors abandoned their sacred contract the moment they saw profit!"
Energy-eating monsters. Stolen power sources. A job that needs doing. And most importantly, a lead on finding other humans and more specifically—Earth.
Perfect.
"What if I told you," I say with complete confidence now, "that I could eliminate that pesky Abilisk swarm?"
I snap my finger for dramatics and the chamber falls completely silent.
Nine stares down at me, anger slowly shifting to hope. "You possess this capability?"
"I'm a cosmic peacekeeper—a real one, not like those criminal pretenders you hired before." I meet his gaze steadily. "Eliminating energy parasites that threaten civilized worlds is exactly what my oath requires."
"Could this be providence?" someone whispers loud enough to carry.
"You would hunt the Abilisk infestation?" Nine asks slowly.
"Every single parasite," I promise. "Just return that green clamp device, you know what I'm talking about, and point me toward the swarm. You'll have results within the cycle."
Nine doesn't respond immediately. His expression remains carefully neutral as he processes this unexpected turn of events.
Then, slowly, one corner of his mouth curves upward in what might be the first genuine smile I've seen from any Sovereign.
"How... remarkably convenient."