LF Friends, Will Travel

Our Clockwork Children: Chapter 24

Saelihn didn't walk along the ground as she moved towards their destination. Royalty didn't do anything as common as that. Instead, she glided across the planet's surface, pushing her will into the ground itself, letting the greenery around the Uhae pull the group forward at great speeds.

The four were connected, their thoughts and wills merged into one as they sped towards their goal. Most Uhae needed up to a hundred individuals in silent meditation to create a communal mind, but Saelihn and her three advisors were not ordinary; there was a reason they had a reputation, a reputation that followed every single member of royalty since their lineage had begun.

Saelihn couldn't help but feel sadness as they moved past shattered groves and burning forests. Everything the Uhae made and touched was as beautiful as the divine wills they held. Everything was perfect when it was exactly as they said it should be. When all thought as they did, the universe was a beautiful, ordered place without pain or suffering. Why species took so long to accept their gifts, to follow a better way... it was a travesty.

This entire military operation had been a mistake, a miscalculation. If they could go back and do it again, more research would have been required, especially on the Terrans' disgusting AI creations. There were already too many independent minds in the universe and the idea of willingly creating more from metal and lighting was... wrong. Adding more rot to an already pustulent galaxy.

Still, their military and intelligence couldn't be blamed. How could they have considered that the Terrans weren't lying about their AI capabilities? Insanity. What is done is done, and so the only thing Saelihn could do now was fix the current problem to the best of her abilities.

The Uhae saw the Terran war machine in the distance, watching it swing its heavy turret to aim in their direction. Saelihn and her three advisors were unarmoured, with only the advantage of being on a Uhae planet to aid them. Most beings in the galaxy would falter against the raw power of Terran technology. But they weren't most beings, for there was one fact that most species didn't understand when the Uhae referred to 'royalty'.

Saelihn was not a Queen by birthright, but by show of strength.

She had beaten the previous king, who had beaten the previous king, who had beaten the previous queen, and so on and so forth, each one more powerful and devastating than the last. Saelihn had not been born a ruler, she had taken that title by proving herself worthy of such responsibility, a proof that any Uhae could attempt to show if they so desired, although doing so without good reason would be deadly.

Saelihn had her own fair share of challenges throughout her years of rule. The three advisors that stood by her side were each former challengers to the throne, powerful XK manipulators in their own right, perhaps even royal worthy at another time and place. This meant that outside of the royal fleets defending Uhae space themselves, there were very few people as powerfully XK-tuned as the four who assaulted the Terran machine.

The shell was fired with a bang at the Uhae, and targeted with deadly accuracy. TANK almost didn't check to see the impact after the unheard-of perfect accuracy over the rest of the assault. But as the smoke cleared, something unexpected was still there: The Uhae were still standing. Strong thick vines had instantly grown out of the ground in response to the group's will, absorbing the hit, the tendrils already receding back into the fertile soil to continue their passage without breaking pace.

TANK felt confused at this development, before simply responding with more firepower. Machine gun fire and shells peppered their location, each one suffering the same fate as the advisors continued to do their job; redirecting, deflecting, or even simply absorbing blow after blow. Saelihn didn't even care to slow down, directing her attention towards seeds planted deep within the earth. A Uhae, as part of a communal mind, could do amazing things.