DESTROY ALL HUMANS: INTO THE VOID

TWO

Pox sat down in his chair and tried to position his orangutan butt on it. He looked ridiculous compared to the other council members who were all dressed in regal robes. Each robe was white and spiked on both shoulders. It covered their legs and their feet as well. Crypto sat in a chair next to Pox fiddling with a rubix cube.

"Way to join us thirty minutes late POX!" The council member had a raspy voice, kind of like Meningitis but a bit deeper. Pox sat up straight, if there is a straight for orangutans, and spoke slowly and deeper than usual. He sounded more wise this way.

"Need I remind you, Orthoneises? I'm not your little slave boy like I was 50 years ago. I'm the emperor now and I will trust you to remember that well." The council members looks stunned. Somehow Pox sounded more mature. It was probably the monkey brain, Crypto thought.

"Now I understand you all called me here for an important meeting." Pox started to twitch his tail and pick at Crypto's bald head. All Furons had bald heads. The only ones with hair were either old or, like Pox, fused into an animal, which by the way, this was probably the first case of that.

"We got a distress call... from one of the Zemptress planets," said Orthoneises. Pox looked agitated and began twitching his tail wildly. Crypto however had no idea what the council member meant by "Zemptress" planets. Orthoneises pulled out a small bronze disc from his robes. He set it in the table and flicked it on. Static drowned out the voices, most of them, screams. Then, it became focused on one particular voice, a women's voice. "Pod 283, Kalkam. Distress call, Furon," said the recording.

Orthoneises gulped.

"They've invaded. People are starving from the ration shortages and some have even turned over to his side. My husband is safe. He was able to get on one of the escape pods. But, they had to separate the children-," she started to sob. "My kids, they were on the ship when it exploded during flight. I... saw it. The missile just shot it right out of the sky." She was silent for a while. "Help us." The sobbing grew louder. "Ma-," an explosion cut her off. Her sobs were louder and more intense. It sounded like bombs were raining down. And then the recording stopped.

Everyone was silent for a couple of moments. "It's terrible, truly. We must be able to do something however, they're getting to close to us." As soon as Orthoneises finished talking, the other council members began mumbling amongst themselves.

"Quiet. Please. This is obviously an important matter. A matter of which we should not get involved," said Pox.

"Maybe we should at least supply them, send rescue teams," said Crypto. Orthoneises looked at Crypto, who was now peeling the stickers off the rubix cube and rearranging them into the right colors.

"Excuse me, but you do not have a say in this, Crypto."

"Um, I believe you don't control me, Methuselah." Orthoneises hated being called "Methuselah." It was an insult to his old age and Crypto knew it. Pox turned his chair around and stared outside through the glass.

Most of the city was visible except for the thick fog in the distance. "I don't know what to do. That would be getting involved if we sent rescue teams," he said. Orthoneises started mumbling to the rest of the council. One of the members spoke up, "we should at least set up defenses." Pox thought about it. If they set up defenses, the planet would be more noticeable. Then again, Furons had genius inventions and there was one place in the city that tested these amazing ideas. "I have an idea."

Pox and Crypto exited the board room along with the other members. Each member departed down a separate hallway, leaving Crypto and Pox in the lobby alone with the lady at the desk. "Poxy, this sounds serious. What do we do?"

"We set up defenses. Those prototypes at the warehouse, once the guys have tested them, we should be able to use them for real."

"Use what for real? What are you not telling me." They raced into the saucer and took off immediately. Crypto knew where to go, even though Pox had never told him. "Um, how do you know where you're going, Crypto?"

"Well you see, I may or may have not been here before, heheheh."

They landed in a small, grassy courtyard. Each corner had Cyprus trees and bushes lined the edges of the square. A warehouse was in front of them, wide and intimidating somehow. But It wasn't the size. Blasts of fire and electric sparks shot out of the warehouse like fireworks. Two large plates of metal had spread apart and were sticking upright into the air, the roof was wide open.

Crypto and Pox walked up to the polished steel doors and they opened automatically. Inside was a seemingly endless warehouse. The walls were all, like the front door, polished steel and had scratches and burns from projects. "Hey Simeon!" Pox ran over to a scrawny, male Furon.

He wore what looked like a blanket, maybe a toga, but it was ripped and burned so much, it was hard to tell what it was. He also carried a silver cane that he used to support himself while he walked. "Hello Emperor!" The rest of the warehouse gasped when they heard emperor and echoed the same salute. "Good evening everyone," echoed Pox. "I have a favor to ask of you all. A big one." 

"Well sure. Anything for you," said Simeon. He led them to the center of the warehouse, where they test prototypes and inspect new inventions.

 The entire warehouse floor was a hard, polished, and seemingly brand new, minus all the scuffs and burns, metal. Many of the employees were testing their new technology and adding some finishing touches onto projects. "So what are you looking for?" Simeon asked. "Well... you know the Zemptress Empire, correct?"

"Yea," Simeon began fiddling with some screws. Pox whispered, "they've invaded." Simeon looked up, shocked. "... By... them?" Pox nodded.

Simeon put down the screws and almost collapsed. A nearby employee caught him and he regained his stance. His expression became cold, "what do you need?"

"A shield generator. The biggest one you have." "Hmm...," Simeon glanced over at the workers who were lugging a huge silver ring on a wagon. "You came at the right time, follow me." The workers stopped and bowed when they saw Pox. "Hello everyone," said Pox.

Simeon smiled, "you guys remember the generator?" The workers nodded. "We need to finish it up, for the emperor here." Crypto turned to Pox and gave him a mean look. "Okay Pox. Tell me what I don't know about this Zemptress Empire." Pox gave him a glance like, not now. "No!" Crypto's voice resonated through the warehouse. "Tell me Pox. We have been partners for so long, we never keep secrets from each other."

"Crypto, you don't understand." "Tell me." Pox sighed and explained. The workers began working on the shields.

"The Zemptress Empire is a ring of planets. They are all owned by a good friend of the Furons. Over 3000 years ago, the first emperor of Furon saved a man's life. Little did he know, this man that he saved was the ruler of the empire. His name was Lucius. Lucius then swore to repay the emperor with a home."

Crypto interrupted. "Wait, wait. Was this before Furon?"

"Yes it was. The first emperor wasn't the emperor at this time. So Lucius gave up one of his planets that he was going to conquer and gave it to the man to rule in order to repay his debt. The man's name was Venus, and he was the first emperor of the planet he named, Furon."

"Lucius's family still rules Zemptress. His great, great, great granddaughter is the current queen of the empire." Pox sat down on a tool bench. Crypto stared at his tool belt and hesitated to ask about what's happening, but he had to know more. "So what's going on then? You've been getting distress calls here and there."

"A dictator. He is from one of the seven planets of the empire. In the past 30 years, he has been scheming ever since he was a teenager to fight for freedom from the empire."

"Like a civil war?" Asked Crypto.

"Yes. Only he wants every planet to be free. When he reached 30 years of age, he ran for president of Gadris, one of the seven planets in the empire. He won the election and suddenly began strengthening the army." Pox tapped slowly on the tool bench. "His name is Magnus. Once the army was strong enough, he invaded Zemptra, the capitol planet of the empire."

Simeon ran over and interrupted the conversation, "Pox, I think we did it!"