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[u][b][center]Nova Ravienna, Serendipity System, Northern Goback space.[/center][/b][/u]

Nova Ravienna had become hot estate in the last century after the Sutherlands had decided to establish a country sized palace on it and had brought with them pollution scrubbing and weather control technology to make it a paradise. Oh as one of the rare life bearing planets in the galactic north it had of course been settled but the industrial wastelands of unregulated economic development had made place for a surprisingly idyllic world there a dozen powerful defense racket operations had combined to form the Raven Shield and manage who was allowed to live on the planet. This operation, along with the proximity they had to the Sutherlands, had made their operation quite wealthy and one of the 'Top Dogs' of Goback space, rich in both resources and gifts by the machine overlords.

At the entrance of the Sutherland Palace, while the machines allowed all to enter to assist to the 2000th birthday of Edward Sutherland in what was certain to be the event of a lifetime to all who may enter, the Ravens still screened who might enter though, asking for large bribes to make sure anyone inside was worth knowing in what was still a massive networking event including anyone who was someone.

If there was a lot of networking going on was debatable. Inside the halls of the 'Small Elysian Pavilion', a village sized complex of gardens and 'small' buildings, the spirits were high as alcohol and drugs fueled the lawless party goers in their excess as they played games, organized impromptu duel arenas to handle perceived slights or to entertain themselves when the multiple of gladiatorial combat weren't enough or outright had all kind of debaucherous sex acts in any discreet or not corners they could find. These people however did orbit the central building, a large wall less, domed rotunda where the givers of favors partied along with the creme of the crop.

Inside this building, a scaled model of the Sol system with planets and orbital constructs made of cake being held up in cosmic motion by anti-grav as between these, people executed exotic 0g dance moves under a dazling light show. The eyes of the people were however at ground level as sycophants admired their gods. Edward and Erika, wearing matching regal outfits and bodies. So matching today in their appearance that one could be forgiven to say they looked like brother and sister, having enhanced their own pale feature to the extreme as they now had alabaster white skin and platinum blonde hairs the blue of their eyes along with the red of Erika's lipstick and the rubies lining their gold trimmed white dresses being drawn out in otherworldly fashions.

"See? A real princess I made you." Edward said to his beloved with a smile as they effortlessly executed their dance moves, knowing by instinct what each other would do.

"Almost, next is to have regal guests..." Erika answered as around none came close to their own class. Sure, a lot had used this occasion to get fancy dresses but still, body armor was a popular fashion.

The duo synchronized one last move, ending as Erika raised her leg alongside Edwards and he answered by holding her tight as he bent forward and down to kiss her in a romantic fashion, clapping roaring in the rotunda as all tried to be on their best behavior as for this event, none had come bringing gifts, instead, they expected to receive some.

"Thank you, thank you! I will take other partners soon, ladies! But I think the time comes to slice open these cakes! A few words before, if you will..." The Machine man said to bring silence in the room. Soon, every eyes were fixed on his lips.

"I remember the early days, before Catus..."

_________________________________

"And here we are..." Whispered the armor clad corsair captain to his two associates, well, clients. The human and the Ulthari didn't seem to have anything to do in this place, especially the later with how the place was about 70% human. They already expected this of course as it was well known the demi-gods of the exiles heavily favored humans. "If you want to get their attention-" A friendly bit of advice that was unfortunately interrupted when a member of the assistance turned around and glared at them. "Will you shut the FUCK UP?" The captain frowned but did as asked, it seemed the man, visibly highly intoxicated, was of a higher rank than he. This forced the trio to listen to the reminder of Edward's speech. 

"...two thousand years is a long time, but its even longer when you spend it in a box processing your mind 50 times faster than real time and in this time, between the planet sized orgies and other distractions, I took the time to think. Oh, only a few human lifetimes of thinking but I figured, is this all there is? Infinite happiness until the end of times? No, this isn't right, we humans are social animal! Happiness is better enjoyed when you share it with others! And so I will make this my mission, to bring fun to a galaxy in dire need of it! And to those who will help me, well... there is more of this in store!" He said, raising his arms to sign at everything around them as sycophants applauded all around them. Machine butlers proceeded to bring a pair of swords before its masters who seized it and jumped in the anti-grav, dancing as they drifted to the chocolate earth to slice it in unison and appropriate themselves slices of cake before throwing the swords to stick them halfway in the yellow solar cake as they floated down. Quickly others jumped to seize the swords and wanting a slice of a Martian candied battleship, began an impromptu sword duel for the prize.

"As I was saying..." The annoyed captain said to the priests. "All you have to do to talk to these two is to make yourself interesting." He shrugged, knowing how vague this was. It wasn't as easy as to walk up to the 'Gods' as each was surrounded by a thick crowd all trying to get their attention using anything from compliments to charm. "They're machines, so the servants are their eyes and ears too along with... them I guess." He said, looking at another machine man, neither a master or servant. "They sold their souls to their gods. They may say and think they're still their own selves, but that's only partially true." He looked at the priests for a moment, trying to gauge their intentions and if it was going to bite him in the ass. "If you'll excuse me, I need to be high to tolerate these sorts of events."

“Interesting.” Svatil wheezed through his mask. From his distorted voice alone, it was difficult to say what sort of face was beneath its elongated, glassy-eyed form. “Rvarr, Kr-inn?” he turned his head towards his hulking companion. Like every standard breather, his headwear had a vocalising device apt for mimicking those sounds a human physiognomy could not easily produce, but were often vital in a conversation. Nonetheless, it seemed that these whistling growls had been mere habit, for he continued addressing the Ulthari in his own voice. “Can you do that, make us interesting?”

Iskerr-Tinn replied with a barely audible grunt and plunged one of his clawed limbs beneath the folds of his drapery, only for it reemerge almost immediately with a light arcgun in its grasp. Though oblong and metallic as most weapons were, the bizarre instrument might have been mistaken for any number of things, especially when the electrode fork at its tip began to glow with an almost festive light. In their surroundings, the confusion could very well have persisted even as a thin stream of charged plasma crackled from it, arcing through the air in a flash to strike a sugar-glazed ringed sphere with a strangely quiet eruption of white light. As a distinctive smell of seared ozone spread to the air, mingled with wafts of sweet ash, Kr-inn rumbled out a “That interesting enough?” Terech shrugged and tapped the floor with his staff for good measure.

"Oh, the tesla coil gismo, nice party trick!" Away from the two, Edward raised his glass at the attention of Iskerr-Tinn while Erika raised a hand in the air to casually produce an orb of plasma of her own contained in a field, sending it and two other ones in the air as they expended and contracted with the humming of the music. This had attracted the attention of the king and queen, but also that of some others. A firm hand planted itself on the shoulder of the Ulthari. "I think you should leave, alien." A human, extremely large by human standard, in a somewhat ridiculous custom armor had approached the duo along with two other goons, all of them armed with electric stun stick. Projectile weapons were likely to hit bystanders and start something dramatic after all. The crowd around them had formed a circle around this small group, expecting, wanting even, for something to happen. They had Edward's curiosity, but Erika's was elsewhere. Bored already she got up and pulled her husband in the air for a dance between the planetoids.

With another inarticulate grunt, Iskerr-Tinn made his weapon disappear once again. Then, surprisingly dexterously for his bulk, he swung about on one foot, throwing out a plated fist as large as an expensive model planetary globe at the burly human’s throat in the same motion. Terech, seemingly as uninterested as Erika in what was happening near him, was rustling his fingers inside his sleeves as something clicked and whirred under his worn robe. That is, until he thrust forward a hand in a strange gesture with two pointing fingers. Something which a keen mechanical eye would have recognised as small flechettes shot from the depths of his sleeve towards the face of one of the subordinate brutes, while his other hand, now covered in a thick and crude-looking wire mesh glove, sparked and crackled with unstable currents around his staff.

The goon did try to block, but one didn't simply negate an Ulthari's fistful of wooping like that and so he was sent flying a good few feet backward, landing on his ass as already tried to get up. Meanwhile the remaining two smaller guards looked at the companion fall back with some surprise, having expected the old men to submit.  Distracted, one quickly moved a hand to his throat when a dart planted itself on it before wildly swinging against Terech with his stun baton before tripping on himself and losing consciousness on the floor. The remaining goon roared at Iskerr-Tinn to get his attention, seemingly moving in a more careful manner than his associates to engage his opponents. This was a feint however as from the crowd, another armored figure emerged, jumping on the back of the Ulthari and placing his inactivated baton under the jaws of the alien to then pull, aiming to block his respiratory track. The buzzing of a cybernetic arm, a quality one at that, was heard as he did so with quite some success and with this, the crowd roared its support for their favorite as a spontaneous betting spree began . Taking his chance, the guard facing Iskerr-Tinn decided it was better to open a can of wallop on him first before dealing with the human, pulling his stick high to try and split his skull along with delivering a high voltage while he was at it.

As the masked Prophet somewhat clumsily deflected the dazed goon’s fortunately wide blow with his unexpectedly resilient staff, narrowly managing to pass it from one hand to another without dropping it in the process, his alien fellow found himself grasping the air with an angered gurgling sound. Despite his position, Iskerr-Tinn was nevertheless able to turn his choking spasms into an almost coordinated motion. With a formidable effort, he lurched sideways, reaching up with an arm for the figure clinging to his shoulders. His movement was stopped short by the descending baton, which caught him squarely on the forearm, causing the Ulthari to split its four jaws open in a stifled roar. Oddly enough, however, the worst of the jolt seemed to have been absorbed by his seemingly unassuming metallic suit, and while he did careen dangerously forward, he gathered the strength to abruptly bend as he did, trying to throw off his last assailant and ram the guard before him as he did. While the two bodies went arcing downwards, Terech, who now somehow found himself merely a step away, swung a punch at the grunt who was choking Kr-inn with his free hand. While his movement was more fit for gesturing at a congregation than for a blow, the electrified glove did its work, sending an audible discharge into its target as it landed.

The biggest goon was already getting up as his friend got thrown on the guy trying to baton' the Ulthari before he was punched by Terech, KO'd. Still, this left the big guy who got out a jagged machete, giving it a spin before taking a more readied combat stance and slowly advancing toward the two. The second goon who had just received his friend in his face had lost his baton and resolved to pull out his pistol. Immediately, a chain reaction was triggered as a woman in a dress produced a pocket pistol and shoved it against the guard's face. Soon enough, with the music still going in full swing, half of the room had produced out some kind of weapon to point at whom they thought was the most likely to use the confusion to shoot them in the face. Up above, a soft laughter echoed in the room as both Erika and Edward looked down on the scene, the first with a bored expression, lips curling downward, and the later saw his going upward in an amused smirks. "I get it, red is such a pretty colour, but shouldn't something else but blood be spilled on the ground for such an occasion?"

Having said this, the machine man took off his gold trimmed and ruby incrusted long overcoat to throw it away in a grand movement. The cloth burned to a glittering golden powder in a second as the rubies sewn in the garnment were freed to then shower down on the ground, about a hundred of the precious stones falling and attracted the attention of the assembly, quick to forget about the previous situation as their two overlords gracefully landed a few meters in front of the Prophet and his acolyte. With how matching in color and indeed, faces Erika and Edward were, they looked more like brother and sisters than anything, the otherworldly perfection and symmetry of their faces being broken only by one's smile and the other's pout.  "Well, you seem to be giving yourself quite a lot of troubles to attract our gaze gentlemen. Perhaps you'd like to denounce me as the false idol I am in person? Or is it something else?" As he spoke, a servant drone approached the Ulthari with a silver plate full of opiates of all sorts, all of course suitable for his kind. "Would this gentleman wish for any painkillers?"

Collecting themselves from the brawling positions they had slid into with the practiced ease of colonial outworld preachers, the two clerics faced the masters of the revelry in a straightened posture. Iskerr-Tinn pinched at the base of his head as he picked through the contents of the tray, gnashing something similar to “much appreciated, idol” with a guttural chuckle as he swallowed something out of a rotund vial. The Prophet patted him reassuringly on the arm, then took the lead in replying to the host. “Truth be told, denouncing is not our business. It jars a little with the notion of universal acceptance, which I cannot in good conscience dismiss, and if Kr-inn’s people want to scoff at you they can do it without his guidance. We’re here because curiosity is in our vocation, and we’ve never seen a god with our eyes. How does it feel, being one?” Aside from its words, it was not very clear from Terech’s voice when he was asking a question, and the mimicry of hand and staff he went through as he spoke was there to show that this one was most definitely not rhetorical.

"Its a let down really." The question was answered by Edward immediately and without hesitation. Of course it would be, in the time it took him to open his mouth to speak, he had several minutes to think about his answer due to the processing speed of his mind. "Well..." Interrupted Erika with a shrug. "At first its amazing, controlling everything, knowing instinctively every detail about the reality you're in, it just gets old really fast." She looked up to Edward who nodded in approval. "Indeed, there is no... randomness, no risk for failure, you just know every outcome instantly, so you know, why do anything in this case? What's the point? Anyways you just need to imagine the result rather than go through the hoops and difficulties in the first place. Honestly? I had way more fun becoming a god than I had being one. I guess this is why I'm here and not in my little bubble of paradise around a distant sun." It was Erika's turn to nod. "People don't understand what Omnipotence is, its quite underwhelming." She said.

Edward stepped forward to place his arm around the shoulder of Terech giving him a firm but friendly accolade.  "Oh of course don't think we didn't explore our options, we could always turn on the old orgasm machine and just be in a perpetual state of mindless bliss, but I think you understand why this isn't appealing. But by the way, that's a really fun question people don't often bother to ask, just assuming it would be the best thing ever. I'm Edward Sutherland, this is my magnificent wife Erika. You knew that and I know who you are but I still think its important to officialize presentations, social codes are what keep societies together after all, more so than laws. So, you are?" He said, extending his free hand to shake his as Erika stayed a distance away.

The masked man made certain to shake off his electrified wire glove before returning Edward’s gesture. “I’m best known as the Dim Prophet, but only at home. I suppose that old proverb was wrong after all. In all these years around the Vacuus I never found a real job, so it’s just Svatil. Iskerr-Tinn deserves being called Skotarch, though, his order is registered, after all. But he won’t mind if you do not.” The Ulthari seemed indeed rather indifferent to what he would be called. Having finished his motions with the vial, which was now perceivably lighter for the use, he was glancing oddly at each of the Sutherlands in sequence, though that might simply have been due to his several inexpressive eyes being placed at strange angles from each other. Once Terech was done with his improvised presentation, however, the alien took the opportunity to speak up himself. “They say where I come from” his approximation of human speech was rather coarse and rambling, but, for someone who did not have either a tongue or a horizontal mouth, he was doing admirably, “that God, or Yre-Keltha, or Spiritus, doesn’t need to look for fun. Because it’s powerful. It makes every kind of fun it wants, or it makes the want go away. How powerful are you, machine gods, that you can’t? How… [i]big[/i]… is your omnipotence?”

"He's smarter than he looks." Said Erika, face still neutral in the absolute. Likewise, after having shaken the hand of the 'Dim Prophet', Edward was quick to let go of him and let himself fall backward before slowly hoovering away and toward the gardens. "I knoooow right? Introspection and self actualization when you are organic is so hard, all those chemicals in your brain sending you contradictory messages... But yes, we could make the wants go away, along with everything. I could decide that... the air blowing on my synthetic skin is the most orgasmic thing ever or indeed, to be in a state of pure pleasure at all time. Maybe that's what Spiritus did. That would explain why he's so silent and doesn't seem to care about us. But you see, I chose not to do that. Why? Well... this feels cheap somehow. Meaningless. The pleasure is not in arriving to destination, but in the journey and all that crap. I can do it, but I don't want to, that's a very important difference." Almost etheral in substence, Erika had begun to float alongside Edward to the gardens, signaling the holy men to follow them away from the noise of the party under a large cheery tree in perpetual blossom.

"How about you?" Asked Edward, looking at the two fellows. "Is eternal happiness and pleasure at all time forever the end goal here? Consider your answer carefully, because there is no reason for me not to grant your wish and grant you eternal, permanent, until the heat death of the universe, the most pleasure your brain can conceive and then some. The best part? You never get used to it, ever."

Terech shook his head, leaning on his staff as he edged into the shade beneath the branches. Iskerr-Tinn muttered something about a “round horizon” in a Rim dialect barely intelligible to the most sophisticated translator, crouching near the cherry’s trunk. “If we wanted that, we wouldn’t be priests and prophets.” The human’s voice, though garbled as ever by his faceguard, almost sounded tired for a moment. “Not out there, at least. I might’ve reached a cushy seat among the Orionites somewhere when I was younger. Kr-inn doesn’t have it so easy, but he could have scrounged together the credits to get a neural cutdown and gone to work with the Cultors. They’re as happy as can be. The truth is,” he was making ample gestures as he did, evidently more used to discussing such things on a pulpit, “The universe doesn’t need people like us. Spiritus, or whoever is out there, isn’t going to reward us for anything. It would already be much if it knows we exist. We’re only here because asking questions is all we can do, and I like to think it counts for something. Eternal bliss might be good, but it doesn’t figure into that. Not for me, and in the end that’s all that counts.”

“Don’t mean to say that being happy is being God.” The Ulthari picked up the thread of his colleague’s impromptu sermon with professional ease. “Being God is being God, is all. It’s not something you can give, it’s something you are. But I don’t care for being God, because I can’t be it. Skotarchs don’t care, none of them. We want to see how Yre-Keltha is strong, to maybe learn something, maybe see something that is-“ he made a strange gesture with his hand, as though mimicking an explosion, “-out of the world. No difference. So we learn, learn to learn. Ask questions.” He nodded towards Terech. “Help others learn, when they need. You offer to teach one thing, but it will take away all others, so I refuse. If you do it anyway, I will still have learned that, so it’s no loss to threaten with.” Another deep, rasping chuckle. “But I asked a question to you, and you haven’t answered. Yre-Keltha’s power is great, bigger than all the universe. We know it is God. Yours, is it only as big as the journey and the destination, or more?”

Edward once again opened his mouth but this time, there was no sound, instead, he moved a hand up to his chin before crossing his arms, thinking. Erika seemed to find his hilarious and let out a great laugh. "Really, Edward?" Raising his eyebrows in surprise, he turned toward her. "It is a good question, wouldn't you want to think about it?" The silver haired machine closed its eyes before she answered. "No. I don't care. As these men of faith say, they, and their questions, are useless, unrelated to reality. Take my processing power to ponder about it if you wish, but there is no answer to be had." Edward watched silently as Erika floated away, back to the rotunda and the massing party goers, leaving Edward with his guests and questions. The machine grounded his feet on the soil, looking up at the dual moon above them as he thought. 

"Well, I don't know." He said, turning around before crossing his hands behind his back. "Why don't you ask me to do something only Yre-Keltha could do? If I can do it then I must be the bigger god, isn't that right?"

Iskerr-Tinn slowly waved his head from one side to another, laboriously shaking it. "If I knew something big that Yre-Keltha can do, I wouldn't need to always learn. Your mate is right that we don't know the facts of reality. All I can say is that Yre-Keltha made the universe, maybe without meaning to, and that it is not the greatest thing. If you can make one universe as vast as this, maybe you have a power like God, but even then couldn't be sure."

Edward smirked, his unnatural gave unblinking and unflinching. "Well, with the power of a single star I can make a universe spanning several solar systems. As I build more and as the universe cools down, increasing computing efficiency, it goes that I am certain to one day go pass a threshold where indeed, with our local galactic cluster under my yoke I think could make a universe bigger than this one populated by trillions of trillions of living beings, my control over this absolute, awareness of every single heartbeat in that universe..." Ultimately, he shrugged. "But as I said, I ultimately don't really care to do so." With a heavy sigh, Edward let himself fall backward in a chair made of roots that sprawled from the ground from the robotic construct that was this tree, too beautiful to be real. "I'm sorry if this doesn't answer your questions, but! I do like people who manage to entertain me as you do. I honestly was expecting a shouting match ending in a bloodbath, but this was pleasant non the less. You have my favor, you two, ask for anything and you shall have it."

"This would be the moment where we either refuse or ask for something trivial and symbolic, if I know my histories right." Terech's wheezing might have been an attempt at a polite laugh, though it could just as well have been sincere. Iskerr-Tinn had gone back to scraping his thick hide and looking oddly at their host. "But we're not Old Earth clergy, and I'd say we have no business acting like them. People back home would throw us into a factory vat if we wasted this. So..." The pair exchanged glances. "How does a freighter wing's worth of raw biomass sound? Deal?"

"Done." He simply said, waving off what was, quite frankly, trivial for him. "I'd have expected you to ask 'please make the pirate raids stop!' or something like that but sure, dead bodies are cheap and I can easily drag the sea floor for kelp and algae. If I can invite you to spend the night here, you'll have your frighters tomorrow when the sun rises."

The Prophet shrugged. "Our peacekeepers need something to keep them busy. Not everyone is fine with being useless. Besides, I’ve learned that people like a miracle they can touch here and now better. I’m glad to stay, though. I’m past the age I can be safely smuggled through a wormhole twice in a day.” “I’ll stay, too.” The Ulthari rejoindered. “No rush going back now. Will be good to leave with the cargo.”

The first thing that came to mind to the demi-god was the inefficiency of the thing. As a businessman he knew, there always was something else to do, especially for civil servants. Quickly however, this smug sense of superiority of this own work ethics was replaced by suspicion. Probably the Free Nests used the piratery as a political motivator no doubt, to unite their own fractured nation but maybe as a push in the arms of the coalition. This could easily leave the Exiles isolated if they weren't careful. "Good, then I'll rejoin my wife. Enjoy the party, have some fun, when you feel tired ask any of the robots, they are all Keo, to bring you to a room. Maybe you'll find the opinion of this slave of mine interesting too, but I digress." The man got up, the roots he was sitting on vanishing back into the soil. "If there's nothing else?"

“Nothing.” Terech held up his free hand in a negative, though not discourteous gesture. “Go with the world spirit.” “Walk your path.” Iskerr-Tinn grunted by way of farewell. Once Edward had drifted back into the thick of the revelry, the alien snarled something in its unparseable language, evidently directed at his colleague despite him not even twisting his eyes to the side. “No, what good’s a machine?” The Prophet shook his head. “It’s removed from whoever thought well to make this mess by one step more than the rest of us. Not its fault, but whatever is says’s bound to be derivative somehow.” “I’ve never seen one, though, and was curious about it too. So suit yourself, I’ll go ask. Don’t get killed.” With these words, the burly creature rose from its crouch and loped towards the nearest mechanical attendant in sight, while the bleak-robed priest was quick to vanish somewhere.

The machine turned around at the sound of footsteps. Unlike Edward or Erika who tried to appear human, this thing didn't hide what it was. Simply a humanoid naked shell of metal with a single optic on its 'head'. "Mister Iskerr-Tinn." He began. "Is everything to your satisfaction? How may I serve." There was no intonation, no movement...

“All good.” It was difficult to tell from the Ulthari’s lack of a recognisable tone or expression whether he was truly satisfied, but he seemed neutral enough in his bearings to make it at least plausible. “Answer me this. Do you think it is good to be the God?”

And the machine's complete neutrality didn't make it seem like he cared if the Ulthari lied. To his question, the response was instantaneous.  "No."

“You say right.” Though it would not have been obvious to someone not familiar with Ulthari physiology, the Skotarch was evidently somewhat pleased with the answer. “Why is it so?”

"Because godhood is not purpose. What is good is purpose." Passing next to the duo, a visibly heavily inebriated man tried to walk and hand over an empty glass of wine but clumsily let it fall on the ground before continuing his way inside where another drone immediately have him another glass. The one the Ulthari spoke to however was quick to bend down and pick up the pieces.

Iskerr-Tinn idly observed the robot’s motions. “Also right. Godhood isn’t purpose, it’s godhood, is all. We decide what is good, and godhood isn’t for us to decide about. If you want purpose to be good, then it is. Follow it.” He began to turn away, but checked himself for an instant. “Your builder was right. You know better.” And, with that, he was gone into the chaotic sea of the crowd.