The Electronic Commandos by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

Interesting development

It has been a few days since the AI invasion of my realm. Mercy has been back a few times. At first it was to make sure that I did not take the last AI to heart. Then to tell me that they would include more information with the first report. It would also include if the other gods expect the same subterfuge.

I’m trying to keep my mind on the business. She is the one that put me in this position and I really need to concentrate on that. I need to stop misreading her concern for us as my wishes.

My biggest problem is that I really like my life now. I’m free. Liking what I see but not liking the idea of being tied down.

Around the fourth time Mercy was here and left, I start seeing the female imps looking at me and giving me the look.

I will now explain for those males who are just starting to feel those hormones turning your skulls to mush. There are certain looks you get from the females

The first look is one that they look over the glasses, close their eyes and shake their heads, You have done something stupid.

The second look is where they look up to the gods, extends their arms with palms up and shake the forearms, they are exasperated at something you have done or have not done.

The third look is the cross arm look. The best way to explain is when you come out of the room after dressing for a formal function in torn jeans and a white t shirt with questionable stains on both.

The last look I will explain for now is the one I am getting from the female imps right now. A side eye look as they pass and some sort of huff or a disappointing sound made. It means that you are missing something because you are a thick headed male.

I finally have gotten the hint and do what we males are famous for.. A few are passing and give me that look so I say,

“What?”

I am now alone in the counsel of women. It has the air of a grand inquisition. The spokes person for the women is now standing there leaning forwards with hands on the hips. She is on her platform and with me sitting, we are eye to eye.

“It’s universal! Regardless of species, you males are all alike. Strong willed but thick headed.“ she starts the lecture. “Aggressive in the hunt of AI’s. Planning and calculating. Deliberate with your actions but you still are thick headed. The god of Mercy is attracted to you and you to her but you clearly do not want to be mates.

Both of you want to mate. Both of you do not want to be tied together as husband and wife. She is shy so she is waiting for you but no, you have missed all the signals. We are going to take our males and visit Time’s realm. You will be all alone here. Call Mercy here. Sit with her and tell her exactly how you feel.”

They call Time and say that they want to visit. Sam knows why. He tells me that they will be with him for a few days. “They need to share their new experiences. We will take a few of those jeeps so mine can copy them..”

My realm is empty. Why am I hesitant?

Mercy is here before I could call. She asks me what is the problem. “Time told me that I was needed here now.”

“If you haven’t noticed, all my imps went for a reunion in Time’s realm. I was lectured, by their females, on me being a thick headed male.”

I look at her, she is beautiful. I choak a little then made the realm sky a beautiful shade of warm blue. Light fluffy clouds and make the sounds of song birds. The scent of spring flowers are in the air. Things to make busy while I gather up my courage.

“Even though I know that you can hear my thoughts, please bear with me. I love my life as it is now. I really feel free. I’m able to do what I want, when I want. I can go on those missions and not worry about a spouse. What I am trying to say is that I love you but I do not want a wife.”

She stops me there. ”Yes, I can hear what you are thinking but after I meet someone and trust them, I turn that off. It took me the better part of a month, when asked to take the role of the god of mercy, because I thought the gods of all were making a harem. I do not want a husband. Yes I am of the same feelings. I also love you but I don’t want to be wed. I’m glad to hear that you are of the same ilk.”

She sits next to me and takes my hands.

“I am very attracted to you and really would like to mate with you.”

We did not say much after that. We just lay on the grass and enjoyed each other. I am not the kiss and tell type, so let’s just say we enjoyed ourselves repeatedly until the imps came back. By then she was ready to go but wanted to thank the women for giving me the push.

From then on, there was the required visits to update me and review our actions on assignments. But, there were the times we needed to be with each other. We never cared if the imps were there.

They always were running off into the bushes so we made our own area in the bushes for those occasions. We had an agreement that when Mercy needed some attention, she would come here.

Even after all this time, she says that she loves this arrangement. However she has dropped hints about the time after we step down from our roles and go to the final life, she may want to make it a full time arrangement.

Funny, I was thinking the same.

Finally, A chance to help

Mercy is back after a long period of time, as I perceive it. She is in the usual frisky frame of mind. I can tell that she has an idea that she is excited about. Yes, partly because of our casual relations but the majority of her exuberance is because of an assignment that is right up our alley. She has me gather my imps.

“I have a special assignment. This time there is no AI. There is a world that is not in the stage that it has even electricity. They do have magic. Even with that, they are floundering. Their society is stagnated. It has settled on just using magic for everything and is losing it’s will to do the physical. What is being proposed is that you and your companions become dream weavers.”

I’m lost at that but I can tell that I have missed something because my imps are getting excited.

“Okay, I am thick headed. If my imps are getting it and I’m not, please explain so a simple human male can understand it in language that a male can understand. I understand the AI world but dream weaver?”

She smiles at me, “John, my lover, you will hijack his dream world and replace it with your electronic world. I recommend that you start with your war program and then have you intervene as a hero. I will leave it up to you how you do it but you need to show him that relying on magic will result in a hands free devastation of their world.”

Now I get it. “My electronic world is just like a dream. Time means nothing in there. We could keep him there for what would seem like years to him. What I would like to do is really visit his world as a casual seeker of knowledge. Have my people start causing malfunctions in their magic. Then over a period of dreams, haunt him with a magical war. Dream after dream but then introduce physical tasks that start to show him that dependence on magic alone can’t satisfy the hunger for something else.”

My imps are already talking amongst themselves on what to do in the real world but get excited when I tell them about my ideas on what a dream war should look like. Now their juices are really flowing. So much so as to have Mercy giving us a bewildered look.

I look at her. “You did ask us to do this. Trust us. This will be a masterpiece of work. I need to ask you, is there any way that you gods can record both what happens in their real world and his dream world?”

She tells me that it can be done.

“Then please have it done. My old world had movies that people would call blockbusters. I will tell you that this will be one of those blockbusters. You could funnel the profits to a world that your demigods could use to help them in their cause.”

Mercy disappears and then reappears.

“They love the idea but will wait to talk about your idea of releasing it as a movie until they see it.”

She shows me how to invade the man’s dream realm. It is as easy as the online and just as safe. Even if he wakes, we can linger there just enough to make him remember all that dream. Then we just make a door to our realm and wait until we get the signal of him entering REM sleep. We then use the same door to reenter. Simple.

After entertaining her for a while, she leaves us to our planning. Now I start to make plans. The first thing needed is a large screen television and a player. I have my people sit and I play the original 1939 version of “The Wizard of OZ” for them. They are going nuts over it.

When the scene of the flying monkeys comes up, I tell them that I see half of them as the flying monkeys and half as flying carpet riders. “All will be tormenting those people that cannot move. In the dream, their magic will start to fail them. I see us firing a bolt of lightning out of our fingers that will rob them of their magic.”

One of the imps shouts out that they then can start their golden rain and the brown drizzle over the helpless people. All the imps are going crazy over it, so I run with that idea and suggest that I be one of those people that are helpless.

“I’ll try magic and find that I cannot use it so I get up and pull the dreamer up to his feet and we show him what you can do physically. None of you will be hurt. We will make something physically and it will thwart you. After a few dreams, you will give up and make peace. Then we all will start projects that we get more people involved.”

It’s time. We open a door to that world. Much to our dismay, this world’s population is in a worse condition than my first solo to the evil AI planet. These people are now using magic to feed themselves without the need to ingest anything, They are wrapped In what can only be described as cocoons. Even the imps are stunned. The total population are on beds in great auditoriums. There is no one moving.

I need to call the gods here. They did not have the up to date information.

The five come here and see what we see. All I can say is that we are too late for this world.

“This world is doomed. It needs more than just a dream invasion.”

I go over to one person and then another person. Their eyes are not even open. They are alive but in their individual dreamscapes. Magic is protecting their physical bodies from dying.

The gods of all determine that they would not live if they were to have their magic cut off. They make the call to the Supreme god. It is explained that, because they perceived that this was a society that depended on magic, they did not really register the extent.

“We feel that this world’s sentient life needs to be terminated. It is not that they are evil, they really are dead but being magically kept alive. Each would have to have their minds scanned to see what their world is like. Regardless of whether it is paradise or hell, it is as real life as those movies made across the worlds.”

The Supreme is the only one that can make this decision. He now says that even he missed this situation.

I need to ask while everyone is contemplating what to do.

“I’m sorry for interrupting your thoughts. Being Supreme, would it be possible for you to reverse the time? Go back to the time that this world just started to use magic and place limits to their abilities. If a hero is needed, then and only then give one that has a peaceful heart the power.”

They are looking at me with a blank look. Did I do something wrong?

They laugh almost hysterically, then look at me very seriously. The Supreme looks at me then looks at the five.

“Here we are looking at something simple and figuring out how to solve it with a complicated solution. This man is truly suited for his job. I can travel back to that point and place limiters.”

He looks at me and my people. “I now take control of you and your people. Your group will work directly under me independent of these five but assisting them when needed. You will be that hero and your assistants will help you.”

He looks at the imps. “In those games, you would change your appearances to suit the situation. You are now members of the shifter species to be called ultra imps. Changelings have only two forms. Shifters can change into any form. John, you also will be a shifter but you will now have the magic skills that will be almost god level. I have given you the ability to control so you don’t blow up the worlds.”

Now he looks at the five. “This man is perfectly fitted for this role, you chose well.”

We all see this world morph and it is now filled with people, alive and enjoying themselves. They are using magic but only in small ways. Watering gardens, lighting their fires and such.

It is decided that we leave them for the moment and reconvene in the god of all’s realm. Now there, the Supreme tells us that we need to discuss what will happen to that world. He now disappears.

With the discussions going on, I sense that my ultra’s are no longer with us. Neither are any of the regular imps. Now I am worried. I know that the ultra’s are exploring. They are still, at their core, imps. Imps cannot help themselves, they are pranksters.

All discussions stop when we hear that song coming from the air.

“Terry, did you make imp helicopters along with those planes?”

Along with small planes, helicopters appear but they are very erratic in flight, like there is untrained pilots at the controls. I can see that the nose art is a real imp face. I instantly turn my hand into a bull horn and tell them to land or be grounded from the beer line for a week. Since they cannot tell the length of time that represents, you see those helicopters turn into mine but with parachutes.

They must have seen that film when they were with Time’s group.

Mine are going to be interesting. I need to get more movies. They need ideas but not that gremlin movie. Or, for our missions, maybe they do need to see it.

Now I get serious and address the five after I gather all mine. I look at Mercy especially,

“I intend on going back to that world with my ultra’s. We will find the most powerful mage in each country. It is my intention to invade their dreams all at once. We will show them that future that we actually saw. I intend on having them fully aware but in that helpless state. Then my people will be let loose. Record it because it will be a terror film. Not for the weak.”

The five are looking at me as if I was crazy. They saw my ultras and now were cringing as they see everything from the flying monkeys to big balls of fir with nothing but a mouth full of sharp teeth that splits the ball in half.

Revisiting the reset world, I have identified five of the strongest mages. Much to our delight, they were all in one nations capital for a meeting of the minds. I was just a servant who had the task of recording the meeting discussions,

They are the ones that started the decline. It is not that they are evil, it is their intention to make life easier for all because all of the population have this potential to be as powerful as they were.

This is going to make our task easier.

I go back to my realm and brief my ultras on what we need to do.

“Those rows of lifeless people are going to be destroyed. You are invaders that want nothing but to destroy. As you are destroying those helpless people, I will be whispering to the mages as their conscience.”

It is now time to act. All the mages are in REM sleep. I open a multiple door and link them together. I show them the decline of activity, especially when they create those long houses. First one of the mages laid down, then others see that the first was living and they followed. Soon the population was in that dead but alive state.

Now the first invader shows as a scout. I whisper “I’m sorry, my people, this is not living. We can no longer go back. Wait, what are those?”

Now the imps are eviscerating those helpless people. I make sure that the mages hear the screams of those being eaten and dying. They experience that scene for what they feel is forever. All the while I make them feel that they are responsible.

When they are seeing that they are next, I say, if only we did not start that program.

I felt that they were waking so I pull out my people. I then say to them,

“I can’t let this future happen. It’s our fault.”

Now I pull out.

In the morning meeting, as I record the meeting, all the mages look terrible. The leader looks at all and asks what is wrong. Before they could say anything, I stand and, in a voice they will recognize, I tell them they they all had a prophetic dream. I stand and morph into those fur balls, then the bodies lying on the beds.

To say that they are freaking out is an understatement.

“I work for the ultimate authority, the Supreme God. That dream is your future. All your good intentions lead to your people becoming so dependent on magic that they are the living dead, This is a warning, continue with your idea and the Supreme God will just terminate your species in that future.”

With a dramatic flair, I morph into one of the sleepers, then let them look as I just mummify then turn to vanishing dust. Now I am back in my realm with my people. We all open our beers as the five appear. All are offered a beer.

“Well, what did you think?”

The imps figured out that those fur balls mouths could drink faster. I will admit, it does fill me with pride on their ingenuity but also gives me the willies at the same time. I can see the same look on their faces.

Mercy is smiling but Terry is looking and just says,

“There is something very wrong with you and your bunch. That was something that I never expected. Even I will need more than a few beers to forget it. Where did you come up with that. But first would you please ask them to go back to normal.”

Mine all laugh and walk off to the ice cream machine with their beer. I watch as they find that ice cream and carbonated drinks foam up. Now mine are laughing as they change into animals with foaming mouths.

Olga just shakes her head. “They really need better supervision.”

Mine are really having a ball.

“Back to the subject, has anyone checked with that world in what would be their present time?”

Mercy reports that the people are all in the physical world. “The strange thing is, is that they almost all have forgotten magic, Their society is starting to enter the industrial age.”

I tell the group that they need to send one of the sage groups to guide them so they don’t go over board and start inventing the weapons of mass destruction.

She says that their world is respectful of others and so far are a peaceful lot. She will be checking on them.

I’m thinking that mine need a long session in the online game. I get the feeling that the world in there is going to be interesting. The helicopters are flying smoothly now and it even freaks me out when the face on the nose of the helicopter yells “I’m coming to get you and your little dog too.”

I must say now that they are not evil in there. Fierce in the battles but will party with an opponent afterwards.

That is another thing, the programmers have tried to eliminate the ability to party but we know how to tweak programs. After all we are the Electronic Commandos.

I love my life and these guys too.