The talk fell into a brief silence.
The little girl said carelessly: "Just so. We of the Machine Race have not at present the technology to build another Gate of Gaia. Though for these near ten thousand years we have studied the Gate of Gaia that stands, there are still many core technologies we cannot study to the bottom. This may be the very defect of our mechanical life. Our… thinking… seems to want something."
Zhao Chen stared at the little girl: "So you came here of set purpose this time. Only to tell me these things?"
"There are other matters to lay before you as well, of course. The interstellar territory the Machine Race now holds is, after all, the greatest in extent within the known universe. Near a third of all interstellar territory. Equal to the Angel Race's and the Demon Race's territories added together. And within these territories a great many resources have not been over-developed, and are of the highest value in use. If we were to leave all of a sudden, and leave resources so vast behind us. That would certainly bring about chaos within this universe! To break out in civil strife while the threat of Order stands over one is, beyond doubt, the stupidity of digging one's own grave. So, before we leave. There must be within this universe one power that can take our Machine Race's place. And that shall change from the part our Machine Race has played, the threat to the other interstellar civilizations, into the part that leads them."
Zhao Chen gave a slight smile: "You told me before that your Machine Race stood enemy to the whole universe. That is much like a saying in a work I have been reading at my leisure of late. In a pond there is a shoal of salmon and one catfish. And it is because that one catfish is there that the salmon swim and swim without cease, and in the end make their bodies the stronger."[1]
"The figure is very apt. Now this catfish has finished what it had to do. And among the salmon a leader should appear," the little girl said with a smile.
Zhao Chen had long since guessed the answer. He said: "You mean me."
"Just so. You, and the Owl Dragon behind you." The little girl nodded.
Zhao Chen thought a while, and said: "You would have our Owl Dragon take over the inheritance your Machine Race leaves behind. And then have us control the other interstellar powers, and set up an interstellar alliance under order. And so make sure that, facing the threat of Order, no civil strife or the like breaks out."
"You have it half right."
The little girl walked up before Zhao Chen, and her body began to circle round him, her finger poking at him now and again.
"If it be only an alliance. Then its efficiency will be very low. Just as with the Warhammer and the Holy Radiance Empire as they were. To look at, everyone forms a balanced ecology together. In a time of peace this is of course no trouble at all. But if danger appears from without. Then such a polity lays bare the greatest defects. When your Owl Dragon dealt with the Holy Radiance Empire and the Warhammer before, the result was plain enough to see. And now the threat of Order stands outside. A polity of that alliance sort does not suit this universe as it now is. Nor does it suit your Owl Dragon."
Zhao Chen knit his brows slightly.
The little girl stopped before Zhao Chen, and her body began to change into the tall woman officer of before: "I would have you become the sole Emperor of this universe."
The sole Emperor?
Zhao Chen said nothing.
"All interstellar powers, all interstellar kingdoms, all interstellar races must bow beneath your feet. You may hold all the resources, and use them to rear your Owl Dragon Legion. To let this young dragon truly grow, and become a vast dragon of the universe! And only when you have become Emperor can this aim be realized, and this whole situation be held in hand." The tall woman officer's every word rang through the whole bridge.
"I have no wish to become any Emperor," Zhao Chen said, knitting his brows.
The tall woman officer changed back into the little girl: "I know well enough that you have no liking for being Emperor; yours is the sort of nature that is easy-going and soon contented. From the beginning of your Owl Dragon fleet, had others not come seeking you out, or had no hidden threat existed. You would never have brought the Owl Dragon fleet on to become the Owl Dragon Legion and the Owl Dragon Galactic Interstellar Group of today! If others are a shoal of fish facing one catfish, then you are a single sardine facing a whole shoal of catfish. And in the end that has made you, this one sardine, a great beast of the deep!"
"Have you no other fit candidate? Or some other way?" Zhao Chen asked.
The little girl shook her head: "None. I have observed the others. The Angel Race? They have some strength, but they are proud in the extreme, and hold besides that stubborn faith of theirs; and sometimes, for the sake of what they call their glory, they will do things that are laughable. The Demon Race? They too have some strength, only it is a pity that they have been corroded by Order already; and though the Demon King's tyranny be overthrown, the Demon Race as it now stands can never be restored to what it was. The Starlight Empire? The Holy Radiance Empire? Or the Warhammer Interstellar Federal Kingdom? These three are no more than toys in the hand of you, their lord. So, have I any choice left me in the matter?"
Zhao Chen mused a while, and said: "When I have gone back… I will think it over well."
Suddenly the little girl burst up outright, and with a terrible strength pressed Zhao Chen flat upon the floor.
Zhao Chen's own body, remade as a fifth-grade super-soldier's,[2] could not resist her at all.
The thing was… was she not a holographic projection?
Could it be by reason of their being within this interstellar warship?
Zhao Chen had no leisure to think further, for the little girl was staring at him with a savage look in her eyes: "Be naive no longer! This is the only choice there is now. I have reckoned it over numberless times upon my supercomputer. Give all this over to the Angel Race, and the odds of winning are but 0.012%. The universe will be utterly destroyed by Order in the sixtieth year to come. But give it to you! And the odds of winning stand at 30% outright! Three in ten. And do you know, when the Gaia Empire went out upon its expedition with its whole army in those days, the odds they reckoned. Were but two in ten. For they knew well that with a struggle… there was still hope. Without the attempt, there was only death! It is not now a question of whether you, Zhao Chen, are willing to found an empire of the universe. It is a question of whether you will watch with your own eyes as the home universe behind you is destroyed! Let me put it to you thus. If you refuse now. Then I shall give the order to draw back the greater part of the interstellar warships upon the Black Great-Wall alliance's side,[3] and launch a plan of clearance upon this universe. Gathering every usable resource, we shall become a second Gaia Empire expeditionary force, and go outside to seek even the least sliver of hope. Since you will not stand forth, then rather than let this universe wait upon death. Let it become the fuel of our expedition!"
Hearing these words of the little girl's, Zhao Chen knew.
She was not joking.
Every word of it was in earnest.
"Now. Now I will have you make your choice. Either I destroy this universe. Or you become the Emperor of this universe. Choose for yourself!" The little girl rose to her feet, and looked down upon Zhao Chen lying upon the floor.