"You seem very pleased with this strategy," Van said.
"And why shouldn't I be?" the Emperor laughed. "I'm the one who's at the top here. Me, a lowly and neglected creature rules over them all with an iron fist. You have yet to see just how despicable these beings truly are."
"You call them despicable, yet you're willing to enslave and destroy other cultures for your own glory? That sounds extremely hypocritical," Van said to the Emperor.
"Hah, I suppose you are right, it sounds terrible from the outside, but you must realize something, Van, the rest of the universe doesn't look at good and evil like you do. We simply call this survival."
"Yeah, I'm sure you do," Van said as he crossed his arms. "But that doesn't change what it actually is."
"Well, you'll have time to lecture me later," the Emperor said, "but right now, we need to get you acquainted with our simulations."
The Emperor led Van to a small room that contained a few silver pods. "Behold, righteous warrior, your chariot to glory," the Emperor said as he pointed to the pod.
"So you have simulation pods inside of simulation pods?" Van asked. "How is that possible?"
"These pods are insanely complicated and are capable of achieving anything that we want," the Emperor explained, "including creating sub-simulations. This pod will enable you to create your very own world and give it whatever you want. The time dilation is a little slower in there, however, so be warned. You will perceive seconds as decades."
"I see," Van said as he walked over to the pods. They were identical in every way to the pod he was currently occupying in the real world.
"So, you will be able to create a universe for our next targets to inhabit," the Emperor said. "Now, I warn you, it will take some time to get used to it, so your first universe is nothing more than a practice round. In your eyes, it will take you several hundred years to learn, but it will be nothing more than a few hours in real world time. Just prepare yourself mentally for the solitude. Now, we Draco run a little differently from you humans, so I'm unsure if it will have any long-term psychological effects on you. If you start to suffer from difficulty or pain, just log out and consult with me."
"Right, well, that sounds great and all," Van said as he looked at the pod. "But maybe it would be better if I had some kind of manual to read about this first?"
"No manual, Van," the Emperor said. "You'll have all of the time in the world to figure it out first-hand. Get on in and give it a whirl."
Van grimaced as he looked at the interior of the pod. He really didn't want to have to endure hundreds of years passing while he worked. It was going to be a surreal experience no matter what, and he wondered if he would go mad during the process. Still, there wasn't much he could do other than agree with the Emperor's demands. With a long, heavy sigh, Van climbed into the pod.
"Have fun in there," the Emperor said. "I look forward to seeing what you can create."
"Me, too," Van said as the pod slid shut over him. "Me, too."
Van opened his eyes and gasped loudly. He had been in the middle of raising a mountain from the land itself, using nothing more than his sheer force of will, and now he was back in his pod. He leaned up and glanced around, wide-eyed and exhausted. The room was spinning, but he recognized that he wasn't on the spaceship – he was in the real world.
"Oh, God," Van gasped. "I'm gonna be sick."
"Yeah, well, be sick later," Cindy said.
Van glanced up at her scowling face. The room was still spinning a little. He had been inside of the world creation simulation for several hours, which in his perception had translated into thousands of years. He had been alone for such a long time, he could barely remember how to interact with another person.
"Man, what the hell happened to you in there?" Cindy asked as she snapped her fingers in front of him. "You look like you're losing your mind."
"Mind…" Van whispered. Memories of the mission came flooding back to him as he looked at Cindy. He had been trying to manipulate her, to defeat the dragon. The memories of the world that he had been erecting from nothingness began to fade away as concerns of the real world returned to him. He didn't feel well at all.
"Well, here's the deal, pal," Cindy said as she grabbed Van by the arm and forced him out of his pod. He welcomed the assistance as he climbed out, bending over to catch his breath. "I just poisoned the entire security team and they're on the ground, completely comatose. We have maybe twenty minutes before Draco realizes no one's checking in and sends in the big guns to secure this place."
"You did all of that?" Van asked.
"Yeah," Cindy said. "Because I know you're up to something."
Van glanced over to where the security detail would normally have been standing. There was indeed a man lying on the ground and clutching his stomach. He was completely unconscious. This wasn't some kind of trick, from the looks of it.
"I don't know what you mean," Van said, just to be safe.
"Look, jackass," Cindy growled. "You're right on Draco. They keep changing their minds and you've done a good job of showing me just how fickle they are. I know you're hot stuff for a reason, so you've got to work with me here. How do we get out of here?"
"You really want to know?" Van asked, feeling a little smug that his plan had worked out. His mind was still trying to realize that his plan hadn't been formulated two millennia ago, though, but had instead been made earlier that morning. Despite how exhausting the process was, he was still able to think. "We need to get a USB drive plugged into my pod. The CIA set it up so it can help us engineer a virus that will stop the Draco for good."
"Really? I knew you were with some kind of government organization!" Cindy exclaimed. "Fine, I'll help you guys for one million dollars and full immunity for my crimes."
"Deal," Van said. He had no capacity to make such an arrangement, but he didn't mind getting her hopes up only to watch them be crushed later on. After all, she had been willing to sell out the human race, so she deserved a rude awakening.
They shook hands then, and Cindy was quick to pull the pod down and activate the debugging mode. Van placed his data stick into the port and watched as it clicked and activated. The little light on the side of the stick flashed rapidly as it began to work.
"What's it doing?" Cindy asked.
Van shrugged. "I have no idea," he replied. "They just told me to plug it into the system and they'd take care of the rest. Now close it, quick."
Cindy shut the pod back and deactivated the debug mode. The USB drive was now safe and sound on the inside of the pod. Van hoped that, whatever it was doing, it worked quickly.
"So what's the plan now?" Cindy asked.
Van grimaced. The plan for him was to climb back into the pod and get back to work before the Emperor realized that he'd been logged out for a brief period of time. The Draco security team would then show up and promptly kill Cindy, eliminating the only witness to his clever act. Still, was that fair? It might be what she deserved, but she had stuck out her neck to help Van.
"My suggestion is that you hide in one of these pods before the Draco squad shows up. No one knows it was you, right? That'll give me time to activate this program from the inside, and then you'll be perfectly safe."
"I was kind of hoping the plan was to escape or call the CIA for help," Cindy asked.
"Well, that comes later in the plan," Van said. "Just trust me here."
"Fine," Cindy said as she walked up to one of the pods. "I'll hide in this one, but you better pull me out when you go to escape."