Chapter 2 - He who holds up the sky

The princess woke up in a strange bed. 

'I'm alive..?'

She turned on her side, and was greeted by an electric lamp. The light hurt her eyes, but the blanket was warm and comfortable. "I wouldn't touch that." 

A voice startled her. Turning to the other side, she felt pain as her eyes met a young man.

"The lamp is currently at 95 degrees Fahrenheit. If you were to touch it, it would cause you pain."

"Where am I?"

"That is classified. However, I can say that you are a prisoner on a United States Ship." The princess rested her head when she heard which nation held her hostage. She wasn't being held by the empire. 

The young man nearby had been reading a book titled "Winston Churchill." His posture was perfect and he seemed to be deep in thought.

"What is your name?"

"My model is classified."

"Model?" The princess had never heard the word before. She just assumed that he was referring to his name in a different culture. "Hold on, how come you can speak my language?"

"That is classified." He wasn't easy to talk to.. 

A sudden realization came to the princess' mind. She jolted up in bed. 

"Wait! Where's my dragon, Behemoth?!"

"The dragon is deceased. His last words were a request to protect you. However, with how you attacked our ships.. things are complicated."

The princess could only guess her fate. "What's going to happen to me?"

"For now you're placed under my jurisdiction. I will keep watch over you, so don't try anything rash." The princess had no idea she was talking to a synthetic and cybernetic human. 

The robot's code name was "Atlas," and he was the only one of his kind. The doctor who created him refused to make any more.

-and there was a good reason for that.

One hour flew by as the princess fell asleep in the bed. Atlas finished his book and moved on to one about Teddy Roosevelt. Another hour went by. The princess woke up to see him reading a book titled "The Federalist Papers."

The ship rocked into place. "We've arrived. Admiral Mach has requested for us at the island. Please come with me." At least Atlas had programmed manners. It almost made up for him spitting out "classified" in every sentence.

Crew members gave Illania looks as they walked down the halls. "Is that the prisoner?" Illania looked like a cosplayer among the crew members. She heard some of the soldiers trying to rate her looks. Illiania ignored them, and kept walking.

The ship was massive. It could hold 160 fighters, 8 hovercraft, and had room for several cargo planes. Illania felt stunned as she walked through the hangar. People were busy with countless tasks. Their efficiency was quick and their effort never faded.

"Are we really on a ship? This place is too large…"

Atlas said nothing. He waved his hand against a card reader. They entered a cargo elevator with ten other soldiers. "Hey! Isn't that the robot?" A rude soldier waved his hand in front of Atlas' face. Atlas did not react. "Damn bro, he's cold." A kick went to Atlas' balls. The soldiers laughed. Illania didn't know what to think.

"This is your admiral speaking. Stop messing with the new model. This is your last warning. If you happen to damage US property, I'll be sending you home on a raft." Admiral Mach had spoken through a loudspeaker. Through all of that ruckus, Atlas hadn't flinched once. The soldiers quieted down but began making rude remarks about Captain Mach.

Another five flights of stairs led them to the "island," which was the command room of the ship. Illania looked out of the window to see the sea. On the other side of the sea was a dock. Twenty or so ships could be seen on the horizon. The princess could only fear for war.

"Sorry for not meeting you sooner. I am the captain of his fleet. You can call me Mach." Illania responded with a tiny nod. "I've been called back to base on emergency notice, which could only mean one thing. Would you like to clarify who we'll be fighting?"

Captain Mach was fearless, and for good reason. If a nation could easily conquer the United States, Russia, or China, then the world would be over. The might of the three big powers was strong, but the United States was numerically in the lead. Mach knew that their sheer number of aircraft carriers was considered overkill to every nation.

"I.. they're called the empire, and I need to warn you. They summoned your world because you do not possess magic. If they request my return, feel free to send me away immediately." Too many people had died trying to protect Illania. She didn't want to lose more.

"It won't come to that. Follow me." Atlas and a few soldiers escorted Mach and Illania while they walked off the ship. A Jeep stopped by to bring them to the command center. Illania felt oddly nauseous when the Jeep made its turns, but was surprised by the speed of the vehicle.

After five minutes they had arrived. Soldiers looked confused when the princess walked past in her extravagant dress. Illania's hair was a natural white. In the base, she looked very unusual.

The party entered the briefing room to see five other fleet admirals, as well as a 4-star general. "You're late."

"My apologies. This is Princess Illania the 4th. She's a runaway from the empire, or whatever it's called." The older admirals and general looked intrigued. At first they wanted to tease Mach about his young age, but this changed their mind. "I think we should review things as planned, then we can question her on the information." The higher-ups nodded.

"But before we begin, who is that man?" They pointed to Atlas. He silently leaned against a wall on the side of the room.

"He's an artificial soldier created by Dr. Smith. I'd like to test his capabilities here. The princess needs him to translate after all." 

All the information would be going public within the hour, so the higher-ups didn't mind anyone's stay. 

Artificial soldiers were few, but not unexpected. The problem was just that Atlas' appearance felt too human-like. Princess Illania, who didn't know the vocabulary, still didn't know he was different from a human.

Humanoid robots called "War Machines" were considered the military of the future. Most War Machines had a mechanical appearance with a noble-like personality. 

War machines are run by AI unique to each model, similar to people. War Machines talk like people, but think like gods.

Though the U.S. military prioritized developing these War Machines, trust in artificial intelligence was very slim. Each machine was given guidelines to prevent them from harming civilians and allies, but no one knew if it truly worked…

That's why even 4-Star General Malford, who had a heavy involvement in the War Machine program, felt cold fear when seeing Atlas. Atlas' pale skin looked too realistic-- too human.

A slide appeared on the television screen as a specialist stepped up to speak.

"Around 13:00 last evening, our satellites changed their orbits. Their trajectories were all thrown off balance, and we figured out why. Earth is now five-thousand times the size of its original mass. For some reason, surface gravity has been unaffected." 

General Malford and the other admirals raised questions, so a person representing DARPA stepped forward.

"We were able to save 80% of our satellites. Since then, we've found thousands of cities and settlements in the new area. Our Earth is now just a tiny oasis in this new world. However, the most pressing issue is…." 

The slide switched to show thousands of soldiers boarding wooden boats en masse. Dragons were scattered about, and it looked like a full-scale invasion.

The captains looked perplexed at the picture. Wooden boats could easily be shot down with regular gunfire. Knowing this, the DARPA researcher added his own take. "The problem doesn't exist in their military. It has to do with their goal." 

A new slide showed their locations on the globe. The enemy had gathered in areas closest to the big cities.

Illania knew why. When a King orders the magic tower, they could summon a planet to fuse with their own. Their current goal was to conquer more riches, by taking advantage of a world without magic. They had never planned to find resistance from the start.

Nobles and soldiers were greedy. Instead of vanquishing potential enemies, they were looking to be the first to get treasure.

"Have we gotten permission to intercept?" Admiral Mach asked the question that everyone was dying to know.

"Yes. This has been unanimously approved by all three parts of government. Russia and China have agreed to strike as well. We are to take them out before they can hit the Atlantic coast." Everyone nodded, somewhat surprised that they'd be fighting alongside their enemies.

However, to Illania's eyes, they were asking for suicide.

"You don't have a chance." Everyone looked over confused and mostly surprised by the princess' statement. The princess was trembling at the hand. "Without magic, you can't last long. Why are you fighting?" 

No one understood what the princess feared.

Illania explained everything about how the nobles had fused Earth with her world, but nobody took her seriously. Captain Mach had one question.

"Give us an example of a strong use of magic."

"An 8th tier mage can move mountains or churn oceans.. you can't fight for long, especially without mana." Atlas spoke up.

"Don't worry. I could fight such power." 

'!!!!!!'

Mach got startled by Atlas making a sudden comment. This was something that Dr. Smith feared with dread. When the doctor made Atlas a human body, the restrictions for a machine were nonexistent. All Atlas had to do was learn.

Then he could decide for himself whether he'd let humanity live or not.

If Atlas came out on the wrong side of humanity, life itself would change without resistance.