Point Zero: Of Gods Old And New (Patreon)

Point Zero: Of Gods Old And New

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Commissioned by Ichypa

Wordcount: 2500

…

Weeks passed for a bit.

I went ahead and got certified in a few things in Point Zero. Not much trouble, since a light review was all I needed, and the UN was fronting the fees. Every organization in the world was willing to pay for a test when they’re sure their employee will pass it. Besides that, with a fair bit of work and some consulting fees, I got my bail, paid everything off, and got fast-tracked through the court system to get integrated into Verdict proper.

In a few weeks, I was Gwen’s new lieutenant… and the first thing that was put on my plate was absurd.

“So, this ain’t some sort of crazed joke?”

Gwen shook her head, clad in her all black suit, and with her usual ponytail and stern countenance. It was almost surreal to look at her, after looking at the pictures that I was looking at, and then at the ‘Black Flame’ that was in her hand. The black flame that could burn anything, that used the corpses of all of humanity’s dead gods as fuel, and was meant to clear the way of a white flame of creations—

Alright.

“Yeah, I’ll need some time to process this. Can I get a date night?”

“Absolutely.”

“Thanks, dear.” I sighed and almost put the data slate away, then I accidentally scrolled down and found myself looking at something else. Or, rather, someone else. I took a few seconds to read about that person. “Wait a bloody moment. The remains of the Catholic Church made an AI!?”

“Joan’s a collaborative effort on behalf of all the remaining supernatural organizations. Most are now defunct after using all their relics and power and resources.”

“You’re telling me those bastards beat all of the tech industry to making a real AI!?”

“Ah, I see. You are perturbed.”

“Perturbed!? Perturbed! No, I’m furious, Gwen! After so many years of repressing science, going out of their way to make the masses believe in all sorts of shit, and giving us shit about acting like gods… and they go ahead and do it themselves! They just… just made their own artificial god!”

“… It does seem hypocritical when said that way.” Gwen raised and immaculate eyebrow at my words. For a second, I was entranced and anger faded for a second, but it soon returned as I furiously continued to read. “Ah, you should save some for later.”

I almost crushed the information pad when I read that they didn’t even have the decency to fix everything before committing to their final project. Not only did they reap the benefits of having humanity eating out of their hands for centuries, but they didn’t do the decent thing and wipe out the dark, paranormal forces that plagued humanity! Centuries of domination over the hearts and minds of the people, so much money and resources and political clout, and they die after making one artificial god for humanity and leaving it to fight all that they couldn’t beat!?

These guys were hacks!

Absolute bastards and hacks!

…

“Gwen, your companion is looking at me with no shortage of curiosity.”

“Grace. Play nice.”

“…Fine.” I wanted to tinker, to understand, to analyze, and examine. Joan looked like an ordinary young woman in college, complete with a uniform, and any sign of her being a biomechanical divine avatar was nowhere to be seen. Apparently, in combat, she switched over to a more mechanized form of herself with the ability to summon all sorts of holy relics and weapons created specifically for her. According to Gwen, the artificial god had enough firepower to level a city block within a few seconds. “Sorry. Nice to meet you, Joan. Lieutenant Grace O’Hara of Verdict District 3 at your service.”

I gave a salute and Joan gave a little curtsy.

Gwen took it from there and pulled out her checklist on her communicator.

“How are the accommodations?”

“They are more than adequate. I am receiving all the power and nutrition that I require. The campus is also proving to be a great place to learn and understand humanity.” Point Zero’s campus was the best of the world. Literally. The Intrepid were firm believers in education, and they weren’t about to stop us from getting a good one, just because we wanted to stand on our own two feet. In fact, limiting access to education was something they considered unsporting and even unjust. Gotta love those lads. Real proper outside of the their lust for glory and honor in battle. “I also have access to the recesses of the city, where most of the incursion attempts of cultists are being made. My plan is to create a group of acolytes and understanding individuals whom I can bless and grant power to, so that we can stabilize and protect Earth.”

“If you believe yourself lacking in firepower or in serious danger, I have been told to offer you my direct assistance with maximum available firepower.” Gwen uttered those words straightforwardly, and Joan accepted them with ease. So, I almost missed the fact that the higher ups gave Gwen that much leeway. That’s a lot of firepower to have on hand. Joan can level a city block in a few minutes. Gwen can take out a whole district in under a minute at max burn… without drinking deep from her Infection, either. “However, as with the rules of my mission and organization, I will not be killing foreign trespassers into Point Zero and my area of jurisdiction. Instead, all paranormal entities will be incapacitated and brought to a housing facility for fair trials.”

Mhmm, right.

Gwen intends to fight demons, devils, and other supernatural monsters, defeat them, and they bring them in to face the full might of the judicial system.

I pity the poor bastards.

Joan didn’t seem to understand just what that meant and shook her head.

“I hope that it would not come to that. The power you hold is grand, but you must understand that this is a duty that only I can undertake.” It was hard not to scoff. It sounded a lot like taking responsibility and doing the right thing, yet it also sounded a lot like this artificial god was going out of her way to be praised and worshipped. Still, I held back my tongue. It wouldn’t do to make a decision on this woman before she did anything. I’ll judge her for her actions. “Still, if there are any capable individuals who you believe I should meet, with good strength of will and character, I would greatly appreciate it. They must be willing to fight, of course.”

I suppose the fact that she wasn’t impressed people into service for her grand crusade made things a bit better. Also, of course, there was the fact that she seemed to be going out to fight demons and other terrible monsters instead of other people who believed in other things.  Yep. That was a lot better than they typical things that became customary amongst the religions.

“The UN promises support against any extradimensional entities which seek to hold dominion over the planet. I assure you that you will receive its support. If you have need for resources, fill the forms I sent you. A budget can be created to support you.” Hm. On one hand, I was old school and believed that governments and religion shouldn’t interact. However, this newly borne religion being constrained by bureaucracy and basically becoming an institution that had to answer to the public sounded like a grand idea. An organization can’t reach above the law and affect the people, if they’re tied to the people through only one form of revenue. Then again, some people may take offense to their taxes going to a religious group, though the hunting of demons and paranormal entities might mitigate their concerns. Questions for later. “While I cannot become part of your group wholesale, due to my duties and oath to the UN, rest assured that you can call me for aid.”

Gwen stressed that part, and I hoped that the artificial god would listen.

I’d feel a lot safer if I knew that whatever big, bloody, burning bastard that came from the Ninth Circle of Hell was confronted by Gwendolyn Elliot.

What’s that?

You think that I’m putting too much trust in Gwen’s abilities?

Do you need an escort into a mental asylum? I’m sure that extradimensional entities are plenty dangerous, but my girlfriend is a living weapon of mass destruction, and those entities were held at bay by human religions until humanity got fucked over by two interstellar weapons of mass destruction. If those hacks could hold back the tide of paranormal entities encroaching upon reality, then Gwen most certainly can!
I might be a teeny bit biased, of course.

…

I was finding myself more surprised everyday.

“You have a single-stage orbital vehicle?”

Gwen nodded and I followed her towards the Verdict hanger. It was one of the places that I didn’t have access to thanks to my status, before I decided to go all in. I thought that the hangar for the District 3 HQ just contained transports for the mass deployment of policing drones and their automated repair centers.

“I purchased it with my first paycheck and several bounties.  Woodstock built it off of several dozen pieces and parts from the junkyard.” Woodstock again? Just how lucky was that guy? First, he had Mari as an assistant and received UN funding, but he managed to put together a whole spaceship in a garage from scraps? My personal prestige was plummeting quickly. “I haven’t used it very often, but it now has a ZPM, making travel to Pinnacle Station economical, as long as I can purchase therapeutics.”

“Oh, right. That’s your side job… wait… you’re buying that stuff from Pinnacle Station? From alien merchants!?”

“Yes.” Gwen nodded and answered so simply that I almost forgot to feel woozy. Pinnacle Station was put together by the UN with their control over the space elevator on Point Zero. Most of the cargo capacity was focused on bringing up precious materials that could be sold for Galactic Credits and using those to purchase technologies. We may as well be a backwater tribe in the middle of nowhere, but the Intrepid kept an eye on things and made sure we weren’t swindled. They also made sure we paid a fair price for the merchants too, so we didn’t benefit much either. “I mostly ship out refurbished weapons and samples of the infection and the Hunter Killers that have been neutralized. The Infection provides many organs of interest and the Hunter Killers refine metals extremely well.”

“Yeah, I get that part.” The rest of the galaxy was watching us transform and overcome what happened to us. The Intrepid were the most interested, but we had plenty of people cheering us on, and willing to purchase or make reasons to purchase certain things for our planet. It was better than charity and we got things like laser weapons with infinite ammunition, automated physicians, AI, and superweapons. Most of the money we got from trade went into improving infrastructure by getting power cells or augmentations on our crops. Food and energy concerns were going to be a thing of the past in UN nations soon. But that was for nations. This was Gwen and she was doing it all on her own. “How much do you make?”

“Roughly twenty Galactic Credits a month.” My eyes almost burst out of their skull. 1 Human Credit was roughly a hundred thousand American dollars, which most people tended to use throughout the world now. A Galactic Credit was worth ten Earth Credits.  My girlfriend, apparently, made twenty million a month. “I spend them all to purchase select items and resell them for Earth Credits.”

“You’re focusing on longevity and youth and healing serums.” I muttered to myself. Even with all of the economic restructuring that’s taken place, there still remained the wealthy elite. Whether they were the new rich or the old, they still held influence and power through capital. Some made their wealth from financing immense build ups in the manufacturing center and even more are making money hand over fist applying innovations wherever they went. Those who tried to gouge to much were brought low by the UN for endangering humanity, but as long as the line was toed humanity could get rich. That was what Gwen was doing. “You’re prioritizing the UN as buyers?”

“They are the only ones I sell to in bulk.” The UN had a lot of powerful people who wanted to be healed, who wanted to be young, and who wanted to live forever. This wasn’t just economic capital, but political capital, and Gwen needed both to keep her position safe and secure and not get turned into a weapon of mass destruction. Even if she only thought of this as following regulations, she was earning a lot of favor for herself. Off the top of my head, I could think of half-a-dozen people the UN would like back on the field and could with more galactic-level therapeutics at their disposal. Not the field officer level, of course, but there’s a lot of commanders on retinue that’ll appreciate living easier and staying longer. “Do you have anything that you’d like me to purchase?”

That made my eyes boggle, and I had to resist asking for anything.

“W-well, I’ll be aboard the ship, so I’ll make a few things here and there to sell and make my own money. That’s more than enough.” Gwen nodded easily at my request, as we approached the vessel. It looked like a large, ebony brick with four side thrusters and large engines at the back. I didn’t see any armaments on it, but that would probably too much. It had enough armor on it that I could imagine Gwen using it to board an enemy ship… or smash straight through a human-made space vessel. “What’re you planning on buyin’, if you don’t me asking? Naturally.”

“There was a wrist-mounted laser weapon that I wanted to purchase. Since I can detach my limb, or extend it, I can use it as a powerful, precision weapon.” Right, body horror was always on the table for Gwen. Well, it was horrific on the battlefield. In private… unf. “There is currently no armor system on the planet capable of stopping it without using energy shields. It will be perfect for pacifying armored targets safely from a distance.”

“Right, right. That sounds good. What else do you have in mind?”

“A luxury escape pod with FTL ability. Just in case.”

I almost tripped on my own feet.

“H-how much does that cost?”

“Roughly five thousand Galactic Credits. I can purchase it now.”

Okay.

Apparently, my girlfriend’s one of the new rich of the planet.

Nice to know.