Intergalactic conquest with an AI

"W-What?! It's not like I have a choice, okay?! If I take out my wings, everyone will see us!" She shot back, her cheeks flushing faintly.

She wasn't wrong. Her beautiful, green butterfly-like wings glowed brightly whenever she used them, making her incredibly conspicuous in the darkness.

"And by the way," Ys added indignantly, "why didn't you activate the emergency lights?"

"It's not that I didn't want to," Cleo replied coolly, her focus still on navigating the floating chaos of the mall while carrying Sharon.

"The emergency battery system was either disabled or destroyed. Activating it remotely is impossible until we figure out what caused the failure."

Sharon, still being carried like a princess, frowned, her green eyes darting between Cleo and Ys.

"What do you mean, 'disabled or destroyed'?" Ys asked

Sharon dropped to an even colder, more analytical tone. "It means this wasn't an accident. This is sabotaje."

Rex was floating peacefully near the ceiling of his room, arms and legs sprawled out like a lazy starfish. His back lightly bumped against the ceiling panels as he snored loudly, completely unaware of the chaos unfolding outside his door.

The zero-gravity environment didn't faze him in the slightest; he was far too exhausted from the camping trip to care.

Meanwhile, Mini Cleo, perched delicately on his chest, was growing increasingly panicked. The tiny, holographic version of Cleo was waving her arms frantically, her usually calm demeanor replaced with utter exasperation.

"Master! Wake up! The original said, There's an emergency!" She shouted, her tiny hands slapping his cheeks repeatedly.

But there was no response. Rex didn't so much as twitch.

"Masterrrr! Wakeee upppp!" Mini Cleo cried again, practically bouncing up and down on his chest in frustration.

Still, nothing.

Mini Cleo frowned, her tiny golden eyes narrowing as she huffed. "You leave me no choice, Master. The original warned me about this," she muttered.

From her tiny backpack, Mini Cleo pulled out a small, square device with a single red button on it. Her expression turned nervous as she stared at the button, but after a moment's hesitation, she sighed dramatically and pressed it.

"WHAAATTTTT THEEEEE FUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKK!" Rex roared as a jolt of electricity shot through his body. His limbs flailed wildly as he was rudely yanked out of his peaceful slumber, his nightshirt practically sparking from the charge.

Mini Cleo quickly stuffed the device behind her back, her tiny form sweating nervously as she turned her head to the side and whistled innocently.

Rex spun in the air, clutching his chest and blinking in confusion. "What the hell was that?! And why am I floating?!" he shouted, still feeling the lingering tingles of the electric shock.

"Good morning, Master! Glad to see you're finally awake," Mini Cleo said sweetly, though her voice wavered slightly. She clasped her tiny hands behind her back and avoided eye contact, looking everywhere except at Rex.

Rex's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You didn't have anything to do with this, did you?"

"Me? Of course not, Master!" Mini Cleo said, her holographic form attempting to whistle again, though it sounded more like a high-pitched beep.

"Yeah, sure," Rex muttered, rubbing his head. "Whatever. Now tell me why I'm floating, and what the hell is going on?"

Mini Cleo straightened up, suddenly remembering the urgency of the situation. "Master! The original sent me an emergency message. There's a problem with the cruiser's systems! The gravity generator has been disabled, and there might be more failures coming!"

Rex groaned, his body still slightly tingling from the shock. "Great. And I guess Cleo needs me to fix it, huh?"

"Actually, no," Mini Cleo said, shaking her tiny head. "The original is already working on it, but she needs you to help Carlos! The oxygen generators might go offline next, and Carlos is... well, you know, human."

"Ah, crap," Rex muttered, realizing the gravity of the situation. If the oxygen generators failed, Carlos wouldn't last long without a supply of breathable air.

"Alright, I'm up. Let's get out of here and find him," Rex said as he started awkwardly swimming through the air, trying to orient himself.

But then he paused, narrowing his eyes at Mini Cleo. "Wait a second. You still haven't told me what electrocuted me. Was it you?"

Mini Cleo's tiny form froze, her golden eyes darting nervously from side to side. "W-What? Me? No! Of course not! I didn't see anything! Maybe it was a freak electrical surge!" she said, waving her tiny arms in an exaggerated manner.

Rex stared at her, his suspicion growing. Mini Cleo was cute, sure, but she was also an absolutely terrible liar.

"Uh-huh," Rex said slowly, raising an eyebrow. "You're lucky I don't have time to interrogate you right now."

"Master, now's not the time to be suspicious! We need to move!" Mini Cleo said, pointing toward the door.

Using his enhanced night vision and thermal optics, courtesy of Mini Cleo, who had activated his eyes with a quick zap, Rex finally made his way out of the room. The corridor was pitch black, save for the faint glow of the wormhole lights filtering through the portholes.

Mini Cleo floated beside him, her tiny form zipping back and forth as she scanned the area. "Master, watch your step! There are passengers floating around everywhere," she said, pointing toward a couple of panicked individuals who had drifted into a cluster near the ceiling.

Rex shook his head. "Man, this is worse than I thought. Any updates from Cleo?"

"Not yet," Mini Cleo said, her holographic form flickering slightly. "But we should focus on finding Carlos first. If we don't get him to a medical bay before the oxygen goes out, it'll be bad."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Rex muttered, moving quickly through the zero-gravity hallway. "Carlos is probably passed out somewhere, drooling on himself like usual."

Mini Cleo giggled nervously, but her usual playfulness was muted. "Let's hope he's not floating upside down. That'd be... messy."

As they navigated the dark, disorienting corridors of the cruiser, Rex couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. He wasn't sure if it was the eerie silence, the floating debris, or the faint sound of clicking he thought he heard in the distance.

"Mini Cleo," Rex said suddenly, his voice low. "You hearing that?"

Mini Cleo tilted her head, her ears twitching like cats'. "Hearing what, Master?"

Rex stopped moving, his enhanced optics scanning the hallway ahead. The faint clicking sound was growing louder, almost rhythmic, like the tapping of metal legs against the floor or the ceiling.

"There's something here," Rex said quietly, his instincts kicking in.

Mini Cleo floated closer to his shoulder, her tiny body trembling slightly. "Master, be careful."

"Mini Cleo," Rex said, his voice steady as he crouched slightly to adjust to the zero-gravity environment. "Craft me something so I can step on the ground. I'm tired of floating around like a loose balloon."

"Understood, Master!" Mini Cleo chirped enthusiastically. Her tiny form began projecting golden streams of holographic energy from her fingertips as she accessed Rex's personal nanomaterial reserves.

A few seconds later, the same gravitational boots Cleo had crafted for herself materialized around Rex's feet.

The boots activated with a soft hum, and Rex slowly began descending to the floor, his movements stabilizing as the artificial gravity locked him in place.

"Good. That's more like it," Rex muttered, stretching slightly to shake off the awkwardness of floating. He then extended his hand, summoning a compact laser handgun. It wasn't fancy, but it was powered by his own energy core and carried enough firepower to deal with most immediate threats.

He slid a small laser cell into the weapon with a satisfying click before gripping it tightly.

"Alright, Mini Cleo," Rex said, his tone shifting into something more commanding. "You're in charge of defense. I'll handle the offense."

Mini Cleo saluted, her small face full of determination. "Understood, Master! Leave it to me! Nothing will get through!"

The tiny AI linked herself to Rex's plasma shielding system, which Cleo had personally designed as a state-of-the-art defense mechanism.

The honeycomb-like energy shield was invisible to the naked eye until something attacked it, at which point the shield would instantly flare to life at the point of impact.

Cleo had fine-tuned the system specifically for Rex, creating a near-perfect second layer of armor that adapted to almost any threat.

With his defenses in place, Rex began moving cautiously down the dimly lit corridor, his gun raised and his senses on high alert.

As he crept forward, the eerie silence of the cruiser's hallways only made the faint clicking sound he'd heard earlier feel more sinister.

Every step he took seemed to echo faintly, even though the ship was eerily devoid of people. The passengers who hadn't panicked and floated into the ceilings were either locked away in their rooms or unconscious, completely unaware of the danger stalking the ship.

Rex finally arrived at the section of the corridor where he'd heard the sound. Taking a deep breath, he pressed his back against the corner and peeked around it. With a sudden burst of energy, he jumped out into the open, his laser gun trained on the long, dark corridor ahead of him.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

But there was nothing there.

The hall stretched out in both directions, dimly illuminated by the faint, multicolored glow of the wormhole light filtering through a nearby window. There were no people, no floating debris, and no movement at all.

Rex frowned, lowering his weapon slightly. "Weird," he muttered, his voice tinged with suspicion. "I could've sworn I heard something here."

"Master, are you sure? I don't see anything either," Mini Cleo said, her small form floating just above his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Rex replied, still scanning the area. He took another cautious step forward, glancing up and down the corridor.

"It's too quiet here. Not even a single passerby floating around. Something's not right."