The Core: The First Guest

52. Lurking out of sight

Magus the 1st's arrival at his clone's Core was, for the most part, hidden from the public. There was no broadcast, no parties, or even any press conferences to address the growing concern of that abuse of power by members of the Magus clone line.

Why had Magus the 1st cloned himself in the beginning? It had been a military strategy initially developed in case other alien species had discovered a vulnerability inherent in cr. A total of 18 clones were created for Magus the 1st, a modest number compared to some political dreadnoughts who cloned themselves upwards of 50 times out of fear. Those politicians later regretted those actions when their wealth and power were fought over by their replicas within the courts.

Magus the 1st had been more strategic in the development of his clones. He had created a power blockage system within his clones that would not allow them to ever usurp his Authority within the System. This had created clones that served their purpose, to spread out and to get away from other clones higher up on the Authority ladder who could dictate, to some extent, what the lesser clone was allowed to do within their domain.

Magus the 2nd had tried to suppress the growing unrest which resulted in a word of mouth wildfire across his Core's neighborhoods. There was a growing lack of trust in his ability to run a safe and viable commercial Core. He was just beginning to accept the fact that many of his more wealthy Citizens would end up migrating away from his Core when someone whom he never thought he would have to see again showed up literally inside his personal domain.

-Authority overridden by Magus the 1st-

All of the decor, furniture, digital items, and generated media vanished from around Magus the 2nd's mansion as a grand-looking travel disk was created in the middle of his living room. How badly he wanted to rage and insult his uninvited intruder when his chair that he was comfortably reclining on instantly sunk into the floor, leaving a quickly spreading pool of expensive Melisium wine in its wake, and making Magus the 2nd have to stand and collect himself for his guest. He ignored the slowly spreading wine at his feet and locked his eyes on the travel disk. Only one person he knew had spent time delving into the code to augment their personal travel disk and that was his 1st.

The Tela avatar that materialized on the travel disk did not bode well for Magus the 2nd when he realized what species his creator had chosen to take on for this encounter.

Two of four eyestalks locked onto him while the remaining two began to study Magus the 2nds personal documents that began to rapidly appear in the air before him. "Hello M2. I see that you have not managed to escape that pet name for you entirely." Magus the 1st commented as he went through his clone's System sector by sector.

Another travel disk materialized, willed into being by Magus the 1st, and soon deposited another clone, this time inhabiting an Alpha avatar onto the expanse of empty floor. Magus the 2nd was already wishing that he had invested in real furniture inside his living room rather than using furniture as a power play against select visitors.

"Legio the 8th, I should have known that my clone would have contacted an underbelly black marketer as yourself." Magus the 1st addressed the startled and flustered new arrival.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I am here on legitimate business with a client..." Legio began to say, making Magus the 2nd wish that he could break through his creator's Authority lock to shut Legio up.

An eyestalk swung back to look at him along with a rumble of amusement at his clone's visible frustration. "You are free to speak your mind M2." Magus the 1st said before going back to his delving through the data.

"Legio, he has access to everything. Just remain calm and answer his questions." Magus the 2nd said as he tried to get comfortable during this ordeal, reclining back on his double-jointed legs.