Captain Lambda and the Empire of Evil

Chapter Eight: Palace of Peril!

DISASTER as SPACE CAPTAIN LAMBA is captured by DIRECTOR NEFAR to be brought before EMPEROR ANIACAL! With his rocket useless, his friend Zip shot, and unable to reach his allies in the GLOBAL LIBERATION FRONT, is there any hope that our hero can make it out of the emperor's clutches alive?

FEATURING: Space Captain Lambda, hero of Earth on a mission to save a lost scientist, and now alone.

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When they met, Zip had been indentured at a bar on Mercia Prime. It was a dive run by a mafia who traded in synthetic people. Robots which had become sentient enough to be free people yet here were locked away in menial unpaid jobs. They thought they could get away with it because they were outside civilized space.

Zip got their static stutter from the beatings. Their past memories had been erased. Everything they knew was behind that bar, all 2 metres of space assigned to them. When Lambda ordered his martini, he was already planning on bringing the mafia down. In Zip, he saw an accomplice. A robot who was ready to break out and say 'no more' to those who chained them.

As they were watching the bar burn and the robots escape their masters, Lambda offered Zip a chance to join him. He regretted that offer now. If he hadn't said those words, Zip would be living a comfortable life somewhere safe.

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Lambda woke nursing a headache and a bruise on his temple. But the sheets around him were satin, the walls covered with fine art and a large table beside him was topped with fresh fruits. Laid out on a chair beside his bed was a full tuxedo with a white dinner jacket. He reached and picked up a card left on top of it.

Dinner at 6.

Lambda jumped out of bed and checked the view. Outside was a gleaming modern city of identically square tower blocks built out of grey stone and glass. The streets were bustling with Mundans, all in their identical monochromatic robes. What happened? Lambda tried to recall.

He'd helped the three warring kingdoms and was returning to the ship with fuel. They were ambushed by Director Nefar. Lambda glanced down at his torn shirt. And Zip. Oh, Zip. They might be okay, Lambda reassured himself, they're a rugged little fighter. They've been through worse. Except, they hadn't. Had he lost his friend?

He must be in the emperor's palace at Castle Killchass. The city outside was the one he had built before turning Espoir to ruins. And this cell, this hotel suite... It seemed the emperor was up for playing with his food. Lambda decided it would be best to play along for now and get information. Then he would ensure he'd be thoroughly indigestible by the time he makes his move.

He swapped his ragged robe for the tuxedo. The jacket fit felt like a second skin but the bow tie he struggled with. He'd never been brought up on how to tie it and kept forgetting. Then he noticed a small card slipped into the jacket pocket. On it were instructions on how to tie one. A concerningly thoughtful despot. Or did someone else arrange this?

Just as he finished straightening his collar the clock struck six. The door flung open and two masked Mundan guards entered to escort him, nudging him with lighting guns.

The castle hallways seemed as big as a rocket hangar and a near-mirror reflection of himself looked back at him in the finely polished floors. He looked pretty good in that floor.

The place seemed eerily empty, either by design or because they were now short a few million robots. Lambda was brought through to a dining chamber. Big enough for perhaps twenty people but only two seats were laid out at the long table. One at either head. Lambda went to move for one of the chairs.