Alternative Stories

"So...so you're not like Goldy?"

[For the thirteenth time little one, no, I am nothing like my brother.] 

So yeah, this voice inside my head was apparently one of The Ten Administrators Of Chaos, one of the younger sisters of Goldy. Her name was Cyan, and she was in charge of the management of the Sanctuaries as well as all of the Alternatives that used them.

[Just because my brother is an Administrator of Chaos doesn't mean that we are all so...sadistic as he is.] She hummed, her voice was pleasant and filled with the kind of wisdom that only comes with extreme age.

"Oh thank god..." I sighed in relief.

(I really don't want to deal with that asshole again if at all possible.) Was my only thought at that moment.

[Have you finally calmed down my child.] Cyan chuckled, the sound pleasantly echoing in the back of my mind.

"Just call me Carmen..." I sighed heavily.

If you hadn't guessed by now, I wasn't exactly pleased about having another one of the Administrators talking and poking around in my head so soon after the last one had left. And honestly, who could really blame me for having a bit of PTSD, especially after having to deal with Goldy for several months straight.

[Very well.]

"By the way, why are you here, miss?" I asked while trying to be at least somewhat respectful towards the literal god like being in my head. "Not to sound rude but aren't you supposed to send like a copy of yourself or something?"

[Normally I would, however when I heard that you were the most recent victim of my brother's insatiable boredom, well, I just couldn't help but desire to check up on you and see how you're doing.] 

(She kind of reminds me of my grandmother in a way...) I thought while smiling slightly at the memories that came to mind.

[Why thank you my dear, it always makes me delighted when you little ones end up seeing me in such a light.] She said, suddenly catching me by surprise.

"%#$!, I forgot that you could read my min-wait...did you just bleep me?" I asked somewhat confused.

[Now now my dear Carmen, I won't allow such foul language to grace the lips of such a cute little thing such as yourself.] She said with a pleasant yet amused sounding hum in her voice.

"%@¥! &€-*÷#₩ ^×/& ! £_=, ¥+)! ₩÷_%&#* !)+$#."

[Go on now, get it all out of your system.] She chuckled with a slightly mischievous tone in her voice.

Shaking my head somewhat while letting out an annoyed sounding sigh I glanced around at the empty space I found myself within. "Anyway, what exactly can I do here?" 

[Hmmmmm...you can think of this place as the command room for your Sanctuary, a place in which you can alter, shape and mold your Sanctuary however you see fit.] She answered, causing me to nod my head in understanding.

"So it's kind of like using a computer to play a Sim game just on a larger scale?" 

[Precisely.] She mused while letting out a small laugh at my somewhat weird analogy. [And now that we are on this topic you should be receiving a little present any moment now.]

"God damn it..." I hissed as information flowed into my head, thankfully I was getting used to this sensation by now so it didn't hurt as badly as it used to do.

[//Name: Sanctuary Management.

//Type: Inheritance

//Rank: None

//Grade: None

//Effects:

Effect 1: Allows the user access to all Sanctuary based functions and support features within the System.

//Notes: Most Sanctuary based functions are unavailable when the user is not within the Sanctuary itself, however some minor functions can still be accessed.]

[I must apologize for the headache my child.]

"It's fine..." I sighed while rubbing the smooth part of my head.

[Now then, allow me to personally explain to you the functions of this place.] Cyan said with a happy, almost musical sounding tone in her voice.

"I'm all ears."

[Very good.] She chimed, causing me to smile somewhat as she began to explain. [To begin with you can access the information and control functions for your Sanctuary, you should be able to find it on your System Panel now that you have the corresponding Gift.]

Hearing that I did as I was instructed, instantly noticing the new menus that had appeared on my system panel. "Is this right?"

[Perfection my dear.] She mused as I took a glance through some of the new options available to me.

There were menus and options that displayed all kinds of things about my Sanctuary, what the temperature and time was inside, how gravity and other such things affected the world within, and so on. There was also an option called Sanctuary Storage, after clicking on it a massive list of information appeared just in front of me. As for what was on that list, well, there were items that ranged from broken buildings to old rusted weapons and broken bits of makeshift armour, there were thousands of corpses from various creatures, humans and xenomorphs included, as well as a staggering number of living entities. 

To put it simply there was a lot of stuff that had been crammed in there, it wasn't hard for me to figure out that it had all come from my rather eventful Trial. In fact it appeared that I had not only gotten all of my followers and Xenomorphs but also everything that had been around my hive, be that plants, animals or buildings. This also applied to the human and Yautja ships along with their cargo and whatever else was onboard at the time the Trial ended, something I was very happy about to be honest.

Anyway, I put all of that aside for now and decided to investigate my Sanctuary's information. When I looked over at that screen in particular however, I noticed something of note that made me feel a little confused in all honesty.

"Why is the area within my Sanctuary zero?" I asked when I realized that my "Sanctuary" currently didn't exist.

[Well, that's relatively simple to be honest, you have yet to actually buy or expand the area within your Sanctuary.] 

"And how do I buy space exactly?" I asked curiously.

[You can buy area space as well as all kinds of other things inside of the TSMS, The Sanctuary Management Store.] She explained, causing me to immediately look for said menu.

"Got ya..." I muttered as I opened up the TSMS and quickly navigated to the option regarding Sanctuary space.

Once there however I was rather surprised to be honest. "Wait, I can buy one thousand kilometers of space for only one Reward Point?!"

[Indeed you can.]

"Isn't that, you know, a little cheap?"

[You may think that now, however try to imagine the cost of buying a solar system's worth of Sanctuary space or a galaxies worth for that matter.]

"Ah..." I muttered while visibly cringing at the number that popped into my head. "Is there any other way to get more space?"

[There are, you can get rewards from various events or wars that include added space for your Sanctuary, you can even try subjugating some of the Fallen Sanctuaries if you can actually manage to find one.]

"Fallen Sanctuaries?" I was honestly confused as to what exactly such a thing was.

[Ask your Mentor about it sometime.] She suggested causing me to shrug somewhat.

"Alright I guess."

Back to the task at hand anyway, I quickly spent three Reward Points, and as I did something rather interesting took place. A blue holographic box the size of my torso appeared before me, a box that of course was completely empty considering there was nothing actually in my Sanctuary at the moment.

"I guess that should do it for now..." I hummed, not really sure of myself to be honest.

[Don't worry too much, you'll be fine with just this for the time being, at least until you've gotten the hang of things anyway.] She said, causing me to nod slightly.

"That's good to know I guess." 

[Now then, it's time for the fun part.]

"Fun part...?"