Empire Builder 1: Breed, Populate, Conquer by Dante King (free e books to read online txt) 📕

equally barbaric. The shorter the amount of time Ben could leave his people with those three, the better.

Melody awaited them in the atrium of the tower. The catgirl appeared calm and in control—but not relaxed. No doubt this situation was as new and frightening for her as it was for Ben. Her tail swished rhythmically behind her.

“The mages are waiting in the dining hall now, Ben,” she informed him. “I brought them in there to wait for their next course. The nymphs will bring that to them shortly.”

“Has there been any trouble?” Ben asked.

“So far, no. They’ve asked after you, but generally seemed to be content drinking your wine.”

Ben laughed drily. Typical. Still, that’s what he would have done if he’d visited a rich tower like this. He could hardly blame them.

Ben turned to Sir Gallant the Elder. “Would you be so good as to inform the mages that I’m having a little indigestion? I’ll be with them as soon as I’m able to.”

“Very good, sire, consider it done.” The large knight strode to the elevator.

“Now,” Ben addressed Melody. “Let’s get to the control room and see if I can get this to work.”

They both went down the hall to one of the side passages. The way was signposted with runic readouts on the glass walls. Ben found he could activate these readouts and get a guide to the tower layout.

The tower appeared to use facial recognition. After squinting and hopping about a few times, he got the hang of activating the readouts. At least this meant intruders would be hopelessly lost without him.

Unlike the elevator controls, these readouts didn’t recognize Melody. Obviously this was considered higher security than the elevator. Ben’s friends could ride the elevator, but once out, they would need him around to open doors and assist with navigation. Without him around to activate the facial recognition, anyone other than Ben would have a very hard time getting around. He was pleased to learn this—it was even more proof the tower was his, and his alone.

Ben made a mental note to review these protocols later, and add the women and Sir Gallant the Elder and Younger to appropriate security lists. Facial recognition for Sir Gallant the Elder ought to be very simple.

They found the control room easily, once Ben learned to read and understand the layout of the tower. However, Ben recognized right away that something wasn’t right about the door.

It didn’t automatically slide open, and nothing lit up. In comparison with other rooms, it was as if the room was dead. This was similar to some of the other areas that had been locked off and unavailable.

“How do I activate these unavailable regions?” Ben wondered aloud. “Do I have to complete a quest, or maybe find some kind of item?”

“Why would these rooms have been locked in the first place?” Melody added.

“Good question.” Ben thought about why it might all be locked. He didn’t think he was the kind of lord who would barricade half his tower off from himself in some petulant attempt to make himself complete pointless side missions.

So far the rooms they had needed had all been unlocked and well prepared. The rooms that were locked were places like extra accommodations, armories, crafting stations. He didn’t have any of the personnel to man these stations yet. But he did need this room.

At last, an idea came to him. “Perhaps the tower doesn’t realize I need this room yet.”

He took the rucksack containing the glyph totems off his back and unzipped it, holding out the cylindrical objects.

“Hello,” he yelled. “I need this room open now.”

He picked up one of the totem cylinders and held it out. As soon as his fingers closed over the cylinder, a humming noise reverberated through the hall, and lights flashed on. The door slid open, revealing a flashing cockpit, much like the control room in the dungeon.

The flashing controls on the glass dashboard amplified the deep, red glow of the ruby walls. Various glowing crystals, buttons, and giant levers protruded from the console. Hoses and wires sprawled like tentacles behind the glass surface. It wasn’t quite modern technology; it was almost an arcane, magical approximation of what you might find in a pilot’s cockpit.

A giant glass display covered the wall above the control panel. All around the room, crystals glowed and pulsed. Ben smiled to himself. He loved gaudy stuff like this back on earth, the scene reminding him of the elaborate lighting system he’d installed when putting together his PC. This room would have put the most expensive RGB lighting display to shame.

Several empty slots with runes above them showed Ben where to slot in the glyph totem cylinders. He recognized the runes from the dungeon’s control panel where he’d taken the monster-summoning objects. The slots accepted the totem cylinders with a sucking noise and a clunk. Each one lit up golden as it was inserted.

“So far so good. Now I need to work out how to summon the monsters and where. Melody, could you—no, damnit, I’ll have to go myself, you won’t be able to activate the readouts. Unless…”

Ben navigated through some of the runic menus on the giant touch display above the dashboard. As soon as he grew accustomed to the script, he was able to control the panel as if it were an extension of himself. All the coding experience was really paying off.

He found the security controls, and simply added Melody to every group. She didn’t have control over administration like he did, but she would be able to go wherever she wanted and use any devices she needed in the tower.

He would add the nymphs to a number of groups later, but for now, he felt he could trust Melody totally, so it was important to have another person who could access the whole tower.

After entering Melody’s facial details into the system and testing it, he sent her to the kitchen.

“Bring Sir Gallant the Younger back, I need his help with understanding the