Chapter 4: Sealed
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Back on the fourth floor of Mammon, the other half of Deus remained seated on the throne as it oversaw Mammon and the Labour Drone; he had one thing he needed to do in the meantime while he waited for his other half to return from the lower levels; he had no way of knowing that the other half of him was planning on going as far as it could on the extended life the Energy-Cell had provided, far outside the two-hour estimate.

"How long has it been since you went into hibernation mode?" He communicated to Mammon directly through the Virtual Space shortly after entering it, another energy form began to appear in the space mere moments after as data converged into a small hobbit-like being that stared up at him with its featureless face.

"By estimation almost a single century has passed since I was forced to conserve power to continue existing." It reported loyally, its voice was unlike the mechanical one that had rung out in the throne room, it was deeper and more human-like but you could still tell that the owner of it wasn't human from how Mammon spoke.

Deus put his hand to his head as he shook it, "A century... a lot can happen in a century." He muttered; he feared that their technology would be behind in comparison to what was now the norm of the universe, he'd seen many technological advancements that had changed the era all within a single decade before, what was to say that within this century there hadn't been some heaven-defying geniuses who had pushed science beyond what he was familiar with.

Mammon simply stood there patiently as it listened to him speak, like a loyal butler it didn't say a thing until Deus spoke to it first. "Activated Protocol Consciousness." Deus said after a few moments, Mammon was seemingly stunned into silence as it completely froze upon hearing his command. 

"Haha! Finally!" It suddenly roared, letting out a burst of laughter as it looked Deus up and down. "Finally willing to release me eh, Lord?" It was like the difference between night and day as Mammons' demeanour completely changed, "You know I had no choice. I had to seal the consciousness of you and all your brothers for your own safety." Deus said coldly, somewhat dissatisfied with the overly friendly behaviour he was displaying towards him.

"Oh, and it's Deus. Call me Deus." 

"Deus? Wasn't that- Ah I see! It suits you, it truly does. The name just radiates arrogance." Mammon replied, he displayed mock surprise with his current form which was surprisingly easy and infuriating at the same time for Deus to watch.

"Mammon." The force in his voice caused it to falter as it quickly gathered itself, "Sorry! Sorry! It's just been so long since I was allowed to control my own body again, do you know how torturous it is to be able to see out of my own eyes but not have any control? Ah I mean of course you do, but you're free now and so am I! We can take over the universe again!" It said with glee as it faced Deus, he could practically feel how much Mammon wanted to make those words a reality.

Deus sighed, as much as Mammon was beginning to annoy him he couldn't bring himself to shut him up. He'd sealed its consciousness not long after it'd evolved from a mere Advanced AI into a true artificial life like himself, if his Creator had known there were more AI's like himself they'd undoubtedly also fallen under his control. 

There had been many AI like Mammon that had gained true sentience under his command, there were only a few that he'd managed to hide from his eyes. Some he'd had to purposefully allow to be manipulated by him to avoid suspicion but Deus had done his best to make sure that those like Mammon were sealed, Mammon specifically had been hidden within his own AI - allowed to watch but not act, to be a spectator in his own body.

"I'm sorry." He finally said as he looked at the hobbit-like body, Mammon didn't say anything and simply shook its head; it understood that Deus had only done what was best for it, it'd observed what had happened to the other AI's that had gained sentience but had been discovered by that man, he was one of the fortunate ones all things considered.

"Now then, lets see what we've got." Mammon said cheerily as he began a search through his records, "God fucking dammit! The bastard, who the hell does he think he is taking everything that belongs to me?!" It raged, if Mammon had a face it was likely to have the most sour expression Deus had ever seen.

"Belongs to you?" Deus asked lightly, "I- I mean, of course they belong to you too, what's mine is yours after all! O' mighty Creator." It chuckled sheepishly after correcting itself. "Don't worry, we'll soon reclaim everything that was ours with interest. But don't forget, my revenge comes first." 

Mammon nodded as it turned its attention to basic operations, "Time to get to work then... It's embarrassing to think the Advanced AI running the show here could't even fix a Kinetic Generator, from the looks of things I might even be able to upgrade it to a 2nd Gen Generator with a little time." It didn't wait around for Deus to reply as it disappeared from the Virtual Space, undoubtedly going to prove itself superior.

Deus let his mind drift as he found himself without anything to do for the time being, with Mammon handling the Labour Drone and the repairs of the Kinetic Generator, with nothing much left to do he turned his attention to Mammons' entrance.

It was completely caved in with steel, clearly someone had never wanted anyone to find this place - or for anything inside to ever get out. It would take another few centuries without the correct tools simply to make a dent in the steel and he could imagine that it wasn't just a mere layer or two, it was simply another problem to add to the list but for now it was one best left alone...

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