Chapter 20, pgs. 126-128

AAGAATAR, DEEP IN THOUGHT, stood in the shadow of his scientific marvel. He had irreverently called the holy FIST, the Final Interactive Solution Temple.

FIST was a complex computing system ten thousand times faster and more powerful than any Earth supercomputer and a spatial manipulator that could defy the laws of physics. Furthermore, it could erase the Stargirls’ minds and reprogram them to Aagaatar’s will. He knew microprocessor enslavement, generated by neural implants in the limbic system, was faultless and expedient but futile in this remarkable case.

The artificial mind control would destroy the Stargirls’ brainpower thus rendering them worthless. Their psychic connection and control of the Golden Star’s power would be corrupted and lost, and the Final Solution endangered. He needed their brains intact. Surprisingly, Garlig was the one who pointed out this technical glitch. Regardless, Aagaatar was annoyed with Garlig. He shook his gleaming, bug-eyed head and thought Garlig, if only you had properly tortured them, they would obey me.

Garlig’s failure had forced him to unleash his psychic bloodsucker. Aagaatar realized his actions were desperate and dangerous; the dead one would try to take over the alien’s mind. Yet he felt the alien Sade’s psychic power was potent enough to prevent her mental annihilation. The unspeakable one would only attain a state of symbiosis, enough dark force to influence her actions while leaving her mind intact for his higher purpose. He felt confident that his sadistic assaults on Lyn and Sade’s psyches would eventually bring the Stargirls to their knees and give him the power of the Golden Star.

He knew the Stargirls were untouchables, meant only for altering the Aagaa’s future—yet personal temptation toyed with him, as unrestrained fantasies sprang from his brooding thoughts. He stood transfixed in the midst of the cavernous FIST as thoughts of the Stargirls stormed in his mind. He had come seeking intelligence from FIST. Instead, his mind dwelled on the aliens, his rational thoughts taking flight, as the aliens’ memory-scent allured him and made his mind play tricks.

FIST programmed to generate whatever his mind focused on— seized his lustful thoughts and brought them to life on the temple’s virtual reality stage. Aagaatar felt searing pleasure, as if the winds of Azonda rained blistering drops of passion down on him while mindless alien bodies whirled around him in an exotic dance of worship. Spiraling, grinding bodies swayed and heaved hypnotically with a powerful snake rhythm and compelling hissing—a primordial song he remembered from his youth—how they knew the song—never crossed his mind.

All he felt was burning passion. He then noticed their singular beauty and intriguing alien faces. As their feverish dance inflamed him, they danced faster with a thrilling tempo and odd movements, something he had never seen before.

Arms were outstretched; hips were gyrating, and legs twitched like Starburst flowers. Their intoxicating movements engaged him on a visceral level he had never felt before. Their alien movements and weird guttural sounds seemed to invite him to join their primal dance. Aagaatar howled, “Aagaa . . . Aagaa . . . Aagaa!” As the frenzy of bodies whirled around him, his own zealous cries made him leap into their midst. His imagined total possession of the Stargirls excited him when he suddenly realized he was alone.

Drenched in sweat, his computer-generated fantasy and ecstasy was gone. As his passion subsided, he remembered the actual aliens rotted in their cell as forbidden fruit. He felt enormous frustration that his fantasy unexpectedly ended. He would hold FIST accountable while he deliberated whether he liked the Stargirls brainless or not. He decided they were more trouble than they were worth.

Begrudgingly, he changed his mind—after all; they were his instruments of destruction and death. The aliens would be his slave goddesses—brainless or not. He was pleased with this thought.

He had discovered cracks in their psychic armor and tortured the one called Lyn, testing her vulnerabilities, looking for weakness he could use against them. Aagaatar knew one day the aliens would worship him and extol his Aagaa Creed:

I bear witness that there is no god, but Aagaatar and that Garlig is His messenger. I will show no mercy; torture and kill in the name of God Almighty Aagaatar.

The beauty and simplicity of his ideology of hatred and death, and the thought the Stargirls would emulate it, brought a cruel smile to his face. He decided that love was their greatest strength and weakness and the key to their ultimate downfall. He knew he could not force them to obey his commands, not even control them—but he also knew he could trick them into doing his will. Love would make them his slaves. Their devotion to each other would conquer them. An amusing paradox of free will he thought . . . not truly free. His whirring scalpel blades seemed to express delight in his wit while the comedy-tragedy of a universe soon created in his image.

Aagaatar wrathfully turned back to FIST, whose advanced artificial intelligence instantly analyzed his enraged face and recognized danger. FIST quickly projected intergalactic battle plans around Aagaatar and downloaded intelligence reports directly into his brain for analysis, thus creating a diversion for his fury toward FIST. Distracted by the cortical stimulation, Aagaatar’s brain tingled with an infusion of biochemical energy and information while his anger subsided.

He reviewed developments from Quadrant 3. He believed the combination of his Zaagon Armada, the Zanoo infinity weapons and Garlig’s shock treatment would be devastating. However, he knew they would be unstoppable with the aliens’ Star power.

Garlig suddenly entered the FIST, bringing stunning news that he knew would anger the Master. The shocking news struck Aagaatar like a knife plunged through his heart. A suicidal attack against Rayton’s Zaagon fleet had killed Rayton, his most esteemed commander, and destroyed his Zaagon fleet. Ten million Silent Killers vaporized, weakening his left flank, leaving Quadrant 4 defenseless, and Aagaatar’s Zaagon Citadel exposed.

“The Western front annihilated—impossible,” Aagaatar bellowed; his saw-teeth buzzed in a fit of rage.