Free Great White Throne by J. B. Simmons

onto this enormous machine’s movements.
    But there was more. Every part of this body brought a menu of options. My fingers showed: Gun. Blade. Virus. Fire. Darkness.  
    Every part of me had options. Ways to destroy, it seemed.
    I tried to think of a way out. There was no exit button. “Eject,” I said.  
    Nothing.
    “Reboot.”
    Don’s laughter filled my mind. “You can leave when I let you. Pick a weapon.”
    I tried to keep my mind still, to not think. But I couldn’t. It was like there was something else sharing the machine with me. Not someone. But something … other . It was strong and close. The other seemed to sway my thoughts like a wind blowing a leaf.  
    Stay still , I thought, but I couldn’t. My mind drifted to the blade option. A gleaming sword the size of a flag pole slid out of the robotic finger. With a flicker of thought, I swung the blade at a line of towers. Four of them split in half and toppled over. Steel beams sliced like butter.
    Then my mind went to fire . Suddenly flames spewed out of the machine. The torch blasted into the line of machines on the opposite side of the crater. They erupted in flames, and a group of them charged at me.
    The other directed my mind to my left hand, then to darkness. The machine’s arm pointed into the air and fired out a thin, black stream. Far above, the stream sprang open like a net. It blocked out the sky and dripped down, like water poured over a clear glass ball. As everything around me went pitch black, my eyes adjusted. The machine’s eyes , I forced myself to remember. I watched the other charging machines trip and run into each other, as if unable to see.
    I heard a roar behind me and turned back. At the lip of the crater behind me was a familiar sight. The dragon.  
    It roared again. As immense as I was, I still feared him. Even the other —whatever it was that shared my machine—seemed to tremble in the dragon’s presence.
      The dragon took flight, straight at me, jaws open. I ducked. The dragon’s bite missed by inches, but its tail hit like a freight train. I felt the pain as the machine crashed to its side. The dragon sat back on its haunches and sneered at me. Then the dragon grew. It doubled in size. And doubled again.  
    I made the machine scramble away, up the side of the crater, thinking of hooks as my hands began to lose grip. Giant claws emerged and pierced into the rock wall. I climbed straight up to the crater’s rim.
    When I glanced back, the dragon nearly filled the whole expanse. Its head alone was larger than my giant robot. It was still growing. I felt like the earth compared to the sun. I had no chance. The dragon’s jaws opened wide as if to swallow me, but instead it spoke:  
    “Bow down . ”
    Its voice was Don’s. Silky, smooth, and irresistible. I bowed down, the other bowed down, and the machine went down with us.  
    Then my mind was in the pipe again, and it poured back into my body in Don’s palace. I’d hardly taken a breath before I realized I was not alone.

A BALD MAN stood there, gazing out my window. He must have shown up while I was in the training, in the machine. I shuddered—still feeling the machine’s power and seeing the dragon in my mind.  
    “Hello?” I managed to say.
    The man turned. “It’s me, Alexi.” He stepped closer. “It’s been a while since Greece, and since you came here. About a month now, right?”
    Greece . This was Don’s political adviser, the man who had shown me Babylon. I hadn’t recognized him at first. His mop of dark hair was shaved clean. It looked like his whole body was shaved clean. His once hairy arms were bare. Even his eyebrows were gone. “What are you doing in my room?”
    “Don sent me. I would have come sooner to welcome you, but we’ve been very busy with this war.” He motioned to the two chairs. “Please, let’s sit.”  
    I moved numbly and sat across from him, just as I’d sat across from Bruce—who I hadn’t seen since.