“Oh really? Well I hope that they are good, because the Egyptian civilization is outpacing this one in every category. We are falling behind in this arms race brother, and it is all because of father’s paranoia. He is so worried about betrayal, it is stunting our progress.”

“That is where you are wrong brother. This is your problem. You think yourself superior to father. You vastly overestimate your own intelligence. He is ruler for a reason. He has many plans. The human project is just one string in a vast tapestry. Father has other interests he believes will bear better fruit.”

“Your mechanical men?” Enki asked. 

Enlil’s irritation became openly apparent, but only for a moment. Enlil hated the way Enki could glean the truth with so little context. “If you must know… yes. In fact, that is why I am here. Father has ordered me to inform you that we are disinvesting from the Sumer initiative. We were going to tell you at my award ceremony, but as usual, you have complicated a perfectly good plan.”

Enki’s outrage could not be contained any longer. He nearly physically stood up in his seat. The only thing that stopped him was that he didn’t want to alert Enmerkar to their conversation. Instead, he howled inside the head of his brother.

“WHAT?! I have been on this project since its inception. Nearly THREE millenia now. I built out this entire civilization. And now he just wants me to walk away on his whim?!” Enki said, fuming. He felt as though he could burst into flames. It required a lot of self-control to prevent that, as he certainly was capable. That would be a spectacle the humans would talk about for ages.

“I understand you are upset, but you need to better regulate yourself. That is another one of your problems. You are too impulsive, too emotional. You lack self-control. Father is tightening the purse strings on many projects across the galaxy. Do not take it so personally.”

Enki’s jaw and fist were clenched. He could feel the darkness welling inside of him. He couldn’t hold back any longer. If he did not purge this pent-up energy, it would destroy him. So, instead, he channeled it into the clouds. They blackened, and the nanites in his head whirled, assisting him in carrying out his will.

The sky boomed. Thunder bellowed through the arena, and rain poured out as if from an open wound. Before Enki realized it, he was standing, drinking in the light around him to help furnish the energy necessary for the storm.

The slave girls cried out, abandoning their posts. They ran from the booth as the rain ruined the feast they had so meticulously prepared. 

Enmerkar shrunk in his seat in horror. “Storm bringer…” he whispered.

Enlil stood now, a towering and imposing figure. His eyes began to glow as white as his scales. “Control yourself brother, or I will do it for you.”

There was a moment of strained silence, Enki shrouded in darkness, Enlil bathed in light, Enmerkar at the furthest edge of his seat. After a moment, the darkness swirling around  Enki ebbed, but the storm remained.

Enki sat back down, ignoring the downpour of rain that was clearing out the coliseum. The spectators were filing out as quickly as they could. Only a few remained seated. It was only once Enki slumped back into his seat, that the glow around Enlil began to fade. 

“I lost my temper…” was all Enki could manage to say.

Enlil scoffed, then sat down. “And you wonder why father won’t give you a seat at council… No matter. I won’t let you ruin this for me.” Enlil’s eyes began to glow once more, and a bubble of invisible force shut out the rain. 

Another force took hold over the soaked feast. Enlil forced the moisture out of the food and outside the protective field. It looked as though it was raining in reverse inside the bubble, in slow motion. In a few passing moments, the booth was as it had been, even while the storm raged just outside. 

“I liked the rain. It was refreshing,” Enki commented.

Enlil shot Enki a pointed look. “Let’s just be done with this. Enmerkar, give the order to start the games.”

Enmerkar, who was now dry, but no less disturbed, got up from his seat. He bowed. “A-a-as you wish, my lord,” he said, then promptly exited the booth.

Enlil sighed. “It’s as if you have a death wish.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to understand. You were born into favor. Some of us have to earn it.”

Enlil stroked his chin thoughtfully. “That’s what it is, isn’t it? You are so fond of these humans because you relate to them. Dare I say, you even sympathize with them? My god brother, how far have you fallen?”

“Just watch brother. You will see. When my men defeat your machines, you will understand.”

Enlil scoffed again. “I have run the simulation, put this scenario into the probable future program. The chances of your men succeeding are one and one hundred thousands of a percent, which also happens to be the margin of error for this particular model.”

Enki laughed. “Wow. Father’s coffers must really be dwindling if even you are forced to endure such outdated technology. You know, the only flaw in your logic, is that these calculations were done by an artificial intelligence. Don’t you think that might, oh I don’t know, compromise the results?”

“Well, that’s precisely why machines are superior. They are not capable of bias. They are purely logical, entirely objective. If it believed that your men would succeed, then it would report it so, even if it meant the machine’s own destruction as a result.”

Just then, a horn blast cut through the air, and the gates on both sides of the arena began to rise.

Enki smirked. “Well, I guess we will find out soon enough…”