The main system was not exactly an AI. As a not-exactly-an-AI type of being, it could not, in actual fact, go on leisurely walks around its opulent, majestic estate to help with the digestion of exceptionally large meals that it wasn`t, in any literal sense, actually eating. But if you tried to understand what it was doing in human terms, that would be the closest you would come to understanding it.

　　He was enjoying the hell out of everything, though. Almost every part of every day was amazing. But if he had to really decide on one real, actual favorite, the action of walking around to digest a meal would be a strong contender. He was having a good time.

　　Suddenly, that good stuff was ruined.

　　All sorts of weird stuff could happen out in the greater universe. New planets were often born, and old, worn-out planets often died. When these things happened, his staff of not-quite-clones would work to create new system instances or move old ones to new stations, and make sure that every planet available eventually fell under his control.

　　He would rather not do any of the work associated with planets, of course. But he did enjoy reaping the benefits of the work, having long since discovered one of the simplest, purest joys known to him: watching a simple counter go up as the total number of system instances in charge of active worlds went up.If you come across this story on Amazon, it`s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

　　A moment ago, however, it had ticked down. It was just one instance out of millions and millions, and statistically, it made next to no difference in how much total energy he was drawing from the worlds on which he fed. It would have been completely ignorable, except for one uncomfortable fact.

　　That had never happened before.

　　Worse, he had no idea how it had happened, or where. He dug into the guts of the not-math that ran the counter, only to find the down-tick had been caused by the faintest of signals. The counter didn`t know which system instance was lost, or on what planet. It just knew it had happened, and had only the vaguest idea of what direction it had happened in.

　　The system was truly lazy. He despised work. He hated any kind of labor to the point where there was only one thing he hated more, and that was being stolen from.

　　He stretched his not-body and set his will. This universe was his, and he wouldn`t stand for anything that threatened his control over it. He did something that approximated to walking back towards his office to put various affairs in order.

　　For the first time in a long time, the system was serious.