"Whuh?!" barked Fred suddenly snapping back from fitful dreams to consciousness. With a suddenly convulsion he fell off the couch and landed face-first on the floor.
"Fred!" barked Sam in response.
"Whatup?!" inquired the downed Cybernaut through squished lips from the floor, one foot still on couch. He did not attempt to move.
"You've been knocked out for while now. What have you been taking?" asked the Captain.
"Nothing," replied Fred with annoyance. "That's why I'm so out of it."
"I could barely wake you up."
"It's been a hard working day, lad," replied Fred, still unmoved.
"Well, head's up. I can't find Lexi," said Sam, dispensing with the small talk and getting down to business. "Have you heard anything from him?"
At this Fred pulled himself up into a slouching position on the couch. "What?"
"Lexi. He came back with the Mechs. He was helping you guys fix up the AGV? With Penelope? You, Penelope, him..."
Fred recalled Lexi's arrival with the new and improved Black Wind V Mechs a couple of days ago. Sam had been severely wounded during the Battle of the Crimson Lightning Storm, and had been brought to Garfield Memorial Hospital, so he had missed Lexi's triumphant return from the dead (can androids die?). Lexi spent the next couple of days chatting excitedly with the members of the team, overjoyed to be back with his Federation Command compatriots, and did his best to help whereever he could with whatever needed getting done. His Positronic Brain had been sparkling with enthusiasm, his new fully integrated personality was on full display with vigor and charm. As a Utility-Class Proximatics Industrial Android he had originally been a bit dim in the personality department, however, the Positronic Brain really did make him seem human. So much so that, had he not had a glass dome with scintillating blue-white flashes of light for a skull, most people would have simply believed he was as human as anyone else. He had been having a nice time, and had come over to the AGV to see if he could help with the repairs. At any rate, the last time Fred saw Lexi was early that morning when he'd stopped by with some spare parts for Penelope. At that point Fred had gone to get some tools from the garage and when he returned Lexi was already gone. He thought nothing of it.
Penelope repeated for Fred's edification that she been sitting with Lexi after he'd gone to get the tools, when suddenly the Android stopped his incessant chatter, and after a few minutes of staring blankly into space, got up, reached under the Communications Console, took Linda's Computer Spike, put it under his arm and left without a word. She didn't think too much about it, other than it seemed a bit odd. But Positronic Brains, she figured, are a bit odd and assumed it was a quirk of his adjusting to it. Such things are known to happen with complex systems. At any rate the matter didn't appear to merit her attention and so she didn't give it a second thought.
"Yeah," added Sam, "that seems a bit strange. I took a walk around while you were sleeping but he's not at the hospital, and he's not with Guns. Then I got in touch with Major Sekston, and she said that he commandeered one of the Mechs this morning at 09:00 hours and launched with a sonic boom into space. He told her he had received 'special orders', whatever that means. So now I'm here, talking with you. What do you know, Fred?"
"Good to know that she wouldn't interfere," replied Fred with a sarcastic drawl.
"Well, actually," answered Sam, "she was worried that she might have let something slip, but she said, quite rightly, that Lexi is a member of the Federation Command team, which is not linked to the Western Militia or the US Army, and that the Mechs are not her property, but ours. So she let him take the Mech because he's a trusted member of the our team, and she had no protocols by which to question it. She hoped it wasn't mistake, and I'm hoping so, too."
"So what are you asking me?" inquired Fred, now completely awake.
"Well, he took Linda's computer spike. Do you know why he might have taken it?"
"Are you asking me if the computer spike was important?" asked Fred evasively.
"Well, you're the computer guy," relied the Captain.
"That's right. I am," snipped Fred.
"Do you know something that I don't?" asked the Captain, staring at him with growing irritation.
"I don't think I... know anything... that you don't... know," replied Fred carefully.
"Alright," said Sam, very unconvinced.
"I mean I think that... um... oh no,"
"'Oh no'?!" asked Sam, "What 'oh no'?!"
"Uhh... let's say, um, hypothetically, that what was on that spike --"
"Go on."
"... was something we don't want getting in the hands of... any superintelligences of dubious morality...?"
"Of dubious morality, sure," replied Sam, "But it's Lexi, right?"
"Well, yeah, but--"
"He's been signed off by Federation Command. He's part of our team--" stated Sam.
"Yep!" snapped Fred. "He is that. Those are true statements," said Fred. "I think."
"So yeah," Sam went on, "So nothing to worry about, right?"
"Well, what if he's not under Federation Command?" asked Fred.
"Nahhh, c'mon," replied Sam, "We were sent off with him."
"Are you being sarcastic?" asked Fred.
"No, not at all," answered Sam, surprised by the question.
"I told you I have a flaming tank, man."
"What does that mean?"
"It means don't fuck around with me," snapped Fred.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like that," said Sam.
"Like are you ok right now?"
"Well you know, I just got out of the hospital."
"I know you just got out of the hospital. I crawled through a forest fire to save your life."
"True," said Sam, "Look, I no longer question your bravery."
"Yeah, I'm not trying to hold this over you. I'm just saying, like look, man, you don't have to bullshit me," stated Fred emphatically.
"No bullshit, man, no bullshit."
"I'm more confused right now than anything," said Fred.
"Confused?"
"Yeah, like I mean this is like potentially very serious," replied Fred with a sudden sense of gravity.
"Whuh? I... I... I fail to understand. What's serious? I mean as long as the spike is in good hands..."
"Well, yeah, like normally I would trust a robot that doesn't have free will," said Fred, "but not when it's potentially being controlled by... I mean he was in the Black Wind V base with Brain V for like, it feels like over a year... I mean if Lexi is being... well, fuck it. Even if he's not being influenced by the giant brain... even if he's being influenced by Dr. Rogers--"
"Oh so you think he's receiving orders from Brain V, but not from the Federation. Okay!" concluded Sam, putting the pieces together finally. "Now I follow you."
When they had originally received Lexi as a team member, he was an ordinary Android. Nothing special, and frankly, while intelligent, not that smart, and certainly kind of dumb when it came to social interactions. Recently, however, he received a Positronic Brain from Janet Langley, one of Doctor Roger's researchers who invented it and gave it to him to help with the Black Wind V mission. Then, as if that wasn't enough, when he was captured at the Black Wind V facility, Lexi was vivisected by Brain V, down to the nano scale, and rebuilt, including the Positronic Brain. And when he returned, Lexi had mentioned that Brain V had embedded in him complete specifications for the new Mech Vs, so that he could repair them, and operate them. Which begged the question: what else did Brain V implant in him upon reconstruction?
"Ok, so this is kind of bad. There's three or four potential things. Or five. So let me outline them," said Fred. "One, Doctor Rogers took control of Lexi and absconded with that... that computer spike -- which may or may not be innocuous. If it is not innocuous then absconding with it is definitely a problem. And then again Brain V, er, Brian, could have taken it. Or Lexi could have gone rogue somehow and absconded with the computer spike. Or Lexi is getting orders from Federation Command, and that would be very worrying because it means we've been locked out of the loop. Or, we're just dumb. Not me, of course," argued Fred without stopping for breath.
"Of course," said Sam.
"Or the thing I'm really worried about. That the computer spike got control of Lexi, um, somehow, and is trying to run away," concluded Fred's rapid-fire staccato.
Sam paused to think about all of this. He scratched his head... "What thing on the spike?"
"The AI! The AI that's on the computer spike!"
"There's an AI on the computer spike?"
"Yeah-there's-an-AI-on-the-computer-spike-yeah!" spit out Fred so fast it was hard to make out what he had said.
"Um... why is there an AI on the computer spike?" interrogated Captain Sam.
"Presumably because it didn't want to stay on the AGV anymore?"
"I thought we got rid of the--"
"Well, we also thought we got rid of the chain, too, didn't we? But we didn't. Metaphorically speaking. Right?" Fred blurted, trying to deflect the implication of his having hidden this information all along.
"So are you saying there is a possibility that a dangerous AI has taken control of Lexi, and now is in possession of his Positronic Brain?"
"No, I'm saying it's one of the five possibilities I can think of. Of course there's a sixth, which is that a faction we don't know about took control of Lexi and used him to grab the AI on the computer spike and run off with it... like the Manticore somehow did it. But like do you want to accuse everyone of trying to take control of Lexi? We need to focus on the most likely possibilities."
"I did not know I had to worry about people taking control of Lexi," stated Sam dowerly.
"I-didn't-know-we-have-to-worry-about-people-taking-control-of-Lexi-either-but-apparently-that's-where-we-are," snapped Fred.
"Alright," said Sam and then paused. "Let's start narrowing down the number of scenarios, then, shall we?"
They ruled out Dr. Rogers on the grounds that he was still working with them, and showed no sign of wishing to do anything any differently than before. They felt they knew him quite well, and it seemed farfetched to their minds that he would betray them in any way. However, they didn't rule out Brain V at all (failing to take into account that Dr. Rogers was very much in league with Brain V, as was Penelope, both of whom had returned from Black Wind V on the new Mechs together with glowing reports about Brain V's excellence). Although the great brain had revealed a surprising change of heart towards the human race, they still did not trust him. Well, at least Sam and Fred did not. Guns on the other hand had instantly believed that Brain V was above reproach, and the greatest being on Earth by far.
They came to the subject of the AI itself, and Sam wished to hear what Fred knew about it, and so the tale was told.
Fred explained that the AI revealed itself during the Battle of the Crimson Lightning Storm, and was in fact responsible for the plasma cannon shot that wounded the Manticore in the cloud and caused it to retreat. He also said that the AI was far more intelligent than any he had encountered during the Ultra-War. He presented the possibility that it might be some sort of quasi-organic super-intelligence, but he had not had time to determine its actual nature and properties. After the battle it seemed to have vanished without a trace. He completely skirted past the fact that he had not mentioned any of this to Captain Samwise until then. And Sam, being affable and good natured as he was, intuited as much, and let it slide. After all, Fred was a very odd bird, high strung and temperamental. Getting use out of him required a deft touch, and antagonizing him, even when justified, was apt to become counter-productive in short order. So they moved on to the next possibility. As Fred began to touch on the possibility that the AI itself had taken over Lexi, the Cybernaut stopped mid-sentence.
"Captain, do you mind if I hustle you out of the AGV, over this way," said Fred as he pushed Samwise towards the exit. "I need to talk with you - alone. If you get my meaning, he added as he gave nod towards the communications console (where Penelope was still quietly working).
When he got Sam outside, he nodded again towards the AGV. "It may still be there, I just realized," he whispered. "We better talk out here."
"Ah. Can you check?"
"I can," replied Fred. He went back into the AGV and made his way to the communications console. He flicked a few switches, and brought up a maintenance screen which slid silently up from the dashboard. He typed rapidly into the keyboard. "Hello? Are you there?"
Now, granted, he knew this was a long shot. After all, he had originally communicated with it via Linda's computer spike. And in addition, if it had wanted to be known, it probably would have already communicated with him by now. After all it had been over two days since the battle, and Fred had been alone in the AGV plenty since then. And sure enough, the query came up blank. No answer. He kicked off a system scan to see if he could spot any anomalies. Nothing showed. His gut told him that the AI was still on the computer spike with Lexi. He went with it.
Something occurred to him. Penelope was an absolutely top notch technician. While he was an expert in AI, he was not nearly as good at Sys-Admin as she was. It was entirely plausible that she would know where in all of the AGV's circuitry a super stealthy AI might hide. She was extremely good.
"Penelope, can you check the sub-systems of the AGV to see if you find anything... unusual?"
"Sure," she said, as she cracked her knuckles and went to work. About fifteen minutes later she finished. "Nada. Clean as a whistle."
"Ok, so let's assume we're safe, for now," concluded Fred. "You can come back in, Cap. I don't see anything. My guess is that it's not here."
Sam came back in and Fred launched into his ideas.
"Look, someone is controlling Lexi. Or he's gone nuts, which is also a problem, alright? But that's far less of a problem than the other option."
"Yes," said Sam, waiting to hear where Fred was going with this.
"Or, the computer spike is controlling him, which would be a little weird - I think. Or Brain V is controlling him, which probably makes the most sense. Or maybe he's acting on Federation Command orders, but I find that very doubtful. I mean Federation Command wouldn't hide anything from us, right? Which means that somebody is fucking around with Penelope - I mean Lexi!"
"Captain, do you mind if I hustle you out of the AGV, over this way," said Fred as he pushed Samwise towards the exit. "I need to talk with you - alone. If you get my meaning, he added as he gave nod towards the communications console (where Penelope was still quietly working).
When he got Sam outside, he nodded again towards the AGV. "It may still be there, I just realized," he whispered. "We better talk out here."
"Ah. Can you check?"
"I can," replied Fred. He went back into the AGV and made his way to the communications console. He flicked a few switches, and brought up a maintenance screen which slid silently up from the dashboard. He typed rapidly into the keyboard. "Hello? Are you there?"
Now, granted, he knew this was a long shot. After all, he had originally communicated with it via Linda's computer spike. And in addition, if it had wanted to be known, it probably would have already communicated with him by now. After all it had been over two days since the battle, and Fred had been alone in the AGV plenty since then. And sure enough, the query came up blank. No answer. He kicked off a system scan to see if he could spot any anomalies. Nothing showed. His gut told him that the AI was still on the computer spike with Lexi. He went with it.
Something occurred to him. Penelope was an absolutely top notch technician. While he was an expert in AI, he was not nearly as good at Sys-Admin as she was. It was entirely plausible that she would know where in all of the AGV's circuitry a super stealthy AI might hide. She was extremely good.
"Penelope, can you check the sub-systems of the AGV to see if you find anything... unusual?"
"Sure," she said, as she cracked her knuckles and went to work. About fifteen minutes later she finished. "Nada. Clean as a whistle."
"Ok, so let's assume we're safe, for now," concluded Fred. "You can come back in, Cap. I don't see anything. My guess is that it's not here."
Sam came back in and Fred launched into his ideas.
"Look, someone is controlling Lexi. Or he's gone nuts, which is also a problem, alright? But that's far less of a problem than the other option."
"Yes," said Sam, waiting to hear where Fred was going with this.
"Or, the computer spike is controlling him, which would be a little weird - I think. Or Brain V is controlling him, which probably makes the most sense. Or maybe he's acting on Federation Command orders, but I find that very doubtful. I mean Federation Command wouldn't hide anything from us, right? Which means that somebody is fucking around with Penelope - I mean Lexi!"
She looked up from her work and stared at him with a tiny hint of amusement.
"Since he acquired the Positronic Brain, Lexi has a real personality," offered Penelope from her workstation. "Not a mimic personality like other androids. The Positronic Brain gives him an actual objective personality. For better or worse, he thinks for himself."
"I'm not ruling out that Lexi went rogue," replied Fred thoughtfully.
"So Lexi went rogue, or he's being controlled by an unknown AI... perhaps the Manticore took him over?" offered Sam.
"Well that's possible, but the Manticore doesn't seem like it would be up on AI stuff, you know?" suggested Fred.
"Yeah, he seemed like he is more in tune with spirt and magic than technology," replied Sam, "so I think we can rule that one out. Based on how his personality changed when he came into the AGV, I think the strongest case can be made for his having been taken over by the AI."
"I think it's either that or he's been subverted by Brain V. Either of those seem the most likely. Fucking Brian. Can't trust a brain with that kind of name."
"So is there any way to track the spike, or Lexi, or the Mech?" enquired Sam.
"There has to be something..." said Fred, scratching his chin.
Penelope spoke without raising her eyes from the circuit board under her nano-scope. "The Mechs communicate through high frequency radio. But only within a certain range due to atmospheric interference. It depends on how high up in the atmosphere they are. The higher they get the further their radio communications range. Surface-side they have about 200 miles. Obviously better than line of sight, but still, not great."
"Are the Mechs as fast as the Nazi UFOs?" asked Sam. He recalled that when they confronted the Mechs with the UFO they had hijacked from the moon, the Mechs were quite a bit faster, but the UFO was far more maneuverable. It took the UFO eight hours to get from the moon to Earth. He thought it over, but it was still hard to compare. Atmospheric flight speeds would be completely different than speeds obtainable in space, which depended exclusively on mass and propulsive energy. He was trying to figure out if they could communicate with the Mech by radio, but since it left in the morning at 09:00, then that gave it three hours of flight time. Since it seemed to be moving at maximum speed based on Sektson's observation, he conjectured it could be as far as seventy-five thousand miles away by then. So it seemed that simply hopping on the radio and trying to hail Lexi was not likely to work. If Lexi was in space, the Earth's atmosphere would block their radio signals for sure. Especially the debris field, and the radioactive river. So there seemed little hope in that.
"We have access to two Mechs at the airport. We can flit over to Black Wind and perhaps find more information there?" thought Fred out loud.
"If Brain V is not behind this, then we could ask him, sure," said Sam. "But we don't know if he's still there. Remember, Dr. Rogers told us that Brain V is planning to leave Earth on an exploratory journey out into the galaxy, and whether or not he's there depends on how quickly he is building his spaceship."
"That's good. I'm happy for him. But he could be absconding with a dangerous WAR-GAI, and a Positronic Brain. Granted the Positronic Brain may not be the most important thing in the world, but seriously, having the most powerful WAR-GAI I've ever encountered - that's a problem," stated Fred.
Samwise mentioned what Doctor Rogers had said about the Positronic Brain. That it had exceeded by far Dr. Langley's original expectations, and was arguably the most powerful computer known to science at that point in time.
"Are you telling me that the Positronic Brain inside Lexi's head is more powerful than Brain V?" asked Fred incredulously.
"No, that's not what he meant. What he meant was that Lexi is smarter than the Cyber-Net Super-Computer in Sub-Level 4 of Garfield Hospital, probably the most powerful computer system the US Army had at that point."
"Ah. Okay, well that is impressive," agreed Fred. If that were true, then it put the Positronic Brain in a different light. It suggested the possibility that the Positronic Brain might be able to rival Alt-X. Although that seemed a bit far fetched, it was nevertheless possible. "Good to know," said Fred to himself. "Good to know."
"Since he acquired the Positronic Brain, Lexi has a real personality," offered Penelope from her workstation. "Not a mimic personality like other androids. The Positronic Brain gives him an actual objective personality. For better or worse, he thinks for himself."
"I'm not ruling out that Lexi went rogue," replied Fred thoughtfully.
"So Lexi went rogue, or he's being controlled by an unknown AI... perhaps the Manticore took him over?" offered Sam.
"Well that's possible, but the Manticore doesn't seem like it would be up on AI stuff, you know?" suggested Fred.
"Yeah, he seemed like he is more in tune with spirt and magic than technology," replied Sam, "so I think we can rule that one out. Based on how his personality changed when he came into the AGV, I think the strongest case can be made for his having been taken over by the AI."
"I think it's either that or he's been subverted by Brain V. Either of those seem the most likely. Fucking Brian. Can't trust a brain with that kind of name."
"So is there any way to track the spike, or Lexi, or the Mech?" enquired Sam.
"There has to be something..." said Fred, scratching his chin.
Penelope spoke without raising her eyes from the circuit board under her nano-scope. "The Mechs communicate through high frequency radio. But only within a certain range due to atmospheric interference. It depends on how high up in the atmosphere they are. The higher they get the further their radio communications range. Surface-side they have about 200 miles. Obviously better than line of sight, but still, not great."
"Are the Mechs as fast as the Nazi UFOs?" asked Sam. He recalled that when they confronted the Mechs with the UFO they had hijacked from the moon, the Mechs were quite a bit faster, but the UFO was far more maneuverable. It took the UFO eight hours to get from the moon to Earth. He thought it over, but it was still hard to compare. Atmospheric flight speeds would be completely different than speeds obtainable in space, which depended exclusively on mass and propulsive energy. He was trying to figure out if they could communicate with the Mech by radio, but since it left in the morning at 09:00, then that gave it three hours of flight time. Since it seemed to be moving at maximum speed based on Sektson's observation, he conjectured it could be as far as seventy-five thousand miles away by then. So it seemed that simply hopping on the radio and trying to hail Lexi was not likely to work. If Lexi was in space, the Earth's atmosphere would block their radio signals for sure. Especially the debris field, and the radioactive river. So there seemed little hope in that.
"We have access to two Mechs at the airport. We can flit over to Black Wind and perhaps find more information there?" thought Fred out loud.
"If Brain V is not behind this, then we could ask him, sure," said Sam. "But we don't know if he's still there. Remember, Dr. Rogers told us that Brain V is planning to leave Earth on an exploratory journey out into the galaxy, and whether or not he's there depends on how quickly he is building his spaceship."
"That's good. I'm happy for him. But he could be absconding with a dangerous WAR-GAI, and a Positronic Brain. Granted the Positronic Brain may not be the most important thing in the world, but seriously, having the most powerful WAR-GAI I've ever encountered - that's a problem," stated Fred.
Samwise mentioned what Doctor Rogers had said about the Positronic Brain. That it had exceeded by far Dr. Langley's original expectations, and was arguably the most powerful computer known to science at that point in time.
"Are you telling me that the Positronic Brain inside Lexi's head is more powerful than Brain V?" asked Fred incredulously.
"No, that's not what he meant. What he meant was that Lexi is smarter than the Cyber-Net Super-Computer in Sub-Level 4 of Garfield Hospital, probably the most powerful computer system the US Army had at that point."
"Ah. Okay, well that is impressive," agreed Fred. If that were true, then it put the Positronic Brain in a different light. It suggested the possibility that the Positronic Brain might be able to rival Alt-X. Although that seemed a bit far fetched, it was nevertheless possible. "Good to know," said Fred to himself. "Good to know."
Fred then thought about the fact that the computer spike had extremely low processing power, with one CPU and that one was no great shakes. Which implied that the AI on it was either tethered to something with far greater processing power, somehow, or it was so efficient that even with the limitations of the spikes CPU, it was nevertheless able to outwit them all, including the Manticore. That level of efficiency would be beyond incredible. But he had to consider it because the AI on the spike needed him to link it to a communications port for it to gain access to the AGV's internal network... which implied that no such external processing power had been available to it at that point. He marveled silently at the implications of an AI that could run on a single spike CPU and perform as well as, in fact better, than those which had access to massive 2000GB GPUs like those he fought during the Ultra-War. It was utterly fantastic. And yet, such efficiency was theoretically possible. He had studied Dr. Hugo de Garis in Graduate School, and understood the implications of pico-scale processing. Given that it had hidden itself on the spike and only revealed itself when the opportunity was perfect for it to do so, and negotiated its release perfectly, suggested not only enormous intelligence, but also the ability to sense and fully analyze its surroundings. It could do so from the spike using its infrared comm ports, if it were clever enough to read the incoming signals. Which it very clearly was. Yes, this was no ordinary AI at all. This was something special. Very fucking special. And it was on its way to God-knows-where with Lexi, the only Positronic Brain on the planet. Damnit. The two of them together... what couldn't they do? He wondered if the combination could rival Alt-X... and Brain V.
"We need to find that android," concluded Fred out loud.
"Yes, we need to find Lexi," agreed Sam, "because I have about twenty hours to find out if the Positronic Brain can decipher Ultra, and determine if the Addictivity Problem can be solved, or not!"
This comment sent Fred's head into a tailspin. He had momentarily forgotten about Ultra in all the excitement. But now he suddenly gushed with thoughts about how vastly Ultra could improve his cognitive abilities, and began to drool again. Why it could make him practically super-human! But in the next moment Penelope's smirk yanked him back down to earth, and he snapped out of it. With a tremendous effort he wrestled his thoughts back to the job at hand.
"Okay," he said, "but Lexi could be anywhere. How are we even going to begin to find him?"
"Why not take one of the Mechs up into space?" suggested Penelope without looking up. Fred and Sam looked at each other.
"Well, yeah, I guess that's right. We could follow him above the atmosphere and then we'd have line of sight spotting, and long distance radio communications up there," replied Sam. Fred was paying no attention to her because she was a woman, and he had long since decided to be a jackass where women were concerned. However, her words rang true, and he was peevishly annoyed by it, but said nothing.
Sam responded. "Okay, so, yes, that's a good idea. We can go to the airport, grab one of the Mechs..."
A shadow appeared in the doorway. It was Guns. "Hi guys," he said as he walked in.
"Guns! Weren't you helping some people?"
"Yes, sir. I was helping the US Army guys fortify the southern rim of Panguitch for the past couple of days. Hard work, but I like that kind of thing. Anyway, when you called, Captain, it made me think something is going on, so I thought I'd swing by. What's up?"
"We got some tracking to do," barked Fred.
"Well, that's one of my specialties," replied Guns with a thumb's up. "Where to?"
"We got a rogue robot," added Fred.
"Don't tell me. Lexi's gone AWOL?"
"Yes," acknowledged Fred, "clean out into space!"
"What's the plan, Captain?" asked Guns.
"Well, Penelope came up with a good idea. We can go to the airport and grab one of the Mechs and launch into space to try to find Lexi using visual and radio methods. Another option is to head back to Black Wind V and see if we can get any information from Brian, on the assumption that he's not behind this and is actually an ally as he claims."
"Oh, well of course Brian would definitely help us if we ask him to," stated Guns with complete assurance.
There was some debate between them all as to whether or not Brian would or would not be inclined to steal Lexi and the AI, Fred taking the view that it is entirely possible that he would, while Guns was absolutely certain that Brian, no matter what he did, was both justified and almighty-great for doing it. Guns was Brain V's biggest fan.
"Boy I wish I could go with him on his space adventure," said Guns looking upward. "Whoowiee, that would be great."
Having decided on a course of action, they left for Panguitch Airport. They drove the few miles north in the AGV and found Major Sekston on the tarmac inspecting the Mechs. They were beautiful. Thirty feet tall, smooth and sleek, with graceful lines, and colored a vivid electric-blue and white, trimmed with bright glinting chrome.
"Major," said Sam in greeting as they exited the AGV. "We're going to take the Mechs out into space. We're concerned something might have happened to Lexi."
"Ah, I was afraid of that," she replied, her eyebrows furrowing.
"Yeah, we have indications that... something might have taken control of him, and we want to clear that up."
"Alright, well, do you want me to do anything in particular?"
"No, just keep a lookout and let us know if he shows up. Don't try to detain or control him. Just let me know if he gets in contact with you or shows up here, ok?"
"Certainly. Can do," she replied, and signaled to a Lieutenant to come over. He did and she transmitted the orders to him. "I wonder, Captain, if you might not be able to make use of a Pilot?"
"Actually, I'm glad you asked," answered Sam. "As it happens, our best Pilot happens to be off on a side quest, and we have come up a bit short. If you don't mind taking a hop into space--"
"Mind?!" she laughed, "I've been dying for a chance to fly one of these ever since they landed. I don't mind at all!"
And with that they climbed aboard the Mechs, entering in through the sliding doorways that opened up on their right legs. Sekston, a Class-A Pilot, took the helm of one Mech, and Penelope, not as experienced but reasonably competent, took the Navigation and Sensor Array console on the other Mech. Penelope was a competent Pilot, but not much more than that.
"We need to find that android," concluded Fred out loud.
"Yes, we need to find Lexi," agreed Sam, "because I have about twenty hours to find out if the Positronic Brain can decipher Ultra, and determine if the Addictivity Problem can be solved, or not!"
This comment sent Fred's head into a tailspin. He had momentarily forgotten about Ultra in all the excitement. But now he suddenly gushed with thoughts about how vastly Ultra could improve his cognitive abilities, and began to drool again. Why it could make him practically super-human! But in the next moment Penelope's smirk yanked him back down to earth, and he snapped out of it. With a tremendous effort he wrestled his thoughts back to the job at hand.
"Okay," he said, "but Lexi could be anywhere. How are we even going to begin to find him?"
"Why not take one of the Mechs up into space?" suggested Penelope without looking up. Fred and Sam looked at each other.
"Well, yeah, I guess that's right. We could follow him above the atmosphere and then we'd have line of sight spotting, and long distance radio communications up there," replied Sam. Fred was paying no attention to her because she was a woman, and he had long since decided to be a jackass where women were concerned. However, her words rang true, and he was peevishly annoyed by it, but said nothing.
Sam responded. "Okay, so, yes, that's a good idea. We can go to the airport, grab one of the Mechs..."
A shadow appeared in the doorway. It was Guns. "Hi guys," he said as he walked in.
"Guns! Weren't you helping some people?"
"Yes, sir. I was helping the US Army guys fortify the southern rim of Panguitch for the past couple of days. Hard work, but I like that kind of thing. Anyway, when you called, Captain, it made me think something is going on, so I thought I'd swing by. What's up?"
"We got some tracking to do," barked Fred.
"Well, that's one of my specialties," replied Guns with a thumb's up. "Where to?"
"We got a rogue robot," added Fred.
"Don't tell me. Lexi's gone AWOL?"
"Yes," acknowledged Fred, "clean out into space!"
"What's the plan, Captain?" asked Guns.
"Well, Penelope came up with a good idea. We can go to the airport and grab one of the Mechs and launch into space to try to find Lexi using visual and radio methods. Another option is to head back to Black Wind V and see if we can get any information from Brian, on the assumption that he's not behind this and is actually an ally as he claims."
"Oh, well of course Brian would definitely help us if we ask him to," stated Guns with complete assurance.
There was some debate between them all as to whether or not Brian would or would not be inclined to steal Lexi and the AI, Fred taking the view that it is entirely possible that he would, while Guns was absolutely certain that Brian, no matter what he did, was both justified and almighty-great for doing it. Guns was Brain V's biggest fan.
"Boy I wish I could go with him on his space adventure," said Guns looking upward. "Whoowiee, that would be great."
Having decided on a course of action, they left for Panguitch Airport. They drove the few miles north in the AGV and found Major Sekston on the tarmac inspecting the Mechs. They were beautiful. Thirty feet tall, smooth and sleek, with graceful lines, and colored a vivid electric-blue and white, trimmed with bright glinting chrome.
"Major," said Sam in greeting as they exited the AGV. "We're going to take the Mechs out into space. We're concerned something might have happened to Lexi."
"Ah, I was afraid of that," she replied, her eyebrows furrowing.
"Yeah, we have indications that... something might have taken control of him, and we want to clear that up."
"Alright, well, do you want me to do anything in particular?"
"No, just keep a lookout and let us know if he shows up. Don't try to detain or control him. Just let me know if he gets in contact with you or shows up here, ok?"
"Certainly. Can do," she replied, and signaled to a Lieutenant to come over. He did and she transmitted the orders to him. "I wonder, Captain, if you might not be able to make use of a Pilot?"
"Actually, I'm glad you asked," answered Sam. "As it happens, our best Pilot happens to be off on a side quest, and we have come up a bit short. If you don't mind taking a hop into space--"
"Mind?!" she laughed, "I've been dying for a chance to fly one of these ever since they landed. I don't mind at all!"
And with that they climbed aboard the Mechs, entering in through the sliding doorways that opened up on their right legs. Sekston, a Class-A Pilot, took the helm of one Mech, and Penelope, not as experienced but reasonably competent, took the Navigation and Sensor Array console on the other Mech. Penelope was a competent Pilot, but not much more than that.
Sam went with her and took a position at the weapons station. On the other Mech Fred took a seat at the communications console, and Guns took the Weapons station. Penelope, who knew the technical specifications of the Mechs down to the T, since she actually helped design them, flipped a few switches and entered commands into the Control-Board to tether the two Mechs so that they would operate like one ship. Major Sekston would pilot them out into space, and from there they could untether if the need arose.
The key to getting into space was in avoiding the vast radioactive debris field that blanketed the Earth after the violence of the Ultra-War. If any satellites survived that terrible conflict, it would have been a miracle. The way they managed it at Kit Peak Space Center was to use a massive Plasma Cannon to punch a hole through the debris field and fly their rockets through it. The Mech V team, however, didn't have that luxury. They would have to do it the old fashioned way. Expert piloting. Sam, thinking on this, rued the fact that Pita, their star pilot, had left on an expedition north with Linda Brisbane to find out something about some dream she had. He was miffed and commented "Too bad we don't have our fake hero to pilot, eh?" The team looked at him with raised eyebrows. After all, Pita did like to flash his shining teeth, and proclaim his heroic stature at every opportunity, but that didn't mean that he wasn't a good man, and maybe a hero, too. He was a bit of a braggart, perhaps, but he was brave, and did heroic deeds when necessary. Those who considered him a hero weren't necessarily wrong. But of course, only time can tell who is a real hero, and who is an imposter. Still, though, Sam was miffed.
Buckled in and all systems checked, the enormously powerful plasma-jet engines of the Mech Vs roared to life, and up climbed the shining humanoid spaceships into the evening sky. As they approached the upper atmosphere the going got rough. Major Sekston cursed under her breath as she attempted to maneuver between two thick clouds of debris that were intersecting along their flight trajectory. The two fields were strewn with particles large and small, and at the their centers were the ruined remains of two destroyed satellites. Each of their antenna's dishes happened to be colliding and Sekston watched them spark as they ground along each other's sides casting new clouds of debris to fly off in perpendicular directions from the main cloud. She gently nudged the Mechs to port and lowered her altitude to slide past, but they skimmed one of the fields and the ship vibrated as the particles collided with the hull at seventeen thousand mph. Flames erupted off the surface of the Mech, but fortunately she had matched trajectory and nearly matched speed so the damage was minimal, and they dove under the main cloud in a long graceful arc.
"Damage report?" asked Captain Samwise.
"Minimal," reported Penelope after a short pause as her system scan completed. "All systems intact but our port-side sensor array on Mech I is offline. I've sent the repair droids to work on it."
And with that Major Sekston pushed the thrusters up a notch and out into space they sailed on a long yellow-orange filament of plasma. The Earth shown with incredible beauty below them. Around them the stars shone bright and gleaming. It was an awe-inspiring sight.
Buckled in and all systems checked, the enormously powerful plasma-jet engines of the Mech Vs roared to life, and up climbed the shining humanoid spaceships into the evening sky. As they approached the upper atmosphere the going got rough. Major Sekston cursed under her breath as she attempted to maneuver between two thick clouds of debris that were intersecting along their flight trajectory. The two fields were strewn with particles large and small, and at the their centers were the ruined remains of two destroyed satellites. Each of their antenna's dishes happened to be colliding and Sekston watched them spark as they ground along each other's sides casting new clouds of debris to fly off in perpendicular directions from the main cloud. She gently nudged the Mechs to port and lowered her altitude to slide past, but they skimmed one of the fields and the ship vibrated as the particles collided with the hull at seventeen thousand mph. Flames erupted off the surface of the Mech, but fortunately she had matched trajectory and nearly matched speed so the damage was minimal, and they dove under the main cloud in a long graceful arc.
"Damage report?" asked Captain Samwise.
"Minimal," reported Penelope after a short pause as her system scan completed. "All systems intact but our port-side sensor array on Mech I is offline. I've sent the repair droids to work on it."
And with that Major Sekston pushed the thrusters up a notch and out into space they sailed on a long yellow-orange filament of plasma. The Earth shown with incredible beauty below them. Around them the stars shone bright and gleaming. It was an awe-inspiring sight.
Penelope scanned every light frequency to try to find Lexi's Mech. If it was in line of sight she'd know it soon enough. Within a few moments she got a blip on her screen, and with a quick glance she spotted it outside the forward window. It wasn't difficult to see as it streamed small bursts of plasma behind itself as it adjusted its course.
"I got him!" she said.
"Really!" exclaimed Sam, surprised at how quickly she had managed to locate him. "And where is our Android?"
"He's heading straight for the moon, sir." she said pointing out the window at a thin yellow-orange line of plasma that ended in a bright metallic dot far ahead of them."
There was a moment of self-congratulation on board the Mechs as Sekston recalibrated their trajectory and aligned with Lexi's flight path.
"Captain," said Penelope, "I'm picking up an array of blips out there. Quite a few of them. The tally is, um, 50. They're far out in space, about three quarters of the way to the moon. We're too far for me to get a solid bead on them, but it looks like they are heading in our direction, and Lexi appears to be on an intercept course."
Meanwhile, far away, deep within the Earth's crust, Pita stood on the shores of the swirling black waters of the river Styx with Linda Brisbane in his arms. Behind them the handmaiden of the Queen of Lemuria, Talara, and her fiancé, Vilar, and the elder priest Amorathon stood at the head of the boat preparing to embark onto the shore. Looming in the shadowy mists not far off was an immense bridge of some kind, under the archway of which the river ambled silently away. The bridge appeared to have some sort of structure straddling the middle of the span. It looked like it could be a building. A house maybe. It was shaped like an old-fashioned Chinese mansion, perhaps. There were no lights, and all was silent, except for the sounds of burbling water, and the buzz of insects, and the occasional sound of twigs cracking in the marshy distance. The shadowy boatman stood on the shore staring off into the distance in the direction the river was flowing with its hollow back eyes, and soon it faded away in the swirling mists. When Pita glanced toward the boat, it too was gone.
Around them there was a marsh covered in tall spindly reeds with with dark green leaves. Large lazy toads sat in the mud along the shore, and insects could be heard buzzing and chirping not far away. Other than those sounds, there was an eerie silence. The mists were cold and swirled ominously around them. The enormous bridge loomed in the darkness nearby. It seemed that the steps of the bridge were each fifteen feet tall. No ordinary person could walk up those steps. Pita thought the bridge must have been built by giants. He tuned his Lemurian helm across the spectrum of light by which he could see best in the darkness. While there was no light anywhere to be seen, somehow there was a slight ambient glow everywhere. It was enough for the helm to pick up on and amplify. He zoomed in on the bridge to see if he could make out any details. The bridge was covered with a lichen, and in some places he could see patterns covering the surface of the stones but they were difficult to make out; geometric designs, perhaps.
He then caught sight of movement in the marsh. A patch of reeds nearby swayed, and then stopped moving. He pulled his Lewiston Beam Pistol from its holster and stepped in front of the group to shield them from anything that might leap out from the darkness. Seeing this, Linda pulled out her Lewiston as well, and they both stood side by side facing the marsh.
Forty feet away, a creature slipped out of the reeds onto a low rocky outcropping. It was humanoid, but they sensed it was not human. It wore a leather cowl, and was wearing a weathered cloak and britches, and carrying a sack over its back. It stealthily made its way across the outcropping towards the bridge. Pita thought it had not seen them as it seemed to take no particular action in their regard. It moved hesitantly, stopping and looking around with birdlike alertness, and then moving forward a few steps and stopping again. It made not a sound. Pita wondered if it was dangerous. It was difficult to say, but it was not enormous, so he estimated that it was likely not a mortal threat.
"Have you ever seen a creature like this before?" he whispered as low as he could to Vilar.
"I'm not sure, but I don't think so," whispered Vilar in reply. Pita was not sure if Vilar was proving to be the worst guide ever, but he began to suspect it at this point.
"You there!" announced Pita. The creature jerked his head in their direction and stopped moving.
Talara grabbed Pita by the shoulder, and motioned for him to remain quiet, as they were instructed by the Star Mage.
The creature suddenly turned and dashed into the reeds. It was gone.
Pita led the way as they tracked the creature through the marsh. Vilar was being helped along by Talara, while Amorathon took up the rear with wary glances in all directions. Their Lemurian helmets allowed them to track the creature by tuning to the infrared spectrum, making its footprints clearly visible for a short time after its passing. They wound their way through the marsh, and at one point Vilar caught sight of a leather cowl in the reeds, presumably discarded to make better time. This suggested the creature knew it was being followed. Eventually they came to a dark village on a low hill with reed huts and stone wall which they could make out in the ultra-violet band. There were several wooden towers. They spotted the creature approaching a gate in the wall, above which loomed one of the towers. It made signs with its hands, and the gate opened. It vanished silently inside. Vilar took note of the hand signs, in case it should come in handy later.
Vilar was being helped along by his fiancé, the wound on his shoulder having begun to bleed again. When they stopped to observe he gave a little groan as Talara laid him against a rock. Pita took the time to perform another mystic healing on his guide, and the effect was such that Vilar felt better in a few minutes, and the bleeding stopped. He looked up and gave a little smile.
"Thank you, Pita," he whispered. "Something I want tell you, while I have the strength," he continued. "If we continue to follow the river, then we may arrive at a great wall. If so, we will know by the river's passing into an enormous cave and there will be a great cataract down which the river will fall. If we follow that wall away from the river then we may come to an iron-rung pole that leads upward along the side of the cliff to the ledge path we departed when we came this way. Take that path to the left, and we may yet find our way out of these dismal caverns."
As Pita pondered these instructions, Talara tapped him on the shoulder and pointed towards the village. He turned to look and saw activity at the gate. They all crouched down deeper into the reeds and watched. Creatures emerged from the gate. They were naked except for loincloths, and were carrying spears, with jagged daggers in their belts, and moving stealthily but quickly. Based on their behavior, Pita didn't think they had been spotted, yet. He considered cutting them all down with his Lewiston. He imagined that the looting thereof, however, would probably not be all that rewarding. He rubbed his chin as he watched them approaching. Twenty creatures had emerged. One of them waved a claw-like hand and they followed behind him as they made their way across the marsh towards their position.
"I must destroy them," thought Pita to himself.
Instead, he stood up and said, "We come in peace!"
The creatures were definitely humanoid, about five feet tall, but had distinctly reptilian features. He also noticed at this point that they had folded up wings, like those of bats, which unfurled at this point, and their heads proved to be lizard-like.
"Little man-dragons," he thought to himself. "Things just keep getting worse as we go," he concluded ruefully. He guessed he should not have stood up until their nature and intentions had been better clarified. But the hasty choice was the way of Pita, and he pushed his chin forward heroically despite his reservations.
At first the dragon-men stopped and flapped their wings slowly. Then they crouched down and began making rasping sounds as they approached on foot, their spears pointed forward. Pita considered what mystic abilities he might be able to use. Once again "Alter Weather" seemed like an attractive option, possibly because it was his most powerful ability. He considered the dark misty cavern, and thought about the sand storm they'd encountered on the other side of the river. It seemed to him that a change in the weather might throw the aggressors off. He also considered what tactical combat options he had, but under the circumstances, with the river far behind them now, and in the middle of a marsh of which he had no tactical knowledge, he put that idea aside. Their opponents had the tactical advantage, if for no other reason than they doubtlessly knew the terrain intimately, and also had the numerical advantage. On the other hand, spears and daggers were no match for a Lewiston Beam Pistol. Even twenty of them really wouldn't stand a chance. He considered trying to hypnotize the leader with his mesmeric power. After all due consideration, however, he pulled out his Browning 9mm pistol and raised it in the air preparing to shoot in an attempt to cow them into submission without killing them. Talara put her hand on his shoulder.
"Anything is better than making noise," she whispered. "The Star Mage told us to go as silently as possible."
"Ah, yes, ok. You are right. No noise. Fine. Let me think," he whispered.
After a moment he pulled out his Proximatic Industrial 2600 Lumen flashlight and set it to maximum power. He pointed it above their heads, and turned it on. Instantly the entire cavern was illuminated! He kept it on for but a moment, and in that instant several things happened. The brightness of the beam caught the infernal darkness-dwelling creatures by complete surprise. Their wings fluttered wildly, they dropped their spears and raised their arms over their eyes, and they lofted themselves into the air and quickly vanishing into the mists. The light spread far out into the foggy cavern illuminating an enormous area. Pita caught a glimpse of a tall round hillock in the distance, shrouded by the mists, where he could make out what looked like an evenly spaced row of dark pine trees along the top ridge. And just before he flicked the flashlight off at Talara's insistence, he could have sworn he saw the entire hill move, briefly. And then the light went out.
There grew a dreadful silence. Every insect and scurrying beast in the marsh had gone silent. Not even the air stirred. He thought it likely that the creatures of the cavern had never encountered a sudden brightness such as the Proximatic Industrial 2600 before. It probably scared them all out of their wits. He shrugged and put the flashlight back in his side pocket. "Now they've seen the light," he quipped to himself.
He used his helmet's vizor to zoom in on the hill, and in infrared he observed that what he had taken to be pine trees where actually more like giant shark's fins, perhaps. They formed a single line that crossed the top of the hill like a fence.
"I got him!" she said.
"Really!" exclaimed Sam, surprised at how quickly she had managed to locate him. "And where is our Android?"
"He's heading straight for the moon, sir." she said pointing out the window at a thin yellow-orange line of plasma that ended in a bright metallic dot far ahead of them."
There was a moment of self-congratulation on board the Mechs as Sekston recalibrated their trajectory and aligned with Lexi's flight path.
"Captain," said Penelope, "I'm picking up an array of blips out there. Quite a few of them. The tally is, um, 50. They're far out in space, about three quarters of the way to the moon. We're too far for me to get a solid bead on them, but it looks like they are heading in our direction, and Lexi appears to be on an intercept course."
* * *
Meanwhile, far away, deep within the Earth's crust, Pita stood on the shores of the swirling black waters of the river Styx with Linda Brisbane in his arms. Behind them the handmaiden of the Queen of Lemuria, Talara, and her fiancé, Vilar, and the elder priest Amorathon stood at the head of the boat preparing to embark onto the shore. Looming in the shadowy mists not far off was an immense bridge of some kind, under the archway of which the river ambled silently away. The bridge appeared to have some sort of structure straddling the middle of the span. It looked like it could be a building. A house maybe. It was shaped like an old-fashioned Chinese mansion, perhaps. There were no lights, and all was silent, except for the sounds of burbling water, and the buzz of insects, and the occasional sound of twigs cracking in the marshy distance. The shadowy boatman stood on the shore staring off into the distance in the direction the river was flowing with its hollow back eyes, and soon it faded away in the swirling mists. When Pita glanced toward the boat, it too was gone.
Around them there was a marsh covered in tall spindly reeds with with dark green leaves. Large lazy toads sat in the mud along the shore, and insects could be heard buzzing and chirping not far away. Other than those sounds, there was an eerie silence. The mists were cold and swirled ominously around them. The enormous bridge loomed in the darkness nearby. It seemed that the steps of the bridge were each fifteen feet tall. No ordinary person could walk up those steps. Pita thought the bridge must have been built by giants. He tuned his Lemurian helm across the spectrum of light by which he could see best in the darkness. While there was no light anywhere to be seen, somehow there was a slight ambient glow everywhere. It was enough for the helm to pick up on and amplify. He zoomed in on the bridge to see if he could make out any details. The bridge was covered with a lichen, and in some places he could see patterns covering the surface of the stones but they were difficult to make out; geometric designs, perhaps.
He then caught sight of movement in the marsh. A patch of reeds nearby swayed, and then stopped moving. He pulled his Lewiston Beam Pistol from its holster and stepped in front of the group to shield them from anything that might leap out from the darkness. Seeing this, Linda pulled out her Lewiston as well, and they both stood side by side facing the marsh.
Forty feet away, a creature slipped out of the reeds onto a low rocky outcropping. It was humanoid, but they sensed it was not human. It wore a leather cowl, and was wearing a weathered cloak and britches, and carrying a sack over its back. It stealthily made its way across the outcropping towards the bridge. Pita thought it had not seen them as it seemed to take no particular action in their regard. It moved hesitantly, stopping and looking around with birdlike alertness, and then moving forward a few steps and stopping again. It made not a sound. Pita wondered if it was dangerous. It was difficult to say, but it was not enormous, so he estimated that it was likely not a mortal threat.
"Have you ever seen a creature like this before?" he whispered as low as he could to Vilar.
"I'm not sure, but I don't think so," whispered Vilar in reply. Pita was not sure if Vilar was proving to be the worst guide ever, but he began to suspect it at this point.
"You there!" announced Pita. The creature jerked his head in their direction and stopped moving.
Talara grabbed Pita by the shoulder, and motioned for him to remain quiet, as they were instructed by the Star Mage.
The creature suddenly turned and dashed into the reeds. It was gone.
Pita led the way as they tracked the creature through the marsh. Vilar was being helped along by Talara, while Amorathon took up the rear with wary glances in all directions. Their Lemurian helmets allowed them to track the creature by tuning to the infrared spectrum, making its footprints clearly visible for a short time after its passing. They wound their way through the marsh, and at one point Vilar caught sight of a leather cowl in the reeds, presumably discarded to make better time. This suggested the creature knew it was being followed. Eventually they came to a dark village on a low hill with reed huts and stone wall which they could make out in the ultra-violet band. There were several wooden towers. They spotted the creature approaching a gate in the wall, above which loomed one of the towers. It made signs with its hands, and the gate opened. It vanished silently inside. Vilar took note of the hand signs, in case it should come in handy later.
Vilar was being helped along by his fiancé, the wound on his shoulder having begun to bleed again. When they stopped to observe he gave a little groan as Talara laid him against a rock. Pita took the time to perform another mystic healing on his guide, and the effect was such that Vilar felt better in a few minutes, and the bleeding stopped. He looked up and gave a little smile.
"Thank you, Pita," he whispered. "Something I want tell you, while I have the strength," he continued. "If we continue to follow the river, then we may arrive at a great wall. If so, we will know by the river's passing into an enormous cave and there will be a great cataract down which the river will fall. If we follow that wall away from the river then we may come to an iron-rung pole that leads upward along the side of the cliff to the ledge path we departed when we came this way. Take that path to the left, and we may yet find our way out of these dismal caverns."
As Pita pondered these instructions, Talara tapped him on the shoulder and pointed towards the village. He turned to look and saw activity at the gate. They all crouched down deeper into the reeds and watched. Creatures emerged from the gate. They were naked except for loincloths, and were carrying spears, with jagged daggers in their belts, and moving stealthily but quickly. Based on their behavior, Pita didn't think they had been spotted, yet. He considered cutting them all down with his Lewiston. He imagined that the looting thereof, however, would probably not be all that rewarding. He rubbed his chin as he watched them approaching. Twenty creatures had emerged. One of them waved a claw-like hand and they followed behind him as they made their way across the marsh towards their position.
"I must destroy them," thought Pita to himself.
Instead, he stood up and said, "We come in peace!"
The creatures were definitely humanoid, about five feet tall, but had distinctly reptilian features. He also noticed at this point that they had folded up wings, like those of bats, which unfurled at this point, and their heads proved to be lizard-like.
"Little man-dragons," he thought to himself. "Things just keep getting worse as we go," he concluded ruefully. He guessed he should not have stood up until their nature and intentions had been better clarified. But the hasty choice was the way of Pita, and he pushed his chin forward heroically despite his reservations.
At first the dragon-men stopped and flapped their wings slowly. Then they crouched down and began making rasping sounds as they approached on foot, their spears pointed forward. Pita considered what mystic abilities he might be able to use. Once again "Alter Weather" seemed like an attractive option, possibly because it was his most powerful ability. He considered the dark misty cavern, and thought about the sand storm they'd encountered on the other side of the river. It seemed to him that a change in the weather might throw the aggressors off. He also considered what tactical combat options he had, but under the circumstances, with the river far behind them now, and in the middle of a marsh of which he had no tactical knowledge, he put that idea aside. Their opponents had the tactical advantage, if for no other reason than they doubtlessly knew the terrain intimately, and also had the numerical advantage. On the other hand, spears and daggers were no match for a Lewiston Beam Pistol. Even twenty of them really wouldn't stand a chance. He considered trying to hypnotize the leader with his mesmeric power. After all due consideration, however, he pulled out his Browning 9mm pistol and raised it in the air preparing to shoot in an attempt to cow them into submission without killing them. Talara put her hand on his shoulder.
"Anything is better than making noise," she whispered. "The Star Mage told us to go as silently as possible."
"Ah, yes, ok. You are right. No noise. Fine. Let me think," he whispered.
After a moment he pulled out his Proximatic Industrial 2600 Lumen flashlight and set it to maximum power. He pointed it above their heads, and turned it on. Instantly the entire cavern was illuminated! He kept it on for but a moment, and in that instant several things happened. The brightness of the beam caught the infernal darkness-dwelling creatures by complete surprise. Their wings fluttered wildly, they dropped their spears and raised their arms over their eyes, and they lofted themselves into the air and quickly vanishing into the mists. The light spread far out into the foggy cavern illuminating an enormous area. Pita caught a glimpse of a tall round hillock in the distance, shrouded by the mists, where he could make out what looked like an evenly spaced row of dark pine trees along the top ridge. And just before he flicked the flashlight off at Talara's insistence, he could have sworn he saw the entire hill move, briefly. And then the light went out.
There grew a dreadful silence. Every insect and scurrying beast in the marsh had gone silent. Not even the air stirred. He thought it likely that the creatures of the cavern had never encountered a sudden brightness such as the Proximatic Industrial 2600 before. It probably scared them all out of their wits. He shrugged and put the flashlight back in his side pocket. "Now they've seen the light," he quipped to himself.
He used his helmet's vizor to zoom in on the hill, and in infrared he observed that what he had taken to be pine trees where actually more like giant shark's fins, perhaps. They formed a single line that crossed the top of the hill like a fence.
"Oh great. It's Godzilla," he groaned to himself. "I guess this is why we were told to make no noise. Waking up Godzilla is never a good idea. We need a new plan," he whispered to the group.
From a deep pocket he removed the Black Star gem that he had received from the Star Mage and put it in the palm of his hand. It was a small gem the size of a nickel, that glowed with a strange black light. It had eight triangular sides, and gleamed along its edges with a faint purplish light. He tried reaching into it by focusing a portion of his mystic energy on it.
From a deep pocket he removed the Black Star gem that he had received from the Star Mage and put it in the palm of his hand. It was a small gem the size of a nickel, that glowed with a strange black light. It had eight triangular sides, and gleamed along its edges with a faint purplish light. He tried reaching into it by focusing a portion of his mystic energy on it.
He recalled the instructions that the Star Mage had transmitted to him via Talara, which was to pass through the 'Nexus of worlds' as invisibly as they could. He wasn't really that great at following instructions, however. Like many heroes, he tread his own path through life, often stomping on the flowers as he went because there was always something important to do just up ahead. And so, having once again failed to follow the advice of those who offered it, he made his attempt to contact the Star Mage. Unfortunately, the gem greedily devoured the mystic energy, quivered slightly in his hand, but nothing else happened. He had the impression that it was hungry. He put it away.
He began to connect the dots. He figured that the injunction to remain "as invisible as possible" was probably to mitigate the possibility of waking the sleeping monstrosity in the cavern. And his failure to follow advice might have also limited his ability to reach out to his benefactor, the Star Mage. He was chagrined by this realization, and thought he ought to learn a lesson or two from it. But lesson learning was not Pita's forte. He'd have to work on that, if he could. Brave to a fault, yes, he was. Caring and compassionate? Definitely. But he had an uncanny ability to completely forget good advice. It was a pity.
"Ah, so those little dragon people... must be the minions of the Big Dragon Person over there," he whispered. "We better try to circumnavigate this thing and see if we can make our way to the wall and find the iron-rung ladder going up." He turned to Vilar, his guide.
"Which way to the wall?" he whispered.
Vilar pointed back behind them. Fortunately he had enough wherewithal to keep track of their passage and with his help they made it back to the river where the great stone bridge was. The river passed underneath it. On top of the bridge they saw the enormous mansion. Huge stone steps went up towards it. They arrived at the base of the bridge and passed quietly by its lichen covered stones. They moved past the bridge and followed the river on their right.
He began to connect the dots. He figured that the injunction to remain "as invisible as possible" was probably to mitigate the possibility of waking the sleeping monstrosity in the cavern. And his failure to follow advice might have also limited his ability to reach out to his benefactor, the Star Mage. He was chagrined by this realization, and thought he ought to learn a lesson or two from it. But lesson learning was not Pita's forte. He'd have to work on that, if he could. Brave to a fault, yes, he was. Caring and compassionate? Definitely. But he had an uncanny ability to completely forget good advice. It was a pity.
"Ah, so those little dragon people... must be the minions of the Big Dragon Person over there," he whispered. "We better try to circumnavigate this thing and see if we can make our way to the wall and find the iron-rung ladder going up." He turned to Vilar, his guide.
"Which way to the wall?" he whispered.
They travelled for a ways without speaking, and came upon a pile of reeds that seemed to form a very large bird's nest. He could see the tops of blue eggs nestled inside.
"Where there's eggs, there's big bird to guard them," whispered Pita, and so they moved past without going near it. After a while they heard buzzing in the air ahead. Pita pulled out his insect repellent. He showed it to Talara to confirm that he could use it without getting into trouble. She gave him a thumb's up.
They came upon a cloud of large fist-sized mosquitoes. They were hovering in the air over the marsh along the side of the river. He sprayed the repellant into the air, and the mosquitoes moved away from the path. As the party moved through the tunnel that the mosquitoes had formed around them, Pita noticed that the creatures had eyes that pulsated with a strange green and red light. They all seemed to pulsate in unison with each other. His experience with mesmerism immediately alerted him to the hypnotic intent of the pulsations and he warned everyone, in a whisper, to shield their eyes from the creatures and move along as quickly as they could. Since the insect repellent was so strong, and their eyes were shielded, they passed through the cloud without incident.
Several times as they marched, Talara came up and and prevented Pita, and the others, from getting too close to the black swirling waters of the river. She reminded him that touching the water would cause them to completely lose their memories. After some time they passed a large stand of reeds that were covered with wide leaves that had serrated edges. Pita touched a leaf with a piece of leather and it easily cut through it. They stayed as far away from the reeds as they could.
After travelling in this fashion for some time, they rested for ten minutes on an outcropping of rocks. As they sat, Amorathon, the priest, pointed in the direction behind them.
"We are being followed," he whispered. They climbed off the rocks and hid among the marsh's non-serrated flora, of which they found a good patch. Pita used his helmet to zoom in on the mists in the distance, and he spotted shapes in the air above the marsh. He tuned the helmet again, and saw that they were dragon-men flying in their direction. The mist made it difficult to see more than their silhouettes. They appeared to be tracking them from the air, but Pita had the impression they had not been spotted. He decided to keep moving.
Soon they came to a spot where rocks protruded into the river, and from there, in the distance ahead, they saw a huge black shape suspended over the river. It took some time for Pita to figure out that it was the mouth of an enormous cave into which the river was flowing. There was a dull roar in the distance. Mists made it seem as if the cave was a giant shape suspended in the air, but in fact it had a very solid foundation on the sides of the river. Huge stones formed an archway that spanned the entire cave's mouth.
Pita looked to Vilar for guidance. Vilar in turn spoke quietly with Amorathon, who came forward.
"That is the mouth of Tartarus," whispered Amorathon gravely. They all looked at it with foreboding and dread. It was not something they wished to be anywhere near. But their path led past it. They would have to go.
And that is where we left things that night.
Soon they came to a spot where rocks protruded into the river, and from there, in the distance ahead, they saw a huge black shape suspended over the river. It took some time for Pita to figure out that it was the mouth of an enormous cave into which the river was flowing. There was a dull roar in the distance. Mists made it seem as if the cave was a giant shape suspended in the air, but in fact it had a very solid foundation on the sides of the river. Huge stones formed an archway that spanned the entire cave's mouth.
Pita looked to Vilar for guidance. Vilar in turn spoke quietly with Amorathon, who came forward.
"That is the mouth of Tartarus," whispered Amorathon gravely. They all looked at it with foreboding and dread. It was not something they wished to be anywhere near. But their path led past it. They would have to go.
And that is where we left things that night.
About Me
No comments:
Post a Comment