The robot stalked toward Pi and touched him with his tentacles.
Klori’Tar blew into his air sacks and said, »I don’t know why, but he seems to like you!«
Hesitantly, Pi shook one of the tentacles.
Moments later, Verzimut retreated and jumped from a standstill three meters into the air while groping for strings hanging from the cocoon. Like a monkey, he moved up higher and higher until he disappeared inside the cocoon again.
Arkroid raised his eyebrows and looked around. He was trying to obtain a general overview of the room, which Klori’Tar proudly called his command central.
The open space concept of adjacent sections was unusual.
Why is he separating the sections and decks just with steel-mesh grids instead of solid walls and floors? Arkroid wondered. I get butterflies in my stomach, looking down onto the lower, deep lying sections. It’s like looking at the ship’s intestines. I can see ancient looking, rough twisted cooling loops, surrounding steaming supra-conductors … then other aggregates are connected to high-tech field-conduits. It must have taken him a long time to build this ship, using all the parts and technologies found on his home-world. This is a strange world of its own with biotechnology serving as life-sustaining system or a robot that moves on strings throughout the ship. This ship deserves to be called Messy-Unit, combining technologies of several different species. Each and every part used to build this ship also directly connects with the fates of the people who used to possess these strange technologies. People who lost their lives because they had the bad luck of being attracted by the tachyon vent, sucked out of their continuum.
A touch on his arm disrupted Arkroid’s train of thought. Maya pointed at the bottom of the floor grid and said, »Something’s coming!«
There was a circular hole, running vertically beneath the cocoon. The hole in the grid floor was secured by a railing. They noticed tracks which ran around the hole and then led to lower lying sections.
The tracks vibrated and it sounded as if metal was grinding on metal.
»Is this some sort of a lift?« Vasina inquired interested and stepped closer toward the hole.
»Oh … that’s my command throne,« Klori’Tar explained the emerging seat which had just arrived in the command central. It stopped close to the hole and snapped itself into place.
Herimos growled slightly as he looked at it. The seat cushions and the back rest seemed to be alive. Mushy-looking polyps were growing from the backrest and groped in the air as if they wanted to catch some prey.
Without hesitation, Klori’Tar, sat down on his throne. The polyps noticed him and amalgamated with his suit with rhythmic twitches.
»Data inquiry is running,« Klori’Tar explained to his visitors. As he noticed Voit’s perplexed face, he added, »These are bio-tech interfaces, connecting me with the ship’s computer. I’m checking the ship logs. Well, okay, it’s a bit outdated, but very reliable and robust. I’m glad, it fell from the sky.«
Masgur frowned and whispered to Herimos, »That stuff is alive! At first, I had the impression the seat wanted to eat Klori’Tar.«
Herimos gnarled in agreement. He found this ship very strange and eerie.
Klori’Tar twitched suddenly and croaked, »My systems registered several unauthorized access attempts to my ship portal.
Arkroid became alarmed.
»Are you saying that somebody was trying to get on board this ship via a tachyon transport field?«
»Without a doubt!« Klori’Tar acknowledged. »However, my security system averted the attempts and diverted the intruder toward an arbitrary destination. The intruder tried it again with the same result.«
»Is this occurring all the time?« Masgur inquired.
»The tachyon portal network is a system of unknown expanse. There’re many people out there in the galaxy who come across an odd terminal and play around with it. It can therefore happen that unwanted contacts occur. These two attempts, however, were exactly directed at this ship! The individual who dialed in to my portal wanted to sneak on board!«
Klori’Tar seemed nervous.
»It was him!«
Arkroid understood what Klori’Tar wanted to say.
»You mean, Morgotradon? You think, he wanted to wait for us here, inside the ship?«
Klori’Tar croaked intensely before he replied, »I had Morgotradon’s portal address saved for reference purposes. Until now, it wasn’t necessary to activate the filter to prevent him from using my portal. Suddenly, he seems to be very interested in my Cobalt-Hunter … he definitely knows my portal address!«
Klori’Tar was very wound up.
»Be happy that your security filter worked,« Pi remarked with a nod and the right thumb up. »If he had been successful, then he would’ve already been dead. Don’t forget, the ship consists of anti-matter like us!«
»Yeah, he would have come … and gone with a bang,« Maya mocked sarcastically, which earned her a hateful glance form the replication.
»Don’t get excited, Sis!«
Arkroid wiped over his forehead, pondering.
»It happens as Boiltos predicted. This part of the future-line seems to become reality. How is that possible? How can he know the future?« Arkroid wondered.
»What are you not telling us, Arkroid? What else did the Kokradian tell you?« Kuster~Laap shouted with his deep voice. »You have to share this information with us!«
Arkroid shook his head.
»No … I will keep my promise to Boiltos!«
Kuster~Laap’s ears flapped like mad.
»If Morgotradon shows a special interest in us then it must primarily have something to do with the Jamal-Combs! We should leave his sphere of interest and keep a low profile. We’ll find safety inside the Crux-Heart. The Krolakans will guarantee our safety.
Arkroid shook his head and turned toward Klori’Tar instead of replying to Kuster~Laap’s argument.
»I assume that the address was recorded from which Morgotradon transferred as he tried to enter the ship?« he said.
»My system logs contain all necessary data,« Klori’Tar acknowledged and stood up from his throne with a mashing sound as the polyps retracted. »Do you want to tell us what you have in mind, Toiber or is this also one of your secrets you carry around in your head?«
»We should not hide like cowards,« Arkroid responded, looking at Kuster~Laap. »We’ll take action and go on the offensive! We’ll find Morgotradon and confront him!«
»You want to take his key?« Vasina guessed.
»Exactly! We need five Jamal-Combs! One of them is in Morgotradon’s possession. We will find him, the key and spoil his plans. I need your help!«
Everybody was looking silently at Arkroid for a moment until the replication broke out in loud laughter. She grinned at Maya devilishly.
»You’re stupid, desperate and clueless! My Lord will kill you all and possess your keys in the end. Huh … he will rule over the galaxy! Give me the keys. I will hand them over to my Lord and put in a good word for you. Maybe your peoples will be spared from his wrath.«
»Pshaw, a good word from you?« Maya asked with a cutting tone in her voice. A split second later, her fist hit the replication on the chin. Lights out for her!
»I’m sorry folks,« she apologized with a faked smile, rubbing her knuckles. »I just couldn’t listen to this babble any more. Let’s go and hunt down this animal of Morgotradon. I’m all with you!«
Except for Kuster~Laap and his bodyguards, the team members nodded in agreement. Nodding was not part of Kuster~Laap’s gestures.
»Beforehand, Klori’Tar has to throw us out of his ship and shoot at us!« Arkroid explained calmly to the astonished group.
»No! That’ll be your death!« Klori’Tar croaked aloud, waving his hands through the air.
There’s only one future
»We need to reverse the polarization!« Arkroid said. »Your weapon may be able to achieve just that. We saw it during the battle against the Rexa ships. Right now
, Morgotradon is out of reach for us.«
»Be happy about it,« the replication said with a raspy voice, she had just returned from the land of dreams and rubbed her swollen chin. »Otherwise, you’d be dead already.«
Maya raised her fist to the replication.
»I think you didn’t sleep long enough, Sis!«
Arkroid grinned, but gave Maya a stern glance, warning her not to overdo it. She understood, sighed deeply, but stepped away from her double.
»Did you forget what happened to the Rexa ships afterward? My weapon caused annihilation. If you really have a death wish then why don’t you jump into the sun?« Klori’Tar raged. His cheeks had turned ruby-red.
»Well … let’s test it!« Herimos growled and pulled on the replications ties.
She paled.
Arkroid glanced at Herimos and noticed in his eyes that he was joking. He examined the prisoner intensely for a moment, as if he wanted to consider Herimos’ suggestion, but shook his head seconds later, leaving the impression of regret.
»No, we don’t torture or kill our prisoners and certainly won’t use them for experiments.«
The replication’s eyelids twitched nervously. She was speechless, at least for the moment. However, this didn’t take long. A minute later she said with a grin, »You’ll die because you’re knee-shaking weaklings …«
A dull sound interrupted her. Klori’Tar blew up his air sacks and listened. It sounded like an ancient fog horn of a huge oil tanker.
Everybody in the room was looking around
»What’s that?« Vasina looked at Klori’Tar. She wiped over her forehead. The low-frequency tone was almost unbearable.
»Intruder!« Klori’Tar shrieked hysterically. »Alarm! Somebody came through the portal!«
Arkroid’s head flew around. He noticed from the corner of his eye how Verzimut shot out of his cocoon, vanishing in the direction of the portal.
Klori’Tar’s voice was cutting as he yelled after the robot, »Find the intruder! Take him down! Don’t let him get away!«
Lai Pi wiped over his bald head and then over his eyes.
»How is that possible? Who or what arrived?«
»Whatever it is, it seems to consist of anti-matter otherwise we would be history already,« Voit suggested.
»It’s a probe!« Klori’Tar announced surprised. Verzimut seemed to communicate with him via an unknown link.
»It is a probe, enveloped with an anti-annihilation field. It’s moving around in my ship! It’s coming here! Verzimut will catch and crack it!«
»Wait!« Pi interrupted horrified. »If the probe’s field gets neutralized then we’ll be doomed!«
A deep hum came from the lower ship sections. An oval body ascended and moved toward the command central. The probe was covered with spikes and slowly approached the central.
»Why did you leave that damn portal in standby mode?« Maya said angrily, staring at the strange object. »Now we’re in deep shit!«
»I don’t see the connection between excrements and the probe,« Klori’Tar complained and, with a loud bang, activated a scintillating sphere around himself by touching a sensor pad on his belt. »I feared this would happen sooner or later. I shouldn’t have let you into my ship!«
He ascended by roughly one meter and retreated by means of his anti-gravity suit.
Verzimut came back like a monkey, quickly climbing and sliding along his strings. He kept a healthy distance to the probe, though. Several of his tentacles were directed at the probe; he seemed to examine it from a safe distance.
»He sent the probe!« Vasina hissed and groped for her sword. She was, without doubt, capable of cutting the probe in half with her sword, but that was not advisable under these circumstances.
»We’re being scanned!« Klori’Tar announced with a suppressed rage. »If the probe would exist of anti-matter then Verzimut would’ve destroyed it.«
Arkroid looked up where Klori’Tar’s robot was dangling in the strings, observing the probe. All clumsiness, displayed by the robot before, was gone!
Arkroid presumed that the tentacles, the robot hat pointed at the probe, where some sort of weapons.
This robot is more than just a simple service and maintenance machine, he pondered. It’s a combat robot!
Arkroid anxiously watched the probe circle Vasina.
Tranos demonstratively raised his shield and covered her. He was able to destroy this entire ship section, would he unleash the energy capacity of his shield.
The probe hovered by Herimos who wasn’t moving a bit. He just growled at the device. Then it hovered over to the replication, stopped for three seconds before it continued its path stopping again before Arkroid and Maya.
A swirling energy field established around the probe, but well inside its own protective anti-annihilation field. A vague and foggy movement became visible which manifested itself seconds later into an oversized face.
»A transmission?« Pi wondered. He swallowed as he looked into Morgotradon’s grim face. Maya held her breath which Morgotradon honored with a mocking smile.
»You didn’t forget me, my love,« his voice echoed through the control central, producing Goosebumps on her arms and neck.
The holographic depiction grew in size, his eyes starred at her.
»My probe tells me that the keys are on board this ship. I’ll come and get them … together with you!«
Defiantly, Maya threw her head back and looked at him coldly. She trusted that the probe transmitted a true picture of hers.
»Are you stubborn or just dumb? You only seem to think about the same stuff! You should’ve grasped by now that you and I don’t fit,« she provoked him. »Your self-healing powers won’t help you the next time we meet each other. I can assure you that!«
Morgotradon’s eye color turned from gold to a fiery red, then, moments later, he broke out in laughter.
»Exactly that is what distinguishes you from your unexciting replications, which surround and bore me. Mind you, they can be very amusing at times, but they don’t possess your whit, your tenacity and your rebellious character, which I adore so much. You have your own way of thinking and you dare to resist me. As soon as I take over the galaxy, I want somebody at my side who is like me!«
Arkroid signaled Maya not to deepen the conversation. He knew now that Morgotradon hadn’t sent the probe to annihilate them. He wanted the keys and Maya! The replication, who was standing tied up beside him, looked at Morgotradon with a petrified face.
»You have something which I’m entitled to!« he spoke hard without compromise.
»Oh … he certainly means our guest here,« Herimos pushed the replication toward the holo.
The probe turned to the side and faced Herimos who now looked directly into Morgotradon’s cold, golden eyes.
»An Early One! I was surprised to find out that you allied yourselves with these … these Humans. Well … the Future-thinkers predicted it. Throw the replication out into space. She failed me. I have no more use for her,« Morgotradon suggested with a grim laughter.
»There’s nothing here which you could get without a fierce fight, you damn traitor,« Vasina hissed at the former Progonaut commander. »Your death included!«
»Uhh … Vasina of Atlantika,« Morgotradon smirked at her. »Did you know that I knew your father? I saw you playing in the Rainbow Palace gardens when you were a child. This young guard, what was his name again … uh … yes, Herkales, was always at your side. Although, more than a million years ago, I remember it as if it were yesterday!«
»You brought shame over our people!« Tranos shouted.
»I led the defeated Progonaut Fleet to safety and prevented its total demise,« Morgotradon replied calmly. »You should thank me for that and show me the respect I deserve, young man!«
Morgotradon squinted.
»Do you really think that you can control your destiny? Everything that happens is predetermined, also this conflict! Time is like a web, made of countless threads which meander
toward the future on different paths. At the end, all time lines meet at one point. There’s still time to make a change and to switch to a different time line. An alternative which will at least save your lives, maybe even that your peoples might continue to exist.«
To Morgotradon’s surprise, Arkroid said while rubbing his temples, »I know what you’re talking about. »I also see these alternatives. The Kokradian, which we confronted on board the Atlantika and who got away, must have transferred his knowledge to you …«
»… and Boiltos did the same to you!« Morgotradon realized, breaking out into an uncontrolled rage. »Whatever the Librarian told you, it won’t unfold! There’s only one future, the one that I control!«
Morgotradon grinned diabolically.
»Your mission will fail. Huh, I don’t even need to mention that … you know it already, Arkroid … you know what I like the most about this?« He made a short break before he continued with a whispering voice, »There’s a traitor amongst you!«
Lai Pi frowned. The other team members also seemed distraught.
Morgotradon knew something which could be very dangerous for the group.
He’s not interested in a compromise, Arkroid thought. He wants to divide us and spoil the mission! Since he cannot be here in person, he’s playing a psyche-game. He wants to manipulate us and destroy our morals. This way he controls the present to change the future. The fight has already begun.
»I have a different version and can see calmly into the future,« Arkroid replied. »You can’t irritate us. We will protect the Galaxy from all kinds of dangers, including you! We are the Protectors!«
Morgotradon grimaced and lost it. He now showed his true face.
»I will destroy your worlds! All of them! Protectors? You want to be Protectors? Wow, what an exaggeration. Huh … then you should also die like …«
A sudden dull bang sounded as the probe disappeared with a bright flash. The command central smelled like ozone while countless polyps appeared from all nooks and crannies, floating back and forth like in a breeze.
While the team was still squinting irritated, Verzimut climbed down on the strings.
NEBULAR Collection 6 - The Great Tremor: Episodes 27 - 30 Page 12
