Chapter 30
The hallway ended in a massive set of doors marked with the Emperor’s personal insignia: a green “V” over a red triangle. Ned raised his hand to destroy the doors, but before he could bring the power to bear, the doors slid apart. Ned stepped quickly into the pitch-black room beyond.
The doors slammed shut as he entered, and the lights came on. It was a large room, but it was almost completely empty. Directly in front of Ned a staircase led up one side of a small pyramid, atop which sat a chair, its back to the entrance. Dark Viper slowly turned to face his visitor and then rose.
He was a tall man, taller than he had looked on the viewscreen on Brenaria. He wore the same plated armor Ned had seen before, but it only covered his chest, legs, and arms. The Emperor’s boots were made of black snakeskin leather, as was the cape he wore about his shoulders. His head was bare, and Ned noted that he looked incredibly young; certainly no older than twenty-five Earth years. As before, Dark Viper’s right hand was sheathed in a pulsing green flame. He gazed intently into Ned’s helmet visor and opened his mouth to speak.
Before he got the chance, Ned lashed out at Viper’s head with a bolt of blue Plasma. Without averting his gaze, Dark Viper whipped his glowing hand upward and sent a beam of green fire lancing outward. The fire caught Ned’s blast and stopped it midair, and green light exploded down the length of the blue beam. When the green light reached Ned’s hand, he jolted backward as if he had been bitten. It was not a physical sensation; rather, it was as if the strange inaccessibility Ned had felt in the door of the room where he had fought the Shadow Master had been forced into him by Viper’s green light. Ned looked back up at the Emperor, his eyes wide.
Dark Viper’s lip curled into a sarcastic smile. “Care to try that again, or should we talk a bit?”
Ned took a step forward. “It’s over, Viper. I’ve beaten your Shadow Master, and now there’s nothing you can do to harm me. Give me your Plasma Crystal and leave.”
Viper let out a heartless chuckle. “Such a fool, Ned. You should never have defied me. There is so much you wish to learn, so much I could teach you. I still could, you know. I’ll even let you keep your Crystal. Just join me.”
Ned said nothing as he gathered Plasma around his fist for another attack. Suddenly Dark Viper thrust out his hand again, and this time the blast lifted Ned off his feet and pinned him against the far wall. “I am waging a war, Shield Master. I do not have time to indulge you in foolish games. I am prepared to answer a few of your questions about myself, but only if you are prepared to make yourself a civilized guest and refrain from tossing your useless fireworks at me. Take off your helmet. I want a look at you.”
Ned remained still, but it was all he could do. It terrified him that Dark Viper could hold him like this, and it baffled him as well. How was he doing it?
“Remove your helmet.”
Ned felt like he was choking in the aura of green light. He had to do something to stall the Emperor, to give himself a chance to ascertain Viper’s weakness. He deactivated his suit’s helmet.
Dark Viper lowered Ned slowly to the ground and released him. “That’s better,” he said, looking into Ned’s eyes. “I see you are not as confident as you would like to be. I could change that, you know.”
“What are you?” Ned asked.
Viper laughed again. “Well put! What you really mean is, ‘What power do I hold,’ but I see that you realize that for us, for Plasma Masters, those questions really are the same. Very well. I’ll explain it all to you if you’re willing to listen, and when I am finished I hope you will see the wisdom in following me.” He clasped his hands behind his back and paced in front of his throne as he spoke, pausing occasionally to look at Ned and gauge his reactions.
“Many years ago, longer than anyone even suspects, I was traveling on a distant planet when I came across the remnant of an ancient civilization. I studied their writings and learned of a mysterious power that they created and used to command a vast empire. That empire crumbled long ago however, leaving behind nothing of its power except for four glowing Crystals. I learned that any one person can only hold one of them at a time, so naturally I experimented with the Crystals, one at a time. After mastering each of them, I chose the most powerful for myself, and later gave the other three to some of my most trusted colleagues, whom I then instructed in some of the things I had learned. Then war broke out. The four of us defended the Empire against the Alien invaders, and I continued my study of the Plasma force.
“Then came my great discovery. I learned that it would in fact be possible for one person to combine the four powers of the Plasma Crystals. As you can imagine, such power would make any individual unstoppable. Had I accomplished my plan, I would have saved billions of lives by ending the war in a matter of weeks. As you know, however, Koral Ralok stole the Shield Crystal, preventing me from joining the four. And later, you felt it necessary to destroy the Vortex and Blast Crystals, ruining any possibility of a unification forever. Fortunately for you, I am willing to forgive you for that.”
Dark Viper cupped his chin in his hand, bathing his face in the hand’s green light. “But of course I’ve left out what you were really wanting to know, haven’t I? ‘What am I,’ as you said. What is my power? You see Ned, that ancient civilization used the Plasma force for everything – every aspect of their lives. When they knew they were going to be destroyed, they picked four categories into which their powers could be divided, and they picked them somewhat arbitrarily. The Shield Crystal, which you hold, was designed to bestow upon its holder the powers of defense. The Blast Crystal controlled the Plasma’s ability to channel raw energy, which came in very handy for destructive purposes. The Vortex Crystal controlled transportation. And then there is the fourth crystal, the power of which encompasses the remainder of the powers of the Plasma force. Its ability is to find order where there appears to be nothing but chaos, and to instill order where there is none. The power that I hold allows me to bind together matter and energy in whatever form I chose: Matrix Plasma, I call it, for reasons you perhaps cannot yet fully understand.”
Ned indeed did not understand all of what Dark Viper was saying, but he knew that he did not like it. “So you used the Matrix Crystal to build Venom?”
“Precisely. Markan Dren, powered by Kayleen Rax and directed by me, transported matter from several neutron stars into orbit around this star, and I used the power I had accumulated to mold it into a metallic sphere around the star. Stellar energy cells were quickly constructed, again sped along by my power, and even long before its completion Venom had enough power to crush the armada of Alien warships that threatened the Anacron Empire.”
“It seems it doesn’t have quite enough power to crush the StarBlazer armada, does it?”
“Hmm. My power was greatly diminished after such a great work as the construction of Venom. I could only synthesize a certain number of laser cannons; the rest were made by Venom’s production facilities. It taxes our resources to have so many on the outer shell, and I did not think it necessary to put as many inside. And I dare say I was right. The StarBlazer ‘armada,’ as you call it, is just hours away from its own demise, and if any of its ships manage to escape Venom’s shell, they will be completely destroyed by the outer weapons array before they can even think of going to warp.”
“And for this you think I’m going to want to join you?”
“You’re on the losing side, Ned. But no, I don’t imagine that’s enough to convince you. But perhaps this will: My power was diminished by the construction of Venom, but it was not expended. Specifically, I had more than enough power just now to wrap your energy beam in a Plasma Matrix that was far too complex for you to grasp, let alone control. The Plasma that I control cannot be absorbed by your rudimentary skills, while I can easily adapt your Plasma for my own use. I may not be able to harm you, but I can easily incapacitate you, and I have trouble seeing how you will survive after I dump you in empty space.”
&nb
sp; Ned was not going to get any helpful hints from Dark Viper, and he knew it. He had to attack now, while the Emperor was talking. Perhaps he could catch him off guard. Ned sent tendrils of Plasma snaking through the walls, ceiling, and floor. Then, from several points in the room at once, he fired beams of Plasma directly at Dark Viper’s exposed head. This time the beams struck – all of them. The Emperor fell back into his throne, enveloped in burning blue light. Ned did not let up his attack, afraid that if he stopped he would lose his only chance at victory. He kept hammering the blue light into the top of the pyramid. The throne itself was consumed in seconds, but still Ned did not stop. He walked up the stairs, focusing the power now into a single, powerful blast emanating from his outstretched hand. Then he stood at the top of the pyramid, standing over the blue fireball that enveloped Dark Viper’s body.
The instant Ned stopped approaching, that fireball turned green.
Dark Viper rose from the flames in a heartbeat, and his green hand fastened around Ned’s exposed neck. Ned could feel Viper’s Matrix pressing up against the Plasma within him, cutting him off from the rest of the room. All of the blue light died instantly as Ned turned his whole attention toward breaking Viper’s lethal grip.
“Look at me,” Viper snarled, lifting Ned off the ground. A faint blue glimmer shone around Ned’s neck, protecting him at least from choking to death.
Ned turned his eyes on the Emperor and stared. His face was not even burned.
“Now do you see?” shouted the hateful voice. “My power allows me to reconstruct the very cells of my body! I no longer need to eat or drink or sleep! I don’t even have to breathe! I do not hold the power of the Plasma force; I am the power! It courses through me and gives me life, and no one can take it away from me! I have had it with you, boy! You have plagued me long enough! While your foolish friends waste their lives away outside in their futile military struggle, I am just going to hold you here until you die of thirst!
Ned reached down inside himself, gathering everything he had left, focusing it into his neck. He exploded the whole of his power outward at Dark Viper’s hand, but still nothing happened; the Plasma could not even leave his body. Viper had complete control over all of the Plasma surrounding Ned, and Ned could not think of a single reason why the Emperor’s plan to kill him would not be successful. It was over, Ned realized. This time there would be no final burst of uncontrolled power to come to his aide. There was nothing Ned could do to save himself. It was all over.
Then Plasma exploded all around him, and everything went black.
The Plasma Master Page 42