When he looked back, he noticed that there was a dark shape in the light which split into two forms, one larger and one smaller. Mornigan was confused, but excited at the prospect of two beings under his control instead of the one that he had anticipated, but something felt wrong.
The smaller form stepped out as the light faded. She reminded him or the Karis girl only smaller with dark hair. This wasn’t right.
* * *
Cacy felt her world shift. It was similar to the feeling when she shifted bodies with Gavin, but it was like she was in a more comfortable place, like she had come home.
Gavin felt the change too although his change was not as drastic. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but he was certain about what had to happen next.
“Cacy,” Gavin whispered, “while the light is still distracting him, go punch Mornigan in the face.”
“What?” Cacy asked, surprised at the suggestion.
“We don’t have much time,” Gavin urged, “I’ll help the others, but you need to go punch Mornigan.”
Cacy was confused. She didn’t know who the others were, but she really did want to punch Mornigan in the face, so she went for it.
As she walked out of the glowing sphere that had surrounded them, she realized that not only had she felt different, but she noticed extreme differences in what she had grown to expect. For a start, she noticed that she was at least a few inches shorter and her breasts weren’t in the way. Then she saw that her blond locks were back to the dark brown color she remembered.
Mornigan turned toward her and she knew what she had to do. She pulled back her right arm and aimed it for his jaw. She was surprised with the results because Mornigan was knocked off his feet and flew into the wall.
Cacy looked at her hand and flexed it, but there was no pain. She turned to check on Gavin.
In the dying remnants of the light, she saw three figures emerge. There were two men and one woman. Cacy recognized all of them. There was a tall man with blond hair and his twin brother, but with red hair. Then there was the woman with red hair and curves that Cacy had seen many times from the body of the Diz.
“Gavin, Diz, Karis?” Cacy listed as she pointed at each of them. “How can we all be here at the same time?”
“We can worry about that later,” Gavin directed. “Everyone scatter.”
They just had time to move when a blast from Mornigan’s glove. The blast had missed them, but they were covered in debris from the machine that exploded behind them.
“How dare you strike me?” Mornigan bellowed as he adjusted something on his glove. “You were supposed to serve me in my conquest of this world.”
“Your plan backfired, buster,” Diz laughed as he brushed himself off. “It looks like you just doubled your trouble.”
Mornigan shouted and fired another beam at Diz, but it was easily dodged by the speedster. Mornigan turned his attention only to feel Karis crash into him at high speed.
“Be careful,” Cacy shouted over the noise, “we don’t want to create a hull breach. Karis is the only one that might survive it.”
“I don’t want to try it a second time,” Karis insisted as she backed away from Mornigan.
Mornigan started firing randomly as the heroes scattered to avoid the blasts. Karis stopped dodging and started walking towards Mornigan. He turned both beams at her, but they did not cause more than a mild inconvenience.
“Move toward the hanger bay!” Gavin shouted as he ran out the door and down the corridor.
Karis turned to see where he was going and Mornigan took advantage of the moment to pick her up and throw her into one of the consoles. Cacy grabbed him when his back was turned and threw him at the opposite wall.
“Let’s follow Gavin wherever he went,” Cacy shouted over the explosions as she waved towards the doorway.
In the hallway, they encountered several of Mornigan’s robot servants that tried to restrain them, but Diz was too fast for their robotic brains.
Karis and Cacy stood back to watch the show.
“Hey there, metal head,” Diz shouted as he moved out of the way of an arm swinging at him.
He made a few more dodges, but there wasn’t enough space in the crowded hallway for him to get out of the way forever, and he was sent sprawling into a wall.
“You two can help a little,” he groaned, picking himself off the ground.
The ladies stepped in and started tossing robots around. Diz traveled the station and found some stray cable to tie the robots in place so they weren’t a problem.
“Thanks for the help, ladies,” Diz said with a fake southern drawl as he pretended to tip his hat at them.
“Just make sure that Gavin is OK,” Cacy shouted as Diz sped down the corridor.
They heard Mornigan pushing himself out of the tangle of wires and machinery where Cacy had thrown him, so they decided to follow Diz rather than wait for Mornigan to break free.
They found the hangar bay with four shuttles in it, but they didn’t see Gavin or Diz. Mornigan burst into the room shouting in a language they did not understand.
“Get in here fast,” Gavin shouted from one of the shuttles.
The ladies hesitated, but made up their minds when Mornigan started firing at them. Karis grabbed Cacy’s hands and flew to the shuttle as one of the blasts put a hole in the wall. Karis was able to get to the ship even though she had to push against the evacuating vacuum drawing her out into space.
As the doors of the shuttle closed, Mornigan began to move from his position. He wasn’t able to resist the air being pulled through the hole. He was drawn through the opening into space. Gavin powered up the small craft and piloted it through the opening after Mornigan.
“How can you drive this thing?” Diz asked.
“Ever since we started talking in dream space that first time that Xenia showed us how,” Gavin explained, “I’ve just sort of known things. I knew that Mornigan was going to make that hole, and I know how to pilot these shuttles.”
“Well that’s just plain handy,” Diz joked, “Do you know where we should land?”
“We won’t get a chance,” Gavin explained as he pointed to a massive star ship that had just appeared in front of them.
Karis, Cacy, and Gavin sat still and quiet waiting to see what would happen next, but Diz was having trouble sitting still even though there wasn’t much space in the shuttle.
“What is going on over there!” he shouted. “Try to fly us out of here, before they attack us.”
“We can’t go anywhere,” Gavin explained. They have us in some kind of beam that will keep s here until they decide what to do with us.”
“What about Mornigan?” Karis wondered as she took Diz’ hand.
“It looks like they are picking him up,” Cacy noted as she pointed toward the unmoving body of their enemy.
A vent opened above them and a gas poured out, knocking all four heroes unconscious.
Chapter 46
As Gavin started to regain consciousness, he realized that he had seen this entire scene before. The judges were in place, and the collected crowd of spectators were assembled for the trial that they were about to face. Unfortunately, he could not see what the outcome of this trial was going to be.
“Where are we?” Diz groaned as he began to waken from his drugged slumber.
“You don’t want to know,” Gavin replied without taking his eyes off the judges.
There were eight judges seated on a platform in front of them. They were in green robes that flowed down the platform and ended near the prisoners. Their faces were obscured by a mist.
“How bad is it?” Karis asked as she floated to her feet.
“Don’t tell us, Cacy interrupted, “I don’t want to know.”
A voice from a speaker in front of the platform started addressing them, but it was in a voice that none of them recognized. It continued to speak while the quartet turned uncertainly toward the platform.
“Ezgri catore grrricccckkkk,”
Gavin shouted at the judges.
Silence filled the proceedings, and all eyes were on Gavin waiting to see what would happen next.
“Who is this creature that dares to speak our language?” a voice boomed from the speaker.
“If you are going to judge us,” Gavin insisted, “then we deserve to defend ourselves, and we deserve to know what is being said.”
There was a pause filled with muttering from the judges and the crowd of observers. Cacy, Karis, and Diz rose to stand next to their spokesperson, when a portal opened to their left and another figure entered the courtroom.
“What charges do these humans face,” Xenia insisted as she stood next to Karis.
“They have stolen our technology,” a voice declared. “This in itself is enough to earn death.”
“We didn’t steal anything!” Diz shouted. “I didn’t ask for this, none of us did.”
The murmuring from the crowd grew as they became frustrated with the cry from Diz.
“Silence,” the voice declared, “we have already tried Mornigan, but we still need to deal with these humans and the evidence Mornigan has given against them.”
“You’re going to listen to Mornigan?” Diz laughed as he turned his back on the judges, “and here I thought you guys were going to be the smart kind of aliens.
“We will not abide this insolence,” the judges declared.
“A guy can’t even make a joke,” Diz muttered, folding his arms over his chest.
“I would refrain from humor for the time being,” Xenia advised. “It could go poorly for you and your friends.”
“Mornigan informs us that your powers are a result of our technology,” the judge’s voice informed them, “and that you have recently used that power to turn two people into four people. What is to stop you from disseminating that power to your planet and threatening the entire universe?”
“Your honor,” Karis replied, “Mornigan did not tell you everything about how we gained our powers, or our bodies. It was forced upon us, as was our separation. Mornigan was planning to use us to help him conquer the Earth.”
“We fought every creature that Mornigan sent against the Earth,” Gavin insisted, “and we did it without your help.”
“That is irrelevant,” the voice boomed, “your heroics do not change the facts, and you will have to face the consequences for your actions.”
“What about Earth’s complaints against our people?” Xenia insisted.
“What complaints would those be?” the judge inquired.
“You let this Mornigan nut job loose on the universe, he attacks our planet, and causes so much damage here,” Diz explained as he turned towards the judges and started pointing at them. “I’m sure someone will insist on getting paid for that.”
“We cannot be held responsible for the actions of Mornigan,” the judge insisted.
“You cannot hold us responsible for them either,” Cacy argued. “We did not ask for this, and it was forced on us, and we made the best of what was given to us.”
“The introduction of Mornigan has had an impact on your world that was not supposed to happen for at least another hundred years,”
“What do you expect us to do?” Diz grumbled. “I’m not fast enough to turn back time.”
“We will have to consider your fate and the fate of your world,” the judges intoned. “Court is dismissed until further notice.”
With that statement, the crowd around them dissolved like fog in the sunlight. The judges were still seated in front of them, but there their figures made no sounds or movements. Gavin, Diz, Karis, and Cacy were left alone with Xenia.
“Do not judge my people too harsh yet,” Xenia intoned. “You four will be their judges just as much as they are sitting in the judge’s chair for you at this time.”
“But we don’t have a giant space ship to do anything about it,” Diz muttered.
“I won’t go down without a fight,” Cacy growled as she flexed her arm.
“We need to be patient,” Gavin advised, placing his hands on Diz’ and Cacy’s shoulders. “These people are not our enemies.”
“What did you say to them anyway?” Karis asked as she reached out to grab Diz’ hand.
“Honestly, I have no idea,” Gavin admitted. “I just knew it was the right thing to say at that time.”
“Your new powers may come in handy,” Diz said as he gave Gavin’s shoulder a light tap.
“While this ship is impressive,” Xenia explained, “your new dynamic is something that we will want to study. My people will take that under consideration. We are not here as conquerors, we are here to learn.”
“I’m not going to be a rat in anyone’s experiment,” Cacy insisted.
“That is not what I meant,” Xenia soothed as she lifted her hands. “I have learned much from studying the four of you before your physical split, but now there is a new dynamic in your matrices, and my people will be excited about what they might learn from this.”
“What does that mean for us?” Karis wondered.
There wasn’t time for a reply as a chime sounded and the crowd returned from wherever they had faded. The room was again filled with mumblings of the crowd.
“We have made our decision,” the voice of the judges boomed.
“I hope that we have not judged to quickly,” Xenia replied. “These humans deserve our respect. Even though they are primitive, we have much to learn from them.”
“Already your opinion has been noted in the records,” the judges intoned. “But that opinion will not sway our judgment.”
Diz started to complain, but Gavin rested his hand on the speedster’s shoulder and shook his head.
“Wait, my friend,” Gavin said, “wait until you hear the verdict before you do anything too rash. There is much we do not know yet.”
“Your friend is wise,” Xenia agreed as she stood patiently with her head lowered.
“It is the opinion of this court, that while the four of you are not responsible for the acquisition of your powers, that you are responsible for how they have been used and how they will be used in the future.
“It is also the opinion of this court that your world has been too negatively influenced by the introduction of Mornigan, and by our technology,”
At this statement, each of the four defendants discovered that they could not move. There was an invisible force holding them in place. They also found that their mental connection was not working.
“As a result of these issues, this court has decided that your world cannot be exposed to the rest of the universe until it has a period of time to readjust to the new dynamic it has developed.
“Because of this, our people will quarantine your sector of space until the time is correct. Our people will be responsible for maintaining this quarantine, but there will need to be someone on the planet to maintain stability.”
“I am sure that the defendants will wonder what that means,” Xenia replied.
“You four will be responsible for the protection and advancement of your civilization,” the judges answered. “We will supply the station that Mornigan stole to give you a base of operations. We have also assigned Xenia to return to aid you after she has shared her information with our scientists.”
“Gazhaba,” Gavin uttered as he felt the hold on his body relax, “Gazhaba Karabos.”
“What are you even saying?” Diz gasped.
“I have no idea,” Gavin shrugged. “I just hope it didn’t piss them off like last time.”
“You have spoken well,” Xenia insisted. “The court is adjourned, and we will be taken to prepared quarters.”
Xenia led her charges down empty corridors that stretched for miles. It took at least half an hour to get to their rooms. The rooms were built to resemble the apartment that had been provided by the Mayor when they were working for him, but with four rooms instead of two.
“I am not sure what you will want to do next,” Xenia said, “but until your station can be pr
epared, we will wait here.”
“I just want to get some sleep,” Gavin yawned as he stretched.
“Same here,” Cacy added, plopping on the couch. “It’s not easy being created from thin air.”
“It was a weird experience, for sure,” Diz chuckled. “I wish I could have seen the look on old bucket head’s face. I wanted to hit him a few times, too. You ladies got all the fun.”
“Is there any chance I can hit him again before they take him home?” Karis said with an evil grin.
“No,” Xenia scolded, “you know that is not the way of my people.”
“Can’t blame a girl for asking,” Karis muttered.
Chapter 47
The next month and a half were busy what with the Sh’Grithians, as their name was discovered to be, beginning to formalize their relationship with Earth. An ambassador was appointed to the United Nations, and membership was opened to every nation-state on the planet to become a part of this new interplanetary coalition.
The ambassador was a tall Sh’Grithian that chose the name, Kevin. He stood around seven feet tall when he chose to stand completely upright, and his skin was a deep green most days, although reports showed that it changed to a variety of green shades periodically.
Karis, Diz, Cacy, and Gavin underwent extensive testing from the Sh'Grithian scientists, and no method was found to undo the effects of Mornigan’s antics. All four of them were glad this was the case since they had developed into four different people at this point, and none of them wanted to give up their powers or lives.
Secret identities weren’t possible since the entire world had witnessed the trial, and seen the four of them in person as the events unfolded.
After all the preparations were in place, the Sh’Grithians were ready to leave the Earth to discover its new destiny. Finally Cacy, Gavin, Karis and Diz were left to explore their new headquarters aboard Mornigan’s former space station.
“This place is quite nice,” Diz said as he lounged in the command chair on the bridge of the station.
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