Zuri looked at Phineas. “Can you get us to the ship controls if Dr. Sothy can show us where it is?”
“Yep.”
Dr. Sothy walked back to the examining table. “You’ve got an architect key, right?”
Zuri nodded, headed over to the table, and pulled something shiny from her bag. At the head of the examining table was a small set of controls. She slipped the object into a narrow slot causing strange symbols to appear. Dr. Sothy slid the symbols around into a particular configuration and a map of the ship popped up. Phineas closely examined the hologram to determine exactly where to drop us. Seconds later we were walking to our destination through the tunnel he generated. This part of the ship was fascinating. There was web like filaments floating in the air sparkling with flashes of brilliant colors at every angle. Thick vapor filled the atmosphere and crackles of amethyst electricity rolled across the surfaces of this massive spherical room.
Dr. Sothy stepped forward and held her hand up, placing it in the center of the nearest web. She closed her eyes and it lit up in response to her unspoken directions. A ripple through the vapor activated other webs and they began to form a pattern.
She kept her eyes closed while she spoke to us. “I’ll need your assistance. Each of you select a filament and envision what you want it to do.”
Wes looked over at me. “What do we want them to do?”
I shrugged.
She swayed back and forth as the pattern continued to emerge. “Feel the crystals. Do as they say.”
Zuri and Phineas stepped up to a web and followed the doctor’s instructions. I glanced over at Wes and rolled my eyes which made him have to suppress a chuckle.
Dr. Sothy apparently knew what we were doing despite having her eyes closed. “Do not mock what you don’t understand. I need all of you to do as you were told. I cannot complete the pattern without each of you participating.”
“Fine.” I turned to the side and stuck my hand in the center of the web. A shock of cold entered my fingertips and rushed down my arm deep into my core. I sucked in a sharp breath in response to the alien sensation that enveloped my being. I was so focused on the cold that I didn’t hear Dr. Sothy’s words. I fought back against the invading icy grip and tried to pull my hand away but couldn’t do it. My heart raced as panic took hold. I opened my eyes and turned to the doctor for help.
Her eyes were almost angry with me. “I said relax. You’ll never learn to control a real sheath if you don’t relax.”
“I can’t! It hurts!”
Her gray eyes narrowed. “Stop fighting it. You can’t be harmed in here.”
Wes’s talons rested lightly on my shoulder reassuringly. “It’s okay. Take a breath and think of something nice.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on the warmth of his hand. It was the only pleasant thing I could bring to my mind at that moment. Immediately I could see the two of us facing each other. I reached out to touch his face and it rippled like water. He laughed and rippled my face in return. I could feel my body move like jelly and suddenly I was floating on a summery wave of sound. Every cell in my being was connected to every other particle in the universe. Stardust rushed past me as I soared into the sun. Lemon colored lights warmed us as we mingled our particles. His presence was comforting in a way I’d never experienced before. I didn’t want to leave but the doctor’s voice interrupted our dalliance.
“See the crystals, see Zerkola.”
I came to myself and could clearly see all the molecules in the sickened crystals that were longing for home. They were distorted and chaotic and their color was off. An unpleasant vibration reverberated in my ears. I finally understood how the ship had turned these once brilliant creatures into something cold and hard. “They’re alive?”
“Yes. Now you need to make them whole.”
I looked closer into the soul of these majestic beasts. They were suffering by the confines they were entrapped in. I could feel their chirality and spiral nature. Pieces of the puzzle fell into place in my mind. I lifted other webs into their correct position, and when they all were in place, the ship hummed and liquified in response. I became weightless when the interior shifted. The crystals that had been imbedded into the hull and forced to alter their shape now reassembled their true form and became mirrored spirals that disengaged from the ship. Indescribable joy filled the control’s cavity and pierced my very core. I soaked in the energy and was lost in something bigger than myself.
A nagging tug finally broke my concentration forcing me to turn away from the web. I came into myself with a resounding snap and the lights lost their vibrancy. “What was that for?”
“We need to go.”
I scowled at Wes. “I don’t want to leave here.”
He nodded and grabbed my hand. Something electric shot from his fingers to mine. “We have to leave.”
I held onto the prickly yet soothing sensation. “Alright.”
Phineas generated one manifold for us to go from the place of the webs to the crystals and simultaneously created a second from the crystal filled room back to the docking area holding our ship. We carried dozens of crimson crystals with each trip until they were all safely inside a second towed cargo ship we’d hooked to our transport. On my last visit back to the crystal room I noticed something in the darkness that I hadn’t before. One of the walls held hundreds of developing fetuses inside clear liquid filled spheres. They moved and twisted freely without an umbilical cord. I approached the swimming oddities and focused on just one. It was different than the others because it was pale pink with bulging red eyes.
“That one is albino.”
I turned to see the doctor holding a single large crystal. “Why would they be here?”
“The Eydis found that the crystals on Zerkola increase the development of cells. While the adults aren’t affected in the same fashion, the rapidly dividing embryos can leave their artificial womb in half the time.”
“Huh. But wait, why would they keep embryos here on this ship?”
“I believe they are trying to increase their numbers to prepare for war and the best way to keep them safe and allow for rapid population growth is to do it on arks. Also, they would quickly overwhelm their home planet if they stayed there for this process.”
I was stunned. “They’re creating babies to be fighters that they are planning on losing?”
She was matter of fact about this arrangement. “Yes. It’s very efficient. Just think if we were able to create armies the same way. They wouldn’t have parents or siblings they were attached to which would make them easily expendable without much of an impact on society.”
“That’s so awful.”
“Maybe from one perspective it’s cruel but from another, it’s a way to keep their species alive and keep their emotions in check while they fight their enemies.”
“Who are they fighting?”
“Us of course.”
I was shocked. This all seemed so urgent and close to home. “Why us? What did we do to them?”
She patted my hand. “Dear, it’s not always what we do, rather it’s what we didn’t do that made us a target.”
“What’s that?”
“We didn’t search the stars fast enough or develop technology to keep ourselves safe. They want what we have, and with their technology they can take it pretty easily.”
I shook my head and tried to keep myself from falling into the hypnotic storyline of this game. “This sounds so real. If I didn’t know better, I’d say we’re in some deep trouble.”
She nodded but didn’t reply.
“Well, let’s get back to Zerkola so we can get to the next objective. The sooner we get out, the better. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like for Vanya and Edan when we get out.”
“Mmm-hmm. They will be different, but I have it on good authority they will like their upgrades.”
“What, upgrades? What do you mean?”
“You’ll see.”
The trip
back to the Vanya was uneventful and the rest of our group was happy to see us back. They helped us unload most of the crystals into floating cargo boxes that we took back into the Crypt. We’d beat the six-hour timeframe by nearly one hour and had to wait for the meeting to be called. While we waited, we broke into small groups and chatted away the time. The game was getting to me and I was grateful for the distraction no matter how small. Wes and I found a quiet spot near the back of the meeting room to exchange experiences.
“How was it for you?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, it was different.”
I smirked at him. “Wow, that’s quite an explanation. Wish I could be so vivid in my recreations of events. It was just like I was there.”
He playfully shoved my shoulder. “You’re funny.”
“Yeah I guess. So if you don’t want to tell me what you saw, maybe you could tell me something no one else knows about you.”
“Why would I do that?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe you want to know something about me that no one else knows.”
He seemed intrigued. “Okay, you start.”
“Oh no, nice try. If I start, I have no guarantee that you’ll participate. You go first.”
“Okay. Let me think.” He leaned back against the wall and rubbed his chin. “Yeah, okay. When I was a kid, I used to pick up rocks.”
“For what?”
“I had a bunch of rock pets and rock people that lived in a village I made.”
“Oh Really?”
“What, you don’t believe me?”
I shrugged and smiled. “Maybe. What was your favorite rock?”
He didn’t hesitate. “It was a frog. I painted it to look just like the one I saw in a pond at my friend Jason’s house.”
“I didn’t know you painted. Do you make anything else besides painted rocks?”
He folded his arms across his scaled chest. “No fair, I answered more than one question already. Now tell me something no one knows about you.”
I drew a deep breath as I tried to think of something. “Well, when I was a kid, I secretly kept a dead bird under my bed in a box for almost a year.”
He tilted his head. “Why’d you do that?”
I could feel my cheeks flush and hoped my avatar didn’t show it. “I guess I just wanted to see what happened when people were buried.”
He nodded. “Someone close die?”
“Um, yeah. I had a best friend in grade school that got super sick. I didn’t know she would die and then I remembered thinking about how pale she looked in the coffin. I wanted to find out what she’d look like after a while.”
“That’s too bad.” He put his hand on mine. “I lost my dad as a kid too.”
“I’m sorry.” I turned my hand and interlaced my fingers with his.
He shrugged a shoulder. “He wasn’t too good to me sometimes, so it wasn’t all bad that he was gone.”
I grimaced. “That’s awful. I can’t imagine not having a dad that cares about me.”
“Hey, lovebirds, get back over here. The meeting’s about to start.” Jinx’s voice was grating.
I glared at her and whispered to Wes. “She’s just jealous because no one wants her.”
He laughed. “True.”
She put her hand behind her ear. “What’s that?”
“Nothing.”
Wes’s eyes gleamed with mirth. We dropped hands and joined the group in anticipation of finding our next objective. Just as before the others filed into the room and Dr. Atlas arrived last.
“Welcome Dr. Sothy.” His eyes turned to our group. “You’ve proven helpful. Your next task is to repair the gears in ClokWorx tower.”
Dr. Sothy made a request before any of us could find something to say. “With your permission Dr. Atlas, I will continue to help them.”
“Granted. You have six hours.”
The group rose as Dr. Atlas stood and he left without adding anything else to the short conversation. We waited for everyone else to leave and then turned to Dr. Sothy for direction and clarification. She explained the importance of the tower and how it influenced the weather on Zerkola. Without this piece of equipment, the entire planet would be uninhabitable, and they were rapidly approaching the deadline before they would all need to leave. They knew that if the tower wasn’t fixed in the next week, they’d be forced to abandon the planet and had gone as far as preparing for an almost sure evacuation. Despite the storyline belonging to characters in the game, I felt a deep sense of urgency to help them as if my life depended on it too.
Dr. Sothy followed us to the ship and then assisted Amber is piloting to the correct area. It was on the opposite side of the planet as far from the Crypt as possible and surrounded by water. The metal structure was dark and rusty. It seemed as if it had been abandoned from ages past and reminded me of a haunted house. Odd shapes stuck up above the fast-flowing current and chunks of the tower were missing. Despite being partially submerged the remainder of the structure seemed solid.
I had no idea how we’d complete the task with the current state of the dilapidated tower. “It’s flooded.”
Wes looked at me. “I’m not good with water.”
Crispin’s out of place smile was ear to ear. “I love swimming. Leave this to me.”
Zuri interjected with her chin held high. “You can’t fix anything without a scientist. I’ll be taking the submarine in with you.”
“I’ll need to go too. Unfortunately, none of you are familiar with the tower or its dangers. I’ll join you in the submarine.”
I addressed Dr. Sothy with respect. “I’m glad you’re here with us for this level. You’re the best resource we could have here. Are you going to need anyone else to go with you?”
She shook her head. “I appreciate the offer, but more people mean more people we have to keep track of and keep out of danger. The three of us should be able to accomplish what we need to. Once the weather is restored and we can drain some of this water we should be able to repair the crystal gardens.”
I bit my lip and then decided to ask the question I’d had since we’d met the doctor. “I don’t mean to be rude, but are you an NPC? You know the game like one, but don’t seem to stick to a set script which is somewhat confusing.”
She smiled softly and shook her head. “I could see why you’d think that dear, but no.”
Jinx stepped between the two of us to cut off the conversation. “Time isn’t on our side.”
I glared at her but Dr. Sothy didn’t seem to mind.
“I’d have to agree. We need to fix the tower and repair the crystals before the next meeting.” She picked up the large crystal she’d brought back from the ship. “This one is needed for tower. We’ll take it on the submarine, but you’ll have to put it in place.”
Crispin nodded. “Done.”
He dove into the water as the other two jogged away to the part of the ship that contained the land crawler that doubled as a submarine. Shortly after they left the bridge, the bay door opened, and the vehicle wheeled outside and into the water. The tracks were flexible and wrapped around dozens of wheels allowing the vehicle to adapt to any terrain. It had a bubblelike cockpit that could turn in any direction along with a jet propeller for when it was underwater. As soon as the tracks hit the water, they shifted configuration and became an air-filled flotation device. There was a pocket under the cockpit that functioned similar to a fish bladder allowing further regulation and fine control of buoyancy.
Wes and I walked outside the ship and stood watching bubbles floating up above the submarine as they traveled toward the forsaken ClokWorx tower. The others quickly lost interest and broke into small groups to chat about random subjects. We waited for a while before we too were disinterested in tracking the small group traveling to the next objective. It seemed odd to just sit in the ship and not be in a large group for this quest.
Wes grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the back side of the ship away from the ot
hers. “I’ve been thinking about Jinx.”
I smirked. “Oh, must be that you think she’s hot enough to grab your attention away from me.”
He poked me in the ribs. “You wish.”
I snickered. “Not really. I’d rather just be with you.”
He nodded. “Me too.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
“Well, she’s been weird since she saw her brother. What if she can’t finish the game because she’s absorbed with being around him. Does that mean we’re stuck in here too?”
“I could see how that would be a huge problem especially with what’s been happening to Edan and Opal. On the other hand, I was more concerned that she’d do something like leave us all behind as soon as she could get out. And we don’t know what her dad is going to do either. I’m starting to wonder if the Excisionists have some hidden agenda and she’s a part of it.”
The Excisionists: Book 1 Page 25