Chapter CXCVIII:
Plan = Good ~Multehx
Omega shook his
head. C.R. walked in and stared at the robot for a moment.
“What’s the
matter?” he inquired.
Omega looked
over, shrugging. “Not quite sure. I fixed the Spectrum, it’s running of the alternative power supply until we
land somewhere and I can fix it. Now it’s retracing the route that was
pre-programmed into it where it was headed.” He shook his head again in
confusion. “But, I don’t understand it in the least.”
“What’s that?”
C.R. questioned.
“Well, I’ve only
been working for a few hours on it, but it seems like it’s taken forever to finish! I mean not just
hours, but days and weeks! It feels like I’ve been at it for almost half a
month straight!”
C.R. folded his
arms and shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah...strange, but sometimes I feel that way
too.” He shook his head dismissively. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’ve learned
one thing in my many millennia on the job.”
“What’s that?”
“There are many
less efficient forces at work behind our daily lives; and seeing some of them
in work personally, I think we ought to get down on our knees and thank the
stars in the heavens above for numerous variant factors in the genetic code of
all beings.”
Omega frowned, leaning back in his chair. He frowned, muttering “You know, I think there’s some truth to that theory.”
-----
The Spectrum lightly touched down on the
mountain range surface. Well, lightly in the manner that it knocked over a rock
structure, crushed an ancient statue under it, and landed with enough noise to
alert anything within a good few miles to its arrival. C.R. stood, watching it
from his spot on the ground. Ian stood next to him, adjusting the green cloak
he wore.
As the door slid open, the crew of the train spilled out (save those who were sans life and could not). Ian quickly walked over to stand by Havering, but the Markior stopped him, and muttered something, smirking, before he got there. C.R. glanced about at the group, looking quite amiable as usual. His gaze stopped on Dirk. He smiled pleasantly and nodded.
“Ah, Mr. Dareklite, finally joining the
party, eh?” He cleared his throat and instantly
looked serious again. “So all of us who are acting in this little campaign are
present? Very good.”
He paced,
tapping his cane on the rocky earth of the path. “Now, I suppose, the first
thing we need to do is have a plan. These things tend not to work with any
semblance of reason without one, I do find.” Those who got the joke slightly
chuckled. The others did the same as not to look bad. The Rip Watcher
continued. “Now, I have sketched out a map
of the region so that we may better have a plan of action.” He kneeled, folding
out a rough, fragile double folded sheet of paper on the ground. “Please note,
all I had was a box of crayons and a napkin, so please, bear with me.”
C.R.
straightened his blond locks of hair and pointed to various things with his
finger. “Now, you see, each letter represents something. I have labelled the lairs
of the council members with circles with their skin colour, and first letter of
their first name. A filled circle means obviously sighted there, a clear circle
means I have seen them functioning in the area, but am not quite sure where
they are there.” He pointed at the division in the map. “There are two areas to
this place; the mountain range where we are now, and the interior cave system,
where Orson and Malachai hold their lairs, you can
count the first of them out now, I shall say.”
“Anyway, the outside
area is quite self explanatory. The cave system is comprised of many chambers,
and bridges spanning the lava lakes and chasms below and tunnels
interconnecting the chambers. Stairs, where indicated, connect the various
floors. The blue rectangle outside Orson’s chamber represented a force shielded
door he had that only allowed one soul in and out until it had either left, or
been killed. We need not worry about that any more. Malachai
is residing within the central chamber to it all. We are not yet sure how to
reach him, but I shall do some investigating and try and find out in due time.
Just ignore the rectangle box in the entry chamber,
it’s just some ancient burial casket.”
“Alright, for each of the individual Twilighter’s
lairs. I shall inform you more in depth mentally
when I sense you have entered their lairs. The process is near instantaneous,
so don’t worry about a long lecture. The lairs are as follows:
--------
Malachai: Dwells in the central
chamber of the cave system. Access to him is still not definite.
Nictem: Resides within a private
chamber within the volcano to the
Orson: We don’t
have to worry about the butler any more...
Vole: Hides out
in his private library, which is a joint building adjoined to Nero’s casino.
Necronimus II: The only non Twilighter of the group resides in what I can describe as a hidden catacomb within the earth. I only know where I last felt his presence majorly.
Nero: This
gambler has constructed a casino, conjoined to Vole’s massive library.
Fanah: While she has no lair, I know
she resides on the path itself ahead, guarding it fiercely.
Jadea: Her lair is a laboratory
compound farther to the west than the map covered.
Mel: Shares the
Western side of a family mansion she owns with her step-brother, Drakon.
Drakon: Patrols the Eastern side of
his family mansion.
Rebdok: This grim fellow hides
himself away in a museum to implements of death he has constructed. Cannons, a
guillotine, I’d watch my step in this place. Tends to remain
rather dank with few windows and no lighting.
Cydak: This chap never even had a
chance to begin work on a lair, and never shall now.
--------
C.R. stood, reaching into one of his vest pockets and pulling out his gold pocket watch. He began to idly toy with it in his hand, thinking.
Finally, he
looked up at the group and exhaled. “So...this would be it. Well, folks, who’s
it going to be?”