Chapter CCCLXXIV: It Does Not Sound Good ~Lich

Lich had paused at the edge of the village. Curiosity had arisen that needed to be satisfied: what happened to Omega? With the past evening’s events, the Spectrum’s pilot had slipped to the back of his mind. He was probably in the infirmary as well.

After withdrawing and putting the belt back on and sliding the Cyan Arc comfortably into it, he headed towards the hut, seeing Naaro leave with Ung’grl. He waited behind a tree until they entered the storehouse, saving himself the embarrassment of explaining why he hadn’t gone yet. Then, he darted into the hut. He could see Kuza settling himself down to sleep again nearby; the winged human had not seen him.

Omega lay on the bed closest to the door. As Lich looked at him, he was amazed that the bed was still holding out under the metal’s weight. Remembering the fight, he checked the Mana Field, and found Omega’s lone pyramid-shaped Presence. Whyr had left him, for now at least.

He looked over the spherical robot, noticing a particularly decent dent that scored across his tropics, where his arm had smashed and wrapped itself around him as it held a thrown Boomerang. The plates on that arm were fraying, bent up at their corners. Any decent movement would have it fall apart.

“Why couldn’t Ark be here,” Lich muttered.

The primitive A’gul Yoshies had no idea of metal construction. He guessed they had put Omega there simply in the hope that he would wake up when he got better. Lich knew that robots didn’t get better by themselves, thanks to Ark’s long hours in the laboratory at home. All he had to do at the moment was secure the arm, somehow.

Thumbing one of the Ruby’s facets to turn off the electrical self-defence mechanism, he used the blunt curve of the Boomerang like a hammer, beating the curled edges back into shape – hard and gradual work. The noise was no more than a quiet “tink” with each strike.

Suddenly, a hovering hand raised itself to red detached eyes that had blinked on and continued to blink in wonder as the hand rubbed the side of one of them. Visible and invisible legs twitched and the body began to turn as it righted itself. Lich stepped back as Omega Maroak leapt to his feet and looked around.

“Right, where is this?” he boomed.

“Shh!” Lich hushed him.

Omega turned and looked at Lich, extending his legs until he was at the correct height to look at him without tilting. “And you are?” he spoke hoarsely.

“It’s me, Omega. Lich. Except I’m a bit more colourful than usual.”

“Lich? Oh…yes. Right. Where are we?”

“Some sort of primitive hospital on the planet G’lirer. Seems to be a Stone Age or early Bronze Age equivalent civilisation of Yoshies. It’s all got to do with a distant ancestor of mine.”

“I see…”

Lich nodded. “I seem to have been made one tribe’s leader due to some prophecy. That’s why I’ve got all this paint on.”

Omega nodded again. “I see…”

“There’s a few other Wanderers here in this village: Naaro, Vector, Sapphire, Sixtyfourhundred and Kuroihoshi…as far as I know Ark is on the other side of the planet, and Markior is retrieving Artanis from wherever he landed. There’re also some people you probably haven’t met before, like that winged human over there – his name’s Kuza – and there’s some professor guy who’s disappeared at the moment. I gave him some weird nasty-looking evil scythe thing to study and take care of; it came with you and it gave me the chills.”

Almost imperceptibly, one of Omega’s eyes twitched.

“Anyway, I don’t like to talk about that thing at the moment,” Lich continued. “Say, you wouldn’t have any idea where the Spectrum is, would you? You are its driver, after all.” He looked at him, hopeful.

Omega shrugged. “No idea.”

Lich slumped. “That makes another one of us, then. We’ve been stranded here over the past few days, but it’s alright now. I’m on my way to Fa’Diel with Sixtyfourhundred’s mob, and taking Tehx with me.”

“Tehx?” Omega asked.

“Yes. He’s here too, but…how can I say this…the lights are on, but nobody’s home. It’s like he’s been deactivated.”

“Sounds like he’s in standby.”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Leave it to me. I’ll take care of it.”

Lich’s eyes widened. “You would? Oh, thank you! Look, you go and do that, I’ve got some matters I need to sort out. I should be back in a little while.”

“Where is he?”

Lich blinked. “Oh, yeah. He’s in my hut. The big one. Go in, door on the left.”

“Right, thank you. I shall take care of it now.”

With that, Omega left. With a scream and a comment from Omega along the lines of “strange lizards”, Lich looked out the door to see everyone hiding as Omega strolled towards his hut. He had to be all leader-like. So much for sneaking out…

“He is fine, now, everyone!” he called.

Nervous heads popped up from behind unfinished walls.

“He is. I have business to the north; I shall return soon.”

Lich turned and followed the stream before anyone could ask him any questions.

His trappings were beginning to confine him in everything he wanted to do. He was starting to feel glad that he was leaving G’lirer.

As he walked, he questioned where his place was. It seemed crystal clear that it was now here, on G’lirer, re-introducing the A’gul, and the other Banished Tribes – he hadn’t even met any of them! – to the Tribes That Remain on Yamauchi. However, there would be the commitments of his Guardianship that would appear every now and again on Fa’Diel, and most of his friends lived on Yamauchi, anyway.

Besides, when he left G’lirer, how would he get back? His ancestor had closed the warp behind the last of the Banished Tribes. There would have to be some way of re-opening it, surely. Warps were Left Path business, so he’d have to get someone powerful, like Markior, to do it, wherever he was right now.

Soon, the stream stopped being a lazy flow beside him and began to cascade. He was starting to enter the hills. Trees began to crowd in around him; however, it was by no means a forest. Ung’grl had mentioned a grove and, as he passed the rapids, he found a smaller creek flowing from a small patch of jungle.

He set off along the new route as the sun reached noon; he knew that the ceremony and discussions had taken their time. The heat of the day began to climax, helped along by the muggy air in the small valley. Surprisingly, though, the hills were crowned by fog. It was too far to reach out on the Mana Field and sense whether or not it was there due to the arcane, but, he knew it was unusual.

A short walk later, the small patch of rainforest began to swallow him up. He emerged at a spring, and stopped in his tracks. Magic had been used here in the past few days. He looked to a broken tree stump and saw its branches and crown draped around it where it fell, but no bole. Large splinters littered the ground around it.

Lich closed his eyes and scrutinised the Mana Field around him. Near the water was a pile of remnants as the Field re-balanced itself, all the same…technique. It was of the Left Path and, as he examined it further, he recognised it as clairvoyance. Whoever was here had been watching something, or someone, quite a lot, and for a long time at each session. Lich gathered that this caster had to be powerful.

He looked around for further clues. The recharging of Mana by the trees around him was not making his search particularly easy. He glanced over something, returning to it once more as he made his initial recognition. Checking it as closely as he could, he opened his eyes once more, followed by his mouth in a small gasp.

The remnants of a hollow column lay on the Field, almost melted back into its flat form. He knew it had contained a vortex of swirling air, sped up so fast it could shear skin; it was the trademark signature of an Air Blast spell. Not only had it been an Air Blast, but it was a textbook one, which meant it was Fa’Dieli. He judged it to be a bit more than one and a half days ago, gauging by the strength of its caster, around or before his midnight ceremony.

It clicked. Dark had been here.

Frantically, he closed his eyes again and focused on the clairvoyance remnants, seeking out the oldest he could gauge. The sorcerer had been clever, however, and had piled them altogether in the one place to mask its cast-time.

Lich opened his eyes again and bit his lip, frowning. Dark had been here, and doing a lot of spying. He did not know his enemy’s business, but it was odd that it should have been so sustained.

He recalled Ark’s hasty re-arrival into the village just before he was ready to be presented, his shirt torn and a wound on his side. He had said that he’d met with a spiky bush and taken some time to free himself, but, there would have been bits of broken twigs and thorns in his clothes. He remembered seeing none. Then there was the tear and the wound. The threads had been pulled, as they would have if he had been caught on something, but they had torn so neatly.

He gulped. Dark had been spying on him - him! - and his brother had come across…oh no.

Ark was seeing him again. It had been one of the things he had failed to believe when Ark had told him after their reunion, but pursuit of his shaky Zolott memories had confirmed it. It was why Ark had been so volatile towards him; no doubt, his feelings had been augmented and twisted by the sorcerer. Dark was trying to kill him through his brother!

Why now? Why didn’t Dark strike during the five years of “peace”, with no Markior around? Why did he make his presence felt when the tide was against him? It had to be Ark’s emotions after seeing his cybernetics, allowing him a way in. How else would Ark have boarded the Spectrum, other than through someone else’s magic?
Lich drew a deep breath, starting to calm himself down. Dark was currently occupied with Kai, and he would know that Rynn was on his tail to further keep him away from Ark. He was on the other side of the planet – at least he was a few days ago and, judging by what Richter had to do to be spaceborne once more, it would probably be a few days yet before he would. Ark would have been drawn to the technology – the robot who abducted him too, most likely.

He swore. What if the robot had been one of Richter’s newer creations? Ark had escaped, and Mecha had come to reclaim him? No…the robot had a jewel of some sort – he had seen it. That was not like Richter. Ark was relatively safe, for now.

Feeling sticky from the humid air, Lich looked to the inviting water. He dipped his hand in the pool and tested to see if his paint would dislodge itself. It looked perfect. Obviously, something in the paint stopped water from washing it off. He rose, and walked into the spring, its coolness sweeping around him. As his feet left the floor, he wondered what Ark was doing.

* * *

Eight hours ago, it had all turned pear-shaped.

Ark had entered the crashed spaceship through a duct hole. It had been a strange feeling as he came in – there was a gentle gravitational pull off to one side beneath him the more he entered, so that he was now on an angle to the planet.

It was incredibly dark inside it as he slithered – he had to rely on the feel of the floor against his skin. He had found some sort of grating and a latch and hinge, and had opened it. Then, he had dropped into the corridor, lit only by small lights on the floor, much like a movie theatre. He’d wiped his lips so that he could talk in Rhenzin, just in case he had to.

Ark shut his eyes and groaned. This was where it had all began.

He looked around his landing place, clutching the Ebony Lance tightly. The darkness enveloped him, giving the corridor an eerie, chilling feel. Nothing could be heard. It was a pity that he did not look behind him, especially when something landed on his shoulder. He quickly turned around and reeled backwards when he saw two red crescent moons staring at him.

“Self senses that Yoshi bioform recognises and remembers self,” Mecha toned.

“What…how…but I…no…” Ark stammered.

“No what? What does Yoshi bioform's neuroprocessor not comprehend?”

“You…I…AI chip…Vector…”

“Self detected a connectivity issue between self's chassis and self's control processor. Self's chassis transmitted a copy of self to home base where self instructed Lab Alpha's automated construction drones to construct a new, vastly improved chassis for self.”

Ark blinked. Mecha had cloned himself after he had removed the AI chip.

“Self is experiencing the emotion of anger due to the connectivity issue, caused by Yoshi bioform's actions,” Mecha spoke, levelly.

Ark’s insides knotted. Mecha definitely had AI if he could have emotions. His gaze was fixed on those horrible eyes, which had suddenly flashed.

“Yoshi bioform is a Yoshi bioform,” Mecha spoke suddenly, as if he had realised something. “Yoshi bioform is now target bioform for Priority Two.”

Ark did not like the sound of “Priority Two”, whatever it was. He backed away, slowly, pointing the Spear at Mecha. “If you proceed to harm my person in any way,” he warned, his voice forcibly calm, “you will be breaking the Laws of Robotics and I will be forced to retaliate.”

“Pitiful laws made by pitiful bioforms,” the robot spoke with disdain.

With no announcement, and in the blink of an eye, Mecha dashed forward and delivered a sound punch to Ark’s gut. The Spear clattered to the ground as he bent over and flew backwards, landing on the floor a distance away, winded.

Ark looked up as he gasped for air, seeing Mecha walk slowly and menacingly towards him. The Spear was out of reach.

You are in danger, spoke Eriuch.

Finally, you talk! Ark thought, glaring at his weapon.

I have been waiting for you to talk to me, Ark. Never mind.

Suddenly, the Zen’Xi Ara spun around, its head lifted so that Mecha would trip over it. As he fell, electricity sparked across him.

Ark got to his feet, the spell passed, and ran to the Spear. He picked it up, looking at Mecha, pointing the Spear at him once it was safely in his hands

“System ready, rebooting; C-drive slash systems slash diagnostics slash damage report,” he muttered.

Ark turned and ran, his heavily beating heart in his throat. He knew it was going to be a futile exercise, since Mecha could catch him in the fraction of a second once he had finished rebooting, but if he could hide somewhere…

“Eriuch! What do I do?” he asked aloud.

Ah, I knew the time would come when you would ask for my help, Eriuch telepathised, snidely. Let me teach you one of the ways of the Shadows.

“Tell me!”

It is best that I take control of your body to show you.

Ark glared fierily at the Spear. “No!”

Then you will be killed and will have failed in your job.

Ark winced and let out an exasperated groan. “Alright!”

It happened instantly, and without warning. He still had all of his senses, but his muscles failed to respond. His arms pointed the Spear before him as his head looked at the shank of the Spear, where his hand tapped out a combination of notch-presses.
Suddenly, he felt cold pass through him as he was pulled forward, through darkness and out into the half-light once more, some distance up the corridor from where he started. His body returned to him once more.

That is the art of Shadow-walking, Eriuch told him.

“I don’t like it,” Ark muttered. “It feels awful.”

Suit yourself, Eriuch cooed.

Ark felt for Mecha’s presence on the Field – it was still stationary. He spun the Spear around before him, and blended into the dark shadows of the corridors.

He sneaked down the corridor quickly. All he had to do here was look for decent metal parts – weapons for the robot’s ingestion, and parts for the doomsday machine. Once he had the chance to decently look at the plans, he could work out where to put a malfunction into it.

The robot had detected apparent laboratories on board. That was where he would station himself, so long as they were not in use. The only problem would be trying to find them.

“Where would they keep laboratories on board this thing?” he muttered. “Map. I need a map.”

He checked the Mana Field and felt that Mecha had begun to move. He quickened his pace, darting down corridors as he came to them. He periodically checked the field and found Mecha staying in relative parallel with him.

He made another turn, and found himself by a door, in a dead-end. He could feel quite a number of organic presences on the other side of it – it would be suicide if he went in there.

Suddenly, he felt Mecha put on a burst of speed in his direction. He decided between going in there and facing the robot down. There was only one thing to do. Frantically, he pointed the Spear before him and keyed in the Shadow-walk combination.

He was pulled into an opulent room, walled with wood panelling and trim, his feet landing on plush carpet. He gave a quick glance around the room, taking its contents in. A grand piano was nearby, while some chairs, delicately turned and upholstered, gathered around a small table. A pedestal stood nearby them, with some sort of infra-red receiver on it. Two bookcases stood next to a sitting chair with a throw over the back of it. Lamps were scattered about, the shadows of their stems too small to stand in. One wall had a rack with many bladed weapons on it: swords, axes and spears, while on another were two pictures. A second glance of them showed darts sticking out of them; one was a suave gentleman in his middle years, sporting a pencil moustache, while another was of a Yoshi, a very familiar blue one at that: Vector. He took a step towards the picture.

A desk stood beside him – he was in its shadow – where a voice shouted suddenly, “What are you doing here?!”

Ark turned around to see a man cannon his shoulder into him. He dropped the Spear as he was pushed back, his colour returning, having the point of a rapier at his throat a split second later as he stood in the light. He gazed up its arm to another gentleman, tall, dressed in a smart white dress uniform, his thin face clean-shaven, with spiky auburn hair, three strands of which hung above his face. He recognised him as the man whom the Emerald had acted upon on Fa’Diel just after the Sword was taken: Richter Sprint.

It was now Ark’s turn to be subjected to Richter’s gaze. “It’s you!” he spat. His eyes fell quickly on the Emerald in its pendant. “Take that off and drop it to the floor. Now.”

He motioned with the rapier to remind Ark of its presence. The Yoshi’s hands rose and undid the clasp. The pendant slid down his chest and onto the floor.

Richter kicked it away. “Hands behind your head.”

Ark slowly raised them and placed them there. He closed his eyes and released a quiet groan.

Richter nodded in satisfaction. “So. I see you finally obeyed my order to come on board my ship,” he sneered.

Suddenly, the door opened and Mecha came in. “Master, self has encountered a…self sees that master has found the Yoshi lifeform.”

Richter looked at his robotic servant, then to Ark. A grin spread across his face as he lowered the rapier. “Well, Ark, my boy, I could give you to Unit One here, and have him haul you to the detention block, and have you trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey,” he chortled. “But, I'm a charitable man, and you seem like a reasonable boy, so what say we forgo that option, and you behave yourself while we converse like civilized beings, hmm?”

“About what?” Ark spoke through clenched teeth.

“Why, about why you’re here, and this planet, since you’ve blended yourself into the local dominant species – wait, sub-dominant, since I’m here. Unit One, restrain his hands; we don’t want him causing any havoc with spells while he’s here now, do we?”

Mecha walked over to him and roughly grabbed his wrists, and placed them behind the Yoshi’s back.

Local dominant species? thought Ark. Am I still on G’lirer?

Richter smiled, went over to the desk and laid the rapier down on it. He opened a drawer. “Wine? It comes from Australia, on Earth, 3057, very good year.”

“How can I drink with my hands behind my back?” Ark asked him, condescendingly.

“Touché,” Richter nodded, getting the bottle and a glass and pouring it. “Or, as I believe they say where you’re from: ‘Aratu’.” He looked up at Ark and spoke in perfect Pandoran, “Don’t be surprised. I know a lot about you.” He grinned. “I know where you live, where you were born…”

“Seeing as you know that much, what do you want?” Ark demanded.

“Well, first off, you can tell me where…Vector, is,” he answered, sneering on the name. He took a swill of the wine and sat down behind his desk.

“I don’t know,” Ark replied.

“Master, Yoshi bioform mentioned Priority One’s name to self,” Mecha reported.

“Really? Thank you, Unit One. Where is he, Ark?”

“I don’t know,” Ark repeated, keeping himself calm. “He ran off.”

“Ah. He does have a nasty habit of doing that. Don’t worry, we will find him. Now, perhaps you ought to tell me if there’s anyone else with you.”

“No…wait,” Ark said. He grinned wickedly inside. “Somewhere around here there’s a robot. It sent me here. It looks like humanoid, but it doesn’t have a head.”

“No head?” Richter laughed. “It wouldn’t have happened to have been deactivated at the time, would it? Considering that is where all robots keep their control processors.”

“You can engineer a robot to have its processor elsewhere,” Ark rebutted.

“Of course you can, but why would you? Also, where would this robot's visual and auditory pickups be? You did state that it was humanoid, lizard. You can’t pull the wool over my eyes. Now, let’s put all of these silly stories aside.”

He leaned forward in his chair and frowned.

“You realise you have trespassed on the property of the Empire of Tairez. Why?”

“The robot–”

“No, no, Ark; we threw that idea out, remember? Why are you here?”

Ark gulped and tried to think of a legitimate answer. “There’s no modern technology on this planet, therefore, I came here to acquire some.”

“Well, you’re a filthy, thieving little lizard then, aren’t you? Just like the rest of them, should have expected it. Do you know what the punishment for theft in the Empire is?”

Ark shuffled his feet and swallowed. “Death?”

“No. That is too wasteful. It’s public service to Imperial society.”

Ark’s nerves seared with fear. He did not know what that meant, but it did not sound good. Richter was just being too nice. Do something, Eriuch!

I cannot.

Ark groaned.

“You may be wondering why I am showing you civility,” Richter said, rising out of his chair and beginning to walk towards him. “You see, Ark, you’re not like the lizards in the villages we’ve subdued. They’re mindless and stupid and easy to control. You, on the other hand,” he said, standing before him and looking up and down him, “have a great deal of intelligence. Plus, you come from this era on your homeworld, so you have practical use. You’re valuable, Ark; an asset, if you will.”

“What do you want with me?” Ark demanded.

“I’m certain that your brother has been astute enough to tell you who I am, and why I have that portrait on the wall over there,” Richter told him calmly, pointing at Vector’s picture. “You see, I need to get off this planet; hence, that is why I have scores of your race working day and night to mine metal for my ship. I could put you down there, but that would be a waste. Not to mention, I would miss my chance.

“I know you well enough to know that where I can find you, I can find your brother. And I know your brother well enough that…Vector…considers him to be his best friend. We’re going through a rate of capturing fifteen villages a day, maybe more. Your brother is in one of them. And, then, we will take him, if he isn’t even lured here first. Once we have him, he will follow.”

Ark slumped. It seemed futile. “What are you going to do with me?” he muttered.

“The question is, what are you going to do with yourself?” Richter replied. “You have two choices. Either you can be a good little lizard and stay here, quietly, and not make a fuss. I know you’re the intellectual type; therefore, I’m letting you peruse my library. If, however, you choose to make a break for it…well, you know how fast Mecha is. He will take you down to the cells, and they tend to be ruthless with what they do to lizards. I would not go anywhere near that weapon of yours, or do any sort of magical trick to get your hands on it, either. In fact: Unit One, please take the weapon over to the stasis field projector.”

Mecha let go of Ark and approached the Spear with some trepidation. “Master, self is detecting a magnetic field of several thousand gauss emanating from the Yoshi bioform’s weapon,” he reported.

Richter looked at the Spear.

Ark had his chance here. He took a step.

“Don’t try it,” Richter warned.

He stopped. Can’t you do anything, Eriuch?

I cannot do anything without putting you in too much danger, Ark, the Zen’Xi Ara answered.

Richter had turned back to the Spear and was looking at it thoughtfully. He looked around the room. “Ah. Unit One, please retrieve the throw from the back of the sitting chair.”

Mecha walked over to the chair, retrieved it, and returned. He handed it to Richter, who then threw it over the Spear. He looked to the Emerald and kicked it under the fabric as well. He got down on one knee and reached a hand out, poking the form of the weapon and pendant gently with a finger. Satisfied that he would not receive anything from them, he clasped the Spear with one hand, while he cradled the pendant with another. Then, he stood, and took them over to the pedestal and placed them there, still wrapped. He stepped back, retrieved a remote control from his clothes and pushed a button. Briefly, there was a flicker as a forcefield started up around the pedestal, before it faded away.

“Now, be a good lizard, like I told you to, Ark. I have some things that need doing. Unit One, if he does anything destructive, take him from here to the detention block. I will leave now. Make yourself comfortable.”

With that, Richter left the room through large double wooden doors, pocketing the remote control. Ark looked to Mecha, who stood before the Spear, his arms folded. He looked towards the bookshelves, walked over to them, and perused the titles. Most of them seemed to be on robotics. He took one on AI Theory, and settled down in the chair.

When he looked up from the book, he decided that it had to be late at night by his tiredness – there were no windows in this room that he could see. He groaned and leant his head back on the seat. Richter had not returned and Mecha continued to stand there, ever-watchful. Whatever the future held, he did not like the sound of it.