Deadly Exhalation!
Some three hundred and eighty four thousand, four hundred miles away from Earth, the ForceTech Moon Base Labs was situated on the surface of the moon. The parts of the labs visible from the Moon’s surface were surrounded by an atmospheric force field, allowing for breathable air whilst exerting a very low gravitational field allowing for normal movement whilst inside the Lab and the surrounding area.
Techna Ology was using her technopathic and metal manipulation abilities to replace the damaged armor plating on several robots, whilst also monitoring several data streams from Earth. Her jet pack, currently set to hover was allowing her to finish the finishing touches on “Bobby” her Mega Destroid, who had been damaged slightly in combat with Cyberlord and his robotic forces. Suddenly a small robot came up to her and projected a holographic screen at Techna, startling her slightly, after interacting with the screen Mentella’s face appeared on the screen.
“Heya, sis. What’s up?” Asked Techna as she continued to work on replacing the armor plating on the seventh robot.
“Hello J’asira, are you able to see DELTA and the Prosythian now?” Asked Mentella
“Yup, I’ve just finished a couple tasks, I’ll teleport them up.”
Mentella nodded, smiled and then the screen went blank. Techna grinned at the prospect of seeing Cavalier and flew up to the teleport console and picked up a com-link from the side, she briefly messed with the wiring and reconstituted com-link before pressing it onto her right ear, she briefly navigated the various communications channels flying around Millennium City and pinpointed the DELTA frequency and tapped in, after a brief interlude of static, she heard Vitality laughing briefly:
“Hello? DELTA? Are you there?”
“Techy? That you?” Asked Cavalier.
“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Caaaaaaaaaaaav….hehe...” Techna swooned.
“Hello Techna, I’m assuming you’re ready to teleport us up?” Vitality inquired
“Yes I am; it’d be great if you all just stay exactly where you are for a couple of seconds…”
Techna tapped away furiously on the holographic interface, which selected four targets who were in close proximity to each other. She entered the transportation code and the 3 second activation sequence began;
“Okay, you’ll feel a very slight tingle and then you’ll all be up here.” She told them
“Alright, just try not to mess up my hair...” Mumbled Crescentwave.
Realizing that her lab was in a less than presentable state Techna quickly commanded her robots to help clearing up the place, she used her technopathy to shut down the many different computer programs that were running and sent away various robots that were flying around.
Seconds later the lab was looking considerably more presentable and the computer system had notified Techna that DELTA had been safely teleported to the base. She guided “Bobby” the Mega Destroid out of the main entrance, only to meet DELTA and The Prosythian standing someway off from the entrance. Vitality and Cavalier’s eye widened as the set eyes on the Mega Destroid and immediately prepared attack. Kr’anri looked around with an expression which Crescentwave had seen before;
“Oh no…Kr’anri’s going to be sick…” Grimaced Crescentwave
As soon as the words left her mouth, Kr’anri emptied her stomach’s contents onto the moon’s surface, before Crescentwave could tend to Kr’anri, Cavalier nudged her and drew her attention to the Mega Destroid who was accompanied by two larger automatons.
“SCANNING…META HOSTILES DETECTED. ERADICATION IN…3…2..” Boomed the Mega Destroid
Techna flew out from the labs quickly reassuring Bobby that nothing terrible was about to happen:
“Whoa! Bobby! Wait! This is DELTA! They are okay!” She cried
The Mega Destroid quickly stood down and seemed to just stare at them. She threw a small device on the ground which quickly folded out into a giant circular pad. The Mega Destroid stepped onto the pad and it began to hum softly. The two automatons seemed to walk off back to the exit and stand on guard.
“Alright Bobby! Go have fun now!” Techna smiled
The pad fired a containment vortex up and around the Mega Destroid, a ring of green energy pulsed from the pad upwards slowly as Bobby’s form was translated into a green energy form which shot up and out through the atmospheric force field into the cosmos above. Techna turned her attention to a slightly startled DELTA and a partially frightened Prosythian. Techna sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck:
“Sorry about that, I completely forgot to send him back…anyways, welcome to ForceTech Moon Base Labs!” She grinned
“Well at least we didn’t have to fight it. It’s good to see you again Techna.” Vitality smirked
“What’s with the big guys out there? Those two were bigger than your Mega Destroid…” Asked Cavalier
“Ah yes, I managed to take a few toys from Xen with me when we returned. Naturally they aren’t allowed on Earth but they are pretty useful up here and stand guard.” Replied Techna grinning
As she led DELTA into the labs, dozens of robots flew around, some checking on computer consoles, performing tasks and scanning things. The room alone seemed to shift in terms of its size, till it seemed to settle. The panels on the translucent dome started to shift downwards to cover most of the dome in a metallic armor-like plating. Kr'anri looked up, confusion and a hint of fear clearly displaying on her features as the entrance sealed shut and the panels seemed to be closing them in. Techna turned to see Kr'anri looking somewhat anxious at this recent development;
“Oh don't worry about that, it’s just the panels coming down. A safety measure, if you will, nothing outside has changed, it's all still there. But I'm sure you'd appreciate what I'm saying if you could understand it...” Replied Techna, smiling at her sudden realization of that fact.
A few robots flew up to Vitality and trilled happily whilst another group tended to Cavalier, Crescentwave and Kr’anri, showing them to a few nearby seats. Techna deactivated her jet pack, touching down on the metal floors and turned to her guests. As she started to ramble bits of metal flew from one of the nearby stacks of materials she had along with other small pieces of technology which seemed to fit perfectly into the small device which she was in the process of creating:
“Okay, a translator device. Should be pretty straightforward, but I’m going to need to scan her to make sure that she doesn’t have an allergic reaction to any of the materials that I’ll be using to make the translator. Raonse isn’t usually something which causes an adverse biological reaction, since it is largely neutral, not many chemicals, elements or even solutions react with it to any degree, a bit like Helium, but not at all gaseous…Anyway, Bio Scan!” She rambled.
Techna leapt over a table and tapped a few codes into the gauntlet on her left arm; the ground in front of her pulled apart and a small machine rose out from the ground and quickly powered up, blue lights flickering slightly before shining strong, a few holographic displays appeared showing symbols in Xenian:
“Interesting, I’m guessing this is your Bio Scan?” Asked Crescentwave
“Yeah, it’s been a while since it was used though; I’m just setting up what I want the primary results to be. This scan is a full scan; it tells me lots of things about whatever I’m scanning, like gender, vital signs, bone density, physiology, meta abilities etc. I don’t think I’ll need all of that to see if her body will classify Raonse as an allergen or not.” Techna replied as she scanned a piece of her suit.
“Okay, we are good to go.”
Techna held out her hand to Kr’anri, who was a little reluctant to take it, but with a gentle smile from Cavalier, Kr’anri summoned her courage and took Techna’s hand and followed her closer to the gently humming machine. Techna signalled for Kr’anri to step on to the raised platform and just wait a while.
“This isn’t going to hurt her is it? Or cause any form of discomfort?” Asked Vitality; the worry clear on his face as he regarded Kr’anri and the machine.
“Of course not, it’s just a quick scan, light based, nothing to worry about.” Grinned Techna
“See? I told you there was nothing to worry about Vit. Techy here knows what she’s doing.” Cavalier smiled as he winked at Techna.
Techna giggled to herself as she initiated the scan. Kr’anri looked around as the green lights around the podium started to spin around in a continuous circle, before releasing a ring of green light which slowly moved up Kr’anri’s body. The ring of light shone a green beam on Kr’anri’s skin causing her to what could be described as a giggle during the process. The beam and the ring slowly moved up and down her body before stating something in Xenian and the green ring and its beam vanished. Techna helped Kr’anri to step down from the podium:
“Is it complete now? Kr’anri, how do you feel?” Asked Vitality, floating closer as Kr’anri stepped off the podium. Kr’anri cocked her head to the side, as if to get a sense of what Vitality was saying before giving him a smile.
Techna pressed a button on her gauntlet, the Bio Scan machine quickly lowered itself back into the ground, a holographic screen display quickly taking its place as the ground closed up again. She busied herself with the screen which had appeared and began reviewing the information as Crescentwave looked over her shoulder.
“So…will this work?” Inquired Crescentwave
“According to the scan, there are no possible adverse biological reactions which could occur from having Raonse in contact with her skin. Based on these results, which I’ve had run through a quantum verification system, I’d say that Kr’anri is able to use this translation device I started making. I’m going to go ahead and finish it off; you guys are free to look around the lab. But please don’t touch anything which looks like a weapon…Oh and you can go outside the labs as well, just in case you want to, the atmospheric force field will alert you when you’re headed towards the edges.“ Replied Techna
Techna went over to a nearby worktable, her small robots flying numerous tools to her as she continued to work on the translation device. Cavalier made his way over to one of the small windows and looked out to the stars and the surface of the moon, when his com-link started flashing, he answered it quickly.
“Hello?” He answered.
“It’s me, where are you?”
“On the moon currently, we’re helping out a friend of ours…you wanna join us?” He smirked.
“Sure.”
“Great, see you soon.” He smiled as he closed the call.
Cavalier looked over to Vitality who was speaking to Kr’anri and Crescentwave, Vitality quickly looked up almost as if he knew Cavalier was about to do something. Cavalier started to make his way to where Techna was sitting whilst working on the translator.
“Don’t disturb her, I don’t need her “fan-girling” all over you and make a mistake and turn it into a weapon or something else.” Vitality warned.
“Don’t worry about it; I’m sure Techy can multitask. I just need a favour…” Cavalier grinned.
Vitality frowned then rolled his eyes and turned back to Kr’anri, who was currently marvelling at Crescentwave and her ability to control water.
Kr’anri looked towards the entrance way, tugging on Crescentwave’s arm in an attempt to draw her towards the entrance.
“Kr’anri wtgo aooo un tsid e!” She cried
Crescentwave signalled Vitality who promptly followed both as they went outside to the moon’s surface. Techna was working on the translator whilst fixing a number of things including the translator, large pieces of metal flew around the place accompanied by almost an army of robots all under her conscious control, fixing things, testing weaponry, gathering data amongst many other things. Cavalier’s combat reflexes were tested to some extent with the amount of flying metal he had to dodge. The noise in the lab had increased somewhat since she had begun working.
“Hey! Techy! I need to talk to you!” He shouted over the din.
Techna removed her goggles and looked up quickly to see Cavalier a few feet away;
“Hii, Caav. What’s up?” She grinned.
“I was wondering if you could teleport another person up. It’s a close friend of mine and I’d really appreciate it if you could.” He smiled
Before Cavalier could finish his sentence Techna was already out of her seat and at the teleport controls;
“Don’t you need to know who it is first?” He asked
“Nope, I can just trace the last outgoing signal from your communicator, and lock on that way!” She smiled.
Cavalier nodded as Techna pulled up the holographic display and pressed a triangular button on the control panel. Moments later a slightly disorientated Spiritbound appeared in the entrance way, Cavalier made his way towards the woman, embracing her. Techna had already returned to her work, completely oblivious to the new arrival. She held up a small silver collar, which had a few buttons on it, whilst looking fairly simple it was obvious it was a technical piece of machinery in some sense.
“I’m done!” Techna announced.
Vitality, Crescentwave and Kr’anri, had just re-entered the labs and stood near Cavalier and Spiritbound, who greeted one another. Techna made her way down the stairs, a robot holding the translation device in tow. Another slightly bulkier looking android came along holding a glass plate in one hand.
“I hear you’ve finished?” Asked Vitality
“Yes I have! The translation device is made out of Raonse, a regenerative metal, “bio-steel” if you will. If it gets damaged it will –“
“Let me guess, it’ll regenerate?” Interrupted Spiritbound
Techna’s eyes narrowed slightly at the interruption but replied as she made her way over to Kr’anri:
“Yes. Yes it will. It also contains over 300 different languages for Kr’anri to switch to and understand. Mostly Earth languages, but I’ve included Roin’esh, English, Spanish, German, Sularian, and Gadroon to name a few. Qularr has also been included, but since they use instinctual telepathy, it should be pretty easy for Kr’anri to communicate; I doubt that she would want to but still, the option is there. I also included Malvan just in case. It’s a neural interface, so it will allow Kr’anri to read and hear these languages, process the sounds and convert it into an understandable form so she’s able to respond appropriately. It’s powered by her neural activity; the electrical impulses are amplified as they travel up her spine turning their electrical energy into a usable form for the Raonse.” Techna explained.
Techna knelt down to Kr’anri and placed the device around her neck, clipping it into place. Kr’anri made a small sound at the back of her throat as the cool metal touched her neck and fidgeted a little. Techna stood back and typed in a code into her gauntlet, a beam of blue light shot into the translation device and it activated instantly.
“It’s online; it also has an off switch by the way. Okay, Kr’anri, say something!” Techna said.
“Kr’anri thinks this is cold.” Kr’anri said cautiously as she tugged slightly at the device around her neck.
The realisation that she was able to communicate and understand with everyone else set Kr’anri into a talking frenzy, laughing and saying random words and bombarding Cavalier and Spiritbound with a series of questions before turning to Crescentwave who smiled at Kr’anri’s new found enthusiasm for talking.
“Kr’anri I have something else for you.” Techna grinned.
“More for Kr’anri!” She giggled.
The large android behind Techna moved forward at her command and lowered itself to Kr’anri’s level and presented the glass plate in front of Kr’anri. On the plate was a blue aquatic looking creature.
“Um…what is that?” Asked Vitality as he eyed the plate.
“I was doing some research on Prosythians and found out that most Prosythians like to eat this, it’s locally known as…” Techna started.
“PERGA!!!” Kr’anri screamed and grabbed the creature and began a steady and slightly messy devouring of the food.
Crescentwave smiled, Techna turned to Spiritbound;
“So who are you?” She asked.
“Spiritbound, I guess you could say I’m a new addition to DELTA.” Spiritbound replied
Cavalier smiled and rested a hand on Spiritbound’s shoulder. Vitality stepped forward to Techna;
“Techna, we are very grateful for your assistance, I understand this is a busy time for you, so extra thanks are in order.” Vitality smiled
“Oh, el’sai…it’s no trouble at all!” Techna laughed.
“By the way, what happened to CharmCaster, she sort of left quickly, which is why a bit of drama went on recently.” Asked Crescentwave
“Ah, yeah, CharmCaster is a Mystos Guardian, so she has kind of an interdimensional responsibility to make sure things are running smoothly or something. Issues pop up all the time, but this one was pretty unusual, she’d just finished a string of things…so maybe it was a personal assignment, but from the way Mentella said she’s feeling, I have my suspicions that it was a “job related” emergency. She’ll probably bombard you with apologies when she next sees you. But, here’s a question for you DELTA…where is Kr’anri going to stay now?” Techna explained.
“Kr’anri will stay on Earth.” Kr’anri nodded to herself.
“That’s something we’ve been discussing actually, since we became aware of the situation.” Vitality answered.
“I figure she could have my place for the time being?” Suggested Cavalier
“Oh? Where will you stay?” Asked Crescentwave
Cavalier smiled and squeezed Spiritbound into a sideways hug as she leaned in slightly.
“I’m sure I’ll find somewhere to crash for a while.” He grinned.
“Well, I’m glad that’s settled! Techna do you think you’ll be able to procure more food for Kr’anri?” Inquired Vitality
“One step ahead there! I ordered a steady supply, which can be easily teleported down to Earth for Kr’anri.” Techna replied.
“Oh that’s good, we wouldn’t want any of this back and forth coming up here to the moon all the time she’s hungry.” Spiritbound stated.
Techna frowned uncharacteristically, almost reminiscent of her eldest sister Mentella, she opened her mouth to reply but chose to flatly ignore Spiritbound’s comment. For some reason, Techna just did not like Spiritbound, the tension could be cut through with a knife. She turned her attention to the teleport console.
“All I need are co-ordinates, if she’s staying at….Cav’s place then I can teleport them down easy. Can I call you Cav? Is that okay? Do you prefer Cavalier?” Techna babbled.
Cavalier walked up to the machine, smiling as he entered his address.
“Cav’s fine.” He smiled.
Techna sighed at him as the light fixtures in the lab and the computer screens seemed to brighten momentarily before returning to normal as she composed herself. She led DELTA and Kr’anri upstairs to the exit teleportation tubes;
“Actually, is it okay if I fly out? I feel like flying.” Vitality asked.
“Um, sure, let me just teleport everyone else out first.” Techna replied.
The teleport sequence started and one by one the DELTA members vanished from inside the tubes, Techna rushed over to the console and four named signatures appeared on the screen. Techna moved three of them close to a certain location; the fourth signature was cast to the north.
“Why is that fourth signature all the way over there?” Asked Vitality as he peered at the display panel.
Techna pressed the triangular button on the console. Before she could reply Vitality’s com-link crackled into life as Spiritbound’s voice came over the com-link.
“Why am I in Canada?” She asked, sounding slightly worried.
Vitality’s eyes widened as he turned to Techna, who looked back at him nonchalantly.
“I’m guessing you and Spiritbound don’t exactly like each other?” He asked smirking
“I’m increasing the permeability of the atmospheric force field, so you don’t have to push against the shield.” Techna replied, completely ignoring the question.
Vitality laughed as he waved at Techna before taking off into space. Once she was sure Vitality was clear of the force field’s reach, Techna re-tuned the force field and set to work.
END OF SPYBOT2 RECORDING
Next: Deadly Exhalation! Part 2