'Future Dream Quest (Zoogle)'

Part 1
Zoogle's Story: Chapter 1 (JS) Zoogle entered the geography class sphere for his very first lesson at the primary-dome. The cyber elder lifted its holo-glove to project a crisp laser display of the planet earth.

Cyber elder: 'LOADING LASER FILE BETA 27315. SUBJECT - EARTH: THE PLANET OF ORIGIN.'

Zoogle sighed beneath his gamma mask, more occupied with counting the space mites that nested on the inside of his eyelids than listening to this boring android drone (if you'll pardon the pun) on. Zoogle was having troubles at home, three of his fathers were going through the rough final stages of Dark Matter youth regeneration, as they had just managed to save enough space credits to afford a further two life cycles. Times were hard though, they were beginning to flux his emotion levels.

Cyber elder: 'THE EARTH IS ENTIRELY COVERED WITH OCEANS, MEANING THAT CITIES THAT DID NOT ASCEND TO SPACE HAD TO SURVIVE BY MEANS OF UNDERWATER DELTA CONES. WHO CAN NAME THE CAPITAL LASERSTATION OF EARTH?

Zoogle knew the answer, he decided to contribute and so blinked his answer telepathically through his laser communications antennae. He wasn't in the mood for talking.

Zoogle's Story: Chapter 2  (WK)
"GOOD CHILD, ZOOGLE", the cyber elder shouted encouragingly. After twisting his volume dial-sphere back down to a more reasonable 60 degrees, he continued "I SHALL ADD ANOTHER GOLD GALAXY NEXT TO YOUR NAME ON THE LADDER OF COSMIC ASCENSION."

The elder turned and chuntled to the holoviewer to make the amendment, replacing his radioactive isotpic battery as he went, allowing him to remain hovering at optimum speed and height as he moved. He switched his volume dial-sphere up to an outrageous 230 degrees to shout "EFFICIENT TEACHING IS WHAT I WAS DESIGNED FOR! PRAISE THE DESIGNER!"

Zoogle sighed.

Zoogle's Story: Chapter 3 (MB)
Already his life had been decided for him. Zoogle was to train to become a Navigator, a guide through the vortex of gamma streams which compose the universe. Steering great vessels along the cosmos to their destination

Of course Zoogle had to accept. This was a great opportunity, a chance to escape the harsh realities of his Living Block.

Zoogle sighed again, lost in thoughts of the future. He couldn't think about that now. Examining his starwatch Zoogle groaned at the prospect of three more Beta-Cycles learning about Earth. He already knew everything about the planet of origin having devoured every scrap of information he could about its rise and eventual fall.

"SUBJECT - ZOOGLE, HUMAN MALE: ATTENTION LEVELS ARE BELOW AN ACCEPTABLE LEVEL. EITHER RECTIFY THIS ERROR OR FACE ADEQUATE PUNISHMENT."

Zoogle's Story: Chapter 4 (JS)
Zoogle hadn't spoken for a week but he knew the elder would not be content with telepathy in this disciplinary matter. He gently ran his fingers across his neck in alignment to the jugular vein, stimulating his x-crome implant and releasing the lock on his gamma visor. He took a deep breath of the sterile air before coughing out the excess gamma oil which had collected in his lungs. The other humans in the class made disgusted noises at this show of unkemptness, yet the Gragorian hatchlings and Oporatons seemed quite unperturbed.

'I'm... sorry for... my lack of... focus' Zoogle wheezed, still dribbling green oil from his grey lips. He disliked speaking, it was an uncomfortable act which required immense concentration. It was also degrading, it was a sign of poverty as the poor cannot afford this technology. Why speak when all manner of emotions and concept can be transmitted via brainwaves in perfect articulation? In fact, people can communicate so clearly and without misinterpretation, that those with prosperity enough to be upgraded no longer understand concepts such as irony or word play. Deception of any form is obsolete next to complete understanding, and as a result the rich can no longer understand the poor. Language has taken a backseat to understanding, and in a few centuries language will cease to exist at all.

Zoogle's Story: Chapter 5 (JB)
The cyber elder smiled, content that Zoogle had learnt his lesson. The very act of speaking was punishment enough.

"THE PLANET OF ORIGIN IS LOCATED IN A RATHER UNUSUAL SOLAR SYSTEM, CONTAINING JUST A SINGLE STAR" the cyber elder continued.

The remainder of lesson continued without incident. As Zoogle left primary dome, he began to think about the planet of origin. He had been taught from a young age that it was sub-optimal for life, located in a region of space with a dark matter density too low to support any kind of advanced civilization. Zoogle, however, had a nagging feeling that this was not the case. Visiting the planet was, of course, out of the question. He would never be able to save up the space credits needed to get there, it was a prime tourist destination for the rich and powerful. Zoogle looked up at the sky, as the first of the day's sunsets began.

Zoogle's Story Chapter 6 (MB)
Zoogle strapped on his Personal-Antimatter-Transporter and began his long journey home pensively, thinking about the future which lay in store for him. He barely noticed the industry and movement going on below him. The Darkmatter forges in which the weaponry for the Great War between the Human Federation Alliance and the Xxurblaton Betas was created out of seemingly nothing. The hustle and bustle of market awareness as savvy shoppers went about their business in 10 kilometre wide square known to the witty as 'Capitalist Island'. Neither did he notice the great spurts of molten rock shooting up into the sky from open sores in Mercury's surface like blood seeping from a dying animal.

Zoogle was too busy thinking about what he wanted to do with his life. Was 50 too young to decide on a future for himself? Zoogle sighed as his gamma visor bleeped to inform him that he was near his destination, and, slowly easing the velocity on his PAT he descended from the skies towards the silver grey monolith known as Living Space Extension Theta. Within its chromium walls LSEA held up to one billion organisms all living their own small lives. Long, pointless lives thought Zoogle as he stared into the void of a future already decided for him.

He descended quickly towards his block. The Automic-Defence-Field emanating from the Living Space scanned his body and quickly identified his name, place of residence and age and concluded that he had no weaponry on his person and therefore did not need to be disintegrated.

Zoogle landed and entered the front portal.

Zoogle's Story Chapter 7 (WK)
Zoogle forced a civil nod to the doorman as the portal was engaged for him. He knew things like that mattered. A quick relaxation and contraction of his upper mecha-vertebrae was sometimes all that was needed to release a rush of friendly chemicals in another being's cortex, organic or otherwise. He knew that the happiness pushed onto the polite man would be short-lived, the next person would forget or rudely expel some oil as if the portal didn't NEED a paid man to engage it for entry. But Zoogle did it anyway. It mattered to him.

Entering life cylinder X34b, Zoogle sighed as he surveyed his close range surroundings. There were no long range surroundings for him to survey. At this point in his life he had to settle for this 3 by 16 galactic unit. It was a spatial investment. One day he'd be patrolling the unknown vastness of the cosmos. Not today though.

Zoogle's Story Chapter 8 (JB)
The communication port in the corner of his room whirred, Zoogle flicked the receptor just above his right eye to the recieve position. Electromagnetic impulses entered the receptor, firing the neurons in Zoogle's brain to create an image. It was his mother and one of his fathers. His mother looked fresh and young, almost too young. She had just started another life cycle, a process Zoogle had always been uncomfortable with. She seemed like a stranger nowadays. "Hello dear, just checking up on you. How is Mercury treating you? We are fine, struggling a bit, but you know how these Dark Matter youth regenerations are, unfortunate that they all seem to have synced up, but we'll manage" she telepathically communicated.

Zoogle gave a weary smile and rubbed his eyes, brushing away some stray space mites.

Zoogle's Story Chapter 9 (WK)
"Mother, I'm fine here. You mustn't worry, I'm not 40 anymore. I can look after myself." As Zoogle said this he could see the image of his mother projected into his brain smile with pride. She then seemed to jolt her head up and down repeatedly and change colour before being replace by a transmission error 154. He chose to not send an error report, sighing instead and going to sit on his body comforter, generating a good 5 minutes of silence to follow.

"Somebody is rather forcefully requesting entry, Zoogle" came the AI audioface from the membrane speaker, breaking the futuristic silence that Zoogle and the room was making.

The portal whirred active with the characteristic cyan light scheme to show an entry breach. A large body stood in the atmospheric smoke, illuminated in the ominous light blue smoke.

He splutter-coughed in shock.

Zoogle's Story Chapter 10 (MB)
Zoogle was too busy coughing up gamma oil to notice the large creature stride into the room. Before he knew it the creature had grasped a small object from the hovering coffee table at the circumference of the room and vanished.

The futuristic silence returned to the cylinder interrupted only by the hissing of smoke and a cyan invasion light scheme.

Zoogle, unable to comprehend the event as it happened ordered the extra camera within his iris to playback the event. He knew what it had taken. It was his trainee license. The key to any Human owned Starship. All the mysterious invader had to do was change some details around using a basic quantum computer and it would be fully able to star-jack any bit of industry or hardware the Human Federation Alliance had control of. This was serious.

Zoogle focused the inbuilt mp77. player within his head on the shadow of the invader summoning a quick data burst from the Networked Intelligence to identify its primary features. A cool, female sounding voice emanated within his neural network:

"We're sorry but this image does not exist." "Try again." "We're sorry but this image does not exist."

Frustrated, Zoogle shut down the search with a snap of cerebral electricity. How could the Networked Intelligence not identify the creature? It couldn't possibly be an undiscovered species. The Universal Alliance of Species had collectively mapped 25% of the known universe and much of the rest was dark space - devoid of life.

Zoogle paused, unsure of what to do. This was an event in his life only he had power over. What would he do?

Lila's Story : Chapter 1 (JS)
Lila Ford's mouth twitched the ghost of a smile, she wasn't born 50 years ago. The people in the justice hive weren't looking at her, but she could feel their gaze stronger than if every eye in the room was on her. "I've had enough of your crap Septo! How fucking dare you come and do this here. You know how hectic things are with the Xxurblatons executing so many operatives. I don't have time for this".

Septo had arrived 30 gerims ago and was taking this breakup harder than Lila expected. For a Oporaton he was tall and gangly. His cheeks had turned a bold shade of blue, his species natural reaction to distress. "I didn't mate with her Lila! I didn't! I swear it on the feast of Okantar!"

"I hear that feast gets colder every second," came a voice from the door. Lila poorly tried to conceal a smile and then spun around to face Captain Arrow. "I'm sorry for this Captain. He was just leaving", she explained with thinly veiled shame in her voice. The Captain's eyes sparkled, "Leaving? But my dear, he holds the key to victory in this war!"

With that, everyone in the room turned to face him. Observing his operatives with his trademark theatricalism, Captain Arrow sipped loudly from his Nutrient tea and grinned broadly at the room. The justice hive immediately turned their attention to Septo who now appeared slightly smug with himself. His cheeks had turned from a bold shade of blue to an iridescent red, signifying his pleasure.

Lila's Story: Chapter 2 (OS)
“You are indeed right Captain Arrow,” Septo took a few steps past Lila facing away from her. “Whilst you thought I was out ‘mating’ with that whore Cithina,” Septo quickly turned to face the bemused Lila who spat disgust at the name of the self-proclaimed street whore, “I had actually been given direct orders by Captain Arrow to follow an undercover Xxurblaton who had been roaming Capitalist Island freely. How you ask?” Septo had turned from Lila and now faced the Hive which had rapidly indulged in hushed discussion. Septo pulled out what appeared to be a set of blueprints in Xxurblaton transcript. Being one of few elite Oporatron mercenary spies in the sector, Septo was able to acquire any information and sell his services to the highest bidder. He was sought after by many but since his intimate relationship with Lila, he has a greater affinity towards the Federation than that of the Xxurblatons.

“The Xxurblatons have created innovative armour which renders them invisible to your surveillance. As you can see from the blueprint it’s a large suit which ensures their elegant, tall figure goes unnoticed amongst you. I had obtained these designs prior to tracking him and thus allowed me to find him near the markets. He appeared to be following a particular PAT vehicle in the skies and lead me directly to the Living Space Extension Theta. From this point, I activated my Delta X5G cloak and walked steadily behind the Xxurblaton which had stopped outside one of the life cylinders. Without hesitation he had taken the life of the doorman with a swift clean stab to the neck and proceeded to breach entry into the cylinder. I choose not to engage before seeing where this lead. Out of the light blue smoke the Xxurblaton made a quick escape using the human’s PAT. At this point, I disabled my cloak and enabled my Zero Proton Net to hone in on the escaping being. The net engulfed the creature, sending him crashing down into chromium walls of the LSEA. I knew I had to be quick to catch him and at this point threw my Delta X5G cloak over myself and the thief,” Septo finished with a conceited bow at Lila who appeared less than impressed. Captain Arrow gave a small smile and threw Septo a bag of space credits for his service.

“And where is this Xxurblaton now?” Lila cried feeling guilt run through her as she looked into the dark green eyes of Septo.

“He is locked in the Gamma chambers below,” Captain Arrow responded. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out an object, “The bastard creature was holding this, a trainee license. With it he would be capable to star-jack any of our hardware and completely destroy the federation! How did he manage to track this down!?” Captain Arrow walked beside Lila and handed her the license. “Go to the cylinder in which this belongs and bring the human here immediately.”

“Yes captain!” Lila took the license which had ‘life cylinder X34b’ scribbled on the bottom and headed out the bustling Hive giving Septo one last look of regret.

“I hear you all ask what the key to victory of this war is. Well the answer lies below in the Gamma chamber in the head of that repulsive Xxurblaton,” and with that Captain Arrow ushered four of his guards to his side to start the interrogation process.

Septo's Story: Chapter 1 (MB)
Septo followed Captain Arrow and his retinue down towards the Gamma chamber. He knew that what he was about to witness was not going to be pleasant. He had witnessed interrogations before; heard the screams and shivers of pain bounce around the impenetrable metal walls before replaced again with the quiet, indomitable whisper of the interrogator's voice. It was not pleasant. But as the war had grown older, so it seemed that some of Humanity's compassion had died of old age and they resorted to crueler and more exotic method's to extract their information. Despite his outwardly friendly and roguish appearance, Captain Arrow was one of the Human Federation Alliance's best interrogators, able to find within himself a hatred towards the Xxurblatons which few had ever noticed before in another living soul.

They each entered the Gamma chamber, faces changing into a mixture of fear and disgust as they saw the hated enemy strapped to the interrogation table by rings of compressed dark matter. It's four cat like eyes flew open and it began to breath hard aware of the instrument panel which lay next to it.

Captain Arrow sat down next to the instruments, chuckling softly as he picked up his favourite device: a Laser Pulse. A device which one can press to any part of the body to send incomprehensible amounts of pain along nerve endings along the body. It is said that the feeling is akin to burning from the inside out. Arrow whispered in the creature's ear and its eyes widened in shock. Before it could prepare itself he plunged the device onto its finger and its body writhed and jumped in horror, unable to withstand the device. Arrow asked: "Why did you take the star-license?". No answer. He repeated it again, pressing the settings on the device to intensify the pain. The creature gasped, gabbling out an answer which seemed to pacify Captain Arrow. He nodded, and withdrew the Laser Pulse, taking instead a short, incredibly sharp knife and pressing it against the creature's long, slender neck. "For every answer which dissatisfies me, I am going to cut open your body so we can find out whether it's true that Xxurblatons smell like shit on the inside. What are your people's plans for the war!?"

The interrogation went on similarly for the next few Beta-Cycles. Arrow, threatened, cajoling and mocking the tortured creature, whilst it gasped out answer after answer, its dual tongues wriggling to release that information which its people held so dear.

Finally, when neither side could take anymore Arrow threw the knife aside and put his head in his hands. He had acquired nothing more than he knew or guessed. Septo turned away, disgusted with himself and the whole stupid war. Silence fell in the room, emphasized only by the shudders and whimpers of pain of the poor creature. A voice whispered: "E-e-arththhss. Eaarttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Kill...me..now....and put me out of my misery." Arrow looked up, shocked at what he had just heard. The planet of origin? He smiled and said with an almost kind expression on his face: "finally". Pulled out his Plutonium Pistol and shot the creature in the face. He turned away, a triumphant look on his face before he froze at the sound of another voice coming from the creature, in the harsh tones of its race:

"Spy fatality detected. Detonating inbuilt Fusion Accelerator."

White.

Lila's Story: Chapter 3 (WK)
What was taking him so long? Lila knew that she’d offended her lover, but surely he wouldn’t take it this badly? She buzzed his comwatch. Nothing. She thought about the archaic devise on his wrist. It reminded her of when they met. The only way they could communicate at a distance was this clunky outdated piece of nano-equipment. He’d urged her to get the neural B-com implant, but that wasn’t what her people were about.

The silence of her room sickened her. Every calm moment for her, she knew was a screaming frenzy for another being at the hands of Arrow far away in the Justice quarter. This wasn’t what she signed up for. She decided to distract herself with a walk. She removed her ionproof overalls and jacket bearing the insignia of three uniting fists under a star, placing them in stasis in her vacudrobe. She thought about the utility mites that would soon get to work on the fibres she’d been wearing.

After fixing the heavy front clasp on her comfy maroon overalls she activated her portal and stepped out into the bustling street. She moved through the crowds wearing her face with pride. Everywhere she went she attracted curious eyes and visual nodes. Her people were a rare sight, especially in this region of space. An uncovered face seeing the world as it really looked.

She made her way towards the Victory Garden. By foot the journey seemed long, but this was what she needed right now. She could smell the air becoming cleaner. Lila passed under the golden archway, past the ancient marble monument, and out into the endofield. She’d often retire here among the calming red hues of the generated air currents. She’d entered an instance. In this large open space there was nobody to be seen. This is the way it was made. Anybody entereing would generate their own quantum flux and occupy their own calm level of serene grassy space-time. She could feel the movement of others enjoying their own solitary walks around her, but couldn’t see them. She’d spoken about this to others, but it seemed it was her lack of gamma mask that afforded her this interesting sensation.

Lila lay down and stared up at the simulated blue sky. It was supposed to remind people of the ancient unpolluted skies but she saw it for what it really was: a screen. A pigmented pacifier. She drifted into a dark dreamless sleep.

Lila's Story: Chapter 4 (JB)
When she awoke, night had fallen over Mercury. Lila looked up at the sky, which was filled with large oval violet lights. The atmos-guard had doubled their night patrol. With Mercury's position as one of the academic centres of the Human Federation, it could ill afford unwanted visitors, human or Xxurblaton. Remembering the task Captain Arrow had assigned her, she began to head over to the LSEA. As she passed over the industrial sector, she spotted a statue. It was Charles Gamma, the 'saviour' of the Federation. As one of the few people who still used speech, Lila understood irony, and she smiled at the irony of this statue, that it should be here in Mercury, the very place where the Federation had vapourised his mind.

She reached the LSEA within a gerim. She flashed her Federation Services laser into the Automatic-Defence-Field, allowing her to gain access to the front portal. Most Services personnel had a strand of DNA inserted when they joined for identification purposes, but not Lila, whose genetics remained virtually unchanged from conception. Only minor changes had been made, mainly for increased physical abilities.

The model of efficiency, the LSEA had already replaced the doorman. Beaming her laser identifier again, she requested access to X34b. The doorman duly obliged. She entered the room. No one was there.

Lila's Story: Chapter 5 (JS)
"Lights activate" Lila commanded to the room, only to remain in darkness.

She groaned.

It was clear that a human lived here as the lighting was telepathically operated. Something which she found abhorrent. Wasting no time, she reached into her quasosatchel to retrieve her justicehacker. Following a brief scan the device emitted a amethyst purple electro pulse which activated every device in the room. Lila cringed at the eruption of disturbance as light flooded the space and a multitude of noises attacked her senses. The omnivision blared into life, displaying a terrified looking Pralpatort recounting the recent mortalities of the war. The laser shutters on the far wall projected a crisp autumn morning outside, brown leaves drifting delicately onto golden hills reigning the horizon. A hologram of the observable universe filled the room. "Stupid Loxobomb!" she hissed to herself under her breath. She had forgotten to change the settings of the device and it had activated everything in the room. Whilst her eyes adjusted, Lila caught a glimpse of a dangerous red glow coming from the hologram. She approached, and saw that this hazardous hue covered the origin system. Squinting, she read the tiny font underneath it.

WHAT MUST FALL IF WE ARE TO RISE.

Her eyes widened at the menace of the message, faster than molten dark matter she upholstered her gamma ray, but it was too late. She felt her neck shiver and she dropped her weapon and justice hacker. She was out cold before she heard them hit the ground.

Zoogle's Story: Chapter 11 (OS)
The hissing of smoke and the cyan invasion light scheme slowly died down as Zoogle sauntered hesitantly to the cylinder’s entrance. He hoped to see Doorman W1LL still intact but a horrible feeling suggested otherwise. 'Doorman W1LL?' Zoogle adjusted his laser communications antennae hoping to read some sort of frequency from outside but there was nothing. Zoogle then remembered the Doormen could not afford to wear Gamma masks. They were men who could not meet the expense of the luxuries that the affluent could. They lived till 30 before they would drown in a green liquid which gathered in their lungs. It was a sad life of a doorman, but there was something special about Doorman W1LL that Zoogle appreciated. He had promised to one day buy the doorman a Gamma mask for all the service he had provided.

Shuffling out through the smoke, Zoogle gazed at Doorman W1LL who lay slumped against the well polished chromium wall. It appeared a small blade had cleanly pierced his neck sending a trickle of blood seeping down onto his ragged garments. Zoogle summoned immense concentration before speaking. “Doorman W1LL…what has…happened? Who did…this to…you?” Zoogle wheezed heavily, wiping away the green oil from his cracked lips. He didn’t care if it hurt to speak; Doorman W1LL was his friend, his companion! The colour slowly drained from the doorman’s face. He was at the young age of 28 with his cycle nearly complete. He rarely spoke to Zoogle but turned up every day without fail to be there at his cylinder. He had aspirations like any other, he had a family back at the Capitalist Island whom he loved, but today was the day it all ended. Doorman W1LL spluttered some words with his last breath. “It was…” he gasped for breath before his eyes began to shut, “a pleasure!” And with his last reserve of energy he nodded to Zoogle appreciatively before sagging lifeless onto the wall. Zoogle clenched his fists in anger, his eyes watering at he saw the resolve of Doorman W1LL drift away. Before he had a chance to collect himself two slender arms grabbed Zoogle’s Gamma Mask from behind and lulled the defenseless human asleep.

Septo's Story : Chapter 2 (MB)
Septo felt himself blasted backwards, the high energy of the fusion accelerator ablating his solid armor. He screamed in agony as his exposed external bone began to heat beyond a bearable temperature, flesh bubbling and cracking with the heat. It stopped. Septo slammed to the floor, whimpering in pain, and then he heard a short bark of laughter. Captain Arrow was standing there, a little singed but otherwise unharmed, clutching to his chest some kind of shield device which had absorbed the worst of the heat before it broke. Septo lay on the floor, pausing briefly to pity the poor piles of ash which had no such protection.

Arrow grinned at Septo, "you look like shit." Septo tried to stand up but the pain and nausea which swept over him was too much; he croaked through parched lips, "...get...help." Arrow nodded and swiftly left the room.

With nothing left to do except be in extreme agony, Septo observed the blackened room around him, everything except himself and his melted armor reduced to soot. He began to think about what had led him to be in this particular mess. His work had got him into danger before, but he had never let himself be so woefully exposed. He was getting soft, that was it. Age and love were beginning to affect him. Make him lose his strength, his neutrality. Septo passed out.

Rapid footsteps. A hum of machinery. Septo lay on his back, staring dimly at the ceiling, "where am I?", he whispered. A slightly mechanical voice reported: "Subject: Septo Phalanx of Milky Way Galaxy, Human Sector XI, Star System Thriatrix, Planet Mercury. Age 136. Status: Severely Wounded. You are in the Mercury Emergency Healing Ward."

"Oh."

"Human Captain Arrow has left you some items which you may wish to see."

"Show them to me."

The robotic healer passed Septo two items using one of its multiple extendable limbs. The first was a space credit payment of $1,000,000 "for injuries received under employ of the Human Federation Alliance". The second a recorded message from Captain Arrow: "Sorry I couldn't stick around. The information from the Xxurblaton is too good to pass up. I'm going to deal with it myself. I have a few contacts on Earth and they might point me in the right direction. Oh, I should say your injuries are so severe that your face no longer changes colour. Should be good for some espionage work in a few alpha-cycles time."

Septo groaned, the prospect of so long recovering dragged out ahead of him.

Lila's Story: Chapter 6 (MB)
Dark. That was all Lila could comprehend as she felt herself carried from ship to ship. Beta-Cycles passed. Engines roared. She could be literally anywhere in the galaxy. Lila drifted off to sleep, unable to shake the effects of whatever had knocked her unconscious.

When she awoke, Lila was faintly aware of the sound of distant running water and footsteps. She remained quiet, hoping that any conversation would give her a brief clue to her surroundings. It was times like these that Lila cursed her lack of a gamma mask, with it she could have instant perception of her surroundings and location.

"Awake are you? Don't try and pretend, my device can read your brain wave functions".

Lila couldn't tell by the sound of his voice what he was. Simply that he was definitely male. Some freak of evolution around the galaxy tended to ensure that those with the male gene had a lower voice, or at least, 9 times out of 10 that was the case. Lila steeled herself, hoping that her kidnapper had no immediate evil intent for her, "perhaps you could tell me where I am."

"I will be glad to oblige. You are on Europa, in a Hexagon X12 Lifepod, on the sea bed. You will also be pleased to know that you are perfectly safe here, so long as you co-operate."

"What do you want?"

"I have what I want."

Lila paused, thinking hard and realised that the Navigator's License in her pocket was no longer there, "Why would you go to so much effort for a simple trainee license?"

The voice chuckled, "do you know how odd it is for a Navigator's License to be passed around between organisms? How utterly and fascinatingly strange? A very well-hidden secret of the Navigator's is that a license is made of stabilized exotic matter imprinted to its owners will. Any other being who dared to touch it would feel the unpleasant sensation of their entire being turning into tachyons and scattered across the universe. This License appears to be neutral."

Lila shuddered at the thought of suddenly not existing, "surely it could just be a mistake?"

"This is no mere mistake. For a license to not work, to be openly designated to any other being requires corruption of the highest order: within the Navigator's ranks themselves. It has never been thought possible before."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want you to co-operate."

Zoogle's Story: Chapter 12 (JB)
Zoogle awoke several beta cycles later in dark room. Or at least he thought it was a room. With the lack of sensory experiences, it was impossible to tell. He reached for his x-crome implant, trying to activate the Navigation add-on. It wasn't there. He scrabbled through his add-ons, searching for anything, he just needed to see something, but they were all gone. His gamma mask had been reduced to its most basic form. Zoogle tried to remember how he got here. If he could just access his iris cameras, but that was done via gamma mask. He would just have to do things the old-fashioned way. There were two hands, slender hands. Something about them was unusual. He closed his eyes, not that it made any difference in here. The right index finger had a ring on it. That in itself was unusual, since Riemann Soutle had made nuclear synthesis feasible on an industrial scale, the value of precious metals had plummeted, making jewellery worthless. There was something more though, on the ring were several characters. They reminded Zoogle of the Xxurblaton language, only more archaic.

Zoogle thought back to his language lessons. He had never paid attention as he couldn't see the point. Language was only necessary with speech, why would he ever need it? Those characters, however, looked very familiar. He almost felt as if he had meet them before he even arrived at Mercury. He quickly dismissed this thought, he only encountered other languages when he began the junior training program. Two characters in particular stood out. Both were ellipses, containing a single arm. One extended upwards, with a single slender finger extended, the other reached down, the same finger extended. Rise and fall. Zoogle realised the translation.

WHAT MUST FALL IF WE ARE TO RISE.

Zoogle's Story: Chapter 13 (WK)
Zoogle coughed out a few heavy green words, “what’s going on? Who are you?” He could feel the hot buzz of laser restraints on his wrists behind his back. He squinted into the dark, his eyes slowly getting used to the environment. He hadn’t had to adjust his pupil diameter this drastically in his life. With only the basic functionality optical drive left on his mask, there was no light feedback regulation through the display or any other wavelength options to choose from.

Zoogle could now see that what he thought was a room was actually a cavern. Some ancient looking metal support beams were propping up the high ceiling. The air was hot and thick and the rock beneath his feat glistened with moisture. The figure moved gracefully over to a wall hatch, opened it and dropped something down it. A couple of germins later the opening violently expelled steam and a sustained glow.

“That’ll do usssss for a while,” the figure hissed as it leaned against the rock. Four arms crossed against its chest and Zoogle tried not to make contact with the four amber eyes that were staring at him as if he was a meal. “You’re rather far from home now, little one. Isn’t that what you wanted though? Isn’t that what you E-signed up for?”

Zoogle coughed and looked down at his feet. Gone were his friction enhancing Crop-X designer footwear. Around his bare ankles was another laser restraint. He could already feel the burn settling in. The pain told him that his captor had obviously acquired these a while ago, before the universal ban on high frequency movement reducers.

“Sssssorry, little one. How rude of me. I’m Bhusselhoux and I’ll be making sure you hang around to make all the required DNA… Donations whilst we give your licensssssse a bit of… tweaking.” Bhusselhoux gave Zoogle a wide grin, displaying both rows of spikey dentures.

Lila's Story: Chapter 7 (OS)
Lila had been anxiously lying in the lifepod for a few beta-cycles now. It seemed the male figure had disappeared in hurry after receiving distressing information from one of his subordinates. She had spent some time trying to understand what the male figure had meant by a possible corruption within the Navigator’s ranks, however she gradually grew weary and thoughts swiftly turned to Septo. She felt awful for accusing her lover of cheating, and to now potentially be in a life-threatening situation knowing she had hurt Septo’s feelings made her regret her actions. She sighed deeply closing her eyes and drifted off. --- ''“Septo stop looking at me like that!” Lila shoved Septo with a small grin and turned to Captain Arrow. “Sir, how close are we to approaching Astrophia?” Lila asked trying to ignore Septo’s lustful gaze from across the ship. The specially assigned covert-ops group had been given the prestigious order to guard Xavier, The Universal Representative, safely to the seat of government on Astrophia. The group was made up of Captain Arrow, Lila, Helios and Septo. Septo had specifically asked Captain Arrow to be part of this mission after hearing of a female Clean was part of the Covert-op force. No Oporaton had ever been assigned as part of the federation’s military objective; nevertheless Septo had proven he was an extremely useful asset to the Federation the past few years to deny him a spot on the mission.

“We should be there in three beta-cycles. There seems to be no sign of any Xxurblaton for now, why not go back to the cylinder and get some shut eye for a bit.” Captain Arrow continued his informal chat with Helios whilst Lila sighed. She expected a lot more from this mission besides sitting around and being stared at by Septo, so she gave a quick nod to her captain and slowly sauntered to her cylinder to get some rest.

“Mind if I join you?” Lila had turned to see Septo who had moved in closer to her, smiling as he leaned casually on a nearly pillar. “Excuse me?” Lila replied startled. They had barely spoken all day, only exchanging a few awkward looks. “I am sorry; I did not mean to startle you. I do not wish to sleep with you. Well, you are attractive for a human so I would not decline such an oppurt…” “What on Jupiter are you on about?” Lila snapped back at Septo as she turned away and pressed the code for her cylinder. “I’m sorry,” Septo slid towards Lila and took her hand, stopping the code sequence from finishing, “Let me start again, it is not every day you see such a beautiful Clean female such as yourself, nor do you see a Oporaton struggle to have a way with words.” Lila let out a faint smile, flattered by the Oporaton. “My name is Septo Phalanx, descendant of the great Salto Phalanx. As you may know, I am a mercenary spy, who takes and sells information to whoever wishes it. So, why would I be here on such a mundane mission set by your captain?” Lila looked puzzled not knowing how to respond, however Septo gave no time for Lila to answer. “You, my dear, are the reason I volunteered.” Septo moved in closer only a few centimeters from Lila’s face. “How could I resist an opportunity to gaze upon a Clean. As soon as Arrow had mentioned of you, I had to see for myself. What he failed to tell me was of your unusually high splendor. Never have I felt this flutter in my chest for another being, never mind a human!” Lila blushed, completely taken off guard by what Septo was saying. It had barely been a few gerims and she felt a strange attraction radiant off of the charming Oporaton who gazed deep into her sparkling blue eyes. She could feel her heart beat faster as he edged in ever so close to her lips.

“I am lost for wor…” Before Lila could step back and finish what she was saying, Septo leaned in, his soft green lips touching hers for the briefest of gerims before he vanished. Lila froze, her heart beating erratically.

“Over here,” Septo appeared behind her leaning back against the portal to the cylinders.

“H-How did you do that?” Lila stuttered completely in shock.

“Well all I did was lean in and kiss. Nothing special.” Septo laughed as he vanished again and appeared behind Lila, but this time his slender hands clutching hers from behind. “I feel something unique about you Lila Ford. I do not know what it is, but I sense this meeting was meant to be.”

“Are all you Oporatons as clichéd as you are charming?”'' --- Lila smiled to herself as she recalled her first meeting with Septo. ‘After all these years, I still do not know how that bastard got me,’ Lila silently chuckled to herself completely oblivious to the surroundings she was in.

A deafening crash was suddenly heard before several frantic footsteps approached her cylinder taking Lila completely away from her thoughts.

“It seems we have some unwanted guests,” the figure sniggered as he opened up Lila’s lifepod.

Lila's Story: Chapter 8 (MB)
The figure grabbed Lila, hauling her down the corridor of the Hexagon X12 LifePod. Lila had no idea what to do, having already been kidnapped once by what she had presumed to be a hostile group, being kidnapped again was implausible to the height of absurdity. Bundled into another hatchway Lila felt a hum of engines and a pressure change as what was clearly a submarine rushed towards the surface of Europa. She suddenly felt a different kind of hum, a deeper roaring as the vessel began to accelerate faster and faster, clearly escaping the gravity of Europa. A multi-purpose vessel; this was advanced. Lila shivered with sudden fear at what she had got herself into.

"I want you to cooperate", the man's voice rang again in her ears. What could that possibly mean? He'd never had time to give her any proper information, except for the information about the Navigators. Well, it was certainly interesting, but hardly enough to get her to side with a mysterious figure who stole her away from her mission. But now? She had to find out just what the hell was going on. Listening carefully to her surroundings, Lila determined that she must be in some sort of cell contained within the ship. Perfect. Shaking her head vigorously seemed to loosen the tight grip the cover over her face had held. A little more work lifted it off entirely. Finally able to see again, Lila gazed at her surroundings, peering at a mark on the wall, and gasped.

The Sigil of the Navigators. Someone carry this on