PEGASUS (FARSIDE SAGA: BOOK TWO)

A scream rang through the lower chambers. Everyone except Jason and Mike, who were still looking at each other in disbelief, had turned to see Gerla in shock, pointing at the hole in the wall. After helping John down the hall some, Lern and Gremlet came and looked through the hole. Stumbling backward into the opposite wall, they too pointed through the hole in shock. Curious, the four Peacekeepers walked over and looked through. Pelik and Vira instantly pulled out their weapons and opened fire. Kurie and Udar tossed in electro discs.

That caught Jason's attention as he and Mike peeled their eyes off each other to see what was going on. A leafy tentacle shot out the hole as Vira and Pelik jumped to the side.

Mike, with blinding speed, ran and chopped the tentacle before it reached Lern's armored chest. Jason got up and stepped to the hole as his suit's arm changed to a plasma rifle.

The doors were suddenly blown off the frame, almost crushing Mike, Lern, and Gremlet before they jumped out the way.

Arius, who was standing right on the side of the now gaping hole with Vanessa, wiped his eyes clear of dust from the sudden explosion as he peeked into the hole that had stopped just short of where they were standing. Keen had just laid John down and was now standing on the other side of the hole. His eyes got big as everyone stared into the room.

Standing in the room was the thing that used to be Cassia in front of a black and purplish vortex that had begun to open. Its arm had grown back. Thought stood next to it undergoing the same metamorphic change as Cassia. It grabbed Thought by the back of his black and purplish smooth head and tossed his rigid body inside the vortex. It turned to follow, but stopped and looked over its shoulder.

"We shall meet again Mr. Dodge." It said before stepping through the vortex as it closed.

Jason and Mike looked at each other wondering which one of them the creature was referring to. Jason reached down as he stepped over and pulled Mike off the ground into a tight embrace.

"He's been augmented with Hyderian technology." Bianca said after a soft ping.

"I know right! Actually, I'm 99.9% cybernetically altered. Cool huh?" Mike said as he stood back and removed his cloak.

His sleek bluish silver body shone as if just polished. Small beads of neon blue light seemed to trace the small spaces between his plating along a thin black track. His pitch black eyes held a small neon blue pupil in the center. His face, still in Mike's original shape, was contoured with the same bead traces along his cheekbone and around his eyes and nose. For lack of a better word, Jason found the whole design beautiful, almost reminding him of a more advanced version of the 2018 Robocop without the helmet. Then it clicked in. He answered Bianca. Looking at the rest of the group, as everyone helped each other up, Jason turned back to Mike.

"You can hear her?" Jason asked softly.

"Who? Your A.I.? Yeah, I thought everybody had one by now." Mike said as he looked at Jason confused.

"This has been kept between us and would prefer to keep it that way," Bianca said trying not to sound mean about.

"He is made from the same Hyderian technology that I am, except, HE is the Artificial Intelligence. Amazing, complete mobility, ten times the processing speed. He even has a neuro anti-gravity interface and a Hyderian transmorphic unit. I'm almost jealous." Bianca said as she scanned Mike.

"Yeah, not to sound like I'm bragging, but I'm basically a flying Transformer...literally. How'd you end up here though?" Mike said as he wrapped himself back in his cloak.

"I was about to ask you the same thing. To be honest I got a WHOLE lot of questions to ask. For now, I'm just glad to see you." Jason said as he embraced his son in tears.

Pulling apart, they both turned to see the rest of the group staring at them.

"Awww, I love family reunions." Vanessa said with an over exaggerated sad face, then smiled.

Jason, playfully giving her the stink eye, introduced Mike to the rest of the group.

"Is he going to be ok?" Mike asked, pointing at John.

"I'll be fine. Getting old.....takes a little longer to recuperate." John said jokingly.

"The rest got away except....Thought and Cassia." He said to Gremlet, the last with a grimace that made him stumble as he tried to walk on his own, but getting better with every other step.

The group started walking down the hall discussing what just happened. As Gremlet and John started explaining about the Ancients, Mike stopped and picked up something shiny off the ground and placed it in an empty slot by his ear.

"Hugo, you there?" Mike said into the earpiece.

Kurie, who had been walking behind Mike, listened closer upon hearing the name Hugo.

"Mike? Is that you?" Hugo said on the other end.

"Yeah, look, something's come up. John is safe but two of the Ancients got.....taken. The rest are safe. I'm here with five of the High Council members and a few Peacekeepers. Hugo, I got my memory back. I'm not the last human." Mike said excitedly.

"Well it's about time. Now I can talk to you about your father." Hugo said.

"I know, he's here with me now." Mike said.

There was a brief silence in which Kurie jumped in.

"Forgive me, I do not mean to intrude but, is Hugo a Hyderian?" He asked.

"Yes." Mike responded.

"When you're done, do you mind if I get his connection? He used to be my mentor. Haven't heard from him in a while." Kurie said.

"Got a better idea." Mike said.

"Hugo, if you're there I'm gonna put you on the vid. An old student of yours wants to see you." Mike said into the earpiece.

He flipped his right hand palm up. A small square slot opened in the center and a ten-inch holoscreen flicked in place.

The rest of the group, finally noticing they were three short, turned around.

The video revealed a dimly lit room lined with sophisticated computers and equipment. A large vertical tank sat in the center, filled with an illuminated fluid. A slowly spinning hover chair was in front of a holodesk in which the camera was mounted. Before the chair stopped spinning, a bluish silver creature that looked like a Kregorian, except its body was more detailed, sat down holding a blue data chip.

"Oh good, you beat me to it. Guess I won't need this anymore." He said as he tossed the data chip behind him, then stopped short when he spotted Jason and Kurie.

"I'm on Primora 7." Hugo said, still looking at Kurie surprised, before disconnecting.

"I was going to suggest that anyway." Gremlet said, overhearing the conversation. He was once again shocked that not only humans, but Ancients and now a Hyderian have shown up after years of being extinct.

The three turned and looked at the group.

"Forgive me, I didn't mean to intrude but the other members are on Primora 7. We need to inform them of what's going on and see what we can do about it. Seems we have the same destination."

__________________🌌__________________

"Gremlet!" AT'gru exclaimed once he entered the captain's debriefing room on board the Impala.

Gremlet looked and saw AT'gru beelining towards him. He stood up and embraced the bird-like creature.

"AT'gru dear boy." He said as they stood at arm's length.

"Thanks for helping us. We owe you a great deal. Anyway, how are the hatchlings?" Gremlet asked as they sat down.

"It is our duty to assist the Peacekeepers in any way. No thanks needed." AT'gru said as he slightly bowed.

"Polca and Demi are doing excellent. They are both done with processing already." He finished, twirling his feathered hands about casually.

"That's wonderful. Give them my blessings will you." Gremlet said.

Before AT'gru could reply, their attention was drawn to the sound of something thumping towards the doorway. It was followed by what sounded like a pile of twigs being compressed just before a six-foot wooden like creature enter the room. Its thick bark-shaped body was supported by a tangle of roots that moved him across the room to the table.

"High Council Lern." Altar said, slightly bowing his head.

He moved to the chair as it started forming. He looked at the chair once it was finished, then at everyone else sitting down. His bottom half split in two and became jointed legs. The roots on the bottom of each became a solid foot with three thick roots for toes. Admiring the new look, he took his seat as he introduced himself to those at the table that didn't know him.

Halfway through Altar's introduction, Jason walked in with Vanessa, Danny, Mike, and Magi, followed by the four Peacekeepers. The door closed behind them as they all took their seats. With the unknown source of the overhead fluorescent light shining on them, the room looked like they were all sitting in a void.

"Definitely would've been crowded on the bridge." Danny leaned and whispered in Jason's ear.

"Shall we begin?" Danny asked as he plotted a course to Primora 7.

"Should've brought some popcorn." Jason whispered back.

"Ok, " Jason addressed the room.

"This was the only place I could bring everyone to and still be comfortable. Plus, some of you will love the view." Jason said, winking at the four Peacekeepers, who had been sitting at the back of the table waiting, before turning around.

They all turned around facing the same way as the light slowly went off. What the newcomers didn't expect was the whole room suddenly opening up to empty space. Before they even had a chance to recover from that shock, the stars suddenly started streaking by before entering a rainbow colored tunnel as Danny engaged the stardrive. Pelik, Vira, Udar, and Vanessa fell out of their seats laughing at all the other ones that fell out of their seats scared. Jason and Danny looked at each other chuckling, then turned around to make sure everyone was ok. The only ones still sitting were Magi, John, and Kurie. Magi in shock, John had all three of his eyes closed smiling as if he was really enjoying the ride, and Kurie looked as if he was lost in space.

"You alright there small fry?" Jason asked Kurie, snapping him back to reality.

"Oh, sorry." Kurie said as he blinked his eyes a few times.

The others had recovered and were now standing around amazed at the view as they looked down at the floor realizing they weren't actually in space. Vanessa and the other three Peacekeepers took their seats.

"Just thinking about my old teacher. You know, I haven't seen him since he sent me to Velcron. It was right before I signed up to be a Peacekeeper." He said as Vira placed her arms on his and Pelik's shoulders.

"That's when we all meet. Back then High Council Gremlet here was our....what you would call, a drill sergeant?" She said as she removed her arm from Pelik's shoulder and indicated Gremlet.

Gremlet slightly bowed his head.

"And the finest Peacekeepers I have trained in a long time." He said.

"There were five others as well. Pelik's brother Jamek among them." He said somberly.

Jason nodded his head giving condolences to Pelik's brother and his fallen comrades.

Danny announced that they've arrived just as the ship lightly vibrated for a brief second before the rainbow colored tunnel exploded into open space. Now it was Jason's turn to be amazed.

Before them, was literally, a very BIG ball of water, almost ten times the size of Earth. The large planet had some sort of transparent shielding that they could only see because of its horizon. It's blue waters produced mile high waves all across the surface. AT'gru assured Jason that where they were going is safe.

Jason had seen a bunch of movies that portrayed a water planet but he never thought he'd see one for real. He wondered how this one was held together.

"Welcome to Primora 7. This is one of our main Valtex production planets." AT'gru said as he stood up.

"Water-based technology." Bianca said after a soft ding in Jason's ear.

Having Danny settle the Impala in orbit, Jason escorted everyone to the hanger bay. Those that only came for the ride, boarded their ships and went their separate ways.

"One question." Kurie said looking up at Jason as they walked up the ramp to the transport shuttle.

"Go ahead." Jason said, looking down with a smile.

"What's a small fry?"