"Dr. Akers, make sure there’s no one in
the main basement area with the Relic," Sumio ordered, once all
of them were inside the laboratory together. "Dr. Baker, make
sure you alert me the moment that any other Chronos employees
enter this level. We’re going to be heading out to the Relic and
I don’t want to chance our being discovered."
"Yes, Professor," a scientist with blond
hair and glasses acknowledged.
"I’ll make sure you aren’t interrupted,
sir," another scientist, this one with scruffy-looking black
hair, nodded and turned back to his monitoring console.
"Dr. Jackson?" Sumio called.
"I already have them ready, Professor,"
said a lean man with dirty-blond hair, carrying over a pair of
hexagonal packs with small cameras mounted on them. "These
cameras will allow you to see anything that the Guyvers see
while they are inside the Relic spacecraft. I’ve also added an
extra setup that will allow you to communicate with the Guyvers
while they are inside the spacecraft itself."
"Thank you very much for your
promptness, Dr. Jackson," Sumio said.
"Always happy to be of help, Professor,"
Dr. Jackson said, as he handed the both of the camera /
communicator setups over to Sumio then turned and walked away.
"All right," Sumio said, holding up the
two pieces of equipment that Dr. Jackson had given him. "Now
that we’re as safe as we can be in a place like this, let’s see
if we can’t make the Relic work for us. Dr. Akers, are we still
clear?"
"We’re clear, Professor," the
black-haired man, obviously Dr. Akers, said.
"Thank you," Sumio said. Then, turning
to address the rest of the group, Sumio spoke again. "Well,
let’s get going."
Masaki nodded wordlessly, and out of the
corner of his eye he saw Makashima doing the same.
"We’ll be right behind you, Prof.
Odagiri," Sho said.
Together, their group walked out into
the cavernous main area in the basement where the Relic
spacecraft was kept. Masaki was slightly on edge, since they
would all be completely exposed if any one of Chronos’ army of
Zoanoids came into the room. Even with Akers and Baker
monitoring the surveillance cameras, Masaki couldn’t really
settle himself enough to accept that they would all be safe
here. Resolving to keep a close watch on the others, Masaki kept
walking.
XxXxX
"Find Guyver I," Gyou ordered a large
group of Standard Zoanoids as they stood at attention in front
of him. "I don’t care how long you have to search, how many
losses you suffer, or what else you have to do. I want Guyver
I!"
"Yes sir, Commander Gyou!"
Gyou nodded, as satisfied as he
could be under the circumstances.
It has been more than a week since
the Guyver and his little group disappeared. I know that I
killed Makashima and his little band, but it is most annoying
that that weakling Guyver I managed to escape. And from
Takeshiro at that, a place that Chronos has complete control of.
I do not understand how that annoying boy could have possibly
managed it. Gyou gritted his
teeth, aggravated that he had to go to such absurd lengths to
find a single human boy.
Sho Fukamachi had been proven many times
to be a weak-minded, overprotective little fool. Gyou simply
could not understand how such a weak human could be able to
survive against Chronos for so long. It was aggravating in the
extreme, both in the fact that his Zoanoids were unable to find
a simple human boy – Guyver-enhanced or not – and because it was
frustrating Gyou’s plans for the future.
Then, as if Sho Fukamachi wasn’t
enough of a thorn in his side, Gyou also had to contend with
Balkus prying into his affairs.
Though I now possess the Remover, the
Remover itself is useless without the Guyver to use it on.
Things just don’t seem to be going as smoothly as I want them
to. The hazards of being ambitious, I suppose.
That thought made Gyou chuckle
slightly, even in spite of his annoyance with his currant
situation.
As he walked down the hall to his
quarters, Gyou made an effort not to fume over his predicament.
Maybe after Gyou had relaxed and refreshed himself, he would be
able to find another solution to his problem. Just as he was
about to take another step, a blinding gold-white light filled
the hallway in front of him from floor to ceiling. Along with
the light, there came an immense psychic pressure, a force that
Gyou could almost swear he felt pressing down on him physically.
What
is
this? This telepathic force is impossibly strong! But it doesn’t
feel at all like that old fool Balkus. Who could this be?
Gyou was at least thankful that this newcomer, whoever they
were, did not cause him pain the way that the activation of the
Relic had done. Having to deal with that kind of pain even once
had been far more than enough; three times in one month would
have been more than even Gyou himself could have handled.
The newcomer’s footfalls echoed strongly
inside the enclosed space of the hallway, as if whoever was
walking was far heavier and more substantial than Gyou. In fact,
it even sounded as if this one was even heavier than Tuarhan De
Galenos, no small feat since the Eighth Zoalord even outmassed
Gyou himself by a few hundred pounds. The light shrouding the
figure was starting to die down by now, but not the overwhelming
telepathic pressure.
It should not have been possible
for anyone to telepathically overwhelm Gyou in this way, since
he himself was a Zoalord. Gyou clenched his teeth as he sensed
Balkus teleporting in behind him.
Perfect, just when I had thought this
day couldn’t get any more aggravating.
Gyou was starting to feel slightly
apprehensive, not that he would have ever admitted it to anyone,
but for the moment his curiosity about this newcomer was greater
than his fear.
As the bright light receded still
further, Gyou began to be able to make out more details of the
figure. The first things that he noticed were the yellow eyes.
They were not really that much like his own; the eyes of the
newcomer were in fact almost feline.
"Hello again, Reholt Gyou," the
apparition said, as the last of the light obscuring his face
died down. "It has
been a long time since we last met. Of course, the last time I
saw you was when you were still in the processing-tank.
Therefore, I don’t think it would be presumptuous of me to
assume that you do not remember me."
Gyou could now see that the newcomer had
hair that was a paler blond than even his own, as well as having
pointed ears that made Gyou think of one of those interminable
Tolkien books that he had tried to read once. He remembered that
the species that had had those kinds of ears had been called
Elves. Gyou shuddered slightly at the power he could still sense
emanating from the newcomer. Looking into those feline eyes
wasn’t doing much for his equilibrium either, Gyou had to admit.
"Ambition without discretion will
bring only ruin," the blond Zoalord – Gyou knew now that that
was what he was, a Zoalord
– said mysteriously. "Now show me: where is it?"