Back inside the Relic again, Sho dropped
through a few levels and straight into the cockpit. Fully
linking himself to the Relic’s computer once more, Sho saw Agito
and the six Zoalords fighting on top of the ship. Agito was
getting the worst of it, with each Zoalord working in concert
with the others to inflict the maximum amount of damage. For a
full two minutes, Sho wasn’t able to focus on what he was doing.
Watching Agito get torn apart like
that, even if the two of them had never been the closest of
friends, wasn’t easy. In the end, though, Sho had to concede
that the best way to help Agito was to fly the Relic out of Mt.
Minakami. Destroying this base, besides being a powerful blow
against Chronos, would also give at least some meaning to Mr.
Murakami’s death. This is what
he would have wanted me to do. This is for Mr. Murakami, and for
father, and for all the other people that Chronos has hurt.
With that thought to give him
purpose, Sho concentrated.
Launch, Relic. Launch now! Sho
could feel it when the Relic’s massive engines activated, their
thrumming probably audible throughout the remains of the base.
For a moment, Sho felt regret for all of the people that would
be killed when Mt. Minakami inevitably collapsed, since some of
them probably had lives outside of Chronos.
Prof. Odagiri had told him about the way
that all of the scientists who worked for Chronos were infected
with a virus that boosted their mental abilities while at the
same time slowly killing them. Agito and Mr. Murakami hadn’t
seemed at all surprised by that, but he, Mizuki and Tetsuro had
been shocked and appalled by it. Mr. Murakami had said that
something like that was typical for Chronos. Sho had seen by Mr.
Murakami’s expression that it was something that the older man
didn’t want to talk about.
Of course, now they would never get the
chance to talk about anything ever again. That thought sobered
Sho, and also made him realize that no matter what else was
happening right now, he had to keep the rest of his friends
safe. Right now, that meant flying the Relic up and out of Mt.
Minakami, no matter what else happened.
XxXxX
The shaking and rumbling had gotten
steadily worse as Sharru made her way toward the last of the
processing laboratories. Dr. Balkus had given her specific
orders to gather any of the remaining scientists, those that had
managed to somehow survive the falling debris, and bring them
out to be interrogated. Sharru didn’t know just where she was
meant to bring them, but she knew that Dr. Balkus would tell her
when the time came.
Walking into the laboratory, Sharru took
half a second to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. Then she
was moving again, though the floor underneath her and the
ceiling over her head both looked rather more unsteady than she
would have personally preferred. But then, this was what she had
been ordered to do, and there hadn’t been many other options at
the time.
As Sharru made her way deeper into the
laboratory, she had to walk around a large pile of rubble from
where the ceiling had fallen down. She had been running across a
fair number of them since she had started searching this level,
but so far she hadn’t found any scientists. Either living or
dead. The smell of fresh blood drew her attention, and Sharru
turned and hurried into the outer part of the laboratory.
She found her first scientist there,
dead after having been impaled by a falling support beam. The
guy hadn’t had a very easy time of it, Sharru could tell, since
the beam had pierced his stomach. There was a look of pure agony
frozen on his features, and Sharru remembered from her training
that gut-wounds were among the most painful ways that a human
could die.
The sound of Plexiglas cracking, coming
from behind her, drew Sharru’s attention away from the dead
scientist on the floor. Turning quickly to look at the
processing-tank behind her, Sharru saw to her surprise that this
particular processing-tank was full. And with a Proto-Zoalord no
less. Seeing that, Sharru’s respect for the dead scientist on
the floor went up by several notches.
Apparently he’d been very dedicated to
his job, and not just in a bad place at a very bad time. That
kind of dedication to one’s work was the kind of thing that
would have probably gotten him noticed by the higher powers,
which was probably why the guy had been chosen to develop this
Proto-Zoalord in the first place.
Dr. Balkus, I found something you might
be interested in.
-Let me see it, then.-
Sharru’s eyes fluttered, as Dr. Balkus
took control of her senses. As she stepped forward to observe
the Proto-Zoalord more closely, Sharru could feel Dr. Balkus
getting angrier and angrier. She wasn’t quite sure why, since
the old Zoalord was shielding his thoughts from her. Most
Zoalords did that, so Sharru wasn’t going to call him on it.
Another mental presence, this one less familiar to her, intruded
on Sharru’s mind then.
This one seemed more interested by the
Proto-Zoalord than angry, and for the life of her Sharru
couldn’t figure out why Dr. Balkus had been so pissed off by the
sight of him. But then, trying to figure out the motivations of
her superiors was something that Sharru had given up as hopeless
a long time ago. They were a bunch of inscrutable bastards
sometimes, all of them.
Even that Galenos guy, who did at least
treat his people as something other than brainless cannon
fodder. Even though all of the Zoalords tended to treat Sharru
and her fellow Zoanoids better than they did the guys. Still,
having two Zoalords cohabiting her mind was a new and not all
that reassuring experience for Sharru. Finally, she felt Dr.
Balkus’ mind retreating from contact with her own.
Sharru wondered for a minute if she was
ever going to find out just what the two Zoalords’ deal was, but
she knew that she probably wouldn’t. They were such inscrutable
bastards.
-Wait here, Sharru. I will send help to
retrieve what you have done so well to find.-
What do you want me to do in the
meantime?
-Retrieve our young Proto-Zoalord from
the processing-tank. He will be in no danger if he is exposed to
the open air for a short time, and I would rather not have you
having to dig him out from under the debris that will inevitably
start falling from the ceiling.-
Whatever you say, sir. I’ll get right on
it.
-See that you do.-