//------------------------------// // Nexus: Old Wounds // Story: The Sparkle in his Eye // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// It didn't take long for the installation to be complete. "That...stung," Clank commented dryly. "Told you so!" Pollyx stated firmly. "Now, this planet is riddled with dimensional rifts leading to a reality the twins call...the Netherverse. Your new spotlight uses irradiated particles to locate them-" "Wouldn't it have made more sense to upgrade his sensors to detect dimensional anomalies, and specifically attune it to this type of rift?" Twilight asked. "His Zoni tech already has him naturally detecting time anomolies. It can't be that much harder to add for spatial ones." Pollyx crossed his arms and frowned. "I was setting up for a joke at the Lombax's expense," he growled. "And the only ones who get to make jokes at Daddy's expense are me and my Mommies. So there!" Twilight stuck her tongue out at the annoyed Terachnoid. Pollyx continued to grumble for a time, then sighed. "Actually, no sensor upgrade was needed. The rifts were created long ago by the same quantum anomaly the Great Clock was created to contain. The only upgrade I gave Clank lets him enter the rifts and effect changes in the Netherverse in such a way as to echo back to this reality. And now that he can enter them, his sensors will be alerted to their presence as an active dataflow, instead of background information." "That explains things," Clank murmured softly as he walked up to a rock wall and leapt into it. "So...now what?" Ratchet asked curiously. "Now we wait for him to finish exploring the rift, using the energies within to clear a new path," Pollyx explained. "Then we get the hell out of dodge!" "I can get behind that," Cronk agreed. It wasn't long before Clank popped back out of the rift, the wall behind him exploding as the rift collapsed. "That was...exhilarating," Clank mused softly. "And...I can confirm that the 'ghosts' we've been seeing are Nethers. This sector is not haunted." "I've noticed some antennas broadcasting Nether energy," Twilight spoke up. "Think those have anything to do with all this?" "Rift Beacons," Pollyx explained. "Vendra's own design. I saw her a few hours ago in the old orphanage working on...this...thing." "Sounds like our next destination," Twilight murmured softly. "But...I'm pretty sure I now know exactly what's going on...and I don't like it." The group continued through the caves, Clank using the Rifts to open new paths for the group as they came across them. It wasn't long before they made it back outside, they made their way towards the orphanage ruins. On the way there, they found an audio journal. Eager for information, Twilight quickly pushed play. The voice that played was unmistakably Vendra's, but much, much younger. Clank estimated she was maybe four. "Meero Orphanage. Buncha creeps and bullies. All they do is pick on Nef and me, and when I tell one of the teachers, I get sent to detention?" Twilight and Ratchet pressed against each other, though neither was certain who was comforting the other. "But...I made a new friend today. I call him Mr. Eye, and he lives in the caves where my brother and I were found." To everyone's surprise, Twilight made a shocked, choking noise, her eyes shooting open wide. "No..." "He doesn't pick on me. He says he's my friend. And HE says he has big plans for us." "I don't need to know anymore details to catch that bit," Cronk growled out, his metal fists smashing into each other. "Older male figure telling scared children he's their friend and has big plans for them? That sounds like brainwashing. When I get my servos on this Mr. Eye..." "It's worse than that," Twilight offered. "If Mr. Eye came from the rifts, and was in the caves where Vendra and Neftin were found...then Vendra and Neftin were once Nethers. The reason they're experimenting with the boundary between this realm and the Netherverse..." "They just want to go home," Ratchet mused morosely. "That's why they're doing all this...and why Vendra was at first so hostile towards me when I gave up my chance to be reunited with the Lombaxes." "But she can't," Twilight stated flatly. "Her body's Nether Energy is adapted to this plane. It's why it can interact with my magic at all. Just like I couldn't survive long in the Netherverse - or any organic life form native to this one, according to Pollyx' notes - neither could Vendra or Neftin anymore..." "Then what's the point of the experiment?" Zephyr asked curiously. "If they can't go back home..." "There is an old religious saying that I believe answers this," Clank mentioned softly. "From Old Earth. 'If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad will go to the mountain'." "Meaning what, exactly?" Ratchet asked crossly. "If they can't go home..." Twilight murmured softly. "Then...they can still bring home to them. And with how much they've been hurt by people in this plane if this diary is any example...then they have no real reason to care what happens to this plane in the process." "The stakes just got a lot higher, didn't they?" Cronk asked worriedly. "Absolutely," Clank confirmed. "We have to stop them now, whatever it takes." "Not quite," Ratchet corrected. "We don't just have to stop them. ...we need to save them." "But they do not want to be saved," Clank pointed out logically. "Then that's their problem," Twilight insisted firmly.