//------------------------------// // 4-Gotten: Gate // Story: The Sparkle in his Eye // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Before long, Twilight and Nefarious climbed down the Guardian's body, wiping their hands and hooves respectively. "Well, time to load up the comet fragment," Nefarious stated firmly. "So...are we going to have to worry about it deciding to do something other than carrying us across?" Alister asked worriedly as they shifted the fragment into position. "I wish," Twilight grumbled. "But the central control unit isn't complex enough to support a personality matrix, and it's designed to fry itself if anyone tries to alter the primary circuitry. If we want to use it at all, we'll have to work within the existing system of it being a simple automaton." She sighed as she helped load up the fragment, the Guardian coming online. "I was really looking forward to having a giant robot little brother..." "Well, we can't always get what we want," Qwark offered comfortingly. "If anyone should know that, it's me. But at least we'll always get what we need." "So...just a clear ride to the 'Hall of Paradoxology'?" Alister asked curiously. "Not entirely," Nefarious corrected. "According to the program grid, the Hall is on total lockdown. We'll have to deal with that first, one way or the other." "I...don't suppose you managed to upgrade the Guardian's weapons, then?" Qwark asked as they made their way to the top of the Guardian before it began marching. "Don't be silly!" Twilight teased. "Of course I did!" Tapping the controls on top, she activated massive laser weapons in the arms as well as the rockets on top. "Anything we fight won't know what hit them." Nefarious cackled at the others' expressions. "Let's see what we can do!" The Guardian carefully made its way along the path as the group blasted away the obstacles they encountered. The group used the rockets on the hostiles they encountered, whether robotic or biological, and the Guardian only used its laser on defensive turrets they encountered, as well as Guardians they encountered that were locked on 'murder mode'. The Guardian dropped them off on a bridge to the primary Power Station, where they needed to make adjustments to put the system into reset. While the Guardian leapt down to deal with the other Guardians locked on murder mode, the group moved forward, only to encounter another holo diary bot with a message to play. This time, the image again showed inside a lab. "Holo-diary, 004. It has been 50 years since Mr. Dinkles was taken, and my rescue plan has backfired in a most disastrous way. The directive matrix that restricts Ephemerus to this planet has been deleted." The image shifted, revealing Nevo at work. "The on board security camera shows that this was no accident. This was Nevo's doing. This is twice he has taken what does not belong to him, only now he has something that will allow him to expand his plan beyond the confines of Magnos." The camera shifted to display a panoramic scenery, with something flying across carrying a large hunk of metal. "And now, Ephemerus grows under Nevo's control. He's modifying it for interplanetary travel, extending his reach further and further into the cosmos. Soon, there will be no stopping him." A small ship took off in the background. "I can wait no longer. I must venture to Uzo City for a long overdue confession, and to convince the Tharpods to stop my old friend...at all costs. We must succeed, for if we fail, dark times will befall the planet, or worse...the universe itself." The entry ended. Twilight frowned. "Umm...wasn't the first holo diary entry we found - entry 005 - about how Ephemerus and Commander Spog laid waste to Uzo City?" Nefarious quickly checked his memory files. "Yes. Yes it was. I guess we know how that turned out." "And that's why everything is in this state," Alister concluded. "Well, I guess it's up to us to put a stop to this, then. However we can." As the group made their way around the path, more video screens began giving information, revealing that the power station was controlled by an AI named 'the Stewart'. This informed them who the computer voice they'd been hearing for so long was, and making them realize they'd been mishearing the name every time Spog had called out to it. As they approached, the Stewart's voice could be heard. "Exploratorium employees detected. Initiating energy restoration tutorial version 2.1." "Well, at least we won't have to figure out what to do on our own," Qwark spoke up. "Rebooting the power should fix everything, and it'll even help us to do it!" "I...suppose that's good," Twilight muttered under her breath. "Though I was kinda looking forward to poking around and seeing what made it all tick, maybe reverse engineering some of it..." "It's better we get it done the proper way rather than breaking something accidentally," Alister pointed out. "Fate of the galaxy on the line and all that, remember Twilight?" "You say that like it's something new," Twilight countered grumpily, but nodding assent. "Alright, alright...I suppose when an instruction manual is available, it's better to go by it when lives are on the line." "Aw, come on!" Nefarious complained. "You could have talked Qwark around easily, and then we could have said screw the rules and tinkered! What gives?" Twilight burst into giggles. "Well, I remembered the last time I tried to reverse engineer something this size took me a month, and I want to be done before Friday." Nefarious blinked. "Oh, yes, right. Friday. By the book it is, then." Qwark face palmed, shaking his head ruefully.