Mother X: Father

by Tatsurou

Dark Side of the Moon

With the situation with the Spheres resolved, the group made their way to Satralia. Moondancer found herself much more relaxed in the dark blues and deep purples of the town, the only bright color being the yellow roofs to the towers that served as houses and places of business. She noticed that Alinivar seemed somewhat sad as they wandered, but she said nothing about it. She understood all too well. This had once been Alinivar's home...and there was no way of telling if he'd ever be able to come back once this was all over, or if it would even still be home for him. She assumed Col. Saturn had a similar train of thought, but his face was impossible to read.

Alinivar led them north of town, fighting their way through - of all things - living grass that attacked them. On first encounter, Moondancer attempted a short pulse of PSI on the same wavelength Master Magnolia had communicated on, in the hopes these might be some of his and could be redirected. However, there was no response, and they were forced to destroy the animate plants or be destroyed. Eventually, they came to a cave blocked by a meteor. Zarbol immediately began harvesting the Zexonyte they needed, which left nothing of the meteor behind. Alinivar immediately stepped into the cave.

The cavern was rather small, with very little furnishings. There was only a hypersleep pod, a phone, a plant, and an easel with a painting on it inside. Alinivar smiled as he walked through. "Home sweet home," he murmured softly as he walked through the cave, gently touching things with fondness as he remembered. "It wasn't much of a life, I admit. Just myself, my...friend who got me paints, and my painting." He walked over to the one on the easel. "I never got the paints to finish this one..." He sighed softly. "Someday, I'll have time to finish..." He turned back to the group. "Enough wool gathering. Let's go. Larice, Recall."

"Understood," Larice whirred, warping them back to the ship without another word.

---

With the Zexonyte in hand, Alinivar set course for the only place the ship's map showed to have anything that might assist them, Earth's Moon. Once there, he turned to Niiue.

"Don't look at me," Niiue responded immediately. "I can tell something's down there, but it's so heavily shielded I can't sense anything. Careful, there's no guarantee once you're inside that you'll be able to get back out as easily."

"I'll go with," Moondancer insisted. "I might be able to boost Larice's recall function if we get stuck."

"Be careful everyone," Niiue cautioned worriedly as the group dropped down to the Lunar surface.

The only area on the moon's surface they could explore was quite small, with four pedestals with slots to insert gems. Alinivar immediately pulled out the Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue Gems they'd picked up on the other planets. As he moved to place them in the pedestals, Zarbol spoke up. "You know, I didn't think about it before, but..."

"But?" Alinivar asked curiously.

"Those gems look like stars," Zarbol murmured softly.

Why am I suddenly picturing a mare made of shadows and nightmares erupting out of the moon and the sun going out when Alinivar places the gems? Moondancer thought to herself in confusion.

Once the last gem was placed, the entire surface of the moon became cloaked in shadow as a hole opened in the center of the pedestals, an entrance into the inside of the moon, but with no ladder. If they entered, they would have trouble leaving.

"Everyone ready?" Alinivar asked carefully. Once they all nodded, he led the way down, each of them using their PSI instinctively to slow their fall to avoid injury, as even in the reduced lunar gravity it was a long fall.

The facility inside the moon had golden metal walls, a dim pink floor, and golden crystals sprouting up here and there. As they moved, Larice's body began to ring with a phone signal.

"Hey, this is Niiue," the message played once he picked up. "The ship's been blown away by some sort of...force field. I'm bringing it back in, but you'll be stranded for a while...and I was only able to get this message through in a compression burst. Hold on tight and be careful, okay?"

"Guess we'll have to be careful," Alinivar murmured as they moved deeper into the facility.

On the way in, everything they faced was robotic, all of it seeming to be somewhat humanoid in configuration. At first, Moondancer had been afraid that this was some sort of experiment to apply the conversion that had turned Martians into Starmen on humans, but the first shattered construct revealed nothing but machinery inside, without a trace of organic composition. Thus relieved, the group continued deeper into the facility.

While most of the robots went down easily from the barrage of force the group was able to bring to bear, the few that survived the first onslaught quickly demonstrated that they were able to unleash devastating force of their own. One almost completely shattered Larice's body with a single punch, though Zarbol had plenty of repair kits with him and was able to put him back together once the opponent was destroyed, even salvaging junk from the downed robot for parts in an attempt to reinforce. They all quickly agreed to be far more careful.

A non-hostile robot had a greeting message for them as they approached. "I AM THE WELCOME DESK BOT. WELCOME TO THE MOON. BY COMMANDER GIEGUE'S ORDERS, PERSONNEL MUST EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY, EXCLUDING DESIGNATE DE-X. DO NOT DISTURB THE STONE ROOM."

"DE-X?" Zarbol asked curiously.

"Giegue?" Moondancer gasped in shock.

"Stone room?" Alinivar murmured, remembering the Stone of Knowledge he'd picked up in Giegue's mothership. Was there a connection?

Unfortunately, the Welcome Desk Bot had no further information, forcing the group to continue in the dark. Dropping down another hole left them by a transportation capsule equipped with an advanced Flashporter Engine for warping across large gaps. "I shall *click* drive," Larice offered as the group climbed in. "I am *whirrr* familiar with the system."

Larice quickly maneuvered them around the room, dodging robotic patrols while going up to robots that resembled the Welcome Desk Bot, giving them orders to disable various units. It seemed important to do so, and the less systems trying to stop them the better. Before long, they reached the opposite side of the room safely, making their way into the next room...where most of the robot patrols and devices that looked designed to produce more were shut down. It could only be assumed that was what they'd disabled in the previous room.

The discovery of a safe side chamber with a functional, accessible hyperpod for full repairs and restoration was a welcome relief, granting a base from which to explore further. "Let's take a break here," Alinivar suggested, leaning back to catch his breath. "Wouldn't want to wander into something we couldn't handle before we were ready."

"Agreed," Zarbol chimed in. "And it'll give Niiue time to get the ship back in range. I have the feeling we'll want out as soon as we're finished..."

Comments

[Chrome Masquerade]

"I'll go with," Moondancer insisted. "I might be able to boost Larice's recall function if we get stuck."

Ah! Moondancer gets to live up to her name!

[Dark Feather]

Why am I suddenly picturing a mare made of shadows and nightmares erupting out of the moon and the sun going out when Alinivar places the gems? Moondancer thought to herself in confusion.

<_<...>_>... Why indid?😈

[F14m3rz]

...

Alinivar led them north of town, fighting their way through - of all things - living grass that attacked them. On first encounter, Moondancer attempted a short pulse of PSI on the same wavelength Master Magnolia had communicated on, in the hopes these might be some of his and could be redirected. However, there was no response, and they were forced to destroy the animate plants or be destroyed. Eventually, they came to a cave blocked by a meteor. Z-

Wait, wait, wait... you mean to tell me that Captain Deepsea's dead in this version? Well that's lame.

"Agreed," Zarbol chimed in. "And it'll give Niiue time to get the ship back in range. I have the feeling we'll want out as soon as we're finished..."

I wanted a cool scene with Deepsea, but I guess the guy up ahead will have to suffice...