Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Ratchet and Clank.
Setting: 2 hours later in Alister's ship.
Chapter 2: A New Beginning
"No. Not this one either"
Alister closed the information screen on his ship's navigation system about the planet he was approaching. He had pasted a few planets already but he felt that they were either too close to Fastoon or too much of a target for Tachyon to attack.
Tachyon. That traitorous cragmite. After all they did for him. After they had taken him in and raised him. He ends up destroying everything they had worked for. Alister knew that conquering Fastoon wouldn't be enough for him. He would move on to other planet and conquer them as well. His thirst for power will never be satisfied. Nor will his thirst for revenge.
If Tachyon knew that they had escaped, he wouldn't stop until they were dead. So Alister continued his search for a safe place where he could protect Ratchet from Tachyon's wrath.
Speaking of Ratchet, the child had been asleep for his entire search. Alister knew that wouldn't last long. Sooner or later Ratchet will be hungry and Alister had nothing to give him. Ha had to find a suitable planet before that happens.
He came to the next planet, Torren IV. According to the ship's computer this was a recycling planet occupied mostly by wild animals and the vullards. Alister continued to read about the planet and the more he read the more he thought the planet to be the perfect place to hide from prying eyes. So Alister flew to the planet hoping that he will be able to find someone to help him.
He soon landed on a landing platform near one of the recycling facilities. He looked out at the large facility that was built into the face of an even larger mountain. He then looked at Ratchet and started to wonder how he would carry him and defend them if needed. He couldn't leave him in the ship alone without anyone to protect him. He looked around the ship for something that he could use. Luckily he found an old backpack and with some modifications he put Ratchet into the backpack and pulled the blanket over the child's head, to protect his face from sunburn.
He put modified backpack on and put his left arm under it so to prevent it from moving around too much. He then pick up his double-headed wrench staff and set out to investigate the facility.
It took some doing and some use of his hoover boots but he finally reached one of the entrances to the facility. Near the entrance he saw that there was a giant robot head that looked like it had been there for quite a while. He went to get a closer look and saw a vullard standing next to a control panel in the shadow of the giant head.
"Excuse me," Alister said to the robot in a calm voice. The vullard let out a surprised yelp and quick turned around and stared at his surprise guess. "Sorry for disturbing you but I mean you no harm." Alister reassured the scared vullard. The vullard seemed to calm down.
"Well hello their stranger, what brings you to our great facility?" the vullard said while gesturing to the whole mountain. "I am afraid that I am in despite need of help." Alister said to robot. "Do you know of anywhere I can get some supplies."
The vullard looked up and started thinking while rubbing his chin. He did this for a few moments until he paused and said, "Well we do have supplies from when we had organics working with us." He then turn to Alister and said with a smile on his face, "They should still be good since we had them stored in atomizer. Come with me and I'll show you." The vullard started moving past Alister and towards the facility entrance.
Alister released a breath that he didn't even know he was holding, relieved that he hadn't come here for nothing. "Thank you so much" Alister said while following the robot towards the entrance. "It's no problem," the vullard said turning is head slightly, "we are happy to help anyone who needs it." They were near the entrance when the vullard suddenly stopped.
"Well this is just perfect." The vullard said while throwing his arms up in the air in a clear sign of his outrage. He turned to Alister and said in a slightly angry voice, "I'm afraid we cannot enter the facility because the door is without power." He gestured to the door. "Why can't we open the door?" Alister asked in a confused tone. "Well, the door is powered by a batterybot and that blasted bot is not plugged into the socket." The vullard explained while gesturing to the empty socket next to the door. "But," the vullard said when he put one of his fingers up to his chin, "if you can find the batterybot and put him back in the socket we can open the door. The batterybot should be around here somewhere since I don't think he will be willing to jump off a cliff just to anger us."
Alister nodded his head in agreement and started to look around for the batterybot. He finally found it not five yards away from the door. He was about to grab it with his wrench when all of a sudden three robots jumped out in front of Alister. The vullard behind him yelled, "Watch out for the junkbots. They're dangerous and quite the trouble makers." The junkbots were rusty machines that had blades on their arms. They had no legs but they hover in the air getting ready for the attack. Alister readied his wrench and started to charge it until it was glowing blue. When the first junkbots charged he was hit in the chest by an energy blast that quickly ended it. The other two bots charged at Alister together in rage. Alister started to dodge the attacks being careful that Ratchet, who was still on his back was alright. With a hit to each of the bots' heads, that were knocked clean off the junkbots were defeated. Alister was breathing heavy from the ordeal.
"That was remarkable." The vullard said from behind Alister. Alister turned his head to the vullard and nodded his head in thanks. Alister saw the batterybot again and quickly snatched the bot with his wrench. "Excellent, now that you have him put him back in his socket." The vullard said while pointing to the socket. Alister walked back to the door and with a flick of his wrench, the batterybot was flung in the air and ended up plugged in to the socket. The door moaned back to life and when the vullard pressed the button next to the door it opened to a long hallway that ended with another door. Alister followed the vullard down the hall.
"That was quite an impressive display back there." The vullard said. "Thank you…umm…" Alister started to say but realized that he didn't know the vullard's name. Said vullard stop in his tracks and turned around. "Oh my apologies. We hadn't even been introduced. Well you can call me Ollie." Ollie said. "It's nice to meet you Ollie. I am General Alister Azimuth." Alister said with a hint of pride in his voice. "Well General," Ollie said with a hint of amusement in his voice, "like I was saying, you did a great job in taking care of those junkbots. They are always causing trouble in the facility. We try to keep them out but they keep coming back. Well enough of that." Ollie went to the other door and opened a hidden keypad. He pressed in a combination and stood back. He turned around and while gesturing to the opening door said, "Welcome to our humble facility." The door opened to reveal the recycling facility. The facility was huge, clearly using most of the mountain it was built into. There were large pieces of equipment that were, to Alister guess supposed to help in the recycling process. In front of him there was a large conveyor-belt that ended above a huge incinerator. Even from afar, Alister could tell that the fiery inferno was on full blast.
There were a dozen vullards walking around or working the machinery. Some nearby turned around to see who entered but quickly turned back to their work. Ollie started walking towards the left to the next platform. "Follow me General," Ollie called from over his shoulder, "we keep the supplies over here." Alister followed Ollie while still looking around the facility. Everything was covered in a coat of rust that no one has ever tried to clean up. Ollie stopped in front of another door and with another combination the door opened. The room had metal crates stacked against the sides of the room and in the back of the supply room there was a large machine. In the middle of it there was a small glass door that cover a rectangular indention at that a small ray-gun on the top and a small platform on the bottom. To the left of the glass door there was a screen built into the machine with a keyboard under it. To the right of it was a medium size ray-gun pointed downward towards the floor.
"Well this is the food supply closet." Ollie explained. "We haven't opened this place since the organic workers left us." Ollie walked into the room with Alister right behind him. "What's in the crates?" Alister asked. "The crates on the left are filled with water and are sealed to keep it fresh. The crates on the right are filled with the non-perishable food and some eating utensils. The rest of the stuff is atomized and stored in the atomizer." Ollie explained while pointing in their directions. Ollie went to the Atomizer and with a press of a few keys it buzzed to life. "The food stored here is kept in the state it was atomized so it should be just as fresh as it was when it first got here." Alister went next to Ollie and looked at the screen. The food stored there was sorted into different categories like fruit, vegetables, dairy, and meats. "Have a look at what we have." Ollie suggested.
Ollie stepped back to let Alister look at what was there when he noticed that the bundle on his back moved a little. "What have you got back here?" Ollie asked. Alister suddenly remembered why he came here and as gently as possible we took the makeshift baby carrier off his back and held Ratchet in his arm. Ollie's eyes widened at the site of Ratchet and then with a large grin on his face said, "Oh. You have a baby with you." He got closer to Ratchet to have a better look. "My, your son is quite cute." Ollie said when he turned to Alister. "Well he isn't my…." Alister paused in mid-sentence and thought about it. They were alone together in the universe and Alister made a promise to himself that he would raise Ratchet as his own. Ollie turned back to Ratchet and asked, "So, what's your kid's name?" Alister looked at Ratchet and said, "Ratchet…my son's name is Ratchet." Alister felt a small bit of joy when he said those words.
Ratchet, sensing the attention woke up from his sleep. He let out a small yawn letting the older lombax and vullard know that he was awake. Ratchet lifted him nose and started to scent the area around him and turned to face Alister. Ratchet then, to Alister's surprise started to cry. Alister brought Ratchet up to his face. "What's wrong little one" Alister asked the baby. Ratchet stopped cry for a moment and a small growl came from his small belly. "Oh. He must be hungry." Ollie walked to one of the crates on the right and, with a press of a button on the side of it, opened the crate. He reached in and pulled out a baby bottle. "We were not without children back then and we are always prepared." Ollie walked over to the atomized, opened the glass door and placed the bottle on the small platform. He closed the door and walked over to the screen. "Let's see, milk should be under diary. Ah. Here we are" Ollie pressed a few buttons and a small flash of light came from the closed door. Ollie walked to the door and retrieved the bottle from the machine.
Alister saw that the bottle was now filled with milk. "There you are" Ollie said when he passes the bottle over to Alister. Alister put the bottle to Ratchet's mouth and instantly the child stopped crying and started to quickly drink the milk. Alister gave a sign of relief when Ratchet stopped crying. It didn't take too long for Ratchet to finish off the bottle and soon after fall back to sleep.
With Ratchet asleep again, Alister laid him on one of the crates. Ollie watched him and then asked, "Why did you bring your son to a planet like ours when there are other better suited planets to go to?" Alister knew that the question would come sooner or later. He turned to Ollie and, with no emotion in his tone said, "We are trying to find a home somewhere that is more secluded then the cities on other planets." Ollie wanted to ask more but knew that Alister didn't want to be asked anything about the subject. "Well," Alister continued, "thank you for helping me, Ollie. When I have gathered enough supplies for us, we'll be on our way." Alister was about to ask for a bag to carry everything in when Ollie surprised him by asking, "Why don't you stay here."
Alister looked at Ollie with a confused look and questioned, "What?" Ollie continued by explaining, "Well we could use your help with the junkbots and batterybots, and I bet that you know how to fix just about anything, you being a lombax as such, and things are always of need to be repaired here. And we still have one of the houses from back then that we haven't taken apart, and we can start back again the food supplier we used to have. And we can pay you for your work if you want." Alister just stood there and started to think about what Ollie had said. He had actually thought about living here when he was on his ship but thought it was impossible without an actual plan to settle down here or any means to get food and other things to take care of himself and Ratchet. "Well what do you say General?" Ollie put a hand out to Alister in a sign of agreement. Alister didn't need a moment to think for he was certain that this was best option for him and Ratchet to have. He took Ollie's hand and happily said, "When can I start?" And with that, Alister and Ratchet were on their way to start their new life with an new beginning.
