This chapter drags a bit for me, BUT! Seriously! Stay awake if you might. Some things may tell you something you might wish you have paid better attention to later on. "All possibilities for anything and everything are open." Remember this quote.
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This story first started out for my own amusement, but now it's proudly dedicated to someone, my Grandfather. He was involved in an accident on Memorial Day, and is suffering from serious head drama. He left in the ambulance trying to yank the sedation equipment out of his mouth, just like the soldier he is.
Although the ordeal is very grim, he defied all odds and recuperating, but mental status is still unknown. He doesn't recognize loved ones, and keeps rambling about events that took place twenty years ago... he also uses out of place vocabulary.
He gave me a hug today though, bless him.
It inspired me in this story, which I can relate my Grandpa to Gibson and his role in the story with most respects, (though his demeanor keenly reminds me more of Sparx-77) So I hope some of you might keep this in mind when your reading.
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What happened next seemed to strike in photographic stages...
First came a shock wave from the force of the collision, like an invisible wave pushing her and Sparx's ships background. They clanged so noisily into each other, that Nova barely heard the glass break on one of her windows...
The tremendous force pulled back on them, with the likeliness of a huge tide dragging them into the sea... their crafts lurched forwards toward the asteroid where the light of the eruption was expanding it's diameter rapidly across the ground; flooding over Otto's ship and soon Nova's.
Her eyes where blinded as the light became more and more intense... she shrieked in agony as a sharp piece of metal punctured her arm... she couldn't hear anything at all...
Her vision whited out.
---
Marooned on a star scope... the dark vastness of space enclosing her mind to focus on the brightest thing she could see; the planet of Shuggazume city. A marbled sphere of pink and white hues, hanging ever so innocently in the distance.
There was a cold, isolated silence...
"What am I doing here?" she asked herself aloud, her voice echoed off of invisible walls. She waved her arms around to rotate herself, scanning the area for any sign of her team mates. Nothing. Her scanners read nothing, her eyes saw nothing. She was utterly alone.
Swaying herself towards Shuggazume again, shock and disbelief contorted her mind in an extreme case of ataxia...
"They're... gone... they're all gone..." she whispered, her mouth going dry. Something moved from her peripheral vision. She spun around while adopting a battle stance, her mitts enlarging in size, tail stiffening, her eyes narrowed as she browsed the star scope ahead...
Something within the depths of space shifted and lurched towards her. She glimpsed it's polished glass coating, then the burning outline of a deadly figure...
It was a single shard.
She brought her mitts above her head, ready to smash it, rage coursing through her tiny frame; this is what made her alone... and she was gonna finish it. Her glare soon transformed itself to a stare, pink eyes widening...
Another shard had appeared behind the original... then another, and then another! They where rising from all corners of space like a storm of locusts... whirling viciously as their sharpened points curved towards her.
"No WAY!" she swung one of her enhanced fists towards the closest one and missed by a short shot. The sea of slick glass mutated to blurs as they skinned past her without even a small cut. Their interest seemed much more piqued in what lay in yonder...
She spun around and found their dark triangular figures disappearing in the magenta and white of Shuggazoom.
"No ya DON'T!" she yowled, trying to activate her jet pack. Nothing happened, the jet pack emitted a dying splutter and it coughed up a plume of smoke.
"NO!" next she punched the air in rage and hurt, but her fist recoshayed backward. Her knuckles had struck something solid.
"Yargh!" She punched the air again, harder this time, and her paw was suddenly being held shut by another hand. This time the reply was sharper, but reassuring.
"Nona! Stob! (Kehrrgg...) Bit's me!"
"Wha?" her eyes slowly flickered open in a daze, then snapped shut again as a blinding light met her eyes. Bewildered, Nova found the scene of space and Shuggazoom fading into a white background.
Her body eventually found itself laying down on something soft. Again, she slitted her eyes open, slowly and with care this time, allowing her optics to wane as light poured inside her various irises. Her vision swam before her, she became aware of the glint of metal... and then gradually she began to see distorted figures.
"Where?" she questioned in confusion.
"Home." came the answer.
Nova turned her head towards the source of the voice, recognizing it as Chiro's. Her vision came to focus as she found his young profile; fourteen year old child, youthful, genuinely pleasant to gaze upon. He donned a maroon sweater, it was torn here and there and looked as though it wasn't cleaned properly for some time. His jeans where keenly similar. Two ice blue eyes, framed by jet black hair brightened in relief as she warily sat herself up.
She paused for a moment while regaining balance, circulation rushed to her brain. She eyed Chiro dumbly, then laughed; she had socked him straight in the navel, and now the boy was pinching it with one hand.
"Still fighting even in your dreams huh?" Chiro croaked. His voice had acquired an unbearable tangy accent, though he was grinning that his teammate was awake and moving.
"Yeah-heh.." Nova grinned slightly abashed "They're usually better though... sorry bout that..." she quickly glanced around the room. It was similar to infirmary; six beds popped out smoothly from the ground, three lined up neatly on each side of the room. A different colored stripe ringed each base, one for each monkey. As her gaze wandered she spotted Sparx who was the only other monkey in the room.
His eyes where closed...
"So what happened?" she asked grimly, dangling her legs off the side of the bed. Her eyes where locked over Sparx's unconscious body, she could just see his chest rising and falling gently in rhythm with his slumber.
"Well we heard an explosion over the transmitter," said Chiro, also directing his gaze on Sparx. "By then most of those UFO's where gone... we where just about to go look for you guys. Then we saw the light of an explosion a few miles or so away. It was not hard to find you."
Nova slowly slid off her bed to the floor, whence a short spasm of pain erupted in her right front limb. She clamped her hand to it in alarm, finding a few segments of metal blown completely off, the inside conjunctions and gidgets that allowed her arm to move where completely visible. Chiro sighed unhappily.
"We had to take them it off. There was a piece of metal stuck in your arm and the hole there was impossible to patch up. Don't worry though; you're luckier off then Gibson or Otto. We can fix it up in no time."
"I would like to see them." it was the mentioning of Otto and Gibson that made her remember how close they where to the explosion.
"See them?" "Yeah, if it's as bad as you say it is, then I gotta take a look at it." At first she felt as though Chiro might object, but he simply motioned for her to fallow him. She loped awkwardly behind him, her tail bouncing up behind her to keep her balance.
"Well, you and Sparx where lucky." said he, as they neared the end of the room. "You and him where the first to wake up."
"Hold it, Sparx was already awake?" she started incredulously. "He looked almost dead to me!"
"Sure, he woke up several times to see if things where all right. I practically had to force him to rest." As the double doors automatically opened and Chiro and Nova entered, she glanced behind her and just glimpsed the red monkey turning over in his sleep before the doors closed again. The shaft lurched upwards with a long drawling moan. It made one wonder how the Super Robots systems where still working.
"What about Otto and Gibson?" Chiro's face darkened slightly as the shadow from his hair fell over his eyes. There was light bump and the cart quavered.
"Not so good." he said solemnly. "Gibson got full blast of the explosion and Otto is in critical condition. They're both in the laboratory with Antauri." The elevator slowed to a stop, the stations doors swung open again and they walked out slowly. Nova's bottom jaw nearly unhinged itself...
"Holy shitzel-"
The bridge, usually used for relaxation, or tracking and investigating in battle, was now unrecognizable. Once proud, arching couches where sliced into fractions and where flung around the room. Half of the CPU screen was split right down the middle and the rest was gone. White fluff and glass where flying everywhere like hail (the breeze courtesy of wall of the room that had mysteriously disappeared).
Many objects where missing, the main computers where ripped clear from their foundations, leaving huge gaping holes in the wall, and the ceiling had a large pole penetrating through the ground, like bones through skin.
"We haven't actually had much of a chance to fix anything." Chiro said sheepishly, "And Otto is not going to be able to fix anything any time soon."
"I guess not!" the yellow monkey spluttered as she picked her way carefully through slum. She kicked a toppled chair out of her path. "This will take forever to clean up! Hey Chiro, would you get a load of this..." Nova pushed a large shell from a keyboard that once belonged to a computer. It was part of a massive assemblage of rubble that had miraculously wedged itself right in front of the only usable door in the room...
"What are the odds of that huh?" she mused as Chiro chuckled and started mining at it, tossing odds and ends in every which way behind him. He was soon joined, and the room was quickly filled with the clatter of raining spilth.
"What about those UFO things? Did you ever see anymore of them?" she questioned curiously. So many questions where springing up into her mind it was hard not to ask them all at once...
"No, as far as we could see, we got the best of them," he shrugged, "I guess they could not handle us when we where more mobile, but..." his voice trailed off apprehensively as he cast aside what looked remarkably like a fry burner...
Nova stared at him.
"What?" she challenged him after he didn't continue, prodding him with the metal beam of her tail. "Don't 'but' me." Chiro paused; he stopped digging at the trash heap and snuffed, putting the back of his hand up to his nose gingerly. Nova could see him wiping a little blood that was still wandering down his philtrum from her attack. His gaze shifted back to her, and for a moment she thought she saw a flicker of amiss behind the flaming icy walls...
"Something really weird went off just before the explosion, Antauri and I had destroyed most of the ships, but there where still a few that we needed to keep care of."
Nova nodded and returned to digging, receptors cinching to listen to his words…
"That's when that one ship flew off in your direction.
First Antauri tried to get rid of it, but for some reason, all the other ships got in his line of fire, sacrificing themselves in the process. They refused to let us destroy that one little ship.
That's about when I intercom med you to destroy it since it looked like it was heading directly for you guys. It couldn't have been good for any good cause.
But get this; after the explosion, all the ships suddenly stopped attacking and retreated… we didn't chase them though, we went looking for you."
"They all left huh?" Nova repeated after condensing his words to herself "Strange..."
They hadn't realized through their conversation they had made their way through the trash heap and had reached the single silver door. Chiro finally made is move and pushed it open.
A wall of darkness beckoned them inside, cloaking them both in its wispy shadows. As they stepped within; Nova's vivacious rouge eyes sparked in the neon glow of liquids contained in large canisters. They neatly trimmed the high walls of the place, along with other glinting objects. They where, no doubt, the only source of light in the murky room.
The door closed behind them with a most upsetting crack, leaving them superficially alone with the permeating fumes of fossil fuel and the perk of their slowly rising bubbles.
---
Featured in the center of the room, a raised alter yielded a pair of tall columns, one filled with green liquid, and the other filled with blue. Suspended in the middle of each, gas masks covering their faces; a monkey of equal tint. They where plagued with charred metal and heavy dents everywhere. A large tangle of multi colored chords spiraled up from their masks and up to the top of the tank.
Even at a distance it was unnerving to gaze upon, but when Nova and Chiro where up close, the sickening feeling had doubled and seeped through to Nova's knees.
"I don't know what's worse, the infirmary or here?" Nova folded her arms, mindful to not to upset her arm casualty. As she spoke, a huge pair of facetted eyes materialized out of nowhere. Both Nova and Chiro flinched back as the black and silvery form of Antauri illustrated itself before them.
He was bowed elegantly to a computer screen, looking up to them, his tail snaking gently side to side above his head. Almost to snapshot the moment, he was outlined with a blue aura from the neon tank behind him like a saint, allowing cryptic fancy to glide from all corners of the mind...
"I'm glad to see you're well Nova." he greeted with a nod, his warmed gaze reverting back to the liquid filled pillars with satisfaction, as if something was lessened from his shoulders. Both she and Chiro took flanks.
"Well she's alive and punching." Chiro remarked. "She sure doesn't act like she's in pain."
"Yeah, yeah, so I'm feeling good." she had walked up to Otto's tank cautiously, peering into the seething liquid encased behind the glass "Can't say much for these two though..." Then she paused, her internal circuits felt like they where creaking to a halt, a puzzled expression began to form on her face.
"Hey wait a sec," she turned to face Antauri "how did you get in here without going through all that stuff piled sky high behind the door?"
Antauri's brow furrowed, turning his steady gaze on Nova in curiosity.
"I went intangible; I had no time to move it."
"You mean you phased through?"
Nova now held both Chiro and Antauri's full attention.
"Yeah he phased through..." Nova paused, feeling stupid. There was something she was missing; her hand was half raised as if trying to make a point of its own.
"You mean, you can go through stuff? Like a ghost or whatever?" Chiro and Antauri now both yawped at her as if she where a supermodel, trying to figure out why she was asking something so typical, or purposefully attempting to make a fool of herself (which she was)...
"Wait-wait, are you trying to make a joke? Er?" Chiro asked, whose bewildered expression was able to make Nova restrain her guts from laughing. "I'm, wait, are we supposed to say something special or...?"
"Did I confuse you somehow?" suggested Antauri, whose brow was hiked higher on his face then ever.
Then her internal gears lurched back into motion, Nova felt her mind vibrate as she felt memories flood back through her consciousness.
Of course he phased through! How could she forget that simple fact! Wow, duh! Come in Nova? Nova in someday this century?
"I um..." she spluttered "I'm, uh, I guess I sorta forgot! Maybe that explosion made me hit my head a little hard..." She put her hand up to her whirling thoughts, trying to feel if there was a bump or dent in the side of her head.
"Hit your head a little hard?" scoffed Chiro dumbfounded.
"It's true that you can lose memory by head damage, but forgetting something primary as that is a bit strange..." said Antauri with concern.
Nova faltered on the spot, she couldn't find another subject and was now uneasy. She put her hand up to Otto's confines... creating a soft click as her metal palm met the smooth glass. She looked up at him.
Otto's fur looked roasted, and there where a few deep scratch marks where she assumed scrap metal had managed to puncture him. Resiment of leaking oil could be seen around these... Nova cocked her head at the other monkey sideways.
Gibson was not someone she socialized with much. It was mainly Sparx, Chiro, and Otto that she mingled with the most. But he, like Antauri, was different, and she didn't find as much as a personal bond with him as the others. She noticed that his helm case was cracked, and the gouge it supported was rather uneven; giving the illusion that his brains would spill the confines of his helmet, like a Frankenstein creation.
Nova clenched, a vision suddenly butted in from her memories, and she was back out in space, with the kamakazi shard only inches away from Gibson's face...
"Bleehhffurgghhhlllub..." her vision suddenly snapped into focus from a sound from inside the tank. From behind Gibson's mask, large bubbles had begun to erupt at a fast rate. Confused, she took a few steps backward, looking down to the status panel to see if the mask was giving more oxygen then it should.
Antauri had joined her, and Chiro looked over their shoulders fervently.
"Something isn't right..." Antauri muttered. Then the buzzer alarm went off, all of the lights around them dimmed to a vermillion, and then brightened, the dimmed again in time with the loud alarm.
"He's regaining consciousness far too early then he should..." Antauri explained, who's quick hands where expertly flew over the switches.
Chiro and Nova exchanged nervous glances, all they could do is stand and watch, for neither of them really knew the lab techniques. Their attention was anchored on Gibson, who had begun to jerk around as if he where being electrocuted... the alarm was still striking its shrill note of danger alert...
"I'm releasing compact pressure so his head won't implode if he wakes up..." he paused, glancing up again, the glint of sweat could be seen forming upon his brow "Damn!" he snarled going back to the controls "Why is this happening?"
Gibson's eyes snapped open.
Nova started and she jumped backward into Chiro, finding herself perching on his shoulder. While her feet where clawing his shoulder in fancy to break it, her hand was grasping his hair by the roots so hard, she could have yanked it clear out. Chiro was suffocating; he pried Nova's hand that was clamping his airway shut while ignoring her heavy metal tail that kept smacking his cheek.
The mask straps that bound the vizard to Gibson's muzzle where suddenly ripped off as he began to trash wildly, the huge tank tottering under his force as the primate began to pound the glass walls ferociously, eyes wild and mouth open, attempting to make noise through his vocals...
"He's suffocating! Let him out!" croaked Chiro who had started forward, and then stopped; Nova swaying like a parrot on his shoulder. The hulking container wobbled off it's axis, it began it's long and heavy fall to the ground, conducting sounds of breaking cables and snapping electric wires...
"Get out!" Antauri ordered fiercely who had abandoned the controls and wrenched the other two with him. The fallen container already began the domino effect; as it plunged, the shelves that lay in its path where instantly mowed flat. Neon containers where being smashed like water balloons, and more and more upset objects came spinning out of nowhere to join in.
Before they knew it, Nova, Chiro and Antauri where crouching with hands over heads; under siege of an avalanche of ruble.
---
A few minutes later Nova found herself slowly making it to her feet, coughing violently.
"Oh! Holy ouch... crap..." she rasped while wiping grime of her face.
Next she saw Chiro's arm dislodging a large pole that had fell on him, his face was glowing purple from a substance that had splattered on him.
"You can say that again..."
"Everyone all right?" it was Antauri, he brushed his shoulders off, but for the most part he looked fine. They nodded. The silver monkey quietly cleared his throat, while turning his gaze to where they had stood only a few minutes before. Now, the lab resembled the bridge Nova and Chiro walked through not too long ago... The glowing green plasma from both tanks had pooled out everywhere like a radioactive lake, and was dripping off of just about anything in the room. The siren had died, probably got smashed. The only noise now was a few glass jars rolling off their shelves.
And Otto or Gibson where nowhere to be seen.
They all started forward at once, managing through some sundered cords, which where now hissing and writhing like pythons as they emitted sparks from their nozzles.
"Don't touch the liquid." Antauri warned as they neared it "It's meant only for sedation, when it's not in a case it can knock you out cold."
"Then where is Otto and Gibson?" said Chiro darkly. "They're obviously not sleeping anymore."
"Otto?" Nova looked around blankly, scanning the spot where Otto's tank once stood, but now was wrecked and literally laying side by side with Gibson's.
"Hold on," said Chiro with his voice lowered, putting a finger to his lips "do you hear that?" Two monkeys and a boy both cocked themselves, listening intently... Not too far off, something shifted, then something glass hit the floor and shattered.
"Otto? Gibson?" They waited.
"Maybe they where knocked out again." suggested Chiro after nothing happened.
Nova groaned.
They inched silently along the perimeter of the pool, taking care not to tread in it, they made their way to the more ominous parts of the lab. Nova grumbled as she kept bumping into cold sharp objects that seemed to be always be pointed in her direction.
"Best not to venture further till we get proper lighting..." came Antauri's voice... There was a crash in the back of the lab, but it was so far off it was almost undetectable. They all froze again like a flock of deer, Nova's gaze captured the glint of a green... as she focused on it, she saw a monkey, he still wore a mask and his eyes where still closed.
"Hey! I see Otto!" she exclaimed while bounding forward to her fallen comrade, the other two where not far behind. They gathered around him silently; Nova quickly removed the mask from his face as Chiro lifted him up so he lay propped against a shelf case. Antauri knelt down to Otto's side, putting one hand behind the monkeys head to straighten the airway, and the other pushing down gently on his chest.
A low growl gurgled up from the back of Otto's raspy vocals, chyme spurted between sharp teeth... his eyes opened slowly and he blinked, hacking up more fluid as he went.
It might have been the shock at the time that didn't trigger anyone to move, but within the next moments; Otto had chomped down on Antauri's arm (who was closest) and sent him flying into yonder with a snap of his neck.
Chiro and Nova stepped backward in alarm as the green monkey howled savagely, struggling to his feet, knocking over metal containers and dripping as he emerged from his dormant state.
She heard his back crack as he brought his spinal chord up to alignment. His gaze was forbidding and dark beneath the bridge of his crown, and if possible, there was a trace of fear.
Antauri appeared again in the distance, and again he looked unharmed... Otto regarded them all silently, eyes gleaming with emotion.
"Hey! What did you do that for!" Chiro hollered, both of his fists now clenched, Otto snapped his head at him.
"Stay away from me!" he barked threateningly, he took a step back from them all, and his tail had stiffened to a sleek curve behind him like a spring. A high pitched squeal heightened the tension as a single saw blade had begun to spin rapidly, replacing one of his bionic hands. Otto swung it around his head like a maniac with an ancient slingshot, threatening anyone within five feet of his reach.
"Don't get ANY closer! You hear?"
"Calm down Otto!" Nova screeched above the saw, "We're not going to hurt you!" Otto's gaze flashed from Chiro to Nova. The wild gleam in his eye made her freeze her words; his face was screwed in a catastrophe of impression. She could almost spot the veins pumping adrenaline through his body. What was wrong with him!
"Where am I?" he spoke out of breath. "And who are you guys?" Everyone stared at the monkey for a moment in disbelief, but the green monkey seemed to have dismissed them for a moment in turn to look at his saw hand in amazement, his fear diminishing as it was replaced with that of amusement and joy.
"Hey, hey, this is sorta cool!" he raised the spinning saw above his head and began to swing it to his own amusement and making all of them back up even more.
"I gotta test this on something..." Otto looked around until he found a beaker disposal box, ironically placed only a few feet in front of Chiro. "Perfect!"
"Wait-" began Chiro.
Otto had already started for it, swinging his saw like some sort of andabatae, teetering on his heels like a toddler does when learning how to walk, it looked as though the saw was doing what it wanted instead of him.
"Otto!" Antauri called out to him, but it was enough to make the green monkey look over his shoulder in confusion.
"Who?" he shouted.
Chiro jumped quickly out of his way as the Otto skidded into the box he had wanted to destroy. He disappeared (saw and all) but the momentum forced the box barrel into a fallen rack of experiment vials. All three paused as a crash singled the end of Otto's trip, unsure whether to help him of the tangle or not, lest they be cut to pieces.
The question didn't remain unawnsered for long; the screaming saw came slicing through the box skin and out he emerged like a mosquito from water. He paused, huffing and puffing, and then a grin spread across his face. He was gazing at his saw with pure admiration.
He didn't even see Antauri arise from the ground behind him. In one swift movement a metal arm grasped Otto's arm (saw and all) and twisted it behind his back harmlessly, but disarming him altogether.
"Wha-? OW! HELP! Stop! Don't let the saw hurt me!" protested Otto struggling under the ghosts firm grip.
"Calm down. You will only damage yourself." Antauri assured calmly. "You'll find you can control the saw."
Otto's struggling subsided; his heavy breathing rocked the room. The saw's rapid spin began to cool, the high pitched scream slowly gliding into a low rumble. Eventually it stopped completely and folded up back into Otto's arm with a pop.
"Before I release you..." Antauri continued "I must ask... does the title; 'Hyper Force', have any meaning to you?" Otto's face went blank, his tail dropped to the ground with a sharp crack.
"The Hyper Force?" he repeated, he stared wistfully into space, Chiro and Nova stood their ground, holding their breath. Otto teetered, turning his head to try and look at the monkey binding him with a look of pure astonishment.
"Your... your name is Antauri?" said Otto apprehensively. The silver monkey blinked, and then a knowing smile drew itself on his muzzle.
Otto rounded his gaze to a zombified Chiro and Nova who stood like perfectly carved statues. Then, the corners of his mouth lifted and he positively beamed. Nova could have sworn the room lit up.
"Nova! Chiro! You guys are all right!" Omitting his fear completely, he threw his head back and let out a howl of laughter. Antauri let go of him and he fell forward to the floor with a clang.
Nova and Chiro scrambled to their friend, feet and paw scraping the massacred lab floor. "Welcome back." remarked Chiro as he helped him to his feet. "You really gave us all a scare."
"What the heck happened?" added Nova wiping him off.
Otto stared at them all for a moment, (mainly trying to keep balance under Nova's rough hands), then he simply shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know... I just, forgot. Everything. I forgot where I was and I didn't know who you where," (he motioned to them all) "I didn't even know who I was!"
"But after Antauri mentioned the Hyper Force, I started to remember everything, the fights, those weird flying things, the explosion..." his voice trailed off and he chuckled to his own amusement "I can't believe I forgot who I was!"
"Perhaps the explosion triggered a loss of engrams..." said Antauri to himself "You where the second closest to the explosion."
"Now that you mention it, Nova had some memory loss too." said Chiro. "She couldn't remember that Antauri could go intangible."
"That's really strange." she added quietly, "And to think, Otto wasn't really close to that flying UFO... and neither was I. To think what the damage was done to Gibson who got a direct hit."
"Yeah, where is he anyhow?" asked Otto who began to look around "He have me a heart attack out there..." As if to answer the question, a soft chirp echoed off of the ceiling.
Impromptu, Otto was completely forgotten and all of them looked up.
Clinging to a ceiling ramp as if there where no tomorrow, a dark blue primate was gazing pensively down at them. He tilted his head to one side, shifting himself slightly closer, as if to get a better look at them all.
"Gibson!" Otto cheered vibrantly, nearly busting out Nova's auto receptors.
Now the monkey really stared at him, the same way someone would if a complete stranger addressed him.
"I beg your pardon?" the blue monkey wrapped his tail all the more tighter around the ramp. "My names not Gibson."
"It's not?" repeated Otto, suddenly becoming the president of speech for everyone else (whom all suddenly seemed to turn into mutes).
"Then... what is it?"
Gibson slipped from his perch and landed quite squarely on his feet in front of him. He folded his arms across his chest, his eyes didn't present the faintest of emotion or enthusement for being with them.
"It's Vibro. Now see, I'd love to stay and chat, but I must get myself cleaned up and back to my home planet, where I am needed."
The silence that followed was incredible; everyone just stared at Gibson (or in this case Vibro) as if he had sprouted a foot from his forehead.
"Oh no." groaned Chiro.