[If it makes you feel any better, I don't think I can hear your thoughts, either, until you actually direct them at me. It's like…like there's a door, and you're just cracking it open and yelling through it once in a while.]

"Man, I'm hungry," he said aloud, reflexively, hearing his stomach growl. Simultaneously, he continued thinking at XJ0461. [And to be honest, if there's some kind of block there, that's fine with me.] They may have been pretty much inseparable for the past twelve years, but he's still got secrets he'd rather not involuntarily broadcast, and he's sure Clank does, as well.

[Did I mention this is the weirdest day ever and I need a drink?]

He's okay with letting Clank drive, steering his body around the apartment and packing for the trip, because it turns out that sending his thoughts to someone else is really hard work and he's already exhausted.

[Your mother? Do you think she'd – oh, hey, get the O2 mask out from under the seat. Orxon's air might be a little cleaner by now, but we're not doing a field test. And do you – um, do you want to bring something along to…jump over into, like that Zoni plush? If you need a break from being in here? 'Cause I'm actually okay, for now at least, but this can't be easy for you.]

As Perihelion's AI system came online, he addressed the ship out loud. "Hi, Perry. Okay, quick version: Clank's robot chassis caught some sort of virus and now it's destroyed. He's okay, but he's inside my head. Insert your wisecrack here. We need somewhere safe to check out his hard drive and figure out who did this, so we're going to use the computer at the factory that built him, in the Solana Galaxy. If you need to talk to Clank, then….uh, maybe he can talk through me? Which is going to be super creepy, but if he can do it, okay." He started plotting a course for Orxon and put the gravimetric warp drive on standby. [Can you do that? And if you, can you give me a lot of advance warning first because I'm not sure how much more crazy I can take today.]

[I probably can,] Clank replied, before changing the destination from Orxon to Quartu, overriding Ratchet's control of his hand to fix the coordinates, and adding in his sentry bot security code when the output issues a warning. [Although I am not sure how easy it will be for me to talk with an actual mouth. If you were not here, I am not sure I would even be able to breathe. You are doing all of the actual heavy lifting, which may explain your exhaustion. And forgetfulness,] he added, after the screen showed his birthplace in detail. [The O2 mask is still a good idea for you, however. Mother has mentioned that the air is thinning there, and quite rapidly, by the sounds of her last correspondence. When the Blarg left, they took their atmospheric generators with them. Only inorganics can walk on the surface unassisted now.]

Clank pulled out the Zoni plush from the duffel bag slung unceremoniously in the tiny cargo space behind, and hearing Ratchet's stomach rumble again, a ration block and one of Ratchet's favorite fancy birch beers from the minifridge that Clank had stocked in case the two of them needed to get out of Dodge in a hurry- Clank figured if they needed to run, Ratchet at least deserved something he liked already there to come with them. He dumped the plush in the copilot's seat, the rest on Ratchet's lap.

Clank laughed internally; now that Ratchet knows they're there, the next time Clank uses Perry he's going to find that fridge empty.

Clank tried taking a few deep breaths of his own- he's surprised at how calm he is. Clank is always running a million calculations a minute, but inside Ratchet, well, it isn't as though his mind is entirely blank, but it's a million times quieter. No multitasking, no background processes… Clank didn't realize how high strung he was. Maybe that's why being inside Ratchet is so much less taxing than overshadowing another robot.

His own body, that he knows. Non-computers or robot inorganics (like the plush) are hard, just because he's basically using them to hold on; he has to think in pulses to talk and see, and manipulate his own energy- his own self, essentially, to lift or move anything, which is very draining. And inhabiting another computer or robot involves learning all of their processes on the fly, being mindful that he doesn't want his own self leaking into a backup of the device.

Comparatively speaking, Ratchet is easy.

But he won't tell his friend that he'd rather stay in there than jump to the plush; it is Ratchet's body and space, so, after buckling the toy into the copilot's seat- not for safety, but so if the antigrav goes off he doesn't get flung around the cabin- and jumps in, doing his best to stretch to fill the toy and settle.

It's numb, and muffled, and he can only really 'see' by pushing some of his energy out in small pulses, but it gives his friend his space back and, hopefully, his mother can make him another duplicate, a hope he knows is unlikely given his parts would now be more than a decade old. Maybe he should look into some of the Zoni made armor… there's usually one- or a small colony of them- anywhere they go, even when Ratchet (or any organic, really) can't notice them. One of them would at least be able to find him something he could use.

For now, he let Perry and Ratchet do the flying. They'd be at Quartu soon enough with some-

BZZZZZT.

"I believe that is Talwyn," Clank boomed. "You may wish to answer that."

[Quartu. Duh. How did I – ? Oh, nice. Thank you,] he thought when he sees the birch beer; that'll certainly take some of the edge off the ration bar's relentless horribleness. He watched Clank steer his hands around the Zoni figure, buckling it up, and felt himself taking a few deep breaths without trying. Yeah. Maybe at some point he'll get over how weird it is not to –

He gasped, startled, as something snapped in his mind; his limbs tingled painfully and his head ached as his body came back under his full control. "Ow," he mumbled out loud, holding on to his head for a moment before the call came in. Clank's voice sounded strange, as it always does coming from the Zoni, but at least it sounds like him – only less canned, more rich and alive – instead of plain, simple, voiceless words in his head.

"Right. Just hope she's not too mad." He pressed the comm button. "Hello?"

"Ratchet! I leave the Defense Center to you for one morning, and when I come back, you've locked it down?!"

He winced, ears dropping. "Hey, Tal. Uh – how was your meeting with President Phyronix?"

"Fine. What's going on?! The staff are saying they're waiting from orders from me! Tell me why I can't order them to go back to business as usual. We're still trying to clean up the mess from the invasion, we don't need this."

"I know, I know. Sorry, I…it's kind of a long story, but quick version: someone's after Clank. Someone hacked into his system, and tried to use it to kill me and Clank's soul. And Clank thinks the attack came from inside. From someone on the Defense Force."

Predictably, there's a few moments of dead air.

"…Tal?"

A heavy sigh from her. "Okay, uh – are you all right? Is Clank all right? Is he still with you, or – ?"

"Perihelion?" Clank pulsed at his ship, through his very energy. Ratchet's fur stood on end from the static electricity, but it was something he knew his partner couldn't hear.

"It's secure. I was a dogfighter," Perihelion replied through the internal wireless, the usual gruffness gone. "Want me to pan the camera?"

Clank nodded, regretting the decision immediately as he was just… burned out. He wanted his own chassis, and then go find a bucket and some hot oil and soak for a few hours in peace. The last time he'd done so… Cronk and Zephyr had still been operational and-

"Clank…?" He heard Talwyn ask nervously. "Why is there a stuffed animal sitting in his seat?"

"It is me, Miss Apogee," Clank replied wearily. "My chassis has been terminated. Durning the invasion- at least this is the conclusion- I had been infected with a Trojan. I snapped back to consciousness coated in Markazian blood, and then my chassis began to act of its own volition. As you know, I am Zoni, so I pushed my soul into the nearest electrical equipment. When the virus-infected- chassis heard me warning Ratchet to duck, it immediately fired upon the terminal then checked to see if I were in any other equipment."

"It's programming or its operator wrongly assumed that I had wirelessly beamed my backup into the nearest device. Meanwhile, I was simply floating in the conference room overhead. The programming, satisfied that I did not have the opportunity to move from that computer anywhere else in the mainframe- assumed I had been terminated and returned attention to Ratchet. The shots were deliberate near hits. The virus wanted to put Ratchet in the position of having to destroy my chassis entirely. The Mr. Zurkon sentries took care of that- all of this should still be on the security footage."

"Ratchet escaped with my soul and my black box- the Blarg did do a great job of building those. We are going somewhere to decrypt it in peace, and possibly get me a new robotic shell. Hopefully."

Clank took a moment to compare himself, pulsing warmly from the toy. He spied Ratchet's tail draped behind him, hanging with a slight kink from the side of the seat, shaking. Clank knew that tic; Ratchet's nerves had finally caught up with him. Nanotech now, but he'd likely need a good dose of Perihelion's cryo later, muscle relaxant, and an actual real meal- hot. Clank quickly pulsed in Perihelion, taking stock of where he had left supplies, pulling a few vials of nanotech near him, accidentally yanking one too quickly and smashing it against Perry's dashboard. The nanites didn't jump towards Ratchet, though.

They jumped towards the plush instead.

Clank had, on rare occasion, received nanotech to fix himself. It wasn't really designed for robotic life, and was really a patch at best. Ratchet was his best way to get a repair- or Big Al, but he just liked Ratchet looking out for him even though Al had better tools.

But out of his chassis, the nanotech was warm, comforting, and took the edge off. It wasn't a real rest, but the nanites read his composition and fed him tiny pulses that filled his energy body with… well, energy. Clank smashed a few more vials until both he and Ratchet had been filled, a few tinkling sparks of blue bouncing on the bottom of the cabin.

Clank looked back at Talwyn. "We are… a bit worse for wear. We would like to leave it at that for now, and fill you in when we can."

Talwyn closed her eyes and pursed her lips tightly. "Thanks. I'll… I'll watch the tapes and see if there's anything I can get out of them. You two just be safe. I'm going to wipe Aphelion's flight logs from the systems if you need her for some reason. Just… just don't do anything stupid. That's my job."

Talwyn ended the call, and Clank settled, annoyed, in the seat. He wanted out of the toy, sooner the better, and he disliked seeing Ratchet unwell even more, even though he felt more comfortable in there than in he plush.

"Before you ask," Clank added, as Perry geared for a wormhole jump to Solana, "no, I do not think Talwyn should know that I can possess organic forms as well. She is going to try and corner and leverage that she knows I am still quote-unquote backed up somewhere. I would rather have a safe escape route into you if our assailant starts tracking us again."

Clank softened his tone. "The nanotech helped me, albeit just a little. You became far more ragged looking when I vacated you. I am so sorry to have drained you. It is only fair I compensate. Hold out your hand; I am going to infuse a little Zoni energy to you. You are not saying no- I need both of us aware for what is to come, and any Zoni on Quartu could top me off if needed. We should be landing soon, and we need to both be ready."

"From what I understand, until it wears off, you may even have a little of my power as well. Sigmund was surprisingly able to teleport short distances for almost a day after a Zoni decided to house in him during their hide and seek games in the Clock, and was also able to levitate small objects toward him. Any advantage we can glean I wish to take."

Now that he's out of the camera's line of sight, Ratchet slumped back in his seat and listened, tail twitching nervously, as Clank summed up the whole fiasco for Talwyn. Everything's happened so fast that Clank's detailed and organized explanation helps him better comprehend the weight of the situation they're in. Doesn't make him feel much better, though. The sudden dose of nanites doesn't make him feel less exhausted, either – even if it does make him feel less like he got hit by a train.

Then again, at least he got to stay in his own body this whole time. He can't even imagine what Clank's going through.

"We won't do anything stupid unless we get the okay from you," he replied as Talwyn concluded her call. "And be careful, okay, Tal?"

He checked that Perry's on autopilot, and leaned his forehead against the yoke. "Yeah, I'm not going to tell her. She's probably in enough danger now. And look, if you need to – if we have another life-or-death emergency, just hop over, okay? I'll probably be expecting it by then, and I don't want to see you get hurt because you were waiting for permission."

When Clank told him he's getting a shot of Zoni energy, he didn't argue, but held out his hand resignedly, expecting everything to go numb again. But it has the exact opposite effect, tingling in his nerves and instantly making him feel more awake. Too awake, like adrenaline just got injected into his system out of nowhere. He grabbed the yoke again to steady himself and catch his breath. "Hoo, boy – okay," he sighed as he adjusted to the elevated heart rate, just trying not to go through the roof of the ship. Could this day get any weirder?

Um, yes. Yes, it could because now Clank was now surrounded by a glowing circular aura he's never seen before. Side effect, probably. "Okay," he panted again, feeling a little more level-headed once he catches his breath. "So, um, you don't constantly feel like you just slammed a whole pallet of energy dr – "

Perry lurched as he dove into the wormhole, and all sound and light ceased to exist for about half a second before he burst through the other side, into the Solana galaxy, instantaneously slowing down as the warp drives disengaged. Ratchet waited for them to coast back down to FTL speeds before plotting a course for Quartu.

"You okay?" he asked Clank. He means after the wormhole jump, but he absolutely also meant in general. Without that robot chassis and its usual set of signals and alerts, it's hard to tell what kind of state he's in. There's the glowing, but that's just weird and he has no idea what that's all about.

"I am an entire pallet of energy drinks," Clank quipped back, good naturedly as Perihelion ducked through the wormhole. He needed that edge removed; today had already been rough and Clank, no longer inhabiting a robot, was beginning to feel a deep pang of hunger. He wasn't going to drain Perry off, but hopefully his mother had some extra solar cores he could drink from.

"I am fine, though," Clank replied. "Or as 'fine' as I can possibly be, given circumstance. You, on the other hand, may wish to tighten your seat belt. The artificial gravity is on full force, but you are floating a few centicubits off your seat." Clank laughed as Ratchet looked down, finally noticing.

"There was a secondary reason for my offer, Ratchet, and it was one I was not sure would work. For all intents and purpose, you are a Zoni until it wears off. In other words, you should neither show up on bioscans as Lombax nor trip my mother's automated security systems, even though, to a non-Zoni, you should still look the same as normal. We can walk right in through the front door. Probably."

Clank cocked the plush sideways a little. "Or float, until you learn how to keep that in check. Out of curiosity, can you see my true form leaking out of the edges? Your own pulse of energy has changed from a deep red to a lighter purple, yourself. Or, more that there are thin lines of your red and my blue intertwined all over."

Perihelion landed on Quartu with a gentle thud, and Clank floated Ratchet's O2 mask to him. "Keep this on; atmospheric pressure is nearly gone. You may want a full space suit."

Clank heard a light rapping on the windshield behind him as he had turned to assist Ratchet, turning around to see a small gaggle of Zoni just outside, waving in. "Oh, and, by the way, Ratchet, is there anything unusual you see on the planet's surface?"