Ruby and Martin:
Chapter 4: The Felindrax Planet
The Felindrax acted like it was déjà vu, but the humans were even more astonished than they were back in the travel ring.
System Zero was an emptiness full of stars gleaming like Christmas lights. Large planets passed them and each of their suns could be seen flashing their sunrays. At one point, around the time the humans decided they might as well skip lunch to continue watching the rest of the spaceship's travel, they passed Oasia. Many of the pre-teens of Oasia descent such as Shella rushed to the control room to see their native planet passing by in all its multiple blue hued glory and its white sun. When Martin brought up that Ruba mentioned Polaris being Oasia's sun, Drakken deduced that System Zero must be what its native aliens call the Bode's Galaxy.
Some time later, Kim Possible had finally shown herself when they passed Coraplastia, Flora's native planet. From outer space, Coraplastia looked like a marble of iridescent green and pink brightened by its yellow sun. Flora looked longing at her planet before it disappeared.
"Hey, Kim," Shego greeted her. "Feeling better?"
"You prefer my older version or how I really feel?" Kim groaned.
"Any." She tilted her head towards the Fiske. "Ron scared Monkey Fist big time."
"I can imagine. Ron has barely spoken to me lately."
"Go figure. I mean, what were you thinking?"
Kim had been getting the worst amount lately. Her husband and mother were angry with her, her old villainous rogue gallery was disappointed, the human population was enraged, and the Felindrax did not bother to hold back their repulsion. The aliens were the most emotional when it came to the topic of 'Kim Possible Isolated Her Own Daughter From The Real World And Abandoned The Child With The Grandmother'. The moment she saw Kim approaching, Diamona got up and walked away to the other side of the control room.
"Is she alright?" Buffy noticed Diamona's reaction.
"Diamona's... rather sensitive on topics of parental abandonment," Flora admitted in a hesitant tone. "Even after all these years, she hasn't gotten over the fact that her biological Batrishania parents sold her away for being the family runt."
"Ay, is poverty that bad in her planet?"
"No, Batrishania people have the same salary and their resource is highly valued and paid by other planets, but the planet itself is another matter. Dark clouds, steep hills that hang over an abyss, and sterile land. The people live in cave-dug buildings and spend their money for necessities other aliens can provide but not their home."
"You can't be serious! Surely they had some food before they started merchandising!"
"They could hunt the local fauna, but even these beasts are hostiles. They're even smart: just before the first foreign exchanges started with Batrishania, the animals picked up that the Batrishania people would perish without their meat, so they fled to the abyss to survive. So yeah, Batrishania is constantly spending for things like food, textiles, weapons, and assistance for improving their homes. And trust me, if there are some like Diamona who aren't sold off for being runts, some are just willing to be sold if it means not starving in Batrishania. You'd be surprised by the massive amount of Batrishania immigrants on higher planets."
After a turn at some floating asteroids, they saw more spaceships passing in the area, probably for those carrying trades solely between planets in the System Zero. When more passed by, the humans were noted that there weren't just military or trading spaceships, but also cruise spaceships, individual space vehicles, and the occasional random space extreme sports hovering vehicles used for stunts like riding asteroids or chasing comets.
"I don't suppose there are the occasional asteroid or meteorite collisions that lead to the spaceships' malfunctioning?" Gilliard asked. "Unless aliens never had Titanic incidents."
"That highly primitive ship that sank in that infantile chunk of ice?" Ruba snorted. "Who's dumb enough to believe that such a thing would be unsinkable and wouldn't cause the deaths of thousands?"
Monkey Fist did throw a scowl at her and Martin was quick to notice it.
"I'm aware that you grew up in a highly evolved society and you think we're beneath you, but don't try to bring up the Titanic that way in front of my father. You'd be surprised that some ancient monkey artifacts were being transported on the ship and, well, you get the picture."
"Isn't that the purpose though?" Ruba just frowned. "I mean, if the humans who built that ship thought it was unsinkable, they should have tested it to ensure nothing could sink it before such events happen. You think that once we build a spaceship, we don't do a series of tests to make sure it can withstand avoiding or surviving asteroid impacts, survive the travel ring voyages, place the right coordinates, quarantine inner menaces, and uphold a certain weight of passengers? I mean, we've had some prototypes fail, but at least only ten people were on the ships when they got damaged or destroyed in outer space."
"Helps avoid massive casualties." Diamona nodded. "After all, besides Violet's divine peers, it seems like a humans hold the record for massive casualties that they unleash upon themselves."
Just before any of the humans could retort, they finally approached the Felindrax planet.
It was a planet perhaps similar to Earth: it had a sun and a moon and was a rocky planet with an atmosphere. But the similarities when it became visible that the planet's sun was blue, the moon lacking craters as if it were carved to be a perfect, smooth ball, the planet was four times the Earth's size and its visible atmosphere was purple.
The crewmates slowed down the engines as they started making their way down. As they did so, they inspected the holographic maps, indicating the course to follow in order to properly land at the spaceship station.
The spaceship entered the atmosphere, where purple clouds floated their merry way around. Dousus began to distribute some inhalers bearing VIDA gas (Vitally Important Dioxide Aspiration) to the humans, explaining to them that it was necessary for them to inhale some to ensure they could properly breathe on a permanent basis once on the planet.
Martin inhaled his VIDA gas and grimaced. "Revolting! Beetles and olives!"
"VIDA gas has the effect of your least favorite scent to properly clog your nostrils to protect your lung from potential atmospheric poisoning," Ruba explained. "I had my first done when I was six, so now I can breathe properly on this planet. For me it smelled of sardines and garlic bread."
Martin stared at her. "Garlic bread?"
"My biological father tried to bake garlic bread when I was four. He was so bad for a first-timer, he burned the kitchen and for five days, we could only smell burned garlic bread."
Finally, they crossed the barrier of clouds and saw what laid out on the planet's surface. It started out with a sandy colored ground from which rose a temperate rainforest, complete with a diversity of trees either evolved versions or hybrids of what there was on Earth, and a violet colored lagoon. If purple hued flora grew here and there, the native fauna was moving around.
It was then followed by what looked like a mine site. The flourishing forest turned into a valley of dried out earth covered with craters and digging sites where machines were digging, extracting, and sorting moonstones into crates that were then brought to hovering vehicles.
Afterwards came the Trench, either a fascinating or abominable force of nature so deep, one could have put the Eiffel Tower in it and figure out for centuries when it could reach the bottom. Just above the Trench were a series of bridges leading straight to the final part of the planet, the city of the Felindrax.
"That's a big trench," Gilliard remarked. "Did you guys dig this or was it due to erosion?"
"It started out as an ordinary trench when Violet created our world, but when her original moon fell down, it landed right in the ocean that was once there," Dousus explained. "She deepened the Trench to suck in the water before it could flood our city and changed the Trench to have it circulate around the city. The Trench is in a way our moat and it keeps the wild animals away."
"So the lagoon is the only natural body of water on this planet?"
"Well the original ocean's water is still at the bottom of the Trench, but unless you humans find honor in suicide, it's my responsibility as a doctor to highly discourage you from performing a cannonball."
The spaceship continued its flight above the limits, but its members could still stare at the majestic appearance of the city far much bigger than any they've ever seen, perhaps covering a quarter of the planet. The majority of the futuristic buildings were of purple hues but other colors also stood out and everything seemed to be split in twelve massive neighborhoods (with a thirteenth under construction). Each neighborhood had its own massive female statue reaching the sky. At the heart of the stood a palace, an arena, a building resembling a city hall, and what appeared to be a wall encircling a purple cloud dome.
"Home sweet home," Ruba stared at the city's center.
"Hey, look, I can see my office from here!" Violet pointed at the walled cloud.
"This is your temple?" Martin was stunned.
Ruba just shrugged.
The spaceship finally landed onto the spaceship station. While the cargo was being unloaded, the humans were escorted outside, where they could hardly tell what to make of the air. Ruba looked around and began barking in frustration at the nearest guards.
"Where's Loyus?"
"At the Trialing Trinity, your grandness," a guard spoke.
"And why is he not here? He's the High Priest of Violet! That paranoid is usually always here whenever I arrive in order to assault me with the needed schedule!"
"It was a last minute expectation. He and Monarch Ritus had to prepare the judge panel at the Trialing Trinity for the upcoming trial that you requested."
"SO WHY DIDN'T HE SEND ME A MESSAGE YESTERDAY?" Ruba nearly shrieked, scaring the guards.
"There was a small incident with the dragon herd enclosure... Please don't lash at us, Great Violet One!" The guards begged and groveled before Ruba.
"For the love of Violet, I leave this planet to do my job and everytime I come back, the incompetents I task make things a mess!" Ruba nearly clawed her cheeks. "Summon a personal hover train to take us straight to the Trialing Trinity! Contact Loyus to let him know I'll slap him if I catch him boozing on the job! Reprimand whoever was responsible for protecting my sacred dragons during an absence! And somebody get me Ritus on the line! I happen to be the godly host here!"
In a matter of seconds, a majority of Felindrax guards sweated their hides to please Ruba's orders.
"Is she always like this?" Will Du asked.
"Just be glad this isn't one of her bad days," Diamona shook her head.
"At this level, I never expected her to have a high priest," Martin remarked. "Ruba usually seems rather independent."
"You'll have to tell her that compliment, but Loyus is a different manner. He's... kind of what you humans have in pastors for churches and rabbis for synagogues. Loyus is the chief of the Felindrax priests leading the religion dedicated to Violet. A position passed down from father to son, he's responsible for leading prayers before the temple, acting as Violet's itinerary during council and court meetings, and doing the speeches whenever a winner is presented as a potential host for Violet."
"His only problem is that years of doing his job and never getting a godly host has left him jaded and drunk," Flora grimaced. "Karma kicked him when Violet chose Ruba and now he's stressed out with the work he has to deal with."
"Advising Ruba, organizing her schedule, acting as her secondary voice, filling in for her during her absences, and whatever." Diamona listed.
"So he's more like her secretary," Martin said.
"More like the assistant who really needs to catch up on the paperwork."
They were lead to the other side of the station where hover rails, hovering vehicles resembling futuristic glass tramways, were waiting to depart. Some were being loaded with merchandises brought from other planets, others were being boarded by alien tourists eyeing the humans in surprise, and one where the group boarded. The seats were organized in a rectangular format as if it were purposely made so that any passenger could see the others from any angle. Well, maybe any passenger except Camillo Leon. Ever since he got a tablet from the Felindrax, he'd been surfing the Universal Web (the aliens' more evolved version of the Internet) and his eyes now had the expression of a poet with mixed feelings of inspiration and despair.
"Neon collared crop tops..." He almost drooled on his pants, Melgo quickly placed a napkin on his laps. "A designer's dream... AND IT'S FORTY HUNDRED SEASONS AHEAD OF US!" He bursted into tears.
"That late?" Ruba, Flora, and Diamona exclaimed in horror far worse than Camillo's.
"You must be joking," Kim Possible gave them a dry look.
"Uh, no," Diamona scowled.
"That would be abominable," Flora agreed.
"What do you think we are, dystopian savages?" Ruba gasped in offense. "We're still girls. We go shopping at any universal mall anytime we have a day off. Naturally, we like to keep up with universal trends." She turned to Camillo. "Neon and bioluminescent clothing have been a trend since the 4th cycle brought the creation of the planet Chemilumia."
"Daily or for special occasions only?" Camillo's eyes beamed like a puppy eager for a treat.
"Daily for Chemilumia people, but on the other planets, it depends on the statement your making. I personally wear neon lilac clothing whenever I go to raves or nightclubs."
"Raves and nightclubs? Who are you and what have you done with Ruba Kala?" Kim Possible asked in a suspicious tone.
"Is there a problem about my social life that you'd like to criticize?" Ruba asked in a deadly calm voice. "Unless you'd like me to turn this ride into a lecture of knowing in place, especially since you're clearly an expert on ruining a kid's life?"
Kim Possible almost had the idea of getting up and punching the girl right here but her husband speaking up put her on hold.
"Oh, will you for once do something sensible in your life and actually do as your told?"
His tone was dry and clearly throwing the blame at his wife, who shrunk in her seat. It was pretty evident that not only had he not forgiven her, but he was now making her the second person to lash out after. Monkey Fist and the Simian Witch couldn't help but feel pity for Kim Possible.
The hover rail left the spaceship and made it's way towards the center. A holographic projection of some fully-cured Felindrax man emerged in the center of the seating area for all the passengers to watch.
"Welcome foreigners to the Felindrax city, home to the first people of Violet and capital to all other Violet-made planets. Until we approach your final destination, enjoy this tutorial about our home's history.
"The Felindrax planet was created by Violet the goddess of frustration far many trillion years ago. After the collision of her moon prototype, our main industry has become moonstone mining, a resource we use for our citizens and share with other aliens. We use moonstones for our technology, our clothing, our weapons, our architecture, and our spaceships.
"At one point during the beginning of System Zero, Violet argued with the other gods that mortals needed to be independent from them. The gods destroyed her corporeal form while her essence was spared but locked in her temple, which is on the other side of the walled dome cloud that you can see from here. The gods split their essences across the universe, but before doing so, Iron the god of age spread the Curse Plague to kill off all the Felindrax women and genetically damage the men. It takes generations of introduction of alien women into our society, arranged marriages, career organization, and reproduction that the descendants of a third-cured Felindrax can finally bear fully-cured sons to bring back fully-cured daughters until Violet's godly host can restore everyone through the death or Royal. Currently as we speak, 78% percent of the Felindrax male population are half-cured and serve as doctors, teachers, warriors, or any career that best suits their skills and genetics. 12% are third-cured Felindrax, who are physically weak to serve in the military, so they generally work as scientists, researchers, primary educators, servants to higher-class Felindrax, and other minor employment. Lastly, 10% are fully-cured Felindrax, and if they aren't soldiers, they take up most of the chief governmental careers such as monarch and priests. 40% percent of the planet's population is composed of alien immigrated from other methods, but the methods to include them into our society differs from the way we bring up our native citizens to fill their roles. After all, we can't all be culturally insensitive!"
The humans had mixed feelings as they listened to both the holographic tour guide and watched the neighborhoods passing by them.
"Now you may ask why our buildings are built out of more than one mineral and formatted like abstract jigsaw puzzles. Since cycles end with an explosion of the universe, it tends to damage civilizations. To ensure the improvement of our modern technology and the preservation of our traditions, we build new homes over the ones damaged by the explosions. We are currently going through neighborhoods 10 to 12, which only bear 1 to 3 different minerals as they are the most advanced, safest, and built from perfectly strong moonstone beams. You will see more jigsaw puzzles as we approach neighborhoods 1 to 4, which are the least occupied neighborhoods in our city as we use it to test our technology in preparation for potential apocalypse hazards and to train our recruits. As for neighborhoods 5 to 9, the areas are generally safe and if not fun, the perfect sectors of our city for tourism.
"The twelve neighborhoods of our city are each built in honor of a host of Violet depending on the order the host came in and depending on the duration of the host's career."
"Career duration?" Drakken asked the hologram.
"That's right!" Now the hologram just sounded like an annoying talk show host. "The size of a neighborhood depends on the time the host has lived. The neighborhood also reflects aspects of the host's home planet. Allow me to give you an example: the sixth neighborhood was built in honor of Violet's sixth host, Oystra from Oasia! She has lived for three years as Violet's host, a record only defeated by the current host of Violet, Ruba Kala. The sixth neighborhood is thus full of water canals, lily pod homes, aquariums, and other forms of marine-inspired infrastructures. Until a thirteenth neighborhood is built, the sixth neighborhood remains the biggest one in the city!"
The hologram went on to explain about each of the different neighborhoods and the hosts they were dedicated to. A seat away from her, Martin noticed the dejected expression on Ruba.
"Until you came, Oystra was the only one who managed to live longer than the others," Martin guessed.
Ruba groaned. "An amazing warrior. She was nineteen when she died, but she became legendary for being the first host of Violet to cause Iron problems. Instead of hunting down Royal, Oystra decided to challenge Iron first head on without giving him time to fully reincarnate. For three years, they battled in a two-godly hosts war and destroyed a majority of the 6th system planets. Until Iron finally found Royal and tricked him into killing her, Oystra was known as the Oasia Hurricane."
"Yeah, what girl on this planet wouldn't dream of being Oystra?" Diamona said in a near fangirl tone. "Sure, all Oasia people have aquakinesis, but with Violet, Oystra could create tsunamis and whirlpools that normally take at least thirty Oasia people to perform! And when she fought Iron in his Batrishania host, their powers in destructive battle created the very first black hole in existence!"
Ruba groaned even more.
"Why are you groaning?" Diamona stared at Ruba. "You're even better than Oystra! When you think about it, you were close enough to killing Ronilda when you first met, so compare that to the host of Royal who made introductions with Oystra by stabbing her on the neck from behind!"
Ruba groaned even further and dropped her face in her hands.
"Diamona, exactly how do you manage to stay alive with you annoying people like that?" Martin wondered.
"Because lying is for the unfaithful and since I care very much for people that matter, I show my care through methods of the blunt truth..."
"Oh, thank Violet!" Dousus exclaimed once the hover rail came to a stop. "We're here!"
They stepped out of the hover rail and into what was the center of the Felindrax city. The whole area stood on top of a hill and the ground was covered by moonstone sidewalks, green grass, and a few trees crowned with purple foliage. All the city's canals met at the center to form a liquid roundabout. At the left side stood the royal palace, constructed from moonstone and silver and six times the size of the Fiskes' own castle. Next to the royal palace stood the building resembling a city hall, which Ruba confirmed was the Trialing Trinity where justice was held. On the right stood the Testing Arena, just as big as the palace and far more modern than the human soccer arenas. It was at the Testing Arena that the Felindrax have the sixteen-year-olds pass specific tests to determine their careers.
Finally, at the heart of the area was Violet's temple. It was already known that her temple was bigger than the palace, but from a closer look, it now made the palace, the Testing Arena, and the Trialing Trinity almost as small as ants.
Since the Felindrax walked towards the temple, the humans followed and managed to have a better look at the temple.
"It's probably the second most beautiful work of history I've ever seen!" Monkey Fist was in bliss. "The wall carvings, the levitating shield, and the outer décor! It's amazing!"
"Yes, my temple is the crowning jewel of the entire city for more than at least 182 billion years," Violet said proudly. "Of course, every cycle required renovations for the representations of my hosts, and naturally, Ruba and Oystra take a lot of space."
"And this?" Shego pointed at the levitating shield, which was just statues of Violet's hosts spinning around the wall, their faces facing the city.
"Here's a demo. Hey, Oil Stench!" Diamona whistled at Motor Ed and Edina, who were dangerously ogling at the hover rail and perhaps considering tinkering it. "I dare one of you to climb this staircase!" Diamona pointed at the massive staircase of moonstone bricks that only reached half of the wall's height. "You can actually see the hovering monster trucks in the ninth neighborhood from here!"
"Ooh, I got to check it out! Seriously!" Motor Ed ran up the stairs.
"Wait, Pops! It might me..." Edina's warning got cut off by the statues shooting laser beams at Motor Ed until he ran back down the staircase. "Booby trapped."
"Yeah, the Host Gate isn't known for being friendly. In fact, a majority of the winners who don't get chosen by Violet just get shot off the Effortair by the Host Gate." Diamona pointed at the staircase. "It represents all the lucky losers. Each brick it's made off has the name of the girl who passed the test but got dumped. And these." Diamona waved her hand at the infinite amount of carved tiles surrounding the wall like a purple lake mosaic. "All the tiles dedicated to the girls who failed the tests."
"Ya people are sadists," Killigan muttered.
"What?" Dousus shrugged. "We hit a hiatus on the tiles and bricks once a host is chosen."
This bothered the humans a bit, seeing the numerous amount of tiles and bricks forming a grounded staircase of souls who failed to accomplish a great destiny. And the Host Gate hovering above them, symbolizing the oh so fortunate who got their destinies and were now far above those who had challenged or lost to them.
"Alright, that's enough," Ruba said. "We must head to the Trialing Trinity."
Martin once again noticed her pessimistic mood swing. He quickly caught up to her as they headed to the Trialing Trinity. "Are you alright?"
"I'm not alright. I hate the temple." Ruba lowered her head. "I don't like spending an hour in or near it."
"Because it reeks the stench of inaccessible dreams of freedom, heroism, and independence?"
Ruba sighed. "Ever since I was kid, I had to witness all the other sixteen-year-old girls pass the tests only to get rejected, either by the Host Gate shooting at them away from the wall or Violet refusing them access to her temple. When my turn came... I didn't even think I'd make it. I was so sure I'd either fail the tests or be rejected just for what I am."
"Human?"
"Primitive."
"You're really letting it sink too deeply."
"For good reason. I've been a host for four years now and I still can't believe Violet chose me. Or that she agreed with the others."
They reached the front steps of the Trialing Trinity. A Felindrax was pacing nervously in front of the steps, his golden eyes looking in worry at holographic projections coming from a tablet. Unlike Dousus, this one had all the complete features of a fully-cured Felindrax: sandy skin, golden eyes, and black hair resembling the upper part of a lion's mane. While most of the other passing civilians seemed to be wearing skin tight, one or two pieces clothing, he wore a big angel-sleeved purple patterned cloak, black sleeveless tunic, no shoes, and a headpiece of moonstones and silver resembling some sort of lionfish fin.
"LOYUS!" Ruba yelled at him.
Loyus yelped when he saw her come. "Ruba! You're... five minutes early!"
"At least I'm on time! Care to explain to me why I haven't been hearing any reports from you on my way back? You're the High Priest of Violet! We had an agreement!"
"I know, and I'm sorry, but with you absent for months, I had to cover all the tasks for you." He showed her the holographic list. "You can't imagine the damage: the tests for the sixteen-year-old boys with promising futures in medicine, education, mining, and therapy, the marriage arrangements for the eighteen-year-olds, the introduction of new girls in the primary education, the bridge accident in neighborhood seven..."
"What happened in neighborhood seven?"
"Your stooges couldn't even handle the pen locking of your sacred dragons, so the beasts went stampeding and their acid destroyed a quarter of the bridge..."
"I thought you asked Coralus to guard the pen locking!"
"With his condition? The boy slept through most of his shifts!"
"No, go figure!" Ruba calmed down. "OK, I'll murder you later. Right now, are things ready at the Trialing Trinity?"
"Yes."
"Good."
"And we're going to the Trialing Trinity for what purpose?" Kim Possible asked.
Loyus glanced at her solemnly. "To judge you primitive souls."