I do not own Ratchet and Clank, Insomniac does, though I am a fan. Sorry it took me a while to write this. I've had a lot on my plate, but here it is! This takes place a few centuries after the last chapter, soon after the Great War. Enjoy and review!
"Sire!"
Orvus turned around from the Time Cleaner he was repairing with his Chronoscepter. The large bell shaped droid had been dispatched to eliminate a small temporal rift that had formed in the Deck 6 Particle Accelerator, when it had been attacked by a group of hungry Teratropes.
The nasty vermin, which Orvus could not help but notice, were eerily similar to the Torrenian Scarabs, had been a thorn in his side for quite a while.
The quantum energy that the Time Cleaner ran on had quickly been devoured by the creatures, which then proceeded to rip apart its metal shell and try to get at its core. Thankfully Orvus had been nearby and was able to drive them off before they could damage the machine any further.
"Yes, what is it?" Orvus asked the Zoni that floated behind him. Whatever it had to say seemed greatly urgent, for the Zoni was glowing incredibly bright, a common reflex their kind had to stressful situations. If Orvus did not calm him soon, the poor fellow might accidently teleport back to the safety of the Zoni Dimension.
"Sire, there is message in Orvus Chamber. Urgent." The Zoni struggled to tell Orvus. Without other members of the hive to join in mind, its power and intelligence was very limited.
Not to mention their vocabulary.
"Chamber is only for Sire! Sire must come!"
Orvus now understood what the Zoni was trying to say. It gladdened him to know that no matter the situation, the Zoni still respected his rules, especially those that involved the Chamber.
"Calm down, my friend, calm down," Orvus told the Zoni soothingly. The Zoni instantly obeyed its leader, its glow fading back to normalcy. "I was just about finished with this Time Cleaner anyway. It really, how do the kids say it again? Oh, yes. It really got 'served.' Orvus chuckled as he tapped the Time Cleaner with his Chronoscepter, reversing time around it until it was as good as new.
The newly repaired droid blinked its beady blue eyes, sensing other temporal anomalies in the Clock. Opening wide its cavernous mouth, it sped off to apprehend them, leaving behind Orvus and the Zoni.
"There. Now, let's see what all the fuss is about."
Orvus followed the Zoni over a series of platforms to one of the giant near impenetrable doors that led into the Orvus Chamber. Orvus approached the door and placed the end of the Chronoscepter into a circular podium before the gates. The podium's surface was a gleaming black and set with a gilded ring on its surface, its sides inscribed with golden Zoni symbols. With the scepter acting as a key, while the ring started spinning, the gate's surface shifted as gears rotated within it. As the door rose up, Orvus flew up to the threshold and turned around to smile at the Zoni.
"See! Nothing to worry about." He assured the worried being.
The Zoni, satisfied that its mission had been fulfilled, flew away to leave its leader to his work. Orvus made sure to push a red button on the other side of the door, shutting the gate tight behind him as went down a short dim corridor into his Chamber.
"Computer, has there been any recent messages from outside the Timekeeper?" He called up to the auditory sensors he had built into the walls of the control room.
"Yes, sir." The Great Clock's Central Computer affirmed. "One of the Zoni stationed on Quantos transmitted a signal proximately one minute and twenty two seconds ago. I attempted to contact you, but you did not reply, so I had to send a Zoni from Sector Three to convey you here."
Orvus shook his large head. "I apologize. I was fixing a damaged Time Cleaner, and you know how engrossed I become when repairing the Clock."
The Computer did understand, but that did not stop it from worrying about its creator. Though he had improved emotionally since the Catastrophe, he still worked himself incredibly hard. Not only did he take care of the Timekeeper, but he also constantly kept watch over the remaining planets in the Universe, using Zoni he had sent to each world so as to be kept up to date on events occurring outside the station's shining ringed walls.
Orvus flew up to a computer terminal and activated it. After a few moments, a live picture appeared on the holo-screen, showing the life-filled jungles that Quantos was known for. Brightly colored ferns, trees, bushes, and flowers grew everywhere in sight. Tropical birds called out to each other from the forest canopy. A wide crystal clear waterfall was roaring in the background, forming a flowing river that snacked across the landscape. Looking over all of this natural beauty was a great stone purple and grey pyramid, long ago fallen into ruin. Despite the foliage that covered it, the structure still gave credit to Fongoid craftsmanship, their architects skillfully forming it's top to resemble the wide head of a Zoni, complete with large round aquamarine stones for eyes.
All of this Orvus could see thanks to incredibly high frequency signals the Zoni he had sent out as scouts transmitted back to the Clock. The visual and auditory information they gathered during their invisible observations was processed through the Central Computer's drive, and then broadcasted to the Orvus Chamber for the Zoni leader to experience.
"Nothing really seems out of place," Orvus mused. "Though I still cannot get over how…interesting… Fongoid architecture is."
Suddenly, a short figure burst out of the forest, scaring a number of birds into noisy flight as it did, and ran up to the edge of the river.
"What in blazes is that?" Orvus did not recognize the creature as anything native to Quantos. It certainly wasn't a Fongoid, a Zyphoid, or any other known inhabitant of the planet. Orvus pushed a button on the console and spoke into a small microphone on the side of the holo-screen. "Stay concealed, but get closer to this enigma. I wish to know what we are dealing with."
"Yes, Sire." The Zoni on Quantos replied telepathically, picking up its leader's message. It floated closer to the figure, still keeping itself invisible through its bio-energy, until it had a better view.
As the Zoni approached, the image on the holo-screen became clearer until finally Orvus could identify the stranger. The figure, from what Orvus could tell, was a bipedal mammal, around five feet tall, and had a striped yellow tail that ended in a tuft of hair. He wore dark red holo-armor, complete with grey metal shoulder guards attached to his torso by thin bands that ran to a glowing circular device on his chest, emblazoned with an oddly familiar symbol. Over his shoulder he carried a large brown knapsack. The figure turned around from the river, not aware that a Zoni was floating unseen only a foot away from his face.
"A Lombax?" Orvus exclaimed. Yes, he could tell by now that this person was one of the natives of Fastoon. The Lombax was young, probably in his early to mid twenties. The fur on his head was yellow like his tail, with orange stripes running down his large triangular ears. Big emerald green eyes stared intensely from his catlike face into the jungle he just ran out of.
"Why would a Lombax be on Quantos?" Orvus wondered. "I do recall space travel has already been revolutionized by non-Fongoid races, but I did not know the Lombaxes were already capable of departing so far from their own sector of Polaris." Orvus rubbed his head wearily.
"I REALLY need to get out more often."
Orvus watched as the Lombax glared at the dense forest, seeming as if he were waiting for something.
As to what, Orvus could only guess.
Suddenly, another Lombax of similar age hacked his way through a curtain of hanging vines, his weapon of choice what looked to be a large double-ended wrench. He was quite different in appearance from the first. For one thing, he was taller and wore a suit of rust red and solar yellow holo-armor. His fur was white with red stripes, while his eyes were yellow with red irises.
"About time you caught up." The yellow Lombax commented as his companion approached him.
"Well, what do you expect when you drag me to this savage planet!" The taller Lombax snapped with annoyance as he pressed a button on the handle of his weapon, causing the ends of the wrench to retract in length. The white furred Lombax then placed his shortened wrench into a hook on his back. "I don't see why we had to come here anyway."
The yellow haired Lombax rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I already told you Alister. My research back home can only take me so far. I need to be able to study the ruins here first hand."
Alister waved away a few bugs that were swarming around his head. "That still doesn't explain why I had to come. You know I don't like being away from the Citadel for too long."
"Sheesh, that's exactly the reason why! They name a building after you and all you want to do is stay cooped up in it! Whatever happened to your sense of adventure? We used to go off-world all the time when we were kids just to hoverboot on Lumos." The yellow Lombax stretched his arms wide, taking in the scenery. "This is basically the same thing, except, well, greener!"
Alister threw his hands in the air in defeat. "Fine, Kaden, fine. Lets just get you your data already so we can get off this rock. Don't you have a fiancée to get back to anyway?"
"Yea, but she understands this is important to me and my work." Kaden smirked at his best friend. "Besides, YOU shouldn't be talking about fiancées, Mr. Bachelor."
Alister crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at Kaden. "I'll marry when I'm good and ready. Right now I have my new duties as a General and Elder Councilman to worry about. A wife is the last thing on my mind as of now."
Kaden shrugged. "Have it your way then. In the meantime we can always find you a girlfriend." He then grinned mischievously. "Maybe an Agorian. That way you two can relate."
Alister growled as he lunged at his friend. Kaden just laughed in response and activated his hoverboots, their fiery jets lifting him off the ground and carrying him away from the irritated Lombax at great speed.
"C'mon Alister! Keep up!" Kaden called behind him as he sped over the river's surface, leaving a trail of glittering spray in his wake, as he headed towards the worn steps of the Fongoid pyramid. Alister activated his own hoverboots and pursued him quickly.
Back at the Great Clock Orvus chortled with delight, entertained by the antics of the two Lombaxes. This was the most humorous thing he had seen happen in quite a while, and that was saying something. He spoke into the microphone again to the Zoni that was watching the friends. "Follow them, would you please? This is quite an amusing display. Also, try to discover more about what this 'data' is they are searching for. It could be significant to us if they can only find it on Quantos."
"Yes, Sire. I follow." The Zoni back on Quantos teleported to the top of the pyramid, watching as the two Lombaxes zoomed up the steps towards it.
"Get your tail back here Kaden and take what's coming to you like a man!" Alister called up to his fleeing quarry.
"Yea…I'd rather not." Kaden called back as he sped into the open doorway of the pyramid's rooftop temple.
Alister couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's smart mouth reply. He followed Kaden into the heart of the building, the bright yellow glow of their hoverboots' accelerators lighting up the darkness of the dusty passageways. Just as Alister was about to catch Kaden, the shorter Lombax did a quick turn, using his pack to shift his weight, down a nearby stairwell, going deeper into the pyramid. As Alister approached, he heard a cry echo off the walls from the bottom of the steps.
"Kaden!" Alister yelled, fearful for his friend's safety. He turned off his hoverboots and walked slowly down the stone steps, making sure to take out and light a flare he had in his pocket.
"Down here!" Kaden's voice called out from the shadows. As Alister approached he could see by the flare's green light Kaden hanging by a broken off step over a deep precipice. While one of his hands was keeping him from falling, the other was struggling to hold onto his hefty knapsack.
Alsiter put down his light and grabbed Kaden's hand. He was about to pull the Lombax up, when he stopped and noticed the bag and its weight. "Kaden, you're going to have to let go of that thing if I'm going to be able to help you."
"What! Are you crazy? All of my gear is in here!"
Alister raised an eyebrow. "Alright, so I guess you'll become a big furry pancake then. I wonder how that fiancée of yours will feel about that?"
Kaden frowned unhappily. "Okay, okay." With reluctance, he let go of his pack and watched as it disappeared into the abyss below him.
It didn't even make a sound to show if it hit the ground.
Alister grunted as he pulled Kaden up from the ledge. They both collapsed on the stairs, breathing hard from terror and exhaustion. Alister looked over at Kaden. "Had enough fun yet?" he asked with a smile.
"Ha, ha, Alister. You're a real comedian," Kaden panted. He glared at his hoverboots. "These stupid pieces of junk. They shortened out before I could jump that gap. The freaking ion coils must be rusty."
"Well, if we're done cheating death, can we find those glyphs you're so obsessed about so we can leave?" Alister asked.
"Sure, pal. I'm about ready to get out of here too." Kaden and Alister got to their feet and went back into the passage at the top of the steps. Kaden peered into the darkness, but could barely discern anything around them. "Hey, do you still have that flare?"
Alister looked back down the stairs. "No, I dropped it when I was helping you. It's probably with your pack right now."
"Great," Kaden sighed. "Now how the heck are we supposed to find our way in this place?"
Orvus watched the Lombaxes ponder their next move. He could not help but feel sorry for the explorers, even though they were snooping around a Zoni temple.
"So they both lost their equipment. Hmmm…" Orvus tapped his microphone to alert the Zoni observing the two. "Retrieve the young ones' items and place them near their current location."
"Are you quite sure that is the appropriate action, sir?" The Central Computer questioned. "If these Lombaxes are searching for something involving the Zoni, would it not be best to allow them to be hindered?"
"I do not think we have much to fear from these two. It seems as if this is more of a quest for curiosity's sake rather then of any dangerous purpose."
"But if I recall correctly, the last time Lombaxes were curious about something, they designed the Dimensionator."
Orvus thought for a moment. The Lombaxes' creation of the Dimensionator resulted in forming many spatial rifts on Fastoon, threatening the Universe with the possibility of another Catastrophe like the one the Great Clock had been built to fix. Orvus had to place the planet's temporal model just outside one of the gates of the Orvus Chamber in case he had to quickly prevent any such phenomena from tearing the planet apart, taking the Universe with it.
"True, their research into inter-dimensional travel resulted in the creation of that device, but it was only used to rid this Universe of the Cragmite race. Until we know for certain what these young men are looking for, we'll just have to give them the benefit of the doubt." Orvus again commanded the Zoni on Quantos to retrieve the Lombaxes' tools, than watched as his order was carried out. The Lombaxes did not even notice their lost belongings were with them until Kaden tripped over his pack in the dark.
"AHH!"
Kaden landed face down on the temple floor.
Alister ran up to help him, than saw what had caused his friend to fall. His yellow eyes widened in shock. "Impossible! How did they get back up here?"
Kaden picked himself up, rubbing his bruised face as he did, and saw his pack along with Alister's barely used flare at his feet. He gaped at them for a moment, than grinned with delight. "I don't believe it! My equipment! It's all here!" He opened his knapsack, rummaging through its contents until he found a handheld green colored notebook. He searched through its pages, thanks to the light Alister provided by relighting his flare, and found the page he was looking for. He looked over the page's contents for a few minutes
"Okay, according to these notes from Max Apogee, there is a record of Fongoid lore relating to the Zoni not far from the end of this corridor." He looked up at Alister and smiled in embarrassment. "Guess I shouldn't have made that turn, huh?"
Alister bent down to look at the handwriting on the page Kaden was reading. "You're relying on information from that Markazian?" he scoffed. "He claimed he found a Zoni temple on Lumos a year ago, but never even made a map of it. Why would he have written about this one then?"
Kaden shrugged. "Probably there was something on Lumos he didn't want anyone to find." He tapped the page with a gloved finger. "This temple, however, has nothing inside it besides information. And I intend to learn it." He closed the book shut and placed it back in his pack, replacing it with a small one-ended wrench. Kaden then placed the pack over his shoulder and ran down the hallway, followed by Alister, until he reached a dead end. The wall was bare except for a single cobalt blue pillar shaped to look like a Zoni, its arms lifted high like it was holding up the ceiling. Kaden started patting the pillar, examining it thoroughly.
Alister watched his friend, his white furred face quizzical. "What are you looking for? There's nothing here, Kaden. Apogee must have been making up yet another story to boost his fame."
Kaden kept looking until he noticed a hexagonal stone peg hidden on the back of the pillar's statue. "I don't know about that. I think there's more to this then meets the eye." He reached behind the statue and, using his wrench, turned the peg. As he hoped, it rotated easily. A rumble echoed from the walls as concealed mechanisms were activated once more after many years of disuse. A panel opened in the base of the pillar, revealing a shaft big enough for the Lombaxes to crawl through.
Kaden ran around to the front of the pillar and pumped his fist in the air in triumph. "Yes! I knew it!" He turned to Alister. "See? Now c'mon. Lets see what's on the other side."
"You seriously want to go in there? You don't even know if it's safe!" Alister shouted in disbelief, still not over his childhood friend's recent near-death-experience. "For all we know, it could be a unstable or rigged to set off a trap!"
"Fine, do you want to go in first to test it? Otherwise, I'll will."
"Alright, I'll go." Alister gruffly replied as he approached the opening to the secret passage.
Kaden waved his arms towards the pillar and sarcastically bowed. "Age before beauty."
Alister just rolled his eyes and crawled inside the shaft. Kaden waited a while, tapping his foot, until he heard Alister give a short yell. He jumped in shock and ran up to the pillar's base, calling down the shaft. "Alister! Are you okay? Say something!"
"Now who's worrying?" Alister's voice echoed down the passage. "I was just surprised. Come down here and see this! I warn you, if you start gloating about what's in here, I'm going to kick your rear end all the way back to Fastoon!"
Kadan dove into the passage with anticipation, crawling on his hands and knees as fast as he could towards the green light of Alister's flare at the very end. The shaft opened up to a large chamber, every inch of its walls covered in gilded symbols and pictographs, many of which depicted the Zoni. Kaden looked down at his feet, where a massive mosaic of a golden ringed structure was shown floating in a black background, surrounded by chips of crystals carved like shinning stars. Alister was at the end of the room, moving his flare left to right while he explored their find. He turned to Kaden and smiled. "Kaden, I think we found what you were looking for." He then frowned as he looked at the yellow Lombax. "Are you crying?"
Kaden quickly wiped his face. "Na, I just got some dust in my eyes is all." He pulled out Apogee's notebook from his pack and examined the walls, attempting to interpret the glyphs. After about an hour of study, he was staring in awe at what he had found. "This is INCREDIBLE!"
"What?" Alister asked curiously. He walked up to Kaden and looked at the glyphs with him.
"This proves my theory of why all those temporal rifts suddenly disappear soon after forming! Basically it says here that, in order to preserve the Universe from a terrible disaster, the leader of the Zoni constructed a machine that would control time itself! This machine would allow the flow of time to continue unhindered and preserve the order of the cosmos!" Kaden pointed at one line of glyphs at the bottom of the wall. "It says here that from this machine, the Zoni to this day watch over and protect time. All of them, their minds acting as one, through the power of the…huh. Is that right?"
"Okay, I repeat, what is it?" Alister questioned impatiently.
"Well, this could be a crude translation, but it calls the machine 'the Great Clock.'"
Alister was silent for a moment, then burst into hysterical laughter. "A CLOCK! You're telling me that this thing you have been studying for over four months, this incredibly sophisticated machine designed by the most advanced race in existence, is a CLOCK?"
Kaden glared at him. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Like I said, it's a crude translation." Kaden looked at the glyphs again. "My best guess is that, more specifically, it calls it 'the Great Timekeeper,' or 'Keeper of Time.'"
"Sure Kaden." Alister suddenly stopped laughing and grew lost in thought.
Kaden looked up at him, his face filled with concern over the sudden change that came over the taller Lombax. "Are you alright Alister?"
Alister groaned. "Kaden….if you show this to the Elders….what do you think they would say? You've told them that you have been working on a brand new project, one that would change the way we Lombaxes live, but this…" Alister waved his hand at the wall and its symbols. "This is beyond anything they would be able to stomach."
Kaden's ears drooped as Alister's words sunk in. "You may be right." He then brightened up and smiled. "Though, if this doesn't work out, I can always fall back on that Cryomine Glove I've been working on. That baby would sell for a lot of bolts at quite a few weapon manufacturers."
Alister shook his head and chuckled grimly. "Kaden, you're crazy. Smart, but crazy."
"You better believe it! Now, let me just finish copying this data and we can get out of here."
As Kaden went back to work on the symbols, Orvus was still watching through the eyes of the Zoni scout. The Computer, already aware of what had happened, was quick to state the obvious. "The Lombaxes have discovered information concerning the Timekeeper. Now what should be our next course of action?"
Orvus turned from the holo-screen. "Honestly, I am not quite sure. When I told the Fongoids about the Clock, I never revealed its exact location. I only said that it was, well close to, the exact center of the Universe. Though the Lombaxes may learn of its existence, could it really be so devastating if they do not know where we are precisely?" Orvus flew back and forth across his Chamber, pacing as he pondered this dilemma.
"We could erase their memories." The Computer suggested, trying to be helpful.
Orvus shook his helmeted head in disagreement. "No, that would run the risk of damaging their minds. Organics are very fragile mentally. Also, I quite like the head that one Lombax, Kaden, has on his shoulders. He's bright, but has spunk."
"We could spirit them away to live the rest of their days in a pocket dimension."
"Now that is quite harsh."
"We could let them go and hope any they tell about the Timekeeper would think them mentally unstable. It is already clear they fear that exact scenario."
"Now there is an idea," Orvus agreed. "Sadly, many races tend to treat what they cannot comprehend as the work of fable." Orvus went back to the computer console and watched as the two Lombaxes left the pyramid and returned to their ship. "That willful ignorance will have to be our solution."
I hope you liked this chapter. Next time, Orvus will be meeting with a certain captain about a reusable black hole in, "Dark Matters." Enjoy and Review!