"Please, you're disturbing my class."

Vhisola peeked out from behind the tablet she held. At the front of the room stood Nokama, hands on her hips as she stared down another Ga-Matoran who had two Bordakh standing behind her.

"Just tell us which one is Kailani and we'll be on our way," the other Matoran said, her voice gradually rising in volume.

"I already told you: there's no way Kailani was responsible for the damage. She was here in class that day, there was no way she could have gotten to the other side of the Metru and back so quickly."

"Witnesses described someone matching her description, so we're taking her in so that we can determine if she's guilty or not. Now. Which one?"

Nokama shook her head. "I'm not letting you wrongfully detain one of my students. That's the end of it."

The other Matoran sighed heavily, turning around and gesturing in Nokama's direction. One of the Bordakh reached forward with its staff. Vhisola ducked back behind her tablet, but could hear Nokama make a small yelp, followed by nothing but silence.

"We have come to detain a suspected criminal," the official said. "Which of your students is the one named Kailani?"

Vhisola peeked out again. Nokama stared forward with utterly blank eyes, and slowly began to turn towards the class. But then she stopped.

"…It was not Kailani," Nokama said. Her tone was quiet and even.

The official gaped. "What?"

"Kailani is not the criminal. You would be wasting the time of Turaga Dume and the Vahki by bringing her in. I will not assist you in this misguided effort."

Vhisola leaned out further. Is she…resisting the Staff of Loyalty? No, talking about Turaga Dume like that, she's definitely affected…

As she thought more about what Nokama was saying, she was able to figure it out.

She really believes that it isn't Kailani, and that bringing her in would be a hindrance to the investigation rather than a help. So, in her state of wanting to preserve order, she won't do anything that hinders a criminal investigation. She…found a way to work around the effect of a stun staff…

The official just stared at Nokama for a long time. The two Bordakh exchanged glances, a few high-pitched sounds passing between them. Eventually, the official threw her hands up and left, and the Vahki went with her. Nokama stood where she was for a bit longer before facing the class.

"Class is dismissed."

And with that, she walked out of the room as well.

Everyone was a bit confused, but slowly they all began to leave one by one. Vhisola hung around for a while longer, trying to read over the text in front of her, but focusing was impossible and she too eventually left the room. She was still in awe of what Nokama had just done. Her notes, well, they just weren't as interesting.

She went home and tried to get some work done, but her mind just kept drifting back to the classroom. A few hours later, that was what made her realize she had forgotten one of her tablets in her desk; she rushed back to the school, thinking she could just barely make it in before the doors locked, but came to an abrupt halt in the entryway. Nokama was just on her way out.

"Hm?" the teacher said, looking up. She smiled. "Ah, hello Vhisola."

Vhisola blinked. "You…you know my name?"

"Of course. You're in my fifth period translation class—I believe you sit near the back?"

"Y-Yes, that's right." She actually recognized someone like me?

Nokama's expression faded a bit. "Ah…sorry about the incident today. I'll be adjusting the curriculum to account for the missed day, so don't worry about trying to read ahead on your own."

"Oh, that's, uh…" Vhisola tripped over her words, eventually arriving at, "What made you decide to leave earlier?"

Nokama looked aside and thought. "Well, in my addled mind, I worked out that in that condition I couldn't effectively teach, and that not doing my job properly was akin to disorder and I should remove myself before I corrupted my fellow Matoran. Stun staffs are curious things."

"But…you beat it, didn't you?"

Nokama grinned just a little. "It doesn't always work. But I've learned to think my way around it every now and again, with a little creativity." Looking more serious, she added, "Not that I get stunned often, of course."

"N-No, of course not! But, still…that's really incredible. I've never heard of anyone doing something like that before."

"Hahah! Well thank you, Vhisola. Perhaps next semester I'll set up a class on the subject. 'Stun Staffs and How to Outthink Them'." She chuckled, and then sighed. "No, there's no chance that would get funding. Anyway, what brings you here so late?"

Vhisola stood up straighter. "Oh! My tablet! I forget to take it when I left earlier!"

"In my room? I'll have to come with you—I just locked it up."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't want to keep you, I can just wait until tomorrow!"

"Nonsense, I'm happy to help. Let's go."

The two of them made their way to the classroom, and when they arrived Nokama undid the door and flicked on the lights. Vhisola nervously stepped around her and wove through the desks until she reached hers.

"How are you doing with this lesson, by the way?" Nokama asked. "I've noticed you tend to have some trouble with this particular dialect."

Vhisola fumbled with her tablet. "I-I, um…well, I'm trying my best, of course! But, uh, it is, um, sort of…not…working out, especially well…" Hugging her tablet close, she looked at the floor in embarrassment.

"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that," Nokama said. "Would you like some help? I have a tutoring session later this week that's still open."

Vhisola jumped. "Huh?! Really?!"

"What do you mean 'really'?" Nokama said with a smile. "You haven't seen any of the signs about the tutoring schedules?"

"I have, I just…I mean, it's my fault I'm so terrible at it—I don't want to waste even more of your time having you go over the same stuff you already told me. You've…you must have better things to do than spend so much time on me."

Nokama frowned. Walking forward, she said, "Vhisola, I don't think it would be a waste at all. The reason I offer these tutoring sessions is because I know that not all students learn the same way, and if you're having trouble that just means I need to find a different way to teach you—and I can do that better one on one. My job isn't done until I've taught the lesson effectively to every student. I'd never turn one of you away just because you were struggling."

Vhisola stared at Nokama, unable to form a single word.

"I'll leave the session open," Nokama said, walking back to her desk. She carved a time into a small tablet. "If you don't want to come, that's fine, but I hope you'll consider it? I am here to help."

She returned to Vhisola and held out the tablet. The student reached out with a shaking hand to take it, and said, "I…um…is it really…okay? For me to bother you like that?"

Nokama smiled at her. "Vhisola, it'd be no bother at all."

Vhisola's eyes lit up, and a smile formed on her face as well.

The next thing she knew, she was waking up. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, the memories of what she had been dreaming about ebbed away rapidly, but she could've sworn it was something important. Sitting up, Vhisola glanced at Ehrye and the Skrall: they were still asleep. Turning to the horizon, she remembered that it was still a long walk to the Northern Frost.

Finding their way to the lab entrance proved simple enough. The only potential worry came when they spotted a rock steed hanging around the cave opening, gnawing on a piece of armor.

"You think that's from one of the Agori who found this place?" Ehrye mumbled.

The Skrall said nothing as he loaded his Thornax rifle. Fortunately, one hit to the side was enough to make the creature turn tail and run, so the three of them headed inside. The tunnel rapidly sloped downward, its walls changing from rock to metal, and then leveled out suddenly, at which point they spotted a sign written in Matoran.

NO TRESPASSING

LEAVE NOW OR BE REPELLED BY FORCE

"A warm welcome," Vhisola said.

The Skrall shrugged. "I never learned your alphabet anyway. Keep your eyes out for traps, eh?"

Vhisola squinted at the sign, thinking, Trying to keep out trespassers…on a planet where none of the natives can read Matoran. What good is this sign, then?

She walked forward nonetheless, but found herself bumping into Ehrye. Before him, the Skrall had held out his spear to halt their advance, and he was scanning the hall ahead of them with caution. A thin beam of red appeared for only a second. Shortly thereafter, another beam flashed into existence and vanished just as quickly, but in a different location than the first. He plucked one of the Thornax growing on his rifle's vine; he lobbed it at the next beam, and as soon as the two met, a piece of wall slid aside to reveal a Zamor launcher than shot the fruit down.

"What kind of weapon is that?" the Skrall asked.

"Zamor can be filled with all sorts of substances," Vhisola explained. "Once they hit their target, the shell phases so it can pass through them, releasing the contents as it does."

She eyed the slain Thornax: it didn't look much different, but that didn't really tell her how the unknown formula might affect living beings.

"Do you think there's a way around it?" Ehrye asked.

"Not likely," the Skrall said. "It's security, after all. Might be a way to disable it."

At around the same time, they all spotted a panel on the wall: it had a simple screen and a keyboard displaying Matoran letters and numbers. The Skrall half-turned towards it, but then thought better of the idea.

"If we enter the wrong thing, it'll probably get much worse," he reasoned. "Probably better to figure out the pattern of these sights."

As he continued to observe them, Vhisola's gaze lingered on the panel. It was a simple design, but there was a certain elegance to it, in a way that she thought seemed vaguely familiar. It reminded her of similar panels she had seen while restoring Metru-Nui and building New Atero.

"Alright," the Skrall said. "Watch closely, and when I tell you, repeat my movements."

Then he darted down the hall, stopping and ducking several times before reaching a bend. A minute or so later he called to Ehrye, who made it through with a few close calls, and Vhisola went last with no problems. She realized another sign was on the wall there.

TRESPASSERS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED

RETURN TO THE SURFACE NOW

"Why are they written in Matoran?" she wondered aloud as they continued.

"Because it's the Great Beings, right?" Ehrye said.

"But you write signs like this for the reader's benefit. If this was made by the Great Beings, it would have to have been made before the Shattering—no one on Spherus Magna knew Matoran, so they wouldn't have been able to read these signs. If they wanted to keep people out, they would have written it in Agori, or whatever was being used at the time." That gave her another thought. "And…Matoran has changed over time too. Turaga Nokama showed us some ancient scripts on Metru-Nui, and I couldn't make heads or tails of them. But you and I can read these signs with no effort at all."

Ehrye scratched his head. "Huh…that is kind of weird. But, these are Great Beings we're dealing with—maybe there's some super tech that causes the signs to display in whatever language the reader knows?"

Vhisola pointed to the Skrall, who said, "No, they definitely look like your writing to me."

Ehrye crossed his arms. "Hm. Then this is really weird."

"Your idea was a bit unusual too, to be fair," the Skrall said with a chuckle.

Ehrye laughed back. "Well, Great Beings, anything's fair game."

Vhisola caught a look at another panel in the wall. If it isn't the Great Beings, then who…?

She stopped suddenly as electricity coursed through her body.

Stumbling back, Vhisola fell over, and Ehrye moved to the side in surprise. The tile he stepped on brightened, and he too was dealt a powerful shock. The Skrall remained still.

"Traps…but only on certain tiles. Not as easy to figure out."

Ehrye and Vhisola managed to get back onto tiles they knew were safe, meanwhile the Skrall slowly unraveled his chain. He lightly set the end onto the next tile. Nothing happened, so he took a step. He tested the next tile—sparks started to jump up the chain, so he quickly pulled it up, receiving only a mild sting. Testing an adjacent tile, he found it was safe, and in this manner he slowly crossed the floor with the two Matoran staying close behind.

"You know, I'm really glad we have you around," Ehrye said. "We probably would have ended up like those half-dozen Agori who didn't make it out by now if we came here on our own."

"…Give yourself some credit," the Skrall quietly replied. "I'm sure you two could've figured something out. Anyone could've seen those beams, and these shocks aren't enough to be lethal."

"Ah, don't be so modest!"

The Skrall smiled, but Vhisola said, "They aren't lethal. Then…how did those Agori die?"

Ehrye turned towards her. "Hm? Oh, uh…maybe something further down did them in? And we still don't know what was in those Zamor, it could be some kind of toxin."

"…I think maybe you were right about the rock steed. The Agori left before the security had a chance to get worse, and the rock steed was waiting."

"But, Nuhrii said—"

"That they encountered security, and that some of them died. He didn't explicitly say the security was what killed them."

Ehrye thought about this for a moment, but ultimately paid it little mind. Vhisola figured that was fair, since the cause of death shouldn't have been such an issue, but it only deepened her feelings of suspicion.

The Skrall tested an entire row of tiles with no reaction. "I think we might be clear…yep, there's another sign."

They looked to where he pointed, seeing a sign identical to the last one with one additional line:

FINAL WARNING

The trio pressed on nonetheless. Ehrye resumed talking to the Skrall, while Vhisola remained distracted by the discrepancy between this place and what she had expected. The further they went, the odder it felt, and try as she might she just couldn't figure out the answer she knew was staring her right in the face.

Maybe the Great Beings really are just entirely unpredictable.

The hall became a stairwell that reached down and down and down. Eventually, it let out at a very short hallway, and there were two things that could be seen at its end. The first was a large door, with a large handle at its center and another panel at its side. The second was a massive form made of black and white metal, a piercing orange light shining from within its broad torso; it had three long multi-jointed legs, and mounted where its left arm should've been was something that resembled a gun barrel. The only arm it had was oversized and heavily armored, ending in four flexible fingers, and its head was vaguely insectoid, with eyes that burned with the same intense orange light from its chest, which it aimed squarely at the travelers.

"INPUT COMMAND FOR DISARMAMENT," it barked in a loud, metallic voice. "40 SECONDS REMAIN TO DISARM OR WITHDRAW."

"How polite," the Skrall said as he readied his spear and axe. "It's giving us a head start."

"INPUT COMMAND FOR DISARMAMENT. 30 SECONDS REMAIN TO DISARM OR WITHDRAW."

Vhisola readied her disk, and Ehrye reluctantly grabbed his launcher.

"INPUT COMMAND FOR DISARMAMENT. 20 SECONDS—"

The remaining words were drowned out as the Skrall bellowed, charging forward with his weapons outstretched.

"HOSTILE ACTIVITY DETECTED. OVERRIDE DISARMAMENT PROMPT."

The gun barrel suddenly sparked to life, and a bolt of electricity was shot at the Skrall. He managed to dodge, but now the machine was coming towards him, and when he thrust his spear it effortlessly circled around and swung its massive fist. The blow made the Skrall stagger, but he recovered quickly and blocked the next punch. Pushing the robot back, he retaliated with his axe, but didn't do much damage. The robot simply grabbed him and slammed him against the wall.

"Let him go!" Ehrye shouted, shooting his Kanoka.

The robot's legs shifted around, allowing it to strafe in an odd fashion, and avoided the projectile entirely; its gun crackled and more bolts were hurled at the Matoran, who managed to narrowly avoid contact. The Skrall drove his elbow into the machine's face, hurting only himself. Vhisola threw her disk, but the robot unceremoniously dropped the Skrall to grab it out of midair. In seconds it was only splinters.

"Darn," Ehrye said as he fumbled for another disk. "I should've gone with Ga-Type!"

The robot advanced on the Matoran, its three legs carrying it forward faster than they liked. They both rolled to avoid more electric blasts, but it moved with Vhisola and caught her, its iron grip hoisting her into the air so its weapon could aim itself directly at her head. Suddenly the machine faltered. It looked down to see the Skrall's glowing spear embedded in one of its legs, and then turned and threw Vhisola at him—to her surprise, he moved to cushion the impact, and once she was on the floor he got back up and drew his chain.

"Think you're tough, you piece of scrap?" he roared. "I've fought deadlier things than you! Come on!"

He hurled the end of his chain. The robot strafed and moved forward, but stopped short to avoid another of Ehrye's disks. As the chain was reeled back in, however, it veered towards its initial target and stuck fast to its armor, allowing it to be reeled straight into the Skrall's axe. Still, the extra momentum did little to aid the impact of the blow. The Skrall was knocked back into the wall in seconds. Spinning around, the automaton focused on Ehrye, who had his last disk ready and was debating whether he should try to fire.

"Hey," Vhisola whispered to the Skrall. "What's the deal with that spear?"

Untangling himself, the Skrall replied, "It's…urgh…something to do with breaking apart the molecules. I didn't get all the technical stuff, I just know it pierces stuff that can't normally be pierced."

"Well it's our best shot."

The Skrall smirked. "You got another plan?"

Mirroring his expression, Vhisola said, "This one probably won't be as impressive."

The robot shot its weapon. Ehrye's hesitation proved fruitful, allowing him to dodge the attack, but it also gave the machine an opportunity to move forward without worrying about being attacked. In this time, the Skrall threw his chain again and used it to yank his spear back out of their enemy—it stopped to notice this, but then continued on towards Ehrye.

"S-Stay back!" the Ko-Matoran said, brandishing his launcher. "I'm warning you!"

The robot swiped at him. He rolled through its legs, but then it moved to stand on only one of them, and wrapped the other two around Ehrye's body. Letting out a shout, Ehrye tried to struggle his way free, but his captor was too strong. It prepared to blast him when the Skrall cried out again. The chain wrapped around the guard's weapon and pulled it askew, sparing Ehrye, and then the Skrall leapt over the Matoran to deal a high blow with his axe. Ehrye was shoved free somewhere in the struggle, and the Skrall and robot both moved to entangle each other.

"Ehrye!" Vhisola shouted. "The legs!"

Acting fast, Ehrye complied and shot his disk at the leg the robot was putting all its weight on. The weakening power made the limb crumple, and the Skrall used this to his advantage: with his chain securely wrapped around the monster, he pulled it up over his head and slammed it into the ground, and then used all his strength in an attempt to keep it pinned.

"What are you doing?!" Ehrye shouted.

A blast from the robot's weapon struck the Skrall in the arm, making it go limp. His hold weakened, he was soon thrown off, and the robot rolled back onto its two good legs—

SHINK!

—only for Vhisola to drive the Skrall's spear straight through the machine's glowing orange core.

"POWER CORE…DAMAGED…SYSTEMS CRITICAL…SHUT DOWN…SHUT DOwn…"

The machine seemed almost to melt as it slowly collapsed into a heap. Withdrawing the spear, Vhisola walked over to the Skrall and helped him to his feet, asking, "How is it?"

Rubbing his injured arm, the Skrall said, "I don't feel anything, actually. I think all it did was stun me."

Ehrye sighed with relief. "That's all? Yikes, I thought it was going to do much worse…"

Vhisola smiled up at the Skrall for a moment, and then turned to the fallen machine. "Indeed. If its goal was to stun us, then there's no way it killed six Agori—I could believe overdoing it with one or two, but that many…"

The Skrall shrugged with one shoulder and took his spear back. "Maybe its programming changes depending on…something."

"And why is it a robot anyway? The Great Beings could have created a living being if they wanted to, and probably one a lot more powerful than this."

Ehrye blinked. "Are you complaining?"

"No, I just…" She trailed off, and shook her head. "…Maybe you're right. I should just accept our luck and not go asking for more trouble."

As one, they all faced the door at the end of the hall. Behind that door, they knew, must be what they had come here seeking, and they let that thought sink in for a moment. Vhisola approached it first, and examined the frame and hinges carefully.

"Like the Skrall said earlier, we shouldn't risk trying to crack the password," she said. "This is sealed pretty tightly, but…Ehrye, gather up those Kanoka and bring them here. Skrall, are your legs still good?"

It took a few repeated uses of the Kanoka and much kicking, but eventually the door fell inward with a loud crash and access was granted to the room beyond. The first thing that was apparent was how large it was: the chamber looked nearly a thousand times larger than the cramped hall they had come from, and not because it was empty. On the contrary, numerous metal stands and glass cases dotted the floor, but all in neat and orderly rows, like it was some kind of museum. Another door could be seen on the far wall, but that wasn't of particular interest to them right now.

"It's got to be one of these," Vhisola said. "Everyone start looking, and yell if you find it."

Ehrye and the Skrall nodded, and they all fanned out to examine the displays. Since there were so many to inspect, Vhisola was looking over each rather quickly—the notes had described a harness, and she figured that would be easy to identify at a glance. Even at a glance, however, she couldn't help but be interested in what she saw. There were many different kinds of inventions in the lab, from deadly weaponry to extravagant machines to simple tools. Simple, very mundane tools, in fact. Simple, mundane tools that would be extremely useful for Matoran and Agori in their daily lives, which she wouldn't expect the Great Beings to care quite so much about. Just as her mind started to drift back into speculation, she stopped where she stood, her eyes fixed on one pedestal encased in glass.

Inside the case sat a piece of headgear with several dials down either side.

"I've found it!"

She rushed over to the case, hastily opening the lid. More carefully, she removed the device and held it up to the light, grinning as she slowly rotated it.

Finally…now Turaga Nokama can use any mask she needs! She won't have to feel like she's failed ever again!

As she turned to face her approaching companions, her eyes caught on another display: a suit of armor that was a bit larger than her but much too small for a Toa, with a familiar design that included an arm-mounted rocket launcher. Her grin faded as she looked at the plaque.

EXO-MATORAN MK V

"The Exo-Matoran? But that was designed by Nu…"

And suddenly it all made sense. The modern Matoran script, the familiar access panels, non-lethal security systems, a robot with an insectoid head and a stun weapon, inventions designed to help Matoran, a harness that could break the rigid restrictions of the Great Beings' design. Her eyes shot wide as it finally dawned on her.

"This lab didn't belong to the Great Beings," she whispered as Ehrye and the Skrall reached her. "It belonged to Nuparu."

Ehrye caught sight of the Exo-Matoran. Slowly, he pieced it together as well, and he stumbled back a few steps. "N…no way…"

The Skrall looked from one to the other. "…Who's Nuparu? What difference does it make?"

"Nuparu was a Toa," Ehrye said. "I mean, he was a hero even before he became a Toa. He was probably the most skilled engineer in our entire universe, always coming up with new ideas to help Matoran work and defend themselves."

"Now that I think about it, he did mention he wanted to improve the Exo-Matoran," Vhisola said. "That, and he said he had a few other things that could be really useful if he got them working. That's what he said right before Velika's War started."

Ehrye looked around the room again, his gaze far different from what it had been earlier. "So after the Reformation, he built this lab all the way out here? And then a century later, he sealed it up to fight in the war, and then…"

The Matoran both fell silent. The Skrall waited a little longer, and then asked, "Okay, but again: what difference does this make?"

Vhisola shook her head. "Don't you get it? We thought we were just taking scrap projects the Great Beings left behind. But really…"

She looked at the harness. It was a marvelous machine that would make Nokama's life so much easier—that was why she had come all this way. But if Nokama knew the truth about who had made it, that he wasn't receiving credit for his work, what would she think? Could she really lie to Nokama's face about this? Nokama needed this technology…but now that Vhisola knew she'd be cheating another Matoran by saying it was Nuhrii's invention, she felt shame wash over her.

"We're taking work that a decent person was never able to finish because he died fighting to keep everyone safe." She turned to Ehrye and added, "We're talking about taking all the credit for it."

Ehrye covered his mouth and looked at the floor. A long moment passed, and ultimately, he croaked, "I…I can't do that…I want renown, but I can't…steal ideas from Nuparu, not after all he did. That's not…that's not right…"

The Skrall closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "Then what do you propose we do?"

Vhisola looked at the thing she held. "…We'll still take it back to New Atero. This technology is definitely worthwhile. But we're not going to let Nuhrii take credit for it—we're going to tell the leaders about this place, so that we can get someone out here to sort through it all, maybe finish Nuparu's work in a way that he deserves. I'm sure Nuhrii will understand once we explain."

Ehrye nodded, and he went to help Vhisola secure the device. They heard movement behind them, but when they turned to look, everything suddenly went dark.

Notes:

While I was writing this story I stumbled upon the idea of inserting a flashback showing why Vhisola actually fell in love with Nokama, and doing it in a dream seemed the easiest way to make it fit. When you have zero self-esteem and someone who you think is utterly incredible actually takes time to help you, it leaves a strong impression.

But getting past that: did you figure it out? I wanted to make sure everyone was doubting how involved the Great Beings were, and this is the real reason why Nuparu was mentioned back in the first part—to make sure you were thinking about him in at least some capacity. Great Beings may be the easiest source of ancient tech, but Nuparu's no slouch, dang it! And it makes for an interesting twist…I hope.

By the way: the Zamor make the target turn around and walk back out of the lab. I couldn't show that since Thornax don't have legs.

The design of the guard robot is actually recycled from my story Second Star, where it was used as a G2 Vahki concept. I didn't want to design an entirely new robot for such a small role, and I figured that if anyone had read Second Star they might take it as an extra hint towards the lab's owner. Plus it lets me plug Second Star.

Suspenseful cliffhanger, then. Next up is the final part, where all your remaining questions will be answered!