Having been shown a way out of this cavern, I exited. To my surprise, it was already dark. I daren't call it night, because nighttime in this world was... weird. The sky was a dark blue, there were few clouds and yet no stars could be seen, the moon had no craters, and shone so brightly it looked more like a mini-sun. So distracted by the darkness was I, I didn't notice there was anything in front of me. I felt hitting something, but when I looked, there was nothing to see.
"Sorry, I should have warned you before I landed." Murphy spoke to me, which indicated to me that I hit our invisible ship. I pressed my hands against it, feeling for an entrance. When I finally found it, I stepped inside, relieved to see Murphy again. The door shut behind me after I entered.
"I apologize for not talking to you before." he apologized, "I was chasing Kyrano to his lair. Good job on finding out Diego's secret."
Through the wind-shield I could see us taking off, and chasing after Diego. Although, if I was right, calling him Zorro would be more accurate. In any case, I ran to the wind-shield, where I could have a better view of what Zorro was doing.
Riding through the desert, under the cover of the kind-of dark sky, Zorro arrived at that building, which must be some kind of army headquarters. I wondered how he was going to get past those two guards, but then I saw he didn't need to get past them, so much as around them. He climbed over a wall, ended up on some kind of straw roof, from which he ran over to what looked like the living quarters. From that roof, he climbed onto a balcony, where he walked past a few doors, until he reached one specific door. He entered the room behind that door. Knowing that I couldn't see anything from where I stood, I used my goggles' heat-vision. This way, I saw how Zorro pestered what looked like a cold spot. I wondered why he would do that, until the cold spot started moving, and seemed to be human-shaped to me. I couldn't hear what was being said, but the fact that Zorro cocked his head a number of times told me that he too was confused about what was going on. Zorro didn't move an inch, but the human-shaped cold spot walked into his sword, which caused Zorro to stop moving, until the cold spot stepped away. As soon as that happened, I heard several more doors opening. I immediately switched to night-vision, and saw several of these soldiers leaving their rooms. Zorro did too, shifting his head, looking for a way out.
"No choice." Murphy said, "We have to let him in."
Judging from Zorro's look on his face, I could only assume Murphy uncloaked the ship. As Murphy turned it around, the door got opened. Immediately, I ran to the door, motioning to Zorro to hop aboard. He still looked puzzled, but he jumped on board anyway, so he knew he didn't have much of a choice.
"Good evening, Don Diego de la Vega." Murphy said as he closed the door and flew up into the sky.
"Who are you people?" Zorro asked, "What is this? And why did you call me de la Vega?"
"Don't worry." Murphy assured him, "We're on your side."
I switched off the night-vision, just as I saw the ship flying up.
"What are you, exactly?" Zorro asked, "How can this machine fly? Are you responsible for what's happening to the soldiers?"
"No." Murphy replied, "But I know who is."
"Diego is with you?" Merlin asked.
"Yes, he is." Murphy replied.
"Who is?" Zorro asked.
I placed my hand to my ear, and my other hand on Zorro's shoulder. He looked at me, wondering what it was that I was doing exactly.
"What is he doing there?" Saya asked.
"I'll explain later." Murphy replied, "Where are you two?"
"Who are you talking to?" Zorro asked.
"We're still at the hotel." Merlin replied, "Sorry we didn't tell you anything. We had to keep quiet, until everyone left the room."
"Next time, a closet would be a better place to hide." Saya spoke.
"Where were you two this whole time?" Murphy questioned.
"We found a secret place, where Kyrano hid his radio." Saya answered.
"So he was the one sending or receiving the signal I picked up." Murphy replied.
"Signal? What signal?" Zorro got more confused by the second.
"Question is, who was he sending it to?" Merlin asked.
"I can answer that." Murphy replied, "But I think Diego... sorry, Zorro has a few more questions of his own."
"Diego is this Zorro?" there's no way to describe just how excited Merlin sounded.
"M, you better lend him your ear-piece." Murphy told him.
I nodded, then took my ear-piece out of my ear and gave it to Zorro. He looked at it, not knowing what to do with it. I stuck my thumb and index finger in my ear, telling him where he was supposed to put that. He brought the ear-piece closer to his ear, shocked to hear a voice.
"What... what kind of sorcery is this?" Zorro asked, "Is it yours, Merlin?"
A lot of back and forth went on between Zorro, Saya and Merlin, but since I could only hear Zorro's side, I had no real idea of what was being said. I could only guess that they were trying to explain to him how this ear-piece worked, where we are from, and what we were doing in his world. Something they were still busy doing, even when Murphy had flown by the hotel, flew close to their window, letting them get inside, and then fly off again.
Once Zorro knew all he needed to know, he had, as he put it: "Just one more question: can you finally explain to me what is wrong with the soldiers?"
"I'm guessing they're already brainwashed by Smith's Army." Merlin replied.
"Does this brainwashing also make them impervious to pain?" Zorro asked.
Saya and Merlin looked at each other. Clearly, this was new to them.
"I saw Corporal Reyes walk into my blade, and just walk out of it, like nothing happened." Zorro further explained.
"That's because it wasn't Corporal Reyes." Murphy explained, "It was an Auton copy."
"A what?" Merlin and Zorro asked in unison.
"An Auton is a remote-controlled heap of plastic." Murphy explained, "Usually, you'll find a Nestene consciousness controlling them telepathically, but I don't think that is the case here."
"Then what is controlling them?" Merlin asked.
"That over there." Murphy pointed at something beyond the wind-shield.
All four of us looked outside. What we saw was incredible. It looked like one half of a football, with strange spires sticking out, and all sorts of lights, making me wonder how come no one had ever seen this place before. Also, as I looked more carefully, there were these ridges, and odd-looking holes, all in such a way, it looked like I was looking at a bee-hive.
"What is that?" Merlin asked.
"It's a Wraith-ship." Murphy replied.
Wraith? Didn't Tanith mention those before?
"What's a Wraith?" Zorro asked.
"The Wraith are a race of people, who feed themselves on people's life-expectancy." Murphy explained, "They live by draining people's lives."
"And they are the ones controlling these Autons?" Merlin asked.
"It makes sense why they would." Murphy answered, "They have hive-minds, so together they have enough telepathic powers to control these Autons."
"But why would they replace people with copies?" Zorro asked.
"This way nobody notices it when people are disappearing." Merlin explained.
"That must be the case." Murphy agreed, "Whether they are recruiting people, or feeding on them, disappearing people draw too much attention, and they don't want to be exposed too soon."
"How does Kyrano fit into all this?" Saya wondered.
"That, I haven't figured out yet." Murphy admitted.
"So what are we waiting for?" Merlin asked, "Destroy that ship!"
"I can't." Murphy said, "This ship's lasers are built to shoot our way through an asteroid field, they're not made to destroy anything of this calibur."
"What's all this mean?" Zorro asked.
"It means we have to destroy it from the inside out." Saya opened her tube up and drew her sword.
"A woman who knows how to handle a sword?" Zorro smiled, "I can learn to respect you."
Saya merely sneered.
