Scene 10: Lolly's Dilemma

Lolly opened the airlock door and hopped on Sigma, closing its newly-upgraded protection lid that could produce oxygen. The scenery outside was one of millions of stars shooting by at a breakneck speed, almost blurring them into bright white lines, whilst outer space wasn't pitch-black at all, but a rainbow of colors. It was the wall of the wormhole of hyperspace.

As soon as she charged out, though, the scenery all disappeared. The stars became still again, and outer space returned to its normal pitch-black color. The Metamo Ark had already disappeared behind her in less than half a second.

But she didn't care where she was at the moment. She flew around aimlessly, trying to shake her feeling of disgust. All that mattered was that she was away from there, the place that was so inviting at first but whose coming destroyed everything she ever worked for. After all, Goddess Starrii had said that Lolly would betray her in the near future, and she was never wrong. Lolly gritted her teeth. Why didn't she recognize it when the Metamo Ark arrived? Because she was too distracted by Zach's awesome…how was he awesome again? Ridiculous. If she couldn't even recognize a simple sign like that, she was more unqualified than ever to be Goddess Starrii's new oracle.

Problem was, she desperately wanted to be. She had to be. All her life, she trained day in and day out whenever she got a chance. Everyone knew that real girls took up that job. It was the only honorable thing to do. Only the 1/3 least qualified were automatically excluded from the oracle training process, her mom being one of them. What was more troubling was that she just barely avoided this cut off line, that though she was in the top 2/3, she remembered being told that she was near the bottom, and it was that revelation that spurred her to train harder than ever, despite the difficulties. She was destined to be. How could she suddenly fail?

Then she remembered what Zach said. "Didn't you say all the girls wanted to be oracles? Why didn't you want to be yourself and get a goal of your own, like you said I should do?" A goal of her own? What could it be? She trained all her life to be an oracle. There couldn't possibly be any other option. This wasn't Planet Geolyte, where people had too many options on what to do with their future, or in Zach's case, where people could wander aimlessly. But then again…

This wasn't Planet Starrii anymore, either.

But what could she do? She just jumped off the Metamo Ark, and the oxygen would last for only a few weeks at most. She could try to find a planet of sorts, but would they even accept her? And without the hyperdrive, there was no way she could go anywhere else without a trip that would take too long.

Almost as if to prove her point, a planet loomed right up in front of her. It was an eyeball-shaped planet much like Planet Meteo, except that it was flattened, and looked to be made of metals instead of molten Meteos. She glanced at a nearby asteroid chunk, and gasped in surprise as it suddenly zoomed toward the planet and was flattened upon impact.

Planet Gravitas. She remembered from the mission briefings about the planets that were likely to come up next. Looks like this one wouldn't be under attack if the Metamo Ark flew past it…unless it would be attacked sometime much, much later, that is. A planet with super-intense gravity. There was no way she could be like the Gravitases who lived there; she would be crushed upon entering its gravitational field. She backed up reflexively, but then stopped.

"But what other choice do I have?" she whispered. "If I tried, maybe I could at least be like them…if I tried."

She moved Sigma forward…

STOP.

"Huh? Who said that?" She backed away in shock. "Where are you?"

No need to be frightened. I want to help you.

Lolly looked out the protective window all around her, but she couldn't find where the telepathic voice was coming from. Whoever it was, its telepathy was much stronger than Goddess Starrii's, and it frightened her to know that beings that powerful could actually exist. Then she looked at the planet below. "You? Planet Gravitas? Or someone down there?"

The voice snickered. No, no, no. My, Lolly, you come to the most unusual conclusions!

"How do you know my name?" she asked, even though she was vaguely aware of the answer from the pounding in her brain.

I can read your mind. Obviously. And no, I'm not down there. I'm somewhere else. Far away. Anyway, let's not worry about me, hm? Let's talk about you.

"Wh—what about me?" she stammered.

You're quite upset at a…certain someone…are you not? He was the one who made you fail on the day that was most important to you, correct? Well, here is my proposition. Instead of crushing yourself with Planet Gravitas' gravity and ridding the universe of such amazing potential as yourself, why don't you plot revenge against the miscreant?

"Revenge? I—I've never thought of that…I mean, they taught us that forgiveness is better—"

BLAST forgiveness! Of course I know that! That's why I suggested it in the first place! My point is, I can help you get your life back. I have enough power to convince Goddess Starrii to accept you as an oracle…

She didn't deny it. After all, the telepathic pressure was almost enough to crush her brain.

…if you allow me to assist you in your revenge against him. It'll be easy. Just follow everything I say, and it shall all work out in the end.

She thought hard. Whoever this voice was, it seemed to have something against Zach… "You mean you want me to kill Zach," she concluded.

That's exactly it. Zach Bandrews. That's the man.

"Did he do anything to you too?"

Oh, it doesn't even compare to what he did to you. He never had the decency to keep his nose out of other beings' business, after all. Such as yours.

Something came to Lolly's mind just then. Zach might have been there when she ran away from Goddess Starrii's wrath…but he never actually did anything. He was just there. Now that she thought about it, Goddess Starrii predicted Lolly's actions and not Zach's. So in actually, it was Lolly's fault that her whole life was ruined. Could she really face that truth?

But it became undeniable when she considered everything Zach did over the past three weeks. He never actually did anything bad. In fact, he was really nice to everyone, even her, and was an especially hard worker. Who was this voice, and why could it possibly have such a vendetta against Zach? This dreadful aura…she could almost sense it the first time the Metamo Ark's crew showed her a certain picture…

Finally, she figured it out. "You're…you're Planet Meteo, aren't you?"

She could feel it twitch.

Though the menacing aura suddenly multiplied in strength and scared her, she had to go on. "That's why you hate Zach so much. Because he's been saving planets that you're trying to destroy! You even tried to destroy MY home planet and kill Goddess Starrii! No way you're trying to help me at all! How could I trust someone like you who doesn't even care about any other planet in the galaxy, huh?"

I never said…you would have a choice.

From out of nowhere, a Meteo Stream appeared and clamped down on Sigma, almost as if the stream was a living thing. "WHAT? I didn't know you could do that! Let me out!" she shouted, banging on the glass.

There's much about me that neither you nor Zach knows. You forget, I am Planet Meteo. I control them all! And by the way, I hate you just as much as Zach, you little accomplice. This is what you get for being too smart.

She struggled as hard as she could to get the Wind Sailer to budge, but the Meteos' grip was too tight. They were starting to enter a wormhole…

You're coming…with ME!

To be continued…