"This way," said Lhikan as he hauled himself, not without difficulty, up a ventilation shaft. "We're almost there."
"My apologies, 'wise' Turaga, but you've been saying we're close for over a half hour now. Are we close or aren't we?" Pohatu was getting frustrated, and rightfully so.
Mavrah's temper finally loosed itself. "You should just be grateful that we have someone like Turaga Lhikan to guide us through these ducts. I've been in here a few times myself, on my own; I got lost easily and only got out through sheer luck. So, if I were you, I would just shut up and follow him."
There came a sigh from behind the two of them. "Please, this arguing is getting us nowhere. If the both of you really want to reach the top as fast as possible, then please be so kind as to shut up, both of you." He pushed past them and kept moving.
Mavrah looked a bit hurt. "Is he always like that?"
"Don't worry about it. Kopaka's always been the fun-hating member of the group. Just keep climbing and avoid direct eye contact with him and you should be fine."
The intrepid group continued climbing, while outside rang sounds of footsteps, ones only created by massive groups moving together. The Kestora.
"They sure have pulled out all the stops."
"Thank you, Pohatu. I think we all understand perfectly well that the Kestora are doing everything in their power to find us. But still, thank you for reminding us." He was clearly restraining himself to prevent from erupting in anger.
The Kestora were the reason that it was taking the group so long to reach the top of the Red Star. After Kopaka had subdued the group of Kestora they had encountered earlier, someone had raised an alarm. The Kestora knew they were somewhere in the ventilation ducts, but luckily for the group, they did not know exactly where. Unfortunately, that meant that the Kestora were scouring every inch of the Red Star, searching frantically for them.
The sound of shearing metal could be faintly heard a few levels down. The Kestora were cutting their way into the ventilation ducts. Kopaka could faintly hear them clambering through the ducts, attempting to find them. Their situation was growing more perilous by the minute.
Suddenly, Lhikan stopped outside of a grate, through which light streamed into the duct. "In here, quickly. Get up against the nearby wall. Don't ask questions." The rest of the group did as instructed, quickly entering the room while Lhikan grabbed a nearby blanket of some sort, throwing it over them. "Don't take that off, whatever you do." He turned off the lights and hurried to get under the blanket as well.
He did so just in the nick of time.
"They have to be somewhere around here," came a voice from the ventilation duct they had just exited.
"Obviously, they have to be. But if we don't find exactly where soon, we're all going to be in big trouble. Now, open that grate and make sure they aren't hiding in there. The rest of the squad will be here in a minute, and I don't want them yelling at us for 'not properly investigating the area'."
The metal-on-metal sound of the grate being slid out from the wall seemed to echo endlessly and permeate the very air of the room. They could all picture in their mind the Kestora looking in, its eyes scanning the darkness for any sign of them. If that Kestora managed to see even a speck of light from their eyes or heartlights, they'd be dead. The Kestora were working their way upwards. Kopaka could use his mask to see exactly how many Kestora there were and where, the quiet whizzing of his eyepiece would undoubtedly alert the Kestora to their presence.
"I can't see them."
"You can barely see anything in there. Why don't you turn the light on?" They all froze.
"Nah. If they were in here we'd be able to see the light from their eyes and heartlights. Trust me, they're not in here." The grate could be heard sliding back into place, and the noises of the two Kestora faded away. Pohatu was about to take off the blanket when Lhikan grabbed his arm.
"Not yet."
Lhikan's caution was rewarded when a large group of Kestora, about fifty or so judging by the loudness and quantity of noise, traipsed by the room.
As soon as they had passed, Lhikan ripped off the blanket, bathing the room in a low light. "They've cut us off. We need to find another way up."
"Is there another way, Turaga?"
"Mavrah, there are always possibilities." He opened the door slightly, just enough to see. "Come, follow me." He led them down the hallway into a nearby room. "If my memory serves me properly, there should be a fairly isolated duct in the ceiling here. It's mostly unused, and it will take us straight to the top.
Kopaka and Pohatu entered the room. "Mata Nui," they gasped.
Before them lay a scene of utterly gruesome carnage. Body parts were strewn all over the room. There were arms hanging from the ceiling, suspended by their strung-out, exposed muscles. Heads of Matoran and Toa were mounted along the walls, and various body parts, most still leaking protodermis, were scattered around the room. The walls, which it appeared had originally been bright white, had silvery, metallic stains all across them. Tiny metal bits and chips were ground into the floor, having been carelessly stepped on by hundreds of Kestora. It was quite clear what had happened here; this was where the Kestora brought Toa and Matoran to die.
Pohatu's fists clenched. "I… I never imagined. I went through these labs when we first got here, and I saw horrific things, but none like this. I saw bodies mangled. I saw Matoran, Toa, Vortixx, and more cut open and still alive, pleading with the Kestora with what little energy they had left. But this… this is worse. They just ripped them apart! They didn't care a whit what they felt; they ripped them apart with no regard whatsoever! The rooms I saw at least looked slightly scientific, as if they had some method to their madness. But this… This carnage… I… I…" He broke down, falling to his hands and knees. "I didn't know! How can they do this? How can they commit such atrocities? Have they no conscience?" It was the most serious Kopaka had ever seen his brother.
Lhikan, his head hung, entered behind the both of them. "I do apologize. I had forgotten the state of this room. This room is the worst amongst the labs. This is where the vast majority of the Kestora's work has been carried out since the incident."
Kopaka turned to him. "By 'the incident', I'm assuming that you're referring to the incident with Gaardus that no one seems to know much about?"
"Precisely. Once the Kestora discovered that no one could be sent back, they began frantically searching for the reason. What you see here is the fruits of their labor; beings mercilessly slaughtered all to help the Kestora solve a problem that has gone unsolved for tens of thousands of years. It truly is a tragedy.
"But that is the past. No matter how hard we try, these murders cannot be undone. We must keep pressing forward. If we become obsessed with the past, we can never focus on the present or look to the future."
"How can you say that?" asked Kopaka, a light twinge of anger in his voice. While he normally showed no emotion, that didn't mean he was devoid of it. "How can you approve of these horrible murders?"
"I do not approve. I merely accept that they are dead, and that nothing I do can change that."
"You are a Turaga. You uphold the same duty as us. You are to defend those who cannot defend themselves. How can you let their deaths go unavenged?"
"They must not necessarily be avenged at present. You are allowing the horror of this scene to cloud your judgment, Kopaka. I am but a lone Turaga, surrounded by thousands of Kestora? What could I do against them? It would be far better to live and wait for the proper moment to avenge them, when the Kestora are at their weakest. Attempting to do otherwise would merely result in my death, and if I died, who would be left to avenge them? All of the beings capable of doing so are imprisoned by the Kestora under the most powerful security they can provide.
"I don't like it any more than you do, Kopaka. But we must survive to fight another day, so that we may someday avenge their deaths."
Silently, a mutual understanding was reached. Without a word, Kopaka got up on what was clearly the operating table, as the metal had copious amounts of hardened protodermis on top of it which the Kestora had neglected to clean. The grate in the ceiling was a short distance above him, and it was but the work of a minute to loosen it, and a few moments later the group was back in the ducts.
"I think I know how we can do our duty to all those Matoran, Toa, and countless others who have died at the hands of the Kestora." Pohatu had clearly been thinking about this ever since Kopaka and Lhikan's argument. "Gaardus clearly isn't going to explain what happened the last time he was here, and why no one who comes here can leave. So why don't we attempt to find the answer ourselves? We have access to the ducts; we could search the entire Red Star if we needed to."
"Pohatu, you forget our mission. We must find Gaardus. If we don't, we cannot return to Spherus Magna; if we can't return to the surface, we will be unable to find the killer of Karzahni and Tren Krom. If we did as you suggested, we would merely be more acutely aware of our situation; we would still be stuck here."
"Not necessarily," interjected Mavrah. "If we know what Gaardus did to trap everyone here, maybe we can fix it."
"And if we can fix it, we can save the lives of all the other beings here, who would instead be tortured and dissected. It's our duty as Toa to save them. Besides, we would also be able to use the method of transportation to the surface ourselves. We would end up saving more lives than if we simply find Gaardus and escape."
"Pohatu, there is no guarantee that your plan will work. We may not be able to find the source of the problem; even if we find it, we may not be able to fix it, and even if we did, there would be no guarantee that we would be able to use it ourselves. We would then be trapped up here, most likely without Gaardus. I'm sorry Pohatu, but there are risks there that we simply can't afford. Besides, we are here. We have Gaardus nearly in our grasp; it would be foolish to allow him to escape now, when we're so close."
As Kopaka finished, Lhikan silenced all of them. "We're here." He kicked open the grate, which led into a bright white room. The ceiling was sloped, which made sense, as they were at the edge of the Red Star. Dominating the one vertical wall was a massive door. The front of it was lined with horizontal bars, clearly locks. Each one had an individual tumbler. In the center of the door near the floor was a series of keypads. Electrical locks.
"So Gaardus is behind there?" Mavrah rubbed his hands together. "Let's get to work." He headed towards the door with the intent to pick every last one of the locks. However, a few feet from the door, he found himself shocked and pushed back by an unknown force. Hesitantly, he reached out with his hand again, only to find it met with resistance. Light blue energy sparkled around the edges of his hand. "A force field." A security system this advanced could have only been designed by a Great Being.
As they all realized that, the same question sprang to all their minds. What could be behind this door that the Great Beings found it necessary to guard it so strongly? The possibilities frightened even Kopaka and Pohatu.
Undaunted, Mavrah moved to the side, keeping his hands extended to follow the border of the force field. He reached the wall, which only had about three feet for him to work with. He set about quickly removing a wall panel, which, with the help of Kopaka's blade, was but the work of a moment. Mavrah slid his body into the opening, grinning in contentment as he looked around. "Bingo. There's a service console in here. I think I can use it to deactivate the force field." But at that moment, a loud arcing sound was heard, and Pohatu who was leaning against the force field, suddenly found himself on the floor.
"You could have warned me before deactivating the force field, Mavrah." Pohatu dusted himself off, angry but unharmed.
Mavrah pulled himself out, his face wearing an expression of horror. "But I didn't turn it off. I didn't touch anything." Just then, there were loud spinning sounds, as every tumbler on the door began to spin, and clangs followed as the locks opened themselves. The consoles beeped approvingly as they turned green; they too had been opened, apparently.
With loud grinding noises, the door slid downwards, leaving a large, black hole in the middle of the wall, a giant, gaping maw into the room ahead. Did they dare go through it? Kopaka activated his Akaku Nuva, and saw that there was a large being in there, big enough to only be Gaardus, although the shape was a little fuzzy.
"He's in there all right."
"Are you sure?"
"My mask doesn't lie. He's in there. I can see him."
"Then let's go in and get him."
"With pleasure."
The four cautiously advanced into the darkness. They had just crossed the threshold into the darkness, and Pohatu had just begun sharing his mask power with everyone, when the door suddenly slammed behind them, plunging them into total darkness. Kopaka frantically looked around, attempting to find Gaardus, but saw nothing. Where had he gone? Had he teleported away? Had their only chance for escape gone?
The lights flashed on, blinding the group. As their eyes were still adjusting, a loud voice boomed through the room. "You have done well to reach here." Definitely not Gaardus.
Kopaka's eyes finally adjusted, and he looked around for the source of the voice. "Where are you?" he yelled, "Show yourself!"
"Very well." The voice came from above.
All four looked up. Sprawled across the ceiling was a large, red gelatinous mass, with vast, innumerable tentacles, covered with row upon row of thorns. Sitting at the center of this large mass was what appeared to be the head of the being. It had two horns protruding from its forehead; its eyes were recessed, barely visible except for their bright, acid green color, which stood in stark contrast to its ruby-red body. Beneath those eyes was a gaping maw, the outer edge of which was lined with spikes as well, possibly teeth of some sort. Inside the mouth was row after row of razor-sharp teeth, all of which bristled and moved as if in anticipation.
The sight was so horrifying and disturbing that it quite literally was causing Kopaka to lose his sanity. He wanted to look away, yet his fear left him unable to move. Though he did not know it, the same was happening to Pohatu, Mavrah, and Lhikan as well.
But just as soon as it had come, the feeling of insanity began to disappear, as his mind was bathed with soothing calmness, like warm water being washed over him. He was finally able to look away and look at the others. They all appeared to have had the same thing happen to them.
"I do apologize for my appearance. It has been a long time since I have had contact with other beings; I forgot that my appearance caused insanity."
Hesitantly, Kopaka replied. "You caused that? Then what caused it to go away?"
"That was me as well. I have the ability to enter other beings' minds. While I normally refrain from doing so on moral grounds, I deemed it necessary to enter your minds and calm you to allow you to keep your sanity."
The fact that this being could reach into their minds at any moment had them all on edge.
"Do not worry. I can assure you that I use my powers sparingly, unlike my brother used to."
"Brother?" Kopaka inquired. "You have a brother?"
"Oh, I do apologize. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Torvus Krom. I am the master of this place; I control it in every possible way. Here, I am like a god."
Silence.
"Torvus Krom… By any chance, is Tren Krom your brother?"
"Oh, you know of him? Yes, he is."
Kopaka chose his next words carefully. "You may or may not know this, but your brother has committed atrocities against beings of our universe. Why should we believe that you are any different?"
Torvus Krom laughed, a chilling chortle that gave everyone chills. "If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so already. While your powers are impressive, you are like ants compared to me.
"I know you were brought here by a being named Gaardus. Unfortunately, he is no longer on the Red Star, and at present, I can do nothing concerning him. I merely planted an illusion of Gaardus for you, as I knew it would draw you here so that I could converse with all of you face to face. Now tell me, what was your reason for having Gaardus bring you to this place?"
"The death of your brother."
They could all feel a wave of sadness washing over them as Torvus Krom grieved for his brother. "I will not say he was perfect, or even good, but he lived the only way he knew how."
The room was filled with a stifling silence, as no one dared speak.
Eventually, Pohatu found the courage to speak up. "I don't mean to interrupt your grieving, but woulc you perhaps inform us as to why you went out of your way to bring us here?"
Torvus Krom snapped out of his reverie. "Ah, yes. Forgive me. As I said before, I am aware that Gaardus brought you here. It appears that he has caused trouble for you by leaving you here. He has caused me trouble as well. However, I believe I have a solution that can solve both of our problems."
Hissing sounded from behind the group, and they turned to see a section of wall slide down, revealing, recessed into the wall, a circular pad with six smaller pads displayed radially on it.
"You see," began Torvus Krom, calling their attention back to him "part of my duty as controller of the Red Star is to send those beings who have been fixed back to your universe. However, tens of thousands of years ago, Gaardus arrived here, and due to his genetic modifications, detected me. Most likely due to an unstable mental state, he decided to come and attack me. Despite my best efforts at stopping him using the security systems of the star, he managed to penetrate my defenses. While in here, he managed to destroy the piece of equipment I used to send beings back, as well as my security systems. Luckily, I was able to get him away from here before he could do any more damage.
"I was able to do so by using the device behind you. It's a transporter which works in much the same way as the equipment which Gaardus destroyed. However, I am unable to remotely use it on beings throughout the star. Beings can only use this transporter when they are standing directly on those pads. From there I can transport them thousands of miles, such as down to a planet that the star is orbiting.
"Unfortunately, the transporter will not work with those who have been brought here by me to be fixed. There is a lockout system which has genetic keys. Whenever a being is brought here, their genetic key is added to the system, and they are prevented from leaving.
"I would use beings with engineering skill amongst the population here or fix it myself, but I am permanently hardwired to the Red Star systems, and thus I'm incapable of moving. My prime directive, given to me by the Great Beings, is to do my duty while making my presence known to absolutely no one. I did not know that Lhikan and Mavrah were with you; otherwise I would have been unable to call you here; as it stands, Mavrah and Lhikan may not leave here, lest I run the risk of them exposing my existence.
"The materials required to fix the equipment aren't even on the star. The only way for the system to be repaired would be to find a Great Being and have them fix it. And fortunately, I know where one is."
"You do!" Pohatu and Kopaka exclaimed. "Who? Where?"
"He goes by the name of Angonce. While his brothers and sisters fled the planet, he remained behind in order to study the Agori and Glatorian. He currently resides in a hidden, remote laboratory, which he was kind enough to provide me with the coordinates for before the Red Star and Mata Nui were sent on their way.
Kopaka, Pohatu, as you were not brought here by me, you are not locked out of the transporter. My plan is to transport the two of you to the surface of Spherus Magna with communicators to contact me. I will transport you as close to Angonce's lab as I can; from there, you will have to convince Angonce to help; without him, everyone will remain trapped here, and the murders of the Kestora will continue."
With simple nods, Kopaka and Pohatu signaled their willingness to follow Torvus Krom's plan. "Take a communicator from the rack behind you, each of you." Kopaka and Pohatu turned to see palm sized devices, with a metal mesh covering the front. "You can flip the mesh up to engage in communication. It's attuned to my receiving frequency. It's fairly simple to use.
"Now, if you would kindly step onto two of the pads?" They did as they were told. "Energizing." Energy surrounded Kopaka and Pohatu as their minds began to slip in and out of focus. The scene around them became fuzzy, and began to oscillate with pure, inky blackness.
Then, just like that, it was all over. They were standing in a jungle, surrounded by large trees, with a mountain nearby.
Kopaka pulled out his communicator and flipped it open. "Torvus Krom? Are you there?"
His voice replied, "Yes I am. Good, you've arrived on the planet. Now, do you see a mountain nearby?"
"It's right in front of us."
"Search around the base. There should be a hidden door somewhere; you just have to find it. I'll leave you to your work. Contact me again if you run into trouble or if you find Angonce and wish to be transported back to the Red Star." The communicator went silent, and Kopaka flipped it closed.
He activated his Akaku, clearly seeing the laboratory inside the mountain. And there was a being in there. Fascinating. He'd expected the Great Beings to be... taller.
Kopaka located the door nearby almost instantly. It took only a few minutes for them to cut through the foliage and reach it. It was well disguised, but lacking in security. The door was sealed with a simple combination lock, and Kopaka could see the tumblers. Within a minute, Kopaka had clicked the tumblers into place and opened the door, the two of them stepping into the lab.
They were in a Great Being's lab; Kopaka couldn't shake the awe that filled him upon thinking that. They were in a Great Being's lab, about to meet one.
The being he had seen earlier was at the far end of the room, sitting in front of a large computer console, typing away at the keyboard. Strange; it looked almost like a Po-Matoran. But it wasn't… right?
"Hello and welcome! I've been expecting you!" The being spun around in the chair to reveal himself.
"Velika?" Kopaka and Pohatu yelled it at the same time. "What are you doing here?"
"Tut tut tut. Is that any way to treat a god? And here I thought I'd meet fans of my handiwork. It was what led you here after all."
God? Handiwork? What was he talking about?
"I should applaud you for finding me, but you and Pohatu know too much. And right now, you're interfering with my research." He pulled something out from behind him. "I'm sorry. Goodbye."
A blue burst of energy hit Pohatu and knocked him to the ground. Before Kopaka could react, another energy burst headed towards him. He felt a surge of pain run through his body, and he knew no more.
