Chapter 10: Gone Stalking

The sky to the east darkened slowly as the evening wore into the night. Ratchet, Clank, Nichole and Rich continued to talk; sometimes about serious topics, other times about more mundane things. While the Helix Arc was not mentioned again, the general concept of extinction weighed on Ratchet's mind. And while there was no hard evidence that the Galactic Rangers were involved in the attempts on his life, the fact that J19 was missing, and that Sasha had lied about it, was enough to make the lombax's ears bristle.

After about an hour, Nichole stood from the couch, beckoning Ratchet and Clank to follow her.

"It's been a long day," she said. "If I'm exhausted, I can't even imagine how you feel."

"I'm fine," Ratchet replied, although the droop in his ears and the fact that his tail was dragging slightly probably made that lie unconvincing.

"I'm sure," Nichole agreed politely. She touched the wall of the lift with her gloved hand. It began to glow more intensely green. "I'm going to program a suite for you. Feel free to use it whenever you want."

The wall dissipated and the energy lift and post had returned. She led Ratchet and Clank onto the platform. Moving to the controls, Nichole pushed and held down the 'LS2' button.

"Ratchet," she instructed. "Push and hold the 'five'. Even though the levels are soundproofed, I want to leave at least one empty floor between you and Zeke. I'd swear I can still hear him sometimes..."

Ratchet did as he was told, pushing the sub-level five button and holding it. In a clear voice, Nichole said, "Ratchet Neutrino." The label next to the 'SL5' button flickered, and then displayed 'Ratchet N'. Nichole released her button and Ratchet did the same.

"You're all set," she said. "Just leave any wet or muddy stuff up in the changing room. Nick's got a bad habit of tracking stuff in, and it messes with the lift. And whatever you do, don't push 'zero' and 'thirteen' at the same time!"

"Why not?" Ratchet looked at her curiously. He hadn't even wanted to do that until she said not to.

"It's an emergency reset. It shuts down the field projectors."

Ratchet looked down at the energy field that they were standing on. The central post and plate was only attached to the shaft by a very narrow support beam, less than a centicubit across. A sixteen floor drop down the shaft did not really appeal to him. "Oh," he said weakly.

"It's actually a great defensive design," Rich said from the open chiller in the kitchen area. "Not something you'd ever want to use, but..."

"Just in case," Ratchet said, nodding.

"Yeah."

"We will take that into consideration," Clank replied.

Nichole hugged both Ratchet and Clank in turn. "Get something to eat, then go to sleep," she ordered. "This is your doctor talking."

"Yes, ma'am," Ratchet replied, grinning.

"Make sure Jacek gets your apartment number right," Rich called out. "He's used to delivering to us."

"And make an appointment before I make one for you." She had apparently not forgotten that Ratchet had been avoiding his checkups again. "It's more important now."

"I know," he said as she stepped off the lift platform. Glancing at Clank standing next to him, he pushed the 'SL5' button. "I promise."

The walls became opaque once again, and there was a slight sensation of downward motion. More chimes, counting the different levels as they passed.

Clank noticed a small glowing crystal on Ratchet's glove. "Ratchet," he began, "it appears as though you have received a message."

"Yeah," Ratchet said, twisting his arm to look at the control panel. "I saw it light up, but I didn't wanna say anything."

"Do you believe that it is from Perigee?" Clank asked.

"Yeah," Ratchet answered. "Who else would send a file without linking first?"

The lift came to a stop and the lombax and robot looked out into another open air suite. While the physical layout was similar to Rich and Nichole's apartment, it was quite clear that this level had not been used in a while. There were no office pods as there had been above; instead there was an extra overstuffed chair with a display tablet resting on edge next to it and a few net and charging stations. The dining room table was much smaller and it was bare except for a small globe of preserved blooms in the center. There was a large, corner post canopy bed, and this is where the lombax's eyes went first. It was not nearly as ornate as the carved bed above them, but it looked very sturdy with its simple post construction, and it was freshly made with crisp, clean linens. While the apartment looked empty, without any real personal touches, it was easy to see that someone (Nichole?) had prepared it for their arrival.

"I'll be right back," Ratchet said, and began to explore the semi-hidden rooms to his far left and right. As he expected, both were bathrooms, and even though they were small, they both sported full hydroshower alcoves. He used the sanitation unit, then placed his hand on the electrostatic cleaning sphere. "How's the view?" he called out to Clank through the thin partition that separated this room from the main apartment.

"It is remarkable," Clank replied, staring out through the permasealed glass. Ratchet walked up behind him, placed his hand on Clank's shoulder. The sun had gone down, and the stars were just becoming visible against the rapidly darkening sky. They looked incredibly clear and bright over the water.

After a few moments, Ratchet sat down in one of the couches by the fire pit. Examining the pit closely, he could see an activation switch, various intensity and configuration controls, along with a downdraft exhaust system. No wonder there was no chimney or flue! "Wanna fire, Clank?" Ratchet asked, a grin on his face. He knew how much Clank loved watching the flames, even from controlled burn systems.

"Not at this time, Ratchet," Clank replied. The lombax's ears drooped slightly. "You need to get some rest, and I also require a recharge."

"Okay," Ratchet said. He didn't really want a fire himself, but had offered for Clank's sake. He sighed deeply. "Before that, lemme check out that file."

Ratchet touched a few controls on his glove's control panel. "Clank," he said, "what was that password again?"

"One moment," Clank said, and his antenna pulsed. "I have transmitted it for you."

"Thanks," Ratchet said with a slight chuckle. "I'd never remember that. As it is, I jus' got used t' the apartment combo..."

The lombax fell silent. His ears visibly drooped even further, and his tail hit the floor.

"What is it, Ratchet?" Clank asked, concern in his voice.

Ratchet shook his head and copied the decrypted image to Clank's manifestor and to his own. Clank examined it and his eyes dimmed significantly.

"Now we've got proof," Ratchet said sadly.

The enhanced image that Perigee had sent was of a small disk like device that had been planted behind the rock formation on the plain in Region 7. Both of them recognized it immediately.

It was a warp pad, a specialized teleportation device used exclusively by the Galactic Rangers.

Ratchet tossed fitfully in the large comfortable bed, his mind filled with speculation about the Galactic Rangers, Solana, and war. Image after image came to him as he tried to sleep: thoughts of Captain Waterman bombarding Metropolis from space, Petrov leading a ground attack on Veldin, Sasha and Talwyn trying to kill each other at the Apogee Station. The lombax flipped over, punched his innocent pillow as hard as he could, and tried to drift off again. No luck. He just couldn't sleep, and lying in bed pretending wasn't getting him anywhere.

For a while, Ratchet stared out at Clank through the sheer curtains that provided some level of privacy and shelter in the open space of the apartment. The little robot was near the chair in the office area, charging leads connected and the data conduit active. Clank's optics were inactive, but Ratchet knew that didn't really mean anything. The very tip of Clank's antenna was glowing slightly, and that more than anything else let Ratchet know that Clank was faking sleep, just as he was.

An hour slowly passed. Ratchet tried to get comfortable, but could not. Changing his tactics, he tried remaining as still as possible; maybe he could wait until Clank gave up his vigil and went to sleep himself. Then, remembering Nichole's words while he was hiding under Talwyn's bed, the lombax began to focus on his breathing. Despite being extremely tense (what he wouldn't give for a hard workout in the Doom Dome right now!), the lombax deliberately tried to slow and deepen his breathing. In... Out... In... Out...

After about a minute of this, Ratchet noticed that the glow in the tip of Clank's antenna was fading! In... Out... In... Out... The glow extinguished, and the lombax noticed that the data rate on the feed cable decreased significantly. In... Out... In... Out...

Very quietly, the lombax pulled back the blankets and climbed out of the bed. Grabbing his boots (with his neural matrix and gloves stuffed inside the right boot), Ratchet moved as silently as he could towards the lift. He was careful to maintain his deep breathing, but Clank did not stir, and the glow did not return to his antenna.

Not wanting to awaken Clank, Ratchet put his bare hand against the energy field. The lombax had a moment of panic as the brightness of the opaque energy walls increased enough to cast subtle green shadows in the room, but Clank did not appear to notice. Moving slowly and deliberately, Ratchet moved to the post and pressed 'zero'. The walls formed, and he felt a slight lurch as he began to ascend to ground level.

Each chime as they passed a floor caused Ratchet' heart to skip, and the lombax was trying desperately to remember if the soundproofing with each floor included the lift shaft. It felt like forever, but finally he was on the surface. The walls melted away and the familiar hooks, benches and chests greeted him in the near total darkness. Ratchet moved towards the door, where the light from the illuminated flag, combined with a rather significant amount of starlight, gave him enough illumination to dress. Very quietly, the lombax began to make his way along the circle of houses, back the way he came.

Dark thoughts echoed in his mind, mostly related to a war that the lombaxes could not afford. It still didn't make sense, though. Why? Why would anyone from Solana want him dead? Well, that was self-defeating; Ratchet knew a lot of people in Solana that would want him dead. But none of them would have been able to get the Rangers on their side.

The lombax did not get far when he heard muffled cries of terror and pain ahead of him. The lombax hurried forward, off the roadway once more, and came to the open window of the Alanovan's cabin. As he got closer, he saw the very faint shadow of the hammock hanging from the doorway swinging violently as its occupant fought his way through a loud and inescapable nightmare. Ratchet remembered Talwyn's comments about Rue keeping her up all night with horrible dreams. The lombax could relate to that; especially tonight! He thought about waking up the sleeping creature, but decided against it. At least the Alanovan was asleep; maybe not the most restful of sleep, but it was better than nothing.

As Ratchet passed by the house, a blue flash flared from inside the cabin and winked out again just as quickly. Ratchet heard, or thought he heard, a gentle male voice, soothing the Alanovan. "Ssshhhhh... Don't worry - it can't hurt you," it said. "G'night, Rue." Ratchet turned back to the house. The voice had been faint, but unmistakable. And it sounded kinda familiar... In a way, it reminded the lombax of how Petrov would lull Crystal to sleep. He thought about it for a moment, but could not place where he might have heard the voice before, nor the name of the speaker. Hearing no other sounds come from the house, Ratchet eventually turned back to the road, and to Sasha and the remaining Ranger.

He wasn't sure if it was because of the night air, or just being able to do something about the situation, but the lombax began to feel a little bit better as he passed the empty house and strode up to the closed door of Sasha's cabin. There was no movement from inside, but there was a faint illumination from an artificial yellow source. Ratchet took a deep breath and knocked quietly on the wooden door. At first he did not think anyone had heard him, so he was about to knock again when he heard the heavy tread of steel boots approaching. The door opened a small crack, and H22's yellow optics peeked through the opening. There was a flicker of recognition.

"Minister," H22 said, and there was certainly a large amount of disdain and annoyance in his tone. "It is late, and the Mayor is asleep. Can I take a message?"

Ratchet nodded. It was really H22 that he wanted to talk to, but this seemed as good of a way to start the difficult conversation as he could get. "Yeah. Could ya tell her that J19 never went back t' Solana?"

H22's optics narrowed. "One moment," the ranger muttered. The door closed momentarily, and there was the sound of a security restraint being disengaged. The door opened wide and H22 stepped out. The lombax had to take a step backward to make room on the threshold for the large robot. H22 swung the door loosely closed behind him, but did not pull it completely shut.

"Why do you think that J19 did not return to Solana?" H22 asked.

"There's no logs that he left," Ratchet replied warily. H22's reaction seemed completely alien. The lombax knew H22, fought with him; pushing a confrontation was certainly not H22's style. (Or that of any Galactic Ranger, for that matter.)

"Ah," H22 said quietly, nodding. "And as minister, you would know that..."

"What's wrong, H22?" Ratchet asked, trying to get whatever was wrong out into the open. "Don'tcha remember me? We fought together in the Biobliterator War? You used t' call me Sarge?"

H22's reaction was not what Ratchet had hoped for. Instead of any warmth or recognition, there was a flare in H22's optics and his voice grew extremely cold. "I used to know you, minister," he said. "And I thought I knew that killer too."

Huh?

"J19?" Ratchet asked tentatively. Could it be that the Ranger really had gone rogue, and this was all just a one time thing? Maybe H22 knew what happened with J19, and was trying to cover it up to protect Sasha and Solana.

"He was my friend," H22 said loudly, with another burst of anger. Looking back to the door behind him, H22 took another step forward. Ratchet had to back away again to match. There was something the lombax didn't like with H22's proximity - it made the fur on the back of his neck bristle. "He was a hero."

Ratchet's mind spun very quickly. While H22 didn't say who he was talking about, it could only be J19. If they were working together, or if H22 was sympathetic to J19's attack...

Ratchet took a cautious step backwards, but H22 stepped forward to keep the distance between them uniform, and suddenly uncomfortably close for the lombax's liking. H22's optics glared at him, unblinking as all robotic life tends to be. But it never made the lombax nervous before.

"And he was murdered," H22 said in a quiet and somehow dangerous voice.

Murdered? Now Ratchet was really puzzled. 'Terminated' is usually the term that robotic life forms used for death. Murder is more of an organic reference.

"And you usurped his place..."

What?

"And here you are, part of the lombax government, with that murderer by your side."

Oh no... "What do you mean, H?" Ratchet asked, trying to force his voice to be slow, calm, and reasonable. This didn't make any sense...

"What are you anyway, minister?" H22 accused. "A clone? Maybe a replicant? Are you even organic?"

...frack...

"I'm Ratchet," the lombax explained cautiously. "We fought together. I don't know where you got the idea..."

"Don't lie to me!" H22 lashed out loudly. "I watched Sergeant Ratchet die!"

"That's impossible!" Ratchet argued, glancing around at the quiet circle of cabins, taking another step back. This time, H22 did not follow or close the distance. "I'm right here!"

"Liar!"

Even with his conditioning and physical abilities, Ratchet was still too close, and his reaction time too slow, to outmaneuver the robot. H22's right arm shot out, grabbing Ratchet's throat in his right hand and holding him tight. The lombax moved reflexively to pry the hand away, but the hydraulic grip was too strong. Lifting the lombax lightly in the air as though he were a rag doll and shaking him on occasion, H22 continued to rant.

"That security drone reject murdered the real Ratchet!" H22 shouted, his voice growing louder, wilder. "And he will finally be brought to justice." There was a pause as H22 regained control of himself, but the softly dangerous tone in his voice brought little comfort. "I am just glad that I can deal with you as I see fit."

"H22!"

The Galactic Ranger turned to his right. Ratchet could not move his neck to see, but he recognized Clank's voice instantly. He tried to shout a warning, but the grip was tight enough that he could not speak.

"You are making a mistake," Clank said. "You information is inaccurate."

H22 glared at the significantly smaller robot. "At last," he said quietly.

"Release Ratchet, and I will accompany you wherever you wish," Clank offered.

Ratchet's hands continued to struggle with H22's steel grip. The 'no' he tried to shout never made it out of his throat.

"Oh, you will come with me, Clank," H22 promised. "But as for the imposter..."

H22's hand began to squeeze. Ratchet could not breathe, but that would not matter if his neck was broken. The lombax struggled to break the grip, or to push himself away. But suspended in midair, he could not get any leverage. The grip grew tighter, and Ratchet began to see bright flares at the edges of his darkening vision.

The flares suddenly turned into sparks; jagged bright blue-white bolts of electricity. H22's hand unclenched and Ratchet dropped unceremoniously to the ground. Crouching to both break his fall and get into a ready position, omniwrench in hand, Ratchet looked up to see H22 convulsing in electrical current. The robot continued to shudder violently for more than a few very fast heartbeats, and then began to topple to his left. Dodging out of the way, Ratchet watched H22 hit the ground, his yellow optics dark. The lombax rubbed his neck, looked up, and met the eyes of Sasha Phyronix. She was standing in the now open doorway dressed only in a nightgown and some kind of fuzzy slippers on her feet. The cazar's fur was sticking up in places on one side of her head, and she was holding a discharged tesla block in her hand.

"Would someone mind telling me what the hell is going on?"