Chapter 14! :) Constructive criticism appreciated! I hope this chapter is decent enough (after all, I was a bit late in updating) and I still think it's a little slow in places. Also, I think I've figured out what to do for the next chapter of The Expanse FINALLY! So stay tuned with that as well.

Now, onto the story!

. . .

"I agree with her on that. That elevator to your right should take you down to one of the facility's exits," Zephyr says. "Cronk was right. You five do make a good team."

"Heh, thanks, Zeph!" Ratchet says. He then says to me, frowning, "As for you… you should go back to Susie's village."

"What?!" I shout.

"Whatever connection you may have to Ephemeris can't be good," Ratchet tells me. "Spog said himself that your father is dangerous. If your father is involved with Ephemeris, then we can't take any chances."

"So," I snarl, "you think I'm going to turn evil just because there's a possibility that my father may be a bad guy and that I have some weird purpose in all this and blah, blah, blah?! I see how it is!" I turn my back towards them and start walking away in rage. "Fine! Go save Magnus without me! I'll just wander around, trying to make my way back to the village, through the Deadgrove! Let's see how you like it when I end up in a giant worm's digestive tract!"

I hear Clank say, "Adara, do not be silly. Ratchet, stop being so distrustful. I know that what happened is troubling, but I doubt that Adara will betray us. We cannot abandon her simply because Spog seems to know her father. For all we know, he could have been lying."

I halt and look back at them. Maybe I should just keep walking, find my own way back. But what if they get hurt or killed? They're my friends. I won't leave them.

I walk back up to them. "Let's get moving then."

We board the elevator and it moves down to a hall where I immediately spot something interesting. I walk up to a desk to inspect the object. "Hey, guys, check this out. It looks a lot like that holo-diary we found earlier, but this one looks older." I pick up the object and as I'm about to show it to them when it levitates out of my hand. A screen pops out.

"Holo-diary 0-0-1. Creatures! For years, they've been something of a rite of passage on Magnus. Their very presence seems to enrich, inspire, and motivate us all. It is a bond that no one has sought to understand… until now. Take my own companion, Mr. Dinkles. His mere presence seems to amplify my talents as a paradoxologist.

"But observe him through the lens of a vectomorphic tricilloscope! What strange manifestation is this? Have we discovered some new form of cosmic radiation? We must learn more about this energy. Nevo believes he can modify the protomorphic energy extractors in order to separate the energy from its host.

"Tomorrow will be a great day for science!"

The holo-diary ended there with static. I look from the screen to my friends. "That sounded like the guy from the previous holo-diary!"

Ratchet nods in agreement. "Dr… uh, what was his name again?"

"I believe it was 'Dr. Croid,'" Clank tells him. "Though, I find it odd that this holo-diary was here rather than in the Deadgrove like the previous."

"That first holo-diary we found was more recent," I say. "And the fact that this recording we found was about Dr. Croid's experiments means that this place may have been his facility once."

"But if that's the case," Nefarious says, "then why isn't he here now?"

"Probably for the same reason that the previous recording we found was about Ephemeris," Ratchet says. "Croid called it his 'creation.' Maybe whoever took control of Ephemeris drove him out of the facility or something."

"What are we all talking about now?" Qwark asks blankly. Evidently his mind had been somewhere else. "Oh, right, the… uh… actually, I don't remember."

"Look, the more time we spend theorising, the less time we have in finding Ephemeris," I tell them, ignoring Qwark. "I say we have Cronk and Zephyr see if they can find anything about Croid and Ephemeris while we go look for this architect guy. Same thing goes for whoever this 'Nevo' guy is."

"I would agree," Clank says. "Perhaps any information they can find regarding this matter will help us find Ephemeris."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ratchet asks. Then he lowers his ears slightly. "Wait. We don't even know what Spog meant by 'the forest of the blue rocks.'" He then says into his comm, "Cronk, Zephyr, is there anything in the database about a 'forest of blue rocks?'"

"Hold on a minute," Zephyr says. "Checking the database now. No… not blue mushrooms… no… not blue cheese… not green hoola-hoops… no… no, NO! Just stay where you are, rookies. I'll let you know when I find it. Blasted search tab is messing up…"

"I told you that thing likes to mess with me!" Cronk tells him. "One time, last year, I tried to look for a recipe for Drophyd stew- it's Miss Talwyn's favourite- and instead it took me to a website that talked about something called 'The Thieveous Raccoonus!' Since when did raccoons stealing things have anything to do with Drophyd stew?! Technology these days…"

"I'm sorry… did I hear you say 'Drophyd stew?'" I ask. People seriously eat Drophyds here…? Ew.

"Yes. It's a delicacy throughout Polaris! You've never heard of it?" Cronk asks. "Why, I-"

"Cronk, quit wasting time with your horror stories about disgusting stews!" Zephyr says. "Okay, I finally found a result that actually had to do with all three criteria- forests, blue rocks, and Magnus. No thanks to someone over here."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I fixed the motor oil dispenser this morning!"

"After you broke it while sleepwalking! I told you that you shouldn't have watched Unicop last night, but you didn't-!"

"Guys!" Ratchet interrupts. "The location?"

"Oh, right!" Zephyr turns his attention back to Ratchet. "It's apparently a place called 'Terawatt Forest!' The railway station in the room ahead should take you to- augh, Cronk! Don't press that button! You're going to activate the self-destruct!"

"Oh. I thought it was the radio button. What whippersnapper decided to paint all the buttons red, anywho?!"

"It was that stupid mechanic who fixed the radiator last month! You need to get your memory core inspected again!" Zephyr lets out a sigh of aggravation. "Just take the railway station, rookies. It'll take you to a small fishing village, where you should find another railway station that will take you to the forest. Now to explain to Cronk the difference between the self-destruct and the radio buttons…"

"Copy that," Ratchet says. Then he looks at us. "Well, here we go."

. . .

I open my eyes drowsily, seeing the first rays of morning light. My friends are still asleep, so I just lay there lazily. We arrived in the fishing village late last night, and took Cronk's advice to make camp, eat something , buy new weapons from an Apogee pod (we all got something called the Warmonger, and I got something that Ratchet said was a Darkstar Fission something-or-other), and rest.

Using our Vac-U's, we managed to capture some fish. And although Ratchet burnt them (he claimed that they were simply overcooked), we ate them. Well, he, Qwark, and I ate the fish. Clank and Nefarious just sat there watching.

While I ate, I wondered why the fishing village was deserted. Something very bad must've happened to make the inhabitants leave…

And then went to bed. Well, Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark went to sleep right away. I spent part of the night thinking about my father and how he was on Magnus and how crazy this whole situation was.

As I sat staring at the fire, Nefarious interrupted my reverie by asking, "So, what's the deal with your father? You said he left before you were born. Why is that?"

"Mum never said," I replied, still looking at the fire. "And I didn't ask, because I didn't want to know. I didn't want to know anything about him."

"So what's changed?" Nefarious pressed. "Why do you want to know about your real father now?"

"If he didn't leave my mum on purpose," I told him, "and if he was abducted, same I was, then I have to know. To get closure, y'know? Maybe even get to know him and make up for lost time…"

Nefarious raised an eyebrow. "Uh, right… got any more of those songs by what's-her-name?"

"Avril Lavigne," I told him. "And yes. I've got lots of songs by lots of musicians and bands on my iPod."

So we spent the next half hour listening to music. Finally, as I shut off my iPod and stuffed it back in my pocket, I asked, "Why do you hate organics?"

Nefarious didn't reply. I looked at him. Still silent, looking away. "Never mind," I said, about to get up to go back to my spot, when he grabbed my arm.

"Because…" Nefarious trailed off. I waited for him to continue, but he shoved me away. "No. I won't talk about my problems with a stupid squishy!"

"I… okay. Good night, then," I replied, trying not to show my disappointment. I went back to my spot and curled up in the cold, grainy sand. After a long time of thinking and feeling sorry for myself and wishing that this whole thing never happened, yet at the same time happy that it did, I fell asleep.

My dreams weren't exactly welcoming either. Nightmares of being torn apart by creatures I didn't recognise, didn't know. Dreams of hope being crushed by death and destruction. With all that I've been through recently, you'd think my brain would've at least given me one stupid, itty-bitty happy dream. But no. All my fears were materialised in nature's virtual reality simulation. Yay me…

My thoughts of last night are now interrupted by Zephyr greeting over the comm, "Rise and shine, rookies! Well, it's not really shining, because of the all cloudiness, but…"

"My arm is squeaking from rust again," Cronk complains as I watch Ratchet sit up and rub his eyes drowsily. I sit up as well, waiting for the rest of our group to wake up.

The Lombax says to Cronk and Zephyr, "Good morning to you, too." He then stands up and looks at me. "And you too, 'Adara.'"

Will he stop acting like I'm a bad guy? Probably not!

"Right… space-rat!" I snap viciously. Yeah, I'm pretty crabby this morning. I stand up and shout, "Hey, slackers! Wake up!" Now I'm thinking of Back to the Future. In a good way, I mean!

Clank, Qwark, and Nefarious are all startled awake.

"Is there something wrong?" Clank asks.

"Ack!" Qwark screams. "They were only memos! Memos, I tell you! Not… oh… it's morning!" What about memos could possibly freak him out like that? I'm sure I don't want to know.

"Hey, where's my beef jerky pizza?" Nefarious asks. "I could have sworn I…"

"Uh, you're a robot," I point out. "Last I checked, robots don't eat things. Then again, if those minions can eat cake and drink booze, I guess anything is possible…"

Soon we were on our way to Terawatt Forest. We run down a dock a short ways before encountering a tiny purple alien that is squirming in the sandy beach in front of us. It looks sort of like a seahorse with huge eyes and weird tentacles on their bottoms.

It looks up at Qwark and snarls. The green-clad moron squeals in fear and hides behind me. "Augh! Nature… is… EVERYWHERE!"

The creature looks at me, tilting its head in curiosity. I pick it up and see a gash in its side. I set it back down and suck it in my Vac-U. Maybe my Vac-U's nanotech reserves will help the poor creature.

"Let's keep moving," I say, and we head down the small beach to another dock. Then Ratchet spots something interesting. "Huh. Looks like an old sonic py-something or other… Clank, what are they called again?"

Clank is hanging out on Ratchet's back, as usual. "I believe they are called 'sonic pylons.'"

"Oh, yeah, Zeph and I used to go fishin' with those things darn things," Cronk says. "Miss Talwyn always made us take one with us, because she loves tortemoth in spaghetti. The thing was so danged heavy that the motorboat could barely-"

"Cronk, not now!" Zephyr snaps. "Just try giving that pylon a good whack. That should attract a tortemoth. If there are any there… those creature are as trained as dogs. Usually. They're big enough to ride on their shells. We'll direct you on how to steer them."

"Thanks, guys," Ratchet says as we walk up to the pylon. He equips his Omniwrench and throws it at the pylon. The pylon rings loudly, and the wrench bounces off back into Ratchet's hand.

Within moments, a tortemoth (I think it's a tortemoth) floats up to the surface of the water in front of the dock. The creature looks at us with lazily. We all hop on its giant shelled back, and Ratchet says, "Okay, we're on its back. Now what?"

After much direction (and many reprimands) from Cronk and Zephyr , we manage to get to another dock. Apparently the tortemoth's shell has several pressure points throughout its shell. These pressure points can be pressed to "steer" the tortemoth. If you want to go left, you have to press on a pressure point on the left side of the shell. If you want to go right, you have to press on the right side. But here's the catch. You can't put too much pressure, otherwise it will hurt the tortemoth. They will be less responsive if you hurt them.

Cronk even told us at one point that he saw a news article in the paper about one guy who put too much pressure on a point, and the tortemoth sank below the water, and the guy drowned. How many horror stories does he have?

Anyway, here on the dock, more of those purple aliens flock. Except unlike the injured one we found earlier, these ones were bigger and pretty aggressive. The one we found must've been a baby. I wonder what happened to its parents…?

Anyway, we easily take out the creatures, despite Qwark's utter uselessness in the face of only a little danger. He kept running around screaming.

"Qwark, you really need to stop getting so freaked out by nature," Ratchet tells him.

"I can't help it if nature is scary!" Qwark replies, trembling as he comes out from hiding behind a rock.

"Nobody cares, Qwark!" I snap, not holding back my temper. "Nobody wants a coward for a leader, you know! And that's exactly what you're being! The king of utter, downright cowardice!"

"Okay, that's enough!" Ratchet intervenes. "Qwark, she's right about the fact that people don't like cowards for leaders, so pull yourself together! Adara, I don't know what's going on with you right now, but it has to stop!"

"Like I can stop my stupid brain," I snarl, "from giving me nightmares of being torn apart limb from limb, and being eaten alive!" Then I point at Nefarious and continue, "And then there's the fact that 'Mister I-Don't-Like-Talking-My-Problems' over there fits his stupid title and won't answer one stupid little question!"

Then I point at Ratchet. "And you! You… argh! I'm a big fan, but there are times when I don't like you! And right now is one of them, because you're treating me like I'm…" I lower my hand, and I turn away from them.

I cross my arms angrily. "Let's just get to Terawatt Forest, find that stupid architect-dude, and defeat Ephemeris so we can all go home. I don't have to talk about my problems with any of you!"

"Alright then," Ratchet says, sounding a bit angry himself. I really don't give a crap right now, to be honest. "Let's get moving."

As we run down the dock a ways, we spot a pair of blue fish-like creatures. They look like they're asleep. Which isn't surprising, seeing as both the fish look rather… obese.

"Hey, Cronk, Zephyr," Ratchet says over his comm as we halt for a moment. "There's a pair of very fat fish-like creatures up ahead."

"Oh dear!" Zephyr exclaims. "Those must be Slorgs! They're extremely lazy, but will attack anyone who disturbs their sleep. And they have very sensitive hearing. My recommendation- stay as far away from them as you can and use your most powerful weapons to take them out!"

"Copy that," Ratchet says. He looks at us. "I'll handle this one." He equips his new Warmonger, and blows up the nearest Slorg. The other Slorg wakes up, sees the remains of its companion, and looks at us with astonishment.

Ratchet easily blows the second Slorg to smithereens before it can do anything else. Then we move on down the dock, where another Slorg is waiting. He never knew what hit him.

For a little while, it's all just leaping around, blasting more Slorgs and purple aliens. Then, after getting up to a higher level, we see a Slorg sitting there, covered with an armoured shell and fast asleep.

Great. This Slorg just had to have a stupid shell. I wonder what the database says to do about this.