When Lalna entered Xephos' room, he found the spaceman sat on his bed, his head buried in a book as he leant up against his pillows, padding out the wall. Lalna cleared his throat and the spaceman's eyes darted briefly to look at the scientist, before flickering back to his book. "Hi, Lalna." Xephos said, not looking up.

"Howdy, Xephos. Just came to check on you. How are your injuries?"

"My wrist is okay." The spaceman said, extending his arm out for Lalna to inspect. Lalna peeled back the bandages and peered closely at the wound. There were only a couple of faint circular marks where the spider had managed to pierce Xephos' skin. They seemed to have healed on their own. "Any pain in your wrist?" The scientist asked, unwinding the bandage.

"Only a little." Xephos said, still engrossed in his book.

"And on your back?"

"More so." Xephos said, retracting his arm once he felt the bandages fall away loosely.

"Glad to see you're making use of that reading ability I gave you."

"It's a lot easier than I thought it would be." The spaceman said, nodding gratefully.

"What's that you're reading there?"

The spaceman did not answer verbally – instead he lifted the book up so that Lalna could see the cover.

"The…Elbib?" Lalna read aloud. "I read that when I was a child."

"It's fascinating!" Xephos said, noticing Lalna's disbelieving tone.

"If you like that sort of thing." Lalna muttered. He did not approve of these old fairytales.

"You humans have such interesting stories." Xephos said, turning a page excitedly. Lalna was surprised. He had never heard Xephos refer to himself as a separate race before. Heck, Lalna had barely been allowed to do it.

"Why do you have a sudden interest in Minecraftian legends?"

"I was reading up on demons."

"Why's that?"

"Because Rythian said I was one."

"Oh, yeah. Well, Rythian would believe those old stories. Complete nonsensical nonsense, if you ask me. I mean, yeah, low-level demons exist, sure. But not the all-powerful ones that book'll tell you about."

"Obviously." Xephos agreed. "But they're interesting. Like the one about how Notch made Steve, the first man, and gave him great strength – enough to carry stacks of gold and diamond without breaking a sweat. Or the Golden Apple, and how demons tried to make cheap imitations of the fruit, using golden nuggets, when Notch showed the people the true Golden Apple was made using gold blocks. And how his brother died and started haunting people. And the one about how a human woman was tempted into a relationship with the Devil, and he forged seven demons out of fragments of evil."

"Like I said, it's all bollocks. The Ukushona Gate is standing, certainly, but I doubt it's real. Might have just been put there to frighten children into believing this rubbish."

"Yeah, I suppose all this is pretty unlikely." Xephos admitted, scanning the pages. "But it's more fun if the laws of physics aren't limiting everything."

"You'd be wrong to think that, Xephos! We can have fun with the power of science!" Lalna said, tapping his nose knowingly. "That's actually the reason I came in here. I wanted to ask you if you'd be willing to help me with a little experiment."

"What kind of experiment?" Xephos asked hesitantly. Almost everyone had already briefed him on Lalna's crazy antics.

"Nothing too serious; it's only your first time, after all. You see, I was caught outside in a thunderstorm once upon a time, and this pig in front of me got zapped by a bolt of lightning, just like that. Nearly made me piss myself."

"Understandable." Xephos mused, contemplating the idea as he placed his book down on the desk beside his bed.

"Anyway, I thought the pig would be toast – well, crispy bacon anyway – but the lightning had managed to somehow modify its genetic structure and turned the pig into a zombie pigman!"

"Whoa!" Xephos said, his eyes widening in amazement.

"Naturally, I was amazed and needed to find out more. So at first I tried zapping a few pigs of my own, but even when I managed to crank it up to the voltage of the lightning, it just killed the damn things. So, concluding that there must be some quality to the lightning that makes the pigs mutate, I tried watching a pen of animals I had set up during a thunderstorm…" Xephos questioned the morality of this experiment but allowed the scientist to continue babbling, "…to see if any of them would get struck by a bolt and do the same. Unfortunately none of them did, but I did see a Creeper get struck and it mutated into a bloody powerful version of itself – a Creeper that became 'charged', if you will."

Xephos grunted as he adjusted himself on the bed, his burns from the Creeper explosion throbbing red and raw with pain. "Notch, that doesn't sound good."

"No. Little bugger destroyed the lab I had set up over there. Anyway, I was thinking – all of these cases in which lightning has struck a mob, it has been genetically altered into a more powerful version of itself. So…?"

Xephos scratched his head. "Uh…so…?"

Lalna smacked his forehead. "So…what if a person gets struck by lightning?"

Xephos blinked blankly. "They…die?"

"No! Well…yes…maybe…possibly. But this is why I'm asking you."

Xephos' face fell. "You want…me to die?"

"For fuck's sake, Xephos, no, I don't mean that! You've already proven that you have increased resistance to damage – a Creeper explosion from such a short range would have probably killed anyone else – except maybe Ridge – or at least put them in a state of paralysis. You, on the other hand, have suffered only minor burns."

"They don't feel minor." Xephos muttered, rubbing his sore back and immediately regretting it. "So you think I won't be killed by the lightning – I might get the effects of it instead?"

"That's my thinking." Lalna beamed. "Will you do it?"

"Well…I don't know…it sounds kinda dangerous…"

Lalna raised his eyebrows. He had a wormy way of twisting people around his little finger. Fortunately with Xephos, it was made little easier. He blinked pleadingly at the spaceman. "If you do this for me, Xephos…you'll be my very best friend." he said, sickly sweet like treacle and honey.

Xephos smiled, his eyes lighting up with childlike glee. "Really?"

"Oh yes! The bestest ever!" Lalna nodded, feeling sick at the goofy silliness of it all.

"Okay, I'll do it – just for you, friend!" Xephos said, eagerly leaping off the bed. Lalna smiled at his easy victory.

"Excellent. Glad to hear it. Meet me outside at 8 o'clock. Don't be late. There's a very short period of high electrical activity tonight that we need to take advantage of."

"I'll be there!"

"Oh, and bring a diamond sword as well, Xephos. We can do a little side project while we're there."