Chapter Twenty-One
Angered, Ptah took the Phantom to a planet approximately sixty thousand light years from Brion Noir called Pearl, a world that consisted mostly of water. The image of the planet from the viewer was one of the prettiest pictures outside of Dora's beauty. Only about a tenth of the planet had landmass, and the inhabitants of the planet were all Sirens. He estimated two million Sirens existed on the whole planet who lived primarily on the land. They had wings like angels and their skin was like the beauty of midnight and glistened like the blackest of pearls. The other one hundred million Sirens existed in the Oceans. When Pova Ja orbited around Pearl, Orion entered the bridge.
"What's this world?" She asked as she watched the massive planet on the viewer. At first, her voice expressed an upbeat feeling until Ptah told her what creatures existed on it.
"It's Pearl," he said, "This planet is about sixty thousand light years from Dora." He walked over to Orion as she floated in front of the viewer, and then said, "It's a world of Sirens."
Immediately, the tension between the husband and wife rose in the room. At first, Ptah pretended like he didn't notice her. "Sirens?" She asked. He could feel the agitation in her voice, and he wanted to steer the conversation away from what she was thinking. It was no secret that he wanted to reinstitute her mind into a being that he could love endlessly.
"Yes," he said, "I want you to survey this world, and then add their codex to the Neuronet." Once he had their genetic information he planned on creating a body for Orion. He had grown tired of bedding Trilobites, and in the back of his mind, he longed to be with his wife.
"I don't trust you," Orion snapped. The best he could do was look befuddled by her shortness. She flew up to him, right by his face, and then bumped him in the head. Hard. "You're a bastard, Ptah."
"What?" He asked with a grimace. "I just need you to add this race's DNA to the Neuronet. Is that too much to ask?"
"That's all you need?" She asked.
"Yes," he said.
He felt her telepathic communication when she exited the ship. Ptah ensured she had the ability to communicate with him telepathically when he designed her case millions of years earlier. It was so she could soothe him on a telepathic level like Dora could. "Tell me the truth? Aren't you here picking out a body for me?"
The amount of force she used when she penetrated his thoughts was beyond the norm. If she used the same amount of force on a mortal, it would cripple the creature without question. "Why do you think that?" He asked telepathically.
He didn't answer her immediately, but it was obvious he didn't have the ability to trick her about the Sirens. Since Dora said she needed some time apart from him, he was losing his common sense. In the back of his mind, he always thought she'd return to him on a telepathic level, and now that it happened, she didn't want anything to do with him. When he went to answer Orion, the Great Mother sent him a telepathic message.
"Ptah, a Neonotium vessel crashed landed on Krypton," she said telepathically. "You're going to want to return because Largo City is in an uproar. I can hold the Kryptonians back, but they've already killed the crew."
"Orion, a Neonotium ship crashed landed on Krypton, and the savages have already killed the crew," he said telepathically. "I need you back. We have to go."
Immediately, she returned to the ship, and then it jumped to the Celestial Kingdom. It didn't take any time at all to arrive back to his kingdom in the sky. When Ptah flew to Krypton with Orion, he found the ship with a smoking engine. It was an old vessel, some sixty-two thousand years old. It should have been taken out of commission years earlier, but Neo Star had financial hardships during the early years of the Iobi Dynasty. He knew minor details about the plight of Neo Star, but he tried his best to let them govern their own world.
Several small Kryptonian kids played tag in the field near the broken ship, screaming, acting like simians, and throwing rocks.
When he walked into the vessel, all the aliens were dead from massive head trauma. It was obvious that somebody beat them to death. Some of their injuries resulted from the crash, but when it came to the bruises on the face, Kryptonian fists caused them. After he looked the bodies over for a moment, he brought them all back to life with his powers. There were at least seventeen members of the crew that he saved. The Great Mother entered the ship, and all the men and women automatically knew who they were at that time. The crewmen went to one knee, and the said, "Thank you, Lord Ptah."
The kids tried to enter, but Ptah told them to leave. "Get out of here!" He exclaimed. "This isn't a play area."
When they flew down to the field, he watched the kids closely. They often acted with caprice because they hadn't developed a standard of conduct with their powers. The Kryptonians assumed every alien wielded as much strength as them, especially since they hadn't come in contact with other aliens on a regular basis. All they knew outside their own kind were the Great Mother, the Gidisons, and Ptah. He considered the young kids rude, but even he was a rude kid, so that didn't bother him much.
He heard some whimpering and crying coming from the old, radioactive mine full of B9256A. When he entered the mine, he saw the alien in the fetal position in the middle of the room. He held his stomach like he was in a massive amount of pain. Blood dripped out of his eyes, and his emerald visage looked somewhat deformed. The radioactive rocks glistened on the wall, and every last one of them was the bane of the Kryptonian's existence. His mother's creatures were like wild animals with their new gifts.
"What is your name, son?" Ptah asked calmly. The poor creature raised his head slightly and then moaned.
"Vianis Iobi," he said with a scowl on his face. It looked like it took all of his energy just to speak.
"My name is Ptah. What are you doing this far from home, Neonodium?" He asked calmly.
Quickly, he went to one knee, and said, "I didn't know it was you, Lord Ptah. Forgive me for my disrespect."
"You haven't shown me any disrespect," he said. "Lie down and relax."
"Thank you, Lord. I'm here exploring the universe with my crew," he said, "My ship crashed here a day ago." He paused a moment to gather his thoughts. "The people of this world are savage towards other worlds. They killed my crew, but I was able to escape to this mine. If not for my telepathy, they would've killed me, Lord."
Ptah placed his hands on Vianis Iobi's midsection, and then a golden glow encompassed the injured alien. He was able to make him whole without any issues, but his ship was barely operational. "I brought your people back to life. They are all healthy now, but you must leave as soon as your ship is operational."
Later in the evening, he flew over to the broken vessel with Vianis Iobi, and they worked on the damaged vessel. Ptah looked at the engine of the ship and took it completely out of the vessel with the power of his mind. He sent it to the mechanics on the Celestial Kingdom, and within six hours, they returned to him an engine with warp three capabilities. It only took him a few minutes to place the engine back in the ship, fasten the latches, and then bolt it to the frame.
"You do understand you now have updated technology in this vessel?" Ptah asked calmly. "When you reach Neo Star, I need you to replicate this technology."
"Yes, Lord," he said, "We had been working on a warp two engine for the last sixty years. We've had many casualties from explosions."
Ptah stood by the ship when several Kryptonians landed in front of him. When they tried to reach for Vianis, Ptah asked, "What are you doing?"
"By the authority of the Kryptonian Council, we're taking the alien fugitive into custody." When the Kryptonian guard touched the young alien, Ptah punched the man in the chest, and he flew backward onto the ground. The other Kryptonians attacked him, but when he went to strike Ptah in the face, he hit a force shield.
"If you don't retreat, I'll kill you," Ptah said.
"Lord Ptah, you must give us the autonomy to govern our own planet," The Kryptonian said with a grimace. "You're interfering with our business."
"You have the right to do as you will under the authority of your government, but I can't let you hurt my guest," he said, "I will protect him at all cost."
The Celestial Kingdom…
Orion was on the planet of Krypton with the Great Mother, and they protected the aliens from the Kryptonians while Ptah retrieved some information from the Neuronet. He placed a small storage device in the computer and brought up millions of backups of Orion's mind. He gave it a lot of thought, and from what he figured, he wanted the backup right after the Great Father killed her. It was the first backup, a backup that went back nearly five million years. It took a minute for the Neuronet to grab the information he needed because it was so old. The progress bar read eighty-three percent when he felt Orion's mind approaching the Celestial Kingdom.
"I'm about to head back," she said telepathically. "The Kryptonians are behaving now."
"Okay," he said, "Take your time." He feared that she'd show up before he had time to complete the download, and as soon as it finished, Orion flew into the room.
"I'm heading back to Neo Star with them," he said calmly.
"Why's that?" She asked. "They can't breathe in space."
"I want to see their world," he said, "I heard it's beautiful."
He slid the memory stick into his pocket, and then gingerly walked out of the room. Orion followed behind him, and then said, "I can come with you."
Standing on the deck of his mobile world, he turned to Orion, and said, "I just need to take a respite from all of this."
"From me?" She asked.
"Especially from you," he said, "And especially from the kingdom. I need time away from this Kryptonian mess."
"Fine, Ptah!" She exclaimed. "When will you be back?"
"I don't know," he said, "Maybe a few years."
Krypton...
For Ptah, the arrival of the Neonodiums gave him an opportunity to see how the Kryptonians reacted to other aliens. He walked onto the vessel with some B9256A in a small box. The rear counter on the bridge of the ship was the perfect place for it. When everybody sat in their perspective seats, he heard something that sounded like two thumps but didn't pay it close attention. Ptah looked around the bridge for a moment, and then said, "Let's go." After the ship exited Krypton, Ptah said, "I will open a portal directly to Neo Star."
"We're about eight years out," Vianis said with excitement.
"Yeah. You're hanging with Ptah now," he said with a smile. With the wave of his right hand, a black hole opened. "Just go through it, and you'll be home."