Chapter 28 – Beyond the Sky

Kendra took a seat next to Warren in the front row behind the windshield of Astro-Jet, while Vanessa and Tanu sat in the row behind them. There was quite a bit of free space behind the seats, where Raxtus and Geminus opted to be stationed.

"Is everybody ready?" asked Astro-Jet.

"Not yet," said Tanu, feeling around his seat as though he had lost something. "Where are the seat belts?"

"I am not equipped with seatbelts," replied Astro-Jet. "My gravity modulator will keep you all in your places."

"Never mind," said Tanu, shaking his head. "At this rate, I just hope we get there in one piece."

"All right," said Astro-Jet. "I will be blasting off now."

"Wait a minute," said Vanessa. "We're underground! You can't blast off in here!"

"Entrance door closing," said Astro-Jet. Kendra quickly turned her head back and watched as the door slid shut, and could hear the spacecraft's engine as it started to warm up. "Hangar door now opening."

The knights watched on a monitor as the entire ceiling of the room slid open, revealing a tall shaft above it. Suddenly, Astro-Jet rose into the air, and boosted out of the shaft. Almost instantly, Astro-Jet rose above the preserve, having departed via a secret exit.

"We're going!" exclaimed Kendra. "We're going into outer space!"

Soon Astro-Jet rose above the clouds, followed by the stratosphere, until it had escaped from Earth's orbit. Kendra quickly got out of her seat and dashed over to a side window, which spanned an entire wall. Gazing out the window, Kendra could see the entire planet drifting beneath her.

"I've never been able to fly this high," gasped Raxtus.

"Pretty cool, huh?" asked Warren, who had walked over next to Kendra and the dragons. "I think I can see my cottage from here."

"You wish!" said Vanessa, giving Warren a playful shove.

"Hey, if we pull this mission off and play our cards right, we really be able to wish."

"Astro-Jet," said Tanu, "is it safe for everyone to get up and walk around while you're speeding through space?"

"Absolutely. I'll be on auto-pilot the entire time, so don't worry about getting to Silicon Station."

Still looking out the window, Kendra looked back at the Earth, until they had travelled to the point where the planet appeared to be out of sight.

"I really hope these directions that were included in the scroll are really all we need for getting through the vault," said Tanu, looking over his notes. "This whole operation could be extremely dangerous if we aren't careful."

At that moment, Bright and Clover appeared in the air next to Kendra and Warren.

"Hey, girls," said Kendra. "Are you here to look at the stars?"

"We could sense what was going on, and couldn't resist," said Clover, looking out the window while perching herself upon Warren's shoulder.

"How long's this trip supposed to take, anyway?" asked Bright.

"Roughly three more hours," answered Astro-Jet. "And who are you? I didn't sense your entry."

"Sorry," answered Bright. "We're fairy guardians, here to assist the knights."

"Understood."

"Too bad we can't see the moon from here," said Vanessa.

"Wait a minute," said Kendra. How much longer until Mars? It'd be cool if we got a good view of it."

"We may not necessarily pass Mars," answered Warren. "It's not often that the planets align with one another."

"My apologies," said Astro-Jet, "but I have been pre-programmed to transport all passengers directly to Silicon Station. This flight has no scheduled stops along the way, nor is it intended to be a sight-seeing tour. Thank you and have a nice day."

As the time went by, Kendra and the others played several games of cards, and ate some of Grandma Sorenson's homemade chocolate chip cookies for a snack. Towards the end of the session, Kendra and Warren were playing around with some of Astro-Jet's on-board features.

"If I knew this thing had its own microwave, I would've brought popcorn," said Warren, shutting a door in the kitchenette area.

"We will be arriving at Silicon Station in approximately two minutes," announced Astro-Jet.

Everyone on the ship stepped up towards the windshield, where they could see an asteroid floating ahead in the distance.

"Uh, where's the vault?" asked Warren.

"Careful, Astro-Jet!" cried Kendra. "You might crash!"

"I know what I'm doing," said Astro-Jet, swerving around the asteroid.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" asked Vanessa. "There must be thousands of asteroids in the belt!"

"Do not panic. I have the exact coordinates in my memory. I will get you there without any problems. That is my duty."

Soon Astro-Jet approached one particular asteroid. From what Kendra could tell, the space rock rivaled the Dreamstone or Pileus Palace in size. Astro-Jet travlled closer and closer to the asteroid, to the point where Kendra feared that they were going to crash into it.

Just before hitting the asteroid, a door large enough for Astro-Jet to fit through, slid open within the wall of the asteroid. Astro-Jet slowed down as it entered the door, then flew inside the asteroid. Rather than being a cave of sorts, the colossal interior of the asteroid appeared to be constructed out of metallic walls and neon lights, much like Astro-Jet's hangar.

"Welcome to Silicon Station," said Astro-Jet, who had now come to a complete stop. "When you are ready, please exit via the rear door and enjoy your visit."

Picking up their bags and gear, Kendra, Warren, Vanessa, Tanu, Raxtus and Geminus all exited Astro-Jet. Looking around the room they were now in, Kendra assumed that they were in the docking bay of Silicon Station.

"Astro-Jet," said Kendra. "What do we do now?"

"I'm afraid that my only purpose was to transport you to this point. I am unable to help you from here on out, as I am not directly connected to Silicon Station's mainframe. I will be waiting here in the docking bay for your return."

"Okay then," said Vanessa somewhat cautiously.

Geminus snorted. "They really lowered the bar for transportation. I'd feel rejected if I couldn't help you beyond the front steps of Pileus Palace."

"Astro-Jet is a machine," said Warren. "We may think that she wants to be helpful, but she doesn't have any desire to do anything that goes beyond her programming. Or so I think."

"Looks like the only exit to the room, other than the way we came, is that door over there," said Tanu, pointing to an enormous door along the far wall. He then led the group over to the door itself.

"Another one of those password doors," said Warren. "Part of me just wants to use the Disapirit to bypass these silly obstacles and just snag the Accelerizer."

"It's best if we don't do that," said Tanu. "We wouldn't want to risk the consequence of a security breach in here. We'd best play by their rules. Only as a last resort should we try using the instruments for any reason."

"I know," said Warren, as he looked at his notes and punched the corresponding code into the keypad, causing it to slide open.

The knights passed through the door and entered a small room on the other side.

"Who are you?" asked a drone-like, monotonous voice.

The knights glanced around the room, and saw what had to be a robot standing at the other end, staring at them. The robot was fairly humanoid, resembling what could best be described as a metal mannequin, but with bone-thin limbs. Its singular neon blue eye, which bore the shape of an inverted isosceles trapezoid, was gleaming brightly, to the point where Kendra thought the robot was staring into her soul.

"Answer me," said the robot. "You must identify yourselves."

"We're-" began Warren cautiously. "We're Knights of the Dawn. We came here in search of the Accelerizer."

"I have no way to determine if you are telling the truth or not. But I am obligated to trust you since information pertaining to Silicon Station and its existence has been kept top secret among the Knights of the Dawn."

"Who are you?" asked Kendra.

"I am Robort. I am the attendant of Silicon Station. My job is to keep the Accelerizer in its place until the Knights of the Dawn come here to retrieve it in the name of good."

"So, you'll give it to us?" asked Warren.

"Not immediately. I must verify that your group is trustworthy, or I will have failed at my duty. Please tell me your names. All of you."

"I am Tanugatoa Dufu, but everyone calls me Tanu."

"Warren Burgess, in the flesh!"

"I'm Kendra Sorenson."

"My name is Vanessa Santoro."

"Raxtus, uh no last name."

"And I'm Geminus, also with no last name."

"Thank you," said Robort. "Follow me, please."

Robort led the group of six through another door and entered a long hallway.

"What brings you to Silicon Station?" asked Robort. "All known information about Silicon Station is highly confidential."

"It's a long story," said Kendra. "But we've been looking for the instruments of eternal power."

"And how did you learn about them? The instruments of eternal power were to be kept a secret indefinitely."

"Well they were," said Vanessa. "But this knowledge was contained in a tome written thousands of years ago."

"So you managed to find the tome and decipher it, correct?"

"Correct."

"And you managed to find all the clues leading you up to this point?" asked Robort.

"Also correct."

"Interesting. You obviously seek the instruments of eternal power greatly. Why is that?"

"Well, we wanted to have the ability to grant wishes," said Kendra. "Nothing malicious, though. Just to help those who need it. But that's not all. My brother has been possessed by a powerful demon by the name of Navarog, and-"

"Navarog?" asked Robort. "He is the demon prince, correct? I was led to believe he was in captivity inside the dungeon at Fablehaven."

"He was freed through an act of treason," replied Kendra. "Long story short, Navarog got a hold of the Drakesoul and is possessing my brother. We need the Accelerizer to stop Navarog and save him."

"Navarog has the Drakesoul," said Robort. "That is bad. How did he find it?"

"Since he was posing as my brother, Navarog snatched it from us after we'd recovered it from Vertigo Volcano. He took us all by surprise."

"Had you not gone after the instruments of eternal power in the first place, you wouldn't be in this predicament."

"Navarog still would've been possessing Seth. Um, that's my brother's name, by the way."

"Understood. That is most unfortunate. I have a robot warrior that could defeat Navarog for you, but he is not permitted to leave the premises."

"That won't be necessary," said Vanessa. "We don't need help destroying Navarog. Besides, if we did, we'd be killing Seth in the process."

"How would the Accelerizer be of use to you?" asked Robort. "How would it help you fell Navarog?"

"Well, we already have the Sizeshifter, the Essence of Immunity and the Disapirit," said Warren. "If we had the Accelerizer, we could cut open Navarog, snag the Drakesoul and form the Omega Star. With it, we could quickly rescue Seth before he potentially perishes along with Navarog. Better yet, we could slow down time with the Accelerizer to make the procedure a whole lot easier and safer!"

"I never really thought of that," said Tanu. "Good thinking, Warren."

"It is not my job to judge what the Knights of the Dawn do with the Accelerizer, provided that they are not imposters with evil intentions. I must still verify that you are being truthful."

"Please listen," said Kendra. "We've come so far in search of the Accelerizer! We're really being sincere and honest. We have to have it! If we don't get the Accelerizer, after all we've been through, I may never be able to save my brother."

"You do not need to win my sympathy, for I have no emotions."

"How much proof do you need?" exclaimed Kendra, as tears starting forming in her eyes.

"I need to be absolutely sure that you are not traitorous."

"I'm fairykind!" exclaimed Kendra, wiping tears from her eyes. "Please, you've got to believe me."

Vanessa pulled a tissue from her pocket and gave it to Kendra, who dabbed it across her eyes.

"Although I have no emotions, I can sense those of living beings," said Robort, stopping in front of another huge door. I am beginning to comprehend where you are coming from. However, I still need to make sure that I am entrusting the Accelerizer to people who actually need it."

The door that Robort was standing next to opened automatically, as if by some sort of built-in remote control within him. Inside the room that Robort led to group into were several comfortable chairs made out of leather. "Have a seat."

As the knights sat down, Raxtus and Geminus waited next to the chairs.

"Man, I'm starving," said Tanu. "I shouldn't have skipped eating those cookies on the ride over."

"I'm afraid that our facilities do not contain any food," said Robort.

"We left the cooler on Astro-Jet," said Vanessa.

"Want me to run back to the ship?" asked Warren.

"This will only take a few minutes," said Robort. "No cause for alarm."

"Is Tanu hungry?" asked Bright, who had suddenly appeared. "Would you like a sandwich?"

Before anyone could react to Bright's sudden appearance, the fairy had already summoned a turkey sandwich to appear in Tanu's hand.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Robort.

"I was just about to ask the same thing!" exclaimed Tanu.

"This fairy has not been accounted for," said Robort.

"Oh, don't worry about Bright," said Kendra. "She's my fairy guardian."

"Intruder! You are sneaking unauthorized personnel into a restricted area!"

"Don't get so worked up," said Kendra. "She's on our side!"

"Intruder! You are violating section 5-A of Silicon Station's visitor policy. All visitors are to report to me upon entry. This fairy did not report, therefore she is in violation."

"It was a mistake," said Tanu. "Take it easy!"

"You people cannot be trusted. Please leave immediately."

"We're not leaving without the Accelerizer," said Vanessa.

"You must," stated Robort.

"Now, listen here!" said Warren. "We've gone to absurd heights trying to get this flippin' Accelerizer! And no binary-brained-bucket-of-bolts is gonna stop us!"

"Leave peacefully or else."

"Stupid machine," said Warren. "He's just sitting there."

"This is your last chance."

"Warren, take it easy," said Tanu.

"You got an off switch, Robort?" asked Warren.

"You have asked for it. Prepare to be eliminated."

"Shut up," said Vanessa, having removed the Sizeshifter from her bag. She then shot a blast of orange energy at Robort, shrinking him until he was no bigger than an action figure. "He wasn't so scary. Maybe now he'll cooperate with us."

At that moment, a huge door that was against one wall of the room opened up, prompting everyone to look over at it. Standing on the other side was a massive, robotic dragon.

"You are intruders!" said the dragon in a deep, menacing voice. "You must be destroyed!"