For a moment, when the blade had touched her skin, the pain had been so intense that Seo had blacked out.
Now, as she opened bleary eyes, she came face-to-face with a translucent glowy person. There was a faint trace of a song as he walked — a song that reminded Seo vaguely of the TARDIS or of Oliver, except this song was far more discordant and violent and melancholy.
"You're the TARDIS." Seo stared at where she imagined the translucent creature would have eyes — if it had eyes at all, which it didn't. "Listen. I don't know if you can help me, but Father and Yimi are still out there. I need to find them, before..."
She screamed, as the glowing figure shoved its hand inside her chest...
...and tore her into a thousand tiny shards.
"What is that?!" Stenman demanded, stepping forwards, his eyes fixed on the strange machine Mutajar had built in the basement of the Main Complex. "And how did anyone manage to build it down here without us noticing?" His eyes narrowed. "Zeera's going to pay for this..."
Jenny briefly considered punching Stenman in the nose for being such an idiot, but sighed and decided she probably didn't have time. Instead, she just ran over and worked on trying to get the machine operational again.
"I'll bet this is what Lantro was really up to," said Stenman, rounding the machine suspiciously. "I should never have trusted him, the two-faced, lying..."
"You're not helping — you know that?" Jenny tried connecting two severed wires — and the machine began to spark and make a sharp whining noise. She quickly disconnected them. "Look, go out into the hall and separate all the creatures before they wake up. I'm busy."
Stenman grumbled, but headed towards the door to do as Jenny asked.
He froze in place, halfway there.
Jenny froze as well, by the machine.
Both of them slowly put a hand to their head, blinking and looking around themselves as if they'd just woken up from a dream.
So did all the creatures who'd been knocked out in the corridor.
"Oh." Jenny stepped away from the machine, staring at it. "How ridiculous of me. Of course it needs to stay off. The bloodbath must continue." She put her hands against her hearts. "And I have to die."
Stenman went off to get her a gun. "Apos'alu be praised."
"Apos'alu be praised," Jenny repeated. She twisted around, trying to make out her reflection in the metal of the machine. "What do you think — bullet through the head?" She tried to mime possible trajectories. "Or maybe one through each heart? I mean, I have to make it horrible. After all, Dad refused to hand over that fob watch, so he has to pay for..."
With a sudden flash, a Patasi carrying a vortex manipulator appeared from nowhere. She looked around herself — and her eyes landed on Jenny. "Can you help me? I'm trying to find 'Jenny' — Seo's sister. It's important!"
Before the Patasi had even finished speaking, Stenman and all the creatures in the corridor raced into the room, grabbing Yimi roughly and twisting her feathered arms behind her back. She yelped, the vortex manipulator dropping from her hands and skittering across the floor.
Jenny bent down and picked it up. She frowned, looking between it and the Patasi who had just appeared.
"Stop it! What are you doing?" the Patasi was shouting at her captors. She struggled, but couldn't break free. "Abozalu is about to get out! I need to save my people! Please...!"
"You dare to mock the Apos'alu?" Stenman glared at her. "You miserable wretch. I should kill you where you stand."
Jenny closed her hand around the vortex manipulator. "Seo... Dad..."
Then she gritted her teeth and, head down, charged at the Patasi, slamming into her head-first, sending both the Patasi and everyone restraining her sprawling across the floor like bowling pins. Jenny grabbed her head in her hands, her eyes going wide as her mind finally cleared.
"Seo! Dad! Zeera!" Jenny jumped to her feet and dragged the Patasi out of the pile, tugging her along as Jenny ran back to the machine. "I don't know who you are or how you overcame that... whatever it was... but thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Jenny frantically began reassembling the machine as the remaining group slowly got to their feet, turning on Jenny with a new malevolence in their eyes.
The Patasi shuddered back. "What's happened to them?"
"I don't know — but whatever's affecting them, it's weak at the moment," Jenny said, not missing a beat in her work. "That's why they're moving so slowly. The signal's plagued by transmission delays. Who are you, by the way?"
"I'm... Yimi," Yimi explained, still nervously watching the crowd in front of them as they began to gather their weapons, pointing them at Jenny and Yimi. "Are... I mean... they aren't really going to kill us?"
"Oh, I'm pretty sure they will. Unless I can finish this and separate the dimensions." Jenny squeezed her eyes shut. "Think, Jenny, think! What else can make this thing work?" She snapped her eyes open, a grin on her face. "Aha!" She grabbed the Patasi by the hand, and stuck it in the center of the machine.
The Patasi squeaked as a small electric shock raced through her body, and she yanked her hand away. "Hey!"
The machine suddenly glowed a far more vibrant green, as it shuddered back into life.
"Oh, yes!" Jenny shouted. "Yes, yes, yes!" She began racing around the machine, quickly flipping every switch on its outside to reverse all the settings. "If I can just undo everything that's been..."
The machine blinked up a warning: "Power Level Insufficient. Time to full power: 2 hours."
"Two hours?!" Jenny kicked the machine. "We don't have two hours!"
"No," said Stenman, stepping forwards. "You don't even have five minutes." He turned to the crowd behind him. "Kill them."
The crowd screamed, then surged forwards.
"Hold onto me," Jenny shouted at Yimi, shoving the vortex manipulator into the center of the machine. The vortex manipulator began to hum with power. Then, praying for a miracle, Jenny scrambled to poke the buttons on the vortex manipulator...
Jenny and Yimi vanished a millisecond before a barrage of bullets would have punctured their skulls.