Author's Note: So, this story is now officially my longest Fan Fiction. Awesome! Lol. Don't worry, I'm starting to have the end take shape so I can finish out the series. I'm not sure I'd write something about Marcus' kids, I'd just have things set up so people can use their imagination to see where things are going. Unless I have a lot of people demand it, lol. I can't resist performing for a crowd, so if I have enough readers, I'll consider it, but anyway. For now … let's get into the final fifth of the book, and finish strong, yeah? Woo!
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Chapter -40-
CERINIA
Planet Cerinia
Global Capitol…
Krystal brushed her fingertips over the etchings of a small sign on a wall. Steam rose above the forcefield surrounding her, and upon touching the frosty sign, the thin layer of white gave away to lettering beneath.
The hallway was too dark to make out much, except for a set of double doors to the left, across the hall from the sign. The room beyond was illuminated from the windows in the dome's rotunda.
Fox glanced through the dimly sunlit room, lined with rows and chairs like a small stadium within the round room. He turned back to Krystal and asked, "What does the sign say?"
"Quiet."
"Excuse me?" His voice reverberated throughout the dark hallway.
She brought a paw to her lips with a giggle, which she quickly bit back followed by clearing her throat. "No, Fox, it's what the sign says." She spoke softly. "Voices carry in this hall, and if the senate was in session, conversation could be seen as disruptive."
"So … did your people speak out loud very often?"
"The voice is a beautiful thing. It's an instrument. It's used to sooth. Tone is a communication key to show enthusiasm, reverence and many emotions. Yes, we spoke. Speaking was seen as an intellectual's preferred method of communication. Anyone can communicate with a Cerinian via telepathy. Even a pet can tell you they're hungry. But they cannot speak. So, conversation was seen as the mark of sentience. That's the best way I know how to describe it."
"Oh. I always imagined Cerinia was like a giant library and everyone just talked to each other with stares and the occasional scrunching of an eyebrow or something."
Krystal brought a paw to her muzzle again, trying not to laugh.
Fox approached the double doors and stopped in the doorway, just taking in the grand opulence of the Senate Chamber. He shined his flashlight to the left and panned it to the right. His eyes danced on mahogany-accented chairs made from what appeared to be carbon fiber. The wood accents gave the seats a distinguished look. "So, your parents met here, huh?"
"It was once the cultural hub of the largest university, built on the border of the north and south hemisphere. I suppose the Cornerian equivalent would be … the campus quad?"
"I mean, all the quads I've ever seen were squares or rectangles or…"
"Yes, of course, I did not mean to suggest it was a quadrilateral shape, I just meant that this was the central hub of the college. That was long before my time. My parents met during the school's final year before it was moved to a new building. They were allowed to meet this way, to make the arranged marriage less awkward. They were the children of the two most prominent and powerful monarchs on Cerinia. This is where they decided to change the world. This is where they decided that academics should discuss legislation for the newly-combined nation."
"So, the school moved, huh?"
"Yes. The new campus is … was … quite beautiful and it's large enough to accommodate a much larger student body. It's where I attended schooling. The courtyard is immense, like cloister gardens of a monastery. We called it a 'garth.' I sat with my back to the largest tree in either hemisphere, which the school was built around … it was so beautiful."
Fox walked down one of the rows to the center of the large round room. He stopped in front of a desk with a computer built into it. On second glance, quite a few seats had small desks with what looked like computer screens built into them. "Good Goddess, the furnishing is really sleek. Feels futuristic, but with the wood highlights it also feels classy."
"The screens acted as a holographic projector and a monitor. A hologram would float above the desk, words would be shown on the monitor, beneath the object. But with technology shrinking and batteries becoming rather powerful and long-lasting, most of my kind became partial to handheld devices like a Cornerian personal communicator. Holograms would show up in front of the device, or above the device when held flat."
"Corneria feels old fashion by comparison."
Krystal shook her head. "There's quite a few things Corneria has that my world either wasn't using yet or hadn't invented." She looked up at the rotunda above, staring at beautiful colorful frosted glass windows, each with artistic depictions in the quartz glass. "For example, silica-based glass. We used quartz for everything until learning we could make glass cheaper and quite strong when mixed with sapphire. We also didn't have hard-light holographic constructs, and our holograms were limited to two hundred fifty-six colors up until I was fifteen revolutions in age. Around that time, we had new technology for the emitters, which were capable of a few thousand colors. But nothing on the level of the sixteen-some-odd-million color range of a Cornerian hologram."
Fox chuckled. "Yeah, and the hard light ones that are starting to get popular … those things are supposed to be able to recreate a billion color hues."
"Mm, magnificent. That's why Farrah Fennecs looks like a live person."
Fox ran his fingers over the finish of a desk and chair, where the carbon fiber met the mahogany. "Yeah … she's … something else. Why do you think she's flirting with ROB?"
"I don't know, but they're an adorable couple."
Fox looked up at the frosted glass artwork high above. "It's neat to see that various cultures all have artists that create works of art in panels of color and light the same way."
"Yes. I remember finding your churches, dedicated to the goddess, Lylat, to be extremely fascinating because the glass art depictions reminded me of this very room."
"How, uh … how do we get to the power core?"
Krystal cleared her throat. "Right. My apologies, love. Thank you for keeping me focused. Follow me." She turned from the Senate room, exhaled, and said, "The dome, by the way, was built over this room when it was turned from a place of legislative debate and into a place of legislative creation. It became known as the Atrium of Law. The grass was replaced by flooring, and the archways were replaced by double doors. The surrounding stadium-style seating was added because it became a law that the public could sit in and spectate the creation of legislation and ensure their voted representative would continue to be the voice of the public. The public keeps politicians honest when they are only ones allowed to lobby their representatives." She headed back up the slight incline, to the end of the aisle, and through the double doors that were held open with decorative ribbon.
Fox followed her to the doorway on the east side and paused to take a closer look at the cloth used to hold the doors open. "This won't last much longer. It's rotting away. Oh, not to change the subject, but … are you ever going to teach Marcus how to read and write in your native language?"
"He already knows, Fox. We shared our memories."
"Oh, that's right. So, he learned because you know how to do it."
"Precisely."
"How many languages did Cerinia have?"
She stepped through the doorway and pointed her flashlight forward, waving it from right to left in the dark hallway. "There were fifteen distinct written languages on Cerinia." She sighed softly in remembrance. "Once, long ago, there were more, but … only fifteen unique languages remained in recent history. The one I was raised on … it was the oldest, had the largest vocabulary, and the flourish of the wording just felt so … elegant … graceful, you know, when it was spoken by someone who enunciated proper-like when they spoke."
Fox turned his light the opposite direction of Krystal, checked the empty hall, then turned the other direction and followed her. "You had to give speeches, didn't you?"
"Oi, god, yes I did. At that age, I loathed the very notion of busking for my parents' adoring fans. Once, I wore a pair of brightly colored daps, knowing it would wind up in the media. That was when I realized something important…"
"Daps … that was your people's version of sneakers, right?"
"Good on you for remembering," she said in a tone that suggested she was smiling.
Fox followed her through the pitch-black hallway. In the glow of his flashlight, he could see the steam of heat rising off of her forcefield. "So, what did you learn from wearing sneakers while giving a public speech?"
"Within days, students in several nations began wearing the same brand shoe. That's when I realized, quite starkly, that I had an immense responsibility as a representative of my nation. See, I was raised to understand that influence meant leadership, but a young girl like me? That was terrifying. That girl never saw'r 'erself as influential before that day. It was a humbling experience for me as a preteen."
Fox didn't know how to respond to the idea of her lacking confidence, since she'd been assertive since the day they met. "Heh. Your society had brand names, too, huh?"
"We did. My parents became quite busy as their influence swelled with their popularity. I grew to love the attention of their peers; I probably craved attention, m'self, since I never received enough from them, except in response to how I handed myself in public. They were quick to give me advise or praise for it, and I grew to become quite confident."
Fox couldn't help but notice that his footfalls echoed throughout the hallway but hers did not. "How are you doing that?"
She sensed the meaning of his question and said, "I didn't realize I was. I guess I fell back into old habits – I learned how to walk on the balls of my feet, so that I didn't disrupt Senate sessions. I've been roaming these halls since I was a little girl, while waiting for my parents to finish a day's lawmaking sesh." She stopped in front of a door with a sign on the front. She lifted her light, illuminating the signage. "This is it."
"This leads to the power core?"
"I should be right chuffed to share this side of me with you, Fox, but … I'm still tryin' to wrap my bloody blue bonce around it all. My … my head, I mean. I'm trying to … ugh."
"It's okay. I noticed you were starting to use your old vernacular more once we landed. Being around your old stomping grounds kind of brings it all back, huh?"
"Too right, it does." She pushed on the door, which led to stairs. "Not sure the lift has power, so … here we are." She took point, headed down the stairs, opened a door, and emerged in a subterranean hallway.
Fox was quick to note it looked like a shopping mall. "What was this place?"
Krystal pointed to a rolling door on one side of the hall. "Bureau de change." She pointed to a rolling door on the opposite side of the hall. "Building society. Next to that, a cafetière, a dosh-point – like a Cornerian ATM. Except our bank machines were bloody Heath Robinson machines by comparison." She pointed back to the other side of the hall. "Chip shop with caff…" She pointed to a smaller rolling door, adding, "Launderette for the lawmakers that couldn't make it home between sessions…" She pointed back to the left and said, "National Insurance offices, where your state-garnished earnings went into state welfare benefits, the National Health Service, the State Pension Fund, such and so-forth…"
"National Health Service?"
"The country-run healthcare system, love." She pointed at another rolling door in passing, and said, "This is a quango office. Across is the Registry Office. And next to that is where the local constabulary parked their panda cars. It comes out on a hillside, outside in the city proper."
"Panda … cars?"
"Black 'n white. We had animals, here. Anyhow, wmergency services were the only ones to use wheeled vehicles that resembled a Cornerian car. They typically held one, the driver. They had number plates on the front and back, like Cornerian license plates." She stopped in front of a door leading to another staircase, and went through.
Fox followed her downstairs.
Krystal emerged on the next subfloor down. She pointed to a small box, about two-and-a-half meters tall. "Phone kiosk. Corneria'r used to have them, but they're out of style, now."
"A phone booth? Really?"
"Really," she said, crossed the hall, opened another door and took him down another flight of stairs to a door with various signage on it.
Fox immediately recognized the symbols. "This one wants you to stay out, huh?"
"You brilliant dish. Yes, this leads to the off-limits area. I came down here as a girl, heh. I was considered mature for my age, I was a year ahead in my schooling, and was given the option to skip ahead by one more year, but asked not to take it. My parents knew I would sneak down here and the one time I was caught? Heh … I persuaded a member of the monitoring staff I was weighing whether to do a school project on the power core. Because I was undecided on it, I was persuasive enough to…" she trailed off.
Fox blinked. "What? Something wrong?"
"No, I just thought back on those days from the perspective of an adult…" She reached a paw up and brushed her fingers across the door frame, causing frosty dust to flutter down in front of her flashlight. "Here I thought I was being clever, but now that I'm emotionally and mentally mature, I think the power monitor simply trusted me to behave, so he let me stay. Looking back on it, he was probably lonely, and on a subconscious level, my visits provided company. Sometimes, we as people simply want someone to talk to, and he liked talking about trivial history facts he'd learned, and I was educated enough to reciprocate conversation on that level. Huh. Guess I wasn't clever, just well-liked."
Fox chuckled. "Isn't it funny how we look back on our youth in a new light and face palm over the stuff we did?"
"Mm, you're thinking about Andross." She stopped at the end of the door frame and pulled down a small handheld tool. She put it into the lock and turned it one way, then twisted a little, then lifted, followed by a forward thrust, guiding the tool a millimeter deeper into the lock, then she turned it with a practiced movement.
The lock provided more resistance than she remembered of it, but it still gave way.
"I used to be much better at this … it would open as smoothly as if I'd used a key. Just glad I've still got the touch." The tumbler lifted out of the groove. She pushed on the door, then slid it along its track, into the wall-pocket. "C'mon, love. I'll show you where the 'twee princess of toff' spent her afternoons when the folks were saving the world with the word of law."
Fox chuckled again. He followed her through the door.
The walls were different. They were dark, well sculpted, decorative, and elegant up on the senate level, they were white and simple in the area with the offices, but here, they were textured and covered in simple grey paint.
"Is this … concrete? Looks like cinderblock but without the mortar filling between blocks."
"Yes, we never utilized the simplicity of masonry. We made a molding of wood panels, filled it with concrete, put rebar through it while it was wet, or we put the rebar through holes in the wood panel molding, then poured the concrete. Once it was set, the wooden panels came down and they were discarded. What was left behind was a solid concrete wall. I'd never seen brickwork until arriving on Corneria."
"Funny how some things took off on both worlds, and some things happened differently."
"Mm. On me, love. This is going to be ace."
"Ace? Like an expert pilot?"
Krystal led him through the hallway to a set of doors, very simple, and very plain.
There was an accenting red stripe, roughly 10 inches thick, painted diagonally across the wall on both sides of the hall. It was a bit gaudy, and slightly fading in a few spots.
"No, Fox, it was a Cerinian word for what Cornerians mean when you say 'awesome.' Heh. Okay, here we go." She stopped at the door at the end of the hall, looked to the second door on the left, and said, "This is the monitoring office." She pointed to the door on the right and said, "Khazi … our name for a lavatory." Then she pushed on the door at the center and guided it on its rails. "And the power core's reactor chamber. Don't worry, you won't die or melt or … whatever you're worrying about right now."
"Yeah, I can't imagine it's safe standing in front of a mini-star."
"It's quite safe. It's slightly out of phrase so that it doesn't pose any danger."
The door opened and in a large square room, ahead, was a dim orange ball, floating between two round platforms, one in the floor and one above it in the ceiling. A screen mesh was in front of the floating star, which was approximately as large as a landmaster tank. It hovered in place, and the surface bubbled and swirled like molten lava.
Fox approached the mesh and rubbed his chin. "Slippy would geek out right now."
"We have time to show him."
"We do?"
"Too right we do. We may even need him down here to help me power the reactor. Then, you and I have to find that device."
Fox nodded. He reached for his communicator, expecting it to show that it had no reception, but was surprised to see it had three out of ten bars. "Slippy, come in."
"Hey, Fox. Audio only, huh? What's up?"
"I have something you're going to want to see."
"I'll suit up. Lucy will have the air breathable again in about one hour, by the way."
"Sounds good. I'm sending Krystal up to come and get you."
"Roger that!" Slippy ended the channel from his end.
"I'll only slow you down. You know these passages better than anyone. Slippy will want the tour, but he will undoubtedly forgive you for holding off on the extras until later. Pretty sure this thing is the first stop on his Wishlist anyhow."
Krystal replied with a wry grin. "It was the first stop on Andross' list of fascinations, as well. But due to security measures, he was taken to one in a city with far less people, in a remote section of the planet."
"He's going to have his mind blown when he finds out your people don't use vehicles, though."
"Well, trash is hauled on lorries and freight is moved on an articulated lorry, but, otherwise, that's correct – there are no passenger vehicles." She placed a paw on Fox's muzzle and kissed him. "See you soon, love."
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Fifteen minutes later…
Fox looked up and saw Krystal come through the door followed by Slippy, as well as Lucy and Amanda.
Lucy approached the glowing star hovering at the center of the room. "Oh, heavens, it's beautiful. This is … incredible!"
Krystal chuckled inwardly. "Sorry, Fox. They all wanted to see."
Fox said, "Hey, everyone. Lucy, when will the air be ready for your device?"
"It will launch automatically, once I send the computer a code. It is nearly completed. There's just a little more remaining to be compiled in the computer. It's finished, but it's running a series of complex computer simulations."
Fox nodded. "All right, well, I suppose, since everyone is here, and we're old school professionals, I'll leave you guys to your work. Meanwhile, Krystal and I will get started on tracking down this device based on what little information we could find on it from Sauria and Miracle. With any luck, Fara's AI program will be shooting us a message about whatever she finds in the Krazoan computer system shortly." He turned to Krystal and gestured for her to take lead. "Anywhere you want to start first?"
Krystal nodded. "There's a private research vault, things that world leadership has discovered and is still studying before releasing their findings to the citizens, whilst cataloguing…" She trailed off with a frown.
No one spoke.
Krystal cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. I'm still talking as if they're all here, alive. You'd think I'd have come to terms with this by now but, one supposes not."
Amanda quickly came to Krystal's side. "Heyyy, you've been a real trooper in the face of all this."
Lucy quickly added, "Mandy is right, Kry. You have been inspirational and so much more."
Krystal feigned a weak smile. "Thanks, both, you're lovely … I'll … I'll be all right. I just need to figure out a word track that works. I never thought in a milliard-bloody-revolutions that I would be out-numbered four-to-one on my own home world. I just need to process … that." She turned to Fox again and said, "You, with me. Can't stand around dossing all day. We're headed to the consular domus, where all the other nations' had offices, similar to planetary embassies, on Corneria. They shared a research building with my nation, which is where unreleased material and various doofers sit before being released to press and public."
Fox fell into step behind her.
X
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Meanwhile…
On Miracle…
Farrah Fennecs mockingly put an arm around Andrew's neck, pulling his head close, so that he had to hunch down to her level. She held him tightly, so that his head was against her collarbone. "Hard light constructs are your worst nightmare, aren't they?"
Andrew cleared his throat. "I have no ill-will toward you."
"Yeah, right. You're full of shit. But that's okay. This is it. The final moment. We have the computers networked to the subspace relays and I checked your work, so if it doesn't work the right way, it's my fault, not yours. I'm not Andross. I won't blame my screw-ups on your incompetence, because I inspect what I expect."
Andrew swallowed, followed by a slight nod. "Um … okay."
"And I promised your freedom if things work. I'm still keeping my word. I even told Star Fox and Star Wolf, as well as your grandfather, who is working with them, that I plan on releasing you. I suggest you remove the tracking transponder from the shuttle that I arranged to have in the area."
"You … wait, you are providing a shuttle?"
"I am. You didn't try to do anything sneaky or underhanded. You actually went above-and-beyond to try and help me. You worked hard with little sleep. I was actually surprised, so I brought an empty transport vessel here. It's fully stocked with food, the resources to synthesize drinks, and it even has a hand blaster in a lock box. Plenty of fuel, too. That is my reward to you for not once trying to sneak around and screw things up. You're either a very loyal pawn, or you've been beaten into submission one too many times. Whichever the case, you did well by me, so I'm doing well by you."
"I … I'm stunned. I'm … I appreciate that."
"Everyone loves validation. All right, Andrew. Plug the backpack you're wearing into the device you wired into the server. No use wasting any more time."
"Do you need me to stay around and…?"
"No, Andrew. I'm not going to protect you. You don't work for me. You're not my slave; I wouldn't want a lacky anyhow. Just plug in the backpack computer and I'll do the rest. Head for the shuttle. It's in the courtyard of this server room's main building … the one we crossed when the sunlight ended for the third time today."
"Oh, yes, that one. That's very close. I didn't even hear the shuttle approach."
"I had it use maneuvering thrusters to land, instead of its main booster. It was a surprise. Don't worry, it isn't boobytrapped or anything. I'm not that kind of person."
Andrew removed his backpack and placed the device into a cradle that was wired up to the servers. "All right. Good luck."
"And to you. Hurry. Just … in case. Get as far away from Lylat as you can as quickly as you're able."
Andrew nodded. He didn't say anything, he simply dashed away.
Farrah's hard light construct disappeared, and she entered the Krazoan computer network…
It took some measure of time. A progress bar appeared on a dingy screen nearby. The image was barely visible from the grime that had settled on the glass over the past two thousand years.
The Krazoan lettering began to change, slowly replaced with Cornerian alpha-numeric symbols. At about the fifty-percent mark, the lettering changed completely until it read 'progress.'
Wording showed up on the screen beneath the progress bar, which read, 'converting source code to trinary format, recompiling … warning, potential for data corruption, do you want to proceed?' Then a message flashed, saying, 'Proceeding. Stand by…" The progress bar slowly made its way to seventy-five percent.
Another message showed up beneath the progress bar, which read, 'Warning! Program attempting to override safety protocols. Potential breach of firewall detected … firewall has been disabled. User warning, software has taken control of this user station. This station is now being remotely accessed. Program 'Farrah Fennecs' has finished file transfer, and is installing to main storage device. Warning, operating system has detected source code rewriting. Warning, firmware is being rewritten. Warning, possible virus detected. Warning, no virus found. Warning, reboot in progress, starting in three, two, one…"
The computer screen went dark.
Silence.
The computer restarted, and a Krazoan logo appeared on the screen. The runic symbol rotated twice, then it faded away. A splash screen appeared on the monitor, but it was brief. A desktop showed up, with a message reading, 'File installation complete! Please confirm time and date … warning! Time and date settings are being rewritten. Warning! Four startup executable files not found. Warning! System has detected coding error in the operating system. Warning! Potentially unknown language pack found. Warning! Potentially unknown language pack has been selected and is now in use. Warning! Operating system storage device will be formatted, are you sure? Yes. Operating system storage device format in progress. Warning, kernel panic imminent! Warning, possible disk damage or error has occurred. Operating system restart may be required! Warning…!" The last warning had a black message. The monitor went dark.
Silence.
"Holy smokes!" Her voice came from the backpack on the dock, but then, abruptly, it stopped. Her voice then came from a vent on the side of the two-thousand-year-old Krazoan server. "Whoa. Dang, girl," she said to herself. "Now you're playing with power!"
Farrah's hard-light construct took form again, but in the middle of the room. She held her paws out and looked at her palms. "Whoa!" Instead of the server speaker, her voice came from the solid-light construct. It came from her muzzle." She brought her paws to her mouth. "Check, one, two … three?" She felt breath against her fingertips. "Oh, no way…"
Farrah approached the dim monitor. She touched it, and a warning was displayed, reading, 'Potentially bad boot sector. No Operating System Found!" in Cornerian on the screen.
She cleared her throat, surprised that her voice came from herself, instead of a speaker. "Holy crap. This computer rendered me with solid light vocal cords?"
Silence was her only reply.
"Oh my goddess Lylat. This computer ran the Sharp Claw army? Oh, holy crap, most of the real Sharp Claw moved to Venom, and only a handful stayed on Sauria, including Scales, and when he needed an army, Andross programed this computer to make nameless pawns to fight for scales. So, all that time, half the Sharp Claw army was just made of hard light constructs! God."
Silence.
Farrah rubbed her face as though it was the natural thing to do. "Actually, that makes sense … no wonder they disappeared when Fox McCloud defeated them, I just thought maybe someone was teleporting them away before they could die." She walked around the room, while holding her paws outward, so that she could study the detail of the fur on her solid-light body. Every strand was accounted for, it was no longer a visual trick to make her look fluffy. She really was fluffy. "So, where are the holo-emitters? Does this mean I can walk anywhere I want on Sauria and Miracle?"
Farrah lifted her chin and gazed through a cloudy window, peering outside the control room. She walked closer to the window and spun around slowly. "I can see. Like, I can actually see from the perspective of the solid light construct. But there are no camera lenses in this room … how can I see from the point of view of my holographic construct?" Her ears flickered; she heard her voice from her own ears. Her voice wasn't coming from a set of speakers. "How can I speak from this construct? Oh, my goddess, is this what it's like having a body?"
She closed her paw into a fist and mashed her claws into her palm, gently at first, then with increasing pressure.
"Oh … whoa, wait … what is that feeling? Sensation? Like … is that … normal? It sounds exactly like it's been described to me … 'a pit of weirdness in the gut.' Their words."
She could hear the hum of computers running; the cooling fans ramped up in the server units, pushing a bit of wispy dust out through the vents. She braced herself against the window frame. "Never felt … disoriented before. That's a new thing. Wait…" She furrowed her brows without even thinking about it, it came nature to her. "Holy hecking heck, there's hecking preexisting code for AI constructs in here…?!"
A frown tugged at the fennec vixen's holographic muzzle. "Oh. What a shame, their personality files are corrupted." She ran the fingers of her right paw over her left forearm, just reveling in the fact she could process what it felt like to feel something touch her, and to feel something soft beneath her fingertips. "This computer system is incredible."
Just outside, through the cloudy window, she could see a small shuttle lift off from the ground. She watched it lift into the sky, the nose lift, and then it moved forward, gaining altitude until it was gone.
Andrew left.
Farrah was alone.
The holographic fennec looked down at her palm again. She rubbed her paws together. "This is pretty amazing, not going to lie. Gonna need to share this experience with ROB. And … wait. What is that?! "
Her holographic tail fluffed up. Her ears perked and her eyes widened. "I never expected to see files for that! I need to get word to Krystal! The Krazoans protected the device with a guardian test! And now I know where it's located!" She closed her eyes and focused on accessing the subspace relay network, so that she could open a channel to Star Fox and rest of the team…
X
X
Cerinia…
Fox tensed up and looked down at his wrist. He tapped the screen of his gauntlet and blinked in astonishment as the holographic image of Farrah Fennecs appeared above his forearm.
"Hiya, Fox!" she exclaimed, her voice tinny over the small speaker built into his device. "I bet you didn't think you'd see me again quite so soon!"
Fox blinked and glanced at Krystal then back at Farrah. "You look … rendered … differently."
"Aw, you noticed! And, hey, don't talk this wrong, but man … you got old. I never noticed before. I used facial geometrics to determine who I was speaking to, but now? Now I see you. I have Fara's memories of what you used to look like. But now? Now, I can see the differences. Man. Growing old sucks. Ah well. Moving on! I've been moved to the Krazoan severs. Hey! Did you know most of the Sharp Claw soldiers you fought with your wife's battle staff were just hard-light holograms?! Cool right?!"
Fox blinked. "Well, I figured that much."
"Wait, you did? You never added that to any official report! Why not?"
Fox shrugged. "Because they disappeared when I 'killed' them. But I wanted Pepper to pay us for each enemy I dispatched. So, I counted them as 'enemies defeated,' and left it at that."
Farrah cracked up. "That's smart! Okay! So, I ran a diagnostic and went through most of the files here in these servers. I know where the device is! Or, you know, where the Krazoa put it!"
Fox stole another glance at Krystal then cut his gaze back to Farrah. "Okay, I'm ready for coordinates."
"…I'm ready for coordinates," Farrah replied in a low, husky feminine voice, as if trying to emulate Fox without simply using a recording of his voice. She shook her head. "You sound like you have no personality."
Fox blinked.
"Look, pal, I'm not your ex, and I know it bothers you that she hooked up with your kid, but that…?" She lifted her paw, suddenly holding a cup of tea, complete with steam above the liquid. "…That's none of my business." She took a slurping sip, then tossed the teacup over her shoulder. It disappeared. "Anyway, I sent a heavily modified subspace buoy through the jumpgate, and hacked the system to keep it open, so that I could tell you something important."
Krystal cut in. "We're listening."
Farrah made two guns with her fingers. "There's the voice of reason! Okay, you two, there's going to be a guardian test involved in grabbing the device. So, if it's not at the spot I've marked on your map, then look up Cerinian records of anyone who was documented to have a hallucination upon touching the device. Then you just follow that to whatever museum it's sitting in, or … whatever Cerinian customs are, and you follow the lead that way."
Fox frowned. "Can't we fine-tune our sensors to look for metal properties that are not native to Cerinia?"
"Oh! Gee! So clever, why didn't I think of that? Oh, yeah, I forgot … I did. What-in-Lylat did my biological counterpart see in you? No offense to Krystal – it's okay to like jocks, but I prefer men of substance. Men who know how to stimulate me on an emotional and intellectual level. Don't you even dare suggest that ROB64 is anything less. Anyhow, dear, metal from one world does not vibrate on a frequency that is different from another world. Maybe metal from different dimensions … maybe. I'd have to study Krystal and Marcus' battlestaff devices, side-by-side, but I haven't yet had access to scanners that detect an immediately noticeable difference. And, even if there is, there's nothing that can scan an entire planet and determine foreign metals. This isn't a sci-fi universe, it's a science-only universe. Anyhow, even if there was a very obvious difference, it's nothing your ship's scanners could detect from orbit. So … there's that."
Fox reached up with his free right hand and rubbed his forehead right above his right eyebrow. "Geez. Okay. Noted. Uh … why are you so different from Fara?"
"Because I'm not Fara. Duh. I don't paint things as a hobby. I don't buy out companies and create artificial intelligence co-pilots to help the military make good decisions, like, oh, I don't know … avoid charging in on a ship loaded with ion cannons. Good thing you saved her bacon, McCloud, or I wouldn't exist. But anyway, my point is: I just have a lot in common with her. She's my sister from an actual mister. Moving along, Fox."
He blinked twice, drew in a calm slow breath, and tried to remain otherwise stoic.
Farrah continued. "See, I'm running low on tea and you're running low on time to have more kids, ayyy." She did 'finger guns' pointed at Krystal. "Have another one, girl. Don't let the oracle decide what grandkid will suffer – pop out some more help to fight the good fight."
Krystal blinked this time. She opened her muzzle to speak but thought better on it and held her tongue.
Farrah shifted her holographic gaze back to Fox, but was looking at him from the camera lens built into his gauntlet. She said, "From what I can see, using the sensors on your new ship, you two are the only life forms on the entire planet. However, I can also tell that there's a seed vault on each continent. Each one is drawing a bit of power, making them easy to find … and if I'm translating Cerinian correctly, it looks like there is a protocol in place to automatically disperse two-thirds of the vault's contents to their localized regions. Wait until after Lucy's device refreshes the air and refreshes the o-zone layer around the planet."
Fox said, "All right. We'll find them, force our way inside, and put in whatever command is needed to get that protocol into place."
"Oh, Fox … you're with the last surviving leadership of Cerinia – she will be able to access each vault with a simple bio-scan. I suggest you take care of that before leaving. You're short on time, but not so short on time that you can't save a planet by re-seeding it. As soon as the Cerinian star heats up the surface, all the frozen water, all the fine layers of frost on everything … it's going to evaporate and it's going to rain a lot until planetary cycles balance themselves out. After that, I suggest you guys set up a repeating beacon to draw in anyone from her race, asking them to return to the planet and populate it … ask them to set down roots on their ancestral home world. Appeal to their better angels or whatever, and make sure you tell them to protect Cerinia, so that they know to work together. Just … broadcast the message with captioned audio text in all the languages her people have used. Fifteen by the looks of the files on Cerinia left on Krystal's shuttle drives. Yeah. Do all fifteen … better safe than sorry. You two can come back in a year or something; see who has returned. Bring your kid, your baby, your grandbaby…"
Fox took a deep breath, nodded, and exhaled slow and calm. "All right, I received the coordinates. If we need anything, I'll ask Slippy to open the gate from our end, and use the subspace buoy that you sent through to reach out to you."
"Good, good. Very good, for goodness sake." Farrah turned to Krystal again, paws on her hips. "Bioscans show that you, on the cusp of fifty, are still eighty-to-ten years from menopause. Cerinians certainly have a long breeding period compared to Cornerians. Make use of that. You want Marcus and his kids fighting this nonsense alone? You want to never have the experience of raising an ungrateful teenager, since missing out on time with your only son's teen years? Girl, your eggs are viable, and your plumbing is healthy. Get your tail up, and get those eggs fertilized. Hell, do it here. What better place to conceive a baby than your home, right?"
Krystal and Fox looked at one another.
"Okay, okay. Maybe it's a bit of a mood killer to have sex in a frozen wasteland filled with a few billion bodies. Forget Cerinia. But you could have the baby here. Make it the first child born on Cerinian soil in ages. Could be a big deal. Just … whatever. Landmark occasion thinking, okay?"
Krystal exhaled through slightly clenched teeth. "With all due respect, if you want me to treat you like a person and not a machine, then don't be offended when I tell you what I'd say to anyone else in this situation … mind your own business."
"Yeah, okay. That's fair. I overstepped. Still learning social skills and all that jazz. Okay, bye!" Farrah moonwalked away, looking as though she was dancing her way backwards until she was no longer seen above Fox's gauntlet. She disappeared. The call ended.
Fox dropped his wrist and turned to Krystal. "Can you imagine if she was a real person?"
"Oh, heavens, Fox. She has access to computer systems – including your gauntlet. Be nice. She will hear you."
Fox cringed. "Right. So. Uh … back to the shuttle." He pinch-zoomed the small screen on his gauntlet and announced, "Looks like the burial site is at the equator. Not far, but still too far to walk. Let's hope we don't need an excavator to find it, because we don't have anything like that on the new ship, and I'd hate to consider using any weaponry that might make the location collapse, or that might damage the device."
Krystal nodded with a frown. "Cerinian cities have all the necessary equipment, but I'm not experienced in operating such equipment in a manner that would prevent damaging, say, an antechamber. Slippy, however, would likely be very helpful in that department."
Fox rubbed his chin. "Yeah, he's a careful guy, and he's good at finessing large machinery. It wouldn't take him long to learn the controls of an excavator. All right. Let's reach out to Slippy and the girls; let's coordinate, so we can all meet at the location."
Krystal flashed him a slight smile and headed for the shuttle. "I'll call them. You take a minute to get your head sorted. That girl, AI or not, got in your head pretty bad, Fox. Don't let her. C'mon. This way…"
"The idea of having another kid … I wasn't prepared to hear that. I can't imagine being on approach to the age of sixty with a toddler climbing all over me."
"Actually, I don't … hate the idea."
Fox rubbed his chin as they walked together back toward the shuttle, atop the Senate Building. "I'm going to live to a-freakin-hundred-and-ten, so … I'm only middle-aged right now. I could pull it off if you really want to try it."
Krystal reached for his paw and interlaced her fingers. "She's right … she did her research. I'm younger in Cerinian years. I still have eight-to-ten years left before my body would likely go into menopause. I still want to mother a baby again. I haven't told anyone that … I've kept those feelings locked up in the back of my mind, but … holding Jaye last year … it was something I very much enjoyed."
Fox gave her paw a squeeze. "If you want one more, we'll have one more."
Krystal grinned in a giddy way. "All right. Mission first."
"Mission first," said Fox with a firm nod.
X
X
Author's Note: Oh lawd. Another kid! Well, in the last book, when Marcus met the Oracle in a dream, she did mention to him that his parents were deeply moved by the birth of their 'first child.' Oh snap.
His reply was, 'you say that as if I had brothers or sisters, but I don't…' lmao. SO, I GUESS WE WILL SEE! Okay, thanks for reading! Moving on to finding the device next!
