Chapter 5

It didn't take long for Hototo's human friends to notice his absence. Kosame was the first to express concern as they were getting ready to leave Amtor's. Talos suggested that they ask around the club to see if anyone saw where he went; the only person who knew anything was the jango bouncer. "Your friend left with Dita to attend another party downtown. She's a good kid, she'll have your boy back before dawn." As you might've expected, this was little comfort to Kosame and the others. They all knew that Hototo wasn't a little kid anymore, but as a teenager, he could still easily get himself into trouble. Sensing how distressed his guests were, Talos said he would have the city guards conduct a search to help them find the boy. "I'll be sure to inform you the instant they find something" he said, "but for now, I'd advise you all to return to my house; that's the place he's most likely to go if he's looking for sanctuary." Kosame didn't like the idea of sitting idly by while someone he thought of as a surrogate son was in potential danger, but he had to admit there was logic in Talos's strategy. So, the four humans reluctantly joined the prime minister and his wife as they took a ride back home; hoping that their young friend would be found and safely brought back to them so they could all go home together.

When Hototo woke up, he found himself encased in what looked & felt like spider's silk. Despite that, he was still able to breathe and thus felt no urgency to free himself from the webbing. With some minor difficulty, he managed to pull his cocoon apart. The very first thing he noticed was that the stab wound between his rib cage and belly button had completely vanished as if it had never been. He was still a little woozy as he tried to stand up; when he looked around, he saw that he was in a large cavern in which there were dozens of other cocoons of varying sizes just like the one he had broken out of. "If you were thinking of opening one of those to see who is inside, please do not" said Juno as she entered the chamber wearing more casual clothes. "Some take longer to heal than others and opening them too early will disrupt the process." He had a feeling that's what the silk was for, since his wound was seemingly healed overnight. "So this place is like an infirmary?" He asked; "of a sort" Juno replied. "All these people are Silver Comet warriors, their loved ones, and supporters of the cause. When critically wounded, they are taken before Dita's Hive Mother just like you were, and she wraps them up in a chrysalis made of her saliva." Hototo couldn't help but cringe at the thought of being basically spat on, (even if it did save his life). Juno then walked over to one of the larger cocoons in the chamber. "This one is my brother, Heracles" she said sitting down next to it. "He has been recovering here for about five months now. Sometimes I come in just to hear his heartbeat, to make sure that he's still hanging on." Hototo saw the tears beginning to form in her eyes, she was still smiling but it was the kind one puts on when they're trying to be brave. He wanted to comfort her but wasn't sure what to say, so he simply put his hand on her shoulder and said nothing. Wherever she was mentally in that moment, she suddenly snapped back to reality as if she had just remembered something. "Oh, we must go see Dita, she will be exceedingly happy to see you have fully recovered." Before Hototo could say a word, Juno picked him up like a football and bolted out of the chamber.

Hive Mother was still occupying the large cavern that Hototo first met her in, but now there was a lot more selenites about then there was before. Among them was none other than Dita herself; she immediately handed off the large egg she was holding to another selenite and ran off to meet him and Juno. "I'm so glad you're okay Hototo!" She said as she nearly knocked him over with a hug. "It is a good thing that Faye is not here, or she would make kissy faces in response to your joyous embrace" Juno said with a giggle. Dita shot her a grumpy look, but the blush on her face betrayed her. After laughing a little herself, Hive Mother said; "you're fortunate that knife didn't pierce your heart young man. If it had, Dita and her friends may not have reached me in time, even with my telepathic guidance." The word "telepathic" gave Hototo pause; "is that what Dita meant when she said she had linked up to you?" he asked as she released him. "Why yes" Hive Mother replied, "you see, I share a mental connection to all my offspring. It helps me keep track of them at all times. And if I or any of my children need help, I can send out a psychic distress signal which will draw in any of my children who might be nearby or beam a mental map into their heads to guide them to their nearest sibling, or to me in your case." Seeing other selenites tending to Hive Mother's eggs and larvae made Hototo remember his own found family, and he was certain that they were worried sick about him. "Not to worry Hototo" said Juno, "I can easily return you to your friends, or at least back to Maggus City where they can more easily find you." "You mean, we're not in Maggus City now?" He asked, now expressing a little more concern than before. "No, we're currently in one of the many secret passageways that connect all of Quasar's 7 sectors," said Dita. "My ancestors have been using them for millions of years. Not even the government knows about these tunnels, so they're the perfect place for us rebels and outcasts to hide." Once he thought about it, it made perfect sense. A resistance would need a secret system of hideouts, entrances, and exits (like the one in that basement club) to keep going. "Anyway, like Juno said, she can get you back into the capital. Unless Dita wants to take you there instead" said Hive Mother with a raised eyebrow. Juno, knowing that her friend would be too bashful to admit she would like to be alone with Hototo; said that she would happily take on Dita's larva duties while she took Hototo back to Maggus City. "Is that okay with you Dita?" Said Hive Mother; clearly having fun with the situation. Dita indeed felt embarrassed by Juno and Hive Mother's smug awareness, but she silently nodded yes, and took Hototo by the hand; while he wondered how long it would take to get back to his friends.

Little did he know, was that his friends were already growing tried of just sitting around waiting for word of his "rescue." They were all gathered in Appare's room trying to stay optimistic about the situation, but after staying up all night it grew harder and harder to suppress their worry. "I say we take matters into our own hands," said Al; "let's get out there and look for him ourselves, that's what he'd do for any of us." Normally Kosame would have reservations about such a proposal, but because it was Hototo's safety at stake, he agreed without any hesitation. They were just about to leave when suddenly Talos and Orin appeared on the other side of the door. "I'm sorry Captain, but the city guards have still found no trace of your young cadet" said Orin with the thinly veiled disdain of a person talking to someone who had lost a pet that they didn't like. "They were able to confirm that bouncer's story that he went to a party. But he vanished after a fight broke out." This of course raised the anxiety of our heroes, but none of them expressed this beyond widened eyes because they were already committed to finding him. "Well we were actually just about to conduct our own search" said Kosame, taking a little pleasure in the shocked look Orin flashed him. Talos could sense the tension building up between the two men, and quickly interjected. "While I of course sympathize with your concerns, I've personally come for a different reason; to seek the aid of your captain. I've unfortunately fallen behind schedule on my latest project, and I could really use a man of your genius to help me get things moving again. So what do you say Captain Sorano, care to lend me a hand?" Appare couldn't help but be entranced by his offer, but he knew that the safety of his friends took precedence over assisting the advancement of alien technology. "It's okay Appare; you can stay with the Prime Minister while wego out and look for Hototo" said Jing, knowing that Appare really wanted to stay and help Talos. "And besides, at least one of us should stay here just in case Hototo finds his own way back." For some reason, Orin and Talos looked at each other and expressed nervousness. "If you must go, I humbly insist that my robot Septimius serves as your guide. With all do respect; you're strangers in this world, you could easily stumble into worse trouble then your friend." "Oh, they can handle themselves" said Appare dismissively; "besides, I'd like to study & catalog Septimus's inner workings more thoroughly, if that's alright with you?" Talos, at first seemed uneasy at Appare's suggestion, but agreed to his request after a brief moment of contemplation; even hand-waving away Orin before he could offer an objection. "Come and find us if we don't return with Hototo by nightfall Appare," said Kosame. "Or when the mushroom turns blue" Jing added with a laugh.

Appare waved goodbye to his friends as they left the room and made their way down the hall to the front door. "Well then, now that that's settled. Captain, would you like to accompany me to the ministry of science?" Asked Talos. "Of course" Appare answered, "especially if other robots will be there. Just let me grab my tool-bag." He then quickly ducked back into his room, grabbed his tools, and started making his way to the garage at a much faster walking speed than Orin or Talos. This was actually a good thing for the two azurite men, because Orin wished to speak to his prime minister in private. "I don't like it Sir" he whispered, "you saw how Captain Sorano allowed his subordinates to act upon their own will; without supervision no less. It isn't right! Leaving a bunch of underlings alone to their devices, I assure you Mr. PM, no good will come of this." "Calm yourself Orin" Talos responded; "yes, I too am concerned that his crew is free to sniff about without their leader to keep them in line. But I choose to look on the positive side of things; I have Captain Sorano right where I want him. He's going to help me finish my secret weapon, and if his crew strays into just the right spot, they could lead us straight to Silver Comet's main hideout." "I don't know Sir; Thun and his savage guerrillas could woo the aliens over to their side before we can reach them" said Orin. "Don't count on it, Thun is more likely to kill them all on sight," said Talos with a wink. "Even if the terrorist escape to fight another day, the general public is bound to turn against them for slaughtering our peaceful Gaian friends." "Ah!" Said Orin with a knowing smirk. "If nothing else, it'll certainly cement Captain Sorano's allegiance to you." "Exactly" said Talos; "you go on ahead and tell the captain I'll be along shortly, I just have to take a brief group video call with a few of my business colleagues." It was noticeable that he sounded much less enthusiastic then he did a second ago. But Orin obeyed and tried to catch up with Appare, while Talos continued on to his office.

Immediately; Kosame, Jing, and Al went downtown to try and find wherever the party was that Hototo ran off to attend. The residents who were actually willing to talk to them knew what he looked like due to seeing him on the news, but none of them knew where the club was or where he disappeared to. Word must've gotten around because after about 30 minutes of searching, an employee from the club came up to them on the street claiming she knew how they could find him. "Take the green bus to the town of Geo in the Gamma sector. Once you're there, ask around for a man called The Bishop. In addition to hosting a popular radio show, he also runs a program to find and help missing young-people. If you can get him to lend his assistance, your friend is as good as found." So that's exactly what they ended up doing; Thuvia had lended them some Quasarian money to help them get around, so despite not being able to read any of the alien signs at the bus station, they successfully bought their tickets and boarded the bus they needed to with some help from a few good Samaritans. Needless to say, all the other passengers stared at our heroes nearly all the way, and while this made them a little uncomfortable, they were too focused on the mission to give it much thought. Geo was a vast departure in appearance compared to Maggus City. Aside from the occasional hovercraft and/or robot, it looked like any other town you'd see while driving through western New York. There were however much more people getting around on creatures that were shaped like horses, but their heads were like those of rhinos, and even had horns like rhinos. Once again, the townspeople stopped and stared at our heroes as they got off the bus, but gave them space to walk around as they began their search for The Bishop. An azurite who appeared to be in his late 40's approached them on one these rhino-like creatures; sensing they were in need of help. He had a sword on his hip, but assured them that they could trust him; "I'm a deputy to the local sheriff, how can I help you?" He asked politely. "We're looking for our friend who went missing" Kosame answered; "we were told to look for a bishop in this area who could help us." Suddenly the deputy's expression shifted from friendly to stern. "Whoever you talked to has misinformed you. The Bishop is a heretic and propaganda hustler, as well as Belik Thun's top advisor." The three humans were dumbstruck, and began to wonder why that girl told them to seek out such an apparently dangerous man? And more importantly, why didn't Talos or Thuvia warn them about The Bishop? "Don't worry gaians, Sheriff Ayers should be in his office at this time of day; he'll be happy to help. Come with me, I'll show you the way." It didn't take long for them to reach the sheriff's office, but when they got there the azurite deputy lead them to a small empty room to wait for Sheriff Ayers while he finished up some paperwork. "He should be here shortly" the blue man said as he moved towards the light-switch, "But we won't be." Before Al could even begin to wonder what he meant by that, the deputy flipped the switch and the floor instantly dropped out from underneath them, causing them to fall into the dark pit below.

The drop wasn't far enough to harm Al, Kosame, and Jing, but once the trap-door above them resealed itself, they were in absolute darkness. "Where is that rotten two-faced blue devil!" Al growled as he gingerly rubbed his head. "Right here" the deputy said, "along with some good friends of mine." Suddenly 4 human shaped lights turned on at once, and the humans quickly discovered that they were surrounded: by azurites, hisuians, selenites, jangos, and saber-boks. All of them with drawn bows pointing at them. "I'm sorry about the harsh methods used to bring you here, but when one of our informants told us that the gaians were looking for The Bishop, we wanted to make sure you reached him with out being followed. He's a very private person you know." Jing, Al, and Kosame were a little confused; "then why did you say all those terrible things about him, like how he's in league with Belik Thun?" Ask Kosame. "Because it's true, he is Thun's top advisor. I only said that reactionary crap in public to avoid suspicion" the deputy answered. Again our human adventurers were taken aback, it hadn't even been an hour since they left the city and already they'd fallen into the clutches of the infamous warlord, who might not be the monster they've been lead to believe. "While I personally don't care for his religious beliefs, The Bishop really does run a program to find and rescue missing kids & teens. We can take you to him, on the condition that you be blindfolded so you can't know exactly where our secret base is" said the deputy. His allies had lowered their arrows and even relaxed their bowstrings, but Kosame, Al, and Jing were still wary. After huddling up to discuss their options in secret for a minute; Jing said "we'll go with you, but we have our own conditions. Once we have Hototo back in our company, we want safe passage back to Maggus City. My friends and I just want to return to our home planet, so you have my word we won't tell the Prime Minister or his constituents anything of what we might see at your base." "Your terms are acceptable" the deputy responded, and once the humans were blindfolded the party started making their way through the tunnels. As they went, the deputy asked Kosame "you said your friend's name was Hototo didn't you? Because I remember my son Tars mentioning a brave young man by that name. Perhaps he can help too." "We could use all the help we can get" Kosame responded.

Right around the same time, Hototo and Dita were slowly and quietly traversing another tunnel miles away from Geo, trying to get back to Maggus City. Eventually the silence grew awkward and they both knew it, both tried speaking at once but Hototo let her go first. So she asked him what his life was like on Earth. "Well for one thing we don't live underground, it's safe for us to live on surface so we can experience a lot of things you can't down here: wind, rain, and the rising & setting of the Sun." "Well I don't know what rain is, but we do get breezes down here and we can see the sun if we choose to go to the surface" Dita said with a playful sassiness. "You haven't seen it from Earth" Hototo continued; "the Sun's light is so powerful there, it completely conceals the stars under a veil of light-blue sky during the day. Now how can I explain what rain is like; imagine millions of tiny drops of water falling down from above. Most people back home don't like the rain, but my little sister loves it. Whenever there's a storm she'll run around jumping in puddles and getting absolutely drenched, much to Mom's dismay. You know, it's kinda funny how being in a world devoid of something you took for granted in your own, can cause you to gain a new-found appreciation for it." Dita was mesmerized by Hototo's description of Earth. She wished that Maggus City was still 100 miles away so she could listen to him talk about his home planet for hours. But she knew they were getting close, and they would soon have to part ways. So she wanted to say something meaningful before he went back to his fellow humans.

"I never did thank you for saving me back at the club, it was simultaneously the noblest and stupidest thing anyone's ever done for me, especially considering that you could've died" she said shyly. "Well since your mom saved me in return, let's say we call it even?" He said with a sheepish grin. "I like to think it's what my father would've done if he was still alive." Dita was shocked by the sudden shift in the conversation's tone, but Hototo didn't notice her changing facial expression and kept going. "He was killed trying to protect me, and my mom & sister; when evil white men came to drive us off our land." Dita was puzzled by the phrase "white-men," but Hototo quickly explained that they aren't really white like selenites are, but more like the complexion of his friend Al. "Maybe that's why I felt such an instant connection to you" said Dita. "Both your people and mine have been robbed of our ancestral homes; what a terrible thing to have in common huh?" She finished with a half-hearted chuckle. Hototo took one of her four hands in his own; as he anticipated, it was smooth, and firm like fine china, yet warm. "There are other things we have in common" he said reassuringly. "We're both brave; you probably risk your life everyday being associated with Silver Comet, I risked my life just to come your planet. We both have a strong sense of duty to our friends & families. That's why you're helping , and why I need to get back to my crew. And best of all, we both tend to act recklessly" he said shaking his head as if chastising himself. "I ran away from home to avenge my father when I was only 11 years old; not one of smartest moments, but it lead to me finding my friends I came to the Moon with. Kosame, the tall one is more like a second dad than anything. And you took a chance by inviting me to that party when you didn't even know me. Sure I got stabbed, but you were worth it. If I had to do this all over again, I wouldn't change a thing." Hototo breathed a subconscious sigh of relief; he thought talking to this girl would tough, but for some reason he felt like he could talk to her about anything. He wanted to talk to her about everything, and so did she. "Speaking of acting recklessly" said Dita, as she took his other hand into her bottom left. He knew what was going to happen as soon as she finished her somewhat cheesy segue, but he didn't care, he wanted what was coming. And even if he had felt like poking fun at her, she was already kissing him before he could say another word anyway. Her lips were surprisingly soft and human like compared to the rest of her body, and had the faintest taste of honey on them. After the initial surprise, he closed his eyes and melted into the kiss. Her first pair of arms gently cradled his lower jaw in her warm, delicate hands. While her second pair wrapped themselves around Hototo's waist to pull him in closer. They both separated at the same time, and gazed into each other's eyes for about 15 seconds. "That was the best kiss I've ever received" said Hototo, "same here" Dita replied. "At least now you'll have something to remember me by" she said, still holding onto him. "Yeah, I hope it was as memorable for you as it was for me" Hototo responded.

It took them a few more minutes to reach the hatch that would put him back in Maggus City. Neither he nor Dita were as melancholy about it as you might've thought; largely because of the kiss they just shared, but also because they both understood they had more pressing obligations they were devoted to. Plus Dita said she wanted to make sure he got to the Prime Minister's house safely. "Don't worry about me, I'm an expert at getting around the city without being spotted" she said pointing at herself full of pride. "Alright if you insist" Hototo responded while shrugging his shoulders. He couldn't help but stare at her perfectly sculpted bottom as she bent over to open the hatch, but she didn't mind, she even swished her hips a little to tease him. When the hatch opened Hototo saw they were in a gap between two buildings in the same roundabout that he and his friends flew over on their first day in the Moon. He waited for Dita to come out after him and close the hatch behind her; miraculously, once it was closed it blended into the scenery to the point where you'd never know it was there. The selenite girl took his hand as she stealthily moved through shadows of the alley, but stopped a few feet before the street. She then whispered directions that would get him back to the Opal House. "Just go up the street that the Xergiok statue's back is facing, you'll reach the Prime Minister's house in about 15 minutes." She offered one of her free hands to Hototo to shake goodbye, but he didn't want to leave on a handshake. He grabbed her hand and pulled her in for another kiss. However this one felt a lot more bittersweet than the first one; probably because the notion that these two might never see each other again had fully dawned on them. He felt certain that he had spoiled the moment, and decided to get going before he made it worse. But as he stepped out into the street, he noticed his own face on the square's jumbotron. It was another news reel; this time about the events at club that started this whole quagmire. "Maggus City guards continue their search for the Gaian boy who went missing after a violent riot broke out in an underground nightclub downtown" said the newscaster. "If witnesses are to be believed, the boy has gone rogue and joined the deadly terrorist organization Silver Comet." The news then cut to the three azurite boys who started the fight, who proceeded to give a very one-sided account of the event. Hototo quickly ducked back into the shadows of the alley, hoping that no pedestrians spotted him. "Damn those lying jerks!" He cursed under his breath, "how am I going to get to friends now?" "Actually you don't have to" said Dita, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention. "I just got a telepathic message from one of brothers in the Gamma sector. He says that your friends went looking for you, and were intercepted by some of The Bishop's men. I am to bring you to our main hideout so you can meet up with them there." Hototo was puzzled, excited, and relieved all at the same time: puzzled from wondering who The Bishop was, excited with the prospect of seeing Silver Comet's headquarters, and relieved that he would get to spend more time with Dita. "Come" she said, "we'll go back through the hatch door. A hover barge is coming to meet us, they'll take us the rest of the way." Just as quickly as they crawled into the alley, Dita reopened the hatch via secret button, and she and Hototo crawled back into the tunnel from which they came.