Chapter 1

It was nice to be back in a place with a secure barrier around it, for after the run-in with the phantoms in the crater, he was sure that even if they were back to normal he wouldn't want to live anywhere without a shield. After his experience in New York he was very shaken, mentally. After seeing all those people, dead, just because the barrier failed had really gotten to him.

He took a deep sigh, enjoying the feel of the blanket touching his flesh again. It had been over 52 hours that he hadn't gotten any sleep (he had kept careful count), and it was starting to get to him. After all that happened in New York, with the Zeus, the Phantoms, Gaia… It was all too much to just fall asleep to. He knew his dreams were going to be haunted for many months after what happened in the New York Shelter.

But as he closed his eyes, he heard a familiar beep reach his ears, buzzing loudly and obnoxiously. It was the type of alarm that made fear come to you, but it was so quite it was a wonder. Maybe it was for what it stood for; danger.
Dr. Sid got to his feet and tiredly walked into the main room with the scanners, where the high-pitched and rather irritating warning beep was coming from. He pressed a button on the side of the wall and the sound was disengaged, leaving the blissful silence.

Dr. Sid pressed a pale hand onto the smooth metal surface of the scanners to keep his balance as his body called for sleep, looking down with wide gray-blue eyes. The first thing that caught his eye was the flashing red light, blinking nonstop as it signaled a warning, then his eyes traveled to the scanner, which showed in interior of the crater, which the phantoms long ago had burrowed into for safety.

Now Gaia was turning the dark blood red, as it did when the phantoms infected it. From what he could see there were creatures forming from the core out, crawling the rock walls. For some reason, some of them were the healthy blue, but others, but most where the grotesque red. But… they were not all phantoms. Most of them were the dark red, but about 1 out of every hundred were blue; bad odds.

He furrowed his brows in confusion, "What is going on?" He whispered to the air.

Suddenly, as if time stopped, he was aware of the smells, the coldness, the tiredness, the feel of the metal on his palms, the glow of the computers, the very taste of air. All his senses seemed heightened at the sudden anxiety of another danger to Earth's spirit, but in a moment's time his senses dulled.

He knew this was the same feeling that overcame him when the phantoms had first broken through the New York barriers for unknown reasons. It was the sudden awareness at how slow time seemed to move in the face of fear.

He looked on the scanners, tapping a few of the keys to scan one of the new phantoms; but as he looked a pond it, he felt his blood turn cold. It was a human spirit, glowing the same dark blood red of the phantoms…

"How can this be?" He asked as he scanned another life form; the next was what he assumed was a bear, but it glowed Gaia's light blue, "That's impossible…"

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Theories were running around his mind as he tried to sleep, but none seemed too logical. The scanners weren't doing a lot of help, due to the fact that some were damaged when he crashed back at the entrance to Gaia. He didn't have the internal scanner anymore, but only the one that would track people, but not be able to tell you medical condition or blood type, or anything internal. And it only showed the layout of their body, so you couldn't even identify them.

Normally he would have one of his assistants help him, but as far as he knew they were all dead after the attack, or *accidental invasion* on the New York Shelter. And that had irritated him to no end, for he knew it was impossible for the phantoms to form immunities against the barriers. They had to go around them, and the only way they could have done that was someone powering down a sector, which he didn't doubt; he already had several people in mind that would have done that for use of the Zeus Cannon, but he was very sure they were all dead by now, and that included that dreadful General Hein.

The council had given the access codes as a last resort, maybe because of their own feelings, maybe because it was most logical. None of them had believed in Gaia, to his knowledge. Most had seemed skeptical at the very idea, but who knows. Though the council had started with eight, it now only held six; whoever let the phantoms into the city had made the biggest mistake in man-kind, besides the mistake of firing the Zeus Cannon straight into Gaia without knowledge.

Humans were so naïve sometimes…

After all the work they had put into saving Gaia, the lives of Neil, Jane, Ryan, Gray… it was all for nothing, as they were faced with the another predicament, one that was probably more dreadful then the first. They were just repeating themselves again, but this time it wasn't going to be as easy.

He closed his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh; after all that difficult work, this is all they were repaid; another dangerous mission, where people would most likely die, maybe even in the same numbers as the last time, or maybe even more. There might be a risk of losing Gaia all together if they didn't get the lost spirit waves in time, thank Gaia he still had three. All of eternity would be made into one hell of angry spirits, with nothing to live by. It would be the same fate of the alien world, maybe even worse, because they couldn't get to another planet and someone help them find a new spirit wave, and even if they did, it would take hundreds of years of suffering just to get there.

The three remaining spirit waves, the phantom, Aki and the oval pack, were as safe as can be, but there was still a matter of the other five spirits he would need to compensate for the ones lost in that dreadful crash that had also damaged the ship, scanners and almost everything else important. Now he would have to send Aki off to go get more, which was unfair after all the hard work she'd done over the last few months.

After the loss of all her good friends, this was the last thing she needed. But maybe it would be easier, with Hein out of the picture and not manipulating the council. He had been the one that had almost cost them their lives. He guessed that he was only acting logically, but… it still didn't help the fact that if it weren't for him, Gray wouldn't have had to sacrifice his life.

Aki also didn't have any help this time after the death of everyone back in New York, which was currently being leveled so they could start rebuilding. Thinking of that, he realized he had to tell the council not to lower the barriers; they would have to know about the new phantoms, or whatever they were.

But without Aki's dreams to guide them, he wasn't sure what he would have to do to defeat this new enemy; he probably wouldn't even know why they were back, ever, without her dreams. He couldn't have her infected by a phantom, for it was too much of a risk.

This was going to be very complicated…

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"Gaia is in need of our help," Was the first thing to come from Dr. Sid's mouth that morning. Dr. Aki Ross had entered the room, dressed in her usual Grey ensemble, when Dr. Sid had informed her of the news.

"Help?" She asked, seating herself in the metal chair next to him and setting her fierce brown gaze on his blue one, "What kind of help do you mean?"

Sid shut his eyes and tapped his fingers against the cold, metal arm of the chair. It only took one glance to tell he was nervous, and obviously very disturbed from the news.

"Aki, I know you're still upset over the loss of Gray," She looked away at the mention of him, "but...you need to see what's happening. Look outside. Gaia, for some strange, unknown reason, is falling apart and…"

Aki fell silent, frowning, searching Sid's wary face for some answers, but when he said nothing more, she got frustrated.

"And what?" She snapped, "What do you mean, it's falling apart?! How can it fall apart!? This is Gaia, Dr. Sid! It's like...the perfect place to live! It's perfect serenity! You explain to me how something so beautiful, so..." she paused, as if to stop tears from coming, "So...perfectly wonderful is in such horrible danger that it needs our help. I thought it was supposed to be..."

Sid held up a single hand to silence her. "Hush, Aki. Relax. I don't know all the answers, so don't ask me. I don't know why Gaia is falling apart and creating new phantoms, but we're going to have to get working if we want to find out why." Dr. Sid rose from his seat, peering over the large control desk in the operations room in which he and Aki sat.

From the main control panel in the Denver Shelter, he could see as far as Gaia would let him, as far as the horizon would let him view.

And if he didn't know there was something very wrong, something so...deadly, Sid himself would have considered this place a safe haven, a perfect place to live. But it was not. Something was terribly wrong; and it was up to him and Aki to find out what it was, and stop it.

Since that horrible night the Phantoms had been destroyed, Aki had been feeling a terrible loss, such as no one had ever felt before. The crater that the piece of the Phantom planet had left had been filled with a beautiful lake, surrounded by beautiful wildflowers and lush grass, such as was the rest of Gaia. All beauty, pure...happiness to anyone that came across it.

Aki stood up and stopped behind Sid, crossing her arms fiercely. "Tell me what you know, and I'll do my best to get rid of it. We fought hard for Gaia, found it, and I don't want to lose it when we've barely come to know it as our home. Now, Dr. Sid, tell me, please. What can I do?"

Sid sighed deeply, and placed his gentle, worn hands on the control panel. "Aki, I know you're anxious, but...we must do more research," he said calmly.
Aki was furious. "No! Dr. Sid! Tell me what you know! I don't CARE if you need to do more research! By then it might be too late!" she cried. "This is Gaia! Our...safe haven! We can't sit back and watch it be devoured by something we don't even know! Tell me, what can I do?!"

Sid sighed once more, shaking his head sadly, "Aki...it appears we're going to need to find five new spirit waves," he explained slowly, opening his dulling blue eyes and gazing at the metal floor beneath his feet.

Aki suddenly went very pale, "What? More waves?" she asked, her voice down to a low unbelieving whisper.

He nodded, "Yes. And it will take awhile to find them in a place this big. You must understand that in the crash, after the projection of the waves we lost five of them because of the damage on the ship. The only ones we have remaining are the one from you, one from the pack, since we still have that and the one from the Phantom, one because you always will have the wave, being you and the phantom wave went straight into you chest plates. If you seriously want to help, then I suggest you take the Transporter out and the scanner, and search for a wave. Anything the scanner will pick up."

"How will it know?" Aki asked, glancing at her hands as Sid handed her the tiny metal device.

Dr. Sid gestured to the device with his eyes; "I've programmed it to recognize helpful specimens. It recognizes Gaia is in need of help, so it will guide you. Trust in this device, it won't let you down. It never has."

Aki nodded, and left the room. Whatever this thing was that was destroying her home, her new found home, she had to find it-and destroy it.

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Chapter 1 by Raine editted by Severus

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