You Are Who You Were.
Chapter Three: Uncovering the Past.
The Ranger's Star Cruiser landed in the soft, fine sand of the desert planet, Lego Ego. The engine's landing rockets threw sand up everywhere, creating a swirling cloud of dust covering their ship. They waited a few minuets for the sand to settle back into it's spinning ocean before opening the hatch and stepping foot back on the planet for the second time. It was just how they left it after Darkmatter's attack. The peaks of tents poking their heads from the sand were the only things left on the surface now. All work and tools were covered up in grit, it looked almost as if no one had ever put a foot on the surface before today.
"This brings back so many bad memories," XR commented as he looked about waiting for the rest of them to join him on the surface.
"Ya, but at least this time it should be nice, I think anyways," Mira commented. She smeared a bit of tanning lotion across her cheeks to protect her skin from the suns harsh violent rays.
"I know, this adventure is going to be neat'O!" Booster chimed out with cheer. Mira smiled at her partner's optimism while XR growled at the thought. "A mystery to solve will be so cool!"
Buzz walked up behind his team and surveyed the area along with them as well. He took in every detail, remembering the first time he met Lex. The way she had scolded him for landing his ship too near the dig site, ahh that was when he knew she was the one for him. So fiery, so take charge, the intelligence shining in her eyes! And she had looks to kill too. She wasn't some damsel in distress, she could hold her own, he liked the independent woman as to the whiny helpless kind. She was unlike any other, and she didn't yell at him for stupid things like Ozma either, she respected him as a human, an equal.
"Yes Booster, and," he sighed, "And hopefully we'll be able to give Lex a peaceful night's rest too." He turned his head to see lex climbing down from the hatch. He smiled as his heart filled with the same feelings as the first time he saw her. He stood at attention with his hands behind his back waiting for her. "Well do you approve of my landing this time Miss. Morgans?"
She smiled laughing at his question, "Yes, just perfect Captain Lightyear." Lex was the only one dressed for the occasion, the rest were bonded to wear the uniform of the Rangers. She was allowed to wear her baggy shorts, hiking boots, and tank top, keeping cool and comfortable. Her hair was tied back in a pony tail to keep her long hair off her neck and cool.
But it wasn't too horrid for the others since the Ranger's uniforms where equipped with a cooling system just for occasions like these. They were pretty much comfortable for the most part.
"Mmm, reminds me of our first date," Buzz cooed grabbing Lex and pulling her towards him.
Lex playfully escaped his grasp, "As romantic as that thought is Buzz, we've never been on an official date."
"Never?" Mira gasped joining the conversation.
"Ever?" Booster joined in.
Buzz blushed guiltily. He kicked the sand around the ground, embarrassed, "Well things have been busy, and umm well."
"Buzz I'll take a rain check on that date OK? Now let's just try and figure out what is going on with me," Lex spoke up. She saved Buzz from a tough spot. He was a bit shy in telling them that they had never technically been on a date, they weren't exactly a normal couple but he had intentions to change that soon.
"Yes, good idea," Buzz changed the subject, "Alright troops let's haul out. If there is someone on this planet trying to make contact with us, we'll find them." he looked to Lex smiling, vowing that he would solve this riddle at all costs, they weren't going to go home empty handed, these restless nights came to an end right now.
The Rangers and Lex walk on through the endless sands for hours searching for any clues.
The sun beat down on them, baking them with it's damaging rays. Booster was sweating like a hog, and Mira's yellow looked like it hurt. Buzz was looking tired himself, but denied any fatigue. XR's gears whined from the sand building up inside his innards, jamming up systems, he constantly had to stop every so often to scrape out the grit. Lex was the better of the five people, she was used to surviving in hostel environments, from deserts to forests to even under water. She had no problems with keeping up through the sun and the heat, but even this search was taking a bit more out of her then usual.
Buzz lifted his canteen to take a sip of water, wetting his lips to keep going. He noticed that he was running low of H2O, and being this far from ship it wasn't a good idea to go any further with out replenishing their water supply.
"Let's fall back team. We need to refresh a bit. Once we get some more water from the ship we'll try a new direction from there." nobody argued with Buzz's decision on this one. They were all pretty whipped, they needed a break, but first they had to start the long walk back to the ship.
Buzz fell back to walk with Lex, he could see she was a bit exhausted, or maybe disappointed. "Are you OK?" he asked her.
Lex shook her head, "Yea, I'm fine, just been a while since I've been out in the field, I'll get back into the swing of things in a bit." she told him forcing a smile, "Could have used the hours of sleep those dreams have been keeping me awake on."
Buzz nodded, "Yea, you look tired," he noted the faint circles darkening under her eyes. "But don't worry, all this will be over soon."
Lex looked up into his eyes, "You promise?" she smiled playfully.
"Cross my heart hope to die. Space Ranger honor," Buzz Xed over his heart in the pledge.
"Well there's nothing more serious then the cross your heart hope to die Ranger honor promise," they both laughed, something neither had done in a long time. For a moment in time they forgot all about the problem at hand, but then something sent them crash landing back into reality.
"Owe!" Lex cried out. She cringed as she stubbed her toe on something in the sand.
"You OK!?" Buzz caught her in time. He took her hand and pulled her back up on her feet.
"Ya, ya, I'm OK. Just my clumsy feet hit this rock in the sand," she looked down where the rock was supposed to be, but it was no rock. "Buzz do, do you see what I see?"
He squinted down at the piece of gold that was sticking out of the sand, "Isn't that gold?"
"Then I'm not dreaming then," she quickly dropped to her knees and began clawing through the sand in a frenzy. Buzz stood behind her rubbing his head, watching with a confused face. But why should he be confused? Wouldn't anyone rip apart the ground to get gold?
Lex sat back on her knees, holding her find in her hands. Her face flushed pale, it was the same staff from her dream, "Oh no." she whispered, turning it over and over in her hands. It was real this time, not a figment of her imagination.
"Nice stick," Buzz commented on it. "Don't let XR near it, he'll try and pawn it off for a profit."
"Yea," was all she said as she got to her feet. She was shaking from shock. Lex couldn't take her eyes off of what she held before her.
"Let's get back to the ship, you look like you need to lie down," Buzz had no idea what was wrong with her, all he could guess was that it was the heat.
"Yea," Lex agreed. Buzz slung his arm around her shoulders and they both started back for Forty-Two. Lex never looked up at Buzz, she kept turning the scepter of Quelle in her hands, trying to understand.
Back on Forty-Two, the Space Rangers had settled in the galley around the table. Booster and Mira looked whipped out. They sipped on their bottled water replenishing their body's. Buzz sat next to Lex drinking his water. He didn't say a word he just kept staring at Lex, it wasn't an, ' I love you,' stare but more of an, 'I'm worried about you,' stare.
"Something the matter, Lex? You haven't said a word since we got back, and you've been staring in a trance at that staff ever since."
"Well it's just that, it's just that," she looked at everyone, they were watching her closely, waiting for whatever she had to say, except for XR, he was staring that scepter down waiting for her to put it down for just a second, then she looked at Buzz. Those loving blue eyes that would always be there for her. "When I last had a vision it was this staff that was in it. I had a vision of myself tripping right over this thing, and, and that's what happened when I found it."
"Wish I had the ability to see where berried treasure is," XR remarked.
"XR this is serious," Mira scolded him. It wasn't time to be making jokes.
"Do you think is has any connection to why we're here?" Booster questioned.
"I don't know, and I wish I did. If I knew what was going on it would make things a lot easier," Lex sighed.
Buzz closed his eyes and nodded. He sure as heck wished he knew what was going on, because then he could fix it, make things right. He opened his eyes again to see Lex passed out on the table before them. "LEX!" he shouted standing up from his chair.
"She just passed out!" Mira told her Captain.
Booster sat twiddling his ears about his head and biting his lips.
"HEY!" XR cried out, "Let go of this thing will ya!" he tried to take the scepter from underneath Lex but it wouldn't budge.
"Out of the way!" Buzz pushed XR away as he went to Lex. He turned her over and put an ear to her chest. "Good she's still breathing." That was a relief, but what was happening to her? Obviously it was another vision or dream, but what was going on in her head? What was she seeing."
"What should we do?" Booster asked nervously.
"Nothing we can do Booster," Buzz sighed, "Just have to wait until she wakes up again."
"Ohh I hope that's soon."
"Me too Booster, me too," Buzz sighed, holding Lex in his arms as she slept.
She stood in the dessert, but there was a bit more then sand and rocks, Lex was standing at the edge of the Lamaren river. There was a big jagged rock to her right, just at the river's bend. Lex was holding the scepter she had found in her hand. There was nothing around, not even that mysterious voice. Out of no where a wind picked up tossing the sand around. She threw her hand up to shield her eyes from the billowing sand, squinting to see what was going on. The sand in front of her was blown away to reveal a stone slab berried in the sand. It looked like some sort of sealed door. Lex bent down and ran her fingers around the edges. How was she supposed to open this? She was strong, but it was going to take a lot more power to open the door. But she didn't have to. Lex stood back as some mysterious force slid the great stone slab up and over, opening it for her. By now Lex wasn't afraid of the mysterious happenings in her dreams, they were never going to make sense to her.
"Step down," the voice told her.
Lex did as she was told and descended down into the hole. The drop was steep and could have injured a person, but being in her mind she was able to survive the fall just fine. She looked around the room that was lit with the sun light pouring in through the hole in the ceiling. It was a scale model of the entire city! Every building in it's place. But before her was another slab, this one not moveable. It was inscribed with characters and writings of the ancient language. Lex bent down and ran her fingers across the tablet feeling the inscriptions with her finger tips. She trailed her fingers along until they fell into a tiny hole in the stone. That was odd to have a hole in the middle of the writing. Lex brushed away the dust from around it to try and see why it was there. Beneath it was a picture of the staff she carried, it must symbolize she is to place it there. The woman held out the staff in front of her and then jammed it down into the hole. The suns rays came streaming down through the crystal at the top, and then out the other end like a laser beam. The room filled with light, blinding her for a moment.
When Lex opened her eyes again she saw Buzz's face. Back in the real world, at last.
Buzz held her close to him, thankful that she was OK. He pressed her to his chest, holding her in his arms, happy that she was alright and back from her mental trip. Every time she did this he felt she was gone from him, he missed her even though she would black out for only a few minuets at a time.
"I know why I have this staff," Lex said, "It's a key of some sort."
"A key? To what?" Buzz asked loosening his grip on her so she could move and talk.
"I'm not sure, I woke up before I knew. But There's a secrete chamber on the river," she told them, "This staff opens something, I know it." she held it out before her for all to see.
Buzz nodded and stood up, "Then, we will go and find this chamber. Let's go troops," Buzz beckoned to them to follow.
"Awe man!" XR complained, "I just spent the last hour scraping the sand from my gears, can't we wait here till tomorrow? Hu?"
"No, XR," Buzz shook his head no, "We have to find whomever it is that needs our help as soon as possible, we can't leave these people waiting for our help." he had a good point, if there were people in need of assistance they shouldn't be made to wait, that could be disastrous, "And the sooner we find them, the sooner Lex can be cured."
"The sooner we can go home then too?" XR asked.
"Yes, XR. The sooner we can go home too," Lex told him with a laugh.
"Well then what are we waiting for!? Let's go!" the little robot jumped to his feet.
The Rangers followed the edge of the dried up river bed that used to be the Lamaren.
"Anything look familiar yet?" Buzz asked Lex.
"No. Just the same sand as everywhere else," she sighed. She squinted off into the distance where some jagged rocks were jutting out from the sand. Lex put a hand to cover her eyes and filter out the sun to get a better look, "Hey! I think I found it!" she ran a few ten feet ahead of the others and got a clearer look, "Yes! Those are the rocks from my dreams! And the river bends there as well! Come on!" Lex started running at full speed towards the spot, "Come on slow pokes!" she giggled.
"Haha!" Buzz started after her, "Who you calling slow poke eh?" he wasn't gonna let her beat him at a race, no way! They were like two kids on the play ground, racing each other to the slide. Laughing all the way.
Mira shrugged, "Last one there's a worm hole!" She rang out and joined in the fun.
"Hey! I'm not a worm hole!" Booster started his short stubby legs, huffing and puffing his way through the sand.
XR wasn't going to play their childish game, but when he glanced around and saw he was the only one left by himself he had to catch up, "Hey! Don't leave me out here all alone!" his wheels whirred as they were set on high speed, he zipped through the sand to catch up to the rest.
Lex was the first to the rock. She stopped to catch her breath while Buzz shortly followed, "I win."
"Awe come on! You had a head start," he whined to her.
"You're still a worm hole though," she smiled at him. Buzz stuck his tongue at her. "Watch it, or I'll bite it off." Both threw their heads back and laughed at each other's childish antics. There was time to play a little bit while they were waiting for the others to arrive. Mira came next and sat on the ground with her back up against the rock to catch her breath a bit. XR was next and almost crashed right into the Tangean sitting on the ground, but he was able to stop within a few centimeters of her. Booster was last as he sauntered up, obviously he had worn out a while back down the road.
After they had time to catch their breath they soon began their mission once more.
"So where is this door?" Buzz started feeling around the rocks and ground, looking for some sort of door.
"You're standing on it," Lex remarked. Buzz jumped thinking he was doing something wrong, but then he looked at his feet, all he saw was sand. He scratched his head wondering what she was taking about.
"What door?" maybe she was seeing things again, but she was awake.
Lex sighed a heavy sigh of annoyance, "It's beneath the sand. You have to dig for it, duh Buzz."
"Oh," Buzz blushed, "I knew that."
"Sure ya did Captain, sure ya did," XR never passed up a chance to humiliate his leader.
"Well umm," Buzz tried to figure out how they were supposed to dig through all that sand, "I guess we should have brought shovels." they all nodded. It would take forever to dig with their hands. But Mira had an idea.
"Hey XR. You can get rid of all this sand," Mira told him.
"What? Me? I don't have a shovel. I have some gum and bubble wrap, but no shovel."
"No!" Mira yelled, "Your vacuum suck action! You could vacuum off all the sand from the door," Mira told him.
"Yea but that's a whole lot of SAAANNNNNDD!" before he could protest Mira flipped the switch on XR's back and the big vacuum hose came out of his front and started sucking up all the sand with it's powerful wind. Lex and Buzz hung onto the rocks so as to not be sucked up into the robot. In a few seconds XR's dirt bag was full, and the door was uncovered.
"Good thinking Ranger Nova," Buzz complimented, "Good work XR."
"Yea," the little machine coughed dust, "Don't mention it."
Lex kneeled on the ground next to the stone door, "Booster, do you think you can lift this open?"
The Jo-Adian smiled and cracked his knuckles on both hands. He proudly walked over and grabbed the slab with both hands. Grunting he heaved the heavy thing up and swung it around, careful not to hit anyone. When he found a place to set it he dropped it in the sand and a cloud of dust rose into the air. They all gathered around the opening and peered in. It was lit up enough to see in with the sun shining down through the hole. Lex took the rope she was carrying and tied it around her waist. She gave the other end to Buzz.
"Lower me down, OK?"
Buzz nodded and went to the edge holding the rope firmly in both hands so she wouldn't fall. Lex went over the edge and down into the chamber, the staff still in her hands.
Lex stood on the floor and untied the rope from around her waist so she could move. She then looked around her. The same clay city was set out before her. She gulped as she stepped forward towards the written tablet set on the floor.
"Are you OK?" Buzz called down through the hole.
"Yes, I'm fine." she called back up. She stepped forward and cleared all the dirt off of the slab so she could read it. It read:
Eis kuh frucht wie ist der bad raum kuchen affe viel knopf lachen wahnsinnig schwein huhnchen gaiss schiff gehen weg jetzt vater lau zeiger null ein zwei drei vier funf komisch genieben getrank mich ja kein ich jm. Nutzen wissen nichis topf.
Translated means: To activate the key to the city insert the guardian staff and turn 90 degrees clockwise. Only when the sun is awake will it work.
Well there was only one thing to do. Lex took her staff and jabbed the end into the hole in the slab just as in her dream. She took in a deep breath and then turned the staff sharply to her right at 90 degrees. The prism caught the rays of the suns light and magnified them into a hot point. The point of light slowly crept across the floor across buildings until it fell upon the temple. At the pint of light there was a button that was heat activated, the light from the staff turned it on.
Lex looked around, nothing was happening. No secrete door was opening, no passageway to an under ground city, no nothing. Not even a spark. Maybe the mechanizim was too old and didn't work any more. Just as she thought it was over, the ground began to shake in a quake. Some of the buildings in the map room began to crumble from the violent shocks. Dirt and rock began to fall from the ceiling, it was about to collapse! She had to get out of there now. Lex scrambled for the rope to have Buzz yank her back up to the surface.
"Hurry Lex!" Buzz cried out from on top. He motioned for her to come faster. She finished tying the rope around her waist and ready for Buzz to pull her back up.
"Alright pull!" Lex shouted to them. But the surface was quaking also and Buzz lost balance. He slipped and fell to the ground hard, losing his grip on the safety rope. It fell back down the hole. Lex watched it fall to the ground, her yellow eyes shot wide open. Now what was she going to do? Be berried down here and become a find for some other scientist?
Buzz crawled on his hands and knees to the edge of the hole. He looked down scanning for her. There she was! She was OK. But how to get Lex back up here? They had no rope. He could only do one thing, try and reach for her. "Lex! Give me your hand!" he stretched his arm as far as he could without falling over himself to try and reach her.
Lex began jumping for it, trying to reach his hand but she was a foot short from it, "Buzz I can't reach! It's too high!"
"Jump again!!" he wasn't giving up and he wasn't leaving her here in a hole.
She jumped again, a few inches better but still no good. Just as she was about to try again a huge block fell out of the ceiling and crashed before her feet, nearly missing her. It was a miracle this stone fell from the sky. Lex stepped back and took a running jump, stepping onto the stone and leaping from there, grabbing Buzz's hand. He had her now.
"Alright pull Booster! Pull!" Buzz ordered Booster to pull at his feet so he could have two hands to hold onto Lex. Booster heaved his friends out and onto the sand. Buzz and Lex sat there waiting out the tremors. Buzz held onto Lex keeping her safe from the shifting sands. And then, they stopped. The quake subsided and all was calm. The sand covered team stood up wondering what it was they just experienced.
"Um what was that?" XR asked shaking the sand off of his metal body.
"The city," Lex whispered standing up from the sand. She looked mesmerized to the east where a great and vast ancient city had just been uncovered.
Buzz now stood up and dusted himself off and stood next to her, "What?" he asked and then followed her gaze off into the distance. His jaw dropped at the site of the city.
"LegEgo," she whispered to him smiling. They found it, the lost city of LegoEgo.
To Be Continued........