Pirates, Jungles, and Mutated Things.
*Two days after the pirates attacked Jumba's ship*
Nothing mattered now. She thought it was best she lay down and die. It was all over, 626 was dead, the only thing she had ever cared about. She remembered that being with him made her feel safe, loved. Something deep inside her was moved, something she hadn't felt, ever. Although 626 hadn't the knowabouts for how to show his emotion and love for her, she could feel it. There was also a bond between them, something more that love, more than just common understanding for eachother.
But there was always a chance, 626 had gotten out of worse, more compromising situations before. He was all but invincible, she reminded herself. Even after the attack things were blurry, she was knocked out by the impact and lost track of time. Days could have passed, or hours would be more reasonable. She also hadn't the time to do a full diagnostic scan on him before that man showed up and she tried to attack him. From the moment she woke up, and after the tranquilizer wore off, she felt an unstopable rage, a fire that needed to be put out. This was the first time she had felt it and was unsure on how to react to it, so she did the msot predictable thing for one of Jumba's experiments to do. Attack something.
Now laying curled up on the floor of a deadthly cold prison cell in the medical bay 327 used every ounce of her energy to keep warm. She needed to get outside the cell and and find out what was going on, what all the comotion was about. There was some unaudible babble that she couldn't make out. She heard something about a blue alien, which she took as 626. Everytime she heard this her hopes soared. She was expecting 626 to bust through the door at any time. She shivered, and sniffed. "Oh great, I've got a cold" she mumbled, the voice was barely audible in the cell. Escape was the most important thing right now. She did admit it would be a whole lot feasible if she wasn't so cold, and that damn doctor hadn't put her in these handcuffs. They weren't like the origional ones where you could pick the lock with an object on the ground, or a claw, they were the new kind, total enclosure of the forearm and hands, or in her case paws, so that escape was impossible. She had concluded that they were made out of a nearly indestructable marterial, she found this out when a tooth broke after trying to crush them.
'Although it had only been two days, or was it longer?' 327 thought regaurdless of the time, under the condition she was in, she couldn't make it for more that a few more days. 327 estimated it was nearly freezing, or below. With no cover or anyhting to eat she was begining to break down, and a cold to top it all off. She couldn't feel her legs, and her ear tips were numb. Unless 626 would come and save her it was all over in a matter of time. She just wished it would end, despite the outcome in either scenario.
*
The huge scientist lay in bed. He'd been out cold for two days. He had a mild concussion, or that was what Wade thought at first, it turned out to be just a small bruise. Also lack of sleep took it's toll too, Jumba had been awake for nearly as long as 626 had been while piloting the remote ship behind them, so he was half unconscious, half asleep. He was finally begining to wake up. Although he had a splitting headache he was fine. He turned over in the bed, confused. "626, put some coffee on the burner for your good Dr.Jookiba." he groaned. He listened for the sound of the reverberator that always was noisily beating at the frame of the supports for the engine. It wasn't there. "626, why have we sto-" he sat up. A look of confusion crossed his face. This wasn't his bed. Nor his room. He stood up and looked out he door at the wall. This wasn't his space ship either. He threw on his shirt and headed for the door. He was going through the thousands possibilities of what happened through his head.
He stopped before he went out. There was an unfriendly hum somewhere outside the door. He reached out and touched the force field that was stopping him from exiting. The field rippled when he touched it, and gave him a strong shock. "Ow!" he pulled his hand back. He turned to see if there was any other way out. He rushed to the door on the opposite side of the room, and flung it open. It was a closet, barren and empty. The hum be hind him was gone. He turned to see what happened.
A tall raptor like alien stood in the doorway, flanked by two gaurds with the looks of dead seriousness about them and they were carrying riffles. Jumba wisely took a seat in the corner of the room, where he could see everyhting. The raptor took a seat on the opposite side of the room and stared at Jumba. It was a while before anyone said anything. Zrong started.
"I understand that you are Dr. Jumba Jookiba. The same wanted by the Galactic Federation for illegally experimenting with gentics. It is a rather large sum or credits, too large for anyone to skip up. And your 'Experiment 626' that has caused destruction all over the place, making anything it touches dissappear. I admit she is a wild card, nearly took off my medic's head from what I hear." Zrong paused, he wanted to let Jumba have a few words.
Jumba was thinking hard. There were a few facts that this alien had wrong. But the thing that worried him was that he knew about his work, which meant the Council had offered a bounty. "So you're just after the bounty on us, is that it?" Jumba cut to the chase. Zrong shook his head. "No, you problem is not mine. I am just a simple space pirate captain, here with my crew to raid ships and seek the bounty in the cargo holds." he stated simply. Jumba wasn't sure where this guy was comming from. "You attacked my ship, the fate of my crew is unknown to me, and you want me to put my trust in you?" Jumba said, laying his hand on he table so to speak. "I never indicated that you put anythign toward me." Zrong replied. "But what do you want, ransom? Credits?" Jumba questioned. He pointed to the gaurds. "And what's with them, have you been attacked a genetic scientist before?" Zrong let out a little laugh. "No, no. I have to be cautious when on my own ship. In fact the crew wanted them to come, after the heard what your thing can do."
Zrong stood up. "I'm sorry, I should have done this earlier." Jumba stood up too, he had no idea what this alien planned. Zrong walked over to Jumba and held his clawed hand out. "My name is Zrong Snatu, Captain of the 'Monty's Hook' the best pirating vessel out in the galaxy." Jumba saw no malicios intent he shook Zrong's hand. "Dr. Jumba Jookiba, Galaxies greatest Genetic Scientist." he boasted. "What of my crew, the three little aliens?" Jumab asked. Zrong patted him on the back. "Don't worry all of them are fine, one was in critical condition when we pulled your ship in. But he seems to be recovering." Jumba paused. "I need to see him." Jumba demanded. Zrong had no objections. "He's your crew member, you can see him. He's in the medical bay. Follow me." Zrong walked out of the room. Jumba stood up and swayed under his weight for a second. He gained balance and walked out the door. The gaurds followed behind him.
Both walked down the narrow hallway. "What was the reason that you attacked my ship?" Jumba asked point blank. Zrong continued down the hall. "I was under the assumption that you were my brother. Him and I have been in a few skirmishes, we are always looking for ways to get even at eachother." Zrong lied. "But when I fired the EMP pulse it hit your front stablizers and they exploded. It was an accident, for which I express my sympathies." He said without looking back. Jumba senced some remorse in his voice, but couldn't be sure.
Zrong rounded the corner and entered the door with a white cross. Jumba saw several hospital style beds stretched out along the wall. White cabnets alligned the adjacent wall. There were also several cells along the wall, for potentially dangerous psychopaths. Jumba noted that this was a mini- hospital, and aboard a pirating ship too. The last bed in the row was occupied by a blue alien buried inder the blankets. There was a white bandadge arround his head that was stained with blood. Jumba hurried over to the bed. He began to tear away the bandadges. Zrong refraind from saying anything for a second, but after seing Jumba rip the bendages off the blue alien he stopped Jumba. "You shouldn't be doing that." He grabbed his arm. "I know what I'm doing, leave me alone." Zrong stepped back, he figured that if Jumba had made him he would know everything about him.
Jumba took a light and hovered it over 626. He pulled a chair over and took a look at the stitches on 626 head. He sized up the wound. It was farely large and was poorly stitched together. But the didn't want to remove them. He looked at the IV running from 626's arm and ripped it out, the blue alien's handcurled up in pain, then relaxed. "You shouldn't have done that, but you didn't know. We'll pay for that later." Jumba threw the packet of blood into a corner of the room. "Why?" Zrong asked innocently.
"626 was designed to operate without any help from the outside world. His body can produce blood faster than any living creature in the universe. Sometime later his body will try to dispose of the blood, most likely it will collect in his stomach and then he will vomit it out. It will not be pretty." Jumba finished. Zrong though for a second. "I thought 626 was the little pink one." he stated bluntly. Jumba looked up and said in great concern. "327, where is she?"
Zrong took a key from the white lab coat on the rack and walked over to one of the cells at the far end of the wall. He slipped it onto the hole in the door and twisted. He swung the heavy steel door open and the cold air rushed along the floor. "Um, that wasn't supposed to happen. These cells are supposed to be heated and controlled by thermostats outide." He looked at it. The first thing htat came to mind was Wade. He had gotten bit by her and in revenge most likely turned off the heater, he also had been doing things to other members of the crew like this and it was getting out of hand. "I'll have to speak to Wade about this." Zrong said sourly. He walked into the cell, being cautious. Steam cam eoff his body the roomwas so cold. When he saw 327 was shivering voilently he walked closer. He knelt down and put a hand on her. She was freezing. As soon as he touched her she mumbled something. "Six..." she broke off to sniff. "Two six?" she quivered. Zrong said the msot comforting thing he could think of. "I'ts all right little one, Jumba is here, he's wating for you." He picked her up with some hesitation and held her cold body against his. She felt like an ice cube.
He brought her to the bed beside 626's and laid her down. He used the key to unlock the handcuffs and placed her in bed. He looked to Jumba for something that would help. But he was too busy trying to determine 626 condition. Zrong turned on the heater in the bed and silently swared to himself to never attack a pleasure cruiser again. His intent was for 327 not to cause dammage to anything on his space ship, not be cruely treated like this. He should have checked on her after she was first put in there.
"What's going on with her?" Jumba asked, too busy with his scanner to look up at Zrong. "My medic sometimes had a mean streak in him, he likes to feel like he has controll over someone. This makes him feel important, I should ride him. I didn't ask for him to torture her physically or mentally, I simply asked he restrain her." Zrong sighed. "Sometimes that happens." Jumba told him. 626 started to stir in the bed. Jumba reached out for the trash can by the side of the metal frame of the hospital bed. He was sure 626's body would reject the blood that had been put in there. 626, to Jumba's relief, just turned over and groaned. "Maybe later." Jumba put the trash can back.
327 was no longer cold, she curled into a ball under the covers to keep as warm as possible. She coughed rather loudly then sniffed to keep the snot from running out of her nose. Now that she was warm and knew 626 was fine she could relax and finally get some sleep. Though she heard no word of 625's where abouts she didn't care. 327 curled up tighter and drifted off into sleep.
* * *
Jumba wondered that same question. Where was 625? A selfish part of him didn't want to ask. But after all it was his resposibility to know where all of his experiments were. He was bothered by whether his other experiments in the ship by the cruiser were safe, he did leave them by the ship. Maybe they picked them up and had taken over, but he was over rating them, the ones that were left. Now that 626 would make a recovery in a few days he was now aboard his cruiser that was repaired, minus some of his machines in the hold. 327 and 626 were still in the medical bay and he was thinking about leaving 625 behind.
625 was, in hindsight his biggest flaw. Jumba didn't know how the aquamarine experiment became that. He never was any use anywhere, not once had 625 proved his worth. There was no fighting blood in him, he was all wussy. Thinking of blood, Jumba's attention was drawn to the roof, where 626 had hit it. He had bent the beam in an akward position, twisted it really. The blood was all gone, except the remnants on the beam. He decided to leave it there.
Jumba twisted arround to see what came in through the doorway. He was hoping it was 626. "Oh, 327. It's you." he said flatly. The pink experiment grinned, and sniffed. "Sorry to dissapoint you." she sneered. Jumba opened a magazine from the table in front of him. "Feeling any better?" he asked. 327 nodded her head. "Except the running nose." she sniveled. "626 looks alot better today." she stated. Jumba peered an eye over the magazine. "Has he woken up, or mumbled anything?" 327 jumped up onto the stovetop and rummaged through the cabnet before answering. She pulled a box of crackers out and stuffed a pawfull in her mouth. "No, heef hagn't fswed any fing." She swallowed. "He just keeps adjusting his position every three minutes." Jumba put down the magazine back on the table and stood up. He stretched then walked out the hatch. "Where are you going?" 327 called after him. "To the medical bay." he replied and continued to walk.
Jumba arrived in the medical bay as he did for the last three days, waiting for 626 to recover so they could get off the ship. Although he did enjoy the constant attention and listening to some of the stories that the crew freely shared with him. But more pressing matter were at hand. The hospitality of the pirates would soon wear off and he didn't want to be arround when that happened. And there was also the chance that the captain might want to collect of the bounty on his head.
Jumba was suprized that 626 had been able to keep all that infused blood down for so long. He was beginning to think that his experiment's genetic coding was breaking down, they sometimes had a tendency to do that, a forgotten end on some bodily sub-routine was slowly comming apart. Jumba puleld up a chair by 626 bed side.
*
The last ting that he knew was that he was thrown in to the air, after that thing went black. Now he was aware, and he was alive. And that was a good sign. He seemed alright, laying down anyway. His stomach was aching and seemed to be full, small bother. Then he remembered 327. 'Oh crap, is she ok?' was the first thought that popped in his head. He open his eyes and threw himself up. After he had done that he regretted it, a painful jolt racked up his spine and a searing pain on his forehead appeared. "327?" he managed to squeak between the pounding of his heart. Each beat sent a pulse of blood to his head that made it feel like it was getting bigger then contracing making it very painful to sit up.
Jumba nearly fell off his chair when 626 jumped up. Such swift action was nearly impossible after a wound like that to the head. But then again 626 was different, he was better that anything else. He thought it weired that the first thing he said was 327. It was likely that they had a stong liking for eachother, but 626, a machine of destruction was almost incapable of finding a deep understanding of love. Or at least that was what he thought.
"Where is she?" he repeated. He hadn't noticed Jumba off in the corner of his vision, when he did, turned to him. He said nothing just looked at him, waiting for an answer. After deciding 626 was fine and was making good progress in recovery he told him. "327 is on the space ship, she's fine. Now that you're awake I want to run some tests. Now lay back and I'll get the scanner." he started to push 626 down. But he protested, pushing Jumba's hand away he tried to jump off the bed, but the pain stopped him and swooned into a sitting position. The big scientist became more strict. "626, Lay back down, there has been alot of dammage to your skull, some fractures and your brain had recieved most of the impact, I need to check and make sure that you are ok and not bleeding internally, and htat your brain has recovered."
626, seeing that he had no other alternative layed back down. The pain in his head decreased slightly. The last thing he wanted was Jumba to prick him with some needle and fill him with more pain, all tranquilizers put a strain on his nerves, making them send false information to his brain making him feel 'fake' pain. He also didn't know where he was anyway, it wasn't Jumba's ship though. But 327 was safe and he was hagning in there. 625 hadn't crossed his mind in the least, as far as he knew 625 was a number, nothing else.
Jumba ran several tests on 626 and made the conclusion that despite the blow to the head he was fine. The small hairline fractures on his skull were gone, there was no trace, the only tell tale of the would was the stitched up cut on his head. But there was some scarring on the cerebral coretex, but as of now there was no visible change in 626's behavior, for the moment anyway. He stuck the pair of handcuffs that Zrong had taken off of 327 into his pocket, just incase 626 snapped permanantly into destruction mode. But then he thought that he may have been wiped of the training that Zri had given him and he was no longer a machine for destruction. Which would be bad if they had to get out of a tight situation.
Jumba watched 626 roll over and hang off the bed, his stomach in the middle of a heaving thrust. But nothing came up. "Hold on for a second." Jumba rushed to get the trash can on the floor. He was just in time. 626 went into another heave, this time it wasn't a false alarm. All the blood that had been transfused had been collecting in his stomach, had come up and now he was vomiting. A thick stream of crimson red threw itself out of 626 and into the trash can, filling the bottom, and sloshing every where for that matter.
After several minutes of hovering over the can, 626 decided that he was finished. He flopped back down into the bed and shivered. He'd never done that before. Now there was an acidic burning feeling in the back of his throat. He wiped away the blood that had dribbled down his chin with the back on his arm. Jumba had taken away the can and was looking into it. "626, this is a good thing. The contents are all blood and saliva. Nothing else." Jumba said, taking it over to the hazardous materials disposal. He dumped it in then looked at the can, there was still some blood left, he threw the can in too and activated the destruction cycle. Jumba wanted to make sure no one could ever take his work and build off his perfection.
After he finalized the cycle, Jumba turned to 626. "I have made plans to leave to day, well actually tonight. Slip out while the crew is sleeping. We'll have to find 625 though. He's gone missing since we got here." Jumba though aloud. "He could be anywhere. Have you checked everywhere on the ship, I mean your ship." 626 said while dropping to the floor. He tried to keep his balance while on the ground, but he was still disoriented from the crash. He took several drunken like steps before he could move arround without fear of falling over. Jumba watched 626, he was amused by th elittle experiment walking arrround like a drunken fool. He let an evil grin slip out. "Can you walk fine?" he teased. 626 stagered a couple more times then was confident he was able to walk again. He reached down to search through his pockets in his suit, like he did whenever he had awoken. But he was surprized that it wasn't there. Then he remembered that he had seen it being cut off, it was full of blood anyway. He also remembered bringing some on Jumba ship, so he had extra. For now he would have to do without his suit.
626 looked up from his small stature to Jumba. "So let's go get 625 and get outa here." Jumba nodded his head in approval. He reached for an object in his coat. It was a small radio, tuned into his ship's comms system. He flicked the power switch and talked into it. 327 answered on the other side. Jumba asked her to bring the computer they used to track 626 when he was in the Grevold. Through the radio the scientist and the blue alien heard some russling of papers then the door to the ship open and close. The two waited for 327 to show up with the computer that would help them to find the missing sandwich maker.
The pink experiment was slow in reaching the medical lab, but she had the computer with her which was good. Jumba gave 327 a praise she deserved and swiped the computer from her in a rather rude manner. He sat on the bed 626 was in for the last few days and began to type. He hoped 625 was somewhere near, so that none of the crew could get any ideas about what they were doing.
As soon as 327 saw 626 for herself she threw herself in his arms and started crying. "I thought you were dead. I saw you, you were almost....." she choked. 626 didn't know how to respond to this time of emotional explosion. He just did the best he could. "It's alright, I'm ok now....It's alright...." he patted her back. 327 sniffed and clung on tighter, she felt something different in 626. Something deeper, something HAD changed and she could feel it. "Don't ever do that again. Don't....." she pushed her head into his soft chest. " I can't promise anything. Lets get 625 and get out of here." 626 lifted her up out of his chest. 327 tried to collect herself, but couldn't help but shed a few more tears. "I know it wasn't your fault, it could have happened to anyone." 327 whispered in his ear. "I heard you had it pretty rough too." 626 whispered back. "Let's not go there." 327 said icily. "That was the worst two days in my life." 327 and 626's attention was diverted from eachother when Jumba stood up.
"AH-HA!" Jumba shouted joyously. "I've found him!" Jumba stood up and carried the computer over to the two experiments. He took his eyes off the screen and paused when he saw 327 had some tears in her eye. "327, what's the matter?" The pink experiment gripped 626 paw tighter, to the point of him wincing. "Something you wouldn't under stand." Jumba looked confused for a second. "But it is in my interest and my career to ask why and how. I would be greatful if you told me." Jumba said, trying to get 327 to tell. 327 looked up to 626 face and smiled. 626 smiled back. "It is something called love." 327 said, gazing into 626's eyes. 626 started to feel uneasy, he tried to distract the attention of Jumba. "What was it that you were saying about 625?" he moved 327 out from in front of him and off to the side, but never removed his paw from hers. Jumba looked at the computer he was holding. "Oh yes. 625 is in the galley of the cruiser. Let's get what we came with and leave." Jumba motioned to the door.
Jumba and his experiments entered the docking bay. It was strangely quiet, no one was present. "Empty." 626 words echoed throught the huge area. Jumba believed him and continued walking to the red cruiser. 626 started to drift away from the small group and toward another ship. He stopped and looked at it. He scratched his chin, he had seen it somewhere. He looked closer, but couldn't distinguish what made it so famaliar. It semed to tickled something in his mind, something that was there, but couldn't reach it. He had seen the ship before.
Jumba noticed that 626 had disappeared before he entered the ship. He stuck his head out to find the missing experiment. He shouldn't be hard to find, he's blue. He refrained himself from yelling his name, for he still didn't know if there was anyone there. He spotted him, sating up at a ship, the same ship he'd left on the asteroid. 626 seemed bewieldered though, as if trying to figure out where it had come from. "327, try and find 625, but after you find him stay here." Jumba said while walking out from the ship.
Even as the huge scientist walked toward 626, the little experiment was oblivious to the approaching Jumba. After Jumba was a few feet from 626 he saw his ear swivel back and then return to the right place. "I know I've seen this before, somewhere. I can't find out where. It's not there." he remarked, aparently to Jumba. Jumba got closer, marveling that the battle cruiser was still intact and here of all things. He looekd down to 626. "Do you remember the crash, a few days ago?" 626 turned to Jumba. "Some details, I was hurt, bad. And then...327. and 625....... and you. We had left from somewhere, to go to this forested planet, why I don't know. It's not very clear..." he drifted off. Jumba ran his hand across his head, as in a sweeping motion to get his hair out of his face, but had none. "That blow did more to your head that I first suspected. I hope it has't done any dammage to your destructive programming." Jumba sighed. 626 gave a skeptical look. "Let's leave." Jumba turned arround and started walking. "Zrong can have those other experiments."
626 hadn't any idea what Jumba was talking about. And decided that it was better he didn't know. About halfway to the cruiser there was a rusling noise off toward the entrance. Jumba whipped out his tranquilizer and faced it toward the noise. 626 scanned the area with his ears, Jumba watched him, 626 would be his only chance to survive if worse came to worse. A booming voice came from somewhere, but was obscured by the echoes.
"If you intend to leave, know that here are several Federation cruisers and a battle ship cicrling the planet of ZenonIV. They have checked us out, and we have concealed you, for the time being. I hope you appreciate the risk." A figure stepped out of the shadows, it was Zrong. "Dont' say I didn't warn you." He appeared to be alone. "So you're just letting us go?" Jumba shouted. "Yes, I see no reason why to keep you here. Go." Zrong waved. "There's a trick to this, I know." Jumba yelled. "Just GO! The fleet will be bearing down on us soon." Zrong left the catwalk and disappeared. Jumba looked at 626, "Let's go." Both raced eachother to the ship.
327 had found 625 in the kitchen, and knew exactly what he was doing. She gave him a good scare and then told him what they were planning to do. Jumba burst into the door, panting. 626 was right behind. Jumba ran up to the cockpit and started the engines. 626 closed the door and followed. "Engines." Jumba said. "Check." 626 replied flipping a switch. "Let's hope Zrong's repairmen are really good." Jumba hit the after burners and the ship shot out of the docking bay. Strangely enough the battle cruiser followed for some odd reason. Jumba was beginning to set a landing cycle that would take them down to the jungle floor, 626 watched 'The Monty's Hook' cloak itself. He switched his vision into infrared and saw it was right where it was when it had activated the cloak. Then the engines pulsed and the ship disappeared, into the far reaches of the galaxy no doubt. He let his vision slip back into normal spectrum and searched the space for the battle cruisers. Jumba saw what 626 was trying to do and pionted them out. "There, closing in fast." Jumba said, then twisted the controll shaft and started a straight plunge through the atmosphere, onto ZenonIV.
626 looked a the display on the monitor. "Tractor beam to lock on in thrity seconds." he announced. "Heh." Jumba laughed. "We'll be moving to fast for them to lock onto. And..." He stopped, the battle cruiser was right next to them. "626, you had better not be controlling that ship or I'll-" he was cut off by a jerk. He stole a glance at the speed, it was dropping fast. The tractor beam had been locked on. Jumba let the controlls go. "They got us." he muttered in defeat. "Not yet." 626 said reaching for the controller he'd made for the battle cruiser. "If this is what I think it is, we're in luck." the blue experiment looked at it for a second, then the memory came back. "Alright." He jammed the stick hard to port, the tractor beam was broken on the cruiser and was now pulling the battle cruiser. 626 locked the course onto the ship and broke the controll, just in case. "Haha! 626 is best there is!" Jumba proclaimed. He resume controll on the descent to the planet.
The red cruiser broke into the lower atmosphere and slowed. There was a clearing full of rolling grasses in the jungle below, there was also a small pond in the far right corner. Jumba noted it was by the ocean, or rather a huge lake, one of the three on the planet. He hovered above the trees for a few minutes before attempting to land. After a full scan of the area the red ship began it's slow descent to the ground. The three huge landing legs folded down out of the ship and touched the ground.
* * *
The red cruiser hadn't passed by the blockaide of ships without being noticed, it would have been too easy. The captain of the ship decided to let them pass and get comfortable on the planet before he would release it. Then they would have the upper hand and send some men down to the jungle to capture 626 and Dr. Jumba.
Gantu looked down on the green planet, where his objective was, where it would all end. The capture of 626 was near, and he could feel it. It made his blood boil, increasing the anticipation of the hunt. "Get the men ready." he order spitefully. "I want to capture 626 once and for all." The officer saluted and walked off. "This ends today." he growled. Gantu walked out of the observatory and to the deck of the ship.
*
Jumba ordered 626 and 327 out of the ship and into the jungle arround the clearing, and make sure the area was fairly secure. He had several tall poles with a led light on top, he had the two experiments place them arround the perimeter of the clearing, and made sure they were well hidden. Jumba let 626 and 327 go off into the jungle to explore some ruins 327 had seen from orbit, he gave them specific order to be back before sunset.
625 emmerged out of the ship, holding a crumbling sandwich. He spotted Jumbna unpacking some chairs and a small tent. "Eh, couldn't leave the planet without your amenities. What's in the cooler?" he asked, then disposed of the wrecked sandwich, by throwing it into his mouth. Jumba looked at him. "The cooler? Oh,..." he flipped open the top. "Wine coolers." he grinned, and pulled one out. "Want one?" he offered. 625 raised a paw in complaint. "No, I'm trying to cut back." he teased. "Suit yourself." Jumba said, pushing the straw into the pouch. He took a small sip and set the cooler down on the table he'd brought out.
"I bet you a pastrami and pickle snadwich those two won't be back before sunset." 625 said. "626 will be back, he knows better." Jumba said confidently. "So you accept my bet?" 625 asked. "You bet." Jumba answered. "Deal." 625 suck his paw out, Jumba leaned over fron his chair and shook. "You know you're going to lose." 625 informed him. "Yep." Jumba replied sarcasticly.
The clearing in the jungle was actually a flat hill, over looking the ocean. It was a magnificent view, the setting sun nearly seemed to touch the water. The huge red ball cast it's reflection down onto the twisting waters which distorted it. It slowly sank into the water and the light dimmed, almost into nothing.
*
The two experiments had been poking arround the ruins for several hours. They hoped to find some thing important, or at least have fun while trying to do that. The ruins consisted of several stone houses in a circle arround a structure built outof wood and jungle debris is what is seemed like. 626 guessed it was a temple or something erected to honor a god, but whatever it was they were under it to avoid the setting sun.
"I think we should be getting back soon, after all it's getting dark." the pink experiment informed 626. "Na, I can get us back in any condition, light or dark." 626 boasted. 327 shifted closer to him. "It's not whether you can get us back, it's what comes out at night that scares me. I mean we've only been here a few hours, we have no idea what things roam arround at night." she told him. 626 wiped the sweat off his forehead, he winced when he brushed some near his wound, it still hurt a little bit. He stopped to look at the jungle, the huge palm like trees and other variations of it, the ferny under growth and the vines that hung down from old trees a fine mist floated deep in the jungle, a humid mist.
"Isn't it beautiful? I mean the jungle." he asked 327. "What?!" she stood up and shouted in alarm. "That blow did more dammage than first expected. First you were all, guts and guns. Now your actually enjoying the scenery?" 626 was shocked, he had thought since that one day in the space station she had wanted him to change. He shook his head in his paws. "There was one time once where you made me promise to change, to only do what I was created to do only when it was essential, when my life depended on it. I thought that is what you wanted. You wanted said it your self. Now I've changed, I don't know if I can pick up a riffle and shoot someone out of cold blood." 626 paused. 327 had sat down and was listening, her attitude totally changed. He laid back against the rubble. "Whenever I hit my head something happened. Something opened up, I was more aware in some odd way. I was told that most of my memory was lost, but I remember you, Dr. Jumba and very vaugely 625. I've read some of Jumba's notes, through the parts I can't remember. He describes things in great detail, he was writing about me once. '626 has returned from the complex...... the most disturbing part was that he was covered in blood, I feared that it was his, but upon closer inspection it wasn't his......this only tells me he is quite dirty about his work. He seems to kill without concern, to personally maul the enemies, or whoever he'd touched.' It was a very sick entry, it churned my stomach. I had so hoped it wasn't me that by some mistake I was reading some thing else. But I took it to him, and he confirmed my fears, that was me, before the crash. And I wanted nothing to do with it, I wanted to run away." 626 stopped. 327 had moved closer and was now holding his paw. A tear ran out of her eye, she quickly brushed it off.
"But anyone could have told me to face my fears. I couldn't. I don't remember doing any of that, not one thing. The way I see it nothing happened, but Jumba's notes sugest otherwise, I did do it. I killed men, innocent or not, they're dead. And I can only wonder how I had lived with myself, knowing that I had killed. I can't even live with the fact that I could have, and I did. But whenever I forgot, whenever it all went away, it was gone. I have a second chance, and I'm not going to screw things up a second time. I remember that promise I made to you, and I don't intend to break it. But the beast that made me do all that is still inside, and I haven't found a way to kill it, every second it lives, it becomes stronger and the probability of a relapse is more likely." 327 was stunned, 626 had never mention anything like this, never. She was moved, after she'd seen him kill those alien in the space station ruthlessly, then he says this. She now had a small understanding of what he felt, and why he always wanted to be alone sometimes. "You have no idea what it's like. You'd killed out of necesity, I killed because I could. I......" the blue experiment quivered. 626 started shaking, he didn't want to talk about it. Tears formed in his eyes, he turned so that 327 couldn't see them. 327 was throuroughly stunend. She tried to offer him some comfort. "I, had no idea. I-" "Now you know." 626 sniffed.
"It's over now, done and gone. All we have is here and now. Let's make the most of it. Let's re-write this horrible chapter." 327 touched him. 626 turned arround. "I guess you're right, what's done is done, nothing I can do but stop it from happening again." he gave a dis-hearted smile. "Alright." 327 finalized it.
327 stood up and took a final look arround. She grabbed 626 and pulled him off the fallen rocks. "I really thing we should be getting out of here." she whined, "It's getting darker by the minute, and I don't like it." 626 nodded, "Fine, if you want to spoil the evening, we'll go." he picked up his Crytos and slung it arround his shoulder, it wasn't really the Crytos III anymore, Jumba had taken that one apart after it was empty and built another smaller one for 626, technically it was the Crytos IV, but what the hell. He was about to reach into his pocket for a piece of meat he'd stuck in there, and realized he'd never gotten a new suit from his stuff. He sighed and moved on.
Now the forest was completely dark. No light could be seen anywhere, the two moons were hiding behind the clouds, and it didn't look likr they were comming out anytime soon. 626 had switched from normal spectrum of light to ifrared, but since the heat from the sun was soon swallowed up by the cold night he changed to movement spectrum and in combination with his antenna he was able to 'see' his way. 327 stayed close and tried not to lose him in the thick undergrowth, but it was difficult with all the ferns and the growing vines and such.
327 stopped 626 for a second. They stopped in the middle of a dry creek bed. "What is it?" he asked impatiently. "Quiet !. I heard something." 327 shushed him. 626 watched 327 scan the area, straining to hear something in the pitch black. He also listened, but heard nothing. He remebered that anything alive at this time of night would give off heat, he then switched to the infrared spectrum. He looked arround the area again, he only spotted a small animal that posed no threat. "I'm sure it's nothing." he reassured 327. "No..." she protested. "I know I heard something, I know." She moved closer to 626.
"D-do you hear that?" she stuttered. 626 strained again to hear. "No, it's not what you hear, it's what you don't hear." she told him. 626 again listened, he felt a tingly sensation in his spine, she was right. All the bugs that were chirping, they weren't anymore. It raised goos bumps under his fur. He also noticed the wind stopped, dead nothing, all was silent. 327 was almost ontop of him, "I'm scared." she shivered. "Are you sure the bugs were making noise before?" he whispered to her. "Sure. I promise." 626 unslung his C4 off his back, he put the strap under the front barrel and held it there. "Now we'll see if I really can shoot." he grinned. "Stay close." he slowly moved off.
"Are you sure we're on the right track, I mean it only took us ten minutes to get to the ruins before. And we've been wandering arround for nearly three hours." 327 whispered from behind him. "I know, we're lost. I'll climb a tree to see where we are. Hold this." he passed his C4 off to 327. "I'll just hold it." 626 nodded and climbed up the giant palm tree.
626 had a good view, he could see in ever dirrection for miles. He scanned for Jumba's ship. He saw the clearing, the opposite way they were going, Jumba had the tent set up and the lights were on. Although trough his magnified vision he saw no movement at all. The 'camp' was empty. He was ready to climb down to the floor and get 327 when he saw some movement far off in the jungle, and it was comming toward them, fast. 626 hadn't any idea what it was. He dropped down to the jungle floor.
"327, we've been going the wrong way this whole time. We have to turn-" he stopped. 626 spun arround, looking for 327, "This isn't funny." he shouted. He was now getting worried something had happened to her. "327....?" he asked the cold unforgiving night. He swiveled hie ears all arroud to find some thing that would say she's still arround. He heard something breathing, breathing hard. He moved in that dirrection. He noticed the bugs were still silent, that was bad.
He jumped at the sound of something moving in the nearby bush. '327?' he though worriedly. He switched to infrared vision. His heart sunk, the infrared showed a huge towering beast just beyond the bushes, and he didn't have his gun. The thing moved, slowly, toward him. His instincts told him to stay, but his mind didn't. He bolted off into the night.
He got almost fifty feet when the beast lunged for him, 626 jumped out of the way and the huge form sailed past him. He was about to run again when something grabbed him and pulled him into the hollow of a tree. "Quiet!" hushed the thing that pulled him inside. 626 peered out of the hole, just in time to see the thing rush by. It flew by so fast the undergrowth didn't move untill the thing was gone from immediate sight. "327, Is that you?" 626 whispered, for fear that the thing might come back. "Yes, and here's your gun. I told you there was something out there." she shoved it to him. 626 took it and kept it in one paw. "Why didn't you warn me?" he asked sharply. "I did, you were up in the tree, I though you can take him yourself. He is pretty big." 327 replied. "And fast." 626 added. "We are going the wrong way, we have to turn arround. Let's go before that thing comes back." 626 grabbed 327 and rushed out of the hole.
Faster than anything the two experiments ran. Branches whipped past 626 face, he still had 327 in his paw. He kept the riffle in front to protect him from any big branches that were hanging low. 327 would look back every few seconds and shout something to 626. "He's gaining on us." she shouted. 626 ran harder, he could hear the beast breathing right behind them. He couldn't imagine what it would do to them when it caught up. "Only a few more seconds." 626 mumbled.
He pushed on, running faster that 327 could, she was literally being dragged. He saw the clearing where Jumba had put the ship down. They exploded out of the brush and into the field of meduim heigth grass. 626 picked up 327 and shoved to toward the ship, he stopped. "RUN, Get to the ship!" 327 didn't protest. She turned back to see what 626 was doing. He had stopped several feet from the edge of the jungle, he raised up his riffle and fired. The light from the weapon cast shadows of them on the darkened cruiser, it lit up the field with a yellow glow. 327 stopped to catch her breath. 626 waved the gun back an forth at the brush, cutting down anything the C4 was pointed at.
626 only stopped when the barrel was red hot, and emitting alot of heat. The forest in his imediate path had been leveled, hundreds of trees had fallen, nothing stood over two feet high. He watched the jungle where he'd cleared a swath out. Nothing moved, only the occasional branch fell. 626 thought he heard 327 calling him. He turned to make sure. She was calling him, but he couldn't hear. The gunfire had deafened him momentarily. 327 ran and embraced him, being careful of the gun. 626 knew she was crying, but couldn't hear. He stole a look at the Cruiser. The light were off, and the tent that had been erected was trampled flat.
"It's over now. The thing is dead." he patted her back.'I hope.' 626 thought. 327 let go of him and brushed away the tears in her eyes. "I don't want to live here. I want to go back to the lab. I don't want the jungle or an ocean on a planet alone,I want to go back to Turo." 327 sobbed. "Hey, were here now. And you're not alone, I'm here." 626 reassured her. "But now we need to find out where Jumba is."
626 first checked the tent, when he found nothing he advised 327 to seach the ship with him. They both searched in vain, Jumba was nowhere, the scanners weren't picking anything up. "I don't think he's here. On the planet I mean." 327 said, staring at the screen. "I think that armada of ships has something to do with him." 626 thought for a second. "Or that thing that was chasing us. It could have got him." he suggested. 327 stared at him, "I like the Armada idea better." she scowled. "Ok, ok. You win, the armada." 626 lauged. "You have changed." 327 remarked.
"I vote we stay here for tha night, then fly up to the ships and see if we can find out anything." 626 suggested. "Sounds fine." 327 yawned. "I'm going to get some sleep." she walked back to Jumba's bed room, and shut the door. 626 yawned too, he was tired. But before he wemt to bed he had some things to do. He started by going down to the storage and getting a new combat suit. He quickly slipped into it and grabbed a backpack that looked like it had belonged to him at one point. He spilled the contents only to find another combat suit, but it had been worn at one point. '327' he thought. Now that his mind had been opened up he was able to actually express his emotions for her, but since everything was hectic there hadn't been any time to say it to her.
There were also four federation blasters, one was bent out of shape and was too far dammaged to be of any use. He found somthing he'd remembered, the CH-6, that was onething he'd never forget. He set that aside by his C4 and continued to search. He found several grenades, other than that nothing else usefull. His stomach growled, then he remembered that he'd had nothing to eat in the last day or so.
He raided the small icebox under the sink, and cleaned it out. He ate everything. He suddenly felt sleepy, that after a meal feeling. He climbed up onto the couch and re-arranged several pillows to his liking then flopped down on them. He fell into a deep sleep.
* * *
"Dr. Jumba Jookiba, we meet again." a voice from the shadows boomed. A huge form stepped out from the dark area of the prison cell, it was slightly crouched. Jumba groaned from the floor of the barred cell. His head was swirling in a sea of tranquilizer, the effects were starting to wear off slowly. There was a cold feeling in the cell, and he guessed it was made of stone, he was probably in one of the ruins. "Welcome to the world of the living, Dr." the huge form said. Jumba slowly rose to his feet and drunkedly staggered arround untill he caught hold of the bars of the cell. He tried to focus on the huge alien outside, but all he saw was the world swirling arround. He tried to clear his head by shaking it. "Who......are you?" he asked the shadow outside his cell. "You don't recognize me?" the male voice questioned. Jumba groaned. "Captain Gantu." he said with great displeasure. Gantu stood up straighter when he said that. "The one and only." he smirked.
"What do you want? Don't ask about 626, he didn't return from a walk in the jungle. He's lost somewhere out there." Jumba immediately told him. "Oh, too bad." Gantu said unsympatheticly. "We were hoping you would know. Wouldn't want him to die before his trial, there are horrible things out there at night." Jumba tried his best to look puzzled, but the tranq was making it hard. "Wha da you mean?" he slurred. "You have no idea. Tonight a mutated, failed try at duplicating your 'experiement 626' roams the jungle, and his only order is to bring back 626, dead or alive." Gantu snarled. Jumba let out a small drunken laugh. "626 is able to take care of himsef, heel be able to keel it."
"Your initial tests on 626 were primitive and undecisive, they proved nothing other than he could shoot up the joint faster than anything in the galaxy. We were able to salvage most of the information from the dammaged computers. We compared the test to our abomination, 626 is as good as dead." Gantu chuckled. Jumba got worried, they had salvaged some stuff from the computer, enough to get the Council to get the armada out here searching for him. Jumba laid down on the bed and rubbed his temples. "It's all over, Jookiba." Gantu said, then left the cell.
* * *
He slept what felt like minutes before he was awakened, but it was actually three hours. He was rudly awakened when the alarms went off. "327! It's too early for this shi-" he opened an eye, it was still dark outdside and 327 was emmering from the bedroom a groggy expression was interrupted by a yawn. "What?" she looked at him quizically. The blue experiment sat up. "If you didn't, then..." he jumped up and ran to the security panel. 327 followed.
"Something has set off the motion sensors." 626 announced after looking at the panel for a few seconds. "By what?" 327 tappe the keys, trying to find the answer. 626 jumped on the sill to the window and looked out into the blackness of the night. He switched to infrared spectrum. He nearly choked, the same thing that had been chasing them, it was out there. It was hunting them. 626 jumped off the sill and hurried over to the couch wher ehis C4 was sitting. 327 appeared beside him, wearing the combat suit he'd pulled out of the pack a few hours ago. "There's that thing out there. And I don't think he's here for the cookies." 626 joked. "Here." he handed 327 the three remaining blasters. He picked up the C4.
"We can't stay in here, it'll just try to get inside and destroy the ship in the process." 626 hefted the weight of the CH-6 up into the air. The whole ship shook from the impact of something heavy. "You'll really kill this thing?" 327 asked, remembering the conversation in the jungle. "If this is what I think it is, I'll have no problem ridding of him." 626 informed her. "Let's go." "Wait, what do you plan to do?" "Go out there and hopefully hit him this time." "And what am I to do?" "Get his attention, while I try to kill him." 327 sighed. "Hit the lights." 626 reached over to a switch by the door, the outer flood lights turned on. Not three seconds after they'd turned them on there was a horifying howl. "Lock and load, he doesn't like light." 626 said, opening hte door.
'Draw his attention, got it.' 327 remembered what 626 said. 626 bolted out to the field to get a better look at this thing. The pink experiment ran a short distance away from the ship and shouted. "Yo! Over here!" The huge ugly beast that was clinging onto the ship growled at 327. It turned to jump at her. 'Oh crap.' 327 rolled to the side. The uglified beast flew through the air at an incredible speed. It brushed by 327. "Whoa!" she exclaimed. She thought twice about shoting at it.
The thing rolled into the field, clumsy as it was. The field lit up with the fire of an automatic weapon. The thin blue streaks struck teh beast head on, right in the chest, but seemingly had no effect. 626 continued the bombardment untill it got closer, then he stopped. He then slung his C4 on his shoulder and began hand to hand combat.
327 felt a wave of pressure pass her and move through the jungle, shaking the trees as it passed. She looked over to see if 626 was alright. She saw a blue haze arround 626 and the beast-thing. Both were moving too fast to comprehend, it was like battle in fast-foreward. Her jaw dropped, this was an astrical anomoly of huge matter. 626 had broken the time continueum and was fighting in, space-time, where things could move slow or fast. 327 had heard about this once. Some one had broken the continueum of time and moved with the utmost speed, too fast for anything to see it in real-time, it all looked like blurrs. 626 had somehow done it.
From the looks of the fighting, 626 was winning, and he hoped it stayed that way. Somehoe he'd broken the tiem contunueum and was fighting the beast in. He was dodging whatever the beast threw at him, Jumba's chairs, rocks. After a few minutes he began to realize that in here everything was twice as fast and three times as hard. The ugly beast dog threw himself at 626 again and only missed by inches. 626 planned to test his theory. He picked up a small rock and barely threw it. The rock sailed through the air and hit the beast on the shoulder. It reeled as if stuned by a huge boulder. The blue experiment grinned.
He whipped the C-6 off his shoulder, and leveled it at the hairy beast. He set his foot back to absorb the shock from the recoil. The thing released a nasty growl, it saw what 626 was trying to do. "That's right, eat this." 626 aimed and pulled the trigger, the force of the gun flung him back several inches, and pushed him into the ground a bit. The blue sphere of elecrisized death traveled toward the beast. It struck him right in the chest, but didn't explode, instead in lifted it off the ground and into the air. He sailed for several hundred feet, then the blue orb stuck to his chest exploded.
The explosion rocked the earth where 626 stood. Blue light bathed the area of the planet in the darkness. Out of the blue fired explosion the thing fell, six hundred feet to the jungle floor, leaving a trail of black smoke on it's way down. The tall grass in the clearing was suddenly sucked into the place of origion, where the anomoly started. 626 fell back into real time, the blue haze dissappeared with the rip in time.
626 noted the area was visibly lighter, that meant the sun was comming up. 327 approached him. "Is it dead?" "I think so." 626 put his arms arround her. "Let's go find Jumba." 327 urged. "Wait, I want to see this. The sunrise." 626 stopped her. "I've never really stopped and watched it, ironic as it is." he mused. 626 watched as the red disk of life slowly rose above the surface, it turned the jungle into a humid place crawling with life. He sat in complete awe, this was the thing he was missing all the time. To take the time to wonder at the great awes of the universe, to look at the small things and appreciate them.
327 grabbed 626 when the sun was fully up and dragged him halfway to the ship untill she got some cooperation from him. The two got aboard the ship, 327 took her place at the radar and the 626 took the pilot's chair. He went through the procedure to take off. The masive engine roared to life. The ship jumped off the ground, pushing all the grass down as it went. "We'll start by circling the planet, scanning for Jumba, he shouldn't be too hard to detect." 327 announced. She turned several knobs of the radar, the immage of the area materielaized in a three-d immage. Small animals were little blue dots, meduim were red, large were yellow, and Jumba was a black arrow. "626, turn left. I'm getting a reading." she instructed. The ship lurched as it turned and the deck tilted. "Slow down!" 327 shouted.
The ship came to a dead stop, 626 set it on auto pilot and went to see what 327 had found. "It's Jumba!" 327 squealed. "Right below us too." 626 added. He ran over to the window and looked out. "Right down in that anchient temple." he pointed.
*Two days after the pirates attacked Jumba's ship*
Nothing mattered now. She thought it was best she lay down and die. It was all over, 626 was dead, the only thing she had ever cared about. She remembered that being with him made her feel safe, loved. Something deep inside her was moved, something she hadn't felt, ever. Although 626 hadn't the knowabouts for how to show his emotion and love for her, she could feel it. There was also a bond between them, something more that love, more than just common understanding for eachother.
But there was always a chance, 626 had gotten out of worse, more compromising situations before. He was all but invincible, she reminded herself. Even after the attack things were blurry, she was knocked out by the impact and lost track of time. Days could have passed, or hours would be more reasonable. She also hadn't the time to do a full diagnostic scan on him before that man showed up and she tried to attack him. From the moment she woke up, and after the tranquilizer wore off, she felt an unstopable rage, a fire that needed to be put out. This was the first time she had felt it and was unsure on how to react to it, so she did the msot predictable thing for one of Jumba's experiments to do. Attack something.
Now laying curled up on the floor of a deadthly cold prison cell in the medical bay 327 used every ounce of her energy to keep warm. She needed to get outside the cell and and find out what was going on, what all the comotion was about. There was some unaudible babble that she couldn't make out. She heard something about a blue alien, which she took as 626. Everytime she heard this her hopes soared. She was expecting 626 to bust through the door at any time. She shivered, and sniffed. "Oh great, I've got a cold" she mumbled, the voice was barely audible in the cell. Escape was the most important thing right now. She did admit it would be a whole lot feasible if she wasn't so cold, and that damn doctor hadn't put her in these handcuffs. They weren't like the origional ones where you could pick the lock with an object on the ground, or a claw, they were the new kind, total enclosure of the forearm and hands, or in her case paws, so that escape was impossible. She had concluded that they were made out of a nearly indestructable marterial, she found this out when a tooth broke after trying to crush them.
'Although it had only been two days, or was it longer?' 327 thought regaurdless of the time, under the condition she was in, she couldn't make it for more that a few more days. 327 estimated it was nearly freezing, or below. With no cover or anyhting to eat she was begining to break down, and a cold to top it all off. She couldn't feel her legs, and her ear tips were numb. Unless 626 would come and save her it was all over in a matter of time. She just wished it would end, despite the outcome in either scenario.
*
The huge scientist lay in bed. He'd been out cold for two days. He had a mild concussion, or that was what Wade thought at first, it turned out to be just a small bruise. Also lack of sleep took it's toll too, Jumba had been awake for nearly as long as 626 had been while piloting the remote ship behind them, so he was half unconscious, half asleep. He was finally begining to wake up. Although he had a splitting headache he was fine. He turned over in the bed, confused. "626, put some coffee on the burner for your good Dr.Jookiba." he groaned. He listened for the sound of the reverberator that always was noisily beating at the frame of the supports for the engine. It wasn't there. "626, why have we sto-" he sat up. A look of confusion crossed his face. This wasn't his bed. Nor his room. He stood up and looked out he door at the wall. This wasn't his space ship either. He threw on his shirt and headed for the door. He was going through the thousands possibilities of what happened through his head.
He stopped before he went out. There was an unfriendly hum somewhere outside the door. He reached out and touched the force field that was stopping him from exiting. The field rippled when he touched it, and gave him a strong shock. "Ow!" he pulled his hand back. He turned to see if there was any other way out. He rushed to the door on the opposite side of the room, and flung it open. It was a closet, barren and empty. The hum be hind him was gone. He turned to see what happened.
A tall raptor like alien stood in the doorway, flanked by two gaurds with the looks of dead seriousness about them and they were carrying riffles. Jumba wisely took a seat in the corner of the room, where he could see everyhting. The raptor took a seat on the opposite side of the room and stared at Jumba. It was a while before anyone said anything. Zrong started.
"I understand that you are Dr. Jumba Jookiba. The same wanted by the Galactic Federation for illegally experimenting with gentics. It is a rather large sum or credits, too large for anyone to skip up. And your 'Experiment 626' that has caused destruction all over the place, making anything it touches dissappear. I admit she is a wild card, nearly took off my medic's head from what I hear." Zrong paused, he wanted to let Jumba have a few words.
Jumba was thinking hard. There were a few facts that this alien had wrong. But the thing that worried him was that he knew about his work, which meant the Council had offered a bounty. "So you're just after the bounty on us, is that it?" Jumba cut to the chase. Zrong shook his head. "No, you problem is not mine. I am just a simple space pirate captain, here with my crew to raid ships and seek the bounty in the cargo holds." he stated simply. Jumba wasn't sure where this guy was comming from. "You attacked my ship, the fate of my crew is unknown to me, and you want me to put my trust in you?" Jumba said, laying his hand on he table so to speak. "I never indicated that you put anythign toward me." Zrong replied. "But what do you want, ransom? Credits?" Jumba questioned. He pointed to the gaurds. "And what's with them, have you been attacked a genetic scientist before?" Zrong let out a little laugh. "No, no. I have to be cautious when on my own ship. In fact the crew wanted them to come, after the heard what your thing can do."
Zrong stood up. "I'm sorry, I should have done this earlier." Jumba stood up too, he had no idea what this alien planned. Zrong walked over to Jumba and held his clawed hand out. "My name is Zrong Snatu, Captain of the 'Monty's Hook' the best pirating vessel out in the galaxy." Jumba saw no malicios intent he shook Zrong's hand. "Dr. Jumba Jookiba, Galaxies greatest Genetic Scientist." he boasted. "What of my crew, the three little aliens?" Jumab asked. Zrong patted him on the back. "Don't worry all of them are fine, one was in critical condition when we pulled your ship in. But he seems to be recovering." Jumba paused. "I need to see him." Jumba demanded. Zrong had no objections. "He's your crew member, you can see him. He's in the medical bay. Follow me." Zrong walked out of the room. Jumba stood up and swayed under his weight for a second. He gained balance and walked out the door. The gaurds followed behind him.
Both walked down the narrow hallway. "What was the reason that you attacked my ship?" Jumba asked point blank. Zrong continued down the hall. "I was under the assumption that you were my brother. Him and I have been in a few skirmishes, we are always looking for ways to get even at eachother." Zrong lied. "But when I fired the EMP pulse it hit your front stablizers and they exploded. It was an accident, for which I express my sympathies." He said without looking back. Jumba senced some remorse in his voice, but couldn't be sure.
Zrong rounded the corner and entered the door with a white cross. Jumba saw several hospital style beds stretched out along the wall. White cabnets alligned the adjacent wall. There were also several cells along the wall, for potentially dangerous psychopaths. Jumba noted that this was a mini- hospital, and aboard a pirating ship too. The last bed in the row was occupied by a blue alien buried inder the blankets. There was a white bandadge arround his head that was stained with blood. Jumba hurried over to the bed. He began to tear away the bandadges. Zrong refraind from saying anything for a second, but after seing Jumba rip the bendages off the blue alien he stopped Jumba. "You shouldn't be doing that." He grabbed his arm. "I know what I'm doing, leave me alone." Zrong stepped back, he figured that if Jumba had made him he would know everything about him.
Jumba took a light and hovered it over 626. He pulled a chair over and took a look at the stitches on 626 head. He sized up the wound. It was farely large and was poorly stitched together. But the didn't want to remove them. He looked at the IV running from 626's arm and ripped it out, the blue alien's handcurled up in pain, then relaxed. "You shouldn't have done that, but you didn't know. We'll pay for that later." Jumba threw the packet of blood into a corner of the room. "Why?" Zrong asked innocently.
"626 was designed to operate without any help from the outside world. His body can produce blood faster than any living creature in the universe. Sometime later his body will try to dispose of the blood, most likely it will collect in his stomach and then he will vomit it out. It will not be pretty." Jumba finished. Zrong though for a second. "I thought 626 was the little pink one." he stated bluntly. Jumba looked up and said in great concern. "327, where is she?"
Zrong took a key from the white lab coat on the rack and walked over to one of the cells at the far end of the wall. He slipped it onto the hole in the door and twisted. He swung the heavy steel door open and the cold air rushed along the floor. "Um, that wasn't supposed to happen. These cells are supposed to be heated and controlled by thermostats outide." He looked at it. The first thing htat came to mind was Wade. He had gotten bit by her and in revenge most likely turned off the heater, he also had been doing things to other members of the crew like this and it was getting out of hand. "I'll have to speak to Wade about this." Zrong said sourly. He walked into the cell, being cautious. Steam cam eoff his body the roomwas so cold. When he saw 327 was shivering voilently he walked closer. He knelt down and put a hand on her. She was freezing. As soon as he touched her she mumbled something. "Six..." she broke off to sniff. "Two six?" she quivered. Zrong said the msot comforting thing he could think of. "I'ts all right little one, Jumba is here, he's wating for you." He picked her up with some hesitation and held her cold body against his. She felt like an ice cube.
He brought her to the bed beside 626's and laid her down. He used the key to unlock the handcuffs and placed her in bed. He looked to Jumba for something that would help. But he was too busy trying to determine 626 condition. Zrong turned on the heater in the bed and silently swared to himself to never attack a pleasure cruiser again. His intent was for 327 not to cause dammage to anything on his space ship, not be cruely treated like this. He should have checked on her after she was first put in there.
"What's going on with her?" Jumba asked, too busy with his scanner to look up at Zrong. "My medic sometimes had a mean streak in him, he likes to feel like he has controll over someone. This makes him feel important, I should ride him. I didn't ask for him to torture her physically or mentally, I simply asked he restrain her." Zrong sighed. "Sometimes that happens." Jumba told him. 626 started to stir in the bed. Jumba reached out for the trash can by the side of the metal frame of the hospital bed. He was sure 626's body would reject the blood that had been put in there. 626, to Jumba's relief, just turned over and groaned. "Maybe later." Jumba put the trash can back.
327 was no longer cold, she curled into a ball under the covers to keep as warm as possible. She coughed rather loudly then sniffed to keep the snot from running out of her nose. Now that she was warm and knew 626 was fine she could relax and finally get some sleep. Though she heard no word of 625's where abouts she didn't care. 327 curled up tighter and drifted off into sleep.
* * *
Jumba wondered that same question. Where was 625? A selfish part of him didn't want to ask. But after all it was his resposibility to know where all of his experiments were. He was bothered by whether his other experiments in the ship by the cruiser were safe, he did leave them by the ship. Maybe they picked them up and had taken over, but he was over rating them, the ones that were left. Now that 626 would make a recovery in a few days he was now aboard his cruiser that was repaired, minus some of his machines in the hold. 327 and 626 were still in the medical bay and he was thinking about leaving 625 behind.
625 was, in hindsight his biggest flaw. Jumba didn't know how the aquamarine experiment became that. He never was any use anywhere, not once had 625 proved his worth. There was no fighting blood in him, he was all wussy. Thinking of blood, Jumba's attention was drawn to the roof, where 626 had hit it. He had bent the beam in an akward position, twisted it really. The blood was all gone, except the remnants on the beam. He decided to leave it there.
Jumba twisted arround to see what came in through the doorway. He was hoping it was 626. "Oh, 327. It's you." he said flatly. The pink experiment grinned, and sniffed. "Sorry to dissapoint you." she sneered. Jumba opened a magazine from the table in front of him. "Feeling any better?" he asked. 327 nodded her head. "Except the running nose." she sniveled. "626 looks alot better today." she stated. Jumba peered an eye over the magazine. "Has he woken up, or mumbled anything?" 327 jumped up onto the stovetop and rummaged through the cabnet before answering. She pulled a box of crackers out and stuffed a pawfull in her mouth. "No, heef hagn't fswed any fing." She swallowed. "He just keeps adjusting his position every three minutes." Jumba put down the magazine back on the table and stood up. He stretched then walked out the hatch. "Where are you going?" 327 called after him. "To the medical bay." he replied and continued to walk.
Jumba arrived in the medical bay as he did for the last three days, waiting for 626 to recover so they could get off the ship. Although he did enjoy the constant attention and listening to some of the stories that the crew freely shared with him. But more pressing matter were at hand. The hospitality of the pirates would soon wear off and he didn't want to be arround when that happened. And there was also the chance that the captain might want to collect of the bounty on his head.
Jumba was suprized that 626 had been able to keep all that infused blood down for so long. He was beginning to think that his experiment's genetic coding was breaking down, they sometimes had a tendency to do that, a forgotten end on some bodily sub-routine was slowly comming apart. Jumba puleld up a chair by 626 bed side.
*
The last ting that he knew was that he was thrown in to the air, after that thing went black. Now he was aware, and he was alive. And that was a good sign. He seemed alright, laying down anyway. His stomach was aching and seemed to be full, small bother. Then he remembered 327. 'Oh crap, is she ok?' was the first thought that popped in his head. He open his eyes and threw himself up. After he had done that he regretted it, a painful jolt racked up his spine and a searing pain on his forehead appeared. "327?" he managed to squeak between the pounding of his heart. Each beat sent a pulse of blood to his head that made it feel like it was getting bigger then contracing making it very painful to sit up.
Jumba nearly fell off his chair when 626 jumped up. Such swift action was nearly impossible after a wound like that to the head. But then again 626 was different, he was better that anything else. He thought it weired that the first thing he said was 327. It was likely that they had a stong liking for eachother, but 626, a machine of destruction was almost incapable of finding a deep understanding of love. Or at least that was what he thought.
"Where is she?" he repeated. He hadn't noticed Jumba off in the corner of his vision, when he did, turned to him. He said nothing just looked at him, waiting for an answer. After deciding 626 was fine and was making good progress in recovery he told him. "327 is on the space ship, she's fine. Now that you're awake I want to run some tests. Now lay back and I'll get the scanner." he started to push 626 down. But he protested, pushing Jumba's hand away he tried to jump off the bed, but the pain stopped him and swooned into a sitting position. The big scientist became more strict. "626, Lay back down, there has been alot of dammage to your skull, some fractures and your brain had recieved most of the impact, I need to check and make sure that you are ok and not bleeding internally, and htat your brain has recovered."
626, seeing that he had no other alternative layed back down. The pain in his head decreased slightly. The last thing he wanted was Jumba to prick him with some needle and fill him with more pain, all tranquilizers put a strain on his nerves, making them send false information to his brain making him feel 'fake' pain. He also didn't know where he was anyway, it wasn't Jumba's ship though. But 327 was safe and he was hagning in there. 625 hadn't crossed his mind in the least, as far as he knew 625 was a number, nothing else.
Jumba ran several tests on 626 and made the conclusion that despite the blow to the head he was fine. The small hairline fractures on his skull were gone, there was no trace, the only tell tale of the would was the stitched up cut on his head. But there was some scarring on the cerebral coretex, but as of now there was no visible change in 626's behavior, for the moment anyway. He stuck the pair of handcuffs that Zrong had taken off of 327 into his pocket, just incase 626 snapped permanantly into destruction mode. But then he thought that he may have been wiped of the training that Zri had given him and he was no longer a machine for destruction. Which would be bad if they had to get out of a tight situation.
Jumba watched 626 roll over and hang off the bed, his stomach in the middle of a heaving thrust. But nothing came up. "Hold on for a second." Jumba rushed to get the trash can on the floor. He was just in time. 626 went into another heave, this time it wasn't a false alarm. All the blood that had been transfused had been collecting in his stomach, had come up and now he was vomiting. A thick stream of crimson red threw itself out of 626 and into the trash can, filling the bottom, and sloshing every where for that matter.
After several minutes of hovering over the can, 626 decided that he was finished. He flopped back down into the bed and shivered. He'd never done that before. Now there was an acidic burning feeling in the back of his throat. He wiped away the blood that had dribbled down his chin with the back on his arm. Jumba had taken away the can and was looking into it. "626, this is a good thing. The contents are all blood and saliva. Nothing else." Jumba said, taking it over to the hazardous materials disposal. He dumped it in then looked at the can, there was still some blood left, he threw the can in too and activated the destruction cycle. Jumba wanted to make sure no one could ever take his work and build off his perfection.
After he finalized the cycle, Jumba turned to 626. "I have made plans to leave to day, well actually tonight. Slip out while the crew is sleeping. We'll have to find 625 though. He's gone missing since we got here." Jumba though aloud. "He could be anywhere. Have you checked everywhere on the ship, I mean your ship." 626 said while dropping to the floor. He tried to keep his balance while on the ground, but he was still disoriented from the crash. He took several drunken like steps before he could move arround without fear of falling over. Jumba watched 626, he was amused by th elittle experiment walking arrround like a drunken fool. He let an evil grin slip out. "Can you walk fine?" he teased. 626 stagered a couple more times then was confident he was able to walk again. He reached down to search through his pockets in his suit, like he did whenever he had awoken. But he was surprized that it wasn't there. Then he remembered that he had seen it being cut off, it was full of blood anyway. He also remembered bringing some on Jumba ship, so he had extra. For now he would have to do without his suit.
626 looked up from his small stature to Jumba. "So let's go get 625 and get outa here." Jumba nodded his head in approval. He reached for an object in his coat. It was a small radio, tuned into his ship's comms system. He flicked the power switch and talked into it. 327 answered on the other side. Jumba asked her to bring the computer they used to track 626 when he was in the Grevold. Through the radio the scientist and the blue alien heard some russling of papers then the door to the ship open and close. The two waited for 327 to show up with the computer that would help them to find the missing sandwich maker.
The pink experiment was slow in reaching the medical lab, but she had the computer with her which was good. Jumba gave 327 a praise she deserved and swiped the computer from her in a rather rude manner. He sat on the bed 626 was in for the last few days and began to type. He hoped 625 was somewhere near, so that none of the crew could get any ideas about what they were doing.
As soon as 327 saw 626 for herself she threw herself in his arms and started crying. "I thought you were dead. I saw you, you were almost....." she choked. 626 didn't know how to respond to this time of emotional explosion. He just did the best he could. "It's alright, I'm ok now....It's alright...." he patted her back. 327 sniffed and clung on tighter, she felt something different in 626. Something deeper, something HAD changed and she could feel it. "Don't ever do that again. Don't....." she pushed her head into his soft chest. " I can't promise anything. Lets get 625 and get out of here." 626 lifted her up out of his chest. 327 tried to collect herself, but couldn't help but shed a few more tears. "I know it wasn't your fault, it could have happened to anyone." 327 whispered in his ear. "I heard you had it pretty rough too." 626 whispered back. "Let's not go there." 327 said icily. "That was the worst two days in my life." 327 and 626's attention was diverted from eachother when Jumba stood up.
"AH-HA!" Jumba shouted joyously. "I've found him!" Jumba stood up and carried the computer over to the two experiments. He took his eyes off the screen and paused when he saw 327 had some tears in her eye. "327, what's the matter?" The pink experiment gripped 626 paw tighter, to the point of him wincing. "Something you wouldn't under stand." Jumba looked confused for a second. "But it is in my interest and my career to ask why and how. I would be greatful if you told me." Jumba said, trying to get 327 to tell. 327 looked up to 626 face and smiled. 626 smiled back. "It is something called love." 327 said, gazing into 626's eyes. 626 started to feel uneasy, he tried to distract the attention of Jumba. "What was it that you were saying about 625?" he moved 327 out from in front of him and off to the side, but never removed his paw from hers. Jumba looked at the computer he was holding. "Oh yes. 625 is in the galley of the cruiser. Let's get what we came with and leave." Jumba motioned to the door.
Jumba and his experiments entered the docking bay. It was strangely quiet, no one was present. "Empty." 626 words echoed throught the huge area. Jumba believed him and continued walking to the red cruiser. 626 started to drift away from the small group and toward another ship. He stopped and looked at it. He scratched his chin, he had seen it somewhere. He looked closer, but couldn't distinguish what made it so famaliar. It semed to tickled something in his mind, something that was there, but couldn't reach it. He had seen the ship before.
Jumba noticed that 626 had disappeared before he entered the ship. He stuck his head out to find the missing experiment. He shouldn't be hard to find, he's blue. He refrained himself from yelling his name, for he still didn't know if there was anyone there. He spotted him, sating up at a ship, the same ship he'd left on the asteroid. 626 seemed bewieldered though, as if trying to figure out where it had come from. "327, try and find 625, but after you find him stay here." Jumba said while walking out from the ship.
Even as the huge scientist walked toward 626, the little experiment was oblivious to the approaching Jumba. After Jumba was a few feet from 626 he saw his ear swivel back and then return to the right place. "I know I've seen this before, somewhere. I can't find out where. It's not there." he remarked, aparently to Jumba. Jumba got closer, marveling that the battle cruiser was still intact and here of all things. He looekd down to 626. "Do you remember the crash, a few days ago?" 626 turned to Jumba. "Some details, I was hurt, bad. And then...327. and 625....... and you. We had left from somewhere, to go to this forested planet, why I don't know. It's not very clear..." he drifted off. Jumba ran his hand across his head, as in a sweeping motion to get his hair out of his face, but had none. "That blow did more to your head that I first suspected. I hope it has't done any dammage to your destructive programming." Jumba sighed. 626 gave a skeptical look. "Let's leave." Jumba turned arround and started walking. "Zrong can have those other experiments."
626 hadn't any idea what Jumba was talking about. And decided that it was better he didn't know. About halfway to the cruiser there was a rusling noise off toward the entrance. Jumba whipped out his tranquilizer and faced it toward the noise. 626 scanned the area with his ears, Jumba watched him, 626 would be his only chance to survive if worse came to worse. A booming voice came from somewhere, but was obscured by the echoes.
"If you intend to leave, know that here are several Federation cruisers and a battle ship cicrling the planet of ZenonIV. They have checked us out, and we have concealed you, for the time being. I hope you appreciate the risk." A figure stepped out of the shadows, it was Zrong. "Dont' say I didn't warn you." He appeared to be alone. "So you're just letting us go?" Jumba shouted. "Yes, I see no reason why to keep you here. Go." Zrong waved. "There's a trick to this, I know." Jumba yelled. "Just GO! The fleet will be bearing down on us soon." Zrong left the catwalk and disappeared. Jumba looked at 626, "Let's go." Both raced eachother to the ship.
327 had found 625 in the kitchen, and knew exactly what he was doing. She gave him a good scare and then told him what they were planning to do. Jumba burst into the door, panting. 626 was right behind. Jumba ran up to the cockpit and started the engines. 626 closed the door and followed. "Engines." Jumba said. "Check." 626 replied flipping a switch. "Let's hope Zrong's repairmen are really good." Jumba hit the after burners and the ship shot out of the docking bay. Strangely enough the battle cruiser followed for some odd reason. Jumba was beginning to set a landing cycle that would take them down to the jungle floor, 626 watched 'The Monty's Hook' cloak itself. He switched his vision into infrared and saw it was right where it was when it had activated the cloak. Then the engines pulsed and the ship disappeared, into the far reaches of the galaxy no doubt. He let his vision slip back into normal spectrum and searched the space for the battle cruisers. Jumba saw what 626 was trying to do and pionted them out. "There, closing in fast." Jumba said, then twisted the controll shaft and started a straight plunge through the atmosphere, onto ZenonIV.
626 looked a the display on the monitor. "Tractor beam to lock on in thrity seconds." he announced. "Heh." Jumba laughed. "We'll be moving to fast for them to lock onto. And..." He stopped, the battle cruiser was right next to them. "626, you had better not be controlling that ship or I'll-" he was cut off by a jerk. He stole a glance at the speed, it was dropping fast. The tractor beam had been locked on. Jumba let the controlls go. "They got us." he muttered in defeat. "Not yet." 626 said reaching for the controller he'd made for the battle cruiser. "If this is what I think it is, we're in luck." the blue experiment looked at it for a second, then the memory came back. "Alright." He jammed the stick hard to port, the tractor beam was broken on the cruiser and was now pulling the battle cruiser. 626 locked the course onto the ship and broke the controll, just in case. "Haha! 626 is best there is!" Jumba proclaimed. He resume controll on the descent to the planet.
The red cruiser broke into the lower atmosphere and slowed. There was a clearing full of rolling grasses in the jungle below, there was also a small pond in the far right corner. Jumba noted it was by the ocean, or rather a huge lake, one of the three on the planet. He hovered above the trees for a few minutes before attempting to land. After a full scan of the area the red ship began it's slow descent to the ground. The three huge landing legs folded down out of the ship and touched the ground.
* * *
The red cruiser hadn't passed by the blockaide of ships without being noticed, it would have been too easy. The captain of the ship decided to let them pass and get comfortable on the planet before he would release it. Then they would have the upper hand and send some men down to the jungle to capture 626 and Dr. Jumba.
Gantu looked down on the green planet, where his objective was, where it would all end. The capture of 626 was near, and he could feel it. It made his blood boil, increasing the anticipation of the hunt. "Get the men ready." he order spitefully. "I want to capture 626 once and for all." The officer saluted and walked off. "This ends today." he growled. Gantu walked out of the observatory and to the deck of the ship.
*
Jumba ordered 626 and 327 out of the ship and into the jungle arround the clearing, and make sure the area was fairly secure. He had several tall poles with a led light on top, he had the two experiments place them arround the perimeter of the clearing, and made sure they were well hidden. Jumba let 626 and 327 go off into the jungle to explore some ruins 327 had seen from orbit, he gave them specific order to be back before sunset.
625 emmerged out of the ship, holding a crumbling sandwich. He spotted Jumbna unpacking some chairs and a small tent. "Eh, couldn't leave the planet without your amenities. What's in the cooler?" he asked, then disposed of the wrecked sandwich, by throwing it into his mouth. Jumba looked at him. "The cooler? Oh,..." he flipped open the top. "Wine coolers." he grinned, and pulled one out. "Want one?" he offered. 625 raised a paw in complaint. "No, I'm trying to cut back." he teased. "Suit yourself." Jumba said, pushing the straw into the pouch. He took a small sip and set the cooler down on the table he'd brought out.
"I bet you a pastrami and pickle snadwich those two won't be back before sunset." 625 said. "626 will be back, he knows better." Jumba said confidently. "So you accept my bet?" 625 asked. "You bet." Jumba answered. "Deal." 625 suck his paw out, Jumba leaned over fron his chair and shook. "You know you're going to lose." 625 informed him. "Yep." Jumba replied sarcasticly.
The clearing in the jungle was actually a flat hill, over looking the ocean. It was a magnificent view, the setting sun nearly seemed to touch the water. The huge red ball cast it's reflection down onto the twisting waters which distorted it. It slowly sank into the water and the light dimmed, almost into nothing.
*
The two experiments had been poking arround the ruins for several hours. They hoped to find some thing important, or at least have fun while trying to do that. The ruins consisted of several stone houses in a circle arround a structure built outof wood and jungle debris is what is seemed like. 626 guessed it was a temple or something erected to honor a god, but whatever it was they were under it to avoid the setting sun.
"I think we should be getting back soon, after all it's getting dark." the pink experiment informed 626. "Na, I can get us back in any condition, light or dark." 626 boasted. 327 shifted closer to him. "It's not whether you can get us back, it's what comes out at night that scares me. I mean we've only been here a few hours, we have no idea what things roam arround at night." she told him. 626 wiped the sweat off his forehead, he winced when he brushed some near his wound, it still hurt a little bit. He stopped to look at the jungle, the huge palm like trees and other variations of it, the ferny under growth and the vines that hung down from old trees a fine mist floated deep in the jungle, a humid mist.
"Isn't it beautiful? I mean the jungle." he asked 327. "What?!" she stood up and shouted in alarm. "That blow did more dammage than first expected. First you were all, guts and guns. Now your actually enjoying the scenery?" 626 was shocked, he had thought since that one day in the space station she had wanted him to change. He shook his head in his paws. "There was one time once where you made me promise to change, to only do what I was created to do only when it was essential, when my life depended on it. I thought that is what you wanted. You wanted said it your self. Now I've changed, I don't know if I can pick up a riffle and shoot someone out of cold blood." 626 paused. 327 had sat down and was listening, her attitude totally changed. He laid back against the rubble. "Whenever I hit my head something happened. Something opened up, I was more aware in some odd way. I was told that most of my memory was lost, but I remember you, Dr. Jumba and very vaugely 625. I've read some of Jumba's notes, through the parts I can't remember. He describes things in great detail, he was writing about me once. '626 has returned from the complex...... the most disturbing part was that he was covered in blood, I feared that it was his, but upon closer inspection it wasn't his......this only tells me he is quite dirty about his work. He seems to kill without concern, to personally maul the enemies, or whoever he'd touched.' It was a very sick entry, it churned my stomach. I had so hoped it wasn't me that by some mistake I was reading some thing else. But I took it to him, and he confirmed my fears, that was me, before the crash. And I wanted nothing to do with it, I wanted to run away." 626 stopped. 327 had moved closer and was now holding his paw. A tear ran out of her eye, she quickly brushed it off.
"But anyone could have told me to face my fears. I couldn't. I don't remember doing any of that, not one thing. The way I see it nothing happened, but Jumba's notes sugest otherwise, I did do it. I killed men, innocent or not, they're dead. And I can only wonder how I had lived with myself, knowing that I had killed. I can't even live with the fact that I could have, and I did. But whenever I forgot, whenever it all went away, it was gone. I have a second chance, and I'm not going to screw things up a second time. I remember that promise I made to you, and I don't intend to break it. But the beast that made me do all that is still inside, and I haven't found a way to kill it, every second it lives, it becomes stronger and the probability of a relapse is more likely." 327 was stunned, 626 had never mention anything like this, never. She was moved, after she'd seen him kill those alien in the space station ruthlessly, then he says this. She now had a small understanding of what he felt, and why he always wanted to be alone sometimes. "You have no idea what it's like. You'd killed out of necesity, I killed because I could. I......" the blue experiment quivered. 626 started shaking, he didn't want to talk about it. Tears formed in his eyes, he turned so that 327 couldn't see them. 327 was throuroughly stunend. She tried to offer him some comfort. "I, had no idea. I-" "Now you know." 626 sniffed.
"It's over now, done and gone. All we have is here and now. Let's make the most of it. Let's re-write this horrible chapter." 327 touched him. 626 turned arround. "I guess you're right, what's done is done, nothing I can do but stop it from happening again." he gave a dis-hearted smile. "Alright." 327 finalized it.
327 stood up and took a final look arround. She grabbed 626 and pulled him off the fallen rocks. "I really thing we should be getting out of here." she whined, "It's getting darker by the minute, and I don't like it." 626 nodded, "Fine, if you want to spoil the evening, we'll go." he picked up his Crytos and slung it arround his shoulder, it wasn't really the Crytos III anymore, Jumba had taken that one apart after it was empty and built another smaller one for 626, technically it was the Crytos IV, but what the hell. He was about to reach into his pocket for a piece of meat he'd stuck in there, and realized he'd never gotten a new suit from his stuff. He sighed and moved on.
Now the forest was completely dark. No light could be seen anywhere, the two moons were hiding behind the clouds, and it didn't look likr they were comming out anytime soon. 626 had switched from normal spectrum of light to ifrared, but since the heat from the sun was soon swallowed up by the cold night he changed to movement spectrum and in combination with his antenna he was able to 'see' his way. 327 stayed close and tried not to lose him in the thick undergrowth, but it was difficult with all the ferns and the growing vines and such.
327 stopped 626 for a second. They stopped in the middle of a dry creek bed. "What is it?" he asked impatiently. "Quiet !. I heard something." 327 shushed him. 626 watched 327 scan the area, straining to hear something in the pitch black. He also listened, but heard nothing. He remebered that anything alive at this time of night would give off heat, he then switched to the infrared spectrum. He looked arround the area again, he only spotted a small animal that posed no threat. "I'm sure it's nothing." he reassured 327. "No..." she protested. "I know I heard something, I know." She moved closer to 626.
"D-do you hear that?" she stuttered. 626 strained again to hear. "No, it's not what you hear, it's what you don't hear." she told him. 626 again listened, he felt a tingly sensation in his spine, she was right. All the bugs that were chirping, they weren't anymore. It raised goos bumps under his fur. He also noticed the wind stopped, dead nothing, all was silent. 327 was almost ontop of him, "I'm scared." she shivered. "Are you sure the bugs were making noise before?" he whispered to her. "Sure. I promise." 626 unslung his C4 off his back, he put the strap under the front barrel and held it there. "Now we'll see if I really can shoot." he grinned. "Stay close." he slowly moved off.
"Are you sure we're on the right track, I mean it only took us ten minutes to get to the ruins before. And we've been wandering arround for nearly three hours." 327 whispered from behind him. "I know, we're lost. I'll climb a tree to see where we are. Hold this." he passed his C4 off to 327. "I'll just hold it." 626 nodded and climbed up the giant palm tree.
626 had a good view, he could see in ever dirrection for miles. He scanned for Jumba's ship. He saw the clearing, the opposite way they were going, Jumba had the tent set up and the lights were on. Although trough his magnified vision he saw no movement at all. The 'camp' was empty. He was ready to climb down to the floor and get 327 when he saw some movement far off in the jungle, and it was comming toward them, fast. 626 hadn't any idea what it was. He dropped down to the jungle floor.
"327, we've been going the wrong way this whole time. We have to turn-" he stopped. 626 spun arround, looking for 327, "This isn't funny." he shouted. He was now getting worried something had happened to her. "327....?" he asked the cold unforgiving night. He swiveled hie ears all arroud to find some thing that would say she's still arround. He heard something breathing, breathing hard. He moved in that dirrection. He noticed the bugs were still silent, that was bad.
He jumped at the sound of something moving in the nearby bush. '327?' he though worriedly. He switched to infrared vision. His heart sunk, the infrared showed a huge towering beast just beyond the bushes, and he didn't have his gun. The thing moved, slowly, toward him. His instincts told him to stay, but his mind didn't. He bolted off into the night.
He got almost fifty feet when the beast lunged for him, 626 jumped out of the way and the huge form sailed past him. He was about to run again when something grabbed him and pulled him into the hollow of a tree. "Quiet!" hushed the thing that pulled him inside. 626 peered out of the hole, just in time to see the thing rush by. It flew by so fast the undergrowth didn't move untill the thing was gone from immediate sight. "327, Is that you?" 626 whispered, for fear that the thing might come back. "Yes, and here's your gun. I told you there was something out there." she shoved it to him. 626 took it and kept it in one paw. "Why didn't you warn me?" he asked sharply. "I did, you were up in the tree, I though you can take him yourself. He is pretty big." 327 replied. "And fast." 626 added. "We are going the wrong way, we have to turn arround. Let's go before that thing comes back." 626 grabbed 327 and rushed out of the hole.
Faster than anything the two experiments ran. Branches whipped past 626 face, he still had 327 in his paw. He kept the riffle in front to protect him from any big branches that were hanging low. 327 would look back every few seconds and shout something to 626. "He's gaining on us." she shouted. 626 ran harder, he could hear the beast breathing right behind them. He couldn't imagine what it would do to them when it caught up. "Only a few more seconds." 626 mumbled.
He pushed on, running faster that 327 could, she was literally being dragged. He saw the clearing where Jumba had put the ship down. They exploded out of the brush and into the field of meduim heigth grass. 626 picked up 327 and shoved to toward the ship, he stopped. "RUN, Get to the ship!" 327 didn't protest. She turned back to see what 626 was doing. He had stopped several feet from the edge of the jungle, he raised up his riffle and fired. The light from the weapon cast shadows of them on the darkened cruiser, it lit up the field with a yellow glow. 327 stopped to catch her breath. 626 waved the gun back an forth at the brush, cutting down anything the C4 was pointed at.
626 only stopped when the barrel was red hot, and emitting alot of heat. The forest in his imediate path had been leveled, hundreds of trees had fallen, nothing stood over two feet high. He watched the jungle where he'd cleared a swath out. Nothing moved, only the occasional branch fell. 626 thought he heard 327 calling him. He turned to make sure. She was calling him, but he couldn't hear. The gunfire had deafened him momentarily. 327 ran and embraced him, being careful of the gun. 626 knew she was crying, but couldn't hear. He stole a look at the Cruiser. The light were off, and the tent that had been erected was trampled flat.
"It's over now. The thing is dead." he patted her back.'I hope.' 626 thought. 327 let go of him and brushed away the tears in her eyes. "I don't want to live here. I want to go back to the lab. I don't want the jungle or an ocean on a planet alone,I want to go back to Turo." 327 sobbed. "Hey, were here now. And you're not alone, I'm here." 626 reassured her. "But now we need to find out where Jumba is."
626 first checked the tent, when he found nothing he advised 327 to seach the ship with him. They both searched in vain, Jumba was nowhere, the scanners weren't picking anything up. "I don't think he's here. On the planet I mean." 327 said, staring at the screen. "I think that armada of ships has something to do with him." 626 thought for a second. "Or that thing that was chasing us. It could have got him." he suggested. 327 stared at him, "I like the Armada idea better." she scowled. "Ok, ok. You win, the armada." 626 lauged. "You have changed." 327 remarked.
"I vote we stay here for tha night, then fly up to the ships and see if we can find out anything." 626 suggested. "Sounds fine." 327 yawned. "I'm going to get some sleep." she walked back to Jumba's bed room, and shut the door. 626 yawned too, he was tired. But before he wemt to bed he had some things to do. He started by going down to the storage and getting a new combat suit. He quickly slipped into it and grabbed a backpack that looked like it had belonged to him at one point. He spilled the contents only to find another combat suit, but it had been worn at one point. '327' he thought. Now that his mind had been opened up he was able to actually express his emotions for her, but since everything was hectic there hadn't been any time to say it to her.
There were also four federation blasters, one was bent out of shape and was too far dammaged to be of any use. He found somthing he'd remembered, the CH-6, that was onething he'd never forget. He set that aside by his C4 and continued to search. He found several grenades, other than that nothing else usefull. His stomach growled, then he remembered that he'd had nothing to eat in the last day or so.
He raided the small icebox under the sink, and cleaned it out. He ate everything. He suddenly felt sleepy, that after a meal feeling. He climbed up onto the couch and re-arranged several pillows to his liking then flopped down on them. He fell into a deep sleep.
* * *
"Dr. Jumba Jookiba, we meet again." a voice from the shadows boomed. A huge form stepped out from the dark area of the prison cell, it was slightly crouched. Jumba groaned from the floor of the barred cell. His head was swirling in a sea of tranquilizer, the effects were starting to wear off slowly. There was a cold feeling in the cell, and he guessed it was made of stone, he was probably in one of the ruins. "Welcome to the world of the living, Dr." the huge form said. Jumba slowly rose to his feet and drunkedly staggered arround untill he caught hold of the bars of the cell. He tried to focus on the huge alien outside, but all he saw was the world swirling arround. He tried to clear his head by shaking it. "Who......are you?" he asked the shadow outside his cell. "You don't recognize me?" the male voice questioned. Jumba groaned. "Captain Gantu." he said with great displeasure. Gantu stood up straighter when he said that. "The one and only." he smirked.
"What do you want? Don't ask about 626, he didn't return from a walk in the jungle. He's lost somewhere out there." Jumba immediately told him. "Oh, too bad." Gantu said unsympatheticly. "We were hoping you would know. Wouldn't want him to die before his trial, there are horrible things out there at night." Jumba tried his best to look puzzled, but the tranq was making it hard. "Wha da you mean?" he slurred. "You have no idea. Tonight a mutated, failed try at duplicating your 'experiement 626' roams the jungle, and his only order is to bring back 626, dead or alive." Gantu snarled. Jumba let out a small drunken laugh. "626 is able to take care of himsef, heel be able to keel it."
"Your initial tests on 626 were primitive and undecisive, they proved nothing other than he could shoot up the joint faster than anything in the galaxy. We were able to salvage most of the information from the dammaged computers. We compared the test to our abomination, 626 is as good as dead." Gantu chuckled. Jumba got worried, they had salvaged some stuff from the computer, enough to get the Council to get the armada out here searching for him. Jumba laid down on the bed and rubbed his temples. "It's all over, Jookiba." Gantu said, then left the cell.
* * *
He slept what felt like minutes before he was awakened, but it was actually three hours. He was rudly awakened when the alarms went off. "327! It's too early for this shi-" he opened an eye, it was still dark outdside and 327 was emmering from the bedroom a groggy expression was interrupted by a yawn. "What?" she looked at him quizically. The blue experiment sat up. "If you didn't, then..." he jumped up and ran to the security panel. 327 followed.
"Something has set off the motion sensors." 626 announced after looking at the panel for a few seconds. "By what?" 327 tappe the keys, trying to find the answer. 626 jumped on the sill to the window and looked out into the blackness of the night. He switched to infrared spectrum. He nearly choked, the same thing that had been chasing them, it was out there. It was hunting them. 626 jumped off the sill and hurried over to the couch wher ehis C4 was sitting. 327 appeared beside him, wearing the combat suit he'd pulled out of the pack a few hours ago. "There's that thing out there. And I don't think he's here for the cookies." 626 joked. "Here." he handed 327 the three remaining blasters. He picked up the C4.
"We can't stay in here, it'll just try to get inside and destroy the ship in the process." 626 hefted the weight of the CH-6 up into the air. The whole ship shook from the impact of something heavy. "You'll really kill this thing?" 327 asked, remembering the conversation in the jungle. "If this is what I think it is, I'll have no problem ridding of him." 626 informed her. "Let's go." "Wait, what do you plan to do?" "Go out there and hopefully hit him this time." "And what am I to do?" "Get his attention, while I try to kill him." 327 sighed. "Hit the lights." 626 reached over to a switch by the door, the outer flood lights turned on. Not three seconds after they'd turned them on there was a horifying howl. "Lock and load, he doesn't like light." 626 said, opening hte door.
'Draw his attention, got it.' 327 remembered what 626 said. 626 bolted out to the field to get a better look at this thing. The pink experiment ran a short distance away from the ship and shouted. "Yo! Over here!" The huge ugly beast that was clinging onto the ship growled at 327. It turned to jump at her. 'Oh crap.' 327 rolled to the side. The uglified beast flew through the air at an incredible speed. It brushed by 327. "Whoa!" she exclaimed. She thought twice about shoting at it.
The thing rolled into the field, clumsy as it was. The field lit up with the fire of an automatic weapon. The thin blue streaks struck teh beast head on, right in the chest, but seemingly had no effect. 626 continued the bombardment untill it got closer, then he stopped. He then slung his C4 on his shoulder and began hand to hand combat.
327 felt a wave of pressure pass her and move through the jungle, shaking the trees as it passed. She looked over to see if 626 was alright. She saw a blue haze arround 626 and the beast-thing. Both were moving too fast to comprehend, it was like battle in fast-foreward. Her jaw dropped, this was an astrical anomoly of huge matter. 626 had broken the time continueum and was fighting in, space-time, where things could move slow or fast. 327 had heard about this once. Some one had broken the continueum of time and moved with the utmost speed, too fast for anything to see it in real-time, it all looked like blurrs. 626 had somehow done it.
From the looks of the fighting, 626 was winning, and he hoped it stayed that way. Somehoe he'd broken the tiem contunueum and was fighting the beast in. He was dodging whatever the beast threw at him, Jumba's chairs, rocks. After a few minutes he began to realize that in here everything was twice as fast and three times as hard. The ugly beast dog threw himself at 626 again and only missed by inches. 626 planned to test his theory. He picked up a small rock and barely threw it. The rock sailed through the air and hit the beast on the shoulder. It reeled as if stuned by a huge boulder. The blue experiment grinned.
He whipped the C-6 off his shoulder, and leveled it at the hairy beast. He set his foot back to absorb the shock from the recoil. The thing released a nasty growl, it saw what 626 was trying to do. "That's right, eat this." 626 aimed and pulled the trigger, the force of the gun flung him back several inches, and pushed him into the ground a bit. The blue sphere of elecrisized death traveled toward the beast. It struck him right in the chest, but didn't explode, instead in lifted it off the ground and into the air. He sailed for several hundred feet, then the blue orb stuck to his chest exploded.
The explosion rocked the earth where 626 stood. Blue light bathed the area of the planet in the darkness. Out of the blue fired explosion the thing fell, six hundred feet to the jungle floor, leaving a trail of black smoke on it's way down. The tall grass in the clearing was suddenly sucked into the place of origion, where the anomoly started. 626 fell back into real time, the blue haze dissappeared with the rip in time.
626 noted the area was visibly lighter, that meant the sun was comming up. 327 approached him. "Is it dead?" "I think so." 626 put his arms arround her. "Let's go find Jumba." 327 urged. "Wait, I want to see this. The sunrise." 626 stopped her. "I've never really stopped and watched it, ironic as it is." he mused. 626 watched as the red disk of life slowly rose above the surface, it turned the jungle into a humid place crawling with life. He sat in complete awe, this was the thing he was missing all the time. To take the time to wonder at the great awes of the universe, to look at the small things and appreciate them.
327 grabbed 626 when the sun was fully up and dragged him halfway to the ship untill she got some cooperation from him. The two got aboard the ship, 327 took her place at the radar and the 626 took the pilot's chair. He went through the procedure to take off. The masive engine roared to life. The ship jumped off the ground, pushing all the grass down as it went. "We'll start by circling the planet, scanning for Jumba, he shouldn't be too hard to detect." 327 announced. She turned several knobs of the radar, the immage of the area materielaized in a three-d immage. Small animals were little blue dots, meduim were red, large were yellow, and Jumba was a black arrow. "626, turn left. I'm getting a reading." she instructed. The ship lurched as it turned and the deck tilted. "Slow down!" 327 shouted.
The ship came to a dead stop, 626 set it on auto pilot and went to see what 327 had found. "It's Jumba!" 327 squealed. "Right below us too." 626 added. He ran over to the window and looked out. "Right down in that anchient temple." he pointed.