CHAPTER TEN: Back on NSX
Fuu and Umi were unable to do anything but watch in horror as Hikaru began to wail like a madwoman. They and the rest of the unknowing people around them did not notice several men coming down from the giant spaceship above.
"Let us through!"
Fuu and Umi turned and saw Geo heading towards the center of the crowd gathered around Hikaru. Geo and some men Fuu did not recognize went to Hikaru, trying to calm her down.
Geo asked Fuu, "Why is she like this?" He tried to pry Hikaru's hands from the corpse of the man but she would not loosen her grip.
Fuu could not explain. It was all too horrible, even for her. Umi stood in silence, her face an expressionless mask. Then, Don began to stir and he woke up just as Mokona was coming to.
"Look!" A man pointed to the spot where the forest used to lay. "Is that a cave?"
Indeed, when Fuu and Umi looked, it was a cave. From its mouth issued green gas that smelled like rotten eggs and petroleum. Then, two monsters emerged, pawing their legs, preparing for an attack. Umi stomped her foot and shrieked, "I can't believe this! If this doesn't stop, I'm just going to have to---"
Umi raised her hands in midair, about to summon her saber but Fuu slapped her arm and hissed, "Not here, Umi! Not now!"
Umi put down her hands and scowled. Geo looked from the advancing monsters back to Fuu and Umi. "Get Hikaru into the ship. My men and I will take care of this."
"Okay." Fuu and Umi forced Hikaru's fingers from Adolphus' bloodied shirt and dragged her to NSX. Two men stayed with them and escorted them up the plank that led to the interior. Before Fuu or Umi could do anything to calm Hikaru down, a bearded man approached them, and with one swift motion of his hand, injected something into Hikaru's arm. Within seconds, Hikaru's shoulders slumped forward. Umi caught her limp body in her arms.
"What the hell did you do to her?!" Fuu yelled at the man, afraid that whatever it was he used on Hikaru would damage her friend completely. The bearded man did not smile but offered them an explanation.
"It will make her sleep for several hours to a day, perhaps," he said. Then, he walked away from them. "Just in case you need some of the stuff to knock you out, just holler or tell Geo."
Fuu and Umi stared after the bearded man as he disappeared behind several control booths inside the spaceship. "Who was that?" asked Umi. Fuu shrugged, bearing some of Hikaru's bulk.
Fuu heaved. "You were right, Umi. For a thin girl, Hikaru does weigh like an elephant."
"Ha! Told yah!"
They walked cautiously inside the largely populated spaceship. Men and women in drab clothing but wearing the most high-tech gadgets both women had ever seen in their lives ran to and fro. Many of them had microphones installed in earphones attached to their ears. People seemingly talked in monologues when they were actually speaking to another person at another part of the grand spacecraft. Robots of all shapes and sizes littered the area, many of which were tasked to clean or interphase with machines inside the spaceship for repairs, additional energy input, and data storage. Fuu could not help but gawk in awe.
"Welcome to Cephiro's cradle of robotics," muttered Umi. "Now, where to put Hikaru?"
Fuu pointed to a steel bench and they laid Hikaru down. Fuu and Umi sighed.
"What do we do now?" asked Umi.
"Well, I don't think you'll be interested in watching what's going on with Geo and the monsters so just stay here with Hikaru."
Umi did not argue. Fuu went to the forefront of the spaceship where a large glass window afforded her a view of the land below. She could see Autozam men, Geo included, battling against the two monsters. One had already lost an ear and a horn. The other lost its right eye. Fuu watched as Geo perfectly used two weapons almost at the same time: a light saber and a saber gun.
The fight was bloody and two or three of Geo's companions had been mortally wounded. In the end, Geo managed to kill both monsters and just like with the other monsters, the two exploded. Fuu shielded her eyes from the blinding flash of light. When the smoke cleared, she saw Geo bend down and pick up the fragments of the monsters' bodies.
Fuu turned away from the window, just as Geo came in, followed by the people from the town. In his arms he carried Don and Mokona.
"Hey, sorry we weren't able to welcome you ladies back to Cephiro," Geo apologized. Fuu took Mokona from him. "But it's really nice to see you back."
Fuu smiled. She could not lie to Geo about feeling nice to be back. "About Hikaru---"
Geo shrugged and moved his head in the direction of where Hikaru was. Fuu saw a man carrying Hikaru in his arms with a peeved Umi being held back by two men from kicking and doing bodily harm on them and their comrade.
"Umi's still quite the same," Geo said, smiling slightly. Fuu nodded.
"Quite. Yet many things have changed, too. I don't know what happened to Hikaru."
Geo ordered some women to take the townspeople to a comfortable area in the spaceship.
"We need to talk," Geo told Fuu. He looked tired and serious. Fuu nodded.
"I agree. I have a lot of questions. Perhaps you'd be honest enough with us to tell us the truth about Cephiro."
Nodding, Geo handed Don to a woman. Geo asked Fuu to follow him. He told the men to take Hikaru to The Room where she can rest quietly, away from the hustle and bustle of the people. When Fuu and Umi were sure that Hikaru would be safe, they followed Geo to another room.
It had a large widescreen, just like in the movie houses. A set of leather couches stood face to face. He made Fuu and Umi sit down. Fuu laid Mokona down on one of the smaller couches. Geo pressed a button somewhere near the door and a control panel popped out of the wall.
"Drinks, some medicines and bandages, and probably a bit of food for our guests," he said into the built-in microphone.
A female voice answered, "Yes, sir, Captain!"
Then, he walked over to the Magic Knights and sat down.
Umi could not wait to start. "You were a bit late on the rescue, Geo," she said haughtily. Geo grinned abashedly. "Sorry, Umi. For the past week NSX has been in outer space, monitoring events in the northern regions of Cephiro. Lantis has contacted us of your arrival while we were in the north and much as we wanted to come, we could not."
"Events?" asked Fuu this time. "What's going on there?" She and Umi lurched sideways. She also caught Mokona just in time before he fell to the floor. Mokona whimpered but he was still asleep. A muffled noise outside told them that the spacecraft was lifting up into the air.
Geo cringed. "Big trouble. But the real trouble is that we don't know what exactly was happening, with all those monsters cropping up. Well, after disposing of those monsters a while ago, we think we already have an idea."
He dug something from his pants pocket and flung it at Umi. Umi caught a disfigured ball of metal and wire in her hands. She raised it up to the light and examined it.
"It looks like part of a machine to me," she said, twirling it. Geo nodded.
"Exactly." Using the buttons on his digital wristwatch, Geo turned the wide screen on. An image came into focus. It was the image of one of the monsters.
"What's that?"
"We've been monitoring the north because that's where the heaviest concentration of monster attacks has been," explained Geo. He pushed another button and the monster's hide faded to reveal what looked to them like a complicated diagram of wirings and channels.
"Is that what I think it is?" Fuu leaned closer to the screen.
"We took scanning vision rays of the monsters from the north but could find nothing. However, the level of technology here in the south is much weaker and we were able to penetrate. The hides weren't thick for no reason."
Ah, so that's why those monsters exploded, thought Fuu. Umi flung the piece of machinery back at Geo.
"Why would anyone build these robotic monsters, huh? I mean, if these crazy people really wanted to scare the ministers of the castle into going with their demands, why use these measly substitutes? Hell, Zagato did much better."
Geo looked at Fuu, helpless. Fuu sighed and said, "They're not scaring the castle, Umi. They're trying to scare Autozam."
"Why would Autozam be? Are you?" Umi asked Geo pointedly. Geo, unused to being questioned heavily by two women all at once could not answer.
"With the arrival of Autozam, much of the way of life of Cephiro has changed. Culture and traditions remained but Autozam has brought with them an increased awareness of technology and a dependence for it, too," said Fuu, watching the screen as the monster view changed from dorsal to ventral.
Geo scratched his chin and looked sadly at Umi. "We cannot deny that we are not welcome in Cephiro for a lot of people. You've always had this thing going on with a Pillar and all that mystical stuff. Autozam does not rely on such beliefs. I guess, our culture has become an antagonist to them. Bugger, really."
Umi pouted. "I don't think that's any fair! Do you, Fuu?"
"No, it's not fair," replied Fuu, turning her head slightly to look back at Geo and Umi. "You cannot stop the multitude from feeling that way. What we must do, though, is restore their faith in the ministry of Master Clef because for them, he's the last link they have to security without the Pillar."
"They're losing faith in Master Clef?!" Umi asked angrily. "That's just thick of them! After all the poor man has gone through and this is how they repay him! Rebellion!"
Fuu felt for Umi and Master Clef, too, but the people of Cephiro always come first. Master Clef will have to do something about the situation. What would it take for the people to have faith in him again?
"Clef's role in Cephiro is to oversee the politics and economics of Cephiro," Geo told them. "He must have a Pillar to work with because Clef cannot do this thing alone. Hardworking and true as he is, the people of Cephiro will always cling to the idea of the Pillar."
"They do not see what it takes to become the Pillar," murmured Umi. "I've seen what it has done to Emeraude and to Hikaru. I do not want to see it happen to anyone I care for again."
Geo turned the screen off just as the drinks, the medicine, and some weird looking sandwiches arrived. Having not eaten any dinner, Umi and Fuu dug into the food. Afterwards, they cleansed each other's wounds. Some of Mokona's scratches were taken cared of by Fuu.
"It is the will of the people that keeps this ball of earth alive, Umi," Geo told them. "I have spent my life with machines and in the blink of an eye I could have told you all I know. Yet whenever I'm in Cephiro, there's something about it that will always be shrouded in mystery and I love it. I couldn't care less if our computers would not be able to scan and keep track of every data available here. I like Cephiro just the way it is. Eagle realized that, too."
"Eagle?" Fuu now asked. Hikaru had been close to Eagle and sometime before, she had assumed that Hikaru and Eagle did hit it off romantically during her stay in the NSX. Eagle had seemed besotted with her red-haired friend. "By the way, where is he? And why are you the captain of this ship now?"
A sad, pained look crossed Geo's face and both Umi and Fuu knew.
"Eagle has been dead for seven years," he said, wiping his eyes.
"The medicine you created did not work?"
Geo shook his head. "No, there was no medicine." Fuu was shocked. Eagle was willing to risk his life for that medicine. "After the liberation of Cephiro from Debonair, Eagle halted all research. Instead, he directed everything to the reconstruction of Cephiro and the development of its technology. He passed away in his sleep, in peace. We couldn't have asked for anything more."
There was long pregnant silence after Geo told them about eagle's death. Fuu and Umi worried about how Hikaru would take the news. Eagle was among her closest friends in Cephiro and they knew she trusted Eagle with her life. He also knew Lantis better than anyone else and now that he was dead, Hikaru would never really know Lantis unless he volunteers the information.
"Have you traced the creators of these monsters yet?" Umi asked, breaking the silence. Geo said no.
"There could be tens or hundreds or thousands who create these things. The problem is that they managed to cross-breed or mutate certain animals through the use of technology we shared with them. By deliberately and inappropriately combining various strains of animals and parasites and a menagerie of pests, they have created several forms of monstrosities that I could not even begin to describe. The implications are staggering. Couple that with Cizetan sorcery and Fahren ingenuity, Cephiro is on its way to a real political turmoil."
Umi was starting to feel the sting of the cut on her forehead. "Oh, dear. I know Cizeta and their ways. Using their skills for devilry and mischief would surely get one into trouble."
"So it is the same with Fahren," added Fuu, remembering the princess Aska, and her loyal servant (or could it be boyfriend now, I wonder) Sang-yung with a smile.
Geo noticed Umi swaying in her seat. "I think the both of you need to rest. I will not ask you to tell me of what you were doing with all those people in the middle of a clearing with monsters nearby."
"I do hope we don't go too far from the south," said Fuu, carrying Mokona and standing up, followed by Umi. Geo opened the door and escorted her and Umi out. Two females came and helped out Umi, who muttered something about not feeling to well at the moment. They led her to a room and took care of her. Geo and Fuu continued walking down a stretch of corridor made of steel and blinking lights. Doors slid open or close by pressing a set of numbers on a digit pad by the door.
"We'll only be going to outer space for tonight after which we will be traveling to towns, delivering these people to their proper homes. How they all converged and got to the south will always be a wonder to me. The dead bodies we saw were buried in that place. I do hope it's all right," said Geo opening the door for her and standing aside as she walked in. There was a single bed and a writing desk. No other furniture was present. "Where are you headed anyway?"
"Towns in the south first," answered Fuu, plopping down on the bed. She pushed Mokona gently to one side, careful not to wake him up. "Did Lantis tell you what we're doing back here in the first place?"
Nodding, Geo said with a grin, "Yeah, he did tell me and he was mightily pissed off. I could feel his wrath permeating our screen here on NSX. I wish you good luck, Magic Knight, and a good sleep."
"Thank you, Geo."
Geo nodded, closed the door, and went back to the cockpit.