Chapter 8: A Happy Ending (yeah, right!)
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"Woohoo!" Sandoval said.
Or at least, that's what Liam thought he was saying. The agent was shaking his fists in the air and grinning as his well-aimed marshmallow sent Renee flying across the room. Renee bumped into the wall, did a quick about face and used it to launch herself at Sandoval. She caught another marshmallow as she approached and swung at him.
Sandoval managed to dodge the shot. Renee lost her grip on the large puff and it went sailing toward Liam.
Liam ducked, letting the object cruise harmlessly overhead. He glared at the two humans. Sandoval stuck out his tongue and Renee laughed. Liam shook his head. Turning to Da'an, he signaled the Taelon to begin the cycle to restore the atmosphere and gravity to the portal room.
Sandoval and Renee floated to the floor, their marshmallows shrinking to wrinkled little lumps. Renee removed her mask and frowned at Liam. "You killed it!" she cried. "That's not fair..."
"You can play later," promised Liam, taking off his own mask. Since getting the counter-agent, he felt a little more forgiving. Soon, he thought, this will all be over...
Renee grinned, "Ok, whatever you say!"
Liam nodded, distracted. He removed the pressure belt and handed it to Da'an. He and Zo'or gathered the remaining equipment and set about returning it to the storage cabinet. Of course, there was still one problem.
The moon shoes.
They couldn't be removed. Liam tugged on his own, trying to free himself without setting off the anti-gravity. The boots refused to budge. I guess we'll have to wear them for now. He turned to the group at large. "Ok, we have to return to the Mothership. It looks like Renee, Sandoval and I will have to take these moon shoes with us."
"Good," said Sandoval. He seemed happy to be able to keep his new toy.
"Ok," Liam continued, "The only other problem is T'than may be waiting for us when we return."
Zo'or looked stricken. His fingers danced nervously, and he said, "Perhaps I should remain here?"
"Coward," murmured Sandoval.
Zo'or shot the agent an angry glance.
"No fighting!" ordered Liam, determined to keep some control over the group. "Zo'or, you're coming with us. Set the controls for the return trip."
Zo'or cocked his head, but obeyed. He delicately tapped the sequence into the station next to the portal. He studied the monitor for a moment, the gave Liam a slightly worried look. "The controls at the Mothership portal have been damaged."
"What does that mean?" Liam ground out.
"Ah..." Zo'or stammered. "We can transport there, but once through...there is no way back."
"Great," Liam said. I guess that means no quick retreats. "Set the controls."
Zo'or made a nervous little shrug, then set the sequence. Liam, Sandoval, Renee and Da'an stepped into the portal. Zo'or quickly followed them. Liam pulled out his gun. He hoped T'than was too busy on the bridge planning his invasion to be monitoring the portal room.
Liam gave the group one final encouraging look before they were sent through ID space.
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"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!"
The warrior cry assaulted Liam's ears as soon as he appeared in the Mothership's portal. He brought up the gun to send off a few warning shots. His wrist stung as the descending sword struck the weapon and wrenched it from his hand. He launched himself at the attacking Taelon, knocking them both to the floor.
"Run!" Liam shouted to the others.
They didn't need to be told twice. Da'an, Zo'or, Sandoval and Renee raced for the door. Without even a glance back, they disappeared.
So much for his being on the bridge... Liam grappled with T'than. He grabbed the Taelon's arm and twisted hard. T'than growled as he let go of the ancient sword. The weapon skittered across the room, coming to a stop near the door.
Liam pushed off the Taelon, leaving T'than momentarily stunned. He raced to the door, opened it and snatched up the sword on the way out. He closed the door from the other side. Then, using the sword, struck the controls. I hope this works...
He heard T'than reach the door. The Taelon began pounding, speaking furiously in Eunoia. It seemed he couldn't open the door from the inside.
Liam sighed in relief. He turned and surveyed the corridor. There was no sign of the others. They could be halfway across the Mothership by now, he thought. He supposed it didn't matter. With the counter-agent, he would put an end to all the madness.
Deciding to keep the sword with him, Liam began to make his way to the nearest environmental station. He walked briskly, alert for anything unusual. He blinked in surprise when he noticed he wasn't making any headway.
Liam kept walking but the corridor refused to move. He glanced down and noticed his feet weren't touching the floor. "Ah..." Liam said in frustration. Using the sword, he 'paddled' over to the wall. He tapped his foot on the ground.
Nothing happened.
He tapped it again, harder this time, but still his foot bounced off the floor. It seemed his moon shoes had finally decided on a mode: anti-gravity.
"Great..." muttered Liam. He stuffed the sword under his arm. Placing both hands against the wall, he pulled himself down the hall.
A strange crackling noise suddenly filled the corridor, followed by a familiar voice.
"Greetings all, this is your Synod leader Zo'or."
Liam groaned. What now?
"I have something to say to you," Zo'or continued. "Please listen carefully..... A duck walks into this bar..."
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"I made it," whispered Liam. He couldn't believe it. Beads of sweat pearled on his forehead from the exertion of having to pull himself by hand to the environmental station. "I just hope this works."
Letting the sword drop, Liam reached into his pocket and removed the vial. He opened a small panel on the control board and inserted the counter-agent. He tapped in the commands to release it into the ship. He also set the energy sweep.
Finally, exhausted, Liam slipped to the floor, his moon shoes switching modes once again.
Liam's eyes closed in blissful oblivion as the counter-agent began making its way around the ship.
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Epilogue
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Liam stretched his aching muscles and yawned.
It had been 24 hours since he'd released the counter-agent on the Mothership. The antidote had worked perfectly. Not only did the Taelons recover, but so did the human crew. He wished he could have been present when Sandoval came to his senses. He wondered what the agent's reaction had been on finding himself dressed in leather and wearing black and white face paint.
Liam chuckled to himself. Well, at least I got to see Renee's. He'd woken up in the environmental station. He didn't know how long he'd been there, but he'd set out immediately to find her. Luckily, his moon shoes hadn't switch back to anti-gravity mode.
The professional businesswoman had been chagrined, to say the least. Although it seemed no one could remember completely what they had done, there was enough memory to cause embarrassment. He'd wisely kept his mouth shut when he'd returned the sword to T'than and taken Da'an back to the Embassy.
Da'an had given Liam a day to rest before resuming the investigation. Which is what he was doing now. Augur had left a message for him to come to the hacker's hideout. Apparently, he'd found some new information.
Liam yawned again as the elevator doors opened and he stepped into the old Resistance headquarters. "Hey Augur!"
"Liam, you're here. Great," grinned Augur. He looked up from his computer as Liam approached. "I've got some interesting news for you. I know who stole the Taelon compound from the Mothership!"
"What?" Liam stared at his friend. Augur hadn't mentioned he'd discovered the culprit. "Ok," he asked, intrigued, "Who was it?"
"Sandoval!" Augur said with a smug expression.
"Huh? Augur are you sure?" Liam questioned.
"Am I sure?" Augur scoffed. "Of course. You gave me the best clue yourself!"
"I did?" Liam couldn't remember finding any clues, let alone passing them on to Augur.
"I'll explain," said Augur.
Liam nodded. "Please do."
"Ok, remember when you were in the portal room on the Moonbase? When I asked you where you had been...you made that comment about the 'rabbit hole'?" Augur asked
"Uh huh," replied Liam. He was following...so far.
"Well, I finally tracked down that witness I told you about," continued Augur. "Turns out he had stashed the compound there for some mysterious contact. He didn't know who, only that he was told to put the stuff in the ingredients for the new 'Gummi Bunni' candy the manufacturer was going to produce."
"Gummi Bunni?" asked Liam.
"Yep," said Augur. "At first, I thought Sandoval was just making some reference to 'Alice in Wonderland'. Then I found out from the witness, that the workers at the factory had dubbed the holding area for the Gummi Bunni ingredients as the 'rabbit hole'. That's too much of a coincidence, if you ask me."
"Ok," admitted Liam. It seemed to fit, Sandoval might have wanted the compound for his own purposes, but something was bugging him. If the compound had been stored in the Gummi Bunni ingredients then... "Augur, what about the Gummi Bears?"
"Well, that's the funny thing," Augur laughed nervously. He stood up and put a few more feet between himself and the Companion Protector. "It seems the Gummi Bears were never drugged to begin with."
"What?!" Liam shouted. "How do you explain the...the insanity that went on?"
Augur rung his hands. "Ah...well...I had that question myself, so I did a few calculations, and simulations, and..."
"And?" Liam asked dangerously. He leaned forward on the desk between them.
"And.....it seems the chemical composition of Gummi Bears has a strange effect on Taelons," said Augur, stepping back a few more feet. He rushed on, though he didn't look particularly pleased to do so, "It causes erratic energy impulses. Which, unfortunately, affect others around them, including humans. Causing them to behave...strangely."
"And this...effect," asked Liam, beginning to make his way around the desk, "How long does it last?"
"Oh...well..." stalled Augur. "Uh...according to my calculations.... it would have worn off about... half an hour after you put the counter-agent into the Mothership's environment."
Liam didn't say anything, didn't think anything, just continued to make his way toward the nervous hacker.
"Now Liam...I...we couldn't have known, right? It was just a freak occurrence... It's nothing to get upset about... We'll look back on this someday and just laugh...right? Liam? Liam???"
FINITO