Back at the Radam base, the slumbering form of Tekno-Warlord Darkon was awakened suddenly.
Something seemed a bit... off with the teknopods. Darkon's eyes narrowed as he sought the source of the anomaly. There. One of the pods had broken open already. Normally, Darkon would not have concerned himself with something like that, since he knew that anyone who was prematurely released from their teknopod would have a lifespan measured in days.
But something, some shadow of his suppressed othersense, warned him not to dismiss this event out of hand. So Darkon searched further, mentally prodding each of the teknopods. Once he came to the one that had opened, Darkon realized that it had not opened on its own after all.
The failsafe, the one that would have eventually caused the death of the prematurely released Teknoman, had not been activated. And there was something else as well. Some trace of animal hair, which was decidedly odd, since this planet only had one sentient race, and the protective vines were sensitive enough to tell the difference between the tread of a human and that of the other wildlife in this forest.
Gunnar, wake up! Darkon demanded.
Gunnar's pod split open, dumping the blonde Teknoman onto the floor of the base. Blinking himself awake, Gunnar started trying to squeegee the remaining slime out of his hair. He stood up after he'd gotten most of the sticky fluid out. Reaching over into a sort of small closet formed by a bunch of tentacles, Gunnar started to dress up.
Pulling on the last of his clothes, which incidentally was a pale yellow tee shirt with the words "Blondes have more fun, so there!" in white letters on the front, Gunnar tucked the hem into his jeans and turned back to his pod. It was already starting to regenerate.
Since Gunnar had never seen Darkon in person, he just tended to stare at any place his eyes would rest when they talked.
What happened? Why'd you wake me up?
There is someone missing from their teknopod. I want you to find out who it is and retrieve them.
Sure thing.
Gunnar turned away from his teknopod, walking out into the main area of the base. Looking around at the other pods, Gunnar noticed the one that had been opened almost immediately. It was hanging in shreds, almost ready to topple from its thick stem. There was… something about this particular teknopod. Gunnar bit the inside of his cheek, trying to recall why this one suddenly seemed so important.
Let's see, the one between Cain and Conrad, that was… Gunnar blinked, realizing just who had been taken from the base. Well I'll be damned, Gunnar thought, beginning to smile. Someone had taken Ness.
Although the Radam parasite that was growing somewhere inside his body ensured his loyalty to Darkon's cause, its control was not as strong as it would have been if Gunnar weren't Darkon's guide, since guides by their very nature held no close ties to the target planet. Now Gunnar felt it prodding him, telling him to go find what had been taken from them.
Um, I found out who's missing, Darkon.
Good. Who is it?
It's Ness Carter, sir, Gunnar had referred to Darkon as 'sir' rather than 'Master' or 'Lord', since the Radam were more of a military unit than a monarchy. At least in his opinion.
Well, now that we know who it is, Darkon said, sounding particularly pissed off. Why don't you go and retrieve our little wayward warrior?
Gunnar scratched his head, remembering the knowledge that had been imprinted in his mind during the transformation process. Won't he die after a few days? Gunnar asked, feeling his heart skip slightly at the thought of one of his good friends suffering like that. Better dead then like this, I guess.
Normally, yes, Darkon said coldly. But someone or something has deactivated the failsafe. I need you to go and find the little half-human before he is discovered. By anyone.
Right.
Gunnar turned away from his newly regenerated teknopod, walking between the unevenly spaced rows of occupied and unoccupied pods. The outer section of the base was smooth, but the vines quickly formed a short flight of stairs. Just as Gunnar would have bumped his head on the vines that formed the base's ceiling, they abruptly shifted aside.
Gunnar took his first breath of fresh air, stepping out of the hole in the forest floor and into the forest itself. He could hear a shifty sort of slithering sound as the hole closed up again. Gunnar didn't look back, instead wondering where Ness would have gone when the teknopod released him.
Well, if he was only halfway transformed when he got out, them maybe he still remembers something about his life. Since Gunnar knew that before a normal person was implanted with a Radam parasite they had their memory wiped, it was reasonable to assume that this process had been only half complete when Ness had been released.
So, if he only had a partial mind wipe, that means he might still be able to remember his past. Sure, it'll just be bits and pieces, but it'll still be there. Gunnar knew that the most likely place Ness would go if he were confused and alone, which he would undoubtedly be after having come out of a teknopod, would be back home. After all, the Carter family cabin held a lot of good memories for all of its inhabitants, permanent and temporary.
Okay, so I'll go there, see if I can find him. As much as Gunnar hated to do it, he knew what would happen if he didn't. The last time he had defied Darkon's orders had been five weeks ago, when another family had gone camping in this forest. Their two kids, a young boy who looked about six and his older sister who was probably ten, had been in a different area of the forest than Amy and her family.
Darkon had sent him out on a scouting mission, and when the Warlord had found out that there were humans wandering around in the forest he was determined to have them join his forces. Gunnar had been ordered to leave the parents, since they were most likely too old to survive the transformation. Gunnar had refused, thinking that it was bad enough that his friends and only remaining family member would have to spend the rest of eternity as slave warriors to the Radam Empire.
That was when the pain had started. Pain like someone with a real sadistic streak was shoving flaming daggers right into his brain. Gunnar had also involuntarily stopped breathing for about five minutes. When the pain had finally stopped and Gunnar had been able to breath again, Darkon had warned him that if he were ever to do anything like that again, he could be assured that Darkon would not be so merciful a second time.
Even now after five weeks, the memory of that pain and the terror of not being able to draw air into his lungs no matter ho hard he tried, was enough to convince Gunnar to shut up and obey orders. Walking on, Gunnar slowly and steadily made his way to the edge of the forest, where the Carter cabin was located. It took him about seven hours to get there, since he took a more direct route than the long hike that he had gone on when he first left.
He was counting on the fact that no one would be looking up at this time of the day, and even if they were, they probably wouldn't notice the streak of red light cutting through the sky, since it was moving so fast and making sure to stay only a bit above the treetops. Finally reaching his destination, Gunnar landed and quickly detransformed.
Gunnar found being in his armor for too long both draining and a little bit frightening. Draining because it took a great deal out of him to fly that fast for that long, and frightening because the armor made him feel invulnerable and so utterly powerful. He'd often heard it said that absolute power corrupted absolutely. Was that what had happened to Darkon?
Gunnar shook his head, dispelling those thoughts, now was not the time. Walking up to the door of the cabin, Gunnar squatted down to retrieve the spare key from underneath the welcome mat. Before he went inside though, Gunnar looked down to read the message on the mat like he'd done so many times before. It said "Welcome to our Home." but below the picture of a typical suburban dwelling, someone with a decidedly twisted sense of humor - probably Cain - had scrawled the words "now go away." in permanent marker.
