The rainbow with all its passengers passed through the warp portal, and Spectra lay dead ahead. Rainbow had been there only a few years ago, but it was a new thing for the Sprites, Kids, and Brian. They oohhed and ahhed at the beauty of the enormous diamond floating free in space, not held captive by any star.
She directed the Color Belt to take them to Orin's village, and it changed course slightly to obey. As they approached the collection of crystal igloos, she noticed the number of Sprites present was rather low.
They landed in an open spot, the rainbow disappearing from under their feet. The Rainbowland Sprites began complaining of the brightness of the place, squinting and putting their hands over their eyes.
A grey Sprite ran up to greet them, and Rainbow recognized him immediately.
"I'm Bombo, Polisher First Class," he said, "And I welcome you all to Spectra. Orin's waiting for you over there." He pointed to a larger igloo.
"Thank you, Bombo," said Rainbow, "And I'm glad to see you again."
"You too, Rainbow Brite," was the answer, "And you Sprites, I have goggles for you all."
He turned and whistled, and another grey Sprite came over with a bag in hand. He gave each of the Rainbowland Sprites a pair of goggles, and they thanked him. It solved the problem.
Brian lifted his visor for a second, and quickly closed it, eyes watering.
"Why aren't all of you blinded?" he asked, reaching under and wiping his eyes with a finger.
"It's an evolutionary thing," said Violet.
"Oh," said Brian, not really knowing any more than he did before.
Moonglow was standing still, looking up. The stars were visible faintly in the sky, along with several planets.
Stormy was looking up as well, but not at the stars. She was getting a feel for Spectra's atmosphere. There were few clouds, and those were thin and wispy. The air was a comfortable temperature, but still... She raised her hand, and tried to draw together energy for a storm cloud. The clouds obeyed her, coming together overhead, but they stayed thin. Frustrated, she drew all the heat energy in the local area together, but it did little good. A faint breeze sprang up, and it began misting. No lightning or thunder was produced.
"RATS!" she cried, stamping her foot in frustration.
"What's wrong?" asked Buddy.
"I can't get a storm cloud started. It must be this artificial atmosphere. No real weather to work with."
"What is it?" asked Rainbow, coming over.
"I'm gonna be useless," said Stormy, fuming, "I can't work any weather."
"Talk to Violet. Maybe she can help," said Rainbow.
"She doesn't know anything about controlling the weather," said Stormy, fiercely.
"You might be surprised," said Rainbow, "Violet's pretty smart." She walked away toward Bombo, who was gesturing her to follow him to Orin.
"Don't worry about it," said Buddy, "We'll find you something to do."
Stormy turned and glared at him so strongly, he took a step back.
"Uh, sorry," he said.
Stormy turned and stalked away toward Shy Violet.
As Bombo had said, she found Orin in his igloo, studying a map of the area. The location of the village, mine, and the Princess' ship were marked.
"Hi, Orin!" she said, entering.
"Rainbow Brite! I am very glad to see you! I guess Krys has put you in the picture?"
"Yes, thank you," she replied, "We'll do whatever we can to help."
"Thank you! Actually, I don't know what you can do. The Glitterbots are strong, and quick to use their hypnoray. They are wandering around, catching every Sprite they can."
"We'll find a way to beat them," said Rainbow, "We must! Spectra is too important to let her have it!"
Just then, Violet came into the igloo.
"I have an idea how to beat the Glitterbots," she said.
"I knew you'd think of something!" said Rainbow, "What is it?"
"I watched a Glitterbot hypnotize a Sprite a few minutes ago. It's head glowed just before the hypnoray was sent out. That gave me an idea, so I looked at one of the wrecks left over from the last time. The circuitry looks like my idea will work.
All we need to do is send a strong beam of light back into the Glitterbot through its eyes, and that will disrupt its circuits."
"Brilliant!" said Orin, "Are you sure it will work?"
"Not completely, but pretty sure," she said.
"We'll try it!" said Rainbow, "We have to stop this war!"
"Okay, everyone understand?" called Rainbow to the assembled Color Kids and Sprites.
There were responses of verious kinds.
"Everyone have their light charged?" asked Violet.
Once again general agreement.
"Rainbow, I don't think my powers will do any good," said Moonglow, sadly, "I can't project light beams."
"That's true," said Rainbow, "Do you have any idea what you could do to help?"
"No," said Moonglow, bowing her head, "I'm just useless."
"You can turn invisible, can't you?" asked Brian.
"Yes, but how can that help?" said Moonglow, looking at him.
"You can spy on the Glitterbots, and bring back reports of where they are, and what they're doing!" said Brian.
Moonglow brightened. "Yes, I can do that! There's no sun here to stop me!" She suddenly faded from view.
"Good idea, Brian!" said Rainbow, "You've already helped out!"
"Aw, that's okay," he said.
"If you have any other ideas, by all means, suggest! But now excuse me, we have to go."
Rainbow on her rainbow, and the Color Kids on their color stripes, joined by their Sprites, took off. They scattered in all directions looking for Glitterbots.
It didn't take long to find some.
The giant robots looked up at them and shot their green ray. The Kids swerved on the stripes, and shot light beams of various colors at them. Because the Glitterbots were moving, the eyes were hard to hit.
Finally, Tickled Pink's beam hit one squarely.
It jerked back, and smoke began pouring from its head. It suddenly sat down, then fell backwards. Smoke began to pour from every vent.
"It works!" shouted Red, "Let's go get 'em!"
With renewed vigor, the Kids went after the Glitterbots. They got many, but more kept coming. Fortunately, the hypnoray was of short range, so as long as the Kids stayed beyond it, they were safe. But to have a clear shot at the eyes, they needed to get closer. Even when they avoided the hypnoray, they had to watch out for the rope. More than one Kid nearly got tangled up in Glitterbot rope.
Using hit-and-run tactics, they began to make a dent in the number of Glitterbots roaming around.
The Sprites supplied their Kids with Starsprinkles until they ran out, and were forced to retreat to Orin's village for more.
While there, waiting for Moonglow's reports of Glitterbot movements gave them a chance to rest a bit, then go to where the robots had been reported.
Violet had indeed a suggestion for Stormy, and she was anxious to try it. Brian had an idea of how she could.
She created a fogbank in a valley of crystal, and waited.
Over the course of an hour, the Kids herded Glitterbots in that direction. The 'bots, seeing cover, moved into the valley until there were a dozen or more hiding in there.
Then Krys used the red heat ray of the Prism to heat the air over the valley. Stormy began drawing moisture from a nearby waterfall in the form of spray. She poured in the ingredients, and Krys poured on the heat, until Spectra saw its first-ever thunderstorm. The 'bots watched this operation, not having any idea what was going on.
Then Stormy gestured, and lightning struck the Glitterbots, the high amperage melting them almost instantly.
Stormy laughed. "That felt good!" she said.
"Thank you, Violet! Thank you, Krys! And thank you, Brian!" she said.
But even that wasn't enough. It seemed for every Glitterbot they took out, another took its place. The Kids were getting tired, and there was no sign of an end to it.
During a lull, they rested and had a conference.
"It's no good, Rainbow," said Buddy, "No matter how many we destroy, there are always more. And they're getting trickier. One tried to ambush me, but I heard the sound of it's rope dispenser."
"We can't give up," said Rainbow.
"We won't," said Red, "But we have to think of something else to fight them with."
"Bring some more to that valley," said Stormy, "I'll take care of 'em!"
"That won't work any more, I'm afraid," said Orin, "After that third batch you destroyed, they won't go anywhere near that valley."
"The odds against us are getting worse," said Violet, "It's only a matter of time before the hypnoray catches one of us."
On that gloomy thought, the conference ended. They all stepped outside to find a fresh batch of Starsprinkles waiting, being separated by their Sprites.
A few minutes later, they were all airborne again, off to where Moonglow had reported a large number of Glitterbots amassing.
Krys had stayed in the village, to protect it, and supply Stormy with heat.
Brian, who had said nothing during the meeting, turned to him.
"Krys, can I make a suggestion?" asked Brian.
"Sure, we need all the help we can get," he replied.
"The best way to end this is to get to the Princess. Capture her and force her to call off the Glitterbots. You have that Prism, so I think you'd be the best one to try it," he said.
Krys looked surprised. "I'd never have thought of that. We aren't used to war, here. We know very little about conducting one, other than fighting until we're beaten."
"So you think it's a good idea?" asked Brian.
"It's the best one I've heard yet," Krys answered, "I'll go now." He slipped away among the crystals, and was gone.