"Warning, Proximity Alert." the computer announced again. "We are docked within unknown containment area."
"Computer, where are we?" the Dracadian asked, not understanding his computer.
"Scans reveal that the Zenith is docked in some kind of Containment Area." the computer told him.
"What do you mean containment area?" Tenchi asked the computer.
"We are in an unknown dock." the computer said simply.
"Well un dock and get us out of here." Zack commanded.
"Unable to comply. The Zenith has couplings locking it down to the dock." the AI said. "Trying to over ride...Over ride failed. Unable to contact central command computer."
"Computer display the locks." commanded Zack. A 3D holographic wire frame model of the ship appeared after a moment. The ship showed up in green, as red objects appeared on the holographic wire frame model.
"Class 6 Holding Couplings detected on external sections 2D, 4C, 12H, 4G, 2F." The computer informed those in the bridge. "The Zenith is unable to break away from couplings without cause critical damage to the ship."
"What is going on?" Ayeka said, now regaining her nerves after that horrific ordeal.
"Hold on, Ill explain in a minute... Computer, what of the Dock?" Zack told Ayeka, and then the computer.
"Initial scans reveal this dock is a Titan Class Docking Bay," droned the computer. Another wire frame hologram appeared. Some red door like blotches lit up. "Four entry and exit points for personal detected. The computer cannot detect anything beyond the dock walls. Distortions and interference detected from dark ether energies. Heavy unknown energy source detected approximately 2200 meters above current position. Unable to determine structure housing unknown energy source."
"Zack, what's going on?" Ayeka becoming impatiant. It was a general feeling around the room.
"Computer, Data Logs as of 3 star hours ago." Zack commanded. A screen appeared.
Static.
"5 Hours"
Static
"8 Hours?"
Static
"Computer.."
"Corruption has been detected in the data logs. Last recording was 9 Hours and 46 Minutes ago, Star Time." the computer cut him off.
"Zack!" Ayeka demanded.
"What!" He said turning to her.
"What is going on?" she asked again. Zack sighed and sat down in the helm's seat. He rubbed his face and held his head in his hands.
"...Im not sure exactly, but I think we've been under some kind of spell." Zack finally said. They looked at him, not following what he meant. "What I mean to say, is that Shadow Ether has been flowing through out the ship and was being manipulated, causing us all to see hallucinations. Chances are, if we go back to the places earlier, there wont be any damage, except maybe the Armory..."
"What do you mean no damages? Just loo.." Ryoko stopped in mid sentence, pointing to the doorway of the bridge. The door was studded with bullet holes, but outside of that, it was in one piece, still in the frame with no dents or holes or claw marks. "..It's there again..."
"..So thats the power of Shadow Ether..." Washu said grimly. She understood now. "Thats probably why there were no wounds on Mihoshi or Kiyone."
"Wait just a second! Your telling me this whole time we were hallucinating?" Ryoko said, still not believing it. "No, that was to real."
"Ether in concentrated amounts can have such effects." Zack said getting up. "I believe that for a while, we've been in this hanger, and that my Syphon Cylinder here was tampered with to start drawing in the surrounding shadow ether, and when right, the nightmare began..."
Ayeka looked out into the hanger. "So were in a Dracadian ship?"
"A Sentinel class maybe..." Zack replied "But honestly, I don't know. The hanger is larger then that of a Sentinel's and is different in build...Hell, you could probably fit a Sentinal Class in the hanger by the looks of it. That and my computer cant detect anything beyond the walls of this hanger."
"Who cares, Lets just get out of here." Ryoko said, now trying to get ontop of more important matters.
"We cant." Zack said after a moment.
"Why not?" Mihoshi asked.
"The ship is being clamped down by high grade Dracadian Padlocks. Only things strong enough to take em off are Fission Cutters." Zack said sitting back down and now leaning back in the chair. "So unless any of you have one of those in your pockets..."
The room was quiet. Washu stared at the floor a moment before something seemed to click with her. She held her hands out, and her holo laptop brought itself to her sight. She smiled widely.
"I can summon my laptop again." she said, enthusiastically. The other's tried their weapons again. And, like nothing ever happened, they too sprang forth from their respectful places. Zack ignited a small flame in his palm, and then clenched his fist to extinguish it.
"Well thats good an' all, but it doesn't help us much." Zack said, repeating the action in his hand.
"Maybe I can hack the central computer of this ship, and we will be able to free the locks and leave." She said as her fingers began to dance as lightning across the translucent keyboard. "Mm-hmmm...Mm hmmmmmmm... Ok Got it!"
Zack said upright looking at her astonished. "Were free then?"
"Nopes..."Washu said. "Just starting up my hacking programs."
Everyone face faltered. She resumed typing and after a moment spoke. "I can't get the locks off. There's something that's like a computer I guess controlling this ship, but I cant contact it or make a good enough connection. Interference."
"Its probably that energy source a few levels above us, which is probably my guess a syphon cylinder." Zack said, assessing her input. "If that's what it is, then thered be no point hacking into the computer. The ether in this place is preventing it."
"Washu, why don't you just rig up something to cut through the locks?" Ryoko questioned the red haired scientist.
"Because, my dearest Ryoko..."she began annoyed. "A fission cutter is a VERY complex type of cutter and, unlike in cartoons, it would take me a while to actually get one that we could move easily to each of the padlocks that would also have sufficient power to do the job."
"So then what are we going to do?" Sasami asked worried.
"Longer we stay here, the more danger we'll be in," Ayeka added.
"We've got a few choices." the dracadian thought. "We can wait here for Washu to build a portable fission cutter, or..."
"Bust em off!" Ryoko said with enthusiasm.
"You just don't listen, do you?" Zack said.
"Well then why not just fly out of here with Ryo-Ohki?" Ryoko said back.
"Because we don't know where we are in relation to the rest of this place, and Im not leaving my ship behind." Zack said, rubbing his eyes.
"That and we cant get into Jurai space with the Ryo-Ohki." Ayeka added. "Jurai is probably on a heightened alert, and thanks to your infamous and atrocious record, trying to sneak in with your ship would be near impossible."
Ryoko stuck her tongue out at Ayeka.
"We could see if we can reach an actual computer terminal and work from there." Kiyone suggested.
"Yeah that could work, but we'd have to go outside into the hanger," Zack said.
"How do you know this is a ship?" Mihoshi questioned.
"Because you cant just pluck a ship out of the middle of space and dock it into a space station or planetary dock without heavily damaging it," Washu said. "Anyways, that wont do, Id noticed if there were any close by accessible terminals. We'd probably have to go deep into the ship."
"That looks like something we may have to do anyways." Tenchi said.
"Aye, but the shadow ether is going to stop us from hacking, and may even cause a problem for our natural weaponry..." Zack said. "I bet it's probably safe guarding the system, too."
"Zack what are those?" Washu asked randomly.
Washu was pointing to the small detailed red objects on the wire frame hologram of the Zenith. She touched one and it zoomed in on it. Indeed, it looked something like a pad lock, so Washu was somewhat familiar with how it probably worked, but a large spherical object that didnt seem to serve any purpose were attached on the side away from the ship of each padlock.
"I don't know..." He studied it for a second. "Computer, what are those?"
"Scanning..." it replied. "Padlock design has been altered. Unknown creation, Class 6 holding padlocks seem to make up the basic design, while Spirit Spheres have been attached. Analysis shows that the spirit spheres, along with the central command codes, are keeping padlocks shut."
"It's a whole new design of lock..." Zack said in wonder. "I've never seen something like that. It's like a security lock on the security locks."
"What's it mean in simpler terms." Ryoko said.
"It means that even if I were to hack the main computer, which I cant," Washu began, understanding the situation. "That those 'spirit spheres', or whatever they are, would still power the locks and keep them shut."
"The spheres are just like the syphon cylinder, only simpler. They can attract energy, suck it in, and other things from the environment or through direct feed." Zack explained further. "It's like the locks on the doors around here. Same idea. They do simple tasks and functions, and for those, its to keep the padlocks on, even if hacked."
"A security lock on the locks..." Kiyone said, parroting earlier words. "So what does that leave us to do?"
"I don't know. I mean they are absorbing dark ether from somewhere, as well as a computer signal." Zack said. "The dark ether is probably coming from a Syphon Cylinder..."
"Which is protecting the computer," Washu added. "So we'd have to take out the cylinder to get to the computer. Its like killing two birds with one stone."
"Yeah," Zack agreed. "But on larger ships, the syphon filter is a central structure located near the main deck or under the bridge itself. It's bound to be well protected."
"We've got no other choice, though." Ayeka said.
"Only way out of this jam is to do that it seems," Tenchi said, "And now that we can use our weapons again, it should be easier."
"Don't count on the weapon's to heavily, but since its our best course of action, we might as well go." Zack said. "Someone is going to have to stay here, then."
"Ill stay," Kiyone said, trying to get back up, but couldn't. She was still weak. "Urg, It's obvious I cant come along anyways."
"Alright. Mihoshi, you stay here and look after Kiyone and the ship." Zack said.
"Sasami, you stay here too," Ayeka also said. "It may be dangerous."
Washu nodded in agreement then turned to Kiyone. "Kiyone, you think you could pilot this ship?"
"Huh?" came a sound from both the police officer and dracadian.
"I've got the suspicion that if we knock out both the power and computer, there's probably a back up system that will kick in soon afterwards." Washu explained. "So it'd be good if you could pilot the ship out of the hanger into space before it comes online."
"How will you get back then?" Kiyone asked.
"We can use Ryo-Ohki to make our escape, once we know the layout of the ship." came the answer.
Kiyone pondered a moment then looked unsure. "Maybe...I don't know... I've never flown warships before, really."
"Help her to the helm," Zack asked Mihoshi as he tried to help her up. They helped her over to the helm, where she could pilot the ship. She sat in the chair and got herself comfortable. Zack typed in some commands into the holographic consoles. Dracadian messaging came up, and he continued. After a moment he turned to Kiyone. "Alright, The ship's syphon cylinder behind you is shut down. It caused a circuit change, so you will have 50 propulsion and limited weapon systems at most. Jumping is a no go as well. The computer will obey your commands, and a basic computerized tutorial can be run if you give the command to do so. Just have the computer help translate."
Kiyone gave a nod of understanding.
"Alright, then lets go" Zack said with serious enthusiasm. Be he staggered after a moment and panted for a second, then sat down to catch his breath.
"I think were getting ahead of ourselves.." Tenchi said, noticing how tired he was. They had just spent nearly the last 4 hours running about the ship for their lives, wit's at their end.
" A rest would be nice." Ayeka said sitting down.
"Uhh.. Or some sleep." Ryoko said in agreement. She yawned.
"Mm Im hungry, too..." Mihoshi said.
"Heh, were in danger because whoever is upstairs will know that I've shut down our syphon soon enough, and we're all out of strength." Zack said, laughing slightly.
"And were not exactly dressed all that appropriately either..." Washu added, noting that she was still wearing her night gown, as everyone else was still in their night clothing as well. "I can take care of the fatigue though, but lets get in better dress, hm?"
"Let's meet back here in 10 minutes, then.." Zack said. He groaned as he got back to his feet and opened the door to the bridge and stepped out. The others did likewise. About 10 or so minutes later, everyone was back on the bridge. Ayeka, Washu, Tenchi, Ryoko, and Zack were wearing battle armor, as they would be the 5 who would go out into the unknown. Ryo-Ohki was with them, as well, in her cabbit form. Washu summoned up her holo computer and typed some things in. After a moment, she closed it. Little orbs of light began to appear and after a moment, small reddish orange drinks in glass flasks appeared.
"Voila! Washu's Special Energy Formula!" Washu said showing the others. "Guarenteed to wake you up and give you the energy to run a marathon without breaking a sweat."
Washu handed one out to everyone. Tenchi eyed it suspiciously. Ayeka gave it a sniff and made a face of disgust. Ryoko stared deeply at the liquid through the glass, as if seeing if it was poisoned.
"...What's the drawbacks?" Ryoko asked, not to trusting.
"Drawbacks? What drawbacks?" Washu said, trying to act sincere. "There's no drawbacks...(though you will be dead as a door nail after 24 hours with a headache, but nothing I cant fix anyways..)
"What was that?" Ryoko said, hearing Washu mutter something under her breath after her last statement.
"Nothing" Washu said. "Now drink up! We've got a busy day ahead of us."
Ryoko frowned and grumbled. "It's still night time..." She then consumed the liquid. Her face seemed to turn to stone in disgust. A general feeling was apparent on everyone else's faces. Save Washu, that is. She drank it all down in one gulp.
"Ahh! Refreshing." Washu said wiping her mouth. "What's the matter with the rest of you?"
Ryoko began to spit some of it out, Zack tried wiping off his tongue on his sleeve.
"Ith tasths awthul!" Tenchi said, grimacing at the repulsive taste in his mouth.
"Oh, come on!" Washu said taking Ryoko's flask out of her hand and sipping it. "It's not that bad!...EW"
Washu spat some out. She looked at it curiously, summoned up her holo computer and ran a test. She frowned. "A computer glitch? How odd. It didn't mix in the flavoring, no wonder..."
The other flasks disappeared out of everyone's hands. She typed again, and dispersed her holo laptop. After a moment, new flasks appeared. "Try these then."
Everyone warily took a sip after eyeing the liquid. A look of 'Hey, not bad' came on the faces of most people. They drank it down. Ryoko handed her flask back to Washu a bit forcefully.
"Much better," she said sarcastically.
"Watch your manners," Washu warned. "Wouldn't want you to end up a Kappa, now would you?"
Everyone gave it a moment to sink it, and soon enough they were feeling full of energy again. "Alright, lets go. Computer, Arm self defence mechanisms. No one comes aboard without me."
"Understood." the soft spoken computer replied. They proceeded out the bridge. Passing some corridors and other long passageways, they finally stopped in front of a heavy plated door way. 3 orbs arranged in a triangular pattern, with 4 smaller ones at each corner of the door, glowed a soft red. Zack took a breath.
"Here we go." Zack replied, bracing himself for the unknown. He waved his hand across the orb formation in the center of the heavy door. The crystals flashed 5 times and then dimmed. A mechanical sound behind the door began to emerge, as the clanking of gears and other machines began to turn. A siren sounded as a red lot turned on above the door. Steam hissed from the seams as it slowly seemed to sink away from Zack and the others. A clanking noise halted the door movement, and it slid away into the right wall after a moment. Before them stood the darkness.
Ryoko leaned forward from the door way and looked out. The hanger was dark, and an black haze seemed to drift through the air. She looked down at the side of the ship and then to the other side. There were no platforms or docking rails that would allow them to easily leave the ship.
"How do we get down?" Ryoko questioned. Zack pulled out a small coin of some kind and flipped it off his thumb into space. It gently twirled out and gracefully fell into the darkness below them. Zack listened intently. After a long silence, a twang could be heard, as the coin hit the floor below. Zack then hoisted himself on the small ledging of the hatch door way and put his hands on both sides of the door way, readying himself to disembark. He took a gulp and jumped.
"Zack!" Tenchi said, grabbing after him but tripped and fell out too. "AHHhhhh...huh?"
Tenchi was gently falling, along with Zack. He tried to turn himself to face the ship door way. It shrank away from him, now noticing Washu, Ryoko, and even Ayeka (although with a face of fear) jump from the ship door way. He gently touched a hard surface and bounced off slightly. He flailed about, disorientated to get back down. After a moment, Zack came and helped him down from the air.
"The gravity in this dock, like most Dracadian docks, is lower gravity, so there isn't much need for platforms to take us from the ships." Zack informed the others. He touched a small jewel on his arm guard, and the hatch the ship above them sounded with metal machines working their business in closing the hatch behind them. "Alright, lets go. Washu, Im sure you probably know where the exit points are, right?"
"Yeah, I downloaded them right before we left." Washu said. She opened her palm upward, and a small holographic diagram of the dock appeared. In a corner, a small green blip appeared, while red blips appeared on the other sides of the dock walls. "We're right here, this green blip. It's a small hike, but our closest one should be that way."
She pointed into the darkness. They nodded and headed off. After a few minutes, and a climb up a ladder and across a few platforms, they reached a door. Zack stared at it funny for only a brief moment, before it split in two, allowing them to proceed. He blinked a moment, and shook his head to clear it of his thoughts.
The corridors were somewhat spacious, but very strange as well. They were metallic black in color with small intricate designs in various luminescent colors on the dark wall panels. Small veins of light ran up vertically every so often, to separate a wall panel from the next. The haze had become a dark tint of royal purple, and seemed to cling to the floor thinly. It dissipated where the floor met the walls, because a vein of water or some bright glowing liquid ran, which also seemed to provide light for the hall ways. Although barely visible, tubing and machine parts mixed in with plant life covered the ceiling.
"Washu, do you know where we're going?" Ayeka asked after a few more minutes of walking down this and that corridor.
"No, not really..." Washu said. "I've got a faint idea of where to go, strangely, because this seems familiar, but for the most part, I've been trying to take routes that follow energy signatures that will probably lead us up to its source."
Ryoko gave a humph sound. "I think we should just split up. Cover more ground."
"It's to dangerous to do that, Ryoko." Tenchi said.
"Oh Tenchi, thinking about my safety," Ryoko cooed. She got close to him, but Ayeka abruptly seperated the two.
"He's thinking of ALL our safety, Ayeka," she said, annoyance and anger hinting in her voice. "Besides, you're a tough girl, why would Tenchi need to take care of you?"
Ryoko picked up on the indirect insult. "Better then you, who's to weak to defend herself!"
A fight was beginning to build up between the two rivals, when Zack cut stopped and stared at the wall panel for a second. Ryoko and Ayeka noticing Tenchi and Washu stopping turned their attention from one another to Zack.
"This place, this ship, feels familiar to me too. Maybe not layout, but the look." Zack said. "This doesn't feel right, to me."
He touched the wall and ran his hand across it. The intricate designs on the wall glowed red, and the wall flashed white and disappeared. Zack drew back astonished. Another hallway before him, leading to another dark area of where ever they were. A crack of light shined from his left, and the path behind him was now blocked by the same wall.
"Amazing. It shifted in and out of our dimension!" Washu said looking at it. She touched the wall, and the wall designs glowed white and the wall once again in a crack of bright light disappeared and reappeared where it had been before. "But how to tell which walls do anything."
" There." Tenchi pointed to a small crystal that was mounted near the top of the wall, nearly covered up by the ceilings leaves and machines. The crystal was a neutral gray, and did not appear on any other wall when they turned around. The designs also were slightly different on the walls.
"There's got to be more to it, then just that," Ryoko said, not as astonished with the wall trick as the others were. "I mean, what about a simple sign saying this was a door?"
"Hm I wonder." Zack said. He lit a small flame in his palm and pressed it against the wall. The designs glowed red again and the wall began to glow white, and he then let out a sigh of disappointment, expecting the wall to faze out again. He took his hand away from the wall, and the wall returned back to normal status. He looked up the wall again. It shimmered. He stared intently and after a few seconds, runic symbols appeared on the wall. He opened his eyes wide in amazement and grinned broadly at his discovery.
"What is it?" Tenchi questioned.
"It's Dracadian," Ayeka recognizing it. "I've seen it before, when I was younger. I don't know what it says though."
The symbols faded away and the wall was once again its regular self. "It's a sign. Basically, that leads to refinery and causeway sections. Let's go. There may be other doorways like this one farther down."
Zack called upon his fire blade and then ran down the hallway, holding it so that the tipped touched the wall. Walls every so often would light up, and reveal a new message, but not the one he was looking for. After a long run he finally came to a dead end. He held up his sword to the wall. Its designs glowed red, wall glowed white and then the text appeared.
"Syphon Systems and Bridge Elevator." Zack said, reading it aloud. Alright Finally. Zack held his hand to the wall. Nothing happened. He took it off and reapplied it. Still nothing. "Huh? Why isn't it working?"
He stepped back and looked at the wall. After a moment, a hissing sound became apparent and they noticed two close orbs now slowly materializing on the wall in front of them. One had a shimmer of black light, while the other was neutral gray. He tried his hand on the black glowing orb, but pulled his hand away fast with a yelp. He rubbed it.
"Ah that hurt..." Zack said. "How bout this one?"
He touched the null gray orb, but nothing happened. It remained inanimate. Zack gave a displeased look. "Alright, the black one is for a shadow user to use, but I don't know about the grey one."
"Let me try." Washu said walking up to the orbs. She placed her hand on the grey orb. No response. "It look's like were at a dead end."
"How can that be, this is the door," Zack said frustrated. He turned around and leaned up against the wall for a second. Ayeka bent down and looked closely at the orb, and tapped it with her finger. A faint glow of rainbow colors swirling around in the depths of the orb began to appear.
"Huh?" Zack said noticing the light. The wall glowed white behind him and disappeared. He fell backwards onto the ground. He got up off the ground, rubbing his head and looking back where they came from. The wall had moved behind them. Washu was looking past Zack along with Tenchi and the others. He got up and turned around. An elevator platform sat before them, that seemed it would rise up a slightly angled wall.
"Well, lets go." Washu said stepping on the platform. They all followed after her, stepping onto the platform. The purplish haze swirled away from the elevator and it climbed the wall into the darkness. It seemed to gain speed, as they could feel the rush of chilling air past them. It rumbled, still picking up speed.
"This thing going a little to fast?" Zack yelled, trying to raise his voice above the quickly deafening wind.
"Just a little bit!" Tenchi yelled back to him. The platform rumbled and small lights on the wall the platform traveled up on raced by. Swishing noises screamed by as they passed small ledges every so often. Ayeka gave a scream of terror and clung close to Tenchi. Ryoko held onto Ryo-Ohki, who herself looked bewildered as to what the others were doing.
"This must be another Hallucination! Another nightmare!" Ryoko yelled out, assessing the situation and feeling something wrong with the whole situation itself. "Just like on the ship!"
A loud crack of thunder and they were surrounded by white light. The platform seemed to be flying now, rumbling violently. They could still feel the chilling wind and hear the swishing as it screamed by. The force of the wind was now beginning to crush them against the floor.
"Err AHHHH" Zack yelled against the wind. Another bright flash and there was darkness.