Explorers of the Universe

Chapter 6: Fear Transforms; Unexpected Bundle of Horror pt.1

Elsewhere that Night

Shepard Quarters

The quarters that was the private quarters of John and Martha Shepard was currently being used by Gwen. She was out of her suit, wearing nothing but a white robe, loosely fitting her, but kept her decently covered. She was sitting Indian style, looking at what was the footage from the temple that displayed the holographic scene that was shown to them back on the ship. While she was looking over it, she was recording a log of what she and the others had found, "Based on the behavior of the subject in these holographic recordings, we're still trying to figure out what caused the dead tissue of the head to mutate. Whatever it is, it seems to only affect dead tissue, but when inserted in living, the mutation seems to accelerate. After looking over the findings, one can't help but wonder if there was an outbreak here. And if there is... what caused it and was it still around when the crew of the Prometheus arrived?"

At the moment she spoke up, the door opened, as who would have appeared… but Jeff Carter. His boots and upper body armor removed, he was merely in black pants and black T-shirt part of his space suit, as he groggily walked in. seeing him, and acting rather unfazed by it, Gwen sighed in annoyance, "Jeff, why aren't you cleaned up?"

"I'm cleaned up; I even cleaned up the under armor," Jeff groaned, as he plopped back first on the edge of the bed. He looked up at her, as he sighed, but then blinked with a surprised look on his face.

Gwen noticed this, as she blinked, "What?"

Jeff merely shrugged, as he pointed out, "Nuthin'. I just didn't know you didn't wear underwear when you go to bed. You're even shaved down there." That caused Gwen to blush uncontrollably, as she kicked him off the bed by his shoulders, as she curled up, blushing madly. He managed to crawl back on the edge of the bed, as he groaned, rubbing his sore spot, "Yeesh. I was only joking; your legs were crossing, so I didn't see a thing."

Gwen huffed, as she calmed a bit, allowing herself to relax, "You can be intolerable sometimes."

Jeff chuckled at that, as he climbed back up to the bed, "And that's why you love me."

Gwen smirked at that, as she scooted over to him, thinking sarcastically, "Do I know that?" She then smiled, as she pushed him down, and got on top of him, smirking, "Yes. Yes, I do."

Gwen leaned down, as she was about to start kissing him, but she stopped, as he seemed a bit troubled, as she stopped, and she asked, "Hey, I mean it; I do love you. We've been going out for a year now, and… well, I know we promised we wouldn't go that far due to me being sixteen and you being eighteen, and that I…"

He stopped her, as he interrupted, "No, it's not that. I meant how are you doing okay?"

Gwen was a bit surprised by that, as she replied, "Well, yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well you and your cousin traveled half the galaxy to find you aunt and uncle," Jeff stated the facts plainly. "And so far, all we've found are the relics they came looking for."

"I'm not assuming they are dead until I find proof of it," Gwen stated. But then smiled, as she pulled out the two data files, as she smiled showing them to Jeff, "But speaking of proof, check these out. I ran a blood test on the Creator sample, as well as Kori's. I even compared it to ours, and you won't believe this: Kori's DNA matches ours due to a difference in base pairs in the DNA."

"Wow," Jeff stated. "But for those of us who can't speak Science or Genetics, can you…?"

Gwen sighed, as she explained in layman's terms, "Humans have 4 based pairs, as does all the DNA of all life on Earth. Kori's DNA shows she has 6 base pairs. The Creator's sample has 12. The pairs only originate from the planet of origin, but there are similarities that match almost perfectly."

Jeff took a moment, until it clicked, as he asked to be sure, "You're saying that they're all one in the same?"

Gwen sighed with a smile, as she nodded, "Yes! We originate from them; the Creators' DNA predates ours." But then she noticed he had a half frown on him, as she asked, "Okay. What?"

"You make it sound like there's no God," Jeff stated. "I mean, your aunt and uncle theorized we were created by these guys… so who made them?" Gwen seemed to turn away, as she seemed upset by that notion, as Jeff guessed right, "So you don't believe God made them, and made us?"

Gwen sighed, as her happy face turned into one of someone holding a long grudge, as she stated, "Well, if He does exist, where was He when my parents died?"

Jeff wrapped his arms around her looking sympathetic to her tragedy. He had known about that both her parents died of Ebola, and that was when she had lost her faith. He sighed, as he kissed her on the forehead, and stated, "I'm not gonna play favorites on this. Or even argue on it."

"I don't wanna argue about it either," Gwen admitted, as she looked saddened.

Jeff was silent for a moment, "Well, I'm not much of a religious man, but I know one thing, he moves in mysterious ways." Gwen looked at him confused by what he means as he continues. "It's said that things happen for a reason. If we both of use stayed where our parents lived, we both never would've gone to New York, and we may not have met each other," Jeff finished as he looked at Gwen who had a surprised look on her face. "What? Did I say that wrong or something," Jeff asked worried that he offended her.

"No. I'm just wondering when I started rubbing off you," Gwen looked away with a slight grin on her face, "Because I never thought you would say something that deep."

Jeff looked at her surprised by what she said before chuckling a little bit, "I can say deep things when I want to."

Gwen then smirked, as she said, "You're right one thing though: Things happen for a reason. We went through the pain of loss and found someone we both can relate to. Each other."

She then kissed Jeff who kissed her back as they enjoyed their time together that night. The two stayed in each other's braces, simply having each other's warmth embraces, not even trying to push each other for intercourse. All they wanted was each other to be with one another as they were for now, and that was enough for both.

Meanwhile

Temple

Ken had been wandering around the strange Egg Chamber that the others had been in. so far the place was creeping him out, even more, as he cringed on it. What was even freakier was the fact was what was in the eggs, as he saw movement in them. He was so freaked out, he accidentally kicked one off its place.

He stumbled a bit, as he freaked, "What the…?" He chased after it, as it rolled down the room, with him trying to catch it.

Finally, it hit a wall, as Ken hit it head on literally. He stumbled, as he held his head, groaning, "Dammit! Stupid space stuff, stupid alien crap! What's next?"

At that moment, the wall he hit suddenly opened, as if he had smashed into a trigger for it to do so, as it slid open. When he blinked at it, he was even more freaked out, but in the stunned way, as he simply stated, "Whoa…"

He walked into the secret room, forgetting all about the egg. Unbeknownst to him, the egg that he had left behind, started to shake a little at times, as the shell casing started to crack… with black ooze dripping out of the cracks.

Prometheus

The Next Morning

Early morning at around 6am, most of the crew are sleeping with half an hour left to enjoy it before getting ready to work. All but Marek who went in early to the communication to contact Ken to make sure that nothing happened to him during the night. As he goes in with a cup of coffee, he notices that one of the control panels has been removed from some of the panels. He puts his coffee down, kneels down to investigate, only to find that some wires and chips were missing. The same went for the other consoles as well, all the wires were either missing, moved, or the same went with chips. While investigating, he suddenly notices a rolling sound in the room, almost like a bowling ball that was gently tossed down the lane as it slows half way to a stop.

Marek than looks all over the room again as he thinks to himself, 'What they hell? Is this someone's idea of a piratical joke?' His expression goes from confused to one that says he may have realized something, 'Could something have...' Wasting no time, Marek goes for the P.A. system to make sure it still works and then uses it. "This is Captain Marek, all personal to the bridge immediately!"

In Fifield''s Quarters

The sun rose up and lit through the two circle windows of the quarters, easily awakening Kori, as she felt the warm energy of the sun. She stirred from her sleep as she sat up, looking down at the exhausted Isaac, who was completely knocked out and unaware of the awakened girl. She stretched out, almost daring her cleavage to pop out of the shirt, but stopped, as she lightly stirred Isaac awake. Once she managed to do so, he blinked groggily at her, as she warmingly smiled, "Good morning to you, Isaac."

He groaned a little, smiling, "Good mor…" but then suddenly shot awake, as he remembered what had transpired last night, as he sat up, nearly startling Kori, as he finally calmed down a little.

Kori, a bit on the confused side, asked him innocently, "Are you well, Isaac? Are you still uncomfortable? You do not look red anymore."

He groaned, as he looked to her, "I'm alright. But right now, I have a question: exactly why were you scooting up to me? I thought we agreed I'd sleep atop the covers while you slept under them."

Kori innocently answered, "I was. But I awoke when I felt you shaking in your sleep. So I climbed out and shared my body heat with yours to keep you warm, since you insisted upon sleeping above the covers."

Isaac looked at her with a credulous look as he asked, "So you decided to crush me while warming me?"

Kori looked worried, as she asked, "Did I injure you? My apologies, but when I was small and slept with my Gnorfkas, I would cling to them. Even with my stuffed Zorkno Bear. Apparently, I have a need to cling to items or people when I sleep." She looked at him with concern as she asked, "Was that what happened last night?"

He nodded, grimacing, "Yep, and pretty tightly, I might add."

She nodded sheepishly, feeling a little embarrassed that she nearly crushed him in his sleep. But then she looked surprised as she then said, "Yeah, but I do remember during some time that night, you embraced me too." She didn't know why, but the memory of it, made her blush as she smiled at him, "Though I did not mind; you are surprisingly warm."

Isaac groaned as he let his face sink into the bed sheets. He then groaned into them, in a voice that sounded like he was getting a massage…a very painful back massage, "You know…the problem isn't whether or not it was comfy!"

Suddenly, the intercom went on, as Marek spoke up, "Listen up, everyone. Everybody report to the bridge immediately. There's something y'all need to see right away."

Bridge

In the bridge, most of the crew arrived in their military pjs along with Kori, who drew more stares with her wearing only a baggy shirt that still clung tightly to her chest, as they saw that all the panels of the control consoles were removed.

"Alright, Marek, this had better be... important," Vickers said when she walked in clearly not in a good mood from being woken up, but then saw the condition of the bridge.

"I came in early to contact Heels to make sure he made it through the night safely, and then when I got here, I found the room like this," Marek explained.

Gwen and Rei wandered around the room looking at the terminals, while Marek attempted to contact Ken to ensure his safety.

"It looks like someone was looking for something inside the consoles," Gwen implied out loud.

Rei also looked around as she stated, "It's more than that," everyone looked towards her as she continued, "Some of the wires and chips have been rearranged."

Chance and Ravel began to reinstall one of the panels in an attempt to get check the system as Vickers became concerned by this and asked, "Someone has tampered with the systems? To the point where nothing works anymore?"

Chance continued to reinstall the panel as he answered, "We'll know in a few minutes once I have this working again."

'It must have been that alien girl. One day on the ship and she screws everything up,' Vickers thought to herself, as she used peripherals to look at Kori in general. 'All I need is the evidence and I can this freak thrown out of the ship to die of air poisoning.' She knew that the alien girl had something to do with this, but she couldn't just jump the gun without evidence to back her claim, otherwise the crew would defend her.

"If the systems are down, how long will it take to put everything back in its place again," Jeff asked while looking around for signs of forced entry and clues to who pulled this off in one night. Ravel was trying to access the communication system to contact Ken while all this was going on, "If we have the schematics on hand, about two days. If not, a month, maybe longer."

This led to Isaac stating, "We don't have the food supplies to last long."

"Especially now," Vickers whispered and looked toward Kori with a glare who was silent the whole time with a worried look on her face.

Kori could tell that this woman didn't trust or liked her at all which was also noticed by Isaac who stood in front of Kori, "I was with Kori the whole night, and she was nowhere near the bridge except for right now." Kori looked toward Isaac who was defending her while he and Vickers looked at each other with glares showing that they were working at each other's last nerves.

Suddenly, Chance got everyone's attention by saying, "Finished," as the screens lit up showing that he managed to get one of the consoles online again.

Jeff, Vickers, Gwen, Rei, and everyone moved towards it, as they looked at the data on the screen leading Gwen to gain a perplexed look on her face, "This isn't possible. According to this, the systems are running and processing at ten times the speed."

Everyone became confused by that as Jeff spoke up, "So something or someone managed to get into the ship without bringing in any of the toxic air from outside or alerting the alarm systems, went into the bridge, took it all apart, and reassembled it to make it better?"

Isaac then inquired on that by speaking his mind, "What could do that?"

"It might have been a Galvanic Scraplet," Kori suggested, making everyone turn around while Isaac, who was next to her, turn and look at her with confused looks on their faces as Kori continued, "They are small tech bugs that can enter different types of technology and upgrade them from the inside to fit their nutritional needs."

"So what you're saying is, they enhance technology and in order to consume it," Rei inquired which Kori nodded yes in response to that.

"But why in here," Gwen asked, while she was helping Chance and Ravel to find the cause of the system changes. "If we do have them, then they would've affected the medical lab instead since that's where all the artifacts we uncovered yesterday were stored."

"She makes a good point," Someone just spoke up. "Usually they start with the closest piece of technology they can find to consume before moving on."

Vickers gained an annoyed look on her face, "You're suddenly an expert on the subject, Shepard? Why don't you help us out and try to think of what really could have done this that doesn't sound like something from a TV show."

While still looking at the console Gwen was working on, Isaac gained an angry look on his face that showed with his tone of voice, "Two things, Vickers. First: Kori's idea could be true with what it is because we don't know what else was in the temple, and Rei did discover techno organic slime yesterday. And Second…" Isaac started as his voice becomes nervous, "I didn't say that."

Suddenly, the main computer activated as the rest started up again, and the voice from before spoke again, "I must say, you ship is a real piece of work. Where did you get this piece of junk? In a 12 unit bargain sale?" Everyone looked towards where the voice was coming from; right at the main controls as the voice continued, "It took me all night just to rebuild everything to be compatible with my interface port." They were all a bit surprised and confused as well, as the owner of the voice revealed itself to be the sphere that Isaac found and brought back. And at the moment, it was currently bathing the main terminal in the bridge with a glowing blue light from its only one optic.

This turn of events left everyone shocked and speechless until Jeff was the one to find his voice, as he jabbed a finger towards the floating sphere, "What the hell? That piece of junk can talk?!"

The orb seemed to take that as an insult as it stopped what it was doing, and flew into Jeff's face, as it continued, "The only junk here, my good sir, is this ship. What sort of species flies around the universe without hyper shock-jump jets?" The orb then flew over back towards the consoles, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lot to catch up on."

However, Vickers suddenly became defensive as she got in the orb's way, and demanded answers, "What do you mean? What are you doing?"

Before anything else can be asked, the orb suddenly pinged and then answered, "I was just finishing checking your database for any important data and nothing connected to me."

Gwen was suddenly confused by this, "Why would data on our ship be important to you? And who and what are you anyway? Some kind of metal orb CPU?"

The orb's visor lit up as the rest of the terminals were reinstalled by multiple wires that came out of the sides of it. "First off, I don't know who I am. The last thing I remember is someone tinkering with me in a dark place and then I'm in this scrap heap of a ship. I was hoping your database could give me some answers, but I needed to rebuild it from the inside in order to it to be compatible with my systems. As for a name, I believe my serial number was XJ-49031."

They all blinked at that, as Isaac commented, "Yeah, we're not gonna remember that. We'll just call you Sphere."

The orb, now identified as Sphere, simply commented, "Well, it's much better than a mouthful, I suppose. And I hate the name orb.

But Kori smiled, as she walked to it, scooping it in her hands away from Vickers, as she smiled, "Oh, I know what this is. It is a Ghost."

Everyone blinked at that, as they all asked, "Ghost?"

"Yes, it is a portable link to the Source Computer of Alpha Prime: the central City Planet of what is known as the Galactic Alliance," Kori explained. "My people are members to it and diplomatic curriers, as my home world of Zamaron produce very tasty fruits and vegetables that are infused with many healthy vitamins and body enhancing properties for the immune systems thanks to our planet's two suns." She then gently allowed the Ghost to hover back in place, "The Ghosts are a small branch of the Source A.I. in the central city, and act as ship keys to the local law/military forces of Alpha Prime. They are usually assigned to one officer and one ship."

Isaac walked over to it, as he brought out the question, "So where's this guy's owner? And what's it doing all the way out here?"

"Well, that I can't recall," Sphere replied, but then looked to the consoles, "But for now, suffice to say, I have something for all of you. It would seem last night, you had a caller, and he sounded really ticked off."

Suddenly, Ken's voice was heard on the comm system, "-etheus, this is Ken! Is anybody there for #$! SAKES?! I swear if you are all playing some sick joke and ignoring me by Shepard, I'm gonna crush his balls into-"

The message went dead, as Sphere stated, "And that's it. The storm caused interference with the recording. Whatever it is, this was hours ago."

Marek checked the map and saw the blip on it that represented Ken's suit, "Alright, everyone. Gear up, and get ready to head back. Looks like a rescuer needs some rescuing."

Later On

The Temple

Later on, after getting dressed and geared up, the team drove back to the temple, accompanied with Sphere and Kori. Once the vehicles were all parked up, they made their way to the temple, along with Kori walking alongside Isaac, as she seemed to pull and tug at the black spandex film of her suit.

Her SIG suit had been modified by Rei's programmed adjustments to the SIG chamber's computers. She was wearing the same black spandex-like material from head to toe, and had purple armor parts. Her chest was in a V-neck line chest and abdomen plate protector, and two armor parts that protected the outer part of her thighs and wrapped around her mid thighs, with two circle pad pouches on her hips. She had knee and ankle guards, but no boots, due to her not needing them as she could fly and go fast. Her arms had two purple bicep bands and forearm guards that reached from her elbows to the back of her hands. She had the same collar guard like the others, but her SIG pack was much smaller. Her helmet's faceplate was gray with a purple mouthpiece, a silver back that allowed her hair to be free, and an M shaped guard around her face making it look like a warrior's helmet.

She stopped as they were entering the main area to where they found out they could breathe in the temple. Isaac noticed she wasn't following suit, as he and Sphere stopped to look behind them, and saw her pulling at places like her breasts, legs, or at times hopping on one foot, while pulling at the toes of the suit.

The two looked to one another, as he looked to her, and asked, "Um… Kori? You okay?"

The Zamaranian groaned, as she pulled at the black fabric tight on her neck, as she groaned, "Ugh! This suit makes me feel like I am wearing the shell of a Cerebralcean crab that is almost at the point of molting."

Isaac looked at his suit, and admitted out loud, "Well, I feel pretty okay. Maybe you're just not used to wearing a fullbody suit."

Sphere hovered to Isaac, as he explained, "Well, for Zamaranians, they wear as little clothing as possible, as their flight abilities, enhanced strength, and durability are all drawn from energy they store in their bodies from merely soaking up their or any planet's sun radiation."

Isaac blinked, as his helmet folded back, as a stunned expression on his face was shown, "Really? So your people don't mind being… naked?"

Kori, who didn't seem fazed by the question, merely smiled as her helmet folded in, as she shook her head, "Not at all. Zamaranians are very open and do not worry of such trivial concerns."

Sphere pointed out, "You might say they're the most open-minded race in the galaxy."

The trio walked after the others, as Isaac looked to Sphere, "You know, for someone who doesn't remember what happened on this planet, you seem to remember an awful lot about Kori's people and planet."

"My species and planetary knowledge is stored in an energy compendium to which is the Source computer of where I was 'birthed'," Sphere explained. "That knowledge is external and can never be dampened, though I must admit the updates are a bit on the slow side, since we're so far from the Alliance's range. We're not even close to their system. It's only my knowledge of what happened two years ago when I and my partner arrived on Aegis 7 that things are a bit… fuzzy."

As they walked and caught up, Isaac then decided to ask, "So, Sphere… what's Zamaron like?"

That question took Kori by surprise, but didn't show it as she looked away. But she listened, as Sphere began to tell him what he wanted to know, "Zamaron is in some terms, a lush and tropical climate planet that revolves around two Suns: one giant red mass while a small green sun star orbits the planet itself. They used their advanced scientific skills to make Zamaron a tropical paradise where man and nature stand side by side."

Isaac was stunned to hear that, as he asked to be sure he heard corrected, "Zamaron has two suns? So that means they have daytime all around with no night?"

"Oh no, there is a night, Isaac," Kori chimed in, smiling, as she explained. "The nights of Zamaron last ten hours, but is wonderful to wait upon. When the two suns eclipse on one another, it allows the stars to shine, allowing us a glorious view of the heavens above our world."

Isaac seemed rather amazed in awe at this, as he stated, "Man, your world sounds like paradise."

As those words sunk in, Kori's happy demeanor seemed to turn to one of sadness, as she looked away, rubbing her left arm. "Yes… it does," Kori said, sounding rather depressed.

Isaac could tell something was bugging her to cause her to get depressed, as he opened up to offer an ear to listen, "Something on your mind to get you down in the dumps? You wanna talk about it?"

"I am not in garbage and my mind has nothing atop of it," Kori replied.

"I think he's asking why you are so sad," Sphere translated.

Kori sighed, as she looked forward, hugging her arms together, "I… I miss my home world. It has been six years since the Creators had taken me and my sister, stripped us and experimented upon us as if we were not people. But all that enabled me to find strength to continue living was knowing that I would be able to see Zamaron again." But then she seemed more depressed, as she sighed, "But now, I fear I shall never see it again. Once you have found your parents and the crew of the Prometheus, I do not know what will become of me."

Isaac was understanding what was troubling Kori now more than it was before. She had been taken from her home six years ago; at that length of time, anything could have happened back on her home world. And now, she had been thrown in with beings that she wasn't familiar with, and with no way to get back. Once they found what happened with the crew, they would return to earth, and Kori would have no way to go back. But then, it hit him, as he smiled in his idea.

"Hey, I've got an idea," Isaac suggested to her, getting her attention. "When we're done here, why don't we use the Prometheus to take you back home."

Kori seemed to look surprised at that, as she asked, her voice full of hope to be certain, "You mean that, Isaac?"

"Sure," Isaac assured her. "We've got two ships now: the Falcon and the Prometheus. If anything we can use one of the two ships to take you back to Zamaron. We can use the hyper sleep bunks to sleep the rest of the way."

"But… are you not longing to go back home with your family," Kori asked, looking worried for him. "You and your cousin have been looking for your parents. Would this not keep you away from one another once more?"

Isaac shook his head, "Nah, if anything, my parents would probably come along for the ride. It's not every day anyone gets the chance to go to two alien worlds."

At that moment, Kori jumped at him, and once again, had him in an embracing hug, as she gushed with a smile, "Oh, thank you, Isaac. You are the nicest Terran boy I have ever encountered." Isaac, on the other hand, was shocked and blushing at the contact of this pretty girl once again embracing him, this time while she was awake. Kori pulled back smiling, but looked concerned, as she saw his face red as a tomato, as she grew concerned, "Isaac, you are red again."

Isaac blinked, realizing he was blushing again, as he gulped, "Oh, I am?" He tried to hide it from her by looking away as he staggered, "Oh um… didn't know that. Thanks. I'll…"

"Wait a moment," Kori insisted, as she walked up to him, and carefully cupped his face, turning him towards her. "Allow me to see if you have a fever." She gently placed her forehead to him, causing him to blush further, as Kori pulled away, looking confusing, as she asked, "I do not understand. Your temperature seems normal, but your facial features are all turning red. Is this normal for terrans to do?"

"Um…" Isaac began, not sure of what to explain on how he felt about her. "Well, Kori, you see…"

"Hey!"

The trio turned to look and saw Jeff and the others waiting for them, as he stated, "I like seeing Shepard go all wiggy here, but we've got a crewmember to find, remember?"

"Right," Isaac stated, as he rushed for the group, leaving a confused Kori and a more amused Sphere to follow. Once they caught up, Isaac asked, "So what's the plan?"

"We're gonna go investigate the room you all found that head at," Marek replied. "Hopefully if that's where Heels was last spotted, we'll hopefully find him there." He then looked to Rei, as he ordered, "Rei, I need you to investigate one of the PUPs."

"Is there a problem with one of them," Rei asked.

"Yeah, it keeps going on and off a location. It's like there's another room it can't access," he explained. "I'll send you the coorindates right now, and you can investigate it."

Isaac stepped up, as he volunteered, "I'll go with her for backup."

Rei was a bit taken but didn't show it, as she replied, "Thank you."

The two walked off, leaving a confused Kori behind, as Sphere stated, "Guess he just needs a little time away for a while."

Later On

As the others made their way, with Gwen and Kori in front as they walked down one of the temple passages, Kori was using her powers to help light the way with an emerald green light from her left hand using it as a torch. It helped brighten the way more, as they walked along the darkened corridors with the others behind them.

However, Kori was somewhat distracted about something that Gwen noticed this as well. 'She must be feeling more nervous about being back in the temple than she said. Plus this silence between may not be helping.' So she broke the silence with a simple question, "Are you okay, Kori?"

Kori looked towards Gwen, a little surprised, but replied as she calmly nodded, "Yes, I'm all right, thank you. Are you all right, Gwen?" Kori asks.

"I'm good, thanks," Gwen replied. Then it was silent again for a minute as they continued through the dark hallway.

"Gwen, may I please ask you something," Kori broke the silence again.

"Sure," Gwen responded while looking at the wall at some runes that were different from the ones she saw yesterday.

"What is the significance of the Earth concept called the kiss," Kori asked with a curious look on her face.

This caught Gwen off guard as she turned her full attention to Kori with a stunned and confused look on her face as she asked Kori, "Would this have anything to do with Isaac and the one you gave him back on the Prometheus?"

"Yes. When I woke up the second time in the hall of messing, he seemed like he was confused about it even after I explained that is was to learn how to speak his language," Kori answered.

Gwen looked little confused by the answer, "The hall of... Oh you mean the mess hall." Gwen realized before continuing, "Right, he mentioned that you learn other species languages by kissing someone."

Kori nodded, as Gwen continued "Well, you see..." But then she became silent as she thought about how to answer. 'Wow, years of studying ancient languages and reading my aunt and uncle's notes could prepare me for a trip into outer space. But not for answering a question like this.' She started again, "You see on Earth, when two people care for each other very much, kissing each other is one way they show that they deeply care for each other to them."

Kori was silent as she thought about it for a moment and asked, "So kissing on your world is a show of liking someone on your world?"

"Yes, exactly." Gwen responded as she thought, 'That went better than I thought it would.'

That is until Kori asked, "So, does that mean you kiss Isaac to show that you like him."

Gwen gained a failed look on her face. 'I knew it was too easy.' She shook her head, as she replied, "No. The kind of kiss we're talking about is used mostly to show affection for an individual who means a great deal to you." However, seeing Kori's confused look on her face made Gwen try another approach. "How do the people of your planet show how deeply care about someone to the point of wanting to be with them forever?"

"Do you mean becoming someone's partner," Kori asked.

Gwen replied, "Yes."

"Oh, well on Zamaron, they battle in the arena against any others who want to partner with someone for the right to do so." Kori replied as if it was a regular occurrence.

Gwen, on the other hand, got a shocked expression on her face as she thought to herself, 'That might actually have worked in some situations back on Earth.' Gwen took a deep breath as she prepared to try one more time, 'Okay, third's time the charm as they say.' And then further explained once again, but this time with more detail, "Kori, for Earthlings, kissing is a sign of someone who really cares about another which is a also used to symbolize two who are dating, and later married."

Kori has a calm look before the word marriage was brought up… leading to her blushing and gaining a nervous expression, as she asked to be certain, "You mean, kissing on your world is a sign of being in love?" Gwen nodded at this relieved that she got through to her. Kori on the other hand, after turning her powers off, nervously pushed her two index fingers together. "So Isaac thought I might be..." Kori started as a blush appeared on her cheeks.

"None of us really knew what to think of it. Especially Isaac since that was most likely his first one," Gwen explained, remember how girls bullied him at school.

"Gwen, have you ever performed this kiss with a significant other," Kori asked Gwen.

This in turned caused Gwen to blush, as she was caught off guard, as she didn't want her relationship with Jeff to slip up, as she asked, "What!? I mean, what gave you the idea that I have someone like that Kori?"

"It is because you seem as though you have a great deal of knowledge of the subject. I assumed that meant you have experience on the subject of kissing and romantic others," Kori explained to Gwen.

"Hey, wait, can I ask you something," Gwen asked, as she looked back to Kori, hoping to change the subject before anything was brought up further and secrets slipped out into the open. "Before you did the whole lip lingual thing on my cousin, you said a bunch of stuff. I didn't get or understand any of it, but um… what does Secto Ecto gammat mean?"

"Oh, um…" Kori blinked, until she replied, "It means 'Do not touch me again, without my permission'."

Gwen nodded on that, "Ah, that's what I thought you said."

Finally, they had made their way to the main egg chamber, but as they all entered it, Kori seemed to freeze in her tracks. Gwen saw it, as she looked to her, noticing the look of fear on her face, as her eyes widened with fear, and nothing came out of her mouth.

"Kori? Kori, are you okay," Gwen asked.

Kori snapped out of it, as she implied, "Oh, I am all the right. It is… I…"

Gwen could tell that being in this place was the last she wanted to be in right now. She consoled her, "It's alright. You can wait outside if you like."

Kori shook her head, "No, it is all the right. We must go on."

They looked around, as they got a good look at the eggs, as Marek asked, "What exactly is in these eggs?"

Gwen looked at them, as she shrugged, "Not really sure. Though I think this might have been an incubation chamber of sorts."

Jeff walked in front, and then spotted something, "Hey, guys. Check this out." They all walked to him, as he pointed towards the wall, "That wasn't there yesterday."

Once they looked, they saw that within the wall was an open doorway. Figuring that was where Ken had gone to, they walked to it an inside. But once they were inside, they were a bit shocked in the most to see what they were seeing. Frozen in cylinder pillar chambers, was row upon row of different lifeforms. As they walked through, hoping to find signs of Ken, they all noticed the creatures in the chambers very carefully. Every last one of them appeared to have the same mutations that the Creator's head had undergone. Some had their jaws torn off, their stomachs opened with smaller arms sticking out, their feet torn into two-toed hind legs, and their arms mutated into claws with sickle blades coming out of the hands. Others appeared armor plated and bulkier while a few others were missing their legs and had overgrown spines grown from where their legs were. Others… they barely resembled bipedal lifeforms anymore. They had all undergone mutations with black technology biografted or mutated to their very being.

As they looked around, Kori spotted something put in a pile on the ground. She reached down, and saw it was Zamaranian robes and jewelry. It was her belongings, as she picked them up, clutching them in her hands. Kori was looking around uneasy, but as she did, flashes of memory came into her mind.

As a ten year old child, she was being dragged by two Creators, kicking and screaming. They finally slammed her onto a table, tearing off all her clothes, leaving her as bare as the day she was born, with black ooze straps tightening around her, holding her down like an animal, as she screamed out for her mother, until a black ooze tendril shot into her mouth, slithering down her throat, as she was unable to breathe but gag.

She gasped, as Kori collapsed one her knees, hugging herself in fear as the memories of the room started to become overwhelming for her. Her face and eyes showed fear and pain as her body tightened from the memories that flooded her mind like a wave a pain.

Her arms tense themselves from remembering the needles the Creators placed into her for testing their chemicals and her blood.

Months later, she appeared exhausted and almost brain-dead, nearly gone from all the experiments she had been going on. The black straps were across her chest and pelvis, wrists, ankles, and neck, as her eyes stared up in a daze. While IVs and needles were all over her body, taking blood samples as well as pumping chemicals in as well.

When she was thirteen, she was thrown naked in a glass tube chamber, filled with water with no tubes. The high pressure water changed temperatures to randomly test her endurance. Kori was struggling to try and get out, but the pressure was getting to her.

Fourteen, she was being repeatedly being fired on by what appeared to be other types of energy she could absorb. They were more painful than years ago of what she had endured.

At the age of sixteen, she was strapped to a table, continuously being electrocuted, as her body arched up, her head pulling back as her screams echoed throughout the temple.

Then finally, her eyes glowed bright green, as did her body, as it radiated with green energy. The Creators stood back, as finally, it erupted into her Sunbolts, blowing up the area around her.

Kori's face showed pain as she tried to block the memories from her mind as her eyes shut tightly and she clenched her teeth.

"Kori, are you all right," Gwen asked after kneeling down to check on her. Finally, Kori was able to snap out of the memories and come back to reality.

Kori took a deep breath, as she smiled exhaustedly, "Yes. Thank you. I am… I will be alright."

Gwen helped her up, as she acted as a crutch for Kori, as the human redhead asked, "This place… is this…?"

Kori nodded, "This is similar to the lab they… experimented on me." She then lifted her hand, as sparks of her sunbolt energies danced, "It is where and how I am able to do this. No one else on our planet have ever converted their energies to do this. But what they did to me… "

Gwen placed a hand on the sparking one, ceasing it, as Kori looked to Gwen, as she smiled, "You don't have to remember that, Kori. Nobody here's gonna hurt you."

Kori smiled at her kindness, but both were brought back to why they were there, as Jeff called out, "Hey, guys! Over here!"

Once they got over, they saw a red camera vid device, indicating it was Ken's. Marek switched it on, as it showed Ken, slightly freaking out, "Okay, get this. Moments ago, I found this weird shit-o place. I thought the severed head was creepy, but this stuff…" He then showed the creatures in the tubes, as he went on, "But this stuff is just freaky as hell."

But as he looked around, he stopped at one chamber, showing a human in a SIG suit, as he blinked, "Oh my God. Mr. Shepard?"

Gwen gasped, as she looked to the direction the camera was last at… and there he was, Jonathan Shepard in a cryo-suspended animated chamber like all the others.

"Oh my god, I found him," Ken stated. "Holy crap, I found him. I found…"

Suddenly something whirred to life, and anything that wasn't pinned down, was slowly pulling everything in, including Ken. He managed to grab something, as he cursed out, "DAMMIT! WHY THE HELL DOES THIS SHIT HAPPEN TO ME…!?"

And then suddenly, his vidcam was torn off, as he was pulled into what appeared to be a black hole. And once that did, the camera shut off. The others looked to where the end of the room was… and saw the same three-ringed device standing there. Marek finally asks, "Just how many of those things are there?"

But Gwen didn't care, as she raced for her uncle's chamber, trying to get him out. "Come on, someone help me here," she strained, as she tried to get the chamber open.

But Jeff walked up to her, trying to stop her, as he pulled her back, "Gwen, wait. He's here aboard this place, and is in one of these things. Don you think something vaguely is strange about all this?"

Gwen seemed to calm down a bit, as she nodded, as Jeff led her away. But before they could even come up with a plan to take him back, Gwen suddenly, pulled Jeff's pistol out, and shot the glass. The fluid waved out, as Jonathan's body collapsed on the ground. Before anyone could berate Gwen's impulsiveness, she ran over to him to help her uncle up, as he coughed out the liquid.

Gwen eased her uncle, as she spoke to him, "Uncle John? Uncle John, it's me, Gwen."

Everyone came over to him, as he coughed up, looking at Gwen, "Gwen? Is that you?"

Gwen tearfully nodded, "Yeah, it's me. Isaac's here to."

He shook his head, as he whispered, "You shouldn't have come here. This place… it's not what we thought… they weren't what we thought…"

Gwen looked confused by this display of her uncle's behavior, as she tried to reassure him, "Uncle John, it's okay." But then she asked, "Where's Aunt Martha? Where's the rest of the Prometheus crew?"

Jonathan managed to wheeze out, "Dead. All of them."

Gwen blinked at that, unable to comprehend on what was going on, as she asked, "Wha…? Uncle John, I don't understand…"

But then Johnathan looked down, as he heaved out, and barfed out what appeared to be black liquid. Seeing this, Gwen looked to Ford and called out to her, "Doctor Ford, I need you over here!" As the doctor raced over, she looked to her uncle to reassure him, "Uncle John, it'll be alright. We'll get you back…" but then paled as she saw that his skin was slowly becoming deathly pale gray… and cracking.

As the doctor rushed over to help Shepard, and the others were preparing to go, Gwen radioed for her cousin, "Isaac! Isaac, can you respond? We found your dad! I think he's ill!"

Meanwhile

Moments Ago

Before the incident occurred, Rei and Isaac walked down a darkened pathway, as they reached the end to where the PUP was hovering in place. The little sphere was whining out like a puppy, as Isaac looked at the end. He knocked on it, as he shrugged, "Maybe it's a door." He looked to Rei, as he asked, "Think you can open it?"

Rei looked to the side, and saw glyph marks, as she walked over to it, "I believe I can." She then proceeded to try a combination to unlock the door… which it worked, as it slid open.

They walked in, as they saw it was a very large round room, with a stage platform of sorts, as they walked up on it. Though as they did, another holographic video play was shown, as the two were witnessing it. They saw in the end corner of the platform a control panel of sorts, as one of the Creators were working on it. Rei recognized the buttons it pressed on, as Isaac saw the others were going into coffin-like chambers, cryo chambers of sorts.

As Isaac stumbled in the center of it, the holograms ended, and the room seemed to darken, as another hologram appeared. But this time, it was all around them, as it took on the form of a solar system… or rather solar systems. It was a giant map of maps that seemed to span all over the room, in which it showed dozens of worlds. All of them completely unknown to Earth. Isaac was all in awe at seeing all the maps, to which no words could describe them.

Rei… unknown to Isaac, smiled at seeing this before her. She personally recorded all the maps in person in her own memory bank. The hologram ended, as in front of Rei… was the small holographic image of earth itself until it disappeared. However, something caught the two by surprise, as they saw a yellow light blink near one of the chambers. The two walked over, as they saw sleeping in the chamber… was the only living Creator left.

Isaac, getting a good look at the guy, commented, "Man, he's huge…"

However, their moment of discovery ended, as Gwen radioed to Isaac, "Isaac! Isaac, can you read me?!"

Isaac tapped the radio comm, as he replied, "Gwen, yeah, it's me. Listen you're not gonna believe what we found…"

"Isaac, we found your dad," Gwen replied, causing him to look surprised by this news, but looked horrified, as she stated, "Hurry back, we gotta get him back to the Prometheus! I think he's been infected with something!"

Both he and Rei looked to each other, as he radioed, "We'll be there fast!"

And with that, the two bolted out of there, leaving the Last Creator to slumber, as they made their way back to the transport.

Next Chapter: Fear Transforms; Unexpected Bundle of Horror pt.2