A/N: Phew... schedule, clearer. Head, not perfect, but better. Hopefully I can get back in the groove a bit, though bear in mind the end of the year's just a busy time in general.

Now where were we? Oh, yeah. Giant killer space brain robot. Good luck, Frazie! And thank you DeLithiumDragon and SandrC for betaing!


There was no reasoning with this digital defender. To it, Frazie was just an intruder to be dealt with. Like all the Censors and other mind baddies that came before it, it had one purpose:

Defend its host's mind at all costs. For better or worse.

With the telepathic tower's lever still wedged tight, it was definitely the latter. The guardian's arms proved scarily flexible as they snaked their way through the beams to snap at her, forcing Frazie to back away from the console as its claws snapped at her. Its glowing red eye stayed locked on her and only her, full of emotionless determination.

So long as it stood, Chloe was doomed to listen in to everyone and everything around her. Like it or not... it had to go. And Frazie really, really didn't like it.

But by now, it wasn't a surprise anymore. Putting up her dukes, she was ready and willing to throw down to change someone's brain for the better. One of the robot's claws made another swipe at her face, and she roughly knocked it aside with a psychic chop and a loud clank.

While the creature was taking great care to not harm the structure in any way, its arms steadily entangled themselves throughout the structure, coiling around its girders like steel snakes and lashing at her whenever it got the chance. She couldn't stay under the tower any longer, not without risking getting ensnared or clipped.

As soon as she stepped out from its shade, the robot's limbs whirred loudly as they reeled back in. The bot was not only big, it was mobile, skittering across the tower towards her in a surprising burst of speed.

Dust flew up as one of its arms hammered down, slamming into the spot Frazie had been a second ago. Diving to the side, low gravity carried her a ways away before she flipped back onto her feet. "Is that all you've got?!"

No. Not by a long shot.

The creature's eye glowed brighter and brighter, glaring at her with enough intensity to make her regret her taunt. She regretted it a heckuva lot more when the air suddenly split with the shrill twang of hot plasma, the bot firing a laser beam right at her.

Frazie ducked, feeling the intense heat searing the air as the beam pulsed directly overhead. Nope. Definitely did not want to touch that.

...And then, the beam started to lower down towards her.

"Nope. Nope, nope. Nuh uh. No." Frazie frantically dropped to all fours and crawled away as the beam carved downwards, giving chase. Pushing up off the ground and breaking into a sprint, she leaped and bounded across the planet's face while red hot death kept her on her toes.

Forced on the move, Frazie hopped on her orb and rolled across the rocky plains, firing Psi Blast after Psi Blast at her aggressor all the while. "How do you like it?!" she yelled, her own beams of energy slamming into its blazing iris. If poking this thing's eye out kept her unfried, so be it.

Her blasts slammed into it, the robot unflinching with each hit and yet finally forced to blink from the pressure. Its laser shut down, and Frazie breathed a sigh of relief as she rolled to a stop.

"DEPLOYING MISSILES."

Oh come ON.

Holes slid open all over the top of the mech's core, promptly filling the air with the high-pitched shrieks of artillery as it launched rocket after rocket all around... all of them aimed at her.

Getting the hell out of dodge, Frazie jumped, the earth exploding under her as the first of many projectiles went off at her feet. Two more whizzed by, the acrobat contorting in midair to keep them from touching her, only for them to adjust course and circle back around at her.

Her thoughts still warm from her psi blast barrage, she let loose another flurry, taking pot shots at the remaining rockets, blasting them to kingdom come before they could do it to her first. Smoke flooded the air as she slowly descended back to earth, relieved.

And then one final missile charged out of the cloud, unseen in the smog.

Screaming sharply, Frazie threw out a hand as the explosive suddenly jerked to a stop, caught in her reflexive telekinesis. Phew. Okay. Close one. Now that she had a bomb of her very own, a wicked grin split across her face.

"Catch!" Her mental grip twisted the rocket around in midair and let it fly. Returning to sender, a loud boom echoed over the planet as the mechanical monstrosity shuddered under the blast.

Frazie dusted her hands off, watching the creature wobble on its claws. She was getting better at this.

But Chloe's guardian wouldn't go down that easily.

One of its metal tentacles reached up to wipe the ash from its face, its eye pulsing brighter and its electronic voice rising up again. "INTRUDER POSSESSES UNFORESEEN TENACITY. INITIATING PHASE TWO: DIVIDE AND CONQUER."

The behemoth straightened up, stock still... and then, as if photocopied on the spot, a clone of it stepped out of the first. A second joined it, leaving Frazie's jaw hanging before three very big, very deadly robots.

"That's not fair!" It was three against one now, and from the way their eyes were glowing bright with lethal intensity again, they didn't care one bit.

Three lasers pierced the sky, forcing her behind her shield. The combined heat was unbearably intense, even from the safety of her barrier. Grunting from the strain, she stepped far enough out to safely drop her cover and book it as the beams chased after.

Running backwards, Frazie let Psi Blasts fly again, firing wildly at the multiplied mechs. Though each shot struck true, only one robot seemed to actually react to her attacks... but before she could focus on it, they shifted places, scuttling in a brisk circle that left her unsure which one was the main machine.

She needed a moment to process this, and since they weren't going to give her one, she'd do it herself. Willing herself to disappear, she faded away into the safety of invisibility and stepped away right as the lasers converged where she'd been standing.

The bots promptly cut their attacks, staring intently at the empty circle of soot they'd left on the surface. Sharing a glance amongst themselves, they silently split up, the air filled with the clank and whirr of diligent defenders who knew the intruder was still there somewhere.

Quietly, Frazie jumped atop a rocky outcropping, keeping herself as inconspicuous as possible as she studied her opponent(s). They patrolled quickly, thoroughly, covering great amounts of distance in little time. One struck out randomly, swirling around in a tornado of titanium tentacles in hopes of catching her hiding. Another peeled a rock off the surface and scanned under it, literally leaving no stone unturned in its search.

And all the while, Frazie had absolutely no way of telling which one was the real one.

They could all hurt her, but she could only hurt one of them - and it was impossible to tell which one at a glance. They were visually identical. There had to be a way, and she had to figure it out quickly, because her invisibility was wearing off quicker and quicker. As soon as it was down, they'd be on her relentlessly. Think, Frazie, think...

...Thinking. Hey, now there was an idea. They weren't organic creatures, but did they think? Anything was possible in these bizarre mental worlds. Shutting her eyes, Frazie reached out with her mind, trying to detect any brain waves she could latch onto.

A second later, only one pulsed faintly back at her. Bingo.

Reaching out with Clairvoyance, Frazie synced her vision up with the target. Its sight became hers, and she found her vision rapidly scanning over the ground a fair distance from her.

She could only look through one of their eyes. That one had to be the real one, and that one was currently the robot farthest away.

She froze up as her stolen vision suddenly jerked her way, but to her relief, it saw nothing before searching elsewhere. With her target in mind and her cloak fading, she knew she had to act fast. Moving quickly, she jumped off her perch and raced across the globe, ignoring the two clones entirely and honing in on the original.

"Raaaah!" She cried out as she leapt up, phasing back into existence. Landing on the robot's back, she pushed herself up the rest of the way while the bot buzzed quizzically below her. Quickly processing what was happening, it whipped an arm up overhead, lashing out at her.

She met its claw with her fist, her psychic projection knocking the attack off course before she brought her hand down on its core. Punching away, she struck again and again, pausing only when another arm jabbed at her. This one she dodged and grabbed onto, yanked up into the air as she clung for dear life.

The robot swung her to and fro, trying to shake her loose. By now, its doubles had noticed the commotion and crept forward to interfere. "Q-q-quit i-it!" she warbled, jerked around wildly above all three of them.

The bot did, in fact, quit it... but only so its brethren could try and pluck her off its arm. Loosening her grip, Frazie slid down the monster's tentacle before they could catch her. They chased after, twin snakes of steel coiling through the air after her, snapping and snipping every time she swiveled around to make them miss.

Their arms had become a titanic tangle by the time Frazie reached the bottom. Dropping back down to the ground, Frazie looked up to see the three bots shaking hands in the worst of ways, their arms entwined. But that didn't leave them helpless. Looking as annoyed as emotionless borgs could be, they focused their eyes on her and opened their missile silos.

This time, Frazie was ready... but she had to react quickly. Three times the rockets, much less room to screw up. Taking a deep breath, she faced down the hailstorm of steel and prepared herself.

She cartwheeled to the side, bouncing up and gliding through the air as missiles hit the ground behind her. Focusing, she fired psi blasts to knock explosives from the sky, always keeping the real robot in her mind. As soon as she landed, she hopped back on her orb and raced forward towards it.

The remaining projectiles pursued, looping downwards towards her as she led them back where they came from. Like the pied piper of pain, she popped her sphere right in front of the perplexed progenitor and gave it a cheeky wave farewell before leaping up into the sky.

All the remaining rockets honed in where she'd been, leaving the metallic heap defenseless as they all crashed into the original robot. It juddered with each explosion, panels popping off it, its eye buzzing and flickering wildly as each blow knocked more and more servos loose.

By the time the barrage was done, it was barely holding itself together. The leader of the protectors buzzed loudly and collapsed, leaving its clones staring blankly. Then, they let out a loud beep as they faded out into wireframes, then pixels, and finally, nothing.

Frazie touched down again, catching her breath. Her cybertronic combatant stayed still, smoking and lifeless. The tower stood undefended on the horizon, finally ready to be tinkered with.

It was finally time to get everything working as it should.

Taking one last look at the smoldering heap, Frazie left it behind before it decided to get up again.

Under the radio tower where she'd left it, the lever sat waiting, still stuck fast. She stepped up to it with a glare, like an eager circusgoer about to try their hand at a carnival game.

Now free to work at her leisure, Frazie rubbed her hands together, gripped the lever, and yanked.

Uff. The thing was stuck tight. It was like trying to pull a brick wall back into place. How long had Chloe's telepathy been left at max? Likely ever since she first discovered her powers, if not from birth.

Giving up on physicality, Frazie switched to mentality and grabbed the lever in a telekinetic grip. Grunting with the strain, she leaned back, pulling hard.

It took a good bit of effort, telekinesis, and muttered curses, but at last, she finally felt the device give a bit. Careful not to outright break it off - she didn't want to imagine what awful side effects that'd have - she pushed her advantage until the lever started to give.

Clunk.

For the first time in who-knows-how-long, the tower powered down. A low hum rose up and fell as all the energy from the area seemed to dissipate, the air feeling unusually empty without the faint tingling of static to fill it. For a moment, Frazie waited, unsure what to do next. Did she just turn it back on, like some sort of mental tech support?

And then, it started moving on its own.

The lever rattled a bit, then rose. It wavered back and forth, sometimes high, sometimes low, but it wasn't getting stuck anymore. The energy in the atmosphere returned, and Chloe's voice suddenly echoed in her mind.

"Frazie?! I couldn't pick up your signal for a second... did something happen?"

Mission accomplished. "Yeah," Frazie admitted, "but it'd be easier if I explained it in person."

Say no more. Frazie waited for the teleporter to take her, and before long, she was whisked away to give one final status report.


One debriefing from her cadet later, Chloe sat quiet in her captain's chair, fingers steepled as she tried to process it all. "So, let me see if I'm processing this all correctly... you encountered hostiles, blew them sky high, and then messed with a tower that somehow connects to me?"

When Frazie had retold it, there'd been a lot more sound effects and hand gestures, but yeah, basically. She nodded. "Something like that."

Chloe nodded back, but she didn't seem all that enthusiastic. "I'm glad you're alright, but... you didn't find any signs of Cygnus A? At all? ...Maybe it's an underground colony...?" she murmured to herself.

Frazie's heart broke for her, but she wasn't about to lie to the kid. She stepped closer, resting an arm around her. "I didn't see anything... sorry. I have no idea what your home planet's like, but I'm pretty sure this wasn't it."

Chloe went quiet. As much as Frazie had just helped her out, as far as the captain was concerned, this entire expedition had been a bust. Frazie rubbed her back sympathetically, but the young astronaut was clearly having a rough time processing everything as her gaze stuck to the floor.

Even if it was just the little Chloe inside the kid's head, she wasn't going to just leave her moping like this. "Hey..." Frazie murmured, "this whole journey might've been a dud, but I think your home planet's still out there." She turned the chair around and gestured out the window, where trillions and trillions of stars and planets just waited to be explored. "And one day, you'll find it. I promise."

The kid still didn't look too sure. Frazie finally let her go and leaned past her, fingers hovering over her keyboard. "Uhhhh... quick, how do you bring up that last planet we visited?"

Even in her fugue, Chloe knew that letting Frazie anywhere near her database was probably a terrible idea. Gently, she pushed the older girl's hands away and typed in her stead. A moment later, all the details for the previous planet sprung back up... the one where the Matron and her children lived.

"Yeah, that one!" Frazie recognized the temple gleaming atop its otherwise empty expanse. "It might not be exactly what you were looking for, but... there's at least one talkative alien there amongst the rest."

That got Chloe's attention. The kid jerked forward in her seat, eyes wide. "There is?!"

"There is. And she's real lovely. She told me if you ever wanted to stop by, feel free, sooooo..." Frazie gestured to the planet's hologram. "Have at it. I think it'll be a nice place for you to prepare for your next adventure. But hey..."

Frazie bent down to Chloe's level, addressing her fellow camper directly. "I know the other guys on the planet might not be what you were hoping for, but... I'd suggest you give them a shot. They might not be rocket scientists, but they're really friendly. I think you might be able to find some new crewmates if you give them a chance." Maybe some new friends as well.

Chloe considered her proposition, thinking. "I wouldn't trust those things anywhere near my advanced geomatrix cosmap," she muttered. "...But maybe I could teach one to be a janitor or something."

Frazie chuckled. It was a start. "Whatever the case, head there. The Matron will treat you right, and the others will too." She paused, then left Chloe with one final bit of wisdom. "Don't forget... no matter how big and empty space can seem, you're not alone in it."

At last, Chloe seemed to perk up a bit, smiling behind her helmet. "Maybe so, cadet. Maybe so. Now then..."

The tiny space explorer typed into her console again, the ship's engines revving back to life. "The coordinates are already in, so I guess we might as well check it out once more. Buckle in, everybody!"

Frazie stepped back, watching the captain get to work with enthusiasm again, her crew of robots hopping to action. Satisfied with all she'd accomplished, she reached for her smelling salts, held them up, and popped them open.

"...Blegh...!"


One very jarring inhale later, the cosmos swirled together into nothingness before her eyes. One second, she was aboard Chloe's ship, and the next, she was back on the rock with her, the two of them overlooking the camp from up above.

The psy portal popped loose, falling out of Chloe's helmet, and Frazie dived down to catch it. Chloe finally stirred again, blinking in confusion as she looked all around. Confusion quickly found itself replaced by fear.

"I... I can't hear the aliens anymore," she murmured quietly.

Knowing she had to handle this as gingerly as possible, Frazie knelt down, looking the camper in the eye. "I'm sorry, Chloe, but... you were never listening to aliens. Just people. Your telepathy was in overdrive, but not that much." She tapped her forehead. "I just let you turn it off. You should still be able to hear them if you try. But... they're not what you're looking for."

Chloe seemed to zone out slightly as she focused... and then she nodded with a sigh, seeming relieved to still be able to hear her precious aliens. But... they weren't aliens. She knew that now. "I... always did think it was weird they were always talking about earth food, or how bad traffic was. But it was always so hard to make out, so garbled, I thought for sure it must be coming from..."

Chloe never showed much emotion, but for once, Frazie could swear she heard a slight choke in her voice. She'd probably be upset, too, if her main drive in life ended up being a lie.

The kid's eyes dropped to her little paper spaceship, still faintly clutched between her fingers. Finally, she pulled it back and let it fly with a frustrated sound, the little vehicle promptly making a nosedive down towards the ground.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Before it could crash into a little white wreck, Frazie snagged it with telekinesis, lifting the toy back up to deposit it in Chloe's hands. She rested a hand over it, keeping the child from throwing it away again. "Come on, don't be like that."

Frazie's eyes drifted up to the sky as she thought, the sun marking past noon now... and beyond it, just waiting for night to fall, was an entire field of stars still waiting to be explored. "Hey... sure, you might not have been hearing anything from space, but that doesn't mean there isn't anyone out there eager to meet you." She waved a hand out over the sky. "Just think about it a sec... countless stars and planets to explore. There's gotta be something out there, right? And I'd bet there's something out there just waiting for you to explore and stumble upon them. Don't you want to be the one to find them first?"

Chloe followed her gesture, eyes locked firmly up above. She seemed conflicted... but the more she thought, the more her eyes lit up with the limitless potential of the cosmos. "You're right!" Sure, she knew now her 'aliens' had just been her own out of control telepathy... but that didn't mean there weren't real aliens out there.

Relieved, Frazie patted her, gently rolling her head around a bit under her helmet. "See? You get it. And while there may or may not be aliens out there, I definitely think there's a Cygnus A for you somewhere." Chloe turned to look at her, and Frazie gave her a smile. "In the meantime... why not hang out with us earthlings a little bit more? It can't hurt to make some connections you know for sure are real."

Chloe nodded solemnly, her gaze dropping again. "I am... unsure. But you may have a point." Her eyes flicked back up. "At the very least, I owe you one for getting my powers under control."

Frazie chuckled sheepishly. "Well... I don't want to be too pushy after, you know, completely shattering your worldview." She tilted her head off towards Oblongata. "But if you feel up to it, we do still need help with Bobby."

"I think I can handle it. Besides..." Chloe gave her a small grin. "I should work on connecting with more earth monkeys, correct?"

Earth monkeys? Frazie raised a finger, then changed her mind and dropped it. "Yeah, something like that. Ready to go?"

Chloe nodded, but stuck out a hand. "Hold on one moment. As thanks for helping me with my little problem... I'd like to mark you as my honorary space cadet with this."

She reached into her pocket, fishing out a stark pink patch. Two wide eyes were emblazoned on it, staring deeply into Frazie's soul... or her mind. The Clairvoyance patch, hers for the taking.

So she did. Nodding appreciatively, she took it and pinned it with the rest, an almost complete diamond of felt on her shawl now. "Thanks! You know, you kids are awfully generous with these things."

Chloe shrugged. "Badges are temporary. Adjusting my powers is forever. Plus, if we want, we can just tell Sasha we lost ours and get a new one."

That made sense. At least it did Frazie's heart good to know she wasn't robbing these kids of their trophies. "Well, I appreciate it. I'm starting to feel like I actually know what I'm doing with all these badges..."

Smirking, Chloe motioned for her to follow and set her plane down for later. If it'd been a normal kid, Frazie's heart would've stopped when Chloe suddenly jumped off the rock, but she just inflated a thought balloon and floated down safely. "Now then... onwards, cadet!"

One ride down to the ground later, the two girls were step in step, making their way back to the tunnel that'd take them to the beach.

Frazie couldn't help but notice Chloe was still distracted, though. The kid's eyes were on the sky as they walked, no doubt thinking of what might or might not lie beyond it. Frazie stopped them to kneel down and point to her back. "Want a closer look, captain?"

Drawn out of her thoughts, Chloe took the invitation, climbing up on Frazie's shoulders. There, she could contemplate all she wanted along the way... and it'd keep her from stumbling into any trees. That was a plus.

"Thank you, earthling," she said as she held onto Frazie's head. Chloe paused before correcting herself. "Frazie."

Smiling to herself, Frazie held Chloe steady, guiding the two off towards the lake where Lili and a certain couple bullies awaited.


If I don't manage to get another chapter out in a week or so, happy holidays! The day is waning on, and the asylum draws ever closer.