Star Ocean: The Novel
Chapter Five: Beyond the Sky
The three blinked. These two people had appeared from out of nowhere speaking some strange dialect, and now they were speaking their language and introducing themselves… or at least the man was.
"Wh-who are you?" Milly squeaked, beginning to back away slowly.
"Y-yeah… a name's not going to be enough…" Ratix warned, reaching for the hilt of his sword.
"You have nothing to fear from us," the woman stated "I'm Iria Silvestoli, by the way."
"Where do I start explaining?" Ronixis announced as the Fellpools calmed down a little bit, but stayed tense, until Iria started to step forward.
"Stay away from us!" Milly growled as she began to prepare a spell.
Iria seemed frustrated now.
"Look, I'll explain for the Captain, just calm down, we are not here to bring you any harm."
The three still felt uneasy but calmed down again, if only to listen to what these two had to say.
"I can't answer your question, but we are your friends, not your enemies," she said.
"Oh really?" Milly asked, still a little skeptical.
"Yeah, right!" Dorn cried out, brandishing his sword "There's no way you could be friends of ours…"
"We only came to get that herb, so could you please leave us alone?" Ratix responded, staying much calmer than his friends were being at the moment.
"If you want to cure the illness that's infecting your people," Iria said "There is something much better and more effective than this herb here."
The three were dumbstruck. Did she just say that there was something better than the Healing Herb?
"Just who are you guys?"
"Do you feel like listening to us now?"
"If that's all, sure, why not?"
"You may not believe this at first, but we have come from a far away placed to save you."
Ratix raised an eyebrow.
"Then why didn't you come sooner?"
"Something called the Undeveloped Planet Protection Act. We could not choose to make contact with any still developing civilizations."
"What do you mean by that?"
"We came from above and beyond the sky, from a world far, far away. We decided that it was necessary to make an exception in this particular case."
"Above the sky….? Another world? Uhh, okay."
"A-are they… are you gods?" Milly squeaked, going from withheld panic to awe and wonder "The gods have come to save us! Haha!"
Milly was now hopping up and down manically, the gods had come to save them!
"No, we're not gods," Iria said suddenly, and Milly stopped her bouncing and looked a bit disappointed "We're the same sort of people you are. We're just as mortal as you. But we don't have tails…"
Sure enough, Iria turned around for them, showing that indeed, she had no tail.
"You're right," Milly said "You don't."
"Problem is…" Iria began again, her voice turning to a more serious tone "Resonia, a group we're having hostilities with has broken the Act, and using a chemical weapon, caused the very same disease you are currently dealing with."
The three couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"So it's this… this Resonia's fault that everyone is turning into stone…?" Ratix asked, none too happy with this news.
"That is correct."
"Unforgivable…" Milly muttered, her fists clenching.
"We came to investigate, and cure the blight they have thrown upon your world."
"That's why we came here, to help you. Problem is, the method which we are planning to use…. At this time in your development, it's something beyond your conception," Ronixis added.
"I still don't know if I can believe you," Milly said "But if you can cure us of this disease, then I suppose we don't have any other choice but to let you help us out, I suppose."
"Like Milly said," Ratix spoke "I don't believe you much either, but if you can cure Dorn, we'll do what you want…"
"That's me," Dorn said with a nod.
"Well, we don't know if we can actually cure it or not," Iria said with a sigh "But if you come with us, we might be able to make a vaccine against it."
"Uh, what's a vaccine?" Milly asked.
"It's basically taking the things that cause a disease and turning them against others of its kind to eliminate it. It's really complicated, but it's also sort of not, you see."
"Ah."
"So, does this mean… that you're going to take us beyond the sky?" Ratix asked.
"If you put it that way," Ronixis said "Then yes. Problem is, if we take you, you may not be able to return to your world ever again. Legal reasons and all that, because of the Act, you see. But, you could just get the herb and continue on your way while dismissing this as a figment of your imagination or a dream."
"Well, I'm going with them," Dorn said "If I stay here, well, I'm just going to turn into a statue like everyone else… I don't think have any other choice."
"To leave my father and everyone else forever…" Milly sighed "..or Dorn. I don't know if I could choose."
"I think we should go with Dorn," Ratix said "We can't stay here, especially if we can't help everyone. There's nothing we an do to help other than let them help us. Yeah, it will be sad we won't be able to stay here, but if they can help our people, then it'll all be worth it."
Milly nodded sadly, she knew Ratix was right. If it would help, they had to go.
"It's decided, then," Iria announced "We will leave immediately. Please close your eyes for one moment."
"Uh, why?" Milly asked, as Iria fiddled with some strange box-like object, suddenly, everything went white, and Milly felt like she was being pulled apart piece by piece, and she screamed. Next thing she knew, though, she and the others were in some strange metal room. "What… was… that?"
"Wh-where are we?" Ratix asked, looking around in mass confusion at the new surroundings.
"This is our ship, the Calnus." Ronixis stated.
"So you guys ARE gods after all?" Milly asked, utterly confused.
"As we said, we are not gods," Iria began "We're just a lot more technologically advanced than you are. Someday, far in your future, you will probably figure out how to make such devices."
Ratix simply raised an eyebrow and stepped off the circle on the floor under his feet, as the others followed suit, Milly and Dorn still awing over the insane place they were now in.
"Let's get Dorn to our medical center." Ronixis stated, as he walked up to a door which magically opened by itself as he got close, making the three Fellpools jump. This was getting real weird real fast. And that wasn't all. As soon as they stepped into the next room, the floor started moving forward.
"The floor is moving." Ratix gaped "How is this possible…? All these things, I've never seen them before, and yet, they're all so interesting."
"Now that I think of it, I don't think you have told us YOUR names yet."
"Milly Killiet."
"Dorn… Marto…" Dorn groaned, falling to his knees "Oh…"
"Captain, his condition is worsening!" Iria shouted.
"Get him to the medical center, NOW!" Ronixis yelled as they came to the end of the moving path,.
"I… I can walk there." Dorn grunted, getting back up, but shaking like a leaf. Another two automatic doors, they made it into the medical ward. All around, there were beds, each attached to a bunch of strange, metal devices. A short plump bespectacled man wearing a white apron and hat, both with red crosses on them led Dorn to one, and instructed him to lie down. When he did, a light encompassed him, but even though Ratix and Milly were surprised yet again, Dorn just laid there. He had no reason to fight this, he knew.
"What is this anyway?" Ratix asked, poking at the strange machines surrounding Dorn.
"Hey, be careful with that!" the doctor yelled, as Ratix jumped before stopping and backing off.
"It's how we give medical treatment to other people, you see… It, er, 'reads' a person's body and then tells us what is wrong with it, while trying to create something or telling us about things we can get to help," Iria explained.
"Like a book?" Ratix said.
"I suppose that's one way to put it. At least in a way you would understand."
"Interesting."
Milly was also listening in to this, it sounded pretty weird, but somehow, it sounded…. Right.
"Doctor, I leave this to you," Ronixis said.
"Gotcha," the doctor replied, going up to some strange glass window with a bunch of lights and images.
"Since you're here now and there's nothing I can do about it now, would you like to look around the ship, coming all this way and all?"
"Captain," Iria complained "Isn't that a direct violation of--"
"A little too late for that, now, you think? You show them around, while I go to the bridge."
"But, Captain!" Too late. Ronixis was already out the door. "Grr… really, now! Okay, okay, since he's obviously going to be a pain in the butt, let's go. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask."
"Right," Milly and Ratix responded as they went out the automatic door. They continued back to a room right after the moving floors. Ratix and Milly had only briefly checked out the room, but now that they were free to move about at their own pace, they finally noticed the odd circular panels on the floor.
"What are these?" Milly asked.
"They're elevator ports," Iria explained "We use these to travel through different parts of the ship at a fast pace. Simply stand on the circle, and then tell it whether you want to go up or down. As for how they work…"
"That's okay. You don't have to tell us."
"Uh, right. The one on the left goes to the bridge, and nowhere else so it'll take you automatically. The right one, you'll have to direct it. Just say where you want to go out loud, and it will take you there."
The two nodded and stood on the disc to their right, Iria following suit.
"Uh, up one!" Ratix called out, but there was an unpleasant beep and nothing else.
"It doesn't go up from here, actually. This is the top floor, so to speak."
"Er, right. Uhh, down one!"
And with that, there was a loud click and then a whir, as the disc flew downward, taking them on it. It was a little startling, but it was going slow enough so they didn't just simply fly off. After a moment, it stopped at another floor.
"Wow, this is pretty neat."
"I'll say, Ratix," Milly gasped "Quite a ride… Whew…"
"Let's see what's behind this door…"
And so, Ratix went into one of the doors on this floor, and they came into a strange room. There was a little walkway going only halfway into the room, the rest was an odd, black and green mess of interweaving lines on the floor.
"This is the holodeck…" Iria began, only to be interrupted by Ratix asking what it was "Gah, I'm getting to that! It allows us to experience things that appear completely real but are almost completely fake. We can train, battle things it creates, all sorts of stuff. Let me show you. Holodeck, list all of the battle programs!"
With that, a bunch of words made of light appeared in midair, startling Milly, but just piquing Ratix's curiosity. He couldn't understand the words, though.
"Uhh, Holodeck, please put those words in my language."
And with that, it was done.
"Wow! Milly squeaked "Lesse, all these look pretty interesting…"
"Just don't choose the--" Iria began.
"Hmm, this looks neat. Celestia, uhh, start?"
"No, not that one! Couldn't you wait for me to tell you NOT to ask for that one!"
"What's wrong with it?" Ratix asked, as the scenery changed to some strange-looking cave full of crystalline structures. Suddenly, a figure appeared. It was hard to tell whether it was male or female, with the long blonde hair and the curvy body and black dress. The figure held a strange-looking staff in one hand, the end shaped like a crescent moon, and six wings of energy grew out from its back . "It's pretty neat, in any case…"
Iria smacked her forehead.
"Even the BEST fighters have never been able to beat this program… it's what's called the Impossible Fight…"
"I'm going to try anyway!"
Ratix brandished his sword and charged the figure, and he slashed, only to hit nothing but air as the figure vanished in a blur and reappeared behind him swinging its staff, sending him "crashing" into a crystal formation. It felt so real, too, from the initial hit to the crashing!
"Is that all?" the figure spoke in a genderless, angelic voice "You're pathetic!"
Ratix growled and jumped back up and charged the figure again. This time, however, the figure took a stance as some sort of spherical aura surrounded it, and Ratix didn't even hit the figure with his sword, rather he hit the field and was sent flying backwards again.
"Ratix!" Milly yelled, casting a healing spell on him.
"Ohh, now THAT tears it…" Ratix growled, running forward again as the figure dodged him again and took another stance, its wings glowing brightly.
"Meteor Swarm." the figure muttered as a vortex opened from out of nowhere and a huge group of flaming meteors blasted through it and towards Ratix.
"Well, sh--"
Ratix wasn't able to finish this as he was surprised when it all disappeared, Iria at a panel on the wall.
"Good thing I shut that down…" Iria sighed "That thing was about to toast you."
"Uhh, thanks, I guess. Even so, that was fun."
Milly and Iria sighed, and shook their heads.
"Come on, you two, let's go look at something else."
With that, they were out of that room. There was more exploration, including a trip to the crew lounge, where not only did Ratix and Milly encounter another "virtual" program that allowed them to walk around in a perfect replica of the fields outside of Clatos, but a strange machine that made them their favorite meals by just asking for them. It was really strange, but great nonetheless.
Milly was still nursing a fruit parfait as they reached the bottom floor of the ship.
"And this is the entry point of the Calnus, and the end of our tour," Iria said "So, did you like the tour?"
"Yeah, it was pretty good," Ratix stated "My favorite part was that replicator thing…. Man, it made perfect food."
"No kidding…" Milly said with a smile, finishing off her favorite dessert "Best parfait I've had in ages…"
"I'm glad you liked it," Iria smiled "Anyway…"
Suddenly, a voice came out of nowhere, it was Ronixis'.
"Hey, could you come back to the medical center? I'm coming there myself.. The doctor says he may have found something."
"Where and HOW did that happen?" Ratix cried, looking around confusedly.
"That was the intercom," Iria said "It allows us to talk to people from far away. It's kind of hard to explain…"
"Everything's 'kind of' hard to explain." Milly complained.
"Well, if I tried explaining the whole process of how it works, would you understand?"
Milly shook her head.
"I guess not. I'm really sorry if I sound a little whiny."
"I'm sure you're just worried about your friend."
"Yeah, that's probably it."
"But it sounds like the doctor may have found something out."
"Maybe he's found the cure…?"
"Don't know. Only one way to find out."
Once again, they arrived in the medical center, where Ronixis and the doctor were waiting.
"Well?" Milly asked "Did you cure him!"
"Patience, miss…" Ronixis retorted "The doctor would like to say something."
"Okay, okay."
The doctor cleared his throat before beginning.
"With the results of my investigations into your friend's condition, I've managed to single out the microbes causing it. I have figured out the cause thanks to this information… Bad news is… It's impossible to cure, even with our modern and advanced medical knowledge…"
"But… but! I thought you had TONS of advanced knowledge! I-I-I… Did you make sure and check?" Milly shrieked, grabbing the doctor by the shirt and shaking him wildly, before being pulled back by Ratix and Iria.
"M-m-miss! For the very reason we have all this knowledge, also means there are times when we can tell when something like this is impossible…! This… this microbe transforms itself at tremendous speeds. Even if we made a vaccine, its effect would quickly vanish."
Milly hung her head.
"But," the doctor continued "This doesn't man there is not a method available to cure it. From its structure, it would seem that this virus is naturally occurring, in other words, there is something out there still around that contains this same virus, the original virus. If we can find the creature who has it, the original host, we can obtain its blood and make a serum…"
"So, he can be saved?" Milly asked with relief.
"We don't exactly have time to look for this host, though…" Ratix thought to himself.
The doctor nodded, before continuing.
"It's strange, but even when petrified, the atomic structure of the people affected stays preserved. It doesn't matter whether they've become stone or not. Give them the serum, and they will be cured.If they were stone, they'd return to being flesh."
Ratix and Milly looked quite confused.
"Don't worry if you can't understand." Iria said "Just know that we can turn him, and everyone else back to normal. Question is.. Why would Resonia do this in the first place? Why did they unleash this weapon on Roak?"
"Roak?" Ratix asked, tilting his head.
"The name we have given your planet," Ronixis replied "But I'm with Iria…. What, if anything would Resonia gain by turning the people of Roak into stone? It would seem we have a mystery on our hands… But what also worries me is that Resonia wouldn't just LET us have the identity of the original host."
Suddenly, sirens began to go off, Ratix and Milly looking around very confused.
"We've got a problem!" came a voice from the intercom "Alien life forms have appeared in the transporter room!"
"What? Doctor, look after Dorn! Ratix, Milly, Iria, come on!"
And so they followed the Captain through the door and back up the moving floors to the transporter rooms. The person in charge of the transporter had hidden himself behind his station, holding some sort of odd gun. Meanwhile, crawling on the transporter deck was a familiar sight, to the Fellpools at least.
"What are these?" Ronixis asked, scratching his chin.
"Fellworms…" Milly responded.
"Looks like they managed to lay their eggs on us back on… Roak." Ratix concluded.
"To make things worse…" the transporter guy said "Phasers… they don't work on them!"
"What?" Ronixis sighed "Then how are we supposed to--"
"Leave it to us," Ratix said, walking up onto the deck, Milly following.
"Will you be okay?"
"We managed to get all the way here, didn't we?"
"Er, right. Be careful."
One of the Fellworms hissed and rushed Milly, who jumped out of the way, landing on her face. The worm gurgled at this opportunity and leapt to bite, only to get smashed aside by the force of Ratix's shoulder. It got up again, and another one of its buddies came at Ratix as well. But Ratix just stood there as the creatures rushed.
"Ratix, what are you doing?" Ronixis yelled.
Suddenly, and swiftly with insane grace, Ratix took a stance and held his sword out and downward and suddenly whirled around a full circle. Blasts of some sort of energy trailed behind the sword's path, both the sword and these tore through the creatures, and they rolled a little, before stopping. There was no more movement.
Milly had managed to get herself into her own situation, as she leapt and dodged away from another Fellworm, kicking and smacking it whenever it came near.
"Aieegh, get away!" she squeaked.
But Ratix quickly came to her aid, finishing the creature off with a swipe from his sword.
"That takes care of that," he said.
But, suddenly, another Fellworm flew out from the shadows and sank its teeth into Ratix, and he quickly smacked it off, some of his blood flew onto it, before he retorted with a good slash, killing the thing instantly.
"Guess there was one… left." Ratix groaned, rubbing his shoulder as Milly cast a spell on it. He then turned to the Earthlings, who were… confused? "What? It was just a scratch."
"That's not it." Ronixis said "The creature… it's gone!"
"No…" Milly said, walking up to it, and kicking it "It's right there!"
"That's… impossible. I can't see it, and neither can Iria or… Wait, you two can see it?"
"Well, yeah." Ratix said.
Ronixis and Iria looked at each other quizzically.
"It vanished the moment Ratix's blood was shed…"
"It certainly did," Iria said in agreement "Wait, what? It… Hmm. Hey, you, get this cleaned up. The rest of us are going to go back to the medical center."
"Yes'm!" the transporter guy said, nodding.
And soon, they were back in the medical center.
"Doctor, since you've had to scan Dorn's body… Is there anything, uh, different about Roakians and other humanoid life forms?"
"Well," the doctor began "Structures of the organs, cells, and everything else is the same, but… Unlike other humanoid life forms, they're made up of different things than the others. Well, such as, the hemoglobin in their blood contains copper instead of iron, among many other things. It's a substance that has never been discovered before!"
"Hmm," Iria said "Then, maybe, just maybe there is a reason for Resonia to turn the people of Roak into stone… Maybe that's why they dropped chemical weapons upon it…"
"But, Iria," Ronixis said "What would there to be gained through such methods?"
"Think about what the doctor just said. A previously unknown substance. There's a possibility that's what Resonia is after."
"For some kind of weapon, maybe?"
"It's possible. Not only that, but one that wouldn't appear on radar."
"Then, they're killing us to make a weapon?" Milly asked.
"Maybe. We can't exactly make that conclusion yet."
"It, well, it actually makes sense to me." Ratix said "I mean, from everything you've said, and everything I've seen here… It's actually a possibility."
"That would mean that there would be a lot of missing stone statues on Roak." Ronixis said "I'm going to the bridge to see if we can check."
And so, he was out the door again.
"Doctor," Iria said turning to him "Out of all the things that can be made from turning Roakian blood into stone, use the computer to simulate any kind of objects or weaponry that could be made."
"But!" the doctor protested "There's literally millions of combinations! It would take forever to figure it out."
Iria crossed her arms and glared.
"It's all we can do, though. So hop to it!"
"That is true. I'll get started immediately."
Some time later, Ratix and Milly were watching Dorn. Milly was watching, for the most part, but Ratix had drifted off into thought again. He sighed and looked at Milly.
"It all… it all turned out like this because I thought ordinary, everyday life was boring," he said.
"That's not it at all, Ratix," Milly said, looking at him "There was nothing we could've done about this. I think the Fates had planned this all along…"
"But…"
"If only I were stronger, maybe all this never would have happened."
Their conversation was however cut short by the Doctor.
"The Captain wants you on the bridge. Take the elevator to your left, the bridge is the only place it will go, although I'm sure you were probably already told that. I think they've found something important."
The two nodded, and left. It didn't take them too long to get to the bridge at all. Could it be that they were finally starting to get used to this wacky place? The bridge was gigantic, bustling with all sorts of people at their stations doing their duties. Ronixis was sitting at a large chair in the middle, and he quickly got up and turned to them.
"We've got some news," he said "Iria?"
Iria came from her station and looked at them.
"Okay, when we checked the number of stone humanoid statues the first time, well, that number is a lot different now," she said "At least twenty million, to be exact. I wonder how they could have grabbed them without us seeing?"
"Then it has to be…" Ratix began.
"Well, we still don't know if it's for a weapon or not."
"But there's no doubt in my mind that it has no peaceful connotations to it," Ronixis added, as Iria glared at him "Sorry, sorry. Anyway, it's been decided that we will head back to our home planet, which we call Earth. You will be diplomats to Roak, and we will see if we can get Resonia to give us the identity of the host of the disease. It's not that unreasonable to ask. I need you to make a report with me, so I will need you to come along."
Suddenly, the doctor's voice came from over the intercom.
"Dorn's condition's taking a turn for the worse…. You need to get over here, now."
"Right."
As soon as they got back to the medical center, they could see Dorn was already in pain.
"His vital organs are beginning to petrify. He is close to… well, for a lack of a better word, dying."
"Dorn, no…" Ratix sighed.
"C-c-captain…" Don groaned "I… I have a request."
"What is it?" Ronixis asked.
"When… when I… die, I want to be at home."
"You're not going to die…. You're just going to fall into a stone slumber for a while."
Dorn frowned.
"But what if… what if you're not able to cure… What if you don't get the serum? Please… As my possibly last request."
"Alright. Doctor, prepare for transport."
"Yes sir." the doctor replied.
"We want to go with Dorn, too." Milly said.
"But you two can't--" Ronixis protested, as Ratix came forward.
"We'll come back after we see him off," Ratix said "We promise."
"Okay, okay. I'll have Iria escort you, anyway."
"Thank you." the Fellpools said.
Quickly, they headed to the transporter room yet again, with Dorn in tow, the doctor helped him with getting there.
"Doctor, transport Dorn directly into his bed."
"Understood." the doctor replied.
"Iria, take care of the rest."
She nodded as the transporter started up. This time, Milly didn't panic when the teleportation feeling happened. In seconds, they were in Dorn's house, Dorn under his covers. The technology was really accurate to be able to do that.
"Wait," Dorn said "There's something want to give you before I die…"
"Dorn, you are not going to die," Milly growled "You're just going to be sleeping for a while."
"It doesn't matter. Take… take that music box from the top shelf."
Ratix quickly got the box and returned to his former place.
"I'm giving that to you, Milly," Dorn said, as Ratix handed it to her."
"But… this was your sister's," Milly said "I.. I can't take this."
"Go ahead and take it. Just in case, you know?"
Milly opened the box, and a tune began to play. The Roakians knew the song as "Take a Fancy", it was a very popular love tune.
"M… my sister… gave it… to… me." Dorn groaned, before falling silent and completely turned into stone. Iria turned around and sighed, as Milly fell to the floor, crying, Ratix patting her shoulder, before turning to Dorn.
"Dorn," Ratix sighed, clenching his fist "Don't worry, we'll get you, and everyone else back to normal. I swear it… I swear it on my life."
To Be Continued
Author's Notes
Phew! That was a LONG chapter to write! Just a little bit more than eleven full pages, and over 4700 words! I didn't want to skip out on most of the details here. There was just so much to write for this part. Granted, that fight on the holodeck never happens, but I just had to write it. Don't think that's all you'll see of Gabriel Celestia in this fic, though. It will be back in a future chapter.
Once again, thanks go out to all my readers, and of course, Mr. Greiner for his always constant advice and help. Til next chapter, cadets…
Edit Note (6-14-05)
A few dialogue and error fixes have been added since the initial posting.