Mind Craft
Present Time - Corneria
Fox marvelled at the sight of the Cerinian starship through the shuttle window as they were approaching the main plasma gate. He even marvelled at the inside of the shuttle. The flight controls were simple yet elegant, and the two pilots hardly moved a finger as they manoeuvred the shuttle through the gate. Even the inside of the shuttle was sculpted elegantly just like the outside of their ships. The chair he sat in had a very thin seat and backrest, but it automatically formed itself around the contours of his body and was really comfortable.
The shuttle touched down, the doors opened, a ramp lowered, and he walked down it escorted by the two pilots. Before him was the largest flight deck he had ever seen. It was the size of a small airport with hundreds of various shuttles and ships. Unlike the dirty and cluttered Cornerian flight decks he was used to, it was perfectly organised, clean and shining in white and gold.
A small hovercraft approached and stopped in front of them. There was no one driving it, and it was hardly more than a platform with a few more of those comfortable chairs on. His escorts motioned him to take a seat, so they all did and the hovercraft set off across the flight deck.
Soon they left the flight deck and entered a series of wide and brightly but warmly lit corridors lined with art and ornaments. People and other hovercraft were bustling about, and to Fox it seemed like the laneways of a futuristic village.
Then they entered a larger space with green and blue grass, and plants he'd never seen in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Amongst it all there was also a shrine and several statues, and he recognised the heads of the Krazoa statues from Sauria. There was even a stream running through the garden, completed with a bridge crossing it, and he could hear the murmur of the water as it trickled down some rocks. What a tranquil and completely unexpected place to find on a spaceship.
After some further travel they stopped and climbed off he hovercraft in front of a nearly opaque wall, which looked like the surface of a dark body of water. To his surprise his guides signalled to him to step through. He touched the wall with the fingers of his right hand, which just sunk through while sending ripples across the surface. Yet he felt nothing, so he stuck his whole hand in, and then stepped through.
To his amazement he found himself standing out in open space, with a panoramic 360-degree view of the whole universe around him. He could see Corneria, the Orbital Gate and all the ships around them. Yet he could breathe. The only thing that was different was Lylat Prime. It was dimmed, and he could stare straight at the star, and see its corona, flares and prominences of swirling gasses. Then he noticed that he was standing on a translucent glass floor. Out in the middle of the floor stood Peppy and Kamuy together with two other Cerinian women, who were busy with instrument data and flight controls in the form of floating glass screens.
"There you are, Fox!" called Peppy. "No, you're not out in open space. It's a theatre with monitors all around. Fantastic, isn't it?"
"Please come and join us, Fox McCloud," said Kamuy.
Fox walked up to them, put his hands together in front of his face, and then turned the palms upwards in the Cerinian greeting. Why was he doing that? Yes, of course, it was polite.
"Such amazing technology," exclaimed Peppy. "Just imaging what our cooperation with The Protectors of Cerinia can bring is."
"You're too kind," said Kamuy and smiled. "And the benefits are mutual."
Fox was just gawking at everything with his mouth slightly open in wonder.
"But we're not just here to stargaze," continued Peppy. "We have an important mission that requires a skilled pilot, and with that I don't mean just any skilled pilot, but the best."
"The resource extraction has come to a critical point," explained Kamuy. "Measuring equipment must be placed and calibrated in the exactly correction positions, else the next phase of the mining will not be effective. These measurements are too difficult to take remotely, due to the electromagnetic interference from the unrefined Krazonium in the rising magma."
"Your mission, should you accept it, is to escort two scientists in a shuttle to the mines, land where they identify that the equipment needs to be installed, and bring them safely back home again."
"The kind General holds you in such high regard," said Kamuy. "I would be honoured if you could be our guide."
"I must warn you, Fox," continued Peppy. "It will be treacherous flying conditions close to the volcanoes, but it is a crucial mission. You have expert knowledge of Corneria's topography and are our best pilot. I'm counting on you."
The h-ll Fox wanted to do that. It sounded like a suicide mission, so of course he would.
"Ready for duty, General!" he said, and as he saluted, his fingers touched a piece of metal on his right temple. He felt its circular shape. What was that thing? Oh, that's right, nothing to worry about.
Fox was back up in the mountains, where he had previously stumbled upon the mining operations. But this time the upper parts of the beautiful valley was slowly being engulfed by lava flows, burning down the threes and evaporating the water in the streams. Instead of flying his Arwing through low white clouds, he was flying a standard Cornerian shuttle through the smoke and ashes. Occasionally gas bubbles would explode in the lava flows beneath them, spraying molten rock dangerously close to the vessel. Pumice from the erupting volcano was raining down around them, some slamming in to the hull of the plane like oversized hail. The darkness under the smoke clouds didn't make it any easier, and it was hard to tell whether it was actually day or night. It was exactly the sort of conditions you should never fly in.
The two Cerinian scientists were studying their instruments closely.
"The signals are not strong enough," said one man.
"Pilot, we need to continue further into the rift valley," continued the other.
This was sheer madness, thought Fox.
"Sure, no problem!"
They rounded the volcano and followed what looked like a river of lava, as the planets inner was spewing up its contents in a newly opened fissure. Here are there it encountered bodies of water, creeks and small lakes, boiling it instantly and sending up unpredictable geysers, adding to the obstacles Fox had to avoid.
"The readings are improving. Pilot, go around in a circle so that we can triangulate."
"And keep I steady," said the second Certain man, as Fox had to bank to avoid a particularly large blast of molten rock. He did as he was told, circling around a couple of times, and passing over the lava pools at an altitude that was way too low. One of the scientists rose from his seat and stood up next to Fox.
"We need to land over there," he said and pointed to a rocky outcrop that stuck up out of a particularly large lava flow, dividing it. Then he cried in fright and fell back to his seat, when there was a loud bang, as a block of pumice big enough to crack the windscreen hit the shuttle.
There was no place flat enough to land on the island in the lake of molten rock, so Fox had to hover and keep the craft as steady as he could. Any second there could be an explosion from the lava below, taking out all three of them and the ship. Still the Cerinians took their time to check their heatproof suits, gather their equipment and put on their helmets. Then Fox could lower the ramp and open the door in the shuttle's cargo hull. Immediately the heat started streaming into the shuttle, and with it the smell of sulphur. Fox had to put on his oxygen mask, as the scientists carefully made their way down the ramp and onto the rock, while carrying what seemed like particularly heavy equipment. Within seconds Fox started sweating, and he sure hoped they would be quick, before he was cooked like a roast in the oven.
How are the readings?
Perfect! Are the detonators ready?
Fox was confused. He could head their voiced clearly, but they were not coming through his earpieces. It was like when someone else had talked to him without sound years ago.
I hate this part of the job. Why can't it be done remotely?
The rising Krazonium wreaks havoc with any remote scanners. That's why we need to be on-site and scan, so that the charges can be places in the exact right position. Then we can crack this egg open and start reaping the riches.
Another voice joined the conversation.
And maybe you could be a telepath too but you just haven't learnt it yet?
The Cerinians continued. Fox's hands were clutching the controls.
Still, it does feels like a bit of a shame, doesn't it? Eventually this will set off uncontrolled tectonic movements. It's a pretty nice planet. Maybe we could just live here?
You're not going soft, are you? This insignificant planet is just collateral damage. Once we have enough Krazonium, we can start terraforming Cerinia again.
Maybe that's why your father can talk to you, continued that sweet female voice.
Get out of my head, Krystal!
Fox's trembling hand slowly made its way up to his head.
Krystal? Isn't she that mad wizard Randorn's daughter?
We do not speak of him? But why are you bringing that up?
His finger tips touched the disc on his right temple.
I thought you said 'Krystal'.
No, why would I?
His fingers wrapped itself around the metal.
Can't have been the pilot. He's local and they're not telepathic, are they?
Hey, what's going on? Command! Come in! The pilot's going rogue!
A searing pain cut through his brain, as he with one forceful yank ripped the implant out of his skull. Stunned, he watched it in his hand, the gold wires coming out of it covered in some blood. The wires were moving and wriggling. What the h-ll was that thing? He turned around, and as he threw it out through the open shuttle door, he saw the two so-called scientists scrambling up the ramp.
"Sorry, not in service!" he shouted to them and hit full thrust forwards. The Cerinians were clinging on to the ramp by their gloved hands, until Fox made a sharp turn and sent them flying through the air to an untimely death in a lava hot tub.
Free from the telepathic influence, Fox realised what a pickle he was in. He was free for the moment, but for how long? He had ditched the Cerinians, but they had had just enough time to alert both Cerinian and Cornerian forces that something was not right. He could hear on the comms that Cornerian pilots were scrambling to get up in the air and investigate, and the Cerinians were sure to be on their way too. Hopefully they'd be hesitant to fly into the storm of smoke and ash that Fox was flying through. But he might still only have minutes. And he was not in his Arwing, but in a slow, defenceless, useless standard-issue army shuttle.
Come on, Fox! You perform best under pressure, he told himself. For starters he had set his headset camera on record, and while trying to think of something to do, he had just started to film and commentate what was going on around him. He needed to capture evidence of the destruction, the unprecedented lava flows, the forests going up in flames, the rivers and lakes evaporating.
Then he set the auto-pilot, just for a minute, heading in the opposite direction he'd flow into the valley, while he was rummaging around the shuttle looking for something. Anything! He found some spare army equipment: a helmet, parachute, a single blaster, some grenades and a standard issue repair kit, that was all.
"I've picked up the transponder signal twenty-five miles out," came a voice in the comms. It must be from a Cornerian pilot, that hasn't thought about switching channels, not realising that Fox could still hear them. Thought even at subsonic speed, that could mean three minutes or less. And Fox hadn't thought about the blasted transponder telling them exactly where he was.
Then he spotted another piece of Cerinian equipment in the cargo bay, whatever it was that the scientists have brought, as well as another active volcano through the windshield. The shuttle was heading straight for it, and that's when he got an idea. He moved the Cerinian equipment over to the shuttle door, strapped a couple of grenades to it with standard issue army duct tape, then tied a piece of wire between the pins of a grenade and the handle next to the shuttle door. He dashed to the cockpit, ripped open the panels where the transponder should be, and fumbled with the wires while the volcano was getting closer and closer, smoke and lava spewing out of it.
"Ten miles and closing!"
This was going to be close, but at least he had a slightly higher than zero percent chance of survival. When approaching a large pool of lava, he hit the switch to open the shuttle door, disengage the autopilot and rolled the shuttle to the side, so that the cargo fell out. With his hands around the transponder wires, he hoped that the pins of the grenades had been pulled and started counting. He had no idea what that Cerinian equipment had been though. They had been talking detonators, but he had no idea if what he had hurled out of the shuttle were explosives and if so how strong.
The following detonation confirmed that it was indeed some sort of explosives, and quite potent at that. A shaft of blue light rose up through the clouds and smoke, and the shockwave nearly knocked the shuttle out of the sky. He was flung around in the cockpit, with the transponder connectors in his hand.
"Wow! Did you see that?"
"The transponder signal disappeared. The shuttle must have crashed."
"I wonder what the Cerinians had with them that could have gone up like that. Surely no one would have survive it?"
"We'd better make a couple of flyovers and check anyway."
"Yeah, and then I'm out of here. This is crazy dangerous!"
