The following scenes are parts that I wrote but never made it into the story. They fit in as tiny midquels. When I found this old file instead of deleting it I decided to post it as a bonus.
Midquel one: Penelope's Flashback Nightmare.
"You have to believe me, the senator from planet Coolosia is up to something." Penelope was at the end of her patience. How could the so called chancellor be so stupid? There were more than enough reasons to suspect the senator from Coolosia but he refused to listen.
"Senator Lang of planet Earth. The accusations you speak of are very serious" The chancellor spoke. "Would you be willing to say this in front of the entire senate as you have told me now in my office?"
"Yes." Finally she was getting some attention. Her voice was very valued in the senate. Everyone knew that when something had to be heard she was the one to say it.
"Regardless of the consequences this may have upon you?" The chancellor asked seriously.
There was something about the old man that Penelope didn't trust. A cold chill ran down her spine and suddenly she felt as if she was in the wrong place as the wrong time but she would not back down. "Yes but you must know that you are also in danger. I don't think the Coolosian senator is him at all. It may be an impostor."
"Are you saying the senator from Coolosia is trying to kill me?" The chancellor spoke those words so naturally Penelope took a step back. He was up to something, she knew for sure now.
"Yes" she answered trying to keep an emotionless face. She knew very well she should be in charge of the senate but something went wrong. Rumors of an assassin planning to kill her were spread in the entire senate. A trap was devised for the killer but it failed. The woman posing as Penelope was murdered and the one responsible for her death was not captured. As far as the senate knew she was dead and the new chancellor as well as her advisors agreed that it was best to let them continue thinking she was killed until the assassin was captured but her days of hiding would soon come to an end when she claimed her rightful place as Earth's ambassador.
"In that case senator Lang I return the position of chancellor of the senate of the Alliance of Planets to you" the old earthling said.
Return? He was only pretending to be the new elected chancellor. He never had the political power to make a choice without consulting her. "Very well." She exited the office knowing full well of the conspiracy that was taking place. She was smarter then they gave her credit for. The senator from Coolosia was an innocent pawn framed to cover up the plans of someone from Earth in the name of someone from Mortavio or was it from Splatty or Foxia? She didn't know but she knew the old earthling was the leader of the operation. 'Chameleon' she thought. She hated this lie of pretending she was dead supposedly for protection. Nothing good could come out of ignorance she knew that too well. It was the cause of the fall of the Galactic Guardians.
Someone stepped out of the shadows of the office where the temporary chancellor still sat at his desk before turning into someone else. "She knows of our plans. You did not deceive her well enough."
"None sense she's an ignorant fool like the rest of her kind. Their authority won't last long."
Penelope stopped at the long hallway and looked back at the closed door. Those contact lenses that allowed her to see living beings hidden by their own energy or 'magic' were horribly uncomfortable but very useful. The dark wizard no longer hidden flew out of the office towards her. She shot bright green beams of light from her laser gun. Normally the lasers would be deadly but this time they had no effect.
"Fool! Your technology is no match for my magic" The wizard said sending flames at his target.
"You will not end our peace assassin" Penelope said. She continued the insistent fire of her laser gun even if it had no effect.
"Senator Lang this way!" An officer called.
She paid no attention to him. "I know you work for the enemy" Perhaps it was foolish to come here alone to confirm her suspicions.
"Forget the plans, she dies now!" The dark wizard would not wait any longer. Penelope presented a threat to their plans, one that had to be eliminated.
She couldn't move. The assassin must have done something to her. "Damn it let me go. You'll never win. The earth sacrificed too much this!" She screamed in anger and frustration.
"Penelope!" A blond human with blue eyes tackled her out of the way of the fire.
Penelope Lang woke up suddenly. The dark wizard was gone now. He was someone who rebelled against Solovem and left Mortavio. The mystery had been solved the names of the real senators and the reputations of planets were cleared. She was only falsely dead for three days. Chameleon was gone. Why did she have that nightmare now when peace was at its best?
End of Midquel One.
Midquel Two: Noah and Paloma exploring a planet before returning to Earth.
This strange colorful planet felt like a paradise at first but soon its eerie silence began to grow on Noah. "Appearances can be deceiving." He didn't know why the phase insisted on echoing in his mind. There was something very wrong about this planet yet it didn't make sense. He saw several kinds of fruits. Of course he would not try to at them without knowing if they are poisonous or not but he would have to collect a few samples for examination later. Good thing Sparky didn't leave the ship. If this was some sort of tropical jungle shouldn't there be animals around here? He didn't lower his guard but he couldn't help it but to feel as if he was all alone with his crew on this planet.
One peculiar thing he noticed was that the rocks didn't look like regular stones. They looked like blocks that had been shaped a certain way by intelligent life. As he ventured deeper into the strange planet he found ruins. There were buildings here once but the flora had covered them. He explored what little was left of the strange ruins and searched for any kind of item that hinted what civilization once lived here. He found small pieces of metal on the ground but he couldn't tell what items they formed.
As he stared at the unknown planet's clear yellow skies Noah felt the weight of a thousand deaths. Why did he suddenly feel this way? Could it be home sickness or was this strange feeling caused by this planet. He wasn't sure why but he knew it was time to return to his ship.
"Commander!" He heard the voice of a young human man. He sounded alarmed.
"What it is Hayden?" Noah asked preparing himself for the bad news. Could his ship have been attacked? Surely the Messiah could take it.
"Paloma has fallen ill al of a sudden" Hayden said. Noah didn't say a word. He didn't even have time to process the information. They both ran to the ship Messiah.
"Paloma?" Noah called her name softly placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I am fine commander. I told Hayden he didn't need to find you" Paloma said tensing up a little feeling the hand on her shoulder. She gripped her chair as if her life depended on it and her eyes were closed tightly.
"There's something here, there's something in the air" Noah suddenly said.
"The systems do not detect anything, sir" Angela said reading the status from the screen. "The atmosphere of this planet contains sufficient oxygen, components equivalent to those of the Earth's atmosphere and virtually no form of pollution."
"Then what is happening?" Noah asked alarmed. "There was a civilization here once. Where did they go? Something must have made them extinct. Why is it that there are no animals here, only plants? There is something out there. Hayden tell Mr. B-1 and X-5 to prepare for take off. We will return to explore this planet but only with the necessary precautions." Too many died already in the war and he would make sure that no one else did.
"I'm certain it's nothing. Please don't be alarmed because of me" Paloma said in a quiet whisper her voice shaking.
"Paloma we need to be careful. There might be something out there that our systems don't detect" Noah said. "You were in perfect health when we left there is no reason for this to be happening."
But she didn't take the medical tests like the others. She arranged everything, to make her way into the crew of the Messiah. She had earned the position by her own merits but she was not of their race. She was not an earthling yet she chose to be one. "I'm fine" she insisted trying to raise the volume of her voice to a normal level.
"Paloma look at me" Noah said. "Open your eyes."
She shook her head and covered her closed eyes with her hands. "I have a headache and I can get a little dizzy sometimes. The light will make it worse but it's not really serious. It's only a headache" Paloma insisted. The history of the planet flooded her mind and vision came. She could see into the future and she could see into the past but sometimes when the visions were too strong or too impressive her eyes changed to how they originally looked. She had to assimilate her vision, accept them as truth and let them sink in not matter how hard it was then her orange eyes would be brown again. Taking a deep breath Paloma opened her eyes, brown like a normal earthling's eyes.
End of Midquel Two.
Disclaimer, I do not own Atomic Betty. The original "The Right Things" fanfic was written by Andrew Joshua Talon.