Retrieval Saga

Galvanized Wills

Chapter 3: Funeral on the Moon

Matt, Draco, Chip, and Contrinus quickly hurried back to the landing strip. They had just managed to escape Mantichrome and his last threat was still ringing in their ears. Matt ran over to the North Star and saw Pivot working on the engines. He hurriedly tapped him on the shoulder, which was an odd feeling, like tapping metallic putty. Pivot turned around asked, "What? What do you want?" "Is the ship ready?" asked Matt. "Not for a couple more hours," said Pivot, "I told you it would take a while."

"We don't have a couple of hours!" snapped Draco, "there's an evil cybernetic basilisk trying to kill us!" Pivot didn't seem impressed, "It's taking a while to clear out all the bugs, even for me. If someone's really trying to kill you, I'd try to hide." "Where can we hide?" asked Chip, "We'll tower over practically everything else on this planet outside this pit stop and that revenge droid probably knows the entire layout of it."

"Oh, so it's a revenge droid that's after you, eh?" said Pivot as merged his fingers with some more wires, "Nasty machines, those. It'll be hard work to ditch something like that if it's on your tails." "You mean they make those things in this time?" asked Contrinus in disbelief. "It's true," said Matt, "but revenge droids are usually used by mobs or illegal traders to get back at someone who double-crossed them. They're a bit better than biological assassins because they don't ask for money, but they tend to stick single-mindedly to their targets. Mantichrome's a bit different in that he has self-awareness and a personality, but neither are any bit saintly from the way he acted."

Pivot nodded and said, "He's right, that revenge droid is probably nastier than most others from your description. It's probably got you cornered in a couple of ways since your ship is down and there isn't anywhere to hide on Galva Prime." "Then we're sunk," said Draco. Pivot didn't have much of a face beside his eye, but he did have an air of smugness around him, "I said you didn't have any where on Galva Prime to hide. But you can probably take a cruiser shuttle and hide in the satellite belt. But I wouldn't recommend landing on any of the moons, especially Galvan B. They don't have any atmosphere, but Galvan B will swallow you whole if you land on it, even if it's technically my home world."

"That sounds like a good idea," said Chip. "Problem is that the cruiser shuttles are built to hold like only two human-sized beings. I don't think all four of you will fit on." "You guys go," said Matt, "Mantichrome won't go after me, he's only interested in you two." "I'm going too," said Contrinus, "I'm not going to leave Draco when he might need me." There wasn't much time to argue so the three experiments got on board a cruiser shuttle and quickly headed upwards to orbit.

The cruiser shuttles were built and designed so that larger species could have a tour of Galva Prime without inadvertently stepping on something. But Chip hijacked the autopilot so that they had control of where the shuttle left. The design of the ship meant that it won't have enough resources to go into deep space, but it should buy the three of them enough time until the North Star is fixed and they can leave.

"I must admit, I'm a bit worried about Mantichrome," said Contrinus, "there's no telling what he would do to the others when he gets to the landing strip." "He probably won't do anything serious to them," said Draco, "Remember, he's programmed to go after Chip and me, not the others." "But let's not also forget that he's as clever as his forefathers," said Chip, "so it won't take him long to realize what we did and where we are, so we'll have to be alert for anything."

The orbit around Galva Prime wasn't as cluttered as that around Earth. This was mostly because the Galvans' satellites were a lot smaller and, because of their advance technology, there didn't need to be too many. The satellite belt was halfway between Galva Prime and its closest moon, Galvan A. The cruiser shuttle orbited the planet a few times, looking for signs that Mantichrome had followed them. After the first dozen orbits, they began to relax. Perhaps Mantichrome's levitation disc was incapable of exiting Galva Prime's atmosphere. Chip checked the oxygen supply and said, "Well, we need to pull in for a little bit to restock on air to breathe. After that, we just wait a few more hours and the North Star should be fixed by then."

Suddenly, one of the satellites they were approaching started giving off marigold sparks of electricity. Then one of its transmitter dishes pointed towards the cruiser shuttle and shot a beam of marigold electricity at it. The beam hit the shuttle, which crackled with the same colored electricity. Then Mantichrome's sneering face appeared on the screen that normally provided fun facts about Galva Prime. "Thought you were clever, didn't you?" said Mantichrome's voice, "Thought that I wouldn't be able to follow you up here, huh? Well that might have stymied me for a while, but that didn't stop me. In fact, you just provided with an excellent way to get rid of you all."

Then the controls were seized from Chip and the shuttle started going further out into orbit. It passed Glavan A and then headed towards Galvan B. The experiments felt their blood chill when they saw the slightly metallic-looking moon looming up ahead. But Chip's blood was made of electricity and then didn't chill as bad as the others'. "I think I can gain control," said Chip, "but it's going to be risky." He dove into the screen Mantichrome's face was leering out of and entered the shuttle's system. The shuttle tossed and tumbled as the two viral entities inside battled for control. Then it stopped not far from Galvan B. Draco and Contrinus waited apprehensively for Chip to emerge victorious.

But then another computer screen came to life, this time it was the one positioned outside where it normally greeted tourists. Out of that screen emerged Mantichrome, holding Chip by his neck and with a grin that made it look like his head was hinged. "That was an impressive struggle you made," gloated the revenge droid, "but unfortunately, you weren't the victor." "That's what you think," said Chip through his electronic speakers, his normal mouth was closed to hold his breath in the vacuum, "I put up a firewall in the shuttle's system so you can't get back in there." Mantichrome chuckled darkly and said, "Clever, but not clever enough. You may have saved your fellow trogs, but you won't escape so luckily."

Then Mantichrome started flying towards Galvan B. Chip struggled to get free, but Mantichrome had a firm grip and was canceling out all his viral powers. Draco and Contrinus could only watch from a distance as Mantichrome stopped to hover a hundred yards off the surface of Galvan B. "Au revoir, 6-2-9," said Mantichrome and threw Chip downwards. Chip had no ability to fly or hover so there was nothing he can do to stop his fall. He hit the surface with a splash, the liquid metallic surface rippling all around him. He waved his arms and called for help, but the moon's surface latched onto him with appendages covered with circuit lines. In desperation, Chip fired off indigo blasts of viral energy, but it apparently had no affect. The appendages pulled Chip in deeper until he was under the surface. The surface rippled and returned back to the way it was; seemingly natural and devoid of life.

Oh my, this is definitely not good. Could Mantichrome have really finished off Chip? Will Draco and Contrinus escape the revenge droid's malice? Do these questions sound a bit cliche?

I know I shouldn't dangle you like this, but I really want to hear what you feel about this. I am going to update as soon as possible, but I want to an appropriate amount of responses first. Let's say, five, maybe four? As soon as I've gotten enough, I'll update.