Hour 5
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
"What the hell just happened? Was that an asteroid?"
"I don't know doc," answered Daxter, "but I think someone doesn't want us to leave."
"Why would someone not want us to leave Spargus?" Greg asked. "And further more, what is on that paper? Give that to me." He tried to grab it from Daxter, but he was too slow.
"Get away from me! I can't give you it."
"Why can't you give it to him?" asked Jak. "Why won't you tell us what is so important? Why did someone try to kill us?"
"What was all that noise out here?" They all turned around to see Sig, Kleiver with Veger on his shoulder, and a few dozen wastelanders come out of Spargus. Sig, who asked the question, saw the giant crater in the place where air vehicles used to land. "Did something blow up?"
"Yeah, the sky did," answered Ashelin. "Some fireball came from the sky and smashed into our rides home." The crowd started mumbling about what could have caused something like this.
"Daxter, you think it might be time for you to tell us what is going on?" Jak asked his friend. "If you can't tell us everything, than can you at least tell us something?"
Daxter thought about this for a minute, then answered. "Okay. What I can tell you is that when I opened the envelope," this caught Greg's attention, "it said that I couldn't show it to anyone. That's why I ran off back in Haven. I needed to go to Spargus because it said that I could only show Veger what was on it." He looked over to Veger's direction. The fact that he needed to talk to Veger worried Ashelin. "And, I now need to go to Kras, because that is where someone lives that might now what's going on."
"Why does it say that we can't look at this?" asked Greg. "And who is this 'Veger' fellow."
"First of all," stated Jak, "Veger is that ottsel over there." He pointed and glared at Veger, obviously in dislike.
Of course there's another ottsel involved, thought Greg. I'm actually surprised there aren't any more walking around.
"I don't know why it told me not to show you guys what's on here," Daxter held up the folded papers, "but I don't want to take the risk."
"What risk? What could possibly happen if you let us see it?"
"Determine the fate of thousands of lives." Everyone was speechless. No one was expecting Daxter to say something that drastic.
"What did you just say?" Ashelin couldn't believe what she heard.
"You heard me. Look, all I know is that I need to get over to Kras ASAP, and someone or something doesn't want me to. Are you going to help me, or do you still just want the note?"
"How do we know you're telling us the truth?" Greg asked.
"He's telling the truth." It was Veger who stepped in this time. "I've read that letter, and it's for real."
"Daxter wouldn't lie about something like this. I've known him too long for him to make something like this up."
"I agree with Jak and Veger," said Ashelin. "He's not lying."
The doctor thought for a second. "All right. I guess I believe you."
"Great." Daxter had a smile on his face.
"I'll call for someone to pick us up." Ashelin was about to take out her comm when Daxter stopped her.
"That's probably not that great an idea, unless you want another ship to get hit by a fire ball."
"Well, what do you suggest we do?" Daxter thought about it for awhile.
"Just, give me some time to think."
***********
Keira was on her zoomer headed towards the Naughty Ottsel so she could find out what was going on. She hoped that Jak and/or Daxter would be back from Spargus by now so she could ask them. Jak probably didn't know what Daxter did when he took him to the Wasteland, but I can't be sure. I just hope that they both have good explanations when I see them. She parked the zoomer outside the bar and walked inside. Or she would've if there wasn't a closed sign on the front. Well, I guess this means that they aren't here. Where else could they be?
"Keira?" She heard a voice behind her. When she turned around, she saw Tess. "What are you doing here?"
"I was looking to see if Daxter was back yet."
"Back? Where did he go?"
Wait, his own girlfriend doesn't even know where he is? "You mean to tell me that you didn't even know where he went?"
"No. The last I saw him was when Ashelin called and told him to come to the hospital. He didn't come back after awhile, so I called Ashelin to see what was up. She said he ran off something important and had no idea where he went. I told her to look for Jak since that was the most likely place to go, but I haven't heard back from her yet. A little while ago, I decided to close the bar early and go looking for him."
"Well, that explains why Ashelin came to me with some man asking for Jak. She told me about the exact same info she told you. Before she showed up, Jak said he was going to the Spargus with Daxter, but he didn't say why."
"So do you think they're still there?"
"Probably, but I wanted to check here first before I went on a long and hot trip. It's obvious their not here, so I'm heading to the Wastelands now."
"I'm coming with you. I want to know what caused Daxter to do that."
***********
"We could try the catacombs again," suggested Jak. "Use those to take us to Haven, and go to Kras from there."
"That almost got us killed the last time we did that," reminded Daxter. "I only want to do that as a last resort."
"Wait, you guys went through the catacombs?" Even though Greg told himself that he wouldn't be surprised anymore, he couldn't help himself. "What else have you guys done?"
"More than you can imagine," Daxter answered.
"Hey Sig, how do you get from Haven to Spargus?" asked Jak.
"I have my own zoomer, but it's in the repair shop right now."
"Of coarse it is," stated Daxter sarcastically. "Otherwise, it would be too easy for us. No, it can never be that easy for us." Daxter was getting pretty irritated by the fact that almost every possible way out of Spargus was gone. It just frustrated him that he couldn't think of anything.
"What if," began Ashelin, "what if we call for help over by the oasis? The trees would block us from being seen and no one besides us knows where it is."
Daxter thought for a second. "That might just work. Plus, I don't think we have that many other options at this point."
"I'll go prepare the Sandshark to carry us there," Jak said as he walked back through the doors. Luckily for him, the wastelanders from before had gotten bored and left so there wasn't anyone blocking his path.
"Hey wait a minute," Greg started. "Does this mean that we will need to travel through the Wastelands?" He was now starting to sweat, but it wasn't from the heat.
"Yes," started Ashelin, "but you'll be in a fully armored vehicle. As long as you stay with us, you'll be okay. Okay?"
Greg thought for a second. "Well, I guess I don't have much of a choice. That reminds me. Can I borrow your com so I can call the hospital and tell them to get someone to cover for me?"
"Sure." Ashelin tossed her communicator over to him. "Just make it quick so we can keep moving."
"Yes ma'am." He started to dial in the numbers for the hospital. After about a minute, he hung up.
"Is there a problem?" asked Ashelin.
"Yeah. I can't reach them. The signal must not be good out here."
"The signal should be fine." She got it back from him and tried to get a hold on Torn. She got nothing. "Something is wrong. We can't get in contact with anyone."
"You mean we're stuck here?!"
"I'm afraid so."
"Great. What are we going to do, now?"
"I have no clue." Ashelin thought for a second. "I'll go break the news to Jak and the others. Daxter isn't going to be happy about this."
***********
"I'm not getting anything from Spargus." Tess was trying to phone over to Daxter to see if he would pick up again, but her communicator said that he was out of range. "This shouldn't be happening. The signal over to Spargus is always strong and never went flat. I hope he's still there."
"I can't get Jak on mine either," said Keira. "My comm is getting an out of range too. Precursors, I hope they're alright."
"Guess we have no choice but to go to Spargus and see for ourselves. Is the zoomer ready?"
"Almost. I just need to make sure there's enough room."
10 seconds later...
"There. Ready for lift off." She got on and Tess followed. "Here we come Spargus."
***********
"I'm getting nothing on mine either," Daxter said as he put his comm away. "What now?" Everyone looked at each other, waiting for someone else to fill in the blank.
"Catacombs?" suggested Jak. "It is sort of our only option now."
"I think there's nothing else we can do," stated Ashelin. Everything else either blew up or malfunctioned. It's dangerous, but we'll have to take that risk. Will you be able to handle that, Greg?" She waited for his response, but nothing came. "Greg?" When they turned around, they saw him passed out on the ground.
"So much for the doc," joked Daxter.
"Guess we should wait until he regains consciousness," Jak said. "I'll get him some water." As he walked back into Spargus, Daxter approached Veger.
"What were you going to say to me back at Kleiver's?"
"What do you mean?" Veger tried to play dumb.
"You know what I mean. You were going to say something about that Ryg guy but cut yourself short. What were you going to say?"
"It, it was nothing."
"Don't lie to me!" Daxter was getting pissed off now. "What are you hiding? Why won't you tell me?"
"Because it isn't important."
"If it isn't important, then it won't matter if you tell me. What did he Do?!"
"He didn't do anything!" Veger exploded. "At least I don't think he did. If you really want to know, fine. He always used to say that... that... he was going to solve the secret of the Precursors, okay."
"Excuse me?" Daxter was not expecting that.
"You heard me. He always said he was close to the secret. One day, he said he thought he found it out, but vanished the next day."
"Do you think he could have been right?"
"I don't know. I've been trying to find him for years now. Nothing came up on his whereabouts or anything. I later became desperate and tried to figure out the secret myself, and it drove me mad, as you saw. I did terrible things to find out what happened to him, and had no idea I was doing them. It wasn't until after I found it with you and Jak and had this happen to me that I realized what I did." Daxter started feeling a little sympathetic for Veger now. "I ruined my life and the lives of others trying to find my old friend. I turned into a monster in my mad search, and I don't plan on doing it again. That, is why I didn't tell you about him. It brings back everything else."
"I, I'm sorry Veger. I had no idea that it went that deep. But, that was probably important."
"What do you mean now?"
"Think about it. It was an ottsel that died. In other words, a Precursor was killed. Ryg said he found the secret. If he really did know the truth,"
"Are you suggesting that he did that to the ottsel?!" Veger interrupted.
"I'm just saying that it's a possibility."
"It's not a possibility. I've known him for years and he wouldn't do something like that."
"Are you willing to risk innocent lives on that?" Before he could answer, they heard a grown and saw Greg regaining consciousness. "Look, we can argue about this later, but not in front of him. I think you should come with us so we can work this out and maybe find your friend in the process." Veger thought about it for a second.
"Jak won't be happy that I'm coming, but I would do anything to get away from Kleiver."
"I know what you mean."
Jak, in the mean time, had just got back with the water. "Here, Mr. Patterson, this should make you feel better." Jak handed him the water.
"Thanks." He started gulping it down.
"Slow down, Greg," warned Ashelin. "You shouldn't drink too quickly when you're dehydrated."
"I wasn't dehydrated. I fainted because you said I would have to go through the catacombs. I don't think I would be able to go through with that."
"Well, you don' have much of a choice at this point. Unless you would like to stay here for the night."
"That sounds like a pretty good idea though."
"I was being sarcastic, Greg."
"Still, I'm much safer in here than out there."
"What about the hospital?"
"They prepare for these types of situations. They should be fine without me. Besides, I'll be of no help to them if I'm dead."
"Well, I guess..." Before she could finish, they all heard the sound of an approaching aircraft. Ashelin, Jak, Daxter, Veger, and Greg all ran out to see who it was.
***********
"What the hell happened here?" asked Keira as they parked down in front of Spargus and saw the giant crater. "Everything looks like it imploded on itself."
"I don't know," said Tess, "but that looks like the remains of the carrier. And over there looks like a hellcat. Oh god! Daxter! You don't think?"
"No, I see them coming out now. Thank the Precursors they're alright. They sure look shocked to see us though." All of the sudden, everyone ran to the zoomer and piled on. "Hey, what are you all doing?"
"No time to explain," Daxter said. "We need to get out of here. Now go!"
"But.."
"GO!" everyone else screamed at once. Keira decided to obey and started flying off again. Once they were out of range of Spargus, the entire group sighed.
"Can someone tell us what that was all about?" asked Tess.
Everyone looked at each other until Daxter finally spoke up. "You two are not going to believe what just happened to us."
AN: Man that took forever to get out. Almost three months! I have had the worst case of writer's block ever. I can't believe I finally got it out and finished. Don't expect the next chapter to come out anytime soon, but do expect it to come out eventually. Hope you all thought it was worth the wait. See you next time.