Author's note: Hey there, new chapter Author's note: Hey there, new chapter! Please read and review. :3

Chapter 14

Startling new discoveries

They passed planet after planet, with Cliff explaining to the Elicoorians some knowledge of that planet and what it was like. They passed a gloomy planet, which was covered, in black mist.

"Ah. Now that planet is called Milocinia. It was deemed unfit for exploration less than 400 years ago, sometime after the Ten Man Apocalyptic Incident. After a number of people had explored and disappeared through a strange device on that planet, the Earth Federation, the former name of the Pangalactic Federation, forbade further exploration and managed to, with the help of Tetragene, block off the planet with special Symbolic magic. Well, it was Heraldic magic back then, but anyway. Numerous people ended up on different and undeveloped planets. The Federation managed to pinpoint every person who had gotten lost. One of them was the son of a Federation hero and was a hero himself," Cliff explained.

"Ooooh, I never heard that before. What was this apocalyptic incident thing about?" Fayt asked. Cliff put his hands out wide.

"All I know is that some weirdoes went around destroying planets, trying to destroy the universe. The celebrated Federation hero's son and some friends destroyed them and are now heroes. I haven't read much about it though. It's on my list of things to do," Cliff replied. They carried on flying through space.

Albel was sleeping restlessly again. Dark passages and strange cries haunted his sleep this time. A voice cried out to him, unfamiliar and female. Other voices cried out in the background. Obscure images flashed through his nightmares, too dark and vague to make a resemblance to anything. Murmuring voices whispered softly and called out for help. Albel woke up some time later in a sweat. He shook it off and got out of bed. He walked out into the hallway and into the flying/lounge area, where a large screen showing the large blackness mixed with stars and distant planets was showing through. Maria and Mirage were piloting, while the others sat around talking. He walked in there and stared at the outside surroundings, with all its sparkling glory.

"Hello, Albel. Have a nice nap?" Cliff asked. Albel said nothing, still staring at the screen. He walked over to a window to the side of the room and stared out of it. Images from his sleep passed through his mind again, making him hold his head for support. He walked to the middle of the room once again and faced the screen in front of him.

"….We need to turn right. And keep going forward for some time," Albel said, loud and clear. Everyone turned to him.

"Why? What's up Albel?" Cliff asked. Albel stayed silent for some time, looking down at the floor.

"I don't know exactly. I just have a strange feeling. Like something is wrong over there," he replied, shaking his head uncertainly. Maria pressed some buttons and they started turning to the right.

"You can't be serious, Maria. You're taking his command?" Cliff said.

"I wasn't commanding. I just have this horrible feeling in my chest," Albel said.

"Cliff, there isn't really anywhere we are going anyway. We might as well check up on this…Albel, would you come over here for a second?" Mirage asked. Mirage was pressing some buttons and brought up a map on the screen. It showed a red dot flashing in the middle. Mirage pointed at the red.

"This is us. That is Milocinia, which we left half an hour ago. We are going this way. Is there any particular area on this map that you feel this premonition from?" Mirage asked, pointing out all the areas she had explained out. Albel thought for a moment and followed the map with his eyes. Then he picked out a place, which was giving him the worst of headaches.

"Hmmm. I haven't seen that area before. Let's bring up a picture of that area," Maria said. She pressed some more buttons, but a red error box came up. She tried again, but it was no help.

"It either has some strange entity there or it has yet to be explored. We will take extra precaution and put up our shields," Mirage said. They did so and Albel sat down, feeling suddenly sick.

"So Cliff, do you know anything else about that group of people who saved the universe all those years ago?" Fayt asked.

"Not really. I mean, I've heard rumours. Nothing more and rumours are nothing to go by. But I've heard a lot about the hero's father, Ronixis. Back then; from the looks of things, the Federation weren't all that bad. They had a small fleet; they were helping out other planets. But it was some time after his death, and possibly even after his son's time, that things went horribly wrong. I'm just glad they have decided to change their ways," Cliff said.

Albel seemed to be getting worse; he had paled and he was clutching his chest. He had his head bowed and his other hand at his head. Everyone had started to notice this.

"Albel, are you alright?" Sophia asked. Albel stayed silent. Nel shook her head a little.

"When Her Majesty said that Albel could be having problems, I was not ready to believe her. Exactly what is going on here?" Nel asked. Fayt explained, about his constant nightmares and his psychotic episodes. Albel raised his head. They all noticed they were slowing down. Albel stood up and stared out of the front screen. A black planet with white-blue glaciers sticking out of it was some way away. Mirage and Maria pressed some buttons and brought up a scanning screen.

"That is the place. I feel a foreboding presence coming from there," Albel whispered.

"This place! This is definitely not a planet that has been put down in any records. It has some strong levels of unknown substances. It is so strong that we can't even make out whether the substance is safe or not," Mirage said.

"We have to go there," Albel said. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy.

"We can't possibly do that! We don't know what is down there. This could be worse than Milocinia. We need to leave this to the experts," Maria said.

"But, I feel something is down there," Albel shouted.

"How? How is it that you can feel something there? Our sensors and scanners are high-tech and they can't feel anything," Cliff said. Albel held his head, feeling nauseous.

"I hear voices. And they tell me there's something there," Albel said.

"Voices? That's the psychological problems you have! You need to see a doctor," Cliff said. Nel stepped forward.

"I don't think you are right there. Although it is not affecting me like that, I do feel a strange aura coming from that planet," Nel said. Everyone looked at her.

"Yeah, man. It's waay creepin' me out," Roger said. Maria and Mirage looked at each other and nodded. They got out of their seats and walked to the back of the ship. They brought back protective spacesuits for each of them.

"Put these on. You may stay here if you like. I will stay here and watch from above. All of you take a communicator," Mirage explained. Everyone took a communicator and put on a protective suit. As dangerous as they knew it would be, they were also curious to see what could be affecting Albel so much. They were transported down onto the strange planet and saw it was full of what looked like ice. It was, however, mixed with the colours white and blue. Maria got her special equipment out and scanned the air.

"Hmmm…that's strange. It looks icy, but the air is actually at a normal temperature. The oxygen levels are quite high and there doesn't seem to be anything of particular harm in the air. But I wouldn't be too reassured. There could be something this radar misses," Maria explained. Everyone nodded and kept walking on. They split up a little, though not going out of anyone's sight.

"Hey!! Everyone, come and see this," Maria shouted. They all went down the passage that was looking cave-like.

Buried slightly into the surrounding ice, as if the ice was growing over it little by little, was a large ship. It was black and looked stunning.

"Oh my God! This is the one and only Dimensional Streaker: it was the only model built and it was of great stature for its time. This ship went missing about a year after its completion. But there are no proper records as to who was flying the ship," Maria explained, in awe. "Hey, Mirage. Are you getting all this?"

"Yes, I am. I am trying to analyse it right this moment," Mirage replied. Cliff looked impressed.

"Wow, so this is the modal that boy genius made. Apparently he was of UP origin. And for you guys, UP means underdeveloped planet," he said to Nel, Roger and Albel, who all nodded in understanding. Maria scanned the ship.

"It looks like the ice substance has made it impossible to see inside from out here. And it has weakened the ship. This is an extraordinary find. We must let the Federation know immediately. Who knows what danger this could bring. Well, Albel, looks like you're going to get your slice of limelight. After all, you are the one who found this place," Maria said.

"Hmph. Whatever," Albel said, back to his usual self.

They found the door and kicked it open, after a good number of laser beams directed at it. It fell creakily to the floor.

"You know, this reminds me of that millennia old movie Titanic. It looks like a sunken ship. I guess it is that, in a way," Cliff said. They climbed in through the back door, which wasn't covered in ice and saw that they were in the hold. A number of boxes and normal items were held there. But they were covered in the ice. They carried on walking through and exited the door. A hallway came next, with three doors on either side. Cliff tried to open the first door to his left, but it was locked. It looked like a card key was needed. Cliff shrugged and they carried on into the ship's front, where the controls to steer the ship were. They opened the door and Sophia was first in, everyone else still looking around the hallway. They were immediately summoned into the front by Sophia's scream. They burst into the room, wondering what could be there, thinking maybe a monster was there. But no, it was not a monster. Lying on the floor at either side of the main room were the frozen bodies of some unfortunate people. Fayt walked up to Sophia and Sophia buried her head in his shoulder and he held onto her tightly.

Nel and Maria walked over to the front, where two more bodies were sat on the pilot seats. The first one was a male, looking shocked. He looked like he had been trying to press the buttons as fast as he could. The second was a female. She was holding onto the first male, afraid.

"This is horrible. So they died by freezing?" Sophia cried. Fayt rubbed her back, telling her that it was alright. They looked at the three huddled on the left-hand side of the main room. Two children were holding onto an adult male, in fright. On the right-hand side were a man and a woman, holding onto each other, looking like they were comforting each other. Cliff came walking in.

"Hey, I just smashed one of the doors down and it looks like there could be more in the bedrooms," Cliff said. Maria and Fayt followed Cliff into the room he had bashed down first. A man and a woman were squished onto a single bed, nestling together and seemed to have been sleeping at the time.

"Well, these two were lucky. Died without knowing anything was happening," Cliff said. They walked to the opposite room, which was on the left side of the ship and two lazy looking guys, had they not been covered with ice and frozen to death, would have been snoring away. Cliff shook his head, and they left to visit the next room. The next left-side room contained two people sat on a bed each, playing cards.

"Man, they didn't notice the turbulence? Amazing," Cliff said. The last left-side room was empty and the last right-side room had a man and a woman, with the woman leaning her head on the man's stomach.

Finally, Cliff and Albel entered the last room, which contained a sorrowful girl. Albel started moaning.

"Arrh, my head hurts. And I feel as if I have seen her before," Albel said. He slid to the floor and held his head. Cliff looked at her again and Maria and Fayt were standing in the doorway.

"Hey, I think I've seen her before. You remember that time were I accidentally went back in time? And I said that I saved a girl's life, even though I was breaking every time travelling law in the universe? Well, this is that girl! I always remember a pretty face when I see one," Cliff said. Fayt and Maria sighed. "It's too bad it ended this way."

"Maybe we should return them to their original planets and give them a proper burial. It's only fair," Fayt said. Cliff and Maria nodded. Cliff picked the lifeless ice statue up and took it into the main room. They placed all of the statues in the main room.

"Well, first we should identify them. Maria, you and Mirage work on getting all of the video and any information that may be left on the control computer. We may be able to discover what happened to these people," Cliff said. Maria nodded. Cliff and Fayt got out their analysers. Cliff took the first male and Fayt took the female next to him.

"Now, let's see who we have here," Cliff said.