Chapter Fourteen - Mysteries of the Universe
The noise in the dining hall wasn't as loud as it had been previous mornings. Of course, on those mornings Marron had eaten with the civilians and general staff. Today she was eating with her mother and the higher up officers. There were less people around because of that and they weren't as wild as the lower class seemed to be. Over the past three weeks Marron had spent a good amount of time with her mother, Bulma, Bra, Videl, and Chi-Chi.
She'd found herself developing a friendship with Chi-Chi, something she'd certainly not expected. Videl, too, even. They were a lot alike but at the same time quite different. Marron found it odd that such a kind and gentle woman as Chi-Chi would be married to one of the Masters. Videl was the same in a way. She had that gentle nature to her as well, Marron had seen it a lot shortly after the woman had returned to Saiya. She'd spent a few days comforting her daughter and Bra both. But at the same time Videl had this sharp edge to her.
Bra... Bra was an interesting case. She'd spent the first three days after Goten's death with the girl. She'd almost latched onto Marron as her support system. Marron hadn't really minded, she felt it was her fault Goten had died, so comforting the girl was the least she could do. Lately, though, she'd been getting this... odd vibe from the girl. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. She'd been meaning to bring it up with Bulma, had planned to ask her about it this morning, but that hadn't happened. By the time she and 18 had arrived at the table where Bulma was, Chi-Chi and Videl had already been there.
Marron had found that Bulma was a lot like a mild version of Videl. She was gentle, much like Chi-Chi, but she did have a sharper edge all her own, though not as cutting as that of Videl. It had felt odd being around the Masters so much at first, after having only ever seen them on television broadcasts before, but now... now it seemed almost natural to be sitting at the same breakfast table as Bulma, Videl, Chi-Chi, and 18. And she'd gotten over the shock of having 18 as a mother and Krillin as a father.
"How's Pan doing?" 18 asked as she sat and set her plate of pancakes down. The Cyborg didn't really need to eat or drink, Gero had dealt with that, but she still got the feeling of being hungry or thirsty now and then and it was easier to deal with it than ignore it.
"She's getting along better now." Videl said after a moment. "It's still weird... I keep expecting Goten to barge into mine and Gohan's room at the worst time, like he was so good at doing. And just this morning Gohan was talking about things he had to do and commented that he should make Goten do some of it before he caught himself..."
"We never thought we'd lose anyone." Bulma said after a moment. "It's going to take a while to adjust to one of us being gone." Marron turned her eyes down to her plate of toast, bacon, and eggs and poked at it with her fork. "And you, young lady, need to stop brooding." she said looking over to the blonde.
"She's right." Chi-Chi said looking up from her own food. "You're not the one to blame for what happened to Goten. You tried to save him, gave him a better chance than he'd had. And you did save Trunks." Marron didn't say anything, just kept poking at her food.
Across the way, a few tables down, Bra sat with her brother. While Trunks was packing away plate after plate of food the girl was only pecking at her meal. Most of her first plate of food was still there, and rather cold by this point. "You know, if you keep staring at her you're going to bore a hole through her head." Trunks said through a mouthful of food.
"What?"
"Marron. You've not taken your eyes off the girl since she sat down." the prince said swallowing. "If you're that interested in the girl why not say something to her?"
"What! No, it's not like that... It's only... only been three weeks..."
Trunks shrugged. "Maybe that's the reason. You wont know until you do something about it you know."
"I... I can't. Not so soon... and besides, she's not a Master."
"What's that got to do with it?"
"I couldn't do like dad or Kakkarotto. Take a mate for a few decades and then find someone else once they died. I mean... think about it Trunks. We'll live forever, for thousands and thousands of years... Mom, Chi-Chi, Marron, they'll only last a few decades. Mom and Chi-Chi will probably be gone in twenty or thirty years. Marron will be dead in less than a hundred years. That's not much time by comparison to us."
Trunks just shrugged. "You could make her a Master. Gohan did that with Videl."
"Gohan had her made into a Cyborg because dad nearly killed her." she retorted. "She's not actually a Master, just a Cyborg. Her eternal youth is scientific, like 17 and 18, not because she's a Master."
"Well then, do that." Trunks said. "Just do something. You're creeping me out the way you keep staring at her."
Bra laughed. "Creeping you out eh? I'll need to keep it up then, it's always fun to creep you out."
"Ya, ya, and I think the princess needs some sparring time in." She turned and stuck her tongue out at him knowing exactly what he meant.
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Xeno sat down in the chair directly across from the frozen Brolly and relaxed. Now that he was inside the ship and the door was closed he'd peeled off his layers and layers of clothing and was finally in a nice comfortable environment. Eve had stripped down completely and was now soaking nude in a tub of icewater to keep cool. Nezorfs could tolerate temperatures up to seventy degrees before their bodies couldn't cope and began over heating. Still, they preferred it freezing.
Rain and Storm had taken up posts by the door but they weren't really paying much attention. They'd had a 'talk' with the ship's Captain a few minutes ago and he'd assured them no one would come by the cargo bay they were using. The two women were set up in soft chairs and were just relaxing, much like Xeno. Everfrost was busy setting up some stuff to keep them all occupied for the trip. A WaveCom Station so they could watch TV and the microwave for cooking their food, all of which was stored in Capsules.
"Here's what I'd like to know." Eve said after a moment, sinking down deeper into the ice water so that it touched her chin. "How did Brolly get Bardock's Space Pod and escape before Bardock's attack obliterated Tinto?"
Everfrost looked up from his work and back at Eve for a moment. "Damned if I know." he said at last. "I've been brushing up on those records. According to what I've looked at... it's not possible."
Xeno nodded. "Master Cooler was in the area, not far out from the planet at the time. He'd been heading there in an attempt to aid Bardock... There's no records of a pod escaping the planet's destruction..."
"Wouldn't an explosion of that power distort sensors though?" Eve asked. "They were sensitive devices back then."
"I have a better question." Storm piped up. "Where the hell was Brolly for the 18 years between Tinto and being frozen on Geozan 7?"
"Well..." Xeno began. "Pods of that era were still running on the model A-6 design, if I'm remembering what I've read correctly. Tinto to Geozan 7 is, what, 450 Zenons?"
"About that." Storm replied.
"Hmm. Pods now can do about 0.5 Zenons in an hour." Xeno said, working his brain to remember what he'd learned and do some mental math as well. "Fifty-three years ago... A space pod would be lucky to do 10 Zaus an hour, right?"
"I think they could do 12, but don't quote me on that." Eve said.
Xeno nodded again. "So going with 12 Zaus per hour..." he shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense... it would take almost 30 years to travel that distance."
"30 years?" Eve asked confused. "But... we could cross entire galaxies..."
"Large ships, yes." Everfrost said. "But Pods were used for short trips originally. Landings first, then short trips. It's only now that we use them for longer journeys."
"Still." Rain said, talking for the first time. "He made it here in 18, not 30."
"Force perhaps?" Eve suggested. "If the pod was caught in the blast that destroyed Tinto... the force from the explosion could have accelerated the ship."
"That's it!" Xeno cried standing up. "I was wondering why the hell Brolly, apparently with a message intended for Master Kakkarotto, who was still on Earth and wouldn't be found by the Empire again for almost twenty years, would be all the way out at Geozan 7. That's the reason! The pod would have had a set and programmed course based on elapsed time, right?" he asked, looking over to Eve. She was far more the technological person than him.
The naked Nezorf nodded and pulled her self up out of the ice water letting it run down off her body. As she grabbed a towel to dry off with as she spoke. "Pods rely on a set time course system. They adjust their course based upon elapsed travel time and nearing objects detected by radar. Always have." After drying off she hung the towel up and moved over to her computer which she had already set up herself earlier. Sitting down she brought up a couple programs and the universe simulator, knowing exactly what Xeno was thinking.
"Alright. Here is where Tinto was 53 years ago." she said, a red dot appearing in the 3D simulation of the universe. "Earth was here... and Geozan 7 here." Two more dots appeared. Earth and Geozan 7 were almost lined up with each other. "Going at 10 to 12 Zaus an hour reaching the Earth from Tinto would have taken about..." She paused as the system ran it's estimates. "Shit. 15 years."
"Well, opposite sides of the galaxy." Rain said as she moved over to the computer where everyone else, save her sister, was now gathered. "Of course it would take a long time. It still takes a year to travel from the north tip to the south tip of the universe."
"That's not it." Eve said shaking her head. "The pod would have readied for landing after 15 years. If you'll look at the simulation, assuming the pod was moving at almost twice maximum speed, the first planet detected after the 15 year mark would have been Geozan 7, 3 years later."
"So it is possible then, that Brolly was intending to go to Earth?" Everfrost asked.
"Probable and likely." Eve replied. "Assuming, of course, the blast increased his speed as we think."
"Why would Brolly, of all people, travel 15 years across the galaxy to find Master Kakkarotto?" Storm asked from where she sat by the door.
"I don't know." Xeno replied moving over to the Cryostasis Chamber and gazing in through the glass window at Brolly. "He was only six years old back then... still a child. His father was using him to take over the universe... wait, how did Paragus even know where Master Kakkarotto was?" he asked turning around. "It's obvious Brolly wouldn't have known."
"True." Eve said frowning. "Perhaps... Bardock said something?"
"If Bardock knew... why was Kakkarotto's discovery almost 20 years later such a shock to everyone?" Everfrost asked.
"Almost 20 years, almost 20 years, almost, we keep saying that, almost." Eve said standing and pacing. "It's not almost 20 years, it's 18 years."
"You think there's a connection?" Xeno asked. "Between Brolly landing on Geozan 7 and Kakkarotto being found on Earth?"
"I don't see how." Everfrost said.
Eve shook her head. "Not between the two events in exacts... but think about it. If Paragus knew where Kakkarotto was 18 years before he was found... doesn't it stand to reason that someone else knew his general location? Think about all the probes sent to examine that area of space after the Tinto incident..."
"That's just natural progression." Storm said. "The Empire hadn't really expanded much in that direction yet. They'd been more focused on claiming the known inhabitable worlds. Those were almost all claimed by then so the next step was to go the other way."
"Maybe." Eve conceded. "But I'm smelling something here. Something big... Something important. We're still overlooking something. Why would Paragus send Brolly to Earth to find Master Kakkarotto with a warning? That doesn't make sense. He wanted to wipe out the Masters of the time and become the lone ruler of the universe... what's there to warn Kakkarotto about?"
"Warn, kill, Kakkarotto." Xeno said, thinking of the bits of the message they had heard. "It's not exactly much to go on, is it?"
Eve sighed and moved over to her towel again to wipe some of the sweat off of her. As she patted down her face she stopped as an idea hit her. Dropping the towel on the floor she moved over to where the Space Pod Brolly had been in sat. "Xeno, bring my computer over here, and my bag."
Xeno hesitated a moment but then grabbed the computer and the black bag beside it and carried them over to where Eve was. The woman had opened the Space Pod already and was now sitting inside it trying to get it to turn on. "Come on, you piece of junk..." she muttered flipping the power switch rapidly. After a few minutes she thrust her foot out kicking the console and the lights flashed twice and came on.
"Ha, got it." she said smiling. "Alright, hand me the computer." Xeno handed it over. "Now, in the bag should be a thick black cable. One end has a flat, thin, long connector while the other should have three different connectors, a round one, a square one, and a triangular one."
Xeno nodded and dug through the bag. It only took him a moment to find the cable Eve had mentioned and pull it out. The woman plugged the one connector into her computer and the other three into various parts of the Space Pod. A moment later those in the ship heard the garbbled message playing through the computer's speakers. Ghairanadkr wa...n dogonikaock kill bnoxoenznour Kakkarotto aboecekjzqeio uionkieb musztic.
"You're going to try and clear it up?" Everfrost asked interested.
"Of course." Eve said setting to work.
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Up in space a pink creature pulled to a stop and gazed down at the sapphire colored planet grinning evily. Suddenly it balled up and charged down toward the surface.
"It's an amazing day outside folks. A cool 68 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, and a gentle comfortable breeze. It's the perfect day to celebrate Overseer Gallon's 100th birthday and 25th year in office here on Endevon!" a very cheery voice called out over speakers spread throughout the city streets. The short, pudgy, green, four-eyed population of planet Endevon simply ignored the voice however, it had been going on and on for the last few hours now and had become little more than background noise.
It didn't help matters that few of them even liked Overseer Gallon. The population had always prefered Guldo, even if he hadn't been all that powerful. He'd had a class and flair that Gallon just didn't have. The Endevars and offworlders had been looking forward to this day however. It was the one day each year where everyone got to relax and have fun. It was one big party. What they didn't know was the danger that was nearing their world rapidly.
"Look mommy!" one of the pudgy aliens called, pointing up at the sky. A pink light glinted in the sky steadily growing bigger and bigger. The others on the streets turned to look skyward as well. Many turned and ran finding that they were under whatever was falling toward them. A moment later the pink streak slammed down into the ground making a massive crater showering debris everywhere.
The aliens moved slowly over to the crater and gazed down into it wondering what had fallen down to their world. A pink film covered the bottom of the crater but it pulsed and wiggled as though alive. And then it began to draw into a ball. A moment later the short pink creature known as Buu had reformed and was gazing about it, grinning and laughing. Raising a short arm and pointing a finger toward those in front and above him pink energy gathered at the tip of its finger. And then a pink stream of energy nearly twenty yards across shot from its finger incinerating everything in its path for ten miles.
The others behind him stood watching in shock and fear as the stream of energy shrank and vanished. Slowly Buu's head turned to look behind him at the others standing there. Panic broke out instantly as they turned and ran. Well, the Endevars did. A small group of five others, offworlders, landed at the edge of the crater, scouters on their faces, black and silver armors glistening in the sun, tails wrapped tightly about their waists.
"What the hell is this thing?" the lone female and strongest of the group said scrunching up her face.
"Hell if I know, Celra." Keel said. "It's ugly, that's for sure."
"It's got some power too." Leke said reaching up and activating his scouter.
Matato grinned. "Well, I doubt it's any match for us. Think it's some kind of new race maybe?"
"Doubt it." Topeto said. "I bet it's probably one of Dr. Gero's rejects or something, and escaped from his lab."
Down in the crater Buu lifted up into the air, it's body slowly twisting to match the direction of its head, until he faced the Sai-jins before him completely. "Ugh.. gaaa." it said rolling its head around on its shoulder.
"Heh. Ugly and stupid." Celra said. "What's the power reading on it Matato?" she asked looking over.
"One second." He replied as he swtiched it to scan mode and started the reading. The power jumped up quickly. Five thousand, twenty thousand, fifty thousand, one-hundred thousand, two-hundred fifty thousand, five-hundred thousand, one million... "Shit!" he cried as his scouter exploded. "It hit two million before it blew!"
"What?" Leke cried taking a step back. "Wh-what the... the hell is this thing!"
Celra shook her head. "Don't know, but the Masters have to know about it." she said thumbing her scouter and pressing the priority alert button. As she listened to the beeping in her scouter, trying to get through to someone on Saiya, she watched the small pink creature before her warily. She had this feeling in the pit of her stomach that she wouldn't face another opponent again, this would be her last battle... Suddenly it raised it's arm again, pointing a single finger at them, laughing.
"Android 16 responding. What's the emergency?"
"There's a... Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..."
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Android 16 set down the box of supplies and then turned to head back into the lab when he heard a beeping in his head, indicating an incoming priority message. He waited a moment but none of the Masters responded so picked up instead. "Android 16 responding. What's the emergency?"
"There's a... Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..."
16 blinked as a roar overwhelmed the sound of the voice and then static filled the line. He waited a moment, to see if the connection returned, and when it didn't he began to access the network logs. All priority messages were recorded and stored and it only took him a second to locate the last message and play it back in his head. He began filtering out the sounds and scanning the transmission for hidden sounds. It only took a moment to detect another voice in the background. "It's attacking again!" 16 frowned and tracked the transmission tag.
"Planet Endevon." he said finding the point of origin. Tapping into the communications network he sent a message to the Overseer's office. It only took a moment to get through. "This is Android 16. I recieved a priorty message that was cut off, is the planet being attacked?"
"We're still looking into it." came the reply. "There have been a series of explosions within the ci..." Once more the line went to static.
16 finally moved from where he stood and entered the lab. Dr. Gero currently stood over his mainframe sorting through piles and piles of data from his latest tests on Master Gohan. "Dr. Gero, I think an attack may be occuring on Planet Endevon. A priority message came in, and was cut off. I contacted the planet and they reported explosions before that transmission was cut."
"Hmm? Well, it could be that Slug and Turles have surfaced again..." he said after a moment. Turning he moved over to another station and the large image on the screen changed from the data Gero had been looking over to solid green. It only took him a moment to pull up the scanner network and then locate Endevon's coordinates. A moment later he ran a scan for high powers in the area. The numbers on the screen climbed rapidly. Ten thousand, fifty thousand, one-hundred thousand, two-hundred-fifty thousand, five-hundred thousand, one million, two million, five million, ten million, twenty million, fifty million... and then the numbers vanished replaced by a single flashing word. ERROR.
"Error?" Gero said in disbelief as the word flashed on the screen. "These things can read powers of up to four hundred million..."
"I think it is safe to assume that it is not Slug on Endevon."
"Perhaps... this could be a glitch though... I'll bring up the satellites." The old man ran his fingers across the keyboard rapidly and the flashing error message on the screen vanished and was replaced with a view of space. He turned the satellite in the area around and located Endevon and then started zooming in. Once at full zoom he started moving it in closer to the planet to get a better view. They could make out general features and such of the planet now but little else.
"What about the on world transmissions?" 16 asked after a moment. "Today was a holiday on Endevon..."
Gero nodded. "Good idea 16, that last upgrade seems to have fixed your AI at last." he said switching from the camera to the space broadcasts. It took a few moments to find something of interest and Gero stopped there. The image was a local broadcast, the camera lay on the ground on it's side with people running passed screaming and blasts of pink energy zipping passed the camera. It was almost a minute later that the source of the attacks entered the frame of the screen. "What in the hell is that thing?" Gero wondered, raising an eyebrow. A moment later it was off screen again but they could still hear its laughing.
"I will go report this to Master Vegeta at once." 16 said turning and leaving the lab.
Gero watched him go and then turned back to the broadcast. "Lets see what kind of data I can get off of you..." he said as he once more bent over the controls of the computer.