Chapter 2: A New Hope
In open space, a distortion in the fabric of time and space began to form. The event caught the attention of a spy-bot drifting in the vicinity, triggering it out of hibernation mode for the first time in decades. It began to record.
In the center of the distortion, a burst of light brighter than any star suddenly appeared. The light dimmed, brightened, and an object ejected from the light, initially distorted beyond recognition, but quickly reshaping itself into something resembling a wingless dragonfly. A few moments later, as suddenly as it appeared, the light vanished, leaving the dragonfly behind.
"We're still here!" exclaimed Stanley, looking all around him in astonishment.
"Xev, are you all right?" 790 asked anxiously.
"I'm all right," Xev said in a small voice.
"Lexx, are you still with us?" Stanley was worried.
"I am still here Stanley," replied the Lexx.
"What happened? Where are we?"
"We are in a big space, Stan," said the Lexx.
"We are in the Dark Zone," said 790.
Kai, who had been staring intently at the view screen, said, "No 790, we are not."
"What?" said Stanley, "But there's just the Light Universe and the Dark Universe. Where else can we be but the Dark Universe now that Mantrid has destroyed the Light Zone?"
"Kai has a point." This was a big concession coming from 790. "Now that I've analyzed some of the Lexx's readings, this place does not match up to either universe."
Kai turned away from the view screen.
"The Divine Order knew about the fractal core connecting the Light and Dark Zones, but among the Ostral-B Heretics it was always speculated there should be multiple universes, not just two. If other fractal cores could be found, they might lead… elsewhere."
"And you can tell all this just by looking outside?" Stanley said, waving his hand at the view screen.
"You forget, Stanley, I have the memories of the Divine Predecessors within me, and they had access to restricted information. Plus, the Brunnen-G originally came from the Dark Zone long ago. I know the Dark Zone when I see it, and this isn't it. Therefore, this is a third universe."
"What now?" asked Xev.
Everyone was silent for a moment, contemplating the idea of being in an unknown, unexplored universe.
The spy-bot, having recorded everything it could about the new arrival using passive sensors, aimed its communications antenna and fired off a compressed, encrypted report. It settled back down to observe, ready to report anything new.
"I am hungry," said the Lexx, breaking the solemn mood.
"Straight to the point, Lexx," Stanley laughed with affection, but then quickly turned serious. "We don't even know if we can survive here."
"There is a tasty looking little snack nearby. I would very much like to eat it," said the Lexx.
"Sure Lexx, go ahead." Stanley waved dismissively.
The unknown ship began to move, and with an electronic start, the spy-bot realized the ship was heading in its direction. Coincidence? Using its gyros, the spy-bot reoriented and initiated a slow drift calculated to be just enough to avoid collision. The ship corrected course, once again heading straight for the spy-bot.
The fact that the spy-bot could be detected in spite of its advanced stealth systems was a valuable piece of information, but the bug-like ship was already occluding the direction it needed to transmit. There being no point in remaining stealthy, the spy-bot cycled up to full activity mode, and rapidly vectored off. Once again, the bug-ship altered course, closing the distance.
"You know, we should scan for any life-bearing planets," Stanley commented, looking directly at Xev.
Catching Xev's attention, he jerked his head towards 790.
"790? Can you scan for life-bearing planets?" Xev asked sweetly.
"For you my darling, always. I want my Xev-Xev to be happy, but I have to warn you it could take days to properly scan the area. If I don't find anything, then we'll need to move to a new area and scan again."
"790 should also scan for evidence of intelligent life," said Kai. "It is possible we are not alone."
The spy-bot, still determined to send a report, began evasive maneuvers at full power, attempting to get around the bug. To its shock, the bug-ship was able to keep up, and as the spy-bot squealed its frustration, it was swallowed by the Lexx.
"How about it, 790, is there anything out there? Anything to suggest intelligent life?" asked Xev, glancing at the bridge view screen.
"Nope," replied 790.
Imperial Listening Post 001272
Kullo stretched and began to clean up his work station. His shift would be over in a few minutes, and he wanted to be ready to leave. His console beeped for attention; a priority five alert.
Why does stuff always seem to happen at the end of my shift, he thought sourly.
A priority five was the lowest level, and he considered leaving it for the next shift, but then thought better of it. It wasn't like he had higher priority things to work on at the moment. He sighed, and opened the information packet demanding his attention.
Hmm, an old spy-bot we haven't heard from since the Clone Wars, he thought. His eyes widened as he looked through the information.
This sure as hell isn't priority five material, he realized. Kullo upgraded the packet to priority three—the highest he could set on his own authority—saved it, and alerted his commander, who strode over to his station.
"What have you got?" his commander asked, while looking over Kullo's shoulder at his monitor.
"Take a look at this, sir," replied Kullo, and displayed the images and specifications collected by the spy-bot. His commander whistled in appreciation.
"Good catch, Kullo. I'm authorizing a priority two. Have Dispatch send a ship to investigate."
"Yes sir," acknowledged Kullo, who updated the packet, sent it on its way.
"I wonder what the rebels are up to…" his commander said to himself, still staring at the screen.
"Got something."
"Wha… what?" said Stanley, who had been nodding off while sitting on the pilot platform. It had been close to five hours since 790 began its scan. Kai had long ago returned to the cryochamber, and Xev had gone off to her sleeping chamber.
"Sleeping on job again, security guard?" 790 said sarcastically. "Take me to Xev. I have something to report."
"I'm the Captain of the Lexx," Stanley reminded 790. "Tell me what you found."
"Not talking to you…."
"Stupid robot head," Stanley muttered as he scooped up 790, tucked it under his arm, and walked off the bridge.
Imperial patrol ship IP2745 dropped into normal space. At one hundred meters long, it was not impressive by anyone's standards, and lightly armed as well. Smart captains of these ships knew the only real deterrent was the reprisal that was guaranteed to follow if anyone was foolish enough to attack. Of course, this assumed one's opponent knew who they were and what they represented.
Captain Fredrick was used to challenging ships larger than his own, knowing he had the backing of the Empire, but this… this was an unknown monster of a ship, if "ship" was even the right word.
"How big is it?" he asked.
"Difficult to say, sir," replied the sensor officer. "Most of our active scans are being absorbed or reflected away, but roughly speaking this thing is a bit longer than six Imperial Star Destroyers lined up end-to-end."
"Life signs?"
"I'm not getting a clear reading on life signs either, sir. Outwardly, it appears to be an insectoid animal. The whole thing registers as a life form, but there are also signs of engineering. Some areas simply come up blank. Those could be large cavities, large enough to park corvettes inside. There could easily be living space. If anyone is on board, I'm not seeing it."
"With respect sir," said First Officer Peterson, "this report we received calling that thing a possible rebel ship is a load of womp droppings. No one has anything like this—not us, and certainly not the rebels."
"There's nothing like it in the Imperial registry," added the sensor officer. "I've expanded a recognition search to all available registries, and I still get no match."
"I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the rebels as a possibility," said Captain Fredrick. "The galaxy is a big place, big enough to hide special projects. This is probably someone's special project. The question is, whose, and how badly do they want to keep it a secret?"
Lexx was hungry.
"Stan? Stanley? Are you there?" Lexx called out to the empty bridge.
The little thing Lexx had eaten earlier was like a person eating a single peanut—it did not stop the hunger pangs. If anything, the hunger pangs were worse. Now there was a bigger something close by, bigger and tastier with protein inside. Lexx usually checked with his Captain Stanley H. Tweedle before eating, but he was not on the bridge.
Lexx was hungry.
On board IP2745, the sensor station pinged an alert.
"Sir!" called out the sensor officer, "The ship is on the move."
"Heading?"
"Straight towards us, sir."
"Hey Xev! Are you decent?" Stanley called outside Xev's sleeping chamber.
"How dare you suggest my Xev is anything but decent, you low-class loser!" exclaimed 790.
"By 'decent' you idiot robot head, I mean, is she dressed?" Stanley retorted.
Stanley knew from past experience Xev slept in the buff, and once the clothes came off, they usually stayed off until morning. Much to Stanley's annoyance, during the Lexx's designated night, Xev felt free to head down the corridor naked to use the tongue-toilets, or to the food chamber for a late night snack. Not every time—just often enough throw Stanley off balance. It wasn't nighttime now, but knowing Xev, there was a good chance she had stripped off.
"I'm always decent, Stanley," Xev called back.
"Doesn't really answer the question, Xev."
"And I'm not giving you an answer. Stop being immature and just come in, will you?" said Xev.
Stanley gulped and took a few steps into Xev's sleeping chamber, eyes closed. He stopped and hesitantly opened one eye. Much to his relief, Xev was fully dressed.
"What do you want?" Xev asked, hiding a smile at Stanley's discomfiture.
"It's not what I want. Stupid robot head here won't tell me what he's found."
"You found something already?" Xev asked quickly, all thoughts of teasing Stanley forgotten.
"Yes, honeybun, I have," said 790, pleased with himself. "Several somethings, in fact. First, there are at least five life-bearing planets nearby, and more than that, there's intelligent life everywhere! Once I discovered the FTL frequencies used by the locals to communicate, it turns out there is a well-established level three civilization spanning most of this galaxy."
"Uh oh," said Stanley, a concerned look on his face.
"What do you mean, 'uh oh'?" demanded Xev, puzzled.
"Much as it pains me to say this, my delicious woman of love, I have to agree with our resident idiot. Some civilization is a good thing, but this galaxy has been settled for a very long time."
"But isn't that a good thing? An advanced civilization means Lexx can be properly fed for once. We could find a place to live. Who knows? Kai might even be brought back to life—real life—instead of existing as walking dead man."
Xev had a dreamy look on her face as she thought about Kai being alive again, Kai holding her in his arms, Kai doing other things too….
"Only if the natives are friendly, my love dumpling. If they're not, there would be almost no place to hide."
"Yeah, I'm with 790," said Stanley. "If there's a chance the natives are hostile, I say we leave and go find us another galaxy. Or maybe we could even find a fractal core and travel to yet another universe. You know, one with girls who aren't too picky." Stanley smiled at the thought.
"In your dreams, security guard," said 790, voice dripping with sarcasm.
The floor vibrated slightly.
On board the patrol ship, conditions were best described as "controlled chaos." The alarm klaxon sounded as everyone worked their stations at a fevered pitch.
"No response to our hails!" called out the communications officer.
"Fire again! Continuous barrage!" ordered Captain Fredrick.
"Firing… no detectable damage! The ship is still closing."
"Then let's get out here. Vector away and jump to hyperspace."
The patrol ship turned and suddenly accelerated off, making the jump to hyperspace. The Lexx, not yet ready to give up on a meal, turned and accelerated smoothly after the patrol ship.
"Sir, that crazy bug ship is still chasing us! It's still closing!"
"Override the safeties! Shut down all non-essential systems including weapons, and divert power to the hyperdrive!"
"Sir, hyperdrive is running at one hundred ten percent rated output... one eighteen... one twenty-three... Sir, the hyperdrive is badly overheating. If we don't shut it down in the next ninety seconds, it will scram into slag."
"Status on the bug ship?"
"Four thousand kilometers and closing fast."
"Damn that thing. Evasive maneuvers! And Peterson?"
"Yes sir?"
"Launch the disaster beacon."
"Aye, sir."
Stanley and Xev, who had 790 tucked under her arm, ran onto the bridge.
"Lexx? Is something going on?" queried Stanley, a bit out of breath.
"No Stanley," replied the Lexx, calm as ever.
"Really? Because a few minutes ago, I felt the floor vibrate."
"That must have been when I was feeding."
"Oh? You found something else to eat?"
"Yes Stanley. But I am still very hungry."
"Don't worry, pal, you'll soon get to eat for real. 790? What about those nearby planets? Are any of them uninhabited?"
"Finding an uninhabited planet in this galaxy may be difficult, but one looks promising," said 790. "And now that I've gained access to several open information networks, I can even tell you the name."
"All right, let's go there." Stanley waved his hand through the holographic palm print. "Lexx?"
"Yes Stanley?"
"We found you an uninhabited planet where you can feed. 790 will give you the coordinates. What do the natives call it, 790?"
"The Dagobah system."