Slowly, the drone made its way over the cylinder, all the while scanning the object to find clues to its origins. Occasionally a part of the cylinder would open, with strange creatures moving to exit it, only to retreat moments later, apparently finding the atmosphere intolerable. This process had repeated over the hour, yet despite this, none of the crew, for lack of better term, had exited the object.

From within the observation room, Rory looked over the aliens. They vaguely resembled squids, with many tentacles and disproportionately large heads, though they seemed to be a terrestrial race, albeit one unused to Earth-like gravity. Bianka had started making a painting of one, aided by Alan and Percival. Those two would rather be playing a game of soccer, but this was important.

"You got any idea what these things are?" asked Konrad. "Something from fiction, perhaps?"

"Aren't we technically beings from fiction?" countered Elizabeth. "Our adoptive father did reveal a few secrets after the...Conjuction was the name, I think."

"You're real enough to me and dad," was Rory's retort.

"...Fair enough," conceded Marion, trying to hide the happy look she had on her face. "Though I must ask, does he really count as our father? He isn't exactly a stellar parent."

"Touche." Now it was Rory's turn to concede, for while he could tell that his father loved them all, he at times could seem rather clueless about how to bond with them. And then there was how much adventuring he did.

Rory didn't mind the adventuring, since it brought so much cool stuff. But could he at least invite them to come along once in a while? The twelve and him wanted to see the splendor father experienced every dad.

Even if they ended up on a world made of feces, it would still be fun to travel with dad.

"Anything else in the ship we should know about?" questioned Percival.

"Well, according to the scans, they contain a lot of those squids, some kind of weird bipedal humanoid creatures that function as livestock based on its location in vessel, some weird flying craft, multiple types of walkers, and a lot of heavy elements."

"Can you specify what those walkers look like?" asked Percival.

"...Most of them are tripedal."

Percival opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Suddenly halting his efforts to aid his adoptive sister, Percival turned to face Rory. "Tripods?'

"Yep. Is a bell ringing?"

"I think so. Let's see, cylinders, tripods, livestock that are humanoid, heavy elements...Yep, I know what they are."

"Then how do we deal with them?"

"Offer them peace...and a lot of synthesized blood. And if that fails, make a ship to repel them and send them into the ocean. And call the ship Thunder Child."

May glanced over at him. "Who did you read and not share that story with us about to get such an absurd idea?"

"The father of science fiction. And his first name was Herbert."

XXXXX

Far away from the Hub, the Collector watched over the ARK, wondering how long it would take Upsilon's coworker to finish fixing this mess. Already he had bested two overseers, and was now on his way to vanquish a third one, corrupted and subsumed by one of those who it was supposed to oversee. How ironic.

Idly, he looked over what other universes may soon intersect with this one, on account of his and his coworkers' tampering. When it had become apparent that this universe was diverging from its normal path, they had moved to rectify it through the introduction of new variables - it was a rare occasion that they could mess around with universes and receive no consequences. Unfortunately, things had gotten out of hand, and now they needed aid in fixing this mess before it became a threat to other realms. Such a pity.

Now which worlds would show up next, he wondered? The system seemed to decide for itself what new arrivals were needed to help deal with the increased local problems, and each one had unique inhabitants that could have amazing effects on the ARKs. The Collector had altered the priorities of the Overseers following the Commander's arrival - essentially advance pay for his services. And while he couldn't quite tell which ones would be "harvested", for lack of better term, he could see which ones were preferred.

One world was home to monstrous humans, some of whom lived around a city filled with televisions. The richest occasionally traveled to an ocean liner that also acted as a luxury restaurant, though the meat served was difficult for some to swallow.

Another world was home to a nation in the ruins of North America, who practiced gladiator games featuring the children of those who had risen against it.

As for the third...hmm.

The Collector was surprised by what he saw - it seemed that a native monster had discovered the ARK capture device on that world. But how had it-

A ringing noise fille the air, one that was all too familiar to the Collector. Grimacing, he pulled up his communicator and activated it. "Hello, mother-"

"Hello, Kadesh, my son. How are you doing?"

"Good. Why do you ask?"

"I've heard something about you needing help with an experiment that went out of control-"

Kadesh kept his mouth shut, but internally, a litany of curses was being spouted.

XXXXX

In the third world that Kadesh had examined, a dark beast traversed through the tunnels, searching for the strange machine.

The beast had existed for a long time. It remembered when the Creators had first crafted his kind, forged to destroy. It remembered when they had created the race called man, gifted not only with the power to create and destroy, but to choose which they wanted to use.

It remembered when one of the race of man had challenged the creators, only for all of her kind to be smote down, while she remained alive forever, as punishment for her hubris.

It remembered how that woman had thrown herself into the pools his kind spawned from, and had somehow taken their powers.

It remembered when the woman had become the Usurper, casting and his allies down as leaders of their kind and taken the title of ruler for herself.

It remembered when all of mankind had been reformed, though some now had animal traits.

It remembered when the one who was the mate of the Usurper had been destroyed. He had united with the Usurper in a new bond, only to leave her after realizing what she had become.

It remembered the eternal war the couple had fought, one trying to save the world, the other trying to destroy it.

But in all its long life, the creature didn't remember any civilization that had made the strange machine.

Sudden movement caused the creature to press itself against an outcropping. Focusing its vision, it saw that the hunters had come. The humans had also learned of the strange device, and now they were trying to claim it for themselves.

As was now customary, four had been sent to retrieve it - all girls in this instance. One dressed in red wielded a scythe, another in white carried a rapier, the third one, dressed in black, wielded a sword and a cleaver, while the last one, clade in yellow, readied special gauntlets.

All four seemed rather young.

The creature pondered attacking them, but it decided to wait. For now, finding out the nature of the machine was more important.

XXXXX

AN: Another interlude. Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!