Chapter 6: Pieces of the Puzzle

Soon after I took out the Pirates at Zebes, I was called upon to respond to a distress signal being sent out by a lone frigate. As it turned out, the Pirates were aboard it, concocting malicious experiments utilizing a species of creatures found on a planet I began to know as Tallon IV. 3 long weeks passed before I reached the Impact Crater and killed Metroid Prime. I never knew Phazon would become such a nuisance. Even so, I also didn't know that I'd return to the fated planet. Without Phazon, I had no idea what it would look like...if it were there at all.

Covers rolled off the top of the mattress. Only a few barely covered me. Wrapped in fleece nightwear, I rolled over on my side and faced the far side of the room. My sight was still engulfed in darkness while dreams floated around my mind. None of them stuck out more to me than the image of a robed bird. A Chozo. It's beak moved, but I didn't hear what it was saying. It just kept talking. The more and more I tried to listen, the closer I got to waking up.

Finally, my eyes popped open. The room was as dark as I had left it when I went to sleep. With no intention of turning any lights on, I clumsily made my way into the bathroom. The bright lights made me cringe like a vampire walking into sunlight. I just stood there as my eyes tried to readjust to the sudden burst of light shining in my pupils.

Mornings were never my thing. The later I woke up, the better. Even if I slept late, it still wasn't enough. My alarm clock said it was around noon, but my head read it as telling me to go back to sleep. I knew it wasn't going to happen. Adam would have me up if I even thought of falling into the trance of sleep. Still, I made it worse on myself by laboring with my actions. I brushed my teeth at such a slow rate, it almost seemed pointless. Combing my hair became a chore. My eyelids felt like they had weights on the ends of them.

"Are you up, Lady?"

"You monitor my room. What do you think?"

"Your quarters are personal...no matter how much I look at what you are doing."

"Right."

I plopped down on the chair before the main control inputs and the huge window overlooking space. I hadn't even noticed that my pajamas were still on. Pajamas, what a silly thing to wear. I never used to wear them, just in case I needed to get into my suit quickly. I guess it just wasn't one of those days. And while they were by no means safe at all, they were sure as hell comfortable. Relaxation is what I needed and they provided as much as I could get.

"Alright...what should we do."

I asked it just to get the conversation going. I had no idea what to do. I had no where to go, no where to stay, no where to hide. Adam says I've been in worse situations, but I highly doubt it. One wrong move and I could find myself being tortured in the Space Pirate prison facilities or being questioned and kept in the Galactic Federation prison facilities. I couldn't think of anything...until...

I quickly poked at the keyboard before me. Letters and numbers scrolled across the screen above my head.

Accessing Database

Subsearch: Tallon IV

Subsearch: Lore

Scanning Database...

Scans Retrieved

Instantaneously, huge bits of information began to pile up on the screen. My hand moved around the mouse pad as fast as the info was popping up. My eyes skimmed through every bit of lore I had found at Tallon IV. I had a hunch I'd fine something here. Something that would be more useful to me than anything else. My positive attitude, however, vanished when I reached the end of the lore.

"Wait...hold on a minute. Adam, move back to Lore Scan #54.A"

"Hold on...there it is, 54.A"

And there it was. A simple bit of lore amongst all of them. On the screen, I could see 54.A in the front with 53.E before it and 54.C behind it...54.C. That didn't seem right. I knew I had missed something. But I couldn't have. I was sure I had scanned every bit of information on that planet. There was nothing there I could of missed. But there it was. 54.B wasn't appearing. There was one piece of lore left?

"Looks like the perfectionist only got 99 percent."

"Retrieve the data again. Make sure there aren't any errors."

"Samus, I'm not getting any error reports from the database. 54.B is not in here."

I didn't want to freak out. That would only make it worse. I calmly relaxed and got my head together. 54.B was not there. But, the database left a space for it, so there has to be a piece existing. This wasn't an error. I just missed it. The Chozo hid it better than I thought. I couldn't believe that I didn't notice this before. Maybe it was because the lore was this important now.

"Adam, can you give me the locations of where I found 53.E and 54.C?"

"I don't have exact coordinates, but both pieces, as well as relative segments, were found in the Chozo Ruins region."

"Adam, plot a direct course to Tallon IV."

"Samus, I highly doubt one piece of old writings is going to do us any good at this point."

"Adam, you have to trust me on this. This may be the ticket we need to get ourselves out of this mess."