Twinks in Space: Fantastic Voyage - Part Two - 20. Chapter 20 - No News Feels Like Bad News

With the volcanic parstiline secure in the containment vessel that was designed by the advanced scientists of the Aergoroth Nebula, Lyoth and Stawren were preparing to leave the planet Issdur behind. The two warriors were on the Galaxy Surfer looking at the list of three other ingredients.

“I guess the best course of action is to try and track down this doziniath stuff,” Stawren stated. “It’s at the closest location to where we are.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Lyoth replied.

Stawren punched in the star map coordinates, and the ship took off into the void. The hyperspace timer indicated that there were two hours and seventeen minutes until the ship would arrive at the next destination.

“Stawren, do you mind calling your aunt Neptithia for me? I’d really like to know if she’s heard any more about…”

“Phentrom!” Stawren finished for him. “Yes, let’s reach out to her right now, see if she’s got an update.” She initiated the call.

“Hey there, kid!” Neptithia answered. “You made it through the nebula!”

“We did, but auntie Thia, here’s Lyoth.”

Neptithia smiled over the screen. “Hello, Lyoth.”

“Neptithia,” he replied with a nod, “has there been any news from Fonith about Phentrom?”

“Nothing yet, I haven’t heard back from her.”

“But auntie Thia,” Stawren interjected, “it’s been three days. Fonith really hasn’t reached out again?”

“I don’t like that,” Lyoth added. “No news doesn’t feel like good news.”

Stawren turned to him. “I guess we should stick to our course of action until Fonith gets in touch.”

He conceded.

“So tell me about the nebula!” Neptithia demanded with an excited laugh.

“Inside the Aergoroth Nebula,” Stawren explained, “there is a planetary system with three mechanical planets orbiting an artificial star. One of the planets absorbs energy from their sun, which is in fact a huge void-generator, and in combination with the planet, they create the nebula. The nebula acts like a shield for the system and helps keep it hidden.” Stawren paused. “Auntie Thia, is this all too much info to process?”

Neptithia let out a playful scoff. “What?! You think I can’t handle these details? Did you forget that I used to be the communications security specialist for the entire Allthrin government?”

Stawren snickered. “No, I didn’t forget, auntie Thia. Oh, Lyoth, tell her about the jellyfish that healed your wound!”

The three of them talked until the Galaxy Surfer dropped out of hyperspace two hours later.

An alarm immediately started beeping.

“What is that?” Neptithia asked.

Lyoth pulled up the alert on his monitor. “It’s a temperature and interference warning. It says there’s a pocket of high-concentration energy the ship is referring to as tharos. I’ve never heard that term before.”

Neptithia spoke up, “Tharos is a form of cosmic energy that is very difficult to study. Almost nothing concrete is known about it. It acts in some ways like static electricity, but on a cosmic scale. Tharos also absorbs radiant heat from the surrounding universe. It’s always in the coldest pockets of reality.”

“That’s why we’re here,” Stawren stated, “to collect the frozen doziniath. From hot to cold,” she added.

Lyoth nodded at her. “I did not enjoy our time on Eckas-3. Valli was delightful and the planet Issdur was nice enough, but collecting the parstiline was…” he paused before settling on, “unpleasant.”

“I agree,” Stawren replied. “As long as the container prevents it from degrading, we should never have to do that again.”

“How are you two supposed to get the frozen thing?” Neptithia asked.

Lyoth smiled. “Much more easily than the parstiline,” he declared. “Doziniath is magnetic.”

“The scientists from Aergoroth outfitted the exterior of the Galaxy Surfer with a special magnet,” Stawren added. “It should do all the work for us and make it so we don’t need to enter the energy field of the…” she glanced at the screen in front of Lyoth, “the tharos.”

“Oh good,” Neptithia replied.

Stawren activated the magnet.

“I wonder if we’ll be able to see anything through the ship’s windows,” Lyoth commented. “Once the doziniath is collected, the system is supposed to alert us.”

He and Stawren watched out the window, and sure enough, they could see something moving through the void toward the Galaxy Surfer.

“That must be it,” she declared.

As the object drew closer, it gave off the appearance of a liquid. It seemed to move with swirling patterns of grey twisting through silver and charcoal.

“It’s not a solid?” Stawren asked.

“It doesn’t look solid to me,” Lyoth replied.

The magnet’s collector clamped down on the doziniath, and despite the matter’s appearance, the mechanical grip was indeed holding onto a solid object. The screen in front of Lyoth blinked with the words SAMPLE COLLECTED.

“Well that was easy,” he stated. “On to the third item?”

Stawren smiled. “Yes indeed.”

“What’s next?” Neptithia asked.

“We’re headed to Lyoth’s home planet,” Stawren informed her.

Neptithia looked curious. “Lyoth, where are you from?”

“You’ve probably never heard of it,” he replied. “It’s called Jitha. It’s way out in the outer rim.”

Neptithia furrowed her brow in thought. “I think you’re right, don’t think I ever have heard of it.”

“I’m not surprised. The scientists in Aergoroth said they needed this specific type of wood from an extinct species of tree that grew like a stone. They informed us that its remains were all but used up, but I told them about granitewood. They’re a type of mineral-tree that used to grow on my homeworld, so we’re headed there next to collect some to see if it’ll work as a replacement.”

“What else is on the list of items you need to collect?” Neptithia asked.

Lyoth and Stawren looked at each other.

Neptithia could see on her screen that both of them were concerned. “What’s wrong? What is it?”

Lyoth answered her. “The last thing that’s required to construct this scanning computer they want to build, only has a single known source in the universe.”

“And it’s not a pleasant one,” Stawren added. “We need something called talsimite crystal, but it’s only found in godstroll blood.”

Neptithia was alarmed. “Godstroll blood?!”

“Exactly,” Stawren replied. She turned to her fellow warrior. “Lyoth, do you think there’s any way to get the blood from the godstroll that you killed at the spaceport before I brought you and Phentrom to Allthrin for the first time? What has it been, just over a week? Less than two, right? Maybe they put him on ice and his blood is still good.”

Lyoth was interested in the prospect. “That would make it easier.”

“How much do you need?” Neptithia asked.

“One-hundred liters,” Stawren answered, rolling her eyes.

“Wow, that’s a lot,” Neptithia replied. “Let me do a little research for you. Hang on a minute…”

The three were silent.

“Got it,” Neptithia stated. “Godstrolls have about fifteen liters of blood in them.”

Lyoth groaned. “So we would need the blood of… something like seven or maybe eight of them? This is going to be a chore.”

“How are we supposed to find seven separate godstrolls?” Stawren asked incredulously. “Because we obviously won’t be able to take them all at once.”

“And even if we’re able to collect the blood from the one I already killed,” Lyoth added, “we still need to find godstrolls who are alive.”

Stawren shrugged. “At least we know they’re monsters, so I don’t feel bad about what we have to do. If they didn’t eat people, I might be more hesitant to hunt them down. Auntie Thia, while we’re collecting the granitewood, will you see if you can find details about either some godstroll mercenaries or conscripted soldiers in any group that we might be able to infiltrate?”

“On it! Why don’t I let you two go? I’ll get in touch if I find anything.”

“Great, thanks, auntie Thia.”

“Bye, kid.”

Stawren disconnected the call, and Lyoth input their destination into the Galaxy Surfer’s navigational computer.

“On to Jitha.”