Twinks in Space: Fantastic Voyage - Part Two - 51. Chapter 51 - Lifeless Worlds

The Galaxy Surfer rose above the city of Tuzu and the planet Aggrrin. When the starship was beyond the atmosphere, Lyoth activated its cavitation engine, and the vessel disappeared into hyperspace. He and Stawren were on the bridge, and Captain Suoki was back in the kitchen preparing them a meal.

“I hate to imagine what we’ll find at the last two locations my aunt Thia gave us,” Stawren said in a somber tone.

Lyoth sighed. “I know. I’ve been thinking the same thing, and we have nowhere near the amount of blood that the scientists in the Aergoroth Nebula said we need to collect.”

“Yeah, we’re going to figure out other places where godstrolls are menacing people. I’ll give my aunt Thia a call.”

A moment later Neptithia was on the screen.

“Hey, kid. Hello, Lyoth. How’s the search going?”

Both of them let out frustrated breaths.

“That bad, huh?”

“Worse,” Stawren replied. “We’ve been to six of the eight planets so far on that list you gave us. Five of them had been targeted by the assassin viper androids.”

Neptithia became serious. “Oh no, all those people.”

“There was so much death,” Stawren continued. “We did end up dealing with a pair of godstrolls on the planet Aggrrin, which was untouched by the universal war, but we weren’t able to collect as much of their blood as we had hoped. We still have two more planets on the list you gave us, but we don’t know what to expect.”

“All those people,” Neptithia repeated.

Lyoth spoke up, “Neptithia, any luck breaking into the Brocian Contingent’s secure files?”

“I’ve been working on the mercenaries’ system for about two hours, and I just started one of my digital infiltration programs. It’s been running for the past…” she looked at its timer, “four minutes and nineteen seconds. Their system is surprisingly secure, but I’m confident that with the right combination of commands, it’ll crack.”

“Any other news, auntie Thia?” Stawren asked. “Have you heard from anyone?”

“Not in a while. I’ve just been plugging away. I listened to more of the digital seminar and have learned all sorts of fascinating things, but I’m not sure if much of it is relevant.” Neptithia looked at her notes. “Info about the composition of godstroll teeth,” she mumbled, “their eyesight, nest-building…”

Stawren chimed in, “Lyoth and I saw one of their nests. We also saw them… erm, mating.”

“Really?!” Neptithia replied with a laugh.

“Yeah,” Lyoth confirmed, “it was something else.”

“Were they violent beforehand?”

Stawren and Lyoth looked at each other.

“Yes, they were.”

“We didn’t know why they were fighting. Then suddenly…”

“They were fucking!”

The three of them could not help but laugh, but a beep interrupted them.

“Oh,” Neptithia exclaimed, “the infiltration program has found something about the Brocian Contingent godstrolls. Hang on… let me just… well, there’s not much here so far, but the program’s still running. This says there are currently nineteen Brocian godstrolls, and it lists their names, but not where they are.” Neptithia mumbled a few things to herself as Lyoth and Stawren watched her input several commands. “I’m transmitting you a list of names.”

“Got it,” Stawren replied, and she attempted to read the first few. “Gorl’bi? There’s an apostrophe between the L and the B. I’m not sure how it’s supposed to be pronounced. How about ’Undunun’? That one has an apostrophe at the beginning and another at the end. Next, Di’ml’athr’l?” Stawren scrunched up her face. “I’m sure I’m saying that one wrong. There are three apostrophes!”

Lyoth turned the cavitation engine timer to Stawren.

“Auntie Thia, we are a little more than ten minutes from the next planet on your list. Why don’t we let you go, and we can get back in touch after we check out the state of it.”

“Sounds good, kid.”

“We’ll talk soon.”

The call disconnected.

“Let’s see what the captain’s got going for us,” Lyoth recommended.

The two of them headed toward the kitchen and were greeted by the aromas of bacon sizzling and onions frying. Captain Suoki was being creative.

“I didn’t have enough ingredients for a few different dishes that I was hoping to make, but I think this’ll work.”

“Are those fresh greens?” Lyoth asked in surprise when he saw what the captain was holding.

Captain Suoki looked confused. “Yes, didn’t you two realize that there’s an auto-garden with different salad ingredients growing in the closet?” He turned to a narrow door at the side of the kitchen, and Stawren and Lyoth were amazed by the tiny lush greenhouse enclosed in the wall of the ship.

After their meal, the trio of warriors made their way to the bridge. Even from space, they could see the wanton destruction on the planet below, and they knew the assassin viper androids had been there. They punched in the coordinates for the final system on Neptithia’s original list of eight, but before they reached it, she called them back.

“I’ve just broken through!” she declared on the screen.

“The mercenary files?” Lyoth asked.

“Indeed, and not only do I have the current locations of all nineteen godstrolls, but I’m able to see new and outgoing orders from the Brocian Contingent’s main base to all their mercenaries.” Neptithia looked proud. “But what about you? How goes the search?”

“Six out of seven were attacked by the assassin viper androids,” Stawren replied, “and we’re on our way to the final planet you gave us.”

“An hour and twenty-four minutes of flight time left,” Lyoth added.

“All those poor people on all those planets,” Neptithia whispered.

Captain Suoki spoke in a quiet voice, “It’s tragic.”

“Listen,” Neptithia interjected, “let me jump off and organize the information and send it your way. Then you’ll have more places where godstrolls mercenaries are located.”

“Okay, auntie Thia. Thanks.” She disconnected.

The information came through a few minutes later, but there was nothing the three warriors could do with it until they reached the planet where they were headed, and could then chart a course for their next destination. The file Neptithia sent them stated that three of the godstrolls were together on another outer-rim planet. One was fighting in a clan war in a protected system. Another was helping overthrow a planetary government, and the other fourteen of them were at the Brocian Contingent base. The information did not have the capacity to give them the updated alerts Neptithia had mentioned.

Before long, they arrived at the final planet from the original list, but the devastation by the assassin viper androids was horrible.

“Let’s plot a course to one of the locations from the Brocian Contingent,” Lyoth recommended, but Neptithia called them back before they finished their starmap calculations.

Stawren answered. “Hi again, auntie Thia.”

She did not say hello, but she shouted, “The Brocian Contingent godstrolls are headed to Boullia Bay!”