Chapter 6: Gloom
Quincy, Mieu, and Searren entered the spaceport to find a crowd of nurses. They all shuffled about each other with unrecognizable instruments and shouted at each other. Quincy stood on his tiptoes to figure out what the commotion was about, but to no avail. He then made several attempts at passing through the crowd, but it was all in vain. There was too much activity for anyone to notice the trio's arrival in the first place.
Frustrated, Mieu grabbed Searren's left arm and shot in the air. Surprised, the crowd turned in the trio's direction. The red cyborg asked, "What is going on? I assume that this is an emergency, but you are blocking an important path, and no one was considerate enough to explain why."
Ashamed, the nurses kept silent. Finally, Quincy spoke up.
"Umm.. question. What are you all doing? Did someone die or something?"
A nurse replied, "No; the queen of those aliens that came not too long ago fainted, and we're trying to figure out why."
"Mom?!" Quincy shoved past a few of the nurses and looked at their patient. It was, in fact, his mom. She was unconscious, and wore an expression of immense pain. Her face was lean as if she hadn't eaten in days. The concerned prince looked at Mieu, and without explanation, she understood.
"Searren, can you get the queen?" She turned to the mass of nurses. "Sorry, ladies, but there is nothing you can do to help her. We'll take it from here." The cyborg looked around the spaceport. "Has anyone seen her husband?"
Fingers pointed in unison to one of the rooms near the spaceport entrance, accompanied by a chaotic mesh of voices from nurses trying to explain what they knew.
With a silent 'thank you' from Mieu, the cyborgs (with the unconscious queen) and Quincy entered the room that they had been guided to.
King Leo immediately rose to his feet when he saw Quincy. "Son," he said, "are you alright? You've been away for a while, and I heard about magicians that were turning people to stone.."
"Yeah, I'm fine. But mom..." the prince's voice trailed off.
"We're unsure of what's wrong with her. She was completely healthy until we visited the Camineet satellite a couple of days ago. Since then, she wouldn't eat.. today she began groaning, then she just fainted.." the king sighed. "I just hope that this isn't an attempt to sabotage the Camineet project."
When he heard "Camineet project", Quincy thought about the accusations that had been made against the residents of the Alisa III and the Neo Palma. Do the Algolians hate them? Were they intruding?
Quincy's thoughts were broken by a voice he didn't recognize.
"I never heard that part of your story, your Highness... that actually sounds similar to something that happened a few hundred years ago.."
A small girl stood up and approached the royal family. Little girls don't have antennas sticking out of their heads,though, Quincy thought. She had a gentle face, but now she wore a grim expression. Although she appeared young, her eyes revealed years of knowledge.
The girl continued, "There was a woman who also suffered from the same things.. and later, an older man. It was as if they were possessed by some evil force, and they wouldn't accept any type of medicine.. their strength depleted rapidly."
Mieu asked, "So you know what's wrong, then?"
The girl answered, "I'm not 100 percent positive, but your queen's condition is very similar to the effects of the black wave energy."
"The black wave..." Quincy, Leo, and Mieu repeated softly.
"What is that, exactly?" Mieu asked.
The king brushed his wife's hair from her face. "Do you know what happened to those who were affected before?"
The girl avoided their gazes. "The black wave energy is a powerful magic that does nothing but destroy. In my past experiences with it, the source was a fragment of a dark entity called the Profound Darkness."
The royal party all muttered in amazement.
"'Past experiences'? You've experienced that kind of power?" Quincy breathed.
The girl continued, "As far as those who were affected by it... the woman...died," she looked at the floor to avoid seeing the king's reaction. "The man, however, was spared. Eventually, he returned to his normal self. Completely healthy." The girl with antennas finally looked up and met gazes with the king. Although he said nothing, she could tell that he wanted to know how his wife could be spared from the power of the Profound Darkness.
All she could tell him was, "Your Highness, the Profound Darkness was eliminated about 1,000 years ago. The black wave shouldn't even exist right now. We were able to free everyone from the black wave by destroying the dark force.. it's almost impossible to do that again, since there is no more Profound Darkness. I'm sorry. I hope you understand what I'm saying."
The king replied softly, "I understand."
Quincy pointed at the girl. "You sure know a lot for your age. Who are you??"
Quincy's father smiled gravely. "Yes; I'm sorry, son, I never introduced you. Quincy, this is Freyna. She was our pilot when we went to visit Camineet. She looks like a human, but she is actually a cyborg that is over a millenium old. Cool, huh? And Freyna, this is my son, Quincy. Whether he realizes it or not, he is very much like me. It may be hard to tell because he dresses like a peasant, but he takes his job as prince seriously."
"Nice to meet you in person," the small cyborg mused, "I know I greeted you from the ship when you first arrived, but face to face is so much better."
Quincy bowed. "So you're just like Mieu, then.."
Mieu shook her head violently. "Oh, no, no! We have totally different designs. Freyna is a newer make than I am. If she is like any cyborg, then I would say that she is like Searren."
"Searren?" The prince scratched his head, "I don't see it."
"Speaking of Searren," the king interrupted, "Where is he?"
The party finally found him standing outside of the spaceport, talking into his arm. He greeted them with a slight nod. "Prince," he said when Quincy was within earshot, "I have contacted Rolz. Would you like to speak with him?"
"Yeah." The prince leaned over Searren's right arm. "Hey, Rolz, how ya feeling? My mom's not doing so hot, so stay healthy."
At first, all the prince could hear was static, but it cleared up and he could hear, "Thank you for your concern, your Highness. I am in mint condition, though. We are making great progress; the castle is almost ready for habitation. That's what I was showing your father when he came up here."
"Umm.. question."
"Yes, your Highness."
"Do you have any magicians working with you? There's been some weird magic going on lately that didn't start until this project started."
The other end produced silence and static. Then after about five seconds: "Thank you for that information, your Highness. We'll look into that right away."
"So you don't have any magicians?"
"No, your Highness."
Quincy furrowed his brows in frustration. Searren watched the prince while he thought. He said softly to Rolz, "Okay, thank you, Rolz," then turned off Searren's transmitter.
The young prince turned to his father and the three cyborgs blank faced.
"I'm going to Camineet," he said.
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The artificial planet's construction was evident as soon as the space shuttle landed. Carbonsteel covered the site like a blanket, and construction men darted to and fro on the developing satellite. Cyborgs of every make and model scattered about the land, carrying steel and providing water and other supplies. Orders echoed across the air and sparks glowed from several areas of the site. The only completely built structure was the spaceport, which held numerous tiny shuttles for the workers. Boxes piled against the walls of the spaceport, making the area looked crowded and small.
Quincy and Searren stepped off of the larger space shuttle, piloted by Freyna.
"Thanks again, Freyna!" Quincy shouted over the noise of the engine.
"No problem! Do you want me to stay here, or do you want me to come back at a certain time?"
"You can go home. I'll have Rolz bring me back." The prince nudged Searren to start walking. "Hey! Tell Mieu to take care of mom, okay?"
Freyna smiled. "Sure! Even though you've already told her six times yourself!" With a laugh, Freyna departed.
Rolz, the head pilot of the Alisa III, greeted the prince and his cyborg at the far end of the spaceport. "Welcome to the artificial satellite Camineet!" He gestured to the construction site behind him. "As you can see, there's not much to see, but that should be fixed soon."
Quincy shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I just wanted to look around a bit, since I missed out on going with mom and daddy. Plus, I want to see if there are any magicians here."
Rolz frowned. "Your Highness, I said that we would investigate that. We've got it under control. Don't occupy yourself with such a trivial matter."
Quincy shook his head. "No, Rolz, you're busy. I'll do it! I have nothing else to do anyway."
The pilot started to argue, but stopped himself and said instead, "Your Highness, I know that it may seem busy, but we have been short on hands lately. Do you think we could borrow Searren for the day?"
Quincy looked at Searren, then said, "Yeah! Go ahead."
"Thank you, your Highness." Rolz beckoned Searren to follow him.
With Rolz and Searren gone, Quincy was alone.
Alone to wander.
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