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Chapter -6- Better Left Forgotten

Twenty minutes later...

Peppy, shifted his weight in front of a computer console. He grumbled under his breath about his discomfort. He shifted his aging hips to try and get comfortable on the bare metal remains of an ancient workstation chair. The upholstered cushioning had long, long-since dissolved away.

Peppy held Krystal's translator in his left paw and had his right paw on a touch screen built into the workstation dash. He leaned back against the long silver coat draped over the backrest, where the cushioning had also dissolved away, leaving nothing but a horizontal bar welded to the spine of the backrest.

Krystal paced behind him.

Fox stood in silence, arms crossed over his chest, with his face void of expression.

Peppy continued to type code into a screen on the console. He paused, glanced between the two interfaces, then continued to type on the dusty glass touchscreen. He cleared his throat and said, "Okay, Slippy. I did everything you said. Now what?"

Slippy's voice came over Peppy's communicator, which was Velcroed to the front of Peppy's red uniform. "Okay, see that blue icon at the top left?"

"I see it, Slip." Peppy exhaled. The icon looked smaller than it should've been.

"Choose that. According to Krystal's translator device, it should be a 'settings' menu, or some sort of preferences pane."

"Not sure why these icons have to be smaller than an electron. It's bad enough the 'X' to get out of photos, in social media, are smaller than a quark on a touch screen device." Peppy lifted his head and arched his back until a soft pop came from his spine. He sighed softly, then hunched over the dash again.

"Just be glad Krystal compiled this translator program for us. The fact the source code of the translator program is so simple means we can just upload the word list and grammar algorithm code fairly quick."

Peppy grimaced. "I'm sorry I'm complaining, Slip. I'm the one that wanted to feel useful, and my paws lack callouses, so the screens respond best to my touch."

"Peppy, you don't have to apologize. It's fine."

"Well, all right. I just didn't want you to think I was yelling at you. I know I did that, now and then, back in the Papetoon-days."

Fox turned to Krystal and said, "If you're telepathic, and you can sense how to speak the language of another just by being in their vicinity, why put together a translator like this?"

Krystal smirked. "Because I wanted to learn how to speak it fluently, and, more importantly, I needed to learn how to read Cornerian, as well. It took weeks to learn that."

Fox chuckled. "You learned an entire language, fluently, in just a few weeks?"

"I was around you and the team. Total submersion. Not to mention being telepathically networked to your minds - which made it easier to learn vicariously. But ... yes."

"How does being around us help you learn our language faster?"

"Because I learned how to speak it and understand it, vicariously, through multiple native speakers, Fox. Furthermore, Lucy was in school, so being around her helped put me in that 'learning' mindset. Then I sat down and watched an afternoon of Cornerian programs for toddlers. That helped me to learn the Cornerian alphabet and syntax, then understand how to put it to use on a screen, so I could learn to read it."

"Still, learning an entire language in a few weeks ... that's impressive."

"Being around native speakers, and telepathically sponging it up ... helped. A lot. And Cornerian is much easier than Cerinian. For the record, Cornerian makes more sense from the perspective of the speaker ... the wording order and phrasings make more sense. The lettering is easier to pick up."

Peppy chuckled. "Cornerian is dumbed-down so that we could all learn how to speak and read it quickly as kids."

Krystal continued. "Cerinian, on the other hand, is a combination of runic overtop of markings. Those markings are combined into groupings, layered, to make short sentences."

Slippy, who could hear the conversation over Peppy's speakerphone, said, "That sounds mysterious and ... oriental."

"What is ... oriental?" asked Krystal. "I didn't learn that word."

Peppy chimed in. "It's an old phrasing to describe things that our ancestors thought to be mysterious. It's an adjective to describe the lands furthest from the Capital City, like, oriental blankets, oriental furniture, but there's no continent of 'orient,' so it can't be used to describe people. However, in the old days, the word became a subculture slander term for a while, then it was forgotten. No one uses it anymore - the term is archaic."

Krystal nodded. "Well, the Cornerian way of using an alphabet was wonderfully easy to pick up and learn. The translator that Slippy helped me to make ... it combined data from my ship's computers with Cornerian dictionaries and thesauruses, such and so forth."

Peppy clapped his paws. "Slippy! You did it!" He cleared his throat and turned to Krystal. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you."

"We_ did it, Peppy. Wait, what did we do_?"

Peppy beamed in delight. "It's somehow managed to wirelessly interface with the translator, using that line of code you wrote into this computer. You just interfaced with a two-thousand-year-old computer, Slip! And, look at that, it's displaying everything in Cornerian, now! That's amazing!"

"Aw, it was nothing, guys."

Peppy chuckled. "When you put yer mind to it, you're one smart cookie, kiddo."

"Thanks, Peppy." Slippy cleared his throat. "I'm getting a data stream now, which means that the facility has a satellite dish for broadcasting information streams, and ... miraculously, it still functions. Great Fox is acting as a station satellite. I see storage drives in our network. Some of them are showing up as damaged or corrupted, but the majority of the storage devices seem to function. I'm ... really impressed. Anyway, I'm going to see if I can download everything those computers saved ... I'll leave you guys to look for Andrew. Good luck!"

Fox turned toward Peppy and the communicator Velcroed to his chest, and said, "Thanks again, Slippy. Great work, bud."

"Thanks, Fox! Slippy - out!"

Peppy touched the communicator attached to his outfit, ending the call.

Krystal rubbed her palms together. "Now what?"

Fox grinned. "Now we use the sensors to scan the facility for Andrew. Peppy, your job is to map this place from here and try to understand what the Krazoa were studying in those ancient structures outside. Meanwhile, Krystal, you and I will go looking for Andrew as a team."

Peppy eyed his godson. "Why not let the sensors do that job, Fox?"

"Because the technology is two thousand years old. You see these glass screens in these workstations? Half of them are cloudy and don't display anything. You're lucky you found one that still functions properly."

Peppy smirked. "You just want to spend time alone with Krystal. I'm a third wheel."

Fox returned the smirk. "The power cells haven't been operating in two millennia, Peppy. They break down with age. I'm surprise they haven't caught fire already. We need to check the whole place. And, like I said, some of the sensors might not function properly anymore. We need boots on the ground."

"And I'm a third wheel. But, yeah, I understand having boots on the ground. I'm a tactician after all."

"Yup, and you taught me the value of having boots on the ground." Fox turned to Krystal and asked, "You ready?"

A smile tugged at the corners of her muzzle. "You bet I am, Fox."

Fox turned to Peppy and eyed the aging hare. "I know that expression - you just had a thought and you're looking for the right words to spit it out. What's wrong, Peppy?"

Peppy scoffed. "I thought she was the telepathic one." He shook his head with a dry chuckle, followed by a face-fault and a sigh. "Did the Krazoa actually invent a computer capable of running for over two thousand years, without having to reboot, and without code degradation? Or ... did Andross find a way to restore these systems? And, if so, then is Andrew aware that we're trying to download these files, and is he tapped into the sensor logs? Hell, what if he can hear everything that we're saying about him right now?"

Fox rubbed his chin for a moment, then, with a slight smile, he shook his head. "You worry too much, Pep. I have a feeling this stuff is original Krazoa tech."

"What makes you think so, Fox?"

"Well..."

Krystal cut her gaze from Fox to Peppy and back to Fox. "Is it because the computer displayed the language in Krazoan?"

"That's part of it," Fox replied. He turned to Peppy and said, "But it's more than that ... it's because I was there, on Sauria, knee deep in their technology. That tech worked after the Krazoa were long gone. It all worked the way it was designed to work without a hiccup. The Krazoa Palace. Force Point Temple. It pushed the planet apart and kept an atmosphere around the pieces. Then it pulled the planet back together, as it was apparently designed to do. And thank God it did, or things would have gone very differently. To be honest, Slippy and I have a working theory on why it did that stuff."

"Why it did what?" asked Krystal. "Pushing the planet apart like it was somehow a good idea?"

"Yeah, that."

Peppy eyed Fox in silence with an expectant gaze.

Fox shrugged. "Each piece was going to become a livable ship, capable of taking the Krazoa to the ends of the universe. But then their scientists realized that there was sentient life on other Lylat planets, and the disruption of losing Sauria's gravitational force would have messed with the orbital tracks of the other worlds."

"Fox..." Peppy chuckled.

"Yeah?"

"I saw that TV documentary, too."

"Yeah, Pep, but the initial theories came from myself and from Slippy when we were telling the anthropologists what we found, after the Sauria job was over. We both felt that each section of the planet was designed to be a generational spaceship, and they were going to push the planet apart in a way that would send each piece to another system capable of supporting life. Then, they would put their piece of planet into orbit around a habitable planet, and it would become an orbiting satellite. Slippy felt that Miracle could've been what brought the original Krazoan ancestors to Sauria, and that there might be an ancient city on this moon to prove it. So far, Slippy's theory is looking better and better." Fox pointed to the window overlooking the ancient ruins. "He privately asked me to prove him right, y'know, before leaving Great Fox."

Peppy smiled. "I'd like to prove Slippy right, too. But I'm too old to join you down there until you clear out the dangers. So, you two have fun, and I'll coordinate from here."

Fox chuckled. "That was already the plan."

"Oh, I know, but it feels familiar to give you orders. Makes me feel young, again. Like we're back on Papetoon, and I have my boys safe and sound in their bunks."

Fox chuckled again with a shake of his head. He saluted Peppy and clicked his shoes together. "Fox McCloud reporting for duty, sir. Headed out to the mission, fearless leader."

Peppy grinned. "You never did that as a teenager."

"Yeah, and I'll never do it again."

Both Fox and Peppy chuckled.

Finally, McCloud asked, "You have enough supplies? Water and such? I don't know what kind of accommodations this facility has, other than really tall crappers."

"I've squared up, Fox. And I have cots and tents on the transport shuttle, but I doubt I'll need the tent, since this facility isn't overrun with mold and mildew."

She eyed him for a moment. "Square as in naff?"

"Huh?"

Krystal waved her paw. "I guess seeing Cerinian again has be thinking about the old words. Naff means ... something that's square. Uncool, I guess, would be a better phrase."

"Oh." Peppy shrugged, adding, "No, I'm squared up on my supplies. As in ... I'm good to go. How about you?"

Krystal cut into their conversation with a nod. "Two full days of drinking water, each. More if we're conservative with it."

Peppy grinned at her. "The only thing conservative about Fox is his love for guns and political ideals. When it comes to speeding, when it comes to flying, and when it comes to eating or drinking, he can be quite ... liberal with those things."

Fox chuckled. "Hey, now, I consider myself in the middle about a lot of issues. But, yeah, hard work and family values ... that's how I was raised."

Peppy feigned a tired smile. "That's because your father and I agreed on that outlook, so I raised you the way he raised you: with a passion for fighting, but with a respect for society and family."

"Oh ... I get it now. You said, 'political ideals' ... but then calling me 'liberal' saying I had liberal ideals ... I get it - you meant I was being liberal with vices. Got it."

"Slow on the draw, kiddo."

Fox scoffed at the rabbit. "No. It's because your dad jokes are rusty, Peppy."

Krystal cleared her throat. "Also, I'm bringing a water testing kit so we can replenish in the field. I hope that's not too progressive for you boys."

Peppy laughed whole-heartedly with a firm shake of his head. "You two are a pair, all right." He shook his head with a grin.

"Fun fact of the day, the Cerinian word for the toilet is khazi. So, Peppy, please don't hurt yourself climbing up onto the Krazoan Khazi."

"All right, you two," Peppy said with a chuckle. "It's time to find Andrew and get paid. Then we can chart this moon, so I can get paid."

McCloud furrowed his brows. "Don't you wanna be a full-time general?"

"Maybe. I haven't yet decided. But I can be a General for you ... ahem: get moving, McCloud!"

Fox laughed and side-nodded toward the back of the room. "C'mon, Krystal. Let's roll."

"Enough faffing around, then? Right behind you, Fox!" She fell into step with McCloud, and they headed down the hallway, back to the lift. She called back to Peppy. "Give us a bell if you spot Andrew, or if you need anything."

"Yeah, yeah," Peppy shouted back down the hall. "Move your tails, kids!"

"Glad the lift works better than the stairs."

Fox chuckled. "Yeah. Me, too."

It was a short ride to the lowest floor, which was beneath the hanger level. The gate raised on the opposite side, and they took a long dark hallway to a door at the end.

Fox spoke into his gauntlet. "Peppy, are you getting the feed from my sensors?"

"Yeah, Fox," said Peppy, his voice tinny and thin over the speaker built into the older model gauntlet. "I see you're headed down a long hall at the lowest level of the facility. Beyond the door in front of you ... _should be the outside_."

"Should, huh?"

"Yeah, Fox. It should literally dump you out in front of the ruins."

"Copy that. Fox out." Fox pushed on the door, but it hadn't budged in a couple thousand years. Fox tried pushing the old fashion style lever bar, followed with a kick, but it didn't budge.

Krystal said nothing.

"Krystal, hold in this bar, and I'll shoulder the door."

Krystal pressed the bar in and stepped off to the side. "Ready, Fox."

Fox took a few steps back, then dashed at the door and slammed his shoulder into it. The door didn't budge.

"As Peppy would say, just shoot it, Fox."

Fox chuckled. He took his blaster from the holster, dialed in a setting, and shot out the hinges. He pushed on the door again, but it had been closed for too long, and didn't budge.

"Fox, whatever mold and mildew has grown into the doorframe ... it might be nearly fossilized by now. All right, not literally, but my point stands - you'll need to take out the door. Vaporize it."

"That's naff." Fox took a few steps up the hall and Krystal followed.

"Not exactly how it'd be used, but you're not wrong." She stood behind him and waited.

Fox aimed the blaster at the door. A laser mounted pointer showed a faint outline on the door where the blast was expected to hit.

He dialed in settings for a wide burst shot at high power. The laser pointer made an ovular outline over the door and part of the door frame.

Silence.

Fox charged his shot, causing a particle build up to accumulate in front of his weapon. His pupils constricted from the brightness of the energy that amassed in front of the barrel.

He released the trigger. The blowback caused his paw to raise into the air.

Dust and debris glowed in front of them from sunlight beyond. The cloud settled until the doorway was clear.

Sunlight shined on the ground, stopping at Fox's feet. He turned to Krystal with a wry grin. "How was that?"

"Impressive, Fox. I will never underestimate Lylat's penchant for powerful weapons."

"Just what I like to hear." Fox holstered his blaster and walked to the doorway. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the outside lighting, then he held his gauntlet in the empty doorway, where the door used to be. "Okay ... sensors don't detect any hostiles out there. That's good. No bio-signs in the immediate area. No plastic, power cells, or other sorts of things that would be used by soldiers. I guess the coast is clear."

"I'm behind you." She drew her blaster and pointed it downward.

Fox led her outside into the sunshine.

Massive ancient ruins loomed majestically over the couple. The lattice sculpting, the brickwork, the paving... it was all breathtaking.

Fox scanned the ground for footprints but didn't see any. He took a moment to check his pack, nodded firmly, and approached the large temple-like gate.

Krystal followed him into what looked like a courtyard. Up ahead, beyond the gates, there stood what looked like a city; various buildings littered a grid of overgrown roads. Most of the overgrowth was long dead, but newer fresh growth came up on either side of the streets, and through empty window frames on the numerous long-forgotten buildings.

Fox's tongue felt dry. "Wow," he whispered in astonishment. "It's ten times more impressive than the Walled City Temple on Sauria. It's more impressive than the Krazoa Palace."

Krystal approached the first building at the edge of the city. She stepped through an empty doorway and froze. "Fox!"

He blinked, surprised by her tone. "What's wrong?"

"Just come see." She stepped further into the building.

He followed her inside and froze.

The two foxes stared at a massive circular portal on the wall. It was solid and dark.

Krystal approached it and placed her padded paws against the large portal. "It's identical to the ones at the top of the Krazoa Palace. The ones that took us to and from different places on the planet."

"Yeah, only it's not working."

"I wonder where it leads?"

"I don't know," Fox said in a reverent tone. "But, uh, this is proof that this city belonged to the Krazoa. At least proof to me."

"Not to mention the facilities just outside of these ruins ... the doors and hallways we saw were designed for Krazoa, not to mention the computer's original language."

Fox smirked. "Not to mention the bathrooms."

"Well, yes, the lavatories, too. My mind didn't go there, I suppose. Just the same, why would Krazoans be studying Krazoan ruins?"

Fox approached the ancient portal. He stood adjacent to Krystal and placed his paw against the solid granite surface. "Man, this is weird. I wonder where this one goes to."

"Perhaps there is a way to power it."

Fox nodded. "Good thinking. Let's keep an eye out for it."

Krystal nodded firmly in agreement. "Let's hope that prat, Andrew, doesn't use one to try and escape."

"True. Let's keep moving."

"Let's," she replied.

Fox walked back outside and down the street, toward the heart of the ancient city.

Krystal followed.

Part of the street went in an upward incline. Some of the buildings appeared to have been built into the hillside.

Further up the hill, Fox stopped in front of a boxy structure jutting out of an alley entrance.

Krystal noticed the object, as well, and approached it at the mouth of the alley. She knelt beside the boxy contraption and studied the slats on one side and what appeared to be a fan just beneath a grille at the top. She turned back to Fox and said, "For something so well preserved, with no obvious signs of environmental coverup, no clay, no dirt, no strata... I can't help but feel excited for the anthropologists that will be studying this stuff."

"What do you suppose that object is, anyhow?"

Krystal grinned. "Some sort of ... twee HVAC unit?"

"I ... suppose. I mean, yeah, it sure looks like an AC to me. I guess even the Krazoa would have needed creature comforts."

"God, I wonder what this city was used for. Why have it on a moon? We didn't see ancient homes or modernized homes on Sauria. I wonder if their second moon had a city like this?"

"I don't know," she said with a shrug. She stood up and turned to face him. "I remember when I was possessed by a Krazoa spirit. I remember connecting with it on an emotional and psychological level. I remember how intelligent the spirit was. I remember that he considered using me as nothing more than a vehicle to get to the top of the Krazoa Palace. And I remember assuring the spirit that ... if he let me stay in command of my body, I would deliver him of my own volition. I told him that he could trust me to carry out his need because I wanted to help, but if I were to trust him, he would need to take a backseat."

Fox rubbed his chin. "I took quite a few of them to that palace. I wonder if they let me stay in control of my body because you proved trustworthy, so to speak. They didn't make much conversation while I was carrying them around Sauria."

"You're a warrior," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "They were benefactors, they were scientists, they were anything but aggressive. They probably just didn't want to make conversation."

"Still, you showed them that they could trust a host to take them somewhere safe. I kind of wish I got to know what they were like a bit more."

"Mm, the one that possessed me opened up like a book. He was mournful of my experiences with Cerinia, he was respectful of my openness to help the current residents of Sauria, but he was also interested in being ferried to a machine that would allow the surviving members of their race to live in a pocket universe."

Fox turned to Krystal with brows furrowed. "Huh?"

"Stay dishy, Fox. At least you'll always have that."

"Dishy. There's that word again."

"Handsome. Attractive."

"Oh. Well thanks. Wait, hey!"

Krystal grinned at him. She continued with her explanation. "They were the surviving members of their race, Fox. They were incorporeal but they survived the demise of their kind. They converted their bodies to energy in order to survive the cataclysm. Most of their race made it to the Krazoa Palace and they were ... uploaded to the pocket universe, where their bodies would take the form of matter again. But those remaining Krazoa spirits stayed snookered on Sauria to make sure their race escaped. Andross used them to manipulate the Force Point Temples."

"Good God. So, they used us to get the planet back together, then to leave this universe to be with their kind?"

Krystal nodded firmly. "We reunited them with their people. But, from that dimension, they can still access this one, through the Krazoa Palace. If we ever needed their help again, we can summon them from the palace. The surviving members have been there for yonks, and will remain there until the end of time."

"Man, I was possessed by several, and didn't learn any of that stuff."

"Fox, you're a warrior. They likely just used you for the ride. They sensed your willingness to take them where they wanted to go, and so they didn't make conversation. They just ... let you ferry them."

"You never told me this stuff before. Why not?"

Krystal shrugged. "It was a deeply personal experience for me. Something I'll never forget. But they were there for me, and they kept me company in the crystal prison for a time. I learned about you from them. When you rescued me, I already felt like I knew you because of their time possessing you. I ... don't know why I never brought it up before now. Sorry."

"Don't apologize. It's fine. You didn't do anything wrong."

Krystal feigned a smile. "So ... moving on?"

Fox nodded firmly in reply. "Moving on." He stepped from the alleyway, and continued up the hillside, walking past ancient abandoned buildings, one after the next.

"This city was amazing," she whispered to herself. "Have you ever thought about that time on Sauria? I mean ... now that you know more about the Krazoa, would you ever let one possess you, again?"

"I've always wondered why they didn't possess the dinosaurs, there. They're obviously sentient."

"Mm, I don't know. I think that some did at some point - perhaps that's why the dinosaurs were able to communicate as well as they did ... because the Krazoa taught them how. Likely only the leadership."

"What makes you think that?"

"They told the Earthwalker tribe to protect the palace, which is why I saw Earthwalkers on site when I visited the palace."

Fox rubbed his chin in thought. "Huh. I don't remember seeing any there. Even Tricky couldn't go there."

"That's because you teleported. Dinosaurs had to climb the mountainside to go there. Only the best and strongest, with the help of Krazoa spirits, could go. But then ones I saw were injured. The tribe warriors were wiped out by Andross; he was armed with a blaster. So, after that, no other dinosaurs were allowed to go, in order to protect their kind. I'm sure they were glad you ended the threat."

Fox frowned. "Oh. Okay. No dinosaurs could use the Warpstone. Got it. It's been a couple of years; I guess I forgot a few little details."

Krystal pointed to a large building up ahead, at the heart of the city. "Fox ... is it me, or does that look exactly like the Krazoa Palace, except it's not atop of a tall, narrow mountain - it's at the heart of a city that's built on a tall, wide mountain."

Fox reached into his pocket and withdrew a pair of binoculars. He peered through the high def binox and studied the distant building at the heart of the city. "Jeeze, you're right. It's identical to the Krazoa Palace from what I can see. Let's go investigate."

"Let's," she agreed.