Face in the Mirror Ch.3
Face In the Mirror Alpha-Centauri Chronicles Book 2 A Loonatics Unleashed Fan Fiction By Pyry Cole Chapter Three: The Landing ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Duck prepared himself as the ship was about to land. He didn't quite like the fit of the space suits Tech had designed for the team. They were based on the nano-powered armor that they had used to defeat Sypher. Sure. The stuff looked sleek, and complemented his figure well, but it felt so bulky and heavy. His feelings were hardly in play by now, because this time, he was ready for business. He looked over himself in the reflective walls of the somewhat confining airlock. As far as he could tell, his suit was on right, with no imperfections that he noticed. But something didn't feel quite right. Suddenly the black-feathered hero was bumped from behind. Duck had forgotten that the rest of the team was in the tightly spaced corridor with him. He began to turn, speaking his mind. "Hey! Whats the big...!" He stopped as Lexi forced him to turn back around. "Hold still" she said, "Something came loose here. Let me take care of it." He could feel her hands pushing on his back, fumbling to reattach whatever wasn't working on his suit. Within moments he heard a click followed by a quiet hissing noise as he felt the suit tighten around his body, hugging it firmly, as it should have been. Duck hadn't a clue why it was always the bunnies that seemed to remember him. But whatever the reason, it did help warm him up from time to time. He put his helmet on and waited for the others. There soon came a loud hiss as the air in the ship was exchanged for whatever kinds of gasses there were on the other side in the alien docking bay. With a the sound of a clash of metal on metal, the heavy locks that held the airlock door in place slid open, echoing throughout the ship. The door slowly started to release, revealing the scenery of the gigantic docking complex, inch by inch. Once Duck could get a good look, even he was impressed. The area was easily several times larger than the World-Dome, and it was filled with all kinds of stuff. Off in the distance he could swear he saw the tour ship of the Lobrachian basher-ball team. It always felt like a burn to him, and many Acmetropolis citizens, that so many extraterrestrials were able to visit the planet, but they would never share their space travel secrets. He could care less how the stuff worked, but he didn't like that there were all these cool places the aliens would talk about, but he could never be able to visit them. The aliens said that learning about the technology was considered a "galactic right of passage" or some such garbage. He started walking down the stairs closely tailing the other Loonatics. Once he was finished being awed by the huge structure they were in, he looked down to see a pair of lizard-men. They had shiny scales, and each had a mane of feathers that ran from the tops of their heads to the tips of their tails. One was taller than the other, about five and a half feet, while the other was about Duck's height, about four ten. The taller was covered in white scales, with a glossy sheen similar to fine marble, and his feathery mane was a bluish green, almost teal. The shorter of the two was a bit of a contrast, covered in ebony scales, shining like obsidian. His feathers were a deep violet, though his eyes were the same as the other, slit like pupils, surrounded by a yellow-green iris. They were both dressed in some sort of odd uniform. It was like a blue lab-coat with silver accents running down the sides of the arms, as well as down the opening in the front. The leggings to their outfits were similar to human business attire, but with the same blue and silver pattern, and they were split down the front from the knee down of either leg. The tall one was holding a small silver box. As they continued down the stairs, Tech had been analyzing the atmosphere in the area. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, he had deemed the air breathable. Upon hearing this, the team removed their helmets, figuring it would be more polite to show their faces. The shorter of the two lizard-men approached them swiftly, running up to Ace as a flash of shining black scales. The creature tackled the unsuspecting bunny to the floor, and then, forced his lips upon him, kissing deeply and forcefully. Ace had been surprised, and frightened out of his wits, uncertain of what to do, he had pushed the lizard off of himself, and wiped his lips on his hand. Duck couldn't believe his eyes. This was one of the silliest things he'd seen in a very long while. Ace was completely grossed out, while Duck and the other Loonatics had been caught in a fit of giggles. After that point, the mallard hadn't paid much attention to any of the other occurrences. There was a short conversation with something about the lizard apologizing, and something about killing, or business greetings, or something. He hadn't quite caught much of it. There was a long and boring conversation that followed, which seemed to be about the origins of ... well... everything. Somewhere in there were introductions as well. The short black one was named Sodok, and the tall one Krussk, some... admonitor... whatever that was. There was some shiny little robot orb doing all the talking for them, and really, the way it kept dragging on, things couldn't get more boring. Apparently the lizards were some sort of strange technophiles. They were all fused with some kind of cyber thingies in their heads, linking them to robots. Duck once again had not paid attention to the conversations occurring around him. What he did catch led him to the assumption that Tech was probably fascinated with the stuff, likely hanging on every word. Eventually, after a conversation that spanned what felt like a decade, Ace, Lexi, Slam, and himself, were told to follow this "Krussk" guy. Krussk was taking them to the Pholdarian planetary shuttles when he suddenly stopped. Duck was quick to respond to this, though the others wish he wasn't, "Hey! What's the deal uh... Crusty was it? Why did we stop?!" The Pholdarian lizard-man simply sighed, obviously able to understand what the loudmouthed mallard had said, including the inability to remember his name. He just opened the box and silently instructed them each to take one of the four plastic cards that were inside. Ace was the first to comply, picking up the small card. It was a bit heavier than it looked, and after he held it for a few moments it started to react. The card emitted a bright flash, and gave him a small prick on the finger simultaneously. This took the rabbit by complete surprise, causing him to almost drop it. Suddenly, on the front of the card his picture appeared in a small box, and his medical information scrolled across the surface in various languages. Each of the others, now knowing what to expect picked up a card, causing a series of bright flashes. All of the cards were now crawling with information, from blood type, to genetic base chemicals and number of chromosomes, even to possible hereditary conditions. The cards were obviously linked to the Pholdarian computer networks, as they reflected in English as well as a number of unknown languages with unknown symbols. "Take good care of theeesssss" Krussk hissed, in a high voice that reminded them of many snake-villain stereotypes that were common in cartoons, leaving the group stunned. "Say what?? You can talk?!" Duck responded, being the first to regain his composure. Krussk sighed, "Of coorss I can talk. The only differensss is now I can ssspeak in YOUR language." "But... how? Just a little while ago you didn't seem to know much anything about our language." Lexi pointed out. "That" the lizard began "Iss thanks to Ssodok'ss translation matrix..." "Transma-who?" Duck asked, in his usual oblivious manner. Krussk slapped his head, "You know... that little floating robot that was with Sssodok. The one that wasss transslating... You really weren't paying attention were you? Though mine iss gone, Ssodok'ss uploaded all the data on your language from the Pholdar computer network into my brain.... Sssybernetic implantss... doess any of thiss ring a bell?!" They stood still for a moment, blinking, and let out a collective "Ah." Indeed, when thinking back on it, even Duck realized what went on in that last conversation. These strange lizard-men were totally dependant on technology in every aspect. They all had some kind of brain implants or something that let them download stuff into their heads. Krussk began to depart for some sort of elevator. Looking over his shoulder, he beckoned the Loonatics to follow. No words were exchanged as the group entered the elevator. The ascent seemed to take forever as strobes of light passed through the rounded, transparent walls of the lift. There must have been dozens, maybe even hundreds of levels to the shipyard. Its sheer immensity was hard to comprehend from within. At last the lift was slowing. The floors continued to pass by ever slower, eventually grinding to a halt at a much smaller docking bay than the first. Contained within was a small shuttle that was not much larger than the team's older jet. The team wasted little time following Krussk into the craft. Once it was sealed, the shuttle departed for the nearby planet of Pholdar.