Nowhere To Go But Up

Pieces of the Puzzle

"All right, Lor Starcutter. Let's see what the rest of this planet looks like!" As Magolor guided the Lor through the surprisingly spacious tunnels, he actually felt like he could have a real life. It was calm. Peaceful. He knew those adjectives, but was never able to attach a feeling to them until now. As she emerged from the tunnels beneath what looked to be a volcano, Magolor saw on the various monitors that the place seemed pretty desolate. That might be better than what he was used to, but maybe it meant there was no one to steal from. There was a bit of food on board, but most of it was definitely inedible by now and he didn't feel particularly inclined to take a chance on the rest. Somehow, he knew that the Lor was capable of responding, but at the moment, she wasn't. Where this knowledge came from, he wasn't sure. He was, however, sure that it was accurate.

There was a moderately sized plot of land that seemed to be covered in machines. If Susie made it through, she'd probably be somewhere in there. He flew the Lor over, somewhat clumsily, but he got close enough to it. Upon entering the machinery area, he saw no one that looked like Susie, but rather, a bunch of strange creatures milling about. Eyes with armour, sentient droplets of water, black and white things that bounced everywhere. The air wasn't very clean, but it wasn't worse than where he'd come from. He couldn't really tell what they were doing, but many of them seemed to be in a hurry. Can all of you just get out of the way? I'm trying to find something helpful here.

As he made his way through the congested conveyor belts and spiked ceilings, he came across someone who was different. Namely, a blue hunk of metal. It was moving around, directing some of the various creatures to where it wanted them to go, or at least, that's what it looked like. He couldn't hear what they were saying. Magolor approached the robot-y thing, and tried to speak. "Ah, hello. I was looking for some supplies, just, to get by, you know, and I, uh..." It stared at him intently. Okay, Magolor, come on! Just ask the question! Maybe he won't be like the doomers! "Do you know where I could get any of that?"

The robot made a few sounds, then signaled to what looked like some kind of drone behind it. They emerged later, with some water and a package of... what was this? Instant noodles? Never heard of those before. Sensing his confusion, the robot snatched the package away from him and Magolor watched as it cooked them into something that looked-and smelled delicious. It handed the noodles back and Magolor ravenously devoured them. After he drank the rest of the water, he noticed the robot trying to get his attention. It was indicating something flying down the volcano.

Magolor had never seen anything like it before. It was huge, orange, and had four heads. Something about that thing on one of its heads seemed familiar, and Magolor caught himself looking at it for a little too long. The robot was looking at him funny. Whatever. I'll worry about that hat thing later. For now, I want to find some more food. As if it read his thoughts, the robot handed him some more water and packages of noodles. Well, I suppose this is enough for now. I should probably go back to the ship. If she's really alive, she'll probably be worried about me.

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Magolor awoke in his bed, which made sense because that was where he fell asleep. What didn't make sense was the time. It was three in the morning, which he should have no reason to be awoken during. Today was, of course, different. There were sounds coming from the study. Might as well check up on Taranza, he usually isn't awake at this hour. The door to the study was open, and Taranza was lying on the couch. With the exception of Taranza himself, everything was normal. He, however, was writhing uncomfortably. His eyes were squeezed shut, and he was moving stiffly. Looks like it's just a nightmare. He was about to close the door on his way out, but then he heard Taranza whisper from behind him. "Don't go."