She looked around, it was silent. No other signs of life other than herself. Yet, the place felt strangely familiar, she'd been there before, she must have.
Then a low, incessant hum could be heard, the kind of hum you hear when you bang on something hallow with a mallet. A vibration through the ground sent a chill up her spine, and she realized the noise was coming from beneath her feet.
She looked down in alarm, where her reflection greeted her with the same startled expression. The hum was steadily growing louder, and a slender crack had appeared on the mirror-like surface of the ground. As she watched, the crack grew larger, and started to branch off in different directions. Then, without warning the ground shuddered and then reared up violently beneath her, making her stumble backwards and fall with a painful scrape of metal.
The cracks grew rapidly into larger crevasses, small webs of niches grew into larger ones, and began to separate from one another. The dull hum was now a deafening roar, and Nova found herself clenching her receptors shut for all it was worth.
Then, with a tremendous crack, a large chunk broke free from the ground, shooting into space like a catapulted boulder. More rocks repeated this, crashing and bursting from the ground and spinning into the air, a procession of flying, spinning boulders, jagged and deadly sharp.
Nova watched as one circled by close her, so close she could reach out and touch it. She could see her distorted reflection gleaming in it's notches, and as she peered closer, she realized it wasn't herself staring back this time. She recognized the face, the hideous skull like face of someone she deeply loved and loathed at the same time... the corners of his jagged mouth slowly pulled back into a sadistic sneer, revealing many sharp teeth.
"NO!"
Nova sat bolt upright, finding that she was snarled in a throng of blankets she'd been sleeping in moments before.
Breathing heavily, she plopped back down into her pillow, replaying her dream in her head again. How vivid it was, realistic, as if she was really there. If she didn't know any better she would have said she was there. She shuddered slightly, biting her lip, it had been a lot like the previous dream she had experienced, only this time she could 'feel' it.
She rolled over, exhausted. Her hand felt something cold and hard underneath her pillow. Grumbling slightly, she pulled it out and squinted at it in the faint light. It was the book from Gibson's library she had found the evening before. She stuffed it back under the cushion with unnecessary force.
What did it all mean?
"Nova?"
The grumbling voice made her start. She tossed in her blanket, finding herself face to face with Sparx. For a moment she blanked out, and was about to ask him why he was in her room, but then realized the whole team had decided to sleep in the main area (the other rooms being destroyed).
"You ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Nova lied. She sunk back down into her bedroll, rubbing her eyes and turning away from him, punching her pillow into a more comfortable shape.
"I heard you yell, did you have a bad dream?"
"Yeah, a nightmare. It had you in it." Nova huffed irritably, trying with her best effort to block his voice from her conscious.
"Dreamin of me eh?" Sparx chuckled intelligently. "Well now..."
She grumbled and tried to avert his thoughts, however, she now lay wide awake, staring at the ceiling of the Super Robot. As the wind blew through, she felt the robot sway on it's side, letting out what sounded like a very painful sigh. And now she couldn't stand it, being alone with that terrible dream threatening her from the brink of her mind. Suddenly, she wanted to talk to someone to share it with...
"Sprx?" She heard him shift around a bit (while mumbling a few inaudible words), before silence once again settled in between them. It wasn't long before a long, drawled out snore indicated that the monkey had once again fallen into a deep sleep.
She sighed. It was going to be a long night.
---
"Geez Nova," said Otto as she entered the main room "did the bed bugs get yeh?" he was tinkering with some tangled wire mesh in a rip in the wall. Nova looked a mess, her bubble gum eyes where dull, her golden fur was ruffled and lifeless. Delicately fingering sleep rings that had formed under her eyes, she grunted heavily.
"Coffee?" Sprx suggested cheerfully as she shuffled by.
"Hnn." she grunted again.
Chiro was straining under the immense weight of a giant wad of metal, which he was carrying out of the way. Antauri busied himself by flattening any crumpled metal with the heat of his hands, smoothing out cracks and dents in the wall so it might seem that a pole had crashed through it. Nova noticed that at least a quarter of the Super Robot had begun to look as she remembered. However, that did nothing to lift her spirits, which had been worn out the night before.
"What's on the agenda this morning?" she croaked groggily, eyeing the room, suspicious that she already knew the answer. She was tired of being cooped up inside though, deprived of fresh air, and fumbling with the constant trouble of never ending labor. She felt like a waste management woman...
"Lets see, do you want to lift, haul, scrub, pound, fetch, pull, push..." Otto began listing, his voice echoing as his head disappeared in a small dark hole in the wall.
"Where's Gibson?" Nova finally noticed he was missing from the group, finding herself quite annoyed at the thought that he might not be helping out with the work. Just because he didn't know who he was didn't mean he got to skip out on everything, did it?
"Oh he's outside actually," said Chiro said as he lugged the giant wad of metal past her. "He's already fixed up most Otto's pilot, did it this morning while you where still asleep."
Hearing his voice, Otto banged his head inside the wall. "I didn't know that!" he said as his arms pumped up and down to get himself unstuck. Sparx chuckled at him before walking over to grasp him under the armpits and beginning to pull him free. All the while the green monkey continued... "He doesn't know where anything is, or where anything goes! He might have messed up my stuff, like my mud pies!"
Nova highly doubted that Otto's mud pies even existed anymore. They where probably flattened mud crisps by now... However, she realized that Gibson's next target was her pilot, who was right next to Otto's. She didn't want her stuff messed up by someone that didn't know who he was, now that she thought about it...
"Oh wait! Has he worked on mine yet?" She asked Chiro as he disappeared out the door. She bearly heard his reply over the reply of Sparx's upset yelp of trying to free Otto, only in succeeding in loosing his grip on him and flying backwards into a pile of rubble.
---
"Geez..."
Nova could see her breath hanging in front of her nose as she walked outside. Grimacing as her feet hit the frozen solid ground, her fur prickled up so she looked twice her size. She wished now she would have at least put on a scarf, but didn't feel like going back inside now. It would probably take her an hour just to find some suitable clothing anyway.
Looking around, she noticed that the Shuggazume had been enveloped with a coat of white frost. The paper white sky was filled with large, fluffy snowflakes that looked like cotton. It seemed as though the city had grown quiet, muffled by the snow, she couldn't hear the usual wailing of children and honking from vehicles. It was rather nice for a change... without thinking, she stuck her tongue out to catch one of those huge snowflakes, but a voice startled her
"Hello Nova!" and she wheeled around on her heels, very much embarrassed.
"Gib- er, Vibro!"
The blue monkey had a rosy face, and cheerful, crisp voice. His bright eyes blinked at her through the fur of a fluffy coat. Nova couldn't help but smile at him, but also feel a bit regretful that she didn't bring a coat of her own, and rather foolish.
"Did you finish Otto's unit?" she asked breathlessly, hugging herself in the bitter cold. Boy, did she feel naked...
"If your referring to the entertaining green monkey, I did." he nodded, gesturing to the right leg. "At least I think so, I followed the instructions as carefully as I could." his voice was so cathedral and surefooted, brimming with self confidence and assuring cheerfulness that it caught Nova completely offgaurd. It actually made her sodden spirit lift its weary head a little, how could he feel so good about himself in a time like this?
"I'd better come and see it then, and I can fix anything that you might have missed." she said with a shiver, beginning to walk towards the unit. Gibson walked beside her, blowing on his hands lightly and rubbing them together briskly. Though, he seemed surprisingly energetic despite it being so frosty...
"How is it progressing inside?"
"Oh, not much better. It's all bent up robot in there, you can bearly move around."
"Oh dear..." Gibson's voice sounded a hint disappointed, but said nothing else. Nova guessed it was something to do with him wanting to leave Shuggazume and go to his "home planet", wherever that was. She didn't have time to dwell on it long though...
"Wow," she found herself staring at Otto's fighting unit. Gibson had not only fixed up the foot, but the entire leg had been replaced with slicked, polished metal that she could see her reflection in. All the scratches and dents had been meticulously removed. Not a crack nor smudge could be sought on it's impeccable surface.
"Is it all right?" Gibson asked apprehensively, looking towards Nova for a reaction. It was a couple of moments of silence before she exploded;
"DOI!! It's even better than it was before!" she burst into that nervous laughter, that kind that she had always seen girls do when they're abashed by a question and want to look innocent. She was seriously mortified that she had doubted Gibson. Who was she kidding, he still had that good ol heart of his!
"At this rate, you can do whatever you want with mine." she grinned, thumping Gibson heartily on the back. He, in turn, laughed, rubbing his neck, clearly flattered.
"If you want, though I have no instructions on yours like I had with Otto's."
"Then I'll stick with ya then." but as soon as the words passed her lips her stomach sank. She must have visibly showed it too, because in the next moment, Gibson's smile had faded
"What's wrong?"
"Ah nothin. Just chilly out here is all, but it's no problem, I'll tough it out." though, she wished she could have borrowed some of Gibson's confidence to make her words more convincing. She must have sounded like a complete wimp...
"Here, use my coat."
In nearly two seconds Gibson had had unzipped the furry brown jacket and pulled himself out. Nova's eyes expanded ten fold as he walked over and draped it over her shoulders.
"Are you nuts? It's at least five below!" she croaked, but helplessly succoming to the softness of the jacket. It was still warmed with Gibson's own body heat, and she suddenly felt like she had walked into a toaster oven.
"It's no problem." Gibson shrugged as he began to walk back the way they came.
"Yeah it is a problem!" Nova shouted angrily after him, but at the same time pulling her metal arms through the sleeves. "If you stay out here without a coat, I'm going to be dragging you inside as a monkey sickle!" However, Gibson laughed merrily, turning back to look at her, a comical expression on his face.
"I'm quite used to it, don't worry, I used to live in much colder places." Nova gawked at him, still walking steadily as Gibson walked backwards, facing her
"What's colder then below zero?!"
"I'd say the Polar Ice Cap of the Arctic."
"Cap of... what?"
"The Polar Ice Cap of the Artic, top polar ice cap of my home planet. The water there is hardly ever touched by the sun, and so most of it froze stiff. It's so bitter cold, it doesn't sustain any life force at all except myself."
Nova was staring at him with a face worthy of a little girl stuck in a mortican house. 'I guess you aren't really aren't Gibson anymore...' she thought. Even Gibson wouldn't make up such folly stories of frozen places, it just wasn't him.
"Why on Shuggazume would you want to live in a place like that?" she asked, thinking it rather awful to freeze your tail off in a place where there was no one to keep you company.
"Oh well, it's a sort of a long story." he said quietly "I'd be still explaining it by lunch break, and you'd probably be very cold, even with that coat on." Nova almost wanted to say, "darn right!" but didn't. There was something nagging her at the back of her mind, a curiosity that couldn't quite be left alone. As much as it bothered her to know what Gibson was now mentally "Vibro", and that he didn't even know that he once was part of a galactic hero team that prevented evil and chaos, she still was piqued about what his part of the story was.
"We have plenty of time." she mentioned with a shrug. She found herself looking at her own fighting unit, beaten like an old sweat sock, it was tattered and torn almost as bad as Otto's had been. She was suspicious it would take them more than to lunch to put it back together.
"Well, ok then..."
Gibson brought out a pair of large drills, only the groves where smoothed out and glassy in appearance. Gibson strode over to her unit and hoisted himself up. Nova could hear the weak metal creak, ready to give way even under the monkey's remote weight.
"If you could just hold this steady.." he looked down and pointed at the weak appearing metal which was the only thing that kept the foot from falling apart. Nova walked over and held it up firmly, looking up to him as he began to stitch together a lengthy rupture in the heel.
"See, I need to stay in the Arctic because humans on Earth are ever so nervous about an intelligent specie besides their own. Since humans occupy nearly every land mass on the Earth, I naturally moved to a spot where I couldn't be easily found. Humans hardly ever venture into the North, since it's too bloody cold for them to handle. For a while, it was for me too I admit... oh, could you please give this a pull?" Gibson waved his hand to a thick chord that stuck out to the side. Nova took away one hand from holding up the metal, and yanked it roughly, feeling the entire Super Robot shudder.
"Oh, well, looks like the nervous system is fine." he chuckled, gently tapping the leg.
"What did you do on Earth?" asked Nova, who suddenly wasn't interested in fixing the Super Robot anymore. She kept her eyes on him inquisitively, suddenly forgetting the tough shell she put on. She was simply too curious for now...
"Humans are always getting into trouble. They are a very messy species, if it isn't killing, raping or enslaving each other, it's blowing up entire cities or even innocent creatures and their homes. They fail to notice the harm the cause until they are forced to move because of it. Brilliant humans are, but sometimes incredibly thick..." he shook his head and mumbled a few inaudible words that Nova didn't catch.
"I sort out whatever chaos I can, and clean up messes that they leave behind. Whatever I can do really, not so much as the heroic antics that your team puts up, fighting monsters and all. However, one of those do pop up in a while, I'm not usually the one that keeps care of it."
"That sounds terrible, I'd hate to go there." admitted Nova quietly. Even though it was all imaginary, Nova could picture this place very clearly... her feet soaked in blood, standing in a place where the horizon was choked with dead bodies strewn underneath a smokey yellow sky. She'd rather fight a thousand monsters then deal with a species that couldn't even work together... however, Gibson looked down abruptly at her, his eyes so bright they caught her offgaurd.
"Oh, but Earth has a wonderful upside to you know!" he said assuringly "Even though it can be very unforgiving, the nature there is definitely worth fighting for, and some humans know that as well as me."
"Oh?"
The two of them spent the morning working furiously, but at least for Nova, it was as though she where simply in a movie. "Vibro" explained of his home planet with colorful details that spawned beautiful paintings in Nova's head. She listened in awe to the descriptions of the humid, tropical rain forests, filled with exotic fauna of rainbowed colors and where danger lurked at every step. Then she was submerged in the oceans, swimming among living creatures that where almost as big as the Super Robot itself. Down below, there where delicate coral reefs that where like giant gardens, only they pulsed with more life than any plant to give as fish and sharks twisted themselves about their razor edges. And then, she'd be flying above the open waterfalls and forests and canyons, where lakes and streams twisted themselves like florissant ribbons reflecting the sun. She'd marvel at the majestic beauty of the tall mountain peaks and the caves that took thousands of years to form.
All of this Vibro spoke of, as fluently and as casually as if he himself had lived through it all. She couldn't help but stare at him, her eyes glazed over in awe, wondering where on earth he had gotten this vivid imagination. Vivid, vibrant... she thought. Suddenly, the name "Vibro" sounded very fitting for him, for this blue monkey who stood in front of her, throwing out artistic words as he worked on her unit, was no longer worthy of the drab name of "Gibson."
Once in a while, he would stop to look at Nova, and in his wild stories, would draw marquees in the air to further exaggerate how vast the auroraborialis would stretch it's curtains, or how the fierce fights between loins and hyenas would commence over their hard battle of bringing down the giant elephant. Nova would say nothing but utter words of amazement to keep him going with his stories. Sometimes she'd consider telling him something of Shuggazume, but found herself tongue tied as most of their adventures where off world. She found herself disappointed to realize that beyond the small city of Shuggazume, there was little more to speak of but the Zone of Wasted Years, a desolate rock land where hardly any life existed. Besides, she didn't want Vibro to stop, and needless to say he obliged.
Before they knew it, they where done by early afternoon.
---
That night, little Nova lay wide awake in her bedroll, but not just because she didn't want to go to sleep. In fact, she was exhausted, and could bearly bring herself to lift even the tip of her tail. Her mind buzzed with images of fierce leopards and tall giraffe's, which sounded frightening and beautiful, just the way she liked things. She realized she wanted to visit this planet Earth more than anything, to see all of these amazing things. However, her heart sank a little. Earth wasn't real, and neither was any of the folly stories that "Vibro" had explained, no matter how beautiful they sounded. It was just science fiction.
Turning over in her bed restlessly, her hand sought out the book in her pillowcase. Bringing it out before her, she sat up and opened it carefully, examining it. There was Gibson's old familiar handwriting, neat and small, and conscientious. She trailed her metal fingers across the thin pages, wondering how many hours the scientist took sitting in his lab writing this thing. She didn't understand the carefully plotted equations and intricate illustrations that he used, some of them she couldn't decide if they where a telescope or some sort of alien technology that he was considering inventing.
She sighed "It must be lonely having all that knowledge and no one to share it with..." but then something in the lower corner of the page caught her eye and she brought the book closer to her face.
There was a little drawing of a planet, definitely not Shuggazume Nova realized right away since the continents where all out of whack. It was small and humble, and looked as though Gibson simply scribbled down the image before the team had to go on a mission. Below it was a brief description...
"I've been having strange dreams of this awkward little planet. From what my sources tell me, it's a planet that shares our galaxy and takes several days to reach. I've yet to learn the name of this suspicious little ecosystem where there is a great promise of life and chaos. In fact, the main species who live there are quite advanced and if not more so then Shuggazume..."
Nova eagerly read on:
"Edit 87: The super computer has finally formalized a name for this place from the satalights surrounding the planet broadcasting information, this planet is dubbed: "Earth". Pronounced "ER-th". I will investigate more so if my dreams are not settled by this tibit of information."
Nova forced herself to stop reading and uncrossed her eyes. She could feel her heart pounding furiously. Earth, that's the same planet that Vibro had made so many stories about! Composing herself, she looked back at the book nervously, rereading through it again.
Earth was real... it had to be! Gibson himself wrote it, and he never made things up. If Earth existed, how much more of his story was also true?
"Stop thinking like that Nova gosh darnit!" she snapped herself back into reality. What was she thinking? Of course his story wasn't real, he made it all up. He hit his head too hard, and now he was delusional, thinking that he was some whacko monkey from another planet!
"Nova,"
The yellow monkey started violently, shoving her book into her bedroll and turning to see Antauri's bright blue eyes gazing back through the dimness.
"I know you might be restless, but you need your rest for tomorrow." he said wisely, and Nova, flustered at his unflickering gaze, nodded. She felt as though he might be scanning her, and seemed to sense the book that she kept hidden in her covers.
"Sorry chief, I'll see you in the morning." she flopped back down in her pillow and shut her eyes, but knowing all too well that Antauri could see through her fib, but after a few moments of silence, she peeped open one eye.
Antauri had made it to the door, (which had been fixed that afternoon). She caught a flash of his eyes as they glanced backwards for a moment, and she flinched and snapped her eyes again. Keeping one open just a crack, she watched him slip soundlessly through it, until his tail was the last to go.
She wasn't the only one here with a secret.
---
Thank you evreyone for the faves and comments, much appreciated. I know I havn't updated this in a while, but I've been sort of busy lately. (FYI: I havn't read through this chapter as much as I should have, so there might be some serious errors in the text. I may or may go back over them, so bear with me.)
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