A/N: Took less than a year this time, but here it is a new chapter! Friendly Reminder: My works are not betaed and I'm not English. No matter how many times I reread my works, there will always be errors and weird things happening. Please do forgive me?

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The following week found Netto pouring all his attention on the several diagrams he had drawn. At first, it had been a hurdle to decipher the messy alien scrawls. No matter at what angle he was looking them from. They looked as foreign as they were for the rest of humanity, with their squiggles and occasional odd swirl. That is, until Netto caught onto a sequence of symbols that sparked a recognition coming from the far back of his mind.

After that, things became easier the more he focused until all the symbols were translated. Granted, there were some errors due to certain clusters meaning something else if considered next to a particular symbol or another, but Netto was pretty sure that he had gotten the whole thing down to almost perfection.

Well, at least 'perfect' enough to get the entirety of the alien PET blueprint converted into something humans could understand, then use as an almost exact guideline to build the device.

Netto just hoped the thing would be completed before the apocalypse started.

Worrying will not speed the process up. Forte supplied when a full day of Netto floating about nervously became too much to bear. Let them work. If that place is even a sliver of what I remember it to be, they will get it done in time.

The boy stopped in the middle of the room, just short of completing yet another lap around the table. He wrung his hands together, felt the muscles tighten and press against each other, but the anxiety remained. He hated it.

"I know! I know!" He threw his arms up and huffed. His chest felt heavy and no amount of fresh air seemed to relieve the pressure. "I just... I feel... I don't even know!"

He had been battling with his frayed nerves and uncontrollable emotions for far longer than a week. Before returning home and revealing his identity, the action and the need to keep the secret had kept him too busy to acknowledge his inner turmoil. Now, however, with the lull in action, everything he had bottled up was slowly overwhelming him.

You have not spoken with your father about what happened, Forte was not jabbing, merely stating the truth. Perhaps it is time you do so.

Netto frowned. It was true that he had not talked about 'dying' with anyone, but he had dropped hints left and right. To his father. To Meijin. To Enzan. Even to Doctor Cossack.

It hadn't helped at all. Every time he tried to elaborate more on the issue, to relieve his burden and have someone that just listened, their eyes always stopped him. "I need a solution, not pity," he grunted out. "As soon as I mention something, they get like... 'that'. Or sad. I don't want a sad fest either. Mom would be heartbroken if she knew."

Yet, he knew Forte was right nonetheless. He knew it perfectly well. The more he waited, the less he was able to sleep decently, or focus on something. And while the nightmares weren't waking him up screaming, they still seeped him of both physical and mental energy. More than once he had woken up in the middle of the night and had struggled to figure out where he was or even who he was.

Then talk with someone that is not them, Forte was grasping at straws, but in his opinion that was better than doing nothing. You spending time going around in circles and getting overly jumpy is detrimental not only for you, but for me as well.

Netto crouched to the floor and pressed his fingers against his eyes, hoping the pressure would chase away the churning emotions. "I know! It's just... I don't even..!" his fingers dug in a little more and the pressure became stinging. "This is stupid!"

He was running circles again, if not physically then mentally. And he hated it. It was frustrating when all he wanted to do was move on, but fall back to it every time he let his guard down. It was tiring to continually force his mind to not think about it.

The sudden knock to the door was a godsend. It brought Netto out of his downward spiral and sent him almost dashing to the door. He found it weird that someone would knock considering this was not his home, but the boy didn't care. He was glad for the distraction.

And the moment he laid eyes on Enzan upon opening the door, he felt some of the weight over his shoulders lift. "Oh! Enzan!" Perhaps he sounded overly joyous, but he ignored it. "Anything interesting?"

Enzan brought his right hand down from where he had been knocking on the wood and cast a confused glance at his friend, only to blink it away in favor of more pressing matters. "Actually, yes," he replied, making his way inside the tree house and dropping onto the nearest chair.

He looked tired. Not as tired as when he came to Netto with a bunch of papers to translate, but still tired. There were dark rings under his eyes and he had an aura about himself that screamed for the need of rest. The fact that he was there instead of sleeping his exhaustion off, however, spoke volumes about what was currently going on in the world. Sleep, at the moment, was optional.

"We completed it," he said after a while, fishing for something in his pocket. His movements were a bit jerky and Netto wondered for how long he had been awake. "And I thought you should be the first to see it, considering you were the one to come up with the blueprints."

Then he placed something onto the table, causing Netto to take a sharp intake of air.

It was remarkably similar to a commercial Progress PET, but with a larger screen and no buttons. "So this is..." Netto's hand quickly grasped at the device and held it up for inspection. He wasn't as knowledgeable as his father or Meijin, but the more he stared at it, the more he realized how much he recognized it. "Have you tried operating it?"

Enzan nodded, then relaxed onto the chair and couldn't help the small sigh of relief that escaped his lips. "As far as we're concerned, the device works. It turns on and keeps on being active without issues, but that's it." There was a small frown of dissatisfaction on his face that temporarily overshadowed his tiredness. "There's nothing more than a blank screen, and we can't seem to find a way to install any kind of program."

Which meant that while the alien PET wouldn't fry or explode in someone's hands, it still couldn't be fully used.

"Well, now that's a problem..." Netto muttered. He turned the device in his hands and looked at it from all angles, examining every little detail and hoping that the murian knowledge would resurface on its own.

"We also tried to examine it with an external computer." Enzan crossed his arms, looking more and more dejected as the seconds passed. "All it did was to confirm that the PET is empty of any program. We don't have the administrator privileges to do anything with it."

Netto frowned, his face scrunching up in such a way that it felt almost uncomfortable. He turned the device again and stared intently at the screen. It was so shiny that it reflected his image well enough to be seen despite its black color.

"All that effort for nothing..." he muttered. Now he could understand why Enzan was so upset over the whole thing. Days spent pouring over the thing, wasting time and resources, and all they ended up with was something that was as good as a fancy paperweight.

It was not fair. It wasn't even unfair. It was just downright insulting and humiliating. To possess such a vast knowledge and be unable to use it when he wanted.

His hands tightened around the alien PET, and he must have done something right because the device suddenly turned on. It was as blank as Enzan had said it to be, but Netto disregarded the futility of staring at an inert screen. He had put too much effort in the thing to give up now, and stubbornness was usually a winning card for him.

Why are you so convinced this can be of use? Forte asked suddenly, breaking the forceful concentration Netto was pouring into the device. He sounded honestly confused and curious.

The boy looked up, away from the object of his frustration and stared at the wall directly in front of him. His eyes wandered over the surface while his mind tried to grasp at the answer. He knew he had a reason, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"I'm... not sure?" The question was directed more at himself than to those that were listening to him. In the end he shrugged helplessly. "You know... it's one of those things I can't explain. It just feels right, I guess."

Figure it out, then. Forte almost grunted, and Netto had the impression that if he could, the navi would have crossed his arms and glared at him. Not out of malice, but to prompt him into action.

A small smile tugged at Netto's lips. Part of him desperately wanted to reply with something sassy, or perhaps jab the navi in a way out of amusement, but he knew better. They might be on the path of friendship, but there was only so much Forte could deal with before his mood took a real turn or the worse.

"Alright, alright." Netto looked back at the PET, conceding victory to the navi. "I'm open to suggestions."

But no suggestions came. Both Forte and Enzan were past the grasping straws phase, leaving him with nothing but his hidden knowledge to rely on. Something that he was starting to hate due to its lack of reliability. It was like an itch that he couldn't scratch. Just less itchy and more annoying.

"I guess it needs programming..." he muttered to himself, lifting the device well above his head, hoping the new height could shine an answer onto him. "But Enzan said they had no access? How can you put restrictions when you can't even program it? It makes no sense..!"

He was rambling to himself, he knew that, but he didn't care. Even Enzan seemed to ignore it in favor of slumping onto the chair, eyes closed and shoulders dropping. Judging by the slow and even breathing, his friend was either asleep or close to it.

"It's alien stuff, isn't it?" Netto continued his monologue, not expecting any answer. He knew Forte was content in letting him figure it out on his own. "So maybe we need alien computers? Where do we even get alien computers? I don't want to spend weeks drawing more blueprints..."

What about that bird... Forte paused. He sounded like he was internally struggling with himself and his choice of words. ...person?

The boy hummed. "Isarinsi?" Netto asked, voice nothing but a murmur. The name sounded off when not said in the complicated singing of murian birds. "Yeah, I suppose if anyone knows anything, it'd be him. How do we get there? Doctor Cossack took back to SciLabs all the equipment..."

There was another moment of silence between them, and the boy frowned as no idea quickly came to mind. He was stumped, and short of asking someone to go there for him, they were stuck. But who to ask when Rockman was helping his father with strengthening the network security and Blues was wherever Enzan had sent him?

He had noticed the absence of the navi the moment his friend walked inside. Considering his tendency to favor the Materializer whenever he wasn't busy, Netto was sure that his physical absence behind Enzan meant that there was something really important he had to do.

I might have an idea. Forte snapped him out of yet another musing. The network cables. Grab them.

Netto frowned in confusion, but he trusted Forte to know what he was doing. He'd never put them into danger willingly. "Alright," he agreed quickly, without thinking twice and placing the PET onto the table. There was no need for it at the moment.

He started to move around the computers in the back of the room, moving some of the monitors aside to peer behind in search of what Forte had asked for. It was not easy to locate them among the tangle, but he eventually found the right one and pinched it between his fingers. "Like this?"

A hum in his head told him that the navi was focusing on something, and Netto let him be despite his growing confusion and curiosity. He wasn't as stupid and ignorant as certain people made him to be, but the more technical stuff was harder to grasp and required some explaining to do. Personally, he preferred to leave that into the hands of more capable people that he trusted.

Get a better hold of it. Forte instructed once he had the answer to a question only he knew of. Try holding it in your fist.

Netto gave a tiny nod and moved the cable from his fingers to the palm of his hand, pulling at it slightly so that he had a bit more of leeway to work with. "Like this?" he asked when his fingers closed around the thin cord. He felt a bit stupid standing like that, leaning over the computers and arm outstretched towards the back.

If it meant finding a solution to their current problem, however, Netto was happy to deal with the discomfort.

Perfect.

Forte's voice had a small grin to it, as weird of a image as that was within the boy's mind, and he wondered if this was his new way of having fun. Not that he could blame him when he was stuck inside his head and had put his more violent ways aside. "Now what?"

Now you take a trip.

Netto was going to ask what kind of trip the navi meant, but was ultimately stopped when the world faded into a tunnel of psychedelic colors that seemed to stretch forever.

That is, until he was tossed headfirst into a familiar landscape of golden sand and barren rocks.

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Five steps.

Stop.

Turn.

Five more steps.

And repeat the process all over again. Perhaps occasionally adding wringing hands or quick glances around to add a flair to the monotony of his pacing.

That was what Paladin found himself doing the moment he had walked into the room. But while his movements were simple and repetitive, his mind was going through a wild storm of thoughts and emotions. His logical mind was screeching, telling him that this was the first time he had visited the place. Yet his heart, that part of his being that was far from logic and that should not exist, told him the complete opposite.

He knew the room. He knew it was important to him in a way that was more than just being some sort of control center. He knew every panel, every device, every indicator, and every hidden display. If not how they worked, then just for their purpose.

It shouldn't be possible, but he knew it was.

And all this was causing him to be what humans considered to be a nervous wreck.

"So..." His voice had a faint echo in there, and it caused him to shiver inwardly. Another thing to add to the whole know thing. "You say this is a control room for... for... an alien spaceship?"

He had to make sure he had heard right. No matter how much his being vibrated with the feeling of knowing it was right. He cast a glance towards his brother and he was positive that he was learning to be envious of his perfect control over his emotions. It certainly would be beneficial to think about all of this without being blinded by stormy emotions.

A simple nod from Ninja and Paladin was back to pacing nervously, barely realizing he had briefly stopped in favor of properly questioning his companion. "Alright," he muttered, more to himself than anything else. His hands went behind his back, clasping there and fiddling nervously. "Let's say this is true. That Dark Mu built their base within an ancient alien spaceship that comes from who knows where..."

He stopped his frantic walk and finally decided to fully face his brother with the hardest glare he could muster. Not an easy thing to do when the prevalent emotions in his mind were confusion and a feeling of loosing touch with reality. "Why? Why tell me now?"

There was a moment in which Paladin felt that his comrade was as much at a loss as he was. His yellow eyes widened slightly, and his shoulders stiffened minutely. Any other person would have seen no chance from his usual demeanor, but the white navi knew better.

"You..." Ninja's voice had a tinge of uncertainty in it, and the sudden pause spoke volumes of his own inner struggle. "You are breaking free. Your... original program data is rebelling, casting away the chains they put onto you. Onto us. Their control over your thoughts and actions is waning. I was freed, but you are doing this on your own. I would have waited more, let you work this out first, but I'm afraid that we don't have anymore time for you to be ready."

Paladin felt his confusion grow at those words. There was something he was missing. Something important that if only he was aware of, things would just fall into order and make the picture have a lot of more sense. As of now, however, all he felt he had were scattered pieces of a headache-inducing puzzle.

He was never good at mind-games, always preferring to be straightforward unless he was required to do otherwise. And even then it was a struggle.

"Please," he said. One of his hands traveled up to his nose to apply a light pressure. How odd that such a human behavior could work on an artificial being like him. "Spare me and tell me what is going on exactly. No matter how ridiculous and out of this world it will be."

"Then, perhaps, I should recount your story before you and your brother in arms were torn away from us."

The voice was not a voice. Paladin could not explain it at all. It sounded a lot like a large bird singing a beautiful melody, only that this melody had a meaning that came to be within his mind. It was a peculiar feeling that made him pause from demanding who was speaking.

Ninja looked away from him, towards the side and at a strange circular platform near the wall. He looked somewhat relieved when it came to life, bathing the room with a soft blue light. There were sparkles shifting around, coming together to form a tall shape that was not human, merely humanoid. Then scales big and small appeared on its surface, turning a deep and brilliant red. Intense blue eyes gazed about from above a sharp yellow beak. Long limbs stretched, careful of not bumping into things while the being seemingly took delight into the freedom of movement in the real world.

Paladin found himself observing this new arrival without giving an outward reaction. He was too busy wrestling with the feeling that he knew this creature.

"I apologize for intruding," the bird sang again. There was no way Paladin was going to call it talking, no matter if the 'voice' sounded decidedly male."I would do no such thing if I was not called upon. The situation is already delicate enough and pushing is risky. As your friend has stated, however, we do not have much time left."

The white navi stared at this tall bird-person for a moment, then turned his gaze around in search of a seat, or anything that could be considered as such. The place was ancient, however, and if there had originally been any chair, it had probably turned to dust long ago. All he could find was a jutting console of sort that he could at least lean against.

"I have been told that," he said offhandedly, feeling strangely calm about the whole situation. Part of him wondered why since this was starting to look more and more like a huge conspiracy with him right in the middle. Maybe he was just in denial. "Please, elaborate."

Huge wings stretched into an horizontal arch of sort and the bird-person tilted his head downward. It screamed of reverential bowing, from the tip of the beak to the end of the long scaled feathers. "I am Isarinsi, administrator of the Desert Server," he sang. "And I am delighted to be in the presence of my commander once again."

Paladin closed his eyes.

Conspiracy indeed.