Director Nova spent most of his time in silence as he watched the monitors in Operations. Robots clicked away, sifting through the voluminous data streams coming in from all sectors around Earth. Before him was the enormous, two story tall view screen that held an intricate map of the world at all times. Small, in-set, windows were open with constant running footage from news casts, security cameras, body cams, and other sources. BADGE was keeping a vigilant eye on the world, and Nova was that eye right now.
“Incoming report from: Hero Starmaster,” the computer announced in that dry, robotic tone.
“Screen one,” Nova commanded.
A larger, in-set screen opened with Starmaster standing inside a white room. He shivered and they could see his breath. “Oh, hello Director. I...” Just then a small set of hands held up a silver tray with an ornate cup of steaming cocoa. “Oh, thank you.” The tray vanished.
Nova said, “I see you are still at Santa’s.”
“Only returned yesterday. Santa and I scoured practically the entire northern Arctic looking for any signs of Chase or Krampus. Nothing. Sorry, sir. If she’s up here, I have no way of finding her, and Santa is at a loss.”
“Thank you for your efforts. Return to your league for now.”
“Thank you, sir.” The screen shut off just as Starmaster shivered his cup up to his face for warmth.
Nova spent another moment staring at the large monitor. The sound of leather squeezing came as his fist clenched tight. He whispered, “I need answers.”
A robot asked, “Please, restate request at a higher volume.”
“Disregard. I’m going down to lab seven.” He turned on his heels and left Operations for the nearest lift.
One ride later, he stepped into the elaborate laboratory on deck four. Several robots diligently worked at stations, sorting data. Dr. Mark Hostetter stood by a bay with Krystal Fae next to him.
Director Nova approached. “Report?”
Dr. Hostetter nearly hit the glass wall in front of him as he jumped. “Oh, Mr. Nova, you startled me.”
“It’s Director Nova. What have you found?”
Dr. Hostetter, a Geologist and Gemologist from the University of Tennessee, stepped aside to show him the interior of the case. Inside were several dozen shards of the ruby. “Not much to tell, yet. Though, we think we have determined a potential count of the remaining shards.”
Nova stepped over and looked at the spread of ruby pieces, each still glowing with energy. “How could you determine that?”
Krystal Fae said, “You see. We’ve mapped all the shards we have. Over half of them have a matching piece that connects, like a puzzle.”
Dr. Hostetter pulled over a monitor attached to an arm, he pressed several buttons and a short video displayed a digital recreation of the shards. “See, here is the work so far.” The shards moved into place around a wire frame. A large, diamond cut gem had shards filling it in places like a puzzle with half the pieces. Green lights buzzed into place to fill in the holes, but show where they were lacking.
Nova frowned, “So, how does this determine how many shards are left?”
Dr. Hostetter pointed at the shards on the monitor. “These shards have a strange, but identifiable shattering pattern. This gem was destroyed from the inside, like something blew it apart. The fragments broke in a specific way. Now, my calculations show...” he punched up another page filled with numbers and diagrams.
Nova said, “Wait, hold it. Give me the total.”
Krystal stepped in, “Sir, we estimate that the broken gem would have split into around one hundred pieces.”
“Are you sure?”
Dr. Hostetter nodded, “Give or take ten. But my estimates show a likely ninety five individual pieces.”
Nova looked back at the glowing shards. “This is bad. We have forty-five...which means...”
Krystal finished the thought, “Krampus has the other half of the shards. Unless there remains one or two out there.”
Nova said, “I doubt it. We haven’t detected any. All recovered shards after the Fort Knox incident have turned out to be unrelated to this gem, and there has been no reporting of Chase or Krampus stealing anything. All this points to the shards being in our hands and his.”
Krystal said, “Then that means one thing. Eventually he’ll be coming for these.”
Nova said, “That’s my problem to figure out. You two need to use every resource we have to figure out why he wants these.”
Dr. Hostetter said, “I’ll do my best. No promises though, sir.”
“That’s all I expect. I’ll be in Operations if you need me.”
Krystal Fae stopped Nova before he left the room. She spoke with a soft, gentle tone. “Sir, you may be needed elsewhere right now.”
“Where?”
She walked with him toward the door. “You know. He doesn’t have any family, and his best friends are both hurt or missing. He needs a friend, and...well...a father.”
“I am not that boy’s father!”
Krystal laughed, “Not biologically. But you’re the closest he has right now. Talk to him.”
Nova relented with a softened face and slumped shoulders. “I’m a military tactician and commander.”
“And a leader which is what you need to be right now.”
Nova gave a brief nod and left her with Dr. Hostetter.
Nova stepped into the elevator. For a moment, his finger hovered over the Operations button. However, he pressed the medical deck button and zoomed away.
He entered the extraterrestrial department and spent a moment in the decontamination beam. He was then led to a special room by a robot nurse. Dr. Henderson worked at a computer here. She had several monitors running with data flowing by. Her eyes were glued to one monitor, the reflected numbers bouncing off her glasses.
“Doctor?”
Dr. Henderson looked up and pulled her glasses off. Rubbing the blur out of her eyes, she said, “Oh, sir, I wasn’t expecting you.”
“I wasn’t planning this until moments ago. Any progress?”
She gestured around the room. “I’ve run scans, blood samples, and even a tissue sample through our computers. This is the result. Whatever makes up Strange Quark is baffling the most sophisticated computer ever built. Every answer I get raises two more questions.”
“Is he still unconscious?”
“Yes, in a way.”
“What do you mean?”
“Best I can figure, his body is trying to slip out of our reality. Though I don’t have any idea how it works, I know he can shift to other dimensions. In this state, he can heal himself of almost anything. Even unconscious, his body is trying to do this. However, each time he phases, something keeps him here. So, he never slips out. Don’t ask me to explain it or tell you how to stop it, I barely understand what I’m looking at.”
“Monitor his condition. Send all of your information down to the labs studying the energy readings from the ruby shards. There’s a connection, and maybe they can find how to help him.”
Dr. Henderson sat back and looked at the doors to the next room. “He hasn’t left for three days.”
Nova let out a soft, slightly annoyed, sigh. “He’s why I’m here.” With no further questions, Nova stepped over to the doors and they slid open.
The moment he entered he heard, “At what time does a duck wake up? At the quack of dawn. What do you call a cat that swallows a duck? A duck-filled-fatty-puss. Did you hear about the duck with a drug problem? He was a quackhead. What do you call a duck that steals? A robber ducky.”
Gar sat on the floor, cross-legged, with his back to the door. Strange Quark lay on the medical bed, glowing a red hue. The lights in the room were dimmed, the diagnostic systems providing the most light.
Nova walked around the large wings and looked down to see Gar reading from a ragged, old joke book. He was also naked.
“Gar...what are you doing?”
Gar looked up. “Oh, Director. I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Obviously. Why are you reading those terrible jokes?”
Gar flipped the pages with his thumb. “Back, when Jinn stole my soul and I wasn’t moving, Quark sat by me and told me jokes. He wanted to make me laugh myself awake. It wouldn’t work with me, not with my soul stolen. But Quark is all here. Maybe if I can make him laugh, he’ll wake up.”
“Sorry, son. That’s not proper medicine. Bad jokes never solved any problem.” Nova watched as Gar’s already glum mood grew darker. “Look. I...want you...I...need...” he struggled to be encouraging, but all he could think of was giving orders. “Uh...look, Gar, I need you out there helping me. I trust you more than anyone else. You’re honest and loyal. You’re all that remains of my core team. Helping me do my job will help us find answers to help Quark and Chase. We’ll all be together again, but only if you and I stay the course and remain vigilant.”
Gar shut the book and slowly placed it beside Quark on the bed. “I will do whatever it takes to put my family back together.” He stood up and said, “What do you want me to do?”
Nova looked at him and then looked away. “Put some pants on and join me in the Operations center.”
“I can do that.”
“Why are you naked, anyway?”
Gar looked down at himself. “The shorts I wear were a gift from Quark. They didn’t feel like they were on me, but everyone saw them, so it was okay.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I know, but Quark gave them to me, so they didn’t need to make sense, just keep everyone happy.”
Nova asked, “Then why aren’t you wearing them now?”
“Don’t know. They vanished a week ago.”
“Well, go put on some regular shorts.”
0 Comments