“I could’ve taken him.” EB said as he hopped along with Gar.
Gar turned a corner and headed for the laboratories. “I can’t believe Justin yelled at you.”
“I might’ve provoked him by yelling at him first. But he was saying just the nastiest things about my bestest buddy, Nova. I know Nova is acting strange and has done some really bad things, but he is still also sending us clues. I just know he isn’t totally on her side. He’s like a double agent, or something. But, Justin... Sheesh... that dude needs to act better or I am going to shove an egg where... “
They both turned a corner and came face to face with Justin. “Where?”
EB glared at Justin and folded his little arms. “You don’t wanna know. Just remember this one thing, bub, I may look like a cute little fuzzy bunny and love to make candy, but I’m one of the most powerful, magical creatures on this planet... and don’t you forget that.”
Justin gave EB a critical glare for a long moment and then coolly said, “That’s what I need you for. Come with me.” He turned and walked in the same direction EB and Gar had already been walking.
They made it to the laboratory with the teardrop artifact hovering in the same energy field it has resided in since arriving on the station. Dr. Henderson checked readings near it and Chase stood beside her, simply looking at the object with a touch of fear in her eyes.
“Chase, good, you’re here.”
Chase said, “I don’t know how much help I can be. I told you everything I saw.”
“I know. But does this spark any other thoughts you obtained? Any tiny detail could help us?”
She looked at the teardrop for a long moment while everyone waited. She said, “I just know Nova had something to do with this thing, more than simply giving it to Midgard. Other than that, I also know it truly is the heart of some terrible beast. A magical relic like the Eye of Fenrir.”
Justin looked at the teardrop as well. “Then we must conceal it so our enemy cannot easily find it.”
Dr. Henderson said, “I don’t know if that is possible. Nova was extremely brilliant. He understood everything about BADGE and our technology. He might not have been able to fully use it as a specialist, such as myself, but he understood it better than most. Anything we use to hide this will be at risk of his knowledge, and I don’t think we have time to invent anything new.”
Justin turned around and looked at EB. “That is where you come in.”
“Me?”
“Yes. You said it yourself. You are extremely powerful. Your magic is unique. Could you conceal this with some kind of spell or magic that will hide it from our enemy?”
EB nodded, “I think so. I can put it inside a magical eggshell that will block any kinda sensor device or magical means of location. I mean, this stuff is really totally great at hiding stuff. I once made this for...”
“Not now.” Justin cut him off. “Do it.”
Gar asked, “What good would that do? They will know we will have this on the station.”
Justin answered, “If we can hide it in something, then we can move it. If they can’t see where it is, then we can move it without them knowing. From there, we can put it in a place Nova won’t so easily figure out.”
Chase said, “Nova gave this to us to keep it safe. That’s the only reason he would do this. Lady Echidna got the Eye of Fenrir, but she must also need this.”
“Precisely. And we’ll do just that. EB, get to it.” Justin stood back.
EB hopped up onto a rolling chair and held both his paws up in front of him. He concentrated with all his might, and a white ball of energy formed between his paws. Suddenly, a large egg-shaped object popped into existence around the floating teardrop. It looked like a piece of carved marble with exquisite decorations etched on the surface. The egg plopped down and rolled to the side, completely unfazed by the energy beam.
Dr. Henderson turned off the energy as Justin reached over and picked up the egg. “It’s heavy.”
“Of course it is. That isn’t just any ordinary egg or even chocolate egg. That’s made of pure Vexillian Marble, which can only be conjured by the most powerful of my kind. It’s enchanted to block all sensor devices. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, on this station can read inside that shell. Promise.”
Dr. Henderson scanned the egg. “He’s right. This scanner is the most precise scanner we use in the labs and it cannot penetrate that shell.”
“Told-ja.” EB grinned.
“Can you make four others?” Justin asked.
EB frowned, “Four? Well, sure, but it takes a lot outta me to do this. Might need to rest.”
“They don’t have to be perfectly like this. Just visually. I want this to be identical to the others.”
“Okay, I guess. I’ll get to them. Gimme a sec.” EB started concentrating again.
Justin hardly cast a glance at EB, let alone thank him for this, as he turned to Gar. “You’re also impervious to most sensors. You read as stone and are indistinguishable from most other stone on the planet. I want you to take this and prep five shuttles for departure. Get four other robots to take places on each one, each sending a false signal to read as stone. Give each of the robots a fake egg. Then, leave and take this egg to a destination that will be sent to you from our ground operations in Kenya.”
“Where will I be going?” Gar took the egg.
“I don’t know, and that is the point. No one on this station will know. And, the Kenya station will only have a computer generated response for you, which will be wiped after a one time signal. Take the egg to the destination and you will know what to do when you get there.”
“I will?”
Justin commanded, “From this point on, none of us will refer to this teardrop or anything else about it. We will call it ‘the egg’, and that will be the code. At no time, on any official or unofficial communication line, will you refer to this as anything but ‘the egg’.”
Justin stood in command in operations, with Chase and EB beside him. They all watched as the five shuttles departed the station’s docking bay. They didn’t even know which one contained Gar and the egg.
“I hate sending him out there alone with that. Who knows if Nova will find him?” Chase said.
EB waved his paw in the air. “Don’t worry. Aint no one finding that egg with the amount of magical protection I gave it and Gar is made of stone... magical stone at that. It’s all good.”
Justin said, “No, it isn’t good. We might be hiding that thing, but that is only a temporary measure. We need to know what it would do. Why does Lady Echidna want it? What is she up to? We are leagues behind her in understanding her schemes, and I don’t like it. We have work to do.”
EB hopped up onto a computer console and sat down. “Look. We have wracked our brains for days trying to figure all this out. Maybe a little R and R would be nice for the afternoon. With that teardrop thing gone, and well hidden, we can watch a movie in the theater or better, we can watch a round of simulated battling. The Fifth precinct has scheduled a big simulated battle with Fenrir and I love watching them in action.”
“No, we don’t have time for that.” Justin said.
EB said, “A little down time can’t hurt. I mean, Nova would let us if he were here.”
Chase was about to say something when Justin simply started yelling. “We don’t have time to relax! The whole world is waiting for us to find answers and fix this! You can sit on your furry butt and laugh about this all you want, but people are in grave danger, the world is in terrible danger and we don’t even know why! I don’t care what it takes, but we have to solve this! I have to fix this! And, for the last time, it is THE EGG, and that is all! I don’t want to hear another word out of you other than ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir’! GOT THAT!”
Chase grabbed his arm. “Justin! That was uncalled for.”
He shook her hand off. “I’m Acting Director Justin, your commanding officer. If you two want to go and take in a movie, be my guest. But don’t expect to come back to your positions. I’ll find agents who are willing to do their job.”
“You can’t possibly mean that.” Chase took a step back.
“Try me.”
Before anyone could answer that challenge, a warning sign came over the screen and a robot announced, “Undocumented magical presence detected approaching station.”
“What? Where?” Justin demanded.
“Shuttle A313, on approach.”
“The New Meta City supply shuttle?” Chase said.
Justin pointed at another robot. “Contact that shuttle.”
There was a long pause and then the robot said, “No response.”
Justin said, “Close all shuttle bays.”
“Shuttle already entering bay alpha. Unable to close bay doors.” A robot announced.
Justin clicked his comm unit. “Station at Red Alert, everyone to battle stations. Potential intruder.
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