The streets of the Capital of North Onnotangu echoed with sirens screaming about unauthorized morphonic powers. The turrets attempted to fire weapons that no longer had ammo, causing them to rattle.
Prime Minister Shizue yelled over the cacophony, “Someone stop that awful sound!”
One of her highest ranking officers ran over and yanked at the side of an old metal box that stubbornly wouldn’t open. Gar joined him and asked to help. With a quick nod, Gar jammed his stone fingers into the box and ripped off the surface. The man quickly pulled out cords and destroyed the interior. The alarm stopped yelling.
Prime Minister Shizue walked over to them, as she patted the side of her own head. “I’m sorry for that. We’re still clearing out the old tech from the former government. I thought the morphon detectors were inactive. Fortunately, we had already disarmed all their automated weapons.”
“What was that?” Torrik asked.
Shizue said, “You know, the old North Onnotangu government was so strict. They made morphonic powers illegal and executed anyone who had them. Well, anyone who wasn’t part of the regime’s private forces. I had to be very careful when using my own powers.”
Krystal said, “What turned the system back on?”
“I don’t know. A wireless technology controlled it. Some old version of wi-Fi that our former government installed for their use. I thought it was inactive now, but several things have reactivated recently.”
“How recently?” Krystal asked.
“About the time this… thing showed up.” She pointed at the sphere that hovered twenty feet off the ground in the middle of the square.
Gar said, “We are here to investigate this thing.”
Shizue asked, “Are my people in any danger?”
Gar answered, “We have been scanning these metal balls all over the world. They aren’t giving off any bad radiation or anything dangerous. We don’t know what’s inside. But Nova doesn’t think they are immediately dangerous.”
“But, what is it?” Shizue asked.
Krystal said, “We are here to help find out.”
“My best scientists have been scanning it and testing the surface. It would please me if BADGE shared the information they have scanned. We would be glad to share ours.”
Gar tapped his comm unit. “That should be fine. I will talk with the Director.”
“Come over here.” Shizue walked him over to her scientist.
Krystal and Torrik approached the metallic sphere. It was almost perfectly round. The metallic sphere had a grid of lines on its surface where the metal was attached. There were no rivets or any marks at all. The metal was shiny and clean. Their faces reflected at them, distorted by the curve of the surface.
“Well, there it is… a giant metal ball.” Krystal said.
Torrik said, “Mind if I try a spell?”
“Go for it.” She stepped back.
Torrik held up his hands, “Pichly Finchly Potsy Rex, Quidly Quadly, reveal any hex!” A golden light flashed from his hands. It continued for a few moments and then died down. “Interesting.”
“What did you find?” Krystal asked.
“There is no spell holding this aloft. No magic on the surface. But, your sense devices…”
“Sensor.”
“Whatever. Nova was right, I can’t see inside either. Only the outside was visible. However, if a spell was causing this to levitate, I would have seen it.”
Krystal walked around it, looking it over intently. “I can’t see any marks that indicate anything other than it being made of metal and floating.”
Torrik put his hand on the surface.
“DON’T DO THAT!” Krystal yelled, which caused several security people to jump.
Torrik laughed, “Don’t be so nervous. As a warrior and defender of Yohan, I am taught to put myself at risk before others. If this will hurt me, then that will tell us something.”
“Okay, but I still don’t think it’s wise.”
“Wise or not, this is doing nothing to hurt me. It is cold. Colder than I would expect, with it being such a sunny spring day.”
Krystal ventured to put her hand on it as well. It was ice cold. “Odd. But, not alarming.”
Torrik took his hand away and put his ear up to it. “I can’t hear anything. But, I guess that is to be expected. Whoever made this, made it so that it wouldn’t reveal any of its secrets.”
“Reveal. That’s a good idea.”
“What?” Torrik frowned.
“My turn with the magic.” She took a step back and held up her arms. Her body glowed with a purplish energy and lifted from the ground. That energy expanded out and bathed the area in a strange purple hue. Spectators in the distance gasped, and the security became more alert.
Everyone could see what appeared as tiny dots of glowing bright light around the area. The closer to the sphere, the more dense the dots were. In fact, these dots nearly hid the sphere.
“That isn’t good.” Krystal said.
Torrik asked, “what are we looking at?”
Krystal put her hands down and lowered to the ground at the same time. As she did, the purple cloud evaporated into the air. “My magic just revealed the morphons of the area that are arcane. They are condensing at this location. And, I suspect that all the other types of morphons are doing the same. The question is, why?”
“At least we have something important to report to Nova,” Torrik said.
Gar walked up. “We have something else as well.” He was holding a computer tablet from the Onnotangu authorities.
Krystal and Torrik watched a video from cameras at night in the square. A large flatbed truck drove into the square, stopped, and then continued on.
“What is that?” Torrik asked.
“That is a truck, it is…” Gar started explaining.
“I know what you strange wheeled vehicles are now. What is that truck doing?”
Prime Minister Shizue answered, “We don’t know. Our systems didn’t notice this as a problem, as it seemed to do nothing. But it stopped directly under where this sphere appeared and then moved on. Two days later, this thing shows up. It is too strange to not have a connection.
Krystal huffed, “As a journalist, I can tell you that this is irritating. We have evidence of… something. But everything raises more questions.” She looked at her comm, “But, I suppose new information is better than no information, even if it just adds confusion. We need to report this all to Nova at once.”
Shizue asked, “What should we do for now?”
Krystal let out a sigh. “BADGE just asked me to look. So, I can’t say. I am not Director Nova or any other official from BADGE to tell you exactly what we would want you to do. But, my best advice for now is to give this a wide berth until we have more information. Trust me, we will pass on the information to you the moment we know something. I will make sure of that.”
“Thank you.”
Gar said, “Okay, so, magic us back to the station.” He seemed a little giddy for the experience.
Torrik said, “Can’t. Don’t you recall? I put a powerful spell on your space station. It prevents magical or morphonic teleportation. I had to make sure that Lady Echidna didn’t pop in unexpectedly.”
Krystal was already summoning a shuttle with her comm. “Nova said to leave the spell for now, just in case another magical entity pays them an unwanted visit. We can portal away from the station, but not to it.”
The BADGE shuttle arrived quickly, and they were off toward the BADGE HQ in the heavens while the people of North Onnotangu hesitantly watched their new, unwanted visitor.
In a distant part of the Earth Solar System, a small wormhole opened and an ancient warship slipped out. The engines burned hot as it moved toward a tiny blue planet in the distance.
0 Comments