Part 2:

-I can’t believe it… I can’t believe it, damn it !!

The one who spoke thus was Simon … once he woke up and could focus his gaze, between the Chief Socrates and I we explained what happened, as well as his resurrection … incredulous, he looked at his image on the screen of one of our tablets … to discover the strange new scar on his face …

-Dante, every time I have to do something with you I end up with a new scar … You are unlucky chasing my butt all over Next Island…

The situation would have been very comical had it not been for the seriousness of the events … when he recovered a bit and his anger passed, Simon told us about the last seconds of his life.

-The roof fell on us, and without a doubt I lost consciousness … I was awakened by a huge, indescribable pain, from the inside out of my body … the pain of the disconnection of the DNA banks … I couldn’t move, that idiot Mark had me held with all his might … And I saw Desmond …

Simon stared at me …

-Dante, you were unconscious, and that bastard was holding your hand with the Chikara in hand … he was pointing at my neck, and his finger is on top of yours on the trigger of the gun … Damn … The very pig shot while cursing him with all my might … explosion on the neck, and all black … until a moment ago …

-Okay Simon, calm down … -Socrates put his hands on his shoulders in a friendly gesture. -It’s all over … you’re back to life, and now we must end this story before Desmond does something dangerous.

Behind us we heard the sound of the teleporting chips materializing … Moustapha appeared and our most recent acquisition, my friend JoseGaltor …

Between greetings and introductions, the six of us sat on the grass and proceeded to summarize the situation.

-The thing is as follows: – the one who spoke like that was Chief Socrates – Simon, Mark and three other VIPS, of which we already know one, know about the Planetary Teleporter, as well as the location … They also know that it is destroyed and useless, and they think they have left Simon and Dante out of the game with the fake murder …

-Then it’s easy: Use the planetary troops, stop them all five and it’s over… We restore Dante’s honor and forget all this nightmare… -Moustapha was a practical man.

-The Planetary Chief cannot choose a faction or there will be an imbalance of power … this must be done discreetly. -Katalina understood the ins and outs of power … without a doubt, its origins, of which I have not yet spoken, helped it.

-Exactly, we cannot destabilize the planet… therefore, we will have to… -The sound of the InterCOM interrupted Socrates – Wait a minute… Chief forward, Roger.

-Chief Socrates, here follow-up … the bird went to the TP directly to Shadow Hill.

-Let’s go there, copy that. -Socrates closed the communication, and addressed us – Gentlemen, it seems that the identified VIP is going to the Teleporting near the pyramid … Why?

It didn’t make sense that … the Planetary Teleporting was destroyed … there was nothing else there. Just scrap, destroyed robots, spare parts in stock…

An idea began to haunt my head …

-Simon… when we were there, we destroyed everything, didn’t we? -I asked for.

-Let’s see Dante, we put the termite charges in the TP and we burst it … -Simon answered looking at me strangely …

-As far as we know, we could not see more of that pyramid … the corridor, the entrance, the gigantic door through which we left, the teleporter type entrance through which we entered … was there only that? -I asked the question. JoseGaltor was the one who answered.

-And if there were more than one teleporter room inside? -That’s it … someone else saw my idea.

-It doesn’t make sense … Desmond would have used her to run away. – Simon cut the possibility … Now it was my turn.

-What Desmond said … “colleagues will come to hack the system” … and those spare parts that were in boxes …

Socrates put words to my suspicions …

-The fellow hackers are the other two unidentified VIPS … and with any spare parts … they will try to rebuild the Planetary Teleporter !!!

Part 3

With a flash, we appeared in the TP closest to the coordinates we had of the pyramid … Being registered in the DNA banks I was able to enter the Storages network again and recover my weapons and my old Viceroy … With Simon it was something more complicated, because their belongings were already in the previous warehouses for the global auction, due to having “died”… But with the permits and authorizations of Chief Socrates, the bureaucracy fell at our feet.

Once prepared, Socrates spoke to us:

-Sirs … from now on I cannot accompany you … The “official” presence of the Chief of Next Island would be counterproductive in the political balance … Therefore, from now on you are alone …

We looked at each other: Moustapha, JoseGaltor, Simon, Katalina and myself … Armed, willing, but in case of a mistake, they would deny knowing our operation … I remembered a former elite corps of covert operations, true shadow heroes but, if something came out wrong, he denied any relationship, knowledge or support. Socrates continued:

-Okay, the orders are as follows: Re-enter the pyramid, destroy a possible second Teleporter or the previous one if it had been rebuilt, destroy the spare parts, everything … regarding Desmond, Mark and the three VIPS, they must be taken prisoner … They will later be taken to the Secret Services of the government of the Entropy Quadrant in Calypso … and they will cease to be our problem.

We nod in silence … we prepare the coordinates of the pyramid in our teleporter chips and …

With a flash, we appeared in the vicinity of the pyramid … there it is, a few hundred meters from us … black, silent … and with several Krakas parked nearby … We were not alone …

We approached carefully … the black mass grew as we got closer … There was no one watching, something logical because no one knew those coordinates except those who were there …

The pyramid had a Teleporter-type upper entrance, which was accessed with the chips that some of the guardian robots had … There was also a huge armored door at the front, almost invisible, whose opening mechanism we had broken to lock Desmond inside … but he had managed to open a hole during the months that he had remained there, and that allowed him to flee … there it was … it was not big, but it was enough to be able to pass inside …

We went inside and turned on the flashlights … the hallway was dark, although we saw remains of Desmond’s work: Abandoned tools, discharged batteries connected to long lines of cables … bloodstains from his suicides … Deep down, Desmond did not deserve the torture at hand. that Simon and I submitted to him.

JoseGaltor gestured to us pointing to a corridor … he remembered it from the other time, so we moved on … there were still traces of our passage: several guards destroyed … we followed the trail of destruction that Simon and I had created until we reached the door where we were going to stop at the Teleporter room …

We looked at each other: If Desmond and the others were there searching for the remains, we should come in by surprise, aim quickly and stop them … Two to the left, two to the right and I to the center … We count: three, two, one …

Now!!! I pushed open the door and we stormed in, shining our flashlights and pointing at possible targets …

-Stop !!! Stop there and drop your weapons !!! -we shouted as we pointed to the air … only the echo of the room answered us … We looked at each other without knowing what to do …

Nothing !!! … there were only remains of the original teleporter that Simon and I had destroyed … Traces of the explosive charges and the combustion of the termite charges … a pile of junk from drokas, drones and Calypso defenders, and the metal skeleton that had been General Kratos, but nothing more …

Where were Desmond, Mark and his henchmen ???

Part 4

We went back down the corridor we came through, which we hadn’t fully explored now or when we were the first time … several doors opened to various rooms with machinery, boxes of spare parts and other things that we could not identify …

In some rooms we saw traces of the months that Desmond spent there, while other rooms seemed not to have been used at least by human hands …

At the end of the corridor another sliding door opened that led to a ramp that descended to a lower level … We tensed, we did not know what was there …

We put the flashlights on low intensity, so as not to denote our presence, and we slowly descended the ramp, without making noise …

The ramp was quite long, and every so often it turned and fell again, like a spiral staircase.

Suddenly, JoseGaltor, who was in the lead, raised his clenched fist: The universal signal to stop because there was something ahead … slowly we cocked the weapons, trying to keep the BLP strikers not making noise … we advanced a little more, and began to see lighting … A bluish light … and the noise of machines … and in the background, human voices …

A little further down was the last bend in the ramp … we crouched down and looked out very carefully, to see a scene that left us all petrified …

A huge room, cyclopean in size, in the center of which was a second Planetary Teleporter, but in this case of gigantic dimensions … what were you planning to transport? Eomons? Hussks?

In the background a row of monitors, terminals and other electronic devices in which the three VIPS were busy: The two who spoke with Simon and me when they paid us for our service and our silence when they discovered the Teleporter, and the third who was the one who disconnected me from the DNA banks in Ancient Greece …

Voices brought me out of my reverie: Desmond was calling Mark from the Teleporter panel, while he lowered a protective plasma welding mask … Mark was leading a small transport with materials …

We hid…

-Hell, Dante … these guys have built another teleporter … -Simon didn’t get out of his astonishment.

-Let’s see … if it’s technology from Calypso’s robots, most likely they can’t connect it without help … -JoseGaltor was right …

-And this … – Moustapha narrowed his eyes trying to see what was at the bottom of that huge hangar- What’s there at the bottom?

We looked out again… there was something huge in the shadows, but the very darkness of the background did not allow us to see what it was …

-I don’t know, but I think we should throw ourselves against them and try to stop them … -Katalina already wanted to go into combat …

-Mmmm … if I remember correctly, Desmond told me that there was a revival right here … if any of them or us dies, he will appear again in battle … That could be a draw … – I doubted the way to launch us attack…

-Maybe we should try to catch them by surprise -JoseGaltor grabbed a piece of metal from the ground and threw it hard through the gap in the ramp to the opposite side of the monitors …

The metallic “clang” was heard over the noise of the machinery … The three VIPs jumped up, with their short weapons in hand; Mark left the transport and materialized a Plasma rifle, and Desmond raised his welding mask while he stroked the grip of a Sparkbite … they all looked in the direction of the sound, which was just the opposite direction from where we were …

Everything was silent for a moment and, immediately afterwards, the five of us got up in unison with our weapons at the ready, pointing them …

-SET EVERYONE !!! NOBODY MOVE!!!

The five Stel turned to see five guys with a diverse and ferocious appearance, us, pointing them with large caliber weapons … We looked into each other’s eyes … It is curious how conscious one of small details is: a drop of sweat, a corner of the lips twisting, the flexing of the fingers on the triggers …

-Damn Dante !!! Is it that I’m never going to get rid of you ??? -Desmond was looking at me wanting to squash me like a Cyrenea fly.

-Desmond … how could you build this? And in such a short time?

-Little time? I had enough … I did not tell you everything that happened in those months that I was locked up here …

Desmond began to speak …

Part 5:

-Dante, I already told you that I had time to explore all this, and repair lighting and energy systems … the first time I committed suicide I appeared in the Revive that is on that corner … I saw the ramp through which I imagine you have come …

Desmond had a strange look as he thought back to the months locked up there.

-And besides, I found this Planetary Teleporter, but it wasn’t working … in fact, it was under construction … I didn’t have much to do here, except die to live again, so I spent a lot of time trying to repair it in order to escape …

Desmond always had great knowledge of engineering, so despite the misfortune of being locked in the pyramid, surely he took that as a challenge …

-The weeks passed … I learned a lot about this robotic system, so different from the teleporters of the Entropia Quadrant, but … there came a time that with my knowledge I could not do more, I needed to reprogram the computer system, but hacking is not among my skills …

He looked at the ground, perhaps saddened … Mark looked at him with intense love, possibly remembering the months that they were not together …

-When I saw that I could not do more, I decided to get out of here as it were … the weeks of attempts to open the door began … and my mind, already quite deteriorated by the confinement, the suicides and the attempts to repair something that has never been seen, it finally broke … the rest you know …

He looked up and stared at me …

-Dante, we were friends, you could have been part of this …

-Desmond … you don’t betray a planet in this way …

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a movement … Moustapha saw it too … one of the VIPS raised his gun … The exchange of shots began …

We all took cover, both they and us … the shots ricocheted off the walls, the monitors, the boxes of equipment …

Suddenly, a shot pierced Moustapha’s chest, who fell dead next to us … he began to vibrate and, seconds later, he dematerialized … to appear on the opposite side of the room, where the Revive was …

That led nowhere: When we were mortally wounded, we would reappear … Draw … We knew it, but so did they …

Suddenly, Mark approached one of the terminals and began to type frantically while his companions covered him with the shots … What the hell was he doing?

Finally, we heard a deafening sound … we all stood still, not knowing what was happening … We looked at the dark background, where the noise was produced …

Huge red spotlights lit up in the distance … a sound like metal legs, gears … what was it?

Finally, that thing reached the illuminated area … A huge Vanguard appeared before us, with its metal legs …

Undoubtedly, Kratos had brought that huge robot, but it had not been activated the other time … and Mark had connected it …

The huge robot advanced towards us and pointed its weapons … We stood still, while the five Stel looked at us with sarcasm …

-Now what? -One of the VIPS looked at us mockingly – We have a huge ally to kill you …

Suddenly, the Vanguard spun around and looked at the VIP … he quickly aimed his gun at him and literally tore him apart with a single shot …

The Vanguard was connected, but it was not reprogrammed, so we humans were their enemies … them and us …

-Covered !!! EVERYBODY!!! – Desmond screamed like a man possessed …

It was clear: Our fight could wait, before all of us had to finish off that huge robot …

Part 6:

We all took cover while we drew our most powerful weapons … I happened to hide near one of the VIPS … we looked at each other … now was not the time for feuds, first we had to finish off that Vanguard …

Desmond appeared on a Skyripper, shooting at that huge robot … While, JoseGaltor and Moustapha machine-gunned the robot’s legs, trying to make it stumble … Katalina fired her Lacerating in bursts trying to damage her weapons …

Simon and I had high-end Armatrix BLPs… we peeked in unison firing every last round, while we watched Mark and the other VIPS firing their guns…

The hangar was a place of destruction … the Vanguard’s shots were destroying everything, including the second teleporter, which was blown to pieces … From his Skyripper, Desmond watched in dismay … all the efforts that he had made for nothing …

A few minutes later, the Vanguard began to lose lubricating fluids and to limp … its lights flickered and, with a great crash, the huge robot collapsed, defeated …

We all stood still for a moment … We looked at each other and, like comrades, we smiled with satisfaction … but it only lasted a moment …

With a leap worthy of a cheetah, Moustapha launched himself on one of the VIPS and engaged in a hand-to-hand fight … The rest of us did the same: the only way to end it, one way or another, was hand-to-hand. .

JoseGaltor was shot down by another VIP, but he managed to keep him at bay … Katalina, with her own SI Knife feint the remaining VIP … Mark advanced towards Simon, and that left me alone with Desmond …

He glared at me as he drew his SparkBite … mine came out, and like two ancient Japanese warriors, sword against sword, we finally faced each other …

The fight was tough … But the VIPS, after all, were simple bureaucrats who had military training and had nothing to do with Katalina, Moustapha and JoseGaltor … in a few minutes the three VIPS were senseless on the ground while my colleagues immobilized and bound them …

Simon hit an already defenseless Mark … the punches were devastating … it would take more than a Regeneration Chip to fix the damage on Mark’s face … with one last blow, he collapsed senselessly at Simon’s feet … some zip ties plastic, and Mark was immobilized …

Desmond kept feinting and striking with his sword … we realized that we were fighting alone, while the others looked at us …

-Dante, you spoiled everything !!!

-You don’t see it yet, Desmond … The robots would have invaded us … give up once …

Desmond glared at me… he swung his sword and slashed through himself… Suicide?

He fell to the ground, and seconds later, his body began to dematerialize … where is the Revive? Of course!!! Now I see it.

-Katalina, go to the Revive !!!

The Revive was near one of the exit doors of the room … without a doubt he wanted to escape …

Indeed, with a flash Desmond appeared in the Revive next to one of the doors … He made a move to run towards the exit, when an iron fist stopped him short …

-I told you that I would take you to hell with me … – Simon had foreseen the play and was able to intercept it …

We all looked at each other… five senseless bodies were at our feet, tied up and ready to hand over to Chief Socrates… We dragged the bodies towards the exit…

Part 7:

In the teleporter near the pyramid, Chief Socrates was waiting for us … he looked at us all satisfied.

-I knew you could deal with this situation … I suppose this time the Planetary Teleporter has been rendered useless … -It was rather a question addressed to me …

-Sure, Chief … all destroyed and the five prisoners here, for whatever I’m going to do with them …

Desmond looked at Mark for a moment, and then straightened … he looked Socrates in the eye, lowered his head and spat out a bloody phlegm, which ended up splashing on Simon’s boots …

-You’re not going to do anything to us … -His tone of voice was challenging – What do you think?” Send me Calypso, Intelligence? … you’re wrong, Socrates.

-No, I’m not wrong … the Entropy Quadrant Intelligence Center will investigate your actions and you will be judged … -Socrates was clear about what was going to happen.

-We will not be judged, stupid planetary boss … Do you think that all this plot we have thought only between five people? -A smile touched Desmond and Mark’s lips.

Socrates looked at them with a point of insecurity … what did he mean?

-Listen, boss … how do you think we could put a drone in Hadesheim? You know that all Calypso communications are monitored …

We all looked at each other apprehensively… would someone in Calypso know about all this? Would he have helped Desmond and his people? And above all … they were going to allow the robots to possibly invade half the Entropy Quadrant …

-I see that now you are beginning to think … -He spit out a bloody phlegm again, and half a tooth step by step; Simon’s fist was like a hammer. – There are people high up in the Calypso hierarchy who are aware of all this … people who want to remove the Space Guild from the equation …

It couldn’t be … traitors in the Central Government … Socrates clenched his fists with fury, he seemed about to explode … he froze for a second, blew out a breath and spoke:

-That’s none of my business now … my mission is to take Calypso to Central Intelligence … JoseGaltor, do you still have the Dropship you brought available?

-Of course, sir… I abandoned it, but I left its location traceable so I can use it remotely… and I’m ready to take a ride to Calypso with the prisoners… -Jose is always up for anything to entertain him… even if it’s dangerous.

-Okay then … take the five prisoners and go to Calypso with them … I’ll send you later by UpLink the necessary documents and safe-conducts …

Socrates took out of his backpack the device for connecting the DNA banks and, one by one, he passed near the five prisoners and disconnected them … his gestures of pain denoted how painful the process was …

-So you’ll be careful if you try to run away … if you die now, it will be final … remember … -Socrates put the device away while five pairs of eyes looked at him with deep hatred …

Minutes later, the ship landed remotely and opened the hold … with little consideration we pushed the five prisoners … As he closed the hatch, we could still hear Desmond …

-Stupids !!! When our contacts know that we are there, the case will be dismissed and we will return again … it may even be that there is a new Planetary Chief on Next Island … -a nervous laugh initialed his speech …

Jose got into the cockpit, started the engines and the ship took off vertically… he stopped for a moment in the air and made an upward movement…. We all watched the maneuver.

-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM !!!

Suddenly, the dropship burst into flames … a shower of debris began to fall as we took cover, just in case …

-What happened?? -Katalina was scared … well, actually we were all …

-I don’t understand -Socrates looked at the explosion in disbelief …

Suddenly, next to us, a glow appeared, and a body was materializing … It was JoseGaltor … We stared, hoping that he had just been reborn to ask him what had happened …

The body appeared upright … it opened its eyes …

-Yesssssssssss !!! Magnificent!!! That H-DNA was of good quality… I just invented a new sport: Resurrecting while you detonate a charge inside the ship you pilot, hahahaha!

I can’t believe it … the very crazy JoseGaltor had detonated the ship with the five conspirators inside … that since they had been disconnected from the DNA banks, they were dead forever …

-But… I… what the hell !!!.. what have you done, Jose? -Socrates was really angry …

-Me? Nothing … I just made sure that these five idiots do not conspire again, much less that they go to Calypso to tell lies about us … -JoseGaltor in the background had saved us a lot of problems …

Socrates lowered his head thoughtfully … no doubt he was considering what had happened, and how it was going to affect Next Island and us …

-Okay … we can’t do anything now … all five are dead, the TP destroyed and this time for real … I think … I think we should forget that this has ever happened … -Socrates began to think about the possibilities that this event offered us …

-But I’m still an outlaw … -I ventured

-No problem … As Planetary Chief I can raise a pardon or … better … we can “lose” some documents and court records … – With Socrates by our side, the bureaucracy would fall like a house of cards …

-And in Ancient Greece? – Katalina wanted to tie up the loose ends …

-Well … er … I will send a messenger to Queen Pentesílea explaining part of the situation … without a doubt she will be understanding and will not want any kind of problems between our worlds …

I looked at them all one by one … loyal friends, who had managed to get me out of this quagmire, and on top of that they had managed to defeat a planetary conspiracy … Oh, if the Space Guild knew how close they have been to losing their business …

Epilogue: A couple of weeks later.

A few days have passed since the events of the pyramid … now we are as always, having drinks in the beach bars of Next Island …

Moustapha returned to Toulan … great friend, who incidentally takes a few thousand peds to buy his silence … It really was not necessary, Toulan people are loyal with promises, hospitality and friends, but … Socrates did not know that, that now he is a little poorer and Moustapha a little richer …

JoseGaltor had to run to Rocktropia … the owner of the stolen dropship managed to trace him here, and he turned out to be one of Arkadia’s toughest Smugglers … He said goodbye to me and Katalina effusively, grabbed his weapons and went out for a window … because the door was being banged on by an angry Smuggler and three bodyguards that were the size and look of a Maffoid …

Simon drank with me until he lost consciousness, celebrating his return from death … and he jumped for joy when I was able to give him a Viceroy Helmet that fit him perfectly … He approached me and whispered in my ear the coordinates of his house … well, continue being very jealous of his safety for being a mercenary, so … I will not say where he lives …

Socrates is still in charge of Next Island … with a security team he went to the pyramid, they removed the scrap metal, they covered the tracks that denoted what had happened, and today that pyramid is an Instance … more or less, a training ground … yes, the requirements to enter are enormous …

And Katalina and me? Well, the usual: crafting, hunting, mining, earning money and living well on this planet where we are finally creating roots …

Maybe in the future we will have new adventures to tell …

The Ancient Greece Redemption – Part 1

That morning something different happened: through the bars of my cell I saw the jailer approach, but this time he was not alone … someone with a hooded robe was accompanying him, which did not allow me to see his face … they stayed a few meters from me cell, and the stranger gave the jailer a handful of peds, apparently to be alone … Moments later, the stranger pulled the hood back, and I could finally see his face.

Desmond … the bloody traitor had come to see me … He came over, looked at me with a scowl of hatred on his mouth, and spoke.

-Hi Dante … Long time since you left me abandoned in that damn pyramid … ago … mmm … 8 or 9 months? -He was staring at me.

-Desmond … How could you … We were friends before your betrayal … – I hit the bars with all the accumulated anger.

That got him out of control.

-Treason? Treason, he says … the same one who left me to die in that nest of robots. – Hatred was evident in his words.

He looked at me for a long time … It seemed that he was ordering his thoughts … At last he spoke again.

-Listen, that planetary teleporting was the beginning of great wealth for the Stel, and now that’s just junk.

-Desmond, but don’t you understand that that would have been the beginning of the end of the Entropy Quadrant? … The robots would have invaded everything sooner or later – It was incredible that Desmond did not see the danger that that represented.

-No, it would have been impossible … Once you and that Simon had finished with the robots, my other VIP colleagues Stel would have arrived and hacked the System, to avoid new communications with Calypso’s robots … It would have been OUR … and you would have too participated … – An expression of pain passed over his face – And instead of helping, you left me abandoned to a thousand deaths …

A thousand deaths … what was Desmond referring to?

-Listen, Desmond, in the end you are alive, only that your plans have not come out … But instead of going back, you end up with Simon and you set me up with your boyfriend to blame me … -If it weren’t for the bars of the cell , I would have killed Desmond with my bare hands.

Desmond looked at me … his eyes showed a shadow of madness, but also of that intelligence that characterized him … I wanted to know more …

-How did you kill Simon? And how did you prevent him from resurrecting? And my weapon? Who shot it? – I had many questions, and I wanted to know everything before they executed me …

-Dante, it’s fair that you know everything … Simon was not killed by me, but by you … it is your weapon, a CDF Edition bound to its owner, no one else can use it … unless I take advantage of the fact that you are unconscious, take your hand with the pistol wielded, and press your finger on the trigger … and the gun you have fired, with a little help, of course … -He smiled mockingly …

I can’t believe it… he used me to fire my gun and kill Simon… but how come he didn’t resurrect?

-Of course I guess what you are thinking now … you see … you were both unconscious after the roof of the house fell on you … Mark and I searched you and saw that your friend had an access card to the TP systems, no doubt he used it to follow us … when we used it, we saw that he had sufficient credentials to enter the DNA system … and we took the opportunity to terminate Simon … His death would be permanent.

Of course … the card and keys that his friend who worked in the TP had given him to be able to follow Mark … Damn Desmond … and on top of that it makes me look guilty …

-And now you’ll be thinking why I didn’t kill you too … so that you would suffer a minimum of what I suffered in that damn pyramid … -his eyes showed evil, but … he also looked scared …

-Desmond … what happened to you in the pyramid? – He was curious about what had happened to him …

-Thousands of deaths, Dante, that’s what happened … listen …

The Ancient Greece Redemption – Part 2 – Desmond’s Story

I woke up in the dark … I couldn’t see anything … I just smelled of burning metal, and I heard electrical sounds … short circuits … Those sparks guided me … I was in the anteroom of the hangar …

The hangar door was almost ripped off its hinges, and I could see inside: Only junk remained from the planetary TP… You and Simon had undoubtedly destroyed the system.

When I took inventory, I realized that you had taken everything from me: the TP chip, the Healing chip, my weapons, and the survival rations … I had nothing …

Hours later, orienting myself by the sparks and lights of some systems and screens that were still on, I arrived at the exit of the pyramid, to discover the horror: the huge armored door was blocked, and the opening and closing system destroyed … Well done, Dante… you made sure I couldn’t get out.

I started looking for another way out … nothing, there was no way … I explored the whole place from end to end, and hours later I was aware of the situation: I could not go out, I could not teleport or heal, and I had no food or drink …

Four days, Dante … four days going crazy looking for a way to escape, and the thirst driving me … from a droka I got the cooling liquid, and I drank it … it was liquid and it quenched my thirst, but … it gave me a dysentery that left me dehydrated … I was dying … and I didn’t know if I could appear in a Revive or, on the contrary, I would end up completely dead … Thank you Dante, thank you very much …

Two days later, weakened to exhaustion, I couldn’t take it anymore: with a sharp edge of metal I opened my veins … I committed suicide, I wanted to end it, and my mind flew, with one last thought to Mark, my Mark …

I blinked… opened my eyes… where am I? A Revive? Where?

I couldn’t believe it … the Revives network was working despite the shielding … My joy lasted just long until I discovered that the Revive was right there, INSIDE THE PYRAMID … Damn it !!! He couldn’t get out, and he would go through everything again … Why would robots put a Revive inside?

Well, at least I had another three days until thirst consumed me again… in three days I could find a way out.

There was no way out … and thirst and hunger killed me again … I committed suicide again …

By the fifth time I already knew what I had to do: I had three days before I was too weak to be able to find a way to escape from there … if I did not succeed, I would have to commit suicide again and again another opportunity …

Do you know how many times I died, Dante? I don’t know … I just knew that in those three days I had to prepare everything for the next attempt … Die to stay alive … Magnificent …

Over the weeks I was looking for tools, energy cells, some transport system to help me … I set up my own workshop … I repaired some screens and power systems, and so I was able to mount a lighting system … it was very rudimentary, but at the less I could see and illuminate much of the installation … I also managed to build a system with energy cells to be able to use tools, and to recharge them …

I began to attack the huge entrance door … the robot tools were perfect, but the door had enormous armor … and with so much work in a couple of days I was exhausted … back to suicide …

Months, Dante, months … months preparing everything, months using tools to break the door, months committing suicide, months resurrecting, months without Mark … and you, Dante? What did you do in those months? Ah, I forgot, you were dedicated to saving the planet from a lot of animals … what a hero …

Finally, one night I was able to open a hole in the doorjamb, and I saw the outside … I saw the sky, and the stars … and I was able to pass my body and go out …

But I have not told you the worst … now I know, because I recovered little by little … but so much fear, so much suicide, so much resurrection, so much hardship had destroyed my mind … Now I know that at that time I was crazy, and that my body responded as if he had an Automatic Pilot: work, die, resurrect … work, die, resurrect … but Desmond did not exist …

From what I could find out, a couple of days later some Resa discovered me dying again, but now far from the place … They took me to the camp, and before my ravings, they thought that I was pretending, that I was making fun of them … in that kind of the mist that unleashed the madness, I felt the beatings and the blows, I heard the laughter of the Resa … But I did not exist …

And one day, suddenly, I opened my eyes in that Resa prison … and I remembered … It was Desmond, a VIP Stel … months had passed, I had left the pyramid, I had lost my boyfriend, and the guilty of my misfortunes, you and that damn Resa, you would be having drinks in the bars of Next Island …

That night I pretended to be crazy again, until they left and left me alone … and I escaped … I fled … I didn’t know where I was, so I jumped down a ravine … I died, and I finally appeared in a Revive in Morion Outpost … I already had a reference point … you already know the rest …

He walked away down the hall … a moment before walking out the door, he turned and said …

A thousand deaths, Dante, a thousand deaths … you’re only going to have one death tomorrow, but it will be the final one … I swear …

The Ancient Greece Redemption – Part 3

It is the day … A few minutes ago the guards of Queen Pentesílea appeared with the jailer in front … they opened the cell and I was able to leave … the jailer put some shackles on my wrists and, immediately afterwards, I was pushed without much consideration by the hoplites to the release from Thebes prison …

A crowd gathered around the square … there was a kind of corridor flanked by Amazons to the center, where there was a wooden scaffold where everything was supposed to happen …

I went down the hall while the villains cursed me, spit, scold and threw rotten fruit and even excrement … I was a murderer and I was going to be executed …

I climbed the steps of that makeshift stage and faced the crowd … Gods, if that looked like one of those old “Autos de Fe” where they burned heretics and witches in the past …

On one side a representative of the VIP Stel … It was one with whom I had interviewed along with Simon to receive payment for the durasteel of the robots … Now I know that he and his partner were some of those who knew about the planetary teleporter … he looked mockingly as his lips silently formed the words “you’re dead” … In his hands a Revives and DNA controller … they were going to erase me from the data banks …

On the other side the representatives of Queen Pentesílea, flanked by a series of hoplites and a huge warrior with a huge falcata in his hands … I would bet my head that he is the one in charge of cutting it off …

-People of Greece … travelers from other worlds … this morning we will deliver justice on behalf of Queen Pentesílea on this settler, accused of murdering another settler who was also a friend …

A lot of howls interrupted his spiel: the people clamored for my blood at the magnitude of my actions, and more now, that the people of Greece had discovered the resurrection thanks to the Revives of the “travelers from other worlds” … The representative cleared his throat and continued with his sentence …

-That is why he is condemned to death, for the life he took … His head will be cut off, but before that, to prevent him from being resurrected, his people will erase the memories of his existence …

A simple way for those minds of the past to explain that he was going to be erased from the DNA banks …

The VIP came forward … he showed his controller to the crowd that was huddled there, and he switched it on … Some lights flickered, and my photo appeared on the screen … the people howled with even more fervor …

The Stel pressed a button, and my photo on the screen started to flash red… He looked at the Greek representative, who nodded at him… The Stel pressed the button a second time and…

A lash of pain ran through my body … it was the disconnection of the DNA banks … I did not remember that deadly sensation that I experienced years ago in Calypso when I was connected … it was the same pain, but with a different purpose …

Between gasps, I looked at the audience … and saw them …

Katalina was there, with a hooded cloak that hid part of her face, but I saw her … and next to her was a figure that could not hide part of the turban that encircled her forehead … Moustapha the Toulano … what they did there?

I saw them both… but I didn’t see any pity on Katalina’s face, nor on Moustapha’s… I saw determination, nervousness… what were they up to?

The executioner came forward amidst roars from the audience … he opened his arms receiving the cheers of the public as he showed the huge falcata … at the same time, the hoplites had made me kneel while my head was in a low position … I looked at Katalina for the last time …

What are these crazy people doing ??? Katalina and Moustapha opened their capes showing their perfectly repaired armor … and some long-range weapons …

The huge executioner raised the falcata and began its downward movement to my neck …

BLAM !!! An accurate shot smashed the weapon in the giant’s hands … only the hilt remained before the perplexed look of the executioner …

The panic began … the people detached themselves from the side of my two rescuers … they could already see their weapons in their hands firing into the air … The hoplites let go of me while they readied their egidas as defense and pointed with their sarissas …

Katalina and Moustapha fired at their egidas… they were strong shields but they had nothing to deal with the BLP shots… The hoplites took cover…

And I while there, alone, chained, in the midst of the general panic and the shots … and suddenly I saw them … A group of Stel guards approached, undoubtedly the VIP escort who had to erase me … well armed and looking to conquer the world … Katalina and Moustapha were lost… There was no time to lose…. I turned to my right and with a great impulse, I gave a head butt to the jaw of the VIP, who collapsed unconscious … I threw myself in the middle of some barrels of goods … now I had to be very careful, because a shot could definitely kill me …

The shots raged on both sides in the now deserted square of Thebes … how were we going to escape from there?

A huge roar made my eyes look up: An Arkadian Dropship was about to land while its hold was being opened… in that ship there was space for up to eight people, but who was driving that ship?

The dropship landed and I didn’t think about it: I ran to the open door of the cellar and dove headfirst, while Katalina and Moustapha covered me with their shots … Seconds later, they too entered as the doors closed … From the cabin came a voice well known to me …

-Grab you all, welcome to JoseGaltor Airlines !!!

-Damn crazy … Jose, Jose … what are you doing here? – I couldn’t believe that my old friend left his adventures with him and his RockTropía Vixen to come and save me …

-What do I do? Save your ass, as always … thank your pretty wife and your friend in the turban …

The ship just took off and launched at high speed, gliding over fields and rivers … Now we were outlaws on Next Island and Ancient Greece …

The Ancient Greece Redemption – Part 4

That night we took refuge in the fields of Ancient Greece … My friends and I were uneasy: we were outlaws on the planet, and also a death sentence weighed on my head … As if that were not enough, I was now a mere mortal, since I had been deletion of DNA banks.

Katalina told me what I needed to know. Once I was arrested and the charges for my conviction were read, she was on her way… she quickly flew to Toulan in search of Moustapha, and they both created possible escape plans.

But due to the strong security measures, and the surveillance to which she was subjected as the wife of the condemned, there was no possible way to get me out of her prison.

-So your little wife got in touch with me… With how happy I was in Rocktropia surrounded by pretty Vixen and betting on Thief’s fights… -The one who spoke like that was my friend JoseGaltor.

We met Jose a long time ago in Calypso, when we were rookies … But he went to Arkadia, and had great luck mining and hunting in the Underground … in fact, he was very rich, but he did not invest in land or shops: he enjoyed the life.

-As you suppose, dear Fenix ​​- He always called me that, in memory of other times – the only way to save you was the day of the execution, but of course … where they were going to get a pilot crazy enough to land near a scaffold in the middle of a crossfire with a ship the size of an Arkadian Dropship that, by the way, is stolen !!!

Definitely, I have been lucky enough to surround myself with good friends and colleagues … I’m sorry that Simon is no longer among us, but now the main thing is to unmask Desmond and be able to prove my innocence and clear my name …

Moustapha began to sort out our alternatives:

-Now we can’t get close to the Stel, because they would hand us over… Desmond is missing, and his boyfriend Mark too… The Resa will hate you because Dante is supposed to have killed one of their own, and we have to flee Ancient Greece.

-Right – Katalina intervened- Queen Penthesilea will declare us fugitives from the law, so we can’t expect help from her …

I was thoughtful for a moment … I didn’t see any kind of solution to the situation … Although at the moment the main thing was to get out of there …

The next morning we left the stolen ship and approached Thebes Market again… it was abuzz with both Greek and Stel soldiers… everyone was looking for us…

We went through some alleys that led to the houses of the villagers … near a patio we heard the voice of a woman, singing something … Katalina approached carefully and saw her … she was laying out the laundry, a lot of robes, chitón and layers … Katalina made us a gesture of silence.

The woman finished her task and returned to the house … Quickly, Katalina came out of her hiding place and went to the clothes hanging … a moment later she threw us some Greek robes and capes with which we muffled ourselves to be able to camouflage ourselves among the people of Thebes.

We left from there to the field, and we walked a long way avoiding Arges, Mirinians and others … Finally, after a good while walking and circling the area, we arrived at Orpheus Cave … To discover that there was a squad of hoplites guarding who entered and who came out of there …

There was no way to pass through there without being seen … Surely our faces were already on all holo-screens, so the only way to pass would be by shooting.

We got closer on the road … there was a movement of people back and forth although in a more leisurely way than other times, undoubtedly due to access control.

Under our robes and capes we had our weapons loaned … Each time we were closer, we could already see the faces of the hoplites scrutinizing the faces of the people, asking for documents … There were barely two or three people left in front of us, and …

One of the hoplites looked up, looked at us for a second, and looked down again at the documentation that a guy was giving him … suddenly, he froze, and looked at us again with wide eyes: He had recognized us .

Voices, screams, Sarissas at the ready… The four of us launched ourselves like titans towards the hoplites. Moustapha made quick movements with her Twin, while Jose took out a Khulokar Dagger from Arkadia … I had to be more careful since I could die forever, but still, flanked by Katalina, I took down two hoplites …

In a few seconds the hoplite contingent was on the ground, some unconscious, others injured, and some dead that in a short time would dematerialize and appear in a Revive Terminal … It was time to go to Next Island, and then we would see …

Moustaphá crossed the Orpheus Cave TP, followed by a JoseGaltor who, with a gesture, pointed us to a new group of hoplites that was approaching … Katalina and I had just enough time … I didn’t think about it, with a push I launched her into the TP seconds before the hoplites appeared at the entrance of the cave …

Finally, I entered the TP and prepared to be Teleported … Wait, it doesn’t work … what’s wrong?

The hoplites looked at each other smiling as they circled the TP with me in the center …

Damn it… how did we not realize it before ??? Without my data in the DNA banks, the Teleporters were not working for me … I was trapped in Ancient Greece again … and this time, maybe I’ll be executed right now …

The Ancient Greece Redemption – Part 5

Prisoner again … But this time it’s different, something has changed … Once the hoplites captured me at the Orpheus Cave TP, they put me on a wagon that swayed along roads and highways … My hands had been tied, my eyes were blindfolded and gagged, and I didn’t know where they were taking me, But …

Thebes was very close to Orpheus, I don’t understand why it took us so long to get there … It seems as if they took me another way …

After a few hours, the wagon stopped … they grabbed me and threw me out of the carriage in a bad way … I hit the ground hard. Damn Greeks !!! They don’t take care of anything …

-Is he? – A distorted voice asked the hoplites … Without a doubt he had a vocoder or some kind of voice distorter … I remember my grandfather watching an old Videovision series of robots called “Cylons” … this voice sounded the same.

-Yes, he is the murderer … But we should have taken him to the Queen – The hoplite spoke uncertainly … Without a doubt they were going to do something illegal with me.

-Listen, Greek … Here is the agreed payment, 10k peds … You distribute it among your men and you say that it escaped you, or whatever … But the murderer comes with me. -The voice denoted someone used to command

-Foreigner, if the queen discovers us we will not be worth anything … and there are 6 of us in the patrol … some more money would come in handy, I don’t know if you understand me … – The Greek undoubtedly wanted to get something more for my sale.

There was a pause … The stranger would be considering what to do … He sighed …

-Okay … 2k more peds … okay? -Another pause …

I could see in my mind the Greek wondering if he was okay … looking at his companions …

-Okay, foreigner … take the murderer and go.

The footsteps of the Greeks were heard as they approached the wagon … sounds of getting up and settling, and then starting off … Funny, I didn’t know there were horses in Greece, come on, in fact I had never seen any.

The sounds receded, and I was still bound and gagged, waiting …

-Well, friend, now it’s our turn. – The distorted voice addressed me, no doubt.

I heard how he was looking for something, sounds … possibly he was looking for something in a backpack or something similar … I heard how he was armed with something metallic … a weapon? Was he going to execute me?

He grabbed my clothes and pulled … the tunic ripped at my shoulder, leaving him naked … He leaned something cold metallic on it and …

A wave of pain … enormous … As if my body were ripped from the inside out … Agonizing pain … like …

Like when I was deleted from the DNA databases … or when I was connected to the databases in Calypso years ago …

Have I been reconnected to DNA and TP banks?

A strong jerk and the gag tore off … a snap and the ropes that linked my hands were cut … The stranger was releasing me …

I raised my hands and was able to remove the blindfold … I blinked when the light hit my eyes, and I saw him …

A strange black armor, impenetrable… imposing-looking… He reached his right hand to his neck, under the full-face helmet that covered his head, and removed something that he threw to the ground… A portable voice distortion.

I looked at him … something about his bearing seemed familiar to me, but I didn’t quite know who he really was …

Finally, he reached his hand to the armor control, pressed it, and the helmet folded up … At last I could see his face …

-Hi Dante … ready to go back to work?

I couldn’t believe it… a star-shaped hologram projected over his head as he smiled at me.

-Chief Socrates !!! What’s going on???

Dante History X
Part 1

The hours pass … the night follows the day, and this in turn to the night … in an endless cycle … although I’ve only been locked up for two weeks, it seems like two years …

Ancient Greece is a beautiful, comfortable, perfect place … But the prison of Thebes is just that … a prison … Bars, a stone bench on one side, a small window through which light barely passes, a hole in the ground for … well, that…

And in my memory appear the remnants of the days gone by, when all this began … It seems impossible, but I, Dante Artorius Inferno, am a prisoner of Queen Pentesílea here, in Ancient Greece …

Accused of a crime that I have not committed, with evidence that involves me but I have not provoked … But everything points to me … everyone doubts, nobody believes me … Even Katalina looked at me suspiciously when she came yesterday to bring me some food and drink, because the porridge they give to the prisoners makes you so weak that you can barely move …

How is it possible? Condemned to disconnection … Of course, we already know that death does not work here thanks to the Revives network all over the planet, but … if they erase your DNA fingerprint from the Revive databases, you will not be able to be reborn if you die … and they will …

Tomorrow, at noon, in the public square of Thebes, a Stel representative will erase my DNA fingerprint from the data banks, and then a Queen’s guard will kill me, probably beheading me with a falcata … Well, if this had been Ancient Rome, They would have knocked me off the Tarpeian Rock, or they would have crucified me … At least this will be quick …

Hours pass, and in my mind the past events that have caused me to end up here swirl … A horrendous crime, a situation where nothing is what it seems, a secret that must remain so …

The worst of all is that there is no witness in my favor … No one saw anything, because there were only the person who died and I … And when everything passes, the murderer will remain loose and the conspiracy will continue …

It all started just four weeks ago …

Dante History X
Part 2

The reconstruction of Next Island had been a very hard task … many destroyed buildings, tons of Common Dung everywhere and, above all, to regain confidence in our planet because, despite having lived throughout the Entropia Quadrant, Next Island I feel like my home …

The various factions on the planet were now in a kind of inpass, due to the collaboration they had had in recent events … For that very reason, Planetary Chief Socrates now had a respite and the possibility of ending some of the quarrels that had been estranged from the factions for a long time.

Regarding us, well, Planetary Chief Socrates congratulated all of us who had made the miracle of recovering our planet possible and, as a reward, they gave us a series of Strider vehicles, weapons and armor of the latest generation …

For the rest, life on Next Island was the same as always: Craft, business, some mining … But I still couldn’t get promoted to VIP Stel …

The tests to enter the VIP building were very arduous: Aside from making 500 shirts and mining, you had to hunt Sharks and, honestly, it is not an animal of my preference, so I took it easy …

Meanwhile, between business and business and visits to Ancient Greece and the court of Queen Pentesílea, the nights returned in the town’s bars … and one of those nights someone familiar appeared …

I was having an Arkadian cocktail when a thunderous voice broke through the music and noise:

-But if the hero Stel is here …

I could not believe it, our old friend Simon the Resa appeared in his usual armor, approached our table and hugged me effusively …

-Simon, what a surprise to see you far from the fields of the Resa … what brings you here?
-Well, it’s always good to see an adventure partner … even if he’s a stinky Stel – he said with a knowing wink.
-Okay, this stinking Stel is glad to see a thief and swindler Resa – I replied as I raised my glass in a toast …

After a good time between drinks and jokes, Simon approached confidentially and began to tell Katalina and me something confidential.

-Let’s see, Dante, Katalina … in our faction it is rumored that in the middle of the desert they found a man with severe symptoms of malnutrition and totally insane…
-Simon, always a colonist gets lost in the desert and the patrols must rescue them.
-Yes, Dante, but this … this is a Stel, and also, it seems that he talks about things … eh, curious …

Things get complicated: If he’s a Stel and he’s in a Resa camp, we have to go find him or rescue him or whatever … In our faction we all help each other.

-Simon… what’s wrong with that Stel? What things are you talking about? – I asked curiously …

Simon took a long gulp of his drink … he looked at me and said a few words:

-That Stel talks about a pyramid and robots …

Gods!!! Is it possible that this crazed Stel is Desmond ???

Dante History X
Part 3

The next morning Katalina, Simon and I went through the TP network to one of the Resa areas… That was where the rumor had started…

We appeared in a Resa camp … Despite the union that had lately been between the factions, the people of the camp looked at us badly … some Resa spat as we passed, and others looked us in the eyes while their hands went to the butts of their pistols…

Even so, we saw that Simon was a well-known member of his faction, and nothing bad was going to happen to us… We approached one of the largest buildings, which we assumed was his headquarters.

After identifying ourselves and leaving all our weapons at the entrance, Katalina, Simon and I went to a kind of room where several Resa were working on the screens of their terminals … Simon went to one of them.

-Hey Michael, is Derek in his office?
-Hi Simon… I see that you bring animals to the barracks – he said as he looked at us askance.
-Come on Michael, they are friends and trustworthy … tell Derek to go out, we should talk to him.

This Michael looked at us wearily, pressed a key on an InterCOM and, seconds later, he told us to go to the background.

After a short wait, an old Resa appeared in the doorway, glanced at us, and spoke politely to Simon, who made the appropriate introductions… Derek was apparently a highly respected leader of the Resa.

-Simon and … friends … what brings you to this area? – He asked as he looked us up and down.
-Derek, we are behind a certain rumor about a crazy settler who …
-Wow, Simon !!! Interested in that crazy Stel? Derek looked at Simon amused.
-Well, rather my friends are interested, as you can imagine …
-What an element that guy was … he appeared in a camp to the south, totally famished and disturbed … he didn’t seem to know anything or anyone … he was screaming and howling, and saying strange things about robots and a building…

Simon and I looked at each other … we had no doubts … that madman was Desmond … In that case, he survived the pyramid’s enclosure and the metal armor did not interfere with the Revives … Or maybe yes, and his mind was a chaos. Fortunately, no one would believe his ravings even though deep down they were true. Simon kept asking Derek.

-And what happened to that Stel? Where is?
-Well, this … the boys thought he was making fun of them, so they gave him a “special treatment”, you know … they touched him only a little, besides, he was just a damn Stel … but he was really crazy or traumatized by something … – Derek looked at us trying to justify himself …
-Well, in that case we come to take him away … these Stel friends will take care of him.

Derek looked at Simon intensely… it seemed like he was going to say something, but he didn’t get to say it… what was he hiding?

-Derek … tell me that Stel is alive … -Simon looked at Derek in a threatening way …
-This … That Stel is not in custody now … a couple of days ago he escaped …

We looked at each other in amazement … that damn Desmond is more elusive than an octopus … to know what he would be doing now … and if he keeps talking about the pyramid and the robots … well, the secret of the planetary TP must remain a secret…

Dante History X
Part 4

When we left the Resa building, the three of us felt lost: Desmond had returned, although apparently insane, he was talking about the Planetary Teleporter, the pyramid and the robots, and now he escapes and we do not know where he can be or what he can do.

-Dante, you know Desmond… where could he go in his current state? – Simon asked.
-Well, the faction was his life … he would go back to the VIP headquarters … but with his mind shattered, anyone knows …

Simon was an old dog … something was on his mind …

-And if he wasn’t as crazy as we think? – Simon said, looking into the distance, as if deep in thought of him.
-What are you trying to say, that he faked his madness? Katalina voiced my own thoughts.
-I don’t know … maybe it’s that I’m bad thought … What happened to the VIP Stel when they saw that Desmond didn’t come back? – Simon said
-Well … some of them asked me a series of strange questions … I felt observed more than once … I was on alert for a while, although the VIPs who were investigating me were a few … Remember that it seems that the information from the Planetary TP was something secret , and only a few Stel were aware of it …
-Then, he can’t go around telling anything about the TP, or ask for help from all the Stel, unless only those who were in the secret … – Simon was right …
-But at the moment it doesn’t seem like he has contacted them …- I said doubtfully.
-Well, we also know that Desmond had a boyfriend. -said Katalina
-That’s right … Well … in that case … maybe he would like to contact his boyfriend … Mark, one of the Stel … he’s not a VIP yet, although many of us thought that being Desmond’s partner would help him …
-Then it’s easy – Katalina said – we’ll have to watch Mark in case Desmond gets in touch with him.
-Okay, we can take turns following him to see if he gets in touch with Desmond …

Simon was still thoughtful … he was an old bulldog, and he wanted to have all the options covered …

-What if he didn’t want to be seen together now? Where could they be seen or hidden? -It was a very timely question.
-Well, it’s an open secret that Desmond and Mark loved to frequent “some places” of Ancient Greece, when they weren’t on missions … -Katalina had a mocking tone in her voice …

Suddenly, Katalina and Desmond’s eyes locked on me … No, wait, I don’t think they’re trying …

-Dante, I think the short Greek robes should fit you very well … you are also very attractive … -Simon seemed about to burst with laughter …

I knew … I had to spy on Mark, and if he went to Ancient Greece to one of the places he liked to frequent, well …

For several days we followed Mark … I even talked to him making me the buzzword … after the past months, he had begun to accept that his partner was not coming back, that something bad had happened to him and he had not appeared in any Revive …

I honestly think it was a waste of time to follow up. From what I could see, Mark was already dating other people, and his life was normal enough, so the most likely thing is that Desmond had not shown any signs of life …

How wrong I was…

Dante History X
Part 5

One afternoon I was doing business with some settlers, selling some vehicles when I got a call from Simon.

-Dante, can you talk now?
-Simon, tell me … I’m closing a business with some clients …
-Dante, drop everything and go to Orpheu’s Cave NOW.
-What happened, Simon? Any problem?
-Dante, Mark left his house a few minutes ago, totally disheveled, running … he went to a TP and dematerialized … fortunately I have a friend in maintenance, and he showed me the registry of DNA fingerprints on TPs … he went to Ancient Greece …
-Well, Simon, he still wants to go for drinks to “those places” that he likes so much …
-And why was he running with his face as if he had been given unexpected news? … Dante, let’s go to Ancient Greece now …

Simon was right … Mark was a very calm person, so if he was running and looking like someone who has seen a ghost, it is that something had probably happened to him … For example, that his boyfriend whom he thought was dead months ago has appeared …

I closed the deal, fired my clients and went quickly to a TP… on my way to Ancient Greece…

I wasted no time warning Katalina, and that was a mistake that I must now deeply regret …

Simon and I appeared in Orpheu’s Cave in Ancient Greece … using the maintenance key that his friend had given him, he read the arrivals record on the TP terminal … Mark had gone to Thebes …

Once there, Simon and I scoured the area… to avoid problems and not be easily detected, we bought some chitón and continued with the search.

In the distance we saw the unmistakable figure of Mark … we followed him through the alleys until we got close to the blacksmith’s house … we looked around a corner and saw them …

Mark was desperately hugging a very thin and very dark Simon from spending many days in the sun … The scene was beautiful if it weren’t because Simon had been about not only to kill us, but to betray the whole planet … We tried to listen to the conversation, but they spoke very quietly, it was an intimate moment between them …

A few minutes later they separated and began to speak something louder … it was no longer the intimate moment of two people who love each other and thought they were lost forever … Now the voice denoted anger, and we could hear everything …

-Listen Mark, there is a lot at stake in all this … We could have been rich, but that stupid Dante and his dog Resa almost finished me.
-Dante … I saw him for days and we talked … Damn traitor … even he asked me about you … We must inform the faction that …
-No, Mark, no … this only belongs to three VIPs and me, we cannot alert the faction … We must get rid of Dante and his friends in a discreet way, do you hear me? Forget that you are not in the PVP zone, you have to eliminate them …

I started to lean a bit more to hear them better when suddenly I stepped on a branch at the foot of the wall of the house … the creak alerted the couple, who looked in our direction … Gods !! They had seen us …

-Simon, you have to get out of here … or fight. -I said while drawing a Chikara Oni-Roku CDF Edition …

Simon looked at me, pulled out an Armatrix, and we stepped forward as our armor materialized around us …

The crossfire was brutal … the four of us were under cover and the shots were lost between the stones … we were tied …

Suddenly, we heard a great detonation and part of the roof of the house where we were under cover gave way on us … a huge stone hit me in the helmet and everything went black …

When I opened my eyes, with a great ringing in my ears, I could not believe what I was seeing… Next to me was Simon with his eyes wide open staring at the sky, with a big shot hole in his neck… dead? He has not revived? What?

-Well, well, what do we have here? It was fortunate that those stones had fallen on him, otherwise he would have escaped. -The one who spoke thus was a Hoplite, undoubtedly one of the Pentesílea Queen’s guards … and behind him, several more hoplites with their spears ready …

I looked confused at my hand … The Chikara was still there … and the hole in Simon’s neck had the characteristic shape left by the shots from said weapon … It can’t be, I haven’t killed Simon … Damn Desmond, what have you done ???

-In the name of Queen Pentesílea, you are arrested for murder!!!

Invasion of the Animals Snatchers – Part 1

Near the Stel VIP headquarters, everything was in chaos: a swarm of people looking for news … Not all of them were Stel. We even saw a girl with an Asclarias who, despite her clothes, looked like a Resa in disguise.

Despite not being VIPs and being accompanied by a Toulano, when we identified ourselves they let us go inside the barracks … For a moment I felt excited, but I remembered that everything was a product of the chaos that had been unleashed, not of my merits as Stel .

We went to a meeting room in one of whose walls there was a row of monitors … At the head of the long table were several Stels that I did not know … without a doubt they were the VIP leaders; but there was someone else … A character dressed in a strange armor and a holographic star-shaped insignia on his head … he looked at us and began to speak:

-Dante, Katalina … and you, Toulano … I am the Planetary Chief Socrates … You will wonder why you are here …
-Er, well … Greetings, Chief Socrates … This Toulano is Moustapha, and he is here because …
-Dante, we know why he’s here… You wouldn’t think that anyone can come to Next Island without us knowing who he is, right?
-I understand … But why did you call us?

Socrates looked at us, smoothed his graying hair, and spoke.

-Something has unleashed a nightmare throughout Next Island … The animals behave like an army, act together and rush blindly in waves towards the settlers … And it seems that you were close to the initial focus … That is why we have called you.

The three of us looked at each other … we knew more thanks to our friend Dr. Boward … Even so, better not to talk about the albino chimera … Katalina was the one who answered.

-We don’t know much else, only that we were hunting in Misty Outpost when a meteorite fell and the animals began to behave strangely.
-A meteor? – One of the VIP Stel was looking at us as if we were telling a children’s story.
-Yes – Moustapha replied – And a kind of green smoke came out of it and is capable of “possessing” the animals and modifying their behavior.

Socrates and the VIPs looked at each other… they seemed confused. Finally Socrates looked at one of the VIPs and spoke:

-No one detected the meteorite?
-Well – the VIP looked at him nervously – we had no evidence of possible threats from outside, so such possible detection was not a priority.

A loud knock on the table… several glasses were tipped over.

-Damn!! The Stel are one of the most technologically advanced factions and you do not worry about possible threats from outside to MY planet? – Socrates made special emphasis on “my planet”.

While the discussion continued, I observed the monitors … there were cameras all over Next Island showing the most interesting or strategic points … That is why they knew where we had been, and the initial focus … One of the monitors showed a circle of Sweat in Crystal Bay … Screechers let themselves be manipulated by the settlers when, suddenly, everything changed: The greenish gleam in their eyes appeared and, a few seconds later, in unison, they glared at the Sweaters … they advanced and attacked furiously … A misdirected peck broke the camera … “No Signal” appeared on the monitor …

The voices had stopped… The Stels looked at each other in shame under the threatening presence of Chief Socrates… He sighed wearily, and turned to us…

-Well, gentlemen, any idea what this is all about and how to stop it?
-Sir – I said calmly – We have a scientist friend, Dr. Boward, who has discovered that they are high-tech nanobots …

Automatically, the Stel VIPs jumped and began to look at each other nervously. Even so, one of them recovered his poise and replied:

-Borward? That crazy old professor? … and do you trust his judgment?

I didn’t have time to answer … the back door opened and a panting Stel appeared in the doorway …

-Gentlemen, Planetary Chief … We have a big problem advancing towards us …

More problems? I do not imagine that it can be now …

Invasion of the Animals Snatchers – Part 2

The Stel looked at us all tiredly, cleared up his voice and only said a few words:

-The dragons are coming …

Dragons !!! After all, boars, chimeras and pappoo are nothing, but dragons … they are huge, they fly, they release puffs of fire … they are a great threat …

Socrates looked down at the ground with his head down … for a moment he was seen as a vulnerable man, under the weight of the responsibility of the planet … but it was something fleeting … he regained his poise and began to give orders:

-Getlemen, we must forget certain quarrels between our factions, and present a united front to this threat … – He turned to the Vip Stel – try to communicate with the Resa, Loyalists and all the factions of which you have communication frequencies, and ask for support .

Katalina, Moustapha and I looked at each other, hoping what plans he had for us… A moment later, Socrates addressed us…

-Moustapha, we know that you have old military training, so try to create a defense column with the settlers, civilians and whatever you can … look on the monitors which area is most in need of help and go there immediately, understood?

Moustapha made the typical Toulano farewell gesture, and left to carry out the orders … A Toulano at the head of the defense of Next Island … well, stranger things have been seen …

Socrates looked at Katalina and me … here is what awaits us …

-You … I do not give much credit to what that crazy Borward says, but … if he knows something about this horror that happens on a planetary level, perhaps he also knows how to counteract it, so … – He looked at us with hope – Go with Borward … try to find the solution and, above all, don’t let anything happen to the old man …

We said goodbye to everyone and Katalina and I went to the TP … a huge queue of people waited to come and go … now we don’t have time for this, so we drew our weapons and fired a few shots in the air (Yes, it is prohibited except in areas PVP, I know) … The effect was immediate, people were paralyzed or moved away from us, so we jumped into the TP and dematerialized …

We showed up at the Pearl Cove TP, where Borward had his lab, but we weren’t prepared for what we saw …

A huge mass of green-eyed boar was around the building … through the windows of the upper floors you could see the faces of scientists and maintenance personnel, terrified …

Meanwhile, the boar tried to penetrate the building … with their fangs they smashed the durasteel walls … but what we did not expect was to see the Papoo …

Papoo mounted on the back of the largest boar, like horsemen … they used their momentum in the charge to jump off their backs trying to reach the windows of the upper floors … Without a doubt, the nanobots that commanded them were learning and evolving …

The only way to enter the laboratory was with the Teleporting chips, but we had to be careful with the coordinates: We could appear on a wall, or inside a table, or God knows where, and that would be very dangerous now …

We adjusted the approximate coordinates and pressed the buttons … with a flash we appeared right in the middle of the empty laboratory … there was no one, most likely they were all trying to hide or looking through the windows …

We went upstairs … we entered the other laboratory and there was our friend Dr. Borward … He looked at us and said …
-Guys, you have finally come … I think there may be a solution to this crisis !!!

Invasion of the Animals Snatchers – Part 3

Katalina and I looked at each other… would there be any hope to stop this chaos? We asked Dr. Boward:

-What do you mean, Dr.? – I told.
-Very simple, that you have a specimen immune to those nanobots … that chimera that you said you had captured …

Sure!!! If “Snow” was immune to nanobots, it was because in his genetic mutation there would be something that repelled them and even fought them … it was necessary to know that …

-Then what do we do? – Katalina asked.
-Well, bring that animal to the laboratory and I will do some tests, let’s see …
– We have him in stasis in one of the planetary storages …
-Well, go find it, time is running out …

Indeed … a second later a huge roar echoed through the laboratory, and a shower of crystals fell on us … The huge head of a dragon appeared through the hole in the glass, looking for a prey to incinerate …

Boward’s eyes widened at that beast … the animal caught his movement and stared at him … he threw his head back to launch his flare and …

He did not have time: Katalina and I had brought out our Armatrix and sprayed a rain of shrapnel at the head of the animal … seconds later it exploded in the middle of a sea of blood, and to top it off, our “rare loot” swirls blinked … as if that matters now …

Through the window we saw another dragon perched on another building … We did not have to waste time, we had to go to the lower floor for a Storage, remove “Snow”, extract him from stasis with the Pet-Izer and pray to the gods that Boward would find some remedy …

We went down the stairs to the lower floor … the laboratory staff had armed themselves and were shooting through the windows at the mass of boars … in the distance a cloud of dragons could be seen in the sky that, without a doubt, would be destroying some other settlement …

We took “Snow” out and ran up the stairs again … the smoke leaked through the cracks, some rubble fell because the structure of the building had suffered enough … time was running out …

When Boward saw us he couldn’t believe… the Chimera was ALBINA… the myth was reality… Boward’s jaw dropped with an “Oh!” out of surprise … but he quickly recovered and started turning on scanners and monitors …

Katalina knelt beside the playful chimera …

-Come on “Snow” … now we’re going to leave you in the care of our friend … he won’t hurt you, okay? … Be nice and I’ll give you a lot of nutrios bars when we get back …

“Snow” seemed like she understood what was being said … he turned and trotted to the surprised Boward, sat on his hindquarters and gave a friendly yelp …

Well, everything depended on finding something to stop that … for now we had to help as much as we could, so we called Chief Socrates …

– Chief Socrates, do you receive me?
-Here Socrates … is it you, Dante?
-Yes sir, everything under control in the laboratory … any more orders for us?
-Go to Crimson Fields immediately … Moustapha is there and his situation is desperate.
-Copy that, we left immediately …

Katalina and I took our TP chips to the nearest teleport, where we dematerialized …

A blink later we witness a nightmare scene in Crimson Fields …

Invasion of the Animals Snatchers – Part 4

Crimson Fields looked like the setting from the old books about Dragons and Thrones: Lots of dragons flying over the building, launching tongues of fire …

Through the skylights you could see the settlers firing their weapons at the animals … we had to enter making the same movement as in the laboratory, and this time it would be less dangerous since the interior of the building was very empty … We connected the Teleporting chips …

A few seconds later we were inside: Moustapha haranguing a diverse mix of people: Resas, Stels, Loyalists, settlers … the wounded crowded into a corner while some of them busied themselves in the craft machine, obtaining better weapons to repel the aggressions. … We get closer.

-Greetings Dante, Katalina … as you can see, this is chaos, and we don’t know what we can endure … I imagine that in the rest of the planet everything will be something similar – Moustapha told us while wiping the sweat.
-Borward has “Snow” and she is practicing some tests to try …

There was no time for more … with a sudden explosion, one side of the building was opened while the heads of several dragons appeared … and a series of papoo that climbed through the rubble and were introduced by force between the defenders … There was no time to lose , the three of us materialized our most powerful weapons and began to riddle the dragons …

The other defenders joined us and we presented a common front, while the slightly wounded kept the Papoo at bay … the situation was desperate, but we were able to repel the aggression, and the animals withdrew …

We had a moment of respite … through the skylights and through the rubble we saw the animals looking at the building, carefully, as if measuring the next steps to take … Obviously, it was a matter of the nanobots, but the scene was terrifying …

During the following hours we repelled two more attacks … through the communicators we could hear battles in other settlements … in some the aggression could be repelled, but in others there was no communication … without a doubt the defenders had fallen …

Night came, and it seemed that the whole planet was quiet … we did not know why, but it seemed that the nanobots did not work at night … perhaps they depended on light as a source of energy? Conjectures…

Near dawn, the communicator crackled … it was Borward …

-Dante, Katalina, Moustapha… do you hear me?
-Come in Dr. Borward, how’s everything there?
-Well, it seems that at night the nanobots do not work, so we have been able to work quietly, and we have good news …

We look at each other: Good news? Is there a solution to this invasion?

-Borward, have you found any way to end all this?
-Not yet, but we have isolated what makes “Snow” immune … Come to the laboratory and I will show you.

There was still hope… It was about three hours before sunrise, so we were relatively safe… the three of us went to the TP and were transported to the laboratory.

Invasion of the Animals Snatchers – Part 5

In the lab, Borward was looking at monitors. He turned to us.

-Ah, you have arrived… well, look here.

The monitor was displaying a low-frequency analog signal, a variable signal… it looked like a sound signal… Borward pressed a key and the unmistakable bark of the Chimera sounded through a speaker.

-Sirs, this is the bark of a normal Chimera … and on the screen is the representation of the sound signal … now look at this other …

Borward pressed a series of keys, and a signal very similar to the first one appeared on the screen … it was almost identical, but it had some kind of modulation that differentiated it … The sound of the Chimera sounded through the loudspeaker but … it had something, I don’t know … it seemed something different …

-And this is the sound of “Snow” barking… it’s almost identical, but… it has something else, right?

The three of us nodded… on the screen we could see the subtle differences in the sound signal…

-My friends, “Snow” has the anatomical shape of its uvula different from that of a normal Chimera, it is double … that is why when it barks it produces a second vibration of the frequency that slightly distorts the sound that it should produce under normal circumstances … and now look … Péter, bring the samples…

Peter was one of Dr. Borward’s assistants … he appeared with a large illuminated glass vial inside of which swirled greenish smoke … they were undoubtedly nanobots …

-We got these nanobots from a boar that snuck into the laboratory a few hours ago … As you can see, they are active by light … well, let’s proceed with the test … – Borward enjoyed giving his erudite explanation of the test …

Then he opened the glass jar … the greenish smoke began to move looking for a host … Borward pressed a key and the barking of the Chimera was heard …

The nanobots stood still for a moment and threw themselves at the speaker, which continued to reproduce the sound … Without a doubt they believed they were in the presence of a real Chimera, and were trying to “possess” it …

Borward smiled, and immediately pressed another key … the bark of “Snow” was heard …

The greenish smoke separated from the speaker, and began to swirl, circling … the same behavior we had seen when they tried to enter “Snow” …

-You see what happens? The nanobots seem confused and move away from the host- Borward said as he looked at the green swirl.

Katalina was very quiet, attentive, and she only said a few words …

-Dr. Borward, turn up the sound power to maximum, please.

Some keys were pressed, and the bark of “Snow” was heard at a deafening volume … The nanobots jerked spasmodically and the cloud began to dissolve, to disperse … The nanobots were moving away between them …

Suddenly I had an inspiration … I looked at Borward:

-Dr., Can you filter and amplify just that strange frequency that “Snow” produces?

Borward nodded, pressed a couple of keys and the on-screen menu offered various forms of high-pass, low-pass, Fourier filter … he combined several, adjusted a few dials and only the strange differentiated vibration appeared on the screen … he turned the volume to maximum and suddenly…

Some kind of green powder fell to the floor of the laboratory … Seconds later, the nanobots were inert on the ground … disconnected or disabled…

-Amazing!!!! –Borward did not leave his astonishment – The nanobots have been deactivated !!! … But … How?

-That strange frequency that produces “Snow” interferes in some way with the nanobots – Moustapha said.

-And with the appropriate volume of sound, it ends up disconnecting or disabling them – Katalina finished …

Yes!!! We had a way to end it.

Invasion of the Animals Snatchers – Part 6

Minutes later Katalina, Moustapha and I had recordings of the sound of “Snow” on our communication tablets. We proceeded to teleport to Crimson Field …

We arrived almost at dawn … the animals were still calm, but we knew that it was a matter of minutes before, when the light appeared, they would attack us again …

We ran up the stairs to the upper floor… There were the communication systems and the external public address system for emergency announcements… we connected one of our communication systems to the public address system and we waited…

The minutes dragged on as dawn broke … and suddenly, the animals began to move towards the building … They charged like ancient cavalry riders, with the papoo on the back of the boar and a formation of swooping dragons … Not yet, not yet …

We already had them on… Now !!!

-Moustapha, connect !!!

He pressed the connection button, and the “PLAY” key … a deafening sound thundered the sky: it was the frequency extracted from the barking of “Snow” at the maximum power that the public address system gave …

The animals stopped in their tracks, as if they had hit a wall: the papoo were thrown over the riding boar, and the dragons fell to the ground with strong wingbeats …

Suddenly, a greenish smoke began to come out of each animal, moving, writhing like a snake … and a handful of green dust began to fall to the ground …

Everyone in the building looked at the scene expectantly … and suddenly it happened … the animals’ eyes began to clear, and the behavior began to be the same as normal animals: The dragons flapped and went to the mountain, the papoo began to yell and they ran into the jungle and the boar, well … the boar started dropping tons of Common Dung as they returned to their zones …

In the building we could not contain the joy: we had disconnected the nanobots and ended the threat of the animal waves … But it was not the time to be quiet, there were other settlements that needed help. We called Socrates at the VIP Stel Barracks.

-Chief Socrates speaking … Dante, is it you?
-Yes Sir… we have found a way to disable the nanobots.
-As you say? Is that possible? – Chief Socrates’ voice had a hint of disbelief.
-Sir, now I am sending you an audio file of a special frequency … transmit it to all the settlements and communication devices that you can … This signal must be emitted by the auxiliary public address system of the settlements, the music equipment of the settlers, whatever … Anything that has speakers, sounds and is loud enough…
-Dante, are you and Borward sure about this? – He didn’t believe it yet …
-Believe me sir, there is nothing dangerous left here in the laboratory, we have achieved it …

-Copy that … we will try … and thanks for everything …

The four of us looked at each other … now everything depended on the communication networks of the settlements, the speakers that the settlers had in their music equipment, the speakers of their tablets, whatever damn thing that sounded on the planet … and also the speed to transmit information to the settlements … the result would be seen in a few hours …

Epilogue 1:

It’s been a week since the events of the nanobots… Chief Socrates contacted the other settlements and was able to send the audio file for “Snow”… From there, the inventiveness of the colonists did the rest.

There were those who mounted loudspeaker systems on Striders, and began to circulate through forests and deserts among the masses of animals… Others assembled a fleet of Gungnir Mk. 1 with public address systems on the sides, and they flew close to land to be heard by the animals… Apocalyse, Now…

Even among the youngest settlers a viral challenge became popular during those days: Going with the communication tablets with the sound at full volume, on foot on roads and areas of animals scaring them away … things for teenagers …

Ultimately, everything is over … Well, not all … there is much to rebuild, much Common Dung to collect and, above all, the matter of “Snow” remains …

Katalina, Borward, and I were in the lab, teaching the playful chimera tricks when Moustapha walked in …

-Good morning everyone … er, I think … we have to talk … -he said after his Toulan greeting, with a tone of annoyance in his voice.

Katalina was a little sad, because she already knew what the purpose of Moustapha’s visit was …

-Friends, I came to Next Island with a mission: To find the Albino Chimera and, well, I have found it …

Snow was sitting on her hindquarters, her tongue sticking out of her, looking amused at the Toulano.

-But “Snow” is not like another animal … It is different, and tame … and it has helped us to conjure a threat that came from outside … I think we have no right to condemn him to spend his days in a zoo far from his home planet …

Katalina, Borward and I looked at each other with joy: it was fair, “Snow” was more than an animal, it was … “Snow.”

-Well, and what do we do with him? Shall we return it to Misty Outpost? -I asked for.
-I think it will be the best … although he lived apart from other Chimeras, I think that in these days he has matured and grown and, perhaps … perhaps now he will find his place. –Moustapha said, and added – For my part I will say in the Center that I did not find it, and that we do not waste any more time with that search.

We got ready for the trip to Misty Outpost, and the next morning the four of us were there, around “Snow” … Katalina hugged the animal while it, like a dog, licked her face …

-Goodbye “Snow” … be careful … when I come to this area I will leave some nutrio bars near your cave.

I approached the neck of “Snow” and pressed the ON / OFF button of the Pet Tag, which went off and fell to the ground … We moved away from the animal …

“Snow” blinked as the Pet / Tag neural connection was broken … then he tensed and in attack position … it was no longer the docile and playful pet, but a wild animal ready to attack …

We walked away in silence as the animal retreated cautiously … Katalina looked back and, suddenly, “Snow” sat on her hindquarters and made the friendly yelp we already knew … it was only a few seconds, and then she ran between weed…

I hope this endearing animal continues well … Inside me there is an unanswered question … Where did the nanobots come from? I don’t think Dr. Borward ever said it… I’ll ask him when he sees it.

Epilogue 2:

Several months later …

-Listen, being the best hunter only happens when you are able to find an albino Chimera. –The Mentor said to his Disciple while they explored the surroundings of Misty Outpost.
-Master, do albino Chimeras really exist? –Asked the Disciple incredulously.
-Yes, yes, they exist … they are rare to see, but they exist … let’s do one thing, I’ll go east and you go west, let’s see if we see it … It’s today’s lesson in your mentoring learning …

Mentor and Disciple parted ways… The Mentor thought that searching for the nonexistent animal would teach him skills of vigilance and patience. The myth of the albino Chimera was useful.

After a while, the Disciple was watching in the vicinity of a cave where perhaps the Chimeras were hiding … and a characteristic sound was heard … the Disciple prepared himself for what he was about to happen …

At the entrance of the cave a female Chimera appeared … she looked around, and made something similar to a gesture inside the cave … and three small, playful cubs appeared… the three little animals moved on their little legs with the typical insecurity of very young animals… and suddenly…

At the entrance of the cave two other cubs appeared … One was almost the normal color of Chimeras, but it had light spots on its skin … something strange … but the other cub was totally white, with red eyes …

The Disciple froze … an albino Chimera, a puppy … it was something that no one had seen before … and a loud bark brought him out of his reveries … A large albino Chimera appeared from the undergrowth, with a boar pidget in its jaws … white as snow, huge …

The Disciple couldn’t take it anymore … he withdrew carefully, without making a sound, and ran looking for his Mentor … without a doubt Mentor would be proud of him when he told him that he had seen two albino Chimeras …

Epilogue 3:

The A.I. General Kratos showed signs of instability that, in a human being, would be the equivalent of being angry … The idea of the possession of animals by nanobots had failed, and again that stupid human who went by the name of Dante was involved … In the future should watch over that human and his group of friends …

The Misty Syndrome – Part 1

A month had passed since the adventure in the planetary TP… Desmond had not returned, and the VIP Stel were nervous: they interrogated and bothered me at first, but given my “ignorance” of Desmond’s destination and the coordinates of the TP, they stopped looking for me and ask; no doubt the matter of the Planetary TP was something very secret even from the rest of the Stel faction, so they had let it go so that no one else found out. Even so, for a while I decided not to let me see much in the camps of the faction… Regarding Simon, i have not seen him for a long time, without a doubt he would have returned with the Resas.

Katalina had returned from Ancient Greece with great honors from Queen Pentesílea: her actions in the Mirynian rebellion had been decisive for everything to return to normal … In addition to her famous Gorgon armor, the queen had given her a good reward .

For my part, the Generic Fuses had sold very well, with a very high MU … in this way, Katalina and I were rich at least until the money lasted … but for now we were enjoying a calm period and many drinks in the Next Island bars and Ancient Grecia taverns.

One day we were hearing a new singer in the famous bar “Caroline’s” in Crystal Bay when we saw a picturesque guy enter: His slippers, his turban and his baggy clothes denoted that the guy was a Toulano … what would he do on this planet ?

She approached the bar and ordered a drink that, without a doubt, was not alcoholic … The Toulanos had ancestors of the ancient Arabs of the Earth, so they had certain customs regarding certain types of food and drink that were forbidden to them …

I stared at him … he remembered our stay in Toulan, the hunts of Dahar and Tabtab, and the palace of Queen Nara … Suddenly, the guy turned and stared at us … our gazes met for a second and, after taking his drink, the guy came up to us.

-Good afternoon… can we talk for a moment? –He told us politely.
-takun almalikat naranaan maeak ‘ayuha almusafir (may Queen Nara be with you, traveler).

The stranger widened his eyes, surprised that he spoke his language … he made a gesture with his hands that was the typical Toulanian greeting, inherited from the Arab greetings of the Earth.

-barakatih tamla’ak (his blessings fill you) … – You speak our language very well … have you been to Toulán?
-Yes, traveler, we lived there for a year …
-My name is Mustafa ibn Hakim, and I have been sent to Next Island on behalf of the Toulan Fauna & Flora Center…. Maybe you could help me …
-Hi Mustafa, I’m Dante and she is Katalina and, if we can help, we will be delighted …

Moustafá sat with us at our table, was silent for a moment and began to tell us the reason for his trip …

-You must know that Toulan has received the rumor of a mythical creature that exists in these lands, and that it would be welcome in the Zoological Museum of the Society …

Katalina and I looked at each other strangely… a mythical creature ?? All Ancient Greece was full of mythical creatures: Cyclopes, Asterions, and more …

-I mean the Chimera Albina …

We couldn’t help it, Katalina and I started laughing … Chimera Albina was a myth that was told to novice hunters, in order to tease them … and there we had a guy who came from another planet because he had heard of that story …

Moustafá looked at us surprised, and without a doubt he was offended by our laughter … with a fierce gesture he drew a Samm Twin and addressed us in a threatening way:

-No one laughs at a son of Hakim !!!

It took us a while to calm him down and put the weapon away … When he calmed down, we explained to him how the myth of the Chimera Albina was used to deceive novice hunters …

Mustafa looked at us both, smiled, and said:

-It’s no myth… here I have proof of its existence.

And from the terminal of his wrist a holographic laser came out that projected a video in high definition in the air … A scene undoubtedly taken by a hidden camera, in a landscape that we did not identify and, a short distance from the camera, a totally albino Chimera , with snow-white scales and fur and reddish eyes, that hunted some animals …

Amazing!!! The Chimera Albina existed …

-Where did that come from? – I asked without giving credit to what I was seeing.
-Well, apparently a scientist from the Center sent an autonomous drone to investigate the fauna of Next Island … The drone had some kind of malfunction and, when it was recovered, among other recordings there was this … The problem is that the SatNav system had spoiled, so we don’t really know where the images were taken.
-Er … this … and how can we help you, Moustafa? – I stammered while still digesting my amazement at the video.
-Well, I was wondering if you know someone who could help me capture that beast… Toulan Fauna & Flora Center will pay well.

Of course we knew someone: Katalina and I already had a new adventure…

The Misty Syndrome – Part 2

The next day I watched the video that Moustafa had given me several times: there was the Chimera, hunting some small animals … a unique specimen that had been used for a long time to tease people …

The question was: where could the animal hide? There were only two or three Chimeras settlements on Next Island and a couple of settlements by their cousins the Desert Crawlers… I played the video again, and suddenly…

The ambient light changed slightly and illuminated some trees that …

Yes!!! He had recognized that species of strange trees … the recording had been taken near Misty Outpost without a doubt …

I called out to Moustafa and Katalina, who were talking about the latest gossip from the Palace of Queen Nara … I shared my discovery with them and, with the destination of the trip already clear, we went out to look for the necessary equipment and provisions for the expedition.

The question was, we should hunt her alive, but how? Would she allow herself to be tamed with entropy whips? Or should we sedate her, put in a cage, load into a vehicle and then remotely send to a planetary storage until she is loaded onto a warp ship? I hope Moustafá knows what to do …

A couple of days later, with a big flash, we appeared in the Misty Outpost Teleporter … we blinked, looked around and we began to hear the screams of the Chimeras …

In ancient Greek mythology, it was a mythical being, a mixture of other beings, with an imposing appearance and that threw a kind of spikes with its tail …

On the contrary, the Chimera of Next Island was a not so large being, and it looked like a lizard with a mammalian face … its scaly skin seemed smooth in texture, and its color was dark brown, unlike its desert relatives, the Desert Crawler, whose color was yellowish to blend in with the sand; his gait was reminiscent of the unfortunately now extinct Komodo Dragon …

Moustafa approached us … looked around her and said:

-Katalina, Dante, listen to me well … Chimeras are aggressive beings and usually go in groups, so be careful. We must explore this entire area to see if we are lucky and see signs of the Albina: White hairs on her hind legs, white scales resulting from her shedding periods …
-But a chimera of a different color from the others may not be welcome among their own – I said … I remembered some ancient albino animals on Earth, who were expelled from the same herd.
-Mmmm … it could be true … in this case, the animal would not be in the area of the herds, but in some remote place – said Moustafa …
-And why don’t we look for the video area first? – Katalina said …

It was the most feasible solution, since the animal had passed through there at some point; So we got down to work.

A couple of days later we were about to give up: the area shown in the scene was nowhere to be seen … too many trees, too many rocks … We watched the video again.

The lighting and the trees were the key. Due to the color of the light, the time the video was taken was close to the current time … the elongated shadows of the trees on the ground, one crooked and smaller than the others …

With a start, Moustafa turned and began to look around … A few seconds later he looked carefully into the distance and pointed triumphantly to an area of tall trees, whose shadow on the ground was similar to that shown in the video … We do not expect more , we ran there … bingo !!! It was the area, the crooked tree between two others and even the shadows at the right time of day … The Chimera Albina had been there.

-Hey, come here, guys !! – Katalina showed something among some bushes … The entrance to an almost hidden cave and, among the remains of small dead animals, some white hairs …

That cave that no one had ever seen before, was the refuge of the Chimera Albina that we were looking for …

Time to hunt …

The Misty Syndrome – Part 3

That cave was the animal’s refuge, and it was logical: albino animals had a poor tolerance to light due to their reddish eyes, so most likely it was hidden during the day and came out only at dusk, when the light was lower … it was such a unique animal that it had developed a nocturnal behavior. That was also the explanation for why no one had seen her before.

We deployed the nets, prepared the tranquilizer darts and hid, prepared for when he came out of hiding … A Boiga and some Pet Tags also hung on my waist, just in case.

The hours passed slowly … night fell, and no sign of the animal … without a doubt he would have heard us … the island mosquitoes bothered us greatly, so …. Hiiiissss !!! Suddenly we heard a noise.

Half-hidden in the undergrowth, we raised our heads, and we saw it…

A Chimera appeared at the mouth of the cave, but as we had never seen before … its fur, its scales, its claws, everything about it was white except for its eyes that shone with a reddish glow … it was a unique sight …

The three of us looked at each other nervously … the being moved away from the mouth of the cave following the path through which it had undoubtedly passed thousands of times before … and which was the path to the network …

A few more meters … come on … let’s go …

Moustafá pressed the button on the remote control, and with a thud, the net closed around the Chimera, which began to twist… it was ours !!!

We left our hiding place and approached the animal, with the dart weapon at the ready … The Chimera twisted, snapped its teeth and, suddenly, using its hind claws, tore the net … The animal was free !!!

Katalina readied the tranquilizer gun and fired a shot… her dart dug into her hindquarters, causing him to spin around… he looked at Katalina with his red eyes and gave a threatening hiss…

Damn animal, it was going to launch itself on Katalina … Moustafa began to wave his arms and shout, to distract his attention … Indeed, the chimera faced the new threat that the Toulano represented … Katalina took advantage of that interval to shoot several more darts …

Amazing!!! Undoubtedly the genetic mutation that caused Albinism also made immune to the serum used as a sedative … Moustafá looked at me with regret: We would have to kill it, or it would kill one of us three …

Without thinking, I unfolded the Boiga, and the Respect / Spirit indicator lit up. With a gesture worthy of a hero from those old movies that my grandfather liked, I lashed out at the animal.

Yes!!! Respect’s gauge increased… the animal was tame, probably the only tame Chimera on Next Island.

Katalina and Moustafa looked at me expectantly while the animal twisted and tried to bite me … Their red eyes looked at me with hatred but still, lash after lash, the animal began to lose momentum, its attacks were less fierce …

A couple more blows and the animal stopped … the Boiga indicator marked “Tame OK” … it was time: I took a Pet Tag and threw it at its neck … it wrapped around it and lit up green … Chimera stood still for a moment while the Tag / Brain neural connection was taking place, and then he sat on his hindquarters, stuck out his tongue and gave a kind of friendly yelp …

The Chimera Albina was ours, and also domesticated …

The Misty Syndrome – Part 4

We decided to stay until the other day, so we set up camp. Meanwhile, Katalina was with the chimera that, once domesticated, proved to be a playful and obedient animal like any pet … definitely, if he stayed one more day with us, he was going to end up getting fat, because Katalina was gorging him on Nutrio Bar …

And the tricks… there was Katalina playing and teaching new skills… I hope she doesn’t get too fond of “Snow” (she had already named him) because Moustafa had to take him to Toulan in a couple of days, when he got a Warp.

The night passed between island mosquitoes, stories of Toulan and a huge Albino Chimera that behaved in a way as annoying as any spoiled puppy … it really was adorable …

In the morning we picked up the camp, packed our things and arranged an air transport to send “Snow” remotely. We pressed the controls and, at that moment, the screen began to fail …

We looked at each other … The SatNav also began to fail us all at the same time … what happened? Some kind of interference in communications?
A low sound seemed to come out of the sky … we looked and saw a glowing wake like that of a comet … The object was heading south, incandescent … certainly a meteorite, and had caused some kind of EMP that had killed our communications …

With a great roar, the meteorite finally crashed to the earth … “Snow” ran to hide in his cave, and the three of us staggered and fell to the ground as a furious wind hit us … When we got up a few minutes later we could see the glow greenish that had caused the shock … greenish? How weird…

Moustafá had brought a Carrier to which we climbed, including “Snow”, who did not look very calm, and we headed to the place of the explosion …

That looked like the famous Tunguska explosion in the distant 20th century … uprooted trees, a trail of destruction, dozens of dead boar, and in the middle of it all, a huge stone scorched but with a greenish glow …

Katalina and I looked at each other … without a doubt that stone was something out of the ordinary, and it would be worth good money … In Arkadia there was a naturalistic society that might be interested.

A group of surviving boars approached the boulder … That species of wild pigs caused a grimace of disgust in Moustafa, possibly something related to his culture or his religion … The boars sniffed the remains around the stone …

Suddenly, a wisp of thick greenish smoke rose from inside the boulder. He twisted into a kind of figure as if it had a life of his own and launched itself at the boars …

The smoke penetrated their ears, their snouts, their eyes… They stood still for a second and their eyes began to change… They were now an emerald green color.

We were surprised … what was that? We slowly came out of our hiding place and made our way to the stone and the group of boars … They were like petrified … and suddenly they all turned their heads in unison in our direction … a lot of green eyes looking at us …

And with a grunt, simultaneously as if it were a perfectly coordinated squad of warriors, they charged at us …

What the hell of a behavior was that? Well, we would find out later, for now we had to defend ourselves from those animals …

The Misty Syndrome – Part 5

The boars were not a problem for three warriors like us … until “Snow” jumped on one of them and finished him with her strong claws … the corpses of the boar were piled up at our feet …

Suddenly, a new wisp of green smoke came out of the boulder again and went straight to “Snow” … the smoke enveloped it, circled over it, but did not enter … the green smoke, as if it were a living being, recoiled, gave a turn on himself and he fled to some boars that were in the distance …

-What was that? – Mustafa asked …
-I don’t know… it seems as if that green smoke, somehow, “possessed” the animals, but it couldn’t with “Snow”. – I said as I looked at the distant boars, whose eyes were already emerald green. – Perhaps his genetic mutation makes immune.
-I think we shouldn’t be here … this could get worse -Katalina was holding her weapon as she looked around her with a scared expression …

I noticed one of the dead animals … around hers its eyes, the tears were greenish … I took a handful of dried grass and rubbed it into the animal’s eyes. The grass was stained emerald green: I had a sample !!!

We took our gear and, using a Pet-Izer, put “Snow” in stasis in one of the containers. We went to Misty’s TP and materialized at Crystal Peak … we had to go see a scientist friend of ours who had a very complete analysis laboratory …

Our friend Dr. Boward took the samples, looked at them, put them in his testing machines and, an hour later, ushered us into his office.

-Moustafa, Katalina, Dante… we have a problem. –he said while he turned on a high resolution monitor and showed us the images obtained in the analyzer.
-The samples you have brought are incredible … That green “smoke” is actually a cloud of highly sophisticated nanobots whose function seems unknown, but which move and act in unison.

We look at each other… nanobots? What’s your objective? And above all … where did they come from? Boward went on.

-This technology is very advanced … Undoubtedly these nanobots are capable of infecting almost any living being where they enter … Do you decide that the infected beings moved as one? – He asked us.
-Yes – Katalina said – they were moving at the same time, and their only objective seemed to be to attack us.

Boward was thoughtful for a moment. Then he sighed and kept questioning us.

-And it came from a meteorite?
-Yes – I answered – and then it came out in the form of smoke and infected the boars …

Boward shook his head and made a gesture we knew after so long: he was going to state a theory.

-Ahem, gentlemen, I think… I think these nanobots are not manufactured in Next Island; the fact of coming in a meteorite confirms its external origin … In addition, they have the facility to infect living beings through their mucous membranes or natural orifices, control them and make them act as a single being, since the nanobots seem to synchronize with each other … Interesting … Also, look at those organs that present … It is similar to a 3D printing mechanism. I think…. I think … they could replicate themselves …

Mustafa, Katalina, and I looked expectantly at Boward, waiting for him to put an end to his guesswork as he perused the screen.

-Because of the type of manufacture and the materials used, I believe that these nanobots are not of human origin, but could come from …

We were still listening to Boward and his theory when our comlink crackled.

-Dante, Katalina, do you hear me? – It was the voice of the communications operator from headquarters Stel.
-Copy that, Stel Operator … what’s wrong?
-Come immediately to the barracks… something is happening with the animals all over Next Island !!!!

At the pyramid of madness – part 1

A blink … Simon and I looked around us confusedly… we were on a dark, metallic surface, with railings… Everything was black, no doubt the durasteel we had come to look for… We looked out.

That looked like a kind of truncated pyramid with stairs on both sides… It was not very high, and from that kind of terrace we could see around us… Without a doubt, we were still on Next Island, but where?

According to our SatNav, we left that kind of TP on Sherman on [Next Island, 127228, 87993, 252, TP], and now we were near Shadow Hill, on [Next Island, 128092, 85069, 182, Pyramid]… everything had explanation: there were a series of rock formations that hid the pyramid, in addition to the fact that this area was quite depopulated and little visited. No doubt this explained why it seemed that we were the first to see this building. Or it had been built very recently and no one had seen it yet…

On the ground there was a system similar to the TP that we had come from. We deduced that it was a one way TP to the Sherman Outpost, and as it had been shown, also back, but… would there be other points similar to Sherman or this one? From this TP were guardian robots sent to other TPs like Sherman’s?

So… originally, where did those robots come from? What is the purpose of sending them from here to other points? Questions and more questions appeared in my mind…

Possibly only Desmond could help us but we still had no communication with him, so we would have to fend for ourselves…

We began to explore the pyramid from all sides and angles… Nothing… there was no door, but there must be a way to get in or out of the interior.
Simon was thoughtful for a second, and then he asked me for the portable activation system that we took from the robot in Sherman … The sliding button was still there, the three pilots also lit … wait, I think I remember that there were only two lit before, maybe …?

I pressed the button, and automatically a panel on the floor opened, showing an entrance to somewhere… Simon and I looked at each other: Back in action…

We go down a few steps and enter the interior of the pyramid. What horrible things were we going to find in there?

At the Pyramid of Madness – Part 2

We didn’t see anything, so we turned on the flashlights… The beams of light illuminated a durasteel corridor, with pipes, panels and maintenance systems…. We were in a huge instance.

The lack of light was logical: Robots do not need to see with visible light, their sensors are capable of capturing Microwaves, Infrared, Ultraviolet…

We advanced through those emaciated corridors, rooms full of strangely made material and equipment .. Our hearts beat wildly for not knowing what we were going to find, and suddenly…

Our SatNavs showed several red dots: robots… we had certainly been detected, so we barricaded ourselves behind some boxes of equipment…

30 meters… 20 meters… 10 meters… Seconds later, several robots appeared before the beams of our flashlights and, with a great metallic clatter, advanced threateningly in front of us…

Fortunately, the size of the corridor did not allow them to deploy correctly, but in pairs for what was practically a target shot…

Suddenly, red lights went on, emergency I suppose, and the SatNav went crazy… We were surrounded.

Simon looked at me… well, we were going to sell our lives dearly since we did not know if under all this metallic armored Pyramid the revives would work correctly … Also, if they worked, we would end up very far and the pyramid could deploy some defense system…

We went down a corridor that seemed less crowded with possible targets according to SatNav… We saw them arrive, black, large and squeaky, with red lights in their eyes…

With a short weapon in each hand, we gave a good account of those robots… and something began to haunt my mind…

Those robots were so crude, so badly finished… It’s as if they were simple skirmishers, cheap and expendable shock troops… so if so… where are the elite troops?

Simon swept his Ardener down the corridor, giving us a break, so we moved forward and turned left… A huge door blocked our way… It had no locking system, so we carefully pushed it… it opened, and we entered a wide hangar…
What was there defied all logic…

In the center of the room there was a strange machinery, with a system similar to the Sherman Outpost TP, but of enormous dimensions, and…

A company of Drones, flanked by a dozen Drokas… in the background several Defenders… Calypso robots on Next Island? What the hell is happening here ???

In the Pyramid of Madness – Part 3

We couldn’t believe what we saw… an army of Calypso robots there, disconnected but ready and menacing… and they hadn’t been detected? How did they get there?

-Simon, how is this possible?
-I don’t know, boy, but this is serious … if these robots connect I don’t think the colonists of Next Island will have enough capacity to defend themselves … This is not Calypso.
-I do not understand anything…

-IT’S EASY, HUMANS…

We turned with our weapons ready to where that strange voice, modulated as if it were synthesized with a vocoder, emerged…

From the shadows emerged a tall figure… his long neck, his bulging eyes, his claw with pincers… I had once seen that being.
It was long ago, in Calypso, fighting in an Instance they called “The Gaunlet”…

The robot looking at us was a Warlock… General Kratos…

-SURPRISED, HUMANS?

Simon and I looked at each other… I took a step forward.

-Hey, Kratos… what the hell is this?
-I SEE YOU KNOW MY A.I. WELL, THIS IS THE FUTURE OF THE QUADRANT … AND IT DOES NOT START IN CALYPSO, BUT IN NEXT ISLAND…
-But how is it possible? How did you get here?
-NOT FOR SPACE, HUMANS … THE CALYPSO SPACE PATROLS HAVE BLOCKED US OR DESTROYED OUR SHIPS… SO WE DEVELOPED SOMETHING NEW…

Kratos stared at us… if his metallic face could reveal any emotion, it would undoubtedly be a malicious smile upon seeing our expressions of incomprehension…

-WE DEVELOPED A PLANETARY TELEPORTER…

Gods!! That’s the worst that could happen… With a planetary teleporter, they could invade any planet: Arkadia, Cyrene, Toulan… all the planets in the Entropia Quadrant … and who knows if they could one day reach Earth…

– AT THE MOMENT ONLY THIS IS WORKING … IT HAS BEEN THE ONLY ONE THAT HAS PERFORMED ITS FUNCTION CORRECTLY, SO WE CAN START ON THIS PLANET… I HAVE BRING AN ADVANCED SQUAD, WHILE THOSE GUARDIANS OF THE PORTAL ARE IN CHARGE OF THE DEPLOYMENT AND MAINTENANCE.

Simon and I looked at each other, and understood… Our lives didn’t matter if the revives didn’t work there… there was something bigger that we had to do whatever it took… we had to stop Kratos and destroy the teleporter…

And the worst thing was that our communicators were still not working… There would be no reinforcements, no one would know anything if we failed… But there was no choice but to act…

With loud clicks of the strikers we cocked the weapons and prepared to Sacrifice… or Victory…

At the Pyramid of Madness – Part 4

We lunged straight for Kratos… He just waved his claws as strange lights flashed on his head, and…

As in a nightmare, the eyes and sensors of the drones, drokas and defenders simultaneously lit up red… He had connected the entire army !!!
There was no time to lose… we knew their systems would have to do some kind of initial check-up before going live, so we had a few precious seconds…

Simon’s Ardener began to sweep them away while my Armatrix pierced the Defenders’ armor… they awkwardly fell sideways, and sometimes dragged a partner…

Suddenly, a blow like a gigantic punch threw me into the air: A missile had hit very close… My ears were buzzing and everything was spinning… Simon was alone…

A droka approached me and readied his secondary weapon… Dazed, I managed to aim my Armatrix at him, and his head was thrown towards the ceiling… I was able to connect the healing chip and recover…

Simon had taken cover behind some boxes, and was about to use a Ravenger… I ran to his side while dodging several shots…

-Simon, cover me!!!

Simon got up and started unloading a burst of gunfire as I crawled under cover of him… I plugged in a “toy” I had bought at Crystal Peak: An Electric NanoChip VIII.

The rays came from my hands as if it were Zeus himself… Robots are that… robots, and their systems are sensitive to electricity…
While all this was happening, General Kratos dedicated himself to protecting the teleporter with his body… He was looking at us, perhaps impressed by our feat…

Because, between shots, the last droka fell…

Simon and I looked at each other satisfied… now we had to finish off that huge robot…

-As in the Gaunlet, Simon?
-As in the Gaunlet, Dante…

As horsemen of the Apocalypse, we advanced madly emptying every last ammunition of our weapons… Kratos defended himself as he could, perhaps thinking how it was possible that two simple and stupid humans had finished with his troops…

Kratos began to back painfully, his armor shattered, limping with his damaged cybernetic muscles… Suddenly, a greenish light illuminated his head and something like a huge spark went flying towards the corridor that led to the outside… without a doubt, his A.I. was leaving that body and fled with the necessary information… surely he would soon have another body in Calypso or elsewhere…

With a scrapping sound, Kratos’ body collapsed heavily…

With the feeling of a job well done, we were silent for a moment…

-Well, boy, now we have a spare durasteel to sell…
-Right, Simon, but… the teleporter… what do we do with it?

-YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING WITH IT!!!

A well-known voice was heard from the shadows…

-THIS SYSTEM BELONGS TO US!!!

Desmond appeared from the shadows…

At the pyramid of madness – Part 5.

-Desmond … what are you doing here?
-Taking a walk to see if you had gotten the Teleporter…
-Did you know about this?

Desmond looked at us with self-sufficiency, like someone who has to explain a lesson in Quantum Mechanics to a clumsy student…

-Let’s see, Dante, Simon, listen to me well… a long time ago a Stel spy in Calypso placed a reconnaissance drone near Hadesheim and we captured a series of communications… This is how we learned about the existence of the Planetary Teleporter …

Simon and I looked at each other… Desmond knew about all this and had sent us to… what?… Desmond continued.

-We did not know the place where it was going to be assembled, only that there would be basic robots to deploy and build the system… we finally found out that something was happening in Sherman Outpost, and we sent you with the excuse of the durasteel which, on the other hand, is us necessary for the craft…

I still didn’t understand… Desmond looked at me mockingly…

-You were able to find the exact location of the planetary teleporter, and now it belongs to the Stel… Simon, you are a Resa, so I feel sorry for you… anyway, for your silence, we will add a generous tip to your pay.

-Desmond, this teleporter is dangerous … it could be remotely connected by those robots and the invasion of Next Island would begin…
-Dante, you still don’t understand anything? With this teleporter we will get rid of the transportation fees of the Space Guild !!!

At that moment we saw it clearly … Warp transport was expensive, each flight took a good part of the profits of the merchants… but with that Teleporter, ships like Kronan, Varyag or Yamato would cease to be useful…

-Do you see Dante? Cheap and instant transport, the Space Guild on its knees and ruined… we would charge a part in Peds and another in merchandise, and we would have customs in operation … and all of this controlled by the Stel… Thanks to you…

I looked at Simon… in his eyes I noticed that he felt betrayed and cheated…

-Desmond… How did you know where we were?
-Dante, when we repair your armor we place an inhibitor of frequencies for communications, and a tracker to send me your exact position… And now we are leaving here… I will disconnect your inhibitor and send the coordinates to our base so that they can come and take charge… – he said while connecting his communication tablet.
– Desmond, at Sherman Outpost people died…
-Come on Dante, with them revives no one dies anymore…
-True, but one of the scientists took hours, maybe a whole day, to die… dying horribly… you don’t care about that?
-A simple collateral damage… nothing important…

I couldn’t take it anymore… I walked the three steps that separated me from Desmond and, with all the strength that the hatred I felt gave me, I gave him a tremendous punch that knocked him senseless at my feet…

I searched him… I took the Tablet, the Heal Chip, the Teleporter Chip and his food rations… Simon dragged Desmond out of that room while I placed some incendiary charges that we had carried on the TP.

A couple of minutes later, between explosions, the TP hangar was a sea of fire… the only planetary teleporter ever built had been destroyed…
Simon and I left the pyramid… we had a long way to go to the nearest outpost…

At the pyramid of madness – Final

Simon and I arrived at Crystal Peak a few hours later… After a couple of calls, two representatives of the Stel who i did not know appeared; no doubt they would be VIP… Simon was visibly uncomfortable surrounded by those who, under normal circunstances, would not be his friends … We sat at a table and ordered drinks…

-Well, Dante… and Desmond?
-He stayed in the pyramid studying the Teleporter… because you will already know that we have found it…

The Stels looked at each other with expressions of surprise… logical, since Desmond had not been able to send any communication.

-Excellent news then… I guess you and Simon are aware of the details…
-Of course; Desmond explained everything to us -I said with sufficiency- It is strange that he did not send you any communication…
-True, but it doesn’t matter since without a doubt you have the coordinates – The Stel looked at us questioningly.

Simon chimed in:

-Well, we don’t have them, because our NavSat were damaged all the time… as if we had the signals blocked by an inhibitor. –He said with a smile while savoring an Arkadian whiskey- Anyway, when we were able to teleport we appeared in Kamba Outpost…

Simon was a big liar… radio communications were blocked by the jammer, but not MASER communications with the positioning satellites… And the mention of Kamba Outpost would push the search for the pyramid far to the north …

The Stels looked at each other again… Without the coordinates, they should wait for Desmond …

-Let’s see, gentlemen -I said with a touch of impatience- That doesn’t matter now… what matters to me is our payment…
-Dante, Simon… as long as Desmond does not appear, that topic will not…

A huge blow on the table with the butt of a Chikara… Simon knew how to make himself heard… The Stels were astonished…

-Listen to me, Stels… We don’t care if Desmond has already arrived or has entertained on the way having a drink in a Club… -Simon fiddled with the gun and sometimes accidentally pointed at one or the other Stel- We have fulfilled, we found the pyramid, Desmond will be back soon… and we want payment for the durasteel sent… ah! and a tip for my silence… I’m a Resa, remember?

The Stels spoke quietly among themselves for a moment.

-Okay, gentlemen… follow us…

Outside the bar there was a Kraka… one of the Stel opened the back and a treasure appeared before my eyes: a wooden box whose label read “500 GENERIC FUSES”… The payment for the durasteel sent and my efforts… With the MU, that would be worth a fortune…

Simon received a transfer to his Ped Card worth 2k peds… a nice tip for his silence…

Simon and I were silent as the Kraka took off with the two Stel…

-Simon, for now this has ended well; but if Desmond comes back we may be in danger…

Simon thought for a moment, looked at me and said:

-Listen Dante… you are not a bad guy to be a Stel… except for the scar you gave me and we will talk about it one day… If you have problems with your faction, I can talk to the Resa so they can take you in…

Simon proved to be a good guy… If one of these days I go to Arkadia, I’ll bring him the Viceroy helmet that he likes so much… For now we will wait… Desmond may not return…

EPILOGUE 1:
Desmond painfully opened his eyes and barely saw anything… just a long corridor illuminated with emergency lights… he verified that he did not have any of his chips, no weapons or anything… he began to explore the Instance…

Many hours later he was really aware of the situation: the pyramid had the exit blocked, he had no teleporter chip or communicator… nothing to eat or drink… it could take days and even a week until he died of hunger and thirst, and then he would appear in a Revive… or not, with that metallic shield covering him…

He remembered his own words: “A simple collateral damage… nothing important…”

A cry of despair rose from his throat…

EPILOGUE 2:
In Calypso, General Kratos’ A.I. was connected to a new Warlock body… He explored his databases with the information obtained in Next Island…

Contact had been lost, no doubt the humans would have destroyed the teleporter, so he should explore other options for the invasion… His A.I. loaded the Neural Networks with the data from the planets in the Entropy Quadrant and, suddenly, he processed a revolutionary “idea”: In Arkadia, in Cyrene, everywhere, there was a lot of fauna… What if on any planet, for example Next Island, were animals manipulated to join forces and, like an army, advance against human settlers?

On his metallic face, no doubt, a smile would have appeared had he been able to…