The Fifth Cycle of Time Part 32

From: Cheryl Baumgartner(C Baumgartner, Posted Date: Apr 30th, 2011

Duke

Duke stood in the cryochamber aboard the Noah all of the pods were empty except for five.  He went to each one and opened it laying his hand on each of the women in turn.   As each opened her eyes he told her to get to the shuttle craft waiting for their arrival.  It would be tricky getting them all out.  Hopefully Mantrid would be too involved with his conversation with the Last of the Brunnen G to notice.

 

“Kai! No you are dead.  You died destroying my prototype!” Mantrid’s image said in shock.

“Yes I am dead.  But I have always been dead.  Nothing more than a biomechanical machine programmed to serve the Divine Order.  One created to be pretty much indestructible.  Did you really think that I would have been destroyed along with your little asteroid?

You continually underestimate me.  You continually underestimate the Brunnen G I am born from.  The time approaches when we will meet again, very soon.  This time you will die biovizer.  Every part of you will die.” 

The Machine had a heading, the Noah turned to follow the signal never realizing a shuttle was launching at the same time.

 

“This will not buy us much time.” 790 said.  “I don’t know how much longer I can keep Mantrid following that phantom signal.”

“We only need a couple of days.  Did the women arrive?” First asked Second who was now busy organizing his fleet to join the LEXXES.

“Yes, all of them restored to life.  Was Bunny always this much of an airhead?” He asked Fourth.  “I think I have met rocks with more intelligence.  Anyway, I spoke to May, she seemed to be quite intelligent.  From what she has told me, killing Mantrid is going to be a very tough job.  He seems to be able to move his insect consciousness from human to machine at will.  So he can go from Mantis to Noah and back again.”

“That means you have to kill the human, destroy the Machine and Echias.  It’s a tall order.” Third said.

“He also has 30 clones of his human body held in reserve.  If his body is injured then he just occupies another clone.” Second added.

“Then the clones must be dealt with first, before his human body is destroyed.” First said.  “We must have a plan that will address this conundrum and deal with Mantrid’s army.  We are entering the endgame.

I have been thinking on how to go about destroying Mantrid.  In order to fully carry out Rakais wishes it will take all of us.  We have to destroy Mantrid, all three parts and then destroy his army.  Fifth you know your job.  You have to destroy Echias, the insect. The cloned bodies and Mantis have to be destroyed, that’s Fourth’s strong suit.  The problem is the machine.  Second is the most mechanically inclined but he is also the best fighter pilot ever born to the Brunnen G.  We need him in a fighter directing the battle between Mantrid’s forces and ours.  That leaves you to deal with the Machine Third.  790 is working on several plans to figure out which one will be best.

But before we implement any plan we need Mantrid to be completely flustered.  Fourth I understand that you have an appropriately ‘evil’ idea along those lines?” First asked.

“Yes let him see what he faces.  Let him see all of us.  We remind the insect of all its defeats over time.” Fourth said.

“You mean all of us?  We like rub his nose in it?” Second  eagerly asked.

“That’s exactly what he means.  The insect will be enraged.” Third replied.

“But won’t Echias escape his prison?” Fifth asked.

“No Echias will be too busy fighting with himself.  The Machine is determined not let him out.” First said.   Echias suffers from the fact that he is bound by his idea of order.  He cannot harness chaos like we can.”

“I would suggest that First Kai be the first to contact him.” Fourth said.

 

Mantrid

“Hello Mantrid.  Guess who?”

Mantis looked at the image on the veiwscreen it was familiar but he could not identify the old man that had initiated this contact.

“Who are you?” Mantis demanded.

“Someone who knows you well.  I wonder how many of your kind I killed? I kind of lost track after the first hundred and I was a young man then.  I didn’t even bother counting when the war got in full swing.  I considered it a relaxing hobby to search for burrows and then slaughter every insect I found inside.  Even the hatchlings.”  The screen went blank.

 

790 watched with amusement as the Noah abruptly changed course.  Mantrid had forgotten all about dead and dreamy.  He was now following another phantom signal, this time looking for wise and aged.   790 was discovering that being a pain in the ass is a lot of fun.

 

Mantrid

“Kai!” Mantis was enraged.  “Last of the Brunnen G I will destroy you!  I know how to shut you down, I am the greatest biovizer who ever lived!”  The machine transmitted a code designed to overwrite the Divine Assassin programming that Kai carried.

“Do you see a bun on my head idiot?  Do I look like a Divine Assassin to you?  You’re not only stupid, you’re blind.  That’s why you never saw me coming.  I should be ashamed of myself for littering the universe with all those insect parts.  I mean you had only packed thousands of them in that comet.   You should have known better.  Did you think I was just going to let you waltz in and conquer Brunnis?”

“You cannot do this.  You should be under my control!” Mantis sputtered.

“Like I said, you’re an idiot.” Second ended his transmission.

 

790 was truly enjoying himself as he sent the Noah off chasing yet another dead end.

 

“I don’t think I have ever seen 790 having so much fun.   He’s got Mantrid chasing shadows trying to find and destroy Kai.  Mantrid is also sending out that code in a blanket transmission.” Fifth said.

“Yes I know, Brizon removed all those programs when we saw him.  The art of genius is planning ahead.  Brizon knew that Mantrid would try to deactivate or control me.” Fourth replied.

“Well while 790 has been having so much fun I’ve been working out a plan.  I will stay with the LEXXes, Second you will stay with your fleet.  The two of us will tackle Mantrid’s army.   Third, Fourth and Fifth will take care of Mantrid.  We have to get Third and Fourth on your LEXX Fifth.  Then we will pull back the rest of the LEXXes to use in destroying  Mantrid’s army.”

“We’ll be nearing your location soon.   Third and I left the LEXX back at Typhos.  When we get there Second Kai’s Taxi Service will provide luxury transportation to Fifth’s location aboard the state of the art Star Cruiser 2.” Second said.

“He’s not kidding either.  The Cartoians believed in their creature comforts.  It feels more like I’m taking a pleasure cruise than in the middle of a war.” Third added.

“Fifth the captain has orders to stay with you and provide escort.  I’m sending an additional squad to you.  The commander of the squad is one of the best fighter pilots I’ve seen.  He’ll protect the LEXX.” Second added.

“Did Vlad arrive safely?” She asked.

“Yes she did, the Typhians are bringing up the Assassins one by one and Vlad is destroying them as they are bought up, 17 have been destroyed so far.” Third said.

 

Mantrid

“Mantrid, how are things pal?”

Mantis looked at the viewscreen, Kai again.  This time older. 

“You are becoming an annoyance.” Mantis said trying to keep his cool this time.

“Just becoming?  I’ll have to work a little harder at it then.  So where are you planning to run this time?  You destroyed the Light Universe.  Looks like you have nowhere to run.  But even if you did I’d just chase you down like I did before.  My only regret is that I didn’t get your child at the same time.  And you had the nerve to refer to yourself as a gigashadow?  Hell it doesn’t even take me to destroy you,  you can’t even deal with a baby clusterlizard.  Did you enjoy having Squish dine on your brain?”

Once again the screen went blank. Once again the Machine looked for the source of the signal.  Once again it was coming from a different direction.  “We must conclude that there is more than one Kai.” It said.  “We will follow this signal to it’s source and destroy this Kai then hunt for the others.”

 

“It’s exactly as you predicted my wise love, Mantrid is determined to find the source of the signal.  That will clear the way for the Star Cruiser to meet with us.  The only issue may be a straggler or two.  Mantrid’s armada is hard pressed to keep up with his twists and turns.” 790 reported.

“Well if we happen to be able to pick off a straggler or two it will make the trip interesting.” Third said.  “I need to go brief the rabble before we go.  I’m bringing a couple of squads with me.  We want to be prepared for anything.  I’ll feel better if we’ve got some troops at our back when we board the Noah.”

“The fighter squad is ready to go.  They’ve been briefed.  Whenever you and Fourth are ready.” Second said.

“790 will you be ready to send my transmission when we are underway?” Fourth asked.

“Of course, I’m enjoying this almost as much as I enjoy gazing upon my perfect Kais.” 790 responded.

“Do we have competition for your affection 790?” Fifth teased.

“It’s a close second curvaceous one but still second.” Said 790.

“I will contact you when we leave.” Fourth said.