A Woman's Intuition -- Part Six

There had been little discussion of strategy during the trip from Jut to Tiro's tent. Demi and the others were all well-aware of the fact that they could very easily be stepping into a trap. Tiro's tent was close quarters, as well as the heart of enemy camp. And Dark Force was not very likely to play fair.

After Landale IX parked beside Wren's shuttle the party simply marched to the tent. Demi, with the Elsydeon strapped to her back, was on point. Dahl, Azur, and Erol were directly behind her. Favia was a few paces behind them, and Mium, forever cautious, brought up the rear.

Demi didn't even pause when she reached the entrance of the tent. She stepped inside and immediately began to scan the room, letting her low-level Flare unit give off just enough light to see by. Demi could detect four distinct positronic signatures. One appeared to belong to a somewhat sophisticated assistant robot. Two of the others were very basic and belonged to simple worker drones of some kind. But the fourth she recognized immediately.

"Wren!"

A light on the far end of the tent appeared and shone down upon what looked like an operating slab. On the slab lay Wren, apparently deactivated. Most of the damage done earlier to his face had been repaired, but the rest of his body remained a total wreck.

Demi's impulse was to run to him, but it was too obvious a ploy. Demi stood perfectly still and eyed Wren warily. She waited until the others fell into line behind her.

Dahl shook her head. "I really don't like this."

Suddenly a seventh figure stepped into the tent. It was a hulking form draped in long robes. Two red eyes peered out from beneath a hood. The hum of a readied sonic gun could clearly be heard.

"Elm," Azur whispered.

Favia pushed her way past Mium and stood before the Motavian. "You!" she shouted. "You worthless meddler!"

Elm leveled his weapon directly at the girl's head. "You've got a lot of nerve showing your face here."

Mium immediately jumped between the two. She struck a menacing battle stance and let her fearsome claws do all of the talking.

"Please move out of the way," Elm said. "This does not have to concern you."

"Like Hell it doesn't!" Erol cried. He raised his own sonic gun and took a shot at Elm. But the Motavian rolled out of the way just in time.

Dahl turned to her sister. "See if you can do something with Wren. We'll try to keep our friend here busy." Dahl began to fire on Elm, too. Azur stooped down and slowly made her way over to where Wren lay.

Azur had just placed one of her hands on the top of Wren's slab when she felt a presence behind her. She whirled about, her sonic gun ready to fire, expecting to find herself nose-to-beak with Elm. But instead she saw the dwarfish form of a Whistle-type robot.

"What happened to Wren?" Azur asked.

"I don't know," Betty said. "He was gone for a while and came back damaged. But what are you people doing?"

"What do you mean what are we doing?" Azur asked. "That thing over there is a Dark Force!"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"There isn't time to explain. Elm, he's really some kind of ancient demon! I know this sounds insane, but--"

"You think that Elm is the Dark Force?"

"Wait, you know about the Dark Force? How?"

"Because Tiro found it in the ice this morning. He brought it back here not knowing what it was, but it attacked him. But then we heard a vehicle outside, and the Dark Force...shapeshifted. Somehow."

"And he took the form of a black-haired Motavian."

All of the lights on Betty's conical body suddenly darkened. Azur wondered if it was a sign of sadness.

"No! No..." Betty moaned. "Your ship was not the first vehicle to arrive here after Wren's. That visitor came on an ice scooter. That visitor was Elm!"

Azur could feel herself starting to sweat. "Betty, what are you saying?"

"What I'm trying to tell you is that Elm really is Tiro's partner! He had just gone out for the morning to investigate some weird readings near a crevasse. The real Dark Force is that girl! It's Favia!"

There was a rustling sound coming from the corner behind Betty. Azur slowly stood up and crept towards the sound. She smacked her knee hard against the metal leg of a bench. Cursing silently she peeked over a pile of boxes that were sitting on top of the bench. And down on the floor in the dark was Favia, pulling what looked like a set of metal legs out from under some kind of tarp.

Favia looked up at Azur, and suddenly Azur felt herself being thrown across the room. She crashed hard into the far wall of the tent and slid painfully down to the floor. She let out a weak yelp.

Dahl and Erol looked over their shoulders, trying to find Azur. The battered Numan managed to stand up and yelled to her friends, "It's not Elm! It's Favia!"

The firing stopped immediately. Dahl, Erol, Mium, and Demi all turned completely around and looked towards the back of the tent. Elm, panting and clutching a wounded arm, joined them.

A low grumble started to come from one of the back corners. The surrounding tables and crates began to shake, and then they fell to the ground all at once. Demi increased the power of her Flare unit and in the half-light the assembled party was able to see a metal giant rising up. He had the body and left arm of a Wren-type, but the face and right arm of a creature that looked like it came from ancient man's most primal nightmares. Demi recognized the creature immediately.

"Dark Force!" she said.

The Dark Force nodded. "Yes. What a pack of fools you are. I cannot believe it took you this long to discover my little game." As soon as Dark Force opened his mouth the room was filled with a horrible stench. Azur, who was closest to Dark Force, gagged uncontrollably and fell to her knees. Everyone else took a step back, except for Demi.

The diminutive android pulled the Elsydeon from the sheath on her back. The sword began to emit a faint glimmer, and the Dark Force openly flinched. But then the light fell away.

Dark Force smiled. "Only the chosen one can wield that sword. It is useless to you. How could you think that a empty husk of a creature like yourself could possibly use it? You are nothing but a machine. You don't even have a soul."

"No, you're wrong," Demi said. "There is something more than this waiting for me on the other side of life. There is only one person in this room who has no soul. That person -- and I use the term loosely -- is you."

Dark Force tipped his head back and laughed. "Large talk from such a wretched little creature. And obviously very uninformed. You need that sword to destroy me, yes. But not one person here has the power to wield it. Quit wasting my time."

Dark Force snapped two of his metal fingers and all light was immediately gone from the room. It took several seconds before Demi was able to engage her Flare unit on a high enough setting to emit even a soft glow. When at last she was able to see again, Demi realized that the Dark Force was gone.

"He's escaped," she said.

Dahl went over to help Azur stand up. Erol and Mium looked to Elm.

"I'm so sorry," Mium said, looking at Elm's bleeding arm. "It looks like I got you."

Elm smiled and waved away her concern. "Don't worry about it. I'll be fine."

Betty wheeled over into the center of the room and stood before Wren. "Your friend here should also be all right," she said. "I was able to engage his internal recovery unit manually."

Demi walked over to Wren and placed one of her small hands on his. "What happened to him?" she asked.

"He was under the Dark Force's control," Betty said. "And it appears that he has been infected in the same way Tiro was. The Dark Force said there was only one way to cure this ailment, but he would not tell me what it is."

"Oh, I know what it is," Demi said. "The only way to remedy the Black Energy Wave is to kill the Dark Force that emitted it in the first place."

"Terrific," Elm muttered.

Once Azur was able to stand on her own again, Dahl turned to Elm. "So who exactly are you, anyway?"

"My name is Elm Dubaray," he said. "I am a friend of Tiro's from way back in our Academy days. I came out here a few weeks ago to help him with his studies of the glacier. I left this morning to investigate something and when I came back he was injured, Wren was already here, and Betty was in a horrible state. As you can imagine, I was pretty confused. And then you guys showed up, and then that girl. After you left the girl went to sleep, or so we thought, and Betty was able to quickly give me a synopsis of what happened. At first I couldn't believe her about the Dark Force, but the girl's behavior while she was here made it clear that she was more than what she claimed."

"Dark Force never tried to hide his strange powers around Elm because he was convinced that neither Elm, Wren, nor myself would ever leave this station alive," Betty added.

Elm nodded. "Right. Anyway, we came up with a plan to use Belthasar and Bartholomew, our two worker robots, to destroy Dark Force. We went out to retrieve them from the spot where Dark Force had told Wren to dump them, but by the time we got back, you were already taking the Dark Force away."

"By studying the black tar in Tiro's blood we were able to determine that a Dark Force was involved in all of this," Demi said. "Favia convinced us all that you must be the Dark Force in disguise." She laughed. "Quite the little actress."

Elm shook his head and chuckled. "Amazing. Our sensors detected your approaching ship, so I went and hid in the snow and waited for you to go inside."

"We intended for Bel and Bart to attack the Dark Force," Betty said. "Unfortunately, their repairs were not completed fast enough. Their recover units have still not finished the extensive repairs that Dark Force made necessary."

"Betty," Azur asked, "what was that metal thing that Dark Force was pulling out from under the table back there?"

Betty explained to the others how she had been forced to build a mechanical body for the Dark Force, and how Wren had been summoned to Dezoris to assist her.

"So that's it," Demi said. She sighed and brushed her fingers against Wren's cheek. "That's why he didn't contact me..." She wiped a tear from her eyes and turned back to the group. "All right, we can't waste any more time talking. We've got to go find that Dark Force immediately. There is no way of knowing what kind of destruction it will cause."

"But how can we hope to find it?" Dahl asked.

"The Elsydeon can lead us to it," Demi said. "Of that much I am certain."

"I will go with you," Elm said. "Obviously, my studies here cannot resume until Tiro, Bel, and Bart are all well again. And I had several hours to study this Dark Force's behavior..."

Demi nodded. "You will be a valuable addition to our team, certainly. And you have shown yourself to be a highly competent fighter."

Elm bowed. "I thank you."

"What about you, Betty?" Dahl asked.

"If it is all right with you," the Whistle said, "I would prefer to stay here with Wren, Bel, and Bart until they are well. It may take several more days for the repairs to complete themselves. The damage Wren suffered was especially severe."

"I tell you what," Demi said. "I will have my assistants take you, Wren, and your robots back to Zelan. We have the best repair facilities in all of Algo there, and that is also where your friend Tiro is."

Betty's optic focused and refocused. "That would be perfect! I thank you."

"I'll have a ship sent down immediately to pick you all up," Demi said. "But the rest of us have got to leave. Now."

Demi and the others walked back out into the open, and were horrified to find that the Landale IX had been completely demolished. Wren's shuttle had also been taken.

"Dark Force must have used Wren's ship to escape," Mium said. "And I guess he didn't want us tagging along."

Dahl groaned. "How could this happen?"

Erol scratched his chin. "Perhaps the Dark Force has made some allies."

Azur shivered. "Not a cheering thought."

Ten minutes later the Landale VIII arrived. Warren and four Browren-types quickly loaded Wren and the others aboard the ship and prepared to depart.

Dahl, Azur, Erol, Mium, and Elm were standing out below the stars when another light appeared in the sky. At first they thought it was a shooting star, but it soon became clear that it was actually a ship. It was headed right towards them, and moving exceptionally fast.

"Demi, what's that?" Dahl asked, pointing into the sky.

Demi and Warren looked up, and Demi smiled. "Oh, that," she said. "You remember that very important project Wren was working on?"

"You mean the one he blew me off for?" Dahl asked.

Demi nodded. "Yeah."

"Of course I remember. What about it?"

"Well..." Demi said. "That is it!"

The ship made a perfect vertical landing just outside of Tiro's tent. It was shaped like a teardrop. The nose of the ship was where the top of the tear would be. Eight large propulsion jets jutted out from the ship's rear. The wings were slanted backwards at a sharp angle and reminded Dahl of a boomerang.

Erol whistled when he saw it. It was a small ship, but it was simply the most beautiful craft Erol had ever seen.

"This is truly an amazing vessel," Dahl said, running her fingers over its smooth silver skin. "I'm assuming it's called Landale XII."

Demi shook her head. "No. Wren decided it was time to come up with a new way to classify the ships. He thought -- and I agreed -- that there were already too many ships named 'Landale.'"

"So?" Mium said. "What's this baby called?"

Demi smiled and looked up at the ship. Her pride in Wren was apparent as she said, "My friends. I would like to introduce you to the Alis."

"So this is what it is like to travel through the universe," Dark Force said. He sat in the back of Wren's ship, staring out through a view port. "To think that we have now passed beyond the edges of Algoian space. Astonishing!"

"This is your first time, then?" asked Xarxelle, who sat across from her master.

Dark Force nodded. "My mission was to secure and then destroy Dezoris. I was never required to visit other worlds."

"We were required to do many things," said Xanon, who sat in the co-pilot's seat. "It is fortunate for us that Xerik's skills include knowing how to pilot a spacecraft."

"So where, exactly, are we headed?" asked Xarxas.

"When I was released from my long imprisonment I was certain that I felt the presence of another of my kind," Dark Force said. "When I first ran across the four of you I believed that I had found the source of that feeling."

"But you still sense another presence," said Xanon.

"Correct."

"Is it another Dark Force?"

"I...am not sure. I do not know how that could be possible. All I can say is that there is another of our ilk out there, somewhere." Dark Force stood up and walked to the cockpit. He stared out through the glass and into the blackness of space. "I feel very at home here," he said. "Xerik. Continue on in this direction. I am certain that what we are seeking lay just ahead."

It was only a few moments before Demi and the others had taken off aboard the Alis. It was a remarkable ship with enough supplies on board to allow for a year-long voyage. A crew of two was all that was required. It was quickly decided that Demi would function as pilot. Mium and Erol would alternate as co-pilot.

Everyone had gathered on the rounded, multi-story bridge. While Demi and Mium busied themselves with the ship's controls, Erol searched for Wren's stolen ship using the Alis' enhanced sensors. The ship flew throughout the Algo system on a spiral-like course, beginning just inside Motavia's orbit. The ship had just cleared the path of Dezo when Erol at last detected Dark Force's vessel.

"We've got him," Erol said.

"Which way is he headed?" Demi asked.

"I'm forwarding the coordinates to you. Looks like he's headed right out of Algo. He's going towards a small three-planet system not too far from here... It's in neutral space. Name of the star is Beta 6-7-9."

"Do you know anything about that system, Demi?" Dahl asked.

Demi shook her head. "No. Wren and I have been too busy with the maintenance of Algo to spend much time surveying the skies. It looks like we'll just have to head into unknown territory."

"This is my first time leaving the system," Azur said. "I can't help feeling like I'm abandoning my duty."

"No, Azur," Dahl said. "What you said earlier was so true. This is the very fulfillment of our duty. We are defending Algo from the greatest threat it's ever known: Dark Force. No matter where Dark Force runs, we must follow him. Even if it takes us... Beyond Algo."

Beneath Demi's seat the Elsydeon silently shed its holy light. For the first since its creation the sword knew uncertainty. Helplessness.

Fear.

To Be Continued...