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StarMountainKid's Zarkor and Zerak Blog

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Into The Great Cosmic Void - Chapter Eleven


StarMountainKid

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blog-0786556001463027678.jpgZarkor in his telepathic trance in the Control Room continues to stare blankly into empty space without any sign of movement.

“What are we to do?” Cloney asks Zerak in dismay.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait until Zarkor takes control of things, or rather the Values in the Depository take control of Zarkor,” Zerak replies, watching Zarkor carefully.

“I don’t like this,” Cloney says anxiously. “I wish something would happen and at the same time I hope nothing happens.” Finally, the inactivity overcomes Cloney. He shouts into the com, “Hey Value! You guys better know what you’re doing out there!” Cloney glances over to Zarkor. “You don’t know Zarkor like I do. He’s liable to wreck your plans and go off and do something stupid! He’s not as reliable as you think, even in a trance!”

“Cloney, hush,” Zerak says and turns to the com. “Value, what is the plan the ones in the Depository have devised?”

“There are many secrets to the Depository,” the Value answers. “Some known to us, many unknown. Even our masters, the Supervisors, do not know of them all.” The Value continues in a hushed tone, “Only They know.”

“Yes, but the Depository is heavily guarded, right?” Zerak says. “How do we get passed them?”

“Yes, guarded, and well guarded,” the Value replies. “But the guards are stupid, and they are only hirelings as are the mercenaries, employed by the Supervisors to keep order and security. There are ways to circumvent their watchfulness. After all, I escaped.”

Zerak thinks for a moment. “Well, I mean, are you all locked in cells like a jail? I don’t see how we can free all of you.”

“We are confined, but in a peculiar manner,” the Value answers. “It is difficult to put into your language. We are free to roam the Depository at certain times and to communicate among ourselves, and at other times we are confined separately. But the Supervisors do not know we are always free to communicate telepathically. We have developed this ability secretly. I do not even think They know of this. We have been transmitting telepathic messages out from the Depository for a long time, and finally one of you has received them and come to our aid.”

“This doesn’t make sense to me. So, you sent out a telepathic message into the Universe, and only our Zarkor received them?” Zerak asks, puzzled.

“It seems so,” the Value continues. “It is a puzzlement to us as well as to you. I do not know why only your friend Zarkor has received our messages. Is he clairvoyant?”

“Zarkor is many things,” Zerak says knowingly, “but clairvoyance is a new one to me. I will admit Zarkor has a strange mind all his own.”

“Maybe it’s all his stupid brain implants,” Cloney interrupts. “They’re all cheap reproductions of emulations of copies of imitations made who-knows-where that Zarkor keeps buying in disreputable pawn shops around the Galaxy. They’re unreliable and always giving him trouble. He’s always fiddling with them, making adjustments and complaining about them and stuff. They never work right. The only one that seems to operate correctly is his Dumb Luck Implant. That’s what he says, anyway.”

“That’s right, Cloney,” Zerak adds. “His Dumb Luck Implant has saved him and me many times in our Adventures. Of course, his brain itself is peculiar, judging by his odd behavior, like his Theories and all that. ”

“Yeah,” Cloney says. “You should hear some of his Theories, Mr. Value. They drive me crazy.”

“Whatever Zarkor is or his talents are, he is the one who must free us,” the Value says. “It seems to be ordained somehow. We must trust him in this dire matter. He is our only hope.”

Cloney shakes his head in disbelief. “But what if this telepathic stuff doesn’t stick?” He asks nervously. “Nothing stays in Zarkor’s mind for very long, anyway. If this telepathy stuff goes wrong, left on his own, who knows what might happen! I know. I’ve been on another Adventure with Zarkor and it was a disaster! I’d tell you about it, but I’d rather not.”

“Nevertheless,” the Value comments, “we must give Zarkor all our trust, for we are in truth trusting the cunning of the Values in the Depository. In this case, Zarkor is only a means to an end. I assure you, his trance will not fail us.”

Suddenly Zarkor starts, his eyes now appearing to emit a glow from within, and he quickly turns and drifts horridly out of the Control Room. Zerak and Cloney look at each other and hastily follow. Zarkor drifts through corridors and rooms of their ship, Zerak and Cloney close behind until he finally enters the Escape Room, where the Safety Cubes are stored. Zarkor, still in the daze of the trance enters his Cube and drifts to the Airlock. Quickly, Zerak and Cloney enter their Safety Cubes and hover close to Zarkor.

Cloney looks frightened. “I’ve never been in a Safety Cube before,” he says to Zerak. He looks around nervously from inside. “How do I make this thing go?”

“Nothing to it,” says Zerak confidently. “Just drift as you usually do. The Cube will follow your telekinetic movements.”

“Okay, I guess,” is Cloney’s hesitant reply.

The door of the Airlock hisses open and Zarkor, Zerak and Cloney slowly drift out of their Lightship and into the blackness of the Void of Nothingness.

Our three heroes drift away from their ship, their mysterious course known only to Zarkor and the Values. Cloney looks back to their Lightship as it slowly recedes into the distance. It is slightly luminous in the utter darkness and Cloney concludes this is the life-glow of the Value wrapped around it, but this too fades and the ship disappears into the nothingness.

Ahead there is little to discern in the emptiness before them. Cloney says to Zerak in some panic, “We’ll just be drifting around aimlessly! We’ll be lost out here for sure, there’s nothing to guide us! I don’t like this at all, Zerak! I don’t trust Zarkor. It’s just like our Adventure to the Next Continent! Zarkor just drifted off into the forest without direction or plan. He didn’t even bring a compass! In a short while we were completely lost with no way to return to our boat.” Cloney thinks for a moment. “We were lucky in a way to be found by the natives, but there’s no one around here for millions of light-years! We could drift forever and never find our Lightship again!”

“Have some confidence, Cloney!” Zerak insists. “The Values of the Depository are guiding Zarkor. We’re not lost…well, not yet anyway. Besides, our Safety Cubes have homing devices. We can always get back to our ship if the need arises.”

This comforts Cloney somewhat, but the complete and absolute blackness surrounding him does not give him much confidence.

Our three heroes drift on silently in the vast nothingness for many Time Periods seemingly in no particular direction, Zerak and Cloney immersed in their own private thoughts.

After a long and lonely time, in the far distance they notice a tiny dim glow far ahead. “Look!” Cloney exclaims. “What’s that?”

“It must be the Depository,” Zerak answers excitedly, squinting his eyes to see better. “At last Zarkor’s trance is getting us someplace!”

“Yes, but where?” Cloney wonders. “But what about the guards?” Cloney asks in a frightened voice. “How do we avoid them? We’ll be captured and put in jail along with those stupid Values!

“I suppose the Values have some plan to evade them”, Zerak says, trying to console Cloney’s fears. “But I still don’t see how the three of us can free them from their Depository. I mean, what can we do for them floating around like this in our Safety Cubes?”

“But our Cubes have weapons, don’t they?” Cloney asks hopefully.

“Yes, but not very powerful ones, and we don’t know what creatures the guards are or what weapons they may have,” Zerak replies uneasily. “I hope these Values have not over-estimated our usefulness. Besides, our welfare may not be important to them. What happens if we’re just decoys or something? I mean, expendable? We’re going to have to watch what’s happening very carefully, Cloney. We’ll have to depend on each other, so stay close and don’t panic. If we get ourselves in a situation where our lives are in threatened we’re going to have to stay rational.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Cloney agrees anxiously. “But if we get killed or something even worse it’ll all be Zarkor’s fault!” He says angrily. “Zarkor and his stupid Adventures! Why can’t we just stay home and have nice lives like everybody else? I don’t mind doing Zarkor’s chores. Even his exploding trash compactor didn’t bother me too much. I expect Zarkor to come up with stupid stuff like that. But out here we could be in real danger!”

“Well, we’re here now, Cloney,” Zerak says. “There’s no turning back. And don’t be too harsh on Zarkor. If Zarkor wasn’t Zarkor, you wouldn’t even be alive, think about that. Plus, he’s saved the Universe many times from evil villains in the past, like Malfecula and that Globe thing that wanted to rule the Universe! I think we should trust him in this Adventure, or at least his Dumb Luck Implant.”

“I know,” Cloney says, “but this time he’s under the control of those Values, and what do we know about them, Zerak? Whatever they are, they may not even be the good stuff we’re looking for! They may be just some criminals or something locked up in some stupid jail! And here we are trying to free them! Maybe the guards and Supervisors are the good guys. If we help them escape, maybe we’d be releasing them to terrorize the Universe or something. Have you thought about that?”

“We can’t abandon Zarkor, Cloney,” Zerak says. “He’s in the control of others now, for better or worse. Whatever happens, the three of us must stick together and see this thing through. We’re not helpless, although you may think we are. We still have a few tricks up our sleeves, metaphorically speaking, of course. Do you think I would venture out here in this vast emptiness unprepared? Have some courage, my friend. Zarkor and I have been through many dire circumstances in the past and always survived to defeat our enemies.

“Those who have underestimated our strength and will have done so at their peril! These Values may think we are at their command, but woe to them who think we are powerless to turn events to our advantage!”

With this, Zarkor, Zerak and Cloney drift silently forward, moving ever closer to the dim and mysterious glowing apparition in the far distance ahead, to what uncertainty none of them can guess.

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