Back inside the Relic again, Sho dropped through a few levels and straight into the cockpit. Fully linking himself to the Relic’s computer once more, Sho saw Agito and the six Zoalords fighting on top of the ship. Agito was getting the worst of it, with each Zoalord working in concert with the others to inflict the maximum amount of damage. For a full two minutes, Sho wasn’t able to focus on what he was doing.

Watching Agito get torn apart like that, even if the two of them had never been the closest of friends, wasn’t easy. In the end, though, Sho had to concede that the best way to help Agito was to fly the Relic out of Mt. Minakami. Destroying this base, besides being a powerful blow against Chronos, would also give at least some meaning to Mr. Murakami’s death. This is what he would have wanted me to do. This is for Mr. Murakami, and for father, and for all the other people that Chronos has hurt.

With that thought to give him purpose, Sho concentrated. Launch, Relic. Launch now! Sho could feel it when the Relic’s massive engines activated, their thrumming probably audible throughout the remains of the base. For a moment, Sho felt regret for all of the people that would be killed when Mt. Minakami inevitably collapsed, since some of them probably had lives outside of Chronos.

Prof. Odagiri had told him about the way that all of the scientists who worked for Chronos were infected with a virus that boosted their mental abilities while at the same time slowly killing them. Agito and Mr. Murakami hadn’t seemed at all surprised by that, but he, Mizuki and Tetsuro had been shocked and appalled by it. Mr. Murakami had said that something like that was typical for Chronos. Sho had seen by Mr. Murakami’s expression that it was something that the older man didn’t want to talk about.

Of course, now they would never get the chance to talk about anything ever again. That thought sobered Sho, and also made him realize that no matter what else was happening right now, he had to keep the rest of his friends safe. Right now, that meant flying the Relic up and out of Mt. Minakami, no matter what else happened.

XxXxX

The shaking and rumbling had gotten steadily worse as Sharru made her way toward the last of the processing laboratories. Dr. Balkus had given her specific orders to gather any of the remaining scientists, those that had managed to somehow survive the falling debris, and bring them out to be interrogated. Sharru didn’t know just where she was meant to bring them, but she knew that Dr. Balkus would tell her when the time came.

Walking into the laboratory, Sharru took half a second to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. Then she was moving again, though the floor underneath her and the ceiling over her head both looked rather more unsteady than she would have personally preferred. But then, this was what she had been ordered to do, and there hadn’t been many other options at the time.

As Sharru made her way deeper into the laboratory, she had to walk around a large pile of rubble from where the ceiling had fallen down. She had been running across a fair number of them since she had started searching this level, but so far she hadn’t found any scientists. Either living or dead. The smell of fresh blood drew her attention, and Sharru turned and hurried into the outer part of the laboratory.

She found her first scientist there, dead after having been impaled by a falling support beam. The guy hadn’t had a very easy time of it, Sharru could tell, since the beam had pierced his stomach. There was a look of pure agony frozen on his features, and Sharru remembered from her training that gut-wounds were among the most painful ways that a human could die.

The sound of Plexiglas cracking, coming from behind her, drew Sharru’s attention away from the dead scientist on the floor. Turning quickly to look at the processing-tank behind her, Sharru saw to her surprise that this particular processing-tank was full. And with a Proto-Zoalord no less. Seeing that, Sharru’s respect for the dead scientist on the floor went up by several notches.

Apparently he’d been very dedicated to his job, and not just in a bad place at a very bad time. That kind of dedication to one’s work was the kind of thing that would have probably gotten him noticed by the higher powers, which was probably why the guy had been chosen to develop this Proto-Zoalord in the first place.

Sharru’s eyes fluttered, as Dr. Balkus took control of her senses. As she stepped forward to observe the Proto-Zoalord more closely, Sharru could feel Dr. Balkus getting angrier and angrier. She wasn’t quite sure why, since the old Zoalord was shielding his thoughts from her. Most Zoalords did that, so Sharru wasn’t going to call him on it. Another mental presence, this one less familiar to her, intruded on Sharru’s mind then.

This one seemed more interested by the Proto-Zoalord than angry, and for the life of her Sharru couldn’t figure out why Dr. Balkus had been so pissed off by the sight of him. But then, trying to figure out the motivations of her superiors was something that Sharru had given up as hopeless a long time ago. They were a bunch of inscrutable bastards sometimes, all of them.

Even that Galenos guy, who did at least treat his people as something other than brainless cannon fodder. Even though all of the Zoalords tended to treat Sharru and her fellow Zoanoids better than they did the guys. Still, having two Zoalords cohabiting her mind was a new and not all that reassuring experience for Sharru. Finally, she felt Dr. Balkus’ mind retreating from contact with her own.

Sharru wondered for a minute if she was ever going to find out just what the two Zoalords’ deal was, but she knew that she probably wouldn’t. They were such inscrutable bastards.