章 8: CHAPTER 8: INTO OUTER SPACE
The Rust Bucket 3 cruised through outer space at hyper speeds. It's passengers: Rook Blonko, Gwen Tennyson, Kevin Levin, and Julie Yamamoto, and of course we can't forget Julie's pet Ship. Speaking of the young woman, Julie had not done a lot of travelling into outer space, so it was all still very new to her. She was very much an excited young girl again as she watched the stars and space dust pass by the windows. Despite convincing herself that she wanted a normal life, there was a part of her that could hardly believe she had ever given this up. Julie sat strapped into her seat, with Ship snuggled on her lap. Gwen sat across from her while Kevin and Rook sat up front.
"Ok, I've set in the coordinates from the communicator. We should reach our destination in approximately half an hour." Rook explained. They had already been travelling for a while since they left earth. Leaving was probably the least enjoyable experience so far. The immense G forces made Julie nearly sick to her stomach. Much to her chagrin, the others seemed almost entirely unaffected.
"Ben sure chose a spot way out there. I mean these coordinates are almost in the middle of nowhere." Kevin observed.
"Actually, Kevin, according to intergalactic maps and our sensors, there appears to be a few small planetoids at this location." Rook clarified. Kevin rolled his eyes.
"I rest my case, middle of nowhere." Kevin restated.
"At least it will be good to finally see him again." Gwen said optimistically. "I wonder how much he's changed." Gwen asked aloud. Kevin scoffed and turned around to face the two women.
"Please, this is Ben we're talking about. First thing dude is probably gonna do is ask us for a smoothie." Kevin said sarcastically.
"I don't know. He really didn't seem like himself when he came to see me last." Julie added. "Maybe he's been taking this really seriously. After all he's been gone 3 years." She said. The conversation died down after that as each of them pondered how much Ben would have changed.
The group soon found themselves approaching their destination. The coordinates led to a small purple planetoid surrounded by scattered asteroids. They orbited the planetoid from above, scanning the surface. To their surprise, they found signs of life as well as structures down below. Kevin took the Rust Bucket down to land on the planet. The landing was much smoother than the takeoff Julie thought thankfully. They set down in a barren patch of land and exited the Rust Bucket. Fortunately the planetoid had a suitable atmosphere for life so they did not have to don their space suits. As they set foot on the space rock, the first thing they noticed was the barren landscape, filled with crumbly dry purple soil. But off in the distance they could see what looked to be a settlement of some kind.
"Do you think Ben is over there?" Gwen asked.
"Only one way to find out." Kevin replied. The group soon made their way towards the signs of civilization.
As they grew closer they began to see the settlement more clearly. The buildings were fairly tall, white with rounded purple orbs. The strangest thing about the architecture was that it looked almost organic. The structures had soft smooth curves and connected to each other with thin meandering stalks. It all seemed strangely familiar. Soon they reached the settlement entrance, a large and tall black gate with glowing red and purple signage in a language they couldn't understand. But most surprising was the figure there to greet them. A familiar High Breed alien with a green right arm.
"Greetings friends of Ben Ben Tennyson. Welcome to Thurnax." The High Breed spoke.
"Hey we know you, you're uh…" Gwen began.
"Reinrassig the III, seventh son of the noble house of Di Ralla, direct descendant of the pure blooded high order of Rasecht." He explained. The group stared at the High Breed with mixed reactions.
"Right, I think Ben just called you Reiny." Kevin said.
"You may call me that if you wish. We've been expecting you." Reiny explained.
"How did you know we were coming?" Gwen asked curiously.
"We received the beacon signal that Tennyson told us of some time ago. I portaled over to this planetoid when I was notified of your ship approaching." Reiny stated.
"So Ben is here? That's great cuz we've been looking for him." Gwen said hopefully. Reiny's shoulders slumped however.
"I am sorry to disappoint you Gwen. But Ben Ben Tennyson is not here." Reiny said expecting their disappointment. Rook rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"But he was here at some point. Otherwise the coordinates would not have led us here." Rook reasoned. Reiny nodded his head.
"You are correct, one named Rook." Reiny confirmed.
"So, why would Ben send us here first?" Julie asked aloud.
"Come, follow me and I will explain everything." Reiny said beckoning them forward. He turned around and walked forward into the settlement. The search party quickly followed behind him. As they passed through the streets they noticed a vibrant thriving community of multi-colored High Breeds. Some were busy plowing fields and harvesting strange fruit from dark green and blue plants. Others they noticed were carting around large amounts of some kind of glittering ore. Many of them were stacking the harvests in piles or loading them onto transport ships.
"What is this place?" Gwen asked entranced.
"This is the Reparation Colony 214 on Thurnax." Reiny replied simply.
"What's a reparation colony?" Kevin asked aloud. Reiny stopped short for a second and gestured around them.
"After our misguided genocidal war ended, I made the decision as High Breed supreme that our people needed a cultural overhaul. Ben Tennyson had saved my species by recombining our DNA with that of the species in the Omnitrix. Although some were horrified, many more were relieved and even excited to reach out and learn of the species whose DNA they now shared. Unfortunately, the galaxy at large was still distrustful of us, and for good reason. So I proposed a system of reparations to provide other planets with much needed raw materials. Now our people work diligently to harvest these materials and repair the damaged relationships we have with the rest of the galaxy." Reiny elaborated.
"Wow, that's really smart. Nothing like hard work to make you humble." Gwen said nodding approvingly.
"Indeed, we have made much progress since the start of the program." Reiny said proudly.
"Uh yeah, really great to hear you guys are all hippy now. But we still don't know what we're doing here." Kevin asserted. Reiny nodded.
"Of course, your questions shall all be answered soon." He said. Reiny then led the group into a large hill shaped building that seemed to be the central structure of the settlement. They walked through halls decorated with familiar hues of red, black, and purple. Finally they reached a large open room. In the center of the room sat a large screen which clearly didn't match the surrounding décor. Reiny gestured to the screen once they were all standing in front of it.
"Your friend Ben Tennyson was indeed here. He left us this device and instructed us that if we ever received the beacon signal we should expect someone to come searching for him." Reiny explained. Julie frowned.
"I don't understand." She said.
"Tennyson told me that he would be isolating himself in order to train. However, he left instructions on how to find him in the case the beacon signal did not reach him. It was a sort of back up plan if you will." Reiny explained further.
"Ok, but why not just program in the coordinates of where he's hiding out. Why lead us here?" Kevin asked frustrated.
"I do not know. I can tell you that Ben was worried about his enemies discovering his location. He said that this device would ensure only his allies would be able to find him." Reiny explained.
"This all seems weirdly… paranoid for Ben." Gwen noted with a note of concern in her voice.
"One other thing." Reiny said. "This is only the first of three such relay stations you will have to find." He stated.
"Three?! Ok that cracks it, there's definitely something wrong with Ben." Kevin exclaimed.
"I agree, for Ben to set up this many precautions and safeguards. It just isn't like him." Rook added.
"Still, what choice do we have?" Julie observed. The rest of them looked back and forth between each other as they contemplated the situation. Eventually they all came to the agreement that they would have to play whatever game Ben had set up for them.
"Ok so what do we have to do?" Gwen asked.
"Simply step up to the monitor and touch the control panel." Reiny said, his arm outstretched to point to a pedestal in front of the screen. Gwen walked up to the pedestal. It was a steel gray with glowing green lines leading up to a spinning control ball. She placed her hand on top of the ball and the screen in front of her began to light up. Text began to appear on the screen, typing out one letter at a time until the final message was spelled out. Gwen read the text on screen and confused read it over again.
"Who is Ben's favorite Sumo Slammers character?" Gwen read aloud. "Is this a joke? Please tell me this is not Ben trivia?" Gwen said with an air of disgust. Julie sighed behind her.
"As much as I hate to admit it, I wouldn't put it past Ben to do something like this." She said with exasperation.
"Actually," Rook interrupted. "I do not believe self-centredness was the true cause behind this." Rook said. The rest of the group turned to him in confusion. "Think about it. Ben was worried about enemies coming to find him. What better way to screen the people searching for him than by asking questions only those closest to him would know the answers to?" Rook explained. The group began to see the wisdom in Rook's words.
"Ok, so anyone know the answer? Cuz I sure don't." Gwen asked.
"The answer is Ishiyama." Kevin replied non-chalantly. Gwen looked at him questioningly. "What, that's the biggest character in the series. Trust me, it's Ishiyama." Kevin said assuredly.
"All right then, so how do I answer? Um, Ishiyama?" Gwen spoke aloud. The answer appeared on screen underneath the question. The text flashed green before disappearing and being replaced by new text.
"What's Ben's favorite smoothie flavor?" Gwen read aloud.
"Oh that's easy. Chocolate Banana Pineapple. He drank it all the time whenever we hung out." Julie said confidently. Gwen nodded and repeated the answer into the computer. Once again the answer flashed green and new text began to appear on the screen.
"Who was the first alien Ben ever transformed into? Heatblast, obviously." Gwen stated. As the text began to change once more, Gwen turned back to Reiny. "Hey how many of these questions are there?" She asked.
"I do not know." Reiny admitted. A frown appeared on all their faces.
The party spent the next 2 hours answering various questions related to Ben and his life. Most of that time was spent debating answers to some of the questions. Especially the answer to question five: What is Ben's favorite movie? All in all though, there were only 10 questions to be answered. The irony was not lost on any of them. The last question disappeared off the screen and the monitor seemingly turned off. The control panel began to light up and a compartment opened up in the center of the control panel. Gwen reached inside and withdrew the object within.
"It's a key." Gwen said holding the object aloft to the rest of the group. The key was about the size of Gwen's hand. It was made of a black material with 4 spokes on the end. At its base was a large triangle with an image of a circle crossed through by a curved line in the shape of an S.
"That's not just any key!" Kevin spoke as his eyes widened. He picked the key from Gwen and examined it more closely. "That's a Vault key!" He exclaimed with a huge grin as he verified it's authenticity. The rest of his group regarded him in confusion as Kevin fawned over the key like a kid at christmas.
"Care to explain champ?" Gwen asked him. Kevin turned to regard her with his giddiness still present.
"Securitex Bank, otherwise known just as The Vault. It's the largest most secure bank in the galaxy. You need a minimum balance of 500,000 credits just to have an account with them! Our boy Ben's been holding out on us." He said with glee. Gwen quickly took the key from Kevin, ending his fun.
"So this key must be to Ben's private vault at the bank. Kevin you are able to take us there?" Rook asked.
"No problem, I can get us there in no time." Kevin replied.
As the group prepared to leave, Julie walked up to the large High Breed. "Thank you for your help Reiny." Julie said with a slight bow of her head. Reiny returned the gesture.
"Of course, it is an honor to assist the friends of Ben Ben Tennyson." Reiny said.
The group said their goodbyes to Reiny and began to make their way back to their ship. Along the way, Gwen spoke up.
"So what's the big deal about this Vault anyway?" She asked.
"It's the most secure facility in the galaxy. They've got tech there that outclasses even the Plumber's security. Not to mention all the cold hard cash they've got stored inside." Kevin answered, rubbing his hands together. Gwen swiftly swatted him on the back of the head.
"Cool your jets. We're the good guys remember?" She chastised him.
"I know I know." Kevin said rubbing the sore on the back of his head.
"Something tells me this is going to be a long road trip." Rook whispered to Julie. The tennis star smiled and nodded.
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