Bestial Planet

Chapter 49: The Ship Named Croatoan

The man walked in and motioned for permission to approach Frantz. Catty nodded but Emmeth stayed as a barrier between the strange man and his best friend. The man looked like a cross between an old English settler and Buck Rogers. He had what looked like a Victorian-style cape flowing from a jacket that looked like a 50's interpretation of "space clothing". His pants were of the same style but his hat looked like it had time traveled from 1587 in relatively good condition. Emmeth stared down the man whose face bore the look of genuinely wanting to help before letting him by.

"Try anything and you're dead, you hear me?"

"I'd never hurt my descendants, you have nothing to worry about."

His words further confused everyone in the room as he took off his hat and hovered it all over Frantz's body. He put it back on and a small display appeared in front of his face. He started motioning and moving things around on his screen before he expanded the data for everyone to see, 3 silent minutes later.

"Good news, your friend seems to be perfectly healthy."

"I would not call this healthy, whoever you are."

"OH! My apologies! My name is Tobias White."

The man bowed in reverence to everyone in the room. He took their awkward stares as a moment to continue his analysis.

"It looks like your friend gained regenerative talents."

"That's impossible, I clawed out his - his eye, weeks ago..."

Emmeth shrunk as the scene played out in his head and Tobias took note.

"I saw he's missing an eye. But your bodies have gone through such an immense change that some things are taking longer to uh, activate, for lack of a better word."

He blew up a digital reconstruction of Frantz's eye which was currently being regrown.

"See! It's fascinating! I took the liberty of cataloguing the changes to your bodies and understanding how they've been changed. I have a pretty comprehensive file about everything that's happened to our people."

Panzer's eyes lit up at the news.

"That's amazing! You can come back with us! Back to Earth and..."

"No. I can't go back, not now. You forget, where we are right now. A constantly moving space station that doesn't exist and I fly a ship that also doesn't exist; both wanted by the Political Stadium."

"The hell did you do?"

"Oh, ask him about me."

"Ask him about a voice in my head? No thanks."

Panzer tried to speak under his breath but Tobias heard him and swiped away the diagram of Frantz eye. He looked closer at Panzer and waved his hat around him. Panzer didn't move but he had a confused look on his face.

"What are you doing? I'm perfectly fine."

"You're a telepath right?"

Tobias placed the hat back on his head and gasped at his little screen then immediately swiped it away and spoke in a hushed voice.

"One moment."

He grabbed 8 tiny pylons out of his pocket and placed them around the room. It immediately became covered in a light blue mist and Tobias spoke at a normal volume.

"What did she just tell you?"

"What did who just tell him? No one said anything!"

Emmeth was confused but Catty, having heard the mysterious woman before, listened as intently as everyone else. Panzer looked at the room and started to feel anxious.