The|MULTIVERSE

EPISODE 12: Mechanova: The Incredible Bastard!

She oddly blinked. "Wha— I..."

"I kid."

She shook her head. "Such a loon..." She spied Mechanova amongst a gathering captivated by the ship's stunning frame. "And your party? You have a small team... Will they— Suffice?"

"Heh! Ah— Man. Heh heh! Dearie, you may not know them like I do...but you're gonna learn today," Ricven assured. They finally closed into Crown Royal's inner docking plaza, Mechanova sat in the distance, eating all of the attention. "They go as hard as Faevalen adamite to put it in your lingo. They're also itching to try out their new toy."

|★|

"I've never seen anything so beautiful!"

"I do say it bares the striking resemblance of a sterling-white dragon."

"No! It looks like a Sylvaelos swan! Look at its quaternary-wing design. Four wings!"

The exotic shape of Mechanova personified the agile grace and awe of a swan and the striking frame of a mechanized dragon. Powerful. Swift. Its lustrous aesthetics was a sight of extreme beauty that enthralled the dissecting mass before it, but its ingenuity alone in style covered its true power.

And that was why Cornelius, Wickels, Baartimo, and Gremlyn, were wildly interrogated.

"I'm curious of its framework!" said one man. "What's it exactly?!"

"As stated before..." Cornelius said with absolute composure as the question was asked several times by three different groups. "Its construction's purely alien-tech," answered Cornelius.

"Alien tech?"

Wickels smiled with furry ears high and his fists knuckled to his hips. "Omega-grade. Or Omegatech. Not of this world...or of any of your stars, for that matter."

A mass of baffling voices emerged. Cornelius and Wickels exchanged low-grinning gazes; Wickels shrugged.

"Gremlyn feels like that one time at Nex's machi' show!"

"The multiversal convention..." Baartimo recalled, leaning against the ship perch's railings as he rested a hand on the pommel of his dormant vibro-blade at his hip, Thrillseeker. "I believe another's nearing soon. Be nice that we show up. Haven't been to Nexias in what seems forever."

Adiva lost her train of thought once again. A second time around, she silently marveled upon Mechanova from afar. Too many heads blocked her and Ricven off, dumbfounded moths to a flame fed into the exquisite gleam and seemingly flawless assembly Mechanova flaunted—and dwarfed the other ships. Adiva helplessly felt that flame; a moth burned by curiosity, and Ricven just stood there, hands on hips; proud. The special treatment Mechanova received was nowhere meant for him, and yet, he sucked their every vibe like a sugar-stealing scoundrel.

"So...intense. Your adventures have been prosperous, I see. What a compelling machination that you and your party have acquired," Adiva said.

"Well, not really all that appealing compared to you, buuut, it gets takes care of the business," Ricven said honestly, honored, too, and also slipped her a smoothed compliment that worked a mild blush on her cheeks. "One of a kind, baby. Built by the Gaiean hands you see crawling all around it."

"Gaiean?"

"That's right, crystal-foots. Remember," he lifted a finger, "I walk worlds. Gaiea's a planet universes away. No relative of your own...but interestingly enough, the two worlds share a few similarities."

"Fascinating," she said. Even she succumbed to that fact and still couldn't fathom its entirety. So, she enjoyed the view and wished herself free to venture the way Ricven did for a living. It wasn't until she finally found a way through the crowd, and ambled up the stairways with Ricven leading the way to Mechanova's boarding ramp. She strolled along the pier and lingered about its yawning hatch. "What's it called? You and your companion's airship."