Ethereal Gates

Chapter 9

XJ-0461 felt as though time stopped in the Great Clock. He couldn't hear it ticking anymore. He couldn't move. His eyes were fixed in a surprised and shocked manner. If he had lungs, he would most likely begin to hyperventilate. But, as he did not have lungs, all he could do was simply float there and stare at his father, who was staring daggers at him. Seeing his father's angry expression gave XJ-0461 flashbacks to their argument the other day. This wasn't going to be good.

The young Zoni tried to get words of reason out, but he felt like he was being chocked. He could barely speak the words he was thinking. "Father...I-"

"I did not want to believe it when I saw it," Orvus said with a disapproving tone. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head, "To think that you would disobey me after I told you not to leave this place. Using the Clock's teleportation system to send yourself to another planet...what were you thinking?"

"F-Father, wait, I-I can explain!" XJ-0461 tried to scrape up any excuse that he could. His mind was becoming blurry as he felt himself panicking more and more.

"Oh, then by all means, explain it," the elder Zoni said a bit harshly, knowing full well that his son didn't have a good excuse.

Sure enough, the young Zoni was unable to think if a viable excuse. His mind was completely foggy and he couldn't keep his train of thought. But even if he could think properly, he knew that there was nothing that he could come up with that would cover his tracks. His doings were out in the open. There was no way out of this. He had been caught. The only thing he could think to do was lower his head and mutter, "I am sorry."

Sigmund couldn't keep his mouth shut anymore. He had planned on simply being a bystander and let the two Zoni work this out, but seeing XJ-0461 so ashamed of himself and mortified, he couldn't stand it. This was his idea after all. He had to take responsibility for it. He hovered forward a bit and looked at the elder Zoni, "Sir, if I may..."

"You aren't about to tell me that you had a hand in this, are you Sigmund?" Orvus asked, looking up at his colleague with a questionable look and unsettling tone.

XJ-0461's eyes went wide and he shot his head up. He quickly stopped Sigmund before the robot could say another word, "No, Sigmund had nothing to do with this!"

The two turned to the ashamed Zoni as he lowered his head again. It was time to start lying again. But this time, it was to protect his friend. He couldn't let Sigmund take the fall for this. The robot had done too much for him to suffer from a punishment that Orvus was surely going to give. But a quick glance at Sigmund showed that the robot was telling him not to do it. If he had the will to, XJ-0461 would have smiled. Sigmund had done everything for him. It was time to pay him back in a way.

XJ-0461 shook his head as he kept it lowered, "This was all my idea and done by my own hand. I tapped into the teleportation system through the Clock's computer under secrecy. I disabled the voice so it would not be announced. I then set up the Veldin teleportation pad and went there. Sigmund was not involved. I would not drag him into something so selfish."

Orvus gave his son another disapproving look while Sigmund looked almost horrified. If Orvus wasn't right in front of him, he would tell XJ-0461 to not take the fall, but his fear of the angry elder Zoni forced him to keep his mouth shut. There was so much he wanted to say right now, but he was too timid to do so. He cursed himself for being such a coward. It was costing him the innocence of XJ-0461.

As Sigmund quietly scolded himself, Orvus briefly closed his eyes and shook his head. He honestly couldn't believe what was happening. For fifteen years, XJ-0461 has been a genuinely good Zoni who followed the rules and never did anything that was wrong. His son had a good soul. So to see him teleporting in from Veldin, trying to do this behind the elder Zoni's back, Orvus felt like this was all just a bad dream. And he longed to wake up. But he knew that this wasn't a dream and that his son really was before him, bowing his head in shame. The elder Zoni sighed. It was time to teach his son a lesson that he didn't think the young Zoni would ever need.