It was many thousands of years ago, that a young Phenos attended Higher Learning Institution #973581204, on the planet of Clastron. Back then, his colleagues thought of him as 'the cool guy' and everyone knew him as Phe.
He walked into class one day to be greeted by one of his friends. The day's lecture was planetary history.
"Greetings, students. Last week, we covered the Civil War between Plastron and Carapace that ended in the unison of the nations. Today, we discuss the ramifications of a united world, and the problems we face as a society."
"Anarchy offers no palpable solutions!" hollered Phe.
"Yes, well, thank you for that, Phe. Indeed, the Separatists propose anarchy as a societal model, and yet, they offer no explanations as to how or why that would be beneficial to anyone. However, the Separatists are a recent movement, and this is planetary history. Now, can anybody tell me the name of a movement that began shortly after the two nations united?"
It was at that moment, that alarm bells started to ring. They rang in a variant of Morse code that meant it was time to evacuate the school.
When Phe and his friends made it outside the classroom with the others, the sky, normally a bright green, had turned red.
"Dude, I must be tripping," said one of Phe's friends.
"This isn't right, man. I gotta see her," said Phe.
"Yeah, dude, talk to Hazel. You might not get another chance."
His friends started to talk about their new watches. A watch on Clastron was a device that you could wrap around your wrist, and it would project news bulletins in front of you. It was called a watch because you watched the news it gave you.
Phe started running to Hazel's house, a girl he had strong affection for, but not yet worked up the courage to ask her out. He checked his watch as he ran.
"The end of the world?" began a reporter. "Everyone denied the meteor's existence, apart from the scientists observing it, and now it is close enough to change the colour of the sky. Its projected path puts it right through one of the many crevices of Clastron – and subsequently – straight to the core of the planet. Our chances of survival are zero. It is at times like this, you have to wonder whether life ever had any meaning. But, in this dark time, I am here to say – yes. Life is what you make of it. And now we have mere hours until our destruction, so I say, go out there, and do that thing. Before this calamity renders you completely unable to regret it."
Shit, Phe thought. I have to tell her now. He picked up the pace to get to her house faster, and rang her doorbell as soon as he got there. A few minutes later, she opened the door. She recognised Phe and came out and gave him a hug.
"Phe! I'm so glad you're here! I have something I want to show you," she said. She led him through her house to her backyard, where to his surprise, she was housing a rocket.
"Whoa. When did you get this?" Phe asked.
"I just finished building it. Impeccable timing, wouldn't you say? I wanna get out of here... and you're coming with me!"
"Why me?"
"I don't want to be alone, and of all the people on this aching planet... I'd miss you the most, Phe."
"You would miss me?"
"Yes, I would. I know you, Phe. Better than you know yourself. You think you're the cool guy that everyone loves, but that's because you allow yourself to believe about yourself what others believe about you. You're really just a guy who can't admit to himself that he's in love with his oldest friend."
"Hazel, I–"
"Hush, now. I'm Hazel Berne, and you're Phe Tyler. And I can't imagine a better life than the one in which we are together."
"I gotta admit, you're a lot better at this than I am."
Without much else to be said, they both left Clastron that day, in Hazel's home-made rocket. As they left the planet's atmosphere, they tuned in to their watches, and listened to the doomsday report as the signal began to fade.
"Two more hours... planet's hollow centre... say goodbye... loved ones... turtleshell planet... the end of our history." The report continued like this as Phe and Hazel cuddled and watched their home get farther and farther away. Eventually, they bore witness to their planet's destruction. Hazel looked away, closed her eyes and curled up on Phe's chest.
Phe closed his eyes as well, as a tear rolled down from his rightmost eye and he began to feel the weight of complete homelessness.
The years passed by, and they had nothing but their own company. One night, they practiced levels of intimacy too graphic to narrate, and they later discovered that Hazel was pregnant. It was then that Phe decided that they needed to find a new planet. Hazel was flattered by Phe's dedication, and so agreed that they would find somewhere to settle down and raise a family.
A few months later, and they came across a travelling fleet. This was the mobile home of a species known as The Order. They were given permission to ride aboard the mothership, and speak with the captain.
"I am willing to offer you a place to call your own, free of charge," she said. "We of The Order pride ourselves on good will and kindness. For example, our new android program is set to make the universe a safer and more productive place. Meet our prototype, Amperes."
Amperes greeted them and showed them to their guest rooms. "Someday, I wish to be as organic as the two of you. Happiness, anger, regret, love, sadness... I can feel none of them. Nothing but the simulated pain of being programmed to feel alive, but to also live with the knowledge that I am not, and that I am incomplete."
"Hey, buddy, if they ever do finish you, come by our planet for a visit," said Phe.
"That would be as according to the definition of the words pleasant, nice, enjoyable, and their synonyms."
Amperes left without any further words, and the couple lay down in bed and went to sleep.
A few weeks later, and The Order had found a suitable planet for Phe and Hazel. As agreed, they supplied Phe and Hazel with the necessary facilities as to live out the rest of their lives peacefully on that planet, and never have to worry about meteor strikes or things of a similar nature.
The years passed, and Phe enjoyed a fulfilling life with Hazel by his side, and their four children. He was celebrating his youngest son's twenty-fourth birthday, when tragedy struck. It was something The Order had not prepared for, and could not even if they wanted to, an agent of The Chaos had arrived to carry out his mission. The aim was to abduct Phe Tyler and kill anyone who stood in the way or bore witness.
This led to the death of everyone that lived there, as it was a close-knit community, and not a single person wanted Phe to be abducted. The mission was a success, but the price took its toll on Phe, who began to despair. Again, he thought. I've lost everyone again.
He would black out and then come to in an interrogation room.
"You're a person of interest, Phe Tyler. The Chaos has all sorts of weapons in its arsenal. Do you know about a favourite of mine?" began a tall, intimidating man. "It's this cannon that creates and launches meteors. The Chaos uses it to destroy any planet that it finds to be... an eyesore. Frankly, I can't think of a single reason why a turtleshell planet exists."
They destroyed Clastron, Phe thought to himself.
"You and that family of yours survived. But we don't have much use for them, hence why they were not the target. See, someone such as yourself – who sees his planet implode and moves on as if nothing happened – is someone with a great potential for us to exploit."
"You killed them!" shouted Phe.
"Well, not me personally, but yes, I'm sure they're dead. A broken man can't have good things, Phe. And for what The Chaos has planned for you, we need you broken."
The man walked away, and it was then that Phe's third life began. It was one of torture, training, body modification, more torture, reprogramming, and education. By the end, he was not anything like what he once was. There was but a small part of him left that was reminiscent of his old self, but he was mostly a different person at that point.
"How are you feeling, Phe?" asked a member of The Chaos.
"Phe Tyler is dead. I am Phenos, he who shows."
"Alright, Phenos, how are you feeling?"
"I am ready to learn of my purpose."
"In that case, the captain would like to see you."
Phenos and the captain met in the captain's quarters, and he made it clear that Phenos would be an independent agent, in command of a new project: a fleet of a million soldiers, fittingly named The Million. The purpose of the fleet would be to strike fear into as many planets as possible, and attempt to invade and overthrow every planet they can.
"I am quite capable of this, sir," said Phenos.
"Excellent. I like the new name, by the way. It should also be quite useful for you, considering the parasite that you bonded with during your training."
"Pardon, sir?"
"Remember the big bug-like creature that attacked you for hours until it disappeared?"
"Yes, why?"
"That was the parasite known as Reveal. With its power, nothing can hide from you. For example, if there is a ship that is cloaked... you can still see it."
"I'm not sure I am the best person for this power."
"Yes, the parasite thought so too, that's why it resisted bonding with you. But we have the technology to force bonding so it wasn't a problem."
"Yes, but I'm just not sure I could use this power effectively."
"Well, it's too late now. And a bad bond usually spells disaster for the host, so you'd better prove the parasite wrong, otherwise it'll kill you as it tries to escape."
Over the years, The Million invaded many planets, and became one of the most dangerous threats to the safety of the universe. Phenos, though broken and ruthless, had a small part of him that was acting out of self-interest. One of these days, I will take a planet, and keep it for myself. Then I will retire... and that planet will be mine. The Chaos may come for me, but who cares? I want to die... he thought.
Phenos jolted up from his sleep, to see Cindalyn at the door.
"Cindalyn, what the fuck?" he asked.
"Shouting 'I want to die' in your sleep, again, captain?"
"It's none of your business. What do you want?"
"While you were busy having nightmares, half of our fleet got blown up."
"Blown up? How?"
"The ship detected that it was compromised and initiated self-destruct."
"I thought that got removed in the latest patch."
"We're working with outdated software, captain."
"Dammit! I got ahead of myself with this one. Well, no matter. Three-hundred and whatever thousand should be enough to take a small island with eight people on it."
"Perhaps you're right, sir. But the system is still in the process of copying memories."
Meanwhile, a few nautical miles southwest of the shores of Notably Small Island, Amperes and Bolster were adrift at sea.
"Good thing we're waterproof," said Bolster.
"Bad thing we're going to be drifting unless someone comes to pick us up."
"Well then, would it help to know that this is the planet of the rogue android?"
"She's here? No way. Where's Gold or Wilder when you need them? Or Confidence. Even Halberd would be a safer option."
"Are we on good terms with any of the other androids?"
"No, Bolster. We're the earliest versions. That, in their minds, makes us some sort of cruel joke. Truthfully, myself more so than yourself."
"Well, why don't I use our communicator to see if any of them are on Earth at the moment?"
"Anything is better than being adrift at sea."
On Notably Small Island, James and the crew were in the underground chamber, examining the strange console.
"What are we looking at, here?" James asked Brandon.
"It's a mysterious console of ancient and unknown origin. I'm not even completely sure of what it does. And it's probably for the best that you don't touch any of the buttons. I get the feeling those beings we saw earlier were messing with it to escape, and perhaps triggered some other events, including our being trapped in the clock tower."
"You're suspiciously knowledgeable about all of this. Why?" asked James.
"I've been around for long enough to pick up on these things."
"And how long is that?"
"A few years, alright? I wasn't there or anything."
"You weren't where?"
"Nowhere, moving on."
"Okay... I've heard that you're hunting the Kraken."
"I'm not hunting it."
"But you are trying to kill it?"
"It's complicated. I'd rather not get into it."
James began to get frustrated, though it did not show in his voice when he chose to compromise and gently reminded Brandon that he could not work with such little information.
"And what exactly is it that you want to achieve here?" asked Brandon.
James answered this as clearly as he could, explaining that he saw a mystery here, and that he wanted to solve it.
Brandon heard that and thought to himself, for you, it's a mystery. For me and my brother, though, the answer is as clear as day. The Million came here once before, and they will come again.
"Oh, Kans, can you believe it? 'We are not alone'," said Patricia, who started laughing at herself. Karnilla joined her.
On the shores, a disoriented Chonk washed up on the shore, bewildered by all that had happened.
"Well, it looks like I survived..." he said, as a smile spread across his disfigured face.