Tyler: Human
The team was near the Circuit mothership now.
The five of them were anxious about this confrontation. Not only were they confronting the most powerful Circuit in the Pentaverse, but they were doing so on the largest, most defended Circuit ship in the entire Circuit armada. If the Circuit Queen was the killer, they were on very dangerous grounds.
Bryalnus saw the dilemma. He was not about to march his small, defenseless team of five into a den of lions.
So the CSC team was going to stand aside and let the PPF do the work this time.
They had presented their case to the PPF, explained their concerns with the present task, and asked for a number of agents to assist them in confronting and possibly arresting the Circuit Queen.
The PPF was obviously concerned about the loss of their six other agents on Gnumus, and decided that the remainder of the mission would be better handled by the PPF.
They had sent one thousand troops to confront the Queen with.
Tyler and the team saw the group of PPF ships hovering around the large Circuit station as they approached. None of the ships were being fired at, a good sign that things hadn't turned hostile.
From their understanding, the large PPF fleet had been investigating the mothership for a few hours now. Though they had yet to hear from the police force concerning the situation.
The call came in through the message system shortly after. "Captain Byralnus, I see that your ship is close on my radar." Called a female voice on the ship's intercom system. "Are you receiving this?" The voice sounded slightly perturbed.
It was the lead PPF agent that had been assigned to their mission.
Byralnus quickly adjusted the input on the cockpit computer and responded. "Yes, Officer. We are here. What is going on over there? How is the progress?"
Byralnus quickly waved the whole team over to him. They rapidly filled the cockpit, surrounding Byralnus at the controls as they anxiously waited to hear what was going on.
There was silence on the other line for a brief moment. Then the line opened up again. "...Yes.... Captain? We've searched the entire station."
"You've... searched it?" Asked Byralnus in confusion. They all looked around at each other. "Searched it... for the Queen?"
"Captain," sounded the voice bluntly, "there are no Circuits on board."
It took a moment for that to sink in.
What?? Thought Tyler as she listened in more intently.
The entire team was speechless.
"Officer..." Said Byralnus, blatant confusion spread across his face. "Come again? There are... no Circuits on board??"
The line was silent. Then, it buzzed open again. "We agree that this seems to be the Circuit mothership, but there are no Circuits here."
"What does that mean?" Muttered Bai.
"Maybe..." Said Jirabi thoughtfully, keeping his voice low. "Maybe they aborted the ship once they discovered we were coming back? That just makes the Queen look even more suspicious."
"Yes but how could they get every Circuit off that ship so fast?" Questioned Byralnus.
"That's true." Muttered Jirabi. "A smaller station could have cleared out fairly easily, but the Mothership station... There were millions of Circuits on that ship..."
"Officer?" Called Bryalnus though the com system. "Do we have permission to join you on the mothership?"
"Permission granted." Sighed the being on the other end.
Jirabi was right. Finding the Circuit ship suddenly void of Circuits was very suspicious.
"Team," Ordered Bryalnus, still visibly perplexed, "I am having a hard time believing what I am hearing, but if what the officer is saying is true, our job will be to look for any kind of clue that helps us determine where the Circuits went. In particular, the Queen."
They all nodded in silent agreement.
Their ship neared the Mothership Station and they prepared for the boarding, slipping on their CSC jumpsuit uniforms and situating their Halos.
The docking process went smoothly as they anxiously waited at the thick dock's gate for the passage to open between the two now connected ships.
After a short warning alarm notifying them of the opening doors, the heavy gate slid open and they walked through the passage to the Circuit ship.
Tyler could see a small group of PPF agents standing by the gate on the other side waiting for them as they approached.
"Hello Officer." Nodded Bryalnus courtly as the team reached the other side.
The officer was right. Where there were normally thousands of Circuits racing and buzzing through the hallways, now there was nothing. The passageways were dead silent and their voices echoed through the empty space as they spoke.
The empty blue light from the high plasma lifeline ceiling swirled and shone ominously upon them.
The head officer glanced at them nonchalantly. She was a short Cito. Her bald head and sharp rat-like nose barely even looked up at them as they stepped onto the Mothership.
"Captain." Frowned the Cito Officer. "My squad has almost completely searched this ship twice now. We have discovered not a single Circuit, dead or alive. All scans for artificial life have come back negative."
"It's very peculiar Officer." Said Byralnus sincerely. "Has your squad discovered any clues that would shine a light on to what might have happened?"
The Cito looked at him in annoyance. "Indeed. We found a chart log that indicated the Queen had some form of official business in a different system that required the entire fleet. The log indicates that a smaller replacement crew was supposed to come and maintain the ship until her fleet returned. I suppose that crew just hasn't made it here yet."
"I see." Frowned Byralnus. "Do you mind if we see this log for ourselves?"
The Cito sighed and pulled up a small screen on the forearm of her suit. She twisted her long fingers around the screen, pulling up the information.
"I've just sent it to you now." Said the dissatisfied Officer.
Byralnus pulled up a screen on his suit as well and viewed the log she had sent him.
"...The Iparion galaxy system? Hm. Formal business, meeting with officials of the 1001011 primary Circuit branch..." Spoke the crystal Captain as he skimmed the chart log. He looked up from the screen at the Cito. "Excellent. So are we following her there?"
The Cito looked annoyed. "Captain, we will be following the Circuit fleet to that galaxy. You however, will not."
Bryalnus looked slightly defeated. "I see. ...Well then, do you mind if we examine the ship before we leave?"
The Officer rolled her eyes and waved her hand off into the distance, turning to look at some paperwork on a clipboard an assistant handed her. "Be my guest. Try not to get into any trouble. My squad will be shipping out soon, so this is goodbye."
"Thank you, Officer. And safe travels." Smiled the Ferionous, walking away.
The rest of the team followed him closely behind.
"...Bitch." Whispered Bai once the group was out of earshot.
Bryalnus frowned at her as they walked.
"I suppose," Said the Captain thoughtfully, "the CSC is not very highly valued by some beings." He glanced back at Bai. "But that's no excuse for slander, EkirBai."
"Meh." Snorted the large lizard. "I was just stating a fact."
"So Captain, does this mean we go back home now?" Interjected Jirabi, changing the subject quickly.
Byralnus sighed. "I suppose so. The PPF will handle the rest of the mission from here."
Tyler frowned. That didn't sit right with her. She was excited to be able to go back home, but it felt wrong to leave the mission unfinished like this. It was like putting a large puzzle together most of the way, only to throw it all back in the box when there were only a couple more pieces left.
They walked silently down the large empty corridor. The high blue ceiling flowed softly above them.
They watched as groups of PPF agents marched down the hallway past them, loading back into their fleet for the trip.
Tyler realized that most of the agents must have already been ready to leave by the time the Team seven got there, because Tyler could already hear them taking off from the dock. No wonder the Cito Officer had been upset. They had probably been ready to go for a while, but had been forced to wait for their team to arrive.
Byralnus sighed. "Well team," his gaze was fixed on the long empty corridor extending in front of them. "It's been a good mission. We may not have come completely to it's conclusion but that's okay. I think it's time we go home."
"Woo hoo time to get laid!" Bai shouted, extending all four arms into the air enthusiastically.
Everyone turned to look at her awkwardly.
"Er... Paid? I meant paid. I'm so sorry dears." She said quickly, dropping her arms back to her sides in embarrassment. "Damn this language. Although that would be nice..."
Tyler suddenly felt something click softly in her uniform pocket.
She pulled it out curiously.
It was the little grippy black box that they used to find Short. She looked at it in confusion as it blinked wildly, the interface flashing several different colors in a repeated pattern.
She studied the thing as it flashed in her face.
"What is it, Tyler?" Questioned Jirabi as he glanced over at the small device.
"This thing..." She flipped it around to look at it from a different angle. "It's activated again for some reason."
"Isn't that the thing the Queen gave us to find Short with?" Said Jirabi, rubbing his chin.
"Woah—it's going crazy compared to how it was before! What does that mean?" Exclaimed Bai, squinting at the bright lights.
"Well I thought it was only meant to find Short. But maybe it shows the location of something else as well?" Tyler shrugged.
What she just said suddenly dawned on her.
"...What if," she continued, thinking fast, "...what if it leads to other Circuits? Maybe the Queen gave us something to just find Circuits? Maybe it's telling us where all the Circuits went?"
Byralnus frowned skeptically. "See, now think of this—why would the Queen hide when she knew she gave us a device that finds Circuits?"
"Maybe she wanted to be followed?" Muttered Jirabi.
Tyler traced the lights with her finger. "It's different than before... This time it looks like a form of binary. Maybe if we found a Circuit we could get it translated. Er... do any of you guys know the Circuit language?"
There was a pause in the group as everyone thought to turn to the little Heva Belang.
Tyler passed it to the silent Terilli, hopeful.
The little blue being studied the lights for a moment and then looked up. "It's coordinates. And Gnumus. It says Gnumus."
The group looked at each other in surprise for a moment.
"...Could it be Short?" Suggested Jirabi. "He's still on Gnumus."
"I don't think so." Replied Tyler. "It wasn't flashing like this before." She looked up at Bryalnus. "Captain, we've got to at least go and check it out."
The old crystal being frowned tiredly.