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Mission40b

EN ROUTE TO OPERATION

One associates a lot of things with spaceflight: noise, vibration, nausea if they know what they're doing. This looks and feels more like a movie made before anyone knew any of these things, an early-fifties swashbuckling romp through the sea of space.

The scout UFO has received very little refurbishing for human operation; the aliens breath the same air we do, after all. Parachutes, emergency air tanks, and beacons have been added; fiberglass paneling complements the otherworldly chrome of alien alloy and energy reentry shielding. A prosaic console consisting of a laptop, Propeller chip, and display terminal has been mounted on top of the slick alien holographic NAVCOM. The end result is reminiscent of an indie movie being filmed using a set bought secondhand from a bigger-budget production.

Vee's flying - for the occasion she's been wired directly into the NAVCOM. "Why me? I don't know anything about orbital mechanics."

"You're pretty good at flight sims though. The whole point of this craft is that it's got enough fuel on board that it doesn't have to care about orbital mechanics if you aren't trying to save fuel." Kip's the best KSP player on this team, so he will take over in case of being stranded in orbit. He helpfully points out that gravity will feel it's the right way around if the UFO is flown upside down; Vee obliges on a roll, the only point during the flight in which anyone was the least bit sick.

The Soul Sphere has been left at base; Kite is going over what she has learned, with Gabrielle taking notes. The liches are in fact part of some kind of caste society, looking very much like that of traditional Hinduism -- Priests, Warriors, Traders, and Artisans. To further out the analogy, anyone without psi abilities is untouchable, non-sentient, animal. Their religion holds that an Ascended caste has left them there for lack of purity, and they have been trying to atone ever since.

"An oddity is that their Artisan caste... I guess Worker or Maker fits the bill, it's a bit hard to put into words" Kite blinks repeatedly at Gabrielle, who nods. "I get it."

"...Well, basically, after this particular cult started traveling, they worked them to death. That's where the Sectoid sorcerers come in, they're their technicians. We took their only telepresence control system away, so they started sending those out to command UFOs."

"This would explain much" Dr. Shen notes over the radio "of their uneven technological development."

"The one I interrogated, Ethereal... she didn't seem worried about that, but yes. They have automated factories for most of their stuff, but not all."

"I guess that's what why they wanted a planet with a sentient species. Stop and rebuild. I have got to hang up; the flying boat has arrived. The Council delegates have requested a full inspection before they leave for the negotiation."

"How long do we have?"

"I still expect half an orbit - 45 minutes. That goes up to two hours if we miss the first rendezvous window; they don't know that the UFOs can accelerate continuously like you are doing."

Docking is made incredibly easy by the holographic interface going into a mode that we hadn't seen before, showing exactly which way to aim. Gabrielle translates the alien script, in halting English. "Up! Up! Speed down!"

"Sounds like you're playing Top Gun."

"Gods no, I never could land in that game!"

A dull thud lets everyone know that they've landed. Strangely, there is gravity - about two thirds that of Earth, enough to feel light but not enough to have to change movement patterns too much. "Guess this is what the liches find comfortable."

Inside the atmosphere shield, the carrier ship looks immense - and largely empty. There are vast holes in its underbelly where UFOs that have been blown out of the sky used to be; of the six vast gleaming nuclei of machinery that process resources into more clones and more weapons, one is silent and one is visibly struggling, moving slower than the others. The UFO has been directed to land on a separate pad at the top of the ship, near what could be the bridge. Sectoids wearing utility belts move like monkeys all over the surface of the carrier, centimeters away from the atmosphere shield, trusting it implicitly.

The team gets out of the landing pad after setting the UFO to standby; upon docking, the alien NAVCOM tried to retake control of the ship, but was prevented by the simple fact that the holographics console only has read-only access to the UFO's systems now. Vee is disconnected from the controls and wriggles herself into her armor, then gets out last, carrying the packed SHIVs.

The same voice enters everyone's head - the High Priest. Kite repeats it for the record.

^{"You hear our voice, New One, now listen well… Long have we watched… and waited. So many promising subjects, so many failed efforts. And now, after untold trials, the New One emerges to face the rigors of our collective… An enduring physical form, paired with an equally adept mental capacity – the rarest of traits, finally within our grasp.”}

"You already said that, dipshit."

No answer. Someone else who may or may not have an answering-machine fetish.

OPERATION

Vee gently puts down the two drone tanks. Since there's nobody to operate them, she sets them to follow her and auto-sentry when she stops. There's another energy barrier ahead, in a small corridor. "Vee, take point."

She pokes it. "It's not turning off!" Kip does, and it does. "Okay, go for it. Guess it will only react to flesh."

The team advances in the narrow corridor. "I don't like it, we're too clustered" Kip notes. "Shh. I feel three ahead. Sectoids."

^{"The New One faces the earliest effort of the Ethereal Ones, the first… failure. Though possessed of a certain… brilliance… they are marred by their cowardice and frailty… which made them cruel… and ultimately useless."}

"You give up too easily. What you cannot force into your narrow-minded vision, you sever and destroy. Fitting that in your embrace of failure, sucess comes in your own demise."

Again, no answer. Ahead is a small dais leading to a platform and two corridors, each blocked by an energy door. Two shapes skitter to hide. Kite takes one out with her pistol, and tells Gabrielle to keep everyone covered. Kip gets the other one when it moves. The sorcerer hides. There is little blood - the sectoid corpses disappear in a purple-yellow flash, perhaps consumed by Meld, perhaps whisked away. Double-checking through the SHIV's cameras confirms that these are not illusions.

^{"Another attempt, this one inspired. Two subjects, each with a glaring weakness – brought together in the hopes of a symbiotic strength. And yet, this newfound power left them devoid of higher thought. Lacking in comprehension. Another… useless effort."}

"You do not understand the difference between beings and tools, and are poor at using both."

Above the two corridors, two Wells appear, each with two attendant drones. One of the drones on the right wobbles and crashes. (OOC note: Actually, it didn't spawn, which is weird)

The drones float ahead and draw the SHIV's fire, while the two cybernetic discs lock onto the biggest target - Vee. She flinches, avoiding one but missing her shot; the other's yellow beam hits her. "I'm all right."

Kite quickly sends two shots into the Wells before it turns back into a disc -- the thing blows up, almost taking the drone with it. "They took evolving AIs and stripped them back to single-purpose drones. That's mass murder. Concentrate fire on the other Wells!"

Gabrielle misses her shot, but Vee doesn't; emptying the particle cannon's capacitor into the disc blows it up. Yet again, there are no remains, just a purple flash with Meld-yellow accents.

"I got the little guy." Kip takes out the drone.

"Let's send the SHIVs to hunt for the sorcerer. I doubt it can mess with any of our heads, but let's not take the risk."

The tank is sent down the left-side stairway, and finds the small aliens hiding behind the stairwell; confused by the appearance of the mindless drone, all the sorcerer can do is shoot it with the small plasma pistol it carries. The SHIV returns fire point-blank, almost blowing out the alien's leg.

"It's still up!"

A sectoid worker climbs up the other corridor, displaying the boldness following a "kiss" by a comrade -- and is promptly blown to pieces by the other SHIV. The severely wounded sorcerer, perhaps understanding that the drone tank responds to movement, curls up in a fetal position in front of it. (OOC NOTE: Seriously, the sectoid commander hunkered down in front of the SHIV).

"... is it having a panic attack?"

"...what would you do, offer it sweets?" Gabrielle asks with a hint of derision.

"Vee, can you stun it?" "I can try."

Vee stomps over to the terrified alien, and turns her suit off - the EMP shot is enough to make the sectoid pass out. The SHIV also shorts out. Vee wriggles a little in the armor, turning it back on, and starts the reboot on the drone tank. "Guys, come over, it looks like I gave it a bit too much juice."

"Let me try to get into its mind..."

_{"Oblivion. Please. Not their false heaven."} The sorcerer chitters. The purple swirl appears upon the body again, but this time there are no Meld particles - we know that they're affected by EMP. The body does not disappear. Kip closes its eyes; there are no eyelids, so he unsticks a warning label from the SHIV and rips it in two for that.

"Sounds like it was a mercy kill. Let's push forward." If anyone was monitoring Kite's vital signs, they'd spell out anger. The squad waits a moment for the SHIV to reboot, and moves on. "I guess we're sticking to left-hand for this run."

Doctrine is to send the most damaged SHIV ahead, so once the energy door has been touched, that's what happens; this corridor is narrow, and it's easy to see the symmetric twin on the right. The rest of the ship is down below.

The next room is built in levels, a corridor above, two on the sides, and two platforms further out, the left of which the squad gets at. There is a lone dangly there.

^{"The new one faces a great foe, and an equally great… disappointment. When their organic form failed to evolve… it was given the strength of a machine, creating this… merciless, fearless, killer… A fate worse than death."}

"And since that was all you seemed able to do with clones of us, it just goes to show how much you lack in creativity. Or viciousness. Or both."

The drone tank shoots the dangly, some of the plasma bolts harmlessly flying through the bubble shield that keeps the vacuum of space out. The rest of the squad spreads out on the left platform.

"This is a bit too easy."

"It's supposed to be a negotiation, not a fight. This must be their sick idea of a test."

"Two more danglies up the center platform!"

A brief firefight ensues. Yet again, the dead danglies disappear in a puff of Meld and psionic smoke. "Do you think they are being uploaded? Like in Battlestar Galactica, yes?"

"... Maybe."

"Looks like we have to go up the ramp." Kip deploys his grapple, and calls "no bad guys up here", while Dee picks up the SHIV fires her jetboots; Kite and Gabrielle use the air-lifts.

Kip advances. "Human dangly!" He dives behind the guardrail, and shoots -- the cyborg takes the hit, but keeps flying, tilting to the side due to a damaged booster. "I got this. Be in peace." Gabrielle extends a hand towards the creature, and it stops moving. "Ah!" When the cloud appears upon the body, she recoils. "Are you okay?" "Oui, I'm fine."

There's another dangly under the corridor - Vee takes it out without comments.

This time, it's obvious that enemies are being teleported in; four of the creatures that were not-so-affectionamely named "Herbie the Lovecraft Bug" appear in a puff of purple smoke, like an illusionist's trick. Telemetry confirms that they're real. They're also bigger than any encountered before, save those in St. John's.

"^{A curious endeavor… the search for the Gift in the most… unsavory of beings. They were little more than insects when their uplift began… And in their failure, became the most dangerous of predators… incapable of direction, understanding, they were deemed fit only to breed and die.} "

"How many planets have you destroyed in your foolishness? How many species that did not understand total war, that made the mistake of offering mercy to an adversary who could not understand it?"

And yet, no answer. The bugs are indeed frightening predator, but in this environment they're essentially plasma fodder -- they have to jump up to the central corridor, and even in lower gravity jumping creatures move slowly and predictably. Vee jumps down on the right platform and rocket-punches it down into the bowels of the ship. The squad sets up on the center corridor, with SHIVs blocking the access ramps, and lets the other bugs jump up and get melted. Ahead is an enormous bulkhead with a tiny energy door, which flickers when the last bug is killed.

^{“Long was our search… and now… with success so close at hand, we witness the fruits of our endeavor…"}

"Monsieur Liche, all you've witnessed so far is us kicking your pruny ass!"

The energy barrier on the small door lowers.

"Another chokepoint. One drone out, everyone else form a firing line, if anything goes through that door I want it crispy."

"Got it!" "Got it - Oh crud."

Vee takes three lumbering steps ahead. "Sorry, off balance!" Two Slendermen pop out from the catwalk behind the door, which turns out to lead to another bulkhead - this must be the top of the ship's ribbing - and shoot at her. Annoyed, she returns fire, taking them out with ease. "I was trying to walk and steer the SHIVs at the same time."

"I still think this is too easy."

^{“ A valiant effort… a being of intelligence and exceptional loyalty, easily adapted to serve our needs. Still, despite such great hopes… They were unable to embrace the Gift… Another wasted example."}

"I don't know why I'm bothering to talk back at you. Even if you hear, you won't listen. You know you failed, but you are blind to looking at why you failed."

We still have a Slenderman captive back at base. Wonder what'll happen to him, it, her?

The squad walks on the other side of the catwalk from the noxious cloud left by the two Slendermen, and gets to the other door. A third Slenderman appears from a maintenance hatch from the right, and is blown away by a SHIV. "Okay, everyone, stop, check your batteries, reload, and take a breath. We've got half an hour left."

Vee's armor is damaged, and Kite uses some of the med-gel as glue to put the platings back in place.

"The layout of this place looks a bit like the alien base, except there are no feeding bays for the kraken, obviously."

"Maybe they just told their construction crew to copy one of the decks."

Past the other bulkhead is a wide platform; this time Dee sits down before driving the drone tanks through the door.

"Two... Four orks, and one berserker." The SHIVs park themselves on the next dais and Vee stands up.

^{“Now… The New One confronts a greater threat - a rare strength, found in an easily controlled breed. And yet, they are incapable of brilliance, of independence… they will never be more than primitive warriors… serving only to fight, and die, as did those who came before them."}

"You say that like it's a bad thing. Some of my best friends are primitive warriors."

"Kite, you mean Kay?"

"Oooh. Can I go beat the red one up?"

SHIV One fires at the berserker - the testosterone-addled ork growls at the drone, and charges it after the tank doesn't show any reaction. Vee runs forward and meets the ork with a flying rocket fist.

Gabrielle takes aim at one of the orks on the left, and focuses on it. "Shh. Ne resiste pas."

On the right side, the two orks trade fire with a SHIV - one goes down, but not before damaging the drone.

One of the orks on the left shoots at Vee, who flinches - then its companion walks out of cover and shoots it in the back!

"What happened?"

"I took control of it" Gabrielle says simply.

"... what, like a lich?"

"Non. It sees we are orks, and its compagnons are us."

Kip and the other SHIV take out the last ork. "Now what do we do with this?"

"How long can you keep it under illusion, Gabrielle?"

"Not long. Already it asks, why are we standing around in a very not ork-like fashion."

"Can you make it run ahead?"

"I think so."

The green-armored chunk of muscles sprints ahead; the platform is in fact another dais for an even larger platform, with oddly organic looking access cables to the rest of the ship below - looking down, it's clear that sectoids use those to crawl on.

"DREADNOUGHTS! Two of 'em!"

"I thought they were made on Earth, how did they get up here?"

"Take cover!"

The earlier firefight destroyed the guard rail on the upper dais, so the squad takes cover behind a conduit on the lower dais. "We need a plan."

"It thinks that ze Dreadnaught is Vee!"

"Okay, we have until that ork is dead to come up with a plan."

^{“ An artificial warrior… created to supplement the limitations of the many… failures. Crafted with a singular purpose… it ultimately contributes little to our cause. Still, there is hope, as the New One approaches… "}

"You know what, High Priest, Fuck you and your fucking deathcrabs. If any of you assholes survive this we're gonna figure out how to drive one of these things just for the pleasure of putting its fucking boot right up your shrivelled ass!"

The ork is sent ahead, giving everyone time to reload. "If we can get them close together, I can use the EMP to disable them...." "And then I can make with the grenades. All right."

Kite stops. "Remember what the lich did with our drones, before Ethereal was caught? I think... I can replicate that."

The ork starts firing wildly at what it thinks is Vee, and Kite exposes herself for a moment, then concentrates. For a moment it's as if a dark cloud had fallen on the lower platform - the ork dies screaming, while the two dreadnoughts start sparking and fizzling. Kite slumps against the ramp. The cloud remains there.

^{“ It is as we hoped… the New One has surpassed all that have come before… and with such great confidence… so skilled with the Gift. ”}

"....Can they hear us back at base? ... Do I still have enough greek ancestry with the alien crud in me to make a Trojan Horse joke?" Kite is short on breath, but otherwise okay. No transmission has been received from base for the last three encounters.

Kip stands up, and tiptoes to the end of the middle dais to peek. After a bit of math on the phone built into the armor's wrist, he gives directions to Vee on how to shoot her grenade launcher - the grenade sails past, barely impacting one of the dreadnoughts. "Shit, lower gravity. Stay in cover!" Kip lobs another grenade himself, hitting one of the robots head on.

The SHIVs are sent ahead to lay down suppressive fire, which works - the dreadnoughts, confused by the psionic cloud, miss most of their shots. Then, one of their fighter-spec lasers finds Kite, and almost burns her arm off.

"....'m fine..." She falls behind the bulk of a SHIV, clutching her arm, the wound closing by sheer force of will. The dark cloud dissipates.

"All right, Robots Nowhere! Gabrielle, concentrate fire with me! Vee, keep the SHIVs firing and go break something!"

"Panzer Vor!" Vee sends the drone tanks forward into the large platform, and jumps down herself. Kip and the SHIVs lay down suppression fire for Gabrielle to land a hit on one dreadnaught's underbelly and Vee to land a flying elbow drop on the second.

Kite starts getting up. "Thank you."

^{“ The New One continues to surge… to prove that this was the worthy path, that we were justified in our efforts. This will bring about our redemption, and usher in our future… ”}

Kite finishes getting up, and grins. "That's entirely true, for once. Your future, however, is very, very, short."

Kip calls for getting back into cover - more teleporting ahead, at the end of the platform. He looks down. "Look at the dust on the floor - furniture's been moved away from here. These guys don't take a lot of time to go for niceties, so we must be close to the bridge. I think this is supposed to be some kind of conference room."

The squad gets back up on the middle dais. "You know, if I knew a company of XCOM operatives was coming up for negotiations, this is where I'd sit them down for a talk and fry their heads. Either with mind control or with powerpoint, pick one."

"What's over there?"

"Ork elites. Looks like they've dug in." At the end of the platform is a small archway of no apparent function, past which is another energy door, bright and opaque. This is definitely the bow of the ship - Earth, blue with a scattering of island, is visible below under the ribbing and the atmospheric shield.

"How long we got?"

"Fourteen minutes. Do we send the drones out to get shot at?" "No, I got a better idea. Those are orks, so... Guys, make some noise." Amidst sporadic shots, Kip stands up and disappears. A second glance shows that he's still there, but even Kite has to make an effort to take the second glance.

"No cover for you, Orky boy!" Kip swings his grapple twice, the second time right across the vigilant orks' field of view, then bowls a grenade at the other one's feet. The archway crumbles on top of the ork, who shrugs it off angrily. Kip is in full view. "Hello there!" He ducks behind a ramp. The other ork charges forward on the right catwalk, Vee and the drone tanks moving to meet it.

"I got a clear shot!" "So do I!"

Kite and Gabrielle take down the ork - what a grenade between the legs started, plasma bolts finish. The last ork manages to take out one of the SHIVs, and is promptly punched to oblivion by Vee.

^'“ The New One's kin falls, and our fear grows, as we question the worthiness of our selection… ”^'

"I get that you can't build new things very well, but seriously? Brave Little Toaster Eleven is still just a fucking toaster. We do our actual homework rather than cripple sentient AIs."

"All right guys. The bridge is ahead. Kite, let me help you patch you up."

The last of the med gel is used on Kite's arm - Dee's armor is somewhat dented, but there is no easy way to put the blown SHIV's plating to use. Kip laments not having a simple welding torch.

The energy door to the bridge shimmers, indicating that it can be open. Down below, the ocean. "Is it me or we're closer?"

"No, our orbit has dropped. We probably didn't feel it because of the artificial gravity."

"Look, our UFO is under us."

"Guess they wanted us to get here. Or maybe he wants to use it as an escape capsule - maybe they're plumb out of small UFOs."

"Who breaches?"

"Toaster Nine. That's what they're for, remember?"

"Actually... I got an idea."

Vee picks up the remains of the dead SHIV, uses the main power cables and the remaining rubber track to tie the turret more or less back in place, and shoves the junk pile through the door. The metal slides well. (OOC NOTE: Shiv 11 had one HP left from a near point blank heavy plasma rifle shot on Impossible; I felt that was actually unfair in my favor, so I'm just going to run it ahead until it dies. These are the mass produced SHIVs and not supposed to be that good)

The bridge looks like a temple, with arches, stasis pods containing lich elders, and a second Soul Sphere. A lich in purple robes, marked with glyphs that indicate him as the leader of the priestly caste, is attending to it. Without turning to register the movement, it speaks again.

^'“ Behold the greatest failure… to the Ascended Ones… We who failed to ascend as they thought we would. We who were cast out. We who were doomed to feed on the Gift of lesser beings… as we sought to uplift them… to prepare them… for what lies ahead...”^'

The lich finally turns, using clouded eyes to notice that its sanctum has been entered by a decoy rather than by the psionic elect. This time, it shuts up in surprise.

"There's a saying that if every project you touch turns to ashes, maybe you're the fucking problem. Pro-tip, space raisin. You're the fucking problem."

A motion of anger from feeble arms. Two more liches appear, with different markings - the leaders of the warrior and trade caste. Two more elite orks also show up from what we can only guess is a security station under the Soul Sphere.

Kip whistles under his breath. "I hope it's not a load-bearing boss."

With barely a nod to each other, Gabrielle and Kite drop on their knees and take out one of the orks from a distance.

^{“ The hunt draws to a close. It was not a vain undertaking… but a necessity, as our physical form has grown… ineffective. Our search for a perfect specimen was driven by our own crippling limitation, and now, at long last…"}

"Blah blah, we ravaged the universe to make up for our inadequacies like a natural-born angry-incher setting themselves up for crippling debt by buying a muscle car. WE KNOW. SHUT UP ALREADY."

The remaining ork empties a capacitor on the dead SHIV, allowing Kite and Gabrielle to take it out. Vee and Kip duck to the left; there's a catwalk with a small platform. The High Priest looks oddly at the one wearing trader robes, then the three start concentrating. Whatever they're doing can't be good.

"The trader guy looks distracted. Boom?"

Kip fires at the lich's general direction - her shield is up, but unlike the other two, she doesn't move. Vee had time to adjust her aim, and fires a grenade at her feet. The gaunt alien is still standing, but reels from the attack.

The lich points at Kip. "It's trying to get in my -- I'm fine." Kip lowers his aim as he fights the mind control, and blows the female lich away. "I think we can trust that." Kip slumps to the side against Vee's leg, and gives the thumb up.

The High Priest looks on at his fallen comrade's general direction This time, he hisses audibly. ^{“ This is not your path! Not your purpose! You need our guidance to hone this power… without us, what are you? ”}

"Angry. You were warned about this back when your puppet poked me in the cerebellum and made me shoot my friend. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." Kite finishes her sentence with a shot that would've hit the High Priest in the eyes if it wasn't for his shield.

"Was he talking to us or zee other lich?"

The warrior-caste lich hovers from his platform to the ramp. "Okay. Toaster Nine, go!"

The surviving SHIV locks onto the movement, and makes a mad dash up the ramp itself. The warrior lich glares at it, and the drone starts to just melt. "Grenade, thermal lock!"

Vee fires her grenade launcher again, and takes out both tank and lich with the explosion.

"You're all alone now! There's no help coming! Give up!"

The High Priest retreats next to the second Soul Sphere, and expands his shield to encompass it and half the bridge.

^{“ Weakness… we did not expect this … weakness… another of the new breed fails to pass… ”}

"What's he even talking about?"

"He's lost it. Totally delusional."

"You're alone!"

"You're old!"

"You're done for!"

Kite lines up a headshot. The High Priest, speechless, hovers back and forth in front of the Sphere. Kite fires. Through the distortion, the plasma bolt hits the High Priest in the shoulder, blowing off his upper arm.

^{“ No… You've outfought our warriors… You've outfoxed our merchants… You cannot outsmart us! ”}

The High Priest touches the sphere. Kite fires again. "Welcome to Earf. Sorry you couldn't stay a while."

The headless body of the High Priest falls in front of the Sphere, the creature's hand still touching it. (OOC NOTE: And this is where the game crashed.)

The Sphere starts to vibrate, and with it the entire ship.

"Ohhh crud. That WAS a load-bearing boss. Come on! Gabrielle, with me, I got a grapple. Vee, take Kite and get her down to the saucer with you!"

"Non, he's activated the warp drive! This close to the planet, it'll fling it out of orbit!"

Vee boosts towards Kite and grabs her while Kip rappels down with Gabrielle in his arms. Kite stops her. "Get me to the sphere!"

"We gotta go, come on!"

"Get me to the sphere! I can turn it off!"

Vee obeys, and ends up skidding over the High Priest's corpse. Other than him and the trader, the other bodies have disappeared.

Kite puts her hands on the sphere, which stops shaking for a moment. "Great, now get the fuck out! I'm not having you all die if I fail to hold this!"

"No!"

Kite holds her other hand out, and Vee's armor powers down and unlatches. Vee falls on the ground. "Not fair, dammit!"

"I said go!"

Kip grapples back up to the bridge. "Gabrielle's warming the engine up, come on, we gotta go!" The Sphere is vibrating again. "Kip, take Vee. It will... It will spawn a black hole right on top of Earth! I gotta-"

He says nothing, nods and picks up Vee by the small handles on the back of her undersuit, then rappels back to the UFO.

Kite watches the UFO break orbit and get back to Earth, struggling to contain the alien master NAVCOM without the centuries of experience necessary.

Her last thought before the Soul Sphere sucks her in is "Up!"