Chapter 3

Joshua awoke and graduly became aware he was no longer in his room; he was standing in some sort of void; there was nothing he could recognize, no shapes or forms or reference points, he couldn't even see himself, just feel his own presence, He was standing too, odd. The space could have been a mile or an inch acros, he couldn't tell. A light from somewhere shining brightly, he turned and walked away from it, feeling it on his back; the dark here was almost velvety, quiet and relaxing, like sleep, he almost fell forward into its embrace.

But that was wrong, what was it everyone always said? 'Head towards the light?' Almost reluctantly he turned around and faced the source of the ilumination, taking slow steady stride towards it. It'd be a relief to get out of this nightmare or whatever it was. As he got closer to it, the darkness seemed to form itself into semisolid shapes that twisted and writhed about him. 'Ah,' he though 'It's going to be one of those dreams is it?' He brushed the things aside with a swipe from his sword, they hissed angrily, but fled from it. But as he got closer to the light, and it got brighter, the darkness simply intensified, there were more... things, and they moved faster now. Joshua tried to run, but it seemed almost as if the light was raidiating force, pushing him back the closer he got. He threw one of his swords at the shadow things in an attempt to subdue them, but they stayed out of his reach.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity he stopped; the shadows were gone, but the darkness remained behind him, smooth, sleek and tempthing. He sat down and rested, not sure of what he'd achieved. From behind him came an odd muttering, a buzz and a whisper, like a thousand voices spreading rumours behind his back. He tried to ignore it and focus on the light, but it was getting brighter, burning him, blinding his eyes as he turned to it. Behind him he could feel something reaching out for him, just a few feet away, laughing at him, a cold cruel and empty sound full of mockery. It was so tempting to turn around, to face the darkness and see how long rich and black his shadow was...

He turned quickly, unpredictably and swiped at the darkness with his remaining sword; for a second he saw nothing but the blackness, then the ground beneath him shattered, like glass. He clutched at nothing, succeeding only in cutting his hand on the sharp fragments of... something. Then there was nothing but falling, eternal blackness all sensations lost into nothingness.

He awoke with a start in his bed, in his room, in a darkness that wasn't absolute, filled with relief at being able to recognize solid familair objects in the night and trying to figure out what had just happened.



* * *

On the Ship D.S.K. Beacon

The crew rushed about in panic; nobody knew what was happening, they were being attacked by an enemy they had never seen before, knew nothing about and apparently couldn't be stopped. It had something to do with some prisioners who had stowed on board, but in the panic nobody knew where they were, or even if they were still alive. In the hold stood the oddly shaped capsule that had been found just a day earlier, having bypassed all their defences and checks. Many of the crew had gathered around it, something was perceptibly wrong; not only didn't if fit, resembling some sort of small oblong phone booth, but it seemed to be a lot larger than it should be, as if it were something big, like a mountain, but seen from far off, which was impossible. As they watched it flickered, literally like it was nothing more than a badly programmed hologram, which was also impossible because you could touch it.

The... thing flickered some more, changed hue, then seemed to melt, becoming a mist of various structures and colors, as if a million objects had been blended together and mixed up. Finally is seemed to settle on resembling a C-314 small freight container, slidign across the floor as a spasm shook the ship. From out of nowhere a young girl, maybe only a teenager, and dressed in very odd clothing dashed into the bay and looked around wildly. From the gaggle of people she guessed what had happened and dashed towrds the 'new' container. Nobody stopped her, after what they'd just seen, they were in no condition to. She opoened the entrance hatch and dashed inside, for a moment the crew caught sight of smoke, flames and sparks in the interior before the hatch shut.

Inside the girl rushed back and forth; she had very little idea what was wrong, but the ship was crippled, almost dead; there probbably wasn't enough power to even leave. There wasn't enough time to repair the equipment, it was far, far to complicated and needed parts not avaible at this time or location. Praying for a miricale among the wreckage and fumes, she fiddled with a few improvised controls, there was a strange strangled noise. As the great machine heaved into action, she knew the crew would all perish.

Outside, the container shimmered, them very slowly faded out of existence. Almost as soon as it had gone the bay doors exploded inwards with a flash, leaving the invaders outlined in the smoking doorway. They were robots, or at least looked it, short and squat and grey, like motorized trashcans or the food resyk macinhes that cruised the corrridors. There was one important difference though, each one was topped with a turret at the end of which shone a single viewing apparatus, an eye perhaps, but it was impossible to tell. It stared cold and impersonal, like a brick wall.

Several of the crew shot at the three invaders, the shots sparking into nothing mere inches away from their targets, those that had attacked were blasted with some sort of ray, they screamed and collapsed into heaps.

When they were only a few feet away the attackers stopped, saying and doing nothing, most of the crew backed against the wall, nobody tried to attack, not after what had hapened. One, possibly the leader, of the strange troupe glided forward and fixed its eye on the chief security officer. When it spoke, its voice was cold and grating, like someone gargling gravel.

"You will give us the doctor."

The security officer stared defiantly at the invaders, returning their cold stare with his own.

"What happened to the captain, the bridge crew? Who ae you?"

"They were uncoperative and were exterminated, you will tall us the location of the doctor."

"I don't know who or what you're talking about, and I'd rather die before I tell you anything."

The invaders regarded him cooly, it was impossible to figure out what they were thinking, or if they were communicating. After about a miniute's time they turned and left the same way they had come; as they exited the cargo bay one said simply. "The doctor is not on board and they do not know...Her location."

A few miniutes later the ship lay in ruin, destroyed by a blast from the attacking ship. From deep inside the enemy vessel another cold eye watched impassively; not directly, but through a legion of monitors and wires, signals and data. This was the Processor and it watched the small planet below with unimagineable loathing. Mobious. That was what it was called. It should be made a barren rock, and could be... in time. The enemy, her ship was crippled, it wouldn't get very far, not in time nor in space, they had her location, now to find when she was...


* * *

Joshua folded the paper he was reading and sighed; he had the unshakeable feeling that something was up; first problems on Carrotus, then that escape and fire on Diamondus. Of course, worse had happened; a cruiser just above Mobius has collided with the wreck of an old ship and plunged to the ground, taking sixty lives, an outbreak of pox had killed ten times that number on Hactar; small squabbles and events were occurring all over the place, so why should these two events be any different? Because something was being hidden...that was why. He didn't know for sure, and couldn't prove anything, but somehow he knew there was something bigger going on. He had a lot of papers delivered; so long as the subscriptions were paid, it didn't matter that he was'missing' they were still delivered to his address every morning. It was amazing how little money could buy a lot of unasked questions. And was wondering if the people of Mobius actually knew he was here...

Granted, most of his time was spent on his research into his personal history and records, hoping to find something that could solve answers to questions, none but himself asked. It didn't matter at the moment, but his mind couldn't exactly be at ease until he found out some of the solutions that were haunting him.
Joshua naturally had a supicious, even a somewhat paranoid mind; the smallest coincidence would set him off into a frenzy of suspicon and inquiry. This wouldn't be so bad if he didn't keep turning out to be right all the time. If only he'd- His thoughts were disturbed when a loud, odd noise echoed from outside; with a reaction that had become second nature, he was outside before he'd even realized what he was doing; he entertained brief thoughts about danger, but these were dispeled when he saw what had made the sounds.

It was some sort of container, apparently it had fallen from the sky, but didn't look like it had made rentry. Sprawled out of som sort of hatch in its side was an unconsious girl, her face set in an expression of fear. Her pulse was faint and she was breathing rapidly. Joshua dragged her inside hoping she'd be able to tell him something about her situation when she recovered.
But even so, as he desperately tried to bring her back to consiousness,a small part of his mind stood back and laughed. and thought how dull it was getting having to constantly aid people in such theatric distress. He suppressed the thought and tried to focus on his newest patient.