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By StarbearerTM
Disclaimer: Dark Horse Comics owns the most recent rights to publish the KISS comics, originally published by Marvel. This is a work of Fanfiction, and is not intended to harm or demean those involved. KISS owns themselves, and this is based on real persons. All original characters are property of their respective owners.
"ACE, HELP ME!" she screamed, and it brought him out of his reverie. Instantly he started up and glanced around, the voice ringing in his head. Then there was only the silence of the methane lakes and the ice crystals of hydrocarbons hitting him with a fine powder of snow.
"What the hell?" he asked as he heard his voice echo, and realized he was breathing for the first time in days, weeks even. His lungs had shifted to breathe whatever oxygen was available here, and he didn't question how or why. Something had happened to Jenlynn and he wondered what it was.
Reaching out with his thoughts, he sought hers. There was no answer. He shivered in fear, and then felt lost for the first time in ages. Where had she gone? Perhaps he was too close to the planetary EM fields. Silvery light flared around him, as he lifted his thumb and jerked it to trip his mental trigger. Instantly he materialized above the moon, which had been his napping place. Glancing left and right he saw the light of Barnard's star gleaming brightly, and readied himself to send another message.
"Jendell… please respond. I need to communicate," he sent through the mental link. Star Child had taught him years ago how to send and receive telepathic communications. He centered his mind, letting his thoughts drift across space and time. Imagined his body like a beacon.
It seemed like forever, till he finally heard thoughts. However, they were not of Jenlynn. But of another.
"Your presence is requested, human," came the sterile reply.
"Where is Jenlynn?"
"She requires your presence on Jendell. Stay where you are, and standby to enter the wormhole being opened. You need not perform any actions but remaining in mental contact…"
"Who are you?"
"I am the voice of Jendell. I am VAX Matrix, the mind and energy of Jendell, the city of contract. Now the portal opens. Enter, and I will convey you to the rendezvous point."
"Agreed," Ace said. He saw the swirling of space and the opening of a hole much in the same manner of the Casmir device in the images he'd seen from the past. He realized it MUST have been Jendell's past, for the language spoken sounded the same as images that Jenlynn had sent him of her home world.
"Welcome, human. Space Ace, we have been told about your existence by Jenlynn Cyderion. And she is most anxious to see you…"
"So am I…" Ace responded as he felt the spine tingling of transit.
"All questions will be answered when you arrive," said VAX Matrix. Ace let himself be pulled along by the computer.
***
"You are responsible for time meddling, Cybernam Jenlynn Cyderion, in Earth's time period. And of failing to provide the sufficient data on the evaluation of an embryonic sideric time life form known as the Space Ace!" echoed the voices in her brain.
Jenlynn moaned as she felt these memories bubbling up from her subconscious. It hardly seemed like something she'd recalled doing. But the recent ministrations of her friends Maagnyl and Marchyl had helped to recover some memories. And being on her home world had unlocked odd doorways to her memory. Still she could not remember much of the time she had spent in Elysian City, on a self imposed exile long before she had taken this assignment. They had left her there with a damaged time machine... to her own devices. It was the Amazons who had helped her rebuilt it, and travel back to Jendell. And that worried her.
Two Mechnateck security drones glided to her cell. And opened the energy bars. "We are to convey you to trial," said one.
"Take this nourishment and prepare yourself for the hearing," said the other. High level security was entrusted to the Mechnatek robots. They would not trust a Cybernam to do something like security. In fact as she could recall, the Cybernam served the Androni as their personal assistants. Mechnateck did many of the servile tasks, where a Cybernam could not be trusted to precision. Yet many Cybernam worked as research assistants, house servants, and in other amusing roles. Often they were used off world. Jenlynn realized when she was taken back that the role of her people wasn't clearly defined. Mechnateck ran the entire planet, preparing food or acting as guards. Computer programmers and more boring and repetitive tasks were given over to the Mechnateck. But the Cybernam did many of the "entertainment" duties, such as restaurant service, child care of fledgling Androni units, and the work of writing the vast databases in the Libraries of the planet. They served alongside of Mechnateck on the colony ships; often giving the "innovation" that was required for the fuzzy logic the Mechnateck lacked.
They were brother and sister constructs. But The Mechnateck protected both races, filling in the need. Now the Androni weren't sure what to do with the Cybernam. And it was becoming apparent the enforced apartheid was breaking down. More and more Cybernam were showing intelligence and capability right in line with the Androni. And the Mechnatek, purely logical machines, insisted it only logical these units be given equal standing. VAX Matrix computed the odds, as it chugged away the prevailing arguments of logic in giving Cybernam equal standing so soon. It erred on the side of caution, conservative in its judgements.
Till Jenlynn returned, and a huge debate started. Not even allowed to see her fellow Cybernam, she was quickly placed in stasis field while many Mechnateck drones performed the necessary tests. She only glimpsed one or two Cybernam as they made their journal entries, only to vanish.
Around her the piercing stares penetrated, as if drilling holes in her soul. Jenlynn Cyderion stood in the midst of the Androni council, their waxen complexion shallowly wan in the twin suns. Few went for pigmentation, referring the look of ale artificial skin. To the left and right were Mechnatek servos, guarding her. Another selection of Net servos observed, a bit hesitant to voice their concern. Jenlynn was being held accountable for things long since past. And there was no indication of things being resolved anytime soon.
"It is the logical decision of suremem Mechnatek VAX Matrix that Jenlynn be regressed in due form... does this suit the Elite?"
"What do you mean?"
"Regression to human form?"
"That is appropriate," said one of the chief Judges, Brecchus.
"Regression. Her body is to be urged of all enhancements. And she will be sequestered..."
"Would that not harm her?" asked SERVO 9, of the Mechnateck Logic units. They were the most anthropomorphic, with legs and limbs. No other Mechnateck dared copy the humanoid frame. "We cannot condone an action that will cause injure..."
"It will not," said the Androni judge. "For she will be healthy from a human standpoint. But she has shown her inferiority, and thus she will be humanized. Let all traces of her superior self be purged..."
"No harm?"
"It is punishment," said VAX Matrix. The huge swirling screen flashed its consent. As long as injury did not result, the Mechnateck Laws had not been violated. For she would be human, and the greatest care would be taken of her."
"You cannot do this to me!" Jenlynn cried. "I... those memories...
I am not responsible for..."
"Oh, but your genetic signature was upon the city that was destroyed years ago," said the Judge Brecchus.
"But my teacher Rhanalda said that it was necessary sacrifice..."
"But You killed," said the Mechnatek VAX Matrix. "And that violates our first law..."
"But it was duty... and is it retroactive," asked Servo 9, who represented many a Cybernam.
Other Cybernam who observed the trial were muttered to themselves. What could they possibly do? For they were allowed to offer comment, but their opinion had little input into the final judgment. Sometimes the VAX Matrix would think their pleas logical. Yet the Androni judge had the final word. Save that the harmony of the Matrix be satiated.
"I thought it wasn't retroactive," said one of the Cybernam, Yaahrmes.
"True," said the Mechnatek servo 2. "But since Jenlynn was a recycle scientist... and a Cybernam, our laws apply..."
"But she was under direction of a human," said Yaahrmes. For he had been selected for Jenlynn long ago. And she had declined combining her genetic material with him.
"If the Cybernam are to be better, a fusion of man and machine, then the cleaner three laws must prevail..." said the Mechnatek.
"There is also the matter of interference," said the Judge who was named Janis. "You interfered in earth history, causing great repercussion that would have destroyed the reality of a world under our study. The destruction of a world you observe is tantamount to carelessness under Androni law."
"Is it justified when you kill?" Jenlynn suddenly sat. "Androni can kill whomever they please... in the furthering of knowledge."
"We have superior moral right," said an outraged Androni jurist named Petra. "For we are superior life forms. Your crime is violating your programming of the three laws, under Mechnatek law, and under our law of Research you drew attention to your time travel capability by nearly destroying a test subject.... Very messy..."
"But You are justified in killing," Jenlynn said. "And somehow..."
"You would not understand," said the Judge Brecchus. "Take her for Regression...."
"No!" Jenlynn cried as the servos removed her.
"Jenlynn! No!" Yaahrmes cried out, but was held back by fellow Cybernam. Marchyl and Maagnyl both hissed caution into his ears. "But she is not responsible," Yaahrmes muttered. "For she knows the truth... and they fear it."
"We know, but of what use is it?" Maagnyl whispered, gripping his silver encased arm. "It is a conspiracy that runs deep. Ever since we found Jenlynn's transmission logs..."
"WE must take pains to preserve the truth..." Marchyl muttered back.
"But surely VAX Matrix must see these logs that Jenlynn transmitted..."
"It did not have the chance to process them," Maagnyl said. "For they were deleted by the solar flares... or so that is what Brecchus wishes it to be officially recorded as..."
"If only they would scan Jenlynn's data banks, they would discern the truth and facts," said Yaahrmes. "Why did they wait so long to retrieve her?"
"The time storm that she caused made it most hazardous, do you not recall," Maagnyl reminded him. "That was the official justification..."
"There must be something we can do," Marchyl wondered, pushing back her dark braids. Like several Cybernam, she was darkly pigmented, ideal for habitation in the equatorial zones of high UV. Many Cybernam were moderate to dark pigmentation for just such adaptability. This, their cybernetic parts, and the black coveralls denoted them as what they were. Would that they could alter this apartheid! They all shivered as they heard a loud cybernetic howl split their audio receptors. A huge surge in the local em field scratched at their senses. Yaahrmes felt the old emotions surging. If only things had been planned differently perhaps... But that was an all to human emotion that he could not process. The emptiness rose within him, and his two friends.
Pain ensued. Greater pain, which the likes of her sensors had not felt in centuries. As if something precious was being pried from the fabric of her circuitry. Torn apart. To be replaced with antiseptic dullness, and strange detachment.
Jenlynn screamed the cries as they tore her heart and soul out. Rending flesh and cybernetics asunder. The worst possible punishment imaginable, causing her death!
****
Many light years away a much different world met his dizzy disoriented eyes. Ace blinked, but could not believe it. He gasped as he was faced with the landscape he had seen in his dreams. Underfoot was cold hard metal, far chillier than asphalt or concrete. Tall glass mountains stabbed into a violet sky. There was an unnatural intensity about the sunlight overhead. Then he understood why. Two suns blazed in the sky.
"Double vision! Far out!" Ace observed, with a smile on his face. The smells were metallic, much like those of the city of San Francisco or New York, only far more so. The odd sterile steel and ceramics were smoothing edged, almost like porcelain. Those two stars blazed with a fury far greater than even the sun in the Sahara.
Just then there was a blaze of light. Two figures in bright garments, woven of draped metallic foil, flanked by those with black stretch garments and glistering silver metallic filigree appeared. "Greetings life forms called Earthlings... I am minister Brecchus, of the world of Mantissa..."
"I'm called Space Ace," he said. "I was told by your VAX Matrix that you wanted me here…"
"Indeed," said Brecchus. "You will be treated with the customary platitudes afforded guests."
"You will go with our subordinates," said the one figure, female, named Petra, in red foil form fitting clothes, and a drapery of diaphanous red silk that floated about her form like a cloud.
"I assumed Jenlynn would…"
"Doesn't the creature know?" Petra asked.
"Excuse me, but I'm not a creature," Ace said, feeling a sense of foreboding. His senses reached out to see the sorts of EM fields they would produce. But he sensed nothing but a human mind couched behind metallic shielding. The ones in black were human minds shrouded in artificial bodies.
"I am Ace," he said, boldly stepping up. "I am here because VAX asked me here. I'm not a specimen, all right? So just take me to your leader if you're not gonna take me to Jenlynn. I've come a LONG way… and she sounded like she was having…"
Brecchus blinked in confusion, and Petra rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she said, "It doesn't comprehend what is at stake."
"But ... she has the option of choosing witnesses. VAX had fetched it."
"Explain what this is all about!" Ace said sharply, not liking the fact they were speaking about him as if he were not there. "Did something HAPPEN to Jenlynn? I need to know… if she'd been harmed…"
"You would do well to show restraint Human," said the female Androni, called Petra. "Interesting I can see your powers are highly advanced… for one of your primitive species. Most impressive."
"We are not here to banter about this," came the voice of the other. "Are you prepared to come, unit Ace?"
"If Jenlynn's in trouble I want to know," he said. "And if she's on trial… what is it for… what has she done…"
"Take the… human Space Ace to temporary quarters till the trial commences," the Androni Brecchus said crisply.
"Move this way, for temporary accommodations," said the one Cybernam quietly.
Ace didn't like this at all. He decided to show them what they were dealing with. Raising his hand he teleported away to land right next to the Androni named Petra in response to how she had addressed him. "You'd better not keep calling me a creature, Lady. I demand to see my friend."
"You will see her when we decide," answered Petra, now angered by the audacity of the Earthman. "And not before."
'So you think,' Ace thought to himself. If nothing else, he would find a way to get to Jenlynn, with or without their "permission".
"Space Ace, you would do well not to anger them," said one Cybernam. There was great fear in her eyes. "I am Marchyl, Jenlynn's friend. Please, come this way..."
"You are powerful," muttered the amused Petra, picking herself up. "For a human!"
"Please," Marchyl said as she turned to Petra and Brecchus. "He doesn't know his place or the way of things. Leave him in our care… he is a being of great power… not a typical human. And he's a hero on his planet…"
"That formality is nothing here. You are primitives here compared to us. As low on the evolutionary scale and inconsequential as those domestic canines are to yourselves..." said Petra sharply.
"Dogs are well treated on our world," Ace said. "Beware of arrogance. It goes before a fall!" He could sense she would have to watch this Petra carefully. For she would not appreciate being made to look bad in front of her contemporaries. Her memory would prove to be long indeed. But to further punctuate his point, he gave a surge of vibratory power that pushed Petra aside again as he walked by. Then moved to follow the polite Cybernam guards.
"That one is going to give us trouble," the first Cybernam, called Yaahrmes said to the second.
"Insolent animals!" snarled Petra, not accustomed to such open defiance.
Brecchus was amused at the nerve of this Space Ace. Petra often acted in haste, but she was only recently transplanted into her android body, and had much to learn of proper leadership. But it might indeed be amusing to watch if the two females from different worlds ever decided to mix it up. For Petra had already been put on notice that the Space Ace would not be humiliated or ordered around. He was a hero among his own people. And was most powerful, for a human! He himself looked like no easy victory. Brecchus was thinking that he would not mind studying them to find the source of the strange aura that radiated around this Earth being. Little wonder Jenlynn had not transmitted full reports. This Space Ace was far more powerful than they had been told, and there would be much to say about this indeed.
"Any time traveler not capable of the necessary comprehension must be eradicated, or re-educated so no memory exists," Petra said to Brecchus as they watched the Ace depart.
"I know our own rules," said Brecchus. "I don 't need a Junior Councilor to remind me…"
"You would do well to remember, sire, for I see evidence that this Ace is a threat. That is why Jenlynn Cyderion falsified her reports. If there are OTHERS on Earth like it… we will have MUCH to fear…"
"Indeed. WE must gather all data. Let him pass a test of observation, and see what his POWERS can do," Brecchus said. "Make the necessary arrangements, Cybernam Yaahrmes…"
"Yes, my master," Yaahrmes said with regret in his eyes.
***
Ace impatiently tapped his foot inside the small room into which he had been put. A comfortable sofa and odd chairs had been placed there with some strange looking items called food. Yet Ace grumbled as he scanned. Ace looked along the edges of the door that fused flush with the wall. Soft muted light came from panels along the walls, which were muted pastel and blue. Bright colors did not exist here. All was drab and mute. Not a shape of nature was reflected in these structures that screamed against the nature of the planet. Ace gritted his teeth. For as exciting and frightening as the 20th century could be, this planet was far more frightening. It was a fear that gripped his heart with an excitement he couldn't begin to explain; even to himself.
Marchyl had left him there, and told him that he should watch the holoviz that she turned on. From there he could get the information he needed. Ace did so, and sat down on the hard but firm chair, made of molded plastic. As he watched he sniffed the strange wafers that were put out. They smelled like fast food, even more laden with the modern scents than they did. Ace realized he might be here for a longer time then he had thought.
"Maybe I can wait," he turned up his nose. But still he nibbled a bit. It wasn't half-bad. Rather refined and crunchy, but good, even though it tasted of nothing he could identify. And the strange drink in the plastic glass was fizzy and cold. Nice. Like Soda, and a bit sweet. The food wasn't attractive, but he could stand it.
His face fell the more he saw of the recordings of the previous hearing. Anger boiled in the pit of his stomach when he realized just what she was charged with. No wonder they had treated him like an animal. To them, he was one. Just what would happen, he wondered? No, he had to get answers and get them fast. The only way was to get to her, wherever she was being held. Ace closed his eyes, and sat on his chair. Perhaps he could isolate her mind's energy pattern from those of the others. Then as he had done before on the moon in the Barnard System, he slowly sent his mind there first to see. There were great pieces of interference, and Ace gritted at the strain.
Only by concentrating very hard, was he finally able to single Jenlynn out from all the other minds. That was the drawback; when she had to single out one amongst hundreds, it was very difficult, for all the others would bombard her until she found the one she wanted. Ace sent his mind to that
Finally she found she whom she was searching, by opening astral eyes to see where she was. She was being kept in a small room. Ace knew Jenlynn was unaccustomed to this type of surrounding, rather preferring the vastness of open areas. So it was no surprise when the anthropologist didn't immediately acknowledge her presence.
"I must go," Ace said as he stood up. To teleport or not, he thought. Most likely they had already discovered his powers. What did he have to lose? But something was blocking him as he flicked his thumb, and stopped. He couldn't go there. No. He had to figure out the limits of the prison first. Closing his eyes he judged the distance his astral self had traveled, and got the lock for the physical place his astral self had seen. Swallowing hard, he raised his thumb and made the jump.
Ace felt a wave of unusual sights and sounds overwhelm him as he opened his eyes. Cold stone echoed under his silver boots. All around rose the tall ceramic and glass needles curving into the bright sky.
"I must have arrived," he reasoned, feeling the assault of massive unbalanced electromagnetic energies. As before, the world screamed upon his EM sense, of unfettered forces of nature and sideric flux. There was no harmony in the gracefully sloping buildings or glass tubes, which shunted passengers from here to there. It was much like the 20th century, where man failed to create the right balance of positive and negative energies in his cities. Nature cried out at this technology out of proportion with its own energies. Mantissa screamed a hundred times louder than Earth. Ace tuned down his senses, almost having to dampen them.
His senses felt the individual auras of electromagnetic fields, and quickly he cloaked himself in one that was identical. Again he reached out for Jenlynn's mind, through his bond. Outside of his cell, distinguishing her from the other mental fields was not as difficult.
For what seemed like an eternity he ran along the concrete and steel pavements. Beneath artificial trees and plazas. One continuous city sprang up around him. Till he noticed the strength of Jenlynn's mind. Soon visible before him was a massive structure with high walls and narrow windows. Strange squat figures trundled back and forth. The sizzle of ozone met his nostrils. Ace took out a small mirror from his pocket as he sensed great energies in a wall before him. The red light beamed off the mirror. What was this? A laser fence? He'd have to find another way in.
From within came Jenlynn's anguish, very great. While he was not a telepath, he had so attenuated himself through the bond that they had formed across time and space, he could feel the raw emotions. It was only because he had pushed through the electromagnetic interference and that he had come so close to her. So much so it almost pained him to feel it. He noticed another cloaked energy as it exited the place, close behind the odd metallic figures. Were these what Jenlynn called Mechnateck? Guards of some sort. Only they could get in through the force barriers. And perhaps had senses they could not imagine.
Ace moved up to the fence. Gesturing he summoned an impressively large sphere of ball lightening. Hurling it aloft it exploded with a mighty flare. Then he summoned another, which exploded into a cloud of thick smoke. Immediately all the light fences were visible. Alarms rang out all over the complex as the machines rushed out. Ace raced after one that seemed to be headed back to the complex. He could see the gaps opening and closing in the fences as the Mechnateck rushed through. And his long legs carried him through the openings as each being rushed out.
Till he reached the inner security door. Magna sealed, he realized there was but one way in. Teleportation.
Slowly he focussed his mind, and gauged where she was. Then with a flick of his thumb he vanished in a haze of silver sparklers.
***
Yaahrmes had heard over the Net about the intruders on the Planet. Alerts screamed all over the vast primary city of Jendell, on Mantissa. Out of his small apartment he rushed, even though it was curfew. He quickly called Maagnyl and Marchyl over his voicelink...
"Come quickly... there may be time to act..."
For correctly he'd discerned what had happened. The strange reinforcements were being hailed in the vicinity of the Incarceration complex. Where Jenlynn was being held! His cybernetic pump leapt at the thought of her liberation. Perhaps...
Marchyl joined him, as they met in the common Plaza. Several dozen Cybernam lived here in the small units designated for them. They were assigned to the Elite complex. And as a result they were very close to the Incarceration Complex.
"Let's rendezvous," Maagnyl said as their cybernetic legs carried them at a fast pace. They leapt into the magnatubes and were shunted across the glass tubes to the source. Marchyl dialed in the coordinates.
"I heard on the Viz that there was an alien detected there," Marchyl giggled. "And they were having difficulties detecting his entrance... for he had no life signs..."
"That is indeed odd. He wasn't a Cybernam or a Mechnateck... and the Menagerie has been moved to the other Hemisphere on the other side," Maagnyl mused.
"You see it is an alien!" laughed Marchyl to her brother construct. They had been synthesized in the same muster unit.
"It was also said Jenlynn's life signs were detected. And she has been incarcerated, with the alien..." Yaahrmes said, hardly containing the excitement building in his emotive.
They quickly arrived at the Mechnateck security servos. "What's the situation?" Yaahrmes asked.
"You were not summoned... but it is perhaps a glitch that provides opportunism," said the chief security drone in its electronic voice. (For the sake of convenience, the reader knows the hexadecimal is translated into English.)
"We were informed, and we were conveniently located to assist..." said Yaahrmes.
"Affirmative. Prisoner designate Jenlynn has been liberated by an alien."
"Must be pretty sophisticated to pass through the detection system," Marchyl muttered. "What now?"
"In order to dissipate harming of the prisoner, we have incarcerated them, pending the alien's surrender. It is apparent this alien will not surrender or name its terms. Jenlynn is in hostage situation... The laws forbid direct violence..."
"Let us assess," Yaahrmes said. Among the Cybernam, he was a lawgiver and abider. A representative unit with some authority granted by the Mechnateck. A liaison betwixt Androni and Cybernam. He had reached his 1000'th year.
***