WHEN A STRANGER CALLS

 Sanity is a madness put to good uses. "

- George Santayana (1863-1952) 

I listened to the ominous message recently recorded from the ship that I first encountered the Magus.  However, I needed further insight in order to abort the Magus dark designs.   

I first went through documentation compiled, by the monks of the Kree Pama. Their files were voluminous and contained history on the universes great philosophers and scientists. However there was not a single mention of the Soul Gems.

When I accessed the files from Titan, it was much the same. 

I had as many light years as needed to accomplish my task. And I wandered the universe aimlessly for sometime until finally, my investigations bore fruition it was on a world ruled by a mage. At last!  I had been seeking this metaphysical source; perhaps this was it after taking what knowledge I could from the mystic I quickly dispatched of him.

The volume took some time to translate, but with what I learned from the mystic, I would eventually decipher the language it was written in. Besides what was a century to one allied with death? My early translations seemed to allude to a race of beings called the Ovoid, which at one time had been caretakers of the Soul gems.

Eyewitnesses from the world claimed the mage was frequently visited by inexplicable beings of untold power and penned every word said. Embedded In the mages corpse I uncovered a talisman of ancient origin Which seemed to be composed of a material that was transparent like glass yet stronger then iron?

Apparently, the original caretakers of the soul Gems created a network of wormholes for there own purpose. Further translations, gave the last location of the soul gems. In addition, one was located in the vega system which was notorious to be the solar system of an intergaltic entity called the Stranger His machinations were unknown, and it was rumored he might be the last of an advanced civilization was it a coincidence?   Perhaps the stranger was a member of this alien race.

I found myself suddenly drawn from the physical and into the metaphysical realm of Death.

“What do I owe the pleasure of this audience”? I said as I smiled and basked in her ebon might.

“MISTRESS DEATH WISHES TO INFORM YOU THAT SHE HAS PEERED INTO THE FUTURE AND HAS FORESEEN THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE BEING WHO POSES A THREAT TO YOUR DESIGNS.”

“Does this being have a name?” I asked the mouth piece who was addressing me, a creature of rotting flesh with flayed meat hanging from its boney digits.

“NO, THE NAME HAS BEEN CAREFULLY VEILED. BUT HE IS AN AGENT OF CHAOS AND ORDER.”

Chaos and Order, how I had grown to hate those beings. Must they always be in my shadow? One day.

INTERLUDE HOMECOMING

“Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame."

- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Something was troubling me about my mother, and although I was loath to do it, I decided to access I.S.S.A.C .to find the truth. 

I wondered how my abilities would have been affected had my rapport been with my father who had always been closer with my brother Thanos.

Mentor had never been deceptive in most matters, but pragmancy had ever ruled him more then morality.  The death of Sui-san seemed to weigh on him greatly so much that I   feared he was on the verge of breaking. 

I had to know more about my mother’s seemingly impossible recovery and wished to be intimate with all the details   I could have asked mentor but he would not tell me the truth on this matter. 

“I.S.S.A.C., I wish to access the files on my mother Sui-San.”

“EROS, WHAT IS THE PASSWORD?”

“Thanos.”

“CONTINUE YOU HAVE BEEN GRANTED ACCESS.”

I could not imagine a greater irony then to access all the worlds’ knowledge under the name of Titan’s most hated son.

“Give me all particulars on my mother Sui-San’s resurrection and hold nothing back.”

 “What do you wish to know son?”

I tried to brush them off but they quickly blanketed me in layers.

Then just as they begin to fill in my ears and throat reality once again reverted to type.  I was nearly on the verge of seizer as my fears were clearly beginning to consume me. From within. She attempted to comfort me but her touch was like maggots on carrion.

It always happened when I was around my mother as if my rapport were still intact but rotted I regained my composer as best I could and tried to confront her.

“You were vivisected by my brother. How, even with Titan technology, how could you return?“

“I am also struggling, surely you can understand there is so much Mentor has not told me. I do not even remember the details of the event you speak. Mentor told me if I were to relive the event in question, it might prove to be fatal. Yet I remember a girl you met while traversing the farcaster gates to the planet earth. Psyche was her name was it not?”

“Do not change the subject.“

“YOU ARE FILLED WITH SO MANY QUESTIONS DEAR BROTHER, IT IS SAD THEY DID NOT OCCUR WHEN THEY MIGHT HAVE DONE YOU SOME GOOD.”

“THANOS!”  I leaped at him and hooked my leg hoping to break his neck with the quickness and speed of the retraction. My blow landed near the occipital lobe and should have at least rendered him senseless. 

Unfortunately, it only put me in direct line of one of his gauntleted fists, which were very quick for, individual of his size and mass. The blow would have    broke my jaw outright except the fact I rolled flawlessly.

I landed hard, but I also knew I should have been dead rather then just battered 

I launched myself in a rage and he grasped me with arms of admantium His grip seemed unnatural even for one of Eternal heritage it seemed some mistakes were more costly then others. Now I would perish for my lack of self-control.

In desperation, I launched an assault against his pleasure centers in order to pacify him and incredibly, it worked.

I wanted to question him, but my jaw was in great pain from his blow, I reached for a weapon I had carried on my person, because in my heart I knew he would return. Whether there was sufficient charge to kill him, I didn’t know but I held the Ion blaster to his skull. Thanos only smiled and I was afraid that he was bluffing that he was merely giving me a sense of false hope, just waiting to shut the trap. Then from a distance, I heard my father’s voice.

“EROS, MY SON STOPS! I can answer those questions for you but I AM afraid you may find the answers even more disturbing.”

WHEN A STRANGER CALLS

My starship had reached the mouth of the wormhole and I explained what my crew was to do while I was away.  The tome did not give any coordinates but the strange artifact I found embedded in the mage made it unnecessary t as it led me right to the wormhole mouth.

A quick scan with my instrumentation revealed an anomaly I teleported myself just near the mouth of the wormhole where it was as I surmised. A spherical ship   slightly smaller then myself was hovering near the entrance. The vessel had no observable access .My nano-computers were picking up strange emanations from the sphere. This was unusual for a solid object, but not uncommon for pure energy. The artifact I had purloined on the mystics world was composed of a similar material. By merely touching the artifact to the sphere, I caused an aperture to form. I stepped in and was astounded at the amount of space; my entire crew could have fit within its confines.

The design of the Ovoid ship was unique I had never seen its like. There were no instrumentation, nor till to steer it. The ship was completely devoid of any type of equipment. Then without warning the aperture closed, as it somehow sensed what I wished to do. Thought alone must have propelled it through the wormhole tunnels, which were just big enough only to support a ship of its size.

A great deafening noise like engines being fired aroused me, but I saw nothing and there was no sense of movement. The ship walls then became translucent and I could see the makeup of the wormhole network itself.

It was science most arcane and the ship seemed to have a form of sentience rivaling I.S.S.A.C. What I was unsure of was whether this was an example of their highest pinnacle or a simple transit system.

The Stranger, as he was called, was a powerful being and although I knew little of him, I realized a direct confrontation with such a being would be the height of folly. Especially if he was an ancestor of these Ovoids, another question dawned on me. If this was the stranger transit system what were its purposes. Perhaps it was how he moved his reputed experiments from world to world.

While the ship was translucent I had the illusion of propelling myself through the wormhole via my own power, I wondered if this was how a God felt.

The walls of the wormhole were composed of some matter I had never seen and were   enigmatic in their nature. When I turned my head, I could see my point of origin from whence I came. I know that I had traveled far, and yet it seemed as if I could reach my hand and touch it.

I speculated that the material to construct this network was mixed and shaped by natures most baffling entities, singularities, and such power was to be feared. 

Eventually I arrived in space hovering over the stranger’s world.

I scanned for an energy signature that matched the one I retrieved from the Magus ship and had a scent   the stranger’s world looked as if it were on some dreamscape with a billowing architecture that shifted constantly.

I would not have been surprised if the stranger was in mental contact with the world at all times and constantly shifted its landscape to deter would be invaders or escapes. I hoped my cloaking device would keep me hidden until I finished.  

Upon planet fall, my force shields caught the brunt of an energy lance and I wondered if the Stranger could have already sensed my presence. To my surprise, I saw an invader, which stood nearly, triple my height and was partially dissected.

“I AM JAKKAR, I AM THE ANTI-STRANGER”

“YOU WILL GIVE ME YOUR KEY AND YOUR SHIP SO I CAN LEAVE THIS WORLD.”

“I am afraid dissection will be the least of your worries should you maintain your resolve, now stand down and I will allow you to maintain your stay on this side of the divide.”

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