Wartime Reverie

"He was your last hope. Now you have me. I'm not sure what difference I can make, but I was sent here for a reason, so I must be good for something. As for what else you can do," Allen stopped and thought a moment, "let's start by investigating. First off has anyone even tried to find the source of the monsters? Or did everyone just skip to trying to wipe them out? We should check out Crato too. The fact that Alicia can't read him like everyone else worries me. So I think we should do some good old fashioned snooping to find out what's up with him. I'd also like a look at the Black Comet. Raxtion, you said you were piloting it right? So do you think you can give me the grand tour? And I want to know everything that's already known about these monsters. How much time do we have before the Comet's scheduled for use?"

 

"Well... Tonight." Raxtion started. He did not like how this boy was acting. Raxtion's girlfriend was a goddess and even she wasn't as cocky as this boy. "You don't understand. We have searched. Alicia and I. We haven't found anything that has caused this darkness. Alicia hasn't been very perceptive as of late. It's been all the darkness that has been clouding her abilities. Alicia's inability to see his thoughts could also be attributed to this darkness."

Alicia then jumped in to confirm what Raxtion was saying 'It's true, the only reason I was able to see through you, Allen is due to your extreme faith in the light. That is something not many are gifted with."

Raxtion then changed the subject. "And throwing ideas of Crato's involvement in anything criminal is downright insane. Alot of people here like him. I like him. He was and is still my mentor." Raxtion then felt Alicia tickling his kneck and faced her. She gave him a look and instantly Raxtion knew what she was thinking. Raxtion then turned to Allen and said "But if you are so upset about it, then I will take you to both Crato and The Black Comet for your investigation."

Alicia then kissed Raxtion on the neck and let him go.

Raxtion then walked up to Allen and said "We will interogate Crato first, then investigate the Black Phantom. There are too many people around here now, and I know where Crato is at the moment."

"You boys have fun." Alicia said. "I'm afraid I can't join, I have previous engagements. But call my name if you need my help, Raxtion."

"I will, I love you." said Raxtion to her.

"I love you too." Alicia said as the kissed deeply. Once more, with feeling.

They both pulled out of the kiss and Alicia went up to Allen "And Allen, I don't know weather or not you will be spending the night again, but if I don't see you, just know this. Always be true to yourself. You are a beautiful person and you don't ever need to hide it in coldness. Okay?"

 

Allen was shocked at this last statement. "That's not why I act cold. It's easier to choose morality over people if you aren't close with anyone." He shared this detail only because he suspected she already knew it. "Oh, and if you're willing to try it before I go; I might be able to clear the darkness that's clouding you long enough to check out Crato." He turned to Raxtion. "If that thing's going up tonight we don't have a lot of time. We should get going."

 

Alicia smiled at him. "But people are around for you to be close to. You could be an inspiration to your friends if you took the time to become comfortable with them." She said before saying "And no, I must go to this meeting, I have already promised it. But you are welcome to stay the night at our house. I will most likely be there when you two get home."

Raxtion put his arm around Allen. "No, I'm afraid its due to the increased darkness on the planet that is causing her to be somewhat blinded. I'm afraid that until we weed out the source of that darkness that she will not be able to see anything past what her eye's can clearly show her." Raxtion then waved Alicia good bye and Alicia waved good bye to them both. She went on her way just as Raxtion and Allen went on theirs. "Don't worry, Allen, we can figure this out together." Raxtion reassured. While they were talking, it had gotten dark out. The sun set in the north. And night was soon upon them. Raxtion then escorted Allen into the building Crato had entered earlier after his speech. They moved through the hallways until they got to Crato's room. There were a few politicians in the room with him, laughing about things. When Raxtion and Allen entered, they all smiled, got up and shoke Raxtion's hand.

"Gentlemen, could you excuse us, we want a private word with Crato." said Raxtion.

The men looked puzzled for a bit before they all respected Raxtion's wishes and left.

Crato got up from his chair. "Ah, hello Raxtion, how are you? I see you've brought the questioning boy from the audience. Pleasure to meet you." Crato said as he extended his hand at Allen. "Always a pleasure to meet a curious mind. I suppose you have more questions? Ask away."

 

Allen shook hands with Crato. "You recognized me?" This detail surprised him. "First now that we have more time to talk, how exactly does the black comet work? How big will the beam it fires off be? Is there one place you can hit that will subdue all of the 'manifestations' of the darkness? How would that work?"

 

Crato smiled at Allen. "You know, that curiosity reminds me of when I was younger and how I used to wonder about the many things that didn't make sense to me." Crato then went on to answer some of Allen's questions. "Now, the Black Comet is designed to simply supress the darkness in the world, by dousing it with light. The beam can be made into a concentrated blast if we want to contain a certain area, but the way we will be using it tomarrow is that it's fucntion will be to fire a medium sized beam that when it reaches the the planets gasous layers it will spread the light around the world. See the light is not enough to break through the layers, but enough to be seen. Light will even be present during the night for certain parts of this world. Making it seem like day time." Crato sat back down again. "With this amount of light, we expect that this will supress the darkness and the individual controlling the darkness will hopefully experience some pain. We have asked the citizens of this world to be on the lookout for any person being harmed when the light is over the planet. Any more questions?"

 

"I don't think that will work," Allen said thinking of his fight with the creatures. "Like I said earlier I fought those things, when I shined light on them all they did was cringe a little and then they went right back to attacking like nothing happened, they were completely unharmed. That said have you done any small-scale testing to make sure this will work like you work? I can't imagine it would end well if the comet went up and fired its laser, only to end up hitting some big city instead of working like you planned. Or maybe it does work like you planned but with unforeseen side effects, like maybe the heat from the refracted laser ignites the planets atmospheric gases and kills everyone. That's kind of an extreme example I understand, but I'm just trying to make a point."

 

Crato seemed impressed with the boys knowledge. "My, you are very right. However we have already practiced the same conditions on a smaller scale model. We recreated the gases and the planets other key points and tested a smaller scale light beam on it. We got the precise measurements and fit them to the scale of the planet and the scale of the beam. You are very smart, but however, the light will not release any gases, nor will it tear straight through a city of innocents." Crato continued to smile as he explained "You needn't worry, all things have been examined. We have been very careful with our measurements." Crato stopped and then said "I tell you what, we will wait to fire the beam when we are directly above the west desert so that if it does cut through it will not destroy the city or harm innocents. Does that make you feel better?"

 

"A little, thank you." Allen was nearly out of questions to ask. "Would you mind some more personal questions? I don't mean to intrude but I would like to know a bit about the guy who's in charge of saving the world I'm on, make sure the planet's in good hands, I guess."

 

Crato looked at his watch. "Well, maybe I can answer a few more questions. But I must be on my way soon. I have much to do before the lift off."

 

"Okay." Allen hadn't considered that Crato might have work to do. "Well I guess I'll just skip to the big question then. I've heard you came around at the same time as the monsters. I was wondering if there was some reason for this, or if its just a coincidence." Allen did his best to hide his suspicions as he asked this.

 

"Correction. I became famous when the monsters appeared. I was poor and a begger before hand. Now I live a life of luxury. This is because I figured out how to fend the darkness and taught it to many others including 12 disciples. Raxtion being one of those." said Crato answering Allen's question.

"Satisfied now, Allen?" asked Raxtion wondering what Allen thought about Crato now.

Crato checked his watch, making sure he would still be on time.

 

Allen turned to Raxtion. "Not yet, but I'm sure you can answer most of my remaining questions." He turned back to Crato. "Just one more for you and then you can go do whatever it is to do what you need to do: how does a beggar discover the way to defeat the darkness?"

 

"Simple." Said Crato. "The rest of the world overlooks details... While the begger scavages for everything he can find. I found knowledge. An acient book, which spoke of manifesting the darkness in your own heart and using special techniques to battle it. I thought it was useless but kept it anyway. When these monsters began appearing I used the special techniques to battle them and gained victory. However, it only stalled them. I thought of getting 12 desciples to aid me, but even after I had taught them, we were still unable to keep the darkness at bay forever. Then I realized that something or someone had to be using the darkness in order for it to be so powerful. That is when the Black Comet came into fruition." Crato checked his watch and got up. "Well, time flies when you are having fun." Crato shook Allen's hands and said "It was a pleasure meeting you. I hope you will be watching us when we lift off." Crato then turned to Raxtion and said "Raxtion, I will expect you to be ready at your station, understood?" Raxtion saluted. Crato chuckled at Raxtion's actions and left with a "Take care gentlemen."

Raxtion then motioned for Allen to follow him. "Now, do you have anymore questions? Or should we go check out the Black Comet?"

 

"We can talk on the way," said Allen as he stood up. "I want to know more about the technique is he learned and taught you. About manifesting the darkness in your heart and using it. I don't want to learn the techniques myself, I just want to know about them. And I'd like to see the book Crato mentioned."

 

"Well, the book was stashed away by Crato, no one knows where it is." Raxtion said as they made their way to the Black Comet. "And he didn't teach us to manifest the darkness in our hearts. He taught us the second portion of the book which deals in battling the darkness." They finally made their way to the Black Comet and the crowds that stood around it in amazement and wonder had all vanished. Raxtion and Allen stepped beyond the boundries placed for ordinary citizens safety and opened up the massive space ship. Raxtion and Allen went inside. "Now, go ahead and look around. Touch what you will, but do not open up any compartments. We don't want any wires getting messed up." Raxtion said.

 

Allen looked around at the spaceship in awe, he didn't know where he should star looking, or, now that he thought about it, what he was looking for. "Do you think you could start by showing me the gun? I'd like to study it, see if I can tell whether or not Crato was telling the truth." He looked around him at the advanced technology. "Then again I don't understand this technology, so I might not be able to do that." Allen thought for a minute. "Is there somewhere on this ship I can be alone for a minute?"

 

Raxtion listened to the request but stumbled for a bit "Um... well, there is the bathroom." Raxtion pointed towards a door. "And the cannon is on the outside of the ship, you just control it from the inside." Raxtion then went back to the alone request that Allen made. "If you want me to leave you alone in the ship, I could." The ships interior was simply one big room. Save for the bathroom, everything was connected.

 

"Sorry, I know it's a weird request. I just..." Allen paused, considering the best way to say this. Eventually he just decided on the truth. "I wanted to speak to the guy who sent me here. But I don't think he's the kind of guy who'll show himself to just anyone. If you could just step out for a minute I'd really appreciate it. I'll come get you when I'm done talking to him."

 

"Guy who talked to you? Someone sent you here?" asked Raxtion, sincerly confused.

"Actually I could talk to you telepathically this entire time." said Legion in Allen's mind. He couldn't be seen or heard by anyone else but Allen. "So, Allen, my man, what's up?"