Chapter 8
Sometimes, everything works out perfectly. And sometimes, every time you think things can’t get any worse, they do.
Fierah led the group to the Red Star’s central command station, a location familiar to Kopaka and his crew. From here, they could easily find their way to the send-back room. But Fierah wanted to go to the scanner room, which was in the opposite direction.
In the end, a decision was reached: the groups would split ways again. Fierah would lead her group to the scanners, and Kopaka would lead his group to the send-back room. They would meet back in an hour, hopefully with both Pohatu and the machinery that Fierah needed.
Takanuva opted to travel with Kopaka, loaning a lightstone to Chiara so they could find their way through the dark. The Toa Nuva of Ice had told him of his recent adventures – the short version of the story, as was expected from him, though the Matoran added a few details – and Takanuva started telling him about his own journey to the Valley of the Maze. It quickly turned into the Matoran bombarding him with questions about Spherus Magna, though.
“So these Agori – they’re like us, but built different?” Quilha asked.
“Pretty much,” Takanuva said. “Maybe a little taller, but --”
“And the Glatorian are like Toa, but without the mask powers,” Ruhko said. “But they have elemental powers, like you do.”
“Well, some of them do,” Takanuva said. “Mata Nui used the Mask of Life to–”
“I still can’t get over Mata Nui looking like, well, a regular person,” Mavrah said. “And now he’s just… gone?”
“Dormant, yeah,” Takanuva said. “I guess you guys missed quite a bit.” He looked at Ivohku and Hydraxon. “How come you two haven’t asked anything?”
“We should be focused on the mission,” Hydraxon said. “There will be time enough for story-telling after we’re off this Star. And the only question I want answered is where this fake me is and who he really is.”
Takanuva frowned. “I don’t know much. He gave the Toa Mahri some trouble in the Pit, and then came to me asking if they were around to hunt down the Barraki, and --”
“Wait,” Hydraxon cut in. “Did you say ‘hunt down the Barraki’? Are they loose?”
Takanuva nodded. “Last I checked.”
“What’s a Barraki?” Quilha asked.
Before Takanuva could reply, he bumped into Kopaka, the Toa Nuva of Ice having stopped abruptly. Takanuva turned toward him, and then looked past him, into what he guessed was the Send-back room. And he saw what had made Kopaka stop so suddenly.
“Oh no…”
“Oh no,” Fierah groaned.
The group had arrived at the scanner room. Or rather, what was left of it. This part of the Star had bent inward when it hit the mountains, pushing the walls in. The machinery was a hopeless mess.
“Of course,” Orde said. “The one part of the Star we need is the one part that got completely wrecked.”
Gelu nodded. “It looks like it will be impossible to salvage anything from this wreck.”
“Well, then it’s a good thing we brought a Great Being, right?” Strakk said. “They specialize in impossible.”
From his arms, Delara suddenly groaned and started to move. Strakk quickly set the Toa of Sonics down. Zaria held his hand out, in case Delara woke up and was still crazy.
Delara sat up. “Wh-- where am I?” he whispered.
“Toa Delara?” Chiara said. The Sound Toa winced at her loud voice. “Sorry,” she said, a little quieter.
The Toa of Sonics sat silently for a few seconds before speaking again. Only Orde realized what he was doing – he was using his powers to dampen the sound around him. Like all Toa of Sound, his hearing was increased, to the point where a person speaking at a normal volume was painfully loud for him. Orde wondered if he should ask Fierah if the Great Beings had made a mistake when they made the Toa of Sound.
“Who’s there?” Delara asked. “Everything’s dark…”
“You’ve been blinded,” Chiara said. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure out how to fix it.”
“Who’s ‘we’?” Delara asked.
“We’re the Toa…” Chiara paused. “Well, we’re a team of Toa who doesn’t have a name yet. And two Glatorian – oh wait, you wouldn’t know what a Glatorian is, would you? Well, they’re like Toa, but different. I’m Chiara, Toa of Lightning, and with me are Zaria, Toa of Iron, and Orde, Toa of Psionics.”
She realized her mistake as soon as she said it.
“Orde?” Delara said. "I remember that name. Are you here, Orde?
“Yeah, I am,” Orde said. “And… I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” Delara said, confused.
Orde blinked, surprised. By force of habit, he looked into Delara’s mind, and saw only confusion. There were no memories of his death at all. Apparently, Orde had done his job too well
.
“Sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me,” he said quickly.
While the Toa spoke, Fierah had been inspecting the machinery. She seemed to be focused on one device in particular. Zaria turned away from Delara and walked up to her. “Well?” he said.
Fierah held up a broken piece of machinery. “This is it,” she said. “The reason the Star worked. The device that we made to constantly scan everyone in the Matoran Universe, so that they could be brought back. Now just a useless hunk of metal.” She gestured around her. “Without this, this whole place is a useless hunk of metal. A glorified giant repair station. It might be able to fix up wounds, even major ones – might also be able to teleport people, if it took Lesovikk – but this is what allowed it to bring back the dead.”
“Can you fix it?” Zaria asked.
“Maybe in a year or two,” Fierah said. “I’m not the one who designed this thing, and the one who did was – well, he isn’t around to ask.”
“What about the Toa Power Scanner?” Zaria said. “Isn’t that what we came here for?”
“I haven’t been able to find it yet,” Fierah said. “I’m afraid it might be just as --”
Before she could finish her sentence, a hole in space opened up behind her. An armored hand reached through, grabbing Fierah’s arm. For a split second, Zaria could swear he saw a grinning face.
Zaria reached out with his powers, but he was too slow. The hand pulled Fierah through the portal, and it closed abruptly behind her. The Great Being was gone.