TPTB - Scout Red Star

Gaardus looked down at the ground for a long time. Then he said, very quietly, “I could bring you. But I do not want to return there. No one ever does.”

“Get us there how?” asked Kopaka.

“I was built to be a hunter,” said Gaardus. “And a hunter returns to the grounds that are rich in prey. Anywhere I have ever been, I can return to … even such a place as that.”

“Then take us there,” Kopaka said.

“Um, Kopaka?” said Pohatu. “Can I have a word?”

The Toa of Ice and Stone walked a few feet away from Gaardus and spoke in low tones. “Do we really want to leave the driving to the winged wonder over there? What if he doesn’t like Toa any better than Matoran?”

“Do you have a better suggestion? Tren Krom used his last seconds of life to tell us about the star … or warn us. There’s something up there connected to his death. We have to find out what it is.”

“Okay,” said Pohatu. “But this isn’t the first time I’ve wondered if you don’t have your Kanohi on too tight.”

The two Toa turned back to Gaardus. “If you can get us there, we need to go,” said Kopaka.

“And quickly, before one of us changes his mind, namely me,” added Pohatu.

If Gaardus thought they had both gone mad, he obviously saw no point in saying. He merely stepped up to them, unwrapped his wings, and then folded them around the two heroes. And in that instant, all three were gone.

Pohatu wasn’t sure what to expect – he had never been inside a “star” before. When Gaardus opened his wings and stepped away, the Toa of Stone looked around. He was inside a curved hallway. The walls seemed to be a combination of metal bands and organic tissue, much the way he imagined the inside of a Toa would look. Steeling himself, he reached out and touched one of the surfaces. Both metal and tissue were still and cold as ice.

At least I’m not inside something that’s alive, he thought. Kind of had enough of that.

[...]

Kopaka was not happy to hear about Gaardus’ disappearance, but he wasn’t surprised either. The odds were the teleporter was gone for good, at least if he had any sense.

“We better hope the Kestora were wrong and there is way off of here,” said the Toa of Ice. “Otherwise …”

“Otherwise, we are going to get very tired of each other’s company,” agreed Pohatu. “Want me to scout ahead?”

“No, I --” Kopaka began, even as Pohatu winked out of existence and then back again.

“Too late,” said Pohatu. “Already did it. Not much to see. Lots of labs. Some old machinery, looks like it’s been jury-rigged a few hundred times. And I thought I saw someone moving, but I can’t be sure.”

“More Kestora?”

“Maybe. About the same height.”

“Let’s find them.”

The two Toa had gone about a hundred yards when the lights suddenly went out. Now they could hear movement from all around them. There were whispers, too, but they couldn’t make out the words. Kopaka triggered his Akaku Nuva, piercing the walls around him with x-ray vision. In one direction, there was nothing to see but outer space. In the other, he saw things – a lot of things – he could have lived without seeing. When he spoke, his voice was raw.

“We need to move,” said Kopaka. “Now.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You don’t want to know. Grab my hand. We’re finding a way out of this.”


- The Powers That Be, Chapters 3 and 4