The alien crystal continues its story, revealing how the explosion of the gas giant tore the crust off this moon. Most of the crystal’s home was incinerated by the immense cataclysm, which completely destroyed the gas giant. The moon itself then flew right out of the solar system, and headed out of the galaxy as it cooled. The crystal was able to conceal itself from discovery by the aliens that tried to kill it.
Appalled, Defender Zik realizes that he’s hearing a story of attempted xenocide! As everyone continues to help move the crystal into the cargo hold of the Temerity, the crystal explains that it went into hibernation for tens of thousands of years until the moon was pulled back into the galactic rim by gravity.
Suddenly, Amelia interrupts to warn everyone that the leading edge of the meteorite storm is here! An early meteorite is about to hit nearby– take cover!!
Defender Zik and the crew of the Temerity have a short window of time to help the living crystal of Planet Hypnos escape the impending meteorite storm! The crew hustles outside, with the exception of Amelia, who remains in the cockpit to keep the ship ready to fly out of danger.
Outside, Dakaasin puzzles over how to cram all that mass of crystal into the hold. It doesn’t look like it will fit until the crystal offers to make itself denser, thereby cramming itself into a smaller volume.
It explains that it is a singular being, and its consciousness splits and merges as it fragments and recombines itself. When Zik organizes the crew into a human chain to relay the crystals into the ship, the crystal is confused by the term “human chain.” Zik explains that humans can’t split and combine the way the crystal can, but that they often work as a team to accomplish a common goal. Once again, the crystal brings up a mysterious other alien life form it has encountered, which was like humans in that each individual had its own consciousness.
While they work, Zik asks the crystal about these other aliens, wondering whether it was they who stranded the crystal on the rogue planet. As it turns out, Zik is partially correct. The aliens are the cause of the stranding of the crystals, but that Hypnos was actually once a moon orbiting a distant gas giant. However, in a stunning act of attempted xenocide, the aliens detonated the gas giant!
A discussion has begun with the alien crystal on planet Hypnos! Defender Zik begins to interact with the crystal, who is picking up English very quickly. It already understands that meteorites are common, which is why it took up residence in the cave, and it offers to have the crew of the Temerity join it in there to stay safe from the impending strike.
Zik says that they can’t afford to get stuck in the cave if there’s a direct hit (not to mention that the ship would never fit in there). When Zik explains that they live on another planet far away, the alien crystal already seems familiar with the concept! A shocked Francisco realizes the huge implications that there is yet another species of aliens out there – humans are not alone in this galaxy!
The crystal is adamant that it no longer wishes to be all alone in the cave, and it awkwardly asks to come with them. Zik agrees, and the Temerity lands to pick up its newest passenger!
The decisive Defender Zik announces that they’re going to presume the crystals on Planet Hypnos are alive, and begins to get on top of the situation. He starts by asking a flustered Francisco for the exact time the meteorites will present a danger to the ship. Amelia asks if she should land, but Zik wants to be certain of the intentions of the crystals before risking getting too close. He directs a now-rebooted Zoot to begin establishing a dialogue with the crystals.
Francisco reports back with an estimate for the meteor strikes, prompting Zik to tell everyone to set a 45 minute timer so they all know when to leave. Always eager to help, especially when it comes to using guns, Trent Quickdraw offers to shoot the meteorites as they approach. Zik replies that it would just rain smaller debris down on them, which could be even more dangerous. Instead, they should max out their repulsors to deflect anything they can.
Dak, Sten and Mizhakwan are asked to make room in the cargo hold, in case they’re leaving Hypnos with a guest. Then Zoot announces that he’s already established communications with the crystal, because it’s copying and rearranging the words he sends in an intelligent way. It’s time to make formal contact with an alien life form!
Back on the Temerity, Defender Zik decides that the danger of an impending meteorite storm is too great, and it’s time to move the ship. But Mizhakwan doesn’t want to leave the crystals behind!
Zik agrees that these crystals are very much worth studying, but not at the risk of their lives. The tenacious Mizhakwan insists that they stay, because she’s convinced that the crystals are alive, an idea that’s met with incredulity by Francisco.
But wait, Trent has noticed something on this monitor… the Temerity is receiving some kind of signal! They’re in a very remote location, between the stars, so it’s very odd to be receiving a transmission. Trent plays the audio of the transmission…
Incredibly, it’s from the crystals! They are transmitting back what Mizhakwan said to them when she wanted them to stop moving!
Zik decides that since they’re communicating, they must be alive!
Emerging from the cave, Defender Zik and Mizhakwan are amazed to find that the crystals have grouped themselves together and are merging into one giant mass! The crystal grows as the Temerity pumps out the radio waves at full power.
Once back on board, they head straight for the cockpit, where a concerned Amelia asks if they’re hurt. Francisco urges Zik to consider leaving at their earliest opportunity. When pressed for a reason, he explains that his study of the orbiting debris field has revealed that the passage of the ship caused a great deal of disturbance in the cloud! Some of the debris is now falling to the planet, and the Temerity itself is in danger of getting flattened!
As the crew of the Temerity coasts over the savage landscape of planet Hypnos, Francisco notices a strange lack of readings nearby, like a shadow on his monitor. Zik decides that’s as good a place to start a close-up investigation as any, and spots a small valley to land in.
After landing, the crew gets ready to head outside. Francisco declines to join the away team, because he wants to follow up on his investigation of the debris field following the planet as it hurtles between the stars. He’s noticed a strong similarity between the debris and parts of the planet that are at higher elevations, and wants to confirm his suspicions.
A foursome comprising Mizhakwan, Trent, Amelia and Zik descends the ramp and steps onto the surface of the mysterious world. Amelia and Zik are struck by a landscape bearing the scars of some mighty cataclysm. Intrigued by Francisco’s line of reasoning, Zik suggests setting out for a spot where two types of terrain seem to intersect.
However, Mizhakwan is getting some strong feelings about the planet, and the shadows on the scans that brought the crew here to begin with. Zik goes along with the suggestion, because they can always check out the geology on the way back, right?
The next day, the Temerity arrives at lonely planet Hypnos, adrift in the galaxy without a star to orbit. Francisco reports that the trajectory of the small world takes it up out of the galactic plane, and it loops back down somewhere up the spiral arm. This planet has travelled a long way in the intergalactic void before its return near Zoz!
DEFENDER ZIK LORE BREAK!
Zoz is quite far away from Earth! And the Zozian colony ship went in a completely different direction than most of the other refugees that left Earth all those centuries ago. Back then, the first people after the Zozians realized that if they travelled within our spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy, and towards the galactic core, the stars would be more numerous and closer together on average. This meant that as they established their new empires among the stars, they could get from system to system more quickly, which means resupply and defense is quicker and easier. The competition for habitable core-ward worlds was fierce, but the competition up and down was basically non-existent, because one runs out of star systems to go to in those directions.
But up is the direction the Zozian colony ship went. The priority for them was finding the exoplanet that was most like Earth in order to terraform it and establish an oasis of Earth-life in a place where it wouldn’t need to re-adapt to totally new conditions. The world they found happened to be towards the top of the galactic plane, which is why no one ever found them in all that time. Zoz is in a backwater area of the galaxy from the point of view of the other human civilizations!
Zik remarks that planet Hypnos has some incredibly huge canyons scarring its surface, but he gets distracted by the debris field they’re entering. It’s quite thick, and he needs all hands in the cockpit to help identify and eliminate the asteroid threats.
As they plow through the debris field, whatever the flotsam repulsors can’t push out of the way, Trent blasts with the point defense cannons! They finally make it through thanks to great teamwork and Zik’s piloting skills.
It’s time for a closer look at the remote and desolate planet Hypnos, and what they discover is a shattered world of craggy canyons and deep craters! What happened to this place?!
Trent tries to come up with a reason to avoid having to open every cupboard and hatch on the Temerity, but Mizhakwan is quick to resolve his issue! With a promise of snacks, she makes sure Dakaasin can stay on the bridge until the smudging is done.
The news that there are baked snacks on the way is a welcome break in the cockpit. Amelia, still exploring how great food can taste when it’s not Clonoid gruel, can’t wait. Although, she’s still a bit puzzled as to why Mizhakwan insisted on being part of the crew, seeing as she’s retired. Zik explains that he’s known her for years; she was his mother’s medicine woman. This amazing lady goes wherever the energy feels like it’s moving, and we’ve already seen how Zik is like a lightning rod for fate!
Back on task, Zik checks in with Francisco, because the ship is getting close enough to get better scans of planet Hypnos. Francisco has determined that the tail they saw back at Bastion Station is most likely a debris field! This isn’t something they’ve ever seen before, and anything new to explore in space always inspires your favorite hero!
Within the hour, the eager crew of the Temerity is on board and ready for launch! Zik takes the sleek spacecraft out of the hangar, commenting on how much pep the engines have. This is a ship that really wants to fly!
Zik checks the status of the systems with Dakaasin, who is in Trent’s weapons post on the bridge, monitoring the engineering systems closely on this maiden flight of the Temerity. Everything checks out, so he tells Amelia to engage the hyperdrives.
The Temerity jumps to superlight speed and streaks out of the Zozian solar system!
