Further into the gorge, the away team encounters an area where the crystals have grown very tall, taller than Zik! Amelia asks if they can take some of the crystals with them, because they’re so beautiful, and it would be a shame to leave them on Hypnos where no one will ever see them again. Zik replies that while they can take a sample with them to study, it isn’t their way to take more than they need.
Just as Mizhakwan is about to elaborate on the importance of respecting a natural system’s integrity, Trent shouts out that he sees something moving up on the cliff above them!
They all pause silently to see what was moving, but all is still again.
A baffled Trent is certain he saw something move. Zik believes him, and asks everyone to keep an eye out, just in case!
Our hero Defender Zik descends into the nearby canyon with his friends, investigating a mysterious sensor shadow on rogue planet Hypnos. As they hike, Amelia notices that the regolith (space dirt) under their feet moves strangely as they kick it up. Zik reminds her that the planet they’re on has lower gravity than she’s used to; this is only the second world she’s visited!
Striking up the conversation, Mizhakwan mentions that she likes to keep her personal space suit’s gravity just a little less than Earth normal, to put a little spring in her step. Amelia loves the idea.
The team then notices that there are an awful lot of crystals growing along the floor of the canyon. They stop to inspect the delicate structures before noticing more of them further into the canyon.
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?!
Later that night, Defender Zik is up late doing homework. The CEO of Zik Enterprises can’t just disappear, after all; there are all kinds of projects that need your favorite space hero’s attention. Just as he’s wrapping things up for the night, the door chime sounds.
It’s an upset Amelia that Zik turns to find at his door. Inviting her in, he asks her what’s bothering her. It turns out she’s having more nightmares about the explosion at the prison factory. Zik can relate to dreams of falling rubble, and sympathizes with her plight. Amelia asks if it’s okay that she sleeps in Zik’s room. Gallantly offering her the bed, Zik gets settled in to sleep on the floor.
Amelia asks if Zik will be all right sleeping on the floor, but Zik laughs it off by saying that his muscles provide extra cushioning. She then asks about his nightmares, and Zik explains that he had similar dreams of falling rocks crushing him after his mother died in the avalanche. Probing him further, Amelia asks what his mother was like. Zik relates some fun anecdotes about how patient his mom was with two precocious boys.
But just as Zik turns back to Amelia to tell her she would have loved his mother, he discovers that the exhausted girl has drifted off to sleep already! Zik gets Zoot to turn out the lights, and they go to sleep, ready for new adventures at Planet Hypnos tomorrow!
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!
After a few hours hurtling at ludicrous speeds into deep space, all systems on the Temerity are running smoothly. Trent has been resting in his cabin while Dakaasin has been using the tactical station on the bridge to monitor the cockpit interface systems, but the start of his first shift on duty is coming up. Hungry, he decides to head to the galley for a quick bite before getting ready. He reflects on how cool it is that Zik was willing to hire him on as part of the crew, manning the tactical station and the Temerity’s considerably powerful weapons, despite having blown a huge hole in the side of the Kodiak! Adapting to life in space requires a whole new way of thinking, but Trent is confident he’ll get the hang of it.
Stepping into the hall, Trent catches a whiff of the worst odor you can smell on a ship: smoke! Throughout history, fire on a ship has been the worst enemy of sailors and spacefarers alike! He charges into the galley, following the scent and raising the alarm, but stops short at a strange sight. Mizhakwan, a medicine woman who Zik has trusted for years, is in the galley calmly creating a small smoldering fire in a seashell and fanning it with a feather. Trent has never seen these things before, and, completely bewildered, asks Miz what she’s doing.
Mizhakwan explains that’s she’s just doing a smudging, and Trent is just in time to give her a hand. Being a little shorter than average, Miz explains to Trent that he can reach all the hatches she can’t to let the smoke into all the spaces it needs to go to make sure everything is clean.
DEFENDER ZIK LORE BREAK!
You see, dear readers, a large number of the Zozian colonists who left Earth all those centuries ago were North American First Nations people. The leader of Project Zoz, the secret initiative to create the first human interstellar colony, was a billionaire engineer named Edward Eriksen, who had humble beginnings as the son of a Cree mother and a European father. Then, a prophecy was made by an influential Ojibwe medicine man about an imminent disaster that would burn the Earth. When Edward quietly put the word out among the elders that he was planning an interstellar exodus, they recognized the opportunity to do what the ancestors of the Ojibwe had done when the prophecy of the coming of Europeans had been made before they arrived – they would migrate away from the impending danger! They also saw the wisdom of establishing life on other planets, and thought they could help be stewards and protectors of that new branch of life. As a result, a large percentage of the colonists who were selected to accompany Edward on the journey into the unknown were representatives of numerous First Nations, especially from the Anishinaabe. These people brought with them their traditions, one of which is smudging to clean the energy of their living spaces.
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!
On the elevator to the bridge of Bastion Station, Zik asks Zoot to send a get-well-soon message to Tanaka. Zoot can be summoned as a holographic image now, which is something Zik still has to get used to. The colony computer’s sarcasm remains intact, however!
Arriving on the bridge, Zik asks what the new discovery is all about. Francisco, the science officer for the Temerity, explains that he’s found an unusual rogue planet not too far away. The planet’s readings on the scanners are diffuse and fuzzy, as if it were a comet with a tail. However, the drifting planet is to far away from any stars at the moment, that the evaporation process that produces a comet’s tail would be impossible here.
Trent, still new to living in space, asks Zik’s brother Todd what a rogue planet is. As someone always enthusiastic about scientific discovery, Todd gives Trent an explanation: it’s a planet drifting alone in space, orbiting no stars, just drifting through the galaxy.
This space oddity is an excellent first target for exploration, Zik decides. He clears a departure time with orbital traffic controller Jolene, and sends word to the rest of the crew of the Temerity to prepare for their first adventure! Set your azimuth, Defenders, we’re off to Planet Hypnos!
In the infirmary of Bastion Station, your favorite space hero gets an update on the efforts to protect his fellow Zozians from the diseases that have been floating around the rest of humanity while they’ve been separated for the last thousand years. As it turns out, enough Zozians have gotten their immune systems ready that Doctor Taylor is happy to report that Zik and the crew of the station will be able to leave quarantine soon. Zik also gets an update on Tanaka’s condition, which has stabilized following his surgery.
Taking his leave with Amelia, Zik inquires as to the reason the Doctor seemed annoyed with her. Amelia discloses that she’s been having a hard time sleeping on the space station, because it’s so quiet compared to her tent on the Zernabian prison planet, and because she’s getting nightmares about all her friends dying in the factory explosion.
Zik sympathizes, and says that he’s noticed the difficulty the Zernabians have been having adjusting to all that’s happened. That he’s been keeping things fun during quarantine hasn’t gone unnoticed by Amelia, and while she’s grateful, she just can’t sleep.
To cheer her up, Zik lets her know that the Temerity is being prepped for launch, and that if she wants to copilot with him, she’s welcome. An excited Amelia heads off to get suited up, while Zik boards the elevator to the bridge of Bastion Station.
