Zik, his brother Todd, and Ramesh follow the panicked dolphins in their boat. On the way, Ramesh comments that Zik’s father seems to have aged since Ramesh visited last. Zik explains that it’s because his father has been suffering since the loss of Zik’s mother in a mountain climbing incident.
Soon they approach an island, the one next to Haven’s lab. Todd notices signs that part of the island seems to be freshly missing. They check the underwater scanner, and sure enough, they see the rubble from the island and the lab underneath. Todd points out that there’s someone trapped inside!
That’s all your favorite space hero needs to hear to spring into action! Zik instructs Todd to call for help, and asks Ramesh to find the underwater breathing unit stowed below-deck. He strips down and dives in, unaware of the danger that lurks in the cloudy water!
DEFENDER ZIK LORE BREAK!
Zik’s mother Zorah died several months before the Jairian attack on Baker Mine. She was mountain climbing, a sport she was passionate about and taught to Zik. She was with several of of her climbing friends, scaling a large rounded cliff known as the Walrus Belly. There was no indication that the unusual formation was unstable, but there was a huge collapse of the face they were climbing on, and all three climbers disappeared in the rubble. What was left was a huge hole, as if there had been an enormous cavern underneath.
Shortly before the collapse, a meteorite was seen streaking through the sky and was captured on several skycar dashcams. This was unusual as it had not been detected before and dealt with before impacting the planet. Researchers backtracked its trajectory and amazingly, it arced way up over the solar system and would have been very near the same gravitational anomaly as from the spinning asteroid that Zik had just saved the planet from.
