Mantrid |
Looking back through the mists of time, His Shadow tells us how after the insect
wars, when all the other insects were destroyed by the Brunnen-G, he alone survived.
Floating through space, he found a convenient asteroid and burrowed into
it. And there he waited. A mining ship crew wish that something interesting would happen, just once, on one of their ore sampling missions, but they didn't reckon on this. One of the crew descends into a tunnel on a lonely asteroid, checking for mineral deposits. It's a long way down but he is in touch with the others by radio, until he suddenly sees something. Despite warnings to be careful, he reaches out his hand, and the com-link goes dead. The crew on the ship above manage to reinstate the link. "Are you OK?" they ask their errant crewmember. "I'm fine now," he replies "I fell asleep there for a while". His voice however, is different, and as he turns his head, his eyes swim black His Shadow used humans to defeat themselves. He passed his essence on to this unsuspecting human host, and built around himself the Divine Order that would eventually destroy the whole of Human kind. Until Kai killed the body of the last Divine Shadow, causing his essence to be prematurely passed to the Gigashadow which was not yet at fully strength. And then the Gigashadow itself was destroyed by the collapse of the Fractal Core. But the insect essence lives on, passed in part to Kai as he crushed the brain of the last Divine Shadow on the cluster. Kai, however, is unaware that the very man phrophecied to destroy His Shadow, now contains him. Safely back in the Dark Zone, having finally managed to finish off the Gigashadow, the crew are taking a breather. That is until Kai, having awoken himself, suddenly proclaims to be feeling "an unusual sense of motivation" in that he wants to go back to the light zone in search of Protoblood. "I thought yuou had enough Protoblood" counters Stan. "I have enough for a few days at best" replies Kai. Apart from this slight personality change, he seems quite normal - well, 'Kai' normal - and so Zev, never needing to be asked twice to do something for Kai, decides that this is what they must do. Stan is understandably curious about a) why Kai is so 'motivated' all of a sudden, and b) where are they going to find protoblood now that the gigashadow is dead. Kai explains that there may still an insect larva alive in the light zone which could be made to produce protoblood. Stan points out that the Fractal Core collapsed around the Gigashadow when it tried to follow them through, but Kai insists that that was not the only point where the two universes meet, and they should look for another 'node' through which they can return. 790 says that although this is theoretically possible, it could take ages to find one. Kai turns away from the Zev and Stan, and as he does so, his eyes turn obsidian. "I know the way", he intones. On the bridge, 790 finds a possible entry point into the Light Universe. It is not perfect, however, and Kai explains that they must use the Lexx's weapon to alter the mass of the anomaly once they are inside it. 790 can calculate the exact point..."with an unacceptable margin of error!" exclaims 790. His best guess is that he will be wrong 17 times out of 20. Stan is understandably reluctant: "Don't you want to help Kai?" Zev asks. "Of course I do", Stan argues, "it's just that he's already been around 2,000 years longer than he should, and I'd like to live beyond the next few minutes!" "I'll do it with you" offers Zev, as a last resort. Stan can hardly believe his good fortune and as Zev works on her sales pitch, Stan is getting very excited. Until the Lexx butts in. "I am now inside the gravitational pull" he relates. Stan commands him to pull out immediately, but Lexx cannot fight the gravity. Stan turns to Zev: "This has better be the best sex in the known universe...in the two universes!" he threatens. "I am under no obligation whatsoever" Zev replies. "I'm a witness!" pipes up 790, as Stan tried to pull the Lexx back before the deal was struck. Slowly, the Lexx begins to disintegrate. A new fractal core bursts into existence as the Lexx is thrown clear into the Light Universe. They arrive within a storm of rock chunks and asteroids from the destruction of the cluster. As the Lexx floats carefully through the flotsam, Kai, Zev and a very unwilling Stan head out in moths to look for an elusive insect larva. It is not long before Stan locates just what they are looking for. Inside the cryochamber, the static Larva lies dormant. Stan does not like it and wants to blast it bask into space and then destroy it. "Don't you find it beautiful Stanley?" asks Kai. Stan looks at him as if he's mad, and then says "No, it makes me feel sick". "Strangely," Kai replies, "I find it has an attractive quality". Zev thinks that it must be because he needs protoblood. "I do not normally respond to need" he says. "If you don't respond to need, then just what are we doing here?" demands Stan angrily. "I do not know why I...feel...this way" Kai spits "I must take some time to examine the insect". "You're beginning to scare me" says Stan. Leaving him with his new toy, Stan and Zev head up to the bridge. "Don't you think he's acting awful wierd?" he asks her. "No", replies Zev, "just more alive!" "No!" counters Stan, "more wierd." Meanwhile, Kai is behaving very unusually indeed. He lays his hands on the larva, and bends down towards it. Electrical sparks play across his hands, until suddenly he falls forwards, unconscious. Finally convincing Zev that Kai is definately acting inconsistently, Stan and Zev head back to the cryochamber, where they find him passed out on the insect. He comes round as they enter the room. "Kai, we are worried about you..." starts Zev. "Mantrid!" replies Kai. "Mantrid?" she asks. Kai informs them that they must find "Mantrid" - a bio-vizier that His Shadow considered so dangerous that he was imprisoned. He will be able to awaken the creature to make it provide protoblood. Kai, co-incidentally, knows where Mantrid is. The man on the floor is obviously not having a good time. The man above him however, seems to take pleasure in listening to the poor unfortunate plead for a quick death. He grabs the sprawled man around the throat, and begins to squeeze - until he is stopped short my the incoming message. "Mantrid! I am Kai, last of the Brunnen-G". The arm stops squeezing the poor man's throat, and flies steadily back to join the other free-floating mechanical arms that orbit the jar that contains Mantrid's 'body'. Mantrid is, in fact a floating head on a bio-mechanical box. His mechanical arms orbit freely around him, and seem to live quite independent lives, although they are under his control, as he demonstrates to the newly arrived Zev and Kai, when he commands one of them to smash itself. His assistant, the unfortunate who just escaped strangulation, offers them some food, while Mantrid investigates the insect in return for Kai's offer to transport him off this prison planet. Mantrid is fascinated by the larva, carefully cutting the flesh back to reveal a large blue organ just under the skin. His assistant, having left Zev to eat and Kai to watch her, is fascinated also. This organ, Mantrid explains, is the essential part of the process that allows insects to transfer their essence from one to another. And Mantrid has other ideas about what to do with it. Leaving Zev to eat, Kai also has other plans. He sneaks down to where Mantrid and his assistant are working on the insect in time to hear Mantrid mention that he will have to wake the animal up in order to extract protoblood. As his assistant blithers off on a mission to find some necessary piece of equipment, Kai steps forward, and shoots Mantrid clean through the jar. Mantrid falls to the ground, his mechanical arms flailing uselessly without their master to control them. Kai steps over the dying Mantrid towards the insect, and once more lays his hands upon it. He then leans forward and opens his mouth, allowing the dark essence of the insect that was His Shadow to flow back into it's rightful form. Zev, getting worried about Kai's disappearance, tracks him down to the laboratory. He is once again passed out on the floor, but regains consciousness as she runs over to him. His physical state is the last of their problems however, as there is a very large and very angry insect larvae buzzing around the lab like an overgrown bee. Kai explains to Zev what happened, and that the insect has taken his strength, but that it will return. He knows they must kill the insect, and tells Stan to blow up the planet. Stan refuses, not wanting to kill his friends, but Kai insists. Stan is left dithering. Kai tells Zev to run, as the insect seems centered on her. It cannot see him because he is cold. Zev makes for the moth as Kai regains his strength. Meanwhile, Mantrid's assistant has found Mantrid's dying head, and is insistent on trying to perform the experiment Mantrid wanted the insect for. He needed to transfer his essence into a special machine he had built, and the assistant is convinced that he can do it. Telling the mechanical arms to get the blue organ from the insect, he sets up the machine, placing Mantrid's head and the organ in line. Zev runs, leading the insect away from Kai. It is gaining on her, however, until out of nowhere, a moth appears and begins to attack the insect, knocking it into a pool of gloop under the machine that Mantrid has built. Stan lands the moth and yells to Zev to get in. Picking up Kai, they head back to the Lexx On the bridge, Stan promptly blows the planet to smithereens. Kai insists on checking the wreckage of the planet to make sure that the insect was completely destroyed. They finally find it, floating in several pieces amongst the debris. Satisfied, they head off towards that "new home". The one with good looking women, according to Stan, and good looking men, according to Zev. They are unaware, however, that they are being slowly followed by a damaged mechanical pod with several independent arms in tow... |
