NEW DATA
Conner and Elise waited patiently while Mach sat in a chair in the control centre, repairing his chest. The wires that had been attached to his own personal teleporter were sticking out of the hole Unum Decimus had made.
The robot cut them short and then spliced them together, and shoved them back into his body.
“So now you do know who Unum Decimus is?” Conner asked when the last wire was repaired.
“I do, the files I have on him were restricted I was unable to access them, however when Unum Decimus wrenched my teleporter free, I experienced a brief power surge. After you re-entered my memory banks the surge reactivated the information that was stored in my electronic brain.”
“Sorry, you have files in your mind you can’t access? What good are they?” Elise asked.
“The Judges program them for security purposes, only in specific circumstances can they be turned on, usually if we are going on a secret mission.”
“So why weren’t you allowed to consciously know about this prisoner you had in your ship?” Conner asked.
Mach tilted his head to one side, and Conner heard little fizzes coming from his head, probably from scanning the data.
“Unum Decimus is the most wanted criminal in the known universe. His punishment for his crimes is to be locked up – forever,” Mach replied.
“Why do you have to keep his existence a secret?”
Mach tilted his head to the opposite side to continued reading the info. “He has power and extensive knowledge, the Judges feared that if anyone knew where he was, someone might attempt to free him. That’s why even I didn’t know I was transporting him. That way barely anyone knows he’s being transported at all, or what prison he’s being taken to,” Mach explained.
“How did he end up in deep space in the first place?” Elise asked.
“He was abducted by members of Eyon’s species two thousand years ago.”
“Eyon of Metron?” Conner said.
“Yes, A small group of them were conducting illegal experiments on alien civilisations.”
“What did they do to him,” Conner asked.
“They infused him with their own living metal flesh. Trying to see if another race could be changed in Metronions. However the living metal bonded with his own immune system and his body started producing that silvery liquid he alone could control. It’s not really a liquid just millions of cells combining together, obeying his will. He destroyed his abductors and tried to get to back to Earth. He wasn’t much of a navigator and so ended up bouncing form planet to planet.”
“What did he do to end up in the care of the Judges?” Elise asked.
“Every planet he came to, he decimated, believing them to be a threat to the empire he cherishes so much.”
“He sounds dangerous,” Conner said.
“But when he escaped he seemed relieved to be home, back on Earth. This is where he’s being trying to get to, maybe he’s not a threat anymore,” Elise commented.
“Yeah what can he do now?” Conner asked, “The Empire is gone!”
“Imagine if you spent thousands of years trying to get back home to a life, a culture you loved. Then you discovered that it was long gone and barely thought of anymore,” Mach suddenly said.
“How would you feel?” he added.
Conner and Elise sat in silence as they thought about it, how it would make them feel.
“I guess it would be like getting home after school and finding someone else living there,” Conner mused.
“Angry,” Elise said.
“Of course,” Conner muttered.
“He might do anything, and he has power and knowledge accumulated over centuries, he is a threat to your world.”
“How do we find him?” Conner said.
“Tracker,” Elise said, “all your prisoners have one.”
Mach turned to a screen and tapped at its controls. “Nothing,” he said. “I would think that his powers can remove trackers from his body if he wished.”
“Maybe he’s in Italy, it’s where Rome is, maybe he’s gone home.”
Mach tapped at the computer again, “still nothing.”
“Let’s try and be more general,” Elise suggested, “do a search for anything unusual involving roman stuff,” she said.
Mach tapped at the computer again. Conner peered at his screen as multiple images appeared, they were snippets of internet websites, news websites.
“I still can’t find anything on Decimus directly, however there have been multiple thefts from museums, all displaying roman artefacts.” Mach said over his shoulder, while reading from the screen.
“He’s stealing roman stuff? Why?” Elise asked.
Mach turned away from his computer to face them “I don’t know…but it can’t be good.”
The robot cut them short and then spliced them together, and shoved them back into his body.
“So now you do know who Unum Decimus is?” Conner asked when the last wire was repaired.
“I do, the files I have on him were restricted I was unable to access them, however when Unum Decimus wrenched my teleporter free, I experienced a brief power surge. After you re-entered my memory banks the surge reactivated the information that was stored in my electronic brain.”
“Sorry, you have files in your mind you can’t access? What good are they?” Elise asked.
“The Judges program them for security purposes, only in specific circumstances can they be turned on, usually if we are going on a secret mission.”
“So why weren’t you allowed to consciously know about this prisoner you had in your ship?” Conner asked.
Mach tilted his head to one side, and Conner heard little fizzes coming from his head, probably from scanning the data.
“Unum Decimus is the most wanted criminal in the known universe. His punishment for his crimes is to be locked up – forever,” Mach replied.
“Why do you have to keep his existence a secret?”
Mach tilted his head to the opposite side to continued reading the info. “He has power and extensive knowledge, the Judges feared that if anyone knew where he was, someone might attempt to free him. That’s why even I didn’t know I was transporting him. That way barely anyone knows he’s being transported at all, or what prison he’s being taken to,” Mach explained.
“How did he end up in deep space in the first place?” Elise asked.
“He was abducted by members of Eyon’s species two thousand years ago.”
“Eyon of Metron?” Conner said.
“Yes, A small group of them were conducting illegal experiments on alien civilisations.”
“What did they do to him,” Conner asked.
“They infused him with their own living metal flesh. Trying to see if another race could be changed in Metronions. However the living metal bonded with his own immune system and his body started producing that silvery liquid he alone could control. It’s not really a liquid just millions of cells combining together, obeying his will. He destroyed his abductors and tried to get to back to Earth. He wasn’t much of a navigator and so ended up bouncing form planet to planet.”
“What did he do to end up in the care of the Judges?” Elise asked.
“Every planet he came to, he decimated, believing them to be a threat to the empire he cherishes so much.”
“He sounds dangerous,” Conner said.
“But when he escaped he seemed relieved to be home, back on Earth. This is where he’s being trying to get to, maybe he’s not a threat anymore,” Elise commented.
“Yeah what can he do now?” Conner asked, “The Empire is gone!”
“Imagine if you spent thousands of years trying to get back home to a life, a culture you loved. Then you discovered that it was long gone and barely thought of anymore,” Mach suddenly said.
“How would you feel?” he added.
Conner and Elise sat in silence as they thought about it, how it would make them feel.
“I guess it would be like getting home after school and finding someone else living there,” Conner mused.
“Angry,” Elise said.
“Of course,” Conner muttered.
“He might do anything, and he has power and knowledge accumulated over centuries, he is a threat to your world.”
“How do we find him?” Conner said.
“Tracker,” Elise said, “all your prisoners have one.”
Mach turned to a screen and tapped at its controls. “Nothing,” he said. “I would think that his powers can remove trackers from his body if he wished.”
“Maybe he’s in Italy, it’s where Rome is, maybe he’s gone home.”
Mach tapped at the computer again, “still nothing.”
“Let’s try and be more general,” Elise suggested, “do a search for anything unusual involving roman stuff,” she said.
Mach tapped at the computer again. Conner peered at his screen as multiple images appeared, they were snippets of internet websites, news websites.
“I still can’t find anything on Decimus directly, however there have been multiple thefts from museums, all displaying roman artefacts.” Mach said over his shoulder, while reading from the screen.
“He’s stealing roman stuff? Why?” Elise asked.
Mach turned away from his computer to face them “I don’t know…but it can’t be good.”
