The residents didn't get out much. Every fortnight Greaves from the planetarium organised an outing for all those that wanted a change of scene. Usually, Waldorf, Godfrey, Mavis, Arthur, several others and any new residents (Who hadn't quite recovered from their disoriented arrival at the castle) would forgo their croquet afternoon to stroll on a different, new and unpopulated planet of Greaves' choice.
It was with some excitement that they entered the planetarium laden with a packed lunch, binoculars, eye-cameras and a flask of their favourite tipple. Godfrey had made sure that his mind scooter was fully charged.
Greaves motioned them all to stand to the side while he created the trans-portal that was the doorway to their excursion.
Firstly the planet appeared in the middle of the planetarium spinning slowly on its axis. Greaves had programmed one of the larger server-bots to act as a tour guide. Greaves knew his stuff but in communicating with others he tended to be a bit dry. This transferred into the server-bot produced a rather boring monotone which the day-trippers were too polite to criticise.
The planet stopped spinning, and a point of purplish land in its centre started to elongate to the floor. An archway appeared and the tourists entered the new world through it. The server-bot began with the usual safety instructions.
"If anyone is experiencing difficulties please let me know and I will arrange for our immediate return to the castle. Please try not to kill anything. Please do not touch or eat anything unless unavoidable. This planet is called Extremis and it ranges from high volcanic areas to swamps and jungle. Please watch where you tread."
They all waved goodbye to Greaves as they entered the portal. He gave his usual serious nod as the portal shut behind them.
Today he had picked a rather verdant jungle type planet that was home to many small mammals and colourful birds. He had made pains to ensure that the more vicious insects and predators had not yet been 'evolved'.
The server-bot set off at a reasonable pace careful to ensure there were no stragglers. Once they were well underway along a tiny mammal-made track he stopped and pointed at the ground.
"Here on this planet, we are attempting to 'getaway' from the usual grass-like soil covering and experimenting with robust hair like flora. It is mainly purple in colour. And can grow up to......"
Waldorf turned the bot to mute.
The others gave a small cheer and they continued their walk chatting happily amongst themselves.
The air was warm and pleasant. The volcanoes in the distance looked ominous but the party knew as long as they followed the server-bot they would be in no danger. They just had to put up with it stopping suddenly and pointing wordlessly at random things.
"Do you think that Greaves knows you do that every time?" Godfrey asked Waldorf.
"Yes, of course, he does. He tells me off every time we get back. The alternative, however, is for him to come with us and I do not think he would enjoy the socialising. I do know also that if any dangers appear the server-bot has an inbuilt alarm and if it flashes red then I should turn the volume back up." Waldorf smiled mischievously. "Don't concern yourself, enjoy the peace."
The purple hair-grass surrounded them on all sides for quite some way. It looked as though their journey was leading them towards the softly smouldering volcanoes. Before the range, the track meandered firstly onto a ridge. Then down into a purple valley and then back up into a forest of almost blue leaved deciduous trees. It looked as if the trees were meant to be blue but some green was stubbornly not moving.
The noises from the wood were very raucous. As regular visitors to strange new worlds, Waldorf and Godfrey were accustomed to the unexpected. A flock of transparent bubbles with long trailing ganglia flew past them. The bot became very agitated and silently pointed at them. Mavis chirped up
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"I think what the bot is trying to say is 'don't let the ganglia touch you, you may be dead in seconds' I should know those are air- pods and I evolved them. It is nice to see some of one's own work in its natural habitat. I wonder if my cat- men made it here?"
"You should be very proud Mavis those things look majestic," Waldorf replied.
"Thank you, Waldorf. Are we likely to see any of your work here?"
"Maybe." Said Waldorf. "Lately, however, I have only been working with sea creatures. My land animals tend to be a bit too dangerous for us to visit."
"I do hope my flying spiders aren't here," Godfrey added. "I couldn't sleep for a week after I thought them up."
The air was calm with a scent of honey flowers. The sky was unusually blue.
There seemed to be very few insects in the woodland. The loudest noise was coming from the uppermost branches. The group halted in a small natural clearing while the bot gesticulated and pointed. The group decided to picnic here and most got out their shooting sticks and unpacked their lunch. Waldorf perched himself uncomfortably on Godfrey's mind-scooter. They ate silently looking at the treetops and tried to make out where the noise was coming from. They could see the branches moving but nothing...Then after a piercing yell, a mottled blue monkey face appeared just above them. It was carrying a branch with blue leaves at the end and proceeded to whack Arthur over his bald head with it. Arthur stood up, pulled his shooting stick out of the ground and poked the gibbering primate with the pointy end. At which point the monkey scampered off, back into the trees calling a screeching warning to any other of its clan.
"That will teach it, Arthur," Godfrey said.
"Yes, it will either teach it not to mess with Arthur or more likely how to use a pointy stick," Waldorf added.
Arthur set up his seat again and continued with his sandwich. He looked a bit put back by the encounter.
Godfrey turned his rumpled face to Waldorf.
"Did you see that monkey? It was almost invisible. It was definitely translucent. I didn't know that Greaves was working on invisible life forms in the planetarium. That is quite interesting don't you think?"
Waldorf adjusted his 'seat'
"Yes. Maybe it's to do with the crystal mining that the Governor is doing with the L-Zero. I have heard that those crystals are giving some very interesting results on bio-forms."
Godfrey almost gasped.
"How in the worlds do you know that? Interfering in what The Warden or The Governor does is a bit overstepping the mark is it not?"
"I have been looking at the origins of that 'Decider' on Agios. It is becoming very interesting my friend."
"Agios?"
"Yes, oh sorry, Agios is the locals' name for planet A6105. How it derived its name from our classification I can't imagine. It is one of the mysteries that I have found. The Warden has given us the OK to look into this as long as we keep him 'in the loop' I think he called it."
"You have been busy. I thought you were going for afternoon naps, not playing universal detective."
"I have become rather obsessed with the goings-on there I must say. Greaves vaguely remembers creating the place. The turning point for the planet seems to be the addition of migrating dragons. They seem to have included Agios in their breeding grounds. I have a theory that the mining of lizard crystal by the L-Zeros is somehow connected to the dragons. If tiny lizards can produce crystals that strangely effect bio- forms just think what would happen if dragons produced these crystals? Their effects would be much more pronounced than the lizards. The difference on Agios is that there are people on the planet. Dragons usually migrate in one hundred year cycles and never co-exist with high-level bio-forms. The people of Agios may be experiencing some residual effects that they don't understand."
Godfrey nodded intently from his scooter.
"If you are right the people will look upon this as the introduction of magic. That would be very interesting. It would be a completely new evolution of our universe as even we know it. This puts a whole new aspect on the alien incursion laws too. We should not have allowed 'The Decider' and his two escapees to incur on the planet but also we should never have allowed the dragons to migrate there. They were the catalyst. We could not extract one without the other. It seems we are too late in the life of Agios to change its future."
"We can, however, try to tip the balance in favour of the indigenous population against tyranny and oppression. After the mistake, we have made." Godfrey looked pensive.
Waldorf stood up and stretched his creaking back.
"If that cracked nut suspects about the dragon crystals then he may be a very, very dangerous person. I suggest we point the inhabitants towards ...magic as you called it."
"That would even it out, but Waldorf, we are not gods. Should we let things be? Or at least see what the Warden thinks? Three wrongs don't make a right."
Waldorf nodded thoughtfully. They continued their walk, pensively through the new world without further incident.
At the foot of the volcanic range, the party had the choice of returning to Evans or climbing up the volcano for a panoramic view of the surrounding area. Unanimously they decided to go back. It had been a lovely ramble but the walk had been arduous and they were ready to put their feet up with a warm cup of cocoa.