First Contact Part Three Chapter27

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN ARCADE PRINCIPAL *** Mezmaron clenched his fists in rage as he looked out into the endless wastes that were the Forbidden Zone. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. If there were words to describe what made up the Forbidden Zone, then “Nothing” would be exceptionally high on his list, beaten only by expletives. How he had come to be here was anybody’s guess. He had meant to find a new world to conquer, like so many others he had enslaved. It was a hobby more than anything else. It was a sport really, when he considered the matter in any kind of depth. Find a world, conquer it completely, move on and find another. He didn’t care if his subjects rebelled the moment he left and took their world back. It was in the past and if he had decided to move on, he would not be going back. For three thousand years, this had been his life’s mission statement. He wasn’t entirely sure how he had come to have such a lust for power and dominance, but it was his nature. So it was a concept he ran with. It was all he had ever known, since he knew nothing else about what or who he had been prior to a maniacal dominator of entire worlds. Whatever his past was, it was behind him and good riddance to it. Mezmaron had long ago decided he did not wish to know. He was perfectly happy being himself. He liked himself very much, and why shouldn’t he? He was Mezmaron. End of story. Each world he had enslaved had given him something more. He learned new skills constantly and his powers of mass-hypnosis, by which he devised his name, were now at a level so advanced that he could normally entrance thousands with a single stare. He had learned other skills from other worlds. He had learned something new from every world. He might have been there to crush their culture and bend them to his will alone. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t take a moment to savour the echoes of civilisations. But this world. There was absolutely nothing here to conquer. The Forbidden Zone had seemed like an alluring prospect to conquer. To be forbidden there must obviously be something there of danger, or value, or of great power. Sadly no. It was “Forbidden” because it was shit, and thusly, not worth bothering with in any kind of capacity. This, however, presented Mezmaron with a problem. If there was nothing here, then there was absolutely no capacity by which he could leave. Different worlds were usually riddled with portals of all descriptions leading to other dimensions. This world seemed to be devoid of them. Even the one through which Mezmaron had entered had disappeared completely. He cursed loudly. He cursed this world, he cursed the stupid blue walls that rose up intermittently in random places, he cursed the idiotic white orbs that floated everywhere for no discernable reason and, most importantly, he cursed himself. But he retracted that a moment later. He was Mezmaron, being generally despicable was in his nature, naturally it was only a matter of time before he turned that despicable nature upon himself. He made a note of declaring to the Forbidden Zone that it had been conquered and set his mind to the task of leaving as quickly as possible. He would need to locate a portal and if there were none available, he would have to create one. For that, he would need minions. The problem here, with so many other parts of his plan was that there was nobody here for him to enslave and set about doing his will. Absolutely nobody. Mezmaron sighed and grumbled about having to do everything himself as he set off, trudging into the maze of blue walls that led to absolutely nowhere other than more plains of blue wall mazes. Damn the Forbidden Zone, damn it to the hell from which it was no doubt created. Mezmaron stalked down the corridors created by the walls. He paced, he strode, he did other walks that only diabolical evil tyrants could do. But soon, he eventually resigned

himself to a slouched amble, it was less strenuous, and it wasn’t like there was anybody there to see him relinquishing his tyrannical posture. Mezmaron decided that he hated this world very much. So very much indeed. He decided that once he was free, he would find some way to destroy it completely. For what was a world if it was unconquerable? It was useless, simply taking up space in the grand scheme of things. No rhyme or reason. Nothing of value that he could possibly foresee as being important enough to save it. No, the whole thing would have to go. As soon as he found a way out, the Forbidden Zone’s time would be severely limited indeed. *** ‘Looks like I got here just in the nick of time,’ Guy Garner said brightly, relieving another can of Guinness of its contents. ‘You guy’s must have really trodden on somebody important’s toes to wind up in this place.’ ‘Actually, I’m here kinda by choice,’ Will-ko mused. ‘Depending on how you look at it.’ Guy shrugged. ‘Huh, me too, in a way. Still, doesn’t make it any more pleasant to be here. Makes it a little more unpleasant actually. Still, we can’t stop here. I can hold the Ghosts off but they’ll soon be back with reinforcements.’ ‘So, they were ghosts then?’ Will-ko nodded his head affirmingly. ‘That’s what we call them,’ Guy Garner nodded as he manoeuvred his hand and brought the green energy field inwards and formed a sphere around the three of them. ‘We?’ Skelifish frowned. ‘I’ve been in this dimension for … I’ve forgotten how long. Now you’re telling me there’s a “we”? How come I haven’t seen nor heard from you before?’ Guy Garner shrugged. ‘How should I know that? We had no idea that there was a Reaper wandering around here. Doesn’t surprise me. I’d expect to find a Reaper in a dimension full of Ghosts.’ ‘I’m not native to this world,’ Skelifish said shortly. Guy smiled wryly. ‘None of us are,’ he shrugged. ‘Well, none of us except for the head honcho.’ ‘This is probably going to be a stupid question,’ Will-ko spoke up. ‘Really?’ Skelifish raised an eyebrow. ‘You haven’t reached your capacity yet?’ ‘Not by a long shot,’ Will-ko said coyly as their sphere rose high up into the air and sped off over the darkness and blue walls that dominated the Forbidden Zone. ‘What I was going to ask was. Who is … No … No … that’s bad grammar … not that I care about grammar, but I don’t want to ask a stupid question stupidly-’ ‘Good god,’ Skelifish said quietly under his breath. Will-ko ignored him and turned to Guy. ‘Who are this “we” you keep talking about?’ Guy smiled a lopsided grin and nodded off into the distance where the concentration of blue walls seemed to thicken around a square clearing. ‘The rebellion,’ Guy smirked. ‘The Freedom Fighters for the Liberation of the Forbidden Zone.’ ‘Rebellion against the ghosts?’ Will-ko asked. ‘Not really,’ Guy shrugged. ‘Then what are you rebelling against?’ Skelifish huffed, folding his skeletal arms. Guy gave them a grim look. ‘The one who controls the Ghosts.’ *** Mezmaron scowled as he rounded another corner and was met with yet another series of the blue walls. What was there purpose? If they had ever served a purpose, then it was lost on Mezmaron. They seemed only to exist to annoy him, and his rage had been building now for some time. When he finally unleashed his wrath, it would be terrible. He would probably have gone as far as to say that his anger would be of biblical proportions if he had ever heard of the Bible, which he had not, so therefore, “terrible” would have to do for the description of his eventual wrath.

He had been stalking the endless corridors for what seemed to have been an eternity. There was no chance that he had gotten lost; Mezmaron was beyond such foolish things as getting turned around. He knew exactly which routs he had taken and was absolutely, unquestioningly certain that he had been travelling in the same direction since he had set off. The only things he had encountered of any notable curiosity were the orbs. Like the walls, they seemed to serve no purpose. At first, he had thought they were some kind of illumination device. Which, they could be used for as they gave off a definite glow. He hadn’t paid them much interest. They were of no value, merely a curiosity he decided he would get to the bottom of before he left this place. Which, judging by the miniscule amount of progress he had made thus far, could be a while. This line of thought enraged him even further. He would have had a city under his control by now, or at least a large village. He was about to rant about this fact and thought that it would be a very good rant. But he decided against it. Because if he started talking to himself, then that was a sure-fire way to madness. He was evil and madness combined with evil was where mistakes were made. He saw it only briefly. So briefly in fact that he wasn’t even sure it was actually there. Out of the corner of his eye, there was something there, or rather, something that was not there. Impossible. It must have been the way the light was casting shadows, his eyes merely playing tricks on him. But he was Mezmaron. His eyes didn’t play tricks on him. They wouldn’t dare. No, there was something definitely there. A presence. A momentary existence that flittered in and out of existence like a flickering candle. So, this world was inhabited afterall. Not by the usual sort of being, but at this particular point, Mezmaron wasn’t too inclined to be his usual picky self. There would be plenty of time for that later. He smiled behind the mask that hid his face when he saw the creature fully for the briefest of seconds. It was definitely a creature without purpose or without will of its own. It was simply there. Mezmaron couldn’t have asked for a better subject. He only hoped there were more around here. *** Will-ko, Skelifish and Guy Garner landed in the very centre of the mass of walls. From the air, Will-ko had glimpsed briefly the complex labyrinth that made up this section of The Forbidden Zone. It would take the most determined of genius explorers more than a life time to escape from its depths and he was hoping beyond hope that this Green Lantern person wasn’t some sadistic evil bastard who was just going to drop them into the middle of the maze and then turn tail. He was relieved when he saw that they were actually landing in a large village. A village made of buildings that seemed to have been hewn out of whatever glowing blue materials the blue walls were made from. People who looked like the rebellion sort mulled around the new arrivals, giving them a wide birth to scrutinize them as Guy Garner led them through the crowd towards one of the larger buildings. ‘So, this Marshmallow guy’s a real dick then?’ Will-ko mused quietly as they walked. ‘Mezmaron,’ Guy Garner corrected. ‘And yes, he is. He’s got the Ghosts of this world completely under his control.’ ‘But why though?’ Will-ko said, scrunching up his face. ‘What’s the point in controlling Ghosts other than to scare the crap out of people?’ Will-ko gave a small chuckle as he imagined the possibilities to himself. ‘Mezmaron is trapped here, just like everybody else,’ Guy Garner explained. ‘There are no portals that lead out, just ones that lead in. So far, only one possible point for an outbound portal has been found, and unfortunately, it’s under Mezmaron’s control.’ ‘So, why not just let him go through?’ Will-ko shrugged. ‘Then you’ll be rid of him forever.’

‘That would be nice,’ Guy Garner nodded. ‘If it weren’t for the fact that Mezmaron’s going to destroy the Forbidden Zone and everything in it once he escapes.’ ‘I see your problem,’ Skelifish said pointedly. ‘It appears it has now become my problem also.’ ‘Our problem,’ Will-ko added. ‘If this guy … uh …’ ‘Mezmaron,’ Skelifish said testily. ‘Yeah, if Mezmoron’s blocking the only way out, then we’re going to help get him out of the way!’ ‘MEZMORON! HA!’ Will-ko jumped in surprise as a bearded old man suddenly erupted into laughter in his lounger by the side of the path. It looked as though some sort of living room had been set up. There were arm chairs, odd pieces of furniture potted plants and even a grandfather clock, all made of the blue material. The whole thing was covered by a large gazebo, also made from the blue material. Sat in the middle of all this in a rocking chair, the old man rocked back and fourth, cackling madly to himself. Will-ko found it hard to look at the man who was so old he must have been around to watch The Big Bang through the windows of his retirement home. The fact that he was old wasn’t the disturbing part. It was the fact that he was dressed in a leather bondage suit. ‘MEZMORON!’ The old man guffawed. ‘I like it! Back in my day, youngsters didn’t make jokes like that. No, back in my day, wombats came up from the swamps with badminton rackets and made statures of hamburgers for a bet with hermaphrodite pears!’ The old man patted his nose at Will-ko as though he had just imparted a wonderful piece of worthwhile knowledge. ‘I LOVE LAMB!’ He shouted loudly before picking up the blank blue sheet he had been reading as a newspaper, wondering why these damn kids today made the print the same colour as the paper and grumbled loudly to that effect. A man with short spiky hair sat in one of the chairs next to the old timer gave Will-ko a reproachful look and held up a large piece of card with a picture of a hand making a thumbs up gesture and the words “THANKS A LOT!” across the bottom. His sour expression assured that it was meant with the greatest possible amount of sarcasm. His expression became even more agitated when the old man once again shouted ‘MEZMORON!’ and cackled long and loud at the top of his ancient lungs. ‘He’ll be laughing like that all day now,’ Guy Garner tutted at Will-ko. ‘Sorry, Yanwaell,’ he said to the spiky haired man. ’New guy,’ he gestured at Will-ko and shrugged apologetically. ‘Sorry,’ Will-ko winced, not entirely sure what he’d done wrong as Guy Garner steered him away, resuming their path back to the largest of the buildings. ‘We try not to make jokes around the Resident Old Man,’ Guy Garner explained as they walked. ‘Actually, we try to say as little as possible around him. He’s a little bit crazy … actually, he’s a lot crazy.’ ‘No shit,’ Skelifish muttered. ‘WARDROBE!’ The Resident Old Man’s voice echoed from behind them. ‘We have to have at least one person keeping an eye on him at all times to make sure he doesn’t get lost or go wandering into places where they neither want nor need him. We take it in shifts, so, try not to set him off when some other poor bastard is watching him.’ ‘Sorry,’ Will-ko said again as they entered the building at the edge of the clearing through the door-less archway. The structure, it appeared, was being used as some kind of medical centre. Stretchers littered the room in a way that suggested their arrival had been completely random, but that somebody had tried to put them into some kind of order that wasn’t quite going to plan, either through lack of time or the fact that the stretchers were – like everything else – made from the fluorescent blue stuff and looked really heavy. There were only a few patients lying on the slabs in various states. Most of them didn’t look to be injured as such. It might have appeared as though they were merely sleeping if their faces were not contorted into the silent screams that the Ghost’s wore. A middle-aged man with greying hair in green medical smocks was mulling around them, checking on their stats as best he could with the materials he had to hand.

‘Professor,’ Guy Garner nodded to the man in greeting. The man raised his eyes from where he was listening to one of the patient’s chests with his stethoscope and inclined his head back at the trio. ‘Master Lantern,’ he said slowly in a voice that seemed to scrape on its way out. ‘To what, do I owe the pleasure of your company,’ he suddenly rose to his feet. ‘Not another attack surely?’ ‘Nothing of the kind,’ Guy replied quickly, sensing the Professor’s distress. ‘Not that I’m aware of, that is.’ ‘I can barely maintain the ones I already have,’ the Professor replied sadly. ‘I fear that their conditions are deteriorating rapidly.’ Will-ko looked with horror on the face of one of the patients and found his stomach turning. ‘Did …’ he gulped. ‘Did the Ghost’s do that?’ ‘I’m afraid so,’ the Professor replied sadly. ‘They seem to feed off life energy, drain it completely and leave nothing more than husks behind. They’re alive in body only … I fear they’ll never recover.’ ‘One more reason why we need to take Mezmaron down as soon as possible,’ Guy Garner said, punching his fist. The Professor looked up when Guy said this, but returned to his work without comment. ‘Professor, I found these two out in the wastes,’ Guy continued, gesturing to Skelifish and Will-ko. ‘Quite a dangerous place to be wandering,’ the Professor replied. ‘Uhm, would you mind passing me a tongue depressor,’ he asked Will-ko pointing at a small tub on a side table just out of his reach. ‘Sure,’ Will-ko said, handing over one of the blue sticks. The Professor thanked him briefly and continued with his work. ‘There’s many a man I’ve treated in here fallen afoul of those baran stretches,’ the Professor said sadly. ‘Far too many …’ ‘Professor Lotvilo is one of our oldest rebel fighters,’ Guy announced proudly before catching himself. ‘I mean, he’s been here since the beginning … not that he’s … the oldest one here …’ ‘Quite,’ Professor Lotvilo said with a slight smile, returning to his examination. ‘So, aside from almost insulting me, Guy … don’t worry, no offence taken … what brings you to my little part of the world. Surely even you can tell, drunk or not that these two clearly are neither Ghosts nor in any way sick.’ ‘I’ve come to see The Man,’ Guy announced seriously. ‘Will-ko and Skelifish here want to join our cause.’ Professor Lotvilo regarded the pair with squinted eyes. ‘I’m sure he’ll be very pleased,’ he nodded. ‘He’s upstairs in his room, I’ll take you up.’ *** It was safe to say that Mezmaron’s day had gotten better. He had found the ghostly creatures to be in no short supply now he knew where to look for them and it hadn’t taken him long at all to bend them to his will. He had an army. He had nobody to wield it against but he had an army non the less. Or was that the case? The Forbidden Zone was so exceedingly large that the chances of there being absolutely nobody here at all to conquer was an improbability on an incalculable scale. If there were people here, he would find them, soon thereafter, he would crush them. He cackled beneath his helmet and thought about all the ways in which he was absolutely fantastic. His to-do list had decreased by a third already. Admittedly it had only ever had three things on it: Get Army, Conquer World and everybody/thing in it, Escape and Destroy the Forbidden Zone. He had already declared the Forbidden Zone conquered, but he wasn’t prepared to tick that off his list until he was absolutely certain. He didn’t like to leave things to chance. ‘Who do you think you are then?’

Mezmaron was stunned. Shocked in fact, that was a better word for it. No, maybe shocked wasn’t strong enough, outraged fit the bill better. That was perfect. Mezmaron was outraged at being spoken to in such a way. He had become quite accustom to being addressed as royalty, preferably from people grovelling on the floor. Nobody looked Mezmaron in the eye. Well, they couldn’t technically, he wore a helmet. But that was beside the point here. The person … the thing before him wasn’t even averting it’s eyes in Mezmaron’s presence. Unacceptable. Mezmaron seethed and decided that, even though this was the only denizen of this world he had seen thus far, he was going to have to destroy it rather than enslave it. It was nothing personal; it was a matter of principal. Mezmaron destroyed everybody that tried to stand up to him. He had to; otherwise dissidents would be running wild. ‘Hi there!’ the thing was speaking again. ‘You want to come back down to Earth for a minute,’ it said testily, tapping its foot in irritation. ‘You dare to address the Mighty Mezmaron in such a fashion, peasant?!’ Mezmaron cried. Mezmaron wasn’t going to stand for this. He seethed beneath his helmet and commanded his Ghost army forward into attack positions, commanding them to destroy this simpleton. It would be a double victory, the destruction of his first opponent, and also, Mezmaron had always hated yellow. This thing, whatever it was. Stood there all round and ridiculously yellow. It even had a large bag full of the orbs that littered the place, and since Mezmaron had declared this world to be his, that was effectively stealing. Even more cause to destroy this little yellow ball of a thing. The Ghosts floated past Mezmaron, their arms outstretched, their silent screaming mouths jarred open in expectation of food. ‘You’re kidding me, right?’ the yellow ball asked incredulously, fishing a particularly large orb from his bag and swallowed it whole. So that’s what they were. They were a food source. Destroying them was an objective that Mezmaron added to his list. But first, he would watch as his ghostly minions … which for some reason had begun to drain of all their colour. Their semicorporeal forms were becoming feint blue gaseous outlines. ‘I think you’d better go back to wherever the hell it is you came from,’ the yellow ball said dryly, taking a large breath and inhaling a large portion of Mezmaron’s ghost army, leaving only distinctly perplexed looking sets of eyes that flittered away into nothingness. A lot of things went through Mezmaron’s mind. Firstly, he was quite annoyed that his hypnosis methods seemed to be useless against the little upstart. Secondly, he decided that his army was quite, quite useless when compared to the recidivist. ‘I see I have found an adversary,’ Mezmaron said thoughtfully through his mask. ‘And yet, I do not know who or what you are. Might I have the pleasure?’ ‘I could say the same if I had a mind to be bothered,’ the yellow ball replied. ‘You first.’ Mezmaron seethed. ‘I am Mezmaron! Conqueror of Worlds! Destroyer of Armies! The Bringer of Destruction to all who know my Wrath!’ Mezmaron was regaining his steam now that his Ghost army seemed to be regaining their colour. He had deduced that it must have been the effect of the large orb. He would need to find them all and destroy them quickly. The yellow ball raised an eyebrow, taking out another large orb with a warning look in his eyes. ‘Conqueror of worlds you say?’ ‘Of hundreds of worlds!’ Mezmaron exclaimed. ‘Well then,’ the yellow enemy said, popping the orb into his mouth, causing the Ghosts to drain of colour once more. Mezmaron decided that it would be best to advance in reverse. He had never liked the term “retreat”. He began to stride backwards, advancing in reverse into his Ghostly hoard as the yellow ball smiled at him and reduced another massive faction of the ghostly mass. ‘I’m Wish,’ the ball said with a wink. ‘I’m a Pacman, and I guess I’m the one that’s going to be stopping your evil scheme.’ ‘Hmmm,’ Mezmaron considered. ‘That is good to know,’ he nodded. Then fled.

*** Professor Lotvilo regarded the pair with squinted eyes. ‘I’m sure he’ll be very pleased,’ he nodded. ‘He’s upstairs in his room, I’ll take you up.’ ‘MAKE ROOM!’ A cry came from outside the building as a team of rebels rushed in carrying a body between them. Professor Lotvilo, who had been ascending a flight of blue stairs, jumped back down into the hospital ward and flew past Guy, Skelifish and Willko. The rebels carried the patient to one of the clear beds and lay him down as gently as they could. ‘What happened?’ Professor Lotvilo inquired, leaning over the patient, checking his eyes with a small pen torch. ‘I have no idea!’ A rebel in a denim jacket declared. ‘We were patrolling in the outer sections of the city when, BAM! He just fell out of the sky!’ Professor Lotvilo’s eyebrows flew up. ‘Out of the sky? From a portal?’ ‘If there was a portal, it’s long gone,’ the man in the denim jacket said assuredly. ‘There was nothing there.’ ‘Are you sure?!’ Professor Lotvilo asked furiously, standing to his full height with an expression of irritation and anger that didn’t become the warm and friendly features he had thus-far displayed. It chilled the rebels when he did this. It was unnerving. ‘CAD, are you certain?!’ ‘I’m certain!’ CAD, the man in the denim jacket replied with a curt nod. ‘Damn,’ Professor Lotvilo said with a sigh, nursing his temples while he surveyed the worried looks of the other rebels. ‘Well, we’d best make sure this fellow hasn’t sustained any serious injuries then.’ Professor Lotvilo moved off in order to retrieve the necessary equipment he would need to examine the patient he had been brought. ‘Was there static?’ he asked as he returned moments later. ‘Tonnes of it,’ CAD replied. ‘Definite traces of … that … yes, there was static.’ ‘Static,’ Professor Lotvilo said, as though he was giving a teaching lecture, which in many ways he was. ‘On somebody entering the Forbidden Zone via a portal of any kind, means that they have not only moved in space to get here. It means, conclusively, that they have also travelled through time. So, who knows where or when this poor wretch has come from. I assume he’ll be disappointed because to my knowledge there are few places that are worse than here-’ ‘Bloody-Fucking-Hell!!!’ Will-ko, who had moved further to get a better look exclaimed suddenly as he looked through the mass of rebels at the person lying on the blue bed. ‘What’s the matter?’ Professor Lotvilo asked, allowing Will-ko to take a step further. Will-ko frowned at he person lying before him, open-mouthed and utterly unsure of what he was seeing. ‘ … Fred? …’ Will-ko gasped.