"Will they be okay?" Phyla asked as she and Jamal flew through the Stargate the rest of the way to Kvch. Her voice gave away the fact that she was worried for the group who went to combat Ronan.
"They'll be fine." Jamal replied. "They have Ruby." Though his voice was smooth and confident, he was slightly worried as well. However, he refused to let that become apparent through his voice. It felt like only yesterday when Annihilus attacked and Jamal was forced to become a leader in the Intergalactic forces who fought against him. He understood what was necessary to be a good leader. One of those things was being confident -- and if that wasn't possible,
convince everyone else that you were.
"Speaking of which, what's with her? She's...strange. I mean, even for someone who hangs out with you." Phyla chuckled.
"I couldn't explain her to you even if I wanted to. She's an enigma as far as I'm concerned." Jamal then began realizing that he really didn't know anything about her. Like, nothing significant at all. Sure, he knew she was weird, but he din't know anything about her background or history. Every time he tried to bring it up, she'd either ignore him completely or wave it away with a distraction. One thing he was sure of though, was that he trusted her. He wasn't sure why, but he did. She simply gave off the air of someone who instinctively knew what the right course of action was.
The two then exited the stargate and Jamal immediately felt a sharp pain in his head. "AGH!" He screamed and gripped his head. As though he was being forcefully pulled forward, he rocketed to a nearby planet.
"Jamal!" Phyla shouted and she chased after him. Jamal crashed on the planet. Phyla entered the atmosphere of the planet and began searching for him. The planet was dead,as far as she could tell. The air was yellow and the sky dark. BRoken metal structures, large and small, littered the landscape as though the planet was a technological graveyard. Phyla found him on the ground writhing in pain as black, jagged lines began spreading across his body. She took off his helmet and set it aside on the ground. "Jamal, what's wrong!?" It became apparent that he was in too much pain to even respond to her.
Phyla looked down at the helmet and picked it up and placed it on her head. "Worldmind, can you hear me? What's wrong? Help me!"
"[Phyla-Vell, it is critical that you pay attention at this time. There is not enough time to explain. You must transfer energy from your Quantum Bands to his body in order to help stave off the infection.]"Phyla nodded and placed her hands on Jamal's chest. Yellow energy encased him and then rushed back to his chest and was absorbed into him. The black lines began receding and he suddenly shot up. Phyla gave him back his helmet and he "What...what happened?"
"[The transmode virus overwhelmed you once we exited the stargate. I nearly had to send you into a coma.]"Jamal struggled to stand up and Phyla grabbed his arm, helping him up. "We can't --nnhh-- waste anymore time. We need to reach Kvch."
"[Jamal... this is Kvch. It's likely that being in the vicinity of the planet triggered a response in the virus.]""But... there's nothing here." Jamal said, looking around. "Damn it, we can't have come here for noth-"
"[Alert Jamal, I am detecting movement!]"Phyla tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around to face her. She was seemingly facing and pointing up at the sky. Jamal followed her line of sight and realized that she wasn't pointing up at the sky. "What the..." He said under his breath as he gazed upon a
giant mechanical creature of some kind.
"Is...is it alive?" Phyla asked.
"I'm not sure. Worldmind, check."
"[I have already attempted to scan the creature, but it appears to be impervious to them. I am simply receiving back readings that state 'data-void.' I am now attempting communication with a greeting signal. No response. It is as thou-]""Wait!" Jamal exclaimed as the creature's head turned down to face them. "It responded. It must have-" Suddenly, the creature was thrown back by two giant beams of energy. Another creature of the same size, resembling a scorpion, charged at it. "Another one?"
"Jamal, we have to move!" Phyla shouted, and the two flew out of the way just before the two creatures slammed into each other. Almost immediately, Jamal began thrashing in pain.
"I..can't...!" Jamal once again plummeted to the ground and Phyla rushed to his side, putting up an energy barrier around them.
"Jamal, we have to run!" Phyla said, with no response from Jamal. A "foot" of one of the mechanical giants came crashing down next to them. All of a sudden, Phyla heard a mechanical voice come out from the scorpion-like machine as the two fought.
"[Alarm! Two Lifeglows detected in immediate vicinity! Stand down!"] The scorpion machine released a powerful blow into the chest of the other.
"[Cease combat drill, now!"] The beast opened up at the head and something emerged from it. Phyla dropped her shield and stared watched as it descended down from the giant, with chords attached.
"[Lifeglow recognized as humans. Poor human. What have we done to you?""] It asked, staring down at Jamal.