Chapter 6
(200 PK)
Mizumi stared at her mirror as she sat brushing her long white hair. Her quarters were small but well decorated with golden ornaments and colored bottles and vials of every shape and size. She placed the brush gently on the vanity before her and gasped as another figure appeared beside her. The dainty young woman was clothed in a blue girdle, lined with gold, under a black long-sleeved jacket. Her hair was long, tied into two pigtails at the top of her head. Her left eye had a long red scar running vertically across it.
The young woman, apparently in her early twenties, nodded.
Mizumi turned, but saw no one there. As she turned back toward the mirror, the young woman stood silently in the reflection.
“You’ve been rather industrious, Mother,” the woman noted quietly in a reverberating whisper. “Attacking the Labyrinth was inconsequential compared to destroying the universe.”
Mizumi shuddered. “You aren’t here.” She shook her head and stood, turning her back on the mirror. “My daughter – as Jareth never became Goblin King, he never chose his kingdom over me. I had no regrets,” she continued, the tension in her voice rising as tears started to trickle out of her eyes and down her pale cheeks. “I never split my heart. You don’t exist.”
“And, even then, here I am, Mother.”
“Impossible,” hissed Mizumi, cradling herself.
Her daughter chuckled, leaning against the reflection of the vanity. “Mother, Eshe, Queen of the Trash Kingdom – she did something to you. As Moya, this fantastic sentient ship, sails through the cosmos toward Earth, you feel a great connection to what you used to be.”
Mizumi sighed, staring at the floor. “Jareth will be on Earth. I’m certain of it, Moulin. There must be something that draws me there beside Jareth.”
Moulin nodded. “Power,” she replied. “With the Light gone, dreams cannot boost your powers. The Underground is nothing but invisible memories to taunt lifeforms with what they cannot have.”
Mizumi twirled toward the mirror and slammed her fist on the vanity. “What does some giant sparkling rock on a distant planet have to do with the Underground?”
“Really, Mother, have you no imagination? The Legend of Thra is quite clear that when UrSkeks, a race of creator beings some called divine, shattered the crystal with the fracturing of a single shard, the entire planet became a dark nightmare from which they could not awaken. Their benevolence and their cruelty were split into opposing incarnations. If a single shard can damage gods and threaten an entire planet, what can reducing the entire thing to dust accomplish?”
Mizumi fell to the floor. She covered her face in horror. “J-Jareth,” she whispered. “Jareth … have you been touched by this as well?”
Moulin placed an arm gently on the shoulder of Mizumi’s reflection, causing Mizumi to feel her touch momentarily like a cool breeze. “Mother, what was sundered and undone, can be whole, returned to one.” Moulin backed away and faded from the reflection, leaving Mizumi feeling cold and lifeless.
Meanwhile, in the command center of Moya, an athletic woman with long black hair woven to form intricate patterns before ending in a ponytail stood at attention, watching the viewscreen with her hands firmly clasped behind her back. She wore a black leather long-sleeved jacket with red trim. There was a small scar on her chin.
An athletic, somewhat older man with short black hair and a well-trimmed goatee, appeared next to her and bowed. “Captain Sun,” he whispered.
“What is it, Officer Crais?” she asked in a harsh tone without looking at him.
“We shall arrive on the Original Colony within the arn.”
Captain Sun, pronounced “soon”, nodded once. “Good … another cycle listening to our guests will drive me completely fahrbot.”
Officer Crais, dressed in a black shirt and pants, smirked, looking away.
“Officer Crais … you will be taking command once our guests and I leave Moya.”
Officer Crais gawked at her in shock. “M-me?” He scoffed, blushing. “Captain, I … I … I am not ready --.”
Captain Sun smiled and turned, slapping him on his shoulder. “You have made our guests extremely satisfied with their transport to this planet, Officer Crais.” She chuckled and leaned in closer. “In my eyes, that alone should give you the right to command your own fleet.”
Crais smiled sheepishly as Captain Sun left the command center to meet with her guests. As soon as she was in a long hallway, appearing like most areas to be flesh-colored metal over organic framework, a gangly pale man with multiple scars along his cheeks, dressed in a head-to-toe black leather body suit with a strange circular device on one side of his head, walked alongside her.
“Scorpius, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Captain Sun offered, not looking at him. “Is your neurochip in need of maintenance?”
Scorpius shrugged slightly as he walked, clasping his hands behind him and matching her firm stride. “On the contrary, Captain Sun. The neurochip appears to be functioning within parameters. I’ve never felt better. Your mind is a very lovely place.”
“May you continue to be blessed with longevity,” Sun offered.
Scorpius bowed his head slightly. “For ten long cycles Moya has repeatedly used starbursts to reach this particular system. I trust the priestess is ready for her assignment?”
“Of course.”
“Humans seem to have so little going for them,” mused the hallucination with a smirk. “On the other hand, as the species is the origin of Sebacean and other races, I find myself intrigued.”
“Don’t be,” Sun told him, ignoring the brief strange looks of fellow Peacekeepers as she seemed to be talking to thin air. “Humans are only useful for genetic experimentation, nothing more.”
“Is that what you think happened to this Prime Empress, Captain Sun?”
The woman stopped. She glanced at him with a distrusting expression. “What do you mean?”
Scorpius nodded in the direction of Mizumi’s quarters. “She appears Sebacean, founded a Sebacean colony in the Uncharted Territories long ago, and yet she has lived far beyond the lifespan of even the healthiest Sebacean, as well as having limited water-manipulation abilities.” He blocked her from continuing her walk. “Captain Sun – she seems out of place, does she not? And she mysteriously demands to go to Earth, as they call it, as though drawn to it compulsively, even though for the Uncharted Territories, Earth is little more than a long-forgotten fable of questionable relevance. While our priestess goes about her mission for us, we must not forget a possible complication brought on by this bizarre variation.”
Captain Sun’s voice became a whisper as she glared at him. “You feel she is going to this backwater planet for power.”
Scorpius smirked. “Just as we will support the Delvian’s message, let’s, at least for the moment, support the Prime Empress’ quest, just to see where it goes, shall we?” he asked as he vanished from her sight.
<><><>
As the sun set on the northeast coast of a large Peacekeeper-run city, a stocky male pig with pronounced eyebrows leaned against the bars of his cage, sighing.
In a cage beside him, a fat lavender creature with tangled brown hair, his eyelids so puffy they were nearly permanently shut, tapped on his bars with a small wooden spoon. “I told you not to get involved,” he noted in a high-pitched voice.
“Farko,” the pig mumbled. “I couldn’t stand by and let my sister get killed.”
“Yeah, but – it happened anyway.”
The pig buried his large head in his hands.
“When’re they gonna kill you?” asked the lavender creature.
“Does it matter?” he mumbled back.
The creature shrugged. “I wonder what happens when you die, Robert.”
Robert the pig looked up at the ceiling of his cage. “I hope it’s better than here, Marv. My sister had a dream, a dream where Peacekeepers didn’t harass us all and act like we were all livestock.” His voice wavered. “That’s … that’s all she wanted.” He glanced at Marv. “You got a dream, Marv?”
Marv glanced back, but shrugged. “Maybe, back when we Fraggles lived under the ground, back before the Freeze started, I might have had some,” he replied softly. “But … Fraggles haven’t lived down there for a long time now. I can’t even count that many cycles. All I know is … whatever’s stuck in our heads is gonna stay there. And when these Peacekeepers crush our little skulls … well, I guess it won’t matter then, huh?”
They saw boots standing in front of their cages. They hadn’t the hearts to look up and see who it was. A booming male voice barked, “The general has decreed you will meet your fate in three arns.”
“Just kill us already and get it over with, like you did with my sister.”
The male voice chuckled. “And risk having to take a jilnak so I end up grissing all over myself, you frelling grolack?” The male soon turned and started walking away. “Not frelling likely.”
<><><>
A young blonde-haired woman, obviously never having picked up a pulse rifle in her entire life, approached the tube-shaped transport pod as the level risers descended in puffs of white steam, a strong white light making her glance away briefly. “Captain Sun?” she called out.
Captain Sun descended the level risers with a smile. On her left was a tall blue-skinned bald female with light blue specks covering her face like freckles. She wore a long, narrow poncho made of shimmering purple fabric with red and gold floral designes embroidered all over, which barely covered what most species would consider intimate areas of anatomy. The back and front of the fabric were held together only with a small braided golden rope belt. On Sun’s right was Mizumi, her makeup pronounced, glittering in the light of various lighting posts surrounding the landing pad. She did not wear her customary crown, but a simple thin silver tiara. Her dress involved multiple layers of white and pale blue, evoking crashing waves as they fluttered in the breeze.
Captain Sun nodded at the young female, glancing just behind her as a highly athletic-looking male with stubble on his chin appeared behind her. He wore a red vest over a black shirt, as well as cargo pants and bulky black boots. The female, meanwhile, was dressed similarly, though her vest was tailored better for a female frame.
The woman bowed her head slightly, smiling briefly as she caught sight of the male who suddenly stood beside her. “Welcome to Seashore City,” announced the woman. “I am Specialist Gilina.” She nodded at the male, who was nearly drooling as he gawked at the white-haired woman. “Forgive the exuberance of my fiancé, Captain. Both John and I are to guide you toward the General’s quarters.”
Mizumi snorted in disgust. “I merely want information on my husband. I’m not interested in any tour.”
The blue female stared at her in shock. Her voice was smooth but slightly panicked. “The Goddess grants you welcome on this world and all you can do is insult it?”
Mizumi cut her a dirty glance. “You may have need of turning public opinion toward your cult, Zhaan, but I do not share this requirement.”
Zhaan gasped, touching her chest in surprise. “How dare you!” she yelled angrily. “The Goddess wants all to come to her nurturing bosom! This world has for too long been without a deity who cared for it with all the love the Goddess can provide.”
Mizumi scoffed. “Go preach to the negniks, priestess. Anyone with any real strength has no need of imaginary friends.”
As Zhaan growled in fury, Captain Sun angrily placed a hand on each woman’s chest to keep them apart. “Ladies, ladies – let’s enjoy land while we’re here, shall we? You two have been cooped up for ten cycles. Don’t say things you’ll regret.”
Mizumi muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes. “I never regret.”
“May oblivion destroy whatever ice cold pneuma you may have!” screamed Zhaan.
“Oh, go dayside and flop about in the sun’s rays like a good little blue turnip, priestess,” Mizumi shot back.
“Perhaps the good priestess will accompany me on a tour of the facilities,” John interjected loudly. “The planet has a lot of drell to clean up and she needs to get started if she wants to fix us all in her lifetime.”
Zhaan quieted and glanced at the male, bowing her head slightly. “Of course, John. Forgive my anger.”
“He must forgive you?” Mizumi screeched incredulously.
John glanced back at the blonde-haired woman. “You take the white chick, Gilina.”
“John!” gasped his fiancée. “Show some respect!”
Captain Sun smirked. “Perhaps splitting up will help us all calm down. I will be following the Prime Empress of the Royal Planet.”
Mizumi glanced at her sharply. “I need no sitter, Captain.”
Captain Sun nodded. “Maybe not, Your Highness, but another arn with that Delvian and my head will explode,” she added with a smirk.
Mizumi snorted as she defiantly started her tour without her companion and her guide, forcing them to sprint to catch up.
<><><>
John couldn’t help but stare at the blue lady walking beside him. “So, forgive my curiosity, Priestess --.”
“I am a Delvian,” Zhaan told him with a smile. “Unlike you, I am a plant-based life form.”
John laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck as it tingled. “Well, that’s nice an’ all, but I was really going to ask how your Goddess is going to help. I mean, the Peacekeepers haven’t exactly been acknowledging planetary native rights, you know. They’ve even gone ta eating sentient non-humans, and quite frankly, it’s disgusting.”
Zhaan stopped, her eyes widening. “You aren’t a Peacekeeper?”
John shook his head. “I’m a simple farmer, Priestess,” he admitted. “Until the Peacekeepers killed my parents, I was happy just going around with a watering bag, making sure my little garden bore fruit.”
Zhaan chuckled. “You have much in common with the Goddess, John. She is a mother who nurtures us. That is why I chose Moya as my primary transport. Like the Goddess, Moya is a mother who nurtures all within her ample embrace.” She glanced at him. “You are human, then? How did you join the Peacekeepers, John?”
John sighed, shrugging. “I could either stick with the family farm, poking at the dirt with sticks and simple blades, or I could join one of the Peacekeeper farming factions and get my hands on tools that could make my job better.” He paused, thinking of the fires that consumed his small hovel when he was only fifteen cycles old. “I chose life.”
“And Gilina, I suppose, helped you with your decision?” she asked with a playful smile.
John grinned at her. “Yeah, well, what can you say? We were meant to be together. Even destiny can’t break us apart.”
Zhaan, however, had noticed several heads posted on the walls of a dark hallway within the General’s compound. Each had Peacekeeper notation, describing all as “monsters”. One seemed to be incomplete, however, as the triangular purple head with large bulging eyes were joined by thin wiry antennae on the side. She frowned. “What are ‘monsters’, John? What was this creature?”
John moved in closer to look. “Oh, him? Well, about 50 cycles or so, a bunch of creatures called monsters rebelled against Peacekeeper rulers. They demanded to be treated as more than just livestock. The General grew up during the Monster Rebellion and formed a rather unflattering picture of monsters. She joined the Peacekeepers in hunting them down when she was old enough to carry a pulse rifle. This one was a paranoid little guy who supposedly had these antennae that Peacekeeper brass said could theoretically let the monsters spy on Peacekeeper communications. He was one of the last of the monsters the Peacekeepers found. She severed his antennae from his head. I hear he got even more neurotic and finally he was put down.”
Zhaan shook her head and sighed. “Had these creatures known of the Goddess, they would have lived.”
John stared at her with a slack jaw. “How so?”
Zhaan shrugged and smiled at him gently. “To acknowledge the Goddess is to embrace life, John. To deny Her is to invite ruin.”
“Yeah, I get that, but how?”
Zhaan stared at him in confusion. “I don’t know what you mean, John. I am here to spread knowledge of the Goddess. Each being who acknowledges her need fear no longer.”
John chuckled. “What is she going to do – zap the Peacekeepers?”
Zhaan frowned, her tone curt. “Don’t mock the Goddess, John. Even as a member of a primitive species, to anger the Goddess is to invite ruin.”
John nodded, sighing. “Yeah, you mentioned that. So, if I just say I acknowledge the Goddess, what then? What happens next?”
Zhaan smiled and kissed him on the forehead before he could react. “I accept your acknowledgement, John. Know that this simple task is all you need to protect you from harm.”
John stared at her in shock. “Th-that’s it?”
Zhaan nodded, shrugging. “I have medallions in the transport pod. I shall have one brought to you. With it, you can publicize your acknowledgement. I pray to the Goddess that the rest of the planet will accept her as easily as you.”
John nodded slowly as she started walking toward the door leading to the General’s chambers, marked heavily in red symbols. It felt as though worms were crawling under his skin. What kind of creature was this? His heart palpitated. He tried to shove the thought deep into the dark pits of his mind, but he just couldn’t shake the feeling his destiny would be better under the General than this strange blue creature.
As they entered, they joined Captain Sun, Mizumi, and Gilina, who had already arrived.
Mizumi crossed her arms. “I demand to see this General at once so that my solar day is not completely wasted.”
A knee-high figure in a black jumpsuit with red shoulder pads entered from a side door, walking across the room. Everywhere there seemed to be objects screaming of the General’s accomplishments, be they heads, trophies, weapons, etcetera. As the General sat at a small desk, the whole apparatus rose into the air, hovering without a single wobble, until the General and the desk were chest-high to the visitors.
The General, with her dull golden skin, old claw marks scraped across her muzzle, and a tuft of short fiery red hair bursting from the top of her head, glanced around at her visitors. She scowled. “Don’t take up too much of my time,” she barked gruffly. “My name is General Red, leader of Seashore City, and I have things to do.”
Welcome to the Muppet Central Forum!
Jim Henson Idea Man
Back to the Rock Season 2
Bear arrives on Disney+
Sam and Friends Book
