Many members of the Artificial Intelligence Community have enough artificial intelligence to shut themselves down into some sort of (not particularly cozy) sleep-mode from time to time. This is generally to optimize power and make more efficient use of their energy. It also ensures less wear-and-tear and makes them feel a little less artificial and a little more intelligent (even if it's not particularly cozy).

Mel Million Max had not been using his time above Lyme Node (waiting for his sensors to go off, indicating that the Shiv had left the planet) very artificially intelligent and efficiently. He had been watching old pre-mall Earth horror movies. He needed ideas.

His C.C. (Creativity Chip) had been working overtime and was out of whack, and this seemed a good method to find some new creative ways to kill his wretched son once he had captured him.

On behalf of The Node, General Eppie had stated that they only needed the Quarol back alive. However, Aye could be delivered in a body bag, or, if Mel had his way...several body bags. Several tiny body bags.

This made him very happy. He had spent some of that time above Lyme Node creating an H.C. (Happiness Chip) simply so that he could enjoy this. So perhaps he hadn't spent that time efficiently, but his S-I.C. (Self-Indulgence Chip) kept him awake and working.

He sat through slasher movies, something called "torture porn", zombie invasions, sexy vampire films and giant lizard flicks, but he still couldn't find a finishing move. That "pièce de résistance" that would go down in the Towerscapian history books (when he finally found Towerscape).

He marvelled at the many silly ways ancient humans killed each other. Tophers were a much more violent species in general, but humans were outright comedic and cruel. Tophers generally favoured a simple bullet through the throat or the odd explosive. Humans used cutlery, tools, trained animals, food items, electricity, gases, insults and even footwear. Ridiculous! Hilarious! Fun! Horrible!

The films were fascinating, even if he did take issue with the lack of character development and many plot holes. He also took issue with a sub-genre called "supernatural". He wondered how anything could be "super" natural.

Androids like Mel Million Max were not known for their belief of anything beyond science and circuits and logic. "That creature came out of nowhere! How did it come back to life after being dead for so long? How is he invisible?? How can she fly without wings or technology???" he screamed many times at the screen while watching. "Either something is natural or it is not! How can it be super natural?"

He wasn't wrong, but he didn't quite understand that this was merely a form of Earth entertainment and not how-to reality programming. He didn't understand that "supernatural" was just a term that humans made up for "otherworldly" and "netherworldly", because he wasn't programmed to recognize that there were other/netherworlds. He took issue with fantasy, and he didn't get animation at all.

He had just finished installing an L.C. (Laughter Chip) into every robot in his robot armada when the sensor finally went off. Content that his robots would have a good hearty mocking laugh as they dragged his son and the Quarol away, he checked his console. Checking his console was something he did not need to do, being connected to his ship and all, but it was inescapable after he had created and installed his O.H.D.H.C. (Old Habits Die Hard Chip).

He fired up his thrusters and locked his trackers on to the Shiv as it left Lyme Node. He wasn't going to attack right away. He wanted to savour this (again the O.H.D.H.C.).

He followed at a distance that wouldn't be detected and waited. He was very good at waiting. He didn't need to create any chip for that. Electronics are fine with waiting. His own L.C. kicked in and he chortled the evilest chortle he was programmed to chortle.

~~~

On the bridge of the Shiv, Teeg sat as quietly as Gekko always sat. Both were staring off into space.

Gekko wondered how she would get on without Clory, but Teeg had moved past this. She had to. She was their leader. Instead, she was asking herself what they had gotten themselves into, and whether it was indeed worth it. Whether it was worth Clory's life.

She had gone from hunter to hunted not just by The Node, and not just by her friend, confidant and leader K'ween, but by every Bounty Hunter in the known universe. Even idiot Blanktons were now after her.

Idiot Blanktons were not much of a threat, but it still weighed on her. All of this because of some hunch that only seemed to be backed up by a space hippy named Clover. All of this because she had felt sorry for a dim-witted Quarol. All of this because some little voice deep within her was whispering "If you don't do this, the universe will never heal. It will fester and rot everything away until there is nothing left. The Node is an infection, and only you can administer an antibiotic. And that antibiotic is one of these two fuckwits. Or both of them."

Clover sat quietly as well. She wasn't doubting anything. She knew, with every cell, that these two fuckwits were the antibiotics a Node-infected universe needed.

She could tell by the way Teeg looked at her that the mistress assassin thought very little of her. That she was not taken seriously. That the wisdom of countless millennia was being misinterpreted as a flaky naivety and an unwarranted bliss. Her softness was being mistaken for squishy.

She smiled at this. Her ability to feel very deeply about something in one moment and to move on and leave behind all worry was a gift given to her by experience and time. It was Teeg that was naïve. Naïve to believe that things she couldn't control were actually in control of her, and control of everything in her short sight.

Clover had been stuck there in a miserable moment while in K'ween's stockade, but as soon as she left, she was able to scrub it with lovely scented soaps, shower it away and move on. She was able to enjoy not being in K'ween's prison any longer. She was able to now enjoy her new moment in time, a time filled with hope and lovely scented soaps.

She had left behind grudges, emotional scars, long-term worry and lasting fear thousands upon thousands of years ago. Those were feelings for the young, for those that only lived long enough to think about themselves and perhaps a handful of others in their circle. For those that hadn't lost enough people to grow numb to it. For those that put too much importance on a sour moment or a horrible event, or on that loss and not enough importance on those good little moments. The tiny victories: The smile from a stranger. The wag of a dog's tail. Meeting someone who likes the same music, even the obscure stuff. The scientific miracle of simply existing to begin with. The scientific miracle of the universe existing to begin with.

That said, Clover was no stranger to debilitating depression and overwhelming and crippling anxiety. She had spent close to fifteen-hundred years depressed and panicked about sixty-thousand years ago. When it passed, she never returned to it. Though a part of her heart still ached for her lost love, her brave monk.

She simply dedicated one day every year to remember and mourn his loss, and all the loss her long life had seen, and then she jumped right back to a refreshed, wonderful state of now.

Her mind drifted from thoughts of Teeg disapproval, and she pondered what questions she would ask Potto when she hypnotized him. She didn't want to invade his privacy and go into anything too personal. She didn't need to know about bizarre fetishes or balloon phobias, but there were so many questions she both wanted and needed the answers to if she were to help him save the universe. She had to be ready. She needed this to work.

Aye also stared out the window. He was now stuck with these people.

He trusted the Quarol because he trusted "innocently stupid", but he didn't trust the assassin, or her hot reptile companion. Frankly they frightened him. He had no idea what to make of the free spirited Oaian. She didn't frighten him, and that frightened him.

He sat quietly gazing. He was trying not to think of his mother now. Those thoughts had started making him angry. It bothered him to no end that he couldn't seem to remember what had happened to his mother. Had she simply disappeared one day? His father must have done something horrible to her.

Mel Million Max had hurt his mommy.

He didn't think it possible, but he started hating his father even more than he previously had.

"Y'know," he finally piped up. "We should really make a stop at Euphoria."

"That's not a half-bad idea," Teeg surprisingly agreed.

"Not half-good either," Gekko advised to her telepathically with an uncharacteristic mind chuckle.

"That's a terrible idea," Clover added. "But you do what you have to. You need to distract your aching mind. Your spirit needs a wee vacation. And maybe some drugs."

"What is Euphoria?" Potto asked.

"Euphoria is a floating night club and sex circus. One that The Node ignores. He sees it as a distraction for troublemakers. A way to keep them all contained in one place and out of his way. A place for creepy idle hands to keep creepily busy. It's filled with criminals, perverts, adulterous politicians, and those on the lam. It's a very dangerous place. I would not recommend," answered Knutt.

"When you say it like that," Aye smiled, "you make it sound irresistible."

"Agreed," Teeg murmured. "And I actually agree with the freak girl. Just what we need to decompress for a few hours."

Clover wanted to hug her, but was wise enough not to. "Freak" was a compliment on O-Bode.

"I vote against," Knutt said sternly.

"Does the ship actually get a vote?" snapped Aye.

"It does when the parking valets smell like concentrated cat piss," Knutt snapped back.

"It's not far. We'll just stop by for a few drinks. A live sex show. Maybe one little brawl," Teeg said instructing rather than suggesting. Gekko nodded in agreement. Aye ran off to shower and clean his stolen uniform.

"We should maybe stay back?" Clover suggested to Potto. "We could try the hypnosis?"

"Hey, I'm good with whatever, really. Sex circus, hypnosis, learn a language, pie eating contest...whatever," Potto agreed.

Knutt begrudgingly changed course, en route to Euphoria. What the crew mistook for an engine noise was actually Knutt sighing the longest sigh since the sigh had first been invented over a billion years before by a fish whose extremely bad day ended with discovering that it wasn't amphibious after it had already crawled onto land for the first time.

~~~

Vrume T'cha T'cha wasn't just a snappy dresser. He wasn't just a creative genius in the world of hair styling and machine restoration. He was a revolutionary.

The Node had no idea that Vrume had picked his assistants out personally. He had no idea that Vrume had never murdered even one of them. The apparent butchering of his assistants in The Node's presence had always been faked. The brains that always ended up as a Node facial had actually been exploding squib packs of Squambogian brain cabbage. It was much better than brains at opening the pores.

The bodies were always carted off without anyone ever checking for a pulse. They were then loaded into a transport that smuggled the falsely-accused criminals that were sentenced to assist Vrume to the far-off, and always ignored planet of Hephmote.

There they could live out their lives in hidden caves in the mountains. There they could plot against The Node. There they could figure out a way to destroy the undestroyable.

Vrume knew of the Oaian prophesy. He knew the history of the Brave Five and The Node's rise. However, he had thought the flash drive that could destroy The Node was now ash and a mix of melted plastic and metal. He had decided to find a new way. He would rescue the wrongly accused and grant them their freedom at a small price. All they needed to do was join his think tank, and become a warrior in Vrume's army.

Vrume was their saviour and there wasn't much they wouldn't do for him. They had all learned to be machine-detailing hair dressers at his school, but were all required to take a secret acting class to learn how to fool The Node by being extremely convincing when they allegedly had their brains blown out, stage fell and played dead for hours on end.

Vrume paid Rhanque Baptoose (the proprietor of Euphoria) a pretty penny to secretly rent a storage hanger (with toilets) at the floating sex circus to act as a holding area for each recent crop of rescued followers. He would have to wait until he had fifty or so before he transported them to Hephmote and he would oversee each transport when there were fifty. He would see them off with a heart-felt appreciation and love. Vrume T'cha T'cha was a class act, just not in the way The Node thought.

He had arrived at Euphoria hours before The Shiv would, getting set to see off the latest transporter of assistants. He had the same routine each time he did this. He would get there a few hours early and have a few drinks, catch a small portion of the sexy show and on occasion take part in some debauchery. Then, just a tad de-stressed from that, would see off his disciples before paying Rhanque his rent and heading back to The Node's beck and call and his training facility.

Vrume was also one of the few beings in the universe that knew what that panic-inducing bright puce alarm meant. He had overheard The Node speaking of it many times. It was never directly discussed what the item was that set off the alarm, but he knew it was something that frightened The Node very much.

Knowing what he knew about the Brave Five monks and their original mission, he had finally pieced together that it (as impossible as it seemed) might be the flash drive. Perhaps it had somehow survived. The prophesy that he had dismissed before, now occupied his thoughts constantly. If the chip could be found, it would change everything. It would finally give his army of exiled assistants the ammunition they needed to make the universe Node-free.

He also knew that part of that prophesy involved "one of light and one of dark, belonging to no particular spiritual belief at all, unifying and saving us all from fear. Two beings coming from different worlds...both homeless and lost." He had been on the lookout for anyone fitting that description.

He had overheard The Node and General Eppie talk about the Quarol and the Topher, but he hadn't heard that the Quarol was especially kind of heart (and albino), so he hadn't put much more thought into them.

In all the years that Vrume had been beautifying The Node he had also been secretly looking for any weak spot in The Node's armour. Both figuratively and literally. Figuratively, The Node seemed very emotionally secretive and unbreakable. And literally, the armour was made of a material he had never seen before. It was stronger than anything he had ever encountered in the almost-eternity he'd been alive.

And he had been alive for almost an eternity. He knew so much of the history of the Brave Five monks, because Vibloblahblah Ooze had not been their only survivor. There had been another that had escaped before the scarring explosion.

One that also had forgotten his real name long ago and went by the flamboyant Vrume T'cha T'cha, a name he stole from an ancient long-dead lover. One that thought that he was the only one left, and that the weight of the known universe sat solely upon his guilt-ridden shoulders.