Welcome to Gaia! ::

On his own, Lyndin was a sight to behold. Tinkering with a satellite dish fixed to a skinny obelisk in the middle of the park, of course he would have stood out.

He did not startle when Oberon approached, nor did he look up from his work. He was perfectly still aside from the careful maneuvering of a tiny screwdriver. He did not seem to have come equipped with weapons or armor, just a toolbox that sat at his feet. Even his cape had been left behind, despite the chilliness in the air.

“I have heard the rumors, yes.” He sounded busy, focused but without any annoyance. “Why does my presence surprise you?”

“I am here,” Lyndin said patiently, “because I know what it is like to lose your world, and I would not wish the same of anyone. Your planet is flawed, but beautiful. I do not wish to see it destroyed any more than I wish to see you banished to the stars.”

He did a last adjustment and then stood up, finally glancing at Oberon. He had a tired look in his eye, but it was determined nonetheless, and despite the would-be fatigue, he showed no sign of slowing down any time soon.

“There is plenty that can be done, Oberon. What do you want to do?”

It did not seem to be a ridiculous question to Lyndin, though he did not protest when Oberon shared his sentiments on the matter. He did not scold him, nor really even seem to be affected by the emotion in Oberon’s worlds.

Lyndin remained unreadably calm as he listened, and made sure Oberon had said his piece before answering.

“There were hunters, once. I have not heard of their whereabouts for several hundred of your years. We do not frequent the same corners of the galaxy, nor do we have much reason to interact. Last I heard, they were hunting more for sport than necessity. However, I have asked Velencya to transmit all information available. I will see if they can make contact as well.”

Hunting was not one of Lyndin’s skills; if it were, perhaps he’d have located Caedus much faster.

“I do not expect you all to understand my position. Now, or in the past. I would like to see Earth protected and thriving for years to come. If you do not have the technology for that yet, I see no reason to deny you aid with our own. Naturally, I will not force it on you. I understand there are those of you who disagree with our methods. Or, mine.”

Again, he spoke with no bitterness. It was simply a fact.

“But it serves no one to see Earth destroyed. I’ve been investigating the prison it was kept in.” He could see the curiosity in Oberon’s eye for the technology in front of him but he wasn’t going to force him to ask. “It’s leaking a very unique type of energy. I’m trying to get some calculations based on that.”

Lyndin let Oberon come as close as he pleased; he trusted him not to interfere with the machine. Not when Earth’s well-being was at stake. Oberon’s curiosity was not well masked but he seemed to be wrestling with pride or reluctance. Lyndin saw no reason to press the matter.

“I find myself reluctant to approve of any sort of ‘zoo’ but I understand your intentions and find it more humane than the alternatives. I appreciate your stance on the matter. Captivity is preferable to death, provided it is a dignified existence. And, it is certainly no question that the sacrifice of one life would be worth the lives of many.”

His eyes lingered on the screen for a few seconds, more because he was checking functionality than because he had unearthed anything useful.

“The energy I’m tracking is specifically related to the ‘prison’. We had a familiar sample in our database so it was easy enough to set something up.” He gestured to the device in front of him. “I don’t have a sample of the creature's energy, specifically, but I have a hunch that it’s generating the storms as it moves. I’m not sure how the prison factors into this yet, except I know that it’s moving erratically. There’s no clear trajectory. I can’t figure out if the signal is just being obstructed or if it’s actually just disappearing and reappearing. That’s what this is for.”

If Lyndin was in any way riled by Oberon’s words, nothing in his posture or expression revealed it. Even his voice remained neutral. “I don’t think it’s made it here yet. I think it’s trying to travel but can’t make the final push. When we travel, we manipulate the particles around us to move through empty space faster. This creature isn’t doing that. It seems like it’s trying to tear through space. Here, look at these readings,” he said, withdrawing a device that had once been a smart phone. He’d modified it, and after pressing a few buttons, he handed it over.

The screen displayed a line of numbers, which he explained, “Just before every storm, there’s a gravitational distortion. The numbers track fifteen minutes before the storm, at the start of it, during, end of it, and fifteen minutes after.”

There was a consistency in each: a normal reading, and then a drastic change at the start of the first lightning strike, which remained consistent for the duration of the storm, and then another drastic change towards the end where it returned to nearly exactly how it had been prior to the storm. Fifteen minutes after the storm, everything seemed normal again.

However, there was a notable trend that the strength of the first lightning strike was growing, and the duration of the storms were getting slightly longer.

“Think of it like a barrier that it’s trying to cut through. Right now it’s not strong enough to do more than press against it. It’s probably generating energy as it moves so it might only be a matter of time. I won’t be able to solidify that theory until I have more data. I’m tracking the energy it’s leaking to identify if, and when, it takes a ‘shortcut’. It might be useful to know if we can disrupt it mid-travel.”

Lyndin waited patiently while Oberon examined the screen and didn’t seem to be in any sort of rush to have the item returned.

“I don’t know if it ‘exists’ on a different plane, but I think it has the ability to manipulate them. The largest storm, the one with the most readings, is either functioning as a gateway to whatever realm it’s in, or it’s in the storm itself. I haven’t been able to pick up any readings on the matter but I’m not going to stop looking.”

Lyndin’s eyes lingered on the numbers for a moment but he looked up to the sky as if he’d find an answer there.

Things were never so easy.

“Vanguardian technology is not constructed with the intent to destroy. We have what might pass as ‘weapons’ but their intention isn’t to be used against living creatures so much as they are tools to help us process resources. I’m sure things could be recalibrated with the intention to do damage, but…”

It was clearly a distasteful idea to him and he wouldn’t have suggested it if the circumstances were different. “I’ll need to do more research before I can commit to anything. I don’t think we can produce anything capable of doing immense damage to a very large creature so I’m still hoping to find a more practical alternative. But, if it is all we can do to try and stop it,” he shrugged. “I will build whatever I can. I intend to do everything in my power to help protect your world, practical or otherwise.”

“There is always a chance,” Lyndin confirmed, though he did not seem particularly optimistic about anything that might require asking others to help them gather energy. “I’ve asked my Vanguard to gather what energy they can. The storms here on Earth have been discharging an excess of energy lately. I can only imagine that the creature itself is a phenomenal source of power. I know there are those who disagree with gathering energy, even if through as harmless a method as our Source Stones, but I’m afraid it is a necessity at present. We’ll be able to do more with it than without it, and we don’t really have the luxury of time.”

He glanced at the readings on the screen once more but they were only one variable to consider in all of this.

“I think, with some refinement, we could destabilize it with its own energy. I think there is merit to the technology they used to trap it before. If they were able to funnel its own energy into powering a prison, I believe it would be similarly possible to siphon its energy and strike back with whatever we can harvest.”