The Goonz have been travelling for some time, aware that there are planets ahead, with life signs on them. The ship is a hive of activity daily. Goonz are making sure everything is prepped for whatever they may find and always pushing forward with new tech and As we approached a luscious and vibrant planet, covered in green and blue, the ship was contacted by a different type of Goon. The Femz sent an envoy to greet the Goonz and bring us into their society with welcoming arms and a positive attitude. Absolem is ecstatic, the first parts of his memories are true and he felt more than vindicated. An inner peace settled as he knew, deep within every fibre of his being, that he had made the right choice and the Goonz were becoming whole again. We are looking forward to seeing how we can implement the Femz incredible tech into our journey and ensure that we are maximising our potential for the onward journey. The first signs of this tech crossover are an improved craft for our journey, our spaceship is more powerful and better equipped than when we landed. The Femz utilised smaller crafts that are quicker, more nimble and offer alternative solutions to problems we may encounter. The Femz may have some ideas on how to gain contact with the small team we left on our ‘home’ planet. This will be a relief for us all. They have also warned that the next planet is showing signs of infection and infestation. We are hopeful that the combination Goonz and Femz working together will be enough to overcome the ominous task ahead of us…
The ominous feeling had grown and grown, on the journey from the Femz Planet to the Zombz planet. That feeling that something out of our control was approaching. Something indeterminable and unplannable. The Femz and us have integrated well, we have upgraded medical and science equipment. We have provided each other with support and knowledge, to empower and integrate two intelligent and complex societies. There have been teething issues and some stand-offish behaviour from the leaders, but nothing insurmountable and it’s part of the process of rebuilding a long lost trust. On arrival we were met by, well, we weren’t sure at first… They looked like us, they seemed intelligent and didn't approach us aggressively, but they were holding back. That was evident. Pain was clear. These Goonz were hurting. As our communication developed we began to understand some of the ‘Zombz’ ailments. They had been ravaged by disease. This was caused by the unstable conditions on the planet. Not only had it eaten away at the Zombz appearances, which was the cause of their physical pain, it had caused their behaviours to be more aggressive and erratic than ours or the Femz. As concerning as the aggressive behaviours are, and the solution is a quarantine on our ship for now, we have managed to ease a lot of their pain with our medical advances. The Zombz are proud of their appearance and they wear it well. Their physical and neurological pain causes Absolem distress, and this is apparent in his drive to help the Zombs integrate fully with us and the Femz. We are working on ways to see if we can reverse some of the neurological damage caused by the planet. If we can help them manage their aggressiveness then we can fully implement them into our newly found society. They are intelligent, like the rest of us, but their ability to make societal advances have been hampered by their pain and physical ailments. This was not a planet to hang about on, the Zombz have been so wrapped up in their pain, they are unable to offer any insight into what is coming next. Excitement or trepidation, we are unsure. We do know we are understanding more about ourselves and the drive is to build on this knowledge. So we can drill down into what makes us all Goonz, and understand what happened to us…
The experience with Zombz is draining for the crew. We are struggling to deal with their neurological anguish, even though it doesn’t seem to affect their ability to complete tasks, it has an impact on their ability to communicate. And we are living their pain; compassion, empathy, something more, we don’t know… The Zombz are still in quarantine because we have been unable to curb the aggressiveness, this has distracted from the mission, resources are being used, relationships are being fractured and we can’t find a solution, no matter how hard we try. The distractions had meant the next stop on our journey arrived sooner than we expected. We knew we needed to stop at the next planet, even though there were no signs of life. A surprise message from the team left on our ‘home’ planet confirmed this. We got a grainy image that showed something… something worth investigating at the very least. We landed on a planet that was dead, but alive. The fauna was black and stark, listless yet not dead, set amongst a desolate and ominous landscape. As we continued our exploration of the planet, we found partly ruined, or uncompleted, settlements. Shells of settlements almost. What awaited us within them was different to say the least, we had met the Deadz! They are skeletons, with organs and awareness. It is the most bizarre thing. They acknowledge us but are unable to concentrate on our communication. Thoughts and eye-sockets wonder, it is tough to pin them down, but we are clearly welcome, if awkward. We can’t stay for long, the Deadz don't seem to need nourishment, but we do. Neither the Femz or us are comfortable using this planet's resources. As we get ready to leave, the Deadz appear, their leader is keen to come with us. We don’t know why but we have an overwhelming desire to accommodate. We were drawn to this planet and Absolem will not ignore his instincts to protect all Goonz. Deadz are Goonz, we know it, deep within us. As we boarded the ship and prepared to leave, the Deadz grew anxious, they were almost completely in the here and now. There was a frenzy and a buzz and then they left, all of them at once. Rushing towards the quarantined Zombz. We could sense the confusion and panic in Absolem…
Absolem led the chase after the Deadz, through the depths of the ship. The Deadz knew where they were going, not a single wrong turn was taken. They made their way to the quarantined quarters without falter, except one thing. They seemed to be flickering in and out of reality, at times it seemed like there were thousands, at other times tens. On this manic chase, we heard something, or felt something. Not a single Goon could really explain it, this has already happened… had it? We didn’t know where the feeling/thought had appeared from and looking back we can’t explain why so many of us had it. The Zombz were waiting for the Deadz. They had congregated as a group, for the first time since we had left their planet. What did they know that we didn’t? How were they aware? Absolem’s apprehension and concern did not appear to have dwindled. There was a pause, in time, in us, in our very existence, we could feel how monumentally important this moment could be. What happened next was the most wondrous thing any of us had ever seen. The Deadz were ‘taking’ the mental anguish from the Zombz. One by one, we could see and feel the anguish lift and dwindle. We could see facial expressions that weren’t etched in pain on the zombs for the first time. An anomaly to say the least. As we travelled onward to our latest unknown destination, we tried to dissect the events that brought us this far. All the Femz and us could think was that it had to be connected. We were drawn to the Deadz, who have helped the Zombz. What is the connection, how can we unlock our answers? We regularly meet and spend time with the Deadz and the Zombz, they are inseparable, and if we tried to split them, the Deadz just flickered away. Communication was near impossible, both were unable to stay with us long enough to be coherent. Pieces were coming out, but the end picture was impossible to see, and there was always a distraction. This time it was an urgent call from the bridge… Absolem and his team made their way to the bridge, to be greeted by the Deadz and an asteroid frontier. It was by far the biggest concentration of asteroids we had seen. Why the Deadz we all thought. As Absolem told our crew to navigate along the edge of the asteroids, the Deadz became agitated. We had learned to pay attention to them, so we stopped! As we were trying to work out what to do, a ship appeared, far more technologically advanced than ours. Then, on our communication screen a Goon in a Spacesuit, helmet on, asking to come aboard...
THE STORY
There was no hesitation from us. We all knew that this was a Goon. And we had already seen enough from the Deadz to understand that when they did something en-masse, we should pay attention. As the AstroGoon disembarked into our docking bay, the first thing we noticed was the tech, on his suit, in the ship and on the Astroz weapon... This Golden AstroGoon greeted us and thanked us for letting him come aboard. We could tell he spoke for more than just himself. His words carried weight and meaning. He explained that this asteroid field was a moving maze of rocks that filled a huge area and we could have circumvented it until we ran out of supplies. We somehow knew this wasn't the only AstroGoon and soon more ships started arriving. The Astroz seemed anxious and excited to meet us, as if they were expecting us. What shocked them was that there were 4 types of Goonz. They marvelled at the Femz, Zombz and Deadz. Especially the Deadz. The strange thing was, the Deadz seemed just as interested... Mainly in the weaponz the Astroz carried, and we assumed, because the Astroz carry their weaponz so confidently. The Deadz flitted away when questioned about weaponz, and them having a heightened interest in them, did not provide any answers for the rest of us. And more worryingly, the Deadz were beginning to use their weaponz on random items, when they thought they were 'unobserved'. The Astroz explained they had made their home in the ever shifting landscape of the asteroid belt. Their tech was far more advanced than ours and their fleet of ships ranged from small and nimble craft. to ships nearly as big as ours. Amazingly they were able to clear us a path into the field. The further we travelled, the more signs of Goonz there were. The Astroz found our communication system to our team on the home planet and were instantly interested. They wanted all the information. We told the Astroz about our team, how they were building a portal out of old, present and new tech, and had mixed resultz when we left them. The Astroz started excitedly talking to each other, and the Deadz appeared... A call from the Zombz quarters advised that the Zombz were at a heightened level of awareness. What was happening? As we arrived at the Zomz quarterz, the Deadz were already there, we no longer asked how... The Zombz were communicating to the Deadz. The Dead King asked us what we knew about a portal. We started to explain our team... The Dead King cut off Absolem and looked directly at a Legendary Astro. What do you know about a portal? The Astroz looked hesitant. The confidence drained from him and his fellow Astroz. The look on his face asking how. He slowly started to explain about a legend or a myth, of a giant portal in the sky, contrantly changing, shining a light or casting a shadow...
Part 7 - Cyborgz - The Portal