The saucer touched down. Four long legs made up the landing gear, and it settled softly on the stone plaza. The ship sunk as the quiet shock absorbers cushioned the landing.
The ship was about twenty meters across. Not a particularly large size.
The round hatch in its center opened and a gangway came down.
A hatch on the ship’s side also opened up. It was an oval-shaped door that opened from the bottom to the top. No stairs came out from this one.
At first, two mobile infantrymen appeared at the side door, and then jumped away using jet propulsion packs. One of the mecha-infantrymen carried a hand blaster, but the other one didn’t have a blaster in hand, but did have what looked like a big box on his right shoulder. What was that? Some kind of new weapon?
The two mobile infantry fighters arced through the sky, and flew behind the three of us, who were facing the saucer.
Maneuvering their reverse jets with amazing skill, they landed, standing so very delicately, hardly stirring up the dust.
The muzzle of the hand blaster pointed straight at us. The shoulder-mounted-box-carrying infantryman had the laser beam cannon on his left shoulder readied and pointed at us as well. Whether they were pointing their weapons aggressively or defensively wasn’t clear, but either way if felt creepy.
For a moment I turned away from the events at my back and turned my gaze to the gangplank that had descended from the single saucer.
It was right at that moment that from the rear of the hatch I could see a large figure emerge. Its shape was as wide as the hatch itself, and if it didn’t come out right, it might get stuck. What was this giant being? At first I thought the gangplank was for the mobile infantry fighters.
But that wasn’t right. It was for this living being.
The large body wrapped in a beige jumpsuit got stuck several times before making it through.
The gangplank bent under the weight.
Now the full body was revealed.
It was the owner.
The owner came walking to where we were.
As he walked his round beady eyes looked us over. His three chins wiggled to the rhythm of his steps.
I got it now. A member of Lucifer would have an ample supply of powered suits.
From the corner of the owner’s meaty mouth came a slight chuckle.
He stopped and stood just in front of us.
“We’ve got most of the miners under control,” he elated proudly, sticking out his chest. Even the special material of his jumpsuit looked like it was stretched as far as it could go. “We really turned the tables on them.”
With a triumphant gleam in his eyes he looked at the mobile infantry. One had been destroyed by the master, but three mobile infantries together with eight highly maneuverable fighters overtook the five hundred Children of God. Their defense was up to fifty armored soldiers. If you thought about the difference in their fighting strength, it was easy to guess who would be victorious.
“I am amazed you were able to find us,” Yuri said coolly. She still had the hand blaster, but carried it loosely.
“This camouflage was a real worry,” said the owner as he looked up at the fog in the sky. “And on top of that, I take my eyes off here for a moment, and look what they put up.”
The owner turned around and gestured toward the temple with his chin.
“You must be shorthanded in the human resources department. Your manager really dropped the ball on this one.”
Yuri made this severe statement rather frankly.
“Yes, that’s true,” replied the owner, his shoulders drooping. “But the balance sheet always added up in the end.”
“Huh? You mean Lucifer, right?” I slipped in, sensing good timing. I watched to see his reaction.
“Well, something, you see.”
The disappointing answers returned. Even with his secret revealed, he remained completely calm.
“The owner and Lucifer? That’s not possible…”
Instead of stirring up the owner, we ended up getting a rise out of Jeff.
“No matter what organization I associate myself with, I work for one person. Me,” said the owner. “No one can stop me from doing whatever it is I want.”
“Whatever you want? What is it that you are trying to get?” I asked.
“The power the master has obtained,” he answered. “It’s clearly too dangerous in the hands of a normal person. Now, if I could get my hands on it, we could really put it to use.”
“So what are you planning for us, now that we know your secret?”
This time it was Yuri who asked the question.
“Are you going to execute us, gangland style?”
“Nothing of the sort!”
The owner shook his head in an exaggerated gesture. His neck was hidden under his chins, so if he didn’t overdo this movement the other person couldn’t catch its meaning.
“I have some work I am thinking I need some help with. Help from you. Very much alive.”
“Help?”
It wasn’t clear to Yuri or me what he was talking about.
“The master is in possession of a dangerous monster. I have gotten evidence of this from here and there. And according to my sources he pulled the strings on the Landis incident. That one was just practice.”
“You are talking about the invisible fangs,” I said.
“Right. And in the written report it also said this. The fangs don’t like Mugis. At least that’s what my limited information implies.”
“So, you want to borrow Mugi.”
“A Mugi is a dreadful beast that cannot fall to the inferior invisible fangs. Even if I wished to borrow it, he wouldn’t come without his owners.”
“You have been studying up, huh?” said Yuri.
“Thanks to you, I escaped from the master’s trap, and then followed the Absolute Children of God to their temple.”
The owner chuckled softly again.
“Mugi was trapped in an electric net,” said Yuri, pointing a finger at the curled up Mugi lying on the ground. “Can you help him?”
“Jeremy!”
Instead of answering Yuri, the owner waved his right hand lightly.
One of the mobile infantrymen carrying a hand blaster smoothly leapt into the air. Clearing at least twenty meters, he landed next to Mugi.
He adjusted the shoulder-mounted beam cannon and lined it up.
An energy beam thinner than a thread blasted out at Mugi.
The electric net crackled noisily. Sparks began to fly and it grew thicker.
To the naked eye, the energy beam didn’t look like much, but it was dozens of times more powerful than a hand blaster.
Electricity was arcing through the air prominently, higher and higher as the beam continued shooting. The threads of the net began to break, and then disappeared completely. We couldn’t see Mugi’s body at all.
The electricity radiated brightly and an orange orb glowed in the air.
The bright ball turned to flame.
It happened so abruptly. The flames blew out like an explosion and grew suddenly to a several-meter-wide fireball.
Even though we were over ten meters away, the heat blast toasted us.
The air was so hot, it was hard to breathe.
The flames split.
Split right in two. And at the same time, a black shadow emerged.
It was Mugi.
Mugi did one flip in the air, and without a sound landed on the stone plaza floor.
“Mgyaa!”
Crying out once, his entire body moved as if he was trying to shake something off his back.
He truly is an amazing creature. Even though his body was exposed to that much energy, he appeared to be uninjured and in good shape.
“Your wish has been granted,” said the owner, turning to us.
“Now do you think you can return the favor?”