Three

The way to Jupiter Tower's main sanctum was a long walk Iason did not mind taking, dodging guards, eluding surveillance and all manner of securities rather effortlessly as they made their way through. Perhaps because he had wanted to be alone, and, the entire building having been rigged to accept Jupiter's commands - ironically, his commands now - was easily manipulated to give them the space he wanted.

The pods, he surmised, had a trigger mechanism that would alert a control or monitoring team when they awakened, but it had conveniently malfunctioned as he roused into consciousness, even as he'd taken Riki out of his own bed. A handy skill. He remembered it now. This was all Jupiter's doing and he had proceeded to study it all in earnest sooner enough so as to wield it now. He couldn't help but feel like he was waging battle against an entire unjustified world.

The cold halls and hidden corridors were silent, dark, unoccupied as they moved on, nothing but his light footfall resounding against the metallic surface of the entire structure, as he carried his weightless beloved in his arms, progressing forward to that destination. He had used the sheets in the pods to wrap them both, wounding the ample rubicund cloth; forming a hood over their heads and making them look like two mysterious figures only further hidden by the shroud of shadows.

When they got to the levitating platform, the usual retinal scan that allowed Tanagura's Blondies admission was not performed, the transport automatically floating up with the two into the very heart and core of what once had been the brain of the land high abovse in Jupiter's Tower.

The room was as mercilessly dark. It was damp. It was freezing. No overwhelming presence existed now in the circular space to suffocate Iason. No god. Jupiter has not been here for a long time now, that was easy to tell. Moment of truth.

The Blondie laid Riki onto the nearest appliance he could find: a cerebral link, which in all plainness was just a mere semicircular bed used to integrate into the System. It was not functioning, Iason predicting how the others might have attempted to substitute his interaction with Jupiter during his absence but to no avail. They had attempted certainly to salvage the System on the verge of annihilation, but he could tell there was no success. Yet knowing Raoul, he would have tried everything.

"I'll return my love," the Blondie kissed Riki's cheek, hand trailing over the warmed spot where his lips had impressed themselves before he let go of that warmth. With quiet grace, he made it to the centre of the room, drawing his makeshift hood down.

His mind drifted back to that dream. To Jupiter.

"Why?"

' Because I miscalculated...I shall grant you this one last gift...The capability to protect the only being you loved all your life. The being you cared for more than you cared for...Tanagura. '

Is that really all there is to have had Jupiter change his mind so completely?

"I...need answers...Tell me what I must know!" Iason closed his eyes, pleaded, raising his hands as if in supplication to a deity that may never heed. The sheet slipped but he let it be, glorifying in the fact that this naked state was more a perfect significance to what he was now, an empty shell of his former self. Tonight he will decide perhaps how he will accept the new burden Jupiter had left him or perhaps he will learn how to deny it.

The mechanism he recalled to once project Jupiter's manifestation hummed with a start, glowing from within and slowly taking light, slowly changing as a reaction to his call. Then came the riveting ribbons of data, exploding in profusion enough to shine the room and illuminate Riki's beautiful face as he lay there motionless on one side.

The ribbons reached for Iason, embraced him in spirals, surrounding his nakedness with precious confidential details, protocols and orders known only perhaps to a god, and must now be known to him. Unbelievably, he processed it all, catching all the messages pre-installed by Jupiter, his already fully-awakened mind filing them away for further analysis later. He just wanted to know what he needed for now.

' To my heir apparent, ' the Blondie finally opened his eyes, hearing the dead god's virtual voice rise into synthetic speech. He relaxed, looking into the circle of light that had now manifested and engulfed the entire chamber without him noticing. He squinted his eyes a bit to adjust to the glare, but he remained still, determined to know what Jupiter wanted. ' Listen to my instruction and heed my Will... '

In all this, Riki shifted, brows knitting but his master had not seen this subtle change. The message continued, every word a definite echo in the sacred mechanical space: ' You are now...

"...the new Jupiter..."

---

The main control nerve of Tanagura was drenched in a sudden red light, causing the Council members present for a briefing to suddenly halt midway their heated altercations as the alarm continued to bawl on. A beacon had been set off somewhere.

Immediately, Raoul called for his staff, but the comlinks had malfunctioned, much fluctuation and interference on the lines. Communication was nearly impossible as the floating screens contorted, warped. He bolted.

Taking the teleporting gates, he surged into the monitoring floor, and in a fit of pure rage snapped, "What had happened!?"

The staff was scrambling when the rest of the Council filed in behind, "Raoul, what's going on?"

Finally, someone answered, "Sir, there'd been a break in..."

Raoul was flabbergasted, "Where?"

"Top level, Jupiter's Tower sir. Someone had accessed it. We detected various system abnormalities from within it."

Raoul's mouth literally dropped, "How can that be? The Jupiter interface is already dead!"

"We don't know sir. Droids have already been dispatched to investigate..."

"How can someone access Jupiter?"

How indeed? For a year since the incident, any interactions in that area had ceased to exist. No android in Tanagura, Blondie or otherwise, nor even specially synthesized intellectual recovery programs have been able to pry open the data mainframes that have been left within. No matter what they did, the secrets of Jupiter had already been lost to time, to deterioration...or have they?

"...no way..." Raoul trailed off at the realization of one possibility. Methodologically, he then activates the screens, getting blurry views from surveillance, but no matter as he flicked his hand and eyes over all the most recent records rather frantically, looking at all the access images in search of something.

"Raoul, tell us what's happening," the other members were buzzing with various queries but he ignored them as if what he was doing took precedence. The warning sound still beamed in the background, refusing to stop as he himself refused to pause even to breathe.

"Raoul!" finally, Gideon Lagat made him turn, stopping him with a hand on his shoulder long enough to ask, "What is happening?"

The screen projection suddenly flickered to a stop. Raoul turned his attentions to it, immediately ignoring that question again to magnify the image so that the entire room could see, including the other impatient members of the Council, what he was going for. Thankfully, someone had already hushed the alarms and the peace had settled, albeit briefly.

It was the room where they kept them, the Blondie of Tanagura and his Mongrel Pet, but to everyone's surprise, the pods were opened, the compartments completely empty save for the impressions of bodies that have recently occupied them, now gone. The covering sheets were likewise gone.

Raoul slammed his fists.

"Who's been monitoring this room?!"

No one dared answer from the staff at first, then, with much hesitation, three upstarts recently graduated from Midas raised their voices, stammering as they replied, "W-We were my lord."

Raoul wanted to be angry. Gideon however had eased a hand on his shoulder once more, this time, for calm.

"They wouldn't have gone out of Tanagura. Iason could still be here," the latter predicted, swallowing exhaustion.

"We need to find him. We need to find them..."