Chapter 6

Waitstate arrived at Gravix’s quarters.

“What did you find?” he asked.

“It’s taking me a while to decipher the lettering, but I’ve managed to translate a good portion of the early chapters.” Gravix pointed to a passage. “This passage refers to something known as ‘The Gathering’ taking place over thousands of vorns. By my calculations it’s around 10,000.”

“That’s a few thousand Earth years short of a million” Waitstate replied.

“That is correct” Gravix went on. “This gathering most likely refers to all the Cult members returning to a single location in order to praise Mordalis. As far as I know, this is the first time such a thing has taken place.”

“What does that mean to us?” Waitstate asked.

Gravix shrugged. “Right now it doesn’t mean anything. However, this would explain the increased Cult activities in recent months. There are simply more of those buggers in the area. Out of all of the sightings though, not one has mentioned any evidence of a large scale attack.”

“With all the power they’re rumored to have, it’s still a possibility” Waitstate stated.

Gravix nodded. “That’s very true. There’s another passage here about ‘The fall of dark and light.’ It goes on to describe two groups that have thrown down the shackles of their war only to start a new one. ‘A member from each group shall fall, one from the light, and one from the dark.’ That’s as far as I’ve gotten. There’s still a bit of backtracking I need to do.”

“So, the book can apparently tell the future. That explains why Xaraxus wanted it,” Waitstate concluded.

“That would explain why anyone would want it” Gravix added. “If the Autobots and Decepticons weren’t so involved in their war, perhaps this would be a more notable issue.”

“Very true” Waitstate commented. “There’s another thing I’ve been meaning to ask you about.”

Gravix looked interested. “Oh?”

Waitstate sat at attention. “Your brother is back and you don’t seem the least bit interested. I know you’ve had your differences, but he just came back from the dead. Surely that sparks some interest in you.”

“I’m just being cautious. We don’t know how he died or how he came back. I tend to stay away from the unknown if at all possible,” Gravix told Waitstate. “Once I figure out what’s wrong with him, I’ll be a little more open”

“How do you propose to figure out what’s wrong with him from your quarters? Don’t tell me you expect to find something about it in that book of yours” Waitstate queried.

“I think all of the recent events surrounding LONAC have an explanation in this Book, even my arrival here” Gravix responded. He looked back down at the book in a moment of silent reflection.

Waitstate stood up. “That’s good enough, for now. Good work on the Book. Let me know the moment you find out anything new.”

“I will Waitstate” Gravix said as he looked up. “And you’ll tell me anything you can about Artifice right?”

Waitstate smiled and nodded as he left Gravix’s quarters.

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Cirrus came storming into Waitstate’s office. “This is getting ridiculous!”

“What seems to be the problem?” Waitstate asked.

Cirrus took a seat. “I’ve been trying to run through some standard routines with Artifice. He failed miserably at all of them. Then when tried to get him to run one of the consoles, he cracked it with his fist after I told him to run a simple communication’s exercise.”

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t expect anything like this to happen” Waitstate said as he got up. “I’ll have a talk with him.”

Waitstate exited his office and walked over to Artifice’s console. He was still touching the screen as if he were trying to figure out how to operate the device.

Waitstate walked up behind him. “Artifice, I’ve had a report about a few problems regarding your performance.”

“No no, I’ve got it now, see?” Artifice touched a few sensors on his screen and activated his damaged console.

Waitstate put his hand on Artifice’s shoulder. “Look, you’ve been through a lot. Why don’t you take a rest-”

Artifice batted the hand off of his shoulder cutting him off. “I told you I’ve got it now! All this thing needs is a few drops of Junkion brand glue and everything will be fine.”

Waitstate sighed. “I’m going to have to order you to take a long rest. I don’t want to see you on the bridge until we’ve gotten you straightened out.”

“Oh, orders from the benevolent Waitstate who can’t possibly do wrong. Don’t worry, I won’t bother you on your precious bridge.” Artifice stood up and gave his console a swift kick as he left the bridge.

“You’re gonna have to lock him up, you know that right?” Roadkill asked.

“It won’t come to that. I’ll find out what’s wrong” Waitstate said as he left to follow Artifice. He was already letting Artifice get away with too much; if he was any more lenient he knew it would cause more trouble with the rest of the crew.

“Sheesh, if I did that I’d be confined to quarters!” Roadkill shouted.