Icebreakers emblazoned with the Paragon Industries logo made their way towards the Abbadon, Doc Paragon stood on the deck of the lead ship, staring intently out across the frozen wastes.
He wore little more than his standard business attire, although the crewmen were bundled up tight against the cold. Lifting up a pair of binoculars, he took note of the membership of his team standing upon the deck and waving towards the ships. All but one. . .
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"And how are we supposed to get Adem back? We have no way of getting to him?" Lykopis thundered, pounding a fist against the wall of of one the Paragon ships many cabins.
"Ah, but we do have a way, don't we, Edmund?" Drake smiled, looking over a the Shadow Chancellor, who pulled a small bundle of cloth from one of his pockets and began to unwrap it.
"We can find Adem with these." He offered, as the Vanguardians looked upon several small fragments of shattered crystal.
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Adem's nanites had shifted into thick, heavy clothing to keep him warm on the frozen planet. He kept moving as best he could to escape detection from his pursuers. They howled and whistled unearthly tunes in pursuit of him. Shortly after he'd arrived, he'd shattered the crystal against one of the megalithic stone pillars.
That was the catch, you see. The crystal had to be destroyed from this end, so they couldn't return. At least, not for some time.
Adem crept around a corner and sat down and waited. He expected it would be some time before help arrived, if at all. He'd lost contact with Jym, and was growing very tired. He leaned back and felt an arm wrap itself around his throat.
The alien detective struggled, but the grasp he found himself in, was much stronger even than his own. He felt himself pulled backwards into. . .something familiar. . .
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"Welcome back, Adem!" The Vanguardians shouted, as Adem turned and saw Doc Paragon standing behind him, one arm wrapped around his neck. "You put up quite a struggle, Mr. Different." Paragon said, relaxing his grip to let the alien free.
Shaking hands, Adem had a perplexed look on his face. Almost frowning, he asked, "But how did you find me?"
"The crystal fragments you found," Drake answered, "were the remains of the original crystal the wendigoes used to travel to Earth."
"Paragon and Jym fed them into the computers and used them to power their. . .space inductor. . .?" Lykopis asked, looking up from a cup of wine.
"Subspatial inducer." Paragon mildly corrected her. "From there, it was a simple matter to locate your bio electric energy signature." Paragon offered the alien a cup of wine. "A toast, to a successful first mission. . ."
