Quantos nodded. "Right. Explanations are due... although you understand they will be sketchy for most. we can't let you return to your past with too much knowledge of your future."
The squirrel fled around Quantos head. "Affirmative. Knowledge of future times potentially lead to disaster!" Three scientists looked at each other, nodding in awe.
Quantos looked paternally at the squirrel, and then continued. As his tale began to unfold, the lights in the place dimmed, and three dimensional images appeared and began to unfold behind the doctor.
"Many generations ago, the planet Earth surface was destroyed during the so called Metahumans wars. It was when the fabled island of Man Adam sank in the Ocean, and the Rotten Man set the world surface ablaze with the Nook-liar Fire. Obviously they are all legends, and probably it is just how simpler minds explained the warming up of the atmosphere that lead to the total desertification of our mother planet."
Edulcore growled. The name Rotten Man was easy to decipher.
"Pardon me?" asked politely Quantos.
"Nothing. Please, continue..." hissed Euro.
"Well, the legend says it has been Vanguard to save the human kind, relocating here on the Moon their Kingdom. Please, follow me" said Quantos, leading the group toward a closed door.
"Our kingdom?" whispered, inquisitive, Brianna in the hear of Grissom. The British simply shrugged.
Quantos whistled, and the door opened like a iris shutter. For the umpteenth time since their departure with the boat earlier that morning, the jaws of the Vanguardian dropped at unison. On the other side of the shutter, there was a whole island, with a volcano, many towns, fields and orchards, surrounded by a narrow circle of water. Above, an enormous glass dome separated the island from the void of space.
"Lady and gentlemen, our community: The Lost" said Quantos, waving one arm in an ample gesture, like a magician on stage.
"The Lost. Meaning La Perdita" explained Grissom.
Brianna darted herself in air. From the backpack of Euro, two enormous mechanical wings sprouted out, and he, too, jumped from the small balcony overlooking the island, where the Vanguardians and Quantos were located.
"It's fantastic! I was dying of claustrophobia" said Brianna.
"Yeah, me too!" said Euro, smiling, hovering a few metres above the balcony.
Grissom turned to face Quantos. "And then?"
"Documentation is scarce. At some point, from here we started to colonise the Solar System. One of the first planet to be settled was Mars, and then the Asteroids Belt. But as the surface of the island was progressively occupied by the growing population, a legendary king of our past, Sean Montague of the Black Wing, decided to terraform Venus, and transfer there all the remnants of the wildlife of The Lost.
This, too, is probably a legend, as the luscious forests of Venus are too rich in biological diversity to believe it was terraformed just generations ago. But, whatever the origins of that planet are, Venus is today a sanctuary for wilderness in all the Solar System."
Ed and Brianna had returned to the balcony, and they were both perching on the parapet.
Quantos continued: "Well, to make it short, our Queen was leading an expedition on Venus to take provisions of the First Element, that is in supply shortage here, and is essential to our surviving. Once there, she has been captured by the Warlord of Mars, Hunter Kann. He never posed a threat for The Lost, as our Army of One has always been too powerful for him. But now, he is blocking our supply of First Element, and is keeping captive our Queen on the surface of the planet, forcing us to surrender."
Rama frowned. "To surrender? Why don't you attack them? If you were able to defend yourself here, why not bring the war on Venus?"
Quantos eyes opened wide. "What? Oh, no sir. We... we can't leave the safe artificial atmosphere of controlled environment. Going in the wild... I can't think of it, it's too... it give me chills. And to think our Queen has been taken from the ship and brought there... oh, it's too sad."
"So" began Grissom, "what do you want from us... is to defeat that tyrant and let the Queen free?"
Quantos nodded. "Yes. And let the Queen bringing life back to Moon!".
Grissom looked at Bree, then at Phil, at Rama, Bruteforce and Euro. "We are six, doctor. Six and a tin squirrel. I don't see how we could overthrow an interplanetary armada."
Quantos opened his arms. "But you... you once saved the whole Earth life. You started the colonisation of the stars. Yoou MUST save us."
