To Infinity and Beyond

Previous - RETURN - Next

To Infinity and Beyond

Episode 04: A dangerous friendship

© 19th of April 2006 – Kitty Ocean for the story; Disney (Buzz Lightyear from Star Command) for the characters

This story is a Fan fiction, and only for free entertainment purposes. 

 

Buzz, Mira, Booster and XR were standing in front of a large sliding door. They didn’t look too happy, and worry was written all over their faces. Booster sat on a bench, looking at his playing fingers, while Mira leaned against the wall. Buzz Lightyear kept walking in circles over and over again, and little XR just deeply sighed over and over again. For once he decided not to make jokes.

“Well, better late than never.” They suddenly heard a harsh voice, and all snapped around.

“Commander!” Buzz noticed, and swallowed a bit. He saluted, but also knew he was in a lot of trouble.

“I was already looking for you and your team.” Commander Nebula walked at them, and watched them all salute. “Interesting, isn’t it?”

“What Commander?” Buzz asked.

“I didn’t know I spoke a different language.” Commander Nebula narrowed his eyes. “Because I believe my order was staying here, INSTEAD OF GOING ON A NUT-CRACK RESCUE MISSION!”

“It was Sir.” Buzz took responsibility. “And I admit it was a foolish decision, and my team only followed my orders.”

“Hey, don’t take the blame!” Mira snapped at him. “We all did this because we wanted it!”

“Don’t be such a fool.” Buzz hissed at her. “Don’t risk your status over this!”

“No Buzz, we are a team!” Mira pointed at him, and both Booster and XR agreed. “If you go down, we all go down.”

“Do we have to?” XR mumbled for a moment, but then too agreed.

“Well, since that’s decided…” Commander Nebula started. “I think it’s best to let this one slide as a warning… that is… IF YOU WON’T PULL SUCH A STUNT AGAIN!”

“Yes Sir!” Team Lightyear saluted united.

“Good.” Commander Nebula still mumbled. “No matter how successful, it was still a crazy stunt.”

“Ehm…Commander?” Booster suddenly boldly asked. “Do you know how Nané is doing?”

Commander Nebula shook his face. “They assured me she will recover, but I’m going in for the details right now. The LGM were making sure there was no trace of hypnotism left.”

“Wise decision.” Buzz complimented the Commander, but stepped back when the Commander looked at him. It was probably better to stay low for a while; after all, he risked his entire team only for a personal vendetta with the evil emperor and his ex-partner. He was lucky to only get a warning.

XR agreed, but added something more. “But at least we now know on whose side she is, and thank the planets it’s ours! Can you imagine what would have happened if she was indeed hypnotized?!”

Commander Nebula ignored the little robot and pushed on a button. The door slid open, and he stepped inside. Team Lightyear peeked around the corner, and watched the Commander walking down. Then the Commander stopped and turned around. “Well? Are you coming or not?” He invited them with his strict tone.

“Yes Sir!” Team Lightyear immediately obeyed and almost tripped over each other trying to get inside.

Commander Nebula continued walking on (was that a smile upon his face??), and saw 5 little green men with Nané. When Nané spotted the Commander, she tried to jump up and salute, but instead she tripped over an LGM and crashed down. She apologized, and stood up quickly again, saluting the Commander. “Rookie Nané Sophia repo-…”

The Commander stopped her. “At ease Rookie.” He commanded her. “I was told you were pretty hurt after that shot.”

Nané fanned it away. “Nah, I’ve been worse.” But then she remembered protocols and saluted again. “Don’t worry, Sir!” She added.

“But I do Rookie.” Commander Nebula said to her. “That is, if you still wish to become a Space Ranger.”

Nané’s mouth almost fell open, and then it felt like her heart was dancing with joy. “You… you mean I can stay?” Commander Nebula nodded, and Nané was ready to just throw herself around his neck, hugging him. “Thank you so much!” She said instead, containing her enthusiasm.

“However…”

Nané’s enthusiasm died down. “However?” And then she started whispering. “I hate ‘however’.”

Commander Nebula couldn’t help but smile once again. He couldn’t predict if she would ever succeed as a Space Ranger, but she had her charms in his eyes. Somehow he could just feel her love for Star Command, and that she would do anything for it. However, he simply scratched his voice when he continued. “I want you to take some time off to recover.”

“But…” Nané started pouting. “I’m 100% again.”

“That’s not a suggestion Rookie, that’s an order!” Commander Nebula snapped at her. “You are going home for a week and you will have some fun, you heard me?”

Nané grumbled. “Yes Sir…” She started, but then started walking away moping. “Okay, okay, I’ll go. And I will only have fun because it was ordered to me. Like staying at home is much fun. Means I have to get out as well. Why punish me? I was the one who was kidnapped!” And with those words, she left the room.

“I think someone here really loves Star Command.” Mira giggled.

Commander Nebula’s face softened up for a moment, but then became strict again. “Yes, she really has a heart for Star Command. Rookies like her are hard to find.”

“Indeed.” XR concluded. “She has quite some impressive skills. So, what do you think Buzz? A year? Maybe two?”

“And then what?” Buzz liked to know.

“Well, then you can retire of course!” XR explained. “I mean, it’s a fact she’s better than you are, so I’m guessing it will take a year till she wrote her own set of rules, and that she will fully replace you!”

Mira giggled, Booster gasped, and Buzz started steaming. “I shall never retire!” He bellowed at XR, whose head started spinning inside his ‘helmet’.

XR pushed his head back in place. “You know, I’m standing right next to you.” He mumbled annoyed. “You don’t need to scream…”

At that moment an LGM waggled at Commander Nebula and gave him a report. “Ah, thank you.” He simply said and skipped some pages. He mumbled a few times, as well as nodding, but then said: “Just as I feared.”

“Anything wrong?” Booster asked worried. “Is it about Nané?”

Commander Nebula shook his face. “No, it’s the damage report about Zurg’s Power Suit.”

“And?” Buzz liked to know.

“Out Controls ruined.” One LGM said.

“Can’t be fixed by us.” Another added. “Very rare components.”

“I thought the LGM could fix anything?” Mira asked Buzz confused.

“Sorry…” The 5 LGM said united and depressed. They were sounding so hurt and depressed, Mira started to feel very bad as well. “I didn’t mean it like that!!” She tried to make them feel better.

 

The journey home took her a few hours, but Nané finally reached her home again, on Capital Planet. She sighed relieved when she noticed Star Command had replaced the door, but when she opened the door, her heart sank into her shoes and beyond. Everywhere she looked, she saw a huge mess, from her fight with Zurg’s hornets. The bag dropped on the floor, and Nané sighed, but then shook up.

In fear, she grabbed her face, and mentioned: “Corona is going to kill me if she sees this mess!” She counted on her fingers. “I came home, day one, visited Zurg, day two, returned to Star Command day three…that means it’s now day four!” Relieved she sighed. “Means I have en entire day to clean… this… all… up…” Depressed she wanted to flop down on the couch, but missed it because it was moved.

Nané cursed a moment, and then looked around. This would take an entire day to clean this all up! There was no way she could… “Unless…” Nané started smiling, and stood up. Quickly she closed all windows and curtains, and made sure nobody could see her. Double checking everything, Nané took a position in the middle of the room, and focused.

Quickly she looked around one more time, and then was assured. “Just this once…” She told herself, and closed her eyes. Folding her hands and concentrating, Nané slowly started to glow blue. And then, all of a sudden… everything in the room started to float! Trapped in little blue glows, everything started to float back to their original place.

Nané’s forehead showed signs of concentration, as well as that this was hard for her. The couch slowly got pushed back to its place, the pictures back on the wall, the books back on the shelf…

The sound of the doorbell was enough to let Nané lose her concentration, and everything suddenly dropped on the floor. A vase crashed into shards, amidst the mess that was still around in the half cleaned room. “Shoot!” Nané cursed. “That was Corona’s favorite vase!”

Annoyed, Nané turned around and stomped at that door. Whoever would be there, would surely get a load of her opinion. Filled with anger, Nané pulled the door open, but suddenly gasped for air. Before her… in front of her…

Nané suddenly slammed the door close and tried to push it even closer with her back. “No!” She screamed. “Not again! I don’t want to get near Zurg ever again; he’s an idiot!”

On the other side, a young man stared confused at the closed door and listened to the screams of the girl in panic. He scratched with his hand through his hair, and actually could understand her response.

“Wait!” The man with a blue skin tried. “It’s not…”

Suddenly Nané pulled the door open and pointed a laser gun at the man. “Get lost Warp!” Nané pointed at Warp Darkmatter, who was the one who rang on her doorbell. But instead of wearing his Power Suit, he wore quite casual clothes, if you didn’t take his mechanical arm into account. “I want some rest, so hereby I will friendly persuade you to LEAVE.”

Warp stepped back. “Hey, watch where you point that thing.” He mentioned worried. “That thing is dangerous.”

“I know, it’s supposed to scare you.” Nané hissed.

“Well, it works.” Warp mentioned back. “Put that down. I’m not armed; see?” He showed all his pockets.

Nané didn’t lower her laser gun, as her face changed. She was unimpressed by his comment, as her face slid to his mechanical arm. “Funny that YOU of all people mention that.” She mumbled.

Warp noticed his mechanical arm. “Oh… that…” He noticed. “Ehm… I don’t plan on using it.”

“What is wrong with you?” Nané hissed at him. “Did Zurg fire you?!”

“No.” Warp replied a bit offended. “Look, he thinks I’m getting some parts for him on Trade World.”

“That was three planets back to the left.” Nané lowered her laser. “So, you got lost or something?”

Warp looked down at the ground, and at his feet. “No… not really… I actually wanted to ask you something…” Then he showed some flowers.

“Huh?!” Nané was astounded, and blushed a bit. “What is this supposed to mean?!”

Warp looked confused. “I thought this was a custom in your culture. When you go to visit someone, you bring them a gift. Was I mistaken?”

Nané shook her face. “No, not really. I’m just not raised here.” She accepted the flowers anyway. Then she sighed a bit annoyed by her own self. “Fine, fine, come on in.” She stepped away from the door. “Oi, I must be so stupid for doing this.” Warp followed her inside. “And not a word about the mess. YOU were the one who caused this all.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Warp responded without thinking, and looked around. “You actually have quite a nice place here…”

“Who hit you in the head?” Nané blurted out, but when she noticed Warp hadn’t heard a thing, she did like she hadn’t said a thing. “I share this place with my sister Corona.” She watched him sitting down on the couch. “So, why are you here?” A part of her felt crazy for allowing him to have a talk with her, but on the other side… he seemed sincere. “Well…” Warp started.

“Not in the mood for guessing games.” Nané was startled by herself; how impolite of her… wait a second… this was Star Command’s biggest traitor who she said this to! And he was sitting on her couch! What in the world hit HER in the head?

“Something has been bugging me since you know… that day.” Warp started, and Nané had the urge to throw something back, but tried to stay polite anyway. At this moment, he was still her guest.

“It would have been saver if you asked that by e-mail.” Nané showed Warp she was still confused about his visit.

Warp smiled and nodded. “True. But I don’t think that would have been saver.” Warp stood up again, and looked into her eyes. “Why did you do that?”

“Did what?” Nané actually started to feel insecure the moment he stood up again.

“Why did you help me?” Warp explained. “Why did you help me become Zurg’s favorite again?”

Nané swallowed, and looked down at the ground. “Well… I don’t know… Mother always said to me that sometimes it’s best to get things back like they used to be. This seemed like a good moment. Zurg wouldn’t win.”

“But neither would Star Command.” Warp added. Then silence filled the room. Nané looked a bit around, and dusted a chair off a bit, while Warp sat down again, looking around at the pictures that hung on the wall. “So… how do you do it?” Warp asked again. “That telepathy stuff.”

Nané almost dropped the glass she was holding in her hands (she had picked it up from the floor). She did NOT expect that question. “Excuse me?” She began startled. “I… I don’t know. I was born with this gift.”

“But you are human.” Warp said back.

“Last time I checked I indeed was.” Nané added. “And I’d rather keep this between us as well, okay?”

Warp nodded. Silence filled the room for a moment once more, but then Warp’s curiosity took over once more. “Can you do more?”

Nané took her time to reply. Before her sat a great criminal, who already knew one of her biggest secrets… and he acted like it was quite normal! ‘What if he does this for Zurg?’ Nané thought to herself. ‘What if this is all a trick? I can’t just spill it all to him.’ But then she remembered the words her sister Corona often said to her: ‘Listen to your heart. It tells you what to do.’

‘Oh great.’ Nané started thinking. ‘Now THAT helps. My brain screams no, and my heart screams yes. How do I know if I can trust him?’

“Anything wrong?” Warp inquired.

“How do I know if I can trust you?” Nané decided to be straight forward about this. “How do I know this is not some trick from Zurg?”

Warp was astounded by the reply, but then answered truthfully. “You don’t.” He only said. “I can only give you my word. I’m here because I wanted to come here. Zurg doesn’t even know I’m here. And if it was up to me, I would like to keep it like that.”

At that moment, the door bell rang once more. Nané looked up surprised, and because of pure instinct, she walked at the door. “Mm, busy day.” She mumbled, and took the handle of the door. When she opened the door, she immediately slammed the door close again. “Ack!” She screamed out.

“Nané are you all right?” A voice called out, and now Warp was ready to die of a heart attack as well.

“Buzz Lightyear??!” He whispered, almost hiding behind the couch.

“The whole team!” Nané whispered back. Then she heard Buzz calling her name again. “Yes, yes, I’m fine!” She called out. “It’s just a HUGE mess in here.” Then she turned to Warp. *Quick!* She ordered him telepathically. *In the closet!*

Nané saw Warp almost tripping over his own feet to get into the closet. If anyone would find Warp in her house, she would be in immense trouble! How could she ever explain this?!

Warp closed the door behind him and noticed a small crack in the door. The signs of a battle were still visible, and Warp actually considered buying Nané a new closet door. He peeked through the crack, and suddenly pushed himself into the back of the closet. *Everything in your house is floating!* He said telepathically to her (or actually, she picked up his thoughts).

*Does this answer your question?* Nané informed him of her ability of levitation.

It didn’t take Nané long before the room was presentable again. Quickly she opened the door, and apologized. “I’m so sorry for letting you wait!” She smiled. “Do come in!”

Buzz smiled and accepted the offer. “We thought we’d drop by, and maybe assist you with cleaning up.” But then he looked around. “But it seems you already managed.”

“Oh, just don’t look into the bed room!” Nané joked a bit.

“Why not?” XR rolled at the bedroom door, but Buzz stopped him.

“Mira, won’t you go in?” Booster asked her.

Mira looked up. “Oh, sure.” She offered him to get in first, and apparently, the door was not calculated for someone of Booster’s size. “It’s just…” Mira started pushing Booster. “I thought… I sensed… some energy…”

Booster suddenly popped into the house. “Energy?”

“Yes, but very vague.” Mira followed Booster.

“Maybe you felt the heat.” Booster tried to explain it.

“Yeah, probably.” Mira agreed.

XR rolled through the little house. “Nice place you have here. And nice flowers as well. Who are they from?”

Nané swallowed. The flowers! She forgot to hide them! “They… they are a gift from my roommate!” She quickly said. “Go on, sit down. Could I get you all something to drink?”

“Ah, thank you.” Buzz smiled, and took off his coat. Nané had already noticed Team Lightyear was on an unofficial visit, as they all worse casual clothes (except for XR, for obvious reasons). “But let me first hang up our coats. Is this your closet to hang them?” He took the jackets from Mira and Booster, and did not notice that a great criminal was sweating on the other side of the door.

“Oh, let me do it!” Nané tried to offer, but Buzz laughed it off.

“No, no, you need to rest.” He smiled at her, and his hand went at the handle of the closet. “I’ll do it.”

*Do something!* Warp practically prayed.

*Don’t move!* Nané ordered back.

Buzz opened the closet and hung up the coats. He dropped Mira’s jacket on accident, but calmly picked it up and hung it up as well. Mira looked around confused. “There’s that feeling again.” She noticed.

“Maybe you are getting a cold.” Booster suggested.

“I hope not.” Mira mumbled. “Tangean colds are so annoying.”

*What… what just happened?* Warp asked Nané telepathically, who sighed relieved.

Nané tried to avoid looking at the door, while she prepared some drinks as well as opening some curtains and a window. *I must be an idiot for doing this. I made you invisible for a moment.*

*Invisible?* Warp asked amazed.

*Yeah, but I can’t do it that well yet, so you are visible now again.* She informed him. Then she walked back into the room with some drinks, and a can of oil for XR. *This proves I believe in your word, and it also means that if you betray me, you will meet a side of me that is NOT so nice.*

“Ah, thank you.” Buzz smiled and took his drink.

Nané sat down, trying to make a conversation, but also to think of a way to get Team Lightyear out of her house as soon as possible. “So… anything new?” She started. “You must have taken the Shuttle to Capital Planet after me.”

XR jumped up happily. “Yes, there IS something new!” He proudly widened his arms. “Your Power Suit was completely ruined.”

“Ah, too bad.” Nané said. “I hoped Star Command could use it to it’s advantage somehow.”

*Hey, that must have been a great shot!* Warp smiled.

*Don’t be all proud of it mister!* Nané hissed back telepathically.

“But the LGM managed to save one part!” XR ended.

*Ha!* Nané laughed at Warp.

*Probably the screws.* Warp said back annoyed.

“Which part was it?” Nané was not really curious or interested; all she wanted was to get Team Lightyear out of here in the fastest yet most polite way possible.

“They gave it to me!* XR let some sort of visor appear before his eyes. “With this, I can not only look through metal and walls, but also a person’s body heat! And by analyzing the height, heat and sizes, I can also identify that person.”

“Cool.” Nané smiled. “But why is it so special? (And why was it in the suit?). Isn’t it faster to identify someone by just, oh, I don’t know… looking at them?”

XR looked a bit sad. “Well… it also helps if you want to look through disguises.” He mumbled. “It would be really handy against the Gargantuan Rebels.”

Nané felt sorry for the little robot, and cursed at herself for being so rude and impolite. “Oh, I see. Well, maybe you can show me how it works?”

XR simply lit up again, and started looking around. “Let’s see… who is here…Buzz Lightyear, Mira Nova… Booster Sinclair Munchapper…”

Nané nodded. “Impressive.” She said. “But how do I know your new gadget is telling you that?”

XR ignored her, and just went on. “Nané Sophia, Warp Darkmatter…” But then he jumped up. “WARP DARKMATTER?!”

Nané slammed herself in the face. How stupid of her! “Warp?!” Buzz leaped up, getting a laser out of his pocket (why did he take one along?). “Where?”

“In the closet, in the closet!” XR panicked and pointed at the door with a crack.

*Now would be a really good moment to use your powers again!* Warp pushed himself against the wall.

Buzz carefully walked at the closet and stood next to it. On the other side, Mira was getting ready as well. “Warp, get out of there, with your hands up!” All of a sudden, he pulled the door open, and aimed his gun at… a bunch of jackets and a wall.

Curious everyone stared into the closet. “XR, no one is here…” Booster said.

*Are you okay?* Warp asked Nané, who seemed to be gritting her teeth, and looked as if she was going to crush the couch between her hands. She was NOT having an easy time.

“But he’s there! He’s there!” XR yelled and pointed. “I can see him!”

*Get out of there!* Nané quickly ordered, as she felt her powers were about to break.

Not hesitating, Warp obeyed the ordered immediately, and ran at the open window. “There he goes, there he goes!” XR pointed, and everyone followed the robot’s fingers… that pointed at a way from the closet to the window, while nobody saw a thing.

“You know what I think?” Mira pondered. “I think XR has trouble integrating the new hardware.” She kneeled at him. “He probably thought he saw something, because of the bugs.” However, she wasn’t certain of herself. Just now, she had started feeling weird again, but decided not to tell anyone.

“Sure, XR is crazy again!” XR crossed his arm. “I know what I saw!”

“Oh poor XR!” Booster played with his fingers. “Maybe we should take him to the LGM.”

Buzz nodded. “I’m afraid I must agree with your Booster.” Then he turned to Nané. “I’m very sorry about this. It seems we must already leave you again.”

“Oh, that’s okay.” Nané smiled. “I can understand. XR’s health is more important.”

Mira had taken the coats, and Booster was already pushing himself out of the door again. XR complained he was not ill and that nobody believed him, while Nané escorted them all out. She waved them good bye, and asked Buzz to inform her of XR’s health. Buzz replied by promising that, if Nané would promise to take a rest. Nané smiled, waved, giggled, closed the door, sighed deeply, wanted to flop on the couch again… and missed it once again.

 

It was already getting late when Warp reached Zurg’s castle again. He didn’t even bother to report to Zurg. He just wanted to get to his room and back to bed. Tomorrow he would go to his own home again, and give it all some nice deep thinking. Maybe even a week off or so.

“Well?” Zurg asked him while Warp accidentally passed him. “Where are those very rare and expensive components? I need them to complete my Hyper Mega Very Evil Super Hornet! I can’t....”

“He had to order them.” Warp only said. “I can come back tomorrow.”

Zurg steamed up and was ready to kill anyone who came near to him. “What?!” He almost exploded. “But he said he would have them today! I want you to go back and…”

“Whatever, I’m tired.” Warp walked away. “He won’t get them faster if I beat him up. And we might lose our discount that way.”

“Cursed!” Zurg yelled. “Why am I dependent on such low-life idiots and a budget!?”

Warp simply left the room and walked at his own room. It was nothing compared to what Nané would get, or his own residence, but it was good enough to spend the night. He sat down on his couch, and took the remote control from his television. “Close call…” He couldn’t help but sigh.

*Close call indeed*

Warp looked around surprised. “Nané?!”

*Don’t speak.* Nané forbid him. *Use telepathy* A vague image of herself appeared before Warp.

*My, secret ability number 4.* Warp smiled.

*Astral Projection is even harder for me than invisibility.* Nané told him.

*Then why are you doing this?* Warp asked her.

The image of Nané shrugged. *Beats me. I must be getting the flue or so. But I’m loyal to Star Command, no matter what!*

Warp nodded. *Wouldn’t dare to think otherwise.*

*I keep business and pleasure strictly separated.* Nané added as well.

The blue skinned man agreed. *Nobody has to know we have talked to each other. And if we meet each other again, we’ll just do our job.*

*Glad we made that clear.* Nané’s image started, but then flickered a bit.

*Are you okay?* Warp asked worried.

Nané nodded. *Yeah, I’m fine. I just wanted to tell you I’ll have my neighbour bringing a package for you on Trade World.*

*Won’t he be suspicious?* Warp liked to know.

*If I don’t ask him questions, he won’t ask me, if you catch my drift.* Nané filled him in. *He will place it before the store that sells Dungean Frog Biscuits.*

*For someone who is loyal to Star Command, you sure have some pretty shifty connections.* Warp grinned.

*I have no proof on him anyway.* Nané ended the conversation. *I must close the connection; I can’t hold this much longer.*

Warp stood up. *Just one more question.* Nané nodded. *Does… does this mean… we are friends?* He saw Nané astounded face, and the image flickered once more. *I mean… can we talk more like this? Strictly about not-work-stuff.*

Nané looked doubting. But then she realised she was going to send him a package! She already had the same feelings and ideas about this. But this couldn’t… this was crazy! But if it was only about things that were not related to Star Command… and her heart told her this was okay.

*I… I guess we can… Yeah… I guess we are friends then…*

 

The next day, Warp returned to Trade World. First he made sure he picked up the parts for Zurg. The man wondered why Warp was a day late, but Warp excused himself by telling Galaxy Conquest doesn’t hold itself to a strict schedule.

After that, Warp put on his helmet to make sure nobody could recognise him, as he went to the store Nané had mentioned. Using a street fight between two men as a diversion, nobody saw Warp taking along a package.

The package was simple and brown, and all that was written on it was a W. Warp decided to open the package in his ship, as he found a small box inside, with a little note on it.

 

‘And I’m still loyal to Star Command!’ Were the first words on the note. ‘But this necklace will make it possible to focus your thoughts and telepathically send it to me. So yeah, you can contact me back now as well. Just don’t you dare selling or loosing it, because then I’ll be pissed. I’ll be even more pissed if you dare spilling this to Zurg or even Star Command. I won’t betray Star Command, and will arrest you if needed.

Have a nice day. N. You know who. Yes you do.’

 

“Wouldn’t have dared to think anything otherwise.” He smiled

 

Warp burned the note, so there was no trace of evidence left who could lead this package to Nané. Then he opened the box, and took out a golden coloured necklace, with a bright red stone in the middle of it. Somehow this pendant reminded him of the sun; the large red circle and the golden line around it. Then Warp put the necklace around his next, and smiled. Hiding it underneath his suit, he realised he was having one big dangerous secret.

 

And yet… somehow… it felt all worth it.

 

To be continued…

 

Previous - RETURN - Next