The Plasma Master

  Chapter 11

  Jenara had caught her breath, and she and her companions were seated in Koral’s entry room. The initial sense of panic was gone, but Jenara’s worry was obvious. “Some time last night an Imperial ship came through the graviton field. It’s in orbit around Palandora now, but it’s not doing anything. We think it might be waiting for something, but we don’t know what.”

  Koral shook his head. “If Dark Viper knows about the Shield Crystal, he’ll send Rax and Dren after it. That’s what it’s waiting for.”

  “But we don’t know for sure that they came for Ned, do we?” X asked.

  “Why else would they come? They have left us alone for years, although I’m sure the Emperor must have known that this is where we came.”

  Ned was staring wide-eyed into space. “Then I brought them here. I knew this was all too good to be true. What have I done?”

  Koral put a hand on Ned’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault, Ned. If the information leaked out, it had nothing to do with you. Marnax would not have sent you here if he had not believed it worth the risk. What matters now is how to deal with this new threat. The planet may be able to provide some defense, but I think it may be time to test your powers, Ned.”

  “You can’t be serious. I might be able to shoot at chunks of wood, but Plasma Masters and starships are totally different. What could I possibly do?”

  “I don’t know. As I see it we have until Rax and Dren arrive to find out.”

  “We’ll have to evacuate the city,” Jenara said. “There’s no way we can stand up to an invasion.”

  “It might not be a full invasion,” said Koral. “If Viper is planning to attack StarBlazer then he’ll undoubtedly keep most of his ships for the battle. We’re little more than one city here. I doubt that he’ll consider us much of a threat, so he probably won’t send many ships.”

  “He doesn’t consider us a threat because we aren’t,” Jenara countered. “We don’t have anything but a small shield generator, one planet-to-space laser cannon, and a couple of starfighters. That one ship could probably beat us, if it wanted to.”

  “I doubt they consider you a target, but you are right about evacuating the city. No sense in giving them hostages. There is plenty of room in the caves, and they should offer some protection.”

  Jenara shook her head. “We need time, Koral. We’ve got to think of something. If we just run and hide, they’ll find us, and then we’ll all be made prisoners of the Empire. Or citizens, but I’m not sure which would be worse.”

  X straightened sharply in his chair. “What about the dragons? Don’t they control the Plasma?”

  “Yes!” Ned shouted. “There’s got to be a way we can use them!”

  “Perhaps,” Koral said. “First, though, we should all go back to Tibrus. We need to discuss whatever we are to do with the King. You and I can train there as well as we can here, and the sooner the city begins evacuation, the better. X, you can take Jenara back on Valkron. I’ll call Mrandor.”

  X and Jenara mounted Valkron and lifted into the sky, heading back toward the city. Koral whistled, and the dragon Mrandor appeared from behind a nearby mountain peak. He was blue, and Ned wondered if Shield Masters had a history of that color. He thought to ask Koral why the Plasma was blue, but decided the question should wait. He climbed aboard Mrandor, and soon they, too, where flying toward King Trennon’s palace.

  People glanced skyward as the two dragons approached the palace, but they all quickly returned to their daily business; apparently the King had not told the people about the impending threat. Koral brought Mrandor down in the gardens surrounding the palace close to where X had left Valkron, and he and Ned dismounted and walked quickly to the castle. They found King Trennon in the same room in which he had met Ned before. The King was seated at the far side of the table, with Jenara next to him. Various aides filled most of the chairs, and X was there as well. “Welcome, Koral, Nedward,” the King greeted them. “Please, sit down.”

  “My father was just telling us his plans for the upcoming battle,” Jenara informed them with a disturbed look on her face.

  Koral was equally disturbed by this news. “You want to fight them? You can’t possibly defeat them!”

  King Trennon smiled patiently. “I believe we can. They are, after all, only one ship. With our planetary weapons and our starfighters I believe we can disable or destroy their ship, and then we can launch the Chelaris and send people to obtain help from StarBlazer. They will surely help us, seeing that Mr. Simmons is here on Palandora.”

  “Narkus! You can’t! Even if you manage to defeat that ship, which you probably won’t, they’ll have more on the way! They’ll detect the Chelaris as soon as it leaves the nebula, and it will be destroyed before it reaches the nearest planet, let alone General Marnax. Besides, the ship up there is staying out of weapons range, isn’t it?”

  Narkus Trennon seemed shocked at Koral’s words. He was clearly not accustomed to being told that his ideas were foolish. He continued slowly, as if attempting to explain a difficult concept to a child. “As a matter of fact, the ship is too far away to attack right now, but it is not a threat to us there, either. Why are you so certain other ships will be that close? Why would they send just one now if they planned to send more later? Why not all at once?”

  “Because most of the Imperial fleet is preparing for a major attack on the StarBlazer Alliance, if it isn’t in one already. But the Shield Master is here; I assume Jenara told you. Dark Viper is not going to let him just sit here. He’ll send the other Plasma Masters. They’re probably a day or two behind this ship, but they’re undoubtedly on their way. And in any case the Chelaris is my ship. It’s not going anywhere.”

  Now Trennon looked really confused. “Then what do you propose? That we just sit here and wait to be conquered?”

  “No, of course not. As your daughter suggests, you should take everyone in the city into the mountain caves. There’s plenty of room, and there’s electric lighting in most of them. You already have emergency food rations in there, and you can bring more. The Plasma Masters won’t care about you; all they want is Ned. He and I will handle this, and when it’s over you can all come out.”

  Trennon thought for a moment. “That makes sense, except for one thing. What can the two of you do against them that the entire city’s defense force couldn’t? I know about Ned’s power, but still, how can invincibility help here, other than to keep him alive?”

  Ned was becoming increasingly disturbed by this situation, as well. He had learned a great deal about the Plasma force, but he did not feel at all ready to challenge another Plasma Master, let alone two at once, let alone two Plasma Masters with two Imperial warships at their command. What was Koral suggesting? That Ned just surrender in order to protect the planet? That did not sound pleasant, but perhaps it would be best. Maybe Koral had an escape plan in mind. Ned felt like he should say something in response to the King’s question. “Well, if it came down to it, I could …”

  “Ned and I will handle it,” Koral repeated, quickly cutting Ned off. Apparently Ned had chosen the wrong thing to say. “I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t raise the shields and leave people to control the laser cannon, but everyone else should conceal themselves. If something does happen, at least they’ll be safe.”

  King Trennon thought for a moment. “Well, as long as they’re staying out of weapons range there’s not much we can do right now, assuming you’re right about escape being impossible. And there’s no reason why we should put the people at risk. Mr. Pragan will begin preparations for the evacuation immediately. I’d feel a lot more comfortable, though, if you would explain to me in a little more detail how you plan to repel the Imperials.”

  “Ned and I will begin working on the specifics immediately,” Koral said. “I’ll let you know as soon as we’re ready.”

  Trennon was not at all relived, but he trusted Koral and could think of nothing else to do. “Very well. You two go ahead a
nd work out whatever you’re going to do, and I’ll work on preparing the city. I hope you’re right, Koral. Everyone, dismissed.”

  Everyone filed out of the room, and X came up to Ned. “How have you been? I haven’t talked to you in a while.”

  “I’m fine, I guess. I just hope it stays that way.”

  X turned to Koral. “Do you want me to get the starfighters ready?”

  “If you want,” Koral replied, “but you’re not going to be on them.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you’re going to be on Valkron.”

  X smiled. “So you think the dragons can help?”

  “Valkron and Mrandor can help you and me. As for the others, I don’t know how much difference they’ll make.”

  “I see.” But X’s brow remained furrowed. “So, what exactly do you want me to do for now?”

  “Talk to Jenara and see if there’s anything you can do for her. If not, then do what you can to prepare Valkron. Practice maneuvering, whatever you can think of. In the end, though, I suspect that the outcome will depend almost entirely on Ned.” If Koral saw the look of dismay that crossed Ned’s face, he ignored it. “I’ll come back to the cave with you. I’m going to live in the city for the next few days, and there are a few things I want to bring.” Koral turned to Ned. “I have a few things I need to think about. I’ll be back in about an hour.” Ned nodded, thinking that Koral had better be sure about this, and then X and Koral were off.

  Jenara came out of the conference room after they had gone. The King and his aides had all disappeared off to their duties as well. “Ned!” she called out, walking up to him. “What do you think of all this?”

  “I feel like I’ve been thrown into a cage of big, hairy tarantulas and told to stack them. And I haven’t eaten. Have you?”

  Jenara smiled brightly, and Ned wished he could do the same. “Yes,” she said, “but I’ll eat again. Let’s go down to the dining room.”

  They did, and Jenara had one of her servants get some food out for her. The food was some kind of cereal, which was so sweet that Ned wondered if it had any nutritional value at all. It tasted good, though. There were also muffins and some of Palandora’s unique fruit.

  “Jenara, how old are you,” Ned asked when they were finished.

  “Old?”

  “Yeah. How long have you been alive? How many years?”

  “Well, I was born fourteen years ago, Anacronian time. Why?”

  “I guess I’m wondering how close in age we are. I’ve met a couple of people who were about my age since I came through the vortex, but I’ve never known for sure how old people are. I guess maybe that’s because years are so different for all the different planets.”

  “I think I see what you mean. Actually we don’t consider age to be very important, since planets’ years are different lengths, and also their people develop physically at different rates. What matters is how mature you are and the skills you have.”

  “I guess that makes sense. It seems weird though. On Earth your age means a lot; when your reach certain ages you receive certain privileges. It makes sense there, since everyone matures at about the same rate. Sort of.”

  “Well, we’ve got some time. What do you want to do?”

  “I don’t know. I guess we might as well just go out and wait for Koral. As soon as he gets back I’m going to try for all I’m worth to gain enough power in the time I have left to defeat two extremely experienced Plasma Masters and their ‘little’ army and save a planet full of people.”

  “Sounds fun,” Jenara said, trying to cheer Ned up.

  They got up and walked out into the gardens in front of the castle. Koral and X had taken the dragons, and there wasn’t anyone else in sight. Jenara walked Ned over to a bench and they both sat down.

  “You’re nervous, aren’t you?” she said.

  “Yep.”

  “Are you scared?”

  Ned thought a moment. “I don’t know. I guess that right now the entire situation seems so impossible that I’m having trouble believing it’s true. So I’m not really scared, at least not yet. I’m just overwhelmed. I always planned to do something with my Plasma, but right now I just don’t feel like I know enough. I just hope I can learn in time.”

  Jenara nodded, understanding. “I’m nervous, too. I don’t have any specific responsibilities with the government yet, but I can’t help feeling like these are my people and it’s my job to see that they’re kept safe. I know that sounds weird coming from someone so young, but it bothers me the way they relinquish political power the way they do. Back on Anacron most of them were adamant about changing the way the Empire was run, mainly by keeping Trelan out of power. But since we left I’ve wondered what it was they really wanted. Sometimes I think they just wanted to be alone; Anacron had expanded its Empire so much that some of the people there were beginning to feel small, and they didn’t like that. Here, they’re basically all that matters to those of us who govern the planet.

  “The problem is, that seems kind of irresponsible. There’s a lot going on outside of Palandora, and, as we’re finding out now, it can have a lot to do with us.”

  Ned was intrigued. Jenara had never mentioned this topic before. “Do you think that Palandora should join the fight?”

  “Palandora can’t join the fight. It’s far too weak. It might be able to offer natural resources, but that would mean lots of people coming here; in fact it would effectively mean joining StarBlazer. I don’t think many people here would want that. I don’t know what we should do. I guess what really bothers me is that I’ve been shut away here for so long that I don’t feel like I know what’s going on in the universe anymore.”

  Ned didn’t know what to say, so he remained quiet.

  Jenara looked up into a stand of trees where some birds were chirping happily at each other. “It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?”

  Ned followed her gaze and smiled. “Yes, it is. I’ve never seen plant and animal life like they have on Palandora. Genetically engineered! It’s all amazing. The trees, the animals, the flowers, the grass…” He trailed off, looking at something.

  “What is it?”

  “Look at this!” Ned had noticed a particular type of plant growing among the grass surrounding the bench on which they were sitting. Some of the tiny stalks had white or pink flowers at their tips, while the rest ended in groups of roughly triangular leaves. Ned picked one up and examined it more closely. “Hey! It’s got five leaves!” He looked at the others. They were all the same.

  “Does that mean something?” Jenara asked.

  Ned laughed. “There’s an old superstition on Earth that says that four-leafed clovers are good luck. Most of them on Earth only have three. Here.” He handed the clover to Jenara. “These must be extra lucky. Maybe there’s hope for us after all.”

  He laughed again, and it helped ease some of the tension. Jenara laughed too, and in the act she bumped his shoulder briefly. Ned couldn’t tell whether it was an accident. Then both of them lapsed into silence, awaiting Koral’s return. They did not have to wait long. After only a few minutes they spotted a dark spot in the sky, and it was growing closer. Jenara wished Ned luck and returned to the palace to see how her father was doing with his preparations.

  When Mrandor landed, Ned saw that Koral was alone. Apparently X had found something to do. Koral saw the look of apprehension on Ned’s face. “You don’t look well, Ned. Are you all right?”

  Ned looked at Koral hopelessly. “You tell me. Do you really think there’s any chance that I can be of any use here? Do you really think that I can defeat Rax and Dren?” He lowered his gaze. “I don’t.”

  Koral frowned. “You can’t afford to think like that. You owe it to these people to do everything in your power to protect them. You were right when you said that you brought the Empire here. I don’t think anyone blames you, but I don’t think you can very well sit back and let events take their course. Regardless of what you or King Trennon or
anyone else may believe, you are the only hope for Palandora. I’ve seen what Rax and Dren are capable of doing. I’ve helped them do it. I also know what you’re capable of doing because I’ve done much of it myself. And in theory, you should be even more powerful than I was, because you have the Blast Plasma. I suppose that in this case I might take your place if I could, but I can’t. This is up to you, Ned. Are you going to accept it or run away?”

  Ned hoped that Koral hadn’t been trying to make him feel better, because that little speech certainly had not had that effect. Still, Koral was right. It was more or less Ned’s doing that had brought the Empire here, and he was the only one who could protect himself from the enemy Plasma Masters’ power. If anything was to be done short of surrender, Ned was going to have to do it. “Let’s get started,” he said, trying to sound confident and failing.

  Koral whipped out a blaster and fired. The shot exploded against Ned’s chest, and Ned stumbled back a step. “What was that?”

  “You’re going to have to be able to withstand a lot more than a blaster shot. This time focus the energy around you, like an airfoil.” Koral fired several more times, and Ned quickly adapted. Soon the red energy simply flowed around him like water being poured over a rubber ball. “Good. Now try this.” Koral pulled out a grenade and handed it to Ned. “I’m going to walk over there by Mrandor. When I say ‘now,’ detonate it.”

  “Here? It’ll burn everything around me! The garden will catch fire!”

  “No, it won’t, because you’re going to contain the blast. Make a shield around it, and keep the explosion between it and you. Let it open upward, and that way nothing should get damaged.”

  “Unless I mess up.”

  “Don’t ever say that again. You absolutely must not ‘mess up’ in any mentionable way in the next couple of days if you want to survive. Remember, Dark Viper doesn’t care about you. If you can’t defeat his servants, he’ll undoubtedly find a way to get rid of you.” Koral was already walking away. “Now!” he called out when he was standing next to Mrandor.

  Ned closed his eyes and pictured a large, bowl-shaped energy field surrounding him, open at the top. He pushed it farther and farther out so that the grenade’s blast would have as much room for release as possible. Then he focused the Plasma into the field like Koral had taught him over the previous two days. When he felt it was strong enough, Ned activated the grenade. It exploded with a flash of light and a deafening boom. Fortunately, as Ned had also learned from Koral, the Shield Plasma also protected his eyes and ears. Slowly, Ned opened his eyes, half expecting to see nothing but ash for several yards. He didn’t. “It worked!”

  “Excellent,” called out Koral. “Now let’s try it with five grenades.”

  Ned’s optimism rose with the sun as noon approached and kept on rising afterward. Koral tested him as he had before, strengthening his skills in protection, attack, and energy absorption and conservation, and Ned completed each challenge successfully. Today, though, something was different about Koral. He was pushing Ned harder than before, as was to be expected given the more pressing circumstances, but there was something else as well. Ned guessed that it might have been anxiety over whether or not Ned would be able to handle the situation that was unraveling faster than anyone wanted, but Ned felt it might have been more than that still. In any case, Ned’s power was growing phenomenally. Every time he used the Plasma it seemed to become more a part of him. It was getting to the point where Ned could not imagine life without it.

  “I’m proud of you, Ned,” Koral said when night started to fall and both of them felt ready for bed. They had trained all day, stopping only for lunch. “I knew you could do it.”

  Ned was feeling much better. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me,” he said gratefully. “Without you I’d still be sitting on Galactron wondering what the Plasma was, let alone what I could do with it. Now I can finally begin to see how I might actually use it for something. If I can have just a couple more days I think I might be ready.”

  “You will be,” Koral assured him. “Now you’d better get to bed.” Koral rode Mrandor off to his home in the city, and Ned headed back into the Trennon palace. The place was starting to feel a bit like home to Ned. It was no wonder that the Palandorans were not in a hurry to associate with the outside world – or worlds. Everything they needed was right here. Well, almost everything… Ned sent surges of blue light sizzling across his hand as he walked back. Along the way he picked up a fist-sized rock. He squeezed it in his hand and crushed it. Yes, when the time came, the Shield Master would be ready.

  Ned ate a quick dinner alone. It wasn’t that late, but apparently both Jenara and her father were too busy to eat dinner as a formal meal. Ned finished and crawled into bed, but he found he could not sleep. His mind was far too full of thoughts and images to let him rest. He thought of Earth, his family, his friends, and his former life. They all seemed infinitely far away. Literally thousands of light years, he thought. Ned thought of recent events, as well. He hoped once again that Smardwurst had been successful in making it out of the nebula and that General Marnax had fared well against the Anacron Empire. He wondered if and when Marnax would send more ships and decided it didn’t matter. If Koral really had a starship here he could probably take Ned out of the nebula as soon as this battle was over.

  This battle…

  Ned sat up in bed and stared out the window. Palandora’s moon was larger than Earth’s and reflected more light, but there were no stars in the sky; the nebula masked them all. Again, Ned felt lonely. He was tired and knew he should sleep, but he could not rest. Finally he crawled out of bed, left his room, and walked down the hall to where a door opened out onto a balcony. He stepped through, into the night’s chill. Night birds sang in the trees surrounding the palace, and there was a faint breeze. Ned walked to the railing that surrounded the balcony and looked down over the gardens at the city. There were a few lights on in the windows and several lining the streets, but most of Tibrus’s inhabitants were either asleep or had already been evacuated.

  The door behind Ned opened, and he turned. He was pleased to see Jenara walking toward him. “I couldn’t sleep,” he explained.

  “Me neither.” Jenara inhaled the fresh air and looked up at the sky. “Sometimes I miss the stars. I used to gaze at them forever, back on Anacron. I’ve sort of gotten used to not seeing them, but I still think the sky looked a lot prettier from Anacron.”

  Ned looked upward as well. “I didn’t even notice that there weren’t stars until tonight. Since I got here I either went to sleep before the sun went down or slept where there were no windows, or else the sky was clouded over.”

  Jenara turned her gaze toward Ned. “We don’t have much time left.” Ned shook his head. “Are you ready?”

  Ned thought for a moment. “Yes, I am. Or at least I will be. I was pessimistic this morning, but I feel better now. I’ve developed my power far beyond what it was when I arrived, and I’m confident that I can face whatever the Plasma Masters have to throw at me.”

  Jenara looked at him hopefully. “So you’re really not afraid of them?”

  Ned smiled weakly. “I’m scared to death. The more I’ve learned, the more I come to realize how great Rax and Dren’s power must be. They were probably using the Plasma when I was learning to write. Still, I am the Shield Master. Rax and Dren together failed to stop Koral from hiding the Shield Crystal, and they’ll fail to take it from me. I’ll make sure of it.”

  Jenara lowered her eyes. “I’m scared too – for the citizens of Palandora. Whatever happens I’m sure you’ll survive, but even if you manage to drive them off, what will the cost be? What if the Plasma Masters just come in and blast everything in sight? What if they search the caves and take everyone captive? Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one who can do anything for them. My father is a good leader, but in many ways he’s like them; he’s overly optimistic. Almost naive, when it comes to the Empire. He’s used to the Empire that
was ruled by the Council. He still thinks of the Emperor as Trelan Thendrak. I don’t think he really knows what Dark Viper is like. I don’t think any of us do. That’s why I think it’s so dangerous for us to have been cut off from the rest of the galaxy.”

  “Everything will be okay, Jenara. Koral knows Rax and Dren, and I’m sure he’ll be able to come up with the perfect plan. He probably has already. And I’ll be ready, too. We’re not going to let anything happen to Palandora.” Jenara just held his gaze. He was glad he had met her. And X. Without them he would never have been able to find Koral, and he might not have been in any emotional condition to learn as much as he had without having friends to talk to over the past few days. Ned smiled. “Believe it or not, I’m glad I came here.”

  Jenara smiled back and hugged him. He put his arms around her awkwardly and expected her to let go, but she didn’t. She just stood there with her head resting on his shoulder. “Palandora needs you, Ned,” she whispered finally, and she sounded like she was just barely holding back tears. “Save my people, okay?”

  “I’ll do everything I possibly can. I promise.”

  Jenara pulled back until her mouth was next to Ned’s ear and whispered something so softly that Ned couldn’t make it out. Ayla few? Then she stepped away, fixed her eyes on his for a split second, and then she turned and walked back inside. Ned shook his head in confusion and walked back to his own room.

  He was drifting off to sleep at last before he realized what Jenara had said to him. Three words, not two. His eyes snapped open in terror. Oh no!

  He did not see her the next day as he went down for breakfast, nor did she appear as he sat outside in the garden, waiting for Koral. He did not go looking for her. He was afraid of what would happen if he did. He felt very stupid for misjudging the events of the past few days like that. But surely Jenara had misjudged them too, if she really meant what she had said! In any case the matter was chased from Ned’s mind when Koral appeared atop Mrandor.

  “Climb on, Ned! We’re going back up to the caves to practice today.”

  Ned watched the city shrink as they ascended. It seemed to him to be very fragile, as if it could be wiped from the planet by the slightest disturbance. Like, say, a couple of torpedo blasts. The thought was disturbing, but Ned put it out of his head. The city had shields, and no one would be in it anyway. In any case Ned was going to win this battle. Ned believed that because he knew that the Plasma force was incredibly strong and because Koral seemed entirely confident that Ned’s powers would be sufficient when the time came. For the moment at least, that was good enough for Ned.

  Then they were at the caves, and Ned and Koral dismounted. Ned was already gathering the power in his fist. “What do I destroy today?” he asked enthusiastically.

  “Ned, I have something to show you first.” Koral reached into his pocket and withdrew a small metal object. It was a flat, roughly circular metal disk about an inch and a half wide, with a smaller circle in the center and four lines radiating outward to the edge. “Here. Put this on.”

  “What is it?” Ned asked as he took the object from Koral’s hand.

  “It is the activator pin for my battle suit. Shortly after Trelan gave us the Plasma Crystals, he also gave us these. They store powerful battle armor in the Plasmatic ether and bring it into normal space when engaged.”

  Ned pressed the pin to his shirt and it stuck. “What do I do?”

  “Just reach into the pin with the Plasma.”

  Ned did so. He sent a small trail of energy into the pin, and almost instantly it flared to life. Blue light flared outward and enveloped Ned’s body, and sparks and tendrils of light danced across him. The light lasted only a second, and when it was gone Ned was wearing the battle suit. He looked downward at himself and chuckled. “I look like a robot. It’s neat though!” The suit was made of a shiny alloy colored various shades of blue, with a black material connecting the armor’s segments at the joints. There was no helmet at the moment.

  Koral smiled back wryly. “‘Neat’ is an understatement. The battle suit can withstand repeated assault by just about any weapon you can carry. It doesn’t use the Plasma, but I believe the material must have come from the same people who created the Plasma force. I’ve tried to find out what it is, but when I try to scan it I get practically nothing.”

  Ned tried walking around. “It just feels like normal clothing! It’s easy to move in, too. How could a suit made out of metal be so comfortable?”

  “The suit’s sensors read your body movements and accentuate them. Basically, the suit moves for you. You’ve got more momentum than normal, though, so be careful or you might break things. Let me show you a few other things. Touch that panel on your left wrist.” Ned did so, and it lit up. “That control panel lets you manipulate the suit’s various functions. You can also do it with the Plasma once you’re familiar with them. This button activates the missile launcher.” Ned pressed it, and a panel opened on his right forearm. Fire by double-tapping your ring finger against the ball of your hand with the palm down – but not at me. You have a reserve of sixty missiles, and you can replace them with standard Hornet RT missiles; General Marnax will know what they are. This pouch on your belt dispenses grenades. You have twenty of these, and they, too, are easily replaceable.” There was also a blaster holstered at his waist. “The suit will automatically maintain appropriate body temperature, and there is a full day’s supply of air – again, stored in the ether until needed. Press this button.”

  Ned pressed it, and with a blue flash a helmet formed around his head. He could feel it, but his visibility did not diminish as it seemed it should have. “There are two cameras inside the visor,” Koral explained. “They determine what each eye should see and display it on two separate screens. That way your sight doesn’t suffer. You can turn that off, if you want to.” Koral kept explaining the suit’s various intricacies for several minutes, and concluded by telling Ned that the suit had a built-in database if he were to forget something important. The bottom line, Ned decided, was that the suit was incredibly powerful and incredibly easy to use. In other words, it was exactly what he needed. He had been optimistic this morning, but clad in this awesome battle armor he felt truly invincible.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?” Ned asked Koral when they had finished.

  “I wanted you to grow as much as you could on your own. I didn’t want you to rely on the suit for anything you didn’t have to.”

  Ned nodded, and Koral led him outside to work on his power over the Plasma force. Something happened to Ned that day as he trained with Koral. Part of it was undoubtedly the sense of urgency he felt about the imminent arrival of the other Plasma Masters. It seemed very likely that this would be his last day to prepare. Another part of it was the battle armor Koral had given him. Ned felt stronger in it somehow, emotionally as well as physically. It was as if the armor’s cold, expressionless helmet masked all of the fears, doubts, and hesitations that might otherwise have been apparent on Ned’s countenance and buried them deep inside him where they would be unable to cause damage. In any case it was a very different young man who worked with Koral this day in an attempt to develop a strategy against Rax and Dren’s attack than the one who had come asking Koral for guidance not even a week earlier – a different man even than the one who had risen this morning with barely-concealed apprehension about the upcoming battle. Now, as he lashed out with searing bolts of blue Blast Plasma and obliterated the targets Koral had prepared for him, Ned also reached inside and crushed one by one the doubts and fears that sought to hold him back. When night came and the training ended, Nedward Simmons was ready.

  The next morning Ned woke to the sound of Koral’s shout. “Ned! Get up! They’re here!”