Wander Over Yonder: The Bug pt. 2

"Hang on, buddy! I'm comin' for ya!"

If Sylvia had gained one thing from the sordid time she'd spent with Ryder, it was the ability to bust into and hotwire any type of vehicle in the galaxy. After waiting only ten minutes for authorities to respond to her distress signal, without so much as a single patrol car to be seen, the Zbornak's dwindling patience, and the rest of her, had flown the coop in a 37 1/2-wheeled cargo truck. Slamming her foot into the accelerator, Sylvia rocketed off so hastily that the refueling hose that was still attached to the truck was ripped clean off the pump. She gave herself a mental slap on the wrist, knowing Wander would never tolerate leaving the place in such a state, and in a stolen vehicle no less. Of course, she had every intention of returning it, but the "Walkmans and Walkers" foundation would just have to muddle through for a while longer. Right now, Wander needed her more than a bunch of retirees needed their tunes.

Then again, maybe he wouldn't have run away at all if she'd tried harder to talk him down, instead of flying off the handle again. The look in his eyes said it all; he thought he'd become some sort of monster, and he probably assumed she thought so, too. If only she'd said something right away, to assure him she didn't believe that, then perhaps...

"MOTHER OF GROP!!"

Sylvia tried to make a hard left, but it was too late. She ended up side-swiping the jet-black ship that had been coming right at her, and both vehicles veered off course, coming in for two rough landings on another nearby asteroid.

"No, no, no!!"

The Zbornak leapt out of the truck to inspect for damage, but it quickly became apparent that the ship was in no condition to keep going. This was made even more obvious when the side-view mirror dropped off, and hit the ground with a feeble shatter.

"Oh, come on!!" she shouted, making her way over to the other ship with intent to berate. "You flarf-narblin' lunatic! How do you cut somebody off in the empty void of space?!"

"Why, yes. I'm fine. Thank you for asking."

The driver of the offending vehicle was a tall female alien, with teal blue hair and green lights on her chest and hands. She was casually dusting off her black uniform, not even looking at Sylvia.

"Look, lady," Sylvia huffed, "I don't have time to exchange information right now! My best friend is out there all by himself, and you just totaled my ride!"

"Ah, then you must be the Zbornak who vandalized the truck stop."

Sylvia bit her lip and responded with, "Who wants to know??"

"Empress IO, of Ganymede. I've come in response to your distress signal."

Sylvia's mouth dropped, which allowed plenty of room for the foot she'd just put into it.

----

Despite the shock of realizing that he wasn't alone inside his Orbal bubble, Wander put on the friendliest face he could manage for strange white bug.

"Oh, hello there," he said, allowing his tiny passenger to crawl into the palm of his hand. "Was that you talkin' to me?"

"Yes," the bug replied, its voice sounding more feminine this time. "My name is Calisto."

The Star Nomad carefully took the beetle by the claw, as if he were shaking hands with it, and answered, "Pleased to meet ya. I'm Wander."

"You seem distressed, my dear..."

"Oh, I am, Ms. Calisto!" Wander cried, ready to spill his guts to the first sentient creature willing to lend an ear. "I just did somethin' awful to my best friend, Sylvia...."

Wander suddenly gasped, having another terrible realization.

"Sylvia! Heavens to Betsy! I didn't even apologize to her! I gotta go back there and-"

Just as Wander was about to run all the way back to the truck stop, Calisto leapt onto the wall of the bubble to block his path.

"No."

"N-no...?" he murmured. "But I need to tell her... Oh, but how can I ever face her again after this...?"

"You cannot."

Wander's heart sank like a rock as he feebly stammered, "I....I can't....?"

"Wander," Calisto stated, "different planets, and star systems, and galaxies exist for one reason: to prevent tragedies such as this from happening. When different species, with different beliefs and desires, defy the natural order, resentment and anger are sure to follow. You can only delude yourself with the ideals of 'love' and 'friendship' for so long, before you too succumb to that anger, and choosing to simply ignore it is what leads to outbursts such as yours."

Wander's head was sent spinning like it was in an orbit all its own, not only by the idea that his traveling through the cosmos with Sylvia could have lead to him lashing out at her, but by how adamant Calisto seemed that this was the truth. Granted she wasn't quite as passionate in her explanation as a Preacher Creature would be in one of his sermons, but there was no mistake that she thoroughly believed every word she was saying. It couldn't actually be true....could it?

"A-are you saying I can never see Sylvia again??" Wander asked, dreading the answer the beetle was likely going to give him.

"Not unless you want this to happen again, with you doing something even worse to her."

That answer was far more horrifying than the simple "no, you can't" he'd been expecting.

"No, no, NO!" He sobbed. "Oh, Ms. Calisto, what can I do? I don't wanna hurt anybody ever again! Especially not Sylvia!"

"Then you understand? That you must abandon your friendship with Sylvia?"

Wander swallowed the lump in his throat and, although it broke his heart, nodded his head "yes."

"Now," the bug continued, "to put an end to these rages once and for all..."

"Yes! I'll do anything, Ms. Calisto!"

"Then I can help you, Wander. But first...I need you to help me."

Wander smiled weakly and replied, "Sure. Wh-whaddaya need?"

"As you can see, my body is in need of a few upgrades."

"Well, I don't know much about technology..."

"I can handle the repairs and installations myself," Calisto assured him. "I only require the necessary parts."

"Where do we get 'em?"

"The first place we should look is Bing, the smaller of Ganymede's two moons."

"Roger Dodger!" Wander exclaimed, trying to sound more eager than he actually was.

The idea of never seeing Sylvia again was unbearable, especially considering the reason they'd parted ways in the first place. However, the thought of him potentially doing something to harm her wasn't a risk he was willing to take. All he could do was walk quietly out of her life, and hope to Grop that she'd be able to forgive him.

----

The tense silence in the ship had been going on for a while, with Empress IO driving and Sylvia in the passenger seat with her arms crossed. Fortunately, it wasn't too much trouble to persuade the leader to look for Wander, rather than heading to the truck stop where she'd been summoned. Even so, she didn't fully understand why the Zbornak was so determined to reunite with the individual who attacked her.

"So, tell me," IO began, "do you often come crawling back to this person, or do you intend to give him a taste of his own medicine? No one would blame you if you were to pick the latter."

"NO!" Sylvia snapped. "Wander's the sweetest, gentlest little guy in the universe!"

"And yet you felt it necessary to call the authorities on him."

"I called you to help me FIND him, not to report him! He'd NEVER do something like this on purpose! You didn't see the look in his eyes when it happened...it was like he was hypnotized, or possessed or somethin'...I know Wander, and whatever it was that attacked me, it wasn't Wander..."

Sylvia's demeanor had changed considerably as she recalled everything that had transpired the night. She was like a mom talking about her kid, who ran away from home after they had an argument.

"Now he's out there all alone...he's never run away like this before. What if...what if he never comes back...?? He's my best friend..."

And just like that, the silence had gone from being tense to just really depressing. While IO didn't lack empathy, she did have trouble expressing it. In this case, her saying nothing, instead of trying to lighten the mood with another snarky remark, meant that she really was trying to be tactful. Still, she was thanking Grop for the reprieve when the phone on the console started ringing.

"Will you get that?" the Empress asked, keeping her green eyes fixated on the nonexistent road ahead. "Top-left button."

Sylvia pressed it, and a voice over the radio inquired, "Your Highness? Do you read me?"

"Yes, MARV. What have you found?"

"Well, we've reviewed the security tapes from the motel room..."

"There were cameras in our room??" Sylvia muttered, suddenly feeling like she needed to take a shower.

"'Cuz people keep stealin' our bath towels!!" the motel manager shouted in the background.

"Anyway," MARV went on, "you'd better take a look at this, your Majesty..."

The footage of the motel room appeared as a hologram, showing Wander and Sylvia fast asleep. The playback was set to frame by frame as the image zoomed in on the snoozing Star Nomad, and the white bug leaping onto his head. With that, IO's stoic expression suddenly changed, her eyes widening with horror.

With never-before-seen urgency, IO responded, "MARV, I want that facility turned inside out! Search every staff member and guest, and prep them for evacuation! Check all luggage and cargo as well!"

"Yes, Empress!"

"What?!" Sylvia demanded. "What's the matter??"

"We need to find your friend, NOW."

"Well, duh! But what the heck was that thing??!"

IO gritted her teeth before replying, "My mother."

----

The two moons of Ganymede, Bing and Bong, served as cosmic scrapyards for decommissioned ships and vehicles. On Bing, the small, pale pink moon, these machines were dismantled, with salvageable parts being sent to the planet below, while the dark brown moon of Bong housed factories for melting down and repurposing the rest. Wander looked around at all the rusty heaps with fascination, wondering what they'd once been back in their prime. As the Orbal bubble touched down on the ground and popped, Calisto jumped off his shoulder and skittered over to one of the smaller piles, which consisted of wires, plugs, and other bits of bric-a-brac. A moment later, the beetle pulled a small thumb drive from the pile, and as she handed it to Wander, it projected a holographic diagram of a spacecraft with long, spider-like legs.

"The parts I need are listed here," she explained.

"Okey dokey," Wander replied, hurrying off into dump to start his little scavenger hunt.

He found the legs and pincers fairly easily, but dragging them back to his new companion all on his own was another story. Sylvia usually did the heavy lifting when they were doing good deeds. The Star Nomad took pause thinking about his friend, or according to Calisto, former friend. He recalled the time he convinced her to carry that giant egg up the mountain back to its nest, or to go on a date with Lord Hater to restore the villain's self esteem. Granted, they were also preventing him from destroying the planet he'd been stood up on, but it resulted in Sylvia nearly having to marry the guy. Still, she was always willing to go the extra mile for her wandering buddy. He was going to miss that, and everything else, about her...

Wander sat in the dirt, unable to ignore the loneliness he felt anymore. For the moment, he'd completely forgotten about Calisto's orders. Right now, he just wanted Sylvia.

Little did he suspect that, just over a nearby hill of scrap metal, Watchdogs were rummaging through the scrap metal, with Hater and Commander Peepers overseeing them, inspecting each piece of junk the sentient eyeballs managed to dig up.

"Sir," Peepers cautioned, "I wouldn't get my hopes too high if I were you. The Nereid Empire may have possessed the most advanced weapons in the Star System, but they were the only ones who knew how to use them. We have no idea what this stuff might do!"

"Shut up, Peepers!" Hater barked, taking a closer look at a bent-up robotic leg. "I'm trying to figure out if this is a structural defect, or if we can just pop it back out."

Peepers rolled his eye in frustration, when he noticed a whimpering sound coming from the other side of the scrap heap. Thinking it sounded familiar, he took a quick look...and hurriedly ran back to Lord Hater.

"Sir!" he hissed, trying his best to keep his voice down. "There's something you should see over there!"

Annoyed, but still slightly interested, Hater followed the top Watchdog around the pile, only to find Wander sniffling quietly all alone. The skeletal overlord's jaw came partly unhinged, but not enough to completely fall off this time.

To be continued...