The Catacombs Panini
Year Two

Thanks to Marcy

Vindrus - A Matter Of Balance

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Young botanist Shermeen Williams helps Tony Verdeschi create the hops for his beer brewing. The staff of Command Centre are reluctant to try his beer, and when Tony tastes it he discovers it is as bad as his previous brews. Shermeen, who has a crush on Tony, takes the rejection personally and runs away. Alone, she sees a vision of Vindrus, who asks her to help him.

A landing party is assembled to survey a new planet. They are surprised to find Shermeen waiting for them, expecting to join them.

On the planet, the Alphans find lush forests but no life signs register. Shermeen breaks away from the others, and follows the image of Vindrus. Koenig finds an unusual structure in a clearing.

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The struture is guarded by a fierce monster. Koenig fires at it, but it is impervious to laser beams. They are astonished when they see Shermeen entering the structure, unchallenged by the monster. Using her powers, Maya is able to evade the monster and enter the structure. She finds paintings of evolution and destruction on the walls. Maya and Shermeen leave the structure.

Back on Alpha, Maya shows the others her pictures of the paintings and the antimatter convertor she found. She explains antimatter exists in another dimension where time runs backwards.

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Meanwhile, Shermeen lets pilot Fraser smell a flower which immediately places him under the hypnotic power of Vindrus. She steals a nuclear generator and Fraser flies them to the planet. Vindrus instructs her on how to link the generator to the antimatter convertor. Booths then swap Shermeen into antimatter, returning Vindrus into the matter world. He is pleased to meet the other Alphans who have followed Shermeen, as they will enable more of his people to escape into the matter world.

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Unseen by Vindrus, Maya transforms in Shermeen and enters a booth, claiming the transfer process did not work. Vindrus is alarmed and enters the other booth, but he is trapped by Koenig and Tony. Maya operates the antimatter convertor to banish Vindrus and bring back Shermeen. Koenig sets the nuclear reactor to explode and they leave.


Contents copyright Martin Willey