A tiny Goponopo tries to rebuild its gate after having them destroyed by the planetary alignment. Their nests are constructed of little crystals that when aligned properly can weaken space and time.  

When enough are constructed in a certain pattern, with the right crystals, a small doorway is opened between worlds and the Goponopo then migrate to their breeding grounds.  

It is a cycle that has been maintained for over four millenia, though it takes up to two centuries for a doorway to finally be created.

Far to the west lay the grass lands, an area largely void of civilisation but plentiful in plant and animal life. High in the sky a pouch master spied something shiny hidden in the greenery. It reared up and dove straight for it. Pouch masters are often thought of as thieves, since they take anything of value they can find, but this isn't quite the case. They are highly attracted to shiny glittering things, which in a civilised society tends to be everything highly valuable. The sight and feel of such things is irresistible to pouch masters and they will voraciously collect them.  

On this occasion the pouch master had fixed on its prey. It was half obscured by tall grass, but easy to track. It landed near it. The shiny thing moved away. This startled the pouch master, which hopped backward, cautious not to get hurt, but not so far as to lose sight of the new treasure.  

It set a foot down and lowered its head, staring intently at the thing. It had a sphere on top with a single horn on it. Below was a flat rolling track, which was carrying it away. A quick dash and the pouch master snatched up. But no sooner had it begun to fly off than the little device snapped about and stung the poor bandit!  

The pouch master recoiled and yelped, dropping the tiny metal thing. It bounced on the ground once then began slowly trundling off. Its horn stayed pointed at the predator, watching it.  

Undeterred, the pouch master followed it, more hesitant now. It seemed the shiny thing was alive, which was the first time that had happened. Suddenly the creature had an idea. Maybe if it gobbled it up, it couldn't hurt it. The inside of a pouch master's mouth was much tougher than its outside.  

It ran around the little vehicle to a patch of grass in front of it. When it got near, it lunged down and sucked it into its mouth whole. It was a bit painful at first, as the hard edges scraped its mouth. Then the horn tried to sting it again, but no pain registered now. After a bit of movement, it seemed to settle down.  

"Good," thought the suddenly happy pouch master. And with a feeling of glee, it launched off into the air to deposit the newest trinket into its secret treasure stash.

The weeks following the invasion of Andonia were filled with searching, finding, and burying. Few lives were left whole. Everyone knew what it felt like to lose someone close to them.  

It came time to make a note of those that couldn't be buried. Those that were lost beyond the realm of the known world. The victims of Kerplah.  

Keta Toxal, captain of the Andonia Venture, stood before a haggard crowd, those few that did not resent the entire ship and crew, those that felt it was the torment of the other realm that controlled them. A small crew had manned the Venture, and a smaller crew returned. Two were lost.  

"This is the memorial of Put," began Keta weakly. His confidence was absent, ripped out of his body by events passed. "Put was the vortex expert for the Venture. Without its help, we would never have discovered the portal to Kerplah, nor been able to navigate safely to its shores." The crowd mumbled amongst themselves. Keta knew what that they were wondering whether that was truly fortunate or not.  

The captain resumed, "As soon as we beached against the bizarre lands of Kerplah, Put was drawn to explore it. We sent out many Ampsters ahead, but our readings from them were erratic and confusing. None of them returned, though some continued to transmit bizarre signals." Silence greeted him. Blank eyes, no hope nor happiness for this tale.  

"Visch and I went out after Put, to try to bring it back aboard. We hadn't ascertained yet that it was safe to go out." Keta shuffled some notes he was holding, but not looking at. "Clearly... clearly it wasn't safe at all."  

"A fog sprung up quite suddenly, a black fog. We couldn't see Put anywhere. We ran about, calling, no response. We tracked it by following the beeps of the droids that followed it around. Then we saw what happened."  

"A sinuous vaporous tentacle had ripped up out of the amorphous ground and wrapped around Put. We couldn't near it. Its other droids had vanished. Only the pyramid data device remained, and it seemed locked on Put, downloading or transferring something. Visch managed to retrieve this device, but Put was quickly pulled under the ground. We did not see... we were... it was lost."  

"Let Put be remembered for bravery in the face of chaos and strength despite great suffering."  

The crowd acknowledged the message silently, perhaps more afraid of what still lay out there than before.

Among the rocky crags of the cold mountains, a squishy podling scrambled about, searching for grubs. The wind scratched across the dead rocks, clawing into the earth's bone.  

The podling sniffed about. Over across the next ridge it detected a faint smell of something odd. Something musty.  

Smelling something musty was rather odd, because in those mountains the wind always blew quite fiercly, which gave little time for anything to become musty. Yet the distinct scent of ages old dust wafted quickly across the chasm, then was gone.  

Four beady eyes scoured the area for the source. Nothing seemed to be over there. No caves or holes of any sort that could store something old. But this podling knew nothing of such things. It just knew that something very much alien to its life lay across the rocks it was perched on.  

It felt something else as well, or rather saw. Podlings have something of a sixth sense, partly due to their rather poor ability to escape predators. Their sense of air movement is highly sensistive, to the degree of being able to avoid an approaching beast half a kilometer away. And this podling felt something -- peculiar in the wind's movement. Way across the mountain where the musty smell arose, the wind was avoiding something. Yet nothing was there.  

Suddenly the feeling vanished. The wind returned to normal and the podling gave a brief sneeze. It had been holding it in while it studied the anomaly. It seemed to be gone, along with the smell. The world was safe again.  

A grub cautiously crawled out from under a stone. "Preet!", uttered the podling as it spied the meal and promptly gobbled it up. It was going to be rather a good week, it fancied.

Beneath the cooling soil,  

Lies neighbour, friend, family.  

Mound after mound rises,  

Some above, some below.

Captain Keta Toxal and his crew debarks the fallen Venture. The great flying craft, now beached on the plains by the shore. Keta is greeted with the sight of a devasted refuge.  

The signs of splattered hope fill the eye in every direction. The touch of Kerplah was ripped away, but its mark remains. Visch floats past Keta, surveying the area.  

"Is this home?" vented Visch through his synthesizers.  

The destoyer cast his head down, daring not to look up at what they had done. Yet even the sand at his feet revealed the chaos wrought of their hands. A shattered stone with glistening vacant eyes. "It was."  

Short footsteps neared from behind. The shadow of a squat being with several orbs spinning around its head preceded the walker. "Ki Po Ta Nu," said Keta, "come and see what you can do to help them." Then the captain rushed away, fleeing for somewhere.  

The Nu sphere sunk low behind Ki Po Ta Nu, followed by the Ki sphere, which almost disappeared from sight. Po and Ta rushed together, trying to take over simultaneously. So filled with horror, grief, and anger at what had happened, the engineer could not deal with the sight.  

A fifth sphere arose, a new face of Ki Po Ta Nu. It forced Po and Ta away, siezing upon the engineer's visage. Suddenly one eye was slashed across with blood dripping. His lips torn in fear and hatred. His eyes gleaming with an insane bent. He was Ki Po Ta Nu Se.  

He dropped a scroll of paper on the ground. The crew manifest of the Venture.

The smallest of life rises again from the dirt of Andonia to bring welcome to the dimensionauts of the Venture.