Despite their victory over the catfish ship, on the bridge of the Phoenix, tension and worry prevailed among the G-Force members as they all slumped wearily in their chairs or stared blankly ahead.

Mark's arms were folded stubbornly.  "The Jason I know would never defect to Spectra," he declared, frowning.

Princess bowed her head, clutching her helmet with both hands.

"He must have tried to contact us, to explain," she cried, sitting up suddenly to scrutinize her wrist communicator, "Could his signal just be delayed?"

Keyop said nothing, but he gazed sadly over at the empty chair by the radar screens, where Jason should have been sitting.

"He just learned he's half Spectran," said Tiny, rubbing his nose nervously, "Could he be looking for…"

"Must have been adopted, as baby," pointed out Keyop emphatically, frowning, "Knows nothing… about biological parents."

Having been grown from a single cell in a laboratory, knowing nothing of one's genetic progenitors was a familiar state for Keyop.

"That's right," said Princess, standing up, "The mother and father that he remembers…"

"Yeah," said Mark, continuing her train of thought, "The parents he lost when he was six-"  Mark stood up and looked at the others,  "Jason knows neither of them were Spectran!"

Suddenly Ken turned his head back to the front of the bridge as Chief Anderson appeared on one of the screens.

"G-Force," he ordered, "Return to Federation headquarters and await further instructions there."

"With all respect, Sir, shouldn't we go to Spectra?" replied Mark.

"No," replied the Chief, "Zark can't find him and you won't either."

Mark's eyes widened in dismay, as all the others gasped too.

"But Chief…" began Princess.

"Spectra is a very large planet," continued Chief Anderson, "You'd be in danger and wasting your time."

"Jason's no defector!" declared Mark, raising a clenched hand and moving closer to the screen, "He'll have some explanation."

"Commander, my word is final –you're not going to Spectra!" snapped the Chief.

Shock registered on Mark's face as he realized the Chief was adamant in this.

"What are we supposed to do, then, just sit around and wait?"

"Until I say otherwise," came the Chief's reply, "Yes.  It seems there's a volatile political situation developing on Spectra.  I don't want to believe Jason's involved, but until I know more, you wait."

And with that, he vanished abruptly from the screen, leaving Mark staring at its blankness.

Mark sat back in his chair resignedly, saying "Tiny, you heard him, take us to headquarters."

"I'd like to know what this ‘political situation' is," remarked Tiny, glancing over at Mark.

"Yes," agreed Princess.

Frustration was writ large on Mark's face.

"We have to trust in Jason.  Whatever hot-headed notion made him run off to Spectra…"

Here Mark stared ahead grimly.

"He would never be disloyal."

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In strange way, Jason almost appreciated the Spectran soldiers on either side of him who were keeping him upright on his feet by holding the barrels of their two guns beneath his armpits –it was better than lying on the floor at Zoltar's feet –or worse, having his face stepped on again.

But he absolutely did not appreciate the fact that Zoltar was holding his head upright by grasping onto his hair!  But he was still so limp and numb from the tranquilizer, there wasn't much he could do about it.

"Do you know how important that man is to me?" Zoltar was yelling, unable to resist shaking Jason's head to punctuate his angry words, "Thanks to you, Baldrik is useless now!"

But he let go of Jason's hair and, with a sweep of his cape, stalked off towards a nearby table and leaned his hands on it.

"But I fail to see why you are here, nephew," he said, clearly trying to speak more calmly, "Unless you plan to join with your fellow Spectrans."

Jason made no response.  The wretched state he was in, silence was his best option.

Zoltar glanced over at him again

"Perhaps you need encouragement," he said as he pointed one finger dramatically.  "Dose him with my new truth serum!" he ordered the soldiers.

"We'll take him to the med ward," replied one of the soldiers who was propping Jason up.  "And then bring him right back," agreed the other.

Still holding him up with their guns, they conveyed Jason towards the door as the other soldiers in the room called out to him "Resistance is pointless!" and "You belong with us!"

As soon as they were gone, though, two of the soldiers rushed forward.  The older of the two, who had a small beard, did the talking.

"Sire, we are technicians.  May we examine his gun and bracelet carefully?"

The older, bearded soldier looked to his companion, who nodded in agreement.

"And just why do you want to examine them?" asked Zoltar, picking up Jason's gun from the table in front of him.

"To ensure they've no secret bugs or tracking beacons."

"I've no time to spare," replied Zoltar, tossing the gun back onto the table hastily and walked out of the room, "Take them away and report your findings later."

"We will do that, Sire," replied the older soldier, as he and his companion bowed.

Zoltar gone, the older soldier picked up the gun and briefly twirled it in his hand, as his companion picked up Jason's wrist communicator and the loose components that had fallen out of it.  They exchanged a knowing look…

0000000000

In the procedure control room, the number on the mantlemeter was still high, far from the deadly "F" that would mean that the mantle plan had failed.

"Has the next pod sequence that I designed been initiated yet?" demanded Zoltar from his throne-like chair as the four soldiers busied themselves studying the instruments and their readings.

"Yes, Sire, but it's not going well," replied one of the soldiers quietly, activating a screen to show a distant view of a city surrounded by bleak terrain –and the large volcano that loomed beyond the city was erupting violently.

Indeed, as the soldier zoomed the image in closer, it was apparent that a massive flood of lava was streaming directly towards the doomed city.

"This is Wilga City," said the soldier nervously, "On the other side of the planet from here…"

0000000000

At Center Neptune, Zark was also busy at his console, studying his instruments and readings.  His canine robot companion, 1-Rover-1, sat nearby.

"1-Rover-1," explained Zark, turning around to look at him, "Susan and I have had all our scanners and deep space probes trained on Spectra, trying to find some clue as to Jason's whereabouts."

1-Rover-1 yapped.

"No," sighed Zark, "We haven't found a sign of him, and what we have found –well, I'm afraid it has the most serious implications!"

1-Rover-1 yapped again.

"I wasn't even looking for seismic data, but the readings coming in were so abnormal my sub-processor flagged them for review anyway," said Zark, "And now I've completed a more thorough analysis and the findings are undeniable."

Zark turned to stare straight ahead.

"The entire mantle layer of planet Spectra is rife with critically unstable energy reactions, and if the situation continues much longer, the entire planet will self destruct!"

Zark rushed back to his console.

"I must inform Chief Anderson immediately!"

0000000000