Chapter 90

Spencer's massive space vessel, reaching the size of a smaller moon, perhaps even a planet (AN.: Hey there Pluto, we love you!), the Mortifier traversed through countless galaxies as it made its way towards its next and potentially final destination: Earth.

As the celestial scale starship continued on its space voyage crossing through the very fabric of reality as it reached and even surpassed the speed of light itself, entering what was known as Hyperspace travel.

The technology made available by absorbing the vast quantities of Kryptonian and Martian knowledge, whilst also adding a great deal of childish ingenuity and Spencer's unquenchable thirst for knowledge, the Mortifier was capable of breaching into this theoretical sub-dimension.

Hyperspace. An alternative dimension of space-time, with, whilst identical to its twin, Spencer's reality, at the same time it was completely different. A state that could, -so far- only be accessed through molecular displacement, which was achieved by breaking the speed of light.

Spencer's current understanding of the Laws of Space and Time has reached a depth that he could finally achieve another one of his childish dreams and create a spacefaring vehicle that made one of his favorite sci-fi fantasies a reality…

Hyperspace was coterminous with its twin, reality. What this meant is that each point in Spencer's reality was associated with a matching, unique point in hyperspace as well, and all adjacent points, in reality, were adjacent in hyperspace as well. In short, Hyperspace was in theory the mirrored, nigh-identical version of the 'real' universe. Whilst this theoretical concept will continue to baffle Earth's science for thousands of years into the future, Spencer could smugly proclaim he had already done it.

Even if it wasn't on purpose.

Still, whilst the science behind it is by no means intriguing, what does it all mean? Does Spencer and the Mortifier transport themselves into another world, another realm entirely?

To answer that, we would have to dive in a bit deeper…

[AN.: Which we will graciously skip over and maybe add an extra article about it as an extra on P@treon.]

Hyperspace traversal is frankly based on the manipulation of special particles, the hyper matter particles in order to thrust the starship into hyperspace whilst preserving the ship's energy profile. This shortened the travel distance significantly, allowing the vessel to quite literally jump from a specific point to another without having to travel directly between them, therefore reducing journey time by an extraordinarily large margin.

Thus, the Mortifier could hardly be even seen, much less registered on any of the more advanced races' scans as it intruded upon numerous galaxies during its course.

Yet, on one particular planet, a group of special individuals, survivors of now not just one, but two equally as terrifying cataclysmic disasters were actively monitoring this hateful, yet at the same time, terrifying entity as it violated the cosmic laws without any care in the world.

The ex-Maltusians, now referring to themselves as Oans or simply just 'The Guardians' were looking at a holographic projection of the slice of the known universe. In it, a dotted, hypothesized line could be seen originating from a very special galaxy that was known to be the home base of this being. Its other end sailed forward in a straight line, showing its current direction to the council that sat around it.

"This is just too much! We have to do something!" One of these seated Guardians hit the armrest of his chair in anger.

"He doesn't care about anything, violates all the universal laws we have agreed upon! His outrageous actions are already a violation of Creation! If this continues, the consequences will be dire!"

A tired sigh came in response from the other end. Ganther sighed with a melancholic look on his face.

"Sigh… I hear your worries. I really do. I hear and share your worries, yet what can we do? Besides complaining to each other, what else is there we could do about him?" Ganthet asked as he looked over his last surviving kin, his brethren. "We have done everything we could. We tried to use our wits, we tried to convince with compassion…"

Ganthet glanced to his side, where a scoffing and scowling figure, Appa Ali Apsa sat, looking as defiant and rebellious as before. Ganthet sighed once more as he continued:

"…and thanks to Apsa, we have also tried using force. What did that all surmount to? We have experienced our own destruction! Not just ours, but Oa and the Lanterns as well!"

Leaning closer, Ganthet once again scanned over his now-silent peers with squinted eyes.

"So, let me ask you all again… What can we do other than keeping watch and maybe, just maybe asking that fiend to not destroy our universe and toss it back into the Primordial Chaos?!"

His voice echoed in the vast, dark chamber, no Guardian could come up with any response but scowl in their own helpless, hopeless situation. Not only their progeny, the Lanterns couldn't face this hateful existence, the one calling himself simply as 'Spencer', but even them, the Guardians themselves hold absolutely no chance at all.

Heck, they have already experienced what it was like to face this creature's wrath. It was now etched deep into their souls, none could ever hope to forget it…

"No."

Suddenly a voice rang out in the vast hall, breaking the intense silence as it continued to resound between its empty walls.

Appa Ali Apsa, looked up, the ever-present scowl on his face transformed into fierce determination. He slowly looked over the other Guardians before he raised his index finger pointing at a particular spot, a lonesome planet in the projected slice of Galactic Map.

Ganthet looked shocked as he followed Apsa's pointed finger, realizing just what or more precisely whom he was referring to.

"No, you can't mean…"

"Yes. Now, only HE can help us." Apsa coldly uttered.

"This is not going to end well…" Ganthet sighed, planting his face in his newfound worries…

—

"Ah, my dear… This! This is a unique creation of mine, something that cannot be replicated but only a handful of times at most. This is what I am calling the 'Prime Formula'!" Spencer proclaimed proudly, his index finger pointing towards the metal ceiling in a grandiose, theatrical manner.

Looking over smugly, he noticed the stone-cold, insipid, emotionless expression on Bey'on. He quickly lowered his stance back to normal, as he coughed to mask his slight embarrassment and explained.

"You can think of this as a highly upgraded version of the same Omon Formula you are still working on. Whilst not wanting to dive too deep into the specifics, I can make maybe 16-17 more doses besides what I have already made…" Spencer said, muttering an extra sentence under his breath. "Any more and even I couldn't tell what the consequences would be…"

"I see…" Bey'on commented, casting her gaze over the monitor and looking at the inflow of metrical data. "And what are the specifics? Is this salve of yours stable?" She asked in a monotone voice, whilst her eyes zapped from left to right as she digested all the information.

Yet, although her voice remained stagnant, her heart couldn't sit still for much longer. The more he read into the current report coming in, the more shocked she became! Even before Spencer had a chance to respond, she already understood everything.

Unlike her own version, which was based on Spencer's original 'Omon formula', this one had stable, valid results! The subjects going simply by F-01, F-02, and F-03 didn't gradually lose their material integrity and dissolve into a pile of goo or simply vanish into the same fluids their tubes were filled with, but instead showed the first signs of success!

Though most likely the torture the Fashans was experiencing must have been unimaginable, it wasn't like Bey'on or even Spencer cared too much about it. Or not at all.

From the initial readings, it showed that instead of breaking down, their polynucleotide chains, having shown a positive response to the introduced genome! Their DNA was accepting the formula!

This, however, was simply the start, the 'Step 1' of a long, and arduous journey where the subjects would eventually, hopefully completely transform and be the progenitors of Spencer's people, the Omonians, or more precisely Prime Omonians.

Instead of responding, Spencer stood silent, looking at his partner-in-crime as she read the screen with a gradually widening pair of eyes. The more she turned shocked, the more gleeful Spencer felt.

Eventually, after several minutes of trying to process everything, Bey'on looked up and gazed at the three tubes standing in front of them. Inside, the thick fluid only hinted at a humanoid shape which was already a vast improvement from the disgusting amorphous blob that Bey'on was met each and every time she attempted a test.

"How? What's different?" She muttered, her initial shock slowly transforming into a deepening frown. Glancing over her tabloid device, she muttered. "Could the issue really be with the host? No, I can't proclaim it with any conclusive evidence… For one, the catalyst is different… mhrm *mutter* *mutter*" She kept on going, muttering to herself as she compared the results from the two cases, trying to find the fault on her own.

Sadly, however, the differences were just too big, to be able to compare them against each other. Not just that the subjects, F-01, F-02, and F-03 were of an entirely different species than the Kryptonians she had in her 'custody', but the formula was also completely different. Spencer's 'Prime Formula' was a secretive solution he had come up with, which she had no idea about.

Still, from what she understood, there was a unique material that was either way too costly in one way or another to be able to reproduce in vast quantities.

Unlike her much-simplified version, the Omon Formula which could be mass-produced without much of an issue, even if the Replicator itself was incapable of doing it, they could easily create a couple of hundred units a day.

"Babe, you are too focused on the wrong!" Spencer called out from behind, chuckling as he grabbed hold of Bey'on's waist, earning another yelp and a gentle push together with a pout afterward.

"Don't call me like that!" She exclaimed before she added. "What do you mean?"

Spencer chuckled, most likely ignoring her exclaim in its entirety.

"You keep on focusing on comparing the subjects and trying to find the fault in their differences." He explained. Pointing at the three tubes he shrugged his shoulders as she spoke. "To tell you the truth, the results you see have nothing to do with these three's origins. Even if I would have randomly grabbed three Kryptonians, the results would more-or-less be the same.

"The intent for both formulas would be to react with the host's genome, and aggressively mutate it based on its own stored genetic sequence we have programmed into it."

"What is missing then? Why do my tests fail every time?!" Bey'on asked, her voice reaching higher altitudes due to the pent-up frustration she felt. More than anything, failing at her experiments without anything to improve was what she hated the most.

"Let me take a look, let's go back to the lab..." Spencer said, motioning for the woman towards the door on the left end.

---

Time passed on slowly, but surely as the Mortifier kept on crossing through galaxies and gradually reaching closer to its destination. Inside its depths, in Bey'on's domain, the Research Lab the duo was looking over the latest results.

After they returned, both of them immediately dived knee-deep into improving the bluish liquid, the 'Omon Formula'. As the initial results did not show any conclusive evidence that could point towards the root cause of the failures, they altered the ratios, experimented on replacing the individual ingredients and materials, much to no avail.

No matter what they changed, the end result was the same. Though the time until the specimen died the most gruesome, and horrific death and was diffused into a container full of slimy sludge and goo differed, the fact remained: The subjects did not survive the process.

"No. The formula is right. I'm sure of it. The issue is that it's just not strong enough. Look here at the beginning it showed positive signs, but after a while, it seemed to lose most of its power, and eventually, the subject's system had rejected, losing stability and ending up the same as my morning 'ventures'..." Spencer proclaimed as he looked at the results.

"Pffft, if that is the case, we would only need to make it stronger!" Bey'on exclaimed in a huffed manner, thinking that what Spencer said was already obvious. The issue was that she had no idea how to enhance it!

"Hmm... I do have an idea that I have already planned to do when we start the process for real..." spoke Spencer, as a shining crystalline orb materialized in his right palm.

"I have always planned to sustain the energy with this little beauty. Before you ask, it is something similar to a battery, but for the living!" He added.

He flipped his hands making the crystal object vanish once again. A frown appeared on his face as he pondered.

"Still, for the tests, I do not want to waste these away. These tests are only for perfecting the formula... Hmm... Ah, I know!" He exclaimed, realizing the most obvious substitute to the matter.

However, just as he was about to walk over and create the new and hopefully final version of the salve, crimson lights lit up all across the Mortifier.

The alarm was resounded, calling Spencer back to his driving seat. They have finally reached their destination, but the welcome would not be what he had expected...