It had a memory older than man.
Aeons past it had been created, then a mere single fertilised cell in its protective cocoon. Part of a clutch of a dozen, they had laughed and communicated, all innocence, twelve utterly identical organisms utterly unaware of the outside world.
And then, hibernation. It slept. The outer shell grew, hardened. Became dead rock.
Until one day - energy. A blast that seeped through the rock, and warmed the dormant being inside. And it grew. Larger and larger, as more energy warmed it.
Now, it was free.
And confused. Where were the others? It tried to sense them, found nothing. But here, in the space nearby, was an... emptiness, and a trail of red light through higher dimensions of spacetime. Yes. One had gone this way...
Before it could follow, however, a volley of seven energy blasts struck it on the torso. It turned, annoyed.
It saw the movement of ten fighterships, more energy blasts splatting over it like flies on a windscreen. It brightened. Food. And these were closer...
It tried to move. And frowned. Where was it? There were no surfaces, nothing to push against.
But there was another way to move, wasn't there? Yes...
It thought, and appeared in the centre of the fightership swarm. One arm flashed down and grabbed a fightership. It crumpled in its fist like cardboard. It shoved the handful in its mouth and chewed, metal shrapnel and leaking fluid spewing out in a white cloud.
The other fighterships flew around in an agitated swarm. More energy blasts rained down on it, which it ignored. It plucked another ship from mid-swoop and squashed it flat. A tinny scream echoed faintly inside its head.
There were things inside these ships. Small and warm and very nourishing. It began to pursue the remaining ships with more vigor.
The eight fighterships were having second thoughts now. A group of them whirled and sped off. But it was faster.
This was fun...
Guybrush slowly pulled his hand back from the portal stone teleporter.
His whole body was shaking.
"We've spawned it," he whispered.
Beside him Wally was practically vibrating with excitement. "The portal stones, Guybrush! That's what I've been trying to tell you! When they're activated they give off a radioactive signature! That's how Upchuck was able to track us! And it means we can build a detector to see if anyone else has used one! We might even be able to detect dormant portal stones!"
"And that monkey? What do we do about that?" said Guybrush.
"Maybe it'll die in the vacuum," said Wally.
"Not likely."
"Well, okay, that's a problem. But first we've got to get moving. Upchuck knows our position. He may be following along any moment."
"So might the monkey," said the Hermit.
They hadn't considered that. Wally paused, and continued scanning the radarscope. "There. Twenty kilometre rock just fifty clicks away. We land, hide, and then take a little time to recuperate. Guybrush, we're really not in any shape to go after the remaining stones at the moment. Right Boss Hog is barely holding together. And we're all a little battered and shaken."
Guybrush glanced back at Elaine, who was slumped back against the far wall, unconscious. "Yeah, you're right. Get us out of here."