The Dream of the Blue Turtle

Leo rapped sharply on the door before pushing it open. "Yo! Donnie! Hurry it up, dude..." He smirked as he entered the room. "Whatcha do--fall in?" Then, he stopped cold. On the floor was Don's pressure suit, limp and empty, with Donatello's mask beside it. "D-Don? DONATELLO!"

Donatello found himself floating naked in totally blank space. It was pure, unadorned white as far as he could see. "Too weird. Kinda interesting though....Just seem to be floating in nothing." He twisted his body sideways to test the effect. "Hey, I can move. Now if I can only find some sort of reference point. Ooof." This last as he smacked his face on some invisible surface. "Cool. Some sort of surface." Then he saw something that made his eyes widen in surprise. The five white figures sitting in a circle. "Not cool. The Sons of Silence." *footnote* On his hands and knees, Don took a closer look, and saw, hovering in the center of the circle above their heads, a whitish orb. "Hey, that--that's the Turnstone! *footnote* But--but I thought both the Turnstone and the Sons of Silence were wished out of existence by Cherubae *footnote* when we were on Hirobyl."

He climbed slowly to his feet, remembering Cherubae, arms raised, glorying in her power as she banished the Turnstone and the silent creatures from reality. "Out of existence....Then what does that make this place? This is messed up. And the Sons of Silence are just too creepy. What are they? What do they want?" Don had way too many questions and way too few answers. "Well, there's only one way to find out." Striding over quickly, before he lost his nerve, he tapped one of the Sons on the shoulder. "Yo. Hey, pallie....I..I"

Don gaped in shock. "WHAT?! WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" The creatures stared at him with their blank eyes. "No, I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of you." He backed away from them, his eyes betraying his fear. "Hey, what are you doing?!" he cried as one of the Sons reached for him. "No, please...keep away...." He gave a little gasp of surprise as the Son touched his face, then backed away to rejoin his comrades. A clear-headedness came over Don, and his was surprised again. "I..you're right. I do feel better. I'm not afraid anymore."

The Sons stood looking at him, with the Turnstone still suspended behind them. "But your lips aren't moving...and I can hear you in my head. That's kinda weird, y'know?" He continued to respond to the Sons' mental comments. "No...I never gave much thought to destiny. I guess I always thought we were the masters of our own fate. Why do you ask?" He waited silently for a response. "What do you mean you're not the ones doing the asking? We're the only ones here, right?"

"Wrong," the Turnstone said. It floated over to hover directly in front of him.

"What?! The Turnstone? But I thought..."

"Don't think," the Turnstone reprimanded.

Don protested, "But that's what I do."

"No. Not for long, it isn't...not for long."

"He's gone!"

"What?" Ninjara exclaimed as Leo stormed in, holding Don's suit in his arms. She was out of her own, and helping Raph remove his.

"He's gone!" Leo cried again. "Donatello's gone! The only thing left is his suit..." New resolve came to his face, and his voice hardened. "He's gotta be around here somewhere. C'mon, let's fan out and find him." But Zebulon appeared at his side and jerked a thumb back the way he had came.

"No time," he said with a shake of his head. "The big pow-wow's about to take place in Stump's HQ." Zebulon led the turtles and Ninjara into a huge domed room. In the center, a holograph projecter created an image of Dimension X in a huge globe. Beings filled the room, and Trap stood with Stump and Sling next to the globe.

Leo was still nervous. "But what about Don? We have to find him!"

Zebulon shrugged it off. "Your friend will show up. But right now we have plans to make."

"All right, lissen up!" Trap barked. "We got us two problems here. Now turn yer eye-stalks to the holodome. First problem: black hole." Trap waved toward the image. Dimension X, spread out for all to see. And in the center, the black hole. "It's expanding like all get-out and turning Dimension X into a donut, if ya know what I mean. Worse, the rate of expansion is fluctuating, unpredictable...And no telling when or if it's gonna stop." Trap grimaced and went on. "And although the hole hasn't sucked in any inhabited planets yet, it's only a matter of time. We're gonna have to help evacuate the refugees from those planets closest to the hole. Which brings us to our second problem."

The Dimension X picture changed to one of a bald, brown-skinned alien with one red eye. "Emperor Mazool. Mazool has taken advantage of the chaos created by the black hole. His Aerwyl Imperial Fleet is not only ripping off the refugees as they flee the hole's expansion..."

Luna Azul, jaw set and eyes blazing, finished the statement: "But he's amassing his forces to make a major move against all of Dimension X. He wantes the Aerwyl to come out on top of this crisis. He wants to rule what's left of Dimension X."

Behind her, Exeen nodded. "Why we quit. He mad." *footnote*

Trap nodded. "Right. That's why Nova Posse has to take him out. The Posse goes into the Imperial Palace...And does whatever it has to do to unseat Mazool."

Unusually serious, Mike said, "We want in on this, too."

"No sweat, Michaelangelo. You guys assist the Posse. Let's hustle. Meanwhile, I'll head up our own rag-tag armada, and prepare to go at it against the Aerwyl Fleet."

And suddenly, the turtles had a cause. But as they rushed off, eager to get started on their mission, Ninjara reminded, "Um, aren't we forgetting something? What about Donatello?"

Donatello whirled as something hurtled towards him through the nothingness. "Ut-oh. What's that?! Sarnath's ship?" Don scrambled out of the way of the incoming vehicles as they scittered across the surface and ground to a halt, now nothing more than scrap metal. "And one of those fighters that attacked us? But-" He turned to give the Sons of Silence a very hard look. "But they fell into the black hole."

His heart leapt. A familiar blue body was crawling out of the wrecked ship! "Sarnath! You okay, buddy?" Don dashed towards him.

"Donatello?" the confused alien asked. "Is that you? I-I can't see."

"Hold it right there, you two!" bellowed the Aerwyl fighter, aiming his gun. "And prepare to die!"

"Not if I can help it, bozo!" Don cried, racing to attack the fighter.

The Aerwyl squeezed his trigger, but the gun only made empty clicking sounds. "Eh? My gun doesn't work?"

Donatello bounced off some invisible restraint before he even reached the Aerwyl. "I missed him? No way!" He peered over to where the Turnstone still hovered. "Hmmmm...Maybe the Turnstone won't let us hurt one another?"

"The Turnstone?" murmured the Aerwyl.

"Yeah. It seems to be running the show around here..."

The Aerwyl climbed down from his ship and stalked toward the Turnstone. "I must retrieve the Turnstone for the Emperor Mazool!"

"No! Wait!" Don cried frantically. "Can't you hear their warnings?" The Aerwyl reached for the gem. "Can't you hear their screams?"

"I hear nothing, rebel," sneered the Aerwyl. "I-" He touched the stone and his scream of pure agony rent the air as his body jolted with sudden electricity, and fell to the ground, a smoking heap of burnt flesh.

"Man!" Don gasped. "I tried to warn him! Didn't he hear them yelling?"

"Donatello," Sarnath said gently. "I heard nothing."

"But the Sons of Silence were screaming in my mind...Huh? What did you say?"

"But I said nothing, Donatello," Sarnath said in confusion.

"Not you. The Turnstone. It's calling me..." Donatello reached for it.

The Freedom One sped toward the green and yellow globe. "Here we are, Posse. Mazool's world! Home sweet home. Now let's see if we can fake our way through." Luna cleared her throat and barked into the comm, "This is the Imperial Starship P'Ntaang requesting emergency landing!"

Exeen smiled a little as she turned to her captain. "New recog codes worked. We've fooled them."

Luna nodded satisfaction. "Great. Keep her steady, Exeen."

Exeen called out the status. "Surface in view. Contact imminent."

"Then here we go. Everyone ready?" At the nods from her crew, Luna nodded again. "Then let's make this good. There's no room for error. Hatch open!" As the panel slid back, Raph peered out over the edge.

"Once we bail, we're on our own. If Zebulon hangs around, he's a sitting duck!" Raph commented.

Rave scratched his head in confusion. "What's a duck?"

Raph shrugged and jumped. Leo followed with a bellow of "Geronimooooooooooo!"

Their fall was broken by the brush below. "Shhhh!" Exeen hissed. "Quietly. There may be audio detectors."

They drew near to the huge silvery structure, and Luna turned to Exeen. "Guard on the balcony. Exeen--your lead," she hissed.

Exeen's grip tightened around her spear. "Yes, Captain."

A green-skinned guard screamed in terror as the fierce Exeen plumetted down to strike with her spear. "The Quadraline!"

"Trip--bypass the security and get these doors open immediately," Luna commanded.

"Will do." Trip drifted off to plug her Compac into the security monitor. But an alarm broke the silence they had been so careful to preserve. "Uh-oh! New system! There goes the alarm!"

Luna shrugged it off. "Don't worry about it. Grotto--your turn!" The huge yellow alien wrenched off a huge piece of the big metal door with one good tug. "Stay sharp, team! Now they know we're coming!"

Their entrance was greeted by laser blasts. "Watch it, Grotto-They're right inside the door!" Rave shouted to his friend. Grotto quickly lifted up the hunk of metal as a shield.

"Good job, G. Now cover Rave while he moves into position..." Rave dashed up behind Grotto and ducked suddenly out into the open. "And cools these guys off!" On cue, Rave let go of a blast of ice, dropping the Aerwyls in their tracks. Luna smirked as she proceeded up the hall in front of the others. "Nice and frosty, Rave. On your toes, there're more up ahead!"

But it was much worse than that. In front of a circular viewing window stood Mazool, surrounded by heavily armed minions. "There certainly are," he sneered. "Do come in, we've been expecting you. Although you are far too late to be of much good. Even as we speak, my Imperial forces are converging at the black hole to meet your puny armada. Surrender now and I will see to it that your deaths are painless."

His maniacal tirade was cut off by a new alarm. "Eh? What's this?" Mazool whirled to a monitor, where lights were blinking frantically, and hit the comm switch. "ADMIRAL! REPORT!"

A frantic Aerwyl answered, "My lord! The black hole--it has suddenly doubled in size! Not only that, but it shows no sign of stopping!"

Donatello stood bathed in blue light. His eyes were closed, his face frozen in an attitude of ecstasy as he lifted the Turnstone high above his head.

Back to da top, where ya kin go to the final chapter of The Black Hole Trilogy!

*footnote*--Nobody really knows where the Sons of Silence come from, who they are, where they are, or what they want. They can "phase" into our reality, usually accompanied by the smell of ozone and a white or blue light, and phase out. They seem to be on the side of neither the "good guys" nor the "bad guys" since they have helped both. They first appeared when they transported Bebop and Rocksteady to Krang and Shredder. Then, they appeared as the Turtles were about to attack Shredder, mesmerizing them and allowing their capture. But they later save Cherubae (Mary Bones) from Krang by spiriting her away. Finally, when Leatherhead used the Turnstone to try and bring Cherubae back, the Sons of Silence reappeared, and Cherubae thought them out of existence. This is the first time they have appeared since. Back to the weirdness....

*footnote--The Turnstone has been called a "directional thought trans-animator." That is, it can take the thoughts of its holder and transform them into reality. When the Turnstone came to Earth in Cherubae's hands, in caused great amounts of trouble. The first incident came when human Jess Harley tried to steal it, and for punishment, Cherubae transformed him into Leatherhead. (I'm not sure if he's supposed to be an alligator an or a crocodile man. One of the two.) Krang and Shredder tried many times to obtain this source of tremendous power, and the final battle came on Hirobyl. After a fight with Krang, Shredder, Bebop, Rocksteady, the Intergalactic Wrestling Team, Leatherhead, and Maligna, Cherubae ended it all. She used the power of the Turnstone, sending Bebop and Rocksteady to an Eden-world, Shredder to an Earth prison, and Krang to a toxic waste world called Morbus. Finally, she thought the Turnstone and the Sons of Silence out of existence. Back to the weirdness....

*footnote*--Cherubae is an exiled warlord from Dimension X, a bitter enemy of Krang. She spent a time living in the swamps of the southern United States, disguised as a witch named Mary Bones. (It was at this time that she transformed Jess Harley into Leatherhead.) Her main power came from the Turnstone: using it, she could do basically whatever she wanted. However, after she helped the TMNT and company defeat the bad guys, she wished the Turnstone out of existence. No one really knows what Cherubae is up to these days, or what powers she has naturally and can still use. Back to the weirdness....

*footnote*--Once again, the Sourcebook info is different than in this comic book. For details on the Sourcebook version of things, see my Nova Commission page and Aerwyl Federation page. Go with the flow.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the comic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, and the series The Black Hole Trilogy are copyright 1993 to Mirage Studios and creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.