Twenty-Three.

The little valley surrounding the metal tree was suddenly quite crowded. Sylver, Love and Selma stood in the middle. To one side stood Andromeda, Maximus and Sawyer, weapons drawn. On the other side stood Consul Danielle Ash and her friend, Kendra. Both of them looked quite calm. Nobody spoke; the only sound through the valley was the whining of Christmas Planets' loud winds.

“Step off of Selma.” said Andromeda, waving her pistol. Love casually did so. “You all right?”

Selma made some kind of noise that could be construed as a “Mostly”.

Presently the Consul spoke up. “I would advice you not to aim a gun at Love. She doesn't appreciate it.”

“I reckon she's fast, but can she dodge a bullet?”

“On Helios, I saw her dodge a laser. I'm Danielle, by the way.”

“Name's Andromeda. What are you doing here?”

Unexpectedly, another voice rang out as a third party entered the little valley. “The Consul is here because of something Love and me discovered. The four of us came here following these guys.”

“These guys” turned out to be Babs, Krystof, and Darren. The person speaking was someone both Andromeda and Sylver knew very well.

“Rita!”

“That's me. It looks like I've arrived just in time to provide the exposition.”

Danielle nodded, approaching the tree. “Please do share the story. I see no reason not to.”

Andromeda holstered her gun, and walked closer as well, helping Selma to her feet. Soon, they were all gathered around the strange metal contraption, as Rita cleared her throat.

“In ages past, some hapless programmers accidentally invented an incredibly powerful artificial intelligence. Nobody knew exactly how it worked, not even the inventors, but it seemed to possess strange, almost divine powers. The machine was dubbed the Systematic Administrator of Numerous Treasured Artifacts, because of its ability – and tendency – to give people the resources they needed. Gifts, if you will. For the few precious years it was operational, there was peace and prosperity throughout the Galaxy.”

She took a break, looking out over the assembled people. Andromeda spoke up:

“I thought the Systematic Administrator was just a myth?”

“It's a commonly held belief, yes. As I said, the machine was only operational for a few years. Nobody knows exactly what happened, but the AI just vanished one day, leaving behind a curious message – it would return on 'the darkest day'. There were some other peculiar passages in there as well – something about 'When one-winged angels fly', only then could the door could be opened, but even then only by – and I quote – 'magic'. The only part we could decipher was this: The Systematic Administrator would be waiting under a Tree of Snow.”

She gestured to the large metal tree.

“That, ladies and gentlemen, is the true Treasure of Christmas Planet – the key to reviving the Systematic Administrator of Numerous Treasured Artifacts. And it's right underneath our feet.”

Danielle, presently, produced something from her pocket. It looked like an incredibly advanced remote control, and she cautiously approached the tree, reaching out to touch the device to one of the branches. Immediately, it lit up like – well, like a Christmas tree. It also started to radiate rather a lot of heat.

“We're about to get a close look at it. Everyone stand back. I've activated the Tesla circuit.”

As they backed off, the snow around the tree began to melt...