Xevious question

[etumor]

I've been playing Xevious on my MAME cab the past couple of nights.  It is one of my all time favorite games, but there is one aspect of it that I wish to understand but cannot.  I have searched the web for the answer, and although I have found a lot of info on the hidden citadels and flags, no one has even mentioned this very puzzling moment in the game:

Just before you reach the second mother ship, two pyramid shaped objects fly at your ship and position themselves on either side of you.  They spin there for several moments, then they stop spinning.  They move together and form a cube, which then flys upward, off the screen.  If you've ever played this far into the game, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

What is this all about?  Near as I can tell, you can't shoot this object, or interact with it in any way.  But it consumes a fairly long moment of gameplay, so it must have some significance.  Anybody know what the heck this is?

-Jeff "etumor"

[Tiger-Heli]

http://www.mameworld.net/maws/romset/xevious Don't know if any of this helps?

[TOK]

Figured it was just a psyche out for the second mothership!

I love Xevious, though I never got super good at it in the arcades. Haven't really at home either, but the first time I made it past the 3rd mothership was on the MAME cab. I always get obliterated by that set of 3 exploding "8 balls" before the 3rd mothership.