[center][i]The Woods of Faiza, Behind the Lodge, 10:48am[/i][/center]

Sam struggled through a fitful sleep, treated to visions of alien tormentors and horrific technological constructs chasing her through a carbon fantasy. Copper traces served as roads, connecting skyscrapers built from capacitors, inductors, and the occasional timing circuit. The occasional pulse of arc-blue energy whizzed past at unfathomable speeds. Sam, uncertain, rounded the corner and nearly collided with another of the terrible creatures.

The metallic spider thing reared up on four of its legs and lunged for her, missing by inches as Sam sent herself into a baseball slide. She slipped through its legs and hooked them with her laptop cord, toppling the beast, then took off running. Two more of the creatures flanked her and reached out again, and Sam, as if by instinct, reached out for one of the blue pulses.

Jaiden, first on scene, could have boggled at the force of the impact. The triangular craft left a deep trench at least fifty feet long before finally coming to rest beneath a stately pine. Some of its needles and cones smoldered on the surface of the ship, though by now it felt like very little heat had been retained by its reflective skin. The trench began as just a tiny scrape in the ground, gradually deepening and widening, which indicated an angled descent. Compared with the original angle, the obvious conclusion was that it had somehow attempted to right itself during the crash, but...

The peace of the woods was interrupted twice more; once by the agonizing process of shapeshifting, and again by the screeching of rent metal. Damaged as it was, and perhaps weakened by the heat of re-entry, the door could not withstand Jaiden's enhanced physiology. A brief survey of the interior of the craft yielded the discovery of one female survivor. When she did not respond to the standard greeting-and-by-the-way-are-you-dead that nearly every first-responder rehearses on the way to render aid, he had fallen back on a more proactive approach.

Unfortunately, Jaiden's advanced 'pokey-stick' technology did nothing to stir Sam from her induced sleep. It began to look as though, if he wanted to help her at all, he'd have to get her out of the harness. The mechanism was in no way similar to standard Faizan systems. It looked to be designed for longer, slender fingers; tendrils, perhaps. 

That point became increasingly important as the control console to Sam's right flickered on, partly displaying a few status updates. It was badly damaged, but not enough to provide any ambiguity behind the blood-red inverted triangle and the angular symbol of a diamond, topped with three jagged spikes, in its center. As the smell of smoke filled the cabin, it became clear that the two had somewhat less time to vacate than originally thought.

[i]"Kanta."[/i] the computer calmly announced. The voice file crackled and skipped, indicating more systemic damage. [i]"Kanta, Gen Im. Gen Jia Ii Cha Tem.[/i]

[i]Tem...
Niish...
Orcha...
Sem...
Iija...
Quan...[/i]

The sound of ventilation systems spinning up made a compelling argument for vacating the premises. Though the language could not be immediately understood, there was something of a finality and urgency to its friendly warning.