[IC] Stand Alone(Summers and AHeartlessNobody)

[Rogue Sloth]

When he was confident the human was okay, Serix leaned away from her again to rest his head on the chair. He wasn’t strained from his efforts to communicate mentally with her, but sitting around for so long was making him feel lazy. He just shrugged and shook his head at the human’s question about how the planet became so destroyed. It was something he had always wondered about, himself. Lunair’s condition had taken such a steep dive at such a fast pace. Was the secret of the planet’s decline just another thing the higher powers were keeping from the rest of the Lunairans? It was frustrating to think that his supposed leaders and protectors would do something like that, but now he wouldn’t put it past them.

“Did you ever get to be there?” the human asked. “On the planet? Or were you born on the ship?”

“I told you that already, didn’t I?” Serix looked at her in amusement. “I’ve lived on the ship my whole life. My home planet is too dangerous for any of us to return to it. The closest I’ve been to seeing it for myself are the mind pictures I’ve managed to get from our elders. They’re always hesitant to share anything about what happened, but I was able to get a few of them to open up to me.” He smiled at the memory of his own cleverness. Most of the Lunairan youths spoke to the elders, as they all revered them for the struggles they went through. However, it was exceedingly difficult to squeeze any details out of them about Lunair. Serix was probably the only one who had managed to attain three entire telepathic images and even one memory.

“The images I showed you were from a book, though,” Serix went on. “They were the before and after pictures from when I was studying the history of my planet.” What he left unspoken was that the images he received from the elders were too personal to share. He may be betraying the higher powers by talking with this human, but he didn’t want to do the same to the ancient Lunairans who had put their wholehearted trust in him.

“Don’t you think you’re asking too many questions?” Serix said with a smirk. “I believe that was three. Now it’s my turn.” He thought for a moment. “How about this: I’ll give you an easy one.” The simple question was one he had been trying to avoid. He had wanted to keep some emotional distance from the human so he wouldn’t form any sort of attachment to her, but he realized it was too late for that. He had already chosen not to kill her and he was probably going to die anyways, so avoiding the question any longer was pointless.

“What is your name?”

[AHeartlessNobody]

"I know you said you lived there your whole life, but....I don't know, I thought you might be exaggerating and maybe left when you were just a young child. Guess not..." She rubbed the back of her neck and shrugged, "That's good though. That you at least sort of got to see what it looked like through those pictures and from the elders of your people." She brushed her hair back from her face, "At least through that you can have some sort of sense of what your home was like." She smiled slightly at that, "I still remember a lot of things from before Earth went down hill. Those tall buildings you saw in the city? They were all fixed up and so shiny that when the sun was at its peak it could almost blind you. And all those plants were over grown. Thousands of people bustled around making it kind of hard to walk.

"If you went to the country though it was different." She stood up from her seat, moving over to some of the boxes of junk she had sitting in the corner. She started going through them as she spoke, "The country had plenty of room, with lots of plants and animals. Not many people lived there before the plague. After the plague though everyone tried moving tot he country thinking the less populated the better. Only with so many people thinking that way, the country became more populated than the city." She pulled out a book from the boxes, pausing there to open it up. It was an old photo album that had many pictures in it and some of the pictures, namely of her mother, she didn't want him to see and took a moment to pull those out, sticking them back in the box that held some things she had kept from her home when she had been with her parents and putting some things over it. Once she did that, she moved back over to sit across from him.

"My uncle had lived in the country before all this happened, and he knew too many people would migrate there. That's why he suggested we stay here in the city." She opened up the album and there inside were pictures that varied. Some where of her in the city and others were her visiting her uncle. She pointed to a picture of her on her father's shoulders, and in the background were many of the tall city buildings as well as the cars and shops in the background, "See? Really busy." She flipped the page to show pictures of her uncle's farm and different animals like cows, dogs, her on a horse, and chickens, "Where as the country had lots room, and even though it lacked in people, had lot of animals. It was really cool."

She handed the album to him carefully, "You can look at it but please try not to mess it up. Those are the only pictures I have of before the invasion." She pulled her knees to her chest and looked at him when he said he would ask her another question since she had asked so many already. Then, hearing his question, she smiled brightly and held in a laugh, "I guess we haven't told each other that have we?" She paused and shrugged, situating herself in her seat to get more comfortable and pull her hair back into a pony tail, averting her gaze for a moment. It had been so long since she introduced herself to someone, "My name's Castiel. But people used to jut call me Cassie. Whatever you prefer to call me though is fine with me. I'll go by either one."

She looked up to let her eyes meet his again, "And what's your name?"

[Rogue Sloth]

Serix flipped through the book she handed to him, looking at all of the pictures. He noticed some empty spots in the pages, where the human must have removed photographs she didn’t want him to see. He glanced up at her searchingly, wondering what she was trying to hide. Then again, he was keeping secrets as well. She had a right to her own privacy. He let it go and continued examining the contents of the book.

The pictures of the city caught his attention the most. The ‘buildings’ gleamed in the sunlight. Some of the tallest ones looked like their walls were made of glass, even though he knew that couldn’t be possible. Glass wouldn’t be able to support such a heavy structure… would it? Perhaps human ingenuity was more limitless than he first imagined. From what he knew, the Lunairans never created structures like these. The height the humans achieved with their constructions was astounding. It was almost as if they were trying to touch the sky.

Serix’s gaze fell upon the picture of the human with her father. She was only a child, which just went to show how similar her people looked in comparison to his, even in adolescence. Apart from the exotic hair and eyes, he might have thought he was looking at a snapshot of a young Lunairan child. It was a bit surreal.

“My name's Castiel,” the human said in response to his earlier question. “But people used to just call me Cassie. Whatever you prefer to call me though is fine with me. I'll go by either one.” She had two names? How unusual. Lunairans never had more than one name. Well, if one were to include ancestral names, then they could have many – Serix had three, himself – but they were only referred to by their immediate names. The ancestral names were only used to trace lineage. The majority of them were unimportant, unless one had blood from a prestigious family, and even then it was only a bragging point because ancestry didn’t affect rank or status in modern Lunairan society.

“You said most of your people referred to you by the latter name,” Serix said. “So I’ll it as well… Cassie.” The foreign name felt strange on his tongue.

“And what's your name?” the human asked, looking up at him.

“Serix,” he replied, blinking at her. “I don’t have a secondary name. At least, none that you would refer to me by.”

[AHeartlessNobody]

“Serix?” She asked trying out the name on her tongue, tilting her head to the side and looking as if she were trying out a food from a different country rather than just testing how strange his name was to say for her, “That’s a weird name.” She leaned back in her seat, saying it again and it still sounded just as weird the second time, “…Serix…..well I guess being from a different planet we would have different kinds of names.” She commented, looking to him, then looked at him when he called Cassie her secondary name, which was funny to her because she had never heard it called that before.

“Secondary name? You mean a nickname?” She said with a small laugh, “Do you even know what a nickname is? It’s just something some close to you calls you. Like...I don’t know, a parent, or a friend, or a boyfriend. That kind of thing. My parents and friends used to call me that. If you had lived on Earth you probably would have had one too. Like Seri. Or Rix. Something like that.” She smiled and reached over to flip some pages in the album again, looking at the pictures fondly, especially those that had her father in them, “Hehe, sometimes my father would even call me Cas-bear. Or Cas-cas. I used to get annoyed by it back then, but now I wouldn’t have cared if he called me that as long as he and my mother were here.” She frowned and sighed, before shrugged and putting a smile on her face, though this one was a smaller one, “I guess you never realize what you have until it’s taken from you.”

Leaning back in her seat again, she looked out the window, “Hey, look. The rain is starting to let up a little bit. It should be gone pretty soon.” She just hopped it would stay gone for at least a couple of days though. It rained a few times a week in this area, so she guessed she shouldn’t have been surprised when it rained today, but still it was annoying. At least now it was letting up and soon the sun would be out again.

Thinking that, she looked back to him, a curious look on her face ,”What are you going to do once the rain is gone?”

[Rogue Sloth]

“You think my name is weird?” Serix said defensively. He let out an indignant huff. He happened to like his name. It rolled off the tongue easily and wasn’t difficult to remember. “Yours is the strangest name I’ve heard in my life. It even tops Zoar’Ozaumn, and he was always getting picked on about how strange his name sounded.”

Cassie tried to explain what a ‘nickname’ was to him, but she only succeeded in further confusing him. First of all, he had no idea what a ‘boyfriend’ was. He assumed it had something to do with a status of relations, since the human grouped it with family and friends. Perhaps humans had different kinds of friends? He would have to ask her more about that later. Then the human tried giving him examples of nicknames, using Serix's name to do so. He winced when she tried saying different variations of his name. They sounded clipped and curt, not at all pleasant on the ears. He preferred to have his whole name stated rather than just pieces of it.

Serix noticed Cassie’s expression turn solemn at the mention of her father. He found that he felt a bit of empathy for her. He knew what it was like to lose his parents; to suddenly be alone. It had to have been much worse for the human, though. Her parents died in the middle of a losing war, leaving her to fend for herself in the midst of a deadly Plague. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She did have that ‘uncle’ she mentioned before. He must have been the human that looked after her when her parents were gone.

“Hey, look,” Cassie said, looking out the window. “The rain is starting to let up a little bit. It should be gone pretty soon.” She looked back at him curiously. “What are you going to do once the rain is gone?”

What was he going to do once the rain was gone? Serix shifted in the chair. He was supposed to report back to the pilot at nightfall. He did a quick calculation, running through the different scenarios in his mind. If he chose to follow his orders and come back, one of two things could happen. Optimally, he would show up, report his findings, and set out again to continue Scouting with no problems. However if the pilot had somehow received word that Serix was harboring a human being, the situation would be much worse. He would show up to report his findings, and then… well, he entirely sure what would come next. All he knew for certain was that it wouldn’t be good.

Then there was the other possibility. He could choose to ignore his orders and hide out in the human’s ship. On the surface, it sounded like a good idea. The human had water and food that was (hopefully) edible, so he wouldn’t need to stock up at the cargo ship. He could survive without coming back. But when he took the repercussions into consideration… The pilot might assume something went wrong and send the other Scouts to find him. They all knew the general direction Serix had gone when they parted. What if they found the human’s ship? Cassie would be exterminated right away and he would probably be killed soon after. There was always the chance that the pilot could assume Serix died on his mission and forget about him, but the likelihood of that happening was slim to none. There were so few Lunairans left that every single body had to be accounted for, dead or alive. He only had one option.

“I have to report back to the ship I arrived in,” Serix said at last. “I have to restock on supplies, and my pilot wants to run a head count to make sure everyone is safe.” He looked up to meet her eyes. “If I miss it, he’ll likely send a search party to come get me. I have to go.” He hesitated. “But when I leave… I might not come back.”

[AHeartlessNobody]

There was a long pause after she asked what he would do once the rain stopped and that worried her. What did he have to be thinking o hard about. She had thought what she asked was a simple question and that he knew what he would do. Apparently not though. He looked up to meet her eyes, speaking, “I have to report back to the ship I arrived in,” This statement made Cassie frown deeply but she let him continue without saying anything, “I have to restock on supplies, and my pilot wants to run a head count to make sure everyone is safe. If I miss it, he’ll likely send a search party to come get me. I have to go.” He paused before finishing his statement, “But when I leave… I might not come back.”

When he said that, Cassie frowned more, disappointment, and even a bit of sadness written on her expression for a moment before she put on a straight face and nodded, averting her gaze from looking at him to looking out the window, speaking, "Yeah....I guess that makes sense.....you would have to go see your people sooner or later to check in. And I suppose I should have realized you wouldn't be staying here long." She shrugged and stood up, going to put the picture album back in the box, but not before making sure to put the pictures of her mother back in carefully before she did put it back in the box.

She didn't understand why it saddened her he wouldn't be coming back. After her, he was of another race, more specifically, a race that was out to kill her. And while he hadn't killed her(or at least he hadn't succeeded in doing so), that didn't mean the others of his kind wouldn't, whether he was with her or not. His kind considered her a weaker species and because of that, surely wouldn't hesitate to kill her. He probably didn't want to be around someone that was looked down upon by his kind for so long. He likely wouldn't have even stuck around this long if it hadn't been for the rain. And even though he may or may not think bad about her because of her species it still upset her that she might not see him again. Such a thought, but it couldn't be denied that she felt that way.

Once the book was back int he box, she leaned against the side of the plane, looking out of it and refusing to met his gaze as she stood there, for fear he would happen to see that sadness and upset emotions in her eyes, so instead she stared out as the last few drops of rain escaped the skies, "You probably have a lot to do and all I've probably kept you long enough huh? You better hurry so you can get checked in on tie at your ship."

[Rogue Sloth]

She doesn’t get it, Serix realized. She thinks I’m just going home to visit the rest of my people. He was about to correct her, but then he stopped himself. Maybe it was better this way. Cassie didn’t need to know what was actually going to happen when he went back to the ship. She could go back to living in her ship for a while longer. There was nothing either of them could do to stop the coming Lunairan invasion, so she might as well have some peace and quiet before they came.

“You probably don’t believe me,” Serix said, standing up and collecting his things – except, of course, the Silencer. The human would need it to protect herself if any of the other Scouts found her ship later on. “But it was nice meeting you.” He turned and headed out the metal door before she could reply.

Serix looked up at the sky. It was starting to turn pinkish-orange as the closest star neared the horizon. Cassie was right. He didn’t have much time. He took off at a fast paced walk until he the airport was out of sight. Then, he broke into a sprint to cover more ground. He didn’t want to get caught out in the open by those four-legged beasts while he was unarmed. He was confident that he could still fight them off, but doing so by hand would put him at a greater risk of getting injured. He glanced back over his shoulder. The city was growing smaller behind him, which meant he was almost there.

When he finally reached the cargo ship, he was relieved to find that he wasn’t the last Scout to return. There was still one missing. Everyone else had gathered to discuss their findings while they waited for the pilot to emerge from the cockpit. Serix casually joined them, although his heart was racing from the exertion of the sprint back.

“…these weird two-wheeled things. Did you see them?”

“Yeah, I found a big cluster of them. I wonder what they were?”

“Hey, one more is back,” one of the Scouts took notice of Serix’s arrival. They all turned to him. “What did you find, friend?”

“Probably a lot of the same things you did,” Serix replied evenly. “There were these unusual beasts roaming around the area I was exploring. I had to kill one that attacked me.”

“You mean you actually had a chance to use your Silencer?” the others gaped at him with newfound admiration. “What was it like?”

“Well,” Serix said slowly. His mind was spinning. If none of the others had used their weapons, that meant they hadn’t come across any other humans. Cassie really was the only one left. “It worked just as expected. It fired the electromagnetic projectile and killed the beast on contact.”

“Wow,” one of the Scouts breathed. “Maybe I would have gotten a chance to kill something too, if it hadn’t been for all this bad weather.” The others murmured in agreement.

“Wait…” Serix tilted his head. “Bad weather?”

“Yeah,” the Scout gave him a funny look. “You know, the rain and thunder. We all had to take shelter to keep from getting completely drenched.”

“How do you know what it was called?” Serix pressed. He didn’t remember being told anything about this ‘weather.’

“The pilot told us,” now the Scouts were looking as confused as Serix felt. “He contacted everyone through the intercom in our belts. You didn’t get it?”

“Intercom?” Serix repeated. “No. I never received any information.”

“Really?” another Scout said in astonishment. “That storm must’ve really freaked you out, huh? How have you even made it this far? The rest of us have been getting pointers from the pilot throughout our mission.”

“Tell me something,” Serix’s heart began to pick up. He had a chilling thought that he might have just solved a huge piece of the puzzle... and he didn’t like the picture it was forming. “Were you able to respond to the pilot? How did he know what advice you needed?”

“I tried responding, but it seems like the intercom only functions one way,” the Scout said warily. He must have heard the desperation in Serix’s voice. “And I believe he used the tracking device. You remember that, right? The pilot told us to press the button on the intercom if we needed help. I’m pretty sure it sends your location to everyone else so we can come and help.”

Serix unlatched the belt he was wearing and slipped it off, holding it up to examine it more closely. Just as he suspected: the tiny mechanism in the belt was no longer flashing. His intercom must have malfunctioned somehow. He felt weak with relief. His secret was safe for now.

He had figured out how at least some of the human-sympathizers had been caught. The Scout had said the intercom only worked one way, but that wasn’t the case. The pilot was able to hear their voices the entire time. It wasn’t that they had to turn it on to reply; the intercom was never turned off. The pilot would be able to secretly listen in and find out if any of the Scouts had betrayed the higher powers, and then he could pinpoint the traitorous Scout’s location with the same device. It was a clever setup. Unfortunately for the pilot, the Scout that actually turned out to be a traitor happened to have been assigned a broken intercom.

The final Scout finally joined them and the pilot stepped out of the ship. He issued everyone their new food rations and switched out their full sample containers – Serix had snatched a few more plants to put in his containers on the way back to the ship – and replaced them with empty ones. The pilot didn’t check the Scouts’ recordings. He told them the pictures they took would be examined at another time. Serix let out his breath when the pilot dismissed them again. He turned to leave.

“You there. Hold on a moment.”

“Sir?” Serix turned back around at the sound of the pilot’s voice.

“I noticed your intercom was broken,” the pilot held out a new belt. “I don’t know who gave you that piece of junk, but I can promise you that he will face the repercussions.”

“Thank you, sir,” Serix took the belt, switching out his old one. His face was a mask of calm.

“You may be on your way,” the pilot nodded at him and turned back for the ship.

Serix headed back towards the city. How was he supposed to return to Cassie now without giving himself away? He couldn’t ditch the intercom somewhere or the pilot would know something was wrong. He also couldn’t break it intentionally. The pilot would definitely notice if his signal disappeared. Serix shook his head as he approached the edge of the city. He was at a loss.

[AHeartlessNobody]

Cassie listened to him as he gathered is things, and when he finished speaking she finally turned to look at him and reply, only he was already leaving out the metal door, making her frown deeply, speaking even though he was too far away to hear her say it, "It.....was nice meeting you too Serix....." Sighing heavily she walked over and flopped down onto her bed, wracking her brain on what she should do. Should she stay here in the plane and wait it out until others of his kind found her? Or should she try to find a better hiding spot? But what would be a better hiding spot if she were to leave? She groaned in frustration and turned over, burying her face against her pillow momentarily before an idea struck her head on where she could go. It was more hidden than the air port for sure and she would probably last longer there than she would here.

She just had to get there though without being spotted by any Alien Scouts. She was pretty sure she could with them supposedly all going to meet back at their ship like he had said. She at least had a little while to get done what she needed to get done. She went through her things, finding another bag she could take, as she had lost her other one when running from Serix in their first encounter, and she began stuffing it with things. First went the few things from her parents, which consisted of nothing more than the photo album, a necklace that her mother had given her, and her father's pocket watch. Once that was in, she went to stuff some supplies in as well, putting as many as she could fit in there, and when she was done, went to the metal door, peaking out. Good, it was still clear with no one around.

Making sure she still had the Silencer at her waist, she began to quickly make her way over the airport fence and into the city, running as quick as she could to a building that used to be a grand tall tower. Now it was broken apart and half the size it used to be from tumbling over and such with age. She went tot he door and tried it. Before the invasion it used to always be kept open because it was a public building and she was relieved to find it still was unlocked. She walked inside and toward an area she knew very well. It was a strange ghost of what it used to be. Everything was still placed in the same way it had been before the invasion, only now everything was dusty and withering away. She frowned to herself and went on, going back to the area of the building where the public hadn't been allowed. It was where officials and workers used to go. She carefully pushed the door to it open and shut it back again.

This all reminded her so much of her parents. How her father used to bring her here and her mother would sometimes tag along. It was very hard. This was the first time she had been here since she was a little girl and it was emotionally draining to think about all this. Still, she took a deep breath and pushed forward, going to the back of the building, where there was a kind of 'sitting room' it seemed. It looked normal, with a old busted tv mounted on the wall, chairs around the edges of the walls, a dysfunctional coffee maker sitting on a counter in the corner. To a person just walking in it would seem nothing more than an employee lounge. But, she knew where the secret of this room lay.

Walking over to the center of the room, she grabbed the edge of a rather long around rug, pulling it back to reveal a hidden metal door that held a manual lock. She just had to remember where they put the spare keys. She knew there had to be some somewhere. She searched for about a half hour before she did find the key and return to the metal door, unlocking and opening it revealing a case of stairs and a long hallway beginning at the end of the stairs. She grinned to herself, hiding the key under the old broken coffee pot, before she moved down a couple of the stairs, pulling the carpet back in place and shutting the door, pulling the latch back into place to lock it from the inside so those outside for the place could only get in with the key, and she could still get out by undoing the latch. Once the door was hidden and locked, she reached into her bag, pulling out the flashlight she had packed, and flipped it on.

She walked down a few more steps and when she got to the last step and stepped the hallway portion, something strange, yet amazing happened. She jumped, looking around wide eyed as the dim motion censored lights hanging overhead flickered on, "Wha....how in the world..." There shouldn't have been any electricity running. Electricity had long since been gone from buildings since the invasion. This made her walk quicker for the hallways, searching for some kind of an explanation when, as she got to one of the many rooms that lined the halls, she heard a buzzing from one of them.

Carefully, Cassie opened the door and what she saw made her grin excitedly. A generator was hooked into the power box and the generator had all sorts of wires leading up the walls and into the upper levels of the building, leading to what she guessed to be outside. It was a solar powered generator. She laughed with happiness at this. The ingenuity of her father and his co-workers, as well as their reparation for such things as loss of power still amazed her. Nodding to herself, she closed the door and continue down the hall, "I should have came here long ago. A good hiding place....electricity...." She made it to a heavy metal door at the end of the hall that was a very high tech in opening it. It took a scan of the person's hand to open, which she thought she wouldn't be able to do without power, but with the generator up and running now she could. She placed her hand on it(glad her father had put her scan in the system as a child), and watched as a green light passed over it, accepting the scan and sliding the metal door open, "and robots." She finished speaking to herself as she walked in, a huge grin on her face as she looked at all the robots of different shapes and sizes, some smaller than herself, and others reaching all the way to the ceiling of the tall hanger, hundreds of times bigger than herself. She had thought by now they would be falling apart and rusting, but apparently in the locked room, hidden away from weathering and harsh climates, at worst they were just dusty.

She wasn't sure what she would even do with these robots, or if she would do anything with them at all. But it was a welcoming sight to see some of her father's work and have something to bring her spirits up. Even give her hope, "Time to get work." She said to herself happily, setting her bag down and going to the largest robot that was there, set on getting all of these things fixed up the best she could.

[Rogue Sloth]

It was an odd feeling to be scouting alone again. It was even more frustrating to know his scouting was just a performance for the pilot to keep himself from getting killed. He had to tread carefully. The pilot would be sure to keep a close eye on him after he had lost track of him for two days. And so, Serix had come full circle, searching the city buildings for signs of humans, when he knew he would find none. The only human that was still breathing was safely hidden away in the airport… wasn’t she? It would be dangerous for her to try and move around now that the Scouts had been released to continue searching for survivors. If any of the others had decided to explore the city, there was a chance she could get caught.

“Five warm bodies to the northeast, Scout. Go identify them.”

The pilot’s voice crackled over the intercom, making Serix jump. He still wasn’t used to hearing the pilot give him direct instructions like this. He found himself wishing he was back in the human’s ship, chatting idly to pass the time while a storm brewed outside. He would much rather listen to Cassie’s relaxing voice than the stern, clipped tone of his pilot. But he knew that wasn’t an option anymore.

“Five?” Serix said. “It’s probable that they are just more of those hairy creatures I encountered before. It seems they prefer to travel in groups. Do you still want me to check, sir?” He paused. No response. Of course the pilot wouldn’t be so foolish that as to reply. He wouldn’t give away his ability to hear the Scouts that easily.

Serix moved as quietly as he could as he approached the unidentified bodies in the northeast. He was still unarmed, so a fight with five of those creatures would end badly for him. He was still fairly confident that he would win, but he would likely be too injured to move afterwards. The pilot would send someone to retrieve him and he would be sent back to the ship for medical treatment. He couldn’t let that happen.

Up ahead, he saw the five creatures. As he suspected, it was a group of those four-legged beasts. They hadn’t noticed his presence yet. Serix quickly figured out why when a strong breeze rustled his hair. It had come from the northeast, which meant that he was downwind of the creatures. They must hunt by smell, and he happened to be in a perfect position where they couldn’t catch his scent.

Keeping low to the ground, Serix inched a bit closer, using the overgrown foliage for cover. He pulled out his recorder and began capturing pictures of the beasts. The group looked like a small family. There were two larger creatures and three smaller ones that he suspected were their spawn. He put the recorder away again and continued to watch them. The little beasts were rolling around in what looked like a mock fight while the larger ones kept watch. It was an interesting sight.

Suddenly, one of the large beasts whipped its head around to face him. Too late, Serix realized the direction of the wind had changed. He was no longer hidden. The creatures flattened their ears and approached him slowly. Serix scrambled to his feet, looking for the fastest exit point. One of the creatures snarled and lunged at him. Serix hit its gaping maw away before it could sink its fangs into his torso. One of the beast’s teeth scraped his arm in the process. While the beast was dazed, he clambered up a nearby tree. The other beast lunged at his leg, but he pulled it up and out of reach. He perched on a thick branch and looked down at the circling hunters. He was safe for now, but he was also trapped.

Serix ran a quick scan of his surroundings. There was a short building not too far to his right. If he climbed a little higher, he could jump down onto its crumbling top. He wasn’t sure it would support his weight, but it was better than staying trapped in the tree. He began to ascend to a taller branch.

He looked down at the building top. It was about as far away as the length of his body. He could make the jump. He crouched on the tree branch and leaped across the gap. He hit the building hard, landing sloppily so that he had to roll to a stop. He checked the intercom on his belt, half-hoping it got destroyed on the impact, but the little light was still flashing. It was still operable.

Serix winced. Now that the adrenaline rush was fading, he could feel a sharp pain in his arm where the hairy beast had scraped him. He rolled his sleeve back to inspect the damage. A long, shallow gash had formed along the outside of his forearm. It wasn’t a deep cut, but it still welled with dark blood. He clicked his tongue in irritation. He had nothing he could use to bandage the injury. He rolled his sleeve back down to cover it and rose to his feet, looking over the side of the building to see that the creatures had given up chasing him and dispersed.

“The group is heading south. I hope you collected valuable information before they left your area, Scout.”

The pilot’s unsympathetic voice came over the intercom again. Serix had half a mind to shout some choice words at him, but he held his tongue. The pilot knew he was injured – he would have been able to hear the tousle through the device – and yet he was going to do nothing about it. He was probably wondering why Serix hadn’t used his Silencer to kill the beasts before they attacked him.

Serix shook his head and stepped over to a ladder to get down from the building top. His wounded arm pained him when he put his weight on it, but he managed to climb down quickly enough. Once he was on the ground again, he continued walking deeper into the city. Blood trickled down his hand and dripped from his fingertips, leaving a trail of dark crimson droplets behind him. He had to find somewhere secure to rest until his arm stopped bleeding. Those four-legged creatures would have an easy time tracking him down while he was like this, and he didn’t want to get pulled into another fight.

Serix remembered the robot storage Cassie had mentioned to him before. She had said something about it being located beneath the tallest building in the city. That would be a safe place to stop, right? He looked up, searching for the tallest construction. It wasn’t difficult to find. The glass-walled building towered high above all the others in its vicinity. He smiled to himself. He would finally get to see the rumored battle machines of the humans.

He began the long walk to the building.

[AHeartlessNobody]

Cassie was sure she had a really great hiding place. After she was done working on a few things on the biggest robot, she went to explore her new home and she was sure she counted about fifteen different rooms in the hallways, all each placed there with the expectations of long stays. Among those was bunker rooms with beds and such for sleep, a bathroom (that got water from the nearby river and was filtered through a small filtration system which needed to be changed every so often), a room full of books that taught anything from basic survival all the way up to the mechanics of building machines, and much more.

She was finding this to be very comfortable and right now she was wishing she would have come here a long time ago. She smiled even more widely with each room she found and started settling in pretty quickly. In the bunker, she put her few things from her parents on a small bedside table, then she went to a room where she guess storage would be as it had a whole case of bottled waters and some canned foods there already. She put what she had in there as well, then went back to the hold where all the robots were, moving to one of the smaller ones.

She opened up its back and began looking at some of the wires to see a few of them had gotten loose over the years and needed to be reconnected. But this also meant she needed some new wire, as well as a few other things. She found everything she needed in there, expect for the wire, which frustrated her to no end. How was she supposed to work on these robots without wire. But then again she supposed with the thickness of the wires that were in there, her father nor the others could have guessed some would snap.

Sighing in frustration she stood up from where she had been looking in one of the toolboxes and paced a moment, trying to think. There was hardware store a few buildings down she could try to make a quick run to, but would it be worth the risk? If she could get these robots fixed up maybe she could use them to protect herself from the aliens. But if she died trying to fix them up, what would that be worth? At the same time though, no one survived by never taking risks, right?

She nodded to herself with that and grabbed her bag, now emptied to put more supplies in, and made her way down the dimly lit hallway again, to the metal door. She pulled the latch back and pushed the metal door open, ready to crawl out, only when she was halfway out, she heard footsteps walking inside the building that made her freeze momentarily. Hearing them begin to head toward her way, she quickly hopped out of the hideaway and drew out the Silencer, pointing it in the direction of the door way, ready to shoot.

She saw the person round the corner and she pulled the trigger, a flash of blue escaping the Silencer, though much to her annoyance, the figure dodged it. However, in a few seconds, her annoyance melted away, because she saw this was not just any Scout. How good of luck did she have to run into him again? Was it even good luck? She wasn’t sure. But either way, it made her happy.

Lowering the gun, she smiled at him, walking over to him, “What’re you….” She paused trailing off when he began making gestures for her and she quieted herself, taking a few steps back, mouthing the words ‘what’s wrong’ to him, confusion written on her face.

[Rogue Sloth]

Serix tipped his head back to look up at the building, but even then he couldn’t see the top of it. He had been standing in front of it for a little while now, trying to guess where the entrance to the storage room would be located. From what he could see, it wasn’t accessible from the outside. He would have to enter the building and go from there. If he was lucky, he would find the entrance to the storage. If not, at least he had a safe place to rest and recover. He tried the door. It was unlocked, so he pulled it open and stepped inside.

Despite the layers of dust, the main room was breathtaking. It had a high ceiling and exotic furnishings he had never seen before. The robotics storage could wait. He wandered around the spacious room, taking a closer look at it all. If this was just the entrance, he wondered what the rest of the building would be like.

Serix heard a noise from one of the nearby hallways. He paused in his examination of the room and fixed his gaze on the corridor. Had one of the other Scouts come this way? He couldn’t remember. The pilot had held him back to give him the new belt, so he hadn’t seen which direction the others went. It was entirely possible that one of them had wandered into the city ahead of him.

He crept closer to the hallway, instinctively angling his body to shield his wounded arm in case the noise wasn’t from a Scout. At one point, the hallway turned sharply to the right. He couldn’t see anything without exposing himself to whatever was on the other side. He steeled himself and stepped around the corner. Immediately, he saw an all too familiar flash of blue light. He jumped to the side and the projectile whizzed past his head, barely missing his cheek. In that moment, he thanked his father for the quick reflexes he had inherited.

Now all that was left was the question of who was attacking him. The weapon was quite plainly a Silencer, but the Scouts wouldn’t shoot at each other like that. If anything, the other person would have called out a warning or revealed himself first. The fact that he or she had waited for him to approach first meant that he or she had been trying to stay hidden. That left only one option. He looked up.

Oh no, Serix paled. Cassie was approaching him with a grin. He might have been happy to see her again too, except now he was being closely monitored by the pilot. To make matters worse, she began trying to talk to him. He frantically held up his hands – the gesture sent another shooting pain up his arm – and shook his head, silently pleading with her to stop. She seemed to understand something was wrong, because she fell silent and gave him a puzzled look.

Serix looked around, searching for a way to explain his situation without words. An idea came to him. He waved his hand to tell Cassie to follow him, and then headed back to the front room where he started going through drawers he had noticed earlier. He found a writing utensil and a stack of thin, white sheets. He pulled one off the top. This would work. He glanced at Cassie. He wasn’t sure if humans shared the same written characters as Lunairans, but they should be similar enough for her to understand, right? Either way, it was worth a shot. He scribbled down the explanation, hoping she could read his sloppy writing. He was ambidextrous, but he still wrote better with his left hand. The wound in his arm had forced him to switch to his less dominant right hand, so the words turned out shaky and strange.

I WAS ASSIGNED A NEW INTERCOM. MY PILOT IS LISTENING IN RIGHT NOW.

He paused, thinking for a moment, and then went on to write something else.

CAN YOU SHOW ME THE STORAGE ROOM?

He felt his cheeks grow warm and he looked away. It was foolish, but despite the situation, he still wanted to see the robots.

[AHeartlessNobody]

Cassie wasn’t sure what exactly was going on here, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be good if Serix was gesturing her to be quiet and not speak. She looked at him and carefully followed him into the next room, that confused look staying on her face as he went through some of the drawers until he had found a pen and paper, scribbling down a couple of sentences, that were at first were somewhat hard to read due to his handwriting, but finally she managed to make out what it was saying and looked up at him wide eyed.

His pilot was listening in right now? Meaning if she said even just a few words, or if he spoke to her, his people would be all over them and would likely kill her. She wasn’t sure what they would do to him as well, but it couldn’t be good either, right? Slowly she nodded in understand to what he had written and looked down to see what he would write next.

What his next sentence said brought a slight grin to her face and she had to keep herself from laughing, especially when she saw the slight pink to his cheeks. Looking to him, she nodded and took him by his arm to lead him there, only to pause, feeling something wet on her hand went she did. Blinking in surprise, she took her hand away and looked down at it to see blood smeared on it. She looked at him worriedly before looking to his bleeding arm. When she saw how hurt it was, she gave him a look that was meant to be reprimanding, as if silently getting onto him for getting himself hurt.

She nodded her head for him to follow her and when they back in the lounge room she pulled away the carpet to reveal the passageway, which she hadn’t gotten a chance to close up in her time of hearing him approach earlier. She grinned at him slyly before stepping down into it, leading him down the hallway. Only she didn’t lead him straight to hanger that the robots were in. First, she stopped by a different room where all her supplies were, leading him in.

Once there, she grabbed a first aid kit from off the shelf and, giving him a stern look, she pointed to him and a chair, telling him silently to sit. Once he was sitting, she went to work, tending to the wound as gently as she could, her hands working swiftly and with very good precision, before she wrapped it up with a white roll of bandages. Soon that was done and she was standing up again, leading him out of that room and down to the end of the hall where the closed and secure metal door stood.

She looked to him once more and grinned even more widely before pressing her hand to the scanner. Once it was scanned, the metal doors slid open soundlessly and they were able to step into the room. Looking to him, there was a childlike joy in her eyes as she searched for his reaction to all the robots that were there, just as she had told him about.

[Rogue Sloth]

Serix had to bite his tongue to keep from crying out when Cassie took him by the arm. The flash of pain made him see stars, so he closed his eyes. The injury must have gotten worse somehow, because he didn’t see how such a shallow wound could cause him so much agony. He felt the pressure disappear. Cassie had pulled her hand away.

He opened one eye to see her looking down at her hand. The palm was colored scarlet. He must have been bleeding through the sleeve of his shirt. No small cut could do that. Maybe he should have taken a closer look at it back on top of the building. Cassie gave him a chiding look, as if to say ‘how could you be so stupid?’ He managed to smile in response, but it quickly distorted into a grimace when he was struck with another wave of pain.

She brought him to a hidden passageway that contained a set of stairs leading down below the floor. It was a clever hiding place that Serix probably wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t shown it to him. They descended the stairs and Cassie led him to another room that was filled with many different assortments of supplies. She pointed at a chair and he guessed she wanted him to sit in it, so he did.

While he waited for her to get whatever supplies she was searching for, he rolled back his sleeve to check the damage. The gash was still bleeding, which was a bad sign in and of itself, and upon closer inspection he could see that the beast’s fang had pierced much deeper than he had originally thought. Through the adrenaline of the fight, he hadn’t noticed how badly he was actually injured.

Cassie knelt in front of him with a bag of what looked like medical supplies and took his arm. She expertly cleaned and bandaged the gash, her fingers swift and nimble as if she had done so many times before. But who knew; maybe she had. He flexed his wrist when she finished tending to his injury. It was still sore, but the sharp pain that used to accompany any movement was gone. He flashed her a grateful smile and stood up.

Finally, Cassie took him to a large metal door with no handle. He gave her a quizzical look until she pressed her hand flat against an electronic pad and the door slid open automatically. Somehow the building’s electricity was still functional. He wondered how that happened. The rest of the city seemed to have blacked out long ago.

Serix didn’t wait for Cassie. He stepped into the adjoining room as soon as the door had opened. He held his breath when he saw the robots. They were even larger than he imagined, varying in numberless colors and designs. He weaved between the mechanical giants, trying to get a look at them from all angles. They were truly awesome in the fullest sense of the word. The endless creativity of the human beings struck him once again. How could his people have killed them off so thoughtlessly?

Serix froze when he heard a popping noise. It sounded like a single clap. Suddenly he heard the steady buzz of static. He looked around in confusion, but there was nothing to have caused the sound. How peculiar. Then another possibility crept into his mind. He looked down at his intercom. It was no longer flashing. What happened?

Serix looked up. High above his head, a large charcoal-gray disk hung suspended from some kind of mechanical arm on a vehicle. He tilted his head, and then realized what it was. His own people used tools like this, but on a smaller scale. It was a huge electromagnet, probably used to pick up heavy metal pieces and move them about. He remembered how the older Lunairans would always warn the children to keep magnets away from electronic devices because they could interfere with the motherboard. Now, he had just stepped under the biggest magnet he had ever seen. It probably demolished the circuitry in his device. He turned back to Cassie and grinned.

“We can talk now,” he said excitedly, pointing up at the suspended electromagnet. “This thing just fried my intercom.”

[AHeartlessNobody]

It was nice to see the look on Serix’s face as they entered the hanger and he layed eyes on all of the robots. He looked like an excited child on Christmas morning when seeing new toys to play with. She didn’t really know how deeply his fascination for these robots went, but either way looking at him now he seemed very intrigued by them and was excited that he was in fact getting to see them. Walking along beside him, she smiled brightly herself, enjoying that she was actually getting to share this with someone else. At least her father’s work could still be admired so many years after his death. She was sure he would be happy about that.

As she walked along beside him, going around the giant robots, a loud noise sounded off, making her jump and immediately draw the Silencer from her side once more from the surprise of hearing such a noise. Only, as she looked around, there was nothing there she could see that would cause either of them any harm. She turned her gaze to Serix, a confused look on her face. He was looking up at first, at the giant magnet hanging above them, then he turned back to her grinning.

At the news the magnet above had destroyed Serix’s Intercom, the thing on his belt that was keeping them from talking, Cassie smiled brightly, “Really? Thank goodness. I don’t know about you, but not being able to talk drives me crazy.” Her eyes met his before they moved to look at the giant robots, grinning, “So, what do you think? Pretty amazing huh? Just like I remembered them too.”

Stepping forward, she began taking excitedly, “This one was remote controlled with camera to show you whats going on around it. Oh, and the other one was made for getting visuals and flying over areas undetected. This one on the end though was my favorite. It was run from the inside, meaning people could get in it and drive it.” As she spoke she pointed to each one she was talking about and walked over to the last robot she had mentioned before grinning mischievously at him, “We could go inside of it if you want.”

Walking over to the side of the room, she stepped on some metal stairs that led to a higher up platform in the room, used to enter the manually controlled robots, looking back at him, “Just….don’t touch anything. I’m not sure if this one is still operational and would prefer to not power it up until I figure out if it needs to be repaired or not.” With that, she smiled brightly once more and grabbing his good up, began tugging him up the stairs with her, “Now, come on. Let’s go check it out.”

[Rogue Sloth]

Serix nodded in agreement. It was good to be able to talk again, but this would be the second time the pilot lost track of him. He would definitely be suspicious when Serix returned to report in two days. At least he could honestly say the intercom was destroyed on accident. If he had tried to break it manually, the pilot would instantly know he was sneaking around behind his back. At least this way he might get one more chance…

…But eventually, he would run out of chances.

Serix’s smile faltered a bit and he turned away from Cassie, pretending to admire a nearby robot so she wouldn’t see his expression. He knew he couldn’t keep fooling the pilot forever. In fact, this would likely be the last time he got away with it – if he got away with it. He would just have to enjoy his remaining two days of freedom while they lasted.

He looked back at Cassie, who was proudly describing her father’s robots to him, pointing at each one in turn as she explained its functions. “This one was remote controlled with camera to show you what’s going on around it. Oh, and the other one was made for getting visuals and flying over areas undetected. This one on the end though was my favorite.” She crossed to one of the larger robots at the back of the storage room. “It was run from the inside, meaning people could get in it and drive it.”

“You could actually pilot robots from the inside?” Serix said in astonishment. He looked up at the metal giant’s sleek build. It was a dark green-and-black color and it appeared to have a slightly humanoid body. A cockpit rested in the position where the robot’s head would be.

“We could go inside of it if you want,” Cassie gave him a sideways look. A mischievous grin had spread across her lips. Serix couldn’t help but think that the lively expression suited her.

“Do you even have to ask?” he replied with a laugh.

Cassie brought him to an open staircase that spiraled up to a higher platform where the cockpit could be reached. She turned back to tell him not to touch anything – at which he let out an exaggerated groan of disappointment – and then reached to take his good arm and lead him up the stairs.

From the high vantage point of the platform, the robots looked even more incredible. Serix leaned over the railing, his violet eyes sweeping over the mechanical creations spread out below. There were so many of them. He looked back at Cassie with newfound admiration. Her father was the one who invented these metal masterpieces. She was the child of a genius.

“So when do I get to drive a robot?” Serix asked, mirroring Cassie’s mischievous grin.

[AHeartlessNobody]

Cassie grinned at as his exaggerated groaned when she told him he couldn't touch anything, "Would you rather accidentally break one of the robots and we never get to use them again?" She continued up the stairs, dragging him along as she went. Soon they were at the top and she did the same as him, looking down at all of the robots and admiring her father's work. It was really amazing to see all of this and she hoped she could live up to her father's genius and fix some of these robots. She had no idea what she would do with the robots once they were fixed up, but whatever it was she was sure these robots would help her.

Looking over at him, she laughed when he asked about driving one of the robots and shoo her head grinning, "These things have been sitting here for years. I have to give them a look over and see which ones need repairing first. Actually I was going out to get some wire to repair one of the smaller robots when a certain alien," She turned her teasing gaze to him, "Snuck in and scared the life out of me. So now I guess I'll have to go back out and get it later." She shrugged and walked up to the door leading to the robot's cockpit. She turned the handle, which took a good few moments of struggling because it was a little heavier and harder to open than she had expected, and when she pulled it open, stepped inside, grinning widely, "It's just as amazing as I remember."

She made her way over to the control panel and sat down in front of it, "This is so cool. It still amazes me what my father could do." She stood up to look out the front window of the robot and down at all the other robots, "Tell you what. When I get the wire to fix that robot controlled robot down there, I'll let you drive it." She looked to him, a grin on her face. Then she looked to the control once more, blowing dust off of the controls to get a better look, pleased to see everything seemed to be in order at least in the controls. If things where okay with the engine and such on the inside then that would mean this robots was still in running condition and she wouldn't have to do anything to it.

She leaned against one of the walls that didn't have control and smiled at him, "So, what do you think? Are they as cool as you imagined? Or is it a let down?"

[Rogue Sloth]

“Of course,” Serix nodded when Cassie told him the robots needed to be repaired. “I didn’t think I was going to be allowed to drive one that easily.”

Cassie pulled the cockpit door open – it seemed to take a great deal of effort – and stepped inside. Serix followed close behind her. The space looked remarkably similar to the cockpit of a Lunairan ship, but he wasn’t a pilot so for all he knew, the controls could be completely different.

He stepped in front of the large window that overlooked the storage unit, raising a hand to brush his fingers lightly over the clear material. It felt like heavily layered acrylic. The same material was used on some Lunairan fighter ships. Maybe human technology wasn’t so different after all. He wondered – if given enough time – whether his own people would have ever invented machines like these. The materials were similar enough and the Lunairans engineers were clever enough. But then again, the humans always seemed to outdo his people in their level of creativity.

Serix stepped away from the window and went back to the control panel where Cassie was sitting. He leaned over it, looking down at all of the different buttons and knobs, and let out a low whistle. There were so many controls; it was amazing that someone could learn the functions of each and every one. Still, he wanted to drive a robot, so he would have to learn them too.

“This is so cool. It still amazes me what my father could do,” Cassie said. She stood up from the control panel and crossed to the window where Serix had been standing a moment before. “Tell you what. When I get the wire to fix that controlled robot down there, I'll let you drive it.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Serix replied with a grin.

Cassie walked back to the control panel and blew the dust off of it, sending up a cloud of gray particles. She had a satisfied look on her face as she examined the panel. Serix didn’t have an eye for technology like this, so he could only wonder what she saw. Whatever it was, it must have been a good sign.

“So, what do you think?” Cassie looked up at him. “Are they as cool as you imagined? Or is it a letdown?”

“Cool?” Serix tilted his head. “I was actually thinking it’s a bit warm in here. The robot isn’t a letdown though. This is amazing.” He glanced back at the control panel and shook his head. “It’s all so intricate. I don’t know how your father put it all together. You must be very proud of him.”

[AHeartlessNobody]

Looking over at him, she grinned, trying to hold in her laugh when he said he thought it was kind of hot in here, but a few seconds later she did give in and laugh, going to sit down in one of the two control chairs that was in the robot, looking over at him with a knowing grin, "No, no, no. I didn't mean cool as in the temperature being cold. I mean, cool can mean temperature, but here on Earth it an also mean impressive. Just like how although hot is a temperature, in human society it an also used to describe someone that is attractive." Why was human slang so difficult for her to explain to someone else? Maybe it was because the slang had a real meaning and the slang meaning.

She pulled her knees to her chest as she sat in the chair, "I am very proud of my father. He was really an amazing inventor. He was an amazing father too. He used to always bring me here and teach me how he put some of them together." She smiled, "My mother was pretty smart as well. She was more into inventing things that would benefit society and were more environmentally safe. In fact she probably created the generator that keeps the power running in here and the filter that keeps the water clean in this hide away." She of course couldn't know this for sure because she hadn't been in here in so long and she hadn't been around when the generator and such were created. She could only make guesses.

Looking back to him, she smiled, "I'm probably going to be staying here instead of the airport. I just figured....you know now that your people are here and searching for humans.....this place is pretty secure, has supplies, there's even a couple of beds. There's a generator too that keeps the power running too. It's just a really good place to stay. She stood up now and looked out down at the robots once more, "And.....well...maybe if I can get some of these thing working I can use them to protect myself if someone does find this place.Besides you of course that is."

She walked out of the robot with him and closed the cockpit again, heading down the metal stairs once more, "So.....what happened to you after you left the airport? You said I probably wouldn't see you again and yet I did. What exactly went down when you went to the ship? And what did you do to mess up your arm?"

[Rogue Sloth]

“You humans are odd,” Serix shook his head. “How can you use temperatures to describe something as impressive or attractive?” He gave Cassie an estranged look. “And to describe an attractive person as hot? You have strange taste. Usually when one’s temperature rises, they start sweating. Maybe you humans are different, but the excretion of bodily toxins does absolutely nothing for me.”

Cassie went on to explain the inventions of her parents. She always seemed a bit more reserved – vague, even – when talking about her mother, Serix noticed. At first, he had assumed it was because they were never close, but with the admiring way in which Cassie spoke about her just now, he wasn’t so sure. Well, whatever the case, it didn’t matter. She could keep her secrets.

“This is a much better location,” Serix agreed when Cassie said she was planning to live in the robotics storage. “I doubt even I would have found it if you hadn’t shown me the entrance, and you had already given me an idea of where to look.” He followed her out the door of the cockpit when she got up to leave. “Besides, the others are probably too busy exploring the surface to try searching below ground.”

There was a brief pause, and then Cassie spoke again. “So… what happened to you after you left the airport? You said I probably wouldn't see you again and yet I did. What exactly went down when you went to the ship? And what did you do to mess up your arm?”

“I said I might not come back,” Serix corrected her as they descended the staircase. “I never said for certain that you wouldn’t see me again.” He hesitated, unsure if he wanted to tell her the truth. He didn’t want to drag her into his problems, but… in a way, he already had. He sighed in resignation. She might as well know what was going on.

“I went back to report at the ship,” Serix said. “Everything went fine. All of the Scouts were accounted for, we all received new food rations and sample containers, and then we were sent on our way. It all went according to plan… but the report itself wasn’t why I said I might not come back.” He stopped walking at the base of the stairs, holding Cassie’s blue-eyed gaze with his own violet stare. “First, I think I should fill you in on something that I’ve been avoiding to tell you. You may have already figured this out on your own, but my pilot gave us specific instructions to kill any surviving humans on site. That’s why I tried to…” he cleared his throat awkwardly and looked away. “In any case, you’re still alive, and I’ve done nothing about it. By letting you go on living, I’m blatantly disregarding my orders. That’s an act of treason in my society.

“Up until now, I’d never heard of anyone disobeying an authority like this. I never imagined it ever happening. Everyone always did what they were told because our leaders know what’s best for us. My mother was an example of what would happen if anyone went against the word of higher powers. She lost her life when she disobeyed her orders.” He looked at Cassie again. “But then you told me about the possibility of human-sympathizers among my people. If you’re right, then there used to be more Lunairans who thought our leaders were wrong. It was exciting to think there could be a whole group with different ideals than the rest of my society.

“But then I started to realize something else. Even if there were human-sympathizers, where did they all go? It’s like they vanished without a trace. The leaders in my society must have gotten rid of them. That’s the conclusion I’ve come to.” A bitter smile crossed his lips. “Now, here I am harboring what could quite possibly by the last human being. Of course I thought I was going to be caught when I went back to the ship. I just got lucky. The first intercom I was wearing malfunctioned somehow, so my pilot didn’t know my whereabouts and he couldn’t hear us talking. And now I got lucky again.” He spread his arms in a shrug. “That big magnet destroyed my second intercom. The pilot is blind to everything we’re doing yet again. You must bring good fortune or something, Cassie.

“Oh right,” Serix looked at the bandage on his arm. “I ran into some of those four-legged creatures again. You still have my Silencer, so I had to fight them off without it. It’s no big deal.” He specifically left out the part where he had climbed a tree to run away from the beasts.

At that moment, Serix’s stomach let out a loud growl, and he remembered that he hadn’t eaten anything in almost two days. He felt heat rise to his face and he looked down at the floor, reaching up with one hand to scratch the back of his neck in embarrassment. “One other thing. Do you… have any food?”

[AHeartlessNobody]

Cassie sighed, shaking her had a mall grin on her face momentarily, "No, being sweaty or anything else have nothing to do with someone being attractive. It's just something we say." She finished walking down the stairs and when they got to bottom, she turned to him as he started to explain what had happened when he went back to the ship.

She frowned when he began speaking about all that was going on with his people, as well as why he said he might not be back. So, his leaders were these higher powers that could very well make people disappear if they disobeyed orders. And here he was, going against what those leaders were saying by keeping her alive and it was very possible he could get killed if his people found out. She looked up at him, wondering what might happen to him if they did find out he was committing this act of treason. What had happened to the other aliens that had committed treason against their own people? She could try to go off of her mother to answer that question, but her mother was kind of different in the sense she had been with a human at the time of the alien take over. So for all she knew they had come to kill her father to stop him from creating any more weapons and her mother had just gotten in the way. She probably would never know why her parents had been killed, but maybe as Serix suggested it had something to do with her mother being part of his species and betraying their kind.

She smiled slightly now when he said she might be good fortune and shrugged, "Maybe I am. After all, I've survived the plague and a shot from your Silencer. That has to say something about my luck." Okay, so maybe that was completely luck, just good genetics. But he didn't know that. She merely smiled and crossed her arms in a proud sort of way. And when he said he got attacked by the dogs, she went on, going off of the fortune thing, "See? I wasn't around so you had bad luck and was attacked by some dogs. If I had been there I bet you wouldn't have run into any of those things." She joked and smiled at him.

There was a small pause after that because she very clearly heard a gurgling sound that made her look at his stomach and laugh as he asked if there was any food here. Nodding, she gestured for him to follow her, smiling at him again, "Yes, I have food. I better get you some before your stomach gets even more angry." She walked from the hanger and shut the door, going down the hallway and into the storage she had all of her canned foo and such in, "Pick what you want. Sorry its all canned, but that's all that could stay good during all this time." She stated,grabbing a can for herself to eat as well and opening it with a can opener, "Theres also some water over on that shelf too." She nodded to another shelf, then went to sit down on the floor.

"So what's your plan now? Are you going to go back to ship for your next check in, or do you have something else in mind?"