Vash the Stampede belongs to the amazingly creative Mr. Yasuhiro Nightow, not me.

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Desperate Times

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Year 1715 month 3 day 12

"Papa!" Rem said, her eyes suddenly gone wide.

Because of their father's message a few minutes ago, they were nearly finished and preparing to leave. Rem said he sounded bad, and they were all worried.

Naomi was increasingly nervous that they might not be leaving swiftly enough.

Since that message, she'd felt her mother's love go out, and knew it was directed at all of her siblings and not only at her. Then she felt the same from her father.

Her stomach felt like it had just performed an anatomical impossibility. Something in their parents' emotions felt like a farewell. If so, that translated to very bad news.

Now her elder twin, Rem, looked at least as distressed as she felt.

(What is it?) Naomi asked.

(He thinks they're dying,) she replied, stricken. (And he's gone silent. We must fly to them, now. Get whatever energy our sisters will lend, and we'll leave. They can't have gone far.)

Naomi told the others, "Papa's hurt bad from that attack. We're going to him now. Follow as you can!"

She sprinted out of the surgical room, since the human doctors had that situation well in hand. She wasn't needed for that. She might be needed very badly by her parents.

She ran to the power Plant with Rem close behind. She began asking the orb-sister if she had anything to spare, just as she heard all of her orb-sisters begin a lament for "red brother" and "blue sister."

(Help me so that I may help them,) Naomi pleaded.

(Yes, we will give you strength,) the two orb sisters in the town said.

As soon as they were outside, Rem caught her by the waist and flew her to the Plant. Naomi placed her hands on each orb in turn, and the sister within came and pressed her palms against the glasslike surface. Naomi had never contained this much extra energy before. She feared that every bit of it would be needed.

As soon as she withdrew her hands, Rem caught her waist again and leaped. She flew them out over the town toward the desert.

Naomi was glad that their father had shared memories of his one flight, so that Rem knew how to extend flight-capable wings on her first try. The fact that he'd shared those memories might save his life today.

...

It seemed to take forever to find the camp, even though they knew which direction their parents had taken. Naomi tried to calm herself. She knew that panicking wouldn't help. It was only her worry that made the flight seem endless; Rem was actually moving very swiftly.

Two tents were set up at the selected site, and various other unassembled camping supplies were scattered around. There were many injured people lying about on the ground. Behind a sand dune on the town-side of the camp, there was an assortment of vehicles that had brought those people to this place.

Their parents were not there, so Rem did not land but instead looked for the footprint trail that would lead to their parents. It was just windy enough that the trail had faded significantly, but not quite enough that they failed to find it.

They landed, and Naomi laid a hand on each of her parents. She examined each with a quick Plant-power scan, and gasped.

(He is very badly injured,) she informed Rem. (One lung is collapsed, he has stab wounds to liver, intestines, a kidney, and I think possibly even his heart was scraped... she's not hurt as badly, but she went into stasis to try to heal him. I think the best I can do is to join the stasis with the donations from our orb sisters. You know how to wake me, correct?)

(Yes,) Rem responded.

(Call our other family healers,) she thought. (We will need to take turns, to save him without harming ourselves from overdoing it. I won't try to wake her yet.)

(Understood,) Rem's thought held love and worried concern.

(I'll be all right,) Naomi tried to be reassuring. (Just wake me by this time tomorrow, ok?)

(I will do that,) Rem thought.

Naomi could feel Rem sending out messages to others as she positioned herself to have a hand on each parent's skin. She smiled at her sister, and then felt her body go limp as she began to sink somewhere deep within herself. All of the energy in her body would now focus entirely on healing the two whose skin she touched.

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Year 1715 month 3 day 13

She woke to find Rem's tear-streaked face leaning over her. Both of her hands were held against Rem's neck. She'd kept her promise, and wakened her from the trance.

Naomi sat up and looked around. She saw that she'd been laying on a gurney beside another gurney that held both of her parents. They were still unconscious, and still tightly entangled with each other.

On the far side of her parents' gurney was a third, upon which her brother Alex lay. His hand was on their father's neck. He was taking her place, being the second stasis healer.

Beyond Alex, Nicholas stood. Like Rem, his face was tear-streaked. When she looked again, she could see traces of recent tears glistening on Alex's face, also.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Our parents were not the only ones attacked," Nicholas replied. "Most of our family is dead. Lina and Tessla are coming. Twenty of the youngest boys were captured, and ten of the youngest girls. As far as we can tell, everyone else is... gone."

Naomi gasped, clasping one hand over her mouth. She reached out with her mind and emotions, and felt a vast silence and emptiness where family had been. The faint carrier wave of mutual affection that had been there was missing. Sheryl, Brad, Livio, Milly, William, Tonis, Carl, Kaite, Luida, Frank... so many!

She reached out to every relative, biological and adopted, one at a time. There seemed to be a very slight flicker when she reached for four of them. The others, nearly 400 of them, were all completely silent. She found no indication, however faint, that any one else might still be alive.

Outside of that room, and Lina and Tessla, there were only the thirty stolen children: ten girls and twenty boys. She could feel their fear. She sent what reassurance she could, very briefly, before her heartache became too great and she lost the capacity to comfort them.

So many dear souls were missing from among her immediate siblings. There was an aching silence in place of the in-laws and younger generations, too, just as Nicholas had said. It hurt terribly: even worse than when Grandma Rem had died.

There had been no warning for this. As much as Grandma Rem's death had hurt, they'd long known it was coming. Grandma Rem had died peacefully of old age, in Vash's arms. He told them that she'd smiled with her last breath.

Everyone who died today was younger than she, and had been healthy and expected to live for many centuries – perhaps even millennia. The suddenness, the violence, and the number of loved ones ... it was almost too much to absorb.

She'd initially hoped that her brother was mistaken. She'd hoped it wasn't real. But the deafening silence where their emotional echoes should have been left no room for doubt.

Tears streamed down her face. How could anyone do such a terrible thing?

"Why?" she asked, devastated.

"We don't know," Rem said. "We only know that they are dead. Most did not have time to send love and farewells, as Papa and Mama tried to do."

"What of the missing children?" Naomi asked.

"Sheriff Central has been informed," Nicholas said. "My wife..." his voice broke for a moment. With a visible effort, he got himself back under control. "My wife died trying to prevent some of the abductions. The children were not attacked with knives, but with nets. We don't know yet where they were taken."

Naomi got off her gurney, took the few steps needed to reach her brother's side, and hugged him. She felt his arms and his gratitude wrap around her in response.

"Somehow, we will find out," Rem vowed. "The injured people who attacked our parents all wore arm bands with crooked leaf symbols drawn on them. They will be questioned. However, a troubling detail is that there were also cut pieces of net there. It appears that they intended to capture one of our parents, and kill the other."

"Where are we now, and how long have I slept?" Naomi asked, gently letting go of Nicholas. She realized that she wasn't in the hospital where she'd been working for the last week and more. She didn't immediately recognize this place.

"We're in the Seeds ship, at the village," Rem said. "They felt this was the safest place for us. We're in the secondary infirmary, instead of the main one. Most of the Seeds villagers have forgotten that it exists. Very few know we are here. And you were only in stasis for about 26 hours."

Naomi nodded. So many attacks, in such a short time... it couldn't be a coincidence. Someone wanted to exterminate their family, and possibly all independent Plants.

"The other independents, are they also ...?" Naomi could not bring herself to say the word.

"Many of them were also attacked and killed," Nicholas said. "We know of three others who survived, ladies that work for Sheriff Central. They are being sent here. Beyond that, right now, nobody's sure."

Naomi nodded, and then wobbled. Rem caught her.

"You need rest," she said, and gestured to a doorway.

The indicated room contained fourteen cots, arranged with half the headboards against the left wall, and the other seven headboards against the right wall. There was an aisle between the footboards wide enough for two people to pass without bumping into each other. That aisle lined up with the doorway into the room. The first and last cots in each row were against the end walls; between the other cots, there were narrow end tables.

Three of the cots looked as if they had been used recently, suggesting that her siblings had already spent one night there. Those three were immediately to the left of the doorway, as one walked in.

"Lina and Tessla should arrive by nightfall," Rem said. "Tessla can take a turn helping with Papa and Mama, after she visits the ship's orb sister. We've been asked to stay in the ship, and mostly stay in this infirmary, for now."

Naomi nodded, understanding. "They don't want an attack here."

"No, they don't," Rem said. "It appears as if those few of us who survived are still alive because we were not where we were expected to be at the time of the attacks. Both Seeds Village and Sheriff Central are trying to keep our survival a secret."

Rem helped Naomi to a cot beside one of the mussed ones, probably her own.

"Thank you," Naomi said to her twin, and then collapsed onto the bed. She was soon asleep.

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Year 1715 month 3 day 14

When she woke, she saw an angry blonde woman sitting on a cot opposite her own. "Hello?" she said sleepily.

The woman nodded curtly. Her expression remained grim.

From the strength of her emotional echoes, this woman must also be a Plant. "I don't think we've met?" Naomi offered.

"I'm Chronica," she said. She had an unusual accent. The accent was faint, but distinctive. Naomi couldn't place it, but that wasn't important right now.

"I'm Naomi," she said. "Pleased to meet you, though I could wish the circumstances were different." Chronica was one of the many independent Plants with whom her mother maintained correspondence. She was the only one that Naomi had never previously met.

"Agreed about the circumstances," Chronica said. Then her eyes narrowed. "You have an ear loop radio? Would you use it to send a message?"

"I can speak to Seeds people," she said. "They can relay it further, if needful."

"Sheriff Central seems to be overlooking the fact that they must have a mole," Chronica said. "Two of our sisters were waylaid and slain before they could board the truck that would have brought them here. Sheriff Central should send any other surviving independent Plants somewhere else, instead of gathering us all into one place for the hunters to kill."

Naomi relayed that to Rem, Nicholas and Lina telepathically. "My siblings agree with you, the ones in law enforcement," she said. "They will relay your message where they think it will do the most good."

Chronica nodded, and then said, "Your parents deserve a better fate than this."

"We're doing all we can," Naomi said.

"You need to wake your mother," she said. "Her hair is blackening. The ones in the other room were in too big a hurry to shove me in here. They wouldn't listen to me."

Naomi's eyes widened and she hurried to the other room, past the cot where Alex was sleeping. She looked at her mother's hair, and found that Chronica was correct.

"Mama's hair," she said aloud, alerting her three wakeful siblings to the situation.

The black streak at her temple had widened until it reached her neck, and from there had apparently worked its way around the back of her head. She'd seen pictures of her father with black hair all around his head, but with the top still blond. Now her mother's hair was following a similar pattern.

"We need to wake her," Naomi said. She went to where her parents lay, and did not disturb Tessla who lay touching her father's neck and her mother's hand. She gently eased her mother's hand off her father's neck, and out from under Tessla's. Then she placed her mother's hand against her own neck.

She closed her eyes, and tried to match rhythm with her mother's energy pulses. It had not worked perfectly when she joined her parents in stasis earlier, but it had been close enough that she could help heal.

Several minutes passed.

They'd all practiced matching rhythms with their mother when she trained them in healing. They'd all wakened her, and each other, multiple times. Why was it not working now?

Naomi felt the icy grip of fear clench around her inner organs. She waited longer, hoping she was mistaken. But there was no change.

She opened her eyes, and looked at Rem.

"Shouldn't she be waking up by now?" Rem asked uncertainly.

"She should, but she's not," Naomi said, heartsick.

Chronica came into the room, frowning. "He still has a very few blond hairs," she said. "If her hair all goes black..."

"We know," Naomi said. As she watched helplessly, a narrow swath on the top of her mother's head was turning black. "We have to do something... quickly."

She placed her mother's hand back on her father's neck, and wrung her hands. Except for her mother, she was the senior healer present. She had absolutely no idea what to do.

Chronica walked to a wall, and pressed a half-concealed control. A panel slid aside, and an empty cryo cylinder slid out.

Naomi looked at it blankly for a moment, and then looked at her mother. A few more hairs turned black as she watched.

"Prep it," she said. "Make sure it's fully functional first. Then we'll move her, if we still can't wake her."

Nicholas stepped into the other room and woke his younger twin. Alex came out, tousle-headed, and scratching at the back of his neck. Of them all, he was the one who looked and sounded the most like their father. Except for having their mother's eye color, at a glance he could easily have been mistaken for their father in his younger years... before his hair blackened. Alex had chosen a less-conspicuous hairstyle, though.

(Your brother?) Naomi heard Chronica's mental voice.

(Yes,) she replied.

Naomi looked at Chronica, and saw her staring with her mouth slightly open. She was very slowly moving toward Alex, with one hand slightly extended.

"Alex, meet Chronica," Naomi said, hoping the introduction might help.

He turned and grinned. "Pleased to meet you," he said and extended a hand.

Chronica nodded, and then hesitated before shaking his hand. She had quickly composed her face as he turned. Then she released his hand. She looked at their father, sleeping with his injuries, and back at Alex. "Strong family resemblance," she said dryly. "For a moment, I almost thought your father was in two places at once."

Alex chuckled. "Yeah, people who know both of us sometimes think we wear wigs and swap places. But our different eye colors would ruin that if we tried it. So why'd you wake me?"

Naomi looked at Nicholas, who had a speculative expression on his face. (Can you tell if Chronica is, maybe, mildly infatuated with Papa?) His thoughts whispered into Naomi's mind. (We hurried her out of here earlier, because of the way she looked at him.)

(I begin to wonder,) she replied. (Usually Mama's pen pals come and visit regularly, but she never has. So I don't know.)

(We'll have to watch her, just in case,) Nicholas thought. (Especially around Mama.)

(Agreed,) Naomi thought. However, if this independent female Plant did have an interest in her father, the fact that she'd stayed away spoke well for her. (For now, let's get Mama either wakened or safely into cryo.)

(Aye,) Nicholas thought.

Naomi gestured at their parents, and then at the cryo tube. "I can't wake Mama," she told Alex. "Her hair is going black as she's trying to heal Papa. If we can't change that, we need to get her into cryo. Do you want to try waking her... since I failed? I'll do checks on the cryo unit, and make sure it's ready for her in case she needs it."

Alex nodded. His face and eyes showed concern as he reached for their mother.

Naomi went to the cryo unit. "Chronica, you seem to know something about these," she said. "Would you help me verify that it's fully functional?"

She looked at the elder Plant, and found her still fascinated by Alex. She touched Chronica's arm, and the woman startled. "Help me check this out, please?" she said.

"Of course," Chronica said.

They got into the technicalities, and soon found it only needed a handful of minor adjustments to be ready. Unfortunately, during that time, more of their mother's remaining blonde hair had turned black.

"I can't wake her either," Alex said, sounding heartbroken.

"Let's both try," Naomi suggested.

(Nicholas, keep an eye on that cryo tube... and Chronica. Please,) she thought.

(On it,) he replied. He moved over to the tube, and quietly asked Chronica for a lesson in how it worked. "If more of us know how to monitor it, that's better. Right?" he said.

Naomi and Alex both worked to ease their mother away from their father. Then they placed her hands on their own necks, hoping that if she felt a healthy body that the stasis would break even if their rhythm matching was imperfect. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

"We'll have to put her in cryo," Naomi said sadly. "I don't know if..." her voice broke as she fought to avoid crying when she needed to think.

"It's the best we can do for now," Alex said huskily.

Between them, they carried her to the tube and laid her in it. Then they gently closed the unit, and worked the controls that initiated the freezing process. As she began to freeze, a little more of her hair turned black. Slightly more than two finger-widths of blonde remained above her right temple, by where there had previously been a three-finger-width swath of black in a sea of gold.

She was alive, for now. Naomi didn't know if they'd ever be able to wake her. She let her tears flow, now that her mother was as safe as possible under the circumstances.

"We should put it back into the wall," Chronica suggested. "The fewer who know, the safer she will be."

"That includes Papa," Naomi said firmly through her tears. "Don't torture him with a hope that may prove false, if he wakes."

She felt the reluctant agreement from her siblings. She turned to Chronica.

"You're seriously asking me to tell him that his wife is dead, if he wakes?" she said, incredulous.

"When he wakes," Naomi said firmly, "Yes. We tried to wake her, but we could not. She hasn't much blonde hair left. If the only result of thawing her out would be to watch her die and wither, why put him through that agony? Would you want to see that happen to someone you loved?"

Chronica shivered. "No," she said softly. Her shoulders drooped very slightly. "I will do as you say, though I don't like it."

"Thank you," Naomi said.