The golden rolling dunes of the open desert had given way to flat scrubby pebbled gravel and jutting rock features of a terrain commonly called "scrag". It was a term used to describe a transition area that wasn't quite mountain, and wasn't quite desert. Vash tested the fragment of the keystone with Meryl's necklace again and found that the beam of light had steadily grown stronger over time, presumably because they were drawing closer to their destination. They had left all signs of even remote civilization behind. According to the globe-map taken from satellite photos they were well out of range of even the most determined caravan. They were in unknown frontier.

Due to the circumstances of their arrival on the planets surface, humanity had not spread out across it as the original colonist had probably intended. One, they lacked the resources to travel great distances away from the life-sustaining geo-plants and other facilities provided by his kin, namely, water for the most part. Secondly, there were a number of indigenous dangers in the wilder parts of the planet; herds of sandworms, poisonous indigenous plants (such as the thorns of the Barevi plant) insects and there were even reports of a large avion predator that could swoop down and carry off whole people but Vash had never seen one for himself and had never actually talked to anyone who had so he thought ti might all be just a tale told to scare people.

Their precipitous arrival on the planet had resulted in human settlement making a sort of pattern. The original SEEDs ships had orbited the planet in a series of clusters, grouped around the equator and prime meridians with one or two of the explorer and military class vessels clustered up near the poles to take readings and beam the reports back to the flagship for analysis. When the altered orders that Knives had made had gone out, it had hit the nearest ships first and so those were the first to tumble out of their orbits and disintegrate in the atmosphere. The ships that had gotten Knive's orders late had been saved by Rem's intercession and those were the ones that had made it to the surface of the planet and they'd landed pretty much in a straight line across the surface. While the ships had been falling from their places in orbit, the planet had still been moving in its daily revolution below them, resulting in the clusters of ships falling in a more or less straight line across the surface of the world, clustered together looking rather like beads on a string. So there was a generally straight line of human habitation in a ring at or near the equator (of ALL places, it had to be there!) and the northern and southern parts of the planet were for a large part unexplored. Granted, not all areas that the ships had landed had been settled equally, some of the smaller colonies had died out, others had grown to be the size of large cities still other areas had had several independent sites branch out like spokes on a wheel and spawn more independent sites. But even Vash, for all of his many years of travel had only ever been so far from the "main strip.' There was simply a whole lot of nothing beyond a certain point where habitation could be reliably sustained. He was now well past that point.

He'd spent the last half an hour toying with the piece of the Keystone and Meryl's necklace and wishing that there were a way to get to where he was going instantly. He just wanted to be where-ever in the hell it was that he was supposed to be going already! The ship was by far the fastest means to get anywhere on the planet but they'd been traveling for most of the day, the fact that they were already well into the area left unexplored because there was no way to extend enough supplies to travel out to it was irrelevant to the nagging sense of urgency in him that told him to hurry, hurry, hurry because he wasn't sure what amusements Knives would find to have with his Short Girl to keep him occupied while he waited. She was already missing a finger because of him, Vash was most anxious that she not be missing any other body parts.

:She probably hates me,: he thought glumly to himself.

He'd be lucky if she ever wanted to talk to him again. What had he been thinking? Saving Knives... feh. He should have known better, he should have known that this was how it would turn out to be. And now she was paying the price for his mistake. It wasn't right. He had to get her back and safe before anything else bad could happen to her. He only prayed that Knives would stick to his promise to do her no more harm until Vash could get him his stupid trinket.

:I'd fully understand if she just wanted to pack up and go home and never speak to me or see me ever again: he thought, trying to ignore the sharp little pain that jabbed at his chest with even just the thought of her leaving.

It would be best for her after all, everything around him got destroyed. He was the Humanoid Typhoon after all. It would be better for Meryl if she never even saw him again, that way she couldn't get wrapped up in his messes. He should never have come back. It was selfish of him and wrong. He'd thought that he could bring his brother back and he'd see how great the girls were and then everything would be fine, he'd never really thought about what would happen to the girls if everything wasn't fine, he'd never thought about the plague he'd be bringing on thier houses. And now look... Meryl kidnapped and missing a finger, held in durance vile by his evil twin brother who might or might not be contemplating doing bodily harm unto her.

:Yeah, she'll definitely never want to see me again,: Vash thought glumly.

Over the long course of years he'd gotten used to being lonely. He'd grown accustomed to solitude and to the sound of only his own footsteps crunching through the sand. And then along had come those two insurance girls. When he'd first heard the words "twenty-four hour surveillance" attached to his name he'd been brought up short. Who in their right mind would attach two women to babysit him at all hours of the day and night? But they'd stuck to him like a burr to a saddle-blanket, joined later by a "priest" who very obviously wasn't what he seemed to be. Some man of the cloth he was, Mister Nicholas D. Wolfwood. And Vash hadn't been lonely anymore. He'd no longer went out and got drunk with perfect strangers, sometimes he went out and got drunk with friends now, a novel experience for him. Except for the Short Girl, who would never be convinced to touch a drop of alcohol, Vahs suspected that someone in her family had been an alcoholic or she'd known someone who was... either that or she truly was a dyed in the wool control-freak. Either way he had people he'd grown attached to, a comrade in arms, a little sister and a...lady friend.

Sadly having close friends now meant that he really had something to loose, and Knives was always quick to exploit a weakness. Vash had been a fool to think that all it would take to change his brother's mind would be one fight and a little quality time together healing up. Leave it to Knives to have a back-up plan.

So now what?

What he wanted to do was to turn the ship right around and go charging after her like some knight in shining armor. So that was exactly what he wasn't going to do. Knives would be counting on his brother's usually impulsive nature, and he'd be sure to have something messy and unpleasant waiting for him, not to mention that Meryl was still a hostage. If Vash was ever really going to win this fight for good he was going to have to do better than out-fight Knives... he was going to have to out-think him. Knives had always been the planner, the strategist of the two, but Vash was sure he could think of something if he put his mind to it.

:It looks like for once I have more information than my brother does: Vash thought, perking up a little.

He knew what the keystone was, and what it was for. He knew about the Gaea Device, he even knew a little bit about the man who had made it and what his mission had been. He was slowly coming to understand a little bit how it opperated. There were still a lot of holes that needed filling in first though. First of all, the hologram of the good doctor had said that there were eight peices of the keystone and nine "great nodes," or places where the keystone fragments were sealed away and hidden. He'd said something about there being a sort of safeguard on the Gaea Device to keep it from falling into the wrong hands (like Knives' hands for example) some kind of organic component. What was that all about? Vash got the sinking feeling that he had a good idea of what the doctor might be alluding to.

Meryl had been given safeguard of the necklace (for whatever reason she didn't seem to know what she'd been given) that would lead the way to the eight pieces of the keystone. Vash was betting that her father wouldn't have given her the necklace if he had intended her to do nothing with the keystone once she had it assembled. Maybe the seal on the ninth node was something only she could access or something. Unfortunately for him and Meryl both, Knives had unknowingly secured a crucial piece of the puzzle, Meryl herself. If his brother discovered what he'd unknowingly acquired, her fate didn't bear thinking about.

That sinister, dark, almost seductive part of him that had seemed to be manifesting itself ever since the incident with Legato suddenly whispered darkly into his mind. He shouldn't have to wait around, gatheirng the pieces of the keystone for his brother like he was one of his lackeys, not when it would be much easier for him to hunt down the transport that Knives had arranged for her and intercept it himself.

:No,: he told himself, unwilling to risk even the slightest chance of Meryl falling into even more danger.

If he intercepted the transport and they killed Meryl just to keep him from getting to her, Vash would never be able to live with himself. And Vash no longer thought so well of his brother that he didn't think that Knives hadn't left standing orders with his minions to kill her off if Vash so much as showed his face anywhere within a three mile radius of her. He didn't like it, but it looked like the only thing he could do for now was to gather up the keystone and hope that things turned out for the best.

And that was exactly the the laid-back half-assed kind of attitude that had allowed his brother to manipulate and take him by surprise so very often, the other part of him retorted. If he really loved Meryl he'd go after her and tell his brother where to stick it.

:It's precisely be cause I lo- am concerned for her: whoa, he'd better be more careful, he'd almost used the forbidden L-word there, even in his own thoughts, acknowledgeing it was dangerous, for the other party. :...That I can't afford to go rushing after her. Knives won't hesitate to press an advantage.:

The keystone piece, which up until this point had been lying there quietly on the table, suddenly gave a flash of light and started throbbing steadily like some great lit-up heartbeat.

Figuring that the behavior was significant Vash slowed the ship down to a crawl and hailed the doc in his lab via the ships com.

"Hey Doc," he said. "I think we're here!"

"On my way," the doc called back.

Momentarily the door to the cockpit slid open and the older man showed up. He was wearing one of the old ships jumpers, the ones that had been designed for heavy-duty exploration, with tough fabrics and a lot of pockets and a belt with pouches and tools attached to it. A pocketed flak-jacket that likely held the smaller portable analytical devices that were still working on the ship was on over the jumper, and the anticipatory look on the old mans face quieted Vash's comment on whether or not it might be wise for the older man to come with him. After all, Vash knew, one only lived once and the Doc clearly felt this was worth seeing so who was Vash to tell him no?

The throbbing pulsing beam of light was now shining quite clearly towards a nearby rock formation. There was a large formation solid rock jutting up from the sand and gravel of the surrounding terrain that looked a little bit too regular to be a strict coincidence. Three large standing stones were set on their ends in a triangle inside a regular ring of smaller up-jutting pieces of rock, but even the smaller ones were comparative; they were still a little over waist-high on Vash and the taller three in the middle were about the size of two and a half of him if he could stand on his own shoulders.

"Looks like the place," Milly remarked. "I'm going to get the tomases out of the cargo hold so the poor guys can stretch their legs."

Good idea," Vash said. "Doc and I will take a look around first and make sure there's nothing dangerous in the area."

Since Milly was going to be busy with the tomases by the main entrance in the front, he and Doc were just going to have to use the smaller, ladder-exit attached to the engine room towards the back of the ship.

"You certainly seem to be in a hurry to get this done with Vash," Doc remarked. "This lady friend of yours must be very important to you."

"She is," Vash replied absently, then caught himself just as he saw his friends sly, slightly knowing look. "What I mean is... she's in trouble because of me, of course I'm anxious about her and eager to get her back! Hehehe!"

He had the feeling that his disarming smile and head scratch were doing nothing to fool his friend.

"I see," was all the Doc said. "Well take the advice of an old man who'd lived his life with very few regrets."

Vash looked over at him, a little surprised at the serious tone from his normally light-hearted and easy-going old friend.

"Touch passion when it comes to you Vash. True devotion is rare enough in this world, you shouldn't walk away when it calls you by name and invites you in. My lovely Maria may have gone on ahead of me, but I don't regret a day that I got to spend with her now that I am without her."

Vash nodded solemnly. He definitely couldn't make any promises, but it was good advice.

He would have added onto that but he was stopped by the sound of a voice calling his name. It was clearly a woman, but it wasn't Milly's voice...

"Oh dear," the doc said dryly, recognizing it as quickly as Vash had. She'd always been unfortunately attached to him, but they hadn't really thought she'd go quite this far.

"It seems we have a stowaway on board," Vash remarked his voice filled with humorous resignation.

He suppressed a sigh. Of all the rotten times for her to show up, it would be right when he was about to dive into places unknown and lives were hanging in the balance. One life in particular.

"Vash? Vash!" a muffled voice called from within the (probably locked) precincts of the engine room. She'd probably snuck in there while the engine was being looked over, stowed away, and gotten locked in.

"Coming," he said, a little less than pleased to discover her unexpected presence there.

He didn't have the time to drop her off back at the ship either, he had places he needed to go yet.

Vash keyed in the the lock code to the the access panel to the engine room and the door slid open. Vash was attacked by a ball of energy flinging itself at him at top velocity. Arms were wrapped around his waist as an affectionate "Vaaaash!" was yelled at about the source of his chest.

"Vaaaash!" she cried, clinging tightly to him. "I missed you so much! I'm so glad I found you!"

Vash wondered whether he should start trying to detach her from him or if she'd do it on her own. Nah, leaving her there would probably only encourage her. Besides, he felt more like scolding her than hugging her right then.

"Jessica," he said seriously, pulling her arms gently but firmly from around his waist, and when she tried to resist a little he simply ignored her minor strength (as compared to his) instead of caving in like he normally would have. He took her gently by the shoulders and looked down seriously.

"I'm happy you wanted to see me, but you shouldn't have stowed away on board."

"But I just-" she said, her eyes beginning to fill with tears at his disapproving look and reprimand.

"The places I'm going and the things I'll be doing are going to be dangerous," he overrid her firmly.

"I can handle it," she insisted.

Vash was reminded of a small child trying to be allowed to do something even though they didn't really understand it. Jessica just didn't have the background at all to understand anything of what he was going through right then. She'd lived all of her life cloistered away on that ship, sheltered from the harsh realities of the world below them. The people of the ship lived thier lives in peace and safety, afraid of the world below as a child is afraid of monsters in the closet. The dangers on this world, of bandits and sandworms, and slavers and killers and rapists and theives were as little more than childrens stories to her, told to titillate, but not really real in her mind.

"I should turn this ship around and drop you off back home," he said with the feeling of an older sibling whose younger sister has followed him to places she'd be better off not seeing. "But I can't take the time out to go all the way back, so you're going to have to stay here."

As he had been talking he'd led her gently but firmly down the hall to one of the empty spare rooms and keyed open the lock.

"But I want to go with you!" she yelled even as he tried to get her to cross the threshold without pushing her or picking her up. She dug her heels in and wrapped her arms about his waist.

"I know you do," he said trying to work himself free without hurting her. "But you can't."

"Why not?" she demanded next. "I can work technology better than most people, and I'm a good cook too. I can be useful! I just want to stay with you."

"It's too dangerous. I've already got one lady in my life into trouble, I don't want anything to happen to you too."

With that Vash gave her a gentle shove and snapped the door shut and locked the panel from the outside. Vash heard thumping on the door and Jessica calling his name entreating him to let her out and that she wanted to come with him. the cries were piteous as a kitten asking to be picked up and fed, but Vash resolutely ignored them and turned to walk down the hall.

Down through the engine room, Vash gave a quick look around while the Doc tested the area with scanners. He didn't sense anything so he looked over at the doc.

"Anything?" Vash asked.

"I'm picking up unusual energy readings, they seem to be coming from underneath us, but other than that... no," the doc said. Ol' Bessy has been picking up those same readings for the last few hours or so, so I was pretty much expecting that. Let's get started shall we?"

Vash nodded a firm affirmative. Soonest started was soonest done after all and he had a Short Girl to rescue.


I had a great time at the con. There was a new artist there who had Vash prints for sale so i scored two of them! Last Year when I went looking for anything Trigun related it was like the search for the freaking Holy Grail or something. I was so happy to have scored some awesome artwork by a talented artist (whose name i forget... eheh...). I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and reveiw fro me to let me know what you think. Hey look, Jessica showed up *flatly* yay...