Macrurus started her search at the dugout. She landed, smelling that Sirex and Mildei had been there... and so had Rhyssa. The light sprinkle of rain was getting a little heavier, washing away some of the odors. Taking a quick break for water, she set off on the fresh trail leading away. She thanked Eciton for the plant cover. Everything she needed would have been completely washed away without it, instead of merely faded. A jumble of terrorized odors told her where they'd finally convened, and that Rhyssa had followed the blue demon calmly afterward.

Had her Rhyssa betrayed the Hive, did that awful creature get to her somehow, or did that sister of hers have some half-baked plan? No matter what it was, her blood boiled. Her sister had just purged her mind, and was showing signs of recovery, starting with that wonderful promise... If she guessed rightly, it was all threatened once again by the 'possibility' of that miserable creature actually surviving.

Macrurus sped up, occasionally flying, finding where the two foreigners (and Rhyssa) met with the third. So Lightyear escaped. That was a shame; she had looked forward to hearing him crunch when she brought him down. It's not too late for that...

She slowed back down, mostly following Rhyssa's scent. It was pleasant and familiar, not like the harshness of those strange white suits. The foreigners weren't moving fast, foolishly helping that snack of hers instead of themselves, and she'd soon catch up if she flew. It didn't matter now that the trail was getting washed out- they were near enough that she was catching it in the air, and she knew which way they were going.

This was good- only a little further, and she'd have what was hers. Her mandibles ached with excitement, the sharp edges grinding together as she once again imagined her favorite sensation.

"I still think we're going to lose that wing during takeoff'," Booster said. He tugged his ear anxiously. The Apocritans had stripped the landscape of anything metallic. The wreckage from Ty's ship had completely vanished, and whoever had done it had started to pull some of the outer plating off of 42's wings before- evidently- calling it quits. After making sure there was no other sabotage (There was a lot of mud, dead grass and rocks shoved up the thrusters, which could have been bad if they hadn't found it), he and XR had done their best to get the vessel back into flying condition, welding bent pieces back together. In the end, they were able to get two of the wings into something resembling acceptable, but the last one was still a problem. The thin plating kept the wings cooled, and without it they could snap right off.

"Oh, she'll be fine, we've taken off in worse condition. Remember the corkscrew maneuver?"

"Eek, don't remind me!" Booster looked over at the trio, who had been meticulously filling in the scars in the landscape where Ty's ship had crashed. It took them a while- their goal was to make it look as untouched as possible. A casual observer wouldn't have been able to tell anything unusual had ever happened there. That task done, they watched the Rangers. "How are we going to get rid of them?"

"Tell them there's a prize for whoever gets to the lair the fastest?"

"Firepower?"

"Gee, Booster, I didn't think you wanted to get rid of them permanently."

"No, just to scare them."

"Okay, Don Munchapper."

"I'm not a mobster!"

"That's good because first we'd have to put animal heads in their beds and I think that would just encourage them."

They looked at each other, and smiled mischievously. "Firepower!" They shouted, and ran at the trio outside. One flew away, and the other two looked ready to make a stand. They reconsidered at the sight of Booster's pointy yellow fangs and XR's startling variety of lasers firing at them. By the time Booster's footsteps rattled the damp ground beneath them, they'd decided observation was no longer possible and joined their sister in the tunnel.

The sudden 'attack' shocked them. They all knew foreigners were violent and sneaky, but to hold off until they were nearly on board? There could only be one explanation: Abduction.

For what nefarious purpose, none of them knew (though they suspected the red giant meant to eat them).

[What are we going to tell everyone?]

[The truth! We'll just say they tried to kidnap us and we just barely made it out with our wings intact!]

The other two considered this, and calmed down. There was no shame fleeing such a dreadful fate, if there were no elders to turn the tides and they hadn't been told to fight back.

[That could work...] It would, because it was the only thing that made any sense.

The sun had finally set, and both Mira and Buzz were too exhausted to keep moving. They were going to rest a few hours, and leave around midnight. Ty was waking up, the mystery drugs slowly leaving his system. He was still going in and out of consciousness, though each time he awoke was shorter and shorter. He didn't like being touched, and bright light hurt his eyes. A few times, Buzz and Mira had been able to get him to drink more water.

"The moons are nice," Buzz said. He was trying to get Mira and Rhyssa to get along. It wasn't working. The Apocritan sat on the opposite side of the small fire, and every time she tried to get closer Mira had some excuse or objection. "Don't you two think so?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, they're pretty. Round, shiny, usual moony-ness," Mira yawned. Her head dropped, and she snapped awake. Buzz was going to make her sleep first. It wouldn't do any good for her to be too tired to travel.

"I like how they are aligned right now. They are all almost empty."

"Speaking of empty, I'm off to refill the water canteens before it gets too late," Buzz said cheerfully. He was also going to tell XR and Booster to stand by for emergency takeoff. "Be right back."

After his footsteps had faded away, Mira and Rhyssa glared at each other over the campfire. Mira, despite not having compound eyes, won the stare down.

"You don't like me."

"Nope."

"Why not."

"Well, gee, you tricked Ty into an old abandoned building where your sister dragged him off to be tortured. Then when I found him you chased after us and tried to take him back. What do you think?" Mira waited for her to answer, but none came. "Why would you do something like that?"

"It's what we're supposed to do."

"Says who?" No, stop, don't get into another argument... But it was too late.

"Everyone. It's even in the old books! And Macrurus says everyone should follow those. We were better off back then." The old records said the Colonies could talk through the old machine towers. Now they used flying couriers...

"Maybe she's wrong."

"No, she isn't. If she was she'd have been stopped. She's making us better people."

"Yeah, by acting like a complete psychopath." By comparison anyone else would look good.

Rhyssa didn't know what that meant but she knew it wasn't a good word... "What is that."

"Somebody who doesn't care about anybody else. They're selfish and mean and think they can do whatever they want." That probably wasn't the official definition, but it was close enough for her.

The insectoid snapped her mandibles. "No, no, of course she cares. If she didn't, then why would she keep me around."

"How does she treat you?"

"Very well, for a novice."

"And is that good?" Come on, think! Mira had seen how Macrurus acted, through Ty's memories and Rhyssa's. If she'd lived anywhere else in the galaxy, she'd probably have ended up on PC-7. How could anyone defend her?

"Yes."

"So you don't have any problem with how she treats people. None at all?"

What was Mira trying to say? "...You're trying to trick me!"

"How?"

"You want me to think she did this for fun!"

You said it, not me. "Oh, you think she didn't enjoy it?" Mira pointed at Ty. "Ty sure thought so."

Little memories poked at her, insistently, things she'd always brushed aside before. "No, she's not like that!"

"Could have fooled me," Mira retorted. "Who cuts their symbol on people, right?" Even Rhyssa had found that strange, and Mira wasn't about to let her forget it.

"She must have had a bad day." Like when she threw that millipede, or whenever she scratched some underling, or that time she almost drowned a fledgling in that toxic lake down south...

"What kind of an excuse is that?"

… But she was so nice! She didn't always mean it when she did something like that. That was just how older sisters were. Rhyssa could point to anyone in that brood and rattle off a similar list (though her mentor's was by far the longest). Macrurus knew how to fix cracked shells, and how to keep a broken antenna from falling off. If she hurt someone she liked too much she would always do something to make up for it. She always knew what to say and how to say it. Most of her hunters could read, and she'd taught Rhyssa some things she wasn't supposed to know yet, like the trick with the moss. So what if she sometimes had a temper? Mira was out of line. "Maybe we shouldn't talk about this."

"Oh, no you don't! 'She had a bad day'- so what? Why do you think Ty deserved what she did to him? You think this is normal?"

"Yes."

"Yes to what?"

"It is normal." Not completely. But don't tell her that.

"And he deserved it?" Be honest! Take some responsibility!

Rhyssa's claws flexed. She's trying to fool you. Don't answer. She's looking for something! "He is an intruder. Like you."

Mira's jaw clenched tightly at the veiled threat. "Is that a 'yes' or a 'no'?"

"Y- No." Of course nobody deserved it, but that didn't mean it wasn't necessary sometimes. Couldn't Mira understand that?

"So then why didn't you help him sooner?"

"I... Why do you keep asking. I already told you."

"So it was a mistake? Either Macrurus was wrong, or you were. Which is it?"

There it was! The dirty trick! "It must have been me, I make mistakes all the time." Rhyssa said it mostly to anger the blue outsider, which wasn't a very smart thing to do, but... she couldn't tell someone she thought her mentor was wrong even if she thought so (which she didn't). They could use that against her, she'd seen things like that happen. This was safer. She was pleased to have avoided disaster.

Mira folded her arms in a huff, glaring across the fire. It was quiet again until Buzz came back. He tried to continue the conversation, unaware he'd missed an argument. "So, what do you think you'll do after we leave?"

"Oh... I don't know what you mean by that. Life will be normal again."

"What about Macrurus? How do you think she'll handle it?"

"She will be angry. I don't know what she will do." I could get into a lot of trouble over this. Maybe I should just leave.

Mira pursed her lips and walked away. Buzz frowned, looked from Rhyssa to Mira, and got up to follow his teammate.

"What's wrong, Mira?"

"Nothing."

"You're obviously upset about something."

Mira threw her hands up. "I was in her head! I was in both their minds!" she hissed. "I know what she's like, Buzz, we can't trust her. The second we're not watching-!" She crossed her arms and looked away.

"Then why'd you bring her with us?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Mira was trying to be nice. She was trying to be sympathetic, understanding, and all those other things, because she'd seen why Rhyssa acted the way she did... but then she'd look over at Ty and it all evaporated. This wasn't right. And then for Rhyssa to step back and let it happen, and then to do it again when Buzz and everyone else showed up?

"But now you're having second thoughts."

"Yes! The more I think about it the more I just- did you know she's the one who choked him?"

"No, I didn't." She did that?

"How can you be so calm right now?"

Buzz put a hand on her shoulder, phrasing his next words carefully. "If we're keeping her nearby, we need to gently steer her to our side."

"I know."

"It's just for a little while. Just until we get back on board, okay?"

Mira sighed and shot Rhyssa a look. "Alright." I sure hope you know what you're doing.

"Why don't you tell me what you saw?"

"Again?" They weren't Mira's memories, but that didn't mean they burned any less.

"It might help if you get it off your chest."

Rhyssa didn't know exactly what they were saying, and so long as it didn't get her in trouble she wasn't concerned. They were soon too wrapped up in chatter to notice her sidling up to the downed Ranger. He looked the same. A little more pale, but otherwise the same.

She prodded his cheek, and he made no response. [You know what's funny, Ty Parsec, is that before you came along I never had a problem listening to Macrurus?] Well, almost never... [I never had to think about things like this. She was never... um... mistaken this badly before.] But was that important? It couldn't be. And yet here she was, ashamed over something a normal person would have been proud of. [What makes you so different, hmm? Why am I doing this?]

As expected, her former prisoner was silent. [Look at you, you squishy weakling. We didn't even have to kill you to save ourselves. I could have done it myself, if I wasn't being stupid back then.] She didn't know where she was going with that line of thought. It was making her uncomfortable. [I'm sorry this happened but I don't know anything else I could have done. You understand, don't you? You'd have done the same thing, right?] She thought about it. [Of course you would. I wouldn't matter to your betters. You're a good person, you'd have done what you were told. I just wish you could tell me...]

Ty's head turned, and she could see the blistered arch of his neck. It was still bruised where she'd grabbed it. The deep blotches reminded her of the promise, and how she was breaking it. She couldn't imagine keeping it now, the outcome was too horrible to consider. Promises and apologies... she was always making them. Was that bad? Macrurus liked it, but she also liked it when people were afraid of her. That was her right... but...

Wasn't there something wrong with that?

Well, it couldn't be all that bad. Life in the Hive was better, thanks her. The new Queen liked her. So what if she expected a little extra deference (or a lot)? It wasn't like she hadn't earned it.

Ty made some anxious grumble in his sleep, eyes darting under the lids. Rhyssa wondered if he remembered being choked, and hoped that he remembered when she had tried to help. Now she wished she had spoken to him when he was awake. Maybe it would have helped.

The outsiders seemed to know what they were doing. They hadn't started mourning (that she was aware of), so Ty couldn't be doing too badly, right?

She poked him again, more firmly. This time he grunted and moved a little. It worried her. When Ty was awake, he was very sore and noisy. If anyone or anything heard him, they would come looking, which was why she had drugged him in the first place. [What should I do?]

She knew what everyone back home would say. Aside from the promise, she had no obligation to care for him, and plenty of reasons to... do otherwise. They would say she should rip open the thin, smelly body in front of her and run away before Buzz and Mira could retaliate. It would be so easy. He didn't have a shell to dig through- just soft skin with all the vital bits right beneath. It would be like running her hand through water, it was so easy. If she did, it would be the first time she (deliberately) killed a person. Rhyssa was hungry and her own instincts screamed at her to let herself do what came naturally.

(On that note- these outsiders needed hardly anything to stay fed. And yet, somehow, Macrurus had let Ty starve...)

Macrurus would have said to ignore her sympathy and do what she should have done weeks ago. Sirex and Mildei would have agreed, but the latter would have showed her how to do it painlessly (and then would tease her for going through the extra trouble).

These were all justifications for something Rhyssa wasn't even going to do. All the foreigners wanted was to keep her in view so she couldn't make trouble for them. All she had to do was cooperate, and she could go home and say they tried to steal her and she escaped. If she really had to she'd tell Macrurus the truth, but if things went well her sister wouldn't ask. Everything would be fine, she didn't have to do anything bloody.

Ty's fist closed loosely, almost as though he knew what she was thinking. The Rangers didn't like her being so close, but she put a hand on Ty's forehead anyway. It was burning hot. How bizarre. Not that she hadn't noticed how quickly his temperature seemed to change before, but it was always stranger when he was warm. She had such trouble keeping him that way when she had cared for him. The hand trailed down, and Rhyssa found herself poking at the bruises she'd made. She honestly hadn't meant to do that, she just wanted him to stop making noise. Soon he was frowning, jaw tense, as her fingers splayed out. She could feel his pulse, and a little bob when he swallowed. Do it!

Rhyssa jerked her hand back. What was wrong with her? Was she going crazy? Foreign or not, she considered Ty... something. A friend, maybe, if that was a safe word to use. She shouldn't add to his problems.