Part V: Trouble In Paradise
"I would expect by now you would grow tired of having weapons being pulled on you, child." growled Tyr, making Trance even more nervous.
"Actually I am, so could you not pointing those things at me, please?"
"What are you doing here and why were you hiding in there?" questioned Dylan. Tyr remembered his and Trance's earlier encounter and didn't want to hear Dylan remark on how wrong he was for scaring the poor girl on to the Maru and into a possibly dangerous situation, so he quickly answers for her. "I told her to be here."
"You what?" said Dylan and Trance, in unison.
"Remember, Trance, when you came to my quarters and said you wanted to be of some help...?" urged Tyr, signaling her to agree with him. Trance understood his body language and nodded her head in agreement.
"Umm...yea, yea... and later you told me to hide in the weapons locker and not to let myself be discovered until we reach the planet so Dylan wouldn't tell me I couldn't go with you, right?" inquired Trance, making sure that her lie met with his approval.
Dylan was confused and frankly, very angered with the recent turn of events. "Tyr, why would you make this kind of decision without consulting me about it!" Already on edge about unwillingly going on this trip in the first place, Tyr was not about to let Dylan get in his face.
"Listen to me, Capt. Hunt... try to remember that I DID NOT want to come on your mission of possible death, but since I am here against my better judgement, if I were you I would be VERY grateful! This child has the power to see into the future. She can see dangers we can't and that could be a tremendous asset for us." Trance hears what Tyr is trying to pitch and tries to interject.
"But Tyr, my visions are limited. I just get these momentary flashes sometimes..."
"Exactly! She can't do this anytime she wants." Dylan quickly adds.
"I would rather have limited vision than complete blindness." Tyr noted, reaching in the locker for the weapons he was trying to find. "At least with her, we better our chances of survival." Dylan, realizing that he does have a valid argument and returning Trance to the ship is virtually impossible at this point, he reluctantly agrees to let her stay and help out. As they are heading through the hatch doors of the Maru, Trance's face lights up with a smile thinking of how Tyr covered for her being there. She knew that it was just to divert attention away from their previous confrontation, but this was the closest thing to a compliment she was ever going to get from him, no matter how typically self-serving it was. So, she was grateful.
The three of them step out of the Maru onto the wet sand. The beautiful tropical scenery was absolutely breath-taking. It was to the point it made Dylan and Trance speechless, though it seemed to have had the opposite affect on Tyr. It made him even more cautious.
"This place is so pretty." smiled Trance, staring at the waves breaking on the rocks. "I can't imagine anyone having the kind of troubles you described if they lived here."
"Exactly." stated Tyr, worrying about how easily seduced the other two are by the surroundings. "It smells like a trap."
"Well, we'll never know unless we investigate." explained Dylan, as he is walking farther up the beach. "Let's go see what's beyond those trees."
With Dylan leading the way, they walk up the beach into a heavily wooded area. The lush plants and wildlife were like something out of Trance's wildest dreams. She couldn't help but point to all the rare and exotic flowers and brightly colored birds. "Dylan, look at that pretty blue and red bird over there!"
"If memory serves me correctly, I think that's a parrot. It's strange because I thought they died out centuries ago. As a matter of fact, most of the plants and animals I've seen so far are suppose to be extinct."
Getting slightly irritated, Tyr snaps them back to the task at hand. "Can we please stop the sightseeing and try to get back to what it is we came here to do?!"
"I wish we could stay for a little while longer." Trance says with a whimper, sad that she doesn't have more time to admire these beautiful new wonders.
"Tyr's right... we have to keep going."
The walking kept on with no ending in sight. No sign of any human (or non-human) inhabitants found anywhere, just a perpetual jungle filled with strange plants and wild animals. Trance was growing tired and Tyr was growing impatient.
"Can we stop for a little while? I can't walk much further. My feet are hurting." informed Trance, leaning against a tree, rubbing her feet.
"This might go a little faster if you could try to point us in the right direction. Isn't that the reason you were invited to come along in the first place?" Dylan reminded her, hinting to her that he's knows that really wasn't the truth.
"Oh, yeah... I forgot about that." Trance looks in each direction and concentrates, trying to feel for a vibe. She starts getting little flashes of images in her head... images of a brutal hunt in progress. They are disturbing her greatly.
"Trance, what do you see?" asks Dylan, not liking the look of terror on her face. "What's happening?"
Trance opens her eyes and points westward. "It's coming from over there. I see... men in a huge vehicle chasing someone. It looks like... like they're chasing a small child."
Confused, Dylan and Tyr look in the direction that Trance is pointing in, seeing and hearing nothing. "Are you sure about that, Trance?" Dylan asked.
"Umm... kinda sure."
"Kinda sure?"
"Pretty sure."
"Okay... I guess that's the direction we're going."
"Oh, this is just ridiculous!" protested Tyr. "We are already in the middle of nowhere and are about to venture more deeply into it based on 'kinda sure'?!"
"No... based on 'pretty sure' and besides, she's usually pretty accurate."
"Dylan, I have had just about enough...!"
Just then, in the distance, there is a low rumbling that's slowly building, getting louder and louder and louder. Out of the blue, running through the brush is the child Trance saw in her vision... a small girl. Panting and crying, she is racing like the wind toward where they are standing. With her eyes shrink wrapped with tears, not being able to see what's in front of her, she slams right into Trance knocking them both to the ground. The child lands on top of her, sobbing uncontrollably. Her words are hard to understand.
"H-Help m-m-me." she says above a whisper, completely out of breath. "They're... c-coming."
"Who's coming?" said a concerned Dylan. Before the child could open her mouth, the once low rumbling become a deafening thunder as a monstrous, 20 foot tall vehicle comes crashing through the trees, roaring in their direction.
