"Kill them," it said.

The aliens behind it raised their lasers and aimed them at Crane and Rosethorn. Then they glanced at the Captain, waiting for its command to shoot.

"No, actually I think we will keep them for study. I have been very curious about them," the alien considered, "maybe we could breed them and study the offspring as well…"

The Captain left and the two guards, as well as Loke, directed them out of the holding area.

***

"Well," said Crane.

"Well," said Rosethorn.

"Looks like we're stuck here," said Crane.

They were in a small room, about five feet high and 100 feet square. It had metal walls and a closed, and locked, door on one end. That was it. Except for the little hole where food came through. It was always different, and always things from earth. Apparently they were trying to see what earthlings liked to eat.

Rosethorn crawled over to the door and shoved it. Nothing happened. She shoved harder. Nothing happened. She stopped shoving and looked over at Crane, who was watching her. Watching her with that strange look in his eyes. The look was familiar. Rosethorn leaned against the door with a sigh, still studying the look on his face.

A little shiver ran down her spine. He hadn't looked away yet. With a start Rosethorn suddenly realized. It all fit into place. Everything. He loved her. Of course! Rosethorn almost laughed. He had loved her long before she had loved him.

Crane had looked away. He didn't see Rosethorn grinning like an idiot. He didn't see the door give way and Rosethorn fall backwards. But he heard it.

His head whipped around, "Rosethorn?"

Rosethorn picked her head up and looked at him. She was lying flat on her back on the fallen door, still grinning.

"Yes?" she asked, as if nothing had happened.

"Are you alright?" he asked, crawling over to her and peering out the hallway.

"I'm fine," she replied and sat up.

Surprisingly no one was there. No one but Crane saw the door break open.

"We can escape," Crane said, looking down to the right, unaware he had just cut Rosethorn off from saying something.

Rosethorn closed her mouth and nodded. He didn't know. He didn't know she loved him back. She wanted to reach out and take his hand and tell him right then and there and then kiss him. But she couldn't. They didn't have time.

She brushed her self off and got on all fours, ready to crawl down the hallway. It was much easier then crouching down and walking, especially for tall Crane. Glancing back at him she raised an eyebrow and gestured down the right hallway. They had come down from the left, and seen nothing useful.

"Lets steal a ship," Crane whispered, gesturing violently to the left.

 "No," Rosethorn shook her head, all silliness gone, replaced with an urgent seriousness, "I think these aliens may be the reason the sun is dying."

Crane gave her a funny look, then shrugged and followed her down the tiny hallway.

Soon they came to another door. It slid open easily, revealing a room full of maps and charts and… Master Plans. Seriously. They were labeled in English, for some odd reason and in a box right on a small two-foot high table.

Rosethorn glanced at Crane, who nodded and they went in. Rosethorn took the box of Master Plans. Crane tripped on his robes and was a few seconds behind Rosethorn.

Rosethorn reached out and pulled open the box. Inside were more sheets of wrinkled paper. She pulled out the first sheet and read:

Find Other Planets for More Food. Scratch that Plan, other planets unkind. Destroy Other Planets.

Take over Galaxy. Take over Solar System Containing Planet Earth First. Abduct cows and people for study. Destroy sun. Replace it with Fake. Change sun's light and watch effects.

Rosethorn turned her head around and nearly jumped. Crane was right there, reading over her shoulder. She watched as his eyes widened as he read. He stopped and looked at her, a shocked expression on his face.

"Aliens," he said, shaking his head.

"I know," Rosethorn replied and put the plan sheet back in the box of Master Plans.

He sat down and looked at the ceiling suddenly looking very tired and in need of rest. After all, the two of them had been working very hard for a long time to try and save the world. And saving the world is a large duty.

"Well, now I suppose we have to find wherever they are controlling their fake sun. Damn it! This is too difficult. Why did I have to go and be one of the strongest plant mages in the world?" Rosethorn asked, sitting down as well.

She looked over at Crane, who was still staring at the ceiling with a "lets give up," look on his face. If only he knew, she thought. Then another thought came to her. What would happen if he did know? Would they stop arguing all the time? Maybe it was best to… just stay friends.

Rosethorn suddenly realized Crane had said something.

"What?" she asked.

"Its not you fault you're one of the strongest plant mages in the world," he said and ran a hand through his increasingly dirty hair.

Rosethorn sighed and said, "Lets just go find out how to save the world," then added, "its not like we have anything better to do."

"You mean you don't want to save the world?" asked Crane, half teasing.

Rosethorn smiled and crawled out into the still, amazingly, empty hallway. Where were all the aliens? Or were they normally not populating this area of the ship?

Finally they came to two doors, both unlocked. Rosethorn went in the first and gestured to Crane to go in the second. Rosethorn suddenly found herself facing two aliens, both very startled. They were hovering over some controls and watching planet earth. Since they looked scared, Rosethorn decided to play powerful.

"Leave," she ordered, "Now."

The aliens left, running as fast as they could. Rosethorn smiled to herself and crawled over to the controls, inspecting them. The room itself was small, but it had the looks of importance. Rosethorn looked at one button. It seemed to could turn. Perhaps it was a volume control of some sort of radio.

She reached out and turned it up. Suddenly the light in the room was much brighter. But not from artificial lights. From the sun! She had found the control room of the sun! Now the sun was up full blast again. She looked out the corner of her eye at it shining brightly; shining normally.

Suddenly Crane burst in, looking even more disheveled them before. He grabbed Rosethorn's arm and pulled her out of the room. Once out of the room, Rosethorn stopped him.

"We have five minutes to get out. I'm blowing up the ship. I assume you made the sun go back to normal?" Crane wondered, starting to crawl back down the hallway.

"Blow up?" Rosethorn echoed, crawling after him as fast as she could.

"Yes. All the aliens are in a meeting in their Great Hall, so we should be able to get to the escape pods without too much trouble," Crane explained.

"And you only gave us five minutes?" Rosethorn demanded.

"That was the maximum set for bombs," Crane replied, crawling faster.

"Oh."

When they reached to the door to the room with the ships in it, Crane pushed it opened and stopped. Rosethorn bumped into him, and then peered over his shoulder. There was only one escape pod left. And there was two aliens climbing into it.