The situation had not improved upon Shayera waking up. She was flicking every switch in the cockpit on and off. Her lights didn't work. The weapons were down. One engine was still working, the others had died out. She was drifting in space. Up ahead, Byth's ship seemed to be suffering the same fate. The energy blast must have caused a lot of damage.
"Where am I? These constellations aren't familiar." Shayera checked her clock, which still worked. She had been unconscious for over seven hours. She was used to being this cramped for space for an hour or two at the most. Her wings cried for more space. She stretched them as far as possible to relieve the irritation.
Shayera peered through the thick glass to look at the planet up ahead. She was obviously caught in its pull and was orbiting around the planet. It was mostly water—unlike Thanagar, which was evenly distributed between water and land. Thick clouds swept across the surface. Shayera realized that both Byth's ship and her own was slowly descending. "This is not good. I'm going to be drifting into the atmosphere in an hour or two!"
* * *
Nobody was approaching Katar as he walked through the streets. He emotions were plain on his face. He was bitter, upset, saddened—but mostly mad. His little Magpie had been taken from him. It would have been easier if she were dead—then Katar could simply morn his loss and moved on. But his dear little bird was still alive. He wouldn't rest until she was brought home.
Katar had reached the research facility. A short scientist with pale brown wings approached him. "Captain Hol of the Police Force?" Katar nodded. "Thank you for taking the time to look over this."
"I just want to see what Byth stole from this lab."
"Well, he didn't steal a great quantity of things. But that thief did make off with some very important valuables. First was our ship—I heard you've been debriefed on that article already by one of the generals."
"Yes."
The scientist read Katar's thoughts. "I am sorry, Captain Hol, but we have no way of restoring Officer Hol to you." He led Katar to the main hallway. Several other researchers were escorting other police officers and forensic detectives through the crime scene. "Byth also made off with two other items—the Absorbascon and the Krotan."
"The what and the what?"
The short man looked at Katar like he was dense. "Two articles from our biological department. The Absorbascon was designed to absorb information. Sort of helmet that served as a computer. We didn't get very far with that device—it just works on synthesizing audio patterns." Katar wanted to ask more, but decided not to. "The Krotan has us all worried. Byth also stole the information on it, and so he might try and use the device."
"What does that do?"
"Ah, it suppresses certain segments of ones own DNA to expose newer DNA to the nucleus and the cell."
"Meaning?"
"He has the ability to change into any animal after injecting himself with a DNA sample."
* * *
Shayera's ship had begin to descend into the atmosphere. She could see the hull outside turn bright red with the heat caused by the friction. Byth's ship, far less aerodynamic, was taking a beating. Pieces were flying off, and Shayera could only hope that nothing hit her.
The surface of the planet was much closer now. Shayera could see that it was populated by some sort of civilized beings. There were giant cities scattered around the globe. "Please, please, please, DON'T let me land in one of those cities! Let it be somewhere abandoned."
Shayera got her wish. Byth's ship, barely intact, crashed into some sort of field. Dirt, plants, and metal flew in the air and hit her own ship as she flew by. Up ahead was a city. Huge rectangular buildings were scattered all about—how funny looking! Shayera was just high enough to sail over the taller buildings and skimmed over the short ones. The ship finally crashed outside of the city limits. It was not the organized little field Byth landed in, but some unoccupied land.
"Well, I suppose any landing you walk away from is a good landing." Shayera climbed out of the cockpit and stretched her wings. Then she surveyed the damage. Most of the paint was gone; the ship was now covered in mud. One wing was nearly ripped off. The glass around the cockpit was cracked. Shayera reached in to check the headset. Communications were dead too.
She was stranded. On an alien world. Not good. Shayera wasn't sure what to do first—her training had not covered this.
"Right. I might as well hide the ship. Who knows what the technology level of this civilization is. They could be barbarians or cannibals and then I'd be in trouble. I can fit all my gear in my backpack. Then I better find Byth. Like or not, I'm responsible for him and can't let him hurt these aliens."
* * *
Byth groaned and picked himself from the floor. Nothing had gone right that day. He had been paid to break in the facility, steal the Krotan, and find a getaway vehicle. Who knew he pick the one capable of faster-than-light travel? The Absorbascon was an impulse item. It was in the same room as the Krotan, but with far less security. Of course, none of these items were going to help him get home or get his money. He was hungry, bleeding, and bruised from being tossed about the ship.
"Seven Devils! I'll never get home!" He slammed his first against the wall.
Byth didn't look like a Thanagarian anymore. He had been incarcerated many times already, and, as punishment, had he wings removed. Two giant scars ran down his back where massive muscles were attached to his wing-bones. This had not stopped Byth from his life of crime. He gained more muscle weight by working out, far more than his wings could have supported him in flight. Strength, he reasoned, were far better than flight. For years, Byth had used his brains and his strength to evade the Thanagarian police. "Forget the money, I'll use the Krotan on myself so I can hide on this planet. I'll sell the Absorbascon and scraps from the ship to survive."
Byth had read about the Krotan while on the ship. It was a pill you swallowed. The biological details went over Byth's head (he may have been clever but no one would call him book-learned), but the procedure was simple. All he had to do was inject a blood sample into his veins. The DNA would lie dormant until Byth wished to become that animal. The change was quick but painful.
After swallowing the pill, Byth went outside of the ship and began swearing again. The field he landed in was very organized. The tall plants were all arranged in rows. He was in a crop field! "Of all the rotten luck…hopefully no one saw the ship crash. It fairly well hidden by this hilly area in the dark, but it wouldn't take much to find it in the daytime."
A dog started barking close by. Byth had never heard the sound before, and crouched into the grass. A small hairy animal was leading a tall lanky animal towards him.
"What is it, boy? Found something? Sniff it out, Jim."
Byth understood little of the language. But he did grasp that the sentient animal was using another animal to track him. Byth had an idea. He had to act quickly. As the dog approached him, he grabbed it by the muzzle, pulled it into the long grass, and broke its neck. The dog never had time to react. Grabbing one of the syringes in his pocket, he pulled out some of the animal's blood and injected it into his arm.
"Seen anything, Jim? Guess not. Well, let's go home. A shame I called the police already. I'll call back and tell them it was a false alarm."
The real Jim was lying dead in the tall grass, unable to warn his master.
* * *
"Well, Mr. Lawrence, several other people saw those bright lights."
Mr. Lawrence laughed softly. "Well, my vision's not like it use to be. Anything could have crashed and I would have walked over it." 'Jim' picked his head up, listened, and lowered it back down again.
"We're still going to search the area. I hope we don't wake you."
"Nah, Commissioner Emmett, I sleep like a log. You can search the fields, and you don't have to bother knocking on the door and telling me. Me and Jim are fixing to retire for the night."
* * *
"Oh great. I've lost Byth. Can this get any worse?"
Shayera stood in main part of the ship. She had no change of clothing, so she was still wearing her blue police uniform. Her mace—the Thanagarian favorite—swung on her hip and her crossbow was out and loaded. Her helmet was on, masking the upper part of her face. It was a special gift from Katar. He thought that since she was one of the only female officers, she should have her own helmet. The 'wings' were incorporated into the helmet more than the male helmets, and with the contrasting dark brown and gold, made her face very avian in appearance.
Her boots hit the hard floor. The ship was practically empty—being a prototype, appearance was not very important. Shayera looked through all the compartments. There was a little bit of food and some batteries, and she put them all her backpack and the pocket of her pants. She opened one drawer and found the empty container that used to hold the Krotan pill. The Absorbascon was lying next to it.
The Absorbascon was nothing more than a thin helmet with a thick ban running down the center. "This is what he stole?" She pulled off her own helmet and placed it on her head. The metal tingled her temples. It was thin enough for her to place her helmet back on, masking her face again. Behind her, she heard a faint clicking sound.
"Alright, whatever you are, this is Midway City Police. Hands in the air! We'll shoot if you try anything funny."
Shayera couldn't understand the words, but she certainly understood the tone. She turned around slowly, her crossbow pointed up in the air. "Look, I'm not the enemy here."
One of the aliens looked at the other. "Can you understand it, sir?"
"Nope. Just some weird alien talk I suppose. And I bet it can't understand us."
"So what do we do?"
Shayera swayed a bit. The Absorbascon had sent a series of sharp electric signals into her brain. A sharp sting rang through her skull, forcing her to pull her head back to comfort herself. The pain was gone as quickly as it came. Shayera straightened up and looked back at the two aliens. One was looking at the other. "Uh, Emmett—you suppose it's hurt?"
Wait! She could understand them? The helmet Byth stole…it must have broken the language barrier. Could she rely back? It seemed she had been given knowledge of the vocabulary—but no idea how to say anything.
Still she had to try. "I-I-I-I am not the enemy." Her voice was somewhat slurred, but the aliens must have understood, because one motioned for the other to lower his weapon. "I am Off—off—Officer Shayera Hol." There! She had said her name.
The two aliens looked at each other. One walked closer. "I am Commissioner George Emmett. This is Lieutenant Jordan."
He extended his hand. Shayera was puzzled. What did this mean? She decided to follow suit. The Commissioner reached for her hand and grasped it firmly. Some sort of standard greeting, she assumed. "Commissioner? What do we do with…her?"
"Let's take Officer Hol to headquarters and get this sorted out."