Chapter Eight, Sudden Conflict

It soon turned out that Thraves was much more of a respectable character than Lyra first assumed. The last two days had been much easier thanks to Thraves' never ending source of magic tricks and his good sense of humour. His selection of weapons was also a subject of much discussion. Apparently, he acquired his merchandise from a military testing laboratory near the west coast of the continent, far north of Hyde City through a defective scientist. He then crossed the continent by varying routes to sell his items to rivalling gangs in a city southwest of Omni-1, desperate for style as well as efficiency from the weapons they used. It was here Thraves made his small fortune by showing off the latest in military technology and offering them exclusively at high prices. Despite the long journeys back and forth, he felt it was well worth it.

"This is a special one" he exclaimed, discretely pulling out a tiny pistol that reflected every colour of the spectrum as he handled it. "It's rechargeable, requiring no ammunition, fires up to 40 shots before heating up and fires focused kinetic energy, not laser pulses or bullets that you might be used to. The effect is more painful but less damaging. A tab here flicked up like this will fire a longer burst that will knock a Drackian Rhinor unconscious. On a person, there's a chance of nervous shock but still, not fatal."

He handed Lyra the gun, it felt neither cold nor warm and had the feeling similar to that of smooth plastic. It wasn't shaped particularly different to most handguns but the diffractive look of it made it very attractive to look at. She handed it back.

"You know" he continued, "The BBI Faithful 22 is on its way out. The Faithful 100 is the latest model and there is a lot of hype about it BUT I know of the prototype successor to the 100, not due for release for at least a few years. My contact at the military outpost mentioned a new gun; the X1 with is supposed to be lighter, more robust and built purposefully to be customised. I could look into it for you if you were to give me an incentive."

"I have nothing to offer here but when I get to Omni-Tec I'm sure I'll find something of your interest. What is your interest anyway?"

"I'm into metaphysics at the moment, a hobby I'm intending to try and make money out of. Any high-end metaphysical nano program would be a good gesture."

Lyra gave a sigh, nano programs were very expensive and high-end ones more so. The animal morphing nano programs that she had were easy to obtain because she was making lots of money but times had changed and it might not be so easy now.

"I'll see what I can do. If you get access to these guns for me I'll need two, I always use two."

"Two it is then, don't expect any results soon, it may take months to get them. They are in development after all."

Starcloud gave him a satisfied smile and walked to the back of the bus to join Diviant, who was looking out the window for something to interest him. She sat down, letting her back slam against the Spartan padding and then turned to join Diviant in observing the landscape. She was about to try and start a conversation with him when they both saw something that made them both stand up and stare. Far in the distance a group of people were being chased by Blackhawks, large predatorial eagle like birds that preferred larger meals than lots of smaller ones. They tended to live in mountainous areas though and thus such a sighting in the middle of a desert was a rare occurrence.

"Should we do something?" she asked, already reaching for her gun belt and backpack.

"Yea, they don't stand a chance alone, it looks like a drifter group."

The two of them ran down the deck and down the stairway. They turned to the driver who in turn looked at them momentarily.

"Yes?" he said.

"How far are we from Old Meyn?" Diviant inquired.

"About another days travelling, why?"

"We've spotted a group of travellers in trouble and we can help. Would you be willing to stop and wait for us?"

The driver looked to another staff member.

"When did we last service the filters?"

"About 7 months ago." A man said, not looking up from a magazine he was reading

"Ok," the driver said, turning to Diviant and then back to the road ahead. "You've got two hours, we should have the filters done in that time, then we're going on with or without you."

The driver slowed the bus and pulled off the track to stop aside it and open the doors for Lyra and Diviant. The group was at least half a mile away and the birds were flying above them, making dives at the caravans. Lyra started to run, and then sprint as did Diviant. Then, while running she started to focus, making the cleaning action with her hands which made glow. A second later, she was a Panthercat, bounding at great speed towards the battleground followed by Diviant in the same form.

When she arrived at the camp minutes later a Blackhawk flew down at her. With the power of a hunting Panthercat she launched herself into the air slashing twice at the hawk's neck and torso, dragging down to the ground with her. As Diviant arrived she reformed and drew her guns, unloading ammunition into the sky and the flock. Diviant remained a Panthercat and jumped on top of one of the caravans where a Blackhawk was positioned, screeching at them both. He could hear the crying of the people inside below his paws but ignored it and bit at the hawk in front of him, causing the creature to flap furiously to get away. The mass of the flock seemed to focus their attacks at Lyra and she had to dive continuously to evade their swoops. Diviant jumped down to the ground and ran towards her side. Two hawks dived from different directions at the same time. Lyra dived one leaving the bird to miss her and fly straight into the claws of Diviant but as he concentrated on silencing the one before him, the other bird came from the side and snapped at his right. The Panthercat was thrown to the floor and Lyra only just managed to scare off the hawk with several rounds. The flock now fly higher in the sky, too far for Lyra to accurately take them down but had seemed to cease their attack dives. Diviant reformed in front of her, clearly in pain still from the attack.

"My turn to be the doctor" she said nervous smile. She healed him with a nano spell as he had on the Gyromus but the armour he wore seemed to absorb some of the spell as well. Never less, the pain had stopped.

"Why did it do that?" she asked him.

"This armour is augmented, it detects incoming nano spells and deals with them, protecting against aggressive spells and absorbing excess energy from passive ones."

They looked up at the sky. The Blackhawks were drifting slowly away from above the camp and heading across the desert. Then a caravan door flung open and an elderly man in colourful but worn clothing stepped out with surprising energy. A few others slowly and cautiously followed him but it was only he that came running at them with arms wide open. Diviant braced himself.

"Thank you! Thank you, oh God thank you! We thought we wouldn't make it!"

The man ran up to Diviant, extending a hand. Diviant shook it but imitated Lyra by keeping formal, not smiling or expressing any form of emotion. She picked up on this and didn't like being taught a lesson.

"Anything you need just say! You need water? Food? Perhaps some artwork? My son draws all the time."

He ran back to the caravan, emerging soon after with a paper sheet. He presented it to them proudly but the picture was crudely drawn like that of a child and the actual content was unclear. Lyra spotted a young boy among the others waiting by the caravan doorway, next to a girl, supposedly a sister and supposedly a mother.

"Thank you" Diviant said courteously, accepting the picture. The man looked at Lyra, first at her face and then downwards until he had reached her feet. He then raced off again to his caravan.

"What is this guy like?" she stated. She was about to follow up when the man re-appeared, carrying under one arm a garment of some kind. He approached Lyra holding it forwards.

"You look like an adventurous type dear, do you know what this is?" he asked her.

She looked at the piece of clothing; it appeared to be a pure white skirt of some kind but tailored with lots of pockets at the top. Despite this she shrugged anyway.

"A skirt?"

"You don't recognise the material? Dear me, this is real Coutroun padded leather, very good against the heat in deserts like this one. My wife made it for my daughter when she was keen on becoming an adventurer but now she's into cookery instead. It's made for an adult, it looks your size."

She gave Diviant a glace to stop him smirking and then thanked the man, taking the skirt with a smile. They then headed back across the desert towards the bus, but not before waving to the family by the caravan and a few others who had come outside from other caravans. She held it over her head, shading herself form the sun. The skirt was cool to touch, even under the baking sun and hot air and the shade it provided was complete.

"It's actually quite nice," she said to Diviant. "How's yours?"

He looked at the masterpiece before him and grinned.

"It'll be the centrepiece in my apartment." He joked.