CHAPTER 8: FLOWERS AND REASONS
"At last, I've finally found it."
Vash the Stampede tilted his yellow sunglasses up to get a better view of the shining metal hull in the distance. The sun was just sinking behind the horizon, and the last rays of light glinted off the solid metal plating hidden amid the sharp crags of the southern mountain region. He gave a determined grin.
"Everything seems to be the same as the last time," he said stepping slowly down the steep slope he was perched on. "Now all that's left to do is get inside, rescue Meryl and...aaiaiiiiaiiiieeeeee!"
After taking one-step downhill, Vash found himself slipping wildly down the steep incline toward the hard looking sand below.
"Aiiighhhh! Is this the end!!"
WHOMP! With a resounding thud, he hit the ground, butt first. It stung, but at least he was still in one piece.
"Man, that was pretty scary," he sighed in relief. "All that lack of sleep seems to be catching up with me. Good thing I'm almost there." Vash stood and dusted himself off before setting off towards the ship once more.
"Looks like smooth sailing until I get to the shi...iiiiiiit!"
After one step forwards, Vash found himself sinking quickly into the sand beneath him.
"AHHHH! QUICKSAND!"
Struggling like a maniac to get out of the swirling sands, he soon discovered, was not the best plan. The pull of the sinkhole was just too strong and Vash was speedily sucked under the vortex.
He heaved a sigh as he disappeared under the surface.
"This might take a little longer than I thought."
Meryl had never seen anything as amazing as the ancient wreckage of the old ship. When they first entered, it had been as dark as a cave, but as they walked a little farther on, soft green lights began to glow from all corners of the passageway. As far as she could tell, the light was coming from small bulbous shaped pods that looked like they were growing out of cracks in the walls. The green lights dotted the deep black of the ship, lighting it up like stars at night.
"What...what is this place?"
But, Knives was already walking deeper into the structure. Meryl hurried to catch up to him. He seemed to be regaining his strength with each step. For a while the two of them picked their way through the ship in silence.
Again, Meryl felt a slight cold sensation on the back of her neck, like metal. She reached behind her collar and found a small metal circle attached to the hem. A button.
That's odd, she thought, I don't remember that ever being there.
She dismissed the thought quickly as she made her way through the crumbling corridor.
Knives' brain teamed with memories as he walked. It was like coming home.
Meryl carefully climbed over a fallen beam that blocked the passage. It was all so amazing that she barely noticed Knives' presence. The technology in this place was incredible. Inside the different rooms were various glittering and glowing instruments. And machines and robots that appeared as if they still functioned in the crumbling rubble. While she was gazing into the half open doorways, a twinkling light caught her attention.
The reflected light was coming from a room on the far end of the hall and it shimmered against the opposite wall like waves. She checked on Knives. He was poking around amongst the debris farther down. Meryl ventured towards the mysterious door and peeked around the corner.
The light was coming from more of those green bulbs, but they were reflecting off of something Meryl couldn't quite make out. Tall cylinders filled with water, or some type of liquid, that glowed with the same hazy green glow as the bulbs. Leaning in to get a better view, Meryl squinted her eyes through the dust that settled in the beams of light. There were shapes inside the cylinders.
"What the..." she whispered, as her eyes began to adjust to the dim light. She could just make out something that looked like....
"...my God!"
Meryl suddenly felt her heart jump into her throat. Her eyes widened in shock.
Unable to speak, she stumbled backwards through the open doorway, tripping over a piece of jagged metal and losing her balance. Grasping for a something to brace her fall, Meryl grabbed the first thing she could, a beam that had wedged itself against the wall of the corridor.
But as she grasped the twisted iron, the beam shifted from the force of her pull, wrenching it free from the pinch of the floor and ceiling. Meryl felt the beam give slightly in her hands and she heard the sudden groan of the ceiling above her as the beam slid down the wall. It released its support and a mass of heavy metal ceiling and wreckage came crashing down on her. Convinced that she was about to die, Meryl shut her eyes and waited.
And waited.
She could still hear the creaking of the metal above her. Slowly, she opened her eyes again.
For a fleeting instant, Meryl thought she saw Vash standing above her, arms raised above his head, holding the heavy metal beams up and away from her. The soft light against his skin made him glow with a supernatural aura, and for a moment, Meryl just stared in awe.
"Vash..."
His eyes turned to meet hers and Meryl's fantasy was shattered.
"K-knives!" She stuttered.
The look on his face was unreadable. He seemed like he was about to say something when the metal above them gave a final grinding screech. Knives ground his teeth together and flung the beam and debris harmlessly over to the opposite side of the passageway.
Meryl sat in shock for a moment.
That could've killed me, she thought. But...
Knives still stood over her, facing away. She could hear his heavy breathing echo in the hollow corridor. Sweat stood out on his exposed limbs, glistening in the soft green haze.
He saved me.
A grunt came from the mysterious plant, and Meryl was snapped out of her reverie. He turned and regarded her with his customary scowl before striding past her down the hall again.
"Unless you want to stay in this unstable section and get crushed to death, I suggest you get up off your ass and follow me. And stop snooping around where you don't belong." He said, his voice cold and emotionless.
Nodding dumbly, Meryl got up and brushed the dust from her clothes. With one glace back at the fallen rubble, she jogged down the hallway to catch up to Knives. The bandages on his arms and torso were starting to show signs of fresh blood. The exertion of lifting the beams must have been extreme.
"Are you...all right?" She asked quietly.
"Tch." He spat. "You've got some nerve, woman. I'm not so bad off that I need you to look after me."
"Hey! I was only...I mean..." Meryl stood, shaking in annoyance, and ready to rip him a new one. But then, he had just risked his life to save her. He wasn't Vash and never would be, but at that moment, the similarity between the two brothers was glaringly evident. No matter what happened before or after this, she owed him.
"Thank you."
She said it so quietly that Knives wasn't sure he had heard her correctly.
"What?"
"Thank you, for saving me." She repeated a little more forcefully.
For a moment, Knives seemed puzzled, his eyes questioning. Then he frowned and turned away.
"Humph. We are almost there, woman, so don't fall behind because I won't waste my time saving you again."
"Uh...yeah right." Meryl said sourly, but as she continued to follow him down the dim passageway, she couldn't help but smile to herself. He had looked so much like Vash at that moment. Maybe there was some hope left after all, just like Vash had believed.
Meanwhile, Knives fought with his own inner demons.
What was going on? Of course, he had to save her, he needed to use her as the link in the machine. And to do that, he needed her alive. Only a living being could serve as the link now that the equipment was damaged. He remembered having the same argument with his brother about the activation of the PTD machine. It needed a living body to work. That was the reason, the only reason, he saved her life just now.
(Really?)
A voice in the back of his mind planted a seed of doubt.
(Were you really thinking of the PTD activation procedure when you threw yourself in front of a ton of falling metal to save her? What was really on your mind at the exact second you decided to do it?)
Knives growled through his teeth at his own rebellious brain. Of course he only saved her for the sake of the plan.
(Really? Are you sure?)
Despite all his efforts the seed of doubt grew.
(Didn't you really save her because...
...you wanted to?)
No. That was ridiculous. He hated all humans; he hated all the filthy spiders that crawled on the surface of this dead planet. Especially that obnoxious loud mouthed bitch!
(Really?)
Knives bit down on the inside of his cheek to drown out the sound of his own mind. The taste of his own blood was metallic and cold. Just like the ship.
He didn't expect the warm hand on his shoulder, and he whipped around so suddenly that Meryl nearly jumped out of her skin.
"What do you want now!" He snarled at her.
Meryl said nothing, but frowned and pointed toward a large open door.
"You've been standing there for almost five minutes now. I may not know my way around this place, but I'm betting there is something important in that room over there."
Knives blinked. Had it been that long?
The room Meryl had pointed to was glowing with the strange green light of the bulbs on the walls. This light, however, was more intense than the other rooms, and also had other colors mingled in it as well. It's brightness and color spread out into the desolate passage, filling it with dancing light.
How did I miss that? He thought, flustered.
With a snarl, Knives pushed past Meryl and ducked in through the doorway. Looking over his shoulder he shot her a glare and barked at her.
"Hurry up, woman! I already told you not to fall behind!"
"Why you...uggh!" Meryl threw up her hands in anger. Fuming, she reluctantly followed Knives through the open passage, muttering to herself, "I guess you are feeling better if you're this much of a jerk again."
The anger quickly left her body when she rounded the curve of the entrance and found herself standing in a very large room. It was breathtaking.
Like the hallways of the ship, this room was dotted with glowing bulbs, only these bulbs were enormous and the light they produced was warm and bright. They were also different colors; green, blue, violet, red. Every color; all with a sense of freshness about them. The effect of the various colors made the room glow and sparkle like a gigantic kaleidoscope above her head. All Meryl could do was stand in mute wonder.
Knives stopped to glance back at her and, for a moment, found himself trapped in her look. He himself had long since grown accustomed to the sight of this room and he had forgotten how beautiful it really was. But now, seeing this small insignificant human gazing in rapt awe at her surroundings, Knives felt an old sense of wonder of his own resurface, and he to took in the magnificent room with new eyes for a moment.
Soon, he shook himself and continued on.
"Hurry up. We're almost there."
"It's like..." he heard her start and he paused, but she didn't continue.
"What?" He said impatiently.
"A garden." He stopped in his tracks. "It's like a garden, with flowers..of light..." she trailed off.
Knives felt the world sway under his feet and a voice from a time long forgotten came back into his head...
"It's like a flower garden, a beautiful growing garden full of life and possibilities."
Little Knives sat along side his brother in the plant room, listening to Rem talk again about the endless possibilities of the future. He was bored to tears.
"Tell us again, Rem!" Vash piped up, looking at the tall woman with puppy dog eyes.
Stupid, brown noser, Knives thought testily. Always trying to get on her good side, not that she has a bad side. Rem is always so agreeable, always so "nice." Just once, I'd like to see her get mad, or angry, yell...or something.
"This room and the plants you see around you will help us make our new home into another Earth, a paradise, with green growing trees and grass, and flowers."
Rem rambled on for a while about the functions of the plants in the central part of the ship and the future of the human race and god knows what else for what seemed like ages to Knives. The whole time Vash sat gazing up at her in rapt attention.
I can't take this anymore! Knives thought, and jumped down off the bridge to the lower landing.
"Knives, where are you going?" Vash whined from above.
"I'm going for a stretch," Knives called out, "I'll meet up with you in the rec room, alright!"
For a while, he just wandered around in the cables and wires and large pipes that created the bases of the larger plant structures. He was lost in his own thoughts and didn't notice the console until he was right on top of it. Knives stared at the diagram on the display unit. He ran his fingers across the brilliant glowing letters underneath, PTD.
"It must be referring to the plant above it. This huge blue one. It's got to be the largest one on the ship." He mused.
The program sat open and ready, the worker on duty had probably just stepped out for a break.
Nothing better to do, Knives sighed and opened the file in front of him.
What he read changed his reality forever.
"...just like a flower garden."
The voice next to him brought him back to the present abruptly.
Meryl turned to look at him, her eyes sparkling with amazement. But all Knives felt was the grim determination coming back to him from the bitter memory of when he had first learned of the human's plans for him and his brother.
He wouldn't let the ghost of a dead woman nor the spirit of a living one interfere.
"What is all this?" Meryl asked, still in a trance.
Knives regarded her coldly for a moment; "This was called the plant room at one time. Every bulb on the surfaces of this room is a fully functional plant machine, capable of immense power."
"I know what a plant is doofus." Meryl teased him. "I meant, what are they all doing in one place like this? Do they have anything to do with that huge blue plant over there?" She pointed to the center of the room where an enormous blue plant hung from the ceiling like an awkward chandelier. It was by far the largest plant she had ever seen, and was so big that it was difficult to see from one end of it to the other.
Knives pressed his lips together, slightly annoyed by her tone, but on the other hand, impressed with how she had put two and two together. He decided he better watch what information he gave her, or she might get wise before he could complete his mission.
"It's just another plant." He muttered, and walked away toward a row of smaller plants on the far side of the chamber.
Meryl gave him a questioning look, as if she didn't believe him, but followed him anyway.
As they passed by countless bulbs of different sizes and colors, Meryl swore that she caught glimpses of shapes within the cloudy cores. But, when she looked directly into the center of the bulbs, all she saw were the blurry outlines of the conductor units, bulky computers that captured the power of the cores and turned them into usable energy. She remembered learning all about the plants in school. The more she learned, the more they became a mystery.
One large red plant caught her eye and she leaned in over the railing to get a closer look. For an instant, Meryl thought she was seeing her own reflection in the glass. A pair of wide gray eyes stared back at her from within the warm swirling water.
How silly of me, being startled by my own reflection... she thought.
Just then the pair of eyes she was staring at, blinked at her.
Meryl nearly fell off the walkway. The commotion caused Knives to glare back at her.
"Hurry up woman. I'm not saving you if you fall due to your own stupidity."
But she barely heard him.
Was that what I thought it was? A being from outside of time. A plant angel? She thought.
Meryl shut her eyes tightly, shaking her head to clear it of any visions. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked into the red glowing bulb.
There was nothing there.
She thought about the shapes she saw in the little room with the watery cylinders just before she had almost gotten crushed. Just before Knives had saved her. If her assumptions were correct, then...
"Knives..." she said hesitantly.
He gave a frustrated sigh and turned, giving her a scowl.
"What is it now!" He barked.
Behind him, the reflecting light from the numerous plants spilled over the architecture of his body, making it look like it was a ripple in the water itself. Meryl remembered the cylinders of green liquid again. Those bulky floating shapes...
"That room I was looking in earlier, before you...saved me, well...there were clear cylinder tubes of...something. I didn't get a good look, but they seemed to be...specimens...of..." she stopped, unsure of how to continue, "I'm not sure, but they looked...like...um...well..."
The silence lay heavily over the room.
"Plants."
"What?" Meryl wasn't sure she caught his words.
"They were plant specimens. What you saw were the disembodied parts of plants, or plant angels as you call them." Knives did not take his eyes from the railing. "What you saw were the severed limbs of my brothers and sisters."
Meryl felt dazed from the blow of that information. It took some control to overcome the feeling of sickness rising in her throat at the memory of those lifeless floating appendages, like dead bloated fish in a stagnate pond.
"Why..," she started, "who would...do such a terrible thing!"
Knives gave a hard laugh.
"Who do you think, woman? Your species is the only kind that destroys without meaning."
Humans? Humans did something so horrible?
Meryl could only stand open mouthed from the shock of his statement. She couldn't imagine anyone doing something so horrific. She thought she had seen the worst of human nature on her journeys with Vash, but this was far worse than anything she had ever seen or imagined.
Poor Knives, she thought, at least I think I understand him a little more. His anger...that I can understand.
"Don't assume anything you can't fully comprehend, human." Knives answered her thought without looking at her.
Meryl looked shocked. She had forgotten about his little mind reading trick.
"You know, it is really annoying when you do that," she said sulkily.
"You have my abject sympathy," Knives said sarcastically.
Meryl could've sworn she heard him smirk that time.
Tucked away in the back of his mind, he couldn't help but feel
slightly touched by her reaction. No one else had ever cared. "We're here."
Meryl looked up. They had stopped in front of a row of bluish green looking bulbs. The water inside the tilted plants was dull and gray and no light came from them. Knives did not hesitate, but began climbing up the scaffolding to the right of one of the bulbs.
"What are these?" Meryl questioned.
"Healing plants." Knives replied as he reached the upper landing.
"Really?" Meryl found herself climbing up after him. "I've read about these, but no one I know has ever seen one before! It looks like it hasn't been activated in a long time, are you sure it wor......"
She stopped short when she reached the upper landing.
Knives had striped off all his bandages and tattered clothes and was standing with his back to her, completely naked. He was busy punching buttons of the old dusty control panel next to the opening of the plant. The multicolored light from the surrounding plants shimmered and gleamed off his pale skin, causing him to glow. Meryl swallowed hard, her pulse suddenly jumped.
"What are you waiting for woman, get over here. I need your help." Knives said impatiently. Glancing behind, he noticed she was looking apprehensive about approaching. With a smirk he added, "Don't worry, I'm not going to try to 'attack' you again. Clothes just get in the way inside a plant."
God, her reaction is amusing. I hope I've a chance to do this again, he thought mischievously.
Biting her lower lip, Meryl slowly approached the computer display, trying hard not to steal glances at his exposed body. In the harsh light, she could clearly see the extent of his injuries. It was amazing he was still able to walk.
"This is the command display for the rejuvenation plant," he explained, "you must wait until I am inside and fully hooked into the system before initiating the activation sequence, this button here." He pointed toward a large green button. "When the max output levels have reached the 95% bar, here, punch the finishing sequence, here. The oxygenation levels should decrease, and the bulb should drain on its own. By that time, in exactly 4 hours and 36 minutes, I should be completely healed."
"How do you know I won't try to kill you once you're in that plant and helpless?" She asked calmly.
"You won't." He said, dismissing her.
"What?"
"You already told me about your idiotic need to keep me alive," Knives continued as he began climbing into the opening of the plant, "and I'm still alive. So, I know you won't kill me now."
Meryl frowned, his cock sure attitude only added to her anger. She tried to find a scathing insult or comment to throw at him, but could only say, "Don't be so sure, Knives!"
Knives merely gave her a cold laugh.
"You humans are so predictable. Find your motivation, your deepest desire, and exploit it. That's exactly what I did with you. Your blind devotion to my idiot brother was too good of a chance to pass up. You'd risk your own worthless life in order to please him. No, you won't kill me. You can't."
With a final biting comment, Knives slid into the harness of the plant machine. His naked body gleamed in the dark pool of water surrounding him. The wounds on his body hissed at the contact of the liquid and he grunted in pain.
"Close the top off and start the activation, now," he said through clenched teeth.
Meryl sighed and stepped away from the plant.
He's right, she thought, I can't kill him. Even if I wanted to.
Her thoughts went back to Vash and how he stubbornly refused to kill no matter what the circumstances.
"Stupid broom-head," she muttered, "you're rubbing off on me."
The bright buttons blinked on as she pressed the activation sequence Knives had instructed her on. Soon the plant began to fill with fresh clear liquid and slowly began to glow blue. Meryl watched as Knives was completely immersed inside the glass bulb. The straps and harnesses designed to hold a person in the device nearly covered his body completely, so Meryl was saved the embarrassment of gaping at his exposed body again. 4 hours and 36 minutes.
"Man," she sighed, plopping down on the landing, "this is going to be a long wait."
Knives eyes closed as soon as the weightless substance in the plant engulfed his body completely. The liquid surrounding him was neither cool nor warm, but a pleasing mixture of both temperatures together, and he was surprised at how weary his body really was. It had been an excruciating few weeks, first the battle with Vash, that crummy little house afterwards, and then the journey to the plant ship. Stress of that kind his body could take, but it had been the stress to his mind that had worn him out the most. He began to think he should have left that bothersome woman where he had found her, or better yet, wiped her out with the rest of that scum during his escape.
But no, it was because of her that his plans would be realized. Vash would come here because of her. He needed her to complete the mission. Or was it...
It was all too confusing right now. What he needed was rest, then his mind and body would function perfectly again, free from confusion and impulse.
He closed his eyes again, and drifted off.
Meryl leaned her head against the metal railing next to the plant Knives was now healing in. The metal was cool against her forehead, and she realized just how tired she was from her ordeal. Closing her eyes, she stretched, trying to relax her sore muscles.
"If I survive this, I'm taking a vacation." She grumbled.
Wearily, Meryl tilted her head and looked at her kidnapper's calm and helpless body, suspended in the cool liquid of the plant next to her. Knives image rippled slightly from the gently lap of the water inside, the muscles of his arms and back gave him a sculpted look that was very attractive.
Ugh! Stop it Meryl! She scolded herself, blushing slightly.
But Meryl couldn't help being caught by his face. Asleep, he looked completely peaceful and at ease.
"He looks so innocent right now," she said to herself, "Hmm, it's hard to believe that he was the cause of all that unhappiness Vash went through a few months ago. Could he really have destroyed the human race?"
In a flash, the memory of him standing over the mangled bodies of the Locos Gang, blood and bullet holes riddled the dim room of their old house. Knives had looked so different back then.
Meryl sighed heavily. It had been so long since she was alone with her thoughts. He couldn't eavesdrop on her now.
Any person with an iota of intelligence would have leapt at the chance to escape, to just run out of this decaying ship and away to their freedom. Or better yet, kill the vicious plant while he was vulnerable.
There was only one problem. Meryl was not acting on her intelligence; she was acting on her heart.
Normally she would have found that unusual, but ever since she met Vash, acting on her heart had become a matter of habit.
Vash.
Meryl hugged her knees to her body, closing her tired eyes only to see him in her thoughts. She wondered where he was, what he was doing, if he cared at all about her and how she was. It had been so long since she had last seen his face. Things had been a little tense before between the two of them, and she wished with all her heart that she'd had the courage to simply tell him her feelings that night in the kitchen. But she had missed her chance. She wrapped her arms around her shoulders, trying to remember the way he held her then. The way he had ran light touches up her arms and down her back. Touches, which had seemed willfully restrained, but which had also seemed to want to give more, and take more too.
The blue of the plant reminded Meryl of the clear sky blue eyes, which had looked into her own with such intensity the last time they had seen each other. The feeling of him encasing her small body in his long arms, and the warmth of being pressed against his chest in that tight embrace still made her heart beat quicken. His strong hands around her waist and behind her neck. He had actually stroked her hair down to her neck a couple times, or at least that's what it had felt like. He said very little to her, just to be careful. But his eyes. His eyes always said so much more than his mouth ever could.
Or perhaps it had all been in her imagination. Maybe he had no feelings for her other than as a friend. If he did find her in this place, it might only be because he came after his brother. And not her.
I don't have a choice, do I, Meryl thought, because, even if he'll never love me, I'll always...love him. So, I've got to stay true to my word, and to him. Even if I have to go through the fire because of it...
The iron railing she was leaning on was getting uncomfortable, so Meryl wearily dragged herself to the edge of the platform and laid her coat down on it. Stretching out on the fabric, she gave a final look at the man suspended in the liquid of the plant not two meters away. In the distorted light of the water, she could almost pretend that Vash was there, close by.
She closed her eyes and fell asleep.
At first the dreams were very ordinary.
The time on the SEEDs ship when they had their first birthdays. Lying in the grass of the rec room and gazing up at the artificial sky. Hours spent in the archives, studying the history and sciences of the universe and it's creatures. All pleasant, peaceful memories.
But slowly, the darkness crept up on him. Steve beating him to near death. Learning the truth behind the humans' migration, the first plant angel, the human's plans for the PTD, suspicion, death, fire, explosion, the wasted dead planet, the pain of the gun wounds in his body. All pain, all sadness, all death.
And then nothing.
Knives stood alone, in a world erased. His body weightless, suspending in the vast white of a universe wiped clean. For a while it was nice, not thinking, not feeling, being completely unattached and uncaring. Resting in the vast white nothing.
But nothing lasts forever, he thought.
Just then, a small current zinged through his body, like the pain of an electrical shock. Knives shut his eyes to block out the sensations. A second later, he opened them, only to find himself floating in the deep blue waters again.
Am I back, in the plant. he thought. But no, he wasn't hooked up to any device, as he had been when he fell asleep. Nothing was nearby, just the dense dark waters. He raised his head upward. A small red dot of color throbbed in the distance, near the surface, and again his body was jolted by a tiny shock of pain.
"It's that damn dream again? Knives thought. But, if I'm dreaming, then why does that sensation, that pain, why does it feel real?
Again, the red light flashed in the distance. Again, he jumped, but this time, the shock was bigger, as was the pain. Knives felt slightly panicked. Somehow, he knew what he had to do, reach the surface and find the end. The red flashed, another shock.
Is that what's at the end, only pain? It didn't matter.
Knives gritted his teeth as another shockwave went through him, the red light pulsed again. Glaring upward, he began to climb.
Meryl stirred. For the first time in a while, her sleep had been deep and dreamless. But the hard mesh landing was just too uncomfortable anymore. Frustrated, she flipped over on her back, flinging her arms up over her closed eyes to block any light getting in.
"What I wouldn't give for a nice soft bed again," she groaned, "I'm gonna look like I slept on a tennis racket when I get up," she felt the crisscross metal landing under her, despite the thick jacket she was lying on. This was no good. That stupid metal button on the back of her collar was digging into her neck uncomfortably. It must have just come out of the lining. Sifting for a better position, Meryl rolled to her side, and tried to clear her mind.
She concentrated on the black world behind her closed eyes, it was dark and deep.
Just then, in the corner of the darkness, Meryl thought she saw a pulse of red light. And then again. The beat of light was steady, like the blinking of an electric device on the edge of the blackness.
"Stupid machines..." she muttered, half asleep.
Machines...the plant machine!
Meryl was sitting up in an instant. Had she overslept, was the healing process inside the plant complete?
"Shit!" She spat, tripping over herself to get to the control panel.
The green display blinked calmly up at her. 3:12:27..28..29...
"Hmmm, it's only been 3 hours. It shouldn't be done yet."
The thrumming in her chest subsided a bit as she checked Knives status on the monitor.
"Ugh, I have no idea what half this stuff means..." she huffed.
From the corner of her eye, Meryl caught the same pulsing red light that woke her up. It was coming from the plant itself. When she glanced at the bulb and the man inside she gasped in shock.
The entire plant was glowing brightly and throbbing with a vivid red light from the central unit. The normally still blue liquid was stained with the red glow each time it pulsated, making it look like it was filled with...blood.
Movement from within the structure caught her attention.
"Knives?"
Something was wrong.
It was hard to make him out clearly, but it looked like he had wrapped his arms around his upper body and tucked his legs up to his chest. In that fetal position, he looked like a baby in the womb. Vulnerable. Each time the light flashed, his body tensed and writhed in its cocoon. Meryl ran to the bulb.
"Knives?" She yelled, pounding on the glass.
His face was distorted in pain, but he was still clearly unconscious. Every shot of red light seemed to be sending a jolt of electricity through his fragile body.
"Knives! Wake up!" She had to wake him up, get him out somehow.
The control panel to her right began lighting up furiously, and a high warning alarm sounded.
Meryl took one look at the status indicators and gasped.
It was killing him.
Next time on Edge of the Sea: Chapter 9 Gifts and Rescues
"At last, I've finally found it."
Vash the Stampede tilted his yellow sunglasses up to get a better view of the shining metal hull in the distance. The sun was just sinking behind the horizon, and the last rays of light glinted off the solid metal plating hidden amid the sharp crags of the southern mountain region. He gave a determined grin.
"Everything seems to be the same as the last time," he said stepping slowly down the steep slope he was perched on. "Now all that's left to do is get inside, rescue Meryl and...aaiaiiiiaiiiieeeeee!"
After taking one-step downhill, Vash found himself slipping wildly down the steep incline toward the hard looking sand below.
"Aiiighhhh! Is this the end!!"
WHOMP! With a resounding thud, he hit the ground, butt first. It stung, but at least he was still in one piece.
"Man, that was pretty scary," he sighed in relief. "All that lack of sleep seems to be catching up with me. Good thing I'm almost there." Vash stood and dusted himself off before setting off towards the ship once more.
"Looks like smooth sailing until I get to the shi...iiiiiiit!"
After one step forwards, Vash found himself sinking quickly into the sand beneath him.
"AHHHH! QUICKSAND!"
Struggling like a maniac to get out of the swirling sands, he soon discovered, was not the best plan. The pull of the sinkhole was just too strong and Vash was speedily sucked under the vortex.
He heaved a sigh as he disappeared under the surface.
"This might take a little longer than I thought."
Meryl had never seen anything as amazing as the ancient wreckage of the old ship. When they first entered, it had been as dark as a cave, but as they walked a little farther on, soft green lights began to glow from all corners of the passageway. As far as she could tell, the light was coming from small bulbous shaped pods that looked like they were growing out of cracks in the walls. The green lights dotted the deep black of the ship, lighting it up like stars at night.
"What...what is this place?"
But, Knives was already walking deeper into the structure. Meryl hurried to catch up to him. He seemed to be regaining his strength with each step. For a while the two of them picked their way through the ship in silence.
Again, Meryl felt a slight cold sensation on the back of her neck, like metal. She reached behind her collar and found a small metal circle attached to the hem. A button.
That's odd, she thought, I don't remember that ever being there.
She dismissed the thought quickly as she made her way through the crumbling corridor.
Knives' brain teamed with memories as he walked. It was like coming home.
Meryl carefully climbed over a fallen beam that blocked the passage. It was all so amazing that she barely noticed Knives' presence. The technology in this place was incredible. Inside the different rooms were various glittering and glowing instruments. And machines and robots that appeared as if they still functioned in the crumbling rubble. While she was gazing into the half open doorways, a twinkling light caught her attention.
The reflected light was coming from a room on the far end of the hall and it shimmered against the opposite wall like waves. She checked on Knives. He was poking around amongst the debris farther down. Meryl ventured towards the mysterious door and peeked around the corner.
The light was coming from more of those green bulbs, but they were reflecting off of something Meryl couldn't quite make out. Tall cylinders filled with water, or some type of liquid, that glowed with the same hazy green glow as the bulbs. Leaning in to get a better view, Meryl squinted her eyes through the dust that settled in the beams of light. There were shapes inside the cylinders.
"What the..." she whispered, as her eyes began to adjust to the dim light. She could just make out something that looked like....
"...my God!"
Meryl suddenly felt her heart jump into her throat. Her eyes widened in shock.
Unable to speak, she stumbled backwards through the open doorway, tripping over a piece of jagged metal and losing her balance. Grasping for a something to brace her fall, Meryl grabbed the first thing she could, a beam that had wedged itself against the wall of the corridor.
But as she grasped the twisted iron, the beam shifted from the force of her pull, wrenching it free from the pinch of the floor and ceiling. Meryl felt the beam give slightly in her hands and she heard the sudden groan of the ceiling above her as the beam slid down the wall. It released its support and a mass of heavy metal ceiling and wreckage came crashing down on her. Convinced that she was about to die, Meryl shut her eyes and waited.
And waited.
She could still hear the creaking of the metal above her. Slowly, she opened her eyes again.
For a fleeting instant, Meryl thought she saw Vash standing above her, arms raised above his head, holding the heavy metal beams up and away from her. The soft light against his skin made him glow with a supernatural aura, and for a moment, Meryl just stared in awe.
"Vash..."
His eyes turned to meet hers and Meryl's fantasy was shattered.
"K-knives!" She stuttered.
The look on his face was unreadable. He seemed like he was about to say something when the metal above them gave a final grinding screech. Knives ground his teeth together and flung the beam and debris harmlessly over to the opposite side of the passageway.
Meryl sat in shock for a moment.
That could've killed me, she thought. But...
Knives still stood over her, facing away. She could hear his heavy breathing echo in the hollow corridor. Sweat stood out on his exposed limbs, glistening in the soft green haze.
He saved me.
A grunt came from the mysterious plant, and Meryl was snapped out of her reverie. He turned and regarded her with his customary scowl before striding past her down the hall again.
"Unless you want to stay in this unstable section and get crushed to death, I suggest you get up off your ass and follow me. And stop snooping around where you don't belong." He said, his voice cold and emotionless.
Nodding dumbly, Meryl got up and brushed the dust from her clothes. With one glace back at the fallen rubble, she jogged down the hallway to catch up to Knives. The bandages on his arms and torso were starting to show signs of fresh blood. The exertion of lifting the beams must have been extreme.
"Are you...all right?" She asked quietly.
"Tch." He spat. "You've got some nerve, woman. I'm not so bad off that I need you to look after me."
"Hey! I was only...I mean..." Meryl stood, shaking in annoyance, and ready to rip him a new one. But then, he had just risked his life to save her. He wasn't Vash and never would be, but at that moment, the similarity between the two brothers was glaringly evident. No matter what happened before or after this, she owed him.
"Thank you."
She said it so quietly that Knives wasn't sure he had heard her correctly.
"What?"
"Thank you, for saving me." She repeated a little more forcefully.
For a moment, Knives seemed puzzled, his eyes questioning. Then he frowned and turned away.
"Humph. We are almost there, woman, so don't fall behind because I won't waste my time saving you again."
"Uh...yeah right." Meryl said sourly, but as she continued to follow him down the dim passageway, she couldn't help but smile to herself. He had looked so much like Vash at that moment. Maybe there was some hope left after all, just like Vash had believed.
Meanwhile, Knives fought with his own inner demons.
What was going on? Of course, he had to save her, he needed to use her as the link in the machine. And to do that, he needed her alive. Only a living being could serve as the link now that the equipment was damaged. He remembered having the same argument with his brother about the activation of the PTD machine. It needed a living body to work. That was the reason, the only reason, he saved her life just now.
(Really?)
A voice in the back of his mind planted a seed of doubt.
(Were you really thinking of the PTD activation procedure when you threw yourself in front of a ton of falling metal to save her? What was really on your mind at the exact second you decided to do it?)
Knives growled through his teeth at his own rebellious brain. Of course he only saved her for the sake of the plan.
(Really? Are you sure?)
Despite all his efforts the seed of doubt grew.
(Didn't you really save her because...
...you wanted to?)
No. That was ridiculous. He hated all humans; he hated all the filthy spiders that crawled on the surface of this dead planet. Especially that obnoxious loud mouthed bitch!
(Really?)
Knives bit down on the inside of his cheek to drown out the sound of his own mind. The taste of his own blood was metallic and cold. Just like the ship.
He didn't expect the warm hand on his shoulder, and he whipped around so suddenly that Meryl nearly jumped out of her skin.
"What do you want now!" He snarled at her.
Meryl said nothing, but frowned and pointed toward a large open door.
"You've been standing there for almost five minutes now. I may not know my way around this place, but I'm betting there is something important in that room over there."
Knives blinked. Had it been that long?
The room Meryl had pointed to was glowing with the strange green light of the bulbs on the walls. This light, however, was more intense than the other rooms, and also had other colors mingled in it as well. It's brightness and color spread out into the desolate passage, filling it with dancing light.
How did I miss that? He thought, flustered.
With a snarl, Knives pushed past Meryl and ducked in through the doorway. Looking over his shoulder he shot her a glare and barked at her.
"Hurry up, woman! I already told you not to fall behind!"
"Why you...uggh!" Meryl threw up her hands in anger. Fuming, she reluctantly followed Knives through the open passage, muttering to herself, "I guess you are feeling better if you're this much of a jerk again."
The anger quickly left her body when she rounded the curve of the entrance and found herself standing in a very large room. It was breathtaking.
Like the hallways of the ship, this room was dotted with glowing bulbs, only these bulbs were enormous and the light they produced was warm and bright. They were also different colors; green, blue, violet, red. Every color; all with a sense of freshness about them. The effect of the various colors made the room glow and sparkle like a gigantic kaleidoscope above her head. All Meryl could do was stand in mute wonder.
Knives stopped to glance back at her and, for a moment, found himself trapped in her look. He himself had long since grown accustomed to the sight of this room and he had forgotten how beautiful it really was. But now, seeing this small insignificant human gazing in rapt awe at her surroundings, Knives felt an old sense of wonder of his own resurface, and he to took in the magnificent room with new eyes for a moment.
Soon, he shook himself and continued on.
"Hurry up. We're almost there."
"It's like..." he heard her start and he paused, but she didn't continue.
"What?" He said impatiently.
"A garden." He stopped in his tracks. "It's like a garden, with flowers..of light..." she trailed off.
Knives felt the world sway under his feet and a voice from a time long forgotten came back into his head...
"It's like a flower garden, a beautiful growing garden full of life and possibilities."
Little Knives sat along side his brother in the plant room, listening to Rem talk again about the endless possibilities of the future. He was bored to tears.
"Tell us again, Rem!" Vash piped up, looking at the tall woman with puppy dog eyes.
Stupid, brown noser, Knives thought testily. Always trying to get on her good side, not that she has a bad side. Rem is always so agreeable, always so "nice." Just once, I'd like to see her get mad, or angry, yell...or something.
"This room and the plants you see around you will help us make our new home into another Earth, a paradise, with green growing trees and grass, and flowers."
Rem rambled on for a while about the functions of the plants in the central part of the ship and the future of the human race and god knows what else for what seemed like ages to Knives. The whole time Vash sat gazing up at her in rapt attention.
I can't take this anymore! Knives thought, and jumped down off the bridge to the lower landing.
"Knives, where are you going?" Vash whined from above.
"I'm going for a stretch," Knives called out, "I'll meet up with you in the rec room, alright!"
For a while, he just wandered around in the cables and wires and large pipes that created the bases of the larger plant structures. He was lost in his own thoughts and didn't notice the console until he was right on top of it. Knives stared at the diagram on the display unit. He ran his fingers across the brilliant glowing letters underneath, PTD.
"It must be referring to the plant above it. This huge blue one. It's got to be the largest one on the ship." He mused.
The program sat open and ready, the worker on duty had probably just stepped out for a break.
Nothing better to do, Knives sighed and opened the file in front of him.
What he read changed his reality forever.
"...just like a flower garden."
The voice next to him brought him back to the present abruptly.
Meryl turned to look at him, her eyes sparkling with amazement. But all Knives felt was the grim determination coming back to him from the bitter memory of when he had first learned of the human's plans for him and his brother.
He wouldn't let the ghost of a dead woman nor the spirit of a living one interfere.
"What is all this?" Meryl asked, still in a trance.
Knives regarded her coldly for a moment; "This was called the plant room at one time. Every bulb on the surfaces of this room is a fully functional plant machine, capable of immense power."
"I know what a plant is doofus." Meryl teased him. "I meant, what are they all doing in one place like this? Do they have anything to do with that huge blue plant over there?" She pointed to the center of the room where an enormous blue plant hung from the ceiling like an awkward chandelier. It was by far the largest plant she had ever seen, and was so big that it was difficult to see from one end of it to the other.
Knives pressed his lips together, slightly annoyed by her tone, but on the other hand, impressed with how she had put two and two together. He decided he better watch what information he gave her, or she might get wise before he could complete his mission.
"It's just another plant." He muttered, and walked away toward a row of smaller plants on the far side of the chamber.
Meryl gave him a questioning look, as if she didn't believe him, but followed him anyway.
As they passed by countless bulbs of different sizes and colors, Meryl swore that she caught glimpses of shapes within the cloudy cores. But, when she looked directly into the center of the bulbs, all she saw were the blurry outlines of the conductor units, bulky computers that captured the power of the cores and turned them into usable energy. She remembered learning all about the plants in school. The more she learned, the more they became a mystery.
One large red plant caught her eye and she leaned in over the railing to get a closer look. For an instant, Meryl thought she was seeing her own reflection in the glass. A pair of wide gray eyes stared back at her from within the warm swirling water.
How silly of me, being startled by my own reflection... she thought.
Just then the pair of eyes she was staring at, blinked at her.
Meryl nearly fell off the walkway. The commotion caused Knives to glare back at her.
"Hurry up woman. I'm not saving you if you fall due to your own stupidity."
But she barely heard him.
Was that what I thought it was? A being from outside of time. A plant angel? She thought.
Meryl shut her eyes tightly, shaking her head to clear it of any visions. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked into the red glowing bulb.
There was nothing there.
She thought about the shapes she saw in the little room with the watery cylinders just before she had almost gotten crushed. Just before Knives had saved her. If her assumptions were correct, then...
"Knives..." she said hesitantly.
He gave a frustrated sigh and turned, giving her a scowl.
"What is it now!" He barked.
Behind him, the reflecting light from the numerous plants spilled over the architecture of his body, making it look like it was a ripple in the water itself. Meryl remembered the cylinders of green liquid again. Those bulky floating shapes...
"That room I was looking in earlier, before you...saved me, well...there were clear cylinder tubes of...something. I didn't get a good look, but they seemed to be...specimens...of..." she stopped, unsure of how to continue, "I'm not sure, but they looked...like...um...well..."
The silence lay heavily over the room.
"Plants."
"What?" Meryl wasn't sure she caught his words.
"They were plant specimens. What you saw were the disembodied parts of plants, or plant angels as you call them." Knives did not take his eyes from the railing. "What you saw were the severed limbs of my brothers and sisters."
Meryl felt dazed from the blow of that information. It took some control to overcome the feeling of sickness rising in her throat at the memory of those lifeless floating appendages, like dead bloated fish in a stagnate pond.
"Why..," she started, "who would...do such a terrible thing!"
Knives gave a hard laugh.
"Who do you think, woman? Your species is the only kind that destroys without meaning."
Humans? Humans did something so horrible?
Meryl could only stand open mouthed from the shock of his statement. She couldn't imagine anyone doing something so horrific. She thought she had seen the worst of human nature on her journeys with Vash, but this was far worse than anything she had ever seen or imagined.
Poor Knives, she thought, at least I think I understand him a little more. His anger...that I can understand.
"Don't assume anything you can't fully comprehend, human." Knives answered her thought without looking at her.
Meryl looked shocked. She had forgotten about his little mind reading trick.
"You know, it is really annoying when you do that," she said sulkily.
"You have my abject sympathy," Knives said sarcastically.
Meryl could've sworn she heard him smirk that time.
Tucked away in the back of his mind, he couldn't help but feel
slightly touched by her reaction. No one else had ever cared. "We're here."
Meryl looked up. They had stopped in front of a row of bluish green looking bulbs. The water inside the tilted plants was dull and gray and no light came from them. Knives did not hesitate, but began climbing up the scaffolding to the right of one of the bulbs.
"What are these?" Meryl questioned.
"Healing plants." Knives replied as he reached the upper landing.
"Really?" Meryl found herself climbing up after him. "I've read about these, but no one I know has ever seen one before! It looks like it hasn't been activated in a long time, are you sure it wor......"
She stopped short when she reached the upper landing.
Knives had striped off all his bandages and tattered clothes and was standing with his back to her, completely naked. He was busy punching buttons of the old dusty control panel next to the opening of the plant. The multicolored light from the surrounding plants shimmered and gleamed off his pale skin, causing him to glow. Meryl swallowed hard, her pulse suddenly jumped.
"What are you waiting for woman, get over here. I need your help." Knives said impatiently. Glancing behind, he noticed she was looking apprehensive about approaching. With a smirk he added, "Don't worry, I'm not going to try to 'attack' you again. Clothes just get in the way inside a plant."
God, her reaction is amusing. I hope I've a chance to do this again, he thought mischievously.
Biting her lower lip, Meryl slowly approached the computer display, trying hard not to steal glances at his exposed body. In the harsh light, she could clearly see the extent of his injuries. It was amazing he was still able to walk.
"This is the command display for the rejuvenation plant," he explained, "you must wait until I am inside and fully hooked into the system before initiating the activation sequence, this button here." He pointed toward a large green button. "When the max output levels have reached the 95% bar, here, punch the finishing sequence, here. The oxygenation levels should decrease, and the bulb should drain on its own. By that time, in exactly 4 hours and 36 minutes, I should be completely healed."
"How do you know I won't try to kill you once you're in that plant and helpless?" She asked calmly.
"You won't." He said, dismissing her.
"What?"
"You already told me about your idiotic need to keep me alive," Knives continued as he began climbing into the opening of the plant, "and I'm still alive. So, I know you won't kill me now."
Meryl frowned, his cock sure attitude only added to her anger. She tried to find a scathing insult or comment to throw at him, but could only say, "Don't be so sure, Knives!"
Knives merely gave her a cold laugh.
"You humans are so predictable. Find your motivation, your deepest desire, and exploit it. That's exactly what I did with you. Your blind devotion to my idiot brother was too good of a chance to pass up. You'd risk your own worthless life in order to please him. No, you won't kill me. You can't."
With a final biting comment, Knives slid into the harness of the plant machine. His naked body gleamed in the dark pool of water surrounding him. The wounds on his body hissed at the contact of the liquid and he grunted in pain.
"Close the top off and start the activation, now," he said through clenched teeth.
Meryl sighed and stepped away from the plant.
He's right, she thought, I can't kill him. Even if I wanted to.
Her thoughts went back to Vash and how he stubbornly refused to kill no matter what the circumstances.
"Stupid broom-head," she muttered, "you're rubbing off on me."
The bright buttons blinked on as she pressed the activation sequence Knives had instructed her on. Soon the plant began to fill with fresh clear liquid and slowly began to glow blue. Meryl watched as Knives was completely immersed inside the glass bulb. The straps and harnesses designed to hold a person in the device nearly covered his body completely, so Meryl was saved the embarrassment of gaping at his exposed body again. 4 hours and 36 minutes.
"Man," she sighed, plopping down on the landing, "this is going to be a long wait."
Knives eyes closed as soon as the weightless substance in the plant engulfed his body completely. The liquid surrounding him was neither cool nor warm, but a pleasing mixture of both temperatures together, and he was surprised at how weary his body really was. It had been an excruciating few weeks, first the battle with Vash, that crummy little house afterwards, and then the journey to the plant ship. Stress of that kind his body could take, but it had been the stress to his mind that had worn him out the most. He began to think he should have left that bothersome woman where he had found her, or better yet, wiped her out with the rest of that scum during his escape.
But no, it was because of her that his plans would be realized. Vash would come here because of her. He needed her to complete the mission. Or was it...
It was all too confusing right now. What he needed was rest, then his mind and body would function perfectly again, free from confusion and impulse.
He closed his eyes again, and drifted off.
Meryl leaned her head against the metal railing next to the plant Knives was now healing in. The metal was cool against her forehead, and she realized just how tired she was from her ordeal. Closing her eyes, she stretched, trying to relax her sore muscles.
"If I survive this, I'm taking a vacation." She grumbled.
Wearily, Meryl tilted her head and looked at her kidnapper's calm and helpless body, suspended in the cool liquid of the plant next to her. Knives image rippled slightly from the gently lap of the water inside, the muscles of his arms and back gave him a sculpted look that was very attractive.
Ugh! Stop it Meryl! She scolded herself, blushing slightly.
But Meryl couldn't help being caught by his face. Asleep, he looked completely peaceful and at ease.
"He looks so innocent right now," she said to herself, "Hmm, it's hard to believe that he was the cause of all that unhappiness Vash went through a few months ago. Could he really have destroyed the human race?"
In a flash, the memory of him standing over the mangled bodies of the Locos Gang, blood and bullet holes riddled the dim room of their old house. Knives had looked so different back then.
Meryl sighed heavily. It had been so long since she was alone with her thoughts. He couldn't eavesdrop on her now.
Any person with an iota of intelligence would have leapt at the chance to escape, to just run out of this decaying ship and away to their freedom. Or better yet, kill the vicious plant while he was vulnerable.
There was only one problem. Meryl was not acting on her intelligence; she was acting on her heart.
Normally she would have found that unusual, but ever since she met Vash, acting on her heart had become a matter of habit.
Vash.
Meryl hugged her knees to her body, closing her tired eyes only to see him in her thoughts. She wondered where he was, what he was doing, if he cared at all about her and how she was. It had been so long since she had last seen his face. Things had been a little tense before between the two of them, and she wished with all her heart that she'd had the courage to simply tell him her feelings that night in the kitchen. But she had missed her chance. She wrapped her arms around her shoulders, trying to remember the way he held her then. The way he had ran light touches up her arms and down her back. Touches, which had seemed willfully restrained, but which had also seemed to want to give more, and take more too.
The blue of the plant reminded Meryl of the clear sky blue eyes, which had looked into her own with such intensity the last time they had seen each other. The feeling of him encasing her small body in his long arms, and the warmth of being pressed against his chest in that tight embrace still made her heart beat quicken. His strong hands around her waist and behind her neck. He had actually stroked her hair down to her neck a couple times, or at least that's what it had felt like. He said very little to her, just to be careful. But his eyes. His eyes always said so much more than his mouth ever could.
Or perhaps it had all been in her imagination. Maybe he had no feelings for her other than as a friend. If he did find her in this place, it might only be because he came after his brother. And not her.
I don't have a choice, do I, Meryl thought, because, even if he'll never love me, I'll always...love him. So, I've got to stay true to my word, and to him. Even if I have to go through the fire because of it...
The iron railing she was leaning on was getting uncomfortable, so Meryl wearily dragged herself to the edge of the platform and laid her coat down on it. Stretching out on the fabric, she gave a final look at the man suspended in the liquid of the plant not two meters away. In the distorted light of the water, she could almost pretend that Vash was there, close by.
She closed her eyes and fell asleep.
At first the dreams were very ordinary.
The time on the SEEDs ship when they had their first birthdays. Lying in the grass of the rec room and gazing up at the artificial sky. Hours spent in the archives, studying the history and sciences of the universe and it's creatures. All pleasant, peaceful memories.
But slowly, the darkness crept up on him. Steve beating him to near death. Learning the truth behind the humans' migration, the first plant angel, the human's plans for the PTD, suspicion, death, fire, explosion, the wasted dead planet, the pain of the gun wounds in his body. All pain, all sadness, all death.
And then nothing.
Knives stood alone, in a world erased. His body weightless, suspending in the vast white of a universe wiped clean. For a while it was nice, not thinking, not feeling, being completely unattached and uncaring. Resting in the vast white nothing.
But nothing lasts forever, he thought.
Just then, a small current zinged through his body, like the pain of an electrical shock. Knives shut his eyes to block out the sensations. A second later, he opened them, only to find himself floating in the deep blue waters again.
Am I back, in the plant. he thought. But no, he wasn't hooked up to any device, as he had been when he fell asleep. Nothing was nearby, just the dense dark waters. He raised his head upward. A small red dot of color throbbed in the distance, near the surface, and again his body was jolted by a tiny shock of pain.
"It's that damn dream again? Knives thought. But, if I'm dreaming, then why does that sensation, that pain, why does it feel real?
Again, the red light flashed in the distance. Again, he jumped, but this time, the shock was bigger, as was the pain. Knives felt slightly panicked. Somehow, he knew what he had to do, reach the surface and find the end. The red flashed, another shock.
Is that what's at the end, only pain? It didn't matter.
Knives gritted his teeth as another shockwave went through him, the red light pulsed again. Glaring upward, he began to climb.
Meryl stirred. For the first time in a while, her sleep had been deep and dreamless. But the hard mesh landing was just too uncomfortable anymore. Frustrated, she flipped over on her back, flinging her arms up over her closed eyes to block any light getting in.
"What I wouldn't give for a nice soft bed again," she groaned, "I'm gonna look like I slept on a tennis racket when I get up," she felt the crisscross metal landing under her, despite the thick jacket she was lying on. This was no good. That stupid metal button on the back of her collar was digging into her neck uncomfortably. It must have just come out of the lining. Sifting for a better position, Meryl rolled to her side, and tried to clear her mind.
She concentrated on the black world behind her closed eyes, it was dark and deep.
Just then, in the corner of the darkness, Meryl thought she saw a pulse of red light. And then again. The beat of light was steady, like the blinking of an electric device on the edge of the blackness.
"Stupid machines..." she muttered, half asleep.
Machines...the plant machine!
Meryl was sitting up in an instant. Had she overslept, was the healing process inside the plant complete?
"Shit!" She spat, tripping over herself to get to the control panel.
The green display blinked calmly up at her. 3:12:27..28..29...
"Hmmm, it's only been 3 hours. It shouldn't be done yet."
The thrumming in her chest subsided a bit as she checked Knives status on the monitor.
"Ugh, I have no idea what half this stuff means..." she huffed.
From the corner of her eye, Meryl caught the same pulsing red light that woke her up. It was coming from the plant itself. When she glanced at the bulb and the man inside she gasped in shock.
The entire plant was glowing brightly and throbbing with a vivid red light from the central unit. The normally still blue liquid was stained with the red glow each time it pulsated, making it look like it was filled with...blood.
Movement from within the structure caught her attention.
"Knives?"
Something was wrong.
It was hard to make him out clearly, but it looked like he had wrapped his arms around his upper body and tucked his legs up to his chest. In that fetal position, he looked like a baby in the womb. Vulnerable. Each time the light flashed, his body tensed and writhed in its cocoon. Meryl ran to the bulb.
"Knives?" She yelled, pounding on the glass.
His face was distorted in pain, but he was still clearly unconscious. Every shot of red light seemed to be sending a jolt of electricity through his fragile body.
"Knives! Wake up!" She had to wake him up, get him out somehow.
The control panel to her right began lighting up furiously, and a high warning alarm sounded.
Meryl took one look at the status indicators and gasped.
It was killing him.
Next time on Edge of the Sea: Chapter 9 Gifts and Rescues