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Nova

Chapter 21: Red Mountains

Knives

The ship was almost completely intact. At some point the middle had caved inward, and the back was in a trail of wreckage almost four iles long heading to the south.

I now stood at the crest of a pair of rocks that tilted inward towards each other, examining the ship that had come to rest in a basin surrounded by tall reddish-brown mountains.

There must have been no survivors, despite the ship's lack of damage. The surviving humans always made towns around the crashed ships.

Lack of any settlement could be a cause of the fact that apparently on impact the Plants and engine room had been crushed. That wreckage probably made up the debris trail.

"Sleep well, my sisters." I whispered quietly, sliding off the rocks and leaping down next to Vash.

"What did you see?" He asked.

"It looks like the ship tried to make a controlled landing."

"Where are all the people?"

"Most likely dead." I said, glancing back at our human companions. Kestrel was the first to catch my eye, she was shielding her eyes with a hand examining the surrounding mountains. A hint of recognition played on her face occasionally.

"You recognize this place, human?" I asked, calling out to her.

She glanced at me, as if considering whether to answer me or not, then looked back at the mountains. "Yes. I do. I don't think we're too far form Lanoth. This mountain range reaches all the way past Lanoth and on down through the equator. This particular basin, however, I've never seen on any maps,. We might be in the Phantoms region of the Red Mountains. Just about nothing has been mapped in the Phantoms region."

"Phantoms region?" the priest asked incredulously.

I caught the edge of a smile on her face, "Yeah, interesting story. About twenty years ago when we were

mapping this area the explorers started seeing a bunch of crazy shit." She laughed, brushing at her brilliant blue hair.

"Like what?" Vash piped up, obviously intrigued.

"Fleeting shapes in the distance, disembodied whispers, odd shadows. Once their equipment was scattered during the night, another night they saw small orbs of light surrounding them. The last day they were out there one of their team disappeared, and they found his blood all over not far away. It was enough to freak those poor explorers out. They left and marked this area as unexplorable."

I snorted, "You humans are superstitious to no end."

She gave me a half-lidded glance before occupying herself with combing her fingers through her hair.

I felt a slight alien flutter touch the inside of my chest, but it disappeared to quickly for me to dwell on it, and I looked away.

"Well!" Vash said in a heroic voice, hitting a fist to his chest, "I, Vash, shall protect you! No one will be hurt while I am her protector!"

"What about me?" the priest asked.

Vash leaned back and examined the priest, "Hell no! You can protect yourself!"

"That's not what I was saying needle-noggin--"

"Doesn't apply anymore." Vash said lightly, pointing to his ponytail.

"Huh?" he looked at Vash with confusion on his face then shook his head, "Whatever! I was saying what about /me/ protecting the girls."

I sighed and walked away as the three women began chuckling at the two's banter.

I hope to whatever god there is that it's a phase. Please just let it be a phase.

I touched the side of the ship, it's metal warm form the heat of the suns.

The others were further down, climbing in and out of the collapsed middle.

It didn't make any sense to me. Even without the plants, the humans, along with that annoying tenacity of theirs, would have at least tried to make some sort of habitation. But there was nothing here. No signs of the ship even /slightly/ being taken apart. everything was left as it was. Maybe the humans didn't even wake. Maybe they still sleep in their individual pods, still hoping to wake and find themselves at a new lush planet to slowly consume.

I glanced back at the ruined engine room.

No. With the engines having been destroyed, the pods should have automatically opened, or else they would have run out of air and perished in their sleep.

I can only hope it was the latter.

I felt /her/ come up behind me.

I glanced back and watched Kestrel approach. She stopped a safe distance away and looked up at me, "You were thinking of killing me, weren't you? Back in the ravine?"

How did-- I gave her a look of disgust.

"You were reading my mind again. You dare--"

She tilted her head upward in defiance, "I wasn't, Knives. Like I said before, you project some of your thoughts. And what you were projecting was definitely something malicious."

"What do you want, human? Make it quick, I don't have time for you."

"I want to understand. I want to understand what it is that make you want to kill me. As far as I know I have done nothing to hurt you. Have I?"

I pressed my palm against the metal of the ship and let the heat seep into my skin.

I couldn't think of anything to say. What could I possibly tell her that wouldn't be interpreted by Vash as some weak emotion.

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"No. You don't. But I would like to know what it is that I have done to make you angry with me. If I have to die I want to at least know why."

You make me weak, human, you want me to tell you something I don't even understand myself. I almost said it, but a hundred and thirty years of self discipline, luckily, got in the way.

I head a shuffling of sand and turned my head to see her walking away. I felt another light flutter in my chest.

I removed my hand for the side of the ship, sat down next to it, and tried to understand why that human was beginning to effect me, and what exactly that effect was.

Reviewer Responses.

Oooooog, I stayed up too late last night... cant respond with anything coherent..... bleagh.

Thankee to those who reviewed

Saroya

Lord Hustino

Chibi Chibi

Rosebud

Neptune Butterfly

Deyang

DaShoeNockuh

Rainy-days13

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