A/N: BWAHAHAHAHAHA! I gave him short hair! HAHAHAHAHA! And there ain't nothin' you can do to stop me! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The way I draw him with short hair, it looks good…. That's why I did that…..




Chapter Seven





Suzee dreamed. She dreamt peacefully about being back on board the Christa.

Then, the dreaded voice was inside her again. It came at her hard, like she was being slapped. "I THOUGHT YOU SAID THEY WOULD BE IN THE WOODS!"

Suzee screamed in pain. She couldn't think. All that was around her, she wasn't aware. She was falling deeper into her own mind.



Commander Goddard woke up. His eyes snapped open and he found Miss Davenport was still in his arms. She seemed to be awake as well.

"Miss Davenport….?"

"It's about bloody time you woke up…." Miss Davenport snapped. Commander Goddard let go of her and she stood up, laying a hand on her lower back. "I have SUCH a crick in my back because of you…."

"Have we been out here all night?" Goddard said as he rubbed one of his temples.

"Yes! Yes we have and if you do not mind, I think I shall go back to the Christa before you come up with another clever way of making me play soldier…." Miss Davenport snapped at him. Then, she took out a compupad and walked away.

"This is a fine mess…." Goddard muttered as he stood up. Miss Davenport suddenly appeared from another direction. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Come back to berate me some more….?"

"No…. I'm lost…" she said with a bright smile.




"Well… that's better…" said Rosie as she gazed at Radu's now short and curly hair. It was more like a helmet.

"I know what it needs…. Something to keep it permanently wavy… you know… something that will weigh it down so that it doesn't look like he's wearing a helmet…." Said Freya cheerfully.

Radu stared at his reflection in the makeshift mirror in front of him. He had to wonder if the girls weren't slightly insane.

"But what kind of material will do that once and only once… we don't want poor Radu having to fix his hair every morning…." Rosie said.

"You are soooo lucky that you're bald…." Freya said to Rosie.

"It's a gift…" Rosie beamed.

"Could we please get back to my hair?" Radu asked impatiently.

"Wow… who knew that guys would complain about their hair?" said Freya.

"Who knew that Radu would even care…" said Bova, who had been very quiet as the girls talked.

"I DO care! Just help me fix it, okay!" Radu said in a huff. Then, he started fiddling with the shorter strands. "I miss my long hair…." He whimpered.

"Don't know what you're missing until it's gone…." Bova drawled.

Tavik walked in just then. He smiled weakly at everyone. "Well… It seems that I am the chief of the tribe now….." He said calmly.

Rosie bit her bottom lip. Tavik saw this and smiled. "You need not blame yourself, Rosie…. It was Derek's wish to keep all of you alive…."

He walked over to Rosie and drew her in his arms. She hugged him back and smiled. "Thank you, Tavik…."

When Tavik let go, he glanced at Radu, who was still whimpering about his hair. "What seems to be the problem, Radu…?"

"He's whining because his hair looks like a helmet….." Bova drawled.

"We were trying to figure out a way to weigh it down enough that it doesn't look so curly…. To do it permanently, as well…" said Freya.

Tavik looked stunned. "You don't know the recipe for hair straightener?"

Freya's eyes turned red for a moment. Then, she shook her head. "Hair straightener won't do it…. It needs to be VERY strong and VERY permanent…."

"But that is what I mean! We have our own things for our own hair…. Not everyone in our village has completely straight hair. Those that want it, use a very special plant that penetrates the skin and stays for about twenty years…." Tavik said.

"That's not permanent…." Said Bova.

"For us it is…. Most of us don't get to see our twentieth birthday…." Tavik said.

"We can get seeds and grow our own if it doesn't last very long for Radu…." Rosie said.

"Besides… It's very good to eat!" said Tavik with a grin.

"Oh… it's edible, eh?" said Bova.

"Oh no… if it tastes too good, Bova will eat the entire thing…" Freya laughed.

"I will bring you the plants….. we will give Radu the concentrated version, if it needs to be strong…" Tavik said. Then, he jumped out of the doorway.

"But I don't want straight hair…. I just don't my head to look this big!" Radu sighed.



Harlan woke up. His arm had been reset by Treya when he was last awake. It was now in a metal cast that he couldn't figure out.

Suzee was in the next cell. He saw her sleeping. It was a good thing she was sleeping. At least Treya didn't hit her or anything.

Then, she jerked awake. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screamed.

Harlan leaned through the bars as much as he could. "Suzee!" He hissed.

Her attention came to him. She stared at him as though she hadn't seen him in a very long time. "Harlan….?"

"Suzee… are you alright….?" Harlan whispered to her.

Suzee crawled over to him. She gasped at the metal thing on his arm. "What happened to you…."

"That evil chick, Treya…. She beat me while you slept…." Harlan gave her a weak grin.

Suzee stared at him hard. "I didn't sleep…. I couldn't sleep… HE is always there…HE is always invading my mind…. Keeping me unconscious to get information out of me…." Suzee said

"Who are you talking about?" Harlan asked.

"Zeek….." Suzee said slowly. "Zeeeeeek……. Zeeeeeee……"

"What are you talking about…." Harlan chided her.

"Zeeeee….. His name is Z....something… It's all I get when he invades my brain…." Suzee said. Tears came to her eyes. "He found out where the others were! I… I couldn't stop him!"

"What are you talking about… the others went into the woods… there's no way these guys will find them there…. Besides… wouldn't the others have gone for help….?"

Suzee's eyes glazed over for a moment. Then, the tears came worse than ever. The way Harlan was sitting, he couldn't move his good arm through the bars. He couldn't give her a pat on the head or the shoulders, so he resigned himself to sit and watch her cry. It was making him uncomfortable.



"He found them…." She said quietly as she stopped crying. "I don't believe it… he found them…"

Suddenly, she gripped the bars angrily. "Don't let them take them, Harlan… Just don't!" Then, she grabbed his face through the bars and kissed him.

Suddenly, her head swam in a sea of black. The voice was back. He called to her as he dragged her further down. Zanathos would have his plaything once again.



"I don't like her, Zanathos... she's trouble…" said Treya.

A tall boy with completely black hair and black eyes stared at the screen in front of him. His pale features shone in light of the screen. "She shows promise, dear Treya…."

"No… she shows resistance…. And… she has that exotic boy in her hands…." Said Treya. Her voice broke slightly when she said the last thing.

"You over estimate her, Treya…. She does not have him…. I was the one who forced her to kiss him…. A little reward for her kindness…" Zanathos said.

"The boy wants her …" Treya growled. Then, she licked her lips hungrily. "I will have him, though…."

"You do that, Treya…." Zanathos said in a soft, low voice. She walked out of the room with a cruel smile on her face. Zanathos turned back to the screen.

Suzee was asleep again. He could feel her troubled mind with his. He touched the screen tentatively. "And you will be mine, Suzee…."



"A little more… and that should do it!" said Tavik. "Just leave it on for a teer and you have it…."

"What's a teer…." Asked Rosie.

"Teer… It's our time measurement…. It's seventy fortens to make one teer….." Tavik stated.

"Sort of like an hour?" asked Radu.

"Hour? What's that?" Tavik asked.

"Never mind…" Freya said.

Radu sat with his hair smothered in some strange yellow gel. His hair was almost flat against his head. It was rather creepy for him to see himself like this.

"Well… from what I can tell… time runs faster here than it does for us….." said Radu as he stared at his reflection. "Maybe an hour to them is like thirty minutes to us…." He said.

"That's good! If this concentrated formula doesn't have you hair straight, then, I don't know what will….." Tavik suddenly said.

"What?!" everyone started.

"I get it… a teer is a minute…. Then what's an hour to you…." Rosie said cheerfully.

"What's an hour…?" asked Tavik as he dunked Radu's head in a bowl of water. Radu protested a bit, but resigned to have the yellow goop out of his hair.

After about two minutes, the yellow goop was out. Radu sat trying to dry his still very curly hair. "Looks like we'll need to grow our own…." said Rosie as she bit her lip.

Suddenly, the alarm for the village sounded off. Tavik ran out of the room, leaving a sleeping Bova, a confused Freya and Rosie, and a drying Radu.

"I wonder what's going on….." said Freya.

Bova made a loud snore. Radu sighed and Rosie wrapped the cloth around his head. "Just leave it there…" she said. Then, she ran out.



"INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS!"

Commander Goddard heard it like it was being hammered into his skull. Somehow, he had found himself in the outskirts of a small village. There were kids running about.

Miss Davenport snorted. "What are all these children doing about…. Where are the adults!" she hissed.

"Do I look Like I know?" Commander Goddard whispered through gritted teeth.

"Come on…. There's got to be a few adults around here… surly this place can't be run just by these children…." Miss Davenport scoffed. "I mean… these kids can't be more than sixteen!"

"Well, those kids are carrying weapons and blunt objects that look mean… I don't want to get into a quarrel with them….." Commander Goddard said.

"Maybe we can tell them that we come in peace…. That always works in those old movies!" Miss Davenport said.

"And do what?! Are you insane!" Goddard growled.

"I'm beginning to think you don't value my opinion, Seth…."

"Then, you're getting the right signals!" Goddard hissed.

Miss Davenport glared at Goddard. Suddenly, cold metal was on the back of her neck. "Don't move, intruder…." Came a hard voice. It was distinctly female.

Goddard glanced up. It was a girl, alright. She had pale skin and short black and red striped hair. She held a spear at Miss Davenport's throat.

Someone else came over. It was a boy about the same age as the girl. He had green and black striped hair and blue markings around his eyes. "Feera…. What did you find…."

"Giants…. Intruders… whatever they are…." Feera said. "Let's take them back…."