After a good long tic-tac-toe tournament, Starfire retreated back to Bass' side. Ever since the black Navi had begun to remember her, Star had become very clingy to him. Not that Bass seemed to mind. If anything, he actually seemed a bit protective of her!
As Star curled up at his side, Bass stoked her hair fondly. Giggling quietly, Starfire began to recite a poem.
"If you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer…
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire,
For we have some flax golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!"
Glancing up sharply, ProtoMan stopped what he was doing, which was drawing a picture of what was supposed to be Chaud, but looked more like a turnip. "Where'd you learn that?"
Starfire casually shrugged. "I dunno, I learned it when I was little!" She sidled closer to Bass. "Say your poem Oniichan! Please?"
Bass bit his lip. "Oh Star, you know I'm no good at reciting poetry…"
Grasping his arm, Starfire looked up at Bass. "Awwww, please Oniichan? We don't care if you're good or not! PLEASE?"
With a reluctant sigh, Bass launched into a poem,
"Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child,
Listen to the DON'TS,
Listen to the SHOULDN'TS,
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'TS.
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me—
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be."
With a squeal of happiness, Starfire threw herself onto Bass in a hug. "That was great Oniichan! I loved it!"
ProtoMan clapped a couple times. "Those are good poems. Who wrote them? Poe? Frost? Sandburg?
Bass gave a small snort. "Silverstein. We're not that big on the classics." Looking up from where Starfire was snuggling into his cloak, he glanced at ProtoMan. "You have a favorite poem ProtoMan?"
Turning about ten shades of red before regaining control of his emotions, ProtoMan shrugged. "I have one, but you wouldn't like it. It's by Robert Frost."
Grinning into Bass' cloak, Starfire sighed. "Just try us Proto."
Coughing gently, the red Navi sat up tall.
"The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both,
Be one traveler, long I stood,
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth
Then took the other, just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads onto way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence;
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
After Proto finished, the cave was deadly silent. He sighed. "I knew you wouldn't like it."
"Who said we didn't like it?" Starfire exclaimed. "I loved it! It's so inspirational! How'd you learn it?"
Flushing, ProtoMan looked away from the other Navis, as if embarrassed. "When Chaud was little, he loved hearing me read poetry to him. This was his favorite. I used to tell it to him when he fell asleep. Now that Chaud isn't a little kid any more, I don't get to recite it that often, but I still remember it. But…every now and then when Chaud has a bad day, I'll say it to him and he feels better." Looking back to his companions, ProtoMan shook himself a little bit. "I like poetry, it's very inspiring to me. I even tried to memorize The Raven, but I could only do one stanza." Taking a breath, the silver-haired Navi quickly recited what little he knew.
"Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
'Sir,' said I, 'or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you' -- here I opened wide the door, --
Darkness there and nothing more."
Bass smiled cheerfully, "Yeah! I remember trying to memorize that when I was a kid! I can only remember the second to last stanza though. It was my favorite."
"'Be that our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked, up starting—
'Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! – Quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!'
Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore'"
Starfire gave a sigh in exasperation. "God! What is it with you two and that depressing poem?" Sitting up, her normally sunny expression turned serious. "Now speaking of people sighing and shrieking, haven't you noticed something odd about this cave?"
Bass grinned roguishly. "Yeah, three really powerful Navis are trapped inside with nothing to do!"
Slapping his leg playfully, Starfire continued. "No seriously! What else is odd? What about you ProtoMan, you're the master of observation."
Brushing dust from his hair, ProtoMan thought. "Yeah. Bass, why can't you just bust us out of here with your earth breaker? I've seen what that can do."
With a smug grin, Bass crossed his arms. "Nice try ProtoMan, but I already thought of that one. First, this entire cave is coated in experimental programs that will reflect anything that is thrown at it. Like an aura, only it reflects as well as deflects. And second, if this cave wasn't coated in that stuff, there's still the possibility of starting an avalanche and killing us all."
"OH FOR THE LOVE OF-!" Star's outburst made the boys jump. "DO I HAVE TO SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU!"
"Maybe?"
"Look, we've been here for almost two days, right?" Although she couldn't see the boys nod, Starfire continued. "With the three of us talking and breathing hard and such, we should've run out of air in at least an hour on the first day! But we haven't. So that means…."
Bass grasped this concept first. "Then if there's a way for air to get in…."
"There's a way for us to get out." ProtoMan finished and stood. "Right. You heard the lady Bass! Let's find that hole! Star, search the pile of rubble with your hands, Bass and I will search the rest of the cave."
By late in the evening, Starfire had fallen asleep against the pile of boulders trapping them in the cave. ProtoMan was working his way around the back of the cave searching with his hands and eyes for even the littlest hole. Bass stopped for a moment before taking off his cloak and spreading it across his sleeping sister.
"Why did you do that?" ProtoMan inquired, pushing aside a couple pebbles to get a better look at a nook he was inspecting.
Shaking dust from his oddly shaped helmet, Bass smiled. "She's my little sister. I gotta take care of her."
Looking across, Bass caught ProtoMan staring at his chest, to where a long diagonal scar ran across his chest. "Yeah, they all stare the first time."
Realizing what Bass meant, ProtoMan looked away, embarrassed.
"No need to be ashamed of yourself ProtoMan. I get it all the time. It's the scar I got right before I ran away." He smiled wryly, "Heh. Cossack never did like the idea of my being totally independent. So he thought beating me into submission would do it. Well, he thought wrong."
The tall red Navi was quiet as he continued to search. Moving along, he felt a blast of fresh air on his face. Moving back a step, ProtoMan looked up. There it was! The hole in which the air was coming through! "Bass! I found it!"
Rushing over, Bass and ProtoMan craned their necks to look through the hole. It was fairly large. A small Navi could have gotten through with some difficulty. The cyber sky was dark and dotted with stars. So it was night out. Bass stared in silent awe and heard ProtoMan muttering something under his breath.
"Twenty two, twenty three, twenty four…."
"What on Earth are you doing ProtoMan?"
Glancing over, ProtoMan shrugged. "Counting the stars. It's a pastime I have."
"Pretty pointless pastime if you ask me."
"Yeah, but it make you think. I got up to three thousand and five once." Proto remarked as he lay down so he could see out the hole.
For another moment, Bass just watched ProtoMan move his lips, silently counting before lying down so his feet were facing away from ProtoMan's feet. "Here, I'll help you."
Both Navis got to a total of three thousand, four hundred and twenty six before they fell asleep.
