With the first light of morning, Knives departed to the complex for calibration, on schedule. The cart he took was small, almost too small. Vanessa had the best traveling cart, so it was either use this tiny one, or the very large one he preferred to use only for hauling large salvage items for construction. Equipment and provisions were tied to the sides and high atop, but the toma were certainly faster with this lighter load.

This was the sixteenth day he'd gone without her. It was just like before. Silent, maddening.

Knives wondered if he'd woken up, sixteen days ago, from a powerful hallucination. She may never have come back. It may all have been a lie.

She hadn't arrived with many belongings, all of which were no longer around. There was no evidence that Vanessa wasn't simply still on Earth, with Tessla, with the humans, with Vash…

What if it was a dream? There was no Vanessa, just like there were no humans. A human showing up in the middle of nowhere? Preposterous. He should have realized it before, it was all a dream.

"No it wasn't," Knives grumbled aloud. "She's out there, she's coming back."

Then what about the human? A hundred years since the ships took all of the humans from Gunsmoke, and at least one human is still here. Generations later, humans were alive, and that meant multiple humans…perhaps a whole population of the creatures. Knives shivered.

If it wasn't real, then the humans weren't real. If that meant no Vanessa, would it be ok?

O

O

Vince grinned, tearing a piece of jerky off with his teeth. "Good to ride and good to eat. Don't you just love toma?" he joked, and laughed again at his own comment, with bits of it stuck in his teeth. His laugh was low, throaty, and raspy.

Sighing, he ran his good hand past the bruise on his forehead, from head-butting her earlier, through his greasy black hair. Various freckles stood out on his cheeks and arms, and his arms were hairy and thick. "What was I saying? Oh, yeah. You're sort of the whole package, you know? You know how to beat a man, fix him up right well, and load him up with all manner of niceties to send him on his way," he noted, stroking his splinted leg absentmindedly. He waggled the jerky at her, chuckling. "But a man can't forgive a beatin' like that so easily! If you'd just given me a tomas we'd have been even."

Who'd have known that the wordless man she'd worked on for all those days was so mouthy? Wincing from the sharp pain at the back of her skull, Vanessa attempted to move. She'd just come to, and found herself in a low cave, tied tightly and completely to a stalagmite. She heard a familiar roaring sound outside.

Vince laid back onto bedding and propped his head up to continue talking with her. "Nice to have the company, 'specially company of such a pretty lady as yourself. Think I'll keep you around for a bit, you understand. Probably don't understand. I have my reasons though, I'm a reasonable man," he said proudly, before guffawing at himself again. "Think I'll keep my reasons to myself, for now though. A man's got to have secrets."

Her hands were tied together well; she couldn't get out of those. The only way out would be to angel arm.

But the sand storm raging outside and the low, tight cavity of the cave destroyed that as an option. She could burst and certainly ruin most of the cave in the process, but even if her arm could save her from the falling rocks of a cave-in, it would kill the man and the toma, and leave her to the ravages of the weather. There'd be no way home from that. When the storm was over, she could try it; the first chance she got, outside the cave, with a tomas safe, she'd do it. In the meantime…

"Don't bother tryin' to get away, miss. I'll treat you well. So where you from? What's your name?"

She attempted to hide her frustration – he seemed open enough that perhaps a friendly approach would buy her a safe way out of the situation. "Vanessa," she said with a slight smirk.

"Like I said, I'm Vince, nice to meet you. Would shake your hand, but-" He laughed again, and crawled over to lay blankets over her. "Boy, you sure talk funny. All big words and such. Never heard someone talk so…rich. Don't think you're from the settlement, so you mind telling me where you live? Where you took me?"

The settlement? "I don't live anywhere," she replied, calm. "I'm nomad. Don't have a place to call home."

He smiled, studying her. "Mmm-kay. Alright, well, Vanessa, I figure the storm'll die down enough by morning that we can make it to the settlement. Great place, you'll love it."

She puckered her eyebrows together. "But my family!"

"Sorry, miss. Don't think I can let you loose, not in good conscience. You'll like it at the settlement, don't worry. No more wandering for you, darlin'."

'Settlement' implied many more humans. She immediately changed her mind about escaping, opting to satiate her curiosity about this 'settlement.' There'd have to be an opportunity to run away, later. She'd certainly find a way back to the garden, with a tomas and water and food, at least. Maybe without hurting anyone.

Vince's smile flickered in the light of the little campfire. "See you in the morning, then," he murmured, rolling on his side under blankets.

Vanessa tilted her head back against the stalagmite as the wild winds battered the terrain outside.