On the second day, Knives accompanied Vanessa to the humans, watching her feed and water them. The young man was quiet, stoic, but the girl cursed and gnashed at her captors whenever they came near.

Lifting a carrot, half-eaten, to the girl's lips again, Vanessa waited for her next bite. The girl lunged forward, just an inch being all she could move, snapping at Vanessa's fingers around the carrot.

Instinctively, Vanessa pulled away in time. She backhanded the girl, knocking her out. "Dammit, stop trying to bite me," she murmured, shaking her head. Standing, she walked to the young man, and offered a fresh carrot. "Good afternoon, Simon."

"Good afternoon, Vanessa, thank you," he politely responded, munching on his meal without incident.

"This is Simon, Knives, and the girl's River, his sister. He told me she has an aggression problem."

Knives grunted, and sat down beside Vanessa, a bit further from the human tied to the pole.

"Can you hold the canteen for him, so I can check his wound?" she asked Knives, expecting him to decline.

Wordlessly, he moved to the task, carefully lifting the water to Simon's lips, watching for the hint that he was through.

"Looks good, no sign of infection. You'll be good as new in no time," she told him, changing the bandage on his shoulder before standing to leave.

"Thank you," Simon mumbled, watching them leave and lock the door behind them.

"I need to go to Callisto," Knives announced, leaning against Vanessa for support, as they walked back into the garden. "If I leave tonight, I should be back in time."

Vanessa contemplated the situation. She'd worried about Callisto's condition as well, wishing they'd been back to see her before the attack! "Now is not the best time."

He agreed. "But if we wait until after our hundred-man incident happens, she could be dead. I make good time with the little cart; I'll be back a few days before they're supposed to arrive."

"And I can't go, without you, because I wouldn't know what to do," she thought aloud. "Do you think you have the strength for it?"

Nodding, Knives stared off, distant. "I'll be back before they get here. But if I'm not, you have your weapon." Reaching for the nearest tree, in the first chamber, Knives stood on his own.

She frowned, standing before him, arms crossed. "That I do. I'll defend the garden with all I have."

"Don't. All of this – it's replaceable. If things get ugly, run away. Hide in the Glaston complex; they won't find it. Just…Don't die. Please," he added, his voice cracking slightly. He cleared his throat. "Given time to think, one of us is bound to come up with a good plan. One we can both live with."

Smirking, she nodded. "Well then, I've gone to the liberty of packing the cart; I'd anticipated this might happen. Everything's set."

"Good, I can leave immediately."

"Yeah, you could. Wait, an hour more, please? I mean, if you want to, if you feel alright to, we could…" She paused, tracing a circle in the grass with the toe of her boot. "We can…"

Knives understood, seeing her blush, reading the tone in her voice. Oh, how he wanted to say yes… Taking her hand, he squeezed. "When this is all over. When we can breath easy, enjoy it."

Vanessa took a deep breath, nodding.

O

O

She couldn't stand to see them tied up like that, all the time. It was humiliating, River said. Vanessa knew it was true.

After completing the structure of the shed, reinforcing it, she began work on a cage within. The cage would consist of three chain-link sheets, boxing in the area just inside the main door. There was a small door along the bottom of the fencing and the cement floor, just large enough to allow passage of a large bucket. Thus, provisions, water, supplies, and a latrine bucket could be passed through regularly. At the side of the shed door, there was also a chain-link door, so that she could enter the area with the siblings, if need be. Everything was bolted and screwed in such that Vanessa had great confidence that no unarmed humans, nor even a level four sandstorm, could breach it.

Simon and River were blindfolded during the construction around them, for those few days, and when their eyes were freed, so were the rest of them. They felt their ropes loosen suddenly, then a light metal clink.

"Do anything to make me want to tie you up again, and that's what I'll do," Vanessa announced to them, from the 'safety' of the little cage within. "I don't want to keep you here any longer than you've got to be here, but while you're under my care I'd rather you not live like animals."

River finished tugging off her bonds and ran to the pile of things she saw near her.

"I've given you some things to make you more comfortable. Please behave," she asked, turning to leave.

"Vanessa, ma'am!" Simon called, standing. He stepped towards her, resting his fingers in the loops in the fencing.

She steadied her grip on the laser gun at her hip.

"Thank you," he said, breathlessly, smiling.

Looking away, Vanessa exited the shed and bolted the door behind her. She sighed, heart beating so fast.