She didn't see Knives on her way, and went straight to the humans in the shed.

River was silent as Simon inquired about the yelling.

"No, that was a guest," Vanessa explained, seating herself on the floor of the entryway. "She's sick, in a great deal of pain. I performed surgery on her this morning, and she's…she isn't…she's blinded by the pain she's going through. She'll be fine, though, so hopefully that screaming will stop soon."

Sure, maybe the screaming will stop, she thought. But what's been said can't be taken back.

O

O

Knives was hiding in one of the barns. Not hiding, he corrected himself, but giving himself time and solitude to think. In truth, Callisto made allegations he didn't think he could face. He planned to sleep in there until…he didn't know, maybe forever.

The hundred men riding in soon, they deserved more of his attention than the Callisto situation. Trying to resolve the issues she was bringing up would be meaningless, should he fail in protecting her, and Vanessa, and their home. If he was selfish and lost valuable planning time, he knew how badly things would turn out. A last minute solution would be a slaughter, after which Knives knew he would find himself more permanently alone. Diplomacy would be an unlikely fix, considering that the little he knew of these humans was that they were relatively hostile and uneducated. Tricking them could work, but only in the short run. What about Vanessa's 'Agent Peace' solution? What about fear?

Frustration boiled into anger. The situation was ridiculous, it was unfair. He'd tried so hard to be rid of the humans so that he could protect his brethren. Why did they keep IMPOSING? And furthermore, why was it 'wrong' to fight back against them? This was a matter of protecting his home and family, for crying out loud!

He wished he knew more, more about the settlement, its people. More about how many lived there, and why they were there, and more about humans in general. He realized the irony, that he'd spent so much of his life disgusted by humans that he didn't know how their little minds worked. If he was to do anything but kill them all, he'd NEED to know what they were thinking; he would need to outsmart them.

He assumed – he knew – that he was smarter, and though a non-violent solution was a demeaning one, it was a challenge, at least. Nothing a superior species can't handle, he assured himself.

O

O

Vanessa also brushed aside thoughts of Callisto and Knives, to concentrate on her own solution. She felt she should go with what she knew, control through fear, no matter how that avenue stressed her. It worked before, and she did not want to risk losing. There was…too much to lose.

Dreading the moment, she made her way back from tending to the captives, to attend to her patient. Callisto was lying on her side, with part of her blanket tossed over her face. She'd pulled the cloth from her body and was mostly quite nude. Vanessa paused, turning back into the shack for a change of clothes before waking her.

Vanessa stepped quietly back to Callisto's grassy clearing. She gasped in shock when she came back to see the plant sitting up, staring at her with a narrowed, knowing smirk. "So you're the girl I was supposed to be?" Callisto asked in a thick tone.

"Hope not," Vanessa mumbled in response. "You wouldn't want to be me."

"I didn't and I don't. But, shh!" she whispered, leaning forward secretively as she lowered her voice. "He's not going to do anything to me. Not when you're around."

Checking the girl's pulse, Vanessa cleared her throat. "That's surely true."

Callisto smiled wide. "Yes, it is. He has you to hurt now."

"Are you trying to warn me?"

"Nope."

Wiping sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, Vanessa breathed out slowly. "You're not scared, anymore?"

The thin, pale girl frowned. "I have too many other things to worry about now. I have to get back."

"Callisto, I had to remove your mass; you can't go back into a bulb again."

"You know, I hated you before, and I hate you now," Callisto explained, gazing up between tangles of over-long hair. "You ruined me before I was born."

"I thought you gave me permission; I misunderstood-"

"You should have heard what he did to you, oh it was amazing and terrible, and the screams of the hundreds, he killed them before they felt it but that only made it hurt for eternity after they're dead. Hate and hate and slicing, but he didn't want to touch them, the blood stained his blades even though it wasn't there," the girl whispered, eyes shut and head up as if listening for something. "You feel it on you, he feels it on him, stains, scars, fear, slaves, mix it together and it might go away."

"Lean forward, please, I need to check your back," Vanessa murmured, calming herself through a breathing exercise. She didn't want to show emotion.

Callisto did as asked, but her rushed whisper continued. "Homo sapiens – kill 'em all. Burn it, smash it, train the bugs to kill the bugs."

Borrowed memories of Vash's encounters with the Gung Ho Guns rushed to mind, causing Vanessa to breathe in sharply. She'd also seen Knives' side of the story, when she forced him to angel arm into her while he slept, so long ago. After the blades carved her skin, she felt what he'd done, knew that he meant it so completely. Those people, those demonic people, they worked for him though he loathed them all, to kill and kill and destroy Vash in the process. Vash's sobbing echoed in her ears, his tear-stained face, the burdens on his soul Knives placed upon him, because everything bad that happened to him could be traced back to Knives. Of all the suffering on Gunsmoke, it seemed somehow most of it belonged to Vash, and poor Vash, and poor everyone for having to live on this horrible planet, for having to suffer and sometimes dying at the hands of Knives' cronies and at his blades. "That's in the past," Vanessa replied, wanting so badly to forgive it all.

"The past and the future," Callisto corrected, wincing as the bandage was replaced.

Vanessa froze. "What…"

"The last thing I saw was the slaughter," she clarified. "Bloodstain the desert to keep the green virgin. Clear as day."

"Don't tear your stitches, eat as much as you can," Vanessa instructed, eyes averted, tossing the clothing into Callisto's lap before standing to leave. Turning, she hesitated, thinking.

"Lost cause. Planet can't be terraformed anyway, you know!" Callisto called out, merrily.

Fists balling at her sides. Vanessa strode away, calling over her shoulder, "Do me one favor – don't say a word to Knives!"