"Wake up, they're here."

Damn, the nausea. What did he use on her? She felt like throwing up, but nothing more came up. Her stomach growled, and she thought she might be hungry, and she had to pee.

Wincing, the dual suns' light hit her when his shadow moved away from her face. He was tromping off to the prearranged spot. Squinting, she could almost see him, but it hurt to see at all. Oh, the nausea.

Why couldn't she hear them? Well, she could sort of hear men's voices, but not their toma. She just wasn't hearing well, the damned side effects. Ack, she couldn't see, it was so BRIGHT! How was she supposed to-?

"…slaves…"

Vanessa's jaw dropped at the word. She craned her head, but only got snippets.

"…slaves…few days…"

"…by first sunset they…"

"…stupid…die…"

"…kill them…"

"…hardly expecting a massacre now…Vanessa…"

Who said that? She couldn't tell, which was Knives and…

"…Vanessa…Vash the Stampede, but…"

"…evil twin…"

Two of the toma behind her stood and started to clean each other, the snorting sounds drowning out the conversation in her ears. She hissed, 'shh' to no avail.

Her mind raced. Moments later footsteps neared her. She flung her pained eyes open to see a hazy form of Knives standing there. Smiling? A glint of silver, what was in his hand? Blades?

Closer still. That's not a blade, that's a remote device of some sort.

She remained rigid and silent as he unbound her wrists. Callisto squealed and hollered as he undid hers. Once free, Callisto scrambled out of the cart and ran off into the garden. Vanessa dropped shakily to her feet and began to stumble off in the same direction.

"I assume you heard all that," Knives asked, following close behind.

"Sounded a lot less…EVIL, when you explained it before," she growled, tottering as she walked.

"Change of plans. I came up with the slave part last minute; I demanded workers, but slaves would-" He stopped; he could feel her seethe at the word. "Well, they won't really be slaves once they're here anyhow," he insisted. "Listen, I'm sorry I didn't consult you, but I had to make a choice; time's of the essence here."

"Little confused here, Knives," she grumbled, trundling into the shaded shack, "Before I get the CHANCE to absorb your 'plan,' before I can TRY to trust you, you say there's a totally new plan?"

"Well, the problem was, although they WERE fairly reasonable about the garden maintenance, it seems they don't mind it being plant-run after all…They only care about physical distance from plants. And it seems that, knowing what they do now, we're included in their definition of 'plant'…"

"Start from the top!" she wailed, dropping heavily onto the bed.

He waited in the doorway, silhouetted by sunlight. "I sent the siblings off with a peace offering. I offered them regular donations, produce; that ridiculously large transport cart I'd been keeping around? Simon and I filled it with everything it could hold. It took ten toma to pull it out to the waiting horde. Simon is acting as my liaison. That was Simon, just now. So…I didn't kill him. He's delivered my message; I told them what we are. That you and I and Vash are plants. Things to be feared. At least, that I am. I sent Simon out with the word, that you were here, but since you're female you weren't as powerful as I am."

"Thanks," she muttered sarcastically.

"Sorry. I'm telling them what they need to hear, not the truth."

She raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"It seems they buy the story. Tales of the legendary Vash the Stampede run deep. They don't require a demonstration, though I'll give them one if… The story fits well enough for them. But they're as superstitious as they are desperate. Their demands are…bold, to say the least. I've agreed. If you-"

"YOU? AGREED to their DEMANDS? What demands?"

"I'm getting to it. They're camped in the lip of the valley, eating I imagine. According to Simon, they sent off a good portion of it back to the settlement, and they seem to actually UNDERSTAND that these crops need to be tended by knowing hands. But what we're producing isn't enough. I reached the limit to how much I can produce and harvest, long ago. So they're sending workers to tend the fields. And on account of their plant angel superstition, that means we have to leave."

"If they won't come close to us, you don't HAVE to do anything."

He nodded slightly in agreement. "They have some long-range missiles, nothing terribly advanced. But I don't think even they believe their threats anymore."

She sighed. "Then why are you doing this?"

"I don't know."

"You – Knives - agreed to let humans colonize your master work. Agreed to give up your home. Either you're a very strange liar, or you've gone insane."

Scoffing, he crossed his arms tightly. "In every other scenario, the likelihood of us being caught unawares one day, killed in our sleep or something…Without a mass slaughter, the chances are very poor that we'll come out safely if we try to stay here. The work around here is simple enough; with enough humans to run things, the garden no longer needs me. I was holding it back. It's unfortunate that this also means Callisto and yourself are without a home, but you would both be safer in a complex. I can help you start a garden of your own…?"

"And finish teaching me how to calibrate the plants? After all, if you'll be 'disappearing,' I'll need to take care of the ones in the complex we're to live in, not to mention the others outside that…Would they be without your services as well?" she asked, calm now.

Knives fell silent, head bowed slightly. Finally clearing his throat, he spoke with a hint of sadness in his voice. "I'll teach you what you need. I'll take care of the others. The sooner we leave, the better. Should those humans lay eyes on we plants…With them so close by, we aren't safe here. Who knows, Simon could be lying."

"How can I believe that you won't one day get rid of them? Change your mind? That this plan isn't a front for your REAL plan?"

"I suppose you can't be sure, hmm? Unless I'm dead?" he asked softly, far too comfortable with the thought, almost inviting it.

"Or if I stay with you," she added quickly.

The sunlight at his back made it impossible to distinguish his expression. Fuzzy dots of dust danced in the light between them as time ticked by. She dropped her eyes to the stripped-bare surface of the mattress she sat upon, reflecting on all she now knew…or thought she knew.

"I get to meet the HUMANS!" a happy voice sang out from within the garden.

Knives sighed audibly, taking a moment to check the device he'd been carrying. Tapping at the display, he found that 83 of the food-implanted sensors were still moving steadily east, nearly out of sensor range, and the remaining 17 were stationary, representing the raiders who'd eaten their fill and stayed for Simon's return. That's what he assumed, at least. Shifting screens, he noted for the eightieth time that day that not one of his parameter marks had been disturbed. Simon's little blip migrated slowly east. "I can sedate her again," Knives grumbled, referring to Callisto.

"No, we should leave her," Vanessa whispered back hurriedly. "They don't know she's a plant; you didn't say she was."

"No-"

"If she'd gleaned ANYTHING from MY mind – and she said she did – she's aware of the dangers. I think it's her decision." Turning away from the sound in time to see him leave, Vanessa frowned, and noticed that everything of use or want had already been removed from the shack. She resolved to take one last tour of the gardens, but didn't come across Callisto on her way.