Disclaimer: the Dragonriders of Pern is copyright to Anne McCaffrey. The characters are still mine, however.

Meeting by one of the storage rooms furthest into the barracks a few minutes later-- L'grehn, B'riin, Ch'rek, Venaket and Jesece waited in silence for the last of their group to arrive. It was a risk to take certainly, but with the additional pieces of information they had been able to gain through their dragonets, they had decided that it was really no other choice. However, the fact that it was Jesece who had been able to find out the most about what was going on with the assistance of her gold, that left a bad taste in B'riin's mouth. While she hadn't actually said anything, he couldn't help but notice the trace of a smirk at her tanned face, even in the badly lit part of the barracks where they were standing.

:I'm sorry about taking so long, but I had to use a few tricks to get past the Candidate Master: Catene said when she arrived a minute later. Then she paused to look at her friends, before allowing a look of worry to appear on her face.

:More worrying however, was that I tried to contact the monitoring stations, all of them. None of them replied:

B'riin looked at her, for a moment hoping that she was joking, although he did know better than to think that she wouldn't be serious about something like that. Now more than ever though, he was thankful for the mental screen, as it would keep Tolaketh from hearing anything that would confuse the dragonet too much. Sooner or later, they would have to tell their dragons more of-course, but not until they were old enough to know to keep secrets.

"How is that possible? Those places are supposed to be secure, and provide us with assistance when we need it.." Jesece hissed. And with a scowl, she looked towards the room where they had left gold Seoracth and the others, the young gold making sure that the others stayed put.

:I don't know, Jesece. It doesn't take much thinking to realize that something must have gone wrong though. From what we have been able to gather though, it sounds like the object that fell to the ground by Southern Hold is some kind of space ship. The images I was able to get from the dragons weren't very conclucive though, so I can't really say who the ship belongs to:

Sending another soothing thought in response to another quiery from Tolaketh, B'riin drummed his fingers nervously against the wall next to him, clearing his throat once Catene had finished speaking.

"Another thing that I don't like the least, is that there hasn't been any signs of the HQ either. Normally they would have cleared up such a thing before it got out, like they do when a rider/dragon pair are recalled" he said. The sound of this, he didn't like it, not at all...

Next, Ch'rek straightened himself, apparently having done some thinking.

:My opinion would be that some of us go there to have a look, and to hell with the consequences. One, we may be able to find out more about why the monitoring stations aren't answering. Two, it could be that the ship and what might be in side it could endanger the project, and Pern. At least we would know a bit more about what we are dealing with:

With that, he looked over at Catene, and it was obvious that the two were mindspeaking privately. It was not something that Catene quite approved of, as B'riin noticed by the look on her face, and the discussion went on for a long time-- making him move uncomfortable as he began to worry about that someone would walk up to them.

Especially the Weyrlingmaster, since there was no saying when she might have had her talk with the Weyrwoman and the Weyrleader, and come to check on the weyrlings. Standing in the back of the barracks, in the company of a candidate that really shouldn't be there in the middle of the night, that was something bound to get them into trouble if she caught them.

He would also love to know what Ch'rek was planning.

Then he was distracted for several moments as there was a squabble between Tolaketh and Seoracth, one wanting to go outside, the other saying no. It didn't take long to reassure the brown dragonet again, promising that he would be back very soon, but B'riin couldn't quite manage to keep himself from glaring at Jesece. Maybe she hadn't deliberately started trouble this time, but he wouldn't pass up on a opportunity to glare.

:Very well, I'll do it. But you will owe me for this, if we run into any trouble especially: Catene said abruptly, making B'riin turn his attention back to her and the others. And as he looked at his friend, she appeared to be taller than any of them, although the effect was gone when she turned around to leave. Knowing her though, he did suspect that it hadn't been an entirely false impression.

:I'll see you, and whoever else you think should go, at the beast pasture furthest from the Weyr in one hour. You better be there in time, as I'm not going to hang around to be seen:

Once Catene had left, B'riin grimaced. Of-course he wanted to find out more about what had happened as much as the others, but he did not like the thought of leaving Tolaketh, the dragonet was anxious enough as it was. Not to forget that going running off with as little information as they had didn't sound like a good idea, even now when his mind wasn't as its clearest as tired as he still was.

"Should we really do this now, when the Weyr is so stressed out? Sneaking out now is rather risky, and we would get a heap of trouble if we're caught".

:No doubt, Ch'rel agreed with a nod.

:Which is exactly why only one of us will go. Less noticeable than a group of people, and the rest of us can work together to create an impression of that the missing person is still here. B'riin, I know that Tolaketh will not like you leaving, but I think it would be the best if you is the one to go:

Ch'rel paused for a few moments as his eyes unfocused, a sure sign that he was speaking to his bronze, Aelth. And soon the dragonets came out of the room where they had been waiting, wasting little time in joining their 'riders'.

:Tolaketh will probably have gone back to sleep in an hour, what if he wakes up though:

:I...and Aelth have been practicing a bit. Both of us working together can make sure that Tolaketh will remain asleep till you get back, he'll never notice:

Looking rather nervous as he said that, since they weren't supposed to reveal any mind talents they had to their dragonets anytime soon, Ch'rel gave a quick smile. Even if none of his friends would say anything, it could still give him problems later.

It wasn't really surprising, B'riin had known Ch'rel for long enough to know that the other young man would sometimes break certain established rules if his ambition got the better of him. But while he was nervous about letting his fellow weyrling do something like that, he still allowed himself a wry grin, before he nodded.

:Ok, I'll go. But I want L'grehn and Venaket to help, and you better be careful:

Just then, Seoracth warned them of that the Weyrlingmaster was coming, and as there was no more time to talk-- they had to hurry back to their rooms.

00000

The hour passed fairly quickly, despite that B'riin nearly fell asleep and would have missed the whole thing if Venaket hadn't came to wake him. How she had managed to stay awake, he couldn't understand, and she was nearly annoyingly cheerful as she followed him to the exit of the barracks.

Tolaketh slept soundly though, fortunately.

But worry still bothered B'riin as he made his way across the Weyr bowl, making sure to stay in the shadows, and to one of the smaller tunnels that led outside. To his relief, it wasn't guarded, and he managed to get past the door and outside without being challenged.

A lot more luck that he deserved really..

Moving quietly along the fence of the feeding grounds, he was glad that he had thought of putting on a pair of boots, even at night there could be an assortment of snakes and other creatures in the grass-- neither of which he wanted to step on with bare feet. He did wish that he had been able to bring some warmer clothes though, but he had really not wanted to wake up the weyrlings he shared a room with by rummaging through his chest.

At one time, he had to duck in under some bushes as a dragon flew overhead, but it didn't see him as far as he could tell. If only because it wasn't looking for anyone on the ground, wandering around at a time when he was supposed to be inside.

Not so long after, about five minutes at most, he reached the field where he was supposed to meet Catene. There was no sign of her however, though he did notice that that a number of herdbeasts nearby were a bit nervous as he climbed up to sit on top of the fence. Moments later however, the spooked beasts fled, and a slight movement he saw out of the corner of his eye, warned him of that someone was approaching.

Close by was a group of trees, and as he turned his head to look, the source of the disturbance appeared.

First raising its head to scan the sky, making sure that no-one was up there to see, a dragon stepped out on the grassy area between the trees and the fence. Probably the pernese would have seen it as a dragon, though it really couldn't be mistaken for any dragon they were familiar with. There was its horns of-course, curving back from the top of its head, and its large, yellow eyes-- more luminous than a pernese dragon would ever have. Its wings were different too, longer and narrower than Tolaketh's wings would ever be.

The fact that this dragon walked at its hind-legs would probably have caused no small deal of surprise.

Neither its color was anything that would have been seen on a pernese dragon, its skin mainly being a pearly grey striped with dark shades of blue, with a few markings of green running down its legs. And in all, the lenght of it was probably about nine meters from its muzzle and to the end of its tail.

B'riin stood up at the fence, raising his hand in a quick greeting.

"Good to see you, Catene. Ready to go?"