"Catra... Catra…!"
The hiss woke Catra from sleep, and she dug one hand into the pillow she was using.
"Catra!"
Catra gritted her teeth. "Adora, you had better be on fire or have a really good excuse."
"Oh, for the love of- Catra, come on!"
Catra moved one hand away from where it rested near her head, and she opened one yellow eye to glare at Adora.
Adora was scowling at her. "I thought you were going to stay awake!"
Catra shrugged. "Well, you told me to, so...you have only yourself to blame."
"Catra, I can barely see my own hand, and you're the only one who-"
"Yeah, yeah," Catra grumbled, swinging her legs up off the bed, "reason number two you needed a sidekick, right? I can see things you can't?"
Adora huffed, "Don't start that again, Catra, please?"
Catra shrugged, "Sure, we can talk about other things. When are you going to abandon your new sidekicks?"
She walked right past Bow and Glimmer as she spoke, who looked at each other, then to Adora.
Adora sighed, and simply trailed the Horde officer.
"I mean, I tell ya, that Hayes guy? Hm, betcha can't wait to get your hands on him!"
Adora facepalmed, not knowing if the innuendo was intentional.
"These guys seem pretty good at what they do," Catra continued as they reached the wall, "or do they have too many guns for you? You want more bows and arrows? Nah wait, they don't use bullets, they're all futuristic, so they're the right kind of high tech for you."
She ran a hand along the wall, looking for a shape.
"Please stop, Catra," Adora said, "we've got work to do!"
"Never stopped us before. Not like you care, anyway. So long as you get out looking good, what else matters?"
"Catra-!" Adora huffed, "just...just stop talking. They might hear us."
"Man, they hide these things well…"
Her hand found the inset shape in the wall, the trapezoidal hatch about a meter wide.
"...but not enough for me. Now how were we going to open it?"
Entrapta appeared beside her, "It's got some magnetic lock, and it looks like they've got slightly higher pressure on the other side to keep us from opening it. Or maybe it's normal outside, and they just lower the pressure in here."
"So then…?"
"I can use the batteries from my recorders to mess with the pressure in here, then we can open it! These people use so little energy for their systems, it's amazing! Just tell me where the panel is, I can't see a thing."
"Can you open it without them knowing?" Adora asked.
"Probably not, at least not forever," Entrapta replied, yanking the panel off the wall with Catra's help, "We're going to need to start running a few minutes after we get out."
"Excuse me," Frosta spoke up in the dark, "but does anyone know what we're going to do once we open this door? We have no idea what is on the other side."
"Access tunnel junction 14, deck 7," Entrapta said, yanking the battery out of her voice recorder and plugging it into a cord Catra held for her, "that's what the lady told me before they cut off access."
"What lady?" Catra asked.
"She was fun. Really stiff but she had a lot of information!"
"What lady?" Glimmer asked.
Entrapta glanced at her, "The one in the machine. El-cars."
The others exchanged looks, but Adora had on an odd expression, "what do you mean she was stiff?"
"She talked funny. She didn't say hi or anything. She just talked when I said things. She said 'Unable to comply' or 'insufficient data' a lot. By the way, pressure has been equalized and the magnetic lock has lost some power."
"What?!" Catra demanded, "Why didn't you-Scorpia! Come here! Help me with this!"
She stuck her claws in the small crack, and pulled. Scorpia took the other side side, and they made some progress.
Adora got in on Catra's side, both pulling with all their might.
Bow got on Scorpia's side and pulled. Glimmer joined in, helping the other two.
Slowly, with the creak of tortured metal and the whine of an abused motor, the gap was widened.
Light spilled into the compartment from a pair of lighting panels that ran along either side of the long tube on the other side of the door. It was a small tube barely big enough to crawl in, and ran off into the distance, with a junction appearing somewhere along the length.
"Won't be long before they figure it out!" Entrapta said.
Adora leaned in, "Entrapta, any idea which way we should go?"
"If we can find our way to whatever counts as a main deck on an airship, maybe we can find a way down." Glimmer said.
"They might have parachutes!" Bow suggested.
"Yeah, but which way?"
Entrapta climbed into the tube. "El-cars didn't like to talk about deck plans. Deck 3 was the control room, so we don't want to go there!"
"If it's an airship, we want to head for the bottom then." Bow said.
"Yeah, no duh." Catra hissed, and crawled into the tube, "Alright, Entrapta, just find us a ladder then we can all stop working together."
Adora thumped her head against the wall, squeezing her eyes shut, and waved everyone into the tube.
Glimmer got in last, then Adora followed her. They crouched just inside the hatch and pulled it shut.
"Think we can get out?" Glimmer whispered.
"Whatever happens, we'll make it." Adora replied, "We stick together, we'll get through this."
She turned around and froze. Catra was sitting there on her haunches in the tube.
Her face was flat, except her eyes were narrowed. "Guess you didn't need help closing the hatch."
She turned around and crawled back toward the end of the tube, passing the other escapees and occasionally swatting them with her tail.
Entrapta was crouched near the junction, and looked to either side.
"Left. I think."
"You think?" Mermista asked.
"El-cars didn't like to talk about deck plans! She was very quiet!"
"Do the machines talk back to her all the time?" Catra whispered, glancing from Perfuma to Mermista. "You people knew her longer."
"I have no idea," Perfuma replied, giving an irritated little huff and folding her arms. "But she at least has some idea of where to go."
"Yes, probably left!" Entrapta said enthusiastically, and crawled around the corner.
They crawled along the tunnel, surprisingly well-lit for what appeared to be a maintenance corridor. Every once in a while they had to move Entrapta along whenever she started poking at something along the walls.
They finally reached another hatch. Catra moved forward to try and open it, but to their surprise, it opened on its own!
Instead of a bunch of guards in gold shirts pointing weapons at them, there was only a small empty room on the other side.
Entrapta eagerly crawled past and climbed out, stretching her limbs and her prehensile hair. Quickly they emerged into the small chamber.
It looked like a spacious maintenance closet. Along the right side of the wall was a ladder that ran from the top of the room to the bottom, a hatch at either end.
To the left was a large door, perhaps a meter or so wide, unlike the door to their prison. It was split down the middle, with an odd silver panel on one side. Against the opposite wall was a computer panel, far more advanced than anything in the Horde. It looked like the odd screen used by the beverage machine, or the panels that Entrapta had been experimenting with before their captors cut the power.
Entrapta went over to the console as everyone hesitantly emerged. Catra and Adora followed Entrapta to the console, as she started inputting commands.
Catra looked at the dizzying array of orange, yellow, and blue colors that almost hurt to look at.
"Think you can try not getting locked out of this one?" she asked Entrapta.
"For the next five minutes!" she replied, smiling, "Hello, El-cars! How are you?"
"Systems are operating within normal parameters." a stiff female voice replied, and everyone jumped at that.
"Whoa! Who the heck is that?!" Catra demanded, claws out and looking between the console and the rest of the room.
"...El-cars?" Entrapta looked at her like she was crazy, "we talked about this."
"The lady in the machine was real?" Glimmer asked.
"Just humor her…" Perfuma said suppressing the urge to facepalm.
Entrapta started entering commands into the console. Adora moved closer to see the screen, then noticed the text.
"That doesn't say El-cars... that's more like Li-cars."
"Well, yes," Entrapta said, scrolling through menus, "but that's not how it's pronounced."
"Wait, you can read that stuff?" Catra asked, "looks like gibberish to me."
Adora's eyes widened. She turned to the others, and grabbed Glimmer, "Glimmer, what does this look like? First Ones script?"
Glimmer looked at the screen for a moment, bewildered by the sight, "Hey...yeah! What- what is going on here? What is this?
The female voice spoke out again, "This is maintenance access terminal 4, deck 7."
Glimmer shook her head, "Okay, who is that? What is that? Who is 'El-cars'?"
"The Library Computer Access and Retrieval System, abbreviated as L.C.A.R.S. and commonly pronounced 'el-cars', is a command subsystem that acts as the primary means of interacting with and operating Starfleet computers."
"Are...are you alive?" Adora asked.
"The LCARS is an interactive interface, not an individual. It is not self-aware, it does not have a soul."
"Well, I can see what you mean by stiff," Catra said to Entrapta.
"I'd like to talk to her more, anyway." The girl replied.
"Yeah... how about we get out of here first?"
Entrapta brought up a strange looking map. It almost looked like a naval vessel, but any ship like that upon the sea would tear itself apart. It was like a catamaran, but with the hull circular, and held way too far in front of the pontoons.
"What is that?" Mermista frowned and tilted her head as she looked at the map. She reached out, tracing the design with her finger, not quite touching the image. "This doesn't look right at all," her voice lost its normal disinterested drawl, and her brows came together. "Like...someone who didn't know how to build a ship made it…"
The image turned on its side, to display a cutaway view. A red line traced itself to a large open space.
Mermista scowled. "That's some sort of hangar. We should be able to get out from there." she pointed at the spot indicated. "See? It leads outside."
Adora looked at the ladder, seeing labels she hadn't noticed before. The one in the center, to the side of the rungs, read "DECK 7". Below it, close to the open hatch, read "DECK 8", and at its counterpart above, another label read "DECK 6".
"Alright Entrapta, you lead the way." Adora said.
Down went Entrapta, then Frosta, Perfuma, Mermista, and then Scorpia. Glimmer was next, jumping on and climbing quickly.
The door that had remained shut this whole time behind them hissed open.
Bow, Adora, and Catra whirled around.
Standing there was a large lizard-like creature, standing on both legs.
It looked for a second like Rogelio, the lizard who had been in Adora and Catra's squad only bigger and clad in one of their captor's gold and grey uniforms, carrying a small case of maintenance equipment.
He reacted instantly, taking a step back, and to the escapee's shock, did nothing but tap the insignia device on his chest. In a rough voice, he hurriedly called out, "Security, intruder alert! Deck 7, maintenance closet-"
A loud alarm rang, and there were a series of klangs. Before he could finish talking, Adora charged across the room, crouched slightly, then launched herself into the lizard's gut like a torpedo. He flew out the door and crashed into the opposite wall, crushing a human security guard under him.
She retrieved his dropped weapon, and rushed back into the maintenance closet.
Glimmer was still on the ladder, but had stopped moving. Both hatches on either end of the ladder had slammed shut, and she was pounding on the top one, "No no no no!"
Bow was standing on the lower one, and had pulled a panel off a control on the side, yanking fruitlessly on a manual lever.
Catra shoved Bow out of the way, and hammered three times on the hatch, "Hey, Scorpia! Keep them going! We'll find another way out of here!"
She jumped up, "Adora, hold that door open!"
Grabbing Bow, she shoved him in the direction of the door, then pulled Glimmer off the ladder, "C'mon sparks, we can't get through there! Just start running!"
Adora shrugged when Bow looked at her, "What she said, we gotta get outta here!"
Glimmer hesitated in the doorway, but Catra roughly shoved her, "Go! What's wrong with you?!"
Out into the corridor they went, trying to catch up to the other two. The corridor was fairly well-lit, for a naval vessel at least. Instead of bare deck plating, curiously it had carpeting.
It certainly helped with traction as they ran.
Adora and Bow dodged people in the corridor as they ran, mostly humans, but they caught sight of the blue people, people that looked like humans with pointy ears, and a handful of others. They wore the same uniforms, with that varying blue, red, or gold color in their turtlenecks.
In Catra's mind they were all fair targets.
Adora and Bow ran ahead, with the former bashing into a few people in her attempts to dodge.
Catra jumped and weaved around the enemy, occasionally using the walls to dive between foes.
Curiously, none seemed to be armed.
The familiar crackling buzz of an energy weapon discharging over her head dissipated any hope that no one at all was armed.
Ahead of them, across a junction were a handful of gold shirts, all armed with those weird-looking energy weapons.
Adora fired her looted gun between them with a series of wild shots, suppressive fire rather than any particular aim.
"Go right!" Bow yelled.
Catra instinctively looked to their left, but there were more foes in that direction. They all rushed down the right corridor. They exchanged fire with the enemy, or rather Adora kept firing backwards without stopping.
They turned right down another corridor, and skidded to a halt. To their right side was a long corridor, with a wide door at the end of it. It was bigger than the rectangular split-doors they'd seen earlier. In fact, it looked like a giant version of the maintenance hatches. It looked like an exit.
It opened automatically as the doors always seemed to, and all four gaped at what they saw inside, then looked at each other.
"Well? What are we waiting for? Let's get outta here!" Glimmer said, grinning, and rushed through.
The others quickly followed, leaping out the door into the forest, and escape, that lay on the other side.
They stopped briefly to take it in, feeling the sun on their faces once again. Well, what little made it through the canopy. It was a tropical forest, more a jungle than anything else. They could hear odd animals chirping and squawking, the sound of water in the distance.
Behind them, the doorframe stood out in the middle of the jungle, and it looked like there was nothing behind it. Like someone had just built a door frame in the middle of the woods.
It must've been some sort of cloaking device.
"I thought we were on an airship." Adora muttered.
"So they landed, or we were never on one in the first place and your lackeys messed up, who cares?" Catra snapped, "Let's just get outta here!"
The stillness and the shifting air contrasted sharply with the loud enclosed spaces of their place of captivity. The group remained quiet.
With Adora in the lead, they made their way through a line of bushes toward the water. They slid down a small embankment to find a gentle, yet deep river before them. It looked like it would get high when it flooded. Up the other side, above the embankment, ran a tall hill. They could just make out a clearing at the top.
A line of rocks distributed across the water made it easy to get across. Bow jumped to one, rocking back and forth a little to test it. Finding it solid, he jumped to the next one, then the next.
This one he almost lost balance on, but managed to stay upright, "Careful, this one's loose!"
"Better be careful..." Glimmer muttered to Catra, then started across herself.
"Mind your cape, your highnessness." Catra snarled, jumping onto the rock.
Adora watched their backs, and heard the sigh of the door closing in the distance.
"They don't seem to be following us." she called out.
"Maybe we lost em?" Bow wondered.
"Probably not. If they know their stuff, they'll have perimeter sensors," Catra went into a crouch on the third rock, her tail swishing back and forth, "They'll have sent someone after us, or will be doing that soon-!"
Abruptly, she lost her balance, and fell on her side into the water with a splash and a shriek like a cat.
She managed to keep her hold on the rock, but was completely soaked.
Glimmer sputtered, and started laughing. Bow snorted a little.
"He said it was loose!" Glimmer said in between laughs.
Catra's cheeks burned as she struggled to get back onto the rock. The water was surprisingly deep.
Adora quickly stepped across and pulled Catra out of the creek, "You alright?"
She would have angrily struggled her way out of Adora's grip if it wouldn't have meant more exposure to a lot of water, so she settled for sticking out a leg reaching for the next rock, "I'm fine, let go of me!"
She got to the next rock. Grabbing a clump of her uniform, she tried to wring it out, but could only get a small portion.
Huffing, Catra made it to the shore.
"You don't normally lose balance like that," Adora said, "except that time you hurt your tail."
"I'm fine, let's stop talking about it!" Catra snarled.
"I don't know, we could use some humor after all this." Glimmer said with a smirk.
"Go climb a tree, sparky! Plenty of those around!"
"Glimmer, don't antagonize her." Bow said, stepping between the two.
"We want to get moving," Adora said, finally making it to shore, "first let's figure out where we are."
"Right," Catra said, wringing out some of her hair, "Let's find a way out of this dump. We can signal our own guys, bring in some reinforcements, knock some heads, and get our friends back."
As Adora finally reached the other side, Glimmer furrowed her brow, "Wait a minute. We're just going to leave? Now? Just like that? We've got to go back for our friends! We need to get our equipment!"
Catra scoffed, "look, I'm all for a rescue mission, but for your swords? Geez, you princess types. That's why I like firearms, you can just replace them."
Adora raised her eyebrows and folded her arms. "oh really, little miss touch-my-rifle-and-I'll-feed-it-to-you?"
Catra glared and turned away. "Hey, he was alright eventually!"
"Alright-?! Catra, Kyle had to get his tooth glued back in! He doesn't have nine lives you know!"
"What? It's not like you cared!"
"You're the one who keeps trying to kill us!" Glimmer accused, stepping in, "Do you care at all?"
"Cry me a river, sparkles! Oh wait, there's one right there! How about you get to feel like a drowned rat for a change?!"
Bow got between the arguing girls. "Guys, guys! We have no fresh water, no food, one laser gun I'm guessing is almost dead, no shelter, and we're stuck in the middle of a forest hiding a secret base full of crazy people! What makes you think this is a good idea?!"
Everyone immediately rounded on him. "She started it!" Catra and Adora exclaimed at once, each pointing to the other one.
Bow groaned and ran a hand down his face. "I don't care who started it, what made you think arguing was a good idea?! We're going to die without each other's help, so what's the point in it?!"
"Makes me feel better..." Catra grumbled.
Glimmer turned an accusatory glare on Catra. "Are all you Horde people this nuts?" she demanded, "you're always trying to hurt people like this! What did Adora ever do to you?!"
Catra laughed, "Are you kidding? What she did was the best thing that ever happened to me! I got myself some actual fr- allies! Ones who won't just be trying to use me for muscle!" she glared at Adora, who looked away.
"Now if you'll excuse me..." She said, turning about, "I gotta go rescue them."
Catra jumped up the embankment and sprinted up the hill.
"Catra! Catra, wait!" Adora growled when she didn't respond, and climbed up after her.
Bow followed, and Glimmer teleported the short distance up to the top of the embankment. She felt a brief moment of disorientation and dizziness, for a moment it was like she was falling. Then Bow grabbed her arm and they took off.
Catra was clambering her way up toward the clearing, or whatever it was. She could hear pounding surf, maybe it was the beach.
Her normally perfect hearing, able to tell when the enemy was turning on their... whatever it was they used when they were watching them, was being quite unhelpful. Sounds kept bouncing around, shifting and fluctuating. Her spatial awareness was off, she kept feeling like she was losing her balance.
She reached the top of the hill onto a flat area, a batch of greenery before the sand. She could see the surf through the gaps in the trees.
Her spatial awareness went off again.
To Catra's embarrassment, she fell face-first into the sand. Again.
She heard something. She lifted her head, and her multicolored eyes widened.
Looking up, Catra saw a pair of boots attached to a uniform. The dark uniform with grey shoulders and red turtleneck.
Captain Hayes stood there, pistol in hand.
"Hello." He said.
Catra heard the others come out of the brush, and halt.
Hayes aimed his weapon at Adora. Neither fired.
Catra looked back, then back at the captain. A handful of gold shirts were several meters behind him, carrying their own weapons.
"Put the phaser down." Hayes instructed slowly.
Adora placed the weapon on the ground, then stepped away, hands held up.
The goldshirts approached, and one of them retrieved the phaser.
Hayes looked down at Catra, "Please get up, but don't attack me. Seriously, kid, this thing may be non-lethal, but it stings."
Catra jumped to her feet, snuffling slightly, "I'm no kid. If anything, sparky is," and pointed to Glimmer over her shoulder.
Glimmer balled her hands into fists. "No I'm not!"
"Glimmer, is now the best time?" Bow asks through gritted teeth.
Hayes takes a step back, "look, I think I can call all of you kids regardless of your ages. You," he pointed to Catra, "What are you? Sixteen, seventeen? Right, so I'm more than a decade older than you."
"What are you going to do with us?" Adora asked.
"I wanted to finish our conversation." Hayes replied.
"What about our friends?" Glimmer asked.
"We're still trying to track them down. Don't worry, they won't be harmed."
"What about us?" Catra asked, "Torture, I assume?"
Hayes looked at her with shock for a moment, then sighed.
He looked at each of them, a strange look on his face.
"What am I going to do? Man, what am I going to do?"
Hayes looked around the landscape, seeing a seagull passing by overhead. He stayed silent for a long time.
"Nice place, isn't it?"
He gestured with his phaser, toward a path off to one side that led back into the woods. With the guard's weapons at their backs, the group had little choice.
They went back through the woods toward the stream.
Hayes stopped near the water. He crouched, and stuck his hand in the cool liquid, "Real nice tropical place. Never been to many of them, and none like this."
"Well, you're here now, you can experience it." Bow said, trying to sound polite.
Hayes chuckled, "I've never been here. I've only seen it in pictures. It's a nature reserve back on Earth. Someplace called Gravett Island. Extremely isolated. Not even British explorers were able to spoil the place."
He looked over their faces, almost as if he was looking for something. Whatever it was, he didn't find it.
With a long, sad sigh, the officer got to his feet. "Earth. Terra? Sol? Mean anything to you k- people?"
Adora shrugged. Catra had her arms folded, and was looking up at the canopy.
Glimmer furrowed her brow, and Bow scratched his head.
"Venus? Luna? Mars? Jupiter? Saturn?"
Bow's hand froze suddenly, "Wait a minute…"
Bow looked at Glimmer, "Hey, do you remember any songs from kindergarten?"
Glimmer shrugged, "I was taught in the palace."
Bow glanced around, "Do any of you remember that song, uh...it had those words? Venus, Luna, Saturn..."
"What song?" Hayes asked.
"We just did cadences." Adora shrugged, "I don't know what he's talking about."
"I don't remember a lot from when I was that little…" Glimmer muttered.
"What song?" Hayes repeated.
Bow turned to the captain, cringing a little, "Uh...it's nothing, just this stupid little song from when I was little. It...uh…"
Bow's cheeks reddened a little, and he kept fidgeting.
"Well, at least tell me the name."
"I think it was The Green Hills…"
A small smile spread across Hayes' face, and he muttered, "'Take us back again to the homes of men, and the cool green hills of Earth'?"
"That's it. That's the song." Bow said.
Hayes frowned, "You people don't know how much you've lost, have you? You have no idea...you forgot Earth."
Catra chose that moment to clap slowly and derisively, "Yes, very moving. Now what have we accomplished today? We got captured, we escaped, then recaptured, and bowman here starts talking to other-bowman about music. What kind of imprisonment is this? What is going on? Who are all you people? 'Starfleet' means nothing to me, so maybe try giving me something else."
Hayes sighed for the millionth time, "Alright…"
He tapped the insignia on his chest as the maintenance technician had, and it chirped, "Hayes to Matthias. What do we want to do with them this time?"
Through a speaker on the device, a rough voice yet again not unlike the technician spoke, "Matthias here. Captain, you really haven't spent much time around Leibowitz-types, have you?"
"Listen you blunt lizard-"
"Sir, with all due respect, for the love of the eight gods, find them a window. Try deck 6."
"Oh...right...Hayes out." He hit the insignia again, then looked up, "Computer?"
From the air, all around them it seemed, came a chirp, "End program."
The entire area shimmered. Everything just...dissolved. The trees, the sky, the creek, everything. Everything dissolved, to reveal a large empty room. The door they entered lay behind them, the metal floor was covered in grid patterns. A wireframe mesh ran around the entire room from floor to ceiling, broken only by lighting pillars.
Even the mud on their boots were gone.
The Starfleet crew tensed, weapons at the ready. Hayes inwardly cringed, hoping the reaction wouldn't be too bad…
"Aw man, I was hoping to get more sun…" Bow murmured.
"No wonder I felt like I was falling!" Glimmer exclaimed.
"Oh great, another hologram and force field place," Catra groaned, and felt one side of her uniform, "...And I'm still soaked. Thanks." to her relief, the sounds had stopped bouncing around, and she no longer felt so disoriented. She must have been hearing whatever made the holograms, instead of what was really in the room.
"Well, no flashbacks this time…" Adora muttered, her arms crossed.
"And we don't have to rescue you this time..." Glimmer muttered.
Hayes looked at them, bewildered, "Wait, what? You've been in a holodeck before?"
"Is that what it's called?" Adora wondered.
"A bit better than what I called it. But I like to think mine was more accurate." Catra said, still tugging at her uniform and sending water droplets across the deck.
Hayes shook his head, then gestured to the guards, "Alright, bring them to deck 6, port side observation lounge."
"Sir?"
""We need windows and a place not built like a prison. Let's not be poor hosts." he grimaced. "Any more than we already have been."
They moved a short way down the hall to another door. It opened to reveal a small cylindrical chamber. The group briefly believed it was a cell, before Hayes stepped inside immediately.
They realized with hidden embarrassment it was just an elevator.
"Who puts an elevator on an airship?" Bow muttered, stepping inside. Once Adora and two guards were inside, the other two were stopped.
"Not enough room," one guard said, and pointed to a similar door a few meters down the hall, "We'll have to take the other one."
Glimmer and Adora exchanged worried looks, but Hayes held up both hands, "None of you will be harmed, I give you my word. That is the thing we least want to do."
"Your word. How much is that worth?" Catra scoffed, but did not seem to press the issue.
As the first lift shut, Catra and Glimmer were escorted to the other one. They entered first, then the pair of guards, who crowded in behind them.
"Deck 6." One called out.
The door shut.
Glimmer and Catra stood next to each other facing straight ahead. Catra had her arms folded and glowered at the door, as if trying to melt it with her gaze.
Faint music began to play as the lift moved. All was still.
"Where's that coming from?" one guard asked awkwardly.
"Someone from engineering was bored. They've been trying to get rid of it for hours."
"Huh."
The light music continued to play. The two prisoners/guests remained still.
Catra shook her head a bit, sending droplets of water all over the place.
Glimmer winced, holding up a hand to block some of the liquid, "Could you do that somewhere else?"
"No."
The guards tensed, and looked at each other. They shrugged, and took a step back.
The music continued playing.
After an uncomfortable amount of time, the doors finally opened again.
They emerged onto another deck, similar to the last one, but different. Down a few corridors they went, following Hayes' party a few meters ahead as they passed out of sight.
Before any anxiety could be created, they turned the corner and saw them again. On the right side of the corridor were sets of windows, it looked as if it was night outside. On the left was an opening of some kind, that led to a mess hall.
Hayes and his soldiers stood a few meters behind their "guests", who were up against the window.
Bow had his face pressed up against the glass, his eyes wide and an odd sound coming from his open mouth.
Adora just stood there silently, slack-jawed.
Catra walked up, deciding to have a brief amount of fun. "Hey, Adora."
She didn't respond, continuing to stare out the window.
"You know, I've noticed something weird about how you look at things. Sometimes you do this…"
Adora, without taking her eyes off whatever she was looking at, raised a trembling hand, "Ca...Ca...Ca…"
"You always do this thing where you're posing or something, it's so weird…"
Still not moving her eyes, Adora grabbed Catra's head with one hand and turned it sideways.
Catra looked out the window. And her jaw went slack.
Her tail shot straight out, her hair went up for a brief moment. Then everything went sort of limp.
"Is...what...what is that?"
Glimmer reached the window, and her eyes went wide. Her hands gripped a railing, and her knuckles went white.
Glimmer garbled, "What...what…where...?"
"What do you think it is?!" Catra snarled, "That's the freakin' globe!"
Held within a stunning starscape lay a sphere, a giant world that also seemed so small at the same time.
Etheria, their home, everything they knew...was stretched out far beyond and below them.
Hayes stood behind them, watching with a small smile.
He felt the deck shake a little with footsteps. He turned to see a tall being approaching.
No homo sapien, he had a thick hide of green skin, a long skull with a powerful jaw, and hands that each looked strong enough to crush a man's hand. Almost six feet tall, the being was built like a dinosaur crossed with a dragon. His boots were large, covering his feet that had to be half again as long as that of the average person, challenging even Scorpia's feet. Across the top of his head, and to either side ran rows of small fins that were a lighter shade of green than his hide. A short tail moved behind him, with two rows of fins matching those on his head.
Yet, for all his mass and power, his lizard-like eyes clearly held an intelligent mind.
He wore a uniform like Hayes's, with three golden pips on his collar.
He was another being like the maintenance technician, and second in command of the Belleau Wood. Commander Seetar Matthias, a Gorn.
He looked on at the scene, then to his commanding officer.
"It's called the Overview Effect, sir," he explained with a rough hissing voice, "I'm surprised you forgot about it. How did you make it to captain?"
"I've been a little busy, commander. I can't remember everything every second of the day! Do you remember when I last slept?!"
"I-"
"Seriously, I'm asking. I lost track yesterday. Normally I'm a lot better about these things."
Matthias chuckled, a hissing alien laugh that faded in and out to a ki-ki-ki sound, "I'm only teasing, sir. We're all on the end of our ropes. This has been a rough couple of weeks."
He gestured to the group before him, "But isn't it worth it sometimes?"
"Where are the others?"
Matthias pointed behind him, to the mess hall/observation deck opposite the windows.
"Oh," Hayes nodded. He turned to his companions. "Come on," he said. "Your friends are over here."
It took a few moments for them to tear their eyes away from the planet, but he lead the group into the observation deck.
"You'll be more comfortable here," he said. The deck was through a set of large blast doors, currently concealed within the walls. It was built to look more like an open-air restaurant than a military ship, with artificial flowers on the tables, comfortable chairs placed near the windows, and a few paintings on the walls.
Adora immediately went to sit down on one of the chairs, her legs shaky.
The girl in the flower dress had pushed two of the larger chairs together and was stretched out, asleep. A Starfleet medic was keeping on eye on her, but she seemed alright, snoring peacefully.
The girl in the wetsuit sat near her rubbing the bridge of her nose. She looked exhausted, and her head kept drooping, as if she were on the verge of dozing off.
The small girl was standing a little further down the hall, looking down at the planet as well. She seemed a little more controlled.
The techie girl stood next to her, or rather sat on her prehensile hair, drawing or writing something on a pad of paper she must've "borrowed" from the observation deck.
The large girl with the pincers had pressed her nose up against the glass of one of the windows, looking down onto the planet below. She turned around when she heard Hayes and the others enter the room.
Catra felt a familiar tough grip coming up behind her, and she weakly attempted to struggle, still stunned, still keeping her eyes locked on what she was seeing. "Scorpia…"
Scorpia beamed at her. "Catra, come look!" she dragged Catra over to the window, showing her the planet below. "Isn't it...isn't it…?"
"Get off me…!"
Scorpia sniffed, "Oh, but Catra, it's just so...it's so big! But it's so tiny...how could it all be so small at the same time? It's like...like a mote in a sunbeam!"
She made an odd squealing sound, then seized Catra in a giant hug.
"Scorpia!" Catra protested. It was the second time Scorpia had hugged her in two days.
Hayes turned to Matthias and spoke in a low voice, "So I'm thinking we are going to play this the standard route, just explain the situation to them and see what happens."
Matthias nodded, "I agree. There is really no dancing about it. No matter how much you try."
Hayes groaned, and rubbed his eyes.
"Captain?"
"I'm fine...just tired."
They turned toward the group, and Catra managed to struggle out of Scorpia's grip.
Glimmer whirled about, "How are you doing that?" she demanded, "That can't be real. We can't really be…"
"We're in space!" Bow nearly squealed.
Glimmer looked out the window again, moving her head this way and that, "It's got depth, and...and...it's...Oh, it's not like that holodeck! But...it...it can't be real!...is it?"
"I would say step outside to see, but I really wouldn't recommend that," Hayes said, "That is your world down there."
Glimmer was almost tempted to see if she could teleport beyond the windows, just for a moment, to see if Bow's science fiction stories had been true. That would be beyond proof that they were up here, and it wasn't an elaborate conspiracy.
It wouldn't be pleasant if it was real, but it could prove once and for all…
The same sensation that hit her in the cargo bay whenever she tried to leave it hit again. It was like someone had put a brick wall in her head, angled toward the hull of this vessel. But at the same time, it wasn't hostile, it was an innate instinct. Don't, it said, don't try. Very bad idea.
Adora finally got to her feet. She turned around slowly, and walked up to the captain. Everything seemed to fall into place in her head.
"Captain Hayes…" she cleared her throat, shaking her head a little and regaining composure, "Are your people the First Ones?"
At those words, the others slowly began turning away from the magnificent sight, focusing their eyes on him.
The atmosphere seemed to shift, and Hayes exchanged a glance with Matthias, "Have we got the holographic display set up yet?"
"Yes sir."
"Good." he looked back at the group, "Okay, all of you, this is going to be much harder to explain than the whole starship thing. I'm gonna need you all to listen. I will explain everything, you just have to not try and attack any of us or try to escape. At least, don't try anything until I'm done. Can we do that?"
Scorpia, Catra, and Adora all immediately nodded, while the others looked apprehensive. The tech girl perked her head up suddenly, "Ooh, are we gonna do a slideshow?"
Hayes blinked, "Uh...sort of."
"Excellent! I always need more knowledge!" She glanced around, "Where's your projector…?"
Matthias pointed, "We've got a screen, it's over there. We've got a bunch of tables for you."
The guards didn't move, but the officers got the sense their presence had an influence on things. The group found their way to a pair of tables, sitting down in a similar manner to the cargo bay. Most of the princesses occupied one table, while the Horde officers sat at the other. Entrapta sat with them, though it may have been more trying to find a seat than any particular choice, she was still focused on her pad of paper.
Hayes sucked in a breath. Hoo boy…
Matthias went over to a display built into the wall, and input commands.
Up popped an insignia, or rather a seal. It was a round blue field of stars, flanked by olive branches. Hayes put his hands behind his back.
"As we said before, we represent the United Federation of Planets. It was founded in 2161 by United Earth, Vulcan, the Andorian Empire, and Tellar. It comprises more than 150 species over hundreds of light years, with the four founding races being humanity, the Vulcans, Andorians, and the Tellarites. We are a fully integrated interstellar alliance bonded together in mutual defense and friendship."
"'Federation of Planets'?" Entrapta asked, "Do you mean…?"
Hayes nodded, "Yes, there are other planets. Yours is not the only one."
Glimmer furrowed her brow, leaning forward in interest. Some of the other rebels did the same thing.
Matthias made as if to say something, but Hayes took a breath, "Your planet revolves around a sun, along with a dozen or so other planets. Those stars you see in the sky are each a sun, of a dozen types, with planets, moons, and all sorts of things going around them. Those solar systems, billions of them, billions of stars, and even more planets, revolve around a center core to form a galaxy, of which there are billions. We represent a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of the universe."
Their expressions ranged from "world shattered" to "eh not quite a shocker" to "huh".
And Entrapta was simply nodding.
He motioned with his hand, and Matthias hit a control. An image of a globe appeared, but different from Etheria just out the windows. It was green and blue, but with much different shapes of continents.
"This is Earth, where all human beings originated. I expect most of you have ancestors there. I'm from upstate New York. Matthias here is from Oklahoma, though his species comes from Gornar."
"Broken Bow. 3rd generation immigrant," Matthias said, smiling a little and trying not to show any teeth.
"What does this have to do with us?" Catra asked.
Not looking away from the group, Hayes motioned again. Another planet appeared, "This is Cait, or Feresa by its inhabitants. Force Captain Catra, do you recognize it?"
Catra didn't even look at the image, "should I?"
"It's the Caitian homeworld."
She still looked at him, "So?"
Hayes looked confused. He knew they'd probably forgotten home, but she didn't even seem to react to the name of the species, "Caitians come from there. It's likely where some of your ancestors come from."
There were mutters among the natives, as they absorbed the concept.
Catra finally looked at the planet, "Huh, how about- wait, what do you mean 'some'?"
Hayes furrowed his brow, "You're half-human. Or at least, you have significant human ancestry."
The young woman blinked, looking down at herself, "Um...do you have an eyesight problem? As in actual blindness?"
The others looked confused as well, some smiling a little.
Matthias hit a control, and pulled up an image of a creature that looked similar to Catra, but was far more feline.
"This is a Caitian," the Gorn explained, and pointed at the face, "Notice the differences in the jaw and nose. Unlike this example, the force captain has a protuberant nose bridge, and a human jaw."
He gestured to Catra, "Your jaw is much shorter than a Caitian's, and your skull is taller. You also have the human forehead, it's angled much differently from a Caitian's."
Hayes looked at Catra, "We haven't done any tests on you, so we actually aren't certain of your ancestry. There have been some highly-regulated genetic experiments done, so you might not even have any Caitian ancestry, it might…"
"There have been some what?" Catra asked, her gaze narrowing.
"Captain?" Matthias asked.
Hayes nodded, "sooner than we'd thought. Ah well…"
Matthias changed the display again.
Another image of a planet appeared on the screen, slowly spinning. Readouts and lines appeared, indicating various areas and environmental conditions. It was Etheria this time, but different.
The audience noticed some odd details, compared to the planet below them. For one thing, there were not only arrows pointing at the surface, but at small circles around the planet. For another, when one side passed into night, certain areas glowed.
On the planet at present, there were some glowing areas, but fewer than ten.
There were dozens on this image, scattered all across the globe.
Hayes gestured to the image, "This is Etheria. Obviously. The image was taken four years ago, in 2374, Stardate 51003.7. By our calendars, the year is currently 2378, Stardate 55836.7."
The observers glanced at each other, muttering among themselves.
"Now, about a hundred years ago, a Federation colony was set up here. The planet was a barren lifeless rock. It was a relatively small colony, and the planet is not well-known. It was terraformed - we transformed the planet to make it suitable for habitation - making it what it is today."
Entrapta looked up, "only a hundred years? Then you can't be the First Ones! Their colonization was over a thousand years ago! But...wait a minute, your technology matches them too closely…"
Adora spoke up, addressing the room at large, "Entrapta's right. I ran into a First One computer, recently. It told me the First Ones came centuries ago, not decades."
Her expression had some disappointment, but there was some apprehension as well, "...so, are you the First Ones or not?"
To the shock of the audience, this did not phase Hayes. There was no stumbling over words, no obvious sign of being caught in a lie. Though that meant very little. He could just be a good actor.
"We are the First Ones, if we understand that term correctly," he replied, "but the answer is a little complicated. You have experienced time dilation. A difference in elapsed time between two observers."
Everyone still seemed confused. Bow raised his hand, "Um...excuse me, but...what?"
Hayes expected this, "Say one of you fell down a well. It takes time for the rescuers to come down and get you. Now, think about any time when you have been in distress and time has acted funny for you. Don't things seem to take longer than they actually do sometimes? Now, going with the well metaphor, to the rescuers, it's been a few minutes, but to the person in the well, it feels like hours. Now, imagine that instead of being just a feeling, it's real."
They looked at him with somewhat confused expressions, some with outright disbelief.
Catra was leaning back in her chair, her arms crossed. It was doubtful she'd been more than half listening. She interrupted, "This colony of yours...if you're telling the truth, where is it?"
Hayes was confused, "What?"
"If what you're saying is true," she repeated, growling, "where is your colony?"
Hayes grimaced, and scratched his head, "that's what I've been trying to explain. You're the colonists. Your ancestors were Federation colonists, who were trapped on this world a thousand years ago. However, to the outside world, it's been only four years. Etheria disappeared in 2374. It's currently 2378."