The ship landed near the Wraith-ship. By near, I meant that it landed behind a hill, where we won't be seen stepping out of an invisible ship. The four of us, Merlin, Saya, Zorro and me, marched up to that ship. As we went over, Zorro looked down on the sand.
"Fresh footprints." he said, "There's been recent activity here."
"You are right." Murphy said.
Zorro stood stiff. Both Saya and Merlin looked at him.
"Sorry." he said, "I'm still getting used to hearing voices."
"I have followed Kyrano here earlier." Murphy continued uninterrupted, "It's how I found this ship in the first place."
"Wait." Merlin suddenly realized something, "If these Autons you mentioned can look like anybody, and some of them are inside, as well as the people they're copying, how can we tell the copies apart from the others?"
"Don't you remember Corporal Reyes?" Zorro laughed, "He didn't know what to say besides "yes sergeant". Others like him might be just as bright."
"Murphy, what's the temperature inside those ships?" Saya asked.
"They keep temperatures low." Murphy replied, "Keeps their food fresh."
"How can you just say that?" Merlin asked him.
"I only tried to explain the logic behind them." Murphy answered.
"If it's cool, the air won't smell like it's burning, so I can tell the smells apart." Saya said.
"Sounds good." Zorro smiled.

The four of us walked around the ship, looking for an entrance. The best we could find was one hole. But the closer we got, the more it looked like a cut. And I don't mean it looked like someone cut through metal, it looked like the ship had some kind of skin, which this was cut through.
"Is that a mouth?" Merlin asked.
"Since when do ships have mouths?" Saya asked.
"This isn't normal?" Zorro questioned.
"The Wraiths' ships are part organic." Murphy explained, "This way, if it gets damaged, they won't have too much work restoring the damage."
"You mean the ship heals itself?" Zorro asked, "Interesting."
Heavy footsteps could be heard, coming from that hole. Both Zorro and Saya drew their swords, while Merlin just took a defensive stance. Slowly, two figures appeared from that hole. One of them was tall, had long white hair, a dark suit, a strange-looking mask and green skin. The other looked like one of Garcia's soldiers, except that there was a certain shine to him, like he was made of glass.
"FLAME UP!" Merlin shouted.
The soldier burst into flames, as did the green-skinned man's hair. I could see the glass man melt down, without so much as a scream, while Zorro watched, surprise visible in his eyes, even through that mask of his. Saya raised her sword, stabbed it through the green man's heart, and then sliced it through his chest.
Once that man was down, Murphy spoke: "Careful. Wraith aren't easy to kill. Especially when they've just fed, they'll regenerate damaged tissue."
Saya looked at the green man, this Wraith as Murphy just said they're called. I looked too. His flaming hair had started to burn the cut Saya made, making it impossible to heal.
"I don't think he'll be much trouble." Saya said.
"That's two down." Merlin said, "How many more to go?"
"Too many." Murphy said, "You have no choice but to destroy the ship."
"Destroy it?" Zorro asked, "What about the people they have taken?"
"They're probably already turned." Saya said.
"You don't know that!" Zorro reasoned.
"If you like, we'll take a look first." Merlin suggested.
"There's no time for that." Murphy told us, "As long as Kyrano is still on the loose, there's no telling what he might do."
"Then how about this?" Zorro said, "You three go and search for other people, while I'll take care of Kyrano."
"Sounds like a plan." Saya agreed, "Let's go."

The four of us ran inside. The corridors were damp with fog, the floors were covered with what looked like sand, but didn't smell like it. The walls were dark, but had this strange look about them. The closer I looked, the more I noticed they were almost exactly made of the same materials as a bee-hive. So these Wraith are like bees? It was an odd way to think of them that way. I can live with them having just two arms and two legs, instead of the usual six legs that bees have, but what about their wings? Or theis stings? No sooner had I thought of that, and a light flashed by me.
"Get down!" Saya shouted at me, while pulling me down. From the floor, I could see two more of these big green men, but this time they were carrying what looked like guns. Was that where that light came from? One of those guns? And did I see someone else behind those two men? Was it an Auton? I looked closer. It was in the dark, but it was wearing a long coat. Merlin didn't say anything, but I could see his eyes light up. Somehow, this caused a part of the roof to fall off and fall on those three men.
"Careful." Murphy said, "The one without a mask is not a drone, you should be able to talk to him."
"What do you mean?" Zorro asked, "Are you saying there's a hierarchy among these Wraith?"
Before an answer could come, the debris that fell from the roof moved. Already, Saya ran toward it. The two bigger men had lifted the debris, which made them too preoccupied to bother with Saya. She wrapped her legs around the head of one of them, while she stabbed her sword into the other one's head. While the other was falling down, the first one raised his hands. Before he could do anything, Zorro had already stuck his sword into the man's hand. He couldn't do anything now, so Saya swung her sword and cut the other man ins half.
"Impressive." a hissing voice said.
I got up by that point and moved closer. I could see the third man. He too had long white hair and green skin, but his face had strange tattoos, his mouth was more teeth than anything else.
Zorro held his blade to the little man's throat: "Where is Kyrano?"
"Why should I tell you?" he asked, "You are planning to kill our asset."
"Asset?" Merlin asked, "What do you mean?"
"He can mingle with the people, lure them away, and let us make copies of them." he explained, "Take that away, and we won't have a way of invading other worlds."
"Oh really?" Zorro didn't believe him, "I thought you had a large army. Why don't you just attack us all and be done with it?"
"Because they're weak." Saya just realized, "We've destroyed one of their bases. M here witnessed the destruction of another. The Army is getting weaker. You can't afford to just attack entire worlds en masse anymore, can you?"
The Wraith hissed. As soon as that happened, something underneath him started to move. At first it seemed to flow like a river, but slowly it started to pile up on itself, as if forming a mountain.
"Kill him!" Murphy commanded, "Kill the Wraith now!"
Saya didn't hesitate, and stuck her sword in the Wraith's belly, killing him instantly. As he died, the thing that moved, fell down again, like it was never there in the first place.
"What was that?" Merlin wondered.
"He was trying to create an Auton." Murphy speculated, "So kill him, and he'll be gone."
"Kill all the Wraith, and there won't be any more Autons?" Zorro asked, "Even at the pueblo?"
"Looks that way." Merlin replied.
Saya didn't say a thing. She just ran off.
"Saya, where are you going?" Merlin called after her, but since she didn't answer, Merlin followed her, leaving me alone with Zorro.
"You better go with them." Zorro suggested to me, "Make sure they won't forget about the people trapped in here. I'll go see if I can find Kyrano."
He ran off. At first I thought of doing as he told me, but then I realized something else. If I did exactly that, I'd be running across more Wraith and Autons. Merlin and Saya seemed to be doing very well on their own, and I'd just be standing in their way. Zorro, on the other hand, knew even less about any of this than any of us. He might actually need my help more than Saya and Merlin did. So I followed after him instead.