The Bunny stopped at the foot of the mountain where the grass grew sparse and yellow. It chirruped and shook itself. Digging her fingers into its soft fur, it was all she could do to keep herself from being flung off the animal's back and into the sheer rock face. Lowering herself down, she managed just to fall off and roll onto her back. A flock of birds flew overhead, their keening calls like seagulls.

Then the birds scattered and she saw that one wasn't a bird. It hung in the air, silvery white, glittering in the sun, twice the size of any bird she had ever seen.

She ran. The grass was wet around her ankles. Her feet ached - she thought one shoe was coming loose at the sole. Her breath came out in rags. She counted the fences, not daring to look behind her. Soon she saw the dirt track that led up to the Lolloping Lagomorph, where she lived. The inn sign, a large brown Bunny in mid-jump, swung in the breeze that suddenly became stronger. She ran up and banged on the door until it was opened by a large, fat man in a brown tunic. The innkeeper blinked, stepped outside and looked around. He didn't appear to have noticed her standing on the doorstep.

"Let me in! Please!" she gasped. The innkeeper looked right past her. He looked around again, shook his head, walked back into the inn and slammed the door shut.

She turned on her heel and ran. She ran down the path, back along the lane and into the field. Then she let out a scream of rage, confusion and fear that echoed up into the calm sphere of the darkening sky. It felt like she was shouting at the cigar-shaped thing in the sky, reprimanding it as though it was the source of all her troubles, even though she had never seen anything like it before and had no idea what it was.

As if in answer, music started playing. Loud music, all around her, from out of nowhere. She recognised it as 'New World', a hymn to Tria. Music in the sky... a choir of Tria's Valkyries... the Bunnies were bouncing around in circles and chirruping in time to the music. She knew animals were easily affected by the presence of spirits... were the Bunnies responding to something she couldn't see? She walked towards them. The small female recognised her and bounded up to her, chirruping. She stroked it gently and whispered into its ear.

"What's happening, Bunny?" she asked, pointing into the sky, "What's happening to us?"

The Bunny chirped and nibbled her fingers, searching for the lettuce leaves that it remembered from last time. Gwesty yelped and swatted it away.

"We must pray." she told it, closing her eyes and clasping her hands together, "We must pray to Tria for our souls. Then it can't hurt us."

The darkness grew thicker and more oppressive, the wind stronger and the air colder. She could hear a faint buzzing that was also growing louder, and a ticking like a great pendulum. Reciting Tria's prayer over and over again, she did not open her eyes again, afraid for what she would see. She prayed that Tria would send her to safety. Somewhere else. She didn't care where. Somewhere far away.

--------------------------------

The boy sat in the Communications Officer's chair and admired his handiwork. He was amazed at how much he had achieved in a short space of time. His little MP3 player, connected to the ship's communication channels via a USB port, had produced such a loud noise that he could broadcast all the way to the planet's surface. He played 'New World'. That was what this was: a completely new world. To him, at least. From the observation window, it looked like a beautiful blue sphere with wispy white clouds. As far as he could remember, he had never been on a planet. The lady told him he had been born on a planet, a big white planet, the biggest in the Tria galaxy, bustling with people, massive cities, ships docking and taking off around the clock. He couldn't imagine anything being that big. He missed his satellite. His new sound system was fun but he hadn't asked the lady first and he was worried he would be punished.

"Nice music."

He turned around. Once again, he hadn't spotted her lounging in the Captain's chair, one hand tapping keys on the ship controls rather impatiently.

"We're leaving." she said.

"But I thought you were going to see that girl..."

"She won't come with us." she said.

"You can't make her come?" he couldn't imagine anyone successfully putting up resistance against this maiden of warfare.

"I don't even know where she is any more." she said, "We don't have time to look."

"Where are we going now?"

"To the Central Hub."

"Will I see my parents?"

"You may well do."

She turned back to the controls, ignoring him. With barely a sound, the ship took off and the cerulean sphere receded from view. He changed the background music to a sad song, although not a Game Over tune - the poor kid was terrified of them. Poor boy, she thought, I wish I could be sure. I have no idea who his father is - he's just an entity - and his mother does whatever the hell she wants to. I'm failing these kids. I failed to find Gwesty and now she's gone. Still, I know now that I don't have to worry about her any more. If I can't find her, the XINE can't find her. Nothing on Tria will be able to get to that girl if she doesn't want them to. But does she know how to wield that power of hers? She's only an eight-year-old kid... she was responding automatically from fear and anger... can she really control the forces she's unleashed upon the world?

She watched the little boy carefully change the track, sweat forming on his brow, and prayed to Tria that Gwesty wouldn't have to learn in the same way as him.