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Chapter 12-Shiny! Shiny!—

Rachel's P.O.V….

I started to walk away, well stalk away. I was a little frustrated because a little part of me was still pissed at even after all this. 'Why in the world would James make me look for a ship? He could have probably picked a better one than me. I have no clue what I'm fucking looking for. Maybe he didn't trust Zim. Oh well. I really don't trust him much either to be truthful,' I thought to myself frowning.

I stopped to see what the ships looked like around me. There were all sorts of shapes and sizes around me and several looked very beat up. Several looked way too small for our little group. Many were too damaged to even make me feel comfortable about stepping onto even the ramp of them.

One though, just one, caught my eye. It was huge and of an ethereal silver coloring. It looked like it had no seams and like it had been molded from mercury. The ship had an odd shape though. I thought it looked a little like something that I had seen before, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I shrugged it off and walked toward it planning on try to see just how big this thing was on the outside.

Before I even got twenty feet away from it a squeak startled me and I jumped. A black ball hovered in front of my face, scaring me again. "Don't do that!" I growled.

It gave a chirp that sounded sad. It started to hover away. "Sorry," I said and it stopped. "I didn't mean to growl at you. I just don't like to be scared or surprised. We've had enough scares as it is lately."

It gave a few small clicks and a chirp. That seemed to be a sorry also. I reached out and petted it. It gave a happy squeak and started to shake. The outer shell cracked in several places. Pieces started to shift and moved and started to change shape.

"I think I broke it," I said and stepped backwards. Unsure if it was going to explode at this point or not.

Several pieces slid around on the small sphere. They rearranged for a little while and then stopped. I watched as it hung there for a few seconds in the air. But I squeaked when it fell to the floor, in the shape of a black oval instead of a circle.

"Rachel what happened?" James asked as he turned the corner alone.

"One of Wren's floating black ball friend's scared the crap out of me. I snapped at it, said sorry and touched it. It started to change and then stopped and fell to the floor in the shape of an egg. I did not do it." I stated rushed, not moving.

"I believe you," James said with a small laugh as he took my hand. "But I think it is moving again. Look."

I turned back around to see that the egg shape was shivering. I leaned over to get a closer look and it cracked. "Whoa!" I yelped and fell backwards. James caught me and steadied me. We watched the egg hatch. It cracked more and a piece fell off. A foot with three claws pushed its way out.

Five minutes later it was out of its egg type thing. It shook its head and fell down. It seemed to be a little metal oriental dragon. It was a little smaller than Rouk, but a lot longer than she was. It blinked at me, blue eyes dancing with laughter at the shock I seemed to be in. "That is really not right," I commented as I bent over to pet it. Chirping and turning its head, it watched me. I scratched it under its chin and it started to purr and closed its eyes.

"Rachel, we need to find a ship before more guards come. I don't think that another attack is good for either of both parties," James said.

"I know. I was looking at a ship. It might fit all four of us. No, wait. Zim are you going to go with us?" I asked, knowing he had turned the corner with Wren because of their footsteps. I looked at him from over my shoulder curiously as he held onto Wren. She had rested her head on his shoulder lightly and was gazing at the floor eyes dead and hollow.

He shrugged his shoulders as best he could. "What is the point of going anywhere else? I'm pretty sure they destroyed my ship. The Empire really doesn't want me either. That's how I got caught in the first place. Where else am I going to go? And at this rate I thought you would have insisted so you can drive me madder than I already am."

"Oooo. That is an idea," I grinned mischievously.

"So are you going with us? Fine by me," James said with an indifferent shrug.

"For some reason, I feel like I have made a mistake," Zim frowned and shook his head.

"Okay. Well, back to the ship. It is the one right in front of us." I gestured behind me. "It looks familiar to me but I don't know. It basically caught my eye because it was big and shiny."

James and Zim shook their heads at me, then looked at the ship. "Let's just see if it works," James stated and started toward it.

I started to turn around and saw the little dragon watching me. It gave a chirp and giggled. I looked at it funny because I wasn't sure how something could giggle like that. Giving me a hard look and placing all four feet on the floor firmly, it gave me a series of chirps, squeaks, and growls. It looked as though it was scolding me.

"Fine, fine," I said while bending down and holding out my hand to it. It jumped and landed on my arm and hand. "There, happy now?" I asked. It gave a little chirp of contentment and placed its head on my fingers, beginning to fall asleep. "Oy," I muttered and pulled it to my stomach, heading off after the others.

I turned a corner to see that James had left Wren with Zim, who was still keeping her standing. He was looking off toward the ship a little warily. I frowned and came up beside him. "Where did James go?" I asked. Zim jumped and glared at me.

"He went to see how big that ship really is and even if it is a ship at all," Zim replied. "I'm doing what he told me to do. And don't startle me like that."

"Oh. If you would have been paying attention, I wouldn't have startled you," I hummed noncommittally.

A few minutes later, James appeared from the side of the ship. He was grinning happily. "This is a nice ship. No damage from what I can see on the outside except for a few dull areas, but it will hold just fine. At least I think it will. I'm no expert but I have a good feeling about this ship. We need to find a way inside though. I saw no door whatsoever."

"Try the panel on the side," Wren murmured softly.

"Wha?" we all asked unsure we had even heard her at all.

Wren's P.O.V….

"There should be a panel on this side of the ship," I again answered, but a little louder. I roused myself enough to move forward and Zim followed me, arm still around my waist though I wasn't sure why. I had no clue why I stepped to the side of the ship and looked at it. I knew I was right though. This was a ship that I thought had only existed in my imagination but here it was. It was sitting as real as the arm around my waist and as real as everything had been the past couple of days which I only wanted to forget now.

Placing my hand on the panel in front of me, I put pressure on my index finger, pinkie, and the heal of my palm. A light appeared around the panel and clicks were heard from inside the walls of the ship. The door opened with a small whoosh and released a gush of stale air. I covered my nose and mouth at the smell that was released but watched as a ramp extended toward the ground from the door that was three feet off of the ground.

"Wren, how did you know how to open the ship?" Rachel asked warily.

I didn't answer. I had gone back to being silent again because what was the point? Personally I wasn't sure if they would believe me if I told them I had seen this ship in my dreams for years.

"Wren, since you opened the ship, is there anyone or anything inside?" James asked.

I turned to him and shook my head. "The air is really stale. That shows that nothing has been in there for a while."

"And you know that for sure… how?" Rachel asked.

"The power to open the door is on its own mechanism. When the door is open, it is supposed to connect a circuit to turn on the main power supply. No main power, no way to recycle air. No recycled air is bad news. The lights should have been on constantly. But they are not so that's also a sign that the main power supply needs restarted. Anyway…" I trailed off.

"This ship looks like it was brought in, never opened, and no power on for several months or even years," Zim suggested. He looked over to me. I nodded to confirm what he said was probably true.

"Oh," James said with a nod. "But how do you know how this thing works?"

I didn't reply again but bit my lip lightly. I gave a slight shrug of my shoulders.

"You can tell us later," Rachel said and walked up beside James. "But are you sure that it is safe to use?"

"Umm… Before we start to go, the core might need looked over and rebooted, but I really don't know for sure," I commented running a hand lightly along the side of the ship.

"Oy.." Rachel groaned.

"Well, Wren, could you take us to the helm? Then you could tell us what needs to be done," James said.

I nodded before sliding out of Zim's grip. I slid my hand into his before heading inside the ship. My eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness that permeated the inside of the ship. A soft blue light started to glow from behind me. I turned to see GIR's eyes giving off the light.

"We are going to have to take the stairs since the main power is down. Rouk, a little light please?" I asked her. I knew that Rachel and James couldn't see as well as I could in the darkness. I looked back and saw that Rachel had locked hands with James to keep from being separated from him.

Rouk's tail split at the tip. The light that it gave off lit the area and showing dust and a single set of footprints upon the floor. "I thought no one has been in here," said Rachel a bit shakily and she stepped closer to James.

"No, someone has been in here, but it has been quite a long time. See?" I replied and bent down only to cake two fingers with more dust as I swiped them through the footprints. "Dust has already settled into these prints."

"Oh," Rachel muttered. "But that still does not mean that the maker of those prints isn't still here."

"They'd be dead if they were," I replied. "There would have been too much of a bad air build up without any filtering. Now we need to head to the helm before anyone comes looking for us. This way." I moved to my right. "The helm will be in the head."

"The head?" Zim asked, still beside me.

"I'll explain everything later. Right now though I wish I had more light," I said.

The other two spheres, which had followed us, flew ahead. Small ports opened on their outsides and light illuminated the area even more. "Thanks my friends," I said and patted both of them. Each gave a happy squeak and chirp and continued to hover in front of me as I walked.

Continuing on, I started to hear whispers. I could hear Rachel's and James' voices. I knew what they were saying. My ears swiveled to catch what they were saying and slowly flattened to my skull and I kept the pain of what they were saying to myself.

Rachel's P.O.V….

'How did she know how to open it?' I thought to myself as we followed her. 'What did they do to her when they took her?'

Wren had known how to open the ship. That confused me a lot. But I did remember at some point in time Wren talking about a ship almost like this one. I thought to myself as we followed her. 'Is this really something that they could have done to her though? Especially if I remember her mentioning something like this before.'

James nudged my shoulder with his and gave me a questioning glance. He seemed to know what I was thinking. "How did she know how to open the ship?" James asked me in a very, very low whisper.

"Just what I was wondering," I replied back in a whisper that was just as low. "But I don't know what they did to her when they took her. And it was all my fault that they did," I added, looking at the ground. "But there's a chance that it's not something that they did though. I just don't know anymore."

"Rachel, there's nothing you can do about that. It's in the past and you should let it be. After all, do you think you would have found me if it had never happened?"

"No… but still."

James pulled me closer to him. "But nothing. We'll just keep an eye on her okay?"

"Yeah, but I don't know what to do if she was affected by whatever was done to her."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," James replied and hugged me close to him.

"I guess we will," I answered and continued to follow the light beams.

Soon we came to what seemed to be a dead end. Wren placed her hand on a panel on the wall and the whole thing slid up. Inside was black nothingness.

"Wren…" I started to ask.

"Yes, Rachel. I know what I am doing. We were going to take the stairs but this lift runs on its own power like the door. It will take us to the bridge. It will be much much faster than the stairs. Or would you rather take the stairs?" she asked not even looking at me.

"I trust you, but only because I don't want to take the stairs," I replied with a sigh.

"Good," she said and stepped into the area. Zim sighed and followed her because she still had a hold of his hand. We followed both of them into the spot with room to spare. Wren let go of Zim's hand and had sat down and pulled a panel off of the wall.

"I thought you said this lift has its own power?" commented Zim looking about the space.

"It does. But you have to do it manually first," Wren explained and twisted two wires together and touched a third to the two. The lift started to move with a jolt. "But once you know which cords then it is pretty simple." Then she shrugged.

"Can you stop it is the only question?" asked James.

"Yes. I just separate the cords. Like now." Wren then pulled them apart and everything stopped.

The door opened and revealed a black void. Personally I was getting really tired of black voids. Nothing good ever seemed to come from them. The two spheres hovered out and lit the room, but only to an extent.

"This place is bigger than I first thought," muttered Wren, speaking her thoughts aloud looking about the room as well as she could while leaning out the door.

"Huh?" we all asked.

"Oh sorry. I was just saying that the helm was bigger than I first thought. The helm is probably at an an-…" Wren trailed off there as she tested the floor with a foot and was cut off because she lost her grip on the door frame. We watched as her eyes grew wide as she started to slide.

"Wren!" I yelped and reached out to try and grab her before she slid too far out of my reach. My fingers brushed the palm of her hand but slipped away as fast as I had touched her hand. James grabbed me by the waist trying to keep me from following after her into the darkness.