If this was a ship, it didn't match anything he expected. Instead of cold, artificial walls, vines and tree branches lined everything in the corridor, as though they were part of the ship itself. Birds flitted among them, chattering away to each other with cheerful melodies.

He peaked through the slightly opened door checking for passers-by before opening the door all the way and stepping out into the corridor. Given the length of the corridor, he got the impression this was a very large ship. It hummed with a distant engine sound.

Sans tried teleporting to save time and effort, but it didn't work for some reason. He hated walking but it looked like there was no choice.

Sans took a few tentative steps into the hall, and exhaled slowly as nothing happened. He passed by a few doorways without meeting anyone.

But before long, he ran straight into a large white and gray wolf, patrolling the hallways. It gave Sans a very steely look, and sniffed towards him. Sans realized he was speckled in Rose's blood, and the wolf probably smelled it. Following the scent trail back to the office, the wolf sniffed Rose's gold pearl-like shield ball and the pool of blood underneath it, snuffling anxiously. The wolf returned from the office, lowered its head and growled, moving towards Sans.

Sans didn't have any quarrel with this wolf. He wouldn't use a damaging attack. He used a blue gravity attack, and the wolf floated with a surprised yip. They regarded each other for a few moments. Now helpless, the wolf stared at him with soulful, sad eyes.

"hey...you're giving me waves of guilt, here, pup," Sans said. The wolf whined sorrowfully, looking between him and the direction of the office, pawing at the air.

At that moment, Aldyr the first officer turned a corner and saw them both. He'd been coming to check on Rose, having been alerted by the sensors she'd returned to the ship. He was surprised to see Sans alone with Kiro, Rose's wolf companion.

On seeing a new person, Sans released the wolf. Although the dogs back home sometimes tried to chase skeletons to chew on them, he'd learned to fear humans more than canines. If this human was going to attack, he'd save his magic for them instead.

"What's going on here?" Aldyr asked.

Kiro howled, speaking long sentences in wolf. Aldyr seemed to understand.

"Ok Kiro. At least she's in stasis," he said grimly. "Go get Khermos."

Kiro sprinted down the hall, and a short time later, chief medical officer Khermos and his assistants came and retrieved Rose, bringing her out of stasis and rushing her to the med bay.

Meanwhile, Aldyr asked Sans, "Well, skeleton, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"You people have been killing my friends. I did what I had to do to stop it."

Aldyr bit his lip. "I don't remember killing your friends. Are you sure you're accusing the right people?"

It was an honest question. Sans couldn't help but respond on the same level. "A killer has been stalking and murdering my brother, my friends, and our people. They've killed over 100 of us. When I tried to stop them, and was fighting them, the killer split into three people. One of them was Rose."

"I see," Aldyr said. "We are not a bad people. We would not let even our captain get away with murdering anyone. But I suspect this is a case of mistaken identity. Will you come with me now, and we will decide on guilt or innocence later?"

"I don't think so," Sans said. If this human was part of Rose's crew, maybe he was no different than the Anomaly. He couldn't trust him.

At the thought of the Anomaly who had been murdering his friends for so long, his fury returned, and his left eye glowed bright blue. Sensing danger, all of the small birds nearby scattered in a panic and flew away down the corridor.

"Aren't you the one she was trying to save?" Aldyr asked, alarmed. "What happened?"

He got answered with attacks of bones and Blasters. Aldyr used his shield and dodging to avoid damage, but he didn't react quite fast enough to prevent his cape being singed on the bottom edge.

Aldyr could see Sans was not in the best mental state. He looked tired, and emotionally scarred. His demeanor had layers of sadness, too. Sans had been driven to this point by things that had happened to him. He wasn't doing this because he wanted to.

"It's obvious you're furious and you've been through a lot, but please calm down. No one here is going to hurt you," Aldyr said, panting from dodging the attacks.

"why not just kill me like you did everyone else? that's what you people do right? kill them and then reset with a computer? what are we, some kind of lab experiment?" Sans said in a dead voice. He attacked again.

Aldyr dodged, and a line of bones was buried in the corridor wall behind him.

Man, that's dark, Aldyr thought. What was going on here? He rubbed one of his eyes, trying to construct a diplomatic and truthful response, while he kept the other eye open for an attack.

Aldyr looked at Sans, clear-eyed and direct.

"We'd never do something like that. Not on this ship. I'd die first," Aldyr asserted. "Give me a chance to sort this out."

It wasn't enough. Sans was still tense, magic flaring and ready to strike him down.

Aldyr was worried someone else would get badly hurt if this continued, even with his best efforts. The ship was filled with animals, and many of them didn't have personal shields like the crew. They shouldn't be fighting here in the corridor where one of the eagles might come flying along at any second.

"Please..." Aldyr said. "If you really won't stop fighting, can we take this elsewhere? My friends might get hit with your blasts otherwise. My captain and my friend is already almost dead from your attacks. How much more are you going to hurt them?"

Aldyr's concern for his friends knocked Sans out of his dark haze, reminding him of better times.

Sans checked Aldyr's stats to try to determine his LV and EXP.

"ALDYR. LV 3. EXP 48. Spends his time worrying about everyone," he read.

Sans closed his eyesockets for a moment. When he opened them again, he was out of battle mode. He was already worried he'd made a mistake in assuming the worst with Rose. He would not make the same mistake twice. Although LV 3 wasn't great, at least this human didn't have maxed out LV.

"i guess maybe you're not as bad as i thought. i think we can call it quits for now."

"That's good news. Will you come with me now, and in return I'll do my best to help you get some answers?" Aldyr asked.

"all right," Sans said.

"My name is Aldyr, by the way," Aldyr said. "I'm the first officer here."

"sans," Sans replied. "sans the skeleton."

"Pleased to meet you, Sans," Aldyr said. He led Sans towards the med bay. He had to get answers on Rose's condition before he did anything else.