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Mission No. 12

Venom
Laboratory Halls

"In the Open"

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Fox and his Cerinian charge sank deeper into the compound. He began to wonder if the lab was just a bottomless hell that only hide more sick, twisted monsters the farther down they went. Was there even an end to it all? Did all the ape's work culminate in one awful creature sleeping far below?

The further they crept through the Beast's intestines the warmer the stale air grew. They had made it to the outgoing section of the air filtration system, meaning it was both hot and muggy. The two vulpines began to perspire, which made them slip awkwardly through the grimy vents like a defunct waterpark slide. Fox's clothes clung tightly to his damp fur, and the air became filled with their sweaty musk.

Eventually they came upon another vent grate, which Fox likewise blasted. It still managed to cling to its hinges, so he pivoted around in the compact vent space, braced his back against the rear wall, and kicked outwards with his feet.

The cover flew off and clattered to the ground outside. Fox went first, squeezing himself through the opening to arrive in a large, cylindrical airduct. The vent exit he'd come through sat in the side of the curved wall, so as soon as Fox let go he slid down the inside of the tube like a skateboard park.

Coming to a stop at the bottom of the trough, he stood up and brushed the seat of his pants off, studying his surroundings.

The tunnel was cavernous; it needed to be with how much constant filtration was required to purify Venom's atmosphere—especially since it needed to reach a hundred stories down. Fox recognized the type of airduct immediately: the same build as the one he'd used to penetrate Andross's lair, which did not put him at ease…

Fox heard a scuffling behind him and jumped, only to turn and see 28 come sliding down after him. She couldn't help but laugh at the ride, which made the todd smile. Even in a dark place like this she could somehow find amusement in the simplest of things.

Fox gave her a hand up, and they paused a moment in the warm draft. He wiped some sweat from his brow, then licked a finger and held it up to the air. Once he identified where the stale breeze was going, they set out in that direction.

The pair had escaped the Beast's digestive organs only to enter its respiratory system. Somewhere deep inside, its lungs revitalized the poisonous Venomian air, but Fox and 28 had to find the exit through its "nostrils", so to speak. Each footstep they took echoed horrendously, the soundwaves bouncing back and forth down the spacious tunnels until they faded around each corner.

After several minutes of walking, a light shone up ahead, much brighter than any of the service lights lining the airduct. Before they knew it, they had stumbled upon the exit to the valley. Fox remembered seeing it from the viewing window Beltino showed him; he had also flown through similar cliffs during his initial assault on Venom. But now as he stared out over the barren rocks, sharp crags, and dusty riverbed, everything seemed eerily quiet. His ears twitched and swiveled on his head, as if searching for signs of an ambush. The valley should've been swarming with Venomian tanks and fighter craft, but of course remained empty.

"Come on, let's make our way down."

"Jaii."

The Cerinian followed him to the edge of the airduct, but suddenly erupted in a fit of coughs.

Fox's nose recoiled, and he understood what was happening; they were now fully exposed to Venom's air. A few minutes would cause uncontrollable coughs; an hour, a nauseous stomach; several more, and they'd be asphyxiated by the poisonous elements in the atmosphere—but Fox had come prepared for just such a predicament. He unzipped his small pack and whipped out a filtration mask: a black rubber device that covered the nose and mouth, purifying the air one inhaled through a series of round chemical filters that resembled a snout. If the two of them shared it smartly, they'd be able to survive four-to-five hours in the open before the purification chemicals ran out.

Fox moved to place the mask over 28's muzzle first, but she shrank back from the admittedly ghastly-looking article. Fox understood at once; she had bad experiences with her own oxygen mask in the labs, and he'd only just freed her from having to wear one a few hours ago.

"Hey, it's nothing to be afraid of."

To show her it was alright he donned first and breathed in deeply, until his lungs felt rejuvenated again.

"See? Now you try."

He offered the mask to 28, who quickly grasped how to use it. She placed it over her muzzle and inhaled gratefully, while Fox shielded his uncovered nose with his arm in the meantime.

Together they descended into the valley below. They had already traversed several floors inside the lab, so they weren't too far from the basin. They jumped the rest of the way and landed in the dust-caked riverbed, which had probably dried up millennia ago.

The sound of engines gave Fox pause, and his ears stood on end.

"Hide!"

The two vulpines pressed themselves as flat as possible against the rocky cliff face, staring up at the sky.

A pair of Cornerian drone ships buzzed through the valley, their rotary blades whipping the dust up like a whirlwind. Their searchlights scanned the riverbed, probing for the escaped foxes.

How did he let this happen? Fox asked. How did he suddenly find himself on the wrong side of the law? If this were any other situation, he would be right up there with the guards chasing down the perpetrator, but now…

"We need to hide somewhere," he thought out loud. "Wait till the searches cool down, or at least until there's an opening in the net. Then we need to find level ground for my Arwing to land. If they don't have it impounded."

"Jaii."

Once sound of the drone's blades faded down the canyon, they set off again, sticking close to the cliffside. The Venomian valleys offered many outcroppings and overhangs to take refuge beneath whenever subsequent search parties approached—and approach they did, several more nail-biting times.

The going was rough, as they had to pass their shared filtration mask back-and-forth while navigating the uneven rock floor. Many a time they lost their balance, but caught each other before falling too far. Making matters worse, the Cornerian scout ships buzzed overhead like clockwork, forcing them to hide for a few minutes at a time before the coast was clear again.

Oftentimes Fox would look back to check on his charge, only to find her looking over her own shoulder. Her ears would prick at the slightest sound, causing her to go on the alert. Even when there were no drones in sight or earshot, she seemed to think they—or something else—was always on their tail, following.

"Relax," Fox eventually said, finding her checking over her shoulder for the hundredth time. "There isn't anyone nearby. They won't catch us, but even if they do, I'm sure they won't hurt us. They're not like that. They're just… scared of you is all."

28 acted startled when he noticed her paranoia, and from that moment on she tried to hide it from him—but his words did nothing to assuage her fears.

Eventually they came upon Venom's large temple, built by some unknown predecessor race thousands of years prior. It was badly weathered by years of decay, but more recently scarred in the final battle for Venom.

As Fox helped the vixen climb onto the stone slab floor, he remembered flying through these expansive halls. He didn't have time to admire the sights, as he was just on the heels of one of Andross's oversized mechs: one made to resemble the ancient statues lining the temple walls. From the ground at the base of the towering, decaying columns, the temple seemed so much bigger.

He considered summoning his Arwing here; the stone floor would make the perfect runway, but the temple hall was incredibly long and only had two exits large enough for a single ship to fit through. If the Cornerians realized what was going on, they could easily bottle him up inside the hall, and that would be the end of him.

Eventually they reached a large chamber, which Fox assumed was the midway point. The atrium loomed several floors tall, with the roof arching far overhead. All along the columned walls and tiered floors were stone statues in different states of decay. They looked vaguely simian, but it was hard to tell in the darkness.

It was getting dark. The only source of light were the two doorways at either end of the long tunnel—and a strange window overhead. Fox only noticed it because a strange pattern of light was cast on the overhead wall. Looking up, he saw where it came from: a round hole in the roof made to let in sunlight. As the sun rose overhead, the light traveled over the floor and across the wall on either side: down the west wall during morning, and up the east wall at sunset. But the odd thing about it was the pattern itself, created by the stone lattice covering it: an intricate, labyrinthine circle formed by one unbroken line of light.

Fox's brow furrowed. It resembled the symbol he found scrawled on the back of his mother's photograph—only ten times as complex. Had they meant to lead him here, too?

Fox didn't linger in the atrium. The filter they shared between them would only last so long. They had to keep moving; no time to stop and search for more clues. But in truth, Fox didn't want to spend a second longer in the unsettling hall than he had to…

Once again Fox felt overwhelmed by how empty the temple was. It felt like more of a tomb now that Golemech was destroyed, and Andross's defenses routed from within. Was it a tomb? Were the bodies of ancient lords still buried here, lying in decay since the beginning of time?

For a few moments, Fox even forgot he was travelling with the Cerinian. He felt completely alone, the isolated nature of the planet getting to his head. Venom's powerful gusts of wind swept through the halls, chilling his fur. As the breeze passed over holes and side-passages in the walls, it created a hair-raising howl that set him on edge. The planet's inhabitants had died off thousands or even millions of years ago, only leaving behind these skeletal, crumbling relics. For a moment he felt like the only one left on the planet: like an exile himself. Perhaps he would be, if he was found kidnapping a research specimen.

Despair overpowered him.

Then a paw clasped his own, and he looked into the bright blue eyes of the vixen at his side. Even just bathing in them for a few moments was enough to dispel his hopelessness and give him courage, recharging his spirit better than the clean breaths from the filtration mask. He wasn't lost anymore; he wasn't aimlessly drifting through life. He had a purpose again, and a mission. She was relying on him. His parents were relying on him. He couldn't let any of them down.

And he wasn't alone.

Fox lost track of how long they walked through the stone hall. It sure didn't take this long flying through it. But after a half hour or so they emerged on the opposite side. Before them lay the center of Andross's complex: the dome-shaped entrance to his personal lair, the rows and columns of towers bearing his hideous face, and the ICC's courthouse constructed in its ashes. But most importantly of all, flat, relatively level fields for his Arwing to land in and pick them up.

At least, from afar they looked like it.

Now that Fox was closer he realized the fields were like everywhere else in the wasteland. Hills, fallen towers, and rocky crags littered the entire landscape, meaning his Arwing would never survive an impromptu landing there.

Fox and the Cerinian dropped off the temple ledge and onto the barren wasteland steppe, where they resumed their march. As before the ground was full of sharp rocks and uneven footing, making it extremely toiling to cross. They had already traveled for hours that day, both in the labs and on the surface, and neither one had even a morsel of food to fuel them. Their stomachs growled in protest, demanding sustenance.

Only now did the girl begin to tire. She seemed light-headed and dizzy, as if at any second she might faint. She motioned for the filtration mask more often, and had to use it longer while gasping desperately for breath. Fox found her leaning more and more on him for support, and he realized they'd have to stop for a bit before making it to a level field.

He didn't let them rest until they found a warm exhaust port that billowed smoke from some unseen compound underground. The heat would keep them warm in the merciless Venomian cold while also masking their thermal signatures if any drones passed by, and a natural ditch dug around the port would keep anyone from imaging them directly.

"Alright," Fox finally gave in, "we'll stop here for an hour or so; at least until we can recover some energy."

Both vulpines gratefully dropped to the ground inside the ditch and arranged their aching bodies on the unforgiving stones. When 28 moaned and placed a hand on her stomach, Fox felt a pang of guilt and searched through his pack for food. He came up with a single nature bar made from caramelized oats and puffed rice, drizzled with syrup and chocolate. He briefly considered splitting it in half, but then realized it would only supply him with a single mouthful of nutrients, so it wasn't worth it. Instead he unwrapped the bar and passed it over to the Cerinian.

"Here, eat this," he instructed.

28 accepted the granola bar, seeming confused. Curious, she sniffed it, then took a tentative lick. Her eyes lit up from the taste, and she proceeded to attack it with her tongue—but she never once took an actual bite.

Fox snickered. "Well, aren't you gonna eat it? Or are you trying to count how many licks it takes to get to the center of a granola bar?"

She glanced between him and the wet food, then offered it back to him, thinking he wanted a taste too.

He raised his hands. "Er, no thanks, I'm on a diet."

Shrugging, 28 went back to licking it.

"Anyway, we should rest up for a time—at least till the search party shifts their focus. You should get some sleep—you look like you need it."

Fox untied the jacket from around his waist and folded it several times. He placed it on the ground beside the girl and patted it.

"Here, this'll help. Lay your head here."

Catching on, the Cerinian stretched out on the uncomfortable rocks, gratefully placing her head on Fox's makeshift pillow. She wrapped her arms around the front of her lab coat and curled up, basking in the warmth from the exhaust vent.

Fox leaned back against the rocks on his side of the crevice, similarly bundling himself. Curiously, he looked over at the vixen while she rested.

"Hey… you can understand me, can't you?"

She stared at him, blinking.

"You can speak Cornerian. I… I heard you back in the labs. But when you spoke, your lips didn't move. How did you do that?"

28 continued to study him for a moment, eying Fox up-and-down. She bit her lip, seeming to debate. For a time she remained silent, and all they heard was the rumbling of the exhaust port and the howl the harsh Venomian wind created over the lip of the crevice.

The vixen suddenly got up, crawling towards him.

Unsettled, Fox sat up as well, wondering what she was up to—but he couldn't back away fast enough. Soon, she had him trapped against the back wall of the crevice, crouching over him on all fours with no respect for his physical space.

"Uh, what are you—?"

"Tashich shintrau siekim…"

Closing her eyes, she lay her forehead against his and held it there.

Fox flinched, taken aback by her forwardness, but he didn't withdraw. Instead he held perfectly still, not even daring to breathe or swallow. For all his fear of the girl, admittedly the sensation was… nice. Soothing, even—if he wasn't so frightened of her.

Then, he felt something—not outside him, but inside. In the same way one grasps an exterior object and feels its harsh boundaries, Fox's mind felt the edges of another. It bumped up with his own, and the two came to rest against each other. It left no trace in any of his other senses, whether it be sight, smell, or touch. He could only feel certain voices whispering beneath the liquid surface of the other mind. He could "see" different colors like one might imagine a ghost or apparition or an elephant in the room, only the difference was, it was not up to him to choose what he imagined; he was just the spectator to another's imagination.

Then, their two minds overlapped.

Fox gasped; at once he was transported to a whole new location. A rush of colors flooded his mind's eye, as well as alien stimulations of all his other senses. He felt something sticky on his side and leg, a dull aching in his tired muscles, the sensation of a thick piece of cloth wrapping around his frame, and the crisp air brushing against his exposed fur.

Only, none of those body parts belonged to him, really.

When Fox opened his eyes again it looked like he was seeing a double-exposure: the girl, sitting across from him… and himself, staring open-mouthed into his own eyes.

He was seeing what she was seeing, he realized.

"What? How are you—?"

Whispers echoed in his mind from a voice which wasn't his own. At first they were quiet and distant, but then they drew nearer and grew louder until they clarified.

'Fox?'

The vulpine started. He hadn't seen her open her mouth this time, either.

"How did you do that? What's going on?"

'We're touching,' her voice said. 'Not with our fingers, but with our selves: with our minds.'

"You-you can speak Cornerian!"

'It is… difficult. I can hear words in your mind, as well as the images they belong to, and form speech with them. But this "Cornerian", it is strange…'

"But how are you in my head?! How am I in yours, looking through your eyes?"

"Shhh!" she placed a finger over his lips. 'You are speaking with your mouth. Speak with your mind; I will hear you.'

Fox's ears flattened. Part of him said this was silly, and that it was all a dream. It was something magicians and psychics performed on holovision to fool gullible crowds. And yet here he was, hearing someone talk with him telepathically. Still, he decided to try anyway.

Hesitantly he thought, '…Hello?'

Removing her forehead from his, 28 sat up and smiled. 'Hello! You understood quicker than most.'

'This is impossible… how long have you been able to do this? To "share minds"?'

'Longer than I knew how to speak, but… not longer than I knew how to cry. Whenever I shared minds, the Watchers seemed to be pleased and treated me better. I did it for their approval.'

'The "Watchers"?'

An image of lab coat-clad Venomians with bug-eyed goggles materialized in Fox's head, and he understood at once. 'Oh… then Andross gave you this power?'

'NO!'

Fox flinched, covering his ears. At once the connection was severed; he no longer saw through two sets of eyes, but found himself squarely back in his own head again, staring at the blue-furred vixen. While he couldn't see inside her mind anymore, he still could hear her thoughts drifting to him.

'No,' she repeated, ashamed of her outburst. 'I was born with this. It is normal for me and my people—the other Cerinians. That is why Andross captured us. He wanted to use us against you Cornerians, but it's too late for that now.'

'That other Cerinian—the one we fought—she had a lot more than telepathy going for her. She had unnatural strength, and could remotely control things. Do you have that power, too?'

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head vigorously. 'No! Nothing like that. Most of us could only read minds, including me.'

'Then, how did you defeat her? It seemed like you made her head hurt—'

'Oh, that. You didn't see me, but I just… knocked her on the back of the head. It's as simple as that, really. I couldn't stand by and let her kill you, so… I hit her.'

Fox looked at her suspiciously, not completely buying her answer.

'Why did you wait so long to tell me this? Why didn't you speak to me sooner?'

28 looked away again, anxiously wringing the hem of her lab coat. 'I… I didn't know if I could trust you with this. If I let you know I could read minds, you might think I was some sort of… monster. A freak. I thought you would turn me back over to the Cornerians, and they might use me the same way Andross did.'

Fox lowered his gaze. 'Oh. I see.'

'Now if you please, I'm getting tired of so many questions. I'd like to—'

'Wait! Just one more.'

She grimaced at the prospect. 'A-alright, but only one more question.'

'What is your name?'

She blinked. "N-nas?"

'I want to know your name! We've been travelling together all day and saved each other several times each. I think it's about time I knew what to call you.'

'Oh, my name…'

'Yeah! You have one, don't you?'

'Of-of course I have a name!' she thought, pouting indignantly. 'Everyone has a name, silly!'

'Well, what is it?'

She stuttered for a moment. Then, her eyes narrowed. 'What does it matter what my name is?'

Fox raised his eyebrows, surprised by her reaction. 'I told you mine was Fox, didn't I? You have to tell me yours to make it fair. Plus I can't just keep saying, "Hey you!" whenever I want to get your attention.'

She crossed her arms obstinately. 'Hmph. Why don't you just call me Cerinian 28 like everyone else?'

Fox remembered seeing the number printed on the side of her tank; that must be what the Venomians always called her by. At once his ears flattened, and his shoulders deflated.

'I'm sorry…'

Noticing she had hurt him, her angry visage softened. 'Look, you can call me…'

She trailed off for a while—an awkwardly long time, in fact.

"Krystal," she stated aloud and with confidence, pronouncing the Cornerian word with a much harsher Venomian K. 'My name is Krystal.'

"Krystal…" Fox looked up at her again, meeting her eyes. 'It's a good name.'

Her eyebrows raised, and she exhaled a breath. 'Really? I mean, th-thank you. Now if you don't mind, your questions tire me…'

The vixen—Krystal—returned to her resting place across from him. She lay back against the rock and rested her head atop Fox's bundled jacket—but she didn't close her eyes. As she nestled into the stone and folded her arms over the lab coat, her fiery blue orbs kept glancing over the lip of the crevice, and back towards her peripherals warily.

"Well, aren't you going to sleep?"

She blinked, tearing her eyes off some imaginary pursuer in the distance.

'No. I've done enough sleeping.'

Fox pursed his lips. "You really should get some shut eye; you look exhausted. If we're going to make a run for it, you need to be in better shape."

'I said I don't want to sleep.'

"But why?"

She shifted uncomfortably, pulling the coat tighter around her frame.

'I… want to keep an eye out for anything that might be chasing us. They're always searching the wastelands.'

"It's fine; I'll stay on the lookout in case they come looking for us. You just get some rest."

'Well…'

"What's wrong?"

Krystal bit the inside of her lip anxiously.

'How do I know I'll wake up again?'

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

'The last time they put me to sleep, it felt like an eternity before I woke up. If I close my eyes, I… I can't be sure I'll ever wake up. Or if I do wake up… how do I know you'll still be there? What if… what if you're gone, and this was just another dream during the long sleep?'

Fox didn't know how to respond; he'd never met someone who'd been through cryosleep as long as she had, though it had been a common practice before warp drives were invented. Still, being asleep for a whole year…

"You'll wake up; I promise. I don't know what you've been through, but this isn't some dream. I mean, you can't feel pain in dreams, right?"

Sniffing, she went silent for a moment.

'I can.'

Fox swallowed a lump in his throat, heart wrenching. Acting unbidden, he got up from his spot and settled down closer to the vixen, gripping her folded elbow.

"This isn't a dream—or a nightmare, either. This is real, and you need sleep to keep going. I promise you'll wake up in a couple hours."

She studied him apprehensively, glancing up and down.

'You won't be gone when I wake up? You won't… leave me here?'

"'Course not, Krystal."

She pursed her lips for a second, then eventually darted her own hand out and grabbed his arm, clenching her fingers tightly around it.

"Uh—?"

'I just… want to be sure.'

In truth, her iron-tight grip was beginning to cut off the blood-flow in his arm, but he decided to bear it for the moment.

"Alright—now do me a favor and sleep, okay? I'll watch out for us and wake you when it's time to move again. We can't afford to rest too long, so get as much shut eye as you can.

Nodding, Krystal lay her head against the pillow of Fox's bundled jacket and curled up again, closing her eyes. Soon she lay still, and the rhythmic rising and falling of her chest, along with the quiet exhales from her mouth, signaled she was falling asleep. Eventually, her fingers loosened around his reassuring arm, and she drifted away.

Fox couldn't help but watch over her as she slept. Even in the closest place to hell in Lylat, she was somehow able to find peace. The sight alone of her resting put him at ease.

Carefully Fox slipped his arm free of her paw, then gently fixed the filtration mask to her muzzle so as not to disturb her. Once finished he settled back into the rocks and dirt himself, resting his cheek against the hard stone. He lay facing the girl, watching over her.

He yawned. Maybe… maybe a few moments wouldn't hurt.

His last thoughts before falling asleep were how hollow Venom was now that Andross was dead—along with his father. It was so empty, so void of life. Civilizations and people just like him roamed the planet thousands of years ago, but now nothing remained. How long would it be before Lylat collectively forgot that, on this very space, the deadliest war in the system's history was launched and ended, a hero avenged his father, and two insignificant foxes slept side-by-side for a few hours…

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A spotlight in the dark cast a large shadow of the Cerinian on the wall, but it was far bigger than the meek frame of the actual figure it belonged to. The larger than life shadow mimicked the fear she instilled in the hearts of Bill's men—including his own. No matter what her physical appearance was, they knew all too well what she was really capable of doing.

Besides the blinding flashlight scrutinizing the bloody heap of a vixen, the rest of the dingy hall was nearly pitch-black. The only other light came from Lieutenant Lynx's wrist unit as she talked into it; her voice likewise the only sound in the hall, as the alarms were too far away to be heard.

Once she finished, Miyu flicked off the communicator and let her arm fall to her side.

"What did Beltino say?" Bill asked.

"Said you defied orders, and that he's worried for our safety—but he's thankful we're okay. He's dispatched some scientists and they're on their way with hypos now. We're to wait here and not attempt transporting the specimen ourselves."

Bill nodded, then looked back at the Cerinian. She sat huddled against the wall, head buried in the jacket he'd given her, protecting her eyes from the blinding light. Already his usually-pristine garment was well-soaked with her blood—or rather, the blood she'd accumulated from her victims, and now was forced to wear herself. She smeared it all over the floor where she sat, and on the wall against which she leaned.

The canid felt sick at the sight of so much scarlet plasma; not only because of the many souls she'd taken it from, but because it looked so uncomfortable, too. Sticky, flaky, foul-smelling… incriminating.

In the dim bounce-light cast by the soldier's torch, Bill's eyes picked out a shower room not too far from their position. He glanced between the dark door and the Cerinian several times before making up his mind.

"I think we should wash her."

Miyu snorted. "Good luck with that; you'll need more than the few disinfectant wipes we have."

"Looks like there's some showers over there," he pointed out. Then, shuffling on his feet awkwardly, he turned to Miyu. "Uh, Lieutenant, would you be comfortable with…?"

The lynx's eyes widened. "You're kidding."

"I'd rather not do it myself, considering, well—"

"As soon as I took her in there, she'd kill me! I am not washing her!" she stated. "That is, unless it's an order, Captain."

"It's not an order, but… what if I were present?"

"I wouldn't feel safe if you packed the whole unit in that room."

Bill sighed, realizing that just left him; he couldn't very well ask any of his other troops to perform the deed.

"I'll do it."

Before Miyu could protest, the bulldog marched over to the cowering Cerinian. He bent down, laying a hand on her shoulder gently—though he was careful to touch the clean jacket and not her bloodied fur.

"Hey," he said. "Will you come with me?"

The Cerinian didn't even look up; she ignored his request, and the hand he offered her.

Working up the courage, Bill carefully reached for her paw and unwound her fingers from the knot of jacket she clutched before her chest. She didn't fight him; she merely let him work her hand free and take it in his own, lifting her up.

When they stood together, the Cerinian blinked in the bright light—but Bill placed himself between her and the flashlight, casting a welcome shadow over her wincing eyes.

"Stand outside the door," Bill said over his shoulder. "I'll be washing her while we wait for Beltino's men to arrive. If you hear a blood-curdling scream, well…"

Miyu only gulped in response; from the way her brow scrunched up and her fingers clenched, he could tell she didn't like this one bit.

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Fox rudely awoke, choking from lack of air.

He was anointed with sweat and felt unbearably sick to the stomach. To make matters worse he felt like he hadn't slept at all. In fact, he felt like he'd lost sleep, if that were possible.

His vision began to blur while his lungs sucked in air like a dying fish, no matter that it was poisonous; like a marooned man drinking sea water, only making it worse. His hands grasped futilely at his throat, but he could do nothing to save himself. He'd breathed in too much of the noxious fumes while sleeping.

Suddenly an azure figure appeared above him, between himself and the muddy clouds. He felt a rubber mask forced onto his face, followed by an influx of clean air. Fox's quick, shallow gasps returned to deep, relaxed breaths. The clean oxygen in his lungs quickly calmed him again.

"Shit… how did Andross do it?"

Now that he could see better, Fox recognized the Cerinian's worried face looking down at him.

'Are you alright?' She spoke concernedly inside his head again, causing a shiver to run down his spine.

Fox bolted upright and stared wide-eyed at her. "You saved me," he said after dropping the filtration mask. "For what… the third time today? I'm never going to be able to repay you."

'I've lost track of how many times you've saved me…'

Fox took a second to recover his bearings. Tentatively crawling out of the crevice, he scanned the horizon around them, but only confirmed that the drone ships were still on the prowl.

He turned, seeing the girl—Krystal—rubbing her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. You really needed your sleep."

But she shook her head. 'You didn't wake me. It was something else…'

As if on cue, a grating, metallic screech echoed over the rocks. Fox poked his head above the lip again, looking in its direction.

A few kilometers away lumbered a giant, spider-like mech. Rather than stick to the roads worn into Venom's surface, it daringly scaled over the untamed, rocky wasteland. Its eight spindly legs gingerly picked their way over the crags and smoking pits, carrying a larger, spherical body at their union. Besides a coating of dirt, ash, and rust, its armor was black as night. An eye-like dome protruded from its belly, scanning the valleys beneath its feet.

A small avalanche of pebbles sounded next to him, and he turned to see Krystal had likewise scaled the wall. Peering over the lip, her eyes widened.

'Venomians!'

She ducked back to safety. 'I thought you said they were dead!'

Fox was tempted to hide as well, but he thought her fear unjustified. "They are. That's just a Venomian machine repurposed by the Cornerians. Don't be afraid."

'I'm sorry, I don't understand; the Cornerian language is confusing, even if I glimpse your thoughts. If Venomians are the people who control those creatures, doesn't that make them Venomians, too?'

Her reasoning confused him. "N-no, they aren't like them at all."

'But they're using the same monsters!'

"It's not a monster, it's a sort of… vehicle. It's not good or evil; the person piloting it decides that, and if it's a Cornerian there's no danger. It… it depends on what they're using it for."

Krystal's ears flattened, and she hesitantly peered over the side again. 'Those creatures patrol the dead lands. They guard the prisoners, hunting any who escape. When they find you, the eye looks at you, and you burn…'

Fox's eyebrows raised. "You've tried to escape before?"

'Once. I wasn't alone then, either. Someone was with me—I don't remember their face. But we got separated, and it caught me. I don't know what happened to the other one, but I never saw them again…'

Krystal began to cough, and he handed over the mask again. "Well, we can't survive out here much longer; not at the rate we're going. We need to find a level area for my ship to land."

'I'm sorry,' she said mentally while physically coughing, 'I don't know where something like that is. I've only seen outside the labs twice: when they first brought me here, and when I tried to run away.'

"That's not your fault. I studied this area before attacking it a year ago, but since then I've forgotten much of it too. I never planned on returning…"

Fox scanned the landscape some more, eventually spotting the domed city of Ambrosia not too far to their south.

"There," he pointed. "We can hide out in the city, get some clean air, maybe some food, and plan our next step. Then I'll figure out what to do with you."

She raised an eyebrow suspiciously. '"What to do with me"?'

Fox avoided her gaze. "…Yeah. I haven't quite worked that out yet."

When he said nothing further, he suddenly felt her mind brush up against his. Quickly she saw his intentions for her.

'You're thinking of returning me to the Cornerians, aren't you?'

He flinched, realizing just how much of an open book his mind was.

"Yes, I am. It's the only choice I have. I can't keep you, and I can't just let you loose in the world on your own. They'll know how to take care of you. I don't understand what's going on, but I trust them, and I trust that they know what they're doing here."

'Do you know for sure your friends won't just put me to sleep again?'

Rather than hesitate and let her glean the information from his mind again, Fox came clean.

"No, I don't know for sure."

She turned away with a hmph. 'Then I'd rather take my chances in the wasteland.'

"You'll suffocate out here!" he burst out.

'I'm pretty resourceful.'

Fox sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Look, I don't know what Space Dynamics or the Cornerians will do. But… I have to believe in them. There has to be some mistake somewhere: some misunderstanding. I don't think you belong in cryosleep in a dark place like that, but until I can figure out exactly what is going on… I'd like to learn more about the Cerinians, and how Corneria intends to solve your problem."

'Why not just wave that creature down right now, and let it catch me again?'

"I… I can't do that. Right now they're scared of you. They're afraid you're like that other Cerinian, and they might shoot you on sight if I don't intervene again. I need to hide you somewhere until I can talk with them; convince them you're safe."

'You really think they'll give me a chance, don't you? Do you remember how hard it was for me to even win your trust? To convince you I wasn't a… a monster?'

"Hey, I'm sorry about that, but given the circumstances I had to make sure. Everything seemed to point to—"

'They're just going to lock me up again, and you know it!'

He frowned. "No, I don't know it. I'm sure after I talk with them, I can get them to approve your release."

'So you can just tell me what to do now? What power do you think you have over me? Or are you just like the Venomians? You can go to that silly city if you want, but I'll find some other way off this planet.' She reached out and opened her hand. 'Now, give me the mask.'

Fox held it away. "Oh no, you're not getting this. I'm not letting you go."

'Fine. Then I'll go without it.'

"Are you crazy? You won't last another hour out here! You don't even know where you're going!"

'I… I'm resourceful!' she pointed overhead at a flying transport. 'I'll just… sneak aboard one of those metal creatures and leave here! I'll find my way back on my own.'

"I'm working in your best interest here! Now there's no more time to argue! Unlike you, I still need air to talk, and I'm getting pretty short of it. I'm taking you to Ambrosia while I still can."

Krystal glared at him for a few seconds, remaining silent. Then, a harsh mechanical impact sounded. Her eyes widened, and she pointed over his head. 'Too late, they're here!'

At once Fox swung around to look, but saw nothing yet over the rock wall. Worrying the Cornerians had found them sooner than he would've liked, he crawled over the lip and peeked around.

"That's funny, I could've sworn I heard one of their spider mechs. Where did you see it—?"

But when he turned around again, Krystal was gone.

Fox blinked in confusion, taking a little while to scan the nearby ditch before it dawned on him.

"Why that little…"

He hopped back into the crevice, then scaled the wall on the opposite side of the exhaust port. Eventually he saw a flurry of blue and white close by and rushed to pursue.

"Wait! Come back here, dammit!"

But Krystal refused to stop. She glanced over her shoulder at him but kept right on fleeing.

A short chase ensued, in which the pair of vulpines hopped from rock to jagged rock. Eventually Krystal slipped and tumbled down a sudden incline, landing in a heap at the bottom. She shook it off and struggled to her feet again, racing down a narrow trench. Fox slid down the ramp on his ass, taking an avalanche of small rocks with him but quickly catching up.

However, they were no longer alone.

A metallic grinding noise suddenly pierced the howling wind. Ears perked, Fox's head swiveled in its direction. He turned in time to see mechanical legs rising above the jagged rocks on their left, soon lifting a round black hull into view.

Shit… why now of all times?!

Unlike Krystal's ruse, this one was real. The spider mech climbed out of a trench and clumsily maneuvered towards them, though whether it had spotted them or was merely making its usual rounds, Fox couldn't tell.

He turned his attention back to Krystal, who had likewise spotted the spider mech but made no move to hide from it. Instead, she tried running faster.

"Krystal! Wait!"

Everything was going wrong at once. Fox was still too far away from Krystal to catch her, and at this rate the mech would overtake him long before he reached her. Behind him the towering vehicle rose above the rocks, blocking out more and more of the sky with its spindly body. The eyepiece hanging beneath it swept a wide beam over the plains, scouring them with an infrared light…

…Until it turned to point directly at him.