AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you Anonymous Guest for the review!
Chapter 170: Silver-Inlé: Deep Space Hrair.
"Promise me, you'll take care of Cardon."
-Weekyle15, Taking Care Of A Relative
Vervain had been telling the truth when he said he would take everyone to Deep Space Hrair without asking for anything in return. One moment, the vessel was at Meadow Grove, the next, the planet outside the window had vanished, replaced with the artificial shape of the space station. The rabbits contemplated the view through the window, but before they could fully realized what had happened, Vervain had teleported them inside the station.
The inside of the station was very different from the ship they had just come from, with several levels, and the wide open spaces dwarfed even the Honeycomb back at the warren. It was extremely crowded, with many creatures of different species wandering about. Hazel thought he saw Tabitha at the back of the crowd, but surprisingly, she did not appear hostile towards the others.
The rabbits wandered across the station, looking at their surroundings. Despite the large crowd, nobody paid attention to them, until a familiar rabbit arrived.
-"Holly!" Bigwig called out.
-"Bigwig!" Bigwig smiled at this; finally someone who called him by his name rather than that infuriating nickname. "Hazel, Fiver," Holly continued. "You're all here, this is a pleasant surprise. Thethuthinnang told me that your vessel just arrived out of nowhere. I wasn't aware you were coming. Would you like a tour of the station?"
-"We would like to speak to the one in charge."
-"That would be me, I'm the commander of this station. It's a very different job than owsla captain. I'm doing my best to keep things running smoothly, but my possible actions are limited since, as you probably realized, none of us truly belong in this universe."
-"Yes, in fact that's why we came here, to discuss how to get back home," Hazel said. "Is there someplace where we can talk?"
-"I know just the place. Let me take you there."
The rabbits made their way down the hallway, towards one of the shops on the station. Along the way, they were approached by a young kitten.
-"Father, are you ready for our holographic visit to Watership Down?"
-"Rithla, my son, I'm afraid it will have to wait a bit longer," Holly said, nuzzling the kitten. "Meet me with Pipkin at the holoburrow, I'll be with you, after I have dealt with the visitors."
-"Visitors?" A mischievous look appeared on Rithla's face. "Are there any pretty does among them?"
-"None your age, I'm afraid."
Rithla appeared disappointed upon learning this, and hopped away.
-"Did he call you 'father'?" Strawberry asked.
-"Indeed. In this place, he is my son."
The rabbits took turns congratulating Holly.
-"Who is the mother?" Spartina eventually asked.
-"Hyzenthlay." Holly lowered his head, and whispered, "my heart has joined the thousand..."
Holly suppressed his feelings, in order to better handle the current task. He led the other rabbits the rest of the way to one of the shops. It was ordinarily a bar, but none of the creatures currently present had ever drunk anything other than water. Therefore, ordinary food was being synthetically replicated and distributed, as opposed to alcohol: various vegetables were available and, for other creatures, fish. Holly ordered a lot of carrots, one for each rabbit present, as well as oats for Hannah. Blackavar, who was currently operating the establishment, provided everyone with the requested flayrah.
-"What can you tell us about the wormhole?" Hazel asked, taking a bite out of his carrot.
-"Ah yes, the wormhole," Holly replied. "It's the main reason why this place is so busy."
-"Hannah said that going through the wormhole would allow us to get back home to Watership Down."
-"I highly doubt that. I haven't been through the wormhole since arriving here, but I've heard that it leads to the other end of the universe. There live the Glanbrins. They're a lot like us rabbits, but they don't have eyes. And they don't like us, for some reason."
-"E kno dat its soopsd e go to glnbrn domnon, bo not noo. Da protl chng et."
Holly looked at Hannah for a few moments, then sighed.
-"Silver, the..."
-"Yes, I know, the universal translator is broken again," came Silver's voice from further away. "I'll fix it when I can."
-"Unfortunately, that won't change a thing," Blackberry said. "That's her voice, there's nothing any of us can do to make her understandable."
Hannah started screeching furiously, incredibly frustrated at everyone's inability to understand her. There was nothing any of the rabbits could do, except wait for her to calm down, but some of them, notably Blackavar, were getting impatient.
Suddenly, the stack of flayrah on the counter appeared to move. As they stared at it, the rabbits realized that it was changing shape, gradually taking that of a rabbit. It was Campion, but he was now free of scars; it therefore took several moments before the others recognized him.
-"Why do you keep spying on me?" Blackavar asked in annoyance.
-"Because you need close surveillance," Campion replied calmly.
-"This isn't Efrafa anymore, I'm not trying to escape."
-"Campion, it is a surprise to see you here," Hazel said.
-"It is a surprise for me too. I was nowhere near the portal or the server when the chaos happened. But here I am, enforcing the law at Deep Space Hrair."
-"You look...healthier than the last time we met."
-"This strange universe has one advantage: here, I have the ability to change my appearance. If I want to appear as a normal healthy rabbit, I can. If I want scars, I can display some without getting hurt. I can even turn into inanimate objects, as you saw earlier; it's really convenient for spying."
-"I can imagine. You also seem unexpectedly cheerful."
-"I am, it feels great! In this place, I can finally work on obtaining true justice for everyone, without having to worry about which side to play."
-"Campion!" Vervain had stayed largely out of sight following his arrival at the station, but upon seeing Campion, he suddenly jumped onto the counter. "I KNEW IT! I knew you were working for the outsiders!"
-"That's enough, V, I work for justice."
-"Justice? You call this justice? The outsiders are all around us and you are making no attempt at apprehending them."
-"I don't have to justify myself to you. Besides, it's not like you're doing much about them yourself."
-"ENUF WIT ZE ARGUE!" Hannah shouted, as she held up a glowing gemstone. "LOOOOOOOOKK!"
-"One of the orbs of El-ahrairah!" Holly said with a gasp. "Where did you get this?"
-"E fo..."
-"Never mind, I wouldn't understand you anyway. Regardless of its exact origin, it could definitely bring us home if we use it on the wormhole. And if it doesn't, we could just retrace our steps back through the wormhole and return here to ponder other options. Shall we go to your ship?"
-"Our ship is disabled," Bluebell said. "It needs to be repaired before it can move again."
-"If it's in such poor state, how did you get here?"
-"That would be me," Vervain said. "Initially I was hoping to extract valuable information out of them, but..." He glanced nervously at the rest of the crowd. "...the other bunny made me realize that would have been...impolite."
-"V, let me tell you something."
-"Yes?"
Holly smacked Vervain in the face. It was hard enough to cause pain to the former Efrafan, but not so hard as to cause any bleeding.
-"Ow! You hit me!"
-"What makes a good soldier doesn't always make a good rabbit."
-"Why are you attacking me? This is one occasion when I actually helped you all!"
-"Yes, because we're in a crisis. The instant we're back to our world, you're going to resume your attempts to find our warren and destroy it."
-"Of course that's what I will do. Why do you have to make it sound like a bad thing?"
Holly did not reply, instead turning back to the Watershippers.
-"I don't think anyone here would be able to repair your vessel. It appears we'll have to use one of the station's runabouts."
-"What's a runabout?" Fiver asked.
-"I'm not sure, but it is very similar to the shuttlecraft Hannah used earlier."
-"I'll go get one ready," Silver said, hopping away.
It took a while before everyone was gathered inside the runabout. In addition to Hazel and the group from his ship, many of the creatures at the station also joined in. Hannah was not the only non-rabbit creature present: Pipkin's bird friends, Trill and Warble, were also there, and would be in charge of flying the cramped vessel, with the assistance of Thethuthinnang.
-"This better be good," Blackavar complained, as he was lead onboard. "I was about to win that game of bob-stones, and with it so many sticks of carrot-lined celery."
-"Just trying to save everyone's lives here..." Campion said.
-"I think everyone is here, now," Holly said, scanning the crowd.
-"We should double-check," Thethuthinnang said. "If this plan works, we won't be able to come back for anyone accidentally left behind."
Hazel, Campion and Holly made their way through the crowd, to ensure that there was indeed nobody missing.
-"What about our holoburrow adventure?" Rithla said, hopping over to Holly.
-"Even better, Rithla. We are going to Watership Down. Not a holoburrow simulation; the real place."
-"There's a problem," Campion said. "You don't have a son in reality, Holly. If Rithla goes through the portal, he could simply cease to exist. He has to stay here."
Rithla, troubled by what he had just heard, looked at Holly.
-"Father?"
-"I...I don't want to leave you..."
-"For everyone's sake, you should leave him," Campion said.
-"I can't just leave him alone..."
-"I'll take care of him," came the voice of the strange rabbit who had scared Vervain earlier. "I'm not from the same universe as you all, so I won't be going either. I'll take him to my home."
Despite the knowledge that he would be leaving his son in good hands, Holly struggled. The separation was necessary, he knew he had to get back to Watership Down, but it was emotionally painful for them both. They shared one final hug; even after they were finished, they still held their front paws against each other, until Silver activated the runabout's engines, and the vehicle took off, away from the station. Even then, they continued to look at each other through the windows, the strange rabbit holding Rithla up high so he could see better.
-"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Hazel asked, hopping over to Silver. "I can't see the wormhole."
-"That's because it's invisible until we go through it," Thethuthinnang explained. "I know its exact location, we should have no trouble getting there."
A few moments later, there was a loud noise, and the vessel shook violently.
-"Everything is fine," Silver said, knowing everyone was going to ask. "Just this aging technology acting up again."
-"Is it serious?" Hazel asked.
-"Probably. This vessel is not built to carry so many creatures, usually it's only two or three. That said, the systems should remain stable just long enough to get us through the wormhole, so we should be fine."
-"Sensors are picking up strange anomalies all around us," Trill said.
-"My eyes are picking up strange anomalies all around us," Warble said.
Indeed, as Silver turned around, he saw weird shining things floating through the air all around the rabbits.
-"Subspace fractures," he concluded. "Typical. Stay away from them, or you may find yourself trapped, and we won't be able to get you back."
The rabbits all moved away from the fractures. However, the anomalies were also moving, forcing the rabbits to always stay one step ahead to avoid falling in. All rabbits, except one: Vervain felt invincible. He stayed in the same spot on the runabout, letting the fractures float around him, peeking inside when they got close enough. Beyond most of them, there was nothing interesting to see, just empty space; one fracture, however, caught his attention, and he looked inside longer.
There were two does present; one of them appeared weak and delirious, while the other still remained sane. In front of them, there was a tree, but it was no ordinary tree: it was floating, and spinning in all directions, approaching menacingly.
-"When in Efrafa I fell in love with you..." Primrose said.
-"You are not thinking clearly, Primrose," Blackberry replied.
-"It was a fine time. We all enjoyed it so much..."
-"Primrose, I think we're in trouble."
-"You will be assimilated," a voice came from the tree. "Existence as you know it is over. Resistance is futile."
-"It's been great to be together with you for so long, we've been a notable couple," Primrose continued, still delirious. "Controversy brings closeness. Not as close as the famous brothers, but close enough. Let's go down by the river."
-"Perhaps the assimilation won't be too bad." Blackberry had given up trying to get Primrose back to her senses, hoping that the assimilation would be less painful if she didn't understand what was happening.
-"It's going to be even worse than you could possibly imagine," Vervain said. The look of horror on the two does' faces as they noticed his presence made him feel wonderful. All the same, assimilation was something so horrible, he wouldn't wish it on anyone, not even these outsiders. He therefore placed his paws on the two does; they had gone tharn, and did not resist. He then realized that, due to the fractures having moved, only his tail was still sticking out. One false move and he would be trapped forever.
-"HELP! SOMEONE PULL ME OUT!"
-"Why don't we just leave him?" Bigwig said. "After everything he's done, I don't feel like rescuing him."
-"Would you truly turn your back on your back on a fellow rabbit?" Fiver questioned.
-"This is not the time for philosophy. If the roles were reversed, he wouldn't try to help, so why should we?"
-"Shouldn't we strive to be better than him?"
-"Ethical issues aside, leaving him there is a bad idea," Blackberry said. "His presence there could have unpredictable consequences for the future, possibly breaking reality again, or allowing Woundwort to conquer our warren before we make it through the wormhole."
-"Fine, we'll save him..."
Bigwig hopped over to Vervain's tail and, grabbing it with his front paws, pulled as hard as he could; Spartina and Fiver went over to help him. Vervain was soon out of the fracture, as were Blackberry and Primrose. They were both shaken by the near-assimilation, but otherwise unharmed.
-"Did you save me?" Primrose asked; she was still very confused as to what was going on, but the threatening tree was clearly gone.
-"Yes," Vervain replied.
-"Why?"
-"Because if you were assimilated, I wouldn't be able to torment you anymore. Now the last time we met, what was I threatening...oh right, I was going to make you scream or something. I forgot the exact details, but your screams would be a most pleasant sound to my ears."
-"Not this time, V." Holly finally hopped away from the window, to smack Vervain once again.
-"I've had enough of this pointless violence!"
-"Brace yourselves!" Silver shouted. "We're going in!"
At that moment, the entrance to the wormhole became visible. The runabout flew inside, and several alarms on the vessel started to blare. The rabbits could only hope that they would indeed make it through alive.