When the three of them had returned to the Green Earth at last, Slade couldn't say that he was particularly happy with the way things had being going. Yes, he and Saber needed those teknocrystals to get up to the Moon and to face Darkon so they could finally end this war, but the cost of such a thing was really starting to get to him. The people who had lived in that town, careless as they had been with their own lives and the lives of the people all around them, hadn't really deserved for Rapier and Axe to come down on them like bolts of armored lightning from the clear sky. No one human deserved that.

Still, Slade didn't know just what he could do about Axe and Rapier, given the fact that the two of them never seemed to stay in one place long enough that he and Saber could manage to pin them down and finally deal with them; sure, he knew that that was probably their plan, but he hated this uncertainty all the same.

While the rest of his fellow Space Knights started preparing for bed, plotting a course and then programming it into the Green Earth's computer so that the tank could take them further along their present course while those manning her got what sleep they could during the night, Slade went to find Saber. He didn't think Saber would actually have any better ideas than he'd been having about dealing with Axe and Rapier, but together they stood a much better chance of being able to hash something workable out.

That's what he was hoping, anyway.

01001001001

They'd been in contact with Katherine and Shinji briefly, informing their fellow Teknomen of their plans and the fact that they wouldn't be returning to the house that the other members of their group had settled for the duration of their stay on Earth, and had gotten a well-wish from Katherine at least. Shinji, while no one could say he wasn't dedicated to their cause, had become a bit unsociable during the course of their campaign. Axe wasn't one to overly concern himself with the affairs of other people if they weren't causing him or the cause any trouble, but he knew at Conrad and Shinji would be having words once the former awakened properly.

Looking down at the slumbering form of Sam in his arms, Axe smiled softly; yes, there were going to be hard times ahead for them all, not the least because of Ness and Cain's continued refusal to see sense and abandon whatever futile ideas of rebellion Ulysses had planted in their heads when he had pulled them free from their teknopods aboard Lord Darkon's ship, but he could at least be pleased that he and Sam were getting to spend so much time together. Sam was doing quite well with his training, and while seeing him having to fight Ness and Cain was rather a sad thing, it was a mark of his skill that Sam had been able to fight on the same level as those two.

Holding Sam a bit closer as he continued to make his way to the abandoned church that he had spotted while he had been making a flyover of this area, Axe smiled thinly.

0101001001001

The rumble of the tank's engine was starting to keep him awake through the nights, and Slade didn't know just what he was supposed to do about that. He knew that his and Saber's senses were more powerful than a baseline human's, but he was honestly starting to wish that he could just turn them off for one night to get some real sleep for a change. Closing his eyes as he lay back down on the fold-out bed, Slade focused on his breathing and tried not to think of anything else.

Evidently, he had managed to get some sleep that previous night, because he woke up feeling rested and refreshed in that way that only a good night's sleep could make him feel. Still, at the same time there was a sense of… something he wasn't sure that anyone human would have been feeling. The best he could manage was to describe it as a kind of anticipation.

As though he was waiting for something important to happen.

(Saber, are you feeling this, too?)

(You mean, like the entire world's holding its breath? That everything we know is poised just on the edge of something you can't properly conceive of?)

Slade chuckled bitterly, deep in his throat. (That's about the size of it,) he said, making his way into the front area of the Green Earth, where he could sense his younger twin's presence.

He found Saber curled up in the front-most passenger seat of the tank, left knee up against his chest, and both arms around that knee as he rested. Though Slade could sense that his younger twin wasn't nearly at ease as someone else might have taken him for being. There was a tension in his brother's mind that Saber's iron control over his emotions, long-practiced during the course of their war against the Radam, wasn't about to show.

Sure, people might think that Saber was the more open of the pair of them – and in more ways than one that was true – but it was at times like these when Slade became uncomfortably aware of just how similar the two of them were.

Settling down in the driver's chair beside his brother, careful not to disturb the computer from its plotted course, Slade looked out at the thick, nigh-impenetrable forest of teknoplants that stood all around them. He hated the place, but at least he could say that he knew where that feeling of anticipation he'd kept getting was coming from: even if he'd deny it to his dying breath, even though he hated the thought of what had been done to him and all of the members of his and Saber's family, it was still a fact that they had been changed by the Radam.

The sense he was getting off of all these teknoplants was just one more manifestation of the sheer difference between his life as a human, and the life that had been forced on him as a Teknoman.

The sound of the Green Earth's interior doors opening behind him brought Slade's attention back to the present, though it didn't quite manage to cover the feeling of anticipation he was still picking up from all of the teknoplants still surrounding the Green Earth as it continued on its way. As the two of them were gently edged out of their seats by Ringo and Star – Ringo taking the driver's seat, and Star settling down in the passenger seat next to him – Slade stood up and watched as the other man came and leaned over the computer.

"It looks like the entire world is becoming a wasteland," Star muttered, though Slade heard her just as clearly as if she'd been speaking at a normal volume. "Nothing but desolation, as far as the eye can see."

Sighing as the Green Earth trundled onward, Slade tried not to think about just how uncomfortably true that assessment was. Sure, a more naïve person – or one of the Radam's own – might have tried to say that there was a strange beauty to these plants, but the clear fact remained that all of them were a danger to every human on Earth for as long as they remained intact. They were the Radam's secret weapons in their war of conquest, and the sooner they were all destroyed the better.

For everyone's sake.

"We'll soon be out of this," Ringo reported, as the thrum of the Green Earth's engines continued to fill his ears, though Slade knew it wasn't such a problem for anyone but Saber. "Monitor shows there's a clearing not far from here."

The tank continued on, heading for the clearing that the instruments had detected, and Slade tried to make himself calm down. He was still getting that sense of anticipation, but it was stronger now. It also had a concrete direction, now: it was coming from up ahead of them. Soon enough, they would all find out why; though Slade suspected that he and Saber had already guessed the answers.

"Uh-oh!" Star exclaimed, as the computer's alarm began to sound; he and Saber shared an exasperated side-glance. "Warning of hostile entities, dead-ahead!"

"Spider-crabs!" Tina pointed out, for the benefit of those who couldn't actually sense them. "Big ones!"

Sighing, even as he saw Saber rolling his eyes, Slade gritted his teeth as the Green Earth began to close in on the creatures' location. He'd been wanting to have at least some reprieve from spending all his time fighting the Radam's army of mutant space-insects, but it looked like that was just a bit too much to ask.

"Let's go!" Ringo shouted, leaping up out of his seat as Slade did the same; behind him, he could hear Saber doing likewise.

"Wait a minute, guys," Maggie said, drawing their attention before the three of them could make it out of the tank's cockpit. "Take a look over there."

Turning back, so that he could see just what it was that the Spider-crabs in front of them were actually doing, Slade found that they were undergoing the second stage of their metamorphosis. Someone commented on just that very thing, but Slade wasn't paying a lot of attention to that anymore. Sure, there was a part of him that would have liked nothing more than to burn down as many of the Radam's spoor trees as his Tekno-bolt could touch, but he knew just how important it was for him and Saber to conserve their strength for the hunt that they were still on.

There was always the chance that they would encounter Axe and Rapier on this excursion of theirs, after all.

"Apparently, they're not taking any notice of us right now," Ringo said, sounding like he didn't quite know if he was entirely pleased by that; Slade knew it was probably just a joke, but if the Radam weren't going to concern themselves with some wandering Space Knights, Slade wasn't going to question their good fortune too much. They'd had little enough of that as it was. "They aren't even bothering to attack. All right; it's pointless to just stick around here, so let's keep moving."

1011010010111

Settling down in front of the Green Earth's main console, about to suit actions to words, Ringo looked up to see a huge, Disney-looking castle towering over the Radam's forest in the far distance. It looked almost like it was up on a hill, which was more than possible considering he didn't know the terrain around here very well. And, considering the stranglehold that the Radam had on this place, he couldn't help the thought that that was probably a good thing.

"Wow," he commented. "Check it out."

"What is it?" Star asked.

"It's where we're going to spend the night," he said, already beginning to steer the Green Earth towards – and he couldn't believe he was actually getting to do something like this – the castle on the hill.

"What if the owner doesn't want visitors?" Star asked, sounding like she didn't approve of what he was planning.

"Won't be a problem," he said, knowing that that was most likely true. "A place like that is more than likely to be abandoned."

"You mean, like your old house was abandoned?" Saber asked, smirking in that way he did when he'd thought of something someone else hadn't taken the time to consider.

Ringo opened his mouth, then sighed. "All right, good point. We'll have to handle this with tact."

"So, in other words, you're going to let me do all the talking, right?"

Turning back to see the sheer smugness of the smirk on Saber's face, and more than that the way the kid winked at him let Ringo know that he'd spotted the same tension in everyone else aboard the Green Earth that he himself had been wondering how to deal with. Grinning slightly, Ringo shook his fist at Saber.

"How 'bout a tactful punch in the face?"

"You know, I don't think you're the kind of person who could actually manage that, Ringo," the kid said, giving him the same kind of sidelong grin that he'd come to expect from the kid when the two of them were ribbing each other for the sheer fun of it; among other reasons.

The tension in the tank was at least starting to ease, so Ringo figured that his and Saber's little act had come off pretty well, if he did say so himself.

As the Green Earth continued on its way to that – he still couldn't believe he was actually getting the chance to see something like it – castle that they'd found, Ringo wondered if there would ultimately end up being someone trying to stay in there. They'd have to evacuate this hypothetical person, of course, since there was no way in hell that any of them were just going to leave any of their people behind to face god-knew how many more of the Radam. But, that was just assuming they existed in the first place; that was what he and his fellow Space Knights were going to find out, just as soon as they managed to find a place to park the tank.

Once that particular task had been taken care of, Ringo joined the stream of his fellow Space Knights as they all made their way out of the tank and onto the path that lead up to a bridge over an honest-to-God moat surrounding the main building.

"The more I see of this place, the more I think it has to be abandoned," Maggie said with a shudder, leaning in close to Saber as the two of them continued on their way closer to the castle in the center of the grounds.

"Either of you kids getting the feeling that we're not alone heading into this place?" he asked, wanting to be as sure as he could that a certain pair of evil Teknomen were as far away from this place as possible.

Saber and Slade did the twin thing for a bit, then turned to look up at the castle where all of them were heading with all but identical looks of concentration on their faces. He and the rest of their fellow Space Knights paused for a long moment, letting the Wonder Twins make sure as best they could that there were no evil Teknomen waiting in the wings to ambush them.

"There's no one either of us can sense inside that building," Slade reported at last; Ringo let out the breath he'd been holding. "Either there's no one in there, or anyone who is, is human."

No one seemed to know just what they were hoping for, in the end, so their group was pretty quiet as they made their way up to the huge double-doors of the castle.

"Does anyone see a way to let anyone who might be in there know we're here?" Maggie asked, after they'd all spent a few, long moments staring at the fancy front entrance they'd all gathered around.

"Nope; no bell pulls, chimes, or call-buttons of any kind," Saber said, looking up at the double-doors like they were some kind of puzzle that he had been asked to solve.

Still, that was pretty much the situation they were facing right now, and if Saber could figure out some way of getting them into this place without either having to break down the door, or just having Pegas shove it open. Both of which would have been pretty much the rudest thing they could have done to anyone living here.

But, as it turned out, someone on the inside wanted to see them.

11010100001

When the doors of the huge castle-looking house began to open, Saber wasn't quite sure who or what he was expecting to see, but it at least hadn't been a house-robot styled after the robot from Forbidden Planet whose name he couldn't quite recall. Blinking in surprise as the robot pushed the double-doors open and looked out at them all, Saber didn't even bother trying to suppress his smirk.

"And here you thought we'd be the only ones staying here," he said, thoroughly amused at the surreality of their current situation.

"Okay, I admit I might've jumped the gun a bit, there," Ringo said, looking like he was about as amused by what they were all seeing, but then he sobered. "Still, it's not like we can just leave whoever's staying here out on their own."

"Yeah," Slade said, stepping forward and looking up at the castle that towered above them all. "We're going to have to bring them with us; no way they'd be able to survive much longer in the middle of all these spoor plants."

"Welcome!" the robot said, in a voice that was about as unlike its imposing appearance as it was possible to be; it sounded like someone's idea of an upper-class butler who somehow wasn't quite British. "Welcome to Elysian Fields! I am Torg," the robot said, after a moment of purely electronic communication exchanged with Pegas. "I shall escort you to the Mistress."

Torg certainly wasn't slow about suiting actions to words, and was soon leading them deeper into the grounds inside the concrete breezeway that had been behind the double-doors. There were statues tucked into recesses near the ceiling on the inside wall of the breezeway, and Saber took brief note of them while he and Slade fell into step with each other.

(So, how do you think we should handle this?) he asked, as the conversation between Torg and their fellow Space Knights swirled around them.

(I think we should at least try to persuade them to leave with us, before we try anything drastic.)

(Yeah,) he said, nodding.

It was always best to try at diplomatic approach first, at least when you weren't being forced to deal with the Radam or their brainwashed mind-slaves. This was just someone who'd had the bad luck to be living in an area that was steadily being overgrown by the Radam's spoor-plants. Still, he could understand them not wanting to leave their home, no matter how dangerous the situation around them was becoming.

He could understand it, but that didn't remotely mean that Saber was about to let them stay in danger the way they were doing right now.

The sounds of music playing, either someone on a piano or else someone's recording of someone on a piano, began to reach Saber's ears as they crossed from the breezeway into the castle itself. It was all so strangely normal that he found himself looking over to Slade to see what his older twin made of all this. He looked about as surprised as Saber felt.

"Must you know everything?" Star demanded.

"Okay, what did I miss?" he asked, as he and Slade both looked from their respective girlfriends to the other's and back again.

"Maggie was just showing off again, Saber," Star said, sounding a bit miffed.

"Don't pay any attention to her, Saber," Maggie said, with an exaggerated, dismissive tone. "It's hardly my fault she doesn't study history."

"The Mistress will join you in the grand ballroom," Torg said, before Star could say anything else in response.

"All right, kids; I don't think our gracious host wants to be dealing with a lovers' spat," Ringo said, grinning at them in a way that couldn't help but look taunting; Saber figured that that was the point. "So why don't you pack it in?"

He and Slade both caught the others' eye, slapping Ringo upside the head for that last dig at the same time. They all made it to the large, ornate, off-white double-doors that led into the grand ballroom that Torg had told them about before Ringo could say anything in response, but their fellow Space Knight did shoot them a look of annoyance when they all reached the doors together.

Behind the doors, there was another staircase, made of blue-painted wood with a gold-edged red carpet laid out down the center. The landing above the staircase branched off into two perpendicular paths, both of them leading up to a balcony that ran around the edges of the large room. There were gasps of wonder from a lot of their fellow Space Knights, and even Saber had to admit that seeing this kind of a place up close was really something.

"Is this some sort of dream?" Maggie muttered, and Saber smiled gently at her as she leaned into his left side.

"Well, I don't really see how that's possible," Slade said, and Saber turned to see where his brother was pointing. "She's real enough."

There was a girl about Tina's age at the top of the main staircase. She was wearing a white dress with blue ruffles and trim, holding it up in a way that might have been calculated to look both dainty and practical. She looked more than a bit like a character out of some kind of historical romance; someone from the deep south, or thereabouts.

He didn't quite know just how or why someone would try to maintain this kind of luxury in the face of the Radam's invasion, but Saber made a personal vow to keep an eye on her; it seemed entirely too possible that her mind had snapped under the stress of everything that was happening. God knew he'd felt the strain of it more than once.

"She certainly is."

"Oh, she's lovely."

Ringo and Star's commentary brought Saber's attention back from where it had wandered, and he smiled at their host. Just because he was starting to have a bit more than his share of doubts about her mental state, it was no call to be rude. Particularly since he and Slade, and likely the rest of their fellow Space Knights, were going to be doing their level best to try and convince her to leave this place with them.

They weren't about to leave even a crazy person stranded at the mercy of the Radam.

"Welcome," the young girl in the blue-trimmed white dress said. "I am Gloria."

"We're very pleased to meet you," Tina said, after a moment spent stuttering on her response.

While Gloria went about inviting the six of them who could actually partake of her hospitality to do so, Saber tried to figure out just what it was about her that was putting him slightly on-edge. She seemed like a perfectly nice person, and he'd have known any of the Radam's Teknomen on sight, so it wasn't anything as obvious as that. Smiling for Gloria when her attention fell upon him and Maggie, Saber made a mental note to speak with Slade as soon as he could pull his brother aside to do so.

Gloria led them up the stairs and to the left, into one of the rooms that Saber hadn't been able to see from his vantagepoint on the ground floor. Stepping into the room, Saber found himself looking into a cozy not-quite-so-little sitting room, with two well-upholstered couches and a pair of overstuffed chairs surrounding a rectangular table; the table itself had been neatly set out with cups, saucers, and napkins for each of them, every one of those placed in front of a chair that was clearly for one of them.

The centerpiece was a fancy flower-arrangement, and Saber smiled slightly to see it; it was a reminder of a more simple time, times when people actually could surround themselves with luxuries. He wondered for a moment how Gloria managed it, but then decided it didn't really matter. It wasn't like they were going to be able to stay here, after all.

Not when this place had been so completely surrounded by the Radam's biotechnology.

"We have so few visitors, I hope ya'll will stay around here for awhile," Gloria said, smiling at all of them.

"I don't know," Star said, sounding about as uncertain as Saber himself felt. "I don't think that would be such a good idea. Surely, you must be aware of the danger that surrounds your house. Is there anyone else here that could protect you."

"Not at present," Gloria said, looking down at her lap, with the saddened sort of expression that he'd become all too familiar with from Slade. "My grandfather is lord of the castle, but he's been abroad for some time."

"How long has he been gone?" Tina asked.

"Been gone?" Gloria echoed; and Saber looked more intently at her, knowing that Slade was doing the same. "I don't know, exactly."

"Was it before the mass invasion of all the Spider-crabs?" Tina asked.

"More likely after," Star said. "He probably went for help."

"How long have you been alone here?" he asked, trying to be comforting, even in the face of the uncomfortable memories that Gloria's story was bringing up.

"Oh, I'm hardly alone," Gloria said, smiling brightly; Saber thought it would've been pretty convincing, if he hadn't known himself so well. "I have Torg here with me."

"Excuse me, milady," Torg called, drawing their attention as he came back into the room.

"Yes, what is it?" Gloria asked.

"The tea is ready to be served, milady," Torg said, pushing a cart into the room, laden with a white tea-service.

He suspected it was fine china, but he wasn't about to say anything.

"Thank you, Torg," Gloria said, smiling. "That would be heavenly." As Torg came over to their group and began serving them tea, Gloria smiled wider. "Serving tea is a tradition we try to maintain in these difficult times. I hope you like it."

"Yes, very much," Maggie said, as Torg served her a cup of tea and then moved onto Saber himself.

"Excuse me, miss," Ringo said. "But, why haven't you and your robot left to search for your grandfather?"

Saber knew that this situation had to be getting to Ringo, particularly given everything Saber had found out about the man's own home life. Hell, it was getting to him, and the only thing he really had in common was that they had both lost family members to the Radam. And sure, that was a big thing to have in common at a time like this, but it wasn't as though a lot of other people didn't share their circumstances.

He didn't like thinking about that so much, but it was the truth all the same.

"It's very simple: I promised Grandfather. Somebody has to maintain the place. I must do what he thinks is best."

(I don't think this girl is quite all there,) he said, narrowing his eyes and forcing himself not to sigh.

(Yeah; I'm afraid you're right.) "But, aren't you concerned about all the vegetation closing in around your property?" Slade asked.

Gloria went out to one of the large, curtained windows just opposite the couch where Ringo, Slade and Star had all been seated, looking out across the vast expanse of teknoplants that were even now steadily closing around them all. Not unlike a noose, really.

"You mean the trees?" she asked, and her tone was enough to confirm for Saber what he'd been suspecting since they'd started this conversation: she really wasn't all there. "I admit, they're strange. But why should I be concerned with something as perfectly natural and harmless as a tree?"

"Because the trees closing in around this place aren't remotely natural, and they certainly aren't harmless," Saber said, firmly setting his teacup down as he decided to share some truth with this girl; he hoped it would at least be enough to bring her around to the idea of coming with them when they inevitably left this place. "They came with the Spider-crabs, and more of them keep appearing every day. At the rate they're advancing, they're more than likely to overrun this castle of yours in a week, if not a shorter time than that."

The girl didn't even react to what he was saying, which was yet another point in favor of the girl having lost her mind during the time she'd been confined to the grounds of this castle. Saber didn't quite know if he was more annoyed by her than he felt sorry for her, but either way, it was going to be up to him, Slade, and their fellow Space Knights to save her from what was either crippling naïveté or insanity.

Either way, Saber suspected it wasn't going to be pretty, or easy; but then, nothing seemed to be either of those things lately. Not since the invasion.

"I'm sure that is, but y'all must be very tired, and we can discuss that later," Gloria said, with a smile that Saber couldn't help but notice was disturbingly vacant. "My home is at your complete disposal, and we'll try to make you as comfortable as possible. Torg!" she waved to the large, black robot who was still dwarfed by Pegas' imposing bulk; all the moreso, now that the two of them were standing so close together. "Will you show our guests to their rooms?"

As they were all led out of the room by Torg, Saber sighed softly as Slade and Star caught up to them, and Maggie wrapped both of her arms around his right. (Gotta say, I feel kind of sorry for her.)

(Yeah,) Slade returned, and he could sense his older twin's reluctant sympathy. (Anyone in the wrong sort of circumstances could have ended up like that.)

The unspoken fact that it could just as easily been one of them, if not for their determination and mental resilience, wasn't something that Saber felt the need to articulate. There were already enough pressing issues that they all had on their minds without adding that to top it off.

Putting those particularly morbid thoughts aside, Saber smiled as he found Maggie pulling him down to land beside her on a bed with the pinkest covers and pillows he'd seen in quite some time. Ignoring the fact that those colors couldn't help but remind him of Shara, Saber smiled as Maggie curled up against his chest.

"I swear, I could sleep for a month like this," she said, closing her eyes as she smiled up at him.

"We shouldn't let ourselves get used to this," Slade said firmly, before Saber could articulate anything himself; though he completely shared the sentiment.

"You're right," he said, twisting around so he could sit up. "All things considered, this place isn't going to be around very long. And we're still going to have to rescue that girl, Gloria."

"You're right," Star said, as the five of them – sans Tina, who'd gone off with Gloria at the other girl's request; something about trying on dresses – all sat down around yet another table, though this one was an actual coffee table, short legs and everything, but still surrounded by plush chairs and couches. "What do you think happened to her grandfather?"

He and Maggie had curled up together, on a couch just about perpendicular to the one where Slade and Star were sitting, with Ringo just opposite the two of them.

"That's pretty obvious, don't you think?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he turned to look at her. "He's not likely to have made it through the Spider-crabs, if he was actually lucky enough not to encounter one of the Teknomen."

While he didn't know if Gloria's grandfather had left this castle of hers before or after Darkon's frontline soldiers had started descending to Earth, Saber was certain that – wherever he'd managed to make it to before some of the Radam's forces had inevitably caught up with him – he wasn't coming back.

That pretty much killed any lingering good mood they'd had from being able to sleep in such nicely-appointed rooms. And yeah, while he was as pleased as he could be – at least under the circumstances – to be getting room and board in a place this cozy, every sense Saber had was telling him that this peace and quiet of theirs wouldn't last long. Particularly the ones that had been affected by the Radam.

Torg had informed them, before departing for another part of the house with Pegas in tow, that dinner would be served at six. That left them with about two hours, or realistically one and a half, before they'd be called down to have dinner with Gloria and her guardian robot. It was kind of a strange situation, but not really any stranger than the ones that he, Slade, and their fellow Space Knights had been called on to deal with during the course of their search for some means of reaching the Space Ring.

Some way that didn't rely on the Blue Earth.

0010010010100

Once the five of them had gotten all cleaned up and combed for dinner, a phrase that was just a bit more literal for the Wonder Twins than those of them who'd been smart enough to keep their hair reasonably short during this whole debacle, Ringo joined the rest of his fellow Space Knights as they all trooped down to the dining room, following Gloria, who'd come to get them just five minutes after the last of them had finished washing up. He wondered for a bit just how Tina was getting on; the kid hadn't had much of an opportunity to be a kid, not with everything that'd been going on lately.

Not with the invasion, and the Radam that had been raining down destruction and misery down on the world for so damn long.

He thought it was nice of Gloria to offer her that, even though it was pretty damn clear that she'd gone a bit off the deep-end with everything that'd gone on. Not that he blamed the girl or anything; wasn't like everyone in the world could be as mentally resilient as the Wonder Twins. Wasn't like most people got the tempering they'd had since before the invasion had started; not like most people would've wanted it, either.

The five of them all arranged themselves around the table, which Ringo couldn't help but note was very tastefully laid out and decorated, settling themselves down in the chairs that had been so generously set out for them sometime earlier. Or, at least that was what he liked to think; he didn't enjoy the thought that Gloria had had this table set out for so many people while just gathering dust.

Then again, it was obvious to anyone who really looked that Gloria was more than a bit cracked in the head.

Conversation around the table wasn't really a thing, since the last member of their group was missing, and no one particularly wanted to talk about their plans to rescue Gloria before the Radam's trees killed her when the woman herself was sitting right at the table with them. Still, they were trying to keep things all light and casual so Gloria wouldn't suspect they were planning anything. Even if that "thing" was to get her and her robot buddy out of this place before the Radam's latest crop of teknoplants could bring the whole castle crashing down around them.

"All right," he said, once Gloria had left to go fetch Tina. "Are we all agreed, then?" he asked, wanting to be clear about this; there was a general chorus of affirmatives around the table. "Fine, it's settled: we take the girl with us when we leave."

"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen." Ringo turned an incredulous look on a certain Teknobot of their acquaintance as Pegas made his way in, a small, wheeled dinner cart looking all the smaller next to his impressive bulk. "Dinner is ready to be served."

He even had the whole cloth-napkin-draped-over-his-arm bit, Ringo noted, while trying not to snicker at the sheer strangeness of the image Pegas as a waiter presented to them. Nodding to Saber as he caught the kid's eye, Ringo saw Saber's amused smirk in response to the antics of his and Slade's combat partner.

"Pegas, what're you doing?" the kid asked, sounding about as amused as he'd previously looked.

"Designation: butler," the combat-mech said, as both Saber and Maggie laughed softly.

"You know, I think I could get used to this," Maggie said, still grinning. "What d'you think, Saber?"

"As long as Slade doesn't mind, I'm all for it," the kid said, smirking in that way he did when he wanted people to know he was joking.

Gloria came back in before those kids of theirs could really start getting into the banter, however, and so they all fell silent. It looked like she had something to say.

"Good evenin'. I have an excitin' surprise for y'all," she turned slightly to her right, smiling all the wider. "Tina, dear?"

Their comm. officer, all decked out in pink satin – but looking a bit shy with all of the attention in the room now focused squarely on her – came hesitantly back into the room. Star sounded a bit startled to see Tina all dolled up the way she'd been, but Ringo was glad to see that one more of them was getting to enjoy themselves in spite of every horrible thing that the Radam had brought to Earth when they'd set their sights on the planet and all her people. He wasn't going to say anything, though, since the Wonder Twins still blamed themselves and their family for bringing this war they were all now part of.

It was kinda stupid, since it wasn't like any of them had known what they were getting into when they'd made their way inside that damned Radam ship, and any other group of space explorers worth their salt would've made just the same call if they'd been the ones in those circumstances; so he wasn't going to go bringing up anything their boys might want to leave buried.

"You look great, kid," he said, smiling at the younger Space Knight, who managed to work up the nerve to smile back as she and Gloria made their way over to the table where all of them were sitting.

"I'm sorry to be late," Tina said, giving a curtsey that Ringo could tell she'd been holding back for awhile.

"Welcome, miss," Torg said. "And, may I say, you look lovely tonight."

"You know, that dress does look really good on you," Maggie said, her tone a bit wistful. "Almost makes me wish she'd had one in my size." She turned a winsome smile on Saber. "What d'you think, huh? I'd look good in a dress like that, right?"

"I think you'd look great in a dress like that," Saber said, smiling gently; the little charmer. "Of course, I think you look great anyway."

And, since he'd never known Maggie to let flattery like that go unrewarded, he wasn't surprised at all to find the two of them kissing the next time he looked.

"Y'all make a lovely couple," Gloria said, as their two particularly enthusiastic lovebirds broke for air. "I do hope you find the accommodations to your likin'."

"We do, thanks," Saber said, smiling openly at the young woman – about Tina's own age, if he was any judge – who had so generously offered them shelter.

They were, naturally, going to return that generosity by getting her out of this old castle of hers before those Radam trees could overrun the place.

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Once dinner had finished and they'd all gone off to the rooms that Gloria had so generously offered to them, Slade found himself drawn back to the large windows. It wasn't just the fact that they were surrounded on all sides by Radam's own spoor plants – though the longer he stood looking out at the steadily-encroaching alien forest, the more he could feel an itch at the back of his mind – but also the fact that they'd actually managed to find a place to rest that was worthy of the name. It was almost strange, the thought that there could still be places like this after everything that had happened.

"Thinking about the future, Slade?"

Turning to look over at Star as she came over to stand beside him, Slade found himself smiling almost involuntarily. "Not exactly. It's just," he sighed. "I hadn't been expecting to come across a place like this, not… We're going to have to find a way to get that girl to come with us when we leave."

"You're right," Star said, folding her arms as the two of them looked out the window together. "Sometimes, it's kind of hard to believe we all ended up being able to stay in a place like this."

"Yeah," he muttered, narrowing his eyes slightly.

He could still see them, standing in rows deep enough that even he couldn't quite count them; the Radam's forest of teknoplants. He could feel their presence in the back of his mind, and even though he was trying not to think of things like that, Slade wondered if he was putting his fellow Space Knights in danger simply by staying in this place. He didn't want to think that it was his own presence – his and Saber's – that was what ultimately brought so much danger to their comrades.

He knew it was selfish, but he wanted to stay with his friends.

01001011101010

The sound of Saber's soft breathing was starting to lull her into a peaceful sort of doze, but since there was still a question or two she wanted to ask, Maggie pushed past it as she turned to look down at the man she had come to care for so much over the time they had spent together.

"Hey, you still awake?"

Saber's softly glowing, sky-blue eyes opened again, and even in the darkness of a room without any lights on she could see him smile. "Mags. Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well," she paused for a moment, wondering if what she was going to ask would be too awkward to get into, but since she knew that Saber would be more than willing to tell her if she was getting into territory that made him uncomfortable, she decided to press on. "I was wondering if I could see that crystal of yours?"

"All right," he said, smiling slightly as he sat back up.

There was a small surge of light between his hands, brighter than his eyes but with the same color, and then the light seemed to solidity… somehow. She didn't really know the mechanics of how Saber had done what he had, but since it clearly had something to do with what the Radam had done to him, she wasn't going to be callous enough to ask.

Taking the crystal from his hands as he handed it over, Maggie found her eyes drawn almost immediately to the large crack down the center of the geometric structure. She knew Slade had it worse, since his own crystal had been destroyed entirely and he could only use it in conjunction with Pegas now, but it was still a bit sad to think about.

The situation as a whole was horrible, really.

"How does it feel? When you transform, I mean," she clarified, not wanting him to get the wrong idea.

"It's," he sighed, looking down at his lap with a soft chuckle. "It's not really something you can describe to someone who's never felt it. The nearest I can say is… It's like a sudden rush of energy."

"Sounds interesting," she said.

She didn't want to being up anything painful for him, or make any trouble about his transformation since she knew it took a lot out of him, so Maggie handed him back his crystal, and the two of them curled up together on the bed. Leaning against the firm, corded muscles she could clearly feel through the fabric of Saber's shirt and vest, Maggie smiled as she felt the warmth of his body through his clothes.

The sound of the door opening prompted Maggie to open her eyes, and she saw Ringo standing right there.

"Hope I didn't interrupt anything," Ringo said, in a tone that suggested he was smirking at the both of them.

"You'd just love to be able to say you did, wouldn't you, Ringo," Saber returned, sounding like he was smirking as widely as Ringo seemed to be.

"Well…" Ringo trailed off, his tone just rife with all sorts of unspoken implications that were probably going to stay that way. Then he cleared his throat, and Maggie sat up a bit straighter as she saw his posture change. "Look, you guys mind helping me with something?"

"Depends on what that is, Ringo," Saber said, clearly having picked up on the increasing seriousness of their conversation.

"Come on," Ringo said, his tone letting Maggie know that he was grinning again. "You're telling me you're not interested in the once-in-a-lifetime chance to explore a castle? C'mon, Saber, I thought you had a sense of adventure!"

"I must've left it in my other vest," Saber deadpanned, startling a laugh out of her as she continued to lean against him.

"Maggie, are you just going to let your boyfriend waste the one night we might get to stay in this cool old castle?"

"You're just going to keep pestering us until we give in, aren't you, Ringo?" she asked, feeling a smirk staring to spread across her own face.

"Well, yeah," Ringo said, folding his arms, the tone of his voice letting Maggie know that he was probably grinning at the pair of them.

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While she'd been listening to Gloria play the piano, Tina had also been trying to convince the other girl to come with them when they left this castle of hers behind. She'd tried everything she could think of: telling Gloria about the teknoplants that were closing in on her house, trying to explain about the Spider-crabs that always followed wherever the teknoplants grew. She was going to tell Gloria about the Teknomen, and about Rapier in particular since he was one of the scarier ones she'd heard about.

She'd never gotten the chance to tell her about them, because Gloria seemed determined not to listen to a single word she was saying! It was really frustrating, but Tina was determined to keep trying, no matter what Gloria or Torg said! All of the rest of the Space Knights were trying to get the sleep that they really hadn't been able to get while they'd been traveling on the Green Earth, so that meant it was up to her!

But, trying to talk to Gloria was like trying to talk to a wall, or like Ringo when he was in a bad mood; she didn't seem to be able to make any progress at all.

Still, as long as she was here, Tina was determined to do everything she could to get Gloria to come with them. It was just what any of the others would have done in the same circumstances. This was something only she could do; just like that time back when Spear had forced Slade beyond his time-limit, and she'd had to calm him down.

01001001000

As the three of them made their way down the spiral staircase and deeper into the low-light of the stairwell still in front of them, Saber felt Maggie leaning in closer to him.

"You know, it's kinda creepy down here," Maggie said, as the two of them continued on their way.

"Well, you know, the two of you could have stayed behind," Ringo said, turning to smirk back at the pair of them.

He laughed. "Ringo, I know you. Even if I had thrown you out of our room, the way I probably should have, you'd have just kept pounding on the door until we'd either given in, or I pounded you."

"No respect," Ringo stage-whispered, shaking his head with a sigh.

Saber rolled his eyes, then caught sight of something in particular, tucked away just out of sight for a human. "Watch out for that hole. I don't think those bats will be too happy if you disturb them."

"Oh, right then," Ringo said, carefully turning his steps away from the small hole that Saber had managed to spot.

"Do you even know what you're looking for, Ringo?" he asked, morbidly curious to know if they were just wandering around this dusty old castle at the whims of one of their fellow Space Knights, or if they were doing it for a reason.

"Well, you guys have to figure that a castle like this would pretty much have to have a well-stocked wine cellar," Ringo said, grinning back at the pair of them as they kept moving.

"Ringo, you're a hopeless case," he said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes as the three of them continued on their way down the stairs.

Naturally, he spotted the large door before either Ringo or Maggie saw the thing, pointing it out so that the two of them would know it was there before the wavering circle of light thrown off by the candelabra Ringo was carrying could fall on it. Listening with half an ear to Ringo and Maggie as they talked, Saber tensed as the creeping feeling of being surrounded on all sides came over him suddenly.

(Saber!)

(Let me guess: you need my help to deal with some Spider-crabs coming for us?)

(Yeah, that's just it; can you hurry?)

(Right,) he said, quickly becoming serious again.

Ringo and Maggie both noticed the sudden change in his demeanor, of course, so neither of them was actually surprised when he called a goodbye over his shoulder and ran out to join his brother on the battlefield. Transforming in the space between one step and the next, Saber launched himself into the air and joined up with Slade. His older twin was standing atop Pegas the way he usually did, ranging across the sky as he rained down high-speed destruction on the Spider-crabs all around them.

Saber moved in quickly to support him, drawing his lancer and beginning to carve his own way through the swarm in front of him, he found himself being led farther and farther away from his brother.

He also found himself having to come to Slade's rescue after his older twin had managed to get himself knocked out of the air by one of the Spider-crabs, but that was something the two of them had done often enough for each other that he didn't really notice it anymore. Smiling slightly when Ringo made his presence known, blowing a few more Spider-crabs out of their way even as Saber forced his way back toward Slade.

The three of them carved their way through the attacking Spider-crabs, but there wasn't much any of them could do about the Radam trees that pulled the castle down below them. It was a sad thing, knowing that the Radam had deprived yet another person of their home and family, but it was something they shared. Of all the things to share, it just had to be sadness, Saber mused, shaking his head briefly.

Once the three of them had cleared out the small swarm that had attacked them – Saber couldn't help the thought that their presence had been what had catalyzed those Spider-crabs and the Radam trees that had descended on this place – with Slade having returned from his own detour to rescue Star and Tina, the three of them quickly returned to their fellow Space Knights. Saber was at least glad that they wouldn't going to be forced to stay here. All other considerations aside, the memories weren't something he liked to recall.

Following his fellow Space Knights back into the Green Earth, Saber caught sight of the pensive expression on Ringo's face. Sidling up to the blond through the crowd of their fellow Space Knights, Saber raised an eyebrow at the other man as Ringo turned to meet his gaze.

"What's on your mind, Ringo?"

"It's just," Ringo paused for a long moment, as the rest of their fellow Space Knights made their way into the Green Earth. "I knew people were developing synthoid tech, but… well, I never expected to meet one, that's all."

Ringo didn't seem in any real mood to talk after that, moving past him and back into the Green Earth, but Saber got the feeling he knew what the blond had been talking about. And yes, it did let him feel a bit less guilty for being forced to leave Gloria behind in the devastated remains of her – if gender could be applied to what was, in the end, just a particularly convincing synthoid – home, but it was a strange thing to think about, all the same.

Really, Saber didn't know what to think about the situation they'd all just been through; he got the feeling that Ringo wasn't going to be particularly interested in talking about what they'd been through here, even after they'd managed to distance themselves from it.

Sure, he didn't intend to press the blond to share his thoughts, both since he wasn't in a hurry to be rude to someone he knew and respected and because he wanted that same courtesy extended to himself, but Saber was pretty sure he was right. Settling into the berth that he'd claimed for himself when he and Slade had finally been able to rejoin the rest of their fellow Space Knights aboard the Green Earth, Saber closed his eyes and let himself drift off. His last, conscious thought was to wonder just who else they and theirs would meet during their half-forced sojourn.