“So, no more supplies at this pod then?” Kyle began as he moved to offer Jared a portion of their previous meal once the door had closed behind Ian and Lili.

Jared was about to speak when, as he took a step to retrieve the food, his eyes were drawn to a slight movement off to the side of the shack, “Are those,” he squinted a bit in the dim firelight, “goats?”

That was when Kyle allowed another slight smile as his own eyes moved to where their two ‘pets’ were attempting to curl up comfortably for the night, “Yeah, of some sort. Lili took a liking to them a while back, or they took a liking to her. Still a little fuzzy on which way it originally went.” he added as he handed Jared one of the cartons they were still using as bowls.

“Goats?” Jared repeated skeptically as he took a seat and another glance back toward the two creatures.

“Well I’m sure they’re not actual goats, but I figured I’d leave that determination to some scientist type of person or another.” he added as he took his own seat and a sip of his remaining glass of icy cold water.

Jared just shook his head again as he took a bite, attempting to ignore the slightly muffled movements inside the nearby shack and instead concentrate on Kyle’s previous question, “No, it was pretty much barren, other than the skeletons.” he added more quietly.

Kyle looked down again as he thought on the fact of their having been any other humans on the planet before them, at all, “And you’re sure that they looked like they had died years apart?”

“Well, I didn’t do an entire forensics work up or anything, but from what I could tell, yes.” he repeated his previous answer to Ian.

“And theories on how that could happen?”

Jared shook his head as he swallowed another bite, “Me and Ian already had this conversation when we found them.” he pointed out to Kyle, unsuccessfully keeping himself from glancing back at the shack once more.

“Well, I wasn’t there, totally.” Kyle had to add, “So, refresh my memory on what conclusion you did come up with.”

Jared sighed again before continuing, “It seemed pretty obvious that the male died because of injuries received during a less than perfect landing. Then it looked like, years later, her body was placed there with his once she died. Sort of like a family tomb, like they used to have on Earth.” he added more quietly.

“Family tomb?” Kyle repeated with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, strangers didn’t usually share those from what I understand.” Jared scoffed, though it was slight.

“So, how many years ago did it look like she died…and was put there.” Kyle added more quietly.

“It looked like he had been there for almost twenty years, which would mean that the pod was from an e-ship that got within range of this planet very early on, after the original departure from earth.” Jared took a breath, “And she, she looked like she had been there almost ten to fifteen years, herself.”

“And we’re sure someone else put her there?” Kyle asked for clarification.

“Well, I wasn’t there when it happened, Kyle.” Jared retorted, then softened his tone slightly, “But she wasn’t sitting in a natural position, and I really doubt that she just stayed there watching the other body decay for all those years. That would be just a little hard on the nostrils I’d think, the actual idea of something like that happening at all, aside.”

“So, we’re saying that ten to fifteen years ago, there was another human on this planet. Is that much accurate?”

“Well, I can’t prove it, but…” Jared just shook his head.

“It would be a highly educated guess?” Kyle finished for him. Jared simply nodded his silent agreement, “And what do we think happened to this mystery person or persons…who crashed only like fifty miles from here?” Kyle added warily.

“Nearly twenty years ago.” Jared had to add. Kyle just rolled his eyes at the restating of the obvious, causing Jared to shake his head again before admitting, “Come on, Kyle, I have no earthly way of knowing that, without another vision, anyway.” he added more quietly.

“Good thing we’re not on earth then, eh?” Kyle retorted smartly, causing Jared to shake his head once more, “So, get another vision.”

Jared just scoffed as he looked back at the slightly younger teen, “Yeah, I’ll get right on that.”

“Good.” Kyle stated plainly as he firmly patted Jared’s shoulder and stood,. gathering his own glass and Jared’s carton.

“I was being sarcastic Kyle. You know I can’t force myself to have a vision.” Jared pointed out the facts the other boy already knew.

“You sure?”

“What do you mean, am I sure?” Jared asked with a bit of defensiveness.

“Well, you get older every day. Guess I’m just hoping you unlock that little trick at some point.” Kyle returned, though quietly, seeming slightly distracted himself.

Jared then sighed sadly, “I guess sometimes they happen more than other times, but…not enough to really determine how exactly to make them happen.”

“Ok, what times do they happen more?” Kyle asked as he turned back from where he had planned to rinse off their utensils.

Jared scoffed, “Like I said, I haven’t really even had them enough to figure out any hard and fast rules for them yet.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“But…?”

“What do you mean, but?” Jared repeated as Kyle came back to sit near him again.

“Hey, you’re the one who started down this road. You must think that sometimes there had been some common factors, right?” Kyle prodded.

Jared sighed again, “Most of them, before I was eighteen, they were in dreams. I mean, hell, I might have visions every night, but I don’t remember my dreams every night. Hence the problem of even knowing if I had a vision at all.” Jared attempted to begin.

“And, since you’ve turned eighteen?” Kyle continued to try and help Jared find the way to his answer.

“The first time I felt like I saw a little more than just glimpses, before we got here, was that last night before we left the ship to come here at all.”

“And what was different about that night?” Kyle pushed.

Though Jared didn’t answer right away as he simply looked down with a deep blush, which was thankfully hard to catch in only the firelight.

“Jared.” Kyle stated his name in a slightly scolding manner after another moment of silence. When Jared attempted to answer but the words fell short, he glanced up at where Kyle looked over at him with narrowed blue eyes.

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Kyle asked innocently.

“Wall’s up again, don’t bother.” Jared warned, his own eyes narrowed then as well.

“Come on, Jared.” Kyle complained impatiently, “We still need to figure out these visions. Especially since you found nothing out there but a useless pod and proof that we might not actually be alone here, after all.”

“Useless?” Jared asked, his eyes narrowing further, “If it’s so useless, why’d you tell me you might be able to fix it, or get a message out, therefore making me and Ian travel all the way back here so you could go try and do just that?” Jared asked with a bit of accusation in his tone as Kyle averted his eyes and stood once more.

Kyle sighed softly, “I mean, I might still be able to salvage some parts…or something.” he attempted, his voice trailing off as he remained turned away from Jared’s wary gaze.

“That isn’t exactly how you made it sound when you were in my head, Kyle.” Jared scolded, trying to keep his voice even as he awaited further response from the younger man.

Kyle simply looked downwards as he searched that amazing brain of his for the best response to Jared’s obvious suspicion of this new version of Kyle’s apparent thoughts on the matter of the pod.

As Jared continued to wait on an explanation, Kyle finally allowed a sigh, “I mean, I should still go have a look at it, you know, just in case.”

“But?” Jared was now the one prodding.

“But it’s doubtful that an older pod is going to get us anywhere our newer one couldn’t, travel-wise, or message-wise.” he admitted quietly.

Jared just shook his head disappointedly, “So then why the hell do you wanna go out there and look at some ‘useless’ pod,” he repeated Kyle’s earlier words, “not too mention why did you want to have me and Ian backtrack all the way here, instead of continuing to look for something that could be a bit less useless, like, say, the ship?” Jared added with a slight bite to his tone.

Kyle sighed again as he slightly bit his lip, seeming to be searching for an adequate explanation once more. After another long moment of silence, Jared then spoke up again.

“Ok, I’m not going to physically threaten you, the way Ian probably would here, but I could go and interrupt their homecoming and have him deliver that threat himself, especially considering said interruption.” Jared scowled as he too stood, before finally pausing and taking his own breath, “Just tell me the truth, Kyle, why did you give us a bogus reason for coming all the way back here? Why would you do that?” he asked, attempting to force gentleness into his tone.

“Like you’re not happy to see her again?” Kyle returned, though the words were just a whisper.

“You don’t have to be a mind-reader to know my answer to that question, so how about answering mine, instead?” Jared returned with another frown.

Another sigh on Kyle’s part, “Me and Ian can go look at the pod, then, I guess, he and I could continue to look for the ship, at that point.” Kyle said quietly with a sad shrug.

“Wait, what are you even talking about, Kyle?” Jared began with confusion, “We already decided that cause of my…more ‘active’ ability,” he finally decided on, “that I should be the one to have Ian’s back. That decision was made when we first left, two months ago.” he reminded.

“Yeah, I know,” Kyle stated in the same soft tone, “so you and Ian would be safe out there heading into the unknown, while me and Lili stayed here, in familiar territory, in our own sort of, hopefully safe, zone.”

Jared narrowed his eyes again, “Did something happen? Did you guys get spooked by some animal…or something?” Jared asked worriedly, figuring if that had been the case, he surely would have expected it to have been brought up a lot sooner than this.

“No, nothing like that.” Kyle admitted.

“So, why then, are you now questioning the original plan? And lying to get it changed.” Jared couldn’t help adding, though quietly.

Another deep sigh from Kyle before he answered, “Cause Lili needs you here a lot more than she needs me.” was his simple response, which only caused Jared’s brow to furrow.

“Um,” Jared began, attempting to compose himself again to get further clarification, “is there something wrong? Is she sick, or in pain or something?” he asked, casting a glance back toward the shack at where Lili had seemed happy and well, despite her lack of much noticeable weight gain as of yet. Then again, emotions had a way of blocking any kind of physical pain if they were intense enough, though that block was hardly a cure, and merely a postponement.

Kyle attempted to compose himself as well, finally turning back toward Jared, after allowing his own glance toward the shack, “I really don’t know how to answer that, Jared.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jared asked, his worry hardly alleviated by that response.

Kyle cast his eyes downwards again before continuing, “It’s been really hard here, these last two months.” he began.

“Yeah, it’s been hard out there too, Kyle.” Jared retorted, a rare bit of impatience of his own now surfacing, though it was mainly due to his current worry at Kyle’s vague words.

“Different kind of hard.” Kyle returned though in a mumble.

“Meaning?” Jared pressed.

“Meaning…” a slight pause on the part of the seventeen year old, “she’s barely spoken to me much at all, Jared. She’s spent most of her time locked inside that shack….and inside her own head.” Kyle allowed himself to add though in a whisper, his eyes turning toward the door once more.

“But that second one wouldn’t really be a problem for you, would it?” Jared returned, though in his own near whisper.

“Which is why I had to use it, on her.” Kyle admitted, he and Jared both swallowing hard at the words, “Not to place any thoughts in her head or anything, but just to know what was going on in there at all, since she never would tell me, or admit that anything was wrong. It was the only way I could even hope to know if she was ok, at all.” he added apologetically.

Jared closed his eyes a moment before continuing, “I’m not angry at you for looking inside her head, in this case,” he had to add, “but tell me, is she ok?”

Kyle looked down before finally responding, “I have no way of knowing that, for sure. I can’t diagnose any kind of physical problems with what I do, not really. I can just tell you what she thinks. Whether she thinks she’s ok.” he clarified.

Jared swallowed again before finding his own response, “And, judging by the rest of this conversation, I’m guessing that she doesn’t think she is.” he whispered.

One more deep and shaky breath on Kyle’s part as he dared to share those thoughts he had pulled from Lili’s head, “Jared, the reason you gotta be here, it’s not just cause you’re the one she’s most likely to open up to, for real, if she does at all. And Lili would never forgive me if she knew that I knew this, let alone forgive me for sharing it with anyone else, but god, Jared, she thinks the baby is killing her.”