Chapter 25

Help is on the Way

I woke up and was still stressed about my future. I knew I had to get it done, but I took the morning and walked up to the top of the hill again.

It was a nice morning, chilly for the jungle, but I wouldn’t expect less after the massacre of the village. Nature is mourning.

Finally reaching the top, I kept my goggles off and let the expanse of trees lift me higher.

There was someone on the bench. It wasn’t the Maiden of Truth, thank goodness.

It was a small person, not even as big as a Murid.

“Hello?” I said.

He spoke to me, but it didn’t register in sound. It came through the back of my neck.

“I believe this where I am supposed to wait.”

I was curious, why this wood nymph, Dryad would be coming here. I did ask for help. “What are you waiting for?”

“Well, it only seems that I am a messenger, but someone was looking for someone before I came. So I think I’m serving two purposes. One as a messenger and one as a receiver of a call for help. But I am in dire need of help as well, so if I help can be returned for help, I suppose I am in the right place.”

“Where do you come from?” I asked him. I knew he must have been some sort of wood nymph or Dryad, but he was different to the one’s from the east, he was built different, darker and sleeker, like the trees in my jungle.

“I come from the South.”

“Where the Ancients attacked?”

“Yes. But I wonder how you knew? I was the only survivor and came to relay the message, coming here as I was told.”

“You must have heard the prophecy?”

“I am the holder of secrets in my home, but now, it seems there is no village, my home is gone, and if there are any survivors, I wouldn’t know. My missions was only to come for help. But you also asked for help. So the prophecy was known to you too?”

“Our help overlaps. This is where our streams cross.” I told him.

He was a bit confused but, one would be after coming a long way into unknown territory to ask for help.

“Follow me.” I said and I walked with him down to the temple.

I spoke without my voice, only through the gift I was given by Drus. “Who was in the village?”

“The Apes, and my home which was burnt.”

“There’s Apes?”

“Yes, but they were forbidden to come out of their village many years ago. That’s why you don’t see them anywhere else, or hear of them. Very few know about them.”

“But they are Xenos?”

“Yes, causing lots of trouble. A rebellious group that plays jokes and causes too much harm for the good of other Xenos. They were sentenced to stay in their village with an Ancient guarding every exit, none have successfully escaped. The Ancients had left long ago, but came back soon enough. Prophecy?”

“Interesting, I’ve only heard of them in stories, but not in actuality.”

The Dryad suddenly noticed something. “You can speak with me?”

“Of course. I was given the gift form Grandfather Drus in the East.”

“You’re the second person I now of that has had anything like it.”

“Who is the other?” I asked, already curious from the rumors.

“Winston the Wizard. As his gifts to all the Xenos, he also helped us. Drus gave him one in return for helping territorial disputes. As all life is symbiotic, no one can survive alone, but some prefer their space. For example, the Xenos help the forest and the forest helps the Xenos. Without each other, the other dies to some degree. Winston gifted the Xenos their treasures, our Grandfather wanted one as well and in return gave Winston the gift to speak with each other. Winston was obliged to gift us then, he made us, Dryads.”

“He made the Dryads? Able to walk and talk without roots.”

“It was a gift and a curse. We can move and speak, but our lifespan is drastically shortened. Instead of a few thousand years, we only live as long as maybe two or three hundred years. Much like you.”

“I don’t think I’ll live that long, but I get the point.”

“How are the Hamadryads in this part of the forest?”

“I have’t spoken to them much.” I said, “When I came back from the East they haven’t said a word, I would have heard it. They are silent, but they sent you my message.”

“I feel the same. They are sleeping here, they’ve grown old and weary. You can see it in their leaves and bark.”

“I thought they looked beautiful.”

“They do, but, you should see them near our village, they grow twice as tall, twice as thick and they laugh and make fun of you, or try to talk as you walk by. There’s never a lonely moment there. Until now.”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” I couldn’t say much more, but I feel as much pain for my future as he feels now. “There is something we can do, it’s a start and we’ll have to fight.”

“What can we do?”

We were getting closer to the village. I had a feeling someone might be watching and put my goggles on, checking for any suspicious heat signatures in the bushes or trees. There weren’t any close by so we proceeded and entered the Temple.

“Clyde, I’d like you to meet my new friend.”

“I’m Cedar, from the beautiful land of the Southern jungle.”

Clyde couldn’t hear him. I frowned, Cedar frowned and I spoke to Clyde in my normal voice.

“Clyde?”

“Hello, I was wondering what you were saying. I picked up some different wavelength and tried decoding it.” He shook his head. “Just an old pastime, trying to code and decode languages. I’ve gotten pretty good, but I’d have to sit for a while to really get this one.”

“Well, keep listening, maybe you can get this one soon,” I said, hoping he could. I would hate to have to translate everything Cedar says. “For now, this is Cedar, he’s my new friend and first recruit to our Army.”

“Our army?” He said, seeming to roll that through his circuits. “Are we building an army now?”

“Yes. I never said I would be able to kill all the Ancients alone. I need help. As much as I would love to take them on single handed, I don’t think I would win.” Something that Ares told me.

“Very well.” Clyde said, “Welcome him in, we can find a room for him.”

“Cedar,” I said, “we’ll show you to a room and start addressing this problem, maybe show you around the hangar. Clyde said that he’s trying to pick up on your language, so if you don’t mind, we should keep talking while he decodes what we’re saying.”

“I don’t know if I can sleep. So much has happened and I’m at a big loss already.” He glanced around the hangar, “But I don’t mind being shown around.”

“Very well,” I said, masking my apprehension towards my own hospitality, and started delivering my first tour of the hangar. “So this is the hangar, as you see there are many tools, weapons and whatnot, and a ship that we’ll be using soon.”

He looked around with interest. I wasn’t so sure if he was in awe or not, he looked so sad. But something will be done, he doesn’t know he is the beginning of the army that will stop the Ancients.

“Down this hallway we have the simulation room, training one to fight, we have lots of storage, which we can get into later, there’s a fabricator in one room that makes more supplies as we may need.”

We went back down the other side of the hall. “Here is the shooting range, guns storage, and further down is my room.”

That basically concluded the tour. I didn’t have much data on many things around. But he did look slightly better.

“Let me just see where Clyde went,” I said. “I thought he was going to make a room for you.”

I messaged Clyde, he was down another hallway I’d never been down before. We had to go back into the hangar to get there. Then following another maze-like hallway we found him taking boxes out of another storage room.

“Clyde, you never told me there were more hallways.”

“You never asked. Plus, I thought you would have found them already. You’re quite the curious type.”

“Thanks.” I said sarcastically. “Were you listening to what Cedar and I were saying?”

“I have been, recorded it all, but I have no way to know what you were saying, we might be able to work on some translations and decoding tonight. For now, just ask him what he would like for a bed.”

I asked Cedar, “This will be your room, what would you like to sleep on?”

“Maybe just some leaves, I’m not too particular.”

I told Clyde what he said.

He replied, “Then we should go outside and grab some leaves, do you just mind helping me with the last few boxes?”

I helped him with the boxes and set them in another room, hopefully we’ll have space in case someone else comes to join our army.

Clyde and I grabbed a couple of buckets each, opened the side door to the hangar and shoveled in some leaves from the ground, I picked a few green leaves from some nearby ferns and took them back to Cedar in his room.

He liked it, and asked for some live plants to help keep him company. Plus it freshens up the room.

We took him outside and had him choose a plant or two.

“Cedar,” I said, “I need to get back to my training, there’s a few things I need to finish.”

“That’s alright, I can stay here for now, unless you don’t mind me following you around. It’s at least something to put my attention to after everything that’s just happened.”

“Can he watch the simulation?” I asked Clyde.

“It’s fine with me.”

“You can come.” I told Cedar.

And we went back to the simulation room, continuing from where I left off after the Ursines. I was glad I didn’t forget anything over the last few hours, I was ready for the next test.

There were three Bovine, an Ursine and Canines all around, but the terrain was slightly in my favor. Sparse forest.

It was almost too easy. I found the Bovine charging me, nothing much I could do but run. I jumped up a tree, just missed being grabbed by a Canine. I fired at the Canines, there were five of them. They didn’t go down with just one shot. Now I realized why Clyde despised my choice in guns, the small one just won’t do.

I fired as much as I could at one, waited a few second, but found the Bovine shaking the tree, ramming it with his head, and the Ursine trying to climb up to grab me.

I found another tree, but it was quite far away. I could make it. I’m the best jumper in the whole village.

I pushed off, using the swinging momentum of the tree to launch me to the other one.

I made it. Wasting no time, I shot a few more at each of the canines, one went down.

Somehow, this gun didn’t overheat, maybe it was Clyde’s design, maybe that’s just how it was. I could do a few shots, twelve in total, until it had to recharge, which only took a few seconds. But seconds were valuable in this game.

I squeezed the whole round out in one burst, using my elevation to take a few shots at them all. I missed a few of them and none of the shots were fatal, just singeing their fur.

I thought of just jumping down, but all eight were now at the base of my tree.

I had a few more seconds to charge the gun. The Ursine was climbing up. I shimmied down and the Ursine’s probing arm met Ungu. His wrist was hanging at an angle, I doubt he could use it to climb anymore.

I thought of my next action, if I could finish him, he wouldn’t be a future threat, if I took out his other arm, he would just fall and still be able to chase me on the ground.

I shimmied down some more, quickly, and shoved Ungu straight into his bellowing mouth. He bit, and I felt the hot pain of the simulation, but second later, he fell off the tree, dead. I was still in the game, a constant heat throbbed on my foot.

The Bovine was ramming the tree again, trying to topple it over. The Canines were all around howling at me, ready to catch me in case I fell.

I waited for a second for the tree to stop moving and shot the Canines. Two more down, two left.

I jumped across to another tree, there was one a bit closer, but it was still quite a jump.

The Bovine realized and came to ram this tree. It shook and started to crack, another thrust and it started coming down. I scrambled to jump or grab on to another branch, but lost my grip and came down too.

There was a Canine waiting for me to fall and I scrambled off, sprinting away from them, trying to fire another shot. I managed to down one more Canine, a bit slower than the others, and the Bovine, charging head first.

After running in a few circles, I finally managed to gain enough distance and run up a tree, I only needed a good shot for the Canine, I had a plan for the Bovine.

The Canine was jumping around, attempting to avoid my shots, but a few got to him, and once he was stopped, I fired three shots into him. Gone.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

The Bovine was running back to charge once more. He hit the tree and I let go, coming straight down on him, Ungu sliding down his spine, severing each rib as it went.

Two more Canine and two more Bovines.

I jumped up the tree once more and took aim at the last two Canines. I knew what I was doing and got both of them in the face, surprising even myself.

For the Bovines I knew what to do, but it wasn’t so easy. Once one came to my tree the other was quick to follow. So I couldn’t get too close to one with out the other attacking me mid my attack.

I decided on a double attack. Distract one and go for the kill.

I jumped across the gap between trees, taking aim on the farther Bovine. Shot twice and dropped, meeting the other at the base of the tree. Well, Ungu met him first.

Then I pummeled the last Bovine with shots until he was slow enough and distracted enough that I could jump up and slice him up too.

The last Bovine dropped.

All the dead enemies disappeared and the surroundings evaporated to the black of the simulation room.

Clyde opened the door. “Well done!”

I thanked him.

Cedar was shuffling in behind him. “You’re sure to be an Ancient slayer!” He said with wide eyes.

I thanked him as well.

“Shall we get some food?” I asked, just slightly out of breath.

We left and went to my room to eat and drink. Clyde found something for Cedar, which mainly consisted of water and sugar, plant food.

“Cedar, I need to find more Dryads, like I said, I need an army. Can you find more?”

“My village was destroyed. But there may have been some outside during the attack, or who managed to escape, like I did.” He was looking desperate. “I can search.”

It was already dark outside and even Dryads preferred traveling by day. So we let him stay the night before setting off in the morning.

I asked Clyde how much of the simulation training I have left.

“You might be able to finish it off tonight. There’s a big one still to go. Then tomorrow, there will be flight simulation.”

Finally! The training ends, but I did feel confident already that I could take any number of Xenos in an ambush. Then flight simulation, that’s what I’ve been waiting for. “Sounds fun.” I told Clyde, “Anything after the flight simulation?”

“I think you might want to build your army up. I may have a few ideas.”

I finished my food, downed my drink and went back to the simulation.

I was on an island about a hundred feet across, no trees. Five Ursines stood around me, Pisces swam in the water with spears. It started instantly.

The pisces lifted their heads, the Ursines charged at me, it was complete chaos. I jumped and Ursines collided into one another. The Pisces threw their spears, I ducked and wriggled to avoid being hit, but then I came back down, jumping on one Ursine’s head to the other. I had to find some open ground before they realized where I was.

I took a big leap and landed softly, just in time for the Pisces to grab their spears and launch another attack.

Two of the Ursines got hit, one died, the other grabbed the spear from his side and charged at me.

I jumped back making the Ursine miss his stab with the spear while I ran in to slash his throat with Ungu. Meanwhile I grabbed the spear he held and threw it at another one of the Ursines. I missed, and the spear went back into the water.

The Pisces threw their spears once more, I dropped to the ground as the Ursines came charging towards me. I wound between their feet shooting at their legs, injuring a few more.

The Ursines that could still run came at me, I shot at them and fled still dodging the Pisces’s spears.

It continued for nearly five more minutes, despite the fast first two kills. The other three weren’t that easy.

I kept on until there was one Ursine left. I ended up running at him, jumping above his head and shooting his spine on my way back down. He was frozen, I pushed him over and severed his neck.

The pisces were in the water, they couldn’t come on land. Most of their spears were on the land, so I found the one with the spear and shot him before he could throw it. Fortunately they don’t do well with energy shots as it only took one good shot to kill a Pisces.

I easily handled the other Pisces and they all disappeared, the sandy island faded, the waters turned to the black floor of the simulation room.

“Congratulations Dawn! You’ve finished the last of the simulation training.”

“Thank you Clyde.” I said in my most magnificent, yet exhausted voice. I bowed an exaggerated and exhausted bow. It was pretty late already.

Cedar was there, looking exhausted but hyped up from my fight. “I can’t wait to see you fighting in real life.”

“You will, you will.” I told him. “Why don’t we call it a night, tomorrow will be a big new day. Lots to do still.”

———

“The first step of our mission completed!”

Excited, accomplished yells came through ragged throats.

“Now that your bellies are full and your appetites calmed, we can stay a few nights. There’s no rushing God’s work.”

Laughter echoed through the space.

“What are we going to do with the captives?” The messenger asked.

“We let them live, fornicate in the dirt, and grow. So that we can feast more when we come back.” Dakur replied.

“That might be a while.” The enlarged rat commented. “So they better make some good offspring we can have for supper.”

“The entirety of the Xenos will be extinct, or nearly, and we will collect them all, trapping them and coming back, farming each till our bellies are full. When the time comes, we kill them off, and rejoin our creators, enthralled with our success.”

“You think they will come for us?” One asked.

“It’s been thousands of years.” Dyzo said.

“For thousands of years we have been betrayed, they know of our existence and haven’t forgotten about us. We fulfill what we were sent here to do!” Yelled Dakur.

There was excitement and hushed feelings, no one had thought the creators were coming back for them. Dakur could see the skepticism on their faces.

“Some of us have more insight to reality.” Dakur sneered, looking at Dyzo. “What do you see? Tell me, Dyzo, when are the creators coming back to us, to free us from our duties and celebrate a victory?”

He was hesitant, but closed his eyes and searched into the unknown. “The creators, they’ve all but forgot of us. They are waiting, planning the future, waiting for the day… that we will succeed.”

“That’s right.” Dakur said, rubbing his hands together. “There is the prophecy, we must only fulfill the divine prophecy, and we will flourish, rightfully and without Xenos.”

———

I woke up, excited for my pilot’s training.

Cedar was in the hangar staring at the ship, looking at tools and machines, armor, weapons and other miscellaneous items I might find useful at some time.

“Did you sleep well?” I asked.

“Not really. Nightmares and things. I did sleep, but not very much. But I’ll make my way back to find my brothers and sisters, and anyone else who wants to come along.”

“Thank you.” I told him earnestly. “I can’t do this alone, the more willing to fight, the better. Sometimes, all people need is a call, they’re willing, but for the past ten thousand years, they’ve all been living in fear of them. The time has come, the Ancients are released and we are building an army to stop them.”

“You’re right,” he said adamantly; better than he had been this morning. “I’ll be on my way.” He started walking, but stopped and turned. “Oh, is there something to show them? I don’t think anyone will believe me when I tell them we’re building an army. They might laugh at me, or doubt that anyone is strong enough.”

“I might have something.” I looked around finding tools and machines. I needed something that would make this Dryad look like a real man in the army. I brought him up to my room, to the cabinet with my keepsake items from the adventures I’ve had.

“Wow,” Cedar awed at the Relic of good fortune in it’s new form, “What is that?”

“This is an heirloom from Xeres, our forefather and God. I’ve recently retrieved it and unlocked its prize.”

“Can I take it to show them?” I let him grab it off the shelf, but, as it was made of solid gold, he fumbled with it and slowly let it go to the floor. “Maybe something else.” He smiled.

I picked it up and put it back on the shelf. “How about this one?” I picked up a feather, “This is the feather of Midnai, the winged Ancient beast with a lion’s haunches.”

He looked at it in fear, but grabbed it slowly. “It won’t hurt me will it?”

“I don’t think so, but make sure it never get’s lost, I don’t want it getting back in the hands of the Ancients, in case they can make her live again.”

He saluted, “I will,” And the two of us walked outside to the garden.

“Good luck Cedar. And one more thing, don’t get too close to the village, they may still be there.”

“Alright Huntress.”

“And,” I stopped him once more, “If I’m not here, just wait in the trees.”

He smiled and strode off, proud to be holding a feather of a dead Ancient.

I went back inside to get something to eat and happily start on my training.

Clyde was busy sweeping up the leaves and dirt that had gotten in the hallways. “We might as well had him sleep outside.” He said.

“That would have been rude, Clyde. Plus he is our guest so we make him comfortable.”

He mumbled something, but I left and decided to give him some time to himself while I got some fresh meat.

I exited through the hangar side door, wondering why I had never noticed this before. I hadn’t really ever came back to this side of the mountain. Thinking about it now, It’s not even on the same side of the mountain as the temple.

I looked behind me, the doors and walls were painted, blending into the surrounding trees and bushes. It was nearly impossible to see. So I put on my goggles and made sure to mark this location and see if there were any other markings I could pick up.

But Clyde had apparently been watching what I was doing.

It’s already programmed into your goggles. You have to stand back a bit and it will show you that you’re already here.

Thanks I replied, and simply walked away, turning around after fifty feet to get the whole hangar door in my view. It finally gave me a bubble that told me that it was the back door, and hangar door. There was an option to keep it on the screen so that I could see it’s location from anywhere, no matter how far away it was.

I went further into the forest and found a nice big bird. Practicing being sneaky, I climbed up a tree and came out onto a branch just above it.

The bird was slightly weary of some presence, but I waited for it to continue pecking at the ground for food.

I came down on it, making sure I was in its flight path, and wrung its neck.

Now trying to find my way back to the hangar, I simply had to look around, and find the caption that told me where the hangar was. It wasn’t too hard really, I remembered that it was uphill, but I enjoyed making use of the goggles, practicing before I got into a real emergency.

I went back to my room in the hangar and found that there were no pots to cook with, so I went upstairs and cleaned the bird and stewed it in a fresh vegetable and spice soup.

There was a knock on the door. It couldn’t possibly be Cedar, I sent him away just an hour ago.

I opened the door, it was the Maiden of Truth. “Hello.” I said, trying not to sound like I didn’t want to talk to her.

She rushed in and sat down on the chair. “Dawn, there’s a lot happening down there. The King is preparing to send some of the village outside, into the city, to do work. He said he lost a bet or something and needs to repay it with manual labor.”

I didn’t know what to say.

“He doesn’t seem himself recently either. Sometimes he’s frantically trying to handle things so the village doesn’t die. Other times he has perfect conviction that what he’s doing is right.”

She looked like she was beyond tears. Something wasn’t right with her either, but I’m glad that she let me know. “I’ll see what I can do about it.” I said. “Do you know where exactly he sent them?”

“No, but I think it would have been the Murid village in the east. Could have been the city for all I know.”

This sounds like a disaster. “What if I go and get them back?”

“You might be able to, but then the King would have to pay the debt in some other way.”

“This doesn’t sound like a very easy job. We have to see what the king is doing, why he’s acting so strange. Maybe you can go with him on one of his journeys and—.”

“That would be impossible,” she interrupted me frantically.“One, I am never to leave the village. Two, he would never let me go with him. And three, I don’t know what I’d have gotten myself into!”

That’s true, it’d be very hard to get this old Feline onto that ship, and back, for that matter. “What if I give you something?”

Her ears perked up, “Like what?”

“Wait here.”

I went down to see Clyde, stirring my pot of stew first. “Clyde, I need something for the Maiden of Truth, she needs to sneak into the ship and find—.”

“I know, I heard all of that.”

He went to the back storage spaces and brought back an assortment of items. “This is a suit for her. I hope it isn’t too tight around the midsection.” He handed that to me first, folded nice and square. “These are bugs that she can put inside and around the ship to hear what the King is saying. They all relay back to me using his ship’s antenna.”

I thanked him and ran back up to the Maiden of Truth, she was still sitting there, biting her claws and staring worriedly out the window. Her eyes darted to me wildly, “What took you so long?”

“Here, these are for you.” I handed her the suit. “This might be a bit tight for you, but it’s custom made and will keep you from being seen.”

Her eyes widened even more with this. “I don’t think you’re allowed to give me this Dawn.”

“There’s lots of things that aren’t supposed to be. I can’t do that myself. That’s why I, the Huntress, am giving it to you. You will be deputized for the time being. Just don’t tell anyone else.”

She nervously took it and tried it on. “It’s a bit tight around the midsection.”

“I thought so, don’t worry about it, we don’t have time. Just take it off for now and when you need it, put it on. There’s a few more things here. These are bugs to put around the ship, one should go in the pilot’s cockpit and anywhere else the King may be. We need to hear everything he says. But make sure they’re hidden, the less he knows the better.”

She took the bugs, very cautiously as well. “I hope I can do this Dawn. I’ve never done anything like this before.”

“I know. But I think you can do it. There’s nobody else who can. Getting inside the ship without anyone seeing will be the harder part, you’re already halfway there as you can get into the hangar.”

“Alright,” she said, taking deep breath. “I’ll do it. Wish me luck.”

She walked out with the suit and bugs in hand.

“Wait!” I yelled. “Here, take a bag so you don’t show the whole village what you’ve just got from me.”

“Smart, thanks.” She said, putting the item inside.

I got back to my stew, the smells were permeating the entire room already. I took it off of the heat and served myself a bowl.

Finishing it up I went back to the hangar and found Clyde. He was busy getting the ship ready for flight.

“Clyde, are we starting the flight training now?”

“Yes, that’s right. But I need you to know, this isn’t a two day class, there’s so much to learn about flying, and this ship has a few extra gimmicks than most, so we’ll learn fast, but thoroughly.”

I understood that. I wish it only took a day.

“Also, the simulations that you’ve been doing, you already know how to fight, it was just to brush up your skills and make you perfect. I can tell you now, you have no clue how this ship runs.”

“That’s true, I don’t.” I said gloomily. “So where do we start?”

“You can start reading the manual.” Clyde said, pointing to a book a few inches thick.

I walked over to it and hefted it open. Flipping through it, there were pictures and diagrams of the ship, parts of the ship, and formulas that told me the ratio between thrust and gravitational pull, especially while leaving or entering any type of atmosphere. It came complete with a chart going on for three pages telling me the different densities, types of molecules and flammability of each and how fast I should of shouldn’t enter or exit the atmosphere.

“Clyde, you have to be joking.”

“No, you need to know all of it. What if it breaks down and I’m not there to save you.”

“I’m sure you will be there. This is going to take me years to read, plus I’d have no way to fix the engine when I’m stuck in the middle of the Great Forest.”

He came over and saw that I was looking in the mechanical, technical, and engineer’s manual for this ship. “Ok, this isn’t the one I meant.” He went over to another shelf and took out an old book, it crumpled when he handed it to me. “I thought I reprinted that one. Just wait an hour or two before it will be printed.”

“What was that supposed to be?” I asked, looking at the disintegrating mess of the book.

“The flight training manual for beginners.”

“And you’re telling me I have to wait another two hours?”

“Fine.” He saw my face and took me up into the ship. “I guess I can show you around while it’s printing.”

It was very much like the King’s ship, with some slight differences. I could tell that mine hadn’t been refurbished, had less amenities, a snack and drink bar that was empty and a few other differences.

Clyde showed me into the pilot’s seat. Telling me what each button meant, not that I would have had much of a clue what they were, beyond on and off, but I did catch something about cloaking, door open and close buttons, pressurizing and a few more.

It didn’t take him very long to show me around, so he let me sit there and not touch anything until he came back, and he went off to make sure the book was being reprinted.

I sat in the pilot’s seat looking at the controls. I didn’t know what any of them would do, besides the few I could remember that Clyde had talked about. I decided to familiarize myself with what I know and then look around a bit more, get to know the craft.

Clyde had come back a few moments later and found me looking at the empty armory. “The book will be printed in a few hours. Could I advise some more shooting practice in the mean time?”

I couldn’t object to that. Guns weren’t my forte as I had never had a chance to use them at all. So I went down to the shooting range and took the most familiar one, the one I had been using in the simulations, it was the bigger one, more powerful, but it over heated quickly, so I took another one as well, trying to perfect drawing, shooting quickly and with accuracy.

I had gotten pretty good at it, though still many shots had missed. Still, the targets had to be changed out at the end of the day from the number of shots I did make.

Clyde came back after I had gotten bored and moved on to other guns I might use in the future, yet I still had no idea what I would or wouldn’t be using.

“Here’s the manual, study it well. It goes over the general purpose of the ship, what it does and doesn’t do and then straight into controls, and then other accessories’ uses.”

I looked at the book, it wasn’t too big, but it still wasn’t a light read. I hope I could get done with it in a day or two.

“After that will be another book on flight techniques and what you should and shouldn’t do in a space craft.” Clyde told me. “This one just tells you the controls and abilities, the next will be how to do it.”

“How long do you think it should take me?” I asked.

“Not sure, but considering that it would take me about a minute to go through it myself, being who I am, I wouldn’t know about yourself, with an organic body.”

I sat down, thinking it would be a good idea to be in the ship, and read the manual, glancing at the things I read about, until that night. I was anxious, knowing this was part of my training, though most of it was physical before, I didn’t have to read anything before.

It was late into the night, I was hardly a quarter of the way through and just getting started on basic maneuvers. But I had to call it a night so I could finish it without sleeping in the ship.

I ate before bed, thinking about waking up early, and getting done with this manual before the end of the next day.

Sweet dreams.

———

Clyde thought it might be nice to wake me up and give me an update first thing. “We can hear everything the King is saying now,” he said, as soon as I opened an eye. “Though he hasn’t yet been in the ship today. I’ve only heard the occasional guard walking by.”

“He didn’t say when he will be flying?” I asked.

“No, but I did get a bit of data about what he’s doing. Something about the Murids. He doesn’t want them to find out something. He sounds worried, but I can’t hear what it’s about.”

“Fine, keep listening and let me know Clyde. I’m sure we’ll get somewhere with it. He can’t be so secretive that he can’t tell anyone, even his personal guards or his pilot must know something.”

“True. Once his ship takes off I should be able to track it, while still listening to him. All of the bugs are transmission interception devices, and all of them can give me locations.”

“Good, I hope I can at least save our village if I can’t save Xenobia. But it would all be in vain if I can’t stop the Ancients.”