Two other mechanics were stationed in the local headquarters. They just heard the alert but they didn't want to close all the doors. They decided to wait a few minutes with hope that their co-worker will make it there on time.

The door to the repair shaft opened. The black-haired Celestian dashed out, panting and babbling, "They don't want to hurt you. Just let them..."

"What?" asked his co-worker, leaning off of the chair. "Where the hell have you been?"

As the three Vardir peeked out of the corridor, he goggled his eyes and his voice stuck in his throat.

Erilaz waved his hands up and down in a calming gesture, still holding a gun. "We just want to get through this room."

"It's Andvari!" yelled the mechanic, pointing at the Vardir Commander. "And you're Erilaz! Vardir Erilaz!"

"Yes but..." hissed Erilaz but the mechanic pulled out a gun.

Erilaz glared at him in disbelief. The Celestian held his weapon in shaking hands, and his face turned white. Erilaz swung his leg, kicking the gun out of the Celestian's hands.

"Come with us," he ordered and trotted towards the door.

The black-haired man rushed after the runaways. He understood nothing but he was sure that helping the Vardir Commanders counts as a good deed. He only wondered why they were in such terrible shape and why they aimed at him.

A grey, square building stood in the field at the bottom of the mountain. Only a few short blocks of flats and cottages surrounded it. The village seemed to be unaware of what happened deep underground. The dwellers lived their normal life without paying much attention to the local headquarters building.

Erilaz trotted out of the headquarters. Andvari and Hefri leant on his shoulders, trying to keep pace with him. Hefri struggled for every step while blood leisurely oozed from her leg. Her once white pantleg soaked with red liquid and rust-coloured stains surrounded her wound. She could endure the ceaseless pain for one reason–she feared her end. Every waft of the wind felt on her neck like the breath of death itself.

"Their ships..." she gasped out. "They will be here soon."

"Yeah," muttered Erilaz. "We're exposed here. We have to leave this village."

They ran around the building and headed towards the gate in the tall fence with barbed wire on its top. The Celestian they encountered earlier watched them through the window. When he noticed them, he tapped something on his LiqBoard and opened the gate remotely. As his and Erilaz's eyes met, the Vardir Commander nodded in gratitude.

A dozen or so seconds later they were gone. They hid in a thicket of shrubs in the nearby uncultivated grounds, heading towards a forested hill. The Celestian smiled to himself. He began to imagine the respect and appreciation he earned by helping the greatest warriors on his planet.

"Erilaz?" Andvari gasped out, climbing up the hill. "Do you have any idea... where we should go now?"

Erilaz hoisted Hefri up, grunting with effort. "No," he answered.

He looked around like an alarmed deer. The hills stretched into the distance as far as he could see. The branches above him uncovered a huge part of the clear sky but the shrubs around him resembled a patchwork of greens and browns. Their leaves rustled in the gentle breeze, giving him a misplaced sense of tranquillity. His rapid heartbeat jolted his chest but the breaths of fresh, natural air let him think more clearly.

When they reached the hilltop, Erilaz let go of his friends and slumped on the ground. He sat in a straddle position with his hands on his knees and gasped heavily.

Hefri and Andvari joined him. Andvari hunched, embracing his knees. The chilly breeze scratched and pinched his back that was drenched with sweat. The coldness and blood loss made him tremble and the goosebumps appeared on his whole body. He held his head rigidly because every, even the slightest move, was spreading a wave of dull pain over his brain and skull. Despite this daze, he still felt how the imagined icy claws stab his wet, bruised skin.

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After a minute of rest, Erilaz stood up. "There's no time..." he muttered.

He reached his hand towards Hefri. With an expression of discouragement and exhaustion, she grabbed his arm.

Erilaz helped Andvari too and looked around. The trees on the other side of the hill were lower and he could catch a glimpse of the meadow behind them. At first he was sure there were only some rocks and tall grass but when the grey shape moved, he strained his eyes.

"What?" asked Andvari, leaning on his shoulder.

"I see someone..."

Hefri raised her head too. As the best markswoman on this planet, her eyes could catch every detail at first glance.

"Celestian guy in a grey coat," she whispered. She opened her eyes wider and added out loud, "and there's a spaceship!"

"Thanks," muttered Erilaz. He marched forward, trailing his friends along.

The Celestian in a grey coat crouched in the grass. He raked the long blades aside, examining the fluorescent moss. A swarm of tiny insects soared above him and other bugs scurried in all directions, hiding in the grass. The moss resembled a turquoise dense carpet with a soft, velvety texture.

The botanist reached to his pocket but the quick steps on grass caught his attention.

"You!"

Hearing the voice over his head, the botanist jumped to his feet.

"I have..." he raised his hands. At sight of the three Vardir with guns, his face turned white. "...all permissions..."

"What permissions?" asked Erilaz, aiming his gun at the Celestian. Hefri and Andvari didn't say anything. They only observed the botanist, panting from exhaustion.

"To be here and collect endangered species of local flora," recited the botanist, raising his eyebrows with concern. "But only till the end of this week, later I..."

Erilaz nodded. "That's enough."

He sprinted towards the spaceship as fast as he could while dragging his friends with him.

The botanist turned around. His spaceship resembled a short but massive cuboid with a rough-hewn prow. It rested on tiny kickstands, but it appeared to hover above the tall, heaving grass. A thick ring surrounded it, and a group of little birds gathered on its top to consume its prey. Only the ship's tiny stabilizer wings specked with violet while the rest of its plating was painted with different tints of grey.

"What are you all doing?" he cried when the three runaways jumped inside his vehicle. "You're Vardir, why are you running?"

He shook his head and trotted towards the machine. The ship hissed and grunted, and its hatch began to close.

"My collection is priceless, wait!" he called in panic and sprinted faster.

He leapt through the narrowing slit and landed inside, rolling over a few times until he hit the wall.

Sprinting to the cockpit with sweat on his brow, he tried to outshout the growling engines, "You can't leave the zone without me! I have all the permissions!"

Hefri didn't care about that. She was sitting in the pilot seat, leaning over the control panel like a lurking heron. Her fingers zipped across the screen, tapping a few icons. Each Vardir knows the basics of piloting spaceships but the model she was in appeared outdated.

Birds and land animals scurried away as the ship soared over the ground. It drifted towards the sky similarly to a sluggish cloud.

Hefri wrinkled her nose, examining the control panel. "How to speed up?" she barked.

The botanist reached his hand, pointing at the right icon. "There."

Hefri tapped it in a flash. The Celestian gripped the nearest seat, and his eyes widened with fear.

"But wait..."

The ship accelerated and shot above the meadow, leaving behind only a cloud of dry grass and shocked birds.

Gates to the hangar in the mountainside opened with a dull crash. The guards already took their seats inside slim, blue fighters. Workers, drones and other machines bustled below to prepare the fighters for a sudden take-off. Lights flickered and alarms beeped as if they wanted to hasten the operation.

The leader of this unit checked his LiqWatch for the last time and reported, "I'm ready to..."

He paused for a moment. The red icon, which represented unauthorised flights, zipped across the screen.

"You can't fly that fast in the mountains!" the botanist gasped out as the g-force squeezed his chest. His face became white as chalk, and only his green eyes glowed with horror.

Hefri pursed her lips. As she moved the slider to the very limit, the ship sheered up almost vertically.

"Now we're above the mountains," mumbled Hefri with effort. "Turn on the rings!"

The spatial rings produced gravity strong enough to bend space itself. The ship's speed was lower than the speed of light but the distance between planets shortened. Because of this, the larger ships were able to cover a distance of one lightyear in over two hours. This was still an unspeakably short distance, that's why the inhabited space spread for barely over one thousand lightyears.

The worst flaw of the spatial rings was their energy requirement that made interstellar travel so expensive and dangerous. The spatial rings could cause massive damage so they could only be activated in the blue zone. The blue zone spreads far above the planet’s atmosphere where turning the rings on was safe enough.

The botanist shook his head in panic but Hefri glared at him.

"Yes, I know," she said. "Only when we reach the blue zone."