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The vine forest takes it's toll on Teliko, Leph and crew find the lest spot and Nai discovers something shocking.

I'm pretty sure murderous rage was not a regular thing for him.

---

Cyan raised his paw again. Dekor looked at him for a moment before speaking. “Yes?”
“So… the Evil aren’t aliens?”
“No. You are the first aliens we have encountered.”
Yalogalil shook his head. “I was under the impression that your planet was under attack by many soldiers, not just one man alone.”
“That we cannot explain as well… He uses… puppets. Robots? Cyborg? The few of his soldiers we have captured were too twisted to make sense of.”
Teliko waved her paws around. “Cool, cool, but what about me? I’m not a Sytis or a God or whatever… so how is it I can use these powers?”
Leena placed a paw on Teliko’s shoulder. “Dear… It may have something to do with your father, but I’m not sure.”
“Right… his ‘mind powers’ or whatever. But that was just like… predicting the future and stuff. I healed Yalogalil’s paw and myself… and destroyed those woods.”
No one ventured an answer. Leena sighed and just hugged Teliko. “I don’t care where they came from. I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Thanks…”
Czyak broke his long silence. “Perhaps it is me. I can speak to her as though she is one of our kind. Perhaps I awakened something in her?”
Dekor turned to Czyak. “Perhaps she awoke something in you. You are the only one who can speak to her. Even if she can hear our speech. And she has showed you… distressing things.”
“It is simply speech we do not possess. Do not fault her for that.”
Dekor turned. “I have duties to attend to. I have told you what you needed to know.”
She lumbered away towards the main building. Blanch watched her leave intently as Teliko stepped out of Leena’s arms and approached Czyak. She placed a paw lightly on his arm. “Czyak… Is that why your people are scared of me? Because of my… anger?”
“You are similar to the Evil. You have the same powers as them. That is why… they are scared.”
Teliko stepped back. “…Okay. Excuse me, I’m going back to our room.”
Leena nodded. “Alright, that’s a good idea. Get some rest.”
Teliko walked off as Leena nervously clasped her paws together. “I hope she’ll be okay.”
Yalogalil studied his paw, still feeling a tingling sensation in the tips of his claws. “She is handling it better than I is. She will be good.”
Cyan looked at her leave and got a feeling. He slipped off after Teliko as Dez looked down at the plant carnage. “I understand why they’re scared of her…”
Czyak and Blansh looked at each other and stood in unison. “Leena?” Czyak said.
“Yes?”
“Will you please tell Teliko that I will speak to her later? I must return to my work.”
“I will.”
Czyak walked off as Blansh spoke to Yalogalil. “It was interesting to speak with you. Good day.”
“You too.”
The Atrieans stood, baffled, as the Sytis left quickly. Leena gulped. “That was… abrupt.”
Dez shrugged. “We have been taking up a lot of their time… you’d think after an accident like that they’d need a minute to process it.”
Yalogalil stood. “They are different brains. Say, Leena, are you sure your daughter will be alright on her own?”
Leena nodded. “She likes to be alone when bad things happen. I will check on her in a little bit… Where did Cyan go?”
No one had noticed his absence until then.

Teliko had taken her leave of the Sytis and her mother so that her emotional state would remain a secret. As soon as she got to her room she sat on her bed and began to cry. Although she had made it out of the encounter intact and unharmed, the memory of her coming inches from death burned in her mind, more painful than the acid from the forest vines. If she had told her mother about what really happened in the forest, she would be smothered by her arms by now. As much as she’d like that, Teliko still preferred to be alone. At least, she thought. She didn’t hear the door opening as Cyan stepped in and froze in his tracks. He had never seen her like that before, so he had no idea what to do. “T-Teliko?”
“Eep! Cyan!? W-what the hell a-are you doing here?!”
His chest tightened. “U-um… I don’t know…”
Her shock quickly dissipated and her tears returned. On instinct, Cyan rushed over and sat by her. “What’s wrong? Teliko?”
“I…”
Whatever she was trying to say, it wasn’t coming out as words. Having no experience with dealing with emotions, Cyan just sat there looking at the floor as Teliko cried openly. After a minute she reached out and hugged Cyan. He reacted by putting his arms up. Teliko looked up at him. “What are you doing…?”
“Um… I don’t know.”
“You idiot… Hug me back!”
“Oh. Sorry. I never consoled someone before.”
He put his arms down, placing one on her shoulders and the other on her arm. He patted her arm. “Um… I don’t know what’s going on, but you’re fine, Teliko.”
She laughed through her tears. “Thanks…”
She rested her head fully on his shoulder and sobbed. It took her a few minutes to calm down enough to stop crying, and a few minutes more after than to stop hugging Cyan. He went back to sitting awkwardly as Teliko wiped the tears from her eyes. “Thank you. I needed that. Heh…”
“So, you gonna tell me what’s wrong?”
“I was just attacked by a giant plant monster! Is should be obvious what’s wrong.”
Cyan shrugged. “But you’re okay. I’d just be happy to be alive.”
She sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her paw. “I… remember vividly w-what happened to me. I was… c-constricted and burned and… Oh, god it was painful…”
Her lower lip quivered. Cyan raised a paw to do something, but she looked so vulnerable that if he tried to touch her, she might break. “Oh, man. I didn’t know it was that bad. I, uh, I’m sorry that happened to you.”
Teliko nodded, then looked over at the rigid Cyan. “Jeez, never mind me… Why do you look so scared?”
Cyan smiled sheepishly. “Uh… I don’t know. You’re usually kinda… hostile towards me. I almost thought you were gonna kill me when I walked in.”
She laughed. “I wanted to. I’m glad I didn’t, though.”
She looked down at her feet and wiggled her toes in the moss for a moment. “…I don’t try to be hostile. I just find your sense of humor really annoying is all. And… most of the other things you say. B-but that doesn’t mean I don’t like you.”
“Uh. Thanks? I guess?”
Teliko chuckled, smiling now. Her eyes were still red from crying, but she felt better. Cyan leaned forward. “All better?”
“Yeah. I think… I just needed to let it out, y’know?”
“Nope. No clue.”
“Pff.”
Teliko started laughing. Cyan chuckled nervously. “Heh… it wasn’t that funny.”
“Haha! I know! It’s just the way you said that.”
“Hah! Who’s annoying now, eh?!”
Cyan flexed his skinny arm. Teliko burst out laughing.

Leena, after walking around the grounds for an hour to clear her head, returned to her room. She peeked inside, only to see Teliko and Cyan sitting on the floor, laughing hysterically at something on Teliko’s data pad. Leena smiled and closed the door gently.

~~~

Zach and Leo watched out the back of the sphere ship at the gunship. It was being towed, but even after having the method explained to them, they still had no idea how. Rico wasn’t particularly interested. He was too busy doing backflips in the air. Leo stroked his mane. “A truly strange place we’ve been stranded in.”
“Yeah. Say, Vaà?”
“Yes?”
“How far are we away?”
“A few minutes.”
Leo turned and floated up to Vaà. “Please, open a channel to the other ship.”
Vaà did so. Makron answered. “Vaà?”
“It’s Leo. I wish to speak with Leph.”
“I’m here. We’ll be arriving soon.”
“I know. How much time will we have before the Evil arrives?”
Vaà answered. “We will have only twenty minutes.”
Leph hummed. “Okay… We’ll check for signs of life then get out as fast as possible.”
Leo nodded. “Understood.”
Zach took a deep breath. “You never get used to this.”
Rico patted his back. “Hey, not every encounter like this has to go wrong! Maybe we’ll be lucky?”
“Heh. Maybe.”
They slowed to a stop, the other ship not far off. Leo frowned. “I don’t see anything. Leph?”
“Nope. Hey Makron, can you get some light over there?”
The floodlights illuminated the area, but still very little could be seen. A few glints and sparkled caught Leph’s eye. “See that?”
Zach moved to the front. “Vaà, what do your scans show is out there exactly?”
“Some metals… Some wood… I am sorry. They are unfamiliar objects.”
Leph interjected. “What, you mean you can’t tell what’s out there?”
“No.”
“Okay… guess we’ll have to go out there and look ourselves.”
Leo snapped his finger.
“I have an idea. Lenny?”
“Yeah?”
“Meet me at the gunship. We can sweep over there and get a scan and be back here faster than if we were swimming around. The Atriean database on-board should be able to tell us what that is.”
Leph clapped his paws. “Great idea! Do hurry…”
Leo turned and floated out of the ship, Lenny following from the other. The ship powered up as soon as they were aboard, and they flew hastily over to the debris field.

~~~

Nai had completely abandoned working on what Grey Fox wanted done. He was doing research. One of the computers that they had recovered from the wreck of Project Raiden was one Nai had never seen before. It didn’t take long for him to realize that it was Gray Fox’s personal computer, mostly thanks to the almost unnecessary amount of security on it. Initially, he had left it alone, but now that he had a hunch, he was working on hacking in. He didn’t know that much about computers, but he did have a massive military database. Most of the computers that had been recovered from the cargo pods were military machines, equipped with electronic weapons. He simply hooked one up to Gray Fox’s computer and let it worm its way in. In the meantime, he was looking over some math. Specifically concerning the energy required to run the Oculus beam. The power he was taking from God’s ship was perfectly suitable to power the beam, this he was now sure of. The amount on tap was less than the output of the nuclear reactor Grey Fox wanted, but it was enough. With that, Nai was searching for any possible reason Gray Fox would want a nuclear reactor specifically. So far, he had nothing, which only served to increase his suspicion. Across the bay, Polos and Gray Fox watched as the concierges assembled part after part, using strange energy tools as well as the Atriean tools that were in the cargo containers. After Gray Fox had provided the blueprint, the concierges wasted no time. Polos chuckled. “I wish we had these things back home.”
“Indeed… quite impressive.”
“Hey… that’s and entire power matrix they just completed!”
The concierges set the flat, pockmarked and heavily wired component down next to the others and moved on to the next. Polos turned away. “Forget what I said about elbow grease, this’ll be a breeze!”
Gray Fox muttered. “For you, yes.”
Polos glanced back. “Hm?”
“I have to make the calibrations to the beam once it’s complete. This blueprint was meant to function only in our universe, you see.”
Polos narrowed his eyes. “How are you going to do that? It would take an awfully long time to make all those changes.”
“I’ll manage.”
Polos walked off. “I hope it won’t take too long!”
Gray Fox smiled as the concierges completed a set of tiny components and set them aside. Polos wandered over to Nai and sat on an empty computer casing. “Your boss irks me.”
“Join the club.”
“He knew this place was somewhere you could travel to. What are his intentions here?”
“I don’t know. Conquest? He can’t do that now, though. No soldiers to back him up.”
“Maybe. What are you doing there?”
“None of your business.”
“A nuclear reactor? The one Gray Fox needs? Why are you looking at that?”
“Trying to figure out why Gray Fox is going senile. The connection to this ship is fine! There must be some other reason he wants it… I trust you won’t tell him I’m poking around.”
“Nah. The guy gives me the creeps. I don’t like him just as much as you do.”
“Oh, I doubt that.”
There was a ding from Gray Fox’s private computer. “Aha! Let’s see what goodies you’re hiding… What the hell?!”
Most of the hard drive was wiped clean. Apparently, a countermeasure had taken effect secretly as a response to the hack. Most of the data was corrupted. Nai’s fingers danced across the keys as he tried to recover something. “Okay… smart.”
“What’s that?”
“Uh, nothing! Just some- Aha!”
Nai brought up a text file. It held a set of calculations. The time stamp showed they were completed a day and a half after the beam became stable. “Hmm… These are bean calibrations.”
“Aha! I knew Gray Fox completed them already!”
“What?”
Polos jabbed a finger back at Gray Fox. “Those calibrations? They must be the ones for this universe, right? Gray Fox already had them since he was planning on coming here. I suspected as much! I knew he knew something about the Other Side I didn’t-”
“I… No, they’re complete gibberish. These calibrations are wrong, way too high! Yes, Gray Fox knew this wasn’t an energy universe like I thought but he’s not this stupid… Why, to get the beam at this output in the first place, you’d need a-… Oh, shit!”
“What?”
“You’d need a nuclear reactor…”
Polos gulped. “So… if those aren’t the beam calibrations for getting us back… what are they for?”
Nai’s paws shook as he plugged the numbers into the simulator. “Umm… you’d get ah… Ahhh… no…”
Nai started shaking like a leaf. “What?! What is it!?”
“Keep your voice down! L-look at this!”
“That looks like our initial predictions. The ones that told us this universe is pure energy…”
Nai went into a fit of nervous laughter as the blood drained from Polos’ face. “Hehehe! He never lied to me, Polos. He really was going to harvest this universe… he just needs to destroy it first!”
“W-what…?”
“You know what I mean! This beam calibration is not meant to get us back, it’s meant to collapse the universe and turn it into pure energy. Oh, Drifrasa have mercy…”
Polos gulped. “I may be a criminal, but I draw the line at genocide… I’ll get Cain.”
Cain was already there. “I heard you. So that’s his game, eh?”
Nai slammed his head against the computer, closing the text file in the process. “Dammit! I-I should have figured this out long ago! Damn! Damn!”
Polos grabbed Nai and shook him. “Shut it, old man! Gray Fox is coming over!”
With his paws clasped behind his back, Gray Fox was crossing the impressively large distance between where the computers were set up and where the concierges were working. “What’s the matter?”
Nai smiled widely. “Nothing! Just getting these computers up and running!”
“I see… And?”
“They’re… up and running!”
Polos shrugged. “He just started yelling and I came over.”
Gray Fox glared at Polos, then glanced down. “Wait a minute… is that my-”
“CREATURES!”
All four were startled out of their minds. Cain and Polos turned to see a massive, black creature step out of a door, accompanied by the Rhetorician.
Cain bit his lip. “That’s God, guys. Watch what you say.” He muttered.
The creature lumbered over, fixing each of them with a stare that could melt a bulkhead. “I have… news. Being the gracious host I am, I decided to tell you in person! WHY ARE YOU NOT KNEELING LIKE THAT ONE IS?!”
Cain got on one knee quickly next to Nai (who had been kneeling all day) as the other two doubled over as the force took hold of them. They were forced to the ground. God laughed. “We’re here! Not far now! More materials for you to use! But… HARK!”
All their bodies were pivoted towards the massive door to space, then let go. Nai squinted. “I don’t see anything…”
“Simple eye! Completely worthless. Aqueous fluid, lenses. Not even worth picking apart. At least you see the glow! YOU SEE THE GLOW!”
There was a slight glow, but not much. Gray Fox zoomed in with his eye-HUD, but the resolution wasn’t perfect. “I see… Some sort of vessel? Two vessels?”
God gasped. “Oh! I am impressed! Oh! Oh oh! What is that?! What is that that it has in its eye? LET ME SEE!”
The Rhetorician stepped forward and extended a hand. Gray Fox knew better than to resist. He removed the eye-piece and handed it over. “It’s a miniature computer, use-”
“SILENCE!”
The Rhetorician examined the device and then whispered for a while into God’s ear. “Indeed! Quite impressive.”
God smashed the device between his claws effortlessly. “Now!”
Gray Fox winced a little and turned back to space. God stepped ahead of them and rubbed his claws together. “They are there. SYTIS! Disgusting! In my s-space, the cowards! And, oh… Look… your pirate friends… Ha! They will share the Sytis’s fate! RHETORICIAN!”
The Rhetorician pressed a button on a small device attached to his arm. Moments later, a massive beam of energy shot out, coming from somewhere far above. It wasn’t long before it hit the glowing area with a bright explosion.

Lenny shrugged. “I don’t see it.”
Leo took them around for another pass. “Yes… I would have seen it with my own eyes, it’s not exactly a small part of the ship.”
Lenny gestured to the screen. “A whole lot of guns, though. And bullets, energy cells… you get the picture.”
He pointed to an empty crate that was being tracked on screen. “But it’s weird. These are burned.”
Leo shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. There’s no cockpit here. Let’s head back.”
“Yeah.”
Leo pulled on the stick, just in time for them to see the massive energy bolt that was thundering in from a high angle. Lenny screamed. “What the hell is that?!”
“You’re on sensors! Scan!”
“Er… right!”
Before the scan was complete, the beam hit the nearest sphere ship. With a brilliant flash, the ship exploded, sending silvery bubbles of air in every direction. It also threw out several bodies. Lenny whitened. “Oh, shit…”
Leo began charging the main cannons. The scan was complete, but Lenny was fixated on someone that was floating slowly away from the blast.
“Activate point defence… Lenny! Snap out of it!”
“A-are they alive!?”
“We won’t be soon! The scan?!”
“Um… It was a low intensity beam… Seemed to make short work of the ship, though…”
“Life signs?”
“Um… yeah. All four are strong. Thank god…”
The closest person shook its head and made a beeline for the gunship. Leo opened the hatch, the bio-accessible force field flickering to life. Leph poked his head in. “You guys alright?”
Leo nodded. “Need a ride? Get in back.”
“No, I’m gonna check on everyone else. Did you see that shit?!”
Lenny pointed to the screen. “It was low-yield. Still, I think it would be a good idea to get out of here…”
Leph nodded. “I’ll see what Vaà can do. In the meantime… keep us safe.”
“Right.”
Lenny saluted. “W-will do!”
Leph pushed off towards Vaà.

God was fuming. “What… what was that?! Garbage!”
He grabbed the Rhetorician by the head and with one mighty toss, sent him flying out into space. Like clockwork, another Rhetorician came out of a small door and took a position next to God. Gray Fox wondered if they had ever talked to the same Rhetorician twice. God clutched his head and laughed. “Haaa! Ha! Fire the missiles! Drown them in fire! Bring them to an end! HAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Leph, Zach and Vaà huddled together quickly. Vaà spoke first. “That is God. I must re-acclimate the ship for us to escape.”
Leph sighed. “So, you can get the ship back together? Good. Tell Makron to leave without us, I don’t want to risk them when they can escape without us.”
“Makron will not leave.”
Zach chuckled. “How romantic. Tell her to get going!”
“She will not leave. I am sorry. There is little I can do to change her mind.”
“Damn. Well, how long will the re-acclimation take?”
“Hard to say… The interface is damaged.”
Zach looked around. “What interface?”
“The one in my brain.”
Leph shook his head. “Fine, well… don’t dawdle!”
Zach looked around. “Where’s Rico? Oh…”
Rico was clambering into the gunship.

“Go with the other sphere ship!” Lenny yelled.
Rico tried to climb into the rear seat, but Lenny was pushing him. “Lenny! Let me help!”
“Lenny, we need a man on the rear turret. Let him in!”
“We’re going into combat, Rico! It isn’t safe!”
Rico grabbed Lenny’s paw as he tried to push again. “I’m not leaving you.”
Lenny gulped. “…Okay. Go.”
Rico grinned and climbed into the rear gunner’s seat. The gun came online automatically. Leo called back. “Do you know how to work that?”
“I think I can figure it out… Oops!”
He accidentally fired off a round. “Uhh… where’s the shields on this thing?”
“It’s a gunship. It’s got a channeled hull and not much else.”
“Aw, fuck…”
Leo chuckled, then fell silent as hundreds of points of light began appearing from the ship that was now bearing down. Lenny looked at his screen in shock. “Um… cruise missiles.”
Leo cracked his knuckles. “Let’s do this.”

~~~

Leena was out taking a stroll, trying not to conceive of the many ways her mate could be dying in this strange place. She was failing. “Oh, hello!”
She snapped her head up. “Ah! Oh, Mr. Fieru. Are you alright?”
Fieru was walking towards Leena, covered in oil, dirt and grime. He scratched his head. “Ah, no, not really. I’m having a hell of a time fixing the Rocinante. I need a shower…”
Leena giggled. “Well, come on then.”
They began walking back to the main building. Fieru sighed. “I don’t even have a change of clothes…”
“Oh, I brought some of Leph’s things. I’ll give you some of his clothes.”
“Oh, you’re too kind, Ms. Toto…”
As Fieru went to find a shower, Leena returned to her room to get some clothes. She walked in carefully and noticed no movement. Teliko and Cyan were both sprawled out on one of the large beds, fast asleep. Leena smiled and grabbed something to serve as a blanket, but as she was about to drape it over them, she noticed that Teliko was holding Cyan’s paw tightly. “Now isn’t that adorable…”
She spread the blanket on them and went to dig through one of her bags.