Rivals

[ze_kraken]

JUST A SCRATCH

Already Victoria was questioning the worth of a Ray. She knew it was a powerful craft, something honed to razor efficiency for all environments with the processing power of a supercomputer. She'd hear rumors of a Ray's consciousness, its personality. If the fighters weren't 'alive', they were only a microcircuit or two away from it. Victoria couldn't quite place the source of that creeping suspicion, couldn't quite understand if rumors were being confirmed as fact.

But she knew that the Ray was watching her.

From the moment her hand had passed over the chrome, sloped side of the craft, Victoria had felt the Ray stirring beneath her tender touch. A low beep sounded, sending a jolt of surprise down her spine. When the momentary sensation of terror fled, Victoria felt a smirk tug at her lips.

Here I am. Made it.

"...You get this, there is no going back. This will be your mission. Your life. And it will hurt. Not by design, but the gauntlets have to be grafted to your nervous system..." Singh was saying, though Victoria paid him no heed. She noted Walt attempting to open the cockpit, and was halfway to doing the same when she noticed what Singh had been droning on about. Oswin, off to Victoria's left, had let out a gasp of pain that developed into a piercing scream of agony.

"Wha-" But then, with a metallic click, Oswin's arm slid out from the Ray, hand now armored in a guantlet not too unlike Singh's and Arabella's own ones. I am not doing that...But what choice did she have? And, besides, if she was the first one to do it, then she could at least hold it over Walt's head for a while yet. Sliding down from her perch part-way up the Ray's side, Victoria walked to where Oswin and the others had begun their 'final test' and stared blankly at a circular chute. Her metallic butterfly stood at the chute's entrance, reflective eyes flitting from her to the chute. And where did you go off to...?

Gritting her teeth, Victoria cast aside the part of her brain that wanted to avoid undue harm and shoved her arm into the chute. For a brief instant, there was no pain, but then the sensation began in an instant. Within the span of two seconds, her arm went from flat, to tingling, to burning, searing pain. She stood there, clenching a fist inside the chute, only to find her fingers dragged outward into an open palm every time she tried. Sweat beaded down her face as she fought the urge to scream, to yell, to lash out. A fist slammed against the side of the hull, fingers clutching at whatever they could find to take her mind off the mind-numbing, flesh-searing pain.

Then it stopped.

Panting, using her free hand to wipe sweat from her brow, Victoria withdrew her arm, half-expecting to find a blackened and useless stump where wrist and hand had once been. Instead, she was met by pink-red tender flesh, etched in silvery-white casing overlaid with red detail, splashes of color in an otherwise utterly bland surface.

Well, it sure doesn't go with anything I own...

 

[Quiet One]

"Why won't they take me?"

Max moved from one Ray to another. He passed his hand over all the ones that stayed unclaimed, but got nothing. To him, the machines were dead. As the last of his traveling companions got his gauntlet Max put his arm down to his side, defeated.

Oswin stepped tentatively towards him. Her butterfly flew out and landed on his shoulder.

"Max...I'm sorry. I-I thought..."

He nodded, though not - it seemed - to her. He put up a hand to stop the unhelpful flow of words. "It's fine. It's fine...congratulations. All of you. I guess I'll just...wait in the ship until I'm ready to go back."

Go back. Go back to what? He was on the run from Frate, had no job, no home by now, and getting a new one - where to begin? This really was his last shot. He'd just never seen it that way in the event he wasn't chosen. But now that he wasn't, what could he do?

He gave them a forced smile as he backtracked into the Crusader. He didn't want anyone worrying over him. And he couldn't spoil the festivities. They had a lot to celebrate. They had futures.

"Well...we'll bring you something, Max. I'm sorry about it, too," Singh said. The kid simply nodded, sitting on the end of the exit ramp.

"Everyone else, please come with me!" Arabella called out, leading the others along. She knew as well as Singh did that the rejected often got over it better alone. "We have some imported lobster from Aguaceles in the mess hall. A bit of a gathering of pilots for events like this..."

She lead them off while Max stared out into the ocean with his silent little companion.

The factory wasn't the sole building on Elesandes. A small research village had been put in, with a few dozen tiny ranch houses, most in varying degrees of disrepair. The military-style bunkers were more durable, but further out. A particularly large one served as the mess hall. It had all the basic kitchen amenities with the feel of a high school cafeteria.

Oswin had been distracted by thoughts of poor Max too much to really enjoy her situation. Here she was - a Ray pilot! - and she was too preoccupied by the boy she'd brought with her to enjoy it. She couldn't help it. She thought they'd all get Rays. She thought that was what the butterfly meant. And her misguided hopes affected everyone on board, but perhaps none as much as Max.

When they entered the mess hall there was a buffet waiting for them. The other pilots hadn't bothered waiting; they just helped themselves. Most got together in small groups to talk while they ate. Not sure who to group up with, Oswin gravitated towards Silver Spoon. Despite having underlying personality differences, she still held out hope that they could be friends. The fact that Jennifer didn't walk away from her encouraged that.

"So...do we mingle or all try to ban together as next gens?" Jennifer asked.

°°°
​

Max watched the waves splash against the rocky shoreline underneath the sheer cliff he was perched on. He idly chucked a few rocks in. He'd never felt so unsure of his next move.

His little buddy fluttered its wings. He scoffed at it. "Why bring me here if I'm not supposed to get picked? What did you want me here for?"

Of course it didn't reply. Instead, it turned and flew off. Quickly the cool climate of the moon drained its battery and it fell to the ground. Max ran to it and cradled it in his hands. As his heat warmed it up it took off again.

"Now what?"

 

[ze_kraken]

IT CAN COME OFF, RIGHT?

"So," Walt began. "I fly some space craft, run through a maze, get a damned little insect.." the butterfly clicked at this, seemingly agitated. "Just to shove my hand in a box and mangle it with this?"

He hefted the gauntlet up, a plain black slab marked with two thin yellow lines running vertical to his elbow. The edges already looked to be worn, bare metal showing, though Walter knew that whatever this gauntlet was made of, steel was not it. Still, he appreciated the sentiment of the Ray if it wasn't exactly practical in the strictest regards. He nodded towards Vic's own gauntlet.

"How'd that work out for you?"

That earned him a look.

"The hell do you think?" She questioned snidely. "Hurt like fuck. Sort of pain you don't forget easy."

"So it wasn't just me," he chuckled then. "Thought this little bastard was out to get me."

"I shudder to think about what you'll do to that little fly once you're a real Ray pilot," Victoria allowed herself a smirk at that. "I overheard Max panicking over his Ray, but I don't know if it's all that awful. May not be worth worrying about just yet, but he.." She adopted a lower turn. "May not get picked."

"I was wondering why there was one less person screaming in pain," Walter remarked dryly.

"Hey, I didn't," Victoria sounded proud, arrogant almost.

"Everyone else, please come with me!"

Arabella.

"Come on," he grunted. "Don't want to leave femme fatal waiting."

"Oh, Walt, I remember when that used to be me. Where has the adoration gone?" Victoria asked sarcastically.

For once, he had nothing to add.

The community on Elesandes, if it so rated the term, felt like what Walter imagined early colonist life to be like. Militaristic, designed to peak practicality and efficiency. And no wonder, the Rays, outnumbered by nearly every organization in the nearest systems, had to scrounge up every advantage they could. Of course, their reputation and inflated sense of self helped contribute to their air of mysticism and invincibility as well. Already on this trip alone, Walter had put fact to fiction to more rumors and mutterings than he could count.

The group carried on to the mess hall, a massive structure that towered taller than its surroundings.

"So...do we mingle or all try to ban together as next gens?" Jennifer questioned.

Victoria was quick to respond. "Depends, how much you feel like braggin', Ozzy?"

 

[Quiet One]

Victoria's question woke Oswin out of her own thoughts and she balked at the woman's suggestion. "Brag? To these guys? Sure, I flew us here, but these guys have stopped wars and coups and religious riots. I don't know if they'd be impressed."

"Let's at least get something to eat," Jennifer said. "I can't believe it, but now that the stress of coming here is behind us, I'm starving."

Aguacelean lobsters grew to weigh up to forty pounds. The ones on the table were pretty close. There were bacon-wrapped scallops almost two inches around, the biggest shrimp Oswin had ever seen, and thin strips of fried fish, plus an array of sweets and salads. Aguaceles got just enough ambient radiation to stimulate the sea creatures, resulting in their outlandish size.

It wasn't hard picking out what they liked, though Oswin found carrying her plate to be a bit difficult. Jennifer kept unusually close to her for someone who came off as so distant.

"Anyway, friend, we wanted to thank you. Weren't many left, but they'd run us ragged."

"Tus mo' dan welcome. Nueva blood, yeah? Got to make room por nous conquerors. Can't do dat if the Wand'ras chill and spill before nous train 'em."

She looked over to see Singh and Arabella sitting with a strong Hispanic man. His face, unfortunately, looked like it had been in a mixer, and the sideburns beneath his short grey hair were blue and green. His easy-seal suit was loosened to the point that it looked like it'd fall off him.

"Guys," she whispered. "There's Pedro. The guy who came for us."

"Guy looks like a mess," Jennifer whispered back. "Is that a Nueva Venu thing, or is he just a slob?"

"Stow it until we're out of earshot..." Oswin knew what she meant, though. Pedro wasn't exactly the most well-kempt pilot in the corp. Nueva Venu was the last planet in the Rival System, technically a dwarf planet, like Pluto in the home system. It was primary export/import of all goods coming in and leaving from the system. A clash of cultures and languages, Nueva Venu developed its own style. Its people lived off the trade system, but were overwhelmingly poor, a sad side effect of the almost complete automation putting everyone out of their jobs.

As they continued talking, Oswin found it difficult to follow Venu dialect, and got lost sometimes. While taking seats beside them, she asked, "Walt, Vic: you guys were merchants, right? Ever stop by Venu? Would love to follow that conversation."

 

[ze_kraken]

THERE WAS THIS GUY..."

"Brag? To these guys? Sure, I flew us here, but these guys have stopped wars and coups and religious riots. I don't know if they'd be impressed."

Victoria bit her lip at that: Oswin was right. The Rays weren't normal soldiers. They weren't going to be impressed with a couple of fresh recruits straight off the boat. An encounter with the Wanderers was normal fare here, their encounter nothing short of a normal skirmish. Arabella and Singh had proven that point, handling the near-death situation with nothing more than bitter cynicism and the mentality of "it's my job."

"You're right," Vic muttered, but the statement was lost as their group made their way to the food.

"Well," Walter stated to Victoria, voice tinged with amusement. "Say what you want about recruitment methods: Rays sure know how to feed their own. All these rumors you here 'bout this place being boot camp on steroids...And here they are, eating this."

He hoisted a scallop up for Victoria to examine.

"Beats living off of standard space ration," she allowed, rolling her eyes as Walter promptly began to stack his tray with several scallops and a massive lobster tail. "Dried-out fruit, rocky bread, the works."

"The works," he agreed through a mouthful of scallop.

Once everyone had sorted out their plates - with Oswin and Walter having stacked their own to be quite difficult to manage - the group set off to find a place to sit. Nearly through their march from the buffet area to the closest empty table, the procession of newbloods stopped abruptly. Walter, preoccupied with organizing the food on his tray, bumped into Victoria and barely managed to maintain his balance.

"Guys, there's Pedro. The guy who came for us."

That's him? Victoria thought, offering the pilot a quick look-over. He looked worse than she did, and she had been through hours of space travel and a near-death encounter. Well, glad decorum isn't strictly enforced.

As they sat down, with Oswin's hushed stow it, Victoria couldn't help but cast a glance over her shoulder to Arabella, Pedro, and Singh.

"Walt, Vic: you guys were merchants, right? Ever stop by Venu? Would love to follow that conversation." Oswin.

"I only know SK-Chinese and Terran," Victoria offered Walter a pleading glance.

"What? Mighty presum-" He was cut off by a glare from Victoria. "Right, right..."

A pause followed.

"He's just dronin' on about us being new - should be able to handle ourselves before we head out there. Can't train dead people....And.." He stammered. "Now it's just him recounting the 'good 'ole days' of his training days. Seems general sentiment here is: first day's fun, the rest is sunshine and Wanderers..."

"The works," Victoria remarked snidely.

 

[Quiet One]

"Sounds like we've got eavesdroppers."

They turned to see Arabella grinning at them. Oswin always liked to think of herself as willing to play on either team, but that smile! Made her feel weak in the knees!

"Um...s-sorry. Just curious what you were talking about," she murmured.

Pedro chuckled. "Es a'ight pequeña lass. Nous just, uh...catchin' up. Glad yo could make it here. See tus all got da gaunts. Good. Nous get so many rejes."

Singh poked his shoulder. "I'd steer clear of that topic. One of them didn't get picked."

Oswin frowned at the reminder. "Yeah. Max. I brought him along and...they didn't choose him."

She sighed and leaned over the table, poking at her food. Her mind drifted back to Max. He didn't have to go through the pain of selection, but they all had futures now. Max...what did he have? How long would he last with Frate hunting him? And here she was living it up with her heroes.

"Guys...is it alright if I bring some food over to Max?" she asked.

Singh shrugged. "No skin off my nose. It'll be the last day we have a spread like this for a while, anyway."

 

[ze_kraken]

MAX

As Oswin stood and trod back to the buffet, going to grab food for Max outside, Walt spared his food a glance. Petty as it was, he had stacked his plate with as much as he could. Partially to unsettle Victoria, partially because he felt hungrier than he actually had been. His attention shifted to Oswin, gaze tracing the woman for a moment before returning to the table.

"What's her deal?" He asked no one in particular. "I didn't thing Oz would go for someone like Max, but hey, good for-"

"Hush," Victoria interrupted him.

"What? Got nothing to say here?"

"Clearly she cares for him - besides, guy just got rejected from the Rays, probably wanted to do this for a while, cut them some slack, yeah?" She held his gaze for a moment, returning his own incredulous look with a stern, fire-eyed glare.

Still, curiosity nibbled at Victoria. She bit her lower lip, eyes flitting cautiously to Singh.

"But really, do you know the deal about those two?"

"If she's into Max, I'm pretty sure she won't go after girls, 'Vic, hate to burst your bubble," Walt snorted.

"Shut up," she retorted. "Seriously Singh, you know the deal there?"

"What makes you think I'd tell you about it if I did?"

Walter interjected.

"Calm it, both of you. 'Vic's just prowlin'-"

"Fuck you Walt."

Walter snickered and Singh allowed himself a smirk. From there, the conversation died, the only sound the din of the mess hall around them. A few minutes passed before the doors opened and Oswin stepped back through and into the hall again. Walt opened his mouth to speak, but 'Vic only raised a hand.

"Not a word."

"I promised some scathing sarcasm and comebacks, didn't I?"

"Not a word."

 

[Quiet One]

((So, so sorry it took so long!))

Once her plate was full of food Oswin grabbed some plastic utensils and headed back out. She caught snippets of Walt's and Victoria's conversation, but kept quiet. Max was kind of cute, but her interest in him was out of guilt, not attraction. He was currently sulking because of her, because she had convinced him to come and be disappointed by the Rays.

She walked out and headed to the Crusader, but stopped. Max wasn't there. She looked around, and found disturbed grass. It looked like a clear trail, but every once in a while there was a large section of vegetation that was squashed. Someone had been squatting and getting back up over and over. And the path led to the abandoned Ray factory.

Inside she found Max wandering around, holding onto the butterfly. The place was littered with filters, jet engines, wings and metal skeletons. This was a graveyard of Rays not made.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. She awkwardly offered him the food. "I got this for you, by the way."

He licked his lips and took it. "Thanks." He sat on a drum of nanotech and started eating. "I don't know why I'm here. This little guy led me in."

Oswin spared a glance at the butterfly, but it just sat on his knee. "It...led you here?"

"Don't give me that look," he mumbled out past a mouthful of food. He swallowed and continued. "That's a 'you're crazy' look. And I don't like that look. It seriously led me here. No idea why. Everything in here is dead."

She took another look around the dilapidated factory and nodded. Broken glass, unfinished ships, layers of dust an inch thick..."dead" was indeed the appropriate word. So why come here?

"This is where they were all made," she said to no one in particular.

Max nodded. "I know."

"1,224 Rays exactly were put together by the Mother Unit more than a hundred years ago," she went on. "Seems like a weird number, doesn't it? After the last one came off the assembly line it just...died. Everything shut off, and we're still going through the models built back then."

He turned to her, giving her his own "you're crazy" look. "How and why do you know that?"

She shrugged. "I've always wanted this. It's the ultimate dream job. I've had wings on my back since I was born. That's what my dad says." She chuckled.

"I know what you mean. Sort of," he said. "My sister and I, we played a game where we were Wanderers and Rays. And another where we were Joneses and Tulleys. Guess which was my favorite."

They gave each other small smiles. After a while Max added, "I shouldn't have been born. That's not some emo shit. My parents were from Curgis. Mining world. Most of Rivas' magnetic ore comes from there. But there's a lot of dangerous minerals there, too. People have problems with immune systems, bone density, and fertility.

"Frate offered to give us medicine in exchange for...putting the settlement in his pocket. He gets custom ships. We get to live. My parents managed to move to Rivas - I think it was part of the deal. Mom was supposed to be infertile. But the drugs...she had twins. Me and my sister." Max set the plate aside. Then he grabbed it and threw it. "According to Frate, I owe my life to him! I disagree. We got my sister safely to Paipas, but we could only afford a ticket for one. Dad went back to Curgis...he's paying my sister's 'debt.' Fucking bastard. And being a pilot probably would have saved me, too."

What could she say to all that? Oswin just stared back, dumbfounded, helpless. Ray pilots were supposed to be capable of anything, but there was nothing she could do to help him out of this supposed debt. Frate was beyond their reach.

Just then a loud thump shook the factory. They both looked up in time to see the lights flicker to life. Loud, dusty clicks and whirs resounded throughout the building, echoing back and forth into a din of construction. Mechanical arms sprang to life, grabbing bits of micro-golf paneling and engine parts and moving around. The noise, naturally, could be heard for miles around.

 

[ze_kraken]

BIG BANG

After Walter and Victoria's brief conversation over Oswin, the table sunk into an amicable silence as the group continued eating. The din of the other Ray pilots' chatter rang through the room. Victoria had, if she was completely honest with herself, expected the mess hall to be an almost religious chamber. Silent, with a few Rays eating in a somber quiet. Their image around civilized space was of a cut above normal warriors and pilots, held to a lofty standard. To see them here, so human was...Say, culture shock?

"Right," Victoria spoke up. "So if this is the 'easy' day, I think I can treat myself to one more sweet. Walt, you want anything?"

The man shrugged.

"I think I've eaten enough-"

A low, grating screech of moving metal interrupted Walter. Victoria, partway in standing up and tucking in her chair, stumbled and slipped, barely catching herself on Walter's shoulder with vice-like fingers. He grimaced, but luckily, he was the only one paying any attention to the flustered Victoria. The woman shook herself off, flustered, and glanced around the room. Heads were perked up, looking for the source of the noise.

"Uh, Singh?" Jennifer this time.

"Something tells me Oswin and Max are up to trouble," the man's brow furrowed. "I'll check this out and-"

"Hold up," Victoria interrupted. "I'm coming with."

"Same," Walter added.

Jennifer stood up, and Singh let out a short sigh. Without speaking, he made his way for the doorway out of the mess hall, leaving the group hanging for a moment. They quickly caught on to his nonverbal assent and followed him out into the "courtyard" again. Outside, the noise was clearer, more like the sounds of heavy industry back home. Victoria could fill in the stops in the sputtering, guttural voice of the machinery as Singh led them on down a faint path. Up ahead looked to be a factory meant to design ships.

Not just any ships, Victoria mused to herself. Rays.

The group approached the structure silently with Singh heading the column. Once they stood in front of the doorways, heavy double-doors meant to slide outwards and block in noise, Singh tested them with a steady hand. Nothing. He sighed, keyed in a command to a control pad left of the doorway, and they swung open.

"Well I'll be damned," the Ray pilot cursed.

"Shit."

 

[Quiet One]

The mechanical arms sent magnetic pulses through the metal and then fused the pieces together. Oswin and Max stared in amazement as the factory built a Ray right in front of them. Everything was on an assembly line track, being put together right in front of them. When it finished they walked up to it, pristine and silver like all the others. The ship was smoking slightly from its fresh completion.

"I don't believe this," Oswin gasped. She rested a hand on the warm side. "A new Ray. Look - it's got more air intakes. The body is...smoother." She leaned forward. "Even the micro-golfing is different. A...A custom Ray?"

"Is it...mine?" Max walked toward it and when he got in front the Ray opened to reveal the accepting wrist slot. "Should I?"

Ozzy nodded. "Do it."

He hesitated for a moment, then stuck his hand in. He stood there for a minute. Then all of a sudden he screamed. He tried to pull back, but the Ray held him firm. It felt like he was being burned and skinned at the same time. As soon as it ended he pulled free and looked at his arm. Red and sore, but more importantly there was a gauntlet. A beautiful silver and white gauntlet with curled segments encircling his forearm.

"Well I'll be damned."

They turned to see Singh and the other pilots staring at them. Oswin smiled. "Told you he was special."

Suddenly the Ray revved its powerful engine. Max and Oswin jumped. As Max went up to it, the vehicle suddenly lurched forward. He fell in, and the segmented seat popped open to show a set of handlebars.

"Didn't mean to do that," he chuckled, blushing slightly. The seat rose up behind him and pushed him forward. His hands gripped the handles on reflex and the whole ship shot forward. "Didn't mean to do that either!"

"Move!" Singh pulled Victoria and Walt out of the way. Jennifer naturally ran.

The Ray shot all the way to the end of the cliff, where it dropped off suddenly. Oswin's heart skipped a beat, but she was relieved when she saw the wake in the water as the ship glided away over the ocean.

"This is why we don't let you guys get in the Rays on the first day," the old Indian grumbled. "They get a bit clingy."

 

[ze_kraken]

EASIEST DAY?

"Move!"Singh shouted, shoving both Victoria and Walter away from the freshly-constructed Ray.

Victoria caught the sight of Jennifer fleeing the scene out of the corner of her eye before she staggered and had to manage some quick-thinking to stabilize herself again. Walter was not so lucky. He stumbled for a good two seconds before he caught himself on a chest-high supply crate. Still, before he managed to catch himself, he had managed to run into the crate head-on, driving the breath from him. As he stood hunched, coughing and spluttering, Vic managed a glimpse of the Ray before it shot out.

The fuck was he thinking with that? The woman cursed to herself and looked around the, for lack of a better term, engineering bay. Jennifer stood a good ways to the group's right, glancing through the doorway from the exterior, eyes wide with equal parts wonder and terror. Walter still stood coughing. Oswin was practically singing with joy as she stood there, beaming as Max's Ray drifted further and further away into the curving horizon of the ocean ahead.

"This is why we don't let you guys get in the Rays on the first day," Singh crossed his arms. "They get a bit clingy."

"Er," Victoria stammered. "Clingy? As in?"

"Like your high school sweetheart, except twice as annoying and half as supportive," Victoria could see Singh grimace at the terrible analogy. He quickly changed tact. "Just like any person, they go through their own stage of attachment to their pilot... Just, we're not entirely certain how a Ray thinks. It's a bit of an alien concept to humans."

Right.

Rather than continue along their current conversation, Victoria was about to change topic, but Walter beat her to it, wheezing.

"Looks like we're going to go after him, the-" Singh's eyes furrowed into a mix between a glare and a curious expression. "I mean, you'll go after him, since your Rays aren't.." he raised his hands, putting air quotes around the statement. "'Clingy'."

 

[Quiet One]

Arabella came up shortly after the Ray took off. Her injury slowed her down. She looked at the factory, then looked at the group.

"Ah, hell. I missed something cool, didn't I?" she asked with a cocky grin.

"The factory gave Max a new ship," Singh said grumpily. "Means I have to go on a frickin' Ray hunt. Knew that kid was going to be trouble."

He walked to the edge of the cliff and stepped off. A whir preceeded his rise. He was standing on a Ray. His Ray - Priya. It was turquoise, with rich red near the cockpit. The red was decorated with gold patterns. He walked to the cockpit and slipped in. Then it was gone.

"Show off," Arabella chuckled. She turned to the recruits. "I'm going to get a search going with the other pilots. I'm also going to pretend it'll do any good to tell you to stay put."

When she walked off to the mess hall Oswin grinned and broke off into a run. "Come on! I know one ship on this planet that won't get clingy!"

---

The wind assaulted Max's face for the first few kilometers, until the canopy enclosed around him. Then he heard absolutely nothing. The ship continued over the Elesandean sea. Max looked around in the cockpit, trying to get a handle on the controls. But they were still being built.

"Okay...how do I get this thing to stop?" he asked himself.

The Ray reverberated with a low, angry-sounding hum. He looked around the cockpit before noticing water at the glass. He was sinking! At first, it was quite a panic-enducing moment. The Rays were designed for space, not under water. But the ship seemed to handle it fine, and just as the waves covered the top of the canopy he saw Priya fly overhead.

"Wait - Singh! Singh, down here!" He jumped up, but the Ray lashed out a couple straps. They hooked together into a safety harness and pulled him back to his seat. "Hey! God damn it, what's wrong with you?! Do I have a defective one?!"

The Ray gave another harsh beep and drifted to the right. Max helplessly watched Singh's ship fly over and out of sight.

The Ray continued on. There was an archway under the water. With nothing he could do, he just sat back, hands on the controls in case they suddenly decided to obey him. It was beautiful down here, though. The coral embedded into the ocean floor provided a home for a variety of harmless fish. Already evolution seemed to be adapting the earth-born species to their new home, changing them so some were brighter, others longer, and still others had thick, protective scales. The coral was changing, too, waving around peacefully, all in bright colors.

"Whoa..." he gasped. "Okay, whatever else is wrong with you, I gotta admit this is cool."

A lighter beep, this one softer to the ear. "Oh you liked that, huh? Well...look, I don't know how this works. Are you taking me somewhere specific?"

Light hum, followed by a beep.

He nodded, though didn't feel it was helpful. "...I'm just going to figure that means yes."

---

Oswin groaned to herself as she looked at the controls of the Crusader yet again. She hated that old wheel system. It was effective, of course, but no ship flew like that anymore. She worked her magic on the touchscreens, though.

Silver Spoon said they were nuts and sat in one of the passenger seats, arms crossed. Apparently she wasn't so against their search efforts to actually get off the ship.

Ozzy turned back to Walt and Victoria. "Could use a bit of help in atmo, but if you don't want to ride, this is the last stop."

 

[ze_kraken]

JOY RIDE

"In that, again?" Vic questioned, indignant. As she spoke, Walt elbowed his way past his partner-in-crime and shrugged.

"The guns suck ass, but I won't need them this time - hopefully, anyways," he remarked. "Count me in."

For a moment Victoria stood, eyeing Oswin and Walter in turn. She bit at her lower lip in contemplation as the two would-be Rays stared right back at her. Was it worth a trip in a giant, lugging passenger carrier? Probably not. There was little danger of another Wanderer encounter, but Oswin was a tad bit on the edge when it came to piloting and they didn't know the planet well. At all.

Fuck it.

"Fuck it," Victoria repeated aloud. "Let's go for it."

Walter clapped her on the shoulder as she sat down by Oswin, assuming her role as co-pilot once more. She flicked on the requisite switches, checked the necessary monitors, and gave the OK so Ozzy. Walter sat down behind her in the weapon's seat. Victoria shot her a look.

"Just for the camera," he muttered. "Safety's on."

"Keep it that way," she snapped. "Might not be a weapon worth shit for Wanderers - but you may hit him, and he's a newbie."

"Yes ma'am, drill sergeant ma'am," Walter offered a sarcastic salute with a free hand.

"Alright Oswin," Victoria's attention shifted back to her pilot. "Let's go get Max, shall we?"

 

[Quiet One]

Max's troublesome Ray finally emerged from under the waves. It floated along like a boat, drifting to the shore, but staying beneath the shadow of a large cliff face. Max tugged at the handlebars, but yet again they proved unresponsive.

"Okay, am I ever going to get to drive? I thought you were mine," he sighed.

There was a grumbling through the pipes and harsh beeps. Then without warning the cockpit opened and the seat lurched forward, throwing Max out onto the sand.

"Ow! What? You picked me and now you don't want me all of a sudden?" He got to his feet, cursing under his breath at his luck. He glared at the ship. "And why take me all the way out here?"

Being met with silence he sighed and shook his head. "I'm talking to a spaceship. I'm not even supposed to be here, and now... I have a gauntlet, I have a Ray - albeit a crazy one..." He looked at the ship and plopped himself in front of it.

WIP