To Change Time

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Ronin snorted softly to her words, but didn't dissuade them, merely nodding. "You're right and wrong, and yet not right or wrong all at once. I suppose it depends, in this case, on how you view the world, Anya. I, for one, agree that some things needed to be done slowly, appreciated more and I do believe exercise is very important and more people should do it, but if it hadn't been for speed and the belief that things needed to be easier and constantly better, I wouldn't have the machine I do."

The dark-haired male raised a brow. "And you wouldn't be here. I wouldn't like either of those realities."

His pale green eyes left her then, looking out the window and Ronin blew his shaggy hair out of his eyes, groaning under his breath. "That said, I don't like cars. Never have."

--

Nearly an hour later the taxi dropped them off at the airport and Ronin looked to Anya, about to speak, when the sound of a plane overhead made him look up with a grin and he spoke without looking away from it. "That, Miss Anya, is a plane. A 747 if I am not mistaken. One of the bigger ones."

He looked back at her then, still grinning and gaze alight with amused mirth. "Want to see one closer up?"
 
That was the first time she had been right, wrong and not right and wrong at the same time. She did most certainly agree, it would have been dreadful if he hadn't picked her up when he did and taken her away from her painfully boring existence.

"Though, if that had been the true reality, then you would never have met me, and thus you would never have missed my existence which concludes in that you would most likely have liked those realities if you lived in them." She replied, not commenting on his dislike of cars. While they did sound a bit too much for her taste and went a bit too fast for her to feel safe, they were still quite comfortable compared to a carriage. At least the carriages she had experienced sitting in. Those which costed less and you sat on plain tree planks without anything soft to cover it. Usually she traveled in carriages without ceilings or walls, as those were much less expensive, but incredibly cold during winter. But so was walking which was the way she usually traveled either way.

After an hour long drive, Anya was quite happy to step out of the car. She had never imagined that she could get motion sick, but that vehicle had succeeded. Luckily she hadn't thrown up, that had surely been embarrassing. Hopefully he hadn't notice her ordeal that had started halfway to their goal. Once she were outside, breathing the fresh air, she immediately started to feel better.

While she were feeling closer to heaven than ever as the fresh air entered her lungs and calmed her stomach, Ronin seemed excited over something. She turned to him and looked towards the thing he was pointing at. Her eyes widened and became almost as big as dinner plates when she saw the enormous thing. Sure they were quite a bit away, but even from that distance it was easy to see that it was bigger than most things she had seen in her life. What was taller, one of those buildings or that plane? Most likely the plane.

"How close can we get?" She asked as a smile of admiration entered her lips. It was certainly an amazing thing to see, even though she would never get onto one. If humans were meant to fly then they would have been born with wings, she could put herself into a car, but never in something that would take her hundreds or thousands of meters above ground.
 
Ronin hadn't corrected her, but her words had not been true in some ways.

He had lived the reality he spoke of. He'd lived it until he'd found the time machine and he'd hated it. Perhaps he had not missed traveling, specifically, or Anya, specifically, but he'd missed something he could not name. It had been like a missing piece of a puzzle and if he'd lived in the reality he'd started with for the rest of his life, that puzzle piece would have always been missing, always making his existence somehow seem lacking or wrong.

But Ronin said none of that. It was too deep, too personal and he didn't know her that well.

No, what did was focus his attention on his companion. This was her first time traveling, after all! He had to make sure it was a good experience. The first time should be special somehow, always.

Oh, wait, she was talking, wasn't she?

The male shook his head of its cluttering thoughts and blinked down at the blond for a moment before what she'd been saying registered and then his trademark grin lit up his eyes. "Pretty close. We could even fly in one if you want. Though, judging by how you felt in the car, flying might be upset your stomach more."

And with that, he started to walk backward toward the airport building, head tilting side to side a bit as his smile grew more mischievous. "Well, come on then, Nelisyi."
 
So he had noticed after all. Well that was embarrassing. Better not embarrass herself even more by walking onto one of those flying death traps. The day she would fly would be the day she grew a pair of wings, and not a single day sooner. But she did want to admire one of those flying wonders as closely as humanly possible without actually sitting in it. Anya had no idea how safe those things were, but considering how many accidents their cars had, she figured it was better to not take any chances.

She had to admit though, Ronin's world was quite amazing. Sure, they seemed to rush things too fast for her taste, and some of their inventions seemed to be death traps. But even so they seemed to have come far in development. And she had only touched the tip of the iceberg. Who knew what other incredible things they had created. How had the work places developed? How had the hospitals developed? Was anything like it used to be in her time or had everything changed? There was thousands of questions running through her head, and it was impossible to know where to start. That's why she missed when Ronin spoke to her the second time after having started to walk.

Anya was till in a bit of a daze after having been mesmerized by the gigantic space ship... No wait, it was a plane. All the names they had for things that did the same thing was just confusing. How did they stand it? "What?" She looked around, being sure she had heard him saying something, and then noticing that Ronin had gotten a head start. If she had been wearing high heels, then the running towards him would have been a serious challenge, so she was rather happy over the sandals at the moment, even though they felt a bit funny compared to normal shoes.

"I have the feeling that you're up to no good when you're smiling like that." She told him, being both curious and slightly frightened by his mischievous smile. "Are you planning something I will regret?" She asked. "For in that case you should know that I am a master in the art of sweet revenge, so do not try something foolish young man." Anya then warned him. She would certainly make sure he regretted it if he dared do something he knew she would dislike.

"Oh, and before I forget. Did you confuse my name just now, or did my ears play a trick on me?" She then asked him as she thought she had vaguely heard him say some other name when he told her to come. But as she had been very distracted at that very moment by her own thoughts there was a big chance she had been mistaken. She could not even recall what name he had said. Something starting with an N.
 
Her words just made the mirth in his eyes, in his smile deepen and Ronin laughed, giving no denial or affirmation of her guess as he turned to face forward as Anya caught up and they head toward the doors, now under the airport building awning. Revenge? Oh, she had no idea! The thought amused him greatly - no, no, it was the thought of a GAME that amused him. When was the last time he'd truly had FUN with someone, for longer than a few hours before he wsa setting off again to the next destination, the next disaster?

Too long.

Hmm, he might have to do something to Anya - minor, playful - just to see what could result from it.

"Your ears are correct, though, it wasn't a name so much as a....well, title....well, not really a title. Perhaps a nickname. Pet name? Not that you're a pet, it's just an expression. A pretty odd expression, but nothing offense, I assure you. Just strange. Oh, not your pet name! That's not strange, just-" The dark-haired male stopped right before opening the door and looked down to the blond, nearly seven inches separating their height, to smile a bit sheepishly at her.

"Nelisyi. It means 'Little Thinker'. It's...well, it's not a language native to Earth."

That mysterious glint came back to his pale green eyes before it passed again and Ronin opened the door to the airport, ushering Anya in and effectively changing the conversation as he let her have a good look around the beyond busy building, peoples from all nations and nationalities coming and going, sounds, sights and smells all different - a world all it's own.
 
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That laugh did not make her feel any better, now she knew he was up to something. Or maybe he laughed because the thought of him being up to something seemed ridiculous. So did that mean he wasn't up to anything? No, he was definitely up to something. Though she might just be a bit paranoid. After a few seconds of debating with herself, Anya decided to drop it. There was no reason to try and figure out if he was up to something or not. He would eventually show it if he was, and she just had to keep her eyes open for it.

When he finally stopped laughing, he explained to her about the name she thought she had heard. It seemed to be something very hard to explain for him, as he rambled on about it being a title, nickname or a pet name, and then the justification part. She giggled at his attempt. He was certainly an entertaining fellow.

"Not native to earth?" She asked, wondering if it had come from the colonies on Mars. But that could not be. They had been there for less than a hundred years, how could a new language have come so fast? Well, that was her reasoning for not believing it, and she got the feeling he weren't speaking off a human language. Which sounded far too strange even for someone whom had just traveled through time. "Where in the universe have you traveled off to?" Anya asked him as she stepped into the airport.

Her breath was immediately taken away. There were so many people in one building. In her own time that would have been the sign of it being a workplace. But if she had understood it correctly, most of the people weren't there for work. There were people rolling big bags after themselves, people spoke in their boxes called cell phones, some looked at something that were stuck on their arm. As one passed her she noticed that it looked like a watch, though instead of being worn in a pocket, it was put on a bracelet. Well, at least that made more sense than all the other inventions they had that just killed people.

So many different smells, so many different people of different colors, it was as if the whole world had stepped into one room. She even saw a lady with a beard, though when looking for a few extra seconds it became clear that it was a man in a dress. So it did happen after all. With all that was going on, Anya completely forgot the reason why they had come there in the first place.

Another thing that caught her eyes were a poster hanging on the wall. Or at least that was what she thought it was until she saw the picture moving, though the sound could not be heard from where they were. "There's a man trapped in that painting." She said shocked as she turned to Ronin.
 
Her surprise and wonder at the airport itself saved Ronin the trouble of answering that particular question right now and he was glad of it. That...was a truly tricky answer because oftentimes, he didn't know WHERE in the universe he did travel. It was usually the future, he did know that and humans had expanded, gone to other galaxies and worlds, met other life, aliens, but it seemed the time machine he had only followed HUMAN history and future. If humans hadn't traveled somewhere then neither would the machine so there was no going to a past where only aliens dwelled. If they had not had contact with humans, then he didn't have contact with them.

Of course, it was always interesting to try and go back to the past, as far as he could, to see WHICH aliens HAD been in contact with humans without mankind knowing it. Those trips were interesting to say the least.

But right now, he wasn't sure Anya was ready to hear all that. She was looking at her own species like they were the aliens at the moment. Better not to completely overwhelm her on the first visit to the future, her first travel. No, the 'talking painting' was enough of an adventure at the moment and Ronin couldn't help but smile, shaking his head.

"It's not a painting. It's...well, it's a lot more complicated then I know how to explain to be honest, but it's called a television or TV, for short. The man you see is real, but he's not inside the TV. It's like when you look into a mirror. You see yourself, but your image is not trapped inside the glass. This is kind of the same way. You can see this man's image, but he's not trapped. He's actually very far from here and his image and words are being sent into the TV so we can hear them. Like the music is sent to the MP3 player. It's the same concept."

Ronin had started to move again as he explained, beckoning for Anya to follow.

"Come on, I'll show you the planes." In this place, moving was best if they wanted to get anywhere and he smiled at the blond over his shoulder. "Stay close. You don't want to get lost, though, if you do, find a person wearing that kind of uniform." He pointed out said person as they moved past. "Tell them you are lost and looking for someone. Give them my name and they will help you find me."
 
A television. It was slightly frightening that they kept peoples images as well as their words inside boxes. There was probably some kind of scientific explanation of how it worked, but even if they told her she would most likely not understand it. As far as she knew it could as well be magic, or some evil master plan to lock all their citizen into boxes like that if they didn't like them. They killed their citizens with everyday machines, so her theory couldn't be that far fetched.

Anya kept her eyes for a bit longer on the television as they started to walk, still suspicious. The music hadn't felt as threatening since it was simply the voices, but now when it was complete human bodies she was a bit skeptic to it. But maybe she should trust Ronin, he should know his own time period well enough to understand what it was and what it wasn't. So she let him take them back to their previous topic. The planes.

"I thought one of the requirements for me to come with you was that I didn't wander. If I don't wander, how could I get lost?" She asked him with a sneaky smile, finally having gotten over the television thingy. At least for the moment. Though she did make a little note to herself inside her head to remember the uniform. It would be easy to remember. Not only was it simply to look after the people with identical uniforms, but the uniforms also looked much more sophisticated than the average persons choice of clothes. Sure, there were a few people with a nice suit and tie, but those people always seemed to be in a rush or paced back and forward while watching their clock. So it would be easy to not confuse them with the uniform people.

"How can they help me find you with only a name?" She then asked seriously. "If they don't know your face or what you're wearing then they won't be of much use I'd imagine."
 
Yes, she truly was smart. Nelisyi indeed.

Ronin smiled to himself, his eyes scanning the signs he wanted to follow even as he answered. "Well, to your first question; very good observation and you've been doing a wonderful job staying close, but in a place like this, you can get lose even while trying to stay close to someone. That is the peril of crowds. You can look away for one moment and completely lose sight of the person you were with."

He was simply making sure she knew what to do in case it happened.

"As for finding me, the people in uniforms can go to something called an intercom. It will amplify their voice and broadcast it all over the airport. They would call my name and tell me where to find you. I would come to that place and we'd be reunited. They wouldn't need to know my face or what I am wearing. You'd be able to tell them if I was me."

They were getting closer to the observation overlooks now and Ronin opened the door with a smile to let Anya into the large room with glass window spanning the expanse of the place, lots of people already watching planes flying and landing.
 
Well, she'd better not look away then. If she didn't look away then she wouldn't loose sight of him. Though to never look away was quite the task. Especially if never looking away also included not to blink. That could be quite hard to accomplish. But since she now knew how they would help her find him, or rather help him find her, it wouldn't be too awful to get separated. At least she wouldn't have to panic over it, wondering how in the world she would ever find him again.

On the other hand, in her time period when they were in a place where they could be separated, then they usually decided on a meeting place. A place all of them could find and go to if they happened to be separated. So including the flight staff hadn't been necessary if he had used the old methods.

Her plan of not looking away completely failed as she was introduced to the glass room, where she could see the airplanes clearly. Her excitement shone through clearly and she almost ran towards the windows that covered the whole wall on one side. The people down there were so small compared to the planes. One part of her wanted to go down there, just to touch one of the planes. But never in her life would she set her foot on one. At least not one that would fly. If they were forever grounded then she would at least consider it.

"How can something so big lift from the ground?" She asked, mostly to herself though she wouldn't mind an answer from Ronin. Anya was astonished of how easily those things seemed to fly, even though they must have so much weight. Shouldn't that weight be a burden and forced them down to the ground? How could the wings be so stiff? Shouldn't they move as a bird? But even though she found all those flaws, the plane still flew without any problems. It flew higher and higher and higher, until it no longer were visible to the naked eye.

While Anya was completely taken by what she saw, a man in suit and sunglasses walked into the airport. He did not speak a single word of English except for when needed when checking in his bag, and no one around seemed to understand his language. He was waiting for a phone call so that he could know if he was supposed to continue with the plan. He also needed to know if their planted pilot had taken his seat. He got the message, the pilot was where he should be. Now he just needed to tell the higher ups that everything went as planned and they were ready to execute the kidnapping of the prince that soon would leave America on his private jet.
 
Ronin didn't hesitate to answer her question, quiet as it had been, as they moved toward the window. "Well, to achieve flight, you have to exploit the four basic aerodynamic forces: lift, weight, thrust and drag. You can think of them as four arms holding the plane in the air, each pushing from a different direction." He then proceeded to start trying to explain the science of all four components...and then stopped, both realizing that his companion was giving him wide, uncomprehending eyes and that something else as nagging at him, catching his attention.

His pale green eyes looked away from Anya then and around the room, narrowing slightly, frowning as his gaze flickered from person to person.

He'd felt something, a warning tingle in his mind that he'd learned not to ignore because if he ignored it, that tingle would become a buzz and then it would become an ache until finally it exploded into a crippling pain that he couldn't possibly ignore. By that point, it would be too late. Far too late and that was something Ronin hated more than he hated the pain.

So he searched and tried to pinpoint what had caused the whisper of danger until his eyes settled on a foreign male in a suit and sunglasses. He normally would not have stood out, but the more Ronin studied him, the more sure he became that he had his culprit. There was no suitcase, no bag, nothing to indicate this man was traveling on a business trip. That was odd.

Even more so was how he was not watching his watch like most in suits were doing, but rather he kept checking his phone DESPITE the fact that he wore a watch. He wasn't checking the time and he was....not nervous, but expectant. Sure of himself and yet waiting for something.

The dark-haired male had the oddest suspicion it wasn't a plane...not in the way others were waiting for one.

His pale green eyes never left the person even as he turned a bit, acting like he wasn't looking at all, knowing that a gaze could alert someone just as surely as a touch. Ronin spoke quietly to his companion. "Anya, you are not going to understand this, but I need you to stay very, very close to me and I need you to trust me. We could be in danger very quickly and I need to know that if I tell you to do something, you'll do it. All right?"
 
Ronin started to explain something that for Anya was impossible to understand. Maybe if she got some blueprints to study while he spoke, just maybe it would somehow sink in. But most likely not. She was a lost cause in his technological world. At least if she only stayed for a day or two. If she got the chance to stay there for years, then maybe she could catch up.

But at the moment, it would be impossible for her to know what he was trying to tell her. So she simply stood there and stared at him, wondering if she would have to cover his mouth to eventually stop him from speaking. Though she would soon see that such an action was unnecessary, because he stopped all by himself, and quite suddenly too. Mid sentence, strangely enough. Ronin looked around, but didn't tell her why for a long time, and once he told her something it wasn't what she had expected to hear.

"All right." She said, slightly startled of the turn of event. First it had all been fun and games, and now he seemed almost frightened that something might be about to happen. For a second she did consider it a prank, but fast scrapped that idea. He did not lie, he had made that very clear before. "Do you think the man with the weird black glasses is up to something?" She asked, whispering to him. She had definitely having noticed the way he had looked at the man. Though why did it matter? They weren't supposed to change history, so shouldn't they just be walking away if something dangerous were to happen? All she could do for the moment was to trust him.

The man's cellphone rang and he answered it within the first signal. Speaking in another language he did not seem to care if people could hear him. Apparently very confident that no one understood. He even glanced around the room just to check if someone seemed to look as if they understood his conversation, but at that moment he did not see anyone that looked at him in any other way than a normal person would when hearing a language they did not know.

"Yes, the pilot has been disposed off." He said in his strange language. "And our man has successfully infiltrated the plane." He continued. After a couple of yes and no's he continued to say a complete sentence. "The prince will be bordering the jet in less than twenty minutes. After that we'll safely take him to our location. The drugs has been prepared, and the guards will be killed before they can notice the changed rout." He reassured the person on the other end. "Is everything prepared on your end?" He then asked to make sure.

After a couple of yes, understood, no, and we'll take care of it, he finally hung up and started to walk towards his plane as a pretend body guard. Leaving only two people at the airport whom knew of their plans.
 
"I am sure of it." Ronin had answered quietly, but such wasn't confirmed until they both heard the man speaking and the dark-haired male knew that Anya would hear him in perfect English, just not know what she was actually doing was hearing the man's native tongue and rapidly translating it INTO English.

The time machine did that - got in your head and made such things possible.

Ronin knew the downsides to that, though, after a long period of time, but now wasn't the time to dwell on it as he listened with a darkening expression to what the foreign man said, watching him as he departed and then took Anya's hand without thought or motive other than to keep her with him as they quickly, but discreetly started to follow the man through the crowds. And somehow Ronin never lost sight of him, even when the human mass around them grew more numerous.

They followed the man until he went into the restroom, maybe to change his suit for his role or perhaps just to go to the bathroom and Ronin took the opportunity to look to Anya, his pale green eyes holding a seriousness she would not have yet seen, not even when he'd been chased back in her time period.

"Anya, this...I know I told you we don't interfere and I wasn't lying, but I didn't tell you everything. We don't interfere in things that are supposed to happen. We ALWAYS do something if it's not supposed to happen and this is one of those times." He didn't tell her how he knew or why he did such, running his hand back through his hair and finally giving her a slight smile.

"You don't have to help me. This...this isn't what you signed on for, I know. You could stay here or go back to the machine. I would give you the address and money to give to a taxi, and a key to the ship. You could wait there. I don't expect you to...to risk your life for something you don't understand."
 
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Anya didn't look at the man as he spoke, but listened well. How come he spoke about such things so openly when everyone could hear him? Why wasn't anyone reacting to what he was saying? Was such behavior normal in their time period? No, they weren't. Because Ronin was behaving strangely at the moment. He was stiff, and didn't seem to like a single word the man was saying. What the man in the suit was saying was completely wrong in every way possible. He was a criminal.

But what could they do? As time travelers there was a rule of not interfering. At least that was what she thought until Ronin took her hand and started to walk, rush and run after him. Whatever was needed to not loose sight of the man. How come the rules had changed so suddenly? What was he thinking of doing? Anya could not understand what Ronin was thinking at all. It was as if he had an on and off switch in his head. When on off he simply time traveled and followed his rules while doing so. When on on, he broke his rules and interfered as fast as something seemed bad. At least that was what it seemed like at the moment. How he changed in a blink of an eye.

Once they stopped outside of a bathroom, a bathroom the man had entered into, Ronin took his chance to speak to her. How could he know when things were or were not supposed to happen? Did his time machine tell him about the events that were going to happen in every time period he visited? And then when something differed he tried to change it back? Either way, she couldn't leave him.

"I won't go back." She said deadly serious. If she went back she would regret it for the rest of her life. And if he died and didn't return to the time machine, then she would feel guilty forever. Because she could have gone with him, she could have helped him.

"Two heads are better than one." She started, as if to argue why he better take her with him. "And clearly that man has zero heads, as he spoke out like that in public. How could no one else have reacted to what he said?" The last sentence was more of a mumbling question asked to herself. It simply didn't make any sense. More people should have notice his odd call.

"What should we do to stop him... them?" She then asked. It wasn't like they could hit the man in the back of his head unnoticed and then stop the prince from entering the plane. Even in her time period they would have been treated like maniacs, especially if they didn't have proof of him being a criminal or the prince being in danger.
 
Her answer brought a smile to his face, though, there was a glimmer of regretful guilt to be seen there, too, if one was looking hard enough. But Anya was distracted, mumbling something to herself and Ronin caught it, but didn't explain right now. There would be plenty of time to explain details later - if there was a later for them - but right now, this situation was far more important and the dark-haired traveler focused on that above all else, keeping half an eye on the restroom as he spoke.

"We're not going to be able to stop them here. We don't know their plan and we don't know who might be in on it or what they intend to do. The only hope of stopping them is to go where they are going and learn as much as we can along the way."

The man had left the bathroom and Ronin started to follow him again, keeping a hold of Anya once more, speaking lowly to her as they wove through the crowd. "We'll have to sneak aboard the plane. It will be dangerous and I am sorry to say that it won't be a pleasant flying experience for either of us. I regret that your first time will...well, for lack of a better word, suck."

His pale green eyes dared to glance back at her. "But if we can save this Prince, it will be worth it, I promise you. You can know that these peoples' plan doesn't stop at just kidnapping one man. Things like this, there is always a greater goal far worse."
 
As Anya had thought, they would not be able to stop them there at that very moment. But how would they be able to follow them? They were going to fly away with a plane, and with so much people around it seemed impossible to just sneak onto one. Though maybe it simply was her wishful thinking that told her that it was impossible to follow them simply because it had to do with flying. She did not want to fly no matter what.

Before they had been able to discuss it though, the man once again came out from the bathroom, and they had to continue following him for a bit. Ronin started to explain that they would indeed sneak onto the plane, and that it would be a horrible first experience for her. Great. She must have done something pretty horrible in her past life for karma to strike her this hard all of a sudden. But she did believe him when he told her that if they did not do something about it, something far worse than they could imagine would happen.

Anya sighed as they stopped just outside a door, which the man had gone through. The door lead to the outside, and was mainly open ground except for the airplanes and some machines that sent boxes over to the airplanes. Not much space to hide from him. They watched from afar as he walked onto a plane that was much smaller than all the others. Clearly it was not made for hundreds of people. Outside of the plane there were a man, loading some boxes onto the small plane. Then he went away, either to get something, or maybe someone had called. He might have looked at his phone, but they were too far away to know for certain.

"I have an idea." Anya told Ronin and took his hand. They ran over to the plane as quickly as they possibly could before stopping at the boxes. "They don't seem to be checking these boxes. If we jump into one of them, then we won't have to worry about being seen if they check the plane before they lift." She told him. Sure she had only watched the man loading the boxes for a little while, and could not be completely certain that they would not check them. But there was probably a higher risk of getting caught if they simply tried to hide behind something while boxes were still being loaded.
 
Ronin had gone with her, placing an uncharacteristic trust in his companion in that moment, but it seemed to be paying off already as a grin came to his face at her plan. He ran through the calculations quickly, but definitely saw her point and the advantage it gained them, and he nodded to Anya, rather pleased with her smarts. "All right then." He opened one of the boxes carefully after a moment after looking around to make sure they weren't going to be seen and then looked to Anya.

"In you go."

After helping the small blond into a box, he closed it again and then got into his own, the closing a bit more difficult, but manageable. And then they had to wait. Not long, mind you, but it was long enough that Ronin shifted in both boredom and nerves, sighing out to himself and then nearly yelping in surprise when the box was suddenly lifted and quickly laughed silently to himself before a thought hit and he wince, ferverently praying fate would be kind.

What if the boxes were stacked atop each other?

Oh, please don't let me be on the bottom! Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease.....

The box was set down and Ronin listened carefully for something to be set atop him, but nothing was and he exhaled a bit in relief, now listening for the starting of the engines, for the sound of a door shutting. When it came, he cautiously opened the box and peered out to a darkly lit cargo hold.

Well, they were here.

"Anya!" Ronin shouted for her above the din of the engine as he crawled his way out of the box, glad to stretch his long limbs again.
 
It seemed as if her calculations had been correct, because Ronin did agree with her plan. He knew this world much better than her and would have said if there had been any flaw in her thinking. Apparently she had done well this time, which left her incredibly pleased with herself. Though also slightly disappointed as she now would have to actually be on the plane as it took off.

Anya kept her worries to herself though and let him help her down into one of the boxes. It was slightly cramped, and not much room to move in, but at least there were breathable air... For now. In the long run they might suffocate. Though hopefully they would be able to get out long before that. Soon enough she did feel someone lifting the box up into the air and she had almost let out a sound of surprise when she tumbled back and forth in the box. Luckily she had been able to keep it to herself. A very small squeak left her lips though, but since the one, or most likely two people, carrying her didn't stop she guessed no one had heard.

No one tried to open the box, and no one seemed to investigate the sound. If they had heard it, then it had been ignored. It could certainly have been mistaken for a mouse running beneath the box, or something from their imagination. Most people wouldn't think that there actually were a human trapped in there.

She laid in there, not daring to move. She wished though that she could simply break open the lid and jump out immediately. Not only because she were on an aircraft that soon would fly away, which made her frightened of crashing to the ground, but also because she started to feel slightly claustrophobic in there. Anya counted every second that went by until she heard something shut close, probably the big doors of the plane, and shortly after that the engine started as the plane took off.

Then then sound she had waited for arrived. Ronin called out to her. "I'm here." She said at the exact same time as she breathed in the fresh air when she opened the lid. As fresh as it could be inside of an airplane. It did make her voice sound very.. interesting. Or a better description, it was the weirdest sound she had ever heard coming out of her own mouth.

"I never want to trapped in a box again." She said as she almost jumped out of her prison. That was not something she would like to relive anytime soon.

"Please don't tell me this thing will go very high up in the air. It will stay close to ground, right?" Anya was hopeful that they would fly low, but so far she had not seen any low flying airplanes. Though she had not seen many high flying airplanes, only one.
 
"I second that." No more boxes!

Ronin smiled a bit, but continued to look around and it wasn't until Anya asked her next question that he looked back at her....and then away again without answering. He was more than aware that she didn't want to be here. Her body language had been tense and on edge ever since learning she had to fly and it wasn't going to get any better if he answered her truthfully, but he also wouldn't lie. So it was better not to answer at all right now and instead he started to open boxes, searching.

"Did I tell you that the my ship, I call her Echo, translates languages for you? That's why we could understand that man and others couldn't. She kind of gets in your head a bit, Echo, but it's beneficial in cases like that." He flashes the blond a grin before peeking inside the box he'd just opened.

"Hmm...nope." Moving on to the next, he did the same with that one and then another before finally smiling in triumph and pulling out blankets, quilts with intricate patterns and obviously well-crafted. Which made him think that this Prince was probably middle-eastern. They did like their hand-made blankets, rugs and tapestries for their tents. Ah, well, right now it would be used to keep Anya and him from getting hypothermia. Or, well, hopefully not get it.

Oxygen thinning was going to be a problem he couldn't much help, but keeping warm...that they could prepare for and Ronin looked back to Anya. "We need to find a few boxes we can move and make a sheltered area and then a few more we need to take things out of so we can flatten the boxes to sit on. If you find anymore boxes with blankets in them or food, get them out. It's going to get very cold in here and it's going to be a long flight, I think."
 
Ronin did not answer her question, instead he avoided it by telling her about his ship. That was answer enough to her. It was obvious he changed the subject simply because he didn't want to lie, which meant they were going to fly high, probably higher than she could ever imagine. A shiver went down her spine. But she knew she could not turn away now, as they already were in the air. If she jumped she would break every bone in her body and die, so that was not an option. And even if it was, how would she be able to abandon him without a second thought? No, they were in on this together, she would not back away.

The thought of his ship getting into her brain was a bit scary. How could it even do that without being ordered to do so. Machines should only work if a human makes them work, without the human command it should not be able to do anything, including getting into someones head. Though at least now she could understand why that man had talked so nonchalantly about it. No one else had been able to understand his words either way.

As fast as he told her what to do, she started to work with the boxes. "How can a machine get into a persons head?" She asked him as she searched. "It almost sounds as if your ship is alive." Anya then said while pulling up a few blankets from one of the boxes. "That is if you didn't make it get into my head." She then added.

He had spoken of it as if it was normal for the machine to get into peoples heads without no one even making it do it. But it could be that he had programmed it to do so, and in that case he had done something against her will without even telling her about it. That kind of thing would make her at the very least irritated. Though if the machine did it without the humans command, then there had to be something more to it. Something she could not understand. A machine that lived and had a mind of its own? Ridiculous. At least in her time when all machines worked thanks to human hands. But maybe in the far future it was normal. That did sound like a scary future though.
 
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