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03.09.23.14.18.01

Consciousness had a different meaning ever since the day they activated her neural implants. It started in the surgical room, like someone had flicked a switch and suddenly she was aware of everything going on around her. Unconscious but aware. Sedated, unable to move, but able to hear them speaking, hear the equipment buzzing, the monitors beeping. She could smell the familiar smell of a sterile OR room.

That was how Jaden felt now, only she wasn't in an operating room. She was in cryo. An artificially induced state of unconsciousness that suspended all bodily and mental functions during long trips through space. At least that's how it was for most people, like her shipmates. They were all asleep, completely oblivious to the passage of time. But Jaden's implants were uneffected by the cryo-chambers, so while she couldn't move or see, she could hear the hum of the machinery and feel the warm air blowing slowly over her body.

She hated it. She missed being able to sleep. Being able to dream. And then there was her internal clock. It started the moment her implants were activated, and always ran. A permanent awareness of time.

When they had later asked her if she remembered anything during the procedure, or felt different in any way, she said no. She lied. She had never lied about anything before, never kept any secrets about anything. But for reasons she didn't fully understand, she denied that she had been aware. She admitted she knew how long it had been since they activated her implants, but that was all. Her permanent awareness was going to be her secret. Her own piece of privacy that she would never share, the first she'd had and possibly the only she'd get.

To this day - three years, nine months, fourteen days, eighteen minutes, one second later and counting - they didn't know.

To pass the time while in cryo, Jaden remotely monitored The Axis' ship systems. Environmental controls, all of the cryo-chambers the crew members were all in, she watched their course, watched their speed, watched the information that came up on the scanners, watched the security cameras. She couldn't change anything, because if she did, they might find record of it. But she watched from inside the digital world that no one else could see or fathom, because there was nothing better to do for a two month trip through silent space. But even that got boring, so once in a while, she'd ignore the ship systems and play chess against the computer.

Today, she would wish she had been paying attention. Five moves into her seventeenth game, the ship computer went on full alert and started waking everybody up. Jaden immediately tried to tap back into the ship's systems, only she couldn't. Once the ship was on alert, the system locked out any remote users until it was manually over-ridden.

Damn security protocols! Hurry up and let me out of here!

On alert, the bridge crew were given priority and were woken up first. It was almost three minutes before she started to feel the effects of her body waking up, and another two before her chamber door finally slid open.

There was a loud blaring alarm going off, red lights flashing down the long room lined with two rows of cryo-chambers. All of the chambers were open, but most of the men were still too drowsy to coordinate the finer motor skills needed to get properly dressed. The bridge crew, closest to the doors, had a few minutes head start and were grabbing boots and shirts as they tried to run into the hall and toward the bridge. They looked like they'd been drinking too much, but the effects would wear off soon enough.

Jaden swung her legs out of the cylinder shaped chamber and shot to her feet. She was woozy, but had a better time of maintaining her balance than the others. The ship was starting to shake violently. "What's going on?" she yelled over the alarms, "What's happening?"

"We don't know yet!" Jackson replied, shoving a foot into a pant-leg, "You tell us."

Jaden shook her head. "I can't access the computer! Do they know to over-ride the security lock-out?"

"I wouldn't wager on it!"

She ran. She could feel that her control and response-time was sluggish, but even recovering from sedation, her implants gave her an advantage the others didn't have. Bare-footed and being dressed only in underwear and a small, thin shirt didn't cross her mind - and even if it had, it wouldn't have mattered to her anyway.

At the front of the room, she came to an abrupt stop at the console near the door. She was just about to hit the comm when a voice came on over the speakers.

"All hands, this is the captain. We're going down, I repeat, we're going down! All personnel get to the escape pods and abandon ship, I repeat, abandon ship!"

[Squee]

03.09.23.14.31.27

Six minutes and twenty-one seconds later, she was in an escape pod watching The Axis getting smaller and smaller in the distance until it ignited in a ball of flame and smoke upon impact with the Earth.

How they could be at Earth already, Jaden didn't understand. They should still be in space, several hours away from orbit. The last time she had checked the computer, their trajectory was perfect, there wasn't anything in their flight path... it made no sense.

There was chatter over the comms. Escape pods that had launched gave off their locations and how many they had on board. Some sounded calm and under control, others were obviously a little freaked out. For good reason.

"Warning, impact in ten seconds," the computer reported. It was off by .4

Jaden dropped into the closest chair and strapped herself in as the computer continued counting down. She felt the bottom of the pod scrape along the ground for several seconds, and then suddenly slam into something. A tree.

She unstrapped herself and walked over to the comm. By now, she was fully dressed in her armor. It was nothing fancy, standard issue for the marines. Green and black, mostly bulletproof, helmet with an airtight seal, life support for approximately two hours, and easy to maneuver in.

"This is Jaden in pod 42-B. I have touched down four klicks from Tha Axis. Confirming The Axis as the rendez-vous point. I will maintain this comm frequency and be there within the hour."

"Roger that, Jaden. How many do you have with you?"

"None," she replied, "I was alone. Jaden out."

Turning, she walked between the two rows of empty seats and opened the back of the pod. Each pod was designed for a dozen people, but Henders had insisted she not wait for anyone, not even him.

"Your safety and survival are your priorities, Jaden. Now I order you off The Axis immediately."

And that was that. A small part of her was still bothered by it. She knew that being a good soldier meant not leaving your comrades behind. But she also knew she was different, important. Always had been, always would be. Not because of who she was, but what she was. That was also why she would never have an official rank in the military. She wasn't one of them, and technically without a rank, she wasn't obligated to follow orders of whoever might be of higher rank than her. She took orders from her own superiors who had their own priorities.

For now, she knew all she was required to do was to stay healthy and uninjured, which she could do just as well getting back to the ship and helping the survivors. Whether their mission was still in effect was yet to be determined.

Stepping outside, Jaden looked around at her surroundings through her helmet. The pod had burned a nice trench in the ground and obliterated a few trees, but other than that, everything seemed peaceful. Grasslands stretched for a ways to the south, and the trees seemed to get thicker to the north. The Axis was almost directly east, a thick plume of black smoke giving away its location.

Better get going. She started running.

[James.L]

Ayumu laid down lazily on a tree branch, it was surprisingly thick and would have even allowed him to sit cross legged, still his left leg dangling over the side carelessly. A night black crow perched on his hand "Even if they did find me it's not as if they would know who I am, makes life ever so dull, but at least you remember me." The crow tilted its head its big beady eyes staring clueless at him, to that Ayumu just sighed.

A large blast made Ayumu open his sleep eyes and nearly lost his balance and all his animal companions started cawing clearly it affected them even more than it did him. He grabbed on to the tree holding on tight what on earth could that be?! Ayumu thought to himself startled. Smoke rose even visible over the vast expanse of huge trees damn that's one pissed of fire mage, probably some kind of demon raising havoc

Ayumu drew a knife and stabbed it into the tree I don't think anyone will mind me making a scratch in this tree, even less likely they will find it with that he leapt over the edge the blade being pulled down with him slowing his fall enough to prevent damage. He headed towards the smoke deciding it safest if he didn't sheathe his blade. He made a loud whistle and the birds all followed him staying low obviously startled by the smoke as well. Ayumu spoke to the birds "you know what they say, where there's smoke there's fire"

He drew closer and closer to it, regretting his choice to see what it was a little more with each step. The wind blew making a loud whistling noise throughout the trees while the leaves fell off showering the unsuspecting Ayumu below. He brushed them off and heard the pitter patter of running from up ahead. Whoever this was Ayumu didn't want a frontal confrontation with them, or for that matter anyone who could run that quickly.

As their body fell into view he was startled that anyone could run that quickly, even when fleeing a demon it has to be something else. Also he was confused about the clothes they wore it was very interesting to him, but very unusual and unorthodox. It was imposible to see their face behind the mask what could the strange creature look like?

When he planned on hiding they were already too close for him to try that damn there fast, maybe he would get lucky and they wouldn't slice him into thousands of tiny pieces "Hey, you there, where are you going?" As he said that he was still ready to split their head open from fifty yards if they where a threat to him. He didn't want to kill someone for killing someone's sake, but if it meant his survival he was more than happy to do that.

The leaves along the ground would at least screw up her footing if she charged him, but something about her made him think that wouldn't make much of a difference.

[Fog Of War]

Leaning against a large tree was a blue-grey avian by the name of Serkane Felkar. The avian had often made trips into the forest in order to sit down and collect his thoughts. He was never quite sure why. Perhaps it reminded him of his old life, he never knew. However, he was awakened from his meditative state when a bizarre impact happened nearby.

What was that?!? he thought to himself. Some sort of magical accident?!? He knew he had to investigate. There was simply no way around it. Someone might be hurt, after all, and he was rather curious what was responsible. He did the only sensible thing, and took to the skies to get a better view.

There was a tower of black smoke to the east, coming from... something. It was about the size of a building, but it wasn't made of wood or stone, but what looked like steel. It wasn't shaped like any building he knew, though. It was absolutely unlike anything Serkane had ever seen.

He then thought of something else. How had he not noticed it before? He had been to the forest several times and not seen it. It must have been built recently. Recently? he thought to himself. No, I had even been over there today. Either someone had managed to build it in only a few hours, or it was transported here from somewhere else. But how do you move something that big?

It was impossible either way. No magic Serkane knew of was capable of something like this. He had to investigate it further. It was quite far away, however. If it wasn't for its huge size and easy-to-spot smoke, he would never have seen it anyway.

Something else caught Serkane's eye. A humanoid some way away was running towards the ship. She was dressed rather strangely, however. She wore some sort of green armor, but it looked quite different from any plate mail he knew of. A thought crossed Serkane's mind that maybe she was somehow involved.

Only one way to find out. he thought to himself. He decided to try the direct approach, flying over to her and dropping from the sky to a spot nearby. He managed to catch up with her, and he shouted in the local language, "Excuse me, ma'am! I was just wondering if you could tell me if you knew what happened!"

[Squee]

Jade hadn't made it very far from her pod when she heard a voice calling in a language she didn't recognize. As soon as she heard it, she drew her pistol and spun toward the source of the voice as she skid to a halt. A short distance away, a man with a mask stood in the tall grass. There were some birds around him, but the knife in his hand was what really caught her attention.

Before she could respond, a large shadow caught her eye as it moved between them. Keeping her gun trained on the man with the knife, Jaden looked over to where a strange creature landed. He was humanoid, but had several bird-like qualities about him, specifically feathers and wings. He also spoke the same strange language, but by now, her translation program had analyzed the first man's words and created a language database for her.

The first had asked where she was going, and the second wanted to know what happened. Apparently the crash had upset the locals, who were intelligent enough to be polite and carry well-fashioned blades.

Deciding that the masked man with the knife wasn't threatening enough to require her to leave her helmet on, Jaden used her free hand to take it off and show them who they were talking to. Making first contact with an unknown race wasn't exactly in her job description, but she'd been trained for it nevertheless.

Without her helmet, her green eyes were clearly visible. Her skin was fair, as if having spend more time indoors than outside, and her red hair was cropped very short. She gave them a moment to look her over as she did the same.

"I'm sorry to say that our ship crashed," she said to the avian, then turned to the masked man. "Some of us were able to get to our escape pods in time to eject before impact. I am now heading back to the main ship to rejoin with my comrades, assess the damage and help with the wounded and repairs."

Then she lowered her gun. "I do not mean you any harm."

[Fog Of War]

Serkane was puzzled at the strange woman's choice of words. Ship? But there isn't any water for miles. Could she mean the object? What are these "escape pod" things, anyway? She says it "crashed"... well, if there's any wounded, I have to help. Everything about this encounter was strange...

Serkane had barely noticed the fact that someone besides the two was there. He was much more interested in the woman in the strange armor. "So, you heard everything too, huh?" He noticed that there were several birds close to him. He hadn't seen crows that simply hovered near to someone like that. Maybe it was magical in nature. He made a mental note to investigate the matter further.

He turned to the woman. "Okay, I don't really understand what's going on, but if you say that there are wounded, then I can't just stand by. I'll be willing to help any way I can... " he reached into his bag and fiddled around in it. Ah, yes, there's my healing potion... I was hoping to save this for when I really needed it, but now's as good a time as any. I wish had studied healing magic more attentively, though.

Serkane thought for a moment and finally spoke "By the way, would you mind explaining the circumstances a little more clearly? If I'm going to be helping, I want to know everything. " Serkane was rarely curious, but this was so utterly bizarre that he couldn't help but want to know more. The strange metal object... this round-eared elf in bizarre armor... he needed to know more.

[Squee]

Jaden couldn't help but wonder how this creature expected to be able to help when he didn't understand the concept of a crashed ship. But on the other hand, establishing peaceful relations with the locals was probably a wise thing to do, so whether he could actually help or not, Jaden decided to bring him back.

Before she continued on her way, however, she needed to assess whether or not the masked man with the knife was an enemy.

"I would be happy to explain as best I can on the way to the ship," she said, then looked over at the masked man. "You are welcome to join us, but that knife won't be necessary."

[James.L]

Ayumu looked at the strange persons her hair red giving her a unusual characteristic. He could see her true facial details, she was a young girl and quite pretty, he wondered slightly if she was from one of the other plains due to her unique armour. He saw her she was a rather short person standing at only five foot six, but he did not underestimate her or want to see what she was really capable of, surly it was some kind of body enhancing magic. Her eyes where a beautiful kind of crystal green. She had an odd grace about her something that made her acrobatically able it couldn't be pin pointed to any one factor. If I go with her and she leaves me in a group of people like her I'm dead meat, but if I stay here she may turn hostile he looked at the artefact in her hand I wonder what that dose but I don't want to get in the way of it maybe they will show me, but it's a risk so he decided not to ask in the end.

He looked at her armour it was thick in parts painted a swampy green colour which he had never seen done in any of the more orthodox militaries around this area. The places between the armour where a more sleek design and coloured an ebony black, it was more reflective than leather and also thinner. This women is defiantly one of the most unique people I have ever seen, to find more like her would simply astounding how many could there be at the camp? He looked again to the artefact in her hand as well as the much larger one she carried on her back what could it be, and how is it used? Everything about this strange encounter only made him think about what he could discover from this more.

He signalled one of his birds to go and perch on the armoured woman's armour "I think running is out of the question, you are far too fast" he said his hands now free of the weapons. He then returned to his natural curiosity about the woman "What kind of ship is it I have seen many in my time but oh how I bet yours will be new to me" a smile lifted part of the mask around his face up "and I don't think referring to you as you there or girl would be very appropriate" with that he dropped his smile and walked closer to her four of the birds kept hovering while one perched on his own shoulder.

In his amazement at seeing such a different person he had all but forgotten about the avian of which he had seen plenty in his life time. Birds that weren't crows didn't concern him much though. even if they all forgot about him he would learn something interesting and that was worth more than an arm and a leg. The surrounding area could have been a desert or the arctic right now Ayumu was oblivious to it all and that was a rare moment, he was used to the reversed situations when prowling the lands. He finally decided it was worth the risk "please you must show me what those artefacts do I have never seen anything like them I don't know of anyone who has even told stories of such things!"

[Squee]

Jaden too found herself fascinated by the strangers before her. One was part bird, and the other seemed to be able to command or control crows. She had never seen a live crow before, and was a little unsure about letting the one flying toward her get too close, especially because she hadn't determined what the man's intentions were yet. But she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, and watched the crow on her shoulder from the corner of her eye as she listened to the man speak.

They both had questions, but as much as she wished she could stick around and talk, she was concerned about her shipmates. The chatter over the coms had stopped for the time being - everyone else was still trying to get back to the ship. Based on the locations they gave, two groups were almost a half-hour ahead of her.

I suppose I have a few minutes to spare... she thought to herself.

"I'm Jaden," she said, then looked to the avian. "Me and the others like me are humans. We used to live on this planet long ago but our population grew too large and the planet became uninhabitable. So we left - took ships into space and lived out there for 900 years. Now they've sent a couple of small teams back to see if we can return home.

"I was part of the second team. Unfortunately, something happened on our way here and our ship crashed."

Pausing, Jaden looked back over to the masked man, holding her gun up briefly before holstering it. "And these are weapons, but I'm afraid that showing you what they do would not be very effective without a target. It's function is similar to that of a slingshot, if that is any help, though it is far more deadly.

"What are your names?"

[Fog Of War]

"My name is Serkane Felkar. My kind is known as the 'avians'. I would say I was pleased to make your acquaintance, but there's still the matter of the ship crashing. " he paused for a moment. "So, your people used to live here, but left to live in the stars? I suppose these ships must then be what you use to travel between the earth and the stars. That clears things up a bit. Still, I wonder why there aren't any records of your kind..."

He paused for a moment to consider the ramifications of this. If there was a civilization living here long ago, why are there so few traces now? He was hit with another realization. The humans have advanced enough magic - or maybe something else - that they can travel between earth and the stars. If they're going to be coming back...

He eyed the strange weapon Jaden was holding. It looked similar to a crossbow, except without any sort of bowstring. A projectile weapon that's lightweight enough to be held in one hand. If it's as deadly as she says it is, then it can't be allowed to fall into the hands of evildoers. At least... not until the world is ready.

"I think it'd be best if we talked on the way over. I'd like to volunteer to scout ahead, if that's all right with you. I can probably fly much faster than you can run. " said Serkane.

[James.L]

Behind his mask jealous eyes looked upon the two figures as Ayumu wished for his own ability to move quickly. The drenched leaves underfoot wouldn't help his footing one bit if he were to attempt to run with her, then eyeing the soldier he pondered how this strange woman could run like she did. Jaden was an interesting name one Ayumu hadn't heard before. Like everything about her he wished to know more about its history.

She told him that she and the other humans lived in space for nine hundred years, could this be true, or where she and her followers just insane. How could anyone get up there even with a ship Ayumu tilted his head up to see what he could of the sky behind the vast expanse of trees when he entertained this thought. The fact Jaden spoke so plainly about living up with the stars yet the crow suddenly transfixed her vision defiantly meant she wasn't from here, but Ayumu had a hard time buying her story about being from space.

Ayumu thought about the fact their ship crashed and then thought to the fact these people where new, maybe the curse wouldn't affect them! (OOC: the curse would stay in effect and any recordings would be edited) This faint hope made Ayumu want to follow them all the more, but if he went there and they slept it could only mean that he would be attacked or captured. The idea of being captured and constantly forgotten meant captivity could lead to starvation, yet the idea of meeting spacers was tempting enough for him to resist the urge to run.

Ayumu spoke in an exited tone "When we walk back to your camp you must tell me all about what space is like" he then quickly thought about how dark it must be. It must be awfully boring to live out in space for so long with no one new to meet . Ayumu was dazed for a few seconds as he thought about how wonderful it would be to get close to the bright blazing beauty of the star filled night. The maddening thoughts would soon blow his head open if he never got an answer. He was now fidgeting everything about this racing through his head

Ayumu recomposed himself and spoke in a long slow tone "call me Ayumu" he pronounced it AAA-UUU-MOO making sure they could understand how it is pronounced knowing the name would be alien to them wherever there from. The foolish Avian offered to fly ahead allowing Ayumu to keep her to himself so much to ask so little time, I hope this is a long trip . Ayumu would have to limit his curiosity far beyond the parameters he would like to so he decided to discover how much of a chance he would have to learn things. He spoke in a rather casual tone now "how far is it to your camp, and how many people are staying there?". He then raised his arm and scratched his back which itched insanley.

[Squee]

Jaden nodded to the avian. Considering that she would probably have to slow up a little for Ayumu, she had little doubt that the flier could cover more ground. And who knows, perhaps he could spot any threats that she would be unaware of. For Ayumu, she lead the way, running beside him at his speed. She didn't know whether this man knew what a 'klick' was, or even a kilometer, so she decided to tell him how long it would take them to get there.

"At this speed, and barring any obstacles, we should get there in eleven to twelve minutes," she answered him. "And there is a lot of information about space. Too much to tell you in ten minutes. Is there any specific type of information you'd like to know about, or shall I start with the basics?"

[Fog Of War]

Serkane decided to take to the air. I'm sure I can get lots of information by eavesdropping on their conversation, but I can just ask her later on. What I really want is to get a closer look at that "ship" of theirs. It'll take 12 minutes to get there... on foot. I'm sure if I can get a favorable gust of wind I could get there in four.

He was flying high at this point. All right, when the two of us get there, we're going to have a lot of work to do. Something about that last thought bothered him. Wait, just whose conversation was I planning to eavesdrop on? She's alone... Is she? He tried to think back to what just happened. While he could remember everything that was said, his memories had already been rewritten so that Ayumu wasn't there.

He turned his eagle eyes at Jaden. Sure enough, someone was there. That's... that's odd. Why don't I remember him? Was he tailing us? No... Jaden seems to see him and be pretty friendly with him. Say... I recognize those crows.

Serkane thought to himself. Crows... that's right. There were a bunch of crows when we were talking. Crows don't usually come to this forest... Strange... He turned his head away from Ayumu for just one second, and immediately forgot about him.

What was I just thinking about? Don't remember. Something about crows, I think. It's probably not important. I'm sure it'll come to me later.

He cast a wind alteration spell to cause a strong wind to blow in the direction of the ship. He spread his wings to catch the current, and flew towards the ship. He wasn't sure what he could do to help the situation, but he swore to do what he could.

(OOC: It's awfully hard to RP with a character you don't remember after you leave)

[James.L]

Ayumu saw the avian take off and chucked lightly to himself as he saw him do so What a surprise he will have when he comes back to meet me then he tilted his head down and sighed as he thought of how it was yet another friend he couldn't have. He looked up optimistically now thinking this woman seemed reasonable enough and showed him her face, he will return the favour as he though she wasn't so superficial that it would have much of an impact on how they got along. He pulled downed his hood and revealed his face to her letting his smile embrace her "It is a very long and confusing story I shall someday be able to tell you, for now could you explain the basics of space to me please" his voice no longer carrying a slightly muffled background noise.

He looked at Jaden keenly ready to hang off of every word she said and mentally note it. he was thinking back to a time when someone wise shared something with him what was it a cryptic man once told him in a bar, there was allot of gibberish in there and his words confused me, but some of what he said made sense, a commodity is not valuable to a damned man but to that man a commodity is nothing and his future is all, a thing that no one may own all of but all of is owned by one then he laughed insanely whatever else was hinted about in that message he knew that the man was telling him knowledge was important, "if" he wanted to live to be old and mad he would have to stick to that advice.

In one of the breaks of Jaden talking he looked up at Serkane who's expression couldn't be pictured, but he would love to see their reaction as they puzzle out who the strange man walking with Jaden was. Ayumu's jet black hair kept dropping in front of his eyes and tickled his neck as he thought to himself that he should cut it again Jaden suddenly started talking. Her words lit a spark in his eyes brighter than the flame of the sun, she fascinated him unlike any other being oh how I wish you would remember me once we part the hole in him yearned to be filled by anyone, but it never would be. Part way through her talking he burst out with "How long dose each of your race live, to have compiled such knowledge is untrue it must be thousands of years"

He looked in front of him and nearly broke off into tears from what he saw, horrific devastating monsters of metal, the earth was trampled and uncared for here, what was wrong with these people did they not care for nature. He knew something had to be done, but if he showed any sign of being an enemy his death would be swift, he thought of how fast and strong the race was and knew about their vast knowledge beyond his comprehension for such a race full of young beings trying to force the idea of what there weapons could do to him out of his mind.

[Squee]

He was definitely interesting. Jaden wished that she had time to stop and speak with him properly, but as it was, she kept a mental note of all of the questions that she wanted to ask him and began telling him about space.

"Space has several unique properties about it that make it unlike anything else. First, it is unimaginably huge. Trying to describe the size of space would be like trying to describe the side of the ocean to an ant. The closest thing in space to the earth is the moon, which is 238,856.95 miles away." She looked at Ayumu. "That means that if it were possible to run to the moon at this speed without stopping, it would take us 664 days. The sun is much much further away - an average of 93 million miles."

Jaden hoped that the word 'million' that she gave in his language actually existed, and that he understood its meaning. She then went on to explain that because of these great distances, the light that they could see from the sun and the stars was actually light that was emitted millions of years ago, because even as fast as light travels, the distance is so great that it takes a very long time to reach earth.

Lastly, she explained that space had no air. She continued her analogy of space being like the ocean and planets like air bubbles in the ocean, and that they needed airtight ships to travel from planet to planet safely. She explained that the planet's gravity was what held the air in the atmosphere allowing them to breathe, but that once they were outside of the atmosphere - outside of the range of the planet's gravity, that they would not only not be able to breathe but that they would float in space, hanging in nothing.

She was just about to tell him that she could take him into the zero-gravity generator on her ship sometime, if it was still working, when he interrupted with a question about how long they live.

"The average human lifespan has fluctuated over thousands of years, but currently, the average person lives to be ninety-five. However, it has taken thousands of years of researching and studying to learn what we know today. It is all documented for us to learn in school, but because we have so much information, nobody learns everything."

She left it at that as they came into view of the ship, or what was left of it. It was a large ship, but certainly not the biggest. As soon as she saw it, she began assessing the damage and came to two conclusions. First, judging by the angle of approach and impact, it appeared to have crashed due to over-acceleration, and second, judging by the damage, it was very possible that it would not fly again. She could not see anyone down there, and waved for Serkane to rejoin her and Ayumu.

"I'm afraid my time to answer questions will be limited now. There will be dead, wounded and missing people that will need help. If you wish to help, you will be required to stay with me or asked to stay with another of my crew. For everyone's security and safety, we cannot allow strangers to wander unattended.

"I have already signaled to my people that you and Serkane are friendly, so they will not harm you unless you threaten us or if you refuse to comply with our safety protocols, which we will interpret as a possible threat."

She held Ayumu's gaze. "Do you understand?"