Anton scarfed down his fifth food bar as everyone studied the image Ryan showed them of the two armor clad people that had killed the dog.

Sashae played a stringed instrument similar to a harp in the background while Mayu rested at a table with her head laid down on it.

Ryan spoke first, “Think we should go back and see if they are friendly. It didn’t look like they were going to attack.”

Chie stopped tapping her chin, “Perhaps, but it is possible they were studying Luna and considering a plan of action before attacking.”

Becky shrugged, “No way of knowing unless we go back.”

Ryan was tempted to do just that, “It’s only been a few minutes, they’re probably still in the area.”

Anton swallowed the last bite of bar number six, “Ya know, I could build a drone with one of Ryan’s fancy holo projectors. Don’t have ta risk Luna.”

Becky smiled, “Right! That’s a great idea!”

Ryan noticed something shoot from the forest a short distance away.

He had been rotating Luna and using the turret’s sensor to keep an eye on the surrounding area.

It wasn’t aimed at them, so something must be happening to something else.

Ryan wanted to go take a look, “Hey guys, I see something happening here.”

He brought up a hologram showing the area in question.

What appeared to be a giant booger shot in a different direction from the same spot he’d seen the first.

Anton grabbed a seventh bar and walked closer to the hologram, “Know what it is?”

Ryan moved Luna closer, but raised elevation just in case.

He could now see shadows and flashes of figures through the foliage, “Still can’t tell, but it looks like something is fighting down there.”

Chie seemed only mildly interested, “I imagine it is merely a prey animal trying to escape from a predator.”

Becky nodded, “Yeah, but if there are more strange things like that dog, I kinda want to see them fight.”

Mayu sat up, “Maybe watching from far is good.”

Chie sat down, “This tree cover is much too thick, it is doubtful we will see much.”

Ryan kept repositioning Luna, but Chie was right. The tree cover was too thick.

Something fluttered just below the treetops, “I think I just saw some insect wings.”

Whatever it was produced a faint flash of light, and Ryan saw the silhouette of a person.

The leaves rustled again, and a tiny person with wings pushed through the canopy.

Becky squealed, “Is that a fairy!?”

Mayu jumped up, knocking her chair over, and ran closer to the hologram, “Cute!”

The fairy looked like a woman with bright green hair, translucent dragonfly wings the same green color, and wore clothes made of large leaves. She looked European.

The fairy looked terrified, but when she saw Luna, she froze.

The foliage behind the fairy rustled, and a rodent that looked like a shrew larger than a rat jumped at it.

The fairy moved to the side just in time to dodge the giant shrew’s attack.

The shrew spun itself in the air and spit another one of the giant boogers Ryan had seen earlier.

The fairy tried to dodge, but didn’t have time to as it had sent its own attack, a beam of glittering light, at the shrew.

The light hit the shrew, sending it tumbling back towards the forest floor.

The booger hit the fairy, covering its left shoulder and part of its face.

Becky ran from the room, “We need to help it!”

Mayu ran after Becky, “Save the fairy!”

Anton gave Chie a shrug, “Fairies, huh.”

Chie walked after Becky and Mayu, “Indeed.”

Anton followed Chie, “We gonna find a unicorn next?”

Sashae stopped playing and appeared to be debating something, then followed the others, “What fairy is?”

The fairy was desperately trying to remove the gunk from itself, but was quickly looking more and more tired and started sinking towards the forest floor.

Ryan maneuvered Luna as close to the fairy as possible with the Usual Breach right next to it.

They were too close to the treetops for him to get low enough for him to scoop up the fairy, but someone could reach down and grab it.

Mayu arrived first and leaned over the edge to catch it.

The fairy looked barely conscious now, and didn’t try to get away.

Mayu grabbed the fairy by its right arm and pulled it up, “We need to clean and scan.”

Becky nodded and she and Mayu ran towards med bay.

Anton arrived at the Usual Breach and looked over the edge, “I think I see that loogie rat.”

Chie stayed next to the wall opposite the breach, “Perhaps we should leave it be.”

Anton’s eyes went wide, “I think it’s eating another fairy!”

Chie left, “Perhaps.”

Anton turned and ran to her room, “I wonder what loogie rat tastes like.”

Anton easily made it to her room now that Ryan didn’t have to keep blast doors down around the breach. There she picked up a particle beam rifle, plasma cannon, and his helmet.

Ryan stopped her just as he returned, “Uh, you remember what happened to Mayu.”

Anton shrugged after he put his helmet on, “That dog barked a couple times before it came. I’ll come back if I hear it.”

Anton jumped onto a large branch.

The branch bent and cracked under his weight, but held, “Hmm, I feel a little lighter out here.”

He jumped to a lower branch.

Mayu, Sashae, and Becky had cleaned off the now unconscious fairy and were scanning it.

Chie watched from the door.

Ryan didn’t like what he saw, “What is it?”

Mayu stepped away from the fairy, “It is being poisoned.”

Becky looked from Mayu, to the scan, then back to Mayu, “Can you save it?”

Mayu shook her head and looked extremely frustrated, “No.”

Anton landed behind a shrew, nearly falling on his face, and grunted in pain.

The shrew, which was indeed eating a fairy, turned to face Anton and hissed. It had a minor wound in the exact spot the fairy had hit the shrew they’d seen above, so it was probably the same one.

Five more shrews turned to Anton from the three other fairies they were eating and hissed.

Anton gulped, “Okay… nice rats…”

Anton got hit with six boogers.

Ryan could only sigh, “Uh, Anton jumped out of Luna and found six of those shrew things.”

Becky scowled, “That idiot!”

Chie didn’t look surprised, “I suppose this means we will be rescuing him?”

Becky ran from the room, “Yes!”

Ryan saw Anton wiping shrew boogers from his helmet, “Better get your helmets so you don’t get poisoned too. Anton just got covered in the stuff the fairy got on it.”

Mayu pushed the scanner back into the wall and grabbed her helmet from the hook on the wall, “I am coming, Anton.”

Anton shot a shrew with the particle beam rifle, but missed.

Chie ran after Becky, shaking her head.

Mayu still had her plasma pistol so stopped at the breach and jumped out after finding a large branch, and yelled in Japanese, “Going ahead!”

Becky reached her room, “Where did I put it?”

Chie easily found her plasma pistol and took her helmet from the hook.

Mayu dropped next to Anton, shooting a shrew just before landing, “I am rescuing you!”

The shrew Mayu hit, shrieked in pain, but wasn’t dead.

Ryan felt the shrews weren’t nearly as tough as the dog, “Looks like our weapons work on these.”

A shrew spit at Mayu, but she blocked it with her arm.

A shrew jumped at Anton and bit his arm.

Anton laughed and punched the shrew in the head, “Looks like your teeth can’t get through space armor!”

Mayu shot another shrew, heavily injuring it.

A shrew rammed into Mayu’s back, causing her to stumble forward, “Ah! Bad rat!”

She turned around and tried to shoot the shrew that hit her, when another hit her from her left, sending her stumbling to the right and dropping her pistol.

The last shrew rammed into Anton and bit at him, but he managed to recover from it quickly.

Anton spun to face the shrew and used his momentum to hit it with the shrew still biting onto his arm, “Don’t mess with the Klingon race! I will kill you with my bare hands if I have to!”

Anton let out a warcry that made Ryan cringe.

Chie reached the Usual Breach and looked down. She then jumped onto the same branch Anton had used earlier.

This time it broke, sending Chie tumbling to the ground below.

Chie hit the ground hard, and Ryan could hear the breath get knocked from her and some cracking noises he didn’t like the sound of.

Chie’s sudden arrival distracted the shrews long enough for Mayu to grab a large branch and swing at a shrew.

The branch hit the shrew with a crunch, but it was hard to tell if it had hurt it.

A shrew jumped on Mayu’s back and bit her shoulder.

Mayu ignored the shrew and struck her target again and yelled in Japanese, “You will not be hurting the cute fairies!”

The shrew on Anton’s arm let go after a second blow to the shrew it was being bludgeoned against.

Becky reached the Usual Breach, “How are they?”

Ryan thought they weren’t doing too bad, other than Chie’s fall, “Looks like the shrews can’t get through the space suits so they’re ramming them instead. Chie fell and I think she broke some bones.”

Becky gulped as she looked for a sturdy branch to jump to.

She found one and jumped.

Becky almost fell, but grabbed onto some smaller branches and steadied herself.

Sashae walked to the edge of the Usual Breach and looked down. She was still wearing her old space suit and didn’t have a helmet on or a gun, “Help?”

Ryan doubted her spacesuit was as durable as theirs, “Change suit. Get gun?”

Sashae nodded and headed to fabrication room.

Becky shot at a shrew from a perch she’d found in a tree and grazed it.

She swore.

Anton grabbed his plasma cannon from his back and shot a shrew point blank, “Eat plasma!”

The plasma struck the shrew in the face, burning it to the skull and killing it.

The other shrew attacking Anton jumped at his extended arm and hit the plasma cannon hard enough to send it flying from his hands.

The shrew Becky shot at turned to her and spit a booger at her, covering her visor.

Becky started trying to wipe away the goop, “I can’t see!”

The shrew jumped into the tree and then rammed Becky, knocking her out of it.

Becky landed with a thud.

Mayu was hitting her shrew with amazing speed. Each blow didn’t appear to do much to it, but it had taken enough that it was bleeding from its nose and mouth.

Anton punched at his last shrew, “I’m lookin’ forward to eatin’ ya!”

The shrew hissed at him again and head butted Anton in the chest, knocking his breath out.

The shrew in the tree jumped onto Becky and bit at her helmet.

Mayu stopped hitting her shrew, “Becky!” and punted it into a tree trunk where it fell to the ground in a daze.

Mayu charged at the shrew biting at Becky and scooped up the plasma pistol Becky had dropped.

The shrew on Becky turned to Mayu and jumped.

Mayu shoved her arm into the shrew’s mouth.

The shrew bit her arm, and Mayu grunted in pain.

Mayu lifted Becky’s plasma piston to the shrew’s stomach and fired.

The shrew went limp and dropped from Mayu’s arm.

Mayu ran to Becky and checked on her.

Becky waved Mayu away, “Go help Chie! I’m fine!”

Mayu nodded and ran to Chie.

Anton was trying to punch, kick, and stomp on the last shrew, but missing completely.

Mayu confirmed Chie was still alive, then turned her attention to the last shrew.

Mayu shot the shrew just after it dodged one of Anton’s stomps and hit its rear.

The shrew screeched in pain.

Anton’s next stomp easily connected to the shrew’s head and then kept stomping on it until it stopped moving.

Anton laughed, “This is what ya get for attacking a Klingon!”

Becky looked towards Anton, “You know you almost got killed by a bunch of giant rats, right?”

Ryan started looking for a clearing, “I think I found a clearing. You guys gonna be alright?”

Becky groaned as she sat up, “I can walk, but I think I broke my arm.”

Mayu scanned the area and took off Chie’s helmet when she saw no more shrews, “Chie is needing help.” Mayu opened Chie’s eyes and shined the flashlight on her helmet into them, “I am thinking she has a damaged brain.”

Anton took his helmet off and looked in shame at Chie, “I’m… I almost got us killed. I’m sorry.”

Becky groaned as she stood up, “Maybe think before you do something like this again?”

Anton looked to the side, “I… I thought I might save another fairy, but… yeah, it was stupid.”

Ryan found a river nearby, “We can talk about this after we’re somewhere safe. There’s a river a little northeast from here. I should be able to get low enough to get everyone back inside.”

Mayu looked around, “Not safe to be carrying Chie in arms. Maybe a moving bed?”

Ryan designed a simple stretcher and started printing it, “A stretcher? On it. Anton, come back with Becky and grab it from the fabrication room. Becky, you should get yourself scanned. Anton and Mayu should be able to carry Chie back.”

Becky held her injured arm and nodded as she watched Chie, “Okay…”

Ryan maneuvered Luna over the river and opened the airlock as the ship descended.

Anton grabbed the weapons he’d dropped then jogged through the bushes toward Luna, “I see Luna. Looks safe.”

Becky followed Anton at a brisk walk, “Be careful, Mayu.”

Mayu picked up her plasma pistol and started looking around, “If no dog is coming.”

Becky seemed reluctant to leave, “It barked last time, so…”

Mayu nodded and turned to Chie, “Maybe have to be running away without you. Very sorry.”

Becky turned to Chie before turning back towards Luna, “We’ll hurry.”

Anton made it to the ramp and easily made the jump. He then turned to wait for Becky.

Mayu spotted one of the fallen fairies and walked up to it.

This fairy looked much like the other, but with navy blue hair and wings. It was partially eaten.

Mayu found the other three fairies, each partially eaten.

Mayu gathered the fairies into a pile and spoke to herself in Japanese, “Poor fairies.” She then started gathering the shrews.

Anton helped Becky onto the ramp.

Becky winced in pain and groaned, but pushed herself through it without comment.

Anton ran to the ladder to the deck above and made his way to the fabrication room.

Becky sat down near the airlock doors and watched Mayu, a plasma pistol in her lap.

Just as Anton entered the fabrication room, Ryan got an idea, “Anton, grab one of the big bags so we can bring some shrews back to eat.”

Anton turned to the large cloth bags sitting on a shelf, “Good idea!”

Anton slung the bag over his shoulder, then grabbed the stretcher.

Ryan remembered something else, “Oh, Mayu has a med kit on the wall in med bay. You should grab that too.”

Anton nodded, “Right! I think I remember where it is.”

Anton made a quick stop to the med bay, then moved as fast as he could to return to Mayu and Chie.

It took Anton half the time to make it back to Chie.

Mayu took the med kit from Anton as soon as he got to her and pulled out a portable scanner.

The portable scanner was only good for finding major injuries, but it was enough to spot that Chie had a fractured skull and had bleeding in her brain. She also had a broken leg.

While Mayu scanned, Anton loaded the bag with one shrew and all four fairies.

Mayu finished her scan and pointed to the stretcher, “We are needing to be hurrying.”

Anton nodded, “On it!”

The two carefully moved Chie onto the stretcher.

Anton grabbed the front, “I’ll take lead.”

Mayu picked up the rear, but the height difference between her and Anton made it awkward.

It took them several minutes to make their way to Luna through the dense foliage, and Ryan worried Chie wouldn’t make it.

Becky walked to the end of the ramp as the others made it to Luna, “I’ll grab it once you get it up.”

Anton took advantage of his new height and easily put his end of the stretcher onto the ramp.

Chie slid down the stretcher as Mayu struggled to make up the difference in height.

Anton reached up with his left hand and grabbed Chie, halting her movement before she fell off. He then used his right hand and shoulder to boost the back of the stretcher higher.

Becky pulled the stretcher onto the ramp, then into the airlock using both arms, her face contorting in pain.

Anton helped Mayu onto the ramp before climbing up himself.

Ryan closed the airlock and lifted them up from the river.

The next hard part was getting Chie to the next deck up, but between the three of them, they did it.

Seconds later, both Chie and Becky were getting scanned.

Mayu breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Chie’s scan, “She is going to be okay. Small machines are fixing.”

Anton sat on the floor and put his hands on his head, “Thank goodness. Gotta love the little buggers.”

Ryan watched the nanites in Chie’s body repairing her injuries. He also noticed Becky’s nanites already working on her broken arm.

Ryan didn’t care if his friends would revive after death. Even seeing them in pain or injured was more than he cared to see.

Becky sat up once her scan finished, “How long until she wakes up?”

Mayu shook her head, “Maybe few hours? Small machines helping, but not fast.”

Becky nodded, “At least she will be alright.” She turned to Anton, “You okay?”

Anton looked up at Becky, “Nothing big.”

Mayu turned to Anton, “You are being scanned too.”

Anton stood up and stripped down to his underwear.

Bruises covered Anton’s torso, each where a shrew had slammed into him, but his scan showed nothing broken.

Anton sat up once his scan finished and slid off the bed, “Need me to help with anything?”

Mayu pointed to the bag filled with dead fairies and the shrew, “We can be scanning while Chie is sleeping.”

Becky looked at the bag and seemed conflicted, “I’m going to check on Sashae.”

Ryan found Sashae watching the scenery at the Usual Breach, “She at the Usual Breach playing her flute.”

Sashae had changed into a better space suit and had a plasma pistol next to her.

Becky nodded, then turned to Mayu, “Let me know when she wakes up.”

Mayu returned her nod as she inspected the fairies, “Yes.”

Becky left.

Mayu lay the fairies on two beds. They were only about two hundred and fifty millimeters tall, give or take, so they easily fit onto the beds.

The bodies were mostly intact, which meant the shrews had just started eating them. They were also covered in the poison snot the shrews spit out.

All five fairies were female and very pretty. They were slim, with modest chests, features, and had virtually no blemishes or imperfections.

One thing stuck out above all, “Are those nanites?”

Anton nodded, “Yeah, gotta be.” He pointed to numerous strange structures throughout their bodies, “And these look like cyber tech.” She pointed to a black sphere, “These aren’t even showing up on the scan. Just showin’ up as a void.”

Ryan hadn’t been sure what to make of the threadlike structures throughout the fairies’ bodies, and had thought it was a fairy thing, but once Anton pointed it out…

Anton nodded again, then grinned, “Remember what the message said? Something about recreating magic through tech?”

Anton was right, “Oh yeah! So this stuff is tech the fairies use to fly and stuff?”

Anton pointed at the wings, “Yeah, looks like it. Just look at the wings. They’re filled with the stuff.”

Ryan got an idea, “Stuff that lets the fairies fly? We should scan it in the other scanner.”

Anton grinned, “Good thinking! I wonder if we could print some big ones and install them on Repairy McRepair Face.”

Mayu scowled as Anton went to pull a wing off a fairy, “Stop! We are being respectful!”

Anton pulled his hand back, “Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

Mayu picked up the green-haired fairy and handed it to Anton, “You are bringing back the body when done.”

Anton carefully picked up the green-haired fairy they’d tried to rescue first and placed her in the bag he’d carried the others with, “Got it! I’ll be fast!”

Mayu started working on the fairies by taking tissue, blood, and nanite samples. She also took some more samples of the poison.

Finally, she covered the fairies with fabric and started analysing the samples.

Anton returned in a few minutes with Becky and Sashae in tow.

Becky took a seat and Mayu started putting a splint on her arm.

Becky turned to the others, “So… what next?”

Anton raised his arm, “I don’t want to get eaten by giant dogs or rats so I’m going to make some drones.”

Becky nodded, “That sounds good. Do you need any help?”

Anton shook his head, “Nah, you should take it easy with that broken arm.”

Becky looked at her arm, “Right! I guess… I’ll get back to…” She sighed, “Right… we’re in another universe. Scanning here won’t help us. I guess we could see what this universe is like?”

Ryan hadn’t even thought about it until Becky brought it up, “Oh… yeah, that’s a problem. I do have some questions for you, though.”

Becky smiled, “I’ll be glad to help!”

Mayu seemed distracted and occasionally glanced between the fairies and the machine that grew organs .

Under her breath she mumbled to herself in Japanese, but all Ryan could make out was ‘fairy,’ ‘make,’ and ‘okay.’

Chie started groaning, but didn’t wake up.

Anton turned to leave, “You two have fun with that. I’ve got some ideas I need to get outta my head.”

Becky kept her eyes on Chie, “Good luck!”

Sashae stood next to Chie, “Music okay?”

Mayu turned to Sashea and smiled, “Yes. Music is good.”

Sashae found a stool and started playing her flute.

Becky sat at Mayu’s work station and rested her head on it.

Ryan wondered when they would ever truly get a break, because so far this place was not that.