“Do you want the good news or the bad news?” Odell asked as he walked up to the group.

After the Ali had started to sputter, they had stopped and exited to sit in one of the barren fields. The sleeping members woke, and all five of them sat and watched as Odell opened the Ali and began to examine its engine.

Odell fiddled with the components for several hours as some of the group became lost in meaningless banter. It wasn’t until the first sun was beginning to set that Odell finally returned to the group with his report.

“Just tell us, Fiona said with a sigh.”

“Well, I can fix it well enough to get us a little further, but I’m not sure if we will make it to Nun like this….” Odell reported.

“Isn’t this vehakul brand new? Why is it having trouble like this?” Rheba asked.

Odell rubbed the back of his head and looked off in the distance. Having looked at the engine for several hours, he concluded that Aqueenian science was not the best in the world. He held those comments back and said:

“Must just be bad luck.”

“The torment of travel, now compounded with the agony of halting. Shall we ever reach the land we desire?” Hal muttered with a snide tone. He got a couple of looks in his direction, but no one bothered replying. Hal rolled his yellow eyes and looked away.

“Perhaps, I can assist with the repairs?” Harlan quietly suggested.

Odell shook his head.

“This is more of a one-person job; you would just be standing there and watching,” he said. In reality, the extra help might have been helpful to him. However, he did not want anyone to see what he was going to do to the engine to get it to work, as he knew the final result would be embarrassing for someone who claimed to have a lot of mechanical know-how, such as himself.

“That may be for the best; I doubt the Zenotote would be much help with anything mechanical,” Rheba said as she stood up.

“I’ll have you know, my main area of research is in mechanical supplements to natural components,” Harlan replied with slight frustration in her calm voice, almost giving off a slight hiss. The frills on her head shuddered slightly, but it was too subtle for the others to notice.

“What is that?” Gwyn whispered to Fiona, but the Aqueenian princess could only shrug as she was equally confused.

“She makes mechanical prosthetics for arms and legs, and such,” Odell explained to the other two. “Well, I should probably get started. You can just hang out here… it might take through the night….”

“In that case, I shall collect firewood. Rheba said as she looked around the empty fields.

“Some of the houses should have wood; I’ll help you,” Fiona said as she stood up to join Rheba.

The duo set off to collect wood, and Odell found his way over to the Ali to begin working on it. He looked in all directions to make sure no one was watching, then reached in with a roll of flux tape to start his work.3eHe

Gwyn was left sitting next to Hal and Harlan. Neither seemed in the mood to strike up a conversation.

“Hey, partner!” Mem broke up the silence as it flew over to the group. The other Needaimus joined them, save for Cal, who joined its partner, Odell, and began to shoot a beam of light where the prince was working.

Hal and Harlan looked at the draconic-looking Needaimus in shock as their own walked to them and bonded with their limbs.

“Since we have some time, maybe we could get a demonstration of your abilities!” Mem happily said to the other two who sat with Gwyn.

Harlan shyly looked away, and Hal shook his head in refusal.

Gwyn shrugged.

“Why not,” he said as he held out his arm to Mem. The Needaimus jumped for a moment then slowly bonded with Gwyn’s arm.

I meant for them to show theirs, Mem explained in Gwyn’s mind. Gwyn ignored it and looked around for something easy to use with his ability. He figured if he had no intention to fight, he should know who else had the strongest power he could rely on.

Gwyn settled for a small stone that he picked up. He held it in his hand so that the other two could see. In an instant, the rock turned to a stony-colored liquid and began to drip out of Gwyn’s hand. He turned it solid in the next second and sat the now oddly-shaped stone back on the ground.

“That’s about it,” Gwyn said to the other two. Harlan sighed and reached a scaly hand down to her leg. Two long parts of the Needaimus broke off and formed what looked like a sci-fi gun in her clawed fingers.

She began to look around for some way to demonstrate her ability. Some small bugs were buzzing around, known as pleafs, but she did not like using bugs unless there was no other option.

A small tobi began to fly over the fields, and she aimed her blaster at it. A beam fired off and hit the creature. In a flash, the tobi was suddenly larger. Its wings had grown out, and it had obtained a longer neck. It flew down and landed on Harlan’s arm.

Gwyn jumped back as the newly transformed creature settled on Harlan’s arm.

“The effect lasts a couple of minutes, and the shape depends on a couple of factors I apply,” Harlan explained before letting the creature take back to the sky. She allowed the blaster to reconnect to her Needaimus on her leg and shyly looked away from the other two. “The beam also can be shot from the leg if needed.”

“Wow,” was all Gwyn managed to say as he was still shocked by seeing the creature transform.

After a moment, Gwyn’s brown and Harlan’s green eyes focused on Hal. The Netzian rubbed a hand through his emerald green hair for a moment as he thought. When he finally concluded, Hal groaned and reached out one hand. The hand seemed to disappear into a void, and he pulled out a sword. Then he put the blade back and pulled out an ax.

“Satisfied?” Hal muttered as he put the ax back to the invisible void.

Gwyn just nodded. He had more questions but could tell Hal was not planning to answer them.

The trio fell into silence. They sat a moment longer until Rheba and Fiona returned with bundles of wood.

“Shall we start a fire?” Rheba asked as she set the wood down.

***

“That’s not right!” Fiona yelled over Gwyn’s shoulder as he spun a stick back and forth over the logs. It was pressed between his flat palms, and his bad hand prevented him from holding the stick securely enough to do anything productive.

“This works, I’m telling you!” Gwyn shouted back as he vigorously tried to get a fire to start.

“The principle may be right, but I think the way you go about it… is wrong….” Harlan calmly and quietly interjected.

Gwyn only sped up his stick spinning, but nothing seemed to change on the log.

The group had tried to brainstorm ways to start the flame, and after several failed attempts, Gwyn gave his best shot.

“Odell, can’t we just hook some loose wires to the wood and use the Ali?” Fiona asked.

Odell, who had continued working on patching their transport the whole time, took a moment to look out to the group.

“This is a delicate piece of machinery, not a lighter!” he shot back.

“Is that a no or a maybe?” Fiona asked.

“It’s a no, but I almost have this!” Gwyn responded.

Hal let out a heavy sigh, stood up from where he sat, and walked to the logs. He pushed a surprised Gwyn to the side with a simple motion and knelt in front of the logs. He grabbed in the air, and two small tools appeared as he pulled his hands out of the void.

A small flame suddenly burst to life on the assorted logs Rheba and Fiona had collected. Hal moved back from the growing blaze with a smug look on his face and tools in his hand. Little did he know that the act would solidify his expertise in starting fires. They silently agreed they would have him handle any future campfires without exchanging any words.

Hal didn’t say another word and walked away from the blaze. The tools disappeared in his hands as he sat down in front of the new fire.

“Well, I guess that did it!” Rheba happily said as she took a seat near the fire. She hunched down low so that her whole tall body could feel closer to the warmth. The others joined around the fire as well, save for Odell, who pinched one of his sixth fingers in the Ali and was shouting a series of expletives only natives to the planet would recognize.

The second sun of Resh was beginning to set, and the sky was dyed crimson. Everyone looked awkwardly at each other as no one knew what to say next.

“Should we get the tents?” Rheba finally asked after Odell had finished shouting. The sun was continuing to set.

“We have tents?” Gwyn asked.

“Yes, it was on the list of supplies,” Rheba explained as she pulled out the tablet that was handed to her by their escorts in Quenth, “it says there is a supply area in the floor where they put some of the things we need. The rations are there as well. Didn’t you wonder where the food was located?”

Rheba’s question was only answered with the sound of a stomach growling.

Hal quietly looked away from the group while placing his hand over his stomach. He was the hungriest of the group but didn’t want to say anything as it may have appeared weak.

“I will obtain sustenance,” he grumbled as he stood up. The darkness of the setting sun helped hide the slight red on his face as he walked to the Ali.

“Should I grab the tents?” Rheba yelled to Odell, who had the top half of his body inside the engine.

“Yeah, this is worse than I thought; I’ll have to finish at first light!” Odell yelled back with his voice muffled by the spot. Rheba pushed herself off the ground and walked over to Ali as well.

Hal moved aside with several rations in his arms to allow Rheba to reach in and grab the folded-up tents.

Fiona groaned.

“Is there an issue?” Gwyn asked.

“I’m not too excited to sleep in a tent,” the Aqueenian princess replied.

Harlan silently and shyly nodded in agreement as Hal and Rheba walked over.

“In Benlou, we sleep outside all the time,” Rheba remarked as she set the tents on the ground, “you should appreciate a communion with nature more often.”

“Those of us with countries in a more civilized era prefer sleeping indoors,” Harlan said too quietly for anyone but Rheba to hear. The Bentulousian warrior glared at the Zenotote scientist but settled to take a deep breath rather than start a fight.

“You don’t want to sleep outside either, right, Gwyn?” Fiona tried to plea.

“I don’t mind… unless there are monsters that attack people in the dark,” Gwyn began to frantically look around at the shadows that grew from the setting sun as he recalled many of the movies he had seen in the past.

“Why would there be monsters? Your world must have been a terrifying place,” Rheba wondered as she began to fiddle with the tent.

“Well, there was a giant beast in the arena!” Gwyn shouted.

Most unkillables live deep in the mountains. You won’t see any just roaming around here. Mem chimed within Gwyn’s head.

Harlan slid close to Gwyn.

“It’s unlikely any animals would come too close to an area that tends to be populated, much less any dangerous ones,” she quietly said to him while gesturing to the fields.

Hal silently began eating one of the Aqueenian provided rations. His pale face became distorted by the first bite, but he was hungry enough to choke it down.

He threw the remaining rations to the group so they could eat as well. Fiona was the only one who was not bothered by the flavor.

“It’s done!” Rheba said as she stood back from the first assembled tent. She picked up one of the rations from the ground and began to eat it while looking at her work. After a moment of examining the newly-built tent, Rheba slumped down in a manner that made her massive stature seem ever so lower. “There’s no way for me to fit in that,” she lamented.

Once they had finished eating, Gwyn and Fiona assisted Rheba in putting the rest of the tents together. As they completed their work, the second sun finished setting.

Odell finally walked away from Ali. He brushed off his hands and shook his head with a frown.

“That Ali sure needed some work,” Odell said with a sigh as he settled by the campfire and opened a ration.

“That bad, huh?” Gwyn asked while Odell struggled to choke down his meal.

“Aqueenians have a particular sense of taste. It gets horrible in rations,” Odell managed to say between his difficult bites.

“Odell, he was asking about the Ali,” Fiona interjected, “You were, right? she added to Gwyn.

“Yes…” Gwyn answered. He had meant the Ali, but he wasn’t about to disagree with Odell’s assessment of the ration. He decided to let it go and leaned back. A moon was beginning to rise, and stars lit up the sky, though something seemed off. “Where are the rest of the stars?” Gwyn asked as he pointed in shock to the sky.

The others looked up, but they had no concern nor worried, as Gwyn did. It was a typical sight to see in an open sky for the time of the year.

Roughly half of the sky was lit up with stars, while the other half was an empty black. The divide was not a straight line or in any manner of uniformity. The stars were dotted as randomly as they might be ordinarily, but it appeared as if some invisible boundary prevented them from going further across the sky.

“There are no stars past Resh’s suns,” Odell explained as he managed to swallow the last bite of his ration. He took a drink of water and relaxed his posture. “

“So, you see this all the time?” Gwyn asked.

“Of course not; the stars move with the seasons. Soon we will have a full sky,” Odell said. He yawned. “I am tired; I think I’ll turn in for the night.”

Fiona answered with a yawn and a nod.

The group seemed to agree that they should go to sleep, and all split up to go into individual tents. All, save for Gwyn, who was still sitting at the fire looking at the odd sky.

“Does that mean you have a time of the year where the sky is dark?” he asked Mem while roughly tapping on the Needaimus. Mem slid off Gwyn’s arm and settled next to the fire as well. It shook itself off before replying.

“Careful there, I’m delicate, you know.”

“Mem,” Gwyn replied while gesturing to the sky.

“I don’t see your interest, but yes. We have a time in the year where the moons are the only light. Now, you should get some sleep as well!”

Gwyn sighed but didn’t protest. He stood up and walked over to the last open tent. Everyone else had settled inside their tents, except for Rheba who’s legs were hanging out of the tent’s opening.

The ground was uncomfortable for him, but eventually, Gwyn drifted off into sleep.