Excerpt: The Faraway Device (tentative)

"I think she's starting to come out of it.” Liana motioned to a small outcropping they were about to pass, and they both pulled the limp form to it. Iko was laid out onto the bed of small but soft gravel like stones, and Arria felt a brief relief from the constant drain from her ki. Liana was visibility better as well, and so they decided that now was as good a time to stop moving and just rest for a moment. Arria wrapped her wings backwards, holding onto her upper tail in a stretching motion to work out the muscles. She brushed against the back of Iko's crest in a comforting gesture, feeling her pulse and breath through the vibrations washing back down her arm.

After a few moments, they heard random thoughts finally passing through her mental barrier surrounding the core of her mind like a protective blanket of emptiness. The random thoughts were quite funny, and in a different context Arria would have laughed heartily to see such intimate thoughts on the surface of her mind like that, but she knew that the gravity of their situation was quite literally too heavy for laughter.

Iko's eyes fluttered open, and she looked straight into Arria's deep blue orbs. Arria gave Iko her best 'everything will be okay' look. “Iko-sa. Nice to see you again.”

“Arria-sa. Why are you cradling my head like that?”

Arria's eyes flaired a brighter shade in a mixture of relief and sadness. “Just listening to you breathe, Love. Waiting for you to wake up. Relax, you're safe.”

Iko's eyes moved to Liana, who looked ready to grab her and hug her fiercely. She was one for letting others know how much she cared, and the feeling of relief flowing from her immediately felt calming to both Arria and Iko. “You had us worried, Iko-sa.” She changed to a more sarcastic tone. ”Not to mention angry at having to carry your shiny blue tails across half the ocean. What happened?”

Reaching up to draw Liana into her arms, Iko decided that comfort came first. She pecked at Liana's neck, and felt their tails intertwine as they sought each other out. Then her eyes closed briefly in a look of confusion. “What do you mean, carrying my tails?” She looked around and noticed where she was, or rather, the lack of knowing where she was.. “Did it work?”

“We're not sure.” Arria's harmonic voice was pitched relatively low. ”We came to inside the chamber where we kept the Faraway Device, but no one was there. All of the equipment was missing, and the water tasted wrong. When we tried to find help, we saw that the whole research facility was gone, too. No wreckage, no bodies, nothing. We were heading to Elostria because we didn't know what else to do. You were out cold, but Liana and I were okay. We...” she trailed off, not truly wanting to continue. “We saw things. Our dreams... When the Faraway Device was triggered with your latest codes, we experienced some disturbing thoughts. I was being chased in mine, and out of the water for extra measure. Liana-sa's nightmare dealt with a research center which was being flooded wit h molten lava from an underground magma source. We both woke up once we'd “died” in our dreams. I woke first, Liana-sa second.” Arria looked up at Liana, who looked close to bursting into a fit of hysteria at remembering the panic she'd endured. “It was pretty rough, Love. Maybe after some distance, we can explain them to you. But for now, just trust us on this.”

“Alright, Arria-sa.” Iko stretched her arms and tails, feeling out her muscles. “So, I was in a coma, and you two decided to get me out. For that I'm thankful. But we need more data here. You say you didn't find any of our pads inside the room? Any equipment? What about the Faraway Device?” Iko looked at them both in turn, and both looked a little uncomfortable.

Arria, as usual, spoke up first. “There wasn't anything we could bring, Iko-sa. We were, other than the Faraway Device, the only things in the chamber. We weren't going to haul it too. It was relatively secure where it was.”

“We decided we need to get you to someone who could help.” Liana squinted her eyes at Iko slightly, a show of humor playing against the dark purple glow of her eyes. “You decided to save yourself, apparently. How do you feel?”

“I feel good, actually. Well rested, you could say.” Her tone sounded completely sarcastic, and they all chuckled. It was a drop of happiness in a sea of trouble.

Trouble that, unfortunately, waited for no one.