Athyyah

Chapter Twenty-four Understanding

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"There is no way we can possibly get in close enough to free her, let alone have the time to untie her," said Alex with dismay. "The vorlixx won't fall for the same trick again, I'm sure of that and we only have half our numbers," he told Ellenah.

"So do we just leave her, it was you're idea to come after her in the first place," replied Ellenah.

"It was not my idea, it was all of us agreeing on the same thought," protested Alex.

The two of them were crouched down behind a big rock a ways away from the vorlixx camp, using the view screen inside the visor to see what was going on. Alex had figured out how to zoom in and out by moving his index and pinky finger, pressing them to his palm then moving one or the other to either zoom in or out. The area upon which they were looking was crawling with heat signatures that looked like vorlixx with a single person amongst them. They assumed it was Valerie as the human shape was up against a tree in a sitting position.

"It would be really nice right now if these suits were equipped with some kind of weaponry," Alex commented as he looked over the rock again down into the forest. "Or how to access them if they do."

"Well they don't and I unfortunately don't have anything with me at the moment. We'll just have to make due with what we have."

"Which is nothing," Alex pointed out. "The biggest thing is going to be getting in close enough to free her. Unfortunately that's also going to be the hardest part," he said focusing back on the situation, going through the layout of the place in his mind.

"If we are to increase our chances of success, then we would be wise to wait till nightfall. That way we would at least have the cover of dark with us," suggested Ellenah.

"Night would definitely allow us to get close with less trouble, if we are going to wait till dark," replied Alex moving back down. "Though these things still make a racket. Let's hope vorlixx have lousy hearing. Might I suggest we go and find something to eat until then? If we are going to wait, would seem foolish to rush in there again on an empty stomach," he said as his stomach growled.

"Perhaps you're right," replied Ellenah getting up. "Just follow me, I know where to find some."

"I never doubted such," Alex said and he followed Ellenah as she walked away from the vorlixx infested area.

"Not to ask too much of you, but would it be possible to have something with some meat on it?" asked Alex when they had moved to what he thought a safe distance from the nest.

"It would be possible, but it would attract the vorlixx like kretanas to old bread," Ellanah answered. Alex didn't have a clue what a kretana was, but he got what she meant by it as he pictured wasps swarming a picnic basket.

"Right. So then why are we passing all these bushes full of fruit, they look edible?"

"They are misleading," Ellenah answered.

"But I've seen and eaten these same fruit back at the town. Even in your own home."

"Those were quaba fruit. What you see here, are what we call aba-quaba fruit. The word aba meaning imitation."

"I see, so what makes these inedible exactly? Poisonous?"

"No, something far more dangerous." Ellenah picked one of the delicate fruit and tossed it at a tree. The instant it hit its target, it exploded spraying golden goop all over the trunk.

"They explode when they're ripe. It is their method they spread their seeds. Have to be careful though. If you're traveling through bushes of these fruit and they're ready to fall, you only have to knock one off and a whole bunch will follow, all exploding, causing even more to fall," she explained. "There have been rare cases where some woman have died because they were caught in such an incident."

"I'll be sure not to touch any of them," replied Alex moving a step away from the nearest branches.

"However, when they do fall and if you're at a safe distance. It is quite a spectacular sight. You can feel the vibrations for some distance," Ellenah continued to explain. "There is a festival in the late year where for several days we enjoy festivities and await such a sight. Though many years we do not succeed in timing it accordingly and we must get back to our duties. Some adventurous children however may go out and initiate the effect intentionally for fun."

"Like you?"

Ellenah just gave a slight smile.

"Very interesting. Would they always kill someone who got caught in the fall out?" asked Alex.

"Not always. You'd have to be bombarded pretty heavily, as each individual bursting is not that powerful, but will cause some bad bruising. It's only meant to keep animals from feasting on its branches. They are however useful in the making of many healing oils."

"Have you experience some of these brushings personally?"

"Yes actually. When I was only nine."

"Ouch."

"Yes, I had signs of it for months."

"So, tell me. Why is it a woman so beautiful as yourself, is a warrior, the captain of the guards to be exact?" asked Alex as he ducked to avoid hitting a branch loaded with aba-quaba fruit.

"It was what I was good at and as for why I am the most important warrior. It's because I was simply better than everyone else."

"I find it interesting though that someone as young as yourself is even that important. I would have thought you would still be lower down."

"Yes, I am fairly young for a woman in my position, but still I'm twenty-nine."

"You make it sound as thought that's considered old?"

"I'm not even half as old as we can be, but it means that I'm not exactly a child either, so it's not that odd that I'm in the position that I'm in." Ellenah answered.

"K, got it."

The two of them moved on through the forest for some time till Ellenah led Alex to a place where the trees had thick bushes growing in between them. The trees, along with their smaller counterparts had foliage overflowing with fruit.

"These are safe to eat," Ellenah told him. "Eat as much as you can. You need your strength."

"Great!" Alex replied and immediately started picking the small berries from the bushes and larger fruit from the trees. "Never in my life did I expect to be picking fruit on an alien planet," he said excitedly as he reached up pulling one plump fruit the size of his fist.

"I can say the same about picking fruit with someone from another world," Ellenah replied. "How is it you managed to get here from another world anyway?"

"It's complicated. I still don't know exactly just how it works, but in the ruins in the room where you found us, is some kind of teleporter that sent us here from a similar place back on Earth," Alex answered, almost surprised that he had not had to explain it to her before. Of course he had always believed that technical talk would go over their heads.

"I see. Either you're mad, or there is much more to the ruins than we ever knew," replied Ellenah.

"It could always be both," he replied with a smirk.

The two of them stayed there till the sun started to set. When it was low in the sky, the two of them made their way back to the vorlixx nest. They had only gone a short distance when the flicker of distant torches caught their eye. As they stopped and focused on the approaching light, hundreds of heat signatures began registering on their sensors. So many, that their screens were just a glowing red mass.

"What is going on over there?" asked Alex.

"I don't know, but it's heading this way."