FORESIGHT and SCOPE: BOOK TWO

C H A P T E R T W E N T Y-F O U R

"Don't you mean, pirate?"

"Oh no, Hunter," I teased with a scrunch of my nose and mischievous smirk. "Not a pirate. She prefers — what do you call yourself again? An 'Obtainer of Rare Antiquities'?"

"'Liberator of Ancient Wonders,' actually." Phee corrected with no sign of offense, which urked me. When she turned to Omega to share another one of her 'adventures', completely disregarding me and Hunter, my face burned with infuriation. Hunter sheathed his knife in his gauntlet and pulled me away before I could — well, I don't know what exactly, but it would have required Echo covering Omega's eyes again.

"Why did I agree to this again?" I questioned my mentality aloud as we joined Tech, Echo, and Wrecker in the cockpit. "We are literally heading to an uncharted planet. A planet with no records!What could possibly go wrong?! And I swear, everytime she speaks, I just want to — Urgh!" I clawed the air with both hands before plopping into the seat behind the cyborg-clone, arms crossed with a huff. Tech glanced over his shoulder to me. "I presume you are not a fan of Phee's."

"My, what gave you that impression, Tick?" I grumbled, then held up my hand as he opened his mouth. "Don't answer that." My chin bobbed down as I brought my open palm to my mouth and closed my eyes, moaning with annoyance.

"What about Phee bothers you so much, Fern?" Echo questioned.

I lowered my hand and lopped my head over to face him. "She's a paradox, Echo. A swashbuckling scoundrel with flair? Speaks eloquently with philosophical wisdom, yet with intentional direction simultaneously? She takes offense to nothing, and her reputation is a 'trustworthy' pirate? I don't care what she calls herself — 'Obtainer of Rare Antiquities' or whatever — she is too suspicious for comfort. Not to mention, she is buddy-buddy with Cid; that definitely doesn't help her case in my book...She has to have some ulterior motive...She has to."

"Sorry, I asked." Echo scoffed.

"We'll keep an eye on her." Hunter assured me, placing a gentle gloved hand on my shoulder. I reached up and grasped it as anxiety rose in my chest. I forced myself to take deep breaths to keep my heart rate leveled.

My eyes fixated their gaze out the viewport as we entered the atmosphere of what could only be the home of inevitable doom. The entire planet's surface was a mixture of greys and blacks painted over the crevices, ridges, and small mountain ranges. It was completely scorched of life — all that remained was ashy dust and charred vegetation, meaning our destination once thrived with flora. It made me ponder over what possibly occured to change that. The coorinates that were etched in the "compass" landed us in a barren forest a couple kilometers from the tallest mountain in the area.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." I mumbled, dropping Hunter's hand and hugging my crossed arms tighter as I slumped in the seat. I'd never imagine I welcome the thought of wanting to return to Cid's parlor over any other place...

After Tech landed the Marauder, we all filed down the ramp one at a time, each of the clones has his helmet tucked under one arm with the exception of Wrecker, who preferred to don his headgear propped up on top of his bald head. Omega was glued to Phee's hip as the pirate shook her shoulder playfully. "I didn't know you could fly a ship. That's quite impressive for someone your age, kid."

"Fly, yes." Tech inserted his input bluntly. "Land, no."

"I'm getting better!" Omega defended herself with a determined grin. Phee chuckled and, as her boots planted themselves on the coarse ground, she stretched her arms above her head. "Ah! It is a good day! I always enjoy the feeling of waking up every morning and wondering what wonderful adventure the new day will bring to me. I bet even you," she pointed at me with a flick of her wrist just as I stepped off the ramp. "get that feeling, too."

"Those days have come and gone." I stated monotonously, slightly flinching at what she could possibly be insinuating.

"Perhaps," Phee smirked, and shrugged. "Perhaps not."

What was her angle? Why does she speak with such bravado...and so poetical?

My head leaned back and my dark eyes monitored the hazy white-grey sky with swirls of darker greys. I wondered how any sunlight was illuminating the planet. Our surroundings were an unconditional wasteland with no signs of life anywhere. It was a miracle we were all able to breathe the stale air. The longer I analyzed, the more certain I was that this planet once flourished — one does not need to be an archeologist to recognize archaic farmland and dried-up riverbeds — in conclusion, something had razed this land and left it uninhabitable... Even though I was wearing my new insulated jacket, I shivered with uneasiness.

"There is not a single civilization anywhere on this planet. From the looks of it, not for a very, very long time. Who'd want to hide treasure here?" Echo inquired. As if on cue, clutched in his human hand, the mechanism that led us here began hailing us with a whirling beeping sound.

"What was that?" Wrecker asked.

"The compass just activated." Echo answered, his brows rose with perplexion. He lifted the circular object above his eye-level, like he was checking for a signal in the atmosphere. As if to test its beaconing powers, he paced back to the ship then turned on his heel towards us. The compass responded by beeping faster. "It's telling us to go south."

"And what? It's going to lead us where 'X' marks the spot?" I quipped with a twiddle of my fingers.

"Oh, no, Fern," Phee chuckled with one hand on her hip. "Every treasure hunter knows 'X' never, ever, marks the spot."

"Let's, GO!" Omega snatched the tool from Echo's hand and dashed ahead. Phee smiled and gestured to her with a nod. "Now she's got the right attitude. Wait up, kid!" The pirate, too, sprinted to catch up.

Half-Pint is being reckless again...I bit the corner of my lip. And this time she is being encouraged by a bad influence...

"This is getting weird." I confessed in a low voice as the rest of us reluctantly followed behind. Even Mel waddled with us. Hunter and I hiked side by side, giving each other glances. He too wanted to assure me everything will turn out fine just like I wanted to assure him...Regardless of being in complete doubt...