ARC 5 - Oblivions Edge Part I: Awakening

Chapter 5

The boarding tunnel lead them straight into the middle deck of Kasms ship. 

It was top of the line, and triangular in shape, with the tip being at the front. From the windows, it could be seen that the outside was painted a royal blue, with dark red accents.

The inside of Kasms ship was equally awe inspiring, with dark blues and hints of red and gold sporadically laced throughout. It consisted of three decks, each separated into various, smaller rooms. A grand spiral staircase connected each floor in the center of the back of each level. 

"Lady and Gentlemen, Welcome aboard the Fifth Wind." He spun around slowly, arms spread out, truly proud of it. 

"Here in the middle deck, you'll find my bed chambers, the Glitcher size showering quarters, and the mass expanse of compiled clothing I call my closet. The closet has a door leading straight to the showers, as does my bedroom as well as the center doorway. At the back is also the main gate for exiting and entering. The lowest deck is mostly weapons storage and maintenance equipment, and the upper has a second bedroom, kitchen, a living room of sorts, and, of course, the cockpit."

"Change out of those prison garbs. Most of the clothes are mine, but there are some that I have...'acquired' that aren't exactly mine. Just make do with what you can. I'll be on upper deck when you're done."

Kaet was first to reemerge afresh from changing. 

She had to admit, the ship was impressive. Not every day that you see a shower room that's large enough for over a dozen people and enough shower curtains to section off it off in almost as many ways.

Kasm turned from the cockpit where he had been adding data into the computer systems and setting the autopilot. He could not help himself, and found that he was marveling over her.

Her blood red hair hung straight, still slightly damp from the showers. She wore one of his red, long sleeve flannel shirts, with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, one of the many pieces of clothing he had bought while adventuring through the forests of Admar. 

She also wore a pair of tight fitting black leather pants with a black belt that wrapped around her waist twice, with slack still hung on her left thigh. 

Around her neck, she wore a silver necklace, one of the many trinkets Kasm had 'acquired' during his years. 

Kasm had also changed into a pair of jeans and a loose, gray t-shirt. He was barefoot, clearly comfortable on the rubberized flooring. 

"Wow." He uttered. 

"What was that?" 

"Oh, uh...nothing." He embarrassedly replied, shaking himself from his trance. 

"So, what's with the gigantic shower room and wardrobe?" Kaet inquired. 

"As a Glitcher, we often have to share ships to help one another. The bigger the ship, the less elbows you have to rub. And the more clothes available, the less you have to share."

He went back to setting the auto-pilot to Zranex, as she sat on the couch near the cockpit.

"I peeked into your room while I was down there."

"Yeah? What'd ya think?"

"Neat setup. But I noticed something. On your dresser, in a glass case was that..."

"Yep, the same blanket I was found in. And the name card I have showing is the same one found with me. I suppose you might could say that it's a relic, a reminder that somewhere out there, even I have blood parents."

The stairway leading up to the upper deck thundered, as Vell and Elm came to join them. 

"What kind of ship is this? It's not a Satfire, to small." Elm pondered, "It certainly is nice, top of the line." 

"That would be difficult to explain." Kasm replied to Elm with a grin on his face. 

"The Glitchers and especially the Crao, take great pride in their ships. I'm no different. But inasmuch, we can't have something that's stock. So, this puppy here," He patted the side of the ship "is custom built. And she'll outrun just about anything, as she needs to. There's also a level below were you guys changed that houses almost nothing but weapons." 

"Oooo." Elm smiled mischievously at Kasm. 

"No, you can't go see, and certainly you can't go touch." 

"So how long before we reach Zranex?" Kaet asked.

"I have her going as fast as I can. I have a warp-drive, but it's still busted from my last run. Best guess? About six or seven hours. I suggest we rest. The ship will let us know when we arrive."

Kaet had explored the ship, given a tour by Kasm himself. He was extremely proud of it. Elm claimed the guest bed and Vell had laid beside him on the floor as he curled into a ball and fell asleep atop Kasms silk sheets.

Kasm went back to the upper deck to check the computers, and Kaet wondered back throughout the ship, ending up back on the upper deck couch, flipping through shows on a holo-screen that folded down from the ceiling.

He finally left the computers at the cockpit and plopped down beside her on the couch. 

"There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about." He said, his eyes slightly glazed as his mind began to work. 

"You mentioned how you and...your friend...had been looking into the same vault, the same number even, and had been instructed to act the exact same day. I think we both have realized that that's no coincidence. 

"What I'm trying to figure out is, what sort of information did you guys have on number 17? Was there anything special about it? Anything you guys noticed that might explain why they used the same information to play us both?" 

She sat for a moment, running a hand through herb hair as she racked her brain for details. 

"My brother sent us the assignment, as I said. The instructions only mentioned that after we retrieved item number 17, we were to send it to a coordinate set on Kalafrak."

"Kalafrak? That planets been overrun by jungle growth for centuries. Who in their right mind would be there?" 

"I don't know," She replied, "but whoever it is went through a lot of trouble to set up an ex-princess and a millionaire-mercenary-extraordinaire." 

Kasm chuckled at the title.

They sat for a couple hours, settling on one terrible episode of Intergalactic Zombies after another. 

After the fourth, Kaet looked over and found that Kasm had fallen asleep. 

He was still seated next to her, slightly slumped, his head rested at an awful angle. 

She gently reached over and pulled his head down. 

His body followed, and he mumbled something about brains, but remained asleep, now resting on her lap. 

She gently stroked his messed black hair. 

"Why indeed?" She thought. "Why would anyone try and frame us? I highly doubt that the two of us have even been on the same planet at the same time, much less pissed the same people off. Hopefully my brother can clarify that." 

She looked over Kasms handsome features. 

"A rich mercenary and a super-powered princess. Not to mention the talking fox and his walking, rock companion. What a bunch we are. And what are the odds of my father attacking the prison, giving us the..." 

She stopped herself and silently shook her head. It was highly doubtful that her father, in his enraged and murderous state of mind, could have ever come up with a sophisticated plan like this. And for what? 

If he had though...

Kaet felt a hot rush of anger wash over her.

She leaned her head down and rested her chin on Kasms head. 

"For now, I'm just gonna enjoy the ride." She thought to herself, yawning as she rested against Kasm.