It didn’t take long for Ash and I to retrieve the ATV’s. We pulled up to the camping area, dismounting quickly to the sound of Drew already hard at work, making one of his unique meals. The sound of soft harmonic music, came from from a small radio sitting on a large rock while he worked. I chuckled to myself, there was a time on the planet when such devices were common place. But after the fall, many considered them a distraction. They were never removed from society, but for a number of decades they sat idol on shelves, forgotten by most of the population.

I was deep in thought, as we made our way back towards the main tent are. It’s moments like these, that I often stop, and reflect. What would of happened if there would of never been any fall 100 years ago? What would of happened, if the fall was more or less sever than it had been? Would Aurora and I even be here now? These questions often spun in my head, over the course of many sleepless nights. Between my unique thoughts, and enjoying Andrez’s music I didn’t notice Aurora had finished setting up our tent. She had made her way over to a small fire pit, next to Drew’s cooking area, and was sitting quietly in reflection.

“What’s Aurora doing?”, Ash asked. I had forgotten Ash was still standing next to me, waiting for me to resume our walk back to to rest of the group. “She’s reflecting about sometime.” I said softly. Ash nodded, indicating she knew what I meant. “I’m going to go sit with her, and see what’s up”. I said, before thanking Ash for helping me move the ATVs closer to the camp. Ash smiled, “Anytime.”, she replied before walking back to Drew’s tent to help him work on his meal.

The Many Unique Lives of Star Killer

I made my way over to Aurora, moving quietly over the crunchy grass and dirt that made up the area around the fire pit. I sat down next to her, putting my arm around her shoulder. “What’s on your mind A?” I asked calmly. She remained quiet for a moment or two, before looking at me with her beautiful hazel brown eyes. “I was just thinking about the Ascension.” She replied. Before I could inquire more, she continued on. “Do you remember what so many called me, when we returned home after it’s destruction?” I was silent, and Aurora continued. “Star Killer…… so many of our peers, called me Star Killer.”

I leaned over and hugged her. “Aurora”, I started, “If you hadn’t of given the self destruct command, the Ascension would of fallen into inappropriate hands.” I paused before continuing. “There was nothing we could of done… Yes, I said we… I was there too, to help make that decision.” Aurora, looked deeply into my eyes, smiled, and hugged me tight. “I know, but you have always been a builder…. I always seem to be the one, that likes to bright the fight, and take names later.” Aurora’s reply was painful to hear, as she had forgotten the most important rule of all.

“Aurora, we are One!” I said proudly. I continued, “You have nothing to be ashamed about. I took the loss of the Ascension just as bad, and if anyone could of got it in working order, it should have been me.” Aurora, smiled and hugged me tight again. “Thank you love, you always make me feel better when I’m down. We are One, always and forever.” She replied happily.

I glanced up, to get a glimpse of the sun starting to make its final descent below the horizon. It was dusk, and within an hour it would be dark. The air was ripe with the delicious aromas coming from the tent were Drew and Ash were still cooking. Aurora had started to rest her head on my shoulder, when she sat up again alert. “Love, do you hear that?” She asked nervously. In the distance, not more then probably twenty kilometers away, a terrifying loud snarl could be heard coming from the forest. Aurora and I looked at each other in shock. Before I could say anything, a large flock of birds erupted from the treetops in the distance, when an another snarl shot out from the surrounding area.

“How far do you think that is?” I asked quickly. Aurora was now standing fully alert, scanning the horizon with her wristband. “If this is correct, it’s roughly between 25- 32 kilometers down hill from us.” There was a great concern in A’s voice. “Aurora…”, my voice cracked, “What else have you seen in this Forest?” I asked, trying to remain calm.

Aurora looked up from her wristband, “Love, for some reason this forest is a natural conduit for portals. What we experienced in that field earlier, was just one instance of something trying to come through. Any creature that can cross dimensional barriers, can perhaps find this forest.” “Good Lord!” I replied. Aurora didn’t laugh, instead the hair on her neck stood up, when a third snarl echoed from the distance. Aurora’s wrist bad beeped, and she looked down to respond to it. “That does it, whatever that creature is, it’s roughly thirty kilometers away!” She exclaimed.

“Well Star Killer…”, I begun , ” We all may need to bring a little bit of fight, on this adventure of ours!” Aurora semi smiled, but I could tell she was terrified. To be honest, so was I. We didn’t have much to defend ourselves with. Our best option would be to make a quick get away if necessary. Luckily we did have some sensor equipment that could be used as an early warning system. I noticed them in Aurora’s gear when I helped load up the ATV’s.

“When do you want to deploy the sensor array?” I asked. Aurora smiled, “I knew you would notice them” She replied. “Let’s discuss at dinner. Even if that creature heads this way, it has a inclined hike to us, even if it moves quickly, we probably don’t have to worry about it reaching us for several hours at the minimum.” “Sounds like a plan twin.” I nervously shot back.

Aurora, put her hand on my shoulder, “Trust me love, we’re going to loose each other.” She said softly. I smiled and took her hand, right as a another loud snarl shot up from the distance. This time Drew and Ash heard it, as they were making their way over to us with a large pot of food, and what looked to be some kind of artifact…..

Dinner Banter Is Always Fun

“Gezzz, what the hell is that!”, Andrez’s voice was loud; You could tell the snarl made him jump. “We don’t know, but if it’s coming this direction we have some time before it gets here” Aurora answered, trying to project a clam demeanor as much as possible. She wasn’t overly successful at it though, it was obvious Drew could tell she was concerned.

Before nerves got the best of us all, I spoke up. “Aurora has four portable sensor arrays, we can set them up at the end valley that surrounds us. Now that may not seem like much, but they are capable of scanning though solid objects and have about five a kilometer range. If we aligned them properly, not only will they tell us if something crosses the main beam, but they will scan the horizon as well….” Before I could continue, Drew smiled and at cut in. “Excellent, that should be more than enough for an early warning. Ash and I also have some large lights that we can use as an inner perimeter. We can use them to surround our tents, if anything gets to close we can have them activate.

Aurora smiled, “We have an unique plan!” With that Drew placed the pot of food he was carrying, on a small stone table that was off to the side of the fire pit. Ash, followed suit, setting down that appeared to be a flat ceramic tablet of some kind. Almost forgot!” Drew exclaimed, as he ran back to his tent, only to reappear a moment later with a hand full of bowls and utensils. He passed one to each of use, and in his cheery way, announcing for the group to dig in.

No one wasted any time, as we were all starving from the day’s journey. The sun was just about completely set by this point, leaving only enough light for us to see each other and make out our camp site. I was about to dig into the meal, when I realized, how dark it really way. “Does any one have a lantern?” I joked, as I did my best not to trip over any rocks, as I returned to me seat. Aurora chuckled with the thought of my tripping with my bowl of food, she was always in my head, which I appreciated. “No Worries, watch this.” Ash spoke up, and walked over to the ceramic tablet, resting his hand on it. Within a instant a floating ball of plasma emerged from the tablet. Illuminating the entire area.

We could all see the camp site and each other clearly now. This caught Aurora and myself off guard, as we were not expecting it. “My Word”, I thought, what did that pull up. “Fascinating isn’t it?” Drew asked while he enjoyed his meal. Aurora started in, “Andrez two questions, one what is this amazing meal you made, and two what is that thing?” Drew smiled, “Well this rather unique meal, is my own personal recipe. It’s my spicy Gumbo, minus the actual meat of course!”. “It’s Delicious”, Aurora boasted in approval.

Diet is a funny thing for Wanderers. We try to consume things that won’t effect our vibration in a negative way. So many of us will avoid, eating animals, or animal products that have not been honored appropriately. Prior to the fall, many animals were raised strictly as food. Which often led to them living horrible lives, which lacked any appreciation. After the fall, how animals were cared for, and honored improved ten fold. But Wanderers still tried to stick to strict to a harmonic diet. Though it’s not always possible.

Unique Artifacts From Times Past

Everyone sat finishing up their meals, when Ash spoke up. “I think Drew wanted me to comment on the artifact.” Aurora and I looked up from our meal attentively. Ash continued, while Drew collected everyone’s bowls and utensils. “When Drew and I pulled this out of the ocean, it was warm to the touch, and it glowed…. It wasn’t until we got back home did we really examine the thing. What was odd, is when we touched it, just as I did a few moments ago, it illuminated and displayed holographic information”. “What type of information?” I asked quickly. Ash didn’t waste any time answering my question. “That’s the odd part”, she started, “The information varies, depending on who touches it. When I touch it, it only illuminates. When Drew touches it, it also displays biographical data, such as his name, and location.”

Aurora and I looked at each other, having the same thought. Aurora spoke up, “It sounds like it’s some data device.” Ash nodded in approval, “That’s what Drew and I think, but we don’t know why, or more importantly where it came from.” Aurora walked over to the device, and started to examine it. “Love, come take a look at this!” She called to me. I got up quickly got up and joined her. I stood looking at the device, and after a moment I realized what got her attention. There was a symbol also being projected from the device. It was designed to look like noise, but it was clearly something important. In fact I knew it was, as the diagrams Aurora had at her cabin had the same symbol. It was the main identification of the Ascension.

I reached out and touched the device, and in an instant massive amounts of biographical information was displayed. Most of it having to do with, my post on the Ascension. Name, Rank, Specialty was all displayed. Granted it was lifetimes old, but I realized that the device was actually part of the Ascension it self. Aurora followed suit, and her information was displayed as well. We looked at each other again, this time with more concern.

Ash couldn’t believe it, blurting out the first thought that cam to her mind. “Wow, Drew told me about a ship that you lived on a long time ago, I never thought it would be…..” Aurora cut her off in mid sentence. “We have lived many places, Andrez knows this…” I could tell Aurora was annoyed, she never liked it when her privacy felt violated, and this was one of those times where was the case. Ash apologized for the situation, and Aurora smiled and indicated it was no big deal. It just caught her off guard.

It was at this point Drew returned from cleaning up. “So it’s from the Ascension?” He asked. I nodded, “Yes, which is rather odd, as the ship was destroyed a long time ago. This isn’t good Drew, if a part of the ship is here, we need to find it. I suspect, it accounts for the other activity in the area, and why we have odd creatures moving through this forest. Someone is looking for it, for whatever reason”.

Drew couldn’t help it, “Well we best get looking ourselves! It’s a good thing we have Star Kill…..” He stopped himself from continuing when we saw Aurora shoot him a angry glare. “Sorry.”, he quickly said realizing the name was still a sore subject.

Aurora shrugged, walking away, only to pause momentarily to send me a telepathic message. “We should connect on this, and get the sensors ready for the night, I’ll meet you in the tent.” I nodded, indicating I heard her.

“Is she ok?” Ash asked in a concerned manner. “She will be OK, we all have wounds we are working on.” I replied. Drew nodded in agreement. “I’m going to help her get the sensors ready, how about you guys get your lights ready, and will meet here in an hour or so?” I asked, looking to change the topic. “Excellent Idea.” Drew stated. “Ash and I will get to work. Tell Aurora, I didn’t mean anything by my comment”.

I smiled, “You know Aurora, she isn’t mad at you Drew, she is just reflecting, but I will tell her”. Drew smiled at me in relief, as I made my way back to my tent, and left Ash and Drew to converse…

Author’s Note:

Hey all, well I did it!! Episode Nine is now done. It took some time to complete, due to some distractions on my part, and life activities. But I’m glad it’s finally out :). Episode Ten will be out soon, so stop back to check it out.