Chapter
CCCXCIV: Into
“Mmm…yes…right there, mmm…”
Naaro stepped through the door into the room in Lich’s hut where Vector was taking his nap and quizzically raised a brow. He put down the supplies he had got from the A’gul’s storehouse and looked at the blue Yoshi.
“Oh yes, that feels good…”
With a stroke of realisation, Naaro stepped over to him and shook his shoulder. “Hey, c’mon, wake up,” he told him.
Vector snorted and woke up, looking around him. “Hey, where’d the hot Yoshette go?” he asked sleepily. He looked up at the Karmali. “You’re not her.”
“I see what’s on your mind, Vector,” Naaro answered, unamused. “I got the gear.”
“Gear? Wha – oh, yeah. That gear.” Vector stretched, closed his eyes and exhaled a loud yawn. “Is Lich back yet?”
“No.”
He looked over at the pile of equipment, climbed off the bed and rummaged his way through it. “Fruit, fruit, more fruit…some sort of strange cut of meat –”
“Ng’g, I think it’s called,” Naaro told him.
“Whatever,” Vector dismissed Naaro’s comment. “Pouches, rucksacks…atlas is over there,” he pointed to the bed where he was using it as a pillow, “some of that fruit with the crap skin…ah.”
“What?” Naaro asked, handing Vector the atlas.
Vector took it and answered, “I’m going to need to get a harness.”
“I didn’t see anything like that.”
“Hm. If you’re coming along, I don’t want bits of you scattered over a thousand kilometres.”
“Right. Ung’grl told me the name of the person who made the rucksacks…Hn’g’gul, I think it was.”
“I’m not gonna bother trying to pronounce that. Did he say where he is?”
“He’s working on the huts, apparently.”
“Alright, can’t be too hard to find.”
Vector got to his feet and strode out of the hut. Naaro followed behind and groaned, expecting the worst.
The blue Yoshi stood outside the doorway and yelled, “I’m looking for a Hng…Hn’guh…er, Hn’gug…er…leather guy!”
Ung’grl scurried over from where he was supervising some work as the Yoshies looked at Vector puzzledly for a moment, before returning to their work. “Guests of the A’gul, be there something I can do?” he asked.
“Vector needs to see the person who made the rucksacks and pouches,” Naaro told him, quickly raising a hand to silence Vector.
“Hn’g’gul?”
“Yeah.”
“Please come with me.”
“How do you do that?” Vector asked Naaro quietly as they followed the older Yoshi.
“Do what?”
“Er…nevermind.”
They stopped before a hut where uprights for the roof were being erected. A yellow Yoshi, his skin faded and decorated like the rest, was seated on top of a wall, reaching out behind him to tighten a leather bind.
“Hn’g’gul, a Guest requireth thy services,” Ung’grl told him.
“Just allow me a minute, please,” the Yoshi spoke through gritted teeth, his hands pulling on a cord, before he tied it around the post. He sat up. “Yes, what is it thou requireth?”
“Your business,” Vector spoke.
Hn’g’gul looked for Ung’grl’s support, but was met with a shrug. “Very well. My hut is just over there. Please, come with me.”
He hopped off the top of the wall and led the three of them into his hut, allowing them entry before him. He then walked around his table, covered with pieces of leather, and leaned his weight onto it. “What dost thou requireth in this harness?”
“Well, it needs to fit me, and to keep him on my back,” Vector explained.
The leatherworker cringed. “Knoweth thou not the teachings of Glong? ‘The Yo’shi must not submit to those who desireth our subordination. Thy works must not fulfil their evil plans.’”
“This is not for subordination,” Vector explained. “This is for safety.”
“The Lord of the A’gul has asked that we do a job for him,” Naaro added. “Part of it requires that you make this harness, because if you don’t, I will die.”
Ung’grl nodded. “Please do it, Hn’g’gul.”
Hn’g’gul cringed again and sighed. “Very well, allow me to measure you both.”
He reached for a marked leather band and began his work, muttering under his breath. Ung’grl, meanwhile, returned to supervising the rebuilding. Once he had finished gathering his measurements, he reached for some charcoal and began to draw on the hide. “Markior, forgiveth thou me for what I am doing,” he muttered.
“I’m sure he wouldn’t really mind what this is for,” Naaro nodded.
Hn’g’gul looked up at Naaro, gave a few silent nods and continued drawing, before he reached for a sharp bone knife and began to cut the pieces out. Once that was done, he attached some wooden buckles, made from an apparently hard and resilient tree as he fought to push the straps through them. Then, he stitched the ends of the straps back on themselves and gave the finished product to Vector. “Here. I did not like doing this, but if the lord requested it, I must make it.”
Vector took it and tried it on for size. “Yeah, seems like you did alright,” he said as he took it off again. “See you.”
Naaro groaned and thanked Hn’g’gul on Vector’s behalf, then followed Vector back to the hut as Hn’g’gul returned to work on the rebuilding.
“Well, I think
we’re ready to go,” Vector said. “The sooner we get there, the sooner we can
get
Naaro nodded as Ung’grl came over once more. “Is Hn’g’gul’s work satisfactory?” he asked
“Yeah,” Vector nodded. “We’re just going to get ready to go.”
“You cannot leave until the lord farewells you,” Ung’grl told them.
Vector raised a brow. “Why not?”
“It is our way,” he answered.
“…Ri-i-i-ght,” Vector huffed. “I guess we’ll just sit around
then.”
The evening air over the A’gul village was crisp and cool; Dew was beginning to form on the ground, and the sky was lit up in a fiery aura of oranges and reds as the sun drew ever closer to the horizon. In the village square, surrounded by the tribal Yoshies of the village, was the blue Yoshi Vector Sprint, well known for his speed, and the red Karmali, Naaro. Vector was presently adjusting a crude harness he’d had the villagers craft for him, making sure it was snug, and unlikely to fall off. The orange Yoshi named Lich was talking to Naaro, telling him to hold on to Vector, lest he fall off very painfully. Vector, satisfied with the harness, turned to Lich.
“Let’s get this show on the road.” He said in his usual confident tone. He bent his spine down into the usual Yoshi ‘riding’ position, which also happened to be his running position.
“Do not submit to subordination!” a voice from the natives rang out. Vector merely ignored it, and Naaro climbed atop his back, holding onto the harness Vector was wearing.
Lich, satisfied with their preparations, closed his eyes, and remembered what he was supposed to say. “The Guests of the A’gul are now departing!” he shouted, with his hands cupped around his mouth. The many natives stopped what they were doing, and looked towards the three in the square. Vector and Naaro merely looked right back, and continued to stare, until Lich spoke out of the corner of his mouth, “Thank them for their hospitality.”
“Thanks for the bed and grub!” Naaro called out.
“What he said!” Vector added on, deciding Naaro’s answer good enough for himself.
“Come again!” rang out from the crowd, slightly bemused by Vector and Naar’s answers.
“Okay,” Lich said quietly, as he turned to the two. “You go now. Good luck, bring him back alive, where we said.”
“The
“Yep. See you both on Fa’Diel.”
Vector gestured to Naaro, who leaned forwards, and pulled himself as close to the blue Yoshi as he could. Vector hopped into the air, and started his feet revving up, and as soon as he touched the ground, soil kicked up from his feet, slung up and back from where he had landed, the air distorted, and a sonic boom rang out as he sped off down the valley like a shot from a rifle.
The trip in and of itself was highly uneventful. Currently, Naaro was holding his head down low, and clenching his teeth. He was still on Vector’s back, and they were moving much, much too fast for his tastes. The two had already crossed the ocean some time ago, and were currently speeding across the plains of the Southern continent. The silence of their trip was slightly unnerving to the Karmali; they’d not dropped below the speed of sound since they’d left a scant few hours ago, and to make his trip even less enjoyable, his braided dreadlocks were making his neck sore, whipping about as they were. He grumbled quietly, and hoped that they were close to their destination.
Vector, in comparison, seemed to be in nirvana. The look on his face was pure ecstasy, as he enjoyed running as fast as he could. His hair was plastered back from the wind hitting it, his eyes narrowed, his arms thrown back to reduce his drag. He looked down for a moment, and then put his eyes back to the horizon, and reckoned that they were moving at, or near mach 3. It had always puzzled Vector why he suffered no ill effects from his speed, which would tear any other Yoshi apart, but he quickly dismissed the question, and continued charging towards the horizon like a madman. He squinted even more than he was, and peered at the horizon. He turned, and skidded to a stop, nearly throwing Naaro off of his back. The Karmali got off of Vector’s back, and the Yoshi stood up straight, and glanced at Naaro, only to be met with a sour look from him.
“What are you doing? We’re not at any spaceship yet,” Naaro asked, half complaining. “We’re just behind some hill.”
Vector held up a hand to silence him, and got on his hands and knees, crawling up the hill. Naaro gave him a puzzled look, but decided not to ask; he’d put the blue Yoshi off as half-crazy long ago, and so came to expect things like this. Vector reached the crest of the hill, and peered over it. He sat looking over the hill for a moment, and then came back down to Naaro.
“The Pentastar is about 30 miles away, give or take.” Vector said.
“Alright,” said Naaro, “Let’s go then.”
Vector assumed the riding pose again, and Naaro climbed back on his back.
“We’re gonna take it sub-sonic from here,” the blue Yoshi said. “We make any sonic booms and they’ll know it’s us.” Naaro just shrugged.
“I thought you didn’t care if we were found,” the Karmali replied.
“I do care. We get found, we’re going to have a fight on our hands.”
“So?”
“I don’t want to get in a fight right now.”
“Why? The way you talk, you cut down the Tairez left and right with no problems.”
“I just don’t
want to fight right now. I wanna go in, get
“Fine. I just think it’d be more interesting if we took as many as we could out.”
Vector was staring to get annoyed. “I think it’d be more interesting if we did this my way.”
“Why your way?” Naaro asked.
Vector looked perplexed. It was a genuine question. Finally, he found a way out. “I just need a rest, okay? So I’m going to take it slow.”
Naaro just shrugged again.
Vector started off at a fast clip, avoiding creating a sonic boom. The sky was growing dark, and the dusky light was making it difficult to see. As it grew darker, Naaro finally decided that staying slow would be a good idea; he hated to imagine what would happen if Vector tripped at full speed.
The two could
start to make out the dark outline of the wrecked battleship against the last
strains of light in the post-sunset sky. The air was considerably warmer here,
as opposed to the A’gul village northward. It was
almost as warm now as it was during the day on the Northern continent. Human
troops could be seen walking about, some with flashlights on their weapons,
others with night vision helmets on. Large floodlights illuminated the ship,
which had now been pulled out of the ground; the front wasn’t as damaged as
Vector had anticipated, and the repairs were nearly complete; innumerable
robots toiled away tirelessly over the surface, the sparks from welding visible
in the night.
Vector and Naaro had taken refuge behind a small bush, peering out towards the
ship periodically.
“How are we going to get past all of them?” Naaro asked, now daunted by the sheer number of sentries.
“We’re gonna time it, then juice it over to that open hatch,” Vector said as he pointed to a maintenance hatch that had white light pouring out of it.
Naaro nodded. After a guard walked by, Vector grabbed Naaro’s arm, and took off across the short distance to the comparative safety of the open hatch, then released Naaro, and leapt in. The Karmali, also being acrobatic, followed momentarily. The Tairez guard, outfitted with night vision goggles turned after hearing the noise of the two rushing by, but, seeing nothing, merely shrugged, and went along his patrol route.
The hatch, it seemed, was an emergency repair airlock, and the two found themselves in a small chamber with a door leading to the rest of the great ship. After fiddling with the access codes, and failing to open the door, Vector merely pulled his blaster, and proceeded to vaporize the control keypad. As the room filled with the smell of ozone, the door hissed, and slid open, allowing the Yoshi and Karmali into the corridors of the ship.
The halls of the warship were empty, and very quiet, save for the occasional beeping of something, or the clanging of the outside construction. Thinking for a moment, Vector pulled up in his mind a memorized layout of the ship; He started walking slowly ahead, Naaro close behind.
“You sure you know your way around this thing?” Naaro asked, not entirely confident in the Yoshi’s ability to lead him through the serpentine corridors of the ship.
Vector nodded, and after leading Naaro down a small stretch of the dark corridor, he stopped at a lift. He pressed a button to call it. “I’ve been on this ship more times than I’d like to have been.” Vector said quietly. “It’s like something I can’t get away from. I’ll admit, this is my first time breaking –in-.” The last words were followed by a grin.
A soft electronic ‘ding’ halted the conversation, and the two moved away from the doors as they opened. Finding nobody in the turbolift, they climbed on, and Vector pressed a button.
“Barracks?” Naaro asked, puzzled, when he head the button label. “You crazy?”
Vector shrugged. “It’ll be a good place to start looking, plus, I can steal a couple of Richter’s personalized towels.”
“Richter’s..?” the Karmali asked, and then realized what Vector had in mind. “You’re crazy, do you know that?”
“I try to be,” Vector said, smiling.
Another ding signalled
the arrival of the lift. Stepping out, the two found themselves in a corridor
with shined black floors, and brown walls. Very homelike,
possibly. It made sense for the barracks. At the end of the hall, there
was an oaken door with a great red R carved into it. Naaro figured that would
be Richter’s quarters. Vector walked up slowly, and opened the door a crack. A
wide smile met his face when, inside of the room was both