#nanos

As the hours ticked by, she gave up on the idea of sleep completely and instead made plans to hurry to the base as soon as the satellite was repaired. Gorben had mentioned that others had made the trip to Earth with him. If that was true, they might need to send out a search party.

"How many people were with you?" she asked.

Gorben flinched at the suddenness of her question, "There were three of us from Anur. We hired a mercenary ship to get here, so there were maybe about a dozen of us altogether?"

That was a big group to get separated. "How'd you end up by yourself?"

"I was one of the last ones off the ship. I ended up taking an escape pod alone."

Guess there's not much of a reason to go to the crash site then, Silya thought, reflecting on the broken trees from earlier. The area would need to be cleared before some fusion spawn found the busted vessel and tried to make a new monster out of it, but again, that made hurrying to the base their biggest priority. She doubted that just the two of them would be able to move the pod.

Once the storm lightened up, they ventured outside again. It was only sprinkling now and the Cavern Wolves appeared to have scattered. Since she wouldn't be climbing anything this round, the young woman switched out her pistol for a shattergun. They carefully made their way back to the tower.

She didn't think to compare the ladder to Gorben's daunting own size until they arrived. "Are you going to be fine getting up there...?"

She felt he misinterpreted her concern. Gorben hefted himself up the rungs at a bullet's pace, stopping only to glance once over his shoulder to show that he was fine. She was half-baffled that the ladder held his weight, or that the conductors at his back didn't catch onto anything.

Meanwhile, that speed of his was nothing short of intimidating.

The Tetramand nano crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you think we can trust him?"

Picking up on her IE Donor's cautious stare, Poppy raised an encouraging fist. "Well, if he tries anything, I'll stop him in his tracks!"

"I can set him on fire," Aoi added, a little too proudly.

Brows furrowing, Silya hoped that the Transylian didn't have super-hearing too... She cut the trio off by giving them their orders. "Clutch, fly up there in case he needs any help. Poppy, Aoi, stand guard."

They took the hint and moved to their separate positions. After several quiet minutes, the young woman caught herself occasionally glancing at Gorben while she kept watch. Her back and legs had indeed begun to bruise from where he'd caught her fall. As grateful as she was, that had been him trying to help: Who knew what he was like when he tried to hurt.

She tried to remember all that she'd heard about the Anur system and its aliens. Most of that talk involved the ghostlike Ectonurite species or what a threat Zs'Skayr was. He supposedly attacked Earth and was beaten by the Tennysons years ago, back when Silya was still a kid. However, she didn't recall anything like that ever happening, so it might've been a contained incident.

Every now and then, Clutch glided back down to borrow a new tool out of the assortment she'd brought along and carried it to the Transylian. Gorben seemed to be making quick work of the repairs. Balancing her weapon on her shoulder, the young woman contacted the base through her nanocomm. "This is Silya. The satellite should be fixed up soon. Does anyone copy?"

"You're faint, but we hear you," came a male voice on the other end of the line, "What did the damage look like?"

"Worse than we expected." She briefly explained the situation. Once her story was finished, the other fusion fighter agreed to alert anyone else in the Haunted Ridge to look out for more aliens wandering around the woods.

"Nothing showed up on our sensors, but if they managed to break through Fuse's blockade, then that doesn't mean much," the soldier explained through a few seconds of static, "We'll keep scanning and get a team ready. Get back as soon as you can. And stay on your toes. Anur's a pretty isolated system. They don't like outsiders. All things considered, it's going to be hard to judge whether your new friend is really friendly or not."

That's what she'd been afraid of... If the Plumbers stationed there couldn't give her any further advice, then she would just have to rely on her gut. "Understood. With all luck, we'll be back within a few hours at the latest."

She hung up the call. Just as she lifted her head to tell Gorben that the signal was working, a scuttling shape in the darkness caught her eye. Aoi noticed it as well, chasing after it to launch a blue fireball. A vicious, animalistic screech tore through the shadows as the silhouette of an Alpha Arachnid erupted into view.

It dove for Silya. Throwing her body out of its range, she fired. It was enough to stall the monster, but not enough to take it down, so she quickly circled a nearby pine tree for cover. Long, stake-like arms pierced the air behind her as she pulled her body up its branches. Needles and bark exploded around her as the Alpha Arachnid struck the trunk.

She didn't need to climb up very high, just high enough to stand over the Alpha Arachnid's large form. She clenched her jaw as it stretched after her, jumping through its reaching limbs and landing on its back. Locking her legs around its abdomen, she let off a volley of fire at point-blank range.

A moment later, the monster collapsed. Silya braced herself as the wood gave way beneath her, careful not to touch the fusion matter that pooled from its fatal wound.

The pack was finally beginning to respawn. If they hung about for too long, they'd have more than one or two of the insectoids to deal with. Not eager to fight through them a second time, the young woman looked up to call out to Gorben yet again only to find him already staring down at her from the tower, frozen and wide-eyed.

When he snapped back to his senses, he jumped down. The patch of ground around them almost seemed to quake as he landed on his feet with a deep thud. He walked over and could only stare at the remains of the Alpha Arachnid for a few seconds, his eyes flickering to Silya, then down again.

"Well, I did what I could," he eventually muttered, "If you're ready to go, lead the way."

The two took a step away from each other as Silya stood back up. Then, a barely contained giggle burst out of Aoi. His eyes were flickering with mocking, impish delight, like a child keeping a secret or a fae watching some drama born from mischief. Both human and Transylian shot him a look, then prepared to leave the area.