Maxwell's Log

"I'm going to have to give it to you straight," Obsidia told me and my brother. "This isn't going to be pretty. We're walking into what was a war zone. Dake hasn't gone in for any kind of evaluation or treatment recently, so we don't know what kind of injuries he may have. Both of you are coming with me and Exxon to find him, then bring him back in one piece preferably."

"Preferably?" I asked, nervously.

"Well, there's always the small chance he'll be alive, but in two pieces, that's happened once. It wasn't pretty." Obsidia admitted. "We knew he was going to have extensive injuries, so we brought Exxa with us that time. His leg had been severed, so Exxa carried him back. As we aren't equipped to deal with injuries like that, we brought him straight to a hospital so they could treat his wounds."

"And these suits will protect against most things?" Syl asked, glancing down at the grey jumpsuit they'd been given. Syl's had black and red trimmings, and mine had white trimmings. Obsidia had mentioned something about the colors signifying what we did on the ship, so I didn't pay much attention to the trimmings.

"Yes. Extreme heat, extreme cold, lightning, etc." Obsidia waved her hand, then nodded to Elance, who was back at the helm. "Lance, open the gates, please. We have a mission to complete."

Elance nodded, tapping on her console a few times before the door in front of us swung open.

I darted down the plank, gasping as the destroyed world came into full view. Rubble. Rubble everywhere. No building hadn't been reduced to rubble. While I didn't know if there had been any tall buildings, there weren't anymore. The sky was purple, but I assumed that was cause we were on a different planet.

"The sky here is usually a pretty red," Exxon remarked. "It turned purple when the Senhir invaded. They poison the sky, changing the colors. Seriously, your would is the only one I know that hasn't had it's sky change colors. Even Fleetwings admitted Earth's sky hadn't changed a bit."

"It already changes color. Sometimes it is different shades of blue," I said, admiring the sky. "I think the sky looks pretty like this though. It's a nice royal purple."

"Eh, it's okay," Syl decided. "I'm sure there are prettier skies."

"We did not come out here to have a conversation about what color the sky is," Obsidia scolded. "Our sensors picked him up over this way. Let's get a move on."

"How is it that she's the youngest, but still the most mature person on the ship?" I wondered, following her as she darted through the rubble.

"Forced growing up syndrome." Exxon said it with such a straight face, that I almost believed him.

"Um, I don't think that's a thing," Syl commented.

"It isn't," Obsidia said, practically materializing at our sides. "Exxa made it up when she first met me. She decided I had a syndrome. A lot cause I'm so short. You guys are all two feet taller then I am. At least."

"How tall are you?" I asked, looking down at her. I supposed she was quite short, I just hadn't really noticed. I was a bit occupied learning about the ship and adapting to my new sleeping schedule.

"A little over 3 earth feet," Obsidia replied. (She will never grow. Doomed to remain short forever. Boy am I glad she's working right now, she'd kill me for that comment. Or at least ground me.)

"And we're both over 5 feet. So, yeah, about two feet." I decided.

"Earth feet. Other planets used different measurement systems. Put earth in front of any measurements. After the Earthlings drove the Senhir off their planet, even if it was with alien help, they were basically admitted to be useful to the universe, so most children and some adults know the Earth measurements." Obsidia added. "He should be right ahead."

"Who's there?" A calm voice rang out.

"Found him," Exxon commented.

"We're from the Runaways team. The rebels wanted us to take you until you were ready to pick a path. Civilian, or on a team." Obsidia, almost sounding like she'd said the same words a thousand times. (She says the exact thing every single time. Not kidding.)

"Oh, the bunch of teens lead by an eight-year-old," Dake said, emerging from his shelter and stretching. "I've heard of you."

He was relatively well built and bore a lot of resemblance to a tree, skin being dark brown with his arms and head green. Small leaf patterns were on his skin, and the brown part was heavily lined.

"Don't think I've heard of you two though," he finished, gesturing to me and Syl.

"They're new. They worked with the Fantasyverse team, but now they work with us permanently," Obsidia replied calmly. "We need to go, we have another creature to pick up. A poison/venom type. You two had better get along to some degree."

"Of course," he replied evenly.