Outside the Wall Part 3: Aggression
Copper leapt up off the ground. “You mean I get to fly with you guys!? Awesome! I can’t wait, you’ll see! I’ll be the best flying companion ever, I can set fires to trees as we pass, blow smoke shapes into the wind, maybe even melt some more windows in the metal hull so we can-”
Spoon stood up from his seat. “Steve… can I speak with you and Jane? Alone?” He turned to Copper. “Kin, stay seated. We will be right back.”
Copper mumbled to herself as she sat down and the three walked away. “It’s Draaconian…”
After they were outside of earshot, Spoon spoke hastily to Steve. “Are you absolutely certain you are right in the head? She’s a runaway, and a thief. We can’t possibly trust her.”
Steve sighed. “Are you sure you are right in the head yourself? She needs help. We give her a bit of understanding and three square meals, and she won’t cross us.”
Jane chimed in. “I agree with Spoon that your decision is… odd… but I think you may be right. She strikes me as very open with her intentions. I don’t think she is capable of treachery. What would she possibly have to gain?”
Spoon groaned, pinching his forehead as he grew angry. “She almost undoubtedly has her master chasing her down as we speak. If we get caught in the crossfire, I’m not sure how it will go down.”
Steve could hear the Draaconian shuffling something along the ground as he responded. “You don’t know that. Besides, even if they are, they would never expect her to board a gravity skiff and go in the direction we are. They will never find us.”
Jane was unable to decide which person to side with. “Can’t we just ask her some of this? We don’t have the full story.”
Spoon began speaking as a growing scraping noise emanated from behind him. “We don’t know if she’s honest. She could be making everything up, for all we know she’s a wanted criminal. You have any idea the kind of heat I would be subjected to for helping a-”
Spoon turned around to see Copper sitting on the log right behind him. “I thought I told you to stay over there!”
Copper responded bluntly. “You said remain seated. I didn’t stand up, I just scooted the log over here.”
While both Steve and Jane were impressed by the raw strength, Spoon was anything but impressed. “Can you not follow simple instructions?”
“I can follow them, I just try not to as much as possible.”
Spoon turned to Steve as if he had just found proof. “See?! Do you really want a belligerent Draaconian messing with stuff on our ship???”
Steve sighed, and addressed Copper directly. “Copper… I have one request. Please tell us exactly why you are on the run. Leave nothing out, do not lie, and I personally guarantee we will not turn you away.”
Copper eyed Steve suspiciously, eyes darting between his two companions that also watched her studiously. She anxiously bobbed up and down on her toes, till she finally sighed and began. “My master was… really, really cruel. He would beat us, lock us in tight cages for several hours, even avoid feeding us when we misbehaved. After the first of us finally escaped, he had him caught and brought back to be killed. He didn’t actually go through with it, but… he beat that Draaconian within an inch of his life, and promised the next one wouldn’t be so lucky. So for a long time, I debated whether or not to try running. I decided I would rather die than live like that anymore, so I ran. That’s all.”
Spoon and Jane were silent, while Steve grew increasingly angry. He wanted to lay into Spoon for even considering leaving the Draaconian, but didn’t want to scare her again. So he suppressed his rage, and asked one final question to his two traveling partners. “So… any more objections?”
With none voiced, the group silently boarded the ship.
Copper ran around, using a small flame she held in her hand to light her way. “Wow… look at all this stuff! You guys even have beds!”
Spoon grumbled. “They are more hammocks… and please don’t touch anything!”
Copper was already halfway up the ladder to the top deck, when she turned around. “Um… can I touch this hatch? And the ladder?”
“...Yes, you may touch the hatch. But please, leave the controls and power station up there alone.”
Copper flung open the hatch and scurried to the top deck. The rest followed, arriving on top to find the Draaconian running around the deck like a overactive child. “It’s open air! You can probably see for miles from this thing! Where are we going!?! Wait, don’t tell me. Tempora? The land of Giants?”
Spoon spoke up. “Neither. We are delivering some cargo to a remote location deeper in the forest, then we are returning to Tempora.”
Copper leaned over the ledge, letting her arms dangle off the side. “Tempora… I’ve heard only stories. A magical land of friendly diamond people and towering trees without branches.”
Steve and Jane both looked at each other. Steve felt like he was about to tell someone Santa Claus wasn’t real. “Um… no, it’s nothing like that.”
She spun around suddenly at the comment. “WHAT!?! You mean there aren’t any diamond people?!”
“No, there are Drones mostly, like me and Jane. And some other races, but the majority are Drones.”
Copper’s spirit sank. “Oh…”
Feeling the need to give her something to be excited about, Steve decided to tell her some more. “But the trees without branches are real, I guess… they are antenna or skyscrapers, I think. But they are indeed very tall.”
Copper’s eyes reignited. “Really!?”
Spoon coughed. “Sorry to interrupt, but we really should be going. Steve, take the controls if you will, and let’s hit the road. We aren’t very far from our destination.”
Steve nodded, and quickly moved to the controls. He activated his split arms, and deftly set the levers into the correct starting positions. Spoon put his hand on the powering crystal, and within moments the ship had lurched off the ground and was again traveling through the increasingly dense forest. Copper looked around, wandering the deck as she whistled a carefree tune. Shortly, though, she became bored and began to annoy Spoon.
“Whatcha doin’?”
Spoon gave Copper a annoyed look. “I’m powering the ship. Please don’t bother me.”
“But why not? Aren’t you lonely just standing there not doing anything?”
“I AM doing something. I need to concentrate so I can keep the gravity output stable so Steve can properly control the ship.”
The ship bobbed suddenly, causing Jane and Copper to stumble. Steve frantically attempted to maintain control as the ship continued to swerve. Slowly, it straightened out after bumping into several trees with nasty sounding scrapes.
Steve breathed heavily, overcoming his moment of panic and calming back down. “Copper… please don’t agitate Spoon.”
Copper was not nearly as concerned at the near crash as the rest of the crew. “Why? I was just making conversation…”
“Just… go below deck for now. And don’t touch the gravity engine.”
Copper did as she was told, while the rest were silent for several moments. After a while, Spoon scoffed. “So, Steve… are you ready to admit I was right? She’s already causing trouble.”
“No. It was an honest mistake, she won’t-”
The ship lurched to the side, smoke starting to rise from below. Steve pulled hard on the levers as he tried to correct the shift. “Jane! Go check on Copper, find out what’s going on!”
Jane frantically scrambled to the hatch and flung it open, jumping down the hatch through a plume of smoke. Another crash was heard, and more smoke was rising from the opposite end on the other side of the skiff. Jane popped her head back up. “Copper started a fire! She was messing with the kitchen, and spilled burning oil on the floor! She had the bright idea to try blowing it out, and now our whole bottom deck is ablaze!”
Spoon’s face went white. “We aren’t long for the air! We need to land now!”
Steve was quickly losing his ability to steer. “We don’t have a choice! Hang on everyone, I’m activating the crash protocol!”
Pressing a button, the ship was immediately covered in a stasis field. Everyone was frozen in their current position as the ship fell out of the air. With a loud smash, it lodged itself into the dirt, and slid for several feet before finally stopping. The stasis field depleted, and the ship creaked and groaned under its awkward position.
Spoon and Steve rushed underneath the deck. The Stasis field appeared to have extinguished the flames, but the damage had already been done. Several holes in the hull threatened structural integrity while they were in the air, the engine was badly singed, and the walls had several contortions where the walls had been to crumple while heated.
Steve surveyed the damage to his handmade craft, a deep pain in his heart. “It’s… ruined. I’m gonna need to basically rebuild it from scratch…”
Spoon grabbed an unaware Copper by the throat. “You did this! Why couldn’t you just keep your hands off!?”
Spoon let go of Copper with a yelp as Copper heated up, visibly surrounded by an aura of thermal energy. “I didn’t touch the engine… as you asked.”
With a palm thrust from Spoon, Copper went flying backwards out of the wrecked ship. Spoon followed in a blur as a concerned Jane and conflicted Steve watched the fight unfold. The Draaconian was clearly outmatched, as any jets of fire from her fists were effortlessly pushed in different directions. Spoon fought in an almost disinterested manner, though still visibly angry with Copper. “What are you, class two?”
“I’m class three!” shouted Copper as she attempted to tackle Spoon. She halted in mid air before being flipped over Spoon entirely and landing flat on the ground. Spoon shook his head. “Pitiful… you aren’t even close to a threat to me. I can’t believe we let you onto our ship and you immediately crash it…”
Copper yelled with tears in her eyes as got back on her feet, only to be held in the air as she kicked and clawed at the out of reach Spoon. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to, I was hungry!!!”
Spoon looked around, suddenly concerned. “Uh oh. Everyone… we have company.”
Black masses of nightmarish shapes emerged from the darkness. The group was entirely surrounded by Vorpals, having approached while obscured by the darkness.
Copper hit the ground as Spoon released her, and Jane joined the group away from the Vorpals at the center of the formation. Spoon growled. “We are so close… I can lift the cargo, but I can’t do that while fighting them off. What now?”
An electrically charged projectile flew through the air and exploded with crackling lightning as it collided with a group of Vorpals. Everyone looked at Steve, standing with a still humming barrel mounted on his shoulder and a red targeting viewfinder over his eye. “Copper and I will hold off the Vorpals. Spoon, get the equipment. We are going to push through on foot.”