Here's chapter 2, hope you enjoy it ^^
Tired Disclaimer: Not mine, nothing but the plot and Sigyn. She's mine and no one can touch her :@
[To those who might want to leave me a review, you can try your luck at the Pokegirls' invision site (my profile's name is Kumitzin as well) or you can send me an e-mail to greenwarrior01@ (remove this to work) hotmail.com ] [Kudos!]
[Planet Earth, Local System, 07:00 hrs]
The UT-47A Kodyak was a drop shuttle designed for heavy lifting, as well as troop mobilization, dubbed “Combat Cockroach” by the brass of the Alliance due to its looks and durability. If one were to ask Arlen, however, he used to say that the person who designed it had been a moron that thought that no wings or stabilizers would somehow make a better ship; It had 8 thrusters (4 for directional control only, 2 for flying forward and 2 for flying backwards) to be able to move on and off a planet and make difficult maneuvers while under fire.
It all looked well on paper… but reality was a different kind of beast.
The ship shook, jumped and rattled like the cart on a wooden rollercoaster (and was a lot less safe), not to say that the bloody thing flew like a proverbial brick.
Arlen swallowed back the bile that had been rising in his esophagus for a while. How he hated them shuttles.
He’d rather take an escape-pod or a jump-suit instead of this shoe box. Around him the others were trading jokes about some damn Asari, completely at ease with the ride; what a pain to be the Captain and get motion-sickness from a stupid raft.
The ship jumped and banked to the right along with his stomach.
He tried doing some breathing exercises, if just to prevent throwing up inside his borrowed armor, since his was still out of commissions from The Event.
‘I’m the captain, dammit! I refuse to suffer the same jokes and jibes as when I was but a green boy!’
And yet, as the shuttle rattled once again, all his thoughts fled from his mind as the bile rose into his mouth and he attempted to swallow.
<-o o->
As soon as his feet touched the ground and his boots crunched the grass below, he felt better. There was nothing as grand as the feeling of his body being pulled by a world’s gravity.
And not just any planet, Earth.
He wanted to tear off his helmet and breathe the sweet air around them but, like any explorer, they’d have to check the air for toxins and establish a communication array to send the results back to their ship for a further analysis before he could do as he wished.
Arlen knelt where he landed, looking around for threats. He unlocked him M-96 Mattock VI Assault Rifle and waited until his team had dropped off to the ground and assumed their positions, before turning his head to the shuttle giving Laura a thumb up. He watched it ascend and then shot out of the atmosphere as he reminded his team what they would be doing: “Alright people, we spotted a valley a few clicks away from this position that has enough space for our the rest of the crew and gear. Also, we’re going to need to clear a path for the Hammerhead to land either in or close to the valley. Any questions?”
“No sir!” everyone chorused through their ICMs. They would continue to use the helmet-to-helmet system to prevent making any noise that could give away their position or intentions.
“Let’s get things going then.”
The shuttle had left them in a small clearing, on the southern end of what had been New Guinea, but since the whole place had merged with Indonesia and Philippines, they were at a loss of what to call it. Surrounding them was a deep tropical forest, however, the first thing they noticed was that there were trees that had been torn from the ground, and broken stones that had been just as big as the shuttle they’d just arrived in; the whole of it giving the place an artificial, worrisome look.
Still, as they advanced, they noticed that the rest of the forest was fine, green and mostly untouched, a fact that hinted to a non-reaper origin, since wherever they went, nothing but ashes remained.
He had been so focused on his surroundings that Lannis’ voice startled him “Sir, movement on our six.”
Arlen checked his radar to confirm the readings “lock and load people, this may be the reason why our landing spot was destroyed” working like a well oiled machine they sprang into action: Chambers and Lannis pulling a small metallic baton from their back that, once activated, materialized two hyper-holographic shields, behind which the four of them took cover. Their positioning would allow them to cover the front and sides of the small clearing, and fire without hampering each other.
The red dot on their scanners was moving directly towards them, albeit slowly.
“It’s cautious” Chambers resolved “An animal?”
“A rather bold animal, don’t you think?” Stevens amended; being raised on a farm, he had more experience than any of them together about animal life “If it were, it would be moving around us, not coming straight at us. This is something else.”
And it was just so; after some tense seconds the ‘creature’ finally exited the canopy, appearing within their range of vision. It’s bright yellow eyes cautiously studying them.
“What the-?” was the general consensus.
In front of them was a humanoid female with deep blue skin and mop of blue hair that flowed behind her like a veil; her face was almost human, except for a slight muzzle and the startlingly yellow eyes. Once the shock wore off, they realized that her face looked like that of a crocodile. She wore no clothes, and her striking female figure made for a strange contrast with the rest of her.
The creature observed them carefully for a few moments before she resumed moving, now around them, weary of the guns pointed her way.
Everyone was still mesmerized and puzzled by this creature, when Arlen noticed more red dots moving around the edge of the scanner’s range. “Attention people, we have multiple readings.”
“We’re being surrounded!” Lannis panicked, gunning the blue creature into the ground, which went down in a mist of dark red blood.
When Arlen saw the rest of the red dots move faster towards them, he had to make a decision, one he didn’t like “Weapon’s free, weapon’s free!” And he did just in time, because a massive rock-woman erupted from the canopy with a thundering roar that made his ears hurt; she was followed by a plethora of other creatures of different species that came from all sides.
But they had been fighting against the Reapers –the toughest bastards on the whole galaxy– for over a year and knew just how to respond to such tactics “Chambers, Stevens, topple the big one! Lannis, you and I get the rest!”
Chaos erupted, since none had the time to pick their targets, they simply reacted to the situation with extreme prejudice.
Stevens, threw his gun to the ground and launched and hit the stone-like golem with a powerful shockwave that made her fall on top of two of her comrades, producing the sickening sound of broken bones and ripped organs; then Chambers was there, hitting the creature with his Geth Spitfire, shooting 200 plasma rounds within a few seconds, which charred her stone-like skin and drew blood. Stevens advanced then, charging and releasing shockwave after shockwave on the biggest spot where her skin had fractured, until he cut through. When she stopped moving, he used her body as cover, until his headache receded and he could rejoin the fight.
Once the golem was down, Chambers threw the empty spitfire to the ground and pulled his assault rifle to help the others. Arlen was fighting against an angel-like creature, which had a metal armor that covered her whole body. She fought with a medieval sword –something he found extremely curious–, yet as he took a step to help his captain, he shouted “Go and help Lannis, I can take care of this one”
Rick nodded and turned on his heels to gun down the two other creatures that had the marine pinned down behind his shield. One was another of those blue-skinned, crocodile-looking girls, and the other was a woman with the lower body of a spider. The first shot a beam of water against the shield, but the construct held; meanwhile, the other one was climbing a tree, to try and attack from behind.
That would not do. Chambers concentrated on his powers and launched a ball of energy to the spider, when it hit, the creature was pulled away from the tree and left floating in the sky where he gunned her down easily. When he looked down, he saw the crocodile tear the shield from the ground and punch Lannis in the gut with her fist, smashing the boy against the same tree the spider had been climbing. The force of the punch must have been huge, because the boy didn’t stand up right away. Either way, this was not the time or place to be pondering semantics; Rick gunned the blue-girl down too, this one from the back. “Stevens, check on Lannis! I’ll go aid the Captain”
“Roger that” Steven’s tired tone came from his right, he had already retrieved his gun and was locking it back in place behind his shoulder blades when he crossed his field of vision. “Man, you’ve got to be kidding me! They were all females!”
Rick had noticed it too, which had made his actions harder; but orders were orders. Still, he ought to talk to Lannis about shooting women without cause, but only after having broken some bones, preferably those that wouldn’t make him a liability in combat.
When he was back to where the Captain had been fighting, he found him kneeling on top the armored –now mostly unarmored– girl, his omni-blade an inch away from her neck. “What are you?” he asked
In her eyes, one could see shame and amazement in equal parts.
Chambers locked his weapon after checking on his scanner and finding no more enemies nearby. “Sir, the enemy’s been dealt with”
The girl turned to him in fear “Even the Galem?!”
Chambers raised an eyebrow inside his helmet and turned to the corpse of the rock-like girl, she still lay unmoving; “Even her.” He said, turning back to the girl on the ground “It wasn’t much different from fighting Brutes.”
“Well done Chambers.” Arlen commended him, turning back to the girl “Now answer the question: What are you?”
The girl turned to him as well, probably trying to discern his eyes or face under the reflective helmet. “We’re Pokegirls” she answered “You have defeated me in fair combat, my life is yours now.”
Chambers was sure that underneath the helmet, the Captain’s face matched his forrowed eyebrows “If I let you go, will you attack us?”
She shook her head “You’ve proven your strength by defeating me and my companions.” Her face was contrite “To kill a Galem is no small feat, one that even I cannot try and imitate.” She sighed “As I said, you’ve bested me and I’ve already admitted defeat. I am yours to command.”
Arlen nodded and stood up, the omni-blade retreating and disappearing into his arm.
The girl stared at it wide-eyed “How did you do that? I know of no magic that would create such a blade.” she pointed at her bent and cut armor “To cut with such ease…”
The Captain shook his head, he wasn’t going to give away any information “It’s awfully complicated.” He held his hand for the girl to take, surprising her again.
When she took it, he pulled her to her feet.
“Watch out captain!” Stevens shouted from the other side of the field making everyone turn to see how Lannis was running to them, his weapon drawn and aiming at the girl.
Arlen’s instincts kicked in and he slid to a side, covering the girl’s body with his own and withdrawing his gun, but Chambers had reacted faster, throwing the boy against a tree with his biotics. The impact dropped his shields, allowing Stevens to close in and knock the lights out of him.
“Idiot. Why do we always get the stupid ones?” he asked to no one in particular.
Still, Chambers answered “Because the Alliance doesn’t like us.”
Arlen shook his head, when the two of them began arguing just like when they were kids, and was about to call them to attention, when a soft voice distracted him.
“You… protected… me?” the girl asked, and he turned to face her. She was clearly shocked, with tears shining on her eyes.
‘Just what kind of place is this?’ he asked himself, pondering if they had indeed landed on Earth. Still, he remembered that Laura had said that they were in an entirely different dimension, and that things were going to be different from what they were used to. ‘She just didn’t know how much weirder.’ He nodded to her “you pledged your life and services to me, that means that you’re under my protection too-” suddenly she was on him, her arms around him in a fierce embrace that would have broken a lesser man’s ribs; it had been so sudden and strong that his hand reacted, on its own, flying to his gun, but he left it there once he noticed that she was crying.
He stared at the woman, not believing or understanding what was going on; still he lifted a hand to indicate his team that things were alright; knowing that they were aiming at her already. If she threatened him in any way, she’d have to deal with three angry biotics.
She sobbed against his chest for what seemed like ages, during which he daren’t move, least he made it worse, somehow.
“That must be a record” He heard Stevens whisper through the ICM “Not an hour since we landed on the planet, and the good ol’ captain already managed to make a girl cry.”
“I’d be more surprised if he’d manage to nail her” Rick whispered back.
“You do know I can hear you guys, right?” Arlen deadpanned, making his two friends turn to him
“Yeah, that’s why it’s so funny.” Stevens chuckled and slapped Rick on the shoulder “Come on mate. Let’s give them some space, we’ve still got to babysit a marine.”
“Right behind you.”
Arlen shook his head and looked down, only to find out that the girl had stopped crying and was now looking at him with respect and something else shining in her deep-emerald eyes. “I’m sorry for crumbling like that. I’ve never before found a Human that didn’t hate or fear me.”
“Why?”
She shrugged “We are Pokegirls. The Creator ordered us to fight humans, so we do.”
“The Creator?” Arlen asked, totally lost.
She blinked and nodded “Sukebe, our creator, designed us as his weapons to fight and conquer the world for him.”
Arlen shook his head, totally lost and mumbled “It seems I have much to learn of this new world.” Earning a wide-eyed stare form the girl, at which he shrugged “Are you able to walk on your own?”
She nodded with a smile painted on her beautiful face “Yes, my lord.”
He raised an unseen eyebrow at that but let it pass, simply adding it to the list of strangeness in this world. “Good. We’ve still much distance to cover if we plan on finishing our mission today.” He looked her over, noticing the bent, charring and cuts that smeared her armor; fortunately her boots were still in one piece. He didn’t notice her blushing, however “You can explain us about the war and this Sukebe person while we walk.”
“As you wish, my lord” she made a strange kind of bow to him that made him frown, but he didn’t think she was mocking him.
“Let’s go then.” He had just turned around when an idea struck him and he turned back to her “Sorry, forgot to ask your name.”
The girl blinked “I am an Armsmistress”
He shook his head “I asked for your name, not your… err- kind.”
She nodded again “Forgive me, my lord, but I have no name to give you. The Creator made me an Armsmistress, but gave me no name. If you wish to refer to my person, perhaps you can call me what the others did: #137.”
“You have no name?” she shook her head again. The way she referred to her number reminded him too much of his own painful experience with Cerberus. Of all of his team’s experience, actually. “Then I’ll give you one” he said, his smile reflecting on his tone “How do you like the name ‘Andraste’? It’s the name of a war goddess in ancient Celtic mythology.”
Again he was rewarded with a crushing hug that had him silently thanking Roger for lending him his armor. When she let him go, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed his helmet, right where his lips would be.
Wolf-whistles and cat-calls sounded from behind him “Way to go Cap!”
The girl’s cheeks were flushed but she didn’t look in any way mortified or repentant; In fact she looked positively elated.
Arlen cleared his throat “Err. Alright then.” He turned to his friends “Andraste, meet Rick Chambers, –it’s the one on the left–, and Steven Stevenson –but you can call him Stevens, we all do–; they are my oldest friends and war-sworn brothers.” She bowed to both of them but didn’t leave his side. “Guys, meet Andraste, she’s a Pokegirl.”
Their answer was a chorused “What?”
She answered that question, as well as many others once they managed to wake Lannis up and ascertain him that the girl wasn’t going to hurt him… and made sure that he wouldn’t hurt her either. He made a face, but didn’t dare disobey a direct order from a superior, especially Arlen whose fame was that of a ruthless renegade.
She went on and on, answering each and all their question to the best of her knowledge as they moved towards a valley between the mountains, a place she had never been to.
“So, what you’re telling us is that your kind, I mean Pokegirls in general, were genetically engineered as sex slaves for humans?!” Stevens asked. All of them were having a hard time digesting what would soon become their new reality.
“Yes.” She nodded, walking between Arlen –who was leading the march– and Chambers “We must have sex to remain ourselves. If we abstain from it we become what we call ‘Feral’; it means that we lose all of our higher brain functions, becoming animals that rely purely on instinct. Each Pokegirl acts differently while Feral, but most of us will behave much like the animals we resemble.”
“Sir, I ask permission to help these girls out of their misery” Steven’s tone was something Arlen couldn’t fail to grin at “We should make it our mission to save them from going mad. It is only right.”
Arlen and Chambers chuckled.
“Oh! There is something else I forgot to mention” Andraste turned her head back and smiled at Stevens “Once you’ve had sex with a Pokegirl, she will become attached to you, serving you faithfully and without hesitation. She will do as ordered, unless that puts your life at risk; she will protect her own life so long as that does not put yours in danger.”
“That sounds awfully like the Laws of Robotics” Chambers quipped “Except that you failed to mention that a Pokegirl must obey all orders unless when they mean harming a human being. However, you did mention that Sukebe ordered you to fight humans, which invalidates that law.”
Andraste nodded and turned to face Arlen, who had kept silent the whole time.
“So…” Stevens began after a few moments of silence “It means that once I’ve had sex with a Pokegirl, she’s going to follow me around everywhere?” he sounded disappointed.
“Yes, unless you order her otherwise.” She smiled over her shoulder “But I wouldn’t worry about that, most of us Pokegirls have no qualms about sharing. So long as you pay attention to each individually every now and then, you can have as many Pokegirls as you can handle.”
“In your case Steve, that’s is a total of one. Your brain couldn’t possibly handle more stress than that.”
Everyone chuckled when at Chamber’s comment, which started a new round of friendly barter.
--
They moved swiftly, almost in a straight line towards their destination, meeting no more resistance on their way, but not for lack of presences since their radar showed red dots every now and then, but it seemed that their previous battle (although Andraste thought it was the feat of killing the Galem) had spooked everything out of their way.
“Movement at our twelve” reported Chambers and everyone tensed, falling into a tighter position than before, with Andraste in the middle.
“I cannot see a thing” she whispered “And I can fight too, you know?”
“Right” Arlen mumbled and caught the movement his Yeoman had reported, but the light was too faint to see clearly, he then switched to their internal channel and gave his orders “It seems to be another group of Pokegirls, but I cannot distinguish them well in this light. Stevens, you and I take point; Chambers, stay here with Lannis and guard Andraste, if you hear me call hurry to back us up.
“Aye, Captain” they nodded and the group separated. The Armsmistress stared at their silent communication, wondering if it was some sort of telepathy; she took half a step to follow Arlen, but Rick stopped her. “We are to wait here while they investigate.”
“Why do they get all the action?” Lannis asked, looking around.
“I remember you getting a lot of action not long ago” Chambers answered, not without an edge.
The kid mumbled in angry tones under his breath, followed by “you know what I mean.”
Chambers nodded “The Captain is looking out for us. He doesn’t want to lose more friends to a stupid war” he turned to the boy “Besides; he’s thrusting us to be their backup; if things go south we will be responsible for rescuing everyone. It’s a very important job, Private.”
The boy nodded “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I’m sure”
They stayed in silence for a few minutes in which Andraste grew more and more restless, twisting her hands and biting her lip until she drew blood; it was then that they heard from the others.
“Chambers, get everyone over here.” His tone wasn’t angry or hurt, which was always a good sign. “Lannis, you’re not to shoot at anything until I give the word, understood?”
The boy answered with a pained “Aye aye, Sir”, while Rick got everyone moving.
Not too far away from where they had been waiting was a clearing, in the middle of it they could see the Captain and Stevens standing together with a green-skinned woman with the biggest breasts anyone of them had ever seen.
“That’s a Boobisaur!” Andraste whispered to them “She’s a plant-type, used to grow crops and food for the troops. I wonder what they’re doing out here.”
The group entered the clearing and only then did they notice that way on the other side of the terrain, was a group of other plant Pokegirls. Four more Boobisaurs and a Bell Awesome stood under the shade of a large tree, talking among themselves but mostly just staring at their group.
“Are these your other friends?” the Boobisaur in the clearing asked the Captain and he turned to motion them closer
“Yes. We’re looking for a clearing in the mountains; it supposed to be close by.”
The woman nodded “Yes, you’re no more than an hour of walk away; but the entrance is very secluded, it will be hard for you to find.” She looked back to the others of her group “Perhaps we could lead you there, but-” her eyes returned to him, and she smiled.
“You scratch my back I scratch yours. We get it.”
“Well… it wasn’t precisely my back what I was thinking of…” her eyes roamed his body, but try as she might, she couldn’t see under the armor. She sighed and looked around to see it any of the other wore a less armored suit, and her eyes found Andraste. The Boobisaur yelped and jumped backwards, with two tendrils or vines protruding from her back while she hissed threathingly.
“Easy there!” Arlen said, jumping between the two girls. “She’s with us.”
“She is!?” her hostility transformed into surprise.
“I am” Andraste answered, “the man in front of you defeated me in single combat; I am his to command.”
“You-” the Boobisaur stared at Arlen, paling “you what!?”
The Armsmistress smiled “And together, the man to your right and the one on mine defeated a Galem.”
The green-skinned woman’s eyes were wide as saucers as she looked at the lot of them “By- oh!” she fainted.
“Great” Arlen shook his head and checked the vitals of the prone woman “There goes our guide.” He turned to Andraste and glared through his visor “Stop scaring the locals.”
She bit back a smile and winced, finally feeling the pain of her open wound. “Forgive me, my lord. I was merely speaking the truth.”
“I bet” Stevens laughed “Has anyone got some water? so that we can wake the plant-lady.”
“Boobisaur”
“That one” Stevens turned to the others, but all of them shook their head “alright, then we wake her the other way.”
“What other-” the Armsmistress asked but Arlen simply shook his head, grabbed her by the shoulders and lead her away from the clearing “Where are we going, my lord?”
“Apparently you will have to wait back here, until we finish our negotiations, lest your scare them again.”
She gave him a worried side-glance “I’m sorry my lord, I didn’t mean to. I- I just.”
“It’s alright” he said, only then noticing the blood on her lips, his hand cupped her chin and made her turn to him “What happened? Who did this to you?”
She looked away “I did… we’re not bonded and I- well, I got worried you would not come back. I- It was stupid of me, my lord.”
“Andraste” his tone was softer than what she’d ever heard, and it pulled at her heart like nothing else she had ever heard or felt “I am right here and not going anywhere for a while. Besides, as you explained it, if I can take on a Pokegirl like you single handedly, then perhaps you’re not giving me enough credit.” He lifted her head, wishing he had his helmet off; but since they still needed to test the air for toxins he couldn’t. “I am pretty good at taking care of myself.”
“Captain” Lannis called from behind; the man turned around to see Stevens helping the green girl to her feet.
He nodded to the private “go on, I’ll catch up with you in a moment.”
“Yes, sir.”
He turned to give one last look to Andraste “Be good now. Stay here until I call you or you spot any sign of trouble. Do I make myself clear?”
She bowed “Crystal clear, my lord.”
“Good.” He turned around and went back to the others “you will have to forgive our friend; apparently she is fond of running her mouth.”
The Boobisaur shook her head and her raised hands “Don’t worry Captain” her tone however, has now that of reverence, he also didn’t miss that she had called him by rank. The girl turned to the worried faces of the girls under the shadow “There are six of us, clearly one of us will have to share.” She frowned.
“Hold it there” it was Chambers who interrupted her this time “We can’t come out of these suits until we verify that the air is breathable and free of toxins.” He shook his head “We were hoping to do that once we reached the mountains.”
The girl blinked and turned to Arlen for confirmation, when he nodded she sighed. “They aren’t going to like it, but if I can have your word that you will help us, then I might have a chance at convincing them.”
“I thought you were their leader”
She shook her head “I was the one with the plan to escape the base, but only that. I’m no leader.”
“You’d be surprised” Arlen mumbled, and the girl looked up to him with her cheeks flushing with a tinge of red.
“Now I know why Alizeé chose you over the rest of us, poor mortals” Stevens admitted “Even if we’re more handsome.”
Chambers chuckled “Easy there Steve, I’m sure the Captain will leave something for us; besides, there are five other girls in the shade, we’ll let Andraste distract him while we take the others for a ride.” Everyone laughed but Arlen, who shook his head and turned to the even redder Boobisaur.
“Do you need any help convincing your friends?” he asked, changing the subject before the others could get worse in their quips. “You have my word that I and my men will help you.”
The woman shook her head “That will be enough, I think. Just give me a moment.” She ran back to her friends, and they could see her pointing to them, then to Andraste in the back and back to them. They all turned to them in awe and more than one fainted, being easily revived by the girl that looked much like a flower.
“Do you think they will really help us?” Lannis asked the Captain “For all we know, they might be plotting against us.”
He, in turn, looked over to Chambers, who was their lie detector –aka Psychologist– “are they?”
The yeoman shook his head “I don’t think so, but I’m working under the impression that they are humans, not human-based genetic deviants, so I could be wrong… although I don’t think I am.”
“You never do.” Stevens cut him “think, I mean.”
Rick snorted “Look who’s talking.”
Arlen rolled his eyes and addressed them with his best drill sergeant tone “Cut it out. The girl’s back.”
She was, and her friends too. “We’ve decided to thrust you”, she said with a smile plastered on her face.
“And if you try and betray us, we can always strip your armor off and have our wicked way with you.” Added the one that Andraste had called ‘Bell Awesome’.
Arlen’s tone was that of amusement “We’ll see.”
“Follow us, then”
“Till the end of the world” It was Chambers’ fault then, making the girls blush.
<-o o->
[Planet Earth, Local System, 10:30 hrs.]
It took them two whole hours to reach the clearing between the mountains; partly because the males loved to stop and stare at the Pokegirl’s asses moving in front of them, and partly because the only entrance to the valley was through a small goat trail that they had some trouble moving through. Particularly Andraste, whose bent armor got in the way more than once and she nearly fell to her death in several occasions.
“You should lose it” Arlen said to her once they had reached the topmost part of the path “the armor, I mean; or take it off until you can repair it.”
She hugged herself; as if she felt naked at the very thought “I’d rather die than take it off in front of everyone. I will repair it once I get some time alone.”
Arlen shook his head “Well, lose the helmet then. At least until we’re on safer ground.”
She called him ‘my lord’ and made her helmet disappear, albeit grudgingly. When the males asked how she did that, all she said was “magic” and refused to explain further.
Once they were on the top-most part of the trail their eyes were finally able to savor the terrain they had only seen from space.
It was green and pink everywhere they looked. On the floor was the greenest grass they had ever laid eyes upon, the threes blooming with flowers and some with fruits that looked ripe and juicy even at a distance.
Chambers, being a religious man was the only one with sufficient words to describe the experience it was to see this place for the first time “God did not want humanity to begin life in a wild or dangerous location. All the animals and trees were there. The Garden of Eden was a nature sanctuary—a paradise”
For the first time since ever, everyone agreed with him.
The Boobisaurs and the Bell Awesome weren’t as affected by the beauty of the place, but the Phoenix’s crew, coming from a war in deep space where everywhere they ever went was loitered with corpses from both sides and destruction, what they were seeing was beyond miraculous.
“Shall we continue?” The Boobisaur that was the ‘leader’ asked the males.
“Yes” Arlen whispered, afraid to break the spell. He took a deep breath and once again regretted having to wear his helmet, hell, he’d even shed his armor and run naked on the grass for all he cared. “Come on guys, we’ve got work to do...”
“But-” They began protesting, but he cut them short.
“We can come back later, once we’ve done our homework. Besides, we’ll have to give the others a tour of this place; maybe even use the long way.”
After a moment of contemplation and not without a sigh, they nodded; slowly and not really wanting to, they began their descent.