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| Undiscovered Territory | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAPTER FIVE:� Missed the Mark | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A small space.� Such a small space. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| It was simply unnatural to his mind, or the mind of any Namek in full possession of his faculties.� Accustomed to a world of flat plains and no visible boundaries, the prospect of a cramped enclosed area was a frightening one, indeed.� While this was certainly not the most frightened that Dende had been in his life, he had to admit that it would make the top ten in his list. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| He'd been in enclosed spaces before.� Back on Earth, he'd had to live in them for quite some time.� The Earthlings, for some reason he could not fathom, seemed to like closed-off places, and bunching many people together.� How did they stand it?� Despite all his time spent there, he had never gotten used to it.� He simply could not. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| What made things even worse was the fact that the room he and Scargo were in gave the impression of being larger than it was.� The dimensions of the room were not in doubt, but access to them was.� A barrier, only visible when touched, kept them confined to a space much smaller than the actual size of the room.� A trick of the eyes, and a rather cruel one at that.� To tempt so much those seeking simple freedom . . .� These were a vile people indeed. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Warily, Dende watched over the brim of his cup as the last of the white-clad strangers left the room.� He was grateful for the water that they had provided, but he had little doubt that it was not brought for their own comfort.� If that scientist wanted to run tests upon him and Scargo, she was likely to want them in prime physical shape. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| He let out a breath as he and Scargo were rendered alone in the room once more.� The room before them was clean, now:� no scattered papers, no loose wires, no strange substances bubbling out of their containers.� Normally, to see something so clean would be calming, reassuring, but in this case held only a promise of pain and fear. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Dende," Scargo said quietly; neither of them had risked speaking while the room had been occupied.� The younger boy's face was wrinkled� with worry.� "We've really gotta get out of here.� What those people said was scary." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dende would have to agree.� While he didn't know what all the words meant -- many of them were quite large and sounded technical -- he understood enough to know that things did not bode well in their case.� From what he'd heard, the scientist, Doctor Gneiss, was not one to be delicate with her test subjects. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I know," he agreed, setting his cup aside.� "But I haven't figured a way out of here yet." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Scargo looked up at him, expression filled with hope and trust.� "But you will, right?" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Um . . ."� Dende paused.� He appreciated Scargo's faith in him, even as he cursed it.� Such pressure on his shoulders was overburdening.� Still, he could not let him down by letting him know that, and thus smiled weakly.� "Sure I will." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I know."� Scargo nodded.� "You stood up to that monster that destroyed home.� You can do anything." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The unabashed praise . . .� Dende wished that he deserved it.� He really did.� But he wasn't anything special, or any braver than a normal person was.� He'd only stood up to Frieza because he'd had no choice.� He had been present when the monster arrived, and then saw no opening to escape.� At least not when he would have taken one.� Those times, either Kuririn or Gohan had been badly hurt, and leaving them like that when he had the power to help had never been an option. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Despite what Scargo believed, he was no hero.� He was just someone who had gotten stuck in a bad situation. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I'm sorry," Scargo spoke up after a moment. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dende furrowed his forehead in puzzlement.� "Sorry for what?" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Well, I'm talking to you while you're trying to figure a way for us to get out of here.� You probably can't think very well if I'm talking."� Scargo scooted himself into a shadowy corner and bowed his head.� "I'll just be quiet now." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Scargo . . ." Dende tried, but gave up.� Hero-worship condemned him again.� He didn't need silence to think.� Nor did he need to think much at all.� That was something he did far too often, anyway. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| But what else was there to do?� Just sit there and wait until Doctor Gneiss returned and decided to start experimenting on them?� It was certainly not an appealing option.� But he'd get nothing accomplished if he just sat still and thought. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Carefully, Dende climbed to his feet, tossing his cup aside.� His leg still wobbled underneath him, and felt quite strange with it being healed without but not within.� It felt almost hollow, and while that did not bother him much while he sat, it almost made him ill when he stood. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shaking his head to ignore the odd sensation, Dende reached out his finger again, tentatively.� Bracing for the pain.� As soon as the tip of his claw went too far, the barrier flashed into existence once more, a blinding red light.� He jerked his hand backward, not in much pain since he was careful not to have let it touch his flesh, and frowned.� This was going nowhere. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "You're never going to stop that, are you?" a familiar and unpleasant voice popped up.� "Is all of your race so thick-headed or is it just the children?" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Much to his own surprise, Dende found himself tempted to make a sarcastic retort, which was very out of character for him.� The enclosed space must have been getting to him. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Doctor Gneiss walked casually across the room, calling out over her shoulder, "Grab one of the little ones on your way through, Scree; it's about time that I was able to get started." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Another figure emerged from the doorway, short and pudgy with bright orange skin.� Its mouth looked to be almost wider than its face, and its eyes bulged halfway out of its head in a manner that would have been comical if not for the gravity of the situation. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This new figure, Scree, waddled toward him, and Dende shrank back a little, involuntarily.� Apparently not noticing or caring about the unfavourable reaction, Scree pressed a few spots on the wall -- probably a control pad, Dende presumed.� A brief flash of red sprang up, followed by an odd hum, as if the machinery around them was feeling sick. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The controls for the barrier . . . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Ahh!"� Dende could not stifle a yelp as Scree's hand shot out with unexpected speed to take his arm, and pulled him to his feet.� Still unsteady and feeling a grinding pain in his shoulder, he struggled as mightily as he could to escape, but with no success.� His assailant didn't even look annoyed. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Come along now, little one," Scree said in an almost sympathetic tone.� "No sense in keeping the doctor waiting.� As you've likely seen, she can be the impatient type." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Dende!" Scargo called out, rushing from the corner in a wave of worry.� But before he could get far, Scree punched another few buttons and the younger Namek found himself caught in the barrier.� He let out a strangled scream before falling backward. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Scargo!"� Dende tried more vigorously to escape, but was still denied. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Now, now little one.� Your young friend is quite all right.� Best to worry about yourself now." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| And Dende found himself being dragged across the room, to a door on the other side that he hadn't seen earlier.� It lead to a smaller room, which was occupied by Doctor Gneiss and many other unsavoury looking things. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| As he was pulled into that room, Dende caught a glimpse of Scargo regaining a sitting position and looking at him with fearful eyes.� Dende wished that he could find some way to be reassuring.� But right now he found himself following Scree's advice, worrying about himself. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The door whooshed shut. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| * * * | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Something bad had happened.� He had known it would, had known it all along. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Whelk flew high above the grass topped buttes of the planet, eyes open for any sign of the missing children.� It seemed that his preparation over the years might well end up paying off.� He managed some smugness out of this fact, though a part of him wished that he had been just being paranoid like many of the others thought. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Others such as Limpet, who few along ten or so feet below him.� While Limpet had always been a fairly skilled and powerful fighter in his own right, he had never seemed to deem it necessary to keep up training between potential battles.� It was infuriating, to say the least.� And quite the waste of a potentially fine fighting partner.� So much potential, all put to ruin. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Still.� He was helping now, so Whelk could not bring himself to resent the other Namek entirely.� "Have you seen any sign of them yet?" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Nope, I'm afraid not," Limpet called over the wind -- softly, since their race was gifted with acute hearing. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Whelk cursed under his breath.� Hours of searching and they'd gotten nowhere.� Absolutely nowhere.� It was frustrating, and a blow to his pride. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "We've likely been overreacting to all of this, you know," Limpet said, in an infuriatingly light tone.� "It isn't as though children don't simply go wandering off for awhile.� I know that I did it when I was a child." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Whelk snorted.� "Absent minded even back then, were you?" he retorted, levelling his altitude with that of his companion.� "Children may go running off from time to time, but I know these ones a bit.� Scargo may lose track of time and forget to come back., but I've never seen that kind of behaviour out of Dende." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "If you say so," Limpet replied with a long-suffering sigh.� "I was merely offering an opinion.� It isn't as if I'm going to abandon the search." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Whelk didn't even bother dignifying this with a response.� Why he'd had to end up paired with Limpet on the search . . .� Oh, they got along just fine much of the time, despite the latter's silly tendency not to take things seriously; in turn, Limpet had always insisted that he was too uptight, and needed to relax every once in a while.� Privately, Whelk had decided that silly game called golf had addled the other Namek's brain.� It did that to a lot of brains actually, though he was not about to insult his village elder. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| His eyes searched the ground below, his limited abilities to sense ki stretched out across the field of his vision.� Nothing registered on either sense.� But he could not shake off a grim sense of foreboding.� Not so much that they would not find the children, but that it would be too late once they did. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ruthlessly, he shoved that thought aside.� Perhaps Limpet did have a point about telling him to lighten up.� Not that he would ever concede that publicly.� The children were fine, and would surely remain so once he found them. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Whatever threat had claimed the children -- and he was sure that there must indeed be some kind of threat -- was going to pay for disturbing his people's long fought-for and well-deserved peace. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "How much longer do you suppose we'll be at this?"� Limpet's whining once again. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "As long as it takes!" Whelk snapped, his patience wearing thin.� "Why are you always asking such ridiculous and pointless questions?" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "There is no such thing as a pointless and ridiculous question," Limpet countered with a grin.� One that faded when Whelk gave him a sharp look.� "You're quite poor company today.� Poorer than usual, in point of fact.� I'm beginning to think that I would be having more fun paired up with Chiton." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| With a soft harrumph, Whelk increased his flying speed, in as much an attempt to end the conversation as continue the search for the missing children.� He'd probably being enjoying himself more as well, were Limpet to have been partnered up with Chiton for this mission. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| After all, why not stick the annoyance with someone who deserved it? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| * * * | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| He flew alone.� Just like he did almost everything.� None wished to be partnered with him on the search, important though it was.� He had known this in advance, and had spared them the trouble by merely flying off on his own. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No one had raised an objection. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| While the others had taken routes to the flatter areas surrounding the village, Chiton knew better.� The odds that the children would be there . . .� They'd disappeared during a game of hide and seek, and would therefore look to the rougher terrain.� Simple logic and nothing more.� He would have shared it, but no one had thought to ask. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Elders did not understand the heads of children.� Chiton liked to think that he did, being barely out of childhood himself.� He even still played those Earthling card games, though by all rights he should have grown out of them by now. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| And turned to playing golf, apparently.� Bah. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thus only being a young adult, and still engaging in activities that surrounded him with the very young, he was all the better to understand their mindset.� But how many people listened to those his age, anyway?� He had a few decades more to live before any number of people would consider his musings reasonable. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| So yes, he was on his own most of the time.� By circumstance and his own choice.� The other Nameks were afraid of him.� The ever-silent one.� The one who coldly observed from a distance, evidently gathering information for some form of trouble.� He was actually halfway surprised that nobody had expected him of wrongdoing at the news of the missing children.� It sounded like something that they would do. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How a race such as his that preferred to have its villages spread wide, all but cut off from each other could not understand that a person wanted his own privacy was something that was beyond him.� Even through all of his silent observations, he was never able to come up with a reason. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nimbly, he weaved through a small copse of trees, eyes scanning for any sign of bands of pink flesh or various colours of clothing.� No luck.� He wove around rock pillars, stopped to peer into caves, all to no avail.� Very strange, indeed.� He would have figured to have found at least one of them by now. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| He was not worried.� Worrying was not in his nature, a waste of time that could be used for logical thought.� That he'd as of yet found nothing, was a mild annoyance and nothing more. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| As a final resort, he opted to use a trick that he had learned while they had all spent two years on that strange planet Earth (or whatever it was called).� He paused in midair, and closed his eyes, casting out his senses.� It really was a simple trick once one got the knack of it. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nothing pushed back against his senses in the near vicinity, and so he cast them out further, straining.� He was still rather ill-practiced at this technique. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Finally, he felt something.� While he was not a good judge of such things yet -- though he hoped to be in the future -- he had the distinct impression that it did not belong to either of the objects of his search.� For the first few weeks that he had practiced this ki sensing business, he had discovered that all of his people had a distinctive aura.� Sedate, but with a violence lying far deeper below the surface.� It did rest a little higher in warrior class Nameks, though.� Which was hardly a surprising discovery. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The aura he was sensing was far too powerful to be one of the native animals.� Thus with his own people also completely ruled out, that must mean that it was some kind of alien force.� How positively fascinating. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| He altered the direction of his flight towards the strange aura.� Most would have rationalized this action as a strong possibility that this aura was the cause of the children's disappearances, but Chiton was not one given to fooling himself in such a manner.� He was just plain curious, and unashamed to admit it. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The sky was a greenish haze around his vision, blurring by him at a high rate of speed.� Clouds were insubstantial to him, and indeed he did not notice if he passed through any on his way.� All his attention was focused on that unfamiliar aura, that unfamiliar presence that had sparked his interest so. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A speck came into view ahead of him, gradually growing into the shape of some bipedal being. �The being turned as if detecting his presence, and he took in its features.� Flat black eyes, purple and orange skin . . .� A rather interesting looking creature, if a bit ugly. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All these details were taken in the space of a second.� It was all the time that Chiton had before the being raised its hand and fired. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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