Cloak & Laser: Episode II

Episode II:  Unlikely Saviors

Jaiko slowed his hoverpod to a stop as it reached the apex of the large sandy hill.  He peered through his shaded lenses at the barren, white landscape.  The 'Big Bowl' as it is locally known, sprawled before him.  The sun was near the horizon as he faced west, making it harder to see.  He slowly perused the flat land below, careful not to miss anything.  Being a kobold of the guinea pig variety, his vision wasn't very good, and mixed with the sun's glare, it was near impossible to see any detail.  Luckily, anything not white in color would show up in stark contrast to the snowy-white landscape.  Jaiko's nose twitched as he sniffed the stale air, but without any wind, there was nothing to smell.  Then he saw a blurry, dark spot far off in the distance.  He uncontrollably let out a wheek -- a high-pitched, rising sound similar to a whistle.

He whipped his head back from where he had come, "Gresh!  I found something!  Quick, fetch me the spyglass!"  Jaiko's high-pitched, tinny voice sounded much like a wheek when he yelled.

Gresh struggled up the hill.  His large maren frame made him perfect as a beast of burden.

[Maren - an aquatic and terrestrial humanoid race resembling several species of shark.  Most types reach seven feet or taller.  The great white variety can reach upwards of ten feet.  Gresh is of the hammerhead variety and is almost eight feet tall.]

He had two large seabags, one on his back and one on the front.  Several other backpacks and duffle bags, large digging tools, and waterskins were strapped and buckled onto his back and most of the bags were full.  A literal mountain of gear on a mountain of a man.  Gresh gave a short sigh, but it was a happy sigh.  When Jaiko gets excited, it almost always means something good.  Gresh's large, webbed, bare feet dug heavy into the hot sand as he picked up his pace.  Gresh had lived in District 4 for most of his life, and his feet had become immune to the heat and irritation of the white sand.  He used his tenfoot as support and grunted with every step.  

[Tenfoot - A ten foot long spear.  Gresh's is a slightly larger version with a thicker shaft and oversized spearhead.]

Jaiko flipped up one of his shaded lenses to try and see the object better, but the heat waves obscured it too much, but he was sure that there was something down there.  He let out a frustrated sigh before turning to look back at Gresh once again.  He was still thirty feet away and Jaiko couldn't wait any longer.  He spun the hoverpod around in place and its quiet motor hummed along.  The matte grey, semi-spherical pod leaned forward as it carried Jaiko down the hill. Going downhill, the hoverpod moves faster, and it didn't take long for Jaiko to meet up with Gresh, whom had stopped to rest when he saw Jaiko approaching.  When he was close enough to not have to shout, he impatiently asked, "Where is the spyglass?"

Gresh couldn't speak, or rather, he chooses not to speak.  There was an accident that occurred when he was young that caused him to bite off a good portion of his tongue.  He never learned to speak much before it happened, on top of the fact that he can't pronounce most words correctly anyhow.  He did his best to motion toward the right side of his belt, but he couldn't see that part of the belt, and didn't notice that the spyglass case was hidden behind a large pouch that was nearly overfilled with useful scrap parts.

"I don't see it. Is it on the other side?" Jaiko asked.  He peered with his left eye at Gresh's right eye, and he could see the worry and confusion.  It only fed his frustration, and he deftly maneuvered the hoverpod around him, only Gresh turned around at the same time.  "Ugh.  Hold still, you big galoot!"

Gresh's posture waned as he let out an inaudible sigh.

"I don't see it here either.  Where is it, Gresh?"  Jaiko didn't have a brow to furrow, but Gresh could sense the frustration and impatience in his tone.

Gresh shook his head, then switched the tenfoot to his other hand so he could feel along the right side of the belt.  He always kept it on that side, but Jaiko never paid any mind to such things.  He could feel the case under the pouch and he tried to pry it aside, but the tension on its strap holding it to the belt was too great and it fell to the ground spilling most of the small scrap inside.  Some of the more rounded objects rolled down the hill a ways.

Jaiko had whipped around to his right side again, "Dammit, Gresh!  I told you that pouch was too full.  Ooh, there it is!"  Jaiko frantically unsnapped the case top and yanked out the spyglass.  He quickly turned to go back up the hill and yelled, "I expect you to recover all of those pieces!"

Gresh let his head droop and faceplant into the coyote brown seabag on his chest.  It was going to take forever to gather all of the pieces into the pouch that he would now have to carry by hand.  If only Jaiko could help, but he knew the sensitive pads on his hands and feet couldn't handle the burning sand.  He carefully knelt down to gather the nearby pieces.  He was more than capable of carrying all the weight on his back, but the bulk of it all could easily cause him to tip over.

Meanwhile, Jaiko had reached the crest of the hill once again.  He fumbled with the spyglass to extend it, then put it up to his right eye; the eye that can see marginally better.  He strained to see better, but everything seemed dark.  He exhaled a sigh and flipped his shaded lens up and returned the spyglass to his eye.  It took him a moment to aim it correctly, but when he concentrated on the object, it was unmistakably a humanoid figure.  He felt the excitement grow, but he kept looking around the person to make sure there were no aboms around.  His body rumbled with excitement and he spun the hoverpod around and sighed when he saw that Gresh had yet to begin recovering the pieces that had rolled away.  "There's a person down there!  Hurry up, Gresh, it will be dark soon!"

There were a lot of reasons for them to want to hurry.  It was dangerous enough to be on the surface during the day, but at night, the aboms come out in full force.  If it's not them, it's the giant nighthawks that will get you.  On top of that, if the person was still alive, they likely didn't have much longer to live without care.  At this rate, they would be cutting it close and Jaiko spun around to go help Gresh pick up the pieces with his extended grabbing claw.

*     *     *     *     *

The air had cooled nearly ten degrees by the time they reached the flat top hill.  The sun was barely a sliver above the large hill to the west, and Jaiko flipped up both of his shaded lenses on his goggles.  He sniffed at the humanoid lying on the ground.  "Eww... Definitely a terran.  I don't know what it is about terrans, but they stink."

Gresh giggled at that and watched as Jaiko pulled out a small mirror from his zippered vest and attached it to the end of his grabber claw.  He reached to put the mirror in front of the man's nose and it fogged up and Gresh's eyes lit up.

"Well, he's still alive.  Roll him over."

Gresh used his tenfoot as leverage along the man's upper arm and gently laid him over onto his back.  The man's front was covered from head to toe with the white sand, but even if they knew him, they would not be able to recognize the person that lay before them.

"We're going to need to base him up.  That sand is going to eat away at his skin."

Without notice, Gresh sat hard onto the ground in preparation of removing all the gear.  The basing solution was not readily available.  When he landed, they both heard the thundering boom from underneath them.

"What the heck was that?"  That was when Jaiko noticed the small, squarish rise in the ground.  "Wait, is this what I think it is?  Gresh, hurry, get over here."

Gresh had many buckles to undo before he could get up, but he had become quite proficient in this process.  Once free, he stood up and stretched, flexing his arms around to loosen up his shoulders.  He let out a big sigh of relief before walking over and crouching down to assess the anomaly.  He wiped away the sand from on top to reveal a hatch.

"I knew it!  It's a bunker.  We'd better get inside there, and soon," he said looking over to the sun that had just disappeared over the horizon.  There was still enough late summer light for them to finish their task in safety, and Gresh was elated that they wouldn't have to sleep in their camouflaged tent.

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