I flew with one human underneath each arm back to the meeting point. But the whole time I was regretting this mission. The moment I separated from Helen, all I could think about was that I hoped that she was safe. It was all that I wanted for her. When I was trying to concentrate on breaking out the human prisoners, all I could think about was whether or not she was safe. What if she got caught setting up the bombs? I could not allow her to fall into any danger.
So as I flew low between the trees with the humans, I could not wait to get to the spot where I was to meet her. I needed to know if she was safe or it would drive me crazy. Finally, I saw her standing next to Jared. Relief rushed over me.
“What the hell is going on?” one of the humans said as I set them down on their feet. They ran to Jared. I went to Helen's side.
“Are you hurt? Are you all right?” I said as I put my hands on her arms and looked her body up and down.
“I am all right. But we have to get out of here soon. I was not able to set off the bombs in the order you wanted; it was opposite. So it would lead them in this direction,” she said.
“I understand,” I said as I pressed a button on my armband and called my lieutenant.
“Lieutenant Baisen, I need you to send a ship to pick up three humans from the coordinates of my ship. Do you copy?” I said.
“Copy, Captain. We have the coordinates of your ship. I will send a transport right now,” he responded.
“Come on. We need to get back to my ship as soon as possible. There will be a transport to take the humans back to Willow Springs,” I said as I rounded up the humans and began to jog in the direction of my ship. Helen and the others jogged behind me as I lead the way. The entire time Helen and Jared were trying to explain who and what I was to them and that the Veruka really were friends to them.
Twenty minutes later, we found my ship. We stood there as the humans caught their breath and tried to understand what was going on.
“You are welcome,” I said. “But I didn't do it alone. These two helped as well,” I said pointing to Jared and Helen. I saw Helen look at Jared and Jared looked at the floor. There was something unsaid going on there. But just when I was about to ask, I heard one of our ships hovering nearby. It appeared over us and landed. The door opened.
“Take these three back to Willow Springs. Helen and I are going to continue forward on the mission to find her sister. Listen to these humans; they were captured by a hostile human colony. I want them to tell everything they know to Lieutenant Hyrax so that we can add it to our list of possible enemies to defend Willow Springs against,” I said.
“Copy that, Captain,” the soldier responded. Helen gave hugs to all the humans and said her goodbyes. Soon the ship was taking off into the air.
“We need to go too, Helen. We cannot stay in this spot. We are going to have to find another direction to get to the cyborgs. We are too close to the human colony, and they are probably on their way in this direction now. I am sure that they saw that ship. Get in,” I said to her. She went into action and climbed into my ship. I followed behind her.
Within a few minutes, we were in the ship as it hovered over the forest. Then I flew it above the tree line and past the shoreline to the water and then far out into the bay.
“Yes, that is exactly what I am trying to do. If we cannot see land, then those on land cannot see us, whether they are humans or cyborgs. Right now, we should be crossing the cyborg encampment if we are near land. I am going to go past it and then go to shore on the other side of it. That is where we will need to make our approach from. It gets us away from where we were before. We would have been sandwiched between the hostile humans in the cyborgs if we had stayed there. Now we will be on the other side, and the cyborgs will be between us and the hostile humans,” I said.
“Yes, I am still getting used to the short days that you have here on Earth. On my planet, the sun is out twice as long,” I said.
“It is? Tell me about your planet. I still can't believe that you are here, aliens on Earth… But then again, I never thought cyborgs would take over Earth either,” she said.
“My planet of Tivoso is beautiful. It is almost like Earth. There are tall trees and lots of plants and animals. We live in harmony with all of that. We live in tall towers; it is good for flying. But we also live along the ground at the base. Only the male are weredragons. The females cannot shift that way we can, and they are not like you human females on Earth,” I said.
“Yes, but similar. I mean that they are DOS Tsaile and obedient. The sole purpose is to create offspring and take care of the family home. But you, you are brave like a soldier. You want to use a blaster and set bombs and rescue. Females on my planet are not like that. It has been a welcomed surprise,” I said.
“That must be very boring for them, the females on your planet,” she said.
“Perhaps it is. I would not know. But mating with us is not boring; I can assure you of that,” I said giving her a look.
She cleared her throat but said nothing. I knew I had made her think about her agreement.
“I'm going to set the ship down, right here on the shoreline. It is too dark for us to attempt this rescue, especially because we do not know where the cyborg Camp is exactly. But it is nightfall, and we should wait till morning,” I said.
“But if we don't know where the encampment is, how do we know this is a safe spot?” she said.
“I am going to do a quick scout on my own, but not in the ship. It draws too much attention. You will stay in the ship till I return,” I said as I landed the ship on the shoreline of the bay.
“No, you said you would let me lead just as I should; now you will take that as an order, soldier,” I said as I unbuckled my seat belt and headed for the door. I could tell that she was silently protesting. But it was the best way. I walked out and closed the ship behind me.
I flew low then high over the trees. I scouted a good twenty-mile radius around the campsite. I did not see any sign of activity. This was good; it meant there was no one around for twenty miles on all sides of us. That was enough to allow us to get some rest overnight. I flew back to Helen. I opened the door, and she was sitting there with her arms crossed.
“No. I did not see anything. That is good news for now. We can have a restful night and get started just before sunrise.”
“Yes, I suppose that's good news. I just wish I knew where they had taken my sister,” she said.
“We will find her. Now we will set up camp and eat. We need to be rested for this rescue mission,” I said as I went to the wall and pressed some buttons. I pulled out a box of nourishment and a large jug of water. I walked out of the ship and set it down in the grass.
“Have some water, Helen. This is nourishment. The humans of Haven Brook were able to eat it, so I assume that you will be able to as well. I am going to get some firewood to build a fire. Don't wander off,” I said giving her a stern look.
“Yes, Captain,” she said annoyed. I liked hearing her call me Captain. Perhaps I could get her to call me that when she fulfilled her end of the agreement. It was a day that I was looking forward to more and more. I left her side and walked into the forest to gather some large logs. I had not planned on staying the night with her out here on the mission. In truth, I thought we would have rescued her sister by now and have her back at Willow Springs. When I set out in the morning, I thought that by nightfall she would be in my bed fulfilling her agreement. But that was not the case now, and now I was faced with something that would cause complete torture. I was going to have to keep my hands off of her. It was easier said than done.