Meladee glanced at the secure bunker. She couldn’t believe three men volunteered to be near that devastation. The ice tower still stood, though it would probably melt by the end of the following day.

When Meladee turned back to the retreating team, she saw Rooks way ahead. She ran to catch up and stopped just shy of Rooks’ side.

Rooks gave Meladee a sidelong glance and a hint of a smile. The Commander led eighteen of her crew and the androids northeast. They traveled beside the sea of flesh, keeping distance between Ul’thetos’ curled limbs and themselves.

Before they’d moved on, the Ferrans suggested an invisibility spell, which Meladee strongly opposed. She made a good case against the spell’s unpredictability. Lately, every time she used it, it had some sort of drawback. Besides, the thralls might have extra senses. Who knew if they could sniff the wind and tell the scent of an organic from a synthetic? And, if they planned to cast anything else, the invisibility spell would become null and void as each magical glow gave their enemies a good idea of where they stood. As long as no thralls saw them, they were already invisible to the great continent sized monster. Why waste the magic?

In the end, Rooks agreed with Meladee.

Meladee hoped to be on Rooks’ good side again, but she couldn’t help criticizing the Commander. “So, you’ve got all us mages clumped together. You do realize that’s not good magical tactics?”

“Meladee, even I realize that. And, I would separate you three if you were all full-fledged mages. I can send you wherever, but the Ferrans do best together,” Rooks said.

“One of us should have gone with the scout team.” Meladee frowned.

“No. Only you could do that, and the Ferrans need you to lead them. Trust me. Benham and the others will be fine. I sent both Eva and Sten to make up for the loss of your glorious spell casting. The team will scout ahead, and we’ll catch up, with our reinforcements.”

Meladee grumbled.

“As a favor to me, I’d like you to grumble more quietly,” Rooks ordered.

Meladee grumbled softer but leaned closer to Rooks, so the Commander could still hear.

“If only I could put you in the brig…”

“Commander, look.” A woman pointed at the fleshy sea. Atop the waves of flesh, an old ship sat.

Cernunnos stopped and gazed at the ship. The Ferrans crowded around him.

Cernunnos’ mouth erupted into a wide smile. “I think it’s an ark ship. That’s a specific type of vessel colonists used to reach Iruedim. Apparently, those colonists happened to be Lurriens.” Cernunnos stroked his chin.

“Ark ship…” Eder repeated.

Inez asked, “You didn’t know ark ships were Lurrien?”

“No.” Cernunnos shook his head. “Material from these ships dates at about six to seven thousand years old. So, we never considered them Lurrien.”

“And, this is important because…?” Rooks gestured for him to go on.

“It’s important because we have several corrections to make regarding our knowledge of ark ships. They’re Lurrien.” Cernunnos smiled.

“What’s so special about them?” Inez glared at the ship

It sat crooked on the flesh, and Meladee thought it looked like a vessel caught in storm, frozen mid-toss.

“Ark ships have a spiraling design. People live at the center, and the less essential stuff is, of course, on the outside. It’s kind of like living in a snail. The ships also lack any kind of writing or symbols, possibly to tend to the needs of many species.” Cernunnos spoke in Groazan.

The Commander nodded and added, “Someone must have manufactured them and sold them to other species. Girandola has a lot of similar activity.” She spoke in Girandolan, but she understood Cernunnos’ Groazan.

Turns out – Increased Learning has a lot of potential.

Meladee looked at the horizon and studied the ark ship. The more she looked, the more she thought it looked like a piece of crap. Cernunnos was right about the snail shape, and it disgusted Meladee to think of living in that coil, out in space no less.

Cernunnos borrowed some binoculars. He whistled. “That is a good-looking ark ship.”

Meladee shot him a glare.

Rooks caught Meladee’s eyes. The Commander’s expression betrayed her mindset as kin to Meladee’s.

Rooks put her hand on Cernunnos’ binoculars. She lowered the device from his eyes. With her other hand, she pointed at the ship. “What that is…is bait.”

“Yeah, couldn’t agree more,” Meladee said. “There’s no way Eva would have missed a ship that big when she was trying to escape. Of course, she wouldn’t take that. I mean...” Meladee held out her hand and just shook her head.

Rooks took the binoculars. “Yes. Well, we’ve gone far enough, and there’s a sheltered hill just to the northeast. We’ll stop there. That’s the closest you’ll get to that ship.” Rooks started for the hill.

Meladee followed.

“Wait,” Cernunnos objected. “We have invisibility spells. Let’s use one. We could sneak in and have a look.”

Rooks turned and walked backward for a few paces. “I know Ul’thetos promised not to move its flesh, but that looks like a broken pact waiting to happen. No one is studying the ship – invisible or not. Maybe, our Lurrien friends can tell you something more.”

Meladee copied Rooks backward walk, so as not to miss any drama. She saw the synthetics stare at Cernunnos. One or two shook their heads, denying any knowledge of the ship. Everyone followed Rooks, except for Cernunnos. The Ferrans hovered by his side, but both inched after the Commander.

“Cernunnos. Come walk by me.” Rooks patted her thigh.

“Well, when you put it that way…” Cernunnos followed.

Meladee almost laughed at his change in mood.

Gathered around an invisible fire, Meladee, Rooks, and the rest of the team waited.

Some crew patrolled the hillside and stood watch. The Lurrien synthetics stayed quiet but added their number to the patrols and guard duty.

Everyone else sat in the camp and steered clear of the fire they couldn’t see. Rooks had made an exception for the fire and allowed the Ferrans to place an invisibility spell on it. They marked the fire’s border with stones, but its heat extended much farther. Meladee watched it. Despite the spell’s improved nature, she caught flickers here and there of the flames.

During their rest, Rooks received two calls: one from her men at the bunker and another from Eva’s team. Meladee and Cernunnos listened in on both.

The bunker complained of boredom and an eerie quiet. Rooks told the small team to stay put as long as possible. They needed to keep an eye on the route forward.

Eva called and described an attack. Rooks nodded and cautioned them to turn back if they needed to, but Eva assured them that wasn’t necessary.

As soon as Eva’s voice faded, Meladee criticized the decision to leave the archaeologists mageless. Rooks shut the argument down. Meladee retreated, and Cernunnos followed.

“I’m right you know,” Meladee insisted. “They need a mage.”

“Sure. I’m right too.” Cernunnos pointed at the ark ship. “We could have gotten that ship.”

Atop the flesh, the ship moved. Ul’thetos wrapped a limb around the ark and waved it through the air.

Meladee scoffed, “You’re dead wrong. You just see that?” Meladee gestured to the ship. “It’s like Ul’thetos is saying ‘Come and get it. Archaeology’s ready!’”

A second limb wrapped around the ship, and Ul’thetos relayed the ship south, from tentacle to tentacle, probably hoping to catch them wherever they were.

“Ul’thetos.” Cernunnos shook his fist. “How terribly inconvenient.”

Meladee laughed and covered her mouth.

Rooks dozed nearby.

“Guess we wore her out.” Meladee shrugged.

“She’s just tired.” Cernunnos nodded at the Ferrans. “Them too.”

Brother and sister curled up together, resting near the containers that held the large bombs.

Cernunnos pointed at Alim. “And, him.”

Alim lay alone, fast asleep. His tablet of data showed a blank screen, having long since shut itself off from inactivity.

“We’re some hearty fuckers,” Meladee declared.

Muffled shouts came from across the camp, and Rooks started awake. She, Cernunnos, and Meladee jumped up. They ran to find the source of the noise, and just around a short hill, they found three synthetics smashing another. Alim joined them and gasped.

Alim stuttered, “What...what’s going on?”

“I don’t know.” Rooks said.

“That synthetic is infected.” One of the men pointed. “They’re...disposing of it.”

“Seems about right.” Meladee nodded.

The synthetics doused their broken comrade and themselves in cleanser. Alim retreated, but everyone else stayed to watch.

“Should we stop them?” Cernunnos asked.

Meladee gave him an incredulous glare.

“I don’t dare.” Rooks shook her head. “But, when Eva’s group reports again, I’m going to have some questions for her.” Rooks’ com beeped. “Speak of the devil. Wait, it’s just a message from the beach team. Reinforcements are half an hour away.”

Meladee started back for the camp, wondering what bothered her about watching androids tear each other apart.

Scratch that. That scene would bother anyone. Just means I’m not a sicko.

Meladee arrived back at the campfire and saw it well within the rocks. Suddenly, she realized what had distressed her. When they destroyed their buddy, the androids threw up a lot of sparks, and now the fire showed itself, free of its invisibility.

“Commander, incoming!”

The ark ship hurtled through the sky and headed for their camp. Meladee conjured a shield spell. The large, two-ringed circle encompassed the entire camp, creating the top half of a bubble.

Everyone ducked instinctively. All except for Meladee, who watched the ark ship crash against the bubble.

The ship creaked and rolled off the side. Thralls fell out, not expecting to find themselves on a slick surface, a mile in the sky.

“We made too much noise and light,” Rooks said. “Cast that invisibility spell.”

The thralls picked themselves up and got ready to peer inside the bubble.

Rooks hissed, “Meladee, the spell, before they see us. Everyone, get ready to leave! Be quick and quiet about it.”

Meladee hurried her invisibility spell and got one off just as a synthetic thrall peered in with wide, white eyes and bare, metal teeth. Immediately, Meladee renewed the spell, creating a stronger version, powered by fear. The thrall’s head snapped in her direction. It saw the second cast.

The other thralls seemed to track the sounds and scents of her comrades as they prepared to leave. The monsters lined themselves up in the right places and shuffled around, following the crew. Meladee hoped the lack of sight could confuse the things enough for them to get away. She thought it would, but as this adventure wore on, she felt less able to hide.