[Danny]

*sigh* RIGHT. THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER I AM POSTING UNTIL SOMEONE OTHER THAN DRAG REPLIES! I REALLY MEAN IT THIS TIME!

CHAPTER 49

A wire suddenly came loose in Groz’s handfoot. Standing up hurriedly, he tentatively reached out a handfoot to where the forcefield had been. It passed safely through where the forcefield had previously been. Unfortunately, the extended handfoot drew the attention of the guarding Drone, which suddenly made a high-pitched buzz, which ceased when Groz withdrew his handfoot. Groz sat down on his bunk, hoping that the drones weren’t very quick on the uptake. After a couple of minutes, it seemed that the drone had decided that what had happened had been a statistical fluke that it could safely ignore, of something. For whatever reason, it returned to its usual stationary position, from which it could watch the cell silently.

Groz glanced at his father, who was asleep. Just as well, thought Groz, He’d probably just make a run for it and get us both killed anyway…

CHAPTER 50

As the Flyer flew, its occupants sat in silence, broken only by the occasional sharp intake of breath from Tillyn, as Gormanul tended to her bullet wound. Orim stared out of the windows, occasionally correcting the course of the flyer as it flew.

Turning back from the window, he cleared his throat. “So, you’re a female then, are you?”

There was a terse silence from behind him, then Tillyn replied slowly. “So it seems.”

“Never met a female slig before.”

“Neither have I.” With that, Tillyn turned her back on Orim, and Gormanul continued to sew up the wound. The silence enveloped them once more, until Tillyn turned back to Orim. “Where are we going now?”

“My village. My Home. The Mudoris Tribe.”

“Why there?”

“Well,” Orim hesitated, “It’s my home.”

“But do you think they’ll accept us there?”

“They’re very broadminded. Besides, can you think of anywhere better?”

Defeated, Tillyn groaned and sat back. “Sorry, but I’ve lost nearly all of my friends, and I’ve just been told that I’ve been mistaken about my own ****ing gender all my life, so I’m not in the best of moods right now.”

Orim nodded, but didn’t quite appear sure he understood. Tillyn couldn’t blame him. It was a bit of a stupid thing to be confused about, when you thought about it, but then she’d never even considered the possibility that she was female. After all, she didn’t know any other females [as far as I know, she added silently], and had always thought that Skillya was the only female slig in existence. She wondered how many others there were, wandering around thinking they were male.

Orim was suddenly tense. Tillyn sat up, ignoring the pain. “What is it?”

“There’s another flyer ahead.” Orim bent over the controls, pulling up a joystick. Their flyer bucked as he pulled on the joystick, and Tillyn cried out as Gormanul’s needle buried itself in her arm. As the flyer righted itself, and Orim switched back to autopilot, Tillyn pulled herself up next to him, burning with anger.

“What the **** did you do that for?”

“We were going to crash –” Orim began.

“Do you even know how to fly?”

“Well, no…”

“Snikkit.” Gormanul’s voice rose above the others. Tillyn turned to him.

“What?”

“On that flyer. It was Snikkit.”

Tillyn looked behind them, as if she could see Snikkit from here. “You sure?”

Gormanul nodded.

“Who’s Snikkit?” asked Orim.

“A high-up Glukk from the factory.” Tillyn frowned. “I wonder where he’s going…”