I think I'd better explain the reason why I have so many characters... The thing is, I think it's untidy to have nameless characters, even if they only have one line. I know I am wrong, but that is the way my mind works... Anyway, so I give my background character a name, but a few chapters later, I need another background character, so I think [for example] "Why not use Neb?"... But then these two scenes together will suggest something about the character, like Youthful Exuberance, or Toughness, so next chapter I might need another mudokon background character, but I can't use Neb, because he isn't like this, so I'll make up another...
And so on... Until my character list reaches 50 [which it now has]...
Anyway, I'll post ya another chapter... And from now on, someone please reply to them...?
CHAPTER 59
The flyer began to circle the village, seemingly looking for somewhere to land. On the ground, the masses of children of varying ages and their few guardians followed the flyer as best they could. Finally, the Flyer slowed, and began to descend in the Town Square. The villagers attempted to all pile into the square without getting too close…
The children waited with baited breath as their guardians aimed their bows at the hatch, which slowly slid forward, revealing a slig face peeping out tentatively.
Int cleared his throat. “Okay, now just come out with your hands up, okay?”
Crim’s reaction, however, was much less cautious, and was not what Int had expected. “Till!”
Tillyn’s eyes narrowed to focus on the small figure in the crowd, then let out a cry of joy. “Crim!” Leaping from the Flyer’s cockpit, she ran across the square, the hulking figure of Gormanul not far behind, and lifted Crim in her arms, hugging him joyfully.
Crim wasn’t quite expecting the embrace, but returned it relievedly. “We thought you were dead!”
Tillyn set Crim on the floor again. “We weren’t too sure about that ourselves…” She turned to Gormanul, who was his usual impassive self. “Say hello, Gorm…”
Gormanul nodded slightly. “Good to see you.”
Tillyn shook her head, and turned back to Crim. “So what are you doing here?”
“Oh, these people rescued us from the factory, and brought us back here.”
“ ‘Us’? Who else is here?”
Crim hesitated. “Jal, Sill, Meet, and Greeb have all been here. We, umm, we haven’t seen Rettick, and Groz is still in the factory, probably in trouble…”
The grin fell from Tillyn’s face. “Well, at least we know where most of us are… Where are they, anyway?”
“We’ve found out about the Logging, and the others have joined the warriors of this tribe in an attack on the factory and the logging operation. Where have you been?”
“We were caught by some of the Loggers and taken to the Labs, but we managed to escape.”
Crim’s eyebrows went up. “Labs?”
“Yeah, the – wait a minute, you mean you didn’t know about the Labs?” Tillyn looked concerned.
“What Labs?” Crim frowned. “We never heard about any Labs…”
“There’s a small Labship parked on the wasteland. We saw some pretty mean-looking weapons when we were there, they didn’t look too healthy…”
A voice from behind her spoke up. “The Warriors had better be warned…”
Int looked around the reunited friends to see the third occupant of the flyer climbing down the side. He thought he recognised the voice, and when the figure turned, he recognised the face, too. “Orim!” he called, running over to his friend.
“Int?” Orim ran to meet him, and threw his arms around him. “I thought I’d never see any of you guys again!”
“Arim thought you’d been killed by the Patrols!”
“Naah, just captured. They interrogated me a lot, though, they seemed to think I was some kind of defected scientist or something… Is Arim with the Warriors?”
Int laughed. “You bet! You couldn’t keep him away!”
Orim joined him in the laughter. “Always was a bit aggressive, my brother…”
“Ahem.”
The two turned to see Tillyn shaking her head. “This isn’t really a laughing matter. Those guys have no idea what they’re up against; I think we should warn them.”
Int looked at his feet. Orim looked back at Tillyn. “You mean take the flyer?”
“It’s the best way I can think of. Besides, don’t you want to let your brother know you’re alive?”
Orim nodded, soberly. “I suppose… Alright, well, we should really set off as soon as possible…”
Tillyn nodded, but Int looked back up at Orim in surprise.
“But you’ve only just got here!”
Orim put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “This is important. They might need us.” Putting his arms around Int, he began to back towards the flyer. “See you when we’ve won…” With that, he climbed up into the flyer without looking back.
Tillyn turned to Crim. “We wish you could come too, but-”
“I know, I know, I’d only slow you down…”
Tillyn paused, then laughed and hugged Crim again. “No, it’s not that, it’s just that the flyer won’t take the weight of four of us, sorry…” Putting his down again, she began to climb the hull of the flyer. “Like Orim said, see you when we’ve won.” Then she ducked her head down into the flyer’s interior, followed by Gormanul’s hulking form, whose only farewell was a cursory wave before he too disappeared. After a few seconds, the flyer’s hatch began to slide shut, and the flyer began to rise slowly into the sky again…
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Guns don't kill people, People kill people! Using Guns.
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. A suggestion: If you're going to use a character only once, maybe it wouldn't need a name, at all.
