Nimrod

Nims Are Foes

"You okay, Axe?" Sam asked as Axle jumped down.

Before he could reply, Isis came from nowhere and shoved him. His back hit the foot of his wooden armor while Isis barked at him.

Sam tried to stop her but Maca gestured to let her be.

"What is wrong with you?!" Isis said, almost choking up as her temper flared. "Do you have any idea what you have done?! You have put our lives in danger. My life, Sam's life, your life! Always remember this Axe, nims are our enemies! If we do not take them down first, they will take our lives instead!"

With Isis' hands clasped on his shoulders, he looked away. Not a word he uttered.

Embarrassed by her outburst, she screamed before she ran away.

Maca signaled Sam to follow her, leaving him and Axle alone.

"You can't do it, can you?" he asked.

"I'll get it right next time."

"In war, there is no next time."

Maca placed his heavy arm around him. "You know, Ice is right. If you will not be able to bring yourself to fight the nims, you and your team are as good as dead. If that's the case then I'll transfer you to other departments. Watching on the sidelines is better than you three killed on the get-go. "

"No!" Axle refused. "Please, Maca. We made a promise. We'll all make it to earth. To fight alongside you; alongside each other. I may have failed now, but I'll get it right. I'll make up to it, I promise!"

"Then make sure to break free from whatever that is holding you back, or that will break the bonds you have with them."

Axle nodded. "I'm sorry if I had disappointed you"

"Disappointed, who? Me? Do you think I hold you that high?" Maca replied laughing. "But kidding aside Axe, I'll never be disappointed to you or to any of you. But that doesn't mean that you should stop striving to be better."

The four rode a hyperloop capsule back to their quarters. As usual, Sam was nagging Maca to lend him some of his prisms that are from ironwood species of nims.

Axle and Isis were dead silent. They pretended to be exhausted to move or to even utter a word. They couldn't even bring themselves to talk to each other.

"See you later, kids!" Maca said soon as the capsule dropped them at the station.

"Hey, you on a mission or something?" Sam asked.

"Nah, Zero summoned me."

"Really? Can I come with you?"

"If you want Canor to take you into his department, then you're free to come."

"Nah, I'll pass then. I do not want him to nag me into joining his team. I don't want to spend all day watching algae grow. Such a boring task."

"Easy now, those algae are what nourishes our bodies."

"I know, I know. Indeed, their work is one of the most important things to sustain us, but what I'm saying is, it's not for me. The battlefield is my workplace!"

"And for now, this is your battle - fetch these items for me."

A notification popped from the screen inside Sam's helmet. It contained a list of prisms Maca needed and an access token.

"Great! An access to the restricted section of the prism library!"

"Don't get too excited. That is a temporary access will expire in an hour."

Too excited to check the restricted section, Sam waved goodbye and head on his way.

"And as for the two of you, if you'll continue to ignore each other, I well break your team up. I know two people who'd be very happy to have you on board."

With that, Maca went his way towards Sector 1 to meet Zero.

"H-hey," Axle said.

"I'm sorry, Axe. I need to control this temper of mine. Sometimes, it just bursts on its own."

"No, I'm the one who should apologize. I'll finish the job next time."

"You should, else you'll be spending our days mining for NpCB ores."

"Yeah. Maca's deadset on sending me to Dan's department. I'm not sure though about to which department he wants you to send."

"Oh wait. Not to that crazy old man's?"

"Oh, Right! Rico's engineering department. Come to think of it, he always mentions that your skills are best suited for their team."

"Stop it Axe! I'd rather be eaten alive by the nims."

The two laughed at each other as if nothing happened.

"To earth?" Isis asked. Stretching her fist towards Axle.

Axle replied with bumping her fist - "To our home".