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𝐕𝐈𝐀 𝐆𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐄
Whirr, clink. Whirr, clink. Whirr, clink. Exhausted, I wiped the sweat from my forehead. After we all agreed to talk about my little episode later, Nya had put me straight to work-- and as her trainee, I had no choice but to do as she asked. Crouched over the top of the second aft thruster, next to Kai, I kept my face shield over my face as he welded the metal together.
Cole sauntered over, walking on the lopsided deck with the baby in his arms. "Whaddya think that baby's name is?" Cole asked me. I offered him a quick shrug in reply. "You think he looks like a Cole Jr.?"
Kneeling and resting my aching back for a moment, I took off my face covering and deadpanned at my friend. "Really? You want to name him after yourself?!" Jay, who had been shoved into the thruster's engine to do the main repairs, hopped out. He produced Pixal's sword-- the one that had caused the crash-- and threw it off to the side. He pointed his blowtorch accusingly at his best friend above him. "I think you should put the baby down and help us out." Jay raised a hand to his comlink. "Okay Zane, give it another try!"
"Zane? Come in, Zane." Kai tried.
"Oh, great!" Jay groaned, his expression falling. He slapped his hands on his hips. "Now the radios aren't working."
A hideous, screeching growl came from the jungle surrounding us. All four of us jumped. Jay did his classic leap, sprawling his arms in the air as he frantically looked around. Kai cringed and watched the forest as I instinctively caught onto his sleeve. Cole frowned at the jungle, holding the baby just a little tighter.
Cole stuck the kid in the makeshift baby carrier he'd strapped to his back and furrowed his brow. "What do you think that was?"
"Probably just a cute little critter?" Kai suggested in a shaky voice.
"Or a big critter," Jay laughed nervously, "A great big vicious critter with lots of teeth and claws and pincers!"
"You can't tell all that from how it sounds!" Cole countered. He leaned over the railing to point an angry frown at his best friend.
"Oh yeah?" Jay craned his neck to look up at the brunette. "If you listen real carefully..."
BEEEEEEP! We all leaped in fright again at the noise. The comlinks had finally worked-- only they came in much louder than before. Zane's mechanical voice carried over the links. "Did you guys say something?"
Kai chuckled nervously. He fixed his hair and tried not to look as frightened as he had been just a moment before. "Heh. Any luck reaching Lloyd?"
"Pixal and I have only been able to repair the shortwave comlink," Zane's voice came in response, "It appears we won't be able to find them until we get the Bounty over these trees." I groaned. Then, to Pixal (who I assumed was next to him up on the Bridge), he asked, "Ready to test the thrusters?"
