Beyond Sol

Chapter 4

Lightning encased the Spectrum, I saw an explosion, We were all suddenly in a big tunnel, Red flashing lights and alarms going off. I peered out the front window as we were all being shaken around like something straight from hell. I saw a distorted image of Earth, But it wasn't orange and hazy. It had a blue atmosphere, Blue oceans and waters, the ground easily identifiable. "AETHER, What's happening?" I kept flicking the kill switch, "Anomaly present in warp drive, Destination: Earth." AETHER Said back, "Crap, How is it blue?" I asked. "Error." Is all I got back. We exited warp, Flying into the Earth system, I looked at the moon, No lights, No colonies. "What the hell?" I checked the course, "Atmospheric contact in 5, Nearest landing place...Calgary." I grabbed the radio, "Spectrum1921 To Calgary ATC, Come in." A static crackle "Hello? Spectrum1921 Is NOT A aircraft call sign, Who is this?" I sighed, "Requesting landing on runway.... 17/R." I waited, "Granted." The Heat shield deployed, Again the excess elements hissing from the engines, We hit the atmosphere, "Spectrum isn't meant to handle Earth's atmosphere." Plasma covered the windows, "Integrity holding at 89%" The plasma started to fade away as we slowed, "Bogeys on radar." I announced, Heading to the runway. 2 F-18's Pulled up on our side, "F-18's Are decommissioned, And have been for 70 years..." They made hand signals, Signaling to the ground. I panned over to the other console, Taking aim with the cannons, Firing 2 holes into both of them. "Don't even try." I sighed. Still descending, "Spectrum1921 Requesting imminent ground crew to RW17/R." I spoke into the radio, A thousand feet out, "Deploying gear." I said, As I got a message from ATC "What in the name of god is that? That ain't no A380 son." I sighed "It's complicated." As the rear wheels touched down, A drag chute deploying from the engines, The front wheel came down, Spoilers and air brakes came out. The Spectrum came to a full stop, Emergency crew pulling up, Old vehicles. I kept my hand on a button labeled "AKD" Standing for Auto Kill Drone. It was around 2 O'clock in the afternoon, And thank god, Summer. I heard loud speakers "Exit the vehicle with your hands in the air!" I suddenly got a vision, Back on the Ixtal, Gunshots flying everywhere, A blood bath. I snapped back, Going on our loudspeakers "Back away from the vehicle, Now." A shot was fired into the hull "Shots fired." I hit the button, 3 Drones flying from the top, Mounted with several guns and turrets. They flew around the officers, Scanning them and their weapons. "Their weapons are weak. Compared to us, We can take them out easily." I checked the calendar. Instead of 2126 January 2nd it showed 2020, June 13th. "The anomaly, It shifted our warps, Abilities you could say, We have temporal rifted 106 years into the past." I sighed. "AETHER, Scan air quality." The scans came back, Great, Absolutely breathable. I got up from my seat, Walking to the airlock. It definitely felt a bit weird to walk in this section. I opened the first door, Then opening the second door, and walked down the stairs. I had my hands in the air "Relax." I had weapons trained on me, "Er, Where exactly are we?" The 7 officers looked at me like I was mentally insane. "Calgary, INTL Airport." Calgary doesn't exist in 2126. I thought to myself. "So uh, What's exactly happening?" I asked, "Your under arrest, On the ground." An officer said, "Not happening." I said back. I pointed at one drones behind me "That's, An auto kill drone, It'll take out all of you in 5 seconds." An officer fired a shot into one of the drones, I kicked his face, Grabbing his gun. Smashing it into another offices face "We good here? I hope so." I said as they all had quite a terrified look on their faces. They nodded slightly, One shooting a shot right by my head, The AKD Firing 3 shots into him. "Flee, Go away." They all kind of just ran, In terror. The other 4 walked out, Jogging down the steps. "Drones scared 'em off." I said to them, My watch buzzed "Warp drive active." It read "Inside, Inside, Inside." We ran up the steps, Closing the airlock behind us. The Spectrum disappeared into the rift, With us. We appeared in a tropical place. I checked my watch "Year, 2056, Reality A918." I thought, "NASA Knew about the anomaly, They equipped the watches to track realities as well.." We were in a desert, The Mojave desert. I opened the airlock again, Jumping down. "It's hot." I sighed, I heard engines, Dirtbike engines. We saw 4 Dirtbikes in the distance, Going off sand dunes. I waved my hands "HEY! HELLO!" I shouted, One noticed us. Turning to us, The others following. The 4 bikes pulled beside us "You guys lost? What in the hell is that?" One pointed at the Spectrum "Long story." I sighed, Panting a bit, He introduced himself "I'm Jackson." Jackson from the Ixtal? I thought "I'm Carter, That's Eliza, Muhammad, Amelia, James." I nodded, "Nice to meet y'all" He said. We heard Jet engines roaring the background "Crap, Get down!" He shouted, Us all dropping to the sand. The Spectrum cloaked. "What's happening?" I asked "The Bowsers." I was confused, I didn't mind asking anything though. 3 Massive gunships flew above us, At Least 30 meters wide, 100 meters long. They had atleast 30 Jets following them as escorts. They flew past, Not suspecting anything. We got up again. "They're the enemy's, They destroy and salvage anything they can find. They have thousands of gunships and fighters, A limited supply of ground troops though." I nodded. "We are from the year 2126, We were on the first mission to Alpha Centauri, Our warp drive had an anomaly after passing through Neptune. It malfunctioned and sent us here." He looked at us "That is...Quite a story." I nodded "Come inside, We will store your bikes in our hanger." He nodded, As we grabbed the bikes, Rolling them to the rear. An elevator came down as we rolled the bikes on, The elevator going up as the bikes rolled in. I tapped something on my watch as a stair case unfolded from the airlock. It was around 12 in the afternoon. We walked up, The Airlock wide open, As the atmosphere was breathable. The 4 kind of looked in awe as we entered the Spectrum, This was of course 72 Years past their timeline. "This is our vessel, The Spectrum, Capable of Interstellar travel and long habitation." They looked around, Trying not to touch too much stuff. "Come to our cafeteria, Have a bite." They followed us as we walked to Ring 1. We all climbed up the ladder as we reached the top, Walking into the Cafeteria. There was some turkey on the plates on the tables. One asked "What's 2126 like?" I sighed "Earth is polluted, Need an oxygen mask, Can barely launch from earth, We have colonies on the moon, Mars, Titan, And Triton, I assume you have colonies on the moon and mars by now." They nodded. "The Bowsers, Where did they come from?" I asked, "Ceres, Came from an underground colony, They have since colonised Earth and most people are slaves." A bullet flew through the hull, Landing beside me "AETHER, Lock down the ship, ASAP." The plating covered the entire vessel, We all sprinted to the bridge, The bikers slowly following. We reached the bridge, The bikers casually taking a seat "AETHER What was that?" AETHER Loaded "Cannon bullet from unidentified gunship." I sighed "Bowsers." Before flipping switches above me "Begin engine ignition process." Fuel valves opened, As we heard the liquid uranium flowing "Venting oxygen, Now." As the Oxygen vented the engines ignited, This was the common way to fire the Spectrums engines. The Spectrum began rolling in the sand. "You, Jackson, Where are their weak points? They look armoured as hell." He thought for a second "Vents and Engines." They didn't really have wings, Instead 4 big vertical engines stretching from the sides. The Front wheel pulled up from the sand, Turning the sand into straight glass. The Spectrum left the surface "Amelia get on weaponry." She rolled over to Weaponry, "Taking aim." I heard the gunnery turrets shifting. "20 Thousand feet." Muhammed said. "Fire." A grenade got fired directly into a vent. "3, 2, 1." The grenade went off, An explosion blasting a giant hole in one of the gunships, It banked and collided with another gunship. "Whoo, Double kill" The Jets got a lock on us, One of the bikers said "Should we be worried about that" I sighed, "Nope" Around 15 AKD's deployed, Firing shots into all of the cockpits. 2 Jets pulled up "Launching" A rope got launched at them, Tying them together as they collided. We levelled off at 40 Thousand feet. The last gunship pulled behind us. "Raise thrust" I said as the thrust reached max, Plasma getting blasted into the gunship. It now raised just above the engines. It had a cargo bay door on the bottom of it that lowered. A man jumping from it on the hull. I got my oxygen mask and smashed the window, Climbing onto the top. I ran towards the back. I threw a kick at his face. He wiped the blood. We started throwing punches, I kicked his shins, and threw him to the ground. I grabbed him by the neck and held him over the edge "Who are you?" I asked, He didn't say a word. "Don't wanna talk? Okay" I dropped him as he plummeted 40 thousand feet to his death. I fired 2 shots into their cockpit pod. It started to bank as the pilot was dead. I threw a grenade into their engines now. It spewed flames before exploding. I grabbed my short range radio "All bogeys down." I saw the thrust lower down as I said it. I flung myself into the hanger now. I walked down to the bridge, Some staring at me. The window glass was essentially instantly remade. The Spectrum started to descend now. "Bogeys 20 kilometres out, Should be good." They started to close in now. "Not good." The Spectrum dropped altitude very, Very fast. In Fact we were about to touch down on the sand again. A chute came out, Slamming the gear to the ground. "AETHER, Vent all excess elements, Shut down engines, Activate cloaking." I said. The bikers still in the back looking kind of terrified. "I'll be taking Jet 1." I said, Getting up, Sprinting to the hanger. I didn't take any time and just climbed up the ladder, I immediately started up the APU, "Battery..." I looked around, Pressing a button which started the main battery. "Fuel good.." I went over the preflight checklist, Now venting oxygen as they ignited. "Launch." The catapult carried the Jet out, Launching it. I flipped cloaking on. "Approaching bogeys, I count 24." I said back to the Spectrum. "Aye, Continue course." Amelia said. I got a lock on one of the gunships. "Launching heat seeking missiles, Now." 2 Heat seeking missiles dropped, firing its little engines. Both dug into one of the gun ships, Blasting it to pieces. "Deploying AKD's." 2 Auto Kill drones deployed from the bottom of the Jet now. I came to a halt right in the middle of the group of fighters and gunships. The pilots didn't notice a thing. There was a flagship here, Double the size of a gunship. I hovered directly over it, The Jet dropping a pack of C4 right by the vent. It was set for a minute. The AKD's took out a few fighters, No one noticed yet. "Full thrust" I slammed the throttle forward, Getting the hell out of there. I was at a distance of a Kilometer away, turning the Jet around. I looked at the clock "3, 2, 1" The C4 Went off, A bright flash of light, It carried explosives apparently. Debris of the flagship fell. I saw Jets zipping out from the explosion. "Crap." I did a 180 Degree turn, Facing the Jets. "10 Kilometers" I murmured to myself. "Fire Fire Fire." 3 Heat seeking missiles dropped. They hit 4 jets head on, All in ashes. There was one more Jet, "Switching to guns." I pushed to 100% Thrust. "Fire." I fired 3 clean shots into one of its engine frontal chutes. It spewed flames, Banking to the left dipping down. "25 Kills." I banked hard right, Heading back to the Spectrum. I deployed my drag chute, The Vehicle slowing rapidly. It gently touched down in the hanger, The engines whirring down. I sighed, Grabbing my radio "All 9 of you, Cafeteria, Now." I popped the cockpit, Climbing down. Nearly sprinting to the Cafeteria. I arrived, The other sitting down, I moved a few tables on the left side from the door to the main vessel's Perspective. I grabbed a donut, Stuffing my mouth. As I wheeled out a whiteboard. "Okay, So. I scanned the gunships, They carry usually 30 Personeel, And have storage for up to 8 bomb payloads or anything else. Their engines and vents are their only weak points. They have a very high intelligence, But. They have a disadvantage, They don't quite understand how to make missiles, Only bombs." Some nodded. "Us alone, Can't take them on, So how would we?" A biker asked. I sighed, Pulling down a projector screen, Flipping the projector on. It showed a diagram, The Spectrum rifting through time and reality gaining more and more "Life forms" to essentially take on the Bowsers. "Simple." I said, "Well, What if that doesn't work?" Eliza asked. "Then we destroy their home base, Ceres." I sighed, Stuffing another donut in my face "All Jets prepped, We will be capturing a gunship, Interrogation, You, Bikers, Stay here, Muhammed stay with these biker boys." He nodded, As us other 4 sprinted to the hanger. The Jets already started and ready to go from the work of AETHER. I quickly lunged up, The cockpit sealing. "Launch Launch Launch." The 4 Jets flew out, Heading towards a lone gunship about 30 KM Out, Seeming to be investigating. "Tally 2 Through 4, Cloaking on boys." The 4 Jets entered cloaking, Joining up in a diamond formation. "I got a visual," I heard Eliza say. "Weapons ready." I said, Still nearing the Gunship. The cloaking started to fizzle out "Problem!" I heard from James. The Gunship directed towards us now, It's bottom cargo bay extending down. "The hell is that?!?" There was a...Dragon? Creature of some sorts. It was roughly 11 Meters tall, 20 Meters long? I didn't quite know at the time. "Weapons free! All weapons free!" I launched 2 missiles directly into it as it took flight. "Thing's not going down!" It pursued me now, An absolute beast. I tapped into weaponry, The external turret spinning towards the rear. "Fire." I fired a shot directly into its mouth, screeching in agony as it pierced through the neck. "One kill, On to the Gunship" I did a 180 Degree turn, Moving back to the Gunship. The 4 Of us hovered directly over an engine, About to board. We dropped cables, Connecting right above the engines. I popped my cockpit, Sliding down the rope. I shouted to the others at the other engines "DROP DROP DROP!" We threw a net into the engines, This Gunship used propellers. The Nets locked the Propellers up, Prohibiting movement. The 4 Jets increased to 100% Vertical thrust. "Locked! Move in!" We rushed to the rear of the Gunship, I took out a C4 Packet. Placing it down, "Plug your ears." The C4 Blasted a hole through. "In! In! In!" We all jumped into the hole, Humanoids in heavily armored suits guns trained on us. I sighed, "Put your hands up guys..." As I raised my hands. 2 Auto Kill Drones flying through the hole, Spraying a mist. There was almost no visibility now. I heard the AKD's Blasting holes in the 20 Guards. "Move the explosives out." The Cargo Bay door on the back opened up, "Move! Move! Move!" The Racks of explosives were pushed out, Falling 30 Thousand feet. "Move to the bridge!" We ran up to the bridge area, Trying to bust it open. "Locked." I threw a packet of C4 On the door, Running. "Boom." The door blasted open, A figure in the small 1 seated bridge visible. "Get the hell out here!" I picked up a weapon, A rifle. He came out in a bodysuit, No skin visible. "On the ground!" I yelled at him. He got on his knees, His hands in the air. I ran over to him, Pinning his head to the ground. I heard a beeping alarm, Rushing into the bridge, Gun still in hand. "20 Ships have a lock on us, We have to get out, Now." I heard something hitting the ground in the bay, Rushing back into the main Bay Area. A grenade was thrown in, About to go off. "GET DOWN!" The grenade went off, Blasting a hole through the Gunship. "We have to get out, ASAP." I heard a clanging and rummaging from a steel box, 10 Metres long, a couple metres tall. "That, Go." I cut the box open with a special knife device now. There was one of the dragon creatures. "Get it out." I threw a packet of C4 on the front of the box. The front coming clean off. "Come on, Out." It crawled out, It was a blue colour. Quite large. I slammed a red button on the wall, The entire bay deck floor being pushed down, Winds being blasted onto us. There was 3 Gunships, And 17 Fighters, Aiming directly at us. "On, On, On." I put my foot on its wing, Running up towards its head. All 4 Of us were on, The Dragon Creature spreading its wings. Running to the front, Taking flight. "Oh god, Oh god, Oh god." I grabbed my 4 Grenades, "Over there." I pointed to one of the Gunships. It gliding there now. Most of the Gunships used propellers, Only 1 Here used Jet engines. I dropped a grenade into the Jet engine, The engine exploding as we flew by. The Gunships and Jets started to pursue us now. I stood up on the Dragon now, Jumping. I landed on the Gunship behind us now. I threw a grenade directly into the vents, Blasting a hole. I ran towards the back now, Jumping to the next. A turret was raised from the Gunship, A Boswer controlling it. I shot him directly 2 times in the head before he could fire. Throwing a cable into the propeller now, Locking it up as it banked right. "Last Gunship." I jumped again, Landing on the glass to the tiny pod cockpit. I fired a few shots into the pilot. I pulled a string on my backpack I had on, A parachute flying out, Dragging me with it. I saw Gunships crashing into the sand below. I got on my watch, I had placed a pack of explosives on all of the Jets, They all banking towards me, Chasing towards me as I fell. "Boom" The explosives went off, Destroying all the Jets. I saw the Dragon swooping back, As I landed softly on its back. There were 4 Bowsers, Still alive in its arms and legs. A few minutes later we touched down near the Cloaked Spectrum. "AETHER Uncloak" I said, As the Spectrum uncloaked. I jumped off, Grabbing the 4 Bowsers. I walked up the foldable staircase, Dragging the tied up Bowsers. I threw them in the airlock, Then dragging them to the brig, In ring 2. I tied them to the brig cells. "I'll deal with you guys later." I heard the Jets land in the hanger automatically now. I grabbed my radio "Every single one of you, Engineering bay." I walked to the Engineering bay, Them already there "We're attempting manual rift, From what we know, It's activated in extreme cold or hot. We will shut off AC In here, And torch it, Which should rift us, To le bridge." I said, As we sprinted to the bridge. I sat in my seat, Everyone else in theirs. Titanium plating covered the vehicle now. "Beginning torching, Now." The Warp Drive began getting torched, Energy levels rising. "50% There, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100." "Rifting...." The Spectrum rifted, Appearing in a grassy location, Trees around. It had a reasonable atmosphere that was breathable, It had gravity of about 142% Of Earths gravity. "Rifted, Reality 71^B." I sighed, Pressurizing the engineering bay. "Planet KLMA-3B, Approximately 391 Light years from Earth, Now known as home base" I got up from my seat, Sprinting to the airlock. The Airlock hissed as it opened, I took a deep breath of the air in. "Average temperature, 27 Degrees." I sighed, Planting my feet into the cold grass. I heard water flowing nearby. I heard a roar above. I panned my head upwards, Flying Dragon like creatures soaring above, Much smaller than the ones back in 2057. "I mean, There's life." I said, The others exiting, Walking down the steps also planting their feet in the grass. The Spectrum was in a little cleared out area, Trees surrounding. "AETHER, Lower the bikes." 9 Dirt Bikes came out, 4 Being the Bikers. I walked underneath the hanger, Where the bikes were. "Let's go check this place out." I mounted the bike, Kick starting it as the engine fired to life. The others did the same. "Let's go." I revved the bike, As it started rolling, I drove it to the trees. I kept driving through the trees, Hitting little small water streams, And some bumps. "Flat land ahead." We burst through the trees, Hitting flat land. There was this massive wall of hard stone, A kilometer, Atleast. I slid the bike to a stop. "We'll have to use the Poseidon or the Jets for that." I turned around, Heading back to the Spectrum. We all arrived, I slid the bike, Unmounting it. 2 Of the Jets flew out, Landing automatically. "Muhammed, Me You." I hopped up the ladder on one of the Jets, Muhammed doing the same. I hopped on my radio "Comm check." I waited "Comm check confirmed" I got back. "Aye, Vertical thrust full, Vertical thrust full." The 2 Jets lifted off from the ground. We moved over the trees towards the big wall. "Aye, Wall in sight!" I said over the radio. "Prepare for maneuver." Muhammed said. I slowly brought the stick back as the Jet started panning upwards. The 2 Jets were parallel with each other, 2 Meters from the wall, Facing vertically. We hit the top of the wall, Pitching down to go over the wall. The place was crowded with life, Deer like creatures, Dragons, Hell, What looked like Pterodactyl's, We dived, The place was in essentially a massive crater, 20-30 Kilometers at least. The place was full of trees 700 Meters tall, Massive branches that pointed out full of life. This place hadn't been touched in millions of years. "There's a little flat patch there." I said over the radio, Pointing at a small area of flat grass ground. "Dive, Dive, Dive." The jets dived, Heading towards the patch. "Vertical thrust 100%" The landing gear extended, Touching down on the patch. I popped the cockpit, the engines still whirring down. I slid out, Jumping down. "Atmosphere's definitely a lot more present down here." I said, taking a deep breath in. 8 large humanoid purple-pastel-coloured humanoids surrounding us, Hunched down, Back extended. "Ven'tu!" I heard one say. They used traditional spears. "T'k cha'ook zaq?" I heard one say, The translations were "Should we kill them?"      I of course didn't know this. I saw thousands of thousands looking from above. "Stay calm" I whispered to Muhammed. I heard them saying various different phases, All slightly similar, Maybe going over different languages. And then I heard "You, Speak, This?" One of them said "Yes, We speak English." I just looked around, Dragon creatures surrounding. "We mean no harm, We are simply finding a place to habitat, We wish to learn about you and move our vehicle in" One of these creatures emerged, With arranged paint jobs across his body, He seemed to nod "Move your home in, And cause no harm." He said. "Muhammed, Jets." I radioed in to the Spectrum, "All Jets ready, Secure the bikers in a different area." I said as the Jets lifted from the patch of grass, Heading towards the Spectrum. We flew in a small narrow valley through the wall this time, Flying on our side. We flew right to the other side, Flying over the tree's now. We saw the other 2 Jets hovering near the Spectrum. I got on the radio now. "Tally 2, 4 Connect cable's." The 4 Jets hovered over the Spectrum, Dropping said cable's. "Cable connection, locked." I said over the Communication's channel. "Full thrust." I said as the Spectrum started to lift from the ground. "Over the ridge." Anything that was past the tree line was bare deserted rock until the wall. "Begin ascending" I said as we flew past the trees. The spectrum and the Jets began rising, still heading for the wall. "Fifteen hundred feet." James said over the radio. We hit the top of the wall, Now descending, For the natives hell, It must've looked magical. We set the Spectrum down on the patch of grass. "Disconnecting cables, Now." The Spectrum fell maybe a metre, landing on the grass. I landed the jet into the hangar. I climbed down, Jumping out of the hanger. I started to walk to the nearest massive tree. There was a cave-like structure under the tree. The base of the tree made the cave. There was a large pool of water, 200 metres every way of just water. I turned around. "Muhammed." I pointed at the massive tree. "Let's go." I placed my foot on a small branch sticking out of the tree. Starting to run up them, Trying not to fall. In minutes both of us reached the top where the massive living branches were. We were hell, Point 6 kilometres high. The natives occasionally walked by on the branches, Not minding us. I heard the roar of loud noisy propellers. I ran to the very tippy top of the tree. On a little post that barely overlooked the crater wall. Gunships. "Crap, We can't let them get to the crater." I said, Starting to run down. I stopped, Pinning myself to the massive bark of the tree, Standing on 2 of the little branches. "Jump" I said, As I jumped off the twigs. I started free falling, For about half a minute. I landed on one of the massive dragon creatures. I grabbed skin from just behind its neck. "Let's go" I stretched my legs back, almost basically laying on my stomach. I pulled its neck to the side, As it turned that way. "There." It soared over the crater wall. Seeming a bit skeptical. It grabbed onto the front of the Gunship with its claws, Spinning it. It blasted fire on the cockpit as I grabbed a rope. I saw Muhammed and his 'Dragon' Going after the fighter escorts. I threw the rope into one of the 4 vertical propellers. The propeller locked up, Banking the Gunship to the left. I threw a grenade into the vent now. "Aye, Go! Go! Go!" The Dragon took off from the broken gunship, the cockpit caved in. I saw the Grenade go off,It must have had explosives onboard. The blast was way bigger and sent my dragon falling. I was gripping onto him as he was doing rolls and flips, Falling from 40 thousand feet. His wing was stuck, tucked underneath his body. I started moving towards it as I barely held on. I stretched my hand underneath its body, moving the wing unstuck. The wing came flying out, The dragon stabilising. "Okay" I moved back to the neck. "Back home." Muhammeds dragon flew wing to wing parallel to mine. "Hey." I said, Waving at muhammed. "I think I'm gonna name him." I paused, Thinking. "Keith, I'm gonna name him Lake." I kind of chuckled. "Yeah, I'm gonna name this guy Keith." My dragon was mostly light blue, With darker blue stripes here and there. Muhammeds was mostly red, With dark red lines. At this point it was sunset as we flew over the crater wall. "Diving." Both of our dragons dived towards the Spectrum. Both landed right by it, The others waiting. I slid off. "Hey" The bikers were on their bikes. "Yeah, We are gonna stay in this reality just in a different part of the crater." I nodded. "Yeah see you guys around." They revved their bikes up, Departing towards the middle of the crater. "I'm gonna go with this one here." I said, Mounting on top of him. "Let's go" I said, Lake taking flight. Lake flew to the next tree over, Landing in this circular nest area on the top branches. 6, 7 metres wide and long I'd say. Lake curled against the side of the nest, Closing his eyes. I leaned on him, Sitting up, Closing my eyes.