Stella Vir: First Flight

The lanky person introduces himself: “Hey guys my name is Thundereous Dunkis but you can just refer to me as TD. So you are the two insanos that have a death wish?”

“Unfortunately that is us”. - sighs Dre.

“Well not to worry you’re in great hands I only let people die about 33% of the time when they come out with me on scouting trips. You know give or take 20%” - chuckles TD.

Razzo asks concernedly: “are you taking them out and killing them yourself? Because 33% and add 20% that’s about 50%. That’s like half the time!”

“No no they just don’t follow instructions precisely that’s all!” - says TD in a jolly tone.

Razzo smiles in relief: “Well that’s not so bad then you had me worried for a second there!”

TD nods his head then turns to Desai and the two of them walk away a bit whispering to each other. They have a little bit of a back and forth between them while Dre and Razzo watch out of earshot as the two friends come to a decision.

Dre whispers to Razzo: “This guy has to be psychotic. No one should be happy with a 50% death rate unless they’re a hired killer. Even then a hired killer would probably want to be better at killing at that point. I don't think he seems odd to me to be this jolly”.

“Don’t think about it too much Dre, maybe he’s just having a good day”.

“Good day leading us to certain death that’s for sure…”

All the while the night is getting colder, the wind is howling and the weather is creating an unsettling atmosphere around them. Desai and TD finish their discussion and come back without saying another word to Dre and Razzo TD walks by them and begins on his way. Desai rushes by them and then signals to follow and hurry up.

Desai quietly barks at Dre and Razzo: “Come on guys hurry up I know we walked a lot already but we can’t fall behind and get lost out here it’s not safe!”

They pick up the pace and start moving quickly behind TD.

Razzo asks TD: “So when did you become a scout, and how long did it take to learn how not to get caught”.

“It took a while and I’m still learning but one quick lesson I can teach you right now is that it is important to be silent. So save the rest of your questions for when we’re back at the entrance”. - replies TD after giving the question some thought.

At this point they’re going around the narrow streets and back alley ways. They come out of the destroyed neighborhood onto a massive street that used to have three lanes for both sides. Dre is about to walk out onto the street, TD quickly holds back the robot and puts a finger to his lips to signal to not say anything. Then TD goes and grabs some dust from the rubble next to them and tosses the dust at the street, as the dust flies through the air every half meter or so it lights up a dark blue plane. This is something that Razzo had never seen before and was very tempted to touch it to find out what would happen but decided against it. After the dust settles the dark blue planes at every level slowly fade back until they’re invisible. TD gets everyone's attention by tapping them and then signaling to follow him and not touch the planes. They make their way around a couple more blocks of demolished houses. Then in one of the parks in the middle of a block that used to be surrounded by houses they stumble upon a sewer grate. TD goes up to the sewer grate and puts his hands together into two fists and then spreads them with yellow energy wrapping itself around each fist. He then bends down and with the two hands lifts the sewer grate. Desai goes first and enters the sewer and climbs down, then Razzo not thinking too much about it instead of climbing down like a normal person, pencil dives into the sewer . Then as Razzo gets up covered in sewage and hears faint arguing between Dre and TD, the next thing that follows is Dre screaming as the robot falls down the sewer drain. Then TD climbs down into the sewer, Razzo goes to help Dre up and the Automaton slaps his hand away.

Dre picks itself up with one hand is soaked in sewage exclaims loudly: “I TOLD YOU I DIDN’T WANT TO COME ON YOUR STUPID ADVENTURE AND NOW LOOK AT ME, I’M COVERED IN HUMAN SHIT!!”

TD and Desai both create lights using their energy and mold them into balls the size of a head.

TD walks up behind Dre and signals to keep moving: “It’s too late for that now you’re already in this mess, quite literally, so just chill out and you can wash yourself off when we get back. Also be quiet, still not safe to be loud here”.

Dre fuming marches ahead of everyone and TD runs ahead of the robot to make sure that they’re going in the right direction. Razzo and Desai casually make their way down the sewer behind the speeding robot and scout.

Desai says: “Maybe you shouldn't have forced Dre to come, this trip is dangerous and one can die. Now you add dying while smelling like shit and that is no honorable death. Maybe the robot would’ve been more helpful back at the camp”.

Razzo gives a quick reply: “Maybe that would’ve been the right call but it didn’t happen so here we are now. No point in causing a scene like that”.

Razzo jogs up a little bit so as to not fall behind, Desai shakes his head and follows up behind the group. They all move together silently throughout the sewer, the smell getting to all the humans' noses and begins to slow them down. Dre continues to march through the sludge without losing haste and is now waving them over to move faster with its one arm. They move through a few other tunnels in the sewer and begin to really slow down.

Desai says, panting: “I can’t keep moving through this filth, it's terrible to breathe, how much longer do we have to go through this”.

“Quite frankly I don’t smell anything. Maybe things are starting to turn around for me” - says Dre with a grin.

Desai shakes his head but refrains himself from saying anything.

“We’re almost there, a couple more turns and we can exit out of the tunnel”. - replies TD without losing focus.

Desai nods his head and moves up to the front of the group and together all of them go through the winding passage ways and after about 15 more minutes of walking they get to an intersection and to the left of them and to the right of them there are sewage grates as the moonlight shines through them. After looking both ways TD goes to the grate at the left and climbs up the ladder and peaks through the hole.

TD whispers down to the rest of them: “Okay quietly come here and follow me out of here we are here. And let Desai get out first before he pukes all over his mask”.

TD shakes his fist that has the bracelet and pushes the sewer grate open with the added strength. TD then peaks his head out of the sewer to look what's around and the street appears to be empty with a massive supermarket looking onto the sewer.

TD pops back down: “Okay so everything appears to be fine above, follow me quickly and maybe we’ll be able to retrieve the supplies and get out of here with our heads on our shoulders hows that sound?”

Everyone quickly nods their heads, TD climbs out, then Desai, after that is Razzo, and finally after him is Dre who climbs out with one hand and takes the longest to get out of the sewer. As they get out they all follow TD’s lead and remain low and move quickly to the alley beside the supermarket. Then TD goes up to the wall of the supermarket in the alleyway and pulls energy into his index finger. Razzo watches closely as TD goes to work on the wall drawing a small square of approximately half meter by half meter. TD then takes his finger off the square, shakes off the energy and puts on a glove to slowly push the top of the wall piece that he cut. While he pushes the top part he goes with the second hand to catch the bottom part and rotates the piece of the wall until it’s perpendicular to the wall. TD then looks in the top part to make sure that the room is clear as his mask is equipped with all lighting vision allowing him to see clearly no matter the lighting. Then after checking the room he nods his head and grabs the piece of the wall and slides it out and puts it at the bottom of the external wall.

TD says: “Okay time to get in there in the same order as getting out of the sewer”.

Dre hesitates: “We don’t even know for sure if it’s safe didn’t Desai say that the Minerau were guarding this resource spot?”

“Well yeah they are, but we need the supplies and we have to take risks, but we’re also going through the side and not through the front door with presents so lets get that negativity out of your head and get busy”. - says TD making his point.

TD goes and climbs into the supermarket and the rest follow behind him. As Razzo climbs in and begins to pull energy TD hits his chest and signals to not light up the area, then does the same to Desai as he slowly climbs in through the hole in the wall. They make their way through the supermarket, the side that they entered was where the employees used to gather before work. As they exit the area carefully they open the door to see that in the middle of the supermarket the ceiling is caved in and where there used to be booths they’ve been torn down. In place of the wreck three Minerau soldiers in rocky uniforms rest around an energy fire. TD quietly signals to the others to look out and quietly watches his step while moving towards the edges of the supermarket. Everyone follows him as he silently makes his way to the back of the supermarket. As they pass one section of goods TD grabs 3 limitless backpacks off the racks and one limitless satchel. The tag on the backpacks explains how they are weightless backpacks that don’t carry the weight that is in them making them weightless to the user as they essentially float. TD, Razzo and Desai put on the backpacks and Dre puts on the satchel, then they quietly continue along to the supplies they need. Then once they get to the back where all the fresh produce used to be TD signals that they need to go across to the other side of the store where the dehydrated compact foods are as well as where the seeds are for fast growing crops. The four of them make their way to the back of the store and finally get to the food section. They begin to load up their backpacks with various dehydrated foods, then Dre moves further up and begins loading up the seeds into the satchel that the robot’s carrying. Something on the top shelf catches the robot's eye and notices some seeds for wonderberries up high. Dre searches through its archives and finds the information on wonderberries. After understanding the health benefits of wonderberries on living things it goes and grabs a stick to shake them off the high floating shelf. As Dre is doing this TD notices this and starts waving his arms to get his attention silently, without any luck as Dre tilts the whole shelf onto itself. The packets begin pouring down and as they’re coming down Dre goes and uses its quick analysis to map their trajectory in real time. The Automaton moves in the correct pattern to catch all the packets straight into the satchel. The three humans watch in awe as the Automaton does it with a finesse and ease to the whole process. Then Dre turns back to look over at how the humans are doing collecting their supplies only to see them all staring at the Automaton. TD shakes his head and facepalms, while Desai goes back to collecting more supplies and Razzo puts down his backpack and gives two thumbs with a smile from ear to ear to Dre for accomplishing the task. Dre takes a small bow and makes its way back over to the group.

TD says: “Did you really have to do that? Now is not the time for showing off”.

Dre with the quick come back: “Sorry that I’m more efficient than you, I’ll try slowing down to make sure you can keep up with me”.

Dre blows TD a kiss and walks by him and up to Razzo, Razzo has his arm extended in an L shape towards the robot.

“What do you want me to do with this?” - Dre, confused, asks quietly.

Razzo replies: “It’s like a nice gesture, and what usually happens is people put their arms together elbow to elbow and fist to fist and then bump fists as a celebration. Come on, shouldn't you know this with all that knowledge you have in that head?”

Dre puts its elbow to Razzo and bumps fists. Then the rest of the group takes a few moments to finish filling up their backpacks. Once completed they quietly go back the way they came in, crouching throughout the store and moving carefully to make sure not to be heard. As they get back to the wall where they climbed in, they each carefully step out to not make any noise. TD goes first and is fine, then goes Desai for who it was a snug fit yet still climbed out successfully, then Dre climbs out quietly, and finally as Razzo climbs out but his one foot gets caught on the bottom of the wall and he trips forwards knocking over Dre in front of him and causing a loud clanking noise as they fall together.

TD and Desai look at each other and quickly exclaim: “Shit!!”