Chapter Text
"Oh my god, Xefros!" The rubble in front of you shifted at your new alien friend waved his arm at you. It suddenly froze and withered back to the pile as a groan leaked out from between the concrete.
"Ow, uh, hi, Jaci... I'm ok... ow..." You rushed to his 'lusus''s side and tried to remove some of the rubble, but it seemed even his giant lusus was struggling.
"W-what do I do?" He mentioned earlier that he was losing blood, you needed to get him out! That hoverpad was supposed to help, but you didn't really know how to make it work, you just pressed a button and it did stuff last time. You didn't want to accidentally hurt him!
His voice drifted up through the cracks, muffled by all the concrete. "Yeah, just, uh, deploy the hoverpad and toggle the capture modus to my location, then press that big button in the center." You looked at the control panel in horror. There were tons of dials and buttons and slidy doohickeys and one big red button in the very center. Your heart sank.
"How do I do that?!"
"You- uh, you just kinda put your hand down on the biggest button there...?"
"I know how to do that! I meant how do I toggle the capture modum?" You twisted a dial, but it didn't seem to do anything.
"You mean 'modus'? Uh, you see that button with the circle on it?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't press it. Press the one next to it." You stopped your finger right as you touched the button, thankfully not putting any weight behind it. The only other button touching it was one with a little square, so you pushed that one. The viewscreen came to life and showed what looked like an infrared image of the rubble pile with Xefros in the center and a readout on either side that you didn't bother to read.
"Now what?"
"See the little swirly dial to the right of the viewscreen?" You didn't touch it this time.
"Yes."
"Twist it until my body is highlighted on the viewscreen." You put your hand on the dial and twisted it around until you could see that the body in the middle of the rubble was faintly glowing yellow more than it was before.
"Ok!"
"Now press the big red button!" You practically slammed your palm onto the button in your excitement, but that was ok. A bright beam came out of the hoverpad like before and shot straight into the rubble, picking Xefros up and pulling him out, dropping him on the ground bedside the ruined balcony as soon as he was free. You ran to his side and looked him over as he gasped, checking for cuts and wounds, but you only saw a couple on his arms and legs. He pulled himself up and pushed you towards the newly named Bambi. "Come on, we have to go," he coughed. You helped him into the saddle and looked back at him when you felt something tugging on your jacket. You saw that Xefros was gripping it, but he quickly crossed his arms to his chest with a bright blush, clearly embarrassed and probably unsure if that was ok.
"Hey, it's ok," you said on instinct, but in hindsight it probably didn't help much. You looked towards his lusus, but it seemed to have disappeared. "Hey, what about your lusus?" He cast his eyes down with a pained look.
"He can't keep up, we have to go quickly. He'll be ok, and he knows I will, too." He looked up at you. "Please, if we stay here much longer, we might draw their attention," he said, glancing around him at the few drones left, still destroying what they could. You nodded resolutely and patted Bambi on the neck to let him know you were ready and he took off like a flash, speeding down the empty road and leaving a wake of dust behind him.
As you both raced through the wilderness, you took in the view, breathing out a silent breath of awe at the stunning landscape. You couldn't believe that something so dark and dangerous could also be so beautiful. The two moons, one pink and the other green, shined down on you, and you were reminded of how alien this whole situation was. Still, it was gorgeous, and you wanted to capture the memory. You urged Bambi to stop and took out Dammek's tablet, which you kept because you didn't know if you would need it later or not, and flashed a quick photo of you and Xefros, catching him by surprise. He saw the picture, and at first he smiled, but then you both noticed the gIANT FLYING CRAB THING and he freaked, bouncing on the saddle and poking your elbows. "Shit shit shit shit we need to go now!" You didn't know what the problem was, but if it had anything to do with the drones, you didn't want any part of it. You tapped your feet against Bambi's sides and he took off again, this time with Xefros gripping your jacket and not even caring that he was.