“Here it is!” Rayvin pointed at the door to the garbage chute, “We only have 6 minutes to get in and prepare it for flight!”
“Got it!” Wolph swiped the card on the reader, the door unlocked, and with a kick, he opened it and went inside. Rayvin followed then Twarp went in last. Though, what happened next was a surprise.
“This is far enough,” One man stood wearing a Saint's uniform between them and the trashy ship with a blaster pointed at them, “I’d say I’m impressed, but your plan was so simple that even a monkey could figure it out.”
“Hey, monkeys are smart,” Wolph defended.
“Yes, compared to you. That was the point of my insult,” He looked at Twarp, “I certainly didn’t expect you to be a psychic! That was surprising! Made things slightly interesting for a bit.”
“Uh, thank you..?” Twarp scratched his head.
“Finally…” He turned to Rayvin with a look of familiarity and disappointment, “You, Rayvin. We were genuinely considering letting you get out on good behavior. Maybe even giving you your old job back and turning a blind eye to your crime. Heh, dodged a blaster there, you filthy lawbreaker.”
Rayvin looked down in shame. She didn’t know if he just said that to mess with her or not, but it still hurt her horribly. She felt as if her heart dropped from her chest to the floor and got kicked around like a fleshy, still beating soccer ball for someone else's game.
“Welp, I guess this is it huh?” Wolph asked, “You’ll be escorting us to solitary confinement?”
“That’s the idea.”
“I should’ve known this would happen,” Twarp said to himself. Then he whispered to Rayvin, “I’m really sorry for getting you into this. They would’ve let you out if you weren’t for me.”
“No,” she said.
“Huh?”
“No, Twarp. It was my decision,” She looked up and stared directly at the man with the blaster, “Johannes, the fact that you’re here. It means our freedom is right behind you. Since you gave me one less reason to want to stay here, I see nothing wrong with going right through you.”
“W- wait! Rayvin,” Twarp started sweating, “You know this guy? And you plan on fighting him without any gear?”
Without answering, Rayvin sprinted toward Johannes with inhuman speed and force. Just as quickly, Johannes fired two blaster shots, one hitting Rayvins heart and the other blowing her right arm off along with the sleeve of her prison jumpsuit, but she kept moving. Twarp remembered everything he’d learned about Rayvin up to this moment and everything she’d refused to share with him. The realization of what she truly was dawned on both him and Wolph as Rayvin’s arm regrew at a rapid pace. Bone, muscle, skin layered on top of each other as the pieces began to fall into place.
Twarp gasped, “Rayvin, you’re-!
“Yeah,” Wolph spat on the floor, “She’s definitely one of them.”
Rayvin’s bare arm had grown back fully. It appeared extremely clean, new, and well-toned. With it, she clenched her hand into a tight fist, the muscles in her arm became fully visible. The next moment, her entire body seemed to blur as she threw her fist into the face of Johannes with such weight, Twarp and Wolph swear they felt the entire room quake. The impact made Johannes’ head explode against the wall and left Rayvin’s arm a mangled mess. A droplet of sweat rolled down her face. While she tried to catch her breath, she looked over at Wolph and Twarp. Twarp making an expression of absolute shock and Wolph looking at her with pure anger.
Gritting his teeth, Wolph lifted his blaster to Rayvin, “You bitch… To think I actually started to TOLERATE your presence!”
“W- wait, Wolph!” Twarp grabbed Wolph’s arm, “She’s helping us! You can’t shoot her!”
“Why not, she’s one of them, isn’t she? One of those goddamned military ‘Saints’! With her loyalty to the law, I don’t doubt she won’t turn us in at the moment it’s convenient for her!”
Rayvin didn’t confirm nor deny that assumption of her, “Shoot me if you want, but you need to hurry and fix that ship and get out of here. That blow didn’t kill him, Johannes will regenerate soon.”
“Grrr,” Wolph holstered his blaster and stomped off to the ship, “Whatever, c’mon guy, let’s fix this piece of crap.”
“Uh, r-right,” Twarp followed Wolph onto the ship, nervously glancing at Rayvin.
Rayvin turned back to the puddle of blood and brains that was supposed to be the head of Johannes as a new head was beginning to grow from the base of his neck, like a gross meat flower. Once it developed a mouth, he spoke, “How very noble of you. Staying behind to fight me and letting them get away. You’re nothing like the girl scout I met 3 years ago.”
“You're wrong,” Rayvin said, “I’m exactly the same. I’m as loyal to the rules as ever. I still plan on coming back to my old position as a Saint. I plan to prove I was in the right from the start.”
“Haha,” Johannes stood up, “You’re doing a real good job of THAT right now! Breaking yourself and two other prisoners out of a high-security prison. I’m sure it’ll all blow over well for you.” the sarcasm in his voice was painfully tangible. Now his face up to his eyes was nearly returned to normal aside from the exposed muscle, he looked at Rayvin’s right arm. It was still a bit twisted, but the bleeding stopped, “Looks like your regeneration has slowed. Repairing your heart, growing back an entire arm, and punching me that hard must’ve taken a lot out of you.”
“You don’t look too hot yourself,” Rayvin retorted, “Brians are the hardest body part to regenerate after all.”
The next hit either of them took could very easily be fatal. Even a cut on the arm or the leg wouldn’t heal. Both of them understood this fact very well, they knew their limitations. Yet neither broke away. They stood completely still, waiting for the other to make the first move. Rayvin moved her left foot forward ever so slightly, inciting a flurry of swift blows from Johannes. Quickly, Rayvin stepped backward trying to parry his punches with her left arm. This kind of pressure had her on the edge of exhaustion. She leaped back from him to keep his distance, but Johannes jumped forward, pressing his attack on her further.
Inside the old ship, Wolph and Twarp were hastily ripping open panels, crossing wires, and fiddling with the controls. All to get the ship in shape enough to get life support and thrusters up and running. They planned to worry about the other functions at a later point in time. Preferably when their lives and freedom weren’t in danger and the ship wasn’t rumbling from a fight between two superhuman Saints just outside.
“I got the life support up!” Twarp shouted from the cockpit to Wolph who was in the back of the ship furiously turning a wrench.
“Thrusters are good to go!” Wolph shouted back to him, “Now let’s get the hell out of here!”
“Wait, what about Rayvin?!”
“What about her?” Wolph asked, joining Twarp in the cockpit.
“We can’t just leave her here, surely she’ll get a punishment worse than solitary confinement!”
“Not my problem.”
“I don’t care that it’s not your problem! It’s wrong to leave her there and I won’t fly this thing until she’s with us!”
Wolph stared Twarp dead in the eyes, “Hey, y’know what. I respect that kind of attitude.”
“Eh, really-?”
“Tell me, Twarp. Is that what you want? To help her?”
Without taking even a moment to think, Twarp answered, “Yes.”
“Then get her in here. I respect people who know what they want.”
“Thank you…”
“Don’t thank me! Go! We’re pressed for time!”
“Ah, right!
Johannes was still keeping up his attack, but Ravin was starting to fall behind, “I know your weakness is your endurance, Rayvin! You never could keep up with the other cadets in our class! Sure you were always able to fight smart, but brains won’t get you out of a situation like thi-!”
BANG!!!
Johannes was hit by a blaster shot that threw him across the room and far away from Ravin. Like a ragdoll, he hit the steel floor with a “thud” and a “slap”. Rayvin turned to the source of the shot and saw Twarp holding Wolph’s blaster, “C’mon! We’re ready to leave!”
“Thanks for the help,” Rayvin walked onto the ship then asked Twarp, “Did you really kill him?”
“W- what?!” Twarp almost sounded offended, “It was only on the stun setting! I think...” He muttered that last part.
“Heh, I thought so,” She smiled at him, “You don’t strike me as the kind of person who would kill.”
“Guy,” Wolph said to Twarp, “Hurry up and get in that cockpit.”
“Back to not using my name I see…” Twarp sat in the pilot’s chair in the cockpit and took off his gloves and placed his hands on the controls, “Well be ejected into space any second now, so be ready.”
Wolph and Rayvin stared at each other in silence for a moment. “So does this mean you trust me?” Rayvin asked.
“Keeping you with us was his idea,” Wolph nodded toward Twarp, “I, on the other hand, am still considering blasting you to pieces.”
“That’s fine. So long as you never finish considering that.”
“I have one question for you.”
“What’s that?”
“What is it you want? Answer honestly.”
Rayvin was a little puzzled about why he’d ask that question and what exactly he meant by it, but she could only think of one answer, “To see the universe. Every inch of it.”
Wolph grinned, “Welcome aboard, kid.” He patted her on the shoulder and walked away to explore the tiny ship.
Rayvin sighed and stood in place for a few seconds to relax and process everything that had happened so far. Just then, the entire ship jolted forward as it was sucked into space and Rayvin fell flat on her back, “GHACK!”
“Ah!” Twarp looked back at her, “S-sorry! I forgot to mention we only fixed life support and thrusters, we still don’t have inertial dampeners at the moment!”
“I can see that…”
“Are you gonna be okay?” He reached out his gloved hand for her to take it.
“Yeah,” Rayvin said, grabbing his hand and getting up slowly, “My arm will take some time to heal, but it should go a bit faster if I get some sleep.”
“Good thing this ship has enough room for three living quarters!” Twarp said joyfully, “They’re pretty small though… and there’s only one bathroom for the three of us… it probably doesn’t work very well either… Oh well, three negatives for every positive I suppose.”
“I guess so,” Rayvin chucked a bit, then walked off to pick a room to sleep in.
“Oh wait, before you go take a nap.”
“Huh?”
“Um…” Twarp paused, “S- sleep well!”
Rayvin gave him a smile, “Thanks, you too.” She walked away.
Twarp stood there for a moment, then he dropped his head and said to himself, “But I have to pilot the ship…” He sat back in the pilot’s seat and muttered, “And you both kept me up last night too. Not fair.”
***
So I ask the question again. Why? Why did this happen? Why did I pay it any mind? Why must I have focused it so hard when it's so small, so insignificant, so… meaningless? I may have been interested, dare I say captivated, even. I found myself wondering what would happen next even though I can perceive time all at once.
This was the question I had to get to the bottom of, and this is the question that made me study this trio more and more. I believe I may have found the answer… or rather AN answer. That's what I hope to share with you here. A story translated from my first-hand 4th-dimensional point of view to a style more suited to your 3rd dimensional understanding for your reading pleasure. Hopefully, you’ll get something out of it, just as I have.
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