The forests of Xaxax are dense and difficult to traverse on the ground or in the air, even for one such as Pultine, who was forced to flee the technologically advanced weapons of the xaxews. After many moons deep in the forests, avoiding xaxews while she plotted her escape from the planet, she and Rusa sat high up in the branches of a tree.
“We will use one of their flying machines to get to Endla,” Pultine said. Her dark skin was streaked with two moons worth of grime accumulated in the forest as she and Rusa evaded capture. Pultine hadn’t anticipated the response from the xaxews to her incineration of the nest on Aexea. Her understanding of the xaxews of the Xaxax was that they were larger versions of the spiders she encountered in the Fonlands, which was a place where technology is generally unnecessary because the inhabitants wield magic.
The xaxews of Xaxax, however, were not primitive creatures. In fact, they were the first species of their galaxy to leave the planet of their inception and thrive on a new homeworld. The xaxew species originated on the planet Druont. The xaxew were evolutionary descendants of the species known as the razew of Druont that was a highly sophisticated species on the planet. It was believed that the advanced technology of Xaxax was derived from technology on Druont, though details of razew technology on Druont were not well known. The extent of relations between the xaxews of Xaxax and the razews of Druont are not known.
Not only had Pultine underestimated the technology of xaxews, but she was completely unaware of the social machinations on their planet. Rusa and Cic had given her a rough understanding of the geopolitics on Xaxax, but she had understood that the different factions of xaxews lacked empathy toward one another and she had assumed that the many enemy nests of the one on Aexea would be happy to be rid of their rival. But the extent of the destruction that Pultine caused with the unwitting help of Rusa was alarming to all of the nests on Xaxax, and news of the attack was broadcast live all over the planet shortly after it comnenced. Leaders of the largest nests organized quickly to respond to the genocide and Pultine was hunted with the intent to kill by practically every xaxew on the planet.
Pultine and Rusa evaded capture because of Pultine’s affinity and familiarity with forests, though the specifics of the forest on Xaxax was not her home on the disc of Agê.
“Why can’t you just fly us to Endla?” Rusa asked. He was dingy with dirt and obviously very frustrated with the entire situation. Since the incineration at Aexea, Rusa had been more willing to express his annoyance with Pultine.
“Because you need oxygen and I need a reliable structure to secure you so that you can survive the trip,” Pultine said matter of factly. She could sense Rusa’s anger and rather than be combative, she’d been taking it in stride. “I assume you don’t want to die on the way to Endla.”
“Can’t we build something?” Rusa whined. “I don’t like feeling hunted like we are. It’s impossible to sleep and we can’t clean ourselves. All we can do is kill xaxews and even if my body is willing, my spirit is weak. And I can feel those bombs they fire at us rattling my armor to my skeleton. It’s exhausting, Pristine. You want to steal a spaceship?”
“They must have comfortable beds where you can sleep. We just have to catch one alone. They’ve been sending out patrols, one should be along soon enough and then we can be done with this place. I know that you are annoyed with me…”
“I just don’t understand why you did it,” Rusa said, “and why you couldn’t tell me. I mean, you’ve said I would have tried to talk you out of it, but I don’t think I could have, you know that I can’t tell you what to do.”
“I didn’t tell you, and I won’t tell you about more things in the future, so that my actions are mine alone. There’s no collusion between us, just me acting and controlling you. You can keep your morality intact while still serving me to the best of your ability. Wait, I think a ship is approaching.”
The ships created on Xaxax that were used by various military forces on the planet, were capable of space travel. The largest military headquarters was a starship capable of accommodating a full nest of xaxews, upwards of a hundred thousand comfortably. The typical design of a ship was a large sphere with a flattened disc at its center that extended the total circumference, with a large tinted window on the top of the sphere.
The ship that happened upon Pultine and Rusa was large enough to accommodate two patrol xaxews for five moons of their patrol shift, complete with webbing areas for sleep and a room dedicated to holding waste. There was also a common area for viewing telecasts with storage space for food.
“Wait here,” Pultine said. “I’ll get inside and then come get you.”
“You have no idea how to pilot a ship,” Rusa said. “I played with ships on Wiis and I was inside one of those before. It was junk, but I sat behind the controls. Let’s get this done and be gone from here.”
Pultine smiled and her dark wings lifted her toward the ship that shined a search light into the thick woods as it maneuvered the tree branches. Rusa tried not to be, but he was pleased at Pultine’s seeming appreciation as he followed after her until they landed on the ship and Pultine ripped open a door on the sphere. The inside was much bigger than it seemed from the outside and Pultine was surprised that it didn’t smell like a xaxew nest. They dropped down inside and noticed two xaxews startled from control panels that were monitoring the area outside, and Pultine and Rusa both slaughtered a xaxew and tossed the bodies from the ship.
Rusa hovered at the controls of the ship hoping to ready it for space travel, but he had no idea what anything did. Before he really touched anything, though, the ship began to float up through the forest and Rusa watched through the front window.
Pultine’s charged axes were attached to a wall of the ship’s interior and established a connection between Pultine and the ship. She used her power, her essence, to fuel and manipulate the ship and enclosed it in a shell of her energy that would give Rusa a stable oxygen supply as they traveled further up from the surface of Xaxax.
Soon, they had breached the canopy and Rusa saw Xaxax in twilight as they lifted into it.
“Which way to Endla?” Pultine asked.
“Judging by the stars, I believe we go forward,” Rusa said.
“I will trust your stellar navigation,” Pultine said. “And apologize for that very unpleasant detour.”
“I appreciate the sentiment but we really need to move,” Rusa said urgently. “That panel is lighting up over there, I think they’re after us.”
“Of course.” Pultine concentrated and the ship zipped upwards into the stars.
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