Waiting Shapeless

Chapter 15. Gnumus

Tyler: Human

Byralnus was right. It was a Circuit ship.

It's hull had been burned to a black hue and it lay half buried in the hot Gnumus dust.

It wasn't a very large ship. Tyler had spotted one similar to it on the circuit motherboard. Deep red markings along the sides of the ship, now scorched and peeling off, showed that the ship was piloted by a high ranking Circuit.

The group tried to maintain their previous line formation, walking side by side to keep from kicking dust up into another's face as they slowly trudged closer to the hull.

"Would you look at this thing!" Exclaimed Jirabi. "It looks like it took a lot of hits before it was finally shot down!"

He jogged ahead in excitement to get a closer look at the ship, sending a thick cloud of film into the air behind him. Most of which flowed directly into Bai's face.

"Jirabi!!" Screamed Bai, franticly trying to fan the dust away from her with her four short arms. "...Holy Ruolten I swear if you do that ONE MORE TIME—"

Byralnus sighed. "EquirBai, contain yourself and your language."

Bai glared off at the purple Jirabi and began cursing under her breath at him in her native language.

"I'm sorry Bai, I'm sorry." Jirabi apologized with a chuckle, stopping in his tracks and looking back. "I will wait. I just got a little carried away." He joined the group as they continued walking in a line toward the ship.

"This is it crew. Time to notify the Police Force." Byralnus said, pressing a button on his suit near his shoulder to record his voice. "Officer Toin this is Captain Byralnus, we have found the probable location for the Short Circuit." Byralnus called to the waiting PPF officers.

"Affirmative, Captain Byralnus." Replied the officer's voice. "Send us the coordinates and we will join you shortly."

"Sending them now." Byralnus punched the coordinates into a keypad on the forearm of his suit and the team continued to trudge toward the burned out ship.

Though heavily burned and punctured in many areas, the majority of the ship looked like it was still intact. The most notable impairment was a large, gaping hole near the front of the ship that looked like a makeshift entrance.

As Tyler approached the ship she studied the hole. It was hard to see inside from her distance—the light from the sun and the surrounding area was too bright and the inside of the ship was too dark.

As they continued their sweaty march through the dust, It wasn't long before Tyler could faintly see the outlines of broken down machinery on the inside.

She squinted in the light, wiping the sweat out of her eyes repeatedly.

Suddenly she saw something in the opening move. It ducked out of view behind the ship's wall, a movement so slight that she wouldn't have seen it if she hadn't been looking at the entrance at that exact moment.

Her eyes widened and her step faltered. She felt a chill run up her spine. "Did any of you just see that??" Tyler asked in alarm.

"See what?" Asked Jirabi, quickly scanning the ship with his eyes.

"Yes what did you see, dear?" Said Bai with concern.

"I saw it." Said Heva, her quiet voice haunting.

Tyler looked down at her. "You did? Did you see what it was?"

Suddenly a voice cracked through Byralnus's suit system. "Captain Byralnus, this is officer Toin. We apologize for the wait, we have received your coordinates and we will join you shortly."