The entire room is frozen. I feel myself beginning to shake in Nebluna’s embrace as Captain Hizloken walks further into the room.

“For what reason exactly would you need to hide the poor boy, hmm?”

What used to feel like a numb annoyance, now feels like needles in my skin. This person stands between us and our new lives, puffing up to make himself seem as big as possible. My eyes dart all around the room, the deafening silence driving me mad with fear, only to notice Yexlo slowly reaching down towards his hip armour. Looking back to the Captain, his own gaze travels to each of us, a burning disdain evidently pinned on each and every one of us. This might be my only chance to help…

“They just helped me find who I am!” I cry out, drawing the attention of the Captain and Yexlo, though the friendlier slime man continues to reach down. “What have they done wrong?! I consented to this, so--”

“We have LAWS, son!” he screeches out in his gravelly voice that almost sounds like a bubbly growling. “How do you know they didn’t tamper with your mind and make you think you’re something you’re not, hmm?!”

“Because alchemy can’t do that.” 

I look behind me to the slime whose lap I’m still sitting in, Nebula staring down the Captain as she holds me tighter. 

“Alchemy works with the body, and the body protects the mind. All our research points to it--”

“IT’S ALL HOO-HAH!!” The burly man slams his fist against the wall, various plants and equipment shuddering upon impact. “You expect me to believe biology can just do that?! You reshaped yourselves into things you’re not, you’ve FOOLED yourselves, and you expect me to believe-- GHHRRAA--!!” 

A deep cry of pain spurts from the Captain’s mouth, his whole body undulating as Yexlo drives what looks like an alien spade into his back. 

“Never… Shoulda trusted you shifters-- HURK--!!”

“LET’S GO!!” our friendly battle gardener yells.

Grabbing the Captain by the shoulders, Yexlo tosses him to the side as Nebula picks me up and we make a feverish dash out of the room. Mr. Yexlo slows down just for a moment to let Nebula catch up, looking to her with a panicked look in his eye. 

“Nebula, please tell me you know where we’re going?!”

“We do! The vents would be a lot faster, but I don’t think Vivian is ready for tha-- AHH!!”

I watch in horror as Nebula’s scream of pain turns into a grunt, her eyes changing to white once the laser beam passes through her completely.

“Oh no, you don’t, you fat bastard…!”

Looking behind Luna, I catch the Captain hot on our trail, an alien pistol in hand and blasting, searing charred spots onto the walls, floors, and ceiling in an attempt to-- Oh my god, he’s trying to kill us?! A maddening ringing echoes through my head, my body feels heavy and my vision becomes blurry. Oh god we’re going to die.

“Vivian!” I hear Luna call out, bringing my senses back somewhat as I look up at her. “You with us, girl?!”

The only thing I can muster is a groan in response.The girl holds me in one arm while pressing at the buttons on her armour, whipping out a red vine of sorts, tipped with black leaves and crimson fruit. Luna flings it back at the Captain, who blasts at the whirling projectile, only to watch as the vine begins to rapidly grow upon being shot! What looks like a net of plantlife lands on him, slowing him down just enough for us to get out of his sight.

Before long I hear the sound of doors whooshing open ahead. The four of us exit the hallways and are greeted with the sight of space through a large window, a path to the left and right. We’ve found ourselves on the opposite site of the ship that I’d originally woken up on.

“Any idea, Nebluna?” Yexlo asks with restrained panic.

Luna appears to struggle a lot more with panic than Mr. Yexlo, not helped by the injured shoulder she reaches up to hold. She attempts to put herself together, but I can see her shifting back and forth between her and Nebula, unable to recall the ship’s layout in her panic. Maybe…

“...Left…” I manage to say through my own panic, the others looking at me curiously. “Try the left. If this ship is symmetrical, then the right would take us to more of the operating-like spaces, right?” 

Yexlo and Luna look up at one another and nod, beginning our hopeful escape as a blaring beep echoes throughout the ship.

“ATTENTION CREW: BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR YEXLO AND NEBLUNA, NOW CRIMINALS AS DICTATED BY LAW 865!!”

“Oh, great, that makes things easier…” Yexlo groans.

As if on cue, a door to our side swings open. A casually dressed slime person stands there for a few seconds before reaching for their hip, only for Luna to hip-check the alien so hard, they’re sent flying before the door closes. Continuing our search for safety, we find the end of the windowed hall and enter the door, finding ourselves in a more modern and almost human-looking mechanical area. It almost looks like a lounge for robots.

“Oh, we’re close! The escape pods should be close to the civilian area, so…” 

As Luna trails off, we all look to the left and see a sight most unhelpful.

 

Workers. Lots of them, all standing around this breakroom looking area. And they recognize us, or, at least, Yexlo and Nebluna. Some stay put while others begin to move towards us. I hear a whimper of pain from above and, looking up, I see Nebula back out.

“Wait!” she shouts, and, surprisingly, they listen, or at least slow their pace. “All we want to do is leave now, we don’t want any trouble.” 

The slime folk look between each other, then back at us. Some seem to have second thoughts, but most who were already moving towards us are undeterred. 

“We just want to help this young, hurt girl! Please, if you could just…” 

But regardless of her pleas, they set themselves upon us. The group approaches only for some kind of alien food I can only describe as ice cream that’s fish-like in shape and texture to be hurled towards them. Slap.

“Wh-what the…?” 

One of the slimes reaches up and touches the back of their head, finding the food splattered against it. Before they can react, more is headed their way! Not just that, various civilians are making a mess of things! Tables being flipped, yelling, punches being thrown. Soon enough, there’s not a single person looking our way. Well, besides one. They look at us and give us a thumbs up before diving into the hoard which was already spreading towards us, so we quickly make an exit to the closest door.

“Been making some friends, have you, Nebula?” Yexlo teases. 

Nebula manages a chuckle in response. “Well, one of us has to and you and Luna are too big of nerds to give it a shot.” 

These two…they’re really talking like this as we’re being chased down by a mad man? I’d find it kind of admirable if I wasn’t paralyzed with fear and clinging to Nebluna for dear life. There’s not much time left to quip, however, as we soon find just what we’re looking for. We let out a collective sigh of relief as Yexlo begins operating one of the panels next to the escape pod doors. The first door opens, revealing the door to the pod itself on the other side, that one then opening next.

“Everybody in. Any location in particular, Vivian?” Mr. Yexlo asks, continuing to type away at the panel.

“I could not care less, please take us out of here.”

He nods as Nebula sits me down in one of the escape pod seats, none of which appear to have any sort of seat belts. Must be a slime person thing. She slinks outside the pod for a moment to see what Yexlo is doing, only for their gazes to turn towards the door we’d just come from as they hear it open.

“Shit-- The Captain got out!” Luna cries as she takes Nebula’s place, swiftly tapping at her armour and whipping out a sky blue fruit, the size of a watermelon. She holds it in front of her as lasers begin firing at them. The fruit, seemingly laser proof, deflects the laser blasts towards the walls. Yexlo is furiously typing away before lurching into the pod and grabbing Luna’s arm, dragging her in too.

“Hold on tight, everybody--”

“Wait.” I manage to utter, the slime folk looking at me perplexed. “Do you have anything similar to that spade…?” 

Mr. Yexlo looks a bit melty, peeking his head out the door and immediately pulling it back in as he barely dodges a laser blast. As quickly as he can, he pulls out something more like gardening shears, which I snatch up immediately. I throw myself forward and jam them into the groove where the ship’s door is supposed to separate it and the pod. Both Luna and Yexlo lunge forward and pull me back as he slams a button on the side of the pod and we watch our door slam shut. From its window we see the ship’s door struggling to do the same, caught on the shears. 

“That should buy us some time, right…? He’d be the one sending the order to find us, I’d imagine…” 

The slime folk put two and two together and breathe a sigh of relief, hugging me from either side as the pod detaches and falls, giving me just enough time to watch the Captain get sucked straight out of the open door before it finally breaks past the shears.

“You’re a clever one, Vivian.”

“That’s our girl!”

That’s it then, huh? Danger’s over. I can close my eyes and relax between my new family, blushing and smiling at all their kind words. Finally, for a moment, I can rest--

 

BOOM!!

Of course I can’t. The pod begins to spin as an explosion goes off nearby. I scramble towards the window and see it: the Captain. In one final gesture of hatred, even as he floats off into the nothingness of space, he holds his gun, aimed directly at us. Yexlo and Luna catch me as I stagger back.

“We’re gonna die,” I mutter.

Yexlo looks at me with concern. “Don’t say that, Vivian, we’ll--”

“After everything seemed to fit together, it’s all going to end--”

“Vivian!” Luna interrupts. “C’mon, girl, we’ll, we’ll be fine!”

“All because, because some asshole can’t stand the thought--”

My thoughts end there though. Not because of some deathly explosion or collision, but Yexlo and Nebluna holding me tight once again. Alarms blare within the escape pod. Our velocity increases. I can feel every motion hurtling us towards earth. But I don’t think about that for any longer. I close my eyes and let the slimes’ voices fill my head.

“It’ll be okay.”

“We’ve got you, Vivian.”

“We’ll keep you safe.”

“We promise.”

They float around my mind as I drift off.