Her eyes focused slowly; she looked up at the person who was now applying a wet cloth to her forehead. Zan sucked in a startled breath.

The creature bending over her jerked back in surprise, then let out a slow sigh as he recovered from shock.

Zan sat up, ignoring the wet cloth that fell from her forehead to her lap.

Zan regarded the creature for a moment. Humanoid, it had a set of colorful wings folded behind it, a beaked face and large eyes. It's underbelly was white, but the rest of it several different shades of orange.

Zan looked into it's expressive green eyes, staring back at her in open curiosity.

Zan opened her mouth, but all that came out was a shakey laugh, followed by a nervous swallow.

The bird-man cocked his head at her, and the amusement in it's eyes sent erased her fear of the alien. Zan accepted the repreive and examined the area around her. She was in some kind of cell. Dirt floor, High, narrow, barred windows. She wondered if the rest of her life was going to follow the absurd format of a scifi/fantasy novel.

She noted two more figures in the cell, one winged, and the other lying too far in the shadows for her to see. The other winged one turned to look at her, beak gaping. Zan took this for a grin, since it didn't look hostile. She grinned back at it.

A motion off to her side caught her attention, and she looked back at the first bird. It had placed one slender finger at it's white breast. It emitted a peculiar whistle and gave her an curious look.

Zan wondered if that had been his name. She did her best to replicate the sound, but she had never been much good at whistling anyway. This was confirmed by a trilling that she took for laughter. She wondered what she had just said.

The first alien repeated the motion, and the sound. She tried again, then gave up the attempt as hopeless. She pointed to her own chest; the two aliens perked up and watched intently.

"Zan," she said firmly.

The aliens tried this out carefully. Zan tried not to laugh as several different versions of her name were passed back and forth in an attempt to get it right. A chuckle escaped her and the aliens stopped conferring to stare at her in fascination.

Zan sighed, and wondered where Mark was.

The three companions were drawn to the corner as it's occupant moved slowly, and sat up with a groan.

"Mark?" Zan asked increduously. Mark jumped slightly, and turned slowly in her direction.

"Where are we?" he asked, blinking. He crawled out into the dim light and sat staring at the birdmen. The more talkative one whistled casually.

Mark frowned slightly, and repeated the sound. Imperfectly, to be sure, but with far more success than Zan. Both aliens stared at him.

The other bird clucked a few times and whistled unhappily.

"How did you get here," Zan asked Mark.

Mark shook his head. "I was coming after you and i ran into a.... helicopter, or something simialr. I recall haveing gotten shot, but that's all."

Zan frowned. "I got zapped, too. I tried to call in, but i couln't hear what you said."

Mark straightened, kneeling now, and brushed dirt off of himself as best he could. "Have you checked your walkie?" he asked her, i want to see if Moriah is alright. If they work," he added, frowning.

"I forgot all about them," she replied sheepishly. She pulled it off her belt and drew out the antenna. "Moriah, are you there?"

A pause, then: "Zan! Where are you?" Moriah demanded. The first alien leaned forward to examine the walkie-talkie curiously

"Moriah can you pinpoint our location," Zan asked quickly.

"Yes... Gotcha."

"Great. How long would it take you to get here?" Zan asked.

"Oh. Are you in a big hurry? There's a storm moving in and i have this other little problem i need to clean up..."

"I think we're fine for now, but i don't know how long we've been in here. ASAP, OK?" Zan replied, glancing at the barred door. "We're in some kind of prison and i'd reather not be here any longer than necessary."

"I see your point," Moriah replied dryly. "I'll be there as soon as i can," she added, and closed the channel.

Zan pushed the antenna down slowly. There was a commotion outside their cell and the doors clanged open, swinging back on huge hinges. She tried to pull out the antenna again, but the movement caught the attention of the guards.

With inhuman speed and agility, it snatched the instrument out of her hand. It snagged Mark's on it's way out the door.

The two alien captives were already standing, and gestured for Mark and Zan to do likewise. The were taken from the dim cell into a brightly lit corridor.

The guard that had confiscated their walkies chirped and headed off down a corridor at their right. Mark noted that this alien was less graceful than the two he had been confined with. He also noted that it didn't have the same long tail that his fellow captives did. In fact, all the guards seemed a little ungainly, and had short stumps where tails should be. 

One of the remaining guards chirped at them and headed down a different corridor. Mark and Zan marched along behind him and the other captives, with guards following behind.

'....I'll be there as soon as i can...' kept ringing in Zan's ears. She told that part of her mind to be quiet. '...Buy time' it responded. Zan began looking for something that might help her overcome her captives. Or at least slow them down.